Patent Wars - Real and Fake

To start with, let me say something anti-tech to you, guys. Namely, I’d love to send you my sincere congrats on Christmas and upcoming New Year holidays and wish you all to be healthy, happy, loving and loved, wealthy, and always optimistic!

Now to the point.

I’ve been perusing the patent wars topic for quite a long time, much because of Apple vs. Samsung War both in technological and design aspects of their products, and at one point I got completely stunned with how many infringement cases we can now find within the whole IT industry.

It’s true, that the possibility to produce something utterly unique is more, than hard. It’s also pretty hard to handle the fast tempo of market development and expansion to resist the growing competition with the rivals. What else can you do to let your business survive and, moreover, prosper? Of course, you can copy the technology, or the designs, or the marketing moves, or anything else. Obviously, the morality or professional ethics have nothing to do with this situation; it’s the money, which turns out decisive.

In this respect, the amazement at the patent wars is no longer this big, as you understand, that as much as everyone in the IT business wishes to earn, it’s highly essential not to let your competitor earn more, especially at your cost.

Nonetheless, the matter of patent wars has one more essential aspect, which is even trickier, than everything lying on the surface. That is the fake patent wars. They are not, in fact, fake, rather – as real as it’s only possible, but the essence of the claims is frequently groundless. “One small company” formulates the reason for suing “the large company”, and the story begins. The thing is that there’s always the notion of luck, which can be helfpul in court, and there’s always the company’s image put on stake, when the enterprise is sued. These 2 factors are what can make such a patent war, even if the case is totally fake, really profitable for “one small company” owners.

Fortunately, the positive side with the story about fake patent wars is that these are mostly unsuccessful for those, who start the fight. Otherwise, we’d probably witness hundreds of “real” patent wars being begun each and every day. For large companies, like Twitter, or Facebook or 4shared, having millions of users, this would be really bothersome.

In a whole, at least, it’s good that patent justice works properly for now, right?

Stay cool)
Andy

SOPA – Good Intentions vs. Abusage of Power

I’ll be perhaps one of the thousands, if not millions to speak about SOPA, which, in fact, has all chances to become the most dangerous Act in the recent years.

In case you somehow missed what SOPA is about, while preparing for Christmas and New Year holidays, I’ll try to explain it in brief. Stop Online Piracy Act, or as it’s mostly called SOPA (almost SOPE, lol)) is the US Congress Act, according to which the government authorities and private corporations (what a surprise!) receive a magical right to censor websites, and consequently cut the “unwanted ones” both from search on Google and a number of payment providers, like Visa, for example.

To say that SOPA is ridiculous, from my point of view, is to say nothing. First of all, it hides the danger for the fresh start-up social media sites, or, in a whole, the whole array of startups, and will, undoubtedly, slow their development down. Moreover, it also hides the incredibly vast area for abuse and corruption, and might be easily used as a tool to eliminate fresh rivals and gain monopoly in specific niches of the IT market.

My concerns are a just a small drop in the sea of worries and irritation, already expressed by almost 50 large and middle-sized reputable companies, like Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, not to mention TechCrunch and a great deal of others, and hopefully, their efforts won’t be vain, otherwise the consequences can be truly horrible.

I won’t be dwelling on the political underwater stones of SOPA, as I’ve never been involved in any party or something, but on the surface the good intentions to eliminate content infrigement have turned into a total scam, from my perspective.

They haven’t felt enough after removing large and (as I’d like to emphasize) trustworthy file-sharing sites, e.g. RapidShare or 4shared, from isnstant Google search with no auto prompts available. They want more, more power to manipulate the whole Internet community.

I won’t name who They are, let’s everyone have our own personal understanding, the only thing to add is that the proverb “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” has got one more proof of being right. We only need to add “so-called” before “good”, probably.

Stay cool & stay strong

Andy

FB Timeline & Twistory: Everything about Log History

Do you know what Timelines Are? I bet you do, but just in case – these are the brief story outlines of a certain brand, company, business, or virtually anything else. Do you often take a look at the companies’ timelines? Well, I do. At least, as far as I’m interested in the story of a success or the paste, in which the success has become a reality.

In fact, timelines are definitely beneficial both for your general vision and knowledge and your personal experience (you might turn out to implement some of the useful moves, who knows).

At the same time, notion of the log history is pretty much the same as the timeline for the company, but it mainly concerns your usage of a certain service: what you’ve done and when you’ve done it. Here, we’re more, than acquainted with checking log history in syncing our files (I double check if I’ve synced my data with 4Sync, for instance, not to miss anything essential), and even our “Sent” box in Gmail, or any other e-mail service to make sure, that all important letters have been definitely written and, what is more, sent.

As for now, the time has, perhaps, come for the social networks to upgrade their log history options to a certain extent. At least, this is the only obvious conclusion that can be made when you’re offered to try the “Timeline” feature at FB, or check the Twistory app in guess where…. Twitter.

In this respect, whereas FB Timeline hasn’t impressed me much in terms of its functionality (the only innovation is the background pic you can upload, and the more chaotic structure of your Profile page); Twistory founders have moved forward, as the app supports Google Calendar and the user’s Twitter log history can be exported, if needed.

Moreover, creative and, at the same time, adventurous Twistory founders even offer both free and prepaid app modes, the former enabling you to save only 30-day Twitlog history.

In a whole, God knows, if social networking modified log history features are useful enough to pay so much attention to their upgrade. The only benefit I might find in them is keeping the sites’ design attractive (FB Timeline) at least and offering us ONE MORE way (Twistory) (in addition to N ways)to check and backup our social media activity.


Stay cool)
Andy

SocialFolders - One More Tool to Confuse the Users

Are you yet accustomed to syncing your files, photos, docs, or contact lists? If not, I’d say, you’re too conservative, too old-fashioned, or too light-headed. The thing is that the whole modern IT industry is all about backing up, syncing and integrating all data you have got at one place.

We’re already using a great deal of web and mobile cloud services, some of them being presented in both modes for our convenience (like 4shared with its special apps for all mobile OS’s, for example). Yet, some of app developers still believe that we need one more, as they say, the only truly convenient application to gather our files. At least, these, as I can presume, were the thoughts of SocialFolders’ creators, as their app is aimed at gathering and syncing your files from different social media on your PC.

As for the pros of SocialFolders, these lie in the app functionality, without any doubt, even though this very functionality doesn’t differ from the one of other similar services to a considerable extent.

As for the cons, here are the major ones:

• Mediocrity. As I have already mentioned, I don’t see any special functions in SocialFolders.

• Lack of mobility. The app requires being downloaded on the user’s computer, which, in fact means, that you find yourself tied to this device to access the sort of integrated data.

Of course, I wish nothing, but the years of prosperity to SocialFolders’ authors, but to be honest, I’d, perhaps, avoid using the app itself. The reason is that its developers couldn’t avoid the common mistake, that is, they’ve offered the same-old functionality aka one more tool, which copies the usable one’s features, whereas the users are hungry for more.


Stay cool)
Andy

From Minute to Global: What Do Decreased Intel Sales Mean?

I’ve actually been thinking of dedicating this post to reviewing one of the latest app releases, but have changed my mind eventually.

Much because of the fact that today Mr. Robert Norton Noyce would celebrate his 84th birthday, if he were alive, I can’t but write about one of his utterly successful projects, Intel.

Undoubtedly, the company is one of the largest ones even if to take the huge steps in the development of modern IT industry in the recent years, still the latest news about the expected rapid decrease of sales in the 4th quarter of 2011 has made me wonder about the cloudless future of the corporation.

Since the explained major reason for negative revenue expectations of Intel is the descrease of PC supply, and consequently, the lowered demand for chips, produced by the company, this news raises even more global questions, like: Is PC’s future cloudless either?

