CES 2013 will be Google's show
Not that many years ago, nearly every computing product on the CES exhibit floor ran Windows. This year, that was not the case. Sure, the new "ultrabooks" are Windows-powered, but Android is everywhere else: in tablets, in phones, and in TVs.Even though Microsoft Windows still dominates the PC and laptop markets, Microsoft itself is no longer the leader in consumer tech innovation. It's sad but appropriate that the company will no longer be kicking off the leading consumer electronics trade show. After Apple, Google is leading the charge in consumer electronics. Apple doesn't officially participate in CES, leaving Google as the most influential platform company there. The most interesting tabletproducts at CESran Android (examples: Asus 370T; Asus Transformer Prime; Samsung Galaxy Note, while the the Windows-powered ultrabooks appeared pedestrian in comparison (except perhaps for Lenovo's Yoga). And it's a safe bet that most of the smartphone manufacturers see Google Android as their only feasible defense against the iPhone juggernaut. Windows Phone 7, good as it is, is too late. Other opinionsPCs take the lead at CES 2012: Laptops, desktops, and hardwareTablets: Bruised and confused at CES 2012Ultrabooks: A new era for PCs or Wintel innovation bankruptcy?It would make sense for Google to get the 2013 CES keynote spot. It was the most important vendor at this year's show and it's likely to be even more critical to the CE industry next year.Google rose to this position in CE by using the same playbook as the company it's displacing. As Microsoft did with Windows, Google now makes the operating system that every manufacturer knows how to bake into its hot products and that developers like to build for due to its expanding market footprint and technical flexibility. In consumer computing, Microsoft perfected this virtual cycle, but in the new era of mobile devices, it's Google that's doing the best job implementing the model.Will it be Google?Jason Oxman, senior vice president of Industry Affairs at the Consumer Electronics Association, wouldn't tell me who has been invited to give the keynote at CES 2013. But he did discuss with me the process. CEA execs will decide on the "thematic direction" for the 2013 show shortly after the 2012 show closes. Then they'll extend invitations to speakers. Another safe bet: the CEA isn't going to determine that the thematic direction for CES 2013 will in any way relate to portable PCs running Windows 8. Nor for any sensible 2013 theme (mobile computing, search, social computing, the cloud, or media), does Microsoft sit at the head of the class. At some point, a major manufacturer like Samsung, Sony, LG, or Toshiba may manage to get real traction with an integrated media-sharing platform that competes with Apple (they are all building them). If it does, it could end up as a good keynote candidate. But as of CES 2012, these initiatives all seem secondary to these manufacturers' hardware lines. They're not as well integrated, or nearly as good, asiTunes is with Apple TV, its iOS devices, and the Macs. CES 2013 keynoteWhich company should keynote the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show?Apple, for its part, does participate in CES. The company sent hundreds of employees to CES this year. Some reports called them "spies" because they were quiet deal-makers and observers, not press-facing flag-wavers. But if Apple sent spies, Google sent generals. Eric Schmidt and Marissa Meyer, for example, both appeared on CNET livestreamed events. Google is already laying the groundwork to dominate CES.Next year, when Microsoft has neither the keynote slot nor its mega-booth in the Central Hall (which it did not renew), the company will do a similar thing: It will send hundreds of employees and likely "embed" them in the booths where Windows 8-running products are being pushed. But no matter how ever-present Microsoft is in partner booths, it won't be able to control the message to the same extent it would if it had a native exhibit. Microsoft will be Apple-like in 2013.The 2013 CES will belong to Google even if it doesn't get (or accept) the keynote spot. Google was the most influential company at CES 2012, it's arguably the most important company for other CE vendors to work with, and it deserves the top billing at CES 2013.(Tidbit: No matter who gets the nod as the kick-off company for CES 2013, it's not clear if they'll get what the CEA calls the "Microsoft keynote," the talk the night before the show officially opens. In fact, no one might. That pre-show kickoff slot was created 14 years ago specifically for Microsoft. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have anchored that talk, but no other company has. The CEA is considering eliminating that slot and pushing the media to treat the official opening-day keynote as the show launch instead. This year, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs had that spot.)
