The thing is.. Wait did we really start this off with the thing is? Alright this blog will be about all things new and intense. I will cover everything from Technology, Video Games, Movies, Music and Sports. Thank you for reading.
Posts tagged Google
App Review: PressReader
2 months ago
PressReader is one of the few apps out there that go above and beyond what is advertised. The app has most major publications from around the world.
Press reader is on on almost every mobile format from Android to iPhone and more. PressReader means you can have all your publications with no compromises in quality. The large screen of a tablet like the iPad works best if you want to read the paper. If you are on the go in the morning like me, I suggest that you use the iPhone. I use the app like a podcast. Every morning on the drive or metro to work. It reads me USA Today. Before I was only able to fit sections into my day. Now I can hear the who thing read. PressReader has auto-delivery of newspaper and magazine subscriptions. With over 2,300 newspapers and magazines from 97 countries in 55 languages, you will find something to read.
Pro: 2,300 newspapers and magazines from 97 countries in 55 languages. PressReader is the best app of its kind.
Con: You need internet connection for PressReader to read you the publications. It would be helpful for those that ride to metro or subway to not have to steam content.
Cost: Free to play up to $29.95 to commit.
Aye/Nay: This is a Aye. This is a slick easy to use program that has mountains of content. $0 to start, it’s worth it.
iTunes Link: PressReader
Send to KindleSiri getting on your nerves? Replace her with Google Now
Siri sucks and the commercials are a blatant lie. That sounds very harsh and the 1st thought of a lot of people. For those that hate Siri, the jailbreak community has responded. The jailbreak community often comes to along and makes Apple’s iOS much better than it is. Later Apple incorporates that idea into its own. Most of the time without giving credit, as was the case with inclusion of Wireless Sync on the iOS 5. We digress, Siri has gotten a lot better with OS 6. However it still does not work when you want it and some of the results are less than desired. Google the search giant also has an assistant called Google Now. Google Now is ridiculously faster than Siri and more accurate. What caused this writer, a die hard Apple iPhone user to switch over to Google Now is its ability to understand plain human speech. Thanks to the simple to use Evasi0n everyone should have a jailbroken iPhone. The NowNow tweak on Cydia can be used to replace Siri with Google Now. Watch the video below, to see the hack in action.
Send to KindleGoogle Chrome went down faster than Manny Pacquiao
5 months ago
40-minute disruption of service for the Chrome Web browser and Gmail service was not a good thing for Google. There was no official reason given about why it happen. At least not in a timely manner. Some thought the company was hit with a denial-of-service attack. Google engineer Tim Steele said that the reason for the crash had to do with the Google Sync servers getting overwhelmed following a change in the code. So, it was not a hack but an internal fail. However, being left without my go to browser. I went to Firefox. I wonder how many others were put off by the crash.
Tim Steele said: “It’s due to a backend service that sync servers depend on becoming overwhelmed, and sync servers responding to that by telling all clients to throttle all data types. The “throttling” messed things up in the browser and caused it to crash.
Send to KindleAutonomous Cars are here thanks to Google
7 months ago
California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law that will allow autonomous vehicles to be tested on California roads. The law however does requires a licensed person to be in the driver’s seat at all times to take over control if need be. One very big winner in this turn of events is Google. The Governor said “Today we’re looking at science fiction becoming tomorrow’s reality — the self-driving car.” The bill was conveniently signed at Google’s Mountain View headquarters.
Google along with carmakers like Ford, Audi, BMW, Toyota and Volvo have been working on autonomous cars for years. It took a technology company such as Google to really get the engines started so to speak. Google has been lobbying for the regulations for years. Sergey Brin, one of Google’s co-founder said that “Autonomous cars can make roads safer, free commuters from the drudgery of driving, reduce congestion and provide transport to people who can’t drive themselves, such as the blind, disabled, elderly and intoxicated.”
There is never progress without someone trying to hold on dearly to the already established status quo. In this case it’s the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. They have expressed concern that California is moving too quickly. Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers feel that before we can embrace self-driving cars, lawmakers need to sort out all the liability issues first.
The thing is that autonomous cars are like computers. They can do great things on there own after getting programmed but a human driver can override the autopilot function at anytime. California is not the first to trail blaze this new technology. Nevada was the first state to approve regulations for driverless cars on that roads.
I for one look forward to autonomous cars on the road to free up my time to reply to email or watch my sports team win. I see a time when driving will be like taking a flight. Cars sold today can already self-park. Some can automatically accelerate or decelerate depending on traffic with a feature called adaptive cruise-control. Program where you want to go and enjoy the ride. It’s not a future that is that far off.
Send to KindleFacebook + Dropbox = The new P2P
7 months ago
Facebook is becoming more than just a social site everyday. You can now share files from your Dropbox account right inside Facebook. Keep in mind this is only for Facebook Groups not regular accounts. So, all those “secret” groups don’t have to fear getting shutdown. A group for you’re Econ 401 can share notes. Create a family group and share video directly to each other rather than uploading it on Facebook servers.
To share with your Facebook group, click ‘Add File’ on the group’s page. Keep in mind that this share instantly becomes social. People in the group will be able to like or comment on anything you share. The best part is as you update or edit any file, the group automatically be aware of the change.
I’m not sure how you feel about linking Facebook to your Dropbox account but once you do; you’ll be able to search through your Dropbox at will.
