Cymfony's Influence 2.0

Interest-based social networking

I'm probably not supposed to say this since I work for a company that's trying to draw attention to the importance of blogging, but I'll say it anyways: I'm bored with blogs.

Don't get me wrong--I still believe the blog is an essential medium of communication that needs to be taken seriously by anyone who wants to engage with people in our society. However, in the end, it's just another medium, along with radio, television, newspapers, magazines, etc., to be used to communicate with the masses. I think it's legitimate to say that blogs should be treated with the same level of respect as other forms of mass communication but to say that it is significantly more important seems like a bit of a reach.

The technology that I've been fascinated with lately is this thing that I'll call "interest-based social networking". Some examples of websites I'm referring to are Flickr, Upcoming.org, and Meetup.com (I would be very interested to know about other sites that fit into this category). These are sites where people go to share photographs and talk about them (Flickr) or where people go to find out about events in their area and even post their own events (Upcoming.org). They meld together elements of interest-focused sites (e.g. Webshots, Pollstar) and social networking sites (e.g. Friendster, Orkut) to create a space where people can pursue their hobbies and meet people at the same time.

Social networking sites such as Friendster and Orkut were all the rage a year or two ago, but does anyone actually still use them? You might get a date or two out of using those sites (if you're lucky!), but in the end, there isn't enough on those sites to have people coming back to them regularly. Pure interest-based sites such as Webshots or Pollstar may be great sources of content but it still leaves people feeling lonely with no one to share their photographic and musical experiences with.

Interest-based social networking sites draw people because of their content but keep people because there is also a community element to them where they actually encourage people to meet up. The friendships formed over these sites are usually more meaningful than those from pure social networking sites because there is a common interest over which they are formed, whereas most people seem to use pure social networking sites primarily for finding potential mates. It's similar to how many people would rather spend their time volunteering or with an activity club where they can do something they're interested in and meet both friends AND potential mates rather than hit the bar scene where they end up competing against people who might otherwise be friends for the same potential mates who'll probably reject them anyways!

Many people, especially the growing number of single 20 and 30-somethings, are longing for connection and community. While Flickr is bringing together shutterbugs and Upcoming.org is bringing together people interested in going out to events, I believe there is plenty of room for innovation in helping connect people with all sorts of interests.

DRM: The recording industry's biggest mistake

On Friday, I read a post in Techdirt, regarding the newly launched Yahoo! music store. It claimed that lack of scope (ie number of songs) isn't what's hampering the growth of online music sales, and that smart labels need to move towards a new business model.

They don't.

The classical business model is fine. People are, by and large, willing to pay for what the use. (There's a great essay on this by John Scalzi, here.) The problem is DRM (Digital Rights Management). Consumers don't want to buy AAC music that will only play on their iPod. They don't want to buy WMA music that will only play on their (insert one of many WMA compatable players here). They want music that they'll own forever, can move between whatever player they wish, and can put on any computer they wish. In short, they want to buy mp3s.

The industry's embrace of DRM is nothing short of idiotic. Non-DRM files are readily available from pirate networks. The only places they're not available are music stores. If one wants music one can take from one's house to one's car, one has to either buy and rip a CD, or become a pirate.

DRM does have its place, and that's in song samples. Let me listen to a new song for a few days. If I like it, require that I buy it, but let me buy it without a digital lien.

Though the recording industry's business model has some issues, there are only so many subscriptions to which people are going to, or at least can afford to, subscribe. Record companies have already forgone billions in revenue by ignoring customer demands, and created an entire generation of people accustomed to and comfortable with pirating. How much more do they have to loose before they wake up?

(Tune in tomorrow for my diatribe on the wireless phone carriers and their lovely walled gardens.)

Nikon whipped RAW: Canon are you listening?

Recently there’s been quite a bit of hubbub about Nikon’s D2x camera, and it’s compatibility with Adobe’s Photoshop. While not normally a topic of general public interest, both the controversial (and ill-conceived) DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and DRM (Digital Rights Management) both surfaced as components of the discussion.

The background and timing of the story follow:

March 1st, 2005	Complaints (readers can log in as guests) regarding the Nikon D2x’s lack of documentation for the NEF (Nikon Electronic Format), and ACR’s (Adobe Camera Raw) subsequent inability to import NEF into Adobe Photoshop begin to appear on Adobe’s corporate hosted user-to-user forums.
April 14th, 2005	A Nikon representative sends a response and link (to a page Nikon has subsequently and mysteriously removed) to an Adobe forum member that complained to Nikon, outlining Nikon’s position regarding NEF, Capture (Nikon’s own image adjustment software), and Adobe Photoshop (the text of which is posted on the Adobe Forums). The page is particularly disparaging to Photoshop, stating: "Where does Photoshop come in? As graphic arts software, it's great for removing a telephone pole, or adding a drop shadow, or affixing a caption to your photo. But if you're using it to crop or straighten an image, or adjust contrast, brightness, saturation and curves, or to apply filters, you simply don't need it." This suggests to many that Nikon is purposely not releasing information and or support Adobe to boost the use and sales of its own product.
April 17th, 2005	Thomas Knoll, the original author of Photoshop, posts to the Adobe forums regarding ACR’s support for NEF, accusing Nikon of encrypting the white balance data, and states that due to conventions of DMCA (which makes it illegal to build   devices that circumvent encryption), Adobe would not take the legal risk of decrypting NEF’s white balance data without an indemnity from Nikon.
April 17th, 2005	A story about Thomas Knoll’s post and a link to it are posted on PhotoshopNews.com.
April 19th, 2005	The PhotoshopNews story is linked to by Slashdot, where the story generates heavy commentary.
April 20th, 2005	Nikon gets a positive mention in BoingBoing, with a link to photos taken of the space shuttle with its D2x camera. This is negated with an update to the developing story on PhotoshopNews and Slashdot. Controversy is also sparked by the idea that Nikon may be claiming some sort of ownership of the digital negative, because it is in a proprietary format.
April 22nd, 2005	Nikon issues a response to the controversy, here at Digital Photography Review. The repose is widely criticized as meaningless, ignorant, incomplete, and did I mention meaningless? It specifically tells developers to use Nikon’s SDK (Software Developer Kit), something Thomas Knoll addressed as early as March 1st as being insufficient (scroll down from the top to see his commentary).
April 22nd, 2005	The response is linked to on BoingBoing.
April 25th, 2005	OpenRAW group founded website launched to encourage and motivate  common Raw standard open documentation of Raw formats. A link and further background appears on BoingBoing.

One of the most interesting features of this story was how often Canon came up as an alternative, and how many people said either that they would purchase a Canon camera, or that they would do so if Canon were to adopt an open standard. An example of this sentiment can be found here on O’Reilly Radar. There’s a real opportunity here for Canon, if they’re listening.

To get conceptual, the information age has spawned the hyper-informed consumer, one who is increasingly tiring of limitations and restrictions placed on the products they buy (are you listening, RIAA? How about you Verizon?). Consumers will reward companies who recognize this, stop trying to spin faults and lock-in as features, and start concentrating on, shock, producing a better product.

Shout-out to BoingBoing, as an old fan of the zine and The Happy Mutant Handbook. Keep up the good work.

UPDATE: There have been requests for a more formal version of this write-up. A pdf of it can be found here.