I Would Prefer My Centralized Me Reside Here

First, read this TechCrunch article.

I am a fan of multiple online services and the creation of new services. However, I have a bit of an issue with the idea of my profiles and content reside in multiple places in multiple forms. It has always felt like a necessary evil in the field. So, I have come to accept this decentralization although I still question its sustainability.

With the advent of FriendFeed and the opening of platforms like on Facebook, etc., I think it is safe to say that a movement towards re-centralization may have begun.

And long ago, I began thinking about profile aggregation to solve the issue of maintaining multiple profiles. But I have never been sure that creating a profile aggregation/alignment service wouldn't just further complicate this problem by merely acting as an icing on the cake. Nonetheless, more than one company is trying this.

To me, what I desire is one step beyond the Data Portability Project in that it is data that resides here that is made portable not just all of my data shared by major services. In short, I have no ultimate solution but I would really prefer that my Centralized Me was here- on my site and under my ultimate control. One main profile on my domain that feeds all of my other profile pages with varying granules and privacy controls. As for content, I want it here, too. And other services can be applied to my content to provide the extra features for accessing and further connecting to others' content. I am not sure where the monetization exists in these suggestions but a lot of current services lack monetization strategies, too. And if I came up with that, well, I'd have a startup...

Personal websites/blogs are kind of a centralized location for us in a conceptual and forced way, but I wish I could have it all for real and here.

Discovering New Music Part II

Thanks to Last.fm, I bought a few new albums today.

I finally got into Last.fm a few weeks ago and for a while I ignored it. And I'm sure I am still not completely utilizing it. But the similar artists feature has already led me to some new music. The Amazon MP3 link is a great add, too.

Ah, listening to a great new album... nothing beats the feeling.

Behavioral Economics and Predicting the Future of Social Media

Lately, I have been reading a book on behavioral economics called Predictably Irrational and I have been noticing quite a few articles and blog posts analyzing the future of social media.

Behavioral economics is a bit of a buzz phrase right now but I don't think that diminishes the strength in the lessons we can learn from that field. It seems to me that people are comfortable with the current state of social networks and are busy theorizing about advanced applications. I enjoy reading the different perspectives and predictions. However, most of them seem to be purely opinion and based on personal experience. Which is also reasonable but not theories I feel comfortable completely buying into.

I would love to see an analysis of the future of social media that took into account behavioral economics. (I haven't even finished reading my first book on behavioral economics, so, it won't be me doing the analysis right away.) I also think more companies should read into the basic aspects of human irrationality, especially the aspects that could directly impact their users' experiences and therefore the company's bottom line.

PlanetDC.org and the DC Tech Community

After my last post a few people mentioned PlanetDC.org to me. I am really glad that someone else in DC has already thought to put all of the blogs in one place. --You know they say no ideas are new, the difference is how you act upon them. So, I am still going to finish up my snazzy widget and get it out there.

As for DCTechBlogs.com, I'm not sure what I will do because I don't know if we need a copy website. And I know other blogs are talking a lot about defining and organizing the DC tech community. Perhaps some interesting ideas of "how to" will come out of the conversations, including a use for that domain.

However, the problem I see with the ultimate conversation is that it needs to be larger than us. A scene or a city doesn't become well-known or draw new talent and companies because the same inner people are conversing. Which I understand, there are a lot of really smart and talented people here that care about this stuff. As a newcomer into the community (if you guys will let me call it that) I have noticed that there is a bit of insularity going on. If this is going to be a thriving community/scene/city we need to open it up and get the rest of the world talking with and about us.

This is why something like a widget makes sense to me. We can get it out on different pages that the wider audience are likely to go to and show them what we know has been going on.

That said, I still see a value in the focused conversation but perhaps as one of many things that should be going on...

DC Tech Blogs Widget

I've said before that I am a fan of the DC tech community. So, in an effort to promote it, I have created this widget. However, it is a practice version. I plan on creating a new one from scratch and put in a Clearspring wrapper. Please send me more DC-based and tech focused blogs to add to the feed mashup. Or general comments...

(I also admit that I selfishly enjoyed messing around with pipes and widgets.)

Two Events This Week

Tonight: NetSquared DC
-APIs for Change.

Tomorrow: DC New Media and Next DC
-March Happy Hour.

I am looking forward to both for talking shop and getting some face time with other people in the DC tech industry.

All Connected

I feel very connected. Now I am on FriendFeed (as liz315) and it is linked to everything else that I am on. I like the simple idea of organization and I am a bit anxious for more. Aggregation is happening and I am not the first person to realize that this is a clearly refreshing direction and more will come in the near future.

Why Do We Still Use Checks?

Why are we still using paper checks in 2008, in this country?! Almost everyone has a bank account and most banks provide online banking. So, it seems like a natural option to be able to pay funds online to anyone else that banks online.

Sure, I can pay my bills online. But even that means in certain cases the bank is printing checks and mailing them for me. But I can't just send $20 to a person. I also know there online services that allow me to do this, for a fee, and online services that allow me to track payments to individuals. Yet no option for individuals through the banks?

Am I crazy? I can't imagine that banks have any good reason for this.

