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Have you ever had a bunch of tabs open, decided to turn on your speakers/put on your headphones, only to find out that there’s something unexpected making sounds but you don’t know what?
Most annoying demonstration possible..
Viola! When you play HTML5 audio in a tab the browser animates the favicon to indicate this. (No, this doesn’t mean Chrome supports animated favicons yet, that’s still not working.)
Now I cheated and used a ‘canary build’ of Chrome to accomplish this, but really, other than working on cleaner animations/UI, this is a ‘must have’ option for all browsers!
I also took the time to show that it’s not ‘visualizing’ the audio in the tab (that would suck up too much CPU resources) but merely drawing on the favicon to indicate that the tab was recently attempting to play audio.
The new build of Chrome apparently also has an icon to indicate when a tab is recording, but I didn’t have any easy examples for demonstrating that option.
One of the things I stumbled on in the process of making this post was too note-worthy to not include in this post.
The ‘canary build’ of Chrome doesn’t use your default Chrome profile, and it can run side-by-side with your currently installed ‘stable’ version of Chrome with no cross-talk.
This meant that I was plopped into the YouTube TV/Movies when I went looking for a video to play, and I stumbled on this bargain:
Clearly YouTube needs to work out some pricing errors because I could get a blu-ray of Red Dawn for $20 brand new, and they go for $8 used online. Seeing that the HD version is $5 more really leaves me wondering how the error was made..
Is it possible there’s a Patrick Swayze fan on the YouTube Movies team?
“Nobody put’s Red Dawn in the discount corner!”
UPDATE: Apparently someone DOES read this, and apparently I am not keeping up on movie releases. This is the 2012 ‘Red Dawn’, a REMAKE of the 1984 original, where the reds are North Koreans, and the plot involves an EMP attack that makes a ground invasion a ‘teeny tiny’ bit more plausible.
Google’s Chromebook was supposed to be more of a ‘big Android’, a tablet with a keyboard and an OS centered around the Chrome browser, subsidized to be cheaper than a full laptop and almost ‘disposable’ due to the low cost and lack of local storage/personalization.
This new laptop is nearly the opposite of the first Chromebooks:
- Expensive! At ~$1,449* you won’t want to be ‘disposing’ this?
- Powerful! An Intel i5 CPU
- 32GB local storage! Heaps of space for something that saves to the cloud?
- 2560 x 1700 3:2 12.85″ touch screen! For web browsing?
- 4GB RAM! How many tabs are you going to have open?
- Intel HD 4000 GPU! This is actually going to be handy for WebGL.
- 5hrs est. battery life! More than you should need between charges?
*(For the LTE Pixel. $1,299 for the WiFi Pixel)
So why is the highest resolution screen to ever be sold in a retail laptop getting married to a WebOS?
Well according to Google, the insane resolution is a nod to the future of the web and what’s in store.
So clearly the only thing that’s disposable about the Chromebook Pixel is the ‘disposable’ nature of the previous Chromebooks?
Speaking of what’s clear, this new Chromebook has a lot of not so obvious features:
- Back-lighting under the keyboard for low-light use
- Quality speakers that also lurk under the keyboard
- Stereo microphones and a 720p webcam in the lid
- A 3rd ‘keyboard’ microphone to eliminate typing noise in recordings
- Cooling vents in the screen hinge to avoid blockage
- A hinge design that does not lift the bottom of the laptop when opening
- Over-sized track-pad with special surface treatment
- A funky blue-red-yellow-green LED status bar/power light
In fact the fellows who have been hands-on with the Pixel admit that the whole affair comes off like a “high-end luxury automobile” with all the subtle attention to detail.
Not once have I seen any mention of who’s manufacturing the new Chromebook, but my guess would be that it’s a Lenovo device at the core.
The biggest concern seems to be the price, which is understandable, especially considering the ultra-low prices of competing tablets that seem much better engineered for the tasks that you’d use a Chromebook for.
Keep in mind that this is a Linux OS that runs a Chrome browser tuned for HTML5. Using the machine for much of anything outside of the browser or play store is going to require the skills of a nerdy power user to implement.
