Wednesday, June 6, 2012
New Sony RX100 1inch sensor f1.8 lense
Sony RX100: This is How You Cram a 1-Inch Sensor and Wide Aperture Lens Into a Point-and-Shoot Body
By Adrian Covert, Jun 6, 2012 12:00 AM
SHARE
With DSLRs like the Canon T2I and Nikon D3200 becoming increasing accessible, and smartphone cameras becoming increasingly quality, fixed-lens point-and-shoot cameras have become something a forgotten breed. But with the introduction of the RX100—complete with its impressive 1-inch sensor, f/1.8 aperture, and compact body—Sony is trying to make the pocketable camera relevant again.
When it comes to specs, the RX100 is nothing short of impressive. The sensor is a 20.2-megapixel beast that's part of Sony's Exmor family and powered by the Bionz processor. The glass is a 28-100mm Vario-Sonnar Zeiss lens with 3.6x optical zoom and that impressive, aforementioned f/1.8 aperture. The camera has an ISO range of 100-25600, with an auto ISO limit of 6400. Video is an AVCHD affair, with 1080p recording at 60 frames (there's also a 720p MP4 mode). The all-aluminum body isn't much bigger than the Canon S100, and comes equipped not only with fully-programmable manual controls on the back, but also around the lens. The all-black camera is nothing short of beautiful, with stripped down, no-nonsense design that invokes the lines of a Leica camera.
Because Sony packed such a large sensor, and went with a fixed lens, it was able to open up the aperture to let in plenty of light. This not only means sharp images, but also powerful defocusing effects (a.k.a. those nice background blurs). The 1-inch sensor is bigger than those found in both the Canon S100 and G12, not to mention the Fuji X10 and Panasonic LX5. And despite the technical wizardry, the battery is rated for 330 shots-per-charge on average.
In the brief time I got to play with the thing, the RX100 impressed. In both the automatic and program modes, shots were sharp and detailed, even without optimal lighting. At times, the shots certainly looked comparable to those produced by considerably more powerful cameras. Though the is small and light, it hardly feels insubstantial, and can be operated without having to contort your hand in weird ways. And the big 3-inch screen is nice and bright, thanks to the LCD's added white light which is designed to combat sunlight.
So who is this thing for? At $650, it might be too pricey as a second camera for the DSLR crowd. But for someone who doesn't use a camera enough to justify the cost and bulk of a DSLR, the RX100 could be a very happy compromise. Sony says you can expect the RX100 to arrive in July. [Sony]
By Adrian Covert, Jun 6, 2012 12:00 AM
SHARE
With DSLRs like the Canon T2I and Nikon D3200 becoming increasing accessible, and smartphone cameras becoming increasingly quality, fixed-lens point-and-shoot cameras have become something a forgotten breed. But with the introduction of the RX100—complete with its impressive 1-inch sensor, f/1.8 aperture, and compact body—Sony is trying to make the pocketable camera relevant again.
When it comes to specs, the RX100 is nothing short of impressive. The sensor is a 20.2-megapixel beast that's part of Sony's Exmor family and powered by the Bionz processor. The glass is a 28-100mm Vario-Sonnar Zeiss lens with 3.6x optical zoom and that impressive, aforementioned f/1.8 aperture. The camera has an ISO range of 100-25600, with an auto ISO limit of 6400. Video is an AVCHD affair, with 1080p recording at 60 frames (there's also a 720p MP4 mode). The all-aluminum body isn't much bigger than the Canon S100, and comes equipped not only with fully-programmable manual controls on the back, but also around the lens. The all-black camera is nothing short of beautiful, with stripped down, no-nonsense design that invokes the lines of a Leica camera.
Because Sony packed such a large sensor, and went with a fixed lens, it was able to open up the aperture to let in plenty of light. This not only means sharp images, but also powerful defocusing effects (a.k.a. those nice background blurs). The 1-inch sensor is bigger than those found in both the Canon S100 and G12, not to mention the Fuji X10 and Panasonic LX5. And despite the technical wizardry, the battery is rated for 330 shots-per-charge on average.
In the brief time I got to play with the thing, the RX100 impressed. In both the automatic and program modes, shots were sharp and detailed, even without optimal lighting. At times, the shots certainly looked comparable to those produced by considerably more powerful cameras. Though the is small and light, it hardly feels insubstantial, and can be operated without having to contort your hand in weird ways. And the big 3-inch screen is nice and bright, thanks to the LCD's added white light which is designed to combat sunlight.
So who is this thing for? At $650, it might be too pricey as a second camera for the DSLR crowd. But for someone who doesn't use a camera enough to justify the cost and bulk of a DSLR, the RX100 could be a very happy compromise. Sony says you can expect the RX100 to arrive in July. [Sony]
Rim to open 15 stores in India
RIM has plans to open up to 15 premium stores in India by the end of the year. The first store open in Delhi last month, with a second store newly opened last Friday in Gurgaon. RIM plans to open these stores in major locations around India, including Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bangalore.
The stores will feature special areas which will showcase both consumer and enterprise applications, complete with live demos. Sunil Dutt, Managing Director of RIM India says, "These stores will offer holistic consumer experience on BlackBerry consumer and enterprise services."
Asia, where RIM has a high subscriber base has already seen stores open in Indonesia and Thailand, so it comes as now surprise to see them set up shop in India where it BlackBerry smartphone usage is also high and has seen a big increase in subscriber numbers in the past months, especially within the youth market.
It's nice to see RIM building these premium stores in places where there is high demand, even the Middle East saw a flagship store open in Dubai last month. I would like to see them bring these stores to the Europe in the near future, perhaps in the U.K. first? One can only hope.
Source: Times of India
ECB holds rates steady
EUROPE'S DEBT CRISIS
ECB holds rates steady
By Ben Rooney @CNNMoneyInvest June 6, 2012: 7:59 AM ET
Email Print
ECB president Mario Draghi is under pressure to help keep the euro currency union from breaking apart.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- European Central Bank officials voted Wednesday to hold interest rates steady, as the debt crisis in the euro area intensifies.
