Is Online Dating A True Match, Or Another Digital Dilemma?
My friend Alex is classically beautiful. She also has a really grown up, important job at one of those big, firm-y type places. Basically, she’s smart. Real smart. And has a real nice apartment. And she makes everyone laugh and has lots of real nice friends. That’s Alex.
But all of this is neither here nor there, because Alex is on a quest to find love. Isn’t that what we’re all essentially doing? Looking for that connection with someone, whether it’s a boyfriend, spouse, new drinking buddy or, at the very least, someone just to watch “Dexter” and order Domino’s with?!
Electronic enchantment?
You can all guess where this is going. The missing piece of the puzzle in this coming-of-age story is Alex’s Prince “I’m Ready For a Commitment and Will Bring You Diet Cokes When You’re Thirsty” Charming. So, what did this accomplished, intelligent, attractive woman do? Like millions of folks in this country, Alex shelled out $113.94 and joined Match.com for six months. Five years ago we both would have cringed at this, but now her posse of friends (myself included) and co-workers couldn’t tell her to sign up fast enough.
Several weeks of awkward dates (the guy who wouldn’t take a hint – or a straight-up “no”, the guy who lived with this parents, the guy who worked at The Cheesecake factory) and hundreds of “winks” and other online digital mating calls later, I couldn’t help but wonder: Is this REALLY what things have come to? We field hundreds of e-mails a day, obsessively track Facebook photos, and Tweet about a food cart selling crepes, so it seems only natural we attempt to find a potential life mate this way, right? I’m not convinced.
It is estimated that between 40 and 50 million people use online dating sites and nearly 1,000 NEW sites are launched every year. Point being, A LOT of us are using the Internet to date. This multi-million dollar industry includes everything from the old standbys like Match, Chemistry.com and JDate.com to SeniorPeopleMeet.com and ILoveYourAccent.com – there’s a site and “questionnaire” for every walk of life and it’s not slowing down. Even my beloved Liz Lemon joined K-Date.com (the fictional Kraft Foods dating site) on a recent “30 Rock” episode. Sigh.
There’s nothing new about the fact that we live in a digital age where virtually all communication can be done without actually MEETING the person. Not to sound all George Clooney from “Up in the Air”, but have we completely forgotten about the actual face-to-face chemistry that gets lost in digital connection?
Eternal, or Ethereal?
All that aside, maybe I’m not that relatable for the sake of this argument – I’m lucky enough to have a life partner and still old-fashioned enough to write handwritten thank you notes. And sometimes I can’t help but think about that (actually pretty good looking) couple on the eHarmony commercials. They own a store together, seem pretty in love and found this all through e-mails and “connecting” digitally. We’re led to believe they’re now married and still run their little boutique hand-in-hand, all while wearing matching denim. It’s not a bad image to shoot for.
So what ended up happening to Alex? After a final nail-in-the-coffin email from a spelling-challenged man named “Bobola” followed by a six week dating hiatus, Alex finally re-entered the world of online dating and accepted her first Match.com date a few weeks ago.
She had a really great time and will be going on a second date.
Apple iPad: Revolutionary, or Shiny Paperweight?
Corey is a life-long Mac enthusiast who started his computing life on a Macintosh 512K, and has been in love with Apple products – until the iPad. Ben has sworn by Apple products for the past seven years, and early Saturday morning made a last minute decision to stand in line for the first time at the W. 14th Street Apple Store for the iPad launch. These two LaunchSquadders discuss the iPad.
Apple’s Microsoft-like control over the platform and the apps the iPad can run is increasingly disturbing.
Corey: I love Apple’s products. I’m a lifetime Mac user, I own an iPod, and would own an iPhone if they weren’t married to AT&T. But, as a corporate entity, Apple has – to me – been rapidly backsliding in to territory once occupied by late-1990s Microsoft: controlling to the point where it’s willing to hurt its products in order to not cede its grip over its platform (see Flash below). This is especially true with iPhone and iPad apps. Apple’s stringent – and sometimes bizarre – approval process for apps, and its refusal to adopt outside platforms are means to that same end. Think about it: In order for any Web service to work on the iPad, it has to develop an app (think Hulu), and Apple tightly polices what apps it allows and doesn’t allow. What’s left is monopolistic authority over what gets seen and used on the iPad and iPhone. That’s never good. Apple has a right to make sure only good stuff is available on its platform, but it shouldn’t think solely about its larger business interests under to guise of doing so.
