New power at your fingertips!

A new interactive space that brings a powerful enabling interface to visual computing. Watch the whole video (3:32 minutes) to get the picture. This is similar technology to that used in the iPhone touch screen. You may need to play the video more than once to really "get" how this technology will change the way we communicate and understand.

Thanks to Michael Kaufman of InnovationLabs for the link.

Ignore the "snakes" commercial from MSFT in the first 15 seconds.

You have to click the link below to get to the video - I can't embed it here, just yet. See my next post for a playable video on the same subject - not as good, but you don't have to listen to the MSFT snake commerial. Tell me which one you like best.

FastTV on fastcompany.com

A Visual Resume - from a TI commentor

Karen Storer is a visual thinker and practitioner who also teaches windsurfing from her base in Maui. You can find out a lot about Karen by looking at her visual resume shown above. Click on the image to see a larger size.

I found Karen through a comment she made to my post :Thoughts Illustrated: DIAGRAM :: Adelheid Mers.

I have Karen's permission to use the visual shown above to make my ongoing point about the power of visuals to communicate a lot of information is a small amount of time - thus rewarding your attention with a crisp, informative and comprehensive picture of (in this case) Karen's CV.

Not surprisingly her blog and website are entitled:picture it solved and Picture It Solved - a visual approach to thinking.

I look forward to working with Karen and other talented visualizers to create personal tools everyone can use to address the dilemma of information overload and scarcity of attention - the condition Richard Saul Wurman describes as Amazon.com: Information Anxiety 2: Books: Richard Saul Wurman,David Sume,Loring Leifer

iPhone redux - Ubiquitous computing or a Fashion Statement?

In a prior post Thoughts Illustrated: The Apple iPhone - Steve Jobs does it again at MacWorld I concluded my remarks about the iPhone by saying: " I want one".

After reading this more complete review of the iPhone: Between Doubt And Enthusiasm - Tech News - Playfuls.com - Science & Technology, I'm not so sure.

I hark back to the The Plenitude (unpublished) by Rich Gold in which he describes his experiences designing Ubiquitous Computing Devices at PARC.
This cartoon is from a slide show that Rich presented frequently, and it includes the following caption:

" In Silicon Valley...there is religion of sorts called "convergence" . It is a belief that all media including TV viewing, movies, web surfing, telephoning, photos and reading will all collapse on to a small device that one can hold in one's hand and even go to bed with. That device would consitute all the media you would ever need and there would only be one media."

Sound familiar? It could pass as the design specs for the iPhone.


Rich's design experience at PARC led him to the conclusion that the religion of convergence was a false religion.. Here's Rich again in the caption that follows this cartoon:

" when the Palm Pilot arrived in the marketplace the biggest change was the physical design which spoke loudly FASHION ACCESSORY.

"To say that something is a fashion accessory is to say an object(or its creators)are concerned about the entire social infrastructure of the society. That they care about how people visually judge each other, the accoutrements that they w ear and the social hierarchies that they represent. Fashion is"tribal" , it is part of our mammalian, simian brains that devveloped when we hunted in packs, need to defend our territory and chose our alpha member to lead us. Engineering Ramifies into the issues of fashion and design imediately, so put it into the spec."

I think that Steve Job's put fashion statement into spec for the iPhone - and I agree with Rich Gold that cramming all the ubiquitous computing features into the iPhone, may be too big a bite of the Apple.

So, I have tempered my initial enthusiasm for the iPhone - and will wait and see if it is more than a fashion accessory that I don't need.

Elephants Dream - from DIY/Howard Rheingold

Elephants Dream � background


Thanks to Howard Rheingold for this link.DIY Media Weblog: Open source....cinema?

amaznode: absolutely ADDICTIVE!

Search with amaznode: 0691113572amaznode: amazon related product search
Link from Manuel Lima's expanding visualization resources atvisualcomplexity.com | VC 1st Anniversary

absolutely fascinating - enter any book or author into Amaznode and see a constellation of related books - written in flash by Takayuki Fukatsu (fladdict.net)

DIAGRAM :: Adelheid Mers

Here is Adelheid Mers description of the purpose of diagramming the book Moral Politics by George Lakoff.
ABOUT MAKING DIAGRAMS Mers says: I diagram essays and books because this is how I make sense of the texts I read. I read these texts to help make sense of what I experience. I have all kinds of questions and seem to have a knack for finding answers in print. As a visual artist, I am intrigued by the richness of imagery that is contained in all language, popular or academic, spoken or printed. Text is never dry, it is always brimming with figures of thought, some obvious, some subtle and waiting to be extricated. I make pictures from texts. As important as the content of the diagrams is to me personally, and as excited as I am if someone shares my interests, in the end I am involved in a formal endeavor. I think that "making sense" is one of the central human activities, and that we "make sense" by comparing stories. We frequently seem to need a fresh vehicle to tell our stories through, to stay alert and engaged, and I am working out what I hope is one contemporary way of "making sense".

