Right now, as you read this, you are cruising through a mind-numbingly complex pathway of wires and cables that shoots bits of data from point-to-point around the globe. And Peer 1’s Map of the Internet lets you see what it looks like…as a neon disco map. More »
When Google announced that it plans on shutting down Google Reader, many users were outraged. Many people took to blogs and Twitter to voice their opinions, and many users started petitions to change Google’s mind. Everyone hopes that with enough people showing their disapproval towards Google’s decisions, Google may change its decision. One person (probably many actually), has stated that he doesn’t understand what the big deal is.
Dave Winer, the creator of the first version of RSS, stated on his blog that he won’t miss Google Reader. He stated, ‘Never used the damn thing. Didn’t trust the idea of a big company like Google’s interests being so aligned with mine that I could trust them to get all my news.” He continues to say that he didn’t like Google’s “Mailbox” approach when it came to RSS feeds, and that he likes the “river of news approach”.
Winer believes that Google Reader shutting down is a good thing for RSS. He believed that Google was in the business of controlling the news, especially with services like Google Now. Google Now brings you the latest updates on stories you have recently searched for and/or read. He said that it’s bad because one, it’s snooping on your information and searches, and two, it’s deciding what news “you don’t see”.
While Winer does have some interesting points, the point of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds is to frequently publish updated works from subscriptions, which Google Reader had done exceedingly well. Unlike what Winer said, I believe that Google Readers did have a choice of deciding what type of news stories came to them, and Google in no way tried to omit any of that information out of its Reader service.
[via ZDNet]
Creator of RSS says he won’t miss Google Reader is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
After much fanfare the Pebble smartwatch made the leap from fanciful concept to full-fledged product earlier this year, but now that units have started to ship and people have started to wear them, what’s Pebble’s next step?
Why, enticing developers, of course. Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky noted in a backer update video released earlier this morning that an early version of the smartwatch’s watchface SDK would be made available to would-be Pebble developers during the second week of April.
And when I say “early version,” I mean early version. At this stage it’s being looked at as more a proof-of-concept release than anything else, and Migicovsky points out that there’s a “99% chance” that the team will revamp some of the underlying APIs involved. What’s more, anyone expecting the ability to use the SDK preview to tap into the Pebble’s sensors and radios (like the accelerometer for tracking movement) will come away disappointed — the release is geared strictly toward new watchfaces, though Migicovsky says that games are also fair game as they rely mostly on button inputs.
The early SDK has been in testing with “hacker” backers — a group of about 100 people who pledged $235 or more for the privilege of early tinkering rights — for the past few months, and some of the apps they’ve created will be released alongside the SDK. The most notable new app? A low-res (and therefore faithful) reproduction of Snake that hearkens back to Nokia’s feature phone glory days.
Granted, new watchfaces may not seem like the most crucial addition even to Pebble buffs, but the impending release marks a pretty dramatic shift in scope for the Pebble team. What once started as a company whose daily operations were completely dictated by the need to manufacture and ship over $10 million worth of gadgets is now a company gearing up to focus on the next stage of the Pebble’s life cycle: building up the app ecosystem so the value of owning a Pebble extends beyond the wow factor of wearing a tiny e-paper display on your wrist. Migicovsky concedes that Pebble hasn’t “done the best job so far of communicating with developers,” but the team looks very willing to change that — hopefully a full-blown version of the SDK shows up sooner rather than later.
Update 34 – Pebble Watchface SDK in April from Pebble Technology on Vimeo.
Lose five pounds, edit your photos, catch up on TV shows, and breathe at some point. Sound like an unattainable amount of multitasking? Not really, if you have this round of the best iPhone apps of the week to assist you. More »
We have sort of an adorable theme going with this round of the best iPad apps of the week. It starts with a craft app, continues with an animated petting zoo, but it ends with a crazy fish hunting game. Say it while you have the chance: awwwww. More »
Unlike iOS, Android comes with a host of keyboards to choose from should you not like the stock Android keyboard. SwiftKey is one of them and if you have been enjoying the keyboard on your previous Android devices, you might be pleased to learn that SwiftKey will be the default keyboard of choice on Samsung’s recently announced Galaxy S4! This was confirmed by SwiftKey’s co-founder and CTO, Ben Medlock who said in a statement, “Following our great success with the SwiftKey 4 launch last month, we are excited to confirm that Samsung has chosen SwiftKey’s innovative keyboard technology to be at the heart of its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4. This is fantastic progress for our vision of bringing the best touchscreen typing experience to as many people as possible.”
This is great news for those who are used to the way SwiftKey works, meaning that if you were to get the Samsung Galaxy S4, you will be able to start firing off text messages and email right off the bat without having to relearn the keyboard, or wait to download and install it. Those with multiple Android devices will also be able to get a feel of SwiftKey before deciding if dropping $4 on the keyboard app will be worth it. So, anyone else chuffed that SwiftKey will be the keyboard of choice for the Samsung Galaxy S4?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: More Nokia Lumia 928 Samples Leaked?, Sony Xperia ZL Gets New Firmware,
A while back we reported that WhatsApp for Android would be getting a Holo makeover, although this was in the beta APK which we guess some of you guys might have avoided in favor of the final release. Well the good news is that if you dug the Holo UI, you’re in luck because WhatsApp for Android has been updated and is now available for download via the Google Play store. As expected this version will also feature the same Holo UI, but we expect that there are probably some minor bugs in the beta that have also been fixed along the way. If you have downloaded the beta, perhaps you might want to update to the official release.
