The Facebook Millionaires

The Facebook Millionaires

With the upcoming Facebook IPO, there is much speculation as to the potential creation of thousands of millionaires. Facebook is expected to debut on the market at $100 billion dollars in 2012, which makes me wonder what other numbers are at play that we aren’t seeing.

How much revenue does Facebook need to account for executive compensation and employee wages? Facebook had around 700 employees in 2008, and currently employs over 3,000. Not all employees will get equal shares either, and one downside to going public is that all executives will need to include the amount of shares owned in quarterly reports. There may be dissent among the company once this information is released, and only time will tell if a restructuring of the company is necessary. Current investors will have a vested interest in making sure everything goes smoothly, and may be the deciding factor in the future of the company.

This makes me wonder how our experience as end users will change. Can we expect to see more invasive advertisements because it’s what stockholders want? Will our status updates and fan-page comments be considered fair game when we mention specific products? I also wonder what this means for the on-going privacy issues held against Facebook. How much of a say will the stockholders have in the way our data is used?

Facebook’s IPO is expected to be the biggest tech IPO ever – Google debuted at $1.9 billion as a comparison. I plan to invest, but I’ll see how I feel once next April comes around. A lot also depends on how Facebook offers the shares – they may opt for an auction as Google did in 2004. Pricing most likely won’t be known until the night before it goes public, but definitely keep an eye on this story. If you have a lot of money to invest, this may be something for you to consider. This could be the ground floor of something major, and though there is always the possibility of Facebook becoming the next Myspace, I think it will be a while before Facebook is replaced.

Trover, the Location Based Social Network

Since I plan to create and market a travel app in the future, I thought it would be interesting to test out and review an app for a blog post. I recently downloaded the Trover app, and I absolutely love it so far!

Trover describe themselves as “a new smartphone-based social network that lets you share discoveries with friends and fellow explorers in a visual, fun way – all based on your location.” Users are encouraged see what others have discovered based on GPS location, and as your dig deeper into the results you are shown locations further away from you. Shares are brief, consisting of a photo and a quick note.

Your first option in the Trover app is “Nearby” listings. This gives a cool display of shares by other “trovers” based on your location, which can then be sorted by Anytime, Last 7 days, and Today. Underneath the category display is a mileage reading, which increases as you scroll down the thumbnail images of user shares (as mentioned above, the deeper results are those further away from your current location).

There is also a “Feed” option that shows all submissions to Trover as they happen. These are not sorted by location in any way, but you can sort between All Shares and those that you are following. I wasn’t sure how active the feed would be since I hadn’t heard of Trover before, but it turns out there are quite a few users from all over the world actively sharing through this location based social network.

A “Featured” section is also included in the app, which is similar to the Feed screen, but with stars in the upper-left corner of the thumbnails. I’m not sure how featured shares are decided, as there seems to be a combination of views, comments, and shares in the listing, but I consider this a great feature since there’s a lot of content that wouldn’t be seen otherwise (there’s quite a lot in the feed, and unless you search by location you will only see what is shared close to your current location).

The “Me” section lets you invite friends, search users, and send feedback. I may invite some friends, as I couldn’t find anyone I knew with the search users function. They are missing out – for a free app, Trover is great!

Being Young and Making an Impact

I just watched a great video on TED.com of Natalie Warne’s presentation Being Young and Making an Impact. Natalie tells an amazing story of her involvement with Invisible Children, an organization involved in ending the use of child soldiers by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Africa. She explains that what made all of their triumphs possible was the acts of Anonymous Extraordinaries, and that you should follow your dreams because they are what drives you, not because they will make you successful or famous.

Natalie’s mother had two pictures in their apartment: one family picture, the other of her mother at 12 years old looking into the eyes of Martin Luther King, Jr. Natalie would always imagine it was her looking into his eyes, and though she didn’t get to meet Dr. King, she did get to meet Dr. Vincent Harding, who wrote many speeches for the late Dr. King. She explains that Harding is an example of an Anonymous Extraordinary, and was just as important to the Civil Rights movement in his behind the scenes role.

