There are plenty of wonderful things about train travel: the leg room, the scenery, the lack of security pat-downs. The WiFi, on the other hand, has long been the slowest thing about Amtrak. The company announced today that it's finally doing something about its frustratingly sluggish service, upgrading wireless on select trains, including the Acela express between Boston and Washington DC and a few California lines like the Capitol Corridor, Pacific Surfliner and San Joaquin. Travelers to other destinations will have to wait a bit longer for quicker load times -- Amtrak has promised that the rest of its WiFi-equipped trains will be upgraded by "late summer."
Amtrak boosts WiFi on select trains, more upgrades coming this summer
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
Apple vs. Android: The Open Factor | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis
Judging by the comments on John Kirk’s post “Android’s Market Share Is Literally a Joke,” we are well into another operating system religious war. As is always the case in religious wars, it’s tough to make sense of the the arguments. As Harry McCracken notes at Time Techland, we can’t agree who is winning because we can’t agree on what “winning” means.
Advocates often argue that victory for Android is inevitable because Google’s platform is more open and open always triumphs over closed. That proposition is debatable at best. But the arguments is muddled by the confusion of several different concepts of openness. I’m going to try to at least clarify the terms of the debate. There are at least three concepts of open clamoring for our attention; I am going to call them open hardware, open software, and open systems.
- See more at: http://techpinions.com/apple-vs-android-the-open-factor/17049#sthash.aQrejf4O.dpufApple vs. Android: The Open Factor | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis
Google may build wireless networks in emerging markets, WSJ says | Mobile - CNET News
Google is reportedly going into the cellular business in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia in an effort to connect more people to the Internet
Microsoft’s cheap shot at Apple’s iPad actually spotlights exactly why Windows 8 tablets suck (with video) – MacDailyNews - Welcome Home
A brand new Windows 8 ad pits the iPad against Microsoft’s Windows 8 tablet, in an attempt to show how much more versatile the Asus VivoTab is vs. the iOS device,” Darrell Etherington writes for TechCrunch.
“Microsoft uses Siri’s voice (which isn’t difficult, given that it’s a fairly generic computer-generated female tone) to highlight what the Windows 8 tablet can do that the iPad can’t,” Etherington writes. “The problem is that not only is the Siri construct weak and her actual lines poorly written, but the abilities Microsoft chooses to highlight show exactly why it doesn’t ‘get’ the tablet market. People aren’t looking for multitasking PowerPoint slide deck-creating machines; they have computers for that.”
Read more at http://macdailynews.com/2013/05/23/microsofts-cheap-shot-at-apples-ipad-actually-spotlights-exactly-why-windows-8-tablets-suck-with-video/#MrL2Dzst6p4HRjuu.99
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Vint Cerf: Social conventions have not kept up with technology | Internet & Media - CNET News
Speaking of Glass, Google's chief Internet evangelist predicted, "It may be we will have to experience some damage before we discover what the social conventions are."
Vint Cerf: Social conventions have not kept up with technology | Internet & Media - CNET News
Vint Cerf: Social conventions have not kept up with technology | Internet & Media - CNET News
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Google Reader, Google Plus and the Future of Social Networks
Though more informed people seem to be treating the notion as speculative or wistful, it seems clear to me that Google GOOG -0.01% intends to deliver the underlying service of Google Reader in Google Plus. Instead of subscribing to the RSS, you simply follow the blog in question.* This makes sense and is the obvious evolution of Google Plus as your “Window to the World.”
This is basically the same idea as the old Portals except now the window is “curated” by your social network. Since, this is how actual human beings interact with the world – through the lense of their ingroups – this should be perfectly natural. As widely mentioned the circles feature maps on to how real networks behave and if you can keep the boundary between the circles firm, it should mimic natural human behavior well enough for ‘Work’ – as in your actual workplace network, not just you work friends – to be essentially no different than “Family” or “Drinking Buddies” or what have you.
