All About E-books
Posted by goodmind on April 14th, 2008
The digital book concept has been tinkered with by various business enterprises, but has yet to yield anything worth writing home about. Unless of course you’re a blogger. In our opinion, the idea is solid, could be spectacular, but is too easily bogged down by mediocre execution (ahem, Kindle).
It seems most people, even the folks at Amazon, are content to sit back and wait for Apple to transform and revolutionize the reading experience via compact digital platform, designed specifically to exceed our half-formed, and poorly articulated expectations about e-books. That’s why we were pleasantly surprised to see Storytelling with Google Maps, and even more surprised to learn Google technology isn’t behind the project, it’s merely the vehicle.
Penguin Books has collaborated with Six to Start, an alternative gaming firm, to create an online reading experience unlike any other;
“readers follow the protagonist’s adventures step by step across the world using Google Maps, with text presented in the technology’s information bubbles at each point along the way.” (via Springwise)
We’ll know the concept has truly taken off when Google Maps responds with a fiction section, which would probably be a relief for those literally exposed by the service’s quest for authentic realism.
Next Gen “Fuzz Busters”
Posted by goodmind on April 3rd, 2008
For anyone seeking an excuse to splurge on a GPS enabled cellphone, let Trapster Mobile Service be your rationalization. It takes a “networked approach” to reporting speed traps, feeding information to maps, and alerting motorists to nearby police presence before it’s too late. Trapster is free of charge, and easy enough to use whether reporting or receiving reports; a critical factor in the success of most user-backed programs.
While the upfront investment in a GPS phone (and wireless data plan) may be offset by avoiding speeding tickets, be wary of accruing other types of traffic citations when using the Trapster service. In states where it is illegal to use a cellphone sans wireless headset, Trapster’s functional reliance on the “pound-1″ keystroke is unlikely to impress state troopers, no matter how slow you’re going. (via Gizmodo)
Check Your Local Radio Listings
Posted by goodmind on March 7th, 2008
Radio has been a dying medium for about 50 years, at least. Like most terminally ill invalids, terrestrial radio has managed to survive well passed its anticipated expiration date. It has lasted so long in fact, that an unlikely ally, the internet search engine, may have finally found a cure for what ails radio.
When terrestrial radio content is streamed online, it becomes an easily monetized product for broadcasters, who are just beginning to position online radio as a hyper-targeted media buy;
“The precise targeting ability that online radio promises is particularly critical for the vast, untapped field of small advertisers…Over the next few years, we will see the results of precise targeting and quick, low-cost internet radio ad-creation technology. For example, restaurants will now be able to immediately advertise specials on rainy evenings when they know their business needs a boost, targeting their sales pitch to an audience in specific zip codes.” (via Forbes)
We see this as not only a cure for radio’s problem, but also a sign of things to come in other mediums as well. Targeting specific audiences is not so much a matter of niche marketing as it is a local practice. Cost effective local advertising is not only an attractive solution for small businesses, but also a valuable tool for larger companies and national brands as well.
Starbucks is certainly a high profile instance of just how significant a priority the local connection is to a multinational corporation.
Bargain Appliances
Posted by goodmind on March 5th, 2008
Shopping for a new information appliance? A cross between a mobile phone and a laptop perhaps? The product your looking for is the Everex Cloudbook; the latest UMPC (ultra mobile PC) to hit the shelves of…Wal-mart? This $400 “subnotebook” runs on a Linux based operating system, called gOS Rocket, and is designed to function as a temporary travel computer. Ideal for motorhome owners come to think of it.
If successful, the Cloudbook could be the Trojan horse that eventually drives adoption further up the Linux appliance chain. Based on our own personal experience with Vista, we rather hope so. It also represents a bit of formidable competition to the ASUS eee PC, another Linux friendly UMPC for the road warrior in all of us, or at least the early adopter road warriors.
How to Remaster a Classic Album
Posted by goodmind on February 15th, 2008
In simpler times gone by, a recording artist would most certainly balk at the idea of allowing their work to be sampled freely and liberally by other artists. Then Napster, DRM, iTunes, and American Idol all happened.
There’s plenty of giddy commentary on how the music industry business model has to change or die, and we’ve had trouble restraining ourselves on the subject in the past. Be that as it may, all signs point to an industry still steadfast in its commitment to producing an overpriced physical product, though consumer preference and buying behavior would indicate otherwise.
Is it really so surprising then that a pair of recording artists from previously referenced simpler times, have decided to eschew the industry standard of releasing a ludicrously overpriced digitally remastered Anniversary album, in a “beautiful new package, with extensive liner notes and photos, and featuring 7 previously unreleased tracks from the original album and a film?”
Though the re-issuing of “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” by Brian Eno and David Byrne will be available with fancy packaging features, the contents of the 1981 album itself have some interesting features of their own;
“This is the first time complete and total access to original tracks with remix and sampling possibilities have been officially offered on line. In keeping with the spirit of the original album, Brian and David are offering for download all the multitracks on two of the songs. Through signing up to the user license, and in line with Creative Commons licenses, you are free to edit, remix, sample and mutilate these tracks however you like. Add them to your own song or create a new one. Visitors are welcome to post their mixes or songs that incorporate these audio files on the site for others to hear and rate.”
