electronics-industry

Revolutionaries at Sony does a good job of detailing an insider's perspective of the rise of the Playstation. It gives a good account of how the platform came to be, and a thorough discussion of the hardware. Sony's business plans, particularly its marketing strategy is also detailed for the reader, and gives some insight into the marketing of the PS2.

Unfortunately, the story of Ken Katarugi, the "hero" of the book (p. xi), reads more like "The Life and Times of Montgomery Burns, as told by Waylon Smithers" rather than even a semi-objective attempt at accurate history. Indeed, after reading Revolutionaries at Sony, I was left wondering what is this book exactly? A history? A fan book? By its cover, it's supposed to be a business case-study book. As a case study book, I'd expect a wider range of perspectives. Who heard of a case study of a business that quotes the senior executives almost exclusively? Where are the attempts to build alternative explanations, or refute alternative hypothesis. If it is a business case study, then I'd also expect to see a more thorough description of the business environment Nintendo's business model, which Asakura seems to have missed almost completely, is scantly mentioned. Given that Sheff's excellent history of Nintendo is now several years old, this oversite is more than a little disturbing.

But, if you're looking for a good one sided (Officially sancioned) account of the rise of the PlayStation, and a few of the facts behind the Rise of the Playstation, then Revolutionaries at Sony will do.

You can read the full review at Joystick101.org

http://www.joystick101.org/?op=displaystory&sid=2000/12/23/19945/112

A good look at the PlayStation's technology and business development process. Not really great as a venture or entrepreneur analysis (more of an intra-preneur story that worked). Gives something to compare the PS2 saga with.

Revolutionaries at Sony is the authorized case history of how Sony came to enter and become a leader in the video game business in the 1990s. Many people despair about the potential for large companies to produce entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial results from within major corporations. Even more people would despair about that occurring with fast-changing technologies in the slow-moving, consensus-driven cultures of Japanese companies. The latest look at this general subject is found in the well-done book, The Innovator's Dilemma.

This book is an important case history on the subject, because it both confirms and challenges many common beliefs about intrapreneurship (being an entrepreneur inside a company, a term coined by Gifford Pinchot).

First, Japanese companies have a reputation for being not very innovative. The Sony entry into computer games is just the opposite, an important innovation based on a well-considered bet on advanced technology and how a market could be developed. In describing this case, the potential advantages of a large company because obvious in terms of creating access to and the ability to use more types of advanced technology.

Second, the case history is especially noteworthy because the Sony team took the unusual perspective (but one that I subscribe to in The 2,000 Percent Solution and The Irresistible Growth Enterprise) that ordinary people can approach perfection routinely. And the Sony team did just that.

Third, Ken Kutaragi, the key entrepreneur in the story, shows how being a contructive rebel can pay off. Shades of skunk works at Lockheed! He clearly must be familiar with the literature that suggests that you need to get the team away from everyone else, yet access top talent. He did this by the unusual approach of heading a joint venture between Sony corporate and Sony Music, a subsidiary. This allowed the venture to be both in and out of Sony, depending on what is needed. He was aggressive when Sony was wrong, and enthusistically supportive when Sony was right in its support.

Fourth, this case is an excellent example of technological vision: Many of the key decisions were based on the expected development of future technology, but that technology was not yet available as the product was developed. If the technology had not become available later, Sony would have lost a fortune. Yet it made one instead. This is a wonderful example of anticipation.

The summary of the key principles that created this success (over $7 billion in sales in its fourth year -- one of the greatest new business entries in history) near the end is worth putting on your wall.

Anyone who wants to create fast growth should study this book. It provides many key lessons into the required leadership practices for technology-based businesses in the 21st century. I suspect it will become a classic in Japan. It should become one everywhere else as people seriously consider how to make giant companies dance nimbly with technology.

When I buy a book from online, I trust one star more than five stars. Because that realy save my money.

The is the first book I have read with REAL marketing insightsinstead of some fluff written by a consultant. I highly recommend this book...

I am an Internet executive who has read most books on Internet marketing. I can honestly say this was the best book on Internet marketing I have read to date. The interview format solicits true insider advice, and is extremely useful and practical. I was especially impressed by John Herr's chapter (VP of Buy.com). Great book!

