The way government does tech is outdated and risky

Via Washington Post:

As we learn more about what went wrong with the design and launch of Healthcare.gov, a few broad principles have emerged about how to fix the procurement system so this kind of debacle -- which isn't the only non-functional Web site the government's bought, just the highest profile -- doesn't happen again.

Click the link to see more: The way government does tech is outdated and risky

Points:

• “…[lack of] willingness to entertain innovative proposals from companies that might not have years of federal contracting experience.”
• “…[little] openness of the software development process.”
• “…how companies build large software systems: The federal government's been doing it backwards for decades.”

A non-political take of the development of Healthcare.gov that has lessons for project managers and sponsors.

A black box in your car? Some see a source of tax revenue

Via LA Times:

As America's road planners struggle to find the cash to mend a crumbling highway system, many are beginning to see a solution in a little black box that fits neatly by the dashboard of your car.

The devices, which track every mile a motorist drives and transmit that information to bureaucrats, are at the center of a controversial attempt in Washington and state planning offices to overhaul the outdated system for funding America's major roads.

Click the link to see more: A black box in your car? Some see a source of tax revenue - latimes.com

Points:

• “The push comes as the country's Highway Trust Fund, financed with taxes Americans pay at the gas pump, is broke. Americans don't buy as much gas as they used to.”
• “It is no surprise that the idea appeals to urban liberals, as the taxes could be rigged to change driving patterns in ways that could help reduce congestion and greenhouse gases, for example.”
• “In Nevada, where about 50 volunteers' cars were equipped with the devices not long ago, drivers were uneasy about the government being able to monitor their every move.”

Why I Jumped Off The Ivory Tower

Via Instapundit and Inklings:

My decision to leave isn't really about my department or university in particular, but about a perverse incentive structure that maintains the status quo, rewards mediocrity, and discourages potentially high-impact, interdisciplinary work. My complaints are really about the structural features of the university, and not about the behavior of particular people. Although I believe that my university is unusually bad in these respects, I think these structural features are quite common.

Click the link to see more: Inklings: Why I Jumped Off The Ivory Tower

Points:

• “…when it comes time to decide on salary raises, a faculty member with broad, interdisciplinary research interests is at a severe disadvantage. To put the point bluntly, interdisciplinary researchers get paid less.”
• “…in an environment where the senior faculty and administrators have been rewarded throughout their careers for toeing their disciplinary lines, there's a lot of resistance to change. Some of that resistance is due to outright hostility, but most of it is just the result of a lack of experience and imagination.”
• “We're increasingly handing over power to people whose experience would naturally lead them to a conservative, short-term strategy that's based on optimizing quantifiable financial outcomes. But worst of all, we shouldn't expect someone whose experience is in leading gigantic, dominant corporations to create an environment that rewards original, interdisciplinary, potentially disruptive research. Their previous success (such as it is), is from operating in an inherently conservative environment, running an organization that thrives in the status quo.”

Charles Robertson: Africa's next boom

Via Instapundit and TED:

The past decade has seen slow and steady economic growth across the continent of Africa. But economist Charles Robertson has a bold thesis: Africa's about to boom. He talks through a few of the indicators -- from rising education levels to expanded global investment (and not just from China) -- that lead him to predict rapid growth for a billion people, sooner than you may think.

Click the link to see more: Charles Robertson: Africa's next boom | Video on TED.com

The financial sector in 2030

Via Business Insider:

…two 2030 growth scenarios. The first is the "continued growth in the wealth management business" that is "driven by independent advisors, online tools and advice companies, and emerging international markets." The financial industry will have consolidated through mergers and acquisitions. The second sees the industry lose the trust of consumers, prompting them to turn to a self-service model that excludes "advisors and major financial institutions."

Click the link to see more: FINANCIAL ADVISOR INSIGHTS: October 25 - Business Insider

Points:

• Trends: “1. Increased expectation for a fiduciary standard. 2. Shrinking pool of advisors that has to deal with "intergenerational transfer of wealth." 3. The growth of "women as a major market" when women advisors market up only 30% of the industry. 70% of widows change financial advisors within a year of their husbands' deaths. 4. Increasing social diversity. 5. Changing technology.”
• Possible outcomes: “1. "Leading fee-based financial advisors increasingly will dominate the market. 2. "Retail banks will continue to lose power." 3. "Wirehouses will embrace the fee-based channel and direct resources into acquisition and organic growth of registered investment advisors." 4 "Direct distribution models are also likely to grow as consumers continue to embrace technology to help them meet their financial services needs."

First Bitcoin ATM in Canada

Via Business Insider:

The first Bitcoin ATM in the world is believed to launch in Canada next week. 

According to reports from CBC, Mitchell Demeter, co-founder of Vancouver bitcoin trading company Bitcoiniacs and part-owner of Robocoin, has invested in five such machines to be placed across Canada.

Click the link to see more: First Bitcoin ATM in Canada - Business Insider

Points:

• “Bitcoin is an emerging digital currency that isn't controlled by any authority such as a central bank.”
• “The new ATM will trade Canadian dollars for online Bitcoins.”

Twitter And The Real Economy Of Jobs

Via Newgeography.com:

With Twitter’s high-profile IPO, the media and much of the pundit class are revisiting one of their favorite themes: the superiority of the brash, young urban tech elite, who don’t need to produce much in the way of profits to be showered with investor cash.  Libertarians will celebrate the triumph of fast-paced greed and dismiss concerns over equity; progressives may dislike the easy money but will be comforted when much of it ends up supporting their candidates and causes.

Lost amid this discussion is any sense of reality about the economy for the rest of us.

Click the link to see more: Twitter And The Real Economy Of Jobs | Newgeography.com

Points:

• “The focus on digital uber alles is endorsed by a new school of American economics that essentially cedes the future to information-based industries and considers tangible activities like fossil fuel production, manufacturing and construction passé.”
• “There remain economies anchored to more mundane industries, such as energy, construction, manufacturing and logistics, that still offer paths of upward mobility to people who didn’t go to Harvard, MIT or Stanford. These industries also employ more engineers and scientists than the IT sector, and in the case of energy produce more economic benefit to local economies.”
• “…celebrated social media firms, overwhelmingly concentrated close to the venture capital spigot, are both geographically constrained and and employ shockingly  few workers.”
• “In term of profits, the supposed holy grail of business, it’s not even close. In Exxon’s disappointing last quarter it racked up $6.9 billion. By contrast Google earned $3.1 billion, while Facebook made $333 million and LinkedIn $3.7 million.”
• “…the strongest household growth is taking place in less glitzy metro areas.”