So the iPhone gets a developer kit, but the iPod doesn't.

The iPhone is a platform, but the iPod is a device.

But why can't the iPod (or Zune or Zen) be a platform?

Portable media devices are little more than battery powered storage devices with an input/output solution (buttons, screen, headphone jack) slapped on. They could do ANYTHING!

Think about it.

Most mp3 players/PMPs are sold as devices.  You buy an iPod and take your iTunes content with you on the go.  You buy an e-reader to read a book on the go.  You buy a cell phone to speak on it while on the go, and nothing else... no that can't be.  So why is it that phones are going the "open" route while portable media devices are still locked down? 

The enormity of the peripheral and modding markets suggest that we want freedom, that we demand choices.  We want our iPods to record, to transmit, to tune.  The RockBox hacker community has hacked the iPod user interface and capability into oblivion.  Users want control, personalization, and perhaps even identity in their portable media experience.  But the only capability we are given is to playback a couple of pre-approved media formats, and maybe if we're lucky, we can play a game or two (or sync a calendar).

There is no reason that our devices could not be FAR more capable with little additional investment in hardware.

The Zune SHOULD be able to play any video format known to mankind.  The Zune SHOULD be able to surf to internet via Wifi.  The iPod interface SHOULD be customizable and the format support SHOULD be somewhat open source friendly.  If I want to view the NY Times (as downloaded via Plucker) on my iPod or Zune, why shouldn't that capability be made available?

Why are our portable media devices limited to firmware?  Why can't we install software?

Where would the PC market be today if it could only perform pre-designated tasks?

All the buzz of Q4 '07 was about breaking down doors and developing semi-universal open standards.  Here's to hopping that 2008 is the year that blurs the lines between hardware and software, delivering solution capable platforms instead of peices of dedicated PC-extension oriented technology.

The video below requires some explanation.  FRONT is an interactive system motion capture system that records 3D "pen" strokes -- sending that information to a computer afterwards - apparently to be "printed".  (Video after the jump)

And what post about interface evolution would be complete without including the amazing Jeff Han?  Sure, the iPhone does multitouch, but it doesn't use tilt or pan technologies to navigate a 3D world!  On that note, why wouldn't Apple create a next gen mouse similar to the iPhone/iPod touch that would marry the multitouch experience with the built in accelerometers to deliver an intuitive 3D input interface?  This would change the face of both gaming and virtual world navigation!  And couple this technology with the Japanese mixed reality avatar-like technology featured above (fed by an integrated web-cam) for more human facial gestures, and you've got the world's BEST mixed reality home PC!  Dell's released a World of Warcraft unit, here's to hoping they pick this up next!  Any thoughts?

Video below (after the jump).

Over the past year I've encountered dozens of solutions, technologies, sales vendors, advertisers, marketers and futurists, all claiming to embody a single phrase - innovative. Yet to be totally honest, I haven't seen all that much that really blew my mind.  Is this because innovation has been stifled by realism, near term ROI concerns, a lack of vision, or is this a symptom of something greater?

Everyone claims to be pushing ahead, innovating, bringing forth new solutions that are "groundbreaking".

But most of what I've seen looks like everything I've been seeing for the past 5 years, just ported into a new channel.

As I see it, there are two types of innovation:
A) Incremental Innovation
B) Disruptive Innovation

Incremental Innovation is where much of the business world feels most comfortable.  This type of innovation is often referred to as, "the lowest hanging fruit".  This is innovation that takes a process or a concept that is already established and familiar, and builds on it.  It's not about reinventing the wheel, but adding a new feature to the wheel, making them somehow incrementally better.  Think of mobile OLA: it's nearly identical to regular OLA, just on a phone.  It's innovative,  but not yet a game changer.  Nearly all of the innovation I have seen over the past year falls into this bucket.

Disruptive Innovation is far more difficult that incremental innovation, yet the payout is far greater.  Disruptive Innovators are game changers.  They reinvent the wheel.  They are visionaries and big thinkers.  Disruptive Innovation is both risky and difficult, yet the end game payout is tremendous.  Think Facebook and social connections, the iPhone and user experience design and pervasive digital connectivity, Gigya and the widget, YouTube and UGC, Twitter and instant messaging, or BitTorrent and content distribution.  Without these innovators, 2008 would be a markedly different.

