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Raising the Alarm about SOPA and PIPA

January 26th, 2012 | Posted by admin in News | Privacy | social media - (0 Comments)

Web piracy and copyright infringement, and opinions concerning their cure, were posted in an article, Raising the Alarm: Proposed Cure to Halt Web Piracy Hurts entire Social Media Revolution – that has resulted in quite a lot of conflict. One of the concerns is there is just no clear-cut way to halt web piracy and copyright infringement. Actually, this article states that halting the piracy is far worse than the cure, affecting the freedom to speak freely.

In another article, a spokeswoman for NetCoalition states: SOPA and PIPA: What Went Wrong?

Everyone underestimated the Web, “which is sort of the beauty of it,” said Maura Corbett, president of the Glen Echo Group and spokeswoman for NetCoalition, a tech trade group opposed to the bills.

“This was Outside the Beltway descending on Inside the Beltway, and we all just bore witness to it,” she said. “People are fed up. Washington is broken, and now Washington wants to subject the Internet to it? The Internet said no.”

It appears that laws to stop web piracy, which is a very big problem, would do more harm than good, at least in ways that are being proposed currently. And, the good out way the bad, such as freedom of expression orally, in wiring or in print, which is a human right.

Sandy McIntosh

January 26, 2012

Atlanta using TweetMyJobs

January 25th, 2012 | Posted by admin in business process | jobs | marketing | mobility | social media | Twitter - (0 Comments)

The City of Atlanta and TweetMyJobs are working together in a partnership that will enable employers to streamline the process of recruiting and expedite delivery of available job notices to individuals seeking employment. City of Atlanta Launches Local Job Matching Platform Powered by TweetMyJobs – This online jobs platform sends the information to job seekers via the social networks, email or mobile.

The article states:

“We’re proud to be working with a forward-thinking leader like Mayor Reed who understands that mobile is a critical element in the communication and distribution of job opportunities because there are entire segments of the population who do not own a computer but do own a mobile phone.”

It sounds like this new online jobs platform will reach more people and in so doing should help our current economy. Not only does it reach more people it is specific to the types of employment people are qualified for. In addition, the service provides analytical data that will provide insight to decision-making leaders that will aid them in potential job growth for the city. It is all good – or at least it sounds that way to me.

Sandy McIntosh

January 25, 2012

Ho Hum CES

January 24th, 2012 | Posted by admin in marketing | mobility | News | smartphone - (0 Comments)

Usually, nothing quickens the pulse like mobile highlights from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). But this year – not so much. InformationWeek’s “5 Mobile Trends from CES 2012” highlights the show’s mobile offerings.

“Dozens of new LTE 4G smartphones and tablets were announced by manufacturers and carriers. LTE will become a mainstream technology this year.” “Some of the week’s most exciting handsets boast screens ranging between 4.7 and 5.3 inches. It won’t be much longer before phone screens reach tablet proportions — if they haven’t already.” “There were hardly any feature phones announced at CES 2012.” “The vast bulk of devices announced at the show lack near-field communications (NFC), and lack the ability to make mobile payments. This all but assures that NFC and mobile payments won’t start to take off until nearly halfway through 2012.” “The mobile industry continues to thrive on innovation and competition”

None of this is exactly news to those of us following the mobile industry, and there was a decided lack of headline-grabbing demos at this year’s CES. With all the bad economic news from other industries, maybe for the mobile sector the best news is old news.

Rita Safranek, January 24, 2012

Gadgets of Note from 2012 CES

January 19th, 2012 | Posted by admin in app | marketing | News | smartphone - (0 Comments)

Maybe it is the slow economy, but the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) definitely lacked the sizzle of previous years. There were some notable introductions, as detailed in BostonHerald.com’s “Cool Gadgets Make Splash.”

In Microsoft’s final CES, the company showed the Windows Phone 7 operating system, which

“sports a striking design of flat, colorful squares containing information from different apps. Nokia demonstrated the Lumia 800 and 900 smartphones running the OS.” “Intel made a big push with its Ultrabook concept — a category of slim laptops, similar to the MacBook Air, powered by Intel chips, and made by several manufacturers.”

