What Would Alex Bosika Do?

Question for YouTube:

Why can I find the live stream debates easily via desktop Mac but can’t via iPad YouTube or AppleTV’s YouTube?  Weird.

1. Biden Rocks.
2. Ryan flocks. 
3. ABC News for iPad Flops. 
4. YouTube Mops it Up

ABCNews - better expect people to stream from an iPad so better look into your CDN’s because your feed died 20 minutes in.

All I can say is that I’ve watched Biden for decades.  This guy can fight.  He can debate and he’s been involved in foreign policy matters for so long, I remember him on all the Sunday morning programming.  He clearly took the gloves off for Ryan.  What a debate.

Raddatz was amazing in moderation and should take over the Presidential debates.

This tweet takes the cake for tonight’s debate.  HILARIOUS. :-D 

I am going to tackle this one from two fronts.

US PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES - 2012

First, the election 2012 debates.  In my earlier post, I thanked media (new media) like ABCNews and YouTube for their joint initiative to stream the US Presidential Debates on October 3rd.

For the first time, I watched the entire debate through broadband access via ABCNew’s iPad App in live-stream format but also shifted to YouTube’s live-stream via the Mac.  Honestly, a different experience with the heavy integration of social traffic from Twitter embeds on YouTube to Storify embeds via the ABCNews iPad app.  Technically, the delivery was flawless BUT…

…BUT

The post-debate analysis was an absolute disaster!  For the first time ever, the post-debate analysis came down to thing: pitch, form, function and delivery.  Verus real facts. Every single “analyst” focused on why Obama didn’t show up with his “A game”.  No where in the 45+ minutes of post-debate coverage did I see anything about FACT-CHECKING!  Where are the facts that need to be checked?!  For a fact, many claims made by Romney and Obama required fact-checking and no single guest analyst had anything worthwhile to say!

If we’re going to seek value through broadband-driven broadcasts, ABCNews and others will need to bring forward their “A Game” folks to provide anything of real value.  Undoubtedly, we’ve been Jersey-Shored by the pathetically weak ABCNews panel available to us on YouTube and the ABCNews iPad app.  What a pathetic disgrace!

An ABCNews panelist even had the nerve to ask, “Do we have a sense of who was _winning_ based on twitter volume?”  God Lord. 

We’re doomed.  Where has the strong journalism gone? 

Heck, ABCNews even had a “spin room” and sadly, the spin was to avoid hard fact-checking. Absolute garbage.  ‘Nuff said.

THE FOURTH SCREEN AND EXPERIENCES

Earlier today, while reviewing my twitter stream, someone oddly tweeted (paraphrased):

My first screen is my iPad or iPhone

My second screen is the television

My third screen is the balcony door and window

I replied to that tweet and said, “My first screen is the balcony door and window.” 

Personally, I cannot believe someone is prepared to give up reality, life and experiences for technology.  Sorry, but as someone that works in the technology sector, this is plain wrong. 

NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING replaces real life experience.  Yes, thank you Steve for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, AppleTV and iCloud.  Thank you.  But no, this doesn’t replace reality and life.  

Philosophically, technology is a double-edged sword because it has given us great freedom, efficiency and convenience but at the same time (I believe this) has complicated our lives in so many other ways that have led all of us towards complexity vs. simplicity.

We are at a pivotal moment in humanity’s evolution where old world infrastructure is being displaced rapidlyby new world technologies and delivery platforms which shift our behaviour, our consumption and how we interact with media, technology and fellow humans. 

We are on dangerous ground when people are prepared to give away real life experiences, human interaction, and “special moments” for a tweet, an Instagram upload or a Facebook comment.  We’re dangerously close.  Even I have fallen victim to the ecosystem of “iDevices” which are available to all of us - sure, we can easily shut them off and go on a typical i-Diet, so to speak. Sure - make no bones about it, we don’t need to be controlled by “i-Devices” but there is no doubt their influence has affected how we live and interact.

