Although intellectual property law exists to encourage innovation and invention, patents have become the one legal way private companies can exercise a monopoly over the market. Oversized patent portfolios and prolonged patent lawsuits translate into less consumer choice and higher prices. Effectively, patents become the end in and of themselves, and no longer a means for supporting innovation.

These lawsuits have caused real concern at the Department of Justice’s antitrust division, where the patent wars have raised the prospect of anti-competitive activities. The DOJ is charged with viewing the market as a whole. For that reason, the Department of Justice has invoked a little-known form of consumer protection in ensuring the Patent Wars don’t put new technologies out of the consumer’s reach.

It has been well publicized that the battles between tech powerhouses like Google, Apple and Microsoft go far beyond the features of their latest devices. As many of these companies continue to focus large amounts of time and treasure in the courtroom, there is a concern that innovation will take a backseat to genuine competition on tech. Since Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility last year, things have especially heated up among the three major players — a situation that can only worsen with Microsoft’s acquisition of AOL’s patent portfolio, which is a symptom of a patent “arms race.”

No longer obtained to protect a new technology or a particular state of art, patents are now used in the smartphone arena to block other players from entrance into the arena, or to stop one company from achieving a dominant position.

A patent-centric strategy works extremely well in the software industry because sets of international standards allow our mass communications devices to work together seamlessly. If a company obtains a patent governing one of these standards, or for technology that is widely relied upon (even if not directed to a specific standard), that company can put a chokehold on the market.

Specifically, rival companies have attempted to block Google’s Android operating system and handsets, which Google licenses to other companies for free, while Apple and Samsung have been engaged in a number of lawsuits over handset technology. One such lawsuit resulted in a suspension of iPad and iPhone sales in Germany.

In fact, when so many patents protect vital, standardized technologies with such broad language, lawsuits are certain to follow. And a glut of patent lawsuits can mean licensing deals, which in turn mean higher prices as the costs of production come to include those licensing deals. In a worst case scenario, a licensing deal can’t be reached and the technology is unavailable to the consumer.

And while the lawsuits have played out largely amid corporate attorneys and IP specialists, the consumer isn’t without an advocate as the patent wars rage. As leverage to avoid antitrust lawsuits, the Department of Justice has emphasized a little-known tool to regulate the cost of patent licenses. It can exert pressure to require that crucial patents be licensed under a set of terms known as FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) terms.

These terms set strict guidelines regarding the costs of licensing and prevent companies holding vital patents from setting exorbitant, unfair prices. For example, the DOJ recently pressured a consortium led by Apple to commit to FRAND licensing when it bought various Nortel and Novell patents. The government tacitly hinted that it would block the acquisition if the consortium didn’t agree to FRAND terms. If the DOJ hadn’t stepped in, the consortium would have been able to exert enormous leverage on the consumer electronics market.

Google is being required to maintain FRAND terms with the patents that it received upon purchasing Motorola Mobility. Google also bought patents from IBM under those terms.

In fact, companies holding patents which are considered to be crucial to a particular standard may be required to license those patents by the relevant governing standards body under FRAND terms.

Some companies do choose to license their patents widely, even without explicit FRAND requirements. Microsoft, for example, has chosen to license its patents widely, having reached licensing agreements with makers of more than 70 percent of the Android-based smartphones sold in the U.S. On the other hand, Steve Jobs famously threatened to do whatever was necessary to force Google to significantly change Android to remove features that Jobs felt were proprietary to Apple, refusing to even consider payment from Google to license Apple’s patents.

It’s likely the smartphone war will end in a variety of licensing agreements and cross-licensing agreements. Whether those agreements result in competitive prices for the consumer depends on how effectively the DOJ wields its “FRAND” sword.

D’vorah Graeser, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of Graeser Associates International (GAI), an international intellectual property firm specializing in the preparation, filing and prosecution of medical device, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, bioinformatics and software patents. Dr. Graeser is a U.S. Patent Agent and is not an attorney at law; none of the above should be construed as legal advice.

iStockphoto | A-Digit

You’re not that special. Turns out you might fall into a category of digital consumers just like yourself.

IBM’s new Digital Consumer report, which surveyed 3,800 adult consumers in China, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S., showed a large increase in usage of digital devices and content services over the past few years, with 78 percent of consumers calling themselves digital device adopters this past year. It also identified four distinct personalities when it comes to digital consumption:

Efficiency Expert: This is the digital consumer who uses digital devices and services to simplify things. They use the fewest devices but still access the Internet via mobile phones, send emails rather than letters, use Facebook to communicate with people, watch video on demand at home and shop online. However, some surveyed still prefer in-store shopping to online.

