Tech Speak: April's Fool

It's April's Fool again. Here's some good ones by Google and Starbucks this year.

 

1) Gmail Motion http://mail.google.com/mail/help/motion.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu927_ul_X0

Introducing Gmail Motion. Work with your emails using your webcam.

 

2) Google Docs Motion Beta http://www.google.com/google-d-s/promos/motion.html




3) Google Autocompleter http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/uslocations/mountain-view/autocompleter/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blB_X38YSxQ

Be an autocompleter. Requirements include being able to type 32000 words per minute and being psychic. You will break about one keyboard every 8 days.

 

4) Chromericse http://www.chromercise.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjbkAECbDBE

Your web browser can't get any faster but your fingers can. Exercise them today.

 

5) Comic Sans for your Chrome Browser http://www.google.com/landing/csfe/

Research shows that Comic Sans is a better font than others. While the research sounds fake, the Chrome extension is real. Download it at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/inoibihbncpenbmllpjoonoaadechdng#. I've enabled it and now my Chrome looks... funny.

 

6) Starbucks Mobile Pour http://www.starbucks.com/blog/introducing-starbucks-mobile-pour



Now you can use GPS to let Starbucks deliver a coffee straight to your location. Baristas on scooters, how cool. iPhone only.

 

Tech Speak: Google Drops Support For H.264

http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/11/google-chrome-browser-h-264-video/

It is upsetting to know that Google and friends (Firefox, the open source people and the likes) are not continuing to support H.264, a common video codec widely used by Apple. As a user of H.264 (infrequently but still), I felt that it was a promising codec seeing how both Apple and Google supported it (Youtube was trying out a ton of H.264 vids if I'm not wrong). Still, there's no much hype about Web M which incidentally I only recalled upon reading the article above. At least Adobe is jumping onto the ship for Web M (a new open source codec project spearheaded by Google and joined by many many other platforms).

Tech Speak: What I Want To See In The Tech Scene In 2011

2010 was not a very exciting year for technology. We had the new iPhone 4, 3D technology, tablets coming up, but that's about it. I wouldn't even say the iPad was a good innovation because tablets existed long ago. Apple just knew how to market it. There were many things which were supposed to be hyped up but were not as impressive in the end. Things like Microsoft Kin phones, Google TV, more tablets (which ultimately were delayed till this year), Nvidia GT400 series, Google Chrome OS (which is delayed as well), were kinda failures, or didn't come as soon as I'd like. Here's a list of what I really anticipate or will like to see in 2011.

What will/should be happening (if there are no hiccups)

1) Mainstream ULV processors in laptops (Nvidia Ion 2 also can). It's hard to spot a laptop with Core i5 460UM these days. Now that the new architecture Sandy Bridge is up, I hope more manufacturers embrace the idea of relatively powerful mobile chips which has low power consumption.

2) Nintendo 3DS. Portable 3D goodness. Now that's something. However given Nintendo's track record of lower than desired graphics capabilities, it'll be a shame if it turn out to be some half baked product.

3) Android 2.3 Honeycomb. There's much hype about Honeycomb which is Google's answer to iPad. Right now, tablets like Samsung Galaxy Tab and ViewPad uses Android version 2.2 which is not exactly ideal as a tablet operating system. I'll never understand why Apple and other companies jumped to the tablet market without having a ready technology. I've seen what Honeycomb can do and hopefully it'll make tablets much more appealing. I look forward to MSI's Wind Tablet.

4) Chrome OS. Open source and free. It'll be cool for a laptop to be optimised for on-the-go usage. Chrome OS is basically a browser based operating system that emphasize on connectivity. There's a problem of what happens when there's no 3G or wifi and I have yet to see how Google is managing this problem. There's also rumours saying that Chrome OS will eventually be absorbed and integrated into Android. I doubt that will happen this year but it's still exciting to see how that can be developed.

5) Integration of Zune, Windows 7 Mobile and Windows 7. This is a biased want, as I own a Zune HD. But it's sad to see how disintegrated Zune is with Windows 7 and how even Zune and Windows 7 Mobile are so different. I mean, my Zune HD can't even play games meant for Windows 7 Mobile. That seems kind of ridiculous. And the Zune software crashes on my laptop lately. Really sad.

