Are you a hardcore runner, walker, cyclist or kayaker?  If so, you'll definitely think this latest start up is cool. The company is called Endomondo, and they offer free GPS tracking and social networking tools for athletes.  Functionality basically boils down to several key areas: workouts, stats, friends, challenges, maps and routes (all rolled into a nice GUI).

Here's how it works. You sign up online (for free) and can then download the software (for free) onto your phone (Nokia, HTC, iPhone, Android, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, HP, Garmin, you get the picture). The phone's GPS capabilities map and track your progress, route, speed, etc.  This allows you to keep a running (no pun intended) diary online and communicate progress and goals with friends, track routes you love and compete in community challenges -- all in the name of killing calories.

As far as niche products go, this might be right on target.  Whatcha think?  Successful Launch, or Mission Scrub for this start-up?

Think there's a service or idea for everything?  Well, you're right, there is.   Case in point - PostCrossing.

What is PostCrossing? It's a project that allows anyone to receive postcards (real ones, not electronic) from random places in the world.

Why you might ask? Don't feel bad, I was wonder too...and, thankfully for us, the website answers that question (they must get it a lot).  "Why? Because, like the author, there are lots of people who like to receive real mail. The element of surprise of receiving postcards from different places in the world (many of which you probably have never heard of) can turn your mailbox into a box of surprises - and who wouldn't like that?"

Oh, okay, now I understand. A box of surprises...
Soooo, if you are really starving for a random postcard from across the globe, here are the simple steps you must take:

- Register for an account
- Request an address and a Postcard ID through the website
- Check your email and get the address
- Buy a postcard and postage
- Mail the postcard to the address the website gave you
- Wait, wait and wait
- Receive a postcard from another postcrosser sometime in the future
- Register the Postcard ID you have received
- View your map of postcards (just for fun)
- Go to the second point and repeat

Wow, I mean WOW!!  To quote Britney Spears, "Have fun ya'll." I think it takes as many steps to create nuclear fusion. In the meantime, I think I'll cure cancer.

Whatcha think?  Successful Launch, or Mission Scrub for this start-up?

[BTW, they claim to have 153k members that send more than 359 postcards an hour. So add that to your box of surprises.]



-posted by Justin

Time for a new blog segment I like to call, "Start Ups That May Suck, or Not... You Decide."

Since new companies are popping up all the time – some with lame ideas and some with friggin great ideas – I thought I'd try to share some of these, err, umm, experiments. For better or worse, but just for plan old-fashion fun!

We'll kick it off with Karaoke Play. Honestly who doesn't like a little karaoke. You go out for dinner, have some beers, next thing you know it's 10 pm, your feeling saucy, the karaoke machine gets set up and the grand master announces karaoke night. You review the song book, put in your selection, wait 40 minutes, drink more beer, then proceed to make a fool out of yourself on stage, all the while playing out some teen fantasy of becoming a rock star. In the morning your head hurts and you wonder if the crowd really liked your male-version of Celine Dion's "I'm your lady." Sound familiar?

Well, if embarrassing yourself in a room of 50 people isn't enough, you can now visit KaraokePlay.com. Just log on, record a track and let the entire world (or community) critique your performance(s). It's like your own personal American Idol show. Let the punishment begin. And if audio wasn't enough, that's right, you can integrate video!!! So, you can share all the funny faces you make while singing, to those watching your post.

This is a site I want to hate... BUT, I kind of found myself liking it. It's a lot of fun, in a "I'm-a-tool-who-thinks-in-another-life-I-could-have-been-a-rock-star" kind of way. So, before you judge, give this one a go.

Whatcha think? Successful Launch, or Mission Scrub?



-posted by Justin

Think you know what website usage dominates today's business users and which one takes up the most bandwidth?  Well, think again. While Google and Yahoo sit close to the top on both fronts, it's that gosh-darn Facebook ruling supreme for site visits and YouTube stealing first for bandwidth consumption.

Ann Bednarz summarizes nicely in a new article: "In recent research from Network Box, the company analyzed traffic to 19 billion URLs through its global security operations centers over a five month period. It ranked the top five Web sites visited from business addresses by volume of traffic. By its measurements, 5.8 percent of all Web traffic from business networks is to Facebook – which is higher than to any other Web site. Google ranked second at 4.1 percent, followed by Yahoo’s Yimg image server (3.1 percent), Yahoo (2.7 percent) and Doubleclick (1.7 percent).

Network Box also ranked Web sites by the bandwidth they use. In that tally, YouTube topped the list, consuming 7.8% of corporate bandwidth to download videos. That’s followed by Facebook (4.4%), Windows Update (3.8%), Yahoo’s Yimg image server (2.8%) and Google (2.7%)."

Does this demonstrate a total failure of usage policies in business today? Or, does is simply shed light on the fact that most businesses consider certain social media outlets acceptable destinations during business hours?  Don't lie, you're a member of Adam West's Fan Page... and how could you not be. He's super!



-posted by Justin

Confused by the world of phone applications? Are you constantly checking to see the latest free  apps for your phone?  Well, this new list from Sascha Segan, mobile editor for PCMag.com, sheds some light on the top 100 free applications for a variety of phones. Do you agree with his assessment?  Seems a little boring and safe to me!

"The popularity of Apple's App Store vaulted mobile apps to prominence, but techies know that mobile phones have been tiny PCs for years now. The difference today is the buzz and visibility around apps. The idea that you can add to your phone's powers has gone mainstream.

With 100,000 apps, the iPhone certainly has the most apps available, but there's no lack of choice on other platforms.Google's Android phones have more than 10,000. There are thousands for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Symbian phones, and a couple of hundred for the Palm Pre and Pixi. Even simple phones like the Motorola RAZR can get into the app game..."

To summarize...

iPhone:

1. AP Mobile 3.1

2. Chess With Friends

3. CNBC

4. Cube Runner

5. eBay Mobile

6. eBuddy

7. Epicurious



Blackberry:

1. AP Mobile News

2. BBNotePad

3. Bloomberg Mobile

4. Bolt

5. Facebook

6. Flashlight



Android:

1. Advanced Task Killer

2. AP Mobile

3. Astrid

4. Astro File Manager

5. Bonsai Blast





-posted by Justin

I came across this great chart that summarizes the evolution of storage.  Pretty fun to look at . How many have you worked with?  (Image courtesy of our friend in wireless, Keith Parsons.)



-posted by Justin

I found this recent WSJ article very puzzling.  It talks about the effects of social media on learning... well kind of. That's what the title implies, but then the extremely high level research basically just states the obvious: if you interact with content socially, you have a better chance of learning and retaining that content.  Well, duh. Thank you Captain Obvious.  We often point out good articles and interesting information. I had to take this opportunity to give the WSJ two thumbs down... or maybe I just wasn't able to interact with the information enough.



