Archive for the ‘The Focus’ Category

Yes, I still use Thunderbird and Outlook for email. I like GMails web client, but I also like the hierarchal folder structure of the clients. But today, I had to rethink my processes due to Google and their new Google Buzz program. Now, instead of getting important email sent to the box, I got hoards of “Buzz From” emails.

First thing I did was go scouring the site for a setting that would curb this blatent spamming of my email box. I was really hoping for something like Google Groups has – turn on a setting that lets me have a digest email for the day. I can live with that.

But no setting that I could find. The only thing I could do is “Turn off Buzz”.  And like I said, I am not ready to give up Thunderbird and Outlook. They still have a lot of use. So I did the one thing that could really bite me in the Butt.

I created a filter.

Therefore, if you have something to say to me, don’t send in the subject “Buzz from…” It will instantly get trashed. I might look at my trash can from time to time, but my settings on trash are simple – When I close the program, empty the trash. It is not a folder, it is waste that needs to be cleaned out.

I think Google does need to address this issue. Especially since a high-end email box will exponentially grow in size almost overnight. It’s easy in the web client – it’s already tagged.

An option to digest the email into a daily, weekly or never would be a decent option, but can you do that now that your Social Network is intertwined with your mail client? Google might have to do some reverse engineering on this one. Tell the client that it is email in Googles’ eyes, but not send it out if you are receiving it from another host.

The ironic thing is that I will post this article. That post will be re-aggregated through RSS feeds to Buzz. I will then get an email stating I wrote this article. I suppose that will be great for me if I am developing alzheimers…

It’s really an epic fail on Google’s part. Please fix it. Thank you.

Right now Apple has the corner on the Smartphone – 40 percent market share, to be exact in the US alone. Apple also has the corner in Applications – 99.4 percent of Applications sold are from the iPhone. So if January 27^th comes and they announce a 4G phone in CDMA format working on Verizon, they will have officially pushed the envelope and poised themselves to monopolize the mobile phone industry. That could have a horrible reverse impact for Apple as the FCC will then step in.

It is no secret the Apple iPhone is the device to beat. It pretty much wrote the book on smartphones – taking over what Microsoft and Palm couldn’t accomplish. The only real change in the device was the switch from EDGE to 3G, and that became an added feature – have an underlying network to catch what 3G might not.

Remember those rumors surrounding the 2^nd gen iPhone? People would notice changes, like a “3G” option in the settings, shipment transfers of 2 Megapixel cameras and 3G chips. The rumors flew back then before the announcement. Just like today with this upcoming announcement.

But there is one rumor that – if true – may hurt Apple more than help. If this rumor is true, the phone can dominate in the top 2 U.S. phone carriers’ markets. It could shift the power and give Apple at least 55% of market overnight – with a possible reality of 75% by Q3.

Step in the FCC.

Not to mention step in Palm and any Android phone maker. Example: Motorola Droid is a great phone in its own right. They found a good place in Verizon. Apple moving over could crush them. Verizon just took the Palm Pre Plus from Sprint. If Verizon was to also get the iPhone, do you think Palm won’t look for legal action?

This would definitely cause companies to complain, just like they did with Microsoft in the 90’s and IBM in 1969 with the Sherman Antitrust Act. Complaints that the FCC cannot ignore.

I suppose you could move the iPhone completely from AT&T to Verizon, but that might just cause a lot of issue with customers. It would definitely bring lawsuits from other phone companies that have special contracts with Verizon. It would definitely be a mess that not even Apple would want to get into.

Now to change gears a bit – if the tablet was to go to Verizon, thinking might be different. One would guess it’s a great idea– iPhone on AT&T and the tablet either on Both, or just on Verizon. Then again, there might be a rift between Apple and AT&T and people might not get the tablet if it means having 2 separate contracts.

Another thing to keep in mind – An iPhone takes a lot of wireless resource. Even though a possible 4G option is upon us, the infrastructure is just not there just yet.

Putting more 3G and 4G devices out there means you need to have more tower coverage. It’s not like you can put one tower out there and expect a 250k population to easily access it on a constant basis. Some cities like Chicago or New York – who have over 1 million people – would never be able to keep a phone connection.

So it goes to say if you were to switch a popular phone that takes up twice the resource as other phones, you might find that the full 3G coverage wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans if it’s oversaturated.

Could Verizon handle an iPhone revolution? It’s got coverage, but not speed. Slower download means someone could log more time on the phone just waiting for results. The sooner someone checks email, the sooner they get off the phone and move to something else. Then the next person has the connection to get their stuff done.

While it’s not what people would want, the best solution would be to keep the iPhone on AT&T and have the Tablet on both networks. A limited multitasking phone that takes up twice the resource in a GSM environment seems to be the best fit. It would also keep market share to a reasonable level and a partnership in good standings.

Oh yes. ONE MORE THING: While CDMA phones take less power, CDMA seems to “chatter” more, therefore taking more battery power than a GSM phone. If you think your iPhone battery is horrible now, just wait and see how fast the battery drains on a CDMA/3G iPhone. Even the Droid’s battery does not last a whole day if used in the same fashion as the iPhone.

That is, unless Apple and the chip makers came up with a remarkable new technology to keep the power consumption low. I suppose it could happen…

The rumor mill for an Apple tablet has been going since June. Companies like OLPC and HTC are also talking about their own single piece device. However, I believe no matter what is said or done, people will end up not buying a tablet. In this article, I will give you 5 reasons why I believe this.

This last year we have seen an interesting phenomenon happen. People gathering around the rumor mill to get the jump on a new product that Apple might be coming out with. We have seen rumors in the past not happen – the iPhone mini, the clamshell flip iPhone, camera on the iPod touch – However, this rumor seems to have some tread to it, simply because of some tangible evidence that the community has noticed. Domain names registered, receipts from 3rd party manufacturers received. Even some “friend of Steve Jobs told me so” comments.

It’s not just Apple that is on a “Tablet” kick. OLPC announced their next machine will be a Tablet. HTC was rumored to have a tablet coming to CES 2010 next week dawning Google Android. Add a WiFi and 3G connection, then you have a device that people can connect and work with.

Tablets have been around for years in many different shapes and forms. The biggest problem was packing all that power into a small case with an LCD screen. Add to the issues no keyboard or mouse or even a way to not have a CD player or IDE hard drive installed.

In the last 2 years, hardware has met the standards where a Tablet is thin and completely static. Atom and ION processors (especially dual core Atom), SSD and 3G or WiFi connectivity makes for a slim case with no moving parts. Touch screens have the sensitivity and accuracy to be able to function properly, and graphics chips can allow us to view almost anything.

But in all it’s glory, the Tablet just might not be adopted by the average consumer. If we look at the tablet in it’s current state of a laptop with a screen that rotates and closes, we find this is used mostly by business; companies like UPS to sign off on a package, a food or beverage distributor to input inventory. Even a campaign supporter to take survey questions from the passer-by.

Geeks will love it, businesses will too. However, I believe there are 5 reasons why the mainstream public will look, but not want a Tablet computer. Here they are:

5. Where is my connection?

Whatever tablet comes out, you can be assured it’s not going to have a CD ROM or DVD on it – especially an “Apple iWhateverthedangdevicewillbecalled”. That would add too much bulk to the machine and the spinning of a disc might cause vibrations that some could find annoying. You might have an external device attachment through it’s USB port, but for the most part, you will rely on the internet connection to download and watch.

