Google CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt Joins Apple's Board of Directors
Dont' know what to make of it just yet, but this is pretty big news.
MacroMyopia
I was listening to Mitch Kapor's keynote address at the 2nd Annual Second Life Community Convention in San Francisco today and he brought up the term, macromyopia. I had never heard the term before, but as an entrepreneur, it resonates with me very well.
"Macromyopia is society's tendency to overestimate the short term results of a technology and to underestimate its long term results, because it takes a certain length of time (long enough for a sufficient number of people to die, actually) before a completely new technological paradigm can be assimilated." -- John Barlow, Author and Songwriter
At the Second Life convention, I am sitting around an extremely macromyopic room. Everyone in the room is so entrenched on what we're building and contributing to within Second Life to fully understand the ramifications on what it will have on society and the virtual world in the long term.
Interesting Apple Story
I came across a fantastic story about a gentlemen who was coding for Apple on a calculator project and was officially canned (as many projects go into Skunkworks). The story is about how he continued to work on the project without payment or permission and I'll let you finish the rest... it could be found here.
The Power of Virtual Worlds
I'm a huge proponent of virtual worlds and all of the different opportunities that lie within each world. From BusinessWeek to Advertising Age and every magazine/newspaper in between, we're seeing some great integrations into the virtual world such as the BBC and MLB. However, many people are not aware of the intricacies of planning an event or understanding how the "grid" system works within a virtual world, namely Linden Labs' Second Life.
The grid is the platform that Second Life runs on. It's a combination of computing power, storage and software that allows Second Life to run and be usable by the hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. Currently, there Second Life uses nearly 1,000 dual processor/dual- core systems and is growing at about 7% per month in terms of computing power.
In an article by Tom Gibbs, he explains the grid system in a bit more depth and how it relates to virtual worlds. This is essential to understand if you want to learn how these worlds grow and what holds them back.
Tags: grid, Second Life, Linden Lab, computing
Google's Data Center Project
Something that's been hinted at in the press has finally surfaced in the NY Times today. Google's top secret data center project has come into full view - however, anyone that knows anything about the project has been sworn to secrecy under strict NDAs (I don't blame them). We know that Microsoft and Yahoo! have their own independent projects going on in the Pacific Northwest as well...
The article is located here.
Tags: Google, data center
Google and the PC
Google and Dell have agreed to preinstall Web and desktop search software on the PC maker's computers announced Eric Schmidt (CEO) yesterday at the Goldman Sachs conference in Las Vegas.
I've been hearing about this deal for quite some time and it's finally out in the open. Google is the number 1 search engine and is teaming up with the number 1 PC maker which gives each other a significant stronghold amongst competition.
Millions of Dell PCs will be pre-loaded with the Google toolbar for Web and PC search alogn with a co-branded home page before they are shipped to consumers.
Thoughts?
AOL Gets Aggressive
I was contacted today by a representative of AOL as they are releasing AIM Triton 1.5 Preview Edition today. It is available for free download on AIM.com.
I generally get turned off when companies contact me to promote their product, but I am actually intrigued by the features available including but not limited to:
- AIM Phoneline & Phoneline Unlimited
- AOL Video Module
- AIM Pages
- AIM Location
I am extremely intrigued by AIM Location as it will allow users of AIM Triton 1.5 to find each other on a Mapquest Map. I'd like to geographically see where my buddies are... nice use of a "mashup."
I use Trillian on my work computer as it allows me to log into multiple providers' accounts but will probably check out this new release from AOL shortly. Will let you know how it is.
Phone on AIM?
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) users will be able to make outgoing calls and receive incoming calls from any of the 50 states and over 30 countries by the end of the month according to a recent report on PaidContent.org. This service is called AIM Phoneline and will be around $14.95 per month for unlimited calling.
AOL will be the first to roll out this type of service to its users.
Intel Mac Benchmarks
Most of my friends know that I'm an avid Mac fan but I'm equally comfortable using an Windows based PC. The announcement of Apple utilizing Intel processors resonated greatly with me because I can now start to use Macs within the office environment as they will become much more compatible with our current setup.
I haven't really looked too much at the benchmarks to date about the Intel based Macs but this post on Macologist really sums it all up: http://www.macologist.org/showthread.php?t=2602
NY Tech Meetup Event
Tonight, I went to the NY Tech Meetup held at NYU. I've been a member of Meetup.com for quite a bit of time now, but I've never been in town or always been busy when prior meetups have been held. This evening was my first experience of a NY Tech meetup and I am pleased to say that I had a great time.
There were apparently 202 people who RSVP'd that they'd attend the meeting and it was a 'sold out' event. The majority (98%) of folks in attendance were males - so it was essentially one big sausage party. I was pleasantly surprised that the CEO/Founder of Meetup.com was leading the NY Tech meetup and he was the moderator throughout the entire presentation program.
