Mark Zuckerberg confirmed today that the Facebook phone is NOT coming. The [...]]]>

Today Facebook announced today that the 200+ million (3x more since this time last year at 65 million) users on mobile platforms will have updated features for groups, tagging, and places on their apps through a universal mobile platform.

Mark Zuckerberg confirmed today that the Facebook phone is NOT coming. The approach Facebook will take is to create a mobile platform for development across all mobile devices. The goal is to create an ecosystem that apps can be built with a social circle available at all times. This will take advantage of single sign on and location based API’s available to developers to use on Facebook’s platform.

Let’s break this down. First off the single sign on (SSO) API is going to allow you to sign in once to Facebook and use those credentials to login to all of your other services (in time). From the way it was described, only three-four few lines of code are needed to include the Facebook SSO into the mobile app (on any platform) being developed. This opens things like social gaming up to a whole new level. Imagine being able to play a game of poker with your friends from anywhere in the world. Companies such as Groupon, Zynga, Yelp, and Flixser have already created apps with the new SSO API.

Next is the announcement about the expanded location based platform. Prior to today, apps only had read-only access to the location data from Facebook Places. Now there is full social, location based integration that is going to be available for all of your friends. The big players like Foursquare, Yelp, and Gowalla have also already jumped onto this platform.

Up until today the major problem with location based services has been the lack of integration. This API that Facebook is offering is going to take this technology to the next level and build a massive database of useful, powerful information (also available via a search API).  Soon to come will be the location based deals in the area for better shopping experiences. There is also logic built in to tailor the results to your interests which are gathered over time in your Facebook account.

The second major issue is that the vendors or places you are checking into, had such a lack of reporting and detail about who is visiting their store. With the Deals API that Facebook has created, it allows venues to offer deals (very very easily) that will feed into the search API that people may be looking for. From there a user can check in and claim the deal all from the mobile device. This is going to create a new reason for local businesses to be online and create loyalty or frequent buyer programs. Companies like Gap (giving 10k pairs of blue jeans away to first users who check in), Alamo (giving away Pint glasses for people who check in), The North Face (giving one dollar to charity for checkins at a National Park or North Face Store) and The Palms (3rd night free after a 2 night check in).

The possibilities from this new API are simply amazing. This trumps any of the rumors that were out there earlier today. Enjoy!

The long awaited Spiceworks 5.0 was released October 18th. This has been the most anticipated upgrade in recent memory and will surely provide a ton of new features for network and system administrators alike. Check out the release notes for 5.0 and be sure to upgrade your installation to take [...]]]>

The long awaited Spiceworks 5.0 was released October 18th. This has been the most anticipated upgrade in recent memory and will surely provide a ton of new features for network and system administrators alike. Check out the release notes for 5.0 and be sure to upgrade your installation to take advantage of all the new features!

You can see an overview of the major changes here on the Spiceworks 5.0 release page.

In a world where media PC’s and internet TV’s already exist, why should you care about the new Google TV? Why care about any of the other media boxes for your television like Roku or Apple TV? After all media PC’s have been around for the last 6-7 years at least, whats [...]]]>

In a world where media PC’s and internet TV’s already exist, why should you care about the new Google TV? Why care about any of the other media boxes for your television like Roku or Apple TV? After all media PC’s have been around for the last 6-7 years at least, whats new about these devices? The answer is that after all this time consumers are finally ready (substitute: old enough) for high tech devices like this. Here is the bottom line from my point of view. By this time next year, Google TV and Apple TV will be the top two major players in the internet TV market. I also predict that Google will excel in this space and be the market leader over Apple by 2012.

First why should you care about Internet TV as a whole:

• Rent your shows as needed- why pay for a monthly HBO package when you can pay a 1/3rd just for the shows you actually want to see?
• Services like Amazon on Demand and Netflix offer endless movies at low prices. Again, cut off the premium services from your TV as you can now pay as you go via Internet TV.
• Take advantage of that home theater system with an integrated Pandora service and have one less device in that home theater cabinet.
• With an internet connected media box, think about the possibilities for true ‘remote’ control over the internet.
• Browse the web simultaneously as you watch TV (more on this below).

Now, sticking to my prediction above I really feel that Google TV is going to be the leader in this space. I know that Apple makes an excellent set top box, but they are going to fall short here just like they are starting to slip in the App market. Apple has such strong restrictions on their app store that developers and end users are starting to shift to the easy going Android platform.

Why Google will take first place in the Internet TV market:

• A much faster growing developer community to bring you cutting edge apps. Apple is simply falling behind here.
• Wider integration with services like Gmail, Google Docs, and You Tube that Apple just won’t be able to match.
• Device integration from the start on new hardware without the need of an extra media device. (ex: Sony TV)
• Integration with existing DVR or cable receiver systems. Limited at this point but watch for fast development and acceptance in this area.

Imagine the world where you can browse and watch TV at the same time. For example one night your watching the MTV Music Awards and a video catches your eye that you haven’t seen. It’s winning in 6 categories and looks awesome but you don’t ever really watch MTV to catch the video. Now a commercial comes on and you can simply hop over to your browser or search box and find the video on YouTube without having to move off your couch.  The same goes for sports and fantasy games to follow along all game long. You can also start having instant reactions from a wide audience during sitcoms or reality shows as it’s happening. Services like Twitter will be an instant beneficiary of this added connectivity and will see usage explode during high profile television events.

I’m more excited for these product launches in the upcoming year than I have been for any products in recent memory. It’s going to be a real turning point in the Internet TV era.

While [...]]]>

With news breaking that Verizon and Apple are preparing to launch an iPhone in early 2011, the timing is down right frustrating to many Apple enthusiasts. While the world has basically been begging for a Verizon version of the iPhone since it was released, having it come mid-product cycle is annoying.

While little to no detail has been released about an iPhone 5, it would be a pretty safe bet that there will be an iPhone 5 that ships by the end of 2011. With that being said, you would think that since we waited this long to get a Verizon iPhone that the few extra months wouldn’t be much worse. The truth is we won’t have any clear news about an iPhone 5 until its been launched on Verizon for at LEAST 6-8 months. Just enough to make it an unbearable wait for those who have been itching for the device for years now. I would have much rather seen an iPhone 5 launch in conjunction with the move to Verizon and waited just a little while longer.

The truth is that Apple probably can’t afford to wait any longer, as they are loosing market share to the Android OS everyday.

Whats the verdict? Will you jump on the Verizon iPhone bandwagon when it’s available in early 2011?

To fix the issue you have to [...]]]>

I ran into an issue this week where I needed to access the files in the main domains httpdocs folder from the subdomain folders that Plesk 8.6 creates. The problem wouldn’t exist if Plesk created the subdomains within the main httpdocs folder but that’s just not the case.

To fix the issue you have to modify the PHP open_basedir restriction on the subdomains. Check out this how to on enarion.net for step by step directions. Thanks to that author for documenting all of that, saved me a lot of time!

Twitter has announced a new user interface that will be rolling out over the next few weeks. Some of the big highlights include: