Poodles Can Fly!

Poodles Can Fly!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Horace Mann Elementary School 2010 Summary STAR Results

Recently California released the results of the annual STAR testing, a putative measure of the teaching effectiveness of schools in the state.

Aside: My cynical take on the STAR tests is that they are predictive of the success of a school district in keeping the Federal funds flowing into the district. They may or may not predict academic success. They are also what we have and much like having a hammer and solving problems...

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Clouds Part. Suddenly, Vision is Much Clearer

The process of researching a new report requires me to read through the set of patent filings from a single company - actually a single design team - in a short period of time. The filing history goes back into the latter half of the 90's and ends in the current half of the naughts. It is interesting watching the evolution of the approach moving from design point applications of technology and becoming more general as the actual patents are granted.

During this process I had the strong sense that I was looking over the shoulders of a set of designers undertaking to solve a set of problems over an extended period and seeing the evolution of their understanding of the problem and solution spaces. The application titles referred to measuring light levels at specific public locations as an example of a very specific point solution.

Without getting to deeply into the specifics of the company and technologies involved - this activity is after all in support of a new product - the reaction when I expressed the above opinion to the companies industry competitors the reaction was less than positive. "It's all very obvious don't you know." I was very curious about what I would hear when I finally had a chance to speak with one of the principals from the group.

Again, not getting too deeply into the details, the company was organized to perform outsourced product development for a largish multinational technology manufacturer. The work that led to the patent filings I am reading also led to actual products that are in the marketplace today.

Unfortunately, there are a number of hot new startups of the opinion that their revolutionary ideas are new and unique. Bummer. Should have done some competitive research and maybe considered a licensing agreement before coming to market.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

A Blast From the Past - Far Wierder Than Finding an Old Presentation on the Web

Received a communication late yesterday from a very determined individual that wished to know the latest about Broadband in Gas, a topic we covered in a report about five years ago. The idea is that by using a particular type of RF technology it should be possible to utilize natural gas infrastructure to deliver broadband services to a dwelling. Given that the medium is underground and inside either a plastic or metallic pipe the RF spectrum is empty and unregulated, and has an available spectrum running from DC to light with essentially unlimited transmitted power.

'I gotcha 5 GHz and 60dbm right here pally.'



The idea never reached escape velocity for a number of reasons, most of which were financial and political, having nothing to do with the technical feasibility. The company promoting the idea ultimately re-purposed the approach and did some work on (mostly) non-invasive remote measurement of internal pipeline damage and now seems to have vanished. For a natural gas utility the potential value of the spectrum inside the pipes is enormous; hence the calls and email.

It turns out the call was triggered by this link: How the heck did this happen? which shows up in Google as having been posted within the past month or so.

Automated content generator gone bad? Early indication of renewed interest in the approach?

Who knows?

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

All Things Considered, That Held Up Surprisingly Well

Presentation to Antennas and Systems in 2008

In early 2008 Kirsten and I were asked to write an article titled "Is 2008 the Year of ZigBee?" I was also invited to make a presentation with that title to the Antennas and Systems Conference. Talk about pressure. The astute reader will notice that by September most of the year is well situated in the past, safe from any forecasts and predictions made by yours truly. It turns out that we didn't do a bad job of it. Not perfect mind you; definitely someplace between a 'Gentleman's C' and a solid B, which is not bad for analysts.

So perhaps I can be forgiven for the definite cringe experienced when I recently came across the presentation out there where the past never dies.

There are definitely some cringe worthy moments in there, although surprisingly the themes and conclusions hold up pretty well even after two years have passed.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Autocar drives the Nissan Leaf, walks away with a grin — Autoblog Green

Autocar drives the Nissan Leaf, walks away with a grin — Autoblog Green

More on the Leaf.

Money Quote: "If you don't drive more than 70 or 80 miles a day, then the Leaf might just be the perfect planet-friendly transport for you."

Wearable Location-Based Mobile Social Network

Wearable Location-Based Mobile Social Network

Let's see if I can do this justice.


The idea is that you carry a device that acts like a souped up active RFID tag. These devices communicate tag to tag using an IEEE 802.15.4 radio with a proprietary network stack. The contents of the tag is a social affinity list which characterizes the characteristics of the person you are most interested in meeting. The tag is also a Bluetooth device that you pair with your cell phone.

When the tags 'discover' each other they exchange affinity lists. If there is a match, your cell phones exchange brief text messages and you determine whether to meet or to check each other out on Facebook or whatever.

The marketing scenario is young people going about their daily business and meet serendipitously. It's hard to imagine adoption reaching the critical density required to make this particular scenario work although a helping hand from network operators might create the necessary volumes.

However, what if they handed out the tags as a party favor at something like The Lilith Fair or Lolapalooza? Or any other big festival that draws a large number of socially active individuals? Trade shows and conventions are other obvious opportunities, which to be fair are included in the marketing material.

One question is why a 2.4 GHz radio instead of one of the sub-Gig radios for longer range?

Another point is that the term 'Location-Based' is a bit of a misnomer given that your location or identity is not exchanged by the tags. A better term might be 'Proximity-Based' since this is what really triggers the activity.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Interesting Wireless Sensor Network Patents

Do you recognize these patents?

