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Author: cgerrish

Unemployed philosopher

Calacanis: A Free Radical

Published November 18, 2006 by cgerrish

The network will benefit from Jason Calacanis’s recent departure from AOL. While it takes a very talented executive to take a closed network and bring it into the open — while transforming the fundamental economics of the business entity — the politics of such an endevour can be soul crushing. The power in this type of situation always resides with the entity that must be changed and ultimately destroyed. Power rarely cooperates with its own destruction.

Jason has two qualities that the current crop of Web companies need to learn. He takes business personally. He wants to compete and win. Defining an opponent can focus creativity and innovation. The second quality is that he believes in paying for value. Paying Netscape Navigators to be editors and gatherers is the beginning of an important new economy. Building platforms where this kind of value can be created and where people can be compensated is the most important building block for the next generation of the commercial Web. We need to put an end to the idea of building for profit companies on the back of free user generated content. If the content has value, there needs to be a mechanism for compensation. The network needs Jason Calacanis to fill this hole.

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Virtual Affordances: from earth to aether

Published November 18, 2006 by cgerrish

As the network is unbound from metal wires and begins to diffuse into the air around us, the number of access points expand enormously. This signals the beginning of the end of the KVM (Keyboard/Video/Mouse) interface. These interaction methods owe their existence to the typewriter — they exist because of tradition, not efficacy. The typewriter is not mobile — it lives on a desk. The laptop has introduced an new mobility — but there is an opening for a new device that reveals how truly painful it is to lug a laptop everywhere. The joystick and other game controller devices point the way for the Web. Binding actions to these new devices will need to become part of our coding standards.

The other approach is one taken by Palm and now by Apple: a touch screen that can simulate multiple interfaces. A keyboard and mouse can have true differences in feel and design — but the modes of interaction are well established. A blank touchpad interface that can be visually designed and programmed presents new interaction opportunities for a small form factor device.

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The Ballad Of The Gillmor Gang

Published November 16, 2006 by cgerrish

Is there a correlation between the volatility of the Gillmor Gang and the state of Bubble 2.0? Which will blow apart first? If it blows, there’s a much shorter distance to fall.

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As Seen On YouTube!

Published November 13, 2006 by cgerrish

One can’t deny that there’s some bubbly-ness about the current crop of internet start ups, but as Scoble points out, there are some significant differences. Google figured out how to turn traffic (“eyeballs”) into revenue through AdSense. And the new internet companies aren’t dropping loads of cash on traditional media to buy advertising. No TV commercials for Digg.

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