After much rumor and speculation about a new Google social feature of some kind, the Internet giant finally unveiled what it calls its “+1″ service today. The service — as Om explained in his post on the launch — is an attempt to add “social validation” to search, via Google’s version of the Facebook “like” button. While these kinds of social cues may help improve search, however, the move also appears to be the latest attempt to jump-start some kind of Google-oriented social network, something that seems to have substantially less likelihood of success, at least as it’s currently configured. Why? Because people don’t go to Google to be social.

As Om describes in his post, and as Search Engine Land lays out in more detail, the main feature of the +1 system is that it allows users to vote on search results or ads. Their vote is then displayed next to the result for anyone in their Google-based social network.

And what is that Google network? Good question. At this point, it’s people in your Gmail contacts, people you have agreed to connect to through Google Talk, people you subscribe to through the company’s RSS reader, and people you follow on the Buzz social network (you can see your social circle here).

At this point, Google tries to glue together all these different sources of contacts, friends and follows through your Google Profile — and it’s no coincidence that when you enable the +1 features, one of the first things the company tries to get you to do is either set up a profile, if you don’t already have one, or update your profile, if you do have one. The biggest problem, as with so much of what Google has tried to do with social features and services so far (yes, I’m looking at you, Buzz) is that Google profiles aren’t really connected to anything in any real way.

Yes, I can link my Twitter account and my Facebook page to my Google profile, but it’s just a simple HTML link that someone could click — assuming someone actually visited my Google profile page, which as far as I can tell no one ever does. The reality is that nothing I do within the network of Google services affects or is connected to anything I do elsewhere in any real way, and that includes the places where I spend a lot of time, such as blogs and Twitter and Facebook. And that’s a big part of the problem.

So yes, it’s good that Google is adding social signals to search — that’s a smart thing to do. And like Om, I am kind of wondering why they didn’t do it a lot sooner, since search is still 90 percent of what Google does (from a financial sense, at least). But that focus is part of the problem: everything the company does is still seen through the lens of search, which is why it has so much trouble understanding how social features work (see Buzz) and sees social as something that can be “bolted on” to its existing services.

Search may be interesting to Google, and useful to millions of people, but it’s useful in a purely utilitarian sort of way — not in any kind of social way. In some ways, in fact, those two purposes are completely antithetical to each other, which is why no one thinks of Google as a social destination. And I could be wrong, but I don’t think that improving search results in some kind of theoretical way is enough motivation to get people to play in Google’s version of a social network. Not yet, at least.

The company says it is considering adding links and connections to Twitter and other services in future iterations of the +1 service, and I hope it does so soon, because in its current incarnation, the Google social network is profoundly uninteresting. The company’s introductory video is embedded below.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• What Groupon Can Teach Us About Shopping and the Web
• How to Make Google Matter in Social Media

GigaOM

Display: The Nokia 1650 Blue is a simple yet stylish handset that comes preloaded with user-friendly features and unparallelled navigational ease. This sleek phone has a 1.8 inches bright CSTN display with a volume of 35 x 28 mm and offers a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels. It supports 65K colours and comes embedded with themes and wallpapers.

While, on the other hand, the Samsung L760 Ted Baker Blue device allures the users with its flexible slider-opening mechanism. The 2.0 inches wide TFT display of this amazing handset offers a high resolution of 176 x 220 pixels and offers colourful images with 256K multiple colours.

Weight and dimensions: To slip in to any pocket, the Nokia 1650 Blue phone is launched in the market with sleek dimensions of 104.2 x 43.8 x 17.8 mm and weighs only 80 grams.

When it comes to the weight and dimensions of the Samsung L760 Ted Baker Blu phone, it has a lightweight of 93 grams and measures only 100 x 47 x 15 mm which facilitate the users to take away with them, when they are going out of home.

Connectivities: The Nokia 1650 Blue mobile phone does not come with any such type of connectivity or data transfer features that allow the users to download data from other devices.

Unlike the Nokia 1650 Blue, the L760 Ted Baker Blu phone from Samsung is installed with some of the world class features like class 12 GPRS (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots) 32 – 48 kbps, class 11 EDGE, 3G-384 kbps, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP connectivity and USB v2.0 support. The users of this phone can browse Internet websites, whenever they want as it is compatible with a WAP 2.0/xHTML Internet browser and RSS reader features.

