Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• New York City replaces 250 public pay phones with iPad-like screens — Tech News and Analysis

  • “you have to give people content before you give them advertising.”

• Google wants to take on Apple with an open AirPlay alternative — Online Video News

  • Google is working on an open alternative to Apple’s AirPlay, and it’s hoping to bring a number of device and software vendors on board to provide the industry with an open technology to exchange data between second screens and TV-connected devices
  • And it’s not just about remote control functionality and beaming a video from your mobile phone to the TV we are talking about. The new protocol makes it possible for data to flow in both directions, Drayson explained, which would enable developers to build second-screen experiences that correspond to what’s happening on live TV as well. Also on the roadmap: beaming content from your laptop to your TV screen.

• How to Get Startup Ideas

  • Why is it so important to work on a problem you have? Among other things, it ensures the problem really exists. It sounds obvious to say you should only work on problems that exist. And yet by far the most common mistake startups make is to solve problems no one has.
  • The verb you want to be using with respect to startup ideas is not "think up" but "notice."
  • coming up with startup ideas is a question of seeing the obvious. That suggests how weird this process is: you're trying to see things that are obvious, and yet that you hadn't seen.
  • The next best thing to an unmet need of your own is an unmet need of someone else.
  • Make something unsexy that people will pay you for.

• Energy: The economics of global climate leadership | The Economist

  • Somewhat surprisingly, new exploration and technology—mostly the technique for obtaining unconventional oil and gas known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking"—will make America a net exporter of energy within a few decades.

• Report: China 'Affluent' Population to Hit 280 Million by 2020 - China Real Time Report - WSJ

  • the total number of affluent consumers China is expected to have by 2020 – more than doubling the current total of 120 million — according to a new study by consultancy Boston Consulting Group

• Made in USA label popular in China, too: study | Reuters

  • Consumers in China are willing to pay a premium for certain products labeled "Made in USA" because they see them as more durable and of higher quality, a new study found

• Now That Nielsen Tracks Tweets, How Will That Change TV? - Forbes

  • They just said Twitter is the best place to go and buy second screen, because that’s where we’re going to measure
  • We as a network have no idea exactly how many people are talking about our programs on Facebook,
  • Real-time, or linear, viewing has been under siege since the VCR. But nothing has the potential to disrupt watching at the same time quite like on-demand viewing and streaming
  • Tablet viewing, for instance, could not only hasten time-shifting trends, but also completely change the whole condition for “second screen” watching

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• New WiFi protocol boosts congested wireless network throughput by 700% | ExtremeTech

  • Engineers at NC State University (NCSU) have discovered a way of boosting the throughput of busy WiFi networks by up to 700%. Perhaps most importantly, the breakthrough is purely software-based, meaning it could be rolled out to existing WiFi networks relatively easily — instantly improving the throughput and latency of the network
  • To solve this problem, NC State University has devised a scheme called WiFox. In essence, WiFox is some software that runs on a WiFi access point (i.e. it’s part of the firmware) and keeps track of the congestion level. If WiFox detects a backlog of data due to congestion, it kicks in and enables high-priority mode. In this mode, the access point gains complete control of the wireless network channel, allowing it to clear its backlog of data. Then, with the backlog clear, the network returns to normal.

• A Venture Capitalist Weighs on the Next Phase of Tech Innovation - Forbes

  • We see significant changes in a number of enterprise technologies such as cloud infrastructure, mobile, storage, software-defined networking and security.

• Republicans lost the culture war - CNN.com

  • According to a Pew Research poll taken last year, 49% of Americans age 18-29 have a positive view of socialism while just 46% have a positive view of capitalism. Such a view has roots.

• Pepsi Special Sold In Japan Claims To Block Fat « CBS Pittsburgh

  • It contains an additive called Dextrin, a fat-blocking fiber that is supposed to keep the body from absorbing fat and lower cholesterol levels. That’s a claim that the Food & Drug Administration has not yet bought.

     

    But if it does, as a marketing tool, a Pepsi drink that blocks fat could be a winner

  • “If you read some of the product claims, there’s one thing I saw that says you’ll be able to eat a piece of chocolate cake and it won’t be absorbed,
  • But a Pepsi ad in Japan suggests you can eat both pizza and hamburger – as long as you drink Pepsi Special.

