Don Tapscott Talks Wikinomics at the U of A

Post ImageEarly this morning I attended a lecture sponsored by the U of A’s School of Business featuring Don Tapscott, author of the new book Wikinomics. It’s a good thing I didn’t buy the book a couple weeks ago like I was going to, because everyone got a complimentary copy at the event (and I got him to sign mine).

I had no idea, but apparently the event was something of a homecoming for Don! He got his M.Ed. in Research Methodology from the University of Alberta, as well as one of his two honorary Doctor of Laws. He joked that he was happy to enjoy the Alberta spring weather with us! From a distance, Don looks a little something like Red from That 70’s Show, but I can assure you, he’s a much more engaging speaker than Mr. Forman.

He started by congratulating us for being named Time’s person of the year, and said that in his opinion, it is the corporation (as opposed to an individual) that is undergoing the biggest change. Much of his talk focused around what he called the “four drivers” of mass collaboration:

  1. Web 2.0
  2. The Net Generation
  3. The Social Revolution
  4. The Economic Revolution

The one that caught my attention the most was the second one – no surprise I suppose, as I am a member of the net generation (he said anyone under 29). The comments he made really resonated with me (such as that we view email as a more formal way to communicate). He is currently working on a research project to demonstrate that members of this generation are wired differently…we think differently than our parents. Perhaps the most profound aspect of the net generation is that we view work, entertainment, and everything else as the same thing. No longer is there a clear distinction between work and fun…they need to become (and are becoming) one.

Don also explained that the net generation is incredible at detecting BS, and that we actually do care about things. He said a common remark from older people is that members of the net generation don’t care about the news, all they watch is The Daily Show. Don’s reply was brilliant: “The Daily Show isn’t funny unless you know the news!” Truer words have never been spoken.

The talk finished with a brief question period and a few final thoughts from Don. He said an important takeaway is that leadership can come from anywhere. It doesn’t have to come from the top, which I thought was a good point.

I look forward to reading the book now!

Hey Facebook – integrate Twitter!

Post ImageDear Facebook,

You’re a great website, and I love you. In fact, I spend far more time with you than I should. As a result, I have started to notice your wrinkles. You know, the little things that stick out. Sometimes they are endearing, other times they are annoying.

The way you change my status updates is annoying.

Why must you change the point of view of my updates? Stop it, please. You’re cramping my creative style with your darn status update restrictions.

Earlier tonight I sent the following status update:

Lately I check Facebook for new stuff before I check my blog for new comments. Sad.

You butchered it. You converted my perfectly good update to:

Mack is lately he check Facebook for new stuff before he check his blog for new comments. Sad.

What the hell is that?! The way you ruined a perfectly good update is what’s sad. And I’m not the only one who feels this way. I mean, the over 6600 people in this group clearly agree with me.

You should take a page out of your younger cousin‘s playbook*. Better yet, integrate! I mean, Twitter is clearly ahead of you in the status updates department. You know that status update of mine that you butchered? Twitter accepted it just fine. And Twitter even gave me a permalink!

Please Facebook, think about it. I’d ask you to add status updating to your API as well, but let’s go one step at a time. The first step is simple: stop screwing with my status updates.

Your Friend,

Mack

* – younger cousin in the great family of Web 2.0 applications…

A sign of things to come? DRM free music from EMI

Post ImageI certainly hope so. EMI announced today that they will begin selling higher quality, DRM free music for $1.29 USD per download. I can’t stand MP3 files at less than 192 kbps, so they’ve got that solved – the files will be 256 kbps. And the price is pretty good – not great, but good. The only thing preventing me from dropping some cash right now is that only iTunes is selling the music so far. I can’t stand iTunes.

Eventually stores will be able to sell the music in either AAC, WMA, MP3, or “other unprotected formats of their choice.” Works for me! You can read much more analysis at TechMeme.

Did you know Napster had suggested this idea more than seven years ago? Don Dodge explains:

We suggested free file sharing of 56 kbps files that were good enough for “sampling” and probably analogous to AM radio quality sound. We would offer higher quality versions in 256 kbps format for sale at $1.00 per download. This way Napster could continue to offer free downloads of low quality files and sell high quality music.

We know how that turned out. In more ways than one, Napster was ahead of its time.

Read: EMI

Notes for 4/1/2007

Here are my weekly notes for April Fool’s Day 2007 (no pranks though, promise):

  • Here’s the Wikipedia entry for April Fool’s Day, and here’s a list of all the pranks that have appeared today.
  • Megan had a gathering on Friday – here’s the pictures. Jane is having one Saturday!
  • I’ve heard rumors that Mick McGeough might not be allowed to work during the playoffs. I hope they are true – at some point, referees have to made accountable. This article describes just how bad McGeough is.
  • Paul Brown from 100.3 The Bear is an idiot, and he admits it. Damn funny stand up comic too!
  • Is Dyson going to be launching a Roomba killer? I hope so! Not because I dislike iRobot’s Roomba, but rather, I want to see robots fight. Don’t you? Bring on the robot wars!
  • How do you get from New York to Dublin? You swim 3,462 miles according to Google Maps!
  • I think I have finally figured out how to update Twitter and my Facebook status at the same time. Maybe I’ll post some code this week.

Why is Facebook so addicting?

Post ImageFor those of you who use Facebook this will come as no surprise: I’m addicted. I don’t know what it is about the site, but something has me completely hooked. Lately when I think social networking, I think Facebook – it seems to me they have found the magic formula. And I really want to understand what that formula is.