-posted by Justin

One of the best geeky rap spoofs I've seen in a long time. "My G4 had more ports than a wine store."


-posted by Justin

Yum, lunch time.

Robotic Technology Inc. is creating a robot that is sure to garner public support - NOT. EATR, or the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot project, is designed to develop and demonstrate an autonomous robotic platform able to perform long-range, long-endurance missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling, which would otherwise preclude the ability of the robot to perform such missions. The system obtains its energy by foraging – engaging in biologically-inspired, organism-like, energy-harvesting behavior which is the equivalent of eating. In other words, eating dead soldiers or casualties of war? WOW. They do go on to say it can ingest plants, animal matter, etc. Hopefully they'll integrate audio -- nothing like a bunch of organic matter ingesting robots roaming the planet saying "I'll be back."

For more creepy information (and a complete overview), visit the website.

I'm picturing this:



-posted by Justin

Oh, Robot Girlfriend... need I say more.





-posted by Justin

We look at the good, the bad, the ugly... and the naked? That's right.  Apple just allowed its first iPhone application that focus on pornography into the App Store.  The application, called Hottest Girls, costs $2 and includes “2200+ images of topless, sexy babes and nude models," according to Wired.

What's really hilarious here is Wired's analysis of the application. Maybe someone should check old Charlie's hard drive at work -- the dude seems to know a lot about how porn should be presented!

According to Wired's Charlie Sorrel: "The application itself is terrible. Four photos are shown on screen at once and tapping one will pull a full sized version from the server. From here you can look at it or save it to your photo-roll. There is no slideshow to display a progressive striptease of the same model, so you are limited to one picture at a time before you have to navigate back to the main screen, which shows a lack of understanding as to how a porn app should work. You could of course just use the application for downloading and view the pictures later in the Photos application."

Read the entire short article here.





-posted by Justin

Social Media is really this complex. This image, courtesy of Brian Solis, does a good job of showing just how insane this universe is. Now spend the next year figuring out what this means!  Good luck.



-posted by Justin

According to an article in the Guardian:

Nokia is developing a phone that recharges itself without mains electricity. A new prototype charging system from the company is able to power itself on nothing more than ambient radiowaves – the weak TV, radio and mobile phone signals that permanently surround us. The power harvested is small but it is almost enough to power a mobile in standby mode indefinitely without ever needing to plug it into the mains, according to Markku Rouvala, one of the researchers who developed the device at the Nokia Research Centre in Cambridge, UK.

-posted by Justin

I sure am glad I'm done with college. A Japanese university is giving away Apple Inc's trendy iPhone to students for free, but with a catch: the device will be used to check their attendance. Dohhhp.



-posted by Justin

Thanks to an MSNBC story, my mind is upside down. I had no idea the state of robotics. Yes, I've read Wired stories about the advance with things like ASIMO, but had no idea these crazy models had been made. Not only are they freaky, but given the upcoming release of Terminator Salvation, I'm afraid to go in the woods or in the water now.


-posted by Justin

Keith Parson, our friend and wireless expert, turned me on to a website that provides huge amounts of data on most issues and shows how it effects the world.

The tool from GAPMINDER is amazing. You can look at data about economies, health, birth rate, technology, environment... the list goes on and on. You can cross reference, look at different years, basically manipulate the data however you'd like, play timelines and more.

For example, I was interested in finding out what regions in the world apply for and are granted the most patents. The tool provides a range of 1984 - 2002 for data in this area. You can evaluate each year or play a timeline. The timeline reveals that while the US leads in accepted patents throughout history (in 2002 they had almost 170,000), in 1995 China pulled ahead for two years (hitting almost 220,000 accepted patents), until the US again overtook in 1997.

The information you can generate is very cool. Did you know: Slovenia has historically had the highest rating for literacy in adult females over the past 15 years! While African nations have plummeted.

If you're looking to generate some data, you may want to see what Gapminder can offer.



-posted by Justin

Oh how the mighty are falling....continue to fall... or are on there way to falling hard. You get my point. Mainstream media outlets continue to believe in a failed business model that doesn't address the realities of online information. For the past several years, we've watched as other new-media groups are able to maintain a more effective silo of news content (by trolling and pirating content), and more often than not, when they repackage it, it's just as compelling as some of the premier outlets (ie, major city news outlets, etc.). Sooo, it's nice to see a major high-end magazine change it's model before all the wheels come flying off (even if it's a year or two too late).

Newsweek announced that they are completely changing their business model and strategy. They will still deliver a print version (although it will undergo a massive redesign), but will also broaden the online content and cut certain elements, such as entertainment. Its new site just launched on the 15th. Check it out... it's a step in the right direction.



-posted by Justin

In my... weekly ode... to... Star Trek.. I must... focus on... an injustice. Okay, I'll stop. What is this injustice? It appears our own Captain, Paul Forecki, is getting to attend a sneak peak of the the new Star Trek film. While Paul and I both battle for ultimate geek supremacy here at VOXUS, he has been invited to this private show... and I'm left feeling like Tuvok in Voyager's episode 13 of season five (oh yes I did). But alas I must let this go and focus on some real news.

According to Wired: With J.J. Abrams’ flashy new Star Trek landing in theaters this week, Apple’s iTunes Store is brimming with Trek-themed apps for iPhones and next-generation touchscreen iPods.
Here are a few of the coolest Star Trek iPhone apps, which draw from the sci-fi series four-decade run on TV and movie screens.

Star Trek Phaser: Originating at Paramount Digital Entertainment, the free Phaser app turns your phone or MP3 player into the handy weapon that the youthful Enterprise crew use in Abrams’ flick. Both a game and a simulator, the app comes packed with images and trailers for the movie’s May 7 release.

Star Trek Wisdom Quotations: A less flashy, but more inspiring, entry comes from CHS Systems. The $1 Star Trek Wisdom app offers insightful quotes from Spock and the gang (or the folks writing scripts for them, anyway).

Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: Quickly brush up on the Star Trek universe’s alien races with the Star TrekAlien Spotlight series. Released by iVerse Media, these $1 graphic novel-style apps present the background data on various Trek aliens, including the Gorn, the Andorians and those pointy-eared bastards the Vulcans.

Star Trek: Countdown: Also from iVerse comes the $1 app version of Countdown, the official comic book lead-up to the new movie. The movie prequel is only one title in an ever-growing collection of Trek comic apps.



-posted by Justin

According to CNN, the company that owns the Chicago Sun-Times and 58 other newspapers and online sites said Tuesday it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Sun-Times Media Group, Inc. said it would continue to operate its newspapers and Web sites as usual while it improves its cost structure and stabilizes operations. Tuesday’s announcement comes amid a raft of newspaper closings and cuts that has seen the end of The Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado; The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and The Christian Science Monitor.
Cue music. Dum, dum, dum, another one bites the dust.



