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February 4, 2008
Hacking Windows Mobile
iPhones aren't the only Internet-surfing phones that have gaping security weaknesses waiting to be exploited. In fact, all smartphones -- that includes Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Blackberry devices -- can be easily commandeered by malevolent nerds with a little bit of code and a dose of trickery. In the interest of fairness, we've gotten some security folks from Bluefire Security Technologies to show us what kind of mischief can be made on a regular Windows smartphone, just as we did with the iPhone in November. Or is mischief the wrong word? Perhaps "data and identify theft" are more accurate terms.
Check out the video below:
Continue reading "Hacking Windows Mobile"
Posted by Chris Dannen at 12:14 PM
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January 16, 2008
Technology Blogger Robert Scoble to Launch FastCompany.TV
The launch of our FC Expert Blogs back in December of 2006 and our brand new FastCompany.com homepage in June of 2007 were just the humble beginnings of our plans afoot for major developments of the new, agile FastCompany.com that Ed Sussman, president of Mansueto Digital, which runs FastCompany.com, CompanyofFriends.com, Inc.com, IncTechnology.com, and IncBizNet.com wrote about in our FC Now Staff blog on June 1, 2007.
Our latest announcement is the launch of FastCompany.TV, a new online video network featuring coverage of bleeding edge technology trends, interviews with leading executives and business people, reviews of the latest technology products, and lifestyle programming. Robert Scoble, one of the most popular technology bloggers in the world, will join us to serve as Managing Director of the site, slated to launch in March. FastCompany.TV will debut several programs over the course of 2008 featuring Scoble and other well known personalities. (Read our press release for more details.)
Scoble is already a member of our family. He writes a regular column in Fast Company magazine about how technology is changing business, which is integrated into our site at Scoble on Tech, where we also feature his calendar from Upcoming.org and his Google Reader feed of daily tech reads, along with video interviews.
About joining Fast Company, Scoble says:
"I decided to join up with Fast Company because I wanted to work with a brand well known for covering innovation and technology in an authoritative, provocative manner. And I’m excited that the Mansueto Digital websites are innovating in the social media space themselves."
When Scoble talks about our innovation in the social media space, he's referring to how we plan to integrate viewer participation into FastCompany.TV, as well as Mansueto Digital's open-source build in Drupal of IncBizNet, an online business networking community and database created exclusively for private companies. He's also talking about the Company of Friends, one of the first online business networks that debuted in November of 1997. Unlike other social networks, where it's about showcasing your resume and playing games, the Company of Friends has always been about bringing people together to share ideas -- both online and offline -- about the core themes central to our magazine, such as innovation and social responsibility. We'll announce more news about how we plan to grow our social media efforts later this month. And don't forget to look out for FastCompany.TV in March.
Update
Robert Scoble's blog post about his decision to join Fast Company on his blog: Why we’re going to FastCompany.tv
Mansueto Digital President Ed Sussman on Beet.TV discussing Scoble coming on board: Robert Scoble to Launch Online Video Network At Fast Company -- Post Update: We Interviewed Scoble's New Boss This Morning
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 1:05 AM
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January 15, 2008
Steve Jobs Reveals Apple's MacBook Air and iTunes Movie Rentals
Steve Jobs announced Apple's new ultra-thin laptop MacBook Air during his keynote at MacWorld. With only a .76" thickness at most, Jobs called it the thinnest laptop ever made. Air features 13.3" LED screen, 1.6 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, a multitouch pad for iPhone-like navigation, and an 80 GB hard drive or an optional 64 GB solid state drive. An optical drive is an optional accessory, and it features 2 GB of RAM. The Air survives up to five hours on a battery charge. Pre-orders for the new laptop begin today, shipping in two weeks with a starting price of $1800. Apple has gone more green with Air as well, featuring recyclable components and less packaging used in retail.
Jobs also announced a software update to iTunes and Apple TV to support movie rentals. There are over 1000 movies available now, priced at $5 for HD films, $4 for new releases, and $3 for older films. The films can be download in 30 seconds and customers will have a 30-day window in which they can watch the rented film. Also, Apple has lowered the price of its Apple TV from $299 to $229. And the technology company has also released updated software for both the iPhone and iPod touch.
There were no big surprises in the keynote -- not even Jobs' usual "One more thing..." routine. Jobs' keynotes have become an Internet phenomenon with dozens of sites offering live blogs--many of them temporarily crashing from overwhelming traffic. Usually, it's because everyone is awaiting the next sexy tech device or software to knock them off their feet. But is the keynote successful when there are no big surprises?
Big surprises aside, I appreciate the keynote for the numbers update: iTunes has sold 125 million TV shows, 7 million movies, and an incredible 4 billion songs--20 million on Christmas day alone. The iPhone has also been successful, with 4 million already sold within the 200 days it's been on the market.
Despite the lack of a big surprise, do you think Jobs keynote was as successful as his keynotes past? Is the MacBook Air an interesting enough product to maintain Apple's aura of innovation?
Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 1:45 PM
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January 10, 2008
Technology: Hacking, Loving, Hating the Asus EEE PC
This week I became the roughly one billionth person to buy one of those diminutive, happy little things called Asus Eee PCs. Mine is the low-end $299 version, and it came in a color I've taken to calling Confident Man Green.
Naturally my first inclination was to hop on the Intertubes and figure out how I could hack and update this thing with quick-and-easy mods, so it might be ever so much more than I'd hoped. Here's what I found.
Posted by Chris Dannen at 5:01 PM
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January 7, 2008
Technology: The Cool-Stuff Roundup of CES
Nerds everywhere are lapping up the news coming out of the annual Consumer Electronics Show, and, being a nerd, I've been hard at work consuming it all. Permit me tasteless puns as I regurgitate the news of the coolest gadgets until I'm blue in the tooth.
