2017 has been the year of AI, reaching a fever pitch of VC and corporate investment. But, as with any hot technology, AI is outgrowing this phase of experimentation and hype. According to research firm Gartner, we’re past the “peak of inflated expectations.” Next up is a necessary recalibration of the space—one that will separate the winning AI-driven companies from all… Read MoreIf you gear up, put yourself on high alert and draw a line in the sand, it's likely you'll find the enemy you seek.
On the other hand, expecting that the next person you meet will be as open to possibility as you are might just make it happen.
Walmart’s Jet.com is going after millennials shoppers with the launch of its own grocery brand called Uniquely J, which is expected to arrive in a couple of months. The goal with the brand – beyond an obvious desire for increased margins – is to attract a younger shopper. Jet believes that Uniquely J will do so not only by nature of a product selection that includes… Read More
Part of his power comes from the shadows.
We hear his voice, we know it by heart. He announces his presence with a rumble and he runs away with a wisp of smoke.
But again and again, we resist looking him in the eye, fearful of how powerful he is. We're afraid that like the gorgon, he will turn us to stone. (I'm using the male pronoun, but the critic is a she just as often).
He's living right next to our soft spot, the (very) sore place where we store our shame, our insufficiency, our fraudulent nature. And he knows all about it, and pokes us there again and again.
As Steve Chapman points out in his generous TEDx talk, it doesn't have to be this way. We can use the critic as a compass, as a way to know if we're headed in the right direction.
Pema Chödrön tells the story of inviting the critic to sit for tea. To welcome him instead of running.
It's not comfortable, but is there any other way? The sore spot is unprotectable. The critic only disappears when we cease to matter. They go together.
We can dance with him, talk with him, welcome him along for a long, boring car ride. Suddenly, he's not so dangerous. Sort of banal, actually.
There is no battle to win, because there is no battle. The critic isn't nearly as powerful as you are, not if you are willing to look him in the eye.
Multiple sources tell TechCrunch that Google is building a tabletop smart screen for video calling and more that will compete with Amazon’s Echo Show. The device could help Google keep up in the race for the smart home market after Amazon just revealed a slew of new Echos and as Facebook continues to work on its codename “Aloha” video calling screen. Two sources confirm to… Read More
Today, Amazon threw a lot of darts at the smart speaker board with new product offerings that are seeking to explore what smart speakers can even do. A report also emerged today from 9to5Google that Google is seeking to build a high-end “max” version of its Home speaker, news that comes just a week before the company is likely to show off a cheaper “mini” version of… Read More
The Amazon Echo Connect will connect Echo devices to landline phones. Yes, a landline because safety. The thought is with this add-on Echo owners will be able to dial telephone numbers, like 911 or Pizza Hut or Mom, by just using their voice. To do this, the device connects to a home phone system through RJ-11 jacks. It uses the line’s existing phone service to handle the dialing. This… Read More
When Amazon beat out Twitter and Facebook to stream the NFL’s Thursday Night Football series this season, people were pretty surprised. The one year deal, which requires viewers be Amazon Prime member, will show 11 games this season starting tonight with the Bears playing the Packers at 8:25pm ET. Here’s how to watch it if you’re a Prime member: If you have a Fire TV or… Read More
Alexa’s voice-activated apps will now have a new way to alert end users about updates and new content, Amazon announced today. Thanks to newly added Notifications functionality, Alexa skill developers can configure their voice app to change the color of the LED on an Alexa-powered device and play an audio cue when a notification for their voice app is available. A small handful of… Read More
This really spoke to me.
One of the things I dislike about many business books is that they try to create dogma and that readers should follow their ‘recipe’ and you’re business will be ‘great’. Much like Isaac Sacolick’s Driving Digital (see my review of Isaac’s book here), Scott doesn’t do that with his book…instead he’s telling people to stop trying to find a recipe that other companies have used for success and start from scratch (with lessons learned from others of course).
One of the most damaging routes a company can take is trying to mimic another. I’ve been in meetings listening to product managers describe their product roadmap that contains 99% ‘me too’ features to keep up with their competitors. When I ask about innovation, I get blank stares. These folks are stuck in the dogma of their industry and their organization. They are focused on imitation rather than innovation.
That’s where being pragmatic comes into play. Sure…there may be features that you must have to compete in your vertical/industry but if you’re entire roadmap is focused on imitation, its time to take a step back and rethink your approach, your investment and your business. Rather than mimic everything others are doing (e.g., being dogmatic), take a the pragmatic approach. Take a look at what your competitors are doing, what your clients want, what you can deliver and what best fits into your organization’s long-term goals and then do that.
