The Waves of Tech (Video) - Technology impacts to life

The Waves of Tech comes with a hand full of topics including discussions on Google Glass usage, IBM’s international presence, and the International Space Station. In our featured discussion, we debate the state of the e-book and print industry.

The Waves of Tech is back with our second podcast since returning from New Media Expo (NMX). On this week’s episode we range our topics from the Supreme Court, Time Warner Cable, and Barnes & Noble. In our featured discussion on the show, we discuss the power of sharing within the new media community and how things are done right. On the opposite side, we tell a story of what others are doing that may damage that image.

Episode 207 is completely dedicated to our experience at New Media Expo (#NMX) in Las Vegas. We recap our overall experience at the expo including our impressions of the expo, provide insight from the sessions, and discuss the keynotes. We also attended The Podcast Awards, where this show was a finalist in the Technology Category. Enjoy the podcast and please head over to iTunes to leave us a rating and comment.

With the end of 2013 here, we recap the top tech stories of 2013 and so much more on this week’s The Waves of Tech. Some of the top stories include Twitter going public, an increase in crowdfunding, Blackberry’s demise, NSA scandals, and the health-care website debacle. We also add some discussion on technology in the classroom, Christmas shopping issues, and New Media Expo. Enjoy the podcast and we will see some of you at New Media Expo in Las Vegas.

Thanks for tuning into Episode 205 of The Waves of Tech! We are so pleased to present this week’s tech news and talking points from the week. We dive into Amazon’s traveling workforce, technologies recognizing driver fatigue, retailer fragmentation, and IT consultants that don’t carry through on contracts. Be sure to grab the FREE NetCast Studio app so that you don’t miss a single episode from the network’s wide variety of shows!

In brief, we talk about the birth of the mouse, Facebook’s plan to include a sympathize button, completing online claims for employee protection, washers & dryers (we know, strange…), mobile shopping sprees, and finally the race for same day delivery.

This week's podcast brings you a host of topics that we all can definitely talk on for about 2 hours, but we do it in a brief 35 minutes.  To begin, let's talk about some Tech TidBits - cockpit automation implications, a brief review of the iPad Air, Applebee's 100,000 tablet movement, and Black Friday shopping.  In our main topic, holiday shopping is in full swing and that means holiday scamming is as well.  We present some helpful hints and tips on protecting yourself this holiday season.  Enjoy the podcast and continue to ride...the waves of tech.   Pilots Advancements in technology reaches every corner and function of nearly every industry.  In the airline industry, pilots are trying to adjust to a growing trend of automation in the cockpit, where their skills are being substituted for control systems.  With a majority of the plane's functions controlled through automated systems, pilots may be getting just as comfortable in their chair as passengers are in theirs.  The use of automation is having some significant impacts in passenger safety, pilot and co-pilot adjustments, and training regulations.   iPad Review (Feel free to add details about your review) Target offered a deal just before the holidays where a customer could trade in their first generation iPad in exchange for a $200 electronics gift card.  We had a first-gen iPad and decided to take advantage of the deal.  Aside from some issues dealing with electronic-based employees in the store, the resulting experience with our new iPad Air has been spectacular.   Applebee's Applebee's is changing the look and vibe of their restaurants nationwide, and not through remodeling, or rebranding.  They have decided to roll out nearly 100,000 tableside tablets to their nearly 1,900 locations.  In a pilot project in 30 locations, the popular hometown eatery found that profits increased, wait times decreased, tips to servers improved, and rewards programs sign-ups jumped.  With a complete rollout by 2014, look for a tableside tablet in a location near you very soon.   Black Friday We here at NetCast Studio truly hope that you enjoyed the holiday with friends and family.  So now, holiday shopping is in full swing.  If you had similar experiences as we did, you no doubt received a tremendous amount of emails, tweets, and advertisements come your way.  If you had any crazy Black Friday experiences, please get in touch with us and tell us your story!   Holiday Scams Holiday shopping is both exciting and stressful at the same time.  The pleasure of buying for friends and family puts a smile on our faces.  But when holiday shopping scams take over, the pleasure can quickly become a point of stress and anxiety.  We provide a series of simple tips for avoiding holiday scams.  Utilizing just one, and we hope you use more, may keep the holiday shopping experience a pleasurable one rather than one spent dealing with retailers and banks battling over lost funds and fraudulent charges.  If you have further tips, let us know and we would love to share them with the rest of the audience.

