Aprils Fools 2008 (and a little late at that)

I think its becoming a tradition here to list some of the funnier April Fools Day pranks:

• Read - Space bot demands to be called “Dextre the Magnificent”
• Read - Google’s gDay with MATE searches the future
• Read - Think Geek’s Betamax to HD-DVD Converter
• Read - Qualcomm’s HandSolo
• Read - Virgin and Google form Virgil for Mars expedition
• Read - Xbox 360 Wireless Helmet, Board Game

More Google pranks here.

TUAW has a round up of the Apple Pranks.

Three from Sun Microsystems:

• Give It Back
• Meeting with a VC
• Invasion

Google Business Roundup

Thought the following Fake Steve Jobs list might be interesting funny:

Word processor in the cloud. Status: Done. Income: Negligible.

Spreadsheet in the cloud. Status: Done. Income: Negligible.

Photo storage in the cloud. Status: Done. Income: Negligible.

Calendar in the cloud. Status: Done. Income: Zero.

Google Earth. Status: Extremely cool.

Google Maps. Status: Done. Income: Zero.

Google Street View. Status: Not illegal, but should be.

Google Talk. Status: Done. Income: Zero.

Google Pack. Status: I know it’s around here someplace.

Google Ride Finder. Status: Still waiting to get picked up.

Google Transit. Status: Lost.

TV ads. Status: Uncertain.

Radio ads. Status: See “TV ads.”

Video game ads. Status: See “Radio ads.”

Patent searches. Status: Who cares?

RechargeIT hybrid car thing. See here. Status: Hybrid cars, dude.

Clean energy. See here. Status: Nice gesture.

Google Checkout. Status: Um …

Google SketchUp, 3-D modeling. Status: Alpha? Beta?

Robots on the moon prize. See here. Status: Robots, dude. On the freaking moon!

Google NASA. See here. Status: Awesome!

Neven Vision. Image recognition. (Acquired.) Status: Mindblowing.

YouTube videos. Status: Done. Income: Negligible.

Scanning books. Status: In process. Income: Zero.

Blogger. Status: Done. Income: Negligible.

RSS Reader. Status: Done. Income: Zero.

Google PC. Status: Vapor. Income: Zero.

Google OS. Status: Vapor. Income: Zero.

Gmail. Status: Done. Income: Negligible or zero.

Orkut. Status: Done. Income: Don’t know, I don’t speak Brazilian.

OpenSocial. Status: Pipe dream. Income: Zero.

VaporPhone ™. Status: Release-ware. Income: Zero.

Storage in the cloud. Status: Pre-alpha. Income: Negative.

Electricity. Status: Pre-vapor. Income: GBH. (Gonna Be Huge.)

Radio airwaves. Status: Bidding. Income: Zero.

Google Just Made My Life Easier

I’m not sure anyone noticed since I haven’t read any blogs on it. But Google just added a nifty option to bring mail from other pop3 email accounts into GoogleMail.

[addresses have been redacted out - thanks Paint!!!]

This is really useful as I can turn GoogleMail into a Personal Email Nerve Center. And I don’t need to resort to hacks either. Mail can either be sent to the inbox or labeled and archived. And you can specify the reply-to-address associated with the account.

It essentially means that my email is independent of the individual email services I use (not sure it works with Hotmail).

So using Googelmail is now a really compelling option. Its easier than running your own Exchange or other mail server. I mean think of all the costs associated with a server that evaporate. Electricity, server hardware, software licenses, service and support.

Now obviously a work email account should come straight into Outlook, ThunderBird or your friendly email application of choice ( aside form Googlemail, naturally).

Since the whole family has a Googlemail account, I’m setting this up for everyone (even if I do have to download  the final deluge of mail to Outlook for the pre- web 2.0 style of accessing mail they’re used to ).

Now on a related note, what does this do for Chandler - Mitch Kapor’s total redefinition of the Personal Information Manager in the spirit of Lotus 1-2-3?

