Welcome to Mayo615’s Odyssey to France and the first of our Tuesday weekly updates. We invite you to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and follow our weekly updates. In this Week One update we will focus on my first Big Idea, and how I achieved it. I will also discuss my three most important key takeaways from that experience. We hope that you find this video helpful in achieving your own Big Ideas and goals. So here we go.
In this Week One update we will focus on my first Big Idea, and how I achieved it. I will also discuss my three most important key takeaways from that experience. We hope that you find this video helpful in achieving your own Big Ideas and goals. So here we go.
On this YouTube Channel, we will share our Big Idea: our personal goal and invite you to participate with us, share your comments and questions and perhaps motivate you to achieve your own Big Idea. We will post an update on our project every Tuesday. We invite your comments and questions about your own Big Idea while you follow ours. We will both reply to all comments and will feature the best questions in our YouTube update videos each week. So click SUBSCRIBE and let’s get started!
On this YouTube Channel, we will share our Big Idea: our personal goal and invite you to participate with us, share your comments and questions and perhaps motivate you to achieve your own Big Idea. We will post an update on our project every Tuesday. We invite your comments and questions about your own Big Idea while you follow ours. We will both reply to all comments and will feature the best questions in our YouTube update videos each week.
So click SUBSCRIBE and let’s get started!
A year ago, a DDoS attack caused internet outages around the US by targeting the internet-infrastructure company Dyn, which provides Domain Name System services to look up web servers. Monday saw a nationwide series of outages as well, but with a more pedestrian cause: a misconfiguration at Level 3, an internet backbone company—and enterprise ISP—that underpins other big networks. Network analysts say that the misconfiguration was a routing issue that created a ripple effect, causing problems for companies like Comcast, Spectrum, Verizon, Cox, and RCN across the country.
© Joe Raedle
A year ago, a DDoS attack caused internet outages around the US by targeting the internet-infrastructure company Dyn, which provides Domain Name System services to look up web servers. Monday saw a nationwide series of outages as well, but with a more pedestrian cause: a misconfiguration at Level 3, an internet backbone company—and enterprise ISP—that underpins other big networks. Network analysts say that the misconfiguration was a routing issue that created a ripple effect, causing problems for companies like Comcast, Spectrum, Verizon, Cox, and RCN across the country.
Level 3, whose acquisition by CenturyLink closed recently, said in a statement to WIRED that it resolved the issue in about 90 minutes. “Our network experienced a service disruption affecting some customers with IP-based services,” the company said. “The disruption was caused by a configuration error.” Comcast users started reporting internet outages around the time of the Level 3 outages on Monday, but the company said that it was monitoring “an external network issue” and not a problem with its own infrastructure. RCN confirmed that it had some network problems on Monday because of Level 3. The company said it had restored RCN service by rerouting traffic to a different backbone.
The misconfiguration was a “route leak,” according to Roland Dobbins, a principal engineer at the DDoS and network-security firm Arbor Networks, which monitors global internet operations. ISPs use “Autonomous Systems,” also known as ASes, to keep track of what IP addresses are on which networks, and route packets of data between them. They use the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to establish and communicate routes. For example, packets can route between networks A and B, but network A can also route packets to network C through network B, and so on. This is how internet service providers interoperate to let you browse the whole internet, not just the IP addresses on their own networks.
In a “route leak,” an AS, or multiple ASes, issue incorrect information about the IP addresses on their network, which causes inefficient routing and failures for both the originating ISP and other ISPs trying to route traffic through. Think of it like a series of street signs that help keep traffic flowing in the right directions. If some of them are mislabeled or point the wrong way, assorted chaos can ensue.
Route leaks can be malicious, sometimes called “route hijacks” or “BGP hijacks,” but Monday’s incident seems to have been caused by a simple mistake that ballooned to have national impact. Large outages caused by accidental route leaks have cropped up before.
“Folks are looking to tweak routing policies, and make mistakes,” Arbor Networks’ Dobbins says. The problem could have come as CenturyLink works to integrate the Level 3 network or could have stemmed from typical traffic engineering and efficiency work.