Just today, a younger soul that should know better made an independent decision to save us the grief and hassle of paying for a school trip (a two-day camp) so that he could stay home and um, do what? Play Xbox? NOT COOL!  Kids today need extra and vigorous surveillance against the total flood called “access and distraction” to grow and “experience” real life.  We immediately delivered a lecture and are in motion to ensure that the young offender is on a two-day camp trip so that he’s on his “A game” in the real world versus the virtual world.

If you’re reading this and have children in the critical early teen years, it is absolutely essential to manage their time (for school work), time around technology (Xbox, Internet, i-Devices) because it is simply overwhelming!  We make a personal effort to buy physical books that can be read “with focus” like I used to do when growing up.  No child should ever be displaced from a field trip, camp visit, or regular trip in return for Xbox gaming — unless the reason is “economic”. 

I never thought I’d ever see the day when I’d take a negative position as someone who grew up with the early days of Silicon Valley, Atari 2600 and old Apple II games.  Back then, we had console games and televisions built on Nielsen family rankings.  But we still had a mix of options which included extra-curricular activities like sports,  movies, parks and science centres that competed with technology. Parents - please pay attention.

While the Fourth Screen brings great wonder, joy, knowledge and access, it can also take us away from the much finer things in life that include much of the human interaction we grew up with.  Dangerous. 

We must defend the human soul as much as possible even as technological advancement continues unabated to encircle our daily lives at a rapid clip!

Not being American, it is a bit of an oddity to most Americans and Canadians when I tell them about my ready interest to watch the next round of debates for a U.S. election year. 

Go figure.

Growing up, regardless of party line, I was influenced by ABC News and the Presidential debates.  As a young lad, I have vague memories of “Watergate” (yup), the winding down of the Vietnam War, and political news coverage. Thank Dad for this (may he rest in peace) as it grounded me on foreign policy and macro policy issues that still keep me engaged until today.

Sadly, I am no longer “moved” by the political establishment in Canada or the U.S.  I am still mesmerized by John F. Kennedy and his passionate speaking, his vision, his love of the space program, his “youthful” approach to political detente and perhaps diplomacy and his entertaining interactions with media.

For the first time ever, I will be watching the debates on a fourth screen.  The screen is my iPad. If I could airplay YouTube from the iMac for the live stream, I would.  Plus, still waiting for my RIM Playbook 32GB pre-order to be delivered or I could be watching off that screen.

This is the first time ever that the only dependency I will have is on the broadband connection coming into my room to feed this debate.  No more cable, no more digital or analog antennas, no more satellite and no more “network or cable” news coverage in the sense of the old school paradigm of television viewing. 

Goodbye Nielsen family!  Putting this into context, so many people watched the London 2012 Olympics via internet streams that I would claim that 2012 is the pivotal moment in our history where media consumption has fully crossed the divide leaving behind the old industrial world behind as the new fully technological world built off the Internet takes hold with the masses.  The era of “i” has arrived Steve Jobs.

Regarding the US elections: May the best debater win! I am not revealing my card in this because, to be quite honest, I think both parties are plagued by an entrenched group of dinosaurs that have frozen the DC Beltway and essentially created a dark age.

This dark age is known as kleptocracy!

That’s my American two cents! :-)  Since Canada will not be producing anymore soon.

Related articles

• LIVE at 8:30 p.m.: U.S. Presidential Debate (livenews.thestar.com)
• Salon liveblogs the presidential debate (salon.com)
• YouTube teams up with ABC News for first livestream of U.S. Presidential debates (ziggytek.com)

Did you know that one of Billy Joel’s albums was the first to be released commercially on CD?  I never knew that.  Which album?  52nd street.  His sixth studio album.  When? October 1, 1982.  However, the album came out in 1978.  It was the first album to be released on CD alongside the first CD player — CDP-101 — from Sony.

