Future
Could The Internet Get Unplugged?
First off let me confess, I am an Internet Junkie, I make my living mostly because of the Internet. Having said that, I could probably still survive without the NET, but I doubt it, I would have no way of proving my work. Imagine if say Big Brother decided the Internet should be turned off, unplugged! What would you do? Worse yet, what would happen if every computer was confiscated from every home? You’re right, that’s just plain stupid!
I mean, how would Generation G’s and Zoomers survive without the Internet, without technology period? Those two demographics are going to turn the world upside down, it’s already happening. The rules are being re-written, broken and frankly destroyed by innovation and new ways of getting things done. In fact, they don’t care what we older generations think, they don’t even want to discuss how we used to do things, they just want to do what they want to do whether it works or doesn’t. They behave like a Venture Capital firm would, just keep doing something until it scores big time financially on the Internet.
The idea of an organization turns their stomach, Gen G will be able to organize without organizations, that ability to coalesce will have profound destabilizing impact on institutions. You must concede, The Internet is fueling those who want to be heard, the rise of people, people who regroup and organize on the fly. We are in a time where one voice makes a difference, we the people are taking charge and we are speaking up, Corporations don’t know what to do with us in this state. It would so much easier if they could just unplug all of us from the Internet so they wouldn’t have to deal with us. They want us to go about our business and continue to trust them on Wall Street, keep the wool over our eyes. That’s just not going to happen is it?
The Internet doesn’t make us more creative, it’s a platform, a game changer that enables what we create to be seen, heard, and used. The Internet let’s us write the rules of business, let’s us share, let’s us give our creative rights away. The momentum is already too much to stop, the Internet could not be turned off or unplugged, our economies would collapse, businesses would cease to exist. Imagine a world without the Internet, we would have to redesign how work, how we organize work, much like we are doing in this Digital Age. KAOS would ensue, just as it is with the removal of the Industrial Age thinking, the old model is dead.
The new open models are allowing creative individuals to make more money than those that fall under the Copyright Laws of yesterday. Copyright as it is written does not work on the Internet, but a Creative Commons License, or a Collaborative Licenses or possibly User Rights Licenses may prevail.
Who would have thought the big money would be in the conversation. What you and I say everyday on the Internet, is being used to figure out trends, where we are gathering, and what we want to be able to do, for the purposes of making money. It’s what we do here in North America, we are always trying to figure out how to make more money, as much as we can possibly want. What would happen if the tap was turned off, the Internet was unplugged, or worse yet controlled by Cable Networks, Government, and Internet Telcoms. It’s called NET NEUTRALITY, and it’s real, it’s in the courts today.
So What Would You Do If The Internet Got Unplugged?
Could You Spend $1,000 A Day?
I’m willing to wager, the difference between you and a billionaire, is exactly one billion dollars. In roughly 15 years there will be 1 Billion Millionaires on the planet, will you & I be one of them? We are under the mistaken assumption that money makes us happy, yes it makes things easier to pay for and it gives us options, but happiness? Another bet I’m willing to make is, the happiest you have ever felt is when you helped someone financially when they were in hardship, maybe you gave away half of your food supply or bought a meal for someone less fortunate than you. Do billionaires do that?
Just recently, 40 billionaires vowed to give away half of their fortunes, people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, George Lucas, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Ted Turner and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, just to name a few have stepped up. Imagine giving away half your fortune. That’s 40 Billionaires, based on Forbes magazine’s estimates of billionaires wealth, at least 150 billion US could be given away. These people could shape the future of the world with this money, I hope it happens, and I hope we obliterate world hunger at the same time, it would only take a small percentage of 150 Billion to solve that problem.
Let’s put this in some perspective, there are 403 Billionaires living in the USA, why do we have the problems we do with this much money available. If you the average person had a billion dollars, and you were born with that billion, your life would be somewhat different than it is today. You could spend a $1,000 a day and never spend it all, the average person could not do it. Bill Gates & the Warren Buffett’s of the world could spend a Billion in seconds, but I venture that you and I would have a tough time doing it. Imagine being a billionaire, knowing all the while you couldn’t spend it in your life time. Something would have to change, and that would mean you.
Now ask yourself a question, what kind of person would you become with that kind of money in your hands? I have a good idea, but that’s not where I’m going with this little bitty. I can only hope there is an easy and quick way to get that 150 billion dollars into the hands of those who truly need help. That world hunger would be eliminated, and human suffering could be greatly reduced. Billy Graham once said, there are three things technology has yet to solve:
1.) Human Evil
2.) Human Suffering
3.) Death
The said 150 billion dollars will increase #1 I suspect, #2 could be drastically reduced and #3 may be solved through Nanotechnology in 30 years time. I know we all have uses for large amounts of money at some point in our lives, but how much is enough, and once you have all the toys, what would you need? It gets hard for you & I to spend a Billion once we have a basic needs met. It’s fun to think about, but there are far too many out there who have much less than you and I. Don’t wait for your Billion to make a difference in someones life, DO IT NOW!
If you wish to see the full list of billionaires pledging to giveaway half their fortunes, here’s the site: The Giving Pledge
A few concerns, who will administrate these funds, who will decide where the money goes, and will the money actually get there, I fear bureaucracy will win before people do.
What kind of person do you think you would become if you suddenly became a Billionaire?
