Google unveils “Instant”
Google has rolled out a new feature, Google Instant. Basically you get search results as soon as you start typing, so typing "i" gets you something like "Ikea." Mashable points out that the feature creates a whole new alphabet, from Amazon to Zillow. Lifehacker, as usual, has the details on how to make it work better (disclosure: LH editor Kevin Purdy is a friend of Innovation Trail). And Fast Company tells us why Instant is actually good for Microsoft's Bing.
Not what we meant by “playing Asteroids”
Looks like NASA took its eye off the ball while it was adding its archival images to the commons on Flickr. A pair of asteroids got a little too close for comfort yesterday. From Information Week:
Two asteroids sped toward Earth but just missed humanity's home planet by what amounts to a cosmic hair's breadth on Wednesday, NASA said. The asteroids, both measuring several meters in diameter but otherwise unrelated, were passing between the Earth and the moon, according to the space agency. "Neither of these objects has a chance of hitting Earth," NASA said.
Heads up guys, we're counting on you!
NPR's new news
NPR launched its “Argo Network” of niche blogs today. These member stations sites providing deep local reporting on a given topic, with enough perspective to appeal to a national audience. That sounds so familiar – who does it remind you of? Oh right – us.
Innovation Trail isn't an Argo project - we're a local journalism center (LJC), with initial funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But Argo is kin to us. Our blogging draws on the expertise generated through the Argo experiment. So congratulations to the Argo team. And if you haven't checked out the other LJCs, do it!
Broadband penetration
Here's an item to appeal to teens whose parents won't buy them a phone. Information Week has the details on a report that predicts that 1.5 billion people will have mobile broadband by 2015. Share this one as you make your case for that iPhone/iPad/Droid.
FCC seeks “citizen developers
At the Gov 2.0 conference in Washington, the Federal Communications Commission unveiled a new set of tools, according to Information Week. They're hoping "citizen developers" will take the consumer broadband speed test, census block search, FCC registration number conversion, and FCC license view streams and turn them into new tools.
Old school versus new school
Futurelab has the details on a new book about managing older workers, as they're continually presented with new waves of technology. You know, technology like talking cars. GM and Facebook are taking texting-while-driving to a new level by adding message reading to the OnStar service. Mashable says goal is to allow users to hear their messages and then send pre-populated responses.
The other Beeb
And finally, a Twitter employee lets drop that Justin Bieber has entire servers dedicated to him and his tweets on the microblogging service. The company wouldn't confirm to Mashable whether or not three percent of their servers truly are dedicated to the pop star. But we believe it - look at those bangs!
