Season's Greetings From GABA

Dear GABA members,

What a year this has been! Politically a new U. S. President (YES WE CAN), a new coalition in Germany (CDU/CSU and FDP), and economically the deepest recession in decades.

Especially during this recession, the German-American Business Association (GABA) has proven once again that it can offer unique support and added value providing the kind of community that helps professionals through difficult times. In reaction to the changed job market GABA offered a special job hunting series to help people reorient themselves and to use all channels including social media in their job search. With its 10 Industry Groups in place, GABA provided plentiful networking and training opportunities tackling business, technology, leadership and social topics. Some of them can be reviewed on the GABA Blog.

Despite the overall economic slowdown, 2009 was a very successful year for GABA. The association was able to grow its membership by 18% compared to last year. Now in its 7th year, GABA put together a total of 60 events: 40 in Northern California, and 20 organized by the Chapter in Southern California plus additional events in Munich and Berlin. The overall number of attendees exceeded over 3,500, a new record for us!

  GABA TV Airs Saturday At 8.30 PM

Another project GABA started in late 2009 is GABA TV. The weekly show is hosted by GABA's Media Co-Chair Pamela Lenz Sommer, and will air tomorrow for the first time: Starting December 19th, GABA TV airs every Saturday at 8:30 pm at KMTP TV channel 32. KMTP-TV32, Digital 33 reaches 1.9 million households in the San Francisco Bay Area over the air, via satellite and cable. GABA TV provides an additional platform for knowledge exchange, business and cultural topics and can be used as a venue to promote your business.

To all of you, who have experienced the value of our organization, please encourage your friends, business partners, colleagues and employers to Join GABA.

Especially after this challenging year, on behalf of the GABA Board, I want to thank our Executive Director Caroline Raynaud and her local team, the extended GABA team in Southern California, as well as the chapters in Germany for their work. And most of all, we give appreciation to our Industry Group Co-Chairs, and all our wonderful volunteers for a successful 2009.

GABA is driven by its members so please contact us with your ideas, valuable feedback and suggestions. We are always striving to improve.

Happy holidays and best wishes for a prosperous New Year!

Sincerely,

Thomas Neubert
Chairman and Co-Founder, GABA
 chairman@gaba-network.org

The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute and Its Latest Innovations

During two events in December, members of German-American Business Association GABA and the Silicon Valley tech community received a rare look inside one of Germany’s R&D powerhouses – the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI). 

3-D Without Wearing Glasses

The Interactive Media group demonstrated several 3D displays that do not require any special glasses for the viewer.   This is accomplished by tracking the viewer’s eye position and mechanically adjusting the 3D filters within the display to optimize the viewing angle as the viewer’s position shifts continuously.  Another interesting demonstration showed how touchless gesture control can be used to play a video game or interact with an informational kiosk.

The Image Processing group described the immersive experience of 7 HD displays stitched together, providing a 180 degree field of view with 3D sound.   There is no better way to watch the German national soccer team, except being there, of course!  Another project, named the “virtual mirror”, provides an augmented reality display which can be useful when trying on new shoes or a new suit, without requiring the specific merchandise to be on hand.

Gesture Controll and Virtual Mirror

It was exciting to see the researchers describe what is possible already now and in the future.  The possible applications of this research are endless – ranging from the medical field, to consumer technology, to information services.

The HHI is part of the Fraunhofer Association, which comprises 60 institutes in Germany and other parts of the world, offering research services to industry and government.   For its part, HHI employs over 220 scientists plus approximately 130 students, with a total research budget of € 26M.     Its primary focus is communication networks and image processing, with special emphasis on interactive media, mobile broadband, photonic networks and components, and fiber optical sensor systems.   FHHI staff has been honored with two Emmys for their contributions to the H.264 video format.

The HHI is interested in sharing its technology and R&D capabilities with interested companies in the Silicon Valley.   Engagements can be short, medium, or long-term, ranging from straight technology licensing deals to joint research projects or even establishing joint spinoff ventures.

Happy Holidays!

