Connecting the Dots

The Cognitive Age: Why Social Media Matters

Our economy is down, gas prices are up, jobs are being lost and outsourced, we're at 'war' with possible escalation (e.g., attacking Iran), and there is tremendous uncertainty in nearly every industry being disrupted in some way by the connecting of the globe and the increasing influence of the Internet.

Let me submit for your consideration that the impact of social media -- technologies, software and approaches connecting any of us willing to participate with them online -- is pointing the way toward new systems and behaviors that will enable us all to move higher up the value chain as we learn how, together, we can create and deliver what the world needs in new and innovative ways.

One of the best op-ed pieces I've read in some time, The Cognitive Age, was published in the New York Times on Friday by David Brooks.

In this piece he's putting globalization in context in this election cycle, which is chiefly on competition with other countries and the policies of government that ostensibly is accelerating job loss in the US. Brooks puts forth this premise which bears emphasis:

"The chief force reshaping manufacturing is technological change (hastened by competition with other companies in Canada, Germany or down the street). Thanks to innovation, manufacturing productivity has doubled over two decades. Employers now require fewer but more highly skilled workers. Technological change affects China just as it does the America. William Overholt of the RAND Corporation has noted that between 1994 and 2004 the Chinese shed 25 million manufacturing jobs, 10 times more than the U.S."

Then he outlines his central argument which, I should add, I completely agree with:

"The central process driving this is not globalization. It’s the skills revolution. We’re moving into a more demanding cognitive age. In order to thrive, people are compelled to become better at absorbing, processing and combining information. This is happening in localized and globalized sectors, and it would be happening even if you tore up every free trade deal ever inked."

What does this have to do with social media and why does that category of technology matter?

Behind The Eyeballs: 75% of All Ads and Content Ineffective?

So many designers, user interface creators and arm-chair critics think they know what makes really compelling content, how ads should be displayed or even how a web site or application should be delivered. But do they? Do any of us really know what it takes to present and communicate content and ads that are truly compelling, cut above the noise, and garner attention from an increasingly scattered audience who have in front of them an overwhelming and accelerating number of choices?

One company is staking a claim to an understanding of the cognitive landscape behind our eyeballs with their quantitative and measurable solutions: NeuroFocus (via AdLab). Dr. A.K. Pradeep, CEO of NeuroFocus, said this in a follow-up interview with Media Post: "We've found that about 75% of all content--not just advertisements--is not neurologically optimal."

"For example, consumers interpret info on different parts of a screen with different sections of their brain. [...] So an advertiser or TV show producer has reduced the engagement potential and effectiveness of their content from the onset if the bulk of the textual and numerical info is placed on the left side--with the imagery or brand logos on the right."

The company obtains their results through biometric measurements. That means volunteers strap on a skull cap with electrodes on it and engage with the content and advertisements of which they're presented. The thing that troubles me a bit, is that like the uncertainty principle in quantum physics, my experiences have shown that when observers know they're being measured their behavior and cognitive processing changes. It does seem, however, that NeuroFocus' research at least provides a baseline from which content and ads can be more precisely delivered. Then further refinement can occur (with we unaware and passive brains behind eyeballs) with other analytical tools or simple measures of clickstream data.

The Nielsen Company (the grandaddy of TV measurement) has made a strategic investment in NeuroFocus so they're obviously on to something.

The promise (to advertisers) of the shift to internet-based ad delivery is measurement and to us (the online user) it's ad relevancy, contextualized or personalized ads. Rarely does significant  and ongoing ad placement occur without measurement nor do venture capitalists sit still for long as ad-dependent-for-revenue companies attempt to drive user engagement and expansion of our involvement with their offering...and thus garner advertisers.

Solid measurement is healthy. Best practices more so as they're indicators of actions we can take with understandable and quantifiable returns. It's still pretty early in the evolution of the internet, but knowing what to do, how to deliver it and how to measure it is key to economic success on the 'net and continued innovation.

To read more, take a peek at this well done New York Times article here and the CEO has a couple of mp3's and a white paper here.

Quit whining and let's appreciate how far we've come...

On our last day in New York, my son and I had fully intended to head to Ellis Island but alas, timing didn't work out (Northwest Airlines cancelled our flight and other issues). Now facing a six hour adventure to get home (vs. just over three hours) has put my 13 year old in a foul mood, "Dad...I'll be so BORED!" he cries as we talk about ways to keep our minds occupied in the airport, on the flights and the one hour layover until we finally get home.

Oh....we poor babies! A six hour, relatively comfortable flight with nothing to read or DVD's to watch...how can we manage?

Imagine being one of the 12 million immigrants that spent WEEKS on a journey that culminated in arriving in New York and going through Ellis Island (unless you were wealthy or 'upper class' and then you were automatically in). Arduous? To say the least. Boring? Undoubtedly. Smelly, dirty and infested? Yep.

I think about stuff like this whenever I complain about technology: slow, expensive Wifi (like I experienced in our New York hotel); lack of 3G in my iPhone and that I can't use it as a bluetooth modem; or that it's challenging to integrate free, open source software projects. At least I'm not in the middle of the Atlantic with nothing and coming to a land of opportunity and unknown challenges.

Am I grateful for what I (and we) have today? Oh my God yes. I'm also aware how 'soft' we are as a nation and a people since most of us haven't lived through true hardship like our immigrant ancestors (though we may now if the economy continues its downward trend!). I'm aware often that I come from quite modest means and my maternal grandparents, for example, were as close to the poverty line as I'll ever experience (hopefully) and were the salt of the earth...teaching me early the meaning and importance of love over anything else...especially the material. The guidance from them, my parents and the people I've gravitated toward over the years have reinforced this perspective.

The flip side is that whining and complaints is the market speaking and actually is a good thing. We're telling the creators, the vendors and the service providers what is NOT working and what needs to be improved. It's the only way that progress occurs and the inefficient is made efficient.

It's just that whining and complaining works best if it's balanced with appreciation on how far we've come and we approach our suggestions, criticisms and feedback in the spirit of making it better.

I've been invited in to dozens of 'private beta' Web offerings as well as sit on the advisory boards of two companies. Why? I really appreciate where we've been in the space they're attacking (usually one that desperately needs improvement), where we are now (the current offerings in the market), where they're headed, and that my positive whining, complaining, guidance and insight -- if offered in the true spirit of improvement -- is deeply appreciated and results in positive change.