Red Handed app crowd-sources crime reporting
Red Handed app crowd-sources crime reporting
Head over to LiveLeak and you'll find a cornucopia of user-uploaded videos â€" many of which, filmed on smartphones, depict someone behaving in a less-than-legal fashion.It is this aspect of the smartphone age that Sydney-based Red Handed wants to tap into with its new app. Using a built-in camera function, it allows you to upload videos live to its platform so that other users can see where crime is occurring â€" and appropriate, hopefully police, action can be taken.The developer refers to Red Handed as, rather than social network, "social awareness", and it has several functions to this end. First, anyone can film and upload videos, either with a log-in or anonymously. Before you start shooting, you can choose the type of crime from a wheel, and add comments when you are done to provide a more full description of the incident. Videos are also automatically geo-tagged and populated on the app's map so that users can search for videos by location.You can also set up the app so that you receive alerts when a video is uploaded, whether it be all reports, reports in your area (as defined by your phone's GPS), or an area defined by you (called your "Hood"). You can also set it so that you only receive notices of reports of apps that have been voted on.Voting is one method the app uses to help discourage misuse. When a user uploads a video, other users can view the video and "vote" on whether it is criminal activity or not. It's making a gamble â€" presupposing that most users will be using the app as intended â€" but the developer feels the issue is important enough that most users will take it seriously.(Credit: Red Handed)Red Handed marketing director Dave Malcolm told us that the potential for misuse was pretty low. When most people see a crime taking place, their instinct is not to get involved; and if anyone tries filing false reports, the app's admins can remove the videos.But anonymous reporting is kind of a necessity, he said. Many people don't feel comfortable being contactable as a witness, or potentially found out by the people they report. Also, it allows people on tight schedules â€" who might witness a crime on a bus, but not want to spend an hour making a police report â€" flag the incident with a service that can escalate it to the authorities and carry on their day.Red Handed has yet to confirm a partnership with the police â€" this is one aspect of the app that is still in progress â€" but other users, or even the Red Handed team, can make a call if they see anything that requires intervention.The app also has a supporting web app that lets you view, comment and vote on videos, as well as view a Google map that shows at-a-glance crime statistics for the area based on the number of video uploads the app has received. This part, admittedly, still requires a kink or two to be ironed out (for example, multiple people filming the same incident will be filed as separate crime reports), but the developers are planning an update in the next few weeks that adds functionality and sorts out a few bugs.What will be really interesting to see is if the app comes to be used in a quis custodiet ipsos custodes sort of fashion, with the watched becoming the watchmen when it comes to incidents of potential police brutality.You can check out more info on the Red Handed website, and download the app for free from the iTunes app store. Android users should keep their eyes open in the coming weeks â€" a version is on the way.
Head over to LiveLeak and you'll find a cornucopia of user-uploaded videos â€" many of which, filmed on smartphones, depict someone behaving in a less-than-legal fashion.It is this aspect of the smartphone age that Sydney-based Red Handed wants to tap into with its new app. Using a built-in camera function, it allows you to upload videos live to its platform so that other users can see where crime is occurring â€" and appropriate, hopefully police, action can be taken.The developer refers to Red Handed as, rather than social network, "social awareness", and it has several functions to this end. First, anyone can film and upload videos, either with a log-in or anonymously. Before you start shooting, you can choose the type of crime from a wheel, and add comments when you are done to provide a more full description of the incident. Videos are also automatically geo-tagged and populated on the app's map so that users can search for videos by location.You can also set up the app so that you receive alerts when a video is uploaded, whether it be all reports, reports in your area (as defined by your phone's GPS), or an area defined by you (called your "Hood"). You can also set it so that you only receive notices of reports of apps that have been voted on.Voting is one method the app uses to help discourage misuse. When a user uploads a video, other users can view the video and "vote" on whether it is criminal activity or not. It's making a gamble â€" presupposing that most users will be using the app as intended â€" but the developer feels the issue is important enough that most users will take it seriously.(Credit: Red Handed)Red Handed marketing director Dave Malcolm told us that the potential for misuse was pretty low. When most people see a crime taking place, their instinct is not to get involved; and if anyone tries filing false reports, the app's admins can remove the videos.But anonymous reporting is kind of a necessity, he said. Many people don't feel comfortable being contactable as a witness, or potentially found out by the people they report. Also, it allows people on tight schedules â€" who might witness a crime on a bus, but not want to spend an hour making a police report â€" flag the incident with a service that can escalate it to the authorities and carry on their day.Red Handed has yet to confirm a partnership with the police â€" this is one aspect of the app that is still in progress â€" but other users, or even the Red Handed team, can make a call if they see anything that requires intervention.The app also has a supporting web app that lets you view, comment and vote on videos, as well as view a Google map that shows at-a-glance crime statistics for the area based on the number of video uploads the app has received. This part, admittedly, still requires a kink or two to be ironed out (for example, multiple people filming the same incident will be filed as separate crime reports), but the developers are planning an update in the next few weeks that adds functionality and sorts out a few bugs.What will be really interesting to see is if the app comes to be used in a quis custodiet ipsos custodes sort of fashion, with the watched becoming the watchmen when it comes to incidents of potential police brutality.You can check out more info on the Red Handed website, and download the app for free from the iTunes app store. Android users should keep their eyes open in the coming weeks â€" a version is on the way.
