Author: JD Rucker

Google has never been the best when it comes to plugging their own products. It has resulted in poor launches of other items such as all of their first phone attempts, their Chromebooks, and just about everything else they’ve pushed, even the big Google+ blast that they’ve been hammering for the last several months. Their push for the Nexus 7 tablet has been stronger and the advertising shows promise. In an almost Applesque way, the latest video they’ve released introducing their tablet hardware attempts to touch people where they are most likely approachable – the family. Instead of going into…

Just over a week ago we declared that Yahoo had “picked a winner” by bringing in Marissa Mayer as CEO. She’s still at the top of tech boards like Techmeme, an early sign of acceptance by the tech community that she’ll be able to do something with the beleaguered online juggernaut. There is hope amongst Yahoos as can be seen in the poster they made about her (which is a top story in and of itself). The excitement level hasn’t been this high since before they were courted by Microsoft. Will it keep going? The short answer is Yes. The executive who was in charge of Google’s primary profit center for so long has…

There’s a reason why we never do unboxing videos, nor do we ever post them, but this one is different. It takes some unboxing videos from the apparently-extremely-well-secured Google Nexus 7. After watching this video, you’ll know exactly why we don’t do these ourselves. …

Yahoo has had its share of follows over the last 4 years, particularly after passing on a huge opportunity with Microsoft. After ousting their last CEO, the company has been under a ton of pressure to bring a CEO who had the (real) qualifications, the gumption, and the presence to lead the company back to prominence. With their tapping of Google executive Marissa Mayer, we believe they have delivered on their promise. The 13-years veteran has tons of experience with the one thing that Yahoo needs to regain its once-lofty position as a top internet company: generating ad revenue. As the head of Adwords…

The competition has been getting stronger. Despite continued domination by Apple in the tablet market with their single-size offering, rumors are spreading that they are considering a smaller version of the iPad to compete with the Amazon, Google, and Microsoft amongst others going after the cheaper tablet marketing. This would be a mistake. Instead of taking on the Google Nexus 7 (which started shipping last week), the Amazon Kindle Fire (with a new version expected in the 4th quarter this year), and other offerings with Android and Microsoft software, an “iPad mini” would do more to cannibalize…

Betaworks, a New York technology development firm that has had its eyes set on news distribution for some time, has purchased former social new powerhouse Digg.com for $500,000, sources close to the matter told the Wall Street Journal. Betaworks founder John Borthwick will be the new CEO of Digg. “I’ve always been a fan of John’s product vision and the companies he builds, funds, and advises,” said Kevin Rose, co-founder of Digg. “John understands the real-time nature of the web and how to capture and surface trends as they occur. Given his experience with bit.ly, news.me, and Chartbeat I can’t…

There was a time when the only apps that restaurants cared about were the ones that people ordered before their meals, often with a dipping sauce and garnish surrounding them. Now, online ordering and other ways of utilizing mobile devices before, during, and after the restaurant visit have given the term “apps” a secondary meaning for many restaurants. It’s big business. Many people will only order online for the convenience factor. They have more control over the situation when they can do it from their computer or mobile device and the concept of walking into a restaurant and ordering from…

On the surface, it may sound like a miscalculation by Apple to pull its products from the EPEAT green electronics certification program. With many large companies such as Ford, hundreds of schools, and the US government pushing EPEAT-certified electronics to be purchased in their various departments, it can be argued that Apple is cutting itself out of a large piece of the pie. They aren’t. Design over environmental certification will win out in the end and the company will continue to thrive. The release of their latest version of the Macbook Pro marked the end of the certification. They knew…

There is a growing problem in society. Once upon a time in the distant past (about 2 or 3 years ago) it was considered rude to do things such as text during class, while driving, or even during sex. Unfortunately, our addiction to the little devices in our pockets has made many of us begin to ignore the old cellular taboos that kept us polite, focused, and safer. To many, it has gotten completely out of hand. To others, it’s just a fact of life, a natural transition to a world where nothing is too sacred to exclude the use of cell phones. There’s a reason why 1 in 5 people have dropped their cell phone in the toilet….

The standard bride and groom icon that Facebook users were locked into when declaring their marriage on their timeline has some other options available. Now, same-sex marriages have icons of their own as first seen when Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes married Sean Eldridge over the weekend. His timeline event image is above. “Following Facebook’s addition of domestic partnership and civil union to profile options last year, these new marriage icons for timeline are another important way for same-sex couples to be recognized,” Allison Palmer, GLAAD’s head of campaigns and programming,…