The Atlantic has a write-up on Outgrow.me:

Many of the products on Kickstarter live their lives in the conditional tense. “This would be cool,” we say to ourselves when we see an especially nifty gadget being pitched on the site. “Oh, wow, that could be awesome.”

But what happens when funded projects make their move from potential to actual? Where do you go to explore — and maybe buy — the Kickstarter projects that have actually been kickstarted?

Great idea. Inevitable, really.

From Electronista:

Facebook has announced plans to allow external marketers to mine new customers from the social network using personal information, such as phone numbers, email addresses, Facebook users’ unique UID code, and other identifying characteristics. The targeting option will be available to advertisers next week. Facebook says advertisers will have to seek their customers’ permission to use the data for marketing purposes before they proceed.

Facebook’s customers? Advertisers.
Facebook’s product? Their users.
Just a reminder.

via Marco.org

From Bloomberg Marketwatch, August 28:

Since the $1.05 billion verdict Friday — which found that Samsung infringed on six Apple AAPL -0.05% patents — customers of Samsung have been dumping their Android products on at least one major resale site. Gazelle.com reports a 50% increase in Samsung smartphones over the past three days, which has led to a 10% drop in prices for those devices. “Consumers seem to be jumping ship,” says Anthony Scarsella, chief gadget officer at Gazelle.com. “We expect this trend to continue, especially with this latest verdict.”

Then from Forbes, also on August 28:

On Friday, a California jury ruled in favor of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and ordered Samsung to pay just over $1 billion for infringing on the iPhone maker’s patents. Many critics have been quick to analyze the verdict, but there appears to be an interesting side effect that no one saw coming: increased sales of the Galaxy S III.

So Apple’s court victory is both hurting and helping Samsung smartphone sales.
Or something.

Engadget: HP creates Mobility division to focus on consumer tablets, taps ex-MeeGo maven Alberto Torres to run it
Hey HP, you’re a little late to the tablet computing party. Like getting-close-to-3-years-late (I’m not counting that fling with the TouchPad). The bouncers are turning the house lights on and the bartenders are announcing last call.
You might be able to find someone to go home with your tablet, but almost everyone has found one already and they’re getting in their cars to go home.

US State Department cancels no-bid Kindle contract

Prior to payment and delivery, the US State Department has torpedoed its $16.5 million contract with Amazon, proposed in June, for Kindle e-book readers. The contract is headed to a normal Request for Information process, rather than the no-bid award that Amazon was initially selected to fulfill. The program was intended for use in overseas language programs, and any device chosen would have to support wireless connectivity, central management, text-to-speech, long battery life and a number of other requirements.

Translation: the US State Department realized the Kindle sucks.
Next time, Amazon. Next time.

The balance of power is going to shift from companies running people, to people running companies.

via designtaxi.com

My brother Mark has submitted a presentation topic for SXSW 2013 on Ambient Futurism:

The future is NOW?! That expression is as annoying as it is untrue. The future is not now… but let’s get prepped for later. An organization’s ability to anticipate the trends and abilities of the future will be crucial for remaining nimble in a world that is forcing us to adapt quickly. Fortune 500 companies are now contracting professional “Futurists” to navigate these waters for them, but what about the rest of us? “Ambient Futurism” is a new approach to the Futurist discipline, designed to extend the far-sighted vision of a company for near-term, tangible benefit. This presentation will define this concept and explain its benefits, specifically for marketers. The content draws on a range of unexpected sources while providing practical tools and frameworks to bring an Ambient Futurism program to your own office or company. The goal will be to demonstrate how actual profit and competitive edge can be gained through a more imaginative application of Futurist thought.

If you dig it, go vote for it at the SXSW PanelPicker site.

Jim Dalrymple on Samsung’s ‘cash-for-clunkers’ program:

Samsung wants consumers to buy its Galaxy S III so badly that it’s willing to pay them for their old smartphones.

Priceless.

Literally.

Electronista: AT&T adopting ‘anything but iPhone’ strategy, sources say

AT&T is deliberately trying to steer retail shoppers away from the iPhone, according to three sources for the Boy Genius Report. Regional sales managers have allegedly been handing instructions to store managers, telling them that people looking for smartphones should be directed towards Android or Windows Phone devices instead. Even if a person comes into a store looking for an iPhone, workers have reportedly been told to show shoppers other options so they can “make an informed decision.”

Funny to hear about a phone carrier trying to divert peoples’ attention from a great product.
If true, it’s clear AT&T is doing this because they don’t want to become too reliant on Apple for success. This will be tough though, as the article says the iPhone represents 72% of all activations on their network.

