TekTidbits

What Will Be the Next New Technology?

On the way to a meeting in San Francisco today, my coworkers and I were discussing what we would do if we suddenly became President of the US.  This will never happen, of course, but it is certainly fun to speculate!  One thing we all agreed upon - outsourcing has been great in some ways and harmful in others.  A country has to be judicious in what it decides to outsource. The key for countries, companies (and individuals) is to outsource weaknesses NOT strengths.  The US has begun to outsource innovation, which has traditionally been one of it's strengths.  Not good. 

How to reverse this trend?  Not easy, as how do you bring back what is already gone? 

The answer is a whole new industry and new technology.  Ah, but what will that be?  Biotech is still the industry of the future, and may always be just that.  New and alternative energy sources?  This is one of them.

What about teleportation?  Could this be a possibility?  I think so, but not in my lifetime.  What about the development of alternative food sources. Another idea, and one that I think has not yet been explored fully.

No matter what, the US most certainly needs a new passion - a new avenue in which to contribute from our strength, innovation.  And this time, we need to hold on to our strength and outsource our weaknesses.  

Voice Mashups, and the Future of Web 2.0 + Voice Apps

I love the word Mashup - I picture in my mind one of those old fashioned potato mashers just pounding a number of concepts in a big Internet bowl until something yummy emerges! 

And at the recent Broadsoft Connections show, the whole pile of new voice mashup apps were certainly innovative, if not yummy. 

A new company called Blue Visor LLC out of Nevada took 3rd place in the Broadsoft mashup competition with mobile voice control apps demo'ed on an iPhone.  Joe "Developer", the companies' spokesman, made use of these apps look so easy that the overhead "text-to-billboard" was full of those claiming Joe should run for President. 

The winner of this contest - Thomas Howe, created a mashup for disaster relief services that integrated Twitter, Broadworks and RSS feeds to create a dashboard for workers that illustrated real time information that could be critical to their efforts.   Called "Disaster Dispatcher", this was a great real world app that could be very useful, especially if the climate change we are seeing continues.  The interface was pretty clear, and the demo was interesting.  All key info was in one window, and I can see that this could make life and death difference in an emergency.  Digging for data under duress is no fun. 

Voice mashups are the next great thing for the telecom industry - and I can think of about 20 or 30 I would like to see someone actually create.  Voice enabling job search sites with a server based voicemail box for each recruiter would streamline the process for those on both sides of the fence. Many many more possibilities exist - some of which I am NOT going to write about as who knows, maybe I will start creating them myself?

BT certainly has faith in the mashup concept - with its $105M purchase of Mountain View based Ribbit in July.   Who will be next?

VoIP is NOT Plug and Play!

In the early days of VoIP or Voice-over-IP, the industry was full of hype and hope.  We thought that we could just make VoIP phones, plug them into our routers, and have the same service quality that we enjoyed for years with our land line phones at a fraction of the cost.  Then the bubble burst - and we realized that we had firewall issues, NAT issues, bandwidth issues and garbled speech during high bandwidth issues - and phone outages when our Internet service went down. Ouch!

But the cost benefits were real and measurable - so many residences stuck with it.  Now, my home Vonage service is as good or better than AT&T ever was! But businesses have a special challenge, as a missed or garbled phone call can cost customers, time, and money.

This is why I am so happy to be a part of Packet Island - a company that creates a remote monitoring solution that allows enterprises, and service providers who offer hosted solutions to enterprises - an easy way of troubleshooting their networks when problems arise.  

The solution consists of 4" x 5" micro appliances that actually reside in the end customer's network that act as sniffers - so real time, call-by-call info can be easily accessed over a remote Java-based GUI.  

No more do businesses have to suffer to get lower phone prices!  Check out our new blog for more info too.  

What Desktop Computer is Lighter Than a Laptop - And Consumes As Much Power As a Clock Radio?

Stumped?  No, it is not one of the new UMPCs (after all, it IS a desktop) - but a Linux-based ultra-green PC called the CherryPal.

This revolutionary new PC is designed to minimize the impact of old electronics junk on landfills - it is expected to last for 10 years:  an amazing concept in the age of planned obsolence.  It has no moving parts, and instead uses the concept of "cloud computing" - the CherryPal company gives you 50GB of Internet based storage free of charge and hosts the data center your files occupy. This is another solid blow to the traditional hard drive based PC!

Along with your hosted storage, CherryPal offers defense grade security and hosted antivirus and other systems support.  I am excited to receive my new machine for this reason alone.  With five PCs in my home, I spend hours every weekend running antivirus, spyware, and registry maintenance software. I am not sure what I will do with all my new found free time!

As CherryPal is Linux based, it doesn't run the traditional Microsoft Office suite.  It does come loaded with a proprietary instant messenger, iTunes, and OpenOffice.org - a web-based Microsoft alternative. 

A new CherryPal will run you $249 and comes with free 24/7 support - which is another refreshing change from the Intel/Microsoft infrastructure.  And the specifications are respectable, as follows:

Freescale’s MPC5121e mobileGT processor, 800 MIPS (400 MHz) of processing
256 MB of DDR2 DRAM
4GB NAND Flash-based solid state drive
WiFi 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
Two USB 2.0 ports
One 10/100 Ethernet with RJ-45 jack
One VGA DB-15 display out jack
Headphone level stereo audio out 3.5mm jack
9vDC 2.5mm 10 watt AC-DC adapter power supply
Weighs 10 ounces
1.3” high, 5.8” x 4.2” wide

If you visit CherryPal's website and enter the promo code CPP293, you will receive a $10 rebate too!

