MacArthur Maze

About a week and a half ago part of the MacArthur Maze in Oakland was destroyed. It left commuters with the difficulty of finding an alternate route or alternate transportation. I was watching a news report on the Tuesday following the accident on companies that online driving directions and how they compensated for the freeway on ramp closure. The reporter went to Google Maps and Mapquest to see if the sites were still giving routes that included the freeway that was shut down. He said that Google had already had alternate routes available. They even provided two choices for drivers: To pass the exit and take the following exit and turn around and enter the freeway from the other direction or take side streets to bypass the wreckage. Mapquest, on the other hand, did not provide new routes and the closed freeway was still on the driving directions. I found an article on a website, however, the details may be incorrect. http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_5798672 A Mapquest spokesperson said that the changes would take effect Tuesday afternoon, but the late night version of the news still could not get the new directions from Mapquest on Tuesday night.
I thought this was a very smart business move done by Google. They had the routes changed on Monday, the day following the bridge collapse. Google was reported on the news to have acted very quickly and they probably gained some notoriety. People will probably switch to Google Maps instead of Mapquest when getting directions around the bay area. This could potentially hurt Mapquest because users may lose loyalty and Mapquest may lose money.

Voice-Recognition

After reading this article on cnn.com, I was amazed. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/02/01/8398978/index.htm?postversion=2007031512 It is about voice-recognition technology. The newest software called Mobile Dictation was launched by Nuance, which claims that its is near one hundred percent accurate. It will be available on most cell phone carriers sometime this year. It is not clear in the article, but I think it is used for text messages or email messages. The person will speak into the microphone built into the phone and the words will appear on the screen.
Last year, the market for voice-recognition technology topped $1 billion. Every aspect of the market for the technology is continually increasing, too including car dashboards and cell phones. The new Microsoft Vista comes with voice-recognition and Google may use voice recognition to allow people to search by voice instead of typing. There are so many different companies that are using the technology for various things. A company called VoiceBox Technologies has a system that can analyze a word used in a certain context. For example, it can find out what is meant when someone says "traffic," such as road conditions or a term for moving drugs. Other companies save a lot of money by using voice-recognition for customers calling into the store. Instead of people answering phones and taking time to answer people's questions, the people talk to the system and are directed further if needed. This saves a lot of time and money.
These companies even record the calls and use them to improve the system. Another use of the technology can be seen in the war with Iraq. Soldiers are using dictionaries to speak different languages. They speak a certain language into the electronic device and select the translation language and it is produced.
The future for voice-recognition is endless. Some experts say that every appliance and gadget that we use could contain voice-recognition in the near future. Also, it may be possible for the technology to be able to correct mistakes in grammar and word choice.

Comcast

I'm guessing if you have digital cable or home phone service in the bay area that Comcast is your provider. Comcast is already the nation's largest cable company according to a cnnmoney.com article. http://mediabiz.blogs.cnnmoney.com/2007/04/11/comcast-goes-to-the-movies/#comments Last Wednesday, April 11, Comcast became even bigger when it purchased Fandango, a website where people can go to check movie times and buy tickets, among other things. Fandango is ranked third in visitors behind moviefone.com and movietickets.com for movie ticketing websites. Comcast seems to be attempting to over take the entire entertainment industry (besides music). They are in the process of creating Fancast.com and they will be using Fandango on the site. The wesite says that users will be able to search for movies, television shows, and watch videos on the website. Also, you will be able to see when a television show is on and you can watch them online, if desired. They want to be the only website that people will go to in order to get any entertainment information. Comcast also recently launched Ziddio.com, which is a Youtube like website. (Ziddio has partnered with facebook too. Comcast also owns a video game website called gameinvasion.net.)
Because of all of these moves that Comcast has made, competition has increased among other companies. Startups like Blinkx and TVeyes, as well as TV Guide have begun working on video search engines to compete with Comcast and other similar sites. The amount of money generated can be enormous. Advertising is key on these types of websites and the more traffic on a website, the more it will cost for a company to advertise on the page. According to Score Media Metrix, last month Comcast had the most traffic on their website with 17 million visitors. (They beat out ESPN, facebook, and craigslist.) It looks like no other competitors even have a slight chance to keep up with Comcast's speed. There is no telling how much power it may have in a few years.