Give it a try the next time you're mad, frustrated or befuddled by some product or service that you think needs to be made more efficient. I'll wager it will be accepted well if it's offered with appreciation and your positive feedback.

Twitter Spam: Another innovation about to get ruined?

When Russell Beattie was astounded when he wrote, "Nearly a million users, and no spam or trolls" in February, I was a somewhat puzzled that someone as known as Beattie was experiencing spam-free-Twitter since I'd already been experiencing twitter spam by having goofballs like the two you see in this image who'd become "followers" of my tweet stream. Yeah, right.

Adam Ostrow over at Mashable had a counter post, "Is Twitter about to have a big spam problem?" and is experiencing what I am: spammers following lots of others enticing them to come and visit a link, for example, that ends up at a splog or page filled with inane stuff and lots of ads.

In the same way that email was amazing for a long time and then became a frictionless way for any schneeb to inundate us with their garbage and became a burden and much less useful, the same thing is beginning to happen to Twitter now that it's becoming cool, useful and filled with early adopters and influencers. Either this is addressed early on or it will be abandoned in the same way anyone under 30 "doesn't do email" as my 19 year old daughter so often states.

All of these problems stem from the ability to remain anonymous on the internet. It's impossible to enforce authenticity and real identity, so developing tools to fight it (like those to fight email and comment spam) are the only solution. In the meantime, if you get one of these just login to Twitter and "block" these losers.

Robots: Guess Japan won't necessarily dominate?

Saw this video (via Gizmodo) today about a robot called "BigDog" that is "a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads" with development funded by the DARPA Defense Sciences Office. I found it fascinating and agreed with the Gizmodo writer that BigDog "...is so stunning it's spooky."

For too long I've watched Honda parade out Asimo and allow it to strut its stuff and reading articles like this one positioning Japan's "future" as robotics. Maybe I haven't been paying enough attention to US and other countries robotic efforts, but there sure isn't much press other than our little white guy from Honda.

That's why seeing this video about BigDog was amazing and gives me some hope that we'll not just abdicate a robotic future to anyone. Yes, BigDog is a big lug and not terribly graceful, but early stage robotics isn't about beauty and elegance...it's about stuff like balance, mobility, self-adjusting behaviors and that sort of thing.

The "F" Word: Fear the Disruption You Will Not See

Over and over again I have one, singular experience when doing due diligence or analyzing some given internet or web category: inevitably I stumble across something that wasn't obvious, didn't show up prominently in search results, and even those smarter than me in some given area were unaware of it.

Here's a case in point: searching for ecommerce engines (and I've looked at, and even installed, DOZENS and DOZENS), I came across MagentoCommerce some months ago. While still in beta, it's close to shipping (promised for end of Q1) and it promises to be enterprise-class ecommerce delivered as an open source software offering.

From the software (tens of thousands of downloads), to the community (now over 10,000 strong), the partner program and the support options being put into place, anyone else delivering ecommerce needs to be very, very worried as this competitor emerges with such a vibrant ecosystem.

But the issue is the word "stumble" I used above. With hundreds of Web 2.0 hosted offerings, tens of thousands of open source software projects, and God knows how many commercial solutions out there, the analysis, selection and recommendation process is daunting if you're a customer of any solution, but it's worse when you're competing in the internet or web space as an increasing number of projects are in "stealth mode" and their direction is not obvious.

What if you're already in the ecommerce business and competing in this space and are fairly aware of the competitors but unaware of them all? How do you ensure that you 'see' disruption coming and fully understand the momentum an emerging competitor is achieving?

I've found it impossible to see everything and connect all dots. But I'm hyperfocused on social media (as I trust those in the ecommerce space are about their own category) and will come across solutions at some point if I look long and hard enough...but even I fear that awareness will come to me too late. My client strategists often use the "F" word without coming right out and stating that they "fear" the disruption they will not see, but it's still on the tips of their tongues and they do state that's why they hire people like me who take the time to seek and seek.

Regardless of what business you're in, if you are a strategist, responsible for product management, marketing, sales or customer service, use an RSS reader to skim top blogs and news sites and continue to seek ways to make a broad scanning and analysis process work for you (with solutions like Twine and others emerging) since new releases are coming out in an ever greater number...

...or just stay in your fear place with the lights on.

242 Gbps: An Internet Broadcast to 500,000 People

Something happened last night that I'm amazed has seen remarkably little coverage in the blogosphere or tech press. Thankfully the folks at Skype Journal covered it before and after: a HUGE online event -- Oprah Book Club classes with nine more to come -- with author Eckhard Tolle. This mass, Internet delivered production was put on by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions and sponsored by Chevrolet, 3M's PostIt and Skype (audience questions were delivered via Skype's new high quality video capability).

It didn't go so well.

"Monday night's webcast was one of the largest single online events in the history of the Internet. More than 500,000 people simultaneously logged on to watch Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle live, resulting in 242 Gbps of information moving through the Internet. Unfortunately, some of our users experienced delays in viewing the webcast. We are working to identify the specific causes for the problems experienced and will work diligently to rectify them.

Harpo Productions, Inc., Move Networks and Limelight Networks recognize that interactive Internet broadcasting to a mass audience is still an emerging medium, and we're proud to have been pioneers in pushing the industry forward. We deeply regret that some of our audience did not have an optimal viewing experience and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. The first session of the webinar will be available in its entirety for viewing on Oprah.com or for downloading as a podcast on Oprah.com or iTunes on Tuesday, March 4."

My heart sings for so many reasons though:

• Oprah continuing to take the high road and bringing thought leaders, big ideas and consciousness raising spirit to the masses continues to delight and amaze me. The emphasis is always on the positive, the connectedness of us all and I believe that the world needs more in the way of optimism, hope and creative solutions to problems

• As a strategic technologist, the risk taken by Harpo Productions and partners Move Networks and Limelight Networks was unprecedented and a remarkable learning opportunity for us all. I know of few organizations or leaders who'd take the risk of potentially alienating a half million people with a bad experience! Wow.

• As you can see in the statement (taken from here), they were authentically transparent and have provided the file for on-demand viewing in several ways.

I'm not an internet architect and my understanding of multicast is slim as is the true nature of congestion on the 'net...or as Senator Ted Stevens so humorously stated "The internet is not something you dump things on like a big truck, it's a series of tubes".  What's clear is that major, visible organizations like this one is a way commercial pressure will be placed on the backbone providers (and Washington) to ensure that the internet will stand up to mass events just like last night's "class".

