techcrunch: Surprise! Google unexpectedly announced the Android...

techcrunch:

Surprise! Google unexpectedly announced the Android N Developer Preview early. And to make things even easier for developers — and adventurous users — the preview is available as an over-the-air update.

Check out the early preview here. 

It looks *so* *bad*. It’s like Google hired Samsung designers to influence material design. Step backwards for sure.

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techcrunch: If everything goes according to plan, Huntsville,...

techcrunch:

If everything goes according to plan, Huntsville, Alabama will become the 10th city to offer Google Fiber service. Fiber is currently available in Kansas City; Provo; Austin, Texas; and Atlanta, Ga., but Google has already announced it plans to bring it to five more cities, including Nashville, Tenn.

Read more here. 

Competition is great, but I would trust Google Fiber even less than I trust Comcast or other ISP’s with tracking and selling my data.

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npr: Sure, our smartphones know a lot about who we are.If you...

npr:

Sure, our smartphones know a lot about who we are.

If you have an Android smartphone, you may not know that Google saves all of the voice commands you give it. They’re archived online in your Google account.

Google says it keeps the audio search information to improve its voice recognition. Android users can opt out, which keeps your recordings anonymous. (Apple also stores voice commands collected by Siri users, though they’re not so obviously associated to users.)

You can find your audio commands — as well as other histories, like all of the YouTube videos you’ve searched for and watched — by visiting your Google history page. You can disable this storage feature by managing your activity.

Otherwise, you can look through and listen to your Google voice searches — all those times you said “OK Google” and asked for directions, set alarms, dictated texts and searched for answers to the many questions that pop in your head throughout the day.

OK Google: Where Do You Store Recordings Of My Commands?

Photo: Ariel Zambelich/NPR

It’s disgusting how much of your data Google collects, saves, profiles, and sells to advertisers. Facebook does this too. And now snapchat is jumping on board.

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techcrunch: Google and ASUS have teamed up to build a new...

techcrunch:

Google and ASUS have teamed up to build a new version of the OnHub router. The new OnHub has a nifty new feature called “Wave Control,” which lets you speed up your Wi-Fi for a specific device by waving your hand over the top of it. Sounds like voodoo magic to us, but Google seems to think it works, so we’ll go with that. 

Read more here. 

This router is a great idea if you want to ensure that Google can see literally everything you do on the Internet.

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Exclusive: An inside look at the new ad-free YouTube Red

Exclusive: An inside look at the new ad-free YouTube Red:

nerdology:

The article goes on for much, much longer. Ben Popper wrote a killer article.

YouTube Red is an insane proposition, killing ads on YouTube fundamentally changes the way that YouTube does business and how Google as a whole does business. They built their entire empire on giving things away and making money on ads.

It makes me wonder how many people are really itching to pay for YouTube, and if the series are going to be compelling enough to warrant paying for. Netflix had a strong foothold on people before it started rolling out original programming. People were already paying for it and House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and Daredevil seemed like bonuses. 

Right now 0 people pay for YouTube. The new series they are going to create are going to have to be pretty darn compelling to get me to start paying.

Whatever happens, it’s going to be really interesting. Streaming video is in an insane place right now and it’s very fun to watch.

Not to mention, unless Google is just going to eat the cost, at $10 a month, there’s no way they can properly pay the YouTube creators and music artists that are part of its bundled Google Play Music All Access service.

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parislemon: As we all know, the world hates change, but the...

parislemon:

As we all know, the world hates change, but the internet hates it even more. But I, for one, love Google’s new logo. There are some very thoughtful and clever elements in there. 

And yes, it grows on you over time. 

I don’t like it. It might be better than the old logo, but it’s definitely not good.

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Rejoice: Google Just Created a Stupidly Simple Wi-Fi Router

Rejoice: Google Just Created a Stupidly Simple Wi-Fi Router:

appleafterstevejobs:

Wait, what? A router able to share data with Google, made by Google? Who on earth would want that, beside Google?

Yeah, so actually, this is a terrible idea. Please don’t buy this router.

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King of the Tablet Market, If the Market Even Exists...

So, here's a thought:

iPad is the undisputed tablet king. No, that's not the thought, I just needed to lay that out as a bit of exposition.

iPad is the best tablet on the market today. But perhaps that says more about the industry than it does Apple's own design and marketing prowess.

