Building A Virtual Reality Social Network For Digital Nomads

Being a digital nomad, remote employee or perpetual traveller creates as many problems as it solves. Swapping the stability of the office and home environment for a life of travel and adventure on the road also swaps the stability of a supportive, social circle of friends and growth for a multitude of single serving friends, shallow Tinder encounters and continual acquaintance re-engagement. I’ve forgotten your name already but will remember it next time when I feel guilty about it, promise. Another day, another apartment, everything changes, when you live out of a bag, minimalism is key. No posters, no art, no decorations, no books, Kindle is king. Everything becomes digital. Why even have a backup hdd when you have the almighty cloud. #nobaggage.

Can I Backup My Friends In To The Cloud

I stay connected to people meaningful to me, all around the world, through the Internet, many of which I have not seen for 4 or more years now. My monkey sphere is a fixed size, my friendship and acquaintance network is not and is maintained through a series of ‘likes’ on Facebook and Instagram. I can’t talk to all the people I want to talk to and can’t say all the things I want to say but I do my best, giving just a thumbs up and a ‘congratulations ?’ to the people who have made massive impacts on my life on their most important life events, with complete sincerity and regretful absence.

What Has The Internet Ever Done For Us?

The Internet has revolutionised the way we communicate and interact with each other. Social networks, Facebook, Instagram; video calls, Skype, Facetime; collaborative suites, Slack, Hipchat. We can communicate, present and share ideas with someone on the other side of the world almost as easily as if they were in the same room. We can even play games, real time and turn based, with friends remotely, PS4 and XBox even insist on it now with more games featuring network play than multiplayer modes.

Digital Rights Management almost lets us own things, almost. Although Kindle owners know the hard truth that Amazon can just pull books away from you that you have paid for if Amazon have a dispute with the publishing house as a lesson to the publisher, and Apple owners know the hard truth that for some reason they now have an aurally offensive U2 album in their collection thats not entirely easy to get rid of. DRM isn’t so much ownership as it is a license to use.

Since DRM, Blockchain technology has come along and created real ownership. With Bitcoin you can own digital money but with Ethereum you can now really own digital assets. Digital books, digital music, digital art, pure ownership can be tracked on the Ethereum network, changing the way we think about ownership and assets.

We Are simulations living in a virtual realm, says Elon Musk

Virtual Home Sweet Home

Combining everything we’ve talked about so far, the social and material challenges that digital nomads face, the impact on social interactions and communication thanks to the internet and the concept of real, asset ownership on a blockchain, a potential solution or at least combination of ideas is taking off with a project called Decentraland.

Decentraland is a Virtual Reality world, similar in scope to Second Life, but with all ownership of virtual assets existing on a blockchain, so they cannot be taken away from you and with all of the technology running the platform decentralised and open source, so the platform can not be turned off and with 0 barrier to entry, so it will go viral.

Please let that sink in.

You actually own all your things in the world, your land, your house, your avatar’s clothes, etc, everything that is yours you own.

You cannot turn Decentraland off. Anything created, your house, your land, will persist forever on the IPFS network and the entire platform is built on open standards and with an open source license. Decentraland is censorship resistant.

Decentraland will be exponentially viral. The client uses WebVR/WebGL as a minimum, an open standard supported by all web browsers and each area is directly addressable via an HTTPS URL. This means I can share my location with you on Facebook with a link, the same way you might share a blog article, and you can click it and come hang out with me. There is 0 barrier to adoption. Users will be able to build VR businesses (Second Life had an economy of over $3billion) and use Facebook or other online marketing techniques to drive traffic to their virtual business presence.

Virtual Ownership

Anyone who has enjoyed playing the Sims will love Decentraland, you can create your avatar, dress it, make it an expression of yourself or whoever you want it to be, you will own it’s outfits, jewellery, everything.

For crypto collectors, your house can also be an extension of your personality. You will be able to acquire furniture, art and decorate it to your hearts content. Creating a crypto demonstration of wealth or a relaxing, tranquil Ubud-esque yoga haven depending on what you want it to be.

Virtual Interaction

My main interest is in the virtual interactivity. I hope Decentraland becomes a place where I can regularly meet and socialise with people in VR as I travel, people I already know and new people as well. The current user base is a crossover demographic between crypto enthusiasts and VR enthusiasts so it’s a bit of a bubble, but with the VR adoption rates becoming main stream and the 100% accessible direction Decentraland is heading in, I’m excited for the number of people who can get involved and the kind of people I might meet in there.