Bravo Oprah.

Minnov8 Launches

My blogging has been slow as of late as I've been particularly busy with clients, a new web asset being developed for our business and the launch of Minnov8.

Minnov8 was started to focus on technology innovation in the State of Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes (albeit most of which are frozen right now...but it's gorgeous in the summer!).

Minnov8 began as an idea in late 2007 when several Minnesota geeks realized that we shared a passion and a realization that we were living in a time of the greatest shift in communication and connection — affecting both humans and machines — than we were ever going to experience again in our lifetimes.

As we talked about what was going on in Minnesota, we realized there was something missing: although there was a tremendous amount of Internet and Web-centric development, interest, passion and excitement right here in Minnesota, there wasn’t any single, online spot to read about what was happening right here in our State.

So we started one.

A vision emerged of an online venue where we (and, at some point, other trusted contributors) could file reports, podcast and video interviews, screencasts and other high value content that would focus on Minnesota technology innovation and provide a news and information showcase surrounding Internet-as-a-platform, application innovation on the Web, and other technology happenings we think will be worthy of coverage.

So stop on by Minnov8, relax and enjoy the trip as we paddle on and provide you with stories, profiles, news and information about the Internet and Web shifts occurring and how Minnesotans are innovating in this time of accelerating change.

1989 Cell Phone for $379

Had yet another startling conversation today with a 24 year old guy at one of my clients. This is a young man who is very smart when it comes to understanding Internet and Web technologies coupled with at least an appreciation for scale and the challenges to get people to use the stuff he builds.

When we've met, he's had comments like "whatever" when we talked about how far things have come technically in just a couple of decades as I put into context how fast development has moved with Internet and Web development just since 2000.

So I sent him this GE mobile phone commercial of a bag cell phone for $379 as a compare-n-contrast to the iPhone he whips out whenever we meet (his is "superior" to mine since it's hacked, he says) and he laughed and told me it did make him stop and think about just how slow..and how fast....cell development has occurred.

Issuu: Cool online publishing (if you want to give your content away)

Just began my nightly ritual of scanning more feeds in Google Reader and discovered yet another fabulous tool for delivering content online: Issuu.

Issuu is the place for online publications: Magazines, documents, and stuff you'd normally find on print. It's the place where YOU become the publisher. Upload a document, it's fast, easy, and totally FREE. Within seconds you'll have a super cool online magazine you can post anywhere on the web and share instantly with your friends.

Like Techcrunch said today, "Issuu is a PDF viewer that doesn't suck." Read the post and you'll see that Erick Schonfeld actually, well, liked it.

So do I. A lot.

I have one problem with Issuu though: not everyone wants to give away their content for free. Some content? Yes. But the really valuable stuff people work hard to produce and we would like some value in return for that hard work (and there isn't enough ad revenue to feed everyone). As it stands now, Issuu is clearly going for the YouTube-like crowd and trying to build a critical mass of users sharing, embedding and uploading (hopefully not other's copyrights) content and everyone will be happy.

But I'm not happy. I want this tool but primarily to deliver published content, privately (e.g., subscribers only).

What I've said before publicly (and privately to heads of startups and established Web companies in content and tools) is that I'm incredibly enthused about public sharing sites and of having a place to deliver content for free. The network effect can clearly bring good content to the attention of potential customers. But Issuu, give those of us who have to monetize SOME or MOST of our content a "pro" version that we can pay for so high value content can be provided only to those willing to exchange value in return for it.

Of course, when I discuss this publicly I get into the inevitable argument with many 'net-heads that insist that all content should be free, I should just get over it (my wanting to make money on content) and content value is falling to zero like long distance telephony. Curiously, these folks are the same ones I love to confront by asking, "So....you're a top-flight programmer. Would you build my new web site for free and have it ready in a month?" Usually they're stunned I'd ask such a question and their answer is, "Well...ahh...no!" I then rest my case.

You need to try Issuu's Flash-based delivery out for yourself. Click on the small publication I embedded below, it will popup a window and you can poke around and see how nifty Issuu's delivery of an uploaded, PDF publication is and how it works (I *love* the full screen view and zooming in and out...really elegant).

MSNBC's awesome Super Tuesday primary coverage

This, my friends, is the future of television.

Saw on Twitter a couple of hours ago that Ed Kohler (from Technology Evangelist) recommended MSNBC.com's coverage of Super Tuesday. "Click on the red dashboard button" he said and up popped the window with live, streaming video and constantly updating primary results you see at left.

Using this dashboard let me move out of the family room (where my son was finishing homework and was distracted by the TV) and head upstairs with my laptop. I surfed other web sites while keeping tabs on what was happening.

Constantly updating and refreshed "Race results" along with the live video feed was just awesome. Really fabulous execution and it worked flawlessly.

The player was Flash and this was the best streaming I've watched yet (assume H.264). I still want a form factor that is bigger than an iPhone, smaller than my laptop that I can carry about with me like a portfolio (no, the Macbook Air isn't it since you still have a lid to open), but well packaged content like this is viewable fine on a laptop or desktop machine.

The smart aspect of MSNBC's delivery -- and why I say this is the future of television -- was the total experience of "the dashboard" instead of just the streaming video. It provided me, the viewer, with a comprehensive perspective of near real time results along with the commentary, interviews and banter of live television coverage. Can't tell you how many times I've missed some scrolling race result on live TV and been bugged that I have to wait for another cycle until they display the results again. This time, it was all at my fingertips. Great job MSNBC.

Now imagine watching PBS, National Geographic, History or Science channels where they always scroll text that says something like, "See more about _________ on our website" but I never do. This way it could automagically appear alongside the video at the right time and augment my viewing of the video providing me with a much richer experience.

Sprout: A mashup & application tool for the masses

Our pals at Techcrunch just posted about a new company that debuted today at DEMO called Sprout and thought I'd attempt to get in on the private beta and lo-and-behold...I got in.

The 'sprout' (their term vs. 'widget') you see below is one I created in 15 minutes. It took me longer to open Photoshop, reduce the size of the Connecting the Dots header and to type in the pathnames to my podcasts (yes I know...they're OLD) then it did to create the sprout!

