As far as the device itself goes, I’m extremely satisfied with it. The Android user interface is snappy on the Nexus One and the operating system itself is a huge improvement over Windows Mobile 6.5. But let’s not turn this into a review of the phone — that’s not really what I’ve been thinking about in terms of the Nexus One.

Last night I was reading an article posted on Wired about Google’s potential lessons learned from the Nexus One, and it made me think: OK, Google’s got this out the door, but what’s next?

And I guess that’s the point — I don’t think Google even really knows what’s next at this point. But there’s a few points of my own that I’d like include that Wired neglected to mention.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me though, is the speed at which wireless technology is coming at us. Google aimed quite high with the Nexus One, and the phone’s got some pretty killer hardware specs. But of course, the mainstream wireless providers have already come out with bigger and better hardware (like HTC Droid Incredible and HTC Evo). I think Google could have pushed the envelope a bit further with the Nexus One in terms of hardware, with a few simple upgrades like a forward-facing camera or more megapixels in the main camera.

I don’t care much about either feature — but it’s these small things that differentiate you from your competition. Otherwise, smartphones are pretty much all the same (and even all mobile operating systems are starting to look the same, especially with BlackBerry OS 6.0 around the corner).

So maybe I’m being a little hard on Google since I’m comparing phones that didn’t exist yet when the Nexus One launched to Google’s phone. But that’s my point, Google knew they’d be upstaged with new hardware — so setting the bar higher would’ve at least delayed the inevitable a little longer.

But once you’ve got that harder in the phone, then what? Well, to elaborate on Wired‘s second point, marketing really does matter. And not just some cheesy ad with people smiling and using your product, explain to me why your product is better (and in many ways, it is a great product, but no one knows unless you tell them).

And finally, my only really big complaint about the Nexus One — a lack of real corporate email support. To get all the security features and functionality you would expect from corporate email, you need to download TouchDown (a fantastic product by the way) for about twenty bucks.

Hey Google, ever think of just buying TouchDown and integrating it into Android?

Thinking back, my original decision to go with Windows Mobile was largely based on interoperability — I run Windows at home and at the office, and I wanted a phone that would work seamlessly with my work and home machines. Funny enough however, my Windows Mobile phone ended up having pretty much zero interaction with any of my machines, except occasionally moving some music from my home computer to my phone.

The services I did end up interacting with the most on my mobile were almost all Google services — I use Gmail, Google Maps and Google search by default, and ended up using pretty much nothing made my Microsoft (I access my work email through Outlook Web Access on my phone, since my firm doesn’t support non-BlackBerry mobile devices here in Canada).

I’m looking forward to the switch to Android, and I’m excited about the Nexus One. While a little pricey, I think it will be a substantial step up in user experience from my Windows Mobile 6.5 device (the HTC Diamond). I had also thought about waiting for the HTC Desire (mainly because of the integrated FM radio, which I use about once a year ), but after hearing that it wouldn’t work on 3G in North America, decided to just take the plunge and grab the Nexus One.

So while I’m off to the Android, I’m still curious to see where things are going to go with Microsoft’s foray into Windows Phone 7. I came across a post about Windows Phone 7 this morning on Slashgear, and while I have some deeper concerns about the upcoming mobile platform than the author does, I do agree wholeheartedly with the third bullet point at the bottom of his post, that Microsoft should:

Maximize the experience of product ownership. If owning a Windows PC is good, a Windows PC and Windows Phone should be better. Add in an Xbox and it should be an even better experience. And so on.

As I said earlier, this is what I had hoped for with a Microsoft-branded phone. And while I can certainly only speak for myself, I felt like I never really got what I was looking for with that experience. Now let’s see what Google and Android can do.

Originally, I had the idea of publishing some of the news feeds I’d created for myself using Yahoo! Pipes — and I’ve decided that since that was the original point of knowledgecog, why not just get the site working as I had originally intended it? So I put 4 feeds (business and competitive intelligence, enterprise search, knowledge management, and social networking and collaboration) on the main page, and I’ve got a few other lists of potentially useful information about KM at the bottom. It’s simple, and it’s going to stay that way.

You can click through to a longer list of feed items from the main page, and you can also subscribe to the Pipe itself using the RSS link beside the title (which will take you to the RSS version of the Pipe page). I’m going to be working on the news feeds over the next few weeks in order to refine the results as much as I can. Enjoy the new knowledgecog! And of course, any suggestions or feedback on the new site are always welcome. Just leave a comment or get in touch with me through the contact form.

My father, who’s done his fair share of public speaking over the course of his career as a manager, wrote up the 10 points I’ve detailed below. I thought these points were great and wanted to share them. So here you go:

Tip #1: Remember that no one in the audience knows as much as you do about the topic. You are the expert.

Tip #2: The audience is interested in what you have to say. Slow down and take the time to think between the points you want to emphasize. This will demonstrate your confidence and the depth of your knowledge of the subject.

Tip #3: Practice, practice, practice.

At the venue before your presentation:

Tip #4: Check out the room. Walk up to the podium and simulate the presentation in your mind before you have to give it. This can be done the night before, during a lunch break, or during the natural break prior to your presentation. (Note: The more time you have between this and the actual presentation, the better.)

Tip #5: Meet the technical people. Make sure that they know what your material consists of (PowerPoint, videos or audio). Be prepared for an IT meltdown – have some hard copies of your presentation to handout if the IT fails. Above all, don’t apologize for a failure in the technology – have a backup plan. In my opinion, this is the most common failure in presentations: not having a plan.

