DigitalOutbox Episode 97
In this episode the team discuss Apple, Android 4 and poor old RIM.
Playback
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Shownotes
3:31 – Apple
– Steve Jobs dies
– iOS 5 – error 3200 trending world wide on twitter, Ian- reboot machine after each iOS device upgrade failed
– Newsstand working well
– Wired supports it, and print subscribers will get access to iPad editions at no extra cost – lovely
– Guardian iPad app supporting Newsstand as well
– Lots and lots of Future mags supporting Newsstand
– iPhone 4S
– In non-U.S. countries, or if you’re not using U.S. English as your device language, Siri can’t look for businesses, use maps or access traffic info. So asking it to find the best route to your cousin’s house in Germany won’t produce results, nor will inquiring about restaurants in your immediate vicinity.
– iCloud – took 36 hours before I could move and enable
– Half baked – Mac syncing of docs gone, many third party app’s in the dark. Sharing docs with the Mac is pretty awful
– Despite that, 4 million 4S’s sold in three days – double the sale rate of iPhone 4 at launch
21:11 – Box.net
– Twenty-four hours after Apple released iOS 5 and accompanying iCloud storage offering, Box has announced that they’re offering iPad and iPhone users 50 gigabytes of free storage starting tonight. It’s also increasing file upload limit from 25 MB to 100 MB.
To get that amount of storage from iCloud, users have to fork over $100 per year to Apple.
– Box’s promotion is good for the next 50 days, but once redeemed, the data is good for life. To activate it, simply download the latest version of Box for iOS and log into (or create) your account.
22:43 – Blackberry Outage
– Down for three days
– No internet, twitter, Facebook or BBM
– Horrible time for this to happen
– Affected people on 4 continents and indeed spread to America
– Apology from CEO
– Failure allegedly in Slough
26:30 – Google Fall Sweep
– At the start of September Google killed a slew of products – now it’s killing a few more
– Here’s the latest update on what’s happening:
Code Search, which was designed to help people search for open source code all over the web, will be shut down along with the Code Search API on January 15, 2012.
– In a few weeks we’ll shut down Google Buzz and the Buzz API, and focus instead on Google+. While people obviously won’t be able to create new posts after that, they will be able to view their existing content on their Google Profile, and download it usingGoogle Takeout.
– Jaiku, a product we acquired in 2007 that let users send updates to friends, will shut down on January 15, 2012. We’ll be working to enable users to export their data from Jaiku.
– Several years ago, we gave people the ability to interact socially on iGoogle. With our new focus on Google+, we will remove iGoogle’s social features on January 15, 2012. iGoogle itself, and non-social iGoogle applications, will stay as they are.
– The University Research Program for Google Search, which provides API access to our search results for a small number of approved academic researchers, will close on January 15, 2012.
– In addition, later today the Google Labs site will shut down, and as previously announced, Boutiques.com and the former Like.com websites will be replaced by Google Product Search.
29:03 – Youtube offers film rentals in the UK
– Video site YouTube has started a movie rental service in the UK.
Blockbusters such as The Dark Knight and classics including The Birds can be watched via the site. In total, about 1,000 movies have been made available.
– New releases will cost £3.49 to rent and library titles £2.49. Users have 30 days to begin watching a film, and 48 hours to finish it once they start.
– Most aren’t HD – 480p, DVD quality
– Does show ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and information about the films from elsewhere
31:09 – Google Books hits the UK
– Readers in the UK now have access to the world’s largest ebooks collection, with hundreds of thousands of ebooks for sale – from major UK publishers like Hachette, Random House and Penguin – as well as more than two million public domain ebooks for free.
– Just as in the US, we’ve designed the Google eBooks platform in the UK to be open. You can purchase, download and view Google eBooks on many devices: Android and Apple tablets and smartphones, the Google eBooks Web Reader and eReaders from Sony, Kobo, Elonex, and more. Your Google eBooks are stored in the cloud, so you can easily access them and continue reading wherever you last left off, regardless of which device you were on.
