Archive for January, 2011:
Smarter Phones, Weaker Passwords
Tim (@oraclebase) points out something Rich (@rmanalan) and I have previously discussed. Soft keypads foster weak passwords. Do virtual keyboards promote weak passwords? | The ORACLE-BASE Blog Having to shift for capital letters and switch keyboards for some special characters is bad enough, but when coupled with the inconsistent implementation of keyboards between OSes, a [...]
Should Tumblr Care?
Well this is interesting. Should Tumblr care? In response to issues with Tumblr, David Karp tells users to “go away” if they don’t like it I love what services like Posterous and Tumblr are doing, but after dabbling a bit, I quickly found that having as much control as possible was the way to go, [...]
Computer Science and Philosophy at Oxford
While I get why combining computer science and philosophy into a single program of study, I fear that these graduates may be disappointed in many of the jobs they land after college. Graduates of this degree will have highly marketable skills. Computer Science teaches you how to program computers, and how to design processes that [...]
A USB Plug That Fits Even if It’s Upside-Down
Wow. Someone please begin mass-producing these. Simple Genius: A USB Plug That Fits Even if It\’s Upside-Down | Co.Design
How Do You Feel about Sentiment Analysis?
Glancing at my predictions for 2011, I wish I could get a mulligan on the reputation one, which is a like a wish that I keep hoping will come true. It won’t, at least not in 2011. If I had a do-over, I’d predict something awesome for sentiment analysis. After all, we’ve been talking about [...]
Rumor: BlackBerry Devices May Run Android Apps
Well, this is a fun rumor, especially since it jibes with my prediction for 2011 that BlackBerry and Nokia will surrender to Android. Exclusive: BlackBerry PlayBook and smartphones to run Android apps? | BGR | Boy Genius Report Makes a ton of sense for BlackBerry, but raises the same old fragmentation concerns for Android developers. [...]
WebCenter Enterprise Methodology Group
Time to talk business for a second. Chet (@oraclenerd) actually told me about the newly-formed WebCenter Enterprise Methodology Group last week. WebCenter Enterprise Methodology Group « Peter Moskovits’ Oracle WebCenter Blog This group was started by Yannick Ongena (@yannick_ongena), and it joins existing EMGs for ADF, OBIEE and SOA-BPM. The EMG concept was developed and grown [...]
How to Build a $10 Android Wind-Up Charger
This is too cool not to share here. How To Build a $10 Android Wind-Up Charger The segment on the wind-up charger is only about five minutes. He goes on to elaborate on the original concept of charging while you walk, using your own motion to turn the crank. That doesn’t work out so well, [...]
Kno, Yet Another Dual Screen Experience
Maybe I wasn’t paying attention before, but it seems like a flood of multi-screen devices has be unleashed. The Kno was previously announced, but this is first I’ve heard of it. Kno Is Looking For Student Ambassadors And Are Paying In Hefty Tablet Discounts Check the video, pretty targeted use cases for college students. Makes [...]
Are Electronics in Flight Dangerous?
I flew Alaska Airlines for the first time this week, and something stuck out as odd to me on both legs. The flight attendants were very specific in their safety instructions that we needed to power off all our electronic devices for takeoff and that airplane mode did not count. In other words, don’t just turn off [...]
Meet Line Phone, Another Concept Phone
After yesterday’s post and discussion about multiple screens, it’s fitting that another concept phone come across my Reader today. Meet Line Phone (h/t Core77). Skip the first 30 seconds to get to the phone stuff. The design extends the screen’s area all the way to the edges, eliminating the bezel. The edges have capacitive touch functions, [...]
Dear Tablet: You’ll Never Replace My Laptop
Lots of people are predicting and betting on the rise of the tablet in 2011. Here’s the most recent analyst version of that song. Interestingly, I got a chance to try living without my laptop this week when I briefly hit the road, forgetting my Macbook power cord. The battery on my old Macbook only [...]
Are Multi-Screen, Portable Devices Just a Gimmick?
If you had asked me what I thought of multi-screen portable devices a week ago, I’d have been highly skeptical. Now, twice in the last week, I’ve been impressed (maybe even wowed) by a couple of these devices, one concept, one production. First, check out this concept phone, called the Flip, from Kristian Ulrich Larsen. [...]
Trusting Amateurs
Maybe you saw that amateurs, i.e. those not paid for their financial acumen, outperformed professionals when challenged to predict Apple’s quarterly results. When it comes to forecasting Apples earnings, amateurs are better than the pros — Engadget The amateurs did uniformly much better than the professionals. Coincidentally, I’m reading Clay Shirky’s (@cshirky) Cognitive Surplus, specifically the chapter [...]
Formulists Forms Your Lists
Formulists (@formulists) isn’t new. I’ve just been meaning to try it out for many months, and I finally did. Basically, Formulists creates and maintains Twitter lists for you. It’s simple and quite powerful. Automatically Update Your Twitter Lists With Formulists This is exactly what I’ve wanted for a long time because of my organization fatigue, [...]
Old Computer Ads
This post has a very broad compendium of vintage (not old) magazine advertisements for computers. Oldest computer ads | Top Design Magazine – Web Design and Digital Content Aside from the trip down memory lane, for many of us, a few interesting nuggets pop: Multi-column layout, especially three columns, looks jarring. I’ve become so accustomed [...]
Welcome to the Internet on Facebook
Anyway, even though I don’t really use Facebook much anymore, I still read coverage about it, and this piece today about Amazon-owned Quidsi launching eCommerce for Amazon properties Diapers.com and Soap.com on Facebook struck me. I remember back in Facebook’s infancy, Mark Zuckerberg boldly declared that he wanted Facebook to be the new internet, all [...]
Conversation Mode for Google Translate: Surely Ensign Hoshi Sato Would Be Impressed
Editorial note: Here’s another post from Ultan O’Broin (@ultan) from the Oracle Applications User Experience Team in Dublin. Enjoy. Wow! A new year and already another cool translation feature in the mobile space announced. Following last month’s Word Lens launch, this time it’s Conversation Mode for Google Translate on Android. Here’s how it works: In [...]
Flickr Users Should Buy Flickr
In the wake of the sort-of confirmed rumor that Delicious was on shaky ground at Yahoo, Flickr users are understandably concerned about the future of their beloved service. Thomas Hawk’s (@thomashawk) speculation about Flickr’s value to Yahoo sparked a round of conversation, even if his methodology wasn’t terribly accurate. The obvious fear among heavy Flickr [...]
We’ve All Been Here
This made me lulz. Literally. Long and loud lulzing. From the mind of Guy Collins h/t Geekosystem. The older I get and the more I work with real users, the more I hate myself for being such a turd. Computers are hard, but they don’t need to be. My personal mission is to make them [...]
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