Social Media gone to far?

I saw this article and I became a little worried. While the idea of young age learning and connecting to others is very important in child development, I can't for the life of me figure out why it would be important for a toddler to know when another toddler is brushing his teeth. Social media has many good values, but I think this step is at least one too far...

The government has its eyes on the Cloud...

The federal government is making the admininstration's strongest statement yet in support of Web-based computing as it is adopting a "cloud-first" policy.

Clearly the government realizes the fast pace at which technology changes, and with its complex system and usually slow decision-making process, it may make an IT acquisition only to find out one month later that the technology has gone obsolete. As federal officials push agencies to move their data and applications to the web, the number of physical data centers the government uses will be significantly reduced.

The article included comments from a couple key officials in the change process, and it sounded like the decision to move to the Cloud has received quite positive feedback and support.

The federal government will outline more details at an open meeting on Dec. 9.

any publicity = good publicity on Google?

This weekend's NYT had an interesting article about an online eyeglass company called DecorMyEyes, whose thug-like business tactics and on-line notoriety have helped the business move up on Google's search results.

DecorMyEyes has built up quite a reputation online as a dishonest retailer that not only cheats its customers but also harasses them and makes death threats (seriously). Somehow the countless complaints online about the company have been translating to higher rankings on Google search results and DecorMyEyes has been getting more and more business as a result.

Although the algorithm used by Google to determine the ranks remains unknown, a big factor is the number of links from respected and substantial Web sites. The more links that a site has from big and well-regarded sites, the better its chances of turning up high in a search. Google does not want to disclose the algorithm because it is afraid that people will try to game the system, but it seems that at least one business owner seems to have found a way to do that without knowing the formula. The owner of DecorMyEyes was quoted as saying: “I’ve exploited this opportunity because it works. No matter where they post their negative comments, it helps my return on investment. So I decided, why not use that negativity to my advantage?”

This article seems to raise some important points about the limitations of Google algorithms and how the system could backfire for unsuspecting consumers. We'd like to think that there is less information asymmetry as a result of consumer comments and blogs, but perhaps we still have ways to go. On the other hand, maybe this is the way it should be: Google doesn't make any guarantees about the quality of the site it displays -- it just shows the most relevant sites. It's a pretty democratic process, albeit misleading for shoppers. So what's the solution? What is Google's responsibility in a situation like this?

The Google Netbook: An Enabler

A recent article in the NY Times went over how Google is planning on introducing a Google Netbook in the coming months. The netbook is expected to run on the Chrome OS, which as the article discussed, is essentially the same thing as the Chrome browser. Basically, all of our information normally stored on each individual computer will be stored on Google's servers, accessed via the cloud. Google's strategy is to use these netbooks as another portal towards their services, allowing them to make money off of their primary means: advertising. The Chrome OS-based netbook will run only Google web-based applications instead of its competitor's apps (instead of iTunes, a Google based music software, instead of MS Office, a Google-based office replica, etc.).

The article notes one major issue with introducing a netbook is that the market has already changed in the past year from netbooks to tablets. However, I see a few other issues with the idea of the Google Netbook. If all of our information will be stored on Google's servers, privacy issues will certainly come to the forefront (as if they weren't already). Google will have direct access to a huge amount of critical information. I would imagine companies holding sensitive information on their databases would be a bit skeptical in putting such information on the cloud. Another issue is the attempt Google would be making at locking in users to their Web-based applications. Google has been about opening up the web, allowing their open-source model of application development to push their applications above many of their competitors. However, locking out software on their Google Netbooks will most likely drive away customers who like the flexibility of using different software/applications. It could also reduce the value of Google's applications, as developers for the Chrome OS will have less competition to deal with and thus less motivation to improve since the OS disallows consumers to use some of Google's major competitor's applications.