A great example of how the hype and speculation of the late 1990's led to the bursting of the internet bubble. The book typifies the kind of thinking that got everyone into trouble: No real understanding of how technology works: No viable business model for profit; Hysterical optimism and conclusions without solid critical thinking. Anyone who had half a clue back then would have read this book and said "This is exactly what is wrong with digital entertainment today". Anyone who still believes what this book has to say is crying over his useless e-toys stock right now. Read it only if you want to better understand why things turned sour.

This book is only bla bla... it dosnt says anything beside history and future potentials about the entertainment technologies. Nothing usefull (at least for me).

A plain-spoken and skillfully argued roadmap to the future of entertainment. Plenty of provocative assertions and predictions. I'm not sure I agree with all of the conclusions, but it was fun going along for the ride. Much better writing than you find in a typical biz book.

takes too much of my tim

I just finished reading this book. Prior to it, I read a "dummies" book on the same subject. I was amazed at how little incremental knowledge was included in this book. I learned alot about Cybercash, but I'm not sure I wouldn't have rather learned about secure transactions, credit card processing, and online marketting skills.

I've learned more in one evening of setting up an online store than I did reading this book.

Sometimes I think the mark of a good book is how it works as a reference material. This book fails in this area. Much of the information in the book is already out of date, and many of the reference sites aren't in business anymore (there is one cybermall to which half a chapter is devoted that is no longer in business).

I'd look elsewhere. I'm going to buy some others right now.

I thought I'd learn some of the technical nitty gritty about electronic transactions from this book (the author is a founder of Cybercash), but was pleasantly surprised at how much good business information is also there. Lots of facts, many myths dispelled, and an enjoyable book to read. This is an excellent reference for the world of electronic commerce

This is a typical Charles River Media title: It promises a lot upfront (starting with the title), but goes only so far in delivering it.
In particular, it reads like a glorified (if incomplete) manual for 'Genesis 3D,' a free, no-programming game development engine for developing Quake-like games - with a few chapters toward the end about the possibilities of another prototyping tool called 'Reality Factory,' a supposed Genesis 3D enhancement (again free).
The good stuff, however, is in the beginning of the book: the game development (business) process, detailed and put as it is. I liked that, and feel THAT, if nothing else, should be the basis for buying this book. Even the Appendices are moderately useful (Paul Steed's article on Low-poly tricks, anyone?).
It's pretty much a mixed bag, really, when seen as a whole: you like some parts, but are left wanting for more in the 'actual' game development process. The author walks you through the creation of your first level, and you feel - there *could* be more; you *want* to have more; and there *should* have been more. But after reading through the first half about the do's and don'ts of the gaming business, you expect a fairly even treatment toward actually "designing" a complete, playable and likeable (if basic) game that "could" sell, perhaps at the bargain store down the road... That, unfortunately, just isn't there. Just, just isn't there. (Nope, it ain't). Create the first level, look at the features of the given game engines, check these coupla websites, resources, modeling tools, what's on the CD, there's more to come, etc., and that's it, end of story... Good beginning, directionless middle, disappointing end; a typical Charles River Media title from the year 2001. Beginners might benefit from knowing how easy it to develop a game, yet how hard it is to sell it for some real money. Professionals (even semi-professionals), however - I don't think they'd be much interested beyond the business half.
Recommendation: This really is a good book and a bad book rolled into one. A sort of 2 1/2 stars book (though I gave it 3). But if you really want to purchase it despite its deficiencies, you might want to look at getting "Game Programming: All In One" by Bruno Miguel Texeira de Sousa too, which, I feel, covers the technical ("necessary") side of game development in much greater detail than Mr. Ahearn's effort here. In a way, it even complements the information in the latter, and may justify purchasing it for its tips-n-advice value, if nothing else.

At first I only bought this book as reference material for the world of game design, however, the provides far more valuable information than how to make a design document. The book gives any new developer/designer an insight as to the whole process of producing games. It also shows how to produce a complete game proposal starting with a conver letter and ending with budgets and shcedules.

A MUST have as far as I am concerned.

Panic! Alert! Paradigm shift! "E-shock" originates from that obnoxious time period when everyone with a mouth, pen or posterior spouted Darwinist warnings of extinction for any business that failed to embrace the Internet and its associated New Economy. "The new game in town means some of the traditional barriers are breaking down and new ones are taking their place," de Kare-Silver states. "Understand these new rules and win. Ignore them and die."

DIE!

