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06/ 1/2009

Social Music Cacophony

Bird_Recordplayer.jpgPhoto Credit: Jeroen Diepenmaat

Social music discovery and recommendation services have exploded in recent years. It's nice to see DRM schemes crumble and looking around it seems that that the rapid fragmentation and proliferation of these services is likely to continue for some time. Changes to licensing and distribution models that spanned several generations have forced people to choose how they want to discover, consume, and share music.

In thinking about all the ways I discover, consume and share music it became apparent that the services one uses are a good predictor of all sorts of personal, geographic, and social tendencies (more on this in a later post). Here's a rundown of my habits.

For music discovery I've used Shazam to tag the occasional track here and there, but I use Hype Machine more than any other service. I have a few friends who work in the music industry and post tons of music videos on Facebook. I find their posts invaluable. There are a few blogs I check regularly too. And, lots of people on my IM network use various clients that allow them to display what they're listening to throughout the day.

MySpace music seems to have become the de facto homepage for many bands - probably because it's so easy to stream full tracks from their media player - so I poke around over there once in a while. It would be tough to go back to a world without the Pandora iPhone app and living in NYC, with so many bands passing through, Sonic Living has become an indispensable resource for keeping track of upcoming shows.

Of course, there are tons of music videos on YouTube, so I'm there now and then. Both Last.fm and Imeem are tried and true veterans that get some play when everyone else is failing to quench my thirst for something new. I also scrobble iTunes and Hype Machine with Last.fm so I have everything in one place.

As far as sharing goes, I post playlists to a great site called 8tracks so I can share them over Twitter and Facebook. We stream playlists and often entire libraries on our office iTunes network and I'm into that too. So much so, that I downloaded a little utility called iTunes Monitor that lets me see who's listening to my playlists.

I know there are some big names missing from this list, so it would be great to hear what the Threeminds readership thinks of my music ecosystem and how they meet their discovery, consumption, and sharing needs.

Dan Neumann



04/22/2009

How Technology Helps Us To Spend Green While Going Green

2409037816_38b61b9e1f.jpgImage credit: Luca Penati

Seems like tons of brands these days are capitalizing on people's desire to be a little friendlier towards the earth (or for some, playing to our guilt-induced purchase decisions). There are organizations helping us make the right choices while shopping, eating and even listening to music. Here are a few digital notions I've come across that -- at first glance -- appear they're helping consumers make better eco-conscious choices. But at what price?

On Your iPod
In celebration of Earth Day, iTunes has created The Green Room filled with content (songs, audiobooks, videos, TV programs, podcasts and apps) that in some way, shape or form pays homage to the planet.  They even put together a series of four albums of Earth Day iTunes Essentials. The first, titled The Basics, highlights the delicate nature of our nature. We all know folksinger John Denver was a big nature advocate. But did you know that soulful Marvin Gay was the first to top the charts with an environmentally conscious tune: "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)?" In Next Steps, musicians like The Doors and Neil Young take action and tell you how to do so yourself. Even Canadian punkrockers make their statements in Deep Cuts. You can purchase the complete set for a value-packed $74.55. I'm tempted. Heck, I'm a sucker for the Earth and they got me. But what good does it really do for the planet?

What Are You Eating?
Next time you're craving sushi, consider opting for the rolls that aren't in danger of being overfished and those that are healthier for you. Download a copy of the sustainable sushi guide and plop it in your wallet for easy reference.

Or get it on your iPhone. The Seafood Guide tells you which seafood choices are the best (not endangered or high in mercury) in which parts of the U.S. Plus it also lists sushi by both it's Japanese name and what most of us English-speaking novices call it.

Attracting Students
Jocelyn Startz told me about a program where 25 SF high school students are tracking their transportation habits using Facebook and GPS cell phones provided by Nokia over AT&T's network. The cell phones send info to servers at UCLA which organizes the info in a way that allows the students to see how much carbon they are producing in their various transportation decisions, post their data and compare it to others' results on Facebook. The intention is to encourage the students to choose more environmentally friendly transportation options. A cool meld of social networking and environmentalism by the Go Green Foundation. Or does it just make them want a GPS-enabled phone more?

