:Michael Anuzis

Quick Background: Android is an open platform for mobile devices developed by Google that is expected to enable incredible innovation by allowing developers anywhere to create and share applications for their mobile phone. To spur development on the platform, Google offered $10 million in prize money for the top 50 applications developed for Android before the phone’s launch.

The Results Are In! You can read about the top 50 winning applications here. The five I found most interesting are below:

AndroidScan - Use your phone to scan a barcode, get pricing information from dozens of stores, product reviews and more. Never make a bad purchase again! (by Jeffrey Sharkey)

BioWallet - A biometric authentication system for Android. This application features iris recognition and can act as a password safe and provide single sign-on for other Android apps. Jose Luis Huertas Fernandez

City Slikkers - a Pervasive Game (alternatively Location Based Game) which takes place in the real-existing city. It is designed to connect a large number of players through-out the world and change the way the surroundings are seen. The central idea behind the concept is to give people the opportunity to symbolically interfere with the everyday urban environment and come into contact with previously unknown people. By PoroCity Media and Virtual Logic Systems.

Locale - Locale is one of 7 Android applications submitted by MIT students. It enables you to set up location- and time-based profiles for your phone, so you can make it shut up when you’re at work, forward calls to your landline when you’re at home. Clare Bayley, Christina Wright, Jasper Lin, Carter Jernigan.

SplashPlay - SplashPlay offers the next generation in musical tuition and learning to play the guitar just got a whole lot easier. Simply attach the pod and light panel to your guitar and start strumming to your favourite songs in minutes. Songs are sent to the pod from a mobile phone or computer using a USB or Bluetooth connection, giving total portability. Other features include a guitar tuner, guitar metronome and a hands free, Bluetooth foot pedal. The product will provide an easy, portable and fun method of learning music.

2 Comments

Just bought a $200 laptop for my mom, with a matching $200 laptop going to a child in a developing country. It’s fun to think about the kid out there who will get the internet from a laptop matching this one.

The laptops are not killer for 3D gaming, but they can use pretty much any web app out there. These laptops are also durable, weather resistant, & have some sweet design innovations. The ability to purchase one of these laptops expires Dec 31st, 2007. They won’t arrive in time for X-Mas, but if you’re interested you should order one now!

Bonus Tip - the matching laptop is tax deductible!

1 Comment

Ann Arbor is replacing every street light in the city with LEDs, and reducing their energy usage 55% in the process. The project will cost $650,000 and achieve a return on investment in 4.2 years. The city already implemented LEDs on Washington St between 4th & 5th street and its citizens to submitted feedback via the web. With 98% approval, the city is moving forward.

LEDs: easier on the eyes than fluorescent bulbs and significantly more energy efficient as well. A fellow Googler recently replaced the lighting in her house with LEDs, and her entire upstairs runs on a total of 11 watts. She could leave a light on 24/7 for a year at a cost of about $4. I’m thinking of making the switch…

If you’re living in a city that hasn’t yet made the switch, I tagged this post as ‘business’ and ‘opportunities’ on your behalf. It’s a no-brainer once you’re informed. Good luck!

No Comments

The new TED talks are out - get ‘em while they’re hot!

Neil Gershenfeld - an MIT professor introduces revolutionary low-cost invention in far corners of the Earth.

Saul Griffith - teaches that the universe is a computer. Covers self-replicating products down to the nano level, & a ’smart’ rope that can sense when it’s in danger of breaking.

Charles Leadbeater - leverages ideas from The Innovator’s Dilemma, and discusses ways of multiplying humanity’s creative ability by empowering consumers to be innovators.

Thank you, TED.

No Comments

Welcome back to the final part of my 4 part series “How to be an IT Consultant”. Topics covered include:

Enjoy!

Edit 3/11/2007: I took parts I & III offline. They were ok, but I plan to cover them better in a new consulting series coming up. Stay tuned!

 Network Security [34:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

2 Comments

Welcome to part II of my 4-part series, How to be an IT Consultant (part I here). Topics include the low down on managing client websites, setting up e-commerce sites, etc. Bonus content includes consulting ethics, attitude, & a few stories from my experience.

I realize some of the inside info revealed here may damage my reputation more than it helps, but I’m willing to take that hit in order to give this series the authentic value I hope to deliver. enjoy!

 How to be an IT Consultant - Part II [22:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

No Comments

Five days ago I said it would be a good idea for somebody to make a web2.0 site that enables anyone to raise funds dynamically. People should be able to embed the widget on their own site, supporters should be able to take action right from the widget, and preset options should be provided to format the widget for different sites.

Looks like that solution already exists, and exactly to my previous specifications. How convenient! My next step in the process of trying to raise $15 million for Kiva.org (a 2007 goal) would be to find out if the two can integrate. ChipIn works perfect for 99.9% of fund raising initiatives where people give money and it’s never returned, but what about with Kiva where your money is a loan that’s paid back to you over the next year? Could this gadget coordinate payment tracking and get people their money back as well? I’ve e-mailed the dev. team @ ChipIn and it turns out it can! Perfect!

Stay tuned as I follow this project & I’ll share the code to embed this gadget. With this kind of tool at our disposal, I’m confident we’ll raise the $15 million. Don’t you love how things can work out?

No Comments

Humans wasted 9 billion hours playing solitaire in 2003. Imagine if you could find a way to capture that wasted potential and channel it into something fun and productive for the masses… now you’re talking about brilliant innovation.

In my next post I’ll be writing about three design problems\opportunities I’ve identified with similarly massive impacts. Stay tuned and perhaps we can solve one of them together.

No Comments

Sudden traffic spike ever bring your site to its knees? It happens to the best of us - well, it used to. An innovative web hosting platform is shaking things up and it’s only a matter of time until it becomes the norm.

It’s called the grid server. As the name suggests, content is hosted by a cluster of thousands of servers each dedicating resources to you on an as-needed basis. It’s relatively inexpensive & you only pay for what you use - smart hosting.

On that note, 2Core will be out for an hour in the near future as we make the migration - I expect it to be our last time down for a long time. Update: We’re on it!

2 Comments

Ever find yourself alone in a room thinking something fun must be going on, if only you knew what? Well, Twitter is here to help. It’s a free website that helps you and your friends keep track of who’s doing what where at any given time. You can update your current activity from anywhere using your mobile phone, and your friends can subscribe to these updates on theirs.

Chances are you don’t want to know about every little thing going on with every person you’ve ever met, but for 3-8 of your closest friends Twitter’s great. Rather than subscribing via your mobile phone, you can optionally send and receive updates via instant messages instead. The site gives you options to control your privacy, but for those inclined Twitter even provides a widget you can embed on the web to publish quick messages to everybody.

Innovation of this caliber has the potential to change the way we live and interact on a massive scale - exciting prospects for the future.

1 Comment