DIAGRAM :: Adelheid Mers

The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Image Ever Taken

In 2003, the Hubble Space Telescope stared, for a little over 11 days at a rather unremarkable section of sky. The results were humbling on a universal scale.

The Deep Field/Ultra Deep field images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope represent the farthest we've ever seen into the universe. Looking at these images, one cannot help but be humbled by what they mean. At a glance, they show us how tiny humanity is in comparison to the size of the universe

A mind-blowing video from NASA. You can view the whole video here(6min) by clicking on the play button above or get a better view in full screen using the Google video player and downloading the selected video for viewing offline which offers a much better viewing experience. This requires you to download the Google Video Player to your desktop(onetime only). Hubble deep field - Google Video. Choose the full screen mode.

This player provides a °mosaic° of the key frames (segments) by
mousing over the frames and clicking. (illustrated below).

The normal size google video image selector offers 12 key frames, the full screen view offers 42 key frames.

This illustrates the "SoundByte" concept I have been working with this past year, and although the google frames selections appear arbitrary, it seems possible to make these frame selections ("from-to") serve as microformat links to the key frames. In this example, the soundbites are 30 seconds each, the entire video is 6:30 minutes, an attention saving of 84%. For longer video tracks, this key frame approach would significantly reduce the time a viewer needs to access key information and, if desired, he or she can queue the entire video track into a playlist for later viewing.

This process is similar to the movie trailer concept of providing key segments in a short form to "whet the appetite" of the viewer toward watching the entire movie.








Thanks to David Sederquist of NextNow for the original link.

Graphic Planning Guides - from Grove

David Sibbet, founder of Grove and the father of Graphic Facilitation provides a guided video tour of 7 "graphic guides" for use as planning templates. click on one of the tour videos or all if you have time to watch and listen to David explain the Graphic Guides process.

Resources | Videos

WIKINOMICS-another "Networked" book example

Wikinomics, by popular business thought leader Don Tapscott , is another example of the emerging publishing process called the "networked book" see:Thoughts Illustrated: The Pulse Project The Networked Book

As Tapscott writes: " A new art and science of collaboration is emerging—
we call it “wiki-nomics.” We’re not just talking about creating online
encyclopedias and other documents. A wiki is more than just software for
enabling multiple people to edit Web sites.

It is a metaphor for a new era of collaboration
and participation, one that, as Dylan sings, “will soon shake your windows
and rattle your walls.” The times are, in fact, a changin’.

These changes, among others, are ushering us toward a world where
knowledge, power, and productive capability will be more dispersed than
at any time in our history—a world where value creation will be fast, fluid,
and persistently disruptive. A world where only the connected will survive."

"Wikinomics has 11 chapters, but only ten have yet been written. Chapter 11, The Wikinomics Playbook, will be written by you: a community of readers and experts like yourself who will share ideas about how to embed key Wikinomics concepts and principles in 21st century organizations and business enterprises." WIKINOMICS | WIKI:

The Apple iPhone - Steve Jobs does it again at MacWorld

Take a demo listen here: Apple - iPhone - Phone

Here's the latest from MacWorld - the iPhone combining Internet browsing, highres camera and iPhoto- like picture management, integrated google map and search functions,and a whole lot of cool features for voice and email and call management. Bundled exclusively with Cingular service. Comes with 4 and 8 GB versions, retailing at $499 and $599, service plan included.

And look: No Keyboard! - all running on OSX and compatible with most MAC apps. This new generation phone may be to mobile communicating what the iPod was to music and the MAC has been to personal computing.

Significantly Jobs announced that henceforth Apple was dropping "computer" from its corporate name and will now be known simply as Apple Inc. - a consumer electronics company.

I think the iPhone will be as big a hit at the iPod and will dramatically impact the enormous mobile communicating/computing market. Who need as laptop for roadwarrior communicating? I want one!