Online Shopping
Shop through the EarthShare EZ shopper widget and every time your buy something from one its retailers, EarthShare gets a cut. All the proceeds go to environmental and conservation charities.

GoodShop.com is another shopping portal. At this one, you choose your favorite environmental cause (out of the tons of non-profits listed). It also provides hundreds of coupons and deals, and highlights green merchants. Stores donate everything from .5% to up to 30% of your purchase towards your selected cause.

Surfing
Next time you want to look up something, use GoodSearch.com. It;s a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates a penny per search to your favorite environmental cause. Okay, so I didn't spend any money here.

The Politics of It
The White House is doing its part too. Mrs. O is bringing back gardening as a new summer activity. You can plan your own vegetable garden based on hers with online software Plangarden. Get a trial version for free. But if you want all the features, get ready to fork over 20 bucks.

"We Can Solve It" touts Repower America. "It" refers to their efforts to convert the United State's energy resources to 100% clean electricity within 10 years. The grassroots organization has enlisted Al Gore to encourage you to sign up, write your Congresspersons (prescripted emails provided), email your friends and donate to fund their cause. Their latest email provided me with a script I could use to call my state Representative in support of the Clean Energy Jobs Plan. It even gave me the name and number of my Representative. They make it so easy. How could you not help? Every now and again, they'll send an email asking you to donate more than just your social media skills.

The Bottom Line
While all of these initiatives are doing good for the environment. They're also helping someone's bottom line. The real meaning behind Earth Day is making do with what you already have. But how much have you spent to be more green?

Please share your favorite pro-Earth digital initiatives while you're here, too.

Sarah Jo Sautter, a simple girl whose love for the earth and love for shopping often collide

03/10/2009

Digital Democracy

democracy.jpg
image credit: Dead Air (Flickr)

The brainchild of an English soccer fan, myfootballclub.co.uk originally launched in 2007 with the aim of recruiting at least 50,000 soccer enthusiasts from around the world to donate £35 each to buy a real soccer team. The site collected the necessary amount of donations quite quickly, and in the beginning of 2008, the donors voted to buy a 75% share in Ebbsfleet United F.C.

Thus having gained control of the club, the members of MyFootballClub then began to run decisions on things from player transfers to team selection and even things like what type of food to serve at the stadium, through a democratic voting process conducted on the website. The members have also voted against taking certain things to public control. For example, last year the members voted to leave picking the starting lineup for matches to the team's head coach Liam Daish.

Not all have been happy with Ebbsfleet becoming the world's first fan-controlled soccer team and it is rumored that the team could be facing some financial trouble, but it's an interesting experiment and the team has also enjoyed some significant success after the members took over. The head coach says he's 100% committed to this concept. The current MyFootballClub members come from almost 80 different countries and EA Sports has also agreed to invest in the team.

If this can be done in sports, could, or rather should, it be done with companies, brands (some may say examples of that already exist) and everything else? Is this the next step towards ultimate democracy and a better world, or something to create chaos and instability? This kind of system could hardly be created and run without the help of Internet, at least not internationally. Is this the way we are ultimately going to be making decisions - before the digital age we just didn't have the tools to make this possible? What are your thoughts?

Thanks to Craig Ritchie for the link.

Karri Ojanen

02/18/2009

Say Goodbye to Hulu on Boxee (For Now)

Have you ever watched streaming content on Hulu.com?  It's okay if you haven't but these days you're increasingly likely to be in the minority.

Hulu's great Superbowl ad with Alec Baldwin promises streaming TV and movie content to "your mobile computing devices".  However, one application that truly broke new ground for Hulu's distribution model, Boxee (see http://www.boxee.tv) is now no longer going to feature any Hulu content, at the request of Hulu's content partners (i.e., NBC, Fox, et. al.).

