Google wave the future. Buzz the present. Stupid?

As you saw in a couple of previous posts, google released his social tool called google buzz (not to be confused with yahoo’s one…).

I tried though it still does not work in google apps, and it is pretty good. It is sort of twitter with location and photos, in fact if you read me, you will see that in a way this is what I was looking for… well no.

Yes, it does have all the ingredients: location, you can follow people and in a way is like twitter on steroids (which is great), you can have it in your gmail, there is a cool mobile version too… but…

Well the but is the but I had with google wave. A lot of people can follow you but you need a google account. Like wave, where ended up being a very promising tool but from the moment that it is closed to google users (or wave users which is worse) then is meant to have a difficult future. With buzz the pool is bigger, as there are a lot of google users, but it is still not like email where you can send email across systems, or like twitter where you can just shout and everybody can see it, and follow you.

Did we need another social tool?

Most of us are happy with facebook and twitter. Twitter is limited as I said in the past (location, photos, etc…) but it is big.

Do you think buzz could be a twitter killer? Maybe…

We are starting to have a bit of fatigue on social tools. Recently I posted an article on location based apps, well I got several emails from little companies and I tried all their products. Some are good, but it will be difficult to beat foursquare which looks like is the most established.

For the time being I stick to facebook (for my friends), twitter (for the world), and brightkite to post in both (location and photos). For location foursquare and tellmewhere.

I keep trying buzz and latitude, that by the way, how do they live together? Looks like they don’t know each other…

By the way, google should work harder on integration. I would like to merge all my accounts under one profile and for the time being is not possible…

OpenTable: booking restaurants online

There is a very cool service called OpenTable.

OpenTable is the leading supplier of reservation, table management and guest management software for restaurants plus www.opentable.com, the world’s most popular website for making restaurant reservations online.

With more than 12,000 customers throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Japan, the OpenTable hardware and software system replaces pen-and-paper at the host stand. It automates the process of taking reservations and managing tables, while allowing restaurants to build robust diner databases for superior guest recognition and targeted e-mail marketing.

For diners, concierges and administrative professionals, the website provides a fast, efficient way to find available tables that meet desired criteria for cuisine, price and location at a specified time. Reservations are free and can be made around the clock. The website is directly connected to the thousands of computerized reservation systems at OpenTable restaurants. Search results reflect actual, “real-time” availability and reservations are immediately recorded in the same electronic reservation book used by the maitre’d.

Unfortunately there are only 2 restaurants in Geneva, but I see the potential of a tool like this, which has an iPhone app and also manages reviews (like other location apps such as tellmewhere or tripadvisor).

The nice thing of this one is that allows restaurants to manage bookings, and you can go and see who in a specific area and cusine has a free table at 8.30pm, click and book it. Pretty cool. True that you can always grab the phone and call, but here you can do much more: search, etc…

Siri: a personal assistant for your iPhone

You’re busy. Between meetings, social events, and hopefully a workout or two, your schedule’s packed. Don’t you wish you could hand off simple tasks so you could have more time to play?

Take a look at Siri, your personal assistant. Just like a real assistant, Siri understands what you say, accomplishes tasks for you and adapts to your preferences over time.

Today, Siri can help you find and plan things to do. You can ask Siri to find a romantic place for dinner, tell you what’s playing at a local jazz club or get tickets to a movie for Saturday night.

Siri is young and, like a child taking its first steps, may be awkward at times. Siri may occasionally misunderstand things you ask it to do even within its range of understanding.

Nonetheless, Siri will improve quickly by getting to know you better and understanding a broader set of tasks. In fact, right now, Siri’s learning how to handle reminders, flights stats and reference questions. Our vision is that, over time, you’ll trust Siri to manage many personal details in your life – from recommending a wine you might enjoy to managing your to do list.

The current version of Siri is built for iPhone 3GS and requires iPhone OS 3.1 or later. Soon, Siri will run on the iPod Touch, iPhone 3G and additional mobile platforms, as well.

Google PowerMeter

Google PowerMeter is a free software tool that allows you to view your home’s energy consumption from your personalized iGoogle homepage. Using information from utility smart meters and in-home energy management devices, Google PowerMeter helps you to save money and use less electricity.

What is Google PowerMeter?
Google PowerMeter is an opt-in software tool that allows users to see detailed home energy information right on their computer. It is a secure Google gadget that displays data on home energy consumption received from either a “smart meter” or another electricity monitoring device.

