Should the Government Regulate Twitter?

In an article about "Twitter's refusal to work to deal with the Wikileaks problem," the author discusses who he believes is responsible for the so-called "problem."

The basic gist of the story is that the government believes that Twitter could be used as means for terrorists to communicate. YES, take over the world in 140 characters OR LESS! All comedy aside, both the government and the author believe that Twitter should be held responsible for who uses it and how it is used.

So first the government watches over us by wire-tapping, soon to come for the Internet are apparently email-tapping and maybe the Government/Twitter Internet police.

Later on, the author's rhetoric puts Twitter in the position where they need to make a decision, when they really should not be involved. The internet cannot be regulated, especially when there are documents that we have a right to see are at stake. The government and the author are looking for someone to blame, and since they cannot blame Wikileaks, they are trying to get at its distribution methods. Twitter is a company that has an innocent mission and simple infrastructure. It is up to the people to use it as they please.

What exactly can they tell Twitter to do that will solve this? In my opinion, nothing. If they shut down the Wikileaks account, what will stop others from posting direct links to the site, or even upload documents on their own?

The bottom line is the government should not have a say regarding any social networking sites on a macro-scale. It does not make sense to target a company to be responsible for its consumers actions. That's like going to a gun salesman and arresting him for the murder of someone in the town.

Baby Technology

A few weeks ago, I discussed apps that can aid in diagnosing sickness How about an app that can help you with your baby? As our nation's technology base continues to grow, new opportunities arise.

A mother downloaded an app called "White Noise" that helped her baby fall asleep. Is this the new version of a pacifier of a r\

Throughout the article, the mother reviews many baby technologies. They include monitoring, to a different life simulation for rockers such as car rides and rock a bye.

The bottom line is what is effective and what isn't If your planning on a phone app to solve your problems, save your time, money, and frustration. Invest in a dedicated device and do sufficient research on it before your purchase

Web 2.0 meets Social Fashion Networking

As the web becomes more social, new trends come with it. Recently both Google and Fashism.com embarked on their newest social trend, regarding shopping and Fashion.

Google recently launched "Boutiques.com" Celebreties, designers, bloggers, and other can have their own virtual "boutique" where they can show off their fashion choices to the world. The site hopes and encourages users to find someone whose fashion sense fits you. They help facilitate this process through what experts call, "visual search technology". The site has been praised for its specific automatic personalization criteria that fits your style.

Contender Fashism.com is similar contender that just received a second wind(a.k.a. Investor Ashton Kutcher). The site basically allows anyone to upload an image of an outfit, and ask for responses from others in the form Like/Dislike options. The site brings about 1 million views per month, probably due to the fact that viewers are not required to have a login.

Is it fair to call these two sites competitors? Boutiques vs Fashism, Google vs. Ashton, who wins?

Since Boutiques just came out, it's hard to say, but the level of personalization and offered by them beats what Fashism has to offer.

Goodbye GPS device market and others...Yours Truly, The Smartphone.

It is very clear how technology innovation can affect businesses and markets. Most evident today are how physical cds are becoming more and more obsolete. Now, we are noticing how smartphones are affecting the once booming GPS device market.

More and more, smartphones are coming stock with GPS capabilities that require a data plan. With the rise of smartphones and the ability they have, it is more logical to get a data plan for your phone to allow it to perform to its highest ability. GPS companies such as Garmin are working together with phone companies and car companies to keep the profits coming.

The article also discusses many other markets that are being cannibalized by the smartphone industry. Cameras and media players are also in danger because of the increase in quality of smartphone cameras and music quantity capabilities.

Is the GPS device market going to end tomorrow? Not likely. They are still many who own and prefer to use them. As our generation gets older and innovation increases, more of these devices will be condensed into what we call our smartphone, but it will not happen overnight.

Feeling sick? Consult your phone immedietely.

For $5, you can have a "Family Doctor", on your iPhone or iTouch that is. Apparently, the interface is very intuitive, but there is a bigger question at hand. Do you trust a phone app or leave the medical stuff to the doctors? I am torn on the subject for a few reasons.

The first complication is brought up by the author of this article. Regardless of what conditions you type in, the app will not say "Don't worry, you'll be fine." For legal reasons, they would have to say the worst thing that could happen for each condition.

Another is because of a personal experience. A few months ago I went to the dermatologist because I had a minor outbreak in my face that was worried about. When I saw the doctor, he looked at me for about 10 seconds then walked out of the room. He came back and gave me some medical term and said to "just look it up online" if I wanted to know more about it. I decided to not even use the prescription and I got better over time. Given the circumstance, I was under the impression that he looked it up online as well.

In conclusion, I believe that for any problems, save your money and try listening to sites like WebMD. If anything is chronic, consult your doctor.

The NEW Myspace, any chance at competing?

This week and continuing through the end of November, Myspace will make strides to revamp its original interface and setup into a new place for "social entertainment." Myspace president Mike Jones stated that most of its current users focused on using the site for social entertainment commentary, such as opinions on music, television, and movies. Myspace's new objective is to cater to this niche audience. He also made a point that he was not trying to compete with Facebook, but complement it.

His view on having Myspace complement Facebook is a decent theory, but unrealistic. Facebook already offers similar places for social entertainment commentary and also has the customer base to back it up. The chances that Facebook consumers will switch to Myspace for those reasons are not likely.

Another one of Myspace's problems lie with marketers. The advertising revenue for Myspace has plummeted from $470 million to about $300 million. On the contrary, Facebook has risen from about $700 million to $1.7 billion.

