Fresh Faces 13
This one is a bumper crop! It’s been less than a month since FF12 and in between then and now I’ve had TONS of opportunities to take photographs – nights at the Chicken Bone, parties, events, meetings and more. The result is that I’ve probably gotten close to 200 photographs in the past three weeks – which is totally awesome. As always, you can see all of them on Flickr but here are some of my favorites.
Remember, if you’re planning a party or an event and want a set of faces let me know and we can work something out.
Not wowed by Waze . . . yet
Conceptually, I am a big fan of Waze – a social application that provides free GPS/directional functionality based on user input and driving patterns/behavior. Lots of the time it works like a charm – especially in providing real-time updates for road and traffic conditions. Often when I’m using it and sitting in traffic it will ask if I’m stuck in traffic, giving me a “yes” or “no” choice to update other drivers. It’s pretty cool.
What isn’t so cool are the crazy routes it provides. The other day I was on my way to a party about 20 miles from my home. I put the address into Google Maps and was told it would take about 30 minutes to get there. As I drove I realized that in the dark and pouring rain there was no way I was going to be able to read the directions. Instead, I pulled over and entered the address into Waze on my iPhone. I had to try twice – the first time it wasn’t able to come up with a route. Soon it did though and I was off.
I drove past the turn that Google had suggested – instead following the Waze directions. While I was skeptical I was willing to go with the flow. That was a mistake. All GPS systems tell you it’s got a margin of error or that if should be used for informational purposes only or some other disclaimer. I accept that. But Waze needs to do a much better job.
Several times the verbal turn-by-turn directions would instruct me to make a turn only to have the map start beeping at me that I had gone off the route. On other occasions the map showed me being on the route – but once again I’d get the beep and warning that I was off-route. What? Many, many times the route had me making giant loops when direct ones were available. And often when I intersected the route the system gave no indication I was back on track.
In the end, the trip took me well over an hour – pretty much exclusively due to the poor performance of Waze. Long meandering detours, incorrect alerts that I was off route, crazy recalculations were all part of the night’s drive.
Getting home – on the other hand – was a snap. The host was able to give me directions that involved only four turns . . .
I’m totally giving Waze the benefit of the doubt. As they say, the system will only improve as more people participate. But there are problems (incorrect off-route alerts, map and turn-by-turn out of sync) that aren’t due to the number of participants and until those get cleaned up it’s going to be difficult for people to use this system.
Rubble
I didn’t realize the ground had shifted
Until I was standing alone
Amid the dust and debris
I searched for you
I called your name
I heard no voice
I saw no sign
Had you left before
Things came crashing down?
Or were you buried
Beneath the rubble all around?
I called your name
I searched for you
I saw no sign
I heard no voice
After a time where you were didn’t matter
I was alone in the middle of the mess we made
Bewildered
Kind Words
The poem you gave me
(without realizing)
While we stood together
(there on the floor)
Such simple words
(so innocently spoken)
“After a hard day you are a comfort”
They made me smile
(and beam for days)
Licensing is for Software NOT for Literature
I will be the first to admit that I love books. I grew up in a house and with a father who imparted me with a serious love of books and reading and my own library is in the thousands. I read widely and deeply – dozens of books every year and wish I had even more time to read. I love books and so perhaps you ought to dismiss everything I am about to write as the words of a committed bibliophile.
On the flip side though I am also nuts about technology. There are not that many pieces of consumer electronics that I don’t lust after; that I can’t convince myself – in my heart-of-hearts – will make my life better. Anyone who knows me knows that I carry a wide array (wider than most people) of electronics with me – an iPhone, a digital SLR, a video recorder of some sort, a Mac Book Pro, etc.
Ten years ago maybe I got a Handspring Visor. This was the same year the Rocket ebook reader came out and I lusted after the thing. The idea of being able to carry multiple books with me wherever I went was really appealing. My wife told me she had considered getting it for me but settled on the Visor since it had broader utility. A little disappointed maybe but I got an ebook reader for the Handspring and downloaded several books from Project Gutenberg. I wasn’t blown away.
