Square Watermelon, Anyone?

In a recent blog by Dave Knox, "Lessons of the Square Watermelon", it is quite interesting to learn that sometimes we can still think out-of-the-box to improve on something which we normally considered as normal or something that we take for granted already.

Like in the case of the watermelon which some people in Japan were able to make this into square shape. And that's really great!

I'd also like to share the following which Dave noted in his blog and I quote:

There are a five lessons that you can take away from this story which will help you in all parts of your life. Here are a few of them:

1. Don’t Assume: The major problem was that most people had always seen round watermelons so they automatically assumed that square watermelons were impossible before even thinking about the question. Things that you have been doing a certain way your entire life have taken on the aura of the round watermelon and you likely don’t even take the time to consider if there is another way to do it. Breaking yourself from assuming this way can greatly improve your overall life as you are constantly looking for new and better ways to do things.
2. Question Habits: The best way to tackle these assumptions is to question your habits. If you can make an effort to question the way you do things on a consistent basis, you will find that you can continually improve the way that you live your life. Forming habits when they have been well thought out is usually a positive thing, but most of us have adopted our habits from various people and places without even thinking about them.
3. Be Creative: When faced with a problem, be creative in looking for a solution. This often requires thinking outside the box. Most people who viewed this question likely thought they were being asked how they could genetically alter water melons to grow square which would be a much more difficult process to accomplish. By looking at the question from an alternative perspective, however, the solution was quite simple. Being creative and looking at things in different ways in all portions of your live will help you find solutions to many problems where others can’t see them.
4. Look for a Better Way: The square watermelon question was simply seeking a better and more convenient way to do something. The stores had flagged a problem they were having and asked if a solution was possible. It’s impossible to find a better way if you are never asking the question in the first place. Always ask if there is a better way of doing the things that you do and constantly write down the things you wish you could do (but currently can’t) since these are usually hints about steps you need to change. Get into the habit of asking yourself, “Is there a better way I could be doing this?” and you will find there often is.
5. Impossibilities Often Aren’t: If you begin with the notion that something is impossible, then it obviously will be for you. If, on the other hand, you decide to see if something is possible or not, you will find out through trial and error.

I hope this will inspire all of us!

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Childhood Inspiration

Now that Bill Gates had officially transferred all his functions to his successors in Microsoft recently, it is indeed a new chapter in his life with focus more on philanthropy and a new vision to change the world.

I then realize that his success story was such an inspiration to me. How he lived his geek life at an early age, how he started with his pals Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer, and how they were able to change our world through software.

I remember...

I was 13 when I first dreamed to have my own computer. In that year, my father bought us a Casio computer which you have to connect to a television (as your monitor) and can program using BASIC language. I did some basic programs such as password and simple graphics. Also, you need to connect it to a cassette player to save and retrieve the program.

At 15, I studied COBOL programming (the youngest in that class).

At 16, my father bought us a PC-AT 286 with 5' 1/4" disk drive, a small harddisk and a colored monitor. This helped me learn more about this technology and the opportunities it can give to someone like me.

At 17, I took up Information Technology course in a state university and dreamed of having my own software company. During college, I was given the opportunity to compete in a graphics competition and was invited to lecture this technology to a graduating class.

At night, I had a teaching job in a computer school in Manila, where some of my students were already twice my age.

In my early 20s, I became involved in computer training, in putting up a technology events startup, in putting up a computer service business, and now into technology blogging.

I may never became someone like Bill, at the very least, I am still involved in something where my passion leads me.

Like Bill, it was my choice to pursue a little different path than most of my peers.

Like him, I will never stop dreaming.

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From Cagayan Valley to Silicon Valley

His World-Class Recognition

For the past few years, he has been consistently in Forbes’ Midas List and has been praised for having “developed advanced chip designs that helped put Silicon Valley on the map.”

In 1997, he received the prestigious Master Entrepreneur of the Year (in the US) award from Ernst & Young.

His Entrepreneurial Achievements

He is the managing partner and founder of Tallwood Venture Capital, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley with $500M+ under management. With his past experiences as an entrepreneur, he provides Tallwood with a unique perspective in technology investments. Tallwood invests in unique and hard-to-do semiconductor technology solutions for computing, communication, and consumer platforms.

