iGoogle Going Into the Google Labs Graveyard

Alas, iGoogle, I used you well.
And work doesn't like me accessing you during the day.

I only came across this today because my latest gig has blocked access to Gmail and I needed to add something to Tasks (turns out gadgets are blocked too. CURSES!) This makes me sad. I actually switched from Yahoo as my homepage to iGoogle way back in 2005 and used it daily until about 2008 -- when I got my G1. Well, maybe a little after that but I know I haven't used iGoogle regularly since 2008/9 so I can understand their reasoning.

What's happening to iGoogle?

iGoogle will be retired in 16 months, on November 1, 2013. The mobile version will be retired on July 31, 2012.
How did you come to this decision?
We originally launched iGoogle in 2005 before anyone could fully imagine the ways that today's web and mobile apps would put personalized, real-time information at your fingertips. With modern apps that run on platforms like Chrome and Android, the need for something like iGoogle has eroded over time, so we’ll be winding down iGoogle on November 1, 2013, giving you a full 16 months to adjust or easily export your iGoogle data.

Read more here

Texting while walking is apparently a bad idea

If you live in Fort Lee, NJ you might want to be weary of what is the new pandemic!

Not to be outdone by the likes of drugs sales, prostitution, racketeering, and other nefarious acts.....texting while walking is now a punishable offense and is subject to an $85 ticket for jaywalking.

"It's a big distraction. Pedestrians aren't watching where they are going and they are not aware," said Thomas Ripoli, chief of the Fort Lee Police Department.  The borough of about 35,000 residents has already had 3 fatal pedestrian involved accidents this year.

Really, can't you people just stop, punch off a message, and resume what you were doing????  Jesus watch YouTube for plenty of videos with idiots walking into public fountains and off piers from this.


"When I walk I still look around. I'm not like constantly looking down the whole time," said resident Sue Choe.
Another woman complained about the tickets were "a lot of money."

117 people have already gotten tickets for this.  Well, at least the city is making some extra cash.

Source: ABC News

Twitter wants to remind you weekly how much it annoys you

At times I wonder if the guys who run Twitter have a small department assigned only the task of finding a way to annoy the shit out of their users just to see who will leave, and who won't.  I think it's almost a sick game to them at times.  The UI has been reworked so many times no one can stand it.  They made app devs go in line with what they want as a "user experience" with an iron fist.  They bought Tweetdeck, swore they wouldn't touch it, and then beat it like a red headed step child just because we love it.

Recently, they started forcing promoted topics on us and promoted tweets in our timeline.....

Now, we get a friendly weekly reminder of how annoying they can really be with "the best of Twitter in a weekly email digest delivered to your inbox. This summary features the most relevant Tweets and stories shared by the people you’re connected to on Twitter."

Really?  As if having to read, and mostly ignore, so much of the stupidity in my timeline isn't bad enough.  Now I get a digital reminder of how much I want to punch people in the face.

Stories feature a design similar to the recently updated Discover tab, emphasizing who shared each story beneath summaries to help you decide which ones matter most to you. Click any headline to finish reading the story, add your take by tweeting directly from the email, and see related Tweets from the people you follow.

This new email digest also features the most engaging Tweets seen by the people you follow, even if you don’t follow those who wrote them. You can see who from your network retweeted or favorited these Tweets and click “View details” to retweet, favorite, reply or view the conversation around them.


Or I can stare at my screen, call that user a dumb fuck like I did earlier in the week when they originally posted it, and flip them off.

This fabulous new feature is rolling out in the new few weeks or so.  Once live, it's recommended you change your preferences in the Notification Settings.

Source: Twitter

Good news for Google Drive users with old Picasa storage plans!

Since learning about the Google Drive service finally launching, I've been wondering what would happen to my old Picasa upgrade plan.  That one gave me 20GB of storage for only $5 a year.  Although I primarily used the storage space just for the photos I keep on Picasa, it also allocated that storage upgrade to Google Docs.  Docs, which we know, is now Drive.

So being that I planned on using drive, I naturally wondered if this would roll over or if I'd be paying a separate fee for each.  Unfortunately, information specific to this was rather limited.  Now after digging around in the Drive settings from my desktop (I've been busy), I see that they grandfathered my old plan over and I keep it as long as I keep that subscription going.  So yes, I get to pay $5/year for the same storage you normally pay $2.49/month for.  Glad I finally found the info on this, and thank you Google for letting us keep our old plan.

