"So Jesus asked, 'What is your name?' And he replied, 'Legion, because we are many.' And they begged Jesus not to order them to go back into the Abyss. Instead, the demons asked Him to be allowed to go into a large herd of swine that were feeding there on the hillside. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and in their madness rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned."
Luke 8:30-33
The Open source approach has good potential for social good if is used in a proper way. The open source ecology encompasses a wide range of opens: open source software, open source hardware, open networks, open money, open small business technology, open patents, and so on. Raspberry Pi has been a part of it, nurturing creativity and sharing.
From the New York Times:
Raspberry Pi, a tiny computer the size of a credit card, has captured the imaginations of students, educators and tinkerers around the world since it became available in 2012. Earlier this month, the organization behind the computer announced that it had sold its three millionth device.
The computer was first developed by faculty members at the University of Cambridge in Britain who had noticed their incoming computer science students were ill-prepared for a high-tech education. They decided to build an inexpensive device that students could learn from.
The result was an astonishingly simple product, delivered as a bare circuit board. Its innovation comes in its size, seizing upon a trend of fitting computing power on small hardware that has become a standard of smartphone development. While connecting Raspberry Pi to a keyboard and monitor recreates something like a conventional computer, its simplicity and adaptability has fostered far more creative applications, from miniature arcade games to a computerized balloon that has traveled to the brink of the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Model B computer, the most popular version, is available for $35.
Similar trajectories either in advanced economies or in emerging ones.
The case of the U.S. is telling in terms of wage decline, debt expansion, offshoring, financialization, mal-investments, and so on..
From Zero Hedge:
The end game of three decades of excess is upon us, and we can't deny the weight of the debt imbalances that are currently in play. The medicine that the current administration is prescribing is a treatment for the common cold; in this case a normal business cycle recession. The problem is that the patient is suffering from a "debt cancer," and until the proper treatment is prescribed and implemented; the patient will most likely continue to suffer.
This decline in economic growth over the past 30 years has kept the average American struggling to maintain their standard of living. As their wages declined, they were forced to turn to credit to fill the gap in maintaining their current standard of living. This demand for credit became the new breeding ground for the financed based economy. Easier credit terms, lower interest rates, easier lending standards and less regulation fueled the continued consumption boom. By the end of 2007, the household debt outstanding had surged to 140% of GDP. It was only a function of time until the collapse in the "house built of credit cards" occurred.
This is why the economic prosperity of the last 30 years has been a fantasy. While America, at least on the surface, was the envy of the world for its apparent success and prosperity; the underlying cancer of debt expansion and declining wages was eating away at core. The only way to maintain the "standard of living" that American's were told they "deserved," was to utilize ever increasing levels of debt. The now deregulated financial institutions were only too happy to provide that "credit" as it was a financial windfall of mass proportions.
Remember when in January 2014, Q1 GDP was expected to rise 2.6%? Well, here
comes the final Q1 GDP revision and it's a doozy: at -2.9%, far below
the -1.8% expected and well below the -1.0% second revision, it is an absolute
disaster,and is the worst print since Q1 2009. And while a bad GDP print was largely expected, the driver wasn't: personal
consumption expenditures somehow crashed from 3.1% to just 1.0%, far below the
2.4% expected, meaning that all hope of a consumer recovery is dead. Finally, as
a reminder, US GDP has never fallen more than 1.5% except during or just before
an NBER-defined recession since quarterly GDP records began in 1947. Good luck
department of truth propaganda machine, because even assuming 3% growth
every other quarter in 2014 means 2014 GDP will be 1.5% at best!
Korea lags behind other technologically advanced countries in software. Education certainly plays a crucial role in innovation endeavor.
From the Adafruit blog:
Tasneem Raja from MotherJones makes a case for coding to become top priority in public school classrooms. Coding has been making its way into the public school curriculum slowly but with an elective and extra-curricular status. Raja calls for its importance to be weighted equally with reading and writing, if not ranked above the traditional literacy platforms:
In other words, computational thinking opens doors. For while it may seem premature to claim that today every kid needs to code, it’s clear that they’re increasingly surrounded by opportunities to code—opportunities that the children of the privileged are already seizing. The parents of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg got him a private computer tutor when he was in middle school. Last year, 13,000 people chipped in more than $600,000 via Kickstarter for their own limited-edition copy of Robot Turtles, a board game that teaches programming basics to kids as young as three. There are plenty of free, kid-oriented code-learning sites—like Scratch, a programming language for children developed at MIT—but parents and kids in places like San Francisco or Austin are more likely to know they exist. Computer scientists have been warning for decades that understanding code will one day be as essential as reading and writing. If they’re right, understanding the importance of computational thinking can’t be limited to the elite, not if we want some semblance of a democratic society. Self-taught auteurs will always be part of the equation, but to produce tech-savvy citizens “at scale,” to borrow an industry term, the heavy lifting will happen in public school classrooms. Increasingly, to have a good shot at a good job, you’ll need to be code literate.
A country dies slowly.Those living during the decline of Rome were likely unaware that anything was happening. The decline took over a couple of hundred years. Anyone living during the decline only saw a small part of what was happening and likely never noticed it as anything other than ordinary. Countries don’t have genetically determined life spans. Nor do they die quickly, unless the cataclysm of some great war does them in. Even in such extreme cases, there are usually warning signs, which are more obvious in hindsight than at the time. Few citizens of a dying nation recognize the signs. Most are too busy trying to live their lives, sometimes not an easy task. Most cannot conceive of the death of a nation. But signs or symptoms precede death for a country often as they do for a person...
