There's No PayPal for Web 2.0
Now Playing: Podtech.net InfoTalk podcast // Wayne Wonder -
I've been listening to John Furrier's Podtech.net InfoTalk podcast for a couple of weeks now. I can't remember where I first heard about it, maybe it was through Always On but he's been having great discussions on high-tech, venture capital, entrepenuers, and evrythign in between. One of the most common themes has been the emergence of Web 2.0, where cheap bandwith and OTS hardware and open-source platforms via the web, combined with bottom-up generated content via blogs, Flickr, Technorati, and del.icio.us, are creating a "perfect storm" for innovation and start-ups involved in high-tech.

There's been a fair amount of talk (nostalgia maybe?) about the good 'ol pre-bubble days thanks to the 10th anniversary of the Netscape IPO but I think the Web 2.0 idea is more than mere blog chatter. When Adam "the Podfather" Curry is talking about podcasts being the start of something new we could be skeptical. But then listen to John Furrier and his podcast guests and this theme of Web 2.0 begins to take form. This VC, as is true of almost all VCs ( don't know any personally, yet), is a comp-sci person and worked at McKinsey before entering venture capital so he knows what he's talking about. He's at the frontlines of technology, innocation, and the entrepenurial spirit. We realize that this Web 2.0 movement involves blogs and podcasts (that's all the mainstream media seems to see) but it is a much larger phenomenon than these two ingredients and its taking place right in front of eyes. Do you see it?

Okay, okay, what spawned all this crystal-ball thinking? The 8/11 podcast with venture capitalist Andreas Stavropolis of Draper Fisher Jurvetson may be one of the most insightful and forward-looking discussions of the future of the high-tech industry that I've ever heard or read. I'm usually as reluctant to use the the 'wow' as I am to use exclamation points or emoticons in email but wow may just be the best word.

Nothing that I haven't heard other guests say on the InfoTalk podcast, except for the bit about transcations via RSS (look out PayPal), and it it was this comment that made my gears starting turning over. I had just read Fortune's "Cashing in on RSS" (thanks to my new customized Google homepage for the RSS feed on this article, damn Google is good) and Kirkpatrick described "that companies will begin to figure out how to perform tasks, such as tracking inventory, using RSS feeds."

That's cool stuff and then damn, I hear this VC on the podcast say transactions via RSS and it all clicked. As part of the InfoTalk podcast's tradition is asking guests to make a prediciton on the future of the market five years out, here's Stavropolis' first of two predictions:
"You will be able to transact, you will be able to consume, and you will be able to publish across mutliple media and mutliple devices, anytime you want, where you want, what you want."

It's getting late and Wayne Wonder is on repeat in iTunes- that means it's time for bed.

Hooked on Kronik Worked for Me
Now Playing: Off the Hook podcast

If anything was worthy of a blog post, this is it: my recent discovery of the energy drink called Kronik.

I had stayed up late Wed. night reading, writing, researching on the internet (I call this work but others call it wasting time on the internet) and knew that Thu. morning at work was going to be rough without a little energy boost. I'm a Red Bull person for their original sponsorship of the Air & Style snowboard event in Innsbruck, Austria, but only for that reason, not for taste or anything else really.

But when I walked up to the cooler in the back of the 7-11 and didn't see the Red Bull at first glance, the Kronik drew me in...who the hell would name an energy drink Kronik? I couldn't resist and bought the $2.10 can of blue Kronik and proudly paraded it around at work, making all the obvious jokes of course.

It tasted all right, like all of the other energy drinks out there, and it was blue colored, not green.

The Slo-Mo Blur of Mid-Summer
Now Playing: KCRW's Morning Eclectic // Queer Eye & Engadget podcast
It's been awhile since my last post and while so many great things have happened I've been in a bit of a funk. I'm coming out of now so let's keep the momentum going. I have a list of things I've been meaning to blog (and wrote down on a scrap of paper somewhere) but for now here's the most recent musings:

Becky and JK married back in May and their wedding thank you note just arrived tonight. Becky referenced the funny NPR story that I forwarded them about a Chrysler LeBaron (which she used to have, see pg. 2), so here's the NPR audio. Funny stuff.

