Steve Jobs, genuine innovator, visionary, entrepreneur
As the flowers and messages gather at the #Apple flagship store in #Covent Garden near our offices, we cannot let the day go past without noting the sad passing of this creative man who changed and shaped our world forever. You may not have agreed with everything he said and did but no one can deny that he made a huge impact on our world.
Barack Obama summed him up best: Steve was among the greatest of American innovators, brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.’
Some of the most notable articles of today:
#Businessweek says “Steve Jobs departs a world he helped transform. Jobs was a total original. He was somehow able to blend iconoclasm, rock-and-roll, and chic industrial design with the nerd sciences, as well as the unseemly profit motive of the corporation.”
#Venturebeat highlighted ten important products Steve Jobs has brought to the world
Moco News – a tribute in links and quotes including “For those of us lucky enough to get to work with Steve, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.”—Bill Gates
And finally some of Steve Jobs own most memorable quotes – an inspiration
“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?” – Macstories.net.
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me.” – Wall Street Journal 1993, shared by UK Guardian.
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” – Stanford University commencement address, 1995
Is Twitter just Reuters of the Digital Age?
An interesting article appeared in Gigaom a couple of weeks ago on how Twitter is developing compared to other social network sites. They argue it’s hard to have a conversation on Twitter – therefore it’s not a social media network but more of a news communications tool – I tend to agree. Whether it’s news being shared between particular communities all with something in common or a big news story breaker – it provides latest information in a sound bite way. If you try to hold a conversation on Twitter, you quickly give up as the number of characters simply doesn’t allow for it. So it’s not really a conversation tool, Twitter’s more about sharing points and latest info. It allows users to send information quickly to a large group of followers whether those followers are looking for personal updates or details about a news event like the earthquake in Japan.
Quite rightly Gigaom asks is Twitter in reality the Thomson Reuters of the digital age providing an information service that advertisers and knowledge workers are willing to pay substantial sums for. I think it’s more interesting than that, but we shall see.
Sweeping reforms for UK intellectual property laws
The recent changes in the law have meant that may be copy right laws are finally growing up in the UK. I don’t often quote Vince Cable but he did seem to hit the nail on the head the other day when he said that “Opening up intellectual property laws can deliver real value to the UK economy as well as the creators and consumers,” “We can’t carry on saying that businesses should embrace technology but then not allow consumers to use everyday technology to play works they’ve paid for.”
The government has announced that it plans a radical overhaul of several important intellectual property laws ministers said that the system needed serious updating if it was going to reflect the changes in the real world that have happened over the last generation.
Amongst the changes will be:
- That the UK should have a Digital Copyright Exchange; a digital market place where licences in copyright content can be readily bought and sold. This could add up as much as £2 billion a year to the UK economy by 2020. The Government will announce arrangements for how this work will be driven forward later in the year.
- Copyright exceptions covering limited private copying should be introduced to realise growth opportunities. Thousands of people copy legitimately purchased content, such as a CD to a computer or portable device such as an IPod, assuming it is legal. This move will bring copyright law into line with the real world, and with consumers’ reasonable expectations.
- Copyright exceptions to allow parody should also be introduced to benefit UK production companies and make it legal for performing artists, such as comedians, to parody someone else’s work without seeking permission from the copyright holder. It would enable UK production companies to create programmes that could play to their creative strengths, and create a range of content for broadcasters.
The government believes that by updating the current laws it will aid growth and adding billions to the UK economy. And right now, the government needs all the help it can get to stimulate the economy.
Newspapers can thrive in a social media world
When the Guardian tweeted on Wednesday evening about it’s live blog for that evening’s Apprentice show, it demonstrated very clearly how newspapers can embrace social media and use it to their advantage. Forget print (long-term), integrating social media and using it, is how newspaper brands are going to survive and prosper. By blogging about the Apprentice live, the Guardian is extending its influence and value and role as a commentator. It’s true that the Guardian understood the power of social media globally early on and embraced it with open arms. I really do hope it propers especially with its new digital first strategy announced recently.
Coincidently, Twitter has also been talking about the influence of social media in newspapers this week. Twitter has recognized that it has become an invaluable tool for the media when it comes to finding and sharing stories, so it has now released a guide that shows journalists how to best use the tool in their daily work. ‘Twitter for Newsrooms,’ has no new info particularly but the fact that Twitter has launched an official guide for journalists is indicative of how social media sources make the news now.
Facebook has also recently undertaken a similar initiative, launching a Page for journalists on Facebook, intended to be a resource for journalists who want to incorporate social media into their reporting, networking and storytelling. The social network also kicked off a journalists’ meetup programme.
It’ll be interesting to see how social media tools and newspapers continue to integrate for the benefit of all. It’s a revolution and it sure is changing everything fast.
Social media sites are walking all over UK laws
To say that our current laws and jurisdictions can’t cope with global social media sites is becoming more and more self-evident with the latest football scandal which escalated over the weekend. Whilst the name of the footballer was revealed via Twitter and abroad, the English media were enforced by the injunction to stay schtum. It’s clear that our laws will need to be changed to embrace our new global world of communication and social media.
Whilst said famous footballer tried to obtain a High Court order asking Twitter to reveal details of users who had revealed his identity, legal experts claim it was doomed to failure because the High Court in London has no jurisdiction in California where Twitter is based.
There was an avalanche of online publicity with 100s of Tweeters repeating his name which was further reinforced when the Today programme, BBC Radio 4’s flagship current affairs show appeared accidentally to reveal the footballer’s identity – BBC correspondents then tweeted his name making matters worse. As the Scottish Sunday Herald also revealed his name, it’s quite clear that the our global world that shares news online cannot be restricted by injunctions. The law needs to be modernised because enforcing injunctions and controlling the media can’t last.
