Molecularist

Is anyone paying attention to these guys? Not only do they have a great track record, but they really get what the Mobile Lifestyle means to Media.

Shawn has written this great essay on the ‘ages’ of Media – TV-Cable-Internet-mobile. He makes a compelling case for us to understand Mobile Media as something that has evolved but is distinct from the previous ages. I think the quote below provides the best framing of the impact of what he is getting at.

The thing here is that Intercasting Corp has more on its mind than Rabble. Something tells me that Rabble is a small toe in the whole thing and that there will be bigger things coming from these guys. These guys will not be the usual ‘build something small and sell it quick’. These guys seem to be building not only the philosophy needed, but the whole she-bang.

Link: InterCasting Corp: The Mobile Media Era (With exciting InfoGraphic below!).

Imagine a reporter at the New York Times looking at a map of the world on her computer with little dots representing media being generated by ordinary people like you and me. Then all of a sudden a bunch of red dots show up, all clustered around Banda Aceh. Click and zoom to a list of pictures uploaded instantly by people on the scene of a massive tidal wave. One second later, that content is inserted into the editorial process and they are first to the story. Or that same image might be on your mobile device and you get to cut out the middle man entirely, or better yet – write your own story about it and syndicate it.

I’ve been trying to catch up with Shawn and crowd, but time and space seem to conspire against us. 😉

This is a good case for aggregators (link below), aka ‘portals’. I have been having a hard time using the word ‘portal’ because of the connotations to 1999 and the Internet Crash of 2001.* I even joked with a colleague that not only will we try to avoid the word ‘portal’, so as not to set off knee-jerk negativity, but to also avoid ‘traffic’, ‘eye-balls’, and other words linked to that most recent bubble.

But, all kidding aside, portals are back and are better. For some time, I knew that, but didn’t know how to describe it in a way that would be palatable. Then, I read a presentation from Ben Hammersly on RSS and all. And the comment that clicked with me was that now, with the structured formats and APIs that we characterize with Web 2.0 (or Web x.0), it is so much easier to create portals, and the portals are so much more dynamic and versatile.

Marc Canter has a company called Broadband Mechanics (BBM) that spends all day thinking, designing, and building portals, which he calls, no doubt to escape the negativity of portals, ‘digital lifestyle aggregators’, or DLAs. Recently, Marc wrote an article on how to make money with DLAs (see link below). While he argues the case for DLAs, and hence explains their value, he really doesn’t explicitly show how to make money. Also, I have yet to see Part Two of this article.

But, no need. It’s a great read and is important for anyone thinking of aggregating all the feeds and content out there. Also, some of the comments he makes are, in themselves, sources for longer discussions.

Great stuff, Marc.

Link: How to make money with digital lifestyle aggregators – Part I :: AO.

So personalization and customization find their destiny intermixed with Integration and Aggregation. The only way to produce compelling enough experiences is by integrating a wide range of built-in constructs, combining that with aggregated web services and content and topping it all off with unprecedented levels of control and customization. In one product or service.

Phil Windley also has some other related links to Doc Searls and Clayton Christensen.

* Incidentally, it was a portal in 1999 that was part of my switch from biomedical research to wireless

Always wanted something like ‘Keep as New’ per item. Well, here it is. And, it’s pretty nifty to be able to access the extra non-text content. I need to try out videos and audio. Should be interesting.

Link: Bloglines | News.

Mobile
For those who enjoy using Bloglines on the run, we’ve added a couple of features from Bloglines to our Mobile edition.

* First, you can now access enclosure links in blog articles, allowing you to view images or listen to your favorite podcasts from your mobile device.
* Second, you can now use the “Keep as New” option for articles you have previously read, allowing you to scroll through as many articles as you want and come back to them later.

Here’s a product from Verizon that puts the telephone exchange right in your hands. You get a Web, desktop client, or voice interface to the system. Pretty cool.

It reminds me of unified messaging services of yester-year. But, the promising thing here is that it’s from a bona-fide telco. The features and demo looks interesting and it seems that Verizon gets the integration of PC, Web, and phone. I wonder if their cellular service is also integrated into this. That’d be so cool.

Link: Verizon iobi Home | When Your PC and Phone Get Together.

iobi Home brings it all together giving you complete control over your communications and helps you manage all of your day-to-day activities with one simple tool.