She struggled to find her identity in high school – she received hate letters for being black, and was forced to pick a race due to her mixed heritage. But that situation made her resent both races, and it wasn’t until she saw the film Invisible Children that she found her identity. The film was about Joseph Kony’s use of child soldiers in the Lord’s Resistance Army, and what struck her the most was how one man could start a war that has lasted 25 years.

That made Natalie ask the question of what could one 17 year old do to end the use of child soldiers. She joined the Invisible Children foundation, and flew to San Diego to be meet with the founders. They told her getting a bill passed would be the first step, which lead her on a journey that took her all the way to the Oprah show to gain support.

However, getting on Oprah wasn’t her defining moment. Oprah was a checkpoint on the way to the bill, and the signing of the bill by the president was her defining moment. She wasn’t there, none of the interns were, and yet she felt just as much a part of the movement. Just as the family who ordered 100 boxes of pizza was part of the movement. It was people doing whatever they could, the Anonymous Extraordinaries, that drove the movement, not the Oprah moments. Natalie states that not even a number of Oprah moments strung together could fuel a movement as much as Anonymous Extraordinaries. That is what brought 100,000 people to her rescue event in Chicago that got Oprah to listen to the Invisible Children message.

Natalie says that this is what will define the new generation, and I foresee many business innovations if people do start following their dreams simply because it’s what makes their heart sing. If one person can get Anonymous Extraordinaries to gather around a vision it creates a truly powerful force.

Steve Largent and CTIA

Quick update: my last post was about Siri on the iPhone 4S, and I’ve since then purchased the new iPhone. Siri is amazing from a user experience perspective, and I’m excited about developments regarding Siri’s current lack of an API.

This new development for mobile devices made me curious to find out who has a hand in regulating mobile devices, which lead me to CTIA-The Wireless Association. Their website describes CTIA as “an international nonprofit membership organization that has represented the wireless communications industry since 1984. Membership in the association includes wireless carriers and their suppliers, as well as providers and manufacturers of wireless data services and products.” CTIA is also involved in the Engadget in which he sheds light on his vision of the industry. I learned that Steve Largent plays a major role in lobbying for mobile carriers, which makes him a key figure in the long-term direction of the industry. He mentioned that even the President has given him direct support for his company’s initiatives.

Another interesting point mentioned is taxation of wireless users. There is an average state tax of 15.3 percent on wireless bills, and some states pay as high as 23 percent. I wasn’t even aware of how high the tax could be, and I’m glad to find out CTIA is doing everything in its power to find a more reasonable solution. If they are successful, I think that could potentially mean more mobile users, which would benefit my company directly in that many viewers of Discover Wisconsin are from more rural areas of Wisconsin. If wireless could be cheaper, I think it could potentially translate into more views to DiscoverWisconsin.com through mobile devices, which would make it more likely those same users would get the Discover Wisconsin mobile app.

CTIA is also working to change the tax on digital goods and services. Popular downloading services such as iTunes charge a tax for downloads, which would be another deterrent stopping people from engaging in the wireless user experience.

The U.S. Army is working with CTIA on an Army Marketplace Application Store. Only the Department of Defense can access the store’s content, and the apps will be geared at assisting troops complete their missions. App developers and soldiers will also have open communication, as a soldier can post what is needed in an app, and then a developer can get to work on it. I see a lot of potential for this amount of personalization in app development, with a possible new market emerging related to apps developed for specific individuals in the civilian market.

Apple’s Siri a Game-changer?

Were you excited for the iPhone 5 to be released, only to then feel disappointment about a confusing "4S"? James Allworth argues that Apple's addition of the Siri voice-control feature is as revolutionary as the Mac itself. The 4S is more of an advancement than many thought, and will change the way mobile devices are used. Speech is a natural form of human communication, and the ability to talk to your phone like it's a person unlocks new opportunities for interactive experiences.

