eastwikkers

Infrastructure, Innovation, & Bandwidth

When I was at the Second Life Community Convention in August, I had the pleasure of seeing Mitch Kapor give the opening keynote. In it he stressed the key ingredients a company (like Linden Lab) must provide in order to facilitate innovation: Infrastructure, Core Capabilities, Overall Management of Economy, and Social Order. No doubt, we can agree he’s on the right track. Funny enough, a few days after the convention, Nicholas Kulish, a NY Times columnist, wrote an inspiring piece (NY Times Select subscription req’d) on America’s crumbling infrastructure, including some frightening spending and performance numbers that just don’t make sense for a country that once led in its superior infrastructure. 

SL’s infrastructure is huge and getting bigger every day as more users come aboard. Like online gaming, these types of applications requiring exceptional broadband speeds are multiplying. I believe that online gaming and/or virtual worlds are the applications driving the demand for bandwidth. But the network has to get better. In comparison to other parts of the world, U.S. broadband speeds are pathetic. The FCC recently reported that 57.6% of high-speed lines are greater or equal to 2.5 Mbps but less than 10 Mbps. In South Korea users can expect average speeds of 10 Mbps. And that’s just going to get bigger since Asians are the most bandwidth-hungry consumers out there. Nielsen/NetRatings research shows that the number of U.S. active Web users connecting through broadband has grown to 72%. Ok, users are here and coming by the droves, for goodness sakes, bring on the speed.

Of course, I’m not trying to make the case for better broadband just so I can have an ideal online multimedia experience. As Kulish pointed out, America is the one who started the Internet economy but it looks like we’re well on the road to being unseated. Unless the U.S.wants to continue to lose market share in these areas to Asia and Europe, then its time for everyone involved to really invest in infrastructure.  Personally, I don’t believe in that expression, “If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.” Let’s try this one on for size, “Even if it ain’t broke, keep fixin’ it.”

Before I end this, I want to address Kapor’s final ingredient to fostering innovation—Social Order. While I agree that it’s crucial, I also want to stress the importance of personal responsibility in an e-commerce world. This week, numerous outlets reported on Second Life’s unfortunate, but inevitable, security breach. Second Life users were alerted by Linden Lab last week, just as they should have been. Let me stress “inevitable” here. SF Chronicle’s Dan Fost points out that there are risks in any online transaction, calling it a “fact of life.” I concur. People have been participating in online transactions for years now. This is nothing new and just as when your real life credit card gets stolen, it is up to you to call your bank ASAP and report it. It is absolutely the responsibility of Linden Lab to alert its users immediately to a breach and any hint of compromised data—which they did. But now it’s up to the users to take matters in their own hands and change their passwords, call their bank, etc…

Rachel's Daily Tech Tidbits

News Corp. to Buy Stake in Jamba for $188 million

Bloomberg

News Corp., Rupert Murdoch's media company, agreed to buy a controlling stake in German ring-tone provider Jamba from VeriSign Inc. with the goal of creating the world's largest provider of mobile entertainment.

Apple Plans to Inhabit Living Room

The New York Times

iTV is Apple's newest device that will plug into the television in your living room and wirelessly pull in video and music from the Internet connection you've got set up in your den.  It is set to be released early next year.

Dell Opts for AMD Chips in New Desktops

PC World

Dell has spurned long-time chip supplier Intel's vPro business bundle, and is offering a choice of AMD's Athlon and Sempron chips in new Dimension E521 and C521 models.

TiVo Bulks Up

The Motley Fool

TiVo has created a new high-definition DVR that claims to be the first of its kind to be THX-certified.

Social Shopping and the Survival of the Fittest

What do you get when you combine an online craze like social networking with a more traditional pastime like shopping? Lots of good advice and some great products you may not have found otherwise. Thanks to the Internet’s ability to harness the knowledge of the masses, a number of new sites are cropping-up to provide consumers with better choice when it comes to buying goods online.

As Saul Hansell from the New York Times reports, little known retailers who are struggling to compete against the big guns like Macys, Target and Wal-Mart are now getting some much-welcome attention through the new ‘social shopping’ phenomenon, which entails gathering people in one place to swap ideas and provide suggestions on the best products to purchase.

But will these new methods of finding wares online truly enable the little guys to compete with the giants? Especially in light of the fact that what some call “the chaining of America” is in full throttle?

Sure, people want the ability to buy products that are unique – who wants to wear the same outfit or own the same couch as their neighbor – but are they willing to go to sometimes great lengths online to find that special deal?

A recent report in the UK suggests that they are, saying that the Internet is slowly moving to kill offline retailers. But, I’m still not convinced that people are motivated enough to spend the time needed on their computers to make physical stores a thing of the past. Not when they can get the benefits of social shopping offline in stores like Gap’s Forth and Towne. And besides, shopping online takes the fun out of the game – you can’t touch, feel, try on or really see what you’re buying.

No matter what happens to the world of shopping as we know it today, rest assured that both online and offline retailers are dreaming up new ways to entice us, and to make both experiences more enjoyable – or so we hope. All in time to capitalize on this year’s holiday buying frenzy. 

Rachel's Daily Tech Tidbits

AT&T Set for Net TV

The Australian

AT&T is to launch an internet TV service which will enable subscribers to view a selection of live and streamed TV channels on their PC over any wired or wireless broadband connection.

