Our client Pana.ma just launched “Voice Messenger”, the world’s first integrated voice and texting service. Free-of-charge, Voice Messenger enhances traditional texting because users can now seamlessly add their voice to text conversations for simple convenience or when emotion and meaning cannot be conveyed by text alone. Because Voice Messenger is just like texting, Pana.ma is simple and intuitive for anyone to use.

The service is built on Pana.ma’s communications platform that answers the growing need for consumers and businesses to communicate asynchronously in the mobile or Web context using their voice as well as text. Users can easily create one-to-one or multi-party conversations (or conversation networks) by picking names from their address book or by searching the service’s user directory. These conversations can persist indefinitely.

“With virtually everyone mobile now, younger generations are calling less, texting more, and generally dismissing voicemail. We started Panama to add and deliver voice into the texting ‘paradigm’ because kids told us they wanted it!”

said David Hayden, co-founder and CEO of Panama.

“Texting is the communication mode of choice because it is more immediate, efficient, non-invasive, and convenient than any other mode (including calling). We simply saw that voice was missing and needed to be there to add the emotion and meaning that texting lacks. It’s a simple adjustment, and a natural evolution, but we think that this is a service that will have a radical impact on how we communicate.”

Available first to iPhone and 2nd generation iPod Touch users, Pana.ma’s service enables anyone to freely mix text and voice in a single conversation thread. The service will also be launched on additional platforms over the next two months.

The Pana.ma service includes the following features:

• Seamless integration of voice and text in any conversation thread
• The only mobile solution for sending and receiving private messages with a group of people
• The ability to create public and private conversations
• The ability to play back a conversation in part or in its entirety
• Unlimited messaging and unlimited storage
• Access to the only public forum for voice messages so anyone can easily create and participate in public conversations of interest
• Cost savings by eliminating reliance on traditional text messaging
• Alerts for new messages, even when the app is not running

This is really a super cool service, which we are now using to improve the communication with our own customers. Pana.ma is available on the AppStore; download it and send me a voice message @ remi.

Personal, Technical | No Comments »

The major objective of most bloggers is to attract and retain readers. For most of the year, I have used Entrecard as a mean to increase my traffic.

Traffic statistics show that Entrecard works. It yields 300 to 500 visitors daily to my blog, which is great. Even if most of these visitors spend only seconds on the site, a fraction of them would link back to their own blog and comment, which is good.

That said, and like most systems, benefiting from Entrecard requires to spend a fair amount of time promoting Entrecard (“dropping”). A “fair amount of time” means between one and two hours a day, seven days a week, which is a lot.

All things considered, I have decided to leave the Entrecard community early next week. It will enable me to post more often and focus more on the content.

I want to thank the bloggers I have met through Entrecard and also the company’s founders for making sure the vast majority of their members would provide with real content, something I found really unique for a Blog directory.

Farewell to my fellow Entrecarders!

Personal | 9 Comments »

While in the bus this morning, I could not help but notice a headline on a newspaper someone was reading, reporting that Goldman Sachs chiefs would not get their bonuses this year.

I did not know these people were still talking about their bonus. So what’s next; a special bonus to the CEOs of GM and Ford to thank them for their hard work and vision?

I hope the new Administration will make sure that the salaries of public companies’ executives are seriously controlled; I mean seriously, not like the drastic measures the current Administration was supposed to take after the Enron and WorldCom scandals.

Talking about GM and Ford, there is one thing I cannot understand, and may be some of you can help me there.

In this country, there is a growing consumer demand for cars with a better mileage per gallon, and for small cars, easier to drive and park in urban areas. In San Francisco where I live, the Toyota Prius has become the most popular car. In addition, I can now witness in the city the growing success of the Mercedes Smart, a very small car that has been extremely popular in Europe for years. As we all know, neither Toyota nor Daimler Benz are US companies.

Here is what I cannot understand. Both Ford and GM already have urban cars with mileage above 40 miles a gallon, which have been very successful for years in Europe, a fiercely competitive market! The Ford Fiesta and Ka, most Opel models (a German brand owned by GM) keep getting rave reviews.

I can understand that some US consumers still want to stick to their giant SUV, but why ignore best selling categories, and let foreign cars fill the gap, especially when the 2 US giants have models they could start marketing immediately?

It seems to me that both GM and Ford should start (re)thinking their marketing in the USA very seriously.

Remi
www.outsourcing-vsc.com

Business, Personal | 3 Comments »

I just attended a conference in San Francisco featuring John Hatch, the founder of FINCA, one of the largest micro-financing institutions is in the world.