Microsoft’s late to the smartphone party, and it doesn’t sport features that provide an overwhelming reason for existing iPhone and Android users (often locked into multi-year contracts) to switch. The thin Ultrabook will appeal to users needing the functionality of a laptop and the totability of a tablet. Wilocity demoed WiFi technology that could help drive the trend to slimmer devices. Samsung also unveiled a technology to watch – the Galaxy Note, a 5.3-inch mobile device dubbed a “phablet.” Combining functionality so that users only need one device is a trend that has left pagers and two-way messaging in its wake. This could be the next wave.

Rita Safranek, January 19, 2012

Automakers Drive Onboard Connectivity Trend Despite Safety Concerns

January 18th, 2012 | Posted by admin in app | Facebook | guidelines | mobility | smartphone | social media - (0 Comments)

While automakers such as Toyota, Daimler, and Ford are pushing forward with in-car technology that allows drivers to remain technologically connected, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are working to release guidelines for them. The agencies’ efforts and issues are explained in Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s “Carmakers Tout Audio Facebook as Agencies Seek Texting Curb.”

“Audible Facebook updates and steering-wheel controls that let drivers buy movie tickets and check stock prices went on display at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and North American International Auto Show in Detroit.” It is estimated that in 2012, “5.8 million smartphone and embedded connectivity units will be fitted to new cars and light trucks in North America” “The so-called infotainment systems that are becoming more prevalent in vehicles require more research, NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said. The agency plans to hold a forum this year to look at driver distractions.”

To counter concerns, Toyota limits the applications it includes on Entune, and Facebook is not included, Daimler is developing gesture-recognition technology to let drivers access information from the Web using their hands. Ford’s in-car technology is focused on voice recognition. Is this enough? Research will tell. It’ll be interesting to see where auto insurers weigh in on this. That’s a group keenly aware of real-world statistics about (and costs of) distracted driving.

Rita Safranek, January 18, 2012

Android App Joins Censorship Fight

January 17th, 2012 | Posted by admin in News | Privacy | security - (0 Comments)
When are lawmakers going to learn that techies are a resourceful group that is no fan of Big Brother regulation? In “Android Barcode Scanner App Detects If a Product’s Maker Supports SOPA,” Forbes details the efforts of a group of students at the University of British Columbia to solidify opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
According to the app makes it easy to identify SOPA-supporting companies.
No More SOPA, a free Android application … allows users to scan any product’s barcode and determine if it was made by a company that officially supports SOPA, or even a parent company or subsidiary of a SOPA supporter. The app … uses a public UPC database to find a product’s manufacturer then queries a remote server to compare the manufacturer with a list of 800 firms with lobbying ties to the bill.” “As a Senate hearing on SOPA looms later this month, hackers and engineers have been busy building tools to cripple or defeat the bill, which many see as imposing widespread censorship on the Internet as well as potentially holding back advances in security.
If corporate lobbyists thought they were going to be able to quietly slide this through, it looks like they’ve got another thing coming. This is an interesting test case that bears watching – to what extent mobile technology coupled with social media can impact the creation of public policy in the US.
Jim Daniels, January 17, 2012

For the Holidays, Google Takes the Wraps Off Google+ Upgrades

January 12th, 2012 | Posted by admin in Facebook | Google+ | mobility | social media | Twitter - (0 Comments)

To celebrate the holidays, Google decided to reward users of its Google+ service with a gift of upgrades. The Official Google Blog detailed the changes in “Google+: A Few Big Improvements Before the New Year.”

The company added fine-grained controls that enable the user to graphic-equalize and fine-tune the stream.

“When viewing the stream for a particular circle, you’ll now see a slider at the top that lets you adjust how posts from that circle should be blended into the main stream.” “One of the most useful and valuable features of the redesigned Google bar is the red notifications indicator.” “Viewing a photo in Lightbox has been completely redesigned with improved navigation, enhanced comment legibility and better overall utility.”

The improvements are meant to keep pace with Facebook’s Timeline feature and Twitter’s redesign. Whether or not the new functionality addresses the issues early Google+ users have had with the service remains to be seen. But look at it this way, as a present, they beat a pair of socks.

