Communities Dominate Brands

Good Books: (via Emergic) Tomi Ahonen and Alan Moore's Communities Dominate Brands: Business and Marketing Challenges for the 21st Century is about the new phenomenon in everything we do; from computing, blogging, videogaming, modified mobile phones and so on. It's an interesting book to read because it's happening quietly.

From the book description:
[It] is a book about how the new phenomenon of digitally connected and empowered customer-communities, such as blogging, videogaming and mobile phone smart mobs are emerging as a force to counterbalance the power of the business and marketing. The book discusses how disruptive effects of digitalisation and connectedness introduce threats to business opportunities. The authors compellingly illustrate how modern consumers are forming communities and peer-groups to pool their power resulting in a dramatic revolution of how businesses interact with their customers. The book explores the problems faced by branding, marketing and advertising in this decade.

Here is an excerpt from the foreword by Stephen Jones:
It is difficult to put a lens on a developing social trend moving as fast as connected communities but Alan and Tomi have done that. Together they have made a rare and important breakthrough insight, have developed a credible hypothesis and backed it up with validated supporting points. This is not radical misinformed extremist hype. This work is an accurate description of the issue, the opportunity and the crisis confronting marketers if they don’t cut loose the shackles of the traditional advertising agency and TV network model and explore the world of possibilities recommended by this book.

Move quickly but act thoughtfully, even slowly. You want to implement this without sending your organization into a tail spin. The traditional marketing company that wastes its investments solely on TV advertising is underpinned by bureaucratic values of safety, efficiency and control. The marketing group that embraces these insights and moves forward to implement them is underpinned by interdependent values of sharing, listening, equity rights, global harmony and synergy. That’s a big leap.

One of the chapters in the book is about Generation-C: Generation-C stands for the Community Generation. The defining and distinguishing characteristic for Gen-C is the continuous connection to and responding to digital communities. This is very different from any other communities. Even a die-hard 40 year old football fan of Chelsea may wear his colours every day and spend most of his free time with friends who are also fans. Yes, he is obviously a member of the Chelsea fan community. But when that Chelsea fan goes to visit his parents and suddenly gets into an argument, he is no longer a Chelsea community member. He probably will tell his Chelsea mates what happened, afterwards, next day at the pub. The difference is that a Gen-C member carries his/her community in the pocket and accesses that community at all times. Thus the young Gen-C member would share the anger and frustration of the argument with parents, within the next few minutes, via a text message to close friends...Members of Generation-C will regularly, on a daily basis, consult with friends and colleagues from their various communities. To do so, they have to have continous access to their network. They must be 'always-on' and only the mobile phone allows this.

For more, you can also read the blog by the authors.

Forger Back At Work - And This Time It's All Above Board

Hugh Muir writes about Robert Thwaites + the audacious frauds that stunned and embarrassed the art world + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2137637,00.html

The story reminds of treated/synthetic/imitation gemstones sold as natural in the gem and jewelry industry. Today only a very few may know to recognize the tell-tale signs; even the so-called trained gemologists and jewelers make spectacular mistakes. Rapid sight identification is a natural gift from the gods. One may be trained to describe the fine details but spotting an unnatural stone (s) at the right time require (s) more than textbook knowledge and diplomas. I think we are going to experience 'momentary autism' periodically forever.

De Beers After 2008: No Russian Rough – Forever!

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the legal commitment between De Beers and Alrosa + the impact + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25298

Aqua Aura

(via Wikipedia) Aqua Aura is a term used to describe a natural crystal that has been coated with gold fumes. It is created in a vacuum chamber from quartz crystals and gold vapor. The quartz is heated to 1600 degrees Fahrenheit in a vacuum, and then gold vapor is added to the chamber. The gold atoms fuse to the crystal's surface, which gives the crystal an iridescent metallic sheen. The process was awarded the United States Patent No. 6997014 on Feb 14, 2006. The process was invented by Steven F. Starcke, Ronald H. Kearnes and Keven E. Bennet. While the patent might have been given in 2006, this material has been produced by this method for dozens of years prior.

The patent says "The invention provides a decorative object comprising a transparent or translucent substrate having a body and at least one surface bearing a thin film coating. The coating imparts in the substrate a body color that appears substantially constant at different angles of observation. This body color is imparted in the substrate at least in part by absorption of visible radiation that is transmitted through said coating. The coating includes a high absorption layer comprising film that is highly absorptive of visible radiation. Also provided are methods of coating gems and other decorative objects, as well as methods of heat treating coated gems and other decorative objects."

