SmoothSpan Blog

For Executives, Entrepreneurs, and other Digerati who need to know about SaaS and Web 2.0.

Archive for March 17th, 2008

Are You Getting Smarter or Just More Average on the Web?

Posted by Bob Warfield on March 17, 2008

Saw a little blurb on Discipline and Punishment:

The only cure for groupthink is diversity. Social news sites like digg and reddit are diversity-elimination machines so this boat has already sailed.

I’ve been saying this for a long time.  If you’re seeking out what the likes of Digg, Reddit, and Techmeme have identified as the “hot” items, you’re just making yourself more average.  You’re opting into group think, and I don’t mean the wisdom of crowds.  One of the key requirements for crowds to be wise is that they be independent.  A whole bunch of people on a service like reddit or Techmeme are just oscillating around the same meme feedback.  Very little new is being created there.

Isn’t that why you get a bunch of hits from one of those services but little lasting bump up in your ongoing traffic?  It’s just the lemmings looking for their next meme cliff to step off of.

If you want to get smarter on the web, look for new things that aren’t in those places.  Spend a few hours on Google deeply researching a topic you’re interested in.  Find some new sources for information.  Add some new feeds to your RSS reader.  You won’t be disappointed.

Posted in Web 2.0 | 1 Comment »

Microsoft Thumbs Nose at Apple With Flash Lite

Posted by Bob Warfield on March 17, 2008

I love it.  Microsoft is adopting Flash Lite for its mobile phone work after Steve Jobs said it wasn’t good enough for the iPhone.

As Techcrunch points out, Flash is ubiquitous on the web.  Apple should adopt it, iPhone users (including me) desperately want it, but Jobs is Jobs.

OTOH, Adobe won’t wait forever.  They know Microsoft will eventually replace Flash Lite with Silverlight.  Maybe they should do their own mobile phone software?

Which brings me to another question I ponder from time to time while commuting.  Why doesn’t somebody clone the iPhone?  Not just a little bit, but perfectly.  Now is the time.  There is no ecosystem to speak of despite the new SDK and big fat VC funds for iPhone deals.  Jobs saw to that by waiting so long to introduce said SDK.

It’s odd, but given how Apple has gone to market with this phone by locking a lot of folks out, it seems like there’s an opportunity to clone it and sell some phones.  Usually one has to look for the Next Big Advantage and not just clone, but I think here a clone would be fine. 

What better company to build one than Adobe partnered with Nokia or one of the other handset makers?

Posted in wireless | Leave a Comment »

 
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