Reading over my picks from the past week, I noticed a strong theme – we’re using more and more apps, creating more and more data, but we’re not seeing the true value we might from connecting all the dots. Sure, the NSA is – and Facebook, Google, and other large platforms are as well. But imagine what happens when *we* get those insights?! A move from the center (big platforms) to the node (us) of the information ecosystem seems imminent…
Nearly three hours a day on our mobile phones (and we’re not talking). Most of that time we’re in “AppWorld” – not on “the open web.” That is a scary trend, to my mind. But I think it’s temporary. Or rather, I hope it is.
The week was dominated by Google related stories, but the top dialog had to do with the Internet itself. I’m sensing something of a shift in society’s beliefs about the Internet’s central role in our humanity. Five years ago, no one wanted to talk about Internet access as a basic human right. In 2012, the UN called it exactly that. With access consolidating into what looks like a natural monopoly, might regulation as a utility be far behind?
Real Time (Medium) Another, denser version of previous essays asking whether it isn’t time to call the Internet a basic utility. “..the immaterial organisation of the internet has now become the most dominant force on this side of the planet...” Unfortunately, this piece is too dense. Try this one instead: The Internet Is Fucked (TechCrunch) in which the author enjoins: “Go ahead, say it out loud. The internet is a utility.There, you’ve just skipped past a quarter century of regulatory corruption and lawsuits that still rage to this day and arrived directly at the obvious conclusion.” Of course, that created a rejoinder: More? – “The Internet is an incredibly useful tool in modern society, but it isn’t essential to the basic functioning of society. Utilities are.” My take: The Internet is a basic need now for the info-organism we are all becoming. So I’m leaning toward the utility camp, I’m afraid. There’s a new book on the subject, should you be interested.
The Monuments of Tech (NYTimes.com) A meditation, with far too photos, on the meaning of the campuses built by Google, Twitter, Apple, Facebook. Have you read The Circle yet? Read The Circle. Then read this.
Every year around this time I do two things: First I look back at my predictions from a year ago and grade myself, then I get around to making a new set of predictions. These are often my most popular posts of the year, proving the old magazine saw that the world loves a list. So who am I to buck the trend? Let’s get cracking on seeing how my crystal ball turned out, shall we?
As you can see from my 2012 predictions roundup, I took something of a new approach to the prognostication game last year. Instead of one lengthy post with all my predictions, I actually broke them into a series of posts, seven in all. I went into detail on why I thought each forecast would prove correct (save the last one, which was a series of “shoot from the hip” predictions.)
I’ll be as brief as I can with this review – this marks the ninth time I’ve done it. Overall, I’ve had a pretty good run of it. I hope 2013 keeps pace.
Twitter will become a force as a media company, not just a platform for others’ media. To do so, it will improve its #Discover feature and roll out something like Flipboard.
I fell out of the habit, but here are the Signals from last week. If you want to get my daily roundup of stories worth paying attention to, get the RSS here, or sign up in email at the top right of the page here. Monday Signal: Is Google Too…
I fell out of the habit, but here are the Signals from last week. If you want to get my daily roundup of stories worth paying attention to, get the RSS here, or sign up in email at the top right of the page here.
After a 22-year career helming communications and later all of central marketing for Microsoft – she counts her budgets with a "b", folks – Mich Matthews, who I admit I've grown fond of, is leaving Microsoft later this summer. For years I've asked Mich to sit down with me and…
After a 22-year career helming communications and later all of central marketing for Microsoft – she counts her budgets with a “b”, folks – Mich Matthews, who I admit I’ve grown fond of, is leaving Microsoft later this summer.
For years I’ve asked Mich to sit down with me and endure one of my trademark grillings, and for years she’s demurred, in the main because she believes that the CMO should not be a front person. “You’re an onstage guy,” she told me when we last spoke. “I’m the person pulling the ropes backstage.”
Well, maybe because she’s leaving, and maybe because she’s exploring what comes next (she honestly doesn’t know, but has an inkling), Mich has finally agreed to speak her mind on stage, and if our prep conversation earlier this week was any indication, it’s going to be one hell of a swan song.
Another seven days, another news cycle full of chewy goodness. For you 316K or so RSS readers, here's what I do from about 8-10pm each evening, over on the FM blog: Monday Signal: Mind Your Private Bits, Folks, It’s Getting Hot Friday Signal: LinkedIn Steps Out Thursday Signal: Policy…
Another seven days, another news cycle full of chewy goodness. For you 316K or so RSS readers, here’s what I do from about 8-10pm each evening, over on the FM blog:
Here's the last week in Signal for all you 315,000 or so Searchblog RSS readers (THANK YOU, btw!) Monday Signal: WTF!!! Tuesday Signal: The Best Marketing Conference, Ever Weds. Signal: Google Beats The Android Drum, Microsoft Buys Skype Thursday Signal: It's All Google, But It's Not All Good Friday…
Here’s the last week in Signal for all you 315,000 or so Searchblog RSS readers (THANK YOU, btw!)
Quite a week, Signal wise. Here are the highlights: Monday Signal: Baraka Flocka On Fire » « Friday Signal: A Regal Yawner « Thursday Signal: Stop Waiting for Superman, He's Left The Country « Weds. Signal: Hold Yer Horses! « Tuesday Signal: Who's God Now, Data? « Monday Signal: Summer's…
Quite a week, Signal wise. Here are the highlights:
Herewith and below: Friday Signal: What's Yer 20? Apple and Google Know! » Thursday Signal: War, Death, Skynet, Pot Weds. Signal: This Is Your Brain, On Facebook Tuesday Signal: We Were All Sophomores, Once And Again Monday Signal: What *Is* The Future of Media?…