So here they are: the hi-def, low-priced, pocket-sized, mondo-screened, battery-powered, eco-friendly doohickeys that will make me glad I'm not Amish in 2008.
Continue reading "Technology: The Cool-Stuff Roundup of CES"
Posted by Chris Dannen at 5:08 PM
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December 18, 2007
Technology: The Skype Mobile Phone Will Blow Your Mind
If you are feeble of constitution, beware: the following review asks the reader to reconcile two drastically disparate technology abstracts -- mobile phones and Skype -- in a way that might cause temporary insanity. But I mean "insanity" in, like, a good way.
That's because the new 3 Skypephone, powered by a small software company called iSkoot (in partnership with British phonemaker 3), performs a remarkable little trick that could change the way cell phone service (and pricing) is understood amongst the next generation of mobile talkers.
Image courtesy of 3skypephone.com
Posted by Chris Dannen at 2:55 PM
| 4 Comments
December 17, 2007
Technology: Are You A Loser?
Two new-but-different ways to aggregate your online life -- social networks, email, photos, blogs -- make it easier than ever to obsess over your relationship with your computer. One is a web browser called Flock. The other is a web service called Fuser. Does using one, the other (or both) make you a loser? Or, more accurately... a Fluser?
That depends on which one you're using.
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Posted by Chris Dannen at 12:07 PM
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December 13, 2007
Technology: Ashlee Simpson And The Future Of Teleconferencing
I know, I know -- what part of the upward march of humanity doesn't depend on Ashlee Simpson? Well here's a bit of tech that owes her a particular nod. It's made by a new company called Vapps, and it's the first high-speed teleconferencing technology to hit the wires since Skype revolutionized the way human beings communicate long-distance.
(Photographer: Michael Caulfield/WireImage.com)
Ashley spent Wednesday, also the final day of Hanukkah, reading The Polar Express to a group of 100 hospitalized children, most of whom weren't even in the same state. The feat was a demonstration of Vapps' HighSpeed Conferencing, a broadband-based teleconferencing solution that uses Skype to deliver ultra high-quality voice conferencing to up to 500 participants. It does this, I should note, at a flat rate per month, eschewing the per-minute pricing structure of the telecom companies and saving companies bags of money in the process. Using the traditional Skype program, users are limited to group chats of 4 to 9 participants, so this is a big step up for big businesses.
Listening to Ashlee (or anyone, for that matter) over a HighSpeed teleconference connection, you begin to ask yourself one question. It's not: how did they do this? It's not: what does it mean to want to La-La**? The question is: how on earth are we still dealing with the awful sound quality of telephones, well into the age of ubiquitous internet, hybrid cars and Coke Zero?
**For the uninitiated:
Continue reading "Technology: Ashlee Simpson And The Future Of Teleconferencing"
Posted by Chris Dannen at 5:47 PM
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December 7, 2007
After the Fallout, A Defense of Facebook Beacon
I haven't been hanging out on Facebook very long or often these days, so I didn't experience the "Big Brother"-ish alerts from Beacon that my colleague Jason Del Rey describes in his post. But, not living under a rock, I couldn't miss all the bad PR Facebook has encountered because of Beacon and its privacy intrusions.
Then today, as I was doing background research/casual Web surfing, I ran across a post, dated from a week ago, on the blog Sexy Widget regarding Beacon. My immediate reaction: "Ha! If only Facebook had positioned this better. The way it's described here, Beacon doesn't sound half bad." To read the post, click here; I definitely recommend it for a different perspective on the matter.
The most salient point that I took from the post was that Beacon doesn't necessarily have to be blatantly commercial. Beside privacy concerns, much of the grumbling about Beacon centered upon what people believed to be incessant shilling of products. But the notifications are useful for other activities on the Web besides e-commerce. Sure, it's about advertising, but so are those notices on the news feed that tell you when someone has added a new app. And I remember when the news feed first came out. Everyone hated it, including me -- I even notified Facebook personally on the matter. But now the news feed is one of Facebook's most acclaimed features, MySpace is copying it, and I have to admit it's pretty clever.
Now, much of this is moot, as Facebook has not only made Beacon opt-in but also enabled users to turn it off completely. But now that I've read some analysis of Beacon's potential, I hope that potential hasn't entirely been quashed by the public's disgust.
Posted by April Joyner at 12:56 AM
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December 4, 2007
Technology: No More Vista "Kill Switch"
Microsoft announced today that it will stop remotely disabling versions of Vista that its registration servers deem pirated. If you're not privy to this feature of Vista, here's the lowdown: when your register your shiny new copy of Vista, Microsoft's servers decide whether or not you are in fact registering a "genuine" copy, or a copy that has been hacked or modded for the purposes of illegal distribution. If it decides the latter, it limits some features of your machine quite severely, letting you login for only an hour at a time, disabling the OS's eye-candy skin, called Aero, and giving you periodic (and vaguely ominous) error messages. Neither the initial feature nor its repeal are surprising, coming from the piracy McCarthyists in Redmond. What is interesting, however, is the bizarre language the MS brass use to discuss the feature and its (dis)abilities.
Posted by Chris Dannen at 4:26 PM
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November 26, 2007
The Wall Street Journal: Niche Audience vs. The Free Public World
Lately, I've been reading a lot of news reports about Rupert Murdoch's intentions to lift the pay wall from The Wall Street Journal online and I've been wondering if this is a good idea. During the course of my research about the proposed plan, I even came across two Motley Fool's reporters who were battling out the pros and cons of the idea.
Back on November 15, Rich Smith wrote:
"Brand: People believe that "you get what you pay for." By removing the price tag that tells people what WSJ.com's value is, Murdoch will devalue the brand."
