Publishers should be thinking a lot more seriously about electronic books and how to leap ahead of their competitors.

Sony’s eBook has only been available in Canada for a few months, and it’s far from the perfect product, but it provides a glimpse into what’s coming.

Playing with the eBook Reader reminds me of the first MP3 players I used in the 90’s. At the time, people scoffed at the idea that the small players would replace their CD collection. People scoffed at the idea of an online music store where songs would be downloaded. And we all know how that turned out.

The shift to electronic books could easily follow the same pattern, assuming the hardware meets our needs. The Sony eBook is close - more on the problems later.

First - the good.

I love the eBook reader.

It’s sleek, easy to use, and the screen technology is far better than anything I’ve seen before.

Partly this is due to the high resolution of the e-ink technology - it’s more than twice the resolution of your typical computer screen - so text is crisp. Since the screen technology doesn’t depend on back lighting (like your laptop) it looks totally flat, so the effect is much closer to the look of paper than a digital screen.

The Sony eBook also displays images (in black and white), plays MP3’s and allows you to load up Word documents, PDF files, jpg and gif pictures, along with their own e-book format and other open electronic book formats.

I’ve loaded about 70 books into my reader and I’ve barely touched the internal memory. This version of the reader has 2 slots for Sony memory sticks, so there’s really no limit to the amount of content you can carry around.

I found that I quickly adjusted to the form factor. The placement of the ‘next page’ buttons line up with where you normally hold a book, and there’s a bookmark function to hold your place.

Essentially, the reading experience is different, but not in a negative way. The feel of the book obviously isn’t there, but it functions pretty much like a book, and that’s what makes its potential so powerful.

Riding the bus, sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, or hanging out on a park bench - this device is ideal. Like an mp3 player, it’s light and easy to carry - so I’m more likely to have it with me than I might a big heavy book. And considering that I can haul around hundreds of books, it’s hands down a much better option.

Opportunities

I can see a lot of major advantages in terms of publishing.

Timeliness

Reference and technical books, particularly those about software, are largely out of date by the time they’re published. With an electronic book, updates and changes could be made as often as required, and just a download away. It’s a natural for serialization. And dare I say it - a daily newspaper ?

Presentations

While I can haul out my laptop for a quick one-on-one presentation with a potential client, the size of the eBook is more easier to deal with, and I can literally stand in the elevator and walk through a presentation on the way up. Keep in mind that the screen only displayed in black and white (actually, 4 shades of grey) so I do repurpose my presentations to make them look good on the screen, but you can also just load up any PDF, Word doc, JPG or Gif image, and the eBook will simply display colour as monochrome images.

eBook and Podcasts

Given that Sony’s included an MP3 player right in the eBook, it seems natural to bundle books with author podcasts, as well as serialized “books on MP3″ packages that could be used for promotion

Trees

Books use paper. eBooks use bytes. Need I say more ? Shipping ? Fogetaboutit.

Here’s where I think things need to improve

Software. Sony makes great consumer entertainment products but its software is often horrid. Given that they have a great model with the iTunes store, there’s really no excuse for the state of Sony eBook store. The software is also the interface for loading books onto the eBook reader. It needs a major over-haul in look & feel as well as functionality.

Connectivity. Hard to beleive, but Sony’s software is PC only. Given the nature of the eBook reader, the Apple crowd should be a prime target market. But unless they’re running their MacBook in dual boot mode, they’re out of luck.

Tether. Connectivity to the computer is via a USB cable. I’m assuming the reason there’s no Bluetooth or other wireless connectivity is space, but I’d dearly love to be able to move data back and forth without having to find the cable and plug in. This is a challenge Apple still hasn’t solved with the iPod so I supposed I shouldn’t be so demanding. All I know is that as long as the device has to hook up to my computer, it’s potential is limited.

Price. The 505 model is 300.00 Canadian, which seems expensive given the price of things like iPods, game consoles and and digital cameras. The goal here is to get people using the device so they’ll buy books. Consumers don’t like paying for technology development and a price point that’s too high will keep the adoption rate low.

