If you were interviewing someone for a position with your company and they admitted that they didn't know anything about the new trends and innovations taking place in their field, what would you think? Likely, what you would think is "next candidate, please." In today's business world, job-seekers are expected to stay current with the happenings taking place in their area of interest. There was a time when those happenings were very much job-specific and anything having to do with technology fell squarely on the shoulders of I.T. That time has passed. Web 2.0 technologies lifted the veil of mystery surrounding computing technology and made it accessible to everyone. Today, if you're not staying current with Web 2.0 technologies' impact on business, then you're just not staying current. Period.

Web 2.0 Is Everywhere

No matter which department you're in, Web 2.0 technologies have had an impact. If you've been ignoring their prevalence and adoption, you're at risk of falling behind in your career and your business is at risk of losing ground to its competitors who are tuned into this trend.

Here at ReadWriteWeb, we deliver news about Web 2.0's impact on business in addition to news about web technologies in general. Depending on your area of interest, you can find a lot of great information on this subject in our archives. Or simply bookmark this post for easy reference.

Document Collaboration Suites

GroupSwim is an innovative company which has created an intelligent community building and collaboration SaaS solution. They aim to connect individuals and build knowledge utilizing social based methodologies. Read more.

DreamFactory's suite of Enterprise 2.0 applications consists of a Project Management module, a Time and Expense Module, a Document Manager, and a Team Calendar. Originally, the company was available on Amazon Web Services, but now DreamFactory's software will be available on Intuit's QuickBase platform, too. Read more.

Box.net offers collaboration functionality which allows any Box.net user can invite collaborators to any folder in their account. The collaboration feature is also fully compatible with all the OpenBox services, which extends online collaboration beyond just word processor documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, similar to what Google Docs currently offers. Read more.

The term groupware refers to applications that facilitate real-time communication, coordination and collaboration amongst groups of people. A number of startups are working hard to develop the nascent groupware market, so in this post we identify some of those startups and provide an overview of where the market is heading...read more.

What's the Deal With Wikis?

Only a handful of years ago, it was common to hear people laugh at Wikipedia. Anyone can edit it! How could you take it seriously? These days, just as blogs are, wikis are on their way to winning a reputation as serious publishing platforms. Wikis are now serious business. Read more.

Atlassian Confluence, makers of one of the most popular enterprise wiki solutions, offers Microsoft Office and SharePoint integration in their release of the Confluence 2.9 software. With these new tools, users no longer have to know the technicalities of wiki markup or even how to use the included rich-text WYSIWYG editor in order to make changes to the wiki - they can simply open up a Microsoft Office document instead. Read more.

WetPaint, a popular hosted Wiki solution, provides person-to-person and private messaging between users of their Wiki network. This means that Wetpaint Wiki users can now send single or multi-person private messages, to connect and collaborate with others about their interests. This post introduces wikis and discusees who is using them and for what purpose.First, wikis are described and then the range of wiki products in the market right now is explored. Read more.

Leave it to people in the wiki market to know how to collaborate. Nearly 20 different wiki providers have teamed up to offer a new Firefox extension that will notify users whenever they are on a page that is publicly editable, using a standard icon that sits in the same place the RSS autodiscovery icon appears. Clicking on the icon (img. on the left) will take you to that page's editing interface. Read more.

What's Office 2.0?

Web Office Defined: A Web Office suite is a combination of productivity, publishing and collaboration features. A Web Office both embraces the functionality of desktop office suites (e.g. Microsoft Office) and extends it by using Web Native features. Read more.

The State of Office 2.0: Over the past 10 years, Corel, Sun, IBM and others have tried to compete with Microsoft in the office software business, but thus far none of them have been able to take a significant chunk of Microsoft's large market share, which generates revenues exceeding $15 billion each year. These companies have tried everything; including Sun open sourcing their StarOffice suite and releasing it as the free OpenOffice. Yet, even this very compelling move has not been able to make a serious dent in the market. Read more.

Microsoft announced their Office Live Workspace is publicly available for everyone to access. The site, a free web-based extension of Microsoft Office, lets you access your documents online and share your work with others. Some say that the service's launch is a direct response to Google's entry into the web office space with their Google Docs online service. If that's so, then the question now is: did Microsoft just trump Google Docs? Or does Google Docs still rule online office suites? Read more.

