I happened to come across an article from 11 years ago about a company I worked for back then, Marconi. It my second attempt at pushing forward my vision for an "Intelligent City".
These two clips from Economist article captured what we thought would be the catalyst that would provide the fuel to "boil the ocean".
I supposed its not surprising that Myspace's revenues are shrinking as its value proposition isn't clear or perhaps the perception of its value isn't clear.
I've always thought that Myspace had great potential a couple of years ago, particularly in the area of social commerce. It seemed that it was evolving to become a niche community, supporting musicians both established artists affiliated with record companies and indies looking to promote their talents using social media.
It had the chance to use its cash flow from advertising and move towards transactions. Its leadership let that slip by.
Now that its worth is slipping, I would say that it would be a good play for Apple, given that Ping as a community is worthless. The integration of Myspace and iTunes would be a huge force in the industry.
Then again, as Microsoft morphs Zune into a mobile play on phones, having a decent community like Myspace would give it a boost as well.
Comments and thoughts are always welcome.
The PC as we know it is slowly dying due to increased desire of the marketplace to be mobile. In mobility, the key factors will be the user experience, not the underlying application. Lightweight platforms (both physically and software) are not just a requirement, they will be the expectation of the next generation of users.
For wireless carriers the issue will become capacity, they need more of the wireless spectrum. Over the next couple of years the value of that spectrum will increase geometrically. Unfortunately performance will suffer as a result of overcrowding.
Over the next 2-3 years we will see startups looking to create IP around potential solutions. First will appear IP around squeezing more out of the spectrum, next will be new technologies.
Anyway you look at it, your future is a mobile one.
CHART OF THE DAY: The Real Reason AT&T Is Buying T-Mobile
An interesting article and trend, though the more interesting piece is the opportunity for a full integration of TV (or other content) and social media on the same platform. We've certainly seen examples of this such as last year's Olympics and tweets, however the technologies are not fully integrated as yet. This is an opportunity looking for an innovative leader.
A definite win for Facebook. This is a very low risk way for Facebook to keep users from drifting away from the Facebook platform. For Warner Bros, its a way to tap into the emerging social commerce industry.
Its amazing that its been over 30 years now since I was at Lincoln Lab. I will always remember how, against the odds, WBNO-AM powered up via the Sun. Back then I was convinced that by the year 2000 we would be using solar as a significant source of energy. I still believe in solar as one of a number of energy sources, however I also believe that it will take much more than organic growth and relying on our free markets system to make progress.
TUNE IN TO THE SUN!
of the Buckeye State, 50 miles west of Toledo—is
nobody's idea of "Sun City". The area has rainy summers . .
. long, harsh winters . . . and cloud covers that manage to
look ominous even when they're not dropping rain
or snow.
It was precisely this no-quarter-given climate, however,
that led to the decision to locate the world's first
solar-powered commercial radio station irk Bryan. The
concept's backers felt that, if the enterprise could
succeed in such an obviously "nonsolar" location, it would
be viable most anywhere. So, to prove the point, WBNO-AM (a
500-watt, dawn-to-dusk operation) transferred its
electrical allegiance from Toledo Edison to the sun on
August 29, 1979.
Seems to me that this is something more software vendor should be supporting, though it does depend on pricing.
Excellent post on the evolving/maturing of social media.
What we are seeing is a natural evolution of the Internet. In a sense the Internet is going through a period of “self-regulation” where most people will participate by providing transparency and ignoring the noise created by anonymous posts and those who post things that may not be relevant to the mass audience.
This is a good thing, though one has to wonder about the loss of anonymous posting since it does serve a purpose in some situations.
