Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Technology and restaurants have combined at the Imano Restaurant in London, as every table is essentially a computer display. These tables are not like the Microsoft Surface, but they are just as good.As you can see, there are projectors above the tables to obtain the virtual display, and there is a circular touchpad to allow for navigation. From the moment a customer sits down, the user can then select their "placemat" like selecting a wallpaper for Windows.
From there, the customer/user can look at the menu, which includes pictures of the appetizers, main courses, even drinks. Ordering is as simple as pointing and clicking, and a wait-person will deliver your meal to you.
While the customer is waiting, he or she has the option of watching their meal prepared through a camera in the kitchen. The customer also has the option of playing a game with his or her dining partner.
*~*~*
Expedia (EXPE) today unveiled an aggressive new promotion, which it calls "Free Nights and No Fee Flights," offering to pick up the tab for one night in a hotel for stays of three, four or five days at a group of more than 700 participating hotels, and also waiving booking fees for flights booked before the end of May. The hotel promotion currently is for bookings made by April 9 for travel through May 15; the company said additional deals will be posted for bookings beginning April 9 for travel through the end of May.
*~*~*
Apple's new iPod shuffle is interesting in a number of ways. The most interesting is of course the new VoiceOver feature which communicates the name of songs and playlists through speech. But perhaps even more interesting is that there is a different voice you hear based on if you're syncing your iPod shuffle with a Mac or a PC. And, not surprisingly, the Mac voice is much better.
Apple's new iPod Shuffle now comes with 4GB of storage, enough to hold 1000 songs in 128-Kbps AAC Format, it is charged via USB and can be fully charged from flat in just 3 hours.
*~*~*
Photobucket, the most popular photo sharing site in the U.S., just announced a number of new features that will give its users easier ways to share their photos and videos across multiple web services like MySpace, Facebook, or Blogger. Photobucket also introduced a new version of its mobile site, which features a streamlined interface, as well as easier ways to access comments, ratings, and subscriptions.
The new sharing feature is powered by widget distribution network gigya.
*~*~*
A Canadian filmmaker named Rob Spence has figured out a way to remove that "I'm-on-camera" factor in his documentaries, as his prosthetic eye has a concealed camera.
Spence plans to film many people, and the eye will transmit the footage wirelessly to a storage device nearby. Of course, he is required by law to tell his interviewees that they are on camera. Oddly enough, the subject of his documentary is about whether people are "sleepwalking into an Orwellian society". I'm sure he realizes that his film could be one step into a surveillance society.
The special prosthetic eye was developed by OmniVision of Santa Clara. Spence got the idea for the camera eye by watching The Six Million Dollar Man and noticing that the tiny cameras in cellular phones could easily be put in a prosthetic eye.
So now Spence can film anything he wants without worrying about his subjects being distracted by the camera.
Labels: Apple, expedia, eyeborg, iPod, online tools, photobucket, photos, social network, touchscreen, video
Monday, February 16, 2009
Panasonic recently unveiled it's first Blood Pressure monitor with an SD card slot. You can save health data on the SD card for up to 5 different people. Tip: If you have 5 people in your house unhealthy enough to need this device, you are in some serious trouble and should probably be in the hospital right now.
The data can be read via your computer or your doctor's PC.
*~*~*
Since Verizon has now purchased Alltel, subscribers have wondered if the company would offer "My Circle" as a feature on their plans. My Circle was a group of friends or family that you could call an unlimited number of times and not have it count against your plan minutes. Verizon announced this week, its new Friends & Family feature, a comparable option to My Circle.
With the Friends & Family single line option, you can choose 5 of your contacts to make unlimited calls to without using your plan minutes. For family line users, the allowance is extended to 10 contacts.
This is not surprising.
*~*~*
ManicTime is a detailed time-tracking application for keeping tabs on where your workday goes. Get a handle on how you spend your time with tags, graphs, and reports.
If you were intrigued by previously reviewed RescueTime but were turned off by the idea of uploading all your data to the RescueTime servers, ManicTime offers a very similar set of tools but stores your data locally.