-posted by Justin

No, not the country, the man!

According to S.I., the NBA slapped Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with a $25,000 fine Sunday for publicly criticizing the officials after Denver's 103-101 win over Dallas. Cuban used Twitter to complain after Friday's game that Denver's J.R. Smith was not called for coming off the bench to taunt Antoine Wright after he missed a shot near the Nuggets bench.

Cuban said in another posting Sunday that he "can't say no one makes money from twitter now. the nba does."



-posted by Justin

Soon, very soon, hamsters will rule the world (and Richard Gere will say "I told you so."). This video: Phase One!



-posted by Justin

Can you explain what this is?  Couple hints.  It has to do with Twitter and is in German.  Viel Glück



-posted by Justin

According to Xconomy, Pathway Medical has scored $40 million as part of a venture funding round that the Kirkland medical device maker hopes to finalize at $55 million.  It follows a $24.5 million round that closed last April with participation from HLM Venture Partners, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Forbion Capital Partners, Giza Venture Capital and others. This is the state's largest VC deal of 2009.

Earlier this week, the company received FDA clearance to begin marketing its Jetstream G2 technology for the specific use of breaking apart and removing blood clots in peripheral arteries in the arms and legs.



-posted by Justin

This pretty much sums up the satire associated with Twitter. Enjoy.

-posted by Justin

Listen up all. This just in from the most wired city, our city, Tacoma!!!

From TechFlash:

If you missed the Wired report on Sunday, two English majors from UPS (University of Puget Sound) in Tacoma won the top blog awards at the South By Southwest conference happening this week in Austin.Seniors Nick Martens, 21, and Kevin Nguyen, 22, beat pro bloggers to win the best blog category with "The Bygone Bureau: A Journal of Modern Thought."

They're the two in the big photo on Wired's blog from Sunday's award ceremony.



Bygone Bureau was started in 2007 as "a journal of modern thought, specializing in travel writing and cultural criticism."

It would have been a good name for the online version of the P-I.

Pretty sure I've seen these two throwing back pints at E-9, talking about modern thingy stuff....like, "what if beer made world peace possible?"

-posted by Justin

The Seattle Post-Intellingencer says it will print its last edition today, Tuesday, March 17, ending a 146-year run. The paper's owner, the Hearst Corporation, said the P-I will become the nation's largest daily newspaper to shift entirely online. Hearst's decision to abandon the print product in favor of a Web-only version is the first for a large American newspaper, raising questions about whether the company can make money in a medium where others have come up short. Seattle follows Denver in becoming the second major city this year to lose a daily newspaper. The Rocky Mountain News closed after its owner, E.W. Scripps Co., couldn't find a buyer. In Arizona, Gannett Co.'s Tucson Citizen is set to close Saturday, leaving one newspaper in that city.

Sad.



-posted by Justin

A real-time feed of people swearing on Twitter?  Radical!  Finally a Twitter application I can support. Called Cursebird it relays profane Twitter posts and even ranks the top used curse words.  It's hilarious.  Currently f*ck is the most used curse word on Twitter, followed by sh*t, b*tch, bast*rd and the dark horse of the bunch, tw*t.

Here are some of my favorite tweets:
-@getyourgeekon: your a sh*t on the sh*tter  (what does that even mean?)
-@jackfacts24: Jack Bauer doesn't watch breaking news. He breaks the f*cking news
-@theomachist: sometimes everything you need is NOT withinreach, like printerpaper, f*ck this sh*t I need somd godd*mn paper

I know what you're going to say: "what a profane blog post."  Well, kiss my *ss you c*ck sucking motherf*ckers!!



-posted by Justin

The popular social-networking site has been hit by what's believed to be the fourth rogue app in a week or so and is investigating the spread of a new variant of the Koobface worm, according to security firm Trend Micro. The Koobface worm spreads via a message from a Facebook friend that includes a link to what looks like a video.


Read more here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10185517-83.html

-posted by Justin

I could show this image to express my feelings about the hype of the new Kindle 2.  Or I could simply say: "God, the never ending stream of stories exploring every aspect of the technological and social implications of the Kindle 2 are driving me nuts. Move on already!!!"



-posted by Justin

At VOXUS, we love many things. Beer at the Swiss, AP style, Macs, blue birds, Platinum Reign recording artists, midget pickles, and yes, TechFlash.  So, when the opportunity presented itself to write a caption for a cartoon on TechFlash (spoofing the Milt Priggee mosquito Bill Gates TED incident cartoon), we had to dive right in.  For God's sake, the winner got a Tech Flash t-shirt, do you need more motivation.  Well, my colleague Andrew and I put our awesome minds together and come up with winning caption.  After voting was through, we slaughtered the competition (we secured 78 votes, to other entries 11 and 7 votes) and we received the much anticipated congratulatory email from editor, Todd Bishop. But we must give credit where credit is due.  Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, many colleagues and friends cast a vote (hopefully for us). These tools allowed us to rally the troops and instantly garner votes.  Once again, social media shines!!

Enjoy:



-posted by Justin

According to Parks Associates, casual gaming revenues will top $1 billion by 2013. The new report cites social networking and community features as enabling gaming companies to expand. To help show this growth, Parks' sent out this wickedly complex graph with their report summary. I know, I know, too complex. Let me help. This graph shows... wait for it... one more second... oh, hell, I'm just gonna say it, "this graph sucks." I give it my gold star for worst visual representation of data --- EVER!! Do you really need this graph to demonstrate a simple fact (i.e., by 2013 gamers will more than double).



You can purchase (or see the summary) the entire report titled "Networked Gaming: Driving the Future II" at http://parksassociates.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0256-11124_ITM


-posted by Justin

I came across a very cool Wired post about some students from MIT that have created a wearable computing system that turns objects into interactive display screens. The article also has a video that shows exactly how this works. The entire setup cost less than $350 and was debuted at the TED Conference. I'd go  into more detail, but you really just need to read and watch the article.

http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/02/ted-digital-six.html

-posted by Justin

Sometimes in life, we come across random things that are priceless and not at all applicable to medium in which we work (so far, far from tech blogging). But alas, we want to share them with others simply because the level of awesomeness eclipses the utter uselessness of the content you're about to view (should you decide to follow this link). I assure you this is work safe, VOXUS would never intentionally make you, the reader, the target of workplace misconduct.

Now, without further ado....I present to you Robot Chicken's  "Le Wrath di Khan."

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a2505951f130c9f011f139adc170019



-posted by Justin

The X Prize Foundation announced the winner of its "What's Your Crazy Green Idea?" competition on Thursday. The first-place winners, which received $25,000, were University of California at Irvine students Kyle Good and Bryan Le on the Capacitor Challenge team (code for really smart team), for their idea that someone should develop a more efficient energy storage device to replace batteries, for everything from iPods to cars.  Winners were determined by YouTube voting. While not a revolutionary idea, this is a very challenging problem!

