It was just announced that Google bought the social mapping application Waze for 1.3 billion dollars.   This is big news in the world of mapping.   Anything involving Google buying a competitive product like this is interesting for multiple reasons.    Here are my top 5 reasons why I think Google bought Waze.

1.  Minimize the competitive threat.     Waze was growing like wildfire due to all the really interesting capabilities of the application.  Integrating live data created from actual drivers/passengers from cars around you gives a lot more information than a GPS and timestamp can.   Google doesn’t want a competitor to have a better product so instead of building from the ground up and still having to compete against Waze, just purchase them and gain the technology, the customers, and minimize the threat all at once.
2. New sets of live data for their autonomous car software.    Information is key when building an autonomous vehicle.  Currently they have traffic inputs including GPS locations and time-stamps of vehicles around them but integrating another set of information that is manually input about the conditions that can’t be described otherwise gives their autonomous vehicle software a significant advantage over competitors.  Instead of trying to build this data-stream from the ground up, they are tapping into a solid base of regularly updated information.  This in my opinion is the most exciting.    I can’t wait to get my first driver-less car.
3. Google + Integration:   Google has been slowly building their social platform up over the years.   Having another plug into a social medium/channel that people are using and is growing will allow them to continue to build the value proposition of their social platform.  Google’s social platform is slowly getting more and more attractive while Facebook is slowly getting more and more boring.
4. Ad Revenue:  With all Google products and moves, it’s all about the ad revenue.   More subscribers equals more reach, more impressions, more advertising opportunities and provides their existing advertising customers with new and innovative ways to reach their audiences.
5. Better user experience:    When it comes down to it, Google always strives to create a better user experience across their products/services.   Giving drivers more information about their travel plans including road hazards, police stops, broke down vehicles, caution areas, etc…  provides a better user experience.  One of Google’s goals is to embed itself into the lives of as many people as possible which increases a users reliance on them and can secure their long term business model.

Though not my typical type of blog post (as a project manager for the software development group at Beacon), I needed to do some research on this topic for my grandmother and I thought it might be useful info to followers of our blog as well, especially those with elderly family members that are proficient in the use of technology, like mine.

My 93-year-old grandmother is quite technically savvy for her age (93 years young – wow!), and has become dependent over the years upon email for updates from family members since she lives several states away from most of us. However, her relocation to an assisted living home earlier this year (without broadband access) has made the set-up and maintenance of a PC too laborious and her failing eyesight makes a cell phone or tablet impractical. Therefore, we are in the market for some type of “computer-less” email system, I and found the following while researching today.

Informational/Comparison Articles

• PC Pro – How to get email without a computer
• CBS News – Want E-Mail?  No Computer?  No Problem
• Living Senior: How To Receive Email Without a Computer
• Top 5 Email Devices

Product Pages

• Presto - Requires printer ($99.99) and mail service ($149.99/year or $14.99/month), uses standard phone line, cannot be used to scan or send replies, list of people that can send mail as well as formatting and text can be remotely administered
• MailBug - $9.95/month, uses standard phone line and local calls, does not accept email attachments, can send and receive email
• Celery - can use any fax machine (or purchase for $89.00), $19.95/month or $198/year for color service OR $13.98/month or $138/year for black and white service subscription

In addition, several visitor comments in the articles mentioned that a standard fax machine might do the trick as well.  Not sure which way we’ll go yet, but I’ll update this blog post with how it goes!  Please add a comment if you have experience in this area and can provide your recommendations!  Thanks!

I own a Lexmark printer and have for quite a long time now. Everytime I go to buy a new inkjet cartridge, I cringe at the price I have to pay. However, I also admire the business model Lexmark has setup. Sell cheap printers and make up the margins on the ink cartridges. Seems like an excellent way for Lexmark to make money.

So, imagine my surprise when LexMark announced its exit from the development and manufacturing of inkjet printers. Why would a company abandon its core business?

