THE FABGEO

How Funding Works - Splitting The Equity With Investors - Infographic

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:33:44 -0400

How Funding Works - Splitting The Equity With Investors - Infographic

neurosciencestuff: Brain implants: Restoring memory with a...

Tue, 14 May 2013 03:38:10 -0400

Brain implants: Restoring memory with a microchip

William Gibson’s popular science fiction tale “Johnny Mnemonic” foresaw sensitive information being carried by microchips in the brain by 2021. A team of American neuroscientists could be making this fantasy world a reality.

Their motivation is different but the outcome would be somewhat similar. Hailed as one of 2013’s top ten technological breakthroughs by MIT, the work by the University of Southern California, North Carolina’s Wake Forest University and other partners has actually spanned a decade.

But the U.S.-wide team now thinks that it will see a memory device being implanted in a small number of human volunteers within two years and available to patients in five to 10 years. They can’t quite contain their excitement.

“I never thought I’d see this in my lifetime,” said Ted Berger, professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “I might not benefit from it myself but my kids will.”

Rob Hampson, associate professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest University, agrees. “We keep pushing forward, every time I put an estimate on it, it gets shorter and shorter.”

The scientists — who bring varied skills to the table, including mathematical modeling and psychiatry — believe they have cracked how long-term memories are made, stored and retrieved and how to replicate this process in brains that are damaged, particularly by stroke or localized injury.

Berger said they record a memory being made, in an undamaged area of the brain, then use that data to predict what a damaged area “downstream” should be doing. Electrodes are then used to stimulate the damaged area to replicate the action of the undamaged cells.

They concentrate on the hippocampus — part of the cerebral cortex which sits deep in the brain — where short-term memories become long-term ones. Berger has looked at how electrical signals travel through neurons there to form those long-term memories and has used his expertise in mathematical modeling to mimic these movements using electronics.

Hampson, whose university has done much of the animal studies, adds: “We support and reinforce the signal in the hippocampus but we are moving forward with the idea that if you can study enough of the inputs and outputs to replace the function of the hippocampus, you can bypass the hippocampus.”

The team’s experiments on rats and monkeys have shown that certain brain functions can be replaced with signals via electrodes. You would think that the work of then creating an implant for people and getting such a thing approved would be a Herculean task, but think again.

For 15 years, people have been having brain implants to provide deep brain stimulation to treat epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease — a reported 80,000 people have now had such devices placed in their brains. So many of the hurdles have already been overcome — particularly the “yuck factor” and the fear factor.

“It’s now commonly accepted that humans will have electrodes put in them — it’s done for epilepsy, deep brain stimulation, (that has made it) easier for investigative research, it’s much more acceptable now than five to 10 years ago,” Hampson says.

Much of the work that remains now is in shrinking down the electronics.

“Right now it’s not a device, it’s a fair amount of equipment,”Hampson says. “We’re probably looking at devices in the five to 10 year range for human patients.”

The ultimate goal in memory research would be to treat Alzheimer’s Disease but unlike in stroke or localized brain injury, Alzheimer’s tends to affect many parts of the brain, especially in its later stages, making these implants a less likely option any time soon.

Berger foresees a future, however, where drugs and implants could be used together to treat early dementia. Drugs could be used to enhance the action of cells that surround the most damaged areas, and the team’s memory implant could be used to replace a lot of the lost cells in the center of the damaged area. “I think the best strategy is going to involve both drugs and devices,” he says.

Unfortunately, the team found that its method can’t help patients with advanced dementia.

“When looking at a patient with mild memory loss, there’s probably enough residual signal to work with, but not when there’s significant memory loss,” Hampson said.

Constantine Lyketsos, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at John Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore which is trialing a deep brain stimulator implant for Alzheimer’s patients was a little skeptical of the other team’s claims.

“The brain has a lot of redundancy, it can function pretty well if loses one or two parts. But memory involves circuits diffusely dispersed throughout the brain so it’s hard to envision.” However, he added that it was more likely to be successful in helping victims of stroke or localized brain injury as indeed its makers are aiming to do.

The UK’s Alzheimer’s Society is cautiously optimistic.

“Finding ways to combat symptoms caused by changes in the brain is an ongoing battle for researchers. An implant like this one is an interesting avenue to explore,” said Doug Brown, director of research and development.

Hampson says the team’s breakthrough is “like the difference between a cane, to help you walk, and a prosthetic limb — it’s two different approaches.”

