Google + Project: My Vision

If you keep up with tech news, you are already probably annoyed of all the talk about Google's latest attempt to break into social networking. If you don't, well this will introduce it to you. I know I'm a bit late in the game on this one, but I didn't want to blog about it until I got my invite and had some time to play around with it. So in this post of Tech Update, I'm going to give my thoughts on the new, invite only site.

Just a few nights before Google announced its new Google+ Project, my brother and I were talking about the company's potential. Upon the announcement followed by the buzz from the media, I was eager to see if Google CEO Larry Page was stalking me and listening to my ideas (it turns out he wasn't, but I think Murdoch did), but the product isn't bad.

Although I will give a general review of the site and some of its features, I want to spend more time talking about its future.If you are looking for reviews on the site in more detail, here is one. It is a positive review, but then again, it's tough to find a negative one.

In our discussion, my brother and I laid out the potential for a Google social network because it could spread it out to every aspect of its empire, and the Google+ Project is flexible enough to do just that. 

The simplicity of the design was expected; Google is known for it, which is why I was so surprised when everyone went crazy over it. Yes, Google = simple. Have you visited Google.com? Have you ever used Chrome? or any other their other products?

Being an Privacy Settings Control-Nazi on Facbook, I found Google+ Circles to be extremely useful and refreshing. Of the friends I decided to invite, I quickly organized them in different circles and established my sharing rules, all of which is far easier than Facebook (for now). 

There are many interesting features on Google, most based on previous/current social networking competitors (myspace, facebook,etc). Out of all its original features, I'd have to put Sparks in first and Hangouts in second. Allow me to talk in greater detail about both.

Sparks is basically a way for you to create a stream of news from Google's index on any given subject. I currently have two Sparks: Technology and Politics. When you set up a spark (it takes literally, 1 word's time to set up) you get a great stream of information relative to the words you put. This way I can alternate between my friend's streams, family streams, and other circles as well as my news about the world all in one place! Bravo!

Hangouts has received a huge amount of attention because it allows for 10 way video chat. After trying it myself, the video chat was pretty good but could use some minor tinkering. What I found most impressive about this, isn't that you are allowed a conference video call for free, forever (most others charge. Damn you Skype and Oovoo!!), what impressed me most was the fact that you can start a Hangout, and just... well.. hang out. If ever I'm bored, I can let people know, without begging on a status or annoying anyone that is busy, that I (perhaps with some friends sitting nearby) am open to online video chat to whoever wants it. It is the ultimate invitation to talk without annoying anyone that wants to avoid you, or is too busy to talk. 

With this said, the network's potential is huge if Google heeds my advice: Google needs greater integration between its Google+ Project and the rest of its search, phone, tablet, and computer empire. The navigation bar is just one place where Google has began expanding the network outside of the website itself. The Google black navigation bar can be seen by everyone (go search anything on Google right now). When you have a Google+ account, it adds additional buttons to the bar to view notifications, your profile picture and home page. Most importantly, there is a share button that literally follows you whenever you are searching for anything on Google!

At the same time, some months ago, Google introduced its +1 button to be found on all Google Search results. Click it, and it acts much like a Facebook "Like" button (a clear rip-off). Now, whenever you give a website a +1, which has outnumbered the number of Tweet buttons out there, friends searching on Google can see what pages you recommend. Aside from the navigation bar and this +1 button, this is where Google stops its expansion, but it needs to continue it if it wants  to compete with Facebook. 

I know what you are going to say, Google+ is only 2 weeks old and its a "Project" in the works. Yet in those two weeks, 10 million have joined an invite only website and they are sharing a BILLION pieces of content per day. Google should do well to move on and further develop the website. 

So where exactly lies the potential? Google needs to bring more of its products into Google+ as well as export the social network outside (it has spent more time doing the latter). I was extremely impressed when my Gmail chat was imported into my Google+ account, but that is where Google stops on the integration (aside from replacing my old Google Profile). I believe that Google should work on better integration between Google+ and Gmail. Rather than keep Gmail listed on the top of the navigation bar, I want to be able to send emails from Google+ as well as create (with permission) a social environment within my email. Oddly enough, no one seems to care that you can't message anyone in Google+!

As with Gmail, Google Calendar would be an extremely useful add on to the Google+ profile (something else Facebook doesn't have). This would increase Google Calendar uses and allow people to organize their lives online, with Google+. Google News, Google Reader and Google Sparks should all be combined to create one major, simple, powerful, content feed that can be accessed on the Google+ Sparks page. 

Youtube and Google Maps can also be greatly useful (the latter especially in mobile) and exporting Google+ to these services as well as making it easier to share on the network will increase content and product use. Maps could soon be used to provide daily deals for anyone traveling around the city. 

Finally, lesser known Google initiatives like Google Groups should be fully integrated into the Google+ network and will likely gain much traction as a way for people to organize.

After all this is done, there is still a one major move Google must make: Pre-install Google+ Project App (doesn't exist yet) into every Android system (phone and tablet) that is produced. That's 300,000 phones with the app going into people's hands every day, and the tablet market is still fresh for Google's taking. Their default sharing, much like their search, will be to Google. These are all ways for Google to make smart business decisions as well as simply the life of one college student prayer for better integration between Google Products.

As with all this news, we should all be concerned about privacy settings. For the time being, Google seems to have solved that with Circles, although, admittedly, I haven't posted that much photo/video content just yet until I get a better look at how it differs from Facebook in its policy. For the time being it seems to be satisfactory, however, the outlook of this project is more magical than a double rainbow. It's a work in progress for Google, and there is much work to be done. 

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TECH Update: Google's Strategy Part 2

This is Part 2 in my look at Google's strategy. Click here for Part 1.

