I’ve been absent awhile, but thought I’d write a few notes about the past week so that I don’t forget it.  While the photos and videos won’t be going anywhere (backups!), I fear the raw emotion felt throughout this city will fade in time.

I’ve always been a sucker for parades.  Whether it was my grandfather’s recordings of bagpipes and drums played on full, the countless parades my parents took me to as a wee one, or my affinity for bright and shiny things (haha), heralding trumpets and banners have always claimed a soft spot in my heart.  It goes without saying that the inauguration of a president ranks right up there with the greatest celebrations in the world.

I even went to George W. Bush’s second inauguration, ticket in hand, just to see how it all went down.  I was so torn between thinking “holy crap this is amazing,” and “wtf? I’m actually enjoying this?  BUSH!? COME ON!”  Alas, whoever it may be, the fact that our nation can transfer power without bloodshed or strife is pretty amazing in comparison to the rest of the world.

This week we inaugurated our 44th president, and the pomp didn’t disappoint.  This time, though, the pomp didn’t matter.  What filled me with emotion wasn’t the revelry supplied by lights and banners or the institutional showmanship, however spectacular they may be.  It was the realization that this style of politics that has jaded me throughout my education in high school and college has finally come to an end. Read more →

Does anyone realize that the FCC met on Election Day?  Aside from those of us following this stuff minute-by-minute, it appears that this monumental development has gone generally untouched in national media.  It’s rather technical in nature, of course, but the ramifications of their decision in that meeting are huge.

The FCC met on Election Day and voted to approve the use of white spaces for unlicensed devices in the US.  Whaaa?  Here’s how it goes.  In between every channel on your rabbit-ear television set is a whole bunch of spectrum reserved long ago because signal transmission wasn’t great.  They left some buffer room to allow for enough space so that the channels woudn’t overlap and run into each other.

Now that all over-the-air television broadcasts are going to be digital on February 17, 2009, that area in between channels isn’t needed anymore.  Digital transmission is very precise and doesn’t color outside the lines, if you will.  So, we have all this unused spectrum in between each of the channels.  And this frequency has legs.  It travels far.  Stations can broadcast for miles on this frequency because it’s “just right”.

What if you were to use that same frequency to, say, broadcast Internet?  Whoa.  A wireless router that broadcasts for miles instead of feet?  Now there’s some potential there.  Which is precisely what the FCC saw on Tuesday and which is precisely why this decision is so fantastic.  Google is a huge supporter.

It has its detractors, though. Broadcasters say that picture quality will degrade, the crowded spectrum will cause signal interruption, etc.  In independent tests, however, this has been generally disproved.  Although, who knows what’ll really happen when we get millions of these devices out there.

The potential of this technology to provide Internet to millions more and to enable hand-held devices to communicate over this spectrum is truly mind-boggling.  A Skype phone that can go anywhere and make free calls? High-speed Internet delivered to every remote corner of the country?  It’s a revolution in wireless communication, and the Obama folks love it.

It’ll hit the newsstands when the devices roll out in 18 months or so, but for now, the dreams of engineers and social activists run wild.

If there is anything I don’t like about technology, it’s the constancy.  More specifically, it’s the never-ending stream of communication that pressures us to be “plugged in” 24/7 to every aspect of a project or effort.  It is the premiere micromanaging tool.  There isn’t time for solace or reflection-no time for thought.

People are busier, transportation permits packed schedules, a 24-hour news cycle means there’s always a story to get or correct. It’s just constant noise.

I was refreshed to read this morning in the NYT a candid conversation between Sen. Obama and British PM David Cameron.

Mr. Cameron: Do you have a break at all?

Mr. Obama: I have not. I am going to take a week in August. But I agree with you that somebody, somebody who had worked in the White House who — not Clinton himself, but somebody who had been close to the process — said that should we be successful, that actually the most important thing you need to do is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking. And the biggest mistake that a lot of these folks make is just feeling as if you have to be …

Mr. Cameron: Your feeling. And that is exactly what politics is all about. The judgment you bring to make decisions.

Mr. Cameron: These guys just chalk your diary up.

Mr. Obama: Right. … In 15 minute increments and …

Mr. Cameron: We call it the dentist waiting room. You have to scrap that because you’ve got to have time.

Mr. Obama: And, well, and you start making mistakes or you lose the big picture. Or you lose a sense of, I think you lose a feel …

Whether it’s time to think about business strategy, political moves, your life goals, your purpose or to reflect on a fun vacation you just had, stopping for a moment and thinking about your life is critical.  It’s nice to know that two powerful men realize that.

via 43Folders

When creating advocacy videos for YouTube or other electronic media, the general rule is to make it shorter than 5 minutes. Even better is 3 minutes. Then, why is Barack Obama’s campaign churning out 20 minute videos? Because people are watching them.

Link to video

Hillary Clinton announced today that she is loaning her presidential campaign $5 million of her own money. Barack Obama responded with his own campaign – to raise the same $5 million in individual contributions. Looks like he’ll do it in about one day. I pulled this graphic from the email his campaign manager sent this evening asking donors to match her loan.

Now, it may seem like he’s kicking her while she’s down, but the huge headlines declaring that Hillary’s campaign coffers are running dry and that her campaign staff is now searching through trash bins seems a bit a over-the-top. She’ll make the money back quickly in contributions and power through March.

But, it is, as always, a fascinating look at how the Internet has driven these campaigns. Obama raised $32 million in January, taking $28 million of it online. That’s 87% of his fundraising for the month. The reach of his campaign and the number of small donors this online system can engage is staggering. With PayPal, Google Checkout and other ready-made online checkout systems, contributors needn’t even get out their checkbooks.