down the avenue

Cambridge's Nokia Labs Key Research Areas

I'm at Nokia Labs in Cambridge England looking at their latest innovations under the hood. Four Key research areas for them include: rich context modeling, new user interfaces, high performance mobile platforms and cognitive radio.

We looked at smart surface materials that externally control color change as well as nano sensing in future mobile devices.

Consider the mobile opportunities with over 3 billion mobile subscribers today. The Labs folks tout an outstanding statistic: up to 90% of the 6 billion people on earth will have mobile coverage by 2010. Note the adjective coverage, not mobile phones.

We also covered physical and digital worlds from personal to global sensor information.

Below Nokia's head of social media worldwide: Mark Squires in Cambridge.

Skype's Blogger-in-Chief & Robert Scoble Chat about Social Media

Below, I'm interviewing Robert Scoble and Skype's blogger-in-chief Peter Parkes about how blogging has changed over the years and how Skype is using blogging and social media in Europe and the rest of the world.

Is the Web Female?

Yesterday at Reboot Britain in London, there were back-to-back sessions and countless panels on technology, innovation, social media and the web.

It ranged from ending the digital divide, redefining the role of public service media, where next for the media and politics, consumer democracy or a politics of citizenship, to the future of policymaking, how video games open learning and creating a social, environmental and ethical revolution in business.

On the panel, “is the web female?” moderated by BT’s JP Rangaswami, four women talked about their opinions around a) what does the web ‘being female’ mean and b) should there be the "divide debate" at all?

Australian Joanne Jacobs was amusing and got a laugh from the audience when she said, I’d like to think that I’m the token bloke on the panel.” She tends to do more ‘masculine’ things online, she tells us. Before she went deeper, I was wondering whether that meant playing war games or creating widget skins in black and gray. Not quite.

Bottom line, how we spend our time online is different depending how much feminine energy we house in our daily lives. Are we women working from home, raising two children and active in our kids PTA? Or, are we women engineers developing the latest UI and have a child, but our husband does the chores and looks after the kids most of the time?

Or, frankly other issues altogether, such as the ones that we didn’t have time to really explore at depth. It’s not just how comfortable we are throwing ourselves into the public eye, but how much we say once we do, how often and with what tone.

Says Joanne, “Culturization is the hardest thing for specific needs or outcomes. The web a great opportunity for women and men to deliver what they are looking for and get what they want online.”

MT Rainey of Horses Mouth brings up the feminine versus masculine issue that I spend a lot of time thinking about. She says, “it’s not so much is the web female, but the question is how can the web men help bring out the feminine side?”

The flip side is true too and we see it in places like Second Life or chat rooms where women take on a male persona or act things out anonymously because it ‘feels’ safer to do so.

The debate in the hallway was mixed but most didn’t feel that technology was geared towards men. They haven’t been to Silicon Valley I was thinking. 99% of my client CEOs and head honchos have been men as have the majority of their engineering team. There’s always a token woman or two among us but I never feel as if they’re the main decision drivers. Bear in mind that this is the majority of my experience but not all.

I’ve certainly worked with women CEOs and proactively pushed women heads of business development and engineering for speaking roles and media interviews on countless occasions.

Masculine energy drives a lot of the UI decisions in many of my past experiences, as well as the marketing ones. When a target audience is predominantly female, then they'll often fork out the cash for the research to make sure they’re on track with patterns and preferences. And yes, they look to me for guidance.

It’s an interesting dance however since designers, like artists, love to create what they love and what works for them – and we all know that this isn't necessarily what their audience wants or needs.

One of the things women do online is get things done. It’s all about efficiency. Meghan feels that if women were involved earlier on, there would be more group regulation around commentaries on social forums and that technology would be more practical and efficient. More practical and efficient? I couldn’t agree more.

There’s also the issue about how comfortable women feel about making abrasive and controversial statements and comments on the web. Joanne feels that Americans and Australians are fairly comfortable about making abrupt statements online, although Sarah thinks that while American women are active on the web, they’re still not that comfortable with aggressive behavior on line.

