Archive for February, 2010



Website Plans to Predict the Future in Business

February 24th, 2010 by Erin Posted in Business, Small Business | No Comments »

One Boston-area start-up is going where no website has gone before – to the future.

Recorded Future gives business-minded users a look at who-what-where-and-when down the road.

Sounds abstract, doesn’t it?

The concept is simple really. Recorded Future has Google-like search capabilities and a simple interface to a tightly constrained set of data: occurrences that are expected or predicted to happen tomorrow and beyond.

The site presents three input boxes – what, who/where, and when – and then aggregates results by searching across blogs, news outlets, and social media sites.

Who will use this site?

Businesses – large and small say the founders of Recorded Future.

“Recorded Future allows financial analysts, intelligence analysts, and predictors to organize and aggregate future observations with ease,” the company explains on its YouTube Channel. Recorded Future also boasts (on its LinkedIn company profile) that its customers include “top government agencies and trading firms in the world.”

The website hasn’t officially launched yet and word is the company is trying to keep a low-profile while it raises more venture capital.

Unfortunately, time (and money) will tell whether or not Recorded Future is a boon or bust.  It isn’t everyday you see a business-based website that offers a look at the future. That is, one that doesn’t have a talking soothsayer on its homepage.

One final thought – a quote from Recorded Future’s website that really hits the nail on the head:

“What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least expected generally happens.” – late British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.

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Taming Our Shameful Digital Distractions

February 17th, 2010 by Erin Posted in Software Development, Technology | No Comments »

Think about it.

How much time do you waste surfing the Web?

I’m not going to lie. I fritter a lot of time away on Facebook and Twitter. A lot of time.

I can’t help it.

I sit down at my computer each morning with every intention to get some work done – but my wandering mouse takes over and soon I’m redirected to see what my friends are up to.

I absolutely hate it!

BUT, I have found some help to get me back on the straight and narrow.

Enter RescueTime and LeechBlock.

These applications, also called Internet blocking software, are designed to block various parts of the Internet so that when your mind strays, you’re stopped from giving into your unproductive ways.

First, RescueTime.

RescueTime works by keeping track of everything that happens on your computer, and then reports your habits in a series of charts and graphs.

Tech writer Farhad Manjoo recently gave RescueTime a whirl and says he found the app to be incredibly “illuminating.”

“I learned, for instance, that during a typical month I spend more than 70 hours surfing the web, much of it on news and social networking sites,” writes Manjoo.

By comparison, Manjoo found that he spent half as much time in Microsoft Word.

Now, if you are already aware of your bad online habits and just need some good old-fashion help taming them, then LeechBlock web filtering software may be the best medicine.

LeechBlock is a free add-on for Firefox and functions like a stern nanny. Users tell the program which Web sites to keep away from them at certain times of the day, and at the appointed hour you have chosen, LeechBlock will stop you cold.

LeechBlock is also quite flexible as it lets users block different sites at different times of the day. Or, users can set a maximum daily or hourly limit for certain sites.

Certainly, there is no way to tell whether these “digital nannies” will help you kick your bad online habits once and for all.

The mind is a restless place – even for the most seasoned professional.

But these Internet blocking software applications can be helpful in getting you to at least consider how you waste time on the Internet.

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There’s A Method To Google’s Madness

February 10th, 2010 by Erin Posted in Technology | 1 Comment »

I have to admit that I was pretty surprised to see a Google commercial during the Super Bowl.

Don’t get me wrong… I absolutely LOVED it. The concept was great.

But I thought, why would Google – the #1 name brand on the planet – shell out big bucks for a commercial during the Super Bowl?

The answer came yesterday.

Introducing Google Buzz - yet another social network.

Do we really need another social networking tool?

Google thinks so… and here’s why.

Google has taken cues from Facebook, Twitter, Yammer, Foursquare, and Yelp – and combined them into one package.

Buzz will provide a stream of status updates, pictures, links, and videos from your friends. You can “like” these items and comment on them. And if you use Flickr, Picasa, Google Reader, or Twitter, you can also automatically have those items imported into your stream. And Buzz will recommend items you might like based on your friends’ activity.

The hook is you must have a Gmail account to use Buzz – as the platform resides right there inside Google’s email service.

Google can probably expect a huge Gmail surge in the coming months due to plain curiosity.

Will people stay with Gmail just to use Buzz?

Probably not.

I’m not sure people have time for another social network. Getting used to Facebook’s new homepage layout is already time consuming – so imagine getting acquainted with a whole new service?

Sure, I’ll check out Google Buzz. I may even use it once or twice – but really, I’m a creature of habit.

I like what I like.

Even if the social web is a disorganized mess – I’m not sure if we need Google to clean house.

Sometimes chaos is good.

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A Social Experiment May Prove TV News Is Obsolete

February 3rd, 2010 by Erin Posted in Twitter | No Comments »

I come from a television news background. My husband is a television news anchor.

Television news was, and is, our life blood. If it goes away, we’re screwed.

That’s why I hate to admit that TV news really is dying a slow death thanks to Internet news Websites and social media, like Twitter and Facebook.

And now, a new social experiment may really leave me in a cold sweat.

It’s called “Huis Clos su le Net” or “Behind Closed Doors on the Net.” The experiment will lock five journalists, who are all from other parts of the world, in an isolated French cottage, leaving them without access to print newspapers or magazines.

So how will they keep up with the world? Through Facebook and Twitter.

The experiment will judge how well the journalists can interpret news of the world solely through social websites and how they might go about verifying the facts presented through Facebook and Twitter.

I have yet to get a handle on when this experiment will begin mainly because every website and blog associated with Huis Clos se le Net is in French, including their Twitter feed.

I do expect, however, that when it actually does begin news will spread like wildfire here to the United States.

My gut tells me that the findings from this experiment will not be earth-shattering; that, indeed, you can get ALL of the day’s news right there on Twitter. Facebook I’m not so sure about.

TV news is toast.

My husband better start looking for work.

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