Long Live the Web: Reflections by Sir Tim Berners-Lee

Happy Thanksgiving...  As you relax (or on your flight back), please take a look at this article by Sir Tim Berners-Lee published in the latest issue of the Scientific American.  It is titled Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality. I think it is an important read--both in terms of the last two decades and in terms of what the future implications of many of the ideas that we have explored in our course. 
--
Best. 

Cloud Gaming....

Ask any hardcore gamer which is better PS3 or Xbox 360 and you will here a list of pros and cons despite the fact that both systems are very similar in capabilities and access to games.

Early on in our MS-MBA classes we saw diagrams outlining the evolution of the gaming industry with all the spokes leading back to the gaming platforms. Cloud gaming may be the next diagram for this evolution. Xbox 360 (and I believe PS3) already offer access to many games online, but these games are generally downloaded to your console's harddrive before you can play them. Moving games to the cloud could potentially marginalize the need for a robust console. The consoles could become simple portals to game libraries with the basic hardware for controllers.

This change would also eliminate the need for consoles to have disc readers to play games. Some computers (including my laptop) have already eliminated the CD-ROM drive. If I need to import/export information, I use the USB or high speed internet.

The question is who will be dominating player in this change. A movement away from the console centric view invites powerful players, previously unheard of in the gaming industry, such as Virgin. They can channel investment and solely focus on building their cloud. Microsoft and Sony would have to slowly transition their users into the cloud or face backlash from their customer base. Console makers will have to make some hard decisions in the very near future or face being left in the dust if cloud gaming takesoff.

Kinect does what?

Although Xbox Kinect only emerged on the market at the beginning of November, hackers have already begun unlocking the controller so that it can be used for different purposes, without an Xbox. The NY Times recently published this story about hackers' alternative uses for the product.

There are a few interesting aspects to this story. First, the 3D images, holograms, and manipulations are really incredible. Another (more relevant) point is that Microsoft has had an evolving response to the tinkerers.

At first, Microsoft said that it would work with law enforcement to prevent product tampering. Since this initial statement, the company's position has changed. Per the article, “Anytime there is engagement and excitement around our technology, we see that as a good thing,” said Craig Davidson, senior director for Xbox Live at Microsoft. “It’s naïve to think that any new technology that comes out won’t have a group that tinkers with it.”

By accepting and embracing these innovative consumers, Microsoft may have recognized that these users are potentially exposing a new edge to its business.

Netflix provides streaming only

This article caught my eye because earlier in the year we had discussed the future of Netflix. Netflix is raising prices on it's DVD subscriptions and now offering a streaming only option.

This is a major step in shifting the organization from a DVD subscription company, to a online based streaming company.

Digital Publishing : Governance

Self-publisher giant Amazon got into hot water when an author self-published this:
"The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure:"

Amazon took it down, but not before it reached *65* on the top 100 ebook list and people raised first amendment issues.

Interesting issues for digital publishing, as traditional publishers--who had more experience with these issued--are replaced by Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Disruptive Innovation in the Advertising Industry

"There's never been a better time to be in advertising," says Aaron Reitkopf, North American CEO of digital agency Profero, referring to the unbound possibilities of digital, "and there's never been a worse time."

The Future of Advertising in Fast Company is a fascinating look at an industry dealing with disruptive technologies and other topics from this semester (even if I didn’t intend to write another “future of” blog post). Even as a neophyte to the advertising industry, I was surprised to read how much managers were struggling to keep up to speed on technological change even in an industry rich with creative thinkers.

The most visible change within the industry has been the proliferation of hundreds of smaller, leaner firms competing with larger, full-service firms that came formed during an era of consolidation. Instead of one holding one agency of record, many large brands are maintaining a portfolio of agencies to meet specific needs (see proposed digital advertising stack). Whereas agencies of record can typically have hundreds of employees or more, these leaner firms can be as few as five employees but have access to 1,500 more through outsourcing. By defining their organization’s edge closer to a minimal, core service of an agency, these lean firms pass on value by first saving through outsourcing (or even crowdsourcing) tasks that were typically done in-house, and not having to manage the hiring and laying-off employees brought about by adding or losing contracts.