To be honest, it’s still hard to imagine our lives without computers in their classic mode, but, at the same time, the paste of life dictates its laws, namely, the necessity to keep all our data at hand, even in case we aren’t near the PC.

It’s actually the consequence of this quick-paste rhythm that we have already become much more accustomed to using file-sharing services (otherwise the grandees as RapidShare or 4shared wouldn’t get so many users), file-syncing tools, powerful smartphones, tablets, external hard-drives, and extra-thin laptops. It’s also the cause of our frequent exchanging the wired provides for Wi-Fi (I wonder if people even use the wired Internet for personal needs now).

Getting back to the question about the future of PC’s, no matter how much we’re gonna miss the oldies, the current trends reveal that they won’t be able to last long from now. There might be left the large and incredibly functional computers, used in a number of specific industries (the defense, for instance), but these will also vanish with time, as from my point of view.

Thus, the future of Intel sales (and the whole company as well) seems also doubtful, in case the company won’t turn to the production of innovative chips, which will sooner or later replace the ones that are being used in PC’s at the moment.

Just because the times change, the laws change, and we’ve gotta change as well.


Stay cool)
Andy

Podio.com: Online Project Management and More

With all the haste about PayPal service losing its trust from the side of its corporate partners, and consequently, even regular clients, I don’t actually see the point in writing the whole post about the current problem with frozen accounts.

Yet, I wouldn’t dare keep silent and not express my opinion in short: the only obvious thing PayPal should do now is to expain themselves and change the politics, regarding freezing their partners’ accounts. Otherwise, the consequences for their business might be disastrous, I’m afraid.

Now, what I really found worthy of writing about is the separate, enterprise-oriented niche of the software market, which I haven’t even mentioned before – the enterpise services, aimed at managing and planning versatile projects within the company in a fast and convenient way.

In particular, one of the reliable players in the field is Podio.com, which is, by the way, among the winners in this year’s The Europas and is currently participating in The Crunchies 2011. I haven’t yet used this service myself (due to the obvious reason, that is my NOT having a company yet))), Still, according to what I have checked in terms of its features, and a short survey, that I’ve made among my few busy businessmen-friends, the service is seemingly providing high-quality assistance to every manager.

To start with, I’d like to say a few words about the official Podio.com site interface, which is absolutely perfect, as from my point of view. The design is minimalistic with pale backdround colours and the readable fonts. As for the structure of the site, every feature is explained in a very detailed way + there’s a short video-tutorial how it should be used at the same page, so the user won’t need to check the whitepapers to learn about Podio’s benefits.

As for the functionality, Podio.com is also impressive in number of options, available for clients, from Project and Event Management solutions to CRM and Lead Management tools, not to mention convenient Social Intranet, Product Development, etc.

What I’ve personally found especially useful is that Podio’s features (offered separately or in a package) appear to combine the functionality, which we accustomed to in JIRA, for instance, as far as task and project management is considered, in addition to CRM and budget calculation option. This is, obviously, a great Podio’s advantage over other services, as an array of different tasks can be resolved within the unified interface with specified dashboards.

Furthermore, you can also access the necessary data via user-friendly Podio mobile apps for iPone and Android (haha, seems like Windows Mobile and Blackberry users are unwelcome)), which makes it simpler to browse and manage the dashboards on the go.

The only question that is still bothering me is the possibility to maintain the work of the whole large corporation with a great number of employees all around the world (like Twitter, or 4shared staff, for example), or is it yet more suitable for middle-sized enterprises, like the ones, my friends have got?

This question remains open for now, but the overall impression of Podio is, nonetheless, absolutely positive!


Stay cool)
Andy)

Online Ad-Management Platfroms: Epom vs. AdSpeed

To start with, I should, probably, justify my selection of this post’s topic, namely, online ad-management platforms. It all started when my friends asked me why the hell I haven’t yet done anything to monetize my blog, offering me to find a couple of advertisers to place their banners at my site for money.

At first, I was surely taken aback, but then, well, I actually thought it might be a good idea to try. Yet, as I don’t have any experience in this field I started surfing for convenient online ads-management platforms that could make it simpler and faster to cooperate with my future advertisers, control & manage ad placements, impressions, etc.

To be honest, I’ve checked yet a few services that provide the publishers (that’s how they call the site owners) with a set of tools for online ads-management, so for now, I can only speak about the 2 of them (mainly because the other 3 ones out of 5 checked aren’t even worth mentioning), these are Epom and AdSpeed.

I’ve checked the range of aspects which I find essential for me: design (sorry for that, but I need the site to look well-designed, it’s like one more trustmark for me), simplicity and convenience of usage, functionality, guidelines.

Let’s start with Epom: I haven’t heard much of this service, but the overall ratings seemed ok, so I have decided to take a closer look at this platform.

1. Design. The interface has the light coloursheme in orange, blue and white with decent font solutions, the comprehensive sectioning of the index page and the available tabs for different groups of clients.

2. Simplicity of Convenience of Usage. Having opened the publishers tab, I found the full range of available features and the precise info of which technology is being used to maintain the platform, which is, fortunately, formulated in a simple way (for dummies like me, as well, who aren’t professionals in the sphere and aren’t fully aware of the terminology).

The bright button “Get started now” is a good way to show where you should click to start working with Epom. Moreover, the service is free, which is, as you probably, remember, I value Very much).

Having registed as a publisher I was provided with my login and password (password can be changed anytime) and the direct link access to the publishers guide at once, so that, perhaps, I could find the answers to all my questions, before contacting the client support.

3. Functionality. The range of available services fulfilled my expectations, as although the account looks very plain at first glance, it allows the user to manage all ad-campaigns, set capping settings, manage ad zones, select preferable numbers of impressions, and even calculate the ad-campaign budget.

In addition to that you are also enabled to check the whole analytics and reports in versatile ways (including diagrams, graphics, etc.) and share the access to these analytics with your clients. Not bad, I should say.

4. Guides.

What I liked about Epom is that you’re shown what to do and where to go directly, so any info can be found in seconds. As for the offered guide for publishers, it’s quite intelligible to grasp, and you learn how to use all options in the right way.

Now about another online ad-management platform AdSpeed.com.

I’ve also heard a bit about the service before, but haven’t checked it closely yet.

To be more, or less objective, let’s stick to the afore-mentioned criteria.

1. Design. We-ee-elll…I generally liked the yellow-black colour scheme (somehow reminding of the one MegaUpload has got, but whatever)) but the fonts and the structure of the site aren’t impressive at all. Moreover, the sectioning doesn’t actually give you an idea of what to do when you enter the site.

2. Simplicity and Convenience of Usage.

I had an option to sign up at once, but eventually decided to read more about the service. This is how the complications started. On the one hand, the explanation why I need AdSpeed was clear. On the other hand, the page also contained more than 10 links (awfully plain and blue-cloured (why blue, not black at least) to a tutorial, related posts, a link to a PDF brochure without any icon or explanation what it is about, an array of materials for advertisers and networks, and even some testimonials, saying that the service is amazing.

I had to open all the main menu tabs and peruse them all to find out the info I really needed, e.g. how to work with the service and which features were available for me.

3. Functionality. This is perhaps one of the positive aspects of AdSpeed, as the offered options are really versatile with vast targeting opportunities, capping options, ads-management and analytics features that are aimed at making the usage simpler.

At least that’s how the guide and glossary tell you.
Having started registering I entered my credentials and was almost ready to sign up for AdSpeed, when I reached up to the Subscribtion bar. It turns out that you’re only given a 10-day free trial with the necessity to pay after that for the number of impressions you wish to get.

Frankly speaking, I was almost furious, because the service, in which you’re like the blindman searching for the paths, as there’s too much chaotically organized info all around, you also have to pay to be taken into its community.

