Thought Waves

The Audacity of Code via @photomatt’s blog

It’s the code of developers sitting around a codejam singing Sublime songs; the code of sites serving APIs to distant shores; the code of a young junior programmer bravely patrolling subversion; the code of a lawyer’s son who dares to defy the odds; the code of a skinny kid with a funny domain name who believes that the internet has a place for him, too. 

DISCLAIMER: The app was developed in one weekend @weekendapps. All the participants agreed that the exercise was worth the time but due to previous commitments the application was not further developed. We ended in fourth place out of 11 applications. We were behind an app that had been in development for about 12 months (Piki Pages) and another one that needed a few touches not full development (Spring Break). The true winner was Matchtastic. It was developed over the weekend and launched that weekend.

This is s summary of what we want to see for our Hitchhiker Facebook app.

1. Growth and engagement.

These are lofty goals that need to be measured once the application actually launches. Growth, measured in terms of adoption. If the app flops in term of adoption then there is no other metric to be measured.

2. Bottom line.

We all need to monetize to some level to make the exercise viable. The monetization strategy lies in the socialization of this tool and its continuous use. The app will be able to be monetized only if the engagement factor works out. The target client will be a successful online travel service that seeks exposure to a niche audience (25+ individuals with disposable income to spend in discretional travel activities) in the social media market. i.e. Expedia, Kayak, Orbitz, GordonsGuide.

3. Purpose of the app.

We want you to complete a journey to a destination anywhere in the world. A journey that will take you to new places with the help of your friends. You will hitch a ride with friends and friends of friends that are willing and able to introduce you to folks that are in your travel path and that are able to help you reach your destination.

4. Why in the world would I install your app to my facebook profile?

Simple. The more people you give a ride to or recruit for your trip, the more points you will earn towards winning a real life adventure trip. If you are a traveler, you will collect points for every friend you recruit in your journey. Those points count towards getting a real life adventure.

5. What are the adventures you can win?

+ Third prize: Adventure trip to the Amazon Jungle in style.

+ Second place: Luxurious multi-sport adventure throughout South America visiting the highest active volcano in the world, the equator and Macchu Picchu.

+ First place: Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru adventure trip.High end adventure spas and a super cool and knowledgeable guide that will lead you through an adventure of a lifetime. Truly.

All inclusive adventure with a dash of pampering luxury.

By now, most of you have read the New York Times article that highlights Engine’s Ready study about conversions from organic search vs. paid search.

The fight is about the influence of both channels on the bottom-line. This study helps trigger the conversation about the future of search marketing.

The fact is that paid search marketing is far from an optimal way to spend ad dollars. It is a passive medium with hit-and-run methodology that has worked well for a while now but it is starting to break down. With CTRs of less than 5% on average and a less-than-optimal long term customer acquisition model, search is becoming the new banner of the online advertising industry. The internet is evolving towards the development of deeper customer experiences and towards a higher level of customer-provider trust . In this new internet panorama, search marketing (as it is today) is at odds with this evolution.

Customers want more. Advertisers want more. Search is the middle man that needs to be cut out of the equation or evolve into something better.

Social networks offer a medium where internet citizens feel comfortable spending their time and interacting with old and new brands. They are within a circle of trust that provides support, guidance and suggestions about products and services. they know you. They know what you like. They have networks you can tap. They are human. They understand needs.

That is the reason why (at the present moment) targeted search ads do not work within a social network.

Why would people care about a search result when they have hundreds of friends that can help them figure out the best way to purchase a product or service.For instance, it is nearly impossible to find a unique travel experience by searching the internet. There are hundreds upon thousands of results that have zero relevance to what you are looking for. A search engine does not know you. The question is not if but how the search marketing industry going to evolve.

6 Years. 3,000 people. Enough!

Super entertaining and engaging information about the lives of white people. This is the inside view of how some of my favorite white folks such as Scoble or Ma.tt think, walk, do, like, eat, write, travel, worry and most importantly create.

#84 Graduate School is very enlightening
#8 Barack Obama I really hope white people like Barack enough to get him elected.

There is “knock-off” blog that is doing the Stuff Brown People Like. Building knock-off products is something attributed to brown people across the globe by white people.

The blog is not as good but I hope it picks up and really comes up with some creative stuff that brown people like. Here are a couple of ideas to get you going:

Stuff brown people like:

+ Brown people like to know the stuff white people like

+ Brown people like having white friends.

+ Brown people like Armani Exchange. Have you been to Armani Exchange store? It is filled with brown people.

+ Brown people enjoy selling expensive t-shirts to white people.

I am happy to announce that this blog’s comments section is open for anyone who wants to comment. Before lat week, you needed to be approved so that you can comment but that was not scalable. With the help of askimet and wordpress In the last couple of days Akismet has saved me the headache of 167 spam comments and actually sifted the 1 real comment that came through.

