Search

Why Johnny Can't Search - I've wondered if Google has made us dumber. Clive Thompson discusses the our potential dependence on search and our inability to evaluate the results. Scary.

"Google makes broad-based knowledge more important, not less. A good education is the true key to effective search. But until our kids have that, let’s make sure they don’t always take PageRank at its word."

It won't help you evaluate the quality of the results, but here is an infograph to help improve your search.

Infograph via LifeHacker

Google AdWords

Even if you aren't trying to sell something, I think it is interesting to see how ads are selected for display to you. It isn't just about the price an advertiser is willing to pay - there is a quality rating.
Infographic by Pulpmedia Online Marketing

Google Broke My Browser

For some fun, Google "tilt" and "do a barrel roll" in Firefox or Chrome.

tim I'm fully 5 hours late to this but if you haven't already, you might want to try Googling "tilt". (via @acton inter alia) #eastereggsThu, Nov 03 13:35:02 from web

Cheap Tablet

It amazes me that you can get a tablet for $70. The Velocity Micro Cruz 7" Tablet (Android) may not be a great one, but $70.

Google News

Google Reader is getting a new design and some Google+ features. GMail is getting an overhaul, too. And Google+ will allow pseudonyms (or at least nicknames).

Tablets R Us

Why buy something besides an iPad? (I'm listing this link first - if you read only one, make it this one.)

"The Kindle Fire is interesting because it’s the first one with a good answer: it’s much cheaper, Amazon offers a digital content ecosystem that rivals Apple’s (fewer apps, more books), and millions of people already use and enjoy Kindle hardware. The e-ink Kindles are to the Kindle Fire what the music-playing iPods were to the iPhone, and what the iPhone was to the iPad — traction in the mass market based on trust and loyalty.

Amazon built an alternative to the iPad, rather than a direct competitor. It’s a different market segment. As Steve Jobs explained back in 2010 at the introduction of the original iPad, there’s unexplored territory between smartphones and laptops."

And:

"The iPad and Kindle Fire are emblematic of their makers. Apple’s primary business is selling devices for a healthy profit, and they back that up with a side business of selling digital content for those devices. Amazon’s primary business is as a retailer, including as a retailer of digital content. They back that up with a side business of low-cost digital devices that are optimized for on-the-fly purchasing of anything and everything Amazon sells. The Kindles are to Amazon what the printed catalog was to Sears a century ago."

The X-Ray feature might tip the scale and give me a reason to pay a premium of an e-book.

"All the new e-ink Kindles have an innovative feature called X-Ray. When you download a book on an e-ink Kindle you automatically receive a second file with information about the characters and settings of the book. The sources include Wikipedia and an Amazon-owned company book-related social service called Shelfari. It’s a welcome means to quickly figure out whether an unfamiliar character had appeared a few chapters earlier."

If I buy a Kindle, I will get the version that is ad supported, because you can change your mind later and pay to opt out of the adds with no penalty.

Amazon to buy Palm? Speaking of old school, maybe somebody should snap up BeOS, too.

Some iPad alternatives

I've finally decided what my next tablet will be: The Sabre Pyramid

iPhone 4S... point and shoot camera killer?

What is the difference between a smartphone and tablet? Very similar to my thoughts on which tablets are competitors? It depends on the use case.

edbott Whatever Happened to the iPad Rivals of 2010? A long, sad list http://t.co/7NCEBnqD via @technologizerMon, Oct 03 08:26:01 from Tweet Button retweeted by asymco

WIREDInsider The top 10 new features of iOS5: http://t.co/xGVTuecV (via @gizmodo)Wed, Oct 05 10:33:38 from SocialOomph

WIREDInsider Today's infographic: Every iPhone 5 rumor to date: http://t.co/8dGRL2aUTue, Oct 04 16:36:46 from SocialOomph

WIREDInsider Delving deeper into the iPhone 4s camera: http://t.co/Qebhe89g (via @wired)Wed, Oct 05 12:33:45 from SocialOomph

Amazon - New Kindles Touch and Fire

So I'm all about the tablets right now... I was like a kid at Christmas watching two live blogs (here and here) yesterday as they covered the announcements from Amazon. I'd been reading all the predictions about how great this new tablet was going to be and then in the 48 hours leading up to the announcement, opinions seemed to become much more negative. The tablet was going to be a hack job and would be replaced with something different in Q1 2012. And what did we get... not only the color tablet we expected, but several new models of the Kindle - including a $79 low-end ebook reader and new touch screen models.

My take... I'm not sure I need anything beyond my Android Nook Color, but I think the future is very exciting! I don't think Amazon is trying to attack Apple directly. Others have said that the Kindle is not a book, but a bookstore. The Fire is a bookstore, movie studio, and a TV network - and maybe a data mine (one view - Amazon attacks Apple... and Google!)


Via Technologizer

Kindle - Nook - iPad Comparison (image from This is My Next)


The Kindle Fire competes with...
Hands on with the Kindle Fire
Amazon makes $199 challenge to iPad
Apple is no longer the only tablet maker that matters.
Playing With Fire: Amazon Launches $200 Tablet, Slashes Kindle Prices
Broken Models - Syncing and Backups
The new browser - SILK
What is old is new - SILK and Opera Mini
Slashdot's Rob worries about Privacy and Security



And again... why SILK and the new browser model means Amazon attacks Apple... and Google!

And when will the Kindle be free?

