FiberGeneration

Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun ! (Urte Berri On !)

Dear Fibergeneration Readers : I wish you and your loved ones a truly wonderful year 2008. Enjoy the ride, make it as green as possible, and don't forget : Life is too short to take it seriously. Happy New Year !

Endless Shameless Proudless Bastards

The cupidity and the stupidity of some so-called human beings will never stop amaze me. Read this one. Who the heck said "Change The World" ?...

That's why I keep thinking the iPhone IS Testing 2.0

See here.
And apply the same concept to testing devices or networks. You'll get the idea. Granted.

Ma Gray Has You By The Calls *

The old story about Alexander Graham Bell stealing ideas for the telephone from someone else resurfaces, with a new book due to be on the shelves on Jan. 7.
Quote Yahoo! : In "The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret," journalist Seth Shulman argues that Bell — aided by aggressive lawyers and a corrupt patent examiner — got an improper peek at patent documents Elisha Gray had filed, and that Bell was erroneously credited with filing first.

If you are interested in learning more on this long-lasting dispute " Who Really Invented the Telephone? ", the Telephone Tribute report here has the answer(s).
More on Shulman's perspective in the article here.

* original quote found on Wikipedia.

Post-scriptum : this story makes me think about my own idea. What if, in 100 years from now, somebody else than me will be credited for the reinvention of the Test & Measurement industry ? Well, I have the answer (al)ready : no one cares about T&M ;-)

Photo credit : Per Hardestam. Photo available on Stock.xchng here, royalty-free as usual.

2007 : The Digital Divide

Thanks to The Broadband Hub, this highly interesting presentation by Dr. Robert Atkinson of The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF). Although it's 100% USA-focused, I'm sure most of the ratios apply to the rest of the Western World too (incl. France of course and unfortunately).

Among many key figures which help understanding the real situation in regards of Broadband access & use, the one about the perception of the Internet by Disabled persons (page 39) is quite questioning : the Internet, which normally should be considered as one of the most powerful tool to get Disabled people on board, is not. There is a good news behind the bad one : there is plenty of stuff still to be done for real innovation and entrepreneurship in this domain. "Change the World", right ?...

ps: also found in this presentation, the Virginia Tech’s eCorridors Broadband Access Map, that enables real-time, bottomup broadband mapping. Got to find the same for Europe. Or create it if it doesn't exist yet !...

FTTH Market Overview, An Old Yet Useful Study

Digging the Web for data on FTTx Fiber-To-The-Something key players in the Bay Area, I found this 125+ pages document. Quite an extensive overview of the FTTx markets, although the study is dated 2003. Considering that the Telecoms industry just recovered by the end of 2006, IMHO most of the informations you'll find in there are still pretty much relevant - simply change names when M&A apply.

Ehrhardt & Ehrhardt consulting firm website here (in Dutch)

Season' s Greetings, Take One

Dear FiberGeneration Readers :
To all of you who do celebrate Christmas, I wish you and your loved ones a happy holiday.
To everyone else *, enjoy the day and the night.
To all : enjoy the time with your loved ones.
Peace Out, and Carpe Diem.

* especially to You, Dear (Un)known Reader from Ankara, Turkey.

How To Grab Market's Attention During The Holidays Season, Lesson Number One, By Fake Steve Jobs

Forbes' s senior editor Dan Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs, is currently offering one of the best yet impressive lesson of viral marketing to the Blogosphere.

A masterpiece of buzz, FSJ' s latest posts about Apple willing to sue him - read : the author, aka Dan Lyons - because of some confidential infos' leakage are just generating a tremendous traffic on the Fake Steve Jobs blog.

For those of you who didn't realize, it's Christmas' time. Holidays season means low traffic on the Internet superhighways. Except for people who know how to grab attention of the press and the masses.

Post-scriptum : reading the comments and the comments on the comments is just plain fun, with lots of people who really seem to believe the whole story to those who think FSJ is going to retire.

Now, it may be appropriate to highlight a couple of basic rules :

- rule #1 : never ever take what you read on a blog for granted.

- rule #2 : consequence : always verify the information you've just found before using it.

