If you thought the iPhone or Microsoft Surface were the coolest Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) technologies, You haven't seen anything yet.
I urge you, watch David Merrill's presentation here... great HCI hardware, amazing software applications.. endless possibilities!
Representative Pete Hoekstra of the US Congress has stirred up some controversy with his "just landed in Baghdad" update on Twitter (read full story at Time.com). Is the social networking scene too public for public officials? Is it safe for the US President to have a Blackberry?
While some of these questions seem far fetched and certain aspects do need to be looked into, the Internet and Social media have played their part in electing the new President of the USA and will certainly play a part in how his administration is perceived by the world.
This is why I quit being a software developer. I would never be a great software guy with people like him around. Good thing no one is born with a love for brand management.
Speaking of quitting, has anyone read Seth Godin's The Dip. I finished reading it a month or so ago... rather disappointing if you ask me. I think he should stick to his blog.
Facebook is the icon of the ultimate Web 2.0 experience. It is a peer-to-peer social network, it's driven by user content, runs its own applications (step 1 of the web OS) and best of all millions of (young) people use it and love it.
the success of Facebook lead Mark Zuckerberg to become the youngest billionaire in the world. Having said that, Facebook is nowhere close to the commercial success of Internet companies such as Google, neither does it have the long term potential like salesfirce.com.
I recently read two interesting articles on the past and future of Facebook. The piece by BBC also features a short interview with Zuckerberg taken in Oct 2008. CNN piece however had a slight more critical view on the future of Facebook.
Four tech predictions by Fortune Magazine for recession proof technologies.
Netbooks
The computer industry now ships more laptops than desktops, and the emerging trend is the Netbook; lighter, less powerful and CHEAPER Notebooks. As the name suggests, Netbooks aren't ideally suited for the heavy desktop applications and gaming usage, but for the Facebookers, bloggers, IMers and browsers on the move, this promises to be a great work station at a lower price.
Cloud Computing
This isn't much of a prediction, and it defiantly isn't limited to 2009. This is more of where Computing is headed, and no recession is going to get in the way of the next shift, especially when it means lowering costs!
Virtualization
"The technology basically allows a single piece of hardware to run systems or applications that previously had run on multiple machines". Now that's the kind of technologies a recession loves...
Electronic Entertainment
According to Yi-Wyn Yen the "Wii is officially recession proof". People may be on a tighter budgets, but it seems spend on consoles and other sources of electronic entertainment, such as high speed Internet, is now a part of the consumer's life and unlikely to face any serious cuts.
A recent article in Business Tech announces Microsoft decision to enter the online application segment by 2010. Given the fact that Zoho and Google already have their up and running for a while now. I haven't used Zoho, but Google apps are great. Especially for a group of people on collaborative projects.
So, keeping in mind my last post, Microsoft isn't exactly leading the way on all Web fronts!
According to a recent announcement, Microsoft are working on a new upgrade for the, rather unsuccessful, Windows Live Web suite. According to an Saul Hansel, who writes for The New York Times, Microsoft plans to "turn their e-mail and instant message systems into something closer to social networks". Now you don't hear this too often, but this would mean Microsoft has beaten Google and Yahoo to Web 2.0 on some front. At least that's how it sounds.
How successful Microsoft will be at drawing in Facebook and Twitter users can not really be predicted. if Microsoft's recent success, or lack of it, is something to go by, I wouldn't be too hopeful. If you remember, Windows Live was suppose to be the next big thing on the Internet and the project was headed/envisioned by Ray Ozzie. Lets hope the upgrade is something worth the bother!
According to the article, Linkedin has been enjoying growth in users over the last few years, in is one of the few companies that will most likely benefit from the economic slow down. Primarily this growth is going to come from more people looking for more jobs, and the job market becoming more competitive.
The article also talks about the question a lot of Linkedin users ask "what do i do here?". Linkedin has recently activated their Groups feature allowing discussions and postings. The two Alumni groups I run have certainly seen a lot more activity and interest since the dicussion feature has been added. In efforts to make the networking community more interesting and rich Linkedin also recently launched a series of Applications developed by 8 of the top Internet App companies (Google, Slideshare, Amazon, Wordpress to name a few).
Linkedin Applications are not exactly a new idea. Facebook has some great Apps, but Linkedin promises to have more business oriented Applications targeting the very specific Linkedin user base.
"If I controlled the Internet" by Rives.
Blogger has added a new feature called Followers. I have always been intrigued by the hits Analytics gives me. Who are these people? Do any of them return to my blog? Why are so many of these visits from the US and the Netherlands? Who exactly is bothering to read what I have to say?
Well, hopefully the few people that do end up bouncing onto my blog will fill out the Followers section. Could possibly end up as a nice 2.0 deal. it could also become a possibly embarrassing feature, "this blog has ZERO followers". A risk worth taking I suppose.
Is Followers a Open 'Follow' feature, or do you have to be on Blogger to 'follow'? anyone?
Google Chrome, I downloaded it, used it and Loved it.
Honestly, its a rather superficial judgment. I haven't read about the features (the omnibar is pretty cool though), I haven't really tested it out yet. Just used it for an hour and so, but I love it. It seems faster that Firefox. Great user interface. Over-all, a pleasant surprise.
Summary: I don't feel like going back to Firefox, and thats saying a lot.
To Download Google Chrome Click Here
To understand Google Chrome Click Here
Google has announced the launch of their very own web browser Chrome. Now, I am a huge Firefox supporter and promoting another browser makes me feel like I'm cheating on Firefox (notice I didn't even mention IE 8 on my blog).
Chrome Beta will be ready for launch tomorrow, Sept 3 2008, for now Google has put up a rather long and difficult to flip through comic book explaining the thought behind Chrome.
I will defiantly be downloading Chrome tomorrow and will let you know what I think.