Palm Unveils New Treo for Europe

Washington Post

Palm Inc. unveiled a new Treo smart phone for Europeans, part of a growing breed of advanced cell phones that combine voice and data features.

HP Director Keyworth Resigns

CNET News.com

Director George A. (Jay) Keyworth, who had been fingered as the source of media leaks, will step down from the company's board.  Keyworth's resignation comes just as Chairman Patricia Dunn, who spearheaded the leak probe, announced that she will step down from her chairman's post (but remain on the board) in January.

Second Life Hack Attack Causes Second-Guessing

San Francisco Chronicle

An update on yesterday's news tidbit covering Second Life's attempt at regrouping in the wake of a hacker attack that put its users' identities and credit card information at risk.

Facebook Will Soon be Available to Everyone

USA Today

Facebook, the online networking site once the exclusive terrain of college students, will soon be opening up to the world.

9/11, Blogging and Citizen Journalism…

As the fifth anniversary of September 11 draws to a close, millions have reflected on just how much that day forever changed our country… and our thoughts are certainly with those who lost friends and relatives.

And speaking of post-9/11 changes, it’s worth taking a look at how technology and citizen journalism have evolved during the past five years. More recently, Hurricane Katrina saw the widespread creation of blogs and “help wikis” that offered real-time reports and first-hand accounts. But back on 9/11, this type of blogging-related citizen journalism/“grassroots” media was just beginning to gain momentum.

Check out this Wired piece, which discusses how on Sept. 11, 2001, “many survivors and spectators turned to online journals to share feelings, get information or detail their whereabouts. It was raw, emotional and new -- and many commentators now remember it as a key moment in the birth of the blog.”

Whatever the official birth date of the blog, it’s hard to argue that tragedy has served as the catalyst for this real-time, unedited, unscripted forum for sharing information, photos, videos, as well as personal, emotional accounts with a worldwide audience.

Rachel's Daily Tech Tidbits

Samsung Announces 40nm Memory Device

DigiTimes

Samsung announced that it has developed a prototype of the industry's first 40nm memory device.

Virtual Site Second Life Leaks Real Data

BetaNews

Second Life, a site that lets subscribers create a virtual character to interact in a fictional online environment, has leaked its customer's personal data after hacker's got into the service's database.

Motorola and Nokia DVB-Hugging

silicon.com

The two companies announced that they will be working together to promote DVB-H, one standard used for broadcast mobile TV, with a view to interoperability between all their relevant kit and services.

How Will Apple's Marketing Maestro Marry the Computer and the Home TV?

The New York Times

Apple takes its next big step into digital video with “It’s Showtime,” the company's newest quest to remake Hollywood distribution in the Internet era.

Giovanni’s New Home

Giovanni Rodriguez, our colleague, friend, and former Eastwikker – who in August traded down to launch his own business – has launched a new blog: hubbub. We are excited for him and look forward to his thoughts and innovations. Check it out.

Couric Debuts at the CBS Evening News Anchor Desk

As was expected, a barrage of articles, blog posts, commentary pieces and columns Tuesday marked Katie Couric's much-hyped debut as the first woman to be solo anchor of a major network newscast (and comments about everything from her delivery style, story choices, and flow between stories to her hair and choice of blazer).

And while only time will tell how she will fare in terms of attracting new viewers and keeping existing ones, there are a couple of newscast-related items worth noting now. In the spirit of 24/7 access, the CBS Evening News is getting simulcasted online and is available for on-demand viewing afterward at CBSNews.com. From Red Herring: “…the affiliates know that the web and mobile networks are robbing traditional TV of some of its long-held riches. TV is still the centerpiece of home entertainment in the U.S., but the web is providing stiff competition.”

And there’s also a blog written by Couric, “Couric & Co." From her September 5 post: “We’ll be swapping stories, sharing opinions, asking questions and generally just taking stock. In the little village that is CBS News, you might consider ‘Couric & Co’ the coffee house on the corner, where something is always brewing.”

The bigger issue brewing revolves around the changing delivery mechanism for news. Gone are the days when people sat down each evening to watch the news. Our need for on-demand access to content – when convenient for us – is where the Internet comes in. I’m wondering how many people will access the simulcast version and if we’ll eventually see a day when the number of people watching the newscast on the web is equal to (or greater?!) than those viewing the televised version.

In the Good Old PR Time

“PR in the Internet Age: Same As It Ever Was?” asks BusinessWeek’s Rob Hof while commenting on Robert Scoble’s complaint that Google passed up the blogosphere and briefed only a few, mostly print, news outlets on Google Apps for Your Domain.

Writes Hof: “It does seem ironic that the world’s most prominent Internet company – one that’s specifically trying to get us all to do our work online instead of on the desktop – chose to brief mostly print publications. Maybe I should be glad even Google thinks print matters. But for such an innovative company, the tactic sure looks like a throwback.”

Well, yes, PR is the same as ever. While we often focus on how new technologies are changing the way we communicate and do business, good PR pros will use any technology and any technique they think will be most effective. Doing what’s expected – even if it's usually effective or very cool –  is not required or necessarily the best strategy, and employing a “throwback” can itself generate buzz – witness all the attention Google’s strategy is getting. In fact, by its willingness to comment on everything, the blogosphere continues to create more opportunities not just to innovate but also to experiment.

Take a look at “Street Stunts On The Digital Highway” and the power of blogs to turn a street corner billboard into a media event.