Richard Watson, Chief Futurist at Future Exploration Network, has found that his newly launched bestseller Future Files: A History of the Next 50 Years, has generated a very diverse range of interesting opportunities. One of the enquiries was from AVN, a publishing company that focuses on the adult entertainment industry, wanting insights into where their world was heading. Richard invited me to co-write the article on The Future of Adult Entertainment [NOTE: Link deleted as it became even less workplace-friendly]. (The link is not entirely workplace-friendly, even though the article itself is mainly about social and technological trends, so I’ve posted the full article below.)
The Future of Adult Entertainment
New technologies could take it almost anywhere.
Richard Watson and Ross Dawson
We are told the world we live in is changing like never before. We have become exquisitely dependent on technology, which is increasingly pervasive and exponentially fast. Whether this is true is open to debate, but it seems reasonably certain that technology will be one of the key forces shaping how people meet and interact with one another in the future. Hence, technology will heavily influence the future of sex and, with it, the future of adult entertainment – or perhaps vice versa.
The future always has been deeply embedded in the present, and physical relationships are no exception. For example, according to one source, 30 percent of recently married American couples met online. Intimate relationships now can be developed online via email, text messaging and phone sex, and they can be ended this way, too. A few years ago in Malaysia, a man sent his wife a divorce via an SMS message, although a court later said this communication was not legally binding.
Similarly, many a relationship has been terminated because one party (quite often, a woman, it seems) finds evidence of physical or virtual infidelity in sent messages. Will this get worse in the future? It certainly seems so. So-called Internet-porn addiction already is straining some relationships, and it will be interesting to see how future technologies will impact our definitions of virginity, celibacy, adultery and the like.
Of course, technology has a history of being put to unintended uses.
Read more →
Video interview with Peter Evans-Greenwood, Chief Technology Officer, Capgemini Australia on Enterprise 2.0
By Ross DawsonIt’s great to have Capgemini involved as Gold Sponsor in our Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum, and Peter Evans-Greenwood, Chief Technology Officer of Capgemini Australia, speaking at the event on ‘Expanding Enterprise 2.0 beyond the early adopters’. Peter has been working with many of Capgemini’s large clients in implementing Web 2.0 technologies and approaches.
In this 12 minute video interview of Peter, he covers a wealth of insights into Enterprise 2.0, including:
* Specific valuable corporate applications for wikis and blogs
* What organizations can do after the first steps in Enterprise 2.0
* Using Web 2.0 as a source of business differentiation
* Moving from thinking about applications to enabling knowledge workers
* Creating competitive advantage through radical increases in efficiency
Peter Evans-Greenwood – CTO Capgemini Australia on Enterprise 2.0 from Ross Dawson on Vimeo.
Des Walsh podcast interview with Stephen Collins of Acidlabs on Enterprise 2.0 and knowledge management
By Ross DawsonDes Walsh, one of Australia’s premier bloggers, has launched a Social Media Podcast show. He is kicking it off with a podcast interview with Stephen Collins of acidlabs, which is a partner for our Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum next week.
A great interview which touches on what we’re trying to do with the Forum, and Stephen’s passion for these issues. It includes:
• how Stephen works with companies (if you are looking for someone savvy to help your company or to partner with, you need to listen to this)
• how valuable and enjoyable he found it to meet others with related interests at Office 2.0 in San Francisco last year and how those meetings were made easier using social networking tools
• how risk-taking is inherent in corporate social networking and how to manage the risk, e.g. by starting within the firewall
• how younger employees are using social media tools even though they are not provided by the enterprise
• how companies implementing social networking can and should engage employees in a conversation about acceptable use obligations that come with the provision of tools
Des will be doing some more interviews of people associated with the Forum over the next couple of weeks – I’ll keep you posted.
Click here to download…
Interview on SkyBusiness TV: the state of the Yahoo! – Microsoft battle
By Ross DawsonYesterday I was interviewed live in the studio on SkyBusiness TV on Yahoo!’s rejection of Microsoft’s offer and what it implies. Some of the points I covered:
* There are few alternatives for Yahoo! to Microsoft’s bid. New Corp, which conceivably could have been interested, has denied any plans, AOL has been rumored as a merger partner but is very unlikely to be willing to spend that much, a consortium of private equity firms could be interested but has not emerged.
* The other mooted alternative is to do a deal with Google on search and possibly divest its holdings in Alibaba and Yahoo! Japan, though this is unlikely to be a viable alternative.
* There is strong pressure from the many investment firms that hold stakes in both companies not to increase the bid or to get into a war that will destroy value for both companies. An article in the New York Post shows (below) how many investors would prefer Microsoft to get their way. It also says that Microsoft is looking to hire a proxy firm which would make the situation very hostile. Legg-Mason, which owns 6% of Yahoo!, cannot see alternatives to Microsoft’s offer.
Read more →
What is Enterprise 2.0? – a primer
By Ross DawsonOn the newly relaunched Future Exploration Network website, we have added a ‘What is Enterprise 2.0’ page to provide a succinct overview of the space for attendees of the Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum.
The page (image of the top part below) includes:
* Definition
* Framework
* Technologies
* Corporate applications
* Enterprise 2.0 blogs
* Presentations and videos
The power of Enterprise Mashups
By Ross DawsonMany people seem to think that Enterprise 2.0 is about blogs and wikis. There are many other technologies supporting the shift to more collaborative and productive organizations. One of the most important of these, and one which perhaps does more to change the role of IT in the enterprise, is mashups.