The ECB left its main interest rate unchanged at 1%, dashing hopes for a rate cut.
ECB officials are meeting amid a deepening banking crisis in Spain and ahead of a pivotal election in Greece that could determine whether the nation remains in the eurozone.
Separately, the European Union announced a plan for a continent-wide banking union that would deal with future banking crises rather than leave them in the hands of already struggling national governments.
But the proposals have yet to be officially endorsed and the measures will take years to implement.
Microsoft Keynote Windows rundown
Microsoft’s Computex Keynote: Windows as an Ecosystem is Getting Ready
June 6th, 2012 by Avram Piltch, LAPTOP Online Editorial Director
Ad
With the launch of Windows 8 just months away, Computex has been all about Microsoft’s upcoming OS. In a keynote address today, Microsoft’s Stephen Guggenheimer highlighted the company’s progress in advancing Windows 8 and the rest of its Windows ecosystem.
Guggenheimer started by talking about the evolution of the entire electronics ecosystem from a world of separate TV, PC and phone vendors to one where companies work across different form factors. He said that Microsoft creates a set of platforms that companies can use and build upon where competitors like Apple don’t allow partners to innovate. He said Android also allows partners to innovate, but there’s no consistency in Android so partners have to take more responsibility for building and supporting their own software. He cited Amazon as an example of a company succeeding in Android by building its own software.
Ads by GoogleCanadian Keynote Bureau www.TheLavinAgency.com/
Inspiring Motivational Speakers for Your Events. Contact Us Today!
Ad
He said that the Windows 8 launch is the company’s biggest launch ever.
Embedded Windows
Guggenheimer then spoke about servers and services. He said that Microsoft provides a variety of private cloud services for business, but runs close to half a billion servers for its public-facing services like Hotmail. He said that the company’s knowledge of both public and private cloud technology, Microsoft can create the most scalable solutions.
Ad
He said that Microsoft is working with partners to create a “private cloud in a box” that allows hardware vendors to provide huge servers that create a local on-site cloud. He pointed to a large Quanta server on the stage as an example.
Guggenheimer then talked about embedded devices and showed a video that highlighted all the places you might see an embedded device in everyday life. In the video, we saw a treadmill, refrigerator, security system, Ford Sync, projector, conference phone, supply chain, elevator display, printer digital sign, MRI scanner, ultrasound machine, soda dispenser, GPS system, coffee machine, Polhy come phone, digital sign, point-of-sale system, checkout system, Redbox video rental station and robotic vaccum cleaner, among others. A man going through his day encountered 45 different embedded devices in a single day.
He said the prediction is for embedded systems to grow from one billion to two billion over the next few years. He showed off a Ford car with Sync technology and an LG digital sign that shows ads, videos or restaurant menus.
“If you want to build an embedded device quickly, Windows is by far the easiest device to build on,” he said. Guggenheimer then announced that, as of today, the next technology preview of Windows Embedded Standard is available for download.
Ad
Windows Phones and Sync
Guggenheimer then spoke about advances in Windows Phone. He showed a real-time translation app that allowed him to read a Chinese sign just by running a handset’s camera over it. He then called a demo guy named Ryan on stage to show how, with a tablet, an Xbox and a Windows Phone, you can sync content across all your screens, pausing a movie on the tablet and then resuming it on the Xbox or using the phone as a controller.
Better Hardware
Guggenheimer talked about hardware advances from Microsoft’s partners, including better glass for screens and improved hinge designs for notebooks. He then showed off a monitor from Sharp that accepts input from a standard pencil instead of an active stylus.
Ad
With Ryan back on stage, the two of them showed how they could work on a document together remotely just by drawing on a shade of light from a projector. As Guggenheimer drew lines on his desk, they appeared on Ryan’s desk and vice versa. Even a real metal hinge that Ryan put down on his desk showed up virtually on Guggenheimer’s desk.
Windows 7, Windows 8, and Metro Apps
Guggenheimer then talked about Windows 7, saying that there are now 600 million Windows 7 devices on the market today and 39 percent of the online devices today are Windows 7. He said he’s excited to see all the new Windows 7 PCs being unveiled at Computex.
He spoke about the Windows 8 preview release that launched last week and showed a video montage of people using Windows 8 tablets and other devices. He said that the critical response for Windows 8 has been strong and put quotes from three journalists up on screen.
He invited Microsoft’s Aidean Marcuss, a product manager for Windows 8, up to talk about the Windows Release Preview. Marcuss spent 15 minutes demonstrating some of the coolest apps on Windows 8, including the Bing travel app, a cocktail app, the Wikipedia app, some educational apps for kids and a painting app that simulates the experience of painting on paper right down to the grain.
Marcuss spoke about all the systems and peripherals that Windows 8 supports. He said that they’ve added new class drivers that make it easier to provide an instant install experience the minute you plug a device into your computer or tablet. He said that there are over 50 million Windows 7 certified devices today and all should work properly on Windows 8, along with a host of new devices.
He spoke about apps and the momentum from developers saying there are “hundreds” of Metro apps available in Microsoft’s market today. He said there’s a certification kit that developers can use to test their apps before submitting them. He said hardware and software vendors should get up to speed, use the certification tools test their PCs and make sure they are Windows 8 ready and test all their peripherals for Windows 8.
He encouraged developers to learn about how to build Metro apps and said there are developer workshops happening all over the world.
Systems with Windows 8
Guggenheimer came back on stage to talk about the types of hardware that run Windows 8. He then showed off a few sample devices. First he showed a number of all-in-one computers, including a Lenovo Windows 8 all-in-one with a hinge that allows it to fold flat and turn into a flat board you can use to play a game of Mahjong.
He then walked past a bevy of Ultrabooks we’ve seen–including the Dell XPS 13, ASUS Zenbook, and the Acer Aspire M5–which he showed with its pull down pots. He showed Ultrabooks with touch like the Acer Aspire S7 13-inch. He pointed out that the hinge on the S7 becomes very rigid when held at 90 degrees so it doesn’t move when you push buttons on the screen.