So, go forth and create.  Just make sure you stick to their guidelines:

• Use only self-contained capacitors.
• Exceed the energy density of average lead acid batteries.
• Fully recharge in less than a minute and up to 500,000 cycles.
• Be completely recyclable and incorporate nontoxic materials.
• Cost less than twice the price of average lead acid batteries.
• 

-posted by Justin

Oh-ver-whelm'd!  That's what come to mind when looking at the new Puget Sound Tech Universe Map create by the WTIA. But, dig a little deeper and it's a treasure chest of information and history. Heck, I located Action Engine, which lead me to current client Perlego System, all under the Microsoft cluster.  Where do you fit in?

Check out the entire map in detail here:
https://www.washingtontechnology.org/pages/resources/resources_publications_techposter.asp




-posted by Justin

Being a Mac user, I love this story from TechFlash, way of the Washington Post:

"Thursday's Washington Post has a fascinating story about the technological challenges faced by the Obama administration as it moved into the White House following the inauguration. Mac-loving Obama staffers were flummoxed by all the out-of-date Microsoft software left over from the Bush administration -- to the point that they couldn't complete the most basic of online tasks."

Why does this not surprise me!!



-posted by Justin

With all the excitement slowly fading away now that inauguration day has passed, I came across some cool images from Popular Science (http://www.popsci.com) that show the crowds in DC from space!  That's right, some crystal clear space images of millions of heads.

http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-01/inauguration-day-space




-posted by Justin

I love it, I love it, I love it. Sacrifice in the name of beef. That's right, Burger King offers a Facebook application that allows you to sacrifice (or delete) 10 of your friends. In doing so, you get a free Whopper. BRILLIANT!!! No group to join, no fan page, just get the application at http://whoppersacrifice.com/

As I look now, so far 232k people have been axed in Facebook in the name of beef. This is marketing at its best...and integration with social media makes this advertising campaign a super hit. A++

Now, let's see....c'est la vie Paul, Rachel, Lindsay, Andrew, Stephanie, Shawnna, Nancy, Marcel, Kirsten.....and Brie.

-posted by Justin

Looks like there's finally a cost-effective option for turning your car, truck or van into a mobile hotspot – Autonet Mobile. Autonet Mobile is the first wireless Internet Service Provider designed for your car. The Autonet Mobile router will turn your car into a WiFi hotspot, allowing multiple passengers to connect their own WiFi enabled gadgets to the Internet at the same time. Very cool and cheap. Only $29 a month!! The router’s sleek form factor was designed to be easily installed in the trunk of your car or the cargo area of your SUV.

-posted by Justin

According to our favorite third-party tech blog, TechFlash, Internet Explorer continues to lose market share to other Web browsers, including Firefox and Safari. Not a big surprise here... we use both Firefox and Safari in an attempt to stay away from that horrible mess called IE (can you say vulnerability). While IE still has 68% of the market, that's down 11% over the previous year. Losing more than 10% market share in a year is HUGE (at least in my book), especially when you consider that back in the early days, IE held more than 90% of the share. Also worth noting, Google Chrome has 1%, which sounds like nothing, but as the TechFlash folks point out, it was introduced in September (not bad for three months work).

-posted by Justin

A client (thanks Leah) turned me to a great keyword/adword resource called SpyFu. It allows you to search competitor keywords, adwords, organic words, advertisements, click spend and total keyword budgets, among other things. Most of this is free. The site is fantastic and can really provide some valuable information for emerging companies looking to evaluate competitive marketings and carve out a niche. You can get super-detailed reporting and information if you're willing to spring for the service, but the initial information is pretty darn useful by itself. Do yourself a favor, check out the site and get some market intel!! Then you can drop some sweet facts at your next dinner party, like:

"Hey Charlie, did you know Google has a daily ad budget between $354 and $390? Pass the salt."

"Hey Rachel, did you hear, Sprint's monthly online keyword budget is $19k. Doesn't that blow your mind?"

-posted by Justin

On Monday, M2E Power announced the development of an external mobile device charger. Big news in the gadget world and green verticals. To support this news, VOXUS has been busy working with press. Our efforts have paid off big time! Props to the entire team!

To cap it off, today the news ran on Business Week. Check it out.

Here's a little picture:

In addition, articles also ran in more than 100 other outlets including these feature articles:
-Wired
-Gizmodo
-DVICE
-Inhabitat
-GigaOm
-Daily Green
-Coolest Gadgets
-Gadget Insight
-EcoTech Daily
-Gadget Crunch/Tech Crunch
-EcoFriend
-Cellphone Beat
-Tom's Guide
-Technology Today
-CNET
-Idaho Business Review
-Gadget Guru
-Good Clean Tech
-Earth2tech
-ZDNet
-Game Shout
-Clean Technica
-Wireless Week
-CleanTech
-Headline News
-NPR
-Smart Planet
-and more, and more and more!!!!

-posted by Justin

As our client M2E announces a new external charger for mobile device on 8/25, we thought we'd post this little video that explains the innovation behind the technology. This video podcast was created for the R&D 100 awards.


M2E video

-posted by Justin

Yes, there were hiccups. Yes, I cursed profusely at my MacBook, then at iTunes, then at my iPhone, then at the USB cable connecting my iPhone to my MacBook, then at my dogs (just because that's how I roll)....then I collapsed in exhaustion and shed some rare tears. However, after the 6 hour ordeal ended, my iPhone was updated with the new 2.0 software and I was downloading my first application (celebrating with some interpretive dance and the running man). The whole experience was so traumatic, I couldn't blog about it until today. My phone was actually a brick for 5 hours -- how do you recover from that. What if I missed a call from Barack Obama thanking me for my $5 contribution!!!

Okay, so I know what's on your mind. What was my first application? Wait for it, wait for it: Big Canvas PhotoShare of course, duh. Now why would I download that application first (before the hailed iPhone Light Saber app)? Well, to be honest, they're a client and I wanted to jump right in and start using it. And, I have to say, it's "da-bomb" (not my term, but a cultural phrase used to express mucho satisfactiono). Why is it "da-bomb" Justin (that's right, I also roll in the third person now)?

Well Justin, the best way to describe this apps value, is to tell a little story. So, here goes. Last Saturday night Justin attended a 30th b-day party at Lucky Strike (a chi-chi high-end bowling alley in Bellevue where a beer costs $8 and all the waitresses are rude, two thumbs down). Some other friends couldn't attend, but wanted to get updates on how it was (couldn't attend, sure, I'm a little sick, cough, cough). Enter PhotoShare to save the day!!! With this app, Justin was able to take pics during the event and immediately post them to my PhotoShare website. Justin's other friends could then access for immediate real-time photo-logging (that's right, new term for photo blogging, absorb it, feel it, wrestle with it, now embrace it)....or people at the event could access them later to get some pics. Best part, no one has to register to see them. A couple quick touches on the iPhone screen and the pics were up and posted. Soooooo easy (queue "heavens open" music and "hallelujah" chants). Justin can't wait to go on vacation and send back constant reminders to co-workers that he's in a tropical location and they're not. End of story.