I just grinned and shook my head in disbelief as I used it since Sprout has delivered on my pent up desire to have just such a mashup and creation tool which begs the question: why the hell didn't Adobe do this with their rich internet application (i.e., RIA or Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR)) strategy? To date mere mortals -- who are savvy enough to use InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and the like -- can't truly deliver on AIR, Microsoft Silverlight or even Webkit apps unless the propeller on their beanie is fairly large.

There are a few nits (the words "Click on any playlist..." were bolded and italicized which didn't publish) but they're so few compared to the power Sprout has unleashed they're easily overlooked. I also want to understand what they'll charge for the service -- or those I direct to Sprout to create -- before I get too fired up about recommending people leap on the tool and deliver mission-critical products.

I also noticed a slight latency as my 'sprout' loads which you might notice also. I've been a broken record on the topic of the "dirty little secret" -- that Internetwork latency is already affecting mashups, Web/Enterprise 2.0 applications, video delivery and essentially everything we do over the Internet -- but this latency won't likely slow down the creation and delivery of mashed up applications. I hope, really hope, that this latency doesn't crush the spirit of those of us truly wanting to create and deliver significantly higher value on the Web with tools like Sprout.

Using this tool for 30 minutes tonight has sparked about 25 ideas for how I'd use it. From completely self-contained multimedia slideshows to a different sort of ebook to a poor man's RIA, I suspect many others will have exactly the same reaction and start building these things like mad.

Reality of One Laptop Per Child?

So much has been written about the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project that I won't rehash it in this post, but will say that my position has always been that the primary value in the OLPC project is that the Internet is the biggest shift in human communications and knowledge storage ever, and ideas, innovations and human connection now move at the speed of electrons. Denying anyone, any kid, from being a part of that shift -- no matter how small and regardless of the technology used to participate in it -- is relegating them to a future of intellectual and knowledge poverty.

When I was invited to join the Institute of Distributed Creativity mailing list (comprised of many academics and thought leaders in education, learning, social media and more), I was part of a very spirited discussion about the OLPC with people's opinions being slanted toward it being "male created technology" or that we Americans (OLPC head Nicholas Negroponte in specific) were acting as "imperalists" or "capitalists" within the context of OLPC, pushing our way and consumerism on the third world.

After participating in this OLPC discussion, I then ranted on the list that I'd expected the list members would be comprised of deep thinkers and those who appreciate vision and are trying to move the world forward. People who push against the membrane of the future rather than pull back from it as critics (and I felt I was seeing more criticism than critical thinking). I've been accused of being a happy-assed optimist (my words) in the list with respect to technology and am guilty as charged, but at least Negronponte was doing something while the list members pontificated about their views of such a project and how it should be done or not done at all.

Then the thread went silent....until today when a man named Martin Lucas weighed in with such a well written counter-point to my optimism -- and the varying perspectives about OLPC -- that I asked him if I could publish it on my blog in total as it's too good to leave on a closed list.

Continue on to read Martin Lucas' "One Slate per Child" paper that gives a dose of reality -- from someone on the ground in the African state of Malawi -- about the reality of introducing the OLPC and obstacles faced in one country ostensibly a perfect target for OLPC...

What if all human knowledge was free and accessible?

Imagine that for lunch today you had to go into your storehouse and find the peaches you canned last summer, the meat from the cow you slaughtered and smoked, and the grain you packed away after harvesting it while heading up to the kitchen to prepare it all. Pretty ridiculous to consider for we urban dwellers, heh?  We instead go to the grocery store and get what we need all nice and shrink-wrapped or just head over to our favorite local restaurant for lunch to be served to us all piping hot.

The farming, ranching, slaughterhouse, bakeries, food service and distribution system (e.g., refrigerated trains, trucking, grocery stores) ensures that most of us don't need to think too hard about where we'll get today's lunch or tomorrow's remarkably inexpensive calories. We also expend laughingly few calories to obtain what we need compared to even a generation ago (thus why we're so fat...but I digress) and this whole food ecosystem has allowed all of us to move to a higher level and specialize in our work in ways our great-grandparents could never have foreseen since we're not expending so many calories (not to mention time) to grow, gather up, store and prepare them.

One thing is clear if you're investing any time staying abreast of the acceleration in Internet-centric knowledge repositories (e.g., Wikipedia, Google Knol, Instructables, Connexions), as well as higher learning institution initatives (e.g., MIT Open Courseware), then you'll begin to understand the vision and promise embodied in a new initiative by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Rich Baraniuk, respective founders of Wikipedia and Connexions, called The Cape Town Open Education Declaration (via Smart Mobs).

We are on the cusp of a global revolution in teaching and learning. Educators worldwide are developing a vast pool of educational resources on the Internet, open and free for all to use. These educators are creating a world where each and every person on earth can access and contribute to the sum of all human knowledge. They are also planting the seeds of a new pedagogy where educators and learners create, shape and evolve knowledge together, deepening their skills and understanding as they go.

This emerging open education movement combines the established tradition of sharing good ideas with fellow educators and the collaborative, interactive culture of the Internet. It is built on the belief that everyone should have the freedom to use, customize, improve and redistribute educational resources without constraint. Educators, learners and others who share this belief are gathering together as part of a worldwide effort to make education both more accessible and more effective.

Does this mean that your training, learning, knowledge work or content is going to be free or cause you to give it away?

Giving your value away...

As the weeks go by I'm more certain than ever that monetization of any intellectual capital-type efforts will be Internet-centric or people won't give money in exchange for it -- and, ironically, that giving value away over the Internet may become 'table stakes' to be in the content or software game. 

Traditional distribution channels for intellectual capital (TV channels and non-online video, bookstores, video rental and music stores, industry publications and newsletters, learning in classroom or DVD, et al) can't scale in the same way they can on the Internet. There is finite shelf space; it takes too long to deliver information when something is published and distributed; people want the information or training when they need it vs. when they can travel somewhere to learn it; and people are shifting their demand criteria anyway in a day of on-demand, always-available access.

Something you might not have considered is that people are also increasingly expecting complimentary sources for what they consume so they can get multiple points of view and perspective as well as having multiple sources to compare and from which to choose (it's where my "experts don't exist" mantra comes from since I demand more than one or two sources for anything). Shopping services; memetrackers to get multiple blogger points of view; voting sites (e.g., Digg) so the community decides which articles are most important and so on.