Also last month, Hewlett Packard posted the largest loss in the entire 73 year history of the company.

What is going on?

Inkjet printers have been hit by the gale force wind of a shift in technology that has turned consumer spending away from desktop PCs and printers. Very soon, tablets and mobile are expected to overtake the PC market.

Layoffs at HP and at LexMark are imminent. The day of reckoning has arrived.

Thirty years ago last week, IBM  introduced its first personal computer - the 5150.

Its very reliable. The computer never has failed me when I work from home.

Maybe because the computer is encased in steel.

And a very happy 80th anniversary to the Bakelite telephone!

I think this one I have in the pic above is a Model 500 Rotary Bakelite Phone.

My productivity does suffer a little when I work from home.

Time for an upgrade?

As a developer I like to listen to music while I am working. I’m sure this goes for many people across professions so I wanted to introduce everyone to something I was recently introduced to, Spotify.  As a quick summary Spotify is like having an iTunes stocked with anything you’re in the mood for.  You can make songs available for offline access and even share with friends.  If by chance what you’re in the mood for is not available you can add your own files and retrieve them just the same.  You can use it anywhere and that includes mobile!  You also have a lot of features similar to iTunes like Library, Search, top lists and Playlists.

For 9.99 a month you get all that.  I have to tell you that it is worth every penny and I’ve only had it for 2 hours.  Just imagine being able to listen to anything you want instantly.  It’s almost as if you get Music Block from the possibilities.

I took a  look back in history from when the telephone first arrived to the mobile devices of today.  Making communication easy spawns an addiction to the facilitating platform and an addiction to it will always will be rampant among the young.

“The telephone has been accepted without hesitation by the younger generation, but it has suggested uneasy questions to older persons who have not been accustomed to it all their lives.” -1903

1903 – “It’s Appalling”- Phone accepted without hesitation by younger generation

1948 – The teenagers have tied up telephone communications

1963 – Telephonitis is a disease of adolescence

1972 – For six years my son ate, slept and lived in a small phone booth

1989 – Younger generation has phone addiction!

2009 – Too Much Texting Taking a Toll on Teenagers

2011- Young generation addicted to mobile phones

What are we in for next?

Click here to see.

The rise in popularity of Facebook has similarities.

Mark Zuckerberg stated that:

“In fact, in some ways Facebook is like a telephone conversation, with all your friends on the same call. But on this call, your friends can share photos, text, political summons to action, video, and music, or can click to make purchases.”

Hello!

It is April 14, 2011 and the weather is beautiful here in Greensboro, North Carolina!  72° and sunny.

UPCOMING TRENDS…

I have a lot of admiration and respect for the ad agency JWT.   They are thought leaders, amazingly creative and wonderfully successful.  I really enjoy their annual forecast of trends which you can visit at JWT INTELLIGENCE.  JWT Intelligence has a great tagline, “converting cultural shifts into opportunities“.  JWT has published “100 Things to Watch in 2011″.  Take a moment and enjoy the slideshow as it will certainly get your brain churning as you consider ways to create your own opportunities based on you own skills and areas of interest.

Technology is a major theme (as it often is) in this year’s forecast.

Of the 100 future trends, I have several highlighted below that interest me:

