I saw a Twitter post about these web fonts and got pretty excited – the concept of having more options natively in a web page – not having to use a graphic or flash to accomplish this.  There are some interesting fonts available – I used “IM Fell Double Pica SC” in my blog for the titles – which I think is just cool.    It took me a little while to figure it out – but I found this article that shows how to use them in a WordPress blog: http://wpmu.org/how-to-use-the-google-font-directory-with-wordpress-and-buddypress/

This is another one of those items that tell me that web content is really about to blossom – in looking at the documentation (http://code.google.com/apis/webfonts/docs/getting_started.html) there are some interesting things you can do with these – such as adding shadows.

Sports Illustrated demonstrated an HTML5 demo of what, to me, is what a magazine on the web should be:http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/05/19/si.html5.demo.shows.flash.not.needed.to.demo/ Make sure you watch the video – as it’s fascinating what they can do without flash or other special apps.  From what I’ve heard the native apps on the iPad just don’t touch this – and this would work on any tablet or PC.   You can tell Google influenced this app – as their vision of the world is more open and based on the browser – so HTML5 takes us much closer to that reality.

I feel like I’m watching a tennis match – as these patent wars go back and forth.  I’m not a big fan of software patents – for reasons like this.  I would prefer companies spend their energy innovating – not litigating.   I also find some of the software patents to be extremely questionable – as they seem obvious and easy to independently create without “stealing” from another person.

What’s interesting is that Microsoft used to be in the news about defending it’s patent portfolio – but I haven’t heard much lately. Instead I’ve heard about how successful Windows 7 has been, Office 2010 coming out and a completely new phone operating system.  I think this might be a better strategy – to innovate and attract customers for the value you provide to them – not being distracted by patent wars.

Then again maybe I’m naive – maybe this suing and cross-licensing is a part of our world that goes on every day.  That it’s part of the cost of the products we offer in the U.S. (doesn’t apply to some other countries) in our business ecosystem.  That it’s not a big deal – the companies litigate, settle and cross-license all the time – as that’s the most efficient way.

1. I was tired of POP3 access on my old Phone – as I would find myself deleting e-mails off both the phone and then later on Outlook.
2. Gmail can pull in my various POP3 accounts (I have an ISP account, Yahoo and my own website’s e-mail) into one view.
3. My Palm Pre can then connect to Gmail to show all my e-mail – but NOT download it – only view it.
4. With IMAP access I can upload my set of old e-mails to Gmail.
5. I felt comfortable with Gmail – as it was a secure connection and I can enable offline ability.
6. The world is moving to the cloud – so I might as well go with it.
7. Finally Outlook was getting annoying – as I was up to 3 different PST files and it was still slow.  That and trying to access the same Outlook files from 2 different computers was problematic (as Outlook would try to re-create a default file every time it couldn’t access a network connection).

Now the fun part was the transition:

1. IMAP is the tool – as you can move the messages without having to forward, etc.
2. So I linked my Gmail account in Outlook and copied some messages from Outlook to Gmail. And guess what – Outlook crashed!  It did this everytime I tried it – on 2 different computers.
3. So Plan B:
   1. I downloaded Thunderbird and attempted to pull in Outlook – but ran into problems with the Import.
   2. So Plan C:
      1. I pulled in the Outlook PST file into Outlook Express – and I had to do this 3 times – as it only pulled in the default “PST” file (so I switched it twice).
      2. I then pulled in the Outlook Express file into Thunderbird.
      3. Now finally I could copy files from my local computer up to Gmail.
      4. I’m actually still working on this as I have a lot of sent mail to copy up.

The cool thing is that I’m only using about 20% of my gmail storage limit – and I have a lot of e-mail!

1. x

I’m starting to see the writing on the wall that HTML5 (H.264 likely) will overtake Flash for video in the future.  Google and Apple are pushing hard for it – and in theory it works a lot better.   I don’t have a lot of experience with it myself – but I’m learning.  I just put a YouTube video on one of my clients sites: http://www.bradbuyshomes.com/.  I originally made this video as an AVI and uploaded it to YouTube (which took a while). Unfortunately it didn’t work – so I then exported it as MPEG-2  and that worked better.  Probably MPEG-4 is now the best choice – buy my Roxio Videowave doesn’t have any MPEG-4 at anything other than very small resolution outputs. I should have used Pinnacle Studio to create the MPEG-4 file….