...

Google released its own browser named Chrome. The web browser (which I'm using right now and have implored you to switch to in more than one TECH Update post) followed Google's famed simply design and introduced so many new ideas the competition is copying it.  Chrome's design is meant to remove the browser out of your online experience by making it as thin as possible, so you can experience and see the web instead of the browser bar. It was also tested as the fastest browser in start-up and website speed.  Google then opened its design to allow others to copy it. 

Why would a company want its competition like Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari to copy it?  Simple, if Google' leads the development of browsers to make them faster, simpler, better protected, and with better support for HTML 5 and Javascript, it would greatly benefit Google's other products like its Instant Search, Docs, Calender and more.  Google benefits when all browsers move forward and become better; it didn't see enough development and made its own browser to push the market forward. Today, Google's sandbox, Omnibox, thin browser have all been copied in newer versions of Internet Explorer and the new Firefox 4. 

But Google didn't stop there when it came to the browser. Eventually Google released its Chrome Webstore. Here, Chrome users and can use and download Extentions which are built into your browser to enhance your web experience, Apps which are found in your new tab page. Some are built in, but most act as simple links to websites to show up of power of the web in a store where you may not have discovered otherwise. The Apps vary from Education, Games, Shopping, News and much more. The Chrome Webstore also includes a large array of Themes (copied from Firefox) to customize your browser. Finally, you can find Google's Ebook store where you can find 3 million free books to read online.

However, not all things are free. Like other App stores, there are some Apps that do charge for their download. 

Recently, Google has taken Chrome one step further. It finished its initial testing of its ChromeOS system and has introduced it to the world; the future of computing. 

Because the laptop runs on a stripped-down system, first-time setup takes three minutes, and the computers boot up in 8 seconds,Sundar Pichai, an executive for the Chrome group, said during the presentation

Acer and Samsung will be the first to sell the Chromebooks for around 500 dollars.  Here is an introductory video:

This introduction comes at the same conference that the company released its beta version of a cloud music player called Music Beta which I wrote about in my last post here.  With all this in mind, we haven't even talked about Google Blogger (which I use on this blog) and a plethora of other online software. 

Google's strategy is clear: move everything online and all these steps prove it to be true. As its office tools like Google Docs, Calendar and more get stronger, its web browser continues to double in popularity each year (went from 70 million to 160 million today in 1 year), Android system take over the smartphone market and quickly grow in the slate market, Google wants everyone to be able to do everything without ever doing a computer virus scan. 

It imagines a world where you never have to update your operating system manually, where you never have to save a document (it automatically saves), where you have access to your music, books, games, and favorite websites anywhere with an internet connection (or with the option to download). Never again should you worry about the memory on your computer or downloading malicious software. My skeptics look at Google's investments in driveless cars and windmills and question the sanity of the company's leadership, but I see a clear direct strategy to bring the world closer to the web. Yes, it has failed when it comes to social networking, but the company is not as weak or careless as some portray it to be. All it needs to do is follow the strategy is has so far and better connect all its different software into a central platform. Through Gmail but using Chrome on computers and Android on other platforms, this is how Google is aiming to do it. 

Others are concerned of its dominance in these markets and I certainly welcome competition from Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook but its clear that Google is taking the lead and making the risky investments. Bravo. 

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TECH Update: Google's Strategy Part 1

For anyone watching Google, a trend should appear rather quickly. The massive corporation is leading the world to the future of computing and they have an ingenious strategy. The events and innovations I list are not in chronological order but allow me to piece it all together (I've divided it into a two part series because there is too much to cover):

Google believes in the power of the web but more specifically, HTML5; a powerful new web based code system that allows for far more powerful internet applications. This allows websites to have cooler designs, support better graphics and most importantly, establish a better foundation for heavier content like videos (videos are/will take over the internet). 

Google has been taking strong action to get us to rethink what the web is capable of.  After it established its dominance as a search engine, the company expanded into emailing with its Gmail service. Today Gmail has grown astoundingly fast, is easy to use and is the 4th most used email client in the world (as of Jan 2010) with embedded chat through Gchat, Aim and even video conference calling. 

Since then Google has come out with a slew of other free products such as Google Documents, Spreadsheets, Calendar, and Presentations; all of which have progressed quite well. Made and saved online, the products you make are accessible to you from any computer (and other devices) with an internet connection.

Although you don't need a Gmail account to use any of the named products, today, all your work via Google products can be simplified and centered around Gmail. 

Then, in Nov of 2007, Google developed its own phone software called Android. This surprised many people and left analysts scratching their heads. By now the iPhone had already been introduced and Blackberries were gaining popularity. What surprised many people was that Google was going to give this software out to phone companies for free. Most analysts were surprised and dismissed Google's venture as an unnecessary move by a company whose core business was Search (even today Gmail and Google Docs, etc don't make the company money). 

Today, the strategy seems more clear than ever. Android holds 1/3 of the U.S. market and is soon to be considered by most estimates as the most purchased smartphone system in the world as it releases 300,000 Andoird systems per day. Google still releases new Android systems for free and did enter the smartphone industry late, but is the market leader now. How has this helped the company? Android users now get Gmail pre-installed in every phone. They have access to Google Docs, Spreadsheet, etc instantly and have Google's Search engine built into the phone. Android ads are now expected to generate a billion dollars by 2012 as it released new information that its search engine in Android systems have increased existing revenues by 2.8 billion. 

The Android system has introduced Google's services to countless people but has reaped great revenues in ads and search for the company. Then the company expanded its Android system (late in the game) to the slate market; a market created and dominated completely by Apple's iPad. If Google follows the same strategy it did with the smartphone business, it will eventually have full control over the slate market.

