Our thoughts, rants and inside knowlege of web design & development!
General
The Japan Tsunami Appeal
Mar 13th
Most people will have heard by now about the horrific disaster which struck Japan over the weekend. We would like to urge our followers to donate to the British Red Cross appeal if they’ve got any spare change – people are desperately in need of rescue and shelter at this very moment.
It has been interesting to see the usage of social media in relief efforts. News of the disaster spread quickly across Facebook and Twitter and videos of the event appeared almost instantaneously on YouTube, Japan being such a well connected country. The phrase ‘Text REDCROSS to 90999′ was trending on Twitter worldwide to encourage users to make an instant $10 donation to the appeal (though this only functioned for American users.)
Google have also set up a version of their ‘Person Finder’ tool, the technology of which was used extensively as part of operations in Hurricane Katrina and the Christchurch earthquake. The tool allows users to search for information about someone they are trying to find or upload information about the whereabouts and state of someone to be found by others. The tool uses a standard, open format to allow different organisations to collate data in one place – reducing the More >
Flock – The Social Web Browser
Dec 1st
Flock was first released in 2005 and is known for its social networking elements, for years the browser was based on the GECKO rendering engine, same as Firefox. In June it has swopped over to use Googles Chromium Engine in an attempt re-invent itself.
With the financial backing of Marc Andreessen, the founder of Netscape they have created the future of browsing and have been quick to react to the launch of RockMelt a start up looking for a piece of the social browsing market. Albiet a little cumbersome and not nearly as polished as Flock, it has ruffled a few feathers, competition is good.
See the into for Flock – better still download it – its free and take it for a spin.
Let us know what you think.
Android Market Surpasses 100,000 Apps
Oct 26th
Android (Android) has just rocketed past a major milestone: 100,000 applications available in the Android Marketplace.
The announcement was made with just a tweet from the Android Dev Twitter account. “One hundred thousand apps in Android Market,” was all the tweet needed to say to spread the news. The search giant recently expanded the Android Marketplace to 20+ countries in an effort to kick its developer ecosystem in high gear.
Google’s open-source mobile OS has been on a tear, but its rapid growth has come at the cost of OS fragmentation across hundreds of devices. And while Android may be flooding the market at breakneck speed, Apple’s iOS App Store is the dominant mobile store by leaps and bounds. There are more than 280,000 iOS apps available, nearly triple the offerings on Android.
Do you think Android can catch upwith Google?
Sony Retires the Cassette Walkman After 30 Years
Oct 26th
After retiring the floppy disk in March, Sony has halted the manufacture and distribution of another now-obsolete technology: the cassette Walkman, the first low-cost, portable music player.
The final batch was shipped to Japanese retailers in April, according to IT Media. Once these units are sold, new cassette Walkmans will no longer be available through the manufacturer.
The first generation Walkman (which was called the Soundabout in the U.S., and the Stowaway in the UK) was released on July 1, 1979 in Japan. Although it later became a huge success, it only sold 3,000 units in its first month. Sony managed to sell some 200 million iterations of the cassette Walkman over the product line’s 30-year career.
Somewhat ironically, the announcement was delivered just one day ahead of the iPod’s ninth anniversary on October 23, although the decline of the cassette Walkman is attributed primarily to the explosive popularity of CD players in the ’90s, not the iPod.
Google Demo Slam – Trying to convince you its product are cool
Oct 21st
Google Slam visitors are asked to create their own slam videos to highlight Google technology. Contenders upload their videos to YouTube and Google will select the best ones to go head to head.
Robert Wong, Executive Creative Director of the Creative Lab R commented on Google Demo Slam prior to release. Wong spoke about the experimental work the gang at Googleplex work on that no-one knows about and that this was the best way to highlight all that’s new in a easy / fun method.
“We’re like engineering elves at Santa’s workshop,” he says, “we know this stuff is good.”
I like it and have just checked my first slam competition.
In the Blue corner… was a bunch of guys recreating Mount Rushmore with paper mache and their own heads.. They then used Google Googles to take a picture of their creation….. Google Googles recognized it as Mount Rushmore…cool huh!
In the Green corner… this was three young children (The Paul Brothers) putting Google Search by voice through its motion by saying Chubby Bunny with marsh mellows in their mouths. If Google Search by voice recognised the words they won a point… nice…
I voted for the Green corner.. give it a go yourself.
Ubercabe – The future of Online Taxi Ordering?
Oct 21st
UberCab is an on demand car service that allows you to request, track and ride with ultimate convenience. Payment is cashless and hassle free.
Genius Idea: It’s not as if urban cities such as San Francisco are ever devoid of cabbies or car service drivers — they’re out there, just never when you really need a ride. And then when you do manage to hail a ride, you better be carrying cash lest you want to get the evil eye from the driver.
Young startup UberCab has set out to tackle these transportation travails one city at a time, starting in San Francisco.
UberCab is equal one part iPhone app, one part web service and one part SMS command-driven operation. Once you register for the service, you can then use either option to request car service, get a speedy turnaround pickup, track the progress of your pending ride and automatically pay via the app with the credit card you have on file.
UberCab rates are typically 1.5 times the cost of taxi fare, but the service guarantees prompt arrival within minutes and delivers a much more luxurious vehicle so you can ride in style.
What’s interesting about UberCab is that the iPhone application [iTunes link] More >
First Iphone 4 in Space
Oct 18th
Father and son team based in Brooklyn set out to launch a iPhone 4 and an HD camera into space via a weather balloon. The mission was a success as you can see by the wonderful footage.
Geussbuhler launched the balloon from Newburgh, New York, and it climbed at a rate of 25 feet per second to 19 miles above the surface of the earth just an hour later. The balloon burst and the package containing the iPhone and the camera fell back to the ground on a parachute.
at 100,000 Ft, nearly 19 miles high the 70min voyage ends as the balloon reaches it’s breaking point (being over 18ft wide).
Great video… what would you like to send into space?
Create an Instant SMS Chatroom on Your Phone
Oct 16th
Name: GroupMe
Quick Pitch: GroupMe makes life easy for you and your groups with free group texting. It’s your real life network, in your pocket.
Genius Idea: There are plenty of mobile applications that support group texting — even the once location-focused Brightkite (Brightkite) has entered the space — but GroupMe’s approach is by far the simplest. The SMS-based and device-independent service also has the most potential to connect real life friends and family members through group texting.
You can use GroupMe to start a private chat with groups of up to 25 people. Enter your name and phone number on GroupMe’s website to get started. The service will follow up with a text message from a unique phone number — that phone number will serve as your group’s number for texts and conference calls. You, and all other group members, can then add group members via SMS using the syntax “#add name phone number.”
Other SMS hashtag commands include #list to see a list of all group members in the chat, #name to set or change your name and, most importantly, #mute to mute or unmute the texts.
iPhone (iPhone) users can optionally download the GroupMe iPhone app to manage their groups and add More >