Facebook Will Soon Rule

Facebook has announced that it will be slowly phasing in a new type of inbox and messaging system in the next few months. The new system will enhance the message box that many people now have. It will serve as a way to chat with friends, kind of like the way you do now, but better apparently. But, more importantly, they will provide a way for you to integrate your pre-existing email account to your facebook message inbox.

This is very neat in my opinion. I know a lot of people in the professional world use email, as do I, but facebook is a great way to keep in touch with people that you may not have email addresses for. For instance, I have many contacts from undergrad or church, etc. that I may not have email accounts for. This is a perfect way to contact them instead of searching for their emails. If you can send and receive facebook messages similarly to the way you do emails, then the transition will be seamless.

This is just another way that technology will provide an easier way to communicate. The consolidation and centralization of using just one communication hub will make things easier for users as well.

Windows of Opportunity

So as I went to bed the other night, I heard a commercial discussing different options and/or features of the new Windows phone. While I admit, I was not paying that much attention to it (I'm pretty happy with the iPhone), what did catch my attention was the fact that it is now compatible with Mac computers. I couldn't help but think this was unnecessary and perhaps maybe a little dumb.

If I were to buy a windows phone, it would most likely be for the sole reason of having an operating system similar to that of the one on my computer. If that differs, then the windows phone doesn't really provide that many useful features to me.

I got to thinking though that I bought an iphone when I had a pc (I now have a Mac), but I still felt that the two were not as different as the windows phone being used on a mac. The iPhone, from my point of view, is almost an autonomous device. While an apple product, it can be used as its own phone and personal assistant-type device and also an ipod. While it was not designed necessarily for pc's, the transition into that realm doesn't seem too crazy to me.

But in terms of expanding from pc's to mac's when thinking about a window's phone, it seems that they are trying to be too centralized and condense too many things when they should just stick with the operating system the phone was created for in the first place. While I'll admit that I have not done much research, or even played with the Windows phone, it still seems that having a phone based on one operating system that is compatible with another system that one may not have on another computer, would be unnecessary and perhaps problematic.

Google Can Predict The Future

Google has announced they can predict election results by using search results inputted into their search engines. They looked at the most popular searches in the month of October and the issues that were searched about and compared that to the stances that the politicians represented in their campaign.

Common phrases were unemployment, recession, immigration, etc. The margin of error between these predictions was very small. This is a very interesting fact because search results could probably predict many other things about a person as well. It is interesting to see how technology can track a person’s preferences and trends and gather data based on what they do. This is very important when used from a company’s perspective. If a company can get results on what people search, they can tailor their approach to what each customer is wanting.

Gathering and analyzing data from these searches is very crucial to firms’ success.

Google said the most-searched items for the upcoming elections was concerning marijuana in the California elections and immigration in the Arizona elections.

Does SOFTware Make Things Hard?

Windows has announced they are thinking about launching and introducing Windows 8 in 2012. It seems as though Windows has come out with a new update every two years or so like clockwork.

When I bought my laptop a little over three years ago, it came with Windows Vista. Since then, they have come out with Windows 7 and now they are thinking about Windows 8. I had just bought the computer after XP was considered outdated. So within four years, there has been four software updates and operating system changes to the PC community.

This is an example of things becoming harder because of technology. People will now have to devote more time to learning a new operating system rather than keep using their old system they are familiar with. I am positive that the new system will have upgrades and make certain tasks easier, but I don't think the new system will make drastic changes that will totally affect the operations. I think staying with a consistent method of work would allow people to stay more efficient and also allow for more information transfer since others would be using different systems.

There could be a situation where there are four different people working on something with four different operating systems and software systems. This could lead to lost information, changed information or other miscommunication.

I think this is an example of technology changing too fast and not bringing with it necessary upgrades to encourage change.

Apple Continues Growth

In this article that talks about things we have learned from Apple in the past year, it shows many trends that I find interesting. It speaks of Apple thinking about buying and merging with a lot of different entities such as something like facebook. It doesn’t say specifically, but something like that would be huge for Apple. The other thing the article mentions is that the iPad is gaining ground in the enterprise and the market they are targeting. The third learning point is that the iPhone is in a race with the android. And finally, we see that Mac sales are increasing.

If Apple merges or buys a bigger company, then that will be a huge event in the media world. Apple already has a leading edge on technology, now if they can buy the company that serves another purpose such as social networking or other information lookup, then they can be the leader in information services and technology services. That would make their product untouchable. They would be the leader in updates and improvements.

The fact that the iPad is gaining sales means that people are moving more and more to mobile computing and the iPhone is not covering their needs. The iPad offers such a better display and such that is attractive to consumers. If the iPad offers more capabilities in terms of software, then sales could skyrocket even more. This leads to the next point of the iPhone sales being in a battle with the Android. This does not mean, in my opinion, that the iPhone is losing its advantage, it just means that there are more options out there, and the people that may have bought an iPhone are now buying an iPad, or changing technologies based on other factors like service or price of cell-phone carriers.

The increase in Mac sales shows me that consumers are worried about having a centralization between the things they do. They don’t want a PC and an iPhone and have to worry about compatibility issues. Having an iPad or an iPhone and then a Mac computer on top of that would make the work from home rather seamless and make workers more efficient.

http://www.cio.com/article/623274/7_Innovation_Secrets_of_Steve_Jobs_

Computer On The Go Phone Coming Out

Windows and AT&T have teamed up and have announced a windows 7 phone that is coming out in the next few days.

While the phone may have to compete with the iphone, it is still very important and exciting to me. I feel as though this is another big step to having an even smarter smart phone. Iphones and droids have so much ability and potential to be a stand-alone device rather than a supplementary device.

Iphones still do not use flash or other software programs that are not installed on the phone itself. Having a windows 7 phone may encourage the iphone to create more of a computer operating software on it so they can access all of the computer programs that a regular computer can. If phones add another device like this and can have a system that is the same as the computers people use, this would be a huge step in making work easier and the transfer of data from one place to another more seamless.

I can't wait to see what impact this has on Iphone and other smart phone sales, but also what it does to the next generation of Iphones.

People Matter Too

In this article, there is a lot of focus on processes, and trying to come up with the perfect process that fits a business. But what I think is interesting is that the author says that you can't come up with a perfect process without factoring in the people that will be in the process.

A process may sound perfect on paper, but if the people don't buy into it or if the people can't adapt to the process, then the business will fail or will have to find something else to create a change.

Certain changes don't always work even if it sounds perfect. People must be factored into the equation as well. In a growing age of technology I think this is very important because we tend to take people for granted and don't think of them as quite as important as they really are.

After all, we are the central part of the equation in all businesses and processes and we are the factors that make things work or not. Humans must also manage the work and the process for things to be successful. Very interesting to me that not everything can be solved with more technology. Sometimes that is a bad thing.

http://www.cio.com/article/619276/Processes_and_the_People_Factor?source=rss_news