So what can be better? For me, it's the ultimate combination. In today's New York Times, an article revealed the coming of the next generation of camera & software system that was announced & presented yesterday to folks in the baseball community. Not sure yet, but it seems this is the real deal in the next iteration of marrying baseball stats with technology. A must read article (and watch the video contained in the article as well) if you're into baseball at all.
At least it is when you hear Syd Mandelbaum of Rock & Wrap it Up speak. I've known Syd for many years, and can't think of too many people on this planet who is helping those who need help more than he and his wife Diane are doing.
Can't embed this video, but please take the time to watch this video about what they do - http://www.vimeo.com/5208961. The password is robusto.
My hat is always off to Syd. We need more like him.
Some new search functionality to mention. Sometime this month (May) will be the release of WolframAlpha, a search engine that is trying to allow you not only to get information (results) from a search, but have a search engine that will figure things out for you. Conceptually, it's quite interesting, and if it is even marginally successful, it may revolutionize search engines. Check out their blog from March to get a bit more insight about it.
Natch, Google isn't dormant, either. Google Options has been added to search results pages. You'll find the Show Options link beneath the search term you entered at the top of the page. Features of this include grouping results by date, timeline, and using their Wonder Wheel (doesn't that sound like a superhero?). Check out this video from the Official Google blog to learn about these tools. The video is within the text, about 6 paragraphs into the blog.
Also on Google's horizon is Google Squared, which many folks feel is their response to WolframAlpha. While not officially released yet, a great unofficial Google blog, Google Blogoscoped, offers a good explanation and some screen shots. Of course, if you just want to see a video, here's one that's been posted on You Tube to show & explain what Google Squared is all about.
And you thought search was just about entering a few words in a box.
Sometimes, words don't do a concept justice. So, just watch this video from this year's TED conference, taking technologies like Microsoft Surface to a whole new level.
...and yes, Tabbloid is spelled correctly...sort of. It's correct when referring to a way cool tool, HP's Tabbloid. It takes any of your RSS feeds (whichever ones you select), and creates a .pdf-based daily newspaper format out of it, sent to you at regular intervals (such as every day). So, for those of you who miss the look of a daily paper, this might be the best of both worlds.
Pretty cool, eh? I think it deserves a "way cool" award!
...or was it Ali vs. Cosell? Or perhaps the Yankees vs., well, everyone?
The current rivalry du jour seems to be the two hottest social networking sites, Facebook & Twitter. Twitter must be hot...it's taking lots of broadside hits. Yesterday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt called Twitter "a poor man's email". Ouch. Today, Facebook unveils a redesign of the home page that is designed to, well, out-Twitter Twitter.
Jeesh. Twitter is taking more strikes than Mario Mendoza. And check out the Wikipedia reference on Mario's name to learn what the Mendoza Line is to help complete this sports metaphor-layden story.
Haven't posted about food in a while (probably since the book came out), but thanks to a friend and colleague, Stacy, she told me about an article written in the Times (that's the London Times) online identifying the top 50 food blogs. Here's the link (via TinyURL):
http://tinyurl.com/akgq8s. Some of them I had heard about, others I'm looking forward to delving into further.
Lots of buzz with Twitter these days. Here's a cool app that I'm going to be mentioning tomorrow at the MPI MeetDifferent conference. Stocktwits is a open platform discussion about the market, using Twitter as the discussion platform. Check out the video.
Just watch this, showcased at the current TED conference. Waaaay cool. Note - doesn't seem to be showing well, or with much audio. Looking for a better version to post.
