Um...but it's not?

How Facebook is Killing Your Authenticity - steve's blog

Does a fantastic job of talking up SN interesting point about new media and authenticity. Although I've been pointed to some work by Mimi Marinucci which I'll reference in due time.

I just wanted to contribute that I think this isn't as big a problem as it's made out to be. I already feel that my multiple identities are in contact with social graphs of slightly differentiated subsets of "me". Which is to say that they are both authentic.

I just have different connections on facebook and twitter.

Apple and Defining the Post-PC future

Engadget has an interesting piece today, written by Josh Topolsky, talking about how with the 2nd iteration of the iPad Apple is defining the market for computing. Evidently, we're now moving into a "Post-PC" world where the iPad defines a new generation of computing where specifications don't matter.

I don't really feel like it's terribly productive to respond to the troll bait about Android v iOS v WebOS or whatever your preferred mobile OS is.

I think parts of his analysis make sense...tablet computing brings new opportunities for rethinking the way we use our computers and how we relate to the internets. The internets as a massively interconnected worldwide communications medium.

Tablet computing does bring these new opportunities. It allows us a rare opportunity to rethink things; even more so than with the move from the Command-Line Interface (CLI) to a Graphical User Interface (GUI). But it's important to bear in mind the ways in which we are constrained by the powers behind the OS...and the company that wrote the OS.

Apple has become a middle-man. They are organized as a completely vertically integrated market stack, which gives them tremendous flexibility. Flexibility in which part of their captive market to capture maximum profits. And it is a captive market.

They own the hardware: numerous patents covering the most elegant parts of the macintosh experience. The touchpad; sleek and easy to use. It drops into the background as soon as you use it, soon you don't even remember that you're navigating. Swoosh, Tap.
The battery life; Are there any other laptops which run for 7 hours, or even close to it?
The automated graphic switching might be covered by patents.
So might the GPGPU coding (Grand Central) which allows processes to more easily leverage the extra horsepower of that discrete graphics card.

And the only OS you can easily use on this hardware that provides all the above benefits?
Mac OS X.

Sure, with a lot of effort and some drivers you can mostly get Windows or Linux to install. It should be noted though that even Windows which is fully supported by Boot Camp doesn't get the same battery life or do graphic switching as well.

And once you're captive to the OS you are captive to the numerous shortfalls which make using Open Source software on a Macintosh a bit like asking to have your fingernails ripped out. Apple has ensured that, although you can install and run whatever software you want on a Mac; only Apple approved software runs well. If Apple had greater market share you might finally hear congressmen getting interested.

Or maybe not...

One of the things that works really, really, REALLY well on a Mac is using iTunes! CRAZY, right?! well, iTunes works amazingly quickly and doesn't seem to bog down your computer much at ALL, on a Mac! When I first got my MacBook Pro, I was frankly amazed that iTunes starting up didn't take 5 minutes and that I was able to shut it down without waiting!

And Apple takes their share from iTunes and the App Store, don't they? We've all heard about it.
Developers pay a lot to be in the App Store, and Free Apps are almost unheard of.
It costs money to be an Apple Dev.

Which is absolutely their right. Apple has every right to be a profitable company. I do not for one minute believe that they deserve to be anything but profitable.

But I want to see a future in which we have a choice. The marginal costs of producing and distributing most forms of artistic expression have fallen to damn-near zero; there is no real excuse for maintaining an archaic system of compensation whereby MASSIVE corporations have been allowed to amass ungodly fortunes at the expense of our artists! None at all.

I do not believe it is the Government's job to provide for archaic business model insurance. I.E., there is no guarantee that what was once profitable will always remain so.

Apple is a media mogul, and they behave exactly like one. They recycle average ideas to convince the public that they've got new ideas. They do everything in their power to enforce the use of their highways and that we'll pay their tolls. All of which is fine, if we never imagine anything outside of their ideas, but if we'd left it up to them we would never have had VCRs or DVRs or Recordable media of most forms or bittorrent or anything else that might potentially threaten their business model.

So, please, before you start gushing to me about how wonderful the new Apple product is...take a second to think about whether you really want to like in a Post-PC future where someone else does all your thinking and imagining for you.

Dying music industry

This Is What the Dying Music Industry Looks Like [Data Point]

Using this graph as the starting point for a conversation about the music industry; I'd just like to say:

You can see why they're mourning the death of physical discs. CD's might've been the most popular artistic medium ever.

There's no fixed distribution costs for digital media though and the cost to advertise a new artist is essentially zero as well. Why not use services like Pandora and Grooveshark as launch platforms for related artists? Hell, use geolocation services to sync up ad dollars with a tour in real-time. Nothing shady just stacking the deck in related markets for people who happen to match a demographic profile for your artist.

It's time to stop fighting a market that WANTS to consume your product but absolutely will not pay (much) (consistently) for it.