Ben: Since launching the App Store in the summer of 2008, Apple has built an entirely new economy around developers and their applications. Last month, the App Store topped 3 billion downloads, with over 150,000 applications available. One can only imagine how many applications are submitted every day, and Apple’s review process is ultimately necessary to weed out applications with inappropriate content, and malicious intent. Still, I have to agree that in some cases, Apple’s authority was exerted beyond boundaries, especially in their blocking of a native Google Voice application because it “duplicates functionality.” Google was quick to introduce a Web-based application, and in all reality, business is business. All in all, Apple has been working hard to better the App Store approval process, and we’ve seen more, and more applications that were originally denied entry, getting accepted. I don’t personally see Apple letting users download applications outside of the App Store any time in the future. They should however, focus on opening up more core APIs so developers can leverage all of the devices’ features.
There’s no Flash.
Corey: The fact that the No. 1 complaint about the iPhone (well, beyond AT&T) – that it doesn’t run Flash – wasn’t addressed in the iPad is just strange. Even worst is the reason: Apple’s corporate pissing match with Adobe. And, we have no idea why it’s even happening! As I talked about above, the beef most likely comes down to control, something Jobs is loathe to give up. Regardless, 75 percent of videos and 70 percent of games on the Web are powered by Flash, so that’s a pretty arrogant starting bargaining position from Apple. Shadiness aside, the iPad’s top two uses are supposed to be viewing media and playing games … yet, you can’t view or play three-quarters of the games and media on the Web. It makes no sense.
Ben: No one outside of Apple knows the full story on the exclusion of Flash from their mobile products. What it most likely comes down to is a deep-seated business rivalry. However, it’s true that in many cases, Flash is extremely resource heavy and unreliable on devices – even across desktop browsers on a Mac, Flash video and games tends to be slower. Instead of complaining about the Flash issue, companies like Brightcove are quickly adapting to offer iPad compatible H.264 video. Apple has even gone as far as to post an “iPad Ready” page on their site, with a list of major name Web sites like The New York Times, Reuters, ESPN and even Nike, all of which support H.264 video with the HTML5 tag.
The iPad’s form factor and interface make for the best possible Web browsing and reading experience.
Ben: I’m typing this post right now from my iPad. Straight out of the box, it takes some time getting used to; mostly the issue is with figuring out exactly how to hold it, or prop it up on your lap. In landscape mode, the virtual keyboard is wide, and spacious. After 48 hours of using it to catch up on news on The New York Times, and Techmeme, as well as reading books in both Apple’s iBooks and the Kindle apps, I am completely sold. Since the iPhone launched, Mobile Safari has provided the absolute best browsing experience in a pocket device. The iPad’s large, vivid touchscreen takes it to an entirely new level, where human interaction meets computing almost seamlessly. Hey, it’s so easy a 2-year-old can use it! Sure the iPad has some UX flaws here and there, but it’s paving the way to a keyboard-less future.
Corey: It’s hard to disagree with that. Tablet computing is going to be the way a lot of use the Web in five years. The iPad itself is a sleek device that’s built well for its main purpose – viewing media and the Web. But again, the problem is how it gets there. The Web is the primary destination for 95 percent of computer users, and probably 100 percent of iPad owners, so it’s baffling that the device treats the Web like a necessary evil. The Web should be at the forefront of these devices, and the browser should be the primary app that enables it. Apple is taking this notion and putting it on its head by requiring that a lot of the content on the Web be sliced out and put in to apps (available in the iTunes Store for a nominal fee!). It just seems counter to where the rest of the computing world is going, and incredibly self-interested. Google, on the other hand, has taken an open, Web-centric approach with Android that I would love to see adapted to a tablet, which I’m sure is coming soon. I’m not naive enough to say that Google is completely altruistic with its more open approach to the Web on its OS, it’s better than how Apple sees it.