Robert Scoble knew Siri would be major last year, and predicts it could be major move in Apple's competition with Google. The mobile device and app market has been a fierce one, but Siri could be the new edge everyone else has to compete with. Google and anyone else intending to have a presence in the market need to come up with an answer, and fast.

Apple's website makes the claim that Siri knows what you mean, and that it goes beyond voice-recognition. If you asked about a good place to find a burger, and then asked about tacos, Siri knows you're still talking about finding restaurants. Siri will also ask you questions for the sake of being proactive.The site goes on to state that Siri uses the majority of the built in apps on the iPhone 4S. There may be little left we need to use the keyboard for when we can now have so many functions at the command of our voice. I’m starting to see what Mr. Allworth meant by Siri being just as revolutionary as Apple itself.

Will Siri be the future of artificial technology? There is a concern about how much Siri knows and can do, and if we need to regulate Artificial Intelligence. In the constant drive to release new technology it is easy to overlook the long-term effects of current actions, and only time will tell if more planning should have been involved with the release of Siri before being made available to the public.

Brain Scans Using Smart Phones

http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/emotiv3.jpg

A personal EEG system was previously released by Emotiv for researchers and developers. Emotiv's EPOCH acts as a revolutionary interface for human and computer interaction, and already has a considerable community using its developer kit.

Now scientists at the Technological University of Denmark have hooked up Emotiv's system with a Nokia N900 smart phone. Individuals can now monitor brain states in a natural environment, as opposed to in a laboratory setting where one would typically find brain scanning devices. The mobility aspect may also help patients with neurological disorders be treated and monitored at home.

One possible use of the device would be to diagnose seizures at their onset. Continuous monitoring is made easier with a mobile device, which would then allow specific mental states to be studied in relation to possible triggering stimuli.

The EPOCH has also been used to make calls with a smart phone. The technology allows you to think of a phone number, and then it can be "dialed" through concentration. It could also function as a typing assistant for paralyzed individuals.

An interesting feature I would like to see someday is the ability to monitor brain states during deep sleep and dreams. If brain impulses during dreams could be mapped into visual data, then theoretically it would be possible to create video footage of what is dreamed during sleep.

I also wonder if brain stimuli could be created with a smart phone and inputted to the brain. Could a frequency be sent to the brain before a seizure to cause the brain to stabilize in epileptic patients? Brain states could be altered with digital precision rather than with pharmaceuticals as is currently done for people experiencing depression, bi-poloar disorder, etc. I think this technology is a ways into the future, but the fact that we are already able to map our brain activity on smart phones shows we are well on our way to new experiences and opportunities for self-knowledge.

Google Release Electricity Usage Statistics

Google recently released information regarding electricity consumption of their data centers. A massive amount of electricity is used by the data centers - enough to continuously power 200,000 homes. That amount of power is more than what would be used by Salt Lake City, which causes one to wonder if regulations should be put in place considering the current energy crisis. Google claims that they are actually making a greener planet by using this energy. Their logic is that if a person does a Google search for information instead of driving to the library, the overall amount of energy consumed is less since an online search can be performed almost instantly.

Google claims to work hard to reduce the amount of energy used. Their goal is to use as little energy as possible, and a total carbon footprint can be seen on the Google Green site.

However, the company shows no signs of slowing down the production of new data centers, and as recent as 2007 there was a $600 million data center contracted in South Carolina. This is the most recent addition to a few other data centers Google has in the Carolinas, and while many new jobs will be created with the construction of each new data center, it also creates another burden on an already strained electrical grid.

One possible solution is investing in windmills. Google has already invested in two wind farms, which generate 169.5 megawatts of power, enough to power more than 55,000 homes. I think this is a good start toward balancing out the carbon footprint created by the electricity consumption of the data centers, but instating government regulations shouldn't be ruled out.

Microscope Uses Holograms Instead of Lenses

Microscope Uses Holograms Instead of Lenses

http://www.gizmag.com/cheap-microscope-uses-holograms/19679/

Green Float Island

How can we achieve the Botanical City concept?

http://www.shimz.co.jp/english/theme/dream/greenfloat.html