Why are you doing this? I thought Google was an internet company.
Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful; Google PowerMeter is all about giving users access to their own energy information.

Who are you working with today?
We are working with a number of utilities to deliver Google PowerMeter to their customers. You can see our current list of partners here.

How much will this gadget cost?
Google PowerMeter is free for all. Utilities and device manufacturers pay no fees to integrate into the offering and users likewise do not pay anything or see ads when they use Google PowerMeter.

We’re building this tool to provide energy information to consumers and to expose the opportunity that this front represents. As a project of Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, the focus is on helping users understand how they use electricity and help them use less.

How can I get Google PowerMeter?
We are gradually rolling Google PowerMeter out in tests with partners and we currently have limited tests with utilities in the United States, Canada, the UK and India. We have also partnered with the independent device manufacturers of TED and AlertMe that work with Google PowerMeter.

How can I sign up for Google PowerMeter?
Google PowerMeter is not yet widely available. We’re currently testing it out with a small number of our utility partners and Google employees and plan to expand our rollout later this year. Stay up-to-date on our progress by joining our mailing list.

I’m a utility or an in-home energy device manufacturer. How can I partner with Google?
We are working with a number of utilities and firms that make power measurement devices and are eager to partner with even more. If you represent a utility company that has rolled out smart meters to some of your customers, we’d love to work with you, even if your rollout isn’t finished yet. Please fill out this utility form. If you represent an in-home energy device manufacturer and are interested in partnering with Google PowerMeter, please fill out this device form.

I’m a customer of one of your partners. How can I get Google PowerMeter?
Google PowerMeter is currently released as a limited beta to a small number of customers of each of our partners. We are working with our partners to scale Google PowerMeter and make the product available to all customers with smart meters.

What are Google PowerMeter’s privacy practices?
Google PowerMeter is an opt-in service and users must sign up to participate. No personally identifying information will be shared between Google and the user’s utility. All energy data received by Google PowerMeter will be stored securely, and users will be able to delete their energy data or ask their utility to stop sending data to Google PowerMeter at any time.

Kiva is a great idea: lending money to entrepreneurs in developing countries

Kiva.org allows individuals to make loans starting at $25 to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world, also known as microcredit. By doing so, you can provide affordable working capital for the poor (money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc.), empowering them to earn their way out of poverty.

Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

The people you see on Kiva’s site are real individuals. When you browse entrepreneurs’ profiles on Kiva, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else.

Kiva partners with existing microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to entrepreneurs from communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, our partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.

Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Kiva creates an interpersonal connection at low costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery.

iTunes alternative for android… and the rest

doubleTwist is a iTunes clone to sync your android, palm pre, blackberry or in fact up to more than a hundred devices.

It looks like iTunes, and you can buy music directly from amazon. If you have a nexus one, give it a try.

Diet and exercise. Calorie counters. iPhone apps.

I have put on weight lately and since two days ago I am trying to actively loose is, but this time by eating better and controlling my caloric intake.
I have been researching online solutions with iPhone apps and there are quite a bit.
Well normally I keep track of my weight with an apple software called dietcontroller, but I am not carrying my mac everywhere, so it is not very handy to keep adding the food you eat.

In my case there is an extra problem, I live in France/Switzerland and most of the stuff out there are for american users (types of foods, stores, etc…) so there is actually no good solution for me, with the food I eat (that I buy at migros).

Here you have the options:

1.- I have been using for a while a service (free) called fatsecret (I know, horrible name) which is good. Most of the foods are there and it is sort of a community. Again, using the iPhone browser was not good enough but now lately they have open the API and there is an iPhone app (free) called Calorie Counter. I was going to give a try but it only works with iPhone 3.1.2 and I am not going to upgrade for that.

2.- I continued researching for similar solutions and I found myfitnesspal. This is a great service too (free) with the addition of exercices as well. Here you set up your target, and upfront you have the calories left for the day. I liked it. They have a nice iphone app, where you can add what you eat, classifying it in breakfast, lunch, dinner and snaks, discounting from the calories you have left for the day, add exercises. Very good, and the iphone app too.

3.- I found a third one called diet tv which has by far, the best website in terms of nice and graphics. I have not tried this a lot though. Looks like you can do most of what the other two can do: log food, weight, measures, see your progress, engage in the community, record your diary… and in a very nice interface. I don’t think they have an iPhone app, so for me is a no-going.

