If I were taller, this picture would have been much better.

Probably not going to have any original business/economics/tech stuff up here until winter break, just some photography. Also keep an eye out for a relocation of my blog: going to do an overhaul in wordpress on some shared Go Daddy hosting. I might get bored studying during finals so you never know…

Going to a Big 12 college, football is a huge part of the culture here. The athletes and competition is great.

What isn’t so great, is the fans; they are disrespectful to other teams, their education and their fans. I’m sure you have seen some of the signs that make it on ESPN’s Gameday, but few actually see the signs that don’t. Some of them are pretty horrible. The fans are just disrespectful; they talk smack about other teams, when the fans are not the ones on the field. I understand how competitive college football is, but these kids take it to the extreme. The competition should stay on the field, it shouldn’t be which fan can talk the most shit about the other’s team and education.

I am most certainly guilty of this to an extent, but not like others are. I think colleges and athletics departments should really try to crack down on the fan hatred because the fans, much like athletes, represent the school. They can make or break the school and its population’s reputation. In the end, what I think everybody has to realize that it is just a game, nothing more; we can all be friends off the field.

Edit: This post was not just referring to The University of Texas.

I was thinking the other day about Google Voice and the possible implementations of Google, the leader of search, running and owning Google voice. I then got into thinking about the future that is real time search and realized, “why doesn’t Google use all of the data from Voice and Gmail and use it as a real time search engine.”

Google has all of this data from their users that goes untapped. Google could potentially use all the data from Voice and Gmail created in real time, to create something like Twitter’s trending topics. Google doesn’t have to buy Twitter for a real time search engine; they have all the data they need already flowing through their servers. Millions of emails and texts are sent through Google; they could easily search these emails and texts to determine what people are talking about and what links they are sharing in real time. They could use the data in their search engine algorithms, to create a search engine, that is longer “playable” by people that sell search engine optimization (SEO). They can create a search engine that is based on word of mouth, as well as algorithms. This will increase people’s perception of the reliability of the engine. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing, why is this not tapped in combination with real time search.

Ok, someone is bound to complain that it is not Google’s data to scan. Keep in mind, that my vision of Google’s real time search, does not actually display people’s texts and emails, or even their names, just the links that they send. I suppose some people will not want their data searchable, so Google can have an opt out option. Google would not be able to get rid of their regular search engine because videos and links go viral and they are sent around the world at rapid paces. The real time engine would just be in addition to Google’s regular search. I am most certainly interested to see what Google does in regards to real time. They recently added Twitter search, but that is not going to cut it; Twitter does not cover everything!