In order for the traditional holding companies to have the proper capabilities to compete (especially flexibility), individual agencies are given financial incentives to work together and leverage their individual areas of expertise and bill by the hour (like lawyers). How agencies charge for services and where to put the cash register is getting more complicated, however, as more and more ad content is given away via YouTube, games, apps, etc.

Clay Shirkey notes near the end of the article that large institutions or organizations collapse when they lack flexibility. If advertising holding companies can behave less like an assembly line and more like a platform with a variety of services at its disposal, they stand a better chance at surviving the digital revolution.

Can't Decide What to Wear? Ask Google.

Google announced the launch of it's new fashion shopping site, Boutique.com. There has been a lot of news lately of tech companies charting into each others territories such as Facebook with its new messaging/e-mail service. Now Google is going after Amazon and eBay. Online apparel sales are expected to reach $25 billion this year and as more powerful companies with deep pockets like Google are enticed to capture a piece of that lucrative market, things will undoubtedly get interesting.

Google's famous algorithms once again are expected to give the company an advantage. With the help of exclusive designers and celebrities, Google's algorithms can accurately suggest fashion specific to each user's tastes.

Sour Gr-Apps

Jim Balsille, co-CEO of RIM, recently sat down at the web2.0 Summit and discussed some of the issues he has with Apple and the role of apps in mobile connections to the internet. "You don't need an app for the web." He argues that while there is a role for apps, you can use your existing content assets and tools to enable mobile web delivery.

web20tv on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

It sounds like someone is a little bitter about missing the App bus.

Click for participation

The NY Times ran an article about a new technologies in college classroom: the clicker. Although this technology is not entirely new, its use in the classroom is slowly gaining ground, where each student has one. Professors can poll the class, take attendance, and instantly gauge comprehension of the day's lesson. This may bring the professors closer to the edge of their audience. As a teacher, you typically guess as to how much students understand by their level of engagement in class and your suspicions are reinforced (or disproved) when the tests and papers are corrected. With this tool, teachers are able to quickly identify gaps in comprehension without grading numerous papers. This means they can adjust their teaching immediately. Of course, this means they also have to ask the right questions.

Novell Enters Social Collaboration Space through Vibe

I just saw that Novell has launched a new social collaboration tool called Vibe. From the video and text on its website, it sounds more like Google Buzz. But it looks more formal. Currently, it is open to everyone to join and profiles are public. But if it is received well, I can see Novell rolling it out for enterprises with teams using this tool for collaboration.

yournamehere@facebook.com

I just came across this article today that announced Facebook's entry into the e-mail market. Zuckerberg claims that Facebook e-mail won't be your typical inbox. Rather, it will allow for seamless and simple "messaging" as opposed to "e-mailing". Users will have a running log of conversations and will be able to take advantage of easier sorting features. With many long-standing players already holding strong positions in this space (Yahoo Hotmail, Google Gmail, etc.), Facebook has an uphill climb if it wants to claim market share. Another interesting side note is AOL's recent announcement of its revamped e-mail service, dubbed "Project Phoenix". Even though this market is somewhat saturated, Facebook has a young, loyal and growing user base that may be willing to switch to its e-mail platform.

Google's (or your?) Social Circle

We have been hearing that Google is trying to build some social networking features over its existing infrastructure. Google's CEO has also mentioned that they are not trying to make another Facebook or another social media website. Here is a sneak peak of what Google  is trying to do in the social media area : Social Search. As more and more people get connected to each other, what people read and recommend online will become a critical part of Google's search algorithms. We've always thought of what Google knows about us. If you have a Google account, please visit this link http://www.google.com/s2/search/social#socialcircle to see what Google knows about your social circle. Many ads that we see in our Gmail inbox or even through Google search are irrelevant. Imagine the power of ads based on recommendations and online behavior from your friends. This will not only be a big plus for the online searchers but also for a great revenue source for Google as it improves its click-though rate for ads. This will be put them in a good position against Facebook who, if the rumors are true, is going to launch email service next week.

