The Apple iPhone 4S = Sensational!

Photo courtesy:  Apple (http://www.apple.com/iphone/#)

In memory of Steve Jobs, we feature the latest and greatest from Apple:  the iPhone 4S. 

Learn more here.  And catch:  Report:  Life As We Know It Already Changed Following iPhone 4S Debut

The World Pays Tribute

Photo credit:  ©Laurel Delaney 2011, "Apple Store, Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, U.S.A.

The tributes keep coming in from all over the world on the passing away of Steve Jobs.

I visited the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago on Saturday, October 8, 2011 to give my farewell to Steve and condolences to Apple folks and as I stood in front of the store for half an hour, I was moved by the outpouring of emotion from people everywhere.  Some individuals prayed and set down a memento; many wrote messages on post-it-notes and affixed them to the front of the store window (as shown above; what you see is the left side of the store, the right was completely covered with post-it-notes too ... look closely at the messages and some of the items posted) and still others photographed or videod the experience.  You knew something larger than life had happened and it would never be the same again for many.

Steve was admired and respected around the globe.

Here's an interesting UK perspective:

Steve jobs:  the world pays tribute

Photo courtesy:  ©Laurel Delaney 2011, "Apple Store, Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., 10.8.11"

Apple's Grand Opening of New Lincoln Park, Illinois Retail Store

I had a great time standing in the rain and taking photos this morning of Apple's grand opening of new Lincoln Park, Illinois retail store.  Managed to walk away with a classy umbrella souvenir (as shown above).  Those global Apple folks think of everything!

Congrats to Apple!  Nice launch.

Photo credit:  Laurel Delaney, founder of GlobeTrade.com

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Your Mum's Apple Pie

Every time I see this I want to order it.

Maybe just because I want to say "I'd like to have a slice of MY mom's Apple pie please."

From Your Mum's Apple Pie $3.00

Why it's time to worry about rise of the android workers

Earlier this week, Pete Cashmore, the founder of Mashable, published his top 10 trends for 2012. And while Cashmore's list is characteristically prescient, it misses one trend which I suspect will increasingly shape our attitude toward technology over the next year.

So let me add an 11th trend of 2012: Next year, we will become increasingly preoccupied with the relationship between new digital technologies and employment. 2012 will be the year that it finally dawns on us that more digital technology might mean fewer regular jobs and that robots could be replacing human beings as the critical labor constituency of our "new economy."

Cashmore's own Mashable website gave us a sneak preview of this revolution in August when it reported on the decision of Foxconn, Apple's Chinese manufacturer, to replace a large part of its workforce with one million robots. And in 2012, I predict, these kinds of strategic investments in artificial intelligence -- from consumer products like Apple's Siri and Google's self-driving car to automated industrial factories -- will become ever more commonplace. Read More

What's So Awful About the 1%?

From Bradley Schiller, at Los Angeles Times:

Occupy Wall Street has said it's the 99% of 'us' against the 1% of 'them.' But many of 'them' started out like 'us' and have brought us great innovations that we embrace.

The class war is on. It's the 99% of "us" versus the 1% of "them."

In the rhetoric of this war, we are fighting the 1% because they possess most of the nation's wealth, bankroll their handpicked political candidates, control the banks and get million-dollar paychecks and billion-dollar bailouts; yet they don't pay enough taxes or invest their wealth in creating American jobs. They're the "millionaires and billionaires" President Obama has called out as needing to pony up more for progressive reforms of our healthcare, banking, tax and political systems. They are the enemy of "us" — the 99% who toil at low-wage jobs, hold underwater mortgages, face foreclosures, suffer recurrent and protracted job layoffs and plant closings, and yet pay our fair share of taxes.

But there's a flaw in this strategy. The Occupy Wall Street movement envisions the 1% as a monolithic cadre of entrenched billionaires who have a firm and self-serving grip on all the levers of the economy. But a closer look at that elite group reveals how untrue that perspective is.

Forbes magazine compiles a list of the richest 400 Americans every year. To get on that list, you must have at least $1 billion of wealth. They are the creme de la creme of the 1% — indeed, the top 0.0000013% (!) of Americans. So who are these dastardly people?

The late Steve Jobs was in that elite club this year. In his earlier days, Jobs would have been camped out with the OWS crowd, probably passing around a joint. Should we count him as one of "us" or one of "them"? (And you can't use your iPhone or iPad to vote "them.")