In Part 2 I'll take into account Google's Chrome, Chrome OS and conclude!

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TECH Update: Giants Battle

It's been some time since my last post (just finished with finals, hello summer!) and also a while since I've posted a tech update. Over the past 48 hours, important things happened that will affect hundreds of millions of people, so let's get to it.

Microsoft buys Skype:

Over the past week there was much talk about Google or Facebook buying up the video chat company with some 200 million users worldwide. I would have preferred that Facebook buy it because the benefits would have been greater. The deal would have likely led to Facebook Chat being enhanced with a video Skype option where you can just call others, in browser.  Google already has a relatively strong video chat system in Gmail and Google voice is increasing in popularity. 

Out of nowhere, and much to my surprise, Twitter blew up with talk of Microsoft making the purchase; CEO's soon followed with the official announcement. As shown in the article attached, Hotmail, Xbox, and Windows 7 users will the the most direct beneficiaries. 

Facebook and Microsoft have had major business deals in the past (you can do a web search in Facebook and find "Web results" by Bing) so it won't be long before they hash out a deal to introduce some kind of video chatting via the social networking site. 

My concern is what Microsoft will try to do with Skype the program. Integrating the software is great and will surely enhance the Window 7 phone (instead of having Skype as a simple app), improve the huge but less than "sexy" Hotmail, and help Windows in its fight to get more "social" amidst Google's constant failures but this says nothing of what will happen with my (and 200 million others') experience on the program itself. The last thing I want to see is a constant message imploring me to buy everything Microsoft. 

I would have preferred it go to Facebook, but with Microsoft buying Skype, it may help level the playing field when it comes to Google's dominance in search, phone market, and email. 

Google opens new ventures:

Meanwhile, the conglomerate named Google has just opened its invite-only software called Music Beta. I'm waiting to get my invite to use the software (will come in a week hopefully) and can give you more time, but its a clear move by the company to sprint ahead of Apple's iTunes, the world's most used music player.

You see, many have demanded it, and even more are now expecting, that Apple will release a new version of iTunes that allows you to access your music from anything with an internet connection. Most people assume it will come with the new iPhone, and so do I from all the evidence, however the time its taken to establish the cloud network, has allowed Google (and previously before it) Amazon to run their own systems hoping to get ahead. 

Here is their introductory video:

As I understand it, it allows you to upload hundreds of thousands of songs (in the beta version) as opposed to Amazon's 5 gb. It would also have the greatest benefit of being pre-installed in every Android Phone and Android slate (and eventually into Google's Chrome laptop). 

This is the future of, not only music, but all computers; when they will be as light as a 1 subjective notebook (or lighter) with everything stored up above... in the cloud. 

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TECH Update: Big Moves

I was going to wait to post a new post in this series, but with so much going on, I feel I must. There have been some very big moves made by different companies in the tech industry lately, so let us begin. 

AT&T buys T-Mobile:

As a T-mobile customer, I've had mixed feelings about a possible merger. A few days ago, AT&T officially announced it's acquisition of T-mobile for 39 billion dollars. The government still needs to officially give the stamp of approval to the merger (based on anti-trust laws). If they make the hurdle the move will be a smart one for AT&T for several reasons: First, the merger would make the combined company the largest phone service company in the United States by beating out Verizon. You won't be seeing any more Verizon commercials advertising their size.  Second, AT&T can use T-mobile's infrastructure to help strengthen it's data support for it's very large smartphone industry (mainly due to it's now-expired deal with Apple for the iPhone). On T-mobile's side of things, the merger buys out a struggling company that was late to the smartphone industry. 

 

 Stephen Colbert had an older piece about the confusing mergers that AT&T has went through in the past:

There is a lot of concern that the merger would further deteriorate the already limited competition on phone service. If approved, AT&T and Verizon will have control over 70% of the industry, not very competitive in most's eyes. Others are worried, that T-mobile's strategy of low payment plans to target lower income families will be thrown out the window by AT&T for more expensive plans. Then people will have to choose to go to a smaller and more limited network like MetroPCS and Spring, or the expensive companies like Verizon or stay with AT&T. 

I speculate, the move is a reaction to the end of AT&T's exclusive  contract for Apple's iPhone which became available to Verizon earlier this year.

Verizon 4G Network Tested:

The world is moving toward a 4G network. Most companies are leaving their 3G network for faster speeds. Without being too technical, Verizon is starting a 4G network called LTE. and after several high profile tests by different websites and organizations, Verizon's network GREATLY outperformed it's competitors, with the average uploading speech 37% faster than anyone else (see the link for more info and stats). This is clearly good news and a counter punch to the announcement by AT&T about buying T-mobile. If the deal is finalized, the two companies' roles will completely switch: In 2010 Verizon had the largest network, AT&T (more often than not) the fastest. In 2011, AT&T may have the largest with Verizon the fastest (4G network which is the future!)

Sprint Joins forces with Google:

In an effort to stay relevant, Sprint and Google announced a new partnership.  Sprint will now outsource it's voice-mailing system to Google Voice. The deal has benefits for both companies, where Google can charge for it's very low rates for international phone calls (increasing it's userbase) and Sprint provides a great voice-mail service without charging any users for it (the outsourcing saves Sprint in costs). Look for more partnerships that Sprint may take advantage to not be third place in a two man race.

Google Wins in Court:

Google's Streetview project for its Google Maps has won in a German court. This is great news for the company and allows it to continue it's work throughout the country. At least for me, I've used the service extensively to map out an area I plan on visiting that I've never been to before. I hope this all works well!