Some History

• 1974 - initially a project from Philips within the audio industry group
• September 1976 - Sony was demoing its own CDs
• 1977 - group established within Philips to build CDs and players (‘Compact Disc’)
• CD diameter size reduced from 20cm to 11.5cm
• 1982 - Sony and Philips partner to commercially launch the compact disc - diameter at 12cm

State of CD’s Mid-2012

In the US alone, 2011 saw CD sales plummet by 6% while digital album sales grew by 20%.  (See Reuters).  Quite clearly, the CD is on the way out like the recorded album, cassette tape and vinyl.  This doesn’t mean it will be disappear.  There will always be a market for those who prefer the format including those that hold fond memories about it.  Oddly, no one ever talks about the 8-track though. ;-)

It’s funny to talk to younger folks about my large Vinyl collection in 33, 45 and 78 speed formats. ;-)  The 78’s were so strong and hard, you could literally chop someone’s head off with it.  Convinced. :-) 

I also remember the trials and tribulations with owning vinyl.  There were the bad skips already present on the record at time of the purchase.  Or the severe warps that forced all of us to take Gravol.  Then there was the stress of “putting the needle on the record” carefully to prevent a user-inflicted skip resulting in permanent lifelong depression if the record was of limited edition status.

For me, it all went downhill for vinyl when a limited edition release of Paul Hardcastle’s 19 (German version) kept arriving at Cheapies (Toronto record store franchise) warped or with seriously bad skips.  I returned four copies, became disillusioned, and never saw new import versions from Europe after this as Cheapies was THE place to get vinyl imports. Thank goodness for YouTube! :-D

After the Hardcastle incident,  I shifted my small disposable pocketbook to CD purchases.  Nope, the above mix wasn’t available on CD to the best of my knowledge.

Looking into the future, there’s no doubt that the current generation of listeners is committed to cloud-based solutions and streaming services that allow music to be available from anywhere.  That’s a hard thing to compete against. For example, I am an avid user of Apple’s amazing iTunes Match service and have synched and uploaded my entire music collection (CDs) to iCloud.  For songs already in Apple’s libraries, iTunes Match instantly adds the songs to my cloud account.  For songs not in their catalog, I manually upload.   The good news is that Apple has most of the music. 

Personally, I do miss the artwork for vinyl and some of the more useful implementations on CD but this isn’t enough to keep me glued to a physical product.  The reality is, I like the uncluttered effect of digital with the help of Tunes Match or iCloud to keep things tidy. I can’t see myself stockpiling 800+ CDs on shelving units anymore to manage my collection.

The big debate will rest with the definition of music ownership.  When we bought vinyl, CDs, and tapes, we “technically” owned the music — I am sure the legal language spoke to “license” but the point is, we could give the physical product away to someone else.  In the digital world, “ownership and transfer” terms are far more complicated.  Today, the only way to really give your iTunes collection away is to provide access to your Apple ID.  No doubt, other services offer less restrictive options on sharing but you get my point.

What’s your take? Will you miss the CD? Are you still buying CDs? Or mainly digital?  I don’t miss the CD much anymore.  Time to move on.

A.

Related articles

• Rock on! The compact disc turns 30 (cnn.com)

Where one-way car sharing in Toronto becomes easier? 

Actually, I am a proud Zip Car member too but since this promotion included FREE activation, I decided to double-down on innovative car pooling services. :-)

Some key differentiators to other services:

• Easy Locating —- app or website to find Car2Go locations PLUS reservations not necessary but 24-hour advance reservations are available
• Easy Access (same with Zip Car) — however, Car2Go asks for a pin entry with member card pressed against reader
• Easy Driving — drive as long as you like…anywhere in Ontario. Gas insurance and parking is covered with Car2Go as long as you find a spot near your destination and select the option to still keep the car and prevent others from using it (ZipCar doesn’t have this)
• Easy Finish — no mandatory return time OR location. These are two key differentiators versus other services.  Simply drop-off at any Car2Go location using the in-car GPS system. (No Apple Maps jokes please!)

