The new tv season

Heroes Season4, FlashForward, Dexter Season4, The Big Bang Theory Season3, Curb your Enthusiasm Season8, Dollhouse Season2 and Peep Show Season6Cougar town, which is what it sounds like. Desperate Housewives crossed with Scrubs. Courteney Cox doesn't look bad in it as a successful career woman still on the prowl… but come on beyond one episode, give it a wide miss.

Heroes has started well with a interesting plot twist and new characters with new abilities such skin ink and the ability to see sound in colour. Dexter was leaked a while back but also has a interesting plot twist, with Dexter now a commited family man its harder to kill people when you got to get home and tuck your children in for bed. Cleverly crafted and uniquely smart, Dexter is certainly one to look out for. Talking of which Dollhouse also is exploring the premise of knowing your mind isn't really yours and having to live with it. The dolls are only the tip of a interested iceberg. The big new show for this year is FlashForward which I believe is less that 5 days behind on Channel5. Almost everyone sees a glimpse of there future at exactly the same time on the same day. What does it mean, is the future set or is it changeable? All these questions make up a new sci-fi drama which kind of reminds me of a mix between Jerico and Daybreak. Too early to tell if its going to be like lost or more like CSI and 24.

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Awesomeness before and over innovation

The skies above

I know what Umair Haque is getting at in his Awesomeness Manifesto. Innovation is over used and most of the time treasured over all else but I'm concerned about some of Umair's examples to tell the truth.

Innovation often isn't. Innovation means, naively, what is commercially novel. Yet, as the financial crisis proves, what is “innovative” is often value destructive and socially harmful. Financial “innovation” turned out to be unnovative: it has destroyed trillions in value – here are some staggering estimates from the IMF.

It's time to ask: have the costs of innovation exceeded the benefits?

A better concept, one built for a radically interdependent 21st century, is awesomeness. Here are the four pillars of awesomeness:

Ethical production. Innovation turns a blind eye to ethics — or, worse, actively denies ethics. That's a natural result of putting entrepreneurship above all. Buy low, sell high, create value. That's so 20th century. Awesome stuff is produced ethically — in fact, without an ethical component, awesomeness isn't possible. Starbucks is shifting to Fair Trade coffee beans, for example. Why? Starbucks isn't just trying to innovate yet another flavour of sugar-water: it's trying to gain awesomeness.

Insanely great stuff. What is innovative often fails to delight, inspire, and enlighten — because, as we've discussed, innovation is less concerned with raw creativity. Awesomeness puts creativity front and center. Awesome stuff evokes an emotive reaction because it's fundamentally new, unexpected, and 1000x better. Just ask Steve Jobs. The iPhone and iPod were pooh-poohed by analysts, who questioned how innovative they really were — but the Steve has turned multiple industries upside down through the power of awesomeness.

Love. You know what's funny about walking into an Apple Store? The people working there care. They don't just “work at the Apple store” — they love Apple. Contrast that with the alienating, soul-crushing experience of trying to buy something at Best Buy — where salespeople attack you out of greed. (Or, as editor extraordinaire Sarah Green put it, “where you wander around for a full half-hour unable to find anyone to help you before you finally get the attention of some blue-shirted 12-year old who turns out to know nothing about the products she sells and ultimately end up committing hara-kiri with a Wii controller”). Their goal is to sell; the goal of Apple Store employees is simply to show off their awesomeness, and let you share it. Love for what we do is the basis of all real value creation.

Thick value. It's the most hackneyed phrase in the corporate lexicon: adding value. Let's face it: most value is an illusion. Nokia, Motorola, and Sony tried for a decade to “add value” to their phones — yet not a single feature did. Food producers and pharmaceutical companies claim they're “adding value,” but mostly they're just mega-marketing.

The vast majority of companies — in my research, greater than 95% — can only create what I have termed thin value. Thick value is real, meaningful, and sustainable. It happens by making people authentically better off — not merely by adding more bells and whistles that your boss might like, but that cause customers to roll their eyes.

