Archives For Technology

Google Hangouts

20 May 2013

It’s fair to say that Google has been fairly fragmented in the messaging space before Google I/O 2013. Google+ Messenger, GTalk, GChat, Google Voice and Google Hangouts were just some of the company’s messaging/communications products and even Vic Gundotra, Google’s VP of Engineering admitted at the Google I/O keynote that it wasn’t ideal. Wasn’t ideal was an understatement. It was horrible. If you started a chat with someone in gmail chat, there’s no way to continue the same chat on my mobile.

So it was no surprise that Google had to rethink their messaging strategy from a scratch and the resulting product is Google Hangouts. It fixes most but not all of the issues. Instead of different versions of chat, video chat and calling across Google products, Hangouts gives me one consistent way to message people that has a…… you guessed it, a Google account.

Google is definitely moving towards the right direction with messaging but when Vic Gundotra was lamenting that messaging should be cross platform, ubiquitous and easy, everything goes out of the window if I didn’t have a Google account.

It’s not easy to try and convince my mother who has been using Yahoo mail for ages to switch to Gmail so I can message her with Hangouts. My family and friends are mostly iPhone users and Messages (iMessages is a protocol, not the app) is seamless, works with your phone number, integrates with SMS and if you have a Mac, you can message someone on their iPhones. But of course, the huge downside to Apple’s Messages is it’s locked down to Apple’s ecosystem.

In a sense, even Facebook Chat is a lot better than Hangouts when it comes to ubiquity. People that I (almost) care about are on Facebook and it’s easier to get them to respond to messages. I tried getting a few friends to respond to my Hangouts invites or groups chats and I get no responses. Friends that have used Android mobiles for years still prefer texting, Whatsapp and Facebook Chat.

Google has already committed to adding SMS integration and voice calling to Hangouts so things will certainly get better. Don’t get me wrong, the group video chat feature is very cool. I can see myself using that in many ways, just not with many friends.

PS: It’s just really with Jason Teen and no one else.

15GB For Google Users

14 May 2013

It doesn’t come as a surprise to me that Google is giving more free storage space to its users. In doing so, Google is also unifying the storage space used between Gmail, Google Drive and Google+ Photos across the 15GB bump that they are going to bestow upon users in the next few weeks.

I’m not really sure how they’re going to divvy up the space for users with grandfathered plans though. I logged into my Gmail and it’s showing I have 30GB of space available. Is that with the 20GB I have paid for yearly? (I’m on the grandfathered 20GB $5/year plan) Or would I get a total of 35GB once the new free storage kicks in?

On top of that, Google announced that app users will be getting a bump in storage above the free users to 30GB. I checked my Google App account and am still seeing the 10GB space I had before. It’s all very confusing! I’m sure Google is sorting the logistics of everything out behind the scenes and with Google I/O coming up in the next 2 days, hopefully things will be a little clearer.

I wonder if these upgrades will be enticing enough for me to give up my 100gb $99/yr Dropbox subscription?

Messaging Wars

8 May 2013

These are the apps I have installed on my Macbook Pro for my texting, messaging and IM. Messages (default app from Mac OS X), Skype, Facetime, Adium (For MSN only), Tweetbot, Tweetdeck, Wedge (for App.net) and Viber.

And these are the chat services I use on my browser for other IM needs. Facebook chat and Google Talk.

These are the apps I have on my iPhone 5 that I use for texting, messaging and IM. Messages (default app on iOS), Skype, Facebook Messenger Chat, Whatsapp, Google+ Messenger, Tweetbot, Netbot (for App.net) and Viber

I would seriously pay someone a fortune for an app to consolidate all these services into a single app across iOS and Mac OS X.

WWDC 2013

28 April 2013

Tickets got sold out in TWO MINUTES flat. Apple’s developer conference isn’t like Google’s I/O event where they give out free stuff and it’s still as popular. It’s also much more expensive at $1500 per ticket compared to Google’s at $900.