Perhaps iPad is the best because tablets are not the future. Perhaps tablets existed to help us transition to larger screen phones. Apple capitalized on this the most. Other manufacturers, meanwhile, realized that this wasn't part of the long term tech end game, and put out half-hearted attempts or nothing at all.

Think about it, though: what were the best non-iPad tablets? The Nexus 7 lineup were the only good selling flagship tablets. Why did these devices sell well? Primarily, they sold well because they were (are?) cheap, but still work well enough. Google and Asus didn't build the Nexus 7 to radically alter what a tablet is or what we could/should do with it. The Nexus 7 is/was simply a device designed for content consumption.

I think size is relevant as well to this idea. Non-iPad tablets have never really been successful in the ~9-10" range, but sell acceptably in the sub-8" category. This is reflective of the idea that the tablets are for media consumption; these tablets are for doing things on the couch or in bed. iPad, on the other hand, tries to be more with its 9.7" screen. There's room to do more than just read and watch videos. Sure, the Surface Pro 3 has succeeded (on a curved grading scale) at being a "productive" tablet, but I would argue that particularly because of its unoptimized operating system, it's actually a touchscreen laptop, not a tablet.

One of the biggest problems with iPad, though, is that despite Apple's best efforts to make the tablet useful, and despite excellent efforts from developers, iPad is still not the *best* tool for a lot of jobs that I do. There are CAD apps for iPad, but my computer is better for that. There are video editing apps, but a Mac would be better for that. I can bang out a paper, blog post, or long email on my iPad, but my laptop is better for that.

I'd say there are only two areas where iPad is equal or better in experience to a laptop/computer, and those would be photo editing and music making. The caveat here is that I'm talking about photo editing for people who have insufficient experience with Adobe Lightroom, Aperture, and/or Photoshop for the desktop. User-friendly photo editing (you know, for amateurs) is excellent on iPad. Music making follows the same line, in that powerful composing apps like Logic Pro are only available, or just far better on a laptop/desktop. Even some of the more serious elements of Garage Band are just better with a mouse than with a touchscreen. That being said, there are some excellent composing apps like Novation Launchpad, Beatwave, and Figure for just goofing around with music, or composing amateur electronic beats. I imagine apps similar to Finale would work pretty well on a touch interface.

In any case, where tablets are great is reading, web browsing, and watching video. But really, for these things the best device for the task is the one that you have with you. And as a culture, we always have our phones with us. This is why Samsung is putting heart rate monitors on their flagships, and Apple, HTC, and LG are putting motion trackers in theirs (but that's a post for another day).

Because of this, our phones have been steadily growing in size, to the point where the 5.7" Samsung Galaxy Note 4 no longer seems like the giant it once did. I can definitely image a world and a day where the value of the tablet is miniscule. With proper interconnection between large phone, computer, watch, and television, there would be little need for the tablet.

So here's my thought: perhaps Google recognized this, and that's why they didn't make a more serious play at the market. I mean, they literally didn't update the Nexus 10 for three years. And the Nexus 7's were always meant as budget devices. Perhaps Google saw the long haul even as well all held out with our 3.5" iPhones claiming superiority. Perhaps Google was willing to watch the tablet market slip to Apple, because they knew it wouldn't matter in the long run.

And look, they may be starting to be right. Apple's iPad sales are slipping. Consumers aren't upgrading their iPads.

And sure, Google released the new Nexus 9 with HTC, but by most reviews and impressions, the tablet is a very budget device released at too high of a price point. I also think it's worth noting that the tablet only comes in 16 or 32 GB, which seems to place it in a less serious light than iPad, which you can get in 16, 64, and 128 GB.

Samsung hasn't been so willing to surrender the market, but I really hope that their tablet releases (up until the Galaxy Tab S) have not been an honest effort at winning the market, because they've been terrible across the board. The latest tablets from Samsung are only notable because of the thinness, light weight, and excellent (if oversaturated) screens.

This is just my thought, though. Let me know if you agree, disagree, or your feelings are more complicated than that in the comments. Do you think tablets have a future? Do you do awesome things with your iPad?