CIO Talk Radio

I just wanted to share with the class that there is a really good webcast website that features new CIOs from bigtime companies every week. Topics are usually strategy based with dicussions of how their own company is affcted by current industry phenominon (within an IT perspective) or how their company is taking steps to charge head into new IT frontiers. I've really enjoyed listening to it and have researched opinions of CIOs for interview prep with the respective company. Hope you enjoy! www.ciotalkradio.com

Listening to Diane Greene (Founding CEO of VMWare) at HBS Cyberposium

Yesterday, I visited the Cyberposium at Harvard Business School and was just amazed by the list of great speakers from CEO of HTC and Pandora and President of AOL Consumer Applications to general and product managers of FourSquare and Google Admobs. I was equally amazed by the variety of panel discussions such as Location Wars, Future of Touch, The New Living Room, Innovations in Enterprise Cloud Computing and Mobile and Future Gaming.

One of really good speakers happened to be Diane Greene, the Founding Chief Executive Officer of VMware. She talked about the cloud and where it was heading in this day and age. Some of the her points are mentioned below-

• Open Source Stack for the cloud
• Disruption in the storage of information (infrastrucutre layer)
• Cloud datacenters make dumb routers possible (network layer)
• Cloud datacenter run an open source stack model (OS & Hypervisors)
• Shrinked wrapped software on the cloud possible(App layer)

She also mentioned that they are 3 ways for business to enter the cloud -

• Storage
• Application Development Platform
• Multitenant SaaS

The barriers for entering into the cloud are -

• Trust and Privacy issues
• Control (who will control the cloud?)
• Value of Innovation
• Migration
• Vested Interests

In summary, she mentioned the following -

• Large $ are being taken out of IT
• Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Oracle have huge $ reserves to move into the cloud and become leaders
• Tomorrow's large business will start in the cloud
• Tech power will shift to the to the massive datacenters with broad services suite

Better mobile photos

Thinking about the Black's Photography case this weekend, I came across this New York Times article about the trend of developing smartphone apps that help users produce and share better quality photos directly from their phones.

Photo Sharing on the Go is the Latest Hot Investment Niche in Silicon Valley

These paragraphs sum it up:

"A flurry of new start-ups is focused on mobile photo-sharing, some of which plan to make money from local advertising. The smartphone apps transform cellphone photos so they look better, tag them with location data and post them in real time to social networks on phone and on the Web.

"It is annoying to take photos with your cellphone and have them look good and get them off your phone," said Dalton Caldwell, co-founder and chief executive of Mixed Media who previously co-founded Imeem, the now-closed music site. "That solves a real need."

Google V. Facebook

Google doesn't target you in ads. Facebook does. (See here)

Some people think Facebook will replace Google. Others don't lie to themselves.

You can't search the web on facebook and unless their algorithms become better than Google's, it doesn't matter. Your network may get real large, but never large enough to destroy search engines.

Don't worry Google. You'll be ok.

Will libraries destroy the e-book market?

E-books have been billed as the next great thing for books and publishing--they are convenient, attractively priced, and environmentally friendly. But how do libraries, a traditional user of the printed book, adapt to this change? How do e-books fit into the lending model? And will publishers allow libraries to lend them out? Some publishers fear that a lending model will completely unravel the e-book industry and their concerns are very familiar to those who were worried about DRM and the music industry. So some propose lending with restrictions--only use on-site and limiting the number of copies that can be lent at one time. In essence, this tries to recreate the same lending model as for physical books. But is that feasible? Or reasonable? Other publishers are recognizing the need for new standards and are not requiring such stringent controls. Will they still monetize sales? And how?
The bottom line, however, is that libraries only account for 4% of book sales--so would they really be able to make a significant dent in e-book sales?

