Perfect Morning Walk Weather

Clear blue skies, warm spring weather and no humidity. The perfect recipe for a perfect morning walk. Today was the first day of the year for a walk in shorts and a t-shirt. I can't think of a better way to get the day off to a good start.

Passing under the Hibiya Line at Nakameguro Station, a commuter laden train is ready to transport those with an even earlier start to their work day.

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Kitten on a wall

During this morning's walk shortly after sunrise, I encountered a kitten in a tree that was watching me intently. I managed to coax it down as far as the wall next to the lane before it scampered away. I had one and only one chance for a photograph. The poster on the side of the wall was too tempting not to include in the image.
 
If you look closely at the tree on the extreme left side of the photo, you'll see the kitten's mother keeping an eye on the action.

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iPhone iDea

Here's an idea for the iPhone. As an option on the phone, the more frequently used apps are automatically promoted to the front pages. The more you use an app, the closer to page 1 it moves. Yes, I know this can be done manually but how about the option to have it done for you? 

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Sent from my fabulous iPhone.

 

 

Pee wine bar in Tokyo

Okay, I know sometimes an acronym works well for a business or organization. Think about IBM, NATO, BBC and so on. But in the case of this wine bar in the (ahem) trendy Tokyo district, Shibuya, I don't think this acronym is at all the right marketing message. If you do find yourself there for any reason, I'd probably avoid the Chardonnay.

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Sent from my fabulous iPhone.

My cat might be a spammer

This morning, while I was in the shower, one of our cats nestled herself on the keyboard of my MacBook Pro. The rationale of cats is beyond human understanding but I suspect she enjoyed the warmth of the notebook. In the process of getting seated and comfortable, she managed to open 362 tabs in Safari and then switch over to Mail. Then she opened a new message and was able to enter data in several fields. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen her results. I captured screenshots from the Mac to share. It sure looks to me like she is sending out spam from my computer.

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China aims to lead the world in electric cars

An article in the New York Times leads off with, "Chinese leaders have adopted a plan aimed at turning the country into one of the leading producers of hybrid and all-electric vehicles within three years, and making it the world leader in electric cars and buses after that". This news should come as no surprise to anyone but it should be of significant concern to the US automobile manufacturers and suppliers who are struggling to restructure themselves in order to return to business as usual. Building 20th century technology cars. China clearly sees the future of transportation and understands the volatility of oil supplies and prices. Strategic investments now will pay off later.

I recall in 1997 when Toyota starting making the Prius and Detroit laughed when they learned Toyota would lose $5000 per car sold. I can't say for sure but I think Toyota saw it differently. They knew they needed to build the cars now, even at a loss, in order to improve the technology and build brand awareness. Eleven years later, it is the hottest hybrid car in the market and they are turning a profit on each car. Not only that, other manufacturers are now licensing the technology for their own cars. 

Earlier this year, Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli was going to be interviewed in Business Week and offered readers a chance to submit questions for the interview. As far as I know my question was not used but it wanted to ask him why Chrysler couldn't break away from the pack in Detroit and focus only on high fuel-efficiency and alternative fuel small and medium-sized cars with exceptional technology in the form of user experience. (Think of Apple on wheels.) Leave the trucks and luxury cars and sports cars to other companies. Just do one thing and do it very, very well.  Build what America and the world needs. Not what they want this year.