Reviews

While the book "Who Moved My Cheese?" is more about adapting to "change" in the workplace, "Who Moved My Blog" could be about the "copy and paste" mentality that unfortunately taints the Blogosphere and those who attempt to make a living working in that very crowded space.

Anybody that remembers the sci-fi film classic, "Gattaca" knows how a genetic registry database could be used by biometrics to determine peoples' susceptibility to certain diseases later in life. While that fictional tale seemed so futuristic when introduced back in 1997, it's reality is now. And not only is it within our reach, it also comes with a relatively reasonable price tag.

Augmented Reality has hit the streets of Amsterdam, converted magazines into Harry Potter-like newspapers, created invisible cloaks and has surfaced on a countless number of apps adapted for smartphones. But Hotels.com is the first online travel agency (OTA) to make virtual vacations a lot more 'real' using Augmented Reality to appeal to would-be travelers and tourists.

They both opened their doors on May 1, but culturally, they are worlds apart. While the Obama Club cost local Chinese club owners  $US15 million, the USA Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 received no governmental funding and was only completed as a result of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seeking private financing to the tune of $US61 million. While the Pavilion will tell the story of the American spirit of perseverance and technological innovation, the Obama Club is oddly a 'capitalistic' venture to capitalize on the name of the 44th President of the United States.

Today, when launching a new technological product or advancement, to scale quickly and gain major traction, social networks, tech companies and search firms recruit the assistance of third party application developers. Similar approaches have been successfully undertaken by Facebook and Twitter. It appears Google TV will also be venturing into these waters as they shift the development of Google TV into high gear.

If you are unhappy with Facebook's Instant Personalization service recently launched with their new Open Graph initiative, The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet watchdog organization has provided a step-by-step process of making this slightly confusing and arduous task a lot easier.

Back in January, when I wrote, "Tasti D-Lite Program Needs Geolocation To Sell Product," I questioned why this ice-cream vendor was not 'geotagging' their tweets to enhance their loyalty program. At that time, Twitter was just rolling out its geolocation tool and Tasti D-Lite was missing an opportunity by not restricting their tweets to locations where their promotions were offered. Today, 'Pepsi Loot' the and 'shopkick' apps are the first two consumer product applications to offer location-based loyalty programs that will geo-target customers.

The vast majority of us do not like to exercise (and I think a lot of those who claim to like it actually don’t either).  There are constantly new machines and exercise programs coming onto the market claiming to be the quickest and easiest way to get in shape and maintain overall health.  One of these ‘big benefit for little to no effort’ machines is the 2010 Crazy Fit Massager Vibration Plate.

With the encroachment of eReader competition, Amazon's Kindle continually searchers for new differentiators. Whether it's enough to make a difference or its too little too late is up to the consumer.

Foursquare and Gowalla have literally put location-based social networks on the maps and Twitter's acquisition of GeoAPI is diligently working on making the microblogging platform a communication center for followers that are within close proximity of each other. With the assistance of GPS devices and satellites, maneuvering outdoors is no longer a difficult task. However when trying to access a similar experience indoors, the necessary geo-location technology is just beginning to emerge.

The much debated iPhonegate pertaining to the alleged stolen iPhone 4G continues to perplex Apple, the authorities and the legal system. The Shield Law and even First Amendment rights can be challenged all the way up to the Supreme Court, as a result of this case. But perhaps the one group that may end up coming up short on this debate are those getting the least attention - the Bloggers and Twitterers!

Lots of "buzz" cyberventilating the blogosphere this week about Google potentially acquiring ITA Software. No, not Google Buzz (that's old news) - but a buzz with further-reaching ramifications for the online travel space. ITA is the meta-search software that provides the booking functionality for Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and even Bing Travel. If and when this happens, Google could virtually shake up and reconfigure the entire travel landscape online for at least the next decade or more.

Since the introduction of the comic-book format in 1934, followed by graphic novels and Manga, the market for writers, illustrators and fans have grown exponentially within the last decade. While the printed format may at some point follow in the footsteps of the dying legacy newspapers, there are digital solutions emerging. Graphic.ly is an option in the social media space, while iPads, on the device end may actually take the place of the printed comic book and graphic novel, in the near future.

Don't be surprised if the Case of the Missing 4G iPhone doesn't become a Game App in the very near future. It has all the components of an interactive mystery game including a large tech company kingpin, the press, a police raid, a 'deep throat' character and a hapless software engineer who doesn't have a shot in hell of ever becoming Apple's employee of the month any time soon.

The Twittersphere is known for a lot of things  - but using it as a battlefield seems like an oxymoron. Yet, that seems like the case, now that the likes of the socialist President of Venezuela has joined its ranks. Long known for fighting opponents aggressively in the real world, Hugo Chavez is now seeking weapons of virtual destruction.