As publishers adapt to the iPad, print version of their publications, as we know them, will soon become a relic of the past.
Ben: Conde Nast, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other media houses have made it very clear that they are devoting time and resources to developing for the iPad. But will iPad applications necessarily save these publications? I don’t think so. It begins with the price point; Time Magazine is offering a weekly iPad version for exactly the same price as the print copy, $5. The Wall Street Journal is charging $17.99 a month for their touchscreen version. The fundamental flaw here, is that consumers aren’t so willing to pay for content that they can mostly find on the Web, which they have direct access to in Safari on the iPad. For example, The New York Times’ Web site in my opinion is vastly superior to their Editors’ Choice iPad application. It’s the high priced, archaic subscription model that has publishers beat, and it’s about time they learn it. I’m also skeptical that the iPad alone will provide enough revenue to stay afloat, publishers will need to innovate and accommodate the slew of tablet devices to come.
Corey: I largely agree with this, and think you’re absolutely right that publishers’ blockheaded devotion to paywalls. If these dinosaurs couldn’t adapt to Internet, even as we started taking our laptops with us everywhere we went, and began using mobile phones to surf the Web, then they surely aren’t going to be able to adapt to tablet computing simply because of a shiny new device. I also doubt that, beyond our little tech world bubble, the iPad is going to have enough mainstream adoption to make it cost-effective enough for publishers to rearrange their strategy around it. That’s the main problem with the “iPad will revolutionize X” meme – only 300,000 people own these things. That will grow, but they’re not as useful as an iPhone or a laptop to everyday consumers, and they have a high barrier of entry ($500) for the 98 percent of people who don’t geek out over new tech. While tech people can blather on for hours about its many uses, most consumers’ reactions after picking one up would go something like this: “Huh. Cool. I have no idea what I’d use this for.” The iPad is the first generation of a set of devices that will change personal computing in 3 to 5 years when they can properly access the Web. Until then, it’s a really expensive newspaper.
Working Together For A Better Web
Tim O’Reilly kicked off the Web 2.0 Expo in New York last week with words of caution, an extension of his recent blog post “The War For The Web.” The Web visionary that coined the term “Web 2.0″ and defined the Internet as an “operating system” sees a battle brewing that is very reminiscent of one that took place over a decade ago. In the mid-1990s a browser war started between Netscape and Microsoft as the two fought for desktop penetration, eventually leading to incompatibility across the Web, as some sites were best viewed with a certain browser.
Today, things aren’t so different, as behemoths like Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon are building their own platforms which are often accused of being “walled gardens,” rather than building upon the Internet as a free, and open platform. Examples include the strict review process for the iTunes App Store, Rupert Murdoch’s recent mention of removing News Corp. sites out of Google’s search index, and the inability to take your personal data with you from sites like Facebook and Twitter. To say these companies are evil is taking things too far, but O’Reilly stressed that more emphasis must be put on creating benefit for the user, instead of solely focusing on building competitive advantage.
O’Reilly sees two sides of the Internet operating system, and in a nod to Lord of the Rings, named them “One Ring To Rule Them All” and “Small Pieces Loosely Jointed.” The path we’re currently headed on is reflective of the former – a no-holds-barred death match between the platform owners, while the latter describes a world that has fewer controls and helps to foster creativity and innovation. Concluding with a quote from Jeff Jarvis, O’Reilly urged businesses to, “Do what you do best, and link to the rest.”