The thing is, can Google and Chandler get along? I.e can chandler use Google as the server for you stuff? On first look, you might think I’m joking. Scott Rosenburg’s Dreaming in Code makes the point that Cosmo Server was written specifically to preserve the Chandler-ness of the application data. But that’s not what I’m saying. The Application, Presentation and Data Access Logic remain on the local Application. The Application simply uses Google as a data store. Just an idea. My 2 cents.

Quote of the Day

On Youtube’s imminent demise:

Traditional media can give people what they want - a comprehensive collection of high-quality video, free of spam and crappy user-generated content. While we’re longtime advocates of user-generated media, a lot of it’s crap - and people don’t want to wade through crap when they’re looking for their Lost fix.

-Podcasting News

I agree.

Go on. Read the whole post.

Random Thoughts for the Day

I might make this a regular thing.

• I was at Costa’s this afternoon and a guy walks in with a  brand new iMac. Must have been at least a 20" if not more. never felt so jealous in my life. He must have got it from the Glasgow Apple Store. I’ve been meaning to go past, but haven’t had the time yet
• My 19" Xerox TFT died today. Its a display model that I got slightly cheaper and have had it for 2 years. Its one of those lookers -black with a glass front so its completely flat. Damned thing. Multi-monitor setup anyone??
• TCP/IP - spent the weekend doing revision on it. No wonder the Vista networking team re-wrote it.
• Wouldn’t it be easier to replace RAM if you could plug the old or new RAM into a USB port and use it with ReadyBoost??? I mean, you need every megabyte of RAM you can find these days.
• I keep thinking that you can do so much with technology around the home (RSS on your TV for example). Its just so difficult. Windows or Linux?? Windows Home Server??? Media Centre Edition??? Mac Mini with Front Row??
• I’m starting to think that a separate machine running Media Centre Edition would be better than SageTv for Windows Home Server. I’m fighting SageTv tooth and nail to get it working properly ( EPG and all).It should be easier than this. Might get a refund
• Could we please have a virtualisation hardware solution for small business/ home. It’d be cheaper than buying the MCE Server.
• How many Vista Sidebar gadgets are actually useful??Google desktop is much, much better at useful gadgets. The mail gadgets for GD actually tells me when any new email arrives ( even if its automatically archived).
• And could we please get a free sunclock for either sidebar?? You know, the ones that show where its day and where its night on a map of the world.
• Also, back to sidebars, I’ve noticed that Google desktop loads its widgets off the Internet. You could theoretically see your widgets at any PC with GD installed if you’re logged in. Which is logical for Google in becoming the hub on which our lives revolve. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were building a HealthVault competitor - on the web of course.
• I’m seriously considering the iPod Touch. DRM or no DRM. iTunes integration or no integration. The Design blows me away everytime. Why did el Jobso have to come up with a design that puts every other portable music player ( and iPod, mind you) to shame?????? And don’t tell me the iPhone is the best iPod to have. I think I’ll put that SageTv refund money to wards it if it comes to that)

Good Microsoft, Bad Google??

Taking a break from the innards of TCP/IP, I bring you two interesting blog posts.

First Verturebeat’s Matt Marshall asks: In history revision, Microsoft now a friend of the valley?

Second, Robert Cringely opines: The Future is Cloudy: Google’s plan to host ALL our applications.

Both may seem to be unrelated, but lets consider them both.

Matt says:

But now that Google has emerged as the all-pervasive menace, Microsoft has been transformed into an aging, less threatening knight, albeit with pockets and interests deep enough to help you against the Google onslaught. Microsoft’s alliance with Facebook — which calls for Microsoft to invest $240M in that company — has capped the transition.

Interesting inversion, don’t you think? Kind of like America springing to plucky little Britain’s aid after Pearl Harbor. In this case Microsoft’s Pearl Harbor was Google’s huge IPO and the raft of  highly successfully geek-drool-inducing products they released. And the Britons are everyone else in the Valley that have yet to go over the the Dark Side ( ).

