Multi Touch finally arrives at Nexus One officially via OTA update

No more missing multi touch interface on Nexus One, Google just issued a OTA (Over the Air) update for Android running on Nexus one’s which brings in multi touch capabilities to your Web Browser, Gallery and Google Maps. Earlier some third party patches had enabled Multi Touch only in the browser.

This means all those pinch and zoom gestures which iPhone users are much used to have now arrived at Nexus one. Also the Google Maps version is upgraded to 3.4 which brings the talked about “Night Mode” feature to Maps.

Nexus one’s hardware was completely capable of Multi touch gestures but they had not been added initially. Rumors were up that the reason behind Google not adding these features was due to patent infringement matters with Apple as they used the same technology in their popular products, iPhone and iPod touch. Few other market analysts say that it was because Google wanted to track user’s initial reaction to Multi-touch’s absence.

This is an automatic update so it’s not in your hands for the update to start and end but you can surely get the update manually if you don’t have it yet  [Instructions here].

Google Goggles : A new visual search application for Android phones

Imagine a book you spotted in a bookstore and wanted to get more information about it instantly. Or maybe a monument you saw and you wanted to know the history behind it.”C’mon you can’t take Google with you everywhere” is what you would say. Or not if you own an Android phone. Google recently unveiled Google Goggles, a labs application for Android phones which allows users to google about a particular object by merely pointing the phone’s camera at it. This project, still in the early stages is yet another unique innovation from the Big G.

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More about Goggles

The visual search application works on phones that run Android v1.6 or later. Pointing the camera at say ‘Taj Mahal’ would immediately provide related search results. On a smaller scale, pointing at a book shop’s name would search for the book shop, its address and even reviews. 

It currently won’t work on your bonsai plant or your cute dog but Google plans on improving the technology to the point where you could be able to search the plant’s name by photographing its leaf. Let’s hope Google comes out with Goggles for non-Android phones too.

Similar Technology from Nokia

A similar technology has been already developed by Nokia and is aptly titled ‘Nokia Point and Find’. It is available on select Nokia phones(N97,N95,E71 and a few more).You can download it from Point and Find’s website(see link below)

Links:

Google Goggles

Nokia Point and Find

Why is it that few things just dominate?

Just to make stuff clear, this post isn’t about wives dominating their husbands, and its related to tech. Seriously, believe me.

Who Rules the web? You? Me? Its obviously Google.

Why? It does not serve content, it just helps you to find it. How funny is it? A Car Retailer makes more than the manufacturer!

Forget Internet, get back to operating systems. To be Frank, people like it or not Microsoft rules the market, even if abused to the core by the users. It’s a Fact.

Facebook, what makes it so special? I mean sites like facebook did exist when it wasn’t that popular but all failed and today it dominates the Social Media Sphere with over 350 Million Active Members.

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All these things make me think a lot, and i don’t think my brain is capable of taking over so much load so thats why i write it down here.

Ask yourself questions. Why does it dominate and no other damn company can challenge it easily? What is so addictive about it?

The answers are as simple as the way to Parish Church (I don’t remember but i am quoting these lines from some poem).

First, you need to understand why services work.

  • Your the Best
  • Your the Only

It’s so damn simple, so why didn’t that damn computer engineer across the street end up as some founder of a multi-billion dollar company? To be the best, you’ve got to be competitive in terms of all the factors affecting the result.

Lets take the case of Facebook. Facebook is the largest social network which if had a physical existence too would be in the top 5 most populated countries. Give me one reason why it has more users than MySpace? Ease of use, Simplicity and Reach. I think Facebook topped all three and so it took over the drivers seat throwing the others back. If we see it other way round, the concept is same, “Networking” but just the approach is different.

When Google Started it was not the only search engine at that time had tough competitors like Yahoo! but they did have difficult time defeating them as Yahoo! was not much focused on Search. Today they dominate the web. If you’ve got to get traffic, you have to go the Google way. I mean SEO is one kind of Google optimizing than Search Optimizing.

Twitter also dominates a large part of our social web. No. 1 reason is that it’s idea was unique. Probably 140 Characters to tell whatever you want was something pretty new at the time they started but today it’s common because it succeeded.

