Future Visions

Where is the luxury phone market?

A Ford is a great car and it's fine for the general public. But there is also a large, premium/luxury market for the discerning enthusiast and people of means. Where is our luxury phone market?

Firstly, there is a real market need. Every device on the market has it's trade-offs. The HTC One has the nicest feel in the hand and a stunning screen, but the camera and polish of the Android skin leave something to be desired. The iPhone and the Lumia have stunning cameras but each have their own tradeoffs. The Galaxy S4 has a nice camera, but a horrible plasticy feel in your hand. And virtually all phones sold today demand a case.

If you want the best phone on the market, not only will you need to compromise, but you will be just one of millions of other people sporting the exact same handset. The non-conformists, Apple and Samsung, have gone mainstream. And there is no better time than today than to start a hardware startup.

This limited run, premium handset would be sold at a serious premium - think double the cost on a carrier contract of $200-300 higher than the standard off-contract pricing. It would have the best specs on the market, stock Android, differentiated design and a stunning build quality. Not only would it look great, but it would be solid enough not to need a case. If Blackberry could figure out how to make a phone that didn't need a case in 2006, I think we can work in out in 2013.

Our innovative mobile world has gone mainstream. Someone, somewhere is going to think different. The market demands it.

In breaking news, the market demands a rumor mill

By the third day after the Boston attacks, we all knew that the breaking news rumors in social media and on 24 hour networks were likely less than accurate. Yet, despite the inaccuracy of this information and with our skepticism meters running high, we found ourselves glued to Twitter and the 24 hour networks. 

Here's the sad truth: in a time of crises, we thirst for information to quench our frenzied minds. We want this information so badly that we will lower our standards and tune in to real-time and social sourced quasi-journalism.

Is this good for the news industry? Does it hurt the network's credibility?

That really depends on what the goals of the individual media outlet. I believe we will see a spectrum of responses to our new real-time and social-sourced dynamic.

Real-Time Outlets in search of large audiences (and the cash that come with them) will lower their journalistic integrity and will report on many inaccurate rumors, feeding the information beast. During breaking news, the mainstream masses will likely tune in as long as there is a modicum of integrity behind this reporting. But I don't know that these audiences will come back for the post-action analysis. This will 

Accuracy Oriented Outlets with sacrifice the "breaking news" ratings for higher journalistic standards. But when the dust settles, I truly believe that the masses will look to those with high integrity for the after-action reporting. While Accuracy Oriented Outlets will have the gravitas and integrity to guide us back to normalcy, they may struggle to gain the mass appeal they lost during the breaking news. That said, these outlets may be able to court a premium audience and premium revenues to match. At the end of the day, I don't believe too many media outlets will want to wait for the dust to settle before reporting. This space will likely be reserved for slower media, such as print media. Some savvy accuracy-oriented outlets however, will turn to hard evidence such as live-video feeds of breaking news to augment their stories.

Hybrid Outlets will seek to maintain a real-time presence without sacraficing much of their their journalistic integrity. This is where most mainstream media outlets will find themselves situated. Hybrid Outlets will take the gamble that most people will tune in for just the right mix of timely reporting and accuracy, and will stay tuned in for the post-action reporting as the outlet did not seriously damage their integrity. These outlets will make heavy use of social media, but with a level of healthy journalism-turned filtering. They will heavily feature and repost verified news such as live-video in the interest of keeping their audiences glued to their feeds.

Conlusion

I don't know which model will prove the most successful. But in an era with truly democratized digital reach, we cannot expect all media outlets to maintain high journalistic standards. The market demands a breaking news, low-to-mid fidelity solution. And someone is going to rise/lower themselves to the occasion. 

The biggest computing trend we aren't discussing

Ambience.

Serendipity.

Personality.

These are sensory experiences. They are human sensory experiences. These are emotional triggers and instinctual reactions. These are not attributes one would normally ascribe to a computer-driven experience. 

As our computers learn from and augment our connected lives, they are learning to mirror our behaviors, quirks and honesty. Google Now holds incredible power - the eventual power to deliver many of these sensory experiences. But it is still an appendage, separate from our natural lives. Using Google Now requires that the user lift a phone, push a button, swipe to unlock, and then swipe to load.

This isn't natural. It's isn't integrated. And this friction is holding back the true potential of the platform.

Wearables are only the first step towards better information capture and delivery. We need to create an invisible operating system and interactive layer - computing that requires no additional effort. We need to learn to publish and communicate differently. We need to learn to develop and adopt an API for ever-present access and non-invasive communications. 

We spent the last 30 years proving to the world that computing was worth the distraction from life. We will spend the next 10 years learning how to seamlessly augment life itself.

Saying Goodbye: Thank You Allen

It was early 2008 and I was thrilled to be joining the budding social-professional scene in NYC. I was young, enthusiastic and out of my league. I attended conferences, read countless blogs, tweeted and did everything I could to learn about this incredible industry.

I was at a conference in Tribeca when I noticed the name tag of the guy sitting next to me - Allen Stern, CenterNetworks. To be honest, I was starstruck. I had been reading CenterNetworks regularly for some time, and here was one of the names I'd seen countless time. Here he was, sitting right next to me!

Like a true social media groopie, I probably came across as a young, energetic and a little weird. Allen took it all in stride, and we ended up bonding over the remainder of the event. Over the next few years, we traded emails and conversations on various social networking platforms, staying in touch across states and later across continents. Whether it was talking mobile tech at a Jeff Pulver breakfast, talking tech on Facebook, the pain of commuting to Manhattan from his old neighborhood in Brooklyn on Twitter (close to where I was living) or more recently about fitness and wellness on Google+, Allen was a brilliant guy and a great friend.

