Archive | October, 2010
Goodbye (and Good Riddance), 1-800-GOOG-411
In announcing the imminent end of 1-800-GOOG-411, a free by-phone directory service, Google got sentimental and called the service an “old friend.” I couldn’t be happier to see it go.
For me, the announcement served mainly as a reminder that GOOG-411 existed in the first place. Sure, I knew about it, but owning a smartphone pretty much renders 411 services obsolete. Looking up a business on the Internet is faster, and delivers better results.
For kicks, I just used GOOG-411, which won’t shut down until November 12, to look up my favorite bagel shop in Los Angeles. The automated directory took a minute to deliver results, and Google didn’t even have the eatery in its listings. Yelp does, so when I conducted a voice search with Google’s mobile app, finding the information among plain old search results took half the time.
AT&T U-Verse Incoming for Xbox 360
8. October 2010
After years of promises, it looks like the Xbox 360 will finally be able to act as a television set-top box for AT&T U-Verse subscribers, starting next month.
The news isn’t official, but Engadget got some leaked documents that spell out the deal. AT&T will release a U-Verse update on October 17, and will switch on the Xbox 360 compatibility on November 7. Just a couple gotchas: U-Verse subscribers will still need at least one AT&T set-top box or DVR in the home, and the Xbox 360 needs to have a hard drive.
The main benefit to using an Xbox 360 is cost savings. One of the documents says “No MRC for Xbox receiver,” which I think refers to monthly rental cost. Additional U-Verse receivers cost $7 per month, so subscribers could save $84 per year by using an Xbox 360 instead. Juggling fewer set-top boxes and remote controls is also a plus.
Microsoft first touted the Xbox 360′s IPTV capabilities in 2007, at the Consumer Electronics Show. Microsoft’s Mediaroom television software, which is used by more than two dozen television providers worldwide, can technically run on the Xbox 360, but until now, few providers have actually done it. In the United Kingdom, BT started supporting the Xbox 360 in 2008, but could not actually send live television to the console. In Canada, Telus switched on Xbox 360 support in August, becoming the first provider in North America to do so.
U-Verse’s arrival will be better late than never. But if the IPTV feature was available three years ago, Xbox 360s acting as second receivers would’ve almost paid for themselves by now.
Apple, the Low Cost Leader?
8. October 2010
BGR–which isn’t an unimpeachable source, but one that sometimes gets stuff right early–says that it hears that the Sprint version of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet will go on sale on November 14th for $399 with a two-year contract, or $599 without a subsidy.
The $399 price is $100 less than the cheapest flavor of iPad, but that’s not a very useful comparison, since the $499 iPad doesn’t have 3G and the Galaxy does. You want to compare the Galaxy against the cheapest 3G iPad, which goes for $629. And you want to compare against the $599 Galaxy, since the iPad is always sold unsubsidized, and lets you buy AT&T data at a reasonable price without committing to a contract.
PayPal’s iPhone Check Deposit: It Works!
7. October 2010
PayPal added check deposit capabilities to its iPhone app on Wednesday, and hey, I just got a check in the mail. Let’s see how PayPal handles the job.
Before you start, PayPal hits you with a bunch of disclaimers. You’ve got to keep the check for 15 days, just to make sure nothing goes wrong, and you can’t deposit more than $1,000 per day or $3,000 per month. So if your employer cuts checks instead of offering direct deposit, PayPal might not be able to handle your earnings. PayPal’s deposit feature seems best-suited for those nagging little checks that aren’t worth the effort of going to a bank.
Depositing a check through PayPal is simple enough. Under the “tools” section, you press “Add Money From Checks,” and then snap a photo of the check’s front and back sides. Then, you must enter in the amount of the check. (Or, at least I did. The handwriting on my check was a little messy, so I’m not sure whether PayPal ever tries to guess the amount, like some smart ATMs.)
Deposits take roughly six business days to show up in your account, PayPal says. Unfortunately, there’s no option to automatically pass the check on to your bank account. You’ve got to transfer it yourself, which usually takes another three or four business days.
Ideally, my own bank, Bank of America, would offer check deposits through its iPhone app. Chase and State Farm Bank already do, and USAA supports deposits the iPhone and Android phones. If you’re not a customer of those banks, and you’ve got an iPhone, PayPal provides a decent workaround as long as you don’t need the cash right away.