Aqua Aura is a very popular item in metaphysical items and a popular item in jewellery. It is the exact same process that is used to coat steel balls used as bearings. The term Aqua aura specifically is used for the blue colored quartz. Additional elements can be used to treat quartz, such as indium, titanium and copper. The coloring of this treatment is only on the surface, so all faceted and polished material you find has been treated after it has been made originally. Often, quartz of lesser quality, with fractures and weak spots, will break apart during the coating process.

A little known fact is that the Aqua aura treatment can be used to reveal twinning in quartz crystals that would otherwise go undetected. While most all treated quartz is destined for the metaphysical marketplace, it does have a use in the field of mineralogy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_aura)

Aqua Aura treated quartz or topaz could be visually confused for heat treated zircons because the prominent iridescence in treated specimens may be confused for dispersion. Standard gemological tests such as refractive index, birefringence and specific gravity should easily identify the stones. Also cobalt-doped blue synthetic quartz may look very similar to Aqua Aura treated stones. In this case Chelsea color filter reaction and absorption spectrum should easily provide diagnostic results; as the synthetic quartz will show pink through the Chelsea color filter + cobalt absorption spectrum. Aqua Aura treated topaz may be confused for irradiated blue topaz. In the case of quartz and topaz the unnatural iridescence is the indicator + magnification. The absence of pleochroism is also another indicator. Another interested aspect is when you study the treated quartz + topaz under proper magnification you may notice dark color concentrations of color along facet junctions + the uneven coloration very similar to blue diffusion-treated sapphires. Buyer beware!

Tugtupite

(Reindeer Stone)
Chemistry: Sodium aluminum beryllium silicate
Crystal system: Tetragonal; massive allied to sodalite; crystals rare.
Color: Various shades of red, from pale pink to violetish red and violet; may contain black needles or yellow spots; transparent materials rare, facetable material also found.
Hardness: 6.5
Cleavage: Massive: none; Fracture: granular
Specific gravity: 2.3 – 2.57; 2.3 depending on porosity and other minerals present.
Refractive index: 1.496 – 1.502; Uniaxial positive; 0.006 (0.004-0.006)
Luster: Vitreous to greasy
Dispersion:-
Dichroism: Bluish red; orange red
Occurrence: Red angular masses in Albite-rich hydrothermal veins; Greenland, Russia.

Notes
Found in 1960; ornamental stone may resemble rhodochrosite; massive is mottled white with shades of red; fluorescence: orange (LW), salmon (SW), bright red (UV); cabochon, carvings, beads.

Can You Identify This Stone?

(via The Canadian Gemmologist, Vol.III, No.3, Spring, 1982) I am a calcium aluminum silicate, crystallizing in the tetragonal system, and occurring in various colors. I am most often seen in a massive form, sometimes masquerading as a much more expensive green gemstone. They give me quite a variety of names, and one of them sounds like a famous volcano. What am I?
Answer: Vesuvianite (Idocrase)

The New Wave Of Silicon Valley Start-ups

New Business Model (s): Spencer Kelly writes about Silcon Valley's new breed of entrepreneurs + modified mash-ups with interactive content (s) + green innovations + other viewpoints @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6929569.stm

Capitalism At The Crossroads

Good Books: (via Emergic) Stuart Hart's book, Capitalism at the Crossroads: The Unlimited Business Opportunities in Solving the World's Most Difficult Problems highlights the nature of challenges for multinational companies + development of native capabilities + the concept of leadership genius to innovation + its results. An interesting book.

Stuart Hart writes in the prologue:
In a single lifetime, the human population will have grown from two billion to eight billion. This growth is truly unprecedented. Never before in human history has a single generation witnessed such explosive change. It seems self-evident, therefore, that the policies we adopt, the decisions we make, and the strategies we pursue over the next decade will determine the future of our species and the trajectory of our planet for the foreseeable future. That is an awesome responsibility, to say the least. It is also a huge opportunity.

One of the chapters has a discussion on HLL:
Unilever's Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), provides an interesting glimpse of the development of native capabilities in its efforts to pioneer new markets among the rural poor. HLL requires all employees in India to spend six weeks living in rural villages, actively seeks local consumer insights and preferences as it develops new products, and sources raw materials almost exclusively from local producers. The company also created an R&D center in rural India focused specifically on technology and product development to serve the needs of the poor. HLL uses a wide variety of local partners to distribute its products and also supports the efforts of these partners to build local capabilities. In addition, HLL provides opportunities and training to local entrepreneurs and actively experiments with new types of distribution, such as selling via local product demonstrations and village street theaters.