Internet outages of all sizes caused by route leaks have occurred occasionally, but consistently, for decades. ISPs attempt to minimize them using “route filters” that check the IP routes their peers and customers intend to use to send and receive packets and attempt to catch any problematic plans. But these filters are difficult to maintain on the scale of the modern internet and can have their own mistakes.
Monday’s outages reinforce how precarious connectivity really is, and how certain aspects of the internet’s architecture—offering flexibility and ease-of-use—can introduce instability into what has become a vital service.
Management students may ask why the title of this post claims that quantum technology is good business. So let me try to explain, and then read on to the PandoDaily post by David Holmes. The bottom line is that some basic understanding of quantum mechanics is going to be a valuable management skill going forward. Why? Read on
Management students may ask why the title of this post claims that quantum technology is good business. So let me try to explain, and then read on to the PandoDaily post by David Holmes. The bottom line is that some basic understanding of quantum mechanics is going to be a valuable management skill going forward. Why? Read on
Yesterday, National Public Radio in the United States (which can be heard online) broadcast a fascinating discussion about Monday’s announcement of the long awaited breakthrough of proving the existence of gravitational waves which include the fingerprint of the original Big Bang. Featuring legendary astrophysicist Leonard Susskind of Stanford and a number of other leading physicists, the discussion inevitably drifted to quantum mechanics, and the original Big Bang itself, which Stanford Physics Professor. Chao-Lin Kuo, described as “mind scrambling.” Quantum entanglement is another area that defies common sense: particles that mimic each other and change faster than the speed of light, which should be impossible. Einstein’s famous quote, “God does not play dice,” was his reaction to the non-deterministic nature of quantum events and theory, which also violate his general theory of relativity. It turns out the random nature of quantum mechanics provides a superior solution for hideously complex problems, finding the best “probabilistic” solutions. Quantum mechanics is also providing a potential way forward in encryption and privacy.
Read and listen on NPR: Scientists Announce Big Bang Breakthrough
However, all of this “mind scrambling” pure science is rapidly becoming applied science: science becoming useful technological innovation and applied to economic activity. Some of my students may recall our discussions of Moore’s Law in semiconductor design. As Moore’s Law reaches it finite limit, quantum “technology” is creating one path forward, and providing new solutions to Internet security and supercomputing. David Holme’s PandoDaily article today attempts to explain in greater detail why this is important for business.
Vern Brownell, CEO of D-Wave Systems has written an excellent explanation in layman’s terms, of the importance of quantum computing, and how it differs from “deterministic” computing.
Read more: Solving the unsolvable: a quantum boost for supercomputing
Best of all there is an excellent book for those willing to devote the time and grey matter to quantum physics, “Quantum physics, a beginners’ guide,” by Alistair Rae, available in paperback on Amazon or Kindle e-book.
Konrad Walus’s business sounds almost too futuristic — three-dimensional printing of human tissues for use in research or therapeutics.
Since last fall, however, Walus and his partners have run Aspect Biosystems Ltd. through the Entrepreneurship at UBC program, taking an idea from their research labs to incorporation, formation of a viable business plan and on to discussions with a potential first customer.
“Aspect Biosystems could not have started in a garage,” Walus said. The scientists behind it needed the testing equipment and imaging machines that go along with the infrastructure of a major research university like the University of B.C.
READ MORE: e@UBC spins ideas of researchers and students into real-world.
Konrad Walus’s business sounds almost too futuristic — three-dimensional printing of human tissues for use in research or therapeutics.
Since last fall, however, Walus and his partners have run Aspect Biosystems Ltd. through the Entrepreneurship at UBC program, taking an idea from their research labs to incorporation, formation of a viable business plan and on to discussions with a potential first customer.
“Aspect Biosystems could not have started in a garage,” Walus said. The scientists behind it needed the testing equipment and imaging machines that go along with the infrastructure of a major research university like the University of B.C.
And, with a new focus on innovation, UBC has a strong interest in spinning the ideas of its researchers and students (Walus is an associate professor in UBC’s electrical and engineering department) out into real-world applications.
