brinking

Fiber to the People, Lawrence Lessig's column this month is an excellent argument for government owned fiber. The argument is made so well you barely notice how far outside the mainstream of thought he takes you by the end.

It made me reflect on how much media and politics is focused on the drama of extremism today. Instead of actually attempting the change minds it is purely entertainment value that drives FoxTV, or Dean for that matter. It's just more visceral and entertaining to be sensationalism.

When you actually want to convince somebody of something, the nuanced and subtle approach of Lessig's is far more effective. With Lessig unofficially championing the cause, that bodes well for the future of intellectual property.

Microsoft is going positively retro. At Comdex last week Bill Gates spoke of an era of "seamless computing" like it actually was something new. Then Microsoft unveiled a "new" Microsoft Spot Watch design that mimics the old Dick Tracy watch. As if what the Spot watches, recently delayed until 2004, really needed was more brand alignment with geekiness.

Let us go back to Bill Gates for a moment because his Comdex keynotes, which were often an impressive platform for him to voice new visions for the industry in the past, have sunk almost as fast as the show itself. Gates struck what he seemed to feel was a new chord about a future of seamless computing. Which of course is imperceptibly different from the world of pervasive computing and ubiquitous computing - all of which have been going on since the late 80's and originated with Mark Weiser at Xerox Parc.

In fact just a few months ago I was at the Fifth Annual International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing where Ambient presented some of our new products. It's sad that Gates' can't seem to find a new chord to strike for a technology industry that is always ripe for another ever-loftier goal.

Now I'm sure some will be defensive of Gates' speech, perhaps countering that he was taking largely research-based discourse and trying to introduce it to the mainstream. These concepts however were already introduced to the mainstream at the very same Comdex by Sony President Kunitake Ando's speech. Kunitake spoke about Sony's vision for "invisible networks for seamless computing." Only problem is Kunitake was speaking at the 2001 Comdex.

netObjects is a 'collection of everyday objects for the home that present real time information from the web.' ("They all look fantastic, but my favorites are -Gossip and -Umbrella, for the interface design, and -Peep cos it's funny.")

Interesting ideas. Some of which could easily be powered by Ambient. [thanks interconnected]

n o t n o t - a wonderful collection of visual stimuli and wonderful objects. A little Friday relaxing eye candy for the creative side.