"E-shock" is clearly intended to arouse Joe Businessman's survival instincts. For a college geography student like me, it fails to get the adrenaline pumping. Fortunately, it is a quick read. De Kare-Silver writes about modern consumer time poverty -- one of the reasons you're reading this may very well be that you're too busy and pressured to bother making it to the bookstore -- and the book is thus written for the person on the go. Its never ending bullets, lists and overviews would tidily transfer to a PowerPoint presentation. In fact, I think I would rather have received the book in such a form.

Without going into gruesome detail, "E-shock" is concerned with the implications of the e-commerce revolution for the retailer, manufacturer and business in general. The Internet has spawned a New Economy and with it come all sorts of changes that you'd better consider. You need to change your operations. You need to rethink your strategies. But don't worry; consultants such as De Kare-Silver are out there to help you.

You need to realize that E-commerce investments can actually be earnings diluting. You should forget PE ratios when evaluating an e-business. You should consider internet flotations as part of the formula for delivering shareholder value.

You should also do away with commas.

"E-shock" finds this form of punctuation antiquated in the context of the new business-writing environment. When I read sentences such as, "Bursting onto the scene in 1994 it has caused a major rethink on how to sell products and services to consumers," I can't go any further without penciling in a comma between '1994' and 'it.'

But I'm just a stodgy old dinosaur lumbering along shackled to the Old Punctuation. If I had an ounce of self-preservation, I would adapt and invest in the New Punctuation, which I suspect goes something like this:

1) Because they take up time and space do not bother with commas and in order to remain competitive you may have to do away with semicolons hyphens and 10% of your periods.

2) Not only is "e-" an acceptable prefix to any word, concept or phrase, it is the New Prefix. It is the e-new e-way of e-doing e-things so e-get e-with e-the e-program e-.

3) A major issue will be punctuation distribution. In a virtual sentence, how do you deliver your periods, semicolons and exclamation points to the sentence's consumer? You may have to try novel approaches such as starting sentences with ampersands or centralizing all of your paragraph's periods next to one word with a high demand, such as "the."

4) Some forms of punctuation will be easier to adapt to the virtual environment than others. A big factor is familiarity. Consumers will be quite willing to see periods, commas and question marks in their virtual sentences, but more obscure things like tildes (~) will seem less trustworthy to online readers.

5) Accept the fact that cannibalisation will occur. For example, semicolons may be used in many instances in which a period would suffice instead. You may not use as many periods as you used to, but that's simply part of the New Punctuation.

I hope you invest in this book so that you'll be more prepared for these sort of changes. As de Kare-Silver says, "It's a bit like staking out the ground for the future and the market recognises to survive ... [one must] do that and to do it now. Like the gold rush, there is only going to be so much territory, so ... [one must] stake out [one's] share."

Of course, the gold rush only lasted a few years. This book is already in its second edition and I wouldn't be e-shocked if it needs updating again soon.

In the book, E-Shock: The New Rules ¡V Internet Strategies for Retailers & Manufacturers, the author, Michael de Kare-Silver, not only presents a lot of e-commerce pioneer¡¦s examples, but also quotes data (from leading journals and newspapers) and interviews (from business executives and think tanks) to help answer those questions. As a whole, the book is not a theoretical but practical, up-to-date volume and, especially, will help retailers and manufactures answer whether their companies are ready for virtual selling and how to proceed opportunities for e-commerce.

De Kare-Silver acknowledges that forecasting future market development can never be an exact science, but he argues that he has been enormously encouraged in his conclusions and convictions by a number of people. In the first part of the book, de Kare-Silver cites a bunch of reports from newspapers and magazines (e.g. Business Week, Reuter News Service, etc), interviews of CEOs (e.g. Bill Gates) and research or report (e.g. A.C. Nielsen research) to support his assertions. For example, he quotes Gate¡¦s words: ¡§The internet is a tidal wave. It will wash over nearly all industries drowning those who don¡¦t learn to swim in its wave¡¨ (p. 40). Moreover, Jagadish Sheth, professor of marketing in Goizueta business school, indicates that ¡§the combination of technology sophistication, equipment power and ease of use plus the supporting infrastructure will make electronic purchasing widespread in the U.S. by the year 2005¡¨ (P. 42). Those consolidated assertions give de Kare-Silver a stronger ground to say that it¡¦s time to go shopping on line.