Here’s the original into video from 2009 when the Chrome OS was just launching (I love that ‘cloud’ wasn’t a buzz-word back then):
So while the new Google Chromebook Pixel can be used for lots of things this really seems like massive overkill for what you can tackle with Chrome OS right now.
We decided to call a spade a spade, and Google is paying a fee to keep Bing from being the default search engine on iOS.
The fee is based on per-unit pricing, and not only are there more units than ever, but the per-unit price is also going from $3.20 last year to an estimated $3.50 per unity in 2013!
Given the growing user base these should almost be rabbits?
Since the prices are a guesstimate, one can honestly say that it will cost more for the exclusive right to the default search engine on iOS in 2013.
However there are certain ‘publications’ that have forgone the guessing part and are rather certain that Google will pay up.
In fact, if Samsung, or Google (via it’s Motorolla Mobillity acquisition), can keep one-upping each of the new iPhones, then the cost of licensing to the user-base will be peaking at a point which it will never return to again.
But is it worth the money knowing how much of a search advantage Google has over Bing? Well that depends entirely on who you ask!
Apple pundit:
People will use whatever is the default like pack of blind sheep. Everyone knows this.
Google fan:
If that’s true then why is the Google Maps app on iOS the most popular app on the device? People clearly don’t just use the default apple maps?
.. and really, if we’re talking about users who skipped over the BlackBerries, Nokias, Samsungs, etc.., for a specific device, then perhaps we should give them some credit for also choosing a better search experience?
After all, how many times would you let your phone load Bing before trying to switch it?
I personally would let a ‘Bing’ search happen once at the most, just to get info on “setting default search engine on iOS”.
In those articles we were mostly looking at patents and prototypes.
Now we have WIRED.COM and arstechnica.com both spewing out specs based on more patents and some developer info…
Hello? Can you ear me?
802.11 b/g 2.4 GHz WLAN
Bluetooth ver 4.0 low-energy radio
“Bone Conduction” audio playback
a $1,500 (£962) price tag
developer shipments in early 2013
a projected 2014 launch date
Breaking this down, we learn a fair bit from each fact we can establish.
802.11 b/g support means that N mode WiFi won’t likely be supported, and the best guess would be the it’s getting dropped due to power consumption. Additionally, there’s a rumor that the primary data connection for the Google Glass will be a tethered cell phone acting as a ‘modem’ of sorts to expand the Google Glass’s communications range without bulking it up.
The 4.0 version of the Bluetooth radio stack is an exceptionally good match for a device running off of batteries, that sits on your head. This version of the Bluetooth stack supports BLE – Bluetooth Low Energy mode operations that allow a device like Google glass to sip on power and still remain connected to other devices.
If Google Glass had an option to support class 1 (100mW transmissions) networks it would supply you with a range of up to 328′ or 100 meters. If you were a household cleaner you could leave your phone in a central location, put on your Google glasses, and record your cleaning efforts directly to your phone or relay it to a remote server. By doing this you could safe guard yourself against damage claims and other issues presented by the homeowners.
In fact you could also be listening to some music, without blocking your ability to hear other sounds, like a knock at the door, or someone coming home. This is because the Google glass does not block incoming sounds/cover your ears.
The ‘bone conduction‘ audio drivers on the Google Glass send audio vibrations via your skull bones to your inner ear which then ‘hears’ the vibrations as sound.
This means that if you are driving, biking, walking, etc., you can expect the Google Glass audio feedback to be less of an obstruction/safety risk than typical in-ear or over-ear style systems.
Picture wearing these as a lawyer, and someone is attempting to hold you to words you’ve never even said. You could jump to the date/time the original discussion occurred and play it back verbatim, clearing up any mistakes/poor recollection that might otherwise cause endless headaches.
The trick in this case, since a lawyer/doctor, couldn’t ethically record video to an insecure/public location like a ‘Google Hangout’, would be for Google to either offer some sort of private video storage/search/retrieval service (I hear they have some experience with video?), that has the sufficient security clearances to avoid any concerns about storage.
