Tech Startups: High Profile Successes & Failures
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Infographic via Allmand Law.
Author Archives: Adam Thompson
If My Great-Grandmother Could Have Only Imagined…My MP3 Player
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(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Many, many decades ago, my great-grandmother once dazzled passengers on a Mississippi riverboat with her piano and vocal skills. More importantly, she dazzled the man who would become her husband…and my great-grandfather.
In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t so long ago that music was not a readily available commodity like it is today. In the days of yore, if you wanted to hear music, you needed an instrument and someone who knew how to play it. The stunning beauty of a world-class symphony orchestra was a luxury many might never have the opportunity to enjoy.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
How little could she have imagined that a century or so later, her great-grandson would have a device about the size of a belt buckle that could contain and play back music from an entire orchestra! How surprised would they be to see me press a button and listen to a song of my choice from the best orchestras and music groups in the world?
Do you ever stop and reflect how incredibly amazing modern technology is? We enjoy luxuries that in centuries past the most powerful king in the world would have eyed with envy.
Ubiquitous Computing, Better Batteries, And Tomorrow’s Energy Supply
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“Ubiquitous computing” is the omnipresence of technology – smart phones, digital billboards, the giant TV screen in Times Square, tablets, GPS, self-parking cars, cloud computing services, and more. Digital technology and its applications are now present in virtually everything we use. Mobile technology allows us to take what we really like – things like our media and digital utilities – wherever we go. Cars, household appliances, and entertainment systems are all progressively displaying computer-based artificial intelligence characteristics, and they’re all targeted to our individual preferences. Due to this, technology is completely embedded in our society.
How will our energy supply need to adapt to power the technology of tomorrow?
The world’s demand for power is growing and changing by the day. According to a report by Exxon Mobile:
- The world’s population will rise by more than 25% by 2040, reaching 9 billion.
- In 2040, global energy demand will be approximately 700 quadrillion BTUs, or about 35 percent greater than in 2010.
- China already consumes more energy than any other country.
With ubiquitous computing, wall-plug energy has become less and less practical, and efforts are underway to build the “better mousetrap” of the 21st Century. In this case, it’s the longer-lasting battery.
Will batteries like this soon be like cassette tapes – a relic of yesteryear?
Many believe that battery power is the future of energy development. Why? The demand for our technology to be liberated from an outlet!
In the past, batteries have been a supplemental power source for items such as headlights and radios, but future technology will allow batteries to one day replace the primary power sources for large machinery and locomotive devices such as automobiles and industrial equipment.
Success in battery life extension is already occurring. According to NBC News, lithium-ion batteries are in development that will be able to store up to eight times more energy than conventional designs, an advancement made possible by a new conducting material that doesn’t break down after multiple charging cycles. Society is poised and ready for this development, and analysts, such as technology research firm IHS, are predicting the market to reach $54 billion by 2020.
As battery power becomes more prominent, recharging stations will appear in places like interstate rest stops just as they already have in airport lounges.
Where will the energy come from?
As more power is delivered by rechargeable batteries, power plants will be needed to power more recharging stations. In the distant future, these are predicted to be solar plants, wind farms, and hydroplants. In the near future, however, fossil fuel plants may have to suffice. North America has vast oil and gas reserves of its own, most abundantly in Canada, North Dakota, Alaska, Texas, and the Gulf of Mexico. These locations are available for traditional prospecting and drilling without the hassle of navigating international trade regulations, politics, or foreign policy. There are currently several locations under consideration and exploration. The shale rock formations in the Bakken Oil Region of North Dakota are estimated (as of 2008) as capable of generating 167 billion barrels of oil. The Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada are estimated to yield anywhere from 267 billion to over 1.2 trillion barrels.
Where next?
Wind, solar, ocean, geothermal, or something else? How efficient will batteries become? One thing is for sure – ubiquitous computing (and other factors) are driving a lot of energy innovation – I can’t wait to see where it takes us.
Google Nexus 7 Case Giveaway
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In the wake of our Google Nexus 7 giveaway (congrats, Josien!) MobileFun has kindly offered to give two Digitizd readers a free case for their Google Nexus 7. The giveaway items are:
How To Enter
Entering this giveaway is easy – just use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter up to five times.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Survey: Personal Tech, Business Tech, Or Both?
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Top 10 Things To Consider Before You Go Black Friday Shopping
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy your turkey and dressing while you spend time with family and friends, and count your blessings.
Standing in line. Sounds like boat-loads of fun, right? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is apparently a great time to buy more stuff (in case you came up short while counting your blessings). Or so I’m told. But let me give you 10 reasons NOT to go shopping tomorrow.
- That must-have Gadget 3.0 that is on sale? It’ll sell for half that price next year after Gadget 3.1 is released.
- You could get the same experience by staying home and watching The Hunger Games.
- There is always at least one unlucky person that gets trampled to death. You don’t want to risk getting a Darwin Award, do you?
- Only in America do people trample each other to buy more stuff exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.
- Aren’t you supposed to be allowed to sleep in on holiday weekends?
- Black Friday leads to My Credit Card Bill Is Too High Saturday.
- If you just want a great deal, you can always go to Goodwill and buy some cassette tapes or bell bottom trousers for $1.
- By the time you get up Friday morning, it will be almost Saturday in Japan and Australia. Just tell yourself you missed it and go back to sleep.
- If you want to spend a bunch of money standing in lines, why not go to Disney World? At least you’d get to ride a fun ride.
- If you stay home and shop online, you can wear your PJs and drink hot chocolate (or rum!).