It will be great in hotspots with a powerful WiFi signal. However, going out in the real world, might be harder to keep connected or get a good download / upload speed. AT&T’s 3G speeds only top 7 Meg at best. No matter who gives you the 3G, the connection and throughput to get web content might be as slow as when we all had 28.8 phone modems back in 1998 – especially if you are mobile. 4G or WiMAX might be the answer, too. Yet that process is in it’s infancy and won’t see good coverage for at least a year.

So, unless you are in a place with an 802.11n router and only a handful of people using it, you might be annoyed with the ability to get your music, video, or even books.

4. I’m always cleaning the screen

Some people get annoyed if you touch their screen. I am one of them. Sometimes its not easy cleaning a smudge of the LCD. The Tablet will most likely have a glass face for smooth touch, but fingerprints will be left behind. Heck – Look at your keyboard or mouse right now. If you’ve been using these things for even the last 2 months, you will see that some of the keys really need to be cleaned.

Now imagine you just came from Burger King and finished the last bite of that scrumptious Whopper. Could have just finished that 3 piece meal from KFC. Maybe just as simplistic as a snack – like a bag of Cheeto’s. Time to grab the Tablet and start working? What – no place to wash hands? Well wipe it on your jeans and get cracking.

The average amount of germs on a toilet is 20. The average on a keyboard or mouse is 2,000. Imagine what the average will be on a tablet….

3. Man, that screen is too close

The 3.5″ TFT screen on the iPhone is easy to watch from your hand. Now imagine it to be 10.1″. A little bigger and a little brighter might give people headaches just to look at a close proximity. It won’t be as bad as sitting in the front row to watch Avatar on the IMAX, but you might find yourself pulling the tablet away a bit to focus in properly.

A laptop screen is normally 22 inches away from your eyes. I am 31 inches away from my 20 inch Dell monitor. The small screen of the iPhone makes it comfortable at 13 – 14 inches away. If I held the Tablet in both hands, I would have to extend my arms out to watch – in which my arms would then get tired.

And yes. Kindle screens are 6 inches – and they are monochrome. Is that better to look at than a 10.1 inch color screen?

Speaking of holding the Tablet….

2. You mean I have to hold it to watch?

With a Notebook, you can tilt the screen to your viewing pleasure and work. With a Tablet – unless it comes with a stand or other fancy holder – you pretty much are on your own. No stand means you either have to hold it with your hands – maybe cradle it in one arm like you would a book, have a wall or other corner to prop it up and hope it doesn’t slip from the required position. Finally, set it flat on the ground or on a table and sit with your head down in a non-ergonomic position.

These are all viable reasons, but out of all of them, the one reason why people won’t want the tablet:

1. The On screen Keyboard

This goes hand – in – hand with the last point (and yes, pun intended). Setting it down to view won’t be as annoying at setting it down type. Even in the promo pictures of last years’ OLPC ideas, the child had to sit cross-legged on the floor to type. I don’t see anyone being able to work like that for any period of time. That is just bad strain on the neck.

There is no way to be ergonomic with a Tablet, unless you have a stand to prop the machine up – like a monitor – and a USB keyboard and mouse to type. Defeats the idea of a Tablet, eh?

Then let’s take the 10.1 inch screen Apple is rumored to have. It’s easy to “Two thumb” an iPhone, but 10.1 inches will mean your thumbs might not reach all the keys. Let’s all just go back to the one finger “Hunt and Peck” method. Since the Tablet will be rectangular, holding it vertical to type would be the most comfortable (Approx 3.68 inches in a 16:9 ratio if I did the math correct). Remember – you also have to hold the device.

The good points – light weight – portable – decent viewing screen for movies and such – long lasting battery. Could do the same with a laptop and make it almost as thin as paper. If a gesture technology like with the Samsung phones comes into play, then maybe this would be a viable option. Then again, we are using an archaic method in the US – standard QWERTY keyboard.

If a tablet does become a big part of 2010, then I will be surprised. We are putting to much value that the average consumer will accept and fully utilize this device. In the end – they’ll probably just stick to their laptops.

For the third year in a row, I have gone out to the industry professionals and asked the question: What will next year look like? This year, I received 120 responses to that question. All with good points about what next year will have in store.

As always – we’ll go through the email predictions first, then the TechPodcasters predictions and finally I will round it out with my thoughts for the new year. Then, at the end of 2010, we will tally up the numbers and see if they came true. Just like the 2009 predictions.

In 2010, I think corporate collaboration and knowledge management will continue to grow as departmental installs morph into enterprise-wide usage. Once departments see the true value of enterprise 2.0 efforts, the excitement will spread and decision makers will see broader benefit. We will see greater support for platforms and adjacent solutions like Twitter, mobile devices and pure social networking tools. Plus, we’ll see greater demand for larger platforms that see wikis working hand-in-hand with other collaboration tools like portals, real-time collaboration tools and others.

There are a lot of companies in a variety of industries starting out with enterprise 2.0 projects or deployments. It is important to establish a couple of key areas and initiatives that are inherently collaborative in nature and could use a robust collaborative platform. Adoption will be high, and people will get familiar/comfortable with new interfaces. This in turn will make it easier to socialize the concept amongst late adopters within the organization.

- Aniruddha Gadre Etouch

Jeff’s Thoughts – Enterprise will definitely be advancing, but the common user won’t be aware of this until late 2011. What is needed is a good program that will nobody can turn down.

Pirated software will drive insecurity in much more dynamic ways than previously realized. Users of pirated software are afraid to download updates, thus are exposed to security risks because their software is entirely unpatched. Also, newer versions of pirated software now come with malware pre-installed. As a result, users of pirated software will become the new “Typhoid Marys” of the global computing community.

Social engineering meets social networks and ups the ante for creative compromises. Criminal organizations are increasingly sophisticated in how they attack different social networking sites. For example, Twitter is being used as a distribution engine for malware. LinkedIn, however, is being used for highly targeted attacks against high-value individuals. We will see these organizations use these sites in creative new ways in 2010 that will accelerate compromises and identity theft; especially as new commercial applications increase the disclosure of valuable personal information on these sites.

Criminals take to the cloud. We have already seen the emergence of “exploits as a service.” In 2010 we will see criminals take to cloud computing to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.

What’s old is new again. There will be resurgence in “old school” attacks in 2010. Large-scale worm attacks will make a comeback, DoS attacks will become more accessible to more people as “attack services” mature; and the Trojan will continue to be the staple of the cyber-threat community.

Mobile threats remain scarce. Even as smart phones continue to grow more capable, serious attacks against these devices will remain far and few between in 2010. The reason is simple: PCs remain a much more valuable target, thus criminals will continue to focus on them.

Utility and grid security transcend SCADA systems. SCADA vulnerabilities have dominated the security discussion to date with utility and grid security. As we see the rollout of advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) and wireless mesh infrastructures, these new systems will become the focal point of security research and exploitation.

Compliance drives but does not equal security. Regulatory mandates will continue to drive organizations to comply with security standards to avoid fines, but many – especially those that only focus on the minimum requirements for passing the audit – will find that regulations are just a guideline and they’ll get stung.

-Tom Cross – IBM Internet Security Systems X-Force

Jeff’s Thoughts – I think it will be the opposite on patches – you will then patch, turn around and install break to patch, then move on. Companies will have NO CHOICE but to give out patches to certain threats without repercussion. Anything that is mission critical must be patched. Smaller patches can contain alterations that would fix any holes into the pirated software.

Clamping down Social Media Malware is a good #1 priority. The DOD should open up relations to any company that houses millions of peoples data that could be pushed out globally. However, the bad guys will go where they find a hole. Whether it be a new Social Network, URL shortner or website.

As for mobile devices: It only takes 1 person to think otherwise. It only takes 1 person to see an advantage – like a SSH password on a jail broken phone – to cause problems.

A bread HTML5 based products will come out doing things that traditionally would not have been considered. Things like games (like first person shooters, not what is currently out there), real video editing etc. The reason is that Chrome OS/Android puts developers in an awkward position not knowing what percent of the market they are going to occupy. HTML5 has enough capabilities to do basically anything you can do as a native app (and operate offline), it’s just a
bit harder (so there hasn’t been an incentive). But with Android picking up market share and the large unknown that is Chrome OS, developers aren’t going to pass up that opportunity.

-Ben Smith WBP Systems

Jeff’s Thoughts – Interesting idea. First person shooter in an HTML 5 based game: I suppose anything is possible. Needs a little more work, though.

Cloud computing will continue to be adopted at a faster pace as data center managers begin running tier 2 and 3 applications from hosted cloud services so companies don’t incur the overhead of managing and maintaining those types of server infrastructure. Whether it is a virtual private cloud, or virtual public cloud being used to host servers companies will ok to those cloud services as a low cost disaster recovery center or more cost effective storage for backups than traditional Tape archiving and hosting.

Although it is too early to speak of how nano-technology could be adopted to help improve computing power, resources and or storage optimization over the next few years, other innovative techniques like mobile device data server management isn’t so far off. 2010 could be the year where mobile technology could be used to upgrade, maintain, backup, recover and manage servers all from your iPhone or BlackBerry, without ever stepping into the data center.

- Dean Goodermote: Double-Take

Jeff’s Thoughts – Cloud computing is just waiting for that one company that will erect the stairway everyone will use. There have been – and will continue to be hundreds of stairwells nobody will use.

Mobile, and smartphones in particular, will continue to gain traction. The big question is whether a credible alternative to the iPhone (and in particular the App Store distribution model) will take hold. Android will be a strong contender, and if a viable distribution channel for independent developers of Android apps becomes mainstream, it may have a shot at taking mindshare away from Apple.

- Christopher Carfi: Cerado

Jeff’s Thoughts – I wouldn’t worry about “Who will take down the iPhone”. I was always told not to look at the numbers – just continue to do it. Android has certain advantages over iPhone that will eventually match, if not surpass Apple. It’s like Blackberry – They surpassed iPhone in sales simply because they offer more than 2 options and 2 data plans. As individual phones, though, they didn’t match what iPhone did.

First Person Shooters are dead. Console gaming revenues will be flat, virtual item sales will double.

World of Warcraft expansion pack will be 4 months late, but will still break all the records

Facebook will start forcing games to use FB payments: Farm games are a fad

-YuChiang Cheng World Golf Tour

Jeff’s Thoughts – Although very bold statements, I don’t think 1st person shooters will disappear. Console gaming will grow stronger as people find ways to stay home. Wii was a big gift this year and it’s alternate functionality (DVD player, Media Outlet) basically is non-existant. Facebook games like Farmville are too popular to disappear overnight. Then again, I remember when Bejeweled was all the craze.

I predict that Cloud-based technology services will reach the small business market and enable them to fuel our economic recovery. Up until now, most of the focus on the “Cloud” has been in the Enterprise market. However, more and more companies like Virtual Resources are bringing the “Cloud” to the small business segment allowing them to reinvest their capital dollars on revenue generating initiatives to stimulate their growth.

-John Panico: Virtual Resources

Already commented on Clouds. We’ll leave at that.

My prediction for 2010 in the Geo space is the move to real time, crowd sourced maps and free navigation. As smart phones continue to proliferate with built in GPS and app stores – we will see maps move from static to dynamic (changing in real time), we will see communities “on-the-go” building and maintaining these maps in real time, for the good of the crowd and our daily commute becoming faster, shorter and a whole lot more fun. The trend of geo-games, as lead by waze and foursquare – will continue to gain traction and begin providing functional, geo-specific value.

- Noam Bardin:

Jeff’s Thoughts – Bing has already pulled out ideas in maps that will definitely incite a battle between Google. I agree though. By next year Smartphones will really be a full GPS mapping tool. I still have yet to really use foursquare. Might sit down this week and look at it.

There will be more 3D home entertainment, in part ushered in via Avatar hype.

- David Wertheimer: USC Entertainment Technology Center

Jeff’s Thoughts – I am really not sure why companies are pushing the Home 3-D experience. Until we have a low cost Television that can produce 3-D without glasses, people won’t want to hassle with it.

Sega made a game system that had 3-D glasses. What happened to that? I remember seeing “Creature from the Black Lagoon” in 3-D when I was a kid (Not to mention Friday the 13th pt.3, Jaws 3-D, My Bloody Valentine 3-D…) . What happened to that? Remember when the 1989 Superbowl halftime show was in 3-D? 20 years later – we get a 3-D commercial for Monsters vs. Aliens and Sobe Lizzards. What happened to that?

The increasing popularity of the Amazon Kindle and the release of trendy books, such as Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, are raising questions about how to combat ebook piracy. Piracy is of particular concern to academic textbook publishers. They are even starting to use sophisticated techniques including digital fingerprinting to reduce piracy and save potential lost revenue.

- Jose Ferreira: Knewton

Jeff’s Thoughts – Piracy is always an issue – no matter what the medium. DRM on an ebook will be just as popular as DRM on music, videos or games.

Consumer demand for real-time, individualized and interactive messaging will extend beyond email to SMS, IM and social networks

ISPs and telecommunications carriers will continue to lose customers to wireless, social network and other alternate providers, such as Skype and Vonage because they cannot keep up with the complexity of managing messaging

As we enter an economic recovery, businesses will begin to think about future-proofing their message management platform to accommodate multiple channels of communication

- Dave Lewis: Message Systems

Jeff’s Thoughs – Agreed. SMS 2.0 and MMS 2.0 initiatives will have to be implemented. Why pay $30 for unlimited SMS when you can Facebook it?

Our prediction? 2010 is going to be a COLOSSAL year for health IT.

The economic stimulus plan has put $44,000 on the table for every doctor who switches to electronic health records before 2011. Out of the 800,000 doctors in the US, only 4% are already using a computer system in their practice. So, 768,000 doctors will be adopting new technology in 2010.

It’s a booming sector and one that is being turned upside down at the same time as new vendors push out the legacy hardware systems. Cloud computing, PHR, public health exchanges, iPhone apps…healthcare is finally catching up to the rest of the country.

- Matthew Douglass: Practice Fusion

Jeff’s Thoughts – Sounds like stock in health care companies and software will rise in 2010.

2009 was the start of an augmented reality buzz. 2010 will be a year where mobile augmented reality takes off.

- Lisa Murphy: Junaio

Not really a prediction per say, more than a statement. Once again – once the general public knows what Augmented reality is, and has an outlet to use it, then it will “Take off”.

2010 will be a year of transition for desktop virtualization. Because organizations are now beginning to comprehend the benefits of hosted desktop virtualization and the release of Win 7 in late 2009, organizations will begin to implement desktop virtualization into broader deployment. The focus in 2010 will be on how to manage virtualization on laptops which is becoming extremely important with the dramatic increase in teleworkers.

- Martin Ingram: Appsense

Commented on before. Virtualization on Laptops will be easy – a client program will be installed that lets you connect. Just a question of which wireless Broadband modem you have in the machine.

With unstructured data making up 80% of the information in the corporate data center by 2012, I believe that in 2010 organizations are going to discover the importance of implementing a storage solution that effectively manages this unstructured data while delivering the scalability and performance that is needed in a corporate data center.

- Jack O’Brien Gluster

Jeff’s Thoughts – Businesses still loose a good percentage of their data to computer corruption, disgruntled workers, and mostly because of disorganization. If the average salesman misplaces 1 out of 20 customers, they loose out on 5% of their profits. In a company that does $1 Million in sales a month, or even a day, 5% is significant.

We won’t get into sales misplacement or constant contact strategies. But I will say I get more customers because of constant contact.

Bottom line – someone will have to finally find a viable ways to replace the common business card and fully organize data.

At least one major wireless operator will announce an “experience strategy” on how they plan to offer mobile entertainment in a way that transcends the device

Cloud services will spawn a whole new era of mobile entertainment services with a recasting of device and network “division of labor”

Opening of network APIs and increased multimedia traffic will fundamentally stress carriers’ OSS / BSS systems, leading to significant re-engineering projects

Increased smartphone data use will dramatically accelerate carrier offload projects like Femtocell deployments

One major SaaS vendor will acquire one or more companies that can give it a jump start mobile expertise and cloud services integration.

- Keith Higgins: Aricent

Jeff’s Thoughts – 3G and 4G will have an issue with bandwidth. Companies like Apple, HTC, Blackberry and Palm will not help by bringing out better smart phones and wireless hubs. Another factor will come into play – HD quality in the Smartphone display. It will all come to a head.

In the next year, it will become apparent to both individuals and businesses that they can use an online Content Management System to replace custom-built websites and high-end coding. This reminds me so much of the introduction of DOS in the 80s (coding) replaced by the Macintosh graphical user interface (no coding).

- Ellen Lytle: The Lytle Center

Jeff’s Thoughts – CMS has definitely changed the way we put together web sites. The real question – Will Wordpress become a CMS, or stay as a Blogging system.

For the 11th time, we will be disappointed in the lack of flying cars.

- Joseph Picard: Ozero

Jeff’s Thoughts – Damn.

Twitter will continue to be plagued by system instability and a rampant spam problem, until they are bought by another bigger player. I’d prefer it to be Google but I can see Microsoft picking up for a cheap price. The buyer will have to try to restore confidence in users, so Twitter usage in 2010 will trend flat.

Bing will give Google a run for its money and will attempt to use their classic tricks, like being the default search engine on installed browsers on laptops and PCs, to take market share. However, they have a LONG way to go to take away Google’s dominance, and Google has very deep pockets and a strength for innovation. So, yes, Google remains king. But that comes at a price – as they’ll continue to roll out more and more killer apps, they’ll be subject to unwanted scrutiny, arguments on privacy rights, and possibly even attempts to hack their infrastructure and data stores.

- Andy: Travel Online Parners

Jeff’s Thoughts – I don’t see Twitter being bought by anyone. If anything, Twitter will become what Neilson is for TV ratings. Data is power. Google might borrow from that, but it will never be able to buy it.

My tech prediction for 2010 is the take-off of touchscreen desktops computers. We’ve already seen some of the bigger manufacturers explore the technology and now even value brands like AOC (us.aoc.com), which I happen to represent (full disclosure) are coming out with their own touchscreen models in 2010. I think the success of Iphones and other touchscreen, handheld devices has demonstrated that touchscreen technology can work effectively and attract a large segment of the market, even if you have hold-outs who prefer more tactile input forms.

I think we’ll be seeing a lot more touchscreen, now that there is a large amount of consumers familiar and more importantly, comfortable with the technology.

- Jose Mateo: AJRPartners

Jeff’s Thoughts – To put touch screens in the cubicle means you have to redesign the cubicle. Most people don’t need that functionality. Others don’t like the idea of people touching their screen. H1N1 will also say that we may not be to a level of consumer touch just yet.

2010 will be the year of “TV Everywhere.”

Time Warner announced over their “TV Everywhere” initiative over the summer: for a fee, cable operators will give subscribers multi-platform access to whatever is on cable, at any time, from any place, on any device.

This notion has caught fire and I expect that, along with the new initiatives movie studios unleash, 2010 will be the year of TV Everywhere – especially as versions of this idea start becoming available to consumers.

In 2010, cable operators will sort out the significant technical challenges TV Everywhere presents – which I blogged about here – and will be able to actually bring the product online.

That’s great news for premium content holders sitting on libraries that they’re eager to monetize. It’s also great news for the consumer, because 2010 will be the year users will get unfettered access to the content they want, on their schedule, and on whatever device is closest at hand.

- Ben Weinberger: Digitalsmiths

Jeff’s Thoughts – Comcasts’ NBC (which they can’t go with CNBC, ironically) will definitely take the network to the web. With the winter Olympics on the channel, I bet they will be the forerunner in pushing to an all IPTV schedule.

As I said before – the first channel that can move it’s existing format to the internet in streaming format (commercials included), will win.

SharePoint, as SharePoint Online, makes ad hoc collab easy

Microsoft Office Online allows Microsoft to stay relevant in desktop productivity applications

DirectAccess using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 becomes a viable alternative to using VPNs

Google & Facebook do something ‘evil’ or stupid and then the halo falls off

Twitter does something silly, and growth/usage plummets.

Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 really starts to make inroads into VMWare’s dominance

John Obeto – Absolutely Windows

Jeff’s Thoughts – SharePoint’s move to the Cloud might be the best thing for it. The price tag might keep it from really taking off. Office will still dominate over OpenOffice, whether on desktop or online. And while I see that with Google and Facebook, Twitter might be more of the surprise.

I asked some Techpodcast Network Podcasters to give a couple predictions. Here is what they said:

I have three basic predictions on what i think you’re going to see this next year. The first of which being a drastic drop in the prices of TV’s and LED technology as a whole. As the Green movement kicks into high gear you’re going to see the technology that supports it come down in production costs which is going to lead to cheaper “greening of tech”

Secondly with people focusing more on saving i think the tech sector is hit hard when it comes to new technology adoption, except of course Microsoft and Apple, i think with windows 7 and Apple’s new tablet pc you’re going to see a good year from both, its the secondary companies that are going to have a rough go of it.

Thirdly I think you are going to see more and more throwback media in the forms of movies, books and fashion with steampunk, and popular looks from the late 70’s early 80’s coming into play. Think Hipsters taking over mainstream fashion, and shudder in the horror of that. With the fringe fashions being normalized who know what the cool kids are going to think up.

Lastly as a bonus i think we’re gonna see a really bad year from Starbucks as people realize how bad their coffee really is

- Paul Rj Muller The CaffiNation PodCast

Jeff’s Thoughts – Whether Starbucks will start a sharp decline or not, that sounds more like a wish than a prediction. Nonetheless, the LCD movement will definitely make it’s way through. I’ll say its here when I go to a little rickety motel in the middle of nowhere (the kind where the water heater is sitting in the corner of the room) and see a LCD in place of a 13″ TV. Of course the LCD will also be 13″…

Twitter popularity will slow unless it changes and offers more features. Unless a dramatic change, the other 83% of the population not using Twitter will not embrace anytime soon. The Twitter novelty wears off. Facebook continues to grow and has immense staying power. No risk of becoming the next MySpace or Friendster for at least the next 3 years

Google Wave – very slow adoption. Great concept, but too complicated in its current form. Google’s Android continues to gain marketshare. Google will continue to offer some real game changers that are totally
unexpected – more disruptive offerings.

For all of those experts stating that YouTube is a big money drain – watch carefully. Google is seeking ways to monetize. Think the U2 concert and the amazing HD offerings are an anomaly?

