Web-Tones

15M Blogs & Nothing On?

Link: One By One Media.    Great post here about the how the blogosphere has "plateaued" at around 15 million blogs. Although blogging is no doubt maturing, the innovation that is happening on the web (and elsewhere) will continue to happen, and we will continue to be surprised--something the post highlights.

Blogging has completely and irrevocably transformed the "4th Estate" at a time then the press was becoming less and less relevant due to the obsession with ratings. It has also transformed (to a lesser degree) the entertainment industry. It will transform others.

Blogging is here to stay but it is certainly not the last word on the evolution of the Web. As someone aptly stated recently in terms of the history of the PC we are at the Visicalc stage--the real transformation has yet to occur and the form it will take is impossible to predict--but it is coming just as surely as night follows day.

Hey where are the videos?

Glad you asked that question!

The videos are all still in my vivid imagination. Pretty cool, eh? Law Tech TV sans the TV, what a concept. Well to be honest, I knew that law school would consume ALL bandwidth and it has not disappointed. However, one more semester is nearly over and one more in the fall to go. Yeah there is a 2 credit directed research project in the summer, but for all intents and purposes this ride is just about over. It has been a fun ride, but alas all good things must end. I  will be working in VA this summer and hopefully cranking out some videos as well. While I am looking forward to experimenting,I am quite certain that Spielberg (sp?) and others have nothing to worry about.

The first substantive video will be based on a paper I wrote entitled: "Search, Knowledge Management and the Practice of Law." It will be a challenge to condense a 30 page paper into a 10 minute "chalk talk."

Hopefully, once I grok the process and the technology I can "direct" some cameos from the "gang."

Mac v. PC for the Solo Practitioner

Link: Home Office Lawyer: 10 Must-Have Apps for the Mac Using Solo Practitioner. Some tech savvy solos have been sparring lately (friendly match) in the "10 must have apps" dual. The Mac Guy (link above) and the FutureLawyer (here) are running their own version of Mac v. PC commercials and it amounts to entertaining reading. The Mac is definitely making inroads, and as I have mentioned before one of these "bad boys" is in my future, there will not be any mass exodus to Mac either in the legal industry or any other. The reason is obvious, the "switching costs" are prohibitive--the is something that Microsoft (MS) understands quite well. They are no longer (if they ever were) "the fastest cheetah in the jungle" but they just need to be "fast enough" to prevent any kind of exodus that would seriously hurt their business.

The rule of thumb is that a new/different technology must be 10X better than the old/existing in order to "compel" a move. Mac arguably delivers an enhanced computing experience (reason that they are drawing converts) BUT it is NOT an order of magnitude better (reason the exodus will never happen). That said, solos are just starting out should give the Mac a serious look because the reasons for choosing MS for a new solo practice are quickly disappearing (although in some cases the apps selection is still better on the PC).

Bricks & Mortar: The Future of Computing on the Cloud

Link: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: The real Web 2.0. I have to agree with Nick  that what Google and Microsoft are up to is way more interesting that all the "cutesy" Web 2.0 services. Maybe because they all appear to be yet another social networking (YASN) service. But the infrastructure to deliver next generation apps is more "manly" stuff. Why? Because we want the "computing on the cloud" experience to be scaleable and highly available AND if we are storing our "digital lives" on the cloud we also want the cloud to be "Katrina proof"--i.e. connected to other clouds when (not if) the inevitable next disaster happens. All of this requires large data centers and therefore bricks and mortar. The fact that (presumably) permanent jobs are added to these communities is also interesting, that is if you care about employment in the good 'ole USA.

Other than that, maybe it is just because I am getting old (no reflection on Nick) that this cutesy stuff appears to be BORING.

Computing on the Cloud: The Next Generation

Link: GigaOM � Xcerion makes Internet OS real. Whether or not you call it an OS is irrelevant. It is the next evolutionary step in the Web 2.0 universe. Call it "synchronicity" the web & offline worlds collaborating in a seamless computing experience. Yeah MS will be a big player here for two reasons: 1) they can embrace and extend (deja vu all over again); 2) they can protect their base (which is huge) from mass defections from MS Office.

That is not to say that others do have a significant market opportunity, BUT there does not appear to be any winner take all scenarios that are likely. Still, chipping away at MS' monopoly will be interesting, since the billions that are likely to be invested will ultimately benefit consumers, brutal competition almost always does...