Ploafmaster General

A few times a semester I write for the Robins School of Business MBA Blog. I try to focus on the intersection of technology and business since that's my background, and I had a few thoughts about those little portable computers we carry with us every day:

With the advent of powerful mobile operating systems such as Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone OS, Palm’s WebOS, and Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows Phone 7, you can say that your mobile phone does everything on this list as well. Oh yeah, and all of these devices let you make and receive phone calls, too.

Forgive the long setup to get to the point. I hope it's at least food for thought.

So a few days ago HP posted a video to their YouTube channel. It's on HP's channel, but the video is basically Adobe selling HP's "Slate Device" for them.

Yesterday Apple premiered their television ad for the iPad during the Oscars.

It struck me, as it did John Gruber, that the iPad commercial is quite a bit like many iPhone ads. End users are the focus and we hear no explanations of what you're seeing or how it works or why it's there. You just hear a rock song and see people in comfortable, informal situations using the iPad with ease.

In Adobe's demo video for HP's "Slate Device" (I hope they come up with a better name than that. Or at least better than "iPad.") the focus seems to be on the content providers rather than content consumers. Sure, there are references to real people using the device. But there's a saturation of seller-oriented themes in there about content publishers, developers, content distribution channels, and "branded site experiences." A user likely won't mind opening a separate video player to watch a clip if the transition is executed well. But MTV doesn't want you to miss those Flash ads "in context of the site."

Adobe also uses Alexa metrics to indicate how many top websites use Flash and how much web video is served up using Flash. Users don't care about these numbers, sellers do. Users might want Flash video, but with so many people unaware of what a browser is they probably don't know that they want Flash either. They just know they want to see that skateboarding dog on YouTube.

I noticed a specific ding against iPhone's/iPad's lack of flash in Adobe's video when they mentioned the ability to consume content without the need for downloading a separate application. This is pure conjecture (though I'd love some real numbers), but I bet that's not a real problem for end users. Not all downloads from the App Store are fart apps and games.

Okay, so it's not a completely fair comparison. The Apple ad is a TV spot and the Adobe video is a demo spot and not necessarily a commercial. It should also be noted that I haven't used either device and, if it wasn't already clear, I hope you know that I'm not commenting on the quality or performance of the gadgets - merely the messaging and my perception of each message's audience.

It just seems strange that one of the earliest demo videos for this device would focus on content suppliers/sellers. Maybe it's because Adobe doesn't have to convince users to buy the "Slate Device." That's HP's job. Adobe wants to sell Flash to content creators. Last I checked, though, content consumers outnumbered content creators, so I hope HP has another partner company lined up to shill this thing to the people who are supposed to use them.

So this is it. Whiskerino 2009, and Whiskerino in general in its present form, is over. I participated every day, met some great people, honed my photography skills a bit (and learned to sit REALLY STILL), and had a total blast.

Just in case you need a review (as if you cared), check out my archives.

I found this video absolutely fascinating. I'm a sucker for the junction of art and process, and this video highlights just such a situation that also happens to involve the making of good espresso. Here in Richmond, I've only experienced this level of care in coffee making at Ellwood's Coffee at the top of Carytown. The first time I ordered a cappuccino there last year, in fact, the barista scrapped the initial shot of espresso because she didn't like the way it was extracting. It took a little longer for my coffee, but the result was worth the wait.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8709313&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1

Espresso, Intelligentsia from Department of the 4th Dimension on Vimeo.

(via simplebits)

Well the fun had to end some time.

Tomorrow I return to work after a nearly 2.5 week absence. I also start my second semester of business school. I'm not excited about going back to work at all, but truth be told I'm rather tentative about my first class of the week, too.

I'm trying very hard not to be cynical about things - after all, I was loathe to take an accounting class but ended up loving the course because of a fantastic teacher - but this is a bit different. It's a course on marketing. And one of our books is about "leveraging social media." Be still my lunch.