The popularity of games on smartphones continues to grow, hitting the big game systems (dollar apps versus $50 games).

The release of Exchange 2010 will result in more companies forgoing traditional voicemail systems.

We’ll start to see more and more applications that utilize cameras on our smartphones. e.g. 2D UPC, image recognition – these are already offered, but will gain more traction in 2010.

Long shot here: Traditional VoIP vendors will be caught flat footed when organizations realize that ROI on VoIP systems is difficult. $200 to $300 handsets are a budget killer, thus resulting in more cost effective software based softphones, resulting in more companies seriously forgoing traditional VoIP installations.

- Simon Calder: SimonSezIT

Jeff’s Thoughts – Twitter looks to be changing their business model, but not to what you might think. If you read my previous thoughts on Twitter earlier, you can see that if they are going the direction I expect, a user based model will not be needed – sort of. Everybody link to Twitter and vise-versa. Let the data fly.

Google Wave is confusing, but I think only because they are still in beta. Google will need to make a major shift to show this product is well worth it. They will also need to have a great API for it.

The days of the FREE apps are numbered. Ad based iPhone apps are great and pay the bills right now, but Apple will soon realize that someone who puts out a free app might be making a lot of money on the back end with advertising.

Now here are my predictions:

Google: Will the wheel get to be too big where the Federal Trade Commission will step in? Chrome OS will be a great idea for a niche market, but people will still choose Windows and Mac over it. After all, a faster Solid State Drive will give us the boot times we can live with. I already have a “Boot start OS” in Express Gate and don’t use it.

People will want the OS work with the hardware, not to turn their machine into a paperweight if they are not by an internet connection. If we had the ability to sit anywhere on this planet and get free WiFi, then this idea would change. But we don’t – at least not yet. Give it about 5 years, and let’s talk about it.

Still, Google is the leading thinker of Cloud applications and Open Source software. That won’t change in 2010.

Microsoft: It’s not a stretch to say that Bing will take more market share. It will be interesting to find out how Windows7 will increase in it’s market share. I don’t see Microsoft losing a battle – for a few years, anyway. Steve Ballmer might have some issues on his hands he will have to deal with – maybe to a point where drastic measures are taken.

DA BOMB I DROP – Yahoo: By this time next year, Yahoo will be owned by another company. Yahoo is loosing this battle. There is no innovation in the company. People are still jumping ship. If Carol Bartz keeps selling parts of the company, there will only be a small part left. People (including shareholders) will get tired of Yahoo and they’ll have no choice but to sell to someone.

Apple: Reality will set in. The Apple iPhone 4th Gen will be released with a 5 MP camera, 32 and 64 GB NAND, and a processor that will almost double the 3GS (which is 600 MHz). But what will be the shocker will the phone will have Flash support – sort of. Apple will enter that market with a Flash alternative – an extension to Quicktime.

The other new innovation will be the retool to iTunes. It will become a more web-based program that could be utilized better in the cloud. Podcasters beware: it will become more of a wasteland than it is now.

THERE WILL BE NO TABLET. With the ATOM processor instructions removed, a Tablet makes no sense. Instead, Apple will work on a Macbook with touch screen capabilities. The iTouchbook – or something like that.

With the Tablet rumor mill going and no Tablet to be found, the FCC will step in. After all, when Apple makes a rumor, stock jumps up. Currently, it’s at $209 / share because of the Tablet rumors. It seems that if there is a rumor of Steve Jobs sneezing, the stock will jump.

APPLE AND AT&T WILL STILL BE PARTNERS. No CDMA phone will be made. Going from rumors of how difficult it is to make a “Test” model, the phone will just be too expensive to make and Verizon customers will have already started using alternatives. AT&T will re-sign a contract, and in that re-sign will be a clause to beef up their coverage of 3G data. AT&T will double their coverage in 2010. These usage maps will be pointless next year and with AT&T’s underlying EDGE network, you will have no reason not to use the carrier.

If you think about it, Apple likes to play in their own sandboxes. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they were developing a technology better than 4G and call it something stupid like “Apple Airport iG”.

Hardware: I’ll start with e-readers. Not much growth. Expect more functionality and the move to color and sound. Companies like Audible will look into working on an E-Reader that people can also get the Audio as a companion.

Smartphones: Will there be an iPhone Killer? No. Android will gain ground simply because of the different phones you can get it on. People will still want the coveted iPhone over all others. The Buzz will be 4G (or as I mentioned previously – the iG). Augmented reality will shape the smartphone and it’s functionality, but won’t hit until late 2011.

Intel and AMD: 45nm will continue. The next generation in 32 nm will show promise, but will only be a stepping stone to 22nm for 2011. Now is the time to buy a new computer. Quad-core machines will be more than enough juice for most people. Anything over 8 cores might run into other Hardware and Software limitations.

SSD: Hopefully we’ll get to a price where SSD is a viable addition to a computer. If SSD boards were treated like platters on a standard Hard drive, then a large SSD with fault tolerance would be available by the end of the year.

DVD: I haven’t used a DVD in a long time. While we still need the item on our computers, the DVD and even BluRay might just go the way of the Dodo – Finally.

Will 2010 be the end of Blockbuster? If physical media goes, then Blockbuster doesn’t have a business model to stand on. They are not poising themselves on a streaming content system or aligning themselves with any system. Even if they put out their own proprietary box, I think it will not be able to compete with Netflix and it’s coverage.

The Set top Box and Video Game Console: Boxee and Roku have made some major steps in becoming the IPTV we will ultimately go to. Expect it to be built into a couple TVs by the end of the year. Sony will retool the PS3 to match what these two companies are doing. Nintendo Wii will be late to the game and still will be criticized for simply not being able to play a movie in their DVD player. Still, people will want Wii for it’s innovative gaming.

Netbooks: The key to their survival would be to match the power of a Notebook while being able to work like a desktop. Dock into a larger screen, but then have the portability when needed. If they don’t gain more “oomph” to their system, people will start to realize that the Netbook won’t fill their need anymore.

Tablets: I get annoyed when people say tablets are the next big thing. Just like 3-D, it’s been around for years. Why do we think this year will change?

The next generation OLPC is expected to be a tablet. That, along with the Crunch Pad retool in Joo Joo will be the death of those companies. It may find life as the next generation E-reader. Business might also be able to use them – especially in a warehouse situation as a Thin-client tablet.

The Data Center: The server room you all know and love at work will shrink by 20%. If SSD technology gets approved for server grade RAID, companies will replace their SCSI farms with SCSI – SSD and save on power and electricity. By moving to a multi-core systems and redesigned cases I saw earlier in the year, 1 machine will handle the job of 3. With the trend of Data Organization (see the earlier mention) companies will find that 30% of their storage solutions holds waste and repeat files. They will also be able to reduce the clutter.

Software: Virtual software (Cloud Applications) will start to be used over physical software, although it will not overtake it by any means. We will see a pay structure come to play. You will be able to use basic functionalities for free, but when it comes to higher end stuff – get out the pocketbook. And in the end, it will cost you more due to the fact you don’t own the software.

Expect the Microsoft Word – i4i issues resolved quickly, while Microsoft puts an offer on the company. Why not buy them out than pay a fine? Whether i4i accepts will be a different story.

Social Media: This is a tough one to predict. Tomorrow, someone could show up and take over everything. Still, I think Twitter will be Twitter and Facebook will be king. Farmers and Mobsters will still run amuck, while we’ll have to deal with a couple new games to the fold.

Security: The Presidents’ appointed staff will have to address software and website security – especially the small websites. Cyber attacks are easier if we have areas of the web that are abandoned.

