Thought 4 the Week: On the Most Difficult Job :=)

“The most difficult job is the one that you never get started on.”

—Henry Ford

On the "Virtual Run": The Need to Wake Up

I have been working away on "Outsiders" and the various "blog channel".    As I was reflecting upon our World, my mind drifted to an old song about waking up and the words ever so resonate today:



Can we wake up and recognize what's important and go beyond the petty differences?  Creating a "Vision of the possible" requires it as we strive to our utmost to move onward.   All will stumble and make mistakes--but mistakes means that one is trying.   We have to keep on trying :-)

A Thought for the Day (II)

I have been making the rounds on the "grid" and saw this that I view as the essence of ethical and moral conduct and the very thought  I reflected earlier when I reflected upon a sense of legacy--It is a powerful message....

A "Thought 4 the Day" As a New Week is Before Us :-)

There is a lot to be thankful for despite the very challenging world we live in today.   Yet, I have chosen to look at the positive and to be inspired by what is truly within the realm of the possible with the development  I work on here and in other "Blog Channels".   I ran across this from the great  Daniel Webster, the 14th and 19th US Secretary of State that epitomized it all: 

“What a man does for others,
not what they do for him,
gives him immortality.”

It is about leaving a legacy of purpose and commitment.   May we all be ever so blessed. 

A "Thought 4 the Week-End" 2 get things going

While on the "Grid" and working away, saw this which underscores the need to be strong ever more and truly believe in the "Vision of the Possible":

A "Newsflash" (II)" On Nations with the highest "Well Being"

This was released to Fast Company and I decided to release the summary from the E-Blast I received--It speaks volumes: 

The 10 Countries With The Highest "National Well-Being" (See The U.S. Anywhere?) See where every country ranks on Social Progress Index, which measures more than just economic output to see if a country is really making its citizen's lives better. The U.S might crush the rest of the world in GDP, but that doesn't mean that much when it comes to the people who live here.The Social Progress Index measures more than just economic output to see if a country is really making its citizen's lives better. The U.S might crush the rest of the world in GDP, but that doesn't mean that much when it comes to our well-being. READ MORE ›

A "Newsflash" to Share On People Who Make a Difference creators of The 545 | IJNet

IJNet named this team their journalists of the month.   It is great to see such initiatives and I even volunteered to even contribute to them!! :-) IJNet Journalists of the Month: creators of The 545 | IJNet

Pounding the "Virtual Pavement": Brief thoughts on a breathtaking few weeks

It has been an interesting week on many fronts.  It has been breathtaking--whether it was the introduction of Amazon Fire TV, Windows Across Platforms or rumors on the new iPhone 6.   We have also been exposed to Cortana by Microsoft .  This is as Facebook got into the hardware business with its' most recent acquisition of Oculus.   As I geared up for the new Quarter, though, the highlight was to join the Google+ Hangout with Vince Cerf for which I will be releasing a column on it here soon.

I wanted to end this "Brief Thoughts" here with this I ran across in the daily thoughts as "Outsiders" for Q2 begins:


Six essential qualities that are the key to success: Sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, charity. ~ William Menninger  

On the "Vision of the Possible": Brief Thoughts.....

This "Blog Channel" within "Outsiders" has been envisioned to reflect upon a vision of the possible.  One of the key areas I've focused on is Technology and hope that I can build upon.     As I gear up for a new quarter, I continue to be ever so fascinated by the evolution of Technology as I continue to be concerned about the future.

One very interesting evolutionary idea I saw was this--this is truly within the Vision of the Possible that I believe will give hope when at times there is no hope.

Onward to the New Quarter:

THIS WEEK ON TED.COM MARCH 29, 2014

TALK OF THE WEEK Hugh Herr: The new bionics that let us run, climb and dance 19:00 minutes · Filmed Mar 2014 · Posted Mar 2014 · TED2014 Hugh Herr is building the next generation of bionic limbs, robotic prosthetics inspired by nature's own designs. Herr lost both legs in a climbing accident 30 years ago; now, as the head of the MIT Media Lab’s Biomechatronics group, he shows his incredible technology in a talk that's both technical and deeply personal — with the help of ballroom dancer Adrianne Haslet-Davis, who lost her left leg in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and performs again for the first time on the TED stage. Watch now »

View of the Week: From "Dylan's Desk" On re-inventing the Internet....

