Monday, March 22, 2010

Franklin Page sets world texting record using new technology

Okay, I have to admit that this is my nephew, of whom I'm very proud.  Anyway, he's working for Swype, a company responsible for creating software that helps users "swipe" the keys as they text (without lifting their fingers as much), thus doing it faster. Anyway, he was able to beat another intern out in the race to use the technology to beat the World Record, and is now going on a publicity tour for Swype.  Here's the article from March 22's Seattle Times:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2011399114_brier22.html 

Google fiber flavored ice cream?

Had to laugh when I read this in the NYTimes today.  Cities are competing to get Google to install an ultra high-speed broadband for up to 500,000 residents.  Madison, Wisconsin even went so far as to create a Google fiber icecream, with granola and M and Ms in Google colors.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/technology/22stunts.html?th&emc=th

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Who will win location, location, location?

This is the best discussion of the huge location issue I've seen.  http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/19/check-in-fatigue-location-war/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Techcrunch+(TechCrunch)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
It's obvious that location check-in will be very important when a company finally gets it right and gets enough customers.  It will be interesting to see who that will be.  Stay tuned.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

A data lover's dream

If you love data, check out http://www.factual.com/.  This site promotes open data and is a wonderful resource for researchers.  It invites people to upload data tables of all types (see the video on the site for instructions).   And it gives access to data of all types.  Truly a wonderful addition.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Privacy, who me? Take Two

This article makes me want to take down my facebook account.  Generally, I'm not too concerned about there being a lot of data out there about people, because most of it will just be used for data mining or crunching massive amounts of data.  However, the study at Carnegie Mellon, where they were able to predict 8.5 million social security numbers, makes me want circle the wagons on my data posse.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/technology/17broadband.html?th&emc=th

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Privacy, who me?

Is the quest for privacy hopeless in today's digital world?  There are certainly some who think so.  This is a very interesting article from cnet.com.  http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20000336-38.html?tag=rtcol;pop

Geolocation in Austin

In Austin, Texas, things are happening at the SXSWi (South by Southwest interactive Festival), as they have in the past (this is where twitter made its first big splash).  Geolocation is one of the hottest topics--how do you "check-in" with your friends virtually at different spots and announce your own location?  Two key players in this area are Foursquare and Gowalla.  For more info, see http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10466901-36.html?tag=mncol;txt

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

iPad vs Slate

Which of these two devices will have the edge?  See this video of the capabilities of HP's Slate to help you decide.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p-RZAwQq0E&feature=player_embedded

Monday, March 8, 2010

Display Advertising Gaining on Search Advertising

Search Advertising, Google's cash cow for years, has a growth rate that has slowed some recently and is only expected to grow in the single digits this year.  In response, Google has launched a strong effort in display advertising, mainly on YouTube.  It should bring in billions.  Also very interesting is the news that Google is creating ways to automatically change colors, language, and other features so that they stand the greatest impact of being noticed by the individual views (because they are tailored to him/her.)http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_08/b4167022997907.htm

Pandora in the news

I have been investigating Pandora a bit lately and am very impressed with their recent advances.  Here is an article from today's NYTon Pandora that I found interesting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/technology/08pandora.html?th&emc=th