While his colleague, Anand Chokkavelu wrote:
"By freeing the site, the trusted financial news source will attract more readers. How many more? If you believe Murdoch, 15 times more. He believes his 1 million online subscribers can be enlarged to as many as 15 million readers by ditching the cash register. And with more readers come more advertising dollars, especially if they turn out to be, in Murdoch's words, "the most affluent, the most influential people in the world.""
Certainly any numbskull with half a brain could see the potential in numbers of readers to be gained if the tariff were lifted. And there's also a potential cross-content strategy with the recent launch of the Fox Business News Network and MarketWatch. So if I can see what a numbskull can see, then what's my problem with Murdoch's plan?
Well, I think I'm hanging onto something that Rich Smith wrote about the brand. With a tried and true brand, both the audience and the advertisers know what they're getting when they do business with WSJ. But with a free-for-all -- even though Murdoch has stated that it will be an influential audience still -- I'm not sure what either the audience or the advertisers will get. Would WSJ.com just turn into some sort of portal á la Yahoo! or AOL? Is this the correct competitive landscape for such a product as the WSJ -- to run up against the likes of the Goliaths of content on the Web? AOL's target market was America -- in its entirety, after all. That's a wide market to cater to, and even harder to define a sweet spot for. Often being everything to everyone simply means being nothing entirely good at all.
But we could be looking at the Financial Times and The New York Times as the WSJ competition. That lot might make better sense, and ultimately set the objectives at keeping the product and brand a lot more pure.
But if traffic spikes to the extent that Murdoch predicts, then a serious content challenge will be faced. Will 15 million world readers be interested in the current content brand identity of the WSJ? Or will the content become totally diluted in order to reach this wider audience base? I'm opting for that latter on this one. And if that's how it's going to go down, then it's going to change the nature of both the content and the audience overall. Courting middle America isn't necessarily going to land you that BMW or Fidelity account. But I could be entirely wrong. Why go after less dollars spent in online advertising from luxury brands when there's more money being spent (and a better understanding of online) from lower-end brands?
I don't know, I'm torn on this one. I suppose that after the WSJ print became smaller, I've become more and more concerned about the demise of a stellar brand.
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 10:38 PM
| 6 Comments
November 23, 2007
Technology: Smarter Days
It has been two weeks since I got my new smartphone, the Palm Centro. I won't bore you with an extended tech review -- I think it's a great gadget, but I dislike the Web browser -- but I can review how my daily life has changed since I got it.
The Centro is not only my latest phone, it is the first smartphone I have owned. Since getting my phone, I am in greater touch with friends. Daily, I have been exchanging quick little missives via text messaging. Over IM, my friends and I have shared jokes or changes in plans. Such communication is great, but only a simple evolution from the routine of e-mail and IM on my work and home desktops.
The larger changes to my life have come in little ways. Last weekend after a the train ride ending at 2 a.m. I did a little Web surfing. Those minutes of browsing helped me to stay a bit sane after my bus failed to come. One night earlier this week, the music I had put on the Centro helped lighten my mood and reduced the stress I was feeling. Another night, a quick text message to my friend helped us rendezvous online for a few hours of Halo 3. One afternoon a quick Google search gave me the cross street to my destination -- a place I had never been -- even as I walked toward it.
These may be nice improvements to my life, but they pale to those still to come. Looking at the Centro or the iPhone or the Kindle, the idea that desktops and laptops will give way to the dominance of smartphones seems very likely. I look forward to: constant access to easy-to-use and comprehensive dictionaries and encyclopedias; location-based searching for businesses like restaurants or sales items in stores; simple applications for mobile social networking; enhanced reality features such as scanning objecting for additional information. Many of these can be done now using fringe software, but the day they become standard and everyone does it, is the day they start changing my life and everyone else's. And I am sure there are other innovations that will arise as smartphones continue to evolve, improve, grow more powerful and less expensive.
A conversation with my colleague Saabira made me think of the bigger picture. The mass-adoption of PCs changed our society, as did the Internet and the cell phone that followed. As the smartphone matures into a powerful and intuitive extension of people's daily lives, our society is guaranteed to go through unforeseen changes. I for one look forward to it.
Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 10:00 AM
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November 19, 2007
Technology: Hacking the iPhone for Espionage
No, it's not enough that you can hack your iPhone to operate on the T-Mobile network, or launch third-party applications, or play games. No, someone had to go and demonstrate how you can -- quite easily, with some know-how -- turn an iPhone, or any smartphone, into a full-blown spy gadget. Go warm up your missile-laden Aston Martin, and then watch security expert Rik Farrow show you how it's done:
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Posted by Chris Dannen at 12:55 PM
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November 12, 2007
Tech Monday: First Look at the Google Mobile OS
The Google Phone isn't really a Google Phone or GPhone after all. What it will be is an open-source operating system for mobile phones. The project is called Android and it's a a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications.
From the Google info page about Android:
The Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies, is developing Android: the first complete, open, and free mobile platform. To help developers get started developing new applications, we're offering an early look at the Android Software Development Kit. [Android]
In this YouTube video Sergey Brin and Steve Horowitz discuss the availability of the SDK, that it will be open source in the future, and demo some applications.
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 7:11 PM
| 2 Comments
Technology: What's Cooking at Apple?
When unfulfilled Apple rumors don't die, there's usually a good reason. Having moved on from the iPhone, the tech rumor mill is now churning up new whispers of a game-changing Apple product: an ultra-thin MacBook. Ultra-thin laptops are nothing new. So why should we care?
