Technology Fills Manufacturing Skills Gap

The reality is that manufacturers are dealing with a skills gap, and have turned to technology to keep up with demand. Small and medium sized manufacturing businesses continue to grow, which is good news for business.  Joe Langner is the Executive Vice President of Midmarket Solutions at Sage North America.  He wrote the following article. Its tough to attract and retain the kind of talent they need to fill key positions. The talent shortage is, in part, due to a retiring baby boomer generation. And it’s not only that they are leaving, it’s that they are there is a vast amount of knowledge that is walking out the door with them.

When attracting a new generation of manufacturing workers, midsized companies don’t always have the brand name or recognition needed to catch the attention of top talent. Additionally, retaining the best of the best can be equally challenging.This is part of the reason that companies are investing in technology—to fill that gap.

There’s an increased interest in investing in technology in order to scale business, especially as the economy gets stronger. Many manufacturers are feeling the pressure to streamline their production in order to keep up with demand – and tech tools, rather than new employees, may be the first place that they invest. Forty-six percent of SMBs say that they are looking to invest in technology to both improve processes and lessen the demand for staffing increases.

Mobility, in particular, is a form of technology that many companies are seeking to use, and being pressured by their customers and contacts to use as well. It allows customers to connect with a company, without the need for an office. This ties directly into how employees are working in the modern environment. Many employees are working longer hours – including weekends – and need to be able to access important information everywhere, without having to go into the office.

Companies who are embracing mobility – including supporting the Bring Your Own Device movement – are seeing as much as an 85 percent increase in productivity. Being able to easily and accurately collect info in the field allows employees to be more efficient. Managing their time more effectively helps them get things done. This equals happier employees. When they have the tools they need to make faster decisions, they feel more empowered in their job.

For companies, being mobile is a no longer something you should do – it’s something you have to do. It just makes sense. The benefits are numerous, including an ability to conduct business when and where it happens; make faster decisions, with access to real-time information; increase employee satisfaction and overall productivity; improve sales; and provide superior customer service.

With technology, manufacturers can improve processes and reap a whole variety of benefits – often without having to make additional hires. Fill the talent gaps by improving business processes and the productivity within your existing team. The right tech tools can help you do just that.

Self-Driving Cars in 30 U.S. Cities by 2017

There will be driverless buses and pods as well.

By Sage Lazzaro | 03/05/15 10:47am

Originally appearing in the Observer

Finally, we can put up our feet and let computers take the wheel.

Automated vehicle pilot projects will roll out in the U.K. and in six to 10 U.S. cities this year, with the first unveiling projected to be in Tampa, Florida as soon as late spring. The following year, trial programs will launch in 12 to 20 more U.S. locations, which means driverless cars will be on roads in up to 30 U.S. cities by the end of 2016. The trials will be run by Comet LLC, a consulting firm focused on automated vehicle commercialization.

“We’re looking at college campuses, theme parks, airports, downtown areas—places like that,” Corey Clothier, a strategist for automated transportation systems who runs the firm told, The Observer.

He explained that they’re focusing on semi-controlled areas and that the driverless vehicles will serve a number of different purposes—both public and private. The vehicles themselves—which are all developed by Veeo Systems—will even vary from two-seaters to full-size buses that can transport 70 people. At some locations, the vehicles will drive on their own paths, occasionally crossing vehicle and pedestrian traffic, while at others, the vehicles will be completely integrated with existing cars.

What would happen if you combine driverless cars with an on-demand service like Uber? One study says it would make nine out of ten cars on every road totally obsolete.

One of the early test sites will be the U.S. Army’s Fort Bragg in North Carolina. There, small pod-like vehicles will transport wounded troops from their barracks to the nearby hospital for treatment and check-ups. The Comet team is also planning a pilot project at The United States Military Academy at West Point, although Mr. Clothier said this site has not been finalized.

An automated vehicle system will also be implemented at Stanford with its first purpose being to provide transportation around their SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory campus. Scientists and academics travel from all over the world to visit the center, and the first application of the automated vehicle system will be to transport visiting scientists to the accelerator.

At the first test site in Tampa, the plan is to start with public transit around the Museum of Science and Industry and eventually expand to the University of Southern Florida campus and the neighboring City of Temple Terrace. The Comet team is also planning trials in two other cities in Florida; Greenville, South Carolina and Seattle, Washington, where the 70-person buses will be used in public transit.

At 25 to 40 percent cheaper, the cost to ride the driverless public transit vehicles will be significantly less expensive than traditional buses and trains, according to Mr. Clothier. They’ll also be far less expensive to operate. The vehicles are electric, rechargeable and could cost as low as $1 to $3 to run per day.

In addition to these first trials of automated vehicles for commercial use in the U.S., the U.K. will begin running tests this year in Greenwich, London as well. The $9 million project called GATEway will consist of public self-driving shuttles that will link residents to transport hubs, The O2 Arena and other destinations in northern Greenwich, carrying eight to ten passengers at a time.

Greenwich was chosen for the Project—which is being led by the U.K.’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL)—because, since it’s home to the Prime Meridian.

“It is the global reference point for time and links to navigation,” Nick Reed, the TRL academy director, said. “It also has a massively growing population, so we’re trying to meet the needs of that with the technology.”

Upon entering the shuttles, each passenger chooses from the pre-determined destinations on the touch screen, and then the computer determines and readjusts the route as riders hop on and off. Each vehicle uses lasers to build up an image of the route and determine where it is and where it needs to go.

These shuttles will drive along their own route but must cross pedestrian and vehicle traffic at times. The lasers will also enable the cars to determine when it’s safe to cross and also to spot obstructions. At a recent launch event, the vehicles proved how safe they are and how well they can sense obstructions and the world around them.

“You can image a lot of the journalists wanted to see this thing run into pedestrians, so they were almost jumping in front of it,” Mr. Reed said laughing. “But it was doing what it was supposed to do and stopping.”

He also explained that these shuttles are only the first part of the trials. They’re also working on autonomous valet parking that would enable drivers with ordinary cars to pull up to their destination, send their car to park itself and then summon it later. Additionally, they’re beginning to research how automated vehicles can be used for grocery delivery and other urban services.

Mr. Reed feels that this technology won’t completely replace today’s cars and trains, but that it is disruptive and will be the norm soon.

He described his first experience in a driverless vehicle as feeling “vulnerable at first,” but said that it quickly became very comfortable.

“It’s a bit unnerving to begin with because you realize the system is in control and you’re relying on the sensors and brakes to keep you safe, but very quickly after seeing it respond to pedestrians and such, you see it work and become very comfortable. I became relaxed even,” he said, adding how happy we’ll all be to be able to just watch Netflix while our cars drive us around.

Mr. Clothier, who has been riding in automated vehicles since their military-only days and has even been passenger to a computer among semis driving at 65mph on a Michigan highway, feels similarly.

“It’s a whole new thing, but it will be comfortable,” he said. “People are very comfortable riding in [them]. It’s kind of like an elevator: you go in, put in your destination, the doors close and you’re off.”

SEE: Mercedes-Benz’s New Car Is Driverless

Correction: The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory participated in the Smart America Challenge as a possible future pilot site but a trial is not set to run there at this time.

Getting Past the Partisan Passions of Netanyahu’s Speech

National security need not become hyperpoliticized in today’s Washington

"Tuesday’s speech to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be half foreign-policy event, half partisan spectacle, which raises a question: Is this a sign that national security, once thought to be at least slightly above the political fray, is becoming just another exercise in today’s polarized Washington?"

Answer: not necessarily.

By Gerald F. Seib of the WSJ

Let’s be honest. Foreign-policy debates have always been tinged with partisanship. And on the key questions of the hour—a nuclear deal with Iran and the battle against Islamic State extremists—there’s more crossing of partisan lines than current rhetoric suggests.

Still, there’s a danger that this week’s spectacle will inject a big new dose of partisanship into areas where it’s better left at bay. Once Mr. Netanyahu leaves town, it will be time for cooler heads in both parties to prevent that from happening.

The danger arises for two reasons, unique to the Netanyahu visit. The first is that this week’s event is out of the norm. It isn’t routine for a House speaker of one party to invite a foreign head of government to address Congress without consulting with a White House controlled by the other party. That’s particularly true when everyone knows the point of the speech will be to try to stop a presidential initiative—in this case the nuclear deal with Iran that the administration is trying to negotiate.