The app will be free for the first year, but after that users will be charged a subscription fee of $0.99 a year. However it seems that if you plan to use the app for maybe 3 or 5 years, there are apparently discount packages for long-term use. So, who’s downloaded the updated WhatsApp and what do you guys make of the new UI?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: More Nokia Lumia 928 Samples Leaked?, Sony Xperia ZL Gets New Firmware,
Dropbox announced they receive one billion uploads every day a few weeks ago at MWC, which obviously means they have a ton of users uploading their files onto the service on a regular basis. They’re always looking to expand their features, which is why they previously acquired Audiogalaxy and Snapjoy. Today, Dropbox is announcing another acquisition that may make them a major player in the world of email clients.
Dropbox has announced they have acquired a newly popular iPhone email application, Mailbox. “Like many of you, when we discovered Mailbox we fell in love,” wrote Dropbox co-founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi in a recently published blog post. “It was simple, delightful, and beautifully engineered.”
Mailbox’s acquisition doesn’t mean the service will suddenly become a part of Dropbox and be used as an added service. Dropbox plans to keep Mailbox as a separate entity and will help push it forward to add more email providers and mobile devices, as well as additional features. All 14 employees of Mailbox will keep their positions and continue their work on the application.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: More Nokia Lumia 928 Samples Leaked?, Sony Xperia ZL Gets New Firmware,
In what may be considered as a surprise move, popular cloud-storage service Dropbox has acquired recently-launched Mailbox. The new email app that launched around a month ago to hordes of curious users is now in the hands of Dropbox. Both Mailbox and Dropbox announced the acquisition on their respective blogs.
Dropbox says that they fell in love with Mailbox right away, describing the app as “simple, delightful, and beautifully engineered.” Dropbox discovered that Mailbox’s calling was the same as theirs: “to solve life’s hidden problems and reimagine the things we do every day.” That’s when the Dropbox folks realized they would make a team.
Mailbox said that rather than grow the app and the company on its own, they’ve decided to join forces with Dropbox to possibly achieve more than what they could do on their own. The Mailbox app itself will still be sticking around and won’t be changing, save for a few new features coming in the future, including Dropbox integration, according to a hint from Mailbox CEO Gentry Underwood.
Exact plans for the acquisition haven’t been disclosed, but we should definitely be seeing more features coming to Mailbox. We reviewed the app shortly after its release, and its certainly worth a try. The developer says that 60 million emails are going in and out per day, and the company’s service capacity has grown 2,000x since launching last month.
Dropbox acquires recently-launched email app Mailbox is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Google Reader is shutting down, folks, and aside from a few petitions that may or may not, but definitely won’t work, there’s nothing we can really do. The die has been cast. The moving finger has writ. Hannibal has crossed the alps. Google Reader will be no more starting on July 1. Thankfully, though, Google is giving us a generous grace period to go out and seek other means of RSS aggregation, and we have a few suggestion that you may want to consider as you go on your quest.
The Old Reader is often forgotten about, but it’s a minimalistic and simple RSS reader that gets the job done. However, the interface also looks a lot like Google Reader, giving you just the information you need in a simple and straightforward layout. However, there’s no mobile apps to access your feeds on the go, so you’re tied to your web browser.
NewsBlur is another RSS reader that looks similar to Google Reader, but we have to say it looks a bit nicer. It offers both free and paid plans; free users can have a maximum of 64 feeds, while you can jump to an unlimited subscription for only a $1/month, which isn’t too bad at all. Plus, the service has iOS and Android apps for the news junkies on the go.
Feedly is one of the more popular RSS readers out there, and it supports a whole host of devices, that way you can have your RSS feeds synced up wherever you are. Feedly can run in Chrome and Firefox using the service’s extensions, and there are also iOS and Android apps, as well as an app for Kindle devices. The interface will take some getting used to, though, if you’re used to Google Reader, but it has most of the same display options. It’s layout is more like a magazine, or even a newspaper in some cases, but you can change the format in the settings to give you just a straightforward feed.
Flipboard is also another popular option, although it’s interface is more like a stylish magazine rather than an actual feed, since it’s heavily image-based. However, there’s no desktop client or web-based version of Flipboard — it’s all strictly mobile on iOS, Android, Kindle, and NOOK. So, while design junkies will definitely like the beautiful layout, it’s definitely not for those who need their news and information on their desktop.
Pulse is another RSS reader that’s similar to Flipboard, as it has a pretty interface that lays out items in a tile format. It’s also heavily image-based, so if you’re looking for something that closely resembles Google Reader, this may not be the one for you. However, it does have a web-based version using HTML5, as well as apps for both iOS and Android.
5 great alternatives to Google Reader is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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