What's unique in delivering intellectual capital-type efforts over the Internet is that more of us are expecting it to be delivered for free and many of us take advantage of it. The kicker? People simply taking the value without paying for it increases its intrinsic value IF the act of taking it in some way adds a form of personal perspective or influencer metadata above it and provides the intellectual capital-type efforts with more attention, importance, word-of-mouth buzz or informal guidance (premise based loosely on Kurzweil's Law of Accelerating Returns).

Here are three examples.

Minnesota Software "Developer Outpost" Offices

With all the accelerated political discussions during this presidential primary season, there has been a lot of lip service paid to outsourcing, protecting the middle class, the economy and jobs. What is little discussed, however, is that the US has outsourced much of our manufacturing base (thus directly impacting the middle class). What is not as apparent is that we're also outsourcing more and more of our intellectual work in finance and software engineering.

Of course, this causes me great concern as someone who cares about our country, my children and my someday grandchildren, my state of Minnesota and most of all this premise: if you believe, as I do, that the Internet "platform" is the 21st century conduit for innovation, human connection and collaboration -- and is the most "The World is Flat" accelerator of competition in intellectual capital globally -- then you'd better be very concerned that we're essentially shipping our high value, intellectually important work overseas and empowering our future competitors to become the software powerhouses of tomorrow.

What's more important, however, is that onshore work is often qualitatively higher, is created faster and innovation is higher. Every single alpha geek I know -- and some who run major software engineering groups for some of the most visible and successful companies on earth -- fight to keep as many of the highest value (as opposed to low value, maintenance type) software creation jobs onshore as they can since they know the exponential increase in cross-talk and communications difficulties that ensue when people are a world away. Makes accomplishing timelines and enjoying the creativity and artistry inherent in US-based development much easier if those jobs are here.

Since nothing happens without a vision or specific outcomes in mind, software visions and outcomes are usually extraordinarily challenging to get across to people whose native language, customs, cultures and work ethic (not to mention time zones) are markedly different than ours.

Here's one answer and a cogent argument that is a quick read. It will give you one location to consider strongly if you want A-class developers, a midwestern work ethic, an instant grasp of your vision or outcomes -- and enjoy a trail already blazed by such companies as Adobe, Microsoft and Sun. Take a moment now and considering embracing what my friend and serial entrepreneur, Dan Grigsby, has just posted in his A Plan for Minnesota.

CES: One example of our lost technology edge

Just finished skimming 187 posts in my RSS reader that were piled up from Engadget's coverage of the winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES).  The innovation, evolutionary features and new gadgets are pretty cool but at the same time troubling.

The Japanese and Korean HDTV models are incredible. Any glimmer of a US-based production presence is non-existent.

In the late 1980's I moved to Chicago to take a job at Pioneer New Media (PNM was part of Pioneer Electronics, focusing on laser videodisc, CD-ROM and cable gear). One task I undertook was holding discussions with Zenith TV in Illinois about their possible desire to private label one or more models of our laser videodisc players.

This was a company and brand I knew well growing up. My grandparents had two Zenith 13" black and white sets and a color one in the living room, and I bought a Zenith TV as a high schooler for my bedroom. Knowing that former television manufacturing powerhouse Zenith was pretty much irrelevant, I nonetheless dutifully headed over.

The physical plant was like walking through a time warp back into the 1950's. It was dingy, old, and filled with almost antique furnishings and equipment. The folks I met with were so incredibly clueless about the entire category -- and wanted players so inexpensively we couldn't possibly supply them -- that I knew I'd wasted my time.

As a technologist and futurist I'm excited by all the new gadgets. As an American and a father who cares about the country we're passing down to our children, I'm appalled that we're making little the world wants to buy.

Is that an LED projector in your pocket?

Minnesota-based 3M announced today that they have released an earpiece-sized LED projector for mobile and handheld device projection.

3M is now providing consumer electronics manufacturers with a revolutionary advancement in the emerging field of miniature projection technology. 3M scientists developed a breakthrough ultra-compact, LED-illuminated projection engine designed for integration into virtually any personal electronic device. Roughly the size of a wireless earpiece and less than half an inch thick, the 3M mobile projection engine delivers brilliant VGA resolution images and is available today.

This company creates and develops alot of cool technology, but is primarily a supplier of infrastructure materials or building blocks that others turn into finished goods. They do say in the press release that they are "...partnering with leading consumer electronics companies that plan to launch products in early 2008."

Before I get too excited I'll have to see one in action. Though I love the several smaller-than-dime-sized-lens 7 megapixel Panasonic and Canon cameras we own, when I'm serious about a photograph I'll grab my Nikon digital SLR with its huge sensor and lens about the size of a small apple. The resulting image is low on noise and high on clarity.

Of course, cost and convenience are why we always buy the tiny, less qualitatively nice gear, heh? When I look at this tiny little projector component in the 3M picture, I can't help but remember wheeling  a huge Sony 3 gun projector (like this one) into a large group presentation and have been enjoying the continued reduction in size -- and increase in quality -- of the small projectors. At some point I'll buy one when I'm confident a small one will be decent.

Where will you invest your energy in 2008?

Been really under the weather for two days so was a dud on New Year's Eve/Day (nice timing, heh?) so have been behind on what I wanted to get done and feeling the bum on the fun I missed out on. Today I feel like $900k (close to a million bucks) so have been investing my energy in a bunch of different places faster than normal I guess. Email discussion lists, developing new products with the staff, having strategic discussions with my partner, working on the launch of a new site for Minnesota (more to come) and scrambling around like a madman.

I'm REALLY aware right now -- more than I ever have been before -- that you can only invest your energy once and a unit of time is gone once it passes. So one of my New Year's Resolutions is to pick-n-choose carefully where I intend to invest my energy, be better at saying "no", and place my energy where it can multiply.

Since I underpromise and overdeliver as a matter of doing business and in life, I have a tendency to try to do everything. Over-volunteer, try out and be involved with all the latest gadgets and technologies, read-read-and-read, and continually try to absorb and extract meaning from everything.

As I write this I'm looking at my "Firefox workspace" (a series of sites I have open in tabs): Google's Gmail, Analytics, AdSense, Notebook, Reader; Typepad; Feedburner; Techmeme; Blogrunner; Twitter; Wikio; Facebook; a wiki I'm running; and LinkedIn. That's just my "MAIN" workspace! I have several other bookmarks folders that I can load into new browser windows (workspaces by client project; banking and financial sites; funstuff sites; etc.).