Key Takeaway: Most of us are putting the finishing touches on our '07 business and beginning to plan for '08.  If you don't have an innovation strategy or an innovation roadmap already in the books, it's time to do  so.   You won't be successful tomorrow if you don't have a plan for preparing for tomorrow, today. 

Dedicating all of your efforts to incremental innovation may satisfy the bottom line, but won't make you into a category leader.  This is true no matter regardless of the business you're in.  The time to begin planning for the future is now. 

If you've got any questions around innovation planning, PLEASE feel free to reach out to me via email or by commenting on this blog.  Karl Long just posted a great piece around the challenges and costs of getting innovation in-market.  If you'd like to learn more about innovation in business, check out any of the many fantastic blogs in reading list to the left of this post. 

Thanks for reading and as always, looking forward to your comments!

Warning: this is a long one, but I think a good one.

Take a minute and think about how brands are activating in new media.  They are placing banners, building microsites, building mini-microsites in the form of widgets, they are placing pre roll, post roll and interstitials. The "savvy" brands are having conversations.   This seems to be as far as we've gotten.  This is sad.  Putting traditional media practices into a new media environment is the equivalent of placing a print ad on the television. You may be communicating a message, but you're missing out on the essence of the platform!  So why are we stuck in this innovation rut?

Because our industry is overwhelmed.  Our current industry structure is not suited to holistic new media activation.  In the interest of efficiency we all to often go after "the lowest hanging fruit". Rather than thinking about new media solutions for everything they can be, we're looking at everything we already have in the can (be it assets, messaging or marketing know-how) and porting it over into the new digital realm.

It has been a long time since I saw anything truly new in media.  Call it a rut, call it a slump, call it maturation, but there really isn't all that much blowing my mind lately.  Crayon did some cool stuff in Second Life, but I feel like this was just a first step in next gen social activation.  I'm hungry for more.

Digital Media is revolutionizing the way we interact, they way we humanize, the way we live.  Marketing is changing.  But I'm still waiting for the next innovation, the next messaging oriented communicative step the ad world will take.  I'm not talking about embedding interactivity or clickability in video, I'm talking about a fundamental change that rips through the entire marketing engine at major corporations.  I'm talking about an overhaul of everything, from the content delivery to the end user experience.  I'm talking about FREE ad supported itunes AND NBC content streaming directly to my television.  I'm talking about an end to the fluff that is buzzwords and a shift towards substance.

I've had enough of hearing about streaming HD when we really mean streaming in HQ (because our computer screens aren't HD!).  I'm talking about a Zune 2 dock that allows me to sync my Zune2 with my DVR AND use the wireless connectivity in the Zune to stream internet content to my TV - all brought to you as an add on by a brand (Microsoft, are you reading this?).  I'm talking about holistic solutions that work.  I'm talking about ads that target users by cross-pltform behavior, not by an invading of private user interactions and conversations.

Traditional media is going to take a dive in 2009.  When the spike of the Olympics and the Presidential Race are over, there will be enormous amounts of ad revenue available for digital media.  The time to begin building out a holistic digital solution is now. It's time to stop thinking about interrupting and start thinking about living.  It's time to stop selling and start delivering.  It's time to take everything we know about sociology, psychology, ethnography, user behavior, marketing, advertising, messaging, creativity, business development, research, analytics, reporting and experience design, and build out solutions that work.

New Media isn't about eyeballs, it isn't about impressions, it's about meaning.  Seth Godin always says that he doesn't want sponsors, he wants attention.  He drives attention by delivering value that WE need.  If you build out a solid consumer solution, the creative monetization solution should eventually follow. 

There is so much that we can do as an industry. 

Let's stop activating against yesterday's users and starting thinking about what we can do tomorrow.

This may sound crazy, but stick with me.

YouTube is a mainstream indie.

It's fun because it works and feels like a start up.
The overall experience is like playing with somebody else's really fun contraption.

The empty design is part of the user gen centric YouTube experience.