Good 'ol Genesee Hospital, where Dad faithfully worked for over 20 years and had hoped to retire from, shuttered it doors over 4 years ago. It stands dormant and hollow on Alexander St. down from the nighttime buzz of Alexander & East, doing nothing but rotting and crumbling. News is that someone may be interested in buying it. Let's hope that someone uses the building for something productive, residential or otherwise.

Political words of wisdom from my cousin
Now Playing: This American Life - via WBEZ & NPR
In his book, "The Angels' Game: A Handbook of Modern Diplomacy," Billy Macomber, a cousin on my mother's side of the family, wrote on the importance of bipartisanship in developing foreign policy and the final section is valuable wisdom in our current political landscape (emphasis added):

"For, as has been noted earlier, predictability and stability of direction, especially on the part of the great powers, are key ingredients in the effort to produce a more stable world, and nothing can be more destabilizing than for the whole course of American foreign policy to hang in the balance every time there is an American presidential election. American diplomats should therefore always seek to persuade the leaders of the administration they currently serve of the importance of seeking bipartisan understanding and support for the fundamentals of the course it pursues- knowing full well that in the inevitable rhythm of American political life, the minority party will become the majority one day."

Imagining the technological future
Now Playing: NPR's Weekend Edition via KCRW's webcast
I've been trying to tie together some of the ideas about technology and the future that have been swirling around my head recently. More accurately, I want to see the future but not let current trends or hype affect that vision. Where is the strategic inflection point (SIP, from Grove's book, Only the Paranoid Survive) with mobile devices, wireless internet, RSS and consumer-driven communication. The difficulty is in distinguishing between signals and noise and that's where I am with the current landscape. Here's a SIP diagram:

Here are my technology observations that I want to combine into something new:

Hacks with Google Earth

Podtech.net's infoTalk Podcast with VCs Accel Partners: "Harnessing the users to generate the content or to help refine the content"-- That means having consumers help generate content and even assist with more relevant searching capabilities (we talked about harnessing the power of Wiki to create the next generation of search even more powerful than Google...maybe)

Reading Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Bible at Barnes & Noble's cafe and seeing two different groups of three pre-teens come to hang out and grab some Starbucks. What caught my eye was how quickly each group started playing with their mobile phones, whether is was chatting with someone on the phone while real life human beings were sitting right next to them or simply playing with them, checking call histories or text messages. The potential of talking with someone else, who might be more exciting than your present company, seemed to drive both of these pre-teen gatherings. I watched for 5 minutes with quiet interest, wondering what the future hold for mobile devices as pre-teens like this are using them so critically to their social lives.

Finally, thanks to NPR for further popularizing the Brazilian Girls by interviewing them on today's Weekend Edition. JK and I have been excited about Brazilian Girls for some time (yes, I mean the musical group too) thanks to the great radio station KCRW (which I've posted on many times before). So check out Brazilian Girls and KCRW.
It will be interesting to see how this story affects the number of "Brazilian Girls" references on the web and on the blogs. I wonder if Technorati can help us determine that impact...

As of 12:36 EST, 7/16/05:
"Brazilian Girls" had 4,812 posts. Here's the most recent number. Let's see what happens after a couple of hours and the NPR story has settled in.

Updated: Looks like Richard's Pig Sty blog at MSN Spaces beat me to it accoridng to Technorati.

Posted by cph19 at 12:40 PM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 13 August 2005 2:57 AM EDT

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Karl on the shuttle...?
Overheard as Scott McClellan was leaving today's White House Press Breifing: "Is Karl going to be on the shuttle...?" [Laughter]

Watch the last minute or so of CSPAN's video (Real format) and turn up your volume, it's hard to hear.

Like Watching Puppies Get Beaten...?
Now Playing: White House Press Briefing, July 11, 2005
Wonkette's description of today's White Press press briefing: "Yup, that video of the WH press corps pelting Scott McClellan with repeated questions about the Plame investigation sure is funny. Funny if you like watching puppies get beaten. Poor Scotty -- probably the person who knows the least about the matter, he was the most careless in formulating his responses."