Review: Acer Iconia A100 Tablet

I've had myself on a little quest recently which lead to this review.  I wanted to find a tablet that's more of a mid to high range, not over-sized, fair on price, and with ICS (or at least a stable ROM for ICS I could put on it).

The trick on the "fair on price" part for my was trying to stay around a $200-$250 price range, simply because I have no plans on replacing my laptop with it.  However, I didn't want a huge loss in performance due to the price which would end up having my shelve it 3 months after getting it.  That appeared to be the trade with most that I found.  Most models around the price I wanted either had a huge dump in performance and quality, or the ROM and app support was limited due to it being a waste of time.

Honestly I thought I was going to end up having to buy a Nook or Kindle to find one under the qualifications.  I lucked out by randomly running into Acer's Iconia A100 model.

Specifications:
OS: Launched with Android 3.2 Honeycomb (updates for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich started 4/27/12)
Processor: Nvidia Tegra 2 1.0GHz dual core
Display: 7" LCD display, 600x1024 resolution 16M colors
Memory: 8 or 16 GB, 1GB RAM (up to 32GM MicroSD card)
Wireless: 802.11 b/g/n
Camera: 5MP primary, 2MP secondary

I've always heard good things about the Acer tablets.  The price tag telling me it's only $260 definitely got my attention.  The Nook and Kindle models both are right at $200, so paying a little more to get a full fledged tablet was definitely an option.

Right on the box it advertises the ICS upgrade which was essential for me.  I bought this now about a month ago and Acer right around that time announced the expected launch date for the upgrades.  They announced it to start on 4/27, and have all models finished by the first week of May.  I'll give them credit, my upgrade pushed on the first day as soon as I turned it on.

The Good:
Battery life on this was pretty respectable.  The Tegra processor does fairly well keeping me from having to plug it in constantly without having to sacrifice on performance.  I honestly haven't clocked the full charge time or anything, and the usage has varied from basic ebook reading, streaming Google Music, and cursing at Angry Birds.

The performance on this one is solid.  I keep pushing on, and it just keeps on going smoothly.  No lag or skip issues at all.  Apps open up and close quickly and no heat issues.

The screen looks great.  Photos and video hold full quality on it.  Outdoor use in the sunlight still holds up well.  There's only a minor amount of loss due to sun glare, nothing that would cause any real issue.  I have yet to test it on the HDMI connection to see how that goes.  The touch is also very responsive without being twitchy.  Everything so far with it has been very accurate.

I haven't found a lot of accessories from Acer directly for it, but the size and dimensions still keep it very compatible with most 3rd party options.  And of course Amazon offers a ton that work and at a good price.

It has a dedicated screen lock button!  Yes I know I'm excited over something simple, but I use this a lot.  Most times I keep the tablet and even my phone in portrait mode.  I'm personally not a fan of landscape, and the constant rotation drives me nuts.  This makes it much more convenient than having to go 3 layers deep in the settings or waste space on a shortcut widget.

Kudos to Acer for not going crazy on the UI.  Personally I'm not a fan of the Sense UI and others that overlay a lot of their own stuff on top of stock ICS.  It tends to slow it down and use more battery for a lot of options I don't really ever utilize.

Thanks to the size, I can hold it in portrait mode and reach the full keyboard to type with my thumbs.  No need to prop it up on something to be able to tweet, etc.

The Bad:
The weight is a bit of a concern.  Most tablets now are pushing to get super thin and light weight.  The A100 isn't a brick by any means, but it's got more bulk than a lot of the other options on shelves.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of Honeycomb.  It's not a bad OS, it just lead a lot to be desired with some of the UI and support on apps.  Anyone who has the tab needs to do the ICS update immediately.

Personally, I'm not a fan of proprietary charging cables.  It does have the normal micro USB cable for data transfer, but it doesn't charge through USB.  Luckily the charger cables can normally be found online between $16-$20 each.

If you're a fan of the overloaded UI, this tablet isn't for you.  There's plenty of UI replacement apps you can use though to compensate at least.  It won't be that super fancy UI experience though.

Overall Impressions:
I'm beyond happy with the choice to pick this one up.  Keeping with the 7" display maintains the portability I wanted so I can take it around and not feel like I'm just carrying my laptop.  After a month in with it, I really have no big complaints about it.  If you're looking for a good tablet and not needing to go absolute top end, it's probably one of the best choices on the market and you can't beat the price.

Ok, time for the photo session.  Yes, I know my ability to take good product pics is .....well ......lacking.  But hey, they're not too bad.

Product box, with previously mentioned ICS upgrade in the corner.

Front view with the manufacturer sticker still on it. 