So this was inevitably going to be seen as a partisan act, as it would have been if the roles were reversed. It’s not hard to imagine what the Republican reaction would have been if a House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had invited a European head of state to address a joint session of Congress to question President George W. Bush’s request for authorization to go to war in Iraq.

The second reason this moment feels different is that the controversy affects American support for Israel’s government, an area that both sides have at least tried to keep above partisanship.

Add to those factors the sometimes “toxic” relationship between the Republican Congress and President Barack Obama and you have the makings of a broader partisan overlay, says Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and one of the few figures who maintains good lines of communications with both parties. The danger, he adds, is that “resentment from one issue carries over into the other,” getting in the way of, for example, Republicans’ working with Democrats on free-trade issues.

That doesn’t have to be the case, though. History provides ample evidence that the country can move beyond partisan splits on big foreign-policy issues. Republican isolationists battled Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt over providing aid to Britain before the U.S. entered World War II, for example, and the historic congressional vote on the Lend-Lease Act authorizing the aid fell largely along party lines.

When Congress faced a similarly dramatic moment in relations with Israel, in 1981 at the dawn of Republican Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the debate again had political overtones. The issue then was the Reagan administration’s decision to sell advanced Awacs radar planes to Saudi Arabia, a move Israel vehemently opposed. The sale was approved in the Senate largely along party lines, when Mr. Reagan prevailed on fellow Republicans to fall in line. (Irony of the week: Today, Israel probably is happy Congress approved that Awacs sale because the Saudis now are aligned with Israel in staunchly opposing Iran’s growth as a regional power.)

And congressional votes authorizing both wars with Iraq—the first sought by President George H.W. Bush and the second by the younger Mr. Bush—fell heavily along partisan lines.

More telling are the times when partisanship has been shoved aside in big foreign-policy debates. During the Cold War, arms-control treaties were pushed through Congress by leading foreign-policy thinkers of both parties, working in unison. Democratic President Bill Clinton relied on Republican votes to get free-trade deals through Congress. By the end of his presidency, Lyndon Johnson could count more on Republicans than Democrats for support of his policies in the Vietnam War.

And in 2001, the resolution authorizing use of force against al Qaeda passed both houses of Congress on a combined vote of 508 to 1.

The key is to get past the partisan emotions let loose this week and back to a national-security debate driven as much by conviction as party loyalty. That should be doable.

On an actual Iran deal, for example, Mr. Obama may find himself in the odd position of being supported by Republican Sen. Rand Paul—and opposed by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer. And on the equally important question of authorizing the fight against Islamic State, Republicans are more likely to back Mr. Obama than are many Democrats. Which isn’t a bad thing for the system.

Write to Gerald F. Seib at [email protected]

Putin’s Culture of Fear and Death

Boris Nemtsov threw his big body, big voice and big heart into the uphill battle to keep democracy alive in Russia.

Garry Kasparov, speaks openly about Putin's Russia. ___________

By GARRY KASPAROV As posted on WSJ March 1, 2015

Boris Nemtsov, my longtime friend and colleague in the Russian opposition, was murdered in the middle of Moscow on Friday night. Four bullets in the back ended his life in sight of the Kremlin, where he once worked as Boris Yeltsin ’s deputy prime minister. Photos showed a cleaning crew scrubbing his blood off the pavement within hours of the murder, so it is not difficult to imagine the quality of the investigation to come.

Vladimir Putin actually started, and ended, the inquiry while Boris’s body was still warm by calling the murder a “provocation,” the term of art for suggesting that the Russian president’s enemies are murdering one another to bring shame upon the shameless. He then brazenly sent his condolences to Boris’s mother, who had often warned her fearless son that his actions could get him killed in Putin’s Russia. Boris was a passionate critic of Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine and was finishing a report on the presence of Russian soldiers in the ravaged Donbas region, a matter that the Kremlin has spared no effort to cover up. But the question “Did Putin give the order?” rings as hollow today as when journalist Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down in 2006, the same year that Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in London—or when a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine last year.

Certainly the arrogance of the assassins is a notable clue. They could have chosen many dark and out-of-the-way places along the same route Boris took but instead sent a message by selecting a prominent and heavily surveilled spot. Opposition leaders are always watched closely by Russia’s security services before public rallies—Boris had been planning a protest against the Ukraine war on Sunday—so how could these trained bloodhounds not notice that someone else was following him? Regardless of whether President Putin gave the order, there is no doubt that he is directly responsible for creating the conditions in which these outrages occur with such terrible frequency.

The early themes in Mr. Putin’s reign—restoring the national pride and structure that were lost with the fall of the Soviet Union—have been replaced with a toxic mix of nationalism, belligerence and hatred. By 2014 the increasingly depleted opposition movement, long treated with contempt and ridicule, had been rebranded in the Kremlin-dominated media as dangerous fifth columnists, or “national traitors,” in the vile language lifted directly from Nazi propaganda.

Mr. Putin openly shifted his support to the most repressive, reactionary and bloodthirsty elements in the regime. Among them are chief prosecutor Alexander Bastrykin, who last week declared that the Russian constitution was “standing in the way of protecting the state’s interests.” In this environment, blood becomes the coin of the realm, the way to show loyalty to the regime. This is what President Putin has wrought to keep his grip on power, a culture of death and fear that spans all 11 Russian time zones and is now being exported to eastern Ukraine.

Boris Nemtsov was a tireless fighter and one of the most skilled critics of the Putin government, a role that was by no means his only possible destiny. A successful mayor in Nizhny-Novgorod and a capable cabinet member and parliamentarian, he could have led a comfortable life in government as a token liberal voice of reform. But Boris was unqualified to work for the Putin regime. He had principles, you see, and could not bear to watch our country slide back into the totalitarian depths.

And so Boris launched his big body, big voice and big heart into the uphill battle to keep democracy alive in Russia. We worked together after he was kicked out of Parliament in 2004, and by 2007 we were close allies in the opposition movement. He was devoted to documenting the crimes and corruption of Mr. Putin and his cronies, hoping that they would one day face a justice that seemed further away all the time.

Boris and I began to quarrel after Mr. Putin returned as president in 2012. To me, the Putin return signaled the end of any realistic hopes for a peaceful political path to regime change. But Boris was always optimistic. He would tell me I was too rash, that “you have to live a long time to see change in Russia.” Now he will never see it.

We cannot know exactly what horror will come next, only that there will be another and another while President Putin remains in power. The only way his rule will end is if the Russian people and the elites understand that they have no future as long as he is there. Right now, no matter how they really feel about Mr. Putin and their lives, they see him as invincible and unmovable. They see him getting his way in Ukraine, taking territory and waging war. They see him talking tough and making deals with Angela Merkel and François Hollande. They see his enemies dead in the streets of Moscow.

Statements of condemnation and concern over the Nemtsov murder quickly poured forth from the same Western leaders who have done so much to appease the Kremlin in recent days, weeks and years. If these leaders truly wish to honor my fearless friend, they should declare their support for the many tens of thousands of marchers who turned Sunday’s protest rally into a funeral procession. Western leaders should declare in the strongest terms that Russia will be treated like the criminal rogue regime it is for as long as Mr. Putin is in power. Call off the sham negotiations. Sell weapons to Ukraine that will put an unbearable political price on Mr. Putin’s aggression. Tell Russian oligarchs, every one of them, that there is no place their money will be safe in the West as long as they serve the Putin regime.

The response so far hasn’t been encouraging. Given President Putin’s sordid record, calls from Western leaders for him to “administer justice” could almost be considered sarcastic. Western media inexplicably continue to air, unchallenged, statements by his cadre of propagandists. Many reports credulously cite Mr. Putin’s high approval rating at home, as if such a concept has any meaning in a police state. Meanwhile, the Russian media churn out preposterous and insulting conspiracy theories about the death of a man they had called an enemy of the state.

We may never know who killed Boris Nemtsov, but we do know that the sooner President Putin is gone, the better the chances are that the chaos and violence Boris feared can be avoided.

Mr. Kasparov is the chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. His book on Vladimir Putin, “Winter Is Coming,” will be published by Public Affairs in the fall.

Draft Drone Rules Rule Out Long Distances

The technological advances of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been remarkable over the last couple of years. Their increasing capabilities and affordability promise many opportunities for commercial applications, ranging from farming to logistics. Despite the immense potential, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has long been quiet about the upcoming regulatory framework. Until now.