49ers New Stadium Proposal

The San Francisco 49ers may relocate to Santa Clara. A few months ago, officials proposed a new stadium for the 49ers in Santa Clara, which would be located next to Great America off highway 237. The stadium would be completed in 2012 if Santa Clara accepts the proposal. It would cost an estimated $950 million to build it according to a SJ Mercury article. http://www.mercurynews.com/southbayfootball/ci_5595601. This price would make it the "most expensive open-air NFL stadium ever built." However, Santa Clara has to come up with $180 million. It is unclear to me how they will pay for it. A possible idea is to increase the utility bill for Santa Clara residents and use this money to fund the project. I know that this may anger some people. Despite residents paying for the stadium with money from their pockets, there would be some positive things for the city. The stadium would create more jobs, boost the economy, and bring people to the city. When people attend the games, they are likely to go around the city, before or after the game, and possibly go shopping, spend the night in a hotel, or go to a restaurant. This would be great for the city because people would spend money and the businesses will benefit. The only worry is that too many people may congest the area causing traffic and possibly disturbances.
The city of San Francisco is trying to keep the 49ers where they currently are. They proposed a new stadium at Hunter's point, however, this seems unlikely because they have to build new roads to make it easier for people to access the stadium. (A news report on channel 2 says the roads would not be finished before 2012). Santa Clara offers great access to nearby highways: 237, 101, and 880/17. There would be little traffic congestion here, unlike San Francisco. It looks promising for Santa Clara and I hope the 49ers move here.

High Gas Prices

According to a BBC article, oil prices increased to $68 a barrel, which is a six month high. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6506005.stm# Gas prices in the bay area are easily greater than $3 per gallon and one main contributor to this is the problem with the West and Iran. Earlier this week the British sailors that are being held hostage in Iran were broadcast on television, which increased hostility between Iran and the West. This, in addition to the extremely high demand and diminishing supply of oil, is continuing to cause gas prices to increase. Iran has also been trying to gain nuclear power which is causing tensions to grow. The article says that the shipment from Iran has continued to remain constant, but there are fears that they may begin to decrease.
The high gas prices have caused people to look elsewhere for transportation. I have noticed there are more people taking the light rail to work and school, probably to save money. I am glad that I don't have to drive a long distance to work or school, but some people commute over an hour to work. Also, the demand of SUVs may begin to decrease because of the high gas mileage that they have. The problems with the West and Iran have greatly affected all of these things.

Second Life

I first heard about the term "Second Life" in my Bus188 class earlier this semester. My teacher explained that it was a website where people could walk around a mall and go into different shops and buy various items except it is done on a computer. People do not even have to leave their homes in order to go shopping. They control a person by using the mouse and keyboard and they can walk around a virtual mall and actually buy items. But I thought that this was pointless because people go shopping online all the time on different websites. Also, it seemed similar to a video game called "Sims" in which the player creates a person and does various activities. However, this idea of "Second Life" has grown tremendously over the past few years. According to the article found on the following link, http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_5545786?nclick_check=1 there are more than 5 million members. One of the reason for the huge growth is the money generated through advertising and buying and selling large amounts of goods. Large corporations pay for advertising space so that consumers will see it as they walk through the virtual mall.
The article focuses on the educational use of Second Life. Stanford has used it to create a "virtual museum" to show a professor's work. It is great that people around the world are able to enter the museum from their computer and see the artwork from Stanford. Without Second Life, people would only be able to view it in real life. I think that Second Life will continue to become more popular as more people learn about it and understand how useful it can be.

Tooth Implant

I was looking on the BBC news website and I found an article about a tooth implant that "releases drugs." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6400021.stm). According to the article, the implant would be placed inside two artificial molars and secured inside of someone's mouth. It has an "electric timing mechanism" that is programmed to release the particular drug into the persons mouth at certain times. The article contains more details on how it works. If the testing goes alright, it could be available by 2010. The implant could possibly eliminate people having to take pills or get shots. People would no longer have to worry about taking medicines at certain times throughout the day. This implant seems like it would be great, however, drug companies may be greatly affected in a negative way. If pills are no longer necessary, how will the companies make money? I thought that there might be a deal between the drug companies and the maker of the implant, but there is no information in the article. This implant an example of a technological advancement that benefits some people but hurts others.
The concept of the implant seems great, but there may be some problems. The implant releases the drug into a person's mouth, but I wonder what it would taste like. What if they choke on the liquid because it releases at an unexpected time? How much will it cost? What if I don't want 2 of my molars removed? These are only a few of my questions and I am sure people will be asking a lot more in the future.