It's obviously a cultural thing. Joanne would love to see women participate in more games in the real world that are more outcome oriented. “If I was going to improve the web, it would be more game oriented for women entrepreneurs,” she says.

As for improving the web, MT says in the spirit of Reboot Britain, “we have a lot of users who don’t use a lot of rich-media sites. We should create sites where women can come to a place to help each other rather than having to rely on institutional resources only. We should take those two big slices of what we spend millions of pounds on in the public sector, and create things online where people can deliver the soft elements that will appeal to women.”

Meghan adds two things: “clarity and friendliness and making it easier to find things on the web.” That goes back to the old age search debate.

Things often come full circle.

BT Tower by Night

BT hosted a magical dinner for the Traveling Geeks at the BT Tower in West London last night. BT's CEO Ian Livingston greeted us (below) and JP Rangaswami followed up with introductions to countless meet-and-greets, which included BT and NESTA managers and directors, as well as other partners and affiliates, such as a team from Ribbit, over from Silicon Valley for a board meeting. (they were acquired by BT roughly a year ago).

The view was incredible:

The food a treat (scallop salad, jersey royal potato pancetta frisse sauce with slow roasted beef fillet, girolles, baby carrot broad beans and summer truffles with red wine reduction).

The hospitality and service incredible (our telecom giants could learn a thing or two). Below a few fun snapshots from our evening.

The BT creative mastermind behind our a collage with character-like images of each of the Geeks...

Ribbit's Don Thorson, Tom Foremski, Rocky

Howard Rheingold, Sarah Lacy, Joe, Renee Blodgett, Meghan Asha, Jeff Saperstein

Sarah Lacy

Ian and Jeff Saperstein at dinner

Two of our BT hosts and Renee Blodgett, Sarah Lacy and Susan Bratton

Susan Bratton and Sky Schuyler

Meghan Asha

The Geeks crowd into one of the last elevators south for the night...

London even delivered us a sunset...

And Robert Scoble wasn't quite done shooting.....all the way home

On Organizational Growth & Use of Sales at Reboot Britain

Jeff Saperstein spoke today at Reboot Britain in London on opening up organizations for growth. He walked the audience through various case studies, which included how sales is currently being used in these organizations. Here's a quick overview on two of them in a short video clip.

London: Rich Stories at their Best

I always go to a melancholy place when I head back to the streets of London, even moreso when I visit my old stomping grounds. I suppose you could say that this is the case for everyone when they return to anywhere in the world they once lived, yet having lived in more than ten countries, England is different. London is different.

I think part of it is its heritage. Part of it is the left over piece that feels embedded in you as if some part of some generation before you walked the same streets before the turn of the century and their passed on DNA shows up at the oddest times….whenever I have a cup of English tea brewed the old fashioned way for example.

It also shows up when I feel the sense of community in both rural and urban pubs that has been watered down in the states over the last two generations.

And so, I cherish these melancholy walks. They take me through narrow alleyways with a surprise around every corner, crowded obscure bookstores near Tottenham Court Road, into cafes and wine bars where the tables are close together and people are wearing hats even in summer, past well manicured lawns in London’s northern burbs and well behaved dogs in Regent’s Park.

And then there’s Camden Town. Every time I think about my need to return for a meander for old time sake, I sometimes wonder how much of a hippee I was, or whatever the equivalent of that was in the late eighties.

I was drawn to the place then and still am today, despite the fact that my first introduction to it was 25 years ago and it’s become a very different place and I’ve obviously become a very different person.

Yet, it all still draws me in for the taking. The colorful stalls, the tattoos, the edgy haircuts, the funky boots, my favorite creperie that is still in the same place it always was, the incense that burns upstairs and that fabulous material and linen shop I can never remember the name of.

