Blizzard But No Buzz
February 10, 2010
Recent snowstorms have prompted my daughter (6) to ask if we are in a blizzard. It certainly looks like one outside.
This snow day might be a good opportunity to try out Google Buzz. But I am so far buzzless…
Google Voice: Two Steps Forward,…
January 26, 2010
One recent step takes Google Voice onto the iPhone. As Om reports, it’s browser-based (HTML5). Hence it sidesteps security at the iPhone app store.
A few days ago, Michael Arrington declared himself so besotted with Google Voice that he followed its beckoning extension into Chrome from Safari. Said extension adds click (a phone number on a web page) to call (via Google Voice) to the Chrome browser.
The above two steps have a few things in common: about Google Voice; positive; something of a score for Google over Apple; written by the founder of a blog that grew into a New Media Property (rather than delegated to one of several other writers at said property).
The third and last step I’ll describe in this post offers a contrast with the first two. It’s a step backwards for Google Voice. GV hasn’t worked on my Android G1 pretty much since I moved from Boston to Silver Spring.
I submitted a support ticket at the GV site a few days ago, but have yet to hear anything. Meanwhile, all the calls that I was hoping would be free (or very cheap, in the case of international calls) fail over to a “real” phone number, and T-Mobile bills for real money.
I also posted about this elsewhere. Perhaps that’s why my attempt to give away GV invites didn’t work…
Google Docs: Not Just For Documents Anymore
January 12, 2010
Every so often, Google announces something to do with file storage at one of its services, and the cry goes up: GDrive ahoy! Here we go again. It’ll soon be possible to storage any type of file in Google Docs. Michael Arrington hails this as the GDrive, even as he is told that the GDrive doesn’t exist.
The GigaOm coverage describes the move as being in line with the long-term GDrive strategy that Google is reported to be focused on. The ReadWriteWeb post doesn’t mention the GD-word at all, but sees that this as major change for Google Docs: now for storage as much as collaboration.
At Mashable, Christina Warren positions the new Google Docs against other cloud storage options, including Google’s own Picasa and independents like Dropbox. Comments (at Mashable and elsewhere) suggest that Google should just buy Dropbox.
Comments also point out that other options seem better than “any file type goes” Google Docs in terms of tools or amount of storage. That may be true, but beside the point. Millions of people have Google accounts, and may be more inclined to use them for storage than to get a new account elsewhere.
Enterprises will also tend to prefer Google, but for other reasons. Google is to the web as IBM was to mainframes: it seems, and may well be, the safe solution. As for other pricing and file size constraints (250 MB max), I’m sure that they will be up for negotiation for large accounts.
Happy Nexus One Day
January 5, 2010
If you don’t already know that the Nexus One was launched today, you’re probably not interested in the new Android phone anyway. If you are interested, you may well have seen the 24 month cost of ownership comparison between the N1, the iPhone 3GS, and a couple of other smartphones. It makes the N1 look like a pretty reasonable deal.
Just three comments:
- The comparison was at BillShrink. It seems strange that readers of a blog styling itself a savings tool are interested in throwing thousands of dollars at a phone.
- A URL of intent: http://www.google.com/phone. Yes this is the Google phone – or at least, the first Google phone.
- By all means waste your time trying to get the N1 (emphasis on the singular) that TechCrunch is giving away. It is mine, my Precious, and I am willing to bite fingers off and fall into volcanoes for it.
Haiku-Ready Headline
November 23, 2009
PCWorld gets it:
Underwhelmed By Chrome OS?
That’s Kinda the Point.
Yes, the two parts of the headline are 7 and 5 syllables. Just add a first line, and… instant addition to my collection of Chrome haikus.
Chrome defines a web appliance. I believe there’s a big market for such Chromebooks if they overwhelm in terms of speed and value.
Chrome Haikus
November 19, 2009
Data Liberation Front: Many Types of Goodness
October 29, 2009
The Data Liberation Front is a team at Google with a laudable mission.
Users should be able to control the data they store in any of Google’s products. Our team’s goal is to make it easier to move data in and out.
The DLF is good, in many ways. Its mission is good, in that it’s ethical. I believe that the DLF will be good for Google, the profit-seeking firm. Let me break out some reasons, starting with those most relevant to ethics (good for society) and moving toward those most relevant to profit (good for Google shareholders).
- Yes, users should be able to control their data.
- Don’t be evil is a Google motto that arouses more cynicism as Google gets older and bigger. The DLF is a Google team opposed to the evil of lockin.
- Many users are wary of where they store their data. Such users, when evaluating a software tool, will want to verify that there is a way out before they bring their data in. The DLF is building and verifying ways out.
- As Google encourages users to bring stuff into Google services and out of non-Google services, it can point to DLF to show that Google doesn’t believe in one-way streets into Google. It believes in two-way streets, with the user being allowed to set the direction. If you want an example of something that Google is offering to take over for you, how about voicemail?
- Although most of the coverage of DLF has been about moving data out of Google services if you want to, note that the mission is “to make it easier to move data in and out” (emphasis added by me).
Droid? $1831. Having the latest gadgets? Priceful.
October 28, 2009
The Droid, the new smartphone from Motogoozon, will cost $1831. Motogoozon is of course the combination of Motorola, Google, and Verizon.
The cost would be $1931, were it not for a $100 rebate: what a relief that it’s so much lower than $2K.
1831 = (299 – 100) + 24 x (39 + 29). As usual with smartphones and other fancyphones in the USA, most of the cost is in the monthly payments, rather than upfront.
I could cite many sources for this, but I’ll go with John Biggs’ post on Crunchgear. There is much rejoicing in Crunchland about the Droid.
Personally, I’m happy to see the Droid hype. It increases the chances of an Android app boom. On the other hand, there are no guarantees that new and interesting Android advances will run on my G1.
Singing Lala About Google Music
October 21, 2009
The speculation about the impending music-related announcement from Google seems to be boiling down to this: Full-Song Streams, Not a Full Music Service, as part of search results when the search is music-related. The link in the previous sentence is from GigaOm. Elsewhere, Crunchy Mike noted that this is a huge win for LaLa and iLike, Google, partners in the streaming.
I find this post-worthy, not because it’s a huge leap for Google-kind, or because the world needs another music service. It isn’t, and it doesn’t. Let me backpedal on the latter a little: maybe the world does need another music service, one that isn’t fragmented and restricted by nation.
The main reason I like (no pun intended) this is because it’s good for Lala. I want Lala to prosper, or at least stay in business, because I have a bunch of web songs, which I can stream whenever I like as long as Lala lives. So long live Lala, I service I like, and will continue to like while it survives to serve my web songs.
As you may have gathered, I have some concerns about Lala’s chances of survival. Those chances increase with the Google partnership. They would also increase were Lala to be acquired. I wonder if the commitment to serve web songs indefinitely is a barrier to purchase. I don’t think that it would be a significant barrier were Google the purchaser of Lala…
Things That Aren’t (Just) Search
May 28, 2009
So, what isn’t (just) search? The last week or two has given us great insight into this question.
- Yahoo is not a search company. Good call by CEO Carol Bartz. I’m glad to see that the stock has gone up: I bought some a few months ago, on the basis that things couldn’t get much worse without provoking a takeover.
- Wolfram Alpha is not a search engine. It’s “a computational knowledge engine,” and so can do some things better than Google or other search engines.
- Bing is, according to one of its URLs and to the video currently there, a decision engine. I agree with Erick at TechCrunch that Bing isn’t the best name. It makes me think of the singer, and of the song “I’m dreaming of a blue screen of death“.
For the record, I’m not a search engine either. I am married with children.