The newly released 700 models has some nice new features including touch scrolling, but at 400.00 it’s just way too expensive. Amazon’s competitor, the wireless Kindle, is 359.00 USD

Why publishers need to pay attention

The book isn’t going away any time soon, but things are going to change dramatically. Electronic books open up some new possibilities for existing publishing models, and throw the doors wide open to new models.

Is it possible that within a few years the biggest book seller might be a hardware manufacturer ? There’s a reason Amazon created it’s own electronic book reader.

Why not publish dailies in ebook form, so that I can grab up update on my way out the door and read it on the bus ?

Sony’s eBook reader already supports RSS feeds - with a wireless connection there’s no reason I couldn’t be walking through the mall, train station or even at transit bus shelter and downloading the latest update to the periodicals and books I’ve subscribed to.

The e-paper will get better. The connectivity will improve. The price will come down. There’ll be other models and competitors. All those things bode well for publishers - IF they get with it and start to explore what’s possible.

Links:

Get this article for your Sony eBook Reader (open BBeb format)

• bigsnit_blog_lrf.zip

Sony eBook reader at SonyStyle.ca

• 505 model
• New 700 Model

Amazon’s Kindle

A veteran writer turns his obsession with detail into a building project.

In his new book, Almost Green, James Glave tells the story of building a green studio in the front yard - and changing his life forever.

Recording at James Glave’s eco-shed on Bowen Island, this podcast was recorded before the book was published, a of sorts.

Read more about James Glave and how to buy the book on his web site, www.glave.com

photo courtesy James Glave

Robert’s notes…

I’ve known James since the mid-90’s. We both fumbled our way onto the then new world wide web - he was with Vancouver Magazine and I was with CBC Vancouver.

I always looked forward to seeing a new magazine article by James - they were smart, witty and superbly crafted. He brought the same high quality to his online work; it stood out then, and it stands out now.

When he left Vancouver for San Francisco and Wired News in 1997, many of us were envious of his determination to carve out a living ‘on the internet’. He became a regular guest speaker at the Simon Fraser University summer web publishing courses, and he regaled us with news from the front lines of life in Silicon Valley.

I’m glad James is back in Vancouver - and thrilled to see him bringing outstanding journalism and his determined voice to stories about the environment and sustainability.

While we wait for his book to come out - do check out his mini-book Buck The System on his web site - add your contribution to his PayPal fund - and enjoy the articles he’s distributing online.

The podcast with James Glave runs: 25:30 and was originally produced for VanGoGreen.com

podcast ISBN: 978-0-9809054-3-4

© Bigsnit Media Consulting Inc. 2008. Podcasts are available for re-broadcast by contacting info@robertouimet.com

We love to create audio and video productions for our clients because they are such an effective way of getting your message across.

We produce all our online content at broadcast quality so that you get the most out of your production investment. Some of our clients choose to add video or audio highlights to client packages or as part of company presentations.

Online, podcasts have a tremendous return on investment. Unlike traditional forms of marketing, podcast traffic continues to grows over time.

We provide end-to-end production and can also provide serving options to make the addition of audio and video to your web site as painless as possible.

Click here to hear recent podcasts produced by Robert Ouimet

We’ve found this pattern repeating with almost every podcast series we’ve created - as more people discover the podcasts, they tell their friends, and the usage continue to grow over time.

click image for a larger version

What does this mean for your business or organization ?

Creating professional and compelling audio or video brings long-lasting results. It adds another level of engagement - visitors can listen and view your podcasts on your web site, as well as on their portable devices. We know that over time, their usage actually increases - and because of this so-called ‘long tail effect’ , your message goes further, and lasts longer.

We can work with you in whatever manner suits your needs, but most of our clients use our end-to-end services, where we take care of all the aspects of podcast production and distribution. We can create iTunes specific ‘enhanced’ podcasts as well as video casts designed for distribution via iTunes, YouTube and other video sharing sites.