If you didn't link to the demo above, do it now and be dazzled! Apple - iPhone - Phone

IM continued..

The Green Chameleon link in my previous post led me to this taxonomy of IgnoranceGreen Chameleon � A Taxonomy of Ignorance which is taken from a Dave Pollard post How to Save the World

Green Chameleon is a blog edited by Straits Knowledge - a Singapore-based KM consulting firm. perhaps they might be interested in fleshing out an Ignorance Management contrarain consultancy. The Calvin and Hobbes cartoon is copied from their blog.

When Knowledge Management fails - try Ignorance Management!

In a post to the Prediction Markets (google group) Walter Derzko sparked my interest in a new contrarian business opportunity - similar to the business model of Despair Inc. - see my Thoughts Illustrated: There's PROFIT in going against the grain!

There could be a very large and virtually untapped market for IGNORANCE MANAGEMENT consultants. Below is a detailed post on this concept

Green Chameleon � Ignorance, Fear and Knowledge Management

Designing Interactions

A downloadable book by Bill Moggridge - one of the founders of IDEO, and the original Grid computer. The publishiing process includes DVD's,print and pdf formats.A great example of thoughts illustrated - perhaps the best design, except for the slow downloading from the book's website for the embedded DVD video interviews. Probably works great on Internet2 broadband,but not on my DSL. Try it yourself.

Designing Interactions

Shelfari THE Social Network for Readers

This social network site could really drive Long Tail purchases of the bookshelves of "friends", plus it provides an automatic Amazon Associates payday for active users of the network.

Shelfari could fit well with the concepts of a NewMedia publishing system - For example, Langdon Morris' new book Permanent Innovation is selfpublished through LuLu, but is searchable and listable on Shelfari - very powerful way to get author's works noticed down the Long Tail.



Shelfari

The Pulse Project The Networked Book

Click here to learn more about the Networked Book - this is a good example of using the web as a platform for conversation between the "author" and the audience. The project is being produced by names@work - an internet marketing and SEO service provider.

This project offers a design format for a conversational publishing system.
The Pulse Project � Pulse

Believe your own eyes

A powerful video review of the "facts" of the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center buildings 1, 2 and 7. After seeing the video you, too, may begin to explore the veracity of the "official" version in the 9/11 Commission Report.

Believe your own eyes

MOOSAIC Preview

MOOSAIC Preview
Originally uploaded by sergei.y.

this project, which uses the annotation feature of flickr would be a lot better if it used a larger size image as the base platform for the annotation


Click on the image and check out the annotation features of the map. Nice idea,
but would be much more powerful if the images had meaning like visualcomplexity.com | A visual exploration on mapping complex networks

There's PROFIT in going against the grain!

Despair Inc. is a brilliant innovator - as a Contrarian Publisher, I'll bet they will make a fortune by going against the grain of feel good movitational drek. Their poster and calendar catalog came in today's mail and really hit my funny bone. Take a look - and think about ordering a customized Demotivational Calendar for your favorite losers for Xmas.

View All Demotivators�:

Here's the key paragraph of the Despair Inc. business model:

"MOTIVATION. Psychology tells us that motivation- true, lasting motivation- can only come from within. Common sense tells us it can't be manufactured or productized. So how is it that a multi-billion dollar industry thrives through the sale of motivational commodities and services? Because, in our world of instant gratification, people desperately want to believe that there are simple solutions to complex problems. And when desperation has disposable income, market opportunities abound.

AT DESPAIR, INC., we believe motivational products create unrealistic expectations, raising hopes only to dash them. That's why we created our soul-crushingly depressing Demotivators� designs, so you can skip the delusions that motivational products induce and head straight for the disappointments that follow!"

Here's a sample Demotivator

IT Conversations: Pierre Omidyar on the Omidyar Network - looking for businesses with a social impact

Listen to a conversation with Pierre Omidyar interviewed by John Batelle on the philosophy and business model for the Omidyar Network.


I have tagged selections of the speech here on Veotag - click on the key characteristics tag at 09:30 for the punch line of the speech for entrepreneurs seeking funding from Omidyar.

Veotag Player

The full 34 min audio can be found here on IT Conversations:

IT Conversations: Pierre Omidyar

Want to drive yourself crazy?? Watch the Blinkx video wall

Blinkx

Robert Scoble believes that videocasting is the next big thing - In this day of YouTube and Blinkx who will have time to do anything more than watch Robert Scobleize his way around the tech world?