- rule #3 : never ever take what you read on a fake blog for granted.

- rule #4 : consequence : always cross-check the information you've just read before believing it.

- rule #5 : never ever take what you read on Fake Steve Jobs' blog for true.

- rule #6 : consequence : always make fun out of it.

bonus rule, #7 : when Dan Lyons meets Guy Kawasaki, expect the outcomes to be outstanding unusual marketing.

Global Flying

I took this photo today, somewhere nearby Disneyland Paris. Look at the sky : the only clouds you see are those generated by the airliners's prop' engines. Scarring.

See this post's geographical context.
geo:tool=blockrocker.com
geotagged
geo:lat=48.86309
geo:lon=2.85328

En Route To A New Adventure

Now I can tell you. I'm happy - er, I'm delighted to announce you that I'll be working at the french city of Pau for the next year. Together with fellow entrepreneur Jean-Hughes Lauret (link in french), I will be heading the business development team of Pau Broadband Country (link in french). As my new boss Jean-Pierre Jambes (link in french) says, our mission is to attract researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and users to invent the lifestyle that comes with ultra-broadband.

When I started my career almost 25 years ago (6th of January, 1983) at the French Railways, the very first thing I've heard about Fiber Optics was : "FIber To The Home is tomorrow". Today, I'm pleased to say : "The Future is now".

post-scriptum : I'll come back later on the whole story, however I'd like to highlight the following point : I've got this absolutely once-in-a-lifetime type of job thanks to... blogging. More precisely, by reading and commenting Mr. Jean-Michel Billaut's blog. Quite an interesting experience to me, provided that I've got my other job (this training & consulting firm I'm creating for a french group) thru traditional networking. Lesson : there is no absolute rule in today's business. Maybe just this one : be yourself, and stand for it. And maybe this one too : One For All, All For One.

Happy Birthday, Dakota !

My favorite aircraft of all time, the Douglas DC-3 / C-47 "Dakota" celebrates its 72th birthday today.
Why do I sincerely love this machine since four decades or so ? I don't know. Maybe something to with Design. Look at the DC-3 carefully, and you'll probably understand what Simplicity means.

History and stories of/about the Dakota here, and here.
Photo credit : Gert Jan Kool. See lots of other astonishing photos of stunning airplanes here.

Climate Changes : Whose fault ?

Earlier today, Al Gore addressed the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. You will find lots of reports and comments on his speech over the days to come, starting here, thanks to Associated Press and Yahoo.

I won't comment Mr. Gore's sentence : "[] I am going to speak an inconvenient truth: My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali."
The story is, since a couple of weeks I was looking for a nice photo to illustrate an old saying from my first General Manager at the Optical Communications Measurements Division of Agilent Technologies. Coming directly from India to Germany, he often used sayings to push his ideas.
This photo of Al Gore, Nobel Prize, former US Vice-President and former future President, is the perfect illustration of an indian saying on finger pointing.
What is it ? When you point your finger on someone, or vice-versa, when someone points his finger on you to blame you of something, here's the reality : since human beings got 5 fingers at birth, the one you point on the person in front of you tells that this guy is accountable for 20% of the problem; your thumb points either to the ground or the sky : that's Mother Earth, or God (or The Force, you name it), for 20%. Your last three fingers, gently folded on your palm ? they're pointing on you, Buddy. YOU are responsible for 60% of the problem.

Next time you do finger-pointing against someone, better think twice.

post-scriptum : in the case of Mr. Gore, he already apologized for not being able to fight Global Warming when he was at the White House.

Photo Credit : AP Photo/Dita Alangkara.

"Chloe, Jack's beeping you"

French entrepreneur and Internet pioneer Jean-Michel Planche aka JMP recently asked his blog's readers for their "Computing DNA" (note : link in french).
Writing down my own, I realized the true meaning of the Moore's Law.
For those of you who know '24', this video shows how Jack Bauer's journey would have look like back in 1994. Who knows how it will look like in thirteen years from now ?

Direct link to the video here.
Visit College Humor website here.

