News, analysis and context on enterprise technology for the CTO
Okay Google, we get it. You make some really great products. But what's the deal with Google+? The service is seems to aspire to be mix between Facebook and Twitter, yet is lacking the critical differentiators that both of Facebook and Twitter offer. Facebook and Twitter have become huge for a few reasons. The first, is a low low barrier to entry. The second, is the ease of integration for Facebook/Twitter with each other - and the number of ways to … [Read more...]
CTOs , CIOs, and technology reporters are very familiar with the idea of the network. Think of networks and tech and the terms network-centric warfare, netwar, social networks, the wealth of networks, and a host of other terms and ideas immediately roll off the tongue. The network is the defining metaphor of the information age. But while the network is important, so is the swarm. Swarming in warfare has been fairly well analyzed by David Ronfeldt and … [Read more...]
Editor's note: We have asked each of our researchers to pull together considerations meant to help in your planning for 2012. We solicit your feedback on all these predictive posts. bg Prediction is a messy game. Especially in a field that is often characterized by a state of punctuated equilibrium---long periods of stasis and then rapid disruptions. However, I will toss my hat into the ring. The geopolitics of cybersecurity will take center … [Read more...]
A social movement with a hashtag in its name is obviously heavily reliant on technology. Here are a few technologies and approaches that Occupy Wall Street used to expand rapidly. Mesh networks: localized Internets, set up for rapid and secure internal communication. The People's Skype, a distributed voice and voting system that enables the peculiar General Assembly voting system to function by linking different voice accounts to a general PA … [Read more...]
WayIn.com is a new mobile engagement service developed by Scott McNealy, founder of Sun Microsystems. Utilizing the free Wayin app on their mobile devices, users post images and questions that will spark humorous, passionate and lively debate among the global Wayin community. As soon as a Wayin user posts content, he or she will receive an instant pulse of other people's sentiment about an entertaining topic. Wayin allows users around the world to … [Read more...]
On a whim, I recently picked up a Roku XD player from Woot.com. The Roku allows you to tap into a lot of the video going around on the "interwebs" and watch it on your HDTV of choice. The Roku is one of the devices that so-called "cord-cutters" use to keep themselves entertained. After a few weeks with it (coupled with subscriptions to Amazon Prime and Netflix Instant Video) I've got a few thoughts on it. Streaming Video and the Roku - Is it all it's … [Read more...]
Wayin has been moving forward in the last couple of months. We did an initial announcement of their offerings on CTOVision over the summer, but they have evolved quite a bit since then. Since we like to keep you updated on what is going on in the social media world, I figured now would be a good time to check back in with Wayin. I recently talked with someone from business development at Wayin, and she is excited about how far the social media site has … [Read more...]
Open source software has historically had a hard time competing with its big budget proprietary rivals but, as Bob Gourley explains in an interview with Federal Computer Week, "Hadoop is totally unique in many ways." Hadoop, and a handful of open-source tools that complement it, has no equal when it comes to making gigantic and diverse datasets easily available for quick analysis using clusters of inexpensive computers, Gourley said. The oddly named … [Read more...]
If you are like me, social media is already a large part of your life. I spend at least some time each day checking in with my friends, regardless of where they are in the world. Most of them do not live near me, or at least in not in my immediate vicinity. There is a newcomer to the social media world that wants to take a different approach to social and connect you to your neighbors, and only your neighbors. Nextdoor.com, founded by San … [Read more...]
Hadoop World 2011 is upon us. Once again the community, with the consistent/polite/leading/persistent coordination of Cloudera, has built a great agenda with the right speakers and great attendees for what is now the "must attend" Big Data event. For those who are attending, I can't wait to see you there. We are going to be treated to some GREAT keynotes from masters community-focused thinkers like Doug Cutting, Hugh Williams, James Markarian, Larry … [Read more...]