Archive | July, 2011
Office vs. Google Apps: Choose One. Or Both. Or Neither.
I’m pleased to say that I’m going to be writing a column every other week for the folks at AllBusiness.com. It’s about small-business technology, and the first installment–a look at Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps–is up now.
Verizon Powers 32% of All iPhone 4s in the U.S.
7. July 2011
If you subscribe to the theory that most potential iPhone buyers on Verizon have held out on purchasing a device till the new model launches this fall, then this statistic should surprise you: 32% of all current iPhone 4 users in the U.S. are on the Verizon network.
Yep, that’s right. Research firm Localytics released data Thursday that shows the device has shown steady growth since its launch on the Verizon network in February. The iPhone 4 started out on the right foot rather quickly, quickly grabbing 20% of the market early on, but its real growth has been over the summer.
More Google+ Musings
7. July 2011
My TIME.com Technologizer column for this week is on–this isn’t going to come as a huge surprise–Google+.
Google Apps Users Can’t Use Google+
6. July 2011
I love Google Apps. I like Google+. I’ll be happy when they work together–and when, in fact, it’s possible to bop between a Google Apps Google Account and a standard one without a fair amount of hassle.
6 Questions About Spotify’s U.S. Launch
6. July 2011
Subscription music service Spotify has announced that it will finally be launching in the United States — at some point. The company, which is known overseas for streaming millions of ad-supported songs on demand at no charge, provided hardly any details on its U.S. plans. Spotify simply confirmed the news and started a sign-up process for invites.
Naturally, that leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Here’s what I’d most like to know about Spotify’s U.S. launch:
Hiner on Google+
6. July 2011
TechRepublic’s Jason Hiner thinks that Google+ is about to change the Web as we know it.
Facebook Event: Join Me!
5. July 2011
Just a reminder: I’ll be at Facebook HQ on Wednesday morning at 10am PT and will liveblog its event at technologizer.com/facebookevent. According to TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, the news–part of it, at least–involves Skype video chat integrated into Facebook.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Will Put Apps in Your Apps
5. July 2011
Samsung may be onto something with the TouchWiz interface that it plans to release for the Galaxy Tab 10.1.
A new promotional video for the tablet shows off what Samsung is calling “Mini Apps” — a collection of utilities that can be launched on top of other Android applications. These include a notepad, calendar, task manager, clock, music player and calculator. They’re the kind of utlities you’d find on a desktop OS, coming in handy for other tasks.
Tablets need more of this. One of my big frustrations with current tablet software is how inconvenient it can be to perform one task that requires two programs, such as taking notes off a web page or adding up numbers from an e-mail. Switching between apps can be a chore if you have to go back and forth several times.
We Don’t Call It Videotex. Otherwise, Pretty Impressive!
5. July 2011
In 1982, the New York Times reported on an eerily prescient report from the Institute of the Future about where computing and communications would take us by the 21st century.
Something’s Fishy About This Playstation 4 Rumor
5. July 2011
If the Playstation 4 really is a distant thought on Sony’s mind, then the latest rumor from DigiTimes is a longshot: Sony’s not only thinking about a new console, the publication’s sources say, it’s starting production this year and will launch the Playstation 4 in 2012.
DigiTimes doesn’t provide many details on the rumored console itself, except that it’ll have body movement-based controls like Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox 360. Foxconn and Pegatron Technology will reportedly assemble the PS4, with a planned shipment volume of at least 20 million units in 2012.
That shipment estimate is the biggest reason to be skeptical of this report. Sony launched the Playstation 3 mid-way through its 2006 fiscal year, and only shipped 5 million units through Q4. After that, when Sony started reporting sales instead of shipments, the PS3 took two years to reach 20 million sales. For 20 million Playstation 4 shipments to make sense in 2012, initial demand would have to be unprecedented.
Picasa and Blogger No More?
5. July 2011
Years ago, Google bought two cool products: Picasa and Blogger. It improved them, but kept the old names. Now Mashable’s Ben Parr is reporting that the Google+ rollout will involve redubbing these services as Google Photos and Google Blogs. Sounds logical to me–especially since the offering I think of as “Picasa” is actually “Picasa Web Albums.”
Cisco and HP to Help China Build Surveillance System
5. July 2011
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Cisco and China are involving in a Chinese project to install half a million surveillance cameras in the city of Chongqing. They’ll supposedly be used merely to help prevent crime, but the WSJ has a quote from HP’s Todd Bradley that’s kind of chilling: “It’s not my job to really understand what they’re going to use it for.”
HP Responds to TouchPad Reviews
5. July 2011
Almost all of the reviews of HP’s TouchPad (here’s mine) have the same gist: “This tablet is extremely rough, but WebOS is neat .” HP can apparently live with that.
Zuck, Google+ Superstar
5. July 2011
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg seems to have more friends on Google+ than anyone else. I wonder who’s more embarrassed by that–Zuck or Google?
More WebOS to Come
4. July 2011
PreCentral says it has info on HP’s plans for WebOS devices for the rest of the year–including a 64GB white TouchPad, an AT&T “4G” model, a 7-inch tablet, and the Pre 3. Sounds interesting–but judging from the first TouchPad, what WebOS really, really needs is a thorough debugging.
My First Thirteen Questions About Google+
4. July 2011
I’ve been using Google+ a lot since it was announced last Tuesday, but I haven’t written much about it yet. There are a number of reasons why I’ve been semi-mum. For one thing, I have a lousy track record when it comes to gut reactions about Google social services. I thought Buzz was intriguing, and I didn’t instantly figure out the privacy issues. And I had visions of Google Wave leading to an epic war between Google and Microsoft.
I don’t completely blame myself for failing to instantly figure out that Buzz and Wave would be very nearly DOA. The most important part of social networks is the social aspect, and that’s impossible to judge from a demo or a closed beta test. And since Google+ still isn’t open to the general public, it’s still early to be rendering any sort of long-range verdict on it.
Still, after almost a week, I’m beginning to form impressions of this service–mostly positive ones–and even if I don’t have all the answers, I have lots of questions.
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7. July 2011
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