When you think about the energy of the universe and how it works, it’s no grave surprise that an old South African friend I first met in London before I hit the big 21 has returned to live here with her husband. She still lights candles and drinks Cabernet Sauvignon.

We were both blondes at the time and are now both brunettes or close to it. We both sold art from around the world – or so we tried. We both threw fabulous international parties where we danced and drank cinzano and lemonade until dawn.

Mine were held in my Earls Court basement flat which opened up to a small but tasteful garden courtyard. I still remember the faces as if it was yesterday and what a fascinating representation of friends I had at the time: Morocco, Ireland, France, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Iceland, Russia, Italy, Denmark, Israel, Greece, Belgium, Scotland, Zimbabwe…..

As you can imagine, the food was diverse and an important part of our experience with one another and we were never tired of conversation. We’d often land at someone’s flat for espresso at 3 in the morning after stopping into a famous Jazz Club near Kings Cross.

It was nearly a daily part of our evening routine for months until the big Kings Cross fire and then suddenly the bus, train, bus, and then bus again hassle to get there forced us to find a new locale.

Did I mention that we never tired of conversation? Everyone had a story, a rich, diverse and emotional story they were passionate about, and so, passion ruled our every exchange with each other, through some other form of expression we shared: art, music, dance, cooking, poetry or mime.

Although the international diversity was much less when I moved to the country, the stories remained an integral part of my experience living in the U.K. and now an integral part of my memory.

My neighbor Bill was the managing director or some such close to the top of the food chain title at Harrods Department Store in Knightsbridge, which was always a bit too much for my budget in those days.

I remember recruiting him and his wife for a play I wrote, which involved the launch of a marble tile company. I wove in Vivaldi to one of the scenes and Bill would dance around out of character, pause for a whiskey sundowner and then return with a smile and say “shall we begin?” Yes, but of course. And so, we’d begin again. And again. And again.

Life was much simpler even for the workaholics around me. I did a stint at Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising which was near or on Goodge Street at the time. We had an American Managing Director and his office was always open for any of us to waltz in to solicit advice.

People worked late and instead of beer and pizza which is what I think of when I think of late nights in Silicon Valley, particularly if engineers are involved, it was gin and tonics and cheese and crackers.

Account management merged with creative and vice versa and the place was a dynamic one, full of bright and interesting minds I learned something new from every day. We worked hard and then we played hard. It was always like that and results came, award winning ones.

So that brings me to this trip, which is different than any other I’ve made to London in the past couple of decades. Nearly every memory and experience I’ve had in this place, whether it was 25 years ago or two, was centered around creative energy: artists, designers, travelers, authors and musicians.

I’m here to contribute to a different kind of creative energy, one which just like every other English memory, involves storytelling.

Along with 11 other writers, bloggers and content creators, I’ll be capturing people’s stories on and off stage, company backgrounds, tales of technology successes and perhaps failures, lessons learned in business and government, and how emerging technology and new media is being used in innovative ways.

Redefining Digital Inclusion

We met with Tristan Wilkinson this morning at Savoy Place in London. Tristan, who is Intel's Director for Public Sector for Intel EMEA, wears many hats and has several interests.

Below Tristan with Perveen Akhtar, Intel UK PR Manager

He tells us about a program called One Goal which will be launched in August and piggyback off the South African World Cup. The goal is to get 30 million online signatures in an effort to help make poverty history. Take note: 75 million children still don't have access to primary school education in the world.

Tristan asks, "do those that enjoy the benefits of technology have a moral right over those who don't? If you don't have access, you're missing so much." He adds,"for example, when did a blue collar worker need access to the Internet and many of these tools simply to get a job? It's particularly important in this economic climate."

He talks about the broken education system where we're still assessed by written exams, rather than an interactive system that allows students to exchange ideas and use technology to learn.

Essentially you've got a 21st century learner in a 19th century environment and the two are starting to cancel each other out. And, what are the other things that allow these technology tools to be unleashed? We have to figure out a way to embrace and value informal learning, such as self-study.

