Kyle J. Brazil

“This was the week that government realized that the internet matters. This was also the week that the internet realized that government matters too.”

-Chris McCann of StartupDigest in response to the progress made on SOPA/PIPA.

He is absolutely right. The United States government should have seen this coming from a mile away. Maybe they just forgot to keep up with the current events of 2011. (Entirely possible.) If you disrupt something that people feel very passionate about then they will use their semi-newfound tools of online organization to rise up.

The same day Fight For the Future posted these stats:

Simply phenomenal.

Where were these people the past couple of years? Think of what we could have done as a collective society for health care, financial, and climate legislation had we been this vocal.

Glad to finally see Americans participating in democracy again. This truly shows that we do have a voice and it does matter. We just have to be loud enough.

Two of my favorite startups are Votizen and TwoSides. The former offers a great way to endorse and connect with our leaders online while the latter provides an amazing platform for constructive debate. 2012 should be a great year for both of these sites.

Now is not the time to rest on our laurels but instead kick things in to overdrive. The voice of the people is a force to be reckoned with, no reason to stop now.

Why is iOS better than Android?

Why is Disneyland better than Universal Studios?

Why is Target better than Walmart?

Why is Vegas better than Atlantic City?

Focus on the experience and consumers will flock to you.

Runners are a rare breed. We get up early, endure extreme temperatures, and pound our feet into the ground for miles on end… all at our own choosing. Almost all of us are asked, on a pretty consistent basis, what our reasoning is. Each person has their own motivations so I thought I would share mine.

Living takes on new meaning

Anyone who has had a near-death experience will tell you that after that moment they began to see life in a whole new light. Colors are more vibrant, moods perk up, relationships get stronger, and the entire cosmic universe somehow seems to make sense. They realize that the purpose of life is simply to live. Nothing more, nothing less. Since the alternative doesn’t sound too pleasurable you learn to embrace every second you have as a human being, no matter how short or insignificant it may seem in the grand scheme of time.

I, like most runners, can tell you that I have had a near-death experience. It is called pushing yourself to the limit. It is reaching the point where you feel as if one more step could tip you over the edge. Your lungs are about to collapse, legs cripple from beneath you, and all of your bodily organs give up in a collective mutiny. None of that is actually going happen, of course, but at the time you don’t know that. And that is the beauty.

Minutes after stopping I am able to regain my breath, have a sip of water, and realize that everything is going to be alright. No, it is going to be better. I have been awakened.

Unprecedented serenity

We all live fast paced lives. It’s often hard to find the time to simply stop and focus. Even though I’m a plugged-in, realtime, next new thing type of guy, I value time for mindfulness. When our brains are allowed to concentrate for longer durations they develop more robust concepts. Ideas begin to bubble. Critical analysis takes place. Running provides this for me.

At the onset of each run my body does a systems check: Breathing okay? Heart rate? Any pains? Alight, lets get going. From that point on my mind is allowed to run wild. My neurons are firing, looking for a topic to concentrate on. Could be that issue at work that I’d like to crack. Sometimes it is my relationships. Or world issues, my next blog post, you name it.

Meanwhile I’m on running cruise control. One foot in front of the other, pacing through each mile. System checks keeps happening, rerouting takes place, goals are reevaluated (hopefully upward).

By the time I stop I feel refreshed and wholesome. Problems were resolved, concepts were developed, and my body pushed to its limits.

Oh, the places I see

I’m an adventurer at heart. I’m endlessly exploring, wanting to discover new things. This happens online, around my town, and out in the wide blue yonder.

I’ve had the pleasure of running races in some of the most beautiful locations known to man: along the pristine Monterey Bay, through towering redwoods in Big Sur, and across the Golden Gate Bridge, just to name a few.

But that doesn’t mean that my everyday runs around town aren’t just as exciting. Each neighborhood I go through exposes me to different cultures, landmarks, smells, and sounds. Each time I lace up my running shoes I make it a point to get myself lost and go somewhere I’ve never been.

Since my time in a given location is always very brief I have to soak in as much as possible. My jaunts can expose me to the very affluent and the very poor in only a matter of minutes. I hear snippets of great conversations, find hidden gems, and generally get a perspective of the world that I could never get any other way.

Simply put, running makes me a better person. Because of it I am stronger physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is an integral part of my life that I cannot believe I ever lived without.

So tell me, why do you run?

Image via Wikipedia

Celebrity status is often mired with controversy. People who live in the limelight often crumble under the pressures of all that entails being a high-profile individual. We’ve seen it from musicians, actors, writers, and artists, just to name a few.

A good portion of famous people often say that the lifestyle is not something they ever wanted, they just cared about being who they are. Singers will say they “just wanted to sing” and actors “just want to act.”

But those are lies.

People who make a living from singing want to sing and have people hear them. If they simply enjoyed rattling their vocal cords then surely the shower would suffice. What they really want is to display their singing ability to the world. They want to be famous. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

The social web has all but  eliminated the barriers to entry for publication. It is now much easier to reach large audiences in a very short period of time. Bloggers, YouTubers, and Twitterers do it everyday but they seem well aware of the consequences.

Someone who writes a controversial blog post knows that they might amass an onslaught of hateful comments directed toward their content or themselves. Then again, they might also end up on CNN.

Someone who lands a huge movie deal will most likely be given a paycheck with more zeros than they can count. They’ll also begin to lead an extravagant, demanding, and stressful lifestyle.

Anyone who creates content in a public manner makes a conscience decision to be on display. For many people this is a dream come true.

Do not be ashamed of wanting the attention of others, it’s the nature of who we are. Simply be ready for all that may come your way.

This is the end. A company that I have loved and respected for so long has officially began their decline.

Much has been said about Google+ and its many virtues, most of which I agree with. It’s beautiful, fun, and quite intuitive. What I don’t align myself with is the thought that Google finally “gets” social. They don’t. They copied social and made it prettier.

The super early adopters and tech elite are loving it for one reason: they’re still the only ones on it. It’s a Facebook clone sans your Mom and high school friends. What’s not to love about that?

Google’s biggest problem is that they forgot what their company does: search. Look the top of the page. There’s something missing and it is called a search bar. Maybe they’re hoping you’re using Chrome and don’t need one (which may be true for most of the users now) but that’s a pretty big bet.

When a company begins to drift away from their core competencies it spells disaster. Sure, Google has a hand in just about everything these days but almost all of them can be traced back to search and ad revenue. This should be an easy line to draw with Plus but somehow it’s missing. Tacking it on later, a likely scenario, shows they’ve lost their focus.

One really cool feature I thought I would enjoy is Sparks. It’s basically Google Alerts but in a feed. Pretty handy. Unfortunately, they dropped the ball again on search. Sparks is supposed to help bring up stories about topics you’re interested in so I created one for running. For days now I have not seen a single link to anything about the sport of running. Clearly it doesn’t know how to search in context. Pretty sad for the leader in search.

If I had Google stock I’d sell it right about now. It’s all downhill from here.