Just writing that made me chuckle with the insanity of trying to stay on top of all that happens inside of each of those tabs. At the same time it's incumbent upon me to stay abreast of what's new so I'm constantly scanning my RSS feed reader, looking at both older and new offerings, applications and trying out someone's new alpha or beta site.

I make my living doing this but Joe Average does not. If *I* am feeling deluged by everything out there, how does Joe feel?

So when the newest site in 2008 comes online and asks me (or Joe) to:

a) Fill out a new profile
b) Invite all my friends in to it
c) Start to invest energy, time and effort into using them...

...they're not a social site competing with another social site or a Twitter vs. a Pownce. They're competing to be SO compelling that I'll want to either give something else up or dig down deep and come up with some energy reserve to give to them. As such, it's going to be even tougher in 2008 to convince people to invest their energy in what you're offering so it better be really, really worth it.

Apple + Presence and Location Awareness

What if you could take your mobile phone near a retail outlet and it would tell you the specials? Have your favorite cup of coffee waiting for you to pick it up? Personalize their offerings so that only the things you might like to buy would be presented to you? Allow the retailer to automatically know who the good and loyal customers are so you could be catered to?

Those are just some of the positives of Apple's recent patent application discussed in this Forbes article.

The downsides? Too early to tell, but having an iPhone stolen would be one though there will undoubtedly be security implementations to avoid that problem. How about ordering something automatically -- a cup of coffee or example -- when today you had a hankering for tea?

My bigger concern is the perfect storm around presence and location awareness. Presence is when systems know where you are and that you're online and/or your device(s) are capable of communicating with you (which is one reason why the Blackberry has done so well since YOU don't have to check for email...it TELLS you when there's a message). Location awareness is like the photo above when machines are aware of where you are geographically.

Both of these are huge for Google since every touch point where any of us could possibly receive and act on an ad is key to their strategy. Imagine you search for, say, an HDTV and the ads delivered to your phone or browser are specific to your location? Or what if you're sitting in a Starbucks and corporate sends out a promotion while you're physically there -- and they know by your purchase history and interactions with them via your iPhone that you're open to what's in the promotion -- and your phone vibrates with an SMS delivering the promo?

Slowly but surely we're handing over more and more of ourselves and our privacy in exchange for what? I've handed over a lot and done so willingly (Gmail, Google Analytics, et al) but there is much I haven't used (Picasa or YouTube with their complete ability to reuse your pics and video).

Lastly, I have to admit being sort of amused by Apple delivering this functionality since they're the LEAST personalized and targeted company of their size on the planet. EVERYTHING that I receive from Apple is completely generic though they have my purchase history, machines and applications registered, and my credit history since I have an account at iTunes. Still puzzles me that they don't bother to use any of that meaningfully.

Push-Pull with Google Knol

The moment I read this announcement of Google's Knol initiative, I thought, "Oh no! They're going to kill Wikipedia" and felt a real push-pull. Push as in pushing it away 'cause I love Wikipedia, pull since Google "gets it" on such a massive scale.

Then I paused, let it sink in for a moment and next realized this initiative fits in perfectly with where I believe blogging, social networks, Twitter communications, Skype Prime and all this new webby goodness is headed: more and more 'containers' and 'methods' for our personal value propositions, knowledge and insight to be created and delivered and upon which others can build (and we can monetize!).

Though I don't believe experts exist (experts are usually the few of us who have more information and a wealth of experience at some point in time), nothing of any import or relevance happens without building upon what's come before and the people who've gathered that information, have the experiences and the gained insights we need. This is especially true in science and medicine, but the value people place into the world with their work, their insights and their knowledge informs and provides the building blocks upon which ever-increasing value is created. You know, the old "they stood on the shoulders of giants" axiom.

With more of us carving out areas of focus that allow us to consult, publish and provide our intrinsic value in specific niches, I can easily visualize people (Google uses 'authors') who have high value being ones who create and deliver these knol's, or units of knowledge, upon which others can discover and see patterns. New value will be created by the insights and knowledge provided while the cycle times necessary for knowledge to move around the world will compress and shorten dramatically.

Though I won't really be able to form an opinion until I see Google's Knol in action, I don't think it will, in any way-shape-or-form, obviate Wikipedia since they're two different focuses.

A form (like a book, a TV show, a movie, a video, a Facebook Wall, a web site, a blog) sets expectations in the reader/viewer/user so one can quickly discover and extract the value delivered within the container and know where to find that value. Knol may be just such a container and could become real stand-alone value (probably from academics), but for others a new teaser, loss-leader, all intended to be a player in the labor game of the future. Maybe, just maybe, publishing in Krol will become table-stakes to be in the world's labor force game.

Digg + Techmeme/Blogrunner + Newsvine = Wikio

Grabbed lunch in a coffee shop so I could followup on some emails and surf Google Reader and leech off use their free wifi.  Like you probably do as well, I use tabs in Firefox to create "tabbed workspaces" that let me use different browser windows to load my oft-used sites so they're at my fingertips just a tab-click away.

Four I check constantly are Google Reader (GR), Newsvine as well as the memetrackers (probably THE most powerful automated conversation tracking mechanism on the Web) TechMeme and Blogrunner. With the 1,000 or so articles popping up in GR that I skim/read each day -- cross-referenced in the memetrackers so I make certain I've seen all the hot stuff of the day bloggers are "conversing" about by linking to one another -- I really have a handle on what I need to stay appraised of daily.

While reading Mashable just now I came across this breaking news on the US launch of Wikio, an offering that I describe as sort of a Digg, Techmeme, Blogrunner and Newsvine combined. I dropped my sandwich as I realized that maybe, just maybe, I might be able to combine my use of these four sites within just this one!

As Mashable's Adam Ostrow states in his opening, "Wikio, which already claims 5 million unique users in Europe, is officially launching their memetracker in the US today. “Memetracker” is probably too narrow a description for Wikio, as it attempts to be much more than services like TechMeme, BlogRunner, and the new Technorati."

Wikio describes their site like this: Wikio is a personalised page of news, including a news search engine that searches media sites, blogs and member publications. Even without signing up or personalizing Wikio for myself and my own interests -- which I just did -- I can really see the potential here.