Angry Birds: Nokia & Microsoft

There's been a lot of chatter lately about two giant aging tech companies who are shortly forming a strategic alliance: Nokia & Microsoft. Who doesn't have a fond memory involving one or both of these icons of the near-past.

I've got fantastic memories of growing up on Microsoft Operating Systems; that moment of utter astonishment when Windows 95 booted up for the very first time and I gazed into the 32-bit future.

The Nokia candybar I had when I first discovered SMS; it was the AT&T model that couldn't change shells like its sister on Voicestream.  It was so tiny; and the battery used to run for DAAAAAYS.  But all it did was literally make calls and send SMS. Probably not even multi-part SMS. You know, I'm not even sure if sending SMS between carriers was 100% supported. I seem to remember a lot of missed texts.

Snake.

The early attempts at smartphone ownership that followed. When I bravely endured Windows Mobile; learning the dark, black stain that is bloatware. Learning the joy that is a painstakingly assembled Windows Mobile ROM. (More like assembling puzzle pieces from different jigsaws that are mostly compatible.) {AT&T Tilt, HTC Touch Diamond}

I think there are a lot of people in the world who don't really care about the specifics of how their smartphone does things. They're perfectly content to just let it do its thing and let it go at that. Which is fine. I just think there's something elegant about a well designed operating system. Especially in mobile, where the device is with you 24/7...it becomes a more literal sort of Personal Digital Assistant than the devices of < a decade ago bearing the same name.

I've never used a Symbian or Meego smartphone, but I hear good things about Meego and Windows Phone 7. I can't help but think that possibly, just *maybe* they're on to something...maybe a really, REALLY GOOD *something*.

A brand-new, revitalized Windows Mobile OS with plenty of room for curated innovation (vertically integrated of course) running atop gorgeous, european inspired hardware. It might be a beautiful partnership!

It also might be Sony Ericsson...time will tell.

Whither to sell out?

Hot damn, there's a lot of options to sell out once you've opened a blog here.  I don't remember there being so many back-in-the-day...(which was a Wednesday)...but damn, there's a lot to know and do and figure out.  Man, I'm a geek, not a marketer!

I think I might need an agent.  Maybe you weren't aware of this, but I'm kind of a big deal.

Holy crap! Its a blogger app!

I have to say that the new android app for blogger is set up extremely well! It provides quick access to all the most used features.

Access to the camera.
Location data.
Gallery posting directly to picasa.

I've been super impressed with every Google branded app that they've released so far...and this one is no exception.

<3 the Google.

Another open letter to Chis Ziegler, (Engadget)

Chris,

You know that this is a complete cop-out, right?

You're surely aware that this is exactly what everyone meant when they said it would "brick" their phones.  That as far as software goes: it if don't run, it's broke.

C'mon Chris, this is Motorola saying *exactly* what I'm upset about: that we are not allowed to install custom software on devices that we pay hundreds of dollars for.  Make no mistake the average cell-phone geek upgrades their phone, on average, about every 6 months.  Thus, barring the occasional social-engineering gambit, we're paying full price.

Almost every time.

So, unless Motorola *officially* provides a way to install "test" RSA keys ("dev", "engineering", etc.) so that flashing a custom ROM is safe for the end-user they've also made the process of flashing custom ROMs illegal.

Now, before you delete this email and dismiss my rantings a those of a tinfoil hat wearing lunatic, please, hear me out.

This whole fiasco revolves around a couple technical points about how these devices are set up.  When Motorola says that they're encrypting things for "security" and that the bootloader just "won't boot up" without properly "signed" software.  This means that when the software is put together, they use an RSA key to digitally "sign" it, proving where the software comes from.  What this means for an end-user is that unless an update comes from Verizon or Motorola, it can't be installed.  Sounds good, right? Except legally they've got really REALLY goood reasons for not allowing anyone but Motorola or Verizon use those RSA keys.  It's been long-standing practice to hack bootloaders to accept non-signed ROMs, the WinMo folks do this, I can't remember if Droid uses an unsigned or test-signed bootloader.

The problem is that RSA encryption, breaking that is a serious crime.  Not to mention that it's proven to be a very difficult standard to break.  Now, do we really want to break the encryption that keeps millions of credit transactions secure and the basic security of the web just for people who want to modify their personal hardware?  Hardware which they've paid for, one way or another; even when subsidized.

Hacking your personal hardware should not be a crime.

If you can't personally take the time to write passionately about this subtle, mostly meaningless issue.  I understand.  Engadget has a lot going on.  For most people this issue isn't going to rank very highly at all, possibly even lower than whether or not there's a giant conspiracy to hide the iphone4's antenna woes.  #justsaying

But please don't leave it up to the android-specific sites like Phandroid , this isn't an issue that should be brushed under the rug as just affecting android fanpeeps.  It's real, and it affects our right to tinker.  one which we should take very seriously as gadget geeks.

--Nate Olsen

"Gotta count the atoms!  Conservation of mass...It's the Law!"
                        --Homer Jay Simpson