Also, de Kare-Silver believes, ¡§survival of the fittest.¡¨ Timing, keen observation and real-time decisions decide if you will be a winner or a loser in the future e-shopping competition. So he also gives the readers some innovative companies (e.g. 1-800-FLOWER, First Direct, Levi Strauss) that pioneered changes in the electronic selling arena. They have a history of innovation and they are learning on e-commerce at every step. He strongly recommends that it is important to be at the forefront as the internet develops. That is to say, you lose one minute, and you may lose forever in the e-shopping era.

Then, he tries to analyze the far-reaching impacts of the e-commerce revolution and provides essential survival rules for retailers and manufacturers. Facing up to the skyrocketing growth in online shopping, he argues that some of old business administration models are no longer applicable, and as a result, winners in the future need to learn new rules early and learn to play by them. The soaring growth in e-shopping has generated a new set of survival rules for retailers and manufacturers. De Kare-Silver tries to pinpoint some rules and strategies for those who are interested in e-shopping to abide by. Some of these new rules include ¡§be ready to cannibalize,¡¨ ¡§be prepared to become a multi-channel operator,¡¨ ¡§get on interactive TV,¡¨ ¡§think in terms of convenience, convenience, convenience,¡¨ ¡§create a sense of community service¡¨ and the like, is a blueprint for the retailers doing business in the 21st century. Indeed, he tells retailers and manufacturers how to seize the competitive edge in time to help their business.

De Kare-Silver highly recommends retailers and manufactures take ES (electronic shopping) TEST into account when propelling e-shopping. The ES TEST, which provides simple step approaches (including product characteristics, familiarity and confidence, and consumer attributes) will help the retailers and manufactures to evaluate products and services best suited for online selling. As De Kare-Silver put it, ¡§the marketplace is dynamic, things are changing rapidly¡K, those who watch their marketplaces carefully and evaluate the trends rigorously can put themselves in the best possible position to respond electronically if and when demand
grow¡¨ (p. 117).

The book¡¦s most intriguing chapter is ¡§ the next wave in e-shopping.¡¨ De Kare-Silver reminds us of thinking about the next wave in e-shopping in the last part of the book. In addition to sophisticated consumer demand, rapidly improving technologies are the key forces driving the changes in shopping habits and the arrival of new wave in e-shopping.

With the development of digital TV, de Kare-Silver wonders if this new technology will be the winner of e-shopping in the future. Consequently, he interviews leading experts and commentators including Curtis Kopf ... Mike Nevin (from Dixons), Bruce Lynn (from Microsoft¡¦s Web TV), and James Ackerman & Julian Eccles (From BiB TV) to help answer the question. They dare not disagree that the wave of the future in e-shopping is digital TV because many large corporations are investing heavily in TV interactive shopping channel. Digital TV, undoubtedly, will become omnipresent quickly and play a significant role in e-shopping in the future.

By and large, the author prefers giving empirical cases to building theories, so it is easy to read even though your background is not related to business. The rules or strategies previously mentioned teach retailers and manufactures how to respond to changes and competition. This book targets retailers and manufactures: how to make profits and survive in the changing market. These are the important issues the author discusses, but I think the author can do more. I suggest that the author can mention the issue of business ethics. Are there any new strategies or rules that may invade consumer¡¦s privacy? Should retailers and manufactures adapt all the data of consumers they get on line for any purpose? These questions are needed to discuss more for developing a sound e-shopping environment. Business rules and strategies are necessary, however, business ethics cannot be neglected, either.

The author also mentions a bunch of examples from the UK, U.S., and some from Japan. However, people in different countries, of course, do not share the same attributes. Undoubtedly, you cannot assure if the rules and strategies workable in the western world will fit in the rest of the world. If the author can compare the differences of e-shopping experiences in different countries and create some alternative rules and strategies, I would be further likely to back him up.

This book was a pretty good account of GM's problems in the 1980's. Anyone who's read "Comeback" has heard this before: a slow, stubborn, unresponsive company does everything it can except learn how to make better cars.

A problem that I had with the book was the first section which was a brief overview of Ross Perot's life. I like Ross Perot, but the hero worship in the first section even got to me. Based on the first section and other parts of the book, this is obviously Perot's side of the story.

Overall it was interesting to read about GM's incompetence during this time. It was also instructive to read how Roger Smith had some good ideas but couldn't implement any of them, and so was ultimately seen as incompetent himself. History has largely ruled on this subject: Perot and EDS were right and GM was wrong.

