Google targeting Web-TV market

Few could have failed to notice that two certain giants of the technology world are butting heads more and more lately. Following an I/O event which was riddled with direct digs at Apple, Google have used their official blog this Thursday to announce the latest of many offerings; Google TV. Naturally, comparisons with the similarly named product from Apple were rife.

Discussion and speculation has divided certain web communities, blogs, and even our own office! The premise of the video certainly appeals to many: ‘If the TV is so fun to watch, and the internet is so smart, why must we choose?’ However, certain aspects of the video rang hollow. Who reschedules a meal for a TV show – have the folks at Google not heard of TiVo, digital recorders, Sky+? Also, using one’s television to browse photos and play games or music – touted here as nothing short of revolutionary – as anybody with a Playstation or a HDMI cable knows, it is really anything but!

It is probably about time the TV industry got a huge kick. Satellite subscriptions have remained just as expensive and the TV Guide UIs just as ugly for far too long. Computer makers have been trying to get into the TV market for years, and current solutions in use include the Roku box, Apple TV and Boxee, amongst others. Far from innovative, it is actually nothing particularly new or original – with its integrated or set-top box format and backing from major companies it is in fact rather reminiscent of a terrible flop from Microsoft, the MSN TV:

However, this is one of the last frontiers which has not been optimally capitalised on. More developers getting into this arena can only push things forwards – and it only takes one company to make the breakthrough. There are some concerns regarding the concept itself – for instance, concerns regarding the quality of most web videos. With TVs getting larger and larger, and the rise of HD satellite and Blu-ray, is this content really able to compete? Additionally, TV is a mostly passive experience, whereas using a computer, iPad or iPhone is mostly interactive. Integrating these two ‘modes’ will be difficult – and it doesn’t seem to have been done right yet.

Do we have reason to believe that the ‘revolution’ will happen at the hands of Google? Critics say that they are just too sterile a company to develop something which is part of a home entertainment system, lacking the user-friendly nature and flash designs of competitors. Indeed, it would be fair to say that, aside from their legendary ‘endless’ beta periods, the other main criticism of Google’s operations is that though they frequently announce intriguing new projects, the final offering rarely turns out to be as remarkable as originally touted. They do, as a brand, lack the ‘wow’ factor of their main rival.

Further nay-sayers have focused on the long, almost whimsical line of products from the house of Google. “They should improve their own subpar/ugly products before they move on to new areas of the market!”, a web user declared. “They are obviously trying to be dominant in every area they can. How many damn products do they release each year, always something new? Even if they are great concepts, they always fail because they don’t spend enough time refining them.”, another wrote. Indeed, for a product which is due to launch in a few short months, a cartoon demo with no hint of the actual product does not fill one to the brim with confidence. It would be nice, in addition, if Google could unveil a logo that doesn’t look like ‘a guy in IT concocted it in Microsoft Publisher’ (another blog quotation).

For our own part, we’d love to see this take off, whether it be through Google, Apple, or somebody else. Google, in consensus with Microsoft here regarding Apple’s total control over the user experience, is once again staying out of the hardware domain, with Logitech manufacturing the units. An announcement several months ahead of the launch certainly gives Apple time to react, and many of us are waiting eagerly to see if this will mean an update to the AppleTV, which, generally regarded as a ‘hobby’ project for Apple, has gone for several years now without any major changes.

Frequent requests appear to be for a fully functional remote app, enabling users to use their iPhone or iPod Touch as a remote control (Apple does currently offer a free remote app of sorts), and for the addition of more features. General consensus seems to be that if Apple were to relaunch the AppleTV as compatible with apps, it would be a competition killer. Google also seem be thinking along these lines, including the following encouragement for developers in their blog post:

In our announcement today at Google I/O, we challenged web developers to start coming up with the next great web and Android apps designed specifically for the TV experience. Developers can start optimizing their websites for Google TV today. Soon after launch, we’ll release the Google TV SDK and web APIs for TV so that developers can build even richer applications and distribute them through Android Market.

