L'homme de l'année en automobile : Elon Musk, PDG de Tesla

Depuis "20 Minutes" : l'homme de l'année en automobile : Elon Musk, PDG de Tesla
Ce n'est pas la première fois que j'évoque Tesla ici. Je trouve le pari de la voiture 100% électrique visionnaire.
N'est-il pas mauvais d'avoir raison trop tôt? L'avenir le dira. Mais peut-être n'est-il tout simplement pas trop tôt...

Orange signe avec Tesla pour accélérer dans la voiture connectée

Ce deal confirme le virage pris par Tesla en direction de la voiture de demain: électrique, connectée (cf. le précédent article de ce même blog Tesla's most disruptive product).

Sans doute un bon deal pour Orange, souvent en tête dans ce type de partenariat (pour mémoire, il était le distributeur exclusif de l'iPhone à sa sortie...).

Google glass is a small step for man, MindRDR is a giant leap for mankind

With MindRDR, You can command directly your Google glasses from ... your brain.

The product is rather simple, and let say it, not very discrete, but using both Google glasses and ThinkGear EEG sensor from NeuroSky, it allows you to command your Google glasses using your mind to capture pictures and share them to social networks (Twitter and Facebook).

More than this simple feature, it also provides an open source app for Google glasses in order to enhance the device capabilities in the future. First feature I am thinking about is a way to exchange small messages between device wearers, and this already has a name : telepathy.

What is interesting there is that MindRDR did innovation, not by creating an hardware device, but by mixing two existing ones and providing a way for more promising innovations in the future.

Of course, this also raised a lot of questions about the potential bad use of such devices but in any case, this is a part of current technical revolution.

Article: Hanna Yoon's Experience Journal helps you record your favourite places

Via dezeen : <link>

Why to Sketch Every Day

From medium.com. I do sketch, but not every day. Maybe I should...

Apple lance iOS in the Car avec Ferrari, Mercedes et Volvo

Ca y est, c'est officiel, Apple lance "iOS in the car". Pas de chance pour les marques françaises qui ratent le coche. Tout comme les marques américaines d'ailleurs, ce qui est plus étonnant.

Google, lui, s'est associé à Audi, Honda, General Motors et d'autres pour former l'Open Automotive Alliance.

De son côté, Microsoft vient de présenter un pré-version de "Windows in the car" dont les fonctionnalités semblent équivalentes mais qui nécessite encore de petits coups de tournevis pour être fiable...

Toujours est-il que le créneau de la voiture "intelligente" semble bel et bien devenir un enjeu majeur de la compétition entre les grands noms du secteur.

• iOS in the car sur iGen : iOS in the car
• Windows in the car sur iGen : Windows in the car
• Open Automotive Alliance sur TheVerge : Google open automotive alliance

Samsung Galaxy S5 : un Galaxy S4 étanche avec un lecteur d'empreintes

Article sur iGen : Samsung Galaxy S5 : un Galaxy S4 étanche avec un lecteur d'empreintes.

Apple wins 'best mobile tablet' award at Mobile World Congress in absentia

10 leçons qu'il faut retenir du rachat de WhatsApp par Facebook - Challenges

Il y a trois ans, indique The Verge, ce fonds de capital-risque américain, l'un des plus gros de la Silicon Valley, avait investi 8 millions de dollars dans WhatsApp pour une part de capital comprise entre 10 et 20% (l'information n'est pas publique). Ce qui veut dire qu'il va récupérer entre 1,6 et 3,2 milliards de dollars dans l'opération. Au mieux, le retour sur investissement sera donc de 40.000%. Et peut-être davantage encore, puisque, selon Fortune, Sequoia aurait investi 60 millions de dollars dans la start-up.

via 10 leçons qu'il faut retenir du rachat de WhatsApp par Facebook - Challenges.

J'aime la phrase finale

En tout cas, il a du panache, que l'on assimilera, au choix, à de l'audace, de la folie ou de l'inconscience.

