Three InSight

Today's conversation focuses around Facebook and online presence. How much is too much personal info to put online, and how do you guide your children with knowing how much to post. And not just for children...

Amazon is at it again… They have launched Cloud Drive and Cloud Player. Store your music or documents online, and/or play your music from "anywhere." New York Times has set up a Paywall. Meaning, it is no longer free. After 15 years, they are charging… Can micro payments or newspaper aggregation be the answer? Starbucks has also launched Starbucks Network, exclusive content on their free wi-fi network.

Social media has been playing a major part in the upheaval that has been going on in the Middle East. It provides a near instant account of what has been transpiring around the globe at a personal level never before seen. Most of social media may not be for everyone, but a portion may be relevant to your world.

Rumors abound of MobileMe upgrades that may happen, and if they happen, the guys talk about their hopes and dreams in the (maybe) upcoming release. One of the big topics is having a subscription based music service (or variant) available through the cloud. And possibilities of the iPhone nano (again). The average person does not do proper backing up of their data. The cloud may be a way to help them help themselves.

AOL purchased Huffington Post for more than $300 million! Can it really be worth that much?!? Is this purchase the death knell for HuffPo? Does today's tech atmosphere share any resemblance to the tech bubble that burst a few years ago? Groupon also turned down a six billion dollar purchase offer from Google!

How do you keep local retail areas prosperous in light of internet competition? Books, newspapers, and magazines appear to be the most immediately in peril. Tax revenues are being drawn out of communities, but to keep areas (like Pearl Street mall in Boulder), in existence, would you be in favor of paying online sales tax? Online also offers more variety than can be had locally.

Starbucks has introduced the "Trenta"… If it were 7-11, it would be a BigGulp. Who needs that much coffee?!?! Apple has had 10 billion downloads from the app store for iOS devices. Has the Mac App Store changed the way you browse for software? The guys agree, Android is suffering from fragmentation, which brings up the Mac vs PC argument from years gone by. Control the ecosystem or open it up?

Steve Jobs is taking another medical leave, what will become of Apple?!? What really happens behind the walls at Cupertino is purely speculation, but the tangible results will be seen soon. The Daily is set to launch soon, and touted to be an iPad only subscription. Is this a good idea, a platform specific publication? Which gives way to market fragmentation… Like purchasing a book, too many or too few options, which way to go?

Goldman Sachs purchases Facebook for a ridiculous amount of money! Rupert Murdoch bought Myspace a few years ago, and is laying off ~50% of its staff. Will there be a parallel? We are in an era where we see business giants rise or fall, not over a generation, but within a few years. CES talk is in the air… Will this year bring more tablets, or just more talk about tablets? And does anyone other than the manufacturers care about 3D TV? 2011 could be the year of Kinect hacks. A compelling device with a promising future.

Sony is launching Qriocity, yet another music streaming service. Sears and Kmart have teamed to launch Alphaline, a streaming movie service. But is there anything these services can offer that will set them apart from what we already have. The guys give their predictions for 2011 which include internet usage, the Android operating system, cord-cutting, the future of Yahoo, geo-location on laptops, and the Kinect!