We use only the best audio equipment to record our podcasts and record on-location or in-studio. We also specialize in conference podcasting.

Want to know more ? Email info@robertouimet.com for a free consultation and pricing.

For examples of recent podcasts produced by Robert Ouimet, please click here.

Matt Mullenweg is the 24 year founder of WordPress, an open source blogging and content management software.

He was the keynote speaker this morning at the Northern Voice blogging conference in Vancouver.

This is audio of his complete presentation, un-edited.

Matt Mullengweg at the podium, Photo by kk+ Vancouver fashion photographer, bon vivant and all around nice guy who’s wicked with a lens.

Robert’s notes…

I’m a user and was a fan of WordPress before I met Matt. Hearing him speak has convinced me that one of the reasons WordPress has done so well is that Matt clearly keeps his eye on the goal; to make WordPress serve its users.

His presentation may be based on his work at WordPress, but his ideas are equally relevant to web sites, magazines, radio, tv, and any other form of communication in existence today.

Monique Trottier has a nice text summary of the presentation on So Misguided.

Matt Mullenweg
Keynote Address at the Northern Voice conference
Vancouver, British Columbia
Saturday Feb 23rd, 2008

runs: 42:48

Photo above by Penmachine and used under CC license

I recorded and produced the audio you hear in the flash movies - there are more of them once you’ve registered.

It was loads of fun to work on. Hanging out at the rink all day reminded me of when I was a kid and spending the day at the DMCC arena in Dauphin.

Here’s what the site is about:

HockeyStars is devoted to the real stars of the game. It’s a free online community for amateur hockey players, coaches, parents and volunteers.

It’s where players come to connect with their teams and others in the community, and where managers and coaches can use online management tools to make team communication and operations easier. HockeyStars makes it easy to share game schedules, statistics, photos, videos and messages with teammates, family and fans.

HockeyStars is powered by Citizens Bank of Canada, a national online bank backed by the ethical grounding that comes from being part of the Vancity Group. Formed in 1997, we have a strong focus on corporate social responsibility and are the only bank in Canada with a clear ethical policy.

What does banking have to do with hockey? Well, some banks open new branches to serve the community around them. We’re opening online branches—small, online communities built around a common interest, like hockey. Through HockeyStars we hope to give back to the community while helping to raise a generation of young savers.

Rest easy and enjoy that extra day off.

Big Media in Canada is doing just fine.

Again.

Still.
The CRTC today released its Communications Monitoring Report. In the past the Commission published one report on the state of broadcasting, and one on the telecommunications industry, and this is the first of their ‘converged’ reports - presumably to reflect the state of the industry. The report makes it clear that the Canadian broadcast sector is doing just fine, despite dire warnings of its impending demise thanks to the internet. The report also shows just how big a role the internet plays in our every day lives and consumption of entertainment. Here are some facts pulled from the CRTC report.

Money…

• Revenues for private commercial radio stations increased by 6.2%, from $1.4 billion in 2006 to $1.5 billion in 2007.
• Commercial television revenues increased 4.3%, or $218 million, from $5 billion in 2006 to $5.3 billion in 2007. This was largely due to increased subscriber revenues of $152 million.
• Revenues for specialty, pay and pay-per-view television and video-on-demand services increased by 9%, rising from $2.5 billion in 2006 to $2.7 billion in 2007.
• Revenues for private conventional television broadcasters went from $2.1 billion in 2006 to $2.2 billion in 2007, an increase of 1.3%. During this period, revenues for English-language stations grew by 2% to $1.8 billion, while those for French-language stations fell by 2% to $381 million
• Online advertising continued to experience growth, with spending rising from $900 million in 2006 to $1.2 billion in 2007.

