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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Google Plus Looks Like Everything Else (GOOG)

copy xerox carbon

After more than a year of leaks and denials Google finally took the wraps off its big social network today.

It's big, it's ambitious, and it looks a lot like a lot of other things. If you can't make it through the lengthy blog post, here's an easy way to understand it:

Circles = Facebook. Share content with your friends, only you don't have to share everything with everybody at once. You can pick and choose specific groups.

Sparks = Google Reader. Subscribe to news and information sources and get a constantly updated feed.

Hangouts = Tinychat. Live video conversations with multiple friends at once.

Instant Uploads = Microsoft Kin (and iCloud, and...). Snap photos with your phone and they're automatically uploaded to an online storage spot on Google Plus.

Huddle = GroupMe. Group chat.

None of these are bad ideas. But they're not groundbreaking either.

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Google Plus Looks Like Everything Else (GOOG)

Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/4OC24sH-d6g/google-plus-explained-in-terms-you-can-understand-2011-6

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Exclusive Android Apps You Won't Find On iPhone Or Anywhere Else (GOOG, AAPL)

android gingerbread nexus s

Our readers have had very strong feelings about the recent report that Android is blowing past iPhone in smartphone marketshare.

No matter what side you're on, there's no arguing Android is gaining traction, and it's growing app library proves it. While the Android Market is still smaller than Apple's App Store by tens of thousands of apps, there are still some excellent ones you won't find on iPhone.

Here's a list of the best exclusive Android apps that iPhone owners wish they could have.

Amazon's Cloud Player lets you stream stored music to your phone

Android is the only platform that allows you to stream music from your Amazon Cloud Drive directly to your phone or tablet. Get it free here.

We love using Firefox 4 as our primary mobile browser

Firefox 4's Android browser is just as impressive as the desktop version. You can sync tabs, bookmarks, and passwords with your PC. Plus you get great tabbed browsing and speedy load times. Get it free here.

Turn-by-turn navigation is included with Google Maps

Google Maps is great on the iPhone, but you still can't get true turn-by-turn directions. With the Android version of Google Maps, navigation is baked right in, turning your phone into a GPS unit without downloading any additional software. As a bonus, Google Maps will direct you to your destination via the quickest route based on traffic patterns.

View more at Business Insider

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Exclusive Android Apps You Won't Find On iPhone Or Anywhere Else (GOOG, AAPL)

Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/a4-P-I2cAGw/the-best-android-apps-you-wont-find-on-iphone-2011-4

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

MySpace Mobile Strategy Is As Confusing As Everything Else From MySpace

Myspace Mobile site on iPhone

Picking on Myspace at this point is like taunting your elderly relatives as they try to figure out the Wii for the first time--too easy and slightly unfair. Unfortunately, today's launch of a new mobile site shows that Myspace still has no clear idea of what it's trying to be.

The company basically admitted defeat to Facebook on the social networking front earlier this month, and will now concentrate on being a hub for entertainment content, particularly music. That's not a bad strategy, as Myspace originally started as a networking site for independent musicians, and is still used as a hub for sharing music and gig information.

Today's announcement of a new mobile version of the site seemed an opportunity for the site to gain back some of its lost credibility. Alas, it's another botch job. The home page is a confusing mish-mash of entertainment news, links to random videos and artist profiles, and Twitter streams from celebrities like David Spade. The music tab doesn't let you search for music and contains no playable audio streams. The video tab features a still of Jennifer Aniston from behind in a bathing suit, which is pleasant enough, but completely irrelevant.

There are also links to my profile and friends pages, but who uses Myspace for social networking anymore? There's no way to sign in to the mobile site with Facebook Connect, so no way to connect with the social network where most people actually communicate.

Best of all, there's a random banner ad right in the middle of the page. Sometimes it flashes and flickers, joining the random changes in the panels on the rest of the page. You know, just in case you're nostalgic for the days when you spent hours looking at seizure-inducing Myspace pages.

A dedicated iPhone app is coming soon, and it'll provide easy tools for sharing across networks, at least. Other mobile apps from the company are already available, including Drawler, which lets you draw on top of images on your phone, and one that offers "a new expression of randomized video discovery based on their mood."

The key word being "randomized." That seems to apply to Myspace's product strategy in general. Google may need help taking on Facebook in social networking, but this is one possible acquisition it should run screaming from.

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