Yahoo’s “Accordion” Interface
7. October 2010
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Yahoo has rolled out some search improvements, including an “Accordion” box at the top of some search results that groups relevant items into sections such as Stories, Images, Videos, and Tweets. Not bad! I don’t, however, understand why the first results in the Accordion box are “Latest on:” links with only the vaguest association to the thing you searched for–I got the same list of breaking search terms for anyone who was in the news (such as Barack Obama and Sarah Palin), and the same list of musicians for any pop artist from the past sixty years…
ūmi: Costli
7. October 2010
Eric Savitz of Barrons’ has rounded up Wall Street’s responses to Cisco’s new ūmi home videoconferencing system. Consensus: At $599 for the hardware and $25 a month for unlimited calls, it’s too pricey. Of course, there’s a market for expensive-but-neat gadgets, but after chatting with several Cisco executives at its launch event yesterday, I can’t quite tell if the company is going after well-heeled gizmo nuts for now, or whether it thinks it has something that’ll appeal to the teeming masses right away…
Facebook’s Promising, Infuriating New Groups Feature
7. October 2010
Facebook rarely fails to be true to its company culture, which is…well, let’s see: Facebook is like a bull that’s constantly breaking things in its own china shop, then repairing the damage after customers complain.
That sure seems to be true with its all-new Groups feature, which is designed to let members create small clusters of friends who can share information and photos, and otherwise interact. Groups can be private or public, and kind of feel like they let you create a Facebook of your own within Facebook.
They’re a swell idea, except:
- Anyone can add any friend to a Group without permission, and the fact that second person is a member of the Group is public if the Group is public;
- By default, you’ll get e-mail notifications from the Group, even if it’s a Group you didn’t want to belong to in the first place.
End result: You can find yourself a member of a Group you have absolutely no interest in, or would actively prefer not to be part of. You may also find messages in your in-box from unwanted Groups, even if you’ve otherwise switched Facebook settings to minimize notifications. You can turn off Group notifications, but there’s no way to prevent yourself from being joined to Groups–the best you can do is to un-join yourself once you’ve discovered you’re an unwilling member.
The Business Insider’s Nic Saint has more on all this here. And Hillel Fuld rants about these and other Groups issues in this post.
Facebook could instantly solve Groups’ issues by allowing other people to invite you to a group but not add you to it. I assume it’ll make that switch soon. But I’d love to understand the thought processes that lead the company to so frequently launch worthwhile new features in a way that’s bound to annoy a meaningful number of folks. I can’t quite tell if it’s bad at judging this still, doesn’t care, or likes to turn the knob up to 11 and then ratchet it down based on response from the public.
Odd side note: Groups were announced in a blog post by Mark Zuckerberg titled “Giving You More Control,” but the problem with them is that they don’t give you enough control…
OnLive Needs to Embrace Its Streaming Ways
7. October 2010
Streaming is not just a delivery method for media, it’s a business model, but I don’t think OnLive realizes that.
Earlier this week, OnLive announced that it dropped subscription fees from its cloud gaming service, which handles all the intensive processing of modern video games on its own servers and sends back compressed video that runs on pretty much any computer. OnLive launched in June and was already giving away free 12-month subscriptions, normally $5 per month, as an introductory offer.
By dropping subscriptions, OnLive can bring in curious users without demanding credit card information. With free membership, people can still play game demos and eavesdrop on other gaming sessions. Rentals are available in three- and five-day increments, but if players want full access, prices are on par with retail, and guaranteed to run for at least three years. That’s where the offer gets icky.
Video Games: Cheaper Than Ever
7. October 2010
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Ars Technica’s Ben Kuchera adjusted for inflation, and discovered that video games are cheaper than they’ve ever been.
Energizer’s Inductive Charger: Qi Makes Its Debut
7. October 2010
A couple of weeks ago, Ed was impressed by a demo of Energizer’s new Inductive Charger, which lets you charge phones by plopping them on a mat rather than plugging in a cable. The gadget’s about to go on sale in Target stores; Energizer loaned me a unit to try, and I’m impressed, too.