It will still take time for many people to accept their findings and their claims, he says, but they don’t expect to have a shortage of volunteers stepping forward to try their implant — the project is partly funded by the U.S. military which is looking for help with battlefield injuries.

There are U.S. soldiers coming back from operations with brain trauma and a neurologist at DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is asking “what can you do for my boys?” Hampson says.

“That’s what it’s all about.”

Photo

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:34:03 -0400

Photo

Thu, 09 May 2013 04:49:45 -0400

The Sharing Ecomomy

Thu, 02 May 2013 03:43:17 -0400

The Sharing Economy from Loic Le Meur

good: Happy Tuesday, y’all. Thanks, Kate

Wed, 01 May 2013 02:31:46 -0400

good:

Happy Tuesday, y’all.

Thanks, Kate

TED Conference - Golden Circle essence by Simon Sinek

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:32:39 -0400

TED Conference - Golden Circle essence by Simon Sinek

State of the Internet 2011

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 10:41:24 -0400

Created by: Online Schools

55% of coupons sites users keep up with dailys deals through email. 82% return !

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 12:23:00 -0400

Why is this so hard for western companies to make business in China?

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:15:08 -0400

The recent troubles faced by Groupon shows us that you don’t make business in the largest market in the world whithout a sound and well planned strategy. China now represents 385 millions users, a fifth of the Internet users worldwide. A “must be” market for any international company.

The Super Bowl Ad from Feb11 made lots of people angry in China and marked the begining of Groupon’s troubles. Groupon clearled lacked common sense:

“The people of Tibet are in trouble, their very culture in jeopardy”

The video was broadcasted nationwide and internationally through video sharing plateforms. I can imagine the kind of reactions the Chinese had. When i was studying in Shanghai, i mentioned a few time the situation of Tibet with local Chinese. For them there is nothing to discuss. Tibet has always been and will always be part of China. To locals, the Chinese government is bringing modernity and education to the “peasants of the west”. This is a all positive transition to (most of) them.

In marketing terms, it makes sense to mention Tibet. There is a lot of Tibetan supporters in the USA that would find interesting to enjoy exotic food and agree to the statement that the “People of Tibet are in trouble”. But the campaign was launched without understanding and measuring its global impact. You cannot say that the people of Tibet are in trouble in China cause this is very insulting to Chinese. There have a very different understanding of the situation and this is something that has to be respected if you intend to make business there. If not, Chinese would start hating you, along with your brand and what you represent. This is what is happening to Groupon.cn

TUANBAO.com (Groupon China) is not doing so well despite massive investment, international experience and entering the market through GaoPeng.com The very dense Chinese market has already more that 100 significants actors

So Groupon is having a hard time penetrating the Chinese market, along with the other Big G company, Google.

Google is outpassed by Baidu that now enjoys a 70% market share in China.

So what is really the problem?

1/ The cultural problem

The Feb11 Super Bowl ad hurt thousands of Chinese. The marketing guys behind this probably never tought of the millions of people that could be exposed to it. In China you don’t mess with Taiwan neither with Tibet. You don’t need to mention it and to discuss it. It’s a cultural thing and we, westeners, shouldn’t judge Chinese for receiving a different approach to education neither we should use it as a marketing argument. I remember once a Chinese telling me: “We do not support and agree with International Human Rights because we never wrote it”. The differences between the West and the East are often under estimated.

2/ The Lack of adaptation and the copy paste phenomena

When Google launched its services in China they also tought that Chinese would adapt to Google instead of Google adapting to China. The homepage of Google.cn is a simple translation of the normal Google.com. There is not a real adaptation of Google’s services to the market. The western and eastern way of thinking can be sometime very oposite. You don’t tranlate a web page, you adapt it, you have to re-think everything single aspect of your plateform.

It took almost 2 years for Google to organise search in Chinese, while Baidu was already way more advanced. Google who is at the forefront of inovation in the western world is still strugling to catch up with Baidu in China.

3/ Structural problem

From my experience in big american companies (MS), there is a marketing decision process issue and a lack of understanding locally. This is what companies such a Groupon and Google are facing. They do try to adapt, using local actors but in most american companies, the decision takers are in the headquarters in their office, in the USA. The don’t brainstorm neither consult smaller markets.