The Palm Pre looked like a potential iPhone killer – but seems to have fallen pretty flat.  I like the idea of multi-tasking, support for my legacy Palm apps, and a newer screen.  What concerns me is the long-term potential of Palm – whether they’ll be around for the future.

There are 2 main competitors that may be the death knell for Palm:

1. Google’s Android OS – shortly after the Palm Pre came out Google’s Android operating system seem to have taken off.  You have the Droid, the Nexus One and a growing host of phones coming out on multiple carriers based on this OS.    There’s a whole set of apps being created for  this platform.
2. Windows Phone 7 Series – just when I had about written off Microsoft as a real player in the smartphone market (as Android and iPhone seemed to be duking it out) they announce a redesigned OS.  This looks pretty impressive and likely to take even more attention away from Palm.

So we now have little Palm going up against Apple, Google and Microsoft – I don’t think this looks good for them.  Palm has always been a company that flirted with bankruptcy -so I don’t know how much time they have left.  I may still upgrade to a Pre if it makes financial sense – but I not so enthusiastic about it as before.

So that may influence my evaluation of Buzz – as it’s integrated into Gmail.  Frankly I’m pretty confused by Buzz – as it’s a bit overwhelming.  Right now I don’t think I can get past the expanded comments  - the long, long string of comments.  I’m used to seeing status updates with comments not taking over the screen.  Also I can’t seem to find any settings to control this – so it’s hard for me to use.  I haven’t researched how to use Buzz yet – but I’m wondering if I should have to.  I can still see how the key feature is that it’s integrated into gmail – a kind of one stop shop…

Lately I’ve been trying to figure out the best client to keep up with my social networks – as I now have 2 twitter accounts, personal facebook account, linked in account, multiple facebook fan pages.  I’ve been using Tweetdeck- but it doesn’t seem to easily support a 2nd twitter account.  I’m also trying Hootsuite and Seismic – which seemed to have unique features in each one.  My goal would be to have a client that easily supports all my different accounts – easily showing me updates from all the accounts – and letting me reply/retweet/comment on the posts (and see the comments).  I’m not concerned so much about posting – as I usually do that from another place (usually this site via ping.fm).

So to conclude I don’t totally get it – I’m a bit lost in the tool.  In fairness this is a brand new tool – has it even been out a week?  It may change soon for the better – Google tools will improve over time.  If you’re already in the Google stack (gmail, docs, calendar) then this could be a nice add-on.

1. Google announced today they’re planning on testing out a new 1 gigabit internet service (http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi) – so they could be in the neighborhood soon.
2. Google has a DNS service (http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/) – the magic thingy that translates the names we type in into the numbers that define the internet.
3. Google has Gmail – it’s free web-based e-mail service.  It has a corresponding calendar, contacts, etc. service.  One concept of calendars is you can share them – have group calendars, etc.
4. Google has it’s Google Docs – word, processing, spreadsheets, presentation, etc. – so you can do those basics online.
5. Google has it’s own “Groups” concept – for communicating information, sharing documents, etc.
6. They have their “apps” concept – which can be used by organizations, businesses, etc  to put much of their company online – e-mail, calendaring, collaboration, documents, etc.
7. Google has Picasa – a photo sharing site  - with face recognition.
8. Google has YouTube – which means they are the leader in video on the web – of which some of that technology seems to be migrating into the “app” concept.
9. Google has it’s powerful Google Maps – which brings location to the web.
10. Google has Google Voice – which is communication on web – integrated communication.
11. Google has Wave – a collaboration tool.
12. Google even now has it’s own social network – Buzz (http://www.google.com/buzz)
13. Google has a 411 service (which it apparently used to improve voice recognition).
14. Google has Android – it’s mobile phone operating system.
15. Google has it’s own browser (I’m using it now) – to speed up our web experience.
16. Google is designing a new kind of computer – one where the browser is the computer (Chrome OS)

I’m sure I’ve missed quite a few items – as they keep adding them all the time.  What was interesting to me was not just a few interesting tools here and here – but how they seem to be covering the scope of how we interact with computers – pushing us toward their view of the future.  This can be a little disturbing – due to the power they wield.  Ultimately my hope is that by creating more competition they will make for better products and services for us.

