It's fascinating to watch Japan transition away from a low-cost manufacturing economy in the face of downward price pressure from Korea, China, and other countries. I was particularly interested in this passage from the article:
The reversals have gripped Japan with a sense of national angst over its future, though economists are divided over how much the nation will actually deindustrialize — and whether a shift away from factories is really such a bad thing. Most economists agree that Japan, which rose to economic superpower status in the 1980s by building compact sedans and color televisions, has outgrown the “Asian Miracle” template and needs a new economic strategy. What that approach should be, though, is the subject of intense and growing debate.
“It is time for Japan to find a new model for its economy,” said Masatomo Onishi, a professor of business at Kansai University. “We can follow the United States into a more postindustrial economy, or we can follow Germany into high-end manufacturing, but we shouldn’t be trying to compete with China in mass production.”
These are questions that go to the core of the identity of a nation that has long prided itself on its tradition of craftsmanship known as “monozukuri,” or “making things.” The debate is being watched closely by other Asian nations, which have pursued the same strategy of industrial catch-up that Japan pioneered.
The next 10 years are going to see big changes in the global economy.
Ever had a Word document go around internally for edits and want to ship it off to a customer/partner without half a dozen editors exposed? Here's how to anonymize the authors (but keep the tracked changes) on the OS X version of Word.
For the uninitiated, here's a video with a simple explanation of the photographic concept of the F-Stop. It doesn't go too far explaining how it affects the quality and nature of the photographs you're taking, but it's a start.
Did you know that the automaton featured in Scorsese's "Hugo" was based on real machines? I found this amazing. Watchmaker Henri Maillaret was one of the masters of this discipline, building fascinating and amazingly complex automatons in the early 1800s. Incredible!
In a somewhat related note: Douglas Trumbull, one of cinema's greatest living technical cinematographers (2001, Blade Runner, Close Encounters) is doing some very interesting research and development into high frame rates for playback purposes. He's building systems that will reach 120 frames a second or higher, and is trying to do so in a more cost-effective manner than existing technologies (like IMAX). The world of digital video is really just getting started...120 fps, 4K resolution, pans and zooms done in post...it's really exciting.
The father of the 911, undoubtedly the world's most enduring and evolved sportscar, died today at the age of 76 years.
“Design must be functional and functionality must be translated into visual aesthetics, without any reliance on gimmicks that have to be explained,” he said.
I'm sad to say that Porsche has strayed from this in recent years, but the form-follows-function aesthetic is endearing to the engineers in all of us. I like to say: the fact that Porsche took a tail-happy, unbalanced coupe and through brute force created an amazing line of supercars is a marvel.
I've often recommended the Motley Fool's method of car buying to my friends. It's brilliant, extremely straightforward, and will almost certainly save you money. Recently, game theorist Bruce Bueno de Mesquita released a simple video that is a little more succinct and uses phones instead of fax to reach out to dealers. I highly recommend it.
There's been a lot of press on James Cameron's trip to Challenger Deep making him only the third human to do so. However, his vision, technical expertise and willingness to fully fund the effort has led to a seacraft of extraordinary excellence. He's a model of what can be done by wealthy patrons similar to Richard Branson and Elon Musk who are willing to gamble their fortunes to do things that governments and public companies simply cannot do.
Now, for a less than high-minded transition to one of my own passions, timepieces. Rolex--in a marketing coup--designed a watch that went along for the ride with Cameron, but outside the craft. A clear record for watches, and something that makes the Oyster line that much more important. I also love how the design (especially the extremely thick plexiglass) owes much inspiration to the massive 60mm Panerai GPF 2/56, one of my all-time favorite watches.
One of my closest friends, Dr. Kahle, has received a Sloan Fellowship which was awarded to 126 researchers that, in the words of the grant, are "tomorrow's Nobel Prize winners". I'll say firsthand that Matt's hold 'em play is already worthy of that honor.
A recent NYTimes article highlighted a great project from the 1970s called Documerica that used photography to explore the state of the nation. There's a Flickr page with some nice selections from this amazing collection.