What I'm worried about is that we'll spend a significant amount of time hearing about how "social media" is a magical nebulous tool that all businesses must learn to harness lest they fall perilously behind their competition. I'm afraid my classmates will leave the course believing that they need a Facebook page or Twitter account for their entrepreneurial endeavors. I'm afraid it will be more Comcast than 37 Signals.

I'm afraid it will further contribute to the sour image many have about MBAs, especially in the web-centric side of the IT community.

But what do I know? This is likely just anxiety, and I hope to be terribly wrong. I hope if, unfortunately, my expectations are even halfway met, that I will see it as an opportunity to research sound material for classroom discussion. I'll start to get a better sense of this tomorrow evening, I suppose. Until then...

Less than a week until Contra releases, but until then you can hear the new hotness direct from the source:

http://beggarspromo.com/daas8972530fdfhwvampireweekend/vampireweekendalbum.swf

Christmas cards with bold colors that represent different aspects of the season? Yes please.

Check out the Pantone-inspired Christmas cards (and posters).
(via Curatedmag)

UPDATE: I was able to contact VCU and received a very quick and polite response. The image has been removed.

I guess you know you're doing something right when a university steals your original photograph and uses it on the front page of their athletic department's website.

Check out this screen shot of the Men's Basketball page paying particular attention to the smaller image at the bottom center:

[I've removed this image since VCU fixed the problem.]

Now take a look at this image on RVANews' Flickr account that I provided them from Saturday night's game:



Can't VCU find any photography students to take pictures for them? I'm not sure how to get in contact with the folks who make the website because there's no obvious webmaster link or contact page. I'd be happy to let them use it if they pay me. Barring that, I'd like them to take down my image.

I wonder how many other photos they've misappropriated?

Peep the new hotness from Vampire Weekend - "Cousins" off their upcoming album, Contra:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0u11rgd9Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1&w=560&h=340]

I really dig the video. It's a simple conceit - basically just back and forth on a dolly - but there's a lot of clever changes and some interesting editing at points. This album drops on the 12th of January, 2010.

My buddy Phil is writing a fairly regular new web comic strip! Read it! It's hilarious!

It appears that the FCC is on the cusp of implementing Net Neutrality regulations that would prevent Internet service providers, or ISPs, (like Comcast or AT&T's mobile broadband) from charging more money to serve bandwidth-intensive content like video and other media. The ISPs don't like this, and these choice quotes underscore a fundamental problem of letting some industries run unchecked (all quotes from the BBC's coverage):

"...a new set of regulations that will limit customer choices and affect content providers, application developers, device manufacturers and network builders..." - Verizon

"...so it's still fair to ask whether increased regulation of the internet is a solution in search of a problem." - Comcast

"We are concerned the FCC appears ready to extend the entire array of net neutrality requirements to what is perhaps the most competitive consumer market in America - wireless services." - AT&T

This reminds me of a fantastic article I read on Rands In Repose back in March about the Brooklyn Bridge. I think this describes the ISPs fairly well:

When Brooklyn and New York’s population was booming at the end of the 19th century, the best way to get to and from Brooklyn was via ferries. As solutions were considered, I’m sure there were those who simply thought, “More boats!” These ardent defenders of the status quo were not engineers — they were the business. Their goal was not to build something great, but to make a profit.

AT&T and other wireless carriers will only increase their data capacity as much as they have to. Perhaps the FCC's new rules will light a fire under their collective butt.

Today Flickr announced a new Galleries feature. Now there's a way for users to create their own curated collections of photos from the site and add commentary to the group. I suppose it's essentially a specialized Set for other people's photos (up to 18). I think this is going to prove distracting while I attempt to get some homework done this evening...

Can anybody be simultaneously insightful and entertaining the way Ze Frank can, especially about serious topics like health care? Fantastic:

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/29650554001?isVid=1&publisherID=293884104

The camera nerd and the part of me that drools over beautiful engineering can’t resist staring at this page for far too long: A pictorial (appropriate, yes) history of Hasselblad cameras used in space.

