Great for the Olympics but not Good Enough for the NFL?
As reported by Valleywag NBC sports favors Flash over Microsoft’s Silverlight to showcase the NFL.
I’m torn about this mainly because I personally watched so much of the Olympics on Silverlight this year and was so impressed by the tech that I sang their praises to everyone within earshot during the entire summer games.
Anyways, this is kinda old news by now but I needed to take a few days after the Monday US Open Final where Federer rocked his 13th Grand Slam Title.
Plus, I’m looking forward to playing some hold ‘em this weekend.
So I got nothing else on this other than…
Silverlight: good enough for the Olympics but not enough for the NFL.
This was a story that was out on Techcrunch before the long holiday season but nonetheless it’s something that ties in all the recent tech news that’s taking up much virtual ink lately.
So is this all just too much for all us consumers to ponder? One of the biggest factors for me would be just how interchanagable all this geeky stuff is? What if the google app store has a kick ass app that just isn’t offered in the itunes app store? Most likely the app developer will create several versions that will be compatible to every major wireless device. The problem comes in when you are ready to upgrade, change services, service plans, etc. Will we have to repurchase all our favorite apps? Will it be a big factor in our committments to our phone, carrier, plans, etc?
Come to think of it, still at it’s infancy, it’s already getting to be a huge pain in the ass, no?
I gotta make sense of all this later in the month. There’s a grand slam tournament still going on that’s far more interesting to this tennis geek.
As reported by several sources including Yahoo here, Google enters the browser market with the Tuesday beta release of their very own browser Chrome.
Alongside it’s development of word processing and spreadsheet software, it’s dominance in search and general abilities to do whatever it really wants to, this may be yet another blow that Microsoft must not only endure but overcome.
Kinda looks like Opera
Ironically, between the PR drummings their OS Vista software has been receiving against the Mac OS, it’s continued third banana status in search behind Google and Yahoo, Microsoft finds itself from the penthouse to the outhouse as the perennial underdogs.
The obvious issue now is whether Google can make such a huge dent in an already highly competitive browser market what with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari out there with such an established base.
But I guess if anyone could rock it, it would be the global goliath of the silicon valley.
No doubt the geek patrol will be all over this all week.
First finding the story in Engadget it certainly looks like all the involved companies are working fast to get this one out and running into the marketplace.
I’m sure all you tech geeks (myself included) have read or heard more than a few recent stories of Apple’s continuous stumbles in the media from their iphone ills to their mobile me troubles to even accidentally publishing Steve Jobs’ obituary! So it makes not only great sense to launch something new so close to the holiday season but also an added timing bonus for competing with the wildly popular Mac when they seem to not be the “Apple” in everyone’s eye anymore.
Many believe that when the “prosumer” digital video cameras landed into the excited hands of the mainstream audience that that would usher in the new era of filmmakers / videomakers / videographers / etc.
That hasn’t happened yet.
We can go into the numerous specifics of why that is:
1) Traditional auteurs / filmmakers still latch onto sing the praises of film.
2) The mostly young directors-in-training are still developing their skills.
3) Because of this recent surge in cheaper technology, somehow these folks have forgotten the basics to develop their abilities to tell stories.
4) I’ll really have to expound more on this later (I’m getting pissed just thinking about it here).
Criticizing modern wave filmmaking isn’t the point of this post.
Beyond the Canon XL series, the Panasonic DVX series and the Sony Cine Alta comes the newest darling of the pro level, cheaper and comparable to film geek gadget for the cinephiles could just very well be: The Red Digital Camera.
Founded by billionaire founder of Oakley (yes, those Oakleys) Jim Jannard, The Red Digital Camera promises to finally shut the gap between celluloid and digital in terms of aesthetics and depth that film has provided for 100 years.
If you’re like me, you might be in one form of iphone limbo or other. I am just starting year two of my two year mobile contract with T-Mobile, I’m very happy with my Dragon-Engraved Motorola Razr (minus the dying battery issue after the 12 month period) and it’s services. Because most of my day I’m in front of a fully wired computer and my current mobile contract sitch I don’t find myself yet at the point where I need to have a fully mobile 3G phone ala the mac iphone (besides, there are plenty of people out there who can’t stop showing off their lame ass lightsaber app on their iphone to me… fey).