By developing local understanding, building local capacity, and encouraging a creative and flexible market entry process, HLL has been able to generate substantial revenues and profits from operating in low-income markets. Today more than half of HLL's revenues come from customers at the base of the economic pyramid. Using the approach to product development, marketing, and distribution pioneered in rural India, Unilever has also been able to leverage a rapidly growing and profitable business focused on low-income markets in other parts of the developing world. Even more important, through its new strategy, HLL has created tens of thousands of jobs, improved hygiene and quality of life, and become an accepted partner in development among the poor themselves.

And Now Lot 403: The Old Master Worth £5m. Do I hear £300?

Charlotte Higgins writes about an 18th-century continental school, half-length portrait of an aesthete + the bidding war + the painting's quality + the game of authentification + the intrigue + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2128906,00.html

When I read the story it reminded me of high profile stones like diamond, ruby, blue sapphire, emerald with origin report at auction houses + the endless game of hide and seek with prices by the real players + the knowledgeable, ignorant or just plain lucky buyers and sellers + the real drama. It's a theatrical experience watching the bidders at an auction event: a real movie.

Thy Neighbor's Laundry

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about two countries: Belgium and Netherlands + Utrecht School of Economics report on money laundering + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25323

On Getting Up Early In The Morning

2007: This is a fascinating story about Harry Winston + his personal operating system. You’ve got to keep your eyes and ears open in gem identification + business. There are many lessons one can learn from the real events.

(via The Australian Gemmologist, Vol.11, No.10, Serial No.97, May 1973): A N Wilson’s interview with the famous dealer and gem personality, Harry Winston.

Harry Winston is sitting at his desk, loupe in his fingers. He is musing aloud: ‘You know, there’s always a client for something big or wonderful in the way of diamonds. I told you last year about Ibn Saud but there was something more I didn’t tell you then. I was in Geneva and Ibn Saud was on holiday somewhere in the vicinity. He called at my office and I did some very good business with him—something like $3,000,000 worth of diamond and other jewelry. I delivered all the jewelry to his residence myself and was waiting there for his cheque when one of his aides came to me and said the King had just asked whether I happened to have any diamond bracelets available at my office in Geneva. If so, he’d be interested in having half a dozen. I replied that I thought I could help in this direction. The aide then said the King was flying off at eight o’clock the following morning and the bracelets would have to be delivered to him before then. I telephoned my office and told them what was afoot and asked them to set out whatever they had in the way of diamond bracelets. I motored back to my office. There I found the office staff had dutifully put out five or six diamond bracelets selected from those that were available.

‘I called the staff to my office and said: ‘Have you no imagination?’ I had the whole range of diamond bracelets available set out and then had then carefully parceled and ready for display at the King’s residence. The staff then asked me about delivery. ‘You are surely not going to get up at four or five in the morning to take them out yourself?’ they said. I said to them: ‘Look, boys, I’m going myself with these fifty five bracelets. That’s the way to conduct business.’

‘So I got up that morning and took the bracelets with me to the King’s residence. When I arrived the aide told me the King was getting dressed, but would look at the bracelets over breakfast and make his choice. A little later the aide came down to tell me that the King would buy the lot at a price. The price was arranged. The King went off in his aircraft and I went back to my office. The staff was stunned when, the following day, a message came through from Ibn Saud saying that he now found he was short of 25 bracelets and asking me to send him these. Can you blame me if I read a little homily to my staff about how, be getting up early in the morning, you can convert a sale of six bracelets into eighty? A good lesson for any young person in the diamond business!’

Harry Winston chuckled as he remembered another story. ‘You’ve got to keep your eyes open at this business,’ he said. ‘One day a bank director called me up to say that a very distinguished and important client had a collection of jewels he wanted to sell. Would I do him as well as possible? Well the distinguished bank client duly arrived and he spread his collection of diamonds on the table. I looked at them very briefly and said abruptly. ‘Take them away, please!’ I had seen immediately that most of the diamonds were paste but I was not prepared to tell him so. ‘No, I’m not interested,’ I said, “I can’t give you a valuation. I can’t give you a price. I think you ought to go elsewhere.’ He gathered up his pieces in frustration and anger and said he would, indeed, go elsewhere. He said harshly that I had not even looked at them: that here was an emerald worth at least 150,000 dollars on its own and there was a beautiful pearl necklace. I insisted that I was not interested. He went away. Some time later he came back to see me. ‘I’ve come to apologize,’ he said, ‘because it now turns out that my wife must have had maids who took advantage of our traveling all over the place from time to time and they substituted imitations for the real things. We’ve been robbed. I’m sorry that it would appear on the face of it that I tried to defraud you.’

