Stick it to the Man

When deciding on a restaurant on a given Saturday night there are a few things I like to consider: cuisine, location, atmosphere, and quality. As a starving college student it is imperative I find a meal that is worth my time and money. Menus are confusing and biased and it is hard to say whether a lone critic has good taste or not; however, today I don’t even consider these sources. Before making decisions about local businesses I always turn to some user reviewed site such as Davis Wiki or Urban Spoon for assistance.

The blogs, tweets, and online review sites are helping consumers like me every day. The power of being constantly connected has given authority to the costumer to write about his or her personal experience. Users have the ability to log in to these sites and write critical reviews on any product or business and what is written will be heard; essentially, a more effective comment card.

The review forums have sparked a new form of blogging: the mother blogger. A New York Times article discussed the online community that has formed from mom bloggers across the country. Moms have the ability to speak out and help each other. They offer up suggestions from what products to use on stains to eco-friendly decorating tips.

Online communities have brought all types of consumers together. A few online reviews can make or break a business. Thanks to these sites, we can express our opinions and anyone can hear it. So thank you Davis Wiki, and all of its supporters; my dining decisions just got a lot simpler.

Global Positioning Disaster

On Friday March 11, 2011 much of Japan experienced an earthquake of magnitude 8.9. The earthquake was followed by a tsunami that hit the eastern half of Japan, causing wave heights to rise more than twelve feet. The aftermath of the event has left much of the country flooded and thousands missing or dead. In addition to the tragedy that is occurring in Japan, the earthquake had geographical impacts.

Japan’s eastern coast is reported to have moved eight feet and the earth’s axis has shifted four inches. The shift has caused a 1.6 micro-second speed up of the earth’s rotation. This is a minimal change in time but other recent events such as the Chilean and Sumatra earthquakes have contributed changes as well. The largest change has come from Friday’s earthquake and now geologists face the problems we will see with our global positioning systems.

According to MSNBC, anything that is linked to a GPS device will need to be changed. Driving directions and property records have all been shifted with the change in axis. Nautical charts on ships will need to be recalculated as well as water depths which have changed up to three feet. The world was able to learn about and react to the disaster in Japan in amazing time but our reliance on technology will affect many people as we sort through the global shifts that have resulted from the quake.

LinkedIn Steps Up to the Plate

LinkedIn, the social networking site used predominantly by professionals, has apparently felt neglected as of late. It's been wondering why its 90 million users haven't been giving it as much attention as they've been directing towards Facebook, Google News, and Yahoo News. LinkedIn has been taking this sort of abuse for quite some time now, but it appears that the site has finally decided to act on its dissatisfaction.

A New York Times article has announced the company's new service which provides relevant links to and summaries of the daily news on its site in a move that places the site in direct competition with other new aggregators such as the aforementioned Google and Yahoo general news services.

“We want to give you what you need to know to be better at what you do,” said LinkedIn's chief executive, Jeff Weiner.

To gain access to one of their newest features, "Maps," click here!

"App"sorbed

In response to our recent class discussions regarding smartphones and our immense reliance on them, I decided to dig deeper into the topic. For about the past ten years laptops have been all the rage. In today’s society, one is considered abnormal without a laptop and the wifi to come with it. The trend is shifting and smartphones are becoming the new laptop.

One definition of smartphone is a phone that has computer like qualities such as internet access. Although the “first” smartphone was released in 1992, what many consider the smartphone revolution started with the iPhone. The first iPhone was released in June 2007. Since the iPhone release, many other companies have developed smartphones similar to it such as the Blackberry Storm, the Android, the HTC Thunderbolt and the Samsung Galaxy. Most of these share common characteristics: internet abilities with access to wifi, e-mail, music players, and a touch screen.

Currently, it is application abilities that distinguish these phones and in general the iPhone contains the largest quantity and most current “apps” of all the smartphones. Some of the most common apps today include GPS, Facebook, Words with Friends, and Urban Spoon. Apps are providing so many resources that are just at the touch of the screen, however soon we may not even need to make the effort. In a recent New York Times article, Jenna Worthman reported on the Mobile World Conference taking place in Barcelona. During the conference, the chief executive of Google, Eric Schmidt talked about the future of smartphones. He explained that smartphones will become more intuitive. Schmidt used the example of a civilian walking through the streets of Barcelona. Using previous knowledge and Google activity, one’s smartphone might alert the individual of something they have expressed great interest in like a Spanish architecture museum.

To many people smartphones may seem excessive but the benefits and possibilities seem to be endless. Any user has the opportunity to create an app, opening doors for a million more ideas in the future. I believe those who do not join in the smartphone revolution will be left behind. In answer to our class conversation; yes we can do homework online but I don’t think that’s even the starting point to where smartphones will take us.

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