Getting Involved

I’ve already bought some large areas of land with which I’m going to experiment with some VR business ideas and create a VR mastermind retreat, a virtual Necker Island if you will and I’ve had the great fortune to already meet experienced entrepreneurs and VR enthusiasts like Carl Fravel, so early involvement is already paying off.

Decentraland has just reopened its’ LAND marketplace so anyone with an interest can now buy their own parcel of LAND in the world and join in.

You do need, at the moment, a bit of tech-fu to develop your land but developer tools are now available here, so you can create 3D models in Blender or 3DSmax and upload them to your LAND!

6 Tips To Help You Read More Books

I’ve been lucky in that I’ve always enjoyed reading. My earliest memories are of consistently getting in trouble as a child due to reading Terry Pratchett or Fighting Fantasy at night, it’s always something I enjoyed but ended up getting sidelined shortly after I turned 25 when I become a jaded, adult with a career.

Since leaving the UK I’ve become an avid reader again as it’s one of the best ways to discover new experiences and perspectives on life as well as engage the mind and reduce stress. Reading is my meditation. It’s New Years Day, 2018, and the end of a cycle which is always a good time for reflection, here’s a short list of some of the observations I’ve made looking back over the last 4 years of my reading habit!

1) Always Carry A Book With You

There’s a saying in photography circles, the best camera is the one you have with you and the same philosophy applies to books, if you always have a book to hand you will always have something to read. I don’t have the luxury of a local library or the ability to buy and own real paper books but I am fortunate enough to have both an iPad and an iPhone letting me access the huge Amazon Kindle library with the ability to sync between devices! Now wherever I am, I can always reach in to my pocket and read something with no excuses, and I find reading far more valuable than checking Facebook in my downtime.

2) Form A Regular Habit

I’m a big fan of routine, it helps get things done and having a routine for reading is no exception! In Phuket I’d always read whilst eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. More recently I’ve been getting in to Starbucks when it opens at 7am and then reading until 8am when I go to the gym, getting in 7 hours of reading a week. This blog post was actually inspired by reading in Starbucks earlier this morning and reflecting on how lucky I am to be able to do that each day.

3) Surround Yourself With People Who Read

They say you are the sum of your 5 closest friends and by surrounding yourself with people who share the same values as you do, it will rub off. Everyone I know is always reading and always talking about the books they have read, making recommendations and sharing their conclusions. Being in an environment like this is motivating and inspiring. It really helps to find your tribe that will let you grow and flourish.

4) Create A Reading List

If you have a list of books you want to read, you will always have something to read, no excuses. By creating a reading list, either on Good Reads, Kindle, your notepad etc you will never be stuck with out a book. When doing anything it’s always a good idea to remove as many obstacles and unknowns as possible from your path so by being prepared, when you finish your current book there is nothing stopping you from starting a new one! My reading list has a habit of growing faster than I can keep up though, which just motivates me to read more.

5) It’s OK To Stop Reading A Book You Don’t Like

Until recently I’d never given up on a book, anything I’d started I read through to the end. That is until I picked up How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale by Jenna Jameson. Reading that felt like a painful chore where every line put me to sleep. At first I felt obligated to finish it, I’ve never stopped a book half way through before, if I stopped then I’ve failed this challenge… But why should reading be a challenge? Why should you be forced to continue something you aren’t enjoying? For me reading is a fun activity where I get to relax, be entertained, learn and grow. If a book isn’t ticking your boxes it’s ok to put it down and pick up another. This isn’t University, there’s no required reading, just because someone else likes or recommends something doesn’t mean you have to.

6) Choose Topics You Will Enjoy

It’s always best to front load yourself for success as much as possible. If you want to read more books, choose books, topics and ideas that you’re interested in, passionate about and will enjoy, that way reading will be a pleasant and rewarding experience. When you do have a reading routine in place though, make sure to test yourself with new ideas from time to time to push your boundaries! I know I love reading about trashy thrillers or anything about psychology and evolution so anything by Dan Brown or Richard Dawkins will be read on release! Reading about money or a biography though was never something I thought would interest me so I shied away from them. I’m surprised to say that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story and Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad are the two best books I read in 2017. In fact I wish I could have read Rich Dad Poor Dad 18 years ago!

