Headworx

The Internet played a huge role during the COVID pandemic, to keep us globally connected. Despite the lockdowns we were globally connected and thanks to webcams and teleconferencing software applications we could continue being together. Now the war that Russia started in Ukraine changed all that. The Cloud is no longer global. The location of servers and who operates them has become fundamental. Russia (and in consequence the Russian citizens) have been cut off from the services they had been using so happily. Thousands are stuck and stranded in Thailand and many other holiday destinations. Cashless and flightless - without access to their banks and with no (easy) means to return home. The government cannot transact either and considers switching to Bitcoin . But even if Russia accumulates Bitcoins, it is not that easy to spend the cryptocurrency - at some point they will need to convert.  The cuts have so far been virtual, the West simply switched off the services. But one can a...

The war that Russia has started on Ukraine is fought by armies, but equally is also the war which can be won with the support of consumers globally. Ukraine is defending the fundamental rights to independence and freedom. And these are the values of ultimate importance to the whole world. Russia has been stricken by very broad economic and political sanctions. These sanctions, however, could be even more severe. The problem with sanctions is they are imposed by governments who - in turn - care mostly about the electorates. And the electorates, especially in countries not in direct proximity to the war, are not that much willing to give up on their comfort and convenience . People are complaining on rising energy prices, not understanding the importance of the fundamental values this is about. That is also amplified by the lack of understanding how the world works.  The common perception, for example, is that increasing the oil drilling in the US is a bad thing. But we are not incre...

I wish this was published in more upbeat circumstances as the COVID pandemic was going away. The sad thing is - as we thought the difficult 2-year pandemic was behind us, Russia invaded Ukraine and started the terrible war. The war that is tragic in the short term but in the long term should help us shaping even better civilization. There is hope and faith though. And signs that every bad period has its end. For the first time in 2 years I'm going to attend in person a trade show - the LEDucation and then visit a number of our important customers and partners across the US. You can join us there either on the virtual  Democratizing Lighting Controls to Meet Global Sustainability Targets session run by Rafał Han, our CEO, or meet us in person on the show floor. There is light!

I've been thinking about the subject of today's blog and honestly - it is difficult to offer a subject which is not related to the Russian invasion on Ukraine. Everything else seems distant and less important. Thousands of people are being killed. Sources say Russia has lost 11 thousand soldiers in the first week. To put that number in perspective: their losses in Afghanistan over 10 years were 15 thousand. This is hard to comprehend... It is still surprising how many people (high profile people) do not get it. Mariana Mazzucato joins Jeffrey Sachs proposing to sacrifice Ukraine to make everybody happy . Look: this is not about any NATO ambitions. This is about ending the insane Russian imperialism and about the freedom of the independent country of Ukraine. The World has just changed and will never be the same. In the suicide move Putin has pushed himself into a corner, isolating the entire country. Nobody wants to deal with him. Everything Russia has gained over the last 40 ...