Cisco re-upps brand strategy / Virtual House Calls

Switches and routers? That is so 2000.  Cisco is moving into 2010 and beyond with the launch of a technology service that will allow medical specialists to make video house calls to patients.  The company known for providing key equipment for Internet infrastructure has re-upped its relevancy by taking a front seat in medical technology.

Cisco’s move is brilliant!

• Cisco is stepping into an industry dominated by companies most outsiders have never heard of…
• They are offering a consumer-oriented healthcare product that is likely to become a necessity in healthcare…
• With video on its way to accounting for 90% of all consumer IP traffic, Cisco is leveraging the trend and positioning its brand for greater relevancy and longevity.

The move follows the company’s purchase of the Flip camcorder earlier this year.

For those who are wondering, I do not work for Cisco, but can appreciate a good move when I see one.

 

International Day of Climate Action

Today, people in 181 countries are coming together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history. At over 5200 events around the world, people are gathering to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis.

AndaPR and Behind the Green Scene joined other organizations and individuals at Justin Herman Plaza, in San Francisco, CA, in a show of support.

Visit Behind the Green Scene for a look at some of today’s photos.

Next week, the U.S. Senate environment panel will begin hearings on a major climate bill, with an eye to voting on the legislation in November,  Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said late Tuesday. Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a press briefing the legislation’s allocation of emission credits to affected industries and consumers would largely resemble the House version. The so-called allowances structure was one of the most hotly negotiated provisions in the House and also poses to be a point of contention in the Senate. Read moreabout the October 27 climate bill hearing.

 

Will Mozilla lead innovation of the mobile web?

Mozilla’s VP of Mobile, Jay Sullivan, positioned the company at the forefront of the mobile web during his keynote: “The Web platform and mobile innovation,” delivered at the ARM techcon³.

One problem with the mobile web, as Sullivan sees it, is the existence of multiple operating systems, requiring different versions of an application to run on: palm webOS, WindowsMobile, symbian, android, Maemo, LiMo Foundation and of course, iPhone.

The solution?
“Turn to the Web browser as the application development platform in order to reduce risk and development time, and maximize reach for application developers.”

The current “Engine of innovation is the web.” In the very near future, Sullivan expects the engine of innovation to be mobile phones as well.

There are currently 5 – 6 billion mobile phones. And Sullivan expects all growth between 2010 and 2020 to happen from mobile phones.

With nearly 24% of the Web browser market share and its Canvas 3 → WebGL development, Mozilla is setting out to make sure developers have what is needed.

Sullivan outlined 3 things developers are going to need to create great applications:

Power
“The phones I’m carrying around are more powerful than my computers were 10, 15 years ago”

Beauty
It’s now possible to bring “beautiful” downloadable fonts to the web real-time, without having to create it on the server side and serve it up as an image.

Speed

• Super Responsive apps
• Raw Execution speed
• Leverage multi-core

 

Why climate change matters

I’m usually one of the last people to jump on the “let’s name a day” bandwagon, but Blog Action Day for Climate Change is one I can embrace.  Beyond the “sexy factor” of climate change, green, sustainability and the like, is a real need for people to understand what climate change is and why it’s relevant now.

The Environmental Protection Agency defines climate change as ”a change in long-term weather patterns. [Weather patterns] can become warmer or colder. Annual amounts of rainfall or snowfall can increase or decrease.”

Climate change seems to be a normal occurrence, natural even.  But, problems arise with the degree and rate to which our climate changes, resulting in global warming, the greenhouse effect and sea level rising, among other things.

How are we doing?

Climate Change in ºF
(Environmental Protection Agency)

• Average global temperature has increased by almost 1ºF during the past hundred years
• Scientists expect the average global temperature to increase an additional 2ºF to 6ºF over the next one hundred years.
• At the peak of the last ice age (18,000 years ago), the temperature was only 7ºF colder than it is today, and glaciers covered much of North America.

It’s easy to take for granted that the world as we experience it today will remain the same for all of OUR tomorrows, but what about when our children and grandchildren are planning for the future of their families?

What’s happening in California
(California Department of Water Resources)

• Snowpack: By 2050, scientists project a loss of at least 25 percent of the Sierra snowpack, an important source of urban, agricultural and environmental water.

• Floods: An increase in extreme weather will lead to higher winter river flows, runoff and flooding.
  • Runoff water contaminates the water supply by carrying soil contaminants, motor oil and other ground coverings into bays, watersheds and out into the ocean.
• Water Quality: Less fresh water flowing out of the Delta in spring and early summer will allow more salt water to intrude.
  • Salt water is great for soaking, not so great for drinking.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not the doomsday type. I am not ready to go off the grid. I realize that I am very privileged to have a life where water magically flows at the twist of a lever and I can communicate via gadgets galore.

I also realize I have a responsibility to not only do less harm, but to do more good; look at the little things I can do to contribute to making a big difference.

10,000 people from 150 countries are taking time today to blog about climate change in an effort to get your attention.

Want to know what you can do to make a difference?

Following are some resources to get you started.

EPA
Climate Change: What you can do

TUAW
Five Apps to help save the world

Ecology Center
Ecology Center resource page

On Twitter: Follow #BAD09 – @AndaPR – @blogactionday

Blog Action Day