=================================================

My class focused on Disruptive Technologies AKA New and Emerging Trends in the new technology landscape, so I think kind of on topic for this list. It’s Monday after all.

AKA: Or everything you learned last week is obsolete. Now what?

Reaction Paper, due next week. 10% of your final grade.

Today’s readings:

>>>>>

New buzz word: HYPER-LOCAL ))))

The changes are happening in the world now at light speed. Get a worker for .22 cents an hour in Cambodia. And they can run computers, turn on laser cutters and weave suits. For .22 cents an hour. If you are a USA based manufacturing company you are FLEEING to Asia. And no one is stopping you. No one. The machines have won.

A fifth grader with an iPad now has more computing power then the CEO of Goldman Sachs. No one gets that yet. It’s called “The Cloud”

The Information Technology curriculum being prepared for NYC school kids is an unmitigated disaster. But no one gives a **** [IMHO].

Required Readings:
Industries Find Surging Profits in Deeper Cuts Harley has warned union employees at its Milwaukee factory that it would move production elsewhere in the United States if they did not agree to more flexible work rules and tens of millions in cost-saving measures.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/business/economy/26earnings.html?_r=1&ref=business

And this one 2:
The reality is that no matter how smart, how strong, how educated or how hard working American workers are, they just cannot compete with people who are desperate to put in 10 to 12 hour days at less than a dollar an hour on the other side of the world. After all, what corporation in their right mind is going to pay an American worker 10 times more (plus benefits) to do the same job?

The world is fundamentally changing. Wealth and power are rapidly becoming concentrated at the top and the big global corporations are making massive amounts of money. Meanwhile, the American middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence as U.S. workers are slowly being merged into the new “global” labor pool.
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-u.s.-middle-class-is-being-wiped-out-here%27s-the-stats-to-prove-it-520657.html?tickers=^DJI,^GSPC,SPY,MCD,WMT,XRT,DIA

And how’s your Mandarin coming along? You’ll need that. For sure.

And for extra credit? Compress your reaction paper to 140 characters. I’ll take it as a twit.

e!

=================================================

Agree or disagree? Post your thoughts below!

A while back we fell into this curiosity from obtaining Zuma (and that’s thanks to Hawty McBloggy), then looking into other games that were made by PopCap. No one ever told us about Plants Vs Zombies. Maybe they could have saved us from getting ensnared. But we checked it out. Bam. Hooked.

Since that initial PvZ binge, we found out there was rumor of it making it to XBLA. I’ve been waiting so long to finally hear that it’s made it and was still asking about it when it launched on the iPhone (That’s a link to the iTunes Downloader…). But now…IT HAS!
The official release date has not been declared (Early September…see below Dtoid article), but Aug. 1st they should be clarifying that for us. I’m a bit bitter for the wait, but it seems they are trying to sugar-coat it by adding Co-op and Vs. modes. That is a sweet deal, I’d say.

And, If you can’t get enough PvZ until it comes to the Marketplace, go here for more Plants Vs Zombies fun! (You can even make your own Zombatar!)
You can also get it on Steam for $9.99 as well.

Now it’s time to get it stuck in YOUR heads…again.

Related Articles:
Geek.com
DToid
Play.tm

There is some really awesome tech out there that large urban centers really need to look in to. Below are some videos of fully automated parking systems can quickly and efficiently park your car. Here’s a quick synopsis of the way they work:

• The driver is directed into a transfer area that looks similar to a small garage and parks the car
• The driver exits vehicle and activates a control panel which triggers the parking process to begin
• Lasers and motion detectors ensure the car is empty and in the correct position
• The car is actually on a movable pallet which is shuttled on to an elevator system and into the parking area
• Sensors and programming logic automatically route cars to the closest available parking space, and even shift other cars around if needed.
• Upon returning, the driver either uses a ticket, token or identification card to retrieve the vehicle and pays right at the control panel
• The system retrieves the car, usually in under 4 minutes, and even goes so far as to turn it into the correct direction to exit the area
• Systems are equipped with cameras for monitoring from a central location, and even include plate recognition for car retrieval in case the token or id card are lost

The best part about these systems is that they can be built above ground as well as below ground. Got a small parking lot that can no longer support a rapidly expanding commercial area? BUild a structure that stacks cars on top of each other. Got an old subway tunnels that are never used (*coughNYCcough*)? Build the system to house the cars along the length of the tunnel. These systems are not pure fantasy. They are real and in practice, though mainly throughout Europe and Asia.