Interest is waning over iOS and Mac development? I don’t think so.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Reviews

28 April 2013

Reviews for Samsung’s new flagship phone, the Galaxy S4 are popping up on the internet and the feeling from tech enthusiasts are that this is a gradual upgrade to the S3 with a ton of new features to bait you in buying the phone, but useless during your day to day usage. I’m sure it’s a capable smartphone and it will sell in the millions but according to many, it’s a cheap looking device compared to the HTC One or iPhone 5.

David Pearce from The Verge sums it up:

The GS4 just flat out doesn’t feel like a premium device. It’s still made of slimy, slippery white plastic with silver edges and feels gross to hold. The device itself is relative ergonomic and relatively comfortable to hold. But I found myself constantly wiping my hands off thinking they were sweaty.

Samsung justifies the cheap material for a removable back cover which allows you the option to travel with an extra battery for a longer battery life experience. I don’t know if Samsung knows this but battery packs like these does exactly the same thing.

I’m not all sour grapes about the S4 though. I admit modes available on the S4′s camera app are pretty awesome and it wouldn’t hurt to have a little more options in the settings of the iOS camera app.

I wonder if Samsung fanboys will have the “Who would know I’m holding an S4 because it looks too similar to the S3″ attitude when it comes to purchasing the phone. Don’t worry, we’ll all know when you’re doing the air swipe on the trains like an idiot.

Facebook Home

5 April 2013

I like it. The UI is clean and it shows you photos your friends have posted right on the lockscreen of your Android mobile. And the fact that you can chat with your friends on Facebook Messages even when you’re in another app is awesome because the friends I chat with most are all on Facebook chat. Obviously Facebook Home is going to be available only for Android mobiles for now (and not even all Android mobiles can support it) and I doubt that Apple will allow Facebook Home to exist in the same form on the iOS.

The only thing that worries me is that the photos/status updates on the lock screen would only look good if you have friends that do exciting stuff and take photos like a pro photographer. My friends? They prefer to flood my news feed with articles of dead baby elephants.

Thoughts On The Galaxy S4

18 March 2013

So Samsung announced the Galaxy S4 amid a huge Broadway style show and dance event in New York. The CEO of the company opened the keynote by announcing the new device, spent 10 minutes giving a quick run down of hardware specs before making way for a song and dance presentation headed by what can be only described as a poor version of Neil Patrick Harris.

Make no qualms about it, it was very weird.

It seemed like Samsung had this vast amount of marketing cash pile and don’t really know how to spend it. Someone, somewhere in Samsung decided that a theatrical performance was the best way to introduce the Galaxy S4′s features to a room full of tech journalists.

There were a few hardware upgrades like a larger screen, thinner profile and better processors, but the consensus across the board was that the S4 looked exactly like the S3. Oh no! How are people going to know that I’ve upgrade to the Galaxy S4 if it looks exactly like the previous model? Android fanboys used to laugh at Apple fanboys when Apple released the iPhone 3GS and 4S. They claimed its just a money gouging move by Apple to make customers upgrade without having to change the iPhone’s design. It’s a sign that Apple was being lazy and with these tick tock incremental updates, Apple was losing its innovative edge.

I wonder what those same Android or even to an extent Samsung fanboys would say now that Samsung is copying Apple by copying itself. When I raised the issue of no major design changes to the Galaxy S4, I got a barrage of tweets like the one below defending Samsung.

A little bit of hypocrisy from Samsung fanboys maybe?

On top of their bizarre presentation, there was no mention of Android, no mention of Google but Samsung demonstrated a whole slew of Galaxy exclusive software features like S Translate, Airview without an S Pen, Air Gestures, Smart Pause and S Health. To me, these are all just gimmicky features to suck buyers into purchasing the device. Samsung is definitely going to go all gangbusters with marketing these features, features that the iPhone and other Android smartphones don’t have.