In out Web 2.0 Framework, we define mashups as a “combination of different types of content or data, usually from different sources, to create something new.”
In a consumer web situation, this involves taking content from different online sources, often merging all sorts of data with locations, using a mapping application such as Google Maps. In the enterprise, it often brings together enterprise data (sales, market research, transactions etc. etc.) with information off the public web, though it can also integrate information from different sources within the organization.
The most important implication of this is that it gives power to the end-user. The IT department no longer needs to be asked on bended knee to create applications that will be useful for the company. Staff can quickly and easily do it for themselves. In effect users can become programmers, as I’ve spoken about in previous keynotes on Enterprise 2.0.
Read more →
Relaunch of Future Exploration Network website!
By Ross DawsonThese things always take longer than we’d like. But finally the new Future Exploration Network website is up! There are some new features to the site that I’ll point out in subsequent posts, and a couple of final tweaks yet to make. Please let us know in the comments here or by email if there’s anything that doesn’t work properly or you have any suggestions – thanks!
Keynote at Managing Partners Forum: Creating the Future of Professional Services
By Ross DawsonYesterday I gave the opening keynote at the Managing Partners Forum at Byron Bay, on the topic of Creating the Future of Professional Services, focusing on how to create differentiation in a highly competitive globalized market. The event brought together a small and exclusive group of the Managing Partners of a wide variety of major law firms. The two presentations following my keynote were from Gavin Bell, the Managing Partner of Freehills, Australia’s largest law firm, and David Childs, the Managing Partner of Clifford Chance, the largest law firm in the world. The organizers, Chilli, told me they’d turned away many registrations, keeping the attendee level exclusively at top executive level.
Unfortunately I was only able to stay for these first three sessions, however the themes of the presentations and the subsequent free-wheeling discussion between attending managing partners underlined some of the major issues for law firms today:
* Effectively developing and implementing strategy in a partnership, and the degree to which the strategy process is centralized.
* Strategic choices in geographical expansion (e.g. into China) in a world of law firm globalization.
* Defining the role and ability to enforce policies of the Managing Partner in a broad-based partnership.
* Choices between lock-step (seniority-based) and performance-based compensation, taking into account propensity to collaborate and retaining senior partners.
* Whether and how to outsource both back-office functions and legal support to low-cost countries.
* New capital structures, including public listing.
* Managing cultural change in firmly established organizational structures.
* The ability to attract and retain talented staff as the ultimate driver of firm success, in the face of global competition for talent.
Read more →
The future of adult entertainment
By Ross DawsonRichard Watson, Chief Futurist at Future Exploration Network, has found that his newly launched bestseller Future Files: A History of the Next 50 Years, has generated a very diverse range of interesting opportunities. One of the enquiries was from AVN, a publishing company that focuses on the adult entertainment industry, wanting insights into where their world was heading. Richard invited me to co-write the article on The Future of Adult Entertainment [NOTE: Link deleted as it became even less workplace-friendly]. (The link is not entirely workplace-friendly, even though the article itself is mainly about social and technological trends, so I’ve posted the full article below.)
The Future of Adult Entertainment
New technologies could take it almost anywhere.
Richard Watson and Ross Dawson
We are told the world we live in is changing like never before. We have become exquisitely dependent on technology, which is increasingly pervasive and exponentially fast. Whether this is true is open to debate, but it seems reasonably certain that technology will be one of the key forces shaping how people meet and interact with one another in the future. Hence, technology will heavily influence the future of sex and, with it, the future of adult entertainment – or perhaps vice versa.
The future always has been deeply embedded in the present, and physical relationships are no exception. For example, according to one source, 30 percent of recently married American couples met online. Intimate relationships now can be developed online via email, text messaging and phone sex, and they can be ended this way, too. A few years ago in Malaysia, a man sent his wife a divorce via an SMS message, although a court later said this communication was not legally binding.
Similarly, many a relationship has been terminated because one party (quite often, a woman, it seems) finds evidence of physical or virtual infidelity in sent messages. Will this get worse in the future? It certainly seems so. So-called Internet-porn addiction already is straining some relationships, and it will be interesting to see how future technologies will impact our definitions of virginity, celibacy, adultery and the like.
Of course, technology has a history of being put to unintended uses.
Read more →
Why online reputation systems have a long way to go
By Ross DawsoneBay will eliminate negative rankings from May, according to the BBC. This makes what was barely useful into something practically useless.
It’s interesting that when you talk about reputation systems, most people refer to eBay’s feedback and ratings system. It was in fact clear years ago that eBay’s ratings had very little value. The essence of the problem was that there was no incentive to rate people poorly. Since buyers and sellers rate each other, any negative rating can – and often is – reciprocated with another negative rating. However a positive rating is also likely to be reciprocated. Because anyone with any experience on eBay well understands this, almost no-one gives negative ratings, so there is very little correlation between eBay ratings and how good a trading partner people actually are.
Now eBay has recognized this publicly, rather than pretending that its ratings are valid, and is explicitly pointing to users’ retaliation to negative reviews. The BBC article says that eBay says that there are other mechanisms to protect users:
Read more →
What a Microsoft – Yahoo! merger would mean for innovation, technology entrepreneurs, and start-ups
By Ross DawsonSmartCompany have just published an article based on an interview with me, titled What a Microsoft and Yahoo merger means for entrepreneurs.
The full article is worth a read – below are the direct quotes from me.
Read more →