More front view in box.

  

One of my own wallpapers with the stock UI widgets. 

One of the third party cases I found locally. 

A little superhero nerdgasm for the ladies

Feeding my comic book nerd this morning: Try not to die laughing out loud.

When Did iTunes come to Google?

When I logged into Google Music (on the web) this morning it looked normal, until I hit an album to play. Then I got this:

Um, where is my beloved Android Market and why does this look like a Google-fied version of iTunes?

Wait, let's hit that learn more button ....


Google is planning to move all of your content into Google Play. 


Play Anywhere

All your entertainment in one place

Google Play is your one-stop shop for all your favorite entertainment. With over 450,000 apps, millions of songs and books, and thousands of movies, Google Play has something for everyone. Before you decide what you want, sample a free music or book, view app ratings, reviews, and screenshots, or watch a movie trailer. Google Play is a more connected, powerful experience.

There's more here detailing every aspect of the updated market -- books, apps, movies, games, and music. They really should have added some playground graphics as much as they mention the word "play".

For your phone and/or tablet:

Updating Android Market/Google Play
If your device can be updated, the Android Market app will automatically update to the Google Play Store app. Once you have it, the Google Play Store app automatically updates itself when new versions become available. This is a silent update, which means you will not see a notification and will not be prompted to update.

But you know what? I still can't uninstall apps!!!

or even a batch uninstall built into the Android OS .. like Titanium has @phatemokid @tyronem
— Annette(@daNanner) February 29, 2012

Want to know more? Here's the downlow:
 Q: What is Google Play?
A: Google Play is a new digital content experience from Google where you can find your favorite music, movies, books, and Android apps and games. It’s your entertainment hub: you can access it from the web or from your Android device or even TV, and all your content is instantly available across all of these devices.

 Q: What is your strategy with Google Play?
 A: Our goal with Google Play is to bring together all your favorite content in one place that you can access across your devices. Specifically, digital content is fundamental to the mobile experience, so bringing all of this content together in one place for users makes the Android platform even more compelling. We’re also simplifying digital content for Google users - you can go to the Google Play website on your desktop and purchase and experience the latest movies, music and books. With Google Play, we’re giving you a simpler way to get your digital content.

 Q: What will the experience be for users? What will happen to my existing account? 
A: All content and apps in your existing account will remain in your account, but will transition to Google Play. On your device, the Android Market app icon will become the Google Play store icon. You’ll see "Play Store." For the movies, books and music apps, you’ll begin to see Play versions of these as well, such as "Play Music," and "Play Movies."

 Q: When will I get Google Play? What markets is this available in? 
A: We’ll be rolling out Google Play globally starting today. On the web, Google Play will be live today. On devices, it will take a few days for the Android Market app to update to the Google Play Store app. The music, books and movies apps will also receive an update today. Around the globe, Google Play will include Android apps and games. In countries where we have already launched music, books or movies, you will see those categories available in Google Play, too.

 Q: I live outside the US. When will I get the books, music or movies verticals? I only see Android apps and games? 
A: We want to bring different content categories to as many countries as possible. We’ve already launched movies and books in several countries outside the U.S. and will continue to do so overtime, but we don’t have a specific timeline to share.

Q: What types of content are available in my country? 
Paid Apps: Available in these countries
Movies: Available in US, UK, Canada, and Japan
eBooks: Available in US, UK, Canada, and Australia
Music: Available in US

Q: Does this mean Google Music and the Google eBookstore will cease to exist? What about my account? A: Both Google Music and the Google eBookstore are now part of Google Play. Your music and your books, including anything you bought, are still there, available to you in Google Play and accessible through your Google account.

 Q: Where did my Google eBooks books go? Will I still have access to them? 
A: Your books are now part of Google Play. Your books are still there, available to you in your Google Play library and accessible through your Google account.

 Q: I don’t use an Android phone, can I still use Google Play? 
A: Yes. Google Play is available on any computer with a modern browser at play.google.com. On the web, you can browse and buy books, movies and music. You can read books on the Google Play web reader, listen to music on your computer or watch movies online. Your digital content is all stored in the cloud, so you can access from anywhere using your Google Account. We’ve also created ways to experience your music and books on other platforms such as the Google Books iOS app.

Q: Why do I not see Google Play yet on my device? 
A: Please see our help center article on this here.

 Q: How can I contact Google Play consumer support? 
A: You can call or email our team here.

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Related articles

• Introducing Google Play: All your entertainment, anywhere you go (googleblog.blogspot.com)