Apple traditionally makes quick changes in its product lines; even seminal product re-designs happen inside of 18 months or a year. But when it takes the Cupertino-based company more than a year and a half to launch a product, it's either dead in the water, or deadly to the competition. It took nearly a decade of development for Apple to launch the first OS X. The iPod was a multi-year endeavor, and the iPhone took so long to develop that it developed an almost mythical aura in the tech community. We've been hearing about ultra-thin MacBooks for close to three years now, which means that if and when it arrives at the MacWorld conference in January, it will be a device that leaves other laptop makers scrambling. With the dearth of solid information that accompanies these rumors, I'll put my tech-spertise on the line to predict what we'll see in the ultra-thin MacBook.
Posted by Chris Dannen at 3:30 PM
| 5 Comments
November 7, 2007
Technology: Web 2.0 Gets Less Stupid
There are plenty of Web-based applications out there that are, frankly, of dubious utility to normal people. Sure, Twitter has proven itself a life-saver, but that leaves a lot of other stupid sites and software with something to prove. But they may never get the chance, thanks to a new crop of Web 2.0 apps that combine once-silly software into practical, usable products. Think of it: voice recognition software with a purpose; project management software that employees actually use; mobile phone-based social networking that actually facilitates a better social life. Impossible, you say? Read on, dear skeptic, read on.
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Posted by Chris Dannen at 11:53 AM
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November 6, 2007
Technology: Visualizing Your Brain's Neural Net
If you've ever wanted to see what a neural network looks like inside your own brain, then the new Visuwords visual dictionary might be the closest you'll ever get.
When you enter a word into Visuwords, it creates a graphical abstract of all related terms, and ties them together in a web that you can manipulate. Mousing over a term defines it, and you can drag the terms around, into groups, or stretch the web apart to see how related terms relate to each other. It is, as the kids say, mad cool. You can see it in action here.
Posted by Chris Dannen at 12:45 PM
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November 5, 2007
Technology: The New RAZR2 is Almost Very Cool
Statistically speaking, there is a good chance you already have a Razr. If you don't, it's either because you resent their ubiquity, or you just wanted something a little more full-featured. So, whether you have the old Razr, or hate the old Razr, or simply want more out of a phone than just a phone, here's why you should take a close look at the Motorola's Razr2. And also why you shouldn't.
Posted by Chris Dannen at 3:16 PM
| 1 Comment
November 1, 2007
Technology: The Talk About Google's OpenSocial
And everyone thought that Microsoft had punked Google by investing $240 million in Facebook for 1.6 of the social-networking site, when all the while Google had a plan for Orkut, that being OpenSocial -- a set of common APIs for building social applications across the Web, (with a developer sandbox at Orkut).
"Orkut has tens of millions of passionate users who are constantly clamoring for new ways to have fun with their friends and express themselves through Orkut," said Amar Gandhi, group product manager for Orkut, Google's social networking service. "By using OpenSocial to open up Orkut as a platform for any developer, we can tap into the vast creativity of the community and make new features available to our users frequently."-- Source: "Google Launches OpenSocial, " John Battelle's Searchblog
Here's what's being said around the Web about OpenSocial:
- OpenSocial - What a Difference a Day Makes
Today Google made its official announcement (NYTimes coverage) of the networks that have joined their OpenSocial initiative. By adding sites not yet named in Tuesday's NYTimes piece, namely the addition of MySpace, we have a completely different picture of the combined OpenSocial sites compared to Facebook. By popular requests here's an updated chart: - Details Revealed: Google OpenSocial To Launch Thursday
The new project, called OpenSocial (URL will go live on Thursday), goes well beyond what we’ve previously reported. It is a set of common APIs that application developers can use to create applications that work on any social networks (called “hosts”) that choose to participate. - MySpace Joins Google’s OpenSocial
Until today. MySpace and Google announced that the largest social network in the world will be joining the developing initiative by the largest search engine in the world. Google has said that over the past year, they’ve been secretly working on with MySpace to include them in the OpenSocial. - NewsGator Joins OpenSocial
NewsGator was quick to take advantage of the new developer’s platform OpenSocial to create an application for Google’s new partners in the social networking space. Named “Didja Hear!?” this app will let you share and discuss multimedia images and video content. The premise of Didja Hear will basically organize and distribute video and image content between you and your friends. - Open Social: screencast and screenshots
In yesterday's post, I described the new Open Social API, sponsored by Google and supported by a wide range of Internet companies including my company Ning. - Charlene Li comes clean on OpenSocial leak
Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li now claims that she was the source of the New York Times scoop about Google's OpenSocial program, something we alluded to in a post yesterday about a quote from Li being scrubbed from the Times story. - Google to open Orkut OpenSocial developer sandbox tonight
The campfire is burning tonight on the Google campus as the company prepares to launch a Orkut sandbox for working with the OpenSocial APIs. Developers will be able register, get the docs and try out their code on the Orkut “container.” Other containers, such as Ning, MySpace and others, will become available based on schedules set by those companies. “Ning is ready to go,” said co-founder Marc Andreessen. “We are waiting for the APIs to stabalize.” - Google Open Social - Don’t Believe the Hype
At first glance, Google’s Open Social sounds like a great thing. Open… Social… two great tastes that go great together, right? Maybe not. “Open Social” sounds a lot like an “Open Marriage” – on the surface some may think this sounds fun but after thinking about it for a minute you quickly realize it’s a bad idea
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 10:19 PM
| 1 Comments
Technology: Apple's Leopard, First Take
I'm going to try to be equitable here, because no one needs to read another anti-Vista rant or Apple-is-God paean. Windows does some things very well; its Previous Versions feature in Vista, for example, has rescued a number of my precious documents from user-induced oblivion. That said, it's hard to be totally even-handed when Leopard (aka Mac OS 10.5) so handily outshines any other computing interface heretofore created by human beings.