We all have a responsibility to go green and stop global warming!  Here is one more giant step we can take, without sacrificing our love of technology. 

Politics Meets Technology

Election 2008 (or should we call it Election 2.0?) embraced technology again by engaging a new and interesting debate platform.   Starting yesterday - the Personal Democracy Forum has sponsored a Twitter debate between the McCain camp and the Obama camp.

I'll admit that when I first tried Twitter - I wasn't impressed.  The character limit was too repressive (I am not a person of few words) and the tag line " What are you doing?" sounded to me like we were going to facilitate a whole new generation of legalized stalking. 

But then a funny thing happened - I got used to it.  It became fun.  Even if noone cared, I put out little Tweets into cyberspace and enjoyed it.  After all, who doesn't like being listened to?

Now my hope is that this new use of Twitter doesn't crash the already fragile infrastructure.  The good news is that our beloved Twitter and its character limit will FORCE brevity upon our wordy politician friends. 

Free Cell Phone Minutes to Aid in the Battle Against TB?

The treatment for tuberculosis involves six months of taking multiple drugs - not easy for many patients.  Researchers at MIT believe they have found a plausible solution for helping patients complete this rigorous regimen - offer free cell phone minutes! 

This research team has found a way to use cell phones for self-testing. If the patient follows doctor's orders and this is verified by his or her cell phone - the reward will be free minutes.

Could it work?  With rising costs all around us, why not? The only concern would be what to do with patients who don't currently have cell phones.  And I see no mention of any carrier sponsorship yet.  Although it would be a great PR move for any carrier to adopt it!

[Photo credit: MIT]

The Sandisk Sansa Connect

My husband wanted to be "different" from the kids, who all have iPods, so I recently bought him a Sandisc Sansa Connect and am REALLY happy with the purchase.  It appears to be the first inexpensive MP3 player to offer both WiFi access for Internet Radio listening, and video capability.  The 2.2" TFT screen is crystal clear, and the colors seem to pop out at you.

The only bummer is that the Sandisk people appeared to have partnered with Yahoo - a dangerous move in this times.  Yahoo Unlimited Music to Go appears to be no more, and the Yahoo Music site directs you to Rhapsody instead.  Luckily, I was able to move MP3s from my iTunes to Rhapsody/Real Player, and then over to the Connect.  Perhaps this is the reason the Connect is now listed as discontinued?

Photos and videos can be added through the Sansa Media converter which can be downloaded from the Sansa site. The player shows videos lengthwise, so they are easy to view.  We especially like the sound quality and the lighted click wheel, making it easier to view in the dark. The combination wall charger with USB plug was a nice feature too, and one you won't find on an iPod. 

You can pick up one of these players now for a song on eBay since they were discontinued.  I sincerely hope that Sandisk partners with a different music company and launches a new model, as this one was great.

New Social Network just for Startup Junkies!

Now, startup employees, VCs, and founders have a gathering place - For Startup Addicts Only has launched its Beta version today.  Founded by myself and Dhiraj Sogani of Wi2Wi Inc (a wireless SiP startup), FSAO is designed to provide a forum for those whose lives revolve around startups to post concerns, connect with others who face the same issues, get funding, refine elevator pitches, and connect with professionals who can help them meet their goals.

We are very excited about FSAO - and we welcome your feedback.  We have included the capability to post videos, photos, gadgets, and discussions on this site.  We have also started two new groups to get the ball rolling, but we welcome any and all new groups (within topic, of course) to join and congregate here.

Of course, we have featured a Dilbert cartoon to set the mood!

Digital Picture Frames - A Great Gift Idea

Along with the Wii, one of the hottest gifts this season is a digital picture frame - a slightly thicker picture frame that allows you to upload pictures from your digital camera and play them back in a standard 8-10' display.

If you have relatives that live remotely and don't have a PC - or have a PC outside the main living areas, this is a great way to share photos and give a meaningful gift.   

Most frames run between $150 and $200 - and are limited to the 8-10' form factor due to processor limitations.  Larger images with the typical processors used would be "pixelated" or grainy in appearance. 

2008 will be the year that this changes - as newer processors from Freescale and Marvell add more imaging functionality and resolution to the mix.  Look for new frames up to 20' to be introduced this year, along with MP3 technology and video playback capability.

One of the biggest complaints is still the useability of the menus included with these frames.  If you are buying one for a family member who doesn't have a computer, I suggest loading the photos and music for them to remove the confusion factor.   

A New Twist on Natural Energy - Eel Powered?

In a Japanese aquarium, at least one Christmas tree is completely powered off the grid.  It's power source?  An electric eel. Two aluminum panels in the tank act as electrodes - capturing the eel's electricity and sending it to the tree at the Aqua Tote Gifu aquarium, where it is proving to be quite a tourist draw.

This tree is completely immune to any power outages, and will be illuminated until December 25th. 

Perhaps more could be done with Eel-ectricity in the future?  No word was given as to the efficiency of the power conversion, or overall effect on the eel in question.