At Web 2.0 Expo NY, several new businesses are doing just that – innovating while also building on what others have successfully created, and opening up further development to even more people. Here are a few examples from the conference:
Boxee
Although Boxee technically didn’t announce anything new (the beta unveiling is on December 7th), CEO Avner Ronen hosted a panel on customers acting as brand evangelists. If you aren’t familiar with Boxee, consider it a social media center for your TV. Not only does it pull in your personal content like videos and photos, but you can also stream content from the MLB, Last.FM, Netflix, Pandora, and more. Since Boxee allows developers to create their own “channel,” more than 150 great applications are available to enhance your living room experience. One of our favorites is Cliqset (a LaunchSquad client), which allows you to have a real-time conversation with friends while watching your favorite video.
Foodspotting
Described as a “foodie-powered field guide,” Foodspotting was born after founder Alexa Andrzejewski realized it was difficult to search for specific dishes on existing city guide services. The Web site (a mobile app is coming soon) allows “food spotters” to post photos and descriptions of dishes they’ve eaten. “Food seekers” can then search through these dishes, and vote them up, which awards credibility points to the original spotter. The service hopes to eventually tie into different products like Foursquare, where foodspottings would be incorporated into location check-ins. Now I won’t be scratching my head when I’m trying to find the best banh mi.
EarthAid
Think of it as a dashboard for all of your utilities, the power meter of the future. Currently compatible with 106 utility companies, EarthAid empowers users by allowing them to monitor and effectively reduce energy consumption. Incentives in the form of points redeemable towards discounts, and offers from partners, and the ability to share data with friends, makes conserving energy fun.
I encourage you to explore the great videos and presentations given at Web 2.0 Expo NY to learn more about how the Web is evolving.
Mind Over Manners
Since moving to California, where everyone has smart phones, I’ve long been stifling mild irritation with friends who, at dinner, would have their iPhones or BlackBerry’s out doing God-knows-what for minutes at a time. Could you really be that bored with the conversation and company that you would care to check Facebook again?
Social grace is a dying art. While the practices of manners and etiquette are seemingly lost on the digi-generates of this world – looking at you Hannah Montana fans – those of us that can recall our parents telling us to chew with our mouths closed and to use “please” and “thank you,” should figure something out in order to fight off this trend that threatens our last few shreds of civility. Our increasingly mobile selves, egged on by our much-beloved mobile devices, need to remember our manners.
In a panicked effort to reverse what I see as an impending doom of a lack of interpersonal connection and epidemic of self-involvement, I asked an expert for some guidelines here.
Mindy Lockard is an etiquette consultant based in Eugene, Oregon who runs a business, blog and a brand around all things manners and gentility and wouldn’t know you it, her pet peeve is “cell phones ringing in pubic.” Her online magazine, ManneroftheMonth.com, is an interactive publication that teaches manners and etiquette to everyday users as well as industry professionals. Mindy will take us beyond the norms of expectations, and to the polished heights of social graces. These are her words of wisdom.
Using Intelligence When Using Your Smart Phone
When I teach my “Cell Phone 101″ class to teens new to the mobile phone world, I often reflect – like my grandparents telling the story of walking up hill to school in 5 feet of snow – about the first cellular phone my mother had. This cellular relic would not be recognizable today since it came with its own case, was the size of a small piece of luggage, and had to be plugged into the cigarette lighter. Much has changed in the world of technology since those days in the early nineties, but while the jumbo models of the early nineties have slimmed down to tiny all-in-one devices, the value of those we are talking to or around hasn’t changed.
Occasions and events when it’s inappropriate
“Can you hear me now … ?” This infamous line from a commercial has become synonymous with the cellular phone industry, and the answer from those standing around us while we talk on our phones is, “YES. WE CAN HEAR YOU!” Keeping our smart phone conversations to a minimum in public places is the minimal amount of respect toward those near us. Even if we are surrounded by strangers, we should be mindful of their personal ear space. Step outside if you must take a call. In an airport or other setting where you can’t go outside, do your best to get away and take the call in an area that isn’t densely populated.
Texting, checking e-mail, Tweeting or updating status…
Public spaces are the best place to text because texting allows us to communicate without disrupting those around us. Of course, texting during a presentation or performance is inappropriate and disrespectful – it communicates to the performers or speakers that you aren’t interested in their efforts. During a movie, the lights on a phone and the clicking of buttons can be very distracting to fellow moviegoers. If you have to text, remove yourself from the performance and take care of your communication. Or, even better, save your communication until the end when you can go outside and return the call.