New Chip Technology Is Everywhere
I talk alot about future trends and technologies, RFID chips, nanotechnology, and well, even computers as we know them. With all these advances, there is a growing challenge, how to keep your privacy private. The new chip technology is everywhere, we are forced into it, all financial institutions in Canada must have this chip technology embedded into each card by 2011, credit cards and yes even debit cards. The government and corporations are mandating this technology without your knowledge, it’s happening and you have no choice. Oh, and by the way, as of October 2010, if you don’t have this chip on your Visa, you will no longer be covered by the Visa Zero Liability Policy. I’ll be you didn’t know that.
These cards with chips embedded are called “Smart Cards”, in time will permanently have replaced the current magnetic-strip cards we carry around today. These new chip cards mean you can, you will not be able to hide, you will be tracked at all times, if you are a criminal or have bad credit, they turn the card off and you are unable to buy anything. Let alone not be found, hiding is something we did when we were little, covered ours eyes and no one could see us, remember?
This past week, the Google & US Government collaboration was announced, the Internet will be monitored, every Tweet, every FaceBook Update, every Blog Post will be scrutinized. So be careful what you put on the NET, it might get you in serious trouble. Here is an example of how a simple purchase of a Pizza might go for you in the near future.
Flying Cars in 2011!
A friend of mine in Seattle is very much a transportation expert, in fact, he predicted flying cars would be here sooner than we anticipated, but I was skeptical. Not any longer. I can remember as a young boy talking about how someday we would be like the Jetsons, but here on earth, not in space. Do you remember the cartoon based show, every Saturday morning we would watch the Jetsons and pretend it was me flying around in one of those fan-dangled vehicles. Glen Hiemstra from the site Futurist.com, made a statement not to long ago, here’s his quote, ” Looking ahead, over the next decade or two we will, nationally and internationally, need to be thinking systemically about travel demand and supply, advanced transportation technologies, and how to achieve sustainable transportation, if that is possible.” Advanced Technologies, could it be that Glen is talking about flying cars? Probably not.
The truth is, the 1st flying car is expected to be available in 2011, that’s right, a company called, Terrafugia Inc. has produced a vehicle that flies! Barring government interference and the FTC, we should see this car soon. Now I figured you wouldn’t believe me so I am going to let you see for yourself, I have for you a video of the car actually flying, and parked in a driveway. Wrap your brain around this, I can see all kinds of problems making this car available. Hell we can’t drive properly on roads now let alone be flying too! On June 3rd, 2009 this car took it’s first flight, here’s the video:
The Future of Toll Booths
Business is being reshaped online, it has to, the very way of survival is change, it is however, doing a poor job of translating it to traditional business forms. What I call the OLD Business Model still needs to be looked after, but it also needs to be transformed and reshaped to adopt the online mentality if it’s to survive. No longer can we use the phrase, ” we’ve always done it this way”, if someone says it, they should be fired on the spot. It sounds harsh but, if that person has influence, the future of that business is and will be in jeopardy if they stay with that thinking.
Toll Booths are the mechanism for getting paid, online & off, it’s the way of the business world. These toll booths are being reshaped, they are becoming more & more invisible to the consumer. This seamless trend will continue to the point we may not know when we’ve actually paid for anything! The strategic alliances, the partnerships, and the stand-alones must make paying for goods & services effortless in order to make the experience positive. Not unlike the Apple example, iTunes has made buying music almost painless but not completely. You still have to download an application and you still have to have a valid account with a healthy balance in it before you can feel the benefit. Plus, it’s a closed system, you don’t get to touch it, feel it or make changes to it. Still, this toll booth is better than no start to the future of toll booths, and probably one of the best examples to date.
My son recently purchased eye glasses online, it was a great experience, and he saved money to boot! It was a simple three step process, choose your contacts & or designer frames, enter your prescription & customize your order, and then see the savings delivered to your door. It took him less than a week to get his new glasses, he put them on and they were perfect. The company is called Clearly Contacts, a Canadian company that is making it easy to buy glass & contacts, and they accept PayPal as a means of payment! In the future, we will have our eyes tested online so we don’t have to drive to the optometrist to get the prescription.
Soon there will be a secured cookie mechanism, a cert if you will, it will eliminate the actual payment click of the mouse step, it will be similar to the RFID chip. It will be a Secured Digital RFID Cookie that will handle the payment process for you. Of course, you will have to approve it, but as web browsers die, other technologies of viewing websites will make this process even easier.
The current build of toll booth is still too cumbersome, a link to PayPal or another means of making payment needs to be hidden from plain site, making the experience better. The current method makes you feel like you have been violated, or you’ve left the house unlocked, I need to feel things are well looked after, I don’t need to see it. The experience is everything for the user, much like Attention is to the seller. Attention is the new currency for anyone or any business selling products and services online. The problem is, getting that attention is going to get harder and harder, and it’s also going to be extremely difficult to keep that attention. One way of helping the cause, make paying for your products & services as easy as possible. Don’t ask users to fill out a LONG form, requesting name, address, phone numbers and so on, that will be the death of you. Find ways to make the toll booth invisible, and above all, an experience they can’t stop talking about in a positive way.
Where you put the toll booth matters, the experience users have using your site & toll booth will be the difference maker. The future of toll booths? Simple, hide them, embed them, make them work seamlessly online and you will have a winner. Better yet, you’ll get attention, and that means good things for you and your business.