Introducing the Google Phone

A bold headline by The Boston Globe. But they have a pretty good reason for that.

Cambridge has a chocolate factory, and a Willy Wonka. The chocolate factory is Google's local research lab, located on the seventh floor of a Kendall Square office tower, and the resident Wonka is Rich Miner, a Google executive sometimes described as the company's vice president of wireless but officially a "technical staff member," according to a Google spokesman.

The golden ticket is a chance to see a prototype of Google's new mobile phone, which Miner has shown to a handful of Boston entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, some of whom have signed nondisclosure agreements and some of whom haven't.

Now I'm torn.

Bill Gates Doll

Learned about this site (via Matt Cutts) that lets you "dress up" a variety of dolls. There are a few business personalities there, including Bill gates, which i played around for a while. Anyway, see what I came up with (click on the picture for thecomplete version). :)

Create your own

I know, i know. I should just start working...

Cloud-based Anything

I'm spoiled. My google web history is turned on, my google talk chat history is turned on, and right now i'm really frustrated because i was trying to remember the site of a book fair that connet ( i can use your name here, right? oops, too late. :p ) mentioned but I'm not sure if Yahoo messenger is saving your chat history (in the cloud) so I can't find it right now (I was using pidgin at work when I chatted with her). My google calendar, though lately has been ignored, is still my main calendar. I can't live without del.icio.us (i have learned not to trust my memory too much) to annotate my web browsing, and I can't live without my foxmarks. The list goes on.

The thing is I'm one of those who are really sold out to the idea of putting things (well all that makes sense to put there anyway) in the cloud. Yeah, privacy be damned - frankly I don't worry much about privacy concerns, because 1) I either put things that are private in services whose security I trust, or not put them up at all, and 2) the convenience of easily accessible information very much outweighs the privacy paranoia that seems to plague the mindset of most users and naysayers.

I remember when I was on my way to a job interview more than a month ago. On my way there (around 45 minutes before the appointment), I suddenly realized that I left the index card with address to the building where I'm going and I'm not really sure about its exact location. Knowing that I probably won't have much time left to look around, I was faced with dilemma. I contacted my friends and tried to request them to google the building for me, but almost all of them were either offline or got my message too late. Salvation came from Jason, a good friend at work whom I had to call. I gave him my google password because I'm quite sure that I added the address as a note to my calendar event of the said interview (this was also the first time that he learned that I was moving to another company) . I was in MRT the whole time, and as I look at my trusty (well, used to be anyway) Nokia 1100, i couldn't help but wonder then how things would have been different if my phone was more capable (read: has a web browser).

Anyway I did get to the place on time, but the punch line came at exactly 15 minutes before the interview: my phone (which i was bashing moments before) buzzed with a new SMS message: a notification from my Google calendar giving me every bit of information that I was frantically looking for just minutes ago. I setup my SMS alerts in GooCal and i forgot about it. This is one of the best things about information in the cloud: they can be made accessible through devices other than your internet-connected desktop computer. It may have not worked in the most ideal way (i should've trusted my system more), but in the end, at least for that moment, it paid to have things in the cloud. :)

Pisay Homecoming 2007 on Ustream

Batch 82 has setup a Ustream channel for the upcoming Pisay reunion. Cool... Another reason not to feel too bad about not going. hehe.

Apple Special Event on September 5

Just a public service message, just in case any one (of my 3 readers -- this is getting old) is planning to buy an iPod soon: Unless you're planning to get a shuffle, here's my advise: Dont' buy an iPod now. Wait for the announcement here on September 6.

The Google Mobile Phone OS?

You probably heard about the rumored Google phone / OS, since this has been blogged to death many times already. My hesitation to jump in though is that nobody was really sure if indeed there's a hint of truth to this. If I remember it correctly, the image on the left of what is rumored to be a Google phone showed up around the same time Steve Jobs announced his baby to the world.

Things have changed though, with Crunchgear having the confirmation from a senior (and anonymous) HTC executive that the company has made around 20 devices for Google to test the new mobile OS on. Another blogger have claimed earlier to have gotten the confirmation from a Google insider (who, according to the blogger wasn't entirely sure if he can or can't talk about the rumored google phone) that Google is indeed working on a mobile phone.

Now engagdet is reporting that the project could have started around 2005 after Google acquired a mobile company called Android. At last, 2 years after we began to wonder about the fate of the technology and (talents) brought by this acquisition, things seem to be starting to make sense.

Google could indeed be developing a Mobile phone OS, and according to the Engadget article, it's based on Linux and offers a plethora of customizations targeted for hardware manufacturers. It has also been said that Google has the developing market as its target and that the Phone OS integrates very well with Google's products.

Having tried Motorola's linux-based handset, I strongly feel that the industry needs a mobile linux implementation that doesn't put a taint on the Linux name with such a crappy UI (not that Linux is known for it). With the iPhone setting the bar for what a good mobile phone UI is like, things are starting to become interesting.

New Nokia Models: Black is Back

I don't usually blog about mobile phones simply because following them can really become dizzying because of the speed at which new models arrive. I made a few exceptions though, with (of course) the iPhone, and my one-night fling with the Samsung Blackjack.



