Today, they introduce their first integrations. Thanks to Waze users, you’ll now?know where?the accidents, construction jobs and road closures are?before you?bump into them the hard way. Waze maps will now have Google street views and satellite image. Don’t expect Google Maps to credit Waze users for?reporting every accident or incident, but what is expected is a larger audience of sorts. The Waze users can report these?incidents to Google Maps?in the following nations: United States, United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Germany, Ecuador, and Mexico, to name a few. To hear Google Map VP Brian McClendon, this merger brings the best of each other. Waze brings out the best of communication, Google Maps bring out the best of technology.
I think this a great start. I sure could of used this Waze/Google Map combo when I was in a multi-mile car back up. It wasn’t until later I learned it was a severe crash, in which multiple injuries occurred. So I applaud that part. My hope is that they get this service in more countries. From what I hear about traffic in India, they can really use this app. You can only get it on Android and Apple devices, but they’re a lot of people in that nation that have those. And shouldn’t Israel be in here? What do you think of the Google and Waze merger and is it off to a good start?
There’s a lot of danger out there in the natural realm. It seems we can hardly go a week without hearing about hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, mudslides, volcanoes, floods, sinkholes. There’s even talk of major solar flares. Is any place safe?
There’s a website called Trulia that can help. It’s primarily a real estate website. However, natural disaster risks have can have a huge impact on the home’s investment, not to mention your family’s safety. Trulia has maps to help you look at potentially and historically disaster areas before you buy. These maps show where the high risks of wildfire and earthquakes are, and that’s just a start. These maps use historic and government data to let home buyers know where the greatest risks are.
Supposed you work hard all your life for decades and do the right thing. After years of saving up, you find your dream home to spend your golden years, whether it’s in southern California or the Florida coast. You log on Trulia only to find out your neighborhood got rocked by an earthquake or nearly washed away by a hurricane or flood in recent years. Wouldn’t you think twice before you invested in that dream home? That’s the great thing about Turlia. But keep in mind you can only get this update on their local based site.?Can we hope other real estate websites, or other sites follow suit?
Have you ever read an article?online that caught your fancy? So you like the article and even share the article. Scientist say your friends will probably?like, comment, or even share it.
If you ‘like’ an article, chances are someone will approve. But even if you show dislike for an article, it probably won’t spur others to like it. They’re studying online articles and conclude a positive comment or even a like can have a great ripple effect. The study shows people tend to herd toward popular things, no matter bad that thing might really be. In the study, a website submitted some articles. Readers comment, liked, or disliked the article, and other people’s comments. People who saw the positive comments and thumbs up were more likely to give an article a positive comment themselves.
I guess that explains quite a bit. It kind of makes me wonder about some things about pop culture. Do people like certain things because it’s good, or because it’s popular? Same thing with these articles online. I’ve read articles where all people do is rant, rave and curse and it gets lots of positive reactions. I’ve read very thoughtful, dignified articles that get negative or no responses at all. I shouldn’t be surprised. Look at what passes as popular TV today. What does this say about us today?
It’s been a few years since I last used Ebay, but I buy many things and make many reservations online these days. I even called a taxi online in the last two weeks. The future of e-commerce looks very bright. Let’s see what giants like EBay President/CEO John Donahoe says.
One thing Donahoe is excited about is EBay’s one hour delivery, which would come from an off-line store. And since it’s mobile to mobile delivery, you can be tracked when the item is coming and where it is. Newspaper trucks are expected to be the deliverers; personally, I think bikers would be a better way to go. He talked about mobile innovation. How would you like to use Pay Pal to tell a store when you’re coming, and when you’re there, you get the help you need, pay with Pay Pal and be on your way? Even when a store is closed, you can buy through your touchscreen on the storefront.
Donahoe hit on the head though. Throwing money at an idea isn’t enough. He says, “The best innovations actually come from a world of scarce resources.”?Well, that is how most businesses get started in the first place. But I still stick by my idea that using bikers would be a better way to carry this out. This would be especially better in cities with heavy traffic and with lighter items. I was also worried this would eliminate more jobs. But I’m thinking the future of e-commerce will create them. How bright is the future of e-commerce?
Ever hear of Rockmelt? Until the last couple of days, neither have I. It was meant to be a web browser for the social media age. You’ll have until August 31 to enjoy it.
Announced yesterday, Yahoo is acquiring Rockmelt for somewhere around $65 million dollars. Yahoo wants to use Rockmelt’s technologies, and it’s engineers, to better compete against Google and the other major players of the web browsing market. Word is Rockmelt is working ceaselessly on it’s mobile market and Yahoo wants to capitalize. Rockmelt was founded in the Silicon Valley in Nov. 2010 but with little success. Now, with their engineers and Yahoo’s buying power, they hope to create something big and beautiful.
Look, I appreciate what Yahoo is trying to do, but I think Marissa Meyer and her team is doing too much too fast. Since she took the CEO seat last year, Yahoo purchased at least 20 other small startups. The biggest was Tumblr?for a whopping billion?plus dollars. I think that’s too much for one year.?She should just take the purchases she already made and make them better. Once these acquirements get off the ground, then go and look for other companies. I know this is the rush-rush, should have been done yesterday 21st century business world. But?am I being too old fashioned by saying Yahoo should slow their role?
In the United Kingdom, a local activist campaigned to get Jane Austen on the British 10 pound bill. They say no good deed goes unpunished. This one sure didn’t.
This odyssey started when a woman named Caroline Criado-Perez led the fight to get the late 18th-early 19th century novelist and women’s rights activist on the 10 pound note. Not long after this became official (Austen’s face will be on the bill around 2017), Mrs. Criado-Perez started getting vile tweets. Many of these tweets threatened her with rape. This evil tweets increased to around 50 an hour! But what made it worse was Twitter’s slow response. She reported this abuse on Thursday, but according to her own testimony, it took until Monday to respond. Monday, police made an arrest in the case. Also, this case got so much attention a petition went around. This petition demanded Twitter add a ‘report abuse’ button for all potential cases; it got over 65,000 signatures.
I commend this petition and Caroline Criado-Perez for staying on top of Twitter in this. To their credit, Twitter has answered these cries. They promised to make a ‘report abuse’ button more available to all users. I hope they do this sooner than later. Think of all the bullying cases that have led to suicide?over?Twitter abuse. There have been celebrities like Sherri Shepard targeted by cowards hiding behind Twitter. They don’t have the guts to confront people to their faces with such evil. Shepard also reported this to the police. A more affective ‘report abuse’ button may not eliminate the problem all together, but it’s a start. What do you think can be done to combat such ugliness?