Big cities like NYC, LA and Chicago are desperately in need of better ways to park vehicles and reduce congestion on the streets, though to my knowledge only 3 cities have automated parking systems in place (NYC, Hoboken and Washington D.C.). The tech is still in its infancy, but is definitely very cool and has the potential to really take off.

Automotion Parking Systems in New York
Video - Popular Mechanics – Robot Parks Cars

APT PARKING in Pennsylvania
Video -Most Advanced Automated Garage In The World

The Multiparker from Budapest (auto-playing video)
Multiparker 710 / 720 / 730 Data Sheet (pdf)

The MPSystem’s Automatic Parking System from Korea
Video -The Future of Parking Now

So I took last week off to go to the 2nd annual Internet Technology Summit held this year in Downtown Orlando. Full-disclosure: I participated in a contest and won a free along with a free hotel stay for this event, but that in no way influenced my opinion – it was AWESOME!

Last year’s ITS was a half-day event with about 12 speakers held in Tampa. This year’s event was significantly larger with 25 speakers / panelists presenting over 2-days. The audience was a nice mix of business strategists, recruiters and web designers/developers. I was expecting the presentations to be oriented more towards business execs, but I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a bit content geared towards the techie crowd.

It was sponsored by David Glass from the Florida Technology Journal who did an incredible job at getting all of the great speakers together, and moderated by Michelle Malott, CEO of HDYI: How Do You Innovate? who did an amazing job of making sure things went smoothly. She made a ridiculously complicated job look easy!

ITS had way too much content to cover in this blog, but here are a few of my favorite segments.

One of my overwhelmingly favorite topics was Social Media. Being big into the social media scene, it was very interesting to hear about how businesses are not only implementing social media strategies to engage customers, but also how they handle the challenge of personal usage by their employees.  It was great to hear that more companies are not only being receptive to their employees blogging and using Facebook/Twitter, but that some of them actively encourage it (within reason of course).

There was also a large emphasis on mobile development. iPhone and Android (though surprisingly not Microsoft’s Phone OS 7) app strategies were talked about by several of the speakers, and Carol Cox from Orlando’s own Full Sail University gave a great talk about various ways to monetize an application besides a direct sale. It was very obvious that businesses are focusing quite heavy on this area for growth in the foreseeable future, so of you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet, it’s not too late!

One of my favorite talks came from Greg Wilson from Adobe who gave us the skinny on what Adobe has in the works for HTML 5. For those that don’t know, Adobe are members of the World Wide Web Consortium which is the collaborative effort to standardize HTML5 (and other web-related specifications). Despite what most people think, Adobe has done quite a bit with their CS5 applications and recently released an HTML5 Pack of extensions that allow users to leverage the new functionality available with HTML5. Greg even made surprisingly convincing argument for why Flash isn’t going anywhere anytime soon (it does a lot more than just stream videos).

Last but certainly not least, I would be remiss if I neglected to mention the antics of one Ted Murphy from IZEA (of WeReward fame). He took audience participation to another level: actively going into the crowd, making us engage and cooperate with each other to solve problems. By the end of his presentation, we had effectively come up with several dozen concepts for new iPhone apps. I personally think he took the best ideas with him back to IZEA for further research. (I’m watching you guys!)

Suffice it to say the content was incredible and extremely interesting not only for businesses but for any enthusiast who wants to learn how technology strategies are being implemented in the workplace today. Additionally, the opportunity to network with local businesses and potential colleagues (or competitors!) was absolutely invaluable. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for next year’s event!

Here are some links where you can find out more about this past event as well as a list of all the speakers:
Internet Technology Summit 2010
ITS Speaker List
ITS Facebook Page

Check back every so often – I will update this post with links to the speakers’ presentations as I get them.

