The next sensation….

Posted on January 20, 2012 | 2 Comments

I just read an article that the next wave of phones, tablets and game controllers will have the ability to simulate reality.  My son’s Xbox controller could feel like a beating heart.  My iPhone might emulate a marble rolling around in it and my iPad would have a screen that creates different textures.  These technology items would all become “high-definition” feeling devices.

Currently our phones have a simple motor that operate using a single vibration. These motors would be replaced with chips and in some cases newly designed screens or slip covers.  These enhancements will make our technology feel more lifelike.  This new technology is created by Vivitouch from Artificial Muscle, a division of Bayer.  Another Bayer company brought us Siri on the iPhone this year.

Perhaps I am aged out of this concept but I am just not sure I want my phone to be more real.  What will our social life experince be with the ability to have life-like vibrations and sounds continuously surrounding us?  Will we have a choice not to make tablets be more tactile?  How much input can our senses continually and simultaneously process?

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Posted in Uncategorized

It’s just p….interesting….

Posted on January 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

My Farmville overalls have been hanging in the virtual closet for two years now. They retired at the peak of my farm productivity and farm visual appeal. My green alien cows and thought of building virtual vineyards just lost its appeal. Since then I have been quietly searching for my next online time eater. I am happy to announce I feel that I have found it, Pinterest.com.

“Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. It lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find in your life. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.” – iTunes

We can spend hours and hours pinning our favorite things we see on the web and in our lives and then place and organize them on our own virtual bulletin board. We can re-use or “repin” others’ favorites. It’s scrap booker’s dream with the additional possibility of HD videos!

All of my drawers and folders of cut up home magazines, kitchen designs, paint samples that I will never use and recipes that that I probably will never make can all be compiled in one spot. I can share them, collaborate with others to make even grander scale patches of greatness and beauty. It will be fabulous.

I am looking forward to getting started. I have downloaded my app. Now I am waiting for my invitation. To join an invitation needs to be sent by another user or you are placed on a “waiting list”, geeze, I hope that list is not too long…..so much to do…..

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Posted in facebook, Pinterest, self-help, Twitter

Facebook, those are some crazy numbers!

Posted on May 30, 2011 | 1 Comment

This morning I came across some numbers about Facebook that made me stop and think.

  • Facebook is globally closing in on 700 million users
  • In 2010, 7.9 new account registrations occurred per second.
  • The average Facebook user clicks the “Like” button nine times, writes 25 comments, becomes a fan of two pages, is a member of 12 groups, and spends 55 minutes on Facebook a day.
  • In May 2011, Brazil had the largest growing Facebook registrations with more than 1.9 new users
  • The top 5 US States Using Facebook are California (19 million which is close to 52% of it’s population), Texas (11 million), NY(10 million), Florida(8.8 million), and Illinois(6.2 million)
  • The top 5 countries using Facebook are US (149+ million), Indonesia(37+ million), UK( 30+ million), Turkey( 29+ million), and India(25+million)

Interesting facts but what to do with them? Although Facebook is a social platform, it is also the forum for businesses to share their information and value.

The social science around how to best combine these two worlds and capture the benefit is just evolving. For example when looking on help on “when the best time to post?”, there is a variety of responses. It completely depends which blog or site you click on. It might have some data to support the answer or it might be completely the author’s best thoughts. One thing is certain, more money will be spent to dissect, define and fine tune how a post will best reach this mass audience. According to a CMO survey conducted by Duke University and the American Marketing Association, social media marketing budgets will grow from the existing 6% to more than 18% over the next 5 years.

I rather liked Facebook being a place where I could simply connect with old friends and family members. I realize that such large numbers of a captive member base are just too tempting not to target, but do you think our external analysis and targeting by these marketing groups will affect how or if we continue to use Facebook?

NPR looked at this subject from a political science point of view. It is an interesting post: Facebook Has Powerful Friends; Will Users Suffer?

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Posted in branding, career-rebuilding, career-transition, facebook, re-entering-the-workforce, social media marketing

My thoughts are in “the cloud”

Posted on May 17, 2011 | 2 Comments

The purpose for creating nexThought.net is to document what is new, what have I missed in the workplace during this last decade. One concept that I keep seeing and hearing is “cloud computing” or “the cloud”.  I am wondering if I have been walking through this fog unknowingly or is this new?  I decided to look a little more into what this meant and if it really changed how we will use technology.

IT needed a way to expand capabilities without increasing infrastructure.  One way of making this happen was the development of ” cloud computing”.  It makes data storage and/or using applications almost like accessing a utility.  It is transparent to the client where the actual resource is being pulled from when we receive the service.  Today most of these cloud-based services are tapped individually but there are some aggregate providers are starting to emerge.

We can get a feel for what it means to access part of “the cloud” when we go on the internet.  As we use our laptop to access a search engine or watch a YouTube video we directly tie into “the Cloud” database.  It is  though we have a supercomputer at our fingertips.  ”The Cloud” allows applications and data to come to our computer even though it is not stored on our computer.  Our computer at homes have accessed “the cloud” to bring us what we need.