Content King: There’s a reason why it’s “king” and not “queen.” This category is composed mostly of males, but represents just 9 percent of the global sample. According to Saul Berman, global strategy consulting leader of IBM’s Business Services division, these digital consumers are the gamers, the newshounds, the movie buffs. “They prefer everything to be connected to their console or TV, often watch TV shows online, they regularly download their media and play games with people online,” Berman said.

Social Butterfly: Some 15 percent of consumers surveyed reported that they frequently maintain and update social-networking sites. This group has a strong female skew, with a high frequency of digital consumption. They might own fewer devices, but they maintain more social-networking profiles, they visit these sites several times a day, they’re “tagging” others on sites, and they’re often viewing what friends are posting.

Connected Maestro: This group is indicative of where the future is headed, Berman believes. About 35 percent of those surveyed take a more advanced approach to media consumption by using mobile devices and smartphone applications to access games, music and video, or to check news, weather and sports. They use instant messaging. They own the greatest variety of digital devices, and they combine some of the behavior of a Content King and a Social Butterfly. This group also has a slightly male skew and, as Berman said, “the majority of this group say they now read digital books over printed ones.”

Interestingly, the study notes that age is no longer the most distinct segmentation when it comes to putting digital consumers into boxes. A full 82 percent of digital adopters are now between the ages of 10 and 64. “Contrary to popular belief, not all early adopters are college age; in actual fact 65 percent are aged between 55-64,” the study notes.

“Making tech simple for that audience is a key factor,” Berman said, “and they’ve seen the benefit in potential by watching people who were the initial early adopters.”

That still doesn’t necessarily mean you’re off the hook in terms of setting up printers and fixing the Internet when you’re visiting home for the holidays.

Readers: Which category do you fall into?

(Image: iStockphoto | A-Digit)

We probably didn’t need a formal study to tell us that.

But that’s exactly what Tobii, maker of eye-tracking technology, set out to do.

The Sweden-based company, in collaboration with AnswerLab, recently pounced on a bunch of people at a San Francisco coffee shop and asked them to participate in a study in which they’d be examining the dating profiles of members of the opposite sex — and during the session, their eye movements would be tracked by Tobii’s sensors.

After participants viewed mock-up pages of eHarmony.com and Match.com profiles, the verdict was in: Men spent 65 percent more time than women did reviewing photos in profiles; women spent 50 percent more time reading the text about a potential mate’s background and interests.

Women also spent an average of 84 seconds gazing at a profile to determine if it was a match, compared to 58 seconds for men.

The study also revealed that people tend to like dating profiles that they feel are more reflective of the kind they would build for themselves. For example, people that prefer to share lots of personal info gravitated more toward very personal dating profiles, while those that stick to “just the facts, ma’am,” liked profiles that had simpler demographic info and data.

Tobii uses tracking technology that zeroes in on a user’s pupil and calculates the point of gaze using algorithms. For heavy blinkers or those with shifty eyes, the recovery time of Tobii’s sensor is between 100 and 300 milliseconds; it draws an “imaginary box” around the user’s head to account for lots of head movement, as well.

For more info on how it works, check out this video from D9, where Tobii general manager Barbara Barclay demoed how Tobii could help users control their laptops with just their eyeballs. Late last month, the company introduced its X1 Light Eye Tracker, marketed mainly to usability and market researchers.

To demonstrate the usefulness of its eye-tracking tech at the consumer level, Tobii is planning to conduct more studies and present more interesting use cases, Barclay said. The next study, for example, might be even more precise: Instead of examining who is looking at pictures versus text, the next study might shed light on which area of the pictures people’s eyes tend to linger on. (We know what you’re thinking right now.)

Ultimately, these types of studies could be most useful for advertisers, as well as Web companies.

The study showed that when there was a great deal of ad content on the right-hand side of a profile page, participants would be distracted by the ads and avert their eyes from the profile information. Great news for advertisers, but bad news for those who want to remain focused on the task at hand.

It’s important to note that the sample for this study was very small: The company managed to convince more than 40 people to try it out, but had to throw away a handful of samples due to inconclusive data, which can be caused by certain types of glasses, lazy or droopy eyes, or an extreme amount of gaze-shifting.

But Tobii’s Barclay says continued testing could help companies determine monetization strategies and how they might conflict with the ultimate goal of a Web site’s content, or to help advertisers make ads more relevant and boost click-through rates.

(Feature photo courtesy of Flickr)

And for those who are into both football and geekery, tomorrow is kind of like the Super Bowl. Well, technically speaking, I guess tomorrow is like the Super Bowl for everyone.