As developers, we are always happy and excited at the prospect of new platforms to be working with, and we are reserving final judgement at this point – so watch this space for any Foreminds^TM innovation coming to your TV!

Team Bottosso Storm NYC!

With the UK release date for the iPad still mired in uncertainty, we certainly weren’t planning on risking our reputation as Apple fanatics. The only answer to our dilemma (“OMGmusthaveiPadplsplsnow?!”), we concluded, was to fly out there and get our hands on a bunch of the things – right on the launch date – from the Apple flagshop store on swanky 5th Avenue, NYC. We had an amazing time, and thought we’d share some of the snaps from our whirlwind tour with you all!

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The final crucial detail remaining: did we storm NYC after all? Well, we’re primarily lovers, not fighters, so no, not really. We did come back with a whole load of iPads, though!

The leaked iPhone: an overview

The iPhone is, undoubtedly, Apple’s foremost product in the current market. Following on from the pattern of the last three years, few have expected anything other than an announcement of new hardware this June, following on from the OS 4 update. However, Saturday saw the surfacing of some interesting photos on Engadget, in a post titled “iPhone 4G: is this it?” What followed was something of a commotion of gadget blog wars, hoax allegations, setup allegations, pilferage allegations, legal threats and German beer. A couple of days after the maelstrom, we’re going to attempt to take a quick look at what happened, how it happened, the new features on offer – and what happens next.

Apparently, events began at the Gourmet Haus Staudt, a beer garden in Redwood City, California. And they began with Gray Powell, a young, inebriated Apple engineer, leaving without his iPhone. Despite being disguised as a 3GS with a bulky, plastic case, the gentleman who found himself in command of the product soon realised that something was out of the ordinary. The operating system seemed a little different, and when he awoke the next morning, the phone had been bricked remotely. After tinkering a little and removing the case, the model which subsequently appeared on Engadget emerged.

At this point, the new owner apparently set about trying to return the iPhone to Apple by phoning them, but his claims were fobbed off as ridiculous (one may wonder why, having seen the engineer’s name and Facebook account when exploring the phone, this alternative method of contact was not seen as preferable to navigating a large company’s customer support system – or maybe sending over an email to Steve Jobs with the serial number). It appears that, due to a bug with the OS 4 beta, Apple could not simply utilise MobileMe to track down the GPS location of the phone. After these exertions, the gentleman finally sent over some photos to Engadget. Gizmodo picked up on this, contacted him, and transacted $5000 for the purported prototype.

After some skepticism over the genuine nature of the product, the evidence appeared compelling. Further posts on Gizmodo showed the product dismantled, giving us some further ideas as to the specs. A letter from Apple swiftly followed, confirming the device as theirs, and requesting the immediate return of the device, which Gizmodo complied with.

Of course, features may be added or even removed before the launch, but here’s what we know so far:

• Front-facing video chat camera (yay!)
• Improved back-facing camera (larger lens)
• Camera Flash
• Micro-SIM
• Smaller, but higher-res display (purported to be 960×640, but as yet unconfirmed)
• Secondary mic for noise cancellation
• 16% larger battery (made room for by dramatically shrinking all the other internals)

Aesthetically:

• Split volume buttons
• 3 grams heavier
• A squared off design, devoid of the curves of previous generations
• An aluminium border, matching the iPad and Macbook designs
• Metallic power, mutes and volume buttons
• An entirely flat back, made of glass, ceramic or shiny plastic (aluminium would have caused signal problems)

And that’s all the information we have up until now! Certainly the front-facing camera, when combined with the multitasking update to the software, offers a very exciting possibility with regards to using Skype for video calls.

Many of the features are very promising prospects with regards to app development – for a very powerful piece of hardware. Watch this space for any further updates before the (hopeful) June launch.

Ails.