Information Overload

The world around us is increasingly wired, and as a result, we
consume more information at a faster pace than ever before. It’s kind
of interesting to think that I could read something about a news story
today online, from media outlets all over the world, and from
individuals via blogs. Fifty years ago, that amount of information
simply would not have been readily available. It would have been almost
impossible.

Email, instant messaging, blogs, websites – they all add to
something called “information overload.” I think you’ll start hearing
the expression more and more in the next couple years, or at least
until the tools that help us deal with it improve. Basically, we take
in more information than we can deal with at one time. One of the major
negative side effects of information overload, at least to some people,
is that human interaction is lost:

“The amount of information that goes into a young person’s head today
is incredible,” says David H. Landers, director of the student resource
center at Saint Michael’s College, in Colchester, Vt. His main concern
is that students have replaced face-to-face contact with instant
messaging and e-mail. “They’re not going to have the same quality of
interpersonal relations that will help them in a work environment,” he
argues.

I see two major flaws with this argument. First and foremost, if
everyone else is using email and instant messaging and other
technologies, then the interpersonal skills required for a work
environment have changed, haven’t they? I think it’s only a problem if
the level of technology use and knowledge is not somewhat similar
between all team members. So it follows that in five to ten years, it
won’t be a problem at all, as the older generation who snubs technology
retires.

The second flaw is that I don’t think information overload
necessarily degrades communication. I can keep in touch with more
people more often thanks to instant messaging and other technologies.
And moving forward, these technologies will be improved with audio and
video, in effect reintroducing the human element.

Information overload is an interesting topic, but I wouldn’t call it
a problem. A challenge yes, but one that will be overcome. In the big
picture, we’ve gone and created a bunch of tools for easily creating
content. Now we have to go and create tools to manage and consume it.
This is reflected on the small scale quite well with things like blogs,
podcasts, or even email. There are a number of ways to create a blog,
but only two ways to consume it (the web and an aggregator), and very
rudimentary ways to organize it (folders or keyword search). Podcasts are very similar.
And even email, the oldest of them all, doesn’t deal with information
overload very well. The idea of an inbox just doesn’t make sense when
you get 100 emails a day, and yet we still deal with that metaphor.

More importantly, too much information is a better problem to have than not enough, don’t you think?

Read: Knowing When to Log Off

Was Adobe's decision wise?

The big news in the tech world today is that Adobe has bought Macromedia for $3.4 billion. Many people seem to think
that the two make a perfect couple, and complement each other in a
number of ways. While I suppose that’s true, I think this might be the
beginning of the end for Adobe and Macromedia.

The first article I saw on the acquisition was this one,
from News.com. It tends to focus on how Adobe and Macromedia are
“making peace”, so that they can compete better together against, who
else, Microsoft. Indeed, Adobe’s CEO Bruce Chizen said “When I think
about competitors, there’s only one I really worry about. Microsoft is
the competitor, and it’s the one that keeps me up at night.”

Until now, Adobe has been pretty dominant with its PDF format, and
Macromedia has been pretty dominant with its Flash platform. Microsoft
has largely left the two alone, even using both technologies. I
wouldn’t say there has been too much competition So here’s my question:
how does this merger HELP the two compete against Microsoft?

The Adobe acquisition of Macromedia is like a smoke signal.
Microsoft will see it, and all of a sudden, the new Adobe is on the
radar in a much bigger way. Who is Microsoft more likely to pay
attention to, two smaller companies, or one large one? Who poses a
bigger threat to Windows, Adobe, Macromedia, or the two combined?
People describe Microsoft as a ship that constantly changes course to
mitigate new threats. Really, they are more like a fleet of ships. I’d
imagine they’ll dispatch a few to deal with the new Adobe now.

I think Adobe and Macromedia make some excellent products, and it
would be very difficult for Microsoft to come up with direct
competitors. Visual Studio is far beyond Dreamweaver, but other than
that, Microsoft doesn’t really make any competing products. At least
not yet. It’ll be interesting to see what happens now, to say the
least. Best of luck to Adobe and Macromedia, but I’m not sure the
merger is the start of better things!

Read: Adobe and Macromedia

Back in one piece!

As you can see, I made it back alive from the Kokanee Freeride! I’d never been boarding on a mountain before, so it was quite an experience. The weather was awesome, and the snow was really good in the morning. In the afternoon it kinda turned to slush, and just made everything soaking wet, but that’s okay.

