Monthly Archives: June 2014

Link

When Android Wear, Android Auto and Android TV launch this fall, they’ll solve a problem that has plagued Android since day one: an inconsistent user experience across devices. Ars Technica’s Andrew Cunningham points out that unlike Android phones from different manufacturers that sport ugly custom UIs, launchers and interacting with Android on different smartwatches was exactly the same. In fact, Google’s engineering director, David Burke, told Cunningham that with Wear, Auto and TV, the underlying software and interfaces will be controlled by Google, not the OEMs.

This is a move very similar to Microsoft did with Windows Phone 7: they told the OEM’s to get out of the way of design and made it an imperative to design from the bottom of the OS all the way up to the user. The result? A beautiful, consistent experience across disparate devices – a.k.a. the Apple Method.

Google, Not Device Makers, Will Control Android Wear, Auto and TV UI

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

According to Meeker, more than 1.8 billion photos are uploaded and shared daily across these platforms. These photos are not findable: more and more people are choosing to share one-to-one, creating richer, more personal connections.

“How Messaging Apps Are Changing the Way Businesses Connect With Customers” via @huffposttech 

Mapping this consumer trend to the enterprise world makes it clear that companies will need to focus on small team collaboration scenarios to drive adoption of new productivity tools.

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

“If Google Now became more integrated into Android, the OS might function more like one of those contextual homescreen/launchers, like Aviate (acquired by Yahoo) or Cover, which place relevant apps on Android’s lockscreen.

The difference is that Google Now would not be just a layer on top of the OS, but a deeper part of the OS that’s capable of gathering data from the apps that run upon it and using that data to provide users with relevant, timely information and intelligent suggestions.”

“A Sneak Peak into the future of Android” via TechCrunch

Interesting news about the direction of the Android platform. The deep integration of Google Now is both exciting and scary.

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

And a year ago, OCP announced plans to build a network switch. And not just any network switch, but one designed as a software-defined networking (SDN) device. SDN is a radically new way to build networks that threatens Cisco, or at least Cisco’s 60+% profit margins.

“Facebook Just Fired A Huge Shot at Cisco” via BusinessInsider.

It’s easy to forget how big Cisco’s dominance is over the hardware that powers the internet. 

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

As participation in sports declines, and is displaced by the fitness industry – the infomercial devices, the ellipticals, the gyms that profit because members don’t show up – intensity is leached out of athletics. Ritual becomes habit. Sport becomes exercise. What was meaningful, vivid and shared becomes mindless, boring and socially isolated (Bowling Alone at Bally’s). This is why most people think of physical exertion as a chore.

http://time.com/2890075/crossfits-primal-appeal/

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

The Internet is a psychology experiment.

Building a product for the Internet is now the easy part. Getting people to understand the product and use it is the hard part. And the only way to make the hard part work is by testing one psychological hypothesis after another.

Great article by Scott Adams entitled “The Pivot” on his blog.