Tahoe needs a tram system. I know everyone sort of dreams of taking their SUV up there and tearing it up, but the reality is you end up sitting in traffic for hours on end. Its broken. A well designed, tram system that discouraged (or heavily taxed) driving in Tahoe would do wonders for the place. I was going to actually do a thought exercise that fully vetted the idea, but someone already did.
Check it out:http://www.tahoetram.com/
The initial indexing of the web was pretty simple. It's called Pagerank. If a page is linked to, or pointed to by a number of other pages, then that page must have some relevance to a keyword and is therefore ranked higher than other words. Slap some ads on this and you have a pair of billionaires are born. But as more and more people come online that hierarchy is no longer the most relevant way to search. Just as in real life, that which is relevant to your friends is very likely to be relevant to you. If you're friends start indexing things (broadly defined as anything on the web) they like, then those things can start to be ranked in an intelligent manner specifically to you. Until enough things are "liked," a search through them isn't really that effective. But if 500 million people start liking things at any pace, in a matter of time, there will be enough data to be ranked for really relevant searches......... Of course Facebook already knows this. Like is the new page rank.
One look at Hallmark's website and its pretty clear that after 100 years of being in business, it's not sure what to help us say anymore. Among the nostalgic paper cards we've all come to expect on those occaions, there are ringtones, iphone apps, sports teams branded cards, and e-cards that send themselves. In a time when all things paper are striving for a digital personality, that which conveys emotion hasn't figured out the right digital medium and is therefore trying them all. Hallmark, you've done a great service to people for over 100 years. Its clear times are changing, but some things are best kept in their original format.
At the Rise of Social Commerce conference the Hallmark representative, precisely as you'd imagine her, midwestern, wholesome, friendly, motherly yet kinda hot, confessed that they were in throes trying to figure it out. Its not an easy task. With the Gen Y & millennials sharing every aspect of their lives in almost real time, do they need help saying anything at all? Can a card written today and received 3-4 days later really compete with something that can be read almost instantaneously and shared among everyone you know. Yes, of course it can Hallmark. For over 100 years, guys have struggled to write how they felt in a card and relied on the clever quip you wrote to break the ice of what we were about to say. We'd write out what we wanted to say on a piece of paper 3-4 times to make sure we got it just right. Then carefully write it into the card using our best handwriting. Before sealing it shut in the envelope we'd read it one more time, unless it was that kind of note, then we'd quickly seal it shut forgetting what we wrote. Depending on our own age, the next step was in the delivery. Regardless of whether we were pedaling down the street, or driving across town, it was always the longest trip ever. You never listened to music, you just imagined what her facial expression would be as she read it and then what you'd have to say, or more importantly the move you'd make. Has, or the better question is, can Facebook or instant messaging really change that? Do kids SMS each other or have millennials evolved to the point where they can have the conversations without the assistance of the Hallmark card? Hallmark, rather than investing in ringtones... I mean the only people that buy ringtones are precisely the ones that would in fact never ever have a "Hallmark ringtone." Its time to launch a viral video campaign on Facebook aimed at women to help them remember what it was like before instant messaging (in all its forms) and digital public forums to get a Hallmark card and share that moment with someone... Perhaps the campaign is, do you remember the first time you got (gave) a Hallmark card from someone special?I do.
There was quite a bit of discussion during and after the panel I spoke on at the Location Based Marketing Summit around a comment I made regarding people's inhibition around sharing their location. I stated that it has everything to do with the social graphs most of us have built online.
Thinking of a concept and prototyping it within a day and then having the opportunity to present it to 400+ people isn't a bad way to spend the weekend. Of course with it being over 80 degrees in San Francisco, one could argue the other side without too much effort. There were a lot of impressive entries. My personal favorite was where the guys hacked together multiple phones to share a screen to play pong on. There was also "Bins and Boxes" for note or thought organization that I thought was pretty intuitive and could actually see myself using.
Algebra is probably the fork in the road for most students when it comes to their relationship with math. Its not intuitive and any success in solving the problems relies on mastery of the past 5 years of arithmetic. For many students in the United States, its too daunting a mountain to climb. Besides its boring. The problem with the education system is often framed as there aren't enough teachers to students and there is no way to keep students interested or attend to their individual needs.
HP buys Palm!
HP cancels Windows Slate!
Whats interesting about the iPhone is the very development of applications is meant to be short with little memory usage. Even with this there is a significant drain of battery when using the apps. I wonder how this will change with the iPad. After thinking about its usage, I believe that the most immersive applications will likely be those pertaining to healthcare and education.