Then there's 27-year old Mark [Zuckerberg] (No. 14 on the Forbes list), whose Facebook innovation enables the OWS movement to communicate so easily. He and five other Facebook entrepreneurs just joined the Forbes 400 this year.

We'd also quickly recognize among "them" Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, who became billionaires developing Google. And, as they are sipping a latte to keep warm, the OWS campers should also reflect on whether Howard Schultz, Starbucks' founder and No. 330 on the Forbes list, is with "us" or "them."

Not every member of the Forbes 400 is a high-tech folk hero. There is a lot of inherited wealth on that list too (the Mars, Walton, Cargill and Ford dynasties). But 70% of the Forbes elite are self-made billionaires. Those entrepreneurial successes include not just the names behind Facebook, Google, Apple and Starbucks but also EBay (Meg Whitman, Pierre Omidyar), Yahoo (Jerry Yang), Nike (Phil Knight), AOL (Steve Case), Amazon (Jeff Bezos), Subway sandwiches (Peter Buck, Fred DeLuca), "Star Wars" (George Lucas) and even Beanie Babies (Ty Warner). Does anyone doubt that these members of the reviled 1% have enriched the country in significant ways?

Even more to the point is that all of these club-400 elites were once just like "us." Jobs worked on the first Apple computer in a garage on a shoestring budget. He had vision, not wealth, to propel him to fame and fortune. Oprah Winfrey (No. 139) rose from poverty to TV queen through determination, hard work and a couple of lucky breaks. Even Warren Buffett, No. 2 on the Forbes list, started out looking very much like just another hardworking middle-class kid with good Midwestern values.

I checked out the Forbes 400 earlier and was thinking pretty much the same thing, especially since a bunch of those on the list are Democrats.

Will Eric Schmidt Run Apple?

In light of what's happening at Apple with the upsetting situation of Steve Jobs taking another leave of absence from the company due to his health, I can't help but wonder at the same time why there is a sudden management overhaul over at Google.

 Change is the only thing that is constant in life.  This could become disruptive innovation at its best.

Your thoughts?

Posted by:  Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

The World Is Insanely Sad Today: Steve Jobs Dies

Photo courtesy Wired (as noted by link shown below)

Considered the Thomas Edison of our time, Steve Jobs (1955-2011) died today.  We thank him for changing the world - making it a much better place to live.  May he rest in peace.  Our condolences to his family and all the Apple loyalists.

Wired (photo courtesy of Wired)
New York Times
The Washington Post
LA Times
CNN

Steve Jobs Wikipedia

The Global Small Business Blog:

Related posts (Apple)
Related posts (Steve Jobs)
Related posts (iPad)

Revolutionary Global Entrepreneur: Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

On the theme of mourning the loss of Steve Jobs as well as celebrating his success, here's a look at what some promising Indian entrepreneurs had to say about him.  There's a reason for posting so much about Steve Jobs.  If you take the time to read what everyone is saying, you can set a new direction for your business and your life.

Here are a couple of comments before you click on the link below:

Anand, Kuliza, “Steve jobs is a truly inspirational leader for our generation. His greatest legacy would not just be the products he created but the number of innovative companies he will inspire.”

Kallidil Kalidasan, MindHelix, “The man who moved computers from a room to a portable box. Man responsible for the smartphone revolution! Really a sad day! Truly, Steve changed the world immeasurably!”

Kshitij Minglani, Homebuy360, “It was not about technology, not about creating a product that sells, but empowering the human race by creating change agents. And, as we leave for office today, we carry his thought in our pockets.”

Divyesh Kharade, Deltecs, “The world will not be the same any more. Steve Jobs re-defined and re-designed people’s life like never before. Truly the darkest day for all technology innovators! R.I.P Steve Jobs: An apple will be co-related to you more than Newton”

Read the entire article: Indian Entrepreneurs Salute Steve Jobs

Related article:  Why Hasn't India Produced an Innovator Like the Apple Founder?  And this is intriguing as well:   Steve Jobs, Atari Employee Number 40

Photo credit:  here.

iPad Goes Global

iPad, an Apple product, made its global debut. The rollout included the U.K., Germany, Japan, and six other countries.

Read more here.

Another: iPad Makes Foreign Debut

See our previous posts about the iPad here, here and here.

Photo credit: Laurel Delaney, 5/29/10, Apple store downtown Chicago

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

App Obsession Goes Global

The app obsession has gone global. App downloads grew this year but 2011 was a turning point: This was the first year that these mobile devices outsold desktop and laptop PCs.

