Google at Rose Cottage

Give your old accounts closure

Great to see that Google is trying to be a good corporate citizen by providing the ability to choose what happens to your accounts after your death (or after any extended period of inactivity).  All configurable through the Google Inactive Account Manager. People are already dubbing it Google Death.

Obsolete accounts clutter up vast arrays of storage and the problem can only get worse as more people go online.

I'm sure this is not just about customer needs.  Look at it from the provider's perspective.  Google has introduced any number of tools over the years and some of those have now been killed off.  There's been a good deal of spring cleaning of late at Googleplex, California, with the likes of Google Reader and Google Wave either retired or put on noticed.  Once the tools are gone then the accounts that used them are redundant, too.

I wonder if other giants, like Facebook will also come to the party and remove accounts that are no longer active. I fear that they will be less enthusiastic where their business revolves around having the biggest user base in the social media community, even if some of those accounts belong to people who have long since shuffled of this mortal coil.

Spring clean evolution

Managing the digital afterlife (NZ Herald)

Setting up the Google Inactive Account Manager (Cnet)

Google introduces the Inactive Account Manager (eWeek)

Facebook doesn't deactivate inactive accounts

Cleaning up a Facebook account to remove inactive friends (eHow)

Euphemisms for the inevitable end

MegaPhone

6.3" Mega

Just how big can a smartphone get?

Samsung may be stretching credibility with their latest offering, the 6.3" phablet, Galaxy Mega.  (There's also a 5.8" model but who wants to settle for second best?)

I reckon a device like this is going to look well cool, right up to the point where you put it against your ear.  From thereon in, call the dork patrol.

Let's hope that buyers will invest in a bluetooth headset to avoid the major faux pas of  using it like a regular phone.

Specs are currently quite sketchy but we know the screen has an 'HD' resolution of 1280 x 720.  Shipping with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, the processor is a  1.7 GHz dual-core, manufacturer so far unknown.  8 GB and 16 GB models will be sold and the Mega has a microSD slot to allow a further 64 GB expansion of storage.

Pricing at this stage is really only a guess but don't expect this one to come cheap.

It's released hot on the heels of the Samsung Galaxy S-IV, which hits the world stage on April 27th.   The Mega starts shipping in larger markets in May 2013 but no indication yet when New Zealand will see this giant unleashed.

Announcements for the Galaxy Mega 

Try looking cool with a tablet sized phone

Samsung unveils the Galaxy Mega (Stuff)

Mega (PC Advisor)

Mega (Engadget)

Breaking the 6" barrier (IGN)

Mega (Mashable)

Mega (Heavy)

Samsung's Galaxy lineup - is it just too big? (Computerworld NZ)

Robot Convoy

Driverless road trains are in develoopment

Here's a great story from the BBC - robotic truck convoys.

I love the idea of these driverless road train chugging through the night.  Kinda spooky - what if they develop a mind of their own? (Images of 'Christine' come to mind.)

Google Car is an active project and we know what

Drone convoy

those guys can do when they put their collective minds to something.

BMW has already forecast that vehicles will be "highly automated" by 2015 and driverless by 2020.  That's food for thought.

Many of the world's big auto manufacturers are spending large on this holy grail of vehicle technology.  There will potentially be big wins for the people who get it right and can license the technology to the world.
Nissan, Lexus, Audi are all in the mix, as are Oxford University.

Exciting times indeed but let's hope that they do a lot of testing before they deploy these.  Question is, what are all the people going to do who insist on driving to break the monotony of travel?

BMW forecast driverless cars by 2020 

Driverless cars by 2015 possible (Stuff)

Has the time come for the driverless car? (Washington Post)

Google's trillion dollar car (Forbes)

XP exit

Comedy of errors with XP exit

Windows XP has less than 12 months before it it’s officially dead, unsupported, consigned to the history books.  Really, is that important?  Well, for the half million XP computers (yes 500,000) here in lil’ ol’ New Zealand that is important.  (What can the world population be if we still have half a million of the critters?)

How is it that an operating system removed from sale over 4 years ago still has such a large user base?  How can a computer last that long and still be worth booting up each day?  That’s the thing about the maturing computer market.  Step back 10 years and that wouldn’t have been the case.  Technology was changing so quickly and you really needed to keep upgrading just to stay in the game.  But for the last few years a Pentium 4 or above, partnered with a reasonable amount of RAM, a decent sized hard drive and just a budget graphics card is really all you need to surf the web in some style.  Sure, if you like blitzing aliens or want to run the latest first person shooter that spec is going to be wholly inadequate, but for many people, a reasonable web experience and the ability to process some words from time to time is really all that’s required from your workhorse.

A 3 or 4 year PC running Windows XP will tick those boxes.  There’s the rub.  It’s enough.  It represents a $1000+ that I don’t need to spend now because it’s enough.

So what are these XP users going to do come April next year when the evil empire stops supplying patches

All or nothing - I've given up on MSIE on all my machines

and security fixes?  Well, I guess they’ll do what they’ve already been forced to do regarding their web browser – since Microsoft stopped allowing XP users to run their latest IE browsers people have been looking elsewhere.  I tried Firefox and Chrome and was pleased with what I found so the loss of IE for me on my XP machine was no great trauma.  Actually, Microsoft lost me as surfing customer as I no longer run IE on any of my Windows 7 machines either as I'm now a born-again Chromer.

Microsoft are trying to tell the XP user base that they can, subject to some hardware constraints, purchase a copy of Windows 7 for the bargain basement price of $249.  Really?  Does that make any sense at all?

