Aaron Hawkins, better known as “The Uppity Negro” is dead.
I find myself at the same loss of words experienced by Jeneane Sessum of allied who wrote, “Sympathies and sadness seem to be all I can muster. Damn.”
Goodbye Aaron. You will be missed.
Update: This in from Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit – 20 Sept. 2004:
DEATH OF A BLOGGER: A very nice tribute to Aaron Hawkins, in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Mobility has already spirited into existence new sources of revenue.
Opportunities are legion: mobile shopping, mobile gaming, mobile auctions, location-specific advertising and promotion, anytime/anywhere access to information, downloads, mobile dating services, and so on.
These opportunities can be distributed across the following payment scenarios:
Furthermore, these payment scenarios must account for the following:
The Problem: It's a Walled Garden
These revenue producing opportunities have been available on the most part to a relatively small minority of tech-savvy developers/companies or carrier-connected content providers.
Architecting and managing a mobile site with commerce ability is currently out of reach for millions of individuals & small/medium businesses.
The Solution: mStorefront
Working together with various partners, WINKsite is looking to meet these needs with simplicity, practicality and business intelligence. The offering will be an easy-to-use and cost-effective vehicle for individuals and businesses to enter the Mobile Internet with a mobile commerce presence.
Embedded into WINKsite's mobile publishing platform will be the opportunity (optional of course) for a mobile site owner to:
The Big Idea
As flexible mStorefront options are released into the WINKsite Mobile Community Publishing Platform various types of mobile businesses will emerge. Wireless Ink anticipates a number of business models and to be sure the mobile community will have some “fresh-n-tasty” thoughts of their own.
What's important? Enabling a new breed of entrepreneurs to capture a piece of the growing mobile marketplace. And how cool is that?
——
Please Note: Final functionality and pricing for this feature has not yet been established.
Stay tuned for The Future Of “Roll Your Own” Mobile Revenues: Part 2″ – Building Your Own Mobile Business
This in from Esther Dyson's PC Forum:
“Just as CIOs have problems vendors can't solve, so do consumers take vendors' content only as a starting point for the experiences they create for themselves. How will users interact with content? They are no longer passive consumers, but active participants in downloading, sharing, sampling…. Music leads the way in so many contexts: business models, software design, deployment of devices, user empowerment…. What can we learn from the music business, analytically? How will the role of the publisher (or film or TV studio) change as distribution mechanisms and business models change?”
Rob Glaser, Real Networks
“The value is to individuals, and society, in the sheer number of previously silent voices that will sound, in the previously unheard stories that will be told, to whatever size audience. We're slowly but steadily increasing the breadth of human experience and expression that is recorded and available to others. Next to that sort of social good, somehow the implementation details of different business models seem trivial. I think they're all missing the point.”
Steven Levy, Newsweek
“Are we going to enter a renaissance of alternatives to the media with homegrown stuff, or is it going to be more of an 'American Idol' kind of thing?”
Wireless Ink Commentary
“The mobile audience is huge – The GSM Association has announced that the number of subscribers to GSM wireless networks has surpassed the one billion mark. That's roughly equivalent to one-sixth of the world population. In fact, worldwide most people access the Internet not from their desktop or wi-fi notebook but from handheld web-enabled devices. Let's connect everyone to all the great content and thoughts bouncing around. Don't leave anyone out or behind or without a voice – and make it easy”
When using the desktop version of your WINKsite, the content is displayed to you and your audience through the use of a desktop emulation of your mobile site. Typically, each of your mobile sites are displayed by one default template. However, now you can personalize any of your mobile sites to be displayed with a different skin making each of your mobile sites feel even more like your own.
Currently, these skins modify the desktop pop-up version of your site. This feature will soon be extended to both the embedded desktop and mobile browser xHTML versions. Additional skin selections will be released each week and we're open to suggestions. One future feature will be the ability for you to create your own skins and upload it to your mobile site for public or exclusive use. Give me some skin. (Sorry for that.)
How do I edit my site's desktop skin?
Creative Commons is a nonprofit that offers a flexible copyright for creative work. With a Creative Commons license, you keep your copyright but allow people to copy and distribute your work provided they give you credit — and only on the conditions you specify
WINKsite Community members and publishers now have the ability to select a Creative Commons License or Dedication for each WINKsite they set-up.
Relevant Creative Commons data, links and XML is outputted on the mobile site and within the RSS 1.0 and RSS 2.0 WINKsite Blog feeds noting the License/Dedication. This way, individuals, aggregators and search engines will know the site content, blog and posts are covered by a CC License/Dedication.
Creative Commons – Open Wish List to Blogging, Aggregator and Search Services
—>How do I attach a Creative Commons License or Dedication to my WINKsite?