English Canadian use of…

• RADIO: 18.3 hours of per week
• TV: 26.8 hours of per week
• INTERNET: 13.4 hours per wee

Habits…

• The number of Canadians who have watched a video online has more than doubled over the past three years, with user-generated content being more popular than professionally produced programs.
• Among the more popular online activities in 2007, 36% of Canadians watched a video, 16% listened to a streaming radio station and 17% downloaded music.
• 11% of Canadians reported downloading and listening to a podcast on either their computer or an MP3 player, an activity that is seen as a complement to conventional broadcasting.

It may just be a case of bad timing, but just a couple of weeks ago, a CBC submission to the CRTC more-or-less argued Canadians aren’t using the Internet for entertainment. (you can read the CBC’s full position here)

Today’s CRTC report shows that we are in fact using the internet for entertainment. One of the most popular online activites happens to be…watching videos.

At the end of the day, regardless of the facts, the CBC’s argument in it’s submission seems to be that since it hasn’t figured out how to make money online, online shouldn’t be considered a business opportunity for Canadian broadcasters.

Given that traditional broadcast is still showing yearly increases in revenue, I’m not sure they’re in any hurry to try figure out how to make money online, despite the fact that Canadians are consuming a huge amount of content online.

To my mind, that bodes well for smart nimble companies that can jump into this obviously ripe market while the ‘big boys’ sit back and wait for it to be a more predictable business opportunity. (cross posted here)

Dr. Tony Bates posed an interested challenge. The former University of British Columbia professor is a world authority on distance education and e-learning, and over many years in the field he’s accumulated a huge bibliography.

His desire to share the information he has, and how he’s categorized that information, was the key driver for his new website.

As you might expect from someone involved in e-learning, Dr. Bates has had a web site for a long time. As he watched technology evolve, he realized his site of flat files and PDF downloads was woefully out of date.

He knew he wanted it updated for look and feel, but primarily he wanted to be able to take advantage of modern web technology to be able to manage his constantly growing list of bibliographical entries - nearing 2,000 at last count. And because his focus is on sharing the information he has, he had a strong desire to include other people’s thoughts on the bibliographical collection, make suggestions of their own, and if so inclined, help keep it up to date.

And then there was the budget.

No large institution or big commercial brand behind this project. Dr. Bates was paying out of his pocket.

Although he never got into details, I know that a number of web development companies he approached in Vancouver never even responded to his request for quotes. Those that did were scared off by the sheer volume of content, and the limited budget.

Dr. Bates was referred to me by Loc Dao of RandomLink Interactive. Loc’s company is primarily a Drupal developer and they were knee deep in a number of large projects, and he wondered if I wanted to take it on.

After meeting with Dr. Bates I was hooked on the challenge. Here was a guy who’d prepared all his material in advance (his 110 page Word doc of content was sitting in my in-box) . He was clear about what he wanted to accomplish, yet was willing to listen to ideas and consider options.

The Challenge

At its heart, the challenge was one of finding a way to help Dr. Bates manage his lists of bibliographical information by topic.

While all the bibliographical entries fell within the broad e-learning or distant education categories, Dr. Bates has developed a system of categorizing the bibliographies and cross indexed them to help others looking for specific topics or types of information. His Word doc outlined over 40 different topic categories, each with it’s own bibliography. Many of the bibliographical references were found in multiple categories. In the past, he’d simply managed the lists by hand, and generated a PDF for download. As you can imagine, managing those lists was becoming a nightmare.

The rest of the site was primarily informational pages that he wanted to be able to edit, and Dr. Bates also wanted to have a blog. The site map was very straightforward - I use OmniGraffle for both site maps and wire frames, and it didn’t take us long to settle on a plan.

One minor problem

I still wasn’t sure just how I was going to sort the bibliographical entries, and at our meetings, Dr. Bates was rightly concerned about this. I asked him to trust me, that I was working on it, and that I wanted to move ahead with the visual design while I continued to sort out just how it was going to work. To his credit, he did trust me, and designer Sara Bailey with At Large Media moved ahead with the design phase.

