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... For the new Bubble, unfortunately. As Master FSJ writes in his Friday's post : "Bubble 2.0".
Come on, a Social Networking website, featuring a closed ecosystem, with an installed base mainly formed of students, would be valuated ten to fifty billion US dollars ?
This, plus Mr. GreenSpan' s statement : we're heading to the Bubble, guys. And fast. Unfortunately.
Heard from Mr Dominque Paret, IT Development Director at the Region of Loire (you know, Saint-Etienne, their Soccer Team, their Schlumberger/Wavetek/Acterna/JDSU/Who'sNext? Fiber Optics Test R&D & Manufacturing Plant, etc...) last week at the Odebit Conference in Paris, this true fact - for France in this case, however I'm sure it also apply to many other countries in Europe : when you build a new road, you know the traffic will double the next year AND you know there will be a new college within the next five years. Simply because people have moved all along that new road.
According to Mr Paret, this is a well known and well mastered model (that's why we have those ENA and X and Mines things ;-). The problem with fiber is that there is no such a model at the moment : nobody can tell for sure what will be the outcomes of a FTTx network five years after its completion.
Shall YOU have heard or experienced or built such a model yourself (i.e. in/for your community), please don't hesitate to share it !
Just for you, dear Gülper ;-)
Ed. note to all others : you can buy the DVD here.
First of a new series about people who are taking initiatives to change the World, say hello to Foko.
Formed by four Malagasy bloggers, Foko is set to fight the current devastation of the beautiful ancestral Madagascar island by farmers :
Fires set for land-clearing and pasture land spread into adjacent wildlands causing damage to the island’s unique ecosystems. FOKO is taking actions, coming up with sustainable and science-based solutions that bring the world’s attention to the Malagasy people. When often biodiversity and lemurs are in the spotlight, FOKO wants to concentrate on the Malagasy people and make them a crucial factor in their unique and threatened environment.
Read the detailled projects here.
Want to help ? Go here.
I met with Andriankoto Ratozamanana, founder of Foko and TED Global Fellow 2007 at the Odebit'07 conference yesterday. This guy is a source of energy by himself.
Photo Credit : Jon Sullivan.
Nope : that's Fibergeneration's visitors overview on Google Analytics' Dashboard.
This mymt2k.com thing was too much of interest from a business intelligence perspective for me not to spend an hour or so today to find out what it could be. Turns out it's a... Wait a second, you'll get the answer at the end of this post.
Before that, let's start with the begining : Google. A quick search on "mymt2k" gives a 6-pages results, with FiberGeneration on the first one and lots of... porn-related stuff on the 5th and 6th pages.
On the first page too, a handful of other blogs also displayed on mymt2k. See for instance Euan Semple' s The Obvious, or Blucat and A Reality Of My Own. According to the respective posts, the thing started back in March this year...
Then, let's go on WhoIs to find out who could be behind the mysterious website. Mr Jason Lucas is the happy owner. Congrats, Man ! Such a hype for a domain registered in January, that's quite a success. However, I'm not the only one to think Mr Lucas is a cover...
So, let's dig into the mymt2k website itself. Start with the simple URL 'mymt2k.com' : a nice, white, blank page. Cool, zen, but useless. A quick look at the different URLs mentionned by above bloggers and commenters show that the main content is a dynamic one. See for instance here, and here : same tmp9 directory, yet displaying different content.
Then, how about looking at the 'mymt2k.com/tmp*/' directories themselves ? From 1 to 10 and above, quite interesting outcomes. For instance, in tmp4 there is a link to the old contest at Snap.com.
See the structure of the tmp9 one in the screenshot at the left. Hum... what's that 'mturk' stuff ? Does ring a bell ? Fine, let's go deeper onto the investigation.
Go to the tmp6 directory, and read the bold flashy statement :
" Note: Be patient and check pages carefully! We will invite good mturkers for our next tasks with a much higher payment! "
Okay, finally we got them ! So simple : 'mymt2k' stands for " My mTurk ", easy, right ?
Now, what's an mTurk ? For those of you who are not familiar with the Web 2.0 world, mTurk, or Mechanical Turk, is a new service offered by Amazon since a few months.
You may read the FAQ page on mturk.com here. Pretty exciting yet a bit complex for non-geeks people. In summary, the mTurk service puts Human Intelligence behind the computer (that's a nice one ;-).
Says Amazon :
What is Amazon Mechanical Turk?
