New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling of customer behavior to convert more site visitors into leads, says Brian Baron, director of business analytics, in an interview at the Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Facebook's Graph Search may face some profound challenges and risks, first, because Facebook users haven't been thinking of their posts as product reviews; and second, because Facebook will now have to contend with the social-network equivalent of SEO "gaming" of results.
Companies need to take advantage of new technologies to simplify interfaces, improve capabilities, and enhance back-office processes. But they can't upgrade their Websites too often.
Apple may want to do a TV offering, but to meet its goal it would have to address three specific issues that have been exposed by earlier attempts to make Internet TV work.
Many enterprises view high-speed broadband connections as ubiquitous. Yet in about 20 percent of the country, businesses and their employees do not have access to even DSL connections. This shortcoming diminishes enterprises' ability to support their employees.
Walk into the Coastal Federal Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C., and something is missing. Rather than human tellers, customers face videoconferencing ATM machines. Is this the future of branch banking?
The new UltraViolet online DRM model has people upset, but the question we should ask ourselves is whether we want a flexible model to harmonize content owner and content consumer rights, or a one-takes-all model that probably results in less online content.
A survey by JD Powers found that customer interest in product features is lessening as phones evolve. Rather than features, price is driving purchases, and that change could have a dramatic impact on how IT departments secure these devices.
The iPad Mini is the latest iteration of the exploding tablet category. Because most tablets are WiFi-only, they create a new kind of mobile network. The problem is that we don't have issues like roaming and security defined for this new world.
A recent release of the popular TweetDeck app for Twitter power-users gives new life to software that had previously taken a wrong turn. Here's a quick walk-through of the new TweetDeck, to show you why it should be at the top of your Twitter toolkit.
We need to establish some framework for cultural harmony and tolerance in the Internet community to prevent the best global forum that has ever been becoming a locus of ill will.
Now apparently the mobile platform of choice, the Apple iPhone has benefited from its sound understanding of human factors and ergonomics – but is this reputation threatened by a looming avalanche of advertising?
When whole departments do BYOD and consumerization, it's a threat to IT and the whole organization. It's also an emerging business technology cliché you'll be sick of soon enough.
Marissa Mayer at Yahoo has come out with her strategy on turning the company around: culture, company, calibration, and compensation. But Yahoo needs to have a technical approach to the mobile cloud opportunity, not a management theory lesson.
Twitter's changes are clearly aimed at being more Facebook-like, and this is because both companies are vying to serve the mobile social network market. But can that market work for anybody, given how difficult it is to push ads to social-update readers?
The decision could discourage innovators looking to the past, and require companies to build from the ground up, leading to a new generation of stagnation in the IT world.
Recently, Amazon was recognized for its customer satisfaction excellence. It has made no secret that being customer-centric is a primary goal. This should be the goal of every e-tailer that wants to build market share.
Many vendors are moving away from hardware. The latest to join that movement is a bit of a surprise: Lowe's has decided to offer networked home security services. So, how will the company fare in this segment?
Microsoft's changes to Hotmail to create Outlook.com are clearly aimed at solidifying a cloud portal position, but does the product offer anything that would really be a game-changer versus Google's Gmail?
Netflix seemed to be a threat to all of TV, but with the current quarterly earnings report, it sure doesn't look as if that's true now. Netflix really proves that even Internet viewing of video isn't immune to profit and other business issues. This is a lesson we need to learn if we want a viable online video model.
The recent launch of the EchoStar XVII satellite has the potential to increase broadband satellite communications' top speed from megabits to gigabits of bandwidth. Hughes Network Systems plans to test its high-speed satellite broadband services this summer and roll them out this fall.
Yahoo's new CEO can't go back to what Yahoo was; that's how it got to what it is! Instead she has to look at something that Yahoo has always rejected, which is a relationship with the telcos and cablecos. They'd love a partner in creating service applications.
The Amazon smartphone rumor and the Apple mini-iPad rumor show that the mobile device giants think they have to be in all the device spaces to win. Why? Because the cloud can create an ecosystem where every device can cooperate to support the user, and if you don't supply all the devices you miss out on the total value.
Nicole and Kim have heard the news that Google's new mobile OS, "Jelly Bean," has a voice assistant that's poised to defeat their precious Siri. It's time for another test!
Telcos and cable companies seem to be engaging in a speed war, pushing access up to 300Mbit/s. Does this mean our Internet is getting better? No, it means that the operators are thinking of ways to use the capacity outside the Internet.
Amanda Richman, president of digital at MediaVest, cites the rise of the 'empowered consumer' as one of the most significant changes in digital marketing today.
Jeff Mirman, vice president of marketing at Turner Sports, discusses how his company turns fans and followers into engaged brand advocates through social media.
If your friends and relatives can't manage to make it to an event with you, never fear: Researchers at Yamagata University are developing a miniature, wearable robot that uses telepresence to let you carry your loved ones around on your shoulder!
Verizon's one-data-plan-for-all-devices could revolutionize mobile data by making it practical to have multiple devices share a plan, and thus encourage users to cellular-equip all their portable appliances.
There's a lot of debate on whether ceding control of the Internet to the ITU/UN is bad for the Internet. Whether that's really true depends on just how much of the "control" we yield and what we do to balance the Internet as an innovation platform and as a service platform.
