Why begrudge someone else's success just because they took of an advantage of a creative idea before you? I'm not sure why some people feel this need; to me, that's just "my bad" and it means I need to take some action!
What am I referring to? These interesting business ideas are just a few examples:
- Million Dollar Web Page (http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/); the ones I like the most are the single-pixel ones - some of which are either reserved for someone, have an order pending, or are just plan silly (see if you can find the "Pimp My Pixel - the Wave of the Future" one!)
- One Red Paper Clip (http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/) tells of one man's journey from one red paper clip to owning a house in Saskatchewan
- Pixledoodle (http://www.pixeloodle.com/) - another knock-off or will this one work too? The owner is almost half way to their goal...
and more...
While these might just seem like gimmicky internet ideas, the reality is that they:
- created attention around a particular theme
- the creator was able to create tangible value from an intangible idea
- someone else saw enough value in what was going on that they gave the creator money, time, etc.
Nothing wrong with that. Does that mean that this is the forefront of some new business model we all need to start worrying about? I don't think so; not at this stage, anyway.
I think that it's a good experiment that shows the possibilities of making technology accessible to people, and letting them see where their creativity takes them. And that's where businesses need to show more courage. I tried to get my old company interested in web blogs (6 years ago), just for internal uses. I used examples of car companies letting their employees blog about all sorts of things - gardening, the company, etc. - and showed how it actually helped the company overall. It was over ruled as a "potential security issue". Now, the CEO blogs and is talking with the SEC about disseminating financial information to the world via a blog.
Companies, industries, organizations...if they've been around for a bit they have a vested interested in the status quo. After all, that's a large part of what got them where they are in the first place. I understand why governments might think that way. I have a harder time supporting this notion for the marketplace. Sticking with what you know will usually just get you more of what you've already got.
Now, what are you going to do with it?
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
Communication
"I believe companies should be as transparent as possible with information."
Okay, that's a nice platitude...but what does it really mean? It's benign-sounding enough so that it will be difficult to disagree with the statement. It's ambiguous enough that one can't really hold the speaker accountable without more specific information. Much is left up to the speaker to define the terms for themselves, ex post facto.
We're not quite at this point yet, but soon one will begin to argue that without a strong, fully diversified online presence, companies will not be doing all they can to communicate to their various constituents.
Here are several recent examples (and there are more I can share) of what I am talking about:
1. Look at what Sun Microsystems is doing
2. Look at what Toyota and Adidas are doing; even The Economist is taking note
3. Listen to what National Public Radio (NPR) had to say about it this morning
No, this isn't a plug for Second Life or it's non-virtual company, Linden Lab.
It's about being flexible enough to adjust your approach to reach your existing markets in new ways. It's about being courageous enough to let go or test firmly held opinions about "how things should be done".
That's a challenge in any world, with or without any kind of intervention - from government, the marketplace or otherwise.
What are you doing about it for your company and it's brand? What are you doing about it for you and your own brand? And how are you involving those important to your success - your customers, peers, etc. - versus just "going it alone?"
Okay, that's a nice platitude...but what does it really mean? It's benign-sounding enough so that it will be difficult to disagree with the statement. It's ambiguous enough that one can't really hold the speaker accountable without more specific information. Much is left up to the speaker to define the terms for themselves, ex post facto.
We're not quite at this point yet, but soon one will begin to argue that without a strong, fully diversified online presence, companies will not be doing all they can to communicate to their various constituents.
Here are several recent examples (and there are more I can share) of what I am talking about:
1. Look at what Sun Microsystems is doing
2. Look at what Toyota and Adidas are doing; even The Economist is taking note
3. Listen to what National Public Radio (NPR) had to say about it this morning
No, this isn't a plug for Second Life or it's non-virtual company, Linden Lab.
It's about being flexible enough to adjust your approach to reach your existing markets in new ways. It's about being courageous enough to let go or test firmly held opinions about "how things should be done".
That's a challenge in any world, with or without any kind of intervention - from government, the marketplace or otherwise.
What are you doing about it for your company and it's brand? What are you doing about it for you and your own brand? And how are you involving those important to your success - your customers, peers, etc. - versus just "going it alone?"
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Been too long...
It's been a couple of weeks since my last post, and much has changed.
Based on feedback from many of you, my blog will be taking a decidedly more "business" tone. While I may interject some personal anecdotes from time to time, expect to see more of my thoughts on things related to IT, management, books, strategy, etc.
