Category: Web/Tech

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News Twitter Web/Tech

Twitter for Breaking News

Twitter really is quite amazing for following breaking news.

twitter-150.jpgToday, I was periodically watching my friends’ tweets out of the corner of my eye when I saw one saying “breaking news – plane down in hudson river”. I checked the CNN website, nothing. Turned on CNN on TV and they were just beginning coverage.

Then I fired up Tweetdeck and setup 3 quick searches for USAir, Hudson, and plane – and followed along reading the tweets in real-time. Amazing…

My first experience with this was back after Thanksgiving when the Mumbai terror attacks had just started. I followed mumbai on Tweetdeck and stayed up to the minute with coverage from both Mumbai and around the world.

Yesterday afternoon on Twitter, I first read the news about Steve Jobs taking a medical leave of absence. See David Pogue’s “Twittering Tips” – “…it’s also a brilliant channel for breaking news, asking questions, and attaining one step of separation from public figures you admire. No other communications channel can match its capacity for real-time, person-to-person broadcasting.”

Journalism is changing indeed! You can follow me on Twitter here.

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Web/Tech

Let’s Pray for Google Reader!

Earlier tonight, Steve Rubel asked “WIth Google Killing Products, Is Reader Next?” Gawd, let’s hope not!

So, Google has decided to kill a few products – and Steve is speculating that other Google products lacking a monetization strategy – like Google Reader – could be victims as well.

Continue reading “Let’s Pray for Google Reader!”
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Books Web/Tech

Peter Wayner’s New Editions

I happened to hear from Peter Wayner that he’s got new editions of both his Disappearing Cryptography (third edition) and Translucent Databases (second edition) now available. Both books are now available from Amazon.

Since the advent of PCI-DSS and increasing concerns about data breaches involving personal information, I’m sure Peter’s techniques are becoming much more widely read – and applied! See my March 14, 2005 post about a talk that Peter gave at Stanford that day. See also Peter’s web site and this list of recent articles he’s written for the New York TImes.

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Apple Twitter Web/Tech

True Innovation from Apple

Some folks seemed disappointed with today’s MacWorld keynote – Steve Rubel twittered in real-time at the end of the session: “What a lame keynote. Apple is losing its mojo.”

Having just watched the full keynote, what Phil Schiller and team Apple showed was another great demonstration of true innovation from Apple – new ideas galore. Examples?

The new iPhoto ’09 features (Faces and Places) were very cool – and non-obvious innovations! iMovie ’09 brings several new innovations to dealing with video content. The enhancements to Garageband (e.g., Artist Lessons) were similarly fascinating – and a new revenue stream for both artists and Apple. And, the innovations in the new 17-inch MacBook Pro – especially the battery technology – were important.

The critics of today’s keynote (including Rubel) were firing for effect – sadly. The innovations I saw were real, important, and fascinating. Schiller clearly isn’t Steve Jobs – who is? – but he did a great job – hardly a “lame keynote” IMHO!

Frankly, I’m glad that Apple’s departing MacWorld with this year’s performance. Clearly, the timing of this event was lousy from almost any point of view. Time to move on – to doing events timed to when things are ready, when the holidays are around the corner, etc. – not in early January.

As for me, I ordered the family packs of both iLife ’09 and iWork ’09 immediately after watching the keynote!

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Apple Web/Tech

The Mind Runs Wild

Watching today’s Macworld Keynote and hearing about the new features (Faces and Places) in iPhoto ’09 brought to mind how this personally relevant information (faces we know and places we’ve been) might be useful to online authentication applications. Anyone else get a similar vibe?

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Mac Twitter Web/Tech

Using LaunchBar and Search Templates

I recently mentioned that LaunchBar is the one utility on my Mac that I’m most dependent upon – and the new LaunchBar 5 beta just improves on the whole experience.

Continue reading “Using LaunchBar and Search Templates”
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Web/Tech

Another Hat Tip to Google Reader!

Two years ago tomorrow I posted a hat tip to Google Reader – calling it “a truly useful tool.” At the time, I had recently started using it as part of my daily routine.

Continue reading “Another Hat Tip to Google Reader!”
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Mac Web/Tech

Yearning for a LIfe without Windows

Oh, how I yearn for a life without Windows – XP in my particular case. I’ve wasted an hour or two tonight trying to upgrade from some old Norton/Symantec anti-virus stuff on my Windows XP image on my Mac (under Parallels). What a giant waste of time.

Continue reading “Yearning for a LIfe without Windows”
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Apple iPhone 3G Web/Tech

MobileMe is Working Great!

MobileMe had some teething problems – being part of the massive iPhone 3G launch.

But, for me anyway, MobileMe has really settled down and is working great for syncing between my iPhone 3G and my MacBook Pro.

The final piece of perfection would be for changes on the MacBook Pro to be pushed to the cloud once they’ve been made. As it currently works, you need to either invoke a manual sync or wait for 10-15 minutes before the sync occurs.

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Sports Web/Tech

The Olympics – A Microsoft Experience

In an article titled “Olympics Online, With a Hook” in tomorrow’s New York Times, John Markoff writes about how Microsoft and NBC are offering the Olympics online – as long as you install Microsoft’s Silverlight web browser plug-in to watch it.

Too bad NBC decided to go down this path with its Olympic content this year. Of course, as a new iPhone 3G owner, I’d have much preferred that NBC embraced the proprietary Apple media approach!

Oh well – I suppose I could try to deal with all of this on my virtual Windows XP machine on my Mac – but I really just can’t be bothered.