From electric Formula One to Mars exploration we have it all in this episode. Technology has brought us a long way, but technology has also create concerns such as the environment. Will motor sports fans embrace electric auto racing as we move away from internal combustion engines? The holiday shopping season is here. Will you be lured into some of the new marketing tactics by online and tradition retailers? Formula One Electric Cars The Formula One racing circuit announced a 10-race circuit that would feature the latest racing technology – electric powered race cars. The race circuit will feature races on the international scene, from Paraguay and the United States to Malaysia and Germany. The racing teams will look to bring some much needed attention to the electric car image, with 10 teams and 20 drivers slated to race. Google And Microsoft Block Child Porn Microsoft and Google have recently taken up the venture of tackling the problem of child pornography on the web. They are both making strong efforts to remove such results and access to these results from their search engines. We applaud both tech giants on their efforts to limit the exploration of children via the web. Google Map Shows Deceased In a very unique story from the CNN news folks, a father has requested Google to remove an image from their popular Google Maps. The image shown on the site is of a police car and law enforcement personnel surrounding what he argues is the body of his deceased son. Google has stated that it will take 8 days to remove the screen shot because new satellite imaging would be required. MAVEN Heading Toward Mars The Space Shuttle program may be obsolete but the flight into space is far from over. With the government shutdown looming, launching of MAVEN was slated to be delayed nearly 26 months. Clearer heads prevailed and MAVEN has her sights set on Mars. The unit’s mission over the next 10 months is to study the planet’s upper atmosphere and climate. Retailers vs Online The shopping habits of consumers have slowly been changing over the past five years. Online sales have increased from 5.9% to 7.6% sales. And that 7.6% of the $3.1 trillion in retail sales has the big-box retailers quickly rethinking their marketing and business models. Large chains like Target, American Eagle, and WalMart are adapting to the changing landscape of shopping. This new landscape includes rewards programs and shopping deals administered via app, a tracking of customer buying habits, and reworking of search engine features. With the largest retailers taking notice of what Amazon is doing, expect the next few years to continue to present a shift in shoppers’ buying habits and online sales to continually trend upwards.

Amazon and the US Postal Service team up for an unprecedented agreement to begin delivering Amazon packages on Sundays! In our Tech TidBits, we discuss the downfall of Blockbuster as they set the stage for closing over 300 stores nationwide and talk about Netflix inking another big deal with Marvel Comics.

This week on The Waves of Tech 200, we celebrate a milestone and recap the beginnings of this podcast. Thanks for being a part of this podcast and for the continued support through the years. This week, we talk about people utilizing Instagram to sell firearms and how drivers are being ticketed for wearing Google Glass while driving. We round out the show by saying thank you for being a part of Episode 200 and provide some insight to the evolution of the podcast. Tune in and you just might give yourself the opportunity to win some great giveaway prizes on The Waves of Tech. This week on The Waves of Tech 200, we celebrate a milestone and recap the beginnings of this podcast. Thanks for being a part of this podcast and for the continued support through the years. This week, we talk about people utilizing Instagram to sell firearms and how drivers are being ticketed for wearing Google Glass while driving. We round out the show by saying thank you for being a part of Episode 200 and provide some insight to the evolution of the podcast. Tune in and you just might give yourself the opportunity to win some great giveaway prizes on The Waves of Tech. Using Instagram to sell guns We have seen how successful Instagram has been used to sell jewelry, arts, and drawings. A new trend hitting the photo-sharing platform is selling firearms. It makes sense and is making people some good money as well. Driver ticketed for wearing Google Glass Recently, a woman in San Diego was pulled over and in the process was cited for wearing Google Glass. She was cited for a violation similar to being occupied behind the wheel by a TV screen or video. Katy Perry passes Justin Bieber as most popular person on Twitter For the time it takes you to read this blurb, we have probably already finished the conversation on the podcast. Waves of Tech Show 200 With Episode 200 being such a milestone for the show and the NetCast Studio network, we thought we could take a quick trip down memory lane and share some stories as to the start of The Waves of Tech and say a few Thank Yous as well. Without the constant support of you, the listener, the show would be nothing. Thanks for the support and thanks for getting The Waves of Tech nominated during the 9th Annual Podcast Awards. Thanks to everyone that sent us a congratulatory message. You guys are awesome!! Be sure to tune in as we have some great giveaways!! Just follow the rules and you can get yourself a sweet prize from the NetCast Studio family.