ManicTime runs as a background process and consumes very few resources. When open, ManicTime records which programs are open and what files they're accessing. Even if you never plugged any input into it, the app would do a very thorough job telling you when you were working and what you were working on. There are three primary timelines in ManicTime: the activity line shows whether you were idle or active, the application line shows which applications were in use, and the tag line is for user supplied information about the work at hand. You can tag both idle and active blocks of time by simply highlighting them and applying the tag.
I certainly hope this never gets applied on a server level in the workforce.
*~*~*
Facebook's terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore.
Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later. Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want.
Labels: Facebook, manictime, sd, social network, verizon
Saturday, February 14, 2009
IBM has filed a patent (US 7484451) for Bionic Body Armor, that could essentially allow us to dodge bullets like Neo in The Matrix. Not to be confused with knight armor from medieval ages.Your science fiction fantasy may be coming a reality, if IBM has anything to say about it. The company was recently granted a patent for bionic body armor, originally filed last March, that's intended to bestow the wearer the power to dodge bullets. The device works by constantly emitting electromagnetic waves that bounce off any fast-moving projectiles, and it uses the data to calculate risky trajectories. If the object in question is determined to be a threat, muscle stimulators activate and cause the wearer's body to contort in such way to avoid being hit. It works under the idea that a sniper typically fires from a distance, given the armor time to detect the oncoming bullet and react accordingly.
*~*~*
As layoffs continued to pound the economy in January, one beneficiary was job networking site LinkedIn. According to the latest January data from comScore, the LinkedIn's U.S. unique visitors shot up 22 percent to 7.7 million, up from 6.3 million in December. Total minutes spent on the site doubled in January to 96.8 million, from 47.6 million in December.
*~*~*
Is Apple being sued?
You've probably never heard of Picsel Technologies, but the Scottish company claims that its technologies are in over 250m handsets worldwide from manufacturers like Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Samsung and Sony Ericsson -- and, if a lawsuit it filed today is to be believed, Apple. Picsel says the iPhone infringes on a patented method of accelerated screen updating, and as usual, the answer is probably going to be for Uncle Steve to open his $25 billion piggy bank and dole out some cash.
*~*~*
The latest version of the ever-evolving $789-billion economic stimulus bill contains some good news on the energy front. According to the Washington Post, it "includes more than $40 billion for energy-efficiency programs and new energy technologies, including $11 billion to upgrade the national electricity grid."
But there could be a problem with the agency that's supposed to hand out all that cash, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"The Energy Department has had limited experience pulling off big, transformative energy projects," the Journal notes. "Most of the department's $25 billion budget goes toward maintaining the nation's nuclear stockpile, cleaning up former weapons plants, and doing basic scientific research...
Hmm, I hope someone closer to the heart of energy efficiency oversees this spending.
*~*~*
New York Fashion Week and Silicon Valley may not appear to have much in common, but a growing number of tech companies have been collaborating with clothing designers and the garment industry over the past few seasons.
Hewlett-Packard, Google and Microsoft are among the companies that have been sponsoring or partnering with various designers, and other sponsors, giving tech a decidedly stylish presence during the twice-a-year event, which started Friday in Manhattan and continues through next Friday.
San Jose-based eBay, whose own style director, Constance White, is among the front-row seat regulars at the shows, announced Thursday that it is expanding its role by sponsoring designer Yigal Azrouël for his runway show. The online auction site also will host a charity sale featuring the designer's spring collection beginning June 4. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Labels: Apple, bionic armor, IBM, linkedin, matric, social network, stimulus
Sunday, February 8, 2009
YouDiligence.com, a service launched late last year that alerts parents and educators to questionable content on Facebook, MySpace and other social networking websites. The company says that business has been exploding since MySpace recently cooperated with Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to hand over the names of 90,000 registered sex offenders that were identified and blocked by the social networking site.Here's how it works: When a child (or one of their friends) post inappropriate or questionable content on their page, an email alert is sent to the parent. A pretty comprehensive report is also stored on the user's dashboard. Reports include time, the inappropriate words used, the context of how the terms was used, where it was posted (i.e., on a profile page, caption, wall comment, or if child writing a comment on someone else’s page) and a link to the exact URL.
