Me, Too

I spent Monday night of this week at a small gathering of technologists, investors, and marketers in San Jose, CA. There were folks in the room from LinkedIn, Google, Facebook and other organizations, all there to discuss how to better collaborate around Christian philanthropy.

It was a lively discussion, lasting about four hours, and there were a lot of interesting perspectives in the room. One of the segments of the meeting gave each of the application providers a chance to get up and present what they were doing, why they were doing it, and how they saw themselves fitting in to the larger context of cooperation and collaboration with others in the room.

What struck me as I sat in the meeting is that fully half of the participants / application providers felt strongly that there application had what it took to become the "Facebook" of the Christian community.

There was one really interesting presentation from an organization called trvrs.org. It is a new approach to presenting information, as well as how you find your way through a sort of personal journey kind of Q & A online. I thought it was great, in that it showed some original thinking about some not so original material.

I came away feeling a bit disappointed in the time there, not because of the people involved or the time spent, but because it really struck me that there is a real lack of innovative and original thinking in general. I definitely put myself in this category, so it is not an assault on the participants of this meeting.

I think we tend to have a case of the "me, too" disease. We see something that works, and that is wildly successful and immediately try to simply create the same thing over again and assume it will produce the same results. The reality is that Facebook, or the iPhone, or CharityWater.org, or other "first mover" apps came about because someone saw a problem and thought about it in a completely new way. And, the way they thought about it resonated with a lot of people. It's a rare mix of innovation, market timing, and good fortune.

I was not a part of the iPhone design meetings, but I bet Steve Jobs never said "Let's build a better Blackberry." I bet he stepped back and thought about it for a good long while.

We need more of that kind of thinking. I once had someone tell me "Think at the pace that you write." I have started using notebooks and just sitting and staring at the paper, and just writing down whatever comes to me. I write at a much slower pace than I type, so it forces me to value the output a little more, and take the time to make sure it's worth writing before actually committing it to paper.

Here's to taking the time to create things that are truly great, rather than just the next generation of the thing we already know about.

Getting Hit By A Bus

Inevitably, if you work long enough, you will hear this phrase uttered in the context of some possible crisis. "We need to make sure we are covered in case Joe gets hit by a bus!" Everyone in the room nods their heads, furrows their brow, and thinks earnestly about the possibility of Joe coming to an untimely demise.

Of course, the possibility of Joe getting hit by a bus is probably infinitely small. What people really want to account for is insurance against Joe not being around anymore. Its much more likely that Joe walks in and quits tomorrow, but no one wants to say that. Joe is perceived to be irreplaceable.

The reality is, that with very, very few exceptions, no one is irreplaceable. You might miss some more than others, but life has gone on for either thousands or millions of years ( depending on your view of the beginning of time, which I do not intend to cover here ), and somehow we have managed to move forward throughout that time even though everyone has been replaced.

I have had several jobs where I thought "they just can't do this without me." It has kept me at positions longer than I wanted to be in them, and induced a certain amount of guilt when I finally did pull the plug. As I have gotten older, it has slowly dawned on me that, though I may be good at what I do, and some might even think I am great at what I do, if I am not around tomorrow life will still go on. People will find a way to get done what they need to get done.

I have been thinking about this in light of Fortune's new cover story on Steve Jobs. He was crowned "CEO of the Decade" by Fortune in their latest issue. I think Steve Jobs is probably one of the smarter people to show up in the last 30 years. His ideas are amazing, and his ability to bring great products to market is almost unrivaled. I would say the same thing about the guys at Google. They are tremendous and unique talents. The world is a more interesting place, at least in technology, because of their work.

But, what if they were not around? What would become of Apple or Google? Would they fade to black? More importantly, would someone else have eventually provided something just as good if they had not done it? We know from Apple's history that they languished in obscurity between Jobs' tenures as CEO. When he returned, they began a meteoric rise back to the top of the computing world. The question is, if Jobs were hit by a bus, who would take his place? I don't mean just at Apple. They may or may not survive and thrive as they do now. It is my sense that someone would emerge quickly as the successor, bringing a new wave of innovation to the marketplace. It may not be at Apple, but it would happen.

No one is irreplaceable. It's a good thing to remember. It keeps you humble, and it also keeps your thinking in perspective when you weigh decisions about what is best for you to do next.

Getting Twitter Updates Via Google Voice

This morning I was doing some testing on an application I am building for work, and wanted to set up my Twitter account to forward my SMS messages to my Google Voice account. The setup for Twitter's mobile integration requires that you send a text message to Twitter's short code to get things rolling.

I went to Google Voice and promptly sent the required message to Twitter. Sadly, I immediately received an error back. After doing some poking around, it appears that Google Voice does NOT support short codes for SMS, or at the very least they support very few of them ( depending on who you read ).

Has anyone out there found a way around this? This seems like a major hole in the functionality of Google Voice's SMS feature. If I want to have "One Number For Life" as was the promise of Grand Central back in the day, I need to be able to do it all with that number.

Post a comment here if you have found a way around this, or I am missing something. Here is a link to the thread I found on the Voice support forum.

Ala Carte TV

I was online the other night chatting with a good friend of mine, when he pinged me a link to a UStream channel that featured Jacory Harris broadcasting live from his apartment in Miami. Jacory Harris is the quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes in the case that you do not follow sports.

I really could not care less about Jacory Harris. What was really interesting to see is that he had something like 400-500 people watching this initial broadcast. He had his group of hangers on in the room with him ( including a guy that claimed to be 27 and looked a bit out of place, but obviously had his role in the crew ), and each of them had a chance to get in front of the camera and have their 15 seconds of air time.