Finally, I was disappointed that there weren't more good "zingers" from Perot in the book. I'd rather have had less about the contractual negotiations and more accounts of Perot's comments regarding GM and their board.

I worked for EDS for 20 years and this book helped explain many things that we heard rumblings about but went forever unexplained - for example, when Ken Reidlinger was let go. I agree that this book is probably slanted more towards Perot's side of the story but I think it is made clear that Perot made himself much more accessible for his side of the story than the GM'ers did, so obviously that is going to be reflected in writing. As an insider, it was great to finally be able to piece together the disastrous events leading up to GM getting it's hands on EDS.

A good little book with some interesting car security systems, the bad thing is there are some errors in the drawings of printed circuit boards and layouts of components.
Also in the "Basic Alarm System" diagram the author ommited the component list, i.e. values of resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc.
I was able to deduce the components from the component layout but it was for sure laborious.

This book covers some basic and advance alarm systems, contains quite a lot of pics about electric panels, but I think to read and understand this book is quite hard for general people who are not mechanicians, but It is great for those who have some knowledge and are curious about how these alarms work.

It's wordy, full of rhetoric and jargon, and the author is a pseudo-intellectual supercilious know it all that knows nothing. The book runs around in circles and states some blatant facts that anybody with a 3rd grade education could have gotten. I think the positive reviews given by other readers must have been from either himself (the author) or from friends trying to pump it up to be something other than the major flop it is. I'd avoid this book at all costs. Here, I'll sum it up for you: The dot-bomb happened because people didn't have a business plan for making money.

What are the chances that the only negative reviews were submitted on the same day? It's clear that it's a student who didn't do well in class. As the Harvard Business School concluded, THE DOT COM DEBACLE is clearly the definitive book about the dot-com bubble burst! It is an excellent discussion.

I read about this book in the Harvard Business School Review when it was named one of the Recommended business books of 2002. THE DOT COM DEBACLE reminded me of Riesman's THE LONELY CROWD. Both have fluid prose, though lengthy in an academic sort of way, but this is not to say it is dull. Like THE LONELY CROWD, Nevaer divides his chapter with the "This is what I'm about to say, and there, I've just said what I said I'd say, so let's review" approach popular in graduate courses. It also approaches the discussion from an interdisciplinary angle, which is terrific for achieving the "bigger picture." For example, how Alfred Kahn's "tyranny of small decisions" applies to the decimation of independent booksellers because of e-commerice is riveting: it makes one understand why certain economic principles transcend technology. If this makes the book feel scientific its very structure imparts a suggestion of seriousness and gravitas. Recent books that use the same approach is Robert Putnam's BOWLING ALONE: THE COLLAPSE AND REVIVAL OF AMERICAN COMMUNITY. To be sure, the book isn't for everyone, but it is a solid analysis of what went wrong and why it went wrong: the dot-commers believed they could defy the laws of economics and this hubris was its undoing. This is, by far, the best book on the subject I've read.

... or those wishing to see what economists really have to offer regarding power systems. Stoft's technical discussion of power markets, or locational pricing, mechanisms is just fine. But he offers nothing about the economics of electricity transmission, without which spatially diverse power markets are merely a theory. As such, his book is of no particular use to those looking to understand the economic issues that bedevil large power markets, like those in the US, where persistent transmission constraints can impair the functioning of the best "market architecture."
"Economics" is a loosely-used term in electricity market circles. Those wishing to understand the economic princiles behind power markets, as opposed to the mechanics of power systems, will have to look elsewhere.

This book is about good economics. It is not about the usual collection of market anecdotes, nor is it about engineering power systems. Power System Economics reviews all the key design elements of modern electricity wholesale markets, and puts them in their economic context. You will not find another book on the subject that is as comprehensive and well-researched.

Stoft's book provides a coherent and logical framework for understanding power system economics. It discusses the key controversies (or "fallacies") in power markets in a clear and easily-understandable way. There is a lot of confusion on these topics these days, not only in the press, but in a lot of the literature. Lots of commentators have vested interests, which colours their analysis and comment. Stoft's book helps bring the debates back to first principles. A textbook like this can never anticipate every question or issue that arises in every power market in the world, but the book provides a good framework for understanding the fundamentals, which the reader can then apply and extend to issues of his/her own interest. A good read.