This part is dedicated to bloggers out here. Mashable, Techcrunch, Engadget and so on.. these blogs are ruling the Blogosphere (I can say that from my experience) and the only reason why they rule is because they have already climbed those few starting steps and now they don’t ever need to look behind. These days i see tech bloggers growing in numbers just like Sea Horses giving eggs. Its no big surprise that not even one stand a chance to win against the top blogs if they aim to blog with the intention of getting more popular than those blogs. It’s about the content quality that matters. If you search around on my blog you’ll find a lot of posts on how to improve blogging skills.

But, remember you can surely challenge the authority of top blogs, but first establish yourself and then work around it.

Ending this post with a final note, Remember the David and Goliath Story? Yea, the one where David kills Goliath who was six times his size with a slingshot. Don’t loose hope, if you aim at competing with giants you don’t need to be one to start. You just need the right type of weapon to challenge the authority. Go Ahead, try out new ideas and you never know that may be the weapon!

128 GB Pendrive = 109,227 Floppies

Growth may not always be in terms of size, and in this technological era we live in, it’s completely opposite. As we advance the size of storage is decreasing.

Did you know, a 2TB hardrive could store Photos which could be stored in 6900 Photo Albums? Imagine replacing your 120 Gb iPod with Discs, how many discs would be required? A whopping 28,000, i mean where would you store it?

Here’s a nice creation by Curtiss Spontelli which stores all our advancements in one Photograph. Click on the image below to enlarge.

Forget Data Loss : Work. Online [Video]

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Cloud Computing is supposed to be future with Chrome OS and all other top companies hoping to go cloud. Why? No Offline hassles, data loss and stuff like that. 

It’s simple. Everything’s on the cloud. You access it. Well, if i am not able to persuade you then this video from Zoho will surely do the task! (The guy in the video is kinda funny and watch for 1:27 in the video!)

Use YouTube to bell the CAT!

The CAT, which has gone online from this year, will be held between Nov 28 and Dec 7 in 32 cities and at 105 testing centres.
IIMs are revolutionizing the way online tools like YouTube are being used to impart knowledge. If you are a student taking CAT this year, you better make sure you’ve watched the videos posted on YouTube to get the extra edge.

youtube

Prometric Testing – The partners who’re administering the test have created a channel on YouTube with a couple of instructional videos at http://www.youtube.com/IIMCAT

The IIMs have specifically advised students to watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaKHWpiFToE

“Candidates are encouraged to view the YouTube videos,” an official communication from the IIMs and their online test conductor Prometric said Wednesday.

Seems like the IIMs are going all out with the use of technology in the administration of the first ever Online CAT this time but it looks like people have become apprehensive with the new format of the test. They’re employing a wait and watch startegy to crack the CAT. This is evident from the fact that only around 242,000 aspirants will attempt to bell the CAT this year. The figure has fallen from 276,000 candidates last year. Are you taking the CAT this year or are you on the fence? What do you think of the new format and this kind of use of the Internet for the test? Do you think it is all a gimmick or are these initiatives really helpful to the aspirants? Leave your thoughts.

Google Chrome OS : Your Data is now on Clouds!

chrome_os_screenshotGoogle Had announced that it would be releasing a OS version of it’s browser Chrome in July. The Press event yesterday gave us a lot of more information as to what was going on, what were the key features and so on.


 

Key Features

Clouds

With Clouds i don’t mean actual clouds, but these are where all your data on Google Chrome OS Data will be stored. Well, nothing is on your computer so you can surely expect better speed and also the data is easily accessible from all of your devices so that you do not need to Shift it from one device to another.

Speed

Chrome was the fastest browser and one of the reasons why it was so because of it’s fastest loading Javascript Load Engine. You can expect the same thing from the Chrome OS which currently takes 7 seconds to start up and this is also going to be reduced as the development further progresses. Your Desktop Environment is also going to speed up because all of it apps are going to be web apps so compared to existing computers, it is damn fast, you get it?

All Things Web

google_chrome_os_apps

Chrome OS would mark the beginning of the new era, the web era where all your content is on the web. You don’t need to start any Softwares or such to start working on your computer. Everything is just web. All applications are web apps so you don’t need to install or update them as so.

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SpreadSheets on Chrome OS

 

The Ultimate User Experience

Google_chrome_os_chess

The Graphical User Interface is going to be the same as the chrome browser, the easiest to use but the capabilites just increase 10 fold. Games, Videos everything can be done on the relatively simple interface. 