Texting, checking e-mail, Tweeting or updating status in front of other’s faces
Typing into our phones in front of others is just as disrespectful as talking on the phone in front of them. Even checking your phone to read the message should be avoided. Don’t try to hide your communication under the table or out of sight. Even if the phone isn’t visible, the top of your head while you text is, and the person in front of you will not be fooled. Just because the technology is easy and accessible doesn’t mean it should not be used with respect and discretion.
Making calls
When making a call, be prepared! Using smart phones makes it easier to conduct business in situations when you are not entirely focused because you are driving or out in public. Think before you make a call. Have all necessary information available. The sound of shuffling paper or delayed speech because you have lost focus will give the impression that you are disorganized or don’t care.
Remember to always ask at the beginning of the phone conversation, “Is this a good time?” or “Do you have 5 minutes to answer a couple of questions?” Asking about time or giving the amount of time you need will help you and the caller accomplish the tasks at hand.
Taking calls
If you are in the company of another person or in a situation where you can’t easily focus or don’t have the necessary materials available, ask the caller if you can call them back. Schedule a time that works well for both of you, then call when you say you will call.
When you take a call, stop and focus on the person calling. Always have paper and pen available to take notes, so when you return to the office, you will have the necessary documentation.
Should it be allowed at meals?
When dining or meeting face-to-face with another individual, turn your smart phone off unless you are expecting an emergency phone call. (By the way, your afternoon plans are not an emergency.) If you know you have an appointment at one o’clock and are leaving a message for a friend, tell the friend that you will be unavailable between one and two o’clock. Putting those in our presence “on hold” by taking a call non-verbally communicates that they are not as important as the person on the phone. Even if you ask the person in your presence if they mind and that person politely says, “It’s fine,” chances are they do mind and are merely trying to be polite.
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Please regard these with a “one step at a time” kind of attitude. It’s worth it – manners and etiquette are very becoming on you.
A Start-Up for the Ages
“I walk on untrodden ground.”
-George Washington, 1789
It wasn’t until I was on the flight back from a week of soaking up the history and sites of Revolutionary America that I realized how applicable Washington’s milieu is to our own work here at LaunchSquad.
I spent my vacation last week between Boston and Philadelphia, two capitals of the American colonies, walking the Battle Road from Lexington to Concord, climbing Bunker Hill, discovering Old North Church, and touring – in reverence – Independence Hall’s modest rows of oak desks and quilled ink bottles. I enjoyed Thomas Jefferson’s actual brew recipe at the City Tavern and strolled along the cobblestone streets of then-patrician Beacon Hill; stopped at just about every landmark and read any historical marking plaque I could find. From Paul Revere to Nathanael Greene and John Adams, some might remember these people and places from social studies class; more nerdy types from books such as 1776. The events and phrases in our historical vernacular — “one if by land, two if by sea” and “don’t shoot ‘til you see the whites of their eyes” — still buzz in our loose memory of facts surrounding America’s revolution…the same way we kinda remember how that League of Nations thing was related to Woodrow Wilson. Memorized milestones from schooling, helpful for the occasional pub trivia night.
But I love history. And while I will never be able to learn it all, the things I have time to read and digest in my otherwise busy life help inform the present moment with a wider context, no matter what the issue or topic.
In describing the rag-tag militia of the colonies’ Continental Army, historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough compares it with that of the British, which he frequently points out was too big and too rigid for its own good. Take the Siege of Boston: while the city lay in an awkward and stagnant state of tension, the British regulars were bogged down with hierarchy and formality. Even word of important American military plans would rarely make it through the onion layers of Red-Coat brass, resulting in a detrimental lack of preparation and many missed opportunities.