I personally think the Apple store example is a mistake, they are there to sell and you'd be a fool to think otherwise. Yes its very different from the experience of going into Best buy but is it any different from going into Nike Town, Lush or most places? Awesomeness its not, actually I'd put Ikea in the position of Awesomeness. They lay the stuff out and you go around pick what you want, no pressure, no sale assistance just a warehouse of stuff with some gentle hints here and there. Now thats a awesome retail experience when it was unleashed on the public over 10 years ago.

Let's summarize. What is awesomeness? Awesomeness happens when thick — real, meaningful — value is created by people who love what they do, added to insanely great stuff, and multiplied by communities who are delighted and inspired because they are authentically better off. That's a better kind of innovation, built for 21st century economics.

I've talked to many boardrooms about awesomeness. Beancounters feel challenged and threatened by it, because it feels fuzzy and imprecise. Yet, it's anything but. Gen M knows “awesomeness” when we see it — that's why its part of our vernacular. It's a precise concept, with meaning, depth, and resonance.

What makes some stuff awesome and other stuff merely (yawn) innovative? I've outlined my answers, but they're far from the best, or even the only ones — so add your own thoughts in the comments.

You might be innovative — but are you awesome? For most, the answer is: no. Game over: in the 21st century, if you're merely innovative, prepare to be disrupted by awesomeness.

So awesomeness sounds a lot like wuffie or social capital. All of them make beancounters feel challenged and threatened natrually because of the lack of solid metric? I wonder if in the same way you can claim to be doing awesomeness. Instead other people tell you your doing awesome work? Oh by the way Awesome photo by the way Kulafire.

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Car drivers be warned!

I park my bike in a secure underground park and came back recently to find it on the floor sideways. A woman ran up to me and said shes really sorry and she was going to write a note but she couldn't lift the bike back up. Anyway it turns out she had been reversing and didn't see my bike which I'd like to add was parked in a motorbike bay and is massive and silver colour. So now I need to see how much its going to cost to replace all the damage shes done. The problem is its a old bike and already has some damage so I'm unsure if its worth claiming on the insurance as the amount of scratches to the panels is going to cost a lot to replace. So I'm actually better off getting someone to patch it up for me instead then charging her for it maybe? Ether way, I'm currently not a fan of car drivers.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

Another one of those films which didn't very well in the Cinema. This time its the bold titled Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, which also has a respectable IMDB rating of 7.5. The plot is very simple

The film follows three social outcasts; two geeks and a cynic, as they attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum in the middle of a British pub. Faris plays a girl from the future who sets the adventure in motion.

The plot on this film is solid and smart, they delve into the ideas, theories and paradoxs of time travel. The dialogue is sharp and witty like watching Shaun of the dead, And even better is the use of the location along side the plot. Basiclly the whole thing unfolds and compacts within just the pub, no where else. The only down side is the very start could have been cut or changed. I can also imagine some people would find it hard to follow the time travelling parts as its more Donnie Darko that Back to the Future. There's at least 3 levels of time overlap.They do explain as they go which should make things a lot easier.

If you get the chance to see this movie, grab it you won't be disappointed. It should have been a british hit, I wonder what happened? Check out the trailer below.

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Everything touches the Blackmarket

Another excellent talk, I would have liked more about Hcommerce but you can't really complain.

Journalist Misha Glenny spent several years in a courageous investigation of organized crime networks worldwide, which have grown to an estimated 15% of the global economy. From the Russian mafia, to giant drug cartels, his sources include not just intelligence and law enforcement officials but criminal insiders.

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WTF? Wacom makes the nextbeat

I had forgotten to blog about this a while ago. Wacom have been working on a system called the Nextbeat, which is meant to be the instrument for creative djs.

Wacom known for their award-winning graphics tablets and interactive displays for designers and photographers, has announced the nextbeat system, which is aimed at DJ’s. Wacom’s nextbeat is a fully integrated professional DJ system, incorporating intuitive touch sensor controls and innovative live performance functions.

The nextbeat is a wireless portable control unit that enables performers to move free from the main device, resulting in more dynamic and energetic live performances inside booths promise Wacom.