There were 5 presentations that lasted about 7 minutes each with questions coming at the end. It was very similar to the "gong" show - if a company pitched too much, or wasn't crowd pleasing, the crowd certainly got restless. The second speaker was almost "boo'ed" off stage, literally! One of the technologies that I found interesting was that of the "soft search" as I call it. When we query databases, we normally are searching for something 'hard' - such as a direct match. What if you're looking for an apartment in New York between 2,000 square feet and 5,000 square feet. If there are no apartments that exist, don't you want to see an apartment that may be 1,998 square feet? Sure you do, but previously, in our database schema's, we do not account for that. This now opens up a whole new way of database transactional search.
It was nice to see some old friends from FortuneCity.com, i33 Communications and other previous companies I'd worked with. Looking forward to the next NY Tech Meetup!
Tags: meetup, NYU, technology, internet, transparancee, and entrepreneur
Toyota Prius Video - Parking With No Hands
This video was sent to me from a colleague here in the office - so I don't take the credit of finding it. I think it's extremely amazing to see the technology within automobiles these days. We've all heard about cars parking themselves, but have you actually seen it? Check it out.
Sprint Review Coming Soon!
Apparently someone is reading my blog! I'm delighted to announce that Sprint has picked me (and my blog, DarrenHerman.com) as an "ambassador" to their new phone service, entertainment options, and their new phone. I'll be giving it an impartial review within the next 30 days and will let the world know my thoughts. I can tell you right now that I do not see myself using mobile television. This is going to take a lot to sway me....Lets see if Sprint can do that.
Web 2.0 Companies
For those of you who think pictures are worth thousands of words, you may find this image fascinating - dozens of Web 2.0 logos. It's pretty colorful! Lets see which companies exist in the next 36 months...
Some really cool companies on the list including Flickr, Writeboard, and FireAnt. Enjoy! (note, I didn't create the image, I found it thru Digg)
Coffee In The Air....
Following on the tail of United Airlines and it's Starbucks partnership, JetBlue has announced that it will be serving 10 ounce cups of coffee 30,000 feet in the air. JetBlue has done a lot of brand positioning in terms of hooking up with other brands such as DirecTV, XM Radio and FOX. If I only drank coffee...
Brief Book Review: Madison & Vine (Scott Donovan)
A co-worker here at IGA Partners recommended I read Madison & Vine as he knows that I love business books. Madison & Vine is an Ad Age book so it gave it some extra credibility in my eyes. Going into this book, I had very high expectations for it due to the referral and the publisher.
I read about 10 pages a night *if that* due to my attention span, however, I was able to finish this ~180 page book within 4 days. The overall topics within the book are extremely interesting, but would I recommend this to a friend? Yes AND no. Yes- if they are not already in the entertainment/marketing industry and/or they are just starting out and have less than 3-5 years experience. i would NOT recommend this book to someone who is a thought leader in this space, as most of the text is very redundant and if you believe entertainment and marketing could work together, this book may seem pretty elementary.
There are some excellent interviews within the book however. The interviews aren't in your typical Q&A fashion but they are written out within the text. I happened to like some of the quotes and case studies - and I'll probably bring them up in different capacities (client meetings, internal meetings, conventions, etc).
I'd love to sit down with Scott Donovan (author) and pick his brands further, maybe a bit further for the folks involved within the industry since the start....
Amp'd Mobile & The Hype
I confess, I'm about to buy in. Being in the game and technology industry - all we hear about is Amp'd Mobile. Rafat Ali of PaidContent.org broke the story about Amp'd receiving $50m from MTV and that was on top of the $67m already invested and currently out seeking another $100m. The interesting thing here is that Amp'd doesn't own their network, they sublet it from Verizon. Are the carriers going to follow in the footsteps and white-label their networks for other cash-rich players?
The website looks pretty solid - www.ampd.com. With a background in the entertainment industry (music), I have a passion for anything that has to do with merging entertainment and technology - and this is certainly something to take note of. Currently with one phone out, retailing for $129 (Kyocera Jet) - there are limited choices but their website makes the phone look pretty slick - and I've bought in regarding my mindset. I'm curious.
As for content, since it's a media play, they are going to be creating content utilizing the following companies (but not limited to):
I'm going to be following Amp'd closely - lets see how it does. The Apple Ipod is making huge gambles with video - so lets see if the Amp'd phone can do it as well. I'd be very surprised if the iPod and Amp'd Mobile didn't do anything together....
First Post - Welcome
So you've made it to my *blog*. I sound so 90s. Shouldn't I be putting up a MySpace page and have pics that you can Flickr? They may even be del.icio.us. Alrighty, enough geek-speak. Welcome. Hola.
There are a few reasons why I am making a valid attempt at creating a blog, but for the most part, it's to share and gain some knowledge, hear from colleagues, friends, and unkowns (not for long!) and create a resource site for my ventures and endeavors on planet Earth.
Giddy up. It's going to be a great blog and I promise to update it more than once a year. I invite all criticism and comments.
I'll leave you with a quote from one of my favorite movies, The Original Muppet Movie (1979):
Statler:
I'm Statler.
Waldorf:
I'm Waldorf. We're here to heckle "The Muppet Movie".
Gate Guard:
Tell him it's down on the left. Private screening room B.
Statler:
Private screening?
Waldorf:
Yeah, they're afraid to show it in public.