The thread is one that isn't a new one: the digital divide, largely an economic one, however it's beyond a financial issue, it's also attitude; attitude among teachers and among parents.

Parents have learned about the perils of Internet use but haven't necessarily learned about about the value that it can bring to their child's life, particularly in the classroom.

Robert Scoble asserts that the change will come from the kids, not from top down. And, adds that it's not about the technology or being able to afford it, it's about lack of knowledge and education - what's out there? what tools can help me find a better job? go to a better school?

We discuss key drivers. If success and nirvana is a digitally educated population, we shouldn't have to wait twenty years for people to catch up to embrace these changes...with technology change accelerating at such a dramatic rate, there needs to be an effort to bring those who are being left behind forward.

Tristan asserts that the problems are very fragmented and that there needs to be a more concerted effort to bring groups like us together to take action.

Sky adds, "the best thing that educators can do is to be totally open to the new devices that already have some of these services embedded....but we have legislation." Robert has become demoralized and is one of the reasons he doesn't get involved in this debate regularly.

We also discuss the role of the press....how do the press educate parents and educators and what form it takes. "It's not that my children are going to get online and be stalked but that if they don't get online and learn how to use these new technologies, they won't get jobs, they will be left behind. Parents need to understand that the jobs of the future are going to require them to support their kids to learn how to use technology. There may not be any public or private funds for it but the change needs to happen.

We need to redefine Digital Inclusion. The definition of digital inclusion today is basic access. It doesn't include basic skills such as understanding some of the technology and social media schools to network and make friends not just locally for globally. It increases their job and life opportunities significantly.

It's time to move that definition beyond simple access. We need a new definition that policy makers, technology creators, parents, and educators can rally around. There will be a revolution when more and more students get their hands on some of these devices and start using them in the classroom.

Digitrad Launches Yes.tel, Digital Business Card Service

Digitrad, a company specializing in unified communications, launched Yes.tel today in the U.S. Yes.tel provides instant access to a person’s contact information from any PC or mobile device.

Using one user-friendly platform to manage a multitude of digital identities, consumers can seamlessly access and update their personal information consolidated into one domain from their laptop, desktop or their mobile phone.

A subscriber based service, costing $19.99 annually, Yes.tel allows registrants to select a user .tel name of their choice, which includes a local phone number with a unified voicemail, an integrated email re-direction system, anti-spam and antivirus services.

Yes.tel user records are consolidated and stored within an information-encrypted Domain Name Server (DNS), allowing a certain level of access to the public. Once a user registers a domain and distributes it to friends, family and colleagues, other users will be able to look-up the domain and have full access to all of the information associated with that domain, which will be immediately re-directed to the device and saved.

Disclosure: Digitrad is a sponsor of the Traveling Geeks blogging tour to London.

Traveling Geeks off to London

Below is the press release of our second Traveling Geeks blogging tour to London this week.

U.S. Bloggers Travel to London to Exchange Ideas on How Technology and Media Innovation Can Improve Corporations and Government

Traveling Geeks’ London Blogging Tour Opens Up Opportunity for Idea Exchange Between U.K. and U.S.

LONDON - July 3, 2009 - Traveling Geeks is sending a group of 12 influential bloggers to the U.K. to collaborate with technology innovators and influencers in London and Cambridge from July 5 to July 11, 2009.

The mission of Traveling Geeks is to connect with technology innovators and influencers in various regions of the world, then share what they have learned through blogging, video, podcasts, meet-ups, Twitter and other social media tools.

Through idea exchange and reporting, both countries can become better informed about how to use new technologies to improve communications and productivity, more effectively promote products and services and strengthen communities for corporations, non-profits and the public sector.

The bloggers hope to learn about how the U.K. is effectively implementing emerging technologies, social media tools and e-government initiatives to better serve its citizens, as well as enhance the way government and corporations work together. The group is a collection of writers, content creators and entrepreneurs who cover technology, business, innovation and social media.