Updating

Last Year Google Chrome was updated over twenty times without even letting their 40 Million Users know about it. How is that? Well, same is going to be in the Chrome OS where the updates will be on air updates. So users don’t ever need to search for updates, download them and install it manually. Everything will be automagical.

Security

With Google Chrome OS new Security as all your data will be Encrypted and will be stored on the Cloud. So significantly all your Data Loss Risks and Data theft risks are reduced. No Antivirus needed!

Second, because all apps live within the browser, there are significant benefits to security. Unlike traditional operating systems, Chrome OS doesn’t trust the applications you run. Each app is contained within a security sandbox making it harder for malware and viruses to infect your computer. Furthermore, Chrome OS barely trusts itself. Every time you restart your computer the operating system verifies the integrity of its code. If your system has been compromised, it is designed to fix itself with a reboot. While no computer can be made completely secure, we’re going to make life much harder (and less profitable) for the bad guys. If you dig security, read the Chrome OS Security Overview. Via Their Blog.

 

Open Source

This was much expected from Google who made Chrome OS an Open Source project and the source code is available here. Open Source Means you can expect more from developers world wide.

g-chrome-os-nb-trends

The Chrome OS is more concentrated on the NetBooks market because it wants to target the potential of that market which is growing speedily.

The whole Chrome OS concept is completely opposite to what we use today.

Today : Browser in Operating System

Tomorrow : Operating System in Browser (+1 from Google)

The Chrome OS is going to be absolutely free and consumers can expect it next year around November-December.

Via Mashable and ReadWriteWeb and Official Google Blog.

Gestures will control everything including internet : Birth of Sixth Sense

The Evolution of Humans has been drastically affected by the growing technology. And all this has just happened in the past decade. 

Growth of Information Technology has given birth to this. The Hunger for Information is driving innovators crazy such that they are going to any extent to feed themselves of their hunger.

Pranav Mistry, from MIT is one of them. His ideas are unique and probably represent the future. The Indian, has many ideas which he has put into practice and has made Future Possible Today.

Oh his creations, the most popular one is Sixth Sense. The term Sixth Sense itself is fascinating. Apart from the five sense of Touch, Sound, Sight, Taste and Feel what else could be generated now? Pranav has the answer and it is gesture.

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He Started with the mouse, not one but two eight years back where he took of the Sensors which surrounded the Ball of the Optical Mouse and used them to bring together the Physical World and the Digital World and with his creations today, we can surely say that he has succeeded in his Mission.

Ever thought of with few finger actions, you could take a picture without even removing any other device form your Pocket? Forget that, Ever wondere you just look at your boarding pass and get the latest updates about you Flight like Delay Time, etc? 

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How would it be if you could pinch some data from Paper and drag it and convert it into Digital Data and actually edit it and get it printed all in Minutes? You are at a book store and you just open up a Book and you get reviews Related to the book and lot more just on the cover of the Book? 

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Watch Live Videos on Your Newspaper related to the article your reading, and yes this does not involve any OLED display or anything but just a projector!

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Forget Cell Phones, when you can just call from your palm? Tick, Tick, Tring! If you could make a piece of paper your laptop and surf web on it with your fingers? Motion Gaming on Paper? All this is Possible with Sixth Sense. 

 I surely want to get my hands on it!

Now You don’t need to remember long lists of passwords and username : Google

If you have used stuff like Facebook connect and Twitter Sign in, you know how easy it is to just click enter username and password and then just hop in. Well, not everything in the world is as easy, but soon the whole password username thing is going to be history, as there might be a universal account for most of your online presence.

Quite True, because webmasters and developers also see less conversions and members because of the hefty pain a user has to go through to register all over again. But now, with Google this is soon going to be history with Google’s Hybrid OnBoarding.

What users can soon expect from Google when invited from Facebook or Plaxo or other supported services,

FB_Plxo_Google_Hybrid_login

Hybrid OnBoarding

Now it’s So easy to join up so quickly. Earlier it involved tons of steps, where you even had to confirm emails in one step and so on. But with this, it’s all click and done. 

Facebook and Plaxo are the supported websites till now, and we are waiting for the complete list to come up in future! Check out the Companies Official Blog post.