Lance Winslow's Posts - Competitive Intelligence2024-03-28T15:35:39ZLance Winslowhttps://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/LanceWinslowhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2787655572?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=3itgs9t6x2w8y&xn_auth=noFlushing Out the Topic of Mobile Personal Tech and Ad Hoc Networks Considered - By Lance Winslowtag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2010-09-06:2036441:BlogPost:365852010-09-06T08:15:13.000ZLance Winslowhttps://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/LanceWinslow
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<p align="center">By Lance Winslow</p>
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<p>Below is a compilation of a number of articles on the topic of ad hoc networks with regards to mobile communication, cell phones, and social networks. This is a philosophical set of thoughts, you might indeed enjoy:</p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">The Latest Ad Hoc Mobile Personal Tech Networking Device…</font></p>
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<p align="center">By Lance Winslow</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Below is a compilation of a number of articles on the topic of ad hoc networks with regards to mobile communication, cell phones, and social networks. This is a philosophical set of thoughts, you might indeed enjoy:</p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">The Latest Ad Hoc Mobile Personal Tech Networking Device Patent by Apple</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Every day the smart phone market has something new to say, new to report, or more information to retort. For instance, now Apple is upping the ante on their control over the smart phones they sell, and has decided to apply for a few new patents. Yes, this is all typical in Apple Style, and yet, one of those patents is very telling to us at our Internet style Think Tank, as we are constantly remunerating about such things.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Great article on August 20, 2010 in ARS Technica entitled; "Apple May Be Looking to Lock Out Unauthorized iOS Users," by Chris Foresman who reported that Apple filed a patent titled; "Systems and Methods for Identifying Users of an Electronic Device," such as heartbeat analysis, photo, voice print, and suspicious behavior uncommon to the known user.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">So, I guess a thief who has stolen the phone would then be giving away his/her picture, voice print, keystrokes, and Global Position (location). The patent appears to also be able to turn off phone, erase hard-drive, and download all information to the "cloud" which is to protect the user. Yes, very nice, but with this technology, the authorities could also shut-it-down if the individual was suspected of being a bad guy, rioter, terrorist, etc. too.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Now then some folks at Slash-Dot ask, well would this also allow Apple to shut off those who "jail-break" from Apple's proprietary software? A great question posed by SoulSkill (screen name). A very good question, and inquiring minds, like mine want to know. But I also suspect that by having this feature, it means that the US Army would be interested in this for our "Blue Force" tracking in the Net Centric or rather Ad Hoc networked battlespace too. See that point.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">If an enemy gets a hold of one of their mobile devices, boom! – it is shut off and we have a picture of the enemy's camp, and what questions are asked, and the position of the soldier or device? Wow, now that is what I call using privileged information during interrogation. It also helps Apple sell its devices to the US Government over competitors like Motorola, Nokia, HTC, Google, and Blackberry too.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Unfortunately, this will totally fuel new conspiracy theories and NSA fringe seekers living in old cold war missile silos waiting for the apocalypse or Terminator's SkyNet to take over? Is this more big brother, or just upping the stakes in the world of personal tech, and government, military security for communication devices? You decide, I've already decided for myself.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Mo bile Ad Hoc Networks for the Consumer; the Power of Privacy</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">For anyone who studies flows it seems that the hub and spoke system of distribution is alive and well. Much of this is because of the brilliance of the Fred Smith, founder and chairman of FedEx, when he wrote a Harvard business school report and business plan on transferring large Federal Reserve notes by aircraft and distributing them to the various that banks. I believe on his infamous college report he got only a C grade.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Although later, this spoke and hub concept went on to become the distribution model for FedEx, at the Memphis sort. It is often cited in business books as rather ironic because as we know this became one of the greatest companies of all-time, and FedEx has revolutionized the over-night shipping business and all of the distribution industry for that matter.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">However, eventually FedEx also realized that taking packages all the way to the Memphis Sort and back again was not always the most efficient way to do it once they had many regional offices. Instead, it made sense to send some of those packages directly to the next regional office nearby, bypassing the hub. In doing so, they reverted some of their distribution to the point-to-point model, which has also re-taken hold in recent years, perhaps the reason why Boeing is building 737s (backlogged orders for years in advance in fact) still, and Airbus went for the A380 which can hold more people than a 747.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Now then, let's talk about how cell phone in data-packets move around, and are distributed. When you are on your cell phone it sends that data to the nearest cell tower, and at cell tower the data either goes to a landline, and takes the information across the country, to its intended destination, which may be another cell tower to another mobile user, or to someone with a landline.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Okay so, what if all the data went from your personal tech smart-cell-phone-device to another personal cell phone device directly, bypassing the cell tower? What if there were other phones in the area and you were making a local call, it might hop three-or-four cell phones to get there, never once going to the cell tower; like a walkie-talkie, rather than a trunked two-way radio.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">That would make sense because most cell phone calls are local calls, and nowadays the people using their cell phone are calling or texting someone nearby them in the same city within a 3 mile radius, and it just happens to be about the same radius for the cell towers. If you will recall before 3G wireless, the cell towers were 10 miles apart, and then they were 3 miles apart.