The FAA has just released proposed rules for commercial drones within the United States.

Although the rules are not as draconian as some people feared, commercial applications for UAVs are still facing limitations compared to other countries.

The FAA isn't requiring commercial drones to undergo a lengthy and costly certification process. UAVs under 55 lbs can be flown as long as the operators have passed a basic aeronautical test.

They must, however, be flown below 500 feet, only in daylight, and remain within view of their operators at all time. They also can not be flown over people, such as at concerts and sporting events.

This is a “good first step”, says the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems. It would easily allow, for example, a real estate agent to take aerial photographs of a house being put up for sale. It would also allow for farmers looking to survey crop conditions.

Not being allowed to fly over crowds might prevent television companies from filming sporting events with drones. Perhaps further certifications would allow such maneuvers in the future.

The requirement that the UAVs stay within line of sight is also a big limitation, preventing long-distance flights (inspecting forests and monitoring pipelines, for example). This would also rule out Amazon's plan of using drones to deliver goods ordered online.

Michael Huerta, head of the FAA, says that as drones develop the rules will continue to "evolve."

As the technology improves and operators build experience, perhaps the agency will eventually permit longer-range, out-of-sight flights.

In the meantime, the current proposals will undergo a lengthy period of public comment before being finalized- possibly in 2017.

Drone operations in other countries are already getting airborne with pilot projects. In China, Alibaba has launched a drone delivery service for tea orders. In Europe, the logistics firm DHL has begun delivering medicine and other urgent supplies to a small island off the coast of Germany.

To see some of these pilot programs in action, check out this video from the Wall Street Journal:

Japan's Economy is Coming Out of Recession

It's looking as if Japan's recent recession has officially ended, according to the latest headlines reporting gross domestic product (GDP) growth.  After two straight quarters of economic contraction, Japan's 2014 Q4 saw 2.2 percent annualized growth. While the news sounds positive, the numbers are disappointing to analysts that were expecting growth closer to 3.7 percent - a rather large difference.

After the data's release, Japanese Economic Minister Akira Amari told reporters that the economy was on track for a recovery with signs consumer sentiment is picking up.

But analysts pointed to the weak rebound in consumption and capital expenditure as worrying signs to the outlook.

"These are somewhat disappointing figures," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute. "The situation remains weak and companies are clearly postponing investments."

Reuters goes on to report that this rebound from recession will allow the Bank of Japan (BoJ) to hold off on expanding monetary stimulus for now even as slumping oil prices push inflation further away from its 2 percent target.

"The BoJ is expected to keep monetary policy unchanged for a while to see the impact from the latest easing," said Taro Saito, director of economic research at NLI Research Institute.

Today's data release will be one of the key factors that the BoJ will be considering at the two-day rate review ending on Wednesday. It is widely set to maintain the current pace of asset purchases in its quantitative easing (monetary stimulus) program.

The European Union Attempts Quantitative Easing

After many hints and delays, the EU is announcing a quantitative easing program: €60 billion (~$70 billion) per month for at least 19 months. Will it work? As is the new conventional wisdom: when everything else fails to make economies grow, make new money and buy government bonds.

To reach this point, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, has fought quite the political chess match. Bloomberg has an in-depth story on his journey.

Now the big question - the $1.3 trillion question - is if quantitative easing could help the European Union avoid the vicious deflationary situation it's currently facing.

Most economists agree that such quantitative easing initiatives have helped other major economies such as those in the US, the UK, and Japan to avoid recession - and perhaps even apocalyptic depression.

The challenges are different this time, however, because of the EU's unique makeup of 19 nations. The rules have different interpretations and perspectives vary depending on which country you ask.

For countries like Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, there remain large concerns over QE; Will it undermine government reform efforts? Will their tax payers be on the hook for insolvent countries like Greece?

Given the historical memory of horrendous hyperinflation, Germans are unsurprisingly hesitant of increasing the currency in circulation. "ARE the ECB's bankers making our money kaputt?”  reads a fearful headline from Bild, Germany's top selling newspaper.

It is clear, though, that most other options are all expired, so the EU is actually doing it.

They're attempting Q€.

The news is being greeted with mixed reviews. Many experts say the policy will help, though less so than in other large economies like the UK and the US. Some say the ECB is acting too late.  Others say the economic situation is different in Europe and the results will be unpredictable.

While at first the market reactions were exactly what the ECB wanted, the trend has reversed in the last two days. After the initial desired drop in EUR/USD (which would be helpful for exporters), the price has begun to rise again - currently it's back up to 1.14.

Financial blogs like ZeroHedge are pointing out that, "more troubling though - and the entire raison d'etre of Q€ (according to officials) - forward inflation expectations are now dramatically lower than pre Q€ levels..."

That's bad news for Mario Draghi and for Europeans facing risk of deflation - risk of declining prices, profits, incomes, employment levels, and increasing the burden of debt.

Is this trend reversal just temporary volatility before returning to a path more indicative of economic growth? Or is the European Central Bank's strategy fundamentally flawed?

It's challenging to balance optimistic visions of what could be with sober views of what is actually happening. Only time will tell.

Feel free to contact the writer and editor responsible for this story, Keenan Brugh, at [email protected]

Google to Invest $1 Billion in SpaceX

Google is in the final stages of investing in SpaceX to create an internet-beaming satellite constellation, as first reported by The Information. While the deal is still in the works, the apparent aim is to support the development of SpaceX satellites that will beam low-cost Internet around the globe --- connecting billions more people.

"The price and terms Google and SpaceX are discussing couldn’t be learned although one person familiar with them said Google has agreed to value SpaceX north of $10 billion and that the size of the total round, which includes other investors, is very large." writes Jessica E. Lessin

While SpaceX continually makes headline with its bold advancements, they have not taken on a big primary round of investment in many years. SpaceX’s current investors include Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Valor Equity Partners.

Elon Musk spoke about SpaceX's plans for the satellite-enabled Internet system last week in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek , which described the program as "hugely ambitious."

Hundreds of satellites would orbit about 750 miles above earth, much closer than traditional communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit at altitudes of up to 22,000 miles. The lower satellites would make for a speedier Internet service, with less distance for electromagnetic signals to travel. The lag in current satellite systems makes applications such as Skype, online gaming, and other cloud-based services tough to use. Musk’s service would, in theory, rival fiber optic cables on land while also making the Internet available to remote and poor regions that don’t have access.

International CES 2015 Focuses on Internet of Things

The International Consumer Electronics Show is the world's largest stage for presenting the latest in consumer technology. It's an exciting time, and it's all happening this week. The trade show, hosted every year in Las Vegas, is an important indication of what's coming up and what's going to be big in the near future.

This year, the Internet of Things (IoT) is taking center stage with more than 900 exhibitors sharing their products, services, and technologies that connect everyday devices to the network.

“The ‘Internet of Things’ is the hottest topic in tech right now,” said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, International CES and corporate business strategy, CEA.

She continues by saying, “It’s all about the opportunity to connect everyday items  like cars, home security systems and kitchen appliances to networked devices like PCs and smartphones for greater control and management of our everyday lives. We’re excited that the 2015 CES will bring together all of the companies and products that are making this a reality.”

The IoT, while less flashy than a new TV model, is more important because it is all about creating an infrastructure. Building upon this nascent infrastructure will be many new startups and products from existing companies. Some will flop, while others will change the world in which we live.

The Sensors Marketplace will highlight one of the key technologies that is enabling the growth of the IoT movement. Some exhibitors participating in the marketplace include eyeSight Mobile Technologies, Logbar and QuickLogic Corp. In addition, the Smart Home Marketplace will showcase a smarter, more efficient home accelerated by smartphones and tablets interacting with a myriad of connected objects and devices, from basic security systems to connected lighting systems. Some of the 2015 CES exhibitors expected to showcase IoT technologies include Bosch, Lowe’s, Konnect Labs, iDevices, Muzzley and Blinksight among many others.

2015 CES keynoters Boo-Keun Yoon, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel Corp., are expected to share their insights on IoT innovations.

Other CES conference programming will also explore the future of this trend with the following sessions:

Privacy and the IoT: Navigating Policy Issues

The Impact of the Internet of Things

The State of the Internet of Things

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Another interesting highlight of the CES is the second year of Gary's Book Club, showcasing the works of prominent, thought-leading authors in the tech industry.

