April Fools!, And the Countdown Begins…, New Ways to Ditch your Date
April 1, 2010 | Thursday at Three | 0 Comments
It all began in 2000 with “MentalPlex,” Google’s first ever mind-reading technology, allowing websurfers to access the search engine by thought alone. Since then, Google has been on the scene as one of April Fools days’ biggest pranksters and this year is no different.
Today, Google announced that they have changed their name from Google to “Topeka” in honor of Topeka, Kansas. Google employees are no longer to be referred to as “Googlers” but as “Topekers.”
Past shenanigans include: Luna/X, Google’s very own research facility located on the moon, Google Gulp, a new beverage which would increase the drinker’s intelligence and Virgle, a joint project between Google and the Virgin Group to establish a human settlement on Mars.
So you tell me, how does this year’s joke compare to past pranks?
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We are only days away from the April 4 release of the iPad and the reviews are pouring in. Of course there are going to be people on both sides of the aisle who either hate it or love it no matter what, but lets take a look at what is being said thus far.
Two noted tech reviewers wrote about the new iPad, describing it is a “giant iPod touch”. The battery life is approximately 10 hours, which is pretty exceptional. While reviews differ on the touch keyboard,people are definitely in positive agreement when it comes to screen size. However, for some users, the lack of Flash support is a big let down.
Personally, I’ll reserve judgment until I race down to an Apple Store this Saturday and TRY to get my hands on one.
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Have you ever been on a date and had a friend purposely call mid-date to alert you of an impending “emergency” that is so unique, only you can come to the rescue? In reality it is you that needs saving from the date from hell, but who enjoys possibly breaking someone’s heart?
Sure, everyone’s done it at some point, but fear not, now there are apps that make ditching someone that much easier.
Gotta Go, Fake Conversation, and Fake-A-Call are new smartphone apps that let a user choose someone from your contacts to call or text at a previously specified time with a specific message. In fact, some of the features even allow you to have a text message conversation in which an individual can have an actual converation with AI – although, be aware, the replies don’t always make sense. Other unique features include automated voice responses alerting you that someone you know is hurt or in trouble, as well as the ability to record voice messages that will play back when you answer your “emergency” phone call.
If anything, it should make everyone think twice the next time their blind date rushes out of the restaurant because something “important” came up.
-Liz
Google China Out, Google Hong Kong In, Could a Contract-Free iPhone mean a new iPhone is coming?, Foursquare Vs. Gowalla
March 25, 2010 | Thursday at Three, Today's Headlines | 0 Comments
This past Monday, Google announced they will be shutting the door to Google China and opening the door to Google Hong Kong. Over two months have passed since Google first announced they would end the self-censorship they originally obliged too in China and now they are following through on that threat. When visitors try and access Google.cn they are automatically redirected to Google.com.hk, which is the new, uncensored search engine. The future is still unclear for Google and China. They will either make peace, allowing Google to stay uncensored in Hong Kong, or Chinese authorities will eliminate all ties with Google, leaving the 400 million Chinese internet users in need of a new search engine.
Apple just recently announced that they will be selling their 3G iPhone unlocked, which means customers will be able to purchase the phone without an AT&T contract to back it. While there are some people excited about the news others are still wary. Predictions have been made the only reason Apple is doing this is to reduce inventory and to make room for a new 4G iPhone which will allegedly be launched in June or July. Apple pulled the same stunt last year at this time when they announced the release of the 3G iPhone. So customers will just have to wait and see if history will truly repeat itself.
At last year’s SXSW conference the rage was foursquare, the new location based technology that allows people to share their exact locations with friends. Again, this year all the rage was location based applications that allow people to share their locations with others. The two big competitors that came out on top were Foursquare and Gowalla, which are two different applications which basically allow users to do the same things. Before the start of the conference there were an estimated 100,000 foursquare users now they have managed to gain another 120,000 users in the past 10 days alone. Gowalla isn’t too far behind, they saw an average of 135,000 check-ins during the conference in and around Austin, TX.
Will 2010 be a year of acquisitions?
January 8, 2010 | Tech Worth Talking About | 1 Comments
It’s only the first week of 2010 and the technology acquisition space is H-O-T. What an exciting week. With the second day of CES off and rolling plus a slew of exciting technology acquisitions announced this week, it’s why I love this business.
Amongst the most exciting are:
Cisco acquired network security start up Rohati Systems
BMC acquired Phurnace Software (the third acquisition in six months)
Oracle acquired Silver Creek Systems
Seesmic acquired social media syndication site Ping.fm
Dot Hill acquired Cloverleaf and rumored to take on 3PAR
And in more rumors, VMware could acquire Zimbra. (Random, I know.)
Mashable today debunked the myth that AOL was going to be an acquisition and Google sweetened their offer for local On2 Technologies acquisition pending vote in February.
This is an exciting time for technology companies, to rise out of a recession and demonstrate a strong M&A strategy right out of the gates. If we look deeper into these deals, you’ll see what areas of technology are rising in importance. For example, managing apps better in cloud and virtual environments made Phurnace look attractive to BMC. BMC was itself already rumored to be a 2010 possible M&A target. Dot Hill’s acquisition of Cloverleaf and rumor to take 3PAR next points to the need for storage infrastructure in virtualized environments.
