Happy 4th of July! Google’s Take Action campaign neglected to offer an option to connect with Gmail or even Google Plus. Sure you might not supply your zip code but that could be an added step if that functionality was really important.
People rather connect with a service they’ve already agreed to for security and convenience. The convenience here would go both ways.
Make the best of this day and be safe. If you aren’t celebrating at least take action about a free and open Internet.
You have three big tech companies all on the mobile battleground map. Like any war-based strategy game like Starcraft or Command & Conquer you have the ability to see which sides do what. Because of the media, the Internet, and press events we see Apple, Google, and Microsoft in this mobile landscape.
What’s great is they each offer different styles. Apple with skeuomorphic, Google with hybrid, and Microsoft with purely digital. It has yet to be proven if there can be three styles on the same map comfortably playing.
There are three distinct mobile user interfaces that challenge one another all being decided upon by the end user. Any UI adjustments made create even a greater challenge. This is the case for market leader, Apple.
Where Facebook events seem like an annoyance, Google delivers an enjoyable experience with ‘Party Mode’.
From the small, but noticeable design touches to the capability of everything being gathered like a real event Google releases how an event feature should quite possibly behave.
More to come on what Google is doing with Google+.
For Google’s money making strategy being advertising they know how to create their own ads and sell what they’re building. This ad, shown above, is remarkable. It displays how the experience works with an added remix composition.
Google Chrome is quickly becoming the standard browser. With 310 million active users there is no question that Google is doing something right.
In late 2008, Google Chrome was released and faced heavy competition from the then leader Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. But, what Chrome lacked was the cross platform usage which includes using the browser on the ever popular iPhone and iPad devices. That’s all changed.
Today, Google announced that you can now have your Chrome browser be on those devices. Many tech reviews and people on Twitter have mentioned their move from Safari to Chrome.
Why Chrome? It’s fast, it’s secure, and it was the first to introduce the all-in-one address bar to make searching easy. It also was the first to eliminate the title bar with focus put on the tab functionality.
On top of all of this they were able to have many developers create extensions and apps to only enhance the Chrome experience. The focus is clearly put on user pleasure. The growth came from a strong push in the advertising both on YouTube, Google’s homepage, and actual television of which Microsoft is seeing as an avenue to promote Internet Explorer 9 (they love dubstep).
Sure many see it Google Chrome as just a browser. But, really this is Google’s operating system that is being built on top of existing OSs. Mind blown? We are.
Google pushes the return of the “Made in the USA” approach for consumer electronics. The United States once the leader in manufacturing has, because of cheaper labor, lost its spot to China and Mexico.
At the Google I/O event they announced the Nexus Q, but they didn’t mention that is was manufactured in the United States. The price tag is $300, but that should be self explanatory. The New York Times and The Verge did a niece piece related to this matter.
It’s a step in the right direction of not only designing quality hardware in the United States, but also manufacturing here.
Google’s first in-house consumer hardware won’t just say, “Designed in California”. It says, “Designed and Manufactured in the USA.”
- Source
Joshua Topolsky, Editor-in-chief of The Verge, had the opportunity of trying out a pair of glasses under Project Glass by Google.
What seemed like an exclusive project for Google to make an augmented reality come to light is a little more serious than we thought. At this years Google I/O event they announced a pair of these glasses that would be available for Google developers at a price of $1500 with them being released early 2013.
Josh briefly touched on his experience:
The experience is not all that different from those bulky head-mounted displays that can be worn to see a full HD video without an actual TV in front of you, though the screen image is much smaller, and only occupies one side of your vision.
There is sound emanating from the device, though there’s no in-ear component, and you have to cup your hand over your ear to get any reasonable volume out of the Glass headset. It was, however, incredibly light, and can also be worn over glasses.
Additionally, during the event Sergey stated that the company had been in talks with both standard eyeglass and sunglass makers, and that there were variations of Glass with slightly different form factors.
Google is serious about Project Glass being developed for consumers to buy someday. Augmented reality is ready to deploy, more than ever today, by all the increasing amount of data being produced by people for their personal lives. All we need is a device to make sense of it all and well more data, testing, and analyzing.
(via thisistheverge)
Some good stuff by @naldzgraphics that truly inspired me to work more on my G+ profile.
High-res