On this week’s show, we discuss the news that Nielsen will soon be collecting data from non-traditional sources and discuss the shift Disney is making toward distributing a new TV series to an app-only platform. In our main topic, we banter about the knowledge CEOs actually have about the technology their company endorses and the technology behind their products. Nielsen Nielsen Ratings is in process of releasing a SDK (Software Developer Kits) that will finally incorporate stats associated with mobile device viewing, DVRs, and Internet-based platforms. This has been a very long time coming as the statistical-based rating firms tries to maintain pace with an industry trend of non-traditional viewing. Data compiled will be very helpful to TV executives that utilize data from Nielsen to set advertising rates. Disney In an attempt to grab the attention of the tiniest of viewers, Disney is launching their latest TV show exclusively to the tablet and app market. The first nine (9) episodes of an upcoming series will be available only through the Watch Disney Junior App. This is a stark contrast to Disney’s approach, as the popularity of The Disney Channel and Disney Junior continue to grow and produce great profits. Watch this move from Disney to spark a movement in other organizations to make the slow transition to app-only distribution. CEOs and Tech The question we ask in this week’s discussion is – How much does a CEO really know about technology? It’s a worthy question to ask given the recent struggles facing the Affordable Care Act’s website. With many questions being asked and very few answers coming from executive levels of government, it’s time to ask how much should and do they know about the technology. We know a CEO’s role in the company – drive up profits, reduce operating costs, reduce risk, improve efficiencies, and determine long-range company planning. So when things go south for the company or organization, what amount of accountability falls upon the shoulders of CEOs?

We have a big lineup for the show and we begin our podcast with a few items and brief discussion related to Apple’s Campus 2 future, Microsoft’s Windows 8.1 release, and Apple announcements speculations. For the main topic of the show, we find that most employees really want to use their personal devices at work. So, we throw some ideas around as to some of the consequences and positives associated with that venture.

We dive into discussions about the Kindle Fire HD, iPad security in schools, the percentage of Americans not online, and giving up a cell phone while at a restaurant.  Kindle Fire HD Amazon has introduced their 3rd generation of Kindles into the marketplace.  With a host of new features, better picture quality, faster processing ability, and a clear slant towards entertainment, the Kindle Fire HD looks to make another big splash in the tablet market.  Since the costs are reasonable, look for many 1st generation users to upgrade to the Fire HD and look for some new consumers to swoop in on the new product. LA Students Breach iPad Security It took less one week for students to manipulate the security settings on school-issued iPads.  The introduction of iPads was designed to enhance learning, integrate classroom with at-home work, and create a robust learning environment.  Well, kids have found a way to tweet, stream live music via Pandora, provide status updates, and micro-blog all while on the school's dime and time.  Now it's back to the drawing board for school and network administrators. 15% of Americans Don't Go Online In a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, nearly 1 in 7 Americans do not use the Internet at all.  Many reasons were given for their decision: waste of time, concerned about privacy, didn't see it as useful, service is too expensive, or disability prevents usage.  There are a range of variables such as age, income, education, location, and race.  A surprising stat shows that nearly 3% of users are still using a dial-up connection. Giving Up the Cell Phone for a 5% Discount It's inevitable...you pull out the cell phone during dinner to check Facebook, tweet about your meal, check-in via FourSquare, return a text message, check and respond to an email, or post a picture of your food.  Maybe it's the human desire to being constantly connected in a social group or social atmosphere that drives us to continually check our phones.  We do this all while being seated, placing a drink order, deciding on the entree, ordering dessert, and between conversation gaps with your dinner partner.  This is all too common today.  Well, some restaurants are now offering 5% discounts to individuals willing to part with their phones for the entire meal.  It's a way of creating a better dinner experience, for the manager, the waiter/waitress, and the clientele.  Would you be willing to turn in your phone for a discount on your dinner check or are you strong enough to keep that phone locked away for an hour or so?  

Man, oh, man!! Cars, trucks, and SUVs are packed full of technological gadgets, features, buttons, and sensors these days that it’s sometimes hard to think that we can keep our mind and eyes focused on driving. This week we are talking about whether or not your high tech car drives you crazy.

We lead off with a discussion of California’s first statewide Amber Alert system that was activated last week – what does this means, how effective was it, did it help. We finish the show with an interesting discussion about big box retailers keeping tabs on the return habits of the consumer – is this a privacy concern, how much is being tracked, how to get information.