Google halts development of Gears, makes room for HTML 5 December 2, 2009
Posted by andre in Internet & Communities.Tags: Gears, Google, HTML5
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Well, we’ve known for a while that Google was throwing considerable weight behind HTML 5, and that one of the purposes of the markup language is to do away with plug-ins for Internet apps, so it makes sense that eventually Gears would go the way of the Dodo. But so soon? Linus Upson, the man in charge of both the Chrome browser and Chrome OS engineering teams, has announced that the company is done developing the software. “We are not driving forward in any meaningful way [on Gears],” the man said in an interview with PC Magazine. “We are continuing to maintain it, so that applications will continue to work; we don’t want to break anything out there.” If you listen to this guy, it sounds like this was the plan, all along: “When we started the Gears project, three years ago… we did it because we couldn’t get the browser vendors interested in building offline applications.” He then details the mind trick: Google ships Gears, and suddenly browser vendors are “very interested in adding capabilities to build offline applications,” paving the way for the capabilities in the next version of HTML. Clever, Google. In the same interview, Upson stated the company’s plans to move all its apps to standards-based HTML 5 APIs. Now that it’s convinced the world that it wants — nay, needs — rich Internet applications, we hope that the company will promise to use its powers of persuasion for good, and not for evil.
via Google halts development of Gears, makes room for HTML 5 — Engadget
XP’s usage share down, Win 7, Firefox & IE8 up December 1, 2009
Posted by hruf in Enterprise 2.0, Internet & Communities, Multimedia.Tags: Mac OSX, Market Trends, Windows, Windows 7
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Data released by web metrics company Net Applications indicates that the release of Windows 7 to the general public has put a significant dent into Windows XP’s usage share.
For the November period, web usage of XP dropped by 1.45%, while Vista’s usage share only dropped by 0.2%. At the end of the month the state of play was as follows:
* XP: 69.03%
* Vista: 18.60%
* Win 7: 3.98%
Overall, a good month for Windows 7.
In other OS usage share news, Mac OS X usage share dropped slightly, down 0.16% to 5.11% (the third time this year that Mac has lost market share). The number in of itself isn’t all that significant, but the lost ground is. Also, Linux managed to claw back market share to end November with a 1% usage share, a spot it hasn’t held since July.
via XP’s usage share down, Win 7, Firefox & IE8 up | Hardware 2.0 | ZDNet.com.
Blu-ray/DVD flipper discs finally coming December 1, 2009
Posted by hruf in Multimedia.Tags: Blu-ray, DVD, Media Player
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Universal is set to roll out the first Blu-ray/DVD “flipper discs”–a single, dual-sided disc that contains Blu-ray on one side and DVD on the other. The “Bourne” trilogy (“Identity,” “Supremacy,” “Ultimatum”) will be the first movies to get the dual-sided treatment, with all three discs coming out on January 19.
The flipper discs are a good idea, as one of the biggest drawbacks to Blu-ray is that new movies you buy can’t be played in DVD players. That loss of flexibility can be a real pain in locations other than your home theater (car, plane, bedroom), where you probably haven’t upgraded to Blu-ray yet.
On the other hand, the flipper discs aren’t quite as attractive an option as the increasingly popular Blu-ray-DVD combo packages that include separate discs for both formats. Overall, Blu-ray-DVD combo packages offer more value–you do get two discs to take anywhere you like. The only advantage flipper discs might have is if they can drive down the price of the movies.
via Blu-ray/DVD flipper discs finally coming | Digital Media – CNET News.
Mobile photo editing & sharing now available for global iPhone users! – Photoshop.com December 1, 2009
Posted by hruf in Mobile & Gadgets.Tags: Adobe, App Store, Apple, iPhone, Photoshop
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Photoshop.com Mobile is excited to announce the latest news: the iPhone app is now available in every country with an app store. Now our international users can upload, edit & share photos from their iPhone, too.
After spending three weeks as the “Top Free” app in the iTunes Store following its release in the US & Canada, we are glad to be able to offer Photoshop.com Mobile to our global community, and we thank everyone for their patience as we worked to make this app available worldwide.
Got questions? Follow @photoshopdotcom on Twitter and send us a tweet. Our engineers are standing by to answer your questions, and we'll be sharing comments and tweeting links to the albums you create.
We also welcome our community to leave questions or feedback as comments to this blog. If you have a feature request or something you'd like to see changed in our next release, drop us a note. We'll be sure to pass on your thoughts to our development team!
To download the app, click here.
via Mobile photo editing & sharing now available for global iPhone users! – Photoshop.com.
