Supersweet update to an app that was born through our company's innovation program.

This wasn't the only incident to taint America's biggest shopping day.

Correction: Black Friday _itself_ is the taint. The only thing you can have on Black Friday are taint-within-a-taint incidents.

In a series of straight-talking conversations with accomplished social entrepreneurs, iOnPoverty viewers will gain information they need to get and keep social justice jobs. Think nitty-gritty content that is instantly useful, shockingly honest and enduringly inspiring.

I. Will. Be. Watching!

I love this site. It was just born but I'm finding it expands my thinking first by the way in which my brain takes in the artist's/thinker's visualization of thoughts, and second by the thoughts themselves.

I love the name of the site. Had never heard about vibriofischeri, but now that I know its connection to bioluminescence, it's a beautiful metaphor for the dissemination/multiplication of ideas. Vibriofischeri = Infographical ideation. Also like "Energyvortext."

Hint: Best viewed on handheld device in rotation lock so you can go round and round with them image :)

When an incoming call arrives, you can now quickly respond by text message, without needing to pick up the call or unlock the device. On the incoming call screen, you simply slide a control to see a list of text responses and then tap to send and end the call. You can add your own responses and manage the list from the Settings app.

Ice Cream Sandwich is an impressive update. Improved shutter speed and multi-snaps in the camera. Killer live-transcription. Simplified core apps. Even screenshots.

Unfortunately, it's not the iOS experience yet. Android dug itself into a big usability hole by making decisions like having four hardware buttons and leaving it unclear the context in which to use them. Ice Cream Sandwich is getting Android out of the hole (now only two hardware buttons + home button), but it'll take yet another version (or more) to achieve true simplicity.

Early on, the group opted to use Windows for Courier's operating system. But it wasn't a version of Windows that any consumer would recognize. The Courier team tweaked the operating system to make sure it could perform at high levels with touch- and pen-based computing. What's more, the graphical shell of Windows--the interface that computer users associate with the operating system--was entirely removed. So while it was Windows under the hood, the home screens bore zero resemblance to the familiar PC desktop.

Sounds like Microsoft was too afraid to do what Apple did 4 years ago: Reimagine their operating system, keeping the success of the core intact but leaving all else to the wind.

Don't hold on to sacred cows, especially cows the size of Windows.

This article is a great study in the ever-present politics at companies.

Peace and Dignity Journeys runners start simultaneously from both ends of the continent in Chickaloon, Alaska and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina traversing the entire continent by foot from community to community and joining together for a final gathering in Central America, Panama. The 2012 run is dedicated to Water, reminding all who have forgotten that Water is an important resource and a shared resource for all.

THIS is a run I can participate in. I met the organizer of this event at Opportunity Collaboration this year. Amazing guy. The idea of ceremonial running is so intriguing as well. Great connection.

Not only that, but even while the going was good, it was hard not to let the tail wag the dog.  Despite knowing that the true future of the company was rental, it was hard not to spend time focusing on the area of the business where most of the money was coming from.

Former CEO of Netflix shares my take on the decision: A Netflix/Qwikster split helps Netflix get stronger and gives the nod to Qwikster, the aptly-named has-been, to die off slowly in a few years.

In order to subscribe to the plan, called Blockbuster Movie Pass, consumers will have to subscribe to Dish Network. That means selecting one of Dish's cable packages--the company recommends the "America's Top 200" plan, which actually includes 220 channels for $39.99 a month. From there, members can add Blockbuster Movie Pass (starting at $10 a month) to gain access to DVDs by mail (one disc at a time) and streaming content, for roughly $50 per month in total.

Dish Network is going the absolute opposite direction of Netflix. They're trying to merge two very different brands (into one muddled product). Netflix has just separated two different products (and created two brands in the process).

Again, I think Netflix is going the right direction, despite the initial backlash.

Lesson: Unify and simplify. Don't hold on to sacred cows.

Now Facebook is making your profile into a more holistic timeline, or scrapbook, of your life. This will enable a new class of applications focused on helping people express themselves to emerge and revolutionize existing industries and experiences.

The founder of Causes goes into some good depth about what Facebook's new interface for one's profile means not only as an aesthetic change, but as better mechanism for allowing one's core passions and actions "rise to the top."

Before Timeline, the only way for you to help your friends understand something that was very important to you was to shout loud and often via status updates. People have done that and the "wall" has turned from Activity Display to Incomprehensible Graffiti. I have apps posting to my wall, me posting to my wall, others posting to my wall--it's a mess.

At the same time, one's Profile has never been very sexy to look at, and there's no reason to return to it, meaning that, again, the only thing to do to really see what I care about is cull through my activity stream.

Timeline solves both those problems (a messy Wall and a boring Profile) by helping users fuse the idea of actions and aspects. You are not only who you say you are (the old approach to "profiles") but also what you do (the old "wall" approach). Timeline allows users to fuse "you" by allowing you to express who you say you are via the actions that you do.

All this leads to a better platform for app developers. You see, because the Timeline is now focusing on user actions to determine "who they are," app developers now have a better place to allow their users to express themselves without fear of sharing actions becoming too spammy.

As the founder of Causes articulates in his post, those who really care about their causes now have a much better place to communicate their actions for that cause rather than the boring Profile or the noisy Wall.

All in all, I'm pretty excited about timeline, not only from a personal perspective but from a business/application development perspective.