Rita Safranek, January 12, 2012

IDG Editors Ponder 2012 IT Trends

January 11th, 2012 | Posted by admin in business process | mobility | smartphone | social media - (0 Comments)

Who doesn’t like gazing into a crystal ball and pondering the future? Not publisher IDG. In InfoWorld’s “2012 Tech Predictions: From IDG’s Editor’s Worldwide,” the top stories of 2011 are reviewed and prognostications for 2012 presented.

Several editors noted the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as the top story. Some felt

“the biggest technology story of 2011 was the use of social media to organize and report on the Arab Spring uprisings.” Other picks include “the iPhone replacing the BlackBerry as the corporate standard mobile device, in terms of new and replacement devices”; “the rise of cloud technology, both public and private”; and “the consumerization of IT – that is, using commercial mobile apps, cloud applications, and social networks for business purposes.”

The predictions for 2012 include:

“greater attention to big data and how companies can use analytics tools to mine the data for customer insights, business opportunities, or cost savings”; the development of the smart TV”; the impact of Windows 8 on the mobile market; and continuing disputes over intellectual property.

While these are pretty easy to accept, others, like the decline of Apple as the king of emerging technology, the total disappearance of optical disks and the decline of regular hard disks, and tablets replacing desktops and laptops, seem like more of a stretch.

Rita Safranek, January 11, 2012

Podcast Brings Experience to Social Media Questions

January 10th, 2012 | Posted by admin in marketing | networking | News | podcast | social media - (0 Comments)

Presaging their inaugural Social Media Analytics Summit in April, Text Analytics News has posted the podcast of their recent Social Media Analytics Panel.

The panel brings together Bill Touhig of J.D. Power & Associates, Robin Seidner of Radian6, and Beyond the Arc’s Steven J. Ramirez. The social media analytics experts share their insights in the 55 minute podcast. The description describes the discussion content:

  • Analytic technologies and techniques being used to make business sense of the flood of user-generated content
  • The cutting edges of social media and sentiment analysis – what works, where improvements are being made, and which platforms are leading the way
  • The comparison between proprietary and do-it-yourself tools for social media analysis
  • Effective ways for leveraging social media information to get a leg up on your competition

I can’t fit my two pages of notes here, so do yourself a favor and check out the podcast for yourself. A couple of observations stuck with me.

First, with social media data, more is not better. This may seem obvious to some, but it is not the case with other data types, where more volume produces more accurate results. Instead, analysts find that they must narrow the data to exclude the vast amounts of irrelevant input that social media provides. That process adds a lot of complexity.

Second, text analytics is experiencing a talent gap. As Ramirez quipped, if you know young people just starting out, advise them to go into this as-of-yet-low-competition field. Many companies would prefer to save the cost of hiring a consultant, and most business users can probably figure things out. If the analysis needs are comparatively simple, that is. However, companies must invest in tools and training for the best in-house results.

Do yourself a favor: invest in attendance to the Social Media Analytics Summit this spring.

Cynthia Murrell, January 10, 2012

Sponsored by Pandia.com

Mobile Apps Give New Meaning to Pay as You Go

January 10th, 2012 | Posted by admin in branding | marketing | mobility | smartphone - (0 Comments)

With the smart phone market’s continuing growth, it was only a matter of time before payment apps were developed. According to kmov.com’s “Pay-by-Name Purchasing: Changing the Future of Spending,” one of the newest forms of mobile payments is the Square Card Case, launched by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s Square.

“The Square Card Case totally eliminates the need for a physical card in a merchant-to-consumer transaction. It works by storing a virtual copy of your credit or debit card on your smartphone, and acts as a virtual tab. To use it, consumers must download the free Square Card Case application for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or Android. A customer then sets up an account using their name, email address, credit card information and a photo. The customer’s phone will detect local merchants who accept the Card Case form of payment.”

Needless to say, security is a concern, an issue raised in an open letter from VeriFone, a Square Card competitor. The market’s also getting crowded with Google’s Google Wallet and PayPal’s PayPal Instore, both of which use near-field communication technology. This is definitely an emerging market with plenty of potential. The payoff will be big for a player who can address security and ease of use while creating a mass-market brand.

Rita Safranek, January 10, 2012