For decades, searching for information on the internet followed a fairly consistent model - you typed keywords into a search box, and the engine returned a ranked list of relevant web pages. This process of looking for answers by querying keywords and sifting through websites is being fundamentally reshaped by the rise of generative AI.
Large language models like ChatGPT can now directly provide human-like answers and content in response to natural language queries.
NFC Mobile Payments has been tested several times in the past, London’s Tube system won’t be getting mobile-based payment technology any time soon. Customer Experience Director Shashi Verma said that existing NFC technology wasn’t able to drop below the 500 millisecond barrier – something which Transport for London demands from its high-churn Oyster card-based turnstiles. Verma added, “The concerns are only around NFC technology and not EMV. We are keen to see any progress the industry can make in this area.
The only phone in the US that supports NFC is the Google Nexus S, available with t-mobile and Sprint, and there are high hopes that the iPhone 5 will support it too.
Right now, Google Wallet only works with Citi-Mastercards and the Google Prepaid Card. Visa and Google announced a worldwide agreement to support the Visa payWave app, but it will still be up to the financial institutions and banks to add support.
Pretty funny Google+ videos showing how it has no immediate competitive advantage … initial reaction is “do we really need another social network”? in this video it shows that if you dig down, the usability is actually quite nice … but people would have to give it a chance first, and as you can see in this infographic
: they don’t.
The Google+ Song
LYRICS:
Check my email, got an invite
To a website I don't know
Looked like googlebuzz at first sight,
But my friend said that's a no.
Why did we need, another social network?
Doesn't Facebook work alright?
A new thing for me to learn
This could take all night, Look out!
What is this google +
I don’t Need google +
There’s another +1 and another +1
What is this google +
Hey, Why’s this red thing here?
Go away google +
You want me to put my friends in circles
But circles are for squares
Everday’s like Sophie’s choice
Trying to choose which friend goes where
But No Parents, or Ex-boyfriends…
Can get in without invites
And when I drunkenly post that he’s cute
I can edit it later that night - whoa
I kinda like google +
Can’t believe I’m on google +
Oh another hangout, and another hang out
I dig my google +
Hey, old high school friend
You can’t join my google +
Friends add me, without me adding them
That feature’s really nice
Randos
Uglies
my pot dealer
and all these friend’s I’ve never liked
No one knows, my circle names,
So even good friend’s get handpicked
Do you make it into my main feed
or do I add you to my circle of pricks
I’m in love with google plus
I’m judgemental on goggle +
and Another douchebag and another loser
You didn’t make my google plus
Hey, Now I’m a facist pig
Thank you google plus!
Google+ now finally open to the public “might” make me change my perception. Google+ (plus) launched early July on an invite only basis, which seems to have heavily skewed towards a geeky male US-based audience. At the moment, Google+ really has nothing to offer in the social end … yes, the way you organize friends is better (IMO) than Facebook, and … … … well, that’s it … You might have heard me claim that it will compete against iCloud in the quest to conquer your hard data (photos, videos, music, files) - but that’s another post on its own.
The first Google+ infographic was released an the numbers pretty much confirm it: 26 million users, 100% of which work in software engineering, web development, advertising, or related careers. Should be interesting to watch it shift (or not) now that Google+ is open to the public.
