Class V

When Genius Isn't So Sharp

I'm no expert on artificial intelligence ... heck, I'm not even sure that's the applicable field here.  But one of the greatest challenges for technology that I can think of is matching items that are full of subjective "data": music, people, etc.  (I would have placed visual art into that category too - but it's amazing how far image recognition has come in the last few years.)

For the sake of my current profession, it's a good thing that "people" will likely be the last nut that matching technology cracks.

Getting back to music, I've been playing with the "Genius" feature of iTunes this morning.  Bottom line: there is still a way to go here.  There have been services out in the market for far longer - iLike comes to mind - and none have really completely solved the problem.  For example: let's take one of my cheesy seventies tunes currently on heavy rotation: "Let It Ride" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive.  Another blogger described this music as "big dumb rock" that is undeniably "catchy".  I can't describe it any better than that.  In fact, I'd love to have nine more songs just like it.  But no service to date has really given me good answers.

The wisdom of the crowds - social data that is generated from other people's playlists and listening habits - can be helpful, but at the end of the day, music tastes are so subjective that the match is not completely precise.  I get a lot of recommendations for random seventies hits this way, but that's not necessarily what I am looking for.

Technical data - the actual notes - could also be useful, but the problem can be summed up this way: any band could learn to play the music of "Let It Ride" and it still wouldn't quite capture the actual "feel" of the original.

So I am left playing "Let It Ride" on repeat - neighbors be damned - until something better comes along.

Technorati Tags: music recommendation, iTunes, iLike, Bachman Turner Overdrive

Dream Setup

My MacBook Air now with a 3G USB modem (the Sierra Wireless 881U from AT&T Wireless).

Technorati Tags: 3G, wireless modem

Why Twitter?

Been taking advantage of a little bit of downtime to clean up my Contact Lists, using Facebook and LinkedIn heavily (per my earlier blog post on these two services).  In the process, I've noticed that LinkedIn has included a status feature among the many new product features they've launched in the last few months. 

What I am wondering is ... why would someone use Twitter?  My question has two points: 1) does anyone beside my mother care about my every little thought, update, location, etc.? (and even she likely doesn't want to know *all* that ...) 2) Is there anyone on my Twitter network who wouldn't already know my status from either Facebook or now LinkedIn?

Perhaps this is just an example of me simply "not getting it".  It happens quite a bit ...

Technorati Tags: Twitter, web services

Brilliant: Jan Chipchase

One of my favorite TED speakers is being featured this weekend in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, in this lengthy, but thought-provoking, article. 

Here's Jan's talk from TED 2007:

And I just added his blog, Future Perfect, to my Blogroll.

Jan's TED talk represented (to me) one of the most perfect syntheses of design and technology, in the context of addressing large, meaningful problems.  When people ask me what TED is all about, it is moments like these that I attempt to describe to them.

Technorati Tags: Jan Chipchase, Nokia, TED Conference

Timesavers on Trial

Am currently experimenting with two new web services / websites, which I hear may save me some time: Alltop, and Remember the Milk.  The time I spend on Alltop is definitely going to replace at least 2/3 of the time I now spend in my RSS reader.  The jury is still out on Remember the Milk, or To Do lists in general.  My own experience is that 90% of my To Do list can be managed through features already available in my email and calendar clients, but I am sure I am missing something.

Technorati Tags: Alltop, Remember the Milk, web services

Brilliant: iPhone

I know I am only a few months behind the curve here, but yesterday I received an iPhone ... and within an hour, had transitioned from my BlackBerry 8800.  Since I am exclusively a Mac user, I expected the transition to be generally painless, and with the exception of setting up my wireless account with AT&T, it was.

My favorite features are the Safari browser and WiFi reception, and my least favorite is the keyboard (am still getting used to the lack of a tactile response.)  Related to the keyboard, please be warned that if you receive e-mails from me in the future, that I have composed on my iPhone, you can expect them to be rather brief and direct in tone, and to contain a typo or two.