Economically, people become poorer. It becomes harder to feed a family. Economic growth stalls and then reverses. Work opportunities decline. Disincentives to work rise as government tries to ease the burden on the unemployed and lower skilled. These efforts require more revenues which means higher taxes or debt financing. Disincentives to create jobs are magnified by attempts to address the problem. Higher taxes and other burdens are imposed on the productive making work less attractive.
The response should not be surprising. Capital flees first. It goes to areas where adequate returns are still available. Jobs are created but not in the host country. Finally a “brain drain” begins. Talented people leave the country for places that offer greater opportunity. In the case of the US, to escape US taxes these people must renounce their citizenship. Citizenship renouncements are currently at the highest levels in the history.
The flight of capital, both real and human, further lowers standards of living. Signs of stagnation become more apparent. They may begin as seemingly benign as roads which have too many potholes. “For rent” signs are seen more frequently. Classified job ads decrease. “Going out of Business” sales are no longer marketing gimmicks.
Initially, people dig into their savings or begin to borrow in order to retain their standard of living. Most believe it is a temporary situation. Eventually bankruptcies increase. Strip or full malls close. Large areas like Detroit become close to uninhabitable.
These conditions characterize the beginnings of the decline. As the decline continues, things get much worse.
Willl Samsung's bet on biotech drugs succeed?. Samsung's new leader, Lee Jae-yong is leading this project. Samsung's bet on semiconductor was successful partly because Samsung took advantage of global technology and production cycles. Some have raised a concern that the semiconductor business which his father, Samsung's chairman took on is quite different from the pharmaceutical industry, more high value-added. The IT industry may have peaked. And yet, the pharmaceutical business demands a deep scientific knowledge and discipline, as pointed out. Although it's rare to find any successful case for corporations to transition from IT to biotech drugs, Lee Jae-yong may well prove he's right on his huge bet. We shall see.
I'm also hoping that Samsung would be more mindful of the purpose of a corporation under the new leadership. It can't be measured by making profits alone.
위클리오늘로부터:
삼성그룹은 최근 ‘바이오산업’을 신수종 사업으로 선정했다. 삼성그룹의 ‘차세대 주력사업’으로 바이오산업을 육성하겠다는 것이다.
바이오산업에 대한 지원은
삼성에버랜드가 맡는다.
삼성에버랜드는 상장으로 얻어지는
수익을 ‘삼성바이오로직스’에 투자하기로 결정했다.
삼성에버랜드는 삼성바이오로직스의
지분 44.5%를 가지고 있고 삼성에버랜드의 대주주는 이재용 삼성그룹 부회장이다.
삼성바이오로직스가 사실상 이
부회장의 사업이나 마찬가지인 셈이다.
삼성그룹은 e삼성을 설립하기 위해
14개의 인터넷법인을 설립했고 이 부회장은 이들 법인의 대주주로 참여했다.
삼성그룹 구조본은 e삼성을 아낌없이
지원했다.
계열사의 유능한 인재들을 e삼성으로
차출하는 등 핵심 사업으로 키워나갔다.
당시 30대 그룹이 설립한 인터넷
회사가 27개였던 것을 감안하면 e삼성이 얼마나 야심찬 프로젝트였는지를 짐작할 수 있다.
하지만 e삼성은 ‘실패작’이라는
오명을 달고 이 부회장의 아킬레스건이 됐다.
벤처거품이 붕괴되면서 e삼성이 1년
만에 역사 속으로 사라졌기 때문이다. 이 부회장은 삼성전자로 복귀하고 차출된 직원들도 당초 근무지로 돌아갔다.
이 부회장의 지분은 삼성그룹의 9개
계열사가 나눠 매입했다. 이는 이 부회장의 손실을 삼성그룹의 계열사들이 떠안았다는 지적으로 이어졌다. 결국 이 부회장이 배임혐의로 검찰에서
조사를 받았지만 무혐의로 마무리됐다.
이런 과정을 거친 e삼성은 현재 이
부회장의 경영능력을 평가하는 유일한 자료로 평가되고 있다.
그런 삼성그룹이 이번에는 바이오산업
카드를 내밀었다. e삼성을 삼성그룹 구조본이 밀어줬다면 바이오산업은 삼성에버랜드가 지원한다.
앞서 이 회장은 e삼성 출범 당시에
“미래에는 인터넷 사업이 주를 이룰 것”이라고 전망했고 2010년에는 ‘5대 신수종 사업’을 언급하면서 바이오산업을 거론했다.
이 부회장이 최대주주인
삼성에버랜드는 삼성전자와 함께 지난 2011년 44.5%의 지분을 출자해 삼성바이오로직스를 설립했다.
삼성바이오로직스는 오는 2015년에
2공장을 완공하면 총 18만ℓ에 달하는 세계 3위 규모의 생산시설을 갖추게 된다. R&D 시설 등을 확충한 뒤에는 본격적으로 바이오사업에
매진한다는 방침이다.
삼성은 2020년까지 2공장 건립
및 생산설비 확충 등의 명목으로 2조1천억원을 투자할 예정이다. 이를 통해 바이오 의약품 분야에서만 연간 1조8천억원의 매출을 올린다는
계획이다.
하지만 삼성이 세계적으로 밝은
전망이 나오고 있는 바이오시밀러 산업에 후발주자로 뛰어들었다는 점은 눈여겨 볼 대목이다.
"Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship. Then he said, 'If I
find favor with you, O Lord, come along in our company. This is indeed a
stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your
own.'"
Exodus 34:6-8
I like Apple's way of thinking:
forward thinking. That’s what innovation is all about. I'm also
interested in the platform approach. It would be interesting to see how
this plays out.
I'd like
to stress the importance of software side of business like Apple has done it so
well.
Samsung
has to compete with Apple in the healthcare platform. Will Samsung be a
fast follower this time around? Creativity and forward looking can't be
built within a day. That may be what Samsung is lacking most despite its
technological prowess and nimble product design.
From
Forbes:
Apple is about to change the relationship between brands,
data and customers. That’s the secret sauce in its new Health Kit offering,
according to several observers of data and security.
The first point to emerge from that
discussion is that Apple has entered the health arena as an enabler. There’s
surely a lesson there for every other business contemplating or executing a
platform strategy.
Whatever Apple does down the line, first base
is to enable local storage on the iPhone of data collected by other
devices, says Waite
One of the first suppliers to throw
their hat in the ring is WebMD, which is already busy on an app
to interpret sensor data.
Madsen also sees Apple adopting an enabling
role:
Apple is positioning its Health app as the point of aggregation
for all the user’s different health data, and Health Kit the development
platform to enable that integration. But critically, indications are that
the health data will for the most part be collected by sensors (Nike+, Withings
Scale, Fitbit Flex etc) of other wearable manufacturers…. offering – i..e stay
away from the hardware for now and instead provide the services & software
glue to tie all the existing hardware into some sort of cohesive whole.
The precise nature of the Apple solution is, as yet, an
unknown, but what is revolutionary is the way it reverses the current data
paradigm, away from Google’s collection-view towards one where all data is
managed by the enterprise on behalf of us, the consumers.
Girls Inc., Girl Scouts of the USA, National Center for Women & Information Technology, MIT Media Lab, TechCrunch, and Seventeen Join Efforts to Inspire Girls to Code Mountain View, CA, June 19, 2014 — Today, Google is joining with supporters, including Chelsea Clinton, Girls Inc., Girl Scouts of the USA, Mindy Kaling, MIT Media Lab, National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), Seventeen and TechCrunch, to kick off Made with Code. The initiative will aim to inspire millions of girls to learn to code, and to help them see coding as a means to pursue their dream careers. “Coding is a new literacy and it gives people the potential to create, innovate and quite literally change the world,” said Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube. “We’ve got to show all girls that computer science is an important part of their future, and that it’s a foundation to pursue their passions, no matter what field they want to enter. Made with Code is a great step toward doing that.” Made with Code includes:
Blocklybased coding projects like designing a bracelet 3D printed by Shapeways, learning to create animated GIFs or building beats for a music track.
Video profiles of girls and women who explain how they’re using code to do what they love in fashion, music, dance, animation, cancer research and more.
A resource directory for parents and girls to find more information about new local events, camps, classes and clubs.
Collaborations with organizations like Girl Scouts of the USA and Girls, Inc. to introduce Made with Code to girls in their networks, encouraging them to complete their first coding experience.
All of this attempts to solve a fastgrowing problem in computer science. “I think coding is cool, but most girls don’t. Less than 1 percent of high school girls see computer science as part of their future,” said Mindy Kaling, the actress, comedian and writer. “Made with Code lets girls see coding not just as something they can do, but something they’d love to do.” “When I received my first computer in the mid80s, women comprised 37 percent of CS graduates. Today, despite ever increasing job opportunities, it’s less than 16 percent. We need to help girls see themselves as the next generation of coders, and, with efforts like Made with Code and the No Ceilings Initiative, make sure there’s full participation in technology’s future.” — Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation. Google is also committing $50 million over three years to support programs working to increase gender diversity in CS. We’re piloting a project with DonorsChoose.org to reward teachers that support girls who take CS courses on Codecademy or Khan Academy. We’re also working with the Science and Entertainment Exchange to encourage more female engineer characters depicted family TV and film. This is just a first step, and it builds on the $40 million we’ve invested since 2010 in organizations like Code.org, Black Girls Code, Technovation and Girls Who Code. These efforts are based on Google’s new nationwide research, which shows that CS exposure is crucial in pre-college years, parental encouragement is key and that girls who have positive perceptions of CS as a career, and understand its potential for social impact, are much more likely to pursue it. “The numbers hurt: Women constitute more than half of the professional workforce, but only a quarter of workforce in tech,” said Lucy Sanders, CEO, and co-founder of NCWIT. “It’s a problem, bordering on a crisis. We won’t solve it easily, or quickly. But Made with Code is a great step in the direction of reversing this trend, and getting more and more girls to use coding to accomplish amazing things by doing what they love.” Made with Code kicks off tonight with an event in New York City where over 100 teenage girls from local organizations and public schools will work on coding projects and witness firs thand how women use code in their dream jobs, like Danielle Feinberg (Pixar), Miral Kotb (iLuminate Dance Technology) and Erica Kochi (UNICEF’s Innovation Unit). The event will also feature girl coders like Brittany Wenger who’s using code to fight cancer. Supporters of and organizations involved with Made with Code include: Adafruit, American School Counselor Association, Black Girls Code, Code.org, Codecademy, Computer Science Teachers Association, DonorsChoose.org, Girls Inc., Girl Scouts of the USA, Girls Who Code, iLuminate, KIPP Schools, littleBits, National Association for College Admission Counseling, National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, National Center for Women & Information Technology, Mindy Kaling, MIT Media Lab, Mozilla Webmaker, PSTA, Seventeen, Shapeways, Sew Electric, Seventeen, Shapeways, Teach for America, TechCrunch, Technovation Challenge, and U.S. Fund for UNICEF.
As the article below notes, the maker movement based on the open source approach has huge implications for innovation, entrepreneurship, future manufacturing, employment, and education. It takes collaborations and communities of practice to make it work. Despite all those conundrums, the U.S. seems to make progress in innovation and education through the maker movement and other initiatives. Companies like GE, Intel and Google are partaking in it. Korea's innovative companies should take notice of it.
From Makezine:
But there’s an inherent conundrum in the maker movement — at its heart a grassroots endeavor — as it applies to large institutions, and none are bigger than the government. How can the bottom-up nature of the maker movement apply to top-down organizations like industry and government? How can each benefit from the other, asks Kalil? One answer is the groups and small organizations makers form, which can act as liaisons to bodies like NASA, DARPA, NOAA, and universities. City and local government can work with the movement as well. Of course the government and industry stand to benefit from makers, especially when those makers tackle big problems like space exploration, carbon, and energy. The appliances division of GE is experimenting with a way to use — and use quickly — ideas developed by makers, while paying licensing deals and letting those makers retain the intellectual property, according to Venkat Venkatakrishnan, lead facilitator of the effort, which GE calls FirstBuild. Tied up in GE’s approach is another inherent quality of the movement: Speed. Rapid prototyping is an important factor when manufacturing becomes more distributed, and more customized. Demand for smaller manufacturing runs will increase as products become more personalized, and that offers different challenges for industry, especially in big companies that spend a great deal on R&D. Where large enterprises can — and will be forced to — move into automated manufacturing, smaller, maker-based endeavors can reframe both manufacturing and retailing. This will be the next generation of mom and pop stores, says Deloitte’s John Hagel, co-chair of the Center for the Edge. The ramifications of this kind of manufacturing are huge, and it’s no wonder Obama is interested. This is a catalyst for employment — the bulk of future employment, according Hagel — and for American and local economies. Underlying it all is education and community. “This is a deeply interdisciplinary movement,” says Peter Hirshberg, who spoke about the Maker City. He calls maker cities, and the communities that build them, a new frontier, pointing out how much Americans identify with a frontier. “I was looking for maker cities, but I think what I discovered along the way was the renewal of the American dream,” he says. The impact on education could be just as big. As primary education is pushing STEAM learning, and higher ed is addressing the problem of access to tools, partly through curriculum changes, but also through community collaboration and access to makerspaces. The iterative process many startups engage is finding its way into education, thanks again to rapid prototyping and the willingness to experiment and sometimes fail. “Our belief is the maker movement is creating the opportunity for all of us, as individuals, to tap in to our creative potential, and realize it in ways that just weren’t feasible in the past, and do it also in communities of practice where we come together,” says Hagel. “We’re not just isolated individuals, but we’re learning from each other through practice.”
Have you noticed that prices are going up rapidly? If so, you are certainly not alone. But Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, the Obama administration and the mainstream media would have us believe that inflation is completely under control and exactly where it should be. Perhaps if the highly manipulated numbers that they quote us were real, everything would be fine. But of course the way that the inflation rate is calculated has been changed more than 20 times since the 1970s, and at this point it bears so little relation to reality that it is essentially meaningless. Anyone that has to regularly pay for food, water, gas, electricity or anything else knows that inflation is too high. In fact,if inflation was calculated the same way that it was back in 1980, the inflation rate would be close to 10 percent right now.
Dr. Ha-Joon Chang is a professor at the University of Cambridge in England.
From Zero Hedge:
Forget the 700-plus-page Piketty 'socialism for all' tome; here is economics that everyone can understand.
And here they are...the5 things they don't tell you about economics...
1. 95% of economics is common sense
You don’t need a degree to understand it
We’ve got this profession wrong; a lot of professional economists think what they do is too difficult for ordinary people. You’d be surprised how often these people are stupid enough to say things, at least in private, like ‘you wouldn’t understand what I do even if I explained it to you’. If you cannot explain it to other people, you have the problem.
People express strong opinions on all sorts of things despite not having the appropriate expertise: climate change, gay marriage, the Iraq War, nuclear power stations. But when it comes to economic issues, many people are not even interested, not to speak of not having a strong opinion about them. When was the last time you had a debate on the future of the Euro, inequality in China or the American manufacturing industry, despite the fact that these issues can have a huge impact on your life, wherever you live?
