Google Earth: The Next Level

If you've ever wanted to get as close to the full experience of doing something without ACTUALLY doing it, this is your chance. In this New York Times article, I learned that a website has been launched called EveryScape that gives virtual tours of the insides of stores. As this is obviously a tedious project, the focus thus far has not left Massachussetts (only Cambridge and Lexington, to be exact), in terms of virtual tours of the towns. Other stores can get EveryScape to give customers inside tours for a price ranging between $250 and $2000. While it's cool that we have the capacity (and computer space) for such an innovation, if I'm going to see the inside of a store, I'm going to get the real-life experience. Unless of course EveryScape created a virtual way to avoid Black Friday...

Thinking Pink

Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, many technological companies have come out with special products (in pink, naturally) in recognition of the goal of the month. Microsoft's Zune has teamed with Ford Motor's Warriors in Pink (a campaign endorsed by the cast of "Grey's Anatomy," too) and released a pink Zune, 100% of whose profits are donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. There are several other products, including a pink Sony VAIO and Target's special edition of the iPod Shuffle.
Although there's no new technology involved, as the daughter, niece, and granddaughter of a breast cancer fighter and two survivors, respectively, it's gratifying to know that so many others are helping the fight.

Nike has just done it

In Dr. Shamp's 2020 class last fall, we learned that Nike had combined their easily recognizable shoes with Apple's iPod, which is getting more and popular by the day. My initial impression was something along the lines of "you must be kidding," but come to find out, they definitely weren't. In this article from the New York Times, I learned that there's actually a website that is attached to the rest of the offerings from the product. People can interact with each other online, discuss their runs, and maybe even get together and hang out, if they so choose. The fact that this has come from what appears to just be a pair of tennis shoes is a little incredible to me, and as I keep reading on, I'm discovering that I would like a pair, too. There's a sensor in the shoes that connects with your iPod, sending a workout rundown to the MP3 player that you can view when you dock it. This is just one of the ways that the company is branching out, and inevitably away from traditional advertising vehicles.
As an ad major, I'm a little concerned about that, but definitely a lot happier to be studying new media.

Email-free = Casual?

According to this article in USA Today, "Casual Friday" is trying to, in fact, be more professional. Email has become the top method of communication for businesses, and many companies are trying to cut back on it a little bit and encourage more face time with clients, and just co-workers in general. Some go so far as deleting their inboxes on Fridays. While I appreciate the more personalized approach that face-to-face meetings offer, I do not feel that email should be shunned so completely. With gas prices up, it is more of an inconvenience to attempt to handle everything face to face. Although Friday is just one day, there are generally about 5 of them in a month, which can still add up over a long period of time.
I feel like email is probably the greatest innovation to hit offices since the computer--at my job, it is something I use as much as possible. Conversations through email are saved and it's so much more efficient than faxing (which, yes, we still do). If we're getting rid of things on Fridays, I'm game for doing away with work all together.

Starbucks + Apple = Domination?

Apple is going one more step farther into taking over the world as they take over our coffee shop. Beginning tomorrow, people with iPhones and/or iTunes on their laptops will be able to download songs playing over the speakers in the store for the normal $0.99. Although they aren't the first ones to do this sort of thing (Verizon has been offering it for about a year), they seem to have the best chance of catching on, as they are latching onto the quintessential components of their target audience's life: coffee, convenience, and technological gadgets. Combined. They seem to want to rule our worlds, and it's pretty safe to say they're on the right track.

Kitchen Technology

I found this article and I think it's awesome. We've never so much as had a TV in our kitchen, but (and this is sad, I guess), I think that this would be the way to go. When I have my own house, I would definitely want something like this computer in the kitchen. It seems as though it can provide a whole new level of connection, whether by the fact that it can bring people to the kitchen (and out of their respective rooms) but also because it keeps everything organized. It is, admittedly, a little extraneous, but at the same time, I feel as though it would be about as cool to have as a Kitchen Aid mixer and a lot more useful.

"Finger-painting" Music Makers

Yamaha has developed a small, hand-held digital instrument for those interested in creating techno music. It's called the Tenori-on and it is a handheld keyboard that allows the user to create songs with the touch screen. In terms of digital sound recording, it's really very advanced--you can "visualize" the music as you're creating it with the LED lights in the display, and you can hook up a digital MIDI keyboard to it to add to the 253 different sounds built in. Although it's not coming out in the US yet (it's from Japan), the UK version is going on sale soon and if it does well, Yamaha will release the $1200 product on this side of the pond, too.

New iPods

From the story, I learned that there is yet another generation of iPods slated to be released. This generation's golden child is the iPod Touch, which is only a SIM card away from being like the iPhone on steroids, if you will. They are cutting a deal with Starbucks, which involves a connection to the Wi-Fi, and eventually, the song playing at the coffee shop will broadcast over your headphones when you enter the store. Apple CEO Steve Jobs called it "one of the seven wonders of the world," and from what I read, I have to agree with him.

Text messaging

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2007/09/04/att0904.html
I found this story on AJC. It deals with cell phone text messaging charges and offers parents a way to keep tabs on what features their kids are using on their cell phones. I'm actually surprised that this hasn't come about sooner, but I think it's a useful piece of technology for both parents and kids who lose track of the minutes and texts that they have used and don't want to be punished. I just wish that Verizon would get on board, too.

iPhone Hacker

According to the story, a kid spent 500 hours figuring out how to unlock the iPhone so that it was not just compatible with AT&T services. While I think that, financially, it was smart for AT&T to have a monopoly over the product line, I wonder if Apple wouldn't have been better off marketing their new product to all of the service providers (or at least the mainstream ones like Verizon, T Mobile, and Sprint). AT&T must have put forth a LOT of money to accomplish that.
As for the kid in question, I think that it makes sense to try and use an iPhone with a different service provider, but I don't know that it's worth giving up an entire summer when you're not 100% positive that your goal is attainable.