Archive for the ‘Offbeat’ Category

Crunching the numbers: iPads vs texbooks

8 hours ago by Sal McCloskey | add comment

Some day in the (very) near future, we may no longer need a traditional backpack at school. Rather than carrying around a laptop and textbooks, we will be consolidating the various components of school gear down to a single device that fits nicely within our hands: an iPad. Many schools are already more »

Microsoft attempts (and fails) to destroy Google Apps with "Googlighting"

11 hours ago by JD Rucker | add comment

It may not be the first time Microsoft has tried to use humor and aggressive attacks to go after Google, but this time it hits a little closer to home than they’ve done in the past. In attacking Google Apps as a work productivity tool, Microsoft invokes Wave, Gears, and Buzz as examples of how Google has completely more »

Geek vs Hipster: The battle for the coolest of the uncool

14 hours ago by Lorie Wimble | add comment

As terms of classification of humans goes, hipsters and geeks have been battling for the title of the “coolest of the uncool.” For hipsters, the phrase “before it was cool” has become synonymous with their lifestyle and music sense. What’s the difference between the two (if any) and who really more »

Different shades of grey... or not

19 hours ago by Connor Livingston | add comment

Optical illusions are often fanciful diversions that keep us keen to the fact that our own minds can not only be tricked, but often tricks itself. Some illusions are so mind-blowing that we try with all of our mental capacities to see reality, but we struggle to convince our minds that what we’re more »

Ericsson's vision of a networked society expands with "Thinking Cities"

Feb 21 by JD Rucker | 1 comment

When we first covered Ericsson’s Networked Society Project, we called it beautiful and terrifying. Their latest video shows that beauty can prevail when technology inserts itself into our lives with positive motives in mind. The concept centers around Information and Communication Technology (ICT). As cities continue to grow more »

iGEM makes science cool for students

Feb 20 by Connor Livingston | add comment

For nearly a decade, the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition has put the sharpest minds in high school and undergraduate institutions around the world into competitive and creative mode to find the next great mad scientist genius inventor. Students work during the summer more »

F-Commerce gets an 'F' as Facebook storefronts fail miserably

Feb 19 by Lorie Wimble | 2 comments

When Facebook started rolling out their plan to put online stores on their platform in November, 2010, many believed that “F-Commerce” was the next big thing. It was heralded as a competitor for Amazon, a socialized shopping experience that allowed consumers to go to Facebook to find all of their favorite brands more »

Tim Cook is the Michael Corleone of Apple

Feb 14 by JD Rucker | add comment

It has been just over 4 months since Steve Jobs died. Since then, Apple continues to head in the right direction financially and has seen very little in the way of slowing down its development of products. Tim Cook, the CEO, has not had many public appearances since then and the ones he has had have more »

Pinterest may be changing the social commerce game, but why?

Feb 13 by JD Rucker | 1 comment

Pinterest is starting to enter into the social media in ways that most sites only dream about. Other than Google+, it’s the fastest growing social site in the last year with 329% growth in the last 4 months of 2011 alone. We get more questions on our social media podcast about Pinterest the last month more »

Confused by what Verizon's 4G LTE really means? Saturday Night Live is, too.

Feb 12 by Rocco Penn | 1 comment

Speed is relative. Internet speed is extremely relative, which is why Verizon has been touting the impressive speeds that their network is providing to users. The problem is that they may not be spreading the message as well as they would if they simply came out and gave us real numbers. That’s been more »

Is online banking as safe as people think?

Feb 11 by Connor Livingston | 5 comments

More US adults bank online than use social networks (for now, at least). It has become such a common activity that despite the risks of identity theft, hacking, and phishing, most of us are still convinced that the transactions are secure. For the most part, they are. For the most part. The banking community more »

Is this creepy android mannequin the future of retail merchandising?

Feb 11 by Rocco Penn | 1 comment

If this is the future of retail, I’ll be shopping online more often. Takashimaya, a department store in Tokyo, is working with Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro from Osaka University to demonstrate their concept of the next generation of retail merchandising. The timing couldn’t be better – the female mannequin is pushing their more »

Tesla's electric Model X adds sexy to the minivan

Feb 10 by Lorie Wimble | add comment

When one thinks of Tesla, they think of high-end electric vehicle performance. The company is known for putting out some of the best-performing, visually stunning vehicles available in the market. Now, Tesla is going for the family market with a minivan that goes 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds. According more »

Yelp users are easier to spot than most

Feb 9 by Rocco Penn | 1 comment

There are definite distinctions between users of various social sites. They’re often easy to spot based upon their look (Tumblr), activities (FourSquare), and attitude (Pinterest), but the combination of the three can help us identify Yelp users very easily. Our friends at Flowtown take a humorous more »