(Gary Shapiro is the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association)

Books to be featured this year include:

Shawn DuBravac, Ph.D

Digital Destiny: How the New Age of Data Will Transform the Way We Work, Live, and Communicate

What happens when everything is digital? In this provocative new book from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), host of the International CES, CEA’s chief economist and lead technologist, Dr. DuBravac, has a straightforward answer: Everything will change. Most people perceive the digital age as simply the accumulation of sleeker and more powerful gadgets. But our understanding of the digital age is narrow, because we are still in its infancy. This book explains that the world’s mass adoption of digital technologies portends the beginning of a new era for humanity, one that will rival the invention of the printing press for its transformational effects on every person, country and institution in the world. From driverless cars to automated homes to personalized healthcare, digital data will usher in a new phase of living for every person on the planet.

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Andrew Keen The Internet is Not the Answer

The Internet, created during the Cold War, has now ushered in one of the greatest shifts in society since the Industrial Revolution. There are many positive ways in which the Internet has contributed to the world, but as a society we are less aware of the Internet’s deeply negative effects on our psychology, economy, and culture. In The Internet Is Not the Answer, Andrew Keen, a twenty-year veteran of the tech industry, traces the technological and economic history of the Internet from its founding in the 1960s through the rise of the big data companies to the increasing attempts to monetize almost every human activity, and investigates how the Internet is reconfiguring our world—often at great cost. In this sharp, witty narrative, informed by the work of other writers, academics, and reporters, as well as his own wide-ranging research and interviews, Keen shows us the tech world, warts and all, and investigates what we can do to make sure the choices we make about the reconfiguring of our society do not lead to unpleasant unforeseen aftershocks.

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Peter Nowak Humans 3.0 -The Upgrading of the Species

Our species is entering a new era. We’re now applying the latest technology to our own biology, and it is becoming part of our environment. But is that a good thing? Not if media scares about government spying, limitless automation, and electronic addictions are to be believed. Veteran journalist Peter Nowak looks at what it means to be human—from the relationships we form to the jobs we do and the things we believe—and measures the impact of these innovations. Humans 3.0 shows not only how technology is propelling us into a new epoch, but also how it is improving us in the process.

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Frank Gruber Startup Mixology

Entrepreneurship starts with an idea and a dream. Startup Mixology is first and foremost a book about turning your ideas into action. From the cofounder of Tech Cocktail, a veteran entrepreneur and investor who was named one of the most connected people in tech, this book covers the basic "ingredients" of winning entrepreneurship. Author Frank Gruber shows you how to tackle everything from idea generation to launch to marketing to funding and how to start getting things done. Inside, you'll find the stories of companies like MakerBot, WordPress, Zappos, Basecamp, Uber, and more.

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Patrick Stroh Business Strategy; Plan, Execute, Win!

Embrace strategies for improving your business and reaching your organization's goals

"I wholeheartedly agree with Patrick Stroh: Good leaders understand strategy and good strategists need to be good leaders. Make this book a strategic tool for improving your business strategy." — Harvey Mackay, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive

In today's fast-moving and competitive business environment, strong leadership, insightful strategy, and effective innovation are critical links to staying ahead of your competition. Getting your business house in order can often be complicated, but does it really have to be? How do you take MBA 101 lessons, great models, and exceptional concepts and put them into play in the real world? Business Strategy: Plan, Execute, Win! strives to answers these questions in an educational and entertaining format. Working as a Fortune 20 practitioner with C-level executives, author Patrick Stroh has a keen understanding of the role played by current day strategists.

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Paul Paetz Disruption by Design: How to Create Products That Disrupt and Then Dominate Markets 

No business buzzword is more frequently discussed or misused than "disruptive innovation". Yet despite widespread misunderstanding, the impact remains great. Disruptive innovators change the competitive playing field, often capturing 40 to 80% of total market revenue and half or more of total profits in categories they create. Unfortunately, only a small fraction of potential disruptors ever succeed, often by accident. It doesn't have to be that way. For the first time, disruption theory is de-mystified into a practical step-by-step guidebook that walks you through creating a disruptive business strategy and putting it into practice. Written for entrepreneurs, CEOs, and product developers, Disruption by Design teaches invaluable how-to insights learned from successful disruptors, and from innovators who could have disrupted, but failed.

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Scott Steinberg Make Change Work for You

Business, culture, and competitive landscapes have fundamentally changed, but basic principles and best practices for succeeding and future-proofing both yourself and your organization haven't. With a mix of compelling stories, research from the social sciences and psychology, and real-world insights, Make Change Work for You shows how to reignite your career, rekindle creativity, and fearlessly innovate your way to success by providing the tools needed to conquer every challenge in life or business. Readers will discover how to develop the vital skills required to triumph in the “new normal” by understanding and engaging in the 10 new habits that highly successful people share.

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Barry Wacksman Chris Stutzman Connected by Design

The twin goals of growth and competitive advantage are proving difficult to attain in a world of fierce global competition and rapid technological change. Traditional strategies for gaining market share no longer yield the returns they once did. How can companies drive consumer preference and secure sustainable growth in this digital, social, and mobile age? The answer is through functional integration. Connected By Design is the first book to show business leaders and marketers exactly how to use functional integration to achieve transformative growth within any type of company. Based on R/GA’s pioneering work with firms like Nike, McCormick and L’Oreal, Barry Wacksman and Chris Stutzman identify seven principles companies must follow in order to create and deliver new value for customers and capture new revenues in the design and operation of functionally integrated ecosystems.

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Nicole Gallucci Adversperience ~ The Convergence of Advertising & Experiential Marketing

Adversperience is a word and world of her own creation, speaking to the convergence of advertising and experiential marketing. Its Nicole’s take on how brands can relevantly touch consumer senses, engage target audiences, get noticed and win in this era of distraction, mass proliferation and global connection. The book focuses on the pre-event (AWARENESS), the event (ENGAGEMENT) and post event (SHARING). An Adversperience speaks to the physiological impact that occurs when consumers have a relevant personal experience in the context of a brand experience. The two become inextricably linked and part of the consumer’s very being. Once something is experienced it cannot be unexperienced.

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Alexis Ohanian  Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed

As Alexis Ohanian learned when he helped to co-found the immensely popular reddit.com, the internet is the most powerful and democratic tool for disseminating information in human history. And when that power is harnessed to create new communities, technologies, businesses or charities, the results can be absolutely stunning.

In this book, Alexis will share his ideas and tips about harnessing the power of the web for good, and along the way, he will share his philosophy with young entrepreneurs all over the globe.

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Aneesh Chopra INNOVATIVE STATE: How New Technologies Can Transform Government

With INNOVATIVE STATE: How New Technologies Can Transform Government, Aneesh Chopra, the country’s first Chief Technology Officer, provides an essential guide for how we can create a government that is more transparent, participatory, and collaborative, one that harnesses the full potential of today’s technologies and is defined not by its size but by its smarts.

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Anna van Slee & Carolyn Chandler  Adventures in Experience Design

In today’s mobile, global, 24/7 content world, consumers expect products, services and experiences that are personalized and intuitive. They expect good design. You don’t need to be a whiz with code or a Photoshop ace, but design thinking has become an essential skill set for everyone. Adventures in Experience Design is an activity book that interactively teaches experience design through games, pithy lessons and other delightful exercises. With Adventures, you will create a product from scratch (or innovate on your existing one!) and get an introduction to design methodology in the process.

U.S. & China Cooperating on Trade Issues (Mostly)

Cooperation on export controls tops a long list of recent outcomes achieved at the 25th U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). While encouraging overall, this and other reports also highlight areas in need of improvement.

“This dialogue comes at an important time for the two largest economies in the world who share an enormous stake in the global trade and investment system,” says U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.

Having recently taken place in Chicago, both sides are speaking highly of the outcomes of the JCCT, such as those on medical devices, pharmaceutical access and agricultural biotechnology. The newly released fact sheet (embedded below) also offers greater detail into the Chinese efforts to import deep-water oil & gas exploration equipment from the U.S.

While potentially under export controls, the U.S. side of the High Technology and Strategic Trade Working Group (HTWG) says it will “actively review” individual cases for civilian high-technology items, such as deep-water oil and gas exploration equipment, an issue which the Chinese side raised in the HTWG meeting. The U.S. side committed to provide “timely feedback upon receipt of necessary and sufficient information.”

Remaining disagreement often revolve around intellectual property. While the majority of IP issues pertain to U.S. concerns about China's intellectual property rights regime, China was concerned that the U.S. fairly take into account information it receives from China about its efforts.

