A worthy challenge for open source: rebuild "I Want Sandy"
November 29, 2008
Once in a while, a new product or service comes along that fundamentally shifts how we live every day. All of us can use a well placed reminder note once in a while, and I Want Sandy did that with a uniquely humorous elegance. It was essentially a command line reminder service controlled through email, and in many ways it set the standard for a useful cloud powered Web applications. But sadly, on Dec. 8, 2008 I Want Sandy will go offline, but from those ashes an open source project is rising.
CCTV cameras are rife in all built-up areas these days. And they do the job they’re designed for, stopping crime and helping in the aftermath of crime. But why wait until a crime has been committed? Why not try and preempt wrongdoing before it even takes place? 
Creating forest land from deserts is an ambitious undertaking but Aquapro Holland thinks that it can accomplish this feat with the aid of something that resembles a tackle box. Can it really work? 
As everyone in the U.S. knows, today was Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when retailers and manufacturers try to get everyone into holiday buying mode, whether they want to be or not. But Black Friday can be an absolute nightmare, with queues, crowds, and missing out on bargains by the skin of your teeth. 
After the bad publicity of a security hole in its servers, Red Hat has better news to crow about. The latest version of its Fedora OS is out and from the rave reviews, Fedora 10 looks like it might give Ubuntu serious competition. 
If you are anything like me, you have been using (and have adored) the applications I Want Sandy and Stikkit from Oregon company values of n. Now that Rael Dornfest, founder of values of n, has joined the Twitter team, you can kiss those two useful applications goodbye, at least for now. 
Just two weeks after a rogue hosting firm’s closure slashed spam levels by 70 percent, unsolicited e-mails are back on the rise. The world’s biggest spam network appears to have risen from the dead and laughed in the faces of feeble humans attempting to prevent its return. 
Blockbuster has become the perpetual late-comer in rolling out new business models in the home movie rental industry. After following Netflix’s unlimited rental and mail subscription business, Blockbuster is now mimicking the Netflix/ Roku box by releasing a set-top box for on-demand video. 
Grocio is a new start up in stealth mode right now that is planning to help you save money before you get to the grocery store. Currently they are building a database of stores in the United States and soft launching in limited markets. It’s worth tossing your name into the notification bin if they aren’t in your area yet. 
Mobilizing people through social networks online was a key component in Obama’s campaign for presidency and new ideas to do the same are constantly surfacing. Twitter is at the center of the social networking phenomenon and TweetsGiving took advantage of that popularity to raise over $10,000 in donations in 48 hours. 
The terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, have once again brought Twitter into mainstream focus. The micro-blogging service was one of the first places where news of these attacks broke, beating traditional new media by quite a margin. But the question remains as to whether Twitter can be classed as a reliable news source. 
Unless I’m very much mistaken, today is Thanksgiving in America. Personally, being British, this holiday means absolutely nothing to me, it being a normal working day and all. But for Americans around the world this day means something special. And it seems even Americans not on Earth want to join in with the fun. 
The launch of the first BlackBerry with a touchscreen has apparently seen strong early sales. But most of the buzz has been about a particularly scathing review from a major mainstream source. 
Some proud owners of shiny new aluminum MacBooks and MacBook Pros are finding that the purchase is not quite living up to its name. It seems that the new laptops have trouble with gaming because there are reports of lockups with blank screens and infinitely looping audio when certain games are played. 
Tivo fanatics who travel a lot will love this feature because it makes managing your programming queue much more accessible. Previously Verizon customers could pay for a mobile Tivo application but this version is open to anyone with a decent browser installed on their phone. 
We’re coming up to the first Christmas since the high-definition DVD format wars ended, but tech and business analysts are divided about how well Blu-ray will perform in holiday sales. Some point to cash-strapped consumers being wary of splashing out, while other say Blu-ray players have hit the tipping point for mass adoption. 