iakttakelser (observations)

iPhone vs. Android | Facebook vs. Groupon... Today I wanted to show you a complete infographic created by Lucid Agency that depicts how the mobile and app market is doing now and how it's supposed to be doing in the upcoming years. A few observations: - Apple is still market leader as far as apps is concerned - Almost 100 million smartphones were sold in the first quarter 2011 - Subscriptions are growing and growing. As you know, iFacturas will be based on a subscription model very soon. Seems this is the most comfortable way to try and trust an app developer. - Loyalty to Apple devices is still higher than Android, but loyalty to this last OS is growing. Are you an iPhoner or a Droider ?

A post from asymco.com by Horace Dediu has the whole story . Here it is with kind permission: When I began the series of posts on Google vs. Android I put forward some questions about the business logic of Google becoming an operating system supplier, especially as that role can be seen as being counter-productive to Google’s strategy. I noted three strategy costs associated with a zero priced systems software bundle. A  opportunity cost  with other platform vendors, namely Apple who might retaliate against Google’s core business. Versions of the software being  usurped  and modified to provide distribution to Google’s competitors. Damage  to Google’s brand and positioning and negotiating power in relation with other members of their value chain. More fundamentally, Google-as-systems-software is fundamentally asymmetric to Google-as-cloud-software and contradicts  the value proposition that Google enables value in the web not in accessing the web. ...

+1 is a bold move from Google to stay relevant in a social media world. A post from TechCrunch by MG Siegler has the whole story . Here is a part: Back in early December of last year,  we first reported  that Google was toying around with the name “+1″ for an upcoming social product. At the time, we were told it was sort of like Google’s version of the “like” or “retweet” button. Today it officially launches as a way to share Google Search results that you like with your friends and the broader web in general. Oh, and also a way to inject social into Google Ads. To be clear, the version of +1 which is beginning to roll out today is not the toolbar version that  we first got a glimpse of  in December, that’s apparently a different version that was being tested. This version of +1 actually launching is a small button that will reside next to each and every Google Search result. If you like the result, you click the +1 button and it gets shared with your social c...

I expect Apple will follow suite, letting us try the apps before we buy them. Anyway, this is a huge feature on Googles behalf! A post from Engadget Mobile by Sean Hollister has the whole story . Here is a part: When  Amazon's Appstore rolled out last week , we glossed over one detail that merely seemed neat. Today, we're inclined to say that Test Drive may be the most significant part of Amazon's announcement that day. Basically, Test Drive allows US customers to take apps for a spin at Amazon.com, with all the comfort that their tried-and-true desktop web browser brings -- but rather than sit you down with a Flash-based mockup of the app, Amazon is giving you a taste of bona fide cloud computing with an Android virtual machine. In other words, what you're looking at in the screenshot above isn't just a single program, but an entire virtual Android smartphone with working mouse controls, where you can not only try out  Paper Toss , but also  delete  it, brow...

I was awaiting for the first to write about the new Chrome logo. And behold, it was MG Siegler! Congrats! A post from TechCrunch by MG Siegler has the whole story . Here is a part: For a few weeks now, anyone using Chromium (the open source browser on which Google Chrome is built) will have noticed something: a completely new icon. It’s simpler and cleaner, and overall looks a little bit less like a  Simon . And more recently, users of the developer builds of Chrome will have likely noticed the new icon as well. And soon everyone will see it, Google explains in a post today. “ A fresh take on an icon ” outlines why Google felt they had to change the Chrome icon. From a philosophical perspective, a “ simpler icon embodies the Chrome spirit — to make the web quicker, lighter, and easier for all .” But the real reason for the new icon is something simpler still: they wanted to make it easier for people to recreate.

Google translate to the rescue. With the iPhone app you can do realtime translation. Currently between English and Spanish. But more will come! A post from itunes.com by has the whole story . Here is a part: A month old, but I missed this when it was new. Jeff Richardson reviews the new Google Translate app for the iPhone: For example, make sure the app is in English to French mode, press one button in the app, say to your iPhone “where is the train station,” and then a second later your iPhone displays “où est la gare” and you can tap one button to have that spoken in French so that the person in Paris can hear and understand you and point in a direction. You could even press one button to switch the translation from French to English, have the other person speak the answer in French, and then you can see the answer in English.