So add this to those two exceptions: According to the gadget blog GearFuse, Nokia is releasing new phones soon, and what caught my eye here is the new update to the super nokia phone N95. Now dubbed as a music edition, it features 8gig of internal memory and my favorite part: it now comes in black. One of my pet peeves in the previous version is that it got a cheap-ass material for its external enclosure that if you didn't know about its features (everyone knows it kicks iPhone's ass, feature-wise), you'd be hard-pressed to buy it because really, it just looks (and feels) like a cheap phone. Okay. Rant over, and thanks Nokia for listening to my thoughts, and probably to a million of your users' feedback. :)

For more details on these new phones, just read the post on Gearfuse.

(image taken without permission from GearFuse)

Ubuntu Blog Entry Poster Test

Will It Post? [Edited in blogger]

I've been setting up our new (hand-me-down) pc at home and I'm currently fixing some things in Feisty.

Currently testing the Gnome Blog client. As with most Gnome apps, this is pretty freaking bare. I hope this works; anyway that's what matters most.

[Update]: It did post, but it didn't put on the correct title. Oh well, I'm manually adding one. Minus 10 pogi points (the title should be a pretty minor thing). No posts management either.

Disclaimer:
This application doesn't come with the default Ubuntu installation, so this really shouldn't count against the distro. I hope this app improves over time though. Next: another blogging app: BlogGTK.

OMG. iPhone Unlocked

[Updated]
Engadget reports that a team called iPhonesimfree has finally unlocked iPhone for use in any network inside and outside of the US. The hack is pure-software, so it's the iPhone dream that everyone was really looking for. Although iphonesimfree is not yet releasing the software, I believe the Engadget guys (that's saying a lot about Engadget, coming from me) when they say that this is the real thing.

Okay, so just in case this hasn't sinked in yet, this means that the "jesusphone" is coming to the philippines earlier than everyone was expecting.

I probably won't join the bandwagon just yet though. I will just wait for the official release here in the Phil, but that's mainly because i can't afford to buy one yet. Also, I'm still waiting for Apple to add some hardware features and software apps to the iPhone (MMS, Video-camera, Todo list app, etc.), and here's hoping that those upgrades will grace the offical Asian release next year.

For those who are ready to take the jump, this is the good news that you've all been waiting for. :) I couldn't be any happier for you.

(image taken without permission from Engadget.com)

Update:

• An earlier hack has been published by another team, but this involves both software and hardware hacks, so it's not really for the faint of heart.
• A third team, one owned by the owner of uniquephones said that they will be selling software for unlocking an iPhone in iphoneunlocking.com

"Hello... Is anyone here?"

I know. What's the point of making your blog more readable and usable when there's really nothing to read? I've been really busy with many things preparing for the next thing (more on this soon) so i haven't posted here (and will probably remain that way in the next weeks or so).

I've had my own share of unfulfilled blog post promises, so I'm not about to make another. I'm just dropping a note to let my three readers know that this blog is alive, well sort of. :)

No time to blog, so this only means one thing: bullet points..

• Compiz on Feisty (translation: 3d desktop in Ubuntu) is freaking awesome.
• Why I want an iPhone? One word: software.
• My brother and his family just moved to Australia, so the next time we'll see them is three years from now.
• I'm sure you noticed this before, but the Geek Dash section of my sidebar is actually a feed from my tumblog. (powered by my del.icious, tumblr, this blog (recursive yeah!) and some of the things i stumble upon online)
  
• So many things to blog about, so little time before guilt strikes in (for blogging and not working). Have to go kids...
  

So, till my next update. Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

Because I Love My Readers

The Wandering Geek is now easier on your eyes...

I did a quick css hack-a-thon for an hour (I started at around 6 am) to finally fix some of my peeves about this blog's design

1. 1024 x 768 is the new 800 x 600. That's what my Google analytics data tells me. So I took the liberty of increasing the widths of my main content and the sidebar to allow for well, more content. :)
2. Small is out, big is in. I've been wanting to increase the default font size here, because I know, being here can totally hurt your eyes (and the dark background doesn't help that much either). Now we're 1.2 em big. Not as big as how I originally wanted it to be, like this and that, but I think this as big as I could go for now without really changing the rest of the design.
   
3. I've been using Trebuchet because that's what came with the Emire blog template (damn you.. :p ). When all this time I've been really into Georgia. Finally, The Wandering Geek is now Georgia-powered. Yeah. :)
4. Comments. I still can't find a way (read: didn't even bother to google) to change the style for alternate comments. But for now, I hope the little improvements i did in the comments will ease your eyes enough that you wouldn't be turned off to comment. What comment-bait?
   
5. So that's it. I hope you these things help, that is if you still read The Wandering geek outside an RSS reader, and, I have to add, if you're not on a suck-ass, pixel-y OS like Windows 2000.
   

Thunderbird: Finding a New Home

Thunderbird might be leaving MoFo to become an independent entity. Mitchell Baker discusess this in her blog and Scott Macgregor, lead engineer of Thunderbird, also chimes in for a more in-depth explanation about why Thunderbird is looking for a new home.

