Re-calibrated… re-engaged… processing…

Photo: tomspixels

The best movies I saw in 2007 were all science fiction. I feel very good about this. The list includes:

-The Mist
Nothing like “The Fog” and ‘great’ “Twilight Zone”-esque ensemble acting.
-Children of Men
Feels like reading a great sci-fi novel. Damn realistic. Highly underrated.
-I Am Legend
Better than “Omega Man,” really. Smith finally transcends his corniness.
-Sunshine
Odd casting stops it from being ‘great.’ Beautiful visuals. Great plot.

Many producers attempted to capture attention with valiant efforts in other genres like the amazing “Michael Clayton,” the flawed ending “No Country For Old Men,” the slow burn greatness of “Eastern Promises,” as well as various films about war, love and of course documentaries. But in a time when our world is so topsy turvy that even normal life resembles sci-fi, it turned out that sci-fi movies were the best vehicle to communicate the surreal nature of our current reality.

One last thing that I think it is important to point out is that each sci-fi film I mentioned had religion centrally tied to its plot. And, amazingly, not every film argued “in favor” of religion. In fact, “The Mist” and “Sunshine” appear to actively refute the importance of the Almighty as their plots come to resolution. As such, this brings into sharp relief the fact that the central struggle of our time relates not to war, the economy, or communism, but to religion and faith. As usual, science fiction points the way to the collective unconscious, or objective psyche, of American society.

The one film I have to recommend above all is “The Mist.” Old school fans of “The Fog” (like me) have nothing to worry about, this is completely different and definitely more important. I won’t give away the plot or surprises, but suffice to say that this film features one of the best “Oh crap, we [i.e. humanity] are so screwed beyond all hope at this moment we all might as well just off ourselves right now” moments in film history. Ten minutes to go until the end I truly had no idea what would happen next, and that is very rare in recent years.

My measure of a great sci-fi film is whether or not it has impact on non-sci-fi fans. Not for special effects spectacle, but for pure story. “The Mist” achieves this feat. Really, this is the kind of mind blowing classic sci-fi/horror I grew up with that made me love the genre. Even now, many weeks after having seen it, the film still resonates within me on many levels. You’ll either love it or hate. Go see it.

Hopefully 2008 has just as many treats in store.

As a journalist sometimes your gut is your best friend when it comes identifying a story with real legs. Unfortunately, if the subject isn’t on your beat or you simply don’t have the time/resources, a story you know is important will go ignored for years. Such is the case with this blog and the dangers of cell phone use. I’ve been casually tracking any stories relating cell phone use to health problems for years and one thing that remains consistent is that no matter where the story is published it’s almost always a “small” story. I’ll leave the conspiracy theories to late night radio hosts and simply say that it’s a shame more isn’t published on this topic.

That’s why I was pleased and not a little scared when I found this item today, “Israeli study says regular mobile use increases tumour risk.” There’s nothing iffy or inconclusive about the story, it pretty much makes a flat out case that using cell phones is incredibly dangerous. But the story, for some reason, is tiny and has received very little coverage. Aside from asking yourself if potentially shaving years off your life is worth the convenience of a cell phone, you might also ask yourself why this story is receiving so little exposure in the way major coverage. Why?

*Background On This Post (or, Why I started posting on the potential dangers of cell phones): Around 1991 I was working as a marketing exec in the music business. At the time having a pager on your hip was standard operating equipment. I loved it. But after a couple of months I began to notice an aching pain where I had my pager clamped. I assumed it was just the clip, or the pressure of the device pressing against my body. So I started moving the pager around trying to find a more comfortable spot. It was then I that I realized that it was not the device’s body that was causing me pain. In fact it was the power/signal coming from/transmitted to the device that was causing the aching pain. I immediately stopped wearing pagers and the pain disappeared.

