Everyone a Voice

I find Zuckerberg to be a bit of an odd duck (although brilliant one), but this quote of his resonates, “There is a huge need and a huge opportunity to get everyone in the world connected, to give everyone a voice and to help transform society for the future.”

Huge Solar Eruption Sparks Radiation Storm

Reminds us that we are on this tiny little planet and vulnerable to the complexity that surround us.

A powerful solar eruption is expected to blast a stream of charged particles toward Earth today (Jan. 24).

On the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scale of radiation storms, this one ranks S3, which means it could cause isolated reboots of computers onboard Earth-orbiting satellites and interfere with polar radio communications. So no big deal, but glad it is not an S5.

What did we search for in 2011? Google tells us.

Google has assembled the most popular and the fastest rising terms—the terms with the highest growth in 2011—in many, many categories.

Lots of surprise for me. That being said, I’m not exactly ‘Mr. Pop Culture’. But to find out that Rebecca Black was the #1 fastest rising query globally was disappointing.

Here’s a sample of the categories.

USA – Sports / Fastest Rising in Sports
1. Mayweather Vs Ortiz
2. NCAA Bracket 2011
3. Dan Wheldon

USA – Sports / Athletes
1. Manny Pacquiao
2. Tiger Woods
3. Lebron James

USA – Lifestyle / Fastest Rising Workouts

1. Thor Workout
2. Ryan Gosling Workout
3. Chris Hemsworth Workout

USA – Lifestyle / Fastest Rising Diets

1. Dukan Diet
2. Four Hour Diet
3. 17 Days Diet

USA – Tech & Gadgets / Fastest Rising Technology
1. iCloud
2. OSX Lion
3. Ipad 2

More can be found on Google Zeitgeist.

Time Lapse View of Earth from Space

I’ve never seen images like this from space. So cool.

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken by the crew of expeditions
28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from August to October,
2011

Shooting locations in order of appearance:

1. Aurora Borealis Pass over the United States at Night
2. Aurora Borealis and eastern United States at Night
3. Aurora Australis from Madagascar to southwest of Australia
4. Aurora Australis south of Australia
5. Northwest coast of United States to Central South America at Night
6. Aurora Australis from the Southern to the Northern Pacific Ocean
7. Halfway around the World
8. Night Pass over Central Africa and the Middle East
9. Evening Pass over the Sahara Desert and the Middle East
10. Pass over Canada and Central United States at Night
11. Pass over Southern California to Hudson Bay
12. Islands in the Philippine Sea at Night
13. Pass over Eastern Asia to Philippine Sea and Guam
14. Views of the Mideast at Night
15. Night Pass over Mediterranean Sea
16. Aurora Borealis and the United States at Night
17. Aurora Australis over Indian Ocean
18. Eastern Europe to Southeastern Asia at Night

Thanks to Matt for sharing.

first questions to Siri

Got my new iPhone 4s today. Siri is the much ballyhooed virtual assistant that responds to voice commands on the 4S. I gave it a try.

KB, “Siri, what are the nearest golf courses?”
Siri, “I have found 9 golf courses that are nearby”

KB, “Who is my wife?”
Siri, “I don’t even know who you are. Go to your Settings to tell me.”

Made me laugh.

Google+

I’ve recently read many different accounts of how Google’s new social platform was going to change the web and affect Facebook. It’s been difficult to form my own opinion, as I didn’t have an account until now, thanks to an invite sent by Kristen. If you’d like to try it out, just let me know and I will send you an invitation.

Women dominate social media and my life too

I have this tendency towards not conforming to what everyone else is doing. It’s not that I think I know better, it’s just that I get interested in the road less travelled. This notion is a factor in my career where most of the people I interact with are women. I’m the gender-minority it most situations, and it feels right for me. That’s not to say I don’t like hanging with guys, but women are more interesting.

This gender imbalance is showing up for others in social media today. Women dominate.

Twitter is the biggest surprise as seen in the chart, where 64% are women, and only 36% male. Yup you guessed it, I’m on Twitter regularly. And even though I have a LinkedIn account, I rarely visit.

More interesting information in Social networking sites and our lives from The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

Tags: gender, pew, social media, social networks

Social Media Revolution