As I am on the "prowl" to wind down Q1, I saw this from Dylan Tweney @ Venture Beat who again is ever so on point as he lays out a true "Vision of the Possible".   I am routing for them..and couldn't agree more with how Open Source in this realm is yet to gain traction...but Rome wasn't built in a day ..this is though as Google continues its' ever so dominance:  

This Stanford team is reinventing the entire Internet for just $10M If anyone tries to tell you that government grants play no role in technology innovation, point them to the field of software-defined networking. And soon, you might be able to point them to open social networking. Software-defined networking, or SDN, grew in large part out of research done at Stanford, led by professor Nick McKeown and a group of colleagues and graduate students, called theProgrammable Open Mobile Internet 2020 (POMI) project. That project received a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation in 2008 to “address fundamental issues emerging in the forthcoming broadband wireless mobile revolution” and to “create an ‘open’ alternative to mobile ubiquitous computing and communication that can spur innovations.” The POMI work, the NSF predicted, “will have a dramatic impact on the choices users will have in the way their data and information is computed, stored and communicated.” That prediction turned to be spot on. One of the projects that the POMI group tackled was the creation of a standard for software-defined networking: A way of configuring network routing and network addresses through software. That standard, OpenFlow, took off like a packet storm on a poorly configured router. Three years later, in 2011, a dozen networking vendors were showing off switches based on the OpenFlow protocol pioneered by the POMI group. And in 2012, the company founded by McKeown and others, Nicira, sold to VMware for $1.26 billion. Nicira offered SDN solutions based on a version of OpenFlow. Today, software-defined networking has been embraced by nearly every networking company, and its principles have spread into a variety of other infrastructure areas, including software-defined storage. Pretty good return on investment for $10 million, I’d say. From software to social networking Nor is POMI’s work done: In addition to the networking research, POMI was also investigating the social networking layer, seeking to create a more open, configurable social network that isn’t beholden to a single vendor like Facebook or Twitter. The fruits of that work have now been embodied in another startup, MobiSocial, which launched its first product, Omlet, earlier this month at SXSW. (That’s the MobiSocial team in the photo above.) MobiSocial is building nothing less than a completely open, decentralized social networking tool, based on an extensible chat platform. You can use Omlet to chat with other Omlet users — or you can build your own chat applications that use the Omlet protocol. “Chat is the killer app,” cofounder Monica Lam told me when showing off the new service. What makes Omlet different from other chat platforms is that the company is making no attempt to keep or profit from the data transmitted on the network. MobiSocial’s servers store messages briefly before forwarding them on to their intended recipients but will not hang on to data longer than two weeks. If you share a photo with me on Omlet, it’s transmitted from your phone to mine, and stored on our phones, not on the Omlet network. If we want to keep the photos any longer than that, we can store them in Box, Dropbox, or other cloud storage services that Omlet integrates with. “I will not monetize the data,” Lam promises. “We don’t want your data — it’s a liability to us.” Now, the company is not making any pretensions of being a super-secure chat platform likeWickr or Silent Circle. Omlet doesn’t use encryption for its messages, and Lam acknowledges that the company will have to turn over server logs if subpoenaed by law enforcement. But because it’s an open network protocol, anyone could build a chat application using end-to-end encryption over the Omlet network, and in that case, all Omlet would have is the routing data, without access to the content itself. In order to speed adoption, MobiSocial has struck a deal with Asus: Omlet will be integrated into that company’s low-end ZenFones, which will start shipping April 8 in Taiwan. Omlet is also being integrated into the Stanford University student app, iStanford, and Lam says it is now the preferred means of communication between the students and the university registrar. The company is in talks with other universities and smartphone makers as well. The nature of the Omlet network is such that any of these special-purpose networks will interoperate with others — so I could use a ZenFone to communicate with someone on iStanford. “Asus wants this interoperability… it’s like a social OS,” Lam said. As with all consumer applications, the more people using Omlet, the more successful it will be. This is hardly the first attempt to build a social network on more open principles. Identi.caand Diaspora are both attempts to be an open-source, distributed service, but neither has found much traction. App.net, started by veteran entrepreneur Dalton Caldwell, is an attempt to build a chat-based social platform that app makers can build upon — it hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm either. Unfortunately, the 1.23 billion active users of Facebook and 240 million active users of Twitter represent an enormous and almost immovable advantage that Omlet will find it very difficult to overcome. Many people might give lip service to their discomfort with social media companies storing personal data and selling it to marketers; but if all your friends are on Facebook, you’ll keep using Facebook. Still, the tremendous success of SDN is an indication that there is a hunger — at least in enterprise networking circles — for more open, flexible alternatives. Perhaps there is a similar opportunity in consumer social networking.

Thought For The Week : As the final Week of March and Q1 2014 is Before Us....A Sense of Spirit!!!

As we begin, a compelling thought that underscores the very spirit of why this "channel" was launched courtesy of the team @ FinestQuotes.com:

Onward to the new work week w/all its' possibilities  

If you can't excel  with talent, triumph with effort.