Thoughts on Nexus and Android Lollipop

I felt like compiling my thoughts on Android Lollipop and the latest Nexus devices. Here they are: 

Nexus 9:

I really like the size decision for the Nexus 9. As I've stated previously, I think the size was more of a necessity for Google rather than a conscious decision of the perfect size for a tablet. That being said, I think that for me, it would be the perfect size. I often find that my iPad Air feels too large for what I'm using it for, by iPad mini's in the past have felt too small for what I want to do with them (and again, as I said previously, the mini size [~8"] is rather too small when modern phones are ~5-6").

Related to size, but not the same, is the aspect ratio. I know a lot of Android fans were unhappy with the decision to forgo the 16:9 aspect ratio in favor of the 4:3 aspect ratio. I, however, am a fan. Yes, this does make the tablet less space efficient for video watching, but it arguably makes it better in every other respect. I think the biggest advantage of the different ratio is that it truly differentiates the tablet from just being a big phone, something that Android tablets have struggled with traditionally. The disadvantage, though, is that the more tablet-like aspect ration will make the lack of true tablet apps for Android more of a glaring issue. 

That being said, I don't think this is the tablet to compete with, or beat, the iPad. The biggest advantage of the iPad is more and better apps. I really appreciate Android's far superior scaling abilities, meaning that phone apps will at least work without being  the disgusting iOS blown up what have you. The problem, though, is that most apps have a true, dedicated iPad layout, or even separate app on iOS, which just leads to a better experience. Until developers back Android as a tablet platform, OEM's will never be able to compete with Apple, even if they were to make superior hardware (which, based on early reviews, the Nexus 9 is not). 

Nexus 6:

The Nexus 6 looks like a crazy awesome phone. Basically, if there's a spec that you are looking for in a phone, it has it. But I'm not looking for the biggest, baddest specs, I'm looking for a great experience. 

The Nexus 6 is too big. Google's big arguing point recently is that they fit a 6" screen in the footprint of iPhone 6 Plus. But iPhone 6 Plus is too big as well, so I'm not really sure why they want to use this as a defense. The larger screen also makes one-handed use harder, even if the footprint is that same, because the finger has to cover more real estate. 

I would also argue that the quad HD (2K) screen is unnecessary. Something higher than 1080p might be necessary just because of the screen size, but there's not a real benefit to full 2K other than padding the specs. This is one thing that I appreciate Apple for doing, which is refusing to continue with the pixel race. 

I don't really the overall look of the phone either, even though I think the design is pretty solid. This is definitely going to be a more durable phone than the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 before it. But, then again, it should be given the cost. 

I'm up in the air about the phone. I am more than ready to eat my words once I feel the device in hand, but I'm also not holding my breath. 

Nexus Player:

I feel like the idea of the Nexus Player is what Apple TV should have become already. But that's just it, it's an idea, not a full execution, and Apple likely is working through a similar idea, and they're just waiting to reveal it until the idea is fully fleshed out.

Games are a great idea. There are so many wonderful, console like games on mobile platforms, and I really want to play them on a TV with a controller. A potential problem is that the power in the box could be very fragmented, making the gaming experience poor. The voice search is also an incredibly good feature. I honestly think it's the best feature available on the Amazon Fire TV. I love the feature, and it definitely will make the intentional search process better than what's currently available on Apple TV. 

Even though the interface is borrowed from the Fire TV, it looks great. Google successfully made an interface that's easy and intuitive enough to navigate on the television. This is surprising to me, honestly, because Google isn't exactly known for making great interfaces, especially on the first iteration. But perhaps this is a sign of the new, post-material design Google. If that's the case, I am very hopeful for the future.

The biggest issue that faces the Nexus Player is whether or not developers will support Android TV. The device and operating system has great potential. But it's just that: potential. Google TV had great potential, too, but the support just wasn't there. Gaming on Android TV will only be as good as the support for games from developers is. Apps will only work as well as developers make them work. I really hope the developers jump on this great new platform, because the potential is truly amazing. But I remain skeptical.

Android Lollipop:

I think the design has grown on me. Initially, I really hated the new look of the OS, and was left wishing for the return of Holo. However, like with iOS 7, I now quite like the design, or at least am used to it enough that I don't hate it. And the features are certainly nice, and absolutely worth it. 