A Lending Crisis
Posted by goodmind on February 1st, 2008
In April we posted about a unique microfinance institution called Kiva.org. Back then, we referred to the site as “a peer-to-peer banking system which helps entrepreneurs in developing countries receive loans from socially conscious, social media savvy capitalists with at least $25.”
Some months later, the New York Times Magazine reports;
“Kiva is a philanthropic organization facing an extremely unusual challenge: maintaining adequate supply (people who need help) to meet demand (people who want to give it). “
Now the largest possible loan is $25, and it is the lend-ees who are having trouble securing them. It must be that .16 default interest rate.
Tag, You’re It
Posted by goodmind on January 18th, 2008
As forward thinking companies try to graft meta data and social tagging practices onto corporate communication procedures, we can’t help but wonder if what they’re really creating is a folksonomy Frankenstein. Given that the essential premise of a TagCloud, or a Technorati type service is to create new frames of reference from the bottom up, imposing these practices from the top down just seems like a new way to re-package old corporate jargon.
While IBM has buzzword bingo, a more pointed (pointless?) satirical “solution” would leverage the TagCloud format.
All kidding aside, Amazon.com is one major enterprise that has managed to seamlessly incorporate social tagging into profitable knowledge sharing practices;
“Look at any Amazon page for a given book, and you will find a taxonomy (represented by formal subject categories), user-contributed tags, links to other books bought by other people who bought this book, booklists compiled by users on related topics, suggestions for other books based on a complex algorithm combining your past behaviours and those of others, and so on. All of these mechanisms for purposefully finding – or serendipitously discovering – books, co-exist, and compete.” (via Green Chameleon)
The main takeaway from the Amazon example is this; taxonomies flourish in a competitive context. Though taxonomies appeal to the corporate mind as a standard communication system, their primary application is for finding, not framing information and insight.
A Pedestrian Idea
Posted by goodmind on December 21st, 2007
When we came across School Zone, a “high tech” take on the crosswalk, we couldn’t help but compare it to the plank road craze, so eloquently depicted by James Suroweicki in The Wisdom of Crowds. Once new technology with life changing implications, the plank road boom is often compared to the Dot.com bubble, but also illustrates the power of information cascades.
Information cascades result when people rely exclusively on social proof, at the expense of their own opinions. Well, it is our opinion that a national plank road turnpike infrastructure is adorable, as only a 19th century trend could be. School Zone is just the 21st century manifestation of prefabricated pathways.
However, the some of the social proofs about standard crosswalks make the School Zone concept worth another look;
“School Zone comes in a series of elevated slabs to fit any length road. The raised level ensures drivers see children as they cross and also acts as a speed bump forcing them to slow down or risk damaging their vehicles. The elevation also has an added benefit since it meets the exact height of the curb – wheelchairs can cross with ease….The prefabricated nature of the system means it can be manufactured to the highest of standards and installed anywhere. You can take it a step further and create temporary crosswalks for special events like concerts and outdoor festivals.” (via Yanko Design)
We’re pretty confident that the illuminated LED’s will really enhance the concert/festival experience, and that’s based on both opinion and the social proof of performance enhancing lighting design.
Calling Audibles
Posted by goodmind on December 17th, 2007
It seems Verizon has taken their “can you hear me now” campaign a little too far. According to one account, the tagline isn’t quite so clever as an actual phone feature. An Austin, TX area customer used her cell phone to dial 911 after discovering her property had been broken into. When her Casio GzOne proceeded to sound a very audible alarm, the customer panicked and ended to call, fearing intruders might still be on the premises, and you know, hear her.
The 911 alarm is a product feature intended to make cell phones more accessible and user friendly for the disabled, a move Verizon claims is their interpretation of Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. We’re all for complying with the FCC, but not when it results in product innovations gone wrong.
Industrial Evolution
Posted by goodmind on November 2nd, 2007
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Mo5Hp_6uD-E]
Adrian Bowyer envisions a world where manufacturing is like agriculture, and products are produced without factories, shipping, or industrial waste. The Pop!Tech presenter described this world as an impending reality, thanks to his “computer controlled glue gun,” made of starch based polymers that can be re-used, natch.
Bowyer is currently developing the RepRap, or “replicating rapid prototyper,” along with his colleagues at Bath University, and a loosely assembled team of international developers. RepRap is a fab machine; an open source, low-cost machine that can ‘print’ three-dimensional objects. It uses digital data to additively compile products, laying down layers of material much like a standard printer lays down layers of ink.
The idea of a fab machine as a low-cost, low-labor alternative to traditional step-by-step manufacturing has been around since the 1950’s. Yet never before has the concept been backed by the biological principles of evolution.
Bowyer explained that fab machines are evolutionary entities because as a “species” they can reproduce themselves. Reproductive capabilities allow a machine to become increasingly sophisticated over time. The concept of mechanical biology is not merely clever cocktail party science, it is a large part of Bowyer’s unique business approach.
The RepRap is targeted to the bottom of the economic pyramid, and should be available by 2008, for around €400. While this altruistic profit model wasn’t so singular at Pop!Tech, Bowyer took his approach to the next level, insisting that if his product is any good, he will only have to sell one Rep Rap. A RepRap warehouse will be entirely unnecessary since the machine can basically reproduce and improve itself over time.
If successful, the RepRap will place production capabilities squarely in the hands of “the people,” and could potentially make the sprawling manufacturing plant obsolete. No word yet on how the evolutionary theory will be received among advocates of Intelligent Design.
