The new iPad mini is the perfect size for my junior kindergartener. However, does a JK really warrant owning a computer? I tend to think not. Already it seems there is this mad scramble going on to ensure that our kids are equally if not more tech-savvy than their peers. There is plenty of time to hone his keypad skills but the window for developing his imagination seems to close a little every day.
What will Apple do next? What is the technology that will disrupt the iPhone and iPad business? If you have read Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography (and I strongly recommend that you do), there was a very telling (and compelling) line from Jobs: "If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will."
While technology like smartphones, tablets and such seem at first glance to be aimed at the young and hip, it's those in need of replacement hips who will be the biggest winners as technology continues to transform our daily lives bit by byte. When you can Skype with your grandchildren, email your children or keep in touch with old and new friends via Facebook, you don't feel as isolated. For chronic diseases that afflict the elderly, like diabetes and heart disease, there are now so many easy-to-use apps and gadgets to monitor blood-sugar levels, blood pressure and more. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.
A friend of mine introduced me to the term "topless meetings." Before you forward this to your HR manager, the expression refers to a tabletop staying free of devices during meetings. No laptops. No iPhones. No iPads. No Blackberries. Nothing that requires a charge. The idea underpinning device-free meetings is that such gadgets can prove more distracting than helpful.
Anonymous sub-group Anti-Sec supposedly holds in its hands 12-million Apple user IDs it acquired from hacking. The hacktivist group refuses to release the IDs until -- wait for it -- Adrien Chen of Gawker poses on the front page of the site in a ballet tutu with a shoe on top of his head. It remains to be seen whether Anonymous does have anything to give the public it strives to supposedly protect, or whether this was just another one of their pranks done "for the lulz," that is to say, for the stroking of their own vanity.
Retail has been turned on its head. Consumers are actively using mobile devices in larger stores to access hundreds of e-commerce, forums and social sites that hold product information, reviews and competitive pricing. What to do to counter this? Well, we need to arm salespeople with mobile devices that give them that extra advantage and ignore the hard sell and just be really personable and informative using external and internal resources.
Not only are we enamored with the ability to send and receive information in a digital format, but our children are equally smitten. I hear more and more parents bemoaning the fact that they're not able to retrieve their iPad or laptop from their young child who is busy surfing the web, watching videos or playing games on the device. Here are the top seven ways that digital technology has affected our children -- the good and the bad.
What does Facebook sell? You could say advertising. They sell advertising to the tune of several billions of dollars each and every year. If Facebook is a media company, we then have to ask ourselves: What kind of media channel does Facebook provide and how does it compare to those other media channels?
A new study released by Viacom indicates that "Tablet devices have emerged as the leading second screen alternative to television for viewing full-length episodes." While tablets are being reported as the second most-watched source for television shows, are the number percentages high enough to fuel the trend for the several years to come?