Case in point – I have a web forum that is not being used as much anymore. About a month ago, spammers tried to nest in that site. I put the kibosh on it by making the site “Administrator approval”. With 5-10 new people a year, it’s not that hard to moderate.

On the same token, Operating Systems will have to be looked at for their part in malware. Someone will put forward an idea for ISPs to block any OS that does not have a level of patches installed. Anti-viral programs will come with a kill switch that will deny access until certain updates are made.

Bittorrent: Hopefully we can take back this idea from the malware and start using it for what it was intended – to pass along information and Free and Open source items. Wishful thinking I would guess:

LONGSHOT: A Company buys the Pirate Bay and turns it into a legitimate P2P system. A place for informative documents, Open Source software and Freeware.

Web: SEO is becoming a term with bad meaning. Case in point: earlier this year I talked to a guy who had his own SEO company. He mentioned that he had a corner hold on “Engagement Rings” in Canada. While that was a little weird to hear, I asked him how he did it. His response? “I don’t really know and I would love for someone to tell me.”

We have been told for years to put in SEO to our posts so we can climb the ranking ladder. Unfortunately, profiteers have climbed those same rungs with useless info to trump what anyone else will say. SEO and SEM will have to take a drastic left turn to organize the mess it created. SEO will have to become Karmatic – use it too many times in the wrong ways and it will hurt more than help.

Another issue will be the clutter on the web. Too many websites that haven’t been touched in over a year. Spammers taking over forums and (like I said earlier) malware finding a home. Cleaning up the websites that don’t try to stay current – You don’t have to update the information, as long as the code gets updated every once in a while.

Search Engines will definitely take a new direction. Spidering data will get a new methodology. Partly because competition from Bing and Google, but mostly to keep useless information to the bottom of the search list. The other part will be the “Rupert Murdoch” strategy – give spider rights to the highest bidder – which will make people turn to the “Weekend Blogger” to pick up the info and regurgitate it. Hence, the information will get spidered and the Weekend blogger will pick up more $$ than Rupert. It’s an ugly trade-off.

Bandwidth: This touchy subject will not get any better in 2010. Web caps will continue to plague improving internet speeds. I would even go as far to say that an ISP will have a download speed that could allow you to reach a cap within seconds. Just hook up a series of computers and test the theory.

There are a lot more avenues I could conquer, but I think this sums up. I would like to thank the 120 people that submitted ideas. Although I couldn’t post them all, I did read through every single one.

Let’s hope one prediction of a positive 2010 will come into play. Business to the Web! Profit to the independent content providers!

Thanks for reading. And don’t forget – feel free to add your own comments below.

AdBlade Ads

I have seen these ads for a while on websites. Some are on the side panels, others are pop ups (like this one). Selecting the ad will take you to a website that looks like it’s someone’s personal blog. But the real question is: Are these ads legit, or deceiving?

Google has taken a stance to block these ads. They will put websites on notice to remove. Yet ad companies like AdBlade continue to push these ads.

One website took me to Beckysteeth dot com. It looked like a personal blog about a woman and her secret to getting whiter teeth. At the bottom was a link to get the products she mentioned.

I decided to do a little legwork. I found out that Beckysteeth was registered by GoDaddy, but the registration info was private. They did tell me what the DNS was. Moviecelltones dot com. Their info was available, however it was just as deceiving.

The owner of that site was Gary Bracken from Vacuums-defined in Utah. I called up moviecelltones and got no page – just the file system and a cgi-bin folder. I went over to vacuums-defined dot com but it didn’t load. The Name servers – myriadnetwork dot com – was failing.

Now in all reality – BeckysTeeth might not have anything to do with Moviecelltones. But reality tells me that when one nameserver is hiding another, you might want to raise the quills.

The other ads on this page are no different. One site  (myteethtrick dot com) even asked me “Are you sure you want to navigate away”, something that just annoys me immensely.

Now there may be valid ads on this page. Obama might be asking moms to go back to school. There may be a trick to white teeth. But I think if I wanted to get white teeth, I’ll check with a site that is a little more reputable. Health.com says you should use Baking Soda and Strawberries. I like Strawberries. They are tasty.

Online fraud continues to be a big concern. From the Nigerian email scam to phishing schemes and even those “Web loyalty” offers that end up charging your credit card a monthly fee. The only way to counter is to simply educate the people. After all – next week it might not be teeth whiting. It might be zit cleaning, car scratch removal, lower heating bills, safely track your children or something else.

In the meantime, AdBlade continues to push these ads. If the company is not reputable: that’s O.K. AdBlade has no affiliation with that company and will gladly take their money. It’s a dirty and sleazy gimmick, but as I always say: Ignorance is no excuse. They continue to push the ads.

By the way – the pictures on some of these ads: don’t they look a little creepy? The guy on the refinance ad? What about the last picture? It really doesn’t look like this girl is getting her teeth whitened by a skin-colored laser treatment…

All come everybody.  My name is Jeffrey hours.  I am doing well.  How are you doing?

Guess what?  I am using the speech recognition in windows seven to make this article.  I do not have to type, or even get out of bed.  All I need is a good microphone, and a lot of patients.
It is not 100%, but so far, it has done OK.  There are some things that I’ve actually had to redo, but most of the time it’s my impatience that causes errors.  The best part is all I have to say is the word UNDO, and it will all be undone.

I suppose one problem with doing speech recognition is that you don’t learn the mistakes of spelling.  Even while typing in something; whether it be a article, a BLOG, or anything of the sort, I would notice when I make spelling mistakes and quickly correct them, while trying to remember what the mistake was.  Hence, I do not get the opportunity to correct my mistakes (width of the exception of the word UNDO).

One thing I notice in using speech recognition, is that I have to take my time.  I will enunciate part of the sentence, wait for response, then continue – or make corrections.  Some corrections are just overlook for now, as I will get back to them later.

I have dealt with speech recognition for a few we years now.  I understand its advantages and disadvantages.  There were a couple times I had to support people with mobile disabilities who need to use the software on a regular basis.  Otherwise, they would not be able to use the computer.

If you think that you can use the software without training it, then you are grossly mistaken.  Training the computer to your voice is a key element to making the software work.  By training the computer, less mistakes will be made.  For example, one person can say ” the” with a silent ” E”.  The next person might not.  Training will tell the computer that you pronounce the word in the with a silent E.

One thing to remember is to not get frustrated over the speech recognition.  Take your time, watch what you say, and make corrections accordingly.  Sometimes, you might just have to go back and manually correct.

I have left the mistakes in this article to prove a point.  There have been a couple lines I have redone simply because of the fact that it wouldn’t get my point across.  But in general, there has not been any altering to this message.

Now all in hopes to show you something, I will read at normal speed and we’ll see how correct the computer will be.  I will continue on with punctuation.  It goes like this:

Well, a Federal judge ruled and Psystar lost the case.  Apple is definitely showed the hand of god here.  But the real question is: will it be the end of that?  Hopefully not.
On Friday, Judge William Alsop sided with apple that Psystar had in the dot violated the end user license agreement.  He ruled that the installation of the Mac OS on non Apple’s hardware is not allowable.  Therefore, Psystar must discontinue their line of Mac clones.  Finally, he will rule that Psystar as counter claims are not arguable since Psystar altered to the Mac Software to run on other machines.

This was an article I wrote last week.