Google Reader, Google Plus and the Future of Social Networks
Surprise: Yahoo's mobile push is working better than you think
Don’t look now but it looks like Yahoo’s mobile apps push is bearing fruit, at least according to new data from Onavo.
Case in point: Yahoo Weather, which rolled out recently, already has what Onavo CEO Guy Rosen calls an “unprecedented” 3 percent market share among U.S. iPhone owners. That’s about 1.5 million users total which makes it the 91st most popular iPhone app three weeks after release, according to Onavo Insights data. That’s very good for a new app, Rosen said in an interview.
Other Yahoo mobile apps including Yahoo Messenger and the Yahoo app are also doing well. “In general, what we found is that although Yahoo has been quiet on mobile, when we look at the top apps, we see quite a few up there. They have a decent footprint.”
Surprise: Yahoo's mobile push is working better than you think
Google's Plan To Take Over The World
Google's big keynote at its I/O developers conference this week wore me out.
Not because it lasted a grueling three hours and fifty minutes, but because of what was announced. With every new product update, every new feature, every new virtual service, it became more and more clear that Google isn't just a search company that makes loads of cash by showing you ads. It's creeping into every aspect of our digital, physical, and private lives at an exponential rate.
Google's Plan To Take Over The World
Is computing speed set to make a quantum leap?
Quantum mechanics research could hold the key to a new generation of super-fast computers
Is computing speed set to make a quantum leap?
Is computing speed set to make a quantum leap?
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
Google I/O keeps browser focus despite fancy phones, eyewear | Internet & Media - CNET News
Google I/O keeps browser focus despite fancy phones, eyewear | Internet & Media - CNET News: "With newer technologies such as Android and more recently Glass, the scope of Google I/O has expanded dramatically since the first show in 2008. But Google, born on the Web, is keeping the browser at the heart of the show. Five years ago, Google wanted to advance what Web-based software could do. The company could take steps such as improving interfaces to its own online services so developers could build better sites, and it promoted the Gears browser plug-in designed to beef up browser abilities with features like offline app support and the ability."
(Via.)
Bloomberg Admits Terminal Snooping - NYTimes.com
Bloomberg Admits Terminal Snooping - NYTimes.com: "Reporters at Bloomberg News were trained to use a function on the company’s financial data terminals that allowed them to view subscribers’ contact information and, in some cases, monitor login activity in order to advance news coverage, more than half a dozen former employees said."
(Via.)
Sunday, May 12, 2013
KakaoTalk Partners With AdPOPcorn, Brings Ads To Its Messaging Platform As It Prepares A Facebook Home Rival Launcher | TechCrunch
Another move in the oh-so-hot mobile messaging space today: South Korea’s Kakao Inc, which owns the KakaoTalk cross-platform mobile messaging app, has inked an agreement with digital marketing company IGAWorks to bring its mobile ad product, adPOPcorn, to the messaging app.
IGAWorks will also provide adPOPcorn to game developers whose products integrate with KakaoTalk. In a press release, the pair said the adPOPcorn advertising platform provides “in-game/in-app incentivized ad offers, including integrated advertising pop-ups, higher conversion rates and traffic, to social and mobile media channels while offering in-game items and other incentives to players”.
KakaoTalk Partners With AdPOPcorn, Brings Ads To Its Messaging Platform As It Prepares A Facebook Home Rival Launcher | TechCrunch
UK's New Defamation Law May Accelerate The Death Of Anonymous User-Generated Content Internationally
Historically, United Kingdom defamation law has been victim-favorable. In an effort to modernize its defamation law, the UK Parliament recently enacted the Defamation Act 2013 (royal assent was given on April 25). The act generally makes it harder for plaintiffs to win defamation lawsuits, but I’ll focus on the effects of Section 5 of the act, entitled “Operators of websites.”
UK's New Defamation Law May Accelerate The Death Of Anonymous User-Generated Content Internationally
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