Steffen Bartschat – Co-Chair, GABA Software Industry Group
http://www.linkedin.com/in/bartschat

For more information about the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, see their website or join them at one of the following occasions:

CES, Las Vegas, NV, 07.-10. JAN 2010 and NAB, Las Vegas, NV, 12.-15. APR 2010
Contact: Jürgen Rurainsky, rurainsky@hhi.fraunhofer.de , +491735449185

Web2.0, San Francisco, CA, 03.-06. MAY 2010
Contact: Michael Witte, Head Strategic Marketing michael.witte@hhi.fraunhofer.de

Photonics West, San Francisco, CA, 26.-28. JAN 2010 hall north, booth 4601
Contact: Dr. Joachim Giesekus, joachim.giesekus@hhi.fraunhofer.de, +4916093973493

OFC/NFOEC, San Diego, CA, 23.-25. MAR 2010
Contact: Wolfgang Schlaak, schlaak@hhi.fraunhofer.de

Siggraph, Los Angeles, CA, 27.-29. JUL 2010
Contact: Jürgen Rurainsky, rurainsky@hhi.fraunhofer.de, +491735449185
 

The Future of Home Entertainment

On November 5, industry leaders representing the tech community in Silicon Valley and content creation community in Hollywood gathered to prognosticate on the future of entertainment in the living room.  Which technologies are "hype" and which will become real?   

Projectors an Emerging Trend in the Home  

The panel discussion was introduced by topic. The first topic centered around High Definition TV.   Everyone agreed HD-TV was here to stay and bound to become a success.  The revolution is nearly won!   Many of the panelists described how they use high-def projectors to produce wall-sized video entertainment as opposed to relying on LCD or plasma TVs.   

The discussion turned to the Blu-Ray disc format.   Will it be adopted at the same pace as DVD?   The consensus was "no", DVD will continue to be the ubiquitous, most portable format for the time being.   However, as consumers replace their living room DVD players, they might choose to buy a BD player - to give them the choice of playing a Blu-Ray disc as well as a DVD disc, since BD players are backward compatible.   While BD players may eventually outsell DVD players for this reason, there does not seem to be the same prospect of BD discs outselling DVDs - for the portability reasons mentioned previously. 

What about 3D entertainment? 

3D has been a huge success in movie theaters - will it enter the home any time soon?   The consensus seemed to be "no" - TV is mostly a passive and multi-tasking sport - so who will want to wear 3D glasses or move into a 3D TV's narrow "sweet spot"  while watching TV *and* doing their knitting, or Twittering, etc?   There also seems to be a huge cost burden on producing 3D content, not to mention the bandwidth costs for transmitting this content.    3D will continue to play a successful "niche" role in movie theaters - not all movies will be produced in 3D, but every year we should be able to view a few spectacular 3D productions.   Don't look for it to become ubiquitious in our homes, though.

For more pictures from this GABA event, please click here.

What is the future of the set-top box, which had its start as a cable TV "channel shifter" but has recently evolved to become a digital video recorder and more - allowing both time and place shifting.      An interesting comment was made that time and place (e.g. the Sling Box) shifting are essentially temporary solutions.   If we had had true video on demand, there would be no need for recording or transmitting shows from your home to another location.   Another key challenge in this area is the user interface.    It's all about the software - enabling the consumer to quickly discover the entertainment they desire.      Note also that the Blu Ray player may have a role here as an emerging "set top box" platform with similar capabilities as other hardware devices. 

Much Enthusiasm for Internet Delivery - Little for Smart TV 

Nobody on the panel seemed very enthusiastic about the Smart TV concept.   Who needs gadgets showing you the weather or your Facebook page when you just want to lounge on the sofa and watch some mindless TV?   There does seem to be a generational "gap" however - younger viewers love to multitask while watching TV - but would they want to interact with their TV - or maybe they will just continue to use the laptop that is open while the show is running on the TV?

There seemed to be a good amount of enthusiasm for the concept of Internet delivery of our favorite shows and movies.   Technological challenges related to network bandwidth and ISP capacity restrictions did not seem to worry anyone - the key issue here seems to be content licensing and developing an economic model that allows everyone in the food chain to create a profitable transaction for a given movie rental.   Current models don't seem to work very well.

Will Apple take over home video entertainment in the same fashion as music?   Panelists don't expect this to happen.   The same economic model issue comes into play and Apple is no further at solving this problem than its competitors.   But there is one big worry here - Apple has over 100M consumer credit cards in its iTunes database - that's a powerful platform for transactions!

