Notations For the Week-End: An Update On "Blocks"//One of our Kickstarter Projects

One of the projects we were fascinated with was "BLOCKS" which is a "modular" smartwatch.   They are ready to go.     We wanted to report on the latest we received here @ Our World Headquarters and we look forward to providing further updates on it:

11 All time top 15 technology projects on Kickstarter Posted by BLOCKS Wearables

Dear Blockers, It has been an incredible 38 days! Thanks to your phenomenal support we passed 5,000 backers, $1,600,000 in pledges, and built an amazing community! This means BLOCKS is now in the top 15 technology Kickstarter campaigns worldwide and top 3 technology Kickstarter campaigns in Europe of all time.  In this time we have learned a great deal about BLOCKS from you and we hope that you will continue supporting us in the coming months. That said, be assured that we are committed to spend our days, nights and weekends to bring the best smartwatch on the planet to your wrist.  BLOCKS is all about giving the power of choice back to the users. With that, we would like you to be involved in the next steps of BLOCKS development. Soon, we will be sending a survey to ask some important questions. Do continue to ask us questions and give your insightful ideas here and via our social media channels - on Facebook (www.facebook.com/chooseblocks) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/chooseblocks). Thanks to all of you again for your incredible support!  Working hard (day and night) on building your future smartwatch,  The BLOCKS Team

	Great news! Thanks to you and 5,062 others, BLOCKS - The World's First Modular Smartwatch has been successfully funded. Your pledge has been charged, funds will soon be transferred to the creator, and they’ll begin working on their project.
	BLOCKS - The World's First Modular Smartwatch by BLOCKS Wearables Visit project

The Friday Musical Interlude: ColdPlay's Ink :-)

It is once again Friday and time for the Friday Musical Interlude.   For this week, we have chosen ColdPlay as our artist of the week and we hope all enjoy this selection as we wish you all a fabulous Friday and a fabulous weekened:

View Of the Week: On Designing a Life

Our team is pleased to present this "View of the Week" about an uplifting message from the great Jim Rohn for this special edition of "View of the Week" as we remember the art of the possible as we hope all consider tweeting this to their followers--our founder did it earlier today: 

How to Go From Making a Living to Designing a Life by Jim Rohn After having struggled for so long, it took a shift in attitude for my family and me when success started to happen. When I started making a little extra money at age 25, my mentor Earl Shoaff taught me to also let it serve as a new inspiration for lifestyle. It's about changing your life as well as changing your skills. Learn how to design your life.

"Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you.” —Jim Rohn Tweet this

Notations From the Grid (Special Edition): The Anonymous War Explained.....

As we noted in our comments, we would be on the prowl to get a sense of the war that Anonymous is waging--this is the latest courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald via the Washington Post:

Anonymous' 'war' on Islamic State explained The online cyber war narrative is much more complicated than it

Thought(s) For the Week

For this edition of Thought(s) for the Week here in the #Visions Channel, What +Jonathan Huie noted in this latest series was so poignant to mention:

It is important to expect nothing,

to take every experience,

including the negative ones,

as merely steps on the path,

and to proceed.

- Ram Dass

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

- Socrates 

We will only understand the miracle of life fully

when we allow the unexpected to happen.

- Paulo Coelho 

Notations From the Grid (Special Edition): Anonymous Declares War (Updated)!!!

Our team was made aware of this by our founder as these activists take on their latest foe--we will be on the prowl to see how their efforts are going: 

Anonymous declares war on ISIS Activist hackers preparing to unleash waves of cyber attacks on Islamic State following the attacks in Paris last week. Metro.Uk is reporting that these cyber warriors have identified 900 Daesh-Iinked accounts and they have been suspended--here is the link on their declaration:

Notations On Our World (Special Edition): On #ParisAttacks as Waleed Aly calls for unity among Muslims and non Muslims

As our team has been assessing the aftermath of #ParisAttacks, we ran across this fabulous clip that has gone viral that our team felt was quite appropriate to report as our newsflash special in this respect.--he's absolutely right on as we all strive to overcome the darkness to create the ultimate Vision of the Possible.

Notations For the Week-End (Special Edition): On #ParisAttacks & Beyond

As we write this, we are monitoring updates from Europe as SkyNews is reporting live on the victims and the aftermath.   129 People have died and 99 are still in hospital.