At a glance, FINCA operates today in 23 countries and has assisted over 1,000,000 families since 1984, lending over $360 million (in 2007) to the world’s poorest families with a repayment rate of 97%.

The conference was not about FINCA (John retired from FINCA last year); it was about eradicating extreme poverty from our planet by 2025!!

Before presenting his project, John laid down some hard facts:

On poverty:

• 28,000 children die every day from predictable causes (malaria, diarrhea, etc.), which means over 10 millions children a year!
• Each year, more than 8 million people around the world die because they are too poor to stay alive
• 10% of the world population is consuming 86% of the goods of the world
• 50% of the 15-24 year-old of the planet are unemployed
• The world population is roughly divided as shown below with a rough 1/6 of the population falling into each of the category:

  

On micro-financing:

• There are about 10,000 micro-financing institutions worldwide
• $3 / day is the average daily return from each of an estimated 100,000 borrowers. That is over $1.09 billion a year! This money is usually recycled into new loans every 2 weeks.
• The borrowers purchase an average of $300 in goods and supply every month; that means an amazing contribution to the global wealth of $360 billions a year!!

Having spent a large part of his life empowering the poorest, first as a peace corps volunteer, and then as an officer of FINCA, John is now convinced that:

• Micro-financing institutions are doing a great job at addressing the intermediate layers shown on the above chart; however, they are not equipped to address the extreme poverty, i.e. people living with $1/day or less. There is something to be done to reach these people and lift them up
• Neither our governments, nor the UN, nor the large corporations have the desire, the capability or the required understanding to end global poverty. Hatch’s response to a question from the floor was that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a banker to lend money to a poor. How true!
• The media are all focused on the top-down globalization, the one that has to do with corporations expanding more rapidly ever; A little only is said on a second globalization that is happening at the same time, a bottom up globalization where wealth is created through helping the poorest get out of poverty. Making this second globalization a success can only be the result of a grassroots effort
• No Federal tax is going to change anything. John’s estimate is that 1/3 of a penny only from our average taxes goes to helping the poor (peacefully!). If we want extreme poverty to be eradicated, we better take action ourselves directly.

All of the above led John to focus his efforts on the people living in extreme poverty ($1 and less per day). According to him, they are feeling so disempowered, with so little self-esteem, that are not even in a position of picturing themselves as entrepreneurs. Hence, the need for a preliminary phase aimed at providing them with a “ramp” to access the first step of the ladder.

Providing this ramp is the whole purpose of ASAP (Association of Students Against Poverty), his latest venture.

ASAP is not about lending money; it is about teaching how to save money. Hatch believes that the poorest can still save money, even if only a penny a day. What matters really during this preliminary phase is not the amount of money saved; it is the process of saving the money.

ASAP will help their members save more efficiently by matching their savings. This whole process will help develop a sense of empowerment, and after a certain period of time, most members should be ready to enter into the cycle of micro-financing, thus lifting themselves up out of extreme poverty. Isn’t great?

That said, Hatch recognizes that one of ASAP’s major challenges will be reaching out to the poorest. Based on his experience with the Peace Corps, Hatch believes that the generation Y is the most likely to be the first to embrace his ideas and help make his dream come true. ASAP is working hard to offer significant incentives to students who enroll, from grants to student loan repayment facilities, etc. in exchange for their involvement in reaching the poor

The math is simple: ASAP wants 2 million donors to reduce their consumption by $1/day so these savings can be invested in helping the world’s most destitute families escape poverty. By 2025, he hopes to have raised $8 billion on behalf of 50 million of the world’s poorest families.

Yes, It takes only 2 millions Americans to remove extreme poverty ($ 1 / day or less) from this planet by 2025!!!!

It would be so wonderful to hear more often about this other globalization, and may be less about large corporations flooding our planet with their less-than-needed products.

For more, you can visit the WEB site of ASAP, Hatch’s new initiative [by clicking here], or have a look at his page on Wikipedia, by [clicking here].

Personal | No Comments »

I am very often told about China having to become a democracy. I am far from being an expert of these things, but it seems to me that a culture based on Confucianism would not naturally lean toward a traditional Western style democracy. I agree that citizens of this country should get much more personal freedom, but why should it mean becoming a democracy?

China should invent its own model, and not endorse one that is so far from their culture.

That said, because of my cultural background, I am very attached to democracy, and always watching for initiatives that could help reinforce or rejuvenate it in the USA, the country that matters the most to me, since it is where I live.

