Cisco: 50 Billion Things on the Internet by 2020 [Infographic]

The Internet of Things, when real world objects are connected to the Internet, is a trend that we've been actively tracking since early 2009. So far a lot of big technology infrastructure and solutions companies have gotten behind the trend, for the simple reason that they see a huge market opportunity. As more and more 'things' go on the Net, it creates more demand for network infrastructure like sensors and routers. Enter the likes of Cisco and Verizon Wireless. Likewise, more technology solutions will be developed to upload and manage data from real world objects. Enter the likes of IBM and HP.

Cisco: 50 Billion Things on the Internet by 2020 [Infographic]: "

Cisco has designed an infographic that offers a simple example of how Internet of Things will affect you in your everyday life. It also states that by 2020, there will be 50 billion 'things' connected to the Internet - everything from your body, car, alarm clock and even cows.

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There has been some contention about the number of connected things and by when. Cisco's prediction of 50 billion devices by 2020 matches Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg's prediction earlier this year within a similar time period. However IBM recently put it at 1 trillion connected devices by 2015. Indeed in April 2010, Cisco's own CTO Padmasree Warrior said that by 2013 the number of devices connected to the Internet will reach 1 trillion. So even Cisco doesn't seem to have a consistent prediction.

Regardless, as the infographic below shows, the number of things connected to the Internet has already exceeded the number of people on earth. So this is a big trend - and big business for Cisco and other technology companies.



Infographic via All Things D


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Ten Principles To Live By In Fiercely Complex Times

If you're like most people I work with in companies, the demands come at you from every angle, all day long, and you have to make difficult decisions without much time to think about them. What enduring principles can you rely on to make choices that reflect openness, integrity and authenticity?


Here are ten that work for me:


1. Always challenge certainty, especially your own. When you think you're undeniably right, ask yourself 'What might I be missing here?' If we could truly figure it all out, what else would there be left to do?


2. Excellence is an unrelenting struggle, but it's also the surest route to enduring satisfaction. Amy Chua, the over-the-top 'Tiger Mother,' was right that there's no shortcut to excellence. Getting there requires practicing deliberately, delaying gratification, and forever challenging your current comfort zone.


3. Emotions are contagious, so it pays to know what you're feeling. Think of the best boss you ever had. How did he or she make you feel? That's the way you want to make others feel.


4. When in doubt, ask yourself, 'How would I behave here at my best?' We know instinctively what it means to do the right thing, even when we're inclined to do the opposite. If you find it impossible, in a challenging moment, to envision how you'd behave at your best, try imagining how someone you admire would respond.


5. If you do what you love, the money may or may not follow, but you'll love what you do. It's magical thinking to assume you'll be rewarded with riches for following your heart. What it will give you is a richer life. If material riches don't follow, and you decide they're important, there's always time for Plan B.


6. You need less than you think you do. All your life, you've been led to believe that more is better, and that whatever you have isn't enough. It's a prescription for disappointment. Instead ask yourself this: How much of what you already have truly adds value in your life? What could you do without?


7. Accept yourself exactly as you are but never stop trying to learn and grow. One without the other just doesn't cut it. The first, by itself, leads to complacency, the second to self-flagellation. The paradoxical trick is to embrace these opposites, using self-acceptance as an antidote to fear and as a cushion in the face of setbacks.

8. Meaning isn't something you discover, it's something you create, one step at a time. Meaning is derived from finding a way to express your unique skills and passion in the service of something larger than yourself. Figuring out how best to contribute is a lifelong challenge, reborn every day.


9. You can't change what you don't notice and not noticing won't make it go away. Each of us has an infinite capacity for self-deception. To avoid pain, we rationalize, minimize, deny, and go numb. The antidote is the willingness to look at yourself with unsparing honesty, and to hold yourself accountable to the person you want to be.


10. When in doubt, take responsibility. It's called being a true adult.




Follow @FastCoLeaders for all of our leadership news, expert bloggers, and book excerpts.

Reprinted from Harvard Business Review

Tony Schwartz is President and CEO of The Energy Project, a company that helps individuals and organizations fuel energy, engagement, focus, and productivity by harnessing the science of high performance. Tony's most recent book, The Way We're Working Isn't Working: The Four Forgotten Needs that Energize Great Performance, was published in May 2010 and became an immediate The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Follow him on Twitter @TonySchwartz.

