Click here to view the embedded video.

This is a great follow-up to his first book Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.  Shirky is right on target with engaging, connecting stories to share his ideas about our new ability today to share collective knowledge.

Over 1 trillion hours of TV is watched per year. Imagine what can happen when people turn TV off and begin contributing.  And Shirky elegantly shares the shifting nature of professionals vs. amateurs in the age of the internet.  Pretty amazing reading.

I believe there have been attempts to move in the direction he outlines but a tipping point has been the mass availability of consumer devices at very affordable price points.  I recall Peter Gabriel’s interview on the Today Show in 1988 talking about the efforts of Amnesty International and their attempts to videotape human rights abuses with large, analog cameras.
Today we know all to well from the murder of Oscar Grant that cameraphones have made their efforts real.

The Napster thing
IMHO Clay’s single oversight in the book surrounds Napster.  I think he was trying to communicate a holistic answer to why people (not just Gen Xers) were stealing music.  He called it sharing — it was stealing plain and simple.
He overlooked the availability of cheap recordable media (external hard drives and blank CDs) along with fast networks.  Clay addressed Napster’s explosive growth and outlined the reasons for its huge success:

1. digital data is infinitely and perfectly copyable at zero marginal cost.
2. people will share if sharing is simple enough; and we generally resist being spiteful under the same conditions
3. Fanning designed a system to link 1 to 2 via the right incentives.

“That’s is. That’s what turned the recording industry upside down.”

He simply overlooked the physical requirement that brought the solution to everyone’s computer. If a storage solution (blank CDs or Hard Drives) did not exist at very affordable price points people would not be sharing so much music….because they would have no abiliy to store all the files they were downloading.  Today with terabyte drives under $100 we forget the considerably higher costs for consumer electronics before Napster arrived in 1999.

Consider Napster’s timeframe in the summer of 1999.  You could download mp3 files from Usenet newsgroups like alt.binary.music but had no affordable solution to store the vast amounts of music available.  Apple’s original 5GB iPod was introduced a month after 9/11. Smaller mp3 players were shipping at the time but most did not offer significant storage or an iTunes experience to easily library the music for your iPod.  And Rio’s 1998 MP3player was just a measly 32 megabytes — yes megabytes.  The “iPod effect” had yet to taken hold a chokehold on the mp3 player marketplace.  So users had to store their music on their computer, blank CDs or an external drive.

Shirky also overlooked the key transit issue.  As Gen Xers connected to robust campus networks, they connected (and shared) globally compared to their home or High School dial-up, DSL or Cable services.  And here lies the true key – bandwidth made it worth their time and effort to steal music. Can you image running Napster on a 9200 baud modem?  With a bigger pipe on campus Gen Xers could steal music and burn more blank CDs.  And it only accelerated when traditional music stores were charging $20 for the same CD Napster was making available for free. It was a perfect storm for ripping off the music industry.

I have spent twenty years on multiple campus networks.  Honestly when I spoke to students about Napster….they were all about stealing.  The term “sharing” is the spin word. College kids are not wealthy. They invest in books, cars and beer.  Students heading out for class would leave their music drives connected on their dorm’s network allowing anyone connected to hijack as much as they wanted.  At some point it became more than just having a folder of your favorite band’s complete discography.  It became about stealing a complete music library from the six major labels (in the early to mid 90s).  And it was not just music.  There remains to this day P2P tools that share software, ebooks and full length movies.  Many universities shut down access to Napster and sent memorable emails to their university community describing Napster’s primary use: digital theft of copyrighted music.

