Product Reviews

If you’re the most popular guy or girl in your group, then you are probably the most informed person of the lot. Everyone likes people who are well informed about happenings and up to date on all things that go around us. Oftentimes, the information we give can make a lot of difference to the people concerned. When we give people the information that they seek, we immediately register ourselves in their minds and the next time they look for information, the first persons who come to their minds will be us. Having the latest info wherever we are and at anytime of the day is important for us not just to make friends and be popular, but it can also be very essential for our own needs.

Consider this situation; your friends and you are planning to go for a movie and all of you are out of your homes and offices. You want information on the latest movies in the city and the theaters nearby that are running the shows. You need info on the movie times and the cast etc. There’s no fixed broadband connection for you and calling up the yellow pages or other similar services is a waste of time as they don’t have the full info, and it’s literally impossible to check all the venues, one by one. What is the option left? The only option is mobile broadband. Mobile broadband can help you access the info on movie times, venues and location at a few clicks of your mouse. Last minute searches while on the move are possible now with mobile broadband.

Moreover, it’s not simple, trivial things like movie timings alone that you can access at the last minute. You can find out the nearest hospitals, police stations, train stations and other essential services when you’re traveling. Who know? Your last minute search could save a few lives and make a lot of difference to the lives of people you know. Get last minute quotes, flight reservations, hotel bookings—all done in the very last minutes by looking for them on the Internet. With mobile broadband around, there is no last minute anymore because with the speed and the scope of your searches through mobile broadband , you’ll always be one step ahead of others even in the so called last minutes.

Drug abuse is something like a global pandemic, now, and most countries are finding ways to counter this problem, and possibly find ways to totally eradicate the scourge from the planet. Many governments of nations fund organizations that are involved in educating and counseling people on the ill effects of drug abuse. Although, many de-addiction programs and rehabilitation centers are run by government and non-governmental organizations to treat and counsel addicts, a significant percentage of addicts treated and counseled here get back to their addictive habits for want of proper follow-up practices. Typically, in a traditional drug rehab program, an addict is detoxified, and counseling is provided to the addict to help him or her understand the negative effects drug abuse can cause to one’s health and life. The addict stays clean until such time he or she is within reach of the counselors, but once he or she is out of the range of the support group and gets within the range of the addict group, the addict immediately returns back to drug abuse. This is one of the reasons why traditional de-addiction/rehabilitation programs have not achieved the desired results. Now, some bright minds have come up with innovative solutions using technology to bring about better results.

Marlon Parker, who works as an IT lecturer in the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa has come up with a solution that uses technology with a bit of ingenuity. He found that the cell phone was a very important instrument that can be used to counsel drug addicts even after their rehabilitation programs. He found that the cell phone, given its popularity with the younger generation, could play an important role in helping the counselors reach out to the addicts who are in need of constant counseling. He also found that social networking sites, especially Facebook, could help the addicts and counselors stay in touch with each other. The result is Mixit–a free chat service for drug addicts. Mixit is a free instant messaging service that can be run on cell phones and computers. It uses General Packet Data Service (GPRS) or 3G instead of the standard Short Messaging Service (SMS) technology. Addicts can get in touch with counselors on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and there are about 8.6 million users of Mixit, today, which speaks highly of the benefits of this technology.

Researchers at the Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have come up with an innovative solution making use of Information Technology to improve treatment and recovery programs to victims of substance abuse. They named this program “Innovations for Recovery” and launched it in 2008. Using a combination of mobile technology, computer applications and the Internet, the researchers found that assessment, alerts, tracking, social support, counseling, and education can be imparted virtually to addicts who need help. They found that this model improved the addict-counselor interaction process easier and effective. Similarly, a recent pilot study done showed that Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology is useful in monitoring subjects with alcohol dependency problems. IVR is an automated telephone information system that can be used by alcohol addicts to self-monitor their progress by interacting with the system through a series of voice operated responses and by pressing a few buttons. The studies concluded that the subjects found remarkable changes in their behavioral patterns and addictive urges through the use of the IVR system. Effective monitoring and support through the use of technology definitely improves results are the findings of all the studies done, so far.

And, we thought that cell phones, social networking sites and the Internet were only for people who wanted to pass the time or make money! Professionals imparting treatment and counseling, and the addicts who need help will only stand to gain more using technology, and the reach and effectiveness of counseling and treatment for substance abuse can only get better from this day forwards.

Video games are just for the boys, and video games are for the nerds and not for the cool dudes. You cannot have average looking nerdy type characters playing hero roles in the games.  Video games cannot be played by girls, because girls are too dumb to play them smartly.  Why make video games for girls anyway, when most games are only played by boys and men? If someone did try to start a video game business, either making or selling video games for girls, then they will end up losing their business in under a year flat.

