Sunday 29 March 2009

High speed broadband and piracy

There was an interesting article in the Sunday Times today (p.B7) suggesting that there is a potential link between online piracy and high speed broadband. In 1995, the South Korean government pledged over a £1 billion to rollout high speed broadband throughout the country. Today, it is not unusual for households have broadband connections in the region of 100Mb/s.

At these speeds, it is possible to download a full length movie in a couple of minutes. So it will be no surprise to find that online piracy has become a significant issue. This coupled with the fact that DVD players haven't been that popular in South Korean (only 20% of households have a DVD player compared to 80% in the UK), further fuelling online piracy. You will find more information here on boing-boing.

There is concern that the uptake of high speed broadband in the UK might drive a corresponding rise in piracy. While music has been subject to piracy for some time, the increases in connection speed are making movie piracy more practical.

So the question is how do we provide high speed Internet access without driving piracy?

I think the key to this is providing legitimate access to this content. For example, I have been a great fan of the series "24" - you know, the one with Keifer Sutherland as the government agent. I have watched every series to date, but although series 7 is currently playing on TV in the US, you will not be able to get it in the UK until later this year (it is released on October 19). Unless, of course, I download it illegally. It is possible to download it via a number of bit torrent sites. If I could buy it online, I would. But I can't. Who knows? I might even pay a premium.

Why not take an opportunity to convert a potential pirating opportunity into an opportunity to make money?

Otherwise, you can pre-order your copy of Series 7 here.

Predictably Irrational

I just loved reading this book. It was the sort of book that you know by the time you get to the end of the first chapter that it is going to be a good read. This book doesn't disappoint.

Our irrational behaviours are neither random nor senseless - they are systematics and predictable. This book takes us through a set of experiments across a wide range to subject areas to prove the point. And it proves the point well. The material is presented in an engaged, and often humourous, style that makes the book very easy to read.

This analysis of irrational bevahiour (and it's impact on our decision making) is in direct contradiction to standard economic theory that assumes we all conform to simple rational rules (e.g. supply and demand). This book provides a new way of thinking about these behaviours and ultimately brings into question many of the assumptions that underlie traditional economic theory.

Take a look at the website that goes with the book. There are updates to much of the research as well as Dan's blog highlight how his analysis can be applied to current affairs.

Enova HD digital camcorder

I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the video produced by a digital camcorder costing well under £100. Although these low end camcorders can look like a bit of a toy, this device is incredibly well made - it feels very solid.

Like many of the other digital camcorders it has a "flick out" USB port that makes connecting the device to a laptop an absolute breeze. The camcorder appears as a mass storage device and files can be uploaded by dragging and dropping them onto the laptop.

I like the fact that the device uses rechargeable AA batteries. The batteries and the charger are included. These means that the batteries will be cheap and easy to replace and if they run flat while you are away from home, you could use disposable batteries as an alternative.

The downsides:
  • The interface is not as simple to use as similar devices. The Flip is easy to use and it is surprising that such a simple hardware UI could be made this confusing. The UI to the Flip is much simpler and easy to use;

  • To compound this, the instructions are pretty minimal (a folded up piece of paper about 3 inches wide and 12 inches long). I was expecting to find detailed instructions as a PDF document on the enclosed CD. No such luck. Why didn't the manufacturer do this? It wouldn't have cost anything (other than producing the material in the first place). Failing that, why not include a URL to the instructions? No luck here either. Strange.

  • The battery life is pretty poor and doesn't last more than about 30-40 minutes if you are lucky, so an 8Gb memory card probably is going to lead to a flat battery. Maybe there was a reason why the batteries are replaceable!

  • I was disappointed that the recorded format is .mov. I would have preferred either .avi or .wmv. The enclosed software does allow you to edit and then transcode to the content to .avi or .wmv, but it is an additional step. Some video editing software (e.g. Pinnacle 12) won't import .mov files for editing, so watch out. More fool me, I should have checked before purchasing the device.
I would be tempted to use a Flip rather than one of these devices, but the quality of the video is pretty impressive for a digital camcorder under £100. If you are looking for an inexpensive HD video recorder, then take a look at the Flip HD. It is slightly more expensive than the Enova, but it is probably worth the extra cash (I only have the "normal" version of the Flip).

Wednesday 18 March 2009

Sunday 15 March 2009

The Big Bang Theory

I watched a couple of episodes of this when I was in the US last month. I had never seen it before even though I believe that it has been broadcast in the UK.

This has to be one of the US's funniest sitcoms in years. Really fun and unfortunately sometime I can see bits of myself in it. Many years ago, of course!

I have just about finished watching Series 1 courtesy of LoveFilm.com. Series 2 starts next Thursday (26th March) on Channel 4, 9:30pm. If you haven't seen it, keep an eye out for it.

Mastering the Hype Cycle

Most people working in the IT industry will have come across the Hype cycle in one form or another - if the "trough of disillusionment" rings a bell, then you have come across the Hype cycle.

The book is split into two parts: Part One provides an overview of the Hype cycle. It takes us through each phase of the Hype cycle describing the characteristics of each phase. The (particularly) up to date examples help add life to the narrative. For me, I spent some time trying to work out where I thought many current innovations were in their journey through the Hype cycle - this is not as easy a task as you might think! However, it can be crucial to the success implementation of any innovation.

Part Two describes a process (termed STREET by the authors) for identifying, tracking and then introducing innovations based on the Hype cycle and your organisation's drivers and appetite for risk. This part of the book takes us through the process, step by step.

I think this book will be particularly useful to those people who are working in organisations that are involved in decisions about introducing new innovations. While it is aimed primarily at external innovations, there is no reason why the same process could not be applied to innovations that are generated from WITHIN your organisation.

Well written (which is exactly what you would expect from two Gartner analysts!) and exceptionally useful. Practical and definitely not overly theoretical. It certainly made me stop and think a little more deeply about the innovations that I am involved with and how (and when) they should be pursued. Highly recommended reading.

Sunday 8 March 2009

Sony Zeotrope

Just goes to show that sometimes some of the best ideas are old ideas!

Reality check

Improv Everywhere

If you follow the links on YouTube, you will find lots of other Improv Everywhere videos. Another one of my favourites is the Food Court Musical. You will find it here.

Saturday 7 March 2009

25 things to hate about FaceBook

By understanding how a few become great, anyone can become better

This is a well written and accessible book. I found it compelling reading and finished it in a few sittings. The main tenet of the book revolves around the Nature vs Nurture debate and there is no doubt that this book is on the side of Nurture. It debunks very effectively the myth of innate talent and lays out the argument that the route to World class performance is through deliberate practice. I, like most of us, am all too quick to blame my inability to master a musical instrument or an artistic pastime on my lack of talent. This book argues that with deliberate practice, this mastery could be within reach. It wouldn't be easy, but neither is it impossible.

It is critical to understand what is meant by "deliberate practice" as I suspect for many of us this will be a key learning. Deliberate practice is an activity designed to specifically improve performance, often with a teacher's help; it can be repeated a lot; feedback on results is continuously available; it highly demanding mentally; and it isn't much fun. There are great examples of what it is NOT and I can empathize with much of the anecdotal comments from my years of trying to master playing the drums. Understanding how to design deliberate practice is clearly key.

The book covers how this can impact organisations as well as individuals. Chapter 9 covers innovation and how deliberate practice can impact the creative process.

As the previous reviewer has commented, some of the material covered in this book also gets a mention in Malcolm Gladwell's latest book (Outliers), however, I found this book more interesting and definitely more practical. It leads the reader to a conclusion as well as providing practical ideas about how to improve your own and your company’s performance.

But probably best of all, I found it inspiring and upbeat. Great reading. Highly recommended.

Monday 2 March 2009

Soduku Grab

Here's a blog from a friend of mine who has written an application for the iPhone. The application allows you to grab the image of a soduku puzzle using the onboard camera, the software then identifies the grid, the numbers that it contains, and then provides the answers! There is a video on youTube showing the application in action. You will find it here.

You can buy the application via the Apple store and Chris has kindly published his sales data on the blog. It will be interesting to see how this develops. Good luck, Chris.