The Economist has a special report on the rise of digital nomads. It's fascinating to think that the concept of an office in the 20th century might be on its way to becoming as quaint a notion as a 19th century factory. Yes, factories still exist and offices will too, but it may turn out to be that the dominant work space paradigm in the coming years will have more to do with bandwidth and less to do with a single physical location. Of course, much of the world may end up being denied knowing the joy that is living in a cubicle farm. Yeah, like that's a bad thing.

Sadly, most of my adult life has been spent under fluorescent lights, and the thought of cutting ties with the cat-5 cable that connects me directly to the router in the data center in the next room is something that feels vaguely uncomfortable. I know that a lot of people are doing this now, from young urban adults who grew up with the internet, to people all around the globe, for whom mobile communications have opened up a lifeline to markets that would have been unimaginable 20 years ago. But what about those of us who came of age when the network was something that only existed in a closet where only the geekiest of geeks was allowed to enter? What are the chances that we'll be able to cut the cords that make us so comfortable, basking in the artificial glow?

I think we can make the adjustment, especially if you look at the benefits.

I have worked with people on different continents for years, but until recently, I had never been that person doing their work from thousands of miles away. Seeing it from the other end showed me that yes, you can be productive away from your desk in ways that you could never be behind it. You can do your work while meeting people you could never meet in your office, seeing things you would never see from a cubicle.

One of the things that was interesting to me was the notion that nomadism reinforces your existing societal ties and make your relationships with your close colleagues much tighter. You have to rely on them to keep up their end of the bargain, so the interdependency creates more trust. Makes sense. Nomadism can't work very well if you're working around the clock and your co-workers are calling in to meetings from the beach or golf course. What was confusing to me was that people are concerned that your relationships with society would suffer. I think this would be true in a strict telecommuting environment where you kept to yourself in a home office, but not if you work a good part of the time out in public. I would think that this would lead to a greater overlapping of societal spheres, and a better understanding of everyone around you rather than just those who sit closest to your desk.

The technology that makes digital nomadism such a viable option continues to evolve. Recently, Zoho announced improvements to their online spreadsheet as well as a partnership that will bring their tools to China. Google's online apps are constantly being revised. Yesterday, I was able to use one of Mac OS X's Leopard features for the first time, Back-to-My-Mac. (Ironically, I had to boot into Mac OS X Tiger in order to update my router in order to take advantage of this Leopard feature.) I can now access my home system from my laptop from any wifi connection (barring interference). Now, my whole backlog of files and useful little doodads are available to me wherever I go. This is not just insanely cool, but also insanely useful to the digital road warrior.

What other technologies are being brought to market that enhance our ability to move desk work out into the real world? I'll try and take a look around and bring some of the more interesting pieces out of the shadows over the next few weeks.

So, last week I was complaining about how monitors don't fold, so nothing on the web is above the fold. This week? Our New Entrepreneurs podcast series has been picked up in iTunes, and is featured in their New Releases section on the Podcasts homepage:


Above the fold? Not that important. More important is that it is at the home page level instead of being on the Government & Organizations section or even farther down in the Non-Profits section. In this medium, we're getting the same visibility as ESPN, Gallup - and clonepod. The net isn't constrained the way paper is, it is three dimensional, hierarchical... Are social entrepreneurs going to usurp the attention of those who want sports news? Video games? Politics? Probably not. Then again, why not?

Apple, thanks for featuring us. It helps us to see that the world isn't solely focused on sports stars, teenage pop-divas and the like. There is a desire for more relevant content, and it is nice to see a venue where that rises to the top.

Well, that was a fun week. I spent most of my time learning more about Final Cut Studio, but did take some time to peruse the show floor from time to time and did see a few new items that were of interest:

• Video capture on an iPhone from Polar Bear Farm. Granted, it had no audio and was not an approved method by Apple (read: jailbroken), but they plan on revving it once the SDK comes out at the end of next month.
  
• Belkin was showing off a new surge suppressor they plan on releasing in March. It has two outlets that are always on and four that can be turned off with a remote. Why, you ask? Because a lot of devices draw power when they're plugged in, even if they're not being used. Some things, like alarm clocks, you want to have power all the time, others not so much. Why the remote? So that you don't have to bend down under your desk or behind your nightstand or entertainment center to turn things off. Just make sure the remote is packed with rechargeable batteries, eh?
• Now Software has long been a leading calendar/contact management developer for Macintosh. Their new cross-platform groupware solution, NightHawk, is definitely worth a look.
• Belkin was also showing off iPod/iPhone docks for 2 or four iPods. Fun for multi-pod families, available in March. Another company was showing off solutions for recharging and syncing up to 30 iPods. Great for museums, or other implementations where you want to have groups of people to have access to the same media.
• BusySync - for sharing iCal calendars.

The item that I'm most looking forward to getting my hands on? Apple's own TimeCapsule. TimeMachine, included with Leopard, makes backups a breeze. TimeCapsule takes it to a whole new level of ease, especially for the laptop inclined. It's a wifi router with a 500GB or 1TB hard drive built in. You point TimeMachine at it, and your computer backs up to it without you ever having to do a thing. You can have multiple computers back up to a single device. Not sure if you can extend the capacity by plugging in more hard drives, but I wouldn't be surprised.

"All hail the mighty gPhone, even if it doesn't actually exist. Turns out, the gPhone is a mobile development platform with an OS called Android, middleware, "key" applications and a forthcoming SDK. Funny, I thought the press had pretty much decided that the gPhone was going to be the first phone to bake you cookies. Which would have made these kids happy:



"It would give me anything I want." At first, these kids were cute. Then, really annoying and cloying. Then, they simply became a representation of all that we've been told that an unannounced bit of technology would be. And just like the kids' visions of a phone that helps animals feel better and makes peanut butter sandwiches, the journalists' pronouncements on what the gPhone would be turned out to be nothing more than wishes.

Of course, what we really need from a cell phone are the two things that Google, Palm, Apple and other mobile software makers can't give us. Speed and coverage. Which is why Apple's iPhone is the first phone that doesn't make me want to slam it against a counter more often than I use it to talk to people. When coverage or speed from AT&T's network is pathetic, I flip over to the iPod functionality and enjoy some music or a movie. It downloads mail when I have coverage and I read them when I don't. It doesn't really matter how slick Android is, nor the apps that come with it, the network is still going to be as fast as a tricycle on a highway.

Interesting that they'll have an SDK out 3-4 months ahead of Apple's SDK, while phones built on the platform won't start showing up until next June at the earliest. Will the folks that make jailbreak apps for the iPhone convert their stuff over to work on phones that don't exist? Or will they be converting their stuff over to work "properly" via Apple's SDK in February? My bet is on the latter, since they and their customers will be able to use the fruit of their labors immediately.

Still, I'm looking forward to seeing what apps Google makes available and how they deal with the limitations of low bandwidth. Will they have a suite of mobile office apps? How well will they function? And the true test that won't come until late next year - how does the work people do on the phone convert over to their desks? We'll get a glimpse on November 12th - same day as the One Laptop Per Child Give One Get One program starts.

By the way, I've heard rumors that here on the Edge, we're going to be releasing the sePhone. It'll solve all of the world's social and economic inequities through the delivery of vibrations that cause the whole world to sing Earth, Wind & Fire's Let's Groove:



And everybody gets their own horn section! Because as we all know, that is the key to lasting happiness. We're still working out the kinks though. Right now, the vibration causes people to sing instrumentals. We'll keep working on it. Just don't hold your breath.

I was going to talk about something else, anything else but the iPhone this week. That was naive of me. The iPhone mania is overwhelmingly ubiquitous here in the states. How big is the iPhone news? Paris Hilton got out of jail this morning and nobody cared. They'll catch up on Friday, when they can see footage of her release on YouTube. On their iPhone. If Paris wants some press this week, she's going to have to do more than just walk out of jail. She's going to need to turn in her Sidekick for an iPhone.

There are other things happening in the world of hi-tech right now that are being overshadowed. Shakeup at Yahoo! Google vs. Yahoo! to see who can be greener. Yahoo! + MySpace. Palm layoffs. Bill Gates is in Peru for the Festival of the Sun.

Oh, and somebody at Apple just said something about iPhone. Yes, Apple knows a little something about how to hype a product. YouTube on iPhone! Ooh, aah! Word and Excel docs on iPhone, wheee! Price plans are out, cha-ching!

My favorite news from the iPhone slow bleed of information leading up to Friday's release is that you don't have to sit around an AT&T or Apple store to pick your plan, etc. You go in, you buy your phone, you leave. When you get home, you plug your iPhone in to your computer, fire up iTunes and figure out which plan works for you. I love it from a logistics perspective, a UI perspective, and most of all from an I don't want to wait around while a clerk tries to help me figure out how much I should or shouldn't be SMSing. Order one online and have it delivered to you, then figure out your plan. Want to add SMS minutes? No need to go back to the store or figure out what your password for AT&T.com. Or is it att.com. Just open iTunes and go from there.

