Back in February of last year, I blogged about a visit to the Infolab at Northwestern University.  To me, what made the visit blog-worthy was a demo of technology called Beyond Broadcast.  Basically, the technology uses Program Guide and Closed Caption data to develop some level of understanding regarding what you are watching.  When you click the search button … [Read more...]

So, I've moved back to the Flock browser to check out the improvements they claim to have made.  It's pretty impressive.  Among the improvements since last time I used the browser are the My World tab and the People Sidebar (both seen below).  My World tracks your recent activity and presents you with the Web Version of the Windows "Recent Programs" list as well … [Read more...]

Found an interesting tidbit over at Slashdot about Microsoft patenting a system to detect user frustration. The system uses biometric data (along with interaction statistics like time to complete task) to determine if the user is frustrated. If they are, it can connect them with help in the form of support or someone else completing the same task.While this is somewhat … [Read more...]

A while back, I received an email from a colleague letting me know that I could donate one of the OLPC laptops and purchase one for myself (or, my daughter) all in one step. I was excited about the prospect of helping meet the tech needs of a developing nation as well as those of my young daughter, so I went ahead with the transaction.I just received the laptop this afternoon. … [Read more...]

This is Marissa Meyer, Google's VP of User Experience. Hubba-hubba... … [Read more...]

Mac Rumors posted a story citing a Microsoft source stating that, "if you are impressed by the 'touch features' in the iPhone, you'll be blown away by what's coming in Windows 7." Windows 7 is due to be launched in 2010, which means that Microsoft plans to make their desktop operating system more compelling to use than the current version of the iPhone in 2-3 years... … [Read more...]

I just stumbled upon what is, possibly, the most intuitive piece of software yet: Delicious Library. It's Mac-only right now, so sorry Windows-only users.The concept is not a new one - create a catalog of your book/CD/DVD/Video Game content. People have been doing this in Excel for years. While one visible improvement on this is the shelf view, a "3D" view of your content, … [Read more...]

I was just watching the Flash Player with H264 compression demo. It's really quite stunning. I was streaming 720p video to my MacBook Pro and it looked beautiful. Soon, we won't need cable companies for on-demand HD video. You'll be able to plug in any computer or set-top with the ability to run the Flash player, and you'll be able to click and watch any video anyone's … [Read more...]

Dan Bricklin posted a great piece on Microsoft's Surface technology. Dan is a really smart guy and we could all do ourselves a favor and listen to him. Since I can't elaborate any more than he did on the actual technology, let me elaborate on something else:Two weeks ago, I attended the dux07 conference put on by the ACM. One of the surprising things to me was that there was … [Read more...]