The AutoBot Takes on OnStar

Back in 2002, a high school freshman named Marc Ingram, spurred on by his father's never-ending complaints of getting into a cold car after a long walk to it, developed a gadget that let his father start his car's engine, lock or unlock the doors, and turn on the heat or air-conditioning from anywhere via his moblie phone. Now 8 years later, Ingram and his new company Mavizon Technologies are preparing to launch the AutoBot, a $299 version of that old prototype that essentially performs the same functions and more. It also does diagnostics, can disable the car remotely if stolen, and can detect a crash and send an emergency notice to friends and family. Sound familiar? Ingram expects to compete against OnStar as well as number of other start-ups offering similar devices.

The device has the advantage of flexibility over OnStar: it can be moved between vehicles, works on most smartphones, and can be controlled from any web browser. Additionally, it works with all vehicle models built after 1995. This provides access to a much larger marketplace than OnStar and provides the necessary value proposition for consumers to pay the initial purchase cost (knowing they can easily transfer the device if they change vehicles). The company does plan to charge a monthly service fee initially in addition to the purchas price, although they do hope to eventually offer a no fee subscription supported by advertsing. The initial cost and service fee will certainly be a hurdle for some consumers, so the services and fucntionality provided with the Autobot service will have to be compelling. An additional negative is that the company does not currently offer a robust support service like OnStar.

This reminds some of standalone navigation devices, which have done very well. I expect there to be a strong demand for products like the Autobot, with those that can offer superior functionality, ease-of-use, and services to win out. Further, those companies that can continue to innovate and add more services (i.e. streaming music) to meet evolving customer expectations will be able to sustain success.

Mobile Health Care: The next 500 million

At the mHealthSummit in DC last week a study was released claiming that 500 million people will be using mobile health apps by 2015. My first reaction to the headline was "what about people who don't have mobile access?" The article quotes U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, saying, "It is important for us to knock down bottlenecks and barriers as they come," in reference to cloud computing and increased connectivity. I am curious to see if and how any of these companies that are involved in the innovations in mobile health care (or any other cloud/mobile-related innovations) help close the digital divide, as it would seem to be in their best interest to do so.

Google's Innovative Pay Scheme

Google just announced an across-the-board pay increase of 10% to its employees. This type of pay increase has raised many eyebrows, with skeptics seeing this as potentially promoting unsatisfactory performance and downplaying the importance of those that have performed over expectations. However, as a recent article in The Atlantic suggests, this is not necessarily the case. Google has always been a company that has encouraged innovative ideas from all employees. The problem with encouraging such ideas is that they may not necessarily pay off immediately, or at all, yet promoting a culture of innovation is key for Google. In this way, the pay increase makes sense, since those that have not added value through innovations may add value in a later date, and the pay increase basically provides each employee with a stamp of approval for their work. If pay increases were only provided to those that perform over expectations, then it would disincentivize lower performing workers from spending time on innovative ideas that may or may not provide value. Although Google's strategy would not necessarily work in a company that is more static, in innovation-driven organizations, pay increases like Google's seem to make more sense.

Don't be evil?

Who hasn't heard about Google's big slogan "Don't be evil"? How should we interpret Google's recent move with regards to Facebook? Users, who try to import Google data into their Facebook account are getting the following message: "Hold on a second. Are you super sure you want to import your contact information for your friends into a service that won’t let you get it out?".

What happened to the openness? What will be Google's next step, if user ignore the warning?

Old Meets New - E-Book Rankings

The New York Times recently announced that it would begin publishing a bestseller list for e-books. This is an acknowledgement of how the publishing market has changed recently. According to the article, comparing the first nine months of 2010 to the same period during 2009, e-book sales increased nearly 190% to over $300 million.

This bestseller listing is an interesting intersection of old and new platforms. Including this bestseller list will lead to a redesign of the weekly printed Book Review section.

Although the sales figures are tallied from a variety of sources, it would be interesting if this were a more dynamic best seller that updated in real time (or more regularly than once a week) online. Since there aren't inventory updates to record, sales data for e-books should be available sooner. This could help readers see popularity trends and publishers understand the impact of having authors promote books on certain programs (in terms of an immediate impact on sales volume).