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TECH Update: The Little Man

I've decided to dedicate one part of this series specifically to the smaller tech companies that look like they have bright futures. There is plenty of news about Google's change in CEO, or Apple's Steve Jobs leaving his post as he deals with his cancer, and I'm not saying that those aren't "news" because they can greatly impact the futures of these massive corporations, but the fact is, that they all started as small tech companies working in bedrooms and garages. There are some places that aren't very friendly to tech start ups, namely, Washington D.C., see why here. The little man always innovates and this post is a tribute and spotlight to him:

 First I want to highlight small companies and initiatives that have helped make the world a better place from a humanitarian point of view. We have a man named Brandon Fisher, who became a "surprise State of the Union star" after being praised by President Obama. Brandon Fisher is the founder and company head of Center Rock, a company that manufactures air drilling tools. After seeing the news of the trapped Chilean Miners, Brandon designed a plan based on the location, rock type and tools to rescue the miners. His company shipped 50,000 pounds of tools down to South America and was on site to organize the drilling that eventually saved the 33 Chilean miners and giving the world a great story.

The other company is Barefoot College, a program meant to teach "old grandmothers" how to create technology to harness the solar power to provide electricity in poor areas of the world. The video will tell you more (I couldn't find the CNN video, so here is another older one:

Now let us switch to the most over used word in the past two years: Apps (short for applications). Recently there have been two new platforms for apps to come out on: Apple's new Mac App Store (applications for your Mac computers) and Google's upcoming Honeycomb tablets which will flood the market soon (I would say the iPad, but we all know about that already. So why am I talking about Apps for tech giants like Apple and Google? Because these applications are some of the most diverse and fastest ways to start your own business (and many have). These applications are also becoming ridiculously easy to create as companies like Google create tools to make them without having experience in the area, just your imagination. It is similar to this Blogging platform by Google: I never type in any 'coding' because Google has simplified the process so I (or anyone else) can start their own blog with a few steps. I'm hoping to get started on app development sometime soon! Don't think you can do it? Well a 14 year old has created "Bubble Ball" Itunes' most popular application. If he can do it, why can't you?

Sick of all that snow? A small group of engineers with a grant think they can change all that. They have an idea to redesign our roads; instead of using asphalt, we use a different material that can exert heat to melt away the ice and snow to save states and cities hundreds of millions in clean up costs. Check it out!

A new company named Meet up revamped its website. It's goal is to serve as a tool to organize "Meet ups" for different organizations, political, social, or religious ends or for whatever reason. Al Jazeera has now been using the program to organize parties around the world to meet up on Feb 10th to "Demand Al Jazeera English" to be viewed in the U.S.

On a more controversial note, rebels of the organization Wikileaks have left the organization to create their own: OpenLeaks. Both sites now serve to leak classified information but have different approaches. Wikileaks has a very centralized system in that, documents are sent to Wikileaks, they delete traces of the whistleblower, verify documentation, and publish it on the website. OpenLeaks takes a different approach. they get the information, verify it, then give it to Unions, news organizations, companies and any other outlets who are interested. These groups can choose to publish or not, and if they don't, "someone else will" as the group's introduction says. Different format, same purpose, this is going to be interesting.

TECH Update: The Future 10-20 years

I've decided to take a look at the future, what we can reasonably expect within the next 10-20 years in relation to technology and how it changes our society.I know you are probably wondering why I'm not talking about the State of the Union, let it sink in, and I'll have something up soon after all the analysis craze going on with the media. Here we go!

Facebook: It's plainly obvious, that with Facebook's userbase growth, it has had to hire more and more people. As the company grows, so do the government's ability to regulate it. When Facebook hits a certain Stakeholders benchmark, the SEC will force it to release financial statements to the public (although it may remain private). When this happens (over the next 4-5 years), Facebook won't want to give up that information without the benefits of a public company and an IPO. They will go public then (most estimate 2012) or will wait it out a bit longer till the government officially forces it to go public. 

Mark Zuckerberg is famous for his micro-managing and hands on approach to everything (which is why its success is always attributed to him, as well as its flops). So why is this important? When it goes public, Facebook will be directly accountable to its shareholders in different ways. There will be more stress on it to make larger revenues by its investors as it is traded in the public market which may make the site more obtrusive in what many consider to be too inconsiderate of users' privacy. This will create a conflict between Facebook's users and shareholders. At the same time, Mark Zuckerberg will not have the same control he typically has, and will be able to be kicked out of the company if a privacy flop goes seriously wrong (though I doubt that will actually happen, since he's dealt with them many times, that's like Apple firing Steve Jobs today, not going to happen, Mark is Facebook's image). I recently posted a long piece specific to Facebook, click here.

Smart phones: Although the overwhelming majority of U.S. and world cell phone users don't have smartphones, the amazing growth of these phones shows that they will soon overtake traditional phones for the majority of users in the 1st world, and even 2nd world countries. Yes they are more expensive, but when companies like AT&T slash prices of older smart phones (the iPhone 3GS) to 50 dollars a piece, it greatly expands the people who will be able to afford them. Yes, they will be getting and older version, but it will be their introduction into the smart phone market, a market that few ever leave back to feature phones. Expect Windows to keep making strides, Apple to continue to innovate, and Symbian and Androids to drown all other competitors world wide (Nokia and Google respectively). Some studies even show that traditionally computer based communications like email are making a leap over to mobile as more people send emails from phones and not computers. 

