An Apple patent titled “Three Dimensional User Interface Effects on a Display by Using Properties of Motion” illustrates how eye tracking and other sensor information could be used to display a user interface that automatically adjusts to your positioning and environment.
Logos from the new Timeline app makers
Facebook on Wednesday unveiled a host of new apps — more than 60 in total — that integrate with its new Timeline user interface. The social networking company also announced it will begin approving Timeline apps running on its Open Graph API from all developers.
“The apps launched at f8 in the music, news and video verticals have seen tremendous success so far. But really, that was just the tip of the iceberg. Our vision for Timeline is that whatever you love, whatever story you want to tell, you can add to your platform.”
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I saw several quad-core tablets at the Consumer Electronics show, but no smartphones. Luckily, Sascha Pallenberg, my friend who runs the Netbook News site, captured video of a Fujitsu handset running on the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. From the looks of it, this phone’s performance will rival that of the Asus Transformer Prime tablet.
Fujitsu doesn’t target the U.S. market, so I don’t expect to see this Android 4.0 smartphone for sale here. However, Sascha’s video gives us an idea of what to expect from the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona next month: console quality games on a large screen piped from a smartphone and played with using a wireless controller. Although this demo uses a wired HDTV connection, I anticipate we’ll see more wireless video solutions introduced this year.
I’m still holding to the idea that throwing hardware alone at Android’s problem won’t solve any issues. However, I’ve used Android 4.0 for the past 6 weeks. The user interface improvements in Google’s platform, along with more powerful hardware, will allow Android to better contend against Apple’s iOS system.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a number of quad-core handsets shown off, with a few available in the first half of 2012. By mid year, we’ll start to see a larger number of these powerful handsets hit the market. Samsung, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and others will also be touting quad-core chips. But if my mobile predictions for 2012 hold true, far more dual-core handsets will be sold this year.
Then again, Apple is rumored to include its own quad-core chip in the next iPad and would be likely to use the same in a future iPhone design. That means 2012 will be more exciting to watch than 2011 when it comes to tablets and smartphones from a consumer perspective: Two great mobile choices in combination with what I think will be a third up-and-comer in Windows Phone handsetsand possibly in Windows 8 tablets.
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Google launched a news-reading app called Currents on Thursday, something it has been working on for some time — ever since it was a much-rumored skunkworks project called Propeller — and much of the coverage of the new app has called it a challenger to existing tablet and iPhone news-readers like Flipboard and Zite. But while Google Currents is superficially similar to these other services, there are some important differences that make me wonder whether Google really understands how media has changed and is changing. For a company that’s usually so forward-thinking, Currents as it stands now is more than a little disappointing.
Like Flipboard and Zite, the new Google offering (available here — U.S. only at this point) allows you to pull in content from a number of sources and then read through it in a kind of digital-magazine format on a tablet or an iPhone or other mobile device (my colleague Darrell has a hands-on look at the app). As mobile media consumption becomes an ever-increasing part of our lives, this kind of app is becoming the way that many people take in a lot of their news — at least those who wish to browse rather than simply following their favorite news sources on Twitter or Facebook. And Flipboard has shown, particularly with its excellent new iPhone app, that this can be done in a way that’s just as visually appealing as a traditional magazine, if not more so.
Google’s app, while well-designed in many ways, lacks much of the polish and user-interface elements that make Flipboard so compelling (to me at least). And at least in my limited usage of it so far, it doesn’t even manage to rise to the level that Zite provides — and Zite, a Canadian startup that was acquired by CNN earlier this year for an estimated million, is much more utilitarian in its approach than Flipboard (Zite also just released an iPhone app). It’s entirely possible Google’s app will improve over time, and it does offer some interesting features — such as the ability to sync the content you’ve read between devices — but I still think it’s missing some crucial aspects.
For example, Google Currents is social in at least one way, in that it lets you share articles you read to Twitter and Facebook, provided you click through the default menu (which promotes sharing on Google’s own Google+ network first). But it isn’t social in another important sense: Unlike both Flipboard and Zite, it doesn’t pull in your Twitter lists or streams from those you follow, or content from your Facebook social graph. In other words, you can push content out to these networks, but you can’t pull content in from them and view it inside your news reader. To me, that means Currents is only one-half of a proper social-news app — and not even the most interesting half.
The second element Google Currents seems to be missing is recommendations or some form of smart filtering of content, apart from the limited amount that appears in the “trending” section. This is something Zite has pursued aggressively, both via its algorithms and through explicit recommendations from users — thumbs up, thumbs down, etc. — and is likely one of the reasons why CNN was interested in acquiring it. Flipboard hasn’t done much in terms of recommendations so far, but has begun to do so through its iPhone app “Cover Stories” feature, which apparently learns based on a user’s activity.
