Byron Reeves (twitter: @byronreeves) on Gaming for Work. In this intriguing video (Part 2 of 2), Byron speaks on using games and virtual worlds to change the way people work and businesses compete. Presentation titled “Work Sucks - Games are great“. Filmed July 31st, 2009 in Palo Alto at the fbFund HQ by Shaun Tai of SHAUN TAI Films (ZTY MEDIA), ©2009.

 

ABOUT BYRON REEVES

Byron is the Paul C. Edwards Professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford University, and Co-Founder and Faculty Co-Director of the H-STAR Institute (Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research) and its industrial affiliate program, Media X. He is an expert on the psychological processing of media in the areas of attention, emotions, learning, and physiological responses, and has published over 100 scientific papers about media and psychology. His research has been the basis for a number of new media products for companies such as Microsoft, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard, in the areas of voice interfaces, automated dialogue systems, and business process simulations. He is currently working on the application of multi-player game technology to behavior change and the conduct of serious work, and is Co-Founder of Seriosity, Inc., a company building enterprise software inspired by game psychology.

ABOUT FBFUND REV

fbFund is a fund focused on continuing to create incentives for the development of applications on Facebook Platform. Initially, the fund will make available $10 million in capital which may grow over time.

We are forming this fund to help grow the Facebook application ecosystem. By decreasing the barrier to start a company, we hope to entice an even larger group of people to become entrepreneurs and build a compelling business on Facebook Platform. We hope this is also a funding model that other venture capitalists will follow.

For more information, please visit fbFund.com

Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. As of June 2008, Technorati indexes 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. The name Technorati is a portmanteau, pointing to the technological version of literati, or intellectuals.

Peter Hirshberg and Andreas Weigend have a fascinating discussion covering the following topics: the future of Twitter, People 2.0, Web 2.0, TV and books: are they going away?, the use of media and its meaning, shared moments, early film & stage (D.W. Griffith), birth of radio, Facebook, Google and much more!

A Silicon Valley executive, entrepreneur and marketing specialist, Peter Hirshberg might just be the definitive voice on how new technology affects business and culture.

The Internet would change everything: it’s a truism now, but for some, this took years to sink in. Not for Peter Hirshberg. A marketing specialist at the epicenter of emerging technology, he has spent a quarter of a century charting the reverberations of all things high tech in culture and in business. (It’s big business, too.)

Hirshberg first helped bring Apple into the online services arena., then acted as strategic adviser to Microsoft, AOL and NBC. Along the way, he was CEO of Gloss.com and Elemental Software. He’s built a deep understanding of the fundamentals of content production and consumption - and how they’ve changed, both online and off.

Andreas Weigend is a former Chief Scientist at Amazon.com and the author of over 100 scientific papers on the application of machine learning techniques to finance and business problems.

Video filmed and produced by Shaun Tai.

Justin Long is NOT Cool (think Dodgeball, think Herbie)… nor does he make us want to purchase an Apple (think “Get a Mac”). In a recent eMarketing MBA course at UC Berkeley, one graduate student even felt disrespected and offended by Apple’s ongoing advertisement campaign:

“The Get a Mac campaign is a current (2006–present) television advertising campaign created for Apple Inc. by TBWA\Media Arts Lab, the company’s advertising agency. Shown in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Japan, the ads in the campaign have become easily recognizable because each ad follows a standard simple template: against a minimalist all-white background, a man dressed in casual clothes introduces himself as a Mac running Mac OS X (”Hello, I’m a Mac.”), while a man in a more formal suit-and-tie combination introduces himself as a non-Macintosh personal computer running Microsoft Windows (”And I’m a PC.”). The two then act out a brief vignette in which the capabilities and attributes of Mac and PC are compared, with PC—characterized as formal, stuffy and overly concerned with work—often being frustrated by the more laid-back Mac’s abilities. Some recent ads have shifted focus away from comparing features of the computer systems to a more general comparison. The most recent ones, however, are mainly concerning Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows Vista.

The original American ads star actor Justin Long as the Mac and author and humorist John Hodgman as the non-Mac PC, and are directed by Phil Morrison.” Source: Wikipedia

What the controversial advertising campaign does teach us is that traditional advertising (television spots) mixed with Web 2.x (i.e. twitter), namely word-of-blog / type, creates a unique forum for bi-directional communication and dialogue. Check out these creative, yet clashing video advertisements courtesy YouTube:

“Hi, I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” Full TV Advertisements (15 total combined)

“I’m a PC” Full TV Advertisement

Laptop Hunters $2000 - Sheila gets an HP HDX - Full TV Advertisement

So who wins - Mac or PC? Or is it really, choosing your poison???

Yay!

Microsoft is offering a free download of Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC). Use Internet Explorer to download it - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

This RC version will expire on June 1, 2010. However, starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours, effectively making it unusable (?).

Note, while a release candidate is considered a more stable version than a "Beta", this software should be used with caution:

"Information about Windows 7 is preliminary and subject to change. Some product features of Windows 7, such as the ability to watch and record live TV or navigation through the use of "touch," may require advanced or additional hardware. The features and functionality you find in the pre-release product may not appear in the final version of Windows 7. If we change the software before it’s released, we’ll change this information accordingly. We’re not making express or implied warranties with this information."

I’m not sure why people are so against Windows Vista; I have Windows Vista Ultimate installed on my laptop and love it!!! No blue screens, no frills, no problems.

Let it be known: I’ve never owned an iPod or iPhone (nor do I want one). Matter of fact, I still use a 1st Generation Microsoft Zune for all of my listening needs; it works great… so why upgrade? The 30gb storage space is more than enough, and the LCD screen is plenty, although rarely used. I love the automatic software update too.

Now it is rumored that Zune is releasing a “Zune HD” which appears to be an upgraded MP3 player but also (down the road) Microsoft’s answer to the very ‘hip’ and heavily marketed iPhone. Zune for mobile phones - picture that!

But will a more slim, redesigned Zune with a tiny 16:9 aspect ratio screen, capable of playing back HD media be enough? What about a touch screen with TV-output such as a mini-HDMI port? As an avid video and tech enthusiast, my answer is no, these features will not be enough to change the minds of Mac nation.

Either way, I’ll be sticking to my trusty ole 1st gen. Zune.

Need an MP3 player that can store 30,000 songs, 25,000 photos, or 375 hours of video? My next upgrade is a 120GB Zune - the thing is a beast!