February 22nd, 2012

Rob’s Radar 2/22

Word of the day:
petard/pi-tahrd/noun
1. Explosive device used to blow up a wall or door.
2. A kind of firecracker.

Google to Sell Heads-Up Display Glasses by Year’s End
People who constantly reach into a pocket to check a smartphone for bits of information will soon have another option: a pair of Google-made glasses that will be able to stream information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time.

According to several Google employees familiar with the project who asked not to be named, the glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of the year. These people said they are expected “to cost around the price of current smartphones,” or $250 to $600.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/google-to-sell-terminator-style-glasses-by-years-end/

What we learned from the ‘Nightline’ report on Foxconn factories
After teasing the story yesterday, Nightline has aired its report from Foxconn’s factories on ABC. In the report, host Bill Weir speaks directly to factory workers as well as their managers. You would think that this “unprecedented” look inside Apple factories would reveal much we didn’t know, but the show was relatively light on information. Weir did extensively survey the places where iPads and iPhones are constructed, spent time interviewing both employees and their families, and talked to FLA president Auret van Heerden, though he uncovered mostly familiar information.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/22/2815654/abc-nightline-apple-foxconn-factories

Google: Please Don’t Kill Video on the Web
Earlier today, Microsoft filed a formal competition law complaint with the European Commission (EC) against Motorola Mobility and Google. We have taken this step because Motorola is attempting to block sales of Windows PCs, our Xbox game console and other products. Their offense? These products enable people to view videos on the Web and to connect wirelessly to the Internet using industry standards.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2012/02/22/google-please-don-t-kill-video-on-the-web.aspx

Amazon Simple Workflow – Cloud-Based Workflow Management
Today we are introducing the Amazon Simple Workflow service, SWF for short. This new service gives you the ability to build and run distributed, fault-tolerant applications that span multiple systems (cloud-based, on-premise, or both). Amazon Simple Workflow coordinates the flow of synchronous or asynchronous tasks (logical application steps) so that you can focus on your business and your application instead of having to worry about the infrastructure.

http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2012/02/amazon-simple-workflow-cloud-based-workflow-management.html

Facebook plans to release a new premium ads product Feb. 29
According to leaked documents, Facebook plans to upgrade its premium ads on February 29. The company expects the new ads to perform 40 to 8o percent better than its previous product.

http://gigaom.com/2012/02/21/facebook-is-set-to-release-a-new-premium-ads-product/

CIA to software vendors: A revolution is coming
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency told software vendors on Tuesday that it plans to revolutionize the way it does business with them as part of a race to keep up with the blazing pace of technology advances.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/22/us-cia-software-idUSTRE81L03C20120222

Police Raid File-Hosting Site, Arrest Operator and ISP
German police have shut down the cyberlocker Skyload.net and arrested the alleged owner along with a person who provided hosting services to the site. The actions are part of an ongoing sweep against people connected to the popular movie streaming portal Kino.to. Skyload’s operator is suspected of uploading more than 10,000 films to Kino.to’s paid affiliate program.

http://torrentfreak.com/police-raid-file-hosting-site-arrest-operator-and-isp-120221/

Google’s new “batshit crazy” UX
In a recent update to Gmail and Google+, Google removed the ability to go “home” by clicking the logo. Kevin Fox, who worked at Google as a designer for many years, had this to say:

http://dcurt.is/batshit-crazy

Adobe releases Flash roadmap, narrows focus to gaming and ‘premium’ video
Adobe swallowed a lot of pride in conceding defeat and abandoning development of Flash Player on mobile devices last year, but that doesn’t mean the company is ready to completely give up on its still ubiquitous rich media web format. Today sees the first publication of a new roadmap document for the development of Adobe Flash runtimes, setting out where Adobe’s priorities lie and how it intends to continue supporting Flash.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/22/2816122/adobe-flash-development-roadmap-gaming-premium-video

February 21st, 2012

Rob’s Radar 2/21

Word of the day:
fugacious/fyoo-gey-shuhs/adjective.
1. Fleeting; transitory.
2. Botany: Falling or fading early.

Facial Recognition Billboard Only Lets Women See the Full Ad
A new kind of outdoor advertisement is being tested on Oxford Street in London’s West End. The interactive advertisement uses a high-definition camera to scan pedestrians and identify their gender before showing a specific ad. The built-in system has a 90% accuracy rate in analyzing a person’s facial features and determining if they’re male or female.

http://mashable.com/2012/02/21/facial-recognition-billboard/

The U.N. Threat to Internet Freedom
On Feb. 27, a diplomatic process will begin in Geneva that could result in a new treaty giving the United Nations unprecedented powers over the Internet. Dozens of countries, including Russia and China, are pushing hard to reach this goal by year’s end. As Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last June, his goal and that of his allies is to establish “international control over the Internet” through the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a treaty-based organization under U.N. auspices.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204792404577229074023195322.html

Twitter, Yandex Partnership Will Allow Russian Search Engine To Show Tweets In Search Results
Twitter and Russian search engine Yandex have agreed a partnership that will allow Yandex to show new tweets in its search results almost instantly, as Twitter becomes an increasingly important source of real-time information.