How to Select IT to Incorporate

I watched a video clip on FT today expressing similar idea to Felicia's post "When Should We Not Incorporate IT?".

According to a senior analyst at Gartner, companies should understand IT is a tool and it is the tool designed to produce outcomes. A company needs to know how it is going to grow and how IT can support that growth.

Therefore, it's not necessary to pursue the IT every company is doing, say Social Network. To help select the "right" technology to incorporate, a company can create a hypothesis about how the technology might help it do business and run the experiment. When experimenting an innovative technology, a company might want to be open-minded and not to be too focused on the hypothesis it sets because there is possibility that something might appear in the experiment they hadn't anticipated, which would create great value to the company.

Kik

Kik, a new messaging app for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry has been growing at a viral rate, having close to two million subscribers in about 2.5 weeks since its launch. The app is very similar to BlackBerry's BBM, in that the messages are delivered in real-time and tells you whether the message has been sent, delivered, or read through different labels. But what's new about it is that it pulls your contacts from your phone's address book and matches it with other users that have downloaded the app so that it gives you a list of "people you may know" -- a feature that has become a hot topic among users in terms of privacy. Also, it's free and supposedly faster than BBM, according to its creator, a former strategist at RIM.

How do you think RIM will react now that BBM and its network effects are no longer a unique selling point for BlackBerrys (which has been the main service featured in recent commercials)?

SapientNitro’s ‘Banking of the Future’

It’s no surprise why e-banking in its various forms has been adopted so quickly – gone are the days of going downtown on Saturday morning to deposit checks and get cash while enjoying free donut holes and coffee.

Sapient suggests branches still exist because for certain transactions, customers feel “human interaction is a critical element of a specific solution.” The forefront of engagement, however, are not branches (primarily used to drive sales additional sales to existing clients) but Personal Financial Management tools such as Mint, Quicken, et al that consolidate, model and analyze a personal portfolio. Sapient argues that these tools work best as standalone platforms, and banks will mostly need to be concerned with B2C and C2C mobile transactions.

Will this movement disrupt the banking technology stack move more engaging products to the top, making “one-stop-shopping” in-effect obsolete? By missing the boat on microchip-embedded credit cards, did US banks leave the door open for more disruptive technologies such as radio frequency, e-payments, and mobile payments? Or, as Sapient argues, can branches leverage iPads, RFIDs, and CRM technology to “develop predictive capabilities so that it can anticipate customer needs and meet them in all-new ways”?

New Browser from RockMelt

Many of you may have seen this announcement from the founder of Netscape. It's a new browser called RockMelt.

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Will this have an impact on how we access the web? Does it change the dynamics between web versus app?

Apple Looks to a New Computing Era

Looking through the daily technology articles on the 'The New York Times' I came across this very interesting article by Nick Bilton titled 'Apple Looks to a New Computing Era'.

Recently, Steve Jobs presented the new MacBook Air and mentioned that these new 'Macbook Air' line will be the next generation in laptops. What he essentially means is that future Mac laptops or desktops will no longer have DVD or CD drives! They will be replaced by the iCloud where users will store all their videos, music, photos and important documents.

Apple has a lot at stake, by being one of the first to move into this space. Also Steve Jobs is very aware that there are many players eagerly waiting to get into this potential high-revenue space and no better than Google (which has essentially grown up in the cloud and created integrated services).

Last week it was reported by Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO, that they are ready to open a 500,000 sq-foot data center in North Carolina, worth $1bn, any day now which will act as the data storage for the iCloud. But Apple is being cautious about this launch, due its previous disaster of launching 'MobileMe'. Once this data center is launched, don't be suprised to find any number of cloud-based applications on your ipod, iphones and ipads!