    Dave Weinbaum  

Anything is possible so beat the odds and do your thing. The "Nothing is Impossible" wristband inspires you to go after your dream and aspirations. It is designed to encourage and inspire. It's a great accessory to wear any time of the year. Instila Inspirational Wristbands helps everyone around you remember that nothing is impossible if they try.

On the Eve of Spring..A "Thought 4 the Day"....

Wishing all a Happy Spring as we bid farewell to Q1 2014 and gear up for Q2:

This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, Smiles when sadness intrudes, Rainbows to follow the clouds, Laughter to kiss your lips, Sunsets to warm your heart, Hugs when spirits sag, Beauty for your eyes to see, Friendships to brighten your being, Faith so that you can believe, Confidence for when you doubt, Courage to know yourself, Patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life. - Anonymous

Thought 4 the Week

I wanted to thank the ever thoughtful and engaging Jonathan Lockwood Huie 

For this as this week is before us as we rush to celebrate spring !!! 

Take time to laugh.

It is the music of the soul.

Take time to think.

It is the source of power.

Take time to play.

                                                     It is the source of perpetual youth.                                                     

Take time to read.

It is the fountain of wisdom.

Take time to pray.

It is the greatest power on Earth.

Take time to love and be loved.

It is a God-given privilege.

Take time to be friendly.

It is the road to happiness.

Take time to give.

It is too short a day to be selfish.

Take time to work.

It is the price of success.

- Anonymous

 

A "View of the Week": On Global Warming

 As I gear up for a new quarter in "outsiders", I have been reading up on this latest from TakePart and the analysis is startling to say the least.    When will we have the courage to do something about this real danger?

Global Warming Could Submerge More Than 100 World Heritage Sites Looks like Venice isn't the only place in danger of being swallowed up by water.

On the 25th Anniversary of the Internet: Brief Thoughts :-)

This Week was the week that the Interent Celebrated 25 years.   It has been quite a journey.   I was especially gratified to see Sir Tim Berners-Lee's call for a Magna Carta for Internet Users.   It is very much under attack and its' freedom is ever so threatened.

This chart, courtesy of the team @ the Business Insider, is ever so prevalent of the rise and its' prevalence:

	How The Internet Has Grown In The Last 25 Years The world wide web turned 25 yesterday. In honor of the milestone, here's a look at how the Internet has grown through the years. Statista made this chart for us using data from Pew. Read »

On the "Vision of the Possible": Stepping Back to Reflect & Yet Remain Hopeful

The whole idea of "a Vision of the Possible "was to figure out a different and engaging way from a "outsiders" perspective and be forum.    It was also a way to create a hopeful and engaging sign.       As I set back over the course of the ensuing weeks to reflect upon this and take a bit of "sabbatical" from the writings, I hope that a sense of smile and engagement is ever so important.    It is not easy, though, to smile as the World seems to be falling apart.  What can be done to make things better?  How can we be transformational?    How can we leave a legacy?

Leadership @ Work: A True "Vision of the Possible" :-)

I first ran across this a few days back when Tim Cook spoke up for what is right.     I subsequently ran across this that the team at Mashable determined to be going "Viral" based on their Velocity Model they've developed.   For me, it is an example of leadership at work and a true "vision of the possible.

If only we had more such leaders....

Onward w/the New Week with all its' possibilities:

 

Tim Cook to Climate Change Deniers: Get Out of Apple Stock

Apple CEO Tim Cook has not been known for taking a strong stand on, well, just about anything. Caution has been the watchword of Cook's three-year tenure at the top of the world's wealthiest technology company. So far his legacy is largely comprised of incremental improvements in established products, tweaks to the supply chain, and more corporate transparency.

A "Thought 4 the Week-End" On Failure & Change

Challenges abound--it is how we deal with that distinguishes us.   

Onward to the W-End with this  "Mojo" in the tradition of Darren Hardy of Success Magazine:

Failing doesn't make you a failure. Giving up, accepting your failure, refusing to try again does!

    Richard Exely 

Onward w/the New Week w/this "V-Thought 4 the Week"

There are a proliferation of Motivational and uplifting Virtual Sites that are out there today.   Everyone of them are wonderful to consult and be engaged with.   The folks @ LifeSecretOnline.Com do a fabulous job of insights.  This little clip is one such production which I thought is a good "lead in" to the week at hand and in line with the vision I have had for this "channel" with the evolving "Outsiders" channels.

Onward w/the new week:

 

Watch Change the World

 

A "Thought" 4 the Week-End" To Under the "Vision of the Possible"

:-)