He then spoke about convertibles and demonstrated the Lenovo Yoga. He also held up the Samsung Series 5 Hybrid with its pop-off display and the Zenbook Transformer with its removable screen. He then showed off the ASUS’s Windows RT-based Tegra 3 tablet.
“We’re blending no compromise hardware with no compromise software,” he said.
Upgrade Path
Guggenheimer spke about the Windows 8 upgrade plan which allows users who buy a new PC today to upgrade to Windows 8 for just $14.99 between now and January 31st.
June 6th, 2012 by Avram Piltch, LAPTOP Online Editorial Director
Ad
With the launch of Windows 8 just months away, Computex has been all about Microsoft’s upcoming OS. In a keynote address today, Microsoft’s Stephen Guggenheimer highlighted the company’s progress in advancing Windows 8 and the rest of its Windows ecosystem.
Guggenheimer started by talking about the evolution of the entire electronics ecosystem from a world of separate TV, PC and phone vendors to one where companies work across different form factors. He said that Microsoft creates a set of platforms that companies can use and build upon where competitors like Apple don’t allow partners to innovate. He said Android also allows partners to innovate, but there’s no consistency in Android so partners have to take more responsibility for building and supporting their own software. He cited Amazon as an example of a company succeeding in Android by building its own software.
Ads by GoogleCanadian Keynote Bureau www.TheLavinAgency.com/
Inspiring Motivational Speakers for Your Events. Contact Us Today!
Ad
He said that the Windows 8 launch is the company’s biggest launch ever.
Embedded Windows
Guggenheimer then spoke about servers and services. He said that Microsoft provides a variety of private cloud services for business, but runs close to half a billion servers for its public-facing services like Hotmail. He said that the company’s knowledge of both public and private cloud technology, Microsoft can create the most scalable solutions.
Ad
He said that Microsoft is working with partners to create a “private cloud in a box” that allows hardware vendors to provide huge servers that create a local on-site cloud. He pointed to a large Quanta server on the stage as an example.
Guggenheimer then talked about embedded devices and showed a video that highlighted all the places you might see an embedded device in everyday life. In the video, we saw a treadmill, refrigerator, security system, Ford Sync, projector, conference phone, supply chain, elevator display, printer digital sign, MRI scanner, ultrasound machine, soda dispenser, GPS system, coffee machine, Polhy come phone, digital sign, point-of-sale system, checkout system, Redbox video rental station and robotic vaccum cleaner, among others. A man going through his day encountered 45 different embedded devices in a single day.
He said the prediction is for embedded systems to grow from one billion to two billion over the next few years. He showed off a Ford car with Sync technology and an LG digital sign that shows ads, videos or restaurant menus.
“If you want to build an embedded device quickly, Windows is by far the easiest device to build on,” he said. Guggenheimer then announced that, as of today, the next technology preview of Windows Embedded Standard is available for download.
Ad
Windows Phones and Sync
Guggenheimer then spoke about advances in Windows Phone. He showed a real-time translation app that allowed him to read a Chinese sign just by running a handset’s camera over it. He then called a demo guy named Ryan on stage to show how, with a tablet, an Xbox and a Windows Phone, you can sync content across all your screens, pausing a movie on the tablet and then resuming it on the Xbox or using the phone as a controller.
Better Hardware
Guggenheimer talked about hardware advances from Microsoft’s partners, including better glass for screens and improved hinge designs for notebooks. He then showed off a monitor from Sharp that accepts input from a standard pencil instead of an active stylus.
Ad
With Ryan back on stage, the two of them showed how they could work on a document together remotely just by drawing on a shade of light from a projector. As Guggenheimer drew lines on his desk, they appeared on Ryan’s desk and vice versa. Even a real metal hinge that Ryan put down on his desk showed up virtually on Guggenheimer’s desk.
Windows 7, Windows 8, and Metro Apps
Guggenheimer then talked about Windows 7, saying that there are now 600 million Windows 7 devices on the market today and 39 percent of the online devices today are Windows 7. He said he’s excited to see all the new Windows 7 PCs being unveiled at Computex.
He spoke about the Windows 8 preview release that launched last week and showed a video montage of people using Windows 8 tablets and other devices. He said that the critical response for Windows 8 has been strong and put quotes from three journalists up on screen.
He invited Microsoft’s Aidean Marcuss, a product manager for Windows 8, up to talk about the Windows Release Preview. Marcuss spent 15 minutes demonstrating some of the coolest apps on Windows 8, including the Bing travel app, a cocktail app, the Wikipedia app, some educational apps for kids and a painting app that simulates the experience of painting on paper right down to the grain.
Marcuss spoke about all the systems and peripherals that Windows 8 supports. He said that they’ve added new class drivers that make it easier to provide an instant install experience the minute you plug a device into your computer or tablet. He said that there are over 50 million Windows 7 certified devices today and all should work properly on Windows 8, along with a host of new devices.
He spoke about apps and the momentum from developers saying there are “hundreds” of Metro apps available in Microsoft’s market today. He said there’s a certification kit that developers can use to test their apps before submitting them. He said hardware and software vendors should get up to speed, use the certification tools test their PCs and make sure they are Windows 8 ready and test all their peripherals for Windows 8.
He encouraged developers to learn about how to build Metro apps and said there are developer workshops happening all over the world.
Systems with Windows 8
Guggenheimer came back on stage to talk about the types of hardware that run Windows 8. He then showed off a few sample devices. First he showed a number of all-in-one computers, including a Lenovo Windows 8 all-in-one with a hinge that allows it to fold flat and turn into a flat board you can use to play a game of Mahjong.
He then walked past a bevy of Ultrabooks we’ve seen–including the Dell XPS 13, ASUS Zenbook, and the Acer Aspire M5–which he showed with its pull down pots. He showed Ultrabooks with touch like the Acer Aspire S7 13-inch. He pointed out that the hinge on the S7 becomes very rigid when held at 90 degrees so it doesn’t move when you push buttons on the screen.