4. Guides. Well, there’re a lot of guides at the site, some of them can’t be accessed directly, and some of them are placed in unrelated sections. The chaotic structure of AdSpeed.com makes it really hard to find what you need to do.

In a whole, what I should admit is that AdSpeed couldn’t resist any competition against Epom. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Those people, who know me well, would prove my being always as much objective as possible, sometimes a bit too picky, but still objective.

Anyway, this is just my perspective, hope, you find it useful. For now, I’m staying with Epom, but I’ll surely continue my research in this area.


Stay cool)
Andy

A New Player in Online Editors' Team - Aviary.com

Undoubtedly, I’ve already written about a great number of sites and services related to social networking sphere, and to be honest, I’ve been fed up with this theme a bit.

Though, when the time came to decide upon the topic, I’ve chosen to take a closer look at the content we are likely to share most – photos & music, and the tools and engines we use to create a masterpiece out of the ordinary.

In this respect, in addition to well-known Photoshop (which frequently turns out to be a bit “heavy” or “bulky”), and the basic image editors, inserted into the apps for different mobile platforms, a range of online image editors have also gained considerable popularity. Here, the first service that comes into thought is surely Picnic, which has become of the widely-applied tools not only for editing pics and photos, but for their instant sharing as well.

To be honest, the popularity of Picnic has really reached the global scale at a certain point: it’s currently used by millions of people all over the world, and is even connected to one of the file-sharing giants 4shared, which offers the users to edit their photos directly from their accounts.

Nevertheless, I’d like to dwell upon another market player, namely Aviary.com, which has managed to combine the photo-editors (including effects editor, vector editor and image markup, etc.) and the music-creator+ editor at one place.

Having tested versatile available features I have pointed out a number of essential benefits of Aviary.com, like its simplicity of usage, especially as far as photo-editing is considered. The whole range of available features is simply to access, apply and undo, in case you have made a sort of a mistake.

As for the music creator and editor, these aspects are more complicated to grasp, though the smart service authors have also placed the intelligible tutorials at the site, so their usage gets much simpler.

One more important advantage of Aviary is the provided user-friendly Web and Mobile API, aimed at fast insertion of photo and music editing tools into both web and mobile applications of various kinds.

At the same time, I wouldn’t be me if I couldn’t find a flaw in powerful Aviary.com services, though in this very case it’s not really a flaw, but rather an amusing aspect. This is related to Aviary-friendly site, Worth1000.com, designed to launch the contests for photographers with different skill levels and experience.

I’m not saying that Worth1000.com is bad, or, has little chances to become incredibly famous among the users. On the contrary, all contests are structured in a logical way, and the whole idea of the site appeals to human natural desire to boast a bit.

Yet, the prmised awards aren’t that valuable, so that I’d try very hard to win in the site’s contests. In fact, their majority is nothing, but a presented digital badge, whereas the number of sponsored contests with worthy prizes is still insufficient from my point of view.

Basically, you can satisfy your ego, but you can’t fill your wallet with Worth1000.com.

Looking forward to hearing more?

Stay tuned)
Andy

Unexpected Pinteresting Innovations

Honestly, the number of photo-sharing sites we’ve got today is totally stunning. I’m not even speaking of more general file-sharing sites, like 4shared or RapidShare, where users can share not only photos, but any other files, as well. I mean, the specific services, offering people to exhange their “photographic” emotions, photo-events, etc.

On the market, where you sometimes get lost, what service to choose for this or that photo to share, having got Flickr, Tumblr, yFrog, or even Twit-connected TwitPic at your disposal, it’s hard to imagine some innovation to be encountered, as all sites of such kind are more, or less similar in their entity.

Yet, I have lately found a brand-new service, Pinteresting, which presents its users at least with one unique core feature that have brought this “youngster” to the top of popularity. I’m talking of one’s opportunity to share the image, pic, or photo he/she finds worthy of viewing without copying/pasting it from one site to another, or saving it on one’s PC.

The essence of Pinterest, as its founders explain, lies in its “drag’n’drop” simplicity – you only need to add the special “Pin It” plugin to your browser and feel free to drag’n’drop any image from the Web to your Pinteresting profile to share it.

Other options also include the keyword-search option, “Like” and “Repin” buttons that work in pretty the same way, as FB “Like” and “Share” buttons.

Sounds awesome? I’d say it does.

At the same time, as with absolutely every available service, there can’t but be found some flaws in Pinterest:

1) You’ve got to be invited to become a part of Pinterest family. I’ve been already speaking about the fresh services, acting like G+, forcing you to search for invitations of such kind, but with Pinterest, the case is somewhat different.

The thing is that you have to apply to the site’s owners for membership. In this respect, I’ve been already waiting for more, than a week, and still haven’t been allowed to start “pinning” photos I like. A) The site is so popular, that the authors haven’t read my e-mail yet. B) They tend to neglect new users.

Guess, the first variant is more credible, but I feel a bit offended, really.

2) Copyright protection. Pinterest founders claim, that the initial site link, where you take a particular pic from is always stored, so you don’t violate any copyright, but what if I’ve taken any copyright-protected photo from my blog, where I had formerly put it without caring about violating copyright laws. How will Pinterest check it?


Anyway, as soon as I’m accepted in Pinterest community I’ll be able to tell you more. For now, let’s just wait a bit.

Stay cool)
Andy

To Say Sorry, To Conratulate and To Observe ShopCade

I’ve been busy, guys; I’ve really been busy, though I know that any justification of my absense for some time isn’t suitable enough.

For now, I can only say I’m sorry and one more thing: now I’m married, officially, so looking forward to getting some congrats from your side, both live and online!))

If talking seriously, there have passed a number of serious events while I was gone, like The Europas 2011 Winner Announcement, for instance, by the way, for those who haven’t heard of it yet, the startup that has won Grand Prix is PeerIndex (the sort of analogue of GroSocial or somewhat like this), and this fact can easily be used as one more confirmation of various social services having now become insanely popular…and profitable.

Yet, I would now like to speak of another new site that has also much in common with social media networks and is aimed at your earning due to being more active and “persistent” – that is ShopCade.

To start with, let me explain the actual idea, how ShopCade platform works: you check the relative online store app on Facebook, purchase the goods, and also share/recommend what you’ve bought with your friends, of course, in case, you wish to earn some money.

That’s basically it, the more your recommended goods are purchased, the more you can earn, as in every affiliate program.

Is ShopCade useful?

Well, as with every affiliate program, like the ones, you’ve all perhaps participated in (namely, AdSense, or, mm some of them from file-sharing sites, like RapidShare or FileTram Affiliate Program, etc.), it’s not really hard to make some cash.

Is ShopCade the good source of income?

I wouldn’t be so sure, really. I mean, if you were given the rewards for clicks, it could become a good way to make money, but you need your friends to buy, and this turns out to be not as frequent, as it may seem. So, it can only serve as a bonus, not the main salary.

Is ShopCade annoying?

Oh, yes, yes, it is. I’ve already spent hours speaking of how disturbing it is to be spammed by your friends. On the one hand, you realize that they wouldn’t spam you in vain; they just don’t have another choice.

On the other hand, you simply start loathing the services, which make the good people spammers.

Such irritation would prevent me from using the services of such kind. So, even if Dropbox ovecome 4Sync or SugarSync one day (though I doubt that))), for example, I wouldn’t use it anyway. The service which shows no respect to its users, deserve no respect.


Ok, I’m heading to have lunch with my wife now. C ya soon, guys, I’ve missed you.

Stay cool)
Andy

The Europas 2011 - European Technology Startups Awards

It’s true that the ecomomic crises happen majorly on a cyclic basis, and it’s almost impossible to prevent another cycle.

Yet, the the recent economical crisis which has touched upon the whole world has proven the fact that virtually nothing can prevent the technological progress and the invention of numerous useful products or the lauch of ingenious, still already highly-profitable start-ups.