During your presentation:

Tip #6: Make eye contact. Look for the friendly faces of people that you know or have spoken to. This will help you use spontaneous examples to support your presentation. And remember – stay on track! Keep the examples brief, but connect with those in the audience that you know are supportive of you personally and what you are presenting. This will connect you with the majority of the audience.

Tip #7: Relax. All of the tension has occurred 2 or 3 days before the presentation. You know the material, you have done the planning, and you have friends and supporters in the audience. You have an important message for them and they want to hear it.

Tip #8: If questions arise, be polite and answer them, but don’t let questions throw you off your presentation plan. Let the questions flow, but there will be a natural break when you can bring the presentation back to your control. Audience interest and discussion is a very positive thing, but ensure that you regain control and finish your material.

Tip #9: If you don’t know the answer – be honest! “I don’t have all of the information on the point you’re making, but I will make some inquiries and get back to you with an appropriate answer.”

At the conclusion of your presentation:

Tip #10: Thank the audience for their attention and interest. If there are outstanding issues or unanswered questions, pledge to do the follow up. This is normally a time when questions are asked. When they are finished, reiterate what a pleasure it has been to present the important information to the audience.

Microsoft has desperately needed to reinvent themselves in the mobile marketplace, and it looks like this may be exactly the sort of dramatic change they needed (and hopefully indicates the direction they’re heading in).

While I’m not crazy about the inability to install apps not sanctioned by Microsoft inside their Marketplace, the visual appeal and improved user experience of this new OS may still be enough to win some folks back to the Microsoft mobile platform.

Here’s a video from Engadget showcasing the Windows Phone 7 Series and some of its features.

I’ve always found the transformational nature (data turns into information, which turns into knowledge, which turns into wisdom) as well as the lack of  focus on context (‘wisdom’ — whatever wisdom is — is not always necessarily better to have than data) a bit annoying. But read Patrick’s post, it’s very informative and makes some great points.

With any system, there is the inevitable volume question — how do we derive the quality information from the mediocre but high-quantity information. As Jack correctly points out, using collaboration tools (think Twitter, FaceBook, etc.) can actually make it more difficult to track that conversation down later on, whereas an email conversation (thread, basically) might be easier to search through.

In addition to Jack’s points, I can also envision situations where client confidentiality or other sensitivities would prevent you from having this sort of public conversation — where you would want the flow of any conversation to be tightly controlled and monitored (counter-intuitive to collaboration, I know, but unfortunately, sometimes a regulatory or legal reality).

I’ve always believed that most of the time, frustrations arise due to people picking the wrong method of communication for a particular conversation. There is nothing inherently good or bad about email, we just sometimes need to give a bit more thought as to whether it’s the appropriate mode of communication for what we need to talk about.

Exactly the same thing I was.

It was then that I had a sudden realization about productivity: while technology may enhance our productivity when compared to how productive we used to be without (or with a ‘lesser’) technology, I seldom think about how little my productivity actually increases compared to others.

In the 1950s, Pancho Gonzales was one of the best tennis players in the world, and was known to have a particularly fast serve. At a 1951 tournament, officials decided to measure the players’ serves to see whose was the fastest — and Pancho Gonzales beat everybody with a speed of about 214 km/h.

Gonzales’ serve is certainly much faster than mine will ever be. But consider that Andy Roddick, the player who currently has the fastest serve in tennis, has the recorded fastest serve with a speed of 249.5 km/h. Tennis serves have gotten faster in the past 60 years.

Much like there’s more to productivity than technology, there’s more to being a great tennis player than just having a fast serve. But having a faster serve certainly doesn’t hurt.

But let’s go back to Pancho Gonzales for a second. If we could enter Gonzales into a present-day tennis tournament, his once-astounding 214 km/h serve wouldn’t be that far above the average speed of the first serve — around 185 km/h.

So as individual players have gotten faster, other players have had to get faster too, or else face getting left behind by their colleagues. But the speed of your serve is only one aspect of tennis, and as other players get better at hitting returns or improve the accuracy of their serves, that individual player has to get better at all those elements as well.

This kind of evolutionary arms race is similar to the Red Queen effect:

“For an evolutionary system, continuing development is needed just in order to maintain its fitness relative to the systems it is co-evolving with.”

And in terms of technology, we really are evolving one technology within a broader, complex web of other technologies, where continued evolution is necessary just to stay afloat within that broader system.

So while I may be able to read and respond to email while sitting in that train, if everybody else has the same ability, then I’m not really much ahead of where I was before. And if there were some new device that allowed you to send email while the subway was underground, would I be falling behind if I couldn’t do that as well (and yes, the amount of email you send is probably the worst measure of productivity )?

I’ll try to remember to bring a magazine next time I take the subway.

The video has to be your own work and publicly available for people to watch, but other than that, there’s not really many rules as far as content or subject matter go. So if you’ve got something to say about knowledge management, or are just super-talented at making viral videos, why not submit something?

Patrick’s also giving away some prizes: KM Method Cards, KM Approaches, Methods and Tools – A Guidebook, and his Organisation Culture Cards (worth US$140).

I know that 2009 was a rough year for many, but let’s hope things continue to pick up in 2010. Hopefully you all got to spend some time with friend and family before the end of the calendar year (and some rest as well!). All the best in the upcoming year.