Facebook 3.0 for iPhone pours on the features
Facebook 3.0 for iPhone pours on the features
The third major edition of Facebook for iPhone has just crept into the iTunes App Store. It's a huge update, with numerous advanced features that make Facebook more interactive than before and which bring the app as close to the desktop experience as it's ever been.Facebook for iPhone opens on your news feed as usual, but the upper left corner now sports a tiny grid icon that serves as the main organizing feature for this new build. Click it to see a screen equipped with a search bar on top, a notification alert area on the bottom, and a grid of nine activities you can perform in the middle. These include the news feed, your profile details, your message in-box, Facebook chat, friend requests, events, photo albums, and notes.Those who use Facebook on the iPhone frequently will notice that quite a few of these actions are brand new, like viewing events and submitting an RSVP from your phone. You'll also be able to view friends' birthdays and upload photos to any album. Anyone sporting an iPhone 3GS gets the added bonus of uploading video. Photos received a lot of attention in this update. You'll now be able to zoom into photos, create albums and delete them, as well as upload and delete photos and photo tags, all from the Facebook interface. In addition, you can upload a new profile picture.Facebook has also poured energy into how it deals with friends. You're now able to call or text friends from the interface, which brings Facebook's social connectivity into the real world. You can see friends of friends and mutual friends from the app, too, as well as the Pages you subscribe to. If you're trying to locate a friend from within a page, Facebook has thought of that too, by equipping the page with search. To top it off, you can subscribe to Pages from the phone, not merely view them passively.The new built-in Web browser is one feature addition that some may miss at first, but which is ultimately one of the most practical and useful for keeping the Facebook experience on iPhone firmly within the Facebook app. Before this integration, clicking a link would kick you out of the app and open a Safari browser. You would have to restart Facebook to resume your place.There are more additions besides, but we thought we would start you off with a little taste and some first impressions. To see the full list, visit the Facebook page on iTunes.So far, this app impresses, but we'll keep you up to date on any quibbles we develop as we spend more time with this it and really get to know both its strong points and its flaws. iPhone and iPod Touch users, what do you think? How to see version 3.0 in iTunes.Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNETTip: If iTunes is still showing version 2.5 on your desktop, click the "Facebook" breadcrumb on the page's top navigation. Refreshing the Web page won't necessarily do the trick. On the iPhone, delete the Facebook application and download it anew from the App Store on your phone. Even if the app page does not say it's version 3.0, the new version should install.
The third major edition of Facebook for iPhone has just crept into the iTunes App Store. It's a huge update, with numerous advanced features that make Facebook more interactive than before and which bring the app as close to the desktop experience as it's ever been.Facebook for iPhone opens on your news feed as usual, but the upper left corner now sports a tiny grid icon that serves as the main organizing feature for this new build. Click it to see a screen equipped with a search bar on top, a notification alert area on the bottom, and a grid of nine activities you can perform in the middle. These include the news feed, your profile details, your message in-box, Facebook chat, friend requests, events, photo albums, and notes.Those who use Facebook on the iPhone frequently will notice that quite a few of these actions are brand new, like viewing events and submitting an RSVP from your phone. You'll also be able to view friends' birthdays and upload photos to any album. Anyone sporting an iPhone 3GS gets the added bonus of uploading video. Photos received a lot of attention in this update. You'll now be able to zoom into photos, create albums and delete them, as well as upload and delete photos and photo tags, all from the Facebook interface. In addition, you can upload a new profile picture.Facebook has also poured energy into how it deals with friends. You're now able to call or text friends from the interface, which brings Facebook's social connectivity into the real world. You can see friends of friends and mutual friends from the app, too, as well as the Pages you subscribe to. If you're trying to locate a friend from within a page, Facebook has thought of that too, by equipping the page with search. To top it off, you can subscribe to Pages from the phone, not merely view them passively.The new built-in Web browser is one feature addition that some may miss at first, but which is ultimately one of the most practical and useful for keeping the Facebook experience on iPhone firmly within the Facebook app. Before this integration, clicking a link would kick you out of the app and open a Safari browser. You would have to restart Facebook to resume your place.There are more additions besides, but we thought we would start you off with a little taste and some first impressions. To see the full list, visit the Facebook page on iTunes.So far, this app impresses, but we'll keep you up to date on any quibbles we develop as we spend more time with this it and really get to know both its strong points and its flaws. iPhone and iPod Touch users, what do you think? How to see version 3.0 in iTunes.Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNETTip: If iTunes is still showing version 2.5 on your desktop, click the "Facebook" breadcrumb on the page's top navigation. Refreshing the Web page won't necessarily do the trick. On the iPhone, delete the Facebook application and download it anew from the App Store on your phone. Even if the app page does not say it's version 3.0, the new version should install.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)