• This 1 gigabyte Internet Service – will this help drive down Broadband Prices and bring up speeds?
• Does anyone else think that having Android Phones compete with the iPhone will be better for consumers?
• Does the existence of Picasa potentially force Yahoo to make Flickr better?
• Does the existence of Buzz in Gmail push Facebook to make their messaging concept even better?
• Is the threat of Google making Apple and especially Microsoft improve their “cloud” services?

So I don’t know if we can trust Google – but we can be vigilant in keeping them honest.  Fortunately for us now their business model works in our favor – as when they make the Internet better for their sake – it becomes better for us…

Sometime last year I finally made the plunge and tried Firefox.  I was quite impressed with Firefox – especially with it’s support for more standards (like curved borders!!) and the extensions.  It’s just neat to be able to apply a theme to the browser so it looks cooler.

Recently I decided to try out Google Chrome as I had heard a lot about it too. I find myself really liking Google Chrome – as it seems to work very well.  While I haven’t measured it – it seems to use less resources than Firefox does – and it has some nice features.  I like how the the downloads work – with a bar at the bottom appearing to show the progress and the recent downloads.  The status bar only appears when it’s needed.   You can right-click on a page and it will give you a print option,  search Google on that word, etc.  What I also like about Chrome (or Firefox) is that they have built-in spell checking.

So I narrowly recommend Chrome over Firefox – more for it’s efficiency.  They are both better browsers than IE – offering better standards compliance (web pages work better) and great extensions.  If you are still using IE (Internet Explorer) I would encourage you to try out Firefox or Chrome:

• Firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/ (open source from Mozilla Foundation)
• Google Chrome: http://www.google.com/chrome (open source – version built by Google)

I agree that this digital world has seriously challenged the role of intellectual property in our society.  The power of technology has changed our ability to use “intellectual” property in new ways – to make it much easier to store, use, copy, share, etc. what is someone else’s work.

There is an inherent tension between the right to own what you make and the right of society to make use of that work – especially in the long term.  It makes sense that if you make something of value you should have some exclusive right to it.  However, those rights need to be balanced against the needs of society as a whole.

Fair use for Consumer?

• As a consumer if personally find most DRM techniques to be quite annoying.  If I buy something I want to be able to use it – in multiple devices, to have a backup copy, etc.  I personally won’t buy any digital downloads unless they are DRM free – that’s why I like Amazon.
• That’s why I find the whole DVD encryption thing to be quite annoying – it would be nice to be able to back them up and put them on my computer
• That said – I do NOT condone copying – as that’s not what you bought.  The reality is that copying has been going on for decades – starting with cassette tapes (anybody else remember the dual tape decks).

Copyright Laws?

• Ownership of items has become so complicated – would you believe that the song “Happy Birthday” is under copyright? (http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/birthday.asp).
• It makes sense to me that if I create some art that I own the rights to that for a time (provided I choose not to open it up).  It would seem like 20-30 years would be reasonable for it to be mine – to have right to only use, to license, etc.  In the US the term of copyright is the life of the author plus 70 years (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/usc_sec_17_00000302—-000-.html)
• So just about anything you want to do that involves something else that somebody created (unless it’s really, really, really old) will involve licensing the usage of the product.  So this involves a lengthy negotiation with multiple parties to secure the right – and likely for a very limited scope.  Alternatively you can pay a large fee to have some rights to a collection of works – such as the CCLI (http://www.ccli.com/).
• The reality is that this licensing has been so complicated that even the RIAA violated the very rules it was suing other people for infriging on (http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=92574)
• What unfortunately this does is create an environment where your customers are treated almost like criminals from the start.  I seriously wonder if content owners would want me to buy their product over and over for each use of it.  I’m not sure that many people really want to do this – so I don’t think they’re going to meet this goal..
• There is a growing trend, however, where authors are releasing their works in a more open manner – for example under the Creative Commons license http://creativecommons.org/about/what-is-cc