The price? Well somewhere upwards up of 1500 pounds! And thats one of my problems with the whole thing. Its expensive and large. Also to be frank although it sounds like a good idea, I personally think its kind of daft. I mean the thing is shaped like a mini guitar and it just looks a little silly. Yes I think wireless is a good idea but not to prance around in front of the crowd. Plus there's already many solutions to do wireless audio already, so wheres the uniqueness? If they want to dance around in front of the crowd you need to be a wiij, as thats so much more impressive and expressive, plus it doesn't look like your playing rockband!

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I have joined the e-Readers community

woman with sony ereader

So I finally bought myself a Sony e-Reader (PRS-505), after deciding they are at a acceptable level to buy brand new. I was going to go for the new PRS-300 which is the smaller entry level version which Sony just brought out but it was the same price as the older and more smarter 505.

To date, I've been reading the Pirates Dilemma by Matt Mason, and in one day, I have read through 60+ pages. This might not sound like a lot to some people but I'm reading roughly twice as fast as I would if it was a dead tree book. I haven't loaded the reader with ebooks yet, it actually comes with a CD of classic books which I have yet to do anything with. Instead I have been hunting through Creative Commons licensed books and some of the Oreilly Open books. My next stop when I get time will of course be Project Gutenberg.

I got to say so far I'm impressed with the reader, yes its a bit slow but when reading its hardly anytime to flip the page. Wikipedia also clued me into the software called Calibre, which not only controls almost every aspect of the reader but also has scripting ability within the application it self. There is a script which will login to my google reader account and pull down all the unread items and arrange them into a ebook then upload the lot to my device. And because its all just Python, you can do all type of things, for example theres a user recipe which takes your instapaper and turns it into a book for you to read.

The Sony ereader is surprisingly very open. For example copying files is as easy as connecting via miniUSB (charges over it too) then drag files to its internal memory or cards. There are 2 card slots, one memory stick duo (booooo) and the other SD and SDHC (whoooo). The ebook formats it supports is quite large, including PDF, EPUB, LRF, TXT, RTF, LRX, HTML, etc. Via Calibre that list is pretty much endless with even support for files inside of Zip files (but not rar). So far I'm impressed and reading more that ever…

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Tunekit is just HTML

HTML with Tunekit

As a lot of people know, I'm not the biggest fan of Apple or what Apple does but I'm happy that the more I look into iTunesLP and iTunes Extras, the more I'm liking it. its seems its all underpined in a new thing called Tunekit, which seems to be related to a new framework which some people are calling Cocoa for the web, SproutCore. So generally its all just HTML, CSS and Javascript. So hopefully if all goes well who know where it might go. It certainly beats some nasty things your seeing on Bluray discs. And even better we're back to the internet has won type territory, aka goodbye to disc technology, good stuff Apple.

I certainly think HTML5, CSS and Javascript on the TV screen is a killer move. I can't even imagine what's possible once Canvas and Canvas3D get mixed up in all this too. Adobe should be worried, their open screen project is interesting but being built around extending Flash is a big mistake. In the same category Silverlight scares most people. Nope HTML is good enough. It certainly seems Apple will lead the pack on this one.

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Liberation vs Portability


So Data Liberation or Data Portability? They sound like the same thing but one is a adhoc group of people working together and the other is ummmmm, well run out of Google's public policy.

Imagine you want to move out of your apartment. When you ask your landlord about the terms of your previous lease, he says that you are free to leave at any time; however, you cannot take all of your things with you – not your photos, your keepsakes, or your clothing. If you're like most people, a restriction like this may cause you to rethink moving altogether. Not only is this a bad situation for you as the tenant, but it's also detrimental to the housing industry as a whole, which no longer has incentive to build better apartments at all.

Don't get me wrong, the google guys have got the right idea, but this isn't the same scope as the data portability group. Data liberation is Google's attempt to get its house in order but its not trying to change the world. When the Data Portability group started, the group spoke to many companies and other groups. We also looked around and considered the bigger picture. Actually by the time autonomo.us had come around I had already started moved away from the data portability group. My friend Dave isn't a fan at all, but he's a Free software guy and finds anything but Free software too loose and insulting (did I mention he's talking at London Geekdinners on Thursday). In the end its interesting to watch but don't expect any major changes outside the goodge suite, actually autonomo.us have a good look at the Chrome OS in regards to privacy and portability.