The people watching the broadcast were able to post questions to Jacory in real time, and he basically sat there answering them. What struck me ( and the guy I was chatting with ) is that this is clearly the future of TV. We have already seen this happen with just about every other medium. The channels of distribution no longer are requiring the right degree, the right equipment, or the right approval.

Jacory Harris flipped on his webcam and just started broadcasting. And people showed up to watch. I realize we have been doing this for a while ( broadcasting live via webcam, etc. ). However, it feels like to me that we are nearing the tipping point where users can get the specific kinds of content they want without turning on their TV at all, or needing cable or satellite.

Additionally, today I got an email forwarded to me from someone who owns a Roku box. Roku allows you to stream movies from Netflix and Amazon to your TV. Roku is now offering ten new, free channels on their box that will allow you to do things like view your Facebook and Flickr photo albums, play and create new Pandora stations, and even watch your own videos via the new MotionBox station. Check out the new offerings on their Channel Store.

Who will be the first "real" network to offer their content via this medium? I can't wait to find out. I am going to order my Roku box this weekend.

Oh, How I Love Slingbox

A few years ago, I was at the VON conference in Northern California. I don't remember the exact circumstances now, but somehow I walked away with a Slingbox in some sort of give away.

In the course of my move about two years ago, it found its way into a box and did not find it's way out. Until now.

For those of you that don't know what a Slingbox is, its a device you can hook up to your home network and your cable box. Once connected, you can watch your TV from literally anywhere in the world. You can change the channels, program favorites, and all sorts of other goodies from wherever you are.

Because of our recent renovations, and our decision to not have TV in our new house except for one room, there have been numerous times when I have wanted to watch something, but have not had the necessary gumption to go to our TV room to watch ( yes, that was the reason for having only one TV, and yes I realize it is unbelievably lazy to not be willing to walk 40 ft to the other end of the house).

I have now reconnected my Slingbox, and can happily stream my TV to my Macbook Pro ( or any other computer ) from anywhere in the house. As I write this, I have my browser window open right next to Monday Night Football. I watched most of the World Series on my PC from various parts of the house. I could also watch it from Buenos Aires if I felt so inclined ( more about Buenos Aires in the next few months ).

If you have the means, I highly recommend this device. They have new versions that will stream HD content ( I don't have that one ). They also have a mobile app for iPhone and just about every other mobile platform. I am getting ready to test that as well. Will post an update once I have it loaded and see how it works.

Minimalist Gmail - Get rid of the clutter

I have recently downloaded and installed the Firefox extension from Matt Constantine, Minimalist Gmail. If you don't like the clutter of the Gmail interface ( with the chat window, the Google logo at the top, all sorts of buttons you never use ), I highly recommend this plugin.

I have been using it for about two weeks now, and when you combine this plugin with the Gmail keyboard shortcuts, you can really start to fly through your emails without ever using your mouse and reduce the clutter on your mail screen.

The plugin is configurable, so you can show or hide most of the screen elements, and it works with any Google-hosted mail. So, if you are hosting your domain's mail with Google, this plugin will work for that as well.

If you don't know how to use Gmail keyboard shortcuts, there is a tutorial here. You can also access them at any time ( once you have enabled them in Settings ) by using Ctl-/ ( that's Control-FrontSlash ) to show you the shortcuts.

I am hooked on it. Thanks to Matt for a great plugin.

Google Voice - The Joy Continues ( Mostly )

I have really been getting a lot of use out of Google Voice since I last posted about moving your mobile voice mail to Google Voice.

I have started moving all of my voice traffic onto this number, and most importantly, have found a hot new desktop application that makes it so simple to dial from your Mac desktop. Voice Mac is a must-have if you are using GV. It allows you to both dial out and send / receive SMS ( text ) messages from your GV number. The SMS chat window is especially nice for viewing text message conversations right from your desktop without having to use your phone at all.

I am not sure if there is a Windows equivalent out there. I did not really look all that hard, but could not find one in my cursory search.

One odd thing I have found is that when I use GV, it seems to be taking a long time to disconnect the call from my home phone. It seems that the "hang up" message is being delayed for some reason.

I would really like to have the ability to add another number to my account at some point, but for now what I have is working just fine.

Jack of more than one trade?

I was reading this post this morning by Seth Godin wherein he talks about wearing more than one hat.

I have been thinking a lot about this recently for myself personally, particularly around the idea of an entrepreneur being only an entrepreneur. Can you be both an employee and an entrepreneur? Or does it have to be one or the other?

I was reading a book by Hugh MacLeod a few months ago, author of Ignore Everybody. In the book, Hugh talks about how he started his current business while working for others, and that it allowed him to really find his niche without the pressure of having to make a living at it. It also allowed him the time to figure out if it was something he could do for a living and not hate it. One of his 39 keys to creativity in fact was that you NOT quit your full time job if you have one. By the way, if you have not seen Hugh's artwork or read his book, I highly recommend it.

I have seen it be successful both ways. I know serial entrepreneurs that swear by the fact that you have to dive in and be 100% committed or it will never work. I also know people that have started out tinkering with something and grown it to the point where it was enough for them to step into it full time ( see Hugh MacLeod ).

It seems to me that there is the right answer, but its not the same for every person. Based on your ability to take on risk either financially or emotionally, there is probably some sort of scale.

What are your thoughts?