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Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers On The Future Of Coal, Nuclear, And The Energy Industry

by Ariel Schwartz

Recently named one of the 50 most powerful people in the world by Newsweek, Rogers talks about how we'll be getting power in the next 50 years.

Duke Energy is one of the largest utilities in the U.S.; after the company completes a $13.7 billion takeover of Progress Energy later this year, it will be the largest utility in the country, not to mention one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the nation. We had the chance to chat with Duke CEO Jim Rogers--named one of the 50 most powerful people in the world by Newsweek--about the future of the company and the energy industry.
What have been some of the biggest challenges of running a massive utility?
In the five years since I've been at Duke, our biggest challenges have been several things. One is the recognition that after 50 years, the real price of electricity is going to rise because of tighter regulations on coal plants and the recognition that we have to restrict carbon. [After the merger] we will be [one of the] largest emitters of CO2 in the U.S. We have a special responsibility to lead on that issue.
We will have to retire and replace virtually every plant by 2050. In a sense, that gives us a blank sheet of paper. What will we build in the future? One of our challenges is going to be to try to position the company to totally remake its system of generation and at the same time modernize our grid, which effectively means going from an analogue grid to a digital grid.
What do you believe the energy mix will look like in the coming decades?
Over the last 20 years we have started using coal in a cleaner way. But there needs to be more technological development to use it in a low carbon world. Is this carbon capture and storage (CCS)? Is it a system to usealgae to capture carbon and accelerate the growth of algae and then use it as a biofuel? I think CCS will play a role particularly if utilities are in a region where the geography works, but that's predominantly in the Midwest. The ultimate solution to [make coal more sustainable] is to recycle the carbon. We have relationships with a number of Chinese companies, and they're actually more focused on how you recycle the carbon rather than storing it. On some level, it seems like a more sustainable practice to take it and reuse it rather than store it in the ground.
So you do still believe coal will play an important part of the energy mix in the future?
By 2030 coal will still be here and be used, but in the longer term, with the realization that we will have carbon constraints, the question is whether the technology will evolve to allow coal to remain a [clean] alternative. Whether or not these technologies will be here in 2050 is a function of how well we can develop technology to reduce their emissions footprint. With respect to renewables, how fast can we bring down the cost of solar and wind in a way that we don't need subsidies?
Do you think solar and wind will become cheap enough to compete with traditional energy sources?
I do. [The price of] wind has come down rather dramatically. What's going to drive down the cost of solar--although I don't believe Moore's Law applies to solar--if you look at the Chinese who are leading the world in solar panel production, wind turbine production, and probably lead the world in the development of batteries ...the Chinese are developing the intellectual property of scaling, and that in itself is what creates value. The Chinese are going to find a way to scale this, and as they scale this, they will drive the costs down. I am confident that over the next two to three decades you're going to see prices come down pretty dramatically.
What about the future of nuclear plants?
We will have to retire and replace every [Duke Energy] nuclear plant by 2050. Lets start with the simple assumption that 70% of [low-carbon] electricity today comes from nuclear. If we had to replace that with gas...it would have a fairly detrimental impact with respect to climate. Two things give me hope. One is evolving technologies, the second is development of modular nuclear technology.
When I look at nuclear, I look at it both as modular as well as large plants in the future. I believe we have to solve the spent fuel issue. The question is whether we store it or recycle it. My judgment is that we'll find a way to recycle it. So [nuclear] will play a role, and it's kind of hard now to really predict the role. I mean, that's what makes this puzzle so interesting, because we know what the pieces are, we kind of have inklings of what some of the shapes of the pieces will be tomorrow, but to put the map together of what the mix will be--it's a pretty intriguing exercise. We've got to do it. We don't have a choice.
What are some of the new energy technologies that will be prevalent in the future that aren't so well known today?
If I knew that I'd be taking money and making bets. I think modular nuclear as a group will be breakout. I think there are going to be breakthroughs in solar technology. I think in the long run solar will trump wind because solar can be distributed [on rooftops] and also I think will be more efficient than wind turbines over time for a variety of different reasons.
I think battery technology will be transformative, not just with respect to intermittent sources of power, but also it has a fundamental impact on how the grid actually operates. I'm following very closely what BYD is doing. I thinkzinc air [battery technology] is kind of interesting because [the cells] become grid storage, which I think is important.
These are some of the areas that I think will evolve. The only question is which ones will be lowest cost and most efficient. We're at a very important point, I believe. I wish I could be a CEO for another 23 years. The technologies are coming together and are evolving. Some are clearer than others. I've always told people particularly recently that we're a technology company disguised as a utility.
Reach Ariel Schwartz via Twitter or email.

