Yup, the information superhighway is 20 years old and humming along just fine TYVM

Wired Declares The Web Is Dead—Don’t Pull Out The Coffin Just Yet was a Tech Crunch article recently about Wired’s RIP proclamation.

So…wow, wasn’t this a great title for an article … just sucked you into the read. The fancy color picture of course just helped. HOOK…LINE…and SINKER. Just in case you missed it, here’s the wow picture.

Really catching. But like with any graphic or worse, powerpoint presentation, it is what lies behind all that glitter. As pointed out by a friend, this is just the US for starters so it was a bit hyperbole by Chris Anderson, Wired’s Editor. On top of that, Nick Bilton in the BITS Blog New York Times, challenges some of the reading of the data.

In short, the old categories are likely not that useful and there’s a lot of convergence of Web traffic. If anything we know that the amount of data traveling over the “information superhighway”, to borrow an old term, has exploded beyond belief – Boing Boing notes:

“Between 1995 and 2006, the total amount of Web traffic went from about 10 terabytes a month to 1,000,000 terabytes.”

How much information is that? If we use the 20Terabyte for the US library of Congress as a benchmark…It just boggles the mind. I can’t compute really. Just for fun, check out Lesk’s “How Much Information is There in the World“.

I think that in many ways, this illustrates how data has become more and more part of the human experience, the human pysche. We might end up being Borg-like in our interconnectedness. Take a look at this description of the Borg. In particular where we might be headed:

Born humanoid, they are almost immediately implanted with bio-chips that link their brains to a collective consciousness via a unique subspace frequency emitted by each drone.

Right now, we got so many “data ports” that our brains can’t keep up with the multi-tasking required in today’s society. We need to “unplug” as they say and recently scientists were looking into this: “YOUR BRAIN ON COMPUTERS: Outdoors and Out of Reach, Studying the Brain“. Look at the NYT Unplugged Challenge about this whole phenomena.

Very “Borg-like-esque” to me. Yes? No? May be so?

Maybe we do need a “coffin” but we just don’t know it yet.

Addendum: Now Playing: Night of the Living Tech in the Aug 21 NYT Week in Review discussing “the proliferation of digital media forms and fast-shifting patterns of consumption”.

The Captain has a New Ship

Lots have happened in the past few months and my blogging frequency dropped to just about brain dead levels, reflecting the changes going on in life. So as the 1st half of 2010 finishes and the 2nd half of 2010 accelerates into 2011, a quick catch up and new horizons to seek and new journeys to celebrate.

I am blessed to make a successful transition from the corporate world to the vendor world. Not just because of the current backdrop of the worst economic crisis we have seen world-wide since the Great Depression, but because any life changes are full of anxiety and sometimes 2nd guessing. If anything, today’s world is more full of uncertainties, new paradigms and so-called “new normal”, more global competition, more challenges, more people chasing fewer brass rings, and more risk – personally, professionally, familial.

Yet by the same token, there’s more opportunity as well because with societal changes on this kind of massive scale, human needs are created in which solutions are dying to be discovered. Innovation and imagination is waiting to serve. And into this breach I jumped both feet in with not much of a peak to check if there’s enough water…just go! So by surrendering to my surroundings and after long and deep soul searching with help, it’s a return to the roots. A circle back into time – to be the solutions provider guy helping wherever the need is.

Previously as a CIO in the Greater China region, I had gained tremendous experience in so many areas: Top Team level, IT strategy, Business Strategy, Functional Management, Leadership development (both personally and others), Business and Functional Change, Organizational Development and Decision-making, Training and Multicultural teamwork amongst others. It was full-on, dynamic, frustrating, disappointing, exhilarating, satisfying, incomplete…. Lots of memories of the people and friendships and for that I am truly fortunate and blessed. But with the overall corporate IT environment changing, it was no longer a good fit. And it is sad to see how IT has changed to be too conservative, too slow, too reactive in a world needing the total opposite.

CIO’s more than ever need to play to win, not play to not lose. Now is not the time to be the smiling daisy or a wall-flower. IT guys all over are in a world of hurt and the squeeze won’t go away. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. So, damned the torpedoes and full speed ahead – go down blazing.

The Business more than ever requires miracles on a daily basis and so throw out the old play book and make your own. CIO’s are buffeted by a perfect storm of (i) unforgiving business climate where top-line growth is like scaling the side of a mountain, (ii) cost management that borders on the ridiculous, and (iii) warp-speed response and deployment. We are in a brave new world for sure.

As a result of the new challenges and horizons to look forward to, I’ve jumped into the world of Cloud Computing and related technologies. Having a chance to work with incredibly smart and fun guys predisposed to giving it all and enjoying the journey as well as the opportunity to do cool and exciting things most folks only dream of doing…why not? Life doesn’t give too many opportunities but sometimes, when it goes, you just have to “SWOOSH IT“. Thus, it is returning to where my journey started during the dot-coms days and an Oracle ERP ASP. A second chance to work for fun, rather than work for the money/ego.

Check my new home out — Cloud Garage: Innovation through Cloud Computing.

In the meantime, I also did some minor housecleaning: changed from IP2MAP to TRACEMYIP widget which resets the visitors counter. Also fixed a couple of broken RSS feeds. One not so new feature is the article feed to my Facebook NewsFeed which I replicate here. Just goes to show what I’m reading and sharing on a daily basis.

Jesse Schall Design Outside the Box talk

Jesse Schall Design Outside the Box talk from DICE 2010.

Video Description: Carnegie Mellon University Professor, Jesse Schell, dives into a world of game development which will emerge from the popular “Facebook Games” era.

I’m catching up with some blogging that was inexcusably put on for months now. This is part of a follow up to the dual themes of play, games, and innovation which I had been tracking across the WWW and blogosphere. I just think that we miss out on how important this is to learning, business innovation, changed consumer behavior, and generally a brave new world. We in the corporate IT side of things cannot disregard these trends if need to we properly serve our business masters. Things are moving fast and better get on the train before it runs you over….

Another cool tid-bit is that Jesse Schell has a connection to one of my heroes, Randy Pausch. Among Randy Pausch’s legacy is Alice a wonderful world….maybe if it was around instead of 15-201, things may have been different for me? Hm.