Web 2.0 summit - the Monday

The event kicked-off with Eric Schmidt, CEO at Google. In talking much about the Google approach to openness he also showed NFC. Whilst not being first with this it is interesting to see that the technology is making its way into the Android stack and consequently on to Android devices.

Eric showed NFC as a way of tracking location, but more importantly as a way for the Android devices to provide a more secure way of allowing monetary transactions.

When it comes to Android the next focus for Google will be on the applications layer.

On GoogleTV the obvious questions were asked, but I think the one sentence that stuck with me was the para-phrasing from a television executive who had said: "Do you realize that you take a dumb TV and making it smart?". The edge of the network is where the evolution and innovation will happen, making your screens at home smarter is an obvious way to allow for even more interaction.

Another thing that struck me was Zynga in that they now have some 1300 employees, 13 studios in 6 countries and soon if not now 400 people working on new IP (new games that is). Looking to leverage more of the social dial-tone in that they want to make you play more by letting you know who else in your network is playing any of the Dog (a play with their logo) games at the moment.

There was a mix of presentations and discussion on the value of data and I think that Steven Berlin Johnson had some interesting input in that we now see a trend in data that is locked into apps and thus making it un-linkable. The URL and the fact that you can point to data is what is crucial to allow for an even greater rate of innovation. If data starts to be locked-in innovation may suffer.

I think the app trend will go away. Right now, apps are a very convenient way of packaging access to a service. We will soon be able to do the same packing in terms of the user experience for full web applications and soon the data will be linkable again.

Bing is also interesting in that is taking on the role as a task oriented engine rather than pure search. It is a huge undertaking but one that I think is really worth following. I say that because if I could have Bing accomplish my seat-changes and on-line boarding without having to go to four different sites when travelling on a given European trip that would really help.

My take-away for the day is that branding is becoming even more important as is the data that we all generate. The services that can make the best use of your available data will certainly have a good time.

On the theme of Points of Control: Now we only need good mechanism to allow for personal control of that data so that it does not continue to end up in controlled silos.

on geo-blocking

I have just returned from a business trip in Europe. This is obviously nothing unusual, however, I have become attached to watching The Event as it is aired in Sweden (where I live). Now, when I was in France I discovered that watching the latest episode would not be easy.

My first attempt was by trying SVT Play. This was met by a simple message informing me of the fact that I was trying to view this content from the wrong region of the world. OK, fair enough, I suspected that this would be the case. Now, off to NBC in a foolish attempt to try an catch up with the latest episode from the official website. Result, wrong region again.

I am not sure that The Event is aired in France or put another way, my futile search attempts could not reveal what television station it would be and if so what their web streaming offer would be... No, I am not fluent enough to do the searching in French..

So, in trying to stay with the official offerings I am left without thanks to the wonderful world of geo-blocking content.

This strikes me as odd as I would have thought that series such as The Event would get a following and a steady fan-base (well, including me) that would want to watch it wherever they are in the world.

A simple ID service would have easily verified that I am actually a Swedish citizen and regardless of where I am in the world I would be able to access and view SVT Play as if I was in Sweden. This way, content is still region blocked but as a member of that region I get the freedom to take the viewing with me as I travel.

I would obviously prefer for geo-blocking to go away completely.