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There are some insane developments in the works in Dubai.

According to World Architecture News, a concept will soon be revealed for the Ziggurat, a carbon-neutral super structure that could house over 1 million residents all connected with a public transit system that runs both horizontally and vertically. New energy management technologies enable the entire pyramid to be self-sustaining and completely off the grid.

While a structure like this is clearly decades away, many of the technologies and concepts have been patented and are in development. Is this a glimpse into the (not too distant) future?

As much as I’m enjoying my new iPhone 3G, I’ve been more than a little frustrated with it’s failings, like poor battery performance, software bugs, slow UI response, and the disappointing lack of speed from the 3G network.

While I’m not planning to go back to a Treo any time soon, in my opinion the iPhone has failed to live up its promise (or its hype). I just hope they keep the software updates coming.

Apple’s latest commercials taut the iPhone’s blazing speed. If you own one it’s hard not to get a little sick your stomach after watching it. Some guys made a real world versus ad comparison and posted it to YouTube…I’m sure you can imaging the results…

I’ve been doing some research on Web 3.0 and semantic search. There are a lot of exciting and groundbreaking new technologies emerging that could reinvent the Internet. It will become increasingly important for web marketers and digital strategists to stay on top of these advances—there are numerous communications and marketing applications.

One of these new technologies is the Friend of a Friend project, or FOAF. FOAF is an XML-based method for organization and cataloging the relationships between people’s profiles. By understanding the relationships between people, data, and relationships, FOAF attempts to build a uniform method for sharing the types of information users store on social networking websites like Facebook and LinkedIn. In fact, a great example of FOAF-like technologies is the “People You May Know” feature on Facebook.

The real promise of FOAF is to create a new data model that will suggest connections between people and—more interestingly—people and information.

Just imagine the value this type of data and intelligence could have to marketers and advertisers. Online ad targeting hasn’t evolved much in the last five years. Protocols like FOAF may be the catalyst to take online advertising to the next level. Imagine being able to target a campaign based on psychographics. Understanding how your target market operates on the web is one thing that FOAF can help to define.

Clearly there are issues with the technologies. Not only has adoption been slow and held back by the confusion and inherent geekiness that’s held back the growth of the semantic web. There are also many issues about security and data protection. Regardless, these technologies are on the move and it won’t be long until the possibilities seen with FOAF (and similar protocols like XFN and SIOC) are realized.

Anyone can create a FOAF profile. You can use a this wizard to create the file and upload it to your website.

The recent launch of Cuil.com and Microsoft’s acquisition of Powerset.com has piqued some new interest semantic search engines. To deliver on their promise, these new search tools must provide a new experience for search, integrating a number of new paradigms and experiences.

In preparation for a new project, I put together a quick presentation that compares design approaches for a number of prominent semantic search engines, including Powerset.com, Sindice.com, Cuil.com, Twine.com, and hakia.com. Specific attention was paid to general presentation, input methods, display or results, and categorical results approach.

Worth a look if you’re interested in semantic search.

I stumbled across this very interesting video while researching some of the new stuff Microsoft is doing in the multi-touch interfaces realm (check out Bill Gates’ keynote and the ‘Touch Wall’).

This video, which is from the team at Office Labs, provides some innovating and exciting new concepts in healthcare technologies, as well as some other tidbits like digital wallets and flexible displays. Well done!

HTC’s recently announce Touch Diamond smartphone is touting a new 3D interface that looks amazing.

Check out the demo:

The TouchFlo UI sits on top of Windows Mobile and offers a number of multi-touch features like list grabbing and “flicking” to control screen scrolling. The graphical styling looks top-notch.

There appears to be a number of functions and features “inspired” by the iPhone. The UI is presented in layers, allowing for some innovative techniques for screen maximization. The interface advances are enabled by a VGA screen.

Apple is not the only company creating innovative small-screen UIs.

The word is out that the new 3G iPhone will undoubtedly be release sometime around June. I considered buying the first-gen iPhone when it hit the streets but was just not ready to abandon my trusty Treo. At the time, I thought the iPhone was all style, with little substance for a hard-core business user. ..kind of like going jogging wearing a pair of expensive Italian shoes—while you may fancy, a pair of old running shoes will get you where you need to go much faster and with a lot more comfort. Old jogging shoes are actually a great analogy for the Treo!

My tune has changed now that I’ve seen the iPhone in action and starting reading the rumors. In addition to 3G support, unconfirmed sources have noted a number of new features that could likely be added to the new iPhone.

What I’m most excited about:

• New Form Factor (From Wired): In addition to a thinner body, there are rumored to be a couple of new device options, including a clamshell that would allow for a larger screen. There may also be a new model with a hardware QWERTY keyboard.
• Faster Chipset: A new processor that will support faster multimedia playback, faster responses, and full support for all the new applications built with the SDK.
• True GPS: The new iPhone may support actual GPS. The current model uses triangulation to approximate your location. Real GPS would be a great new feature.
• Improved Camera: A lot of iPhone users complain about how much the camera sucks. Supposedly, the new model may support up to 5 megapixels (current iPhone supports two).
• Stereo Bluetooth (from Yahoo): Look ma, no chords! The new iPhone is said to support Bluetooth headsets.

Finally, estimated pricing puts the new iPhone at $399 for the 8GB version, $499 for 16GBs, and $599 for the 32GB model. Where can I pre-order?

Popular Mechanics has an in-depth article and video about the latest advances with Microsoft Surface.

Jeff Han from Perceptive Pixel talks about the benefits of multi-touch interfaces used by products like Surface.

It looks the project has evolved quite nicely since the initial announcement. The interactions with other devices are especially cool.

According to Digitimes, this year marks the sounding gun for global flexible active matrix displays, meaning that this year we may see bendable, thin high-definition LCD screens. New technologies and materials are the base of the technology, and recent advances may result in real products in not-too-distant future.

Talking about bringing you back! Muxtape.com is simple little web service that lets you create online “mix-tapes”. You can upload up to twelve MP3s, rearrange the order, and share and play them on any machine.

It definitely brought me back to the high school years!

Without further ado…my first Muxtape!