The Magic Of The iPhone (and its ecosystem)

Since I bought the iPhone two weeks ago, people don't stop asking me questions about it. To make it short, they all go "wow, unbelievable !" first, then they ask me the question about the pricing : "how much is it ?". I then demonstrate the key features, i.e. the phone, the iPod, the web browser, the email, the camera, playing with the MultiTouch UI. Most of the time, this short demo is enough to convince the guy that 399€ is a fair price for such a jewel.

However, sometimes the guy goes "well, you may need it for business to spend so much money". I totally agree. The iPhone is THE perfect tool for new innovative businesses. Twice over the last week, I've been showing the iPhone to prospects - read : target customers for the consulting & training business I'm setting up. I simply explained which kind of new support and assistance services the iPhone could enable (for instance, how YouTube can be used for online training). Each time, I got the same reaction : "give it to our people, and you'll get the business with us".

Beyond that kind of new services based on existing/simple/standard features of the iPhone, you can create new ways of dealing with a problem, means you can create new/innovative solutions for your customers based on the iPhone. Watch this, and you'll get the picture.

Change The World

Over the last few days, I've been dealing with people who should learn the true meaning of "teamworking". For those guys, "sharing" and "collaboration" are obscur concepts promoted by some psychologists. Don't talk about the Web 2.0, whilst they even don't use email to communicate with their so-called team mates.

In the meantime, I also discussed with those team mates. I realized one thing : give people a smile, and they'll give you the World. It works both ways : when I play the Pierre Cardin salesman at this menswear store, I always welcome the visitors (not yet customers, see the difference ;-) with a large smile and big "hello, how are you today ?" kind of greeting. Outcome : 80% of those visitors become customers, most of them loyal. When I go shopping myself, the same large smile on my face will bring me a better service 80% of the time.

Conclusion : smile, and you'll make the World a better place.

Leveraging On A Waste Of Time

Formula One champion Fernando Alonso just signed up a 2-years contract with the french team Renault Sports, which he left at the end of 2006 to join the Brits of McLaren.

The 2007 season was kind of a disaster for Alonso, who couldn't become F1 World Champion for the third time in a row because of some conflict with his own teammate, the young Lewis Hamilton.
The question is : did Alonso lost a year at McLaren ? Did Renault lost a year too, not being in the top-3 teams this year ? Answer is : not at all. Fernando Alonso has had the unique chance to learn a lot about another team, another philosophy, another strategy. Renault Sports has had the opportunity to test different technical solutions to overcome its interim misfortune. Combining both experiences will bring both of them to the next level.

What's the point ? This : change the names for whoever you want in your own business, and you'll understand why sometimes companies let their best people go to the competition for a while and then bring them back home.

Why Compact Fluorescent Lamps Matter

The fabulous Common Craft Show is here.

Another Bubble In The Burst

Think the Facebook hype is too much (I do) ? Pump up the volume, get up, and watch this hilarious video. You'll get the real picture.

Visit The Richter Scales here.
YouTube video here.

Explanations To Readers

Dear Fibergeneration Readers :

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, my blogging rate is slowing down dramatically since quite a while now.
Explanation is simple : I'm currently involved in the creation of a new company, which is both fun and time consuming. Actually, I haven't stopped surfing the Web and reading the news and learning new things all day long. I simply don't have enough time to write stuff down for you.
Sure, I could post lots of information : for instance, the resources I'm using for this new business, or the way we've defined the strategy, the business model, and the action plan, or the reasons why I've chosen only 3 customers to start with in 2008, etc. Fact is : it's all confidential, Baby ;-)
I promiss : as soon as we go off the stealth mode, I'll share everything with you, including the above AND the daily life in this new venture.
On top, I've also been involved with an exciting mission at a French city willing to promote its FTTH network outside the local borders. Another couple of days to wait, and I'll be able to disclose the whole thing, as it's going to be an exciting 1-year long journey (maybe I'll have the chance to be hired for the Season 2 and Season 3 ;-) in the Ultra-Broadband World...
I even totally forgot to use Twitter as a micro-blogging tool. On this one, you can count on me to post daily stuff, from my (lovely) iPhone.

Think Different, Enjoy The Ride, and Carpe Diem.
_Marc