I also like Car2Go’s nice friendly YouTube informational video too.

Seamless registration process which includes:

• user credential login setup
• Personal information
• Payment Information
• Two videos with “how to use” the Smart Car info and a Car2Go bio
  
• Confirmation sequence sends 6-digit code to your phone which you must after authenticating the URL received in your email inbox
• Membership card in the mail in X business days

Will try to take some “happy snaps” the next time I make it out withCar2Go. 

One thing I’d like to see from car pooling services is infrastructure investment for electric vehicles and fueling bays.  If anything, having consumers become familiar with newer, innovative car technologies may the necessary step to fill the void between weak government and car-maker promotions (minus Telsa which seems to be promoting everywhere!) to promote electric.

Related articles

• The Car-Sharing Alternative (mensjournal.com)
• Car2go raises prices for U.S. carsharing network (green.autoblog.com)
• Large scale car sharing comes to Calgary (cbc.ca)

OK, is it me are am I starting to see catchy digital brand campaigns leveraging the Pinterest phenomenon more often than ever before?  It seems like it.  I didn’t snap the prior ad campaign nor can I remember it exactly but this one caught my attention because it was hard to miss (!) :-)

The ad expanded in the YouTube masthead above the fold with the ever catchy “PIN TO WIN” call-to-action.  Personally, “pin to win” just seems to work better for me than “Like Us” or “Follow Us”.  Like you? I might not even know you…YET! :-)  Besides, liking and follow are “hard” nuggets.  I have to have reasons to follow you or even like you.  Not always easy.  But if I just pin something, sure, there’s a thought process but it’s a little more engaged — you have to pin it or perhaps create a new board to categorize it. Etc.

If anything, the art of pinning works for digital brands because when I pin, others can re-pin, and more and more people can pin to win by discovery.  Sounds viral.  This seems a bit better than the old school method of “sign-up and now enter the names and email addresses of five people you know to increase your chances!” kind of execution. 

PIN to WIN! And Re-Pin it!  Brand advertisers are onto something.  Happy experimenting.

Related articles

• “Pin It to Win It!” (teacherlingo.com)
• Pinterest for Android released (play.google.com)
• Top 10 Pinterest Pins This Week (mashable.com)
• After Pinterest Joins San Francisco Tech Revival, PinUp Network Announces Free Giveaway to Encourage Pinning (prweb.com)
• How To Get More Pinterest Traffic (jackhumphrey.com)
• Pinterest Analytics Tools Comparison - PinReach vs Pinerly (flightpath.com)
• pin it to win it winners (studiocalico.typepad.com)

Is it a good thing?  Depends.

Apple’s own acquisitions with Siri and Lala ultimately became part of new Apple products and services. In many cases, acquisitions are talent and technology transfers for products being hatched by larger fish. In some terrible cases, nothing ever happens.  In the case of Google’s acquisition of YouTube, it only seemed natural and has proven to be a success.

However, a lot has been said about the Sparrow acquisition by Google over the last few days.  I actually “discovered” Sparrow through an AppSumo deal.  The product itself, a less messier “skin” to GMAIL, IS (and now, WAS) amazing. It’s fantastic on MacOSX and my iPhone — however, the iPad never got its wish.

But do these acquisitions benefit all parties - including consumers?  Hard to tell.  In the case of Sparrow, I did actually make an investment (purchase) in the product and based on the email received from Dom Leca, it’s pretty certain the product is end-of-life for MacOSX and iPhone users.  In many cases, the startup team moves into larger environs to help make things radically better — perhaps, in the case of Sparrow, the acquisition is really for the 5-person team who hopefully will improve GMAIL because IMHO, the new GMAIL U/X is worse than before.

Did Sparrow sell out?

