Only 8% of US Households Watch Over-The-Air Broadcast TV.
June 1st, 2011 • Posted in General Observations
Why do we still give away vast chunks of spectrum to broadcast networks? Continue Reading
June 1st, 2011 • Posted in General Observations
Why do we still give away vast chunks of spectrum to broadcast networks? Continue Reading
June 1st, 2011 • Posted in General Observations
Yesterday, Jason McCabe Calacanis invited me to respond to his post “Has Google Been Naughty? Yes. Should the Government Get Involved? No”. You can read responses from Vivek Wadhwa and Robert Scoble along with mine in a handy digest on the Launch blog. The following post is the full text of my response to Calacanis view of Google’s future path.
There’s a predictable cycle in business, at least in the sectors of technology, media and telecommunications.
In the first part of the cycle, companies achieve success by introducing a new service that delights customers: call it the “Value Creation” phase. This is the phase when lots of customers sign up. Remember when you bought your first Windows computer, your first iPod, or your first smartphone? Chances are good that you made the switch at the exact same moment when millions of other people were migrating to these new gizmos, too. Everyone was attracted by a novel combination of utility, cool factor and the right price.
But over time, as the new product/service evolves into our daily habit, some companies are tempted to Continue Reading
May 17th, 2011 • Posted in General Observations
May 16th, 2011 • Posted in General Observations
April 8th, 2011 • Posted in General Observations, Travel Adventures
March 15th, 2011 • Posted in Conferences, Creative Process, Featured, General Observations, Video Clips
In November 2010, I was invited to participate as a speaker and moderator at the Creativity World Forum in Oklahoma City. More than 2500 attendees, including hundreds of international delegates, attended the event. We participated in workshops, discussions, exhibitions, demonstrations.
I was the moderator of a discussion on the topic of Technology Aiding Creativity, and my guests were Pranav Mistry, the creator of Sixth Sense and other futuristic UIs, and Andrew Zolli, the impressario behind PopTech. Here’s the video of my opening remarks:
I chose to focus on three main points, to direct the audience’s attention to the way that technology can catalyze creative breakthroughs: giant scale, two-way dialog and the freedom of open platforms. The breathtaking pace of innovation on the web can be attributed to the fact that nobody needs to obtain permission from powerbrokers to gain access to scale, dialog and open platforms. That’s radically different from traditional mass media. And that’s why digital media grows so much faster than old media.
March 15th, 2011 • Posted in Creative Process, Video Clips
The advent of table computers and electronic book readers poses a serious challenge to the traditional business of book publishing. As I’ve written previously, it’s entirely possible that the economics of print publishing will crumble faster than commonly expected.
Recently I was invited to appear on “This Week In Books” to discuss the implications of electronic book publishing for authors, publishers and readers. There’s no doubt that this transition will present some difficult challenges, but our conversation was focused on the many new opportunities for authors to connect with their audiences via digital media. Printed books are great in many ways, and that’s why they’ve continued to occupy a central role in modern civilization in more or less unaltered form for 500 years. But now the Gutenberg culture is going to be transformed. Watch the video clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st4RVMQmVYI
March 15th, 2011 • Posted in Conferences, Creative Process, Video Clips
While visiting Vancouver for the Merging+Media conference, I was invited to appear on “Urban Rush” a lively daytime talk show about media and entertainment. The topic: how traditional media companies must chase their audiences as they migrate to new platforms. The proliferation of new devices and platforms makes this especially difficult for broadcasters who previously viewed the Web as a marketing mechanism to drive audience back to television. That strategy is busted. Here’s the clip:
March 15th, 2011 • Posted in Conferences, Creative Process, Video Clips
Last week I attended the Digital Directions conference hosted by Fairfax Media and X | Media Lab in Sydney. A series of outstanding speakers, including Tim Wu, Gigi Wang, Kevin Anderson, Baratunde Thurston, Riyaad Minty, Anthony Rose and others shared their perspectives.
My topic was “Coercion and Cooperation in the Second Century of Electronic Media.” And my message was that the architecture of a business determines how its creative energy is channeled. Fairfax Media kindly provided me the video, posted here. Continue Reading