Prior to forming Tallwood, he was a venture partner at the Mayfield Fund. He co-founded three technology startups: S3 (SBLU), Chips & Technologies (INTC) and Mostron. He also held positions in engineering and general management at National Semiconductor, Seeq Technologies, Intersil and Commodore International. He pioneered the PC chip set and graphics acceleration architecture that continue to be two of the foundation technologies in every PC today. As an engineer, he is credited with developing several key semiconductor technologies and is regarded as a Silicon Valley visionary.

He serves as Chairman of SiRF Technology (SIRF), InPhi Corporation, Quintic Corporation, Peleton, and Sequoia Communications and is on the boards of directors of Alphion Corporation, Redfern Integrated Optics, and T-RAM Semiconductor. He also served as Chairman and led investments in Marvell Technology Group (MRVL); Acclaim Communications, acquired by Level One (INTC); Newport Communications, acquired by Broadcom (BRCM); Cyras Systems, acquired by Ciena (CIEN); and Stream Machine, acquired by Cirrus Logic (CRUS).

He holds a B.S.E.E., cum laude, from the Mapua Institute of Technology in the Philippines and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

His Early Days

He was born May 23, 1946 in Bo. Malabbac, Iguig, Cagayan and is popularly known by his nickname Dado. His hometown is about an eight-hour drive from Manila. His late father was a small rice farmer and was a humble family. The whole town was a farming community and so simple.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Mapua Institute of Technology in the Philippines and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Stanford University.

First of the Firsts

He spearheaded on the following technologies:

• First single-chip, 16-bit microprocessor-based calculator (while at Commodore in 1976)
• First 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS with silicon coupler data-link control and transreceiver chip; got 3Com into the Ethernet PC add-in card business (while at Seeq in early 1980s)
• First system logic chip set for the PC-XT and the PC-AT (while at Mostron in 1984 and Chips and Technologies in 1985)
• First enhanced graphics adapter chip set (while at Chips and Technologies in 1985)
  Pioneered local bus concept for PC (while at S3 in 1989)
• First Windows accelerator chip (while at S3 in 1990)
  Chips and Technologies - initially acquired by Intel, now an Asilent Telechnologies brand

His Insight for the Philippines

"For the Philippines to advance economically, the country should be capable of creating a lot of technologies and globally competitive products. The Philippines has to go back to basics, make sure kids are being educated well in sciences and engineering. We cannot keep on blaming others. We Filipinos should change our educational emphasis, our cultural outlook."

He is...

Diosdado "Dado" Banato - considered as the "Bill Gates of the Philippines" and it was Ayala CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala who had said that "Dado has a tremendous mind."

Truly, he is an inspiring story for all Filipinos!

sources: ey.com, tallwoodvc.com, wikipedia.org, newsflash.org

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"Fresh New Ideas"

"I get a lot of fresh ideas and these are very enriching."

This is one of the best things that I have learned from my recent interview with Mr. Federico "Dickie" Gonzales. As one of the leading personalities in the area of technopreneurship and innovation in the country, Dickie is someone who:

• * is very active in leading the annual Philippine Emerging Start-ups Open (PESO Challenge) as President/CEO,
• * is providing consultancy on the design of technopreneurship training programs, workshops and business plan competitions,
• * is a prolific mentor and advisor to technology start-ups,
• * is also active in the cultivation of entrepeneurship in the country as the Executive Director of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship

He took up Mechanical Engineering at the De La Salle College and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through a grant by the Ayala Foundation. His 2-year MIT background gave Dickie the engineering and technology foundations for his current passion in technopreneurship.

Upon his return in 1972, he became founding chair of the IE Department, Dean of the Graduate School of Business and as EVP of the Professional Schools, all within the DLSU community.