In contrast, any Continental soldier could schedule an appointment with any level of leadership, including commanding General George Washington himself. No idea was considered stupid and very few went without at least a discussion. After all, no one had done this whole independence-seeking thing before. For example, the need for ammunition and arms had become absolutely desperate as the winter of 1775 neared. The colonies had thousands of men ready for imminent battle, but no gunpowder or cannon with which to fight it. One lower-ranking officer (and former book merchant) came up with the crazy idea to travel 300 miles in the dead of winter to retrieve leftover cannons, arms, and gunpowder lying unused at far-off Fort Ticonderoga. The only things standing in the way were a huge lake, a major river, and the Berkshire Mountains packed with snow. Hair-brained and reliant on several fortitudinous conditions? Yes. But Washington said, “Go for it.” Two months later, that man — Henry Knox — returned safely. The arms and artillery were then used to successfully drive the British from Boston entirely.
Throughout the battles and uncertainty – in Philadelphia and other cities across the eastern seaboard – founding fathers met to essentially whiteboard ideas, synthesize options, compromise, debate, and eventually shape the way we would operate our government for the rest of eternity. Indeed, even as the wording and content of our law has changed, the way we go about these changes mirrors the process of democratic dialectic they used more than two hundred years ago in, say, tiny Congress Hall.
On the flight back I was doing my best to return my mind and focus from the hallowed walls of liberty to the web of niche enterprise technology, Twitter and digital media. Seemed like a stretch at first, but then I thought: America was a start-up. The values it takes to start something — flexibility, creativity, vision and perseverance (among others) — are the same qualities we seek in our clients and the stories we help them tell. It’s about starting something new, growing it towards a vision, and keeping an open mind along the way…Because you just never know when a Henry Knox will come along and transform the future with one simple ground-swelling idea.
The ground is untrodden, but that’s what makes for an exciting journey, and an innovative outcome.
Aggregation: As Good as the Sum of Its Parts
Aggregation. It’s a funny word. One definition of aggregation is “a collection into an unorganized whole.” Today, aggregators are omnipresent–from entertainment sites to food blog search engines and music sites, we seem to increasingly rely on others to serve up content for us in one convenient place. In a way, aggregators are a little like shoeboxes filled with notes, but ones with little sticky labels that you could easily sift through.
It took me a while to start using an RSS reader–it seemed to take out the fun of visiting individual sites. But these days, aggregation is the only way we can consume more information, with more immediacy, and with more personalization, in fewer places across the Web. While human instinct is to hunt and gather, the amount of data that exists out there today and the power of search algorithms beckon the question: Why should I do the work when someone else can do it for me (and spit out more relevant information much quicker than I would ever find it myself)? Increasingly, we want more quality content and we want it all in one place, where we can easily sift/click through what interests us most. Looking for television shows online? Browse through Hulu. Want to find a good recipe? Try Epicurious (which pulls from Bon Apetit and Gourmet Magazine, among others). Better yet, want to check out recipes tested by food bloggers? Real people like you and me? Take a look through FoodBlogSearch.com. Looking for some new music? Look no further than Elbo.ws and Hypem.com. Are you in the mood for top tech news all day/every day? Techmeme‘s the spot. Top Blogs on all sorts of topics? AllTop. Even the way we consume news these days is often an aggregate of a host of news services (ie Google News). More, aggregators of aggregators now make sifting through conversations (ie, TweekDeck for Twitter) a much more streamlined process.
The overarching theme? Customization. Personalization. Efficiency. Some aggregators are generated by smart algorithms and some (like the Huffington Post) are created manually, by human beings that spend their days sifting for information for you (imagine that!). Increasingly, we think less about where we find information and more about capturing that information and having it be filed and searchable. If MTV was your gateway to new music in the 80s, today, it’s hard to distinguish were you may have first read about a new band. It could have been on your RSS reader (filled with music blogs), via a Twitter search or on an aggregator Web site. Most days, I hardly take note of the ‘original source’–unless it’s for a breaking news story. I trust that most aggregators are serving up quality content, and my RSS reader is my own customized aggregator of my favorite sites. As promised by definition, an aggregator has no table of contents, and the information it serves up is really big laundry bag that I am able to sort through at my convenience, by keyword, date and relevancy to my topic search.
