Does social media allow us to become more polarized?

Does social media allow us to become more polarized? It certainly allows us to socialize with the people we choose independent of where they are on the planet at any given time. I’m 33 years old and therefore I remember I was just a high school student when the Internet really became a viable tool for every day use in people’s homes and schools. At that time in a dormitory, apartment building, or neighborhood it was still common to make friends and socialize and get to know the people around your regardless of political differences that you have with them or even some social characteristics they have that may not match your own. These days it’s possible to avoid so many people that are around you every day because you can stay connected to other people so easily. I read research that shows people have a sort of maximum number…

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Building a USPTO MySQL Database from Scratch

Patent applications and grants are all public domain and searchable using a variety of sources (Google Patent Search, USPTO, NBER, & several proprietary sites). The problem with these sources is that they are unusable for conducting detailed patent research. Although they can help you find and read patents, and offer full-text and abstract search, they cannot compile patent statistics, or calculate indicators. It’s even impossible to generate and export a list of patent numbers based on your search criteria. In order to calculate these types of data required for meaningful research and patent management, a complete database is needed in an SQL server (MS-SQL server or MySQL for example). And while the USPTO data is available for download in a few formats, it’s no small task to download these files, parse them according to their changing format and then assemble a database. Luckily, someone has done the saintly task of…

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Finance Podcasts and Youtube Channels

Here is a list of my favorite podcasts and youtube channels to stay informed about the stock market. S&A Investor Radio Host: Frank Curzio: Renowned small stock specialist http://www.stansberryradio.com/Frank-Curzio The Disciplined Investor Host: Andrew Horrowitz: Money manager and market analyst http://www.thedisciplinedinvestor.com/blog/category/podcasts/ In the Money Stocks Host: Nick Santiago: Daily and intra-daily analysis for day traders http://www.youtube.com/user/inthemoneystocks?feature=watch

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TCT of Autonomous Vehicle IPCs

Is using Technological Cycle Time (TCT) an acceptable way to evaluate the vitality of an industry? If a firm was looking into expanding their core R&D competencies would an industry with a faster growth rate attract them? Rapid growth in an industry is like a forrest full of deer. Easy hunting and big rewards. On the other hand, stagnation can occur within a sector when serious technological hurdles start to slow the pace of development. In that situation, technological breakthroughs are needed in order to pave the way for continued growth (Kayal, 1999). According to Kayal’s theories and observations regarding technological progress in the superconductor and semiconductor fields, looking at the TCT for an industrial sector can give you an idea about the pace of technological development taking place. TCT of several IPCs is shown (thin colored lines) below. The overall range is generally between 5-8. All the IPC’s closely…

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Autonomous Vehicles Patenting Activity

As autonomous vehicles get closer to a market reality, the patent engines will be firing up. What type of patenting activity can we see so far? Searching the USPTO abstracts for combinations of “autonomous”, “self- driving”, “car”, and “vehicle” I found a total of 271 patents. After organizing these patents into groups of their IPC class, I investigated each IPC class to determine if it is emerging or declining technology. Since vehicles such as submarines and airplanes have had autopilot functions since the 80’s there are some IPC classes such as “2D position controls” and “Steering Controls” that are already in decline. In order to find which IPC’s are emerging and which ones are in decline, I charted their growth of each IPC against it’s average over the 34 year period from 1976-2010. This is just a sample of the IPCs that I have investigated, however, it shows that some…

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Co-opetition in the LED Industry

Finding Cooperative partners is a growing trend in business. The benefits of collaboration are increasingly becoming an important part of enhancing a firms capabilities and cost cutting. Analyzing a firm’s patent portfolio can enable a firm to find potential collaborative partners in order to achieve these ends. Joint venture, licensing can then become part of a firms R&D strategy. Even competitors can become valuable cooperative partners. This presentation from my MBA course looks at the reasons for collaborating and compares two firms in the LED industry in Taiwan. Their portfolio analysis demonstrates how they evolved from competitors to cooperators. LINK TO THE PDF: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/45852891/Joseph%20Lee%20-%20Coopetition.pdf

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Pace of Technological Innovation using TCT – Evidence in USPTO

Technology Cycle Time (TCT) is an accepted way to evaluate the pace of technological development although it requires some special considerations. A good analogy is how a chainsaw is a good way to cut down a tree, but it also presents many risks, including the inherent risk of felling a large object. Error of judgement, calculation or interpretation could be fatal. Here is some stark evidence that TCT calculations are a reliable indicator of the current technological environment. The speed of technological development is slowing in recent years. Is this only due to the economic situation? Unlikely. TCT in the USPTO shows that the slowing technological development preceded the economic crisis of 2007. Although overall patenting is increasing dramatically, the rate that the technology is replacing itself is actually slowing. Some evidence of this can be seen when you look at the average processor speed in PC’s and notebooks. Although…

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Review of Russian University R&D

National governments use policy making to support R&D efforts at the national level and to encourage R&D cooperation at the international level. This paper investigates the R&D policy making of the Russian government and describes the overall condition. Although Russia has had several challenges in supporting a healthy technology environment, and relies mostly on oil exports to support it’s national GDP, more attention and energy is being put into policy making that can help to foster tech innovation. Since the socialist government’s collapse, the situation has declined and now Russia remains possibly the worst positioned country of the BRICS in terms of innovation inertia. This paper investigates three major periods in the modern Russian R&D system; pre-1990’s, 1990’s, and post 1990’s. Please contact me with questions: joseph.lee.esl@gmail.com Here is a link to the pdf: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/45852891/Review%20of%20Russian%20University%20RD%20-%20FINAL%20VERSION.pdf

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RFID for SCM – Literature Review

This presentation reviews several essays on the topic of RFID in supply chain management. Although benefits to using RFID in SCM are limited, it’s an important direction when your company considers “scientific management” strategies (cost-cutting, and service improvement). If you have any questions, please ask me: joseph.lee.esl@gmail.com HERE IS A LINK TO THE PRESENTATION PDF: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/45852891/RFID%20in%20SCM%20-%20FOR%20BLOG.pdf PPT IS AVAILABLE BY REQUEST!   HERE IS A LINK TO THE ESSAY: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/45852891/RFID%20in%20Supple%20Chain%20Management.pdf

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User Interface flexibility study for software dates back to the 80’s. Finally some strong models are emerging as the number of general purpose devices and platforms expand. For example, the handheld smart-phones now hold almost full PC capabilities and applications are commonly cross platform for iOS, Android, and PC/HTML. This presentation investigates the important considerations and models for creating a flexible mobile app development process. If you have any questions please email me: joseph@ripplesoftware.ca https://dl.dropbox.com/u/45852891/NPD%20-%20Flexible%20Apps%20-%20BLOGFINAL.pdf

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