Take Your Business Phone on the Go With SendHub’s iPhone App
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If you’re like most of American business people, your business phone is either a second cell phone that your company gives you, or a landline sitting on your desk near your computer, and immobile by default.
SendHub has a better option. They believe that you shouldn’t have to carry two cell phones on your hip all the time, or be forced to stay at your desk to take work calls. You can have two phone lines: one for personal use, one for work, and all from a single device.
Their intuitive iOS app makes calling, texting and sending group messages to your colleagues or customers as simple as using your iPhone. Keep your personal cell number private, but also centralize all of your business communications to your primary mobile device.
SendHub’s App Offers the Following Free Features:
- Free Phone Number in any Area Code
- Free Texts & Calls
- Free Voicemail
- Group Texting for your team & customers
- Share Contact Groups With Colleagues
- Works on the Web too!
Interested in SendHub, but don’t have an iPhone? No problem. Sendhub works on any mobile device and all right from your web browser. Looking for additional features and a bit more horsepower? Check out SendHub’s Paid Plans starting at just $10 a month!
Editor’s note: This is a post from SendHub, a great company that sponsors Digitizd.
Election Night & Online News – A Few Interesting Stats
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For better or for worse, election night here in America is over. (Come to think of it, what could be worse about the end of attack ads and robo-calls for a few more years?)
Election night for media outlets is like Black Friday for retail stores – a high point of their year. A couple days ago, I got some stats showing how many users were on the Fox News and CNN websites on Election day. There are some interesting numbers:
- Foxnews.com delivered over 6 million video starts and 3,039,989 live video streams for Election Day 2012.
- Foxnews.com maintained over 1 million concurrent site visits for 4 consecutive hours (8PM-12AM/ET).
- The CNN Politics section and CNN Digital Election Center (combined) hit 101.5 million page views on Election Day.
- CNN.com (the entire site) hit 203 million page views (from over 23 million unique visitors) on Election Day.
Needless to say, election day is one day you don’t want to schedule server maintenance, if you’re an online news site!
16 Fun And Semi-Educational Ways To Kill A Few Minutes Online
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A couple years ago, David wrote a post titled 20 Ways to Kill a Few Minutes Online, featuring some great ways to have some fun online and maybe learn something new in the process. Here’s my addendum to David’s list of ways “to learn something, be entertained, or just have a way to goof off” for a few minutes.
This was the National Geographic photo of the day for Nov 1, 2012.
1) Enjoy National Geographic’s Photo Of The Day. Daily photo of a nature or cultural scene from somewhere on this great planet.
2) Browse an interesting sub-reddit on Reddit.com. Good places to start include Funny, ListenToThis, UpliftingNews, and many more.
3) Peruse the stunning travel photos at TourTheWorld.
4) Watch some videos from YouTube’s Recommended For You section. I regularly use YouTube and find the recommendations usually include something I like.
5) Follow The Dark Lord (or one of the other numerous parody accounts) on Twitter. Not sure The Dark Lord is educational, but it’s one of my favorite twitter accounts, so…
6) Check out Wikipedia‘s daily featured article. I guarantee you’ll learn something new.
7) Find new bands and artists to listen to on TasteKid, or by using the Related Artists feature on Last.fm.
8) Visit Braingle and put your brain to work with their collection of brain teasers, trivia, games, and more.
9) Watch Mashable’s Viral Video Of The Day. Mashable highlights a notable YouTube video each day.
10) Create your own comic strip with Strip Generator, a super easy to use, 100% free comic strip builder.
11) Test your vocabulary skills at FreeRice.com – everytime you answer a question correctly, the site donates 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program.
The Traveler IQ Challenge game.
12) Play the point and click Traveler IQ Challenge. You’re given a location (city, attraction, etc.) and you have to click on the map where you think it is. You’re graded based on your speed and how many kilometers away from the actual location you click.
13) Check out NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, and (if you want to learn some cool facts) read the explanation of the photo, written by a professional astronomer.
Explore the Great Barrier Reef and other destinations on Google Street View.
14) Go sightseeing with Google Streetview. From museums to underwater reefs, Google Street View allows you to tour some of the world’s greatest attractions, right from your sofa. Start at Google’s Street View gallery.
15) Inflate your ego by reading about other peoples’ epic fails. Get started at Darwin Awards, FAILblog, Epic Fail, or another fail-focused site of your choice.
16) Build and conduct your own beat box or a capella vocal group with Incredibox.
There’s my list. What are your favorite (semi useful or educational) ways to kill a few minutes online?
Enter To Win A Google Nexus 7 Tablet
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Digitizd is giving away a free Google Nexus 7 – a tablet that’s so cool, Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg called it “the best Android tablet I’ve used”!
Hello Digitizd readers! Have you had your eye on a sleek new tablet, but can’t figure out how to convince your significant other that buying an iPad or Android tablet really is an essential living expense?
Sounds like you need to enter our contest to win a Google Nexus 7 (16GB) tablet. If you win, we’ll ship a brand new Nexus tablet right to your door.
Here’s how it works – you enter to win using one (or more) of the three methods listed below, and on November 28th, we’ll randomly select a winner. If you’re the winner, we will contact you via email or Twitter to obtain your shipping address, and a few days later, you’ll be holding a brand new tablet.
Three easy ways to enter to win:
- Tweet a link to this contest page.
- Go to our Facebook page and enter to win.
- Make a post on your blog about this contest.
Feel free to enter using all 3 methods to increase your chances of winning!
Enter To Win Here:
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