Man, I hate April Fools’ Day. What used to be a fun day of pranks on friends has evolved into a massive competition between websites to see whose ‘joke’ can go the most viral. I’ll admit some are funny, though when there’s so much BS posted to the ‘net it drowns out the real, actual, valid news. So, I’ll be posting no jokes here. I’m sure you’ve seen too many today already!
Traditional TV is dying…
TV networks have resisted the push by Apple, Google, and others to go to more of a channel less, video-on-demand business model for years…but they’re fighting a losing battle. The consumers want it, and the technology makes it easy. The latest development is seeing these video-on-demand companies offer original programming…essentially starting to become a new sort of TV ‘channel’. Netflix has House of Cards and Lilyhammer (with eight more shows in the pipeline), and Amazon has announced a new show called ‘Betas’. When people start turning to these internet-based companies for their TV shows, the traditional model of cable boxes and TV guide ‘schedules’ will quickly become obsolete. As someone who ‘cut the cord‘ years ago, I can’t wait!
AT-AT loft bed
Wow, this is cool! A loft bed that looks like an incredibly detailed AT-AT. Nice!
(via LikeCool)
Sherpa – predictive AI for your iPhone
Sherpa is a new, predictive artificial intelligence that will soon be available for iPhones (if you want to sign up, follow this link). It’s raised a bit over $1M seed funding so far, and promises big potential by making location a key part of its services. For example, based on your calendar and current traffic, it would know that you’ll be late for an appointment and offer options for notifying the meeting organizer, and even alternate routes to take. Ideally you’d be able to avoid that situation, as it would notify you when you need to leave to make it to your meeting on time. Weather forecasts will be based not only on your current location, but where it knows you’re going. It’s a background app, pushing information to you as needed…pretty cool stuff if they can pull it off.
Sabotaging creativity
There’s a neat article over at Fast Company about sabotaging creativity. It deals with the issue that I think many creative people have (myself included)…we create lists of projects, articles, whatever, that we want to tackle in the future. The gist of this article is the idea that the existence of that list itself hurts creativity more than it helps. I for one have a huge list of topics I’ve wanted to write about here…yet I find myself focusing instead on whatever captures my interest at a particular time. I’m thinking lists like this are really more useful for project managers who are in a position to delegate these tasks to others. For self-led creative types, these lists really don’t help all that much. I can’t bring myself to delete my lists…yet…but maybe someday. 🙂
(read more at Fast Company)
Happy Pi Day!
Happy Pi Day, everyone!
The death of Google Reader
Google Reader is going away! For I don’t know how many years, Reader has been a part of my daily routines and the tool I’ve most used to keep track of approximately one gazillion RSS feeds. As of July 1st, 2013, it will be no more. This also means that my favorite RSS reader for the iPad, Reeder, will no longer work either (it syncs with your Google Reader account).
This feels…weird. It’s hard enough when I go camping in places without cell coverage and can’t keep up with my RSS feeds. Apart from those instances…RSS is a part of my life. I have only a few months to find new solutions for this…yikes! Ok, ok, gotta stop freaking out here…
Fortunately I’m not alone, and have joined a support group for people facing this transition. Just kidding about the support group, but there ARE others out there facing this problem and writing stories about alternatives. I came across this one at Siliconangle (they saw this coming; the article is dated 2/11). NewsBlur sounds the most promising so far, as I need something that’s in sync across browsers AND iOS apps.
In the meantime, I’ve already backed up my Reader data (which thankfully includes starred items) using the Google Takeout tool.
I hate it when people MOVE MY CHEESE… >:<
Wealth Distribution in the US
Very nicely made video with some simple charts illustrating the distribution of wealth in the US. It’s pretty shocking…and worth a quick watch. It’s important to know the facts about the world around you, to help you make educated decisions. The gist of this video is that the majority of people surveyed do NOT know the truth about this issue (chances are, you don’t either…even I was surprised).
(via Fast Company)
Gesture-control bracelet
Gesture based control such as that provided by the LEAP are pretty cool, but this bracelet takes things a step further. This bracelet uses accelerometers to measure the motion of your arm, as well as devices to measure electrical impulses of your muscles, communicating this via bluetooth to provide gesture-based control of, well, anything. It can even recognize motion of individual fingers.
Check out the video below for some examples of how this technology could be used…it’s pretty inspiring. You can preorder this technology from MYO for $149, shipping in late 2013.
(via CNET)
i’m Watch smartwatch
There’s a new smartwatch on the market, called the i’m Watch. Starting at $349, it acts as an extension of your smartphone, much like the Pebble Smartwatch was designed to be. One cool feature it has though is a speakerphone! The rest is as you’d expect – SMS messages, e-mail, appointments, etc. There are some nice potential fitness applications, too, though from what I saw they seem a bit underdeveloped (for example, GPS tracking appeared lacking).
What’s really interesting here is how this and the Pebble watch are both entering the market a bit rough but seem to have promise. It’s generally accepted that Apple is looking into this market…which in itself means nothing, but you look at the level these watches are at and they’re really close to where Apple would probably need the technology to be. I’d bet good money we see an iWatch hit the market in 2013. Whether or not that happens though, this is a market that is definitely heating up and we’ll see many more companies enter it this year.
Oh, and as for the Pebble…I was one of the early pre-orders on Kickstarter though I’m still waiting to receive my watch. Once I do, expect a full review here!