Just read another follow up about the Netflix integration now possibly going to be inserted into the Nintendo Wii. So now there is XBOX, Playstation, and Nintendo…..What’s interesting to me about this is not the video component but the portability of game content. I actually did a school project a while back that looked at the used game market. Places like Game Stop make a killing off of people selling and buying games. I read Game Stop’s annual report which I believe it was there 2007 or 2008 iteration that discussed the downloadability of games wasn’t there and wouldn’t be for a while.
But I believe bringing in a partner like Netflix who is very much moving or beginning to transition it’s business model to a networked delivery system we might be just around the corner from seeing some truly remarkable innovations. We could see subscriptions services emerge or single game experiences emerge. What’s becomes fascinating about this is the consideration for the shifting of content. Recognition of my status in one game carried over to another to place me into particular game situations. As we see the benefits of OpenID, Facebook Connect, etc. evolve I think we’ll see more than just playing against friends in games.
Today I was thinking a lot about cities where the car is the dominant means of transportation and the city has become built around the concept of the car. Here in Memphis our mass transit system is sketchy, not reliable, and makes way too many stops. So I was wondering could mass transit be privatized?
I’d love to have a bus sharing concept that would rocket me from downtown out to the ‘burbs to go to work. Even if it dropped me within a mile or so of my end destination I’d be ok with that because of the ability to strap a bike rack on the front that would enable me to make that last leg. It would operate very much in the way car sharing services work. For a small subscription fee of $50 bucks a month I think this would be an awesome service.
This could be run from downtown or midtown making a stop in East Memphis, Germantown, and possibly Collierville. Then the bus could return those folks from the burbs to downtown. The Express lane bus could become a vital transportation mode in the movement of commuters as a way to reduce the collection of carbon gases, contribute to less traffic, and great a community of commuters. The bus would have WIFI so people could work as the path eastward moves.
Today I was thinking about nonprofits and business models. I know many out there are struggling with how to put people to work, keep them working, and develop the skills necessary to keep people off the street and out of criminal activities. In areas hard hit by economic downturns its once again rearing its ugly head up again and making it clear this has to be addressed.
So what I’m beginning to see is nonprofits reach beyond just developing skills and placing people in job situations with very little support to actually creating businesses. I’ve seen this in one nonprofit that I work with were we are looking to be an outsourcing department for businesses and was alerted to a group in LA, Homeboy Industries (thanks Becca this is amazing!!!), that has created a portfolio of small businesses. This immediately started got the wheels turning. What if these NPs started open sourcing their business models?
There would need to be rules in place not to impeded on the area of service but think about if there was a wiki to manage these where people could extend the business model and keep providing value added benefit to the model. It would be a living best practices almost.
As the network grew, especially internationally, it would open up new concepts that would allow people to create new wealth economies. There could be value added services provided by micro-loan banks to create the necessary capital to get these off the ground as well as traditional nonprofit venture capital.
Read on MSNBC about the army recruiting gamers. I think I read into this more than possibly I should have. Was I daydreaming? Imagined young kids with 3D goggles on sitting around in game rooms controlling robots in remote locations that are attacking an enemy, maybe friend or foe. Then I came to but the article was still there.
So its that time of year for me. Which actually excites me because I reflex back, realize, and correct for the future. This year was a bit of coming to grips with things in regards to my life, family, career, etc. I went on auto pilot many times over the year, disappointed a few folks I’m sure of. That bothers me and I’m sorry for letting you down. The one thing I can say I’m walking away with this year is changing my view on expectations. I’ve demanded so much from friends, myself, family, and the things in my life. I’ve punished myself and treated others wrongly for this.
But I’m excited for the opportunities and the change that 2009 will bring. I promise to bring back life to this blog, write more, get back to the essence of Zack, push myself creatively to the limits, try to drink less - I said TRY :), be honest with chicks when its not working out, and find my way back to my soul.
Strogatz mathematically describes how natural and sociocultural complexity resolves into vast webs of order. Ratti uses technology as a tool to create interactive urban environments. In this video Salon, Strogatz and Ratti discuss whether building and analyzing human networks can help us overcome our poor mathematical understanding of complexity.
This is a new site called Votemos.us that is encouraging the allowance of Mexican’s to contribute to the US elections since both countries are hyper dependent on each other. I know a lot of people are anti this but believe it or not it’s happening. I wrote a paper last winter/ spring on the future over the next 50 years. In that paper I wrote a prediction that Mexico, the US, and Canada will merge creating the American Union similar to how Europe has approached country design. I believe this will occur as the blending of economies and trade continues.
I’m attaching my paper for your reading and thoughts.