Thanks Akismet and Matt!

So - you are managing a country, let’s call you Pepito, and you have VITs (very important terrorists) aka revolutionaries roaming around your border. So, as the sovereign nation that you are (Ecuador), you don’t sign up for a plan to help you fight the VITs. All in the name of independency, democracy and good old pride. Plus you really think you can manage the border because you have a few old planes and one radar. Yes, one.

So - Pepito, you go in your merry way defending your border against the VITs, let’s call them the F.A.R.T (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias Terroristas). So the F.A.R.T, has a lot of money because apparently, being a selfless revolutionary pays a lot of money down south.

The revolutionary gig goes something like this: You change your god-given name from silly,Luis Edgar Devia Silva, to a really cool Comandante-Marcos-style name of Raul Reyes. Now folks can call you Comandante Reyes rather than Luisito. Now with your really cool revolutionary name you go on and become the voice of the FART and lead a few battalions into war. At this point your new name has you in such celebrity-style haze that you don’t even care what you are fighting for. Anyway, after a few days of ordering people around and getting use to your revolution by defending FART territory your superior, who has a cooler name than you do (darn), gives you a huge bonus. A wad of cash. The bonus is for taking care of the revolutionary territory, that just happens to be filled with very interesting plants that are super valuable in the US and Europe. Who knew! But who cares, you’ve got a wad of cash and a cool name and you get to kill a dude or two in the jungle every now and then. Mainly your own compatriots.

Anyway, going back to the FART and border security. So - you are defending your country against the big and nasty FART with your really old planes and sole radar. Since the grid is shaky in the Amazon Jungle and because you need to save electricity you actually turn off your only radar that patrols the border at night. After all what kind of FART would even think about sneaking into your country after hours. They have stuff to do, business to take care of.

But Mister Raul, one of the biggest FARTs, decides that he wants to turn in one of his personal pets (aka POW) to you, the country’s president and you take in the FART and decide to talk to the FART. Ay, Pepito. In secret of course. Who knows when that would happen.

Anyway, you wake up thinking how cool you are because you can defend your little country against the FART and how they are going to make you even cooler by turning in Ingrid to you. But wait, you get a call (at noon the next day) saying that Mister Raul has been killed in your territory (oh, darn). Your plan is screwed up now. But how is it possible that no one woke you up in the middle of the night to tell you about this incident, Pepito asks bewildered. The answer mister silly President, you turned off your radar at night and your three 12-people battalions (that are actually jungle natives that couldn’t care less about either country) took more than 12 hours to get to the area.

Yes Pepito, you are silly, but who cares… now you get to run around other countries throwing a tantrum and making us Ecuadorians look even sillier.

A really bad joke - that leaves a bad flavor in your mouth. Rafael Correa now has accepted that he sent Larrea (his Minister) to meet with the FARC. This statement came after many government officials came out complaining about the immoral lies told by Colombian officials. The reason behind this selfless action was, according to the government, to retrieve Ingrid.

Seems that words are easy for Correa. One day he calls the Colombians lairs and immoral, the next day Correa actually accepts that they were correct in their claims. Now, Correa is going around in an international campaign to look for support.

One thing that Correa seems to have completely overseen is that his pal Chavez is losing popular support in Venezuela and that this little tour could be costing him the presidency. Not even Chavez “has dared” break commercial relationships with Colombia - that is simply a no-no. Chavez has ordered to break business relations with Colombia. Let’s see how long that lasts.

Also, Correa, with all his might, seems to have forgotten that Colombia is at least 7 times bigger than Ecuador and has the military support of the US, which just happens to be in full support of fighting terrorists.

— In a fun turn of evens, 800 year old Fidel Castro, came out stating that Ecuador was bombarded with missiles shot from Cuba from the US. I don’t have evidence otherwise, but this seems hard to believe. If that’s the case, the US should start using that technology in Afghanistan already.

— Colombia is not totally innocent either. The Colombian General’s brother, happens to be a top narco.

Gee - this seems to be about diverting from the really bad things that are happening behind close doors at all levels of government in these three countries.

Follow the link to wikipedia to follow the “acontecimientos” of the 2008 Diplomatic Crisis in South America. Wikipedia has great coverage day by day.

Rafael Correa and his cabinet have this to say about the situation provoked by the FARC in the Colombo-Ecuadorean border:

Al comentar la operación de las Fuerzas Armadas colombianas el pasado sábado, en la que murieron 20 guerrilleros, entre ellos Reyes, Sandoval la calificó de “masacre”, pues, dijo, “no hubo combate”.

Which translates to …

Sandoval [Ecuadorean Defense Minister], said that the operation conducted by the Colombian Armed Forced was a “masacre” and also said that there were “no signs of combat”.