I think I did pretty good snowboarding. I could definitely get used to it. Thanks to Felicia, Dickson and especially Andrew for putting up with my slowness – I constantly felt I was holding them up! I didn’t fall down THAT many times, but my knees are a bit sore. Fortunately, no face plants this time. I do have to learn not to rely on my heels so much though, it makes the leg muscles very sore after a while. One cool thing, as Andrew pointed out, is that I managed to make it off the lift once (or was it twice?) without falling! Definitely an accomplishment for me 🙂

The bus ride there and back seemed very long, but the stop in Edson (about half way) made it bearable. The beer gardens were pretty cool at mid-mountain, lots of people, including the Kokanee girls! And they looked just like they do in the commercial, with the silver suits and everything. It was awesome! I didn’t drink that much, but my snowboarding-goddess friend Felicia (she’s really good) managed to down a couple, and then board down the hill with a Kokanee in hand. I wish I could say I did that, but I’d have spilt the beer for sure, and I’m not into alcohol abuse! Next time.

I must say, snowboarding on a mountain is very humbling. There were hundreds of little kids who could carve circles around me, it was insane. They must have started very young – made me feel old actually. The wonderful views and longer runs made up for that though!

If I had any complaints, it would be that the lockers are too small, and there aren’t enough. Seems to me they could make a lot of money if they upgraded that part of the experience. Minor detail though, really. Hopefully I’ll get the pictures from Felicia soon (she was our photographer) so I can post the good ones. Definitely liking this snowboarding thing. Again, thanks Kim for scoring us the tickets, and thanks Dickson, Andrew and Felicia for coming! It was fun 🙂

Kokanee Freeride!

Off to Denny’s in an hour or so for a late-nite meal, and then to Marmot Basin for the Kokanee Freeride party! That’s right, I’ll spend all of tomorrow falling on my face as I attempt to snowboard. It will be interesting, to say the least. Dickson, Andrew and Felicia will be along for the ride, and I’m sure, to document my mountain mishaps.

Have a great Sunday! Oh, and props to Kim for hooking us up 🙂

The Big Redesign

If you’re reading this on the web, you’ve no doubt noticed that I
have a new look! I finally completed a site redesign that I started
back in January, and just never got around to finishing. There was
always too many things on the go, so I’d do little bits at a time.

Somewhere along the way, Community Server
was released, and I started using it for our Paramagnus blogs. I made
the decision to upgrade my blog from the old .Text, to the new
Community Server 1.0, and I completed that upgrade last night. It has
some really cool features, like Search (which you can get to on the
right). I used a really great conversion tool called DotTextCSConverter,
which has the unique ability to keep all of my post ID’s the same. This
means that hopefully, there should be no broken links! If you do notice
one, please let me know, and I’ll see what I can do.

As you can probably guess, I am still tweaking things. I have some
more things to add to the right, and some other changes to make,
especially if you give me some constructive feedback. One new thing is
the navigation bar at the top! You’ll notice it has a Podcast button –
this is not working yet. Also, the Gallery is still my old design, I
have not upgraded it yet (actually I probably won’t upgrade it, it will
simply be replaced). Everything else is using the new design now,
though.

Here’s what I was going for with the redesign: a cleaner, more
professional look that didn’t completely drop the personal elements of
the site. Quite simply, my old site was getting far too cluttered and
messy. I hope you like the new design!

See you at Gnomedex!

Earlier this week Dickson and I registered for Gnomedex 5.0, taking place in Seattle from June 23rd to 25th. We’re really excited about the conference, and we’re looking forward to meeting a bunch of new people! If the conference is anything like Northern Voice, it should be a great time. We’re still working out the travel arrangements, but there’s lots of time left for that.

Julie Leung is listed as one of the many speakers, and I am really looking forward to her session. I missed her talk at Northern Voice, but it seemed to be one of the favorites. This year’s Gnomedex definitely has the podcasting vibe, with Adam Curry and Dave Winer keynoting, and a bunch of podcasters attending. I can’t wait to see what people are doing with podcasting in two months, it should be amazing.

If you’re going to be at Gnomedex (or in Seattle at the same time) and want to get together, let me know!

A business model? What a novel idea!

Some of you might know that Meetup.com recently announced that the service is no longer free, and they will charge $19 a month. Basically the site has run into the “how do we keep this going” moment, and decided that the service is worth paying for:

If you’d like to explore alternatives we encourage you to do so. Really. As big believers in the expression “you get what you pay for” we think you’ll realize that Meetup’s worth the cost.

Today Marc Canter posted about the changes:

One good thing they did – they put their faces next to what they describe as “the bad news”. Me – I don’t consider it bad news. There’s a time for every social experiment to grow up, smell the mustard and get real. MeetUp has – congreats!

Did I read that correctly? Did Marc really say “There’s a time for every social experiment to grow up, smell the mustard and get real,” or am I misreading this? Nope, checked my glasses, I appear to be reading correctly. So what’s the big deal?

