The Open Moko phone is the reason why I’m personally not that interested in getting an iPhone.

Andrew Cowie sums it up as best I’ve seen:

Having worked in the mobile industry, I can attest to the fact that this is going to be revolutionary. A phone that you can upgrade and not have to throw away? A phone that you can create applications that you want to run and have them run on it? Most of all, this is a device that will open open new markets by the simple fact that people will be able to conceive of their own uses for it.

I’m expecting the popularity of this to grow gradually as it will be a word of mouth thing. But start thinking about it now because the easiest ideas always come at the beginning of a technological revolution.

I continue to make the transition to a more virtual world. Today I opted to cancel my paper bank statements so that they are now only accessible online. While my bank tries to entice me to do this by promising to plant trees, the reason I did it was to save myself the chore of filing.

The vast majority of my mail (excluding parcels) now come via email. My music has been available to me on my computer for a few years now so my CD collection is basically a backup. I’m getting more and more video content through the Internet. Books are not quite there yet, but the Sony Reader signals the start of them going virtual. Most other literature (such as newspapers) I now consume online.

How virtual, I wonder, will I be in 3 or 4 years?

What possibilities will this give me?

I’m starting to consider the future possibilities of being homeless as a good choice. People already go homeless when they travel the world for months on end. And many people are constantly on the road for business reasons and live in hotels. The big sacrifice is the home comforts, but what if you could take them with you? The possible freedom based benefits are rather exciting.

I think these are quite revealing.

More here

EDIT (moments later): The Mona Lisa in Microsoft Paint.

Open up the API for developers and innovation takes off in leaps and bounds. Improve the interface and mass adoption will occur.

Programmable Web

The Ansari X Prize was an incredible success, finally making commercial space flight a reality. Although the world doesn’t seem much different since the prize was claimed, it has put wheels (or boosters) in motion. From the X Prize site:

The Ansari X PRIZE was modeled after the $25,000 Orteig Prize, offered in 1919 by wealthy hotelier Raymond Orteig, to the first pilot who could fly non-stop between New York and Paris. The prize was finally won in 1927 by an unknown airmail pilot named Charles Lindbergh. Lindbergh won the hearts of a nation, and his world-changing achievement spawned a $300 billion aviation industry.

Expect a similar progression for space travel in the years to come.

If space flight was the escape plan, the X Prize foundation has now turned its sights to saving the world. X Prize mark III (details on two here) will be awarded for the creation of a commercially successful super-efficient vehicle.

Why an Automotive X PRIZE?

• Because today’s oil consumption is not sustainable – our current use of oil endangers our health, our economy, and the political and social stability of the world.
• Because 40% of world oil output fuels the automotive industry – and, in the U.S., 65% of oil consumption is in the transportation sector.
• Because automotive emissions contribute significantly to global climate change.
• Because there are no mainstream consumer choices for clean, super-efficient vehicles that meet market needs for price, size, capability, image, safety and performance.
• Because the automotive industry is stalled – legislation, regulation, labor issues, manufacturing costs, legacy costs, franchise laws, obsolete technology, consumer attitudes, and many other factors have combined to block breakthroughs.
• Because increases in engine efficiency have been “spent” on increased vehicle power, acceleration, and weight, rather than on increased fuel economy.
• Because we believe there is great opportunity for technological change.

source

The reward is a multimillion jackpot, but since it cost 10 times the prize to win the first X Prize we know that isn’t the incentive. This jackpot is important because it wakes up the media and adds prestige to the prize. The real incentive to compete lies purely in the fact that this is a competition.

We humans thrive on competition

Remember the original space race?

We need more competition.

The mainstream media are reasonably good at reporting the extremes of the news. This means the coverage of news from, say, Iraq tends to be at the extreme edges — either extremely good, or extremely bad. Of the two, they tend to favour the extremely bad.

On the whole this is a good thing as these tend to be the most important things for us to know. Unfortunately, it can also give a skewed sense of reality. This is especially true when we have little to no personal experience.

This ‘little to no’ perspective is what I bring to each story I read about Iraq. My understanding of Iraq is almost entirely made up of various media accounts. My friends-in-service have balanced the account up slightly, but generally I know it is pretty skewed.

But reading an article on the blog ‘Iraq the Model’ has completely altered my view of life in Iraq. While my mental-model of life there is hardly the same as an Iraqi’s, it certainly feels much more real than it ever has before. It still seems bizarre and different from life on my street, but mostly it feels bizarre because it juxtaposes military action with ordinary real life.

This kind of news (the everyday) doesn’t really get reported in the main stream media. Amateur journalism seems to be balancing that out.

Iraq The Model: Midnight Company