I started this blog more or less an year ago, willing to write something also in English alonside my main Italian blog.

After a year I have to say I’ve written a little on both my blogs, especially here.

I’ve made up my mind and decided to shut down this blog, I’ll renew and continue writing on www.francescofederico.net esclusvlty in English. Broader audience, but a single blog, in order not to fragment my writings.

The conversation continues…

America Is F*cked…….(Graphically at least) from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.

Jeff Jarvis about the internet and mass markets:

Internet curmudgeons argue that Google et al are bringing society to ruin precisely because they rob the creative class of its financial support and exclusivity: its pedestal. But internet triumphalists, like me, argue that the internet opens up creativity past one-size-fits-all mass measurements and priestly definitions and lets us not only find what we like but find people who like what we do. The internet kills the mass, once and for all. With it comes the death of mass economics and mass media, but I don’t lament that, not for a moment.

Today is the day the world will see a four hour long Opening Ceremony, showing a China that doesn’t exist, while thousands of innocent people have been killed, tortured and arrested by the same government that now wants to show a civil China to the world.

I will not believe this masquerade, they won’t impress me.

I’d like to share this quote from David Woodward’s article, appeared on Director.co.uk about Enterprise 2.0 main issue:

The issue of control is right at the centre of enterprise 2.0. From the IT director’s point of view, is the company ready to admit tools based on the software it so recently banned? Can so much user-generated content be properly managed? And from the CEO’s point of view, is the company ready to become flatter, leaner and less hierarchical? Is middle management ready to cede control? Cisco CEO John Chambers reckons his company is ready. But he doesn’t underestimate the size of the task at hand. Addressing last year’s IT Forum in Las Vegas, Chambers said: “The hard part about collaboration is [that] we don’t like change. Nor did my organisation and nor did I. I love command and control and I’m pretty good at it: 65,000 people; I say turn right, we turn right. I very rarely have to say it twice.” But, he added, command and control wasn’t the future. “The future is the ability of groups to think together, to combine knowledge and experience.” It’s a question of trust.

I found this incredibly interesting presentation by Neil Perkin on the internet, talking about new media and the change that happened and that we now have to manage.

I think it’s one of the best presentations about old and new media relation so far.

Today is Independence Day, a day that reminds us all how much is important to be independent and that freedom does not come for free.

When in peace, we always have to guard and protect our personal independence as well as the freedom of our country. In this sense, I think that Independence Day is not only an American celebration, it’s the celebration of the people who believe in freedom and are willing to fight to protect it.

I encourage you to take some time and watch this moving video, where a part of the Declaration of Independence is read.

I’ve found this enlighting video on Edoardo’s blog, about a keynote that Steve Jobs made to address some Stanfort University graduates.

I found it extremely powerful and inspiring.

I found this list of 12 points of elements that consumers look for when using a web service (or a service/product in general). I think any 2.0 entrepreneur should keep them in mind.

User creativity
Consumers increasingly want to create, augment, or influence design and content, and share these creations with their peers. Supporting user creativity will be increasingly important to consumer technology, and will become more mainstream in coming decades.

Personalization
Consumers will increasingly look for products and services that align with their specific personal needs and preferences—whether in the aesthetics of a product or in its functional design. More goods will be created to match individuals’ unique specifications.

Simplicity
Simplicity will have growing value for consumers confronted with information overload, time stress, and technological complexity. Simplicity’s influence is already evident in new, stripped-down devices that offer just a few functions, as well as in minimalist interfaces that conceal breathtaking complexity. The common denominator of all these efforts is that they are human-centered—and thus easy to learn and integrate into busy lives.

Assistance
As consumers are bombarded with more tasks, choices, and information, and as demographic changes such as aging reshape consumer markets, they are looking to assistive technologies for help. Consumers will seek to bolster and extend their natural abilities—with technologies ranging from pharmaceuticals that enhance mental performance to robot aides for the elderly.

Appropriateness
Products and services will need to embrace the principle of appropriateness to ensure that they are suitably designed for users with varying physical needs, resources, cultural characteristics, literacy levels, etc. Appropriateness will aid in the spread of technology products and services to new markets and to diverse user segments.

Convenience
Already well-established in mature markets, demand for convenience will rise as a technology value for consumers all over the world. Consumers will look for technological products and services that give them what they want and need on demand and that reduce effort and relieve time pressure.

Connectedness
Connectedness gives consumers what they want, when they want it, and will grow exponentially with the expanding global information infrastructure. Consumers will look for products and services that seamlessly integrate with this global network.

Efficiency
Efficiency is the ratio of output to input—or, put simply, the ability to do more with less. It will become more important to technology as consumers search for products and services that let them manage emerging resource uncertainties, rising costs, and other pressures.

Intelligence
Intelligence will be enabled by innovations that increasingly shift information and decision-making burdens from the user to the device or service. The demand for greater intelligence will come in response to factors including complexity, aging, and the desire for personalized experiences.

Protection
Protection will be sought by consumers in a world that feels increasingly insecure. Consumers will look for technology-enabled products and services that strengthen their sense of personal security and protect their families, homes, wealth, and privacy.

Health
Consumers will look to technological products and services to maintain and, increasingly, improve their health and wellness. The search for health-enabling solutions will extend beyond traditional health and medical products and services to include more of the things consumers use in their everyday lives, whether at home, work, or play.

Sustainability
Consumers will increasingly look for products and services that embrace sustainability—reducing the “human footprint” on the environment while maintaining quality of life. A variety of technologies offer ways to minimize resource use, waste, and pollution while improving human welfare.

By: David Armano