The $1,500.00 price tag is for the Developer’s build of the device, currently being called the ‘Explorer Edition’, that will be shipping this year. In fact Google has said “early this year” as the date, so “sooner than later” is a fine guesstimate.
The signup for the Explorer Edition was actually quite the event, while the attendees were sitting in the conference center Google dropped some ‘Glass’ equipped sky-divers onto the site from an overhead balloon. The video from their Glass units was then streamed inside the event for a bit of a surreal effect.
At the end of the conference the developers willing to pay the $1,500.00 price tag were given a specially etched slate of glass with the serial # of the unit they will be shipping to you later.
Two pro-Microsoft posts in one week? I know, Right?!
Clearly we are not masters of fate or IT news, so today’s headline is covering the new modern:IE Test Site setup to assist web developers with creating IE compatible site content.
Wasn’t it like, two days ago that I just pointed out that the big flaw with IE is that the old versions create a web design nightmare? *tap tap* .. Apparently this thing is turned on?
What does it test?
Actually the tool is a suite of tests with some specific test cases for IE browser specific issues.
Here’s a list of categories it will test and report on without setting up a ‘Site Owner’ account:
Fix common problems from supporting old versions of IE:
Known compatibility issues
Compatibility Mode
Frameworks & libraries
Web standards docmode
Help this webpage work well across browsers, across devices:
CSS prefixes
Browser plug-ins
Responsive web design
Browser detection
Consider building with some new features in Windows 8:
Touch browsing default
Start screen site tile
If you plug your URL in the page will test all these areas and report back to you where improvements could be made.
This tool lets you select an image (144×144 pixel PNG) and text for your website when a Windows 8 user wants to ‘Pin’ the site to their start menu.
My experience with the tool wasn’t great, likely due to some caching, but if you test your code against sites that do work properly you can still sort out the needed meta tags quickly enough.
Other Goodies?
Included in the suite is a link to the Internet Explorer Test Drive site to compare HTML5 features and performance with other browsers..
Technically, I ended up short on time to cover more, so if you dive in and start to wonder why we didn’t point out something new/interesting, feel free to let us know, we’re always open to feedback.
Blackberry unveiled the BlackBerry 10 today, but for it to be any success, it will need to appeal to teens as well as business. Formerly known as RIM, Blackberry was once Canada’s signature tech company and has embedded itself into the collective Canadian identity despite its recent failures.
At Manhattan’s Pier 36, CEO Thorsten Heins revealed the latest smartphone called the Blackberry 10. The new phone comes with an updated OS and touch screen features
At one time, Blackberry held the lion’s share in the mobile phone industry and with its advanced security encryption algorithms, was used exclusively through business and governments. Once partnered with companies such as Yahoo and endorsed by the likes of President Obama, RIM has seen its share of market woes and had fallen behind in the very competitive mobile phone market.
Blackberry was at one time so successful that it has become a symbol of national pride (the polite, Canadian kind) normally reserved for Tim Horton’s, the Hudson’s Bay Company and hockey.
Although many users of Blackberry have jumped ship and moved to the competition, after two years of delays the Waterloo, Ontario-based company has released their latest phone with the anticipation that it will save the ailing company.
Being a youthful person (aka: I never grew up) you could say I was a child of the 90s, but in all honesty, this new ‘Child of the 90s’ video promotion, from the marketing team behind Internet Explorer, just makes me feel old…
I’m pretty sure that generation YoYo came earlier & what’s up with that Apple II?
When I was young we had:
- 300baud vs. 56k
- 5.25″ vs. 3.5″
- monochrome vs. color
- Garfield™ vs. puppies
- Donkey Kong vs. Tamagotchi
- Handi-Snacks vs. Lunchables
- hockey cards vs. pogs
So it’s pretty close to my generation, but still makes me feel old.
Does it make me feel any affinity for IE, as if I can relate to it’s embarrassing past after remembering fanny packs?
Not really. It makes me remember when Netscape decided to put expiry dates on their browser so I was forced to install IE only for fear of support calls asking how to update Netscape.
