iDrink

Innovation comes in many guises, some of them more outlandish than others. The various iOS devices over the past few years have sparked a legion of accessories of all kinds to support and improve the use of those devices. The iFlask (courtesy of Mashable), while clever, doesn’t fit that description.

Smartphones of various makes have become ubiquitous; in the few short years since the release of the first iPhone they’ve become almost a requirement for many. I would find my daily life severely constrained without my handset- it provides communication, information, and entertainment no other single device could. The iFlask takes advantage of the commonness of today’s smartphones for the purpose of subterfuge; as the name suggests the “device” is in fact a drinking flask masquerading as a faux iPhone.

The iFlask is constructed of stainless steel and polycarbonate, and built to loosely resemble one of several smartphone profiles. At a glance one wouldn’t suspect it was a ruse, containing up to 5 ounces of whatever  fluid one would like to conceal. The headphone jack is actually the opening for the flask, opened by a sliding switch. The makers of the iFlask even kindly provide a collapsable funnel to fill the container.

The iFlask began as a Kickstarter campaign, but even though it failed to reach its funding goal the makers have found a way to being manufacturing and are accepting preorders via their website.  This curious product could serve in many somewhat illicit functions- sneaking alcohol into sporting or other group events where drinks are either prohibited or prohibitively expensive is the first that comes to mind. It would make for a clever gag gift as well. I’m just thankful it wasn’t around when I was younger; it could have been the origin of a great deal of trouble for me and some of my friends.

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Mourning in the Google Graveyard

Time for one last outburst of wailing and gnashing of teeth for the pending demise of Google Reader before I can put it behind me, and some retrospect for all the other failed products Reader will be joining in obscurity.

A recent article from Slate (courtesy of the best/most entertaining news aggregator online Fark) pays homage to the surprising number of discontinued services Google has spawned over the years. Quite a few (like Jaiku, Google Talk Chatback, and Google One Pass) I’d never heard of. Others such as Google Video were created to compete with a popular service, only to be retired when the competition (YouTube) was brought into the Google fold. So what gives- do so many failed ventures mean Google is on shaky innovative ground? Do they even know what they are doing?

Thankfully, the answer is of course they do. Google’s business strategy and corporate culture are both to blame for the many discontinued services and the fantastic innovation that has brought us the host of nearly invaluable services they offer. Creative chaos can be a powerful tool, and Google has long been celebrated for the working environment they have fostered for their staff. Unlike traditional business models, Google encourages staff to use productive company hours for “pet” projects, and doesn’t shy away from releasing beta projects to the public without extensive research, polishing, and planning. Much as Samsung has done with their handset lineup, Google often takes the ‘throw it all against the wall and see what sticks’ approach to services. While it sounds inelegant, it does provide a nurturing setting for creativity that other business models lack. They remain the web’s biggest provider of search and are a core component of almost everyone’s web experience, so you can hardly argue against such a successful track record.

Sadly, as Google matures they do have to make hard business decisions, and the end of Reader looms. Google hasn’t made public the factors behind the move; it could be an effort to funnel interest into Google Plus, their (to date not all that successful) Facebook competitor. It may very well be because usage of Reader has fallen, although from the public outcry I sincerely doubt it. Perhaps they just weren’t generating revenue from the platform and wanted to spend the resources devoted to it on other projects. Regardless of the true reason, I do admire Google for being able to offer so much to their user base for my favorite price- FREE.

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Google officially closing Reader

Alas, Google; you wound me. I’m a big fan of keeping up with important news and favorite sources via RSS, and Google Reader has been the focal point of my RSS diet for a long time now. It offered the perfect cloud solution for my habit- the web page is a bit spartan but works well, and the service integrates perfectly with so many RSS clients (including my current iOS choice Mr Reader). The search function was the clincher: no matter what topic you might want to add to your feeds, the ever present Google search bar on the Reader page could quickly find the perfect feed.