The most important thing about Android Lollipop and its look is that finally we have a cohesive design on Android. Google tried in the past, but they never fully succeeded in making an OS that looked like it was truly designed together, not as separate pieces. Arguably, they finally did a better job than Apple at making a cohesively designed mobile operating system. Like it or not, I think material design is one of the most important updates to Android. Material design is the reason we got Android 5.0, and not Android 4.5.

The new multitasking looks great. I like the card approach, and I think that having chrome tabs and Gmail emails (and other things as supported by developers) open as separate multitasking cards is going to be really useful. I don't want to say that it'll be huge, but it'll be nice. Someone else had argued that this was Google attempting to better tie Chrome OS into Android. I'm not sure on how I stand on that point, besides to say that it'll make switching back to the right page easier. 

Google Now is probably my favorite part about the Google ecosystem. And that's understandable, considering that it's essentially the main driving force behind a lot of their products. The more I use it, the more it does things "auto-magically" for me, and I absolutely love it. The nice thing with Android is that Google Now just does more on that platform. 

I love the lock screen notifications on Android Lollipop. It is absolutely a feature taken straight from iOS, but that's not a bad thing. It's a useful tool, and a great use of the lock screen. For me, it's more useful than lock screen widgets. Google's implementation isn't the most elegant, but it's the best that they could do given the existing notification paradigms that exist on Android. 

One thing that I love about Android in general is developer support for interactive notifications, widgets, etc. While these features now exist on iOS, I haven't seen the adoption that I have on Android. There are literally widgets for anything and everything on Android. There are only a few widgets on iOS, and most of them aren't that good, in my opinion. I also haven't seen many developers take advantage of interactive notifications on iOS, and those that have haven't really done it that well. Apps like GroupMe just launch you into the app if you press "reply" from the notifications actions.

These are my thoughts on the Nexus and Android Lollipop announcements, but I'm interested in hearing yours. Let me know what you think in the comments. 

Inbox by Gmail Review

I hate email.

Okay, so that's not exactly new: most people hate email. But I want to emphasize that I am very much one of those people. The constant notifications are awful, but necessary, but there haven't been great solutions to dealing with them as of yet.

And I have to use email. My job as an independant contractor essentially relies on email, and timely response to it. So I essentially have to have email connected with my phone and with me at all times.

I picked up Mailbox almost two years ago, and I particularly appreciated the user interface and features of the app. In particular, the focus on getting to "inbox zero" (having no emails in the inbox) was great. It only improved with auto-swiping features which automatically filtered mail as it came in so that you wouldn't have to deal with frivolous email immediately.

The biggest problem, however, was that the filtering didn't go far enough without going so far as to make me miss that one important email per day. That's where Inbox by Gmail comes in, and I'm happy to say succeeds.

I first heard about Inbox by Gmail the day it was announced and knew that immediately I wanted to try it. Google Now does so many things "auto-magically" that I figured it would work wonders with email. I applied for an invite and received it about a week ago, and have been testing Inbox every since.

Inbox by Gmail is an invite only public "beta" right now, and I managed to get an invite directly from Google (score). I say "beta" because it's incredibly stable, but it's not released for the general public the way that standard Gmail is. If you want your own invite code, keep reading for details on how to enter to win one.

Inbox is everything I loved about Mailbox, but better.

It really was what I was expecting: Google Now auto-magically sorting my email, only notifying me for truly important emails. I spend so much less time triaging emails, you have no idea. Google is very intelligent at sorting emails, and so far, I haven't received any frivolous notifications, nor have I missed important emails (my biggest fear).

The fewer notifications that I get is also great, because it means slightly improved battery life over what I was experiencing with Mailbox. I feel like I do check my email a few more times per day with Inbox (I had an "email hour" with Mailbox, where I would essentially delay all emails until nighttime), but I definitely have the app open for less time on any given day.

The app also has a clean interface that looks quite refreshing. Mailbox looked bad by no means, by Google's "material design" is pretty nice looking. I haven't experienced problems with the animations slowing down my phone either, which is a bonus. The icon also looks good, even on my iOS device.

