Reviews

The Internet of Things is fast approaching and with it comes Web 3.0, where "social awareness" will replace "social networking." Soon tweets and status updates will become fully automated and generated by the world around us versus us ever having to touch a keyboard again.

November 5: Twitter rolls out Project Retweet to a limited audience. According to their recent blog post, the Twitter echelon wants to see how it  will "work in the wild," before offering it up to the Twitterverse.

Many have tried, but it's been over a decade and none have succeeded in out-Googlin' Google. Yet here we go again, with yet another search engine entering stage right trying to capture our "attention-deficit" attention. Repackaging online search as something new infers the Web has evolved. And while real-time and social search have certainly changed the alchemy of search, what does Leapfish know that has eluded Google et al?

While branding oneself takes time and effort to spin out a new product, re-branding can take several washes to redefine that same brand. Take for example the work United Airlines had to accomplish after breaking someone's guitar. Let alone the number of Twitter apologies issued forth by Chris Brown and Kanye West. But when others do it in reverse and run their good-guy image through a darkside wash cycle, the task might be a little easier. Such is the case with the re-engineering of one Mickey Mouse.

Did the "voice of jihad" just get a little louder? Afghan tribalism has origins that date back 1400 years to the early Muslim and Islamic civilizations. With a lifestyle based on jihad and an economy that thrives on opium trade, who would have thought that these warring factions in Afghanistan and Pakistan would ever embrace social media as a means to communicate.

Wisk laundry detergent just launched a new facebook app called WISK-IT that extends their powerful cleaning heritiage into the world of social media. Designed to make it easy to find and remove all those photos on facebook that might be embarrasing, and a general "stain" on your reputation, this is one of those apps that isn't just functional but a great marketing idea. Conceived and developed by TracyLocke, an integrated marketing agency, the WISK-IT app reminds you that "Everyone's got a photo that needs to be washed away."

The health care reform debate this current legislative season has been more about who could shout the loudest versus who really had something to say. Earning their label as the "Party of No" the GOP's push back on health care has been perceived as protest-for-protest sake.

For wordsmiths the world over, a rejection notice is the common denominator shared by the entire literary community whether you are the next Hemingway or a weekend poet. However unwelcoming, those "we regret to inform you" letters have become a right of passage for writers. On the flip side, all an author really wants to see is his or her words in print. To that end Fictionaut, an online social network for fiction writers addresses that need.

Michael Arrington from Techcrunch wrote a very insightful article titled "Scamville: The Social Gaming Ecosystem of Hell," exposing Zynga and its scam-laden lead gen-type offers devised for their ever-popular Facebook games of Farmville and Mafia Wars. I challenge one of the more ethical game developers to actually use Arrington's expose to develop the real thing - an actual Facebook game called "ScamVille!"

Art, maps,imagery and graphs add context and a visual component to numbers, locations, and information. With as much influx of data we contend with on a daily basis, visualization tools allows our brains to take a rest while perceiving content in a different light. In essence, visualization allows us to stop and smell the pixels, in spite of the fact we might learn a few things along the way.

With the Holiday Season fast approaching, you might want to consider "making your list and checking it twice."Lists are the new order of business in Twitterville. Some say it will take the place of "Follow Fridays." Others think its jumping on the the Google Wave and Enterprise Microblogs' bandwagon.

This year in addition to influences from the movie industry's horror flicks, the financial decline in the US appears to be just as scary, if not more horrifying than "Paranormal Activity" and "Saw 2,3,4,5,etc." Let's take a look at how our current financial crisis might be affecting "All Hallows Eve" this year!

For those familiar with the TV Show "Survivor," one knows you have to "outwit, outplay and outlast." And while that same philosophy is sometimes jokingly applied to failing marriages, LousySpouse.com's slogan of "endure, survive and prevail" plays it a little closer to the vest. Yes, there is a social network for those in the thralls of divorce, whether it be pre-, post or during.

Ubiquitous Google is out there once again speeding past anything it finds in its way on what we use to call the Superhighway! This time its taken to the gadget world by transforming their Android phones into mobile GPS navigation systems - and its free!

What is so hot about the Volvo's XC60 coupe? Described on their Web site as a cross-over "with a big attitude," one would expect a car of this type to be owned by soccer moms driving their kids to practice. With a couple of well-placed product placements in a hit teens' & 20-somethings' movie, that same car is going to be on a lot of Christmas wish-lists this holiday season.

The catch-phrase that transformed Las Vegas' failed attempt at becoming a 'family destination' back into its original 'Sin City' image is now taking another turn. "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas," was not only a brilliant ad campaign slogan, it also became a pop culture mantra used every time someone wanted to alert someone else about keeping things on the DL.

Like Mahalo, ChaCha, Eurekster and a few other social search engines before them, adding humans to the search function seems to be having a resurgence in popularity. After all when Google jumps into the fray, people do stop and listen.

While the Fail Whale comes and goes. - sometimes its absence is missed as much as its presence. Ever wonder why the ubiquitous Fail Whale cannot disappear forever? Here's the rationale of some of the top thinkers on the subject.

Odd that Foursquare, the Location-Based Social Network with it roots in Manhattan should strike its first transit deal with the Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco versus the New York Subway system. Is the new location-based social network attracting a narrow demographic of West Coast clique-ish gamers?

When Bing filed for a trademark earlier this year, it appeared that 'local search' was in its cross-hairs. Now it has set it sights on 'real-time search' as well. And not to be outdone, the ubiquitous Google followed suit. Rocking real-time, baby is something both of these search engines needed to stay relevant in today's search engine arena.