Google, Google, And More Google

Google I/O Conference is this week, and the giant has pulled no punches with its announcements. One of which is Google TV. A set-top box with Android guts and the ability to download mobile apps, but made to view television shows, movies, and video anywhere they are found on the web. Got an Android phone (or an iphone, touch or pad), well you can get an app that will allow you to control your Google box over wifi.

Speaking of Android, Google also used the Conference also let loose the new Android “Froyo” mobile OS that’s fully Flash compatible and is claimed to run laps around the current iPhone OS (the summer will be HOT when Apple drops their new iphone OS 4.0 this June).

Speaking of Apple, Google has also announced a cloud-based service that will allow Android phones to live stream itunes music uploaded to the cloud. That is in direct competition with Apple that plans to announce its own itunes cloud media service as a result of buying and shutting down the LaLa music site that allowed you to upload, download and buy itunes compatible music and access it via the web.

If you’ve had enough Google for this update, then TOO BAD, because Google I/O also took the time to announce that Google Wave, the online communicating, sharing, collaboration, and networking service is live and open to the public. So if you are looking for a way to meet with your group that’s spread out over the country, or just want to share some pictures with Grandma in real time, you now don’t need an invite to use wave (but you will need either Google Chrome, Apple Safari, or Mozilla FireFox browsers in order to use Wave…sorry Microsoft Internet Explorer users *sad face*)

It seems as if Big Brother Google is in Full effect!

Bit.ly Shows Off Their Revamped Site
image via: InterAwesome

Those of us who are heavy into sharing links via social networking sites should be pleased to know that the popular URL shortening site Bit.ly has done a revamp that includes automatically shortening URL’s (before you have to click ‘shorten’), and adding more functionality like quickly searching your short link history and recovering deleted links. They’ve also added more real-time tracking and analytics so you can obsess over how many people are clicking your links up-to-the-second.

Google Touches Up Desktop & Mobile Search Pages
image via: BloodHoudBlog.com

Google has added a left side search optimization bar to both its desktop AND its mobile search page. It’s similar to the current bar at the top of the search page that has the ‘image, web, videos, etc. options; but with more options that will enable you to further zero in on the actual results you were looking for. It reminds me of the Bing search engine by Microsoft, or eBay’s search options. Either way, I think it’s a nice addition, especially to the mobile page. You could for instance narrow your search without repeatedly changing your initial search words.

Scribd and Opera Jump on the HTML5 Bandwagon
image via: andyuk.net

You could say it has been a rough couple of weeks for Adobe seeing as their Flash product that has pretty much been a web developer’s must have to bring media content to the web has been loosing support in favor of HTML5, the new web language. HTML5 isn’t fully adopted and integrated yet, but recently, Apple slammed Flash and is NOT adding it to ANY of it’s mobile devices, and Microsoft sees a bright [web] future with HTML5 and is making plans for future developments around it. Slowly but surely, more and more companies are following suit. Next on that list is media sharing/publishing site Scribd, and mobile web browser platform Opera.

Scribd says it doesn’t need Flash because its content isn’t really heavy enough to need a powerful web plug-in like Flash, and Opera said that using Flash on a mobile device was similar to cooking an egg on the concrete in the sun. So both of the them are endorsing HTML5 and as a result, delivering another blow to the future of Flash.

Apple Fanboys/girls Need Love Too!
image via: Cupidtino

The new site Cupidtino (a mash-up of the ‘Cupid’ & Cupertino, CA where Apple’s HQ is located) plans to be the “hook up” site those in love with their Apple Products. In addition to just provide a place for Apple fans to date, mate, and birth entire Apple families, members will also have access of exclusive social and location-based apps for the iPhone and iPad.

I will leave you with a quote from Techcrunch, that I happen to cosign:

“On the other hand, making sure that Apple fans only date other Apple fans is a good way of stopping them from spreading their Apple fan genes to the general population, I guess. So maybe this site isn’t all bad.

That's my site...and my thumb

*In my typical, nonchalant attitude*

“It’s cool”

The wifi version has been out a little over a month and the 3G version just dropped last weekend. I decided to wait for the 3G because I knew I would be in places where free and open wifi would not be available. So I had to ride the bench while seemingly everyone else got to partake in the “firsties” enjoyment.