6) Wireless 802.11az standards. New wireless standards are underway and I hope to see them soon. These wireless standards are said to be better than wireless N and there are different versions. I remember reading about a wireless AB and a wireless Z or something. There was one which is supposed to be adhoc based (meaning a network between a device and another device). If this comes along, then the days of iPhone hating Android and thus cannot connect using bluetooth will be over. That said I look forward to Bluetooth 4.0 too (whatever happened to bluetooth 3.0? i dunnoe).

New technology I want to see happening

7) Better Li-Ion batteries. Dual core mobile chips are coming up. Intel processors are getting faster every year. It's a real pity that battery technology isn't catching fast enough. Battery life is often sacrificed for the sake of faster speeds.

8) Mozilla Seabird. Check it out here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG3tLxEQEdg Nuff said. I will jump ship to Mozilla immediately.

9) Better energy saving screens/dual screens. Who prefers to read an e-book on their LCD/LED screen over a Kindle's E-ink screen? Better widespread usage of LED screens would be better too, if they ever can be utilised in capacitive screens. It'll be great if regular lightbulbs use LED technology as well. Actually they already do, but they are quite expensive.

How many of these will actually happen?

Tech Speak: App Inventor for Android

Official Google Blog: App Inventor for Android

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/app-inventor-for-android.html

Android's getting better at making apps but I still can't understand why developers don't port their nice games over to Android from iOS. You pay to make apps for iOS but it's free for Android. It's been a few days and Android just broke 100000 apps and 1 billion downloads. Gotta work harder Android. But this app inventor sure is interesting, though I doubt it'll change the situation much.

Tech Speak: Firefox 4 Beta

http://www.pcworld.com/article/200652/firefox_4_beta_vs_chrome_ui_smackdown.html

Word has it that Firefox has taken cues from Chrome in its user interface in its newest beta. If you read the review, you can get an idea of how it looks like. I think the writer is very biased. While nobody can argue with Firefox's ability to customise the browser however they want, I do think that some features on Chrome are still way better than Firefox's. Firefox being the copycat will still have a ways to go if they want to win Chrome in terms of design and usability.

Tech Speak: Naming Tablets, Pads

http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/features/view/41546

Well done Apple. You made everyone name their tablets after your stupid iPad. MSI and ASUS are following up in the tablet race, and they also look freakishly like the iPad. Soon we'll see Samsung Pad, Vaio Pad, Fujitsu Pad. Such screwed up naming. But fret not, MSI and ASUS both have tablets that are called Wind Tablet and Eee Tablet. These look way nicer. 

This is the Eee Pad, running on Windows 7. It looks just like iPad, with a semicircle as the menu button instead.

Here's a babe holding the Wind Pad. It also runs on Windows 7. The form factor looks close the iPad but the layout such as indicator lights are different. 

Here's the Eee Tablet. It looks way more stylish and it's targeted at students and professionals. Seems like its doodle-able. 

The Wind Tablet runs on Android. It looks more stylish too.

Tech Speak: Google Reduces Productivity For 2 Days

Google's Playable Pac-Man Game Last Friday Destroyed Work Productivity, Cost $120M - Geekologie

Who says Google is always good?

Tech Speak: The meaning of Google | Relevant Results - CNET News

The meaning of Google | Relevant Results - CNET News

Interesting.

Tech Speak: Google Defines Conformist

I love how Google defines "conformist" on its dictionary page.

Brain Storm: Don't Be Evil

“Bullshit.” That’s what Steve Jobs of Apple think of Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” motto. But I think it’s brilliant. Google’s early employees came up with that and it is very much just an informal principle that Google follows. Google was smart to come up with this for many reasons. The motto is extremely broad and can cover many issues like Google’s approach to doing business and within Google’s rules for its employees. The motto is catchy. Despite not being in the Google’s official ten principles, many consumers know about it. It is high profile enough to make Steve Jobs call it bullshit. The motto being informal means Google cannot be attacked frontally for not following it and Google can twist its meaning when there is a need.

