After having moved recently I am often asked how do I find living in the Bay Area or what is new or different? Something caught my attention this morning as I was flipping through the Sunday morning shows. After “Meet The Press”, the nationally televised TV program, the local channel had a 30 min. program which covered the following:
- Electric Vehicle and the subsidy and its future;
- A startup Company providing electric charging services at department stores and shopping malls.
- Low frequency radar to guide vehicles vs. laser assisted radar (LIDAR) system for driverless cars being developed by a startup Co. founded by a Physicist from MIT;
- A startup venture capital Co. that works on behalf of banks to fund very small and small companies.
Every topic was covered in depth and with language jargons that will make any nerd happy and proud.
For example the disappearing subsidy for Electric Vehicles was discussed not as a hand out, but a way to reward success. Subsidies ran out since it was meant only for 200,000 cars and Tesla blew through that quota early on.
The electric charging services Co. is not an energy utility Co. at all. Instead it is an IT based Co. much like Airbnb with no investments in physical infra structure! The discussion on business model and market segmentation will easily blow away any MBA from a top school!
During the discussion on low frequency radars I learned all the details on how they work, why they are safe (since they are mm wave low energy beams) and the entrepreneur prediction that Automated Driverless cars will be here to stay in ten years! I couldn’t not believe that I was hearing details on analog Vs. digital signals in a TV Channel program!
The startup VC Co. CEO explained why the banks are not doing this investing directly and were relying on this middle man Co. His explanation of data base and how it is used was amazing.
All in all, a fast paced show; music for someone proficient in science and technology.
But I was also wondering how far away is this show from the stuff covered in the main TV channels in East Coast? Believe me what I saw was a mainstream TV program in the Bay Area, CA. not a Geek show. It was not Science Friday on Public Radio channel.
Wonder how these topics and subject will ever be covered in the TV channels in middle and rural America? How will the larger popiulation in USA wiull get immersed on these details and possibilities? It is in this widening chasm between the entrepreneurial, make it happen High Tech. world and the rest of the country that economists, political leaders and policy planners have to come to terms with. Sooner they do, better off will be everyone and the nation as a whole.
STIMS Institute 