Archive | May, 2011
Meet the new Android: Ice Cream Sandwich
Google unveiled a new version of Android (deliciously nicknamed “Ice Cream Sandwich”) at this morning’s keynote at Google I/O in San Francisco. Ice Cream Sandwich brings the best features of Honeycomb to mobile phones. Still, other than a few intriguing demos, Google did not disclose many details about the update such as when it will be available to consumers.
Interestingly, Google addressed one of the biggest gripes both developers and consumers have about the Android platform: Fragmentation. There are hundreds of Android devices out there in many shapes and sizes. And while choice is great, it is incredibly difficult for app developers to meet the needs of so many different types of phones and tablets.
Smartphones May Finally Show Up At E3
10. May 2011
Contests aren’t something I’d normally report on, but T-Mobile’s “Battle for E3” contest strikes me as newsworthy.
Entrants must upload a 15-second video to T-Mobile’s Facebook page, explaining why they are ultimate gamers and should therefore be chosen as an E3 “correspondent” for the company (i.e., play lots of video games before they’re released). The top prize, aside from the trip to Los Angeles, includes LG’s G2x Android phone.
Without reading into this too much, I think it’s interesting that a wireless carrier is taking such a keen interest in E3. This, combined with other signs, make me think smartphones could finally have a strong showing at the trade show.
Microsoft, Skype, Google, Google, Google
10. May 2011
I’m at the press conference where Microsoft is talking about its now-official deal to buy Skype–and will tweet some highlights. Then at 9am I’ll liveblog Google’s IO conference keynote. Whew!
Okay, Microsoft, Now What?
9. May 2011
It’s not yet public, but Kara Swisher says it’s confirmed: Microsoft is buying Skype, apparently for $8.5 billion, and apparently with the intention of linking the famous, popular, and unprofitable Internet telephone service with its Windows Live offerings. Kara reports that the deal–which would be Microsoft’s largest ever–will be announced tomorrow morning, conveniently grabbing headlines during the first morning of Google’s IO conference.
Maybe you think the acquisition is a no-brainer, but I suspect that the general initial consensus among non-Redmondians is that it’s an awful lot of money to spend on a company that’s likely to give Microsoft heartburn as it tries to digest it. It’ll be intriguing to see if the formal announcement includes a coherent explanation of why this makes sense: you’d think that part would be easy if Microsoft itself has figured out why this is a good idea.
For now, I’m thinking about the last time a big company bought Skype (albeit for a lot less money) based on the promise of powerful synergies and new opportunities. Let’s read a 2005 press release, shall we?
Are Video Games Art? U.S. Gov’t Says Yes!
9. May 2011
If you run in nerdy video game enthusiast circles, no debate is more tired than whether video games can aspire to be “art.” The word itself is entirely subjective, and so the answer will always be in the eye of the beholder.
But as far as the National Endowment for the Arts is concerned, video games are indeed works of art — or at least they can be. Video games are now eligible for federal grants under the category for “The Arts in Media,” renamed from “The Arts in Television and Radio.” These grants generally range from $10,000 to $200,000.
That’s peanuts compared to big-budget game development, which can cost upwards of $100 million for a single title, but it will allow independent developers to create ambitious projects that aren’t tailored toward commercial success, and still get paid. This kind of high-minded, non-commercial game development exists already — see Jason Rohrer’s Passage or Daniel Benmergui’s Today I Die for examples — but I’m excited to see what indie developers can make with some government cash behind them.
I don’t, however, expect this to end the games-as-art debate, as GamePro’s Pete Davison suggests. A government grant alone isn’t going to produce video games’ Mona Lisa, Hamlet or — dare I say it — Citizen Kane. And with so much culture around us, I’m not even sure such a game can still exist. But if the government wants to give out money for video games that are culturally significant, or otherwise meaningful, that’s good enough for me.
Google Images Gets Sorting
9. May 2011
Google has a new feature that looks promising for Google Images junkies like yours truly: the ability to sort results by subject. (It’s not live for me yet, though.) Here’s a video it produced explaining the new feature.
TiVo-Comcast Deal Puts On Demand on TiVo
9. May 2011
I own a TiVo HD DVR and have Comcast cable. I’m mostly happy with the combination, except for one major gotcha: getting TiVo means giving up Comcast’s Xfinity On Demand service. But the two companies have struck a deal to add On Demand to TiVo–and for Comcast to lease TiVo boxes in some areas (starting with the San Francisco Bay Area) at no extra charge. Sounds like a win for everybody involved; tragically, though, it’s for the current TiVo Premiere model rather than my old HD.
Google IO 2011: Join Me for Live Keynote Coverage
9. May 2011
Google is holding its annual IO developer conference this week in San Francisco, and while there are no guarantees about what it’ll share–the company apparently won’t have any big social-networking news, and I ran into a Google staffer who told me not to expect an avalanche of announcements–it is planning keynotes on both Tuesday and Wednesday. And I’ll be at both and will provide live coverage.
Keynote one in on Tuesday, May 10th at 9am PT. Go to technologizer.com/googlekeynote1 for coverage.
Keynote two is on Wednesday, May 11th at 9:30am PT. That one will be at technologizer.com/googlekeynote2.
See you at either or both of these, I hope!
HP’s New ProBook: Serious Sound and Pay-as-You-Go Broadband
9. May 2011
PC manufacturers like to draw sharp lines between their machines aimed at consumers and the ones built for business. In the real world, things aren’t that simple. I know consumers who like to buy business computers, since they’re often built at least a bit sturdier, aim for reliability rather than bleeding edge-components, feature industrial design that avoids the trendy, and typically come with better warranties. And I also know worker bees who like to get their hands on cool stuff fast and therefore buy consumer systems.