These are the 6 main things that help me continue reading. I have tried to set goals like read 52 books in a year and I’ve tried to listen to audiobooks and they didn’t really work for me. Blogging about the books I’m reading has slowed down because I’m not able to articulate the benefits of the book sufficiently and as an exercise in formalising my notes to solidify my understanding of the book’s topics, my approach is sorely lacking. I want to work on that in 2018.

What do you guys do that help you to read more?

Wishful Drinking – Carrie Fisher

I was legitimately bummed out when Carrie died, I spent December bouncing between Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok, ultimately spending Christmas itself in Bangkok after watching Rogue One in Ho Chi Minh City!

The amusingly named memoir is fun to read, giving a glimpse in to Carrie’s Hollywood upbringing and partying antics, written in a kind of jovial, this happened, deal with it kind of manner.

Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life – Neil Strauss

I read this book because a group of us were moving to China, just as Trump was getting voted in to be President of the USA and various military exercises(?) were taking place by both America and China that seemed .. awkward. What would we do if something happened? Where would we go? How would we get there? I didn’t know what I didn’t know and now after reading this book I now know a little bit more about what I still don’t know!

Like The Game, the book documents a year or so in Neil’s life as he decides to become prepared for an emergency, engaging in escape and evasion courses, survival courses, shooting courses and meeting people who have ‘flags’ in multiple countries and passports, reading this book alone won’t prepare you for anything but it gives some interesting ideas and directions that you might want to head in if any of these issues are a concern for you, or just of interest.

Whilst our paranoia about China turned out to be unfounded, the Chinese absolutely LOVE Trump and compare him to Chairman Mao… It’s a good read about getting prepared whilst also skipping aside any politics or opinions on whether getting prepared is actually necessary.

The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work – Scott Berkun

The Year Without Pants is an insightful look in to Scott’s year working as a team lead for WordPress and Automattic’s company culture that allows remote work. What’s most interesting about it, is the culture works! Running a remote team successfully can be incredibly difficult at scale. Their culture was unconventional, employees are independent, working from wherever they wished and most interestingly, rarely using email to communicate.

The book makes a great case for why remote work can work, especially if you consider how much time at a traditional workplace is spent purely through the computer. I know for myself I could actually spend days during a busy project not speaking to a single soul in my office and just working through the day on my computer and collaborating with the team on IRC and Skype whilst handling tickets in Jira. The principle is sound and in my opinion the things that make it a success or not are employee commitment and competence and the company culture and processes. A remote team with a paranoid and suspicious company culture will never work.

Automatic doesn’t make you run the Google gauntlet of trick questions, e.g. why manhole covers are round or how to upgrade SSHd on servers on the moon but instead hires you by trial to tackle a simple project and work on real things. As an approach this is great and something I experienced myself whilst “interviewing” for a company in Australia and then blockchain.info. It’s a great way to see if people can actually do the job or not, I’m a big fan of hiring people that can do the work, whilst it’s a nice idea to hire people with the capacity to learn what you’re already doing it’s a great idea to bring people on who already know what they are doing and can help you improve what’s already been done!

What is important to note is that whilst Automattic has a remote culture, they also have a head office in San Francisco and regular company meetings, in real life, where all employees turn up and work together in the same place. Reading the book suggested a culture of competent people, all part of the same team, who wanted to be there, working together to solve problems they believe in. This culture was also always there from the start, with the Founder, not shoe-horned in later.

I took so many notes from this book that writing them up would have yielded a book of a similar size and scope. Scott Berkun is ex-Microsoft having worked on Internet Explorer, he knows what he’s doing and is able to succinctly put it in to words. I think that is also why Automattic’s culture of remote work, works. Put the right people in the right place doing the right thing!

git push matching vs simple

Recently I built some new infrastructure and started to see messages like this in my Git environments.