• I almost prefer the days before YouTube had the scrolling flashy videos at the top.

• I don't like YouTube pages with a background, they don't feel like YouTube.

• I like the occasional skipped frame or other hiccup in YouTube. 

• I enjoy the occasional smudge, it makes everything feel real.

HD content would change everything.
Did you ever watch a VHS on a high def screen?  It looks like an old home video on a reel based projector.  High def streaming of video recorded on cellphones or standard def home cameras would make the content look horrible.  Today it looks grungy, grassroots, real. 

High Def is about immersion, professionals and enhanced realism, not UGC, not YouTube.

Redesigning or reconfiguring YouTube to look and feel like a professional site would be to destroy the entire YouTube culture.  I'm in favor of a YouTube successor, but not a replacement. 

If Google wants to launch ProTube, I'm all for it.  But PLEASE, don't take away my YouTube!

Update: This entire post was written before looking at the pay-as-you-read RSS pricing structure.  Click down to the end to see how Amazon's pricing has changed my point of view.

The Story: So Amazon launched Kindle, the first major US release of an ebook reader.  Sony has had e-readers for some time now with little US success.  However, given Amazon's US and global market positioning, they will probably gain far more traction than Sony from day one.  Amazon is our digital portal to reading.  Kindle is the digital solution to digital reading on-the-go.

The e-Reader Innovation: For those who may be unfamiliar with the technology, e-readers are digital displays with a basic amount of memory (equivalent to what you would find on an SD card) and a fairly low-end processor slapped on.  The real innovation in e-readers typically lies in their screens, which utilize a technology called e-ink.  E-ink is not a traditional "on or off" pixelated display, rather it is a set display where elements or "ink" can be reconstituted to display other content utilizing of a small shot of electricity.  Once the image is displayed, the screen is essentially "off" until new content needs to be displayed.  So rather than being a display that is always on when in use (such as the screen you are mostly likely reading this on), e-ink displays are always off - even while displaying information!  They only turn "on" to flip a page.

The Amazon Innovation: While seamless integration with the Amazon store is certainly welcome, the innovation here lies in the distribution platform.  Amazon has baked in connectivity with Sprint's EVDO network to provide "live" push updates of content - certainly a welcome and unexpected addition.  This device essentially removes the need for a computer and dedicated internet connection from the equation.  Bravo!

But I won't be buying one of these toys anytime soon, and here's why: there is no responsive RSS reader functionality.  Sure I read the NY Times daily - and am a paperback novel-phile -  and a serial magazine reader (I read over 2 dozen a month) - and an addicted RSS feed reader, all of which Kindle has.  But in order to serve as a true digital text-on-the-go solution, I need a true RSS interaction solution on the go, one that downloads my content so that it can be read and interacted with/socialized when not connected - such as on the NYC subway system.  I need a reader that can save my del.icio.us tags, marked as read reads, emailed articles and more - and then complete these tasks when synced with a data connection.  I need to be able to interact with my content much as I would online, on the go, from wherever I am.  This should be nothing more than a firmware upgrade, and once it hits, I'm in.

Once this hits, I'll be all over this bad boy.  And most of the world won't be... and here's why: there is a wonderful tactile interaction with books and magazines that most users value.  Magazines aren't going away anytime soon. 

I don't want to read a Kindle on the couch after a long day,

    I want my beautifully printed analog issue of Sports Illustrated. 

I don't want a Kindle in my bathroom for family or guests -

    I want a Readers Digest. 

I don't want a Kindle at my Sunday Morning breakfast table,

    I want the Sunday paper, complete with comics, circulars and sales. 

There is a place in our culture for the tactile, for the real, for the analog.  And it's not going away any time soon.

The Kindle features amazing capabilities.  It can bring the digital market to places we have never been before. The server side DRM solution is brilliant.  Users actually own a re-downloadable license, not a single download license!  The distribution deal with Sprint is brilliant, and this is a direction I would like to see other mobile device companies mirror (Zune 3?).  

As for me?  I'm going to wait for a digital text device that works seamlessly with my digital text media lifestyle.  Until then, I hope you all enjoy!