Net/net, you should all go get this application and join the PhotoShare community. 2,000 people are downloading that application daily and they have more than 10k users since the launch last week!!!!

And, BTW, the Light Saber application – while not a productive app – is pretty much every StarWars geek's wet dream (Justin drops mic, yells "peace, I'm out" and walks away from his desk.)

-posted by Justin

Well, Interop Las Vegas is once again a wrap. As usual, VOXUS was on hand to offer client support -- primarily for AirMagnet, although D2 and Netreo were also in attendance. AirMagnet had some big show news. The company debuted their new WLAN tools for 802.11n, an industry first. The VOXUS team arranged more than 15 meetings at the show and had three camera crews stop by the booth for filming (InformationWeek TV, TechEvents TV and CXO.TV). In addition, AirMagnet won the Best of Interop Award for mobile and wireless (the AirMagnet 11n Suite), making it a two-peat – last year the company won the award for their Vo-Fi Analyzer. Overall, attendance appeared to be down for the show, but there was no shortage of booth gimmicks and tricks (if you were there, how can you forget the screaming monkey). Here some pictures from the event, enjoy:




Dave Berlind of InformationWeek interviews Wade Williamson, director of product management at AirMagnet.



Chris Roeckl, VP of marketing at AirMagnet, gives an interview to CXO.TV.




AirMagnet's Best of Interop Award.



Yes, those are bikes being ridden around in a circle....



Trapeze Networks....oh, the value of a clown!

-posted by Justin

With all the data loss and identity theft around these days, you'd think the term "flash drive" would make IT professionals, especially security professionals, cringe. BUT, apparently not – do these folks live in an alternate reality! A new survey conducted by SanDisk reports that companies around the world are unaware of the extent to which unsecured flash drives are used in their organization.

Check out these stats from Sandisk:

- 77 per cent of corporate end users use personal flash drives for work-related purposes, but, when asked to estimate what percentage of the workforce uses personal flash drives, corporate IT respondents reckoned only 35 per cent.

- According to SanDisk, people use flash drives to hold customer records (25 per cent), financial information (17 per cent), business plans (15 per cent), employee records (13 per cent), marketing plans (13 per cent), intellectual property (6 per cent), and source code (6 per cent).

- Approximately one in ten (12 per cent) of corporate end users reported finding a flash drive in a public place. And when asked to pick the three most likely actions they would take if they found a flash drive in a public place, 55 per cent said they would check out what was on it.

- Almost half (44 per cent) of end users revealed that, to their knowledge, their organization did not have a policy forbidding the copying of corporate data on personal USB flash drives.

- 41 percent of corporate IT managers report they are at least 'somewhat uncomfortable' with the level of USB flash drive usage in their organizations, revealing a significant level of potential risk.

-posted by Justin

These days, almost everyone has a mobile device, laptop or MP3 player. And we all know, these device aren't cheap. In the back of our minds we're always worried about them being stolen or lost. I'm willing to bet this has already happened to a large portion of users -- it's happened to me! Well, you can worry a little bit less now. There's a great new technology from our friends down in Portland, OR -- Gadget Trak. Gadget Trak has designed a new software that sits on your device and if stolen or lost, it basically reports back home.

Here's how it works, in general. You lose or have your device stolen. The next person to use the device activates the software, which then reports back to an email address (specified by you). It provides a variety of information -- where the device is (IP address, network, etc.), it takes a picture using the device phone (if you have a camera), forwards new number information if it's a phone, etc.. It can even render the device useless by locking it down if you so choose. There are obviously a variety of different flavors available and each one has slightly different features. But all in all, a very cool and inexpensive solution (starts around $20). You can then take the information to the police, and BAM, order in SWAT.

The company has been getting good traction. They been featured on MacWorld TV, FOX News, Dateline NBC -- and in Wired, NewsWeek, MSNBC and more. They're available on the MacStore, company web site and a variety of other places. They're even being bundled with Packard Bell computers.

-posted by Justin

The perception of the casual gaming space never ceases to amaze me. The phrase "casual gaming," while really applicable across any platform or game, has commonly been associated with lower-end games such as Bejeweled or Cake Mania that you can play online or through a mobile phone (cost, below $20). The developers and publishers that traditionally ruled this market (PopCap, Sandlot (our client), WildTangent, etc.), grew it from its infancy, established the general definition of what a casual game is, built a consumer model that actually worked, and started turning a nice profit. And for all that hard work, what did they get? Exactly what you would expect -- a veritable who's who of big time gaming companies that are trying to muscle in on the market (and possible redefine what a casual gamer is). If you have a minute, check out this new article on MSNBC. It talks about the great race to grab market share and the challenge to define a casual game. What's really interesting is that the writer opted to speak only with the larger companies, not the smaller developers that created this space. Whoops!

Some quick facts:
-currently an estimated 56 million casual gamers worldwide
-in 2008 the market is estimated to gross $1 billion
-casual gamers make up about 1% of the $20.5 billion game-software market

-posted by Justin

Our client Sandlot Games has rolled its flagship game (and the most downloaded casual video game of 2006) Cake Mania onto the Mac!!! Now Mac enthusiast can take a crack at this wonderfully addictive little game and see what 40 million other people were so obsessed about. That's right, it's not a typo, more than 40 million people have downloaded Cake Mania.

Sandlot already offers a couple of its games on Mac, but after speaking with the CEO, Daniel Bernstein, it looks like they have an internal initiative to migrate most of their great selling games onto the Mac. This, could be an industry shift in casual games. The Mac community is starved for casual games right now, but the emergence of the iPhone perhaps has developers and publishers foaming at the mouth a bit.

If you use a Mac -- especially if you have kids -- try the game out for free. If you like it, it costs 20 bucks! It's a great family-friendly game for the entire gang. I happen to be a pretty hardcore gamer (yes, I got my copy of Halo 3 the second it was released) and Cake Mania is still a great challenge, just a different genre. You can check it out here.

What is Cake Mania?
Cake Mania follows the culinary adventures of Jill Evans – a young entrepreneur. Cake Mania is a time management game where players help Jill open her own bakery, bring in customers and earn enough money to re-open her grandparents' troubled business. Gamers can upgrade and customize their shop to attract new patrons and meet daily sales goals. Jill's world is populated with interesting locales and hilarious characters that make the game engaging and visually appealing for all ages. Players keep the hungry grannies, blushing brides, and picky food critics happy with hundreds of possible cake combinations.