Patent Laws

• Patents applied to physical things often make sense – as they are very specific and clear to document.
• Patent laws applied to software I find to be problematic – as they often seem so obvious to me.
• One of the most famous patents is the Eolas patent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eolas) – the one that caused issues with embedded code in Internet Explorer
• The actual title of the patent is “”Distributed hypermedia method for automatically invoking external application providing interaction and display of embedded objects within a hypermedia document” – which today seems kind of obvious.  So basically it’s saying that a web document can call an external application and embed the results within that web page.
• This patent to me seems like one that is pretty obvious would happen naturally – as calling another program isn’t a new concept….
• Another patent questionable to me is Apple’s multi-touch patent (http://news.worldofapple.com/archives/2009/01/26/apple-awarded-multi-touch-patent/) – to me it seems like once you have a touch screen the concept of being able to do more than one touch would be inevitable…  If you had some specific code behind the actual finger actions that would be one thing – but the concept seems pretty obvious…
• Unfortunately what this systems creates is the risk that you could, on your own, create some software that infringes on a patent you didn’t know about.  This puts you at risk, your customers potentially at risk for something you did honestly.

One of my main concerns is the risk to the economy in restricting innovation – as how much energy is spent on legal manners versus creating/improving technology.  I believe the future of the U.S. economy (and probably other Western countries) will depend highly on innovation – of creating value.  While content owners have rights I’m concerned that their concerns could override the need of the society as a whole to innovate, to create more value.

The other concern I have is generational – as those younger than me have a different view of ownership – in that they don’t respect it much.  They’re growing up in a world of free – regardless of whether it’s legal.  I think content owners need to make it easy for consumers to be legal.  The digital revolution may change m any equations (such as more niche and less mass media) – the key will be for companies to work with this movement – not against it.

I don’t think this will be decided easily – as it does need some legislative action to craft new laws to fit our new digital world.  With what I see in Congress today I don’t see much hope for effective action – for a carefully crafted and vetted piece of legislation that balances the rights of content owners with the rights of consumers and other companies building value on top of that content.  And frankly there is a lot of money involved – which makes the whole process more convoluted.  The danger though is that technology will continue to advance and make such a convoluted mess of things that courts ended up deciding the issue – on a case by case basis.  the net result could be chaos in the economy – as it will become dangerous to innovate.

For my own sake (and hopefully yours) I will now note some of the items I really learned from this book:

The Internet (especially Google) has a disruptive effect on the business environment

• One of the profound things the internet has done is to fundamentally alter the business environment – especially in terms of the money involved.
• Example #1: – Craigslist has changed how we advertise.  I have a client who rents houses – Craigslist is one of the major ways he advertises rentals.  Great for him as it’s free and effective – bad for newspapers as the classified ads were a major source of revenue for them.
• Example #2: Anyone looked in a yellow pages lately -the physical book?  I never look again – but always look on the internet.  Good for me as it’s both convenient and building web pages makes me money – bad for the companies who make the yellow pages as business don’t want to pay them large fees for little benefit

Cost of doing business is changed forever

• Jarvis has a fascinating concept:  Instead of charging as much as the market can bear you need to charge as little as the market can bear.  The concept is that if you charge little you can’t be undercut
• Some of the success companies of this age have chosen the path of low (or free) cost in exchange for rapid and large scale growth
• Example #1: There are many new broadcasters such as one of my favorites – TWIT – that produce content at a greatly reduced cost than ever before.  You want to broadcast?  Get a camera and a laptop and you too can be a broadcaster.  Technology has changed this equation significantly.
• Example #2: You want to sell something – you don’t need inventory anymore to survive.  There are services like cafepress.com that let you sell items without overhead – they print on demand.  You still have to do work – but don’t have to have large amount of capital to start a business.
• Strangely enough I just started reading a book on Lincoln that uses the peers of his age to put his life in context. One of the comments they made was that it was an age where men created their own opportunities.  I wonder if this Internet age is creating a new golden opportunity for America and the world.

