Ping.fm, Blogger.com, GTalk, and Buzz

I've been using ping.fm for a while now and it works well for combining twitter and facebook updates into one post. With the release of Google Buzz, folks have tried to figure out the best way to get messages on there at the same time.

There have been two suggestions on how to update Buzz while updating other statuses: link ping.fm to GTalk status (which requires you to reset your password) or post to your blog on blogger.com. Too bad ping.fm (now Seesmic) doesn't have a direct link into Google Buzz.

My guess is they are holding off until Buzz settles down. The API is going to change, presumably due to the tweaks going on with privacy and user accounts. Once that happens I hope to see full ping.fm integration.

The phone is not the point, it is about augmented reality.

So Google launched their Nexus One recently, and there was much rejoicing. Or not. You can read all about Nexus One here and form your own opinion, that's not what this blog is about: http://ping.fm/RgxkX

I don't think anyone was expecting the next quantum leap in smartphones from a design perspective. There are a few things here and there that may set the device apart from the iPhone, HTC Touch, BlackBerry, etc., but I don't think the phone was the point.

Not too long ago, with barely a blip on the radar of both news outlets and bloggers, Google launched Google Goggles. This is the first application I have seen that throws a layer of information on top of reality without, you know, virtual reality googles and some goofy glove. Again, this isn't an in-depth review of Goggles, but you can read about what is coming here: http://ping.fm/phsYp

The point of this particular blog post has to do with two topics called locative media (LM) and augmented reality (AR). Specifically, the effect of LM and AR on our relationship with the real world. Some people also refer to this as pervasive computing, geohacking, and other more interesting terms such as psychogeography. There's a whole study that was done on this, results published here:

http://ping.fm/gmzQR

Just picture for a moment that without pulling out a mobile phone, laptop, tablet computer or virtual reality helmet you can see the following:

Pictures, personal notes, annotations, links, detail and reference information within your own field of vision as you look down a busy city street. Your favorite vintage music instrument store has a coupon because you're a member, that sushi restaurant just got another great review on Yelp, and the news van parked on the corner is doing a story on local politics, particularly on the candidate you chose to support through a campaign donation. You are seeing this because you choose to have this information fed directly to your neural implant that is constantly connected to the Internet. This neural implant overlays this information on top of your regular, non-altered, good old fashioned reality. You can simply "think" filters, and the sheen of data is reduced, or turned off completely.

Sounds crazy, right?

It's called augmented reality, or AR. AR doesn't necessarily mean art, media, or graphics. That's where the "locative media" concept comes into play. Nor does it necessarily have to do with location, that's where geotagging and geohacking make their mark. AR is basically Reality 2.0.

Sadly, there is no elective surgery option to get that neural interface for your birthday. But, you do have a mobile phone. And, chances are, this phone is smart enough to be connected to the Internet and have a camera.

Enter augmented reality applications.

The two apps that have caught a lot of buzz have been the aforementioned Google Goggles, and the Wikitude World Browser. Many other apps are in the works and have been followed by the folks at Augmented Planet: http://ping.fm/uOY1X

But I digress. These are all interesting ideas, but they aren't new. What's new is how we interact with the information.

Until now, you may get this information on Google Maps or Mapquest or any other mapping website. But, again, you are tied to the map search paradigm: the "where is the nearest gas station" question.

So, when do we stop asking questions? Do we simply set up AR filters dynamically based on personal preference (manual) or automatically have data appear based on activity generated from all our web searching, facebooking, tweeting, music listening, dining, shopping, and blogging (automatic)? Time will tell.

So that's useful information.  What about the AR "art installations" mentioned in William Gibson's book "Spook Country"?  Also known as locative art, or "art tied to a specific location".  In the book, some artists took a darker path, like layering a perfectly rendered and lighted corpse of River Phoenix on top of the exact location where his body was found.  Others were more lighthearted, placing poppy fields in your bedroom, but only when you had the virtual reality "goggles" on.