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">But even if the person you are contacting was 15 miles away, the data-packets could go from your cell phone, to someone else's cell phone 3 miles away, to someone else's cell phone 3 miles away, and then to the cell phone you are calling, and each time it would bypass the cell tower completely, unless the intended receiver was at a landline. But why would you wish to do that you ask?</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">It's simple really, because you can put more users on the network, if you are using the cell towers less. As in 20-times as many, and that's a lot of data flow, and a much more efficient model, for at least a good chunk of the traffic. Major cost savings is an understatement.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">This could save tens of billions of dollars in the construction of new cell towers for the up-and-coming 4 G & 5G wireless strategies which will be our future system in mobile technologies. Since cell phones are already a send and receive device, this could easily be accomplished. And as long as everyone had extended battery life of their personal communication devices such as iPad or smart phone, companies like Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T could make more money and have less capital expenditure.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">This would relate directly to greater quarterly profits, and perhaps a good size reduction in everyone's cell phone bill. In doing this, it would give consumers more privacy, because their data would never go to a cell tower where it could be compromised, or intercepted by those who wanted access to it. Such as our government for instance, and so let's talk a little bit about that:</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Whenever we leave backdoors in our technology to allow the good guys to look at the data, or information that is flowing through, we inadvertently gives access to the bad guys, as they search the software code for those secret gates which allow our intelligence agencies in, in the first place.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">By sending the data packets of information from phone to phone, where they will be accumulated by the receiving phone as they come in, each packet would be highly dispersed, and unreadable, or irrelevant in and of itself. However all the data packets coming together in the receiving phone would display the message, or the voice phone message for the intended user.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">There are pros and cons to not being able to monitor all that data, such as this use of smart-phone technology by; smart mob protesters, ELF homegrown terrorists, or even terrorists planning an attack, or planting roadside bombs. This is because you couldn't intercept the cell phone transmission by its electronic serial number or ESN at the cell tower anymore, as most of the traffic would bypass.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Now let's consider the issues where a group of terrorists with machine guns tried to take over a hotel in Mumbai, since they were all using cell phones, the government of India could have intercepted that information at the cell tower, and therefore they could've caught them and prevented that chaos before the terrorists had started. But, if also cell phones are working like walkie-talkies on steroids and more like the Internet model in sending their packets of information all over the place all coming together any individual terrorist cell phone as they communicated, they be virtually unstoppable.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">You can see that's a serious problem, however, you can see where it would be wonderful to be able to expand the number of users on any given cell phone network, freeing up frequencies, and have each of the phones talking to each other delivering the data as if they were a node or mote in a system of distribution which used cell towers sometimes, and peer-to-peer personal tech device at other times, or a combination thereof. Actually rerouting traffic with whatever was best for the network at the time, which is almost like how the Internet works anyway isn't it? Almost but not quite.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Therefore, if we used a strategy of point-to-point, plus hub and spoke, we get the best of all worlds, and we can increase network traffic, as perhaps 70 or 80% were freed up. Thus, we could take on more data too, allow more onboard data transfer for video projection, holographic movies, downloadable movies on the go, etc. However, there are also problems with this, which need to be addressed, along with the increased efficiency, and added privacy for the end-user. Please consider all this.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Mobile Ad Hoc Networks for Real-Time Price Check Shopping Clubs</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Did you know that a number of higher-end retail stores now have cell phone blockers, in other words they have frequencies which disrupt cell phones, so that while you're shopping in their store you cannot get a phone call, which might interfere with the salesperson trying to pitch you, and will not allow you to go online using your 3G or 4G wireless system to check the Internet for better prices.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Many restaurants are also blocking cell phone signals, so therefore their clients and customers don't have to listen to someone jabbering away on their cell phone, and disrupting other's lunch or dinner. Some movie theaters have started doing the same thing as well, because people still forget to turn off their cell phones during movies. But did you know that Sam's Club is doing the opposite?</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">That's right, they've just announced they have WiFi capability in all of their stores, in case you want to go online and check for a lower price because they feel confident that they have the lowest price, and they are not worried about it one bit. Will this cause other retailers in time to follow suit? Will the competition go for it or will it cause fear amongst other retailers if they do not do the same.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">It is my contention that Sam's Club should go one step further. A few years ago, some members of our think tank were discussing how to make shopping at the large box stores a lot easier. And after this discussion, I had considered a kiosk at various points inside of Wal-Mart, you could walk up to it, and pronounce very carefully the item you are looking for, and it could tell you where you are in the store with a little red X [You Are Here], and exactly how to get to the department where the item was which you wanted, and where on the shelf it was located.