The Demise of Data

05Jun10

Clearwire’s recent response to AT&T’s decision to remove the unlimited data option from it’s pricing plans may be a glimmer of hope, but most commentators say the end is near for all-you-can-eat data, and other carriers will quickly follow AT&T’s lead.  Most of the tech faithful have responded with outrage at the news, but anger doesn’t seem to be the right fit for the immense sense of disillusionment that I’m feeling – a feeling that comes from all of the lost possibilities that unlimited data brought to the world of mobile computing and the future innovations that now may never exist.

Three years ago Apple broke the smartphone market wide open with the iPhone, but it was the unlimited data plan that came with the phone that really allowed mobile computing to proliferate.  For years, unlimited data has brought us countless YouTube clips, endless Pandora and SiriusXM music, live streams from Qik and Ustream, and more recently, shows from Netflix.  It’s allowed us to start using our phones as mobile shopping assistants, a portable news crew, and a GPS system to name a few.  With the promise of two-way videoconferencing just days away, how can this be the end of unlimited data?  It’s as if Wonka lead us in to the Hall of Liquid Chocolate and then forbade us to drink any more than two sips from the fountain.

It’s been rumored for years that Google has been building a nationwide internet service system and even that they are working on their own wireless carrier options. Some of those rumors have proven to be true.  Perhaps Google will be the savior of unlimited data.

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Sharing: The New World Currency

02Apr10

Image: http://bloggerstop.net/2009_11_01_archive.html

Some might think the new world currency is a stock market of Facebook friends.  That’s close, but not quite it.  It’s the knowledge and experiences you contribute to the world, largely online, that is quickly replacing your savings account as the world’s measure of your net worth.  Let’s call it your social quotient.

Your social quotient is measured in everything from friend counts, posts, traffic stats, tweets, followers, badges, and even lowercase “i”s.  It’s built, blogged, located and tweeted hundreds of times a day, and you don’t even have to count it all – it’s done for you by the thousands of systems lumped together under the banner of social media.

In the early days of networked computing, before the internet, computers could connect to a central hub known as a BBS or bulletin board system.  Once connected, users could share files and chat with the BBS operator and even with other users.  Those who dialed in to download files but didn’t contribute were termed “leeches”.  The BBS systems evolved to limit the access of those who didn’t contribute and reward those who did.

I don’t think anyone today is intentionally ostracized like the leeches of the past for not contributing – at least not yet.  But there is a new class system forming among those who are involved in social media and contribute regularly and those who are aloof or actively shun sharing.  As a digital marketing strategist, I commonly advise experts to “give” away their knowledge because those contributions become currency in a world where not sharing is equated with a lack of knowledge.

However, that kind of thinking has lead to an arms race to share more than the person next to you.  It started with knowledge on blogs and has now digressed to tweeting about the @pizza you’re #eating with Gowalla or Foursquare.  I do believe these new types of connections will ultimately change our society for the better in ways that we can’t dream of now, but there is a danger.  No, it’s not that someone will break into your house after you tweet that you are eating a pretzel at the Twist and Shout; the danger is in a new kind of snobbery – a digital elitism if you will.

The digital divide is widening.  Rural access to high-speed internet, poverty and the lack of access to a quality education are real barriers that are undermining this brave new world of connection.  We must all keep in mind that just because someone didn’t tweet it or campaign against it on Facebook, their ideas are still just as valuable.  It’s important to understand that just like monetary wealth which can be frittered away, this new social equity may turn out to be a bad investment if it makes us forget that we are all valuable to someone.  If nothing else, keep in mind that time waits for no one, and if you aren’t careful you could easily become a digital pariah yourself.  Then would you consider your contributions to be any less valuable?

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Ipad at the Gates

01Apr10

Are iPads going to invade college campuses this fall?  That’s a question that popped into my mind as I contemplated the immanent arrival of my own iPad.  With a rumored initial order of over 500,000 iPads, Apple likely already knows the demographics of its early adopters.  The rest of us are left to guess how the 2010-11 freshman class is going to meet its computing needs.