The Web Office was a market that underwent a lot of changes in 2007. Our definition of Web Office is: A Web Office suite is a combination of productivity, publishing and collaboration features. A Web Office both embraces the functionality of desktop office suites (e.g. Microsoft Office) and extends it by using Web Native features. The 2007 year in review: Read more.

This is the perspective of a "skeptical, later early adopter"; the sort of person who Microsoft needs to retain and should have been able to retain easily. I don't spend time on productivity tools that may at some date make me more productive, but which today are just a frustrating time sink. That describes the majority of people. MS Office can be annoying, but it does work. So any serious alternative has to offer a significant advantage and at the same time make adoption a total breeze. Read more.

EditGrid, the main product of HongKong-based company Team and Concepts (TnC) Ltd., is a leading Web 2.0 online spreadsheet service that focuses on online collaboration and interoperability. Read more.

eXpresso was named as one of PC World's 25 Most Innovative Products of the Year for 2007. PC World succinctly summed the product up: "[it] allows Excel users to share their spreadsheets, online or off." eXpresso is different from the web office contenders that you normally hear about on ReadWriteWeb for three reasons...Read more.

Zimbra is looking to expand its platform to the iPhone. Recently they announced Zimbra Mobile for iPhone 2.0. Zimbra Mobile for iPhone 2.0 will allow iPhone users over-the-air two-way synchronization of e-mails, calendar, contacts, and photos between user mailboxes and mobile devices, and seamless "push" e-mail service for all Zimbra Collaboration Suite users. Read more.

News from the Office 2.0 conference in San Francisco, 2008. Read more.

What's Happening in the Enterprise 2.0 Space?

A report released by Forrester Research is predicting that enterprise spending on Web 2.0 technologies is going to increase dramatically over the next five years. This increase will include more spending on social networking tools, mashups, and RSS, with the end result being a global enterprise market of $4.6 billion by the year 2013. Read more.

Enterprise 2.0 is Happening: If you're a business who has been ignoring the Web 2.0 trend and the spread of social media: look out, the tide is shifting and you're about to be left behind. The rise of social media didn't happen overnight, the power of the internet to unite people, the ubiquity of broadband, the rise of Gen Y, the development of new technologies for socializing on the web - all of these things and more have led to the rise of social media. And this new force is affecting change in the way that companies do business - now and for many years to come.

The break-up of behemoth, vertically integrated enterprises commenced in the 1970's, got a boost from junk bond financing in the 1980's, and accelerated in the 1990's with globalization. Now, late in the 2000's, Social Media (aka Web 2.0) is adding another gear that will accelerate the fundamental restructuring of the enterprise. Read more.

Most enterprise software sucks. That is my considered opinion from 30 years in the software biz. Words that come to mind are: bloated, inflexible and user hostile. The good news is that it is getting better, a lot better. The driver for change is what I call the consumerization of enterprise software. These new software champions typically have some if not all of these 8 main attributes...Read more.

The Enterprise 2.0 Launch Pad program is a program that allows companies to showcase their products and compete for the opportunity to present their ideas to the community at this year's Enterprise 2.0 Conference. This competition, organized by Stowe Boyd, began in April when companies were invited to post their video pitches to the E2 web site. After the community voted, the list of contenders was narrowed down to five finalists who will now compete for the final spot. For that grand prize winner, the prize is free exhibit space at the upcoming conference. Read more.

SharePoint to run Enterprise 2.0? 9 companies are saying "yes," having recently launched Enterprise 2.0 offerings that integrate with SharePoint technology. If there's one thing that any I.T. pro knows it's the value of "maximizing their investment" in whatever servers they run, technology they use, or services they've signed up for. With strict budgets in place, no I.T. purchases are bought on a whim. Instead, each decision is researched, tested, thoughtfully considered, and, if worthy, purchased, then rolled out to become a part of the I.T. infrastructure. SharePoint is no exception. Read more.

Is 2.0 Affecting My Industry?

Yes! Check out the examples below of Web 2.0's impact on various industries and fields.

Finance/Banking

Google is announced that after more than a year of work on the problem, Google Finance is now offering real-time price quotes for any stock traded on NASDAQ. Read more.

Strands, the recommendation and lifestreaming service we've written about here before, announced a much anticipated deal that will put it in the driver's seat for financial recommendations served up to millions of online banking customers around the world. The company's recommendation test-case in music is no longer all they will be known for around the world. Read more.