Anyhoo. For everyone looking for some tech to go with their gridiron, there are lots of options.

First of all, NBC is streaming the Super Bowl live over the Internet, for those who can’t make it to a television or want a second screen to enjoy even more of the action.

ESPN president John Skipper said at D: Dive Into Media that he thinks giving away the game for free is a bad idea, but NBC paid for the rights, so they get to do what ever they want.

Verizon is also broadcasting the game live to the smallest of screens via its NFL Mobile service. (However, Peter Kafka notes their marketing of said service could use some work.)

Second, there are a ton of Super Bowl apps, including the official ones for both iPhone and Android, as well as a game program. Peanuts are still not downloadable, but content-tagging app Shazam is offering a variety of commercial tie-ins. Check here for even more game-day apps.

And of course, the big game will be the talk of Twitter, to be sure.

Lastly, as a special treat, AllThingsD will be offering live coverage of the game, the commercials and the social-media hoopla. We had so much fun in January with Footballmer, our liveblog mash-up of Steve Ballmer’s final CES keynote and the BCS championship, that we decided to do it again.

This time, though, I’ll actually get to watch the game, rather than having Ballmer duty. I’ll be commenting on the game, the commercials, the tech and the Twitter commentary. Check back tomorrow before kickoff for that.

This may be Microsoft’s last year with a keynote and booth at the Consumer Electronics Show, but the company is actually stepping up its investment in the biggest European technology show.

Microsoft is planning an even bigger presence than last year at CeBit, the big trade show held in March in Hanover, Germany. Speaking at a CeBit event in Las Vegas, Microsoft vice president Achim Berg (a German former Deutsche Telekom executive) said that the event provides a good place to reach key customers.

At CeBit, Berg said, Microsoft is able to meet with 10,000 chief information officer-types in just a few days, getting a lot of business done.

And, unlike Vegas, Berg said he doesn’t have to spend two or three hours a day in cabs.

“There is no need to wait for taxis,” Berg said at the event (where I also spoke about mobile security issues). “This is a well-organized German fair.”

Though glad to see Microsoft’s continued investment, CeBit officials said they can relate to the pain the Consumer Electronics Show is having in losing a big name. A few years ago, CeBit lost both Nokia and Hewlett-Packard as big exhibitors. And while the show is bigger than it was a couple of years ago, it is down from where it was five years ago.

CES NOTEBOOKS:

• Microsoft Beefing Up CeBit Presence Even as it Pulls Back on CES
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• And You Thought Jawbone UP Was Going to Miss the CES Party!
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• Complete CES coverage

At next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Tobii plans to show off how its interactive eye-tracking software, called Gaze, works with Microsoft’s Windows 8 Metro interface.

Gaze would go in a compact rectangular device — smaller than the current 8-inch Tobii IS-1 tracker — that sits below the laptop screen and tracks a user’s eye movement using sensors built into the bar. You activate Gaze by tapping the trackpad once, and Gaze takes a few seconds to find your pupil and calculate the point of gaze using mathematical algorithms. An imaginary “head movement box” is created to delineate a range of motion in which you can still move your head and have the device track you.

In terms of precision, Tobii says the sensors measure within a quarter-inch of the tile or icon you’re looking at. For smaller icons or small text, Gaze still allows a user to navigate the cursor using the laptop’s trackpad, by pressing their fingers down on the pad instead of tapping it once.

Here’s a video showing how it works on Windows 8:

Gaze could, theoretically, work on tablets, too. But Tobii business development manager Anders Olsson says that tablet interaction is so smooth to begin with — with capacitive touch within an arm’s length of the user — that tablets don’t need much improvement. It’s boring old laptops that could use a boost.

“Gaze takes away the whole intermediate step of having a mouse or even using touch technology,” Olsson said in an interview. “We see this as an important innovation because, compared to tablets, laptops feel very ancient right now, in terms of user experience.”

While eye-tracking tech like Gaze could make sense for TV viewing as well, given the growing interest in gesture technology, Olsson said Tobii’s technology isn’t quite up to speed for TV. In fact, it could be a couple more years before Gaze hits the mass market.

Tobii doesn’t plan to sell Gaze directly to consumers, but will work with electronics manufacturers to ship on laptops. While the company says it is in talks with computer makers and electronics manufacturers, it hasn’t officially partnered with anyone, including Microsoft, for the development of Tobii Gaze (although Microsoft is expected to show Tobii eye-tracking demos at its CES booth, as well).

