The Google Car

In another case of Google attempting to take over the world, the California technology firm has apparently logged over 140,000 miles in a car controlled by nothing more than a computer. The cars, which have been under wraps for about a year, are completely automated, using artificial-intelligence software that senses anything near the car and mimics decisions made by a human driver. By all means, this might very well be the invention of the decade, and it's only 2010. According to Google, the car reacts faster and works with the flow of traffic better than most human drivers. Because they do not get sleepy, distracted, or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the automated car is virtually impervious to accidents. In fact, the only accident the cars were involved in was when a human driver rear-ended one of the Google Cars (the name sounds right, doesn't it?). Obviously, this is the testing phase of the technology, and automated cars are almost a decade away from production. That said, the concept is revolutionary. The applications are endless, not only from a consumer standpoint, but when dealing with military and public transportation. The only caveat I can see is that Google will now truly know where we are. We're getting closer to a dystopian future, and Google and Apple are at the forefront. I guess talking cars are reward enough for signing our lives over to technology companies. Check out a video of the Google Car in action...

Samsung Galaxy Tab

Now that the iPad has officially taken hold of American consumers and virtually made people into walking zombies viewing their huge telescreens (word to dystopian futures and George Orwell), it's time for the fleet of 'iPad killers' to hit the stores and slowly try to whittle away at Apple's heels while Steve Jobs takes over the world. The first attempt at such a device is the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The Galaxy is on Orion's belt powered by Google's Android operating system, which I'm quite partial to. It features a 7-inch LCD screen, a 1 GHz processor and can be used on both a 3G and 4G networks (unlike the iPad). Add to that, the Galaxy Tab also has Flash, something the iPad faithful have been salty about since day 1. Will the Samsung Galaxy Tab be able to dethrone the iPad? Absolutely not. Will it be able to grab some of the market from Apple, and simultaneously open the floodgates for other 'iPad Killers'? By all means. I see a Christmas season dominated by tablets. Cue up the Big Brother conspiracy theories at once. We're entering dystopia, and Apple is holding the door open...

The Internet World Map

You ever wonder where everyone's internet allegiances lie? By that, I mean the random social networks and websites that everyone frequents. Well, here it is people. The Internet World Map. On this map, there lies every major social network and website, complete with a bunch of different municipalities, bodies of water and populations of each. This is so funny because it makes the internet look like an imperialist world, which it is. Companies vie for bragging rights and revenue as they try to increase theit populations and conquer their nearby rivals. Notice, that Google has an outpost almost everywhere in the internet world. That's not a coincidence... Nor is the massive amount of land they have compared to the rest of the internet. If I had to put money on who is winning the Internet World War, Google would be my guess, though Facebook might put up a pretty good fight. Whatever the case, check out the Internet World Map, and see where you would reside if websites were countries...

Dear Google

Maybe I've just read 1984 a few too many times, but this just seems eerie...

It was only a matter of time. I always thought that sooner or later a company would begin laying the foundation down for them becoming Big Brother. Google, you have taken that first step. You introduced Google TV today, which is a pretty simple idea: add internet functionality to TV's. We could get our favorite videos and shows online instead of through cable, and pretty much have some semblance of a computer at our televisions. It's actually a very innovative idea, and might damn well revolutionize media as we know it. Yet somehow, it might do some damage. Google, your new product isn't all it's cracked up to be, and for 2 reasons:



First of all, America has an obesity problem already. Every day more and more people are stuffing themselves full of extra-fatty, extra-salty, extra-sugary food. To put it short, obesity is an epidemic. One of the causes is inactivity. A good chunk of people sit on their asses all day, get up for bathroom breaks and sit right back down, until they have to go home and sit right back down again. Why would you give an already fat, television-obsessed nation another reason not to get off their couch? That's like providing heroin-users with free needles. You're doing a lot of harm for some good. Yes it's cool that we can access the internet on our TV's now, but you guys know that some people will take it to the extreme. The worst part is, by you guys knowing all of our viewing patterns, we basically are giving you guys free access to our minds...



