Friday, May 28, 2004
Verizon vs. The Baptists
Discuss
The last line of this article made me laugh. The content made me think. The short version of the story is that those wireless routers that you can pick up for $60 are actually little computers that you can modify and turn into a fully functioning ISP. The author thinks this concept is a threat to phone companies.
Dan Lewis pointed out in this post on our e-group, InnovatinOxygen, that “Invention refers to the generation of a new idea or new way of doing things. Innovation refers to the actual adoption and use of the invention in practice.’ The author of the article suggests churches handing the routers out at fund-raisers. He’s kidding a little bit and innovation goes way beyond just handing stuff out. What would make a product based on this concept accessible to the public? Does it go beyond plug and play?
The last line of this article made me laugh. The content made me think. The short version of the story is that those wireless routers that you can pick up for $60 are actually little computers that you can modify and turn into a fully functioning ISP. The author thinks this concept is a threat to phone companies.
Dan Lewis pointed out in this post on our e-group, InnovatinOxygen, that “Invention refers to the generation of a new idea or new way of doing things. Innovation refers to the actual adoption and use of the invention in practice.’ The author of the article suggests churches handing the routers out at fund-raisers. He’s kidding a little bit and innovation goes way beyond just handing stuff out. What would make a product based on this concept accessible to the public? Does it go beyond plug and play?
Monday, May 24, 2004
Open
Discuss
I saw this article on Slashdot about an open source interface to Project Gutenberg.
If you haven’t heard of it before, you should check out Project Gutenberg. The concept is pretty simple: Put public domain books online. This project is, I’m sure, done ‘for the greater good’ and the contributors have little incentive for profit. But how much more successful would their project be if they could find a way to profit from their work?
Open source has been a trend for a long time, and I think that it is one that is going to continue for a long time. If open source contributors can get creative and find a way to generate some cash from their projects without compromising their free content, the movement could explode.
There are a number of types of ‘open’ that are currently being pursued:
1. Software -> sourceforge.net
2. Information -> Project Gutenberg, Wikipedia
3. Learning -> MIT’s OpenCourseware
Let's get creative and come up with some ideas on how these services could make some money to further their cause without compromising the free ‘thing’ that they want to be free.
I saw this article on Slashdot about an open source interface to Project Gutenberg.
If you haven’t heard of it before, you should check out Project Gutenberg. The concept is pretty simple: Put public domain books online. This project is, I’m sure, done ‘for the greater good’ and the contributors have little incentive for profit. But how much more successful would their project be if they could find a way to profit from their work?
Open source has been a trend for a long time, and I think that it is one that is going to continue for a long time. If open source contributors can get creative and find a way to generate some cash from their projects without compromising their free content, the movement could explode.
There are a number of types of ‘open’ that are currently being pursued:
1. Software -> sourceforge.net
2. Information -> Project Gutenberg, Wikipedia
3. Learning -> MIT’s OpenCourseware
Let's get creative and come up with some ideas on how these services could make some money to further their cause without compromising the free ‘thing’ that they want to be free.
