Archive for the 'Technology' Category

Facebook Enters the Check-In World

Published by Brian Wesolowski on August 19, 2010 in Digital Content, Technology and social media. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

It was just a matter of time before it happened, so when Facebook announced yesterday that it was introducing a location-based service the digital world was not surprised. What was a bit surprising was that on the stage with Facebook during the announcement were representative from foursquare and Gowalla – seemingly Facebook’s prime competitors in the mobile check-in world.   Apparently they will be using the Facebook Places API to push their check-ins to Facebook Places. Seems like a smart partnership for all parties.

So what exactly is Facebook Places? From what I have read and the videos I watched, it is a very basic location check-in service, much like foursquare. You go to a restaurant or store and “check-in.” Your phone’s GPS or Wifi detects your location and shows you the places nearby. You then select your location (if it is on the list) and “check-in,” which will then show up on your Facebook page and in the newsfeed of your friends. Each place you check into will have its own page on Facebook and people will be able to check these pages for comments on the place and to see who is checked-in there (some privacy concerns!).

A unique feature for Facebook Places compared to the other check-in sites is the ability to tag the friends that are with you in your check-in post. Your friends will need to accept your tag for it to appear on their page and in their newsfeed.

Of course the biggest advantage of Facebook Places has over other check-in sites is their huge network. With over 500 million users, Facebook Places clearly has a large built-in network to grow through. I certainly expect it to become incredibly popular. And of course businesses will want to be sure they have a strong Places page. Facebook is even reaching out to businesses encouraging them to build their Places profile, and then of course link it to advertising.

Right now the Facebook Places application is only available in the U.S. and on the iPhone, but Facebook said they plan to expand to more locations and mobile platforms soon. So are you looking forward to Facebook Places coming to your phone?

No Excuse for Ever Getting Lost Again

Published by Brian Wesolowski on August 4, 2010 in Digital Content and Technology. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , .

It seems as though Microsoft is about to take on Google Maps, and based on their demo video, I like what I see. Microsoft Research unveiled its Street Slide at a conference last week, showing off some very cool features that make Google’s Street View seem antiquated (even though it is very new). Take a look at the demo of Street Slide and then the one of Google Street View and you will see what I mean.


Now let’s be honest, both of these are very cool applications that take maps to a whole new level. With so many people having smart phones and iPads, using one of these applications (in a city where it is available) makes it nearly impossible for you to get lost. As someone who is not known for his sense of direction, this is very exciting. There have been countless times I was wandering a new city and the paper map they gave me at the hotel doesn’t seem to be accurate. And of course, even when turning to Google, I have had way too many instances where street names don’t match. Having the ability to compare building facades, stores front and do a complete 360 of what is around makes getting your orientation so much easier.

Of course, once you do manage to figure out where you are, with the interactive features you will be able to find out information about important buildings (“this looks important, what is it?”), restaurants and shops. And don’t forget to use your foursquare account to check-in to the places you discover.

There are definitely more players in the digital maps space than Google and Microsoft, such as MapQuest, but they seem to be the most innovative right now. I look forward to seeing if Street Slide is added to Bing in the near future and also look forward to seeing how Google plans to keep up. With all this progress in digital maps, hopefully there will no longer be a need for this:

I am not lost. We are right here.

Really Understanding Assistive Technology

Published by Brian Wesolowski on August 2, 2010 in Technology. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

mada qatar assistive technology center David Banes, Deputy Director of Mada, Qatar’s Assistive Technology Center (and frequent Digital Qatar commenter) shares his insight on what accessible technology truly is – and how it is really for everyone. Look for more guest posts from David soon!

So, you’ve been reading this blog for a while now, lots of exciting and innovative things keep appearing, web 2.0, video conferencing, communication, collaboration. All things that we digitally enlightened get excited about, but now and then another word creeps into discussions, and it’s an important one for the future of ICT here in Qatar and globally. The word is “Accessibility.”

Have you wondered what we mean by that term, and what some of the implications are for the development of ICT in Qatar? If you have, and even if you haven’t, here’s a quick primer to help.

