1980k 1980k

Transparent Machines™. Our society is obsessed with the conflicting concepts of transparency and privacy. We are “outraged” by the actions of the NSA, yet continue to willfully upload more and more of our personal information to Facebook and Google. This film explores the contradictory nature of our actions and beliefs regarding transparency. Source

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I’m Not The Product, But I Play One On The Internet

“If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.”

I don’t know who said it first, but the line has achieved a kind of supernatural resonance online. And for good reason – it describes a kind of modern internet company that provides a free service. These businesses are designed to aggregate a large number of users in order to sell that audience’s aggregate attention, usually in the form of advertising.

But the more the line is repeated, the more it gets on my nerves. It has a stoner-like quality to it (“Have you ever looked at your hands? I mean really looked at your hands?”). It reminds me of McLuhan’s “the medium is the message,” a phrase that is seemingly deep but collapses into pointlessness the moment you think about using it in any practical way.

There are several subtextual assumptions present in “you are the product” I think are dangerous or just plain wrong that I’m going to attempt to tease out here. Many of these thoughts have been triggered by Instagram’s recent cluelessness, but they’re not limited to that. I also want to be clear that I’m not arguing that everything should be free or that we shouldn’t examine the business plans of the services we consume. Mostly I’m just trying to bring some scrutiny to this over-used truism.

Assumption: This is new or unique to the internet.

Free, ad-supported media has been around for a long, long time. When I was in college, before the web existed, I worked on alternative newspapers. Not only were they free, we actually walked around campus thrusting them in people’s faces.

I guess you could call the people we gave them to “the product,” but it sure didn’t feel that way when I was driving my VW Bug over Highway 17 filled to the roof with newsprint. The product was the thing I broke my back creating and hauling around.

Online ad-supported media is no different. It’s free, it builds an audience, and then it sells access to that audience in small chunks to companies willing to pay. There are ways to do that while still maintaining respect for the consumers. We’ve been doing it for years.

Assumption: Not paying means not complaining.

The “you are the product” line is most often repeated when a company that provides a free service does something that people don’t like. See Instagram’s recent terms change or any Facebook design update. The subtext is, this company does not serve you, you don’t pay for it, so shut up already.

But that’s crazy talk. If a company shows that they’re not treating you or your work with respect, vote with your feet. Uninstall. Delete account. Walk! And make sure they know why you split. It’s the only way we have to make companies feel the repercussions of dumb, user-hostile decisions.

Assumption: You’re either the product or the customer.

I’ve worked for, and even run, many companies in the last 20 years with various business models. Some provided something free in an attempt to build an audience large enough to sell advertising, some charged customers directly, and some did a combination of both. All treated their users with varying levels of respect. There was no correlation between how much money users paid and how well they were treated.

For example, at JPG Magazine we sold something to our audience (magazines, subscriptions, and ultimately other digital services) and we also sold ads and sponsorships (online and in print). We made it 100% clear to our members that their photos always belonged to them, and we had strict rules for what advertisers could do in the magazine. We alsopaid our members for the privilege of including their photos in the printed magazine (as opposed to Instagram’s new policy that they can use your photos however they want, even in ads, without paying you a dime).

This example is much more complicated than the black and white “you’re the product” logic allows. In some cases, users got the service for free. In others, they paid us to get the magazine. In still others, we paidthem! So who/what is the product?

And just because you pay doesn’t mean you’re not the product. Cable TV companies take our money and sell us to the channels, magazines take our money and still sell ads, banks and credit cards charge us money for the service of having our money. Any store that has a “loyalty card” takes our money for products but gives us a discount in exchange for the ability to monitor what we buy. In the real world, we routinely become “the product” even when we’re already paying.

Assumption: Companies you pay treat you better.

I should be able to answer this with one word: AT&T. Or: Comcast. Or: Wells Fargo. Or: the government.

We all routinely pay companies that treat us like shit. In fact, I’d argue that, in general, online companies that I do not pay have far better customer policies and support than the companies I do pay.

The other day I had a problem with my Tumblr account. I sent an email. In less than an hour I had a kind, thorough, helpful response from a member of their support team. Issue fixed.

The next day I had a problem with my internet connection. I called my provider. After listening to hold music for a long while, I got someone on the phone who obviously spoke English as a second language, was not allowed to deviate from their script, and had less experience with the product than I did. They did not fix the problem. I was told to wait until it fixed itself.

The difference between Tumblr and my ISP? I pay my ISP over $50 a month. I pay Tumblr nothing.

Thinking critically about the business models of the services you use is a good thing. But assuming that because you pay means that things will be better is a very bad idea.

Assumption: So startups should all charge their users.

The apex of this argument is Maciej Ceglowski’s Don’t be a free user essay, in which he advocates that people “yell at the developers” of sites that don’t charge money.

Look, I’m thrilled that Pinboard has been a financial success for Maciej. I’m a paying member! And he’s right that it’d be nice if more companies could turn their users into customers that support the business.

But not all businesses can be run that way. Entertainment and media companies are rarely able to charge their consumers for their product. My company, Cute-Fight is a fun game, but I couldn’t throw up a brick wall on the homepage and expect it to succeed as Pinboard does. It’s just not that kind of business.

This blind “my way is the only right way” thinking is a poison to innovation and destructive to those of us building free services that dohave business plans. Some businesses require mass adoption to work because they depend on economies of scale or a large audience. There is nothing inherently wrong with that.

What’s inherently wrong is a company changing its terms of service to screw their users. What’s wrong is a company that sells your data without your consent. What’s wrong is a company that scales back customer service to save a buck, leaving its customers angry and frustrated. But those things usually have nothing to do with whether you’re paying them or not. They have to do with the company’s leadership, their level of complacency, and their demonstrated respect for their customers.

Bottom line it, Derek.

We can and should support the companies we love with our money. Companies can and should have balanced streams of income so that they’re not solely dependent on just one. We all should consider the business models of the companies we trust with our data.

But we should not assume that, just because we pay a company they’ll treat us better, or that if we’re not paying that the company is allowed to treat us like shit. Reality is just more complicated than that. What matters is how companies demonstrate their respect for their customers. We should hold their feet to the fire when they demonstrate a lack of respect.

And we should all stop saying, “if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product,” because it doesn’t really mean anything, it excuses the behavior of bad companies, and it makes you sound kind of like a stoner looking at their hand for the first time.

Source

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Which 5 Technologies Will Shape the Future?

Article: Source

Envisioning Technology is an award-winning trend forecasting studio that has released a report called Envisioning emerging technology for 2012 and beyond that gives a timeline for technologies in categories such as Artificial Intelligence, internet, interfaces, robotics, biotech, energy, and space.

Their goal is to predict  where technology is heading in the future, and they have developed  visualizations, keynotes and custom reports, like the one here, to display their research.

You can download the PDF or visit their website and view the full list of the many technologies and their detailed definitions.

I have chosen 5 from the pack as most influential in their respected categories.

1. Geo-Engineering: Desalination estimated by 2030

Image source: (AP Photo/Brad Doherty)

The necessity for fresh water in the coming century is apparent to most people and yet it is often overlooked as a problem for the future. If we don’t start developing this technology now, it won’t be prepared for when we need it. There are some projects in motion such as the start-up Atlantis Technologies which has created “a low-cost, chemical-free desalination system that can remove salt from oil, gas, mining, and industrial waste water,” according to its website. The company is calling the technology radial deionization, but it is small scale compared to what is necessary to ensure easy access for H2O to the global population.

Now that is just for more developed nations who don’t have to fight for their water. Imagine what kind of positive change this could bring to countries in serious need. I will end this talk of desalination with a quote from Cracked.com: “But even if fresh water is running out, we can take comfort in the fact that, as rational people, we at least won’t be going to war over it all Mad Max-style, right? How about we just leave you with these links about water supply-related conflicts between Pakistan and India, India and China or Israel and the rest of the Middle East, and let you answer that question yourselves. Sleep tight!”
Read more: 6 Important Things You Didn’t Know We’re Running Out Of | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19048_6-important-things-you-didnt-know-were-running-out-of_p2.html#ixzz2AkDF0JVT

2. Robotics: Self-driving cars by 2018

Image source: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2012/01/ff_autonomouscars/5/

Yes you read correctly. Self-driving car by 2018 is seeming more and more plausible as a reality.