As Tony Blankley (editor of the Washington Times explained to Arianna Huffington on last Friday's Left, Right, & Center, reporters were waiting until there was more evidence before barraging McLellan like they did today (text or video again). We have more concrete evidence now (or had it over the weekend according to the blogsphere).

In completely unrelated by completely cool news, Danny Way successfully jumped the Great Wall of China. I read about this over the weekend and heard it on NPR this morning while getting ready for work: story here, video here.

4th of July , American Pie, and Karl Rove too
The highlights of my 4th of July weekend:

This American Life's show "Reunited," which featured a story on Chance the pet bull and his reincarnation through cloning. [Background info here] A hilarious but heatwarming piece for anybody, even those not particualry fond of pets, who can appreciate people's deepest desire to relive past loves. Give the entire episode a listen, it's well worth your time.

Reading up on the Karl Rove leak story (which I first saw on Drudge Thu. or Fri. night), which could be big news if it pans out. This would be an interesting week for politics when you add this to the SCOTUS hullabaloo

4th of July down at Conseus Lake:

Posted by cph19 at 12:59 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 8 July 2005 1:19 AM EDT

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Live 8 Music and Design Awards
Now Playing: Live 8 - Linkin Park & Jay-Z
How do I spend my weekends when I don't have class? I'm on the internet reading and listening to music so it should be no surprise that I'm rocking the Live 8 concert feeds.

I'll step aside of the debate on whether the Live 8 event is worthwhile and comment on the music. I heard some Snow Patrol and the Killers from London, which were good but nothing exceptional, but the Linkin Park set from Philly pleasantly surprised me. I'm not a huge fan of the group but LaToya at work convinced me to get the Linkin Park/Jay-Z mashups and I do like "Izzo/In The End." Imagine my surprise, and apparently to the crowd as well, when Jay-Z comes up and does a small set with Linkin Park. It got me going, tapping my foot and bobbing my head.

Add some good music and reading like this, Business Week's annual design awards of 2005, and I'm a happy clam (thanks to NPR for making this story one of those driveway moments for me). Among my favorites from the design awards were the training-wheel bicycle that gradually moved the training wheels away as the rider grew more confident and the Kohler Hatbox toilet. My dad would like this toilet because he's full of it and because of the slick modern, minimalist design.

Now I'm going for a run because it's too nice out to stay inside blogging. The song on top of my running playlist right now (props again to NPR for pointing out this song) is the Black Eyed Peas song "Gone Going" with Jack Johsnon.

Podcasting is Taking Off
Now Playing: Mashup compliments of del.icio.us (John Mayer & somebody else)
Think podcasts are hype, think again according to Dave Winer who along with Adam Curry spent a lot of time developing podcasting tools. This is another sign of the internet's bottom-up, grassroots capabilities that allows anyone on the net to broadcast their unique content.

Yes, the podcasting bandwagon is moving at nearly full throttle (thank you Apple and the newest iTunes release with podcasting ability) but I think there's traction with this thing. Podcasting is ilkee TiVo, empowering people to subscribe, timeshift, and listen to content with much less hassle. But more than easing the search and download process, podcasting gives anyone with a radio voice the ability to broadcast without needing the traditional radio spectrum.

Thanks to LifeHacker for these two iTunes podcast tricks:
1) adding video blogs to your podcast subscriptions (think RocketBoom if you don't know of any video blogs)
2) Auto-load certain kinds of music or content, like mp3 mashups (as I'm currently listening to thank to this trick), via the tagging prowess of del.icio.us (Wiki definition here)

Lastly, this is for Lessig and those of disappointed by the Supreme Court's decision in the Grokster case: The Economist says that "A first, useful step would be a drastic reduction of copyright back to its original terms—14 years, renewable once." Yes, the extreme, content should be free, piracy-lovin' weirdeos across the pond believe that current U.S. copyright terms are too long.

It's Been Wayy Too Long
Now Playing: Common - The Food (feat. Kayne West)
There's been a lot going on and yet there's hasn't been much happening. Summer is definitely here in Rochester and with the heat and humidity, it's nice to see people outside enjoying themselves.

