Draft note - define the game before you play

The best creative solutions don't come from finding good answers to the questions that are presented. They come from inventing new questions.

[seth g - who else?]

This was up for a while before xmas 2012, but dumped and rewritten it fits nicely into the mid-May schedule here in 2013. Namely, dropping on May 17th, as we celebrate our constitution from 1814 (200 next year) and with some extra focus on woman suffrage (100 years). Both events signify a break from "how things are" - and the mental leaps involved for those pushing for the changes seem staggering even today.

Did Jeff Bezoz start Amazon to own a database on movie actors? Or to sell computing power by the hour? No, but along the way it made sense to understand as much as possible about the content sold (dvd, now streaming movies, hence IMDB) - and also to take infrastructure to scale (first Marketplace, the AWS)

Did Netflix set out to ship more than a billion DVD's back and forth? No, but at that time and place it made sense. And now they've passed 30 million streaming subscribers. And are doing it atop AWS, a sideshow for Amazon but a vital foundation for a new wave of start ups and reboots.


When something seems impossible, it is probably because your are looking at the world as nails. Sure, that makes sense with a hammer, but the toolbox holds so much more. Take a step back. Reframe the issue, and start asking a different set of questions.

Hard?

Otherwise it wouldn't be worth it.

No worries, no happy?

"The no-problem problem":

An organization that's run on emergencies and reaction to incoming doesn't know what to do when there are no problems.

[Seth]


So true, isn't it?

If the culture is all about putting out fires, then the fire marshal is the man in charge, with the shiny buttons and all the attention.

If the world is about to end, then you worry a lot. But if it is only your current business model that has an expiration date, how do you shift gears into innovation, expansion and delighting the customers you do have for as long as you have them?

Can you do both? Or all three?

Man the pumps, keep the band playing - and still sell tickets to space?

Oh yes, that mixes Titanic with Virgin Galactic via the Megastores as a mental link for issues. It is wonderful to talk about the ability to disrupt yourself, or cannibalize yourself before someone else does it faster. But you still have to juggle the existing business, develop it a bit every day, and deliver on the promises every second.

Opinionated by nature

Dilbert 2012-10-07, (c) Scott Adams as always

Wonderful jedi mind trick by Wally 

"Your whole life is a lie"

- is the point of having an opinion that the facts take too much effort to find? And by extension you might as well just make it up as you go and feel fine about it. 

By taking a stand - for whatever reason - at least you get to feel empowered and involved. 

And isn't that a value in and of itself?

Or is it just the opposite? That making calls based on "gut feelings" is just about not wanting to have your biases exposed, your assumptions clarified and your process defined?

"There is no spoon"

That last panel could be the base for a whole book, or a line of zen meditation. 

I think I think you are

In the eleventh century St Anselm of Canterbury proposed that it was possible to prove the existence of God using reason alone

Despite the blog laxing a bit, I've been backfeeding the draft pile - and one nice source for inspiration in general is the show "In Our Time" 

It is truly #mindporn ... a weekly discussion and review of a subject, with 3 or 4 world class scholars sharing their insights, the latest research and generally having a good time.

The quote up above is from the show on the Ontological argument through the ages. spend 40 minutes listening, or read up a bit from wikipedia.

Perfection and existence 

Does the idea of perfection imply that it must exist?

And is that - by definition - divinity, namely God?

Why? Why not?

soundtracking; Madonna doing "Imagine" - a seldom foray into the album archive

Online, now, last month or next year

"Banksy - kongen av gatekunst" aka Exit Through the Giftshop was shown on Norwegian public broadcast last fall. And that also meant that their (excellent) NRK TV site had it - but it was only online until November 3rd 2012.

It is all about the licensing.

...via image search - is a screenshot fair use when it is also art?

Sure, it might just be out there in some form or other - but for  using the subtitles and doing it right, NRK had to take it back down, or pay a lot more (speculation / assumption - they licenced it for one or two runs at off peak times on a small niche channel, and got x days of online as well)

Does that mean it will sell a lot of dvd copies here now, since the streaming is gone? Or will it remain more or less ignored in favor of Idol and Eurovison?

Since NRK doesn't do commercials, it makes sense to have it limited - and then hopefully get some cents on the dollar from YouTube ads or Netflix streaming. (They even had an ad for free trial - adwords for the win?)

But this isn't about a docu/mocu-mentary like Banksy, but about the global vs local distribution and licensing issues. Because when Facebook launches or test a new feature it is instantly worldwide, same for (most) apps in the assorted Appstores. Youtube same thing, no waiting for a localized Gangam Style, watch it right now now now. And once more. House of Cards blasted onto the scene as a worldwide event, for the tribes it targeted at least.