U.S. trade officials, congressional researchers and industry stakeholders have described Chinese progress on IPR issues as incremental, invariably adding that much more needs to be done. The U.S. committed “to consider and pursue additional steps as appropriate to enhance the transparency, objectivity, and fairness” of the reports, pledging to “recognize the efforts made and results achieved by foreign governments and entities.”

Other Outcome Areas Include:

•  U.S. transport aircraft bilateral airworthiness expansion;
•  Chinese enterprises participation in U.S. public-private partnership projects;
•  competition policy;
•  visas;
•  cargo airlines co-terminalization;
•  data on trade in fish products;
•  trade related to illegal logging;
•  railway locomotive vehicle import certification;
•  government procurement;
•  access to the Chinese legal services market;
•  Chinese investment in U.S. legal services market;
•  cooperation in promotion of trade in services;
•  cooperation on climate change and clean energy;
•  criminal law enforcement cooperation on intellectual property;
•  food and drug safety inspections;
•  legal exchanges;
•  administrative law issues; and
•  engagement on judicial best practices.

Click here to see the full U.S. fact sheet

CRS Report

In related news, the Congressional Research Service Dec. 19 released a report on “China-U.S. Trade Issues” by Wayne Morrison, a specialist in Asian trade and finance.

The report updates previous reports to include the outcomes of the latest JCCT as reflected in a Dec. 19 Commerce Department fact sheet.

It highlights that China stated that it would approve the importation of new biotechnology varieties of U.S. soybeans and corn and improve trademark protection for certain agricultural products; amend its trade secrets law and increase cooperation with the U.S. on enhancing sales of legitimate U.S. intellectual property-intensive goods and services in China; streamline China's processes and cut red tape for imports of pharmaceuticals and medical devices; and make improvements to its competition enforcement policies by improving transparency and ensuring equal treatment for foreign firms in anti-monopoly investigations with Chinese firms.

USTR Report

Also just released is the U.S. Trade Representative's final report to congress on China's compliance with its World Trade Organization commitments.

The USTR finds several areas where China is lagging in its commitments: intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement, supporting state-owned enterprises, homegrown innovation policies, technology transfer initiatives, export restraints, investment restrictions and agricultural policies blocking U.S. market access.

The USTR also found China to be inappropriately using antimonopoly and trade remedy laws. Additionally they say there remains transparency issues and “slow movement” toward accession to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement.

“Going forward,” the report said, “the United States looks to China to reduce market access barriers, uniformly follow the fundamental principles of non-discrimination and transparency, significantly reduce the level of government intervention in the economy, fully institutionalize market mechanisms, require state-owned enterprises to compete with other enterprises on fair and non-discriminatory terms, and fully embrace the rule of law.”

These steps are considered “critical to realizing the tremendous potential presented by China's WTO membership.”

SpaceX to Boldly Attempt Falcon 9 Rocket Landing

As if launching something into space wasn't challenging enough, SpaceX is now about to try to do the reverse process - landing a rocket so that it can be used again. Elon Musk wants to land a Falcon 9 on a small platform in the Atlantic Ocean. The bold experiment, scheduled for launching next week, is a calculated move towards reducing the high costs of space exploration. The company admits that "The odds of success are not great -- perhaps 50% at best.  This test represents the first in a series of similar tests that will ultimately deliver a fully reusable Falcon 9 first stage."

Since the Falcon 9 is roughly 14 stories tall, trying to control the rocket's re-entry would be "like trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a wind storm." SpaceX said.  SpaceX is targeting a landing accuracy of within 10 meters.

"A fully and rapidly reusable rocket -- which has never been done before -- is the pivotal breakthrough needed to substantially reduce the cost of space access," SpaceX said on its website. "While most rockets are designed to burn up on re-entry, SpaceX is building rockets that not only withstand re-entry, but also land safely on Earth to be refueled and fly again."

If SpaceX can successfully land the rocket, it will have developed a way to reuse rockets in subsequent flights, drastically reducing waste and the overall cost of space exploration. This is in stark contrast with the current status quo model where rockets spend their fuel and subsequently crash into the sea as garbage.

 For years, Musk, who is also the chief executive of Tesla Motors, has been working on a way to land and reuse rockets. In two previous launches this year, the company completed soft landings in the ocean that hovered over the water before toppling over.

“If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred.  A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space.”

--Elon Musk

The Falcon 9 flight was originally scheduled to launch in December but was delayed after a test firing of the rocket engines did not go precisely as planned. The company conducted additional tests last week that were successful. Jan. 7 is the backup date should the scheduled Jan. 6 launch get pushed back.

Earlier this year, SpaceX, along with Boeing, won a NASA contract to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.

Read more at spacex.com

Congress Should Support Trade Authority

President Obama should be able to secure renewal of fast-track negotiating authority for trade agreements in spite of clashes over his immigration policy, says, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.

• “I think they are two separate issues; the reason it will pass is because the trade agreements are really important” for “continued economic growth in the United States,” Pritzker says, speaking from Global Entrepreneur Summit in Marrakesh, Morocco
• “There is enormous support on the Hill”

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman also said this week that he still hopes for bipartisan support in Congress on granting the White House the authority to fast track trade deals but added the timing was up to lawmakers. Some experts say trading partners will not put up their best offers if Congress can later pick apart the deal and that the lack of TPA is slowing down Pacific trade talks. However, some trade negotiations with limited scopes are still taking place and major deals are being announced, such as the recent Information Technology Agreement.

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What They’re Saying: Breakthrough in Negotiations of the WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA)

11/14/2014 - 10:00am

“Last night, we reached a breakthrough in our ongoing efforts to expand the Information Technology Agreement. This is a WTO agreement that eliminates tariffs on high-tech products among 54 economies, including the U.S. and China… This is encouraging news not just for the U.S.-China trade relationship, it shows that the U.S. and China work together to both advance our bilateral economic agenda, but also to support the multilateral trading system.” -U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman

Following the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting, President Obama and United States Trade Representative Michael Froman announced a major breakthrough in negotiations with China to expand the scope of goods covered by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA). The ITA will eliminate tariffs on information technology products, and the bilateral agreement between the U.S. and China will allow for the resumption and swift conclusion of negotiations for the first major tariff-cutting deal at the WTO in 17 years. A successful ITA expansion would allow for an increase in Made-in-USA exports to growing markets without the imposition of burdensome tariffs, and would support tens of thousands of good-paying U.S. manufacturing and technology jobs. To learn more about how the ITA will support economic growth at home and abroad, please click here.

Below are reactions to the announcement:

• Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Senate Finance Committee Chairman: “The original Information Technology Agreement helped grow companies big and small in Oregon by eliminating overseas tariffs on high-tech products almost two decades ago,” Wyden said. "Today's news of an agreement with China will pave the way for a successful ITA expansion deal, which means more good-paying jobs by opening global markets to Oregon manufacturers and exporters of advanced semiconductors, high tech medical equipment and other products.” [11/11/2014]

• Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee: “After more than a year of stalled negotiations, the Administration’s progress with China to zero-out tariffs on information technology products, like medical devices, is welcome news. Expansion of the Information Technology Agreement would be a big win for American manufacturers, including many in my home state of Utah, who would then be able to increase their global footprint on cutting-edge technologies. Given the recent progress achieved on international trade policy at APEC, it is imperative the President now work with Congress in a bipartisan way to help pass Trade Promotion Authority. Renewal of this job-creating initiative will empower our nation to negotiate a high-quality Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that will grow the economy, benefit the American people and achieve the goals of Congress.” [11/11/2014]

• Linda Dempsey, Vice President of International Economic Affairs, National Association of Manufacturers (NAM): “Expanding the agreement to include ‘new technologies is critical not just for manufacturers of this equipment but for all the manufacturers that consume these technologies to make them more productive and globally competitive. The NAM applauds the administration's leadership and persistence in moving these negotiations forward and looks forward to the conclusion and implementation of an expanded ITA as quickly as possible’.” [11/11/2014]

