I’m a little slow to game but I’ve finally got Pushbullet set up on my phone and laptop. With my app and Safari plugin, I’m able to push messages back and forth between my phone and computer.

How is this useful? I get alerts to my phone, which might be charging or in the other room, on my desktop. Which, in the case of some apps, I can answer back without opening my phone. This is incredibly useful as I’m not always attached to my phone or might prefer to respond to friends on WhatsApp from my desktop.

Expanding upon what Pushbullet can do, it also plays nicely with IFTTT, the service that connects other services to each other. Check out all the available Pushbullet recipes on IFTTT -

Check out Pushbullet, it really is useful.

When I wrote about Uber for X all that was really missing from becoming a dogwalker for hire was the service Bringg.

Bringg is a platform that makes it simple to create Uber-like services. From Techcrunch -

Uber has set the standard for mobile transportation apps, allowing customers to order, pay for and view their driver’s location right from their mobile device. Now, a new startup called Bringg, wants to offer a similar level of visibility for any delivery-based service or those with drivers en route – whether that’s a mom-and-pop dry cleaner making their daily runs, restaurants making deliveries, or even service technicians heading out on calls.

While Bringg doesn’t handle payment processing it does integrate with third-party systems that will allow you to order and pay for goods and services.

It will be fun to see how services, traditional and non, adapt to Bringg and SAAS...

I was reading about adaptive education where the technology adapts to the needs and actions of a student, helping him or her progress at their own pace and possibly skipping over subject areas they test out of. This optimizes the learning experience for the student, let’s the teach know the progress and pace of that student and allows everyone to move ahead at their own speed.

I was thinking about applying this to web interfaces. Why can’t we create adaptive interfaces that change based on how you use the website and optimize to your needs?

As it is web interfaces are mostly static and may change depending upon whether you’re on an iPad, an Android or a desktop computer. That’s it.

On Amazon there are certain parts of the site I never use, certain features of Prime that I don’t visit and aspects of the site that just bug me. Let’s change that.

What I’d like to see happen is the...

The service, which used to cost $399 a year, is now free. Some of the things you’ll be able to do?

• Create HD videos of locations
• Higher res imagery
• Create your own maps
• Measure 3D buildings

From Google:

Starting today, even more people will be able to access Google Earth Pro: we’re making it available for free. To see what Earth Pro can do for you—or to just have fun flying around the world—grab a free key and download Earth Pro today. If you’re an existing user, your key will continue to work with no changes required.

As I had written on Digital District, when you break up a service like Silk Road, you unleash new sites with updated technology. Well, it didn’t take long for Silk Road Reloaded to launch.

Silk Road Reloaded uses a new technology different than Tor -

“Silk Road Reload​ed” launched today, and is only accessible by downloading the special I2P software, or by configuring your computer in a certain way to connect to I2P web pages, called ‘eepsites’, and which end in the suffix .i2p.

The site is also going to take currencies beyond Bitcoin, like Anoncoin and Dogecoin. As noted by Vice -

In what must be worrying for law enforcement agencies, who recently boasted about taking down hundreds of deep web sites, Silk Road Reloaded shows that drug markets are far from dead. Instead, they are becoming more plentiful, and more diverse.​

Is a pillar of democracy. As Jon Stewart noted, comedy shouldn’t be an act of courage.

Down the road you’re going to create a lot of data, from health stats to social media posts to automobile numbers and on and on. Right now there’s no one good way to make sense of all that data unless your a data scientist with access to Tableau.

In the not too distant future I envision Personal Data Analysts. Much like how personal trainers work with you to get you in top physical form, Personal Data Analysts will work with you to find patterns in your behavior and get you in financial, physical, social and mental shape.

Where would they even start? Take a look at the work Nicholas Felton produces on a regular basis. Each year he creates the Feltron Annual Report.

He documents things like books read, restaurants visited, mail sent, places traveled and so on. All this data will be very common and accessible in the near future. Your health records and your financial records will...

How secure is the technology behind the internet of things? Are the devices in our homes safe from outside hackers? What would it look like if you home wasn’t secured?

A lot of hackers are like graffiti artists, they create for the sake of creating without doing a whole lot of damage. Other hackers look to make money or just wreak havoc from within systems. I think we’ll see a bit of both, hackers that that want you to know they were there and those that want to profit from your tech or cause serious damage.

The first set of hackers will look to tweak the settings on your central air, your television set, your stereo and anything else that’s connected. I can imagine him turning on and off your Philips Hue light bulb in a specific pattern, or turning your television up to the maximum volume, maybe even opening and closing your garage door repeatedly.

Cute.

So these are pretty...

Via Neatorama -

Adrien Mondot and Claire Bardainne are artists and performers who developed Pixel, an amazing visual display incorporating both dance and light projected onto the stage and dancers. The 11 dancers involved in the hour-long production seemlessly move with the light, appearing to interact with it like it’s a living creature.

Google filed with the FCC to reclassify broadband as a utility under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. Up until now Google hasn’t had the luxury of using key infrastructure to wire its broadband like Comcast, AT&T and other big services have enjoyed.

From the Wall Street Journal -

Title II would expose Google Fiber to new regulations usually targeted at communications utilities and monopolies. Rates and service quality would be regulated by the government and Google Fiber may have to ask permission to stop providing some services, according to Tom Cohen, a communications lawyer at Kelley Drye & Warren.

Leveraging poles, ducts, conduits and rights of way cost a fraction of what Google is paying to wire homes currently. With the new regulations and use of this infrastructure, Google will be able to cheaply wire homes almost anywhere.

More fiber = more markets.