The New Judge!

What an honour!

Naked Chasm Jumpers have been asked to be a judge for the next Blog race that is run at Manchester Business School.

Something to look forward to for 2007.

And the Winner is.......

After a long, hard Blog race the winners were announced last night....

There was stiff competition from the other blogs, especially the Disruptive Influences with a very slick presentation and great "Jackanory" video on the blog. The Wisdom of Cows with their top branding were close competitors. While the 0-0 AET were entertaining from start to finish in their presentation.

However, there could only be one winner and it went to the Naked Chasm Jumpers!!

No speeches, but just thanks to all our readers.

OVER 1000 VISITORS FOR NAKED CHASM BLOG

The Naked Chasm Jumpers blog reaches out to over a 1000 Visitors in just 6 weeks!

This achievement coincides with the same day that we present the Naked Chasm Blog to the MBA Class at Manchester Business School - Bring on the A-Grade!

Thank you for reading our blog.

Claim that Computing is Free Thanks to Moore’s Law

That is to say, the cost per MIP (million instructions) has now fallen to about a penny. Chris Anderson's article makes the point today saying that historically, the price of computing power has been astronomical; but, as hardware falls and Moore’s Law kicks in, that price has been falling at a faster and faster rate. Now, its virtually free.

Mr. Anderson gives a few other examples of things that have now also reached the “almost-free” inflection point — storage, bandwidth, and so on. I have to take exception to his assertion that free-computing equals waste, however, I think with all of these things now being essentially “free”, the real value will be in the value of ideas and creativity. Without the restraints and constraints of cost, more people will be able to participate in networks and take advantage of the power of computing for whatever purpose they desire. Almost-free will also act as a great democratiser on so many levels around the world, bringing the potential for information, the exchanging of ideas and knowledge to everyone.

The downside, of course, is that it is also ripe for abuse; one wonders, for example, if very cheap computers will just mean an explosion in spam.

Check It Out..... Not Long to Go Now!

CALLING ALL READERS!!


With only 4 days left to go until the Naked Chasm Jumpers blog is formally presented - you need to check out the Naked Chasm Reviews and let us know your thoughts:

1. Crossing the Chasm Book Review

The objective of this text is to summarise the key concepts which underpin Crossing the Chasm to provide a context to consider its key strengths and arguable limitations.

PLUS please check out whether the Crossing the Chasm Book can actually cross a chasm.

2. General Electrics IT Strategy Review
General Electric, or GE as it is commonly known, is the second largest company in the world and so how does a firm like GE use Information Technology (IT) to achieve its business goals.

Im sure you will agree that these are award winning articles!!

Guidelines for Success with your Skunk Works project

Found the following article on Digg and it provides guidelines for Skunk Works projects within IT Depts. The author states that...

"I've been hearing the term skunk works a lot lately, in reference to off-plan projects that are moving forward in all that "free time" people have in the IT department. Sometimes the term sounds slightly perjorative, but I like it when a project I am involved with is referred to in this way."

This seems to fit with what Peter was saying at our lecture yesterday - Skunk Works are making a come back.

Check out the full article here for full details

At last ITRIPS are legal in the UK... (phew)

Under the cover of darkness I and many others have been using an ITRIP - a device that is a FM transmitter that allows iPods and other MP3 players to play through car radios. A great bit of kit by all accounts. The reason for using it under the cover of darkness is that previously the use of a ITRIP has been illegal.

The devices fell foul of the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949, which forbids the use of radio equipment without a licence or an exemption. But strong consumer demand for the devices led Ofcom to rethink the legislation. As a result certain FM transmitters, which can be tuned to spare frequencies, will be legal from 8 December.

The Real Naked Jumper Spotted...

We are just "have a go" Naked Chasm Jumpers - however, there are people out there doing it for real. A naked man darted from a sport-utility vehicle into a downtown Washington office building and then jumped to his death from the eighth floor!

However, the funny part of the story is that before it became apparent what was taking place, the city's parking inspectors reacted to the abandoned SUV by slapping a ticket on the front windscreen.

Ten Worst Internet Acquisitions Ever

As the market for acquiring fledgling Internet companies heats up again (following the previous Intenet bubble) it's worth taking a look at all those acquisitions that didn't quite work out. For every acquisition that's successful there seems to be dozens that die.

However, what is most interesting about this article is the repeated errors. Some of the largest firms in the world cannot learn from their competition - why don't they learn from others mistakes? Could this mean that recent acquisitions, such as YouTube by Google and Myspace, are destined for disaster?

Also how much money is being spent - in some cases not millions, but billions of dollars? It seems that only the Americans are making such huge mistakes. So in reverse order:

10. Hotmail - acquired by Microsoft for about $400 million

9. Skype - acquired by eBay for $2.6 billion.

8. MySimon - acquired by CNET in 1999 for $700 million.

7. BlueMountain.com - acquired by Excite@Home for $780 million

6. Lycos - acquired by Terra Networks for $4.6 billion.

5. Netscape - acquired by AOL for $4.2 billion.

4. GeoCities - acquired by Yahoo! for $3.56 billion.

3. Excite - acquired by @Home in 1999 for $6.7 billion.

2. AOL - merged with TimeWarner in 2000.

1. Broadcast.com - acquired by Yahoo! for $5 billion.

Full article at http://internet.seekingalpha.com/article/21041

Building A Better Skunk Works by IBM

At our MBA lecture last week we were introduced to the concept of "Skunk Works" which Lockheed have used to dramatic effect. This article details how IBM are using Skunk Works by placing some of their most talented executives in their risky startup ventures.