Here, it hasn’t been the surprise for me to encounter the exciting news about the upcoming “European Tech Awards (The Europas 2011)” taking place on November, 17, 2011 in London, aimed at defining the best technology startups in 2011, although the experts are now predicting the 2nd wave of economic crisis that will affect the EU countries most of all.

Despite of the fact that The European Technology Startups Awards is rather young (started in 2009), it has good chances to become one of the hottest awards in European software industry.

The thing is that unlike slower European tech startups development, the new business in the US have already become countless and I have written about many of them already, the tendencies show that the major part of them is connected either to a fun, yet partially useless apps, or the marketing and social media marketing services (let’s recall Visual.ly, Epom or Fliptop, for instance).

There’s, of course, other niches, mostly related to internet security and created to prevent the customers’ loss of money (I have tested both the oldies like McAfee and have also learnt about ITM Secure, if to give the names).

How about the nominees in The Europas 2011? I promise to present you some of my favorites tomorrow)


Stay tuned)
Andy

Dropbox Updates Make You Laugh

As a prologue to this post, I’d like to say that I can’t stop laughing at the whole “11.11.11” fever and still can’t really get, why people worldwide go crazy about all this number-stuff. Are really such dates memorable? Perhaps, they are, but only if something memorable happens during the day, am I right? What if you’ve got your 1st child born on November, 10, 2011? Would you even pay attention to 11.11.11? Guess, not.

Conclusion: it’s not the date or time, which matters, it’s rather about the events or people who make you value this or that day.

Well, that was just a laughing user’s remark.

Now let’s get to more serious things, which yet can make you laugh even more. In particular, I’m talking about the recently watched interview of Dropbox CEO Mr. Houston, who was talking of completely useless things with the most serious face ever.

For the record, I’m not aiming to insult anyone, especially Mr. Houston, I’m sure that he’s a smart man and a highly-qualified specialist in his field. Though, his above-mentioned interview can evoke nothing, but laughing from my side, really.

The thing is that Mr. Houston was speaking about the upcoming Dropbox updates and dared to state that the service is not about the files in the first place anymore, as it gonna become much more in the nearest future.

I certainly agree with the fact that the upgrades are more, than necessary in every service, if the company’s interested in maintaining its reputation and revenue. Nevertheless, in the case with Dropbox updates, they should be really useful.

And saying that the backup service shouldn’t be a folder also sounds a bit confusing. I’ve always been a sort of a naiive person believing that the most important things in syncing and backing up your files (see, I still use the word “files”))) are the simplicity and security. The way you use your sync folder should be as effortless as it’s only possible. In this respect, the more side features are being added, the more the syncing process gets complicated. Consequently, the user appears to be offered too much, when only the core essence is needed.

As an example, ok, Dropbox promises adding your FB friends’ tagging in the synced photos, but do I really need them? Hell no, synchronization is all about getting access to your data whenever your need the files, no matter which computer you’re using. What does FB tagging have to do with it?

May be if I were a lazy teen, and was bored enough to check what my friends are syncing at THIS VERY MOMENT, or where some of my pals has taken a certain synced pic, I’d care about such an update, but Thanks God, being an adult you have more serious and essential things to do.

As P.S. Dear Mr. Houston, I get that you’ve probably got no idea about this blog, but if you find this post somehow, please, oh, please, take a look around. Some of your rivals, like the authors of 4Sync, for instance, have done their homework, and the updates of their new version are much more valuable. They have made their service work better, faster and in a more secure way without adding some unnecessary functions. There should come the time, when others’ experience, like the one from 4Sync, should be taken into account, don’t you think?

United Ad Serving Platforms vs. Individual Players

I’ll tell it at the very beginning, this post won’t be long, though it certainly touches upon one of the vitally essntial aspects of promoting any product (e.g. IT product) and incresing its sales rate.

I’m now talking about the recent news about AOL’s, Microsoft’s and Yahoo’s Ad platforms being united together.

What does it mean?

Technically, this is rather a very brave move in the fight against Facebook and Google, which now hold the larger sergements of ad serving market.

On the other hand, this is also the very smart move from the side of the companies. Whereas the amount of money in ad serving niche is more, than impressive, the Yahoo’s chances to win over Google, for instance, are totally minute.

The principle saying “Together we are stronger” seems to be working perfectly in this very situation.

Of course, the experts, as usual, remain skeptical and offer to wait and check, whether the cooperation of three players on the market will be as effective and profitable, as it is now claimed to be, and, they’re probably right in such suggestions.

Meanwhile, what is also essential, the ad serving & exchange “playing field” has recently been added numerous “fresh” players, many of which have already received critical acclaim from the side of users.

The software forums start talking of the new Epom.com service, which possesses a few advantages over its elder competitors, like Doubleclick, for example.

I would now describe all that I’ve read, but I promise to get back to both services as soon as possible, right after I get a chance to test them.

For now, the only decent conclusion we all can make is that the more diversified the ad serving market becomes, the more opportunities for development, it will, naturally, receive.


As I’ve promised, the post is short enough))


Stay cool)
Andy)

Milk.Inc Gets Unexpected Google Support

For what it takes, Google seems to be the very first potential King in the software world, at least the company’s, obviously, got such ambitions. One more actual proof of this statement is the recent invenstment into one of the freshmen on the current software development market- Milk.Inc.

To be honest, I’ve never heard of Milk before, and it has become an interesting matter to find out what innovations they have got at their disposal to attract such giant as Google and receive the huge investment.

Well, the Milk.Inc site is fun to observe, mainly because there’s actually nothing to observe within its interface. On the beige background (a bit girlish and hell knows, what it has in common with the notion of Milk)))) you can’t, somehow, even find the About Us section, though there’s a short phrase at the Home page, saying that the company is involved in software development. Thank you, guys, or better to say, Captains Obvious.

The vacancies section isn’t exactly the section, but at least it’s noticeable, likewise as the offered subscribtion options for everyone who is interested in Milk’s achievements.

These options are, in fact, the only sources of information that enabled me to learn that there’re some apps, already created by Milk.Inc developers, namely one – Oink app.

Being launched on the basis of truly creative idea, Oink app is yet more frustrating, than encouraging now, much because of the fact that the users need to wait for being invited and their application to be accepted. The explanations from the app authors are seemingly reasonable saying that the servers are still being tested. On the other hand, why not test them either quicker, or before the app starts being distributed at iTunes.

Anyway, what I should say is that my scepticism makes me not believe in the cloudless future of Oink app, if Milk doesn’t introduce some essential upgrades.

So, why has Milk attracted Google, after all? I have several versions here:

1) Milk has got many talented software developers “in the sleeve”.
2) Google tries to control all new software development companies on the market and involve them in the company’s projects.
3) Google headquarters just love Milk.

P.S. The whole situation with Google investing in Milk.Inc made me wonder, how much such investments are rewarding in the long run. Guess, they really are. The outsourced specialists can do some extra job, certainly, but their involvement is rather more effective in API Programs, like Facebook or 4shared API Program, for instance, than on a permanent basis. At the same time, the more creative developers you hire, the more chances to succeed you have.

Stay cool)
Andy)

To Unthink or Not to Unthink – that is the Question!

As I’ve already numerously mentioned, the modern paste of life as much as the widened, if not the eliminated international borders, at least as far as web-technologies are concerned can’t but make the social intercation and networking almost vital.

In this respect, large and developed companies, of course, tend to focus on social media marketing opportunities, whereas the average users happen to spend much time just socializing and sharing any info they find worthwhile, at least to laugh at.

Within the whole bunch of old and new social media networks, the well-known ones, like Facebook, for instance, are still holding the winning torch, but the young rivals are strengthening up now.

Among these, whereas some players like FlipTop happen to attract and reach more business-oriented target audience, some of the brand-new services, like UnThink are more about individual users, who aren’t interested in promoting their company within the social network in the first place.