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TEDxLeeds

TEDxLeeds

TEDxLeeds happened this week at the Rosebowl in Leeds city centre. Like TEDxLiverpool, the whole event was on a day with plenty of sunshine, Imran Ali had planned a event starting from 5pm – 9pm, as maybe not to interfer with those leaving work or wanting to enjoy the last throws of summer. Anyway, about 120-150 people turned up to enjoy the evening. And enjoy the evening we did.

After the begals and coffee, we entered the lecture theatre with short legroom and the event was under way. A slightly nervous and softly spoken Imran Ali kicked off the event with the talk from Chris Anderson welcoming everyone to TEDx. I wasn't sure if he was actually nervous or conserving his energy for later. The now famous Herb Kim joined the introduction and before you knew it we were into the excellent TEDtalk from Kevin Kelly on next 5000 days of the web.. Although a long talk, it was funny and entertaining enough to keep everyone on track.

TEDxLeeds

The first live talk was the fantastic Dr Norman Lewis, who made the point that all research and development labs are deeply lacking in ambition and innovation. Very hard and cutting stuff but actually he was right. We went to moon 40 years ago but where have we been since? Where's our ambition to truly solve the worlds problems?

TEDxLeeds

After break and a short emoticon TEDtalk video, Charles Cecil talked about rebuilding the relationship with the games buying market. The take away was that a lot of the lessons we'd learned in the web world can and should be applied the world of games and play. After another break and a another good TEDtalk video choice about how design can up the circulation of newspapers.

TEDxLeeds

On came Clive Grinyer on the Democratisation Of Design. A very thought provoking talk and to be honest did get me going at points. There was a section about superstar designers which had me almost spitting blood. Can't stand the idea of superstar designers. This is why I found objectified so ummmm frustrating in parts. But then he talked about design as function and process, and showed a example of a redesigned prison to encourage people not to reoffend. In the end, the point of Clive's talk was all about design being too important for it to be left with designers. Or as he puts it nothing is too small to be designed.

After the event we all headed over to Ha Ha bar for social drinks (thanks Herb and Marrisa). TEDxLeeds had some great speakers and it all went pretty smoothly, good work imran, ntileeds and codeworks. I'm going to miss out on the next two TEDxNorth's (sheffield and Newcastle) due to work on TEDxManchester which is looking to be a big event to end the TEDxNorth 2009 season.

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Banshee music importing

Banshee import music

Following the iTunes9 announcement, someone who wants to stay anonymous pointed out to me that Banshee has had a solution for the home syncing for months now. If you click on the shared music sources, you get what you expect streaming access to all the music and video on that system. But if you right click you can import everything or subsets of the remote music source. You can then setup a rule to automatically do this with mobile devices like the Gphones, ipod, windows mobile, MPD or any mass storage device. Its not quite syncing but its not far off

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iTunes 9, yawn…

I remembered yesterday about midnight that Apple had announced something, mainly because a couple of my friends were talking about iTunes9 on twitter. So I had a quick look through the Engadget entry. And to be honest (not bashing apple again) most of it is a yawn. Steve Jobs is back, some tweaks to ipods, don't really care. Ah iTunes, maybe something interesting? As Stowe Boyd writes, would Apple really transform iTunes into a truly social experience for media, something on a par with what Last.fm did years ago? Well it sounds like Stowe is right, Last.fm of yesteryear. Also whats the massive excitement about home sharing? Didn't itunes always have Bonjour/Zeroconf sharing? I personally use Banshee on all my machines at home and turn on sharing, that works as expected. Ok yes you can move and copy files that way too, but outside the novice market, would anyone use this? XBMC has the ability to move/copy/delete files but how many times have I ever used it? ummmmm once in a very blue moon. Maybe I'm missing something, because my music isn't _controlled_ by iTunes or any media player but I don't see the point beyond sharing/streaming. I'm keeping quiet about iTunesLP, till I see a specification.

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