Tired of idle chitchat while your hair is being washed or your muscles relaxed? Never fear: Robots are here! Robots have taken on hair washing tasks at Japan's Hair salon Super Hair Seo, and DreamBots has developed the Wheeme, which gives individuals a deep body massage.
ICANN is now offering refunds to new applicants for its top-level domain initiative, 10 years in the making, because the application system was taken offline due to a "glitch." ICANN has collected over $350 million in application fees, but we don't know what that number might be after refunds. Is this any way to run the Domain Name System?
Since the early days of television, Nielsen has reigned supreme in the ratings business. With the advent of the Internet, ComScore has emerged as a legitimate competitor. So, game on.
Apple's newest commercial features actress Zooey Deschanel having her requests for weather, soup, and music easily fulfilled by Siri. Nicole and Kim are putting those same questions to the test.
The plan for unmanned police drones to patrol traffic and other city conditions in Seattle has sparked a new set of legal concerns about privacy. Law traditionally lags technology, but we can expect now to see a new round of activity in the courts as legal definitions begin to emerge on what "next-gen privacy" will look like.
For the frazzled, hurried consumer, waiting in line has become a major bugaboo. A survey by Great Clips has found that 94 percent will wait less than 10 minutes to check out at a store. Self-check-in has become popular among airlines and is now making its way into the retail marketplace. Using smartphones, consumers can order items and pick them up, cutting down on their wait time.
A problem with ICANN's application software has delayed the "big reveal" of new domain names for two weeks. What the organization calls a "glitch" allowed some domain applicants to see the data of others – not exactly inspiring confidence in ICANN's ability to bring potentially hundreds of new names online.
Yahoo's problems may be due to bad management in part, but they're also due to the fad nature of online advertising. It's easy to make costly mistakes here. Google and Facebook should beware.
Over time, demand forces will change the Internet. What will this mean at the technology level? Think a combination of cloud-address technologies, like the Donabe, Melange, and Quantum activity, and the OpenFlow switching architecture.
To date, smartphone apps have only been able to work with 50Meg chunks of information. Well, recent technical advances have been able to boost that number to 4Gbytes. Consequently, developers will be able to work with more complex data types. But will wireless networks be able to handle the additional traffic?
Some say that exposure to violence in gaming, online video, etc., is creating a violent culture. Tom says it's not that straightforward. Rather than regulate violence, we should understand it better.
ICANN is in a crisis. But if it goes away, so will its unique "multistakeholder model," which allows Internet users to participate alongside business, government, and industry.
Confused about long forms and short forms? Well, this year, face-to-face help may be only a few clicks away. The IRS, as well as tax preparation agencies like TurboTax, have introduced new video conferencing services, designed to make it easier for individuals to get the help they need.
Google is reportedly working on a pair of Android glasses that will use a low-resolution built-in camera to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings, and friends who might be nearby. Interested?
The AT&T notion of letting some apps "buy" the data for its users seems inconsistent with the neutrality principles designed to keep big sites from dominating the Internet. Is the principle wrong, or is AT&T's policy wrong? We need a consistent position here.
We think Amazon's Kindle Fire is pushing Apple to a smaller iPad format. But Sony's Vita and the interest in a small device for portable gaming may create the real threat. Keep your eye on the tablet-gaming space!
The Internet has changed the way that companies market products. Now "Likes" and thumbs up carry a lot of weight. So perhaps it's not surprising that a black market technique has emerged whereby some Websites offer to boost ratings in exchange for cash.
The drive to stream TV directly to HD sets, to tablets, or to PCs in the home may create a broader demand for streaming, and this could create a major new source of traffic pressure on mobile networks, mobile pricing, and mobile service policies.
Reporting from "overnight duty" (hmm…) at Internet Evolution, Kim Davis gives an update on the day Wikipedia, Reddit, and BoingBoing went dark to protest SOPA.
Increasingly, individuals are taking to their cellphones and tapping out messages to friends and business cohorts. But a study by the University of B.C.’s Sauder School of Business found that when people text, they are much more likely to lie than when they use other communication options.
Google Internet Evangelist Vinton G. Cerf is right to argue that the Internet is not a basic human right. (Though Kim knows he was the one to say it first…)
Google may give Microsoft an opening for its phone and tablet if it can't induce all the Android handset and tablet vendors to update their OSes to Version 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Forcing users to choose between buying a new device and having an obsolete OS is a bad idea.
The patent wars in the handset space threaten mobile innovation. They also threaten every consumer who's bought or wants to buy a phone. We need to drive change from the consumer side.
The Internet is offering addicts new treatment options in the form of virtual programs from companies like egetgoing.com and Lionrock Recovery. These programs present benefits as well as drawbacks.
There's a trend underway to make employee performance reviews everyone's business – letting peers, customers, and direct reports in on rating people's daily doings. Mary gives this a thumbs down.
We've been sacrificing more privacy every day to the online industry, risking more identity theft, for sponsorship of our online experience. How much sponsorship? About $133 per year per household at the most. Where do I send my money to opt out?
Integration can be tough when it comes to bringing disparate systems and applications together. But Internet-facing devices like the iPhone remind us on a daily basis that integrations have to make sense in the "minds" of individuals and businesses, no matter how good they might be technologically.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
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M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
