Author: Jake

Remember when I went to Mexico earlier this year? Remember the innovation challenge that combined Profit Magazine data with Endeca Information Discovery? Well, it wasn’t by accident that Profit’s archive of articles dating back to 2005 was a component because Profit’s editor, Aaron Lazenby (@alazenby) was looking ahead to the August issue of Profit, which focuses… Read More

When we started blogging back in 2007, we had grand visions of this as a place to share our innovative work and insights. That hasn’t panned out exactly as we drew it up back then, but there are some stories that stand the test of time. Today, I give you one of them, the story… Read More

Happy Monday. Tech that is always listening Fresh on the heels of the news that XBox One will always be listening, comes a rumor that the upcoming Moto X will also have passive listening capabilities. Add this to the long list of technology that feels invasive and creepy for consumers, but will be extremely useful… Read More

After Kscope 13 and a week of staycation, I suppose I should get back to blogging. Not really much on my mind lately, so I figured a collection of links would do. You’ve been quiet lately too. Real comments have been scarce since I moved away from Disqus. I hope those aren’t related. Say hi… Read More

Google Reader will be gone when today ends, not sure what time zone Google is using for the apocalypse. Turns out Google Takeout doesn’t extract everything you could ever want, so some resourceful folks have whipped up a Python utility that will get everything out of the dying service. Check it out at readerisdead.com. I… Read More

As Anthony (@anthonyslai) mentioned yesterday, we’ve been experimenting with his new toy, Google Glass. It’s our job as a research team to investigate emerging technologies and explore how they might affect the users of Fusion Applications in the near and long-term future. So, don’t get ahead of yourself, this is a research project, not product.… Read More

Google Reader will be gone for good in less than three weeks. Since the announcement, I’ve continued to use Reader, the denial stage, but this week, I finally decided to investigate replacements. I used this crowdsourced list of alternatives as my starting place. My criteria were: A for-pay service: Not that this is a guarantee… Read More

Last week, in a meeting, we got on the subject of Terminator vision. For the uninitiated, here’s what that looked like in Terminator 2: Judgement Day: If you recall, Robocop had a similar overlay readout: So, for about 25 years, Hollywood has been seeding this vision (ha, pun) of augmented reality, i.e. an overlay of… Read More

Kscope 13 (#kscope13), ODTUG’s (@odtug) annual conference begins in less than two weeks. I know, it sneaked up on me too. If you happen to be making the trip to New Orleans for the show, which runs June 23-27, and you feel like getting up early on Monday morning, I’ll be speaking with Jeremy Ashley, the head of… Read More

Apple announced a lot today as WWDC began. Chief among the announcements is a long-overdue redesign for iOS, which looks essentially the same in iOS 6 as it did in iPhone OS 1, or whatever they versioned it back in 2007. The redesign is very slick, and as expected by many, focuses on reducing design… Read More

Anthony (@anthonyslai) has been using his Chromebook lately, by necessity, and a combination of recent speculation and my own gut tells me that I should try to work my Chromebook back into the regular rotation. Actually, the speculation isn’t recent. Anton Wahlmann predicted a Chrome OS smartphone two years ago; he’s just updated his prediction… Read More

Anthony (@anthonyslai) has been on a roll lately, and his latest post reminded me to put words behind a hunch I have. When the Chromebook Pixel was announced, a lot of head-scratching ensued. What’s the point of a fantastic piece of expensive, high-end hardware that runs an internet-tethered OS like Chrome OS? After all, Chromebooks… Read More

We ran into Floyd (@fteter) last night. His cyborg transformation is complete. Note the serious demeanor, with Glass power comes great responsibility, or something. Backstory, Anthony (@anthonyslai) finally got his Explorer Series Glass unit on Sunday. Funny story, its display had a few dead pixels, three actually. He counted. Google replaced the unit, so all’s… Read More

I don’t normally pay much attention to games, but after GeoGuessr showed up in both the Verge and Kottke.org, I took notice. It’s a very simple, but difficult game. GeoGuessr drops you into a random place that Google has mapped with Street View, but without any metadata, just the images Google captured. You can navigate around, using… Read More

This blog has been around for six years, and given how varied and banal a lot of what I write is, I’m stunned it’s lasted that long. While at Collaborate in April, John (@jpiwowar) mentioned something about the blog that resonated with me. He said he appreciated that I replied to his comments. That struck… Read More

One of the aspects I like about my newish team, Applications User Experience, is access to real research. Through eye-tracking, the usability labs, ethnographic research, focus groups and a host of other tools, AUX collects data from real users to help us understand how to build better software. This is perfect for me, since I’ve… Read More

I’ve been doing more tinkering with my development toy, the Nexus 7, and kudos to Anthony (@anthonyslai) for finding this gem. WebKey is an Android app and accompanying service that allows you to manage your device from a browser. WebKey (Play Store link) isn’t new. I found coverage from the Android Police and Lifehacker from a… Read More

PBS Off Book has a short and interesting look into wearable computing. Check it out, h/t MAKE and Geekosystem: Aside from the recent, top-of-mind examples (Google Glass, Pebble), I’m amazed at how functional smart garments have become. Innovation has been happening in both the fashion and DIY circles, but since I don’t pay very close attention to those… Read More

When Facebook launched Home earlier this month, it marked the first time in quite a while that I was excited to use Facebook. What excited me wasn’t using Facebook per se, but exploring the possibilities of moving beyond the app. Despite only being officially supported for a handful of phones, the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy… Read More

My trip to Guadalajara a month ago was dual-purpose. First, we’re hiring there, so we had interviews. Second, we were assisting with a hackathon. Since running the Oracle Social Network Developer Challenge at OpenWorld last Fall, Noel (@noelportugal) and I have become “the hackathon guys,” which makes me think of this movie for some reason.… Read More