Think of the perceptive transformation that Microsoft has gone through. 3000 Microsoft Blogs (last I checked, which was while ago) and Robert Scoble have done loads to bring a human face to Microsoft. I remember once emailing Robert just after Office Live had its public debut for some specific details ( I was looking for a platform for a company web presence) and got a reply from the program manager 8 hours later.

Microsoft has done plenty to reach out to the community. Think of Mix06 and Mix07. The entire conference is on video with slides available from visitmix.org so anyone can take a look (I’ve still to get round to watch the sessions I downloaded ).

Now take Robert Cringely. He looks at what Google’s Data Centre build out means, taken together with their MySQL contributions and their agreement with IBM to promote Cloud Computing to Universities.

By working with IBM to promote cloud computing to universities, Google is accomplishing two very important goals. It will first put them in touch with every graduate student doing work Google might find interesting. So it is first a hiring tool. But by teaching students about cloud computing Google and IBM are also seeding the technology in the companies where those students will take their first jobs after graduation. Five years from now cloud computing will be ubiquitous primarily for this reason.

But Google wants us to embrace not just cloud computing but Google’s version of cloud computing, the hooks for which will be in every modern operating system by mid-2009, spread not by Google but by a trusted open source vendor, MySQL AB.

Mid-2009 will also see the culmination of Google’s huge server build-out. The company is building data centers large and small around the world and populating them with what will ultimately be millions of generic servers. THAT’s when things will get really interesting. Imagine a much more user-friendly version of Amazon’s EC2 and S3 services, only spread across 10 or more times as many machines. And as with all its services, Google will offer free versions at the bottom for consumers and paid, but still cost-effective versions nearer the top for businesses and education.

Google’s goal here is to help us, of course, but along the way the company will have marginalized most higher-end computing vendors, especially Microsoft. They will have also made us totally dependent on Google services in such a way that we’ll never, ever, be able to extricate ourselves. We’ll be slaves, but happy slaves, and Google will come to dominate all computing for the next generation.

Now if Microsoft ever tried anything like this, I’d probably have to turn off comments to avoid the Death-To-Microsoft chants from the virtual mob.

This, of course, risks taking a left turn into the whole Dependency on Microsoft Question. But, for the sake of argument Leopard and Linus’ Every Flavor Linux settle that question just fine.

I use Google Mail for correspondence, Calendar for scheduling , Search for the obvious reason, iGoogle for my dashboard-view-on-the-world, Webmaster Tools.

What if we’re all reduce to running dumb terminal emulators connected to our Google-Instance on their servers? Fascinating idea, I’m sure. I mean what’s not to like about carrying your whole computer around with your Google Account and password (would save my shoulders lots of grief that’s for sure )???

Taken with Google’s insatiable hunger for startups, is Google Microsoft-that-everyone-loves-to-hate 2.0???

Google Reader and IE7 - A Small Problem

Every time I’ve used Google Reader with IE7 today, IE7 froze. Extremely strange.

Seems to happen when I click on an item to read.

Any ideas on what’s wrong?

Facebook and Microsoft

I was tempted to tell everyone who thought 15 big b’s for Facebook was excessive to look at Google’s $100 Billion valuation at IPO.

But then, it struck me, rather forcefully I might add, that Google and Facebook are completely unrelated in terms of price. Google, despite being mostly a search page, actually gets stuff done. Look at Google Earth, Product Search, Their Wifi  work both in San Francisco and with the FCC with regards to buying that spectrum, Desktop Search, Google Co-Op, Reader, Analytics, and, much, much more. The GooglePlex is a daily gathering of the brightest dev’s on the planet.

Google, in other words, has  plenty of reasons to justify its price tag.

What, pray, has Facebook done?

The question stands, but Kara Swisher beat me to the observation already (albeit from a slightly different angle):

Facebook is not Google: Although many in the tech sector make the comparison to the search giant, it is simply incorrect.