Consumer vs tech friendly - I wonder if that's behind the huge difference in UX between the Google TV and Apple TV remote apps on iPhone. I'm quite fed up with tech friendlyness, so I stick with something which I can understand. Even when I'm tired, sleepy and un-concentrated. A post from techcrunch.com by MG Siegler has the whole story . Here is a part: Earlier today, Google  announced  the Google TV Remote app for the iPhone.  On one hand , it’s great that they’re willing to release this on a rival platform. On the other, ahhhhhhhhh!   To me, the big benefit of an app-based, touchscreen remote is that you can do away with the conventions that have constrained remote controls for decades. Google does that somewhat with things like the cool voice search. But they also manage to fill the app with a nightmare jumble of buttons. I mean, you’re going to need a manual to figure out what all of those buttons do.   The layout of the buttons when al...

I've tried to leave blogger many times. For wordpress, for tumblr, for posterous just to name a few. I keep posting on blogger however. No other gives a productivity like my blogging platform of seven years! Until I see the new mobile template, I certainly will not even think about it... A post from buzz.blogger.com by has the whole story . Here is a part: To start, we’re kicking things off at  SXSW  by giving folks a sneak peek at our next-generation user interface. The new design is not only cleaner and more modern, but it also uses  Google Web Toolkit , delivering the latest in web technology. Current post editor New post editor Current dashboard New dashboard

Well, as you know, Google launched "Remote Kill Switch" to undo the damage caused by the malware, but has not fixed the vulnerabilities that allowed malware in. Here's a part of the post by nakedsecurity.sophos.com: Last week there were many headlines in the security press after it was discovered that malicious apps had been found on the official Android Market . The good news is that Google used has removed the offending apps which formed the so-called "Droid Dream" attack from the Android Market, so no-one else can be tricked into downloading them from an official source at least. In addition, Google has revoked permissions from the developer accounts which published the malware, and claims to have contacted law enforcement agencies about the malicious activity. This weekend, Google  announced  that it was pushing a clean-up tool to all of the Android smartphones it believed had been affected by the attack. This is, in effect, Google's "remote ki...

This is good news for The Apps Lifestyle members! Google is finally taking some responsibility, and fixing some gaping holes in their eco-system. But it has a long way to go before it's app store is any near being curated - as it is on Apple. A post from .com by has the whole story . Here is a part: On March 1, news  broke  that dozens of malicious applications had made their way to Android Market, each infected with a rootkit that could grant hackers deep access to Android devices that installed them. Google quickly removed the malicious applications from Android Market, but has otherwise remained silent on the situation. Until now. Google has now confirmed that 58 malicious applications were uploaded to Android Market, and that they were downloaded onto around 260,000 devices before Google removed the apps Tuesday evening. That number sounds alarmingly high, but Google believes that only device-specific information, namely the phone’s IMEI number, was compromised — an...

There where Google can't reach, Greplin can! This is the premise of Daniel Gross, a 19 y.o. guy from Israel who has raised 5 Million Dollars to keep working with a user-authorized search engine that can access Facebook, Twitter, Google Docs, Salesforce... Here's a part of the story read at Inc.com: I'm originally from  Israel . I was in Israel and had graduated high school, and I was all set to go into the Israeli Army . I applied to Y Combinator. And not thinking I'd get in, I was invited to an interview. I thought of it as a fun long weekend in  San Francisco . They had an odd reaction—they didn't quite like what I was working on, but I guess they liked me. They wanted me to come back, so I hopped back on a plane. In my three months there, I built several things, none of which caught on. Right at the end of Y Combinator, you get a cool opportunity to get up on a stage and show your project to the world. And our project had just got shut down, so this was 48 h...

Google afina sus algoritmos de búsqueda basándose en orden morales: - Los sitios web buenos serán recompensados - Los sitios web malos serán penalizados Aquí cito un extracto del post original de Alt1040.com : Reduce el  ranking  de los  sitios de baja calidad , los que tienen poco valor para los usuarios, ya sea porque proveen contenido copiado de otros sitios web o porque simplemente no son útiles. En cambio, califica con mejores  rankings  a los  sitios de alta calidad , es decir, los que proveen contenido original, investigación, reportes profundos, análisis y así por estilo. Aunque en apariencia sencillos, ¿cuál es el efecto de tales cambios? Google estima que se verán afectadas el 11.8% de las consultas. Y, obvio, que unos sitios suben y otros bajan. Esto de fondo significa una  moral más estricta , una donde los  “buenos”  sitios web son recompensados, y los  “malos” , castigados Lee el artículo completo aquí .

How fair is Google search algorithm? Not at all, when Google self has services of it's own. A post from TechCrunch by Andrew Keen has the whole story . Here is a part: In mid February, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt expressed pride in Google employee Wael Ghonim’s brave struggle against the autocratic Mubarak regime to establish political transparency in Egypt. “We are very, very proud of what Wael and that group was able to do in Egypt,”  Schmidt said  in Barcelona. But what Schmidt needs to do now is apply Ghonim’s views about political transparency to Google’s own search business. With its 70% control of the global online search market, Google’s power to make and break online businesses is unrivalled. So it’s not surprising that website owners want more transparency over the reasons why the often autocratic Google sometimes impose penalties on their businesses. But a  report  issued last week by the newsn...

