In a previous blog I attributed iTune’s success to the convenience of its ecosystem.  But is the convenience of music streaming a threat to iTunes’ dominance? Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes reported in a My Tech Essentials profile that he couldn’t live without two music technologies that reflect perhaps the next evolution in the convenience of music: Spotify Premium and a Sonos speaker system. To see what the fuss was all about, I asked my wife for the Sonos system as a birthday present and I took advantage of the Spotify 30 day free trial. Although each of the Sonos system and Spotify separately facilitates convenience, I consider them together. I had this vision of sitting in my screen porch and listening to whatever in the world I want to listen to, on demand.  I have no wires on the porch to connect to my home entertainment system, and no hardware for listening, so this plan appeared to be the best option. 

First I set up the Sonos system.   It was incredibly easy. Setup requires a quick download and then pushing buttons on a Bridge that ties into your router and a button on your Sonos Component, in this case a Play5 that my wife bought at Costco.  For a moment I couldn’t find the button on the Play 5, until I realized it was upside down… Did you realize the word “SONOS” looks the same upside down?  Once I turned it over I finished setup in minutes.  I have been using the free Spotify for months and raved about it in a blog in the Saporta Report.   To me, the main advantage of Premium Spotify, aside from not having to listen to ads every 2 or 3 songs, is that it can be used on multiple devices to listen to whatever in the world you want to listen to, on demand.  (I haven’t tried using it to make playlists yet.) So I can access Spotify using my iPad Mini (or iPad or iPhone) to play music through Sonos. I have also been using Spotify on my iPhone (without Sonos) as an alternative to my music.

Coordinated Care Starts with Logistics Strategy

Hospitals today have their pick of challenges to choose from – improving workflow, increasing patient satisfaction, maximizing limited resources, moving to a value-based reimbursement model … the list could go on and on. At the core of many of these concerns lie the concepts of communication, efficiency and effectiveness.

While industry thought leaders speak to the issues of individual healthcare facilities operating in their own data silos, not much attention has been paid to the fact that even  departments within a single facility operate in these same types of silos. Departments that don’t communicate effectively and efficiently with each other will ultimately preclude the hospital from overcoming any of the challenges above. And that is where the concept of logistics for healthcare comes in.

The Unofficial Launch of Equity Crowdfunding in Georgia
 On Wednesday I attended the Georgia Crowdfunding event emceed by local technology impresario Knox Massey and held by the TAG Corporate Development Society.  A record crowd of 165 celebrated the opportunities surrounding equity crowdfunding in the State.  The event’s panel included Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp and Secretary of State General Counsel Vincent Russo, who instigated the Invest Georgia Exemption (IGE) that makes equity crowdfunding possible in the State. (Georgia is one of only two states that permit intrastate equity crowdfunding.)  Called “progressive” for his role in Georgia crowdfunding, Secretary Kemp joked that this was a label that Republicans like himself generally tried to avoid.

Sonos, Spotify and the Tenth Anniversary of the iTunes Store: Part 1

April 28, 2013 marked the tenth anniversary of Apple’s opening of the iTunes Store. iTunes is now the most popular music vendor in the world, having sold 25 billion songs. The Store’s anniversary caused me to take another look at the role of convenience in the development of formats for recorded music, a topic I have written about in my Saporta Report blogs.  I contend that iTunes succeeded because the iTunes system provided a convenient way of organizing and storing digital music, the iTunes Store provided a convenient way to buy digital music and the iPod (and later the iPhone) provided a convenient way to play digital music.

For me the discussion begins in the 1960s, when vinyl ruled in two formats, LPs and 45s.  Hobbyists desiring to reproduce recordings used reel-to-reel tapes.  In response to a desire for a more portable (albeit lower fidelity) format, 8 Tracks and cassette tapes were developed.  Their portability and stability made it possible to include tape players in car stereo systems.   At the time (and for decades to come), sound quality generally eclipsed video quality.  Almost everyone had good stereos.  Older audiophile quality stereos still sound good, but try looking at a CRT television from the 60s or 70s.  Until MP3 players dominated the scene, listening to music was often a communal experience. Music filled the room, a product of elaborate stereo systems in huge racks accommodating a turntable, preamp, amp, tuner, tape player and even equalizer.  And the speakers were often huge as well.  It was easier to listen to the stereo than watch TV, given that screen quality and size were lacking.

Equity Crowdfunding is Legal After All…In Georgia

Last week I compared waiting for the SEC to adopt crowdfunding regulations to waiting for State ratification of the repeal of Prohibition.  Today’s intermediaries, jockeying to launch the first JOBS Act crowdfunding, remind me of the Prohibition-era trucks (filled with liquor) lined up at the Canadian border, chomping at the bit to be the first to import liquor into the US.  The conclusion to the crowdfunding story should be predictable.  (It’s gonna happen, and the SEC’s regulations are going to be even more burdensome than the JOBS Act provisions themselves.) The only question is timing, right? But maybe that’s not how the story ends, after all. Equity crowdfunding is legal in Georgia already.  The rules are much more manageable than the existing requirements of the JOBS Act, even before additional limitations are imposed by the SEC.  And other States are starting to notice crowdfunding in Georgia.  Could it be that intrastate equity crowdfunding will eclipse JOBS Act crowdfunding?

Facilities Professionals and Security
My involvement in the 2013 Cyber Attack & Business Continuity Simulation was full of eye-opening surprises. I have always known that an organization's physical facilities are an important and valuable asset that needs to be managed. In fact, I have dedicated my career to it. But what my participation as an on-stage role player in "the Simulation" made very clear was the involvement of facilities personnel in cybersecurity.

The Simulation featured two different angles on cyber security. The distinction is somewhat subtle but very important, especially to facilities professionals. The first was a cyber attack and the second was an attack on cyber. The first thing is what anti-hacking experts call an Advanced Persistent Threat attack. It was a detailed and specialized cyber attack which occurred in a secure collaboration area long before the actual Simulation. It was of no concern to facilities professionals but it was, nonetheless, an important precursor event.