Will you use Myspace again/for the first time? Or is Facebook all you need?

Google Fiber: Super Internet coming to Stanford

In a few years, Stanford University will be home to "Google Fiber", an extremely fast broadband network. According to the Official Google Blog, the high-speed internet will reach download speeds up to "1 gigabit per second--more than 100 times fast than what most people have access to today." The catch for those affiliated with Stanford is that it will only be available to Stanford's Residential Subdivision, which is where the university staff and faculty live.

Google Fiber has been offering their services to towns that are interested in it and some towns went out of their way to make it known that they wanted the service. For example, a few years ago the Mayor of Topeka, Kansas, decided to change its name to Google for a month as a publicity stunt to get Google's attention regarding Google Fiber.

There is no question that this service will be superior to many other internet providers, the question is, will they supply to more regions when it comes out or keep it more localized?

Facebook, meet Bing

Bing, the "decision engine", has been struggling compared to its giant sized competitor Google. In order to increase its usage, they have decided to team up with Facebook. What all of this will mean for those of us on Facebook is increased search ability in terms of Bing and less privacy.

In my opinion, Facebook needs to take a step back in regards to partnering up with different companies. The fact that it has a connection with Bing now does not help the fact that I am not a fan of having all of my information accessible by the general public. Obviously there will be options to not have your information be out there, but the problems with this are those people that have not done the research to figure out that there information will be there in the first place! For the first few years that I had a Facebook, I had no idea that anyone could type in my name and I was the first person in the Google search.

Facebook is slowly becoming more and more intermingled with other companies, such as foursquare. If the company continues to let others buy into Facebook, then the people using Facebook are at risk privacy wise. I believe similar events occurred with Myspace. It became less safe and so the consumers went to Facebook. Facebook had a safe and secure customer base with a clean interface. It is slowly coming before cluttered, and the end of Facebook does not seem as far away as it once did.

WEBCAM T.V!: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Yesterday, Cisco revealed its "super high-quality chat" that streams through your television. The device is called Umi, and it is a video chat system that uses your T.V. as a medium for video chat rather than the typical computer.
According to Ashlee Vance of the New York Times, the technology offers very crisp picture and more realistic eye contact, probably due to the spatial differences from a computer to a television.

The bottom line... is it worth it?

In my opinion, NOT AT ALL!

The hardware for this technology alone costs $599, along with paying $25 per month. The benefits Umi has are high quality pictures and space for multiple video chatters. Other than that, this technology is way overpriced. For how much it will cost for a year of service, you could buy...

A computer (w/ video chat and have money to spare)
Xbox Live Kinect (has video chat and gaming capabilities)
VGA Cable (Allows your to hook up your computer to your T.V. meaning video chat on it for free)

The list can go on but the point is that the technology Cisco is offering is overpriced and there is a lot more you can do with your money. I think that idea is innovative especially for families that have loved ones that live far away. In my opinion, the price does not match the product yet and it would be better to wait it out for the price drop rather than investing in it while it is a new product.

Cyber-Bullying doesn't have an age limit

On September 22, an 18-year old Rutgers student named Tyler Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. What led him to this fate? Two fellow Rutgers University students, one being his roommate, decided that it was a good idea to videotape Tyler Clementi without him knowing while he was with his significant other, which happened to be another guy. One of the students posted on his Twitter feed information about what was happening and details on watching the acts live. It is clear in the situation that the people involved in this are cold-hearted individuals who do not value others privacy. It also shows that these people have no problem taking advantage of what technology offers for bad reasons. I agree with the author that these individuals should be frowned upon and convicted for involuntary manslaughter at the least, but I also think there is something more important to take from this story. There are people everyday that are victims of cyber bullying. I hope that any victims look at this story and know that there will always be people that will bully others. I also hope they learn that physical bullying or cyber bulling is never an excuse to kill yourself. This story teaches the value of life and the power of technology.

Can't get enough of Google!

Two nights ago, Google Chief Executive Officer Eric. E. Schmidt appeared on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. A few weeks ago, he made a controversial comments regarding information put up by young people on Facebook. He basically encouraged them to delete all their information and change their names. What the media didn't realize is that this was a joke and was taken out of context.

The Consumer Watchdog organization created a group called Inside Google. This group is promoting awareness to people about how Google intrudes in our privacy, and also encourages individuals to create and participate in "Do Not Track Me Lists." They recently played a video in Times Square regarding this situation, starring CEO Eric E. Schmidt.

Was this fair of Consumer Watchdog? I think they have an interesting idea but the CEO is not the one to blame. When discussing the internet, we can't blame companies like Google for exposing information when we are the ones dumping the information in the system.

Tech Today: Skyhook Wireless Vs. Google

The argument in the article "Competitor Sues Google Over Location Software for Smartphones" highlights the notion that Google stole certain technology patented by Skyhook Wireless. This article is interesting, but the unsettling information I took from it has to do with people and how little privacy technology gives us. Two years ago, CNN teamed up with Skyhook Wireless during elections to show where their correspondents were. At the end of the explanation, one of the anchors exclaimed, "That is creepy!" Although we all may think that we are safe since we don't have the required device to be tracked, WRONG. "Google has notified cellphone makes that they need to use Google's location service as a condition of using Google's Android smartphone operating system." So far all of you with smartphones/android phones, I would make sure you are not currently being tracked, unless you want to...