Hold the hate mail -- I promised more than a simple paean, and I'll deliver. I've been using Leopard for only a few days, and it's already changed the way I understand the limits of a personal computer. However, I don't think much of that has to do with Apple, or how great Apple is, or how badly I wish I had invested in them in 2002.
OS 10.5's New Look
Posted by Chris Dannen at 1:23 PM
| 1 Comment
October 29, 2007
Technology: Sprint's Answer to the iPhone
In my hands I hold the HTC Touch, a compact take on the touchscreen smartphone. Is it cool? Yes. Does it one-up a certain Apple phone? No. But you can think of this Windows Mobile-based device as more fun than a Blackberry, and more business than the iPhone. But it's no mere copycat; the HTC has some cool interface tricks up its sleeve that are sure to make other smartphone owners covetous.
The Touch, which will be available for $249 with a 2 year contract, hits the market on November 4. Its biggest advantage is its size; if you've ever lugged around a bigger smartphone, you know they can feel like bricks. The Touch is sized at just 3.9 x 2.2 x 0.5 inches, and weighs a scant 4 ounces -- perfect for a shirt pocket or tiny purse. So how well does it actually work?
Continue reading "Technology: Sprint's Answer to the iPhone"
Posted by Chris Dannen at 2:34 PM
| 9 Comments
October 26, 2007
Technology: FireBlogging
If you've ever been tempted to call Twitter useless, reconsider; the service is allowing thousands of Southern California residents to stay safe by receiving up-to-the-minute geographical information about the spreading fires. Twitter's short, instant updates are perfect for bare-bones, factual updates, and and it's not the only Web service helping out panicked Californians. Several Google Maps mashups have emerged with dynamic blaze information and evacuation details, and a number of blogs are tracking the destruction chronologically to allow people to predict if their homes will stay safe.
Luckily, technology is serving SoCal while officials are struggling to; according to one former California State Fire Marshal, citizens' courses of action are often decided on an individual basis with only the information at hand, since "fire officials don't know exactly when evacuations should occur." However, the Internet is famous for its vulnerability to misinformation. Should people switch off their computers and rely on TV news to get more credible and actionable information?
Continue reading "Technology: FireBlogging"
Posted by Chris Dannen at 1:31 PM
| 3 Comments
October 22, 2007
Technology: The Camera Phone Evolves
In college, I took an anthropology class. One of the first things we learned was that most people don't know our species' correct Latin name. We think we're homo sapiens, but we actually haven't been homo sapiens for some time. Present-day man has an upgraded moniker: our correct scientific name is homo sapien sapien, which, translated, means "the clever, clever human." So what does this have to do with cell phones?
Posted by Chris Dannen at 2:48 PM
| 2 Comments
Technology: The Ringing Could Soon Be Everywhere
I was on the subway with one of my louder friends the other day when he said something particularly embarrassing. Red-faced I shushed him vigorously and looked furtively around to see how many people were chuckling. Talk about anticlimactic. Nobody.
Every single one of our surrounding co-passengers who sat within earshot had headphones planted firmly in their ears, seemingly content to just sit back and let the music keep them company. I was amazed.
It's not really a new phenomenon that many people who ride New York's subway carry iPods or other MP3 players. I just had never had an occasion to notice how large this number actually is. People keep inter-personal interaction to a minimum-- no looking, no talking, no touching (well not of one's own volition anyway). The music is just another way to keep the invisible walls impenetrable.
Listening to music on the subway isn't a bad thing at all – before it seems like I'm heading down that path -- but last week's incident (or lack of) has made me think about how public transport systems are increasingly being populated by more and more gadget wielders.
A recent piece of tech news: In the near future, possibly even next year, people may be able to freely use their cell phones on airplanes flying over EU airspace. Plans have already been developed to allow mobile phone usage above 3000 meters, without the risk of interference with the aircraft navigation systems.
Less newsworthy is the fact that New Yorkers will soon be able to use their cell phones underground. The Metropolitan Transport Authority recently announced a plan by which all 277 subway stations would be wired for cell phone and wireless Internet connectivity over the next six years. Reportedly, Transit Wireless, the company that will be installing the equipment, will also provide the MTA with the potential to extend the cell phone and wireless capabilities to subway tunnels. So far, the MTA has indicated no intention of doing so. Some seem to think they should.
Now I love using my phone; I love chatting with people. And particularly when I'm suspended in a tubular vacuum, staring blankly at the Delta ad in front of me and trying to decrypt the garbled sounds from above that are meant to keep everyone informed, the prospect of having a familiar voice just a button away to help pass the time sounds pretty appealing. The problem? It sounds pretty appealing to just about everyone.
Technology itself -- if intended for humane purposes, to facilitate interaction, solve a problem or make life easier -- can be wonderful. Problems arise around the way in which people choose to harness this technology. Sometimes, depending on the type of device and the way people choose to use it, too much technology can be a bad thing.
Continue reading "Technology: The Ringing Could Soon Be Everywhere"
Posted by Saabira Chaudhuri at 10:33 AM
| 3 Comments
October 15, 2007
Tech Monday: It's A Blog World After All
Back in the spring, there was some discrepancy about whether there are actually 70 million blogs in the world. David Sifry of Technorati posted "The State of the Live Web" in April and revealed a steady growth in blogs to the tune of 120k blogs each day. Of this great number, it was discovered, that perhaps only 15.5 million of the blogs are actually even active, and that perhaps blogging has reached a plateau.
"There are tech bloggers who say it's dying, but that doesn't mean for everyone else it is. Many of those bloggers were there at the beginning of the beginning, but to be quite honest, very few bloggers crossover outside of their niches. There's a viable future here. Magazines, radio shows, TV shows -- go out of business every day, blogging (blogging, vlogging, Internet radio, Internet tv) is the same thing," says Rick Calvert, CEO & Co-founder, BlogWorld & New Media Expo. "There's no sign at all that it has reached it's peak and dying, to the contrary, it's just the beginning."