‘Of course, that was not true at all. What was true was that his wife had a very expensive boy friend. My visitor’s special anxiety was that I should not report what had happened to his bank director. I assured him I did not discuss business affairs with anybody else. As those who were then concerned are now all dead, I am at liberty to tell this sad little story.’

Tremolite

Chemistry: Calcium magnesium silicate
Crystal system: Monoclinic; in compact mass as nephrite; long bladed crystals; fibrous aggregates often radiated; twinning common.
Color: Transparent to opaque; hexagonite: rare pink variety (Mg); phenomenon: greenish chatoyancy: tremolite cat’s eye.
Hardness: 6.5 - 6
Cleavage: Good: in 2 directions; fracture: brittle, uneven.
Specific gravity: 2.976; 2.98
Refractive index: 1.62 mean; 1.60 – 1.63; 0.027.
Luster: Vitreous.
Dispersion:-
Dichroism: -
Occurrence: In metamorphosed dolomites or ultrabasic rocks; Burma, Taiwan, Canada, USA.

Notes
An end member in the tremolite-actinolite series of the amphibole group; transparent specimens faceted; translucent to opaque specimens carved or cut cabochon.

From Russia With Love

Idexonline profiles Russia, the world’s second largest producer of rough diamonds + the expansion and development of domestic cutting and polishing operations + the export markets + the domestic jewelry industry + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullMazalUbracha.asp?id=27889

Can You Identify This Stone?

(via The Canadian Gemmologist, Vol.III, No.3, Spring, 1982) I am green in color and considered idiochromatic. I contain iron as an important part of my chemical composition. I am comparatively soft and belong to the orthorhombic system. I have a distinctive cleavage parallel to my vertical axis, a lowest R.I of 1.654 and a birefringence of 0.036. My absorption spectrum shows a broad band at 435nm and bands at 492 and 473nm. What am I?
Answer: Peridot

The Google Legacy

Good Books: (via Emergic) Stephen E. Arnold's e-book entitled The Google Legacy: How Google's Internet Search is Transforming Application Software provides insights + future virtual applications via modified technological applications. I think the new simplied technology will open more surprises and opportunities for everyone in the coming years. Try it and see.

Here is an excerpt from the introduction on Arnold's site:
What kind of company is Google? The world mostly knows this high-flying, publicly traded West Coast company as the upstart that revolutionized search.

Wrong, says Stephen Arnold in this new ebook: Google is much more. New, radical and overlooked, Google is this era's transformational computing platform and could be about to unseat Microsoft from its throne.

Google is not just about search: search is merely one application you can load on its processor. Although Google has been releasing a series of separate application programs, the company is starting to assemble the mosaic pieces into a bigger picture. Its future will be about leveraging its innovative hardware/software infrastructure. In so doing, just as Microsoft replaced IBM, Google promises to replace Microsoft as Network Computing comes of age.

Written for business readers, especially senior executives of mid to large-sized, knowledge-based corporations, The Google Legacy places Google under a microscope, dissects Google's technology, evaluates its potential and determines that Google's future lies beyond search. Three appendices provide lists of Google patents, publishers who have indicated some type of relationship with Google, and universities working with Google-information that, according to the author, Google has sought to keep under wraps.

Information Week wrote recently:
Dig deeper into Google, dig into its software and engineering patents and you’ll find a roadmap for its future, says an author and online systems specialist, who believes the patents also spell bad news for Microsoft if the tech world moves to a new Google-dominated network paradigm.

Google really doesn’t hide things, said Stephen E. Arnold, who has written a book on his one-year odyssey studying the search firm. Bill Gates is basically in the same spot he had IBM in. IBM was challenged by Microsoft and IBM didn’t understand Microsoft’s business model. It’s history repeating itself.

Arnold, author of The Google Legacy, said in an interview, that it appears that Microsoft doesn’t understand Google in much the same way that IBM didn’t understand Microsoft 20 years ago. It will be the Googleplex from 2004 to 2020 a network paradigm, said Arnold. It will be enabled by Google’s approach to innovation....These patents suggest that Google is looking beyond search, possibly targeting such companies as Microsoft, as Google tries to become the leading info tech company of the 21st Century, he said.

Ordinary People

Peter Schjeldahl writes about Edward Hopper + his greatest hits + his unique way (s) of connecting with his world @ http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/artworld/2007/05/21/070521craw_artworld_schjeldahl

For Immediate Sale: Exclusive Purchasing Rights Of Attractive Diamond Production

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the most important event in the world for exploration – bringing together global participants to learn and share new technologies and exploration methods, business trends, investment issues, geology, international opportunities and exploration successes + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25365

The Determination Of The Weight Of A Set Stone By Hydrostatic Weighing

2007: I tried it; it works.