Droid Nears Its Million-Device Target – GigaOM December 1, 2009
Posted by hruf in Mobile & Gadgets.Tags: Android, Mobile, Motorola, Market Trends, Google Android, Motorola Droid
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Motorola and Verizon’s $100 million marketing push seems to be paying off: The much-ballyhooed Droid smartphone made by Motorola and powered by Google’s Android 2.0 OS is inching toward its goal of a million devices sold during the fourth quarter of 2009. The two companies have thus far sold between 700,000 and 800,000 Droids, according to data collected by RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue.[...]
Motorola is expected to sell about 1.5 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2009, which means the company’s other Android devices — Milestone (the European version of Droid), Motorola Cliq and Dext — are not selling as well as Droid. That’s no surprise since there isn’t a big marketing push to support these devices.
Introducing twitter’s first augmented reality iPhone app with geo-tagging built in. December 1, 2009
Posted by hruf in Mobile & Gadgets.Tags: App Store, Apple, AR, iPhone, Market Trends, Mobile
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Twitter 360 is an iPhone app that lets you visually see the flow of tweets from locations nearby, layered on top of your natural “real” environment.[...]
This isn’t the first stab at the Augmented Reality Twitter app but, as far as we are aware, this is the first app to use the feature with Twitter’s new geo-tagging feature. That said, while this may be the first, don’t expect it to be the last. We’re certain a flurry of these will appear over the coming weeks.
What else does it bring to the table?
“Latest Tweets” mode. See the latest tweets of your friends (iPhone horizontal position), and the location from where they were posted (iPhone vertical position) using the Augmented Reality functionality. When a tweet is selected, a blue arrow (compass) is displayed to show the direction and the distance to the location from where the tweet was posted. The distance is updated in real time as you walk in the streets.
“Locate my Friends” mode. List of all your best friends. Twitter 360 lets you track geographic movements of your friends, you can now see where are located your nearby friends via Augmented Reality. If you want to hang out with a particular friend, use this tool to go meet him / her. Unlike the “Latest Tweets” mode (which is more focused on the tweets), the location of each of your friends is calculated with the “location” field data on the Twitter account. When a friend is selected, a blue arrow is displayed to show the direction and the distance to the location of that friend. The selected friend is highlighted in blue. The distance is updated in real time as you walk in the streets.[...]
via Introducing twitter’s first augmented reality iPhone app with geo-tagging built in.
Will YouTube Begin Charging for TV Shows? December 1, 2009
Posted by pannet in Multimedia.Tags: Ads, Hulu, iTunes, Streaming, TV, YouTube
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YouTube is in talks with content providers to add a pay-per view element to its business, which would allow partners to charge end users to view some premium content on the online video site, according to MediaMemo’s “multiple sources.”
The talks center around YouTube creating a new micro-payment model for streaming videos that would rival similar offerings from Apple’s iTunes and Amazon’s video-on-demand service. According to the report, YouTube would offer first-run shows a day after airing on broadcast and cable networks for about $1.99 each.
The news comes not long after earlier reports that YouTube was in talks with major film studios to introduce a movie rental service. In that report, YouTube was expected to charge about $3.99 for movie streams, putting it in general parity with movie rentals from iTunes and Amazon.
The key stumbling block seems to be whether consumers would pay for video streams at the same price that they pay for downloads from iTunes. But networks and studios don’t want to charge less for streaming service, fearing they might then have to renegotiate existing deals.
While Youtube already has some full-length programming from premium content partners, most notably CBS, most of that content is older, long-tail videos from shows long gone by, like Start Trek: The Original Series or Beverly Hills: 90210. But if it were able to launch a micropayments system, it could potentially open up a new realm of premium videos available to users.
YouTube isn’t the only ad-supported video site pondering a pay model; Hulu has long been rumored to be interested launching a subscription service that would add to its revenue stream, for instance. In both cases, the pay models aren’t meant to supplant the ad model, but to add additional revenue for value-added services on top of the existing business model.
Over half of Android developers dissatisfied with app profits – FierceDeveloper December 1, 2009
Posted by pannet in Mobile & Gadgets, Programming.Tags: Android, App Store, Business, Google Android, Mobile
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Given mounting frustrations over Apple’s App Store standards and surging interest in writing for Google’s rival Android platform, you might think it’s all puppies and rainbows in Android developer circles, but tensions are simmering there as well. In a recent interview with About.com, id Software co-founder and technical director John Carmack (the lead programmer on bestselling titles including Doom and Quake) said he has no interest in Android, citing financial questions: “Android really has the support and the flexibility, but I’ve been talking with the Electronics Arts people (who publish some of id’s products) about Android, and many folks are saying the money isn’t there.” Carmack’s concerns are echoed by mobile games publisher Gameloft, which said it will slash investment in its Android efforts: “We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like… many others,” Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort recently told an investor conference. “Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android, nobody is making significant revenue.” Rochefort adds that Gameloft is selling 400 times the number of games via iPhone than on Android.