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">However, with the advent of mobile ad hoc networks, and real-time price checking in such Shopping Clubs, perhaps you could use your smart-phone to do the same thing? In other words, your smart phone would be connected to the retail store's eCommerce Website, and you would have a complete layout of the store, and you could merely type in the type of item you wished to purchase, and it would tell you with a map of the store where that product was. It would also tell you the price.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">This would help all consumers navigate big box stores, and it would save a tremendous number of hours of employees trying to help people get what they wanted, or take up their time for customer service. Now then, some people would rather talk to a real live person, but most of us are so busy, we just as soon use our personal tech device to tell us exactly where it is, what it costs, and how to get to it as quickly as possible.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">And once you gathered the items you wanted to buy, you and your mobile smart phone device, interfaced with the online retail store would go up to the front and pay using your cell phone, as the Kiosk register quickly analyzed all the RFID tags which were inside of your shopping cart. And that's my opinion on this future technology, and a pretty good application for it.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Nothing or Nowhere Would Be a Great Place to Store Stuff or Hide in My Opinion</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">There is no such thing as nothing, and anybody that says that they know nothing is wrong. You can't "know nothing" because if you know something it exists, even if it only exists in your mind. You see, if there is nothing, it can only be nowhere, and it can be no place that has a name. However, if the concept of nothing is a reality, and it is nowhere, then, I just bet it would be a great place to hide stuff, to store stuff, to put secret information for instance, or to drop off my opinion. Let me explain.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">In the future, there will be mind reading machines, and they are going to expect every citizen of the world to think alike and not get out of line, and to become one with the neural network, kind of like a system of thought swapping social network on the Internet. Everyone will be connected all the time, and you don't dare think something that is out of bounds, because if you do the thought police will come and get you. This is why you are going to need in the future to send your mind nowhere, so you may think for yourself, and have private thoughts.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Of course others believe that the best place to hide is in broad daylight. In other words, they won't hide their thoughts at all, they will share them with friends, family, and their social network, and therefore government, and everyone else in the world as well. They might use the nursery rhyme strategy, and although everyone knows humpty dumpty was pushed and all the kings horses and men are incompetent to put him back together again, they will still be able to recite that poem and think about it.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Of course, the system will curtail any thoughts that are deemed unthinkable as they associate in their collective thought swapping social network. Are you beginning to see the problem with privacy issues, ad hoc networks, telephone wiretapping, computer keystroke logging, spyware, ad aware, and their advanced algorithmic cookies?</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Indeed, you may be living in the last era of privacy. You may currently be living in the greatest era of mankind. The time period, which came just before the thought police; and if that thought doesn't scare you, I don't know what would. Please consider all this and think about it.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Do Swarming Species Form Neural Mind Swapping Connections or Organic Ad Hoc Networks?</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Not long ago, I was discussing with an acquaintance the reality of ad hoc networks and the various commercial applications. For instance, smart phones talking with each other and passing information along regardless of the location. Forwarding packets of information and working together rather than sending the information to a routing system, WiFi location, or a cell tower. Well, that makes sense right?</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Our satellites should operate this way, just as our brains most likely do. Speaking of brains, how do we know that insects during swarming do not form ad hoc neural networks, it's possible. How so you ask? Well, consider if you will that insects when they swarm make a buzzing sound, a separate and unique resonance frequency, we know this is something that they can we do. That unique frequency could easily be a communication device.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">And such a communication device could be powered by chemicals in their brains and bodies, which they make naturally, due to their genetic code. Since all the swarming insects are of the same, they would make the same chemicals, in the same ratios, and thus they would be present at the time of swarming. Now then, have you ever been at a coffee shop when you're drinking caffeine and other people are also drinking coffee and you get into a conversation with someone you've never met, but all of a sudden you're able to finish their sentences and they yours.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Often we say that we are on the same wavelength with another person, is it by accident that we use this terminology, because it does accurately describe what is possibly happening. How do we know insects cannot do this as well, it would almost be an evolutionary "survival of the fittest" skill. We know that large groups of bacteria can do this, as that has been proven. And since the bacteria of any given species would live in most members of that species, perhaps the overall biosystem of the more complex species is using this symbiotic relationship for communication.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">If the bacteria within our bodies is communicating with itself, it should be able to communicate with nearby bacteria in another member of the same species nearby. Therefore, when insects swarm in creating certain resonance that could help trigger the bacteria causing a chemical release in all the other members of the swarm. Now then, let's consider how we might create this using modern technology, or use the same type of scheme or strategy.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Interestingly enough, we already do this in a way, for instance when people use their cell phones to create Smart mobs to converge on a single location all the same time or when all the Chinese protestors converged to disrupt the government in Tianamen Square. In the US, smart mobs, are mostly for entertainment, but the strategy is no different than swarming insects in nature. The only difference is the communicators are working through a central system, not personal tech device to personal tech device.