Gmail Locked Me Out of My Mail

This is quite possibly the scariest webpage I’ve ever seen. After installing the latest patch from Firefox, my browser reloaded and displayed this page where my Gmail used to be. I suddenly realized that if anything was ever to wrong with my Gmail, I have no one that I can call or email for help. Even worse, the page says that when your account is locked out, it may not be accessible for 24 hours. Luckily, my problem was #5 and was easily fixed by reloading the page. WHEW!

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Wow. When I saw this, I think I drooled a little. Remember the computer from "Minority Report"? The one Tom Cruise was manipulating by moving objects on the screen around just by moving his hands across its surface? Believe it or not, it’s been built. Five years in the making, Microsoft Surface is one of Gates final projects as head of Microsoft and possibly the beginning of a revolutionary shift in computing. An article over at MSN tells of a reporter’s first encounter with the Surface computer and I would have given anything to trade places with him! (And you HAVE TO watch the video!!)

The MSN article states that Microsoft Surface starts with an impact-resistant plastic top skin on top of a table that houses "five infrared scanners, a projector and a wireless modem. The scanners recognize objects and shapes placed on the top and respond to them accordingly. For example, if the scanners recognize fingers, and the fingers have been placed in color circles that appear on the surface, the projector shows colored lines that follow the tracings and movements of your fingers. Meanwhile, an internal modem sends and receives signals from any electronic device placed on it. All of the hardware is run by a special version of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista."

To manipulate objects on the screen, you touch the object on the screen - you push it, you pull it; to make an object larger, you spread your fingers out; to make it smaller, you squeeze your fingers together. Even better, more than one person can touch the screen at the same time and have it respond. The Microsoft Surface computer also "sees" wi-fi enabled objects placed atop the screen. For example, if you were to place an wi-fi camera or video recorder, the Surface pulls the images or videos out of the camera for you and places them on the screen for you to move, edit, email, etc. In the video, Gates even demonstrates how the Surface could be used at a restaurant - ordering items from the menu, then placing your credit card on the table and dragging pictures from the menu towards your card while other pictures are moved towards the other credit card placed on the table. There was even a slider to adjust for the tip amount and a button to "pay" for the meal.

Here’s the best part about Microsoft Surface: it’s being released this winter! Of course, due to the expense, this is not a consumer product (yet). The Microsoft Surface website states that the computer has been designed for use by commercial partners like retailers, hotels, restaurants, and public entertainment venues. The partners listed on the website are Harrah’s Entertainment, IGT, T-Mobile, and Sheraton. I cannot wait to try this for myself!

There were a few other cool things happening on the net, but I’m too wrapped up in devouring content about Microsoft Surface to pay them much mind just yet:

• 
  Jason Calacanis, formerly of Weblogs, Inc., launched a search engine called Mahalo today. From the site: "Mahalo is the world’s first human-powered search engine powered by an enthusiastic and energetic group of Guides. Our Guides spend their days searching, filtering out spam, and hand-crafting the best search results possible. If they haven’t yet built a search result, you can request that search result. You can also suggest links for any of our search results." So it’s like the Wikipedia of search? Uh, has anyone told Jason how big the internet is?

• 
  I KNEW IT!! Google has announced "Google Gears" that lets you view content saved on Google when your computer is offline. Currently supported is Google Reader and in the works is Google Docs & Spreadsheets. First Google Gears, then Google OS, then Google takes over the world! (insert evil laughter)

• Google acquired anti-malware security company, Green Border. First, safe web surfing, then Google OS, then…oh, I already did that.

• 
  EBay acquired StumbleUpon: "StumbleUpon is a great fit within our goal of pioneering new communities based on commerce and sustained by trust,” said, Michael Buhr, senior director, eBay. “StumbleUpon’s downloadable toolbar provides an engaging and unique experience to its users, but it is the similarities in our approaches to the concept of community that make it such a compelling addition to eBay.” Huh? I think EBay was just jealous, what with everyone acquiring things lately and they felt left out.

• 
  iTunes launched its DRM-free store, dubbed iTunes Plus so you can now purchase your tunes free from copyright protection. ArsTechnica explains how to view the DRM-free tracks by enabling iTunes Plus.

• 
  CBS buys last.fm; in other news, CBS now officially "cool"

• Google acquires geotagging service, Panoramio for integration with Google Earth
• YouTube is coming to AppleTV; I want YouTube on the XBox 360! Now I’m jealous!

• iTunes launches iTunes U - college classes for your iPod; Can I get college credit for that?

• YouTube CTO resigns…uh…I mean "retires"

• MLB claiming Slingbox breaks law by "letting people who had legally paid to watch baseball games on their home TV system watch that same content outside their home"…jeez, you would think they would be happy that people are actually watching baseball…

• Palm announces new mobile gadget, Foleo. Wait…Palm? They’re still around?

