Canadian tech journalist and podcaster Jesse Brown has a go at Wired Magazine’s rather inane story that “The Web is Dead,” something they first predicted back in 1997.

(How’s that whole ‘webby, deady’ thing workin’ out for ya there?)

I’ve enjoyed Jesse’s Search Engine podcast for a few years now, and tend to believe him more than I believe most people when it comes to technology. So if he says Wired Magazine is staffed by doom-predicting mouth breathers, I’ll believe him.

(Note: He didn’t actually say that, I’m just saying I would believe it if he did.)
(Note #2: I wouldn’t actually believe it, because the people at Wired are “wicked smaht.” But I would believe that a significant percentage of them breathe through their mouths. And get a lot of stuff wrong when predicting things are dead.)

Other things that people say are dead that are not dead, and are further from death than Wired Magazine

• Facebook is NOT a Google Killer
• The Era of Calling Things “Dead” Is Dead. Or Should Be.
• Social Media Fans Use Email More, Not Less
• Is Social Media Making Corporate Websites Irrelevant? Hardly.

I think people need to stop saying things are dead just for the shock value, like the doomsayer from Facebook is NOT a Google Killer, who thought Google was going to be dead and gone completely within five years (YouTube anyone?).

The only thing that ends up being shocked are the doomsayers when they realize their average is 2 – 9 (looking at YOU, Wired Magazine). Quit being the magazine that cried “wolf.” You’re creating about as much drama as a high school prom, but with a lower payoff.

You used to be cool, Wired, but now you’re just coming across as an attention-seeking drama queen.

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One-Mississippi.

One second. It’s how we counted when we were kids playing flag football or hide-and-seek. One-Mississippi is how long it takes you to download a 3MB song to your computer.

Five-Mississippi, six-Mississippi, seven-Mississippi.

That’s how long it actually takes at my house. I have high speed Internet, and we usually average 3 – 5MB per second. At least it’s supposed to.

But if you’ve ever tried to get online between 3:00 – 5:00 (when the kids come home from school), your Internet speed drops like a rock. It’s bad again on Saturday afternoons, and again on Sunday nights.

But what if you could get 1GB (yes, one gigabyte) of speed in your house?

1GB equals 1,000MB (actually, 1024MB). At that speed, you could download 333 songs in One-Mississippi. That’s not a typo. Three hundred and thirty-three songs in a single second. That’s how fast 1GB is.

One-Mississippi. We just downloaded almost the entire Beatles catalog (It took two more seconds to finish “Hey Jude.”)

This is the exciting part: Google said they plan to build and test ultra-high speed fiber networks in a select number of communities across the United States.

The Town of Fishers and the Fishers Chamber of Commerce are working on a submission to get Google Fiber run throughout the entire town of Fishers.

We’re competing with cities and towns all over the United States. Even our friends up in Anderson, IN are in the running.

But we want it here in Fishers. Call me selfish, but since I live there, I would love to see it in my hometown. It would be great, not only for the homes and schools in Fishers, but for the businesses.

Imagine the possibilities: Video production companies can upload their videos in seconds, not minutes. Video conferencing will be a snap. Software companies can collaborate around the office or around the world. Movies on demand will be just as fast as watching regular TV. And yes, you can download your MP3s in a fraction of a second.

Think about what 1GB per second can do for the technology industry here in central Indiana. Many of us are fond of calling this region “Silicorn Alley.” But with speeds like this, Fishers can quickly become the entire hub of Silicorn Alley. (Or would that be the stalk?)

Think of the jobs it will create for Central Indiana if many software companies started relocating here. Think of what it can do for home sales and the surrounding economy, and even the state’s brain drain if companies began locating to Fishers, just for 1GB per second.

So, please, even if you don’t live in Fishers, take a few minutes to stop by the FastFishers.com website and nominate our not-so-little town for Google’s Fiber.

Video Proof of Our Craving for Fast Internet

This past Sunday, about 200 Fishers residents gathered to produce a community video to show Google how badly we want Google Fiber in our town. My friend, Alison Moore, of the Fishers Chamber wrote lyrics to a Lady Gaga song, and we sang. We sang our hearts out, and sang about our love for Google and the promise of Google Fiber.

Yes, I even sang. That’s how bad I want this. I sang a freaking Lady Gaga song! Now, if I can sing a Lady Gaga song, you can certainly take just 3 minutes to show Google why our town deserves the new network they’re going to give to a few lucky cities or towns in the United States.

And when you’re done, and if we get it, you’re more than welcome to come up here and try it out. We’d love to have you.

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When it comes to the economy, I think we’re missing the point.

The old system is broken. Let’s talk about that.

There are arguments about what to do to help ease the burden of the current recession. The Democrats got their big stimulus package, the Republicans want more tax cuts. It’s the same debate we’ve heard for the last 30 years. Yet, it seems to me that something much bigger is really happening right now. There is a change that is much bigger than stimulus spending or tax cuts. It’s the Internet.

The Internet has totally disrupted our traditional economy. It has wreaked havoc on traditional industries. Having worked in the travel industry back in the ’90s, the change started immediately with the introduction of the Internet. Travel Agencies started going out of business. Now one can argue it was the loss of commissions on sales of tickets that started it, but as soon as on-line agencies began to replace the corner travel agent, the final nail in the coffin was in place.

Travel is not the only industry where this disruption has occurred:

1. Newspapers – going out of business
2. Music Industry – total disruption of music distribution
3. YouTube – you can watch anything and everything and be entertained for free
4. Airlines – who wants to fly when you have webex or gotomeeting
5. Automobiles – who needs a $30,000 car when you can work from home now.
6. Retail – why fight traffic at the mall, when you can shop online?
7. News – traditional 1/2 hour news has never been the same
8. Microsoft – Open Source is killing their business

There is a lot more going on in the world economy. The stimulus packages and tax cuts are not the solution to our problems right now. I think first, we need to understand that we are going through a major change in the global economy that is being driven by the Internet. Traditional industries are under pressure because they want to continue to be faceless corporations in the age of information. Customers may know more about their products or services than they know about themselves because people are talking about them.

Take the case of the automotive industry. On the whole, the majority of Americans do not have much sympathy for US automakers. They have watched as the industry has not really done much over the past 30 years to change its ways. The unions are unwilling to change their behavior, and neither is management. They should ask themselves why their competitors have fewer labor-management problems.

The big nameless corporation is dying. The age of the Entrepreneur is here today. The Internet is driving this new age. People have to change their ambitions from getting jobs to creating jobs. Or, understanding that they have to take a more proactive role in their employment. The age of hiding behind your job is over. People need to understand we live in a global economy, not a local economy. Education needs to be part of the culture, not the pariah it has now become. Everyone needs to participate in education, not just teachers and students.

Throwing money to treat a mortal wound, or cutting taxes without cleaning the wound before it is treated, will not save us. We need real change. We need a radical approach. First, we need to recognize that we are entering a new economy. Let the old one die.

Paul Lorinczi

Paul Lorinczi is the President of Professional Blog Service. The goal of the company is the help clients use Blogging and Social Media to expand their business online through planning, execution, and measurement.

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