Entertainment features: Except FM radio feature, the Nokia 1650 Blue gadget does not have any other entertainment features. This FM radio feature allows you to stay connected with your favorite music channel and helps you to get a knowledge of weather reports, news and sports reports.

On the other hand, the Samsung L760 Ted Baker Blu is fully loaded with all the multimedia features that offer great fun to its users. To capture images of your friends and family members as well as to record the most important moments of your life, it us equipped with a 2.0 mega pixels digital camera and has a video (MPEG4) recorder. To catch the eye of music lovers, this GSM-enabled L760 phone comes embedded with an MP3 player and FM radio that supports RDS technology. Beside these features, it has embedded and downloadable Java games.

Battery back-up: The Samsung L760 Ted Baker Blu and Nokia 1650 Blue mobile phones are also differ with each other in battery back up. If you compare the battery life of these two phones, you can find that the Nokia 1650 has more powerful standard battery than the Samsung L760 phone. The battery standby and talk time of the Samsung phone is 370 and 3 hours and 30 minutes, respectively.
On the other side, the 1650 from Nokia delivers an approximate standby and talk time of 420 and 8hours, on one charge.

After observing the two Samsung L760 Ted Baker Blu and Nokia 1650 Blue phones, we can say that the Samsung L760 Ted Baker Blu gadget has won the battle. But, the Nokia 1650 Blue is a right choice for the users, who want to have a mobile phone only to satisfy their personal needs.

CrunchGear reader Steve Jabs seems like a reasonable and trustworthy guy. Patient, too, as he’s been reading the site for quite some time now and clearly hasn’t removed our feed from his RSS reader in a fit of rage over one of the many half-assedly researched and grammatically baffling posts that have graced these virtual pages for so many years.

Steve alerts us to a ten-foot HDMI cable deal on Amazon: 74 cents, plus $2.95 for shipping. That’s a grand total of $3.69 – much cheaper than, say, the nine-foot cable that Best Buy sells for $19.

And if I may add something to Jabsie’s deal, I’d point out that if you can make-do with a six-foot HDMI cable, you can get one of those on Amazon for just a penny, plus $2.98 for shipping.

And while even less expensive HDMI cables may exist somewhere out there, the moral of the story is: there’s no need to overpay for HDMI cables — Jabs tested, Aamoth approved.

10 FT HDMI Cable [Amazon]

6 FT HDMI Cable [Amazon]

Thanks for sending this in, Steve.

Creative is back with another PMP. The ZEN X-Fi2 is rocking everything we like to see in a player too: 3-inch touchscreen, built-in mic, TV-out, FM radio, RSS reader, and a microSD card slot for further storage above the 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB SSD options. Plus, at $130, $180, and $230, they aren’t priced too bad either. We just wish that Android was loaded onto this player like in the Creative Zii to present a better fight against the iPod touch.

Let’s face it, no manufacturer will ever catch up to the iPod in terms of sales. It’s just not possible, but that doesn’t mean they will stop making profitable players. After all, the runners-up still make money and this player is priced to sell well. Retailers like Best Buy and Walmart shouldn’t have any problem moving these players into the baskets of bargain shopping parents and savvy geeks whenever the player becomes available. Unless, of course, Apple outs innovative and cheaper players next week.Creative Announces the ZEN® X-Fi®2 – Next Generation Player Adds a 3-inch Touch Screen, Higher Quality Sound with the Latest X-Fi Technology and TV-Out Featuring Mult

Creative launches the ZEN X-Fi2 portable media player with a touch screen.

