"PINTEREST: Can financial services firms use this new platform effectively?" That was the subject line of an email in my inbox this morning. It came from Corporate Insight, a financial services consulting firm. The email went on to note that "Pinterest values imagery over text and incorporates many social aspects of Twitter and Facebook to connect users and spread content." While admitting that "no financial services firm uses Pinterest today," nevertheless Corporate Insight thinks that financial institutions should have a presence on Pinterest.
At first I scoffed at this: a financial services firm on Pinterest!? But on reflection, we are in an online world that is increasingly visual. So why shouldn't a financial services firm use one of the leading image-based social networks?
Tumblr was probably the first social media service to exploit the Visual Web trend on a mass scale, but it's been Pinterest that has captured the public imagination in 2012. Pinterest is a place to store and share images (and videos, although that is a much less used feature of the site).
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Yes, there really are 10 important and beneficial changes you'll find in Microsoft Windows 8, beginning withRefresh. Let's just say it's closer to perfect than Windows Backup. Refresh is Microsoft's first real attempt to address Windows' most touchy consumer pain point: Reinstallation as a solution to problems that no one can diagnose or understand. Now, there's a chance that with this partial installation feature, you can have Windows start over without losing absolutely everything, including your applications and the files in your libraries.
Perhaps you've seen the famous comic posted to Oatmeal.com titled How to Fix Any Computer. Not to give away all the secrets of the comic's trenchant forensic analysis, but Step 2 of the Windows side of the equation is unfortunately familiar to just about any Windows user: "Reformat hard drive; reinstall Windows."
A PC operating system is like steel wool. You can't use it in even the slightest way without mutating it. Installing a new program typically alters the System Registry, which to many Windows veterans even looks like steel wool. Inconsistencies in the Registry can affect the entire system, and much of the last 17 years of Microsoft's development of Windows has been devoted to adjusting, accounting and compensating for these discrepancies so that folks don't have to reinstall Windows every time something goes wrong. System Restore (a form of which premiered with Windows Me) was created to overwrite a newer, possibly damaged Registry with an older, hopefully undamaged copy, in hopes that the system could pretend the changes suspected of damaging the system never happened.
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As the tablet and smartphone markets grow, so too does the tendency for people to use these devices while watching TV. The trend has given rise to a crop of second screen apps that enable users to supplement the TV-watching experience with content from the Web and social media chatter.
The vast majority of tablet and smartphone owners use them while watching TV, according to the latest research. But who are these people? And how are they using their devices to enhance television?
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What entrepreneur hasn't dreamed that our startup will experience the same magical beginnings as Google? In 1998, before they even incorporated, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were trying to present their concept to early-stage, or "angel" investors, with limited success. Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim was one such angel. He didn't have time to listen to their whole pitch, but wrote them a check for $100,000 anyway.
Alas, most companies don't have so easy a time. There are ways to attract these rare and beautiful creatures. You just have to know what they're looking for.
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The news was barely off the digital presses yesterday before people started freaking out. Facebook, the world's largest social network, now owns everybody's favorite mobile photo-sharing app.
While the news was certainly exciting for Instagram's team and many onlookers, some users were far from thrilled. Posts about how to export one's Instagram photos and find an alternative service began popping up across tech blogs. On Twitter, the chorus of outrage was hard to miss, as disgruntled Instagrammers declared their intent to jump ship. Is this really something over which to lose one's marbles?
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A limited study of 50 convicted burglars in the U.K. reveals what most of us knew already: if you tweet or post a Facebook status about your vacation in Cancun, a criminal in your hometown may target your house for a break-in. He or she may even use Google Street View to case the joint.
But law enforcement is fighting back, solving crimes using the same social media that makes it easy for people to become victims. The Boston Globe reports in today's editions that the Boston Police Department has had "amazing" results with its use of social media and its Text-A-Tip campaigns.
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Here's an educated guess: You work with other people. You sometimes have to work on the same documents together. You send a lot of emails back and forth with those documents as attachments. They have awful file names like 0312_BigReport_v3_FINAL.pdf.
If any of that sent shivers down your spine, prepare to rejoice. You never have to do that again. Revisu is out of beta and into the wild, and you will be so glad. Instead of vague email comments and countless files in crazy formats, your team can just go to one Web address for the whole process.
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