I've been too busy the last couple of months to really get my gadget freak on.  Although this past weekend, I did drive out to Emeryville just to hit the one Best Buy in the Bay Area that had the Nokia N810 in stock.  For a $450 handheld device, I refuse to buy without being able to see, touch and feel.  When the "Customer Service Manager" there told me that he could not allow me to open a box to examine the device, and that Nokia had not sent them any demo units ... well, I left the store empty-handed and a tad disappointed. 

One of the things that appealed to me about the Nokia N810 was the plethora of applications that the enthusiast community has developed for it.  By AppSnapp, I was hoping to take advantage of the growing number of native iPhone ap's that are being released daily.  But I may have left my gadget freak dormant for too long, because I just don't seem to be able to execute this hack.  (I've restored the iPhone a couple of times, and still get the blue question mark square on the installer page.  If anyone has any suggestions, please post them here!)

So for now, I am limited to playing with the web apps available for the iPhone.  My favorites so far are Starry Night and SportsTap.

Give me a few more months, and I might even upgrade to Leopard! 

Technorati Tag: iPhone

Arrival

There it is, an iconic symbol of my new hometown as seen from just outside the front door of my new apartment.  2,000 miles of Hybrid Living (don't ask) in my new car, and a few days later here I am uploading images from my new gadget: a Nikon D80. 

That's a lot of new. 

The last few weeks have been exhausting, the last few days somewhat emotional (for reasons I do not wish to share here on a public forum).  But I am truly excited!  I think I will allow myself to feel that excitement once I've enjoyed just a few weeks of (relative) stability.

Currently typing this while sitting on the floor of an empty living room, waiting for a new mattress to arrive.  (There I go again with the new!)  Only items that mark this space as mine are two suitcases that were hauled on the road trip and the fact that I have a high speed Internet connection already set up.  Feels so much like my first time in this city, when I was a spanking new college grad with hardly a possession to my name except for a used Corolla.  This feeling of deja vu has compelled me to reflect on the evolution I've gone through in the last twelve or so years, the journey that has ultimately brought me full circle (at least in a geographical sense.)  The thoughts are too personal for a public blog, but they have been significant.

The road trip allowed me to first hit the Pacific in La Jolla, spend a day in la la land with my Mom (who was my road trip companion), and then take the breathtaking Pacific Coast Highway ("PCH") up through Ventura, Morro Bay, Big Sur, Monterey and Santa Cruz.  First impressions of California: waves, the friendly people of Encinitas, sunset, smog, bling on wheels, cliffs, produce, surprising isolation, and finally, the Golden Gate Bridge.

Technorati Tags: road trip, San Francisco, California, change

Greetings from TED 2007

I know it's been a while since my last post ... trust me when I write that there are many things going on in my life at the moment which have created a To Do list whose item number is beyond count.  Will have more details about all that shortly.

In the meantime, I am in Monterey, California for TED 2007.  For those that may not recall, I was supposed to attend my first TED a year ago, when other events obviously prevented me from making it.  I was floored by the generous response that Chris Anderson and the TED team made at that time, and was overjoyed to be able to meet Chris in person last night at the Welcome Party and thank him directly. 

Summing up my first full day of TED is done as follows:

Coolest.

Conference.

Ever.

Personal highlights on Day One were:

• Carolyn Porco, who opened TED 2007 with astonishing images such as this one from the ongoing Cassini Mission.
• Singer, songwriter and guitarist (and to label him as just those three seems completely unfair given the range he demonstrated live) Raul Midon.
• The visual presentation of economic and standard of living (e.g., health, environment) data by Hans Rosling, some of which can be seen here.  As for the sword swallowing ...
• The Flight Patterns work of Aaron Koblin, on display as we took our seats in the Main Hall.

One criticism is the largesse and general excess of the TED Gift Bags.  And bag is not the right term here, as the schwag came in a large shopping bag and a suitcase.We are fortunate for all of the companies that want us to try their products and services, and Tom Rielly has clearly put in a great deal of effort to foster all of these relationships.  That being said, I wonder how many of these suitcases are going to end up in landfills, along with at least some of the content inside.  In the spirit of constructive feedback, my two cents would be to line up the gifts as a buffet, and allow TEDsters to move down a line, filling bags with the items that each is interested in.  Ideally, most TEDsters would bring their own bag for this exercise ... but for those that do not, bags would be provided of course.  And my faith in the goodness of human nature compels me to believe that each TEDster would know to take only one of each item ... but controls could easily be put in place if greed became an issue.  For those that are curious as to what could possible fill a suitcase, please check out the picture on my Flickr stream here, where additional pictures from the conference are posted.