If I’m going to invest $250 in technology I’m not going to squander it on an OS that was never intended for my aging but dependable hardware.  By the time XP's imminent death rolls by I’ll be ready to put that money to good use on a new web surfing device.  And guess what, Microsoft, it may not necessarily be running your operating system.  If you want to lock me in as customer, make it worth my while but don’t wait too long.

Clock ticking for XP users (Stuff)

No more IE upgrades for Windows XP users (Cnet)

Bitcoin bubble

Rollercoaster ride for digital currency

News this week of great volatility in the value of the world's first digital currency, Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is the hot digital currency

For those of us new to such things, Bitcoin is one of the modern marvels of the internet age - a currency accepted across the world and offering an unprecented level of security not possible with other payment methods.

It's become popular with commercial speculators, with music artists, with individuals - anyone who wants the ease of commerce without traditional banks, government agencies or other rogues getting in the way (at least for now).

Bitcoin is well protected against theft.  Each Bitcoin is 'owned' by an individual, cryptograhically insured and can't be spent by other people who may try to get loose with someone else's dosh.

Another curiosity of this digital currency world is Bitcoin mining, where smart mathematics is used to solve a problem.  The first person to crack the problem earns the right to mine some new Bitcoin currency.  The number of units earned is steadily falling as time goes by and when the Bitcoin supply hits 21 million units, no more will be available.  Wouldn't that be hard pill for many countries to swallow with their currencies?

 Bitcoin can't be destroyed, it seems so far immune from theft and it's becoming very popular.  It's traded like any other currency, it has a banking system and it increases or decreases in value, dependent on demand.  Recently there's been huge swings in the value - an all time high of $US266 was countered by a staggering 60% fall to $US105 before recovering to trade at US130 before falling back to $US120 on 11/04/2013.  Trading was halted until April 12th.

What's next for Bitcoin?  Will it weather this storm like it has previous assaults or is it poised to become another Cyprus?

Links for Bitcoin

Check out a 101 on Bitcoin trading and mining and make your choice on whether this kind of currency speculation is for you.

Future money's wild ride (Stuff)

$266 intraday high crashing 60% to $105

Bitcoin forum

What is Bitcoin?

Explaining Bitcoin (CNBC)

Intoduction to Bitcoin (YouTube video)

Basics of Bitcoin (video)

Introduction to Bitcoin mining (PDF)

Hackers eye Bitcoin

Don't get scammed by ads like this !

Perils of Bitcoin mining (Bloomberg)

Boom and bust cycles (Time)

Collectibles, not real money (Forbes)

Cryptographic engineering

Cryptoanarchists answer to cash

Bitcoin charts

I've got my eye on you

Is it just me or does anyone else find eye tracking technology just a bit too spooky?

Peek a boo - eye tracking technology is coming to a phone near you

There's been a rush to patent various eye tracking technologies recently.  Samsung is getting a lot of press about it and the new Samsung Galaxy S IV smartphone was rumoured to track your eye movements, although some reviewers are saying it's looking at your facial movement rather than tracking your eye position. Eye Pause and Eye Scroll are new buzz words we're going to have to get used to.

I'm wondering what this all means.  Once activated how long does the tracking sensor lock on to your eye?  What can it see?  Does it burrow  inside your head and detect your deepest, darkest thoughts?  How long do you need to close your eyes before it gives up trying to track you?

There you go - I've started thinking about where this could lead and I'm scared again.  Keep it away from me.

Galaxy S4 review (Cnet)

Galaxy S4 launch presentation (Mashable)

Eye tracking in the S4 (Wall Street Journal)

Does it work with games? (Guardian UK)

LG goes one up on Samsung (GottaBe Mobile)

Window rot

PC sales are sinking fast

They were staking so much on Windows 8.  It was going to turn Microsoft around but sales figures for Q1 2013 tell a different story.

Less people are buying PCs and laptops.  Instead they're turning to their tablets and their smartphones for the services they use most often - social media, email, texts, anything that keeps them in touch with their community.  You don't need a PC for that kind of activity.  In fact a PC is a hindrance to the always-on, always-connected generation since you can't lug it around everywhere you go.

It doesn't look the same

It's hardly surprising then that people are buying less traditional hardware.  What's exacerbating the decline is that Microsoft, the dominant supplier of operating systems for this gear, has radically changed its user interface.  Windows 8 looks very different to Windows 7 and the XP, 98, 95 interface that every knows and loves (kind of).  At a time when the Windows device is losing popularity, the need to learn a new interface was a bit of a disaster.

Some of the falls are staggering where ever upwards is the name of the game.  PC/laptop sales are down 11-14% compared to Q1 2012.  The world's biggest PC manufacturer, Hewlett-Packard, has seen a 24% drop - that's serious stuff.  Of course, it's not all down to Windows 8 - the PC as the dominant computing device has had its day.

You don't need a PC for Temple Run

Now I don't think everyone is going to be taking their PC hardware to the landfill just yet but it does show that user patterns are shifting markedly to small, handheld devices.   If you are into graphic design, if you build web sites, if you dwell in dark basements crunching large volumes of digital data then this change is not going to persuade you to dump the PC.  But, if you are primarily interested in staying in touch, taking snapshots of your day and playing Temple Run, then you really have little use for the PC or it's operating system.

Time for an industry to survey the market and make some serious adjustments.

World PC sales down as Windows 8 flops (NZ Herald)

PC slaes plunge (Stuff)

PC sales down 14% - biggest drop on record (NDTV)

Don't just blame Windows 8 (Mashable)

Windows 8 fails to excite (Telegraph UK)

Q1 2013 14% drop (IDC)

Worst ever PC shipment quarter (TthinkDigit)