A Graphic Portrayal of the 9/11 Report - Slate Magazine

In "comic book style" Slate brings the 9/11 Commission Report alive. Pictures emphasize the key elements of the Report and graphically portray the horrific story and the confusion that reigned in the government and the military preceding and following the attack.An indictment of our ability to deal with complexity.

After reading The Starfish and the Spider, Thoughts Illustrated: The Starfish and the Spider - The Unstoppable power of leaderless organisationsI am convinced that terrorist organizations are like the Starfish - and we need to develop better solutions to protect ourselves and to reduce the effectiveness of terrorist Starfish.

Thia is important history to know- click below for the Slate Story:

The 9/11 Report - By Sid Jacobson and Ernie Col�n - Slate Magazine

The Starfish and the Spider - The Unstoppable power of leaderless organisations

I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing Ori Brafman the co-author of this book give a PPT presentation of the key concepts of their book. It was also interesting to learn that Tom Barnett was instrumental in helping Ori get connected with his book agent - small world indeed.

I am hopeful I can persuade Ori to upload his presentation to Slideshare so that it can be shared with others who were not present for his talk. If that can be done, I will post it here and provided key exccerpts.

The more I think of the use of slideshare, the more it appeals to me as providing great microcontent leverage for remixing and personal "casting"

Tom Barnett's first best seller, The Pentagon's New Map was greatly influenced by Tom's PPT briefings at the Naval War College and the Pentagon. Perhaps they are still available for sharing on SlideShare.net.

This is a great read for anyone interested in the Network effects of " leaderless organisations" Click here to buy it :
Amazon.com: The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations: Books: Ori Brafman,Rod Beckstrom

Mark Anderson-Welcome to the Blogosphere!

I have been waiting a long time for Mark Anderson ( publisher of the Strategic News Service newsletter and producer/curator of the annual Future in Review (FiRe) conferences to join the blogging world. (The picture above captures Mark's lively personality in action at the podium of FiRe)

WHY? As a regular reader of his predictive newsletter I have always wanted to share with others Mark's wisdom and his uncanny ability to predict the intersections of key trends in technology, markets and global finance - to be "ahead of the curve"( which happens to be the name of a new version of his newsletter designed specifically for the investment community.)

Now that Mark has joined the blogging world, it will be possible to share the gems of Mark's wisdom and his broad global connectivity to key influencers in tech and finance with others who have not yet heard about this amazing guy.

Click here Strategic News Service Blog � Blog Archives � Welcome to the SNS Blog

Although the intro to the SNS blog is a bit stiff, I am sure Mark will find his unique voice in the blogosphere and I hope others will find his pearls of predictive genius as insightful and pragmatically useful as I have over the past decade. Welcome, Mark!!

From Sex,drugs & Rock&Roll to Cyberculture ICON -the Odyssey of Stewart Brand

Originally uploaded by ddavison.

Had the great pleasure of a conversational presentation by and dialog at the Institute for the Future on Monday nite with Fred Turner, Stanford Professor of communications and author of From Counterculture to Cyberculture.

I will attempt to get his presentation up on Slideshare, but in the meantime I will append my version of his key slide which visualizes the book in one frame. (image placeholder)

Here is a link to reviews of Fred's book:
From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism by Fred Turner, introduction

Stewart Brand was significantly guided in his early counterculture days by his correspondence and deep interaction with my hero Gregory Bateson. Fred offered me the opportunity to visit the Stanford Library to read Stewart Brand's diary and his correspondence with Bateson - which I will try to do next week.

From 3 decades of practicing Bateson's process of seeking "the patterns that connect" I believe my search may be nearing a point where the patterns may be coming more visible - Exciting potential for both an increase in my metaview perspectives and the opportunity for a deep dive into the history in which Brand and I lived ( albeit in separate spheres)

In this book narrates Brand's role as the "Barnum" of the co-evolution of :

• the Whole Earth Catalog
• The Well
• The Co=Evolution Quarterly
• The Global Business Network
• Howard Rheingold and Virtual Communities
• Larry Brilliant and SEVA Foundation and now Google.org
• The Grateful Dead
• Kevin Kelley
• Wired Magazine

It's an important history lesson for all of us who have lived the odyssey in tangential ways and as Fred says: "this is history where almost all of the actors are still alive" .... and actively continuing the odyssey.

