I was very impressed with Meteor, but it is very new and isn't really bringing anything of substance to the table yet. Everything (other than client-side database interaction, which I am confused about who would want), that they spotlighted can be duplicated easily with backbone, node, and socket.io...right now. Moreover, backbone, in particular, is clearly a tool, like a screwdriver, that does a few things well and gets out of your way, whereas Meteor, like rails used to be, is more like an electronic lockpick...awesome magic for the limited scope of applicability, but not currently useful for most of the things you want to do in real life.
This is actually a big deal. It is a step in the right direction to take care of the missing pieces of mobile app development. I really believe that in 5 years time, "application development" will be just assumed to be web app development and not desktop application development.
One obvious idea that I can think of is returning sanitized jsonp directly from the database to the controller. The database will nearly always be faster at formatting data in different ways, than the controller.
I would not be surprised if the government directly began to subsidize facebook, just for the incredible amount of personal information they could mine. Another scary thought is a company like equifax, buying into facebook.
It is pretty amazing that nearly all of the western first world nations agree on one thing...they are pretty ok with KGB style spying or monitoring of their citizens. It doesn't seem to matter if they are on-the-fence-socialists, outright socialists, or dyed-in-the-wool capitalists.
2012 is making my head explode. Two things that used to be hard and out of reach for the "poor" are becoming mainstream and easy for anyone to access....college level education and mapping. I'm going to be honest, mapping-for-all is more surprising to me than the recent education explosion. It is traditionally considered a "hard" problem, that requires understanding or mastery of a few different disciplines just to whip it into shape. Absolutely amazing! I haven't been this excited with tech development since the "old" tech bubble. (ask your parents!)
I would be interested in hearing results from anyone who has switched the payment structure of their product. From say, one-time-purchase to saas, or vice-versa.
Because of the power inversion. Historically they get to decide what will make money and when. It is frightening to them that all of that power and control can be taken away by a couple of guys in Sweden with a few servers.
Pretty much thanks to google by the looks of it. I wonder why google hasn't yet used it's heft to cut a deal (a la itunes) with movie makers for distribution. Google already knows our surfing habits, so they could deliver the same ads we get now at the movie theaters, excepts individually targeted. I'm guessing that the ad revenue alone would replace cinema revenues and allow for the "free" movies everyone wants these days.
Whenever I suspect that politicians might be writing a "power-grab" law, the one sure way I know to confirm it, is to start looking for immunity clauses. They know they are doing something bad that would require the "immunity" or else they wouldn't preemptively put it there.
In my 15-20 years of work history, to my knowledge, I have never had an employer confirm my academic credentials. Credit score? Yes! Criminal history? Yep! Whether I am academically qualified for the position? Nope! In particular (in my younger days) I "inflated" some of my academic credentials and achievements. They were simply accepted at face value.
I agree. Perhaps I'm getting too old, but it just seems creepy to approach someone you "found with your phone" vs. just striking up a conversation in a line or at the next table in a restaurant.
If I understand you have $100k burning a hole in your pocket and you want to use it to fund a start-up in some way. If you want a riskier way but more input and ownership, you can post on angel list. You can post on HN for potential start-ups that need funding. You can invest in many project on kickstarter and spread the risk. Also, I personally have several niche start-ups that could use funding and man-hours to move a little faster.
I am going to make a wild prediction right now. Taking into account that 2012 seems to be the year of the "legit" free online schools. I am going to predict that within 5 years a person will be able to get a high-school or college degree (possibly accredited) from Khan Academy...and it will be recognized as legit by peers and employers alike.