Another important point, is that your phone is going to become your wallet. Mobile payments are going to be the "next frontier" in e-billing. You will be buying things on your phone, or buying them in the store, and scanning your phone to pay (like you swipe a credit/debit card). Doubt that's the future? Paypal is already getting into it. Starbucks just started accepting mobile payments in all stores nationwide.  Although I said Smart phones will become the norm, I also think that this mobile payments will become so necessary in our lives that they will be available on limited feature phones. The fact is, if you forget your wallet, it sucks, but you can move on, however, for more people, if you forget your phone (especially your smart phone) your day and life are over. You MUST find it before continuing your day. With your phone on hand all the time, more so than a wallet or purse, mobile payments are only natural. Here's an article on why many think this is a winning strategy for Starbucks.

Gaming: (For all your gaming whores out there). As you will probably expect gaming is going active. First initiated by the Nintendo Wii, both Microsoft's Xbox Kinect and Sony's PlayStation Move have all brought to the market more active games. In these games you no longer just sit and click buttons, rather, you stand up, jump around, kick, punch and more while clicking buttons to play virtual sports, practice your fitness, or play through adventures. Yes, the hardcore gamer will always use the current technology to play shooter games and serious adventure games, however, since all the major companies have invested in it, they will work with game design companies to make more intense games that use their new controllers. There will be a point when these newer gaming systems with a combination of camera, stick controllers, and headsets that use brainwaves to control virtual objects, that will give us the ultimate gaming experience.

The gaming masses will choose  this experience over the systems we have today. Today's "serious" gamer, will be tomorrow's grumbly niche lover. On the mobile side of gaming, Nintendo is going to introduce it's Nintendo 3DS, part of it's usually hand held gaming systems. This newer one got much attention because it showed 3D graphics for its games without any 3D glasses. Many have put off 3D as dead, but I still think it will need some adjustment before it is convenient for average users. Although the Nintendo is improving the handheld gaming system, I think in the long run, these systems will die off. Smartphones are are huge gaming platform, and as they get more advanced, will overtake the 3DS and others with popularity in games. As in other aspects of gaming systems, hand helds, will become a niche platform for hardcore gamers or just Pokemon fans (though that can change!)

Cars: The future to any reasonable being for cars is more fuel efficiency, or convergence with electricity. Nissan's Leaf has created a lot of attention and Toyota's Prius (hybrid) has already garnered a large base. Cars will also become much safer in different ways. Think about it, in the early 2000s, if a car had a 5 star crash test rating it was impressive, but today, if a car doesn't it won't do so well; nearly all cars do meet the 5 star standard. The future of car safety is not going to be able making the actual car safer (though that will be researched), rather, companies will start to invest in avoiding crashes altogether. Yes, cars that drive themselves. 

I don't think we can expect cars that drive themselves well over the next 20 years, but the research will be critical in the coming years. Lexus already has a car (that it sells) that can parallel park by itself. Small tech firms are always researching with universities ways to make them more efficient in automated car races across all kinds of terrain. Furthermore, the military is doing some heavy investment in robots that drive themselves and larger cars and tanks to reduce the risk of human soldiers. Interestingly enough, Google is investing in automated car systems. Unusual? Yes. But that's what everyone said when they invested in Android, and today that OS makes them billions and sells more than Apple's iPhone. Although I don't think it is very likely to take hold, there is some research over a car system that would allow a larger truck to take control of users cars temporarily for them to do tasks like read, or drink/eat something. Check it out.

Aid: The fact is, technology makes our lives extremely easy, but it can also help uplift people. A women has come up with a new design and system to create a jacket that transforms into a sleeping bag for the homeless. Although starting in the U.S. it can be greatly applied to the poor around the world. An engineer once held a TED Talk about his product, and the company he started around it: A bottle water that instantly purifies water in less than a second. The Talk was very revealing and you have to see it for yourself. Here it is, it's just 10 mins long. 

On top of those, recently the Indian government has gotten considerable attention for it's investment in an incredibly cheap (and small) car that would be affordable for hundreds of millions living under the poverty line. Now-a-days it has also gotten attention for a ridiculously cheap laptop that it will be introducing to give access to poor Indians to technology and computing basics to help integrate them into a high tech world.

TECH Update: Corporate Review

With so much going on with the tech world it's about time you got an understanding of everything happening on the corporate level of these companies. This analysis will inform you and help you understand what strategies, trends, and technology to look forward to as our world becomes smarter, faster, and more efficient.

As you know when I talk about technology, I'm never one to directly comment on recent news because I'm not into rumors and fabrications put out by different companies until I see tangible results in the market; because of this, you notice some of this news is fairly recent, while other parts of it is rather old (just a month of so, but YEARS in the tech world). 2010 was a huge year for technology, CNN compiled  a short list of the 10 most significant gadgets of 2010.  From the list we can understand corporate strategy to getting consumers to chose their product over others. The Kindle 3 grew greatly in popularity despite the launch of Apple's iPad because of smart marketing decisions on Amazon's part. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has been the only real challenge to Apple's iPad in the tablet market since its launch. This was a result of close work between Samsung and Google; a smart move by the Korean company since it recognizes that Google's platform is much easier to install and popularize. Apple's MacBook Air is also important because as Steve Jobs said, it is the future of all laptops. Jobs is foreshadowing his company's direction to laptops. He believes that laptops will be as thing as the MacBook Air and all their memory and content will be filled in "the cloud." Google is working on an OS Chrome for notebooks that would do just that. Soon, these corporations' strategies will give us much lighter, and much faster computers. Another notable technology mentioned was Windows' Kinect for Xbox. This is significant because Kinect is the first mainstream controller-less system for gamers to use. Its massive popularity and impressive sales shows there is a clear market for it. This technology won't only change the world of gaming, it will change how we interact with all technologies when applied in different circumstances. 