It is interesting to see that a huge organisation like IBM is using Skunk Works to become a more learning organisation and develop new ideas outside the main business.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/92/ibm.html

World's Oldest Blogger?

Is 92-year-old Donald Crowdis (former host of the Candadian TV program The Nature of Things) the world's oldest blogger? Even if the blog isnt that interesting - there are some funny and astute comments. Check link

http://dontoearth.blogspot.com/

Bit of Fun

Found this website which provides a different spin on the Motivation slogans that businesses have on the walls. I thought this was amusing...

Check it out... http://www.despair.com/viewall.html

The World’s Most High-Tech Urinal

This blog entry is not particular cutting edge technology, but it is very funny. Especially as my girlfriend is from Victoria and she will be appalled that we have put this on the naked chasm blog. Personally I think this is a top idea - I would certainly use it, just for novelty factor.

In an effort to handle its night time public urination problem, Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, is considering installing urinals that disappear below street level during the day. The Urilift system is a two-meter high stainless steel cylinder with three alcoves, each with a urinal, and no doors.

By day, the Urilift is lowered below street level for a nice clean look. Then at night, an operator comes by with a remote and the Urilift hydraulically lifts to sidewalk level in about two minutes. Then the unit is ready to serve all the nighttime party animals who don’t mind peeing in a very exposed public urinal.

Check out the VIDEO ADVERT.

The Tallest Website....

Check out the World’s Highest Website!

Currently, it’s 18.939 kilometers high (that’s about 11.769 miles).

Videoblogging to TV Show

A great example on the possible spin-offs of blogging, and in this case, videoblogging. It’s not all about the Adsense revenues you know.

Girly (guys can read it too) gadget blog Shiny Shiny has some Youtube hosted video clips every now and then. That has landed Susi Weaser a job as a presenter in a show at BBC Two (that’s a British public TV channel for all our non-UK readers).

Wikipedia Now available in China or has it!

Online enyclopedia Wikipedia is now accessible again in China. On Thursday after being blocked for more than a year, a move hailed by free media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. The main page of the Chinese-language version of Wikipedia (zh.wikipedia.org) could be displayed and searches for apolitical terms turned up results, but searches for subjects taboo to China's Communist leadership, such as "June 4," remained blocked.

However, hours after writing this blog entry - news came in that China's nanny state has blocked Wikipedia both English and Chinese languages - AGAIN. Only took them a week and I thought Tony Blair's Government were bad!

iPods Make You Deaf and Even Kill You!

It's not entirely clear why everyone likes to pick on the iPod, but its popularity seems to attract all sorts of odd warnings about the evilness that is the iPod. In the past, there have been warnings about how iPods are a security risk and a beacon to muggers. The latest, though, is that audiologists are warning that the iPod will make you deaf.

Of course, while it sounds alarming, basically they're just saying that loud noises, directly in your ear are a risk. They always have been, from the days of the transistor radio with an earpiece to the walkman. However, how many stories are there of people who are now deaf for listening to their walkmans too loud?

But not everybody minds: the CEO of hearing-aid maker Phonak has forecast strong growth his company, saying that young people listening to their music players too loudly will create a "a hearing loss bubble in years to come". While the company may be rubbing its hands in expectation of a booming market, it had better hope that class-action lawyers, or overzealous politicians trying to protect the stupid, don't screw things up for it.

Furthermore, MP3 players could mean the difference between life and death when crossing the road, pedestrians are being warned during Road Safety Week. Deafness Research UK has teamed up with Specsavers Hearcare to encourage pedestrians to remove their headphones while crossing the road in a bid to reduce hearing-related road traffic accidents. So IPODs can kill you when crossing the road? Surely its the idiot listening to the IPOD that crosses the road without looking?

No More Wires - At Last!

The tangle of cables and plugs needed to recharge today's electronic gadgets could soon be a thing of the past.

US researchers have outlined a relatively simple system that could deliver power to devices such as laptop computers or MP3 players without wires. The concept exploits century-old physics and could work over distances of many metres, the researchers said.

Check out the full article here

How many Blogs?

Every day 100,000 new blogs are created and 1.3 million posts are made, it found during its quarterly survey. Technorati is now tracking more than 57 million blogs, of which it believes around 55% are 'active' - updated at least every three months.

While the daily figure of 100,000 new weblogs is down on the 160,000 total from June 2006 it does not indicate a slowdown in growth rates. Furthermore, English and Japanese remain the two most popular languages in the blogosphere. Despite problems for bloggers in China, Chinese remains at number three.

Suing a Search Engine Because your Ranking Sucks?

Why is it that people have this weird expectation that having a high search engine ranking is some sort of legally guaranteed right? We've seen a bunch of lawsuits recently where companies sue search engines because they're not happy with their ranking.

However here's a twist. Threadwatch points us to the story of a search engine optimizer (SEO) who is being sued by a former client because that client's search engine rankings have dropped below those of another company, who later hired the same person. It sounds like the complaint from the company is that the SEO later worked for this same company and helped "optimize" their rankings so they beat out the former client. The SEO notes that the work he did for the original client was four years ago and they've done little to nothing to continue the process of optimizing their site. The guy also claims that his agreements with companies make it clear that he does not work exclusively with them, and you'd have to imagine that most SEO contracts do not promise specific results -- especially not ones that would last four years after a contract is complete. It sounds like yet another case of a company suing simply because they don't like something, not because they have any real legal claim.