Napster’s explosive growth is not just Shirky’s 2 steps (above) but rather the following:

A. Devices to store digital data (CDs and external drives) were finally affordable to consumers.
B. Robust digital networks (non-modem) became available at universities.
C. Music was shared on the campus network all day long.
D. People swapped discs/drives of music for friends off campus.
E. Napster peaked in February 2001 and the iPod was introduced 45 days after 9/11

If you think Napster is dead then your not aware of torrents.  Beleive it or not YouTube is even a more popular way to steal copyrighted music.  Today there are free recording applications that permit users to capture high quality audio playing from a computer.  Search YouTube for a popular artist and odds are you will find a ‘video’ of a song that has a static picture instead of a video clip.  Anyone can hit the record button on the audio software and then click YouTube’s play button, and (drum roll) they have stolen a new song and probably copied it onto their iPod.  Think that’s clever? Search for an artist and add ‘torrent’ to the search string (U2 torrent) and look at whats available to everyone today.  Take a look at how U2’s business manager tried to stop ISPs from permitting music piracy.
/end Napster rant

Overall Shirky’s stories of how the modern internet, creative minds and the opportunity for citizens to kill their television and contribute is a great introduction to social networking.

Tags: Clay Shirky, Cognitive Surplus, kill your television, Social Networking, Creative, Sharing, trends, reading

To no surprise BMW’s controller is called the iDrive….a perfect fit for Apple’s iProducts.  Drivers will be able to control music playback and browse playlists, podcasts, and Genius mixes.

Tags: BMW, Apple iOS4, innovation, product launch, interface, ideas, business, trends

I wonder what Bezos thinks about when you pull this type of capitulation.  I cannot help but wonder about Amazon’s own statement: NO KINDLE REQUIRED.  If anyone sees this add and is deciding which to choose, this move by Amazon cements the iPad as the choice.

BTW: Did you catch the color image in the book?

Tags: iPad, Kindle, ebook, price war, ebook sales, reading, trends

Clearly the business model for ANY publisher to develop a tablet is a mistake with the marketplace is its infancy.  The internet forced computer companies to move faster in transforming their business.  Its simply smarter to drop SI into the iPad Store inside iTunes.  The RIO is much better.

And just six months later….SI has announced its coming to the iPad for the same price as the print version.  So much for their own hardware eh?

Time Inc, holds major content providers in business/finance, international, luxury/portfolio, lifestyle and style/entertainment media categories and with the initial wave of eBook publishing just beginning to hit a business sweet spot it should not be long before popular titles begin to appear alongside SI.

Tags: Sports Illustrated, Time, Inc., iPad, Tablet, design, wireless, magazine, trends

As initial reports are indicate this is a new, in depth re-birth of magazines for the digital world.  By exploiting the iPad’s technologies the premier issue is loaded with interactive multimedia extras simply not available in print.

So now comes the business end of the release:  $5 an for each app issue while you can get a full year print subscription for just $10.
–Since I have a print subscription — can get all my back issues on the iPad?  Doubt it.  Lets not be foolish – publishers are setting elegant revenue models for their print to iPad app conversions…..

Reviews:
Wired’s internal review (duh) – Wall Street Journal review – Business Insider review – Gizmodo review

Tags: iPad, publishing, design, trends,

Tags: Google Wave, beta software, Collaboration, real-time, communication, test audience, limited preview, trends

As many have shared on twitter — a lot of people with Google Wave accounts simply “don’t get it” and the new channel on YouTube will provide a great single repository for Wave fans to learn about their real-time collaboration solution.  Wave is a web-based service, computing platform, and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking.

As many have accomplished, Waves around the world have proved to be excellent communication opportunities for individuals.  If Google wants to reach out to small groups and large organizations, they must provide mass accounts to really kick the tires and integrate this promising tool into their infrastructure…..BTW it can help revolutionize a number of outdated ‘workflows’ that are in use today in non-profits, education and business.

Tags: Google Wave, beta software, Collaboration, real-time, communication, test audience, limited preview, trends

Enjoy the ride – its the new era of print….as long as its done right.

Tags: iPad, publishing, design, trends,

Tags: iPad, magazine, book, digital publishing, Tablet, design, interactive, media player, innovation, trends

From Google:

A better document editor
We’ve brought the responsive, real-time editing experience you’ve come to expect from our spreadsheets over to documents, which means you can now see character-by-character changes as other collaborators make edits. We also added another popular feature from spreadsheets: sidebar chat, so you can discuss documents as you work on them with colleagues.

