Interesting Internet Tidbits

According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, more information now crosses the Internet every second than the entire Internet stored 20 years ago. It says, every hour Wal-Mart Stores Inc. collects 50 million filing cabinets' worth of information from its dealings with customers.

Cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, process data, and run applications, rather than a local device. The services usually charge monthly fees.

Microsoft has unveiled a system that can translate what you say into Mandarin and play it back in your voice.

The Google Now personal assistant can tell you if there's a traffic jam on your regular route home and suggest an alternative.

Apple's Siri can reschedule an appointment.

IBM's Watson supercomputer can field an awkwardly worded question, figure out what you are trying to ask, and retrieve the answer for you.

Shopping by Phone

Best Buy now targets personalized advertisements to shoppers when a program detects that they are in other stores, such as Wal-Mart.

If shoppers use TheFind's free app to compare prices on TVs at Wal-Mart, for example, the phone gets data from recent searches and shows them ads of similar electronics for sale at Best Buy. The items may not be identical or cheaper, but Best Buy gets in the competition. Best Buy, famous for their restocking fees and high pressure 'extended warranties',  recently settled a lawsuit from the Connecticut attorney general alleging that it showed web prices on in-store kiosks that were higher than customers saw on their home computers. It also recently dumped its restocking fees for many items.

The offers are only sent to customers who opt to allow the program to use their phone's global positioning system to track their location.

The ads are similar to the special offers based on what we are searching for while on home computers. There are many apps to help compare prices, including one from Amazon. Obviously, apps that use your location against you are never a good idea, and maybe Best Buy isn't.