Ourmedia is a brand new site, and I’d definitely describe it as a “social experiment.” It depends on having a community of users, and because no one knows where it’s going to go, its very much an experimental project. So then, Marc, why is it a good thing for Meetup to have a business model, but somehow Ourmedia doesn’t need one? I still don’t buy the “Ourmedia will always be free” marketing spin – someone, somewhere has to pick up the bill. And just because one wealthy individual is paying for it today, doesn’t mean he’ll be paying for it tomorrow.

Ourmedia hasn’t gotten any stellar reviews, and I think the only reason they are still running is that they are free, so people give them the benefit of the doubt. They don’t expect good service, because they are not paying for it. So with that in mind, perhaps Ourmedia’s model isn’t so bad after all right? Wrong. Yesterday I mentioned that Google Video Upload was launched, and it too is free. I’d be willing to bet Google will make sure it works and is well-liked, just like all of their other free offerings.

Meetup.com got away with being free for so long because their service worked, and was relatively unique. I think it’s quite clear that the same is not true for Ourmedia – it doesn’t work, and there are better alternatives appearing every day. Maybe Ourmedia needs a business model. Maybe they should create a service that is worth paying for, and then charge for it. Maybe the people in charge should grow up, smell the mustard and get real.

New Messenger Plus! Released

A new version of the very popular MSN Messenger add-on Messenger Plus! was released yesterday. The new version definitely looks like it was made for version 7, with new icons all over the user interface. Here’s a few of the new changes:

  • A couple of optimizations have been made so that the contact list of Messenger 7 displays faster when Messenger Plus! is running (those of you with older computer will probably notice a big difference).
  • An important problem related to compatibility with MSN Messenger 7 has been found and fixed which is why a new version is released so soon.
  • The /sendfile command has been fixed for the final version of Messenger 7, however, no parameter is allowed for this command anymore (remember that you can use /dropfile too).
  • In several windows of Messenger Plus! (like the event viewer and the floating windows), the status icons now use the Messenger 7 style (in MSN Messenger 7 only).

There’s lots more to see in the program, and the full changelog is here. Go download it!

Librarians silently fume over Intel magazine bounty

A few days ago, Intel announced that they would pay up to $10,000 for a mint-condition copy of an April 19th, 1965 issue of the magazine that contained Gordon Moore’s now famed law about how the number of components on integrated circuits would double every year. Kind of amazing that Intel didn’t have a copy of the magazine, and apparently they thought so too, so they offered the bounty.

A day after the bounty was announced, a library at the University of Illinois noticed that one of their two copies of the magazine had disappeared:

There was a glaring space on the shelf where the bound volume containing the April 19, 1965, edition of Electronics Magazine sat for years, said Mary Schlembach, assistant engineering librarian at the Grainger Engineering Library at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Another librarian heard a student talking on a cell phone about the volume the same day, Schlembach said. Ordinarily, the magazine is not a popular item.

Librarians at other schools are mad too. Stanford, the University of Washington, and a bunch of others have expressed their frustration. Intel though, has apparently said they will only buy library copies from actual libraries, so the student who swiped one might have a hard time claiming the bounty.

Read: CNET News.com

A Newspaper Revolution

Earlier today I wrote a somewhat comical entry about how young people are no longer interested in the six o’clock news. Well, there was some seriousness there too – young people really are having an effect on news outlets of all types, from television to newspapers. So I thought it was especially appropriate that I’d come across a post from Jeff Jarvis where he talks about Rupert Murdoch’s speech today to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington. For those of you that don’t know, Rupert Murdoch is top dog at News Corp.

According to Jarvis, the speech included lots of props to the Internet and specifically, to blogs. From what I read, Murdoch seems to have done a great job in providing some background to what he’s talking about, explaining how newspapers enjoyed a virtual monopoly until the radio was invented. Now, the time for newspapers to change has come – “The trends are against us,” Murdoch says. He’s not saying that news is dead however, just that it needs to be delivered differently:

The challenge, however, is to deliver that news in ways consumers want to receive it. Before we can apply our competitive advantages, we have to free our minds of our prejudices and predispositions, and start thinking like our newest consumers. In short, we have to answer this fundamental question: What do we – a bunch of digital immigrants — need to do to be relevant to the digital natives?

Talk about hitting the nail on the head. They are indeed “digital immigrants”, what an excellent way to describe the average newspaper editor. If there is anyone who could give a “call-to-arms” speech to the newspaper industry and have it be heard, I can’t think of a better man than Rupert Murdoch. He is so important, and so highly regarded. Let’s hope the editors listened.

I hate almost everything about newspapers. I don’t like the size of the paper. I don’t like the way it makes everything black. I don’t like that every page has to be jammed full of stuff. I don’t like that the pages are not full color. I don’t like that once I find something interesting, I can’t do anything with it (like send it to a friend, or blog about it with a link, etc). Please newspaper editors, hear Murdoch’s call, and bring the newspaper into the digital age!

Read: BuzzMachine