2. Economics is not a science
Despite what the experts want you to believe, there is more than one way of ‘doing’ economics
People have been led to believe that, like physics or chemistry, economics is a ‘science’, in which there is only one correct answer to everything; thus non-experts should simply accept the ‘professional consensus’ and stop thinking about it.
Contrary to what most economists would have you believe, there isn’t just one kind of economics – Neoclassical economics. In fact there are no less than nine different kinds, or schools, as they are often known. And none of these schools can claim superiority over others and still less monopoly over truth.
I accept that being suddenly asked to taste nine different flavours of ice cream when you had thought that there was only one plain vanilla can be quite overwhelming. In order to help, I attach here a simple table that will help you overcome your initial fear.
3. Economics is politics
Economic arguments are often justification for what politicians want to do anyway
Economics is a political argument. It is not – and can never be – a science.
Behind every economic policy and corporate action that affect our lives – the minimum wage, outsourcing, social security, food safety, pensions and whatnot – lies some economic theory that either has inspired those actions or, more frequently, is providing justification of what those in power want to do anyway.
Only when we know that there are different economic theories will we be able to tell those in power that they are wrong to tell us that ‘there is no alternative’ (TINA), as Margaret Thatcher once infamously put it in defence of her controversial policies.
4. Never trust an economist
It is one thing not to foresee the financial crisis; it’s another not to have changed anything since
Most economists were caught completely by surprise by the 2008 global financial crisis. Not only that, they have not been able to come up with decent solutions to the ongoing aftermaths of that crisis.
Given all this, economics seems to suffer from a serious case of megalomania.
The financial crisis has been a brutal reminder that we cannot leave our economy to professional economists and other ‘technocrats’. We should all get involved in its management – as active economic citizens.
5. We have to reclaim economics for the people
It’s too important to be left to the experts alone
You should be willing to challenge professional economists (and, yes, that includes me). They do not have a monopoly over the truth, even when it comes to economic matters.
Like many other things in life – learning to ride a bicycle, learning a new language, or learning to use your new tablet computer – being an active economic citizen gets easier over time, once you overcome the initial difficulties and keep practicing it.
Unless you are willing and able to challenge the professionals, challenge the experts, what’s the point of having a democracy?
There is no excuse for complacency. If you organize and demand reforms then a lot of amazing things happen, but it won’t come easy – we have to fight for it.
And there it is - all you need to know when watching the talking head bloviation and justification day after day...
The latest OECD Economic Survey of Korea addresses many of the issues I have touched upon on this blog such as SMEs weakness, the higher education system, the ventural capital sector, GRIs, the dwindling middle class, income disparity, and mounting household debt. Of course, I don't necessarily agree with everything it points out.
If Korea continues down this path, its future prospects are dim. We had high hopes for this administration. And yet, so far I find Park administration somewhat disappointing in several aspects.
From OECD:
Korea needs to move away from its current economic model and implement a range of reforms to develop a creative economy that can sustain long-term growth, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Korea. The strategy should be accompanied by new measures to reduce income inequality and poverty, particularly among the elderly, the OECD said.
The Survey notes that Korea’s short-term economic outlook is positive, with growth of around 4% projected over the 2014-15 period. Its longer-term prospects, however, are limited by persistent structural problems, such as a lagging service sector and weak small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), reflecting the traditional growth strategy centred on exports by large chaebol companies. The OECD argues that Korea must promote innovation and narrow the productivity gaps between manufacturing and services and between large firms and SMEs, which account for 87% of total employment.
To make SMEs more efficient, the OECD recommends scaling back and streamlining government support to these firms, while concentrating it on enterprises at an early stage of development. Creation of a more dynamic venture capital sector is a second key priority for development of a creative economy, which should also aim to promote green growth and help Korea meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction target.
The Survey points out the importance of increasing returns on R&D investment, which is the largest in the OECD area as a share of GDP. This requires reforms across the entire innovation system to expand the role of universities, upgrade government research institutes and strengthen international linkages. Reducing product market regulations and barriers to foreign direct investment is also key for boosting the adoption of new technology.
To promote inclusive growth, Korea should take steps to reverse the decline in the middle class and reduce the high rate of relative poverty. This will require action aimed at the roots of inequality, notably reducing the high share of non-regular workers in the workforce. Breaking down labour market dualism is necessary to reduce high levels of wage inequality and enhance social mobility. High household debt has adverse implications for equity, as well as for growth, as individuals with low income and credit ratings have limited access to financial markets and many are delinquent on their loans. Policies to expand market-based lending to such households and debt restructuring are essential, but moral hazard must be limited, the Survey said.
There are several reasons behind Samsung's entry into the health sector such as biotech drugs, medical instruments and the healthcare platform. China's rapid rise in the IT sector described in the article below is one factor. Samsung may need to go beyond the IT industry.
Samsung' strategic bet in the IT industry has proven to be effective. While some have raised a concern for Samsung's move into the health sector due to a challenging nature of the business requiring a deep scientific knowledge and discipline., Samsung has been a fast learner starting from scratch in the high-tech sector. Lee, Jae-yong, a new leader of Samsung, who was educated in Korea, Japan and the U.S., may well prove to have the foresighted strategic talent.
Quite a few Korean SMEs seem to lack key strategic decision making skill. Besides all those structural issues which have hampered SMEs' growth, they may have to develop the solid strategic competence for their benefit.
