My Facebook Timeline

After the announcement at the F8 Conference yesterday of the new timeline, Facebook opened up this timeline to developers only to start tinkering with.  I'm not a developer, but thanks to the Techcrunch article, was quickly able to get the needed credentials to give it a try.  

I REALLY think this is big for Facebook.  It anchors them into our lives and builds them into the fabric of our story and how we tell it.  It allows us to realize how much equity in content we have in Facebook, which will make it harder for people to walk away into using a new tool (Google+).

Check mine out below and please share your thoughts on the new Timeline.

What Will Google Fiber Mean for Kansas City? Part 2

In my first part of this series on Google Fiber in KC, I spoke about the big picture and decide that the subject was too big to fit into one blog.

I'm going to use these next few parts to draw a little more focus to how I see Google Fiber effecting parts of my life and other's lives in the city.  This week, I'm going to focus on how gigabit speeds could effect marketing agencies in town.

I work as an Interactive Strategist for a 25 person agency in KC called Muller Bressler & Brown.  When the plan was announced,we all were called in for a pow-wow with the owners to discuss what Google Fiber would mean for the agency (I expect there were a lot of these going on at the time).  The short and long answer is opportunity, but the size of that slice of pie will depend on an agency's ability to adapt and invest in what's coming.

Google will be laying down their first gigabit infrastructure in KC.  The technology that will run on these 8 lane super highways of data hasn't really been developed yet, especially for at home use.  As Google flips the switch, the first businesses to take advantage of the grid will be those that will be building the technology that sits on top of the gigabit infrastructure.  

App development that uses these speeds will be one of the avenues.  We're going to learn what cloud computing means fairly quickly, as applications that needed the processor power of a home PC become useable with less and less hardware.  (Examples would be data crunching, video editing, or anything that traditionally would eat up processor power)

My guess is that these companies that will be coming in will be 2 to 3 man businesses with a couple developers and a designer.  The agencies that can become a hybrid of a startup tech incubator and a full service marketing agency will come out ahead as these businesses will not have the cash flow that most agencies are used to making from their clients.  The agency that can take risk and work for a percentage of ownership of these startups instead of cash will see success.  

The agency that plays in this game will also need to be as quick & agile as the companies that are building these products and that could be a challenge from watching how agencies have struggled to adapt in the last few years. 

When digital first started building momentum in traditional agencies, a strategy that seemed to work well for them was creating another business that could work outside of the slow moving inner workings of the agency.  The new small shop could act that way and take on the entrepreneurial spirit needed to make something new.  I'm just saying that this may be the right time to bring this strategy out from the playbook.

You could do that or just wait for a small company to do it on their own and buy it at it's highest value down the road, but where is the fun in that?

As for the opportunities that are further out, if you want to see the industries that will be effected first, just look out for those that are pushing lots of data.  Medical, Insurance, Education and Entertainment to name a few.  Since these industries are so large and require a lot of specialization, the agencies that already play in these worlds will have the best opportunities to earn more business by working with their current clients to shake out what gigabit speeds would mean to them.

Agencies that already have this business specialization can attract new biz from being there first and sharing that knowledge.  Thought leadership can be tough to businesses that bill time, but it should be a top tier priority.  When new biz begins to look around the interwebs for those that can get clients to the next level, you want them to run into your content.

What do you think this means for KC agencies?   

Tune back in for Part 3, I'll go over what Google Fiber means for our SMCKC community.

Driving a Lincoln MKX

I've had the awesome opportunity to drive some of Ford's newest cars this summer.  With how seriously Ford has taken tech in their cars lately, I was more than excited to drive one of their luxury class, the Lincoln MKX crossover for a couple of weeks in July.  

I'm not even going to pretend that I'm a car reviewer.  I could probably pick a carburetor out in a lineup, but my car knowledge is at about a 3, just above my knowledge of sports and Art history.

I will say that this car absolutely ruined me. You're not supposed to drive cars like this until you're able to buy one!  You remember your dad's Lincoln right?  The giant boat of a car that drove like you were riding on a cloud?  Well, it has transformed and gotten a lot sexier, been packed full of tech and the cloud thing stuck.

As for the tech, the car delivers...a lot.  Keyless entry, 3 LED monitors including a large touch screen, backup camera, backup sensor and a really sick little sensor that lets you know when someone hits their brakes quickly in front of you or is coming up quickly on either side, Sync system, and air conditioned seats (Yes I just said air conditioned seats).

I'll get more into the Sync system in another post, but the short of it is this.  If you put time into learning what it can and can't do, the Ford Sync system will allow you to be 100% hands free with almost all of your car and phone controls.  It's not only cool, but massively safer with allowing you to keep your eyes on the road. The BIG genius was Ford using your phone as the core tech and feeding that information and functionality throughout your car.  As soon as your phone is synced, you don't even have to take it out of your pocket again for the car to be able to utilize content like your music, phonebook, 3G connection and GPS.

The down side to this is that the controls are a bit confusing and that is coming from a guy who never met a VCR he couldn't program.  It's cool, but I'd have to say that the common driver just isn't there yet and would probably utilize about 10% of what the system can do.  Ford could use some a couple of lessons from Apple on the UI side of things, but it's a work in progress and very impressive for 1st'ish gen tech.

