10 Jan 2011
A great piece by Douglas Rushkoff, who correctly unveiled the reality
behind the AOL - Time Warner merger not too long ago with his: Signs of
the
Times
piece, and now is posting a similar
opinion
on Facebook.
These companies are being valued as if they will be our permanent
means for identifying ourselves.
Very true. The valuation of these companies is a shot in the dark at
best. We have a very limited view of the actual business: revenues,
operating expenses and most importantly accounting principles that are
being followed.
So it’s not that MySpace lost and Facebook won. It’s that MySpace won
first, and Facebook won next. They’ll go down in the same order.
I do not think that Facebook is too big to fail, however it has grown at
an astounding rate and depending on the definition of failure
interpretations might vary. MySpace does appear to be in trouble.
Whether the growth that Facebook has shown is sustainable, or will they
begin to see users start to trickle away is the primary information that
we are basing their success on. I feel this trickle will certainly
occur, it depends on how big of a dip it is on their overall user base.
Is user growth and the other limited information that we have provide
enough information to accurately judge their success? I don’t think so.
Yet social media is itself as temporary as any social gathering,
nightclub or party. It’s the people that matter, not the venue.
I do feel that social media is representative of a shift in our culture,
but it often is over-hyped. However, I think that what many do not
realize is that social media is in a lot of ways just another
venue/market/stream. If we look at advertising expenditure, we can
clearly see that the print sector has lost considerable revenue to
online advertising. The questions we should be asking should focus on
new business generation, new or increased advertising budgets and other
factors such as an improved accessibility to advertising platforms and
audiences for small and medium enterprises. If we have only seen a shift
in advertising models, without an increase in expenditure, we have a
stagnant market. I will leave you with his closing statement to
contemplate:
The longer the company can maintain the illusion of great profits
without alienating its user base, the longer they can delay the
inevitable decline. But given that Facebook has already begun cashing
in its chips, that moment has quite likely arrived.
Read the Full
Article.
09 Jan 2011
Now that Apple has officially launched the Mac App Store, I have been
speculating about what is next. My speculation is not on the next
product or OS feature per se, but further speculation about the
possibilities that the Mac App Store have in that regard.
The Store itself passed 1,000,000 downloads in the first day, and I
concur withShawn Blancs
postabout the
Simplicity that Apple is bringing to the OS.
As I showed via the raw numbers in my previous post:Apples Historical
1st Days. Apple has
a history of using technology to create easy-to-use markets/platforms.
In regards to this post, and probably to Apple in general, the terms
Usability and Simplicity can be interchanged.
Apple brought simplicity to the MP3 player. You cannot deny the
simplicity and success of the iPod & iTunes combination.
Apple brought simplicity to the music purchasing arena. Just think about
this: Prior to the iTunes Music Store, how could you possibly purchase
only a single song from an album that was not released as a single?
Apple brought simplicity to the Phone & Mobile Software. This is not
about if Apple was first or if Apple is Best. Apple made itSimple.
It is that simplicity that has given them a large market share. My mom
uses an iPhone, and I am sure you have non-technical friends and
relatives who do so as well. The iOS App Store has puta lotof
amazing apps into the hands of both the technical and non-technical
alike, with a simplicity that is astounding when you really consider
what is going on behind the scenes.
Apple now appears to be bringing that Simplicity to Mac OS X.
AsShawnstates:
It used to be that buying and installing an app was a chore. But now,
with the Mac App Store, its as simple as finding an app you want and
clicking a button. Just like buying a song or renting a movie in
iTunes. The whole experience is familiar, easy, and even a little bit
fun.
I completely agree. What if Apple does not just stop there? What if they
bring the simplicity of the Mac App Store to updating your OS between
major releases? (i.e. 10.6 -> 10.7) What if OS X 10.7 could be
purchased and downloaded via the Mac App Store?
Consider these items:
- Applications that are available in the iOS Store and now the Mac App
Store can easily be downloaded, installed, & updated across multiple
computers.
- Your iOS devices OS can be updated with relative ease and
simplicity, even for major iOS releases.
- Apple recently released theSoftware Reinstall
Drivewith the MacBook Air.
Further moving away from Optical Disc Technology, which is still the
primary platform for OS distribution.
The primary drawback is an argument similar to other cloud computing
services: if your Mac crashed, you had no backup or Software Reinstall
Drive/Disc or Internet Access what do you do? Since your OS is nowin
the cloudwaiting to be downloaded via the Mac App Store, it could be
complicated. Presumably this is a marginal risk, but as opposed to just
Applications, this is the core OS. Further, I feel that the Software
Reinstall Drive will continue to be prioritized over Optical Discs, and
hope that these drives will also be used for standard distribution of
major OS releases, if the Mac App Store is not.
Overall I think that providing Major OS X Updates via the Mac App Store
does bring simplicity for theeveryday Mac userwho appears to be the
primary target audience of the Mac App Store. I hope to see 10.7
launched via the Mac App Store.
07 Jan 2011
iTunes Music Store - April 28, 2003 First 18 Hours - 275,000 Tracks Sold
iPhone App Store - July 11, 2008 First 72 Hours - 10,000,000 Downloads
Mac App Store - January 6, 2011 First 24 Hours - 1,000,000 Downloads
(sources:
Wikipedia,
Apple PR,
Apple PR)
01 Jan 2011
One of the great products that came out in 2010 has to beGoogle Font
Directory/API.
One of the most difficult parts of working in Web Design & Development
has been the gap between fonts that arewebsafeand fonts that designers
or worse, clients, want to use. For years, the solution has been to use
images, flash or other workarounds todisplaythe font. Since fonts are
based on the users installed fonts, just relying on installation base is
not a good idea. While these past workarounds might achieve the desired
look, the disadvantage to this approach is web usability and standards.
For example if you have to design links/buttons in an image editor every
time you want to change something on the site, it becomes a multi-step
process, as opposed to just adjusting the text.
There have been solutions to this issue recently, including a promising
offering fromTypekit. The technology and
availability of these solutions is simply amazing, and it allows higher
levels of web usability within the proven framework of web standards.
However, now that Google has stepped into the room, you can freely use
any of the listed fonts that they have licensed freely. What does this
mean? It means that we have come a long way from the old multi-step
process to usestyled fontssimple on websites.
For a sample, check outhttps://sym.ph.
01 Jan 2011
A Quick Launch for a Cause
So the New Year is here, and well I brought it in with the usual bang:
Fireworks in the Philippines. I also had another bang, a quick launch of
a project. I put together a website/social media/email campaign for a
friend. She was recently diagnosed with cancer, and as she is a good
friend an amazing friend, I wanted to set something up to help her. You
can see the it here:Rally for Rhonda, and
please consider Rallying around her through her fight with cancer.