The point is: layering information, art, detail, or advertising on top of our reality (augmenting it) changes how we view the world.  It brings forth into the visual reality that which we have had to remember, or reference in a notebook, directions, an email on a mobile device.

Augmented Reality is detail outsourcing.  All the subtle nuance, memory, history, and information about a location is suddenly available by simply pointing a camera towards what you care about.  It's up to us to decide who augments our reality, and who remains muted in the information background.  The world is noisy enough, let's make this new version of reality useful.

The evolution of Google, and application delivery.

Things are evolving rapidly.  

Google continues to acquire companies and, by taking advantage of technology they have acquired (and improved upon) offer unique search services to the public.  It is this continually operating "idea factory" that allows such concepts as Google Wave and voice search to get to market so quickly.  From internal user testing to small focus groups, to dropping the application on Google's massive network of data centers, you have a testing mechanism that is at a scale unavailable in traditional software development models.  

Certainly, many people in the corporate world are still wary of "the cloud" and for that matter, Google as a real enterprise player.  But that doesn't change the methodology in which Google delivers their applications to the marketplace.  

Early this morning, I tried to scan my memory for an application Google launched for the enterprise that was not already available publicly.  Mail, calendar, docs, search, all these applications were first publicly available and by being publicly available (and free), you have a testing process on a large scale in permutations that cannot be imagined.  In other words, Google can throw a ton of internal, grid-based tests at applications before they go to public Beta, but they cannot predict the interesting ways people will use these applications.  And, if something becomes VERY interesting to Google, it is incorporated into the product directly, automatically, for free.  

So while I understand the lack of trust many enterprise IT folks have for Google, it's hard to challenge the delivery model.  Cloud applications, software-as-a-service, on-demand, what it's called is irrelevant.  What is relevant is how companies and users benefit from massively scalable applications tested across large permutations of use cases in the public domain.  This, combined with Google's approach to constant product evolution (without downloading and installing patches or service packs), lifts IT out of the doldrums of keeping the lights on, and into the the next era of enterprise innovation.  

Focus on your core business, farm everything else out to the cloud.  It just makes sense.

  

Alright, here we go...

The reason for creating Unravel Media LLC as a corporate entity was to make sure there was a "licensed" and "official" way to help people, artists, entrepreneurs, business owners, and corporations best leverage technology to their advantage. While most of this is via the web, most people still manage to wrestle with an array of audio, video, mobile devices, laptops, physical media and news. This is where I believe Unravel can help.

A bit about me...

For as long as I can remember I have been around media. From vinyl records and 8 track tapes in my early youth, to cassettes, computer games, the CD, and now the MP3 player, audio media is everywhere. For computers it started with the Atari, the Commodore, the Apple and finally the PC Jr. in the 1980's. It was then I learned how to write, debug, and run computer programs. I tinkered with every electronic kit I could find and took apart and reassembled more items than I care to mention, sometimes successfully.

In the late 1980's, with an IBM PC connected to a dial-up modem, I was exposed to the strange new world of dial-up chat rooms (via 300 baud modems) and Bulletin Boards (where people traded software and documents). Little did I know this would give way to the Internet as we know it today through publicly available "portal" providers like AOL and Prodigy. High school and College gave way to email, the GLOBAL Internet (not just interconnected College networks), network gaming and a deep connection with a larger community of like-minded misfits and hackers. During my internship I learned about corporate-wide enterprise software, which gave way to me eventually selling this software, and the consulting services to go along with them, to large corporations.

Now here we are, facing the tidal wave of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, all these have their own unique issues of user interaction, integration with everyday life, access for those with disabilities, and general frustrations for those that weren't born with a silver transistor in their mouth. I simply don't know a world without technology, pure and simple. But not all of us are fortunate enough to have a comfort level with technology.

So allow me to help you. Ask me questions. I may not have all the answers, but I probably know where to get them. There's a lot to do, let's get started.