머니투데이로부터:
"많은 사람들이 중국 IT업체가 낙후됐다고 얕잡아 보는 경향이 있는데 천만의 말씀입니다. 중국 업체들의 성장속도가 워낙 빨라 과거처럼 졸면 죽는 게 아니라 (중국 업체보다) 굼뜨면 죽는 시대가 왔습니다."
신종균 삼성전자 사장은 지난 2월 스페인에서 개최된 모바일월드콩그레스(MWC)에서 중국 스마트폰의 경쟁력에 놀라움을 표시하며 이렇게 말했다. 신 사장은 특히 고속 성장하는 화웨이를 높이 평가하며 "삼성전자가 업계 1등이라고 자만하지 않고 혁신에 매진하겠다"고 의지를 다졌다.
미국 정부가 스파이 혐의까지 주장하며 견제하는 화웨이는 지난해 2400억 위안(약 39조4000억 원)의 매출을 달성해 통신장비 분야에서 세계 2위를 차지했다. 스마트폰 분야에서도 세계 3위권 진입을 눈앞에 두고 있다. 1987년 44세의 인민해방군 출신 런정페이가 설립한 지 채 30년도 안 돼 세계를 석권하고 있는 화웨이는 중국 IT업체들의 무서운 성장을 단적으로 보여준다. 한국 IT기업들이 일본 업체들의 독주를 무너뜨리기까지 30년이 걸렸다. 소니와 파나소닉, 도시바 등 도저히 넘볼 수 없을 것 같던 일본 IT기업들은 몇몇 핵심 부품에서만 기술적 우위를 유지하고 있을 뿐 매출과 글로벌 마케팅, 브랜드 파워에서 한국에 밀린 지 오래다.
그런 한국을 이제 중국이 맹추격해오고 있다. 중국 IT기업들은 이미 대만 수준의 경쟁력을 확보했고, 한국과의 격차도 눈에 띄게 줄고 있다. 이문형 산업연구원 베이징지원장은 "중국이 IT 제조 분야에서는 이미 세계 최고 경쟁력을 확보했고 다만 디자인과 설계 등이 미흡한 상황"이라며 "지금 같은 속도로 성장한다면 한국을 추월하는 것은 시간문제"라고 전망했다. 중국 IT산업의 이처럼 눈부신 성장은 거대 내수시장과 중국 정부의 적극적인 육성의지라는 양 날개가 바탕이 됐다. 해외자본 유치도 중국 IT산업의 압축 성장에 기여하고 있다. 13억 시장을 겨냥해 글로벌 기업들이 앞 다퉈 중국에 진출하고 있고, 중국 지방정부도 매력적인 조건을 제시하며 화답하고 있다. 삼성전자 반도체공장을 유치한 시안(西安) 까오신(高新·하이테크) 기술산업개발구는 공장부지, 세금감면 등 다양한 혜택을 제공했다. 스캉두 시안 개발구 부주임은 "삼성전자를 지원하기 위해 8명의 직원으로 구성된 전담조직을 운영하고 있고, 매주 개발구 주임 주재로 회의를 열어 삼성의 고충을 우선 해결하는데 전력을 기울이고 있다"고 말했다.
중국 서부 내륙에 위치한 시안 개발구는 지역적 한계를 극복하기 위해 법인세 감면, 창업 투자금 지원 등 다양한 혜택을 제공하고 있다. 도심에서 불과 7킬로미터(km) 떨어진 곳에 총면적 307제곱킬로미터(㎢) 규모로 개발구를 조성해 주거 및 교육, 의료 등 생활환경도 최상의 수준을 유지하고 있다. 이 같은 노력을 통해 IBM, 퀄컴, 인텔 등 하이테크 분야 외국기업 1200여 개를 포함해 1만8000여 개 기업이 입주한 시안 개발구는 중국 전역의 105개 국가급 개발구 중 종합경쟁력 3~4위권을 유지하고 있다. http://news.mt.co.kr/mtview.php?no=2014061615041091872&type=1&MLA
I hope that Korean chaebols will engage in intitiatives like this.
From Makezine:
To coincide with the White House Maker Faire, Intel has announced an initiative to adopt six “Maker Cities” across the United States to encourage education, small-scale product design, development, and manufacturing efforts in those cities. The pilot program includes Santa Clara, CA and the surrounding Silicon Valley region; Folsom, CA; the Portland, OR Metro area; Chandler, AZ; Austin, TX; and the Albuquerque, NM Metro area. Intel will coordinate local partnerships, spearhead events and demonstration projects. According to the White House Press Office, “these efforts will highlight the opportunities for economic growth, workforce development and job creation that arise from a vibrant local maker scene.” “We celebrate the maker in all of us and recognize the maker community as America’s future leaders,” said Carlos Contreras, Intel’s US Education Director. “Intel supports the Administration’s maker campaign to promote innovation, creativity and access to technology, which are key to increased opportunities for both individuals and for the United States in maintaining a globally competitive economy and inventing incredible things.”
Samsung is betting on healthcare from biotech drugs, medical instruments to a healthcare platform under the new leadership. The Korean media outlets have reported Samsung's leadership change and aggression in the health sector.
Samsung has been the ultimate fast follower. This strategy has worked out beautifully for Samsung. Samsung doesn't have much experience in healthcare and an integrated platform approach to meet the end users' needs.
