by Aner Ravon
Confession: this is my first ever blog entry so please be gentle. Yes, I know, I missed the boat by an ocean. What can I say though, the whole thing looked horribly stupid when it started. There are so many hours per day and most things people say are simply not that interesting. Still, despite my misanthropic original reservations, reality has proven me so wrong I finally feel ready to admit. Moreover: Blogs ARE journalism. Blogs bring the power back to the people. Blogs get the important news out fast and uncensored. Forget about feeding the hungry mouths of the information chain. Forget about the thought police – just talk! Now THAT I totally identify with.
Before I started writing, I promised myself I would NOT write about my family (my lovely wife Iris and my adorable 1 year old son, Omer), my age complex (34 going on 35 like a chu chu train) my favorite basketball team (NY Knicks, oh what horror!) or about admired tech-financial role models (Aaron Spelling if I must be honest). So I won’t.
This blog is about convergence, because this is what I do for a living, this is what I have trouble in explaining or in understanding and most importantly - this is where I believe my 2 cent contribution to the collective narrative may actually contribute to spiking a productive discussion.
My first encounter with convergence was in October of 1995. CNN reported that scientists have successfully “converged” a mouse with a human ear. My emotional – rational reaction has gone from shock to horror to pity to furious anger! The poor mouse! I dug the technical challenge and could tell the scientists felt very cool, but what I could NOT understand was the answer to the very simple question – why???? what the hell was this good for????
Now don’t get me wrong. Convergence is awesome because it provides us with potentially endless options. Using the internet to make international phone calls is fantastic because it reduces the prices, reduces corporate control, increases competition and most importantly bestows choice back to the end user. Camera phones are great because it’s the only way most people will always carry a camera and at almost no additional cost!
Web TV is NOT good convergence. Why would I Read emails and fight a keyboard in the living room and not relax from the challenges modern society poses 24×7x365? Isn’t there enough stress in life? Are Prozac sales down and I missed it? What is THAT good for?
So friends and fellow digital citizens – express yourselves. Do say what YOU want to see converging. What brings YOU value, Not what the big corporates try to feed you with. Because at the end of the day “for the user” is not a slogan and here is another free area where users can speak their minds.
Aner Ravon
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First of all - Great job. Looks professional, and with a lot of thought.
Now - I need to comment on the “Not write about my family”. I guess the family stories are considered boring… This does make me think about my own blog. However, at the end of the day, life cannot be just about convergence (or Israeli web 2.0 to that matter). I guess my life is too much about work anyway, so I will continue to write boring stories about my girls. Check it out: http://coheda.typepad.com/israel/my_girls/index.html
Coverage of Israeli Web 2.0 Startups…
I wanted to write a few words on the Techcrunch Lunch. First of all, it was covered nicely by Yaniv Golan and by Ouriel (among others). Also, many people read about it, as I got a lot of comments about…
Trackback 03.04.06 @ 2:24 pmThanks Danny for your comments and time. As for “Not writing about my family” - since it followed explicit information about me and my family I am sure you saw the double meaning. Families are personal and everything that’s personal is good!
03.04.06 @ 3:44 pmgreat blog.I have placed it in my favourites list. I like the emphasis on “power to the people”, and I think that the complexities of the discussion involving: convergence, corporate control and the political and common sense of individual priorities, are a great social/techno/bussiness topic.
03.05.06 @ 8:15 amBlogs bring the power back to the people. Hmmm, yes and no. I would phrase it as ‘Blogs increase the chance of bringing the power to some people’.
In a zero-power-sum world, the so-called “power” is always there, running around between people, pausing here and there. Blogs justifiably direct it to the bloggers. The more bloggers, the more directions.
Let the power be with you.
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Great initiative, and actually quite entertaining for a first attempt.
BTW - did you realize that the only web reference (until you came along) to “brooming the garden” is in an Indian sex story named My Times? (I know, googling it was kinda childish, but I had to).
03.03.06 @ 5:08 pm