-posted by Justin

Well, I would be remiss to not do a blog posting on a new game being released from one of our clients, Sandlot Games. Cake Mania 2, follow up to the most downloaded casual video game of 2006, will be available to the public on 8/27. More than 40 million people have downloaded this game and the new release is set to carry the momentum forward. You can check out the mini-site that will launch on Monday, or hit up Sandlot's newly designed website to download the game.

In the meantime, here are some exclusive pics from the new game, enjoy...

-posted by Justin

The best way to validate technology is to show examples of customer implementations. What better way to do that then have the nation's largest supplier of tradeshow networks use your product. Check out this recent release from AirMagnet, the leader in WLAN security and performance solutions:

(Read More...)

With so many of today's vendors releasing survey research, the question remains: Is vendor research objective? I'd like to say the answer is yes, but I'm sure there are instances of companies stacking the deck. A recent article from Jai Vijayan at Computerworld reviewed this topic and the information is very interesting. If you're a company thinking of releasing survey information as research data, or a agency advising clients regarding this topic, you NEED to read this article:

The Security World According to Vendor Surveys
6/8/07
By Jai Vijayan, Computerworld

-posted by Justin

Every once in a while we like to head back down memory lane and revisit past relationships. This week, Rumblefish, the ubercool online music company designed for big business. In brief, the company licenses music for use by business, kind of like stock photos, but with music. They've signed thousands of bands and now have a very impressive catalog, not to mention some impressive clients, such as Adidas, North Face, Pabst and Red Bull. Back in the day, they weren't quite ready for a PR agency, but now it appears their business model is finally going platinum. Check out this recent new story on CNBC.

-posted by Justin

AirMagnet's wireless security and performance troubleshooting solution, Laptop Analyzer, outperformed the competition in Network World’s recently released Clear Choice Test of WLAN analyzers (WLAN analyzers come of age, 2007, Network World). Laptop Analyzer received the highest score in all test categories – including features, identifying security and performance threats, documentation, reporting capabilities, management and ease of use, installation and set up – overshadowing products from Fluke Networks, Network General and WildPackets.

Here's a little text bite from the review: “After subjecting the latest products to several problem-identification tests, we found that AirMagnet Laptop is still the one to beat, as it excels at 802.11-specific analysis. Its rapid analysis and accuracy is clearly at the top of the list,” according to the Network World review. The entire review is available here.

-posted by Justin

Check out this funny new campaign from our client Centennial Software: www.usbglue.com. "From the people who brought you the Super Security Sticker™ comes the latest in endpoint security technology. USB Glue™ is the leading endpoint security adhesive on the market today. Our formula is scientifically designed to provide the ultimate blockage of USB ports on today’s computers, giving IT administrators the ultimate endpoint security solution in a tube!"


-posted by Justin

Good news, one of our clients – Centennial Software – was named a Hot Company for 2007 by Info Security Products Guide. The company was selected from a list of more than 500 prominent info security vendors from around the world. The judging process evaluated entrepreneurial spirit, executive leadership, security market expertise, emerging market opportunities, revenue-growth models and planned expansion strategies.

This comes on the heels of another award for best endpoint security product (silver medal) by SearchWindowsSecurity.
Centennial Software received the Hot Company 2007 award in recognition of DeviceWall, the company’s acclaimed endpoint security product, and Security.Advisor, a newly released vulnerability assessment product. DeviceWall allows IT managers to secure data access points and centrally manage all mobile device connections to a corporate network, striking a balance between information access essential to an employee’s job function and network security. Security.Advisor leverages Centennial Discovery, the industry’s most comprehensive network discovery solution, to detect and prioritize network software and firmware vulnerabilities.
Click here to view the complete list of winners of the Info Security Hot Company 2007 awards.

-posted by Justin

Enough already!!! Did you hear, iPhone can cure cancer, heat your home and serve as a mediator for the middle eastern peace process. Okay, not really, but the media machine sure has hyped this little device. Maybe it's warranted. Perhaps it is the first seed of a new generation of mobile devices -- at least that's what the analyst community is claiming. Hell, after watching the demo and reading all the reviews, I'm ready to go buy one. Apple has done a great job of convincing the entire industry to drink the koolaid. Since its debut at CES, it's all my boss can talk about. Every day a new feature is unveiled and every day we talk about it. Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic when technology sparks true intrigue and giddiness. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when cell phone service providers went through the bidding process for exclusive phone rights. For Cingular, or is it AT&T, this should help cover up the fact that their coverage area sucks and their network constantly drops call. With analysts predicting sales in excess of 1.6 billion in the first year, we'll soon see this phone everywhere. I can see it now, people praising the phone, and cursing the provider.

-posted by Justin

For all you network managers at SMB who struggle to centralize and simplify management, we might have a solution that will answer your prayers. Last month Netreo announced a new network management application that is SaaS-based (software as a service). This is the first SaaS network management product designed for SMBs, with all the bells and whistles associated with an enterprise-class product. Called OmniCenter OnDemand, it's based on the widely-deployed appliance-based OmniCenter technology and breaks significant new industry ground by delivering the features and tools of OmniCenter in an easily-deployed suite. This allowing SMBs to enjoy complete device management, configuration management, performance management and real-time fault management without having to purchase or install new hardware and software.

If you're an IT manager reluctant to implement a network management solution for fear of a workload spikeage, you owe it to yourself to check out Netreo. In addition, there should be an in-depth product review at Network Computing in early February.

-posted by Justin

Good news -- our client, Centennial Software, was given the Silver Medal for SearchWindowsSecurity.com annual "Products of the Year" Awards. They gained this accolade in the "Endpoint Security" category for Centennial DeviceWall. Centennial was the only software vendor that controls the use of portable storage devices on a corporate network to be given an award. Together, the Awards span 28 product categories and single out nearly 70 new products that enterprise IT professionals should consider adding to their "A" lists of products to evaluate.

The products were judged by the editors of each Web site in conjunction with teams of users, industry experts, analysts and consultants. Judges evaluated more than 200 products that were introduced, upgraded, and first shipped (depending on the product category) between September 30, 2005 and October 1, 2006; after October 1, 2005 and before November 1, 2006; or after October 31, 2005 and before November 1, 2006.

To see the entire list of winners, click here.

-posted by Justin

InfoWorld reported a great story on Friday concerning the recent data theft at AT&T. Here are the facts:

-AT&T website hacked
-Perpetrators get personal data on 19k customers
-AT&T shuts down site and contacts authorities
-Perpetrators use information for phishing scam and contact most of the 19k via email
-AT&T decides to notify customers several days later via email about the theft

Ted Sampson of InfoWorld makes a good point here about email: "Real nice, guys. Sending such an important message to your customers via e-mail, which could easily be confused as spam or, hey, a phishing attempt, is simply irresponsible. Rather, I think the company should have been forthcoming and let the media do its job in helping alert customers to what was happening to their data. Yes, it would have taken some lumps in the process, but now, I'd say it's in for a few more."

