One of the pied-pipers of social networking is making some predictions about where the most talked about technology of 2007 is heading in the new year. In his blog post, Marc Canter proclaimed, “All software is about people and now all software will have social features in it.” His company, Broadband Mechanics, has been a pioneer in developing a open social platform. Marc optimistically predicts that in 2008 the social networking will get its act together in a more open way, such as via Google’s OpenSocial APIs: Humans are migratory beasts and they’ll not sit still, while they want to maintain the relationships they established in Friendster, Orkut or MySpace - they also wish to go onto Facebook, the Chocolate…

Well, as we clear our throats to sing Auld Lang Syne, can’t let this year pass without paying homage to that so totally Digged post of ours, Clueless flight attendant to passenger: Turn off that iPhone movie NOW! This post captured dual honors as our most Commented upon, and most read post of 2007. Struck a nerve because it told a story that was not only funny, but acted as a confirmation for the widely held belief that in-flight services have really declined in the U.S. And for the record: as one formerly clueless flight attendant hopefully has learned by now, you can watch movies on your iPhone. Just stay in Airplane Mode and you won’t interfere with the tower….

Sheesh!  What is it about Apple RAM that makes it so ridiculously expensive.  $700 to upgrade a 2GB iMac to 4GB.  What is this, RAM for millionaires?  Is it coated with precious metals and stones and come in a box lined with albino tiger cub fur or something? Seriously, when Dwight Silverman said that Apple charges $850 to upgrade an aluminum iMac to 4 GB when configuring a new unit, I thought he’d had too much mulled wine over the Holidays, but no, he’s right - an upgrade will set you back $850 notes.  Then I thought that this must be some kind of mistake, and that other systems are offered with more sensibly priced RAM upgrades - nope.  It doesn’t matter…

I’ll be back to regular postings on Wednesday now that the holidays are almost over, the in-laws are back home, and the new X-Box 360 has lost just a tiny bit of its original addicting novelty. However, for today, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about my New Year’s resolutions. We all make them but we rarely stick to them, so I’m not even going to bother with the usual “I’m going to lose 20 pounds this year” (even though I should) or “I’m going to exercise 3 times a week” (even though I really should). Instead, I’m thinking about resolutions for my job, career, and Ed Tech in general. I am going to prioritize tech support…

The launch of Resolutions 2.0 by Revolution Health is the first shot in what will be a drumbeat of news releases from commercial health sites in 2008. A combination of technology, marketing, and corporate ambition should cause Revolution, and such rivals as Healthline and Healthcare.com, to break out the big PR all year. But while we’re poring through the public announcements, take a close look under the hood. That’s where the real battle will be fought. I personally think the target should be Healthways, which we profiled last month, and which is in the business of delivering health care information on behalf of insurance companies. The areas of disease management and wellness management are beginning to merge, thanks to the Web,…

  As we get to roll in the new year we see that eok, marion and samuel from touchmods have rigged up a way to make a VoIP call over an iPod Touch. Not an iPhone, mind you, but an iPod Touch. I wrote that right. Watch the video for a play-by-play. Details, including download of available software to do this, coming soon. Soon as in next year, which as I write this is less than 18 hours away. Speaking of, “should auld….”

Is the desktop metaphor dead? Or is Vista just really bad?

I spent the holidays with my sister, a former scrub nurse, and was treated to a parade of what I call “new wives’ tales”: Drink more water. Don’t use salt. Turn on more light to read or you’ll go blind. In fact, as Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll of Indianapolis’ Reginstrief Institute write in the British Medical Journal, many of the “facts” that even medical professionals assume to be true have no backing in the literature. Take the one about reading in dim light. Our great-grandfathers relied on candles and lanterns, yet myopia has increased in the last century. Maybe it’s all just to keep romance alive as we’ve become fatter and more sedentary.  Or take the one about the turkey. People fall asleep…

Developers are puzzling over recent clues blogged by a few Microsoft employees regarding a new “Emacs.Net” tool the company is building. Microsoft’s Connected Systems Division (the folks who developed the Windows Communication Framework, a k a “Indigo”)  is hiring developers  to build a product that team member Doug Purdy described as “Emacs.Net.” Purdy hinted that Microsoft will divulge its Emacs.Net product/strategy plans at the company’s Professional Developers Conference in late October 2008. Emacs is a text editor used primarily by the Unix community (though versions of Emacs that work on Windows systems already exist). Richard Stallman is credited as the father of Emacs, the name of which was derived from “Editing MACRoS.” “Emacs is a text editor where a lot…

Now that we’ve had some time to tinker with the new digital cameras that were unwrapped during the holidays, some of us are ready to throw in the towel. Whether just you can’t figure out how something works (Manual? What manual?) or you have a more serious issue and need to update firmware or find out how to get warranty repairs, your first stop should be tech support from the camera manufacturer. All camera vendors offer some sort of support site online–some more helpful than others–where you can find FAQs, PDFs of user manuals, driver and firmware downloads, and more. The better sites have big knowledgebases that you can search or forums you can post questions to for support….