 

Tesla’s most disruptive product may not be its cars – Quartz

Tesla’s most disruptive product may not be its cars – Quartz.

To be continued...

"Un jour, Motorola pourrait concurrencer Apple"

"Un jour, Motorola pourrait concurrencer Apple"

Intéressante intervention de Guy Kawasaki

"Le futur de la photo : Canon, Nikon et Sony ?"

Les mutations numériques touchent de plein fouet de nombreux secteur. La photographie, la vidéo, le livre, la musique.

Tout est désormais disponible dans une seule main sous la forme d'un smartphone.

Knight Lab Timeline JS test

click here for Apple timeline

A little test of Timeline JS from Knight Lab on some Apple products.

Simple to use and quite good result.

Texts are from Wikipedia and photos from Flickr (see captions for credits)

"Big plans" for Apple in 2014

Tim Cook, Apple COO, in january 2009, after Macworld Expo keynote. Picture by Valery Marchive (LeMagIT) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Big plans" for Apple in 2014

Paroles, paroles, paroles... So far, Tim Cook has been very generous in announcements, but far less in concrete innovations.

This may be a crucial year for the post-Jobs era for Apple.

Related articles

• Apple Has Big Plans For 2014 According To Tim Cook (geeky-gadgets.com)

Not available for this christmas, but appealing anyway

Revolution in Photography

Panono : Not available for this christmas, but appealing anyway

Some 30 years ago...

I remember my family looking up at a projection screen a whole bunch of flat slides in the dark. It was a bit long sometimes, but always a great moment shared together.

We all were discussing about travels, family celebrations and so on and our own memories were feeding this shared moment.

..then came the digital era

The projection screen was then replaced by a little computer screen, on which we looked down. We then had the same discussions, same memories and same shared moments.

The computer screen finally has been replaced by TV screen on which we look forward.

And what about tomorrow?

I imagine my family gathered in the same room, all wearing some Google glasses and having the same 360 degrees picture projected in it. We all move and share this moment physically, looking up, forward and down, pointing some particular details.

Will it be better? Who knows. But it seems that technology is not very far from this.

Related articles

• The 34 Most Beautiful Google Street View Sightings (mashable.com)
• How to Create Your Own Google Street View Maps (techland.time.com)
• Now Everyone Can Contribute to Google Street View (gizmodo.com)

Some thoughts about innovation...

Discover

First things first: having new ideas. This does mean to have a look on what does exist, what would be interesting to add, to combine and to modify. New ideas rarely come from nowhere. You need a great mix of experience, knowledge and of course, vision.

Remember the presentation of the iPhone by Steve Jobs in 2007 at Macworld 2007 (extract). It really illustrates what I mean above. Taking old ideas, improving them, mixing them and obtain new ones.

The discovery of new ideas is a process that mainly sources itself into old ones.

Select

The second step is probably one of the most difficult. You have found a bunch of great new ideas. You believe in them. They will change the way people work, collaborate, live, or whatever. And you have to select few of them (let’s say three) on which to focus your effort.

This process is a heart-breaking one as it means that you will leave apart many great ideas you had and potentially THE ONE. So you have to be very clever here and as objective as possible.

For my part, I use as a basic tool a two columns table on which each idea is evaluated for its usage added-value (does it brings something valuable for the end-user?) and its innovative value (is it something new, that nobody has built before?). In order to introduce some objectiveness in the process, I ask some trusted friends to provide me their own evaluations, and I take the average of all. Once this done, I put all these annotation in a graphic on which axes are “usage added-value” and “innovative value” and in which each idea is represented by a point. I can then select the three points which are the farthest from the centre.

I am then ready for the second step.

Select again

Three ideas to work on is a very high challenge. So the next step is to choose the very first one you will build.

If the different ideas you selected on the previous step are quite complementary, then bingo! You just have to work on your product roadmap to aggregate these ideas one after the other. If not, then chose one and only one.