The new technical foundation also helped us improve document formatting, which means better import/export fidelity, a revamped comment system, real margins and tab stops, and improved image layout within documents. These improvements have been highly requested, but previously impossible to create with the older documents editor on older browsers.

A faster spreadsheet editor
With the new spreadsheets editor, you’ll see significant speed and performance improvements — spreadsheets load faster, are more responsive and scroll more seamlessly. We’ve also added a host of often requested features, like a formula bar for cell editing, auto-complete, drag and drop columns, and simpler navigation between sheets. And as always, real-time collaboration in spreadsheets is easy with sidebar chat and the ability to see which cell each person is editing.

A new collaborative drawing editor
In the year since we launched the Insert drawing tool, we’ve received many requests for the ability to collaborate on drawings and make them accessible directly from the docs list. The new standalone drawings editor lets you collaborate in real time on flow charts, designs, diagrams and other fun or business graphics. Copy these drawings into documents, spreadsheets and presentations using the web clipboard, or share and publish drawings just like other Google Docs.

Tags: Google Docs, performance improvements, Network, trends,

This device has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.

Tags: HP, design, Slate, Tablet, eBook, education, trends

Tags: iPad, magazine, Tablet, design, media player, innovation, trends

Their only “failure” is the current lack of a wider test audience. Wave has a lot of promise but during it’s current limited preview its simply not as widely available to the average Google user.

Google Maps was a different type of beta release.  Anyone could login and test their mapping features.  Wave is an initial different product and audience.

I know PLENTY of people who want to kick the tires and engage Wave but they do not have an account.

If your not a Google user (Gmail, Docs, Analytics) then you may feel like you must extend your “Yahoo life” in order to test Wave. The same can be said for those who want to test Wave within an organization or company.

Google has been more relaxed about giving away invites.  In early 2009 it was extremely difficult to find an invite.  I noticed that this process turned into a “power struggle” for some who where begging for Wave invites on twitter.

This also makes me wonder if all those tweets about Wave’s failure belong to people who really do not understand the limitations of beta software.

A simple query at amazon.com reveals a number of Wave books are not even shipping yet.  Another Wave book that I’m interested in is also not shipping yet.

Are there any Wave Wave torrents?  So to all those on the cutting bleeding edge: how well do you actually know Wave?  If you need a book to read check out The Complete Guide to Google Wave.

Tags: Google Wave, beta software, Collaboration, email, IM, test audience, limited preview, trends

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tags: Apple, Inc., design, iPad, Penguin, eBook, education, trends

Tags: Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Seadragon, Photosynth, design, TED, Virtual Reality, imaging, trends

Tags: Visualization, information, Chart Wars, politics, trends

The TechMate video automatically starts when the page loads — and their embed tag does not permit a video to begin when triggered by the user…..so here is the link

Tags: Michael Copeland, Fortune, Tablet, Apple, TechMate, Newton, trends

Tags: Sports Illustrated, Time, Inc., Tablet, design, wireless, magazine, trends

However if you have been working with blogs and wikis for more than five years this book is a bit too elementary but a great quick read nevertheless.

The Groundswell is the powerful movement of our networked society. Basically the book breaks the “groundswell” into gaining insights from what social networks say about your company, your products and the people representing your company.

Blogs help talk to your communities, and buzz helps energize the groundswell and the new ability to utilize “customers” as collaborative team members.
In the end its about person to person relationships.

Groundswell’s blog

Tags: Groundswell, Social Technologies, economy, networking, buzz, education, values, reading, trends

Tags: BMW, Milwaukee, marketing, product launch, gran turismo, innovation, ideas, business, trends

Calatrava designed the Milwaukee Art Museum expansion.  This interactive movie will generate the same wings span.  After loading: Click and drag you mouse left and right to “open and close” the wings.  Have fun!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tags: BMW, Milwaukee, marketing, product launch, gran turismo, innovation, ideas, business, trends

BTW: The cover is not an actual photo rather a Photoshop’d image. However the image clearly represents his message.  The book is about Generativity impacting the internet.  Ultimately his argument is to place generativity at the core of all open technologies that tap into the internet.

