My take on Google Glass

The problem Apple will run into with iPhone, and to be clear this isn't actually a problem at all -- quite the opposite, is that the iPhone is immediately accessible to everyone. The iPhone's target market is far larger than the classic smartphone target market, because anyone can use and appreciate the iPhone.

The problem with the teen market is: You can't convince a teenager that her grandfather's phone is cool.

This should be the Google Glass target market, and most likely will be the only large demographic with reasonable saturation: Google Glass encourages sharing too much, something most teens love. Google Glass alienates people who don't appreciate the sharing too much trend, another thing most teens love.

The only foreseeable problem with this strategy: Google really needs to get the entry price for Glass down to iPod touch prices, or at the very least those of iPad.

*note: Glass also has the potential to be huge in Japan, and possibly also (South) Korea. But teens everywhere will be Glass' biggest consumer/user base.

iOS 6 - First Impressions

1. iOS upgraded itself while I was sleeping - an entire new version was installed on my phone when I woke up. No headache. No questions. No nothing. That is cool. My 3-year old could upgrade iOS.
2. All of my apps maintained state -- down to exactly what I had last typed into a search box, or what page I was on. (Even apps that automatically load a different default page when they are closed from the app switcher and re-opened.)
3. In short, everything was completely smooth, no computer was used in the upgrading of iPhone or iPad. No effort was expended. 
4. The new dialer is ugly. I mean Windows 95, MS NetMeeting ugly. Steve would be rolling in his grave if he hadn't been incinerated by his nearest and dearest.
5. The share sheets also look ugly, I can't put my finger exactly on why they're ugly, but something just looks off.
6. Everything else is visually nice. Somehow with very little change to all the basic functionality, my phone feels new again. Not sure how they did it, but the status bar changing colors contributed a lot to this feeling. They've definitely paid attention to little things like that.

Squirrel Image HTML Exploit

When you see this article you can either think: 1. Whoa, cool! or 2. That is a huge security risk.

My first thought: Hey! I can host my HTML on flickr!!

My second thought: Wow. That is potentially really really dangerous. Any image hosted anywhere can display as a web page with whatever content I want to put in there.

Generational filters on social networks

Maybe I'm just getting old. (Or rather, yes, I'm constantly getting older, as are we all.)

When I join a new social network, a lot of the noise can be from people younger than me, or even sometimes people older than me.

Wouldn't it be cool if you could specify a generational filter that would let you see what people your own age were up to on facebook, twitter, or more to the point, content generation sites like wattpad?

Yeah, I know it sounds ageist. I'm not trying to say we have to enforce age filters, or that people can't declare themselves whatever age they want, but the point is, to be able to narrow down your social results by age would probably be an extremely helpful tool. (Just like filtering search results that are older than one day, one week, or one year.)

I don't really want to watch all of the teenage drama unfold as it inevitably does, and those same teens probably don't want to watch videos of my 1 month old any more than they want to see vids of my 3 year old.

The only way to do good web ads

Even more compelling than sex or violence, yes there is something more compelling, in case you were wondering, is a story.

Yes, the other two have an immediate payoff, but the subtleties can be lost in the heat of the moment. Stories have the exact opposite effect, the entertain briefly catching a person's complete attention, and then, rather than being forgotten, they float around in the back of a person's mind, seeding ideas, asking to be examined and considered. 

Stories are the most compelling form of interaction with users on a mass scale. 

Any advertising that doesn't tell an intriguing story might as well be wasted advertising. 

Ads are short and good stories can run long, so break up those stories into multiple ad spots. This is nothing new, it's been done, but focus on it, maximize the return on this style of advertising, this style of story telling.

What I want to see happen is an ad network that keeps track of which parts of a story you have seen and focuses on showing you the progression of the story, rather than bombarding you with the same story fragment over and over again -- avoid reruns!

Signs point to 3rd party Siri services: D10 -> WWDC2012

@Gruber:  Let’s Have Some Fun Reading Way Too Much Into the Preliminary Schedule for WWDC 2012

The same things he reads into regarding the TBA rooms would most likely be 3rd Party Siri Support sessions.

Especially since it seemed like Tim Cook was very much hinting in that direction regarding widening Siri's functionality. 

The only thing that doesn't figure into that is Gruber's mention of the ADA. Which actually does strengthen the TV idea. 

Still, I don't see what Apple has to gain from rushing into TV. There were Apple Phone rumors for a few years before Apple came out with the iPhone. There's no way they will be late to the party -- Google TV isn't even close and there are already so many contenders. Why not take the time to perfect the platform (which is what they're doing with Apple TV) and the time to hone Siri (Which is what I think they will be doing now) which will likely be the primary Apple TV interface?

I'd prefer to see an Apple TV in another year; Much prefer to see 3rd party Siri services, improved Siri performance, and a wider Siri roll-out among apple devices this year.

Facebook's road to payment supremacy will have a few potholes

Something a lot of people assume is that Facebook will eventually go into payment processing as an extension of managing your online identity. I personally think that would be cool. There's just one minor catch (nothing major over the long term) that might trip them up over the short term: Facebook Credits.

The idea was cool and it's a money-maker for Facebook accounting for some 10% of their revenues. But in order to go forward with any kind of payment processing, they will need to take a much smaller cut of the payment than the current Facebook Credits 30% cut.

If Facebook goes this route and offers something between a 2.5-5% transaction fee for purchases via Facebook Connect, there are two ways they can do this: If they simultaneously lower the Facebook Credits cut to 2.5-5% they will drop a large chunk of revenue going forward. Yes, in exchange for larger revenue returns over time, but in the short-term it looks like money being left on the table and may instill doubt in shareholders minds.

The other option is to keep Facebook Credits at the 30% cut and risk alienating that revenue source by pushing Zynga and its ilk to find a way to live without Facebook. (That nearly happened when the 30% Facebook Credit tax was originally instated, but this would be even more of a slap to the face, taking a 5% cut from retailers and a 30% cut from social gaming apps.)

They can definitely pull either strategy off, given time, but it'll be interesting to see which way they go on the issue, and how they spin it to make sure everyone is happy with their decision.