No, that's not just me being a conspiracy theorist; it's me showing what happens when one company has this much reign. Think about it. Reason 2: We use everything Google nowadays - phones, internet content, and now TV? It's only a matter of time before there's Google Food, Google Transportation and All Google Everything. People will begin investing their livelihoods into you, Google. You'll become the 'Party' while everyone is glued to their telescreens Google TV. You'll be able to monitor and maybe alter what everyone is seeing until it fits the Google Image. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but you guys have always been a company that looked forward. You can't honestly say that you don't see any of this on the horizon, in any capacity. You are leading the digital revolution. Let's just hope the revolution takes us in the right direction...

Dear Steve Jobs

via The Wall Street Journal:

Apple Inc. launched a legal broadside against a key Google Inc. partner in the mobile-phone market, in a further sign of the escalating tensions between the two Silicon Valley companies.

Apple of Cupertino, Calif., alleged numerous patent violations in lawsuits against HTC Corp., the Taiwan-based manufacturer of smart phones, including high-profile models like Nexus One, that use Google's Android operating system. Apple's two complaints – filed in federal court in Delaware and the U.S. International Trade Commission – allege that HTC devices infringe a total of 20 Apple patents covering an array of cellphone technologies, including everything from power management functions to a method of unlocking a handset through a finger swipe on a touch-screen.

"We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it," Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a statement. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

It's been a long time coming, Steve, but it's finally happened. Apple is now 'the Man'. There, I said it. Why is that, you ask, Steve? Well, take a gander at you in 1996. The quote is now synonymous with your pushing Apple to new heights as a force in the tech world. As simple and innocent as it seemed at the time, your use of that mantra is almost laughable in contrast to your legal proceedings today. Steve, you can't put a lid on innovation, and you know that. Regardless of whether HTC's interfaces or fingerswipes or whatever are reminiscent of the iPhone, there's no way you can claim that they 'stole' anything when you yourself are an advocate of theft. You're like a kid cheating on a test who gets mad when someone else is cheating off of him. Steve, realize that there are NO new ideas under the sun, just improvements and innovation around existing ones. Microsoft found that out the hard way when you and Apple took the world by storm with the iPod, and you're finding that out now...

Anyway, back to my original point about you guys becoming 'the Man.'Some of the delineations of being 'the Man' (for me, at least) are A) a previous stint as a leader in their field, B) a novel lack of originality, and C) an overzealous need to thwart competition, no matter how far-fetched the claims are. Hmmmmmmmm.... That sounds a hell of a lot like what you're doing now, Steve. Everyone loved Apple four years ago because they were on the cutting edge of design and technology (A). Now, you guys are struggling to come up with new ideas, with crap like the iPad coming out and no new stuff on the horizon for a WHILE (B). And today, you sealed the deal as 'the Man' by coming at HTC over technology that damn near every phone has or will have in the future. Steve, look at yourself. No really, look at yourself, because that's who you should be getting mad at. Instead of flinging dirt at the competition, you should be on your grizzy, coming up with technology that aren't just bigger versions of your older products...

The future is looking soooooo bright for Apple, Steve

Dear Google

It's one things to adopt a new feature to add to another. It's a completely different thing to jack a concept completely and integrate it into your system. Google, you were always one of my favorite companies because you oozed innovation and bled creativity. Hell, I have Google EVERYTHING. This blog is through a subsidiary of Google. I can't stress how integral you guys have been to the growth of internet culture in the past decade. However, as of late it's become obvious that you have lost a step.

Google Wave was muddled and, to say the least, useless. I can't tell you any reason I would use it, nor do I know anyone who uses it. I suppose it was all hype that we all got on it and hounded each other for invites. Regardless, I can respect your attempt. Yet instead of trying to make Wave better or going back to the drawing board, you guys, in laymen's terms, swagger-jacked. Google Buzz is a Google-branded Twitter, with minor additions like pictures. Even so, what benefit do I gain from using Buzz? It's not like, you guys are bringing anything new to the table, or even (gasp) doing anything revolutionary. Google Buzz is a cheap imitation at best, and anyone with a Twitter knows it. It's even funnier that I can post a Buzz that can get posted to Twitter. At least you're trying. I guess losing China and their 1.4 billion hits is catching up. Too bad...

Dear Google

via The NY Times:

Google said Tuesday that it would stop cooperating with Chinese Internet censorship and consider shutting down its operations in the country altogether, citing assaults from hackers on its computer systems and China’s attempts to “limit free speech on the Web.”

The move, if followed through, would be a highly unusual rebuke of China by one of the largest and most admired technology companies, which had for years coveted China’s 300 million Web users.

Since arriving here in 2006 under an arrangement with the government that purged its Chinese search results of banned topics, Google has come under fire for abetting a system that increasingly restricts what citizens can read online.

It's always a great thing when corporate America stands up for what is right, in a humanitarian sense. Whether it's Nike NOT working Asian children to the bone, or GM trying not to kill their employees' pensions, companies that care about something other than their quarterly reports are always a good look. Google, you've always been groundbreaking in terms of human resources, and how your company was run. That's why you suspending operations is so dope. You're like the Gandhi of the internet age, refusing to eat unless everyone's search engines are treated equally.

Yeah, we know having China on your roster was a security risk because people were hacking your site to get access to it. Yeah, we know you'll probably have to let go of a hefty amount of Chinese workers. In the short run, this might hurt. But in the long run, this sends a message that no country should be able to censor its people. Information is a right everyone needs to be afforded, and China is trying to play hardball, for what reason I don't know. It's not as if the Chinese people are a downtrodden, poor population. China is actually losing out by not cooperating with you. Hopefully they know that. Lord knows no one of the 1.3 billion heads in China wants to lose all of their e-mails and contacts. That'd be the real tragedy...

Google Nexus One

I told you it was coming, just not when. Google is on the minds of every techie on the planet as they anticipate releasing their Nexus One cell phone. Of course the phone will run the latest version Google's proprietary Android OS. But what has everyone clamoring is the fact that the phone will come out unlocked, meaning you can put it on any network (GSM networks only, so T-Mobile or AT&T in the US). If you don't want to pay the $530 to get it unlocked, you can get it for $180 on T-Mobile. Check the rest of the post for some screenshots directly from Google...

Dear Apple

via the New York Times:

Two titans of the tech world, Google and Apple, may soon be engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Or, more precisely, handset-to-handset combat.

Google plans to begin selling its own smartphone early next year, company employees say, a move that could challenge Apple’s leadership in one of the fastest-growing and most important technologies in decades.

Google’s new touch-screen Android phone, which it began giving to many employees to test last week, could also shake up the fundamentals of the cellphone market in the United States, where most phones work only on the networks of the wireless carriers that sold them.

The company, using the power of its brand, plans to market and sell the new phone directly to consumers over the Internet, and buyers would be able to sign up for service from any compatible provider, the employees say.

They say that every dog has its day. Apple, it's been your day forever. Everyone listens to music on iPods, calls their friends on iPhones, use Mac computers and live the iLife. That said, what is the one program that everyone uses?? What one name seems to stand side by side with you guys in the technological arena? What name is synonymous with the simplicity and functionality that you guys have? You guessed it: Google. With news that Google is coming out with their own phone, which will run their proprietary software, the smartphone playing field is looking less tilted in your favor, Apple. First of all, this phone will be able to be on any network, not just AT&T, like you guys. For everyone who didn't get an iPhone because of AT&T's terrible prices and even worse service (like me), that's a good look.

Also, having the Google name on the phone is better than cosigns from Jay-Z, Don Cannon and DJ Drama on the same mixtape. Think about it. Everyone has a G-Mail, uses Youtube, uses Google Docs, uses Google Maps, reads Google News, is Google Waving, Google Reading blogs, and not to mention Google Scholar, Google Books, Google Shopping and Google Translating. Come to think of it, if we're not doing something with Apple, it's with Google. You guys might want to look into just forming a mega-conglomeration and taking over the world. We all know it's happening some time. Might as well make it with the two companies everyone uses...

The Mailing List: October 2009 (#5 )

5. The HTC Hero


I think I've found my new phone!!!

Hey, I'll admit it. I'm on Sprint, everybody's favorite wireless carrier to make fun of. For the longest it was our reception and customer service that got crap. But since Sprint stepped into 3G (and have been developing 4G), it's the phones that have needed an upgrade. We got the Palm Pre in June, we got the new Blackberry in August, and now we have the new G-Phone. Enter the HTC Hero. It's a touch-screen phone that uses Google's Android OS and uses a new user interface called Sense UI. Forget Blackberries and iPhones. Sprint users, we have a G-Phone. Rejoice. Check out a hands-on demo of the Hero, which comes out on October 11th...