As always, keep the comments coming!
Based on feedback from many of you, my blog will be taking a decidedly more "business" tone. While I may interject some personal anecdotes from time to time, expect to see more of my thoughts on things related to IT, management, books, strategy, etc.
As always, keep the comments coming!
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
"Disintermediation" brought to you by You Tube, Google Video, etc.
Check this out...
When I was in the 6th. grade, I remember reading a story depicting a day-in-the-life of a student of similar age, only at some point "in the future".. They lived in houses where the beds were essentially built-in cushions in the floor, the showers were cubes with omni-directional jets of water and warm air (to wash and dry you off), and they wore spray-on clothing.
One of the things that I thought was really cool was the idea of going to school without leaving my house, which showed the student sitting in a room in their house with a television monitor showing their teacher and classmates.
We've had some form of interactive televised knowledge transmission for over 10 years now, with both the education and the medical fields leveraging the technology. But there's another reason why I find this new feature from Google interesting...
Disintermediation.
If ("when", actually) this gets coupled with better two-way, rather than one-way, knowledge transmission, Google has the ability to establish a great position for itself. MySpace is already filled with most of the demographic that want to get (or are already pursuing) college degrees. It's no great leap in logic for them to "naturally" look to the web for their course lectures (in fact, college students are citing Wikipedia references in scholarly papers, over the protests of their professors and the founder / editor of Wikipedia!). Professors can leave their entire lecture "on reserve" rather than just their written notes (which never convey the nuances of an idea).
This will also have an impact the pricing associated with getting a degree ("Eventually", anyway...). Will there be sufficient cachet associated with a degree earned this way? Yes, but it will take some time for the Majority to endorse the idea - at least in the U.S. Baby Boomers are going back to school in record numbers, for a variety of reasons. Other nations who don't have the infrastructure of estbalished universities, however, can now take advantage of this right now.
And so can anyone who has an internet connection.
Think about that for a moment...
True, they won't get the college credits for attending the class, nor the degree to "certify" their "knowledge acquisition". But they will gain the information that they can use.
And isn't that what learning's all about, anyway???
When I was in the 6th. grade, I remember reading a story depicting a day-in-the-life of a student of similar age, only at some point "in the future".. They lived in houses where the beds were essentially built-in cushions in the floor, the showers were cubes with omni-directional jets of water and warm air (to wash and dry you off), and they wore spray-on clothing.
One of the things that I thought was really cool was the idea of going to school without leaving my house, which showed the student sitting in a room in their house with a television monitor showing their teacher and classmates.
We've had some form of interactive televised knowledge transmission for over 10 years now, with both the education and the medical fields leveraging the technology. But there's another reason why I find this new feature from Google interesting...
Disintermediation.
If ("when", actually) this gets coupled with better two-way, rather than one-way, knowledge transmission, Google has the ability to establish a great position for itself. MySpace is already filled with most of the demographic that want to get (or are already pursuing) college degrees. It's no great leap in logic for them to "naturally" look to the web for their course lectures (in fact, college students are citing Wikipedia references in scholarly papers, over the protests of their professors and the founder / editor of Wikipedia!). Professors can leave their entire lecture "on reserve" rather than just their written notes (which never convey the nuances of an idea).
This will also have an impact the pricing associated with getting a degree ("Eventually", anyway...). Will there be sufficient cachet associated with a degree earned this way? Yes, but it will take some time for the Majority to endorse the idea - at least in the U.S. Baby Boomers are going back to school in record numbers, for a variety of reasons. Other nations who don't have the infrastructure of estbalished universities, however, can now take advantage of this right now.
And so can anyone who has an internet connection.
Think about that for a moment...
True, they won't get the college credits for attending the class, nor the degree to "certify" their "knowledge acquisition". But they will gain the information that they can use.
And isn't that what learning's all about, anyway???
Monday, October 02, 2006
Why Do We Have / Need Quad-core Processors?
"For gaming and video rendering." So says Intel (and I agree - AMD will be making their own announcements in this arena soon). For now, check this out.
And this (the audio quality's poor, but the implications are cool). And, last but not least, some additional (marketing fluff ?) from Intel.
With the dev kits in the ISVs' hands, all the industry has to do now is to deliver...
And this (the audio quality's poor, but the implications are cool). And, last but not least, some additional (marketing fluff ?) from Intel.
With the dev kits in the ISVs' hands, all the industry has to do now is to deliver...
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