Netizen

Social Media: Real Impact

McKinsey Says Social Media Could Add $1.3 Trillion to the Economy

things like improved communication and collaboration from social media in four major business sectors could add $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in value to the economy..... The value is mostly through added productivity. Improved consumer focus as well as better-functioning teams are two other benefits. .... by 2018 the United States could face a shortfall of 1.5 million data analysts and managers able to cope with the flood of data in their businesses. ..... Social technologies like wikis, broadly accessible instant messaging, content searches and user forums, McKinsey says, are particularly effective among so-called interactions workers..... The main challenges are organizational and personal, as managers have to develop nonhierarchical cultures, where data and knowledge are exposed and shared, not hoarded.

A perfect market is where there is a perfect flow of information, correct? It can be argued there was not a smart market before social media. Consumers were not allowed to talk. And now that there is that enhanced communication where everyone but everyone can talk, the market is performing better.

Gigabit Fast

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBase

Google Unveils Superfast Internet in Kansas City, Mo.

purchasing the gigabit Internet service for $70 a month ..... the current average household broadband speed was only slightly faster than it was 16 years ago .... Google wants to provide such high-speed Internet to flex its muscle in Washington, where policy makers have been criticized for being slow to deliver national broadband ..... “fiberhoods” ..... a free 5-megabit-per-second broadband connection .... Google believed “there’s no need for caps.” ..... “I’ve never met someone who’s said ‘My Internet connection is too fast.’” ...... if two cars left Kansas City for New York at the same time, the one traveling 100 times faster would reach New York before the other car even left Missouri

I wish Google entered the ISP space for good.

Just like Google Search is ad supported, Google Fiber should also be ad supported. Use snooping technology to serve just the right ads. And at gigabit speeds an ISP could serve ads like TV stations do.

There is so much potential.

Good Government, Bad Government

Cerf and Bob E. Kahn being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So, who really did invent the Internet?

the Internet had its roots in the ARPANet, a government project .... the government-funded ARPANet was very much the precursor of the Internet as we know it today. .... Bob Taylor was the single most important figure in the history of the Internet, and he holds that stature because of his government role. ..... TCP/IP, the fundamental communications protocol of the Internet, was invented by Vinton Cerf (though he fails to mention Cerf's partner, Robert Kahn). He points out that Tim Berners-Lee "gets credit for hyperlinks." ..... Cerf and Kahn did develop TCP/IP--on a government contract! And Berners-Lee doesn't get credit for hyperlinks--that belongs to Doug Engelbart of Stanford Research Institute, who showed them off in a legendary 1968 demo you can see here. Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web--and he did so at CERN, a European government consortium. ...... Private enterprise had no interest in something so visionary and complex, with questionable commercial opportunities. Indeed, the private corporation that then owned monopoly control over America's communications network, AT&T, fought tooth and nail against the ARPANet. Luckily for us, a far-sighted government agency prevailed. ...... It's true that the Internet took off after it was privatized in 1995. But to be privatized, first you have to be government-owned. It's another testament to people often demeaned as "government bureaucrats" that they saw that the moment had come to set their child free.

I have long believed in private and public sector collaborations.

But It's An Ad

Cover of William Shakespeare

For Foursquare, It’s Not an Ad, It’s a Promoted Update

a Promoted Update from the Dos Caminos restaurant, part of BR Guest, could feature “an offer for a secret omelet that only Foursquare users can get”

What's in a name? That which we call a rose - Shakespeare Quotes

Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

A Lot Riding On Windows 8 For Microsoft

Image representing Microsoft as depicted in Cr...

Image via CrunchBase

A lot is riding for Microsoft with Windows 8. Overall I think it is going to be a milestone for them. Whether or not it will bring the so called "lost decade" to an end is for the market to tell.

PC World: 5 Things Windows 8 Can Learn from OS X Mountain Lion

Note that Windows 8 is a complete overhaul, while Mountain Lion is more of a refinement. Yet the Apple update adds lots of new features that would fit in nicely on Microsoft's OS. ...... In Windows 8, voice dictation is available as an accessibility feature, and as such, it's buried behind several menus and not intended for general use....... Mountain Lion makes voice dictation easy to use from any application--you just press the Function key twice, and start talking.

Valve's Gabe Newell: Windows 8 is a "catastrophe"

Microsoft has a lot of ambition with Windows 8, and with a complete interface overhaul and functionality up the wazoo, it does have a chance to make a splash...... The most distinct aspect of Windows 8 is what's known as the "Metro UI," which allows users to have complete customization on their home page, including widgets, RSS readers, weather information, date/time, etc...... since this is such a revolutionary new platform, Microsoft wants to scrap out all remnants of the "old-school" look and feel. Instead of a Start bar, hovering your mouse over that corner of the screen will allow you to swap between the Metro UI and the traditional desktop. For the mobile version of Windows 8, the Metro UI will be the default interface.