Thoughts, stories and ideas. Mostly.
Looks like Google is going to try it’s hand again at some kind of social network. The landing page for Google+ has just surfaced and with that it seems as though Google is rolling out some possible rebranding.
Really Google? A black top bar? Doesn’t that go against your entire web UI?
Update: Look’s like Engadget got an invite to Google+ and has a writeup on it here. Looks like an good approach but only time will tell if they can top the giant that is Facebook.
Everyone out there has some idea that they think is going to be the next big hit. The difference is now it’s much easier to act upon these idea’s in today’s tech based world even in a struggling economy. Enter Kickstarter, a website with one goal. Get you money from actual consumers that like your idea/product so you can get it off the ground.
The reason I am writing about this is because of the shear amount of amazing products that I have found and helped support through Kickstarter. If you have 5 minutes take some time to browse though the catalog of Kickstarter project’s and if you find one that is interesting watch the video. I bet eventually you will find at least one idea that interests you.
Kickstarter Project’s I have helped support include
Another similar site to check out is Quirky. While Kickstarter is more open ended Quirky really helps out the inventory with design & production issues. It’s also home to the PowerCurl which I helped support.
Ninja Edit (Feb 2023) - Removing the links for Quirky and PowerCurl as they no longer exist. The V2 of PowerCurl is available on Amazon though.
I hear a lot of talk focusing around iCloud these days and rightfully so. It’s a huge undertaking that Apple is betting the farm on and even with just seeing the previews of it I can say that Apple might as well double down on it’s bet. When Apple came out with the iPhone everyone wanted one but they saw it as just another device. Fast forward 3 years later and now the iPad is the new big thing but this time it’s seen as not just a new device but a possible laptop replacement.When I first got my iPad I thought it was a great device but replace my laptop? No way. Now that the ecosystem has grown for iPad specific apps the use case makes much more sense to me now.
It didn’t take long. Time to shamelessly plug my own work.
Flashlight for S40 is built on the Nokia S40 Web App platform that runs on top of the Nokia Browser. While the “app” does nothing but cycle though some color’s on the screen it was the first time I posted anything to a mobile marketplace and that in itself was worth it. I plan on adding some features, some of which are already implemented and sitting my GitHub repo, and localizing the keywords in order to drive up downloads. Granted in only 10 days in the Ovi Store Flashlight has already cleared over 7,500 downloads. Not bad for and app that just cycles though 4 colors.
Flashlight on Ovi Store (Link removed)
Ninja Edit (Feb 2023) - Removed the link to the Ovi Store as it’s no longer operational :(
Over the past 2 or 3 years I have been running some mobile device that has been on the major 3 OS platforms, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7. While they all have their lists of pro’s and con’s the one thing that has really started to bug me about the Android world is the fragmentation. Now I understand the fragmentation is something that every platform has to deal with but I think in the case of Android it makes it even worse. The addition of Honeycomb to the Android OS line was a needed step. Google wanted to get into the tablet marketplace and give Apple a run. While the Xoom is a nice piece of solid hardware after spending a few weeks with Honeycomb it was pretty clear to me that the OS was not ready for prime time let alone ready to take on the iPad. A month a go Google released Android 3.1 which took care of some issues and added new features but the same underlying issue was still present for me, a OS on dual core tablet that still seems slow.