As we’ve noted many times, the massive rivers of information that pour into our lives from all kinds of sources makes the need for a smart filter more compelling every day. That seems like a problem virtually tailor-made for a company like Google, which has boatloads of programmers who specialize in filtering and understanding massive amounts of real-time data, yet the company has done virtually nothing in that space — despite having a long-established platform called Google News to draw from and build on. The only thing Google has done that seems remotely interesting is adding +1 recommendations to Google News, but even that seems designed mostly to promote the Google+ network.
An app like Currents should — particularly if it wants to actually be competitive with Flipboard or Zite — be pulling in news content from every source available, especially real-time sharing networks like Twitter and Facebook. Then it should apply smart filters and recommendations to those streams, to help news consumers sort and understand that information better. Instead, Currents feels about as innovative as your garden-variety app from a traditional magazine — in other words, not very innovative at all. More than anything, it feels like a giant missed opportunity.
Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr users Izzard
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This week, I got my hands on what may the hottest new Android handset; at least for now. I bought an unlocked Google Nexus at full price from a U.K. retailer and it arrived late in the week.
The phone includes a pentaband radio, meaning it works fully on both AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s networks. I haven’t tested it on AT&T yet, but a popping a T-Mobile SIM card in has already provided download speeds of 9.4 Mbps.
I shared a brief video overview of the Galaxy Nexus within 24 hours of it arriving, so I was still learning the ropes of Android 4.0. It impressed me then and continues to do so with more usage. The phone has very capable hardware to power Google’s mobile operating system: a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of memory, fast mobile broadband and a gorgeous 4.65-inch Super AMOLED display with 1280 x 720 resolution. See for yourself:
Watch this video for free on GigaOM
But no phone is perfect and some may not care for the 5 megapixel camera sensor Samsung used for the Galaxy Nexus. With limited use, I find it to be more than adequate for still images in good light and also for high-definition video capture up to 1080p resolution. During the next week, I’ll try to connect the phone to my HDTV to see the output on a larger screen.
Where there may be gaps in the hardware, the software is excellent. Android 4.0 is the best attempt yet for any company to compete against Apple’s iOS 5 operating system. Google has refined the user interface by bringing the most positive aspects of Android 3.x (aka: Honeycomb) to the smartphone screen. Gmail’s revamp is superb as is the overall consistency of the entire user interface.
It’s not all peaches and cream though: There’s an issue with Facebook integration and I’m seeing some strange text formatting problems in the otherwise very impressive stock browser. And I love how my Google Chrome bookmarks on the desktop are kept in sync with the Galaxy Nexus. In fact, I like Android 4.0 so much, I’m going to install it on my old Nexus One smartphone when time allows.
This week wasn’t all good news though. A demonstration of software called Carrier IQ showed the service to be collecting data from smartphones; mainly on Android devices. The story continues to develop, but some are concerned — rightly so — about Carrier IQ’s lack of transparency. The service is apparently installed at carrier’s requests and consumers aren’t aware of this. Nor is there a choice to opt-out or shut down the service; it simply runs silently in the background.
This type of practice is one of the several reasons I’d rather have a Nexus phone, which doesn’t include any carrier software. My bigger reasons were faster Android updates and the ability to easily customize the phone with other Android software, but diagnostic tools that are hidden in the background got added to my list this week.
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Just in time for the holiday break, here’s the latest Engadget HD podcast and thanks to some of the usual suspects (Sony, Netflix, Roku, Boxee) we’ve got plenty to talk about this week. While Sony might be (but probably isn’t) about to take on cable TV, Boxee is attacking in its own way with a new live TV tuner. we also say hello to Vizio’s newest TVs and SlingPlayer support for Chrome and Facebook. Finally, we wrap up with what we’re watching over the next week, so press play and see if we missed any of your Thanksgiving favorites.
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Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc)
Producer: Trent Wolbe
12:15 – Sony may be preparing an internet-based cable TV alternative
15:55 – PlayStation Home lets friends watch free movies together now, UStream and radio next month
17:50 – Digital downloads bring UltraViolet one step closer to being useful
23:45 – Netflix reveals new user interface experience for Android tablets, iPad counterpart coming soon
27:17 – Netflix, Fox ready to resurrect Arrested Development as a streaming exclusive in 2013
31:28 – Roku planning to bring set-top boxes to Canada, UK in early 2012
32:30 – Boxee Box Live TV dongle shipping for in January 2012, pre-orders open today
35:28 – SlingPlayer for Facebook is okay, Chrome(book) compatibility is better
39:00 – TV broadcasters hope to dominate the second screen with ConnecTV
43:50 – Sports Fans Coalition intends to lobby against NFL blackouts
48:23 – Vizio’s M-Series Theater 3D TVs are officially available, at last
51:30 – Must See HDTV (November 21st – 27th)
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Filed under: Podcasts
Engadget HD Podcast 275 – 11.22.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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