You can vote and promote articles you find interesting ala Digg. It acts as a memetracker, like TechMeme and Blogrunner (though I think that capability looks weak....but I haven't yet formed an opinion). It allows submission like Digg does -- and Newsvine before Digg appeared -- but with a twist: since you can complete a profile like a social network, it allows someone who is willing to invest in article submission with the capability to build a reputation on the site which Newsvine pioneered with news gathering.

The bad news? I can't export my OPML file from Google Reader (which I've painstakingly invested in categorizing over a couple of years) and then import it into Wikio. Maybe I'm missing something and I can do this, but if not it's a deal-killer for me using Wikio as my primary hub.

The good news? I've broken into huge grins several times as I've bumped across articles and blog posts that I've *never* seen before. THAT sort of experience will be the acid-test for acceptance of this tool: if the value delivered by Wikio is higher than figuring out how to really use it effectively (which isn't too tough) and if it provides more of us with the ability to consume and parse high volumes of information, than Wikio is a winner which it already looks to be.

Idea Generator: If it were only so easy...

Skimmed Steve Rubel's MicroPersuasion just now and saw his links post which led me to the Idea Generator which you can see and play with below. I thought it was somewhat humorous and ended up with some funny results.

Just a guess, but this is probably some sort of "buzz test" to see who links to it, determine if it's fun enough to create buzz and so forth. I say this since the Idea Generator is on a white page making it trivial for someone like me to load it in an iframe in, say, a blog post!

Here's what I've learned in more than two decades of acting as idea boy for companies I've been with and for family and friends: ideas require a lot of input shoved into our brains that may be relevant to coming up with fresh ideas; time needs to be spent mulling over the problem(s) in order to heighten our own awareness; and then human connection needs to occur so we can riff off of one another to come up with significantly higher value ideas (the old "1+1=3" equation of brainstorming value).

Click the "shuffle arrows" and let it generate ideas for you or just rotate them by clicking on the arrows yourself and see if this sparks anything...

Oops. AT&T CEO becomes the Grinch that stole the iPhone Christmas

Without question, THE most important thing any company can do is to ensure that they don't muddy the waters with pre-announcements of items shipping AFTER the holidays and goof up the Christmas selling season. They call the day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday" since retailers become profitable (i.e., "in the black") at that time and many make 60% of their yearly revenue in this critical time.

So imagine what a huge faux pas it was for AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson to reveal that a faster 3G iPhone is coming in early 2008. Will people delay an iPhone purchase until next year? If my wife is any indication, yes (she asked me at lunch today to not get her one this Christmas until "they're faster next year").

Just a guess based on that Bloomberg article referenced above, but this comment by Stephenson was certainly intentional to keep people from going back to Verizon or not coming over to AT&T at all (though the latter logic wouldn't work IMHO), "AT&T, owner of the largest U.S. mobile-phone service, is using the iPhone to lure customers from its closest rival, Verizon Wireless, which announced a plan this week to open its network to any phone or software maker that meets technical specifications.

Stephenson called the Verizon Wireless plan ``overblown.'' ``The industry's headed that way,'' he said. `We are probably one of the most open networks in the world, not just the U.S.''

The iPhone is great but the AT&T network is becoming increasingly painful to use. I've been breaking my own rules and logging on to ANY wireless network that pops up since it takes too long to load pages with AT&T's EDGE network. Of course, by the time a 3G iPhone ships next year I'll be ready to buy one since I too want to go faster.

Why we *must* touch, feel or experience products

How can Amazon sell a kindle that no one can touch, feel or experience? Since Amazon doesn't have storefronts or isn't in the retail distribution channel in any fashion, how will people determine if they want to shell out $399 for a player and then read most of their subsequent books and publications with it?

It appears that their sole initial strategy is to rely on early adopters and influencers touting the merits of the device (which, IMHO, is why so-called A-list bloggers were included in the launch). Since there is monetary incentive to see it adopted, having these influencers buy one (if they weren't just given one) and either sing its praises or show it off to everyone else is undoubtedly a great way to build buzz.

I've been in many conversations recently about the supposed death of retail in a day of ecommerce, the now obvious wisdom of Apple rolling out their own stores, how Dell has begun a shift to a retail distribution strategy and that as devices and products become more complex -- and thus require more initial education of the consumer before a purchase -- that having physical locations where people can touch, feel or experience it is more important than ever before.

Or is it?

Retail is a push-pull for me. On the one hand, like most people I like to go into a store to actually play with a product before I buy it. On the other hand I understand how it's a physical impossibility for stores -- even the size of a Best Buy, Target or Walmart -- to stock anything more than the 60-80% of the mainstream products people will buy which often makes ecommerce all that more attractive.

So how realistic is it that new concepts or paradigms will be launched and need to be sold at retail?  Are influencers and recommenders enough to launch a new product like Amazon's kindle?

Amazon's Kindle: Are you paying $399 for a distribution channel?

UPDATE: Amazon has added several kindle areas since I posted (including a user guide ironically as a PDF which isn't supported by the kindle) that make me admittedly eat some (but not all) of these words. Gizmodo has a good writeup, snaps and a Q&A session. Note to self: wait two hours before posting an opinion piece.

Amazon has officially announced their "revolutionary" electronic-paper device called "kindle." But is this a device you'll pay $399 for in order to have the privilege of buying products with little or no capability to have it deliver what you might actually want to read? Is the revolutionary aspect a more streamlined way of distributing printed material or a breakthrough way of reading content?

I'm going to reserve judgement until I can spend face-time with kindle and, most importantly, understand EXACTLY what that USB cable can do that's packed in with the kindle reader. But after reading the Newsweek article, various bloggers, watching the videos on Amazon and comparing what this device does vs. the Sony Reader (which I've used extensively) or all the others currently shipping,  there is no question that Amazon has absolutely hit the sweet spot of what a device like this can achieve. It's likely I'll buy one but I have deep and profound reservations.

Is hitting the sweet spot enough? Can it overcome the inevitable show-stopper realization that will come when people realize, "Hey, wait a minute! I have to PAY to get my own content on the device or read blogs!?!"  Even though any of us in technology understand the limitations of displays like this (they don't do color yet; battery life requires tradeoffs in writing the screen once vs. multiple times per second for videos and animations) I think people will see no color, no audio, no animation, no video as severe, possibly deal-killer limitations.