Some Weblog services allow you to select a Creative Commons License or Dedication for your blog. How is that data included in my WINKsite if I mobile the existing feed?
Some Weblog services allow you to select a Creative Commons License or Dedication for your blog (and/or each blog post.) If so, they may also include this data within their RSS 1.0 and/or RSS 2.0 feeds. If that is the case, WINKsite's Mobile Feed Reader services will read this data and output it to the user where appropriate. (i.e within any channel that mobilizes feeds such as WINKsite's Blog, Syndicated Feeds, Syndicated Events, and mobile Feedster channels.) For example, if the entire Weblog feed is covered by a Creative Commons License or Dedication for, a link stating so will appear on the blog's mobilized list of posts/entries. In addition, if a blog post is specifically marked with a Creative Commons License or Dedication, a link stating so will appear at the post level. These Creative Commons Licenses and Dedications supercede any license you may have selected for your site, solely for this area
I mobilized my blog from an external service, however it should not be covered under the same Creative Commons License or Dedication as I set up for my WINKsite. What can I do?
Some blog services allow you to select a Creative Commons License or Dedication for your blog and/or each blog post. If so, they may also include this data with their RSS 1.0 and/or RSS 2.0 feeds. If so, WINKsite will read this data and output it to the user where appropriate. As such, if the entire blog feed is covered by a Creative Commons License or Dedication, a link stating so will appear on the blog's entry list. In addition, if a blog post is specifically marked with a Creative Commons License or Dedication, a link stating so will appear on the blog entry's page. These Creative Commons Licenses and Dedications supercede any license you may have selected for your site, solely for this area.
What if I'd like my site to be covered by both a Creative Commons License/Dedication and a copyright statement?
Use the Creative Commons Wizard, if needed, to determine the relevant License or Dedication for your site. Then choose “User Defined Copyright” as the copyright method for your site. In the Copyright Tag and/or Copyright Text, mention both your Copyright text, and type in the Creative Commons License or Dedication that applies for your site.
The WINKsite Difference: Part 2
Learn more about the what makes WINKsite special.
More about Creative Commons
A nonprofit corporation, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual works, whether owned or public domain. It is sustained by the generous support of The Center for the Public Domain and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation. Creative Commons is based at Stanford Law School, where it shares staff, space, and inspiration with the school's Center for Internet and Society.
For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org/
Special Thanks
A special thanks to Ben Hammersley for his advice for integrating Creative Commons into RSS feeds.
This in from Mike Rowehl, author of the Bitsplitter Blog:
“I'm currently reading Interface Culture, and some of the stories about the early adoption of hypertext remind me a lot of what seems to be going on with mobile content. We're still in a very investigatory phase with relation to mobile services and publishing. Some of us see a lot of potential, but aren't quite able to make the full jump all the way to what our vision of mobile services should be. Others don't really see the value in the medium yet so they're holding back. And I think just like what happened with the web, eventually everyone will end up using mobile services. But once we're there the believers will be saying “see, I told you mobile services were going to have a major impact”, while the skeptics will be saying “see, I told you that mobile services weren't going to work the way they were originally brought out”. And both groups are going to be correct to a point. The end result of a stream of innovation such as is happening within wireless and mobile communications almost never ends up looking like what the original conception was. That's part of the definition of a successfull technology. It gets adopted and adapted and extended by the people who first see the strong applications for it. Those applications are not normally technology driven, so the “cool” stuff that us technologists see coming down the line may or may not have anything to do with the user applications that first drive adoption. The best thing we can do is make something (anything) available to users and then see what they do with it. Release the technology and see what the people come up with. People ask me why I use WINKsite as an example all the time. Well, this is it. They've got a technology that they think is going to be big at some point, so they put up a public site to let people experiment with it and learn about how it could be used. I consider that a perfect example of proper planning for innovation.” – Mike Rowehl
Read other posts mentioning WINKsite at Bitsplitter.
Wireless Ink Comment:
“We couldn't agree more. For Wireless Ink it is all about providing features in a way that supports how people prefer to work or play, dependent on a particular situation or task. Give them a flexible tool, step out of the way, watch, listen then respond with innovations.
Our members are the life and future of our service, shaping our product with their feedback and creative uses. We also receive a lot of encouragement and that's great for the ego.
We've spent close to three years developing our platform and establishing an ecosystem. It lets individuals and businesses publish, share, broadcast and interact with mobile content in ways not previously possible. We made WINKsite so simple that if you know how to use voice mail you will understand how to use it.
While the WINKsite platform was being developed we also provided custom development services to a growing list of clients. These clients have used our publishing technology in the fields of entertainment, finance and communications. Public companies such as Verint Systems (VRNT) have used our core technology to connect to their partners, employees and clients. Much like our WINKsite community members, these clients have also helped shape our product offerings.