Calvert created the Blog World event to cater to the next group of evangelists, those at the lower end of the long tail, who still have a lot to learn about blogging from a business standpoint as well as a technological standpoint. "There are sites out there with 80,000 readers a day who don't know how to monetize content, while sites with half that amount of traffic are making a living from it," he says.
Calvert and his organizers say Blogworld is the largest blogging and new media conference ever assembled, with more than 70 presenters. The speakers list includes a who's who of blogging, such as Mike Arrington of TechCrunch, Brian Clark of Copyblogger, Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post, Om Malik of GigaOm, and BJ Schecter of ESPN among many others.
"I launched the event because I wanted to attend an event like this, and when I went looking for it, it didn't exist. Coincidentally I run tradeshows for a living and I couldn't believe that anything like this didn't exist, so I created it," says Calvert. "There were many niche blog conferences: religious, political, tech, etc. This is all of them in one place, like any other tradeshow, like what NAB is to broadcasters."
And it's not only the bloggers who are attending the conference, but major media outlet representatives as well. "Every publishing, radio, and TV outlet is getting their staff to blog," Calvert explains.
Blog World is held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, November 8-9, 2007 with an Executive and Entrepreneur track on November 7. The program will include presentations on strategic marketing, brand building, monetization, increasing readership and influence, digital music and video integration, and many other topics of importance to bloggers.
For more info visit, BlogWorld & New Media Expo. Normal discount pricing ends October 19, with additional discounts for Fast Company readers who use the code: FASTVIP. The Fast Company 15% reduced rate will also be available after the normal discount period.
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 10:40 PM
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October 8, 2007
Tech Monday: What The Women Bloggers Know
Back in July, I went to Chicago to attend the 3rd Annual BlogHer Conference to moderate a panel, "Privacy, Exposure, Risk: Can you maintain safer spaces online?" BlogHer is a community for and guide to blogs by women, as well as an annual conferences, Web network, and an advertising network with the mission of creating opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community and economic empowerment. I've attended, and I believe, spoken at each BlogHer event, since its inception. But I must say, that overall I found this year's conference the most cohesive programatically than any before.
I know I'm getting to this post late, but there are so many lessons I learned at BlogHer that have positively impacted the way I work. Though the conference was divided into five tracks -- Art of Life, Business of You, Community, Identity, and Technical -- I most gravitated toward the tech tracks, especially "Blogging Workflow Tools and Tricks," hosted by Barb Dybwad of AOL's Weblogs Inc. and Gina Trapani of Lifehacker. Don't get me wrong, other panels throughout the conference were very informative and important in terms of understanding blogging culture, blogging as a business, as well as the social and political implications of blogging, but again, as I stated earlier, the tech track resonated with me most.
From Dybward and Trapani, I learned how the most prolific bloggers get the job done -- it's primarily because they've learned trade secrets that, as this panel illustrated, they're all too willing to share. Much of what was presented can also be found on the Blog Tools Wiki - Back end tools page. These tools enable you to blog faster and easier, such as:
- Scribefire -- a Firefox extension that enables you to blog from anywhere on the Web, once you've set up your blogs. You can even drag and drop images.
- Ecto -- a blogging desktop client that integrates with Wordpress, Movable Type, Typepad, Blogger, Drupal and more. (I've been using a similar tool Qumana Blog Manager, that also makes it easy to blog while you're offline and then upload your posts whenever you're connected again.)
- Lifehacker roundup maker -- this roundup tool helps you make a list post such as my Tech Monday: New Media News Roundup. All you do is insert URLs, text links, and descriptions and the tool automatically generates all of the HTML code for your list.
Other tools include easier ways to copy links and text without having to cut and paste in the old fashioned way, as well as the ability to output copied text and links directly to HTML code. If you don't understand anything I'm saying, but you're interested in making your blogging easier, you should definitely visit the Back end tools page to learn more. I find the tools not only useful for people who want to blog faster or easier, but for people who manage multiple blogs as well.
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 4:59 PM
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October 1, 2007
Tech Monday: Which Social Network Fits Your Marketing Strategy?
Currently, I'm suffering from social networking fatigue with a dash of information overload and a sip of keyboard-itis thrown in . No, I have no inflammation occurring, but a friend and I joked on IM today about my disease of keyboard, in that I type so much that it seems at times I can't type at all -- anymore. I type and a flurry of erroneous misspellings enter the IM screen, though I know at the very moment my fingertips meet up with a letter key that I'm about to commit an offense. Though, for some reason, I can not stop myself. I can not correct this action midstream. And it's not so much that the words are being misspelled as it is that letters are missing or somehow seriously misplaced within the word. But that's not what I'm writing about here -- my love/hate affair with my keyboard. Love: because I have to use it to work. Hate: because I'm tired of typing 90 WPM for 2-hour straight intervals. But I have to do this -- I have to email, and IM, and social network simultaneously in order to get my job done. It may seem that I'm rambling and digressing all at once, but I'm coming closer to making my point -- you'll see.
There have always been online groups and dating sites, and IM has been replacing the phone as an alternative means for business communication for a while now, but the influx of social networks is more than offering individuals an opportunity to connect with others through various means, it's becoming a primary communications tool. As a social connector these networks are becoming more important to many people's day than making a phone call to a friend, or even in some cases, gasp, going on a date.