Git 2.0 from 'matching' to 'simple'. To squelch this message
and maintain the current behavior after the default changes, use:

git config --global push.default matching

To squelch this message and adopt the new behavior now, use:

git config --global push.default simple

Decisions, decisions. What exactly is the difference between matching and simple Git push?

git push matching vs simple

From the documentation

push.default defines the action git push should take if no refspec is explicitly given. Different values are well-suited for specific workflows; for instance, in a purely central workflow (i.e. the fetch source is equal to the push destination), upstream is probably what you want. Possible values are:

  • nothing – do not push anything (error out) unless a refspec is explicitly given. This is primarily meant for people who want to avoid mistakes by always being explicit.
  • current – push the current branch to update a branch with the same name on the receiving end. Works in both central and non-central workflows.
  • upstream – push the current branch back to the branch whose changes are usually integrated into the current branch (which is called @{upstream}). This mode only makes sense if you are pushing to the same repository you would normally pull from (i.e. central workflow).
  • simple – in centralized workflow, work like upstream with an added safety to refuse to push if the upstream branch’s name is different from the local one. When pushing to a remote that is different from the remote you normally pull from, work as current. This is the safest option and is suited for beginners. This mode has become the default in Git 2.0.
  • matching – push all branches having the same name on both ends. This makes the repository you are pushing to remember the set of branches that will be pushed out (e.g. if you always push maint and master there and no other branches, the repository you push to will have these two branches, and your local maint and master will be pushed there). To use this mode effectively, you have to make sure all the branches you would push out are ready to be pushed out before running git push, as the whole point of this mode is to allow you to push all of the branches in one go. If you usually finish work on only one branch and push out the result, while other branches are unfinished, this mode is not for you. Also this mode is not suitable for pushing into a shared central repository, as other people may add new branches there, or update the tip of existing branches outside your control. This used to be the default, but not since Git 2.0 (simple is the new default).

What is the difference between push.default matching and simple

In short, matching forces you to keep remote and local branches in sync, with the same names at all time. Simple lets you have different branch names and doesn’t force you to push all the branches as the same time. For me simple is a lot more, er, simpler, and safe and reflects the way I work better. The choice is easy.

git config --global push.default simple

docker: Error response from daemon: Cannot link to /compose_mysql_1, as it does not belong to the default network.

I’ve been doing a lot of work with Docker recently, infact this website, Remote CTO, is currently running in a Docker container, well 3, one for Nginx, one for PHP-FPM and one for MySQL. Soon there might be a fourth, for either Redis or Memcache, I haven’t decided yet!

I do a lot of cool stuff at the command line. e.g using WP-CLI to manage my WordPress installations.

[email protected] /home/remotecto/www # docker run -it --link compose_mysql_1:mysql -v /home/remotecto/www/remotecto:/var/www/html hub.remotecto.com/wp-cli wp plugin install stops-core-theme-and-plugin-updates --activate

docker: Error response from daemon: Cannot link to /compose_mysql_1, as it does not belong to the default network.

docker: Error response from daemon: Cannot link to /compose_mysql_1, as it does not belong to the default network.

As you can see I’m manipulating a Docker container that’s being managed through docker-compose with the docker command line tool, and it’s throwing an error about not being able to talk to my MySQL instance even though I’ve linked it.

The fix for this error is really simple, basically docker supports multiple networks, and for security and manageability docker-compose like’s to run it’s containers on it’s own network rather than Docker’s default network. All we need to do is to tell docker to use docker-composer’s network instead.

Finding Docker Compose’ Network

We can list all the networks with the command docker network ls

[email protected] /home/remotecto/www # docker network ls
NETWORK ID          NAME                DRIVER              SCOPE
132b9df21601        bridge              bridge              local               
e58d477d8930        compose_default     bridge              local               
2fbd2575b5bd        host                host                local               
1d2fb0535202        none                null                local

In this instance, docker-compose created a nicely named network, compose_default and we can simply pass that to the docker command using the –net flags.

[email protected] /home/remotecto/www # docker run -it --link compose_mysql_1:mysql --net compose_default -v /home/remotecto/www/remotecto:/var/www/html hub.remotecto.com/wp-cli wp plugin install stops-core-theme-and-plugin-updates --activate

Installing Easy Updates Manager (6.2.9)
Downloading install package from https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/stops-core-theme-and-plugin-updates.6.2.9.zip...
Unpacking the package...
Installing the plugin...
Plugin installed successfully.
Activating 'stops-core-theme-and-plugin-updates'...
Plugin 'stops-core-theme-and-plugin-updates' activated.
Success: Installed 1 of 1 plugins.

And that is how you solve docker: Error response from daemon: Cannot link to /compose_mysql_1, as it does not belong to the default network.

Simply specify the correct Docker network when performing the action!