• visualant_10k-15341.htm

  • Visualant’s SPM technology resides in the general marketplace for spectroscopy (measurement of light according to its spectrum) and spectrometry (the measurement of the chemical or atomic components as a function of light reflected or absorbed by them).  These analytic tools are typically fragile and expensive often costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

• Welcome to The Future: BlueBubbleLab and The Market Research of Tomorrow - Forbes

  • One of BluebubbleLab’ key product is a software that can read people’s face and describe their emotions.
  • Bluebubblelab allows companies to measure consumer reaction by analyzing their facial expressions while they test the product at their own homes or anywhere else.
  • According to Ben Van Dongen,CEO, “Our software allows us to understand people not by listening to what they tell us. It captures the reptile brain information by looking at 128 micro muscles in anyone’s face which are managed by their cortex. Our software tell us if the person likes something or not and if he is happy or sad or angry. We not only analyze the muscles but also measure heart rate, emotions, eye tracking, breathing, behavior, facial recognition, attention time, head pose, and more

• Online viewers start leaving if video doesn’t play in 2 seconds, says study — Tech News and Analysis

  • A new study reports that faster internet connections have made viewers more impatient, and that people begin abandoning videos if they don’t load within two seconds
  • the “four second rule” — the amount of time people will wait for a webpage to download.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• Dear Matt Drudge: Stop the race stories - The Hill's Pundits Blog

  • "When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic".  Benjamin Franklin.

• The Social Network Quotes (Page 3)

  • Harvard undergraduates believe that inventing a job is better than finding a job

• Web radio growing faster than on-demand services (study) | Internet & Media - CNET News

  • Pandora is supporting legislation that would lower the royalty rates that Web radio services pay labels and artists to play music. The music industry, which had scheduled a pow wow last night to discuss how to battle Pandora's legislation, says that the sector has been shrinking for more than a decade while Pandora's executives are banking millions. They say creators can't take any more hits.

• Mexico to reconsider joint policies with U.S. amid new state marijuana laws - Washington Times

  • A top aide to Mexico’s President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto says votes to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state will force the Mexican government to rethink its efforts at trying to halt marijuana smuggling across the Southwest border.

• The Case of the Missing White Voters | RealClearPolitics

  • In other words, if our underlying assumption -- that there are 7 million votes outstanding -- is correct, then the African-American vote only increased by about 300,000 votes, or 0.2 percent, from 2008 to 2012. The Latino vote increased by a healthier 1.7 million votes, while the “other” category increased by about 470,000 votes.

     

    This is nothing to sneeze at, but in terms of the effect on the electorate, it is dwarfed by the decline in the number of whites. Again, if our assumption about the total number of votes cast is correct, almost 7 million fewer whites voted in 2012 than in 2008.

• Judge denies Fox’s request to stop Dish’s commercial-skipping service | Ars Technica

  • Of course, Fox has the opposite view. "Dish is marketing and benefitting from an unauthorized VOD service that illegally copies Fox’s valuable programming," Fox said. The company has vowed to appeal the decision

• MasterCard rolls out credit card with display and keypad | Crave - CNET

  • Next time you get a new card from your bank, don't be surprised if it has a keypad and an LCD on it. 

    Meet MasterCard's new "Display Card," which basically combines the usual credit/debit or ATM card with an authentication token. The authentication portion features a touch-sensitive keypad and LCD display -- hence the name "Display Card" -- for reflecting a one-time password (OTP). 

• Ink of the Week Merriam

  • I think one of the pros said this year, "If you have to ask why, you'll never understand." I think that's so true about IRONMAN. You will never understand the draw, the feeling of accomplishment, the pain and the true reasons each athlete strives for this until you've been through it. 

• Will Obama Harsh Colorado's Historic Marijuana Legalization? - Forbes

  • The implications for Colorado are serious. Economically, it could both bolster the already legal medical marijuana industry and do damage to the illicit dealer. It could also lead to a tourist boon, the likes of which Colorado has not known since the chairlift.

• Machine-To-Machine 'Internet Of Things' Gaining Steam - Investors.com

  • M2M in buildings, for example, could integrate security, maintenance, electrical and water systems for better management. In the home, M2M technology could help consumers efficiently control and optimize usage of appliances, electrical and water systems. In health care, the technology could monitor patients wearing implantable monitoring devices no matter where they may be

• October, 2012: The Month That Your Smartphone and Four Other Technologies Officially Started To Die - Forbes

  • In record numbers, people are doing their work on laptops and devices that have never been touched by an employee at Microsoft or Intel.  We all knew this was going to happen.  And now we have proof.  So much for the good old days of the Microsoft-Intel alliance.
  • Urban Outfitters, a major retailer, announced that it will no longer have cash registers in its stores, instead equipping salespeople with iPod Touches and self-service iPads for their customers.