4.- Finally what is probably the best, but you have pay plans, is DailyBurn. You can do basically the same than with fatsecret and myfitnesspal but when you add food, the results are much better than with the chaotic other two. They have photos for each entry (which is a killer feature) and you can also track your workouts. They have two iPhone apps, one (free) to enter your weight and food, and another one (paid) to scan food code bars. Looks like it is good for the US, but not for Europe. What I don’t like is that you just keep adding food but you cannot structure it on breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is just what you eat. I also don’t like that you can only create 20 favorite food entries (otherwise you have to pay).

I guess for me the winner is myfitnesspal. With myfitnesspal and dailyburn you can use the withings scale (a weight scale connected to wifi), which make life easier. Withings scale can even twit your weight… cool (and expensive) gadget.

If dailyburn would be free, it would probably be my winner.

WooRank: Website analysis tool

Wonder what google and others see in a website?

Try WooRank, you will get a ton of information about a website.

Brainstorming online tools

I have blogged in the past about prezi, and I think is one of the coolest presentation tools out there.
I would like to share a couple of other brainstorming tools that might be useful for your thinking processes:

• Prezi
• xmind
• bubbl.us

Is this where advertising is going?

Many times you have wondered who the hell reads the adds in websites and other places. You just skip them or close them, so you wonder how can the companies pay to advertise…

Nowadays mass advertising is transforming into custom advertising. Google does so in its add sense and gmail. I would say it might work better as you can be interested in what it is being offered as it fits in the context of your search, emails, etc…

Is mass advertising dead then?

I guess no. Walmart or Carrefour, Coca-Cola and so need to continue with mass advertising as well as customizing their campaigns into this new era.

As you know I listen constantly to podcasts audiobooks and so. At first I was surprised that one of my favorite podcaster (or netcaster as he likes to call himself) started adding 2 to 3 adds in each show. The difference is that he would talk about the products and looks like he really likes it.

I think that it is not the same to listen to a commercial in a traditional way, than to hear someone you trust recommending a product. For the person you trust doing this could cost him the fact that you don’t trust him anymore as you might think that if he does reviews and some of them are ads, he is not being transparent and objective…. unless…. if he really likes a service he can choose to be paid by them to advertise.

Well this is where we are going and this website is some of it. Take a look: open candy

Others could be services like trialpay where if you are normaly buying something, you can get a discount on a product you want to try. For instance you are going to buy something from gap anyway and you would like to try 3 free months of evernote. Voila.

Remindo: personalized company intranet

With remindo you can create your company branded intranet in minutes and access it from anywhere on the web. Use it free for up to 3 GB of storage. Share information, collaborate and project manage with your team and clients.

Read more

Chat, share documents and whiteboards

Showdocument is free online service that will allow you to upload a document and in real time chat and highlight stuff together, like browsing the pages together. You can also open a plain one and write, and even link it with google docs.

Very easy to use and very handy when wanting to go over a document on the phone remotely.

Notable: provide feedback on websites

Notable is an online tool that will allow you to easily provide feedback on websites.
Quickly and easily give feedback on design, content, and code on any page of a website or application without leaving your browser.  Works on iPhone, too!

Notable helps your team collaborate through visual feedback on screenshots, via a chaos-free process so that everyone can express their opinion.

Helicopter? there is an iPhone app for that

Ardone has released a quadricopter that can be controlled with an iPhone or iPod touch. Take a look at the video, it is a super cool gadget… it works with wi-fi and has two cameras…

Phanfare: Photo and Video hosting

I just wanted to introduce a new player in the photo hosting. I have talked in the past about flickr, picasa web, smugmug (one of my favourites) and now a small company from New Jersey, phanfare offers you options of unlimited photos from $49.99, and the pro $99.99 with Raw support.

The galleries do not look as cool as with smugmug but you have a ton of cool features such as HD video (up to 2Gb per file) support or a desktop client.

Give it a try!

I still have not decided how to back up all my photos (around 50.000 with raw and jpgs…) may be just a backup service of S3 in amazon… as I have my own galleries at http://norai.net with a selection of good photos and http://norai.net/gallery with the rest.

I still need an offsite backup though even if they are all in raid mirror and external HD… but looking at the prices of backing up at amazon S3, dreamhost or others, I rather buy an external HD and put it is a friend’s house.