Update: I just did a bit more reading and realized there is a service/subscription fee for reading blogs.  AND you can ONLY read blogs that are registered with Amazon's system.  

This changes everything!  Why would I pay for free content?  (I know, I know, you're paying for access - but the whole principle of payment for RSS KILLS this device as an RSS reader and therefor as a viable e-text device - at least for me.)  So Amazon, come up with a better RSS solution, (like free WiFi syncing ala Zune2 AND integration with Google Reader via Google Gadgets) and I then I would go all out for this unit.

Until then, the pricing structure doesn't deliver sufficient value to make this a worthwhile purchase.

So how does Android stack up against the only other "innovative" mobile system - the iPhone?

It looks like the iPhone still has a leg up in overall, design, but there are some nice teaser shots in this video that I would like to see Apple build into their next firmware update, namely:

• SMS alert previews
• Google street view
• 3G
• True 3D capabilities
• A 10 Million Dollar Developer Reward/Bounty

But I'm not an iPhone owner, yet.  Did I miss anything noteworthy here?

So you just saw a fantastic DVD or a fall-off-the-couch hillarious episode of The Office.  Now you want to share your favorite clip - and comment on it.  But how?

How would YOU share or comment on premium video content?

Until recently, I would have searched for the clip either on the content owner's site or more likely on YouTube - and then posted the clip to my social network site (ex. this blog) with a comment written above or below the content.

There are now new ways to share and comment on premium video content.  And while both of these solutions are still works in progress (still in beta), this is a trend traditional media properties NEED to continue to embrace.

Hulu

BlinkBox

www.blinkBox.com;

BlinkBox's format allows me to comment within the video stream itself.  This format is ideal for posting in a social network environment where I am most likely posting the video as a standalone piece of content and not as part of a text post. 

You can also share your video with other BlinkBox users internally, via email or direct to a mobile phone (UK and select European regions only).

There is some great content, and the video quality is quite good.

That being said, there are a few experiential elements I would like to see corrected in future builds:

• There is an 80 character limit to embedded comments.  This just isn't enough space for meaningful commenting.
• Finding clips is a pain.  You need to go into the BlinkBox site, find the right show and THEN find the right clip.  If the clip you're looking for isn't there, you're stuck.  It's too rigid.
• Share to mobile is a nice feature, but not one that I would pay for - though the free sampleing offer is a nice touch.
• BlinkBox automatically inserts their URL below the clip - see above. They already brand the player, inserting a text URL is taking it a bit too far for me.
  

Solutions RoundUp

Clipping
Winner: BlinkBox - cutting your clip is far easier on the BlinkBox system.  Hulu's editing tool leaves much to be desired.

Content
Winner: Hulu - Hulu's got GREAT content.  BlinkBox's content offering is spotty.

Overall Experience
Winner: Hulu - Hulu integrates the clipping/sharing solution within  the content viewing experience.  Clipping outside of the content viewing platform is not the most natural behavior.

Key Takeaways

• Clipping and sharing are integral parts of the social media user experience.  Empowering users to interact with and promote your content in these manners is fundamental to New Media/Social Media Activation.

• Both BlinkBox and Hulu will have their place.  BlinkBox's tight relationship with studios could generate a strong promotions channel for trailers and new releases.  Hulu's clipping tool is just the first step in sharing and socially interacting with video from within the viewing experience.

• While ALMOST EVERYONE is busy suing YouTube, it's imperative that content owners provide easily accessible and user friendly channels for embedding premium video clips. 

• These channels won't replace the YouTubes and OVGuide's of the world, but they do represent a significant shift in old school marketer strategy.

• NBC Direct, Hulu, Joost, Veoh TV, BlinkBox and others are not the end game solutions,  but they do represent a significant trend. Traditional Media houses recognize that new models and solutions are needed to monetize their offerings in a new media environment.  While these may look like baby steps to digirati, they are significant strategic first steps from a mainstream media perspective.  Solutions will be found, the market will find a happy medium between user control and content owner rights. 

My Take: As for me, I'm going to be staying positive, focusing on the positive steps and suggesting next steps.  Mud slinging may be fun, but it isn't productive.  So let's try to stay positive everybody, alright?