We mobile consumers demonstrated this very clearly both in the U.S. and abroad: Apple this month hit 18 billion downloads total on its iOS App Store, and Google’s Android Market likewise hit 10 billion.

Find out why here and what to look for in 2012.

Illustration credit here.

After Assad

From James H. Anderson, at World Affairs, "After the Fall: What’s Next for Assad":

In a spectacular case of bad timing and even worse judgment, Vogue magazine published a glam profile of President Bashar al-Assad’s wife last March, just around the time her husband’s regime started brutalizing unarmed regime protestors. Deeming Asma al-Assad “the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies,” the puff piece glossed over the dictatorial essence of the Assad dynasty and missed altogether the fact that it was about to experience the heavy weather of the Arab Spring.

Assad has cast himself as the only thing standing between order and a sectarian bloodbath, denouncing the unarmed protestors as “saboteurs” and “terrorists” while unleashing snipers, tanks, artillery, and even naval gunfire against unarmed civilians, killing, according to the UN’s very conservative estimates, more than three thousand and imprisoning ten thousand more since March 2011.

The apple does not fall far from the dictatorial tree. In February 1982, Bashar’s father, Hafez al-Assad, killed an estimated twenty thousand civilians in putting down a rebellion in Hama (now, understandably, a hot spot in today’s insurgency). The massacre gave rise to the phrase “Hama Rules,” which became shorthand for extreme brutality. But Assad the younger faces a much broader and more determined opposition than his father ever did, and the trajectory of his slow-motion downfall is becoming increasingly clear. So much so that the question in Syria today is not only how to get rid of the tyrant, but what the nation will look like when he’s gone.

Also, at Telegraph UK, "The UN intensifies pressure on Syria as Turkey compares Bashar al-Assad to Hitler."

Bet the Farm on This One: Tesla Motors

Just as Apple reshaped our world on music and cool gadgets, Tesla Motors will do the same for the automotive industry.  This is definitely a company to watch.  Tesla is named for electrical engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla.

What makes its cars disruptively innovative?  Tesla's electric cars use energy efficiently, don't pollute, and will help eliminate dependence on oil.

Tesla vehicles liberate their owners from the petroleum-burning paradigm and associated inconveniences. The idea of time-consuming and costly detours to the gas station, routine oil changes, and frequent maintenance quickly becomes rather "last century."  Owners drive their Roadsters all day long - to work, to errand, and on joy rides; at the end of the day, they simply return home and plug in. While the car quietly charges, the owners enjoy their evening, and wake up to a fresh, fully-charged car each morning.

 Doesn't that sound like a winning formula towards a sustainable, solar electric global economy?

Learn more about the future of automobiles here.  Executive bios here.  Toyota involvement here.  Yes, there's been a recall (single incident/single car), but that's hiccup in the grand scheme of things.

Posted by:  Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

Joint Center For Political Studies 40th Anniversary

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

By Norris McDonald

Anniversary Dinner at The Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C.

It was quite and event last night. I don't get to go black tie very often, so this was a special night for me. I was a Special Guest at the American Association of Blacks in Energy table. The luminaries were there: Clyburns, Butterfield, Ford, Cummings, and more. I reconnected with some people I had not seen in years. Did a little networking. Okay. I had more than one glass of wine with my meal: the dinner wine list included Chateau St. Michelle "Indian Wells" Columbia Valley, Chardonnay-2007 and LeCrema, Sonoma Coast, Pinot Noir-2008.

The first course of Lump Crab Salad with Crushed Avocado was marvelous. The avocado really brought out the natural taste of the crab meat. Having lived on the Chesapeake Bay for 3 years with free crabs in the creek in my backyard, I am a connoisseur of crab and have put every conceivable concoction on it. So I finally just like the crab meat with nothing on it so that you can taste the actual meat, instead of Old Bay seasoning. The second course of Grilled Beef Filet was tender, juicy and accessorized with Southern Succotash, Sweet Potato, and Red Eye Gravy. The small portion was perfect for a guy moving away from red meat. The Apple "Tatin," cinnamon Ice Cream, Lemon Sable was a great finishing touch.

