∞ Tue, 17 Apr 2012 · Comments
All but confirmed now. The Next Web says it will launch next week, with 5 GB of free storage, and TechCrunch has dug up the Mac client from Google’s servers (although it doesn’t work yet, obviously).
This space is getting really interesting. Microsoft is revamping SkyDrive to support file syncing like Dropbox (Live Mesh does the same but is extremely poorly integrated), and Google Drive will also have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. I don’t think there needs to be one clear winner – all solutions have their unique strengths. SkyDrive and Google Drive would be tied into their respective ecosystems, while Dropbox remains the true cross-platform solution with more sophisticated features (like file history).
∞ Sun, 15 Apr 2012 · Comments
Go download it using the link above.
∞ Sat, 14 Apr 2012 · Comments
Of everything’s that’s been written about Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram, I find Amit Runchal’s take to be the most thoughtful and realistic (it’s a bit older now as I’m still catching up on the news I missed while working on this website design). Especially this part:
Instagram isn’t an app for Facebook. It becomes a part of the phone, in the same way that the native camera app is for the iPhone. But it’s not just a camera app. In the world of Facebook it’s an order of magnitude better. It’s not about megapixels. It’s not about filters. It’s an entirely different way of thinking about the camera app. Sharing could be built in. The camera is the feed and the feed is the camera.
Exactly. That also occured to me earlier, when I watched Google’s Project Glass concept video. When the guy takes a photo, he doesn’t have to bring up a dedicated menu to share it; instead, two buttons pop up immediately after snapping a picture: share to Google+, or cancel. It’s an entirely different interaction process. The user doesn’t have to consciously decide “I want to share this photo” anymore, which implies that not sharing is the default action. With the Project Glass concept, however, sharing becomes default.
I think that’s a huge opportunity, as it completely reimagines the way people think about photos. It’s part of the appeal of Instagram, which allows one to share photos in real-time, something that isn’t possible with traditional cameras. But Instagram is only a third-party app right now; installing – and using – it instead of the built-in camera app in the first place still constitutes a huge barrier to sharing photos “by default”. The solution:
But a camera that pushes everything to Instagram? A camera that is Instagram?
It might seem ridiculous, but I think it’s a brilliant idea. Suddenly, the $1 billion price tag doesn’t seem high anymore. It would be a paradigm shift, just like the shift from analog photography to digital, which eliminated the step of having to select which photos to keep and print out (anyone still remember those times?). With digital photography, you could just keep every photo, and have them all available for viewing at anytime. Now, with sharing by default, you don’t have to pick and choose which photos you want to share with your friends anymore; it just happens automatically, requiring little to no user interaction.
You won’t need to organize your photo library anymore. It all happens in the cloud, where your photos are automatically uploaded, tagged, and become sortable by date, arranged in a timeline-view… the potential for a Facebook phone that does this is enormous.
∞ Sat, 14 Apr 2012 · Comments
As reported by Ars Technica:
A South African man, whose name has not been published, was carjacked, robbed, and stuffed into the trunk of his car near Johannesburg on Sunday. The robbers, however, had overlooked his mobile phone, which he used to text his girlfriend, Lynn Peters. From there, Twitter took over.
Pretty incredible and definitely worth a read. Although this situation seems unique to South Africa, and, as one commenter noted:
At 10,000 incidents a year, there would have been, on average, 26 other kidnappings that day that didn’t receive this kind of attention. The internet is a fickle master.
∞ Fri, 13 Apr 2012 · Comments
Everyone seems to be getting a different Bing interface. There’s the regular version, unchanged for almost two years during which Google has made huge improvements, a home page with tiles (which I’m getting as well), and a proper Metro-style version.
It’s a confusing mess. Hopefully Microsoft will roll out a real redesign in time for Windows 8.
∞ Fri, 13 Apr 2012 · Comments
And a third have already done so, according to a survey of British workers.
∞ Fri, 13 Apr 2012 · Comments
It’s a bit old now (kept it around as a browser tab before finally getting to read it today) but a good read nonetheless. If you don’t know who FAKEGRIMLOCK is… he’s the internet’s most awesome giant robot dinosaur, always tweeting interesting stuff about tech and commenting on blogs like AVC.
∞ Thu, 12 Apr 2012 · Comments
Spent the last few days setting up this site with WordPress and a completely custom theme created from scratch. Lots of work, but I also learned a lot, which is always a good thing. Also, I have much better control over my stuff here, which is why I’ve moved over all my PSDs from deviantART.
Oh yeah, and this is a linkblog-style entry, so click the title! More to come.