While Google hasn’t been shy about discontinuing products that never caught on (such as the much maligned Buzz), the pending elimination of Reader was surprising and unwelcome news. I’m not the only one that feels this way; Reader has always been a fairly popular RSS solution for those in the know. The majority of RSS clients listed in the iTunes App Store boast of their ability to work seamlessly with Reader. Some sources have stated that Reader isn’t being completely discarded, it’s just being absorbed by the less popular (to me at least) Google +, but even if it doesn’t lose much of its current functionality I loathe the idea of forcibly merging what is usually quality me time (enjoying RSS feeds) with a social networking platform.

So now what? I’m at a slight loss, to be honest. There are plenty of RSS readers for both OSX and iOS, but I’m looking for a cloud-based solution that offers the same sort of device agnostic support that I’ve grown accustomed to. My needs aren’t that great; I don’t want to merge my social network reading (especially Facebook, but I’d like to keep Twitter and G+ separate as well), I just want my feeds to sync across all the devices I use to access them and the ability to easily share the articles that I find interesting/entertaining with those I think will enjoy them too.

I’ve already checked out some suggested alternatives. NewsBlur looks like it would fit the bill, but their free service is intentionally limited and currently I feel too spoiled by my free Reader experience to quickly opt for their $1/month subscription service. Netvibes is a powerful service and offers just about everything I’d want, but the interface isn’t appealing at the moment and it may be a bit TOO powerful. Their homepage tout its usefulness for professional data mining and limitless configuration/personalization. While impressive, my needs are too simplistic to go that route right now.

My choice as of now is Feedly. It has simple cross platform support (including a Safari plugin for web use), a clean and easy to navigate interface, and some of the same sharing functionality that Reader supported. With luck I’ll be able to make a fairly painless transition.

While I can’t rule out Google as my source for RSS, integration into Google + does seem to be a deal breaker at this time. For those of you like me, we do have some time- Reader’s end as a standalone product won’t be until July.

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The benefits of perseverance

Not too long ago I had attempted (with a surprising lack of success) to test one of the latest shining stars of the iTunes App Store, Winston. The concept behind the app is a fantastic one: choose the news and social media sources you’re interested in, and Winston reads your updates to you in a refined-sounding synthetic British voice. The enticement of eyes-free information was a strong one; while my morning and evening drive isn’t as long as it once was I still have some downtime that I’d like to fill with something a bit more topical than my favorite podcasts.

Thankfully my perseverance with Winston has been rewarded. I was able to circumvent the issue I was having with the app’s installation routine by limiting the number of default categories chosen. Rather than five I limited my selection to two (headlines and technology), apparently allowing the app to complete its preliminary setup.

Now (like the Death Star) fully operational, Winston has demonstrated that it is well deserving of the praise it has garnered. The app gathers new information quickly over LTE or wifi, and offers a tiled photo image of categories for you to choose from (as well as the logos of Facebook and Twitter). By default Winston only dictates a summary of news stories with an accompanying background musical score. The voice simulation falls short of what I’ve heard via Siri and other apps; the speech can be somewhat clipped at times and mispronounces names (even considering the British accent). That admitted, it does a fluid job of reading your selections for you, and can easily be configured to cover entire articles instead of summaries. Should you prefer complete stories (as I do) but not wish to hear the entire article Winston is on, just swipe the screen to change to the next article. Additional sources of information can be added after the initial setup, so limiting your sources doesn’t impact the long term usefulness of Winston.

The app had a surprisingly broad range of sources to choose from, and adding new feeds was very easy. After my initial issues the app has been rock stable and very easy to use. Coupled with my car’s Bluetooth streaming it’s been enjoyable to have my own Winston-dictated customized news and updates radio station every morning. If you’re a news addict or a social media junkie, if you’d like to stay informed without having to commit your entire attention to  your device Winston offers the perfect way to sate your appetites. Best of all, Winston is completely free via the iTunes App Store.

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Facebook wants to be your Everything

I typically confine my musings to the Apple-verse (or at least things affiliated with it), but a recent move by Facebook annoyed me to the point of action. 

Facebook has reached critical density in the realm of social networking; those few that don’t have a Facebook account stand out as lonely voices in the wilderness, their absence a protest of one sort or another. As they’ve grown, Facebook has attempted to slowly absorb other facets of online life- casual games, movie rentals, instant messaging, and now email. A while back Facebook launched the @Facebook email service that few heard of, and those few promptly ignored the new service in favor of the equally ubiquitous Gmail. Stung by the rejection, Facebook has since decided to be more Sith than Jedi and have quietly fostered their email service on everyone with an account, without consent. 