Click here to see the graphic "capture" of the Future Commons dialog that followed Fred's illuminating presentation. From Counterculture to Cyberculture on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Ixsite Web Analyzer: Website Management Software

Ixsite Web Analyzer: Website Management Software

The atomizing hand of Media 2.0 - Umair Haque

Here is the companion presentation by Haque to the one posted below. Note that the image in this post is a single slide from 97 that generally summarizes visually what Haque is saying in the whole slide presentation. This is an example of selecting microcontent from the web and reconstructing it in the form of a single "snippet" which points the reader to the whole presentation - dealing the with fact of attention scarcity by using one image as a "teaser" to the whole presentation which is presented below. The single slide represents about 1% of the entire presentation, but consolidates it into one summary picture - an example of the reconstructor's role in adding value to existing "whole" presentations by doing an editor's/reviewer's work for the attention-scarce reader. Tags are mine, but could contain others ala-flckr-type folksonomy - AND anyone can repurpose and resend all or portions of the presentation - dramtically spreading Haque's important message. I hope he reads this or hears about it - and doesn't object to its reproduction here.

The Economics of Media 2.0

Originally via Dave Pollard's link to Umair Haque's 2005 PPT which precisely outlines where the value is in Media 2.0/ the world of Atttention Scarcity and exploding content volume. As good a business model explanation as I have seen for creating value in the Web 2.0 world.

Here's the whole presentation on slideshare.

apex - a new infrastructure and incubation platform for appdevelopers

Salesforce.com Launches AppExchange Incubator - Salesforce.com
Above is slide 35 from the presentation describing the Apex Incubators The full slide presentation Welcome to the End of Software by Mark Benioff CEO of Salesforce.com is worth watching and is embedded below.

The blog explosion - update

This is from a History of Blogging by erno hannink (slide 24)SlideShare � view

Web 2.0 Part 2 - Logo map

LOGO2.0 part I
Originally uploaded by Stabilo Boss.

On this visual most of the logos have been annotated with links. Here is a Digg link with the logos/companies listedWeb 2.0 Logos and Links at Digg Watch Blog

Web2.0 - visuals Number 1

Web2.0 - extended mindcloudmap
Originally uploaded by kosmar.

Explaining web 2.0 in a mind cloud map click on the image to see the annotated version on flickr.

Click here for the original post by Kosmar The huge cloud lens bubble map web2.0 || kosmar || Blog

Visual Poetry

A Google hack that provides some surprising results:

See if you can translate it.Visual Poetry

Here's another way to look at it.

click on the image to enlarge-

Inside TIME Magazine - Some suggestions for Google.

Click on this image which will take you to flickr where you can see or download a full size image.

Inside TIME Magazine - Some suggestions for Google.
Originally uploaded by ddavison.

A Look inside TIME - New Product Suggestions for Google.

My daughter Susan Barb alerted me to this issue of Time - click on the link below and then on the Essay section of the Table of Contents to get a pdf copy of the Google Essay.








TIME.com: TIME Magazine -- October 16, 2006 Vol. 168 No. 16

Wallywood - 22 panels of instruction for Comic Artists

From a post by Presentation Zen with a link to the above Wallywood panels from Joel Johnson. This post is worth one of your reading minutes.
Presentation Zen: Learning from the art of comics

The Big Triangle

From Scott McCloud's website Understanding Comics -"a visual iconography for pictures, word, symbols that took the shape of a triangle" The Big Triangle

Slide selection from SlideShare

First the whole presentation:

and then a selected slide. This selection can be embedded as it is here in this post, or shared by email just by a simple click.SlideShare � view

The comments to this post suggest that SlideShare is interested in responding to the comments by adding features such as the ability of the presenter(owner of the slide show) to add comments to the transcription segment so that this text is also searchable by the search engines.

BECOME (RED)

red1
Originally uploaded by ddavison.

Here is a link to the Become(RED) website. take the tour and join RED and save lives of AIDS victims in Africa - maybe a good reason to get a (RED) Amex credit card.


BECOME (RED)

BECOME (RED)

The entire RED site is really well done - I suggest you browse the site for links to their events, media sponsors, brand sponsors, the HotelCafe promo tour - this is a blockbuster hybrid BECOME (RED)

Creating the Gap (RED) shirts

Creating the Gap (RED) shirts
Originally uploaded by (RED).