– We’ve partnered with independent booksellers, so you will soon be able to buy Google eBooks through your favourite bookstore. Booksellers like Gardners’ Hive, as well as others to come, will be selling Google eBooks in the UK. We’re also working with local retailers like Blackwell’s as affiliate partners.
32:24 – New Android Devices
41:08 – Android 4 – Ice Cream Sandwich revealed
– New UI – toned down honeycomb but still has that Tronesque UI
– No more physical buttons
– Native resolution – 720p
– Near instantaneous voice dictation
– Face unlock
– Android Beam – uses NFC to communicate between Android devices – contacts, video’s, URLS – API to come to allow developers to use it
– Camera app – brings many of the iOS UI features, gallery also improved bringing filters
– Lots of cloud enhancements
– Lots of tweaks throughout the OS
– SDK for dev’s already released
– Most gingerbread running phones should be able to run 4
47:24 – WH Smiths to launch e-book reader
– The UK newsagent will begin selling the Kobo reader from the Canadian company of the same name on 17 October.
– Kobo has e-book stores in Canada and Australia, and the WHSmith deal will bring its 2.2m – of which 1m are freebies: out-of-copyright classics and the like – to UK high streets.
– WHSmith will offer two devices: a basic £90 model and an upgraded version with a touch-sensitive screen for £110.
48:38 – Shopping centre calls police for father taking illegal pictures of his daughter
– Chris White claims a security guard told him that the pictures, taken at the Braehead centre near Glasgow on Friday afternoon, were “illegal”.
– The guard allegedly then asked Mr White to delete the photographs, taken on his mobile phone. Mr White, a mental health trainer, said: “I told him I had taken two photographs of my daughter Hazel, and that since I had already posted them on Facebook there was little point in deleting the pictures.
“The guard then told me to ‘remain right there’ while he called police, which I chose to do.”
– According to Mr White, Hazel was in tears while they waited five minutes for officers to arrive at the scene. He said he was then quizzed by two uniformed policemen who told him there had been a complaint about him taking photographs and that there were “clear signs” in the centre stating that the use of cameras was forbidden.
– Police issued a statement denying the above
– After the story exploded on Twitter and Facebook, Braehead issued an apology
– A spokesman for the centre said it was changing its photography policy with immediate effect to allow people to take pictures of family and friends in the mall. “We have listened to the very public debate surrounding our photography policy and as a result, with immediate effect, are changing the policy to allow family and friends to take photos in the mall. “We will publicise this more clearly in the mall and on our website. We will reserve the right to challenge suspicious behaviour for the safety and enjoyment of our shoppers. “We wish to apologise to Mr White for the distress we may have caused to him and his family and we will be in direct contact with him to apologise properly.”
51:53 – Playstation Vita UK Details
– The Wi-Fi only model will be yours for £230.
– The higher-specced 3G edition will cost £280.
– They’ll arrive on 22 February, 2012
57:24 – Lytro Details
– You won’t be able to get one until early 2012, but you can order one now for $399 (and $499 for a more advanced version).
– In design, Lytro takes more than a couple of cues from Apple. It’s supremely simple, with just two buttons and a slider for zooming. Plus, it’s available in a variety of colors. Hit the shutter button and it takes a picture instantly — no need to wait for it to focus.
– The Lytro is long, thin and small, like a viewfinder with a rubberized end (and nothing at all like a regular camera). Its “electric blue” and “graphite” models will have 8 GB of storage on board, which the company says is enough for 350 light-field pictures. For $100 more, you get 16 GB, with room for 750 pictures and a “fire red” design. (See the different colors below).
– The battery is a selling point, too. You should be able to fill up the entire camera with pictures on a single charge. That translates to about two weeks of battery time, with regular usage.
– Desktop editor only supports Mac
Picks
Ian
PressPausePlay
– The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent of people in an unprecedented way, unleashing unlimited creative opportunites.
– But does democratized culture mean better art, film, music and literature or is true talent instead flooded and drowned in the vast digital ocean of mass culture? Is it cultural democracy or mediocrity?
– This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with some of the world’s most influential creators of the digital era.
– Buy on iTunes (£9.99, or rent) or Amazon….or download via torrent for free