One of the things I find most annoying is focus group reports.  "9 out of 10 of our test group gave us 5 stars".  You ever ask a stranger what they think of your out fit?  You could be wearing a clown suit and flip flops and 90% of people would tell you, you look [...]

Filed under : Industry News

I have been a loyal Windows Mobile user for years, and I briefly thought I would hold out for Windows Phone 7, but I’m not.  I pre-ordered the Samsung Epic 4G.  I’m planning to turn off my MiFi device and use the wifi on the phone in place of my Mobile Broadband "card". This is [...]

Filed under : Industry News

Infoaxe just raised $3M to create a tool that is already a feature in Google.  Don’t get me wrong I get it, Infoaxe is looking to build a service that helps you find the things you already found.   Think of all the times you wanted to show somebody you saw 3 weeks ago, but don’t [...]

Filed under : Industry News

Looking through the list of Games that will launch with Windows 7 Phone as "Xbox Live" titles, it’s pretty easy to tell that most of these aren’t games that are actually Xbox Live Titles.   These seem to just be games for phones, not Xbox games on your Phone. • 3D Brick Breaker Revolution (Digital Chocolate) [...]

Filed under : Industry News

Let’s face it Twitter and Facebook, and Foursquare suck.  They have a lousy interface, you can’t do half the things you want, or should be able to, and they just suck your time. Tweetdeck on the other hand rocks, and Farmville may be a waste of time, but it’s fun.  While Facebook may be too [...]

Filed under : Industry News

I joined Hulu Plus! ( www.hulu.com/plus )  Applied for an account, waited the weeks to get an invite, paid my money, then fired up my Samsung Blu-ray player and used my remote to do a search for "Chuno" my new favorite Hulu show. (Korean Soap Opera’s are my new thing, I  blame Diz).  Hulu Plus [...]

Filed under : Industry News

I have to say I agree with Cringely… Google and Verizon were talking, this week, and while we don’t know for certain what about, I have my suspicions. That Google and Verizon are working on a deal to make Youtube, and other Google properties faster on the Verizon network. Net Neutrality is supposed to be [...]

Filed under : Industry News

The Internet Commerce Security Laboratory (ICSL) is reporting that only .3% of the content on torrent sites is legal.  While I might have believed that .3% of downloads were of legal content, I’m not believing that this number is accurate for the actual make up of the content. Looking through the list of the ICSL’s [...]

Filed under : Industry News

Ultraviolet (uvvu.com) the latest DRM Scheme for studio content such as movies, blu-ray and on-demand titles has the stated goal of  being "designed to let consumers enjoy movies and TV shows without being locked into one specific format." It may do that, but at the expense of requiring every household member register their devices and [...]

Filed under : Industry News

Ben Roeder, the superintendent of Fremont Community Schools in Indiana wants to use iPad in the classroom.  Unfortunately for Ben, the iPad doesn’t have a lot of learning software, it is lacking in the direction of word-processing, and none of the books used in the class room are available for it. The form factor is [...]

Filed under : Industry News

Pew Research reports only 69% of Internet users have watched an online video.  This is hard to believe when you check Alexa and see that something like 30% of US Citizens visit YouTube once a month (last week  24.45000% of the Internet visited Youtube).  To test this hypothesis I asked a friend who doesn’t even [...]

Filed under : Industry News

If you are making a recipe for cookies and it says that you should us 16 pounds of butter not 16 ounces of butter, you can’t sue for the heart attack after.  Common sense should have told you to stop.   If Google gives me driving directions that point me down one of San Francisco’s Left [...]

Filed under : Industry News

Nero of "Nero Burning Rom" fame has filed a lawsuit against MPEG-LA.  MPEG-LA represents 53 patents in the MPEG-2 Patent portfolio.  Many of these patents are required to make any Motion Vector or Macro-Block based codec, such as VP8 which Google is attempting to release as an Open Codec, or VC-1 that Microsoft attempted to [...]

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According to NewTeeVee Avner Ronen of Boxee says “If Android finds its way onto TVs, Blu-ray players and other devices, that’s a great opportunity for us,” That’s because, by creating a way for Boxee to run on Android-enabled devices, Google could actually make it easier for the startup to reach its consumer base through the [...]

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A major release of Linux Ubuntu operating system will soon be available. And the Ubuntu version of Linux will be available off-the-shelf pre-installed on a full featured laptop from Dell. The new Dell Vostro V13 – Comes with Ubuntu Preloaded. The Dell laptop features a full sized keyboard, 13.3" WLED display, aluminum body and Ubuntu [...]

Filed under : Computers, PCs, and Macs, Industry News

“Write Once Publish Many” seems to be a model that works for leading edge marketing.  While the mediums are changing a good message works on any platform.  GE, Ford, and other’s creating informative marketing messages find a home on the Web, in your pocket, and on the tablet.  If you are trying to sell a [...]

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If Microsoft had pages that it said “Google Chrome is not supported, please install Internet Explorer 8” people would cry foul.  But what happens when Google does that to Opera?  I use Opera 10.x and love it.  It is fast, seems to work with about 98% of websites with no issue, and seems to be [...]

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Ford and Howcast have released a series of videos to promote Ford’s latest line of cars, specifically the 2010 Ford Taurus, and to demonstrate some of the cool ways Ford’s technology adds value to their vehicles. The Ford SYNC is one of the best car navigations systems on the market, and is easily the best [...]

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Google has Bridged Microsoft Office and Google Apps with Google’s purchase of DocVerse. Google purchased DocVerse on March 5. The purchase price for the DocVerse plug-in is reported as $25 million dollars. DocVerse takes Microsoft Office documents that are created off-line with the Microsoft Office Suite and converts them to online versions that can be [...]

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IPTV meets Brick and Motar: Wal-Mart is about to buy the Set-Top-Box start-up Vudu.  Vudu is a Santa Clara, California based online movie service and is backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firms that include Benchmark Capital and Greylock Capital.  Vudo had been building set-top-boxes but change to a streaming media service. It is estimated [...]

Filed under : Industry News, Videos