Although a bit of old news, Motorola has split up into two companies. As a single entity the company was struggling for a while and investors were waiting for the split to happen. Now, there is Motorola Mobility which owns all the smartphone assets and Motorola Solutions which owns all public safety equipment assets. To those who know, Motorola has been famous for its Droid line of phones that have shown themselves to be a good challenger to Apple's iPhone. 

There has also been a large hype around Facebook possibly going for an IPO soon. I believe that it won't go public for some time (at least 2012) but there are very good signs that it is establishing itself to do so. If anything, there will be a point where the company will be forced by the SEC to go public (after it has surpassed a certain limit). With Gold Sach's latest investment into Facebook valuing it as some 50 billion dollars, and its under the table works at rounding up investors, Mark Zuckerberg is finally realizing that he's got to go public (although he hates it, click here for why Facebook accepted the deal with Goldman). Recently Facebook did a 5-1 stock split for all private investors in the company which attracted significant attention. You see, investors want to invest in Facebook by trying to buy off stocks from Facebook employees en masse. This brings up a question as to whether you should invest in the company if/when they go public. Here is a glaring case for why you shouldn't invest in the tech company.

Finally, with the big news that the iPhone is coming to Verizon, many who feared it would hurt AT&T were wrong since it has taken adequate steps to get other smartphones on its network from Android, Blackberry and Windows systems as well as extended 2 year contracts and dropping the iPhone 3GS price to 49 dollars. This company has made a very smart move at reducing the effect of Apple breaking the exclusivity deal with it and protect it's user-base and investments. 

Speaking of the iPhone, I read a really interesting piece about how history is repeating itself. Apple's iPhone was a huge success, but because it has so many restrictions what its apps, and only licenses the software to be used on Apple made phones, Apple will drown in a sea of Androids.  This is similar to what happened when Apple gained a lot of attention for its desktop computers in the 90s, but because of strict restrictions, Apple allowed Windows (who licensed its technology to be used on every other computer on earth) to drown out all Macs. Althoguh gaining in popularity, Macs are still considered a niche product, and some fear the iPhone will be next unless Apple changes strategy.

Finally, looking to the future, there are 10 websites that you should watch over the next year since they may change the Tech world scene significantly. Click here to read more.

In other fun news, IBM's Watson wins in Jeopardy! The supercomputer beat the two all time winners of the hit TV show quite easily. Oh, technology how wonderful you are!

TECH Update: Your Browser

I was writing out a long and beautiful piece about cultural relativism, and how we should all work with compassion to make the world a better place, that is, until I noticed a horrifying statistic. The number of page views from YOU, the reader, using Internet Explorer has now moved to second place. 39% of you use Google's Chrome, and now, 31% of you use Internet Explorer while 26% use Firefox. So WHY, you ask, have I put off a great piece to discuss your browser use? Because using a good browser affects how you experience this blog!

               So let's discuss this. I will begin by saying that there was a time where I unknowingly used Internet Explorer because it came with the computer but today you don't have to. Yes, IE is the most used web browser in the world, but it is VERY quickly losing market share. In fact, when counting individual versions, Firefox comes out on top. To those that follow this blog, this isn't the first time I've spoken out against IE (See my older TECH Update post).

The fact is, Internet Explorer (in its current versions) should be abandoned by YOU, for several reasons (I'll try skipping all the technical mumbo jumbo). Being part of anything Windows, IE browsers have millions upon MILLIONS of viruses and worms attacking them every day, and while Windows may tout that it blocks many of them, you must always be cautious in taking up such a high value target. In addition, IE fails behind Google's Chrome, and Mozilla's Firefox (both their new versions) in privacy, protection, speed, web developer tools (which means less add-ons to enhance your web experience), and also (probably the most important) compatibility.

On that last point of compatibility. If you are using ANYTHING other than the newest available IE, you REALLY should move on, I am BEGGING that you do. The amount of headaches that you are subjecting yourself to because you just "don't want to change, and am used to it" will make your entire online experience 10 times worse. Not only that, if you are using anything less than IE8, there are a huge amount of websites that can't be seen, experienced, read, or used the way their designers intended them to be. But that's not all folks! By continuing to use such old browsers, you keep everyone and the entire internet behind with you. When large amounts of people refuse to upgrade to the newest web browser, websites must be designed to accommodate that aging browsers of IE 6 and IE7. That means, less website capabilities, uniqueness in design, protection, and just all round suck-i-ness. So please, STOP, right now if you have anything old than IE8, and google for an upgrade.... now!

If you are using IE8, there are several things you can do. You can choose the faster alternative that updates by itself (so you never have to lift a finger) and will always stay up to date with me, the techworld and la interneta! That choice would be Google Chrome (they also do pretty well on protection). Click here to get Google's Chrome. If you are worried about trying something new, here are some demos. and Click here for the U.K. Youtube video for Chrome that uses a really interested display to explain Chrome to you.

If you want to choose the browser that is stronger on internet protection, go with Firefox. Click here to get Mozilla's Firefox. Firefox is also coming out with a newer version of itself soon that will make it just as fast, if not faster and lighter than Google's Chrome! Exciting stuff in the Browser Wars!!! For a list of extensions that will enhance your online experience, see my older post here.

If you to go with either of these, see my older post that details some good extensions to enhance your online experience using your browser here.

If you still aren't convinced to leave IE, let me try throwing this at you: the IE team is not an engineering company. There is a reason companies love Apple or Facebook. There is a reason why companies like Google, and even the very small Opera browser get so much attention: because they engineer products, and they do so on a regular basis. There is nothing revolutionary in IE8. If fact when it was first presented the "tech world" mocked Windows because it acted as if its development was brand spankin' new! Everyone knew that they were ripping off Firefox and now Chrome. Apple, Facebook, Google are constantly changing the technology we use on a regular basis. On this, Windows failed for a long time and is just now catching up. Stick with companies that engineer because they will bring you the greatest experiences you will need. If you are the staunch IE defender check out this critique of Window's "comparison" of browsers.