If you do have a Facebook account, check your contact info; chances are your contact email has been replaced with an @Facebook address (information courtesy Forbes.com). At first glance the change seems to be a benign one; it’s done without consent but as long as your experience doesn’t change no harm, no foul- right? Wrong. The service isn’t even true email, as asserted by Forbes.

Taking this sort of liberty with your account and information they gather about you is a very poor precedent. An organization that thinks this little of obtaining your consent (or even notifying you of the change) wouldn’t think much of enacting other changes without it. Then there’s the elephant in the room of data mining- Google does so in their services, but manages to make it fairly unobtrusive and without compromising your sense of privacy. An organization with an already tainted privacy record spurred by the desire to show more income generation for stockholders burned by a very poor IPO likely won’t have the same sensitivity to its users sensibilities.

If you’d like to change your contact information back, just follow the tutorial at the Forbes article. I completely understand a social outlet like Facebook attempting to increase user reliance by offering more services and value, but this latest move is far too devious to be acceptable.

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Mercy killing- Apple set to end Ping

Testament to the truism that no one gets everything right, Apple is finally acknowledging what almost everyone has felt about their social networking effort in iTunes by abandoning Ping. The feature will be missing from the next major update to iTunes. The effort was Apple’s attempt to join in on the social networking craze of 2010, and from its release was an instant failure. The concept was to allow iTunes users to follow their friends and favorite artists, keeping you up to date with announcements and exposing you to new music via previews of tracks your friends were listening to and Top Music selections in the iTunes Music Store. The platform felt more like disguised advertising than a social network, and the few users that did join in didn’t have many peers to share with.

My first though after it popped up post-iTunes update was “how do I uninstall this?” The vast majority of iTunes users apparently felt as I did: there are already plenty of social network providers that are larger and arguably better, so why not leave this to the people who do it for a living? Apple has apparently seen the wisdom of this strategy, and according to AllThingsD will be relying on partnerships with social networking titans Facebook and Twitter to do what Ping couldn’t.

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Google Consolidating Their Social Platforms

It may be news to most in North America, but Google has been in the social network business before Google Plus and the ill-fated Google Buzz. Orkut was their first foray into social networking, but the awkwardly named service never took off in my home country. Contrary to what some of my countrymen think, the internet doesn’t end at the border. Orkut became the dominant networking site for much of South America; as of 2011 59% of the reported 66 million Orkut users hail from Brazil, followed by India (27%) and Japan (about 7%).

The end draws nigh for Orkut, if only in name. In a recent report Engadget revealed that Orkut is being merged with Google’s Plus network. The unification will allow Orkut users to merge their profiles into Plus; the report didn’t state what would become of holdouts that refuse to be assimilated.

I’ve had a Google Plus account since the service was publicly available, but I admit I don’t use it nearly as much as Facebook. The layout and navigation are actually preferable, but as many have stated Plus just hasn’t achieved the sort of daily activity from its members that Facebook has. With Facebook showing signs of vulnerability due to its poor IPO and reports that some younger users are turning away could be the opening that Google needs to get their own offering competitive.

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Harness the Power of Liquid Words

While OSX comes well equipped with useful applications, I’ve found over time that there are a few must-have add ons in the App Store. Some are simply convenient (Day-O), some are functional (Moom), and some make my daily iMac experience that much more powerful (MacX DVD Ripper). 

Liquid Words manages to include aspects of all three of the aforementioned aspects. It provides a measure of information and assistance I haven’t seen in any other OSX application- acclaim for the app come not only from media outlets like CNN and BBC but from celebrities such as Stephen Fry (national treasure!)

At first glance Liquid Words seems like a simple dictionary plug in. Select any text and hit Command-Shift-1 to open a reference panel capable of accessing Google Definitions, Wikipedia, Wordnik, Wolfram Alpha, IMDB and Etymo Online. While this alone would make the app worthwhile, it does more-much more. Liquid Words allows quick searches of Google, Google Images, Google Maps, YouTube, Flickr, Amazon, and LinkedIn. It also provides translation services between dozens of languages via the same method you use to access reference sources. It will even calculate any equation in the text bar including conversions between currencies and temperatures, area, speed, distance, volume, weight, and just about any other numerical data you can want.

