Culture

Zero1 Biennial Review

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So I attended the Zero1 Biennial main exhibit.  If you’re not familiar with it, its an every-two year exhibit run by the Zero1 network a group that promotes arts in Silicon Valley.  The theme this year was “Seeking Silicon Valley”, so the theme was even more techno-artistic.

The short theme of my review?  Go, both as a geek and as a progeek.  But if you want more details . . .

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Brands and Choice

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Ever go to the Supermarket and see huge varieties of some simple products?  Which do you buy?

Inevitably, we tend to go with a simple choice.  One we know; a brand we like.

One of the powers of brands is that with many choices, they narrow them for us quickly.

Brands help us make a choice – even if the choice is no.  A good branding expert accepts that, because the “yes” is so powerful.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Why Kickstarter Had To Get More Real

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Well, you probably saw it but Kickstarter is changing their rules on hardware and people have to get real:

  • Risks and challenges must be stated and how they’ll be overcome.
  • Hardware must do what it says it can do, or you can only show what it currently can do.
  • There’s a crackdown on photorealistic portrayals.
  • Changes “bulk” donor benefits (sometimes infamous as appealing to resellers)

First, let me be honest in my assessments – I think the Ouya is part of this.  I trust the Ouya product (in fact I shelled out a $100 donation and if you know me, then you know how hard it is to get me to part with money).  But there’s been rumblings here and there on how it could have been a scam and how others could scam people in similar ways.  The Ouya could be a success that later breaks Kickstarter.

However this is also just part of being more realistic – Kickstarter is pretty successful, and that means they want to be realistic and continue that success.

Success, good publicity, big scores is not the “end” of any venture like Kickstarter.  No one starts with the perfect business model, and even if they somehow did, the changes in the world would make it imperfect in time.  So even big popular hits like Kickstarter have to change.

The lessons to take away from this are:

  • Even successes have to adapt.
  • Kickstarter (and it’s imitators) will doubtlessly keep changing rules – so if you’re using it for your career or projects, remember that.
  • This is a good bit of “ammo” to use at work to show a company getting realistic and changing rules.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.