Thursday, August 26, 2010

Keep an eye on Flipboard

Recent stats show that in July 2010 1,181,194,905 hours were spent on Facebook and 65 million tweets were sent per day. Backed by famed VC John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins and recently checked out by Apple's Steve Jobs, this is an interesting company to keep an eye on.  The reason is that it brings together all the different tasks we now undertake on the Internet--social media, dealing with pictures, video, etc.  And it does so using a clean, intuitive interface.  Described as "Your social magazine" it shows you what others want you to see in a manner that is perfect for the iPad multi-touch technology. And, by the way, 3.2 million iPads were sold during this last month.

How to Become and Entrepreneur More Quickly and More Cheaply

In the September 6, 2010 edition of Fortune, Jessi Hempel and Betsy Feldman have a great article on "Building a Faster, Cheaper Startup." Read it and see how easy it is to start a new business.  I will post a link as soon as I can find one.  Since it just came out, it may be a couple of weeks.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

The way browsing will change by 2015

PCWorld has an article comparing the three major browsers this month, but what I found more interesting was the article "Your Browser in Five Years" by Jeff Bertolucci.  As the Web becomes the computing platform of choice, we will increasingly use more voice recognition and text-to-speech in our interactions with the Web.  And we'll be using the Web everywhere, including the most dangerous places of all, our cars. I love the idea of the touchless gesture for interacting with the Web (being developed by EyeSight Mobile Technologies).  But I hope it is used more for activities like turning on light and sounds systems and turning off security systems, when you arrive home with arms full of purchases, and not for interpreting our gestures, whatever they may be, in the car.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/199071/your_browser_in_five_years.html

I can sing like I always wanted to sing, thanks to a new iPad app

This one's amazing.  A concert pianist, and his company, MuseAmi, have developed a iPad app that shows you the score as it plays, and adds automated harmony and background sound.  And the best part, it assures that your voice comes out in perfect tune.  http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/08/20/arts/1247468534351/improvox-unzipping-the-dna-of-music.html?th&emc=th

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Is it worth being tracked around the mall to get a $5 gift certificate?

Read this interesting NYTimes article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/technology/17app.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Is it worth giving up privacy for points that will eventually accumulate to a small amount of credit or cash at a major mall store? Or is it worth it for points on a Facebook game such as Farmville . . . or for a free music download?   Maybe and maybe not.  What makes Shopkick different is that your actions, including entering a store and even such actions as picking up an object to peruse it will now be tracked and add points to your total.  All this will be done with your iPhone (and soon the Android will also have this capability.)  By the way, Shopkick will also add points when you enter the dressing room.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

How to Get Rid of Marketplace

I find that the Marketplace application for Facebook is really intrusive.  If you want to get rid of it and stop the emails coming that tell you what all your FB friends have bought, here is how to do it:  http://apps.facebook.com/marketplace/info/faq/Find%20out%20more%20about%20Oodle%20Pro.#122