you can't copy innovation.

I read an article, not too long ago, about the creation of a Chevrolet plug-in hybrid, and how the major goal was to actually create innovation.  I can't remember where I read it, but the major thing I took away (other than the project probably being doomed) was Toyota announcing a similar product later on, with a more restricted schedule and numbers, and a GM exec feeling accomplishment and delight, even awe, in the fact that this fearsome, dominant competitor was being a 'follower'

The BlackBerry Storm, the first touchscreen phone from RIM, is available in the next few days (I believe starting Nov 21st).

Just saying.

more rabid iphone love.

This time, I think, I've centered on why the iPhone impresses me so very much.  It's not just a phone with mobile internet.  It's the first thing I've used that has actually incorporated nearly all of my mediated communications into one package, that fits into my pocket.

I got interested in computers and the internet right about the time I realized livejournal and ICQ were better ways to speak to my friends than a telephone was.  Part of my stance on this was that I was a 13 year old boy, and phone conversations seemed like a lot to ask.  A larger part was that I could incorporate ICQ and LJ into my workflow (although that isn't how I thought of it at the time).  I could have conversations while doing other things.  This very quickly became the whole point of computers, and the internet, for me.

A list of communications tools I use on my computer: gmail, gtalk, msn messenger, skype, blogger, twitter, tumblr, facebook, linkedin, google reader.  (I'm definitely missing a few)

Communications tools I use on my iPhone: gmail, palringo (msn and gtalk), tumblr, google reader, twitterific, facebook, linkedin, sms, voice calling, voicemail, blogger, etc etc etc.

The iPhone impresses me not because it's the best phone I've ever used (it is) or the best mobile internet experience I've had (my laptop wins that one), but because it's not just a phone, it manages to facilitate the use of nearly every communications tool I use, from anywhere, without much hassle.  I never have to say 'if I was on msn, I could get in touch with _____', or 'I'll have to send _____ a facebook message when I get home'.

I joked with friends a few weeks ago that we'd say to our kids 'when I was your age, we had the internet in our hands, not our brains, and we were damned lucky to get that!'  As time passes, I'm fairly certain I'm going to point to the iPhone as the first palpable outbreak of the hyperconnected future.  Because it's a medium agnostic communications tool, rather than a phone or PDA or computer.  And every time I start using something like that, my life changes a little bit.

things i learned while in jamaica.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been in Jamaica for the last week. As a slow intro back into the blog-wilds, here is a short list of things I noticed during what was likely the most un-connected week of this digital native’s life.

• I get all of my news from social media. If you had asked before I left, I would have said the majority. But I was in a hotel room with satellite TV, with a large enough segment of my family watching it that I should have picked up some news by osmosis. The only thing I knew about the outside world during that week was who won Wimbledon, mostly because there were TV’s over the resort’s main bar.
• I have no idea how to live without a cell phone. More than a hundred times, I attempted to reach for my phone. This is apparently my first instinct when I can’t find someone instantly, when I need information about something and I am away from a computer, and when I’m trying to organize group dynamics. I cannot express how lost and frustrated I was when I could not contact people (not rooms or locations) at will.
• The cell phone is the only platform that matters worldwide. In a country with widespread poverty, everyone had a cell phone, operating on a pre-paid basis. This was used socially and for business, but literally everyone I encountered. Resort staff were showing us pictures of their homes and families, then texting other resort staff when they needed to reach them instantly. This technology also enables the ‘side-businesses’ that most resort staff seem to use to supplement their income.
• I sort through an absurd amount of data, even ignoring work communications and research, in a week. The amount of online magazines, PDF mags, articles, rss items, etc etc etc waiting for me will, I think, take at least three weeks to catch up on, when you take into account work, and the amount of further incoming information.

The next couple of weeks / month should result in some changes as to how I do things on brokengentleman.com, as well as online in general. I’m going to refrain from saying how, because it’s a large overall personal strategy change, and I don’t want to be held to a certain path or timetable.

democratic panopticon

[This is a work in progress, and it will be either heavily edited (when I am less sleepy), or re-written and re-posted (possibly with better defined arguments). Let's just consider this one workshopping online.]

This post is heavily thematically linked with a previous one, titled Paparazzi Panopticism.

Thing one: Warren Ellis' Crooked Little Vein includes a character who discusses the idea of cellular phones with cameras as a weapon. Any they are, because it allows anyone to create content, news content, information content, disruptive content. If you want the speech, buy the book. Seriously. It's brilliant.

Thing two: My father, who has, over the years, gone from the kind of guy who buys a 286 and convinces his wife that it's good for the kids (which it shockingly was), to the kind of guy who dislikes that blogging gives anyone a platform to say anything, made a compelling comment over dinner. That a world where people have cell phone cameras is a world where corruption is harder to get away with.

These things got me thinking. The effect of everyone being about to record anything isn't the us vs them issue that so many people think it is. The Panoptic reality this creates isn't binary, there is a more complex dynamic than authority vs people. What we're left with instead is a democratised panopticon, where interpretation and evidence can come from all sides, and from all agendas.

The intriguing part of this, for me, is the subversion of the original theory. Panoptic realities are about people policing themselves in fear of an authority who may or may not be watching at any given time. But the current situation isn't just about authority. Now there is reasonable need to fear that any action that would offend a reasonably sized community will be shown, and you will be penalized socially for it, by that group, and groups affiliated.

To put it simply, this isn't just about being caught standing against the whims of authority, now. It's about the possibility of being caught, at any time, for any act deemed against society, or even peace in society. This is more involved than fighting authority, for one simple reason - a democratised panopticon is inescapable.

