Dumb Grid Data Stacks
was talking with Jeffrey Taft, the lead architect for smart grids at Accenture. He came up with a literary description for the digital data pouring through electrical networks. In traditional dumb grids, he said, create enough data every second to fill Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities (a book most of us could read on a rainy day). A smart grid, by contrast, generates 846 copies of Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
Some Print on Demand Thinking
In 2005, I pitched this model (deployment of publisher-run expensive print on demand machines in lieu of big box bookstores) to one of those state-run business plan competitions for college students. Was told the technology was at least a decade away. Heh.
Now its just a matter of time before the $175,000 price tag drops (and along with it the price of books). More likely to take off than e-readers – until those drop to the $50 range.
At the time, I also pitched the same type of model for a UPS-run Netflix killer. (Co-locate a DVD-RW press at UPS hubs, burn on demand, deliver, retrieve and re-use the disc until it’s dead.) Cuts out the bloat of Netflix’s own warehouse network. However, that particular idea has been beat out by broadband.
Idea: Aural Graduation Visualization
A fun project for the right design student: Place about 5 wide-range microphones throughout the auditorium to capture. Show a waveform, mark it up by name as students cross the stage. Showing this live could really amp up the energy level of any crowd.