Some may argue that aggregation is the killer of independent Web sites and publications, but I would argue against that. Aggregation points me in the direction of great content, and given that the aggregator is a collection of sources, it’s only as good as the sum of its parts.
Five Cool Things that Happened at SXSW Interactive
Last week, I got a chance to attend part of the SXSW Interactive Festival–the coolest tech/geek conference anyone could possibly go to. Where else could you see @garyvee swear profusely on a panel in front of 900+ people, get photographed for the Entertainment page of the local newspaper, and meet some of the most innovative and influential people in tech? Before I went, I spent a significant amount of time perusing the SXSW Web site, debating which panels were worthwhile, reading up on party etiquette and figuring out just how I was going to balance it all. In the end, the experience was even more powerful than I expected. While much has been written about what goes on at SXSW and how you can make the most of it, I thought I’d dive into my personal experience and why I now believe that any creative, driven and passionate person should try to go to this thing–at least once! Below is a brief rundown of 5 cool things that happened at SXSW:
1. An impromptu lunch/dinner with some really cool folks: at SXSW, throwing out your insecurities and shyness is probably the best way to go. People attending the conference are excited by the prospect of meeting cool people, so if you want to meet someone–say hello–and suggest lunch! While at the conference, I got a chance to have dinner with Boxee, Evernote and Cliqset, and an impromptu lunch with the founders of a San Francisco-based company called Foodzie, who showered us with delicious samples of truffles, granola and lollipops.
2. Watching Gary Vaynerchuck (of Wine Library TV) talk about ‘the hustle’ in front of a packed room of people–where, no one was ashamed of self-promotion when going up to the microphone to ask questions.
3. Getting our picture in the Austin Statesman‘s Entertainment section: priceless.
4. Talking with the founder of Moo, the makers of tiny Moo business cards–and awkwardly handing him my business card.
5. Going up to the microphone to ask a question at a panel that generated a good five minute discussion between all of the panelists–lesson learned: if you have something to say–say it!
Overall, the message that I took away from the event was to be aggressive–whether it be attending as many parties as you can, pushing your way through to meet a panelist/CEO/blogger, or running around between the Convention Center and the Hilton Hotel to get into as many panels as possible.
A Different Kind of Geek
Last week, I attended the AlwaysOn Going Green conference in Boston; in the midst of the economic meltdown and corresponding malaise, it was very refreshing to hear from and about a new generation of entrepreneurs and innovators that are focused on, well, changing the world. Hearing about how coal can be efficiently converted into cleaner energy (see Great Point Energy and CoalTek), wastewater can be quickly transformed into clean drinking water (Oasys Water and Hydropoint Data Systems), or biomass can cheaply produce high quality ethanol (Zymetis), really gets one excited about a profoundly different future for ourselves and the planet.
I’ve worked with a handful of upstart green and clean technology companies recently (this is a relatively new market of course), but most of our clients over the years have been of the more conventional computer technology variety. Software, hardware, networking, Internet and the like.
The conference got me thinking about The Next Big Thing, and how the world of technology and innovation are likely to shake out in the coming decades (I lost track of how many times someone at the event mentioned a year like 2030 or even 2050). The last 30 years or so have been dominated first by the computer/PC and then the Internet revolutions, which affected pretty much everything and have had a huge impact on our lives. Consider what things were like before we had a computer at work (or home), a mobile phone, or web sites that sell you anything you want or give you access to any piece of information in a moment.
Those revolutions were spurned and driven by folks like Bill Joy, Steve Wozniak and Bill Gates, who were at their core engineers and programmers, aka Computer Geeks. They were brilliant people at the right time and place who used their science and math-based minds to create world-changing technologies.
But in this new wave that is upon us, we’re talking about a whole different kind of geek. The people behind the new ideas and companies that will spark the green/clean tech revolution are for the most part not electrical engineers and computer scientists. Instead, they are of the more traditional (and I guess original) geek variety. We’re talking about biologists, chemists, geologists and other ists most of us have never heard of. Just your everyday, straight-on scientists.