Since then the market for ebooks and ebook readers has taken off. But at the same time my desire to won one has lessened. In part it’s because I enjoy the form factor of the book – all of the nostalgic things people love about them – their shape and weight, the way you can see your progress as the bookmark marches from front to back, etc. I love coming across old boarding passes that make me think of trips longs past, or the dried flower I wore as a boutonniere at a friend’s wedding.
Those tangible aspects of the book are only part of their appeal. A much bigger part of it has to do with ownership. When I buy a book it’s my book. The primary relationship is between me and the author and their work – not between me and the publisher or distributor. Sure – they are the means for me getting my hands on the work, but once I do, their part of the process has ended. With ebooks that isn’t the case. Once I make the purchase that relationship has only just begun.
For me, one of the wonderful things about books is their fluidity. I can read one and think of the friend for whom it would be perfect and then I can hand them my copy of the book. I can tell them to read it and to have my copy – even if I know I’ll never get it back. Often once I do that with a friend they’ll do the same for me sometime – recommending and sharing books. I like the ecosystem of readers that grows around books.
Back in 2006 I met Greg Boesel, the CEO of Swaptree. They gave me a whole new means of enjoying books – by allowing me to trade them with other readers using their service. Their model replaced something that had all but disappeared – the used book store – where I could off-load books that I had finished. With the rise of the big box bookshops and Amazon there stopped being easy ways to buy and sell used books and Swaptree nicely fills the void.
Right now there is no way to sell or trade or share ebooks. This might make sense for someone but it doesn’t for readers. Let’s look at how the print and electronic models approach your relationship to content.
Here is the copyright notice from Neal Stephenson’s Anathem:
Anathem. Copyright 2008 by Neal Stephenson. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For more information address HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53 Street, New York, NY, 10022.
Pretty clear and simple.
Now here is the digital content section of the licensing agreement for the Amazon Kindle – which is in addition to the copyright of the publisher:
3. Digital Content
The Kindle Store. The Kindle Store enables you to download, display and use on your Device a variety of digitized electronic content, such as books, subscriptions to magazines, newspapers, journals and other periodicals, blogs, RSS feeds, and other digital content, as determined by Amazon from time to time (individually and collectively, “Digital Content”).
Use of Digital Content. Upon your payment of the applicable fees set by Amazon, Amazon grants you the non-exclusive right to keep a permanent copy of the applicable Digital Content and to view, use, and display such Digital Content an unlimited number of times, solely on the Device or as authorized by Amazon as part of the Service and solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Digital Content will be deemed licensed to you by Amazon under this Agreement unless otherwise expressly provided by Amazon.
Restrictions. Unless specifically indicated otherwise, you may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content. In addition, you may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, bypass, modify, defeat or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content.
Subscriptions. The following applies with respect to Digital Content made available to you on a subscription basis, including, but not limited to, electronic newspapers, magazines, journals and other periodicals (collectively, “Periodicals”): (i) you may request cancellation of your subscription by following the cancellation instructions in the Kindle Store; (ii) we may terminate a subscription at our discretion without notice, for example, if a Periodical is no longer available; (iii) if we terminate a subscription in advance of the end of its term, we will give you a prorated refund; (iv) we reserve the right to change subscription terms and fees from time to time, effective as of the beginning of the next term; and (v) taxes may apply to subscription fees and will be added if applicable.
Not so simple.
The written word differs from other content types – music, video and software – in that it hasn’t required anything but a set of eyes to use in the past. If you wanted to hear a song you had to either know how to play it, have a band who could play it or a device that could play it. The ease of reading is important. Music and video are also more ephemeral. A song is three of four minutes long – even a symphony is perhaps an hour. A book is a commitment to spending days – if not weeks – considering a topic or ideas or characters.
Because the relationship to the content is different between a book and a song, for example, it makes sense that they be treated differently. I can listen to a song over and over again in a single day but I’m unlikely to read many books more than once in the course of my lifetime.
