Category: Technology

Similar to the experience of watching the Old Spice commercials.

Playlist -- http://www.youtube.com/user/oldspice?feature=chclk

I’ve been also enjoying the Google Search ones.

Playlist -- http://www.youtube.com/user/SearchStories

Here’s a cute example:

Getting directions can be difficult in Japan as there really aren’t street names…

Overall, i wasn’t that impressed with the ads that played during the superbowl but there were a couple that still make me chuckle, awww, or phene for a dorito or lunch. I believe the first commercial that I really enjoyed was just before the game started and it was a play on the Jordan/Larry Bird commercials from back in the day except with Dwight Howard and Lebron James. Although the dunking was impressive, it was the end that got me laughing. Next I’ll focus on the two commercials that have stuck in my head since seeing them. While I enjoyed others also, it takes a good commercial to have you thinking about it 12 hours after seeing it. The first was the Doritos commercial where the dog with the bark collar as it was hilarious and now after writing about it feel like eating Doritos. The second one was a surprise to see as Google doesn’t really show TV ads but it appeared to be a huge success. Not really sure why they felt the need to place an ad as they are king in all their core areas but hey, I liked the simplicity and cuteness. So there you have it, if the ads really worked, today I’ll be snacking on Doritos while googling where the nearest McDonalds is for lunch.

M2 Revolution recently got a weird looking treadmill called the Alter G. As fate would have it, it would be around the time when I would be needing a way to run while recovering from my first ultramarathon.

The Alter G is a great way to recover from a  race or from injury without putting running on your full weight. I was able to keep a 6:00 pace for 25 minutes while varying the body weight percentage from 85% to 90%. Towards the end of the workout I started to get tired but overall it was amazing to be able to go that fast a week after running a very hard and long race. Next time I try it out I will definitely make sure I don’t have to go to the bathroom as it puts a lot of pressure around your midsection.

There have been quite a few articles written about this treadmill that is based on NASA technology.

Guess what!!!!

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dr. Ryan Lee
To: john.hayato@gmail.com
Subject: Your ultrasound

Attached is a link of your ultrasound from this afternoon. View the rest here.
See you at your next appointment.

Dr. Ryan Lee, MD. Pediatrics.

***I’m not really having a baby.

So a couple years ago I looked into a company called Dash which was/is providing a GPS product that incorporates user-generated content (UGC) which helps the driver decide on the best route to take from A to B. The problem with UGC products like these is that you need a certain amount of users to really gather good data. And with Dash’s product costing more than I was willing to spend, I decided not to go ahead with the purchase. Oh, and I didn’t own a car
Fast forward to today and I now have a car and also a commute that takes about an hour if there’s no traffic. After the big rainstorm that we had in SF and the ensuing problems with flooding, accidents, and traffic, I decided to take a look  into what’s out there. Before embarking on my journey to SFO to drop off a friend, I scoured the twitter feeds to see what areas were closed, where there was accidents… Although it gave me information, I had to search beforehand and plot out my course. Enter Waze. I’m hoping that this FREE application that I downloaded onto my iphone will help me plot the quickest and easiest way when I drive around. I haven’t tested it out and I’m guessing that initially it won’t be helping me out too much as it’s a new app and there needs to be more traction before I get any good information. I’ll fill you in once I’ve used it for a couple of months. I’m also intrigued by their business model which allows people to use the app for free and once Waze has gotten a good amount of data, then they will be able to license the data to other bigger mapping companies. Here’s a TechCrunch article I read about the company and also here’s a demo:

This is pretty sweet. これ欲しい。

I’m playing around with Google Sidewiki which launched last week. It basically allows you to contribute helpful information next to any webpage. It appears as a browser sidebar, where you can read and write entries along the side of the page. So far there’s nothing next to my blog but I’m not exactly surprised… there’s one entry now

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Here’s an example of how it’s used on a more popular site such as TechCrunch.

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To learn more about Google Sidewiki, check out the Google Blog

I’m not sure if this will actually be useful as it looks to be a comment section and when I read articles or look at videos, most comments tend to be either irrelevant to the article or rude, mean, snotty… you get the point.

Feel free to leave a comment

So I was lucky enough to attend TechCrunch50 with a client and while I’m doing reports for them I’ve decided to share with you some companies that I found interesting from a consumer point of view. There will be no talk of business models, novel technology, distribution, market penetration, road maps… I’m going to try to keep it simple so that even my mom even understands the company. Without furter ado, here’s the first company.

Story Something – storysomething.com.

I’m hesitant to write about this company right now because they’re still in private beta and if I tell you about a company or service I want you to be able to go try it out right away. This app is basically for really busy parents who would like to still be able to provide their kids with personalized and customized stories. You can either have the stories on the web or have them sent to your iphone. It’s hard for me to know if this type of product will become a big hit, esp. since I don’t have kids, but in my experience as a teacher, new and exciting things are great for keeping a child’s attention and the ability to read the stories on different form factors is cool. This provides another way for parents to spend quality time with their children and  IMHO, a much better option than having them fall asleep to the tv…