• Microsoft’s Windows Live Search Maps launches 3D maps and Google Maps launches "street level" views

A new service called Fixya is using the web 2.0, community-focused model to offer free tech support for any consumer product. With Fixya, you can immediately give or receive advice by chatting online. In addition to the tech support, the site offers user guides and repair information. Fixya’s goal seems to be to become the Wikipedia of tech support. From their about back, they state that "the idea behind FixYa is to aggregate all support information that is scattered throughout the internet in a single user friendly location. In addition, FixYa is a huge knowledgebase that is constantly updated by a live community of users who share their experiences of technical problems and solutions. Through the site’s unique rating system, FixYa is allowing users to find the best solution for every problem and even offer a new solution. Our aim is that over time, FixYa will offer the best solutions for the most common problems of each and every product the site is covering. The best thing about our knowledgebase is that it’s based on true user experience rather than on projected FAQs by the manufacturer." This sounds like it could be a very useful service if they can get a large enough user base to participate.

Last week at a major press event, Facebook announced their new developer platform which allows developers deep access to the Facebook API in order to develop Facebook-integrated applications. The new platform is much different than the previous read-only API, creating a system for third party companies to develop services that work within Facebook’s user pages. Currently, the list of companies using the new platform include the following (source, CenterNetworks): Atomic Mobile, Attendio, Amazon, All Widgets llc, Box.net, Bunchball, Picnick, Chumby, Channels.com, Dogster, EF Tours, Ether, Fashion for the People, FeedBurner, Fliptrack, Forbes.com, Ford Models, Glimpse.com, Hot or Not, I Like, Jangl, Lending Club, Localplatform, Microsoft, Mog, Mosoto, Obama for America, Oodle, Pickspal, Platial, Plum, Project Agape, Prosper, Photobucket, Qoop, Radar, Rapleaf, Red Bull, RockYou, Rupture, Scrapblog, Scribd, Sidestep, Slide, Snapvine, Splashcast, Terralever, The Founders Fund, Twitter, Uber, U Playme, Veoh, Viagogo, Virgin Mobile USA, Warner Bros Records, Washington Post, Widgetbox, & Yakpack. The application list can be found at www.facebook.com/apps, which is also where you can add them to your profile.

The flickr competitor, Zooomr, has recently undergone a major upgrade. The new version, launching any minute now, is called "Mark III" and offers all users unlimited storage plus 250 other new features. On the new version, photographers can sell their photos, keeping 90% of the profits and developers can build upon the open API. Nine months in the making, Mark III’s new features may take Zooomr from flickr competitor to flickr killer. Zooomr is a two-person company that was created by now 20-year-old Kristopher Tate back when he was only 18. In June of 2006, Thomas Hawk joined Kristopher as Zooomr’s CEO and evangelist.

Google has introduced a mobile version of their popular online calendar, Google Calendar. To access your Google Calendar from your mobile phone, you browse to calendar.google.com and sign into your Google account. From there, you’ll see a list of your upcoming events. At the bottom of the page is a box to "quick add" an event to your calendar. Handy!

• The rumor about Google buying FeedBurner turned out to be true. The purchase price is $100 million and all cash.
• TweetVolume - compare the occurrence of terms and how often they appear on Twitter
• Comment on Engadget to win some Shure headphones
• Gmail increased the permitted attachment size from 10MB to 20MB
• Dell is now shipping Linux; Dell will also sell PCs at Walmart
• Scoble posts on growing "Fear of Google" trend
• World’s thinnest laptop unveiled
• logotwo, a Web 2.0 logo directory - find and rate web 2.0 logos

The popular weblog tracking website, Technorati, launched a myriad of changes today that were six months in the making. The first thing you’ll notice is the user interface redesign. Based on user feedback, the design is intended to be cleaner and more intuitive. On the homepage, the current & hot keyword search terms scroll, ticker-style, across the top of the page. (I guess "hot trends" is the trend right now!) Also like Google, Technorati has gone the way of universal search. No longer do you need to specify whether you’re doing a keyword search, directory search, or tag search - you just search, using the prominently displayed search box at the top of the window, and Technorati will display the most relevant results. Additionally, a blogsearch-only homepage is available at search.technorati.com (or s.technorati.com for the truly speedy). There are tons of other changes under the hood that you’ll find as you poke around. So far, I’ve only found one I don’t like: when doing an ego-search by checking out who has been linking to your site, the incoming link that used to be in bold is no longer bold. Now you have to read the snippet of text to find your link. That’s not a big deal because I don’t do ego searches that often…really…

The hot news this week is Google’s new "Hot Trends" feature on the "Google Trends" website. The Google Trends site analyzes Google web searches to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you enter. Along with the results are graphs, plus displays of the top cities, regions, and languages for the terms you entered. The new Hot Trends section shows what people are searching for today and the stats are updated several times a day. I was surprised how many people are googling terms related to World of Warcraft. Oh, you geeks, way to rule the net! Now all I need is a Hot Trends widget for my homepage and desktop and I would be all set.