Special thanks to our panelists - Jeff Klugman (TiVo), Jim Taylor (Sonic Solutions), Roland Vlaicu (Dolby), Todd Collart (Deluxe Digital Studios), Michael McGuire (Gartner), and Jerry Pierce (AZEC).

This summary was provided by our moderator for the evening, GABA's Software Industry Group co-Chair, Steffen Bartschat.  

The Moderator's Powerpoint Presentation is available for Download. 

We have another upcoming event about Media technology and innovation on December 10, 2009. For more information please click here or visit our website at www.gaba-network.org and open the event calendar.

Electric Cars: Transformational Change or Niche Trend?

The GABA event on electric vehicles on October 12th at Cooley’s in Palo attracted an audience of nearly 100 people. GABA Automotive Industry Group Chair Thilo Koslowski presented  his Electric Vehicle analysis from Gartner, and moderated a panel of representatives from Better Place, Coulomb Technologies, General Motors, and AC Propulsion who exchanged their views on developments in the emerging electric vehicle industry.

 

Early electric vehicle: Lohner-Porsche from the year 1900

Thilo Koslowski, vice president and automotive practice leader at Gartner, disclosed numbers predicting that in industrialized automotive markets, battery-powered vehicles (plug-in full-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) will represent 5 to 8 percent of all vehicles sold using various types of propulsion technologies by 2020. Battery-powered vehicles will account for 15 to 20 percent of all vehicle sales by 2030.

According to Thilo’s analysis three key factors will impact EV adoption over the next years:

Automotive Industry and Technology Advancements
To test EV market acceptance and prepare for a potential boost in EV production, virtually all global mainstream automobile manufacturers are planning to bring at least one EV model to market in the next four years; some plan to do so even sooner. The growth in EVs is also opening the door to emerging vehicle manufacturers that specialize in the design, development and sale of battery-powered automobiles. Furthermore, the emergence of new supply chain partners that provide engineering, powertrain components, testing and battery offerings continues.

At the same time, key technological advancements are prerequisites for creating dependable battery-powered vehicles in the future and include:
-    Increased energy density for various chemical compositions in EV batteries and new powertrain designs with increased reliability
-    Advanced software control models (e.g., for energy, battery and temperature management)
-    Expanded standardization efforts, such as the SAE J1772 initiative for standardizing EV charging plugs, which is likely to be adopted by most OEMs this year

EV Infrastructure Developments
 Infrastructure developments require massive investments to provide users with a seamless transportation experience for battery-powered vehicles. To this end, infrastructure efforts need to accomplish new forms of collaboration between vehicle manufacturers, energy providers, charging service providers and vehicle owners. Gartner predicts that EV brokers will play a critical role in achieving this required collaboration aimed at simplifying EV ownership, but brokers' business models will need to adapt to a changing value chain over the next five years.

Societal and Political Trends

Consumer awareness about the operational costs of passenger vehicle ownership and the desire to meet environmental objectives has grown steadily in developed countries over the last three years in response to rising awareness about global warming, higher fuel costs and vehicle emissions. At the same time, regional governments have also increased their financial support for EV development.

Thilo Koslowski

Additional information is available in the Gartner report "The Electric Vehicle's Value Chain and Technology Evolution" at http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=1179817&subref=simplesearch

Phone Wars and the Current Challenges Wireless Semiconductor Manufacturers Are Facing

The trend towards the Smart Phone cannot be stopped anymore, the participants of the GABA Semiconductor IG event on September 17th, 2009 agreed.

Technology is converging, and people are using their phones for all sorts of applications, many of which had been exclusive of the PC world before. The application fields go way beyond simple web browsing. However, Smart Phones will not see as much single chip integration as ultra low-cost phones. Even though integration will advance, multi-chip solutions remain more cost effective and flexible in most cases. This is especially true, when looking at the different innovation speed in the areas of modem and application processor.