Twitter will give Yandex access to its so-called firehose of all public tweets, the two companies said on Tuesday, in an agreement similar to the one the social short-messaging site has with Microsoft’s search engine, Bing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/twitter-yandex-search-engine_n_1289992.html

Jeremy Johnson accused of hiding $51.4 million
In an effort to conceal $51.4 million earned mostly by processing online poker payments, St. George businessman and philanthropist Jeremy Johnson moved funds and gold coins and bars back and forth through dozens of shell companies, according to a court-appointed receiver.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/53531096-79/johnson-receiver-companies-court.html.csp

OK Go Manager Likens YouTube Revenue To Finding Change On The Street
We’ve all heard the rumors that some of YouTube’s top partners are making 6-figure incomes, so with over 158 million views ontheir channel you’d expect that OK Go is making quite a killing from the video site, right? Wrong. According to manager Jamie Kitman, the actual money that the band is making from YouTube revenue is hardly substantive.

http://socialtimes.com/ok-go-youtube-revenue_b90023

What Happens If Banks Help Their Customers Instead Of Trying To Trick Them?
Simply put: Banks make money when you don’t know what’s going on. But new innovations could make finances easier to manage, and help put an end to giant banks’ monopoly on American money.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679360/what-happens-if-banks-help-their-customers-instead-of-trying-to-trick-them

The iPad 3 Rumor Roundup
What is the latest and greatest with the iPad 3? We have all the rumors, and all the purported specs covered. We also have an exclusive in depth look at the back shell of the iPad 3, as we have a production piece from one of our most reliable sources. Want to know more? Read on ~ Oh, and there’s one more thing: the “iPad mini”.

http://micgadget.com/22234/the-ipad-3-rumor-roundup/

Canonical reveals Ubuntu for Android
Canonical is making good on its promise to bring its popularUbuntu flavor of Linux to a broader range of devices by announcing Ubuntu for Android, a release that will enable a full desktop computing experience on a docked Android smartphone. More than just a virtualized app that behaves like Ubuntu, the developers have melded together the Ubuntu architecture with the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) AOSP build at the kernel level. The result is, from what we’ve seen, a harmony between the two platforms that could make a lot of sense for demanding mobile users.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/119031-canonical-reveals-ubuntu-for-android

February 20th, 2012

Rob’s Radar 2/20

Word of the day:
fetching/fe-ching/adjective
1. Attractive or pleasing.

Google quietly launches Latitude Leaderboards, threatens Foursquare under its breath
Google didn’t exactly offer much fanfare for this new feature — as far as we can tell, it still hasn’t been officially announced. With the latest update to the Maps app, Mountain View delivered an extra level of functionality to the all but forgotten Latitude. Now check check-ins earn you points which are tallied and used to rank Google+ users on a global leaderboard, just like on Foursquare.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/19/google-quietly-launches-latitude-leaderboards/

The Pirate Bay could be blocked in UK
The filesharing website The Pirate Bay has come a step closer to being blocked in the UK after the high court ruled that the site breaches copyright laws on a large scale.
Major music groups want British internet service providers (ISPs), such as BT and BSkyB, to prevent their millions of customers from accessing The Pirate Bay in the UK.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/feb/20/pirate-bay-blocked-uk-high-court

Jeremy Lin headline slur was ‘honest mistake,’ fired ESPN editor Anthony Federico claims
The ESPN editor fired Sunday for using “chink in the armor” in a headline about Knicks phenom Jeremy Lin said the racial slur never crossed his mind – and he was devastated when he realized his mistake.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/jeremy-lin-slur-honest-mistake-fired-espn-editor-anthony-federico-claims-article-1.1025566#ixzz1mwNGohMT

Dancing on Whitney Houston’s grave: Streaming rights pulled after her death to make a “very large amount of money” from DVD sales according to Netflix rep
I was inspired to watch the movie The Bodyguard tonight after watching Kevin Costner’s stirring tribute to his former co-star at Whitney Houston’s funeral this afternoon.

