They know what you bought last summer

We are all creatures of habit. I find it fascinating how much us humans depend on our habits to get through life. We don't even realize, and in the past these mundane habits had little bearing on anything or anybody else. Technology has caught up, and in the last several years something very powerful has become a possibility. Aggregation. It turns out that when you combine a whole bunch of population data together you can start to see trends and draw relationships. Target knows way more about you than you realize, and so does every other retail establishment that you give your business to. This article from the New York Times (link) is kinda long, but it is totally worth reading.

The desire to collect information on customers is not new for Target or any other large retailer, of course. For decades, Target has collected vast amounts of data on every person who regularly walks into one of its stores. Whenever possible, Target assigns each shopper a unique code — known internally as the Guest ID number — that keeps tabs on everything they buy. “If you use a credit card or a coupon, or fill out a survey, or mail in a refund, or call the customer help line, or open an e-mail we’ve sent you or visit our Web site, we’ll record it and link it to your Guest ID,” Pole said. “We want to know everything we can.”

Back in college one of my favorite class projects dealt with data envelopment analysis. Essentially the aggregation of data to create predictive models. The crux of this type of model is that it requires a ton of statistics, and naturally lends itself to something like sports. Our project was on predicting the performance of golfers based on trends in several statistics.
In the past applying these models to "normal" life was nearly impossible. The data just wasn't there. But almost 10 years later everything has changed. Our data is being collected and aggregated everywhere we go. Most of us carry around smartphones that are collecting data on us everywhere we go. The crazy thing is, nobody is spying on us or prying this data from our hands. We are all handing it over with status updates, facebook likes, and foursquare check-ins. We use plastic to pay for things, which makes it simple for business to track exactly what we are buying, as well as when and where we are buying it. All the Targets across the world talk to one another. They know where you are. It is a little scary. I might start keeping a little more cash on hand.

Reading the Internet

Over the last few years I've had this growing sense that I can never totally focus on anything. I can't describe it very well. To a certain extent I experience this at work. I'll try to get something done and the phone will ring or the email icon will pop up. However, most of the time I am able to force myself to buckle down and concentrate. Work is one thing, but I'm talking more about my personal time.

There is nothing forcing me to concentrate on a single task during my free time so I cannot do it. I can't just sit and read a book anymore. I spend my time trying to keep up with my twitter feed, or skimming internet headlines from the day. I can't even seem to sit down and watch a 2 hour movie without my iPhone in hand. It is as if the way by brain consumes and processes information has changed. I've felt this way for a while, but haven't been able to put my finger on it.  Then I read this great article by Nicholas Carr called Is Google Making Us Stupid. It does pretty decent job at making sense of the feeling I had.

Google Currents news reader

Yesterday we got an updated Flipboard that will work on the iPhone. In timely fashion today Google releases its fancy news reader known as Google Currents. So far I'm not buying it. I expected more. It isn't as pretty as I thought it would be. The Google search app on the iPad is really good and I use it all the time. I don't see where Currents fits in. From what I can tell Flipboard still blows it away if you are looking to read online content on the iPad.

The gist of Currents is simple: it’s a clean, touch-friendly way to consume your favorite blogs and news sites on your phone and/or tablet. And it looks good — much better, in fact, than most of Google’s other applications."

That quote is from the techcruch article, and I would disagree with it.  Currents promised to be those things, and that is what we expected, however I don't think the finished product delivers. Maybe they rushed it out so Flipboard didn't have a chance to lock in all those iPhone users before Google even had a chance. There is definitely a lot of room for future improvements.

Flipboard for iPhone

I've heard it was coming for a while now and today they finally released the iPhone version of one of my favorite iPad apps. Here is a quote from the blog post from Flipboard.  

The moment so many Flipboard readers have asked for is here: Now you can get Flipboard for iPhone. It’s got everything you know and love about Flipboard, but now designed especially for the way you use your iPhone."

The app looks cool for sure, however it comes nowhere close to offering the utility of the iPad app. I haven't used it a ton, so maybe I haven't seen all the cool stuff it can do. I don't find the idea of reading articles on the iPhone all that appealing. It is good to browse headlines and catch up on quick news, but I have never been a fan of reading longer content on the small screen. The cramped real-estate also takes away that cool magazine feel that the iPad app has.  Still, it is a pretty slick looking app for the iPhone; one of the prettier ones I've ever seen.  Trying to use it just like I use the iPad app probably isn't the most optimal scenario. Maybe if I keep using it I will find more utility. It seems like it might be cool for flipping through pictures. 

Phones Aren't For Talking

I was reading an article in a magazine last night and I came to a realization that most people probably understood years ago.  Phones are not for talking anymore.  As a 28 year old I am still fairly young, but I can remember very clearly the times before cell phones were so commonplace.  It doesn't seem like it should be possible, but I can remember back to before everybody had their own email address.  It hasn't been all that long ago that the only way you could communicate with somebody was to talk to him, and he had to be at his house, or you had to be standing right next to him.

Face to face conversation has always been, and always will be the most meaningful form of communication.  Now with Apple's front-facing camera on the iPhone, that experience can be somewhat duplicated on a mobile device. It still has a little ways to go. The most synchronous and pure form of communication will probably always be two people, in the same place, talking back and forth.  As a society we have always had the desire and the need to communicate at a distance. Back in the day one's options were limited.  A letter could be written, transported over several days, at which time the letter would be read and responded to.  This is one of the most asynchronous forms of communication that we could ever imagine.  In striving to shorten this gap we got the pony express to speed up the delivery of letters. Later we had the telegraph, the first form of the text message.  Then came the wonderful invention of the telephone.  This gave us instant information, and allowed humans to interact across distances in the most synchronized fashion possible.  This was such a good technology, look how long it has remained the communication medium of choice.