Send to KindleFacebook Photo Sync
8 months ago
Facebook has started to test a new photo sync feature. The feature which works just like Google+, Dropbox and Apple’s Photostream is only an Android application at the moment. The app will automatically upload your photos to your Facebook. Why anyone other than a business would want to so this is beyond me.
Facebook does say the pictures go to a private Facebook. However, its been proven time and time again that Facebook has many privacy issues. Once photos have been uploaded, you can choose which pictures to share with friends. The feature is just like to the photo sharing integration you find on Google+, Dropbox and Apple’s Photostream. There is no word on when or even if Facebook will unleash this new feature to the wilds.
Send to KindleMotorola Mobility intros bezel less phone?
8 months ago
BGR is reporting that Motorola Mobility’s next mobile phone an edge-to-edge screen free of a bezel. What’s more it will work with LTE networks. Google owners of Motorola have a September 5 press conference in New York together with Verizon. Like the Nexus 7 tab, this may be Google’s 1st attempt to show everyone how an Android should be. Samsung has done a good job but however they took some shortcuts to get there.
Google brought Motorola for one reason and on reason only; to lock up its intellectual property. Namely its patents so that it can better protect its Android OS. Google paid a reported $12.5 billion for Motorola and this might be the payoff. They need to do what ever they can do to fight Apple’s dominance in the smartphone market. It’s been a slow summer but the Fall is when things heat up in the tech world. September is going to be very busy. Motorola have their press conference on September 5. Nokia is set to unveil its first Windows 8 phone on the same day. One week later the iPhone 5, Apple’s flagship program is set to be unveiled on September 12.
Send to KindleNo Youtube on iPhone 5 & iOS 6
9 months ago
Apple is not trying to give Google any more money on anything. First it got rid of Google Maps. Now it has done away with Google’s YouTube app. Apple stated that their license to include YouTube in iOS had expired. It may sound like its like a big deal but it really is not. You can still use YouTube on the web and Google is in the process of making a standalone app as you read this. The new YouTube app that will be available in the App Store for free. Apple wanted the iOS experience to be just iOS and have nothing from Google on its new baby. I for one look forward to see what the new iOS YouTube app looks like. The old one though helpful was really not a great user experience.
If you do not update to iOS 6 you will be fine. Apple said that OS 5 devices will not have the app removed. Apple didn’t want to push out that only took away an app. Also it will only be a matter of time before the jailbreak community addresses this loss by a tweak to integrate the new Google YouTube app with iOS 6.
Apple’s statement word for word:
Our license to include the YouTube app in iOS has ended, customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the App Store.
Update: Google now has its own YouTube app in the AppStore. The link is right here: YouTube App.
Send to KindleYou can now upload anonymous videos with YouTube blur feature
10 months ago
YouTube has added blur. What that means is that you can blur out faces of people in protest to protect them or in the case of the hack group Anonymous, you can stay well… Anonymous. This is still an emerging technology so be warned that the feature may miss out on faces.
You’ll be able to preview what people’s faces look like before you post the video for the world to see. The video I saved twice, a new copy with blur and the unedited original. The feature is rolling out to the site last week. Go give it a try.
Send to KindleFacebook adds feature called Find Friends Nearby. Here are the steps to test it out.
11 months ago
Facebook has just added a new feature that lets users find friends and potential friends that are close to them. You can go to http://fb.com/ffn or use the app to test the new feature out. The way it works is you log into Facebook and http://fb.com/ffn or just the Find Friends Nearby section. You can see both your own friends, as well as those you may not know if they are in that that section too at the same time. I think letting users meet new people rather than just the friends you already have makes Facebook more accessible adds favor to a seemingly stale product. It also feels like OK Cupid’s meet now feature. Find Friends Nearby option is available on Facebook’s iOS and Android apps. It’s here: menu > apps > find friends > other tools > Find Friends Nearby, which takes you to a page that looks exactly like the mobile web page. I think Facebook did this to reach as much people as possible. Note however you have to have Location service turned on for your browser for it to work.
The service comes on the heels of Facebook buying a mobile app that helps users discover people near them with similar interests called Glancee. We are not sure if the app is the reason why Facebook has this new feature but so far it works pretty well. Friendshake was to be the name of the new feature but it was changed to Find Friends Nearby. TechCrunch was the first to break this still developing story. A source named Pincombe points out, “Before, you would need to tell them your name, probably spell it for them, and then depending on how common your name is, you’d have to tell them which of the results is actually you. This makes it 2 taps if you save a bookmark.”
A Facebook engineer named Ryan Patterson said “I built Find Friends Nearby with another engineer for a hackathon project. While it was originally called ‘Friendshake’, we settled on ‘Find Friends Nearby’ for launch (the URL was a little bit of a homage to the previous iteration). For me, the ideal use case for this product is the one where when you’re out with a group of people whom you’ve recently met and want to stay in contact with. Facebook search might be effective, or sharing your vanity addresses or business cards, but this tool provides a really easy way to exchange contact information with multiple people with minimal friction. And there is, of course, the potential of how this basic service could be further developed: finding people who are friends of friends, or who have flagged similar interests in their social graphs; and it potentially could be something to incorporate as a push service, rather than one you have to be activate to use every time.”
NOTE: Find my Friend is a progress aka a beta test and could disrepair at anytime. The two ways to get to it are as follows
- Find Friends Nearby option is available on Facebook’s iOS and Android apps. It’s here: menu > apps > find friends > other tools > Find Friends Nearby
- http://fb.com/ffn
Send to Kindle