The Honor System - Perspectives from a Coffee Shop

I normally wouldn't write about Jack Handy type moments in life but I find the following situation intriguing and positive. I live in a large metropolitan area and work in downtown every morning on my way to work I stop at a certain independent shop for coffee. Since I get into the office relatively early I usually stop by at just before 7 a.m. this is a fairly large store that offers prepared foods, a salad bar, etc... At this time in the morning the staff is busy putting out food and making coffee (they serve 15 different types). Since most of the patrons at that time in the morning are there to pickup a coffee and know the specific prices of the various sizes and items they're purchasing and the store shifts into a mode that seems to represent "the Honor System". By this I mean usually a mound of change begins to form on one of the counters at the back since the cash registers are near the front of the store and the staff is preoccupied. Since each transaction is usually $1 to $2 a pile of money quickly builds on this counter - basically patrons make their own change and settle up. In watching this procedure for a number of months interestingly I haven't seen one person either: leave with product without paying, and/or short change the store.

It's nice to think that even in a large sometimes anonymous city that a system like this actually exists and operates. Maybe things aren't as screwed up as the news makes out and there is more good around you than you realize if you only take time to look for it.

Send me any similar situations and I'll add them to this post.

iPod touch Thoughts in the first 24 hours

I just picked up a new iPod Touch 16GB model yesterday and wanted to post some initial impressions on the device, and its likely impact on the future direction of consumer music devices. To start this off I'll admit that while I'm an Apple fan in terms of their products I'm not so overwhelmed by them that I can't see the areas that they could improve upon. As I'd rate it the iPod touch is a very capable product that nicely addresses its currently spot in the firm's iPod line-up. It is however a device and the introduction of some technologies that hold the promise for far more useful and exciting devices in the future.

Before we get to the implications let's deal with the here and now. Since there are a number of solid feature function reviews on the web such as the following:

Engadget - review / & unboxing
Macworld's review
iPod lounge review

So we'll give that a pass and focus on giving some quick hits of things that strike me as noteworthy in having worked with the device so far.



Top things to like about the iPod touch

• Touch interface - is as seamless and elegant as it shows in the demo on the Apple site. I will say that you need to have a modest amount of patience there is the slightest amount of processor lag at times when its moving a significant amount of content. Generally, though the device is fairly snappy in terms of performance and its hard to tell if the above hesitation related to myself and others getting used to the correct gestures to control the touch.
• Bright screen - the quality of the screen in terms of resolution, brightness and contrast help make this device great for viewing vodcasts, movies, etc... I have not experienced any of the brightness issues cited elsewhere on the net (that said my touch shipped with v1.1 of the firmware - which supposedly corrected these issues).
  
• Utility of the onscreen keyboard - I've been pleasantly surprised by the utility of the onscreen keyboard and the ability to type. While its not as quick as a dedicated keyboard similar to a Blackberry it is more than adequate and Apple's version of Suretype helps in terms of offering predictive capabilities in terms of error correction.
  

Top things that need to be fixed on the iPod touch

• Open the development environment - While I realize Apple's reticence to open up their development environment it still seems to be the number one issue slowing down development of a number of useful applications that would increase the utility of the device. You could come up with a long list of useful applications or mini-apps that would increase the value of the touch significantly including: a notepad for quickly scribbling down some thoughts while on the go, information widgets (e.g., weather, news, stocks ...), instant messaging client (while you could argue that communication should be the domain of the iPhone - in my view this is a must add), direct links to other popular websites (e.g., myspace, facebook ...), games (the lack of any basic games shipping with the device that leverage the unique touch interface reflects to me the fact that this device was a bit of a rush job inside Apple). I won't rehash all of the arguments here but I think this post from Will Shipley puts it all into perspective relating to the situation with the iPod touch and iPhone in terms of opening up the development environment to third parties.
  
• Customization of the interface - while this may seem subtle a number of elements that people will want to tackle on these devices in terms of personalizing them are still missing mainly at the Home page level. I realize this is a minor point but the ability to tweak the UI to fit your own style - seems to be a no brainer and was missed this time around. I tend to agree with comments made by others such as Erica Sadun of TUAW
  

Potential Hitch - Strength of Wifi Signal??? One area of question at the moment is the strength of the Wifi antenna and chipset inside the Touch. I've had some sporadic reception issues here on my home network more so than I have with either of the laptops (Macbook and bare bones PC). I'm on the road again next week and should have a better chance to test it in a variety of settings and see if its just a case of interference here or if this is really an issue. (Please feel free to email if you have any thoughts on this.)

Thoughts about the future from the iPod touch.
My take is that the touch is the first device that provides a strong demonstration of a couple of technologies that are likely to substantially change computing in the coming years.