In August of last year, we launched the ZEN X-Fi player, designed to be the best-sounding portable digital music player ever, achieved by implementing our ground-breaking X-Fi audio technology. The response from our users was overwhelmingly positive – they really loved how phenomenal their MP3 and iTunes music sounded with X-Fi
Milpitas, CA (Vocus/PRWEB ) September 2, 2009 — Creative Technology Ltd. today unveiled the Creative ZEN® X-Fi®2, featuring a stunning 3-inch touch screen and award-winning Xtreme Fidelity^TM X-Fi audio technology, continuing Creative’s quest to deliver the best-sounding music, photo and video players on the market at a great value. Making its premiere at the Showstoppers Event at the IFA Consumer Electronics Show on 2 September 2009 in Berlin, Germany, the Creative ZEN X-Fi2 media player can be pre-ordered today at Amazon.com, Creative.com and Frys.com.
ZEN X-Fi2
Sporting an ultra slim exterior with an elegant look in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB models and with exciting price points, the Creative ZEN X-Fi2 media player features a 3-inch TFT LCD touch screen with a beautiful, intuitive interface for easy navigation, plus multi-format support including iTunes Plus and FLAC (lossless) files. It also offers video-out capability for viewing videos and photos on a TV through an optional cable. The player also features a microSD card slot for expanded memory.

“In August of last year, we launched the ZEN X-Fi player, designed to be the best-sounding portable digital music player ever, achieved by implementing our ground-breaking X-Fi audio technology. The response from our users was overwhelmingly positive – they really loved how phenomenal their MP3 and iTunes music sounded with X-Fi,” said Joseph Liow, Vice President, Personal Digital Entertainment Products of Creative Technology Ltd and General Manager of Creative Labs Asia.

“In setting out to design our next generation player, we felt it was essential that we start with the sound quality of the ZEN X-Fi player and make the ZEN X-Fi2 sound even better by implementing the latest X-Fi technology. We wanted to have X-Fi improve the audio playback across all modes of entertainment including music, video and FM music from the radio*. Next, we added features to significantly enhance the user experience for music, photos and videos, all in a player with a sleek design. We wanted to make the ZEN X-Fi2 even more fun to use by implementing a touch screen interface. To upgrade the video watching experience, we increased the size of the display with a stunning 3-inch touch screen. The combination of adding a touch screen and a larger display also substantially enhances photo viewing, as now users can quickly and easily scroll through photos.”

“To further enhance the video and photo playback capability, we’ve added a TV out connector so that users can easily connect the ZEN X-Fi2 to a TV. To achieve a sleeker design, we’ve incorporated a microSD slot compared to the larger SD slot on the ZEN X-Fi. The ZEN X-Fi2 is also substantially slimmer than the ZEN X-Fi, plus the overall feel of the player in your hand is improved by its curved design. With all of these additional features, we’re really pleased that we are able to achieve another design benchmark, bringing the ZEN X-Fi2 to market at exciting price points for our 8GB, 16GB and 32GB players,” added Joseph Liow.

Users can experience music in pristine crystal clear quality and detail through the power of X-Fi audio technology. X-Fi Crystalizer^TM intelligently restores lost detail, enhances the digital audio content to amazing clarity and delivers the most acoustically natural headphone audio available from a media player. With X-Fi Expand, users can enjoy the most natural sound staging available in headphone audio today. The built-in X-Fi technology intelligently moves a conventional left/right earphone stereo source away from the ears, virtually expanding it for an audio experience with a breathtakingly realistic depth of field. With the Creative ZEN X-Fi2 media player, users can enjoy adjustable X-Fi Crystalizer and X-Fi Expand levels according to their preference.

With expanded multi-format support, the Creative ZEN X-Fi2 enables users to access their music and audio in MP3, WMA, AAC, Audible 4 and FLAC, and video files in WMV9, MPEG4-SP, DivX** 4/5 and XviD formats. Users do not have to worry about file incompatibility or troublesome file conversions just to access favorite music, photos or videos.

TV-out capability enables playback of movies and pictures on a large screen, and users can also sync and download RSS feeds and read them offline on the media player.