(via The Australian Gemmologist, Vol.18, No.5, February 1993) R K Mitchell writes:

Another gemological tip arising from our earlier discussion of hydrostatic weighing is the fact that it is by no means a waste of time to do a hydrostatic on a stone in a mount. How often are we called upon to estimate the weight of set stone for insurance purposes or with a view to buying it in over the counter? Various methods have been advocated from plain guesswork, to gauges of greater or lesser efficiency, to comparison with stones of a known weight, to weighing another mount to get somewhere near the weight of the one in question, or even to measuring the stone in all its dimensions and working out a weight using complicated mathematical formulae to obtain an approximation. Some of these might work, but there is a risk of getting hopelessly wrong answers to what should be simple enough question even when we cannot get permission to unset and weigh the stone separately.

In the past I have been offered a peridot ring with the remark that it ‘must weigh over 12 carats’ and have found myself in possession of a nice stone of over 26 carats. A star sapphire offered at ‘about 15 carats’ estimated weight, turned out to be around 35 carats when I took it out of its setting. Such inexact guesses are quite unnecessary and are very dangerous to the jeweler if he is valuing the stone. The answer lies in doing an ordinary hydrostatic weighing, a matter of a few minutes only.

Simply weigh the whole item in air and then weigh it again in water. Subtract the second weight from the first to find the total loss of weight.

Then, if we already know what the stone is (from its RI) and the nature and quality of the metal (hallmark), it is very easy to arrive at a weight for either the stone or for the mount by simple calculation. First assume that the whole ring is composed of stone and multiply the stone’s SG by the loss of weight. Deduct this figure from the total weight of the piece and that will give us the extra weight due to the greater density of the metal used. Divide this figure by the known SG of the metal less the SG of the stone.

Specific gravity of precious metals

Yellow gold
9 ct=11.2
14 ct= 14.1
18 ct= 15.5

White gold
9 ct= 12.0
14 ct= 12.9
18 ct = 16.1

Platinum = 21.4
Silver = 10.3

Victorian gold mounts with silver settings are usually 15 ct gold, so an SG figure of 12 would be a fair approximation, but the method is a little less accurate with such mounts.

This gives us the loss of weight due to the mount alone. Subtract this from the total loss of weight to find the loss due to the stone only, and multiply the result by the SG of the stone. This sounds complicated, but it is nothing of the kind. Try it and see. The longest part is the weighing and even that should not take more than a few minutes.

To give you an actual example:
An aquamarine (SG=2.70) and 18ct gold (SG=15.5) ring weighs 35.32 cts.
In water it weighs 28.75 carats
Loss of weight = 6.57 carats
If all aquamarine then weight would be 6.57 x 2.70 = 17.74
Extra weight due to gold = 35.52 – 17.74 = 17.58.
So loss of weight of mount is 17.58 divided by 15.5 – 2.7 = 1.37.
So loss of weight due to the stone is 6.57 – 1.37 = 5.20.
Weight of the stone is then 5.20 x 2.70 = 14.04 carats.

There are very minor differences in the SG of a gem species from stone to stone, and rather greater differences in the SG of gold of a given caratage (bullion dealers for this reason usually quote only to one place of decimals). But this method can usually be relied upon to give an answer well within 10% of the true weight of a stone. Where there are a few small diamonds included in the design one obviously needs to take these into account at the end of the main calculation by deducting say half a carat from the estimated weight of the main stone. Most jewelers are expert at estimating the weight of small diamonds by sight and should have little difficulty in making a reasonable correction for this situation. The method only really comes to grief when a mass of large stones of mixed species are found in one mount, and even then some guidance can be obtained from the exercise if it is used intelligently.

Taaffeite

Chemistry: Beryllium magnesium aluminate.
Crystal system: Hexagonal; trapezohedral.
Color: Transparent; red, pink, blue, mauve, green.
Hardness: 8
Cleavage: -
Specific gravity: 3.613
Refractive index: 1.718 – 1.723; Uniaxial negative; 0.004
Luster: Vitreous
Dispersion: -
Dichroism: -
Occurrence: Sri Lanka, China, Tanzania.

Notes
First discovered in 1945 by Count Taaffe; rare collector’s stone; appearance and values close to spinel but distinguished by birefringence; fluorescence: green in UV; faceted.

The Emperor's New Clothes

Memorable quote (s) from the movie:

The Emperor (Sid Caesar): How do you spin a thread out of a solid diamond?

Henry Dispenser (Robert Morse): Ah! That is a family secret!