If you look at what they designed, they do not appear to have been in the game for an acquisition.  They passionately wanted to create something people would love.  So it is doubtful, they planned for a “sell-out” to Google.  More likely, as many have also postulated, it was simply a reality-check.  While MacOSX and iOS app stores are new pipelines to revenue for developers, productivity applications rarely serve a “mass market consumer” and are generally niche market.  Think about it?  It’s a native email app client on MacOSX where Apple Mail (does well enough on MacOSX and iOS) and Mac Office rule the roost.  That’s a tough market to make money in considering Gmail’s own native iOS app is now available. Then there’s the news about Mozilla slowing development for Thunderbird (an open source e-mail client available for PC and Mac) and then you soon realize that The Saints Have Come Marching In.

The new startup ethos is one of lean operations and scale.  In Toronto, there are far too many startups with 3-to-5 person development teams trying to monetize a niche activity on smartphones in a sea of mobile apps— too many apps, too many me-too’s and a very difficult roadmap to differentiation.  So when you don’t have a viable business model (does Instagram have one? Sure, they have many users, 12 or so employees and a $1B price tag from Facebook) and are then poached for IP/technology and staff talent, you weigh your options.  No one (we hope) gets into it for the large buyout but that is becoming the viable business model for many niche players in the startup ecosystem.

Most of the startup founders go to these larger organizations with great hopes to infuse their wisdom, ingenuity and passion into new products.  But they end up leaving shortly thereafter. When Apple lost to Google in trying to acquire Admob, it rushed to Quattro (not their first choice).  Parts of the Quattro team have since left Apple.  As well, parts of the AdMob team have also left since the Google acquisition.  In March 2011, Facebook acquired Beluga (chat app) in a talent and technology deal and then killed Beluga in October 2011 as part of its broader Facebook messenger strategy. 

These acquisitions are always filled with excitement by the startup founders that get acquired.  They believe they’ll be able to do great things.  Sometimes, the motives are well-intentioned but in many other cases, the acquisitions simply occur to kill competition.  Facebook IS was the most popular photo-sharing network until Instagram came along.  Photos are sticky, viral and draw people in.  Instagram was a threat to Facebook.  So they bought it.  Lala and Siri had talent/IP which complemented Apple’s long-term strategies and so far, appear to have worked out well.  Better than Quattro has for Apple iAds.

Do you remember other acquisitions that went no where?

• Google buys reMail
• Google buys BumpTop
• Google buys SageTV
• Google buys Apture
• Google buys Katango
• Facebook buys Beluga
• Facebook buys Gowalla
• Facebooks buys Glancee

Why did they happen in the first place?

1. The big, like Google and Facebook (competing ferociously), don’t want the competition if they’re already in the market space with similar or planned products.
2. Acquired startups have smart talent and thus, skilled talent is hard to come by.  This is a factand is quite true as there’s definitely been a large leap in demand for top technical talent today.
3. Larger players like Google, Facebook are afraid of smaller startups — they’re agile, smart, passionate and could come out with the next big thing to destroy their current business, platform, or products. Instagram anyone?  As a top photo-sharing app, it was displacing viral, sticky activity within the Facebook platform around photo sharing.
4. Startups build niche products or services as a business strategy only to be acquired because they know their current innovation isn’t large enough to scale into a proper business model.
5. Startup founders truly believe they could do better in larger organizations with their skill-sets.  Most find out that the grass isn’t greener in larger pastures.

What does this say for consumer who has to put up with all of this?  If you’re paying for products, be prepared to accept this as a new fact of life. You may invest in something that eventually is sold/acquired and placed on end-of-life status.  For the free stuff, be prepare for the carnage on your smartphone desktop as it becomes littered with shells of HALF-LIFED products that never get to see the larger light of day.

Related articles

• Google acquires Mac, iOS email client Sparrow (macworld.com)
• What Google Is (techcrunch.com)
• Acquisitions (samsoff.es)
• Why Facebook Is Still The Perfect Startup (Slides) (techcrunch.com)
• Good Deal: Sparrow for Mac now $4.99, half-price for 3 days (theverge.com)
• Sparrow For iPhone Now Just $0.99 For 48 Hours (cultofmac.com)