As I told some colleagues and friends yesterday, TED 2007 is proving to be one of those experiences that inspires me to feel blessed and fortunate.  Fortunate to be invited, fortunate to be able to participate.  Mind expanding and life changing.

Technorati Tags: TED, TED2007, conferences, schwag

Rise Of the Causumer

At the end of this blog entry, I refer to a life changing movie. That movie is An Inconvenient Truth.  This week seems like a good time to follow up on this topic, because the film comes out on DVD November 21.  If you have not seen the film or read the book, quite simply, please rent this DVD. 

The entrepreneur and company that tops my own personal Most Admired list is Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia.  I buy the company's technical gear, street clothing and even surfboards ... even when the company's products are not necessarily the absolute best in terms of quality, style or value.  As a consumer, I make this decision because the products are certainly good enough, but more importantly, because Patagonia is committed to protecting the planet in a way that no other company can match.  From recycling plastic bottles into fleece to its leadership efforts within the 1% For the Planet ("1%FTP") alliance, Patagonia almost eases my guilt about purchasing more stuff.

With the emphasis on almost.  I mean, any environmentalist knows that one significant way each of us could help save the planet is to just consume less stuff.  Does anyone really need forty pairs of shoes?  Twenty surfboards?  A 5,000 square foot home?  But are most of us strong enough to resist the pressures of marketing and materialism and truly "Live Simply"?  I admit that I'm not.

So if I am going to go ahead and consume more stuff, I have decided that whenever possible, I will consume stuff that at least has a cause behind it.  For example, my sunglasses are by JEN (1%FTP) and my flip flops by Ocean Minded (which contributes to causes related to protecting our oceans).  Neither my shades nor my sandals are particularly fashionable, but it's all good.

I write about all of this today, because this morning I had to replace my iPod Shuffle.  It had decided to snap in two out of its armband case just before I was going running with it.  So I headed to the mall and purchased a PRODUCT (RED) iPod nano (pictured left). 

While I was at it - even though I don't need yet another T-shirt - I decided to purchase one that is also part of the (RED) project (pictured right).

For those who do not know about the (RED) project, here is a link.

There is something bigger going on here.  Consumers are becoming causumers, and the effects are being felt everywhere, even with grocery staples. Not everyone who purchases organic milk knows what rBGH is.  Or even cares.  But there is a greater force that a purchaser feels an emotional connection to, when he or she pulls that carton off the shelf.

I am also convinced that the rise of the causumer is tied to every person's desire to feel special, to indulge in small luxuries, to feel they are part of an elite group in some way.  Buying organic chocolate with one's American Express (RED) card not only says, "I have extra money to spend," but also says, "And I choose to spend it on a cause."  Admitting the consumer aspects of this phenomenon does not, in my opinion, tarnish the idealism behind it.  Materialism seems inevitable, so it is encouraging to at least see that force being harnessed for social and environmental good.

Technorati Tags: (RED), materialism, organic food, Patagonia, environment, An Inconvenient Truth

Brilliant: The Week

I am a voracious reader of all kinds of periodicals, but if I had to limit myself to one, it would be The Week.

On the not so brilliant front, I came across the following snippet from the current issue:

Eighty-five percent of consumers say they've sworn, shouted, cried, smashed things, or experienced chest pains while waiting for help on tech-support call lines, according to a survey by Harris Interactive and RightNow Technologies.

This particular survey's findings were covered in depth in this USA Today article.  While I laughed out loud at the thought of chest pains and smashed objects, part of that laughter stemmed from being able to relate a little too well to the frustrations described.

When soccer parents, college students, and neurosurgeons are all suffering from such significant pain, there is major opportunity ...

Technorati Tags: The Week, tech support