Lately, computer makers seem to be acknowledging that the line between consumery and businessy design is increasingly blurry. HP’s new ProBook 5330m notebook is a case in point: it’s HP’s first business notebook to come with Beats audio, the sound system endorsed by Dr. Dre. The 5330m also features HP’s “Forge” brushed-aluminum industrial design, whose basically philosphy is “Let’s try to make a business notebook that has a bit of style to it, without getting so splashy that it’ll turn off conservative buyers at big companies.” And it’s got a 13.3″ display and no optical drive, a form factor that was pretty darn scarce among corporate machines until recently.
SketchBook Pro 2.0: Art on the iPad, Done Even Better
9. May 2011
The iPad is blessed with several excellent apps for drawing and painting using tools that mimic the look of real art supplies. Of the ones I’ve tried, my favorite is Autodesk’s SketchBook Pro–and it just got an extremely meaty upgrade to version 2.0.
The user interface is much improved over the original version that shipped the same day as the first iPad–for instance, you can pin toolbars to the sides of the screen. On the iPad 2, it supports a high-resolution 2048-by-1536 canvas. You can shuttle files back and forth using Dropbox. And while I haven’t tried this yet, Autodesk says the app is better at sharing images with the Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android versions of the program.
There’s also a SketchBook Store that lets you download and install additional drawing tools, such as fancy pencils. (So far, all its offerings are free.)
The iPad isn’t my dream digital art device, mostly because its technology doesn’t allow for anyone to build a pointy, pressure-sensitive stylus of the sort you can use with a Wacom tablet. Even so, once you get the hang of drawing with one of the blunt, non-pressure-sensitive styluses that are available–I like this one–it’s addictive. And SketchBook Pro, like many iPad apps, is a bizarrely good value–it’s $4.99, vs. $79.99 for the Windows/Mac desktop version. If you like to draw and have an iPad, you need this software.
Playstation Network Down Indefinitely, Again
7. May 2011
Sony has once again missed its own timeframe to get the Playstation Network back online, as the company tries to secure its network after a devastating security breach.
Sony said last Sunday that it expected to bring PSN back up by the end of the week, but those plans were ruined by a separate attack on Sony Online Entertainment, the company’s massive multiplayer gaming service.
“We were unaware of the extent of the attack on Sony Online Entertainment servers, and we are taking this opportunity to conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system,” Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold wrote on the official Playstation Blog. He offered no estimate of when service will be restored.
$25 Computer Aims To Teach Computing
7. May 2011
A British game developer has turned his efforts away from video games for a moment, and is focusing on bringing computer science education into schools. Frontier Developments founder David Braben has introduced the Raspberry Pi, a $25 Linux-based computer.
The computer is not much larger than a USB keychain dongle, and includes an HDMI port to connect a display, and a USB 2.0 port to connect peripherals. The device runs on Linux, thus keeping any software licensing costs low (if not non-existent).
The Era of One-Size-Fits-All Products
7. May 2011
I stopped using Google’s Chrome as my primary browser today. I did so with regret, and hope to be back. But in recent days, some of the Web sites I use most–WordPress.com, Twitter, and Facebook–have stopped working properly in Chrome. I’m uncertain of why, but the most likely explanation is that they’re reacting badly to the newest version of Chrome, which, like all Chrome updates, was installed automatically on my computer. So I’m switching for the time being to Safari, where all those sites behave like they should.
There are plenty of arguments for auto-updates of the type seen in Chrome. For one thing, they’re a good way to stomp out security vulnerabilities as quickly as possible, as widely as possible, once they’re discovered. But they also make it harder for anyone who’d rather decide for himself or herself when to move to a new version of the browser. (For the record, it’s possible to shut off auto-updating, although it’s not exactly obvious how to do it.) Basically, Google appears to think that everyone should use the current version of Chrome (except for bleeding-edge types: they should use the current beta). It’s not going to make things easy for those of us who’d prefer to opt out.
Like Death and Taxes, Clippy is Unavoidable
6. May 2011
Shamefully, I’ve neglected to cover the biggest news of the past couple of weeks. I refer, of course, to the return of Microsoft Office’s Clippy, in a game/tutorial from Microsoft called Office Hero 2. (Here’s James Fallows’ report on it.) Clippy may not be part of Office’s help system anymore, but here he is again, trying to help people use Office. I have the feeling he’ll be with us in one form or another for years to come. (Anyone want to make bets on whether he’ll outlive Mavis Beacon?)
Thinking about his return got me thinking about a Technologizer story from a couple of years ago: “The Secret Origins of Clippy: Microsoft’s Bizarre Animated Character Patents.” It remains one of the most popular things we’ve ever published. And here it is again.
Apple Moving Macs to ARM? If History is Any Guide, That’s…Entirely Plausible
6. May 2011
A Web site with the wonderful name SemiAccurate is reporting that it’s a “done deal” that Apple will dump Intel chips for ones based on the ARM architecture used in most smartphones and tablets, including the iPhone and iPad–and it’ll do it “as soon as possible.” I tend to be skeptical about rumors of great big news that come from not-so-well-known sites. But I’m nowhere near as skeptical as VentureBeat’s Devindra Hardawar:
Seems to me that there are several factors that make a Mac move to ARM plausible, or least very far from unthinkable…
AOL Beta-Tests a Video Chat Service
6. May 2011
AOL’s TechCrunch has leaked a link to AV, a still-unannounced, FaceTime-like easy video chat service from…AOL.
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10. May 2011
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