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Now then, there is a reason why this strategy works (swarms), why it is so efficient and why it also must be tempered with protections. We know that mass mobs are very dangerous amongst humans, as we've seen how people get out of control in large groups and riots.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Not only can we use these strategies to perhaps stop a terrorist event, or use reverse 911 cell phone calling to warn people, but we also have to make sure that we can counteract the bad guys when this happens. In other words, we need to be able to turn off the social network, shut the cell phones down, and prevent the cell phones from talking to each other apart from the network. Otherwise we cannot protect our civilization from major disruptions from anarchy groups, terrorists, or from guerrilla warfare.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Swarming techniques work well in warfare, in sports, and in politics, as they are able to overwhelm the opponent. We need to be thinking here and use the swarming methodology to solve problems in times of need, and prevent attacks on the stability of our system, or from disruptive challenges like viruses or bad bacteria. Perhaps we could learn a lot from how the insects use there swarming networks, when designing our own electronic ad hoc networks. Please be thinking here.</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Always, open for further discussions on these topics.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">.</font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri"><font size="3">Sincerely, Lance Winslow</font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"></p>How Can We Insure the Accuracy of Data Mining – While Anonymizing the Data? - by Lance Winslowtag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2010-09-04:2036441:BlogPost:365482010-09-04T06:55:47.000ZLance Winslowhttps://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/LanceWinslow
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</font></font></font></span><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri"><img alt="" height="723" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803917706?profile=original" style="WIDTH: 162px; HEIGHT: 237px" width="359"></img></font></font></font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">Okay so, the topic of this question is…</font></p>
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</font></font></font></span><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri"><img style="WIDTH: 162px; HEIGHT: 237px" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803917706?profile=original" width="359" height="723"/></font></font></font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Okay so, the topic of this question is meaningful and was recently asked in a government publication on Internet Privacy, Smart Phone Personal Data, and Social Online Network Security Features. And indeed, it is a good question, in that we need the bulk raw data for many things such as; planning for IT backbone infrastructure, allotting communication frequencies, tracking flu pandemics, chasing cancer clusters, and for national security, etc, on-and-on, this data is very important.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Still, the question remains; "<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.5pt">How Can We Insure the Accuracy of Data Mining – While Anonymizing the Data?" Well, if you don't collect any data in the first place, you know what you've collected is accurate right? No data collected = No errors! But, that's not exactly what everyone has in mind of course. Now then if</span> you don't have sources for the data points, and if all the data is a anonymized in advance, due to the use of screen names in social networks, then none of the accuracy of any of the data can be taken as truthful.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Okay, but that doesn't mean some of the data isn't correct right? And if you know the percentage of data you cannot trust, you can get better results. How about an example, during the campaign of Barak Obama there were numerous polls in the media, of course, many of the online polls showed a larger percentage, land-slide-like, which never materialized in the actual election; why? Simple, there were folks gaming the system, and because the online crowd, younger group participating was in greater abundance.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Back to the topic; perhaps what's needed is for someone less qualified as a trusted source with their information could be sidelined and identified as a question mark and within or adding to the margin of error. And, if it appears to be fake, a number next to that piece of data, and that identification can then be deleted, when doing the data mining.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Although, perhaps a subsystem could allow for tracing and tracking, but only if it was at the national security level, which could take the information all the way down to the individual ISP and actual user identification. And if data was found to be false, it could merely be red flagged, as unreliable.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">The reality is you can't trust sources online, or any of the information that you see online, just like you cannot trust word-for-word the information in the newspapers, or the fact that 95% of all intelligence gathered is junk, the trick is to sift through and find the 5% that is reality based, and realize that even the misinformation, often has clues.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Thus, if the questionable data is flagged prior to anonymizing the data, then you can increase your margin for error without ever having the actual identification of any one-piece of data in the whole bulk of the database or data mine. Margins for error are often cut short, to purport better accuracy, usually to the detriment of the information or the conclusions, solutions, or decisions made from that data.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">And then there is the fudge factor, when you are collecting data to prove yourself right? Okay, let's talk about that shall we? You really can't trust data as unbiased if the dissemination, collection, processing, and accounting was done by a human being. Likewise, we also know we cannot trust government data, or projections.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Consider if you will the problems with trusting the OMB numbers and economic data on the financial bill, or the cost of the ObamaCare healthcare bill. Also other economic data has been known to be false, and even the bank stress tests in China, the EU, and the United States is questionable. For instance consumer and investor confidence is very important therefore false data is often put out, or real data is manipulated before it's put on the public. Hey, I am not an anti-government guy, and I realize we need the bureaucracy for some things, but I am wise enough to realize that humans run the government, and there is a lot of power involved, humans like to retain and get more of that power. We can expect that.