Going viral

With the speed with which technology is changing these days it's no wonder that we went from the first iPhone only about 3 years ago (yes, I know, eons in the digital world!) to affordable smart tablets like the iPad achieving ubiquity in it's first 9 months on the market!
I have previously remarked on the brilliance of the negotiation between iPad and CBS television network where Ipads can be found in every storyline that makes sense...essentially any storyline that is.
Now the e-trade baby can be found secretly checking his stocks on his iPad during a "timeout"!
In both of these case a, iPad is not mentioned, simply used has one would use any other communication tool...creating a culture in which it's natural to pull out one's iPad to face life's daily challenges! Somewhere around 9 million of them have been sold since April 2010--that may not seem like a lot but it took DVR devices more than 10 years to achieve that level of US penetration.
When technology fundamentally changes how we communicate, adoption is rapid. For technology that is simply cool, it can take much longer. Herein,lay the fundamental challenge facing new technological development in the 20th century. Technology must be cool, affordable, and fundamentally change critical methods of communication in order to go viral! If it has these three elements it's destined for success!

A temporary step back into the dark ages!

Ok, something happened to me today that deserves discussion in our 21st century world of instant everything!  First, as I generally do on payday, I woke up this morning and checked my bank balance to ensure my direct deposit had been properly posted to my account. In addition to my normal paycheck, today I was also expecting a rather large distribution from an old ESOP to post to my account as well. Imagine my surprise and distress when I discovered by balance showed a balance of $0.42!!!

I went to work and checked with our business manager, who was not much help. I then called my bank. Apparently due to a new vendor, none of the debits or credits from the previous night had posted to ANYONE's account. It took just about the entire day to fix the problem making me wonder how I was going to buy gas, or get cash for the weekend.

At lunch I went to the post office on a quest for stamps. I had only cash. I went to the Automatic Postage Machine only to find that it did not take cash. So, I found myself paying the price, in terms of my time, for using cash. I found myself standing in line at the post office to buy stamps.

Who does that???

The other side of the coin on healthcare

Yesterday I wrote about the general hypocrisy regarding "access" to healthcare. But today I suggest we look at the other side of the coin.

With all the amazing technology that has been developed in the bio-med field, cures for certain diseases as well as disease management tools are now available that were not a mere ten years ago. However, these new technologies are not free and are more often than not, prohibitively expensive.

So the question becomes "at what cost to society, are these treatments worth the cost?". I am not talking about rationing healthcare. I am talking about the difference in spending $100k+ on a cancer treatment that will extend the life of a 75 year-old by a few months, vs. using the same money to restore an individual's mobility for up to 20 years or longer so that individual might be a productive member of society.

Not to say that cancer treatments are not valuable as they often lead to a better understanding of the disease and new tools with which to treat it.

There is an underlying cost to society under both scenarios; are either or both worth it?

I wonder what you think?

When Access isn't Really Access

OK faithful readers, today I digress a bit from emerging technologies to address what I consider to be one of the most serious domestic issues facing our country today.

Among the debates currently disrupting our national identity is of course health care. Everyone is talking about the new health care law; at times eschewing its value, other times in praise of it's new guidelines. The stated goal is access to health care for all right?

Wrong. Access to health care cannot reasonably called access when the monthly cost to participate is exhorbitant. Such is the case with an employer I know. This organization provides access to health insurance which is terrific as long as you are healthy and never face a serious illness. However, because there is no stop-loss on prescription drug coverage (something many plans now provide for), the consequences could be tragic for anyone diagnosed with a serious and/or chronic condition that requires specialty medication.

For me, under this plan, I would have to pay $540 every 4 weeks for just one medication. The fact that I also take about a dozen other medications to manage what is a serious and chronic health condition for which there is no cure, only disease management, complicates the issue even further. Ultimately the monthly cost to me to participate in this group health insurance plan would exceed $1200 monthly. By the way, that is for the individual plan.

There are few individuals I think, who can afford healthcare that exceeds their mortgage payment. So can this reasonably be called access to health care? Its hard for me to see it as so.

Add to this heated debate, the new Well-Mark office in downtown Des Moines where no expense has been spared to provide employees with a great place to exercise!!  Please tell me who pays for this? Oh, that's right, those who are insured through Well-mark are paying for it.Through the nose I might add as they raised rates by 18% earlier this year.

I wonder how any executive in today's economy could justify a business plan that calls for an 18% increase in costs to customers so that employees can have their own professional gym.

What about you?

Dude, where's my smartphone?

I have written a lot lately about the impact of technology on the way we communicate and search and find information. In a recent blog I noted that I had bought may first cell phone 10 years ago and it went from being an emergency communication device then to the master of may universe now!

Here's an example. A few nights ago I had plans to take a client to dinner and a show at the Civic Center. We were going to meet at 530pm for dinner and then go see the broadway musical 9 to 5.

