One of the most important realizations that has recently transpired via my Twitter pipeline is how much I am gaining from the ever increasing Sharism i.e. by what others are sharing with me. I am indeed very, very lucky to be connected to so many brilliant and like-minded people that are publishing their thoughts freely and openly, using platforms such as Twitter, Friendfeed, Facebook, Slideshare and of course, their blogs. All of you deserve a big THANK YOU.
So I figured it's time to give some more explicit credit to all those great people that have influenced me, and I maybe a good way to do that is to list them on a special, Twitter-API-based site such as Futerati; and maybe send some attention their way, in return. Futerati went online a few days ago, and much like Electric Artists' cool TrackingTwitter site (but a lot more personal) Futerati is presenting 6 constantly updated categories (Futurists, Thought Leaders Authors, Activists, StartUps and Others) with people that I follow, their latest tweets, the current number of followers, and with some brief comments on why I like them. With each featured twitter user, you can click straight through to their tweets or their profiles and easily connect with them, as well.
Please note that Futerati is a constant work in progress and therefore not complete at this time; I will be adding a lot more people as I dig through my 7400 network connections, during the next 4-6 weeks. So, if I should have listed you but have not done so yet please post something on Twitter (use @gleonhard) or use the hashtag #futerati or DM me via Twitter, or email, or comment on this blog. If we haven't 'met' yet but if you still want to be listed please ping me with your details so that I can take a look at you; in any case please note that every single connection I list on Futerati is personally selected by me. Enjoy - and RT!
Lorraine at Rostant Advertising in Trinidad send me the link to an interesting Web 2.0 tool called Kwout. They provide tools that allow you to take a snapshot of any piece on any webpage - mostly for quoting purposes I would think -, make a widget out of it, and re-use the quote, intact will all links etc, on your own page - pretty cool, even though the image quality could be better. Talk about Sharism!
Below is a snippet from one of my favorite essays called 'Better than Free' by Kevin Kelly, and from a blog post by me that is based on the same concepts... check it out.
As you may have guessed from my travel schedule (see sidebar) I get a constant stream of new people and companies, conference organizers, existing clients and all kinds of organizations that want me to go somewhere and make a presentation, hold a keynote speech or run a think-tank event; from all over the world, and on many different topics. If I actually accepted each invitation I am quite certain I could literally travel from one speaking engagement to the next, for pretty much the entire year. That would certainly get me Red Carpet status with most of the 8 airlines that I usually travel with, I guess.
There have always been a good many logistical challenges in organizing think-tanks and other events; however, the current financial crisis has definitely resulted in much tighter budgets, pretty much everywhere. Increasing concerns for the environment are also palpable - making countless long-distance trips for the sole purpose of a 90-minute speech and subsequent panel discussion is probably not the best example for the efficient use of energy.
Therefore I have been busy exploring new ways how I can present to - and have real conversations with - interested clients from anywhere on the globe without continuously enriching the likes of Lufthansa, Swiss and Singapore Airlines. Again, I do believe that nothing beats the live performance, the face-to-face meetings and the actual experience in what people have started to call the 'meat-space' (as opposed to cyber-space I guess), but maybe some new ways can be explored that offer a similar, and less costly experience.
I recently found a very interesting platform in the new Present.io offering (a new service by Drop.io), which (for anyone with a browser and good Internet access, no additional software is needed) allows for remote presenting, commenting and chats, as well as sporting integrated conference calling, too; all in-one place, and for free. Well, at least for the basic version - they are banking on the Feels-Like-Free / Freemiummodel, too, and it's working with me already. Good stuff.
The combination of services like Present.io with a live phone call, or Skype / iChat Video, has worked out really well, already, and so going forward, I will start to accept more requests for virtual / remote presentations (some people use the term 'webinars' btw).
I look forward to experimenting with you on what the best formats for this may be; if you have any other ideas for better technical solutions please use the comment box or below or contact me via Twitter or eMail; the same goes for anyone interested in booking a virtual presentation.
Lastly, here is an example of the Present.io / Drop.io widgets:
Thanks to Arjan at FreedomLab in Amsterdam I disvovered the coolest Twitter widget today: Twitterfountain.This widget allows you to animate the latest tweets on any keyword, user or hashtag, and overlay them on top of Flickr images based on any other keyword or tag. You can adjust the settings (size, speed etc) as you see fit. Very cool indeed. Mashup heaven. Note: you may have to give it a few minutes to get cooking (right below!)... Want more?