Then, a few years later when cell phones became standard operating equipment for nearly anyone doing business in New York, I experienced the same thing. For all my friends that have long wondered why a geek like me doesn’t carry around five cell phones and doesn’t always rush out to get the latest model, you now have your answer. I try very hard to limit my cell phone use and direct contact. I don’t need a major scientific study to tell me that when I keep a pager or cell phone close to my body it hurts and that that can’t be good.

I absolutely love cell phones and think they are an important part of our future, but I fear that we’re ignoring the underreported side-effects of using these devices because cell phones have simply become too important to get rid of completely. I expect more reports like the one above to surface. But at this point I’m not so sure that finding out cell phones are potentially bad for your health would stop most people from using them. After all, smoking cigarettes remains as popular as ever. Cough, cough…

Photos by: PartsnPieces

I’ve read some decent analysis regarding Google’s new Android mobile computing platform and the new video from Sergey Brin announcing the $10 million fund to inspire developers to code new applications for the operating system. After mulling it over for a bit something occurred to me: This is Steve Jobs’ Mac OS vs. Windows nightmare all over again.

For those not versed in OS history, Apple/Jobs essentially lost the opportunity to own the computer industry many years ago by insisting on keeping the Mac OS wed “only” to Apple hardware while Microsoft opted to license its OS software to various hardware vendors. At the time, Apple’s strategy of controlling the entire hardware/software experience looked like a solid profit plan, while Microsoft’s early strategy seemed risky to such a young computing market.

The “sell the razor blades not the razor” technique is tried and true, but the personal computer business was a brand new market and success depended on Microsoft’s ability to cut enough of the right deals in a market that was then dominated by the giant known as IBM. Anyone that claims Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates weren’t engaging in a huge gamble are full of it. Regardless, that gamble paid off, and now Microsoft owns the lion’s share of the desktop OS market share.

Now that historic dynamic is at work again, happening right under everyone’s noses. This is Steve Jobs’ Mac OS vs. Windows nightmare all over again—only this time the nightmare is happening to Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer.

Google’s introduction of Android as an open source mobile phone computing platform is not a challenge to the iPhone. The iPhone is a boutique device with limited growth potential due to a closed environment and one—count’em—one cell phone provider. The real target of Google’s Android is Microsoft’s Windows Mobile computing platform. There are some foolish naysayers who either don’t get it or simply dislike Google as a company because it has become too powerful, but I’m convinced that this move will be almost as big if not bigger for Google than the company’s search dominance.

Watching the rise of Linux and then Firefox on the shoulders of the open source community has convinced me that, if played correctly, open source software is no longer a paper tiger when competing with closed platforms. The $10 million incentive offered to developers will only hasten Android’s adoption.

So, if you own an iPhone and think you are using the future of mobile computing, you’re only half right. Like the Windows vs. Mac platform war of old, the slick functionality of the iPhone is definitely the future of mobile computing, but the mobile market will be dominated by Android and the hundreds of companies and developers supporting the robust open platform.

During a brief speech (about 3 minutes, see video below) about the strike, Writers Guild of America member Howard Gould explains why the writers are striking: “It’s the way my kids watch TV… They hear about a show, they look for it on the Internet. Soon, when computers and your TV are connected, that’s how we’re all gonna watch. Those residuals are going to go from what they are [now] towards zero if we don’t make a stand now.”

He’s right. Only his prediction is a little late. The migration and money making from repurposing broadcast television content on the Internet has already begun. This may go a long way towards explaining why the studios aren’t so eager to negotiate this point. The real revenue already being generated by online repurposed TV content is probably already sweeter than we’d expect.

**More scenes from the strike include:

-”Grey’s Anatomy” star Sandra Oh chanting, “How greedy can you get, you have to share the Internet!”

-Old schooler Garry Marshall (of “Happy Days” fame) waxing nostalgic about previous strikes.

-Two writers from “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” explaining their take on the strike and why ABC.com should be paying them for online content.

