Technology posts

For decades, International Business Machines Corporation, better known as IBM, has been one of the most solid representatives in the tech world from a purely business perspective. As the global restructuring plan that they announced two months ago starts to take effect, what does it tell us about the tech industry in general? It isn’t just the executives or the base level employees that are getting cut, a distinction that often covers the cuts that companies make. Both ends of the spectrum are at risk. This move comes after their first earning shortfall since 2005 when they missed projections…

The hot news item this week is that the National Security Agency is perusing millions of U.S. customer phone records at Verizon Communications and has been snooping on the digital communications stored by nine major Internet services under what is known as its PRISM Program. It reminds us how aggressively personal data is being collected and analyzed in a variety of different data banks. Does this mean that Government is turning Into ‘Big Brother’.   George Orwell’s Big Brother in 1984 Big Brother was the dictator of Oceania in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.  This was a a…

If you had a quarter for every time someone said, “If I had a quarter for every time…,” how much money would you have?  Wouldn’t it be enlightening (and more entertaining) to get an image of the accumulated funds?  For example, would you have enough quarters to fill every room in your home?  Would you have enough funds to buy your favorite sports team? Consider the monoliths of today’s business world, such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft, companies worth mind-blowing numbers of monies.  We can count their cash down to the last cent.  However, (potentially) what types of purchases and comparisons…

It took longer than most thought and may be a lighter hit than expected, but the exodus of a Yahoo-owned Tumblr has begun with the resignation of Creative Director Jacob Bijani. He was the fifth employee of the startup five years ago and the first designer to join the team. In a blog post, he did not mention Yahoo at all, nor did he discuss his relationship with any other executives. Today was my last day at Tumblr. Five years ago I joined a team of four as Tumblr’s first designer, creative director, and product engineer. That team has since grown to 182 of the most wonderful and talented people around….

Life can quickly become encumbered by clutter. It seems like you turn your head and suddenly counter tops are piled with stacks of CDs and other dust attractors. There is a good way to get rid of stack of CDs around the house: go digital. Here are a few of the best reasons for artists and fans to go digital.   No clutter & dust Stacks of CDs left around the house are unattractive, outdated, and they attract dust. A decade ago it might have seemed cool to have an entire wall of CDs, and people might have been envious of you. However, today people see stacks of CDs and assume you’re too lazy to burn…

The early 1920s were the years of the one-room schoolhouse. A few years later, in 1923, classrooms began incorporating radios into their lessons. By 1933, 52 percent of schools were using silent films, while three percent were already using films with sound. In 1939, the first TV was used in a classroom. During the 1950s and 60s, headphones and chalkboards began to be used in classrooms. In 1964, BASIC was developed to give students an easy-to-learn programming language. Then, in 1967, the handheld calculator was developed by Texas Instruments. In 1972, Scantrons were first used to automatically…

Has the sleeping giant awoken or is this a last ditch effort to remain relevant? After buying Tumblr last week, Yahoo is now in the mix to buy Hulu with numbers in the $600m to $800m being tossed around. They don’t seem to be done yet, either. At the same time and separately, according to sources inside the company, Yahoo is also contemplating at least two other significant purchases — in the $150 million to $200 million range — each for a mobile and a communications company. Wow, guys. This really is Marissa Mayer’s Yahoo, isn’t it? The Tumblr deal was huge, even if mostly symbolic, but to be involved…

Drivers are constantly distracted, visually, manually and cognitively. They text, they call, and they adjust their GPS devices, all while driving. Nearly 80% of car crashes in the US are caused by these distracted drivers. While Google Glass is a (mostly) hands-free device with some amazing capabilities specifically designed for the road, how will it affect driver safety in a driver-distracted world? In 2012, cellphone use—especially texting—was responsible for one crash every 24 seconds in America, according to the National Safety Council, which lists three types of driving distractions:…

The advent of global and communications technologies has been at the forefront of business and consumer industries for years, allowing us to share data, ideas and collaborative tools instantly around the world. However, the private sector isn’t the only industry to be revolutionized by the digital age. Technological advances in the public sector has seen a huge growth as the need for reliable communication tools and state-of-the-art devices rises in an effort to save lives and serve the community.   Innovative technology for civil servants A civil servant, being responsible for…

As Tumblr users cope with news of a new overlord, many are voicing both concern and annoyance at the $1.1 billion deal. The most vocal are getting their message heard and it’s spreading across Tumblr as well as other social networks, but it’s not enough to make Yahoo or Tumblr concerned. Wordpress founder Matt Mullenweg noticed something Sunday after the rumors of a done deal started surfacing: “Imports have actually spiked on the rumors even though it’s Sunday: normally we import 400-600 posts an hour from Tumblr, last hour it was over 72,000.” While some are saying this is just the beginning…