Update: Here’s a link to all of the presentations from this year’s ITS:
TechSummit Presentations, Blogs and Slideshows

Soluto is a new tech start-up based in Israel that recently won the $50000 top prize at the TechCrunch Disrupt competition in NYC. Their tool analyzes all of the applications and services that launch when you reboot your PC and presents you with a list of how long it took each item to launch. This not only helps troubleshoot when issues arise, but also helps optimize and streamline your PC so that it functions like a well-oiled machine. After just a single use, Soluto can lead to a noticeable reduction in reboot times.

Soluto’s strength is in its simplicity. The items are grouped into 3 categories: Required, Potentially removable and No-brainer. The Required items are untouchable, so you can be confident you won’t accidentally remove something that your system requires. For the other 2 categories, you will be given the option to either Pause or Delay each item. Pausing will stop the item from launching during reboot (though you will still be able to manually launch the app if needed), Delaying will force the item to launch in the background after reboot has finished, and of course, you can also just leave each item alone so that it launches normally on reboot. Each item is listed with a name and most of them also have a description so you know exactly what each item does. Additionally, Soluto tells you what percentage of other Soluto users have Paused or Delayed each item it recognizes.

This application goes a long way towards simplifying the complex and cryptic PC bootup process. It is simple enough for the average non-technical user to handle, yet capable of making a substantial impact on the user’s experience. In a way, it puts the power of a dedicated Desktop Support team in the palm of your hands. Kudos Soluto!

Soluto Blog
Soluto on Facebook
Soluto on Twitter

LockerGnome – Soluto Anti-Frustration Software Just May Be The Real Thing
PCWorld – Soluto Utility Shrinks PC Boot Times, Fixes Problems
freewaregenius – Soluto: use the wisdom of the crowd to optimize your PC and make it run and boot faster
addictivetips – Speed Up Your Windows System With Soluto

Google has gone from being the little [search] engine that could to being mega-corporation spanning many different industries from telecom to energy. Google is looking to expand it’s empire once again with Google TV. Announced just last week at the developer event Google I/O, Google has set its sights firmly on conquering the television industry.

So what is Google TV? In a nutshell, Google TV is a platform that will bring Google’s search function to tv listings, as well as video content on the web, and present it to you right on your TV. With it, you will no longer be limited to manually browsing time/channel-based guides. It can instantly pull up the show or channel you are looking for. Additionally it can also search for streaming video content from various sources on the internet such as YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon.

Sounds good so far, but how exactly does Google intend to do all that? Well as mentioned before, Google TV is a “platform,” meaning it is software that will run on a device connected to your TV such as a set-top box or Blu-Ray player. It’s core the Google Chrome browser running on top of the Android OS. The platform is entirely open-source, so developers can have a field day using the Google TV API to create custom applications. Google mentioned there will be strong integration with Android mobile devices for use as a remote control or transfer of content such as a video stream from the device to your TV. Google TV will also have access to the Android app store, opening up even more possibilities for devs to create applications that run right on your TV.

This is no trivial task by any means, even for a tech powerhouse like Google. This is why Google has established an extremely strong set of partnerships to help out:

• Dish Network has agreed to integrate the platform onto its receivers and DVRs
• Logitech has been tasked with manufacturing stand-alone set-top boxes
• Sony has agreed to integrate the platform onto its many of TVs and Blu-Ray players (possibly the PS3?)
• Intel will be providing their Atom CE4100 processors and supporting chipset to control the hardware
• Best Buy is lined up to sell the hardware
• Adobe is working to ensure the newest version of Flash (v10.1) is 100% not just supported, but actually optimized on the platform.

That last point is especially notable because it not only differentiates Google TV from Apple’s efforts, but also because Hulu, which can be considered a significant content provider, has stated that HTML5 does not currently meet their needs and that their player will remain Flash-based for the foreseeable future.

Who should be worried? Just off the top of my head, Boxee and Roku seem like they have the most to lose. They are both relatively young tech start-ups that offer similar products – HTPC apps and set-top boxes that consolidate web content and bring it to the TV screen. As if the market wasn’t hard enough competing with each other, now they’ve got Google to contend with. It seems like even Steve Jobs has basically washed his hands of Apple TV and the set-top box market. What might be their saving grace is that they are both Roku and Boxee are open source, so it is definitely possible for devs to leverage the Google TV API and produce an interesting hybrid. Only time will tell, but the clock has definitely started ticking.