In terms of fighting authority, it's marvelous that someone can't be tasered needlessly without it being caught on film. Authorities should be held responsible for their actions, because they have power. The same can be said for celebrities, which justifies, to an extent, the concept of the paparazzi panopticon. But a democratic panopticon seems to bring with it a need to better define the limitations of acceptable behaviour, of what acts, statements or opinions are anti-social in a strong enough sense to require response.

Or will the standard reply be something to the tune of 'live like no one's watching'?

on helio (written months ago).

I’ve written before about Helio, the telecommunications company that actually seems to understand the point. I bought a fairly recent issue of WIRED, (mostly because I read the Halo 3 playtesting story online, and was intrigued enough to desire sidebar content), and with it came a little pamphlet from Helio, talking about the ‘new social ettiquette’. Good marketing from a company that offers a product refined enough that it doesn’t actually require good marketing – this is the road to awe.

Image set on flickr.

The New Social Ettiquette is, more than anything else, Helio making a subtle point about how seamlessly integrated into modern (youth) existence telecommunications tech is, and how dependent one can become on an increasing level of mobile communications. MySpace mobile, IM, email, etc. This is the un-blackberry, moreso than even the iPhone can claim to be. This is what I imagine South Korean telephony to be. This is the dream.

The dream is goddamn hilarious.

Helio recognizes it’s audience. It doesn’t talk about technology, other than mentioning a ‘superfast 3G network’. The focus is on what you can do with it, and the relation to flirting. Flirting as killer app. This is far from brilliant, but it’s a much more measured approach than other attempts to link technology and sex.

Helio is demonstrating that its marketing army aren’t deluded into thinking that features sell products and services. How the features are used is the only product. The only product is experience. The New Social Etiquette booklet is one page of features, and nine pages of fun things you can do with them.

Is it aimed at teens and early 20s frat-youth? Obviously. But it works. It works in the same way CP+B campaigns work. They get the idea across, and you go out and find the details because you’re addicted.

Helio. The New Social Etiquette. Or more importantly, She’s Not Interested If.

hitting close to home.

I just received my new phone in the mail, and was fairly certain the handset was broken - i couldn't set any mp3 ringtones that i attempted to transfer via bluetooth.

But no, this is a common problem in Canada, for fido customers, apparently. They DRM locked my phone so that it will only play ringtones downloaded from the online WAP store, accessible only via the phone.

They also, just to piss me off, seem to have locked out the option that lets me connect to my home internet through the phone, via bluetooth.

Fido is doing a really good job at making me regret customer status.

relationships and mobile media.

I am an avid text messager. I use my phone to send and take images, track my time, and give little reminders to those I care about. I don't have a smart phone, or one with any remotely impressive PDA capabilities, I use a somewhat outdated Sony Ericsson model that fulfills my needs of very long battery life and good reception better than I have come to expect from portable telephony. I had a cell phone for almost 2 years before I used any of these things, despite them being available to me. And, I think, the deciding factor for me to begin using the cell phone as more than just a last minute communications tool (as in, 'change of plans, to another coffee house') was entering into a serious relationship.

I went, in the space of a few months, from being completely against the concept of text messaging, to being the kind of person who sends a few a day. My original stance on the issue was something to the tune of 'why would I pay ten cents to send a five word email I typed with my thumbs?' This is still, when I think about it, a reasonable position. I think, more than the introduction of a girlfriend into my life, this was a matter of my relationship with the telephone in general changing greatly due to the introduction of said girlfriend.

Let me explain; to the average single male, a telephone call need not last more than 45 seconds, unless one is talking to a family member. At that point in my life, most of the phone calls I made were about who was picking up whom, where we were going, what movie we were seeing, etc. Now that I had a significant other, I was actually having conversations on the phone. About how my day was, how hers was, making plans for the next few times we would see each other, and yes, sometimes just sitting and enjoying a mutual silence for exorbitant fees. This is, I would assume, a very common occurrence in young men, that entering a relationship is the point at which one makes phone calls for more than the sake of organisation.

The difference is, the telephone is no longer just used for voice conversation. So instead of changing the way I used a single technology, entering a relationship recontextualised SMS messages, sending digital stills, and other pocket technology minutiae, such as the use of a picture of my significant other for my phone background.

I changed my phone number today, and sent a message to some of my friends with the details. And I realised that I never would have done that, if my relationship to that technology hadn't expanded with my relationship to the phone, which in turn expanded due to my relationship with a certain girl.

And that, is my mostly sappy post for the day.

move over iphone.

Apple won me with the iPhone. Pretty, new interface ideas, and smooth minimalist design. I won't buy one until I've had the chance to play with one, but I'm obsessed enough that my girlfriend rolls her eyes when I mention the thing.

At the same time, I've had an eye on Helio for a while, after I read a fold out ad on the inside cover of an issue of Spin (I think the one with Thom Yorke on the cover, but I could be wrong). This is the first I've seen of the Helio Ocean, but it impresses.

The thing about Helio that attracts me is the complete service they offer, including 3G and data plans that understand a multimedia phone is going to eat any limited service plan, or be underused. Frankly, I'm still kinda pissed that Helio isn't available in Canada. Then again, there's been no iPhone announcement for the True North strong and free, either. [EDIT: checking the comments thread, I am entirely incorrect. Rogers it is. Sigh.] This just in, technology hates Canucks.

Offering a complete suite, a service rather than a device, is ironically enough what attracts me to Apple products. Steve Jobs likes to point out at keynotes that if you want to make great software, you should be making hardware as well. Well, if you want to make a great cell phone, create the entire experience, under your own name. It doesn't matter if someone else is providing the network to run on. Don't attach yourself and your unproven design to someone as universally despised as Cingular (Rogers seems to be the best example in Canada, although everyone hates their cellular carrier.)

I still want an iPhone, if only to toy with multi-touch to my hearts content. But innovation as a selling point only works if it's across the board.