« Posts tagged Google

John Gruber’s take on the Galaxy Nexus

December 15, 2011 / posted in Technology, View Point / No Comments

You either see it or you don’t. If you don’t, that’s cool, enjoy your Nexus. But I think the reason Apple Stores are so crowded, and getting so big, is that there are an awful lot of people who do see it.

Here is the link to the Original Source, a blog post by John Gruber.

I wonder when will people realize the reason I use Android is not because its more shiny or polished (or because I can not tell between a half/full baked product). I am more than tired of people thinking they are all high and mighty because they use Apple products (and seriously no disrespect to John, because he is genuinely a very smart guy). Just because you use an iPhone doesn’t mean that you have a better aesthetic tastes, than a guy who doesn’t. There are more things in life than just phones. My beliefs define me more, than just a pretty UI (and I am not even saying that finish is not important, more on that later). I used Linux a decade or so back (sorry, I aint old enough to have been coding when Unix/Linux come into existence) not because it had a better UI or it worked seamlessly with every thing. However, I could still tell which platform had a better UI, and still I chose to program in Linux. However cheesy it may sound, but the Samsung Advertisement:

where the guy says: “I can never get a samsung, I am creative.” hits the nail on the head. More people think they are cooler, creative and thousands times more awesome because they use an Apple product. MG Siegler (once again no disrespect to him) in his original article compares iPhone and Android to a BMW and Honda. He makes this comparison, while he drives a Honda, and uses a BMW (iPhone). I drive a BMW. I have driven a Honda. I can tell the difference (and that is why I drive a BMW). However I prefer a BMW over an Audi because of what the brand, or the idea behind the car means to me. Similarly a Mercedes generally offers much more refined interiors and driving comfort. Would I give up my BMW for it? No way. Same way my choice in Android and iPhone is not because I can not tell between a good and a bad design, or because I am not cool enough to have an iPhone in my pocket. It’s an earnest decision. A lot of early adopters choose a platform because they believe in it, not because they dont understand usability or design.

I have supported Android even in its early stages, when they were actually like Honda and BMW. Its because I believed in a product. A lot of technologies I love, have developed simply because of belief and community support, and Android is a shining example of that. I strongly believe that the gap is almost complete and whatever is remaining will be complete soon. In the mean time, please do not think you are superior, more creative, a more distinguished judge of design, or that the other person is stupid, just because you use (or do not use) an Apple product. Please do not stereotype/speculate on the reason I am buying an Android phone, just like I don’t do for you.

How many Bohr Radius between my office and work?

November 23, 2011 / posted in Fun / No Comments

If you are one of those who just want to know how many Bohr Radius apart are two points on a map, or how many football fields did you walk to get to your favorite restaurant, Google Distance Measurement Tool maybe the answer to all your questions.

Bohr Radius between my home and work

Clicking on the small blue ruler on the left of the scale (bottom right corner of the image) brings up the Distance measurement tool. You can select from boring imperial or metric units, or go geeky and find out how many light years to fly around the world. Here are the current set of supported units:

Supported Units

I have not even heard of a whole bunch of them, and that probably makes them more fun. I didn’t even know there were so many sizes of Cubits.

Integrate Google+ completely with Google Reader

November 11, 2011 / posted in View Point / 2 Comments

So I was cribbing about how Google Reader is missing the G+ share feature on twitter, and viola, the button appears. I would love to think this happened because of my feedback, but then again it’s just wishful thinking.

Recently Google Reader has got a lot of flak from users complaining about the new look. There has been enough talk about the “new” Google reader, and I must say, that I have to write about it. I used to love Google Reader, and actually I still do. Google reader is simply the best web-based aggregator out there, in my opinion. Its simple, lightweight, and really good to keep a tab on everything.

However my problem with Google Reader is slightly different. I loved the small internal social community of google reader because it worked good enough for me. I have no problems moving that social integration to Google+, much like all other google products, but I think it should not come at a cost of lack of functionality. Earlier I could, in a straightforward way, see the articles my friends were sharing (again, sharing, not liking, +1ing or anything like that). I have said this so many times, sharing an article does not mean I am +1ing it! I may want to share the article with a group of people doesn’t mean I like it and/or support it. With the new reader its impossible to find out what are my friends reading without going over to Google+.

I see that this makes more people visit Google+ to check the updates, but I don’t understand why Google+ needs to be Facebook. For crying out loud, even in Facebook I can now see what my friends are reading without leaving the reader. Google doesn’t have to follow a Facebook model. I like google+ because it allows me to create a social app where it is, not by necessarily going back to plus.google.com. Similarly why is it so difficult to annotate articles with small icons showing friends who shared them? Why not allow me to see the articles that my friends have shared. For example when you are in Spotify, you can still see what your other friends top artists are. You don’t have to go back to facebook.com and figure it out.

This to me, seems like was a step back. I like the new look, and really like the homogeneous interface (although I wish there was a compact view, much the like one in Gmail) and the fact that they maintained the light weight interface. But I don’t think the UI benefits outweigh the integrated social activity. I am not even asking Google to restore the original social network of Google Reader, but just integrate Google+ social integration better so that it maintains the functionality provided by the original one!