And to be sure this is quite a different breed. These are people that aren’t naturally inclined to sit in front of a computer screen for weeks at a time writing code and loving every minute of it. These folks like to play in the sand and get dirty. They wonder at nature and all its various elements and nuances. They like to mix things together and make explosions. They look at the sky and ponder what’s out there to be found.
It’ll be very interesting to see how this coming revolution evolves, and how the different traits and skills among this set of geeks manifests itself.
Thin Mints 2.0? Not So Fast
Every year as girl scout cookie season rolls around, I think back on my first forays into sales and the art of effectively hawking the mass-produced, yet deceptively delicious baked goods that have come to define many a girl’s early springtime. Standing before each foreboding doorstep, staring up at the closed door ahead and nervously gripping my clipboard and ballpoint pen, I remember being filled with a distinct sense of fear crossed with nervous excitement — who would be waiting on the other side? Would they be nice, rude or indifferent, and most importantly, would they buy?
It has now been over a decade (wow) since I (not so begrudgingly) abandoned my Girl Scout sash, but it’s amazing to see, for better or worse, how little the cookie sales program has changed. In this week’s Newsweek, reporter Kurt Soller writes on the issue, highlighting the program’s resistance to even a gradual shift towards E-commerce and larger seeming opposition to technology in general.
Soller mentions the story of 8-year-old Wild Freeborn, whose tech-savvy father created a YouTube video of Wild in her Girl Scout outfit repeating the oft-used sales pitch: “Buy cookies! And they’re yummy!” While simple, the video proved effective, generating more than 700 orders in two weeks.
However, Wild’s seemingly innocent plea was not met with friendly high-fives from other parents (jealous, perhaps?) or local Girl Scout officials. Freeborn was instructed to take down the site and questions were routed back to the organization’s FAQ, which stated, “The safety of our girls is always our chief concern. Girl Scout Cookie activities are designed to be face-to-face learning experiences for the girls.”
Yet it doesn’t seem like safety could possibly be the issue here. Perhaps I have become a little too ensconced in the Web world, but I can’t see how selling cookies online could be markedly more dangerous than sending young girls wandering door-to-door? I understand the organization’s wariness and the fact that standards and rules must be clearly established before a formal E-commerce strategy is initiated — yet, it seems the organization is already (at least) a few years behind the times.
It’s 2009 — and adolescents live on the Web. If the Girl Scout organization doesn’t wise up and find a way to appropriately evolve and acknowledge this fact, both the cookie program and perhaps even the organization as a whole may risk becoming irrelevant.
I don’t mean to say that Girl Scouts should stop selling cookies on street corners, but why should technology be shut out? I know I’m not the only one hoping to be able to buy my annual box of Peanut Butter Patties for years to come — so let’s give three cheers for little Wild and here’s to hoping that soon the rest of the organization follows suit.
The iPhone Musician
Music and technology. How the two keep introducing themselves to each other in new ways. As a musician though, finding another way to stream music and get song recommendations is cool, but actually not improving my ability to make music. I just discovered a few new tech innovations that are though: GigBaby and Cleartune for the iPhone.
Gigbaby is a digital 4 track recording application and Cleartune is a very simply designed, entirely functional tuner. Yesterday, I tuned my guitar and then recorded a spur of the moment chord progression, all with my iPhone. I actually then composed a beat directly in Gigbaby and synced it to the guitar recording – I tapped out the rhythm on the phone, which allowed GigBaby to register the beats per minute (BPM).
This is really cool. I have been recording guitar licks onto the voice memo function of all of my previous cell phones for years – they all sound terrible, and I could barely hear what I was playing. The exponential leap that the iPhone has allowed me to take with recording music on the fly is very welcome and genuinely stands to improve my songwriting process – I’m now able to develop songs more quickly and keep a better record of my ideas. Will this lead to better music being made in our increasingly tech-driven culture? Probably not. But Cousin Chris is geekin out and enjoyin it.