What is most interesting is that we are at the brink of a major technology change which will once again change the landscape for technology and businesses. Personal storage will no longer be on our laptops but on data centres located in far off locations and maybe in different countries and continents. This does bring upto the issue of security but then nowdays how secure is the information we post on facebook or other social websites?

The Emerging Importance of Data

Several of us went out to Silicon Valley this past week to meet with leading technology companies. One of our visit was to Zynga, which is probably the fastest growing company in the technology industry right now. They shared a piece of data with us that was staggering.

Every day, they capture 1 Petabyte of data from their customers. They use this for analysis and for developing new products and features. (It takes them adding over 1,000 servers a week to handle this data).

Our next stop that day was Chevron. Chevron, a Fortune 5 company with over 65,000 employees and 100 years of history, in total has 10 Petabytes of data stored.

Zynga literally creates the history of Chevron in terms of data every two weeks! It is amazing to see the difference in how a modern company operates compared with a more established one and the culture changes that are taking place in how data is approached.

The people and companies that best learn how to leverage this data in the coming years will really start the new trend for future growth. There is a ton of data out there (think also Google, Facebook, etc.), and we are just starting to understand how to use the huge mountains of data that we are capturing.

Open Warfare: Google v. Facebook

Google's mission of making the world's information available to all has led Google to maintaining an open platform, where information is freely exchanged with other platforms, for the most part. This mission is in direct opposition with Facebook, which has imported information from other platforms, but rarely provides others with their information, without major incentives. In a recent article, Google has finally taken a direct stance against Facebook. Google has disallowed Facebook to use Gmail Connect, which used to provide Facebook users the option of looking through their Gmail contacts and connecting with those users on Facebook. This is due to the fact that Facebook does not allow Google to see its users, thus creating a one way street.

Facebook is in an interesting situation here. Most of their value comes from the lock-in they have on their users. Users are already well established on their platform and would only switch if everyone else did, since the value of the social network is diminished with fewer and fewer users. Facebook clearly is attempting to prevent this by moves such as not allowing Google to use Facebook user lists. However, without the free flow of information, more and more retaliatory actions may be employed by other companies against Facebook.

Advantage: Facebook

In yet another example of Facebook moving in on Google's territory, the social media behemoth now facilitates location-based advertising through mobile devices (at this time limited to the iPhone).

To my mind, this is a huge threat to Google. As the article mentions, Facebook has tremendous scale. But more importantly, their strategy drives at the heart of how we tend to make purchase decisions. We are by nature social creatures. Our circles of friends and family are probably the biggest influencers of what we buy. Furthermore, many items have their intrinsic value enhanced by network effects - videogames are more fun when you can play them against your friends, books are more enjoyable when you can discuss them with others. And, while many of us have learned to tune out the noise of online advertising, we still pay attention to what's happening with the people we know and like.

Wireless Diagnostic Devices

Reading the MIT technology review uncovered this article about the use of wireless devices to help people in the tracking of their disease states. The article talks about a new device that is stuck on a patient like a band-aid and does both; monitoring of blood glucose and tracks when a pill is taken by means of a tiny microchip embedded on the pill. This is a very important step for diabetes as complications stemming from diabetes and specifically non-compliance with a given drug regime cost the united states multiple billions of dollars per year. (23.7 million people, $10k average cost of complications) With the expected size of the diabetes population expected to nearly double in the next 25 years, reducing the cost of complications due to drug compliance issues becomes mandatory.

This use of data monitoring for drug compliance could be an influential step in reducing overall costs fro the health care system. I believe that similar technology could gain widespread acceptance in large disease fields where drug compliance is mandatory, yet neglected.

Mint: Data Aggregation Done Right

For the last few years I have watched Mint's success with awe and admiration. In the face of growing privacy concerns. Mint asks users to give up their log in information to there bank accounts. Yes! Account user names, passwords, answers to silly questions, etc. were all freely given to the company by the over 4 million Mint users. The company then goes a step further, analyzing the user data providing personalized suggestions for how each user can utilize a new financial product to save or earn money. "You can save $225 a year by switching to this credit card." "You can get $300 by moving your money to that savings account." The company has been essentially revenue positive from day one due to the targeted ads and consumers love them for the ease with which they can manage their finances. Most recently, Mint rolled out Mint Data allowing users to compare their spending habits with those across the country.