Being presented as the so-called “Anti-Facebook” service, the founders of Unthink.com have focused on establishing high security levels that can be manually defined by each very user towards different sectors of their audience (that is followers, friends and connections).

Of course, I have also tested Unthink.com that is, btw, yet in its beta version to check if it’s working well and whether there’re some peculiar innovative features in it, which would allow UnThink get to the Top of the social networking rating.

Well, let’s see what we’ve got:

1) UnThink.com is working and the registration is quite simple (not as simple at 4shared, for instance, but likewise plain as in FB).

Here, I’ve noticed 1 small note in the account-verification pop-up stating that as long as the site is still available in its beta version, there’s a chance that I won’t be able to sign up for now. I suddenly recalled the similar situation when the initial Google+ was presented,. And it was actually worthy of waiting for registration. Would people put up with the same thing on UnThink? I highly doubt it.

2) The introductory wizard. It was fun to check the video with the friendly Tree (that doen’t work yet ((((), but it’s a bit too long and boring to check all 5 offered steps of the wizard.

2) The interface seems pleasantly-colored, though I kinda noticed that a great number of sites use white&green palette in their designs, like FlipTop that I wrote about yesterday, and many others. Guess, it proves the lack of creativity, but who knows…

One more thing about the interface, it seems to bulky, as from my point of view, as there’re at once numerous options, sections, buttons, and you turn out really confused in terms of which one of them should be opened/clicked, etc.

3) Now about the whole idea of UnThink. The claimed ultimate goal of the service is to provide the users with the highest levels of their data security, which they, moreover, change and define manually. It seems very similar to what you have at 4shared (namely various access levels you can select for your files). Meanwhile, it seems way too different from Facebook or Twitter, where it’s more complicated to point out all privacy settings for your profile.


In a whole, the only possible conclusion we can make regarding UnThink is that the service deserves “A” for the concept and so far “D” for its realization.

Stay cool)
Andy)

FlipTop.com – More About Social Intelligence & Media Influence

I’ve been for long confident of the fact that the social presence of a separate individual has already become equally critical for small, medium and large companies, no matter what niche they happen to occupy on the market.

Hence, it’s obviously justified that the social media networking PR-strategies have become more, than common in the recent times, and you can hardly find a world-popular brand that hasn’t yet acquired its official Facebook or Twitter Page, for instance. It seems like every reputable company, starting with the software grandees, like Apple Inc., Google, Microsoft, 4shared, and others, to more casual Coca-Cola, Pizza Hut or Starbucks (the list is immeasurable, you know that), have got their official and, what is more, unofficial FB and Twitter fan pages at least.

But the importance of social intelligence in networking media isn’t now only curtailed by official fan pages and the posts with company updates; these have already converted into the platforms to increase the brand’s popularity, audience reach and, consequently, the number of sales. In this respect, it also seems logical that numerous services, analysing your enterprise activity and influence have become much more famous among the users.

I have already spoken about Klout.com with its vaguely useful Klout scores and much more convenient GroSocial and for now, let’s check one more interesting service, Fliptop, which is, apparently, innovative in its essence, despite having been created on the similar basis with Klout.

The thing is that, the majority of services, offering you the analysis of you social intelligence and media presence and sometimes the range of options, how this very presence can be improved are developed on the basis of “connecting” your social network accounts with the specifically created account on the site of the service. Fliptop.com, here, isn’t an exception, but what is new about it, that you are displayed the number of clicks on each and every post (text, photo, or whatever), that is you can check, how much attention this or that information attracts.

Moreover, the Fliptop is also the web-based platform to purchase profiles and increase social media influence and, in such a way - your sales rating in such a way.

In a whole, I wouldn’t dare say that Fliptop is useless, or that the service can’t have an impact on the rating of company’s popularity, yet it can’t probably become the key factor in earning and maintaining the brand’s reputation.

As a P.S. I say that whereas large companies should definitely engage in various social intelligence and media marketing activities, we, the average users, can play with other beautiful and exciting toys to present ourselves to the social media world. In addtion to customizing my Twitter and 4shared account, I’ve also adored using Flavors.me, like this:

Stay cool)
Andy

Klout Score from Klout.com - Do we need it?

It’s being stated that we all live in quite competetive atmosphere most of the time, which is, perhaps, why the way we are accepted by others turns out to be a highly essential aspect.

Here, I’m not even talikng about mundane routine, like what your spouse, or children or close friends are percepting you, and whether they appreciate your actions, or not. The importance of being treated in a good or at least tolerant way takes the whole universal scale and happens to be related to our colleagues, or bosses, or social network pals who might never meet in real life.

To say, the critical essentiality of being valued, certainly affected by our phychological strivings to be loved and cared about, doesn’t only presuppose the smiles on people’s faces, friendly hugs and numerous “thumbs up’s” in Skype from you old friend Paul, or John, or anyone else.

The thing is that this critical essentiality is also related to our initial desire to dominate and get more power, if not in the actual physical sense of the word, then in more spiritual way – that is gain a sort of influence over the others. We open our accounts in Twitter, Facebook, or a file-sharing site, like 4shared. We add friends, and sometimes even accept the friend requests from people we’ve got no idea about.

In this respect, a more or less new internet service Klout.com is what will enable you to track the amount of influence you actually possess over your web audience. The service will count you special Klout Score that defines how much your activity, opinions, or whatever on different topics has an impact on your friends, subscribers or followers. In such a way, as it’s suggested you can find the way to increase your score by vising the site more, inviting your friends, or simply posting more interesting content, which will be further shared, retweeted, liked and commented.

Having tried Klout.com myself, I was a bit disappointed, or wasn’t I? At first glance, it looked fun, but was it useful? I doubt that, and here’s why:

1) If you can increase your Klout score simply by opening the official site more, can the actual influence on others be even talked about? Just the site-visitor counter, perhaps.

2) Your Klout score checks only the social network activies, but doesn’t take other activities of your into account. That is, no matter how popular I am within themed software forums, for instance, no matter how many times my shared documents and apps are downloaded at 4shared, I still get the disappointing 12,71 Klout score.

Anyway, for those, who are into every single appearing web service or gadget, Klout.com should be more, than fun to try. Yet, its usability is far more overestimated, from my point of view. It’s definitely losing to more powerful rivals on the market. May be, because it’s much younger, than others, may be because it’s been created just to have something created.


Stay cool
Andy)

GroSocial – a Handful Tool, or a Bright Accessory?

Undoubtedly, smart marketing strategies play likewise an essential part in developing one’s business, as the quality of the offered goods or services. The software industry, in this respect, isn’t any sort of exception of a rule, no matter how functional and useful a certain software product is.

The history and users’ purchases prove that it’s highly important not only to create an innovative gadget or software, for instance, but promote and sell it more. Here, with the sales being an indispensible factor in building and developing a software business, the marketing strategies and social marketing strategies, in particular, seem to be the one and only way to succeed and win the competition on the market.

What is essential, the sales I’m referring to comprise both the actual bought software, or gadget, or device and the wholesome sales from advertisement, for example. Therefore, even if the services or goods you offer are free of charge, like 4shared Android apps and many other useful device accessories, you can’t but develop and follow your social margeting strategy to attract more target audience, and consequently earn more. It’s all very simple: the better the strategy, the more money you’ll get.

Mostly because of the above-mentioned factors, many startups with carelessly built social marketing structure and insufficient accent on the image of their goods in social networks, have failed to become successful. And that is, in fact, why the new service GroSocial.com is seemingly very useful for your social marketing and brand management in the first place.

As I don’t run my own business yet, I couldn’t have tested GroSocial to its fullest, yet I had a chance to check if it’s worthwhile, or not. So, is it worthy of trying? The answer is: Yes. At least, you will have the idea of how you web-designers creativity can change the whole attitude to the brand you introduce to the public and even more, in which direction your startup, or company should head.