Here are some interesting Twitter-related stats, via Tweetstats - this site (via the link) shows the most often used topics and keywords that I used in my recent tweets. The nice thing is that you can click on them and see all my tweets that relate to any particular keyword - give it a try. I tried embedding it here but of course the links only work when you visit their (no badges available yet - too bad!). The Wordle Cloud (below) gives you another view of the same keywords. Twitter-Friends: is also quite nice: here is gleonhard by numbers (21 Jun 2009)
Audioboo is a pretty cool new app that allows you to record something on your iPhone and then upload it to your page on Audioboo.com, as well as syndicate it via widgets - as it says, it's an iPhone blogging app. Interesting? Check out my first 'Boo' below.
I just ran across this video from the NYT (below). This is another very interesting reflection of the strong trend towards content delivered as software. Just like bands and record labels deliver their music on iPhone apps (and even charge for it much like a CD), the NYT now delivers their content to any computer that can run Adobe Air - and I just love the way they put this - good going, NYT!
Friendfeed just launched a cool new adobe air app that let's you see the latest posts from your 'river' of friendfeed buddies in the lower right hand corner of your screen, giving you a constant update on what's happening in your network, similar to some twitter apps, RSS readers or stock market tickers.
My problem with all these apps is that a lot of what I see in my river is actually quite interesting, constantly tempting me to 'go fishing' when I see them pop-up. This kind of ambient awareness can be an interesting juggling exercise but by and large I find that the distraction is just too much, unless you're 17, maybe;). Constantly getting new pings with interesting new things is a seriously tough challenge when you're trying to a one tiny slice of a job done - so my FF app stays off until I want the river. Yours?
This video provides a nice summary of some of the key computing and communication developments that we can expect in the near future. Whether MSFT will be a big part of that... who knows, but they did a great job with these videos; be sure to check MSFT Officelab's other cool stuff, here, as well - quite impressive, I think.
I have blogged about this before, but here's a quick reminder that you can now read my best 2008 blog posts and essays on your iPhone, online or offline. Just get the great Instapaper reading app (there's a free one, and a premium one which I very much recommend), register with Instapaper and add this page to your 'read later' list. Then, sync your iphone to download the content so that you can read offline. Great stuff! Instapaper reduced my printing costs by 90% already. If you want to download the PDF, instead, please go to my Free Content page.
Slideshare rocks - check out this feature called "Presentation Pack". Feel free to embed anywhere and re-use under Creative Commons Attribution / Non Commercial License.
Along with the free iPhone version of my 2007 Music 2.0 book, my new Lulu-powered eBook "Best of 2008 Blog Posts & Essays" is now available
to read on the iPhone, as well (yes, for free), using the very cool Instapaper iPhone reading app - and it works offline, too. Follow the instructions below, or add the Instapaper "Read Later" bookmark for this html page. I am still working on page breaks etc, so it's not very pretty yet - but if any of you can make a nicer-looking html file from the original PDF... please ping me!
This is what you need to do to read the free book on your iPhone
(perfect for those long, offline airplane trips!):
Download the Instapaper app to your iPhone (or iTunes), via the app store or via the Instapaper site.
Note that there is a free version and a paid version ($ 9.99 USD, which
is well worth it because of the cool tilt scrolling!), but both work
very well
Install the app, sign up / register, go to the Best of 2008 Book html page,
and mark it 'ADD' or 'Read Later" via the Instapaper.com page or the bookmarklet. It will now save the file and
sync it with your iPhone the next time you open the Instapaper app and
update it.
Remember when we thought that the Internet was going to bring us the paperless office, and a 'greener' new world that would not rely on printed information at all times? This has not really happened yet but in 2009 this concept may finally become a reality for many of us. Looking around at what me and many of those clued-in people in my network do, I see the following trends:
1) Offline web-page and article reading. A lot of people will start reading their web-pages, RSS feeds and blog posts via new offline reading apps such as Instapaper (which I really love - check out their blog, here, *iPhone only), Read-it-later (very cool FF plug-in, just started using it, seems promising), the ubiquitous Google Reader (works on most mobile devices, and syncs great offline, too; with the amazing Google Gears engine), Opera Mini on my new E71 (supposedly offers offline reading), and many other cool apps that are becoming available for mobile devices (those small shiny boxes we used to call notebooks & computers;) right now.