Here are a few “magic ingredients” that I have come up with:

  • Human Connection. I think it’s human nature to want to be connected to other humans. Obviously, this is the core of Facebook’s product. Sure you can share links and write notes and such, but the core idea is connecting with other people, and everything seems to be designed with this in mind (you can tag people in photos, notes, etc.)
  • User Interface. With the exception of the ugly banner on the left side, the site is clean and the layout is mostly consistent. I think for the same reason people love Google’s simple front page, people love Facebook’s simple interface.
  • News Feed. Aside from being an efficient way to display information, the news feed makes logging into the site many times a day worthwhile. There’s always something new to see. Try to imagine Facebook without the news feed…it’s hard isn’t it? This is a key feature.
  • Almost Live Casual Communication. I think Facebook is great for communication that falls somewhere in between instant messaging and email. Like a simple “hey how’s it going” that doesn’t require an immediate response, nor an entire email message (which would appear in your inbox alongside important messages and spam). The wall is definitely another key feature.

When they first decided to open the site up to everyone, expanding away from their original audience of college students, I wasn’t sure if it would work out. I figured it might make Facebook seem less attractive. Turns out my suspicions were wrong. Facebook is definitely going mainstream.

I’ll think about this some more, but what you do think – why is Facebook so addicting?

Oh, and if we’re not friends on Facebook yet, add me! Here’s my profile.

Ten Years of Visual Studio

Post ImageI missed this last week, but March 19th was the ten year anniversary of the release of Visual Studio 97 – the first release of the Visual Studio product. Rob Caron has written my thoughts exactly:

Visual Studio has come a long way in that 10-year period.

I remember Visual Studio 97. It was sitting around in my Dad’s office, and I asked if I could “borrow” it. Who knows why they had ordered it…they never used it! I might even have the box around someplace.

I love Visual Studio. It’s a great product. More than that, it’s a great environment…and it now forms the base environment of tools in SQL Server and BizTalk Server, among others. Combined with the expanded lineup of SKUs, you could say that Visual Studio is taking over the tools scene at Microsoft!

Despite coming a long way in ten years, there’s much more on tap. Check out the future releases page for more info.

On the Kathy Sierra thing

Recently there was a big furor in the blogosphere about some hate mail that Kathy Sierra received. She cancelled a scheduled conference appearance as a result. Obviously it’s sad and disappointing when anyone receives hate mail, but why is Kathy’s case any different? I’m pretty sure that people receive hate mail all the time (and lots of comments on blogs around the web this week seem to confirm that).

I don’t often agree with Dave Winer, but I do today:

People aren’t going to like this, but it’s true — when a woman asks for a riot she gets one, and almost no one comes to the defense of a man who is attacked. Who’s more vulnerable? Well, honestly, it’s not always a woman.

Those who provided the riot Ms Sierra asked for, unknowingly, I’m sure, attacked at least one person whose health is pretty fragile. I wonder how y’all feel now that you know that. I wonder how you’d feel if that person died in the midst of the shitstorm. Someday if we don’t change the herd mentality of the tech blogosphere, that is likely to happen. I don’t want to be part of the herd on that day, that’s why I won’t join herds.

Hundreds of people (perhaps thousands) have posted about Kathy’s situation and how they think it is awful. How many of them actually mean it? I don’t know, but I think there’s a pretty large echo in here. Especially among the so-called A-listers this week, it definitely seemed to me that speaking out against the hate mail was simply the “in thing” to do.

I never intended to post anything about this topic. I certainly wasn’t about to follow Robert Scoble’s lead and stop blogging for a week. I don’t think Kathy’s case deserves any special treatment. I didn’t want to contribute to the useless echo. In the end I decided to post this simply for my own future reflection.

Here’s some related stuff if you want to find out more:

Yahoo Mail gets better

Post ImageI haven’t used Yahoo! Mail in ages, but two bits of news caught my eye today regarding the service. The first, is that Yahoo! is going to start offering unlimited storage in May:

The unlimited storage will begin rolling out globally in May, and Yahoo expects to have all of its customers covered within a month, except for China and Japan. “We will continue working with these markets on their storage plans,” Kremer said.

Yahoo! is the first of the big players to launch unlimited storage. I can’t imagine Google and Microsoft will be far behind.

The feature is important for further development, as Om Malik reports:

What it shows is that the company is beginning to think of Yahoo Mail as a platform, leveraging cheap storage and a mega audience.

I think the other shoe is going to drop tomorrow when Yahoo in all likelihood is going to announce a Yahoo Mail API, which would open up the service to third party developers.

Really?! An API for a mail service? That would be pretty darn cool, I have to admit.

Read: Yahoo! Mail

Microsoft – ahead and behind at the same time

Post ImageThere’s no question that Microsoft is a unique company. They’re gigantic, and they have an incredible amount of resources at their disposal. The company spends billions on R&D every year too, so it should be no surprise that they are often ahead of the curve when it comes to technology innovations. I don’t know what the problem is, but I continue to be amazed at how they can be so far ahead, and yet so far behind, all at the same time:

Given Microsoft’s statements about a hybrid approach, with online and offline products, the company should be ahead of the pack in delivering synchronization between the two modes…

Yeah, you would think so! But no.

It happened with Ajax, and it’s going to happen again with offline apps. Microsoft developers will know that seamless offline access has been an important part of Microsoft’s .NET message for years, yet it looks like it will be other companies stealing the spotlight. Just as Microsoft had the guts of Ajax in use long before it was known as Ajax, the same will happen with offline apps, especially when Firefox 3 ships.

As a Microsoft developer, it saddens me. They have some amazing stuff going on, but they seem to get lost when it comes to making the new and interesting technologies front and centre in the industry. Is it just a marketing thing? I am not sure.

Read: ZDNet

Notes for 3/25/2007

Here are my weekly notes: