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Google’s much talked about community fiber project has been initially addressed at their Official blog. Yet much to my surprise (Is it just me — think about it) they posted all the cities who applied in a static graphic — but not an interactive Google Map!
Please tell me that a data driven company like Google does not have an interactive map regarding all cities that applied for their fiber project! James Kelly, Google Project Manager — are you listening?
I cannot help but share my thoughts about all those who are predicting the stillbirth of Google Wave. Since this topic frequently hits the popular list at del.icio.us more than I care to see, its worth reminding everyone that beta or “limited preview” as Google refers to Wave is just that – a preview of the technology product.
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.
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.
I have been following Larry Lessig‘s work on copyright and our digital culture for some time, reading his positions online, previous books and keynote addresses at TED, Wired and last week to Italy’s Parliament among others. His work on Creative Commons is a direct action from the creative limitations of copyright.
Lessig illustrates how copyright’s old money (the big media empires) are clashing with today’s society and technology. Old money is winning financial amounts here and there, but ultimately they are cutting their own throat as they can no longer control content. Their motto: since we cannot have it our way anymore (due to the easy distribution of digital content) we are going to sue as many people as we can and take outrageous amounts of money along the way.
Lessig simply points out the two different camps: Read-only versus Read-Write. Look at popular consumer phones and computers. Today anyone can create a short video and post it to YouTube. And by today’s “standard” in social networking — your somewhat expected to post multimedia content on Facebook and YouTube for example.
But post a 29 second video of a baby dancing to Prince’s Lets Go Crazy and Universal Music (they own Prince and his music) files a lawsuit claiming copyright violations. Its old money trying to control society and Lessig points out it clearly no longer works.
I have been very fortunate to have worked at Apple as a System Engineer during the introduction of some of the products in this visualization. Apple has really moved into the arena of design + technology as their recent products have proved…since so many companies both in and out of the computer business have stolen copied Apple’s lead in design, computing and communcation. Many Apple fanboy videos are just terrible. This one is short and smooth.
A fun, visual-rich view of the overwhelming numbers being produced on the internet today:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6MfnuvH4Rs[/youtube]
Blaise Aguera y Arcas is an architect at Microsoft Live Labs, architect of Seadragon and the co-creator of Photosynth, a monumental piece of software capable of assembling static photos into a synergy of zoomable, navigatable spaces. Check out how this technology will change our approach to imaging.
The title of Philip Delves Broughton‘s Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School was interesting enough to jump on my reading list but when I began to see his book mentioned in blogs and on twitter I pulled it from my wish list and dropped it into my cart. It was not a mistake. The opportunity to learn about the life of a Harvard MBA candidate is a pretty interesting read.
Broughton is the former Paris bureau chief for The Daily Telegraph of London. His writing was easy, flowing and pleasant. Broughton was also very human in his approach to writing about the elite training ground for the high stress world of finance, venture capital and banking.
Broughton was also able to describe those MBA alums who spoke of those demands and losing wives and children to the long hours of business. It was a bit odd to read that more than a few alums went through the divorce process four times.
Worse yet was those few who admitted their own children did not know who they were due to those demanding hours. Most wanted their MBA to provide for their family while in fact they were losing touch with them in the process…all for the glory of wealth and fame.
And yes it was interesting to hear how his class of 2006 could land $400,000 jobs, his thirteen interviews with Google were pretty demanding.
In the end he skipped his graduation on a rainy Saturday in to take his infant son to his favorite Boston spot for cannoli. At one point in my life I would have ridiculed this man for skipping his Harvard commencement. For $175,000 (minus his new BMW — see below) you better be sure I would show up come rain or snow for that moment. Today with two small children and a backdrop of a soggy event on Harvard Square I kinda understood his decision.
I was impressed with his review of their first year known as RC: required cirriculum. The demands of Harvard’s case studies was rather impressive as their main tool for teaching. And from the looks of it those case studies required round the clock research and planning. The feel of his fellow students all aiming for post Harvard success was an interesting read, especially from the foreign students. Most of his fellow students agreed they did not want to be called upon to review a case study. The demands were extremely high and Broughton described a couple of painful episodes of his participation and those by his fellow students. Continue Reading →
