Category Archives: Innovation

Emerging Tech, Innovation, Real Estate, Right Thinking, Team Work, Values

Frank Assists a Taiwanese Community organization Reach Their Development Goals

Let’s look at an example of how Frank can make a big difference in meeting the acquisition and development goals of even a foreign investor.

Frank was greatly honored when hired as a consultant to assist in the property location, purchase, development and construction of a new U.S. headquarters for a Taiwanese organization coming to Seattle.

Through Frank’s experience in managing the work of government agencies, contractors, architects, and engineers, he saved the organization well over a million dollars and eliminated at least a year of development work and construction time to complete the project through his pre-development discoveries and government concessions. The highlights of his project consulting work included:

  • Through the use of interactive mapping tools, Frank located the ideal commercial acreage on a busy street with lots of parking for this Taiwanese developer.
  • Frank brought the property into escrow for his clients, but through a detailed property inspection, Frank found suspicious elements that led him to believe, based on his experience, that something was not right.
  • Frank then searched documents in the City of Seattle government microfilm archives that resulted in a very important discovery of noncompliance, which resulted in a significant price reduction of hundreds of thousands of dollars in the purchase price, by confronting the seller with important misrepresentations of the property.
  • Frank Worked with the top Planning and Building officials at the City of Seattle to gain important regulatory concessions that provided additional development advantages before beginning construction, and again saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by reducing code requirements which eliminated construction elements and months of development time.
  • Directing the work of architects, engineers and contractors as well as on site government building inspectors to gain additional regulatory considerations in the field, again saving time and money during the construction process by avoiding costly design and plan reviews through streamlining approval processes in the field.
  • Frank was able to fast track the issuance of demo permits for the site. Normally a demo permit requires a period of public notice and hearings to determine if replacement structures will be built. In this case, by having the buildings declared hazards, Frank was able to get the buildings removed immediately, creating more parking for the property.
  • Frank was also able to negotiate with an adjoining home builder to sell two properties that allow for the assembly of additional land for the development of guest housing for visiting dignitaries.

Frank’s aggressively successful consulting management style was praised by the new owners, as he greatly exceeded their expectations and goals. He received a bonus reward of a trip to Taiwan to view their magnificent 37 story hilltop main headquarters as Frank was prepared to begin the Zen landscaping phase of the Seattle construction project.

Once again it was Frank’s great joy to meet his personal goal of bringing in projects under budget, ahead of schedule, and with more features than originally expected.

Feel free to contact Frank to find out how he can assist you in fulfilling your objectives  and goals.

[email protected]

Anytime cell: (206) 794-9900

Compassion, Innovation, Social Networking, Team Work, Technology

What makes the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Work?

We are all publishing houses.

What’s in your publishing house?

Read the article below to consider how and why you publish, and view where the publishing world it headed.

Why The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Is A Social (And Financial) Blockbuster

Written by JOHN DEIGHTON  –  Previously published by Forbes    

August 20, 2014

In 2009, technology researchers at Forrester published a report entitled We Are All Media Companies Now, that looked at how publishing firms were dealing with the shift from a distribution paradigm to one based on consumption. By 2014, the paradigm is being experienced not just by companies but increasingly by individuals. People who use Facebook and Twitter TWTR -0.07% are for all practical purposes running little media houses, and face the problem of their much larger brethren, where will the next story come from? Originality is too time-consuming: emulation is inevitable. Fads ensue.

What gets emulated? Anything that can contribute to social capital. The content must be easy to create but not as easy as photographing one’s morning cappuccino. For example, someone in Toronto snapped a selfie with the controversial mayor Rob Ford, and overnight hunting Rob Ford became a Toronto sport, and your face next to his became social currency across Canada.

It’s easy to write off these fads as simple stunts of digital narcissism, but they matter to marketing because they carry incidental meaning. It was not lost on Ford’s reelection team that media coverage on Facebook was as good as, perhaps better than, press coverage. Selfies with Ford carried the incidental meaning that he was one of the people, a fun-loving regular guy. He began to make himself selfie-friendly.