My take: Is there irony here -- shouldn't a phone company have called its customers??? And perhaps Ted's a little too high on his horse. You couldn't pay me enough money to rely on the media to keep me informed with objective useful information. Sure, this article was great, after the fact. If AT&T officials had reported this to the press looking for a helping hand, what headline do you think would have snagged more readers (remember it's not about doing the right thing, it's about readership):

"AT&T Neglects Web Security - Loses 19k Personal Customer Records"

or

"Alert AT&T Customers - Your personal data may have been stolen"

-posted by Justin

One of our clients, Centennial Software – a developer of IT security and asset management solutions – has seen the demand for security information associated with USB threats rise dramatically since the arrival of new U3 applications to the marketplace. If you're not aware of U3, it's a self-activating technology that enables portable devices (flash drives, iPods, PDAs, etc.) to autorun applications the moment they are plugged into a PC. This drastically raises the level of risk associated with these devices on a corporate network. However, information on the risks associated with this new technology has been scarce.

Recently, Centennial posted information on its website related to the threats surrounding the latest self-activating U3 technology and the number of ongoing visitors has since risen by more than 200 percent (with approximately 16,000 unique visitors in the first 24 hours following the post -- which is AMAZING), and references in the blogosphere has sent the Centennial-based URL to number one on link-sharing site del.icio.us.

Centennial also ranked the latest USB hacks......drum roll please:

1. Slurp: a podslurping application that can copy vast amounts of company files in seconds
2. John the Ripper: detects and cracks weak passwords
3. Nmap: can explore an entire network and identify vulnerabilities or security technology
4. Ethereal: allows the user to see all traffic passing over a network – originally used for troubleshooting
5. Showtraf: continuously monitors and displays network traffic
6. TCPDump: enables the user to display and intercept TCP/IP addresses travelling across a network
7. Nemisis: intentionally to test intrusion detection systems, can enable the bypassing of security measures
8. Netpass: recovers passwords on various guarded areas of the network

If you want a great resource for data theft and portable storage device vulnerabilities, please visit www.watchyourend.com.

-posted by Justin

I was really excited when I finally reached the end of my 4 year contract with Cingular (and yes, in that time, I could have done another tour of college duty). So excited that I jetted over to Verizon to switch plans and get a new phone. I won't bore you with the details of why I despise Cingular....well, okay, maybe one or two for old times sake. I'm still disgusted over the AT&T/Cingular merger - if you were with AT&T, you basically got screwed and treated like dirt (i.e., migration costs, no rebates, etc.). Billing, billing, billing! My God, how many times can you mess up a bill. I was over charged five straight months to the tune of more than $300. Deep breaths. BUT, everything's gonna be okay now that I have "the Q" right? Ahh, I'm not so sure.

Likes: So I have to say, the phone is sleek, light and perfect for the pocket. The screen is clear, colors vibrant, sound is fantastic. Camera's great, video is great, MP3 player is great. Love the key board, love the sound quality and the speaker phone. Like the home interface with Windows Mobile.

Loath: The key lock function is wack. Once you lock the key board, the phone automatically shuts down after an hour or so. Volume!!! Apparently, you can only increase the volume while having a conversation...what's up with that. Sync with computer....unless you have a MAC. I was told I could download third party software, but have yet to locate it and have read some posts claiming the software is very buggy. Overall, the applications and features are just not granular enough.

I may need to jet back to the store and reinvest in a trusty Treo or RAZR.

-posted by Justin

Attention all restuarant fanatics -- Ruby Tuesday has selected Tripwire Enterprise to ensure that all credit card data is safe and secure.

-posted by Justin

MiraLink, a Portland-based expert in remote disaster recovery solutions, announced today free disaster recovery prevention tips as part of Hurricane Preparedness week. What are the tips? Well, you have to call a number or email support - go figure. Apparently hurricane tips are top secret these days and you need to be screened by expert personnel. At least that's what you're led to believe. Here's what I imagine happens when you call:

MiraLink: "Hello, thanks for calling the MiraLink Hurricane Hotline. Hit 1 to speak with a sales representative or 2 to get the hurricane tip of the day from a MiraLink sales representative."

ACME Corp. caller hits 2: "Hello, I need tips for helping my business during a hurricane."

MiraLink: "Well, there are lots of things you can do to prepare your business for a hurricane. However, we recommend you forgo the important things and purchase our MiraLink Disaster Recovery Solution. That's our tip of the day."

So I couldn't resist calling the hotline. Drum roll please. And guess what.....an automated system that's not really a hotline at all, but instead the company directory listing sales first, tech support second and so on!!!!!! I have run out of words to describe this......

-posted by Justin

According to a new endpoint security survey from Portland-based Centennial Software, 91 percent of businesses believe portable storage devices (iPods, USB memory sticks, etc.) continue to pose a large security risk to corporate and network integrity. However, only one third of companies polled have taken steps to address this problem: 66 percent of businesses have yet to implement a solution to prevent the unauthorized use of portable storage devices on the corporate network. Research also showed that 75 percent of those surveyed identified data theft as the primary risk associated with portable storage device usage at work, followed by virus propagation and productivity declines.

Next time you see an employee walk out the door with his/her iPod in tow, you shouldn't be thinking about the latest Pearl Jam album, but instead, your customer database.

-posted by Justin

Centennial Software, a developer of endpoint security and IT asset discovery solutions (and a client), announced the addition of six new customers in the banking market for its DeviceWall product. If you're not familiar with DeviceWall, the product enables businesses to secure and manage portable storage devices like iPods or PDAs in a network environment. The company has been having tremendous customer success in 2006 and this recent news is another reminder of that fact. The company also has a fantastic security blog on data theft, which was featured on MSNBC last month.

-posted by Justin

iovation, a device reputation authority for online authentication and fraud management, announced today that digital entertainment giant Bodog.com, the global leader in safe and secure online betting, has selected and deployed the ieSnare(TM) system, the world's first online fraud detection solution to use Device Reputation Authority(TM) (DRA) technology.

For those not familiar with this device reputation authority technology – which honestly, is most of us – it tracks the relationship of physical devices to the accounts created in an e-commerce environment. What does that mean? Basically, online retailers can now tie the identity of physical devices to any of the accounts that cyber-criminals create – or try to create. Then they can cross reference those accounts with a database to identify criminals. Slick stuff.