Another thing that I like is that Inbox has a dedicated web app, so I can have the same experience on my phone as I do on my computer. It doesn't translate perfectly, since the interface definitely feels designed for touch interaction rather than mouse, but the consistent UI and UX is appreciated. Mailbox had this to a certain degree with their Max OS X app, but I don't yet own a Mac, so this is useless to me.

One downside on the UI side of things is the lack of dedicated iPad app, or optimization for the iPad screen. You can still run the scaled up version of the iPhone app, but it looks atrocious, and I've taken to just using the regular gmail app. I feel like the Android side of things is a little bit better, but this was an unfortunate oversight on Google's part.

What I miss from Mailbox is the quick swipe to delete feature. Inbox focuses more on their "done" feature, which is essentially a swipe to archive option, but I receive a lot of email that deserves deletion more than archival, and I wish Inbox made it easier. The feature does exist, and you can still do batch deletion, it's just not as fluid as a swipe gesture is.

The snooze feature also isn't as well worked as Mailbox's, where you can customize what "tomorrow" or "later today" or "this weekend" mean. It's still a nice feature in Inbox, and I use it frequently, but it's not as well thought out as I'm used to with Mailbox.

A nice feature that Inbox does include that Mailbox does not is reminders in the inbox as well as pinning emails to the inbox as a reminder. This works with your Google Now reminders to turn your inbox into the to-do list that it basically already was. This is a departure from the "inbox zero" philosophy, but one that I find to be useful.

So what do I think: am I going back to Mailbox? No, I think overall, my best experience with email has been with the Inbox by Gmail app. I won't be switching back unless it is to try new features that Mailbox may reveal. I think the best, most powerful feature of Inbox is Google's intelligent auto-sorting of email that only notifies you when you really need to be notified. That's been the game changer for me. I no longer feel like I need to buy a smartwatch just to triage email. That's an incredibly powerful feeling.

Now, about that invite:
I still have one invite for Inbox available, and I'm looking to give it out to you, my interested readers. To qualify, just leave me a comment with what service you use for email management and how that works for you. I will pick a winner at random from the comments section and contact you about the code.

Notifications, "Today" view, Contorl Center, and Software Interface

The "today" view in iOS doesn't belong in the notifications panel. I think this is something that Android has done well. A down swipe should bring notification center, which quick launches you into apps based on new notifications. The "Today" view should be somewhere else so as to not impede on notifications, nor be impeded on.

Google Now achieves this by a swipe up from the home button (not an option on iOS) or a swipe to the right on the Google Now launcher. I don't think it's the most elegant option, but it's better than iOS's implementation.

Likewise, I don't appreciate Google's choice to include their quick settings toggles (comparable to Control Center in iOS) in the same pull down notification center. It's messy. I much prefer Apple's approach where notification are in Notification Center, and controls are in Control Center. This makes sense for the user.

I really hope that Apple will find a better place for the Today view, and sooner rather than later. I don't want to wait a year for iOS 9 to address it. And I'd love Google to move the quick toggles, but they really have nowhere else to put them, so I don't see that changing any time soon.

Is the Google Now Launcher Actually Android Silver in Disguise?

In case you hadn't already heard, the Google Now Launcher is now available to all Android devices running 4.1 and newer. Details are included in Google's official video below.



My question is: could this be the Android Silver program that everyone was talking about?

For those of you that don't know, for a couple of months before Google I/O, there were lots of rumors surfacing about the end of the Nexus program, and the start of launching flagship devices from OEM's with stock Android.

I haven't been putting much stock in the rumors, because I don't feel that's an approach that Google would take. The Nexus program has been growing and shows strong sense of life, and I think it would be stupid for Google to kill that. Likewise, OEM's would not be happy with Google, I would think, releasing Google versions of their devices sold mainstream, not just through Google Play. Android skins are how OEM's feel like they differentiate themselves from the competition. Not to mention the fact that they would sell a lot fewer devices that weren't running stock software.

My thought is, though, that the release of this launcher to the Play Store is actually what Google was doing, and that this is the rumored "Android Silver." It fits with Google's assertion that they aren't killing the Nexus program any time soon. It also gives non-stock devices a more Googley feel.

I think this is one of the best things to happen to Android since project butter, by the way. But I'm interested to know what you think. Do you think this is "Android Silver?" Do you believe the Nexus line is dying? Let me know in the comments.

