Author: Michio Hasai

Yahoo is quickly going the way of AOL in that it’s becoming a place that simply isn’t “cool”, at least to the emerging internet users and those 20- and 30-somethings who still want to be cutting edge (and 40-, and 50-…). Everyone knows it, even Yahoo itself. “One of our challenges is we have had an aging demographic,” said CFO Ken Goldman spoke at JP Morgan’s Global Technology conference. “Part of it is going to be just visibility again in making ourselves cool, which we got away from for a couple of years.” They started heading in the right direction by getting a hip, young CEO to run the…

Twitter has had a rocky road since its rise to fame in 2008. It first had issues when its growth outpaced its ability to handle the load. Then, it started getting a bad name for being irrelevant. Then, the spam started to dominate. Users are hot and cold on it depending on what day you ask them, putting the shortened update social network in a constantly precarious state. Still, they’ve managed to thrive through it all. Some point to the streamlined way the company has been operated over the years. With under 200 employees sustaining a site that has over 190 million monthly visitors, they don’t need…

The flying car has been on the tip of every geek’s tongue for decades. We want it. They know it. Despite these facts, it has yet to hit the mainstream. That isn’t stopping Terrafugia from taking the technology and making it into a hybrid vehicle. With a range of nearly 500 miles, the concept would include vertical take-off and landing capabilities, a plug-in petrol-electric hybrid flying car, and the ability to be a four-seater. It may not be in the immediate future for consumers, but we may see it someday according to iol. As the Transition program shifts from research and development to production…

We all knew Facebook was huge. We all knew that a ton of people use Facebook on a regular basis. Now we know the true numbers from Q1 2013 and they’re probably bigger than you might have expected. According to their public results release, Facebook had 1.11 billion monthly active users as of the end of March, a number that represents the people who logged into Facebook at least once in a 30-day period. The daily active users is arguably more impressive, nearing 2/3rds of a billion people at 665 million who log in every day. That’s a lot of cheddar potential for the company with the numbers representing…

Many major companies are going flat. No, it’s not just the economy or consumer sentiment, but rather in design. Flat is in and it’s sweeping across the internet, but how long will this trend last? Facebook made headlines last week with their move to a flat logo. Apple is rumored to be flattening their interface on iOS 7. Sabina Idler at Usabilla asked the question of whether this was a trend or a revolution. We’re going to go with trend. Flat design has many advantages including speed of design, simplicity of usability, and the sheer vintage trendiness of it all, but there’s something about stunning…

The TARDIS. It’s the way that The Doctor gallivants across time and space on his various quests in Doctor Who. It’s also the fantasy vehicle of choice for many geeks around the world. Is it really bigger on the inside or is it actually smaller on the outside? Here, we’ve compiled a tribute to the TARDIS as geeks everywhere have put their creative juices into coming up with some amazing formats upon which to display their Doctor Who admiration. If you’re a true geek, you’ll appreciate at least some of these…   TARDIS Cake   TARDIS Dress   TARDIS Vending Machine   TARDIS Tattoo…

It’s not the hip, new thing anymore. That much is clear as Facebook approaches a decade of existence, but the appeal of Facebook doesn’t seem to be slowing for anyone else other than teenagers. That’s the premise of the infographic below and it seems to have some legs. Parents are getting on Facebook. This is a major downer for teens who once viewed Facebook as the online venue that they could “be themselves” without interactions or even knowledge from their parents and other adults. That isn’t the case anymore. As parents learn how to keep tabs on their kids online, kids are learning new ways to interact….

President Barack Obama’s team is very active on social media. The Facebook page that carries his name has new posts twice a day on average with a mix of hopeful messages, political statements, and personalized views into life at the White House. On Twitter, they post several times a day with links, pictures, and quotes from the President. Google+ is a different story. It was only mildly active during the election campaign. After a peak of 19 posts in August, 2012, it started falling off quickly. In September, there were 11 posts followed by 5 in October. November, the month of the election, saw two…

In a world that is looking towards driverless cars, vehicles that are online all the time, and the long-anticipated flying cars from Back to the Future, it’s great to see that some innovations are as simple as taking a couple of old concepts and putting them together. Such is the case with HondaVAC, the first in-vehicle vacuum cleaner. Many parents who are used to a clean vehicle know the frustration that comes with children. By nature, they are messy. It’s hard to drive by a popular car wash without seeing a minivan parked in front of a vacuum. It’s an idea that was inspired not by intense market study…

In recent years, the popularity of SteamPunk seems to have lost its steam a bit in popular culture, but those who still love the mix of modern technological insights with 19th century style and sensibilities hold to the fictional beautification of society as if it were a full-blown movement. As art forms go, SteamPunk is most often manifested as a part of science fiction literature. It usually involves an alternate timeline where technology and fashion adhered to brass, analog innovations, and steam power to push into the 20th century and beyond with roots in the British Victorian era as well…