After all, Apple’s branding power is superb. It was a latecomer in mobile phones. And yet, Samsung ended up following Apple’s lead. Apple is really good at reflecting what customers need in product design. Samsung can learn a lot from Apple. Whereas Samsung has the technology, materials and production processes, Apple has set the long-term strategic direction and built the platform encompassing iPhone, iPad, and iCloud, in an integrated fashion accordingly. So far, Apple’s approach makes more sense to me.
Why a sudden interest in healthcare by major electronics firms? Because they know the electronics industry has reached saturation? They simply see a new business opportunity in healthcare? Most of all, they seem to know the fragile nature of the global economy.
Lee Jae-yong seems to understand what it takes to compete in the new businesses. The talents and culture Samsung needs seems to be quite different from those in the hardware business in which Samsung has been. Hence, Lee Jae-yong is trying to change a rigid corporate culture, for example.
Further, Samsung may have to keep in mind that there are ample business opportunities given the global economic conditions and competitive environments. For instance, the open-source approach has a lot to offer.
Will Samsung's transition succeed? I hope so, yet we shall see.
From Forbes:
Samsung is well entrenched in health.
amsung will be a worthy competitor with its health-oriented devices and services. But the endgame in health is integration. Who will control the relationship between patient and health care provider, who will control the data?
Meanwhile Samsung has chosen a variety of routes into health.
Just prior to Apple’s announcement Samsung announced SAMI – “the Samsung Architecture for Multimodal Interactions, a cloud-based open software platform capable of bringing together diverse data from a variety of sources for analysis.”
While SAMI might be a strategy for how to take data from a variety of wearable devices and integrate them in a dashboard, Samsung’s real ambition is “to become a global leader as a healthcare company through joining together its display, semiconductor, and mobile businesses”.
"There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there
are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings
but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. As a body is one though
it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so
also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews
or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one
Spirit."
1 Corinthians 12
The Maker Movement got noticed by President Obama, who is set to host a Maker Faire at the White House next week. In anticipation, Senior Advisor for Space and Innovation Phil Larson interviewed our own Dale Dougherty about making — what it is, where it came from, and how to get involved.
Phil: Why is Making important? Dale: Making is important on many levels. On a personal level, it can be a source of satisfaction and accomplishment, as you learn to do new things. On a social level, Making can lead to discovering other Makers who share your interests in local or online communities, and re-invigorating community bonds through Making. On an economic level, Making is bolstering personalized manufacturing, local workforce development, entrepreneurship, and expanding opportunities for Americans to unleash innovations that can lead to the industries and jobs of the future. Yet it starts with each of us seeing ourselves as producers, creators, and innovators, which challenges us to lead a productive and creative life. It changes our relationship with everything around us by showing that we can help make the change we want to see in the world.
We all know what consumer level 3D printers are capable of. They can print out objects using a handful of non-conductive materials. If you need that cool looking plastic earring, or that completely customizable iPhone case, or that unique little toy for the little-ones, 3D printers have pretty much conquered the task of creating these. With this said, however, many futurists envision a world where 3D printers will be capable of much more. One day, perhaps an entire laptop or MP3 player could be manufactured in the comfort of your own home, on a machine not much bigger than a 3D printer. This used to be a dream, but one team is taking a step in the right direction.
Tesla Motors announced today, by way of a blog post from CEO and founder Elon Musk, that it will no longer enforce any of its patents against anyone who wants to create electric cars. “If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal,” wrote Musk. “We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform.” Though the post ranges through Musk’s experience with his earlier companies and focuses on Tesla’s competition with major car manufacturers, he also addresses a concern that might sound familiar to many inventors — that open source is not an option, that patents are a necessity, because of the pressure bigger companies can bear on startups. It’s what led Tesla to apply for and receive their 133 patents, on technology from battery packs to efficient motor rotors to thermal management systems. Of course, what Musk is doing isn’t technically open source, though he references the movement in his first paragraph. And many small companies have had great success using open source. It can allow them to leverage the community and crowdsource improvements in ways that the big boys never do. It’s a difficult choice for many makers trying to transition from prototype to product, one our speakers wrestled with at MakerCon. If you’re wrestling with that yourself, check out the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Hardware Association.
As you may know, Robert Johnson is one of my favorite speakers on economic matters. He does not get sufficient exposure, and certainly not on the mainstream media.
Here is an interesting perspective on recent financial history of the US, leading up to the development of our current system of finance and governance. It is an interview on The Real News with Paul Jay. You may find the interviews there with transcripts.
Reality will indeed assert itself at some point. The longer the wait, the great the force required to delay it, and the more dramatic the eventual reversion to the mean, whatever that might ultimately prove to be. It does vary, depending on the selected dataset and how one chooses to measure it.
Some would contend that the natural state of mankind is the dominance of the few and the enslavement of the many. Others would see it as an ever rising and falling impulse to freedom and virtue. Perhaps as Heraclitus contended, the only constant is change.
THE RASPBERRY PI FOUNDATION has announced hardware sales of three million and a casual visit with the Queen for a bit of show and tell. The Raspberry Pi computer has been a solid mover since its release and its sales have grown from one million to two million, and now three million. The number was announced in a blog post written by Raspberry Pi Foundation communications head Liz Upton, who explained that things have gone well at Buckingham Palace and for the Raspberry Pi in general.