Whereas the first technology is targeted at a severe need and is aimed to eliminate and imminent long-term problem; driverless cars are more about efficiency and convenience.

Don’ get me wrong there’s certainly a safety aspect to it as Google said on its official blog in August, that the autonomous cars have completed over 300,000 miles in a variety of conditions and “there hasn’t been a single accident under computer control.” Source.

No longer will there be those early mornings where you are so tired you nearly rear-end the car in front of you. No more having people shake you awake on long drives. You can actually use this time productively and did you know that North Americans Spend on average 15 Hours a Week in Their Cars. (Maclean’s February 27, 2006)

One landmark study on highway safety, determined that 369 269 Americans were killed between 2001 and 2009 by motor vehicles. More tragic then the number itself was the fact that 93 per cent of those cases were most  likely by caused human error. Regardless of what company releases self-driving cars first, it should make a big decrease in the amount of people injured each year by vehicles. The lives that have already been lost are a tragedy but at least now a potential solution emerges.

3. Biotech: Printing Organs by 2017

Image source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443816804578002101200151098.html

The process of waiting for an organ donor is currently pretty morbid because if you receive one, it means someone else has had to give theirs up. Even worse, there may be no available organ to transplant in the limited time and then lives are at stake. Now, with 3D organ printing we may finally be able to match the growing demand for supplementary organs.

Bioprinting, is similar to ink printing on a page. Only it is not on a page but 3D and not with ink but living cells. Alright so it’s a little more complex but you get the picture. Of the technologies on the page, this one has some of the most research already in progress.

Wall Street Journal: “It allows us to print a tissue structure that is a functional, living, human tissue,” says Organovo Chief Executive Keith Murphy.

Organovo doesn’t sell them yet, but keeps the equipment for its own product development projects. It does share them with other researchers through partnerships with Pfizer Inc., United Therapeutics Corp., and Harvard Medical School, among others. Mr. Murphy declined to disclose the details of these arrangements or say what bioprinted cell products were in development.

The programmable printer has laser-guided printing nozzles that can extrude inks composed of different cell mixtures. In each drop of ink is a solution that contains about 10,000 to 30,000 cells. The bio-ink is a mix usually cultured from stem cells taken from a donor’s bone marrow or fat. Those cells can then be grown into the many different cell types necessary for tissues.

“You use building blocks of cells to make a 3-D structure, almost like building something out of Legos,” Mr. Murphy says. “The cells do all the finishing touches themselves.”

4. Energy: Space-based solar power by 2040 to 2050

Image source: http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/

The search for a long-term sustainable energy source has been going on forever and now we may have an answer. Although currently unattainable, much research has been done into discovering whether we can harness energy from space via solar collectors and beam it back to earth in the form of microwave rays which satellites will receive and  convert to electric  energy for the grid. Solar power on earth is subject to the constant changing from day to night as well as covering large portions of real estate. From space it would be gathering energy 24/7 and could solve the impeding global energy crisis.

Geek.com: “After conducting a three-year study, the IAA says that the technology exists to make beaming the energy down to collectors on the surface a reality. This model is ideal because space-based satellites won’t have to deal with weather, atmosphere, and other obstacles that hinder the collection of solar energy. It would also cut down on fossil fuel emissions since solar is “clean” energy.”

5. Geo-Engineering: Vertical Farms by 2026

Image source: http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2010/01/13/3d-farming-26-vertical-farms-and-green-skyscrapers/

A vertical farm is usually a converted skyscraper where each floor grows a different crop and all the water and nutrients are recycled to be used again. This concept cuts out the need to transport your agricultural products overlong-distances by providing farms to high-density urban areas. Also in an era where processed food are reigning supreme, it would be good to give local residents easier access to a healthy option when it comes to their daily diet.

Wall Street Journal: “One ambitious project under construction is trying to address all of those challenges at once. At 12 stories, the triangular farm in Linköping, Sweden, will be one of the tallest vertical farms in the world—most max out at several stories—and will use innovative ways to generate revenue. Not only will the company behind the farm, Sweden’s Plantagon, sell its produce at a local farmer’s market, but it also will lease out office space on most floors.”

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