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">And we can expect that folks purporting information under fake screen names, pen names to also be less-than-trustworthy, that's all I am saying here. Look, it's not just the government, corporations do it too as they attempt to put a good spin on their quarterly earnings, balance sheet, move assets around, or give forward looking projections.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Even when we look at the data from the FED's Beige Sheet we could say that most all of that is hearsay, because generally the FED Governors of the various districts do not indicate exactly which of their clients, customers, or friends in industry gave them which pieces of information. Thus we don't know what we can trust, and we thus must assume we can't trust any of it, unless we can identify the source prior to its inclusion in the research, report, or mined data query.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">This is nothing new, it's the same for all information, whether we read it in the newspaper or our intelligence industry learns of new details. Check sources and if we don't check the sources in advance, the correct thing to do is to increase the probability that the information is indeed incorrect, and/or the margin for error at some point ends up going hyperbolic on you, thus, you need to throw the whole thing out, but then I ask why collect it in the first place.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Ah hell, this is all just philosophy on the accuracy of data mining. Grab yourself a cup of coffee, think about it and email your comments and questions.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">By Lance Winslow</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"></p>Russian Spies Still Working Internet from Remote Locations to Gather US Intelligence! - By Lance Winslowtag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2010-09-04:2036441:BlogPost:365452010-09-04T06:51:01.000ZLance Winslowhttps://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/LanceWinslow
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">The Russian Spies who were caught in New Jersey, were only the tip of the ice berg, many others have been involved in and around our education system, and networking with Wall Street, local governments, and groups with economic backgrounds. They…</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">The Russian Spies who were caught in New Jersey, were only the tip of the ice berg, many others have been involved in and around our education system, and networking with Wall Street, local governments, and groups with economic backgrounds. They also work extremely hard to infiltrate policy organizations, think tanks, and academia. Many work with large multi-national conglomerates from the top five to ten largest GDP countries of the world, giving them free access to travel.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">The massive 1 million person strike in South Africa was in part the doing of Russian Spies in that country to help the communist party get a better foothold there, and influence the region. In South America, they have infiltrated Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, just to name a few, again working those connections, and using some of those free-trade agreements to garner access to the US, and the ability to contact, do business with, and get information from US Companies.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">In Silicon Valley, they have infiltrated many of the large corporations there, run service companies, and use sex appeal to get close to executives. Their covers are nothing spectacular and often ordinary such as risk management personnel, financial consultants, event organizers, marketing representatives, tag-alongs with deal-making parties. Some are also involved using quasi-media relations covers. They are in Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, Nashville, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, Boston, Philly, Chicago suburbs, etc.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">The catching and deporting of the ten individuals previously is nothing, tip of the ice berg stuff. Unfortunately, many of the leads the FBI had are also now broken, but rest assured they are still up to their old tricks and making contacts every day, even using variations of the same names they've used previously. It's as if they picked a few names a long time ago, and went with those, someone in the KGB is just culturally naïve, but it's too late now.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">We can easily use AI or Artificially Intelligent Computers to catch them, in fact, it wouldn't even be that tough, I bet if I had 10 savvy 20-somethings with some really good social networking skills, some access to Google's information, and a couple of weeks of 17-hour days with my team, we could catch 100 more. Yes, a drop in the bucket, but it would throw the Russians off their game big time. And we could use this model to help other countries throw a wrench in their nonsense.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">These jokers really think they are smart, and they are manipulative, cunning, yet naïve, and they have no clue as to how intense real Americans can be. All we need is the will, a few more team members and they are as good as caught. How do I know all this? Oh hell, let's just call it Telepathy, I am not even sure they have a name for it.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">By Lance Winslow</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>We Are Seriously Running Out of Bad Guys – Intelligence Agencies and Regulators Run Amuck - By Lance Winslowtag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2010-09-04:2036441:BlogPost:365422010-09-04T06:45:36.000ZLance Winslowhttps://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/LanceWinslow
