A Giant Fails

This week Google (yes Google) announced that it will be shutting down its much hyped 'Google Wave' service. For the non technology buffs Google Wave was an advanced real time collaboration and communication tool that would change the way we work and interact. The idea was that you could create 'waves' that would be equivalent to real face to face conversations except virtually. You would be able add people into the conversation in real time and determine what they can and cannot see. The same can be done with adding files, pictures and other media into the wave (conversation). Even more impressive was that you could quite easily pick up an entire wave (conversations, media, etc) and send it all to others to review.

When I first saw a preview for this new tool, the technology was mind blowing (this is the geek talking) and I spent quite some time playing around with it. The problem, was that no one else I knew was doing so. Which meant that I quickly stopped using the service. This is what eventually led to its demise. The critical mass of users needed to sustain the service just did not exist.

What can we take away from this series of events. Firstly we must realize that even the most advanced and innovative products are useless without users to use it. Products/services must constantly be evaluated to understand how consumers are using it and how it can be improved. Secondly, timing the launch of a product is crucial. In the case of Google, the technology they introduced was too advanced at this point in time for the average lay person. Lastly, we must learn that everyone fails at times, even the best and biggest. Its how you react to the failure that counts. Google didn't hide the failure, they acknowledged it and shutdown the service. Many of us will not realize that what we are doing is wrong and continue making the same mistakes.

Have you suffered from a failure in the past? What went wrong? How did you react to it? Share your stories below.

Cross listed here.

Crowdsourcing - true value or unfair competition?

Crowdsourcing is a modern term that describes the use of a group or community to complete a task at hand. This crowdsourcing phenomenon as it relates to the internet initially started with creatives tasks such as design work being crowdsourced by companies large and small. Small or freelance designers suddenly had access to projects for the biggest brands while small businesses could now relatively afford high-end design work. The internet was the perfect medium for such services as it brought millions of potential creative folks together right where they were needed.

This phenomenon like many others on the internet has since been ported to other applications. These range from crowdsourcing solutions for complex R&D problems to getting mechanical tasks completed. You can find more examples here.

This seems like a wonderful idea, but is everything all hunky dory? Crowdsourcing has faced criticisms in that:

1. Quality of work received is often lower
2. A lot of wasted effort in crowdsourced competitions
3. Difficult to maintain relationships with crowdsourced workers

I feel that although these criticism may be true, businesses (those paying for crowdsourcing) need to understand that not all tasks are appropriate for crowdsourcing and they must pick and choose when the pros outweigh the cons.

I posted a crowdsourced logo design project on 99designs.com a short while ago. On a relatively small budget, I quickly realized that most of the projects offered rewards much greater than mine and it seemed apparent that the higher the reward the greater the number of submissions. I understand that this is completely rational since more designers will be attracted by the prospect of more $$$. The key question is, will the level and quality of my designs be lower than if more money had been offered? I'll wait to find out. Eventually I think it all stays the same, since the money offered by larger companies will always be higher than what a small business owner can offer and thus attract better designers. Just like a non-crowdsourced project.

Have you conducted a crowdsourced project? What was your experience?

Crosslisted here

The cutting edge from CES!

Last weekend, I attended the annual Consumer Electronics(CES) show in Las Vegas. For those that don't know, this is the largest annual consumer technology event in the U.S (i.e geek Mecca) and has all the cutting edge technology on display for you to look and play with.

Needless to say, being a technology enthusiast I've been dying to go for many years and it definitely did not disappoint. I'm going to try give a glimpse of some of the technologies/trends that I saw, especially those that would be more practical and useful in developing countries.

The big hype:
A couple of technologies that everyone was talking about were 3D home televisions, E-readers and Mobile digital TV (M-DTV). 3D technology in general is not anything new, however the fact that you can now enjoy 3D television from the comfort of your home, is a compelling proposition. The sample movies on display were extremely captivating and they are already plans to launch live broadcast tv in 3D. Imagine a live Manchester United Vs. Arsenal game in 3D!

Mobile digital TV is another next generation technology that is gaining some traction. Again digital television is not new, but imagine that you could now be watching your favorite tv show while sitting on the beach.

E-readers were recently launched in the US, most popularly by Amazon ('Kindle'). The thing to note from CES about E-readers was that smaller companies are rushing into this market. E-readers of multiple shapes, sizes, colors and functionality are emerging much like MP3 players did about 3-4 years ago. From a developing world standpoint, very cheap e-readers could help students in developing countries avoid the large, expensive and hefty books that need to be purchased each year. Mobile phones took away the need for landlines in many parts of Africa, E-readers could do the same. Plus this might be more ecologically friendly in the long run...woot for less paper.

The cutting edge:
An augmented reality demo was one of the coolest things I experienced. I was given a pair of funky glasses to wear and a small board with bar code like squares on it (see below). As soon as I wore the glasses, the board turned into a virtual reality maze that could be juggled around to get a virtual ball through the maze.

The extremely thin size of LED TVs was also very interesting to see. The models I saw from LG, Samsung and Sony were as thin as a cigarette in thickness (from the side, you could only see a line).

Wireless charging devices were on display by 'PowerMat'. Basically, a small pad on which mobile phones (with a small attachment) could be placed, which would charge the device's battery. This is definitely a technology to keep an eye on.

The practical solutions:
A key trend I noticed was that the Android OS platform has been widely adopted by various OEM manufactures and so any device with a screen and some memory could now potentially have an OS built into it. This means that applications could be developed to run on Android and any of these devices...your creativity is the only limit as to how this technology could be put to use (e.g portable tablets for waiters in restaurants)

Wi-fi routers with 3G capabilities were also on display. These routers either come with a direct sim card slot or allow for a USB data card to be plugged in to provide the 3G/EDGE connection. Very useful for internet cafes or homes in areas were wired internet is still not available but mobile phone service is.