[via Yuvaraj Galada] Forbes has an interview with Peter Drucker. Excerpts:

What Needs to Be Done
Successful leaders don't start out asking, "What do I want to do?" They ask, "What needs to be done?" Then they ask, "Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?" They don't tackle things they aren't good at. They make sure other necessities get done, but not by them. Successful leaders make sure that they succeed! They are not afraid of strength in others. Andrew Carnegie wanted to put on his gravestone, "Here lies a man who knew how to put into his service more able men than he was himself."

Check Your Performance
Effective leaders check their performance. They write down, "What do I hope to achieve if I take on this assignment?" They put away their goals for six months and then come back and check their performance against goals. This way, they find out what they do well and what they do poorly. They also find out whether they picked the truly important things to do. I've seen a great many people who are exceedingly good at execution, but exceedingly poor at picking the important things. They are magnificent at getting the unimportant things done. They have an impressive record of achievement on trivial matters.

Mission Driven
Leaders communicate in the sense that people around them know what they are trying to do. They are purpose driven--yes, mission driven. They know how to establish a mission. And another thing, they know how to say no. The pressure on leaders to do 984 different things is unbearable, so the effective ones learn how to say no and stick with it. They don't suffocate themselves as a result. Too many leaders try to do a little bit of 25 things and get nothing done. They are very popular because they always say yes. But they get nothing done.

AlwaysOn Network has a post by Brennan:

[Here is] what Voice Over IP (VoIP) can offer versus the standard Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

Waay Lower Costs: In addition to eliminating the cost of long-distance calling, VoIP allows organizations to converge all communication onto one data network, eliminating their voice network, and saving on maintenance costs.

Wicked Flexibility: Since IP addresses are location independent, an integrated VoIP system allows tele-commuting employees to direct all communications to a remote office, home, or even a broadband wireless device.

VoIP for the Lay-Businessman
Once you believe in the benefits of this new communication platform, your real questions become, “when do I adopt?” and “how do I reap the most rewards?”

Brennan [AlwaysOn Network] | POSTED: 12.22.04 @23:13
Note to Readers: Since I was busted for my youth in my opening column last week, I thought I would write this one in the vernacular of my generation. What ever happened to that “Dude, you’re gettin’ a Dell” guy anyway? Oh yeah... I remember.

Alright, here goes, first let’s go over what Voice Over IP (VoIP) can offer versus the standard Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

• Waay Lower Costs: In addition to eliminating the cost of long-distance calling, VoIP allows organizations to converge all communication onto one data network, eliminating their voice network, and saving on maintenance costs.

• Wicked Flexibility: Since IP addresses are location independent, an integrated VoIP system allows tele-commuting employees to direct all communications to a remote office, home, or even a broadband wireless device.

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InfoWorld outlines 2004's top stories. Among them:
- IBM bows to reality, sells PC unit to Lenovo
- China: The next India, or the next ... U.S.?
- Oracle v. PeopleSoft part II: Larry wins it.
- E.U. slaps Microsoft with antitrust ruling
- Gaga over Google
- SCO case imploding, Linux growth exploding

InfoWorld has another review of the year.

iMediaConnection writes:

blinkx TV announced the first search engine that enables personal computer users to search TV across news, sports and entertainment programming.

blinkx's technology works by capturing and indexing the entire video stream directly from TV. Consumers search and access news, movie trailers, popular multimedia segments and other video formats on demand.

"blinkx TV fills the gap between the explosion of rich media content and the growing consumer interest in harnessing it. At blinkx we've recognized consumers' needs and taken the search engine to a new level. Ground breaking automatic transcription technology, which transcribes content straight from the cable box on the fly or from video already stored on the Web, together with advanced phonetic matching speech recognition technology, automate the process of searching TV clips for the first time," says Suranga Chandratillake, founder, blinkx.

blinkx plans to make money through a distribution network model where content owners would pay a fee or share of the revenue for delivery traffic to their site. Serving video ads before and during the content search is another potential revenue model.

At ONA Hollywood. Excerpts:

The ubiquity of the Internet now affects a media enterprise's entire business, not just an "online market" segment.

While we have dug pretty deeply into how the Internet affects content creation and distribution, we frankly understand much less about its impact on the commerce and business models that support content creation and distribution.