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">By Lance Winslow</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">You know we have a serious problem with run-away government in that we have too few bad guys and too many enforcement folks.…</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">By Lance Winslow</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">You know we have a serious problem with run-away government in that we have too few bad guys and too many enforcement folks. Seriously, it's a huge problem, just ask any small business person about all the inspectors that harass them and threaten to fine them for some ordinance, rule, or regulation. And we have far too many regulatory agencies doing exploratory type enforcement with far too many inter-agency folks, combined with too many concerned citizen groups, and too many Industry association volunteers, and lawyers.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">But the problem doesn't just stop there, we have far too many Intelligence Agencies, and too many good guys chasing too few bad guys. Indeed, with our technology, it's like we don't even need them anymore, as the computer profiling algorithms scan all the data and keep catching the bad guys. Unfortunately, these systems are also creating too many false positives. How do I know all this? Because, I am in the know, and if you don't see it too, it's because you are in denial.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Worse, with all the global intelligence information share, we have foreign intelligence agencies also finding false positives and turning in Americans to our intelligence agencies. As the coordinator of an Internet style think tank, I am literally blown away by all the false inquiries we get from intelligence agency folks trying to be sneaky? I mean hey, it's nice to see them get their practice and all that, but, it would also be nice if they'd please stop wasting our time, and the American tax dollars.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">What we need is better computer systems that do not spit out so many false positives. Also, when someone checks out as "Okay" well then, it's time to put them on the good-guys list. I've talked to many business people, they complain about the same things. And really if someone was an "Evil Doer" they'd be hiding within the intelligence agencies anyway, they'd be highly connected.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Data mining the Internet, and all the records now available to the government via "fusion centers" and government records is all well and good, but not if we as a nation are chasing ghosts. After all, at some point someone who is an innocent citizen is going to be framed just to justify the on-going efforts of all this non-sense. I believe that's what's been happening in fact. And unfortunately, as this is done, we seem to be creating animosity and discontent in our society, creating a self-fulfilling prophesy.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">That's a problem, it's a common "group think" or mass mob mentality of paranoia, and the news media exacerbates it all as they amplify non-events into the greatest chaos and controversial catastrophe of the week. This is not healthy, and it's a real problem, we don't need to go down this road. You see, if we want this great nation to succeed, we need to get back to our roots and realize that freedom of speech, liberty, and yes, that includes online venues is why America is great.</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">There is far too much duplication, too many regulations, too much intelligence agency funding (Washington Post is already calling it the Intelligence Industrial Complex), and we have too many paranoid folks in our government. If we allow this to continue, we need not fear the Russian and Chinese Spies, the terrorists, or the drug cartel gangs, we need to fear our selves, and the "FEAR" that is causing it all.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Just an observation, be well my fellow Americans, and think about this from a philosophical standpoint, I think you will realize that this is a challenge we need to work on.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNoSpacing"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">.</font></p>Competing Against Your Own Business Stats - By Lance Winslowtag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-12-08:2036441:BlogPost:287332009-12-08T09:00:23.000ZLance Winslowhttps://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/LanceWinslow
<p style="text-align: left;"><img alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803917951?profile=original"></img></p>
<b><i>Compete Against Yourself and Your Own Strategies<br />
What Yourself Dust Your Competition</i></b><br />
By Lance Winslow<br />
<br />
Before retirement, many people said I was paranoid and that I acted like Don Quixote busy chasing windmills. The reality is I always assumed that every competitor competing against any of my companies in the market place were as smart as I was, as cunning in their business strategies, and as ruthless in the market place.<br />
<br />
Indeed, I…
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<b><i>Compete Against Yourself and Your Own Strategies<br />
What Yourself Dust Your Competition</i></b><br />
By Lance Winslow<br />
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Before retirement, many people said I was paranoid and that I acted like Don Quixote busy chasing windmills. The reality is I always assumed that every competitor competing against any of my companies in the market place were as smart as I was, as cunning in their business strategies, and as ruthless in the market place.<br />
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Indeed, I never took anything for granted, and even when a little company, which wasn't much competition to us had entered one of our markets, I treated them as if they were us, with our abilities going after our market share and customers.<br />
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Andy Grove, the former president of Intel wrote a book called "Only the Paranoid Survive" and in this book he indicated that you cannot take anything for granted. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, also felt the same way, and he was often quoted as saying; "we never know when someone is not going to start a software company in their garage, and become the next Microsoft to compete against us." Was he paranoid for saying this?<br />
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Perhaps, but maybe, just maybe, it is that attitude in business which prevents a company from being blindsided, or ambushed. If you want to beat your competition, you must always is assume that they are as smart as you, and have abundant resources, because they just might. If you read Jack Welch's book; "From the Gut," he essentially says the same thing, and I believe he is correct.<br />
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In fact, I believe much of our success in the companies that I ran had been due to my belief system when it came to thinking this way. Even though my company was much different than the others listed as we were a franchising organization, and much smaller, still, we competed in 450 cities in 23 states. We had an abundance of competition in the marketplace and we never once took any of them for granted.<br />
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I can recall that I knew the names of every single one of my competitors, their managers, and I had digital pictures, Polaroids, and brochures of each and every one of them. I knew what they charged, how big they were, and what their market niches were. I knew more about their companies, than I believe they knew about their own businesses. If you are going to compete in the marketplace, you need to seek a higher level. Is that paranoia?<br />