Since Apple launched the App Store in 2008, there’s been an ever-increasing amount of attention paid to how it’s a ‘walled garden’. Most of the people who use this term usually say this is a bad thing and are proponents of Android’s ‘open’ platform.
The thing is, if there’s any place that needs walls, it’s a garden.
A few months ago, I carved out a garden in my backyard and had sod laid down so we could have a real lawn. Since I’ve started these two projects rabbits have been eating my grass like McDonald’s French fries and they’ve also snacked on the string bean plants which have finally started to sprout. My landlord gave me a gallon of rodent repellant that literally smells like shit but has garlic in it, and apparently rabbits hate garlic, like vampires. As far as I can tell rabbits are just as evil as vampires and only come out at night. And lets not even talk about the gophers. Oh the goddamn gophers. I’ve become Bill Murray’s character in Caddy Shack. I’ve tried smoke bombs and hoses down holes but the resilient bastards come back every day to bust open a new hole in my yard.
What made me think about all this App Store and garden stuff was a recent post by Matt Gemmell:

If you’re not in the mobile apps business to make money, then great – congratulations. This is your bus stop. Off you go. Have a nice life. I, however, am in business to make money. I write code because I like doing that, but the business part is about making money. Otherwise I’d be a hobbyist, and I’d be doing something else during the day. I’m thrilled to be able to do something I enjoy as a business, and I’m doubly thrilled to do it from the comfort of my own home.

Whilst the aforementioned story about the Android game didn’t surprise me, it did horrify me. Android is designed to be difficult to make money from, and the core issue is that it’s open – with the corrosive mentality that surrounds such openness.

So it dawned on me—I designed a garden (read: mobile app) for the rodents (read: pirates), not the me, the gardener (read: developer). I’ve set up a system where, by design, I have to constantly defend my property. I’m treating the symptoms of an open system, rather than the cause. The solution? A wall. It could be a literal fence around my property or putting my plants into those wooden planter boxes so they’re raised off the ground and harder animals to get at. You know why it’s called a green house? Because, well, everything is green inside and not a bunch of barren, chewed-down stumps.
Are walls the answer for everything in life? I don’t think so, but when you bring money into the equation, walls (e.g., vaults, fences, passwords, security) sure can help.
Apple’s ‘walls’ take many forms:

1. An iTunes account is required to buy apps (even free apps)
2. You can’t email or post app files to a server to share with people (see #1)
3. You need to be a registered developer to create an app
4. If you’re developing an app, it needs to be approved to be let into the App Store
5. If you’re developing an app, you can’t use private APIs (see #3)

These are just a few of the examples of the types of walls Apple uses to create the kind of ecosystem where consumers can be confident they can find quality apps they’re willing to pay for and where developers can be confident they’ll be able to find customers for their creations.
So remember, a garden (and sometimes a lawn) with a wall is a healthy garden.

MG Siegler on Microsoft’s first ever quarterly loss:

I think what we’re seeing in Microsoft’s numbers right now is the full-on shift of the company towards enterprise. To be clear, I think the company will remain alive and probably even thrive in that regard for a long time. I just think the time of their consumer dominance is already over. And within the next decade, it will be completely over.

I think at that point, Microsoft will be an enterprise software and services company with a strange, but successful gaming sub-division that will probably be spun off by then.

He’s right. The thing is, Microsoft has never been a consumer-focused company to begin with. Windows was designed for businesses, not people. Microsoft got in good early in the enterprise market in the 80’s and 90’s and that trickled down to peoples’ home computers. “I have Windows at the office, I might as well get it for home.” That left Apple out in the cold until Steve Jobs came back in 1998.
Computer component miniaturization made huge strides since the first Macintosh went on the market in 1984. So while the first iMac was a smash hit when it debuted, portable computing was Apple’s Trojan horse to reclaim dominance. First the iPod. Then the iPhone. Then the iPad. Windows PC spread from the office to the home. In the past 10 years we’ve seen the opposite: Apple products are going from the home to the office.
And this is why Microsoft is in a jam. They’ve never had to market to people until now. OK, they tried with the Zune, but it was pathetic (they peaked their market share at around 3%). And the XBox division? Chump change to Microsoft’s bottom line. If they had to rely on just Xbox division revenue to keep the company afloat, Microsoft would be about 20 people working out of a Starbucks.
In addition to Window 8 being their first real attempt to sell to people, they’re also introducing a version of Windows that completely deviates from past versions (except when it doesn’t). Microsoft has built Windows on the strength of its legacy support. So they’re selling to people while simultaneously pissing off people at the companies who they rely on to upgrade to new versions of Windows.
What a mess. I can only imagine the stress and chaos and madness going on at that company right now.