The U.K. Traveling Geeks team includes: Meghan Asha, Renee Blodgett, Susan Bratton, Tom Foremski, Sarah Lacy, JD Lasica, Craig Newmark, Ayelet Noff, Howard Rheingold, Jeff Saperstein, Sky Schuyler and Robert Scoble.

They will participate in a Greenwich Observatory event; a NESTA-sponsored conference about moving forward in the new economy, a U.S./U.K. Speed Date with Seed Camp Winners and UK Leaders; eConsultancy Innovator’s Open Discussion; the TechCrunch Europa Awards; University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School Roundtable on Open Innovation; as well as meetings with Nokia Labs, Microsoft Labs, East of England International, Skype and others.

The bloggers will also be speaking and participating at a Reboot Britain event and the Guardian’s first Media Talk Live event, as well as organizing a TweetUp in central London on the evening of July 5, 2009, which is being sponsored by NESTA and The Conversation Group.

There will be numerous gatherings that will bring together individuals and organizations in the U.K. who are making a global impact through the innovative use of new technologies and social media tools.

Traveling Geeks was founded by Jeff Saperstein and Renee Blodgett in 2008, beginning with a blogging expedition to Israel.

News, updates and other content from the tour can be found at www.travelinggeeks.com, as well as on flickr, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networking services.

Sponsors include: Intel, Nokia Ovi Maps, NESTA, East of England International, Skype, British Telecom, Rackspace Hosting, Digitrad, Symbian, Flip Video, and ProPhotoRental.

About TravelingGeeks

The mission of Traveling Geeks is to collaborate with technology innovators and influencers in various regions of the world, then share what we’ve learned through blogging, video, podcasts, social media tools and meet-ups. Traveling Geeks was founded by Jeff Saperstein and Renee Blodgett in 2008, beginning with a blogging expedition to Israel. Our hope is that we can inform, educate and connect on behalf of innovators who are changing the world with like-minded people on the planet. Trips are funded by sponsorships from corporations and governments.

More about Traveling Geeks here.

Future of Online and Mobile Video Distribution & Monetization Strategies

The UCLA Anderson School of Management and the German American Business Association (GABA) are hosting a panel discussion with top digital media executives and venture capitalists followed by a reception at the UCLA Faculty Center, on the future of online and mobile video distribution and monetization strategies in North America and Europe.

The event will be held at the UCLA Faculty Center on 480 Charles Young Drive in Los Angeles on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 starting at 7 pm. You can pre-register here.

Despite the rapid online video adoption, achieving profitability continues to be a challenge for many content creators and distribution companies.

Panelists include:

Brett Brewer - President of Adknowledge, a performance-based advertising network; Myspace (Intermix Media) Co-founder (acquired by News Corp) & Advisor at Crosscut Ventures

Curt Marvis - President of Digital Media at Lionsgate; Curt oversees digital distribution at all Lionsgate divisions, the company's stake in online video hub Break.com, the FEARNet VOD/Internet channel, as well as the new EPIX online streaming venture together with Paramount & MGM

Mark Suster - Partner at GRP Partners with ~$1 billion under management, previous Founder and CEO of Koral (acquired by Salesforce.com) and BuildOnline (acquired by SWORD Group)

Frank Chindamo – President of Fun Little Movies, the first company to make comedic movies for mobile; FLM won the Content Award at Cannes and the Mofilm Award at GSM and airs on Sprint, MSN Mobile & the iPhones

Michael Metzger (Moderator) - UCLA Anderson Alumnus; GABA Board Member; Vice President at New Century Capital Partners - a digital media focused investment banking firm

The panelists will share their vision of the future of mobile and online video and cover topics including:

--Key success factors for content generated by users, independent producers and the major networks

--Distribution strategies on an individual brand’s site, video portals, mobile carrier’s deck and social networking sites

--Most effective methods for monetizing video content in North America and Europe

--Exciting opportunities for entrepreneurs and video content creators