Cool Stuff

One of the neat things about strategy is that it requires a forward orientation.  You need to keep your eyes on the horizon in order to anticipate emerging threats and opportunities. A side effect of this scanning behavior is that you learn about simply neat things coming out.  After discussing a few of these with students after our most recent class meeting, I decided to put together a post about some of the new tech gadgets I find most interesting:

Tesla Model S

The new Tesla has the distinction of being the first non-combustion engine car to win Motor Trend's car of the year award.  This isn't the Tesla sport coup, this is the 4-door Sedan.  It has a large comfortable cabin while maintaining surprising energy efficiency.  At a base price of $49,900 ranging up near $100,000 fully loaded, this isn't a car that will sit in everyone's driveway.  On the other hand, this car lands nicely in the price range of upscale sedans, indicating that the electric car can compete on price in that segment.  Tesla only plans on selling 3000 or so units this year (already sold out) and expect to move that closer to 20,000 units in 2013.

Source: Car and Driver

Phillips Hue: Lightbulbs go WiFi

Phillips launched Hue back in October and they are a bit pricey for now.  A $300 or so starter package brings you three lightbulbs and the network connection.  After that, the bulbs run around $60 each.  This is an LED lighting system, so expect the bulbs to last for years.  That's not enough to justify the price though, what makes Hue really interesting are the WiFi applications and the possibilities with "smart" light bulbs.  Some of the things you can do with Hue include:

• Remote management of lighting
• Pre-lighting a room for wake up or dimming a room for falling asleep
• Changing the colors of the lighting in your room

Google Glass

Time Magazine recently listed Glass as one of the best innovations of 2012.  Glass is Google's attempt to bring augmented reality to your daily life.  Glass will become commercially available by 2014 with expected prices around $1400.  If I understand correctly, Glass will be available sometime next year for those who pre-ordered the technology.  Don't go looking though, that pre-order sold out pretty fast.

Google Glass is kind of a Star Trek bit of tech, it's a visor (pair of glasses) that projects computer information in front of you, allowing you to see the real world and a computer screen simultaneously.  It uses an embedded camera to read the world around you and follows voice activation commands.