I do not know any method at this step (If I had, I would be richer… But I am interested by your suggestions). The ultimate selection may be rationalized, or not. I believe that feelings are highly important at this stage in order to be in line with market expectation. Any input may help at this stage I believe: artistic, cultural, industrial or whatever. The main word here should be: “be inspired”.

Then do it…

You have your idea: the great one. It is now time to convert it in a reality. This has to become your obsession. Put all your strengths on it. The rest is a matter of flair and at the end… of luck.

Related articles

• 5 Ways To Reframe Your Thinking To Be More Like Elon Musk (fastcompany.com)


• Required Reading: The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen (biztelevision.wordpress.com)


• How to be innovative? Get out of your office! (hiscox.co.uk)


• Make the Perfect Presentation: 5 Lessons From Steve Jobs's Innovative Use of Imagery (shutterstock.com)

7 iPhone rumours to prepare you for Apple's Sept. 10 announcement

Fingerprint sensor would be really a breakthrough.

Related articles

• The latest Apple iWatch rumours (technoteamblog.wordpress.com)


• Samsung Galaxy S5 may feature fingerprint scanner (mobigyaan.com)


• Apple's TouchID on the iPhone 5S (michaelonsecurity.blogspot.com)

A new strategy for Microsoft?

We just heard about Steve Ballmer leaving that Microsoft announces the acquisition of Nokia. What may be considered as a good opportunity for these two companies reveals a strong change in Microsoft strategy for mobile web market.

Taking aside the painful experience of Surface tablet, Microsoft have never been considered (yes "considered" - just have a look at the secret history of Microsoft hardware - to see their hardware realizations beyond mices and keyboards) as a pure player in hardware. But it was at least not a fully vertically integrated one.
On its side, Apple, with a converging OS for Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad proposed a fully integrated (locked) vision to its end-users from years now. One like it or not, but such is the proposal.
Google, which once was its is a full software provider is now selling tablets, smartphones... on an integrated (but open) schema.

So times are changing and Apple vision of a vertically integrated model providing services to end-users through a cloud model seems to be promising.
Google understood some months ago and is clearly in first position. Apple stays on its positions but loses drastically market shares as the time goes by. Microsoft, on its turn, is changing its mind and strategy, acquiring one of the most experienced company in mobile phone devices. Won't it be to late?

Related articles

• Roundup: What's next for Microsoft? Tech executives speak out (techrepublic.com)


• For Steve Ballmer, a lasting touch on Microsoft (tech.fortune.cnn.com)


• Microsoft may be desperate enough to offer Windows Phone and Windows RT for free (pcworld.com)

A watch, a TV set, or new glasses. What would you prefer for Christmas?

This is clearly the point, who will present the most innovative device for next year?

- Samsung with its "Galaxy gear", to be unveiled on the 4th of September,

- Apple with its "iWatch" for fall of 2013, or - why not - the so often promised Apple TV (see What if Apple's iWatch is a TV?)

- Google with its "Glass" - currently under experiment by chosen users - that may be released for end of 2013.

Anyway, whoever will be the great winner of next months, the technological race has never been so interesting, and innovation is at its climax.

On my point of view, connected watch (whatever you call them, SmartWatch, iWatch or Galaxy gear) do not make the "Whaoooo" effect that I had some years before with the iPod touch, but I may be wrong. Especially if manufacturers manage to make them an essential device for end-users as they did it with smartphones (by the way, will we need smartphones in 2 or 3 years if we all have connected watches ?).

Connected TV sets may certainly be improved, but the concept is already there and could then not be such a disruptive innovation (here again, I may be wrong...).

But what about this smart glasses? Here is the best product I can see in the next months. It is mainly presented today as an embedded video device. But what a great potential if you mix Internet information with it !

So, what would be in your own letter to Santa?

Related articles

• Apple iWatch specs, price and release date (thenewstribe.com)


• Samsung Sells Just 50,000 Galaxy Gear Smart Watches, Exec Says Product is Unripe (macrumors.com)


• Smart Watches Will Improve With Time, And Will Help Computers Conquer The Wrist (embargozone.com)