New interface paradigm. The introduction of a new method of interfacing with PDAs/MP3s/Internet Tablets is about to begin. As we've seen the combination of more abundant solid state storage in the form of NAND, improved high resolution displays and more powerful processors to handle the computing requirements the ability to support direct interaction via touch is now possible. My thoughts are that this will open us up to more flexible, mobile and portable devices allowing us as users to better integrate these devices even further into our lives. For example, who can remember the first Palm device launched in the mid 90s with its rudimentary handwriting recognition that was a step beyond the initial introduction with Apple's Newton.

Convergence of wireless connectivity in a small form factor. Given on-going improvements in wireless internet connectivity both fixed and mobile expect that manufacturers will respond by releasing devices like Nokia's N800

This is the first post in the series on my experiences and impressions of the iPod touch look here for:
Part 2 and
Part 3.

"Cop Hater" by Ed McBain - Book Review

After finishing "Nocturne" by Ed McBain, I thought that it was worth going back and checking out some of the earlier novels in the 87th Precinct Series. Cop Hater is the first book in the series and provides an interesting introduction by Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter). Mr. Hunter provides a short background as to the motivation behind the series and the starting point for the development of the 87th Precinct. Interestingly, it sounds as though the publisher at the time was looking to replace an existing author in their stable and approached Mr. Hunter about coming up with a unique concept for an on-going series. Given the success of the 87th Precinct series he clearly hit upon an interesting an different format in terms of having a group of detectives and a station act as the main character in his stories.

Ok enough background - Cop Hater essentially introduces us to the core Detectives in the station Carrella, Bush, (no mention of Fat Ollie Weeks in this novel - we'll just have to see when he gets introduced). The main story line here is that a killer is busy knocking off detectives from the station with the assumption that a "nut" who is a "cop hater" is on the loose. The novel is set in 1950s New York and holds true to the era since McBain wrote the author in 1956. I'm not a huge fan of the 1950s or New York but McBain's solid character development and a relatively solid paced plot keep this book moving. Overall, I plan to move to the next book in the series I sense that McBain is onto something with these characters and the concept of following an entire group of detectives in solving a mystery. I'd rate this one as worth taking up to the cottage and worth a quick skim while sitting by the dock.

Perspectives from "India's Manpower Crunch"

This months Bloomberg magazine has an interesting article by Abhay Singh and Subramaniam Sharma titled "India's Manpower Crunch". The article details a major potential stumbling block on the road to continued strong GDP growth (>9%) namely the country's problematic education system. Singh and Subramaniam lay out the dilemma that faces India's major firms in recruiting and training enough educated staff to meet demand of their global and domestic customers.

Key points from the article include:

• Rapid demand for skilled staff has created an environment of rampant wage inflation where established domestic and international firms are battling for talent. The impact has been an environment of 20%+ wage inflation in 2006 and a turnover rate of 20%+. One example of the direct economic impact is the delay in major infrastructure projects at critical points due to turnover.
• No end in sight to wage inflation - with forecasts of 14.5% inflation in 2007
• An education system struggling to keep up. The article highlights the lack of a universal education system and a funding scheme where federal and state governments cover a portion of schooling costs contributes to the challenges.
  

While its clear that there is a dilemma and education is a major challenge to the future of India what is not clear is what the solution is and whether the political will exists to solve these problems.

Key Highlights from Economist & Barron's Week of Sept 23rd

Just a quick summary of what is in this week's Barron's and the Economist - note this isn't a full review since I opt out of articles that don't drive an investment opportunity:

Barron's Focus this week is on cars

• Luxury Car Makers Set to Boom. Pointing to rise in wealth in BRIC nations, aging of North American baby boomers this article highlights that
  
• Tesela - Electric Car. A raving review of the hot electric car with a high price tag ($120K with options) with a waiting list that includes a number of stars (George Clooney, Arnold Schwarchenegger)
• BMW Goes Green. An update on the firm's move to get more environmentally friendly on the engine front. The article covers the upside of being more green, the challenges (in ensuring its autos remain high on the performance front) and the downside (the impact of high R&D on margins and net profit).
• Peer to Peer Lending. Covers the peer to peer lending business model by profiling Lending Club a Facebook style site that covers the opportunity to invest locally.
  

The Economist

• The World Economy An update on the impact of the 50 basis point rate cut from the US Federal Reserve and the impact of the liquidity issues at Northern Rock in the U.K. Questions are now rising after the euphoric response to the Fed's quick surprise 50bps cut.
• Smoking in Asia. A male driven habit with half of the world's loss to smoking driven cancer hit from Asia. A vicious cycle with all Asian governments dependent on tobacco taxes which fund ~10% of government revenues - taxes are low. Points to switching tobacco farms to oils which have strong value. Definitely an interesting article in terms of looking at the opportunity in Asian tobacco.