Customers are your partner – not just someone who gives you money

• Customers are paying attention more than ever before – not just to you but to each other.  The web has opened up avenues of communication in scales that never existed before.
• Customers can be your best friend or your worst enemy – they talk about you  – and they listen to each other.  Jarvis mentions his incidental rant about Dell that turned into an internet phenomenon
• Customers can participate with you in new ways to develop your product.  Technology has allowed that process to be both more effective and more timely
• Customers are to the point where they expect you to listen to them – and respond to them. Not just for them to listen to you.

Middlemen must provide value equal to their pay

• The power of the web has made it easier for a consumer to go directly to the source – middlemen don’t control the world like they used to.
• Jarvis takes issue with Real Estate Agents in terms of the cost (6% commission) vs. the value they provide
  • I’ve had a good experience with a buyer’s agent when I bought my first home – for me they provided lots of value – but then again I didn’t pay for it.
  • I’ve also used a seller’s agent – but I was uncomfortable with the fees and was able to find one with a lower rate.
  • If I was paying an agent full commission I would expect them to work very hard for that commission – doing more than just posting it on the MLS – but doing open houses, networking, etc. – a marketing machine.
  • I also think part of the reality is that too many Americans (not that I’m an exception) couldn’t come up with a up-front fee for an agent.  The commission comes out of the sale of the home – so the seller doesn’t have to front any money.
• If you think about a lot of retail sites they aggregate items from many manufacturers to provide me with lots of choice – so they add value.  What I wonder is if a company like Amazon goes through a distributor or if they go directly to manufacturers…
• I also know of a company that was looking deep into their supply chain – all the way to China – to more directly source their products and understand clearly what the costs are – not just taking a distributor’s word for it.  Good for the company – bad for the distributor.

Power of the Extensible Network

• Jarvis talks a lot about the power of the network – using Google and Facebook as examples.
• Amazon is another example of building a network – a platform – for more than just yourself.  Amazon doesn’t make these products – it sells them for other people.  It also has extended to create an platform – the marketplace – for others to sell.  In fact, when you locate an item there may be other choices available.  Amazon both makes a cut of their sales and extends it’s product inventory without doing the work themselves – but allowing others to build onto it.
• This also goes to his point about control vs. trust – do you want to own the whole thing or do you trust others to work with you.  It’s the case of Google vs. Yahoo – Google gets you where you want to go – Yahoo is a portal where they want you to stay – the destination.  Which is bigger and more profitable now?

Understand what business you are really in

• In this age of disruption if you really don’t know what your business is, what your value is you can be in big trouble
• Many companies are not what they appear to be – what really is Amazon?  A bookstore, music store – or is it a platform for distribution and marketing?  It’s been so successful that they allow other people to sell there.
• Do you sell a widget or a service?  Do you just sell or rent houses – or a certain experience and relationship?

Mass vs. the niche

• The printing press really began the era of the mass market – with bring a single source of information to many people.
• In the past the costs of distribution and content creation were high – so only a few could supply the information
• As technology has improved the cost of distribution has lowered
• When I grew up I remember starting out with just network TV, then came what we call “lifeline” cable – which was great at the time.  CNN and TBS were new things.
• Then cable TV grew in #’s of channels – to the point of confusion.
• Now the Internet is a new source of entertainment – with shows to watch there – new content that never existed before
• Retail has also changed – the mall is not the only place to go anymore (even though teens still haunt it).  Ebay and Amazon have exploded the marketplace with lots of options.  Many new very small retailers exist for niche products – something a small group of people care about – as the cost of selling goods is so much cheaper now.
• I agree with Jarvis that there will always be the “mass” of the market – as if it provides the best value it’s still important.  However I think it’s great that there are so many more opportunities for people to create their own businesses

I think I will be absorbing the message and observations of this book for some time (I may even buy it – sorry Jeff – I went to a library).  It’s an exciting age for many people – as the opportunities evolve.  The risk is if you don’t pay attention as the involving marketplace can leave you behind.