They do an excellent job locally but often miss global understanding. This is a very straight forward anglo-saxon aproach: it’s a “Let’s do it” instead of a “Let’s re-think it” or a “Let’s start over”

There is a real problem evaluating the consequences of Marketing campaigns launched internationally. It doesn’t make sense for marketers in the US to take decision for the Chinese market neither it does for them not to brainstorm with other countries while launching a campaign with international exposure.

4/ Lack of understanding of local policies

In China you have no access to Youtube, Twitter or Facebook. In 2009, Google was about to stop its operations and in 2011 accused the Chinese goverment for suporting hackers looking over the Gmail accounts of people classified as “Problematic”

So the chinese goverment can close your service and even ban your songs but you have to deal with it. You don’t fight the government. Especially in China it’s above everything. For every service banned, there is a successful Chinese alternative. RenRen or 51.com allow you to connect with you friend just like a Facebook does

So making business in China is probably harder that it’s commonly thought. Also in retail the French giant Carrefour is struggling those days. Chinese people are proud and they do prefer local companies. The right option is probably to expand your business making locals think that your company is 100% under the control of Chinese.

The French Touch in cuisine or fashion works well along with the American lifestyle in China. They love the NBA and would definitely buy the new fragance from Channel. But if you go mass market in retail or services, you have to act and think just like if you were Chinese. Adapting is not even the solution, you have re-start over your business.

@thefabgeo

gplus.to/fabgeo

fabiengeorjon@gmail.com

From Uncle Sam to Uncle Slim

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:58:13 -0400

Here is why your phone bill in Mexico is so high:

In Mexico Mr Slim’s grip is particularly strong, with 70% of the cellular market and 80% of landlines

Not surprisingly, after accounting for purchasing power home landlines in Mexico cost 45% more than the OECD average and business lines 63% more

The surprising truth about what motivates us

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:47:26 -0400

Leadership Lessons From Burning Man

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:28:00 -0400

The Burning Man that takes place every year in the Nevada desert gathers 50 000 for its 2011 edition; is just a 7 days bacchanal.

The festival is based on money free model where everything participants bring must be share with others

It´s interesting to see what really pushes people to create, for free, extremly elaborated structures. They are not driven by money, but more by a social recognition to others; creating a complex structure gives them a status. Creativity and social identification drives people better that financials incentives.

“People want to be inspired, not lectured. They tend to respond better to humour and gentle reminders than they do to dictates or presumptiions of guilf before innocence”

You can read more on that subject on FastCompany.com: lessons you can get for the Burning Man and how you can motivate people whitout money.

How algorithms shape our world

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:11:00 -0400

Why Groupon Lacks a Viable Business Model

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:57:47 -0400

ABSTRACT:

“Alright, you caught us. We’re actually not making any money. In fact, we are really losing a lot of money.”

“Businesses should become profitable before they become big. The best way to manage a fledgling business is for managers to be impatient for profit but patient for growth”

“Groupon’s fundamental problem is that it has not yet discovered a viable business model”

“ Groupon’s venture investors and executives need a way to cash out before everyone realizes that the emperor has no clothes”

“Alright, you caught us. We’re actually not making any money. In fact, we are really losing a lot of money.”

This is the essence of Groupon’s declaration last week that it will remove the controversial accounting metric calledAdjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income (ACSOI) from its financial statements. ACSOI essentially measures Groupon’s profits before subtracting its subscriber-acquisition costs and stock option-based compensation. The metric was an attempt to put a thin veneer of respectability on what are extremely disconcerting profitability numbers for the company. In the first quarter of 2011, Groupon posted a net loss of $113.9 million. Yet, the company reported ASCOI of positive $80.1 million. In most recent quarter, Groupon’s losses continued to mount as it begrudgingly abandoned the ACSOI metric amidst criticism and incredulity from the SEC.

But what is most interesting about its emphasis on the ACSOI metric is that, deep down, Groupon knows what we all know: good investments are profitable investments. It was simply not enough for the firm to report earnings and explain that it was investing for growth. Rather, Groupon felt the need to include a metric of profitability, no matter how contrived, that was actually positive.

Clayton Christensen would agree with the intuition that Groupon displays but ignores: businesses should become profitable before they become big. The best way to manage a fledgling business is for managers to be impatient for profit but patient for growth. Such a strategy limits an early venture’s funding in order to force the business to develop a profitable business model and then invests heavily in growth once such a model is identified — Christensen terms such investments“good money” for incubating growth businesses and extols the strategy for three reasons.

