*michael parekh on IT*

ON A FUN LITTLE iPHONE APP

BY THE NUMBERS

This new iPhone App called Math Tricks caught my eye, given my inner math geek.  Here's how it's developer Ken describes it:

"Impress your friends and amaze your teachers! You’ll be surprised at how quickly and easily that you will be able to compute such large figures in your head! Math Tricks is an interactive and fun way to, not only learn, but also to boost your skills.
This mental workout takes you through every problem and gives you step-by-step tricks to improve your speed and accuracy. It offers an easy to understand chalkboard visual, which keeps track of your "score" as you progress.

Math Tricks is perfect for long drives, flights, and waiting in lines. It's excellent for all ages (only knowledge of multiplication is necessary) and all skill levels as it allows you to select a specific category or from all seven lessons."

He's even prepared a YouTube video that shows the $0.99 program in action

The program reminds me of Vedic Math from a while back.  But it's done on a slick iPhone app, and is fun to use.  Check it out if you're looking forward from the usual iPhone game fare.

ON HOT WHEELS SMOKIN' AGAIN

ONCE UPON A TIME

This one is from the nostalgia bin, a Newsweek piece on how the iconic Hot Wheels of our youth, is really on a roll these days, as this Newsweek piece reminds us:

"In the fad-driven fantasyland of toys, Hot Wheels has had an incredible ride. Those pocket rockets have been racing down their familiar orange tracks for four decades now and, unlike the real car market, show no signs of slowing down.

Last year Hot Wheels set a record, as sales surged by 16 percent, and they continue to accelerate in 2008 even as the economy tanks. In fact, as Motown melts down, Hot Wheels is heating up. The tiny toy cars' parent company, Mattel, now has a market capitalization that surpasses General Motors. That's right—Wall Street thinks the maker of toy cars is worth more than the largest real carmaker in America."

The secret of their resurgence is the reconnecting customers with their past and finding ways to connect with their kids:

"The brand is riding a hot streak because it reconnected with little boys and their fathers. "Dads would see the old blue box and say, 'I remember those'," says Larry Wood, a former Ford designer who started penning Hot Wheels in 1969 and constituted the entire design staff for much of 1970s...

"...about three years ago, Hot Wheels returned to its roots—simple tracks that snap together quickly and fast cars that excite 5-to 8-year-old boys just coming out of their Thomas the Tank Engine years. "We were trying too hard to push the brand older," says Tim Kilpin, the Mattel senior VP who steered Hot Wheels back to basics. "We had to make it cool for the right-age boys."

What's interesting also is the strong connection between the makers of the toy cars and the real cars:

Hot Wheels takes no pleasure in Detroit's pain. "We need Detroit to exist for us to be successful," says Walker. After all, Hot Wheels bestsellers remain replicas of classic Detroit iron. For decades, Motown has shared its top-secret blueprints of upcoming models with Mattel so that the Hot Wheels and real-wheels versions could debut simultaneously.

That's happening again in November at the L.A. Auto Show, when Ford unveils a new design for its Mustang. As soon as the wraps come off the candy-red pony car, the journalists covering the introduction will be handed the 1/64th-scale Hot Wheels replica with a matching paint job. "It helps sell the real thing,"

It's nice to see something still working for Detroit despite it's current litany of woes.

ON A TRIUMPH IN OLYMPIC SWIMMING

GREAT START

What a great kick-off day for the Olympics in China, even with the almost surreal distractions of the John Edwards sorry soap-opera, and the deadly chess-game being played by Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia.

None of it takes away from the record-breaking kick-off achievement by Michael Phelps, as this account from New Zealand summarizes:

"Michael Phelps has set another world record to win his first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, beating Laszlo Cseh of Hungary in the 400m individual medley with a time of 4min 3.84s.

Phelps, trying to break Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at an Olympic Games, crushed his old mark of 4:05.25 in the 400 IM, set in June at the US Olympic trials."

If you want to understand how unique this accomplishment is, and how Phelps does it so well, read this extensive feature on him by the New York Times Sunday magazine from a couple of weeks ago...here's a flavor:

"“People aren’t made to move like that,” says Russell Mark, the biomechanics manager for USA Swimming, the sport’s national governing body. Mark has a background in jet-engine design and a connoisseur’s eye for aquatic technique, but he assures me that the language of fluid dynamics barely describes the specific magic of a swimmer like Phelps.

Human beings, Mark says, are simply not designed to balance themselves horizontally in a moving, unstable medium in which they have only intermittent access to oxygen.

