This may sound overly dramatic, but it isn’t. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) are two versions of legislation winding their way through Congress. Both are backed by the entertainment industry as a way (they say) to combat global video and music piracy.
The problem is this legislation is so vague it can give companies the power to order whole websites taken off the air for ANY sharing of content they feel violates their claims. Post a video of your kids with a movie poster in the background? That could get your blog taken down!
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Wikipedia, YouTube, and hundreds of other huge sites oppose SOPA and PIPA. They could not exist if this legislation had existed when they were founded. Sharing ideas and content is how the internet works!
That’s why many of these sites, like Reddit and Wikipedia, are going entirely dark on Jan 18th, 2012, in protest of this bill.
This video does a great job of explaining PIPA, and SOPA is generally the same thing (House vs Senate versions). Watch this, and please contact your congressman and tell them to oppose this legislation!
Don’t rely on someone else to do this – if you love what the internet has to offer, take action!
UPDATE: I was on Fox 10 this morning here in Phoenix to talk about SOPA/PIPA. If you are looking for a good introduction to what is SOPA to pass on to friends or family, this video might help!
Microsoft "Mango" Smartphone
I’ve always been a gadget geek, but developed a serious mobile focus after my stint at Intel. Not only do I love the tech behind smartphones, tablets, and the like, but I’m fascinated with how our increased mobility is shaping the way we communicate and live our lives. We’re connected constantly. There’s no waiting until we get home to post our latest news on Facebook – we’re doing it as it happens. The way we interact with these tiny devices is also amazing to explore. The user interface (UI) and usability issues are evolving at an incredible pace to try and keep up so we can manage more information in less space. Pinching, shaking, and swiping are all commonplace now, but were unheard of just a few years ago.
Sadly I don’t get to play with as many of toys as I used to, but I still follow several of major mobile news blogs and keep my nose in things. So I was intrigued when I received an invitation to a Microsoft event for their new Mobile OS. Microsoft has been playing a long game of catch-up in the mobile space behind Apple and Android, and a few people I mentioned it to didn’t even know Microsoft had a phone out.
Sampling the Mango
Turns out, people have had good things to say about the new Windows Mobile OS, code-named Mango. Wired said it took the Windows phones from “good to great“, and the new “People Hub” looks interesting. From what I can tell from the People Hub videos, Microsoft has really been playing with their UI. I like to tailor screens to my own (odd) way of managing information, so I wonder how flexible it is. The limited ability to change my iPhone’s home screen (unless I jailbreak it) is one of my beefs with my current phone.
Microsoft is still the baby on the smartphone block with less than 4% of the market, but they never give up, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they’re up to and playing the HTC Radar they offered me. Free gadget to play with? Oh noes, don’t twist my arm…
I’m also horribly curious what this product event will look like. I’m an honestly bi-OSual computer geek, with a healthy supply of both Microsoft and Apple systems nearby (and a Linux or two), so I like to think I can be rather unbiased. That’s why I feel comfortable saying of all Microsoft’s strengths, social promotion efforts is not among them. Their incredible Windows 7 Launch Parties were just cringeworthy and inspired some hysterical parodies. This some seems much less contrived, and they’ve given away phones with Windows Mobile on it at events like this before, but I’m still curious to see it for myself. I plan on documenting it thoroughly with my iPhone.
Want to come? It’s free!
If you’re in Phoenix and interested in checking out some of the gadgets and seeing what Microsoft is up to, it’s free to attend. They will have their new phones to show off, and free cocktails and appetizers. I’d love to have someone else there to geek out (and drink) with.
What: Windows Phone Launch Event
Where: Blue Martini, 5455 E High St, Phoenix, AZ 85054
When: Thursday, Nov 17th, 6pm – 9pm
Register (optional): Windows Phone Inner Circle Event
Any suggestions?