In 1769, Hungarian nobleman Wolfgang von Kempelen astonished Europe by building a mechanical chess-playing automaton that defeated nearly every opponent it faced. A life-sized wooden mannequin, adorned with a fur-trimmed robe and a turban, Kempelen's "Turk" was seated behind a cabinet and toured Europe confounding such brilliant challengers as Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte. To persuade skeptical audiences, Kempelen would slide open the cabinet's doors to reveal the intricate set of gears, cogs and springs that powered his invention. He convinced them that he had built a machine that made decisions using artificial intelligence. What they did not know was the secret behind the Mechanical Turk: a human chess master cleverly concealed inside.
Today, we build complex software applications based on the things computers do well, such as storing and retrieving large amounts of information or rapidly performing calculations. However, humans still significantly outperform the most powerful computers at completing such simple tasks as identifying objects in photographs—something children can do even before they learn to speak.
When we think of interfaces between human beings and computers, we usually assume that the human being is the one requesting that a task be completed, and the computer is completing the task and providing the results. What if this process were reversed and a computer program could ask a human being to perform a task and return the results? What if it could coordinate many human beings to perform a task?
Amazon Mechanical Turk provides a web services API for computers to integrate "artificial artificial intelligence" directly into their processing by making requests of humans. Developers use the Amazon Mechanical Turk web service to submit tasks to the Amazon Mechanical Turk web site, approve completed tasks, and incorporate the answers into their software applications. To the application, the transaction looks very much like any remote procedure call: the application sends the request, and the service returns the results. Behind the scenes, a network of humans fuels this artificial artificial intelligence by coming to the web site, searching for and completing tasks, and receiving payment for their work.
What problem does Amazon Mechanical Turk solve?
For software developers, the Amazon Mechanical Turk web service solves the problem of building applications that until now have not worked well because they lack human intelligence. Humans are much more effective than computers at solving some types of problems, like finding specific objects in pictures, evaluating beauty, or translating text. The Amazon Mechanical Turk web service gives developers a programmable interface to a network of humans to solve these kinds of problems and incorporate this human intelligence into their applications.
For businesses and entrepreneurs who want tasks completed, the Amazon Mechanical Turk web service solves the problem of getting work done in a cost-effective manner by people who have the skill to do the work. The service provides access to a vast network of human intelligence with the efficiencies and cost-effectiveness of computers. Oftentimes, the cost of establishing a network of skilled people to do the work outweighs the value of completing it. By turning the fixed costs into variable costs that scale with business needs, the Amazon Mechanical Turk web service eliminates this barrier and allows work to be completed that before was not economical.
For people who want to earn money in their spare time, the Amazon Mechanical Turk web site solves the problem of finding work that they can do wherever and whenever they want.
Interesting concept, huh ?
Now, let's go back to the HITs Human Intelligence Tasks main page. There is a "Web Page Classification" HIT here. Looks familiar, right ?
The remaining question is : does mymt2k.com belong to Amazon, or is it a kind of mashup by some research firm - or guy (this Jason Lucas is unknown on mTurk, and Steven Research is unknown on Google) ?...
This week could be the Week Of Broadband here in Europe, with the Apple+O2 deal on the iPhone in the UK, with ECOC'07, the european Fiber Optics conference & tradeshow in Berlin, Germany, and with Odebit'07, the Broadband conference in Paris, France.
Let's take this opportunity to go back to the fundamentals : why fiber is the only medium of choice when it's about delivering multimedia content instantly - Here is an excerpt of the FTTH Council' s Feb.07 report : "Fiber To The Home, Advantages of Optical Access " :
Common sense suggests that communities with plentiful, reliable bandwidth available will do better than those without. FTTH-powered bandwidth is essential for:
• Hometown businesses competing in a global economy.
• Professionals and others who work at home.
• Quality of life provided by online entertainment, education, culture and e-commerce.
• Special services for the elderly and for shut-ins.
FTTH thus helps define successful communities just as good water, power, climate and transportation have defined them for millennia.That’s obviously so for greenfield developments – the data, in previous sections of this report, show that fiber-equipped homes and offices sell faster, and command a price premium over real estate developments without fiber. But what about existing communities? Direct comparisons are admittedly difficult because FTTH has not been widely available until recently, but virtually all of the real-world economic studies have borne out the predictions; none has suggested otherwise.
By far the most comprehensive look at broadband’s impact is a 2005 study by William H. Lehr, Carlos A. Osorio, and Sharon E. Gillett at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Marvin A. Sirbu, from Carnegie Mellon University. It was funded by the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce and by the MIT Program on Internet & Telecoms Convergence (http://itc.mit.edu). The study found that broadband enhances economic activity, helping to promote job creation both in terms of the total number of jobs and the number of establishments. Broadband is associated with growth in rents, total employment, number of business establishments, and share of establishments in IT-intensive sectors.
There are also numerous case studies, comparing specific communities before and after public investment in broadband. A few examples:
• One early study, of a municipal fiber network built in 2001 in South Dundas, Ontario, showed substantial benefits. It was prepared for the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry.