This is where Entrepreneurship at UBC, which uses the hip acronym e@UBC, comes in.
e@UBC and $550-million worth of ideas
“The whole goal is to get all of this knowledge, both with individuals and with science, out to build great companies in B.C. and out to change the world,” said Andy Talbot, e@UBC’s executive director.
UBC revamped and relaunched the two-year-old program in September, capitalizing on a $200,000 injection from the B.C. Innovation Council that is being used to support e@UBC’s mentorship program.
The process starts with a meeting where the student or researcher with the idea and staff at e@UBC figure out what they need.
Talbot said if the proponent just needs a bit of one-one-one coaching to help with an idea, e@UBC will match them with a mentor. If the idea is still “just for fun,” their staff might direct them to one of the regular workshops or “start-up weekend” events that the program regularly hosts.
“If they have an idea that’s useful for an accelerator program, we put them into an accelerator program” and on the path to creating a new company, Talbot said.
And with some $550 million worth of research going on at UBC in a given year, Talbot said, the university has a lot of raw material to work with to form new companies.
“Our goal is that there is another Google, there is another Apple out there and they’re coming from the scientists and technology (at UBC),” he added.
Enter the accelerator
Talbot said 100 ideas — brought in by individuals or groups — have entered the e@UBC process since it re-launch in September, and so far 10 have made it through the accelerator, a sort of entrepreneurial boot-camp, to incorporate as a new company. Aspect Biosystems is one of them.
“It’s an eight-week program where we try to get people from an idea to a validated business model,” he said.
Primarily, that means getting researchers out of their labs and into the market to meet as many potential customers as possible.
Validation of a business plan determines that “yes, someone cares about (the idea) and would buy it. Then we can form a company from that,” Talbot said.
Walus credits the accelerator with steering Aspect away from the wrong direction and putting them on a more viable path.
“When we thought about commercializing, we thought about making a (3D) printing system, adding a whole bunch of features to it and hoping someone would buy it,” Walus said. “The program changed our thinking about it.”
Aspect Biosystems’ process is to engineer biological tissues that mimic human cellular structures, and print them out using 3D printing technology.
In going to potential buyers to ask them what they wanted, Walus said they “worked from the customer back to the technology,” rather than the other way around. “That’s been extremely valuable.”
Beyond boot camp
After completing the boot camp, Walus said, Aspect’s founders have continued using mentoring from Talbot to nurture their business.
Once a business is off the ground, UBC’s Industry Liaison Office can step in to help if it needs to acquire intellectual property rights, or e@UBC can find them space and support services.
The organization even has benefactors who can invest seed funding, $150,000 to $200,000, which a new business can leverage to earn grant funding or to attract other angel investors.
The reality
Walus said the initial application for Aspect’s technology will be in drug discovery, creating computer-programmed human tissues that are better models for testing new therapeutics than traditional early testing methods.
“It’s quite possible, stemming from this, there will be whole classes of new therapeutics,” he added, noting that they are in late-stage discussions with their first customer, a big pharmaceutical firm.
Down the road, Walus said, the goal is to create tissues that could be used as patches in wound healing. Eventually, the technology could be used to print organs for transplant, but Walus said there are a lot of challenges between now and then.
“It’s a 15-20 year vision before we’d have, let’s say, ‘off the shelf organs,’” he said.
Stanford University’s free online course, Technology Entrepreneurship begins this week. I have agreed to be a mentor to a maximum of two entrepreneurial teams in this Stanford online course.
In addition to being free you can follow the course on your schedule via the posted video lectures. The course will be taught by Assistant Professor Chuck Eesley. The recommended textbook, Technology Ventures, by Thomas Byers, Richard Dorf, and Andrew Nelson, is available as an etextbook on CourseSmart or Kindle. The first three course videos are available online now.
I will also be working this term with Professor Thomas Hellman at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business on his Technology Entrepreneurship course. I will be scheduling time to meet with students for both the Stanford and UBC Sauder courses. Further information on dates and times will be posted here.