Sure, there's a lot of humor in Rands' translation of contemporary business jargon, but when I'm neck-deep in it every day it's more than a little depressing.
(via Daring Fireball)

I've often heard people describe the sound of an approaching tornado as closely resembling an oncoming freight train. What do you suppose it sounds like if you're already ON the freight train?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azV5bC2br-Q&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&w=580&h=470]

This is terrifying and breathtaking at the same time.
(via wiseacre)

On my iPhone I routinely type "*** wiki" in Safari's search field, where "***" is the subject for which I'm searching. So "beer wiki" returns the Wikipedia entry on Beer as the top search result. Last night, however, I noticed I was redirected to a page optimized for mobile web browsers. Since the mobile page renders differently in standard browsers (or at least on FF 3.5 on my work computer), I took some screen shots. This is what you see after the mobile version of the article loads:



There's pretty much what I've come to expect for a mobile-optimized website but have only, until recently, hoped for on Wikipedia. Even on this initial screen you can see there's a single column, larger text, and better word and line spacing. Instantly more readable. There's also the clearly indicated feedback link since this version of the site is recently launched.

If you clicked on the first link to the standard Beer article you would have noticed that it's a reasonably long entry even on a desktop browser. I can't imagine many iPhone users would enjoy the finger cramps required to scroll all the way down to the Serving section, and it seems Wikipedia's designers/developers felt the same way. After the introduction, the article sections have been collapsed to their headings with handy buttons to expand the content:



After expanding a section the "Show" button changes to a "Hide" button so you can keep the page from growing too long on your small screen:



Overall I'm pretty happy about this considering my heavy use of Wikipedia. My only gripe at the moment, however, is the redirect process. If you visit an article from Google search results, quite a bit of the standard page (including some images) seems to load before the redirect. I could see this getting a bit tiresome if I don't have a 3G signal, and it makes me wish the intercept occurred earlier. I'm not a web developer, so I can't speak to the simplicity/complexity of such a change, but I'll certainly submit it as feedback.

There's an intriguing short read on Slate about the use of plastics in art, and the troubling difficulty of their preservation. We tend to think of plastics as everlasting, but museums around the world have been dealing with the reality that plastics can decay simply sitting around.

Dude, bro:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDpqQCieKJg&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&w=580&h=470]
(via yewknee)

Paul Armstrong is an incredible photographer. No, seriously - go spend some time digging through his Flickr stream before you keep reading.
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Good? I told you so. Anyway, Paul Armstrong is also hilarious. Case in point: Dear Photographer, a collection of quips initially from Twitter that will, hopefully, grow as time goes by. I'm sure many of us are guilty of at least one of his points, but they're funny none-the-less.

The amount of real-time information on what's happening in Iran following the disputed presidential election from last Friday is encouraging if not a bit overwhelming. Who knows how an event like this would have played out ten years ago without the eyes of the world watching?

If you want to make some sense of what's going on, I recommend the New York Times Lede Blog, where you can refresh the page every so often for plenty of current information. If you want to partake in the deluge of information, unconfirmed and all, you could always take a look at Twitter as well, or at least while people inside Iran are still able to relay information about the situation on the ground.

My heart goes out to those people trying to voice their dissent. The rallies, by most accounts, started and remained largely peaceful until Ahmadinejad supporters around the country started interfering. And now all foreign press are getting shut out of direct reporting even while state-run media outlets sow lies and propaganda in an attempt to paint the opposition as the real problem.

Let's see what happens after this apparent re-count...

Sad and beautiful.

[flickr video=3622918484 secret=da6c566c59 w=580 h=387]

I found out about an upcoming film, (500) Days of Summer, on /Film and this clip just pushed it to the "must see" list for next month:

[yahoo id=13912766 vid=5275322 w=580 h=365 thumburl=[l.yimg.com/a/p/i/bcs...](http://l.yimg.com/a/p/i/bcst/yahoomovies/8954/87209025.jpg)]

I always enjoy reading Amelie Gillette's The Hater on the A.V. Club, but there are occasions where she really outdoes herself.

Yesterday's "The Goop Translator" is one such occasion.

Gee, it sure is nice to see Oprah taken down a few pegs (it's long, but it's worth it)...
(via david friedman)