• Myron Brilliant, Executive Vice President and Head of International Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “With economic growth disappointing in many countries, news of a breakthrough in the ITA negotiations is more than welcome. The ITA has been one of the most successful trade pacts in history, spurring growth and innovation across a host of cutting-edge industries. With so many new products created since the ITA was concluded two decades ago, expanding the agreement’s coverage is imperative. With trade in tech goods surpassing $4 trillion annually, the commercial significance of these negotiations is obvious. As stated in our goals coming into Beijing, a deal on the ITA is key to the success of China’s APEC year. We congratulate the U.S. and Chinese officials who have pushed these negotiations through a difficult stage and, hopefully, brought success within reach.”  [11/10/2014]

• Gregory Gilligan, Chairman, American Chamber of Commerce in China: “This latest breakthrough – combined with the deal announced the previous day on extending the validity of visas for businesspeople, students and tourists – demonstrates how cooperation can create long-term benefits to the business interests of both countries.” [11/11/2014]

• John Frisbie: President, U.S.-China Business Council: “Making a positive breakthrough on the ITA this week sets the tone for more ambitious agreements that are in discussion.” [11/11/2014]

• Bruce Mehlman, Executive Director, Technology CEO Council (TCC): “This agreement represents a major breakthrough in global trade for the high tech sector. The information technology sector has changed dramatically in the 17 years since the ITA first went into effect. By updating the product scope and eliminating tariffs on more than 200 new products, a new and expanded ITA will support thousands of new manufacturing and technology jobs here in the U.S. and infuse billions of dollars in revenue to the global economy. We applaud the persistent efforts of President Obama and his Administration, including U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, as well as the Departments of Treasury and Commerce to move this agreement forward and keep ITA expansion as a top economic priority. We look forward to the swift completion of the final ITA agreement as soon as possible.”  [11/11/2014]

• Gary Shapiro, President and CEO, Consumer Electronics Association (CEA): “It took hard work, and compromise on all sides, but today's breakthrough announcement from Beijing on the ITA marks a major path forward. President Obama, Ambassadors Froman and Punke, and their team at USTR have worked tirelessly over the past week to find a way forward. We commend them, Chinese hosts of APEC and leadership in Beijing for reaching a mutually acceptable path forward to continuing, and swiftly concluding, ITA discussions in Geneva. Today's breakthrough offers not only a strong deliverable for APEC leaders, but also a chance to advance the success of the World Trade Organization itself." [11/11/2014]

• Gregg Melinson, Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs, Hewlett Packard (HP): "The Information Technology Agreement (ITA) is an extremely significant trade pact for the high-tech sector, and we applaud the announcement of a deal which will expand product coverage and eliminate burdensome tariffs. This move will support and grow jobs throughout our industry, and we applaud the USTR and President Obama for driving this important trade expansion in Beijing this week." [11/11/2014]

• Fred Humphries, Vice President of U.S. Government Affairs, Microsoft: “Microsoft welcomes the news from the APEC Leader’s meeting on the expansion of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA).  This is a significant and important development for China and the United States.  Microsoft will continue to work in support of ITA expansion as final negotiations are concluded in Geneva.” [11/11/2014]

• Brian Toohey, President and CEO, The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA): "The ITA has played a central role in helping the U.S. semiconductor industry drive innovation, create jobs, lower consumer prices and connect communities throughout the world. Today's agreement between the U.S. and China to expand the ITA is a hard-fought victory for the U.S. semiconductor industry and a big win for the U.S. economy and consumers around the world. We look forward to all ITA countries finalizing a deal as soon as possible."[11/11/2014]

• Rich Templeton, Chairman, President, and CEO, Texas Instruments (TI): “Lowering barriers to trade advances innovation and growth for our companies but more importantly can expand the global economy. We see this as a true win-win for the participating countries and a needed boost for rules-based trade under the WTO. President Obama and Ambassador Froman deserve a great deal of credit for achieving this important breakthrough.” [11/11/2014]

• Jeff Campbell, CISCO: “The agreement between the United States and China to expand the scope of the Information Technology Agreement represents a major breakthrough in the global trade agenda. This agreement is expected to eliminate duties on over 200 information and communications technology (ICT) product categories, representing approximately $1 trillion in annual global ICT sales. Now that the U.S. and China have reached agreement, we hope negotiators will resume talks early next month at the World Trade Organization in Geneva to expand the bilateral agreement to include more nations.  In doing so, this will help expand access to affordable technology, which will help improve standards of living and economic development around the world.”  [11/11/2014]

• Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA): “MPAA commends the United States and China for reaching a crucial agreement on expanded product coverage in the negotiations to update the Information Technology Agreement (ITA). Once concluded, this agreement will encourage the growth of the U.S. and global motion picture industries by eliminating costly tariffs -- some as high as 30% -- on a wide range of digital and optical media and storage devices used in worldwide motion picture production, editing, distribution, and exhibition. MPAA is grateful for the hard work and leadership of President Obama, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and the USTR team, who have worked tirelessly to narrow the differences with China to reach an understanding which will lead to a commercially significant agreement. MPAA also applauds China for contributing to the resumption of negotiations. We encourage all ITA participants to seize the momentum created by this agreement to resume and rapidly conclude the negotiations." [11/11/2014]

• Steve Mollenkopf, CEO, Qualcomm: “I am very pleased that dialogue between the United States and China has resulted in a breakthrough understanding that will give a much needed boost to negotiations to expand the product coverage of the WTO Information Technology Agreement. Modernizing the list of products that will receive duty-free treatment under an expanded ITA will generate significant benefits for the information technology industries and consumers globally. In particular, the inclusion in the ITA product landscape of MCO semiconductors will catalyze new innovations, investment, jobs, global trade flows and consumer choice. Qualcomm encourages all WTO members to build upon this momentum and conclude ITA expansion negotiations at the earliest opportunity this year. I applaud United States Trade Representative Michael Froman and Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng, and their teams, for their hard work and leadership.” [11/11/2014]

• Intel: “We applaud the work that the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has done at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to support America’s technology industry. The breakthrough bilateral agreement between the United States and China to expand product coverage of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) enables the swift conclusion of a deal at the WTO that will cut tariffs on an estimated $1 trillion in annual global sales of information and communications  technology (ICT) products.  An expanded ITA will be a major win for the global information economy and ICT consumers around the world.  Fair and open trade creates job growth, increases innovation and strengthens the global economy.” [11/11/2014]

• Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA): “The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), the leading association representing the manufacturers and suppliers of high-tech communications networks, today commended the White House and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for their leadership in breaking the impasse to resume the negotiations to expand the World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA)… The breakthrough to resume the negotiations to expand the Information Technology Agreement would not have been possible without the tremendous amount of hard work by the White House and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative over the past year. It has been 17 years since the original ITA was concluded, and TIA is very pleased to see that the ITA expansion negotiations are back on track.” [11/11/2014]

• Advances Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed): "AdvaMed strongly supports expansion of the ITA and we are pleased to see the agreement reached by the leadership of China and the US.  We hope that this will lead to continuation of a robust negotiation and swift passage of an expanded agreement. The ITA has the potential to reduce tariffs for several innovative medical technologies, benefitting manufacturers in the US, China and other countries.  Even more importantly, the agreement will lower healthcare costs and increase patient access to life-saving and life-enhancing technologies." [11/11/2014]

• BSA / The Software Alliance: " ‘Updating the ITA to better account for these advances will remove tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of additional goods,’ BSA CEO Victoria Espinel said by email in response to a query.” Reuters: U.S. tech, software industry cheers China IT trade deal progress [11/11/2014]

• Information Technology & Innovation Foundation: "Among the likely winners would be U.S. makers of semiconductors, medical products such as MRI and CT machines, and software and video game developers, said Stephen Ezell, senior analyst at the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation think tank. ‘It’s a win-win trade agreement that will benefit information and communications technology manufacturers and services firms across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, while also benefiting all consumers globally and raising global GDP by as much as $190 billion annually,’ he said by email.” Reuters: U.S. tech, software industry cheers China IT trade deal progress [11/11/2014]

• Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association: “The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, an industry body whose 280 members include Sony Corp. , Panasonic Corp. , Sharp Corp. and Toshiba Corp. , welcomed the deal. “We were waiting for this since the discussion between China and the U.S. stopped last November,” the group said. ‘If the discussion reopens in Geneva and the tariff elimination is expanded, it would be positive for the JEITA and Japan’s IT and electronics industry.’” Wall Street Journal: Global tech firms stand to gain from tariff drop [11/11/2014]

• Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC): “‘This is particularly important for economies without credit cards,’ said John Neuffer, senior vice president for global policy at the Information Technology Industry Council in Washington. ‘They can go to the local kiosk and buy cards’ that let them download software.” Wall Street Journal: Global tech firms stand to gain from tariff drop [11/11/2014]