Just the other day, I watched a campaign for a new Website make its way through MySpace, start a facebook group, and then Twitter about its latest happenings all during the course of one day. This is happening because marketers are trying to find myriad ways of meeting people where they are most -- online. But they're not just online, because if that were the case simply setting up a Website and creating a print and broadcast campaign around it to lead people back to said site would be more than enough. It no longer is. Today's CMO has to become as well versed in a social networking strategy as she does any other aspect of her marketing mix, or 3 P's, or any of that other stuff she may have learned in B school. This is the stuff I'm learning to do more of -- better, and thus the reason my keying is not so keen any longer. Yet what I'm lacking in ability to key letters, I'm gaining in introducing more people to FastCompany.com and educating them about our various products.
Continue reading "Tech Monday: Which Social Network Fits Your Marketing Strategy?"
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 9:55 PM
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September 27, 2007
Technology: New Products at DigitalLife
At various keynotes and press conferences at DigitalLife several companies unveiled new products. In the morning, Gateway revealed One, a sleek all-in-one PC made with design and the user experience as the focus. The streamlined black monitor-computer seems to be competing with Apple's iMac. The Gateway One will start at $1300, but there are more powerful $1500 and $1800 models as well.
Palm presented the company's latest phone during a noon press conference. The Centro was described as a simpler version of the Treo, made for a mainstream audience who do not typically buy smartphones. It will be carried by Sprint. Palm CEO Ed Colligan showed off the Centro's browser and quipped, "This is all at broadband speeds. This isn't some Edge phone. This is 3G." And with a $99 price, maybe Apple should take notice.
The afternoon keynote I mentioned in my earlier post featured iRobot CEO Colin Angle demonstrating the company's newest robots. Joining the well known Roomba (sweeping) and Scooba (mopping), and the lesser known Verro (pool-cleaning), is the Looj robot for gutter cleaning. The company also showcased the new ConnectR, a remote-controlled "virtual visiting" bot with a camera, microphone and speakers. This is for users to communicate with others over distances. It reminded me of Erector's Spykee, but less sci-fi and more streamlined.
All attendees to the DigitalLife conference this weekend will be able to see these new gadgets for themselves. Will you buy any of them?
Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 3:39 PM
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Technology: Live at DigitalLife
Today began the 2007 DigitalLife conference at the Jacob Javits center here in New York. As years past, the show has evolved again. Last year's emphasis on video games has been overtaken by a focus on Hardware and robots.
Looking at the various booths, there are a surprising amount of robots. From the more recognizable iRobot with the Roomba, to Erector's wifi-camera enabled Spykee. WowWee has a plethora of robots, dragon flies, pandas, and even Elvis. There is even a keynote later today discussing the role of robots in the home, held by iRobot. I guess the era of the Jetsons is finally coming.
The hardware emphasis is just as prevalent. Whether it is laptops and desktops from the likes of Dell, HP, Gateway, and Toshiba. Mobile hardware was around as well, with Palm and Nokia on the floor. There is alsto the random hardware from smaller manufacturers -- home servers, external harddrives, and business-card scanners.
Our digital lives are evolving and anyone coming to the Javits this weekend will see that. Stay tuned for more from DigitalLife.
Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 1:23 PM
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September 20, 2007
Technology: I'm Wondering Why Y! Mash
Whoa, I'm a little concerned right now. Today I received an e-mail that a friend created a profile for me on a new social networking service. The new service is Yahoo's attempt at entering the MySpace and Facebook space, although it isn't the company's first. You do remember Yahoo! 360 don't you?
Well the new service, Y! Mash, allows others to create profile pages for you that you then either approve, edit, or delete. And that's the first reason I'm concerned. Do you really want a page sitting out there with your name on it, that you didn't create yourself? And how long does the page stay up, if you don't approve it? If you don't approve the profile, then you don't get to click around and see much of the other features.
The other features, are a mashup of sorts, just as the network's moniker insinuates. There's a little bit wicki -- where you can decide whether others can edit content about you and add modules for you, and they can decide whether you can do the same for them in return. Then there's a little bit Facebook -- where you litter your profile with modules. There's also something called "Pulse," that acts a lot more like Facebook's newsfeed -- alerting you on updates made by your friends to their pages -- than it does Plaxo Pulse, which creates a Web presence or lifelog, by allowing you to bring in feeds from multiple services that you use, to share with contacts in your address book. The Mash Blog has the rest of the lowdown on the service, which is still in beta on an invite only basis.
I, like many others I'd imagine, am none to keen on creating yet another Web profile, especially not one that appears to be more socially than business-or-career focused. (In that regard I'm an evangelist for social network portability.) Right now I'm not seeing a real branding benefit here either, but I do see where it could be fun. I think perhaps teenagers and college students have time for fun, but businesspeople on the other hand, need some other sort of social networking tool. And though I don't want too be especially harsh on the service before it officially launches, I'm not betting that it's meant to be more than what it currently appears to be.
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 9:00 AM
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September 14, 2007
Momentum Growth Conference: Help Me Pick The Next Facebook.
In case you haven’t noticed it’s startup fever back in the Bay Area/ Silicon Valley; my trusted sources tell me that they’re partying like it’s 1999 out there. Do you blame them? Many of the hottest young companies leading the web 2.0 trend today are based there - an interesting fact in and of itself – and according to Comscore web traffic rankings, these companies are gaining hyper speed traction. So what, you say? Well, what if you could identify the next break-out company of the year? Is there a company on the horizon as interesting and disruptive as Facebook?
Continue reading "Momentum Growth Conference: Help Me Pick The Next Facebook."
Posted by Ellen McGirt at 12:44 PM
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September 10, 2007
Tech Monday: How Apple Sold A Million iPhones
It's not rocket science. We learned a valuable lesson from Steve Jobs in recent weeks. If a product isn't selling so well, and its cost seems to be its main prohibitor -- then, slash it's price significantly. That's exactly what Apple did, dropped the 8GB iPhone to $399, and gave $100 store credit to the crybabies who were early adopters and originally paid $599 for the device.