Earlier that day, I had accidentally left my wallet at home, so I left work early to get it before meeting my client. I was so rushed in leaving the office that I accidentally left my cell phone on my desk. I realized I didn't have it a little after 5pm...making it too late to really do anything about it. But it left me with no way to reach my client if there was a problem. Rushing out the door, I suddenly realized I didn't know exactly where I was going. As I reached for my phone to look it up on the web browser, I realized that not being able to call my client was just one problem! I had to run back inside to look in the telephone book of all things to find the address! I cannot remember the last time I used a telephone book...I am lucky I even had one!

It was then that I realized just how much I have come to depend on technologies that did not even exist 4 years ago! The world is changing, and with it the business model for media like the the phone book and newspapers also demand change. Will yellow page advertising even existing in it's current form in 10 years?

Free directory assistance is available through Google just by dialing 1-800-466-4411 (aka 1-800-GOOG411) making directory assistance charges a thing of the past. So I just wonder what these services will look like in five years. Will they even exist at all?

Creep, crawl or shuffle into the 21st century!

I have been thinking lately about the shifts in my own behavior as a result of technology. Ten years ago, 10/10/00, I owned a computer with Internet access and I had just purchased my first cell phone. I used the computer primarily for email, occasional web surfing and most significantly, on-line shopping which was just taking off; I remember the thrill of being able to buy new clothes without an exhausting trip to the mall. I became an instant fan of on-line shopping and as a direct result, my trips to brick and mortar businesses dropped sharply.

My cell phone I used primarily for work as minutes were expensive and the roaming charges simply outrageous! I learned quickly to use my company provided long distance code on a land-line phone when I first turned in an expense report that included over $200 in roaming charges.

Which brings me to the first area of inquiry for me today. There has been a sharp drop in land-line telephone usage in the last 5 years. Between cell phones with unlimited minute packages and free long distance, to VOIP devices like Skype, Google Voice and others that allow free communication for anyone with a laptop and a headset, the need for a land-line telephone in addition to these other devices has declined. Center for Disease Control reported that less than 5% of households were cell only. According to their studies, that number has increased to 25% in 2010. I believe that number will at least double in the next five years, reaching critical mass in less than ten years. At least that is my opinion.

Devices that fundamentally change our behavior tend to reach critical mass quickly. Think about VCRs for example. It took more than 25 years for VCR usage to reach critical mass yet it has taken Iphone's less than two years to do so. DVR usage, available since the late 1990s. has yet to reach critical mass--yet online video consumption has grown exponentially. Ipads will likely do the same within the next 12 months. Not only does it fundamentally change the way we we communicate and interact with web 2.0 but they are already ubiquitous. Watch any CBS drama and you will see the characters using Ipads within the storyline. Great product integration package on the part of Apple, I must say. Brilliant marketing will ensure the success of this ground breaking new product. But I digress.

I also read this morning about an AP reporter who experimented with going without a bank for a month. What an experience...Vs 10 or more years ago when many people used check-cashing services and money orders to manage their affairs. Today, the cost and hassle involved certainly seems to supersede any monthly fees that might be charged for checking account services.

Today, I could not imagine living without my bank, my cell phone, my laptop, my Ipad, my USB wireless adapter for my laptop, my livescribe pen oh and just whatever other new gadget comes next!!! These days I'm a sucker for killer apps and learn every day about new ones.  This is me, creeping and crawling my way into the 21st century!


Until Next Time!

From Covered Wagons to Boeing 787 or....From Telegraphy to Skype

About a hundred years ago, the little boy that would one day be my maternal grandfather traveled across Texas in wagon trains with his family. Each stop in a town along the way gave him a chance to go over the Western Union office and watch the telegraphers at work. He was driven, I believe, by the same curiosity we have today when we open up our FaceBook page or when we use other social media to connect with one another.
Imagine how amazing it must have seemed to that young boy that with the right codes (morse) and finger movements, one could connect with people all around the country. Not much as changed really, just telegraphy on steroids. Today we use the right codes (the alphabet) and finger movements (typing/texting) to communicate with people all over the world. It was telegraphy then, today it is Skype!


So with all this new ability to communicate, comes a new ability to collaborate in ways that even the authors of Wikipedia hadn't dreamed of. The book discusses the success of the global plant floor operation that produced the Boeing 787 and how it could never have been possible without culture-changing collaboration among Boeing's business partners and suppliers. 


Think today, just a few years later, we have all types of on-line collaboration tools that are free and open to public use. Applications like Google Docs will change the way I do business in terms of collaborating with my clients. 


And then I think of the collaboration involved in a "successful" wagon train, and I realize, that from  the covered wagon to the Boeing 787, not nearly  as much has changed as we may think!