Bits and atoms

       Last week I was assinged at work to gather some general information about The center of bits and atoms. That time I had absolutely no idea of what that was. And the clear understanding didn't come across till today. I knew that it was kind of a scientific center founded in collaboration with MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and as it was said on its official website "a interdisciplinary initiative investigating the interface between computer science and physical science". Ok, immensely clear!

       So I was waiting for my English class seating in not really cozy cafe and reading "Funky business". The chapter was again about the brains power dominating in nowadays corporations. About the Microsoft that has much bigger market value than General Motors with its uncountable buildings, warehouses and machinery. Because Microsoft is much more about brains. And then paragraph followed:

       "Information is a new currency. That were the words of Nicolas Negropont from Media Lab of MIT, "we are mooving from world of atoms to the world of bits". We are mooving from the world with the muscule power on the first place to the world where intellect rules. Competition now is based on kilobytes, not kilograms".

        Actually I hadn't any questions after that...

Again the match

       Yesterday I ended listening "Delivering Happiness" by Tony Hsieh. I enjoyed the book very much, the exiting and explisit way it was written in. The author, founder of Zappos, Tony Hsieh chose really coherent way of presenting his story by design. He wanted to tell about himself, about his business in the way people would enjoy reading. And he succeed! The experience he went through can be very usefull for everyone of us and can put the spotlight on what is really significant in business. He pays a lot of attention to great customer service, to how reach the WOW effect with you clients. And I consider it is immensely important! You should treat people as you want to be treated, no matter if it's business or ordinary life. Unfortunately we experience lack of good customer service in Russia. Not some many companies carry about it. Pity...

       But today I was pleasantly surprised when calling to Lufthansa! The operator was so kind and nice that I enjoyed negotiating and moreover of course all my problems were fixed in couple of minutes!

       And yes! Of course about the match! I was reading (actually listening) the article where Tony was telling about his internship in Oracle. Few days later I was taking part in organizing a contest presentation for Russian students, arranged by Oracle. So I was attending the meeting with education development director from Oracle, promoting this event through our schools..And of course reminding about a funny match :)

Of course funny only for me, but I always have some special feeling when such matches happen)

One more interesting match

      As it often happens to me, again I've been watching and reading about the same thing in absolutely different sourses, but approximately at the same time. The last match is about developing Puerto Rico as a resort for americans in the middle of 20th century. For those who lately had a chance to evaluate "The Rum Diary", it's easy to guess what was the first sourse. The second is in "On Advertising" by Ogilvy. He was a real person who provided ads for Puerto Rico and, morever, successful ads. Who do you think was taking pictures for that campaings? One of my favourite photographers - Elliott Erwitt. The small world!