He then spoke about convertibles and demonstrated the Lenovo Yoga. He also held up the Samsung Series 5 Hybrid with its pop-off display and the Zenbook Transformer with its removable screen. He then showed off the ASUS’s Windows RT-based Tegra 3 tablet.
“We’re blending no compromise hardware with no compromise software,” he said.
Upgrade Path
Guggenheimer spke about the Windows 8 upgrade plan which allows users who buy a new PC today to upgrade to Windows 8 for just $14.99 between now and January 31st.
Skills to having a good meeting
Meetings Are Actually A Skill You Can Master, And Steve Jobs Taught Me How
WRITTEN BY: Ken Segall
MORE BRAINS DON’T NECESSARILY LEAD TO BETTER IDEAS. WHEN IT CAME TO LEADING MEETINGS, JOBS’S HAD NO QUALMS TOSSING THE LEAST NECESSARY PERSON OUT OF THE ROOM.
NOTES
This is our second excerpt from Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success by Ken Segall, a close collaborator with Jobs for over a decade. To read the first, on how the iMac was almost called the MacMan, go here.
Apple encourages big thinking but small everything else. That is, if you feel the urge to speak or act in a manner reminiscent of anything you learned in a big company, it’s best that you do that in the privacy of your own home. Meeting size is a good example. Once Chiat/Day was installed as Apple’s agency of record and we’d settled into our work, we would meet with Steve Jobs every other Monday.
Typically there would be no formal agenda. We’d share our work in progress with Steve and he’d share whatever news he had. This was how we all stayed up to date. The invitee list for these meetings was small. On the agency side were the creative people, account director, and media director. On the Apple side there were Steve, Phil Schiller (product marketing), Jony Ive (design), Allen Olivo (marketing communications), and Hiroki Asai (Apple’s in-house creative). Special guest stars were invited as required.
POOR LORRIE HAD TO PACK UP HER BELONGINGS, RISE FROM HER CHAIR, AND TAKE THE LONG WALK.One particular day, there appeared in our midst a woman from Apple with whom I was unfamiliar. I don’t recall her name, as she never appeared in our world again, so for the purposes of this tale, I’ll call her Lorrie. She took her seat with the rest of us as Steve breezed into the boardroom, right on time. Steve was in a sociable mood, so we chatted it up for a few minutes, and then the meeting began. “Before we start, let me just update you on a few things,” said Steve, his eyes surveying the room. “First off, let’s talk about iMac--" He stopped cold. His eyes locked on to the one thing in the room that didn’t look right. Pointing to Lorrie, he said, “Who are you?”
Lorrie was a bit stunned to be called out like that, but she calmly explained that she’d been asked to attend because she was involved with some of the marketing projects we’d be discussing. Steve heard it. Processed it. Then he hit her with the Simple Stick. “I don’t think we need you in this meeting, Lorrie. Thanks,” he said. Then, as if that diversion had never occurred--and as if Lorrie never existed--he continued with his update. So, just as the meeting started, in front of eight or so people whom Steve did want to see at the table, poor Lorrie had to pack up her belongings, rise from her chair, and take the long walk across the room toward the door. Her crime: She had nothing to add.
SIMPLICITY’S BEST FRIEND: SMALL GROUPS OF SMART PEOPLE
What Lorrie experienced was the strict enforcement of one of Simplicity’s most important rules: Start with small groups of smart people--and keep them small. Every time the body count goes higher, you’re simply inviting complexity to take a seat at the table. The small-group principle is deeply woven into the religion of Simplicity. It’s key to Apple’s ongoing success and key to any organization that wants to nurture quality thinking. The idea is pretty basic: Everyone in the room should be there for a reason. There’s no such thing as a “mercy invitation.” Either you’re critical to the meeting or you’re not. It’s nothing personal, just business.
Steve Jobs actively resisted any behavior he believed representative of the way big companies think--even though Apple had been a big company for many years. He knew that small groups composed of the smartest and most creative people had propelled Apple to its amazing success, and he had no intention of ever changing that. When he called a meeting or reported to a meeting, his expectation was that everyone in the room would be an essential participant. Spectators were not welcome.
MANY BUSINESSES FOLLOW A MISGUIDED PRINCIPLE: THE MORE CRITICAL THE PROJECT, THE MORE PEOPLE MUST BE THROWN AT IT.This was based on the somewhat obvious idea that a smaller group would be more focused and motivated than a large group, and smarter people will do higher quality work. For a principle that would seem to be common sense, it’s surprising how many organizations fail to observe it. How many overpopulated meetings do you sit through during the course of a year? How many of those meetings get sidetracked or lose focus in a way that would never occur if the group were half the size? The small-group rule requires enforcement, but it’s worth the cost.
Remember, complexity normally offers the easy way out. It’s easier to remain silent and let the Lorries of the world take their seats at the table, and most of us are too mannerly to perform a public ejection. But if you don’t act to keep the group small, you’re creating an exception to the rule--and Simplicity is never achieved through exceptions. Truthfully, you can do the brutal thing without being brutal. Just explain your reasons. Keep the group small.
Prior to working with Steve Jobs, I worked with a number of more traditional big companies. So it was a shock to my system (in a good way) when I entered Steve’s world of Simplicity. In Apple’s culture, progress was much easier to attain. It was also a shock to my system (in a bad way) when I left Steve’s world and found myself suffering through the same old issues with more traditional organizations again.
Back in the early days of NeXT, when all of its promise lay ahead, I heard Steve address the troops one day, telling them to savor this moment in time. He told them that when NeXT got bigger and more successful, they’d fondly look back at this time as “the good old days.” Things would surely get crazier. (Not the most accurate of his predictions, given NeXT’s constant struggles, but you get the point.) In later years, when I found myself attending larger, less productive meetings at multilayered companies, those words would echo in my head. I did miss the good old days--not just because they were quieter but because they were smarter.