Really, I can't contain my glee over how smart this is, and it will be glossed over with all the other iPhone related hubub. There are people lined up already in New York, waiting to buy one. When was the last time somebody lined up five days ahead of time for a phone? People line up for Star Wars movies and concert tickets, not phones.

So maybe next week we'll talk about something other than the iPhone. By then, maybe Paris will be back in jail. And we can watch it on YouTube. On our iPhones. Maybe instead we'll turn our attentions to more worthwhile topics, like addressing Jim Fruchterman and Gregg Vanderheiden's four key pieces to delivering technological capabilities to everyone:

1. Cheap & powerful cell phones and computers. The iPhone is powerful, but cheap?
   
2. Access to broadband connectivity.
   
3. Accessibility and usability. We need to make sure that everyone can use the cool new tools that are out there. While we love AJAX interfaces that make things like Google Maps possible, there's a growing awareness of the need to improve access to these interfaces for those with disabilities.
4. Relevant content and applications. We'll take care of the content end of things here on Social Edge.

Apple's 2007 World Wide Developers' Conference started yesterday with Steve Jobs' keynote speech that introduced new features of Leopard, the upcoming version of Mac OS X as well as the release of Apple's web browser, Safari, to Windows XP and Vista. All attendees received an advanced 'feature complete' version of the new OS, along with a copy of the server version. I haven't upgraded my MacBook yet, but plan to do so between now and next Tuesday, so if you're interested in a rundown on the install and initial impressions, I'll try and blog about it as soon as possible. I'll also blog about anything noteworthy that I garner from the sessions, though there are signs about some of the presentations being of a non-disclosure nature. Maybe I'll just have to wait until October to fill you in.

While standing in line to hear the keynote, the gentlemen in front of me were discussing the One Laptop Per Child project, including the feasibility of something like the iPhone working in that space, with modifications to bring down the cost. I think that the 3.5" screen is not nearly sufficient, but the underlying technology could be adapted and will be eventually - but the iPhone and other portable devices could learn a few things from the OLPC too. Being 100% recyclable, for one. Apple may be greener, but the whole industry can do better.

The first day was really focused on the upcoming OS, and the changes that they've made to improve it. There were ten that were focused on in the keynote. Let's see how many I remember:
1. Desktop update
2. Finder update
3. QuickLook
4. 64 bit
5. Back to my Mac
6. Spaces
7. Time Machine
8. iChat update
9. Core Animation
10.

Okay, 9 out of 10 is pretty good for the day after. A lot of this is really geeky stuff, and not that relevant to most users, except for what they get out of the changes. Okay, being able to turn yourself into a Jedi hologram in iChat is fun for everyone, but how many of us really know what the difference between a 64 bit and 32 bit OS are? It's faster. The desktop and finder are prettier, but... why does this matter?

The changes that Apple is making are foundational and extend throughout the OS. They have made the changes available to the developers of 3rd party apps so that they can be incorporated everywhere. Something like Coverflow is fun in iTunes, but when extended to the Finder is a bit more interesting and useful. Extending it to any app that wants to take advantage of it? That's leverage. QuickLook is useful when applied against a few key document types, but the ability to leverage it in any app? This is what Apple does best. They make innovations in the OS and then make those innovations available to everything that runs on the OS.

It works with technology, but it works really for any information system where people and/or systems interact and exchange data. If you own the data and control the method of exchanging data and you are unable or unwilling to share your method with others, you may be missing out on an important way of leveraging your assets. In the tech world companies release API's that detail to other organizations and individuals how to access their data, products and toolsets. Standards for data interchange are agreed upon by the community and published so that everyone can play by the same rules and benefit collectively from increased efficiencies.

How does this work in the real world? Wherever people and organizations interact, there are opportunities to leverage that interaction and extend the methods of interaction to others in a mutually beneficial way. If you have methods of interacting with customers, suppliers, etc. that work for you, share them with the community, perhaps via a community web site for social entrepreneurs? I'm all for the power of one to change the world, but I think the power of community can do the job a whole lot faster and comprehensively.

Last week, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates took the stage together at the Wall Street Journal's All Things D conference, and what resulted was a nice look back at their history together. Not quite a lovefest, but no PC vs. Mac commercial smackdown either. An interesting interview from a historical perspective at least. Those wanting to look forward needed to watch the product announcements from both companies, along with one from Palm, to get a glimpse of what's next. Even if the announcements were more yawn than glee for the geek-inclined.