Another aspect of pragmatic vs dogmatic that I see often is that of project management. How many times have you heard (or said!) “well…we need to build a gantt chart before the project can start” or “that’s not how the PMBOK” says to do it or ‘Scrum requires us to do X, Y and Z in that order.” That’s dogmatic. Not every project requires a gantt chart or a daily 15min standup meeting. Not every organization can (or should) follow the dogma of project management methods. The most successful project managers out there are those that know when to follow guidelines and when to deviate from said guidelines.
So…be pragmatic, not dogmatic. Thanks for the quote Scott.
Along with yesterday’s announcements of a half-dozen new gadgets, including new Echo devices, Amazon also detailed some of Alexa’s new abilities, due to arrive in the near future. One of the more interesting additions, arriving this fall, is something called “Routines.” Designed primarily for those interested in automating their smart home with simpler commands,… Read More
Social media giants have again been put on notice that they need to do more to speed up removals of hate speech and other illegal content from their platforms in the European Union. The bloc’s executive body, the European Commission today announced a set of “guidelines and principles” aimed at pushing tech platforms to be more pro-active about takedowns of content deemed… Read MoreA $30,000 software package is actually $3,000 worth of software plus $27,000 worth of meetings.
And most clients are bad at meetings. As a result, so are many video developers, freelance writers, conference organizers, architects and lawyers.
If you're a provider, the analysis is simple: How much faster, easier and better-constructed would your work be if you began the work with all the meetings already done, with the spec confirmed, with the parameters clear?
Well, if that's what you need, build it on purpose.
The biggest difference between great work and pretty-good work are the meetings that accompanied it.
The crisp meeting is one of a series. It's driven by purpose and intent. It's guided by questions:
Who should be in the room?
What's the advance preparation we ought to engage in? (at least an hour for every meeting that's worth holding).
What's the budget?
What's the deadline?
What does the reporting cycle look like--dates and content and responsibilities?
Who is the decision maker on each element of the work?
What's the model--what does a successful solution look like?
Who can say no, who can change the spec, who can adjust the budget?
When things go wrong, what's our approach to fixing them?
What constitutes an emergency, and what is the cost (in time, effort and quality) of stopping work on the project to deal with the emergency instead?
Is everyone in the room enrolled in the same project, or is part of the project to persuade the nay-sayers?
If it's not going to be a crisp meeting, the professional is well-advised to not even attend.
It's a disappointing waste of time, resources and talent to spend money to work on a problem that actually should be a conversation first.
The message of today’s big Amazon event was pretty clear: Echos for everyone, for every need in every room of every home. The company clearly has no desire to create one device to rule them all. Instead, it’s building out micro functionality, with every product designed to target different needs for different users. Read More
Amazon launched so much new stuff today that I can’t even remember what they all are (there might’ve been a fish in there, even) but there was a glaring omission in the slate of reveals: The Kindle. Amazon’s e-reader has a long and successful track record, with each successive model and iteration bringing some nice changes to the table, but the last big change came out in… Read More
Along with Amazon’s numerous Echo-related announcements today regarding new devices, the company also said it would soon be extending and improving its hands-free TV viewing experience to a range of video partners, including big names in streaming services like Hulu, PlayStation Vue, CBS All Access, Showtime, and others. Prior to now, Amazon had been working on making Alexa a… Read More
In a day full of Echo announcements, the Echo Button was a clear standout. Not because it was a better or more useful product than the rest, but because it’s just damn weird. Where most of what the company announced today was some iteration on an existing product line (be it the Echo or Fire TV), the Button is a strange, left field offering with a limited case use. More than any… Read More
Whether you call it fragmentation or flexibility, there’s now seven different Amazon Echo devices to choose from. Today Amazon launched a slew of new smart home devices so there’s one for every conceivable use case and living set-up. That leaves competitor Google Home looking like a one-size-fits-none solution. Now there’s the Echo for audiophiles, Look for fashionistas, Dot… Read More
Amazon went above and beyond today in terms of launching stuff – it debuted not one, not two, but six brand new devices at an event held at its HQ. One of the most interesting things it did today was not any particular piece of hardware it designed or built – but the way it’s selling the Echo Plus, the version of its Echo smart speaker with an integrated smart home hub. The… Read More
Which Amazon Echo is right for you? The new Echo 2, Plus, Spot, Connect and Buttons, or the existing Dot, Show, or Look? This handy chart lets you compare the functionality and pricing of Amazon’s entire Echo line that got several new additions today at a big launch event. Though Amazon has traded simplicity for flexibility, the Amazon Echo sh*tshow makes Google Home look like… Read More