We reported on a survey that revealed that 48% of online banking customers between the ages of 18 and 34 would be interested in using "secure gadgets for personal banking" if their bank offered them. More than a quarter of bank customers would consider switching to another bank if it took better advantage of web 2.0 technologies. While that survey was flawed in some ways, there is another access point to banking information that customer may want more than secure widgets: mobile. Read more.

48% of Bank Customers Want Web 2.0 Gadgets. WorkLight, a startup that offers enterprise 2.0 products, recently did a survey among Facebook users to find out their willingness to use Web 2.0 tools for secure banking. The survey was conducted among 1000 Facebook users between the ages of 18-34. The fact that the survey was conducted among Facebook users gives it a bias towards tech-savvy people. However there are some surprising findings. Read more.

Accounting

Online Accounting: State of the Market: Accounting software for small business and personal use is increasingly moving from the desktop to online. However, compared to other office software, this transition to online has been relatively slow. Partly that's due to user reticence: writing a document online and sharing it with others (via Google Docs, Office Live, Zoho, or whatever you use) is one thing. Entering sensitive financial information into your browser is harder to adjust to. Read more.

Project Management

Add this one to your web office toolkit - LiquidPlanner is an online, hosted project management tool that lets you access and update projects anywhere you have an internet connection. The service offers you and your team a complete project environment, social networking and collaboration features, and a probabilistic scheduling engine which tells you the probability of completing each task - and ultimately the entire project - by a certain date. With everything organized into a centralized dashboard that can be customized for each team member, everyone on your team can stay focused on their tasks and how they relate to the project as a whole. Read more.

The Clarizen project management software came out of stealth mode last year and has now just launched a new version with additional features. The latest version, Clarizen v 2.0, will be demoed at the "Under the Radar Conference," an event held on Microsoft's campus whose current theme is "The Business of Web Apps: Where the Web Goes to Work." Read more.

Enterprise 2.0 is a rapidly growing trend that takes the concepts and tools of social media (social networking, RSS, wikis, blogs, etc.) and re-purposes them for business use, wrapping them up into applications that make the tools at work seem more like the tools we use in our day-to-day lives. While these enterprise 2.0 apps give us that web 2.0 feel, it's rarer to see actual Web 2.0 services like Facebook or Twitter used by businesses. And although we've seen many people promoting the business use of Twitter, we had not yet heard about anyone actually going so far as to integrate Twitter into a non-consumer focused application. However, that's just what Joint Contact has done. Their PM tool now shows how tweeting can actually be a productive activity. Read more.

37Signals offers a range of applications, from simple, single-function apps like Ta-Da Lists (to-do lists), Writeboard (collaborative word processor), and Campfire (group chat) to more complicated apps like Basecamp (project management) and Highrise (group contact manager). Read more.

eProject is an on-demand Project Management company. More than 100,000 users at 650 companies currently use eProject's solutions. They run the gamut from Fortune 500 companies to medium-sized fast growing organizations. Read more.

Health

Health 2.0, web-based apps and services for the healthcare sector, is a nascent but potentially huge market for web 2.0. As of now, many of these apps have an emphasis on communication, information sharing and community. These are relatively easy things to address using Web tools. However we're starting to see health 2.0 apps try to tackle the enormous inefficiencies in the healthcare system - check out our description of Carol.com below. Also, in the longer term, we will see the Web being used in medical diagnosis and practice. Read more.

The Health 2.0 Conference is reviewed here and some of the health web apps that caught our eye as well as trends that are discussed. Read more.

Google announced the public availability of Google Health, after initially launching as a closed beta back in February. It is described as "a safe and secure way to collect, store, and manage [your] medical records and health information online" and is being positioned as a way for users to control their own medical records. Read more.

HR

Traditional resumes are boring. They become stale and out-of-date, they can't really showcase your work or achievements, and they end up just sitting in the bottom of someone's inbox. A paper resume, while professional, doesn't really let an employer get to know you. Many sites are trying to solve the problems of traditional resumes by providing job seekers a new way to stand out in the crowd. Read more.

The iPhone has been making headway in its battle to become a business-ready tool. Obviously, the addition of Microsoft Exchange support was a big step towards being considered a viable alternative to the traditional smartphones used at work, like Blackberry and Windows Mobile. However, beyond simply supporting enterprise email, the iPhone platform has a lot of potential to cater to the needs of its business users, too. Read more.