I want to salute today a great initiative of Don Means: the national causus. As explained on their WEB page:

• “Our democratic process, as currently practiced, has proven unsatisfactory to the great majority of Americans. Even with hopeful new signs of Internet enabled participation, our national elections remain essentially poll-driven, mass media campaigns and little more than an ugly spectator sport, though one with enormous stakes. Now, with nearly no opportunity for input by ordinary citizens, the presidential state primaries and caucuses are being scheduled earlier and closer together, dramatically altering the primary election process. The country now faces a de facto National Primary on February 5, 2008, in which two “finalists” may suddenly emerge from this “rush to judgment” only to commence a protracted 9-month general campaign.

  In response, a consortium of partisan, bi-partisan and non-partisan interests have initiated the National Presidential Caucus with an “Open Call to Participate” in local, self-organized, web-enabled face to face gatherings across the country on December 7, 2007 in preparation for the highly compressed national primary process.”

This non-partisan initiative has already received a lot of support from various organizations like the Stanford University’s Center for Deliberative Democracy, and individuals like Tim Draper or Phil Noble.

With the presidential election approaching in the USA, it is a perfect time to pay a visit to www.nationalcaucus.com, Don’s WEB site [Click here to access www.nationalcaucus.com].

You can also watch Don Means interviewed by ABC News.

Personal | No Comments »

OK, this post has nothing to do with offshoring, China or Agile development methods, but I found this great motivational piece of writing on Elizabeth Gilbert’s WEB site. Gilbert is the author of the acclaimed best seller “Eat, Pray, Love”.

If you are considering blogging, read it. She describes how she became a successful writer.
Read her article here.

In addition, they are many good WEB sites and blogs on the basics of blogging. I like this one; it is clear, short and efficient. (Do not be repelled by the page’s title).

If you have some money to spend, you can hire a consultant in “digital image”. It costs but can save you a lot of time.

By all means, if you are procrastinating about blogging, go ahead, it is a wonderful thing to do. As for my personal experience, blogging has enabled me to reach out to people and opportunities I would not even have dreamed of.

Enjoy the writing!

Personal | No Comments »

Sure, green has become the new gold of California, and this time, it is worth digging!

For the past few months, my inbox has been clogged by invitations to attend seminars or events on greentech, not really my main focus since I am in the software business.

John Doerr, one of the most respected and powerful VCs of the Silicon Valley, has two major powers: the power of influencing the local VC community, which I assume is the largest in the world, and the power of influencing local industry leaders, and there is aplenty here in California.

Listening to his speech is a MUST, so I am not to repeat here much of what he said

However, I cannot resist sharing a few excerpts:

- The best way to predict the future is to invent it; the second best way is to finance it.
- Going green is bigger business opportunity than the Internet. It could be the major industry of the 21st century.
- Entrepreneurs do more than anyone thinks possible with less than anyone thinks possible.

And it works!

California was the first state in America to mandate a 25% reduction of CO2 by 2020, thanks to the efforts of Doerr’s lobbying group.

Local VCs are investing massively in greentech ventures, and large corporations are following. I remember attending an event at Stanford last November, during which Charlie Rose interviewed high-tech leaders, including Gates and McNeally (not at the same time, thanks God!). They all talked about how their company was moving toward producing more “environmental friendly” solutions, and more generally becoming greener. People like Doerr have the power to influence Sun of course, but also HP, Intel, Google, Ebay, etc.

I cannot resist commenting on what Doerr says about Wal-Mart’s massive investments toward greentech, especially since Wal-Mart is not really my role-model company. If Wal-Mart has engaged massively into greentech, it sure means to me that companies can increase their profit while saving the planet, a win-win situation!

It is more than urgent to stop saying that global warming is a hoax and start acting. Be part of the Silicon Verde!

Business, Personal | No Comments »

Terresa mentioned a record sale of contemporary art that took place in London in February 2007. The auctions totaled $ 578 M excluding the various commissions.

This proves my point again. The globalization is a unique chance for our planet. For the first time, we can establish peer-to-peer relationships between economies, cultures and more generally people. It is no longer one getting wealthier at the expense of another, but the entire group benefiting from the connections they establish among themselves.

The time has come to focus our energy inventing all these new jobs that are now possible, thanks to the flattening of the world. Retaining our overall leadership will depend at which pace we will be able to move on this new challenge.

And I would like to close with the comment made by Daniele Girardi, one of the painters and panelists: “investment in art is an investment in oneself.” What a wonderful closing remark!

To learn more about the panelists:
Matteo Bergamasco, painter
Daniele Girardi, painter
Kit Schulte, co-Director, MM Galleries
Mark Wolfe, Director, Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art Gallery
Silvia Girardi, art importer and dealer

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