Blog @ TalGolan.com - Mobile / Internet / Convergence

Monday

14Dec2009

"Privacy" (capital 'P') is an ideal, very much like "Democracy" (capital 'D')

Monday, December 14, 2009 at 11:23AM

Let me begin by qualifying that I am simply a Facebook user. I have no vested interest in Facebook whatsoever.

This posting is in response to all the "Facebook is evil" rhetoric I've been reading lately with respect to their latest changes to their "privacy policies."

I don't think people have their facts straight regarding how Facebook handled the change to their new privacy policy with respect to existing users. When I logged in the other day I was presented with a screen that let me know there was a new privacy policy and that I needed to review my settings. While I was given the option to "open up" everything, all of the radio "buttons" defaulted to "keep my settings as they are/were." Needless to say, I like keeping my Facebook information limited, for the most part, to my friends, so I reviewed my settings and left everything as it was. I'm sure when someone creates a new account on Facebook the default privacy settings will be to open everything to the search engines (can you really blame them), but I'm sure even new users will be able to enforce the same restrictions I have on my account.

On the topic of privacy in general...

What really "grinds my gears" is why people get pissed off about privacy with respect to Facebook or any other on-line social network. I like using Facebook; it provides me a service that I have come to see as valuable. However, I know there are risks; not just with Facebook, but with almost any on-line social network. It seems to me that Facebook's only responsibility is to tell me what they are doing with my information and give me the capacity to "opt-out" if I so desire. Ultimately, the responsibility to protect my privacy is my responsibility. I learned, long ago, that one should not put anything on-line, in any form, that one would not want shared with the universe. Anyone who really thinks Facebook has become evil should not only stop posting to Facebook, they should close/cancel their account entirely. After all, voyeurism would be disingenuous. I would applaud anyone who, for the sake of principle, stops using Facebook entirely. Anyone who does so should let me know. My bet... This will be a VERY SMALL list.

Perhaps I am a fool, but I'm no more worried using Facebook that I am using GMail, my iPhone, or Microsoft Exchange.

For me, "Privacy" (capital 'P') is an ideal, very much like "Democracy" (capital 'D'). Conceptually, I think we all believe we would really like Privacy and Democracy. Unfortunately, neither is actually achievable in reality, and it is our individual responsibility to work to protect both; first for ourselves, then for everyone else.

Tal Golan |

"Journalism" Gone Wild - Tiger Woods in CG!

Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 8:03AM

A friend of mine just shared this video (http://bit.ly/20091203_TigerWoods_CG). Its a couple of minutes long, and you may not understand the language (I do not), however, its well worth your time.

I find this type of "re-enactment" to be particularly offensive/irresponsible, because, at this point, no one knows what happened inside the Woods' home that night. Even without understanding a single world of the voice over, it takes no major leap to assume that many people will see this and believe it is fact.

Make no mistake... I am not coming to Woods' defense. Like everyone else on the planet, with the exception of the couple involved, I have no idea what happened that night. What I find so wrong about this is what it represents. I certainly hope we don't start seeing this type of visualization anytime soon, even from our own home-grown sensationalist jounalism sub-culture.

Tal Golan |

Is physical media (DVD / Blue Ray) worth saving?

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 5:38PM

If the "powers-that-be" in the entertainment industry were to ask me (which, by the way, they have not), I would tell them they've completely missed the boat on the DVD -> Blue Ray thing.

Had they been smart, and not closed minded, paranoid, and self-destructively greedy, they would have already realized that for physical media to have any chance whatsoever in the mass market, moving forward, the price needs to be considerably under that which they are currently charging for DVDs. Unfortunately, they chose to make Blue Ray content a premium. Mind you, I am not surprised by this un-enlightened approach, but I hope, once and for all, someone in a position of power comes to realize that physical media's only chance to remain relevant for a even a few more years is to "carpet bomb" the mainstream market with easily accessible, in-demand, content. (Notice I did not say "on-demand.")

If I were any/all of the major distributors, I would make the following offer to all consumers...

Sign-up on our special website, catalog your current DVD collection, send us all your "old, 20th century technology, low-quality" disks and we will send you brand spanking new Blue Ray disks (packed with all sorts of extra resolution). And, as a special offer, if you register and return more than 20 DVDs, we will give you a Blue Ray player!

Next, I'd let the "Send us your tired and poor DVD" program run for about 6-9 months, then I'd announce that all new Blue Ray discs will be $14.99 or less moving forward.

Finally, sometime around 2015, when it becomes perfectly clear (like it has not already) that "on-demand" 1080P content is what everyone really wants, I'd abandon the consumer market with physical media (DVD and Blue Ray) and focus all my "physical media attention" on the super-premium consumer. I'd make special Blue Ray only editions of classic content and selected new releases, presented in gorgeous packaging with special audio/video tracks, etc., and I'd charge $100+ for these and limit their release. Even better, I'd make them only available to "registered collectors" (anyone can register) and would figure out a way to customize the presentation (package and disk) for each "registered collector."

For digital content on physical media to remain relevant it needs to be entirely re-targeted. If you are someone that depends on DVD and/or Blue Ray sales for your living you are pretty much at the "end of the proverbial plank." If you don't make some changes, and make them now, both you and your livelihood are destined to go the way of VHS.

Tal Golan |

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Friday

09Oct2009

If I were Twitter...

Friday, October 9, 2009 at 11:41AM

If I were Twitter, I'd be spending a considerable portion of that $100M I just raised focusing on how to leverage Twitter into becoming a destination, in addition to being a killer data stream.

At the moment Twitter is firmly in the middle of what I call the "phenomenon" phase of its existence. This is a great time for Twitter, but this time is fleeting. Providing/facilitating a real-time data stream is a great resource, however, this data stream is not in unto itself particularly useful (there is just too much data). If Twitter keeps going down this "we are only a data stream" path they are going to quickly find themselves marginalized by players like Google, Microsoft, IBM, etc. In addition, Twitter will quickly realize, if they have not already, that providing a utility is a thankless chore. The people that will make the real money will be those that are able to "functionalize" the data. Companies like TweetDeck, SocialApproach, Ad.ly, etc. (a.k.a. the Twitter ecosystem) that are able to channel/segment the Twitter "fire hose" into a "garden hose" from which individuals can actually receive tangible value will certainly be the winners.

I would contend that Twitter's greatest asset, at the moment, is not the data itself, but the Twitter brand. Twitter needs to find their "purple cow" and capitalize on it... now!

Back to my opening thesis...

For Twitter to succeed for the long-term they need to figure out a way to make people and businesses want to put their Twitter URL on their television commercials and marketing collateral. For example, during a recent baseball game (go Red Sox) there was a Honda commercial. At the end of the commercial Honda did not provide a URL to www.honda.com, they provided a URL to facebook.com/honda. Sure, Honda is proud to say "follow us on Twitter," but the act of following is only really beneficial to Honda, not Twitter.

If Twitter does not capitalize on their brand by adding tangible "social" components to their feature set it is just a matter of time (months not years) until they are consumed by one of the big boys for far less than they could have been had they been able to get outside of their comfort zone.

Bottom line... Twitter was revolutionary/innovative in 2007. Today (Q4/2009), Twitter needs to show us they are not simply a spectacularly successful "one-hit-wonder."