This could be seen as a sad moment from the community's point of view. But like all things that "are hard, but must be done," I think this is a necessary step that will benefit both Firefox and Thunderbird. I will just point you the mentioned posts above, as well as one by Ben Goodger (on renaming the Mozilla Corporation to Firefox Corporation) for more thoughts on this.

On Calling Them Users

An enlightening post by Josh Bernoff:

I promise to avoid the word user whenever possible.

I will think of people who use technology as people, customers, and friends. I won't use them, and they won't use me.

And another take on the topic by Jimmy Guterman at the O'Reilly Radar:

As has often been noted, there are only two industries that refer to their customers as users: high tech and illegal drugs. Is this the company we want to keep?

But perhaps the best crafted thoughts on this is one by Don Norman:

Words matter. Psychologists depersonalize the people they study by calling them “subjects.” We depersonalize the people we study by calling them “users.” Both terms are derogatory. They take us away from our primary mission: to help people. Power to the people, I say, to repurpose an old phrase. People. Human Beings. That’s what our discipline is really about.

OCSAFAK

I missed our last climb to Mt. Romelo (Famy), and Ariel, my previous boss here at OCS missed it too. That turned out as a problem because we were the only two who have climbed Mt. Romelo before, so the group ended up leaving for Famy without a clear plan for their guide. To make matters worse, it was a night trek (on a new moon). They ended up hiring a guide for the climb.

Next we'll be climbing Mt. Makiling, since most of the members group haven't been there. That includes me by the way, since I didn't reach the peak the last time (and first time) I tried.

Thanks han for letting me me join this one. :)

By the way, we used to call the group OCS Akyat, but since we're not really all from Oberthur, we decided to call it OCS and Friends Akyat instead, or OCSAFAk, to Carlo's prodding. :) So we're now the ocsafakers. You don't get any more classy than that.

...

I just wish it's easier to learn not to care.
Saves us all the trouble.

Discovering Dylan

He's probably one of the greatest artist and songwriter and it's a shame that I haven't even listened to any of his original performances.

Sam's (not so) New Look

26-06-07_2102
Originally uploaded by jazzyminn

Sam's head usually gets too hot (literally) with his old cherub curls so we had his hair trimmed a month (ish) ago. He looks a lot like a big boy now (emphasis both on the BIG and the BOY).

Photo was taken by tita Jazz (or was it tito Rohel) using Moto RAZR V3X in Medical City.

I usually get asked at the office for a more recent picture of Sam since the one I have on my office desk is quite old (taken before his first birthday). Now I'll just point them here. :p

We're in Medical City This Time

Status report from the bookish bimbo

A Close Encounter With Someone from The Mothership

HCI (Human Computer Interaction) is a field that has fascinated me from the day I learned of its existence, or perhaps more accurately, from the day I felt it's importance, that is, when I saw the elegance in Apple's user interfaces.

Apple surely did not invent this field, but you would be hard-pressed to disagree that it is in this field that Apple draws its strength (besides Steve Jobs' RDF) and the magic that powers its computer products, software applications, iPods and soon, the iPhone.

What would excite the HCI geek in me more than anything else is to meet (lest hear speak) an Apple User Interface designer: someone from the mothership. And yesterday, i had the chance to listen first hand to this someone.

It all started with Angel's email inviting me (and nikki) to a lecture on HCI. A hurried and excited scan of the email lead me to the person who will be giving the lecture: Mr. Jose Arcellana - a senior manager of user experience at Oracle Corp who has also worked for 11 years in Apple (faints...). And as if the name doesn't give it away enough, Mr Arcellana is Filipino who was an AB English cum laude from UP Diliman (circa 70s if i remember it right) and who holds a Master's degree in Communication from Stanford University. When he was at Apple, he worked on Rhapsody which would later become what we now know as the Mac OS X, created the Apple Assistant (their "better" version of the Microsoft Wizard) and argued with Steve jobs (more on this later)

His credentials actually made me think: Did he really want to be a "user interface designer" when he made the academic decisions that he did, and in corollary, if one (looks around) wants to do what he's exactly doing now but is in the IT business, what is the pathway to enlightenment? (i wanted to ask this during the Q&A part but shyness got the better part of me)

Moving on, he did an excellent presentation on HCI, its principles, the processes involved in doing UI research and design, and a lot of other cool stuff (will be sharing those stuff with the team here in OCS). His Silicon valley anecdotes were my favorites though. He recalled arguing with Steve Jobs over the dock because he didn't think that it was a good idea. Of course Steve Jobs won, being the one with the "expert opinion". He said that during their argument he almost forgot that the one he's arguing with is his company's CEO.

It really sucked that we were not able get a video or photos for the event (angel left her camera in Tiwi), but it was one hell of a Lecture. The most enjoyable one I've ever been to, and the closest I would probably get to someone from the Mothership. :)

Tax and Health

A little trivia: Hannah just called Maxicare to ask about the remaining benefit balance for Sam's Health card and learned that a large chunk of our Hospital bill last time he was shouldered by the Government. In fact the amount they shouldered is around a quarter my total expected tax contributions for this year.

Hmm, now I don't feel too bad about the tax we pay. For now.