Apple Adoption

Last year our IT office reported 49% Mac use among the incoming freshman class.  I’m sure among those entering with laptops the percentage was even higher.  Apple has seen huge growth year-over-year within Furman’s freshman class, and I’m certain we are the rule and not the exception.

iPad versus the Macbook

Macbook and Macbook Pros have been the favorites among our students.  Would this crowd consider ditching these stalwarts for an iPad?  There are two ways to think about this.  On one hand, parents have made a huge investment in sending their child to college, and they want to make sure the child has the right equipment to give them the best chance of success (this thought pattern often includes a new car).  So what’s another $1500 on a laptop for the peace of mind in knowing they’ve provided the best computer possible?  This kind of thinking will likely reduce the number of students entering with iPads.  Let’s be honest, though — iPads really can do everything the typical college student needs to do on a computer.  iWork, along with the keyboard doc, takes care of the term papers and presentations.  Email and web browsing (minus Flash) are no sweat.  Even video and photo editing are now taken care of with third-party apps. And at $500 for the entry-level model, you could buy the newest model each year for the next 3 years and still break even with the cost of MB pro.  However, kids these days have likely already used a laptop for high school work.  Are they going to be ready to give that up to take an iPad to college?  Not likely.  In the end, I think we will see huge numbers of kids show up with iPads, but they’ll be used as very expensive mobile accessories to the more typical laptop computing experience.

The Big Boom

I think some folks who would have stretched to afford a Macbook will instead choose the iPad.  But the real explosion will happen when the baby boomers wake up and realize they don’t have to be chained to a slow, buggy, virus-riddled, confusing Windows PC camouflaged as a money pit.  The day after Apple’s iPad keynote I called my mother and mother-in-law to tell them the computer that “just works” has finally arrived.  Is that the market that Apple is aiming for?  I think so.  They’ve obviously missed the mark with the “tech elite,” who I think have missed the point.  Is it a closed system?  Mostly.  But that’s just what the average computer user is dying to have right now, even if they don’t know it yet.  Is this what the average college student will want?  Probably not as their primary computer, but as a lust-worthy accessory the answer is a definite yes.

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Video Killed The College Essay

24Feb10

According to a recent New York Times article, almost 7% of Tufts University’s incoming class submitted YouTube videos as part of the application process.  These submissions were in response to an invitation from the university for an optional YouTube video submission.  This is making big news for the university within the blogosphere and within mainstream media.  Some of the videos have already received tens of thousands of views.

Lights, Camera, Cut

It seems that many factors could be driving this trend.  For years now, Apple’s market share has been rising among college students.  Last year, Furman’s IT department reported that 48% of the incoming class had Macs.  Thanks to Apple’s iMovie software, which comes standard with any Mac, many prospective students now have access to easy-to-use video editing software.  Even more ubiquitous, though, are video cameras.  Cisco’s Flip division really were the ones to kick off the cheap, flash-based video camera craze and are still going strong.  Every Mac laptop, iPhone, and most iPods come with built-in cameras.  Even low-end cellphones now include cheap video cameras.  The final piece of the puzzle is the tool to share the video.  I could write an entire post about how comfortable teens are with sharing their lives online with other teens, but it’s pretty obvious with a quick YouTube search that teens are posting much of their lives on the network and sending those videos to an admissions counselor would be a natural fit for today’s connected kids.

What About The Underprivileged?

Lisa Gillespie at Campus Progress thinks that YouTube videos should have nothing to do with the application process.  ”A portion of kids who graduate from inner-city schools cannot read and write, which means it’s a bit hard to write a college essay and fill out paperwork, let alone get access to a video camera and editing software,” says Gillespie.  Although I’m not certain how kids who cannot read and write are going to get into any college, I do agree that access to the technology is a valid concern, but this concern isn’t new.  With over 95% of college applications coming in electronically, access to a computer and the internet is already a necessary piece of the college application process.

Applications Become Public Record

Colleges have been accepting digital additions to applications for years.  YouTube is just the latest format for these submissions, but it does bring more to the table than just a new format.  It makes the video sharing process much easier, which means more students will use it, but more importantly it makes the application open to the public.  This could be both good and bad, but so far the gamble is paying off for Tufts and, with several of these videos receiving tens of thousands of views, the university is receiving a lot of free publicity.

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