• Micron: “Mark Durcan, Micron’s chief executive, said the new agreement ‘will certainly benefit all of us who conduct business and manufacture on a global basis, and we commend all the parties involved in reaching this milestone.’” Wall Street Journal: Global tech firms stand to gain from tariff drop [11/11/2014]

• U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “The Chamber has worked over the past two years to build support for an ambitious expansion of the ITA. We’ve traveled to Geneva repeatedly to meet with negotiators from dozens of countries, and we’ve raised it as an issue in missions to foreign capitals (especially Beijing, as Chinese officials had been reluctant to eliminate many tariffs). The Chamber was one of 82 top business groups from dozens of developed and developing countries that in September issued a statement calling for action…The Chamber has said repeatedly that a deal on the ITA is key to the success of China’s APEC year, and so it is. It’s also a big win for the U.S.-China relationship, with benefits for consumers and industries worldwide. We congratulate U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Michael Punke, as well as the Chinese officials who have pushed these negotiations through a difficult stage and, hopefully, brought success within reach.” U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Trade Pact to Slash Taxes on $1 Trillion in Goods [11/11/2014]

• Information Technology Industry Council (ITI): “ITI applauds the sustained effort by President Obama and his team at USTR for their unrelenting efforts to achieve this deal and break the logjam…With this bilateral deal to expand product scope, a number of important goods will now be included in the final round of talks, such as next-generation semiconductors called MCOs, a range of medical equipment, a wide array of sophisticated measuring devices, and point-of-sale cards to download software and games. These additional product lines will add significant commercial value to the overall agreement.” Information Technology Industry Council: Breakthrough Achieved on Information Technology Agreement: Next Stop, Geneva [11/11/2014]

Senate Blocks Measure Reining in Surveillance

Senate defeats motion to proceed to NSA surveillance overhaul bill (S. 2685) Nov. 18 (BNA) -- Senate Republicans blocked legislation to rein in U.S. government surveillance activities, citing national security concerns.

A cloture motion defeated late Nov. 18 would have cleared the way for Senate consideration of the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 (S. 2685), a bill limiting the government's collection of business records, among other provisions.

The motion was rejected 58-42, with 41 Republicans voting “no.” At least 60 “yes” votes were needed.

The Senate was under pressure from privacy advocates and a coalition of technology industry giants, including Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., to move forward on this issue. American technology businesses are standing to lose billions unless something is done to genuinely reform the system and to improve international public perception. (The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation has estimated the cloud computing industry could suffer $22 - 34 billion in loses over the next three years)

‘Worst Possible Time,' says McConnell

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced his opposition to the bill earlier in the day, saying that the measure would weaken the nation's ability to combat terrorism at a critical time. “This is the worst possible time to be tying our hands behind our backs,” McConnell said, citing the rise of the terrorist group known as Islamic State.

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Mike Lee (Utah), Dean Heller (Nev.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) crossed party lines, joining Democrats to support the cloture motion. Democrat Bill Nelson (Fla.) voted against the motion.

State Heads Meeting on Opening Up Global Trade

UPDATE: U.S. & China Reach Trade "Understanding." After a lengthy private meeting, presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jingping have found common ground on reducing tariffs on high-tech goods which backers say could cover $1 trillion in trade. The breakthrough will help bring talks on expansion of the global Information Technology Agreement to a "rapid conclusion."  U.S. officials told the Associated Press that the progress with China includes an agreement to eliminate tariffs on goods like medical devices, global positioning systems, and video game consoles.

Additional updates: Beijing has also announced a free-trade agreement with South Korea. The Chinese stock markets will become open wider to foreign investors following new regulatory approval of linking the exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai. All this is following an announcement over the weekend of a $40 billion fund to improve trade links between Asian economies, financed by China.

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John Engler, President of the Business Round Table:

“I believe Congress has an immediate opportunity in the lame-duck session to pass Trade Promotion Authority legislation to give the President and U.S. negotiators the tools they need to conclude promising trade agreements with Asia-Pacific countries and the European Union."

Heads of State Meeting in Beijing for APEC Summit 

The leaders of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries will be meeting around the Nov. 10-11 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing, U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice confirmed. APEC is hosting the Economic Leaders' Meeting in the capital city of China.

The TPP leaders meeting will be Nov. 10, following a planned Nov. 8 negotiating session of the 12 TPP trade ministers from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam.

“We're working with our Asian partners to deepen our trade and investment ties through progress on agreements such as the WTO Information Technology Agreement and the environmental goods and services agreement[s], and we're working to bring China into the rules-based institutional structures in Asia,” Rice said, referring to the ongoing negotiations toward an Environmental Goods Agreement and toward a Trade in Services Agreement.

Regarding the president's Nov. 11-12 meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the final day-and-a-half of the visit, Rice said that the meeting will present an opportunity to identify a forward-looking agenda for the next two years of the bilateral relationship.

She said that the president will seek to build a relationship with China that advances American economic and security interests and solves global problems in ways that reflect American values. She noted that the issue of cybersecurity will be prominent on the U.S.'s bilateral agenda.

“This is a source of grave concern to the United States,” Rice said. “We have reiterated on every occasion the fact that we oppose any efforts, official or unofficial, to engage in cyber-espionage for commercial gain or other purposes—and this has been and will remain a topic of discussion.”

UN Trade Urging G-20 to Resist New Restrictive Trade Actions

Group of 20 members should reduce restrictive trade measures as a means of stemming the world's stagnant growth trend, United Nations trade leaders said in a report released a week ahead of the G-20 conference in Brisbane, Australia.

“Prevailing global economic conditions mean that this is not a time for complacency in the international trading system,” according to a joint statement from the leaders of the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

The report, which evaluated trade and investment measures implemented from mid-May to mid-October 2014, noted that G-20 members have applied 93 new trade-restrictive measures during the last five months, which account for an estimated $118 billion in global merchandise value.

G-20 members have implemented 1,244 trade restrictions since the 2008 economic crisis and have removed 282 in the following years.

“The G-20 economies must take decisive action to reduce this stock of trade restrictions by showing restraint in the imposition of new measures and by effectively eliminating existing ones,” the report's authors wrote.

The report concluded that the overall trade policy response to the 2008 crisis was “significantly more muted” than had been expected.

“This shows that the multilateral trading system has acted as an effective backstop against protectionism,” the report said. “However, it is clear that the system can do more to drive economic growth, sustainable recovery and development.”

(See the full WTO news item)

U.S. Payrolls Grow Nine Months in a Row

Employers have together added 214,000 workers to U.S. payrolls in October. This marks the ninth consecutive month the number of people with jobs in the U.S. has been increasing. Correspondingly, the jobless rate has dropped to the lowest level in six years as the American economy is powering through the global economic slowdown. The previous month's growth is now known to be 256,000 new jobs -- more than was initially estimated -- according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Including the latest numbers, the jobless rate has fallen to 5.8 percent, even as more people are entering the labor force. This is boosting the share of the population working to the highest in five years.

“Despite all the talk about the global economy, the U.S. domestic economy seems to be doing fairly well,” says John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC

The underemployment rate -- which includes part-time workers who would prefer a full-time position and people who want to work but have given up looking -- declined  30 basis points to 11.5 percent, the lowest since September 2008.

However, other economists warn against becoming overly optimistic just yet because the “labor force participation rate” — a measure of how many Americans are working as a percentage of the overall labor force — is still a very low 62.8%, nearly the lowest level since the recession of 1978.

As the forces of Schumpeterian creative destruction (innovation & entrepreneurship) are continuing to drive economic growth, these processes are also destroying the value of established companies and even laborers that had previously enjoyed some level of monopoly power. It remains to be seen what will happen to labor’s share of national income relative to capital’s share — an issue at the heart of the growing debate around rising inequality.

The U.S. Department of Labor is continuing to promote the growth of good jobs by sharing best practices from subject matter experts. Recently, they hosted Dr. Zeynep Ton (pictured above), who teaches operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and authored the book, The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits. After studying retail operations for more than a decade, Professor Ton has been finding that some of the most successful businesses are choosing to make significant investments in their employees — and making a lot of money doing it.