Nevertheless, from my personal point of view, it’s really hard to grasp how you should, actually use the site, though it really looks very simple in the interface. Moreover, the price of the service is also biting, if to consider that you can’t check what you’ll get in advance.

Anyhow, it should be your own personal decision whether to use, or not to use GroSocial for you social marketing purposes. But me’s gonna wait for the free analogue to appear.)))


Stay cool
Andy)

Cheating and Plagiarism in Software –Thin Line Grows Dimmer

To say, I’ve never been too judgemental, well, I’ve always been trying to stay away from the radical judgemental stuff, it sounds more honest this way)).

Anyhow, sometimes, it’s hard to be absolutely neutral in your opinions, and the matter of “cheating” in software industry is one of such aspects. Occasionally, you’re too taken aback to keep silent.

One of such occasions is the recent news about Microsoft taking royalties from the companies who they’ve signed Android patent deals with, like the latest agreement with Compal Electronics (China).

As far as cheating in a whole, whereas we’ve already got more or less accustomed to cases of plagiarism between the major rivals (iPad clones, and “similar” designs of thin touch smartphones, for instance), the fact that the respectful company takes financial advantage from initially free Android platform is nothing but appaling.

Again, even if to put all the judgemental stuff aside, are such deals completely legal? And if not, then how much can it eventually cost the company, if one of the competitors will decide upon taking the case to court?

It’s hard to say, if Google, for example, will sue Microsoft, or concentrate on its own business, but I’d be furious, if I were the company’s board member.

Here, of course, Microsoft’s behavior can’t evoke positive outlook from the side of their rivals or even the average users, as me, for example. But this turns out to be most dangerous in terms of large companies becoming absolutely shameless in their desire to make more money, using all disposible methods.

I certainly acknowledge that it’s hard to create something unique now, when it seems that everything unique has already been created. And it’s also hard to yield a temptation to make more money, if there’s a possibility to.

But I wish we would be less concentrated on financial side and pay more attention to creative part of every software product. No one needs 100 almost alike smartphones, strangely reminding us of iPhones, no one needs 100 YouTube clones, no one needs 100 alike file-sharing sites, oddly similar to 4shared, and no one needs the software companies, trying to fool everyone.

At least, that’s how I see it.


Stay cool)
Andy

What is Visual.ly in Reali.ty?

How much do we use our sight? Would we enjoy the majority of our computer devices if we couldn’t see? Perhaps, not, or at least not to its fullest, that’s for sure.

.. And we wouldn’t be able to feel how useful the service Visual.ly can appear to be.

Having been created to fulfil our better perception of data in versatile infographics, which are moreover much more interesting and bright to look at, Visual.ly has received incredible popularity among users of different occupations, from financial analysts to mere students.

As for me, the site used to exist in somewhat a parallel world, as I actually heard about it only yesterday. Feeling like a real giraffe and not having actual piles of data, which I need to put into an infographic, I could only test Visual.ly on my Twitter account.

Well…. If to speak about my impressions, I can’t dare say that the service is useless, of course, it’s not. If I needed to create a colourful presentation, it’d be hard to find a simpler method, than Visual.ly. But it seems nothing more, than a fun toy for such people, as me, who don’t face the urgent necessity of making an infographic, or something.

Can anything be modified in the service? Totally. To start with:

1) I’ve found the interface rather complicated to grasp at first glance, as it’s really hard to find the desirable menu option (for those, who don’t don’t know what they need))). Why not make the sections clearer (What the hell is Labs???) like at iTunes login page, or 4shared?

2) The whole selection of infographics at the front page confuses you a little bit, as you can’t but start reading the inserted data. Here, what if I had an essential project to prepare? It’d be more, than hard to interrupt reading and start, actually, working.

3) Ok, I’ve been too fastidious, there aren’t any more flaws at the site)))

All things considered, guess that the next level of the services, like Visual.ly should become the movie-makers enabling us to combine the random docs, photos into unified video files.

And what do you think, guys?


Stay cool)
Andy)

Confidence in Prospects - a Friend or a Foe?

Within the past years the technological progress has really become if not insanely-rapid, then at least very close to it. The new devices, apps and other innovative gadgetry are almost constantly presented, making us, the users spend more and more money and at the same time converting us into the pickiest people ever. Why not? What used to seem a mere dream a few years ago is now reality.

For now, while the public hasn’t yet overcome the delight about newly-released iPhone 4S, we’ve got a chance to check the long-expected Galaxy/Nexus Prime, which has all chances to beat its iRival with the features it has got inside.

In one of my previous posts (namely, Google Nexus Samsung - Still Waiting for.....) I was considering several possible reasons why Google Samsung Android phone hadn’t been introduced on time. Well, it turns out that strategical planning is the key-factor of a decision to delay its official presentation till now; when the whole stir about iPhone 4S has decreased at least to some extent.

I can’t really opt for any other version, as new Google Ice Cream Sandwich phone on Android 4.0 is absolutely stunning by all means, being likewise stylish, convenient and multifunctional, at least that’s how it looks like at the today’s official presentation in Hong Kong.

I won’t speak of all the announced peculiarities of the phone, till I try it myself, but there’re no doubts, really that the premiere is gonna be a success. I’d rather now check if Apple is ready for such a powerful competitor and observe the company’s plans for the nearest future.

With the released past-quarter revenue results being lower, than the experts have predicted, Apple’s new Captian, namely Captian Cook (lol)))) is pretty much self-confident about the upcoming so-called Holiday quarter and has even dared to claim that it’s gonna become the record-breaking time for the company’s sales.

Here, although some fans or simply optimists tend to believe new iCEO, I remain a bit sceptical. With no Steve Jobs, and Google and Samsung having already teamed up against Apple, I wouldn’t bully so much if I were Mr. Cook. There’re good chances that he might be “eaten” in case the expectations won’t be fulfilled.

At the same time, Samsung is continuously getting stronger and has already entered the world’s Top-10 fast-growing businesses, much due to its recent release of New Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 4shared services on the board and successful collaboration with ‘Giantoogle’.

Yet, I guess that we’ll see how the situation is changing only after the promising Holiday season.

Stay cool)
Andy

Farewell to SMS Exchange…?

Who’d we be without communication? The lonely creatures living in caves, no? Fortunately, the history has prevented us from this cave-like kind of loneliness; whereas the recent technical progress has already reached such heights that it’s more likely for us to crave for not communicating with anyone at least for some time.

In particular, the development of Internet technologies has expanded our opportunities in distant communication, not only we’ve got the phones, but a lot more. Moreover, the latest news from Apple has raised the doubts about the cloudless future of one essential aspect in mobile phones’ industry – that is sending sms.

The thing is that the newly-presented iOS 5 features presuppose the users’ opportunity to exchange messages with other owners of iProducts without installing any additional apps and, what is essential, ab-so-lute-ly for FREE. Seems to be a bit unrealistic, but it is actually true. Here, will the sms's fade sooner, than we could have predicted?

Undoubtedly, they can’t but become less popular, especially if to remind of options to exchange DM’s in social networks, Skype or even your file-sharing friends (4shared, for instance, enables you to do that with other site’s users). For now, I wonder, which trick will the mobile operators use to maintain their positions?

If further talking about DM exchange, one more essential aspect, also worth mentioning is the message history. Apparently, although the number of messages sent&received via iConnection will, perhaps, depend on the amount of your iDevice’s (+memory card) memory likewise as with old-known SMS’s, and Facebook or 4shared DM history is being stored without any limits in the taken space, Twitter still has got some troubles, concerning users’ ability to access some old-written messages of theirs. It seems odd, if to consider the service’s development paste and scale. It seems disappointing. And discouraging, surely.