It’s amazing how Google is tackling the world by not being evil. The informal motto took roots and helped Google to rise to where it is. By keeping most of its services and products free, it managed to benefit many yet grow larger as a company by day. When I first heard of Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” motto, I was intrigued by how it really fits into all that Google is doing, despite the motto sounding totally delusional. I felt the idea was a wild dream and sounded like a perfectionist. Yet the idea of Google trying to be nice to me, and the fact that it really is doing so, made the concept of “Don’t Be Evil” like a dream come true for both Google and the consumers. The solution that Google came up with to target enterprise rather than consumers was a good one. Although I knew that such a solution probably only worked for an advertising company, the concept was attractive and showed that nothing is really impossible.

The idea of not being evil encountered many issues. In order to be nice to consumers the Google way, it is natural that copyright laws will soon be infringed, since Google’s goal is to organise all the information in the world. When the concept was challenged, Google started fighting against corporations. While one may think that it is evil to change laws and override rules through sheer force and influence, I think that as a consumer I do see it as a compromise that has to be made if the consumers are to benefit. With Google and its ideals, many old, outdated laws met revisions. The way Google tackled problems and insisting that it is the “good” party opened my mind. Out in the world, there is no real evil or good organisation, we only categorise them under helping the consumers or taking advantage of them. Therefore as long as the consumers speak, the corporations listen and we don’t feel cheated, I think we win, and that’s being not evil. Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” makes people want Google to be around, so much so that it is not far fetched to think that Google may take over the world soon, in a way, though that does sound evil.

When Google went against its “Don’t Be Evil” policy to go into the China market with censored search results, it argued that the real evil is to rob the Chinese of any chance of the Google goodness. While I agree with that, it also makes me think of how long this idealist concept can keep up with the world and the pace which Google is growing. Still, I would like to believe that it is possible. And thus my dream is to join Google one day, and continue its “Don’t Be Evil” legacy.

I hope I didn't write out of point...

Tech Speak: Improved Comment Collapsing for Google Buzz

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/improved-comment-collapsing-for-google.html

Well done Google. I knew you aren't that retarded. You have no idea how irritating it was to scroll through hundreds of comments with no way to collapse them. Thanks for restoring my faith, Buzz Team.

Google Buzz has improved quite a bit over the months. More of my friends are using it as well. Check it out if you havn't. Now if only they have a desktop app for it...

Interest(ing): April's Fool Conclusion

Google forgive me, for I have missed out almost every single April's Fool jokes made by Google. I only saw it in a lifehacker article today. Nonetheless, I'll blog a few here, just for the fun of it.

1) Google Translate For Animals

Introducing Translate for Animals (beta): Bridging the gap between animals and humans

Making the world's information universally accessible is a key goal for Google. Language is one of our biggest challenges so we have targeted our efforts on removing language barriers between the species. We are excited to introduce Translate for Animals, an Android application which we hope will allow us to better understand our animal friends. We've always been a pet-friendly company at Google, and we hope that Translate for Animals encourages greater interaction and understanding between animal and human.

Translate for Animals is an application for Android phones that recognises and transcribes words and phrases that are common to a species, like cats for example. To develop Translate for Animals, we worked closely with many of the world's top language synthesis teams, and with leaders in the field of animal cognitive linguistics, including senior fellows at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

2) Vowel Outage at Gmail

If you logged into Gmail over the last hour (or visited the Gmail homepage), you probably noticed that something looked a bit off: all the vowels are missing. We realize this makes things difficult for all of you who rely on Gmail — whether at home or at work — and we’re incredibly sorry. We take morphological issues like this extremely seriously, so we want to let you all know what happened and what we're doing about it.

Tech Speak: Google VS China - The Showdown

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-approach-to-china-update.html

Google has finally come to a conclusion for its take on China. Early this year, after Google was cyber attacked by the Chinese, Google has announced that it can no longer censor its products on google.cn. Even though there were many times between now and then that Google tried to uncensor its search results, and failed terribly (reports show that Google uncensored then censored again, repeating this for a number of times).