Themes, CSS and CMS’s for non-programmers

I’ve licensed Brian Gardner’s “Revolution Pro Business” theme and have been working with it for a while, both for my own blog and for other sites like VanGoGreen.com, Glave.com, FinancialPeaceofMind.ca and Eco-Shed.ca. Ironically, but perhaps proving the point, FinancialPeaceofMind.ca doesn’t even have a blog, it’s a web site running nicely with WordPress as its CMS.

I’m not a programmer, so the huge amount of functionality Brian has built into the template is very attractive. I can pick and choose what to keep and what to remove, and customizing pages to fit the project. It’s a credit to Brian that the ‘bones’ of his theme are so strong. Sara did a wonderful design, and I set about adjusting the CSS and the page templates to fit.

Like the other recent WordPress customizations I’ve done, this site uses WordPress primarily as a CMS, with blogging being almost secondary. It’s an interesting shift in focus, and getting easier with each subsequent release of WordPress. I’ve also been using OpenAds in conjunction with WordPress quite a bit, and really happy with the results. Ditto with Slide Show Pro - a CMS for flash. By mixing and matching these tools, I can give clients the ability to update a lot of different aspects of their site, and harness database driven dynamic content.

I like keeping the dynamic menu system, so I customize section page templates for each section, then use child pages for any pages within that section. Be settling on a set number of ‘parent’ pages, I can plan the main nav and instruct my clients to only create child pages within those sections. In Dr. Bates’ case, each and every page on the site is editable in the standard WordPress input screen. Limiting the number of parent pages means the nav won’t get broken since new pages are child pages, and they cascade out of the main menu.

Time to Decide

Dr. Bates wanted to be able to add entries to any of his lists of topics, as well as add new topics in the future. He also wanted to be able to cross index entries to more than one list. Because of the limited budget, I originally thought I’d just re-create his lists and he could update them using the WordPress WYSIWYG input screen.

But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to find a solution that harnessed both WordPress’s ease of content input, the power of the database, and the WordPress engine. It was going to be mean more work (for me) getting things set up, but in the end, the right solution for my client

I knew that I was either going to use WordPress tags or categories to generate a list, and once I started adding real content, it become apparent right away that the most convenient way to do this was via categories.

On the WordPress manage categories page I was able to create all 43 categories, which would now show up as a nested list when creating a new post.

I also decided that each bibliographical entry would be it’s own post, thereby allowing me to assign it to one or more categories. Data input is quick and easy; each bibliography entry is a post, and once it’s created, the only thing left to do is click on the correct category and add some tags. Yes, adding the initial bibliographical entries was a huge amount of data input, but once in, adding anything new would be quick and simple.

To generate a list, we call up a category, and presto - a complete list of all bibliographical entries in that category is generated. WordPress lists these in reverse chronological order in which in they were created - and over time this will actually be a benefit, showing the ‘newest’ entries at the top of the list.

a href=”/category/general/”><strong>General publications</strong></a>
<ul>
<li><a href=”/category/general/e-learning-and-distant-education/”>e-learning and distance education</a></li>
<li><a href=”/category/general/e-learning/”>e-learning</a></li>
<li><a href=”/category/general/distant-education/”>Distance education</a></li>

For the bibliographical entries, we’re assigning author name(s), and year of publication as key tags, then any others we think are relevant. This rolls up in a tag cloud widget in the sidebar. We’re using the tags to generate a list of publications by author last name as well.

Authors:
<ul>
<li><a href=”/tag/a”>A</a></li>
<li><a href=”/tag/b”>B</a></li>
<li><a href=”/tag/c”>C</a></li>
<li><a href=”/tag/d”>D</a></li>
<li><a href=”/tag/e”>E</a></li>
<li><a href=”/tag/f”>F</a></li>

One of the key factors in the success of this collection is that users can find the information they’re looking at in a variety of ways. WordPress search is robust and is delivering excellent returns, or users can find lists based on Dr. Bates’ topic categorizations, or the tag cloud.

To roll up featured stories in the side bar, we created a separate category so that Dr Bates can easily assign an entry to show up. Over time, as the different sections of the site flesh out, we’ll probably roll-up entries relevant to that section in the side bar.

I was able to delivered Dr. Bates his site on time and on budget - with a lot more functionality than originally planned

Tips?

Well, here are a few:

• Set up a development environment and try loads of different plugs ins. Push things around and see what happens. WordPress is easy to reinstall or fix if you mess something up.
• Use a dev subdomain so that you can show your client work in progress. I’d never do this with a flat file site, but showing the client how the backend functions early in the process makes a huge difference. And if they’re inputting any content themselves, they can do that even while you’re continuing to tweak design.
• Moving from dev to your live site (changing domains) involves a few hoops - there are good directions here. Follow them and you’ll be fine. Here’s a tip - if you move the site rather than use the import/export function in WordPress, all your site setting move with. Nice.
• The more you work with a theme, you more you’ll be able to customize it.
• If you are getting confused about which php page is used to generate the page, add the name of the php file right into the template as plain text - then you’ll see it each time the page is called. In the early days of customizing templates, I found this helped clear a lot of confusion as I moved further into customizing pages.
• Play play play. If you think it should be able to do something it probably can.
• WordPress as a CMS provides all the functionality you’ll need for most sites.
• Look for apps that work nicely with WordPress - Open Ads for ad serving is a fantastic tool, Easy PHP Calendar has a plug-in that brings the data input right in the the WordPress CMS.
• The WordPress forums are huge resource. I’ve run into loads of apparent impasses only to find an answer in the forum, many without having to even post a question. If you think it should work, and it doesn’t, check the forum. If you are going to post a question though, make sure you’ve at least TRIED to find a solution first.

A web site is a fluid publishing environment. Unlike producing a TV commercial or creating a newspaper advertisement, a web site is designed to be changed and updated starting the minute it is launched.

For a lot of companies, this is one of the most perplexing and challenging aspects of operating a web site. How often do things need to be updated? What parts of the web site should be changed? Is the site accomplishing its goals? Are people using the site in the way it was intended?

Finding answers to these questions is critical to a successful online project, and analysis of web metrics is one of the key tools to assist in finding answers. Peter Drucker’s phrase sums it up nicely “What gets measured gets managed”.

My career in broadcasting introduced me to metrics early on. Radio and TV stations sell ads based on audience size. They use independent measures exclusively as a means of setting their rates, and they spend a significant amount of money to acquire and analyze those numbers.

My first job was at a tiny radio station in Dauphin, Manitoba. They couldn’t afford to buy into the radio ratings system but the station manager, the late Hugh Dunlop, had his own way of measuring. When reporting on a traffic accident (a big story in a small prairie town), he’d always end his report saying the cars involved in the crash had been towed to so-and-so’s service station. Then Hugh would drive over to see how many people showed up to gawk at the wrecks.

Hardly scientific, but better than no measurement at all. I call this “Dunloping” it.

Contests and write-in campaigns are other ways of “Dunloping” the numbers - the numbers are highly subjective but they’re better than nothing.

Fortunately, web sites generate a plethora of useful statistics. Yet it’s surprising how often we encounter companies that are making minimal use of their web measures, and are in fact more often “Dunloping” it than using more reliable information available to them. So, one of my first recommendations is that they embrace the mantra: If You Can’t Measure It – Don’t Do It.

In almost all cases, embracing this notion is easy because the data is usually being gathered. A little analysis, even simple analysis, will go a long way to helping you make informed choices, leading to more successful online projects.

What Do the Numbers Mean?

Sometimes a client will say to us “We have x-thousand page views a month. Is that good?” Metrics have to be considered in context. Because web technology provides us with a multitude of different measurement tools, answers to those key questions hardly ever come from one set of measures.

