Marios' Digital Cafe'

Emergency Texting

Song — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:11:10 +0000

The American government is scheduled to be text messaging you in a couple of years, but these messages obviously won’t resemble the majority of the estimated 48 billion or so text messages that are sent each month. The Commercial Mobile Alert System or CMAS, has been approved by Federal regulators to utilize text messaging to send emergency alerts.

NBC and Fox launch Hulu.com

Song — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:18:44 +0000

Have the tv networks got a hit with their new video content site, Hulu.com? Time will tell, but so far they've managed to sell out their advertising inventory. Plus we can now watch episodes of Welcome Back, Kotter anytime we want online.

The Origins of Guitar Hero

Song — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:02:59 +0000

Kai and Charles Huang, the founders of Red Octane, talk about how they went from working in consulting and international trading to creating one of the hottest and influential video games of this era.

Physical Fitness with Video Game Tech

Song — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:36:07 +0000

InterAction Laboratories sat down with Mario to talk about how kids have been getting off of the sofa and more physically active while playing video games.

Low Cost Laptops

Song — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:23:41 +0000

There's a new breed of laptops powered by open source software. Heard of the Asus EEE, the OLPC XO, the HP 2133, or the Everex Cloudbook? Many of these are subnotebooks, designed to be very portable, weighing under 3lbs, and powered by Linux to keep costs down and surf the the web and perform basic productivity tasks more efficiently.

Maryland Computer Services Tax

Song — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:27:39 +0000

In November of last year, the Maryland General Assembly passed the Tax Reform Act of 2007, which would expand Maryland’s six percent sales and use tax to “computer services.” This tax is planned to go into effect on July first. There is concern that, with the mobility of IT services, that IT jobs will relocate to neighboring states such as Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia to avoid these taxes. Mario speaks with Tom Loveland, CEO of Mind Over Machines, and founder of the Maryland Computer Services Association. Find out more at Fight the Tech Tax.

A Political Action Committee For Videogames

Song — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:45:38 +0000

A video game industry political action committee is planned to be operational by the end of March. Part of its mission includes mobilizing the 100,000 plus gamers that are a part of the Video Game Voters Network, which seeks to defend the rights of the industry and the consumer and to generally receive the same First Amendment protection as books, movies, music, and cable television programs.

Tech Predictions for 2008 with the Webby Awards

Song — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:35:18 +0000

The Webby Awards are widely heralded as the "Oscars of the Internet." Executive Director David-Michel Davies provides his perspective on upcoming trends and developments.

Going Beyond Politician Generated Content

Song — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:21:51 +0000

The Internet has played a large roll in disseminating poltical information quickly. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly a quarter of Americans say they regularly learn something about the campaign from the internet, more than double the amount of people from 2004 and forty-two percent of those aged 18-29 regularly learn about the campaign from the internet, making it the number one information source for that age demographic. We’ve seen a candidate like Ron Paul, who gets the least exposure on television, raise the most amount of money during the last quarter. He is also the only Republican candidate to increase his fundraising totals in every quarter of 2007 thanks in part to his supporters’ use of social news sites like Digg and viral videos. Additionally, new sites like Maplight.org are allowing users to examine the connection between campaign contributions and legislative votes, going beyond the official politican blogs and online videos to portray a more transparent view of the candidates.

How to Blog, the Lazy Way

Song — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:06:20 +0000

Regular blogs are too much work you say? Mario speaks with David Karp, 21 year old founder of Tumblr.com, and David agrees.

Is This The Future of Online Dating?

Song — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:45:49 +0000

Two recent sites are taking online dating to the next level. CrazyBlindDate.com allows users to set up a date with a total stranger on short notice. UK-based IceBrkr.com allows a user to text message an attractive stranger in a public place (as long as they are a user) before they make face to face contact. Lux Nightmare, editor of sexuality, dating, and culture blog Boinkology.com offers her insight and gives some online dating tips.

Mobile Clinical Diagnosis with Pound of Cure-MD

Song — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:39:59 +0000

Pound of Cure-MD provides mobile clinical diagnostics, health risk assessments, and chronic disease prevention screenings to individuals, communities, employers, and organizations. How is this different from getting a preventative screening at a physician’s office? Mario speaks to Audrey Whetsell, co-founder of Resource Partners Healthcare, Inc., the parent company of several companies that provide health care technology solutions.

Holiday Round Up 2007

Song — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:32:32 +0000

A sampling from Mario's holiday wishlist.

The Design of Future Things

Song — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:26:23 +0000

Donald A. Norman, Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern University, partner in the Nielsen Norman Group Consulting Firm, and former VP of Apple’s Advanced Technology Group speaks about the problems facing us as we move towards an increasingly automated future.

New Millenial Interview: Jakob Lodwick of Connected Ventures

Song — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 04:29:27 +0000

Generation Y, the Internet Generation, the Nintendo Generation, and the New Millennials are some of the various names for those born between 1980 and 2000. They are literally the future, and as many of them have recently begun entering the workplace it’s evident that they have very different expectations of work culture and on a generational level, communicate very differently. Mario speaks with Baltimore native Jakob Lodwick, inventor of the "lip dub", and partner in Connected Ventures, a New York based firm that runs CollegeHumor.com, BustedTees.com, and Vimeo.com, a video sharing service that preceded YouTube and is the first to offer streaming HD-quality video.

Here's the lip dub video that acted as an indirect commercial for the company and resulted in hundreds of unsolicited resumes.

Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.

An exclusive behind the scenes tour of Connected Ventures.
Connected Ventures Tour courtesy of Jakob Lodwick from ProducerSong on Vimeo.