Gulltaggen+

http://www.gulltaggen.no

1. The WikiLeaks guy had a crowdsourced phone.

It runs Linux. And it's the first mobile device he's had in years.

You see Daniel Domscheit-Berg is concerned about privacy. He told a story so hair-raising...the hair I don't have stood on edge.

IBM helped the Nazis.

Hitler invaded Poland and how did he find the Jews? Via IBM's subsidiary there!

Countries hired IBM to do the census. So when the Nazis invaded, they just combed through the data and saw...

Even worse, IBM opened markets where they knew the Nazis were going, and even got an award from the German government.

HOW DID HE KNOW THIS?

A book, by a "New York Times" writer a decade ago.

What did that movie say, "Be afraid, be very afraid."?

You see they're building a profile on you that's never going to evaporate. Read this story from NPR wherein a reporter goes to Google and discovers they've got all her search history FOR YEARS!

"If You Think You're Anonymous Online, Think Again": http://n.pr/1gxBixp

So as you cough up info consciously and unconsciously, know that it can and will be used against you, as Daniel said, corporations have no conscience, they do what makes money, they do what's expedient. Didn't the telcos cough up data to the U.S. government?

And you think you're doing nothing wrong...

Meanwhile, while bands keep trumpeting their Kickstarter campaigns wherein they release music few want to hear and even less remember, a bunch of people pissed that Nokia dropped their independent OS took it upon themselves to raise money via crowdfunding to build their own phone.

I saw it, I used it.

I'd like to tell you it's a kludgy piece of crap, but it's impossibly thin and really cool and what I liked most is how you scroll up and down for more pages, as opposed to the common left and right.

As for apps, there are plenty, but you can always run Android's in compatibility mode.

But aren't Android apps notorious for malware?

True, which is why Daniel doesn't run any.

And that's just the point, now he's in control of his phone, not the Google/Apple. He gets to decide what information gets out.

Also, the back is removable, so people can make new ones with batteries and other features.

I'm thinking this guy is on to something. If we don't stand up for privacy now, if we don't hold corporations accountable, game over in the future.

2. The man from Google.

My problem is you're reading this on your phone.

I woke up yesterday to rain so heavy, I thought I was still going to college in Vermont. I'd forgotten how miserable it is to walk around in rain so bad your shoes get wet and wind so bad it contorts your umbrella.

You see I wanted to take public transportation. Which I did. To the Spektrum, for the first day of Gulltaggen.

And there I heard the Google guy pontificate about mobile.

Now I'd like to tell you he was unlikable, but the truth is these guys are so smart, and the ones they let out of the building are so personable, that you're drawn in.

Ian Carrington's main point?

We live in a mobile world.

I've started to realize this. On a mobile device, people judge what I write by the first few paragraphs, if not the first sentence. There's just not enough room to look down. It's nearly fruitless to include multiple topics in one missive, because many will miss them.

But that's the world we live in.

Or, as Eric Schmidt said: "If you don't have a mobile strategy, you don't have a future strategy."

Hmm...

Google pivoted in 2010. Long before the music business. The company realized we're all going to the small screen, actually multiple screens, we've got many and we want a seamless experience, which is why Google has us logging in, to provide this, and to track us.

Oh, believe me they're tracking us, all in the name of advertising and predictions.

They're generating reams of data, well, zetabytes, to provide advertisers with info that will cause them to pony up cash. Carphone Warehouse found out that every dollar spent advertising on mobile generated five dollars of sales in stores.

They know if you bought a big ticket item or a small one. And charge for advertising accordingly.

And Ian said not to feature the same stuff on your mobile site, people don't buy TVs there.

But they do buy so much.

Sixty percent of those in attendance had purchased something online last year. Do sixty percent of businesses have good mobile strategies, do they have any mobile strategy?

What else did Ian say...

28% of UK kids under five use tablets. Hell, that's last year's statistic, this year it's higher. Like Gjermund told me, his kids all have tablets and they all watch different things, they couldn't sit through the "Frozen" DVD on the big screen, they wanted to stream their desire on their iPads, and his twins are THREE!

Yup, they can navigate just fine.

And 90% of smartphones in Japan are waterproof. The Samsung Galaxy S5 just released in America is, but soon everything will be.

Eric Schmidt also said the pace of change now is the slowest it will ever be. We're living in future shock, the times are changin' seemingly every minute.

And one more thing...

Every two days there's as much information created as there was in the entire history of time before 2003. And you wonder why no one hears your message...

3. Teslas

They're ubiquitous in Oslo. I figured it was because of the booming economy. But last night at dinner I was told it was all about the tax incentives!

A luxury car can easily cost $300,000 in Norway. But a Tesla costs close to what it does in the U.S., high six figures, because the government wants less pollution!

Little did I know Tesla is now the best-selling model in Norway.

Read here:

"Tesla Model S is Norway's best-selling vehicle, outsells Ford's entire range": http://nydn.us/1qhQ3u3

"Tax Exemptions in Norway Cut Tesla Model S Price in Half": http://bit.ly/1hfPApS


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