But let's say you are going to suffer a stroke if you switched to any other browser. Or let's say you have an odd obsession with IE and Windows, or you have a pillow that has "I <3 IE," there is a bit of hope. Windows is actively working on (finally) IE9. Although still in beta, it is expected to be a great leap (not ahead of everyone else) but TOWARD everyone else. So it's not all bad. Windows is catching up, and with this latest browser, Windows will (hopefully) upgrade to catch up with Chrome and Firefox. Even though it is still in beta testing, I implore you to at least upgrade to it's beta form. It will be glitchy, but it will be a jump from IE8. Plus, you will be able to send feedback back to Microsoft with any issues you have. See the newer beta version of IE9 here. and here you can find some articles reviewing the IE9 beta release.

TECH Update: Your Real World Experience

As promised, I'm going to show you technological tools to help enhance your Real World experience. These tools range from websites to apps to devices. At first look you may not think that these may be useful, but after using them, you will find them as necessary as language. Of course, I would never recommend the use of any of these if I didn't know enough about it myself or tried it on my own. 

We can start out with tools to help you organize a hectic life:

1. Google Calendar: If you don't have a Gmail, you need to get one. It is much more advanced, efficient, speedy, and just all the way around awesome. You can't use Google Calendar if you don't have a Gmail account; or it would just be easier to have both. With Google Calendar, you can set appointments, recurrences, plan events and more. You can link several Calendars together to make plans with your friends and see when everyone has free time. The greatest advantage of this tool is that this all happens "in the cloud." This means you can access your Calendar from anywhere or anything that can go online. As long as you have a connection, even a weak one, you can work on your calendar. Furthermore, if you have an Android Smartphone, Google Calendar comes built in and allows you to adjust and check your calendar on your phone. If you think that you won't have internet access where you go, you can always start the "Offline" access which downloads your calendar for easy viewing without a connection. 
2. Smart Phones: If you don't have one yet, you should get one.  You may think you don't need it, a phone is a phone, no point in having anything else, but Smart phones have exploded in recent years world-wide for their functionality, usefulness, and real world application. Different smart phones are strong in different things but they can be used for business, personal, and public life. GPS, Phone, web browser, calendars, games, social media all in one.

1. Windows 7 Phone: Depending on the exact phone you buy your experience can be slightly different, however the new Windows phone, which I've used myself, is extremely smooth, connected, social, and light. Has all the functionality of smart phones with a new design and definitely a thumbs up for Windows. Meanwhile Samsung has sold 10 million of its Galaxy S smartphones.
2. Also AT&T has just  dropped it's iPhone 3Gs price to 49 bucks. So if you feel like the newer gadgets are too flashy or expensive, you can now easily and smoothly swim into the world of smart phones without destroying your wallet. For those too eager to stay on 3G because they want 4G, the company has also outlined it's plans for a 4G network.
3. Evernote: This site allows users to upload medical, financial, or really any documents you want by scanning them. When they are "in the cloud" you can access them anywhere in the world or even on your phone where you can show them to doctors, accountants on the spot. Certainly makes handling paperwork a bit easier, and less paper-ish. 

1. Slates: This technology didn't even exist a year ago, yet it has grown so fast, it's beaten all expectations. The leader of course, is Apple's iPad. Although I've never had one, I've gotten so many reviews online, and from people I've met (yes I've asked random strangers about their experience with it) and the feedback I always get is: "You don't buy it out of necessity, but when you have it, it becomes a necessity." I feel this will go along the lines of the smart phone. Upon introduction, it wasn't NEEDED for every day life, but now users can't function without such useful tools. I'd recommend the investment, it may prove more useful than you think. The iPad has the highest rate of adoption of any new technology introduced in electronic product history.

 Now we can talk about using technology to save you money!

1. Group buying: Group buying websites have exploded in popularity. These websites make agreements with local businesses to create a "Deal of the Day" in select cities (hundreds if not thousands world wide). Groupon is by far the most successful one yet, with its rival LivingSocial following behind. Some believed they just grew because of the recent economic crisis and its persistenting effects, but some experts believe they are here to stay. As for Groupon, it's growth has been so astronomical, it just set the record for the quickest billion dollar valuation in U.S. history (18 months) as Google tried buying it for 6 billion dollars, but failed.
2. Hipmunk: With its unique design, Hipmunk is a travel search website that makes flight search much easier to find the greatest deal. You can do multiple search at the same time, and find flights based on "price, agony, stops, departure time, arrival time, duration" and more. The service simultaneously compares all the major airline services for you in a user friendly and eye pleasing design. 

Out to eat? Tech to the rescue!

1. OpenTable is a website that allows you to search, check and even reserve seats at restaurants in their listings. Of course, they don't have restaurants in the world listed, but the site is growing and is bound for major success for it's market vision.
2. Muslim and having trouble finding Hallal food? Check out Zabihah.com which gives you a listing of restaurants as well as products that satisfy the restrictions on meals.

