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Google I/O 2013

With Google I/O approaching it is time to start speculating... Last year the keynotes at Google I/O were very different in tone; the one for Android and the one for Chrome OS. It will be interesting to see if there is any big change this year, now that Sundar Pichai will - indirectly - have a role in both. Google's commitment to the web and the evolution of Chrome has taken them to an extraordinary place.  Soon it will be possible to develop apps using standard web technologies and deploy them to a wide range of environments; desktops running OS X, Linus or Windows as well as Chrome OS. There seems to be a genuine desire to get Chrome apps to play nice in their host environments, not just within the browser. For example the launcher that was part of Chrome OS now has a variant in some desktop environments. The Chromebook Pixel has a touch screen, so developing Chrome apps for a touch interface is clearly on the agenda. So isn't it about time for Chrome apps on Android...
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Apps for HDMI inputs

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WWDC is upon us and it's good to see so many rumors about Apple's hobby. Let the speculation begin... Of course we're not going to see an 'Apple TV [set]' but there might be tools for developing apps on the existing 'Apple TV [box]'.  But that won't answer the question of how do you bring an Apple-like experience to the whole sorry mess. I suspect my arrangement is not uncommon here in the UK. The TV programming comes through a cable company (Virgin Media) and they're not likely to be changing their UI anytime soon. I have children who love their XBox and who don't want to see it change. I use the cable companies catch-up services but I increasingly find myself watching content from Airplay enabled apps on an iPad. This means that the only things I use the [rather large] TV remote for (together with it's clunky and slow interface) are: switching the TV on/off selecting the correct HDMI input adjusting the TV volume I was exc...
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Speculations about developing with iCloud

It's been three months since Apple revealed it's vision of the cloud to the world. After its introduction, much was written (e.g. It Just Works ) about how iCloud compares 'philosophically' with others, most obviously Google. Now, supposedly close to launch and with iCloud in the hands of developers, there seems to be surprisingly little written about how that philosophy translates into developing a modern iOS app. Apple promises consumers that things 'will just work'. Just keep using apps in the same way and they will magically remain up-to-date across all your devices - in truth I'm not sure more magic was promised. Apple might be making a similar offer to developers. In principle iCloud means that an ObjectiveC developer with XCode can create and distribute apps containing this magical ingredient without having to learn any new skills, without having to develop any cloud-based components at all. What's more, with relatively little extra work, they c...
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Social DNA

There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether Google has, in their DNA, what it takes to 'get' social. Well I think I 'get' social but I'm not sure how much my life is improved by getting the news 30 mins ahead of everybody else and I'm pretty certain that I don't need to actually see people go through the arduous process of constructing a reply in real-time. So I'm well disposed to the idea of a ' social layer ' that improves the processes I'm already familiar with - although a better analogy might be a ' social render ' that can be used to fill in the gaps and smooth over the rough transitions. A good test will be how Google contacts are handled. Google contacts is a tremendous asset. With an Android phone, all you need to do is enter your Google credentials and your email, calendar and contacts are there. I've got an iPhone and, with slightly more configuration, you can do the same thing. The thing is that Go...
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Why do I do it?

I don't blog much and I'm curious as to what, on those odd occasions, finally drives me over the edge. It seems to be a desire to clear my head of some on-going irritation or a minor thought that just won't go away and needs to be expressed. Writing it down seems to be a way of exorcising it - just like writing a note to myself and leaving it on the kitchen table helps me sleep if I'm travelling the next day. Of course blogging about it brings in the dubious advantage of turning the whole process into a public display. There is a possible upside - the right to wear an "I told you so" T-shirt when the rest of the world realises that you really did identify the crux of the problem and offered a simple "Why don't they just...." solution. The downsides seem rather more numerous and more likely; people are privy to the odd things that bother you and, worse still, you're not even right about them. I write this because I feel a deep resevoir ...
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Can they do it again?

What does it take to start blogging again? A new year? A new decade? Or the opportunity to pointlessly speculate about an as yet unannounced product? The question that keeps coming back to me is " Can they do it again? " Not " Can they break into a new, billion dollar market? ", not " Can they redefine the way we distribute and buy apps? " but " Can they reinvent the way we interact with mobile devices? " I remember the time before the iPhone was launched. We had an HTC running Windows Mobile in the office with a touch screen and a dinky little stylus - you could use your finger nails if you angled them just right. OK, it was a bit fiddly but it took most of the fear away when entering a long URL into the browser's address bar. But we knew there were better things coming. We had all seen those iPhone mockups - the one's with a virtual, circular scroll-wheel floating over the interface. We couldn't wait. And then there it was ....
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Advertising on Google Local

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David Galbraith has noticed Google testing out what he calls 'adballoons' on Google Local. Searching for hotels in New York brings up a pair of blue sponsored links for two specific hotels ('W Court Hotel' and 'Courtyard Manhattan Hotel'). Clicking on these brings up the balloon on the map. By comparison, searching for hotels in San Francisco brings up a generic sponsored link for 'San Francisco Hotels' which takes users to a new page.
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