..Liz Upton said that the three millionth Raspberry Pi was sold last month. Eben Upton told us that the hardware is now rivaling sales of the veteran Amstrad CPC machine.
On the heels of growing contagion concerns regarding shadow banking collateral and the "rehypothecation evaporation" and this weekend's 'odd' Chinese trade data (big drop in imports, no doubt impacted by dramatic commodity invoicing swings), the PBOC has fixed the Chinese currency 0.36% in the last 2 days... the biggest strengthening in the currency since October 2012. It is unclear for now exactly what is going on but we suspect the panic button outflows as banks pull credit and unwind CCFDs are forcing China's hand to offset CNY selling pressure... and of course China does it in grand style.
China's biggest trade surplus since Jan 09... as imports tumbled 1.6% (against expectations of a 6% rise)
After weeks of weakening and comments on rising volatility and flexibity to tamp down the carry trade fervor, China has gone to the other extreme...
Whether this is to kill off the last of the momentum-chasing muppers now following the CNY weakenin trend is unclear but one thing is certain, the coincidence of such a violent move with the rising credit contagion concerns in the warehouse probes is extremely interesting.
Barclays provides some more color:
Barclays expects depreciating CNY and recent govt probe into commodity financing to continue to discourage commodity imports for arbitrage purposes, according to note yesterday; despite sizable trade surplus and FDI, PBOC’s FX purchase slowed markedly in recent mos., suggesting reduced capital inflows from other channels and signs of capital outflows
While Japan's Trade balance missed expectations once again (bigger deficit than hoped or expected), the flashing red headlines of the night belong to Japan's 1.6% QoQ GDP print (better than expected) - the 'best growth' since Q3 2011. The initial reaction was JPY weaker, which meant Nikkei higher (and oddly JGBs rallied too). But... and it's a big but... Japanese consumer spending shot up by 2.2% in Q1 - the biggest on record... matched only by Q1 1997, the quarter before Japan's last tax-hike decision. What happened the quarter after that? Take a look...
Now what kind of damage will that do to Q2 GDP? Let's take a look at what happened to Japanee stocks after the same surge in "growth" in 1997....
So are we going to get the bounce of euphoria followed by the 40% plunge of reality?
And in case you think we are over-worrying... Goldman's even more worried...
We expect 2Q 2014 GDP to contract on dropout of pre-tax-hike demand:
We estimate that real GDP will contract by over 4% in Q2 2014 as rush demand to beat the consumption tax hike drops out. Real wages have fallen markedly amid sluggish nominal wages, the higher tax burden on households, and rising consumer prices.
This could dampen consumer sentiment and negatively affect domestic demand over FY14 as a whole.
“Light has come into the world, but some men love the darkness instead of
the light, because their deeds are wicked. Everyone who does evil hates the
light, and will not enter into the light for fear that their deeds will be
exposed for all to see. But whoever lives by the truth will come into the light,
so that it may be seen that what they have done has been done in accordance with
the truth and God's will."
John 3:19-21
The picture that emerges from this research is less black and white than either the cheerleaders or the naysayers would suggest. Overall, we see a modest improvement in U.S. manufacturing but not a wave of reshoring. More companies are investing in the U.S. or considering it as a location for new manufacturing facilities. But this is essentially a rebalancing after many years in which manufacturing shifted overwhelmingly to lower-cost nations such as China.
Intriguingly, the study also indicates that cost factors are no longer the key consideration for many companies deciding where to locate their manufacturing. The leading factors driving companies to manufacture in the U.S. include a growing desire to locate their manufacturing near their customers so they can respond quickly and efficiently to customer needs and drive growth, while simultaneously de-risking the supply-chain. A corporate strategist for one manufacturer told us: “It’s tough to get the same quality level and cycle time to serve your customers if your supplier networks are far away.” At the same time, these companies are continuing to invest in manufacturing outside the U.S., particularly in emerging markets, for many of the same reasons. So the picture is truly nuanced.
I have started a new business. Our company is aiming for the high-end open source medical platforms. Meanwhile, we are introducing a product, Arduino MIDI keyboard that you can enjoy making and playing with, and learning about musical and engineering concepts. Music lovers can learn how sound works with our MIDI keyboard. Users can also get familiar with engineering concepts such as sound waves and signal processing.
The MIDI keyboard is a professional instrument at a reasonable price based on the open source platform with its functionality, sound quality and good look. You can personalize to your taste! Its velocity sensitivity and continuous notes detection are superb. It has the spring action keys as opposed to the cheap plastic action keys.
It only needs a simple assembly and software uploads. We provide the detailed instructions and related information. We are making video tutorials in different languages. We offer a simple library as well. You can be creative with simplified code: For instance you can set each key as an input by its velocity change, a joystick as an input for values, and a pedal to function as a switch.
Our products offer a lot for adults and kids as well who like music and wish to make their own keyboard, students studying music, electrical engineering, and biomedical engineering-related fields, and musicians or teachers at schools and music institutes.
Should you have any questions about our product or place an order, please feel free to contact us at medinofun@gmail.com
BTW, I am going to get my book (the tentative book title is "Innovation and the Economy of Korea") published in the U.S. on the side.