When the built-in keystroke commands are used the app becomes even more simple to use. For instance, highlight text and hit Command-Shift-1 followed by t, e, and j to translate the selected text from English to Japanese.

Best of all, the app is a paltry 99 cents via the Apple App Store. For those of you that would rather try it before you buy the makers provide a free Firefox and Chrome plugin that includes a sharing feature compatible with your email client, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress and more. If you use your Mac for more than just browsing for the latest LOLcats Liquid Words is a great addition to your App arsenal.

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Blocker merges the new with the old

I’ve had the privilege of reviewing a lot of iOS games in my short time blogging. iOS games tend to come in a few varieties; currently the tower defense (think Plants Versus Zombies or Tiny Heroes) and physics puzzlers (Angry Birds or Where’s My Water) reign supreme in the App Store. It’s refreshing to have something truly new to peruse, even more so when it’s actually fun to play.

Groundcontrol ApS does just this with their game Blocker. The concept is both complex and simple. At it’s core Blocker is a digital board game, sporting elements of Chess or Go blended with the social aspect of iOS gaming. The game field is a segmented hexagon, the object is to connect opposing colored tiles with game pieces advanced from the edges. Each player is allotted twelve color-marked tiles that can be pushed into the field of play from the edge of the board; each tile will push any tiles ahead of it but no tile can be pushed off the board- once a row of spaces has been filled those spaces are locked. They can be freed by setting off one of the six Destruction Zones that will remove all tiles save “protected” tiles that touch another of the same color.

This fairly simple game quickly became very difficult as I tried to form a strategy during test play. I stuck to playing the game’s AI (available in easy, medium, or hard modes) and had to play a couple games before I won my first round. While the game is compatible with most iOS devices, I preferred to play on the larger screen of my iPad- more real estate made for a better gaming experience. Once I had a feel for the rules the gameplay was just as absorbing as some of the board games I loved when I was younger. You’re not stuck playing faceless AI- Blocker is capable of connecting to others via a dedicated Facebook page where you can play your friends or post to the wall for a random challenge. One addition I’d like to see is GameCenter integration to make the game even more social.

As a final bonus, Blocker is available as a free ad-supported version for the curious with an optional in-app to upgrade to an ad-free pro version offering enhanced AI and a two player offline mode. If you’re looking for something new to whet your iOS gaming appetite on, give Blocker a try. It’s available now via the iTunes App Store for the iPhone and iPad.

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New iPad Customer Satisfaction Ranked 98%

Courtesy of MacRumors: a poll by ChangeWave Research reveals that the new iPad has earned an impressive 98% (82% completely satisfied, 16% somewhat satisfied) satisfaction rate with users; an increase over the prior iPad 2′s 95% (74%

completely satisfied, 23% somewhat satisfied). The article fleshes out the key points that purchasers like about the new iPad, such as the Retina Display, long battery life, and the option of LTE connectivity. Dislikes focused on cost; both of the iPad and of the data plans offered by cellular companies. The recent media furor over the alleged heat issues weren’t on the minds of those polled, seeming to reinforce the findings of MacWorld that the new iPad’s operating temperature was similar to competing Android tablets and never an issue with testers.

My experience parallels the findings of the poll. While the joy of unboxing a new toy was tempered by the fact that the new iPad is visually indistinguishable from the iPad 2 (although the difference in weight is somewhat noticeable), the Retina Display is a definite wow factor. App updates are coming in flurries as developers scramble to take advantage of the higher resolution (such as the Facebook iPad update released today). In daily use I do notice a slight improvement in performance (GIF images load faster and play smoother, for instance) but it’s not the eye-opening betterment that the new pixel-dense screen provides. Other improvements like the better rear-facing camera are nice, but not central to my daily use. If you’re a new iPad owner how do you feel about Apple’s latest iOS offering? If you’ve held off on upgrading what have your reasons been? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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