Photo by myyearofnewthings

*This post was originally about the delusional comments from the head of the Writers Guild East, but I interrupt this blog post to mention that one of the most popular shows around, ‘24,’ has officially been cancelled for next season because of the writers strike. Considering that ‘24′ is probably the most popular series drama on television, this is huge. OK, back to our regularly scheduled muckracking…

I think the Writers Guild made a smart move by getting on this DVD/Internet content compensation issue early before the big bucks roll in as broadcast TV gradually moves completely online (more on that in another post). But Michael Winship, president of the Writers Guild of America East, has allowed the strike to effect his higher mental functions resulting in absurd statements like the following made to one NY Times reporter: “Losing Stewart and Colbert is something like losing Cronkite during the Vietnam War.”

OK, I miss my Colbert Report, and I won’t argue that a lot of people (foolishly) get their news from Jon Stewart, but equating those shows with hard news is ridiculous. I’m actually rather surprised that no one from the mainstream news media has stepped forward to challenge Winship’s assertion. Maybe the reporters and anchors are afraid Winship is right.

Opportunity Crease: If non-union writers, indie filmmakers and video bloggers are paying attention they’ll realize that this is their greatest opportunity to capture the attention of the public. As the TV reruns increase, the already large online video audience will grow even larger, and not everyone will be content to watch online archive video of their favorite television shows. That’s where the the opportunity for indie online video creators exists… “if” they’re paying attention.

Colbert photo by David Shankbone

So all the hype leading up the release of the rumored GPhone or Google Phone has resulted in one gigantic thud today as the company revealed… no GPhone. Rumors that the announcement would center around software and not hardware started filtering through the blogosphere last week, but many still hoped “some” sort of hardware would be revealed, especially after all the reports of GPhone prototypes in the wild reported months ago.

Alas, not only is Google not announcing a new cell phone, but the mobile software initiatives they have announced–Android (see explanation video here) and the Open Handset Alliance—aren’t due to be available in existing phones until this time next year. If Google’s stock price can withstand this kind of major geek letdown, then there’s nothing stopping the company from cracking $900 a share very soon.

The list of handset makers and carriers involved in the initiative is impressive. In the U.S.: LG, Motorola, HTC, Samsung, T-Mobile and Sprint. In Germany: T-Mobile. In Italy: Telecom Italia. In Spain: Telefónica. In China: China Telecom. In Japan: NTT DoCoMo and KDDI. The two major hold-outs in the U.S. were AT&T (of iPhone fame) and Verizon.

So what does this open source mobile operating system mean for the computing landscape as we know it? Well, if you believe the now common insider thinking that mobile devices will soon displace desktop and laptop computers (some believe this has already happened in Japan), this essentially means Google is attempting to put Microsoft and Apple out of business (assuming you’re thinking in decades, not quarters). So, no GPhone, but instead we get a much cooler and dramatic new wrinkle in the history of operating systems. Steve Jobs might want to start rethinking his cozy relationship with Google, and Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer might want to stop playing cute and go ahead and acquire Yahoo, however many billions it takes. Google has let loose the dogs of war!

Appropriately, the scariest day for Facebook comes today on Halloween in the form of a post from Ning’s Marc Andreessen announcing Google’s Open Social open web API that will essentially kill the app development momentum of Facebook developers. Open Social will allow these developers to create social networking apps across various platforms, without being hemmed in by the walled garden that is Facebook. Included in the initial rollout are Orkut, LinkedIn, hi5, Friendster, Plaxo and Ning

Andreessen explains it best when he says, “With the Facebook platform, app developers build to Facebook-proprietary languages and APIs such as FBML (Facebook Markup Language) and FQL (Facebook Query Language) — those languages and APIs don’t work anywhere other than Facebook — and then the apps can only run within Facebook. In contrast, with Open Social, app developers can build to standard HTML and Javascript, and their apps can then run in any Open Social container.”

