Apple

Is It Time For Apple To Buy Facebook?

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This article pretty much blew my mind.  Go read it.

Of course when you consider it, it makes sense.  Facebook is sort of flailing left and right but has a userbase.  Apple knows they’re not good at social networks.  Facebook has talked Phones, Apple made THE Phone.  Facebook does a lot of integration – so does Apple.  The article also notes Apple could turn this around to be part of the App store.

Really, just read the article.

Anyway, what’s mind-blowing about it is twofold:

First, that it’s entirely possible.  The stock is down, it seems potentially win-win, and seriously, Apple is awash in cash.

Second, is that we’re even talking about this.  It’s a good reminder of how much money is sloshing around tech right now, and a flashback to the whole MSNBC experience of times past.  Just imagine if something like this does happen, it could easily be a trend.

Do I see it happening?  I’d put the odds at less than 50%.  But I see it as possible.

For us geekonomists, this is fascinating to be sure.  But there’s another career takeaway here: we’re playing among behemoths.  Some of them can very radically alter the course of technology and the economy.  It may or may not be a good idea, or beneficial, or wise, but it can happen.  In this case I see the sense to it, but you never know.

– Steven Savage
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

Further Thoughts on E-Publishing And Missing Out

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Serdar brought up the point that in a way, publishers brought the Amazon mess on themselves because they resisted e-book technology. I think he had a brilliant insight, and want to expand on it further.

Let’s take a look at the whole Kindle idea. In many ways it’s a bare-bones thing (at least before the Tablet), a black-and-white-display (however with cool e-Ink), simple delivery, basic formatting. The Kindle is impressive as a unified system, but except for that e-ink, it doesn’t seem that innovative, from file format to the menu

But what Amazon did is string the links together in a chain that worked. They pushed it, they stuck buy it, they evolved it. I myself used to think the Kindle sounded ridiculous, now I own one. The Nook sounded like a runner-up, and now I not only hear great things, I have a friend who can’t put her’s down.

The iPad? Yeah.  Some issues but the big lawsuit shows Apple was big enough to talk with . . .

Of course each “link” chain should be obvious, but the Publishers didn’t  follow that.

All those publishers had money. They had technology. They had allies in book chains. They had people talking about eBooks and playing with formats.

They didn’t do anything. They left it to Amazon and Apple and Barnes and Noble. The Publishers avoided or dodged, didn’t take risks, and by and large let everyone else into the mobile space.

An alliance of publishers could have rallied around ePub. It could have backed a new device. It could have done all sorts of things. It didn’t exist and it didn’t happen.

Now what? I’ve launched books on my own, and the only reason to have a publisher is the marketing advantage (and there’s several small and mids for that). So many are exploring e-books. EVERYONE has to be on Kindle, and B&N is coming from behind (which I need to address in my own books).

It’s going to get wild, isn’t it?  Maybe people thinking of working for traditional publishing need to be thinking outside the box . . .

– Steven Savage

Why We’re In The World Of Eternal Nerdstocks

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So Wednesday we had the big Apple announcements.   New iPad!  Apple TV!  More Siri!  We learn what Voldemort’s plan is!

. . . er, wait a second.  Yeah, sorry, the last sentence was wrong.  See it only felt like some giant release of a big novel.

I’ve noticed lately that big technical announcements, especially ones relating to Apple, consumer electronics, and of course games, are huge events?  Have you noticed the social bonding as people wait for products and specs, then share them?  Have you fanned over gizmos and games and stats?

Well, if you’re reading this you probably have.  For all I know now you’re wishing Mass Effect 3 came on the new iPad so you could play it using Siri.  For all I know someone is doing it.

Technical announcements and events have become just like big book events and big movie events.  They’re big productions, important, everyone is there, and we line up around the block to get our stuff (even if it’s only a virtual block).  We bond over it, it provides *meaning* to us.  It provides social bonding and connection.

Nerdstock is every few months.

I can’t overstate the importance of this – we are now bonding over technology and tools.  Sure some of the technology is fun technology, but even then there’s a technical aspect to it (“What machine are you running ‘Mass Age 3: Effect of Dragons’ on?”*)  Our social interactions now have a strong component of “what tool is coming out next?”

Our social bonding has thus taken on a strangely practical quality in the geekosphere.  We’re analyzing what we can do and what we can achieve and what we can play on some new device.  Tegra chips and hi-res screens are things we talk about over dinner.  We walk the Apple store with our friends appreciating the lovely gadgets.  We make jokes about the Adobe building**, in contrast to their software.

It’s not just geeks either.  Google TV has my parents talking about the virtues of browsers-on televisions.  Tablets are discussed by education professionals.  Everyone has some kind of smart phone that does many things including let you direct unhinged avians at angry bacon sources.

We’re bonding over technology as sure as we would of a film or a book.  It’s getting even more prominent.

I actually think this is a good thing – as in many ways it’s practical and educational.  People learn.  People use the technology.  People do stuff (even, again, if it’s winged creatures versus walking pork).  It’s a celebration of stuff we do stuff with.

This may also be part of what I noticed is an increasingly progeny streak in younger people (which, as I head to 44, I should clarify means anyone under 27 to me).  They’re used to celebrating tech and using it, used to the amazing things coming out.  Also, they’re probably thinking more of the future since some of us kinda screwed it up for us.

I only see more Nerdstocks in the future.  I see people discussing where they were when SiriBot 6000 came out.  I expect to see people discussing how they fell in love at a Microsoft Event openly.

. . . I’m kind of all for this.

– Steven Savage

* Dragons in space and sexytime with alien elves.  Tell me you wouldn’t play it.

** Really, that thing is ugly.