7,103,511

7,697,492

If not, you should. Need to know why? Contact one of these companies:

West Technology Research Solutions LLC

Elster Electricity 
Aclara 
Itron 
Tendril 
Landis & Gyr
GE Appliances 
EKA Systems
Tantalus
Comverge 
SilverSprings Networks
Intermatic
Hawkings Technologies
HomeSeer Technologies
Cooper USA
LS Research 
Advance Sensoring Technology 
Mesh City
Cypress 
Trilliant Incorporated

Still Waiting for the ZigBee Green Energy Specification...

In the mean time, the world moves on.

EnOcean and TI Announce Energy Harvesting Cooperation

New Research from WTRS

High Speed Wireless Connectivity: It's not just for HD Video Anymore.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Thursday, June 10, 2010

More Nissan Leaf: I'm Going to the Mat with my Manager on This One

Instapundit Takes Sales 101 and asks; Does Nissan really expect Leaf buyers to plunk down $2K for a charger then order the car?

Well, Nissan probably does.

From the linked article the purchase process for the Nissan Leaf:

  • Reserve
  • Home Assessment
  • Charger Installation
  • Order
Why would you ask the buyer to pay $2000 for installation of the dedicated circuit that is a required prerequisite for the Leaf purchase prior to actually negotiating the purchase?

Smart selling. By the time the buyer is ready to negotiate specific details of the purchase they are already $2000 worth of expense into the process.

Walk away from the deal at that point and the buyer is stuck with the $2000 bill for a charging system they won't be using. Most folks, not having shared class time with my Engineering Econ Analysis professor have not had the mantra 'Sunk costs are non-recoverable' drilled into their heads.

The sales guys can book the deal at 'Charger Installation' although they can't recognize the revenue until 'Order.' Is that a great model or what?

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Test Driving the i-Mieve

Driving the i-Miev from San Francisco to Vacaville without air conditioning

Money quote: In Vacaville, the journalists would all be fed while each i-Miev would be hooked to the quick charger. After 20 minutes each on the charger all the i-Mievs would be juiced to about 80-percent of battery capacity. Another 34 miles on the I-80 would then have the electric cars cruising into California’s capital, Sacramento. It was like the days of stagecoaches­—San Francisco to Sacramento with just one stop in Vacaville to change horses.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Connectivity Week discussion of Electric Vehicles

Speaker: Doug Houseman of Enernex

Title: The Electric Vehicle and its Place in Society

Mr. Houseman began his speech with a comment that "Adopting Electric Vehicles may represent one of the largest and controversial changes that we could make as a society... Comparable with eliminating marriage..."

Electric vehicles are becoming real and available from traditional car manufacturers. In rolling out these vehicles there is a need to understand the market for cars, the impact they will have on everything from rest stops on interstate highways to crash test standards.... This panel will look at market projections, changes to Federal infrastructure, real world testing, nascent standards for interoperability, and emerging issues for electric vehicles.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Connectivity Week

Connectivity Week

A very high value event for participants in the Energy Management, Building Controls, Smart Grid or Demand Response industries

Monday, May 24, 2010

Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914 – May 22, 2010), R.I.P.

John Derbyshire gets it right.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/3yqmb45

"When I came to try my own hand at writing a pop-math book, my publisher asked me to try to get blurbs from “mathematicians whose names are well-known to the general public.” That, I told them, is a set with a very small cardinal number. They said to just do my best. I naturally thought of Martin, and wrote him to ask for a blurb. I mentioned, as diffidently as I could, that I had given friendly reviews to a couple of his own books.

I received a very touching letter in reply. Martin’s wife had died a couple of years before, he said, and his grief had made it difficult for him to concentrate. He was trying out an anti-depressant medication, and really wasn’t up to reading a book with full attention just then. However, he had read some of my work, and trusted me sufficiently that I was welcome to write a blurb myself and attach his name to it. I duly did so..."

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Department of Leading Indicators

"Why New Hires Bail - And How to Prevent It"

The title of an email that appeared in my INBOX this morning.

Goes along with all the outreach from job boards that I am receiving lately.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

I Coulda Had a Wireless Solution

Downtown San Jose now has automated parking meters. See the wireless occupancy sensor pucks embedded in the street? Me either.


Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The 'Smart' Grid Opportunity - The Counter Argument

There is no 'National' power grid. What are the consequences for Smart Energy and the HAN?

Friday, March 19, 2010

You Don't Say

Did you think that the IBO was about admissions preferences to Georgetown?

SJUSD IBO Links

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Of course Willie Brown has a point of view

Willies World at SF Chronicle

People either love him or hate him. One of the best strategists willing to go on the record shares his thoughts.

This weeks money quote:

"We're a funny nation - we have health programs for the poor (Medicaid), the elderly (Medicare), and of course for people with high-paying jobs - leaving out all those people in the middle who either have nothing or have to pay high amounts through employee contributions.
It's an issue. But for voters, it's not the main issue now. The main issue in this nation is whether or not you have a job.
After spending nearly a year on health care reform, it's awfully tough for President Obama and the rest of the Democrats to accept that the moment is lost, and that they need to shift focus to getting America back to work.
But it's a matter of simple political math. No jobs = no votes in 2010"