Ebooks also encourage the kid-in-a-candy store model that Apple brought to music with iTunes. The fact that you can store dozens of books on a reader doesn’t mean you’re actually *reading* them all. For me reading is a much more conscious decision. I often have eight or 10 books on deck at any moment but eventually I choose one and commit to reading it. I buy and choose books very carefully because I know I’m going to be spending a lot of time with it.
Downloads make the selection process far less critical. As with a song you may have heard something about the book, might have enjoyed something else by the author, always wanted to read it, know it’s popular, etc. That impulse is one thing for ephemeral content but as I said books are not ephemeral. Their storage media lasts for a long, long time.
One of my favorite books is a copy of the Massachusetts Constitution that also includes the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and Washington’s Farewell Address. It was published – an bound in light wood – in 1805 when many of the drafters and signers and citizens and soldiers who had lived through the Revolution were still living. There’s something that transcends content at that point – there is a connection to a past that is lost when it is digitized.
You are being sold a bill of goods when you make the move from printed books to ebooks – make no mistake about it. This model is not in the interest of readers who may eventually find their libraries incompatible with later generation ebook readers, who cannot share or sell their books when finished and forced to make compromises that print readers do not (I love the glossy pages of illustrations in many of my books – they don’t do so well in an ebook).
While some issues will be addressed through improved technology, the different ways we connect with content requires different ways of owning that content – and the nature of printed works ought to have all of us saying that licensing is for software – not for literature.
Fresh Faces 12
How goes it face fans? I’ve had a few extra productive weeks lately – between WebInno, the Chicken Bone, an awesome house party, IMS09 and MIT I’ve had a lot of opportunities to photograph people. I’ve also been hearing from people about how much they like the project. That warms the cockles of my heart . . .
Here are selections from these recent events. Of course if want to see them all check them out on Flickr.
And don’t forget, I love to shoot so let me know if you’re looking for a photographer.
Finding a Photograph
I saw a picture today
Me in black and white
A boy three or four
Everything still potential
That slowly bled away
Over the years of my lifetime
Like the slime from a slug
Shimmering and wasted
In the light of life
Slowly drying
Leaving just a trace
Of dreams I can’t even recall
Kick in the fucking gut
Fresh Faces 11
Wow – it’s been way too long since I posted fresh faces. I was on vacation – not once but twice, lost my job, got focused on other things blah, blah, blah . . . But this morning let me make amends by playing a little catch up. Hope you enjoy them.
If you’re in the Boston-area and are planning a party or an event and would like to have me come and capture faces let me know. I’m sure we could work something out.
WebInno23 Preview
It’s Sunday and I’ve only just registered for Tuesday’s WebInno 23. I was number 952. That’s absolutely crazy. Almost 1000 people. When I went to my first WebInno in July of 2006 I think I counted about 100 people was was impressed. It’s awesome how the community here in Boston has grown and how central WebInno has been (at least for me) in fostering that community. Hats off to everyone who’s had a hand in making WebInno what it is – from Dave and the rest of the organizing crew to all the companies that have shown off their stuff over the years. Excellent work.
So what’s on tap for Tuesday night and how do the various companies look to me? Let’s have a look . . .
Main Dishes
Book of Odds – I like this. There’s not much to see but the idea is pretty awesome. They’re saying it’s the “missing dictionary – one of numbers.” There’s something mystic and mysterious about numbers and creating a compendium of them seems like something out of Harry Potter. Their demo is being billed as a “pre-launch sneak preview.” I will be watching this one with anticipation.
Epernicus – Where Science Meets – Seems to be a social network for scientists, a pretty cool idea. But since I’m not a scientist (despite my best efforts at pretending sometimes) it’s hard for me to judge the strength of value of the offering. From a layman’s perspective though I wasn’t overly impressed. The home page did a poor job of explaining the value of the site (at least to me) and when I went into the directory to see a few profiles I wasn’t that impressed by the depth or quality of the content.
