Internet Biz Content Rocks

Diffusion of innovations theory gives us an idea about the how, why and at what rate the spread of technology diffuses through a culture. Here's a link: link. I consider myself somewhere in between innovator and early adopter, depending on the technology we are talking about.

Recently, I've found that I have started to heavily use some internet business content that previously was purely old school-based. For example, I'm using the web more and more to get information faster, and I have started using my iPod beyond just listening to Wharton lectures and Knowledge@Wharton podcasts. It's all about getting the right information at the right time. For example, I now use the Wall Street Journal online edition more than the print version. I end up reading it online first now! I also now have quite a large collection of RSS feeds loaded into IE and Firefox, and I have since cancelled my newspaper print edition. I do still read the headlines for the online versions, BTW. Another example: I found some Stanford Technology Ventures talks on iPod U that were quite good on entrepreneurship. Tien Tzuo from Salesforce.com has a very interesting talk recorded on SaaS, and there are a ton of others from some well-known VCs and CEOs in the Silicon Valley out there. The topics range from paths to entrepreneurial success, a startup panel, and software development in Silicon Valley. Quite good stuff! Saves me from having to go attend these conferences and seminars on my own time, and instead listen to them in my car during my commute.

Recently, I've been recording my Wharton lectures on a USB enabled voice recorder and then converting the WMA files to MP3 format for listening on the iPod as well. Listening at 1.5x speed enables one to more efficiently listen to the lectures. Plus you can rewind key parts to make sure that you really get the point.

So why is this important? Well, for one, the world is going electronic and there is no longer a need to print stuff out. Those of us that figured out how to use the Ikon scanner to PDF in the fifth floor copier at Wharton West now have the PDF versions of all the bulk packs. It sure beats lugging all that paper on the airplane, plus you can search. Suggestion to Wharton Reprographics: it sure would be nice (and it would save trees) if we just got the PDF versions of the bulk packs....