Remember when we all had to print those top stories from all those feeds and sites we like so that we could read them on the plane, or in the train or taxi? Well... no more. On my end, I used to print 100+ pages per day (yes, sorry), and that's gone down to less than 10 now; thanks to Instapaper etc. Great!
2) Mobile apps courtesy of your favorite newspapers and magazines. If you are into reading those good old mass media newspapers and mags (no worries, I am, too!) now you can make use of some nice new apps that allow you to read them on your mobile phones. Sure, it feels different, it's rather smallish and obviously lacks the physical paper user experience, but it works well; it's free and first of all it's always there. Right now, mobile newspapers apps are available mostly for the iPhone - but this is changing very quickly.
I reckon that within 6-9 months we will see these apps become available for almost every mobile platform and OS, since this added value is indeed a major reason to buy a new smart-phone. Right now, my favorite is the New York Times app for the iPhone - it's well done, easy to use, does not crash, and gives me almost everything I need from the NYT (apart from that good old paper feel and smell;). I also like the AP news app (iPhone and blackberry)
So say goodbye to buying a 3-day old NYT at some airport shop in Europe and stuffing it into my briefcase along with my blog post print-outs (see above) - another nice time-saver, waste reducer, and minor money-saving accomplishment. And what's best for the NYT: I keep paying attention to them, and I won't be surprised if they ran customized ads on their apps, soon, too. Plus: I still buy the 'real' dead-tree NYT if I want to enjoy a more leisurely read. They've kept me as user, and that's what counts.
3) Reading entire books on your mobile device. Again, the iPhone dominates in this turf right now, as well, but this will change quickly. Wired has a good wiki on iPhone reading apps, btw. I don't use a lot of these apps yet, mostly because many of these services use bizarre copy protection schemes for their fairly limited range of eBooks, they don't have the books I want to read, and the publishers charge prices that will make you wonder if they want to punish you for trying out eBooks (hey - sorry, I thought that it's actually a lot cheaper not having to print and not having to ship anything - guess I was wrong). The leading apps include bookshelf, stanza (which I have), ereader, feedbooks etc - here is a good list. Again, for me, reading entire books - rather than just essays, PDFs, blog posts or articles - on my mobile devices i.e. cell phones is still a very tough interface challenge; therefore I prefer to buy the print edition and haul it around (especially if the eBook price is still very much the same) - but my hunch is that this will change in 2009, too. Maybe not for fiction, though - but for business books I can imagine it.
4) The coming boom in electronic readers such as the Kindle and, maybe, the new Sony Reader (the PS700 BC) which I just bought but have not received yet. It does sound very promising since you can read PDFs with it, bookmark paragraphs or pages and keep it running for weeks at a time.The Kindle is, sadly, not available here in Europe (due to mobile network issues I would think), so I haven't tried it, but I keep hearing good things about it; apart from people complaining about its design. The best comment on the Kindle is probably from Seth Godin, here
(Seth delivers some great comments on ebook pricing, and 'books as social objects'), and which was summarized in my blog, here.
Summary and 2009 predictions:
Many of us will print a lot less, next year - and that's already a great step
Most manufacturers of smart phones and mobile computing devices will get seriously into supporting or integrating all kinds of reading apps (web-page / offline, pdfs, feeds, newspaper apps, book apps), and will therefore also beef up their UIs, as well. And we will use them! Next step: Google.edu?
The next generations of eReaders will actually be usable for more than just a few of us - another 2 years and they will become mainstream.
A $ 92 Billion industry (ink, printers, paper etc) will probably shrink as a consequence.Talk about disruption!
Printer manufacturers and ink suppliers will start to feel the squeeze in 2009; people will still buy printers, of course, but probably a lot less ink, and much less paper. And, shrinking profits aside, I think that's a good thing.
Now, what this will do to the publishing business... another story, another post!
I know... it looks mad but it can be done - this is just a new kind of juggling that we need to do. And most importantly - use the OFF button. Go for a walk. Read the newspaper in a cafe ;)
RSS and APIs have brought us some pretty amazing new ways of following people we like, and thereby help generate what some people have called 'ambient awareness' of what our network 'friends' are doing. If this should be chalked up under 'yet another Attention-Deficit-Disorder-Generator' or not... you decide; but here are some cool ways of following me:
My friendfeed RSS feed (Friendfeed aggregates most of my social network outout in one place) - you can read this feed even if you are not signed up for Friendfeed, I think
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