Here's the quick recap of the summer so far:

my grandmother passed away in April

JK's wedding in Newport, RI. A hell of a good time, the pictures are coming soon (John says)

Picked up the XV6600 PDA/Phone combo, giving me high-speed email, web, and moblogging capabilities in one mobile device

Pyszka was diagnosed with a brain tumor, had a big pre-op party, and had the bugger removed successfully (assorted photos)

Rochester Jazz Festival: saw Spy Mob, Madeleine Peyroux and Chris Botti, and Derek Trucks Band

And in my never ending obsession with finding good music was reinforced today with the NY Times Magazine's article on Nic Harcourt & KCRW. I can't say enough about this station and their music selection and though I certainly came on to their station after the fact, it's nice to see the station getting mainstream recognition for their hard work in promoting good, eclectic music on the radio.

Posted by cph19 at 10:14 PM EDT

Updated: Sunday, 26 June 2005 10:22 PM EDT

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Pat wishing his brother well
Now Playing: Doves - Black and White City

Get well Mikey

My First Foray into Wikipedia
Now Playing: My Golden Jacket - Rocket Man
Nothing profound but when I searched "Tag Clouds" in Wikipedia, nothing showed up. Given the flurry of discussion surrounding Zeldman's post, "Tag clouds are the new mullets," I figured the term was ready for Wikipedia, so I started the first entry for "Tag Clouds."

Kinda cool I think, let's see how it goes. Since this was my first foray in to adding content to Wikipedia, please be gentle on me. I've read that contributing to Wikipedia can be addictive so maybe this won't be my first and last attempt.

And unrelated, a story on mixing and sampling in hip-hop music:
"Hip-hop has always thrived by improvising off recognizable works in a way that is one part invention and one part cultural commentary. "It's a postmodern art," writes hip-hop historian Nelson George, "in that it shamelessly raids older forms of pop culture . . . and reshapes the material to fit the personality of an individual artist and the taste of the times.""

Two takes on Friedman
Now Playing: Coldplay - Speed of Sound
I mentioned Friedman's op-ed and new book, ”The World is Flat,” in a previous post because I do respect his opinion and analysis on globalization. His first book, ”The Lexus and the Olive Tree,” contained a few annoyances but overall it was a seminal (and perhaps the first accessible) book on globalization and ever since I've kept track of his research and writing.

Here are two opinions on his latest book:

The Economists' take: (try BugMeNot.com for logging in)
" A number of truly enlightening books have been published recently which not only support globalisation, but answer its critics and explain its complexities to the general reader—most notably Jagdish Bhagwati's “In Defence of Globalisation“ [I read part of this before giving it to my brother] and Martin Wolf's “Why Globalisation Works“. Because of Mr Friedman's fame as a columnist, his book will probably far outsell both of these. That is a shame. Anyone tempted to buy “The World is Flat” should hold back, and purchase instead Mr Bhagwati's book or Mr Wolf's. "

NYT's take:
" The metaphor of a flat world, used by Friedman to describe the next phase of globalization, is ingenious. It came to him after hearing an Indian software executive explain how the world's economic playing field was being leveled...And while this book is not as powerful as Friedman's earlier ones -- it is, as the publisher notes, an "update" of "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" -- its fundamental insight is true and deeply important.


Just trying to be fair and balanced; I report, you decide (thanks for the slogan FNC).

Posted by cph19 at 1:40 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 3 May 2005 1:04 AM EDT

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Hawai'i Vacation Photos (finally)
Now Playing: The Killers - Mr. Brightside (Thin White Duke Mix)
After almost a month after returning from my Hawaiian vacation I finally edited all of the photos and have them posted online.




I'm not a hardcore blogger but I try to follow the blog trends and among the better sites to have sprung from the blogsphere phenomena is Flickr. It's a easy and efficient way to post and distribute photos without having to mess around with Ofoto or Shutterfly, where the emphasis is on ordering the photos. With Flickr, the emphasis is on the sharing photos, the ability to search photos via tags, and comment on peoples' photos. I'll be working on getting all of my photos, the ones now residing at Shutterfly, moved over to Flickr.