Who might be worried but probably aren’t (yet)? Service providers (cable companies, etc). While this looks like a direct assault on their turf, one thing was notably absent from the Google TV announcement: content providers (ABC, NBC, etc). Content is king, and as of yet none of the networks have commited to providing content specifically for this platform. Without content, Google TV is nothing more than a glorified version of the TV Guide. Granted, that may be all Google wants to be; they did partner up with the Dish Network after all. I think they have more grandiose ambitions though. If they can monetize advertising via Google TV they way they monetized advertising on the web, they have definite potential to compete head-to-head with the service providers.

Overall, this is a new market for Google with existing, established competitors, but Google has a solid team backing it up. The evolution for this medium is long overdue, with many of the companies that tried to provide streaming video services either stagnating or failing altogether. Google’s effort is the strongest I’ve seen thus far, so hopefully we’ll see some great things coming up. The best part is that we don’t have to wait long to see what happens: Google TV is expected to be available in the Fall of this year, just in time for the holidays!

What you guys think – will Google TV succeed where other have failed, or will it be just another Google product that withers on the vine?

Google Blog – Announcing Google TV: TV meets web. Web meets TV.
Popular Science – Google TV Unveiled, With Much Potential For the Web-Enhanced Future of Television
PCWorld – Google, Partners Have Muscle to Make Smart TV
Gizmodo – What Is Google TV?
engadget – Google TV turns on at I/O: runs Android and Flash, partnered with Sony, Logitech, and Intel
Mashable – Google TV Has Arrived
RocketBoom – Google TV

You can view work from Patrick’s Portfolio Here.

The first iPhone launched in 2007, the 3G in 2008, the 3GS in 2009. I’m not very good at the maths, but I believe that means we’re just about due for a new model some time soon. With the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference is coming up in just two weeks, I have a sneaking suspicion that Apple will use this event to announce the new iPhone 4G.

Too much, too soon? The 3GS is a very popular model and has sold very well despite missing a few highly-publicized features (*coughFlashcough*). Also Apple fanboys’ wallets are still recovering from the recent iPad launch. Will there be a market for a new iPhone model? Maybe not… that is, if it was just a new version on the AT&T network. The Wall Street Journal, however, reported rumors that a CDMA-capable version of the iPhone may go live later this year. That means Verizon and Sprint may soon get the iPhone and the AT&T exclusivity deal may be close to an end.

All this seems a bit too predictable though, and if there’s one thing Apple is not known for, it’s predictability. Only 2 short weeks to the WWDC folks… what do you think Steve’s got up his sleeves? Let me know what you think below!

The Epock Times – Slashed Walmart iPhone Prices Fuel Rumors of New iPhone Release
ComputerWorld – New Apple iPhone 4G at WWDC 2010: “not disappointing”
TouchReviews – Apple’s WWDC Sells Out. Focus on iPhone 4G, iPad and apps

Facebook recently implemented a new “instant personalization” program that allows 3rd party sites to view info on FB profiles. No biggie, right? We do this all the time when we use Facebook Connect to log in to sites and post updates to our walls, etc. The difference this time around is that for certain sites, specifically Pandora, Yelp and Microsoft Docs, FB is automatically opting users in. What this means is that your profile will be automatically shared with these sites (and any future sites added to the program) unless you manually go in and opt out.

This of course assumes you can even find the setting to opt out. As Facebook has grown exponentially in popularity, it has also grown in complexity. Understanding their privacy policy is a job unto itself. What started out as a few paragraphs (just over 1000 words) back in 2005 has radically expanded to a large novel that is now longer than the US Constitution (almost 6000 words), and navigating Facebook’s privacy options is a particularly daunting task, with over 50 settings and 170 options to choose from. Thankfully, services like Reclaim Privacy help to highlight exactly which settings to change to keep your information private.

All of this has privacy advocates up in arms and backlash to the change has been notably swift. Media outlets have been quick to villify Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, going so far as to say he is out for “world domination” and reference 6 year old IM conversations from his college days. Several high-profile internet media types (Leo Laporte and Peter Rojas) have deleted or deactivated their Facebook profiles. A group of Google employees have also jumped ship. There is even a mass exodus from Facebook planned for May 31.