Boxee's blog post about the situation came out today and can be found here:
http://blog.boxee.tv/2009/02/18/the-hulu-situation/

Hulu's own related blog post can be found online here:
http://blog.hulu.com/

I am not a senior strategist/media expert at Organic by any means, but do find the situation fascinating for a few reasons.....

Continue reading "Say Goodbye to Hulu on Boxee (For Now)" »

08/ 5/2008

We Really Are All Only Six Degrees From Kevin Bacon

kevinbacon.jpgimage credit: kristylopez, Flickr

A study of 30 billion electronic conversations among 180 million people from around the world, researchers have concluded that any two people on average are distanced by just 6.6 degrees of separation, meaning that they could be linked by a string of seven or fewer acquaintances. The database covered all of the MS Messenger IM network in June 2006, or roughly half the world's instant-messaging traffic at that time, researchers said.

Check out the article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080103718_pf.html

While on the one hand this is easy to smile at - it is also quite profound and I wonder if it applies to more than just people - for example how about web links - is every web page separated by no more than six links... I always thought the answer to life the universe and everything was 42 - well maybe its 6, and then again 4+2 = 6!!!

Baron Conway

06/ 6/2008

The Eco Zoo

ecozoo.jpg 3D in Flash is all the rage with the kids these days. Some sites do it better than others and this one definitely falls into the better category.

Probably the best use/implementation of 3D in Flash I've seen coupled with a great design and aesthetic that recognizes the limitation of current 3D engines.

Make sure to click on an animal to check out their pop-up books.

http://ecodazoo.com/

Erich Boyer

05/21/2008

Mobile Web Is Hot, Mobile Web Is Cold

willitblend.jpg

As an avid mobile web user, I can say that watching this year's news has been a rollercoaster ride with severe ups and downs. Not one month after posting a topic entitled "America's Mobile Story Is Finally Catching Up", I read a post entitled "Is the Mobile Web Dead?" over at ReadWriteWeb. The question is really not whether mobile web is dead or not, it clearly isn't, but when the mobile Renaissance is going to hit, and that is where things get somewhat depressing.

The Mobile Web is inevitable
Sure mobile web adoption isn't quite living up to some of the more generous predictions. Sure US mobile sales are down for the first time in years. But, let's take the numbers out of the equation. The mobile web is inevitable, isn't it?

The internet is growing increasingly decentralized, growing less dependent on "web pages" or even traditional web browsers. Instead, we are beginning to speak in terms of hubs, portals, and devices. We are seeing a move towards cloud-computing on many fronts, Google joining forces with IBM and Microsoft announcing Mesh. Ambient devices and widget platforms are getting a serious financial boost. And there is a daily battle going on between Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Netflix, and even Google, to bring IPTV to the mainstream.

What does this all have to do with Mobile Web? The point is that data is growing more loose and devices beyond the desktop are growing more capable. With the adoption of more capable phones, with the launch of iPhone 2.0, Android phones, and HTC Diamond later this year... it is a simple equation.

Rich data is portable +
portable devices handle rich data beautifully =
Mobile Web Renaissance.

So what's the hold up?
Unfortunately, you cannot ignore those pesky numbers. Many cell phone manufacturers are seeing losses. The economic slow-down is having a visible effect on both handset sales and mobile data revenues. Without the renewed growth in smartphone adoption, it doesn't look good for 2008 to be the year of mobile web as once thought. I myself am holding off to purchase a new phone until the Android models start coming on the market.

So, where I used to get really excited about reading reports that Mobile Web is the New Hangout or that Mobile Web Use is Growing Faster Than Ever!!! I am not going to hold my breath. It's coming, it's inevitable. But for ever week of "mobile web is hot" comes just as many stories of "mobile web is cold".

Marta Strickland