Thanks Gawker
Now Playing: KCRW (Metropolis) via iTunes
My life of hard work has been completely disrupted by my recent discovery of LifeHacker, part of the Gawker Media Group (which also includes the infamous Wonkette, included in this NY Times article), a blog dedicated to the computer/geek/techie chic of being an early adopter of gadgets and software that makes out lives more productive and fun. Whew! That's my definition, see the website's own rendition of their purpose.

And the Rasterbator first (and won't be the last) gem that I tried was... "The Rasterbator creates huge rasterized (dotted) images from any picture on several sheets of regular-sized paper for assembly into a giant poster." You upload an image, get a slick PDF file of the image broken down as individual pages, and then you can print out and re-create the picture as a large poster size of the original image. Damn cool is all I can say.

Carly Fiorina Was Ahead of Her Time
Now Playing: Phoenix - Everythign is Everything (Live)
Topic: Creative Class
I happened to bounce over to Fortune.com a couple days before their now famous cover story, "Why Carly's Big Bet Is Failing," which came out two weeks before Carly Fiorina was officially booted out by H-P's board on Feb. 8th.





Despite all of the flack that she has received about and since her departure, I've come across two ringing endorsements of Carly in my readings on globalization, econonomic development, and innovation.

Friedman mentions her in his recent NYT op-ed piece on why the world is becoming more flat (i.e. technology is allowing more and more people to enter the market place and compete with one another- convergence).
"Now the real information revolution is about to begin as all the complementarities among these collaborative tools start to converge. One of those who first called this moment by its real name was Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard C.E.O., who in 2004 began to declare in her public speeches that the dot-com boom and bust were just ''the end of the beginning.'' The last 25 years in technology, Fiorina said, have just been ''the warm-up act.'' Now we are going into the main event, she said, ''and by the main event, I mean an era in which technology will truly transform every aspect of business, of government, of society, of life.''"

These ideas got me back to Richard Florida, who I've posted on many times before and wrote a HBR article entitled "America's Looming Creativity Crisis" in Oct. 2004.

Florida spoke at my alma-matter last November and in his talk (transcript here) mentions that it was Carly who back in 2002 said that for H-P's decisions to relocate or develop new facilities, the tradiitional tools of economic development policy didn't matter. Tax breaks, incentives, and infrastructure, keep that stuff. "We go where the highly skilled and creative people are. End of story.?

---

I thought this connection was worth noting. Not sure if others will find this post worhtwhile but this is what the web is for, making connections between seemingly disparate piece of information. I love having these ah-hah moments where I can link together different pieces of information to create new knowledge. Its this kind of knowledge creation that I want this blog to capture. Now if I could get software or Google to help me find, create, monitor, or track these kind of ah-hah moments as I'm reading and surfing the internet, then I'd have a real valuable knowledge-generating application. Hmmm...

Outsourcing vs. Insourcing
Now Playing: The Avalanches -
Topic: Outsourcing
Outsourcing rears its heads again in the latest issue (April 2005) of WIRED. Check out their outsourcing info graphic:



And since I'll have The Avalanches' "Since I Left You" on non-stop repeat for the rest of the day (I'm writing a paper on DRM and need something to keep me going), see what happens when you listen to ABBA's Dancing Queen for four hours, on a trip between Iowa and Chicago. For all of us who have made that trip before (4-5 hours depending on traffic), you understand what kind of pain this experiment could yield.

Back from Hawai'i, Back to Work
Now Playing: Johnny Cash - "Tear Stained Letter"
The trip to LA and Hawai'i was excellent; beautiful and yet a blur at the same time, like the photo below. This was my only sunset shot from an entire week in Hawai'i and it was from the airport terminal as I was leaving, pitiful,I know.

I'll have a roundup of the trip and photos posted soon, but for now it's back to work and school. And yes, the weather was real warm compared to the current weather in Rochester for late March and leading in to early April. The dreariness just motivates me to work harder, believe me.