
“Internet maintenance day”
Does Hallmark have cards for that?
25 publicly visible posts • joined 30 Aug 2012
With the proliferation of pocket-change single-board computers such as the following, how viable is the Intel offering?
http://cubieboard.org/
http://www.marsboard.com
http://www.raspberrypi.org/
https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/
http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php
https://www.miniand.com/products/Hackberry%20A10%20Developer%20Board
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-pcduino/hardware-tour
@Article
"...there is no evidence that clusters of successful tech companies can be willed into existence by state intervention."
That's very true.
@Article
"They tend to form around high-quality universities whose bright graduates have access to capital: for example, Stanford in California, and Cambridge and Manchester in the UK."
No, this is not always true. Most of the time it is the other way round i.e. companies setup offices to attract talent from good colleges.
Real startup eco-system is formed around large project(s) that is/are viable and has specific goals. The Silicon Valley did not form with blink of an eye because the US government/jobless investment bankers infused cash or promoted hype. It sprung to life because the US government had very specific goals and requirements. The requirements were to do R&D in the field of defense and space (and to claim political victory over the USSR). This US government requirement gave birth to some big defense and space research companies. The side effect of this was that lots of small companies (startups - both hardware and software) sprung around these big R&D firms to help them in the project. And this generated lots of perpetual growth i.e. old firms dying and new ones taking their place. The US government did not "start" Silicon Valley. It was an organic growth in a desert like place far away from New York or Washington (and very far way from investment bankers!). I hope the kids that are advising No. 10 atleast read the history of Silicon Valley before snapping the word "Silicon" in front of every dead or alive thing to make it sound cool! The government is getting into this hype machine because they achieve two things with this "policy", one they want a way to rehabilitate the bankers in London who have become jobless(and useless), and the second, they want to give a phony sense of "job creation" to the general public!
@Article
"As they say, it's all about who you know."
Very true! In this setup if you have an investment banker on your side, then even a 16 year old can become a millionaire within a year or two without any tangible creation!
This phony growth is going to come down as a house of cards one day and we will be left to pickup the pieces as we are doing now as a result of the follies of the bankers few years ago.
My maths teacher once said to the class: "Kids, you will soon realise when you venture into the real world outside that common sense it not a common thing!"
There is a difference between China owning something and the Indian or German owning something. When China owns, it is the Chinese government that does the investment via it's state fund. Where as the Indian or German ownership is by private companies. I recently happen to meet an Indian M&A senior official from a state owned Indian bank and the topic turned to acquisitions abroad (well, he was sitting in UK, so the "abroad" term applied to UK). He immediately said: "We do get lots of requests for funding acquisitions. But as we are very conservative we don't invest in risky assets. We need to think of the people investing with us - the bank account holders, because one mistake in investment division has ripple effect of the consumer banking division." I didn't know what to say!
@Reg
"...he'll be working on the integration of Android and Chrome via apps..."
What does that mean?
@Reg
"...habit-spotting code..."
LOL
I think they all are going the WebOS way i.e. make web technologies as the core of the OS just as FirefoxOS and Tizen are doing now. I hope WebOS is treated properly at LG.
"He also pointed out that Nokia had rejecting Google's Android operating system because it would have been tough differentiating its products from all the other Android handset makers." ....
..."Asked if he was concerned by Microsoft launching a rival Windows-powered smartphone, Elop said Nokia had enough technology to differentiate itself: he cited his firm's Maps, CityLens and its imaging technology."
Eh?