Google first broke its "don't be evil" mantra when it sealed the deal with China to allow Google content in China. Though it claimed that small evil deeds sometimes are required for the greater good, in this case to bring content to the Chinese, it is still widely recognised by most that it has betrayed the motto for its own benefits. That said, who wouldn't want a piece of the large Chinese market?

With Google's decision to deliver content to the Chinese through their Hong Kong servers, Google hopes to make everyone happy. However, no matter how I look at it, I don't see why China will just let Google announced that the Chinese can access uncensored content through another means. Even for the consumers, competing with the Hong Kong people for bandwidth doesn't sound like a good idea either.

China will block google.com.hk. Wanna bet?

Tech Speak: Cute Video On Google Chrome

Chrome has come a long way. It is a very much customisable browser with its themes and extensions (much like the firefox). It is indisputably fast and user friendly as well.

That said, Chrome is not fully compatible with every single website, even including popular sites like Facebook and its own site Blogger. I have learnt to live with it though since the bugs are minor. Chrome's cold start speed is remarkably slow on my computer. But look beyond all that, and you have a blazingly fast browser.

Tech Speak: Street View

This is old news. Okay it's not even news. I did use it before but today was the first time that it helped me so much. I showed my dad the street view of my school because he needed to go somewhere near it but couldn't remember how the road goes.

To use street view, either click on Terrain view or just scroll to zoom in until the highest level. And darn I just realised that you can jump to a place further in front of you by clicking. (cause I was retardedly pressing up again and again) Nifty.

http://maps.google.com

Tech Speak: Sony Ericsson Rejected Google's Request To Make Nexus One

http://www.intomobile.com/2010/02/19/sony-ericsson-rejected-googles-request-to-make-nexus-one.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+IntoMobile+(IntoMobile)

Sony Ericsson said they don't want to be a sub-participant in Google's entry of the mobile phone market. While it's true that Google wouldn't want half the world to know that HTC was the one who actually made the phone (and contributed a lot of input, I'm sure), the fact remains that the letters "HTC" appears on each Nexus One and HTC did get a lot of recognition from this collaboration.

I would say Sony Ericsson could have benefited a lot if they had hitched a ride on Google now. After all HTC is well known for its Android phones due to the fact that it launched the first few Android phones and its Sense UI makes Android absolutely gorgeous. HTC continues to have advantageous relationship with Google with regards to Android, though notably Motorola is catching up (with rumours of Motorola Shadow being Nexus Two).

Tech Speak: Social Networks Comparison

http://lifehacker.com/5472223/which-social-network-is-right-for-you

I read this article with interest. It showed me a few things which I didn't know about these 3 social networking websites which I used frequently. I daresay Lifehacker got their facts quite right. The image below, courtesy of Lifehacker, shows how the services fare in each category such as privacy issues and usability.

For me, Facebook is used to connect to my entire social network. This includes primary school friends whom I can't even remember how they look like (thank goodness for Facebook), secondary school friends whom I am the closest with and my other friends from Junior College and work place. As long as I see one's name and don't ask "do I know you enough?" or say "I think you pissed me off before" AND the invitation to be a "friend" was initiated by the other party, I will agree to add this "friend". FYI I very rarely invite other people

Tech Speak: A Phone With A Keyboard, NOT

Have I grumbled before about how frustrated I am that HTC is not coming up with an Android phone that I'll be satisfied with this year?

My ideal smartphone is one that is
1) Android based
2) Has capacitive screen (AMOLED is a bonus)
3) At least 3.2inch diagonally
4) Has a qwerty keyboard
5) Is made by HTC or Google-based

I prefer HTC because it's build quality is solid. There's also plenty of reviews saying that HTC has among the best qwerty keyboards around. I'm a Google fan, so Android is a natural choice. 3.2inch screen is really the smallest I can accept. I really want a qwerty keyboard because I don't like virtual keyboard (that said I don't like capacitive buttons too but I can make do with it).