HOLY MOLEY: This iPhone App Scans Skin For Melanoma

HOLY MOLEY: This iPhone App Scans Skin For Melanoma: "

Skin Scan is a $4.99 iPhone app that could replace annual dermatologist check-ups.

It scans skin lesions, takes pictures of them, measures the diameter, and uses an algorithm to determine the likelihood of melanoma.

The app was created by CEO Victor Anastasiu and his team of 12 which includes two dermatologists and two mathematicians.

Skin Scan received €50,000 Euro ($71,400) in seed funding; it's a great idea as long as it's accurate.

Startup-killing lawsuits could emerge if the app tells someone a cancerous mole is benign.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Loopt Launches The Reverse Groupon, Already Sells One
• THE APPLE INVESTOR: Apple's iCloud Could Gain As Many Users As Gmail And Twitter
• Yelp Is Apple's New Neighbor In NYC Office Building

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Double-Decker 248 MPH Train Concept Could Connect Melbourne and Sydney

Photo: Hassell

We Can Dream, Can't We?
The Australian Federal Government is about to release the results of a big study in the feasibility of building a national high-speed rail network. Design firm Hassell (can't they make a better website than that?) has taken up this opportunity to unveil a concept design for a very slick double-decker high-speed train that could link Melbourne and Sydney and do the trip in less than three hours. Keep reading for more photos and a video.

Photo: Hassell

The Melbourne-Sydney air corridor is one of the busiest in the world, so there's a great opportunity to displace more polluting air travel with something that is not only greener, but also more comfortable and convenient (planes are fast, but airports are slow and a pain in the...).

Photo: Hassell

I'm not necessarily saying that the Hassell train is the solution. It's just a concept, and likely to remain so. But it's useful because it shows us what a modern train could look like .

Linking big population centers with modern high-speed rail can make a lot of sense. There's a big investment at first to build the railway and buy the trains, which is why it probably only makes sense between larger cities (at first anyway), but once that's paid for, the system last a really long time and can becomes the backbone of the transportation infrastructure (like in Japan or in some parts of Europe).

Via Discovery News, SMH

The Best Post-Exercise Drink: Chocolate Milk [Exercise]

Forget sports drinks, the best beverage to have after a workout or hard race is chocolate milk, studies say.

Some Lifehacker readers have mentioned this tip before in our tips box and related posts about what to drink when exercising, and these two new studies provide further confirmation that chocolate milk—particularly low-fat chocolate milk—is an ideal recovery drink to have after exercise.

In the cited University of Texas at Austin study, athletes who drank low-fat chocolate milk after a hard workout (as opposed to those who drank sports beverages with just carbohydrates) developed more muscle and less fat, as well as improved workout times. Another study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found cyclists who drank chocolate milk had twice the maximal oxygen uptake (the most amount of oxygen an individual can use during intense exercise, an indicator of your cardiovascular fitness) as those who drank calorie-free beverages or carbohydrate sports drinks.

So, in the 30-minute recovery window after exercising, have a nice cold drink of low-fat chocolate milk to boost your performance and overall physical shape. Photo by Team Traveller.

Water Gun Knife: How You Cut 4m Kilos Of French Fries a Day

McDonald’s sells about four million kilograms of fries a day worldwide. With that much demand, traditional spud cutting methods just aren’t enough. Instead, Lamb Weston, North America’s largest french fry producer, slices them at 117 fries per second.

The process begins when the potatoes are brought from the fields and offloaded onto a set of spinning rods. These rods separate the larger potatoes from the small ones as well as dirt, rocks and other debris. From there the spuds are dumped into a system of water-filled shoots that cleans and further sorts them by size. The biggest and best taters are then conveyed through a skinning machine that blasts them with steam for 12 seconds, boiling the water under their skins until the skin explodes off. Once skinned, the potatoes are ready for cutting.

The Water Gun Knife is basically a water cannon aimed at an array of blades. The potatoes are forced through a high-pressure line and launched towards the grid of sharpened steel at 117 fries per second. Whole potatoes go in, shoe string fries come out; just as when Gilbert Lamb first invented the device in 1960 (although his prototype used a fire hose).

[Lamb Weston - Rolling Stone Magazine via McSpotlight - McDonalds]