To quote their site, "YouDiligence offers you the comfort to know you are still able to protect your child even if you don't have the time to review their pages on a regular basis or if you happen to miss one day. It gives you, as a parent, the comfort to know that you are doing everything you can to protect your child from on-line predators and internet bullies."
Sounds good to me. The hard part is it requires to know your child's password AND they had to have added you as a friend to their network. Maybe you can make a deal with your child and tell them that all you want to do is reassure them and yourself that all is safe and well. Even write up a little mock contract which swears you'll keep your nose out of their business (as much as you can) and that you trust them, but you don't trust the rest of the world with them. Explain they are your heart and your world and that this service will help keep it that way.
I think as a teen I would have fought it. I would have tried to rebel and made it difficult for my parents. But now that I'm a Mom I absolutely see this service as being nearly a necessity.
Either way, you should have an open discussion with your child about the dangers on social networks. You don't want to scare them or be paranoid, but it's an unfortunate fact and being aware is always the first step.
Labels: social network, youdiligence
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Shoutlet is a comprehensive social media marketing tool that combines the most popular Web 2.0 formats into one easy-to-use application. Users create, distribute, and track e-mail, video, RSS, SMS (mobile messaging), podcasting, and widgets through one simple, web-based application. With Shoutlet, you can take any text—announcements, press releases, etc., and transform it into online feed posts within minutes.
Shoutlet tracking and reporting offers a complete measurement of your marketing's effectiveness. There is real-time tracking that lets you "watch" your shouts be delivered to your audience.
It sounds like Feedburner to me.
But anyway the folks at Shoutlet are currently seeking outside help.
They are currently seeking the applications listed below:
1. content widgets
2. sign-up / opt-in apps
3. RSS import apps
4. tracking/date reporting apps
5. iPhone Apps
Once your application is approved you get paid for it. Shoutlet will help you to market your product to their clients and then pay you upon purchase of your application.
Labels: shoutlet, social network
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Say hi to the Poken, a cutesy RFID reader, available in Voodoo, Bee, Alien or Panda form. Carry this critter with you daily and when you meet someone worthy of being added to your Facebook friends list, hi five your Poken against theirs and their data will be wirelessly transferred. When the Poken is hi fived it glows green out of joy/envy/despair and all you need to do now is plug it into your computer to complete the friend exchange. Details will be uploaded to the Poken website, where you can also share pics, videos and daily updates.Their site says, "We're not another social network. You've already got that.
We've thought bigger to let you instantly bridge the gap between the people you meet in the real world and those you stay connected to online."
A small logo of each social network you choose is displayed as a link on your Poken Card, which shows only your most basic information. Your contacts can view your Poken Card on doyoupoken.com, but, if they want to see more, they only have to click the logo to see your profile on the social networking site you've chosen to share.
Sounds like Feedster or Friendster, but with a cute glowing toy thrown into the mix.
Labels: poken, social network
Sunday, August 31, 2008
It's not enough that you watch the political party conventions on TV, read the political coverage in newspapers, and the reactions in blogs. Some people are not reacting on blogs, they are reacting on Twitter. But how do you follow all of that raw political discourse, and do you even want to?Stephen Taylor, a Canadian blogger and political analyst, has hacked together govtweets, an easy of tracking live conversations that occur via twitter on the topic of the Democratic and Republican Presidential tickets for 2008. Instead of tracking conversation generators, govtweets tracks specific content that is being discussed by anyone on twitter. If you find a political twitterer particularly interesting, govtweets can help you discover them too. So Govtweets is nothing more than a snapshot of the national conversation, but it is still fascinating to watch it unfold.