The Skinny: The Lincoln MKX car is basically a pimped out Ford Edge, but that's not a bad thing and it's also a really good amount of pimping :)

To say that I enjoyed driving the Lincoln around would be an understatement.  I'm was most impressed with the fact that most of the coolest tech (other than the air conditioned seats) is all safety related and really makes a big difference in how you safe you feel in the car.  Almost like it's an extension of your own perception.  My biggest hope is that this tech will become affordable enough to come standard in every car within a few years.  

What Will Google Fiber Mean for Kansas City? Part 1

I've been asked this question with more frequency lately as Google Fiber begins to become more of a reality for folks here in Kansas City, KS and KCMO.  Of course the answers are way more far reaching and deep than I can speak on, but that's never stopped me before.

I'll break this blog post up into 4 parts.

Part 1: Big Picture of Google Fiber

Part 2: KC Agencies and Google Fiber

Part 3: SMCKC and Google Fiber

Part 4: Just the nerd in me

My goal is to get some conversation started.  "With great power, comes great responsibility."  Yes it's a quote from Spiderman and yes that makes me a giant nerd, but it's fundamental truth that KC better get the hang of quickly because we we're being given keys to dad's porsche and we gotta make the most of it.

Google stated from the very beginning that, "they were building the sandbox and filling it with sand, but it was up to us to bring in the Tonka trucks and build the sand castles."  I love that quote by the way, but it simply states that they aren't providing us the answers or the opportunities that Google Fiber will create.  Tha'ts up to us, and so far I haven't been impressed with the amount of people stepping up to the plate.

Big Picture:

This is where I attempt to jump 10,000 feet up in the air for a minute and take a snapshot of the big picture.

national gigabit interent speed infrastructure will be crucial for the US to hold onto it's stake as the world's technology leader. Data is king and there is a whole lot of it.  In order to take advantage of it, we need to build bigger pipes for it to flow through and that MUST go all the way to the home.  It's all about the access.

It's a BIG win for small cities everywhere, not just Kansas City.  Just like small companies are able to act more nimble and adapt more quickly to change, it seems the same can be said for cities.  The implementation of gigabit speeds will come from small cities the size of KC first as larger cities have WAY more red tape to deal with as well as larger relationships with the telecommunication companies that may have interest in slowing Google's process.

Education:

I'm excited in opportunities that will be brought to our school systems and the next generation of Kansas City.  Gigiabit speeds will completely transform the way children and adults will be educated.  With schools already beginning to take cursive writing from the curricullum, we need to come to grips and grab hold of these changes and techologies and stop wasting time trying to hold onto the past.  Education systems that can adapt will reap the rewards and those that cannot won't survive.

The ability for a single mom to get a creditited MBA in her home is possible now,but with gigabit access to the home that degree may just come from Harvard School of Business.

Communication:

I think companies like SKC that deal in video teleconferencing are going to be really happy for the next few years.  Gigabit speeds mean a major jump in the experiences that will be possible with communicating across the country and the world.  So as more data is able to get through, say goodbye to crappy conference calls and choppy video that doesn't sync up to the action.  The closer this communication gets to the real thing, the more companies will let proximity decide partnerships and that is great for the midwest.

Medical:

Companies like Cerner that deal in medical data or school's like KU Med have had to be jumping up and down right after Google made their announcement.

Think about the ability to push a video or high res x-rays instantly across the world to a specialist in India or even test results across the city to your general practioner.  Though these things are possible now, the speed and infrastructure needed isn't. 

Hospitals have changed VERY slowly to new technoligies when it comes to communication and data organization.  it's a hefty task, and there is still a long way to go, but wider pipes of data will help.  With the processing power taking place elsewhere, there will also be a decrease in cost of the technology needed to run on this grid.  

Google Fiber is a BIG topic and I've just skimmed the surface, but in my next entry I'll talk about how I feel Google Fiber will effect the marketing agencies here in KC.

As I said before, this is meant to spark conversation, so please use the comments section to make this happen.  Link back to your own blog entry and put some content out there.

iThoughts Mind Mapping on My iPad

I'm constantly looking to get more from meetings, speakers, or any information that comes my way.  Organizing and breaking down large ideas is the only way I can wrap my head around complex concepts.  To many times I've looked back at notes that I've taken during a meeting and it's impossible for me to decipher my thoughts even a few hours after the meeting.

That's a lousy place to be, because there isn't anyway to get that meeting back or the information covered. 

I've recently found the conecpt of mind mapping.  It's a quick and visual way to break down ideas and thoughts into different buckets and connect everything fluidly.  You use a lot less descriptive text and it's amazing how much I retain even days after I have been exposed to the content.

It's visual and I love that.  Of course you can draw out your mind maps on paper, but unfortunately I am allergic to paper and have the hand writing of a trained chimp so it's just not an option for me.

Luckily I ran into iThoughts HD.  An iPad version of iThoughts that was originally launched on iPhone.  This app lets you make really quick and slick mind maps on the fly during meetings.  Of course that means you can bring in images, export them out and play with the data pretty fluidly.  It's a simple and impressive app.

I know there are a lot fo mind mapping apps out there, but this is my first and I'm impressed with how quickly I got the hang of things.  

Would love to hear from anyone else out there that is utilizing mind maps into their daily life and if there are any other apps out there that are worth the download.

Below is my first mind map that I put together to put my current life into some perspective.  Im proud of the simple visual and invite you to try your own!