. . . and that's the way it should be. ” – David Harper
“Self-publishing on the Web has radically decentralized the way knowledge is shared, and restored the individual voice to a place of prominence. What happens when blogging goes mobile, when there are thousands of times as many phones as there are Web-enabled computers in the world?” – SXSW
Now in its eleventh year, the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW) emphasizes cutting-edge, creative thinking as related to the world of websites, interactivity and online technology. This is the spot where the brightest and most innovative minds meet to talk about ongoing industry trends and speculate on how these trends will impact society at large.
Adam Greenfield of v-2.org and a new member of Wireless Ink's Advisory Board will be on the “Moblog Nation: You Can Take It With You” panel Sunday, March 14th.
Now available online is Openwave’s Mobile Applications Directory which contains a library of over 10,000 qualified applications and content that are based on MMS, Java, XHTML and WAP, giving carriers “ideas on how to broaden their subscriber base worldwide.” (Note: Submitted from over 100,000 registered developers contributing.)
For the third year running Winksite has earned top honors from Openwave capturing 5 out of 5 star ratings for both it’s content and technical excellance. In addition, Winksite is now a featured application in Openwave’s showcase where they “highlight new best-of-breed wireless applications” from their Developer Network members every month.
Openwave writes, “When you want to create your own mobile application easily and quickly, turn to Winksite. Wireless Ink offers users a no-hassle approach to joining the wireless generation.”
Winksite is also featured as a top application in the following categories: Communications, Virtual Communities, Chat, Directory Services, Personal Pages and Download Fun. Thanks Openwave!
Attracting Loyal Users
Multimedia messaging, Internet browsing and downloads are the latest in mobile technologies. But launching a new data service does not guarantee that subscribers will respond enthusiastically and remain loyal.
Did you know …
… Only 30% of subscribers who try a service for the first time navigate beyond the home page?
… First time subscribers typically try only one or two sites before they give up?
… A carriers most profitable service opportunities could be hidden, attracting as little as 3% of your subscriber base!
To be truly successful, operators must retain those first-time users–since many do not return–and keep these users loyal by continually adding new enhancements, information and usability.
Wireless Ink can help operators increase user adoption and revenue.
Learn more.
Jeff Jarvis at Buzzmachine.com wrote 3/3/04:
“Generation C : The very good Trendwatching newsletter (which keeps getting caught in my spam filter like a dolphin in the tuna net) continues the cultural meme of the culture creating its own content. The other day, I talked about consumers not just consuming anymore. Yesterday, Pew said that 44 percent of online users create content.
Now Trendwatching gives it a name:
The GENERATION C phenomenon captures the tsunami of consumer generated 'content' that is building on the Web, adding tera-peta bytes of new text, images, audio and video on an ongoing basis.
The two main drivers fuelling this trend?
- The creative urges each consumer undeniably possesses. We're all artists, but until now we neither had the guts nor the means to go all out.
- The manufacturers of content-creating tools, who relentlessly push us to unleash that creativity, using — of course — their ever cheaper, ever more powerful gadgets and gizmos. Instead of asking consumers to watch, to listen, to play, to passively consume, the race is on to get them to create, to produce, and to participate.
Examples: Not just weblogs but also phone-camera users napping up a storm; Canon selling professional-quality equipment to nonpros; HP et al selling the wonders of digital photography; make-your own music tools (they don't even mention Garageband).
So maybe instead of consumers, we're all creators. We create content. We create capital. We create demand.“
“In order to create communicontent, pure content needs meta-data, and pure communication needs organization.” – Russel Beattie.
Look around. Winksite delivers benefits very different from Blogger, TypePad, NewBay, TextAmerica, TagTag, MyWap, UPOC and Blah! et al. Although we provide various tools for moblogging, we should not be mistaken as a competitor to blogging companies. More accurately we should be considered a useful service available to the entire blogging community. Winksite is unique to the space, providing mobile-to-mobile enhancements to any blog or journal.
One of our goals is to help get content onto subscriber’s phones and so grow the author’s audience. Why? The mobile audience is huge – The GSM Association has announced that the number of subscribers to GSM wireless networks has surpassed the one billion mark. That’s roughly equivalent to one-sixth of the entire world population. In fact, worldwide most people access the Internet not from their desktop or wi-fi notebook but from handheld web-enabled devices.
Let’s connect everyone to all the great content and thoughts bouncing around the “Blogsphere.” Don’t leave anyone out or behind or without a voice. If you want to place an even grander purpose to that objective just think of how concepts published in such works as Joichi Ito’s ” Emergent Democracy” could transform the world as they flow free and actionable across phones of citizens throughout the world.
The Winksite Difference:
Content + People + Mobile Device = Mobile Community
harper.wirelessink.com 