Now there were certainly some profiles that were really awesome – but there were more than a few that were hardly populated at all. In total, there are more than 16,300 profiles. I don’t know if that’s a big number or not. I’m not terrible impressed by it but I don’t know how long the company has been around so it’s a bit hard to judge.
One of the things I like about the site is the idea of each members genealogy. While I didn’t see a clear explanation of this – I gathered that it’s a visualization of advisers/professors/colleagues/mentors/mentees/students/etc for members. I like the idea a lot – it’s a great way to conceptualize someone’s intellectual lineage. Unfortunately, in order to see the profiles behind the names you need to log in. I think as a tool to explore linkages between ideas it would be better open but I can understand the desire to encourage registration.
Overall I applaud the concept of Epernicus but have concerns about the execution – I’m looking forward to seeing the demo and having a chance to talk to the people behind the company.
BatchBook – WTF? These guys want people to PAY for their product? Didn’t anyone send the memo? Everything is supposed to be free . . . I mean come on, putting a link to sign up and get pricing right on the front page? Puh-leez.
Kidding aside this one is awesome. It’s essentially a really powerful and full-featured Web-based contact management system. They call themselves social CRM and I guess that’s a good place to start. Not only does it have pretty much any function you could desire – from a simple contact list to collecting recent posts and comments from your contacts to integrating with current email and calendaring systems – but they do an incredible job of explaining the major areas of the service.
Click me impressed – they really seem to have thought this through very thoroughly. I can’t wait for the demo.
Side Dishes
ClickFrames – Build web apps with a single source of truth for every member of your team. Whaa? What does that even mean? I didn’t realize that Web app team members were on a quest for truth in the first place. Here I am being rude but I’ll be honest – I don’t really get what these guys do – but in my defense, they really don’t go out of their way to explain it very clearly. Maybe you understand it and can explain it to me Golden Book’s style if you see me on Tuesday. Otherwise I guess I’ll check them out myself and will try not to seem too stupid as I ask my questions.
BetterLesson – Create, Organize and Share Your Curriculum. There have been a few curriculum sharing companies at WebInno over the years and I’ve been impressed by many of them. I really like the look of BetterLesson. I wish I could better recall some of the other ones for comparison; but on its own, these guys look pretty polished.
Baydin – I’ll be honest, back when I had a job (and let me just say not having one sucks) I used email as my main file system. I think that’s true for most people. I’ll also say that finding all of the relevant information in this ad hoc system was no breeze. Anything – and I mean anything – that could improve this process would have been great. That’s what Baydin promises. I like what these guys are saying they can do, I like their attitude and approach. I’m looking forward to meeting and hanging out with them a little on Tuesday.
The Idea Startup – Powering Entrepreneurs. Empowering Ideas. I can’t say I have a really clear idea of what this tag line means but that’s OK. They’ve done a good job on the site of explaining what they offer. I have to imagine that in today’s economy a set of tools designed to make it easier for people to get their ideas off the ground will fare pretty well.
Happn.in – Local Twitter Trends. This is fun but is it a company? Sure, it’s kind of cool to see what the top trends in various cities – what can explain that “Mark Twain” is the top trend in Anchorage, or “Zombie Fart” is number one in Edinburgh – but how valuable is it? I’ll check it out and am following them but after a deep breath I kind of only have a sigh.
Tripleseat – Book More Faster. So I go to the site and I see the tag line. OK, book more what I wonder. I look at the top of the browser window and see “Restaurant Industry Catering banquet software.” Hmmm. This is pretty specialized software so who am I to judge. I’ll probably send the link to a friend who’s been in the restaurant/catering business for a while to see what he has to say.
So there’s my totally subjective thoughts on the companies slated to be at WebInno on Tuesday. There are some pretty cool ones, a few that don’t do much for me and a couple that I’m gonna need a hand getting my head around. If you have any thoughts or insights on any of these companies I’d love to hear them. No matter how you slice it I’m looking forward to Tuesday night and hope to see you there.