A question that brought up some controversy among the panelists was, whether the Smart Phone of the future will resemble a PC platform: Some argued that there would be little room for differentiation and all devices will provide ample performance to use with any given application, which will lead to faster pace towards commoditization and result in lower margins on the hardware side. Others were confident that there would be enough room for them to differentiate their products to keep up the current pace of innovation and the correspondent product replacement cycles.

Patents remain another threat for Hardware Manufacturers. For the upcoming 4G wireless technology standards, it is not yet clear whether this will turn out to be as much a minefield as it has been for the current 3G technology. In the past, patent officers often granted patents containing only little innovation, which led to many lawsuits regarding wireless technologies. Tarek Fahmi, Partner and Semiconductor IP and Patent Counsel at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, said he received the impression that patent courts are currently making it harder for patent trolls to obtain license payments or prevent competitors from shipping their goods only because they are holding a patent.

In the future, however, core fields of innovation might shift away from the semiconductors towards other key components of the mobile phone such as the touch screen displays and the battery. Arbitrary battery form factors and more capacity will fuel longer phone run time without sacrificing attractive designs.

All parties agree that the battle around mobile phone software platforms is just beginning. Stay tuned for the next event on Phone Wars when we will be exploring a similar topic with software industry experts.

Slides from the presentation at the event are available at http://www.gaba-network.org/download/090917_GABA_Phone_Wars_I.pdf

Best regards
Hartmut Schittko

Who You Know, Who Do They Know, And How Will You Be Perceived?

We are in the early stages of the Social Networking revolution. It may seem that this revolution started recently with sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. In fact, the revolution started initially in the dotcom era with dating sites (match.com, yahoo personals…) and reconnection sites (classmates.com, Ancestry.com…). These sites, all of which I have used in the past, laid the foundation for the Social Networking revolution we are experiencing today.

It simple to join any Social Network and many times “free.” It seems like all you need to do is add the required information and you are part of the network. Do not be deceived by the simplicity; there is much more thought that needs to go into what you say and what you add to your Social Networks.

Many people see Social Networking as another fad that will fall apart over time or something they do not need to understand because it will not affect the way they do business or even a big waste of time. Wrong! In 2008, 22% of employers used Social Networking to do background checks. By 2010, the projection is over 55% will be using Social networking for background checks. I believe that the estimate is conservative.

From the perspective of a job searcher, Social Networks make it easier for potential employees to research companies and potential bosses. Reading the recommendations or lack thereof tells you a lot about a person and gives you “interesting” information on their management style or lack thereof. You do not know who your friend’s friend’s friend is and what they do. If you are looking for a job, it is imperative that you utilize Social Networking, both in person and on the web. Your competition, for any posted job is already using both methods. Additionally, there are techniques to use Social Networking to project where a new job might be.

When I received the email request to do a guest blog for GABA, I was both honored and wondered who was making this request. As a Social Networking expert, I like to know as much as I can about the person I am talking with. I immediately looked up the GABA project manager on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, and Xing. It turns out that she is a third-degree connection on LinkedIn and I have 11 connections that are connected to someone who knows her. If I wanted, I could have requested an introduction through LinkedIn or called one of my 11 connections to see if they knew her directly and requested a "warm" introduction. My experience is many people do not convert their second- and third-degree connections to first-degree connections.

I look forward to discussing how “Social Networking - Increases Your Personal & HR Opportunities!” on September 10, 2009 with you. If you are attending, please take quick the on-line survey (10 minutes). GABA will send you the link after you register. Thanks, I look forward to talking with you at the workshop.

Best regards,

Tim Bailey aka TimBaileyGR

http://www.linkedin.com/in/TimBaileyGR

http://www.facebook.com/timbaileyGR

http://twitter.com/TimBaileyGR

PS –

Alliance-Strategies policy is to link with only people we know professionally on both LinkedIn and Xing. As for Facebook and Twitter, these are wide open.

Starting the GABA Blog

Dear GABA Blog Readers,

Welcome to our first post.

This blog is meant to be a window for our association. A window you can look into to see what we at GABA are doing and what is coming up. And a window we can look out of to learn about preferences and what inquiries you have for us.

In other words, we will be posting news about our events and our community on an ongoing basis. Contributins will be made by our GABA industry group co-chairs and event speakers. We hope that you will connect with us and post your comments.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

Caroline Raynaud
Executive Director, GABA California