Author: JD Rucker

Many of the problems that face the world currently have been solved through technology. Food can be grown, raised, processed, packaged, and shipped in efficient ways. Medicine has extended life and cured most diseases that once killed the masses. We can communicate with people anywhere in the world, travel to nearly any place in the world, and we have the ability to protect the people from most forms of natural challenges. The only problem we can’t really address is the sheer bulk. There’s simply too many people with too many needs to handle all of the problems. The technology is there. We just can’t…

It was one of the most amazing technological feats of the day. A century ago, the most amazing piece of nautical workmanship set sail on a voyage that would be its only one. Today, we look back and think how the ship that couldn’t be sunk fell victim to the now-common term, “user error”. This graphic tells the tale of the mighty Titanic from a perspective that the movie could not. While the beauty of both the vessel and the movie are without question, the real beauty (at least for us geeks) can be found in the numbers behind the ship that was destined for disaster. From: Indianapolis Chevrolet Via: History…

As Sony continues to get pounced on by gaming aficionados over the poor roll out through improper marketing and bad initial titles, Playstation is moving onward and upward with Mortal Kombat to give it another boost in sales following recent success. To do it, they have turned to arguably the most popular character in the series: Kitana. The female killer should get some attention for the launch of the game on May 1st. It needs to. Another failure may be enough to send even the most hardcore Playstation portable gaming fans to other platforms. Here’s the trailer: …

Every professional field has a set of hot buttons that allows those in it to be manipulated. For politicians, it’s money, power, and votes. In Hollywood, it’s exposure, inclusion, and awards. Everyone has hot buttons, even the allegedly-unfaltering news media. For them, there are really only three things that can manipulate them: exclusives, scoops, and leaks. Today, thegadgetbuff caught a video put out by Nokia for a short time ahead of a launch tomorrow of the Lumia 610NFC, the first Near Field Communication enabled Windows phone. This is news. It’s just not big news. What made the news bigger…

The hashtag has become a symbol of sentiment in a society where the people are often so connected virtually to one another that real-world relationships often revolve around our online and mobile personae. With social media acting as a bellwether for our interpersonal connections, it’s no wonder that so many people are finding (and losing) love as a result of the growing influence of our digital connections. When Lebanese filmmaker Robert Cremona sent me his short film “#signhereplease” I was a little skeptical after finding out that it was shot entirely from a smartphone. It was just today…

In 2007, there was an emerging social media site that had a modest but growing userbase. It was designed to let users tell their friends and followers what they were doing at that moment regardless of how mundane or personal. The posts on it were comprised of over 90% unlinked statements or questions. It wasn’t very common for people to post links unless it was to an image that helped encapsulate the moment in which they were living. The mainstream explosion of Twitter in 2008 changed the site tremendously. People started flocking in. Celebrities started flocking in. Marketing zombies started…

With many in social media declaring Google+ as a valiant effort that simply came too late to the game to make a real impact, Google CEO Larry Page released March data that showed a sharp turn in the total visits after flatlining from December to February. I want Google+ to succeed. I don’t want it to be the ghost town that keeps forcing me back to Facebook to see what my non-tech-savvy and non-Google-employee friends are doing. I prefer the interface, the organization of the data, and the company itself more than Facebook. The challenge has been in getting friends and family on it. For Google’s part,…

Social media has been the most enigmatic tool that chief marketing officers have used with varying degrees of success over the last few years. They know that there’s something there but it eludes many. In some cases, social media has been seen as having a negative effect on the overall marketing efforts. This infographic by CMO breaks down the landscape nicely. While there are certainly things included in the graphic that could be argued, it’s generally an exceptionally well-done breakdown. Click to enlarge. …

Another sighting of Google’s yearly April Fool’s Day jokes is live. If you search for “weather” you will have the standard forecast available, but you’ll have the new option of using the “Google Weather Control” interface to make changes if you’d like. You’ll see in the image above I set it to snow in Beverly Hills on Sunday. Once you make your changes, Google prompts you with this warning: “Please notice, after submitting it takes approximately 45 minutes until your weather changes take effect. Note: exercise caution when setting extremes.”…

It’s all about timing. Bing’s inability to take market share from Google in the search industry and Facebook’s focus on improving their internal and external search abilities has made it seem to be a perfect match since the NY Times suggested the possibility last year. The timing simply hasn’t been right and the discussion hasn’t progressed beyond closed-door discussions. When is  the right time for this industry-changing event? Most would say that an infusion of cash and the risk of distraction makes it a deal that would best occur after they go public, but there are those who say that concerns…