Is Facebook like Yahoo a bit? Certainly. A newfangled version of AOL? Absolutely! A very well done media play with all sorts of interactive bells and whistles hanging off of it? Yes, ma’am.

Indeed, it is growing its media business nicely, with $30 million in profits on $150 million in revenue.

But in comparative terms to the search giant, Facebook is a lemonade stand. Google brought in $3.9 billion in revenue in just the second quarter alone and, um, is increasing its dominance over the search sector in a mighty scary way.

Facebook, on the other hand, gets half its annual revenue right now from a sweetheart guaranteed revenue deal with, drum roll, Microsoft. No matter what either Facebook or Microsoft says, it is a money-losing deal for Microsoft so far.

How do I know this? According to many sources, Google is struggling to make ends meet in its own sweetheart guaranteed ad deal with Facebook rival MySpace, which is much larger, and Google has the best monetization engine out there.

iPhone Hacks: What Will Apple Do?

Despite the clear lack of a SDK, intrepid iPhone hackers err developers haven’t stopped churning out thier stuff. Here’s a small list from todays TUAW RSS feed:

• iFuntastic: GUI iPhone custom ringtone manager
  iPhone 101: Locate your callers
  Newsgator mobile for iPhone
  iPhone 101: Special Link Types
  Tether your iPhone to get online with EDGE
  Running a bittorrent client from the iPhone

This posses an interesting dilemma for Apple. Since all this stuff clearly isn’t intended to be done, Apple can either crack down on it by having hacked iPhones simply stop working( a la Microsoft) or they can go Google’s way and turn a blind eye.

Perversely, Apple will get more consumer attention and popularity at the cost of a potential showdown with AT&T ( who are obviously the very bad guys behind the draconian lockdown of said mobile device ).

So the question is: What will Apple Do??

Update: TUAW Asks the same Question:

the iPhone apps are arriving en masse. So far the list includes tools like a working Apache we server, python, shell — and a pile of associated binaries like ls, rm, echo, csh, and tsh — and while these might not be terribly thrilling for Joe everyday user, they are a pretty kicking start. We could start to see all manner of fun stuff arriving in the coming weeks, unless, of course, Apple pulls the plug via an update. Again, we won’t link to the goods, but a wee bit of searching should get you on your way

The Echo Chamber

I read this post from Shel Holtz last night suggesting that the Blogosphere is akin to an echo chamber. At this point I’d like to congratulate Google for NOT including search with Google Reader since I had to go looking for this post manually from my long list of feeds, which wasn’t easy - but I digress.

So, bearing in mind that I’m doing some echoing myself here:

One of the dominant criticisms of the blogosphere is that bloggers just write about what other bloggers have written about; it’s nothing more than a huge echo chamber.

I’ll give you an example of said effect. last week, Windows Home Server was released to manufacturing. I got virtually the same post from the WHS Team Blog, We got Served, Ms Home Server Blog and Ramblings of a Home Server Tester. And by the way, they all arrived in my feed reader at the same time.

Shel argues that The Echo Chamber Effect is nonsense:

I don’t buy the echo-chamber argument. Based on the 10% rule, which suggests that 10% of a blog’s (or Wikipedia’s or any other collaborative property’s) readers contribute to the content, that leaves 90% who are passive consumers of the content.

 

And gives an example:

read a blog called Brand to be Determined. Many of you—readers of this blog—probably don’t. So when I point you to a resource I learned about on Brand to be Determined, you’re getting information you probably wouldn’t have otherwise received.

Take Facebook as an example.

The tech blogoshpere has run amok with Facebook posts (A Google custom search of my 140 subscriptions gives me 1500 posts, a Google blog search gives me 437,000 posts).  Facebook has been analyzed from every conceivable angle, probably several times over.

So if I now write a post echoing Scoble and a few others, do I add value to the conversation, or noise?