ONLY OCCASIONALLY DO MORE BRAINS MEAN BETTER IDEAS.Out in the real world, when I talk about small groups of smart people, I rarely get any pushback. That’s because common sense tells us it’s the right way to go. Most people know from experience that the fastest way to lose focus, squander valuable time, and water down great ideas is to entrust them to a larger group. Just as we know that there is equal danger in putting ideas at the mercy of a large group of approvers.
One reason why large, unwieldy groups tend to be created in many companies is that the culture of a company is bigger than any one person. It’s hard to change “the way we do things here.” This is where the zealots of Simplicity need to step in and overcome the inertia. One must be judicious and realistic about applying the small-group principle. Simply making groups smaller will obviously not solve all problems, and “small” is a relative term. Only you know your business and the nature of your projects, so only you can draw the line between too few people and too many. You need to be the enforcer and be prepared to hit the process with the Simple Stick when the group is threatened with unnecessary expansion.
Over the years, Apple’s marketing group has fine-tuned a process that’s been successfully repeated, revolution by revolution. Project teams are kept small, with talented people being given real responsibility--which is what drives them to work some crazy hours and deliver quality thinking. Because quality is stressed over quantity, meetings are informal and visible progress is made on a weekly (if not daily) basis.
Every company wants to maximize productivity and cut down on unnecessary meetings. How they go about it, though, can vary widely. At Apple, forming small groups of smart people comes naturally, because in its culture, that’s “the way we do things here.” Sometimes companies try to “legislate” productivity by offering up corporate guidelines.
In one iconic technology company with which I worked framed sign in every conference room designed to nudge the employees toward greater productivity. The headline on the sign was how to have a successful meeting. The content read like it came right out of a corporate manual, which it likely did. It featured a bullet-pointed list of things like “State the agenda at the start of your meeting,” “Encourage participation by all attendees,” and “Conclude your meeting with agreement on next steps.”
What these signs really said, though, was “Welcome to a very big company! Just follow these signs and you’ll fit in well.” It’s not hard to imagine Steve Jobs, who actively fought big-company behavior, gleefully ripping these signs off the wall and replacing them with Ansel Adams prints that might provide a moment of reflection or inspiration—like those he put up in the halls of NeXT.
If you have any thought of working at Apple, I’m sorry to say there will be no signs on the wall telling you how to run a meeting. Likewise, there will be no signs telling you how to tie your shoes or fill a glass of water. The assumption made at your hiring is that you are well equipped with brains and common sense and that you’re a fully functioning adult. If you’re not already a disciple of Simplicity, you’ll become one soon. Either that or you’ll decide you’d rather not be part of such a thing, which is okay too. Simplicity prefers not having to train a bucking bronco.
If big companies really feel compelled to put something on their walls, a better sign might read:
HOW TO HAVE A GREAT MEETING
1. Throw out the least necessary person at the table.
2. Walk out of this meeting if it lasts more than 30 minutes.
3. Do something productive today to make up for the time you spent here.
I’m exaggerating, of course. Meetings are a necessary and important way to make collaborative progress. But we all know that too many unnecessary or overpopulated meetings can rob even the most brilliant people of their creative energy. More than being a guideline for meetings, however, the small-group principle is mandatory for project groups. Many businesses follow an instinctive but misguided principle: The more critical the project, the more people must be thrown at it. The operative theory is that more brains equal more ideas. That’s hard to argue with--except that only occasionally do more brains mean better ideas. The more people involved in the effort, the more complicated briefings become, the more hand-holding is required to get people up to speed, and the more time must be spent reviewing participants’ work and offering useful feedback. A smaller group offers the most efficient way to succeed--assuming that it also has the smarts. (Promise you’ll never forget that part.)
OFTENTIMES STEVE WAS ONLY DOING WHAT MANY OF US WISH WE COULD DO.To say that putting more people on a project will improve the results is basically saying that you don’t have a ton of confidence in the group you started with. Either that or you’re just looking for an insurance policy--which also means you don’t have a lot of confidence in the group you started with. Whatever your motivation, what you’re really saying is that you don’t have the right people on the job. So fix that. When populated by the smartest people, small groups will give management more confidence, not less. When you push for small groups of smart people, everybody wins. The company gets better thinking. The group feels better appreciated and is eager to take on more work. This type of organization actually fuels productivity, project to project.
Apple’s agency, originally known as Chiat/Day, succeeded by the same philosophy. Led by the Hall of Fame creative director Lee Clow, our small group matched up well with Apple’s small group. Limiting the size of our group helped us produce work quickly, get information fast, and have the agility to react to unexpected events.
The agency’s founder, the late Jay Chiat, had set a similar tone decades earlier. Jay and Steve had a unique relationship in the days of the original
Macintosh and in certain ways were cut from the same cloth. I had the pleasure of being personally ejected from a meeting by Jay during one of my several stints at Chiat/Day. It happened much like Steve’s ejection of Lorrie, except that I was only half of a dual ejection. Surveying the room before the start of a meeting, Jay took one look at my art director partner and me and said, “What are you guys doing here?”
“Beats me,” I said. “We’re just responding to the invitation.”
“You shouldn’t be sitting around a table talking about this bullshit,” said Jay. “Go create something.” At least we got to walk out of the room with smiles on our faces. Lorrie didn’t have that option.
The working styles of both Jay and Steve have stuck with me over the years. I can think of no better examples of leaders with a talent for keeping their teams focused on the mission and focused on producing great results. And both built spectacularly successful businesses. It’s not a coincidence.
To this day I have a recurring fantasy when I find myself trapped in a big meeting going nowhere. I imagine what Steve Jobs would say and do if he were sitting in that room, enduring what I’m enduring. In my fantasy, it’s like having a really good seat for a matinee at the Roman Colosseum. Who would Steve verbally dismantle or eject from the meeting? When would he cut the presenter off midsentence and say it’s all bullshit? With all the talk about how rough Steve could be, it should be acknowledged that oftentimes he was only doing what many of us wish we could do. Steve saw no reason to be delicate when his time, and the time of everyone in the room, was being wasted.