Here are some recent Govtweets (newly announced Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin seems to be dominating the conversation):
An Alaskan's Perspective on Sarah Palin: A down-to-earth description of Sarah Palin's time as Alaska's Gover.. http://tinyurl.com/6h7h69
August 31st - 4:52:47 am PST
GOP Alaska State Senator: Palin Not Ready to Be Gov/VP: "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be p.. http://tinyurl.com/5gp6mk
August 31st - 4:52:43 am PST
Who scrubbed Wikipedia's entry for Sarah Palin just before nom announcement? http://tinyurl.com/6n9dnk
August 31st - 4:51:41 am PST
Labels: communication, politics, social network
Thursday, April 10, 2008
SnapMyLife.com, a mobile social media site where people can instantly share photos taken with a camera phone, was launched today by Mobicious, Inc. The site is made for viewing directly on cell phones and allows anybody with a camera phone to snap and share photos instantly with friends. It allows the option for instant alerts when there's new friend activity just like any other social network. It is kind of like Flickr and Twitter combined and there is a web interface, but the whole point of this application is for you to use it while on the go and not while sitting at your desktop in the office.
Except if you decide to do this you end up having to pay for text and/or data messages with your cell phone provider and I know it's not cheap. I recently completely shut off that feature on my phone because I am trying to save money and $10 adds up quickly when times are tough.
I do like the concept and I bet there are a million teenagers out there taking pictures with their phones and sending them to each other as I sit here and type this so more power to 'em.
Labels: cell phone, photos, snapmylife, social network
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Not even sure what to say about this one folks. CafePress is excited to announce the imminent launch of CafePress LoveMatch...seriously? From founder and CEO, Fred Durham:
"CafePress members are all about passion; it seemed so natural to come up with a way to help our community find potential mates that share the same interests, hobbies and - of course - passions. I think you'll find that our unique To-A-T match algorithm makes personal connections that you wouldn't find anywhere else!"Wow. I mean I know CafePress is cool you can upload your own art and make things from it to sell or keep for yourself, but I would never think of going there for match making. Not that I need it. =o) I am happily married after all.
I suppose with eHarmony being a conservative joke other people are trying to cash in, but CafePress?
What do you think?
P.S. Much funnier than GMails April Fool joke.
Labels: social network
Monday, January 28, 2008
In my surfing I came across AnAmigo.com which is a site for pet lovers. You can build custom profiles for your pets, connect with other pet owners, and learn about the pet community both online and, when possible, in your local neighborhood.
Everyone loves to show off their pets and with AnAmigo you can upload an unlimited number of photos to do just that. Aside for pet pics, you can also share your favorite stories and socialize in the community center, blog about recent animal adventures, ask for expert advice, spread the word about your favorite animal services, accessories, and pet friendly places, and get tips on their favorite toys.
I read about a cat in Virginia named Mischa. The owner wrote that she is the sweetest cat ever with people but VERY aggressive with other cats. Her favorite activity it begging for food. Perhaps she was a male dog in another life.
This site is a fantastic idea for people who have pets or are looking for pets because they can get advice from others who actually know about the topic. It's not going to be advice or ideas from advertised and branded stores who might give a biased opinion. AnAmigo knows your pets are your friends and they give you the avenue to share your enjoyment with others of the same interests.
The site is still in beta form which means you can have a lot of say in the last phases of completion. You'll also be able to notify the company if you find any bugs or trouble areas.
Labels: social network
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Awhile back I wrote about Club Pengiun, a kid-friendly social network, for the "Her Kids" blog published on delawareonline.com. Having a place for fun chats and games that parents can trust is something that is long overdue. So, I quickly wrote up about some of their features like how kids can pretend to be penguins and decorate digital igloos.On Wednesday, Disney bought Club Penguin.
Clearly I am not the only one who was impressed with this site, because Disney is paying $350 million, and is willing to double that if Club Penguin hits earnings goals in 2008 and 2009.
We shall see how this goes up against Neopets which was really big with children about five or six years ago. Personally, I am all for being a pretend penguin! =o)
Labels: kids, social network
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Free chat rooms, blogs, interest clubs, online friends AND a dating site. So you're telling me, EVERYTHING that is MySpace, Facebook and Match.com is being combined into yet another social network.And it is free!
Find people with common interests and create clubs of like minded individuals. Whether you want to meet your next business partner or the love of your life, WireClub facilitates the broadest range of connections possible.It's great to know they have a chat interface because that is what has been really missing since the good old days of AOL and their snazzy instant message/chat mingled with the AOL profile that every teenage girl and boy had to update on an hourly basis.
