Insight into who you want on Your Team

The Monuments Men book has a quote by General Dwight Eisenhower that are words of wisdom.

This is a long road we have to travel. The men that can do

things are going to be sought out just as surely as the sun rises

in the morning. Fake reputations, habits of glib and clever

speech, and glittering surface performance are going to be

discovered and kicked overboard. Solid, sound leadership . . . and

ironclad determination to face discouragement, risk, and

increasing work without flinching, will always characterize

the man who has a sure-enough, bang-up fighting unit. Added

to this he must have a darn strong tinge of imagination—I

am continuously astounded by the utter lack of imaginative

thinking. . . . Finally, the man has to be able to forget himself and

personal fortunes. I’ve relieved two seniors here because they got

to worrying about “injustice,” “unfairness,” “prestige,” and—oh, what the hell!

— Supreme Commander General Dwight

David Eisenhower in a letter to

General Vernon Prichard, August 27, 1942

Containerized Wind Power - Buoyant Airborne Turbine

Wind is a favorite of some for renewable energy.  Google has its airborne wind system Makani.

Altaeros Energies is a Helium buoyant system that deploys in containers.

Low Cost

The Altaeros BAT reduces the second largest cost of wind energy – the installation and transport cost – by up to 90 percent, through a containerized deployment that does not require a tower, crane, or cement foundation. Combined with significant increases in energy output, and flexible deployment options, the BAT is designed to significantly reduce the levelized cost of energy for remote power customers.

Mobility and Rapid Deployment

The Altaeros BAT is shipped in two standard containers and can be installed and producing power in under twenty-four hours. Easy transport, setup, and redeployment offers new mobility that is not feasible with tower-mounted wind turbines.

One of the nice things about the BAT is you can put other things up at that altitude.

Additional Revenue from Airborne Services

Much like other tethered aerostats, the Altaeros BAT can lift additional communication, surveillance, and sensory equipment alongside the turbine to provide additional services for remote sites. The BAT provides a line of sight over 60 miles in any direction, offering a powerful platform that fixed towers cannot reach. The addition of payload equipment does not affect the stability or power output of the system.

Army says they are shutting more Data Centers than other Federal Agencies

Saw this post on Federal Times on the US Army moving data center capacity.  This paragraph makes an interesting claim.

“We’re aggressively shutting down data centers. I don’t think there’s anyone in the federal government that is shutting down as many data centers as the Army is,” Krieger said May 6 at the C4ISR & Networks conference in Arlington, Va. “But this is not a data center drill; this is about applications. This is about modernizing, virtualizing and moving.”

Hosting 50 Women For Hamlin Robinson School Auction Item

Our son goes to Hamlin Robinson, a school targeted for those who have dyslexia and other language-based learning differences.  We have donated a variety items for the school auction like a dinner party at our house.  This year my wives friends decided to donate an evening for mom’s to get together.  I figured a dozen people when someone bids for the item and invites her friends.  The auctioneer read the description and auctioned individual attendance to get as many people as she could to bid $75/each for an evening with other mom’s for cocktails.  Well 50 people bid.

We have lots of help including our kids and some of their friends.

The weather wasn’t that bad, a bit of rain, a bit chilly which is why we have a tent and fire pit.

We had plenty of food and I cooked 7 pizzas.

Here are the hosts.

Digital Innovation Newspapers vs. Music Industry

Two old industries that have had the impact of the digital age hit them are Newspapers and Music.  The Music industry went digital with CDs, then MP3 ripping and digital distribution pretty much destroyed the business models of selling albums.  Newspapers have been hit from two sides.  The wealth of choice in getting the news, and the changes in advertising and running classified ads.  What to do?  Here are two different comparisons.  Music is having record revenues if you bet on live-music.  Newspapers are still trying to figure out the new way to make record revenues.

WSJ reports on the Live-Music industry and their hot summer.

The Concert Industry's Big Hot Summer

The live-music business is predicting a record-breaking summer with big tours by Beyoncé and Jay Z, Eminem and Rihanna, George Strait and Outkast

Technology is changing the Music events and making them more money.

Technology is also changing the concert-going experience. Live Nation, which now sells 16% of its tickets on mobile devices, is testing and integrating an app that allows fans to reserve lawn chairs, skip entry lines and access VIP areas using their phones. At more festivals, fans will be able to leave their credit cards at home and purchase food, drinks and merchandise with chip-embedded wristbands, such as those designed by Front Gate Tickets. At Bonnaroo, fans can use the festival's official app to find their friends and live-stream shows from the bathroom lines.

The music industry has been following the money.

Lucrative album sales are now a thing of the past and Internet buzz doesn't always translate into revenue. With acts reliant on touring for their income, many are working harder to put on better shows, says Live Nation's head of global talent, David Zedeck.

GigaOm’s Matthew Ingram reports on the NYTimes

Internal innovation report says the New York Times needs to up its digital game or else

by Mathew Ingram

3 HOURS AGO

1 Comment

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photo: Getty Images / Mario Tama

SUMMARY:

An internal report that looked at how the New York Times is performing in terms of its digital strategy says the paper needs to focus a lot more on audience engagement and analytics — but can it take the steps necessary to disrupt its traditional culture?

When I read about the NYTimes it seems like the publisher has trouble hearing what the audience wants.  The competition has figured out how to listen to readers.

“Start-ups like Vox and First Look Media, backed by venture capital and personal fortunes, are creating newsrooms custom-built for the digital world. BuzzFeed, Facebook and LinkedIn are pushing deeper into the journalism business by hiring editors and unveiling new products aimed at newsreaders. Traditional competitors like The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Financial Times and The Guardian are moving aggressively to remake themselves as digital first.”