Even with Android games enjoying a 53 percent month-over-month gross revenue increase in October 2009 according to data issued by strategic market research and consulting firm Fade LLC, the numbers are still alarming–Fade indicates that October’s best-selling premium Android title, Lupis Labs Software’s Robo Defense, sold 7,600 units at $2.99 each, translating to gross monthly revenues of just $22,724. With developers retaining 70 percent of Android Market revenues, Lupis Labs took home about $15,907 in Robo Defense sales over the month in question. Now a new survey released by location system provider Skyhook Wireless indicates that 57 percent of Android developers express dissatisfaction with their Android profits, with 90 percent of respondents reporting individual app downloads of 10,000 or less. In fact, 52 percent of Android developers indicate their total app downloads fall below 5,000.
The Skyhook survey identifies a number of additional factors contributing to Android developer frustrations, including the Android Market storefront’s design and discovery options as well as the absence of an effective billing system. Eighty-two percent of respondents argue Android Market’s layout contributes to their application going unnoticed by consumers, and 43 percent of developers blame Google Checkout for their lackluster download volumes, believing they would sell more applications if Android switched to operator billing or adopted a simpler payment process. Fragmentation is another major concern among developers–with an increasing number of Android-based smartphones hitting the market, 46 percent of coders surveyed say they anticipate different versions of Android complicating their developmental efforts. The end result: Sixty-eight percent of respondents tell Skyhook they are somewhat or not likely to invest additional time and energy into their Android applications. Manufacturer announcements indicate there will be more than 50 Android smartphones available in the very near future, meaning there’s no time like the present for Google to make Android Market a more hospitable environment for software sellers and buyers alike.
via Over half of Android developers dissatisfied with app profits – FierceDeveloper.
What are Google’s real motivations behind Chrome OS? | VentureBeat November 29, 2009
Posted by hruf in Internet & Communities, Mobile & Gadgets.Tags: Android, Chrome OS, Google, Google Chrome, Market Trends
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Chrome OS is Google’s latest entry into the consumer space. It is designed to be an operating system that runs on customized hardware and provides the user with only a state-of-the art browser running HTML-5 and some plugins. The tech (and mainstream) media has seen no shortage of opinions about its meaning and future impact on the industry. Unfortunately, I think most people have missed some of the key implications of Chrome OS.
[As a disclosure, I am a former Google employee, having worked there from 2002 to 2008, but I don't have any inside information on this project. In fact I didn't even know of its existence before I left.]
Google has two main aims with this project:
- To use the Google brand and buzz about its “game-changing OS” to push for new and better web apps using nascent technology. This lets Google reduce its customers’ dependence on local apps it does not control.
- Once a lot of these apps are deployed and become heavily used, the mass market will force owners of closed systems like the iPhone to implement support for HTML-5, the latest version of HTML, and rich web interfaces. Coupled with net neutrality (which Google currently strongly supporting) this will allow Google to circumvent uncooperative devices and network providers, and access consumers currently hidden behind locked system.
via What are Google’s real motivations behind Chrome OS? | VentureBeat.
Here is a more detailed analysis:
Agile User Experience Projects (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox) November 29, 2009
Posted by hruf in Enterprise 2.0.Tags: Agile Development, Project Management, UX Department
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Summary:
Agile projects aren’t yet fully user-driven, but new research shows that developers are actually more bullish on key user experience issues than UX people themselves.
Last year, we conducted a study of best practices in integrating usability methods with Agile development projects.
Usually, it’s not worth studying the same problem again just a year later since user behavior doesn’t change much. But this particular project didn’t concern user behaviors, but rather the best way to run Agile projects to ensure usability.
Because this is still a new field, we decided to supplement last year’s research with a new round of more detailed studies focused on additional organizations that have had more time to discover better ways to manage Agile user experience (UX).
UX: The Gatekeeper Role
The two main recommendations for ensuring good usability in Agile projects remain the same as in our original research:
- Separate design and development, and have the user interface team progress one step ahead of the implementation team. That way, when it comes time to build something, it’s already been designed and tested. (And yes, you can do both in a week or two by using paper prototypes and discount user testing.)
- Maintain a coherent vision of the user interface architecture. Create the initial vision during a “sprint zero” period — before any implementation has started — and maintain it through annual (or semi-annual) design vision sprints. You can’t just design individual features; they have to fit together into a coherent whole — a whole that must be designed as well. Bottom-up user interface design equals a confused total user experience (the Linux syndrome).
In both rounds of research, these two ideas proved useful across many of the different companies we studied. One modification became clear in the second round, prompted by the PayPal case study: it’s important to designate a gatekeeper to track requirements and communications between the UX team and the other project teams to keep everybody on track (even though those tracks are parallel).