Reaching a better understanding of those business issues, and making the necessary adjustments, will be as critical to the next phase of the Internet, as building Web sites was in the first 10 years.

When the Web was born as a commercial content enterprise back in the mid-'90s, we thought it was about replicating -- that is, "repurposing" -- our news and information franchises online. Looking back, the first Web sites produced by many newspapers were very close cousins to the paper-and-ink versions.

Eventually, things began to change. More multimedia elements were introduced, although that was a painful experience for dialup users, and news companies that were used to one deadline a day began to cover stories differently for real-time consumption.

But "Web 1.0" didn't take us much further than that. And, in the past few months, the pace of change has vastly accelerated.

Broadband penetration is the key driver of that acceleration. As it zooms beyond 100 million connections worldwide, and half the American Internet population, broadband means more hours spent online, by more people and more machines.

We are getting closer and closer to Professor Lessig's vision of "every machine with electricity" moving to the network.

That is the essence of what some are now referring to as "Web 2.0" -- the next phase of the network, where the machines are "always on," and the users are, too.

Ever since I wrote my first Tech Talk column on creating a “Mass Market Internet” for India four years ago, a pet theme of mine has been about making computing affordable and manageable for the next billion users. My belief is that the current computing architecture and business model is only good for the top of the pyramid of India. The real opportunity in India and other emerging markets lies in creating a next-generation computing platform for the middle and bottom of the pyramid. To make this happen, we need to understand the realities of emerging markets as well as learn from the cellphone industry with two key innovations – zero-management end-user devices, and a subscription-based business model. Taken together, the total cost of ownership for hardware, software, connectivity and services should start at no more than Rs 700 ($15) per user per month. To make this happen, a combination of thin clients, server-based computing and open-source software needs to be used as the building blocks. A number of columns over the year discussed these ideas in greater detail.

Reinventing Computing (Aug 2004): To reinvent computing, six challenges need to be overcome, five goals need to be met, and seven revolutions need to happen. This is what will start the next 12-year tech cycle which will bring in the billion users across the world’s emerging markets…There are six important computing challenges that need to be tackled: Affordability, Desirability, Acessibility, Manageability, Security, Ubiquity. There are five goals which a new solution set in computing needs to meet: Solve the Six Challenges simultaneously, Make CommPuting as a Utility, Enable Human-centred Computing, Integrate with Cellphones, Construct the Memex. The seven “rainbow” revolutions that need to happen to address the five goals to meet the six challenges are: Grid, Virtual Computers, Ubiquitous Connectivity, Loosely Coupled Software, Two-Way Content, Humane Interface, Tech 7-11s…By taking a holistic view of the ecosystem and building a chain of integrated innovation, it will be finally possible to fulfill the dream of making computing accessible to every family, student and employee in every corner of the world. Only then will the true promise of the computer as a means to deliver solutions and services for the next users be realised. This is where the future of computing lies. This is why computing needs to be reinvented. This is where the next technology cycle will begin. This is the next big thing platform and opportunity entrepreneurs have been waiting for. This is a transformation that will take root first in the world’s emerging markets. This is what we need to make happen. This is the next computing Kumbh Mela.

The Network Computer (Oct 2004): The network computer that I am envisioning is a $60-$65 (Rs 3,000) device, excluding the display. In India, a refurbished colour monitor (about 3-4 years old) would cost about Rs 2,000, while a new monitor would cost about Rs 4,000. Thus, the network computer would cost about Rs 5,000-7,000 ($110-150). This is 50-65% lower than the equivalent cost of a personal computer today, and a little more than the cost of a mobile phone…The network computer by itself will not make money for its makers. It needs to be part of a wider ecosystem – where computing is proffered as a service…the network computer company of tomorrow is more likely to resemble a utility company than a computer maker. By making computing a utility, users are also being provided with the flexibility of cancelling service anytime – something that is not an option when computers are bought on installments. This is possible because the network computer is a device that really does not age and become obsolete…The magical monthly fee for the computing service should be no more than Rs 700 ($15)… What is on offer is a computer that looks and feels like a regular desktop computer but without some of the hassles associated with it. As a critical mass of these network computers gets deployed, software and content providers will be attracted to this platform since now they have a much more cost-effective way to deliver their offerings to users. This will in turn create a positive feedback loop for adoption.

Tomorrow: Rethinking Computing (continued)