Sky’s Blog

I had run into GapMinder some time ago, but was reminded of it when I encountered this talk that Ola Rosling^[1] gave at Gov 2.0 Summit^[2] that really makes it clear how the visualization of data — especially visualizing data over time — can give us valuable insights into trends in the physical and social world(s). Their Trendalyzer software is used by Google…as you’ll see in this presentation. (continue reading…)

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Rather than blasting out advertising indiscriminately to everyone, firms are finding they can target individuals who like their brand and can influence others to see the brand more positively. There are more and more ways to find out who your brand’s advocates and influencers are. That’s because software is now tying the data together so we can actively decide how to reach and, more importantly interact with, our passionate customers. Social media allow us to openly and transparently interact with and have conversations with our customers.

Susan Bratton, JD Lasica, Renee Blodgett and Robert Scoble discuss these aspects of marketing and customer relations in this roundtable in Cambridge as a part of Traveling Geeks 2009.

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I’ve just spent 48 hours “beating myself up” over the Comcast (cable) high-speed Internet system here in San Francisco. I say beating myself up because I was so convinced the problem was Comcast that I spent hours on the phone with them, but ultimately most of the problems were in my own network. [Not all, but most.]

In US cities, the license to install and operate cable television networks is a city-granted monopoly. When cable TV was first being installed, each city opened a bidding process, and cable operators bid to be granted the franchise to install and operate the cable system in that particular city. If they won it, they then had exclusive rights. So in San Francisco, we have telephones provided by AT&T (which originally was Pacific Bell Telephone Company) and we have cable TV provided by ComCast (only – no other provider). Satellite TV lies outside this structure and is available everywhere on a competitive basis, but that’s a different issue.

Comcast also delivers Internet connectivity (and telephone service) via their cables. And that’s the rub. (continue reading…)

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Where’s my identity? Well, of course, it’s my brain and body, to be sure, and all of that stuff I’ve done during my lifetime, and all the connections I’ve made, but then again, my personal data is all over the place so who knows how much of me might be scattered around in many places?

The thought occurred because I got out of my car a few weeks ago without turning it off, and when I returned to it several hours later, it was still on.^[1] Nobody had messed with it, but it had remained there at the curb completely “on” and drivable. My “identity” as far as the car was concerned was the RFID “key” that I was carrying with me.

Where else have we embedded or attached our identities to physical objects these days? (continue reading…)

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