I've been wrong before and what leans me to some level of success with this device is imaging myself carrying around this tiny device instead of schlepping books, magazines, newspapers and more with me as I travel. Same goes with my bride who travels extensively and is always carrying around a bag with her "reading heap".

"Infinite" Flash. What could you do with this technology?

Scanning my favorite 160 blogs today (via Google Reader, of course) I came across this amazing "infinite" Flash image compilation. Though I don't know if it's really infinite since I watched only five minutes worth, it was compelling and pretty cool (by way of Three Minds @ Organic).

I've often thought about how many opportunities there are for discovery and exploration that could easily be fostered with this sort of delivery. Could be a great way to surprise and delight your web visitors.

Newtek and the Video Toaster

Had a conversation with a buddy about the Video Toaster and the shrink-wrapped copy of the VHS marketing video I still own called "NewTek Revolution." This friend sent me a link to this video below which I haven't watched for at least ten years. Underneath the video is an original post from 2005 I did that I wanted to repost since this conversation brought back a lot of fond memories made more acute in today's time of user generated content, video delivered everywhere on the 'net, and how startling it is that the tools have changed so dramatically in such a short time.

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When I think what could've been with NewTek and the Video Toaster, I must admit feeling a twinge of sadness. NewTek could've been the next Apple Computer if, in my opinion, one thing would've happened that was a pretty clear tipping point.

In April of 1990, NewTek introduced the Video Toaster. A board-level product (with great special effects and switcher software) that plugged in to the only video-ready computer at the time (the Commodore Amiga). It revolutionized the video business and kickstarted the desktop video category.

Two guys I'd become acquainted with, Reid Johnson and George Johnson (no relation but college buddies), owned a video dealership that had introduced the Video Toaster to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area to great success and acclaim. Tim Jenison (founder & owner of NewTek) and his VP, Paul Montgomery (sadly now deceased), were so enamored with what they'd done that they hired Reid and George to open a sales headquarters in Minnesota.

Needing someone that had channel experience to assist them, they hired me.

What an adventure! The Toaster began selling like hotcakes and we had dealers scrambling to carry it. We had three major distributors that were buying up all our production. The company nearly tripled in revenue in a year.

This was *the* cool company too. We were showcased on the NBC Evening News with Tom Brokaw. Our Christmas party had people like James Doohan (Scotty on Star Trek), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek Next Generation) and the guy that played Lurch (Carel Struycken) in the Addams Family movie that year, as well as a host of others. NewTek had a whole "cool friends" network which included people like Penn & Teller. 1993 brought NewTek and its founder, Tim Jenison, recognition in the form of a Prime Time Emmy Award for Technical Achievement from the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Holy Schnikey! The Scale of the Open Handset Alliance

Google's announcement of the Open Handset Alliance made my jaw drop due to the size, scope and scale of this undertaking. Coordinating and orchestrating something of this magnitude is breathtaking and only someone with the market cap and influence of a Google could pull this off.

A new, open source platform was announced: "Android™ will deliver a complete set of software for mobile devices: an operating system, middleware and key mobile applications. On November 12, we will release an early look at the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) to allow developers to build rich mobile applications."

Built on the Linux kernel, it is a complete mobile phone software stack. It includes everything a manufacturer or operator needs to build a mobile phone. Android will be made available as open source via the Apache v2 license which means that yes, it isn't controlled by any single company and all players have to contribute back into the code base. There will be complete documentation and a software developer's kit available on November 12th.

Here's the game-changer to this anouncement -- besides the obvious shared platform upon which multiple mobile phone providers can build -- and why I'm so enthused by this announcement: in the same way that Apple has built the incredible value-added Mac OS X atop BSD unix and the Mach kernel, this provides the mobile telephony marketplace with the same opportunity to innovate atop Android. (From this Wikipedia article: The Apache License is a free software license authored by the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). The Apache License requires preservation of the copyright notice and disclaimer, but it allows use of the source code for the development of both free/open source and proprietary/closed source software.)

Here's what's curious to me about today's announcement:

Internet TV Studio & a Free, Live, New Media Event

Mogulus just announced to their 15,000 beta testers that they were adding some new features (a "grid" to watch multiple channels at once) but that is not why I'm posting about them. Instead, it's that you, yes you, can start and run your own TV channel and Mogulus is your very own TV Studio online.

This startup is also going to be broadcasting the NewTeeVee Live event on November 14th for free and using it as a pre-launch (end of November is launch) proving ground for what they're offering.

Why is this a big deal and why should you care?

One reason is that you'll be able to "attend" the NewTeeVee Live event as stated on their blog, "For those of you who can’t make it, the conference will be broadcast live by Mogulus, who prepared the promo below to give you a flavor of what’s to come. Joyce Kim of The GigaOM Show will be hosting the Mogulus broadcast with live hallway interviews." More here.

Besides free attendance to this event, it also means that you have an atypically intriguing method of delivering high value video content with Mogulus and are able to connect and switch live to multiple, geographically disbursed people (who can be "talent" or content experts on webcams), switch to video feeds from rooms or events with a live television-like production method, and then run recorded videos 24/7 afterwards. The Mogulus player -- though skinned with what I think is their default butt-ugly gray or even their special NewTeeVee orange like you see above -- can be embedded anywhere (and I hope they provide different skins upon launch!).

Take a peek at the Mogulus video after the jump and watch the whole thing as you'll get to the good stuff how Mogulus works, etc.) about halfway through.

Great Workflow Feature in Leopard

There are so many new features in Leopard that digesting each -- and figuring out what's eye candy and what's actually useful -- is going to take some time. Fortunately MacOSXHints has excellent tips for the Macintosh operating system and Leopard tips abound.

I was reading this tip about Apple's Quick Look feature. I'd seen this capability of selecting a file in the Finder and hitting the keys "Command-Y" and a preview would instantly popup. Cool....but then I thought about it and was demonstrating a few features to a new user in the office when a light bulb went on!

This woman takes about 1,000 photos per day at markets domestically and internationally and often needs to preview dozens or hundreds of images. Using iView Multimedia, iPhoto and other tools in the past were cumbersome since many of these photos are trashed. A quick look at them would be a huge enabler using the (aptly named) Leopard Quick Look feature.  Another tip tells how to select multiple files (e.g., photos) and have them popup in a slideshow view.

Sometimes this stuff is hard to visualize so I put together this quick tip screencast (1:08 in length):