One of my favorite podcast, Harvard Ideacast, just published a podcast on the process innovation at Google. Before you think … my organization is not like Google … give the podcast a listen. It talks about practical things that any company can try.

• Reverse Engineering Google’s Innovation Machine

Last month, a pioneer of "true" science fiction died, Sir Arthur C. Clarke.  This gentleman had an incredible imagination, and ability to envision where science might be taking us … read his short story, The Sentinel (concept idea for 2001, A Space Odyssey). Thus, Clarke would be pleased to know that just two days ago on April 1st (no April fools joke), the US House of Representatives held this hearing (Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet):

• Online Virtual Worlds:  Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium
• April 1 at 9:30 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
  • Webcast of Hearing … 42 minutes in duration
  • Witness List

As a fyi, the panel included Philip Rosedale, President of Linden Labs (owner of Second Life), and Dr William Parris, a vice-president of IBM. (my thanks to some co-workers who keyed me in about the webcast and The Sentinel).

Spring is here, and thoughts of young boys turn to baseball! With Opening Day I bring you the application of engineering management via Branch Rickey to baseball courtesy of Professor Richard Puerzer (Hofstra University)

Wikipedia describes Branch Rickey in this manner:

"Wesley Branch Rickey (December 20, 1881 – December 9, 1965) was an innovative Major League Baseball executive best known for two things: breaking baseball’s color barrier by signing the African-American player Jackie Robinson, and later drafting the first Hispanic superstar, Roberto Clemente; and creating the framework to the modern minor league farm system."

Here is the opening paragraph from Professor Puerzer’s article:

"Branch Rickey is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of professional baseball. Although he is most renowned for his role in the integration of the game, he left other equally indelible marks on the way professional baseball is played and managed. One of the many quotes attributable to Rickey is "luck is a residue of design." (1) This brief quote outlines Branch Rickey’s approach to baseball management, which begins with his belief that "baseball is a science," and thus requires a "scientific approach" in its management. The philosophies Rickey used in his management approach are quite similar to the methodologies taught within the discipline of engineering management."

Read online or print the entire article via Google Books (pages 81 to 92)

I am sitting in my room at the Orcas Hotel on Orcas Island.  While on vacation this week I had a chance to try out my Nokia N800 with my new Navibe portable GPS unit. Surprisingly, I discovered that this combination delivers better GPS performance than the N810. During this vacation we tested the two units side by side, and found that when a car was moving at 70 mph, the N810 had difficulty getting a GPS lock. The N810 could take ten minutes, while the Navibe unit linked to my N800 locked onto the satellites almost instantaneously (we own both a 800 and 810 so that both of my sons could Skype us this Summer while overseas). It is worth noting that the N810 was able to establish a GPS lock quickly if our car was not moving.

Obviously one wonders why the N800 outperforms the 810. My guess is the Navibe unit which my kids gave me for my birthday ($45) has a stronger GPS receiver than the embedded unit in the N810.  Thus, if the N810’s keyboard is not a selling point for you … avoid the higher cost and take this route!

The entire prcess works quite well. I just program in some "favorites" and "way points", and even without a paid direction finder service like Wayfinder, my Nokia helped me navigate. If I ever get lost, I just enter the command find current location, and then zoom out to find a road that I recognize.

I leave you with some screenshots from my trip … the South Bay B&B at Lake Whatcom in the Cascades to Orcas Island … including the ferry ride. (this entire post was entered using my Nokia N800)(see some real photos of our trip to the San Juan Islands)

Nanotechnology is one of the techie disciplines which popular media has seized upon. Spiderman’s suit in the famous comic books and movie series supposedly gives him super-human strength and powers. In sci-fi novels, like Prey … written by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park):

In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles—micro-robots—has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from…

This begs the question … what is hype, and what is nano? Link to this Northwestern University site and learn more! Spend some time exploring and you’ll even find information about Grey Goo! In summation, this site is worth adding to the Engineering Learning Wiki.
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