Parisians are gathering at the Place De La Republic to honor the fallen.  . One of the fallen is a 23-Year Old Student From Cal State Long Beach, Nohemi Gonzalez..     Maddona in Sweden said it best last night during a concert when she noted, "...They want to shut us up...we will never let them."   We here @ #Outsiders echo this sentiment in the strongest possible terms we could muster.

At the G20 Summit, the leaders led a minute of silence to honor the victims of Paris and Ankara.   Condementations have been forthcoming from the entire world.   France has declared 3 Days of National Morning--we here at #Outsiders have decided to go dark for the next 48 hrs in honor of all the victims of all the wars as we leave you all with this image of Paris and the Jewish Prayer for Peace that Corey Robin noted in his blog which we have noted below for reference: 

May we see the day when war and bloodshed cease,

when a great peace will embrace the whole world.

Then nation will not threaten nation,

and mankind will not again know war.

For all who live on earth shall realize

we have not come into being to hate or to destroy.

We have come into being

to praise, to labor and to love.

& a Muslim Prayer For Peace:

Merciful God, You made all of the people of the world in Your own image and placed before us the pathway of salvation through different Preachers who claimed to have been Your Saints and Prophets. But, the contradictions in their teachings and interpretations of them have resulted in creating divisions, hatreds and bloodshed in the world community. Millions of innocent men, women and children have so far been brutally killed by the militants of several religions who have been committing horrifying crimes against humanity, and millions more would be butchered by them in the future, if You do not help us find ways to reunite peacefully.

IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL, look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the controversial teachings of arrogance, divisions and hatreds which have badly infected our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; reunite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish Your purposes on earth; that, in Your good time, all nations and races may jointly serve You in justice, peace and harmony.  (Amen) 

We shall overcome!!!

Notations From the Grid (weekend edition): A Thought 4 the Week

Wishing all a joyous weekend.....

The Friday Musical Interlude: Paul Winter Performs Common Ground....

It is time again for the Friday Musical Interlude here in Outsiders.    We hope all enjoy this selection as Paul Winter Performs Common Ground:

An #Outsider Newsflash (special edition): On Our KickStarter-Backed Project Updates

We have been eagerly awaiting updates from a number of our +Kickstarter -backed projects we just received from the teams--Watch This Space for updates:

15 "3D Print your own NFC Ring" packages have shipped Posted by John McLear

We have shipped the backer levels of "3D Print your own NFC Ring" (£5 and £10). We included QA fail rings in those people who bumped their pledge to cover this. Next up on our schedule is getting Ring Orders info from you guys and shooting out a production update.  Expect to see an email soon! The NFC Ring Team! 10 Dev Team Diary No.5 - Why Prototypes Are So Important Posted by Matter And Form Inc. In this installment of the Dev Team Diaries, I give a status update on Bevel's hardware and share an important lesson in hardware development: always verify your design with physical prototypes! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kowyVjMvHn0 Tell us what you think and leave comments (we love them!) Until next time, Drew.

Notations On Our World: An #Outsider Newsflash as Fortune Names its' Businessperson of the Year

Our team just received word this morning that Fortune has named its' Businessperson of the Year--and it is the CEO of Nike.    The Fortune's Alan Murray shared his thoughts on his CEO Daily newsletter which we are pleased to share here and extend our congratulations and best wishes to him.

As we went to press, the rapid changes though in the Virtual World continue as Angie's List just got a $ 512 Million Dollar Offer from Barry Diller IAC.    Angie's List has been losing market share and as we went to press, was trading at near 52-Week Highs.     Our team is always interested in assessing what our brethren in the Virtual Space are contending it and we will continue to pursue this

We leave you with this from Alan Murray on the leadership primer to be embraced by all--an example of What Jim Collins called Level 5 Leadership:

November 12, 2015

CEO Daily readers did their best to identify Fortune's Businessperson of the Yearthis week, guessing Tim Cook (no. 4 on our list), Travis Kalanick (no. 8) and Elon Musk (Didn't make the top 20. Sorry, Elon.) No one got it right. The introverted Mark Parker, CEO of Nike, has flown under the radar since taking over the shoe company in 2006. But his name jumped right to the top when we did our annual screening exercise, looking at 10 financial metrics - including 12-month and 36-month increases in profit and revenue, and total shareholder returns - as well as more qualitative measures such as business impact. In his time as CEO, Parker has doubled revenues, doubled profits, and grown his stock price six fold. "It's about time the media discovered Mark," says Phil Knight, the legendary co-founder of the sneaker company. "It's like, where have you been?" Our apologies, Phil. Nike is emblematic of another important trend. Making shoes may be the second oldest business on earth, but Nike is doing it with cutting edge of technology, remaking its relationships with customers and suppliers in the process. It recently forged a relationship with Silicon Valley contract manufacturer Flex (formerly Flextronics) to bring high-tech manufacturing techniques to its suppliers in Asia. It is also exploring the use of 3-D printing to make custom shoes. Like every good business, Nike today is a technology business. You can read Adam Lashinsky's fascinating story on this unsung business hero here, and you can read the full list of finalists for Businessperson of the Year here.

View of the Week (II): On Old Technologies & Other Thoughts On This Veterans Day 2015

On this Veterans Day 2015,  this retrospective was quite telling about how much of a transformation we've gone thru--and yet "the old" seems never wanting to die as visionaries continue to think of ways to create the vision of the possible.

As our team hope all enjoys this, it was interesting to us that Fidelity wrote down its' investment in Snapchat and Dropbox, two of the more interesting players in the "New Tech" Space.   Our team could not help but wonder whether it is a sign of things to come.

Happy Veterans Day and Armistice  Day!!!

November 11, 2015

The story about the demise of the Sony Betamax caught my eye Tuesday afternoon. I’m old enough to remember the VCR format wars of the 1980s, and I thought Betamax video was long gone. Not so, reports Fortune’s Robert Hackett. Although Betamax production peaked in 1984, amazingly Sony kept making the player/recorders until 2002. Apparently someone kept using them, because Sony has announced it will stop shipping the cassettes next year. They lasted 40 years, which isn’t bad for a failed product, especially one whose popularity peaked in the middle of the Reagan Administration. That got me thinking about how hard it is to kill old technologies. I know almost no one who isn’t an investment banker that uses a BlackBerry. Yet that beleaguered company has a market capitalization of $4 billion. The heyday of the mainframe computer was the 1960s. Still, IBM not only continues to sell them, but it introduced a brand-new line earlier this year, the z13. “Built for the mobile era,” IBM brags about the system in its 2014 annual report, while also asserting that its mainframes “process 75% of the world’s business data.” The mainframe is part of a rapidly declining business at IBM, yet the company continues to invest heavily to reverse that trend. Examples of graying technology that persevere abound. While reporting an upcoming feature in Fortune magazine about athletic footwear king Nike, I spoke to apparel analysts who praised Nike’s masterful use of SAP software to manage its global inventory and distribution system. SAP? Isn’t that the German company mocked in Silicon Valley for being hopelessly behind on the cloud, which is the hipper and more virtual way to deliver software services? I asked around and found out that yes, SAP is behind but no newfangled offering can hold a candle to SAP’s industrial-strength handling of physical-goods for companies like Nike. The bright shiny objects of technology are exciting, new, and absolutely the future. But don’t count out the rusty old tech war horses just yet. They’re extremely difficult to kill. *** An update: A day after Ericsson and Cisco announced the tie-up I wrote aboutTuesday, Ericsson held an investor day during which it lowered its financial guidance through 2018. Its shares fell more than 6%. The alliance announcedMonday was notable for not being a merger. Perhaps the Swedish company would have been better off selling itself to its Silicon Valley partner after all. Adam Lashinsky @adamlashinsky adam_lashinsky@fortune.com

Notations From the Grid: Sharing a Hero's Story On The Eve of This Veterans Day

As our team prepares to go "dark" for Veterans Day in the United States, we could not help but feature this story of courage and beauty that was featured on +TED that moved us as a team greatly:

More from TED.com

Aboard an overloaded ship carrying more than 500 refugees, a young woman becomes an unlikely hero. This powerful story, told by Melissa Fleming of the UN's refugee agency, gives a human face to the sheer numbers of human beings trying to escape to better lives ... as the refugee ships keep coming ... Watch »