Andy Grove on Innovation

Technology Watch:  In Portfolio magazine, Andy Grove uses the example of Apple and the iPod to espouse the unique ability of large companies to innovate in areas that resist innovation.  He encourages WalMart to reshape the Health Care industry with in-store clinics and General Electric to produce an electric car and the infrastructure to support it.

It makes sense.  Tech companies have gotten much smarter about adapting to a changing competitve and technological landscape.  Witness how Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, Cisco and IBM have evolved over the last 10 years vs. the Novells, Wangs and Digitals that led the tech sector in the 1970s and 1980s.  They may not be preventing the rise of every Google that comes along, but they also aren’t getting put out of business by them, either.

Verizon’s Smart Move

Technology Watch: I applaud Verizon’s move to open its network to other hardware and applications developers.  It is a good move for consumers, an also for Verizon:

1. No more need to subsidize phones.

2. No more need to operate retail stores.

3. An ecosystem of developers building cool devices and applications for your service.

Are you listening cable industry?  Please open up your set top boxes! Embrace it!

Non-story alert re: Army deserters

Policy watch: MSNBC is running a story about army desertions being "up 80%" since the start of the Iraq War to 9 in 1,000.  (Compared with a peak of 50 in 1,000 during Vietnam.)  So they’re telling me that desertions haven’t even doubled 3 years after the start of a controversial war when compared to a time directly after our nation was subject to a major terrorist attack.  That doesn’t sound like a big jump to me, considering, but hey, you can use statistics for just about any spin you want.