MS Sponsored Innovation Competition (submissions due March 31st, 2009)
http://imaginecup.com/Competition/mycompetitionportal.aspx?competitionId=33
ET: Virtualized Hardware
Cisco set to release switches running vm-ware.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/technology/companies/20cisco.html?_r=1
You Tube As A Search Engine
Fascinating! An article on how our youngest ones are rapidly migrating to video-based information resources.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/business/media/18ping.html
Let me know if you need to be copied on the article… Here’s an excerpt:
At First, Funny Videos. Now, a Reference Tool.
FACED with writing a school report on an Australian animal, Tyler Kennedy began where many students begin these days: by searching the Internet. But Tyler didn’t use Google or Yahoo. He searched for information about the platypus on YouTube.
“I found some videos that gave me pretty good information about how it mates, how it survives, what it eats,” Tyler said. Similarly, when Tyler gets stuck on one of his favorite games on the Wii, he searches YouTube for tips on how to move forward. And when he wants to explore the ins and outs of collecting Bakugan Battle Brawlers cards, which are linked to a Japanese anime television series, he goes to YouTube again.
While he favors YouTube for searches, he said he also turns to Google from time to time.
“When they don’t have really good results on YouTube, then I use Google,” said Tyler, who is 9 and lives in Alameda. Calif.
Tyler’s way of experiencing the Web — primarily through video — may not be mainstream, at least not yet. But his use of YouTube as his favorite search engine underscores a shift that is much broader than the quirky habits of children.
The explosion of all types of video content on YouTube and other sites is quickly transforming online video from a medium strictly for entertainment and news into one that is also a reference tool. As a result, video search, on YouTube and across other sites, is rapidly morphing into a new entry point into the Web, one that could rival mainstream search for many types of queries.