Docker-Compose Network Naming Convention

When using docker-compose your network name is decided based on the docker-compose “project name”, which is based on the name of the directory it lives in. You can override the project name with either the –project-name flag or the COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME environment variable. My docker-compose.yml file lives in a directory called compose which is why docker-compose picked compose-default when creating the running container instances!

Peter Diamandis – Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World

Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler was fantastic to read after Exponential Organizations and Abundance. If Exponential Organizations discussed the problems and Abundance discussed the solutions, Bold can be thought of as discussing the implementation!

The world’s biggest problems = biggest business opportunities.

Like the previous 2 books, Bold is incredibly optimistic about the future. The first section discusses the 6 ‘D’s of exponentials

  • Digitalisation
  • Deception
  • Disruption
  • Demonetisation
  • Dematerialisation
  • Democratisation

Anything that becomes digitised, e.g. biology, medicine, manufacturing can then leverage Moore’s law of exponentially increasing computational power.

The second chapter is about the democratisation of power, essentially how things that were once the forte of big governments are now attainable by companies and individuals. Where as once manufacturing plastics was a complicated process, only possible with bulk manufacture, the advent of 3D printing now offers affordable manufacture-on-demand services, anywhere in the world.

Whilst once space flight was only possible for organisations the size of NASA, now many much smaller organisations with just a handful of members/employees are putting rockets in to space whilst striving to win an X-Prize!

Section 2 then discusses mindset, opening strong with a discussion about basic income. Once everyone is paid enough so all their basic needs are met, intrinsic rewards that meet your emotional satisfactions become far more important than financial rewards.

Encouraging creative and passionate minds becomes a problem in itself.

Peter’s Laws™ The Creed of the Persistent and Passionate Mind

  1. If anything can go wrong, fix it! (To hell with Murphy!)
  2. When given a choice—take both!
  3. Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
  4. Start at the top, then work your way up.
  5. Do it by the book . . . but be the author!
  6. When forced to compromise, ask for more.
  7. If you can’t win, change the rules.
  8. If you can’t change the rules, then ignore them.
  9. Perfection is not optional.
  10. When faced without a challenge—make one.
  11. No simply means begin one level higher.
  12. Don’t walk when you can run.
  13. When in doubt: THINK!
  14. Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.
  15. The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
  16. The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.
  17. The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!
  18. The ratio of something to nothing is infinite.
  19. You get what you incentivize.
  20. If you think it is impossible, then it is for you.
  21. An expert is someone who can tell you exactly how something can’t be done.
  22. The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.
  23. If it was easy, it would have been done already.
  24. Without a target you’ll miss it every time.
  25. Fail early, fail often, fail forward!
  26. If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
  27. The world’s most precious resource is the persistent and passionate human mind.
  28. Bureaucracy is an obstacle to be conquered with persistence, confidence, and a bulldozer when necessary.

The 3rd and final section is about implementation using the crowd! i.e. the billions of people across the world looking for things to do! This was quite nice to read as it’s how I personally run my businesses and solve my problems.

By leveraging services like Upwork it’s possible to find affordable, talented people to solve problems all over the world. Other services like 99Designs or Tongal can be used to run competitions to source creative works.

If you genuinely have that one great idea, but are struggling to take it to the next level, crowdfunding can be an option, if you have the right pitch for the right audience. Whether it’s donation based, microlending, equity sales or even prepurchase, sites like Kiva, GlobalGiving and CrowdFunder can help people raise money.

This book is a must read for anyone, if you’re already leveraging the Internet to run your online business you are probably implementing a lot of these techniques and practices anyway so it’s good to be reassured by the inventor of Paypal that you’re doing the right thing! If you’re just starting out (and even if you’re an old hand) you will get great exposure to new ideas that can help you get moving.

Peter Diamandis – Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think

Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think by Peter Diamandis is a fantastic, tackling the world’s largest and most important problems such as overpopulation, food, water, energy, education, health care and freedom.

This is probably the most optimistic book I’ve ever read.

In today’s hyperlinked world, solving problems anywhere, solves problems everywhere.

Abundance is a great follow up to Exponential Organizations as a lot of the techniques covered to solve the worlds largest problems involve exponential thinking as the human race is growing exponentially.

if you can’t be yourself, it’s hard to know yourself, and if you don’t now yourself, how can you ever tap into your true potential?