Now we come to a random collection of other tech that will make your life easier:

1. Internet news: A study has found that the internet has surpassed the TV as a new source for young adults (18- 29). So if you are still tuning in for regulated news hours, you should invite yourself to the world of internet news! Easy to use, customizable, more features than a TV, and much more video to come, we're bound to see those numbers get more popular with older Americans.
2. Canon's Pro-Grade Point-and-shoot: This is Cannon's newest camera that has been creating a lot of buzz recently. Although all phones today come with camera's, the most you will find is a 5, MAYBE 7 megapixel camera (though the latter is extremely rare). With this camera, you get professionalism you want for amateurs in photography. Here is a good review of the product.
3. Tech Mistakes: Let's also try avoiding tech mistakes that are commonly made. Here you will find a list of tech mess ups that are commonly made and will ruin your real world experience.
4. Swype: What's Swype? it's a technology that has helped make typing on your touchscreen smartphone much easier, and less time consuming.  The same guy that invented the T9 for texting, has come up with this ingenious way to help smartphone users type. The technology has been used to set the 2 highest records for texting (both first and second place people used Swype). Here's more on the tech.

Are you a couch potato? Here are some future tech that will help make your lazy days easier: 

1. Microsoft and motion sensors: Microsoft is using it's technology to "redefine" the couch potato who can interact online through avatars with a more social TV experience. Users can also change channels, change volume and interact with their TV by moving their hands instead of using a remote.

1. Control things with your mind: This might sound too futuristic, but I've seen developments in the area and they look to be promising. Tan le, a researcher demonstrates it on TED. Check it out here. This will surely make the lazy even lazier! But could also be extremely useful for the disabled.

App Stores: Are they just another way for companies to make money? yes. Can they be useful to help make your life easier, we already know the answer to that is also yes.

1.  Amazon Appstore: Yup, you read it right, Amazon is now going to jump into the Appstore world and offer applications for Google's Android system. This should be interesting because it will create a bigger array of applications to use sprouting new companies and innovation. Either way, the consumer wins!

 Legal Warning: If you live in California, smart phone or not, cops now have the right to search your phone if you are arrested! For good or bad, it's the law now. So if you are going to try smuggling Ecstasy across the state, don't mention it on your phone.

With all this in mind, I hope this technology will help make your life a bit easier as the days go by! It may seem overwhelming when you first start using them, but eventually it becomes habit and life becomes easier! So go out there LIVE YOUR LIFE, but using good technology!


**** Update**** I forgot to include a very important website (and also an app on all smart phones that you can download) Yelp. This site shows user rating of everything from restaurants, to bookstores, and cafes. The ultimate review site. It's gained huge success, so join the wave. Online, or through the app!

TECH Update: Your Online Experience

As I was listening to my Elvis Presley music I realized that I haven't been keeping my promise. I know I've been talking a lot about political issues; I haven't posted anything yet on technology. So I started this series of "TECH Update" where I'll give feedback and references on new devices and tools. This first tech update will concentrate on improving your online experience. 

Google Blogger allows me to track a lot about my audience including what country you are from, what operating system you are using, and what web browser you all use. I've only had this blog for about 4-5 days and have already had 133 page views which is GREAT, considering others I know of, who have been doing this for months and have far less than myself (I also know that it isn't one or two people who have been on the website thanks to my Stats). So far I my audience is mainly from the United States but seem to have some followers in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Spain. 

Based on my all-time statistics, 41% of you use Google Chrome (my favorite), 30% use Firefox (also a good choice), 27% use Internet Explorer (we will discuss this shortly), 1% use Opera (small but innovative), and the final 1% use Safari (also good). 91% of you use Windows OS, 5% use Macs, and others 3% use other operating systems.

The use of operating systems seems to follow global trends where Windows dominates more than 90% of the market  and Macs growing slightly; whatever else is left is used by other systems. If you don't know what extensions are for your browser, get to know them. They are tools that you download to your browsers that will enhance your online experience. For all you Google Chrome users, there are the Top 10 Chrome extensions. As for those using Firefox (including myself eagerly waiting the newest release) here are the Top 10 Firefox Add-ons.

Having never used Opera I can't personally recommend any extensions for that browser mostly because it's extensions gallery is brand new and most are still in the works. If you are still using Internet Explorer, you really have to move on. Most users use it because it is the default browser on their Microsoft Operating System. The fact is, Explorer, like Windows is the largest target for viruses and malicious content. It is also the weakest when it comes to protection (for that go to Firefox, though Chrome is making strides) and SEVERELY lags behind others in speed and adaption to the HTML 5 internet (for speed choose Chrome). Chrome is improving it's protection, and Firefox is improving its speed. Windows just recently started working on speed and protection as it is losing more and more of the browser market. 

If you looked at the Top Ten Lists attached, you may notice some repetition, that's because the same companies make extensions for both browsers. From personal use, I would recommend Ad-block and Ad-block plus as well as FastestFox and FastestChrome (depending on your browser).I would also greatly reccomend the WOT Security protection in both browsers which helps give you feedback on websites and their security, including through your Google searches. If using Chrome and you are a "share-a-holic" I would advise getting the Share-a-holic extension (which I use) to immediately post any website onto Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Google Mail, etc. 

If you are the kind of person that finds themselves having dozens of tabs in your browser opened at the same time, you can get Too Many Tabs in both Firefox and Chrome that will GREATLY help you organize your tabs. I would recommend both as I've used it in both browsers.

I haven't connected many links, because you can find all the extensions in the lists I've attached, but if you really can't find one, just Google it and it should take you to the page. These will all make finding information, sharing it, protecting you, and removing annoying ads on the internet much easier. I would recommend something I haven't used, but feel free to explore their extensions gallery. As for you Internet Explorer users out there, the only thing I can recommend is to move on. Windows has made strides with it's latest update, but it still lags behind and steals ideas more often that creating them. I was an avid Chrome user (and got my entire family to use Chrome) until I was forced to use Firefox for compatibility reasons with my university. 

For my next TECH Update I'll show you tools to make your real world experience easier using online tools.