-posted by Justin

Some interesting news out of Beaverton. It appears Digimarc Digital Watermarking will be used to protect satellite images on the internet. More specifically, Microsoft will use Digimarc to communicate copyright information of tens of millions of images served up by Microsoft Virtual Earth. This announcement came after Digimarc and Script Software battled it out in the final round of the Watermark Deathmatch Championships in Redmond (picture a StarWars lightsaber battle, but with turn of the century manual watermarkers). Digimarc - 13 stamps, Script - 5. IN YOUR FACE SCRIPT!!!!! Oh well, there's always Google Earth.

-posted by Justin

Look out Portland - your city is home to the newest trade association fighting for interoperability standards and platforms in the communications industry.

Adtron, Artesyn, Continuous Computing, Diversified Technology, Inc., ESO Technologies, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, HP, Intel, Kontron, MontaVista Software, Motorola, Nortel Networks, Pentair-EP, Pigeon Point Systems and Wind River (try saying that in one breath) today announced the formation of the Communications Platforms Trade Association (CP-TA). CP-TA is an association of communications platform and building block providers dedicated to accelerating the adoption of SIG-governed, open specification-based communications platforms through interoperability testing and certification.

Okay, I'll admit, there's a need for interoperability and open standards in this industry, but CP-TA. With all the marketing brainpower fueling these member companies, CP-TA was the best they could do -- how about Lazy Association of Marketing Executives (that's LAME, get it?). Blah.

-posted by Justin

Portland-based iovation is claiming it has leapfroged the 100 million transactions per year mark for device recognition and reputation transactions. Interested in authentication and Internet fraud management? Check out the release.

-posted by Justin

Kryptiq Corporation, the leading provider of interoperability and workflow connectivity solutions for healthcare, is hosting the third annual Healthcare Connectivity Summit, April 26th-27th in Portland, Oregon. This conference brings together thought leaders from across the nation to discuss public and private sector initiatives for achieving meaningful health information exchange.  Key topics will include practical approaches to regional health information organizations (RHIOs), redesigning electronic health record (EHR) usage for quality improvement and pay for performance and achieving interoperability with EHRs.

-posted by Justin

Want to buy a Mercedes C320 Sedan online or perhaps a six piece drum set? Well, you might want to head to SoldItLive.com. That's right -- eBay has a new competitor (as of April 3). And believe it or not, they're located right in Portland. To follow up their website launch earlier this month, SoldItLive.com, "the webs's hottest Online Auction and Virtual Marketplace site," just announced a new alliance with DropShipDesign.com. What does it all mean? They now have drop shipping services, which gives customers access to wholesale products, order fulfillment, order tracking, customer service, auction ad wizard, a customizable website solution.

This is a possible outgrowth of the tentative revolt of many eBay "power sellers" who are frustrated with rising fees, policy changes, added complexity, etc. Will it have an impact on the auction giant? Too soon to tell, but check out the news from SolditLive.com.

-posted by Justin

The InnoTech Oregon Conference wraps up today and I was lucky enough to have some time yesterday to listen to some session tracks and talk with some interesting companies. One of those companies is called futureRobotics. Still in its infancy, the company has designed software for autonomous navigation. The obvious application for this is of course robots, but during my conversation with the founder, Jonathan Fant, he explained how the software (and a bit of hardware) can be fitted to any number of objects for navigation. Imagine wheelchairs in an airport taking the elderly or handicapped from gate to gate, or forklifts in a warehouse loading and unloading without human drivers....sound crazy? Mr. Fant doesn't think so! As a matter of fact, Fant had Solo 1.3 at the show. Solo is a robot that can do a ton of tasks. He cleans, vacuums, serves as a security officer, can take people to items in stores, can restock shelves...you name it, he can pretty much accomplish it with a little programming tweak. Solo has a 10 inch touch screen where people can go through guided menus or simply tell the robot what they need. While I'll admit, the application of robots into customer service seems a bit hookie right now, autonomous navigation is no joke. The US Military is spending a bundle to get this technology in assault vehicles and planes.

So, interested in investing in Fant...simply send him check for 50, 100, 150 thousand dollars and he'd be happy to put you on the board.

-posted by Justin

In response to the recent data loss on a U.S. Military base in Bagram, Afghanistan, Portland-based Centennial Software is offering the military 25,000 free licenses of its endpoint security software, DeviceWall. Check out the entire new release here.

-posted by Justin

Oops it happened again – DATA THEFT. This time a huge breach in Afghanistan at a U.S. Military base. The payload: information on U.S. secret informants. Why mention this in the VOXUS blog? Check out MSNBC to see our client Centennial Software talking about this latest instance of data theft. And the headline above? Check out their blog.

-posted by Justin

It looks as though Portland is on its way to rolling out a city-wide wireless network. The network will be powered by SkyPilot and MetroFi (two CA-based companies), providing citywide public Internet access as well as new enhanced services for the City of Portland's public safety, public works, property inspectors and other field-based employees who will be equipped to wirelessly download and upload reports and data from the field.

-posted by Justin

The SMB buzz was thick at this year's VON (Voice on the Net) show in San Jose – although the crowds were a bit thin on the 16th. Not only did we overhear companies pushing their SMB VoIP strategies, but after speaking with numerous press and analysts (including Marc Robins, Jay McCall, Matthias Machowinski and Wil Stofega), it truly appeared as if the the show trend was SMB. Apparently everyone wants a piece of this $60 billion market. And why not!! At this point the SMB VoIP market is truly up for grabs - ADVANTAGE HOSTED PROVIDERS. While smaller providers with hosted solutions are making headway, larger providers are feverishly working to cultivate hosted offers or attempting to make on-prem equipment offers compelling. The real question is, what is the end-user adoption rate for VoIP in SMB and will it live up to all the hype. If the show is any indication, vendors and service providers think it will. Last year according to IDC, it was around 6% - lower than expected. However, a new end-user VoIP deployment research report is due out soon from IDC.

-posted by Justin

It's that time of year again -- the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Just like it sounds, this award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. Win this award and you're sure to be a corporate powerhouse in the next several years. After attending the launch meeting earlier this month, I walked away with some tidbits of information to share:

-Nominations are judged on Innovation, Personal Integrity, Strategic Direction and Financial Performance.
-To be eligible, you must manage or own a company, the company must be at least two years old, you must have an equity position in the company, and lastly, the company must have at least $5 million in revenue.
-Submissions are due 3/31.
-First time submissions rarely win, but lay the ground work for following years. Since it's free, submit anyway and get on the radar.
-E&Y does not judge the entries...they select impartial industry experts.
-Previous winners include: Amazon, Car Toys, CoinStar, ZymoGenetics, Starbucks and more. Keep in mind, they won the award prior to being the household names they are today.

If you'd like to submit for the award, you need to contact Tania Villalonga at tania.villalonga@ey.com. She'll then send you a link to the submission or overnight a paper submission. Keep in mind, the form is extensive and requires financial information (this information is kept under NDA).

Good Luck!!

-posted by Justin