Essentially the book applies exponential principles to the different exponential problems we face throughout the world and how they will be used to create a world of abundance for everyone.

Using networks and sensors to plot, track and co-ordinate everything can lead to increased efficiency and much less waste making more resources of every type readily available.

Robotics is automating manual processes, driving costs down whilst creating more at a higher quality with less defects.

Technology is shrinking in size and cost exponentially, just look at how mobile phones have changed in the last 10 years and see how that is effecting medical equipment. I already have a small blood sugar monitor that fits in my pocket, with a tiny pool of blood I can immediately tell my blood glucose levels, extrapolate that out and soon we’ll have ubiquitous devices that can detect viruses, cancers and all manner of diseases for the cost of a cup of coffee. Solving logistical problems with drones will then be able to get this technology to anyone in the world who will need it.

The exponential solutions to these big problems are also massive business opportunities so trying to solve them could be a massive economic opportunity.

I love reading as it exposes me to new ideas and the ideas in this book are incredible, ambitious, optimistic and inspiring, so I definitely recommend it.

Salim Ismail‎ – Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)

Salim Ismail‎ – Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, cheaper than yours (and what to do about it) is the first of 3 books I’ve read recently, all stemming from Singularity University, and was full of big thinking around what exponential organisations are and case studies of how some were formed, how they scaled and problems that they went on to solve.

I don’t have an MBA in business, I’m a computer nerd who’s worked with successful startups and large enterprise companies, so I still have a lot to learn and this book filled a few gaps with solid explanations. e.g. obviously I’ve been exposed to the waterfall model of software development (since 1997..) but wasn’t aware of the formal New Product Development process, or NPD, which includes the following steps:

  1. Idea generation
  2. Idea screening
  3. Concept development and testing
  4. Business analysis
  5. Beta and market testing
  6. Technical implementation
  7. Commercialisation
  8. New product pricing

Whilst basically being the waterfall approach I learned a long time ago, it’s nice to experience formalised positive reinforcement and see it written down and discussed in an interesting manner.

Entrepreneurial success rarely comes from the idea. Instead, it comes from the founding team’s never-say-due attitude and relentless execution. Those who really want something will find options.

One of the biggest takeaways from the book covered something I’ve always been curious about for a while, how to build business models around products that are given away for free. I registered https://www.idimmu.net November 2005 and every time I had to use the Internet to solve a work related problem, I blogged about it. Over the years I engaged with other Linux bloggers and we all faced a similar problem, how to monetise a blog based around freely available information? Everyone in the industry who is good is self taught based on other people’s blogs and white papers, you don’t generally want to hire someone with an RHCE.. This book covers how to build an exponential organisation around free information.

  1. Immediacy: Immediacy is the reason people order in advance on Amazon or attend the theatre on opening night. Being the first to know about or experience something has intrinsic cultural, social and even commercial value. In short: time confers privilege.
  2. Personalisation: Having a product or service customised just for you not only gives added value in terms of quality of experience and ease-of-use or functionality, it also creates “stickiness”, as both parties are invested in the process.
  3. Interpretation: Even if the product or service is free, there is still considerable added value to any service that can help shorten the learning curve to using it.
  4. Authenticity: Added value comes from a guarantee that the product or service is real and safe.
  5. Accessibility: Ownership requires management and maintenance. In an era where we own hundreds of apps on several platforms, any service that helps us organise everything and improve our ability to find what we need quickly is of particular value.
  6. Embodiment: Digital information has no “body”, no physical form, until we give it one – high definition, 3D, a movie screen, a smartphone. In 1997 I paid for RedHat CDs even though it was free to download as it was more convenient than my 33.6kbps modem 😉
  7. Patronage: Some fans want to pay and will if given an easy way to do so and the amount is reasonable. I personally will buy limited edition vinyl of an album if I love it, despite services like Youtube or Spotify offering virtual, and often cheaper, alternatives.
  8. Findability: Creative works have no value if no one can access them, so putting yourself out there on effective channels and digital platforms so your great content can be found has considerable value in itself. Some of the amazing photographers in Asia who just use Facebook for marketing need to understand this as it took me 9 months to find them and that was only through word of mouth.

I find blogging about books I have read helps the reflection and understanding, and if I could sit here listing all the takeaways I got from Exponential Organizations I’d just end up writing another book.