This is part of the challenge that we non-Steves must face. Most of us aren’t comfortable with the idea of turning into coldhearted control freaks, but we also know that we sometimes need to be tough to keep projects on track. The good news is, being brutal and being respected are not mutually exclusive. In fact, showing a little of that brutal honesty at the right time is a pretty good way to earn respect--and keep those smart groups small.
WRITTEN BY: Ken Segall
MORE BRAINS DON’T NECESSARILY LEAD TO BETTER IDEAS. WHEN IT CAME TO LEADING MEETINGS, JOBS’S HAD NO QUALMS TOSSING THE LEAST NECESSARY PERSON OUT OF THE ROOM.
NOTES
This is our second excerpt from Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success by Ken Segall, a close collaborator with Jobs for over a decade. To read the first, on how the iMac was almost called the MacMan, go here.
Apple encourages big thinking but small everything else. That is, if you feel the urge to speak or act in a manner reminiscent of anything you learned in a big company, it’s best that you do that in the privacy of your own home. Meeting size is a good example. Once Chiat/Day was installed as Apple’s agency of record and we’d settled into our work, we would meet with Steve Jobs every other Monday.
Typically there would be no formal agenda. We’d share our work in progress with Steve and he’d share whatever news he had. This was how we all stayed up to date. The invitee list for these meetings was small. On the agency side were the creative people, account director, and media director. On the Apple side there were Steve, Phil Schiller (product marketing), Jony Ive (design), Allen Olivo (marketing communications), and Hiroki Asai (Apple’s in-house creative). Special guest stars were invited as required.
POOR LORRIE HAD TO PACK UP HER BELONGINGS, RISE FROM HER CHAIR, AND TAKE THE LONG WALK.One particular day, there appeared in our midst a woman from Apple with whom I was unfamiliar. I don’t recall her name, as she never appeared in our world again, so for the purposes of this tale, I’ll call her Lorrie. She took her seat with the rest of us as Steve breezed into the boardroom, right on time. Steve was in a sociable mood, so we chatted it up for a few minutes, and then the meeting began. “Before we start, let me just update you on a few things,” said Steve, his eyes surveying the room. “First off, let’s talk about iMac--" He stopped cold. His eyes locked on to the one thing in the room that didn’t look right. Pointing to Lorrie, he said, “Who are you?”
Lorrie was a bit stunned to be called out like that, but she calmly explained that she’d been asked to attend because she was involved with some of the marketing projects we’d be discussing. Steve heard it. Processed it. Then he hit her with the Simple Stick. “I don’t think we need you in this meeting, Lorrie. Thanks,” he said. Then, as if that diversion had never occurred--and as if Lorrie never existed--he continued with his update. So, just as the meeting started, in front of eight or so people whom Steve did want to see at the table, poor Lorrie had to pack up her belongings, rise from her chair, and take the long walk across the room toward the door. Her crime: She had nothing to add.
SIMPLICITY’S BEST FRIEND: SMALL GROUPS OF SMART PEOPLE
What Lorrie experienced was the strict enforcement of one of Simplicity’s most important rules: Start with small groups of smart people--and keep them small. Every time the body count goes higher, you’re simply inviting complexity to take a seat at the table. The small-group principle is deeply woven into the religion of Simplicity. It’s key to Apple’s ongoing success and key to any organization that wants to nurture quality thinking. The idea is pretty basic: Everyone in the room should be there for a reason. There’s no such thing as a “mercy invitation.” Either you’re critical to the meeting or you’re not. It’s nothing personal, just business.
Steve Jobs actively resisted any behavior he believed representative of the way big companies think--even though Apple had been a big company for many years. He knew that small groups composed of the smartest and most creative people had propelled Apple to its amazing success, and he had no intention of ever changing that. When he called a meeting or reported to a meeting, his expectation was that everyone in the room would be an essential participant. Spectators were not welcome.
MANY BUSINESSES FOLLOW A MISGUIDED PRINCIPLE: THE MORE CRITICAL THE PROJECT, THE MORE PEOPLE MUST BE THROWN AT IT.This was based on the somewhat obvious idea that a smaller group would be more focused and motivated than a large group, and smarter people will do higher quality work. For a principle that would seem to be common sense, it’s surprising how many organizations fail to observe it. How many overpopulated meetings do you sit through during the course of a year? How many of those meetings get sidetracked or lose focus in a way that would never occur if the group were half the size? The small-group rule requires enforcement, but it’s worth the cost.
Remember, complexity normally offers the easy way out. It’s easier to remain silent and let the Lorries of the world take their seats at the table, and most of us are too mannerly to perform a public ejection. But if you don’t act to keep the group small, you’re creating an exception to the rule--and Simplicity is never achieved through exceptions. Truthfully, you can do the brutal thing without being brutal. Just explain your reasons. Keep the group small.
Prior to working with Steve Jobs, I worked with a number of more traditional big companies. So it was a shock to my system (in a good way) when I entered Steve’s world of Simplicity. In Apple’s culture, progress was much easier to attain. It was also a shock to my system (in a bad way) when I left Steve’s world and found myself suffering through the same old issues with more traditional organizations again.
Back in the early days of NeXT, when all of its promise lay ahead, I heard Steve address the troops one day, telling them to savor this moment in time. He told them that when NeXT got bigger and more successful, they’d fondly look back at this time as “the good old days.” Things would surely get crazier. (Not the most accurate of his predictions, given NeXT’s constant struggles, but you get the point.) In later years, when I found myself attending larger, less productive meetings at multilayered companies, those words would echo in my head. I did miss the good old days--not just because they were quieter but because they were smarter.
ONLY OCCASIONALLY DO MORE BRAINS MEAN BETTER IDEAS.Out in the real world, when I talk about small groups of smart people, I rarely get any pushback. That’s because common sense tells us it’s the right way to go. Most people know from experience that the fastest way to lose focus, squander valuable time, and water down great ideas is to entrust them to a larger group. Just as we know that there is equal danger in putting ideas at the mercy of a large group of approvers.