In doing that, they’ve gone into the “tick tock” cycle of releasing handsets used so successfully by Apple for their 3GS and 4S. It works for Apple because of a unique combination of premium quality build, thriving ecosystem and the assurance of knowing when is the best time to purchase iPhones in the annual cycle. Now that Samsung has garnered such a huge marketshare in the smartphone domain, it’s not just about selling hardware to their customers anymore. It’s about selling software features that differ themselves from other manufacturers.

I’ve got no doubt that Samsung will sell a boat load of these devices and if you own the 2 generation old S2, it’s definitely worth an upgrade. Samsung did say that the Galaxy S3 will get the S4 features down the road via an update so I’m not sure how enticing is it for S3 owners to upgrade.

Competition in the smartphone market has never been more hotly contested between Apple and Samsung so it’ll be interesting to see if what Samsung has done is enough to push Apple into greater heights this year.

Google Reader No More

14 March 2013

After last night’s drama of missing out on a Google I/O 13 ticket because of Google Wallet’s inability to handle the vast amount of traffic on its server, Google dropped another bombshell this morning by announcing that they will be shutting Google Reader off on the 1st of July.

WHAT THE FUCK GOOGLE?

Google Reader is the only reason I can keep a handle on all the tech news on the various technology and Apple news blog I follow and the the ability to sync the news feeds I have on my iPhone and iPad with the Reeder app was paramount for me. Now what am I supposed to do if Google is going to shut down Reader?

Some people on the interwebs suggested Google Currents. The only problem is Currents is only available as an Android and iOS app and there is no desktop or web option. Another popular suggestion was Pulse and Flipboard. I subscribe to about a hundred sites on my Google Reader and have to go through 200-300 stories a day so viewing them in a magazine style format with Pulse and Flipboard just does not compute. The worst suggestions were of those saying news consumption have moved past RSS and onto social media like Twitter, Facebook and Google+. What a load of bullshit.

I need my RSS feeds to act more like email and less like a hipster browsing a magazine at Starbucks.

To be honest, there are some decent alternatives out there and Newsblur, Feedly, and TheOldReader that springs to mind. It’s too early to say which service I will move to and I’m waiting to see if a new RSS sync option would happen take over the reins from Google Reader before the 1st of July.

Reeder did tweet that everything will be fine even though you need a Google Reader subscription to use the app so that’s good to hear. How Reeder is going to circumvent using Google Reader’s sync options is anyone’s guess.

At the end of the day, there isn’t a more simplistic RSS sync option that just works, adopted by a large number of apps and when push comes to shove, I would even fork out some dough if Google decides to keep Reader as a paid service.

Not everyone is unhappy though, Brent Simmons and Marco Arment seemed to have seen this coming and think that Google shutting Reader could only be good news to push innovation in RSS.

We’ll see.

Facebook Announces News Feed Design Update

9 March 2013

Pretty glad that Facebook has finally put some love back into their website after recent updates have been focused on their mobile apps. The current news feed design has too much whitespace for my liking and the graphics used on the left column reminds me of websites from the early 2000s. The new feed is going to have larger album previews, bigger articles, music and status updates. The chat column will also be move to the left and reduced to a long column of icons.

Facebook is trying to bring it’s desktop website design in line with their mobile apps and I reckon that’s a good move keeping everything the same across all platforms. Many users are complaining the change is a ploy by Facebook to want to start aggressively pushing more ads into our news feed but what I want to say to these whingers is you’re using something for free and you’re complaining about ads? Would you pay for Facebook? If not, they should probably shut the fuck up.

Another thing I like is specialized feeds that shows only photos that my friend posts, music that they listen to or just status updates of people I follow on Facebook. This would have remove a lot of crap on my news feed like inspirational stories/quotes that people love to share and irritating updates/scores of Facebook games that my friends are playing.

Now if only Facebook would get rid of that two column timeline on profile pages and revert to a single column one as rumoured, I’ll be a happy camper.