• #1: 3D Printing — Take a look if you have a moment at Shapeways Example Video.  It will be fascinating to see how this grows.
• #5: Auto Apps — Not sure if this is a good thing but it is here to stay and will certainly grow.  Perhaps you’ve seen the commercial with the Dad in Europe and his teenage daughter wants to borrow his car.  So as he is talking with her, from his hotel in Europe, on his smartphone (really smartphone and smart apps) he checks the car’s gas gauge and tire pressure and then starts the engine and unlocks the doors…all from across the Atlantic.  Amazing.
• #17: CAPTCHA ‘Advertising‘ — I am sure you have all been asked to enter several distorted letters into a box on a website which will then allow you to advance within the site.  CAPTCHA annoys me!! Well, advertisers are starting to use this as an opportunity to have visitors participate in the advertisement.  Companies are starting to use their slogans and taglines for their CAPTCHA.  I have not yet seen this but I certainly will soon.
• #35: F-Commerce — Facebook eCommerce is coming to your Facebook soon!!  Apparently several very large retailers can already sell products directly on Facebook but that trend will certainly increase…just too many users on that site to miss on that opportunity.  This could impact many companies within the Supply Chain as well as Marketers.  It will be fascinating to see how big this grows!
• #40: Group-Manipulated Pricing — Many group buying sites are popping up including Groupon and Living Social.   The innovation will continue to grow and change but it seems poised to be a successful strategy.

These are just a few examples that gave me pause.

Check it out at JWT INTELLIGENCE and be inspired!

Enjoy the day.

Patrick Flanagan

pflanagan@beacontechnologies.com

(336) 232-5668

(336) 944-4187

http://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickflanagan1

I had heard about the Jeopardy Watson challenge before, but it didn’t sink in until I saw a recent post by Joe Hall and his point about the new ways of information retrieval that are upon us.

To gain a little insight into what is in store for humanity, check out the IBM YouTube post:

Click to View Watson Trailer

The Watson Jeopardy episode airs February 14th.

IBM’s Watson brings to mind a science fiction story by Terry Bisson:

from THEY’RE MADE OUT OF MEAT

“They’re made out of meat.”

“Meat?”

“Meat. They’re made out of meat.”

“Meat?”

“There’s no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, and probed them all the way through. They’re completely meat.”

“That’s impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?”

“They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don’t come from them. The signals come from machines.”

“So who made the machines? That’s who we want to contact.”

“They made the machines. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Meat made the machines.”

“That’s ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You’re asking me to believe in sentient meat?”

I came across a neat little tool for Windows today. (no doubt there is a tool like this built in on the Mac, but it’s still easy to have on a PC)

Often I want or need to identify the color on the screen, either in a web page, graphic, or in a software package, which can involve looking at source code or style sheet, doing a screen capture in Windows or using something like SnagIt or Hardcopy, and other ways, but if you just want to know the HEX code color, this is by far the simplest tool to use. It will also show VB, Delphi and HSB codes.

It’s called Instant Eyedropper, by a company called SpiceBrains, and makes it simple by launching an icon in your system tray after you install it. Click the Instant Eyedropper icon and drag your cursor across the screen to the color you want, and the utility will show, in a zoomed pop-up to show the pixel you are on, the Hex code for the pixel.

I know this sounds like an ad or shameless plug, but I’ve wanted a simple tool like this for years.

Its quite the time saver. Enjoy!

How many times have you gotten your camera out to take some pictures, only to discover your card was full?  Then you have to make the tough call of whether to delete a precious memory already on your memory card or not take a picture of the event occurring.  This situation happens to me often, so I am very excited that I will never have to be in that uncomfortable situation ever again.

“But how?”

General public, it is my pleasure to introduce to you the endless memory card known as the Eye-Fi, which I will now refer to as “Big E.” Big E is the first wireless memory card with a built-in Wi-Fi that uses your wireless network to transfer your photos and videos online.  Big E looks like and fits into your camera just like every other basic memory card; it is just more awesome because it will never fill up, and you never have to make time in your busy schedule to transfer or upload your pictures or videos at a later date.  Let your Eye-Fi do all the work from now on.  All you need to do is take the pictures and capture the videos, and then Big E will automatically upload them to your computer.  It can even go so far as to post them automatically to your Facebook or Flickr account!

The makers of the Eye-Fi tell us on their website that it “all started with a very simple idea: what if photos could just fly to where you want them to be? That’s how a memory card with antenna and magical superpowers was born.”  I am directly quoting here because I couldn’t say it any better myself.

Here is the link to a video explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NaqXaifddU&feature=player_embedded