So why has Mint succeeded aggregating and monetizing consumer data while others have failed?I believe the secret is transparency. Mint makes no secret that your data will be made anonymized and then used to generate revenue and provide utility to other users. In addition they have gone to great lengths to gain legitimacy through certifications and online community. In the end great functionality and word of mouth has facilitated trust between Mint and their user base.

Looking forward it will be interesting to see if companies in industries like healthcare and government services use Mint as a model for launching their own services.

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss?

I was intrigued by this article on Cloudera's strategy to revolutionize enterprise-level IT by modeling itself after Oracle.

Cloudera has all of the requisite "new tech" street cred: open source, cloud-based and founders that hail from Google, Facebook and Yahoo. They intentionally are attacking the vertical stack paradigm and have more VC funds than they need. YET, their main principle is that new data processing and analysis needs aren't that new and that the core capabilities of companies like Oracle still apply, they just need to be applied in a new way.

Weirdly, I think it could work. What do you think?

AT&T ForHealth

AT&T just announced its entry into the healthcare technology sector with its new ForHealth Division. The company is interested in providing data centers and hosting technology to accomodate the predicted increase in data sharing among doctors, hospitals and labs as electronic health records become standardized. The company also plans to leverage its position in the smartphone market by developing mobile health apps for the iPhone which would track diet and exercise. I can’t say that I’m too optimistic for AT&T in app world since there is so much existing competition from smaller, more agile developers. However, if AT&T can line up the right partners (I'm thinking GE), it could do very well. In addition, if I were AT&T, I would be throwing huge amounts of resources into developing secure cloud-based technology solutions, but I suspect they are probably already doing that. Since healthcare isn’t my specialty, I’d be interested to hear from the healthcare groups.

OnStar MyLink

Has anyone seen the new OnStar MyLink commercials? In the one I just saw, a guy is able to check out different aspects of his car through his smartphone (tire air pressure, oil, unlock the doors) remotely, so his girlfriend can use it without having to go through any of those checks herself.

I thought this was a really interesting commercial given our recent discussion of OnStar in class. Initially, OnStar was promoted in ways to emphasize qualities like emergency help and safety. As this latest commercial shows, the service value proposition is evolving to cover areas such as convenience and quick, real-time access to informatics and data.

The MyLink platform also includes a social messaging aspect, but GM is promoting it under the umbrella of "responsible connectivity". I think GM is trying to maintain its historic positioning (OnStar as reliable and safe) and trying to play catch-up to companies like Ford Sync, by moving into social networking and media. Supposedly OnStar will also allow users to access Facebook, but more importantly it will have an OPEN API, so anyone can submit applications, but GM will have ultimate right of refusal.

Do you think that GM is late to the game, or is this a viable contender?

Student tracking technology goes further than RFID

Just read this article"school buses test fingerprint scan"

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/surveillance/2010-10-29-1Aschoolbusfingerprints29_ST_N.htm

Fingerprint scanner, laptop, GPS are all equipped on school buses, and the electronic cards mentioned in the article, i think, is probably a kind of RFID card. With all these tech equipments, people have new concern with data security, as the article said:"what if a child predator was able to get access to this?"

Love. Conveniently.

This probably has something to do with class but for the most part, it's just cool and cruel.

Apparently we like to break up right before spring break, valentines day, and christmas. Not just in small amounts but troves, in multiples, entire swaths of the populous running from commitment as if fleeing from a conflagration. Or a St. Bernard after a fire hydrant, depending on how you think of it. Another way to think of it is opportunity, expense, and fear respectively.

My pitch for putting it on this blog...Facebook told us this. See below:

Did any of us ever think that Facebook would be informing what we know about our own psyches?