Month: June 2012

Thoughts: Goodbye Klout

The Klout score is probably the most useless type of statistics I have ever seen. After thinking about it for a while I decided to opt-out and delete my account.

When I wanted to do this, I found out that it was not so easy to find the page to delete my account. I had to use a search engine to find a blog post that mentions the link. For your convenience, here is the link if you plan to remove yours in the future:
http://klout.com/corp/optout

The blog post I got this link from is linked below. It’s a recommended read and sums up exactly how I think about Klout. I would not be surprised if you deleted your account too after reading it. What I did not know for example is that Klout also builds a profile of people that don’t have an account with the service. By using the opt-out link above, you will prevent this from happening and have your data removed from their databases.

One final tip: if you deleted your account, make sure you also revoke access from Twitter for Klout and remove the Klout app from Facebook in your privacy settings. Otherwise they still have access to your data.

Link : Our Man in Chicago – Why I killed my Klout account (and how you can too)

Thoughts: My Bet Is That Microsoft’s Surface Is a Winner

After checking a few posts on the announced Microsoft Surface tablet, my opinion is that they hit a sweet spot here. It’s going to sell very well. The Surface tablet will run Flash and it will run Windows RT apps that can also run on a desktop in the future when Windows 8 is released. The Surface Pro edition will run all your existing Windows software and can be used in your home environment and in a business setting.

What I am seeing here is that the desktop world and tablet world are integrating slowly but surely. A few years from now, a lot of people won’t own a desktop or a laptop: they’ll own a tablet. It will be more than enough for everyday use for the majority of users. Hell, it will even be enough for most business users as well! This will be especially true if companies start making docks for tablets like Microsoft’s Surface that will transform it into a laptop-like device.

My bet is that an awful lot of people will want to own a Surface tablet or an other Windows tablet from an other manufacturer. People are already used to Windows on their machines, at home as well as at work. The step to a Windows tablet will be much easier for them than stepping into Apple’s iOS world. That will not mean that Microsoft is going to reign the tablet space. Apple is the undisputed leader here and will keep that position for the at least the coming 3 to 5 years. Manufacturers of Android tablets should be more worried in my opinion. They could lose market share to Microsoft’s Surface easily, especially when you consider the hybrid desktop/tablet usage combination.

Finally, here is a post with over a dozen of links to news coverage on the Microsoft Surface:
http://www.windowsobserver.com/2012/06/18/microsofts-new-tablet-floats-to-the-surface/