I’ll post my thoughts once I get a chance to play with the phone, but any suggestions on things to look for at the event? Or if you’re a Windows Phone user I’d love to hear what you think about it.
original image (cc) FotoosVanRobin
If you’re unfamiliar with Klout, it is a service that tries to measure social influence for people who are active online, and assigns them a score. The goal is to make it easier for companies to identify influencers in a topic area. If you haven’t checked your own score, hop over and take a look. Klout is watching you!
The big question is how good Klout does its job. In my humble option, Klout not only doesn’t do that great, but I don’t think it’s ever going to be possible for Klout to work the way businesses want it to.
The problem is that social influence is a hideously tricky thing to measure. Is it how often someone tweets? Is it what they tweet about? Does a retweet or reshare measure influence? Klout looks at all of these things and more, and has a ton of very smart people distill what works from what doesn’t to constantly improve your score.
There are two reasons I think it can’t work. The first is practical, the second is theoretical.
Klout Is Easily Confused
My first example of why I think Klout is silly is that I am not a terrorist.
See, a few months back a Phoenix area smart-ass gave me a fake +K bump on Terrorism for Klout. Others thought it was funny and did the same. I get a new one every so often, and for the past few months Terrorism has been my greatest topic of influence on Klout.
The thing is, I never talk about Terrorism. I only talk about it now in a weird meta-discussion about how I don’t talk about it, but that’s still a fraction of the things I say and do online. I work on local Phoenix events, work on digital publishing, and a ton of other things. To Klout, all of that falls below a practical joke. If you want hard proof that Klout’s engine is easy to game and trick, even with all those smart people they employ, here you go.
Summaries Are Always Incomplete
The second example is a bit more abstract, but I think just as real. Social relationships are a complex system, and you cannot simplify a complex system to a simple number without losing important information. Yes, Klout has more aspects than just the the Klout score, but even if you add in the other Klout items you still have a very small set of graphs and indicators to look at. Like the meat grinder at the top of this post, once the hamburger emerges you can no longer tell if what went in was Filet Mignon or leftover scraps.
Consider movie reviews as a less graphic analogy. Roger Ebert famously distilled the complex discussion of movies to Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down, and he has talked about the difficulties that creates. Does the Thumbs Up for a silly comedy like City Slickers mean the same as a Thumbs Up for a classic like Casablanca? They can both be good movies in their own way, but you need a lot more discussion to really compare the two. I personally love and respect Ebert’s opinion on movies, but I’ve disagreed with his ratings many times. I’d have missed many great films if I only used his Thumbs Up list as a starting point.
And that’s the problem with Klout – it will always be incomplete or wrong, and never be as good as business want it to be. Sadly, businesses want a shortcut to finding influencers, and they are going to start with Klout generated lists. This will drive people to try and game the system, and away we go. I understand why businesses want this short cut, but there will never be a replacement for simply being active in a community or social sphere. Then you will really know who the influencers are.
PS – If you want to opt out of Klout, you can do so by deleting your account an your Profile Settings page.
PPS – Krystofer James vanSlyke isn’t JUST a smart-ass. Check out his VoiceMuze project creating music from voice mail…
Over at my new venture and craziness of ePublish Unum we are holding a workshop for authors who want to go digital.
It’s not for people learning how to write, or how to develop their characters. There are tons of other great conferences for that. This one is for authors who have an idea done or in progress, whether a short book or a full novel, and need the info on how to take it digital. Some of the questions we’re tackling are:
- What do I have to do different to publish digitally?
- How do I protect my content when I put it online?
- How do I get my book in major online stores?
- How much should I charge?
- How do I promote it with social media and other tools?
- Uh oh… my readers want to talk with me – what do I do?
And a lot more. If you’re interested, please check out the digital workshop for authors info page.
Know some authors?
If you know someone who is interested, we would appreciate you helping us spread the word. Many authors are not digitally savvy so they’re not likely to see our blogs or Facebook posts. If you could send this to any writing groups, author groups, teachers, or any other fine bunch of people it would really help us get rolling.
We also have a short workshop flier and a slightly longer workshop flier that you can send along with the info.
Many, many thanks!