Zittrain begins Part I in the book with a bit of historical reflection: The Battle of the Boxes, Battle of the Networks and CyberSecurity.  He followed on the impact of legal lessons learned from Wikipedia.  There are plenty of examples how open, generativity systems make the internet better.  Here are a couple of examples Zittrain addressed that do not:

Law enforcement agencies have used network devices to manually turn on OnStar (the in-vehicle security, communications, and diagnostics system from GM) to record and monitor conversations of unknowing passengers.  OnStar is installed in over 50 models of GM cars alone.

The FBI requested from a judge the ability to turn on the microphone of a unsuspecting cell phone owner allowing law enforcement to tap, track and record conversations.

Think about that for a moment. Ever take a picture with your digital camera or cell phone?  Millions of people do this everyday and upload content to photo-sharing websites like Flickr.  Can you imagine taking a series of photographs — only to later realize the camera (via remote commands) copied all your photos without your knowledge.  Zittrain addresses how your personal content can be affected by a judge in Texas while you live … say in Ohio.  Don’t believe it? Read Chapter 5: Tethered Appliances, Software as Service and Perfect Enforcement” to see how a judge in Marshall Texas did just that — regarding a copyright case involving TiVo.

Zittrain accurately addresses how generativity (on the internet) will impact how we engage data — regardless if the task is email, video streaming, blogging or accessing robots over a wireless network via smartphone.   He uses the example of two products from Apple that were developed in opposite directions exactly 30 years apart:  The Apple II and the iPhone but missed out on Amazon’s Kindle.  The Apple II fit the idea of generativity perfectly.  It was an “open” desktop computer and the world began to tinker, develop, push and ultimately secure the product’s success.

Zittrain compares this approach to the 1st generation iPhone.  Zittrain recently blogged about a bizarre copyright conflict between an iPhone application that clearly reinforces his position: Apple has the ability to control application distribution.  This means you can purchase an application at Apple’s iTunes store, download it and use it on your iPhone but Apple can remotely kill that program at any given point in the future.

To be fair: At the time of his writing the 1st generation iPhone was selling for $500.  Today we have the iPhone 3GS, OS 3.0, The App Store and Apple’s road-map for iPhone developers. The most change has been the highly successful App Store on iTunes with over a billion apps downloaded.
Yes – BILLION.  Profit gets in the way too.

To see another example of Zittrain’s idea substitute TiVo or Amazon’s Kindle and you’ll get his message. Remember TiVo tipped its hand revealing it tracks what users watch? That came as a bit of a surprise to many  unaware their viewing habits were tracked.

Even though Amazon recently updated their Kindle ebook reader to support users adding PDF files, the Kindle’s generativity score (this might be a new blog all by itself) would be very low due to its lack of open standards.  Amazon has run into issues due to remotely crippling installed ebooks due to copyright and DRM.

There is also a copyright issue with the new Kindles.  The new model has the ability to read ebooks aloud.  Publishing companies began suing Amazon over this “feature” on the bigger Kindles.  Publishers want to sell you an Audiobook version of the eBook loaded on your Kindle.  So in the end you pay twice for the same digital product!  Publishers argue eBooks legally cannot be read out loud.  Amazing.  For all the technology advances, profit still drives old school publishing companies to sue Amazon.

I found his conclusion powerful.  He shares the impact of Generativity on the OLPC project.  I am a fan of the One Laptop Per Child project.  As he suggests Generativity is really at the core of this product.  It has changed the world and can be viewed (in a limited way) as a path for future internet generativity.

Tags: Jonathan Zittrain, Future of the Internet, Generativity, copyright, internet, Network, Apple II, iphone, TiVo, onstar, amazon, OLPC, reading, trends

The most surprising session was “HD video over IP for Distance Learning” because the original presenter did not show up….so I decided to try an Unconference session that ran two hours long.  Lots of great learning about how K12 Districts around the Midwest want to bring distance learning and HD video into the classroom.