First, when a business is impatient for profit, managers are forced to validate their assumptions and demonstrate that customers are fundamentally willing to pay an acceptable price for the company’s offering.
Secondly, expecting a business to be profitable quickly forces it to keep its fixed costs low. Because a business’s cost structure determines which customers it finds profitable, keeping these fixed costs low preserves strategic options for the company when it is choosing which customers to target.
Finally, reaching profitability quickly ensures that when outside financing dries up, the venture can succeed on its own.

Groupon’s fundamental problem is that it has not yet discovered a viable business model.The company asserts that it will be profitable once it reaches scale but there is little reason to believe this. The financial results of Groupon’s traditional business continue to deteriorate, especially in mature markets, and new ventures such as Groupon Now also have failed to drive profits. And unlike the very few successful companies that scaled before they were profitable (think Facebook or Amazon), Groupon’s business model does not benefit from significant network effects. The company’s product is not more valuable to users as more people adopt the platform. If anything, the fact that Groupon is witnessing decreasing revenue per merchant and fewer Groupon purchases per subscriber in its maturing markets suggests that growth may actually decrease Groupon’s value to its customers. Yet, Groupon maintains a blind faith that growth will be its salvation. As Pets.com learned in the last bubble, such a strategy works just fine until you run out of other people’s money to spend on growth.

The real cause of Groupon’s problem is that it had too much of a good thing. With over $1 billion of venture capital money to invest in growth, what manager has time to worry about profitability? Groupon’s “bad money” — investments that were patient for profit but impatient for growth — did not instill the discipline needed to enable the company to emerge as a successful standalone venture. Now, the venture capital markets cannot supply more capital and the company must depend on the IPO market to finance its money-losing operations. Eventually, investors will be unable to sell their shares to a greater fool and Groupon will be added to the list of companies that had immense potential but died because they did not find a successful profit formula in time.

The story would be much different if Groupon did not have nearly unlimited access to funding so early in its corporate life. A successful financing strategy would have provided Groupon with incremental investments to enable the development of a profitable business model around a product that had obvious appeal to customers and merchants. In such a world, Groupon would have stuck to its home market of Chicago until it developed a business model that was profitable at scale in one market. Armed with a viable profit formula, Groupon could have scaled aggressively — confident that much larger profits awaited it.

But it is now too late. Groupon needs another $750 million to keep the lights on and to keep growing while it prays for profitability that will perpetually lay just one funding round away. Groupon’s venture investors and executives need a way to cash out before everyone realizes that the emperor has no clothes. I will probably buy a Groupon every now and again — I have no problem letting investors finance my cheap consumption. But as far as an investment goes, Groupon is looking about as profitable as giving away your merchandise for 90% off.

SOURCE: HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

Infographic: What Makes People Want to Follow a Brand?

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:51:00 -0400

Really cool virtual / real life shopping by Tesco.

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:36:00 -0400

Are your more likely to buy a product / service if you follow it on Facebook or on Twitter ?

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 13:11:00 -0400

Engagement on Twitter is stronger than on Facebook, i am looking forward to compare those number with the one of Google Plus were conversation is also really engaging.

A previous study run by EMarketer shows a lower engagement with only 36% more likely to buy a product / service if you follow a brand on Facebook.

Why Groupon Looks a Lot Like a Ponzi Scheme

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:08:33 -0400

Abstract: “At Groupon, however, collecting more money in sales and reducing payments by delaying them appears to be a large part of its business model. That’s also the “business model” employed in most Ponzi schemes, in which the operator hopes that a greater amount of new money coming will always be available to pay off the older participants who are owed money”

Texas death row killer forgiven by shooting victim, sentenced to death today today 6pm Texas time

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:00:00 -0400

Texas death row killer forgiven by shooting victim, sentenced to death today today 6pm Texas time :

Mark Stroman shot 3 guys after 9/11 as a “revenge”, targeting anyone he considered as “Arab”. One of the person shot that survived is now trying to prevent the attacker from being killed today 6pm Texas time. What a beautiful example of forgiveness. I believe that this guy should be saved from death row as a symbol of Peace.What do you think? That would be some much more useful to society than to let him die!

EDIT: 5:21 p.m.: The 5^th Circuit Court of Appealsin New Orleans declined to stay Stroman’s execution.

The court said Bhuiyan’s claim was untimely

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-dept-criminal-justice/death-penalty/update-court-declines-stay-for-9-11-revenge-killer/