On the Hoopla about Kinect ‘Technology’
With the advent of the Kinect, lots of people are hacking to see what they cool things they can do with the technology.
Some have hacked it to play Super Mario on a PC, Intel —yeah, that Intel— have made research with it using Legos.
Recently, there was an article about students at MIT who hacked it to control a web browser with their hands, kind of like in Minority Report.
The tech world has been sort of obsessed with developing technology that would allow us to have an interface like the one Tom Cruise so aptly uses in that film; there was even a panel at SXSW 2010 talking about how and when we’d arrive at technology like that.
But honestly, the Kinect, though it is really great, is not the first time I’ve seen a device that allows you to control UI elements on your computer by the swing of a hand. Yawn. Old news.
Back in 2008, I downloaded an app for one of my computers (in this case an iMac) called Fluid Tunes. Fluid Tunes allows you to control, navigate and play music from your iTunes library using your hands — it reads your movements through the built-in iSight camera.
I’m sure Fluid Tunes is not the first app to do this, or something like similar (though I am not aware of any other apps like it). And sure, the app is rather simplistic in comparison to some of the things the cool kids are doing with the Kinect, but my point is that motion sensor technology (or things of the sort) has been around for a while, with a little bit of ingenuity.
How to turn off Google Instant:
Go to Google.com/preferences, scroll down, and switch OFF.
Logo Case Study: Bronx River Alliance
My new favorite blog is Brand New, a blog about branding. I love its insights into the logo creation process and their logo sketching examples.
One sketch that caught my eye today was for the Bronx River Alliance (below).
I was impressed at how crisp the illustration looks on (what I assume is) watercolor or paint.
Usually, when I sketch a logo, I do so in pencil and rarely on paint. I think this logo is one of the best sketches in color I’ve seen.
Street Fighter Papercraft
You know you’ve always wanted Street Fighter papercraft to bring battles to life. No? That’s just me?
Well, maybe you can use these to decorate your cube, like I do ;)
[Via WildGunMen]
Great minds think alike I guess…
I was looking at this post from onextrapixel.com on Business Cards for Designers and I found this design:
My logo for my site is a bit similar:
I’m not saying he looked at my logo and stole my idea. NO. I mean, I’m not some big hot shot that people go to and look at their site. And I also had not seen his design until I saw the article this morning.
I think it’s cool that two people can kind of come up with the same or similar idea independently of each other.
So, great minds think alike. So whoever you are dude, kudos to you!
Is Geolocation a big deal?
This article on Information Week about the partnership between the geolocation app/service Gowalla and Disney sparked a thought in me:
“Only 4% of online adults have ever used [geolocation services], and only 1% of Internet users are utilizing the services on any given day”
Makes me wonder what’s so different about Austin. Most of my friends, at least the ones that work in the tech industry like me, use Gowalla. Perhaps it’s the fact that Gowalla is based out of Austin, and using the service makes us feel part of a special community.
A few months ago, I wrote a post about why I choose to use these apps, and how to use them safely.
I wonder what other incentives geolocation services or apps like Gowalla can offer in order to make the service more appealing and mainstream.
For example, I was at the movie theater the other day when I checked in using Gowalla. Gowalla ‘incentivizes’ its users to check in by allowing them to find digital items.These digital items hold no weight in the real world whatsoever.
At the theater, I collected a “bag of popcorn” in Gowalla. My friend saw this and asked me if I could redeem the popcorn I found in Gowalla for a real bag of popcorn. You can’t. But wouldn’t it be great if you could? I’m sure this is a point that has been made before, and the only way we will see services like Gowalla offer real life goodies for their digital ones is if they get more partnerships, like the one they just struck with Disney.
Why pancakes are awesome.
There is an ongoing debate on Twitter on which is better, pancakes or waffles. Here’s why pancakes are better.
Facebook & Twitter becoming more influential in product purchases
This article in Information Week talks about how Facebook, Twitter and other social mobile platforms are becoming increasingly critical in influencing consumer purchases.
The article focuses on how mobile utilities are great at reaching customers to let them know about sales, coupons or new products.
The article also talks about how these tools can be great for companies to target trend-setters and push new products to them.
Where the article misses the mark is on ignoring the fact that Facebook and Twitter influence purchases because they are the new avenue for word-of-mouth.
We are constantly being ‘sold’ to passively through our friends’ opinions on recent purchases — whether we realize it or not.
If a friend of mine recently bought an HTC EVO and he talks on Twitter or Facebook about its great qualities, my friend’s insights might be more influential than a review on Gizmodo or Wired. It’s human nature.
Someone used the clone tool on these bunnies
Well, they’re not really clones, but they are adorable.
[via Daily Bunny]
3 Reasons I love SocialOomph.com to manage Twitter
SocialOomph is a web-based app that allows users to manage their Twitter account.
[The app also lets you add Facebook, Buzz, Blogs and Ping.fm accounts to manage, however, I do not use these features so I will focus on the Twitter features.]
I started using SocialOomph for my personal account back when it was called TweetLater, as a suggestion by @stomptokyo.
I mostly wanted to use it to schedule tweets throughout my day. At the time, I was running a series of tweets called ‘Daily Bacon,’ in which I would tweet bacon-related novelties I found on the net. These tweets were proving to be quite popular amongst my Twitter friends, so I wanted to provide a steady stream of tweets.
I have since found that there is a limited amount of bacon novelties on the net and have stopped my Daily Bacon tweets. But I continue to use SocialOomph for their Twitter services.
Here are the reasons I love this tool:
1. SCHEDULE AND MANAGE UPDATES
Other tools allow you to schedule an update for later publishing, but SocialOomph allows you to see your scheduled tweets and edit them later, if need be. I have used HootSuite, and I hate the fact that I can’t see a list of scheduled updates. SocialOomph puts your scheduled updates in a list for you and allows you to schedule up as far in advance as you need. (It will ask you to captcha if you start posting a ton of scheduled updates to make sure you’re not a bot).
Save drafts!
Yup, you can also save a tweet as a draft for later use. I find this extremely helpful for work to tweet consistently about the big topics of that week. You can then pull up the draft and tweet it in a matter of seconds.
2. VET NEW FOLLOWERS
I absolutely love this feature. SocialOomph makes a handy list for you of new followers and give you the option to: approve, ignore or block the user. To help you make your decision, SocialOomph shows you the date the user joined Twitter, their last update, and their Following, Followers and Number of Updates. Twitter does this as well if you hover over the user, but SocialOomph just puts that info in a handy list for you.
What I LOVE about this feature, and yes LOVE with all caps, is that it shows you the percentage of times the user has been accepted vs. the time the user has been ignored. I find this extremely helpful in judging whether a new follower is a bot or not (or is a troll).
I just vetted new followers this morning, so I don’t have a screenshot of what that feature looks like, but I will post one soon.
3. ANALYTICS
I mostly use this feature for my company’s account, which I recently started managing. I don’t need anything advanced at the moment, and the HootSuite feature only seems to provide analytics for updates scheduled through HootSuite. SocialOomph gives me nice, simple graphs of followers, updates, and friend/follower ratios. It’s not anything super fancy, but it is helpful for me for a quick update to the boss on how we’re doing on the Twitter.
OTHER STUFF
Download updates
SocialOomph also allows you to download your updates from a specific date range. The updates are downloaded in a plain text document. I’d find a spreadsheet with the updates more helpful, but I still like the feature.
These features come with the free account, which is what I use. There is a pro account that I have not tried yet that allows you to have recurring tweets and other cool stuff.