Brands too ask how they can become incidental props in these viral stunts. The challenge brands encounter, however, is that their involvement could come off as merely jumping on the bandwagon because spreadable stunts tend to carry no meaning beyond the stunt itself. Take “planking” for example. An early Facebook fad, planking is the act of lying face-down in an incongruous place. It is the epitome of digital narcissism and any hint of motive other than ‘look at me,’ just clouds the picture.

By contrast, the ALS ice bucket challenge offers an example of a brand harnessing the energy of a narcissistic fad on social networks in service to the brand itself. The usual elements are there, an act that is incongruous, not easy to do and screams ‘look at me.’ Yet here, the incidental meaning is not at all dissociated from the personal meaning. I’m making myself uncomfortable for ALS. I’m recruiting the anti-ALS cause to enhance my personal capital. Alas for marketers looking for low-cost market impact, few commercial brands enhance personal capital. Few are as powerful as cause brands.

How has it worked?  As of Wednesday, August 20, The ALS Association has received $31.5 million in donations compared to $1.9 million during the same time period  (July 29 to August 20) last year.

This remarkable increase in their fundraising potential is largely due to the snowball effect of cause marketing coupled with a social medial fad. Celebrities are jumping in on the action. Sports teams are not far behind. In fact, almost everyone who is challenged by a friend, co-worker, or family member joins in. If ice buckets can help fund research to shed light on a terrible disease, such as ALS, more power to them, and may their tribe increase.

John Deighton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Original Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2014/08/20/the-als-ice-bucket-challenge-creates-social-and-financial-capital/

What are you publishing?

Thank you very much for stopping by our publishing house…back to the top.

Art, Compassion, Courage, Innovation, Painting, Right Action, Right Thinking, Social Networking, strength, Team Work

Flying Santa – Right Action

Capt. William H. Wincapaw, known as an adventurous and skilled Airman, unknowingly began a tradition in 1929. He was just a guy that wanted to bring holiday cheer to the lighthouse keepers along the East Coast by dropping packages of toys, coffee, shaving supplies, and snacks around Christmas time. He soon became known by the light keepers as the Flying Santa. Over the decades the planes and pilots changed, but except for a break during World War II, the practice continues today, now by helicopter.

This Christmas, Frank wanted to pay special tribute to the new Airman in the family, his grandson Griffyn. So, a new 30” x 24” acrylic on wood panel painting shown below is added today to Frank’s lighthouse series. The lighthouse seen in this painting is the Boston Light.

Flying Santa
Flying Santa

This painting honors those who take special care of the all-important light keepers, as well as the remote Coast Guard outposts.

Now as Griffyn has his first Christmas away from home in the Air Force, we wish him and his group a safe and enjoyable Christmas, as we thank all those who bless and protect us from above.

Art, Courage, Innovation, Social Networking, Technology

Moving On

In Frank’s painting  below, “Moving On” (48” x 24” acrylic on wood panel) he depicts our urge to explore the far reaches of space and colonize other star systems before our sun expires, or some other calamity befalls earth. To do so, we put a lot of emphasis on technology. But tech does fail, and we would be wise to do a better job of caring for what we have.

Moving On -- Hyper Galactic

 

Hopefully, when we do make this voyage, we will be spreading our positive nature, and not only seeking conquest, where we might meet our better.

Digital Divide, Innovation

Tech Innovations That Will Change the Developing World

As the Internet began to develop and expand in the early 1990s, we were confronted with the issue of the “Digital Divide” with Internet access limited to those with costly equipment and connections.

We looked at libraries and community centers as the short-term answer to at least create a public place for those wanting access to the new technologies and information sources we were developing. It was a battle to get the funds and create the spaces, but what we did then is now being repeated on a much broader scale, thanks to the reduction in equipment prices, but also the financial interests of those bringing mobile finance to the developing world.

Virtual Banks and ATMs are a major driving force behind the explosive use of Internet tech by the poorest of the world citizens. These new resources and connections will have an amazing impact on health care and other services as the applications and necessary funds are brought to those in need over the next few years. At the same time, new freedoms and awareness we be enjoyed by those using the devices below, and more to come…as I’d change the title of the article below to “…Will Change the Developing World.” …Frank Kliewer

5 Tech Innovations That Could Change the Developing World

October 12, 2011 by Zoe Fox12 


Across the developing world, new technologies are helping to distribute resources for education, connectivity and health far and wide. Innovators are finding ways to make technology cheaper and therefore accessible to millions previously excluded by high costs.