In the world of social media, nothing is getting more complicated for users than managing multiple social networks. And as big brand names begin to embrace social media more and more, it will be particularly important to be as productive as possible. Seesmic, which makes access apps for Facebook and Twitter will now have a syndication tool on its side.
I think we’ll see more social media and IT management acquisitions happen in 2010 – it’s like that saying, “when you can’t build, buy.”
Google coming to Clifton Park?
January 7, 2010 | Tech Worth Talking About | 1 Comments
Amendments where announced today to the pending Google – On2 Technologies acquisition:
According to Dow Jones, “Thursday that it has amended it takeover agreement with On2 Technologies Inc. (ONT). Under the revised deal, On2 shareholders will receive 0.0010 of a share of Google Class A common stock for each share of On2 common stock, as previously announced, plus 15 cents a share in cash. Google said the revision was made to reflect the significant rise in Google’s stock price since the merger was announced in August. Google said that the revised price is its final offer. On2 closed Wednesday at 59 cents.”
After a failed shareholder vote in December, where stockholders of On2 felt they weren’t being paid enough for the video platform software Google so desperately needs, new discussions and more offers ensued. Google’s offer brings the original $106 million to $132 million.
The acquisition is important to Google’s online video distribution strategy and keeping things “Googlized” meaning low cost and wide open, as consumers increasingly view media over cell phones and remote boxes.
More to come on the finalizing of this deal in February. For more details, visit On2.com, the homepage has an excellent amount of shareholder information convincing the shareholders to be open to a second look.
Wow Google, way to be a late adopter; are you scared of Bing?
December 8, 2009 | Blunders, Tech Worth Talking About, Today's Headlines | 1 Comments
If you Google Obama right now, give your search results roughly 10 seconds, you’ll notice some new things in your search window.
On Monday at a media event in Mountain View, CA, Google geeks unveiled search in real-time. So for example, when you Google a topic, you’ll not only see what is on the web, but you will also be able to view what is being written about in real-time on sites like MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. [Note: Facebook's FriendFeed property and public profiles only]
This notion of real-time search isn’t anything new. Niche search sites like Collecta and Crowd Eve currently offer the same thing, minus the robust Google search results. Microsoft Bing also has a Twitter tool that does something similar.
This development of course is nothing less than Google’s attempt to grow its market share that Bing has been eating away at. Google currently owns 65 percent market share and is fighting hard to keep it after new deals like the Microsoft and Yahoo partnership that gave Microsoft control of almost 30 percent of search.
Google users can click on “Latest results” or hit “Latest” from the options menu to view a full page of live tweets, blogs, news and other content scrolling right on Google. Users can also filter results to see only “Updates” from microblogs like Twitter, FriendFeed and Jaiku. Latest results and the new search options are also accessible via the iPhone and Android phones.
The look and feel of Google search is still the same, very simple and very mathematically complex. Real-time search results appear in the middle of the search results page in a small box with a scroll bar where users can go back to any tweets or other results that streamed by too quickly to click on. There is also a pause button to hold the stream in place.
A fun spin on real-time search?
I think this was expected of Google months ago, but my guess is these partnerships took a bit of negotiation. I will say this greatly improves my Internet stalking results. No, just kidding. But there are implications for both the PR and HR industry. Now you can easily check just one site to reputation check a potential hire. And in that very same way you can also reputation-manage a brand or executive. Find out what is being said in real-time. For example, imagine if you Googled “Tiger Woods” right now.
The new features will be rolling out in the next few days and will be available globally in English only.
Twitter’s new digs, Life at Google, Good Examples for Capital Region companies
November 25, 2009 | Tech Worth Talking About, Venture Capital and All That Jazz | 0 Comments
This week I saw pictures of Twitter’s new office space. What was once a relatively bootstrapped start-up is now backed by mega-VCs and moved out of the LORI and onto Third Street in the SOMA district of San Francisco. For a tech start up, this is a win. Check out these digs!
Upon review, this reminded me of one of the major disconnects I observe when I head into Capital Region tech offices. I see a lot of the same places – offices crammed with boring cubes, no harvest to collaborate or for colleagues to talk freely to each other in the spirit of morale. Walls are often bare, lobbies are stark and formal and when you walk in you smell that whiff of staleness instead of young professionals thriving to make a better product.
One question I get asked a lot is how to recruit Bay Area talent to the Capital Region. A great PR campaign will help, but it’s going to take a lot more than just a cheaper cost of living and better public schools to get talented engineers, developers and executives to uproot families from Silicon Valley and plop them on 87.
Silicon Valley professionals love their jobs, they pick them carefully and they often evaluate the culture over anything else. Today’s biggest tech companies prioritize the perks of working at a company to help maintain a good environment and employee retention. I’m not saying everyone has to be Google but don’t be Intel either:
Steve Lohr from the New York Times wrote an article last week on a business intelligence company called SAS that seems to offer a happy medium.
Think about an office space where people want to come to work and stay. It’s ok to offer even paid services like haircuts and dry cleaning if it means you may get a couple more employees to stick around past five o’clock. Working hard and being innovative doesn’t come easy in a stark cubicle or mahogany desks, it comes from being vibrant and passionate and working in an environment similar.