Bonus Link - you aren't getting a TouchPad.

Tablets, Tablets, Tablets

A review of the iPad challengers...

And a new one coming next week... Amazon Tablet announcement on Wednesday

Amazon Kindle Tablet Could Shake Up Tablet Wars: Here's How | PCWorld (Via Slashdot.org) - thoughts about Amazon's possible tablet and strategy - pros and cons.

Looks like I am one of the cool kids with my 7" Nook Color Android tablet...

The Motorola 7" Android Tablet

The 7" HP TouchPad that will never be.

And the power of the iPad and other consumer devices in the enterprise - they have been leaking into our company for years and it is only getting worse, err better, err worse.

Amazon Kindle Fire

parislemon On Wednesday, Amazon Will Unveil The “Kindle Fire” http://t.co/OOvg4KJdMon, Sep 26 16:31:04 from Tweet Button retweeted by arrington

From the article:

Another thing I wasn’t sure about was the chip inside of the device. I’ve now learned it’s a TI dual-core OMAP chip. This is the same chip used inside many newer Android devices. The PlayBook also uses it. I’m not sure what the clock-speed of the CPU will be, but I’d guess 1.2 GHz. This will make it significantly faster than the rival Nook Color, which uses a single core 800 MHz OMAP.

And...

The Nook Color 2 will also be built on top of Gingerbread, Android 2.3, we hear. That would put it ahead of the Kindle Fire, which is believed to be based on Android 2.1. Again, neither of them look anything like Android, but the APIs available are key when it comes to the Android version. 

Tablet Links

What a tangled web we weave...

Color Kindle? Running Android?

Eric Schmidt: The Next Big Android Launch is Coming in Oct or Nov

Sony Tablet Wonder if they will make some slick device and then wreck it by making it proprietary.

Amazon’s Future Is So Much Bigger Than a Tablet - I like the line saying that the Kindle isn't a book - it is a bookstore.

Amazon.com begins rolling out new homepage design - so it is easier for tablet users?

Amazon Book Service Rent books on demand?

Low Expectations for the Amazon Tablet?

Droid Hams

So I tried to join the Droid Hams Yahoo Group, but I missed the fine print (see below) and was denied.

Description
Droid users that are licensed hams
If you want to join present your call sign otherwise you will be denied

Since I tried to sign up using my Brick account and without mentioning my call, my request was denied. I don't dispute the group owner's right to restrict access, but I think the more open groups have a better chance of success. My supporting data... this group had one message in August and one message so far in September. Not too active.

Authors@Google: George R.R. Martin

I missed the live streaming, so I'm watching the interview now.

Blogger's Poor Man's Backup

After the mishap with Blogger, I thought I might want to check out my backup options. I can manually download an XML file of the entire blog, but that depends on me to do something. I suspect there are cool tools to do a backup, but for now, I've just subscribed myself to the blog, so I get an e-mail with the current posts. That at least gets me the text, so I wouldn't have to rewrite a post.

Depending on Gmail, a Google service, to backup Blogger, a Google service, what could go wrong?

Grrr. Arrgh. Blogger Broke 2

Here is the official word from Google about what happened to break Blogger.

"Here’s what happened: during scheduled maintenance work Wednesday night, we experienced some data corruption that impacted Blogger’s behavior."

That clears it right up.

Here is a short list of my posts that you might have missed (or you could just scroll down through the site):

Baofeng UV-3R: Local Knowledge

Heard on the 940 Repeater

Baofeng UV-3R Menu Options

Tactial iPad Case

Kel-Tec PF-9 Week: Day 4 - My Holsters

Kel-Tec PF-9 Week: Day 3 - My Thoughts

And after clicking Publish Post, I am off to do a backup and go to bed.

Grrr. Arrgh. Blogger Broke.

Google broke their Blogger service. I couldn't make changes last night or this morning. It is back now, but they lost some of my posts. Never fear! I will attempt to rebuild them bigger, stronger, faster - the million dollor posts!

Native Google Docs for Android

I was excited to see that a native app for Google Docs was released for my Android phone. I use Google Docs for a few things and really like having access from any machine - I thought this would just add to the utility of the service. Unfortunately, it isn't as useful as I had hoped.

My anal retentive nature requires that I log every tank of gas that goes in my wife's car. I have a Google spreadsheet to track the fill-ups, mileage, MPG, etc. The app was a lot slower than I thought it would be. Also, it isn't very robust. I needed to add a row below my last entry, but above my formulas. The only option I saw was to add a row at the bottom.

I still have hope for it - assuming Google will develop it like they do Google Docs services.

Via Business Insider

Encrypted Google Search

I just noticed that my Google search defaulted to an encrypted page. Strange. I've never see that before tonight. It shows the "Beta" and a "SSL" tag.

https://encrypted.google.com/

From Brick O'Lore

Android Market

Google has announced the Android Market. This seems like a no-brainer to me. I'm not sure why you wouldn't have released this sooner - if not at the same time as the Market app on the phones.

More Google

New tools all the time...

Google Advanced Search Reading Level - Google ranks the complexity of the language used on a web page. You can specify if you want to view Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced results.

Google Body Browser - a tool to view the various systems that make up the body. You can view start with the nervous system and add layers of muscle, bone, etc. You can also turn labels on or off.

Google Books NGram Viewer - a tool to map the frequency of a word appearing in books over time. You can determine when a word first came into use or grew in popularity.