iPod Rules!

laptop beats paper,
ipod beats walkman,
mobile beats landline,
psp beats nintendo,

digi cam beats film cam,
mobile beats digi cam,
psp beats mobile gaming,

mobile becomes ipod
ipod becomes games machine
ipod becomes camera
psp, mobile, digi cameras become extinct

IceBlok: My Hybrid's better than yours

The Toyota Prius is the green car of the moment, or as Toyota put it "An idea who's time has come". Ford counter attack with the roll-out of biodiesel engines.

So if either really are so green, why does the Toyota run on a petrol engine? Bio-diesel capable engines have been in the market for years. And why doesn't the biodiesel have a hybrid drive. That's green on speed. Now there's an idea.

Start-up's and The Money Maker

I had a heated discussion with a friend last week who contested that I was "just in it for the money"...

He couldn't understand that green back wasn't and isn't the primary motivator. Sure, hands up, it's damned important when feeding the family. But in the developed world many of us are generally not fighting to feed hand-to-mouth each day - so it's not the thing that gets us up in the morning. At least, that's my feeling.

If it was the main motivator for entreprenuers, I don't think most would stomach stepping out of well paid salaries to do something. And that's just it, to do something...something good, something new, something meaningful, something better.

Seth Godin's has a good take on this subject...

I think the reason is pretty obvious: when you try to make a profit from your innovation, you stop innovating too soon. You take the short payout because it's too hard to stick around for the later one.

Read Seth's "Doing it for free" post in full

Long Tail: Google's News Archive

The launch of the Google News Archive this week brings renewed interest in the Long Tail of news. To date the only way to search news archives has been to visit a particular brand or subscribe to one of the information providers (Factiva, etc).

Google's main search engine is a poor way to find such content. So the news archive is good news for making more content accessible and in driving more eye-balls to media owners who themselves value what's in the vaults.

I'd like to hear what Chris Anderson (Long Tail) makes of it. I may ask him.

IceBlok: Blood and Gore Explain Sustainable Investing

Anyone involved in business needs to understand a new dynamic in the capital markets- sustainable investment. Al Gore and David Blood, with their investment vehicle Generation Investment Management, are championing incorporating sustainable performance alongside traditional financial accounts. The aim is that once capital markets "price in" other factors, the profitability of companies will be turned on its head.

So a company that ships goods around the world, sources low-cost goods from polluting factories, and doesn't consider re-use/recycle of its products, will find its financial standing hit. Why? Let's explain:

Traditional Finances:
- Cost of Goods
- Fuel/transport cost of shipping
- Cost of packaging & distribution

Sustainable:
- Cost of Goods: Including the impact of pollution on the environment
- Fuel cost of shipping, plus the carbon and environmental impact
- Cost of packaging, cost of safe disposal, carbon impact of distribution

Generation's message is getting through. Branson's investing $1b in Green Fuels, Goldman's is putting $1b. VC's invested $917m in clean-energy start-ups last year.