A Jetsons-esque future where your wristwatch can make calls, unlock your house, and track your biometrics isn’t too far away. Wearable technology is making a strong push to the forefront of tech markets. A recent Nielsen study shows that the public is starting to gain awareness of wearable technology: The majority of wearables owners are young, with nearly half (48%) between 18-34 years old, and men and women are equally likely to don wearable tech. This demographic is the same market that influences developing trends and generally predicts future market growth. Applications Galore Wearable technology provides easy integration for location-based […]
All WordPress.com Subdomains Encrypted By End 2014
Last week, Automattic’s General Counsel Paul Sieminski announced that all *.wordpress.com subdomains will be served over SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) by the end of 2014. Sieminski wrote: In the face of intrusive surveillance, we believe that everyone in the tech community needs to stand up and do what they can, starting with their own sites and platforms. For us, that means working to secure the connection between users and our websites. We’ll be serving all *.wordpress.com subdomains only over SSL by the end of the year. It’s been a year since whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked files revealing the National Security […]
6 Simple Plugins That Solve Common WordPress Problems
I’ve often been a champion of the “do one thing and do it well” approach to WordPress plugin development. Today, I’d like to celebrate some plugins that truly do a great job at fixing the most common WordPress problems with a simple and easy to use solution. Disable Comments Disabling comments in WordPress, site-wide, is actually pretty hard to do. And removing comments from your site’s front-end requires a bit of coding and template modification, and is an all or none proposition. Disable Comments allows you to switch off comments in WordPress, either for your entire site, or post type […]
Is the Timing Right for Apple’s HealthKit?
Imagine a time when your mobile phone knows more about your health history than your family physician. Well, the truth is that technology is becoming such an innate part of our lives that this epoch actually isn’t that far off. In fact, technology has already become such a vital part of our modern-day healthcare. Apple’s HealthKit Even the tech giant Apple is jumping on the healthcare bandwagon. At Apple’s WWDC last week, Craig Federighi announced that Apple is making its very own health-related app. The new app, appropriately named HealthKit, will be bundled with iOS 8, and will allow users […]
Does Passing the Turing Test Mean That Computers Think like Us?
A “super computer” made history on Saturday, June 7, by becoming the first in history to pass the Turing Test of artificial intelligence, which asks the question “can machines think?” While previous Turing Tests have been claimed as successes, those included set topics or questions in advance. The computer program, named “Eugene Goostman,” was developed to simulate a 13 year-old Ukrainian boy. It was developed by Russian-born Vladimir Veselov and Ukrainian Eugene Demchenko. The test was staged by the University of Reading at the Royal Society in London. What is the Turing Test? Alan M. Turing was an English Mathematician. […]
“PLS RT”: Signal Boosting
You are in a large crowd of hundreds of thousands of people. You’re given a super-powered megaphone and an abnormally large soap box. You are limited to a few seconds and a few sentences maximum. What do you say? Over the past 5 years, online marketing through social media has become a powerful advertising method. People frequently find themselves needing to utilize all social media platforms to advertise marketing proposals (e.g. charity campaigns, news alerts, or crowdfunding projects) to gain the much needed support and awareness. “Signal boosting” is a way to increase awareness and get other people to help. […]
A Discussion Featuring Dennis Crowley, CEO and Co-founder of Foursquare
Imagine you’re vacationing in Belem, Brazil. You want to know which pubs to drink at, which restaurants to eat at, or which cafe make the best arroz doce. Now, imagine if instead of searching aimlessly for recommendations on the internet, you can simply open up an application on your smartphone, and have immediate access to a database of suggestions. Or better yet, your smartwatch or heads-up display automatically feeds you suggestions as you walk around. While we haven’t yet reached the point of ultimate geolocation domination, there is a location-based social networking website that provides location details from places all around the world—including […]
Why Your Business Needs to Be on Google+
When you think of Google+, you don’t exactly think “popular social network,” especially when comparing it to powerhouses Facebook and Twitter. However, from an SEO (search engine optimization) standpoint, Google is undoubtedly king. In other words, if you’re looking to market your brand, your business must be visible on Google+. Here are the reasons why: Google is the most popular search engine in the world You might be asking, “So what does this have to do with Google+?” The answer is: everything. Any content that is associated with Google+ (Google+ posts, pages, and people profiles) is favored in Google search […]
Mobile Devices Are The Big Story in Mary Meeker’s 2014 Internet Trends Report
Mary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends report 2014 came out last week. At 164 slides, it’s a pretty long read. Josh Constantine of TechCrunch has consolidated down to a summary of 54 slides, which is still hefty, but more manageable. The Mobile Device Story It could be that I have mobile apps on the brain, following my double dose of app education last week. But for me, the biggest story of the report is the evolution and growth of mobile devices, and what they are doing to disrupt and benefit the wider economy. Check out these stats: 30% of all mobile […]
The Snapchat Phenomenon
Have you ever wondered where your “snaps” go when they disappear from Snapchat? Maybe there’s a Snapchat heaven, or maybe they magically disappear forever, or maybe they’re being intercepted by a third party . . . For millions of Snapchat users, it’s likely this thought has crossed their minds. But many are comforted by Snapchat’s promise that their photos will disappear forever after they’re sent. Snapchat is a mobile app that allows you to send and receive ephemeral media messages. Quite simply, it can be explained as a way to privately converse with friends through videos, captions, photos, and (most […]

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