Stanford University’s free online course, Technology Entrepreneurship begins this week. I have agreed to be a mentor to a maximum of two entrepreneurial teams in this Stanford online course.
In addition to being free you can follow the course on your schedule via the posted video lectures. The course will be taught by Assistant Professor Chuck Eesley. The recommended textbook, Technology Ventures, by Thomas Byers, Richard Dorf, and Andrew Nelson, is available as an etextbook on CourseSmart or Kindle. The first three course videos are available online now.
I will also be working this term with Professor Thomas Hellman at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business on his Technology Entrepreneurship course. I will be scheduling time to meet with students for both the Stanford and UBC Sauder courses. Further information on dates and times will be posted here.
VIDEO: Stanford University E145: Technology Entrepreneurship, Introduction & Overview
Register for this free course here: Free Registration for Technology Entrepreneurship
Recommended Textbook
Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise
Byers, Dorf, Nelson
McGraw Hill
ISBN: 978–0–07–338018–6
At the request of Professor Ray Taheri of the UBC Engineering Faculty, I gave this guest lecture to all 4th year engineering students in ENGR 499 Capstone Project. From my background in entrepreneurial mentorship and entrepreneurial finance, I focused on the unique challenges engineers face in considering starting and developing a new venture. I discuss the full range of issues, but my personal emphasis, from experience, is the “character” issue. Some excellent engineers have successfully made the transition to entrepreneurship and executive management, but for others the odyssey is a bridge too far. Consequently, I place significant emphasis on honest self-analysis and appreciation of one’s strengths and weaknesses. Listening is a priceless skill.
At the request of Professor Ray Taheri of the UBC Engineering Faculty, I gave this guest lecture to all 4th year engineering students in ENGR 499 Capstone Project. From my background in teaching management and entrepreneurial mentorship, I focused on the unique challenges engineers face in considering starting and developing a new venture. I discuss the full range of issues, but my personal emphasis, from experience, is the “character” issue. Some excellent engineers have successfully made the transition to entrepreneurship and executive management, but for others, the odyssey is a bridge too far. Consequently, I place significant emphasis on honest self-analysis and appreciation of one’s strengths and weaknesses. Listening is a priceless skill. If you have experienced Larry Page, he is an excellent example of an engineer who has very successfully transitioned into a senior management role. Sergei, on the other hand, opted for a CTO-like role, which I think was the right choice for him.
The digital textbook market still seems likely to proceed at a snail’s pace. It also appears that the university textbook market may be a very different market segment from the broader book market represented by Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Chapters in Canada. Current UBC Bookstore estimates of E Reader textbook sales is 5%. Renting textbooks, textbook sharing, and just flat out electing not to buy the textbook still seem strong trends.
The high prices of the big textbook publishers, Wiley, Pearson, and Addison Wesley would cause one to surmise that the price of hardbound textbooks would drive students to much lower cost electronic licenses on e readers, but this does not seem to be the case. Theories abound as to the reason for this. A common explanation is fear of the technology not working at exactly the wrong moment, and limited or no technical support available, compared to the simplicity of old fashioned paper books.
This morning, a NPR Morning Edition story also delved into this topic, reporting on young readers who still want paper bound books, or as one suggested, they may want both paper and e book, but paper still trumps. It seems clear that there is strong consumer resistance to moving to e books.
Among technology’s top titans, the race is on to bring tablet-based digital textbooks into the classroom. Since launching the iPad, Apple (s AAPL) has made a big push in education, and its expected iPad Mini launch this week will likely open it up to an even wider range of education customers. Last week, Amazon (s AMZN) announced a new Whispercast feature to help schools centrally purchase and distribute content to a fleet of student devices. And Microsoft’s Surface (s MSFT), as well as Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 and Chromebook (released with Google (s GOOG)), are also contenders for new classroom tools.
With each new launch, someone inevitably declares the impending end of physical textbooks, as though those tech giants control the levers responsible for the successful adoption of new technology in schools. But while the tech industry plays a significant role in the transition to digital textbooks, making devices…
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