LinkedIn has an audience that is both younger (41 vs 48) and richer ($106k vs $98K). LinkedIn was also naturally crowing about their growth (189% for year ending Oct. '07) and the chart from Nielsen which shows comparative Facebook growth at 125%. Note that Facebook growth is from a higher base and the law of large numbers applies, but Facebook has always crowed about their growth rates vs the larger MySpace, so they have to live with growth rate comparisons to LinkedIn now. Read more.

Marketing

Viral marketing, user-generated content, online buzz: over the past few years, these terms have been representative of a new way of marketing to consumers that takes advantage of the current popularity of the social web. This new technique involves companies encouraging its customers to create content of their own in order to generate interest in the company's brand. Unfortunately, one of the potential side effects of this strategy is the potential for negative buzz. Despite this fact, a surprisingly low percentage of marketers are monitoring for negative responses. Read more.

Using the new pilot program from a company called Involver, Kiva launched a video campaign on Facebook to draw users to their site to lend directly to these developing nations. The video even features a button that appears at the end of the video encouraging you to "lend" money. Read more.

Mobile marketing startup, TextBound, has big plans to make text messages the new mass media for advertisers. Like we mentioned earlier, more and more companies are going to be betting on location based mobile ads this year, and TextBound hopes to capitalize on this trend. But unlike mobile social network/marketing vehicle, Fluc, TextBound isn't about connecting with your friends, it's about delivering ads to your cell phone via text message, then taking you to the mobile web for more details.

transmitter that enables video delivery to HD televisions from portable multimedia devices, including digital still and DSLR cameras, camcorders, portable media players and cell phones. A new addition to ADI’s Advantiv® advanced television solutions .. ...

In their own words

“Moozey is a web-based mobile marketing platform aimed at small- and mid-sized businesses.”

Why it might be a killer

Mobile is the way to go. This will let you go mobile without having to pool too many financial resources.

Some questions

Will this be worth it for businesses? Do most people have web enabled phones?

What it does

Are you trying to start are mobile marketing campaign? Do you lack the resources necessary to make the most out of it? If so, you should take a look at Moozey.com. With this service, you’ll be able to quickly create a mobile-friendly application that your costumers can access through their web-enabled phones. This will let you survey them, tell them about new products, and inform them further about your company. After you create the service, you’ll be able to see how many people have accessed it. This gives you a very detailed market survey that should appeal to any size business owner. If all of this doesn’t convince you yet, you can try out the service for free. Anyone trying to make their business grow (who isn’t?) should be doing something like this now that everyone has a cell phone.

Link: http://www.moozey.com
Our Review: http://www.killerstartups.com/Mobile/moozey-com-mobile-marketing-for-dummies

 

Riding a motorcycle while talking on the phone is just plain dumb. But if you really must take that call, Mr. President, please consider a Bluetooth helmet. Some connected headgear can even tie in to your GPS and MP3 player, pausing tunes for directions on long trips. Might we suggest "Freebird"?

Nolan N102 N-Com $740 Every new N102 works with Nolan's N-Com connection kits, so if you're not ready to ride into debt, you can get the base helmet for $350 and add Bluetooth when the next paycheck rolls through town. Modular models like this — where the entire front flips up to expose your face — are in vogue only with the AARP set, but as the demographic profile of the classic Cadillac owner proves, old men know how to live it up: This incredibly nerdy brain bucket is also incredibly comfortable and incredibly capable. Wired: More hookups than JDate: Bluetooth, intercom, even a 3.5-mm jack for your iPod. Quick-release chin strap is mega-convenient. Flip-front easily accommodates bifocals. Volume control. Tough paint hides scratches well. Can I get this Geordi La Forge-style flip-down sunshade installed on my skull? Tired: Noisy, but all modulars are. Microphone boom requires constant relocation when taking the helmet on and off — and apparently makes you sound like you're trying to eat it. Can't we get some Bluetooth stereo? Fulfills its destiny as the Winnebago of the helmet world by being one of the largest headpieces on the road.