Then recently all this news regarding google’s 3G enabled android began to build up steam once again and it made me 1) glad I didn’t commit to the iphone yet and 2) gave me more excuses to embrace the “wait and see” approach.
Now comes this week’s addition to my mental hell about all this which are these rumors from Digg’s Kevin Rose sharing his knowledge and information on the new line of ipods that are on the verge of making a huge splash in the next month.
I have an old ass ipod. During the early 2000’s it seemed like Apple was literally unveiling a bigger, cooler, smaller version of the ipod every other day. After playing the “wait and see” game for several months, the big 40 gig photo ipod with the click wheel came out to the market and I quickly purchased one. At the time I didn’t think that it could get any better than this. I have a HUGE CD collection and this ipod would still have all the room to carry all my music plus have like 10 gigs left for photos. The only next stage would probably be video but that won’t be for at least a year or two right? Screw it. I’m getting the ipod photo.
I think it was like the next month (at least that’s what it felt like to me at the time) Apple unveiled the ipod video. I went in too early again.
Now with the potential of a newly revamped ipod touch on the horizon, I may have the opportunity to get the best of all worlds. All the benefits of the iphone without the monthly fees, hassles, BS (the fact that AT&T is the only licensed US carrier still bugs me). Plus Apple is expected to lower the price on top of it? Sounds like a no brainer to me.
With my luck though I’m sure the day after I buy the new ipod touch, Apple will be like: “yo, check this shit out. new apple ipod teleportation! with the help of google earth and maps, you can now use apple’s gps technology and teleport yourself anywhere in the world! $299″.
John Battelle’s The Search is both a highly informative and fascinating book on the origins of the search engine, it’s present status, a well educated guesstimate of where it’s headed and it tells these complex tales of history and subject matters in a relatively, fun and non-tech geeky way for anyone to understand. It merely and clearly defines the values and benefits of the search engine and discusses why there’s so much resource being put into this next generation of technology.
The Search also uses the search engine / corporation / new most powerful entity / every other superlative juggernaut in the known world in Google to tell this story. If you’re going to tell any tales of this stature, you might as well start from the top.
A few key points learned from reading The Search by John Battelle:
- Google and most search engines are really in the business less about what actual words we’re typing into our search boxes and more into learning about our intentions. The “why” we’re typing in certain terms or phrases into the search boxes. They’re literally in the business of trying to read our minds and thoughts.
- Yahoo and Google have very fundamentally opposing philosophies on how best to satisfy searcher’s needs using the technology of search. Complex algorithms and text ads aside, the end goal is to properly read our true intentions and purposes in our search. What are we searching for and why?
- No matter how advanced all the search technology seems to be to us plebians, the general concensus is that it’s all still very much at it’s infancy. Just about every expert in the industry believes that we’re only about 10% into getting to the “perfect search”.
- As powerful as Yahoo and Google are now, neither seem to flex much muscle when opposed by the Chinese government. In order to enter the highly lucrative Chinese market, both companies (as well as many others) have had to bend on their principles and previously “unbendable rules”.
- The guys over at Google, Amazon, Yahoo, eBay, etc are all extremely powerful companies filled with highly intelligent people. But at the end of the day, they’re learning this as they go along just like the rest of us.
- Brin and Page both like to eat Burger King after a major breakthrough.
There are countless other points of interest that make this book a worthwhile read.
The Search is an easy, fascinating read told very well. It’s not nearly as juicy in terms of dirt as James Stewart’s Disney War and that’s a good thing. Besides, Google is far too new and riding high to warrant much negative “inside” gossip… Yet.
As this relatively new and perpetually innovative industry continues to change, update and repeat itself, The Search is a great book to start to learn about the humble beginnings and see where all this crazy ass interweb stuff came from.
Posted by cap
Posted by cap
Posted by cap