I would want to use the HTC G1 Dream. But it's old, slow and not compatible with the latest Android OS. The next closest option is HTC Touch Pro2 but it runs on windows mobile and the processor is considered slow too. I'm not that fussy I guess and since I'm going to root it anyway most likely if I get a Touch Pro2 it will become Android. Frankly I was overjoyed when I heard that the Nexus One's Google Voice is rather accurate. But the thought of not being able to blog or tweet by voice when surrounded by people (I'll get embarrassed) is a turn off. I still prefer to type.

Geez, which one should I get? The closest upgrade to the G1 is HTC Lancaster but it only has a 3inch screen, has a slow processor too so I don't really think it's that much of an upgrade. Maybe I should just get the G1 and wait another year.

Tech Speak: I Want To Move My "House"!

Each person has made a statement of them in the cloud. Some people have online profiles, some have Facebook account (ok admittedly not every person has Facebook), some have blogs and there is something that I'm sure most if not all have - emails. I'm sure for most of us Singaporeans, our email accounts are also linked to our messenger service, namely mainly MSN or Yahoo. When we were younger, we didn't have so many contacts, and our messenger contact list was few. It was easy to say "i want to change my email" on a whim. I mean, personally, I've changed my email like 4 times? I have been on my current one for 4 years odd now. It has a contact list of 400+ people, my messenger service has many contacts as well. I suddenly have the feeling of changing my email. But it's hard, I shouldn't and I can't. Just change it, you say? It seems like it's just emailing 400+ people about my new email, export my current MSN messenger contact list and import it into my new one. Tada, all done.

No, if only it is so easy. I have many web services linked to my email. I realised that many of those web services do not allow me to change my email address. Personally I find that ridiculous. My email now acts like my passport. Even for those which I can change my email, there's too many services and I can't even remember some. Though some say that I might as well just abandon those web services since I can't even remember them, but hey at least my browser remembers the login name and password and I can just login if I ever come across them again.

Actually the bulk of the problem is due to the Google Products I am using with my Gmail. Since I am a faithful user of Google, I use plenty of their stuff. It'll be hard to backup every single one of my 3500 Gmail messages. I have no idea how to move my blog over. My Google calender is totally filled with birthdays and appointments. My Google Contacts has 400+ people. I have 31 documents in my Google Docs. I have a halfway done website under Google Sites. My iGoogle homepage has 40+ gadgets and 6 tabs with tons of bookmarks. My Picasa web albums have 29 albums, taking up about 500mb of space. My Google Profile is properly done. My Google Reader has 25 subscriptions. My Youtube has a ton of favourites.

Best of all, Google says "if you do not have a Gmail account under your Google account, you may change your username. If you do, it is impossible to change the username. You may however, sign up for another account." Are you nuts? And gosh, my username "techiewen" is taken up for Gmail. I guess I'll have to stick to this for a while longer.

Tech Speak: Making A Google Buzz

At 9am today, My Google Buzz was activated. Okay, it might have been activated earlier but I was sleeping. It works much like Twitter, you follow people, people follow you. But there's no 140 letters limit (something I really dislike in Twitter, it could have been just a little longer you know). You can share links right on, and the links shows a little preview. You can also link some web services to share on your Buzz automatically. The web services shown on my Gmail includes Picasa, Flickr, Twitter, Youtube. Blogspot, Google Talk and Google Reader. I use almost all of them regularly apart from Flickr and Google Talk. I daresay though, that I wouldn't want every single one of my blog post, tweets and photo uploads to appear on Buzz. Sometimes I tweet and post some personal thoughts which I don't think everyone will be interested in. Somehow though, my tweets and Google Reader stuff hasn't appeared on my Buzz. It's not like I have a lot of followers on Buzz now but still...

Chin Hua told me he's buzzing too but the friends suggestion tool in Buzz doesn't seem to be working well. I can only search from my Google Contacts and for eg. Chin Hua has 3 email addresses and I don't know which one he uses to Buzz. Another feature I hope to see is to be able to control which tweets and blog post to appear on my Buzz. I don't think that's too hard for blogspot since Google owns blogspot but it might be of an issue with Flickr and Twitter. Last but not least, I think I would appreciate it Buzz hides part of the buzzes to say a standard length. Shortening it will decrease load time and considering that we can share even Youtube videos and pictures on Buzz, I think load time will become significant.

Will be back with more.