Eye-tracking technology isn’t new, but until now it has been used primarily in niche markets, as a tool for people with severe physical disabilities, or for psychological researchers who monitor eye movement to determine cognitive abilities.

Tobii has been around since 2001, and currently holds 13 patents in the area of eye-tracking tech.

(Image credit: Flickr/Mike Garza)

MORE CES NEWS:

• Complete coverage
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One example is the annual tech prediction by analyst Mark Anderson, which I wrote about last week. Another is IBM’s recurring “Five in Five” series, wherein Big Blue looks at the unfolding technology landscape and predicts what innovations are still just this side of “gee whiz” today, but will be commonplace within five years.

Think back to what we were doing in 2006, and how far things have come in that short period of time in terms of consumer and enterprise technology. The iPhone existed only as an Apple prototype. Facebook had just opened itself up to the population at large, beyond just college and university students. Twitter was just getting started. And a tablet was a not-terribly-popular PC design.

As you’ll see, some of these five predictions aren’t exactly mind-blowing, especially if you pay attention to general technology trends. Over the past decade, you’ve probably already heard predictions saying that computer passwords will go away and be replaced by biometrics of some kind, whether in the form of fingerprints or voice authorization or some part of your eyeball. Also: Junk mail I actually want? That one I’ll believe when I see it. However, I really like the “think to call” idea, which sounds like a super speed-dial.

Anyhow, here are IBM’s predictions for stuff we’ll see by 2016, and a video explaining them in a little more detail:

You will make your own energy: Anything that moves has the potential to create energy. Your running shoes, your bicycle and even the water flowing through your pipes can create energy. Advances in renewable energy technology will allow individuals and scientists to collect this energy and use it to help power our homes, offices and cities.

You will not need a password: Your biological makeup is the key to your individual identity, and soon, it will become the key to safeguarding it. Each person’s unique biometric data such as facial definitions, retinol scans and voice files will be composited through software to build your DNA-unique online password. You will be able to log into your mobile phone or have access to an ATM machine by simply speaking your name or looking into a camera.

Mind reading is no longer science fiction: Scientists are researching how to link your brain to your devices, such as a computer or a smartphone, so you just need to think about calling someone and it happens. Scientists have designed headsets with advanced sensors to read electrical brain activity that can recognize facial expressions, excitement and concentration levels, and thoughts of a person without them physically doing anything.

The digital divide will cease to exist: In five years, the gap between information haves and have-nots will narrow considerably due to advances in mobile technology. Growing communities will be able to use mobile technology to provide access to essential information and better serve people with new solutions such as mobile commerce and remote healthcare.

Junk mail will become priority mail: Think about how often we’re flooded with advertisements we consider to be irrelevant or unwanted — it doesn’t have to be that way anymore. In five years, unsolicited advertisements may feel so personalized and relevant it may seem spam is dead. Systems will be able to filter and find only the data that’s important and relevant to you and will bring you the information without you having to ask for it.

First, publishers need cutting-edge technology to hook an audience through today’s digital media channels of the Web, mobile, social, and search.

And, second, the breakthrough technology can’t just be about product design — it’s got to go beyond to create distribution advantages on the new connected Web.

One Question
Okay, now that we have the truth out of the way, let me ask you a question:

“Is your company a media company, or a technology company?”

I love getting asked this question. And every digital media leader I know hates answering it.

Discomfort, Uneasiness, Anxiety, Fear
The uneasiness begins with the mistaken idea that the two are separable. And they were — back in the 15th century, when Gutenberg first worked his printing magic, and up until a few years ago. But we all know digital technology has inserted itself inextricably into the guts of publishing, replacing ink with bytes and paper with pipes. And now, over the last two years, technology has transformed the basis of publishers’ relationships with their audience, by connecting them through social operating systems, as we discussed last month.

And yet, our uneasiness escalates to anxiety when we realize we still don’t fully understand the new technology’s potential or impact on our business.

That is a scary thought.

Technology Drives Media
I think we all need to collectively swallow our fear. We know every media company must be a technology company today.

In the first generations of digital media, it was easy. In AOL’s past, technology’s key role was simply to provide basic Internet access over dial-up lines. Today, while that access provides cash flow, it no longer has any strategic value in media. Similarly, Yahoo’s early technology prowess was applied to create significant products like Yahoo Mail. But while Mail still drives 73 percent of the audience to Yahoo’s media properties, it won’t secure Yahoo’s future ability to be a great media destination.

These two companies — as well as the rest of us — need to use technology for something more advanced than access and ancillary products. We need to put it right into the heart of media so that we can create breakthrough user experiences and new connections with audiences.