Some of his recent collaborations and activities are:

• * Morphlabs' Morph Code - this is to help Filipino entrepreneurs and technologists bring their innovative Web 2.0 ideas to life,
• * Ayala Tech BootCamp - to address society's problems and opportunities by developing new and innovative technologies,
• * BusinessWorld - has a column called "Jumping the Curve"

With his love for sharing ideas, he is now involved with the following institutions:

• * DLSU - College of Computer Studies (on Technopreneurship)
• * UP - College of Computer Studies (on Technopreneurship)
• * Asian Institute of Management (on Innovation Management)

For Dickie, his contributions is to "excite people to bring out upfront their ideas." Like he wants to see the winners of the PESO Challenge to make it big in their respective markets and also assists those who are in need of mentoring.

Indeed, his experience and passion of bringing technopreneurship in our country to the next level is very valuable. Especially for those who aspire of making it big.

additional information: http://www.morphlabs.com/, http://www.ayalatbi.org/

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SocNets 2 B Connected!

The last few days generated more excitement for the social networking world. MySpace and Facebook recently announced their respective tools to become more open and connected to other social networking sites. Others such as Friendster, Orkut and Bebo are expected to follow this development.

And now comes Google Friend Connect - a service that helps website owners grow traffic by enabling any site on the web to easily provide social features for its visitors.

In their preview release this May 12, "Google Friend Connect has been developed to lower two barriers to the spread of social features across the web. First, many website owners want to add features that enable their visitors to do things with their friends, but the technology and resource hurdles have been too high. Second, people are tiring of needing to create new logins and profiles and recreate their friends lists wherever they go on the web. Google Friend Connect offers a solution to both these issues."

Here's a diagram of what Friend Connect wants to achieve:

So instead of doing so much legwork from the many available sites, this will greatly benefit the millions of social users and also those developers and companies doing business in this space. This will also lessen the need to re-create your profiles should you become interested in other social networking sites.

More on this in the coming posts...

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Doing More Online

With so many productivity tools now available online such as email, it is worth your while if you will have your PC-based documents become online too.

Not just long ago, the Big G launched its own online productivity tools - the Google Docs. It has wordprocessing and spreadsheet, somewhat similar to MS Office and OpenOffice.

And just this May 6, there's a new kid on the block which can help one doing more online these days.

The Google Docs Presentation

Aside from preparing presentations similar to having it on a computer, this is somewhat unique because this can be embedded in a blog or in a website.

Here's a snapshot of how to include your presentation using this tool:

Another interesting feature which you may consider is that "Google Docs enables multiple users in different locations to collaborate simultaneously on the same project."

I guess is that anytime soon, the Big G will also launch industry-specific online tools such as accounting, human-resource, manufacturing, etc.

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It's a Numbers Game!

Now that Microsoft had walked away with its almost 4-month old $ 47.5 billion acquisition bid on Yahoo, its stocks had risen today (10:27AM ET) by almost a dollar (or $ 29.88) while Yahoo had stumbled to $ 24.24 compared from $ 28.67 last Friday.

And the real winner for this acquisition game is the Big G (Google), wherein, its stocks rose from $ 581.29 last Friday to $ 593.75 today. Though the Big G was not part of the negotiation, but they were the real reason and target of Microsoft.

For one to understand more of the developments beyond the noise, here's an interesting numbers game which is the based on a 10-year comparative stock market value between the three tech giants:

The highest value that Microsoft (MSFT) got was $ 58.72 in December 24, 1999. It took them almost 21 years to reach this since they were founded in 1978.

The highest value that Yahoo (YHOO) got was $101 in January 7, 2000. It took them almost 6 years to reach this since they were founded in 1994.

The highest value that Google (GOOG) got was $ 715 last December 7, 2007. It took them almost 9 years to reach this since they were founded in 1998.

From another perspective, I'd like to share the most recent ranking which the 3 giants got from Alexa.com now and as follows:
* Yahoo.com - 1
* Google.com - 2
* Microsoft.com - 14

Interestingly, Google.com was # 4 the last time I checked it, while Yahoo.com was # 1, Youtube.com (of Google) was # 2, Live.com (of Microsoft) was #3.

Now, my best guess is that Google can replace Yahoo as the number 1 website in the world anytime soon - in terms of traffic rank, pageviews and market reach.

More on this in our succeeding posts.

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