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Hard to say, but as the fearless leader of my own company, I can tell you that we won markets because we were the best, and we didn't do anything based on hope, prayers, or dreams. If you are in it to win it you need to think like this. If you are unable, you will eventually be beaten in the marketplace by a savvy or stronger competitor. Please consider all this.Mobile Oil Change Business Competitive Intelligence Gathering in Business Planning Phase; Case Study - By Lance Winslowtag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-03-28:2036441:BlogPost:187272009-03-28T06:27:46.000ZLance Winslowhttps://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/LanceWinslow
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By Lance Winslow<br />
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Whenever you start any type of business, it is a pretty good idea to see what competition you might have out there. Find out what they are charging, who they are and what type of volume they have. If you are planning on starting a Mobile Oil Change business, these rules also apply. Typically, mobile oil change operators do not realize that their biggest competition is really the low-cost discounters that are at fixed sites - like…
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By Lance Winslow<br />
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Whenever you start any type of business, it is a pretty good idea to see what competition you might have out there. Find out what they are charging, who they are and what type of volume they have. If you are planning on starting a Mobile Oil Change business, these rules also apply. Typically, mobile oil change operators do not realize that their biggest competition is really the low-cost discounters that are at fixed sites - like Wal-Mart Auto Center for instance.<br />
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Depending on the affluence of the area, this could be a huge issue, but it you are looking for fleet business, it is irrelevant or if you are in a high-end area of wealth, like the Suburbs of West of Chicago, or those areas North of Dallas-Ft. Worth. If you are going to be operating in such an area of high-net-income demographics, then the Wal-Mart or discounting fixed site oil change companies are not important at all.<br />
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Most long-time mobile oil change companies that are any good generally do not advertise much, sometimes they are in the phone book, but not all the time. Many of the fleet oil change companies are not in the phone book or they also do other types of truck maintenance, thus are listed in a different section of the phone book, sometimes a little one-line listing, which can be deceiving to the not trained person who is unfamiliar with the industry.<br />
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So you cannot tell, but once you start pounding on doors during your blitz marketing campaigns you will find this out, as potential customers will tell that they have it all covered and they are not interested in your services. Generally, folks in the industry will know, who they are or you can always ask the Snap-on-Tool guy, they seem to know everyone who does that type of work in town, it's their job to know. Just do not ask a computer guy, they don't know squat about the industry.<br />
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By Lance WinslowCounter Intelligence and Misdirection - Lance Winslowtag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2009-02-15:2036441:BlogPost:167302009-02-15T06:14:49.000ZLance Winslowhttps://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/LanceWinslow
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By Lance Winslow<br />
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<b>How to Drive Your Competition Absolutely Crazy</b><br />
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Psyche wars in business are just as much a reality as they are in the battlespace. Business is often likened to war, and there is really a good reason for that. The fog of war will serve you well if you can learn some of the rules of the game; namely there aren't any. You'll figure it out some day or it will eat your lunch.<br />
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So, you ask; <i><b>"how do I drive my competition…</b></i>
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<br />
By Lance Winslow<br />
<br />
<b>How to Drive Your Competition Absolutely Crazy</b><br />
<br />
Psyche wars in business are just as much a reality as they are in the battlespace. Business is often likened to war, and there is really a good reason for that. The fog of war will serve you well if you can learn some of the rules of the game; namely there aren't any. You'll figure it out some day or it will eat your lunch.<br />
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So, you ask; <i><b>"how do I drive my competition absolutely crazy?"</b></i><br />
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Hire me! Just kidding. Well, actually, it's not a half bad idea. Indeed, you can see I am already driving you nuts just reading this, so maybe I am not far off that mark am I? Do you see what I just did playing with your mind there? Don't worry, it's not your fault, after all you are merely human, and well, although I was raised with humans, well, I would never admit to be one; Yuk! You see, our company is not like yours, we don't just participate in markets we own them.<br />
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The question is; what are you doing here in our space. Oh you think you deserve market share? Ha, you got to earn it, don't make me laugh. You cannot compete with us as it is, and this is before we introduce our new product in 3-weeks. Whoops, I wasn't suppose to tell you about our secret Blitz Product launch that will blow the doors off your meager offerings.<br />
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Well, I've definitely told you too much, the surprise attack is out of the bag, but you are just going to have to wait for our sneak stealth attack in 3-weeks when we launch, and by the end of the quarter we'll own it all, the whole pie, market share, why should we share with you. Your company cannot compete in our game, you're not good at it.<br />
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By Lance Winslow<br />
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.Corporate Espionage in Franchisingtag:competitiveintelligence.ning.com,2008-12-31:2036441:BlogPost:137692008-12-31T08:45:45.000ZLance Winslowhttps://competitiveintelligence.ning.com/profile/LanceWinslow
<b>By Lance Winslow</b><br />
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<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="215" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803919589?profile=original" width="400"></img></p>
