We live in an alternate reality - and have been given a bad Apple)...

Okay, well not really - but I do feel lately that I've been pulled into a bad episode of The Outer Limits.... What with the recent Russian and Floridan meteors, and the discovery that the Higgs Boson Particle may actually be a premonition of what is in store for the universe (SPOILER ALERT: the universe will eventually be consumed by an alternate reality..... no really.  Begs the question of whether the Big Bang may have been a previous incarnation of this phenomena...)

And let's not forget the recent Apple 'rumors' that puts an iPod onto a wrist watch ... This is one of the first times I can remember of Apple being behind the game on a product launch.  People were sticking nano iPods onto wrist watch bands years ago... been there, done that... boring....  The best take I've seen on this lack of innovation from Apple is via Mashable...

I never thought I would say that Apple wasn't being innovative... really I didn't. I've been an Apple fan for as long as I can remember... To me there can only be one reasonable and plausible explanation here.... we really ARE living in an alternate reality - and tomorrow we'll all wake up to the news that the Apple watch rumors were all entirely false!

Image credit: Tech (t3.com)

Facebook Graph Search Beta - A Mistake or Genuis Move?

So yesterday Facebook held a mystery conference introduced their new Graph Search Beta where people can use their existing social graph to search for things like: "Friends who enjoy hiking".  When I heard this announcement I thought to myself - wouldn't people already know if their friends liked hiking? Why would I as a Facebook user need to use this tool to search for that info?  As a Marketer, I conceded that this could be useful (searching for Friends of Friends who live in a specific geographical location and enjoy certain pastimes) - but we also have insight tools for those sorts of searches/targeting, so maybe not ...

I am a bit skeptical of this move and will need to watch the developments closely before making up my mind - I'm not entirely in the 'creeped out' category... but for some reason this feels a bit more invasive than what Google does in regards to integrating social with search results -not sure why - could be simply because i'm *used* to Google ...  it will be interesting to see how it plays out and if Bing ends up coming out as the big winner here.

What do you think? Is Facebook on the cusp of genius here - or are they making yet another mistake?
  

Facebook Graph Search Beta Screenshot

Show iGoogle Some Love Google!

When I heard that Google was discontinuing their iGoogle home search page option a few months back I was mildly annoyed, but wasn't seething... that was until today when I realized how much I actually rely on this tool to get me through the day.

iGoogle is my go to page. It is set as my home page and has everything I need for a quick snapshot of what's happening around the web, my city and the world.

My favorite blog recent postings (Digital Buzz Blog, Google Webmaster Blog, and the Official Google Blog... if you're wondering), current search trends, the weather for my city (right 50% of the time) and my personal favorite - the quote of the day (sure to make you smile and reflect) - are all right there in one place.   When I realized today that in a few months I wouldn't be able to see all of this in one glance and determine what I cared about (and didn't) in an instant, it bothered me.  It really did.

Google says they're getting rid of iGoogle due to the massive amount of apps that are out there ... but iGoogle is so much better than the standard (boring) search page... having posted about this on G+ and chatting with others I know that some people out there love their iGoogle page, regardless of the official stance from Google. While I have no illusions that we can change Google's mind about revoking the iGoogle pages- maybe if we all talk loudly enough, they'll offer some sort of G+ alternative that would make up for the loss... 

So what do you think? iGoogle- keep or get rid of it? What would a iGoogle like tool in G+ look like do you think?

Learn more about the online petition to save iGoogle