Translation: Mark Zuckerberg should have accepted one of those early multi-billion dollar offers long ago, because now it’s game over. That $240 million that Microsoft just sunk into Facebook for 1.6 percent of the company will never actually materialize into the $15 billion valuation being tossed around.

I pointed out that Facebook was just the latest “hot club” months ago on Wired in the The Law of Diminishing Coolness. Now Google’s move with Open Social will prove this law to be truer than even Zuckerburg might have guessed.

DAMAGE TALLY:
-Unlikely Winner: Steve Ballmer
-New Zuckerberg Nickname: Bubbleboy
-Biggest VC blunder: Facebook app funds
-Repurcussions: Expect a Facebook sale announcement before the end of the year (that’s 60 days if you’re counting)

P.S. If you’re one of the adventurers out there actually betting against Google… well, I’d like to talk to you as soon as possible regarding the sale of an extremely undervalued bridge that will soon be for sale.

Photo by SVB

So the Wikimedia Foundation is moving to Silicon Valley to join the Web 2.0 fun, but meanwhile a very exciting part of the empire has quietly fallen by the wayside—OpenServing. Wikia announced the site late last year as a major initiative to allow anyone to create a social media website complete with RSS and Digg-like voting features already mixed in. The key was that all the server space was to be given away for free and site creators would be allowed to keep 100 percent of their ad revenue.

At the time, Wikia founder Jimmy Wales (pictured above) said, “People are rapidly adopting new conventions for working together to do great things, and Wikia is a major beneficiary of that trend. OpenServing is the next phase of this experiment. We don’t have all the business model answers, but we are confident - as we always have been - that the wisdom of our community will prevail.”

So a few days ago I visited the site to see if any new developments had occurred and was shocked (and disappointed) when I was met with several dead links and no access to the content sites that had been planned. The idea for OpenServing was exciting and I had high hopes for the project. After searching in vain for any sign of OpenServing life on the Internet I reached out to Wikia co-founder Angela Beesley for some answers.

Beesley was extremely gracious yet frank when she told me, “The OpenServing effort was never very popular or successful despite a lot of press attention around its launch, so it has really dropped in our priority list and I don’t expect an awful lot to happen with it over the next few months as we’re focusing efforts on developing new features for the main part of our site, which is wikia.com, and on the upcoming search engine due for release in December.”

And as for all those who got excited about launching something on OpenServing… “If you’re interested in starting a wiki, I would suggest you use requests.wikia.com rather than OpenServing. Although the deal with the Google ads isn’t available there, all of the content is released under a free license, so you are welcome to monetize it in other ways, such as by reusing the content on another site, or by selling copies of the content produced or related merchandize.”

So while Wikia hasn’t officially shuttered OpenServing, it’s clear from Beesley’s comments that the project is a non-starter, which is a shame. OpenServing was big picture thinking along the right lines and could have fostered a number of interesting content offerings. Perhaps with more of the Wikia family now moving to San Francisco the group’s next launch will draw more energy–and users–from the local geek community. Hopefully, none of this will stop Jimbo from continuing to launch interesting and forwarding thinking experiments.

Photo by Puggles

The big chatter today is focused on Google’s acquisition of Twitter competitor Jaiku. Not interested. Twitter has the attention. Pownce and Jaiku are nice, but not as exciting and energized.

So let’s talk about another potentially seismic event in technology: the fast growing momentum of free music from recording artists. By now the story about Radiohead’s free album give-away is well known to most music fans. But today another report came out of the UK that indicates rock supergroup Oasis and funk-pop star Jamiroquai (pictured above) are making noises that they’ll release they music for free as well. Both groups are without recording contracts and have huge fan bases worldwide. Now that Radiohead has shown this move isn’t career suicide, we may see a lot more of this distribution method, something I predicted about seven years ago.

I have a lot more to say about this free distribution movement, and I intend to back my words up with actions, very soon. But for now let’s just say that any music business executive not already planning a radical business model change in the wake of recent events is… obsolete.

Photo by radio1interactive