So the wire club has everything built in, it's a great piece of software. You can create photo galleries, update your personal information and search through the directory via a variety of different avenues. So, not just by location, gender or age, you can actually find people who have the same interests as you which is a cool feature. I think it will have the great networking components of MySpace, the more interactive pieces of Facebook and the mingling abilities of a dating service online.
I went through and looked at the interests adding up on Wire Club and it was pretty neat. I now know that 896 of the members like football, while only 101 said they enjoy writing. Come on fellow journalistic nerds, where are you!? It is interesting to see the stats on what people's favorite books and music are, this is a feature that you can't easily look up on any of the other networks currently available.
Would you have guessed that The Matrix is on the top ten of favorite movies? I love it, but I'm pretty surprised after all this time it is still clocking in on the top ten. Of course The Simpsons and Family Guy are on the top ten for television as is Grey's Anatomy and surprisingly enough for me CSI. In fact, CSI came in as #1, I would not have guessed that one. AND another interesting thing came in the stats for favorite food, of course pizza is #1, but sushi came in at #10 which shocked me. I love sushi, but never would have thought it to be top ten material. I wonder if people think it's cool to say they like sushi, how many of you football fans really eat it, huh? Haha.
I think it's great more networks are coming out, it makes all the systems better their features and that's great for the users. Check out Wire Club, I think you'll like it. =o)
Post has been sponsored.
Labels: social network
Thursday, June 28, 2007
There is a new place to search and find making its name in CyberSpace.
FriendFinder
FriendFinder says it is the place to find love, friends and fun. Who doesn't want that? I'm not really seeking out anybody, I have all the aforementioned relationships and activities and am very blessed. But I remember days when I thought it was hopeless to meet anyone whether romantically or as friends. Being a single mom, working full-time and going to school to finish my degree I had very little time to go out. And I can't exactly take my little boy to a bar with me.
I tried Match.com and eHarmony at one point, I even did the one where Dr. Phil gives you pointers. Whoa! I know! FriendFinder is a little bit less demanding, it isn't seeking to find you a wife or husband. So you're not going to feel like mail-order-bride when you sign up.
It comes in six different languages allowing people all over the world to meet and talk with each other.
FriendFinder is more like MySpace in that you post blogs, chat with each other and join groups based on your interests. It's not like a system which matches you up based on what a computer thinks from what it reads in a database somewhere. That is quite refreshing and the results are good because you have a hand in it.
The community is still rather small, but it's growing hourly. It's free to sign up which I appreciate since Match.com and eHarmony make you pay to find friends...as if you didn't already feel bad enough about signing up. And a bonus right now is the $300,000 June Summer Blast Off Contest (for being an affiliate)! So if you are interested, then give it a try and see what happens.
FriendFinder
FriendFinder says it is the place to find love, friends and fun. Who doesn't want that? I'm not really seeking out anybody, I have all the aforementioned relationships and activities and am very blessed. But I remember days when I thought it was hopeless to meet anyone whether romantically or as friends. Being a single mom, working full-time and going to school to finish my degree I had very little time to go out. And I can't exactly take my little boy to a bar with me.
I tried Match.com and eHarmony at one point, I even did the one where Dr. Phil gives you pointers. Whoa! I know! FriendFinder is a little bit less demanding, it isn't seeking to find you a wife or husband. So you're not going to feel like mail-order-bride when you sign up.
It comes in six different languages allowing people all over the world to meet and talk with each other.
FriendFinder is more like MySpace in that you post blogs, chat with each other and join groups based on your interests. It's not like a system which matches you up based on what a computer thinks from what it reads in a database somewhere. That is quite refreshing and the results are good because you have a hand in it.
The community is still rather small, but it's growing hourly. It's free to sign up which I appreciate since Match.com and eHarmony make you pay to find friends...as if you didn't already feel bad enough about signing up. And a bonus right now is the $300,000 June Summer Blast Off Contest (for being an affiliate)! So if you are interested, then give it a try and see what happens.
Labels: FriendFinder, social network
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