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Sunday, July 1, 2007 |
Guy Kawasaki is back with an interview with Scott Berkun about innovation. Worth a read and some contemplation.
Here's a snippet:
- Question: Is progress towards innovation made in a straight line? For example,
transistor to chip to personal computer to web to MySpace.
Answer: Most people want history to explain how we got here, not to teach them how
to change the future. To serve that end, popular histories are told in
heroic, logical narratives: they made a transistor, which led to the chip,
which create the possibility for the PC, and on it goes forever. But of
course if you asked William Shockey (transistor) or Steve Wozniak (PC) how
obvious their ideas and successes were, youâo[dot accent]ll hear very different stories
about chaos, uncertainty and feeling the odds were against them.
If we
believe things are uncertain for innovators in the present, we have to
remember things were just as uncertain for people in the past. Thatâo[dot accent]s a big
goal of the book: to use amazing tales of innovation history as tools for
those trying to do it now.
2:43:36 PM 
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I see that Dave Winer has The New York Times River open again. This is an application that works on Treo, Blackberry, iPhone or similar. A River of news is how I look at blog postings and other news. You get a page with links and descriptions or entire postings in chronological order with the newest one first. I like to get this on my Treo, especially when I'm traveling.
2:37:25 PM
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I just saw this in a magazine. I thinks it's from "Out of Control" by Ben Young and Samuel Adams. All of my companions during the trip to Israel will think of me (especially when my wife literally stamped her foot one evening as we arrived back at the hotel and said "you will not get on the Internet tonight--you'll be sociable"). Apologies to the 23rd Psalm (and if you don't know it, you'll still get the drift).
Technology is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
It makes me lie down in front of the high-definition screen.
It leads me with incessant noise.
It makes me feel significant.
Though I walk through the valley of no cell-phone coverage, (Can you hear me now?) you are with me.
My Blackberry, my laptop, they comfort me.
You set wireless access before me in the presence of my family.
You anoint my head with Bluetooth; my e-mail overflows.
Surely Microsoft and Verizon will follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the database forever
(unless I am inadvertently deleted).
8:34:03 AM
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Process automation companies are ending June with a flurry of activity. Honeywell Process Solutions (two weeks after President Jack Bolick told me to watch for more activity) announced it has purchased Enraf Holding B.V. from Delft Instruments of Delft, Netherlands for approximately $260 million. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.
The six groups within Enraf are: Enraf Terminal Automation (precision measurement systems and software for tank storage companies), Enraf Calibron Systems (small volume provers and liquid density meters), Enraf Contrec Ltd. (fuel Management Systems used by the petrochemical industry at bulk tank storage sites), Enraf Fluid Technology (custom-engineered explosion-proof precision blending and additive metering equipment), Enraf Marine Systems (level measurement systems for marine applications) and Enraf Tanksystem SA (mobile precision level measurement systems used on board ships).
Bolick told me that this acquisition fits within his overall strategy for building Honeywell's business during his five-year tenure. He says that the company has been strong at the top-end software area and he has been building downward toward the field. Witness the partnership with Krohne announced during the User Group two weeks ago giving the company strength in flow. This acquisition adds strength to level measurement. Is Honeywell corporate interested in the process business? Answers Bolick, "Obviously, or they wouldn't have given me this much money for an acquisition." Bolick also says, "We're not just another DCS company," and acknowledges that the sales process is moving more toward a solutions sell and not just component sales.
Looking at the overall market, this acquisition continues the consolidation trend of the past several years and further strengthens Honeywell just as the competition becomes more fierce.
8:00:01 AM
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© Copyright 2007 Gary Mintchell.
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