Ford would like to introduce AJ via Twitter. AJ is a 2011 Ford Fiesta that is engineered to explore the boundaries a car can do while connected to the internet. The automobile blog for The New York Times has followed the Ford Fiesta’s new innovative direction towards cars being connected to the web. With the great invention of WiFi and the 3G network on smartphones, AJ can connect to the internet easily by scanning WiFi or syncing a mobile smartphone into the SYNC’s usb port.
The accessibility of the internet in a car targeted towards the young and hip means Twitter and Facebook (FYI apps are in the works, too). If you thought you could get away with Twittering or updating your Facebook status legally while driving, you’re wrong. You, the driver cannot tweet, but AJ can. Yes, the car can tweet. Back in May, AJ went for a road trip Ann Arbor, MI to San Mateo, CA. Throughout the road trip, AJ tweeted about the weather, traffic, roads, and, well, the weather. AJ has software that can create a traffic tweet by using the car’s brake-and-go movements to compute if it is stuck in traffic.
The part that boggles my mind is this the car can tweet, but I can’t tweet while driving. Moving aside from that, I do not know whether to jump up and down or ponder in worry. Dr. Deremer, who taught Assembly Language and Computer Architecture at Montclair State, made our class watch the movie Eagle Eye. If you have seen the movie, there is a part where the car is controlled by the supercomputer. I can’t help but think AJ might turn into that evil supercomputer. In the name of social networking, do you think the Ford Fiesta will be a success or become a flop like the Microsoft KIN?
I had the pleasure of having the free time and opportunity of spending a gorgeous night in NYC at the first Internet Is People panel series.
This first panel was called “Women and Entrepreneurship.” Although I do not consider myself to be an entrepreneur, I have created many relationships with female (and male) entrepreneurs and have been playing the part as a self-employed developer. In a time where digital start-ups are, well, starting-up at what seems like a million per minute, it is an important time for computer science and information technology students/graduates to start networking and getting involved outside the classroom, whether they want to become entrepreneurs or not.
The panelists were all women who had successfully executed their great ideas, ranging in subject matter from wine and learning about finances, to telecommunication data analysis and building a community of fabulous aunts. The only similarity between these four incredibly inspiring women was that they each had a big idea and the drive to make it come into fruition.
There was a lot more to take away from this panel, besides inspiration in seeing women who dove right into the intimidating world of starting an online business. For one, the importance of computer science education for non-majors:
”I wish I would have taken a Rails or intro to programming course!”
- Christine Lemke, Chief Operating Officer at Sense Networks, Inc.
Starting your own Web-based business is a big deal in itself, but you also need to have the savvy to know how to get your site up and, if you are hiring someone to design and/or develop, to have the research done to make sure you’re using the right platform, that you’re not getting ripped off, etc. Taking a foundations course in Computer Science provides one with the concepts of programming, and opens the doors to learning more about technology used to run nearly every business today.
”It would be nice to see more female developers out there.”
-Alexa von Tobel, Founder and CEO at LearnVest
”There’s a lack in women interviewing in both wine and in technology.”
-Lindsay Ronga, CEO of Cork’d
See, there are people looking for specifically female programmers out there, and you need to go out there and show them that you’re ready take the job! Because there is an outpouring of female-run businesses coming out, it’s the perfect opportunity for women both involved in and interested in technology to start networking with potential mentors and clients.
Rewind to the beginning of the panel, when Dr. Constance Knap, Interim Dean of the Computer Science Department at Pace University (a sponsor of IIP) summed up both the spirit of the Internet and the theme of the Internet Is People series:
”It’s not the technology, it’s the people, that make things work.”
If you’re interested in getting more involved with technology and networking with like-minded women (and guys, too), keep an eye on Internet is People for upcoming panels (their website says they’re planning another one for September). Also, let us know if you find any events that may be of interest (holla at us on the contact page).
Conservative television personality, Tucker Carlson, managed to secure KeithOlbermann.com, naturally pissing off Keith Olbermann himself. Although a lawsuit or cash-money-dollah-bill negotiations will likely bring the domain to it’s namesake, I’m still wondering why Olbermann didn’t get the domain to begin with?
Don’t you have people to handle that, Kdawg?Read more…