Creative ZEN X-Fi2 Features Include:

Capacity: 8GB, 16GB & 32GB (availability may differ in different regions)
Dimensions: 102 x 57 x 11.6mm
Weight : 75g
A vibrant 3-inch TFT Touch Screen LCD with 262,000 colour support for an excellent viewing experience with videos and album art
X-Fi Audio Enhancement:
- Adjustable X-Fi Crystalizer to restore the highs and lows to music during playback that was lost during the ripping process
- Adjustable X-Fi Expand to move and expand the sound forward for a natural listening experience over headphones that simulates the sound from stereo speakers
Audio formats: MP3, WMA(DRM9), Audible4, AAC, FLAC
Video / Audio Out: PAL or NTSC in stereo (via A/V cable sold separately)
RSS: Display RSS content feeds offline (Sync via PC/laptop connected to Internet)
Expansion slot: microSD memory card slot to add more music, video or photos to the media player
Built-in speaker
Flexibility to arrange the main menu icons according to preference
Video format support: WMV9, MPEG4-SP, DivX** 4/5, XviD
Photo formats: JPEG, BMP
Built-in microphone for voice recording
Built-in FM radio with 32 presets
Clock / Alarm / Calendar / Task / Contacts Functions (Sync with Microsoft Outlook via PC/laptop)
Free preloaded music tracks from eMusic, a digital music retailer offering music fans an alternative to mass market retailers, with a corner music store vibe, incisive reviews and great music. Included tracks are by Ani DiFranco, Anuhea and Blessid Union of Souls. These tracks are courtesy of Righteous Babe Records, OneHawaii Music and V2 Records.
Courtesy of Audible.com, the first book in James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series in a full length preloaded audio version valued at US$19.99. Soon to be a major motion picture, Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment. Patterson’s thrilling story is narrated by Evan Rachel Wood, star of Across the Universe, The Wrestler, and Whatever Works.

Creative ZEN X-Fi2 Accessories

A slim and stylish black leather case keeps the player in pristine condition at all times, available for US$19.99
A silicon skin protects the player from knocks and bumps, available in clear and pink for US$14.99
A customized screen protector ensures the screen is scratch-free, available for US$9.99
A/V cable brings digital pictures and videos with audio to the television screen with ease, available for US$19.99
ZEN USB power adapter charges the player via USB without the need to plug it into a PC, available for US$29.99

See Google Ion Review.

Done? Good. This phone is exactly the same, except that the myTouch has a slightly different finish, and T-Mobile released an App Pack filled with two handfuls of essential apps on the Android Marketplace for it. That’s what we’re going to review today. Also, keep in mind that this is running on T-Mobile’s 3G network, which isn’t quite as good as if you imported the device and used it on, say, AT&T’s 3G network, which has more coverage.

FreshFace: A theming app for your Android. It has the ability to add small widgets like an RSS reader and a notepad onto your desktop. The FreshFace desktop pretty much takes over your real desktop, which is good, because FreshFace offers five pages of apps instead of three, but bad, because it’s buggy.

Adds a little bit more functionality and theming, including new icons


Themes are mediocre


Occasionally buggy

imeem Mobile: Free streaming internet radio.

Decent enough for a free app, but not outstanding, considering Pandora and LastFM do this kind of thing much better.

T-Mobile Mobile Backup: A free contact list backup service from T-Mobile. Kind of unnecessary, since your phone already syncs with your Google account.

Not really sure what this app does that your Google account syncing doesn’t already do. Maybe if you want to switch to another phone that’s not an Android phone?

Movies by Flixter: A movie showtimes app that also lets you watch trailers, read reviews and browse DVD catalogs.

Pretty decent movie catalog app that does as much as you’d expect

T-Mobile My Account: Quick and easy access to all your phone’s account info, including your activity billing, your plan and any alerts you may have. For some reason this only works over your cellular connection, so you’ll have to shut off Wi-Fi.

Easier than loading up the T-Mobile site

Phonebook by Voxmobili: A replacement phonebook that sorts your contacts into a more usable manner. Plus, it’s colorful.

Better, in many ways, than the official Android dialer. Definitely replace your contact list with this

Sherpa: A fancy Yelp-like app that can help you find local shops (eateries, theaters, cafes, grocery stores) using your phone’s GPS.

It’s just like Yelp, and quite useful if you’re trying to find stuff within walking distance

Visual Voicemail: It’s visual voicemail.

It’s visual voicemail.

WorldTour: Periodically sets your wallpaper to live webcams around the world, like Paris

A little bit goofy. Would be better if the wallpapers were higher quality