Accessibility is used to refer to ensuring that IT products and services can be used by everyone, regardless of individual or special needs. Accessibility is about ensuring that a design is inclusive and reaches all possible potential users.

Who does this include? Well traditionally, we thought of accessibility as being about ensuring that people who were blind, deaf or physically disabled could use the same technology as the rest of us. The area where it most commonly referred would with reference to operating systems or more recently websites. So that’s both platform and content, that’s pretty wide ranging before we start.

However, accessibility is about a much wider community than people with “obvious” disabilities. Accessibility is also about people with reading and writing challenges, such as Dyslexia. Accessibility is about people who as they age find their sight failing or hands becoming painful. Accessibility is about people who get confused easily, those with learning disabilities or Alzheimer’s disease. Accessibility is about people who find themselves with sore eyes, back, shoulders or wrists when they use a computer. In other words accessibility is about all of us. Microsoft estimate that something like 70% of all users benefit from ease of use and accessibility features, reducing pain and strain and increasing their productivity and efficiency.

Of course as technology evolves, so do the platforms which we are all using. Whereas once we were just talking about PC’s now we need to think about websites, ebook readers, mobile phones, MP3 players, even digital television. These are all channels by which people connect, communicate and collaborate. As a result they are all channels where accessibility and the principles of universal design apply.

What happens if we ignore these needs? The truth is that to be digitally excluded is to be socially excluded. Exclusion means that we struggle to be part of an education system, we find employment increasingly hard to enter or maintain, and ultimately we are unable to be play a full part in the communities within which we live. If accessibility is something that has the potential to impact upon each of us, a decision to ignore the issue may one day place any of us on the wrong side of the digital divide. That’s not a place where I want to be, and I’m sure readers of this blog feel the same way

It’s not an issue you need to address alone. Here in Qatar there is the new Mada, the Qatar Assistive Technology Center, on the 7th Floor of Al Nasr Tower. At the Mada Center you can explore the range of technologies that make ICT accessible to all, attend training on technologies, and try out solutions that might even help you today.

We all have a part to play in making sure that everyone has the opportunity to reap the benefits of being connected, and remember that “everyone” means you and I as much as anyone else.

-          David Banes

Are We Alone? (And How Open Source Can Help find Out)

Published by Brian Wesolowski on July 28, 2010 in Technology. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

I have no clue if we are alone, but I think it’s very cool that there is an organization dedicated to finding out – and they are seeking the help of the open source community and citizen scientists in their attempts to discover alien life. Dr. Jill Tarter, Director for SETI Research at the SETI Institute was a keynote speaker at OSCON and made an impassioned plea for the many developers in the room to add their talents to the search for alien life as part of SETI Quest – an open project searching for cosmic life.

The SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute is a non-profit organization with the mission to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe. They are using the latest technologies in their quest to discover alien life, something Dr. Tarter sees as a way for humans to gain a better perspective on their own lives. “We all have a common origin in stardust. Discovering extraterrestrial life would show that we are all the same. It would trivialize the difference between humans,” she said at OSCON.

Dr. Tarter was the recipient of a 2009 TED prize and with her wish, called on all Earthlings to continue their search for cosmic company. In the following TED Talk, Dr. Tarter shares some very cool stats on why she doesn’t think we are alone – such as the sun is only one of 400 billion stars – and she makes her pitch to humankind to join in SETI’s efforts.

So where does the global open source community come into Dr. Tarter’s quest? SETI plans to share all of its research data and satellite coding information openly on a cloud, allowing developers and researchers to analyze the information, enhance it, modify it, etc. For developers, they can play with the satellite programming codes to potentially find ways to make them more efficient and powerful. Why wouldn’t a developer want to take part in the SETI Quest? Think about the geeks points you would score!

So while we may not come face-to-face with an alien any time soon, and while whatever we find is likely to just be the technological footprint of an alien form from thousands of years ago, wouldn’t it be cool to know that we’re not alone?