YOU(RED) photos from Lesotho where the GAP(RED) tshirts are being made. clicking on the picture will take you to the(RED) flickr photo collection. Worth browsing to see Bono and (RED) in action

YOU(RED)- A socially responsible win/win for business AND the Global Fund

(PRODUCT) RED was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world's most iconic brands to produce RED-branded products. A percentage of each (RED) product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

the Flash You(Red)intro is pretty cool (RED)

When you finish the intro, click on the (RED)Blog and visit the (RED)flickr photos.

testing mosaic

1. snake's eye, 2. Go Speed Racer! Go..., 3. strangeEye, 4. strangeBlueIris

the slideshare blog � Blog Archive � Quick Tips on getting the best out of SlideShare…

the slideshare blog � Blog Archive � Quick Tips on getting the best out of SlideShare…

SlideShare from Uzanto - this is HOT!

I have just connected to SlideShare for testing. From my first look this is flickr for presentations


http://blog.slideshare.net/2006/10/05/quick-tips-about-slideshare/

IBM Research | IBM Innovation | Global Innovation Outlook

IBM "gets it" and you should get a copy of IBM Research Global Innovation Outlook available in PDF or in hardcopy by request.


IBM Research | IBM Innovation | Global Innovation Outlook

A two-fer!

topicmaps
Originally uploaded by ddavison.

From a slideshare image posted by Information Architect Louis Rosenfeld. The new slideshare process provides PPT users a way to embed their presentations in a browser-based slide presentation without requiring a heavy download of a PPT file and the use of the PPT app to read it.

Here is a link to the Slideshare blog describing how a conference organizer would use Slideshare to easily collect and present speaker's slides - this could be a really valuable tool for conference/event organizers and attendees.

the slideshare blog � Blog Archive � Using slideshare to organize a conference

Slideshares can also include embedded audio the slideshare blog � Blog Archive � Integrating audio with slideshare embed

Unfortunately The embedded PPT slide set used in the demonstration is another glaring example of the overuse of paragraph style text images - this Topic map slide is a relief since it uses a graphic to expand the explanation. Just for kicks here is Peter Norvig's hilarious slam on the use of PPT - The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation

The embedded image in the slide presents the visual concept of Topic Maps - a visual search strategy and a link inside the slide to Ontopia - a topic map software tool supplier.

Travels with Scoble

Blogger
Originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk.

Robert and I had our lunch meeting at the club today, and for starters, he came dressed in geek clothes - levis and Tshirt - and the Club concierge refused to allow him in the clubhouse - so we ate outside as virtual outcasts.

It was great fun to finally meet Robert first-hand - and after surfing through miles of his blogposts and recent ScobleShows, getting acquainted over lunch served to reinforce the "radiance" of this guy's personality.

Very enjoyable, notwithstanding the club dress code violation.

As an older geek, I think I still qualify to bask in the aura of his blogitude.

Bubblelation?

bubblelation1
Originally uploaded by ddavison.

In preparing for a meeting tomorrow with Robert Scoble, I ran across this cartoon which asks a very pertinent question about the Podtech business model. I hope to learn more about how Robert's "global brand" can exert key influence in convincing corporate clients to embrace the interactive communications mantra of Naked Conversations, and, I assume, to buy Podtech's New Media communication strategies and services.

I think Robert's experience at Microsoft and his book provide a pragmatic model for other organizations who can benefit by adopting the new tools for building conversational dialog with their suppliers and customers.

Is Robert's "brand" transferrable? Can Podtech make a real business in this overcrowded space now generating a bubble-like feeding frenzy on Sand Hill Road? Robert looks like a fun guy - and I look forward to our conversation. Maybe he is the real thing.

raving lunacy: Bubblelation

Practicing what they preach - the American Institure for Graphic Arts

Practicing what they preach - the American Institure for Graphic Arts
Originally uploaded by ddavison.

Link here to read about the upcoming AIGA conference in Vancouver BC, October 23-26. Great lineup of speakers and theme. AIGA | the power of Design

Yahoo "gives away" its Crown Jewels

Danish crown jewels
Originally uploaded by mooseonthemove.

Yahoo announced it was "giving away" its browser-based authentication code to the world wide developer community citing that it could not build or buy enough innovation and is enlisting the developer community to build new apps around Yahoo's content.

Here's Yahoo's announcement :

You build great web applications. We have millions of users who store their data on Yahoo!. Browser-Based Authentication (BBAuth) makes it possible for your applications to use that data (with their permission).

BBAuth also offers a Single Sign-On (SSO) facility so that existing Yahoo! users can use your services without having to complete yet another registration process.

Browser-Based Authentication