Circular Logic

The Return of the Demo

I'm sitting backstage at my company's annual user conference at the moment. Our technology demo team is on the main stage running through the traditional feature/function show-and-tell -- a familiar scene to any Silicon Valley marketing person.

While the glitz of a flashy demo has a certain cutting edge appeal, I've got to wonder if audiences are burned out on the schtick. Back when technology was seen as the key to infinite productivity (and stock market riches), the capital-D Demo was a glimpse at Nirvana. The magical Emerald City that would solve all problems and yield infinite ROI.

The problem was that for many technology companies, the Wizard came out from behind the curtain after the bubble burst in 2000. Technology suddenly became the problem, the scarlet T branded on the head of every e-Business executive and CIO around. Comdex, a mirage of demos in the desert, dried up and blew away, as did CeBit America and many smaller technology conferences. In the meantime, software companies started aiming to show "value to the business" rather than the next "killer app."

Now, five years later, the pendulum seems to be swinging back the other way. Technology is starting to be cool again, and the internet is no longer a dirty word to businesses. This week's Business Week cover story on blogs is only the latest validation of the return of this mindset.

So the demo onstage continues. Screens flash by on large conference monitors. Mouse clicks go here...then there...then, no, wait...bring up the slide...no, go back, now, as you can see we have successfully, elegantly, seamlessly, flexibly, robustly, efficiently...come back around to a new beginning.

Believing the Skype

I wonder at what point a capability becomes a necessity? Tipping point and all that. The reason for the question is because I've made the jump into internet telephony with Skype. Seems a bit bleeding edge, as very few of my friends or business contacts are yet using it. A good barometer of adoption will be to see if that changes much over the coming year.

"Mr. Watson, come here," were reportedly the first words spoken over a telephone. The original ping? Funny that over 100 years later we're still using technology to seek the most human of things: community. Instead of Watson being in the next room, today he is in Baghdad, where it appears that ready access to the Internet is already proving a necessity for morale.

Where is all this heading? Blackberries already chirp 24/7 on the nightstands of busy executives. Cell phones are ubiquitous. Even our appliances are talking to each other. Do we really need more ways to get people communicating with each other?

Maybe so.

Short Circuit Thinking

I find it interesting that the New York Times is shutting down its Circuits technology section. (Thanks to Tom Foremski for this tidbit, by the way.) It might make good business sense when you look back over the past few years of trending, but looking forward I'm not so sure.

Put aside for a minute the ever-so-East-Coast jab at the "little enclave" of Silicon Valley. What the Times seems to imply is that technology issues have gone mainstream. Moved on up. Since we are now all enlightened, it is no longer necessary to affirmatively act to keep readers up to speed about one of the most innovative sectors of the American economy.

Actually, it seems the decision was more about ad pages declining. But speaking as someone who buys advertising for my company, this doesn't make sense. If the tech sector is no longer supporting an independent ad market, why are ad pages picking back up in born-again tech pubs like Business 2.0 and Fast Company, and why are publishers launching spin offs such as The Deal's Tech Confidential? I suppose you could argue that those publications are going mainstream as well, but I have my doubts. Those publications are picking up, but they're not going New York Times mainstream. They are going the opposite direction, and they seem to be on to something.

Sure, there are aspects of tech that have bubbled to the frontal lobe of our society -- the iPod, blogs, wireless -- but does anyone really think that the tech sector has shed its geek chic roots? Underneath all the black turtleneck adoration out here, the Valley remains a haven for really obscure stuff that would take a miracle for the New York Times to understand. Just today, for example, I received an email invitation to attend a webinar about some of the most geeked out products you've ever heard of. And I'm a marketing/PR guy! What kind of voodoo goes on among those really in the know?

Wired Magazine understood this intuitively (and later, exhaustively) years ago. At that time, the East Coast media establishment didn't "get" it. I'm not sure they ever did.

A circuit is often defined as a complete electrical path. It will be interesting to see whether the New York Times has completed its circuit of tech coverage and beat a path back home at exactly the wrong time.

Teething

Teething, I'm told, is a normal part of most any mammal's development. This was in my mind this week as I just finished Zadie Smith's amazing book, White Teeth, and also gave in to a long-overdue dental checkup. The book we'll return to in another post. The teething now.

Our spry Golden, Moxie, certainly went through her phase several years ago. Nothing like having a room full of shredded sofa innards to greet you when you come back from dinner. Thankfully the phase ended, although with a bizarre relapse last year when she very deliberately selected William Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" from the lower level of our bookshelf and tore it to shreds. (Come to think of it, she never really liked German Shepherds.)

Children, too, go through a teething phase. Painful, apparently, both for child and any parent within earshot. According to the American Dental Association:

As their teeth erupt, some babies may become fussy, sleepless and irritable, lose their appetite or drool more than usual.

Makes me wonder about the new fascination -- some might call it drooling -- over blogs, podcasting, etc., and the rediscovery of the Internet as a vast new communications medium. I tend to agree with the optimists who see something significant happening, although I think all of us who were here during the boom may be feeling twice shy on that front. The mainstream media is just now getting the whole blog phenomenon, but early signs of backlash are lurking. Brace yourself.