Google's gazillionaire co-founder Sergey Brin said yesterday “we want Google to be the third half of your brain.” But at the rate Google is going they'll soon form all three halves. As you know, Google announced yesterday Google instant which predicts your search queries before you type them. Rather than having to construct an entire query all by yourself, you can now type a couple of letters and then choose from the options... 

I wrote a column recently about the use of Google Earth in one Long Island town to catch swimming pool permit violators . Riverhead, Long Island, busted some 250 residents with illicit pools and collected $75,000 in fines. Now the local newspaper Newsday is reporting that council members have voted to stop using Google Earth to check for permit violators . I would have preferred a lawsuit by the federal government and a Supreme Court case so... 

Suddenly, Google is in the prediction business. Three new initiatives – two launched this week, one still in the lab – show that Google believes instantaneous isn't fast enough. Right now isn't soon enough. And the present moment is yesterday's news. The user's speed of thought has become the slowest part of any Google process. So by eliminating user thoughts, or rather by thinking them for you before you think them, Google... 

Permalink | Leave a comment  Read More →

Why does Apple dominate all aspects of the digital music market, but fail in TV? Why does Microsoft do so well in desktop operating systems, but can't translate that winning formula to cell phones? Why is Google so good at search, yet so clearly miss with Google Orkut? How did a guy like Mark Zuckerberg create a runaway success like Facebook? The answer to these questions can determine the winners and losers in the $174 billion per year... 

Steve Jobs launched an insta-meme today by suggesting in his keynote that Apple’s new multi-touch iPod nano could be worn as a wristwatch. The meme becomes a fad next week when the nano arrives in stores and people start actually wearing them on wrists. It’s going to happen, especially when third-party companies begin offering special-purpose wristwatch straps for it. I know it’s going to happen because I’m going to do it. But serving... 

Just sent issue 127 of Mike's List ! Go here to subscribe free ! Permalink | Leave a comment  Read More →

Apple is announcing something next week, and everybody expects that announcement to involve new iPods, a new strategy for iTunes and possible a new direction for Apple TV. A FaceTime-capable iPod Touch would be nice. And 99-cent TV shows would probably make Apple a lot of money. Apple and Google are fighting it out over control of the TV experience, but I don't sense a lot of desire on the  Read More →

People are divided on the question of whether it's OK for employers to check the Facebook posts of employees or prospective employees. The majority, at least among my readers I've casually surveyed on the question, believe that Facebook posts are public, and therefore fair game for employers. However, a Facebook post is not like a public blog post. Here's  Read More →

Back in July I wrote a controversial column for Computerworld called the ” The five stages of Facebook grief .” My point, in a nutshell, is that everybody has multiple social networks and that Facebook doesn't make it easy or clear how to separate those social networks. As a result, people are becoming disillusioned with Facebook. Of course, Facebook hasn't even mentioned their elephant in the living room. But guess who has... 

Google is testing ” Live Search ,” which means that new results pop up as you're typing. If you want to search for “pizza,” for example, the results start flowing in as soon as you type “p.” Typing the “i” narrows the search further, and so on. It works from Google's “Search Suggestion” feature. Permalink | Leave a comment  Read More →

Tech journalist and broadcaster Leo Laporte wrote a shocking blog post today that everyone will be talking about all week. In a nutshell, he has come to the conclusion that social media like Twitter, Facebook and Buzz are “an immense waste of time.” He says he feels like he’s been “shouting into a vast echo chamber where no one could hear me because they were too busy shouting themselves.” Wow! Leo’s disillusionment... 

I guess Yelp has some kind of Googlesque 20% time thing, because engineers at the company found the time to create something called the KegMate. The software enables an iPad, attached to a keg of beer, to keep track of who’s drinking and how much (using RFID scans no less!). It displays the temperature of the beer. Users can rate beer quality, and see who else has been drinking.  Read More →

If you know what this is, or even if you have a wild-ass guess, go HERE  to take a shot at it.  Permalink | Leave a comment  Read More →

The video is beyond unfair, even for absurdist satire.  Read More →