Unfortunately it isn’t available for streaming. This was interesting since it is 20 years old. I checked the comments under the movie post on netflix.com and saw a bunch of complaints saying that it had been available for streaming until her death.

https://plus.google.com/102898672602346817738/posts/CLQyX6ZxnxT

Nook 8GB Tablet coming on February 22nd to better compete with Kindle Fire
The Nook Tablet’s biggest problem so far has been that it costs $50 more than Amazon’sKindle Fire while targeting the same budget-conscious Android tablet market. That’s likely to change soon, however, as we’ve come across documentation showing a planned February 22nd launch for a Nook 8GB Tablet.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/20/2811295/nook-8gb-tablet-to-launch-february-22nd

Coming soon to freeways: Drivers tweeting at 70 miles an hour
American drivers are about to become a lot more distracted.

As safety officials fret about drivers taking their eyes off the road to play with smartphones, automakers from Detroit to Japan are rolling out vehicles that are becoming virtual iPads on wheels. Next-generation vehicles, safety experts warn, could make multitasking motorists even more of a hazard on the nation’s roads and freeways. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has called distracted driving “a dangerous epidemic.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_19981113

Intel Chefs Bake WiFi Into Mobile Chips
Researchers at Intel have come up with a way to make WiFi faster and more energy efficient.

It’s a chip called Rosepoint, and although it’s just a research project today, it could show up in mobile phones and laptop computers by the middle of the decade.

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/02/rosepoint/

February 17th, 2012

Rob’s Radar 2/17

Word of the day:
jactation/jak-tey-shuhn/noun
1. Boasting; bragging.
2. A restless tossing of the body.

Apple Sold More iOS Devices in 2011 Than Macs in 28 Years
Apple sold 55 million iPads to date, CEO Tim Cook recently revealed in an interview with Fortune. The company also sold 37 million iPhones in Q1 2012 alone, with the total being around 175 million since the device’s inception. All in all, Apple sold 316 million iOS devices so far.
http://mashable.com/2012/02/17/apple-sold-ios-devices-2011/

Self-Driving Cars Get First Green Light As Nevada Approves Requirement Regulations
Nevada is envisioning a day when taxicabs might shuttle fares without a driver, or people with medical conditions that make them ineligible for a license could get around with a virtual chauffeur.

The concept took a big step when Nevada became the first state to approve regulations that spell out requirements for companies to test driverless cars on state roads.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/17/self-driving-cars-nevada_n_1284228.html

How Companies Learn Your Secrets
Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question: “If we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even if she didn’t want us to know, can you do that? ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Chinese firm may sue Apple for $2 billion in U.S. over iPad name
On Friday, the Chinese company that claims to hold the trademark on the “iPad” name, threatened to sue Apple in the U.S. for $2 billion dollars, reports the AFP. Proview Technology claims it owns the Chinese rights to the iPad name and the company’s lawyers are looking to prevent Apple from importing or exporting the popular tablet in China.
http://www.bgr.com/2012/02/17/chinese-firm-may-sue-apple-for-2-billion-in-u-s-over-ipad-name/

Netflix Is Bringing DVD-Only Rentals Back
Since the whole Qwikster debacle, Netflix has tried to distance itself from DVD rentals in favor of its streaming service. But red envelopes will soon be popping through mail slots again now that Netflix has reintroduced DVD rentals.
http://gizmodo.com/5885913

BuiltWith Reveals The Tech Used By The 130 Million Web Sites That Matter Most
Search engines like Google scour the web to figure out how to rank content. Measurement firms like comScore sample users to estimate traffic to web sites. But what if you want to know which of some 2000 technologies a web site is using? And, what if you want to know what the tech trends are across the 130 million largest sites on the web today?
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/16/builtwith-reveals-the-tech-used-by-the-130-million-web-sites-that-matter-most/

Google Patent Reveals Future Unlock Features for Android Devices
Back in October 2011 we reported that Apple’s “Slide to Unlock” patent stirred up a hornet’s nest in Taiwan and we now see that Apple has filed another patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung over this feature. On Tuesday, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook stated during a Goldman Sachs conference that he loved competition – as long as they invented their own stuff.
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2012/02/google-patent-reveals-future-unlock-features-for-android-devices.html

Twitter Opens Up Self-Serve Ad Platform to 10,000 Small Businesses
Twitter is rolling out the self-serve ad platform it’s been testing to 10,000 small and midsize businesses next month through a partnership with American Express, in a bid to broaden its revenue streams.
http://adage.com/article/digital/twitter-opens-serve-ad-platform-10-000-businesses/232787/

How I made My Millions!

Robert is featured on the CNBC Show 'How I Made My Millions'!

Live on Bloomberg TV

Robert discusses the future of Silly Bandz™ and announces new product lines.