Millions of Ways to Engage
To do that, let’s start by recognizing what’s changed about the medium itself: In analog days, publishers’ products were two-dimensional; and all we had to work with was ink and some paper. And similarly, distribution was mostly two-dimensional; a subscription list and newsstand sales was all there was to it.

But now, consumers have access to millions of sources at their fingertips, and each one can be rich and interactive, reaching us through several different digital channels. Both our product experiences and our distribution can be much more intricate — and much more valuable. And combining the two gives media the chance to do something it’s always aspired to but has never been able to do.

The Future Will Be Personalized
We have recently become ready for a whole new vision for media.

And that’s giving every audience member the right content in the right place at the right time.

To do this takes a combination of data — from the social operating system — coupled with media’s greatest power, that of creating experiences and distributing them.

To achieve this, though, we need technology to do more than output HTML pages; instead, it has to chaperone customized content to every individual.

This is a big change from the original Internetization of media, which was, like generations of offline media before it: “If you publish it they will come.” That worked when directories like Yahoo and search engines like Google matched consumers to content. But that attitude was passive, and today’s social Web is anything but. So publishers now have the opportunity — and the challenge — of taking charge of their distribution.

The key is using the emerging social Web to get signals from, and connect to, the audience. And when we do this, we are putting technology in the role of relating uniquely to every consumer in order to create the ultimate experiences they crave.
Now that’s a refreshing concept for media.

Three Ways to Get Ahead
But what does this mean, practically speaking?

I believe the role of technology in media success must embody these three things:

• Use technology to determine the right content: The social Web offers a wealth of real-time data. Use it to see what matters to your constituents. Tools like Newsbeat are helpful moment by moment and article by article. But you have to go further. The great breakthrough of digital media is being able to connect to your audience as individuals, not just in aggregate. No longer do you have to create for a persona or prototypical user; instead, you can create for real users. Media companies need to develop technologies that give them a proprietary edge when it comes to understanding the specific needs of their potential audience; that way, they can serve consumers better. And the opportunities abound. At Wetpaint, my company, for example, we process Twitter, Facebook, Google, and our own site’s data, all in real time to know what content matters — and to whom. And yet, we can go much further, to ask and intuit feedback from each user individually. The future is a completely personalized experience from every publisher. It’s not far-fetched; in fact, it mirrors what consumers already patch together with all too much difficulty.
• Take control of your distribution: Reach consumers with the right content at the right time and place (via Web, mobile, video, social, and search). Don’t just have your social media team pump the same content from your Web CMS through Facebook and Twitter. Instead, use technology and research to understand the secrets of what works. Truly engaging your potential audience can improve your results by a factor of two or more. We’ve already seen this at Wetpaint, and the results are still getting better each week. Our database of everything we publish tracks all the distribution causes and effects, so we know what works. We also pay attention to who the influencers are, with technology that identifies them as well as who their influencers are; and now we’re building a “CRM”-like system to help us know more about these individuals and win them over.
• Package it into the right experiences: Print is static and flat; but so are too many digital media properties. That’s why I applaud the New York Times for continually looking at how to repackage into mobile apps; and that’s why I like Flipboard, which takes a data-rich, but visually cacophonic, content feed and packages it into an immersive experience. AOL’s riff of ultimate personalization has impressed me even more: they’ve recognized that every consumer should get their own Edition — nailing the concept of personalization better than any media approach before. This is the opportunity for each of us now, as we connect with audience members and try to offer them more compelling experiences in return for loyal usage.

Technology Changes Businesses
Let’s circle back to the discussion of whether you’re a media or technology company.

By its very nature, digital publishing is a technical medium. But, beyond that, what makes technology interesting isn’t its ability to carry bits; it is its ability to change businesses. And we need to change our own by updating our sense of audience, distribution, and experience creation to provide thousands of times more precision than media ever has before.

When we do that, we’re making the content thousands of times more relevant. And I believe that’s how you build a thriving digital media business in the next decade.

Ben Elowitz is co-founder and CEO of Wetpaint, a next-generation media company that is reinventing the media model on the social web. The company has more than nine million unique visitors monthly on all its web properties combined. Ben is also a thought leader on the subject of next-generation digital media publishing and the author of Digital Quarters, a blog about the future of digital media and the steps the publishing industry must take to become profitable.

During the economic turbulence of the last decade, most middle managers were content climbing the corporate ladder. But as more start-ups rake in venture capital and, in some cases, generate enormous wealth for employees when the companies are sold off or go public, some corporate middle managers are changing course. In the last year, executives from American Express Co. and Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, as well as various Wall Street investment banks and major law firms, have all taken senior-level roles in start-ups.

“From an enterprise and consumer standpoint, [start-ups] have a need for more experienced management, folks that have built more of an operational superstructure from bigger companies,” says Eric Wiesen, a general partner at New York venture firm RRE Ventures.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

At this point — remember, less than 20 years after the ads ran — you’d really have to be a quibbler to argue with any of the forecasts. (Yes, no one Skypes from phone booths, but that’s really because no one uses phone booths, and you can do it from your iPad, anyway.)

If you’re old enough to have a hazy memory of these ads the first time around, the fact that the former future is now present tense might really give you pause. You know, if you were so inclined.

UPDATE: As Richard Raucci notes, the spots were directed by David Fincher, pre “Fight Club” and “The Social Network”. And Terry O’Gara, who worked on the music for the ads, has a fascinating look behind the scenes, with some thought-provoking perspective about sound + vision.

Bonus really, really old video!

Coachella is perhaps the most important of these events, for a few core reasons, and provides the perfect ground zero for my annual state of the union on the landscape of our increasingly social and ubiquitously connected digital world. For starters, it is the first major U.S. festival of the year, as well as being one of the oldest–with the first taking place a dozen years ago when it was still a two-day affair–and its roots lie in the burgeoning world of indie rock and electronica, despite the fact the every year the headliners seem to grow bigger and broader. This year the festival managed to sell out pricy three-day-only tickets within five days, thanks to Kanye, Arcade Fire and Kings of Leon, and although this creates–at its peak–nearly impenetrable 80K crowds, it also generates mass audiences for most of the 190 some-odd bands that will someday be able to look back at Coachella as a kind of credible tipping point.

For many, the grassy desert oasis is a three-day party attended by an almost bizarrely well-behaved crowd, bookended by a handful of bands that have already been validated by the Grammy-watching masses. But as with each of my prior pilgrimages, I approached the weekend with a kind of surgical precision, beginning with the building of a curated schedule, which can now be accomplished by downloading the still rather primitive Coachella app to your phone. I mention this because for those who don’t see much live music, increasingly what you witness as you stare toward today’s stages is a cascade of sleek black smartphones pointed at stages, or the backs of heads buried into phones blasting out texts, tweets, statuses, and ever more sophisticated photo streams. In other words, phones are very much a part of the live experience.

When I look back over the past four years at the way I have chronicled and shared my personal experiences, it has gradually evolved. In 2008 there were a handful of blog posts, MMS photos, and individual texts and emails catalogued sloppily across the still-nascent and less-connected social graph. In 2009, my phone was better, Facebook was bigger, and Twitter was growing. That year, trying to be a judicious, non-polluting reporter, I tended only to post the truly epic performances (Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, etc.). I did this largely using Twitter, which I pushed to Facebook for maximal efficient coverage. I can revisit my Coachella experiences of last year by rereading my real-time, band-by-band, set-by-set trail of digital crumbs left by a combination of Foursquare check-ins and primarily text-only tweets (SMS to Twitter, due to choppy mobile service). In 2011, however, without much foresight, my play-by-play was published exclusively using Instagram photos, with a varied palette of filters depending on time of day, distance from stage, state of mind, etc. After I snapped my first picture, it just made sense to stay consistent. The other new addition to my repertoire was the group texting pod we set up to communicate with the 10 people in our party. There are a couple to choose from: Groupme, which leverages SMS, and Beluga (recently acquired by Facebook), that operates from a sleek mobile app. The concept here is simple. Instead of sending multiple threaded text messages, you send one message that publishes to small hand-selected groups usually in and around events.

This new breed of apps represents a rather beautiful kind of evolution. Not so long ago, each of the developing platforms had a very specific use case: Twitter was for text and links, Facebook for text status updates and photos, Foursquare and Gowalla for geo-based check-ins, and Flickr for photos. Now everything is seamless, and a user can publish to the interconnected social web using almost any of these services to do everything all at once.

Returning to Instagram, my tool of choice of 2011. For every set I would snap a photo using one of the 15 or so different filters, write an occasionally clever note on the band, and add a stage location. Each of these posts would appear first to my Instagram network, then push to Twitter, which would then bounce to Facebook. Each of the core services (Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare) now allows users to take and share a photo, text some narrative, and add location, thus the decision really becomes about where you decide to start your own publishing chain.