I must confess, initially we didn't think the iPhone would hold up to its predecessor's numbers. But by all accounts, it has not only exceeded expectations, but surpassed early sales activity of the original iPod. Go figure.
Of course the slashed prices made a major impact. But we also have to look at the third-party unlock software now out on the market, like iPhoneSimFree and iPhone Worldwide Unlock among others, that enables an iPhone purchaser who doesn't have AT&T service to swap out the AT&T sims card for their own carrier's. And while these are the best known in the retail sphere, numerous hacks for unlocking iPhones have been around on the Internets for a while now. Some work, some don't, and some don't even survive iPhone software upgrades--which often turn the unlock feature off.
Regardless, the iPhone is experiencing a healthy success. And while Apple may not have become the goliath of desktops and laptops, or even software, it's proving that handheld entertainment and communications devices is quickly becoming its forte. We'll just forget about its earlier flop that was the Newton, a personal favorite of mine. Looking back on the device now though, it was ahead of its time and has definitely become the blueprint for all PDAs and Smartphones ever since. And let's not forget how the company changed the music game either.
Sure, it may be Jobs' smoke and mirrors to some, but the truth is, the more the company innovates, the more successful it becomes. And the takeaway from that one is -- never let your company become a stalemate, otherwise new players will take your position. Apple may have written the book on that one, but it's also the sort of advice that companies like Google and Amazon hold to their core.
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 9:43 PM
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Tech Monday: New Media News Roundup
- New York City Launches 9/11 Health Website
New York City has launched a 9/11 Health Website, which not only has the city owning up to the fact that 9/11 has contributed greatly to the poor health of thousands of its inhabitants, but it also works the other side of the fence and does the clean up act and its part for social responsibility by providing beneficial resources. - Viral Campaigns Waste Marketers’ Time
The recent JupiterResearch report “Viral Marketing: Bringing the Message to the Masses,” states that only 15% of viral campaigns launched within the last year have proven successful. Funny thing is, it's not that viral campaigns don't work, it's that marketers don't fully understand their audiences or what they're doing. - Bionic Woman Fan Community Launches on Ning
After watching an Amazon.com free first episode of the NBC's Bionic Woman, a fan decided to enlist the power of community and create a social network on ning dedicated to the show. So far only the creator of the network, myself, and the series' cast are members, but hey you've got to love the power of the Web for even making this possible. - Social Networking Sites Don't Deepen Friendships
Dr. Will Reader at Sheffield Hallam University and his team found that although the sites (Facebook, MySpace, Bebo) allowed contact with hundreds of acquaintances, as with conventional friendship networks, people tend to have around 5 close friends. Also, 90% of contacts that the subjects regarded as close friends were people they had met face to face. - Frogify Your Mobile Phone
Frog is like the iGoogle or MyYahoo homepage for mobile phones. It's a free set up that enables you to easily access your most used Web services simply from one home page. It's better than creating a Favorites list, and it's definitly made my mobile surfing a lot easier. - YPulse Tween Mashup Comes to New York
The Mashup conference, produced by Ypulse.com in partnership with Modern Media, helps media and marketing professionals understand how to reach tweens using technology in a multi-platform world. Kyra E. Reppen, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Nickelodeon MTVN Kids and Family Group's Neopets will provide the opening keynote focused on the original youth-oriented virtual world, while Renee Hobbs, Professor of Communication and Director, Media Education Lab, Temple University, will present the luncheon address focusing on MyPopStudio.com, a media literacy project for girls. Early adopter registration open until September 15.
Do you have news tips or suggestions for New Media News Roundup, email: Lynne.
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 6:00 PM
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September 6, 2007
Technology: iPhone Customer Update — Get $100 Back! (Sort of)
Apple's Steve Jobs heard the angry cries of his iPhone customers — the ones who paid $599 for a product that is suddenly available for $399 — and he's decided to rebate $100 to anyone who already bought an iPhone .
With a catch: You don't get $100 — you get a $100 store-credit to an Apple Store. You're free to go spend your one-hundred Apple Dollars purchasing yet more Apple items.
More important, but less discussed, according to Macworld, if you bought your iPhone within 10 days before yesterday's price cut — that is, if you bought your iPhone on August 26 or after — Apple will provide a full refund of the difference in price between the new lower price and the price you paid.
But you have to move fast: You only have until 4 days after the price cut — that is, until this Sunday — to claim your refund, according to Apple's stated price-protection policy.
Continue reading "Technology: iPhone Customer Update — Get $100 Back! (Sort of)"
Posted by Charles Fishman at 4:56 PM
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September 5, 2007
Technology: iPhone Exuberance: How Do You Actually Like Yours?
I have been longing for an iPhone since they came out, and this weekend, without the kids in tow, I found myself in an Apple Store with a free half-hour to really try one. Like many first-time users, I was amazed at the graphic wizardry of the touch screen. And although this Apple Store was completely jammed -- not a pleasant Apple shopping experience -- there were about 20 iPhones on display to play with, and a half-dozen store employees to help you out.
I don't have a Treo or a Blackberry, just a regular cell phone. But I was hoping the iPhone would be the solution to the burden of hauling my laptop along on business trips. I take it mostly to do email, and if the iPhone could handle that, I could stop lugging the computer (without giving up the ability to browse the web or watch movies).
As seductive as the iPhone is-- smaller and sleeker in your hand than it looks in pictures -- typing emails on it was a painful process, worse than hunt-and-peck. It seemed that if you had more than a sentence to compose for an email, using the iPhone would rapidly grow tedious.
So with Steve Jobs slashing the price of the top end iPhone today by 33 percent -- from $599 to $399 (boy am I glad I didn't actually drop $599 on one on Sa