Seven Years Later Along the Journey

It's been almost 7 years since the last post on this blog.

Blogs are less relevant than the old days.

With Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Linked-In, Medium, Substack, TikTok and more, we all have so many places share to thoughts, links, videos and articles.

Many people I know who were frequent bloggers have stopped blogging and/or rarely post anything.

While social platforms have skyrocketed because of its reach to people within your networks, blogs have had three major obstacles in recent years:

• Failure of platforms (including Blogger, Wordpress) to innovate. It's MUCH easier to post to post to all the social channels than this blog, mobile or web. Not much has changed on the platforms (Blogger is basically the same as it was).

• Lack of distribution which means the only people who are going to visit your blog or this post are people who happen to find it through some search or because it was linked by me or someone else on one of those other social channels.

• Smartphones are better for quick, visual and bite size content, not longer form content, so as mobile has taken over the internet combined with the lack of easy ways to publish by mobile to a blog, people are going to post where it's easy for the maximum audience.

• Social channels continue to innovate, as illustrated by Instagram, Snapchat and now, TikTok (all leveraging mobile devices and visual communication).

So, why am I writing this post and why now?

It's 2020 and we are still in the middle of the first wave of a pandemic where the world was turned upside down.

• Online learning
• Work from home
• Webcams
• Video conferencing
• More use of desktop and laptop computers.
• Less use of mobile (with people being home)

All of these and many more reasons mean that consuming and posting content is not just being dominated by mobile, so it's easier to check on that old blog somewhere.

And, that's what brought me here today.

I was trying to look for something I posted somewhere and couldn't remember if I had put it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, but it turns out I had posted it here.

Going through some old blog posts was like opening up a time capsule.

Some things seem so odd today, including links I had to other blogs and sites that are barely in use anymore.

But, some things are still relevant and provide a valuable perspective of what I was observing then and what I think today.

And, that brings to me to why this post.

What matters today in 2020 is different in many ways than 2013 or what will matter 7 years from now in 2027.

In fact, 7 years ago, some of the most important people in my life today didn't even exist.

As you get older (and maybe wiser), you realize while the destinations keep changing, it's the constant journey that remains the same.

Now that I'm spending more time in front of a computer than in front of a smartphone for a change, I'll try to share more on the blog as we head back to the future and whatever the new normal is ahead.

Foursquare Check-Ins and Data Visualization of Chicago

Foursquare provided interesting data visualization for check-ins in select cities, including my hometown of Chicago.

To see other cities, including San Francisco, London, Tokyo and Istanbul, click HERE.

Big Step for Uber, Lyft and Sharing Economy; Even Bigger Step for Transformation and Innovation

Technology, disruption, innovation and transformation are all incredibly good, unless you happen to be one of those who prefer the status-quo, same old way and like to keep limits, restrictions and control.

It's no secret that the signs of innovation are all around us and one of those involves urban transportation and the shift to a sharing economy, as illustrated by startups like Uber, Lyft, Sidecar and others that are shaking things up.

Like we have seen in many other areas, from music to media, the old-guard, status-quo crowd doesn't like change.  Instead of pursuing innovation, these old entities and models prefer to use old rules of control through law and legislation.

The wave of disruption is underway, but a big challenge was answered today.

As reported in TechCrunch:

The California Public Utilities Commission has unanimously approved new regulations around ridesharing services such as Lyft, SideCar and UberX (as initially noted in a number of reportson Twitter). 

The CPUC proposed the rules back in July, offering a legal framework for ridesharing services to operate throughout the state. As we reported then, most of the regulations revolved around public safety, as well as ensuring that drivers have had background checks and are covered by insurance in the case of an accident. 

According to a press release from the CPUC, the new regulations establish a new category of business called a Transportation Network Company, and it requires those companies to obtain a license from CPUC, conduct criminal background checks, establish a driver training program, and hold a commercial insurance policy with a minimum of $1 million per-incident coverage.

That's big news for ridesharing services and bad news for the status-quo crowd, but even more importantly, many other regulatory agencies across the United States are watching what happens in California, so this should make it easier for the wave to spread.

Michael Jordan Flies Again at Age 50

Michael Jordan dunks at his Michael Jordan Flight School at the age of 50, showing he can still fly:

Ahh, the memories...

Need for Speed? Try Racer on Google Chrome

Try Racer on your mobile device (using Chrome):

http://g.co/racer

David Bowie's Space Oddity by Commander Chris Hadfield on the International Space Station

Remake of David Bowie's Space Oddity
By Commander Chris Hadfield
International Space Shuttle

That Psy Guy is Back - Gentleman M/V

PSY - Gentleman M/V