How, then, did Phelps manage so persuasively to make the unnatural seem natural? “The biomechanics of swimming is more theory than science,” Mark admits. “When water is surrounding someone, it’s really hard to measure what’s going on.” The pool, it turns out, is a place of vast ambiguity. The seemingly straightforward question of what transpires when Phelps swims gets very complicated very quickly and speaks to the mysterious nature of athletic achievement at its peak."

The piece goes into the complex physics and biology of what it takes to do what Phelps does, and it's clear that we're just barely beginning to understand the science from all these disciplines involved.

But it's a good start, as we get into what is really being achieved by all these remarkable 8,000 athletes from around the world, giving their all in Beijing over the next couple of weeks.

ON AN OLYMPIAN KICK-OFF

THEY'RE OFF!

Unlike two billion of the planet's 6.8 billion people earlier today (WSJ), I did not catch the live opening of the Beijing Olympics.  As the New York Times piece on this gala event informs us:

"An ecstatic China, an ancient nation so determined to be a modern power, finally got its Olympic moment on Friday night.

With world leaders watching from inside the latticed shell of the National Stadium, the 2008 Beijing Olympics began with an opening ceremony of soaring fireworks, lavish spectacle and a celebration of Chinese culture and international good will.

At 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month in the year 2008 — eight being a lucky number in China — the world looked toward Beijing and the 91,000 people inside the National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest.

The global television audience was estimated to surpass four billion viewers, though in the United States, the opening ceremonies were not carried live. NBC, which has rights to the Games, will broadcast the footage during prime-time Friday evening, when it expects the most viewers."

I have Tivo'ed the NBC broadcast tonight due to a travel schedule, and hope to watch it later this weekend. 

But going through the pictures both on the NY Times site and the Wall Street Journal's, it looks like the Chinese got a spectacular spectacle for their money.  Looking at pictures like the one above with it's Close Encounters echoes, I can't but help look forward to getting one of the many inevitable coffee table books on the opening ceremonies. 

Not to mention the Blu-Ray DVD disc with extra goodies. 

May the games begin.  Here's a handy interactive calendar from the NY Times, or you can follow along using just plain old Google on your mobile.  Way to go, Google.

ON A COOL LOOK AT OLYMPIC HISTORY

LOOKING BACK

As we all get ready for the Olympics to get under way in Beijing, it might be interesting to catch up on some Olympics history.  The New York Times has a cool, interactive chart of the games from 1896 to 2004 that could be pretty enlightening and entertaining. 

Both the Geographic and Ranking views offer some interesting glimpses into the history of the games over the last century.  For example, France had the most medals in 1900 (101), with the U.S. coming in second at 47 medals.

Looking at the 2004 Rankings view, it's interesting to see the U.S. at number one (102 medals), followed by Russia and China with 92 and 63 respectively.  Brazil from the "BRIC" countries comes in 21st with 10 medals, while India comes in with one silver medal for double trap.  The UAE took the gold that year in that sport, with it's one medal.

Just because you have over a billion people doesn't mean you're assured of winning a lot of medals, gold or otherwise. 

Hope you find other interesting factoids from the chart.

ON AN OUT-OF-THE-BOX TOY FOR 2008

COOL MOVES

This Gizmodo piece on a new kids' toy stopped me in my tracks by it's creativity.  Here's the skinny:

"Moov is probably one of the most amazing toys you will see this year: a do-it-yourself 4-in-1 vehicle kit for kids aged between 5 and 12. Now it's a racer, now it's a carver, now it's a tricycle, now it's a scooter.

It's like LEGO Technics meet Duplo meet true pneumatic tires, but with giant wood and plastic pieces, easy enough for a kid to build it and big enough to ride it at Warp 7 down the street, as you can see in the demonstration video after the jump."

As I said in my Twitter page on Moov yesterday,

"Why, oh why didn't they have this when I was growing up?"

The thing isn't available until June in Europe, with no word on whether it'll be available in the U.S. 

Regardless it's going on my Christmas watch list for a number of little ones in our family this year.

ON A NEW TECH HUNTING SEASON

JUMPING IN

Don't know if three data points make a trend, but with the unsolicited $2 billion bid for game software company Take Two by Electronic Arts, we now have at least three 30% plus premium bid deals for public technology companies in a depressed stock market.

The other two of course are the on-going bid for Yahoo! by Microsoft, and the just accepted $2.4 billion deal for Getty Images by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman.

With the tech sector battered more than most in this most recent correction, and still relatively strong growth fundamentals, it shouldn't be surprising to see more of this in the coming months.

Both strategic and/or financial buyers seem anxious to take advantage of the relative bargains in the public markets, assuming of course they can finance the deals via their balance sheets despite a tough debt financing environment.

At least someone putting their toes into these turbulent tech waters.