Still, not a positive moment for IE, just being the browser that ’caused the least issues’, wasn’t much of a title?
How has that changed? Well now IE is, in my circles, the browser that that ’causes the most issues’.
So they grew up, but not the way we’d like, and until they expire all the old copies of IE laying around or break off to a new product name with zero ties to old IE issues, I thin IE is stuck with the ‘difficult child’ image.
When I was a kid..
When I was a kid we had electron guns we’d sit in front of, and the only thing between us and the gun firing electrons was a glass plate.
People said it wasn’t good, told us to keep our distance..
Now with Samsung offering curved OLED screens they are urging us to get close, saying that the screens offer an immersive experience:
OLED technology means less emissions, heat, and power consumption than almost any full color display technology available today.
As someone with less than 55″ inches of screen space curved around him right this moment, I’d have to say that this first screen will make it’s purchasers VERY happy once it comes to market and stops being a poster child for what’s coming.
Displays need to step-up indeed, what with all the 3d options coming out, including the very exciting Oculus Rift that’s been generating some interesting reaction videos (WARNING: Strong Language/Reactions):
Candid Anthony didn’t seem very impressed until he tried it..
So while folks were saying the next step in displays will be to plug into our brains, it appears that we are finding another step closer without the brain jack.
On January 15th 2013, Facebook planted it’s so called “third pillar” of it’s social network empire, “social search”.
If Facebook *is* all about social media, and they already had a search function, how is this a big change?
Okay, well that *is* some small change..
From what I can tell of the new search feature, it’s an exclusive index of Facebook, powered by Bing. So you get better/different results from the previous search options because it’s been handled by Microsoft’s search methodology.
So, you may be wondering, “Why isn’t Bing offering an improved ‘Social Search’ now that they have access to all this Facebook data?”, and you will be amused to note that today Bing indeed announced an improved ‘Social Search’ to users of their services.
In fact, Bing’s social search results are appended to the Facebook search results, and all clicks stay inside Facebook.
Still, what’s really ‘new’ about this search behavior?
Allegedly if I tack on action words to a search like, “visited by friends” or “popular with friends”, it’s supposed to marry the search results with social data from my friends list.
I gave that a whirl, trying to find various searches that would result in ‘approvals’ or ‘likes’ from my friends and I got very poor results.
Could it be that my tech savvy friends have dialed in their Facebook privacy settings to the point where Bing’s assistance is negligible? Possibly. And I wouldn’t blame them for it.
Then I tried some of the same searches in Google, without engaging any ‘social’ tags or features, and viola, I can see restaurants, pubs, and even retail stores that people in my circles have rated. I also know now to never have lunch with Dave, since he loves all the types of restaurants I try to avoid.
Plus, thanks to Google’s purchase of Zagat, I have a fallback option for accurate/honest feedback if my friends aren’t reviewing restaurants or pubs that I want to try out or are simply closer to my location.
While I’m not seeing a real improvement, FB is seeing a nice reversal of their stock prices, which were on a steady downfall last year, as we mentioned in our May 22nd, 2012, blog post: FB stock drops as SpaceX soars to success!
How long this will bolster their faltering stock value?
Will ‘Social Search’ mature into a feature that entices disinterested users to revisit Facebook?
Clearly that’s anyone’s guess, but at least they are trying to keep the ship afloat, and search traffic could help bolster ad revenue, as it did for Google.
What do you do when your paid columnist wants to write about a product that is the demise of your revenue stream, and give the product an editor’s choice award?
Well that’s exactly what happened over at CNet when the Dish Network’s ‘Hopper’ DVR w/Sling was picked for a ‘Best of Show – Editor’s Choice Award’ by CNet staff.
Apparently the fact that this DVR eliminates commercials entirely, and then lets you watch the recordings from almost any internet connected device, is a big concern for the large media companies.
At one point the new DVR had CBS saying they wouldn’t have anything to do with Dish network if they proceeded with taking this device to market.
It’s enough of a threat that CBS, along with many other ‘major media companies’, have taken legal action against Dish and it’s ‘Hopper DVR’. In fact, this legal action was prior to the addition of the Sling services which threaten to further trample on their corporate profits.