But still movies and regular shows have a lead and lag type cycle, selling and repackaging based on the initial viewership (mainly US).

Will this be what really kills TV? 

A lack of flow or structures for moving the smaller things globally, in the same manner that the Olympics manage? Imagine having to wait a day or three to see the 100m sprint from London 2012 - and yes, I know that some US channels actually time-shifted a few events and tried to do spoiler free news...

Another verb in the stairs

@osol: "Increasing the knowledge and vocabulary of a child before age 6 is the single highest correlate with later success."

https://twitter.com/osol/status/255925136400719873

Guessing still no twitter cards in blogger?

Oh well, is is a quotes from NYT - in a piece on the challenges of teaching, and it links onwards to a review by E. D. Hirsch of the book "How Children Succeed" (kindle) which is still creeping up towards the top of my 'soon to read' wishlist in Amazon. 

But the point is well made, building both vocabulary, reading skills - and interests at an early age is seen as a boost up, starting the "race" already at speed rather than from a standstill.

Looking at the "most sold" lists in the iPad Appstore I wonder how this will play out over the next years. 

The top ten paid apps are more and more often keyed towards kids edutainment and learning. Estimates put the number of tablets sold in Norway last year at around 500k - that is one for every four households. And expected growth of 50% in 2013, so an additional 750k.

Does that mean that "everybody" is getting a tablet, or that some households have two or more? Most likely the latter. And add in willingness to pay for apps, and the time to use them with the kids, and we are talking about a possible gap of basic skills going into the first year at school. This is the digital divide. Or?

Sidenote;

Considering how much effort Amazon is apparently putting into "big data" and predictions, i'm amazed at how little weight the wish list feature is given. I buy probably around 70% of my reading from there, with direct purchases, mainly from social media recommendations or posts, making up ~25% and "samples as reminders" the last 5%. But when I browse around it is mostly my recent history or similar purchases that get pushed. And the oh so cute "get yourself a little something". But where is the "hey, looking at this book and planning to read that book? Then you should really check out..."?

Show me the likes!

A great Dilbert strip - the some expert.

Various and vague? How can that possibly go wrong? And just to clarify, it is not a dig at any specific people, more the attitude of "hire someone to do something so that you can say that you are doing something". Be it web, wap, web 2.0, mobile, social, big data and so on.

Somehow it seems that there are three cultures in terms of "buzz" handling;

1. explain it to me - why do we need a website, we go mobile first - handholding more than anything
2. oooh shiny - or everybody else is doing it (or saying they are), we should to - no goals, no metrics or KPIs, just taking action is seen as enough
3. just do it - we don't need to shout about it, but we do it, step by step, learning, iterating and moving on

Where does your business fall, and does it depend on the wave or stay constant time and time again?

Dilbert, 09.30.2012 - (c) Scott Adams

[src] via Dilbert Daily Strip - originally September 30th, 2012

The changed landscape of conferences and information - JavaZone 2012

Outdated as it is in terms of news value of the video, the main point I never wrote is still valid;

Not only are conference videos great for catching that one session in parallel that you didn't get to see, but they are are great tool to help build a brand.

First of all a brand for the conference, in this case JavaZone - showing potential speakers and participants how good and professional they are.

Secondly for the speakers themselves, enabling them to get more gigs, both in terms of speaking, freelance work or when considering greener pastures.

But lastly, as this example shows - it is a great way for a company like BEKK to show their total commitment to sharing knowledge, to openness, innovation and community. By putting up a huge number of links/clips they "prove" their position as one of the top both java and dev consultancies. For clients, for leads and for potential employees.

Her er videoene av BEKK-foredrag på årets JavaZone. RESTful security – Erlend Oftedal from JavaZone on Vimeo:

[src]  via BEKK Open

Draft idea - instant charged toys

Cleaning out the closet - or at least parts of the draft backlog. Some of theese have been published for a short time, since the auto feed didn't work at all like I intended it too... which is another reason for most of my focus going forward is likely to be Wordpress.  Still on the fence regarding a total transfer. 39 drafts to schedule, finish and rework first.

Elko - USB charger built in

Saw this USB port built in to wall socket from Thinkgeek...- but is was not 220v though. Nice touch having both USB and regular power?

But since then it has become "mainstream", so you can get it from a regular supplier like Elko - even in a selecion of colors. Slots right into a standard box, hooks up to the power and gives you instant chargeslots. Could be useful, but with iPad begging for a bit more juice it might not cut it at a simple 5V level.