All the above statements are unfortunate misconceptions, or they are the personal views of a minority who haven’t come to terms with the popularity of video games among young girls. These people are totally oblivious to the fact that the gaming industry has already released quite a few video games for girls, and have a lot of releases coming up.  In addition, the notion that girls can’t or don’t play video games is like thinking, our grandmas didn’t have sex when they were young. C’mon, if girls couldn’t or didn’t play games, why are these video games selling like hot cakes?

The video gaming industry has realized the enormous potential the market holds for girl-centric video games. Some games for girls include dress up games and many other games like make-up games, costume games and so on. These games offer girls the chance to explore each one’s individual skills and creativity, and also the chance to channel those traits towards a common goal by sharing them with their co-players. Good online gaming companies offer interesting and cheap dress up games that can be played online, or downloaded onto computers, cellular phones and IPods.

Role playing games like dress games appeal to young girls, and the parents are only too happy to invest money on games such as these, as they feel these games are a healthy alternative to hard core video games, and also because these games do have an educative value to them. The misconceptions about video games are changing now, and the gaming industry is not the bastion of the boys alone, anymore. Who says video games should only be about violence, fast cars, muscular bodies, sexy women, guns and bullets?  They can be refined, pleasant, and educative like dress up games, as well.

For as long as “the news” has been around many have been claiming that it is too grim, dark, bad, and controversial.  I contest that we pattern the news after what matters most to us and that which we are afraid of, but I digress.  Occasionally a few bits of positive news will come from a seemingly bad event.  Or something truly remarkable and inspiring may unfold at the most spontaneous of times.  The iPhone’s latest “happy app”, SmileNews, is setting out to break through your dreary and negative news feeds and bringten your day with all the news that is good and great.

If you think that SmileNews is just another one of those “Hmm, I think I can make money with an iPhone app” applications, think again.  The SmileNews app seems to have been designed from a more scientific and psychological perspective.  SmileNews cites a University of Toronto study which claims that [click to continue...]

Aplia is an excellent online education platform developed by Stanford professor and economist Paul Romer.  Professor Romer’s intentions were simple in the year 2000.  He desired to build an educational technology company that would educate and engage college students at a deeper level.  Aplia currently business courses which are used and accessed by over 950 institutions. If I were to take a guess, I would say that many professors turn to Aplia to host their online offering of the course rather than a classroom style course.

First the Good. Aplia does in fact increase engagement and education for the student who is driven by self-discipline and personal success.  When a student buys their aplia course [click to continue...]

Niche stores are no longer the thing of small towns.  The internet has given has given new life to the mom-and-pop retailers of all sorts of quirky trinkets and novelty products.  Sure, online communities offering free e-commerce management do exist for sellers such as this (eCrater and etsy), but giving in to such an offering requires the seller to hang their brand on the back of another.  Luckily, setting up a personally branded e-store is almost as easy as using a free service with the help of auto-installer software generally found on any good web-host.

Many aspiring online retailers intially turn to the ever popular osCommerce, ZenCart, or CubeCart platforms because they are free and open source allowing for [click to continue...]

Ben Kauffman, entrepreneur and founder of mophie and Kluster, has struck again.  Quirky.com is somewhat of a  follow through on Ben’s original mental concept of Kluster.  Kluster was originally meant to be a platform where ideas and inventors collaborated with designers, engineers, creative namers, etc on product ideas.  Kluster quickly morphed into an online collaboration platform and their software is now used by many for such collaboration.  Kluster’s NameThis.com has seen moderate success for both business owners seeking to name their product or business.

Quirky.com takes a few elements of both of the Kluster platforms and combines them into one stunning product development service.  Quirky.com’s main purpose is to address the common inventor’s conundrum.  People have ideas, but lack the capital and perhaps innovative improvements and feedback needed to bring that product to the market.  For $99 [click to continue...]

Sony Ericcson’s new w350 is Sony’s latest Walkman+Mobile Phone.  Aimed at the youth of the mobile phone market, the functionality and music and media playback make the phone a decent contender.  However, the Sony Ericcson w350 seems to be a bit confused about its anatomy and style.  Is it a media centric smartphone or is it a repulsive attempt at a retro flip style phone?

I am willing to opt for the latter.  I don’t think I have seen a phone like this since the late 1990’s.  The flippy plastic “spit guard” (my description) serves no technologic function, and is the product of poor taste and style. [click to continue...]

Sling Media made waves in 2007 when they released their hot TV accessory tagnamed the SlingBox. Since then, the SlingBox has made significant progress and has sprouted a few new features and capabilites – the most notable of which is the SlingPlayer.

The SlingPlayer is the mobile extension of the SlingBox.  The SlingPlayer has been around for a little while and has been available as a paid downloadable app on most super-phones (usually smartphones, and other full-screen non-flippy mobiles).  Just recently, the SlingPlayer made its appearance in the iTunes iPhone App Store.  New iPhone apps hit the App Store every day, so you may be wondering why [click to continue...]