During her recent research presentation, Dr. Ton said, “Offering good jobs is a choice that’s available to all retailers – small, large, regional, national, public private if you want to move our economy more towards a good jobs economy that works for all, we have to think about not just the wages and benefits, but look at the work itself, because as I examine different companies – from Costco to QuikTrip — what I found was they weren’t just paying their people more, they were designing the work differently. They were designing the work so their employees are more productive, so they are more engaged, so they contribute more, so their job is more meaningful — there is more dignity in their job. Good jobs — in my research and the research of others — good jobs equal good work.”

NASA Missions for the Next 30 Years (an Infographic)

Not long from now, in a galaxy near and dear to our hearts, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration boldly plans to go where no human has gone before.   NASA announced their plans for the next 30 years of exploration in our solar system.  They plan to start by sending a robot on a 160-day mission to the moon in order to gather more information about the lunar atmosphere, and plan to finally, in the year 2030, achieve the ever-elusive goal of a manned mission to Mars.  For more information, check out this handy info graphic provided by Mashable.

U.N. Calling for Open Elections in Hong Kong

HONG KONG - The United Nations Human Rights Committee called on China today to ensure universal suffrage in Hong Kong. The panel met in Geneva and issued a statement emphasizing that officials need to do more to make certain that people both have the right to vote and also the right to run for office.

Focusing on the Aug. 31st decision by China’s Communist Party-run legislature, the committee finds that the guidelines for the 2017 election would practically block anyone not approved by Beijing from even appearing on the ballot. Hong Kong residents have been reacting to the legislature's decision through large-scale popular protests. Despite tensions with both the police and with opponents of the pro-democracy movement, the heart of the city is still occupied by peaceful protesters.

“I hope that Beijing will be persuaded to revisit the issue... We always have to live in hope.” -Emily Lau, head of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong and Macau, both former colonies, became parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prior to their returning to Chinese sovereignty in the late 1990s. That treaty, enforced by the United Nations, is a commitment to respect civil rights including the freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the right to free elections. While the Chinese government in Beijing never ratified the treaty itself, it did agree that the treaty would continue to apply in Hong Kong and Macau after it resumed control of the territories.

The Human Rights Committee is tasked with reviewing how states are complying with the treaty. The United Nations has now officially said Hong Kong’s performance is “not satisfactory.” The Hong Kong government has two months to reply.

Why Did The SBA Just Gift Millions To For-Profit Businesses?

The SBA just gave away millions in corporate welfare with no strings attached, to venture- capitalists accelerators. This is wrong on multiple levels.  

The U.S. Small Business Administration just announced the award of millions of dollars in grants to 50 "accelerators," which are designed for venture capitalists to sift through countless startups to find the few they think can make them money. But the rationale, efficacy, and fairness of this program all need to be challenged.

The Rationale--Accelerators Produce More Jobs (NOT)

Over the last decade, the SBA has shifted its focus away from the 98 percent of small businesses with 1-19 employees, to work with very large corporations with up to $36.5 million in revenue and/or 1,500 employees. This accelerator grant program is another example of that shift.

The SBA says accelerators produce a lot of jobs, but the evidence suggests the opposite. Over the last five years, the approximately 200 accelerators in the U.S. have created between3,300 and 4,800 jobs, or a measly 700 to 960 jobs a year, at a cost of $130,000 per job created. Small businesses add around 600,000 businesses and three million jobs every year, or an average of 15 million jobs every five years; all without handouts from the government.

The Efficacy--Accelerators Product High-Growth Companies (NOT)

The SBA says accelerators produce high-growth companies. The evidence suggests otherwise.

The best data on job creation from the Kauffman Foundation shows 100% of net new jobs are created in the first twelve months of a new business. 98% of those will never have more than 19 employees (and don't want more), and less than 00.06% have more than 500. And most importantly, nobody can figure out which startup will be the freak that will grow quickly. Not a single business that has gone through an accelerator program over the last couple decades has become "high-growth", and generated tens of thousands of jobs.

In contrast, McDonalds started as a hot dog stand in 1937, and didn't start growing until eighteen years later. It was not built to be big, "high-growth", or even make hamburgers. Accelerator owners would have laughed at it.

Sara Blakely designed and started selling panty hose from her apartment because she didn't like the way her panty hose fit. In a few short years, Spanx became a billion dollar company without the help of an accelerator, or even a single penny of outside investment. And no one, including Sara Blakely, could have guessed it would become huge.

In 1996, two college kids started a company called Backrub on their college campus server. Three years later they moved out of their garage and renamed it Google, which lived in obscurity in the backwaters of the Internet for another couple years. These kids would have never survived the "pitch deck" process to get into an accelerator.

The accelerators never recognized these or any others like them, and the overwhelming evidence is they never do. The fact is, good ideas don't need to be coddled. 81 percent of the fastest growing businesses in America never took a dime of venture capital, and those that achieved the highest financial return also took no vc money. Not one of the fastest growing businesses in America on anyone's list over the last twenty years has come through an accelerator.

Throwing free money at accelerators in not an effective use of SBA funds. They would be better off lending it to small business owners with interest.

The Fairness Issue

The SBA was formed to help small business owners get interest-bearing loans, not to give free money to wealthy vc's. One recipient of the handout, the Arizona Center for Innovation, is owned by Tech Parks Arizona, which owns 5.2 million square feet of commercial office space producing over $100 million a year in revenue. Do they really need a government handout to make more money?

Just as questionable, many other grant recipients formed their accelerator in the last few months, possibly just to get the grant. Some don't have a website yet. Some haven't even opened. One is a rental kitchen that opens this month and will rotate chefs in their for-profit restaurant area. How is that "high growth"? With no track record at all, the SBA is throwing money at all these, no strings attached. It's mind-boggling and a terrible investment practice that no accelerator with integrity would support.

How does any of this giveaway make sense? This is crony-Industrialism, and an affront to the millions of small businesses slugging it out in the trenches, who are more deserving, but won't see a dime of this giveaway. The SBA has a lot of explaining to do.

by Chuck Blakeman, Author of the #1 Rated Business Book of the Year, Making Money is Killing Your Business and Top 10 business book, Why Employees Are Always A Bad Idea

www.ChuckBlakeman.com

Article as seen on Inc.com

2 Years Later: A Look at Curiosity

"The first footfalls on Mars will mark a historic milestone, an enterprise that requires human tenacity matched with technology to anchor ourselves on another world"  - Buzz Aldren

August 6th, 2012 - One of the most ambitious space missions to date went into action.  The unmanned space rover, aptly named Curiosity, was set to land on Mars, all that was left was the trip.  After the "Seven Minutes of Terror," Curiosity was to begin its mission into the Martian wilderness.  Over the course of the two years, Curiosity has been active studying the Mars for signs of life and water, reporting diligently back to NASA.  Armed with cameras and a rock-vaporizing laser, Curiosity has been shooting and rocks and taking pictures for two years now, and we've learned some pretty astounding things.

Thanks to the intrepid rover, we have evidence that there was most likely once water on Mars.  We now know that life on Mars was possible given the history of the red planet, and we have an idea of where to search for it.  Among the many things that Curiosity has discovered on its extra-terrestrial mission, the biggest benefit from the rover may be a renewed interest in the space program.  From lego sets to t-shirts to its own Twitter handle, people are interested in what's going on on Mars.

Now, 2 years later, we get a look at what the time and elements have done to our beloved space-faring friend.  And maybe, just maybe, we can one day send someone up there to go meet our rover buddy and thank it for all it has done for us.

Conflict Between Hamas and Israel Unfolding in Gaza

 If Ever the World Needed a Statesman or Stateswoman, It's Now!

If ever an issue defies a solution and challenges the concept of collaboration to its very core, it's the conflict between Hamas and Israel that is unfolding in Gaza. In fact, a person is hard pressed to imagine a confrontation more intractable. What we're witnessing has deep, deep roots in history, religion, identity, land and the very right of existence. It is filled with such resentment and sense of grievance from generations of conflict that any hope for finding a middle ground often seems both futile and hopeless. As a result the debate has polarized. It is characterized as black and white, with each side pointing to clear evidence of how the other side is at fault for what is a terrible situation. Somehow, somewhere, somebody has to rise above the conflict and help find a two-state solution that meets Israel's right to exist in peace, while providing a stable, independent and viable homeland for Palestinian people. If ever the world needed a statesman or stateswoman, it's now.

For a glimpse of the suffering, especially the many children in Gaza who are victims of an adult world dominated by people in positions of power incapable of goodwill, you can watch this video.