Microsoft announced the most ambitious tech product with their Surface line of tabletop PC's for commercial purposes. Great technology, but we've seen the demos from Jeff Hahn that showed us the promise of what this technology would be capable of once we - pun intended - got our hands on it. The Microsoft implementation shows us what T-Mobile and other large pocket companies will be able to do with it. I'm sure the world really does need an easier way to compare cell phones or order dessert, but until I can edit photos and go through my email on it this announcement doesn't really mean anything to me. Fabulous technology, can't wait until somebody let's the rest of us play with it.

Palm introduced the Foleo, a SmartPhone companion piece. Even without its obvious shortcomings, I'm not really sure what the point is. Yes, it's hard to type on the Treo - why bring attention to it? I wanted to like it, but... that same $500 will net me an iPhone. Which one would you buy? Yeah, me too.

Apple introduced YouTube integration with AppleTV, and a bigger hard drive in it too. They also added iTunes Plus capability to their music store along with Paul McCartney's back catalog. This week they've already announced a release date for the iPhone, and an update to the MacBook Pro line. I'm as excited as can be about the mercury free LED screens in the 15" MacBook Pro, and I can't wait to see Apple fulfill Job's promise of an all LED line of laptops and monitors, but Steve seems to just be clearing his palate ahead of next week's World Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC). I'll be there cramming my head full of all the new technologies and will report back anything that is relevant to the rest of us.

I was feeling a little disheartened by all of this, feeling like the tech world wasn't really paying attention to real people when I happened across  this post about the second annual NetSquared conference. It reminded me that there are people out there who are putting technology to use for the betterment of their communities. If you only pay attention to the headlines and don't dig a little deeper, it's easy to forget that it's not all about connecting teenagers to each other more - as if that's a problem to be solved anyway. It's not all about who can post the cutest animal clip on YouTube. It can be about enriching your community, or a community like yours on the other side of the world. It can be about making connections and making information available faster, easier and more broadly than ever before so that those who want to act on it will. It's even about letting the youngsters know that you're still around:

At the end of the keynote presentation yesterday John Mayer played a couple of songs. In between Gravity and Waiting on the World to Change he said something to the effect that Macworld was like the exact opposite of terrorism. It was fun. It was about making cool new things. Then he launched into his latest hit about changing the world and how the younger generation feels cut off from the ability to make a discernible difference in the world. I'd love to introduce him to someone like Kyleigh Kuhn and have her tell him about her Pennies for Peace project.



iPhone will change things. It really doesn't do anything that different than today's smart phones, it just does the same things better. It's that whole Think Different mindset that Apple has. As I was riding the train to San Francisco I found myself thinking about transportation and what it would be like to rethink transportation.

Segway went down this path and made a device that was a really different take on getting from here to there. GM did the same with the EV1 and have just announced a new plug-in hybrid called the Chevy Volt. The Toyota Prius is all over the place and Tesla is releasing their high end electric Roadster.

Some are incremental changes and others are big leaps in a certain direction without a definite destination in mind. What's the best way to overhaul how we get to where we want to go?

Which brings me back to the train. Every morning there's a regular and an express train that leave my station at almost the same time. Every morning the two trains are there but not in the same place. There's no indication as to which is which, either on the train or on the led screens telling us to be aware of suspicious activity. The only way to know which is which is to ask another rider who got on at a previous station which one they got on.

Seems like a simple UI issue that, once solved, would go a long way towards making the train an easier more pleasant way to get around. Have the trains pull in to the same location every day. Put a sign on the train indicating it's number and type. Have the LED signs say which is which.

Big changes are usually an accumulation of small changes from a lot of people solving a lot of related problems.

Well, hanging with Steve and thousands of his closest pals.

After some trepidation after hearing others in line for the keynote discussing a dreaded "overflow room" I was quite releived to get into the keynote presentation. Others were not so lucky. I guess catching the 5:56 train from San Jose to San Francisco was worth it.

When Steve said that he was debuting three revolutionary products in one, he wasn't kidding. The iPhone appears ready to change our perceptions about what mobile connectivity means. Sure, we're starved here in North America for the kind of mobile connectivity that parts of Asia and Europe enjoy, but the UI that the iPhone has and the capabilities changes the paradigm a bit. Right now it's $499. (Or will be in June.) Imagine it at $100 and see what kind of shift takes place. I haven't seen so many grown adults drool over a toy in my life. Reminds me of the last day of school when I was a kid - everybody excited about the fun to come.