Given this legal action, and the potential risk to bottom line revenue that the DVR implies, CBS directly ordered CNet to remove the Hopper from the running and re-vote on the remaining devices.
This directive allegedly came right from the CEO of CBS, Leslie Moonves, and was given to Mark Larkin, the GM of CBS Interactive News.
Mr.Larkin fought the decision while he could, getting into conference calls with CNet and CBS heads to try and avoid censoring the product.
Ultimately he was forced, against his wishes, to deliver the decree to CNet editorial staff; A task that, according to The Verge, brought him to tears:
“Sources say that Larkin was distraught while delivering the news — at one point in tears — as he told the team that he had fought CBS executives who had made the decision.”
Not only that, but CNET was barred from issuing their own statement about the removal of the DVR from the awards, and had to use a prepared statement from CBS regarding the legal issues surrounding the Hopper DVR!
Here is that official statement:
The Dish Hopper with Sling was removed from consideration due to active litigation involving our parent company CBS Corp. We will no longer be reviewing products manufactured by companies with which we are in litigation with respect to such product.
Immediately, Greg Sandoval, a regular CNET columnist, offered his resignation and went public on his Twitter feed about the incident.
Lindsey Turrentine, one of the ‘heads’ in the conference call with Mark Larkin, and the Editor-in-Chief of CNET News, took a moment to apologize for the situation, and for not resigning immediately when she had the chance.
Lindsey defended her decision, stating that she didn’t want to abandon her team and she felt she could affect change easier from her current position than if she were to resign.
What if you paid a writer, who specializes in gaming topics, to go cover a Panasonic Toughpad press event and he decided to get drunk and channel Hunter S. Thompson?
Well that’s exactly what Grant from ‘LOOK, ROBOT’ did for his coverage of the Toughpad:
“[January 14, 2013]Panasonic are launching a new tablet computer for the business market. I am not a tech journalist. I have never done this before. I don’t know what’s going on.”
You can read the whole thing here, it’s a lot of fun, and if you’ve ever been to one of these events you should be able to relate to most of his observations in one way or another.
All press is good press?
Well the folks over at Speed-Sew™ certainly seem to think they can get away with anything in promoting their products:
I also keep pulling out the same old tube of Speed-Sew™, pop the cap off, wonder if it’s still good, and then sniff it!
It doesn’t smell good, and it’s not like it gives you a ‘buzz’, it’s as illogical as smelling your shoes when you already know they are going to smell awful.
By doing something in their YouTube video that I can relate to, by making the video down to earth, and funny, I am now motivated to laugh and share.
I want to say this is brilliant social media/video advertising, but sadly it’s a bad example because it has yet to go viral (some adverts never do).
In a further attempt to swoon the public over to the “touch-side” Intel and Microsoft are leading the way in an attempt to grab the industry’s reigns. I discussed last week how Microsoft was making a bold gambit on the success of touch technology. A CNET article discusses post-CES that there is a definite trend in the laptops that were on display to incorporate touch screen capabilities.
In an attempt to shore up their PC partners, Intel issued an edict stating that all new next generation ultrabooks based on its Haswell chipset, will be touch. Both companies are state that touch enabled tablets and detachable/convertible computers will become the computer of choice. Meaning that your next laptop purchase will likely be touch; whether you like it or not.
So what is a convertible computing device? Products like the HP EliteBook Revolve and the Lenovo Yoga are made with swivel touch screens that are non-detachable from the unit. Because the processor and other related electronics are located under the keyboard, they offer higher performance as the form factor allow for cooler operating processors.
Detachable computers are basically tablets with integrated keyboard docks. Products such as the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix place the processor behind the screen which typically results in a lower performing, higher efficiency processors. One exception to this is theThinkPad Helix, which manages to use a standard Intel Ivy Bridge chip into their tablet.
In a further attempt to swoon the public over to the “touch-side” Intel and Microsoft are leading the way in an attempt to grab the industry’s reigns. I discussed last week how Microsoft was making a bold gambit on the 