If you decide to start using speech recognition, you will need a couple things.  The first is patients; it’s not going to be 100% correct.  Secondly, you will need a good microphone.  Right now I am talking through my professional rig.  If you get a USB mike, make sure it has NOISE cutting capability, so if the dog barks in the background, it doesn’t affect your session too much.  Finally, make sure your computer’s sound card can handle the situation.  If your sound card produces a lot of what is called ” white noise”, then you might be stopping and correcting yourself a lot.
I hope that this is help you in determining whether you want to use the speech recognition or not.  When properly trained, this could actually be a very valuable tool to you.  And the best part is its only gonna get better in the future.

But you should really learn how to spell…

**To start using the Speech recognition, simply go to start, then type in “Speech Recognition” in the search area**

Well on Friday I made the plunge and did the install. I took out the drive that held my XP partition, put in a clean drive and installed Windows 7 64-bit. The computer is an AM3 with 4 Gig of memory, so it was plenty powerful to handle the OS.

The planning has been done for a couple months. All my important data is held on striped disks that could easily port over. The data was also backed up, so if Windows 7 corrupted, I could pull the important stuff back.

The install on the fresh drive took only an hour. It didn’t ask me to pop in a previous version, so I was happy about that. The only problem I ran into was on first DVD boot, the computer froze. It kept happening until I reset the BIOS. After that, it had no issues.

One of the first things I did was install Office 2007. I saw my first problem there, but it went away and I was off and running. I checked the Task Manager where I easily saw what programs were running 32 bit and which ones ran 64.

I have been installing items all weekend and have seen minimal issue. Sony Acid Music Studio is having some small issues, but that is regarding the VST plugins. I installed Adobe products without hiccup. Tweetdeck loaded like a champ. Even the video editing software and Camtasia loaded without issue.

Next up – Virtual XP mode. Downloaded the 470 MB file and installed. It asked me to reboot and loaded up just fine. I played with it for a while, but then thought “Why? I just took that OS off!”

Audio had a little issue – especially when I have my Logitech 9000 installed. It took over the default sound and wouldn’t let it go. I am hoping there are some driver updates for the HD Deck sound soon, because I lost the ability to monitor what I am recording. I check the “Listen” box, but the latency is to the point where I have to turn it back off.

Nonetheless, I have been getting the programs back on, to get back up and running. Thunderbird and Outlook are going to be the next major steps. I still have some data on the XP drive in which I have to transfer over.

I decided not to do the export – import simply because I didn’t want that to be a factor in any issue. The best thing to do is copy over files and re-setup programs. In the end, you don’t worry about bringing over problems.

The Anti-virus is still Avast. Nothing will change on my daily routine. I may have to turn off the themes – especially when I am podcasting. The reason why is because when the theme shifts, it might cause the recording to skip. I still have more tests to run on that, though.

Now I want a new Laptop so I can put Windows 7 on that…

A few weeks ago I submitted a video for Living in HD – a contest presented by Panasonic. It’s the chance to get some free gear and also get some insider info from Panasonic. The submitters were suppose to upload a 2 minute video on what they would do with the products and why they should be picked.

I did enter and I didn’t get picked. No big deal – that’s happened before – I’m not bent out of shape for that. However, I checked out the 10 entrants involved and I have to ask myself – Why didn’t half of these get disqualified?

Let’s look at the rules.

4. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS/CLEARANCES:
(a) Commercial Must Meet LivinginHd Technical Requirements For Uploading. It must be color. Recommended formats include WMV, AVI, MOV, and MPG. The Video should not exceed two minutes. All Videos must be tagged with #LiHDInsider.

That means shows longer than 2 minutes should be disqualified, right? How is it that 8 of the videos EXCEED 2 minutes?

(b) Content and Originality. Each Video must be the original work of the Entrant, may not have been previously published and may not have won previous awards. Videos must be in English. The Entrant must appear in the Video; if other people are in the Video, there must be no-one under the age of 18.

I am curious on the “Previously published” part. I see a couple that have clips from “Previously published” videos. If they allow those snippets, it should have been stated as just.

(c) Secure Authorizations from Others in the Video. Before entering this Contest, Entrant must receive prior written permission from other person(s) in the Video (or from their respective parent/legal guardian if person(s) featured are considered minors in their state/territory of residence) for Sponsor to use their likenesses for publicity including posting on Website; and make written copies of such permissions available to the Sponsor upon request.

Once again, there are a couple videos that are showing pictures or even interviews with celebrities. While they might have received permission to get those, did they get permission to put it in the contest?

(d) No Infringement. The content of the Video must not infringe third party rights by including, for example, the copyrights, trademarks or logos (such as other company names, labels, symbols, store or building facades) music , photographs, works of art, or images that have been created, distributed, aired or published by others, such as those on or in websites, television, movies, or other media). The content of the Video must not violate rights of privacy, publicity rights or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity.

Are you serious? One person blatantly mentions a national Pizza chain. Another shows a Big Ten video. How is this not Infringement?

(e) No Names and Likeness Without Permission: The Video must not use individuals’ names, in whole or in part (except for the Entrant’s first name); refer to public figures; contain materials embodying the names, likenesses, photographs, or other identifying elements of any person, living, or dead without permission.

We have gone way beyond this point, but once again, there were a lot of references that I highly doubt permission was given to.

(f) No Illegal, Offensive or Inappropriate Content. The Video must not, in the sole and unfettered judgment of the Sponsor, contain words, images or statements considered offensive to individuals of any race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic group nor any threats to any person, place, business or group, contain material that is unlawful, nor materials that promote bigotry, racisms, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age. The Video must not, in the sole and unfettered judgment of the Sponsor, contain any materials that depict illegal acts, are sexually explicit, disparaging,
libelous, obscene, violent, hateful, slanderous or other inappropriate content (such as but not limited to smoking, alcohol, fire arms, harming of animals, provocative/suggestive outfits or poses) or nudity.  Content must be in keeping with Sponsor’s reputation and image, at Sponsor’s sole discretion.

Let’s quote one line from a video – “This is sticky” – “That’s what she said”… Is that NOT offensive?

(g) Obtain Third Party Releases: If the Video contains any material or elements that are not owned by the Entrant and/or are subject to the rights of third parties, the Entrant are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the Video, and in writing any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the use and exhibition of the Video by Sponsor in the manner set forth in these Official Rules, including, without limitation, name and likeness releases for any person who appears in or is identifiable in the Video.

That will be a task for some of those videos….

(h) Retain for your records: Retain a copy of the Video in the original format after uploading it to the Website. (All of the above requirements and criteria, collectively named the “Requirements &
Clearances”).
Automatic Disqualification: In the event any submission contains any material or suggests any material that, in the sole and unfettered judgment of the Sponsor, depicts illegal acts, is sexually explicit, disparaging, libelous, abusive language or other inappropriate content or nudity, is potentially infringing on third party rights, or otherwise, does not effectively pass the Requirements & Clearances, the Sponsor will immediately disqualify the Entrant.

Like I said – this is not about my video getting picked. It’s more about the videos that did get picked. It’s about rules that didn’t get followed. If I didn’t follow a rule, I can understand why I would get disqualified.

There is only 1 video on the list that I would chose because it met all the requirements. If any others get picked, well – we’ll leave it at that.

All the rules can be found here

**UPDATE 2** Geekazine has no affiliation with Rhapsody. Certain comments have been coming in to cancel Rhapsody accounts, which I have no power to do. You can continue to leave the comments to cancel the online service, but they will go unanswered. Thank you.

**Update – I called the number today to cancel the account. It was an automated voice that then said “To cancel, press 1″. That THEN directed me to a prompt that said: “We now cancel accounts online. To do that, go to http://www.rhapsody.com/cancel”. They couldn’t keep that prompt on during the evening? How about changing the website? **

I went to close an account for a service I don’t use anymore. After hunting for the “Cancellation” option, the site said I have to call a non-800 number to cancel. But what was really disappointing is that upon calling, the message said I had to wait until normal business hours to cancel.