As part of its iPhone unveil earlier this month, Apple also announced a new 4K Apple TV and topped it all off with $20 price tags for 4K HDR titles. In fact, Apple promised to automatically upgrade previously purchased films to 4K for no extra charge. Now, it’s looking like Google may be following Apple’s lead, with some new UHD films on Play Movies priced at $19.99. Android Police… Read More
Amazon held an event in Seattle today, and the announcements were non-stop. From new high-end Echos to talking fish, they had all sorts of stuff to show. Don’t have time to catch up on all of it? That’s okay. We’ve put it all in one quick, easy-to-digest place. For you. Because we care. Tap that right arrow to check out the next slide — or if you’re on mobile,… Read More
The biggest surprise of today’s secret Amazon event in Seattle was the sheer breadth of Echo-related announcements. Over the past several months, it’s seemed as if Amazon the company was moving more and more toward offloading hardware development to third-parties building Alexa into everything from thermostats to lamps. But the company’s first-party hardware continues to be… Read More
Many have tried and failed to bring the world a smart alarm clock (remember Chumby?), but no one has been better positioned than Amazon to deliver on the promise. In essence, the product is a tiny Echo Show. Echo Show crossed with Echo Dot = Echo Spot. Get it? The product features a two inch display in a half circle design. As Amazon put it, anything the Show can do, Echo Spot can do, too. But… Read More
If you were starting to feel like it’d been a while since Amazon upgraded the Fire TV (the company’s answer to things like the Chromecast and Apple TV) you wouldn’t be wrong. The last big upgrade the Fire TV box got was at the end of 2015. Until today! Amazon has just announced an all-new Fire TV amongst a series of rapid-fire product debuts happening right now in… Read More
Along with the new Echo and a bunch of added Alexa functionality, Amazon showed off a fun new piece of hardware at today’s event: Echo Buttons. Available at $19 for a two pack, the new products are a strange addition to the existing line, which mostly features various iterations of the standard Echo. The product may well have additional functionality moving forward, but for the time… Read More
Sure, the new Echo is a more premium (if lower cost) version of Amazon’s wildly popular home assistant. But Amazon had another big surprise up its sleeve. The Echo Plus features all of the new higher end sound features built into the new Echo, along with a built-in smart home home that aims to make the product an even more essential part of the smart home. The key difference here is that… Read More
Amazon’s virtual voice assistant Alexa can go virtually anywhere thanks to Amazon’s Gadgets API, but her next destination is still kind of surprising: It’ll end up in Big Mouth Billy Bass, the animatronic talking fish that you may have seen adorning the walls of the homes of people you don’t like. At a special event today at Amazon’s Seattle HQ, the company… Read More
Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant will be your cockpit companion in future BMWs: The automaker will offer Alexa in select cars starting in 2018, Amazon announced today at a special event revealing a host of product news at its Seattle HQ. The vehicle integration will begin in the middle of next year, the companies revealed, and will provide access to Alexa skills and voice-based… Read More
Today’s the big day at Amazon headquarters in Seattle. The company promised a day of big announcements, kicking things with the announcement of a high end Echo, a long awaited replacement for the first generation device. The product is a higher end version of the original home assistant, designed to compete with Apple’s HomePod, but at the much more stomach able price point of $99. Read More
Amazon Studios takes a very different approach to acquiring and releasing movies when compared to rival Netflix, and the most significant difference is that it releases major films in theaters first before making them available on its Prime Video streaming service. In the past, Netflix has worked with a handful on independent third-party distributors to make this happen, but starting in… Read More
Microsoft today announced that it has joined the Open Source Initiative (OSI) as a Premium Sponsor. The OSI, which launched in 1998, takes a relatively pragmatic approach to open source and advocates for open source in business and government. The OSI also reviews open source licenses, which are often vendor specific, to ensure that they conform to “community norms and… Read MoreIt doesn't matter what the speed limit is. He's going to drive five miles slower.
And it doesn't matter to the guy in the next car either... he's going to drive seven miles faster.
It's not absolute, it's relative.
The person wearing the underachiever hat (it's temporary and he's a volunteer) will get a C+ no matter how difficult the course is. And the person who measures himself against the prevailing standard will find a way to get an A+, even if he has to wheedle or cut corners to get it.
When leading a team, it's tempting to slow things down for the people near the back of the pack. It doesn't matter, though. They'll just slow down more. They like it back there. In fact, if your goal is to get the tribe somewhere, it pays to speed up, not slow down. They'll catch up.
