Category: Google

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Photo Credit: Julia Folsom

Apple Watch isn’t the Future

I am reluctant to criticize unreleased Apple Watch because my analysis about original iPad—given before seeing it—was wrong. That said, Android Wear, while seemingly sensible comparison that analysts, bloggers, and journalists make, isn’t right. When put in perspective of next-generation wearables, I think Apple Watch should be compared to Google Glass.

Be honest. Which looks more innovative to you? The utility of something you see at eye level that provides real-time, location-based information is much greater than something that demands more responsive—”Hey, Siri”—interaction and turns the glance and fingers downward. Granted, Apple Watch delivers alerts, and you feel them, but your attention is always to look away. 

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OK, Google, That was Easy

For my summer “Microsoft All-In” experiment, which also meant for a time giving up Google, I moved my main email domain from Google Apps for Business to Office 365—the latter through my registrar rather than Microsoft directly. I had used the domain on Apps for five years.

The registrar did all the setup for MX records and such, and I expected to do it all for myself when switching back to Apps—that was my experience half-a-decade ago. My how things have changed. Setup was scarily easy—much, much more than expected. 

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I am a Chromebook Convert

Two years ago this month, I adopted Chromebook as my primary PC. Except for brief betrayal last summer, mine is the Chromie lifestyle since. “Can I use Chromebook as my primary PC?” It’s a question I see often across the Interwebs. The answer is different: You can use Chromebook as your only computer.

The only PCs in my home are Chromebooks. There are no Macs or Windows machines doing double duty. Chromebook is more than good enough. Most people will be surprised just how satisfying Chromebook can be—and how affordable. For 96 cents more than the cost of one entry-level MacBook Air, you can buy from Amazon four HP Chromebook 11s. User benefits are surprisingly similar. 

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Go Google, or Go to Hell

If there is a villain in my book Responsible Reporting: Field Guide for Bloggers, Journalists, and Other Online News Gatherers, Google is it. I fiercely criticize bad reporting practices perpetrated on behalf of the Google free economy, where a mighty monopoly extends incredible influence over advertising dollars and content distribution. Flip around to one of my other tomes, The Principles of Disruptive Design, and the search and information giant is praised for innovation that promises to usher in the “Star Trek”-era of touchless computing. So what? Is Google devil or savior?

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Kurt Sutter correctly calls Google a ‘Parasite’

As a content creator my feelings about Google are mixed. Philosophically, I believe in the openness of information and non-restrictive copyrights that let the producer profit from his or her good work in the present but benefit everyone later on. Last-Century revisions ruin the latter ethic. Life plus 70 years is a ridiculously long copyright that rapes the very concept of public domain.

Google’s business model enables free spread of information, which supports my other ethic. But there’s rot at the core—the free-content economy that search demands. As I explain in my new ebook Responsible Reporting: Field Guide for Bloggers, Journalists, and Other Online News Gatherers, “the search giant profits from your good work, reducing its value in the process”. Google produces no content, while its whole business model is about profiting from others’ content.

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I Take Away Control From Google+

My personal site is in state of revival, as I follow through on a long-contemplated change to my blogging style. I let inertia hold me back. No longer.

Since July 2011, I reserved most of my personal writing for Google+ and built there a fairly robust following (more than 16,000 Circles at present). The social network makes easy posting and connecting to others. Elsewhere, I write for BetaNews (e.g., for work).

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Google Tightens the Noose

Over at BetaNews, I’ve repeatedly cautioned about Google’s increasing cross-integration of products and interdependence among them. Now come tighter ties between Google+ and Gmail. As Selena Larson observes, for ReadWrite: “Google+ is Getting Harder and Harder to Avoid“.

But I wonder. URL to the story reveals a better, and perhaps, the original headline: “Google Plus is Inescapable”. As editor, that is exactly the headline I would have used. It’s punchier, more clickable, and better fits the story’s tone.

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Twenty-Fourteen isn’t Year of the Chromebook

There are reasons why I am so obnoxiously loud about bad news reporting tactics. NPD innocently kicked off a writ-storm about 2014 being year of the Chromebook. A Dec. 23, 2013, press release observes strong Chromebook commercial channel sales of preconfigured desktop and notebook PCs.

Looks like NPD pulled the PR—I can’t find it—over this whole “year of #chromebook” meme; it’s a blog and press echo chamber that continues to boom. Goddamn, my ears hurt. Even The Register, of which I expect much better, misquotes the NPD press release, too. That 21 percent market share figure refers to commercial U.S. channels only, not the entire market.

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Chromebook Matters

My fourth ebook, Chromebook Matters, published over the holiday, and this one is available from Kindle Store, Google Play, and Smashwords. I’m done with Amazon exclusives.

Chromebook Matters is not a how-to book. It’s all “why” and “what”—why Chromebook matters and what it can do for you. I write an introduction for anyone—businesses, consumers, government agencies, or schools—considering buying Chromebook. I also address anti-Chromebook propaganda. Some claims are valid. Most are not.