Garmin Zumo 550 $964, garmin.com The fullest-featured, most motocentric GPS on the market, the Zumo 550 can do it all: MP3 player, Bluetooth integration with your cell phone, traffic monitoring (optional), satellite radio (optional), and many other functions to explore before you hit the road. It's also water-resistant, so if you're brave enough to ride in a deluge, your GPS will be there to guide you, turn by slippery turn. Wired: Left-hand-mounted hard buttons give quick access to zoom, volume, and ... uh ... "square"? (It's the compass.) More mounting options than a [bleeep!]: brackets for your car and bike, plus the wiring for both. Tired: Text-entry screen is alphabetical instead of QWERTY, which is just A-B-C-Dumb. Battery life tops out at about two hours. Optional features can rack up quite a bill — and the Zumo is already expensive.

Dainese Airstream Course D-Nect $599, dainese.com The Airstream Course is Dainese's premier skull shield, sharing its shell with the models pro racers use; the D-Nect version adds Bluetooth. Despite it having fewer connectivity options than the Nolan, we found ourselves grabbing the Airstream more often. Why? It's simply better at its primary job: motorcycle helmet. It's lightweight, comfortable, and quiet. No, it won't jack into your MP3 player, and yes, the interface is maddening — but after a few hours in this composite sanctuary, we really didn't feel the need to call anyone to complain. Wired: Gorgeous lines draw more compliments than a playoff ring. Outstanding ventilation and polystyrene foam liner keep your head cool — until someone cuts you off. Top-mounted spoiler stabilizes your noggin at speed. 1-900 operators reported excellent sound quality. Rear reflective patch makes up for the too-stealthy matte paint job. Tired: Limited techno-functions: All it does is pair with your cell phone or GPS. One-button interface responds only to Dainese's Morse Code-ish tap-language. Available in any color you like, so long as it's black.

When Apple opened its iTunes App Store in July, the idea of a mass-market Web site that sells downloadable games, tools, and other applications for cell phones was a rarity. Handset owners could buy apps from their carriers or the occasional niche site. But these days, the app store concept is becoming commonplace. The question is, does the world need a warren of wireless app stores? In the coming six months, at least four would-be rivals of Apple will probably open their own online bazaars where developers of all stripes will sell downloadable software applications.

Fore! This golf-inspired 2 butt/2 shaft case features a generous well-positioned pocket large enough to hold all your necessities–your cell phone chalk and even a towel. The inside has a hard PVC shell to eliminate moisture that can warp y...

I am selling a Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 for only $50. It is ready to go and ready to be activated by you. It is legit and genuine which means you do get all the updates! However, it does not come in a box. What is included is the CD itself and the product key! It is 100% real and reliable. You will have no problems! Lastly, please do not give me emails that will waste my time. Emails received with questions like "is this real?" or "is this pirated?" will be discarded because I ALREADY STATED THAT THEY ARE 100% GENUINE!

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Pick up is at Highway 7 & Keele St. ABSOLUTELY NO DELIVERY

Do you feel like biology and physics have done more for you than Allah or Jesus? Observing that "the essence of religion is stained glass and song," San Francisco-based artist Jonathon Keats is transforming a two-story Berkeley building into a makeshift temple for people who worship science called the Atheon. Instead of telling the story of baby Jesus, the Atheon's stained glass windows will show cosmic microwave background radiation made from NASA satellite data. And since the interior of the building is still under construction, templer-goers will have to either pray from the sidewalk or in front of a glowing web site from their computers at home. Keats even made a song of worship; he collaborated with Virginia astronomer Mark Whittle to come up with a canon of sounds from three hypothetical universes called Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? They won't be playing it live at the temple, but you can listen to it on your cell phone by calling a special phone number. Church service starts on September 27. The Magnes Museum Download "Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing" (Thanks, Mark R!) ( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)...

“Nowadays it’s essential for journalists to blog,” says Professor Mary Quigley to a class of 16 NYU journalism students. The class is titled “Reporting Gen Y (a.k.a. Quarterlifers),” and it’s one of the few NYU undergrad journalism classes that focuses on new media.

I sit in Professor Quigley’s class unsure of what to expect. As a member of Generation Y, I am in touch with what my peers find popular — the Internet, iPods, flip-flops, cell phones, etc. — but as a social media maven on the Internet I am an exception to the other 15 students in the class.

I am not a typical Quarterlifer. Yes, I have a Facebook account. But I also do so much more. I have a personal blog (which includes videos), I use the popular microblogging service Twitter, I am a blogger and web video correspondent part-time for Mashable (one of the top blogs on social media), and I assist heavily with the social media/marketing department for Classic Media, Inc. (a family programming company). I am deeply involved in social media, new media, technology, “the move to digital” — whatever you want to call it.

Over the past two years I have been watching as magazines and other publications have taken hard hits economically while trying to migrate online. I have heard Jay Rosen speak about blogs and how important they are for citizen journalism. And in 2008 I made a decision to try to stay ahead of the game by joining the “early adopters” of the digital era.

Disappointment at NYU

What is so fascinating about the move from print to digital is the freedom to be your own publisher, editor, marketer, and brand. But, surprisingly, NYU does not offer the kinds of classes I want. It continues to focus its core requirements around learning how to work your way up the traditional journalism ladder. Here is the thinking I find here:

1. Get an internship at a magazine or newspaper. “This is good for your resume.”
2. Bring the New York Times to class. The hard copy. “It’s the only way to get the news.”
3. Learn how to write for a magazine or newspaper. “Writing for blogs or websites is not journalism.”
4. Become an editor at a magazine or newspaper. “This is the only respectable position.”

Obviously, I am being a bit facetious here, but the truth of the matter is that by the time my generation, Gen Y, gets into the real world there will be a much higher demand for web-savvy writers and thinkers than traditional Woodwards and Bernsteins.

I was hoping that NYU would offer more classes where I could understand the importance of digital media, what it means, how to adapt to the new way of reporting, and learn from a professor who understands not only where the Internet is, but where it’s going.

This class, “Reporting Gen Y,” focuses more on how to write for “the book” (i.e., a magazine). It looks at whether Generation Y is really unique and distinct, and if so, in what ways. This semester my class will examine various aspects of Gen Y life from “emerging adulthood,” to relationships, technology, work, and politics.

In defense of my professor (who is very talented and has written two books, which include extensive research on generational issues), this course does not claim to be a new media class or to teach about digital or citizen journalism. So I am in no position to complain. But in defense of my peers at NYU, I think that such a modern and open-minded school such as ours should give us more options.

The Only Blogger in the Room

The first thing I notice when I walk into the class is that there are 14 girls and two boys. Already NYU is dominated by females, but the journalism department is exceptionally estrogen-infested. Professor Quigley begins by explaining how blogs are becoming more important and asks if any of us have a blog.

One hand slowly rises. It’s mine. None of the other students in the class have a blog. It comes as a shock to me that the students in a class about “how our generation is very much invested in the Internet” are not actually as involved. Again, perhaps I am an exception to the norm, but I like to think that having a blog is as normal as having a car.

What surprises me further is when Professor Quigley informs us that people actually get paid to blog. That they make a living off of this. For me this was very much a “duh” moment and I thought that it would be for the rest of the students as well. They should be fully aware at this point that blogging has become a very serious form of journalism. Furthermore, they should be aware that it is the one journalistic venture that requires little or no ladder-climbing. You can start at any age, with almost no experience, and actually get published instead of fetch coffee. Luckily, Quigley is one of the few NYU professors who understands this in some way.

On other subjects, however, I found Quigley lacking in understanding. Again, I don’t expect her to be an expert on the world of social media, but for some reason I am unsettled at the thought of having a teacher who is teaching me about the culture of my generation. For example, she said one of the character traits of our generation was an unwillingness to interact with people face to face because we “spend so much time online.”

In my experience, the Baby Boomers often think the Quarterlifers are anti-social because they socialize on Facebook and MySpace. I would argue that we actually spend more time interacting with others than the previous generation who didn’t have many forms of communication and typically spent more time sitting in front of the television or with a couple of the same old friends. For our generation it’s easier to get in touch, organize a meetup, throw together a party, ask someone out on a date.

At the halfway point in the class, Quigley lets us go on a break. In the bathroom I run into an old classmate who asks me if I am going to stay in the class. I ask her if she doesn’t like it and she responds that she is worried of it being too “all-over the place” or “disorganized” or “confusing.”

I immediately get what she means. This is the first time that Professor Quigley or anyone in the undergrad journalism department at NYU has taught a class on this subject. And we all know that first-time classes are “test runs.” They don’t follow the syllabus too closely and they don’t grade too fairly because assignments are based on different levels of creativity and experience.

My classmate and I had gone through a similar situation just last semester when our professor had experimented with creating a class blog. It failed miserably because the teacher figured that we could be editors and writers as in a magazine. Blogs don’t really work the same way and the articles are certainly not written the same way. This is the same class in which I decided to write a paper on women in technology and how easy and important it is for more girls to get involved in new media. When I pitched this story my teacher wasn’t very convinced that my topic mattered. I ended up publishing it on my personal blog and landing my first job. I got a B on the paper.

Getting Beyond Print

Back in class, Quigley tells us we have to remember to bring in the hard copy of the New York Times every week. I take a deep sigh. Every single journalism class at NYU has required me to bring the bulky newspaper. I don’t understand why they don’t let us access the online version, get our current events news from other outlets, or even use our NYTimes app on the iPhone. Bringing the New York Times pains me because I refuse to believe that it’s the only source for credible news or Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism and it’s a big waste of trees.

At least I had hoped that this class would be more advanced. I hoped that perhaps my teacher would be open to the idea of investigating other sources of news from the Internet and discussing how they are reliable or not. I hoped that she wouldn’t refer to podcasts as “being a pain to download” and that being aware of and involved in the digital era wasn’t just a “generational” thing.

I am convinced that I am taking the only old-but-new-but-still-old media class in the country. At this point I may not learn too much I don’t already know about my generation and where it’s taking journalism. But one thing’s for sure — I’m certainly going to gain some insight into what exactly they mean by generation gap.

Alana Taylor is a junior at New York University, double-majoring in journalism and history with a strong interest in film, entertainment, new media and technology. She currently manages her own blog, and works part-time for both Classic Media Inc. — a production company/distributor of family programming — and Mashable, the world’s most popular social networking blog.

We’ve shown you the tech of past, now, like the 2nd movie of the cinematic trilogy that is this article’s namesake, we’re showcasing the tech treats of the future. Though our list doesn’t contain a pair of Nike Air 2015 sneakers with power laces, there is a solar-powered cell phone, a tablet-style touchscreen PC that [...]

The professional bullshit artists and dumbass fleecers over at Monster have devised another way to remove money from the wallets of the ignorant: cleaning sprays.

They've released five different sprays for five different types of devices: a camera spray, a cell phone spray, an iPhone spray (Buchanan posits that this one is made of pure angel tears), a GPS spray and a laptop spray. Yes, Monster wants you to think that your GPS and your cellphone need separate sprays, lest your phone is destroyed by the magical chemicals that can only clean a surface that displays driving directions. While yes, perhaps laptop screens need a different spray than the glass iPhone, this is a bit beyond overkill.

Each bottle of these precious fluids cost $10, which is a pretty sizable markup seeing that they just took a bunch of Windex, watered it down and put it into tiny bottles with different colored labels on it. [CrunchGear]

You've got a computer that backs up vital documents, launches applications at the tap of a key, and effortlessly pulls down the information you need from the web—and yet you spend precious weekend time doing menial tasks like watering the lawn and getting rice ready for dinner. You can apply the same geeky spirit to your home as you do your computer desktop, and we've got a host of projects that take a short time to tackle and free you up for the fun stuff. Check out our favorite home automation projects then tell us how you make your household self-maintaining.

10. Make your money handle itself.

It seems obvious, but a surprising number of geeks still manually shuffle their money around each month, paying bills as they come (or forgetting them) and saving when they think of it (and forgetting to). Your options may vary depending on your bank, but almost anybody can benefit from automating your finances. Think of it in GTD terms—the less time you spend worrying about where your dollars go, the more time and energy you have to spend them the way you want.

9. Back up your computer automatically.

Maybe you're an avid enough reader of this site to have gotten the religion of Hard Drives Always Fail, so you've set up your Windows or Mac system to automatically back up. You might use a nifty GUI tool like IdleBackup (which we walked through), or implemented a rock-solid tool like rsync. If that's the case, we're still going to suggest you make a weekend project of setting up your spouse, parents, siblings, or friends' computers to do the same. It's one less frantic call you'll receive, and it's one of the few guaranteed ways to feel no worries about the inevitable.