• http://xml.10kwizard.com/filing_raw.php?repo=tenk&ipage=8544715

  • Future devices embedded with ChromaID technology can read and record natural chromatic markers by structuring light onto a substance, through a liquid or gas, or off a surface. Once scanned, the technology captures the reflected light in a simple Photodiode and provides a unique ChromaID profile. The ChromaID profile can be matched against existing databases to identify, detect, or diagnosis markers invisible to the human eye

• Measuring your metabolism - Health - Fitness - Smart Fitness | NBC News

  • But now there are other options for determining how fast or slow your engine's running. Two high-tech gadgets available at many health clubs and weight-loss centers promise to give you a more accurate assessment. One is called BodyGem and the other is New Leaf. With both, you breathe into a mouthpiece or face mask that determines your body’s exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide while at rest. The devices then spit out your individualized RMR, which Bryant and other experts say is more accurate than the mathematical formulas.

     

    The RMR figure can then be used, along with estimates of how much energy you burn each day through physical activity and how many calories you ingest, to tailor-make a fitness and diet plan — how much more you need to exercise and how much less you need to eat —to help you achieve your weight-loss and fitness goals.

• How to Measure Your Metabolic Rate - For Dummies

  • Many methods exist for calculating your metabolic rate, but one of the best ways to get an accurate measurement of it is to use equipment that measures your resting metabolic rate (similar to your BMR) by examining your oxygen input and carbon dioxide output. Several hand-held devices are available today for the public, but these can be cost prohibitive and not completely accurate.

• WELCH: US Energy Bigger Than Internet - Business Insider

  • Talking about shale gas, Welch said:

     

    We have a chance in this country to make this the American century. This gas thing is huge. The gas and oil that we have found is in the first inning. It's like the internet in 1990. We're in the first inning of a great American century

• CLYW Message Board | CALYPSO WIRELESS Stock - Yahoo! Finance

  • My wag is that after we win the trial (remember, the jury has to find just one of 30 patent features have been infringed), is a pps of $1.50, after Daic's 28% and receiver's percent (15%?). Then, we sell the patent. Estimated sale value: $1.5 billion. Final pps after expenses and creditors paid, $3.50 - $8.00

• CLYW Message Board | CALYPSO WIRELESS Stock - Yahoo! Finance

  • CLYW shareholders are thus in the unique position of all or nothing. If TM wins the 2013 case, shareholders get nothing for their years of investing and waiting. If CLYW wins and then sells the patent, CLYW shareholders will have their lives completely changed by an insane return of dollars on pennies spent on the shares. The stock cannot be traded on the market anymore but can, of course, be bought and sold privately.

• Romney offers a real alternative to Obama, Bush and the whole New Deal sexy state circus – Telegraph Blogs

  • The creation of a warfare/welfare state consensus under both Republicans and Democrats lumbered the federal government with crippling levels of debt. Using the tax code to buy off segments of the population shrivelled income, while liberalism’s language of class war made it hard to build a consensus for reform.
  • In 2012, Obama is the candidate of the warfare/welfare establishment that has dominated American politics for eighty years.
  • Romney offers an alternative not only to Obama but also to Bush. He offers an alternative to whole New Deal, big spending, debt hiking, contraception distributing, sexy state circus
  • The Romney/Paul ticket seems to have grasped that America simply cannot continue the way it is going. In a globalised world, smaller government is more competitive and more competitive is more beautiful.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Stories I Found Of Interest (weekly)

• Visualant Wins Fourth Patent on ChromaID Technology Using Exclusive Spectral Pattern Matching Technique - Yahoo! Finance

  • Future devices embedded with ChromaID technology can read and record natural chromatic markers by structuring light onto a substance, through a liquid or gas, or off a surface. Once scanned, the technology captures the reflected light in a simple Photodiode and provides a unique ChromaID profile. The ChromaID profile can be matched against existing databases to identify, detect, or diagnosis markers invisible to the human eye.
  • Visualant Founder and CEO Ron Erickson believes ChromaID technology will usher in new angles to protect consumer products, currencies, pharmaceuticals, and a wide variety of products by bringing the power of spectral analysis from the lab and into the field. Erickson states, "Our technology adds another authentication layer to tools used by government and industrial entities who grapple with the identification and security challenges that impact our society at large.
  • The patented technology is disruptive, making it possible to effectively conduct analyses in the field that could only previously be performed by large and expensive lab--based tests.

• Why I’m voting for Romney - NYPOST.com

  • Reader Harold Theurer reports a new disease, writing: “Obama is talking about the ‘big things’ like ‘Romnesia.’ Well, every time I think of four more years of him, I get Obamitosis, which is a really bad taste in my mouth.”

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.