Joint Center Chairman of the Board of Governors Roderick D. Gillum gave Welcome Remarks and NAACP National Board of Directors Chairwoman Roslyn M. Brock gave the Invocation. Joint Center President and CEO Ralph B. Everett and National Dinner Chair and AT&T North Carolina President Cynthia G. Marshall gave remarks. Valerie Jarret (everybody knows her by now) gave surprise remarks (she was not on the evening's program). The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. received the Louis E. Martin Great American Award and gave, as usual, an inspirational keynote speech.

Sponsors included: AT&T, The Stafford Foundation, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, United Health Group, WalMart, Norma Ketay Asnes, Verizon, AARP, Aflac, Amgen Inc., Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc, Best Buy Co Inc, CH2M Hill, Comcast, DCI Group, LLC, Entergy Corporation, ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, Kraft Foods, Lily USA, LLC, Lockheed Martin Corporation, National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, Pepco Holdings, Inc, Perennial Strategy Group/ServiceMaster, Southern Company, Time Warner Cable, United States Chamber of Commerce and United States Telecom Association.

Afro Blue, Marcus Johnson and Benjamin Lee provided music and singing.

Inaugurating New Mayor of Global City Chicago

Before Rahm Emanuel (pictured above) officially becomes Mayor of global city Chicago -- any minute now -- ... a picture taken of him October 23, 2010 at the Apple store opening Lincoln Park, Chicago.

Photo credits:  ©Laurel Delaney.  All rights reserved.

The Rest of the World Awaits the iPhone 4S

Effective November 11th, Apple will be offering its iPhone 4S (pictured) to:

Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania and South Korea.

Seventy (70) countries are expected to be selling the iPhone 4S before the close of 2011.

Read the entire article here.

America's Favorite Pies: Are They Exportable?

I visited a couple of these places online (refer below) to see whether they ship anywhere in the world.  Many ship within the United States.

Think there's an export opportunity here?

If the companies can freeze product and ship safely locally, which many are, there's a good chance they can take their product across borders (a little more expensive on the shipping but to customer overseas, I suspect they'd be willing to pay to try an unforgettable American pie).

Visit:
America's Most Unforgettable Pies

Photo:  Levee High Caramel Apple Pecan Pie from The Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery in Kimmswick, Missouri

Russia Gets Serious About E-Readers

Russia-based Plastic Logic is on a mission:

To lead a revolution in the way people acquire, organize and consume information. We are using our proprietary technology leadership in plastic electronics (pictured above) to create a range of products enabling immediate information access, organization and consumption. We are a dynamic, fast-growing entrepreneurial company.

They have been funded by top-tier venture funding sources in Asia, Europe and the U.S. to complete product development in the U.K. and the USA.  In addition, they desire to a run specialized, scalable production facility in Germany, construct a second, volume production facility in Moscow, Russia and build strong go-to-market teams.

Learn more about Plastic Logic and read:

Apple, Microsoft, Plastic Logic Go Global For the Billion-Dollar Educational Table Market by Fast Company

Related posts:

Who Has the Edge On Wireless Reading Devices? (10/30/09)


Opening a New Global Frontier:  The iPad (4/3/10)

Video of Apple's Grand Opening of New Lincoln Park, Illinois Retail Store

Video credit:  Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

Deciding Against a Life-Sentence of Selling Soap

The Economist offers "the outlook for entrepreneurs in India."  And yes - we are all looking for the next Infosys.  One particular comment in the article stood out for me:

And yet, for all these barriers, new firms are emerging in unexpected places. Vinayak Chatterjee, who graduated from IIMA in 1981, first joined a consumer-goods firm. After deciding against a life-sentence of selling soap, he went on to establish Feedback Infra, an engineering and consulting firm in Delhi that specialises in infrastructure projects. With 1,250-odd staff, half of them engineers, and a list of blue-chip and government clients, it exemplifies the kind of high-end services that India could excel at. Mr Chatterjee reckons his costs are a quarter of rich-world firms’. Big parts of this business are “no different fundamentally from IT outsourcing”, he says. The priority for now, though, is to build scale at home. With about $50m of revenue, growing by about 30% a year, the firm is on its way to that goal. A flotation would be a natural next stage in a few years’ time.

Reminds me of the bold statement Steve Jobs once made to former Pepsi exec John Sculley when he tried (and succeeded) to woo Sculley to run Apple:  "... prefer to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?" (refer to 1983-1993).

So you can choose:  Become a global entrepreneur or sell soap in India for the rest of your life!

Read the entire article here.

Illustration credit:  Feedback Infra