In a whole, the fact that the newest technologies allow us socialize with people living in various parts of the world in a simpler way is more than awesome. But do they hide any danger for our face-to-face communication? I won’t be a moralizer here, certainly, I’ll just wish you all to have a good day and go meet my best friend over a cup of hot coffee)))


C ya)
Andy

Many Files - Will Greplin Help?

I’m absolutely sure of the fact that the amount of information we’re grabbing daily is not just stunning, it seems really unimaginary sometimes. And how can it even be possible at least to remember, where exactly we’ve decided to save this or that file of ours?

File synchronization may become one of the ways out, on the one hand, and this niche has been already filled with numerous competitors, many of which really know what they’ve own their popularity for. Well, if you’ve been reading my blog, you probably know about my personal favorite 4Sync)))

Let’s now check another possible method to get all your data together and keep it at one place, I’m not talking about file-sharing sites, like RapidShare or 4shared, though the latter provides much storage space for free. I’m rather talking of specific services gathering your files from everywhere, every site you’re using, including your Google Docs, LinkedIn account, etc.

This market field is now pretty much empty, yet I now for sure about one decent representative – it’s Greplin. In case you’ve never heard of it (which is weird, but whatever))), the service gathers your files from different sites, so you can access them in a simpler way. Moreover, Greplin has already introduced the new convenient feature, which enables to find the needed file even without remembering its exact name just by entering any keyword, which will definitely occur in the file you’re looking for. Nice, ha?

Of course, Greplin is nice. But there’re as always the particular flaws you can find. First of all, the service hasn’t actually been modified to gather your files from your accounts at file-sharing sites and those documents or anything else, which you simply store on other computers can’t be accessed via Greplin. So, basically, you should combine using your syncing, file-sharing services with Greplin to be have all your data at hand. That’s a bit confusing, don’t you think?

Ugh, for now we can only dream of things becoming easier in usage, what if the file-sharing grandees introduced their own inside ‘gathering’ feature? At least one less site to use…

Let’s see who’s gonna be the smart one here? 4shared, MegaUpload, or…?


Stay cool)
Andy

Google Nexus Samsung - Still Waiting for.....

No matter what predictions we might have we should be ready to accept the fact that we can easily be wrong about what we expect.

At least this definitely concerns the special occasion, which had to present the new Google Nexus Samsung Galaxy/Prime from Google and Samsung during the large-scale conference, entitled “What’s New from Android”. We were told – October, 11, 2011. We were prepared. And yet, today on October, 11, 2011 we already know that nothing is gonna happen.

The thing is that last week the companies announced their plans to postpone the presentation of new amazing smartphone to the open public. I won’t even talk about one more defeated expentancy in this field, cuz this will, perhaps, mean repeating myself, but I can’t but talk about the probable reasons of such decision.

1. Nexus Galaxy/Prime could have become one of the huge attacks on Apple with their new iPhone 4S which is by all means inferior to the unreleased iPhone 5 that we have all been dreaming of (don’t even try to lie to yourself, you want it too))). So why delay the release? This is quite a risky step on behalf of Google and Samsung, cuz they’ve missed the opportunity to strike everyone with incredible features of their innovative design.

2. The number of sold iPone 4S’s within the first 24 hours has exceeded 1,000,000 phones. Even though the device isn’t as spectacular, as it has been predicted, the popularity of iProducts hasn’t reduced. Here, perhaps the news that Steve Jobs died could even swell people’s desire to buy the newly-offered iSmartphone (even though it main sound cynical)… In this respect, would Nexus Galaxy/Prime manage to beat the iMage-phone now that everyone’s attention is stuck to Apple? Perhaps, not. So, was the delay just a smart step?

3. What do we actually know about the new Google & Samsung smartphone? Of course, it should be multifunctional. Of course, it should be reliable, much due to its having been created on Android OS. But it is good enough?

We all remember Samsung’s recent presentation of their Galaxy Tab 10.1. Guys have been fully prepared, and it seemed that they have somehow if not beaten but have almost reached the same level with Apple and iPad2.

It’s like the imaginary conversation:

Apple (A): Look how thin our device is.
Samsung (S): Ours is thin, too.
A: We have the wider screen.
S: Ours is also wide.
A: We have lots of apps.
S: We too. And we have the special Google Mobile Services and file-sharing stuff, like 4shared, do you?
A: (Pause) You can download everything from iTunes.
S: Android Market offers likewise as many convenient apps.
A: We have Steve Jobs to present our device.
S: We have got… well, we’re working on this.

Can the declared delay, therefore, mean that Nexus Galaxy/Prime isn’t innovative enough to compete with iPhone 4S? If so, the most probable reason for the official release having been postponed can be a simple the desire to improve the device beforehand.

Well, as always, let’s wait for a little while and we’ll see.)


Stay cool)
Andy)

A Tribute to The Genius...

Steve Jobs died. No Steve Jobs anymore. R.I.P Steve Jobs, you’re the best… These are the very first messages I’ve seen all around the Web today. It’s a shock. I know we’ve all had somewhat of strange preoccupation about his health in the recent times. But now, it’s a shock.

Of course, the value of Steve Jobs in the whole global software industry is immeasurable. The scale of Apple development is still a bit unexplanatory miracle for analylists and experts and ordinary users, of course. In fact, I firmly believe that if it weren’t for Steve Jobs himself, the company wouldn’t manage to become the most expensive enterprise in the world. The number of people in different countries using iPods, iPhones, iPads and Macs is totally incredible. No, even more, than incredible. And it’s only due to his efforts that the realities are as it is.

For those who might have forgotten, Mr. Jobs also founded Pixar and managed to contribute so much to the global development of animation technologies that these had been lifted up to the highest conceivable levels.

I can now write more and more about numerous essential achievements of this genuine genius of the mankind who we’ve now lost. But I won’t.

I would rather speak of him as an inconceivably smart man, a wiseman, I dare say and the inspiration he somehow put in everyone who’d ever listen to his speeches or read his interviews.

I now recall how I’ve watched his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address; it was so honest and sincere that me, the man, who’d cry for once or twice in my life after I was 3 years old, really felt like crying.

The eternal tenets, the eternal truth of how the life should be lived, how the people should be treated, somehow Steve Jobs managed to be a true icon for the society and just an ordinary man, wearing his black skinny sweater, his plain glasses and his barely shaved face-smile, all at the same time. He had become a real role-model for millions, but for me personally, he had become a sort of a teacher, who I’d now never know in real life, but who’s gonna stay in my heart forever.

Now that he’s gone, no one seems to replace him, but the technological progress won’t, obviously, stop, and the existing companies will continue presenting us the new products and services. Here, I have only one request for Microsoft, and Google, and Samsung, and 4shared, and HP, and, of course, Apple, and others – please, (c) Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish!..

R.I.P Steve, we’r gonna miss you a lot


Andy

Apple Media Event - Defeated Expectancy or Good PR?

You remember, I used to write about Android themed event in one of my previous posts (check Google and Samsung - New Global Invasion )…Well, according to the current tendencies, it wasn’t a surprise to hear about the upcoming Apple event 2011 just a few days before the one dedicated to the rival Android OS.

Now that Apple media event has already taken place, we can resume a couple of conclusions, regarding it. To start with, let’s remind ourselves of what most of analysists and users had expected from it – yes, exactly, the presentation of brand-new iPhone 5! To be honest, it would be a total knock out for all other competitors in the industry and a great proof of the fact that the heritage of Steve Jobs has the cloudless future.

Yet, what have we received? Nothing like iPhone 5 – just the upgraded iPhone 4S. Of course, it’s very much modified in comparison to the previous iPhone 4 and includes a great number of exciting features, among which me personally has the most of delight about innovative camera solutions.