8. Skip unnecessary store runs with Amazon Subscribe & Save.

Not everyone needs or wants to have their paper towels, baby needs, or other dry goods delivered to them on a regular schedule, but for those of us who end up making last-minute drives to the store for something as simple as a cleaning sponge, Amazon's Subscribe & Save program could be a true blessing. It has free shipping, a pretty smart schedule creator, and saves you a bit of cash over buying the items per diem—or at drugstore markup rates.

7. Make your computer get back to work (or play) when you sit down.

Those who work from home, or in frenetic office environments, know that it's almost impossible to actually sit in one place and type for 8 hours—you get up to check the mail, use the bathroom, grab more coffee, chat with co-workers, and so forth. Even if you're just an easily-distracted user at home, Adam's guide to proximity and location-based computer actions can turn your computer into an eerily sentient device. If you're carrying your cell phone with you, the Home Zone software can make your computer wake up, turn down the music, unlock the screensaver, and do other tasks once you return to your system, and go back into security or media center modes when you leave. HAL is here, and he'd like to fire up your Work Music iTunes playlist for you

6. Document your parties without carrying a camera.

Senior Editor Adam Pash throws some mean parties, but he doesn't have the types of friends who bring their DSLR rigs and send him back great shots of the festivities. So he fired up his computer, and imagination, and found a host of ways to effortlessly document his party with simple photo projects, which anyone can implement. Give friends photo-booth-style strips, show pictures from the party as it happens, and forget having to bug everyone to pose every 10 minutes.

5. Turn a webcam into a security camera.

Webcams are a great way to keep track of tempted kids (and their babysitter) or otherwise monitor what's going on back at home. They're a lot cheaper than installing a video surveillance camera, they're so commonplace and small as not to be noticed, and you can access them over the net. Check out Adam's guide to turning a Mac into a FTP-backed-up security camera, or try Windows software like HomeCamera or the motion-sensing Yawcam.

4. Pre-load breakfast and dinner with a fuzzy-logic rice cooker.

A good, timer-driven rice cooker is like a Ultimate Edition of that trusty hot pot that saw you through college, with way more convenience. As readers of Cool Tools point out, a fuzzy-logic model like the Zojirushi 5-1/2-Cup Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker can be loaded at night to wake you up with hot breakfast, and filled before leaving for work with rice, beans, soup, or another warm side for dinner. There are cheaper and smaller models than the $165 Zojirushi make that can get the job done—anything with a start and shutoff timer will make daily cooking much easier.

3. Find your food easily with a DIY pantry auto-light.

When you catch a late-night cookie craving, nothing's more frustrating than spending precious munching time looking for the goodies in a dimly-lit pantry. Gina's father-in-law refused to stumble about his dry goods in the dark, so he built a DIY pantry light out of a Timex watch holder and some rope lights. It's super convenient, and looks a lot cooler than a bulb and hanging switch.

2. Control any plugged-in device from your computer

Have you ever dreamed of opening a terminal, typing in start coffee, and smelling the hot stuff brewing minutes later? The geeky magic of X10 makes it possible, along with scripts that open your curtains based on the sunrise time, turn off the lights when you leave the room, and much more. Wired's How-To Wiki runs down the basics of X10 in handy fashion. Change a few plugs, learn the software, and soon enough, you're saving time and money with things like a remote-controlled deadbolt.

1. Keep a perfect lawn with automatic sprinklers

Like your garden, your lawn likes to get a deep dose of water before the sun comes out to bake it. You can spend a lot of money or manually drag your sprinkler around the yard, or you can do what contributor Jason did and make your own DIY automatic sprinkler. His total cost was $100; your mileage will vary with your lawn size and sprinkler needs, and you can knock at least $30 out of it if you feel like building your own timer.

We know our readers apply the same DIY, make-it-work-for-you spirit to their homes as they do their computers. Let's hear about your favorite and most convenient home automation projects in the comments.

The Watch Anywhere Monitoring Camera can catch your mate or kids in the act of doing something that they would rather you not know. About the size of a webcam, it installs in a room or car. When the motion sensor detects something, it sends a 3 second video to the owner’s cell phone. Users can also dial to receive images, listen with its built-in mic, or set it up at night with infrared mode. Launched last week at the Melbourne at Home Exhibition, it comes with a price of $495.00. We are thinking this is a bit too much Big Brother for us.

Tags: cell phone (T), microphone (T), monitor (T), motion sensor (T), surveillance (T), watch anywhere camera (T)

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