One reason why large, unwieldy groups tend to be created in many companies is that the culture of a company is bigger than any one person. It’s hard to change “the way we do things here.” This is where the zealots of Simplicity need to step in and overcome the inertia. One must be judicious and realistic about applying the small-group principle. Simply making groups smaller will obviously not solve all problems, and “small” is a relative term. Only you know your business and the nature of your projects, so only you can draw the line between too few people and too many. You need to be the enforcer and be prepared to hit the process with the Simple Stick when the group is threatened with unnecessary expansion.
Over the years, Apple’s marketing group has fine-tuned a process that’s been successfully repeated, revolution by revolution. Project teams are kept small, with talented people being given real responsibility--which is what drives them to work some crazy hours and deliver quality thinking. Because quality is stressed over quantity, meetings are informal and visible progress is made on a weekly (if not daily) basis.
Every company wants to maximize productivity and cut down on unnecessary meetings. How they go about it, though, can vary widely. At Apple, forming small groups of smart people comes naturally, because in its culture, that’s “the way we do things here.” Sometimes companies try to “legislate” productivity by offering up corporate guidelines.
In one iconic technology company with which I worked framed sign in every conference room designed to nudge the employees toward greater productivity. The headline on the sign was how to have a successful meeting. The content read like it came right out of a corporate manual, which it likely did. It featured a bullet-pointed list of things like “State the agenda at the start of your meeting,” “Encourage participation by all attendees,” and “Conclude your meeting with agreement on next steps.”
What these signs really said, though, was “Welcome to a very big company! Just follow these signs and you’ll fit in well.” It’s not hard to imagine Steve Jobs, who actively fought big-company behavior, gleefully ripping these signs off the wall and replacing them with Ansel Adams prints that might provide a moment of reflection or inspiration—like those he put up in the halls of NeXT.
If you have any thought of working at Apple, I’m sorry to say there will be no signs on the wall telling you how to run a meeting. Likewise, there will be no signs telling you how to tie your shoes or fill a glass of water. The assumption made at your hiring is that you are well equipped with brains and common sense and that you’re a fully functioning adult. If you’re not already a disciple of Simplicity, you’ll become one soon. Either that or you’ll decide you’d rather not be part of such a thing, which is okay too. Simplicity prefers not having to train a bucking bronco.
If big companies really feel compelled to put something on their walls, a better sign might read:
HOW TO HAVE A GREAT MEETING
1. Throw out the least necessary person at the table.
2. Walk out of this meeting if it lasts more than 30 minutes.
3. Do something productive today to make up for the time you spent here.
I’m exaggerating, of course. Meetings are a necessary and important way to make collaborative progress. But we all know that too many unnecessary or overpopulated meetings can rob even the most brilliant people of their creative energy. More than being a guideline for meetings, however, the small-group principle is mandatory for project groups. Many businesses follow an instinctive but misguided principle: The more critical the project, the more people must be thrown at it. The operative theory is that more brains equal more ideas. That’s hard to argue with--except that only occasionally do more brains mean better ideas. The more people involved in the effort, the more complicated briefings become, the more hand-holding is required to get people up to speed, and the more time must be spent reviewing participants’ work and offering useful feedback. A smaller group offers the most efficient way to succeed--assuming that it also has the smarts. (Promise you’ll never forget that part.)
OFTENTIMES STEVE WAS ONLY DOING WHAT MANY OF US WISH WE COULD DO.To say that putting more people on a project will improve the results is basically saying that you don’t have a ton of confidence in the group you started with. Either that or you’re just looking for an insurance policy--which also means you don’t have a lot of confidence in the group you started with. Whatever your motivation, what you’re really saying is that you don’t have the right people on the job. So fix that. When populated by the smartest people, small groups will give management more confidence, not less. When you push for small groups of smart people, everybody wins. The company gets better thinking. The group feels better appreciated and is eager to take on more work. This type of organization actually fuels productivity, project to project.
Apple’s agency, originally known as Chiat/Day, succeeded by the same philosophy. Led by the Hall of Fame creative director Lee Clow, our small group matched up well with Apple’s small group. Limiting the size of our group helped us produce work quickly, get information fast, and have the agility to react to unexpected events.
The agency’s founder, the late Jay Chiat, had set a similar tone decades earlier. Jay and Steve had a unique relationship in the days of the original
Macintosh and in certain ways were cut from the same cloth. I had the pleasure of being personally ejected from a meeting by Jay during one of my several stints at Chiat/Day. It happened much like Steve’s ejection of Lorrie, except that I was only half of a dual ejection. Surveying the room before the start of a meeting, Jay took one look at my art director partner and me and said, “What are you guys doing here?”
“Beats me,” I said. “We’re just responding to the invitation.”
“You shouldn’t be sitting around a table talking about this bullshit,” said Jay. “Go create something.” At least we got to walk out of the room with smiles on our faces. Lorrie didn’t have that option.
The working styles of both Jay and Steve have stuck with me over the years. I can think of no better examples of leaders with a talent for keeping their teams focused on the mission and focused on producing great results. And both built spectacularly successful businesses. It’s not a coincidence.
To this day I have a recurring fantasy when I find myself trapped in a big meeting going nowhere. I imagine what Steve Jobs would say and do if he were sitting in that room, enduring what I’m enduring. In my fantasy, it’s like having a really good seat for a matinee at the Roman Colosseum. Who would Steve verbally dismantle or eject from the meeting? When would he cut the presenter off midsentence and say it’s all bullshit? With all the talk about how rough Steve could be, it should be acknowledged that oftentimes he was only doing what many of us wish we could do. Steve saw no reason to be delicate when his time, and the time of everyone in the room, was being wasted.
This is part of the challenge that we non-Steves must face. Most of us aren’t comfortable with the idea of turning into coldhearted control freaks, but we also know that we sometimes need to be tough to keep projects on track. The good news is, being brutal and being respected are not mutually exclusive. In fact, showing a little of that brutal honesty at the right time is a pretty good way to earn respect--and keep those smart groups small.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
How to guide identifying online influencers
June 5, 2012 - Adam Vincenzini
Identifying relevant online influencers has become a huge part of modern-day corporate and consumer communications. It is also subject to a HELLUVA lot of debate.