Discovering New Music

I am not the trendiest of people but I do enjoy discovering lesser known, newer music. I used to love to buy CDs, especially at live shows. I like possessing the freedom to listen to music on demand and giving to the artists in return.

When going digital became an option, I did it. But for a while I struggled with the purchasing and owning music in digital form because of DRM. Many of my 2006 posts talk about copyright issues and such.

The tides changed and now I shop regularly on Amazon and iTunes for DRM free music. I love the convenience. It makes me giddy.

However, now my music discovery skills are rusty and times have changed a bit. I am learning new ways. So far, I peruse my friends' music lists on their profiles, sample online and glance at Amazon's recommendations from my selections. I have found some but less success listening to Pandora. The trouble with Pandora is that my musical tastes seem to random for it and it requires some dedicated teaching. I wish there were better routes of discovery. I think there is definitely some room for shaking up the music industry here.

I am looking for new ways...

I am now on Twitter

I sometimes hesitate just a bit to join new services because I don't mind letting others be the first adopters. Then if I hear it from enough people or become substantially convinced that I can or want to put the service to good use, I join. So, I am now on Twitter: www.twitter.com/liz315

But don't expect to know what I eat for dinner every day... And sadly, I am not at SXSW enjoying the twittering bliss fest that those attendees are having.

Social Networking and Personal Websites

Lately, I have been on a bit of a mission to make my involvement in social networking more complete. (Anyone who actually reads my Blog at this point also notices an increase in recent activity here, too.) I am pretty excited to get all of these networks up to date, considering that I went for about a year being very passive in my involvement. However, the work is a bit overwhelming right now: updating my address book, following up on conversations via email, updating my LinkedIn contacts, adding friends on Facebook, thinking about getting in the habit of using Twitter, getting images up to Flickr, updating my RSS feeds to include new people/blogs and blogging- to name some of the things on my to do list for tonight. And this doesn't even count the newer services that may be cool to try out and use.

In the midst of all this I still don't know what to do with my regular old website (www.the315.com). It has had many purposes over the years but with all these other social networking sites and services, where does that leave my personal website? A lame repeat of information? A blog host? A page of links? Just 6 years ago it was getting good traffic as I showcased my design skills and logged my travels with updates and pictures the old-fashioned html way. But for the last 2 years it has been a homepage of links and space to host random things in the background.

I guess I need to dedicate some more effort to this issue. But I can't imagine that I am the only one that struggles with this. (Has a startup solved this problem for me yet and I just missed the post on TechCrunch!?!)

3D Interactive Advertising in Video

When I read this on TechCrunch I knew I had to share it with people. And since I couldn't think of anyone to email right away to share the news, posting again today seemed like a great idea.

The concept of placing realistic-looking 3D products or other virtual items into video and making them interactive for advertising purposes is not only incredibly intelligent in the promotional way but also in terms of technical advancement. As for the promotional aspect, this could be very powerful, aside from the initial novelty. The ability for me to interact with a product to capture my interest and then to be linked to where I can get a product closer to the moment I think I want it translates into a more likely sale. Ease of information and instant gratification is nothing new for our society. Make this a widget and get it to go viral and you've got a winner on all levels. Good marketing in a nutshell, right? Or did I miss something?

Placing 3D models/animation in actual footage has been a movie special effect for a while. The difference here is the interactivity aspect and the marketing angle. I don't know much about Innovid but I assume that this will be pretty simple to start- in that the 3D object will be the only interactive part. However, it does bring us one step closer to more true interactive entertainment. That is the part that could get really interesting in the future.

I don't usually cover technologies and this is probably my first post about anything 3D. But a little known fact about me is that I love 3D modeling and animation. For some reason I have always been attracted to the merging of two creative worlds - the real and the modeled - ever since I learned how it worked in college.

The DC tech scene makes me happy

I have to say I am pretty impressed by what I have discovered in the DC tech scene. I get excited when I discover a cool event that is getting attention. I like the idea that I can attend such events and be surrounded by people that have a drive like me. It is so satisfying to have a meaningful and passionate conversation about something changing the tech industry or society as a whole. Afterwards, I like surfing blogs of the people I have met and find more common ground or thought provoking posts. I have lived in cities where such a scene doesn't exist or doesn't have the comradeship that you can find in DC.

We are definitely not the Valley. And I don't know what all this means in the larger picture- I haven't gotten that far, yet. But I am happy that I live here and now.

So, that said, I should reference Nick O'Neill's recent blog post on on the future of DC technology. Nick, I'll think about some ideas and post them here...

I will be at the MashMeet DC REMIX tonight.

Generational Digital Divides

So, being a new aunt I wonder what her generation will experience as far as technical acclimation as second generation of digital natives (I am guessing the namers will come up with something more distinctive). Her parents are somewhat tech savvy as digital immigrants. Although I am generationally considered a digital immigrant, because of education, circumstances and my generational closeness to the brink, I consider myself a digital native. So, as her aunt I hope I can influence her to be on the cutting edge of her generation. And help her parents cope. Maybe it is bridging that generational gap that will make me of more use as an aunt. I am sure she'll naturally join the digital ranks.

And on a side note, they really should sell Girl Scout cookies online!