Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
I recently finished reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I found this book to be quite fascinating and a bit puzzling. Mr. Gladwell did not seem to take into account the person’s choice in the events that happened. For example, he discusses Bill Gates and how he had several unique opportunity to learn programming because of unlimited access to several terminals and powerful computers. The thing that he seems to gloss over is that Mr. Gates chose to pursue and delve into the computing world of his youth.
I agree that we are in part a product of our environment and that of our parents and grandparents. I recognize that my parents paradigm and that of my grandparents has had an influence and impact upon my own personality and perception of the world around me. I also recognize that my view of the world will impact my children and how they view their world.
I am also acutely aware of the course my life has taken and how that has shaped my life and my career. I once considered a much quieter life on a ranch or farm. I could have pursued that life and I would probably have been a very different person than I am now. I would not have the love and drive to understand technology that I have; nor the desire to understand how technology influences our lives. I am very interested in how we use technology and its impact on each societal group.
How does Mr. Gladwell view choice in the consequence of their history and paradigm of the world.
iron wil
Wired, How to Fix Your App
I was listening to a favorite netcast this morning and realized that to fix your iPhone [& mobile App] the company will need to take a few steps.
- Sell the App for $20
- Change the Subscription Model
- $10 for the paper magazine ONLY
- $20 for Digital delivery to the mobile app and website access
What this means is that each month a subscriber can get the digital version of the magazine BEFORE the delivery of the paper version; yes, that means mobile app and website.
I don’t know about other subscribers; but I would pay for this. Of course, I read Wired.com everyday for news & information that is going on in the Technology space.
iron wil
The Next iPhone, will it be 700MHz?
There is a lot of rumor about when the next iPhone, the Verizon iPhone, will be out in January. I have to admit that this does 2 things, it puts the iPhone out of the standard development cycle and releases a phone onto a brand new network, an UNTESTED network. Well, the network trials are going on now and limited user trials are rumored to be going on now.
LTE or 4G is being rolled out this January by Verizon. LTE is built on the 700MHz band that was purchased a few years ago by Verizon and AT&T. The promised speeds can be up to 5 – 12 Mbps. This is different from Sprint’s 4G service which is WiMax and it is not based on the 700MHz radio band.
There are several articles on Verizon’s 4G network and the Verizon iPhone. What I think we will see is an iPhone 4[X], or 4G, that is the same device with the 700MHz chip set. That way there will be a phone that covers the new services being rolled out by Verizon and AT&T in 2011. It makes sense that even if Verizon is rolling out the new service in January that Apple would wait until the summer before delivering the new device; that way Apple will cover 2 networks at once. I believe there will be an announcement in January and the phone in late June. Apple likes to plan things out and deliver their products with panache.
iron wil
Update, 2010.08.16
Adam from MacCast also supports my beliefs on the full 700MHz spectrum iPhone 4. It was also discussed on TWIT.tv on TWiT #260 and TNT #49. Some of the panelists feel the same way, others share their points of view.
I just finished reading the book Christ and the New Covenant by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. While this is a very well written book and it allows the user to gain a plain language approach to the doctrines and principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as contained in The Book of Mormon.
If a person is having trouble understanding the doctrines of The Book of Mormon, then this would be a very good book to ACCENT their personal study of The Book of Mormon. If a person is not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I think they would find this book a good read and assist them in getting a better understanding in modern English of The Book of Mormon.
Elder Holland does a great job at using plenty of scriptural references to all the standard works [of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]. Elder Holland relies heavily upon the verses in The Book of Mormon to bring out his thoughts and show the doctrines of the Gospel.
iron wil
Online Authentication
This is a huge subject that covers many aspects. We have Facebook pushing Facebook Connect, we have Open Authentication, a small group looking at delivering a distributed ID system, and browsers taking a crack at possible ways to deliver our online identities. There are opinions all over the map from guys like Jason Calacanis, Leo Laporte, and Steve Gibson.
I am not sure what the answer is; but I have to admit that I like Diaspora and am interested in what they end up doing. They received massive amounts of cash to deliver a product they came up with. Each person will hold their own ID and control how it is used. Mozilla has presented Thirdparty and Fingerprinting. Jason Calacanis has also ranted his displeasure on Facebook‘s Privacy while Leo Laporte has walked away from Facebook because the Privacy Policy has changed several times.
Facebook has now reached 500 Million daily users and is showing very little slowdown. Twitter is great for short messages and sharing right now news. Google is now working on a not so secret project titled ‘Google Me‘ a potential competitor to Facebook. Then we have Open Authentication or Open ID which is designed to deliver single sign on across the web; something that Microsoft tried to deliver years ago with Passport. There is such confusion over what the best solution will be.
Diaspora seems to bring the best ideas together by allowing the users to own the server, software, and information. It provides a single sign on that is controlled by the user.
What should the solution be?
That is a really good question. One, I have been considering for weeks, which is obvious since I am just getting this article finished & posted. I think that the best solution will allow for cross platform compatibility and easy user deployment. Software that can be installed similar to WordPress or Joomla. Plug-ins to enable additional features and content or games and video. It should be easy to update and take care of so that the average web user can manage their account and software. I imagine that several hosting companies, like DreamHost and SquareSpace, will provide managed installs. I hope that it will interface with Facebook and Twitter and several other services. It would make sense to me, that is always the hitch, that in order to compete and over take the competition; it will have to be very open and powerful. It would also need to provide Open Authentication [Open ID] like access to websites and deliver single sign-on services to a multitude of sites and services.
When it happens … the next social network evolution will change the way we communicate and interact. It will also change who owns the data and where that data resides. My personal hope is that projects like Diaspora will finally overcome the larger social juggernauts.
iron wil
OS X, Does it Have a Future?
In a recent episode of MacBreak Weekly [203: That's Our Lenny] the guys discussed if OS X has a future with Apple. I believe that Alex Lindsey gave OS X 5 years before it goes out the window. He theorized that Apple will move into consumer products and minimize or depart from desktop computers. I have to agree & disagree.
I don’t think that Apple will move off OS X unless it is to another desktop OS [11?]. I don’t think that they will move to iOS for their “Trucks” either, how else would people program for Apple products [pro & consumer]? I think that if they move to a touch based OS for “OS 11″ then we will see programming change to a modular and visual interface and the keyboard will still be needed for some functions. The only way the keyboard could be minimized is if a Star Trek like voice command is implemented.
What I think will happen is Apple will develop it’s Siri acquisition to build a more robust voice command interface and then over time move it into the desktop computer while beefing up the touch interface. I also think that the home desktop will turn into a media server that will be connected via Wi-Fi to the TV, stereo, and hand-held devices [iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches]. We will use the Knowledge Navigator [hand-held device] to interface with the home server and it will do the heavy lifting and data crunching. It will store and back-up all the data from our devices and allow for the transfer of songs, movies, and other data back and forth via Wi-Fi. Yes, this will work with the iPod Nano and Classic too!
The future of Apple is the Federation. No really, the future is going to be both trucks and cars, the desktop or work horse machine and the hand-held device. The number of desktop machines will diminish because a family will own one & then they will all have hand-held devices. The delivery of media will continue to be in two places the TV and the hand-held. We will see the ability to move from one device to another and the media will follow seamlessly.
Ahhh, the future, please come now!!!
iron wil
New Links on the BlogRoll
I added 2 new links to the BlogRoll; they are Wired and Tech News Today (TNT).
This should come as no surprise since they are both technology news site and netcast.
iron wil