Would things have been different if there was a combat? Probably some civilian casualties would have made it OK in Sandoval’s eyes. What is the reason behind the unwillingness from the Ecuadorean government to accept that getting rid of FARC VITs (very important terrorist) is a good thing. It has not been mention the amount of time that the Ecuadorian Armed Forces took to respond. Several hours went by before a “rescue” team was mobilized.

Now the Ecuadorean government claims that Ecuador has been violated. This seems to be a smoke screen to cover what is really going on. Correa has not deliver on a single campaign promise. This is looking more and more like a Bucaram style of presidency. At the end we might see Quito’s population raise against the government (president) and videos of the president throwing bags of money (literally) into a limo to escape the country. This really happened. I was there when the population of Quito marched against Bucaram.

Contrary to popular believe, government overthrows are easier than they look. The army is (usually) on the citizen’s side. They, however, need to put up the show by firing gun shots into the air and barricading protesters with tear gas. That happens for the TV cameras. At night you see the line of (milicos) army folk carrying their guns and making sure the protesters do no get into the Governmental Palace (yes, we still call it a palace). The real overthrow happens within the Palace. The army usually needs to take a stance and pressure the President to step down.

I am not a big fan of the Ecuadorean media either, due to its lack of critical thinking and willingness to get involved in the same type of dirty tricks of the reach and wealthy - who happen to also run the government in Ecuador. The quote above was simple reported by www.elcomercio.com as if it was an advertisement. No context, no commentary. Simply printed words.

Also, one thing that puzzled my mind. What is with American-Educated ex-presidents and corruption?

Rafael Correa University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Alfredo Palacio - Case Western Reserve University
Jamil Mahuad - Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He lectures there now.

Make your own conclusions:

1. Colombia kills #2 terrorist and drug lord, Reyes. Reportedly killed in Ecuador.

2. Venezuela’s Chavez warns Colombia not to attempt anything like that in Venezuelan territory, or else! (Why?)
+ Venezuela’s Chavez calls the incursion “cowardly” and coldly calculated.
How else can you win against cowards and cold blooded terrorists?

3. Ecuador’s Correa removes Ecuador’s ambassador from Colombia, citing a Colombian incursion into Ecuador. (Why?)
+ Correa takes a stance that does not make sense at this point. Why would the Ecuadorian president remove the ambassador
to Colombia, unless… he has something to hide.
+ At this point this mess just does not make sense. Totally lost! There is no apparent motive for the senseless escalation
of tensions between these three countries.

4. Ecuador “rescues” three guerrillas from the border and takes them to the capital Quito (of all places) to be hospitalized.
+ That’s right - take the terrorists to the capital and give them health care. Make sure they get to Quito safe as they are
VITs (very important terrorists).

5. Ecuador sends troops to the border (why, Correa, why?)

6. Colombian General Naranjo announces that a document of 01/18/2008 from Raul Reyes’ computer about Gustavo Larrea.
+ Larrea wants to formalize the relationships with the FARC.
+ Larrea communicates that Ecuador requires support from the FARC regarding the release of FARC prisoners to the president
Correa so that Correa’s political profile can raise across South America.

So - what have you learned?

If you are supporting the FARC (Ecuador’s President) make sure not to jump the gun when claiming another country has invaded your precious inhabited northern border to kill the #2 VIT (Very imporant terrorist).

If you claim to be the “liberator of South America” (Chavez), make sure you don’t obliterate your relationship with the folks that carry the guns in your country (military) as you might actually need them to start a revolution.

If you don’t know what the FARC latest debacle is, you were probably at TED, trying to save the world

Several supporting links and videos:

Satan’s Poop A great blog post about the current situation.

Venezuela News and Views From the Venezuelan-Colombian border.

Facebook group - A Venzuela without Chavez (3,0267 members at the time of this writing)

One million voices against the FARC Facebook group (323,000+ at the time of this post)

Links to the documents released by the Colombian General

Document 1
Document 2

Colombian General releases documents:

My take on it?

Chavez will continue the bickering until he alienates the Venezuelan armed forces further. The Venezuelan army will not support Chavez’s astray Bolivarian dreams of a unified SouthAmerica. Chavez will box himself and isolate Venezuela from teh political arena and will continue to buy friends until his friends have enough political clout and he is not needed anymore. Ecuador will put his President inline either through a military coup or a citizen driven government overthrow. Sadly, this is normal in Ecuador and the Ecuadorean people will put another incompetent, uneducated, self-serving, power-hungry leader in power that will promise the world and years later will steal from the country again.

From the U.S. side, they will not get involved, unless Bush wants to make one last statement before the term is over. Hopefully that will not be the case and we will see the the issue being dealt with by a competent President (hopefully Obama).

The cycle is a self-fulfilling prophecy of Governmental mismanagement and anti-US sentiment that at the end of the day serves no one but (ironically) the United States by giving it more leverage over under developed countries.