The self driving car future

This is Google's latest self-driving car prototype, and it looks incredible.



I am so excited for this future. Driving is an incredibly stressful and time consuming activity, and humans are awful at it. Plus, can you imagine how wonderful services like Uber will be? Order up a self driving car, and it's there in a few minutes, even if nobody else wants to take your route. There will be no reason to own a car anymore, and that's perfect.

The case for a "Google Experience" store

Samsung’s Experience, Apple’s Lifestyle, Nexus… Devices?
Just finished this post on Medium about my thoughts after visiting a local Best Buy. Let me know what you think in the comments, and also tell me whether you like embedded Medium articles, or prefer native Blogger posts.

“Please, Sir, may I have some more bytes?” A look at free cloud storage services

I've been using cloud storage since the days of emailing documents to myself. It honestly never made sense to me to store a document on a memory stick and then have to carry that physical object with me everywhere I went. Perhaps it’s just because I inevitably forget everything important every time I go anywhere. Maybe it’s because I liked not waiting for driver software to instal every time I plugged a flash drive into a new computer.

I've been using Google Drive since its days as Google Docs and in that time it had upgraded from the 5GB starting amount to 15 GB, combining storage with Gmail. The real beauty is that this is free storage; I don't have to pay anything to keep my data in the cloud. Google even stopped counting any documents made using its services against the storage limit.

I picked up Evernote as a way to store digital versions of my class notebooks, because tablets and styluses have still not advanced to the point where they make sense in my note-taking workflow (I’d love to just type everything out, but I take a lot of math-based classes, and typing math is difficult under good circumstances). Evernote’s philosophy on storage is that they will store and allow access to as much as you want/need for free, only limiting your upload amount to 60MB per month. This is quite reasonable and very useful, especially for my use case.

I started using Mailbox for iOS, though, and because they were bought out by Dropbox, it became much easier to handle my attachments through that service than through Drive or any other cloud based storage solution. The advantage over Google Drive is that it is more robust as a backup/storage service than Drive out of the box, most likely due to Google focusing more on office productivity than just storage. Dropbox offers 2GB of storage for free, upgradable to 16GB through free methods.

The one thing that I dislike about Dropbox is that it lacks a modern idea of what free cloud storage should be. Dropbox offers 2GB free for an initial account, and then offers various ways to get trivial amounts of additional free storage (250MB for completing their tutorial, 125MB for linking with Facebook, 1GB for linking with Mailbox, etc). The real way to get additional free space is through other people signing up through your referral link, but even through this method, you only gain 500MB at a time. 500MB! This requires you convincing someone that you know to download dropbox onto their computer, and you only get 500MB!

At one time, this system of memory allocation made sense, and it worked. In a time when flash drives barely held 1GB and were expensive, and when other cloud storage services didn’t exist, setting the free tier at 2GB worked. But it’s now an outdated model. Why would I use Dropbox when Google Drive gives me 7.5x the amount of free storage that Dropbox does out of the box? That doesn't even account for the fact that Drive offers essentially infinite storage if you're willing to convert documents into Google’s formats. What advantage does Dropbox still offer?

It gets especially ridiculous with Dropbox’s newest effort, an app called Carousel, which aims to be the home for all of your automatically backed up photos. Yes, they offer 3GB additional storage for free, but another service, Flickr, offers a free terabyte of storage for photos, and the app handles automatic back-up as well. 1TB! 1TB just for photos, not eating up the other storage that you have in other services. That’s 204x the amount of storage that Dropbox gives you for free for using Carousel (in addition to the 2GB you get for just using Dropbox). Even if you have the maximum amount of possible free storage, Flickr still offers 64x the amount of storage. For free.

The other thing that Dropbox’s system of allocating free space does is it causes users searching for more space to spam their friends, family, and social media with their referral links (mine, by the way, is here) in a desperate attempt to gain miniscule amounts of extra space. It’s annoying, and it’s not something that we should have to do in 2014.

So what does it all mean? What’s the point of this post? No storage solution is perfect, and you should weigh the pros and cons of all of your options before you make a decision (but applies to everything in life, doesn't it?). But, I think that from a consumer’s perspective, established companies in the market are going to have to change their game if they intend to stay competetive.