• A 2003 study by D. J. Kelley comparing Cedar Falls, Iowa, which launched a municipal broadband network in 1997, against its otherwise similar neighboring community of Waterloo. Cedar Falls bounded ahead of its neighbor.
• More recently, Ford and Koutsky compared per capita retail sales growth in Lake County, Florida, which invested in a municipal broadband network that became operational in 2001, against ten Florida counties selected as controls based on their similar retail sales levels prior to Lake County’s broadband investment. They found that sales per capita grew almost twice as fast in Lake County compared to the control group.Similar patterns have emerged for communities using FTTH provided by private enterprise. Fort Wayne, Indiana, has taken good advantage of a Verizon FiOS investment there, for instance. And in February 2007, two big studies of housing sales in Massachusetts – where FiOS is coming on line in numerous communities – show a startling recovery. Sales are up, and prices are down only slightly (after a decade-long rise that makes housing there among the most expensive in the United States).
The data are clear and consistent: FTTH, whether provided by private or municipal organizations, is an economic plus for all communities, and an outright boon for many.
FTTH and Economic Development FTTH helps define successful communities just as good water, power, climate and transportation have defined them for millennia.
FTTH Council website here.
Full report here.
Also a must-read, the american online magazine Broadband Properties. Its baseline : "Building The Fiber-Connected Community".
Robert Scobble uses the recent birth of his new kid to demonstrate some Web 2.0 apps. Here in France, newborns come to life with a huge debt do pay. In the US, their first cry goes on Twitter. I wonder if I don't prefer the first option...
Los Angeles, CA, March 1995.
See this post's geographical context. geo:tool=blockrocker.com geotagged geo:lat=34.0572105 geo:lon=-118.4902954
One of the few rules I do follow in business is Never Talk Politics. Especially when it's about Economy. However, there are times when I can't keep my mouth shut. Take Mr Greenspan. Back in 2000, he announced a possible downturn of the US economy. Six months later, the Telecoms industry crashed, bringing down countless firms, startups, and worst, people, all around the Planet. The collateral damages were spectacular yet dramatic...
He did it again earlier this year, warning that the American economy might enter recession by the end of 2007. See what happened with the subprime mortgage crisis this summer, and the actual ongoing global turmoils worldwide.
That's why, the next time this man claims a downturn might occur in your industry, you better look for a new job somewhere else...
An interesting confrontation of two different perspectives on the very same subject this morning : on the left hand, french buddy Jeremy Fain, who raises his concerns about online privacy; on the right hand, american blogger Robert Scobble, who' s blooging and twittering whilst his wife is in labour delivering their new baby.
Being a user of the Internet since 15 years, I've been experiencing both good and bad moments after publishing private info here and there over the time. To be honest, way more good encounters than bad ones. For instance, without Usenet I would never have met my dear friend Andrew of Belarus. In the meantime, I know I will never post a photo of our kids online, nor twit about my wife being in labour ;-)
There are moments for keeping stuff private, there are moments to tell the World. It's all about your own ethics.
On the 11th of September 2001, the sun was shinning over Böblingen, Germany.
We at the Product Marketing team of the Agilent' Optical Network Test Division were working on the forthcoming introduction of a breakthrough product.
This Check-Point meeting was as usual : hard work, brainstorming, productive.
We left the meeting room somewhere around 3:00PM, after six hours of discussion in a closed environment, to head to our respective work places, at the other side of the building.
We immediately felt something was wrong : the floor was quiet, too quiet. A weird, awful silence.
I don't remember how we got the message - was it a colleague stepping by us when we came back or a Post-It note on our telephone - but I do remember how the three of us, Robert, Dieter, and myself, looked at each other, puzzled. " A plane crashed in the WTC, NYC ".
Then, we jumped on our computers, to read the news. I launched my favorite radio station. We got the first images, then the videos, on the online news websites that were still accessible.
As almost everyone on the Planet, we couldn't believe what we saw. It had to be a farce. It had to be for a movie or a television show.
Suddenly, the reality struck us. All the energy we got from our brainstorming session went out, instantly, to be replaced by a sad sad feeling. Kind of sickness. We were entering a new World.
I remember what I said to my buddy Dieter the same moment : " the World will never be the same, never ever. "
seen on MyMac here.
Post-Scriptum : back in 2000, I was running a beautiful iMac DV Special Edition. The Mac OS 9 operating system was absolutely perfect, stable and reliable. The first time my Mac hanged, after more than 12 months of service, was when I installed VirtualPC and booted Windows95. Seeing the Blue-Screen-Of-Death on a Mac was both astonishing and amusing to me...
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