Allen was the influencer who was in it for the people. 

Allen, I was honored to be one of your people.

I drew inspiration from your journey and will never forget how your giant heart made me feel like one of the guys when I was just getting started. Your quest for wellness was an inspiration. Thank you for everything.

As we say in hebrew, Baruch Dayan Ha'emet. We're already missing you.

Our Modern Day Passover Miracle

Rabbi Aharon Kotler asked, why does the Haggadah say that in Egypt the Jews became a nation, but ignore the massive assimilation that took place in Egypt? Why does the Haggadah omit to mention the many Jews who did not wish to leave Egypt for Israel?

He answers, that the Haggadah teaches us to focus on the positive. We may have had our challenges, but we became a people.

 

And I believe that this is the modern day miracle of Passover. This is the one night a year where we forget the many challenges we face as a people and invite all four sons to the table. We celebrate with those who don't believe and those who don't want to leave. The rich will eat the bread of poverty and the poor drink wine like kings. We will all declare - all are welcome can come and eat. This is the one time a year where Jews around the world celebrate our shared past. This link to our past is our common bond in our present and our hope in the future.

Passover is not just about the challenges we faced, but our ability to focus on our shared positive bonds and build a link to the future. After 3,000 years of change, our continued celebration is our modern miracle.

10 features that will make "Keep" a killer app

A few hours ago, Google lifted the lid on Google Keep. This simple reminders web/mobile app is pretty, well designed and syncs cross-platform. But it's far from the solution it should be.  Here are the 10 features that will make Google Keep a keeper.

10. Automation
I don't get the point of storing my photos in Google+. I store my photos so I can access them when I want them - for social as well as personal reference. I love the idea of scanning my photos and making them search-able. I want my Android phone to automatically back all my photos up to Drive, to keep the people and geo tags added in Picasa, etc. Don't just leave this as a list. This may go beyond Keep, but I want to see a platform and an ecosystem, not just a list dammit!

9. Topical Search
I'm going to be storing all kinds of things. I would love to be able to find my "music" without needing to tag it as music. Google knows how to recognize a file. Make my search smarter! 

8. Link Previews
This could be a great platform for storing my bookmarks or items for reading later. If I save a link, give me a link preview. This includes video previews ala Google+ or Facebook.

7. Link "Deep" Search
Let me search inside the media and links I've "Kept". Index not just my text, but the content within and across them.

6. An API and a Chrome Plug-in
I want the Facebook photos on my phone to also backup to Keep. I want to save to Keep as a backup of everything I do. Google's not going to build all of this - so we're going to need an API. I would also love to save links ala Pocket without needing to open a second window. Make it happen Google! 

5. Drag to Organize
I have recently fallen in love with Trello. The organizational features are incredible. You just drag it over to organize. Keep is impossible to organize, which is going to make it pointless as a to-do list or a media library. 

4. Third Party Cloud Doc Integration
I already have most of my content in Drobox, Box.net and even Carbonite. I would love to access this cloud content through Google Drive. If I'm going to leave myself a reminder to do something to media in Dropbox, let me preview it in Drive. Yes, there is an API for that. 

3. Prioritized Lists
I get that Google wants to avoid the chore of hierarchy and rely instead on search, but a bit of organization can go a long way. Let me re-prioritize my lists, sort my lists, etc.

2. Geofencing and Alerts
If I have a list, reminder me when it's coming do. Remind me to pick up the milk when I'm near the supermarket. Google Now can do a lot of this for me, so please, for the love of all that is holy, get on it! 

1. Social Collaboration
Let's be real. There is little I do in life that doesn't involve others. There are many times my wife picks up the milk. Other times she sends me a long shopping list while I'm on the way home. There are tasks I give to the developers, and many times they assign tasks to me. A little bit of social collaboration could go a VERY long way. 

Graph Search Gets Louder

This morning I logged into Facebook and found this:

I'm not sure if this is part of a broader roll out, but it makes all the sense in the world. If Facebook wants us to use Graph Search, there is nothing better than a Call To Action to get us started.

This shift to a dedicated box and text is not the most elegant design, but it will be sure to boost engagement with this new feature.

Here's why Google kills products we love

Clayton Christensen and Google both know something that the screaming masses don't. They live The Capitalists Dilemma.

Google builds products, but they aren't a product company. They are a conduit company. They build paths to information, and in-so-doing build paths to tomorrow. As their sector is ridiculously fast moving, Google's best shot at sustainable growth is in betting the farm on change. Google is betting their future on productive rather than migratory capital.

Here's how this works:

Sustained growth doesn't come from return on net assets or capital, but future return on not-yet-conceived products. In the long term, Google can't afford to sit on their cash or maintain stagnant products. Google's best shot at the future is to invest their capital in 10x ideas that create new markets.

In the long run, Google's success will not come from owning a category as much as being the pipeline through which innovation will flow.  Google is trying to become the platform for the next-wave industrial revolution, not an also-ran in commoditized arms races around decade old technology. 

This is a bold mission that hinges on the latest economic theory. And it makes all the sense in the world.

I would gladly trade Google Reader today for serendipitous computing (aka wearables like Glass) or automated transportation (self driving cars) tomorrow. Google has the economic strength and confidence to focus on tomorrow. Even if it means sunsetting a product with a few hundred thousand steady users today.

Here's to hoping investors and the market understand and appreciate what the press and many frustrated influencers don't.