But my time came, and my iPad (32GB) hit my door last Friday at 1pm – Shout out to FedEx.

So instead of giving you the same features/benefits type of post everyone else has done already, I will give you my quick observations, and go into what I have done thus far with my new toy.

Observations:

- A little heavier than I thought it would be…but I like a little junk in the trunk
(see: Erykah Badu’s ‘Window Seat’ video)

- I find myself cleaning the screen often
The gadget just looks good, and the finger smudges seem to “stank it up”

- Photos, music cover art, videos and movies all look gorgeous
Nothing witty to add, just stating fact

- I think it’s cool that iPad-specific apps have settings you can change in the global settings menu in addition to app-specific settings in the app settings menu
(That makes sense in my head)

- I would like to have access to the file system
I have OCD when it comes to organization

- 50% percent of the time, the camera connection kit works 100%
I could only get the USB dongle to work and not the SD card slot version.

- AT&T 3G is just okay
But I already knew that

- I thought the lack of Flash and multi-tasking would be noticeable, but it actually isn’t
*Crosses fingers for HTML5 and a download of OS 4.0 in the fall*

- Mrs. Tech hates it
*Just wait for the “newness” to wear off sweetie*

Having said that, the first thing I did (after being forced to hook it up to a computer for basic setup) was look for iPad apps. The iPhone apps are okay on it, but I paid for an iPad, not an iPhone…so I’ll wait (step it up devs!). I went to sites like Gizmodo and TUAW to look for apps they recommended. The apps I decide to download are:

FeddlerRSS – RSS Reader
PrintCentral - Wireless printing
SplashID – Password Manager
Dictionary – Do I really have to explain?
Zinio – Digital Magazine Reader
Dropbox – Cloud Storage
Pandora – Streaming Music
Netflix – Instant movies and Queue Control
PDFReader Pro – PDF Reader
Photobucket – Online photo storage/sharing
Craigsphone – Craigslist…but nicer
eBay – Buy and sell stuff
ABC Player – watch ABC shows
Twitterrific – Twitter Client (just barely edged out TweetDeck)
Evernote – Online note storage
WordPress – Blog control
Wikipanion – Wiki stuff

Most of the above apps are free, and there are only a couple of paid apps. But none of them are more than 10 bucks, and they are WORTH IT. If the two of you who read my blog have some suggestions, hook a brotha up.

Next up was getting my email accounts, contacts and calendars set up. I use Gmail & Google Apps for all of this stuff so it was pretty easy. The only hitch is that the iPad can only synchronize ONE set of calendar/contacts via Google Sync. There are ways around it, but I’m cool for now (don’t mind going to the web for the others) and I’m hoping Google/Apple will resolve this on their own.

In the meantime and in-between time, I reorganized my iTunes Library and just synced my playlists instead of trying to sync my entire library. I also bought a movie or two (‘Aliens’ and ‘Transformers: The Movie’ (the cartoon version) just to see how they would look – Those are my two all-time favs, and I was impressed. I will be researching ways to put my movie collection (as a copy, not for resale – take that piracy!), so if you have any tips, let me know.

Last on the list was firing up the AT&T’s 3G service. Like I said before it was just “okay”, but I didn’t expect much. I just wanted it to get the job done, and so far so good. I only signed up for the 250mb plan, and based on my current usage, I could stand to upgrade to the unlimited plan. But I am gonna hold off because I feel my usage will stabilize after I get the hang of the device. Set up was a cinch and it is all done in the iPad setting menu, no registering or logging into a website to get started. You can also view your usage there as well.

So there you have it. If you have any tips, tricks, guides or comments about the iPad feel free to drop me a line.

Note: I did NOT write this entire post from my iPad…just in case you were wondering.

So far so good with my iPad 3G. I’ll make sure to get you all a better write up later (especially when I fire up the 3G service).

But for now I can tell you that this baby collects some MAJOR smudges. So I spent most of my time on the iPad (including writing this entry) with pre-washed & sanitized hands.

So that means my hands and thusly my body is more germ-free as a result of buying an iPad.

That’s a plus right?

Went to the mall to look for a plain white button-down polo shirt and ended up with some “goodies”

The countdown has started