Recently in Innovation Category

In the period when Steve Jobs left Apple, did he travel to the future and come back to implement what he saw? I guess only he will ever know, but there is no doubt in my mind that Steve Jobs is not only the smartest man in the world, but also a visionary that has shaped and evolved our culture through his innovations and his seamingly innate connection with the future. Greg Sandoval wrote an article that follows up a archived Rolling Stone interview with the great Steve Jobs from 2003 where he makes predictions on the future of the music industry and the impact of the iTunes store.

I came across this neat iPhone app on Gizmodo. It basically mirrors the mini remote that comes with your MacBook Pro on your iPhone device over Wi-Fi.

Click here to download the Rowmote app.

In terms of personal tech devices I have to say the 16GB wireless flash drive by Leyio definitely has potential. I can definitely see the need for this, especially amongst students but also for general personal and professional use. One thing to keep in mind is that this device is wireless, not to be confused or compatible with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth enabled devices. This product uses ultrawide-band radio which means it needs it's own dongle. That said, it can freely connect and transfer files to nearby Leyio flash drives. The real selling feature for me is that this product offers a USB port so you can connect other flash drives giving this product scaleability.

Definitely a great purchase if you like sharing photos, music, and videos with your friends.

You may or may not have heard of Josh Harris, but as the trailer (see below) for the film We Live In Public states, he is "the greatest internet pioneer that you've never heard of". 

I was really excited to read today about We Live In Public a film by Ondi Timoner which won the Sundance Festival's Grand Jury prize. I remember watching this project at the time and everyone at work gathering around a Power Mac to watch as it went live. The video quality was poor, it was streaming at 160x120px and it was choppy, yet we were all intrigued with the idea of watching these people live out their lives via live video cam 24/7. 

If you're interested in reading more about the original project from back in the day I found this archived article in Wired from 2000 shortly before they went live with the project, and another from 2001.

I finally purchased a new alarm clock this weekend to replace an old $10 Radio Shack no-named brand I've tolerated for the past 20 yrs. Now an alarm clock isn't necessarily something people think about all the time but I've actually put quite a bit of time and effort looking out for the perfect one. When you've put up with an AM/FM alarm clock that played neither AM or FM but rather a static ridden high pitched steady tone, well, you want the next one to be something really special. 

So I picked up a Moshi - IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Alarm Clock. It's a talking command-driven alarm clock that has a clean Apple-esque design (minus the ipod dock). Though an ipod dock would've been nice, it's actually refreshing that it doesn't offer one. Rather, there are some other unique features that will entertain you such as a night light which cycles mood colours and soothing sleep sounds like birds chirping and water falls. One feature I'd like to see in the next generation of this product is a wifi an the ability to pull in feeds such as my Last.fm playlist, local news, and weather...now that would be great!

With this technology greatly improving over the last couple of years and continuing to improve in our hands-free culture, I'm hoping to see alot more IVR and web enabled tech being integrated into household appliances and lifestyle devices in the near future.

I stumbled across this archived presentation by Jeff Han (a human-computer interface designer) at the 2006 TED conference. It's quite inspiring when he talks about how computers should conform to us and not the other way around. Multi-touch isn't necessarily a new technology, but it is one that is evolving and will eventually be accessible to the masses as the costs of touch screen monitors come down, like HDTV's. With the introduction and popularity Apple's iPhone and the intelligence in it's design of the touch interface, electronic companies worldwide are racing to get more touch screen gadgets to market as soon as possible. 

One of the big hits at this years CES was Samsung's 50-inch multitouch TV. The idea that we can free ourselves from the remote control and have a more intuitive and connected user experience is very appealing.  The idea that the keyboards and the mouse will eventually become extinct as computers and household appliances become touch enabled. Microsoft has been working on Surface and I'm told that a company called Troll Touch can integrate a touch system into your Apple cinema display.   

Going back to Jeff Han, who's presentation in 2006 went viral on youtube which prompted him to launch his startup Perceptive Pixel which aims to develop and market the most advanced multi-touch systems in the world. Check out the demo he has on the homepage just one year later in 2007. Pure dopeness!

One of my biggest pet peeves has to be "Geo-Targeting", according to Wikipedia this method is used to determine your geo-location so that a website visitor is delivered content most relevant to them. In practice, they are road blocks to stop you from viewing content based on your region, in my case Canada. So if you are outside of the U.S, and want access to sites like Hulu.com, MTV.com, TheWB.com, etc...download Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield hides your IP address so geo-targeting sites don't know where you are coming from. You should now be able to enjoy all the content you want without encountering road blocks!

i.TV is one of my favourite iPhone applications. You might think, well what's the big deal it's just a TV guide right? Wrong. If you're like me and currently use Rogers you know exactly how painful it can be to scan the guide on that VCR sized cable box. I'm not sure how it's possible that a company that has a virtual monopoly on the cable/vod/broadband business, making billions of dollars can be content with the service it's providing it's customers. The guide interfaces for most cable/satellite dealers have horrible usability and sluggish response times at best. There are no visual cues, poorly written synopsis, and the longer titles are truncated so you have to guess at the title. 

So along comes i.TV, a great solution...even their ads are well integrated. 

When you first launch this app it will synch up your iPhone via postal code and service provider to bring you the relevant programming information. This can take a minute but it's a one time process. The guide is displayed by title and thumbnail images so you can immediately recognize what you are looking for, as well as the channel, rating, reviews and a well written detailed synopsis. If available you can also view a sample clip or trailer.

i.TV also allow you to search movies and theatres based on your location using the iPhone's GPS feature. It also offers tons of great sorting features, email alerts, reviews, search, share and customizable features (you need to sign up for a free account). Using TiVo DVR? Then you can set to record it instantly. Got a Netflix account? Instantly add your selection to your queue. Now if it can only replace my outdated cable box...if anyone from Rogers is reading this please please contact i.TV for help!

You can download the iPhone app here.