Tech Week in Review 11-4-2011

Google’s GoMo Shows You How to Go Mobile

A a new site from Google shows you not only how to take your site mobile, but also explains why you should. It’s full of statistics about how potential customers are using the mobile web. They point out fun facts like more people using their mobile phones than PCs to get online within the next 2 years and that there will be one mobile device for every person on earth by 2015. To the untrained eye, the site appears to be Flash, but is actually a bit of slick HTML and Javascript. It’s pretty cute. It’s always irked me that so many sites are not optimized for mobile and apparently Google realizes this is going to cut into their profits.

Just because you can see your desktop site on a mobile phone doesn’t mean it’s mobile-friendly. Mobile sites are designed for the small screen, with the needs of mobile users in mind. A mobile-friendly site can help your business connect with customers and drive conversions. via HowToGoMo.com

Amazon Expands Kindle Fire Content

In a new licensing deal with Disney-ABC Television Group, Amazon Prime members can now stream shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and Spider-Man for free. This deal brings the number of titles available for free streaming to about 12,000, which is still not touching Netflix, but may be enough to hook Kindle Fire customers into purchasing Amazon Prime. To start with, these Kindle Fire customers will have a free 30-day trial of the service, which also includes free 2-day shipping and runs at about $80/yr.

The agreement with Disney-ABC appears somewhat limited for now. It includes prior seasons of Grey’s Anatomy; all seasons of Lost; prior seasons of Phineas & Ferb; prior seasons of The Secret Life of the American Teenager; prior seasons of Marvel’s animated shows Spider-Man, X-Men Evolution, Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers and Iron Man: Extremis; all seasons of Greek; and all seasons of Felicity.

via PaidContent

I don’t watch any of those and Prime doesn’t stream on my Wii, but it’s good to see Amazon on the road to expanding their offerings and integrating with mobile. Competition between Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and Google can only mean good things for the consumer and Amazon is actually a company I could get down with.

Siri, Where You Been?!!

One thing many don’t know about Siri is that it works on the same premise as it’s competitors, it takes your commands back to a remote server for processing. This means that you need an Internet connection for it to work, even for tasks that shouldn’t actually require an Internet connection. Not only does this beg the question of how much data Siri is skimming off your data plan, but users found out how attached they were when Siri went down for the count. There has been no official word as to what happened, but Siri was making a whole lot of excuses about the situation. When Siri finally returned, Tom Cheredar at VentureBeat asked her directly, “Siri, where you been all day?” Her Response? A list of hair salons and spas. Yeah…Ok, Siri, tell us anything.

Linux Coming to Mobile Devices?

Founder of Canonical Mark Shuttleworth told ZDNet that they will be taking Ubuntu Linux to smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs. The official announcement will come at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Orlando,FL. While Ubuntu has never hinted directly at such a move, it has always been noted that their Unity desktop interface would work well on a touchscreen.

“This is a natural expansion of our idea as Ubuntu as Linux for human beings. As people have moved from desktop to new form factors for computing, it’s important for us to reach out to out community on these platforms. So, we’ll embrace the challenge of how to use Ubuntu on smartphones, tablets and smart-screens.” — Founder of Canonical Mark Shuttleworth

If you’re wondering how Ubuntu will compete with the likes of iOS and Android, Shuttleworth says there is still room for disruption. He also points out Google’s acquisition of Motorola, which is prompting many vendors to look for Android alternatives. However, it seems that we won’t be seeing a fully ready mobile version until Ubuntu 14.04-April 2014. By then, the tablet and mobile landscape could completely change.

via ZDNet

Gmail Gets New Look and iPhone App

Gmail’s new look has been in testing for a little while now and just went live to the public this week. If you had already been using the testing version like me, you will still notice some major differences. Replying to messages is more like what you would find on social media sites like…I don’t know, Google+. It automatically decides how much information to show on your screen based on its size and you can also manually change this Density setting. It’s also easier to do advanced searches. By clicking the arrow in the search box, you can specify advanced search terms without actually knowing all the little keywords and symbols.

As far as the iOS app. It seems it didn’t last long. Shortly after the Official Gmail app launched in the Apple App Store, it was taken down. Gmail says there was a bug in the notification system for the app and apologized on Twitter. Before it was taken down, the tech media had a field day, saying the app was just not that good.

via Google

About the Author
Rahsheen has been a certified geek since before it was the thing to do. He started programming and tinkering in the 4th grade. Now, Rahsheen mostly writes on various sites about technology trends in social media and mobile. . He is also a musician, singer, rapper, writer, and producer. @rahsheen - +Rahsheen Porter - coachrah.com
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