As home computer users we can put our information in “the cloud” when  we upload our files, photos or use online email like Gmail or Yahoo.  Our laptop could be broken into pieces but our data would be accessible anywhere in the world.  This information is now part of the collective or stored on  ”the cloud”.

At some point, our personal computer might only need to run an operating system and a web-browser. Everything else including applications could come from “the cloud”.  The use of minimal software on each personal computer is called software as a service or SaaS. This delivery truly takes some the headache out of all of those individual upgrades and fixes that have bogged down software providers and support staff.

The term “the cloud” was borrowed from the telecommunication industry. It referenced the concept that computing would be delivered someday like the utility/telecommunication industries distribute their services.

I found a very good an in-depth explanation of what cloud computing means on the InfoWorld site.  This is a great link if you want a more complete document.

What Cloud Computing Really Means

I would like to know where you think “the cloud” will take us?  How do you think it will affect our privacy?

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Posted in career-rebuilding, career-transition, cloud-computing, re-entering-the-workforce, SaaS, software-as-a-service, the-Cloud

You need to change how you describe you

Posted on May 13, 2011 | 1 Comment

Personal branding and using social media go hand in hand. The internet has become a great equalizer where each voice can sound as important as the one that wrote before it. There is usually a little spot for us as the author, blogger, poster, whatever-the-term to leave a mark and share a few words about who we are and why our comments or thoughts are important to the subject. It is in this space that we have an opportunity to create our brand, “the brand of me”.

When looking on how to fill in this space, I looked at many resources including LinkedIn profiles and “About Me” pages on different blogs. I also came across a list of words NEVER to use in this social media space that I thought I would share. They were referred to as empty or nothing words.

Innovative
Motivated
Results Oriented
Dynamic
Proven Track Record
Team Player
Fast Paced
Entrepreneurial
Extensive Experience

I think you get the idea. Basically the entire list of  suggested words that used to be listed in the back section of resume books.

One example was instead of using, “Problem Solver”, you should say, “As corporate efficiency expert turned around organization suffering losses of $1 billion.” Then you would briefly describe results produced in that role.

I say, why limit yourself to two words when you can use over ten, especially when talking about your own accomplishments?  Is this approach too self-serving? Or do you like the more descriptive way the social media allows us to share our information and share our own accomplishments? Finally, just what will become of that traditional list of resume words?

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Posted in branding, career-rebuilding, career-transition, re-entering-the-workforce, self-help, social media marketing

Quick Response Code, please…

Posted on May 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

Those crazy square codes that appear everywhere we look are much less secret than I ever dreamed.  Quick Response codes or QR codes might look mysterious almost artistic but they simply hold information such as text, phone numbers, addresses, or anything needed for mobile tagging.  They are extremely useful when planning a comprehensive marketing strategy, identifying  parts in an inventory tracking process or as even acting as a business card.  The more information you want the code to hold or say the bigger or more complex the box gets.  It’s just that simple.

quick response demo

nexThought.net

They are really a two-dimensional bar code. The QR codes are often used for adding web links to a printed page. When you scan them using a web cam or mobile phone camera, the QR reader application takes you to a Web site, a YouTube video or some other web content. QR codes are an easy way of sending people to a site without having to type a URL.

They were developed in 1994 by a Japanese company as an open-standard.

Here is a site that lets you create your own CR code for non-business purpose. Try it out!  http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

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Posted in branding, career-rebuilding, Quick-Response-Codes, re-entering-the-workforce, self-help, social media marketing

Just check Facebook, really?

Posted on May 3, 2011 | 1 Comment

In my quest to learn what is new in the workplace I have been attending classes here and there.  Tonight in one of these classes I came across a concept that really got me thinking.  Our instructor told us that Facebook has now surpassed Google as the number one method people find information.  So, does this mean that we as a culture are moving from SEARCH to SOCIAL to get our information?

Upon quick reflection I thought of a personal example of how I witnessed during Easter celebrations.  I had a friend post on her Facebook page asking if anyone knew of any florists in her area that had potted tulips.  Instead of  looking up the florists in her area on Google, she used her own social network to laser her search and make the experience easy and one that was almost certain to bring the results she wanted.  She knew her friends would know her taste and style and only point her to those spots that carried what she would like.  Thus, moving her from SEARCH to SOCIAL.  It just made sense.  She reported that she had the perfect potted tulips on her doorstep for the occasion.

I found the whole concept of SEARCH to SOCIAL very exciting but did have one main concern, as the information becomes shared almost like a written conversation, isn’t there be more of a chance that the facts become distorted or changed?  What keeps a fact a fact?  What becomes our new baseline for our source?  I’m curious what you think on this subject.  How far do you think this trend will continue?

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Posted in branding, career-rebuilding, career-transition, facebook, google, re-entering-the-workforce, self-help, social media marketing