Is this really a gross invasion of privacy or is it just hype overblown by the media? My personal opinion is that Facebook is doing what businesses do: trying to make money. It is doing so by establishing partnerships with other businesses to enhance their users’ experience by providing a more personalized service. If a site can use my information to provide content that is actually relevant to me, instead of generic viagra ads and pr0n, then call me crazy but I think that may actually be a good thing. Ultimately end users have always had control over what information gets shared, because they are the ones that put the information there in the first place. This has been a mantra since the internet began: if you don’t want the world to know something, don’t put it on the internet.

That said, there is definitely a need for a way to share information with only specific people without worrying that it may someday become public due to a change in privacy policy. Many people felt this was what Facebook offered, and at some point in the distant past that may have once been the case. A new service created by NYU students called Diaspora is the flavor of the week offering just such a service. They are very new and as of this writing though they are not accepting new users, but I’ll be keeping an eye on them and post up a review when I can.

Let me know what you think of the Privacy Wars below!

Jason Calacanis – The Big Game, Zuckerberg and Overplaying your Hand
SmarterWare – What Private Facebook Information Your Friends Can Publish
NYTimes – Facebook Privacy: A Bewildering Tangle of Options
Technologizer – Facebook Privacy Fodder
Mashable – 5 Essential Facebook Privacy Tips
Wired – The Facebook Privacy War: What is Personal Data?

Square is a company co-founded by Jack Dorsey (of Twitter fame) and Jim McKelvey, a glass artist and glass art instructor from St Louis. As the story goes, Jim was working in his studio and was tired of losing sales to people who did not have cash on-hand to make purchase so he teamed up with his techie friend Jack. Their sole purpose in this endeavor was to make credit card transactions as painless as possible. Together they came up with a process that streamlined how credit card transactions were performed and managed to reduce the high overhead fees.

Touted as the perfect supplement for a small or mobile business, all you need is a small attachment connected to one of the supported mobile devices and you are good to go! After you install and activate the app, you simply enter an amount along with an optional note, swipe the card, have the customer click Authorize and sign (using a fingertip), and Square will take care of billing the customer and depositing the money in your account. A receipt can be emailed to the customer with a GPS-mapped location of where transaction took place. It also includes several nice bells and whistles including the ability to manually enter credit card numbers, handle cash transactions, and automatically calculate tips.

One of the biggest selling points is cost. Up-front, the merchant pays absolutely nothing! A Square account and the card-scanning device are completely free. The fee per transaction is 15 cents plus 2.75% for swiped card transactions or 3.5% for typed-in card transactions. There are no contracts to sign, no monthly fees and no hidden costs. Additionally, all transactions are processed nightly as opposed to the monthly batch transactions of traditional credit card processors. This enables anyone from big business down to a sole proprietor to be able to start accepting credit cards immediately quickly and easily. Accepting credit cards could not be easier!

Here is a vid of Kevin Rose showing the product in action:

From my perspective, the concept is pretty ingenious! The system excels in its simplicity and obviously has widespread application possibilities from flea markets and road-side vendors to freelancers and mom and pop shops. My only concern is from the security perspective. With the dependency of an external device, how easy could it be for someone of malicious intent to create a similar looking device that also stored credit card data? I’m sure Square takes security as a top priority, but with the prevalence of jailbroken phones and home brew apps, I would be a bit wary of allowing someone to swipe my credit card on their iPhone. Of course, that may just be naive paranoia. I’m sure there is just as much risk, if not more, in handing a waiter my credit card when paying for dinner. Truth be told, I ‘m surprised more of these systems haven’t hit the market yet. Let me know what you guys think!

Square is officially live in production on the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Nexus One, Droid, and Incredible, with other devices coming soon.  If you want to check it out you can download the app here.

Fast Company – Square Brings Credit Card Swiping to the Mobile Masses, Starting Today
Mashable – Credit Card Scanner Square Comes to iPhone
Engadget – Square mobile payment system goes live on iPhone, iPad, and Android this week (video)
ReadWriteWeb – Even The Babysitter Takes Credit Cards With Square
gigaom – Jack Dorsey on Square, How It Works & Why It Disrupts