Smart phones for Gaming
Sony Ericsson’s ran a Super Bowl ad for the Playstation phone - Xperia Play.



Steve Ballmer Microsoft talked about extending the XBOX experience to the Windows Mobile 7 phones at CES.

I believe that we will be seeing more mobile devices that, besides performing the core functions (phone, e-mail, photo / video, etc.) extremely well, will be tuned to a specific use-case: gamers, bloggers, sales persons, accountants, senior citizens, etc. It is very hard to find the right set of mobile applications that best service a function. Further, these applications are not integrated to work seamlessly. I expect a whole slew of devices built (or pre-configured) to enhance the productivity or the experience of a particular user group.

My Interview and upcoming presentation
I was recently interviewed in preparation for the Marcus Evans CIO summit in Dallas. I will be speaking there on: Getting a Grip on the Social Tools for the workplace - Enterprise 2.0.

Cloud Forecast 2015 @ CIO Insight
I was interviewed by Tony Kontzer of CIO Insight for this article. We had a broad discussion about the state of cloud services and how services need to evolve in the areas of management, monitoring, portability and security.

CES 2011
I enjoyed the show much more than last year. My top-5 list:

1. Video over the top is gaining momentum. It is integrated with TVs, DVD players, game controllers, and on stand-alone devices (roku, apple TV, boxee, logitech revue, etc.).
2. Smart TVs The world has finally moved beyond TVs with web-browser access. TV manufacturers are embracing the app store model with apps for Netflix, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo TV, Comcast Xfinity, Interactive white board, etc. Samsung made the biggest splash and seems to be leading in Smart TVs. They are offering access to content on Samsung TVs, PCs, Tablets and Smartphones. It seems to be a closed solution like the one from apple. They did bring a lot of partners on the stage (Time Warner, Comcast, Hulu, etc.).
   
3. Microsoft Xbox 360 and Kinect are now central to Microsoft strategy and product suite. Gesture and voice control on these devices works very well. Microsoft sold 8M Kinect units in 60 days. Windows 7 phone is also being hitched to the Xbox. I believe that Kinect presents as huge step forward in human / technology interface. Microsoft is the only one with a commercial product using the human body as a controller. This is one area where they have a significant lead in the market place.
   
4. 4G LTE from Verizon presents a huge opportunity for new products leveraging real mobile broadband access. Tablet experience with video and animation may finally be good on a cellular connection. Google, Verizon and Motorola are partnering to challenge Apple. Consumer excitement about 4G LTE was demonstrated by a huge crowd at the Verizon booth. The quality of video conferencing on 4G was also quite impressive.
5. Android continues to enjoy fast evolution and broad adoption
   

Other interesting technologies and News:

1. Several products with glasses free 3D HD phones and TVs (Toshiba, Samsung, LG, Intel, etc) were on display. The technology is still not ready for prime time but it is very promising and might be what is required for 3D HD to take off.
   
2. Microsoft unveiled a new version of the Surface computer. It was 4 inches thick and looked cool. They claim that the camera has now been embedded in the display. I will like to learn more about how the technology they are using.
   
3. Android tablets were every where but not very impressive. There was an interesting Motorola announcement of an tablet based on Android v3 (honeycomb). There were several inexpensive tablets from Korea and China.
4. The blackberry PlayBook tablet was actually quite good. However, I am not sure if they can attract the developer community to build on the platform. iOS and Andriod have their full attention.
5. No tablet from Microsoft
6. Google chrome OS seemed lame
7. I did not see any new e-book readers. The functionality seem to be migrating to the tablets. Google demonstrated a nice eBook app on Android 3.
8. Saw some very impressive tiny LED projectors. I believe that projectors will some day converge with smartphones and tablets presenting an easy way to show and share media with others on small devices
   
9. Smartphones as payment devices might finally arrive in the US in 2011 ... haven't we heard that before!
   
10. Large scale 3D displays from Sony and Samsung were very cool. I was amazed by the quality of 3D on large wall displays
11. Nokia and Sony are in trouble. HTC also seems to be losing out to Samsung and Motorola
    
12. Many smart appliances were on display: LG, Samsung, Haier. I am not sure if consumers will really use web-connected ovens?
13. No major Chinese manufacturer on the scene yet (Haier?)

Overall, the trip was worthwhile and fun!

Pic: Samsung TVs merge with a Seurat painting ... very attractive!

TM Forum Management World Americas - Cloud Summit
I delivered a Summit Keynote at this conference on Nov 9, 2010: Lessons from an Early Cloud Adopter – How the Washington Post Company has Developed its Cloud Strategy

My talk is very well covered in David Carr's blog posting on Forbes.com.

Pic: Fall sunset scene I captured as I walked our dog.

Eric Schmidt
Attended a keynote address by Eric at the CIO Summit hosted by Sierra Ventures. A few thoughts that stayed with me:

• Google TV - Google has developed an OS for televisions. If successful, we will finally have Internet Browsing capability on televisions
• Andriod continues to grow fast. The free licensing policy has attracted a lot of device manufacturers. I believe that this poses a real threat to Apple. For now, iOS is a significantly better user experience.
  
• Voice translation Eric talked about a demo where an English speaking person conversed in (near) real-time with a German speaking person to buy shoes. The is in in its infancy but, give it a few years, and we might actually be able to speak with anyone in any language.
• Instant Search speeds-up an already blazingly fast Google search. Up next "read our mind"!
• 4G on mobile devices will open opportunities for a whole new set of businesses and functionality. Verizon is planning a major splash soon and AT&T will follow suit. Get ready to buy new devices and spend more. I am so happy about my iPad / MiFi decision.
• Enterprise revenue continues to be a tiny part of revenues at Google. A few years ago, Eric was surprised that Enterprise customers would even consider GMail.

Very interesting!

Interviewed on Internet Evolution Radio
Half-hour interview by Nicole Ferrao on IERadio.
Talked about a wide range of topics:

• Media in the digital age
• Supporting collaboration within the enterprise
• SAAS and software technology in general
• etc.
  

Personalization vs. Privacy
It seems that the internet has collected enough information on all of us to successfully read our minds without typing a Google search! I was just reading about another interesting technology (Solariat) that reviews questions in social networking conversations and identifies conversations elsewhere on the web that might have an answer - Look, no search!

Everyone I know tries hard to maintain their privacy: What should be my facebook settings?, etc. Organizations worry about how not to cross the line with their customers. The fact that each one of us has a different "line" for each question makes the decision very hard and complex. Any generic decisions applied across a large number of consumers are bound to not satisfy anyone.

One answer would be to give a user an easy enough way to control their "lines". However, marketers (read $$) seem to have more sway over the privacy decisions at internet sites than the non-paying consumers. Did you read who won when Microsoft was evaluating default privacy settings in IE (wsj article)? Why am I not surprised?

The pic has nothing to do with the post ... a couple of interesting wines we tried recently ... sharing a bit of personal info :-)

My Podcast
I was recently interviewed by Peter High of Metis Strategy. We covered several topics that are front and center for me. I enjoyed my conversation with Peter a lot. Here is a link to the podcast. We discussed:

• Cloud Computing
  
• Collaboration (Enterprise 2.0) in a decentralized organization
• Leveraging the digital media environment
• Skills IT professionals need for the future
  
• The future of mobile technologies’ impact on media

I checked out a few other interesting podcasts on the Metis website.

Bubbly
Voice Twitter is becoming big in India and in other countries!

They a monthly fee for users to follow their favorite celebrity.

Here is an article on Mobile Beat.