Teknovis

I finished reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell this weekend. For more information about it see Outliers or Outliers (book), and you can buy it at Outliers: The Story of Success.

I enjoyed reading it. It was fairly easy going, and it was always interesting.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

There are plenty of reviews online already, so I am not going to add another. However, there was one very interesting piece of information that surprised me, so I will describe it here.

Chapter seven discusses plane crashes, and it describes a concept called the Power Distance Index (PDI). I will summarise this index by stating that a high DPI basically means that a subordinate is unlikely to be confident enough to contradict a superior, whereas a low DPI means that a subordinate sees himself/herself as an equal to his/her superior.

In the context of flying a plane, it is more desirable to have a pilot and co-pilot who come from a low DPI culture so that they can work well as a team of equals. In other words, if the pilot is doing something incorrect, then you want to co-pilot to be comfortable enough to clearly point-out the problem.

The book lists the five countries in the world where the PDI is highest between the pilot and the co-pilot. They are (in descending order):

• Brazil
• South Korea
• Morocco
• Mexico
• Philippines

It is an interesting mix covering south and central America, Africa, and Asia. I am not able to see any pattern there.

However, the book also lists the five countries in the world where the PDI is lowest between the pilot and the co-pilot. They are (in descending order again):

• United States
• Ireland
• South Africa
• Australia
• New Zealand

The thing that strikes me here is that they are all English speaking countries, and all former colonies of the UK. (This makes me wonder why the UK is not in the mix!)

I do not find this in any way surprising, because in a general sense these are all countries that share a language (English) that does not support formalities, and they provide relaxed workplace environments where subordinates and superiors are all friends!

Tags: Ireland, UK

It has been a busy week for Apple regarding its patents in court!

Firstly,it had a win in the US where it has (temporarily) blocked sales of some Samsung devices! I think that Google will quickly implement a work-around, so I do not expect consumers to notice the ban in practice! For more details on this story see Apple enforces Galaxy Nexus smartphone ban in the US.

Meanwhile, on the same day, a court in the UK ruled in favour of HTC by finding that some of Apple’s patents were in fact invalid! See HTC defeats Apple in swipe-to-unlock patent dispute for more details. I love the word “obvious” – it is so powerful ;)

It will be interesting to see what happens next, given that the two rulings are somewhat contradictory!

Tags: Apple, Google, HTC, Samsung, UK

Imagine a world where a single company buys radio spectrum licenses, and then rolls-out infrastructure, to create a radio access network (RAN). Imagine that this company then sells this service to mobile phone network operators, who can use it with no capital costs! I call this concept RAN-as-a-Service (RaaS)!

It seems that this idea is becoming more of a reality! Vodafone and Telefónica/O2 are sharing radio resources in the UK according to Vodafone and O2 deal could save around £100m per year, and Vodafone and Three are following suit in Ireland according to Vodafone and 3 in Irish network sharing deal.

Remember – you read about RaaS here first!

Tags: Ireland, O2, Telefónica, Three, UK, Vodafone

It looks like the EU leaders have finally agreed to proceed with a single EU patent, according to EU leaders agree to introduce a single european patent. You can read a brief overview of the torrid time EU patents have had in European Union patent.

I think that the idea of a single streamlined EU patent is brilliant! I think that it is vital for encouraging innovation and economic activity!

Unfortunately, I think that the politicians are going to dilute the idea to suit their own national interests. For example, I am already disappointed with the following aspects of it:

• The court will be split between London, Paris, and Munich :( One court, in a single location, would be far better!
• The official languages will be English, French, and German. It should be English only! Languages are important, and they are an integral part of our culture. However, patenting activity is not a cultural activity! One language facilitates communications (both within and outside the EU), and it reduces unnecessary costs.
• It appears that Italy and Spain will remain outside of the EU patents. I would prefer if they were included, but ultimately I think that their self-exclusion will hurt themselves more than anybody else!

This really cannot happen soon enough!

Tags: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK

Last week I read that the UK’s courts have declared that access to The Pirate Bay must be blocked in Pirate Bay must be blocked in UK, High Court rules.

It is disappointing that the UK is becoming the most censored country in the EU in terms of Internet access :|

Tags: Censorship, The Pirate Bay, UK

It looks like there will soon be a new TLD according to UK.gov gives nod to .scot!

I was going to write about this yesterday, but I was afraid it would be confused with some of April Fool’s Day madness!

Tags: UK

Liam Stacey, a 21 year old student, has been jailed for comments he made on Twitter, according to Student jailed over Muamba comments.

I have not seen the exact comments that Liam made, so I cannot comment on whither or not they were racist. However, regardless of their content, I firmly believe that Liam has the right to say whatever he wants (online or otherwise).

It is also a sad day for the UK! I am amazed that its judicial system has been reduced to this level of stupidity by policing teenagers’ comments on social networks.

Tags: Censorship, Twitter, UK

I read Teen charged over Facebook post this evening, and frankly I am amazed at the stupidity of this charge! (It is a very short article, so I will include it here.)

A teenager has been charged after making comments on Facebook about the deaths of six British soldiers in Afghanistan last week.

Azhar Ahmed (19), posted the comments on his profile page and has been charged with a racially aggravated public order offence, according to West Yorkshire Police.

A police spokesman said Mr Ahmed, of Fir Avenue, Ravensthorpe, West Yorkshire, was bemoaning the level of attention the British soldiers who died in a bomb blast last week received compared to Afghan civilians who have died in the war.

Mr Ahmed will appear at Dewsbury Magistrates’ court on March 20th.

Making prosecutions against teenagers based upon Facebook comments seems extremely petty to me! Teenagers make stupid comments (it is part of being a teen), and any adult with a bit of sense would just ignore them! Crime must really be low in the UK if this is what the police spend time investigating!

Secondly, without seeing his original comments, his reported comments do not appear racist to me!

Tags: Facebook, UK

A nice interactive graphic from the BBC showing who owes what to whom: Eurozone debt web: Who owes what to whom?

It feels a bit depressing for a Friday afternoon :(

Tags: France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, UK

Facebook is becoming location aware on mobile devices in the EU (or at least in the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain).

For more details see Facebook Deals Launches in Europe.

Tags: Facebook, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK