In June 2007, the world was eagerly awaiting a product that would turn mobile computing on its proverbial ear, the Apple iPhone. Comparisons between the days leading up to that launch and this week are inevitable, as we once again find ourselves anxiously awaiting a groundbreaking mobile product, the first Android-powered mobile phone, the T-Mobile G1 launching on Wednesday, October 22.
The makers of the "Google phone" - and the developers who hope to build apps for it - have had the opportunity to watch Apple over the past year, learning from their mistakes - and their successes. One of those lessons learned? People want apps. Let's take a look at three of the first Android apps out of the gates.
Today AppLoop launched a mobile application generator which lets you turn any RSS feed into a mobile application for either iPhone (available today) or Android (coming soon). The company, who competes with the analytics and advertising solution MediaLets, wanted to provide everyone with the tools to make a mobile app, even if they didn't have any programming experience. To do so, they've created their new Mobile Application Generator, a tool which creates a mobile-ready application in less than two minutes.
Popular RSS reader Bloglines says it's solved the much publicized recent problems with feed updating that lead smaller services to pursue its users and Google Reader triumphalists to declare the RSS reader market all zipped up. It's true that Bloglines has a lot of problems, but all software does and competition is incredibly important in any sector, including among RSS readers.
Despite its shortcomings, Bloglines is worth a look and when it works it works very well for many people. RSS is such a powerful media that it's essential that the market leader, Google, be kept on their toes.
You can't turn on the TV, visit Yahoo Finance or pick up the Wall Street Journal without hearing about the economic crisis we're in. It's caused most of us to step back and look at our own financial situation. In the next episode of RWW Live, to be broadcasted live at 3.30pm PST Monday (6.30pm EST), we look at how you can use Web tools to improve your personal finances. We have executives from Mint, Wesabe and Tip'd joining us.
You can tune into the show, and interact with us via the chat, by clicking here. You can also use the Calliflower Facebook app to tune in and participate.
Microsoft Research just announced the release of a new experimental search engine interface with a focus on personalization and social networking. U Rank allows you to reorder your searches, add notes, create lists of results, and share your personalized search results with your friends. The search results look like they are drawn directly from from Microsoft Live Search. Microsoft has created a short screencast that demonstrates U Rank's functionality in detail.
The SanFran MusicTech Summit is on today. This event is fast becoming an important hub of conversation about the state of the digital music business.
I'm covering the event for ReadWriteWeb, primarily looking at the overall impacts that policy developments and the economy are having on the music industry. But also how these forces may affect the underpinning structure of the industry and the artists who create the music. I'll be shooting video, too, interviewing speakers and conference participants. To kick off our coverage, here are five important online music biz people we plan to track down at the conference...
Visual search engine SearchMe just added music search to its repertoire of search options. That, by itself, wouldn't be very interesting, but thanks to integrating this new search feature with Imeem's ability to play back an unlimited number of full songs and SearchMe's 'Stacks' functionality, you can now use SearchMe to easily create custom mixtapes.
SearchMe, which combines a search engine with a highly visual, CoverFlow-like interface, has seen rapid growth over the last few months and this new feature will surely help the company to attract even more users.
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Our review of the new iGoogle homepage was generally positive. For a large number of users, however, the latest updates, including the stronger emphasis on the full-screen canvas view, were simply unacceptable. Just this weekend, the New York Times reported about the difficulties of making drastic changes to popular web sites without alienating users. Judging from the reaction of some of iGoogle's users, Google's switch to the new iGoogle layout is a textbook example for how not to update a popular product. If Google had made these changes incrementally instead of foisting a completely new version of iGoogle onto its users without warning, it could have surely prevented the current outrage.
To all those who feared that technology pulls people apart, a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project on the American family reveals the opposite is true: today's families are more connected than ever. However, this always-on interaction with technology has a darker side too...one which leads to higher stress and less satisfaction with both family and leisure time. In reviewing the data, we discover that technology is really both a blessing and a curse.