ON ATTENDING CHINA'S OLYMPICS

FUN AND GAMES

The Weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal has a good article on the ins and outs of attending the Olympics in China this August.  Bottom line, it's possible to do even at this presumably late juncture, but there are some complexities and it can be expensive.  The piece sets the tone as follows:

"It's true for athletes and tourists alike. The hardest part of the Olympics is getting in.

In the U.S., tickets have been sold out since October, just weeks after they went on sale. Most of the big-name hotels in Beijing have been booked solid for six months or more by Olympic personnel and tour operators. First- and business-class seats on many of the marathon direct flights from the U.S. are sold out, and coach fares are almost double normal prices.

But there are still options."

It's a daunting event in it's scale and complexity, to say the least:

"More than 1.1 million people are expected to visit Beijing during the Aug. 8 to Aug. 24 event, about 40% of them from overseas, estimates the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism. The opening ceremonies start at 8:08 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2008 -- considered numerically lucky in China because the word for the number eight sounds like the word for prosper..."

"The city is expected to spend nearly $40 billion on new structures and transportation for the Olympics, more than triple the amount spent on 2004's Summer Games in Athens."

The article goes on to provide detailed information on arranging a trip at a variety of budgets points.

Like many, I'm still toying with the idea of attending.  I love traveling to China, and this should be a showcase Olympics at a historic time in China's evolution as a world player.   And it may not be too late to make it happen.

ON A SPECIAL AMERICAN MOMENT

A CRITICAL DIFFERENCE

It was tough not being affected by the endorsement of Barack Obama by senior Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, and Obama's acceptance speech, regardless of one's political leanings.  The New York Times, in an article titled "Camelot '08 overshadows Bush Speech", put it as follows:

"The day began in Camelot and ended in Southfork.

Viewers on Monday were treated to a rare look at three dynasties working out their psychodramas at once: In his final State of the Union address, President Bush, the rebel Texan who defied his father, struggled to avoid the gloom of recession that darkened his father’s final days in the Oval Office.

On the campaign trail, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to patch over the pricklier parts of her husband’s legacy, while in Washington, the Kennedy clan sought vindication — and renewed vigor — by passing the torch to an adopted heir."

Both speeches are impressive indeed, both in their passion, their technical elegance and sparkling delivery.  And they're worth the half hour or so it'll take to watch them (links below).

But as a first generation American, I couldn't help but be touched by this observation by the New York Times:

"...the image of Caroline Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy anointing Senator Barack Obama as the true successor to John F. Kennedy.

That tableau from a rally at American University, shown over and over throughout the day, was powerful and also poignant — the camera showed all too vividly that in passing the torch to Mr. Obama, the patriarch of the Kennedy clan was bypassing his own scions."

Despite  our country's unique history and system of government, America is no less susceptible to dynastic political leadership than any other country in the world, developed or developing.

We have our own political dynasties, be they the Kennedys, or the Bushes, the Gores, and of course the Clintons, who aspire to have their own members carry the baton of political leadership and service.  And this is just as prevalent in so many other countries with political systems very different than ours.

But we have rarely seen the passing of the torch to someone outside the family for the greater good, not only in America, but in other countries as well.

It made today's endorsement all the more extraordinary to watch and ponder from this viewer's perspective.

Links:

Ted Kennedy's endorsement speech.

Barack Obama's acceptance speech.

ON SCRAPPY SCRABULOUS

SHOT ACROSS THE BOW

The inevitable has happened, with the BBC reporting that "Facebook asked to pull Scrabulous", by Hasbro and Mattel, the owners of one of my life-long addictions, Scrabble.  What are we talking about you ask?  Here's the back-story:

"Lawyers for toy makers Hasbro and Mattel say Scrabulous infringes their copyright on the board-based word game.

The move has sparked protests by regular fans of Scrabulous keen to keep the add-on running...

"Scrabulous is currently one of Facebook's ten most popular applications - little programs that Facebook members can add to the profiles they maintain on the site.

The request to remove the add-on came from both Hasbro and Mattel because ownership of the Scrabble trademark is split between the two. Hasbro owns rights to the game in the US and Canada while Mattel has rights everywhere else in the world..."

"The Scrabulous add-on was not created by Facebook but was built for the site by Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla - software developers based in Kolkata (India).

According to the Scrabulous website it has 594,924 daily active users - about a quarter of the total that have signed up to play it."

Hopefully, this legal action is but an opening move by Hasbro and Mattel to negotiate a buy-out and/or a licensing deal with  Scrabulous.

I don't know the parties involved here personally, but would venture to say if Hasbro and Mattel were able to bring this game and it's founders in-house, they'd have a shot at building a more vibrant and successful online franchise for their other properties.

In any case, the game has just begun when it comes to Scrabulous.