Jason Thibeault's Blog: From My Pen, page 69

Photos: New Portfolio Gallery, Reflections

I have just posted a new gallery in my photography portfolio called Reflections. This gallery will feature shots taken in both physical reflection (i.e., a mirror, glass, metal, etc.) as well as subjects in reflection. I was inspired by this gallery idea by the building in which I work everyday. The glass faces the airport and about every five minutes or so, a plane passes overhead either on approach or taking off. It’s very visually interesting to see the reflection of the plane travel throu...

The Segway Will Change the Way Cities are Built

Don’t fault Dean Kamen. The Segway is really a revolutionary personal vehicle and he didn’t really say the exact phrase that titles this post (he says it was taken out of context). Regardless, history is littered with the bones of famous sayings about products or services that will revolutionize society.

PayPal is now in that illustrious company.

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/07/08/2146238/PayPal-Predicts-the-End-of-the-Wallet-By-2015

They have been quoted as saying that as early as 2015,...

Deflating the Bubble

As human beings, I think we tend to look for the worst case scenario. It provides us impetus to innovate, improve, and better ourselves. For if things were always perfect, life would stagnate.

That is no more true than in the capital markets because, it seems, that we are headed for another tech bubble:

http://gigaom.com/2011/07/13/how-to-survive-the-next-bubble/

Well, at least that’s what some of the pundits would have you believe. But let’s look at the current state of tech to the early 2000s....

Challenging Your Assumptions

One of the most important aspects of science is to challenge our assumptions about the world and universe around us. Take geometry for example. We believe that if we walk 10 feet, then turn left and walk ten feet, then turn left and walk then feet, and finally turn left again and walk ten feet we will have created a square. Of course, that is absolutely true. Our perception tells us so. But what happens when we do that on a curved surface and, more importantly, when the surface is moving? The...

Web Traffic vs. Data Traffic. What’s the Real Story Here?

According to NetMarketShare, Apple’s iPad accounts for 1% of global web browsing:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/06/ipad-makes-up-one-percent-of-global-web-browsing-magic/

I understand the point of this: to demonstrate the growth of the tablet and its slow but gradual displacement of generic PCs as the primary gateway to the Web.

But I think a little misleading as to the true impact of tablet-based devices.

As a medium, the web is not the ideal candidate for determining overall impact of tablet...

Vertical Markets May Be the Way to Go

With so many people online now, it’s no longer solid business sense to target the “web user” as a vertical. Because web usage is becoming a transparent aspect of our lives (we simply “google” things without even thinking about it, especially from our phones and other mobile devices), web-centric businesses can now focus on what brick-and-mortar businesses have been focusing on the whole time: vertical market segmentation.

Cruvee, a vertically-oriented social marketing company, has done just th...

Publishing Video Online? Choose Your Path Carefully.

There is no doubt that YouTube reigns supreme in publishing video. It’s the number one destination for online video and if you want your video to be seen (and discovered) it’s probably your best bet. But YouTube is not a video management platform. If you are going to start pushing your video out on the web, you need a management system that provides you the ability to syndicate that video to other online sites, manage metadata, create channels, and even ensure that it can be delivered to the...

Cloud Conslidation has Begun

This is not the first we will see of this and I think it will definitely pick up steam but Citrix has acquired Cloud.com:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2011/07/citrix-buys-clouddotcom.php

On a side note, Citrix also announced that their cloud offering will be based on the OpenStack platform (similar to a recent announcement by Piston Cloud Computing). I believe what we are seeing in terms of consolidation is two fold:

Players. There are just too many cloud players. Bigger ones will gobble up...

Facepalm: Hmmm, Time to Start Searching My Freezer…

The headline of this says it all:

Woman Accidentally Gets Her Whole Office High on Pot Brownies

You have to read the story to appreciate the stupidity of that statement.

http://gawker.com/5836813/woman-accidentally-gets-her-whole-office-high-on-pot-brownies

/facepalm

Emerging Markets Driving Innovation?

We often see emerging markets adopting technology behind the rest of the world. Much of that is simply cost (as new technologies often cost more to implement than second generation tech and are unproven in returns; emerging markets simply can’t take as many risks).

But in cloud, we are seeing a much different trend:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2011/07/report-cloud-computing-catchin.php

It seems that in emerging countries, like Brazil, the cloud is seeing massive enterprise adoption. This i...