Affordability is often the greatest hurdle to overcome in products from sanitation devices to tablet computers, mobile phones to solar panels.

Take a look at these five tech breakthroughs and how they are helping to level the playing field in developing countries.

1. Inexpensive Tablets

One week after Amazon released the Kindle Fire, the first tablet computer to present a serious threat toApple‘s iPad, another historic tablet was released. On the other side of the world on October 5, India launched the world’s cheapest tablet, Aakash, priced at just $35 for students with government subsidies or $60 in stores, which the government hopes will reduce the digital divide between rich and poor.

If that price — roughly one-tenth the cost of the cheapest iPad — doesn’t sound accessible enough, the Indian government is distributing the first 100,000 units of the Android-powered tablet to college students for free, Reuters reports. “The rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded. Aakash will end that digital divide,” said Kapil Sibal, India’s minister of communications and information technology.

The tablet was developed by DataWind, a small British company, with researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology. In addition to fitting the price to the budget of middle class Indians, the device was tested playing two hours of video at 118 degrees Fahrenheit to replicate the oppressive heat of northern India’s summers.

2. Inexpensive Laptops

One Laptop Per Child‘s XO and Intel’s Classmate PC share a common mission: Bringing children access to education through computer ownership. Both programs distribute rugged, affordable laptops to schoolchildren across the developing world.

Inexpensive LaptopsIntel developed a suite of educational software to accompany the little blue laptop, which costs between $400 and $500 each to distribute. These programs enable teachers to communicate with their students through web-based applications. The computer features a swivel screen, essentially converting the laptop into a touch-tablet. Its durability was tested by baking it in an oven and placing it in a freezer.

Similarly, One Laptop Per Child donates rugged, low-cost laptops that don’t even require an electric outlet. The $200 computers are distributed to students between ages 6-12, so that they are integrated into their early education. Take a look at the video above to learn more about the non-profit’s work.

3. Inexpensive Mobile Phones

As mobile phone ownership rapidly spreads across the developing world, many have tried to create the world’s cheapest cellphone — even Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez.

Today, Vodafone 150 can claim that title, selling a mobile phone for just under $15. While the phone is not feature-rich, it offers voice calling, text messaging and mobile payments, and it will have an enormous impact on those who have never before connected by mobile. A slightly more expensive Vodafone 250 model is available with an FM radio and color screen.

The phone was launched in 2010 in India, Turkey and eight African nations. Of course, entering into these new markets meant a lot of work to extend the mobile coverage area by the provider.

4. Alternative Energy

SunSaluter: $10,000 Winner of the EcoLiving 2011 Student Leadership Award from Scotiabank’s EcoLiving on Vimeo.

SunSaluter, winner of the Startups for Good challenge, aims to bring solar panels to villages in the developing world that have never had access to electricity. While solar energy is a hot topic across the world, its expense has prevented deeper penetration. Eden Full, a mechanical engineering undergraduate at Princeton University, developed solar panels that optimize energy collection as they rotate to face the sun for as much time as possible each day. The system costs just $10 and uses 40% fewer panels than typical solar energy thanks to its rotations.

5. Improved Sanitation

Bill Gates emphasized the importance of sanitation improvements when he pledged to reinvent the toilet for the developing world.

The computer innovator has a point. According to water.org, one billion people don’t have access to clean water, and 2.5 billion people don’t have improved sanitation. So it should come as no surprise that improving sanitation is key to the progress of developing countries.

Safe WaterWhile cheap laptops and tablets are certainly exciting, some of the life improving technologies in the developing world don’t even require electricity. Last year, India’s Tata Chemicals released the Tata Swach(the Hindi word for clean), an affordable water filter (priced at around $21) that uses nanotechnology, requires no electricity and meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‘s sanitation standards.

The filter is made of rice husk ash (the natural byproduct of making polished rice) and fine nano-silver particles to prohibit bacteria growth. Using the filter prevents against waterborne bacteria and viruses. When Swach was released, Tata said only 6% of urban households and 1% of rural households in India were using water purification devices.

Originating Post:

http://mashable.com/2011/10/12/tech-developing-countries/