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While Google hasn’t been promoting this project, they’ve been working on a car that drives itself, thanks to artificial intelligence software. So far, seven cars have been tested and driven over 1000 miles, with the only report of an accident being when one of the Google cars was rear-ended by a car at a stop-light.

Although years away from being available to the masses, engineers make the argument that robots are safer drivers because they can react faster, have 360-degree perception and don’t get distracted.

Read more about it here: Smarter Than You Think – Google Cars Drive Themselves (NY Times)

During a recent presentation to local business owners, Chris was asked the following question about Google Apps:

Q: What is the security level for businesses using Google Apps and who owns that data?

A: The simple answer is, Google does not own your data. Google stands by three rules that should give users an idea on where they stand.

1. Google won’t share your data with others, unless otherwise noted in the Privacy Policy.

2. The data is only kept as long as you need it to be.

3. If you stop using Google Apps or decide to use other services along with it, you should be able to take your data with you, with no problems.

If you would like to read more, check out this article:

Google Apps Become More Secure

With the new television season upon us, let’s take a look at how social media & networking are making their way into different forms of entertainment:

• The Facebook Movie – is it worth the hype?

• Can William Shatner bring the laughs in $#*! My Dad Says?

• In honor of that particular show, here is a link to the Twitter page that started it (adult language)

• And finally – did you follow the Community Twittersode last night? Watch it here: Community Twittersode site

Have a great weekend everyone!

Twitter is one of many online social media sites that is working overtime on upgrades. Here is a quick overview about the changes that will be taking place over the next several weeks:

• the new homepage will have a split screen; the right side will show who’s following you, trending topics and favorites while the left side will show retweets, @mentions and searches,

• when you click on @username, you can see a mini-bio of the person and picture, without leaving the page you are on,

• If you don’t like the new changes, you can continue to use the old version or switch back and forth for the next several weeks, although the ultimate goal is to have everyone on the new system.

Source: Tech News Daily

9/16 UPDATE: Click here to take a tour of the new Twitter, courtesy of Wired magazine

• Works on both iPod touches and iPhones; the accelerometer acts as a pedometer and on the iPhone, you can record your route on a map

• Set up your profile to get more accurate readings about your performance and statistics

• Choose a Powersong from your own library or choose Voice Feedback to get updates at designated times or when you reach a certain distance

• The old Nike shoes have a special pouch in the sole for the chip and requires the window/track design from older iPods

For more information about this app and to learn the specifics on how to use it, please read this review from Tech News World:

Nike’s New GPS App Leaves the Old Shoe-Chip System in the Dust

Facebook has introduced a new feature that allows users to use the GPS on their phone to let their friends know where they are. Facebook Places is the new app, available for smart-phones that works similar to FourSquare. The user can use this app to meet up with friends or find out if they are in the area.

While social media can be useful to stay in touch with friends & family, would you want everyone to know where you are, at all times?

It’s going to make avoiding annoying friends and ditching family picnics a whole lot tougher!

Our help desk received a call one morning  from a prospective customer who was in a panic. He had just sent out a very important email from his phone, to a client and received a bounce-back notice that the email had not been delivered. When he got to the office, he learned that no one had access to Outlook so he called Now IT Works. 

As it turns out:

As a Now IT Works client, your servers are being monitored on many levels:

In a telling sign of the swine-flu times, iPhone has released an application that will let a user know if there are disease-outbreaks lurking in their neighborhood.

Named “Outbreaks Near Me” – the app is designed to alert users of disease information. The mobile version even allows participation; for example, if a clinic is noticing a high number of similar cases or something unusual, they can submit that information to the system via this app.

The creators, Clark Freifeld and his HealthMap partner, John Brownstein aren’t sure exactly what will happen with this app but figure it’s best to “just put it out there” and let the users decide.

For more information – read the complete article at Wired.com

That’s right – back to school is right around the corner and PC World has released a “Back to School Gift Guide” – sure to be a hit with students of all ages!

Check it out at PC World – Back to School Gift Guide

Twitter has confirmed that they will start charging businesses to use their services in an effort to collect revenue for their currently-free social networking site.

Paid accounts will also offer access to statistics and analytics that are not currently available through the regular Twitter service.

For more information on this topic – click to read “Twitter to Charge Businesses to Tweet” on Silicon.com