But still, guys, iPhone 4S isn’t iPhone 5. It’s not, no matter how good it is. We were all waiting for a new Apple miracle, which didn’t happen. It’s like a child is silently promised a toy railway for Christmas, but receives one more sweater. Defeated expectancy, does it mean defeated trust?

On the other hand, if to have a look at this Apple event from the side of PR, I’d say, they are somewhat the real geniuses. Here, if you check, no one has actually announced the release of iPhone 5 for now, but with a number of ambiguous rumours the company has managed to attact incredible attention to the new product. Why not?

In a whole, I realize that the fight for audience attention and the greatest possible sales ratings is absolutely normal, but what about that awkward feeling, reminding us of not-THOSE Christmas presents in childhood?

Guys, don't do like that, we will anyway purchase what you advise us, too, we will.

I now adress this message to every service I’m using, including FedEx, PayPal, Google, 4shared, and all others – don’t try to reach financial goals by all means. Don’t follow Apple in defeating your users’ expectations!


Stay cool)
Andy

iTunes Renting Apps - Any Good to Expect?

How would like the idea of renting a mobile app for your phone? At first glance, the whole concept of renting games or any other smartphone applications seems a bit ridiculous, but…

… But, this doesn’t, apparently, look weird to Apple, as the company has decided to launch app renting at its featured Apple store accounts. Of course, the intentions are decent, because fighting piracy is definitely one of the ultimate goals in the software industry, as much as any other market niche.

… But, does the idea of renting apps for iPhones/iPads have any chances to work? From my point of view, it doesn’t look more realistic, than an elephant dancing ballet))) Really, to say, neither iPhones nor iPads can be called cheap devices to buy, so it’s not the greed for money, which forces their owners to look for pirate apps. It’s rather the curiousity and the desire to feel smarter, than iTunes or even the whole Apple company.

Here, how can the app renting eliminate the piracy problem, or at least reduce it to a certain extent? My personal opinion – it can in absolutely NO way. Payment always stays payment, and it doesn’t even matter how much you, actually, pay. Moreover, app renting will also force people worry more about the expiry date of the rent, the necessity to pay once more, etc., which aren’t exactly the best thoughts to keep in mind.

Anyway, of course, any innovations, or least any actions in the war against piracy are good, but it this case with apps for rent at iTunes, it’s obviously the company’s epic fail.

Now, can you imagine, that all companies would offer the temporary renting of their services?))) That would be “fun”, undoubtedly. I’d probably order 30 seconds of YouTube+ 40 minutes of 4shared + around 10 minutes from my e-mail service +…and so on, lol, every single day)))))))))

The only question would be the payment method, but if I opted for renting 10 minutes of PayPal, may be I’d succeed)))).


Hopefully the concept of introducing rented apps into our lives wouldn’t survive for long, and for the future,please, God, save the reasonable minds in the software industry))) We, the users, deserve them!


Stay cool)
Andy

Google & Samsung - New Global Invasion?

Again, as I was saying, the rivals of Microsoft, like Google are seemingly much better in conducting the high-quality PR campaigns for their products and synchronizing their words with actions.

One more proof for this statesment is the latest news from the side of Google and Samsung, related to their announcement of the upcoming conference resumed as “What’s New from Android”. Here, the companies’ press-offices have already revealed the exact date and even the exact time of the conference in addition to its brief contents. My applauds, guys!

Now about the expected releases of this “What’s New from Android” event, guess that there can be made several interesting conclusions, regarding it:

- Android once again shows us its being, perhaps, the most promising OS now;
- Google does its best to cover all the aspects of global software market;
- Samsung is striving for beating Apple even more, than it used to.

Among these, the third point is, probably, the trickiest one. First of all, the recent tendencies reveal that Samsung has decided to put all the company’s efforts into becoming one of the strongest and the most powerful players on the smartphone and tablet market today (we still remember the recent presentation of the new Samsung Galaxy Tab with support of all conceivable services, like Adobe and 4shared Mobile).

Second of all, it seems like Google has one more time openly declared its union with Samsung in the battle against Apple by organizing the united Android event with it. Now that iPhone 5 hasn’t yet been officially released, both Google and Samsung have time to attract as much audience’s attention as possible.

The perspectives for the future of Google updated phones as well as Samsung Android tablets, for instance, are seemingly flourishing, it’s still hard to predict, whether they will manage to beat iProducts, or not.

For now, we’ll wait for the “What’s New from Android” conference.

Stay cool)
Andy

Windows 7.5 Fails before Start?

Have you heard? The fruit soft community is going face another update in the nearest future – Windows Phone 7.5. At least according to TechCrunch, this is the company’s ”Mango”.

Of course, only the time and testing will show, if the Microsoft Mango fruit is rotten, or not, yet, what is definite for now, the PR-campaign of the newest release could be better. No, it’s not that I underestimate the talents and creativity of devoted Microsoft employees; I’m just saying that the “pending action” can now be easily attributed to all promised new products of the enterprise.

The thing is that newest Windows Phone 7.5 has been openly advertised for long and the latest comments about it state that the release will take place in the nearest-nearest weeks, or even days… The only question that rises now is: so where is it, guys? Where’s the long-expected update?

The first and the foremost matter has already moved from the actual beneficial features of Mango Windows Phone, but the users’ actual ability to get and test it.

From my point of view, Microsoft should definitely take the better attitude to customers from its rivals, like Google, which declares the improvement and introduces it almost simultaneously (e.g. Free Google Music presentation), or even the players on different markets, like 4shared, for instance, as the guys don’t even tease you, they just tell you, what has already been added. Not bad, ha?

Anyway, hopefully, Windows Phone 7.5 will BE released soon, and we all be able to find out, if it can be taken as a decent rival for iPhones, or Android smartphones, or not.

Well, we’ll c)

Stay cool)
Andy

Minus.com - What's about it?

Undoubtedly, the number of latest software news and releases are truly stunning in terms of innovations and the opening opportunities in front of both software companies and us, users.

Although there sometimes happen the unexpected encounters, which might not even be new, but rather interesting. In particular, I’m now talking about another syncing service, Minus.com, which I’ve somehow missed to write about before.

To start with, the app looks pretty consise and reserved in the design, though is claimed to be multifunctional and, what is essential, presents you with 10 GB space for files. I won’t describe the whole testing process of the app, but will just try to point out the so to say pros and cons of it.

As a very positive-thinking person (yeah, that’s who I am, lol)) I’ll start with the advantageous or at least seemingly advantageous points of Minus file synchronization software:

1. Plain interface.
2. 10 GB free space.
3. Mobile and desktop apps included.
4. Simple registration.

I’ll leave the promised multifunctionality of Minus as a separate point as it’s on the one hand really tempting, but on the other hand, it seems too sweet-good, so I kinda felt like a fool when I was testing the app.

Now further on to so-called cons of Minus:

1. The annoying part with being a spammer to get more storage space. I really don’t get it, how it may be absolutely normal to get 15GB with 4Sync and be forced to invite everyone to get somewhat 1GB more with Minus, or even less with Drobox.

It’s humiliating and irritating, guys!

2. Limitations in the number of files in 1 folder.

Minus won’t allow you to store more, than 100 files in 1 folder. How come? Is it so hard to fix this? I dunno.

3. If compared to 4Sync, for instance, Minus app is heavier, and is 5,1 MB in size.

4. This flaw may not be considered a flaw by many people. Yet, I’ll put this feature here in the list of disadvantages. It’s the users’ ability to “turn on/off the lights” to change the background and font color of the Minus site))))))))

Truth be told, of course, if I were a blond gel I’d probably be delighted to use this function for thousands of times during each session, just for fun. But I’m not one, and frankly, I don’t really get why the mentioned blond gel would ever need to use a syncing service of this size. No offence, ladies.

Basically, this is it, as far as Minus.com is concerned.

Stay cool)
Andy