¿Te has preguntado alguna vez cuánto vales como usuario de Google, Facebook o Twitter? Si no lo has hecho nunca, este post en el Blog de MarketingDirecto.com te hará ver que tú, como usuario, tienes un valor anual para estas empresas. Si sí que te lo habías planteado, aquí dejo un extracto para que veas la solución: Impresionantes las ganancias de las conocidas redes sociales y del buscador más popular. Para hacernos una idea son casi 20 dólares anuales por usuario lo que representan las ganancias de  Google , mientras que Facebook  genera tres dólares por año por cada usuario. La suma total de usuarios representa miles de millones de dólares. Actualmente, no existen nuevos modelos de negocio en internet: algunos venden espacios de publicidad, como es el caso de Google y Facebook, otros contabilizan los clics. A pesar de no presentar nuevos modelos de negociación, la facturación anual de las casas Google, Facebook y Xing  son excelentes. Según un análisis realizado p...

A post from oatmeal.com via makeuseof.com has the whole story . Here it is: Credit: theoatmeal.com

It's time to be open to new search services like Blekko and also old Microsoft Bing. Google seems trapped in SEO spam. A post from TechCrunch by Michael Arrington has the whole story . Here is a part: A decade ago I tried Google for the first time. Like everyone said, it was magic – the result I wanted was right there at the top. For someone who’d been using AltaVista for years before that it was a very pleasant experience. Anyone who was on the Internet before Google came along knows exactly what I’m talking about. Google just felt right. It got the job done.   It’s been a creeping feeling, growing over the years, but it sort of feels like pre-Google again. Search is a really bad overall experience. Travel searches, for example, are a joke, and  startups like Gogobot  are popping up to try to fix that. When I’m trying to figure out the best hotel for me when I travel I bail on Google entirely and head to Tripadvisor (shudder), and Gogobot.   Same for gad...

Pese a que Twitter no está generando los ingresos esperados, sus valoración de mercado está cifrada entre los 8.000 y 10.000 millones de dólares. Increíble, pero cierto. Hoy circula por la prensa online y escrita (Wall Street Journal) que dos gigantes de Internet: Google y Facebook están interesados en comprar Twitter. Dejo aquí un extracto leído en MarketingDirecto.com: Twitter  tiene dos “atractivos” pretendientes que luchan por hacerse con los “favores” de la famosa  red de microblogging . Al parecer, Twitter estaría actualmente en conversaciones con  Facebook  y Google  con vistas a una posible adquisición, según informa  The Wall Street Journal . Aunque  Twitter  obtuvo en 2010 45 millones de dólares en ingresos, el portal perdió también dinero en el último año debido a su errática política de compra y alquiler de centros de datos. A pesar de que hoy por hoy la red de  microblogging  no es un negocio rentable, tiene un  ...

How can a normal internet provider, and ISP or ASP, compete against those prices. 16 Terabytes - thats 16 times 1000 Gigabytes, ie. around 64 times what I have in my Macbook (256Gb). And all this storage for $4096 per year. Another measure is 64 harddisks. I expect ISPs to start selling from Amazon, Google and Microsoft, getting a clip and charging for the help. Setting up servers to compete with these prices is quite difficult I assume! A post ffrom ReadWriteWeb by Klint Finley has the whole story . Here is a part:  Yesterday we told you how Google Docs is  inching closer to being the mythical "Gdrive." Today Google  announced  that users can now buy up to 16  terabytes  of storage for $4,096.00 per year. The storage can be used with Gmail, Picasa Web Albums and Google Docs. Those that don't need quite that much can choose from cheaper  options : 20 GB ($5.00 per year) 80 GB ($20.00 per year) 200 GB ($50.00 per year) 400 GB ($100.00 per ye...

This post is really a story about how big companies, read Google , is unable to change fast when new possibilities appears, again read the Check-In button . Now it's obious to everyone that people want to check-in with a button. Not being checked in by for instance Google. 2 years ago FourSquare launched, and the race has been run without Google taking place at all. And half a year after Facebook started to let people check-in, finally Google added the button. This reminds me on the saying: The devil is in the details . And just to underscore the difficulties for Google, the button is only released for the Android app, not the iPhone... A post from TechCrunch by MG Siegler has the whole story . Here is a part: It was almost exactly  two years ago  that Google launched Latitude , their location-based service. Two years may not seem like a long time, but it’s “ the equivalent of a decade in location services ,” Latitude PM Ken Norton jokes. Most importantly, it was just...