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Franchising Trade Journals do not do well, because today with all the industry regulations only about 1800 active franchise actually exist in the US. Down sharply over the past five years. Why? Over-regulation. Now you have a Bank Cooperative, which owns a company that collect data, FranData of Uniform Franchise Offering Circulars, which are the industries required disclosure documents to new franchise buyers. The company…
<b>By Lance Winslow</b><br />
<br />
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803919589?profile=original" alt="" width="400" height="215"/></p>
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Franchising Trade Journals do not do well, because today with all the industry regulations only about 1800 active franchise actually exist in the US. Down sharply over the past five years. Why? Over-regulation. Now you have a Bank Cooperative, which owns a company that collect data, FranData of Uniform Franchise Offering Circulars, which are the industries required disclosure documents to new franchise buyers. The company sells it to attorneys and to competitors of which many probably are financed through that bank. My God can this be real. Then they work with industry Trade Journals to do Top 50 franchises lists, but to be qualified to be reviewed they of course wish to see your UFOC; Uniform Franchise Offering Circular.<br />
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So what is the deal with this purported 50 Fastest New Franchise List? Is it real? Does it matter if it is? After all once a Franchisor decides to participate they have just given their life's work to someone who will sell the data including the names addresses and phone numbers of each and every one of your franchisees to your competitors or to franchise industry salesmen who will never stop harassing you or your company and to the over seas competitors who want to come into this country and take you customers and end use customers of your franchise families income. You think this is acceptable?<br />
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It is unbelievable to think that this is acceptable, in a time when Accounting Firms and Agencies cannot advise and audit or a time when the NYSE is splitting up it's executive and regulating boards. This whole thing smells of Conflict of interest, anti-trust laws, misrepresentation of intent. Meanwhile the SBA, a government agency, paid by us is paying this company or has given them an exclusive to collect this data for their SBA registry of franchising companies to streamline loan application process times? Holly conflict of interest; can you believe that the industry has there penis so far up the regulating agencies rear end that they allow this?<br />
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Then a lady who called our company had the nerve to ask us to participate with them in a survey, so she can help us get more publicity? No; so their company can give away our information to those companies who cannot compete with us head on in the market place, because they are either to incompetent or too lazy to offer better service and lower prices to the consumer. Instead they are willing to pay for all our secrets via a group financed by government contracts at the SBA, which is really involved in industry spying? Wow, for an agency like the SBA which is suppose to help people in achieving their American Dream, they have allowed and exclusive contract to a company that wants to put the screws to the next Ray Kroc, up and coming franchise concept?<br />
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Pathetic, typical Washington, "It's who you know and who you BLOW" attitude, literally. You can bet that http://www.Franchising.org is going to get to the bottom of this, meanwhile if you are an up and coming franchisor and you want to succeed, then realize who you are dealing with before you allow the important data that makes your business possible out of your sight. Franchise Buyers must be screened carefully, do not hand over your information, data, financial audit, or profile without weighing the benefits first. Be sure to ask questions of these companies who claim to be helping you in some way? Yah sure, they are going out of their way to help you? Since when has anyone besides a new franchisor; ever done that in your life? Since when has someone gone out of their way to assist you in building your franchise company?<br />
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What we see here is an undermining of the entire Friedman Economic Model, which dictates free markets, which is run by a company which profits from screwing over the little guy. Last time I checked it was new smaller businesses and expanding businesses, which provided jobs. Not the government or attorneys, speaking of which wasn’t it great watching that lawyer hide behind the tree the other day trying not to be shot buy a guy he ripped off; I think that happened at a California court house last year?<br />
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In my opinion FranData a subsidiary of the National Bank Cooperative is violating the intent if not the letter of the law as it relates to anti-trust. And it is our opinion that only a D.C. Company could get way with such a conflict of interest working in cahoots with a government agency, which literally gives out money. Have you seen the fall out rates of SBA loans? It is also our opinion that we were lied to by FranData for them to secure more information from our company to give, actually sell, to our competitors. What started out as a nice contract for a Black African American businessman has been manipulated and then sold to a Bank Cooperative, which uses this data through a subsidiary to profit of the sale of said data to competitors.<br />
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Does this affect our team? Our Company, the franchise business I have been working on for 27 years? Well, it could if we give our data to these people to sell online. But still these companies buying the data will see we do not take prisoners in the marketplace. However for a small franchisor starting out, it could spell disaster. Every time we see these things, we are more resolved to get out there and kick ass against those who manipulate the system, break the law or think they can take the easy way out to compete with us. My advice for this new franchise entrepreneur, Watch Out, things are not as they appear and it is politics as usual in the Belt Way. Think about it.<br />
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Additional thoughts on this subject<br />
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www.parthe.net/_fr0202/00000019.htm<br />
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www.parthe.net/_fr0202/0000001d.htm<br />
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www.parthe.net/_fr0202/00000013.htm<br />
<br />
www.parthe.net/_fr0202/00000023.htm<br />
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www.carwashguys.com/073102_1.shtml<br />
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<i><b>By Lance Winslow</b></i><br />
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