Instead of focusing on the subjectivity of this process (and how this insight is deployed), we’re going to take a look at how you can use a combination free tools to narrow your search.
The reason for focusing on free tools as opposed to the paid enterprise options is simple – using free tools puts more of an emphasis on manual discovery, forcing you to get under the skin of each result as opposed to simply relying on the score served up by a fancy algorithm.
(Let’s not completely discount the usefulness of rankings and scores. They’re never definitive but they can all aid in helping you make informed decisions as part of this overall process.) OK. Enough ass covering (for now!), let’s try and outline a useful guide to identifying the influencers brands and organisations so desperately crave.
Where do online influencers operate?
They are active, everywhere. The most popular places are blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. They also operate in niche online communities, smaller social networks and discussion boards like reddit and 4chan.
The three step identification and activation process
Cross platform search by keyword (phrases)
Initial list creation, based on established criteria (profiles)
Production of rankings and recommendations based on relevance and ‘influence’
I’ve called this ‘id3′ (influence identification in three steps).
Step one – the identification process
As mentioned earlier, influencers are present and active in a lot of places. For the sake of brevity, we’re going to make a couple of assumptions:
Influencers are active on Twitter
Influencers operate some form of blogging hub
This isn’t always true, but in most cases Twitter is used as an amplification channel for the original content created by these online participants. With this in mind, the process we’re going to use focuses on the intelligence we can glean from Twitter initially, and then we will verify this initial sweep with blog (or relevant hub) data.
The initial steps involve:
Search by keyword
Search by location
There are three tools that are useful in this process: FollowerWonk.com, LocaFollow.com and Twingualte.com – the first two can also search by location, which make them the most efficient options.
You are relying on people having filled out their Twitter biographies with some accuracy here. You are also hoping that your influencers have correctly identified their location details properly too. Let’s pretend you are searching for fashion influencers in London using LocaFollow and FollowerWonk.
This is what you’ll get:
The first part of the identification process is now complete. FollowerWonk gives you an ‘influence’ rating which must be taken with a pinch of salt.
In order to give that rating a bit more relevance, run that user through another influencer rating tool like TweetLevel. We still can’t say with complete confidence that we have the most relevant influencers in our sights. This is where the manual element of the process is important by taking an in-depth look at that person’s blog / hub.
Things to consider include frequency of posts, number of comments per posts, and number of retweets per post. If you want to aid this process, run the blog through BlogLevel. This will give you an influence score for the blog as well as some specific attribute metrics.
You then end up with something like this:
You can then rank your results in a high, medium and low order. Depending on the nature of your activity, you can then determine who the most appropriate person is to collaborate with.
Where do you go from here?
I can’t stress the ‘pinch of salt-ness’ of this process enough.
No matter how hard we try, a 100% fool proof influence rating is near on impossible because influence is not a science, it can’t be But, this can help narrow things down, significantly.
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+
Identifying relevant online influencers has become a huge part of modern-day corporate and consumer communications. It is also subject to a HELLUVA lot of debate.
Instead of focusing on the subjectivity of this process (and how this insight is deployed), we’re going to take a look at how you can use a combination free tools to narrow your search.
The reason for focusing on free tools as opposed to the paid enterprise options is simple – using free tools puts more of an emphasis on manual discovery, forcing you to get under the skin of each result as opposed to simply relying on the score served up by a fancy algorithm.
(Let’s not completely discount the usefulness of rankings and scores. They’re never definitive but they can all aid in helping you make informed decisions as part of this overall process.) OK. Enough ass covering (for now!), let’s try and outline a useful guide to identifying the influencers brands and organisations so desperately crave.
Where do online influencers operate?
They are active, everywhere. The most popular places are blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. They also operate in niche online communities, smaller social networks and discussion boards like reddit and 4chan.
The three step identification and activation process
Cross platform search by keyword (phrases)
Initial list creation, based on established criteria (profiles)
Production of rankings and recommendations based on relevance and ‘influence’
I’ve called this ‘id3′ (influence identification in three steps).
Step one – the identification process
As mentioned earlier, influencers are present and active in a lot of places. For the sake of brevity, we’re going to make a couple of assumptions:
Influencers are active on Twitter
Influencers operate some form of blogging hub
This isn’t always true, but in most cases Twitter is used as an amplification channel for the original content created by these online participants. With this in mind, the process we’re going to use focuses on the intelligence we can glean from Twitter initially, and then we will verify this initial sweep with blog (or relevant hub) data.
The initial steps involve:
Search by keyword
Search by location
There are three tools that are useful in this process: FollowerWonk.com, LocaFollow.com and Twingualte.com – the first two can also search by location, which make them the most efficient options.
You are relying on people having filled out their Twitter biographies with some accuracy here. You are also hoping that your influencers have correctly identified their location details properly too. Let’s pretend you are searching for fashion influencers in London using LocaFollow and FollowerWonk.
This is what you’ll get:
The first part of the identification process is now complete. FollowerWonk gives you an ‘influence’ rating which must be taken with a pinch of salt.
In order to give that rating a bit more relevance, run that user through another influencer rating tool like TweetLevel. We still can’t say with complete confidence that we have the most relevant influencers in our sights. This is where the manual element of the process is important by taking an in-depth look at that person’s blog / hub.
Things to consider include frequency of posts, number of comments per posts, and number of retweets per post. If you want to aid this process, run the blog through BlogLevel. This will give you an influence score for the blog as well as some specific attribute metrics.
You then end up with something like this:
You can then rank your results in a high, medium and low order. Depending on the nature of your activity, you can then determine who the most appropriate person is to collaborate with.
Where do you go from here?
I can’t stress the ‘pinch of salt-ness’ of this process enough.
No matter how hard we try, a 100% fool proof influence rating is near on impossible because influence is not a science, it can’t be But, this can help narrow things down, significantly.
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)