Bali 9 execution .

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, part of Bali Nine, the Australian drug trafficking gang, all eight of whom were executed by Indonesian firing squad this morning inspite of Australian requests for clemency to the eight. A strong warning by Indonesia to cross border drug traffickers.

The irony is these drug traffickers were endangering Australian youngsters and Australian govt itself was seeking amnesty for these australian citizens.

Indonesian Presidemt Joko Widodo deserves special praise for resisting pressure. This execution also sends the right message to Australia on who is helping promote drug trafficking.

Would Indonesia succumbing to Australian pressure have made a difference ?

Ge..

Bureaucracy less ISRO ..

India is now among the top three largest space powers in the world wirh capability to launch 4 T payload too on indigenous cryogenic engine.  Way ro go, ISRO !!

A great example to the whole country and world of how a bureaucrat-less govt organisation can become world class.

Should we do away with the old British style bureaucracy which has outlived its utility ? We need people who can work, not command !! We need a serious debate !!

Isro successfully tests indigenous cryogenic engine with four-tonne capacity - Livemint - http://www.livemint.com/Politics/dFq7NvUyKp7EMxD67udqPP/Isro-successfully-tests-indigenous-cryogenic-engine-with-fou.html

Ge..

Omega Seamaster..

An Omega Seamaster automatic adorns my wrist..

Ge..

Innovation with blended MOOCs and student feedback ..

It was a great satisfying experience.

A class of 54 students of MBA semester 2 at Alliance University, Bangalore India gave me a feedback of 4.9/5 for the subject of Lean Operations Management.

Used theory, videos, cases and games to teach them. Very satisfying. I teach  thru an elearning site, elearning.alliance.edu.in .

Not a joke, I relied heavily of online quizzes which students had to take in the class. Mostly thesde quizzes were on topics related to the MOOCs. I took 15 quizzes, some times 2/week, helping students consolidate their knowledge of the subject.

Also blended 2 MOOCs, one on Lean startups by Prof Steve Blank from Stanford at udacity.com and the second one on Innovation for Entrepreneurs  by Prof Thomas Mierzwa of Uty of Maryland at coursera.org. (blended MOOCs were taken  for the first time in India) ..

Blended MOOCs were done by auditing the courses remotely and crediting it locally through quizzes, class discussions etc. The performance in the MOOCs were considered in the internal assessment of the students.

In the last semester for the subject of Operations Strategy for a senior MBA batch, two MOOCs were blended, on Competitive Strategy and Advanced Competitive Strategy, both by Prof. Tobias Kretschmer of Ludwig Maxmillan Universitat, Munich, Germany at www.coursera.org.  Finding more and more exciting ways to bring innovation to the class !!

Continuously innovating and motivating students to walk that extra mile, I think is key to this.

Ge..

Airbus A 390 ..

Airbus A390

Introducing the ENORMOUS AIRBUS A390!!!! ....expected to take off in late 2018.

The plane is targeted for international service of flights of over 9,000 nautical miles (about 16,600 kilometers). The A390 will be powered by six Rolls-Royce turbofan engines developing thrusts of over 340,000lb each. According to AIRBUS the break-even point for operating the airplane will be at a passenger load of about 1760 passengers. 

Among the features proposed for the future aircraft are six restaurants, three duty free shops, a lounge with a discothèque, two full sized movie theatres, a 14 lane bowling alley, a swimming pool with water slides, a wedding chapel, a fully functional medical clinic, and a 11,000 volume library. 

Two major international carriers have already placed orders and that the new jets are scheduled to begin service in late summer of 2018. 

Whoa!!!!!!!!!

Google launches mobile phone network

Google launches mobile phone network http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32422193

Google has never desisted from enthusing its customers, shocking its competitors and disrupting the ecosystem by bringing in innovation, both of the incremental and radical type ..

Giving everything free, be it search, data storage, email, mobile operating system or videos, it is giving enough jitters and shaking the existing mobile phone operators, Sprint, Vodafone, Airtel etc ..

Google, continue delighting us ..

Ge..

Google's secrets of Innovation - Susan Wojcicki, Google.

Two of the greatest companies I appreciate for innovation and changing the world beyond any recognition are Google and Apple. People of my age from the 60s, would without doubt have a lot to say how the world for them has changed compared to the previous generations iof the forties or thirties who never came across so much of change, technological, which spurred changes in many other spheres knowingly or unknowingly. 

I recently happened to read an article by Susan Wojcicki, Google's Sr. VP Advertising on what are the innovative steps taken by Google to remain inovative, in spite of its size.

The points are 

1. Having a real mission

2. thinking big but starting small

3. striving for continual innovation

4. looking for ideas everywhere

5. sharing everything

6. sparking imagination, fuelling with data

7. be a platform and never fail to fail.

If anyone is interested in understanding the Google version of Innovation, they are requested to read the highlighted link above. 

My understanding of the greatest Google innovations as of now (both inorganic acquisitions initially) to the world are summarised here.

1. One of the greatest innovations of Google to the present day immersed in technology and miniature gadgets has been the introduction of the mobile operating System of Android. The personal computer world which was dominated by Microsoft and apple slowly started giving way to a free and effective Operating system. We also see during this time that Microsoft started losing its prominence in the tech world.

2. The second Google Innovation, has been Youtube. It changed the perception of the people to watching movies, videos, publishing oneself etc. In teaching pedagogy, it changed , along with TED talks, how people, young and aged alike, watched instructional videos and understood concepts and facts online.  

Impact wise, Google has had more impact on the world than Apple. 

The fact that I am able to express my opinion through this blog, blogspot is in itself a Google innovation, but it does not match up to the impact of the above two innovations.

The world is looking forward to Google continuing to serve humanity and science and technology, by bringing more innovations that will change the way we humans live on planet earth. 

george..