Tuesday, November 06, 2007

And now for something completely different...

...a chimpanzee washing a cat. Because.

"I think that whole 'Internet-thing' is going to be big..."

Etta James.

She is timeless. Every time I hear her sing, I'm there in a jazz club in San Francisco, (1950-ish) and I can see the piano behind her a little bit, off to the right...the bassist on a small riser behind her on the right, low lights with cigarette smoke slowly wafting through the room...

That's Web 2.0, for you. One of my friends on Facebook (someone I literally haven't spoken to in 8 months, and at least a year before then) put together a song list that loaded up when I added Pandora to my Facebook page. Pandora's a music-suggestion generator from the Music Genome Project, where it will suggest music based on a variety of inputs (i.e. - tunes my friends suggest, tunes I've previously played, etc.). The bad news for me is that I already have over 98GB of music that I have purchased over the years (mostly CDs that I've converted to .MP3s) - not including all of my vinyl that I'm starting to convert. I can see that I'll be discovering and buying more music, in the coming months...

What does this mean (other than an increase in spending for me?!?! :P )?

Organization - the usual organizing principles we've used will increasingly matter less, and instead how we think about our organizing principles will matter more. "Technology" is an enabling catalyst. It's not just something with an On/Off switch and lots of blinking lights. The how we think of things...the organizing principles...the constructs and frameworks...the models - many of the current ones will become irrelevant with each new version of software, hardware, refined service offering, or social network. I think these will increasingly based on a combination of individual and group tastes...

Process - what won't become obsolete so easily is the process one uses to create these frameworks and constructs. I only see these becoming more refined with each new interaction. This iterative refinement will eventually yield entirely new processes to create new organizing principles. Due to human Nature, Behavior and Comprehension of these changes, assimilating new process(es) will take longer than assimilating technological advances and new organization structures. An effective juxtaposition of Creativity and Discipline (at both the individual and group level) will likewise be increasingly valued as a means for creating economic value.

Relationships - just like my friend can create a themed music list to share (either passively as it's stumbled upon, or actively by sending it to others or others to it), so to can anyone share more of themselves and their identity with "anyone else" - thus creating the potential for a new relationship. I think we will need a new way to manage these relationships (see "Organization" above). "Tags" if you will, for the various people and organizations that each individual knows. But even these are uni-dimensional and fail to adequately show the interactions and inter-relationships (their "inherent value", if you will) that contribute to an accurate measure of Value.

Capital - As momentum in these areas builds, I think this naturally gives rise to a redefinition of Capital. No longer is Capital in and of itself the only means to an economic end. Access to Capital - whether directly by the people and firms you know, or indirectly by the people or firms your contacts know - will become a more valued resource and leverage point. I think that's part of the reason why China (still a Communist nation) gave The Blackstone Group (a Private Equity firm - one of the large, bastions of Capitalism) $3 Billion USD this past May.

How does this tie in w/the Pandora application? It was through that application that I discovered a new dimension to two existing relationships, as well as expanded the possibility that I could create new ones along that same or similar dimension (musical interests).

Being able to understand and capitalize on this individual and community behavior will be directly tied to ones level of security, happiness and overall well-being as we move forward. This is how new markets, competitors, etc. will be discovered.

Monday, November 05, 2007

One Gamer's Dream...? Cool, nonetheless...

When I was in college, I thought a "Kegirator" was a cool idea. I never dreamed I'd see this.

Another cool example of convergence, in my mind...