The presentation itself - wow. And I heard a lot of wows the entire time. If you need to learn how to give presentations, look for the video of this or any of Jobs' old keynotes. The Reality Distortion Field was in full effect. He announced two products, neither of which are available for purchase, and the whole crowd was in awe. Contrast it to the brief presentations given by the CEOs of Google, Yahoo!, and Cingular. The energy dropped off considerably when Jobs left the stage.

It was hard to tell at the end if the standing ovation was for the products introduced or simply for the presentation itself.

I'm going to my first Macworld. As a longtime Mac-geek, this is my pilgrimage. Of course, the anticipation I am sure is greater than the actual event will be. Booth after booth of tech toys and software. Oooh, Mufasa!

There are plenty of pundits out there predicting what will be revealed at Steve Jobs' keynote. It used to be just a small group of MacGeeks that salivated over these things, but now with the success of the iMac, iPod and iTunes, CNN and the Wall Street Journal even get in on the pre-show hype. Of course, most of the predictions are just logical extensions of a product cycle, and others are logical guesses and some are based on component orders or leaks from partners. The most fun of course are the wild ones based off of what people think they want Apple to make. Like an iPod with a GPS and a built-in pocket knife.

I'll spare you my predictions, and just say that as someone who has sat through his share of horrid PowerPoint presentations where the only question I wanted answered was 'when will it end?' I'm looking forward to a presentation where I'm actually happy that it's two hours instead of 1 1/2. I like good presentations. It's an illness, I know, but I do.

All the fun hardware aside, and the obvious fun of the distortion field pales in importance, however, to the software updates that hopefully get announced. MS Office and Adobe Creative Suite updates to Intel native versions and more features of the upcoming Mac OS X Leopard.

Google has rolled out a customizable version of their search functionality, so now anyone can roll their own custom search engine. Here's one I made and cheekily decided to call Social Edge Re:Search:

It searches a limited number of sites in the social entrepreneurship field, such as Omidyar.net, Changemakers.net, Kiva.org, GlobalGiving.com and the like. If you Google "job listings" you are going to find a whole heck of a lot of Monster.com and HotJobs listings before you ever find listings from companies seeking social entrepreneurs. If you Re:Search "job listings" via the search box above, you will find job listings from the sites that Social Edge (in this case, me) has pre-selected as being relevant to the field of social entrepreneurship.

I've never been a big fan of customizable functionality that you link to from your site, and even though the search is integrated into this blog post, it still takes you off of the site and onto Google's site. At least it does by default. There is also the option to have the results hosted on your own page as well, and a Google AJAX search API available if you wanted to get really fancy. If this functionality is of use to your customers, take a little extra time and make it part of your site. Who knows? Re:Search might make it into the upcoming redesign of the Social Edge website, and if it does, rest assured that it will be fully integrated.

Also by default, ads are included in your results. If you don't want the ads to show, there is a checkbox for 501(c)(3) non-profits, universities and government agencies to turn the ads off. If, however, you are interested in making a little extra coinage, you can connect it to a new or existing AdSense account.

You can also share the burden of managing the custom search engine with others. By default, visitors can volunteer for this "privelege", or you can choose to restrict it to people you invite, like your unsuspecting co-workers.

One word of warning is that this is brand spanking new, and I've already come across one Safari bug related to some Ajax-y input for adding new sites. Worked fine from Firefox, but I haven't tried it out on Windows at all yet. I'm sure the Safari bug is just an oversight, since Google is working to make sure they're very Mac-friendly. Not surprising given that their CEO is now on Apple's board.

More information is available on John Battelle's SearchBlog.

Last week I blogged about posting video to your website or blog using Google Video or YouTube. What I failed to mention was how to get the video recorded on your computer in the first place. I used iMovie on my MacBook with a built in iSight webcam, which was very simple, and allowed me to add an opening title screen without much thought. Don't worry, I'm not about to say "I'm a Mac" and how everything just kind of works out of the box. Even if it did, kind of, just work. Right out of the box.

We don't all have the latest and greatest toys from Apple to help turn us into web video stars. (And if you're of a certain age, I'm sorry if that Buggles song I included in last week's post is now playing in your head.) Some of us have Windows, Red Hat Linux or Ubuntu running on our desktops. Or even pre-OSX Macs. (Perish the thought!) I know at my house, I have a Mac that is candy colored still instead of sleek aluminum. Sure, it's older than broadband, but it works.

So, what's the easiest way to record and post video directly to the web? If you have a webcam, an internet connection, and a Flash-enabled browser, you might want to give Hellodeo a try.