The importance of various measures is directly related to a site’s goals. And a combination of measures provides a more complete picture than relying on just one set of numbers.
For a community site, the amount of time viewers spend on the site will be a key measure, as will the number of user-generated posts. For a site that depends on banner ad sales, page views will be far more important.

The important thing is to start with a few key measures, analyzing them on a regular basis. Measurement analysis can get quite esoteric, and if you have the resources to do so, by all means delve deep. For the vast majority of small to medium businesses, a few key measures will provide important data to help determine the direction of the web site.

If you can’t afford analytic software, get the data, put it into Excel and make a few key charts and graphs. Do it monthly, and use the same format so you can compare results.

I like to group 2 or 3 measures together into what I refer to as ‘key indicators’. Take for example, an e-mail newsletter. Grouping list size, open rate, and click through rate together provides a significant snapshot of the campaign’s strength.

While growing the size of an email list is obviously desirable, a small list that has a high open rate (people actually read the newsletter after it has been sent) and a high click through rate (people who click on links in the newsletter) may actually serve the goals better than a larger list with a low click-through rate. In the example below, key indicators are graphed together to provide a quick view of the health of the list.

A set of key website indicators might include page views, bandwidth, and files served. This provides a snapshot of how much people are actually using the web site.

On the other hand, trying to determine which section of a web site to focus more attention on requires analysis of a different data set.

The goal here is to get away from decisions based on anecdotal or emotional data. You have a myriad choices to make as an online content creator, so use the numbers as a means of guiding those choices.

Trending is another important data point. Not all new projects show instant success, so looking at changes over time is important. Analysis helps you make decisions, assess your successes and fix mistakes.

Just as in TV, radio and print, measuring the success of your online efforts is key to your ongoing strategy. The web gives us an abundant set of detailed data, and the companies who are most successful online are aggressive in their use of that data. They’re also strict with themselves, building on the things that people actually view online, and ditching the things that aren’t generating any good usage stats. To be successful online you have to measure your data, and also be prepared to LEARN from that data. Be rigorous, measure what you’re doing, and you’ll be able to build a meaningful project for your online audience

In Summary

• If you have a web site, you have measurable results.
• Devise a way of reporting the data and look at it regularly.
• If your data isn’t pretty, make simple graphs and charts.
• You don’t need a lot of data, but you do need to use what you have.
• If you have to, Dunlop It.
• Ask ‘why is this happening’. Look for linkages in the data.
• Add some qualitative data when you can

Take a glimpse into the near future, and you’ll see plenty of options for wireless connectivity between devices.

At the Consumer Electronic Show this year Sony was showing off a system to move large files, say from a video camera, to a computer or TV. Their system, called Transfer Jet only works when the devices are in close proximity to each other, but it’ll be a great feature, and moves data faster then a traditional USB cable.

Bluetooth, the short-range wireless technology that’s used in those Star Trek like cell phone headsets is becoming quite common – and celebrates its 10th year this year.

Connecting to the internet over a wireless hub has become commonplace now, and there are a number of city wide projects that will blanket an entire population inside a wireless mesh, meaning you can crack open your laptop and check mail almost anywhere.

But there’s a catch, and a big one.

Power. Lots and lots of power. At most blogging conferences now, the biggest tech issue is how many places can people plug-in to recharge their laptops, cell phones, iPods and digital cameras.

Network operation centres, those big data hubs where network servers sit on high speed fibre optic connections to the internet face huge power challenges. Recent outages among major players in San Francisco recently were due to power problems, nothing to do with network connectivity. A peak under your own desk will show you why – with each specialized device comes a power requirement of some kind – either a battery charger or an AC adapter to power the unit. I actually have far fewer cables connecting my computer equipment now, but more AC power cables.

Are things going to get better any time soon. Probably not. There are some promising technologies out there that might lengthen the battery life in your cell phone or laptop, but almost all of them lead to a power plug for charging.

So, while the idea of a wireless mesh covering the city, maybe even the globe is exciting, a bigger breakthrough be solving boring old AC electricity needs.