Wow. Do we really live in 1998 again? Why isn’t there a “Cancel my subscription” button on the site. Most services will send email confirmation after you hit that button, then process the cancellation.

This is bad form. You are playing with my trust in your company – and now I don’t trust you. Forget me ever coming back. The iPhone application is gone. And if anyone ever talks about your service, I am so not going to recommend it.

See, the reason why I am so livid, is because this service is doing it deliberately. The service itself is not a financial institution – So I should have some ease of use to close my account.

With this tactic, they are hoping I forget about canceling for another month. Next thing you know, it’s 3 months later and they’ve taken $45. Don’t ask for a refund – They’re terms of service specifically state none shall be given.

Shame on you for making it harder for me to cancel the service. Right now you remain anonymous, but if my cancellation experience is a bad one, you’re anonymity will be retracted.

TSO - Twitter Search Optimization

Most have heard of SEO – search engine optimization. It seems to be a common phrase nowadays. Every now and then I even hear ads on the radio that promote SEO because it is a viable thing for anybody’s website. The better it is searched, the more traffic that can come to it.

However, there is another trend that has been creeping up. The same ideals, but this time In the microblog field. Something that could easily be known as TSO – or Twitter Search Optimization. Some practice this new ideal and others are even really good at it; but no matter what – if you are ignoring TSO, then you are ignoring a lot of new readers, listeners or viewers.

Take a look at this 140 character statement:

@geekazine #Twitter #network tool. We are a #blog #podcast and #news site. Check out the #website http://www.geekazine.com (#Geekazine)

What have I done here besides murder my 5th grade grammar? Well, I’ve simply made this into a TSO statement. Geekazine, which is mentioned twice as a Hashtag and a reply, the keywords: Twitter, Network, Blog, Podcast, News and Website. For those who are not sure, Hashtags are simply keywords that others can search on. So I could easily be scanning these 6 words to try and get response or new followers. I might then see:

RT @geekazine #Twitter #network tool. We are a #blog #podcast and #news site. Check out the #website http://www.geekazine.com (#Geekazine)

RT means that someone has re-tweeted my original post. They have then exposed their viewers – which could be 100 or 100,000,000 – to my statement. If the 1/100 rule applies (for every 100 sales pitches, you will get one sale), then I could pick up anywhere from 1 to 100,000 new followers.

Last year, when coming back from the Consumer Electronics Show, I started posting video. When I pushed over to Twitter, I used the Hashtag: #CES09. What happened in return was the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) noticed I was pushing #CES09 and re-tweeted any post that was #CES09. The end result was more followers, possible viewers to my site and listeners of my podcasts.

This tweet got me a lot of response:

You can become a Fan of something on #Facebook, but I want to become an enemy. That would be kewler.

I used only one Hashtag in Facebook, but I got several RT due to the nature of the post. Then again, if you follow #Facebook on the searches, you will see my tweet.

I have a program called Tweetdeck that lets me create special groups. Some of them are certain podcasters. Others are searches for keywords. I have a search (for example) of “Geekazine”. Just in case someone posts a tweet like ” Dude. you should listen to geekazine”; Since it’s not @geekazine or #geekazine, I may never see it. But by putting a special search on it, I will see the post.

I can find the trends on Twitter right now simply by going to search.twitter.com. There I will find out the top trends today are Pirate Day , Mayweather , Jennifer’s Body , Jay-Z , Marquez , Ahoy , Roc Raida , Texas , Google This and Bing.

If I go to Hashtags, I can find out what was said about a certain tag. I know that in the last month, the term “CES09″ has been slightly active, while only 2 people have used “CES10″.  Of course, come January, CES10 will be used a lot more.

Want to see trends of Geekazine on Twitter? Then go to a site like Trendistic. This will show you what I’ve been doing in the last month. I can check on the recent spikes, or compare Geekazine to microsoft, if I wanted to.

Last year I decided to put a method to my twitters when I posted my weekly podcast. I would do this:

#PODCAST – Ep. 104 – The day that almost made me stop podcasting http://bit.ly/JO2Ou (#Geekazine)

The first hashtag would be to search on podcasts. The second would be Geekazine’ s hashtag. I use a feature of Plurk with the parenthesis. Basically by putting the Hashtag in Parenthesis, Plurk will turn that hashtag into a link using my bit.ly/jO2Ou. While the parenthesis idea didn’t port over to Twitter, I still continue this practice. I think this is a well organized, TSO filled tweet. It tells you this post is about my Podcast on Geekazine.

Recently, a power-twit (someone who uses twitter to excess), we’ll just call @noname,  was in the local news for various legal issues. Nonetheless, their profile had 40,000 followers. @noname was tweeting several times a day and pushed items back to their website.

Of course, that person used #Followfriday for one of the marketing plans – which has gotten out of hand. The idea was to highlight a few people so they could get more followers. Some abuse the system, turn around and post all their followers every Friday. Still, there are some that use this to the best of their ability. If I use it, I do it like this:

#followfriday @caffination – #podcast about caffene and Tech, @norbtek – podcast about Cool #tech, @davewiner – post about ReverseHTTP

This gives meat and potatoes into a reason to follow this person. Not because I follow them.

Like I said, I have keyword searches I do in Twitter. They could bring up possible leads, they could bring up new listeners to my show. If I incorporate this into my website, that could bring more viewers faster than ever before.

That is why this Twitter will be called “#TSO – #Twitter #Search #Optimization and how it’s like #SEO http://bit . ly (#Geekazine).

*NOTE* after posting a “Woof”, I noticed that it only asks for a username. You could easily start posting as someone else. This needs to be fixed.

*NOTE 2* After posting, I was corrected in the TV show I was thinking of was called the 4400: Not 1400.

This is my attempt at a Woofer. I am giving this a try. It sounds like it’s a challenge to think of 1400 characters to write about. But I am optimistic that I can do this without struggling for things to say.

So the real question is “Why woofer”? Why do we need to think about 1400 characters or more? Well why not? In this world of 2 word responses, It’s different to be able to think about how to write a few paragraphs.

Remember when you had to do this for school?

So who will use Woofer? It’s tough to say, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the twitter account that does public domain books 140 characters at a time does a Woofer version. That makes a small excerpt a day

I could see larger Press releases use this device. Especially since you could add links to it. For example, we have a new podcast called “Day in Tech History”, found at http://www.dayintechhistory.com – It’s a daily look at the history in technology.

I wonder how this site is countering spam, though. What could keep someone from posting a series of links that could be malware sites or even porn sites?

Marketeers would like it because they can do a #Followfriday and include all their names. Can you imagine that list, which could include hashtags:

#Followfriday @caffination #podcast @norbtek @geeknews #rawvoice and #podcasterawards coming up @bwana #gamer @scobleizer #videogropher @leolaporte #tech guy @chrispirillo #youtube @twit @revision3 @geekdotcom @techcrunch @johnobeto  @gigaom @ustream ……

Guess what, I am already over 1400. Wait – wasn’t that a TV show about abduction? Oh well, as long as I get my revenge, like Randy Quaid did in Independence Day. “Hey boys! I’m Back!”

So will you use Woofer? Will it be something you do once and never again? If anything, check it out and give a try. http://www.woofertime.com.

One thing they need to do. I see the twitter username, but no ask for a password. I hope you have a way to keep someone from posting using someone else’s profile.