For the first time in four years, I managed to take in most of the Friday Coachella line-up, which in many ways was the thinnest day of the three day line-up but still rock solid, optimizing for the real masses who tend to arrive that night. As such, with the sun beating dryly down on the mercifully flat green polo field, LA’s all-girl Warpaint set the tone with a groovy, almost Luscious Jackson feeling set of head-bobbing indie rock to a thick but comfortable crowd of global hipsters. Looking back, this would be one of a handful of emerging bands that left a real lasting impression.

Day one would also have a very specific 80s new wave arc to it, in retrospect. From the twee pop of Pains of Being Pure Heart, reminiscent of the underappreciated Sarah Records bands of a bygone era, to the synth heavy jams of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti–complete with funny hairstyles and John Hughes sweetness–to the more angular dance vibe of YACHT, the afternoon was a nostalgic trip through my adolescence, all performed in the more intimate shaded tents providing shelter from the rays. There is simply nothing like the sweeping relief you feel in the late afternoon moving out of the tents and into the setting sun and open air of the Outside Stage framed beautifully by the backdrop of palm trees against the surrounding mountains. Australia’s Tame Impala played another of the day’s best sets with their psychedelic guitar-driven melodies that exist somewhere between a subtler Verve and rockier My Bloody Valentine, again playing into a broadly 80s theme.

Night fell with the largely two-piece Black Keys, playing the bluesiest tunes of the festival and doing a remarkable job acoustically filling the night sky to a massive crowd. It is hard for me not to root for the much-deserved success of my original hometown heroes. From there, amidst the comfortable temperature of desert night, Aussie band Cut Copy played a tent full of uber-optimistic electronica. The VIP oasis off the main stage provided exactly the right environment to observe the masses lap up the radio-friendly area rock of Kings of Leon. Kids love ‘em. I am, sadly, no longer a kid.

Day two, again hot and cloudless, evolved toward the modern, leaving the 80s behind in favor of a post-modern eclecticism. Another handy consequence of a connected festival is that a quick visit to Pitchfork or Wikipedia on your phone can provide all the context you need to make sense of the music being discovered that you would otherwise know very little about. It began with another one of my favorite sets performed by the loopy, stoney, and groove-laden Brooklyn-based Here We Go Magic. The tight, meandering indie rhythms share a Grizzly Bear influence, and fit perfectly with the slow build of the day. From there, Sweden’s Tallest Man On Earth, a Dylan disciple playing solo acoustic guitar to a massive crowd, bled into an unexpected barn-burner from Oxford’s Foals, who channeled Robert Smith through a dancier punk-funk prism. Next, the beautifully bright Radio Dept, another one of the great Swedish bands to bless the polo grounds in 2011, played a blissful set of shoegazing modernism.

One of the beautiful things about Coachella is stumbling upon totally unexpected sets, which leads me to the quite wonderful Erykah Badu, witnessed from thick shady grass off the main stage. Pure, unadulterated authentic funk and R&B is hard to come by in this day and age, but here it was–a flukish find in the search for shade. It led right into Toronto supergroup Broken Social Scene’s great main stage set, playing the role Pavement filled last year: indie rock for aging hipsters. Perfect stage and time programming is another one of Coachella’s distinguishing characteristics.

The sunset shows on the Outside stage are always among the best, and it was America’s best indie pop band The New Pornographers who put on one of my favorite sets of the festival, with the sublime vocals of Neko Case mixing with the relentless perfection of AC Newman’s pop sensibilities blowing through the cooling air as again the sun released the crowd from the cloudless heat. Next up, the back half of an incredibly moody set by England’s Elbow, whose beautiful melodic grooves drifted gracefully into the night sky. The beauty of the main stage slot before headliners like Arcade Fire and Mumford and Sons is that the crowds begin to make their way over early to get within a quarter mile of the stage. As such, indie wunderkind Bright Eyes ripped through an earthy rock set in front of a much bigger crowd than they would have on any other stage. The nearly full moon hung over one of the most enthusiastic crowds of the festival as Mumford and Sons performed, rather straightforwardly, their radio-friendly breakthrough. For my money, I’ll take the Fleet Foxes, Blitzen Trapper, and Midlake long before this watered-down concoction, and so a few songs into it I wandered over to Big Audio Dynamite, who were rocking to a much smaller and older crowd, sounding every bit as good as they did in 1985. As a zealous fan of Ireland’s Frames, and hopeless romantic and fanatic for the film “Once,” I found the gorgeous set by The Swell Season further proved Glen Hansard again to be the most humble and talented not-yet-a-bonafide-rock-star on the planet. Animal Collective’s weird and wonderful soundscapes bellowed from the main stage in the background, setting the table nicely for perhaps the most anticipated set of the festival, Montreal’s Arcade Fire, who might be the best big rock band on the planet. There is nothing compromised about the music they play and the seriousness with which they take their craft. Most of the festival turned up in droves. One must feel sorry for the handful of bands that had to compete at this time slot, but ripping a page from Springsteen and channeling it through the best indie music of the past twenty years, it is always such a joy to see a little band not even a decade old grow up right before your eyes.