Actually, what I’m impressed by is the fact that Energizer’s system is based on Qi, a new standard for inductive charging. Earlier inductive setups such as Powermat are based on proprietary implementations–you have to buy the mat and the sleeves and replacement battery covers from the same company, and if no support if offered for your phone, you’re out of luck. By supporting Qi, Energizer’s mat will work with any Qi sleeve or battery cover. Eventually, if all goes according to plans, there will be phones with Qi support built right in, and the standard will work with other mobile gizmos such as cameras.
Your Samsung Galaxy Tab Questions Answered
7. October 2010
Last week, I got to spend a half hour with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab in the back of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Samsung was sponsoring the World Cyber Games there, and had more than a dozen Tabs at its booth. I also fired some questions at Samsung representatives, mostly from readers who responded to my earlier blog post.
Read on for the answers, plus a few plus a few other observations on the Galaxy Tab that weren’t covered in Harry’s hands-on preview.
Stores Form an Anti-Amazon Alliance With ShopRunner
6. October 2010
In what world does Barnes & Noble join forces with Borders, and Dick’s Sporting Goods team up with Sports Authority? The one in which Amazon.com has 8 percent of the U.S. e-commerce market. You know what they say about desperate times.
A new service called Shoprunner is a direct challenge to Amazon Prime. For $79 per year, members get free two-day shipping on orders from 15 online retailers, with another 27 retailers coming soon. Other perks include free returns and members-only offers. There’s also a universal marketplace, which is open to non-members as well.
Logitech Revue: A Swiss-Army Approach to Internet TV
6. October 2010
After I attended Cisco’s unveiling of its ūmi telepresence system this morning, I hopped in a cab and went to Logitech’s launch event for Revue, its Google TV box. It made for a fascinating comparison.
Cisco’s product, like Apple TV and Roku, is about doing one thing. All there devices compete with Revue, because it does many things:
- Like Roku and Apple TV, it’s a way to watch movies and listen to music;
- It supports not only services Google has partnered with, such as Netflix and Amazon Video on Demand, but just about any video on the Web;
- It attempts to meld Internet video, live broadcast video, and DVR video into one seamless entertainment extravaganza;
- It integrates with Dish Network boxes at a deeper level–it can control them and search recorded videos;
- It lets you browse Web sorts of all sorts using the built-in Chrome browser;
- It uses Logitech’s Harmony technology to let you control all your living-room gizmos;
- It offers iOS and Android apps that let you use your smartphone as a remote control;
- If you spend $150 for an optional Webcam, it provides ūmi-like HD videoconferencing (although at 720p rather than Cisco’s 1080p);
- It’ll let you download and install Android apps (but not until early 2011, when Google makes its TV Android Market available).
Whew. (I’m probably forgetting a capability or two.) Revue costs $299.99, which is 3X the price of Apple TV and 5X the cost of the cheapest Roku, but it does so many things that I think the price isn’t nutty–if it turns out that the many things it does are things people want to do on their TVs. (That’s not a given: In many ways, Revue is a modern take on the idea Microsoft tried to popularize as WebTV a decade and a half ago, and which has fizzled in one form or another ever since. I’m still unclear whether there’s a critical mass of real consumers who want to use the Web on their TVs.)
Facebook: New Groups, Downloadable Data
6. October 2010
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I wasn’t at Facebook’s press event this morning, but the news announced there is significant: a new version of Groups aimed at helping people manage communications with small clusters of friends and family, a way to download everything you ever posted to Facebook as one humongous Zip file, and better tools for keeping tabs on what Facebook apps are doing with your data.
Google’s Page Previews Are What’s Great About the Search Wars
6. October 2010
Boy, am I glad the ridiculousness of smartphone patent wars hasn’t carried over to web search, because Google’s testing of full page previews illustrates everything that’s great about stealing another company’s ideas.
Some Google users are spotting full page previews today, according to Patrick Altoft at Blogstorm. This allows users to see important content from a website without clicking through to the link. Chunks of text containing search keywords are broken into orange boxes, and the entire page layout is visible from within Google search.
Clearly, Google ripped this feature from Bing, where page previews have been part of search since day one. So what? Bing does it differently, with simple, unobtrusive preview boxes that only draw out a few lines of text and other important details. Sometimes the imitation is better than the original, and sometimes it’s worse, but Google’s and Bing’s desire to differentiate themselves is always reflected in the product.
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8. October 2010
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