Discovering webcontent

If you are already in your 30s, then chances are one or more of the following apply to your use and impression of the "interweb"

• You have one main password that you use to log into everything that doesn't ask you to change passwords regularly and a second one for those pesky websites that do, like internet banking.
• You have five (5) maybe six (6) websites that you go to routinely for news and email. If it's not on there, it doesn't exist.
• You rely on your friends' Facebook posts that appear on your newsfeed to find new content 
• You know that twitter is supposed to be this big deal but you still can't figure out what all these hashtags and @ signs are trying to say
• The interwebesphere can seem boring most times, so when bored go to youtube and search for kitten videos

I too have found that finding new content is tedious and I realised that unless content is delivered to you that has been curated, the internet may as well be a slab of concrete. Here are a two great websites that deliver content to you. All you need are these two to start.

Stumble Upon Something New 

www.stumbleupon.com - Sign up and select your preferences and stumbleupon's engine will deliver fresh new content that match your selected preferences. If you don't like what they suggest (which is very rare seeing that the sites are ranked by user satisfaction) just click next and they will suggest another, and another and another and another. The interwebesphere just keeps going with this one.

www.mashable.com - bye bye Facebook newsfeed! Mashable provides you with trending topics, technology, apps, reviews and viral videos. The world just got a little more interesting. Now you can counteract all those kitten videos by sharing the more interesting content you have found here

Happy Hunting!

What Privacy?

The revelation of the PRISM program over the past few weeks brings into question this entire notion of having the right to privacy. It also brings into question the extent to which we have, by our actions and behaviours, given up that right anyway. What do I mean by that? Well consider that the chances are that you, yes you, have never once read one of those legal statements that comes up when signing up for an email or social media account. If you are like me you click "Yes I agree" without so much as scrolling down. When taken together with the amount of openness we display on the various social media services i.e. liking, commenting on the posts of others, posting our own comments and rants, uploading pictures of ourselves and others etc, it is clear to see that we aren't so much concerned with privacy per se. Instead it seems we are concerned with people and organisations accessing our already public information which we voluntarily shared from the sites and apps we've shared them through.

This is an interesting dilemma because I didn't read the user agreement, remember I just clicked the "Yes I agree" button without reading it, so I have no way of knowing if I agreed to my information being passed to third parties, well, unless I go read them all now anyway. As the tech companies try to make sense of what is happening, it is not yet certain how this will change how much we share about ourselves voluntarily and how we would alter how we use the internet to transmit messages and transact. It presents a dilemma for social networks and email providers though as they would fear the fallout of losing their user base due to a loss of trust in them. One thing is for sure now. They will change the user agreements to ensure that they are not exposed legally, we will not read them when they pop up, and we will live happily ever after. Until we find ourselves being interrogated because of comments made online or because of a picture or video shared on instagram.

Web 2.0 has brought with it some new dilemmas and is pushing the boundaries of the definition of what is private and public. It is now very conceivable that one day everything will become public and open. Accept it and be responsible with the information you share. Orwell's Big Brother has arrived I guess. 

Facebook is up to something today!!!!

The big brain at facebook have been working away at a big idea. There aren't any insight just yet into what is going to be unveiled today but the tech world is eagerly awaiting their keynote.

Given the convergence that has been occuring driven by smartphone/tablet technology, perhaps this is facebook's foray into hardware. We understand that Zuckerberg was spotted visiting Samsung's office earlier this week so can we expect, if not today, some time in the future, an announcement that involves a Samsung product running facebook software of some sort?

In the context of the prevailing technology strategy which seeks to marry a platform that provides utility to a network of users with a common hardware platform, (a la iTunes/iphone and Google/Samsung), any attempt by Facebook to replicate and move into a partnership with Samsung will be yet another example of this strategy at play.

Stratasys did what? And on Labour Day to boot!!!!

If like me you are super excited about 3D printing, and by excited I mean wet your pants at the thought of it excited, then news like this is blow your brains out news. Stratasys buys Makerbot .... whaaatttttt???!!!!

It is clearly a very strategic move on the part of Stratasys to acquire Makerbot to ensure they cover the consumer market and not compete in the industrial user segment and the resulting combined technology base means that 3D printing is coming to a desktop near you.

Buzz Butler had no idea this was the world he was creating!

A Brand Management lesson from Elon Musk

Managing a brand is a real challenge in today's ultra fast social media driven world. Make a mistake and the world knows in minutes and you spend the next six months doing damage control. 

Elon Musk, one of the super innovators of this generation, shows the right way to avert a brand meltdown. Part common sense, part social responsibility, Tesla motors recently issued a voluntary recall of some of its Model S after becoming aware of a structural weakness in one of the seatbelt brackets that is welded to the body of the car. His company blog points out that this was entirely voluntary and was not as a result of any regulator directive. Instead it was out of a concern for the customer safety and the desire to do what is right.

Customer safety preserved, check!

Danger averted, check! 

Brand image enhanced, check!

For more on Tesla Motors visit http://www.teslamotors.com/ or check out some of their videos at http://vimeo.com/teslamotors

Getting left behind at 30something is not an option

Making sense of technology is at times the most difficult thing to do. I consider myself enough of a millennial to be open to new technologies but I have found that as a veteran 30something my willingness to explore new ways to do old things has materially reduced. OK yes I may have asked a few ignorant questions to "The Google" but certainly that doesn't means I am any less tech savvy. Or does it?

Something we should all be fearful of is that we become our parents; suspicious of new technology and pop culture and insistent on using the line "in my day it was much better because ......". If like me you are new to being 30something then chances are you have already attended a back in time party and you swear that the music from the 90's was the best everrrrrrrr. Chances are as well that you may have said that "a phone is just to make and receive calls and text messages". If you have, please put the gun down and step away from the ledge!

Make no mistake, we live in exponential times, so my lecturer reminded me yesterday, and it is important that we understand that we are in the midst of a massive technoeconomic paradigm shift. This shift is based on the convergence of technologies which were each revolutionary at the time of their introduction over the last few decades and doubly even triply so as they are shaping and are shaped by us millennials. If you cannot see it or if you are not aware of it then the bad news is that it is almost too late but the good news is that it isn't yet too late.  

Stay tuned and I will share what I learn as I seek to drink from the digital fountain of youth.

PS: Go see The Internship and have a read about Google's recently announced project Loon 

Dusting off the cobwebs

Writing can be a chore and I haven't written in such a long time. I have been re-inspired lately to revisit this process of translating thoughts into written words as I go through my Masters Program. I am not sure where this will lead but I will be trying to adapt this blog a bit to curate content that reflects my new experiences and my own discovery.