By the time Sunday rolls around, festival-goers are either fully in the groove or totally burned out. I am always the former, and so folk super group Fistful of Mercy (Ben Harper, Joseph Arthur and Dhani Harrison) started the day oh so gently, and perhaps too gently. Thank goodness for Best Coast, Bethany Consentino’s fusion of Liz Phair and The Go Go’s, who shredded through an infectious set of pop jewels. I predict a bright future for young Bethany. One of the buzzing bands to emerge in the past twelve months, LA’s Foster The People, played to a crowd that was much bigger than the smallish tent they played previously. Again, a very bright future for these kids.

Sunset at the Outdoor stage featured yet another of the best sets of festival, with The National filling the fairgrounds with a ferocious, intense, enormous sound. Like Arcade Fire, these guys are all grown up. Duran Duran played a greatest hits set to a thin crowd around the same time, but for the third straight day, dinner at the Kogi truck was in order–and the business that hit it big on Twitter was right there at the center of it, right across from the misting stations in the lush VIP oasis. Eating a spicy pork burrito while swaying to the comeback sounds of The Strokes was the perfect culmination to another epic festival. The festival ended for me with a nostalgic set by PJ Harvey. She was wrapped in a flowing white gown and looked every bit like the indie royalty that she is, playing a wonderful mix of old and new as the festival reached its dramatic end. Many credit Kanye with helping to sell out the festival in five days, but as I trudged wearily but contentedly across the massive crowd bobbing to his loud, energetic set, I was content, still replaying Harvey’s epic “Down By The Water” in my head.

To spend three days in the desert, soaking up the sun, amidst a real-life social network of youth culture passionistas, feeling the same liberating wave of emotions conducted by a dizzying array of incredible acts is an unbelievable privilege. Anyone equipped with a phone can now publish real-time thoughts to those less fortunate, watching at home on YouTube, or through the pictures shared across the connected social web, leaving a digital trail of memories which would have been unimaginable a decade ago. I guess I feel this way every year, but as an old married guy with three kids, live events matter now more than ever in an age without record stores. Art culture is best witnessed in person, not merely through the interwebs. In our increasingly connected world, we need to drink in the real-life versions of all the content we experience, or we will very quickly lose track of what it feels like to experience what is really happening in the outside world. I am already longing for my next visit to the desert…

This is the message Mr. Sheeran, a 44-year-old technology executive in the Seattle area, got instead: “Just wanted to know that your punches ordered the done in the Dipper pickup. Ok. Then you can pick up the French abortion.”

Mr. Sheeran was bewildered. “It sounded like a coded message for a drug deal,” he says.

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U.S. companies are learning this the painful way.

Multinationals are again complaining to U.S. trade officials about a problem they thought was resolved months ago. When China’s President Hu Jintao met with President Barack Obama in January, he agreed to cancel rules that required foreign companies to design their products in China if they hoped to sell to the government–essentially a forced technology transfer.

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Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments in Chicago, spoke with The Wall Street Journal’s Rebecca Blumenstein. Julie Louise Gerberding, president of Merck & Co.’s Merck Vaccines unit, sat down with the Journal’s Laura Landro. Marissa Mayer, Google Inc.’s vice president, consumer products, talked with the Journal’s Julia Angwin. And Debra L. Lee, chairman and chief executive of BET Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc., spoke with the Journal’s Alessandra Galloni.

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Horowitz and co-founder Marc Andreessen have been investing since last year from a $650 million fund, so the audience would have loved to hear Horowitz’s opinions. But he didn’t like that idea.

Instead, in just 10 minutes, he gave a history of the great technology shifts that have occurred in the computer industry over the past 50 years and what they mean.

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McAfee Inc., acquired last month by Intel Corp., has provided content-filtering software used by Internet-service providers in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, according to interviews with buyers and a regional reseller. Blue Coat Systems Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., has sold hardware and technology in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar that has been used in conjunction with McAfee’s Web-filtering software and sometimes to block websites on its own, according to interviews with people working at or with ISPs in the region.

A regulator in Bahrain, which uses McAfee’s SmartFilter product, says the government is planning to switch soon to technology from U.S.-based Palo Alto Networks Inc. It promises to give Bahrain more blocking options and make it harder for people to circumvent censoring.

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