It’s not uncommon for designers to confuse a beautiful looking product with one that works beautifully. A great technique for creating smarter, better products is to approach them using story-centered design. Read more »
Amazon’s chief vows to keep up the AWS feature race; OpenStack gets two more big backers as vendors cue up news for the OpenStack Summit. Read more »
The details of a long-awaited deal between Google and the EU are finally out. The agreement requires Google to list three competitors in certain types of search listings, and to agree to other, wide-ranging conditions. Read more »
A mobile sensor startup that launched from a former Google product manager for Android is already coming back to Google, announcing the acquisition on Friday. Read more »
Cisco’s plans to fight back against commoditization of its business are now clear. And the strategy should work … for a while. Read more »
With data gathered from nearly a million of its users, Animoca’s information shows that five of the top six Android tablets are small slates. That’s good for Microsoft, if it is indeed planning a smaller Surface tablet. Read more »
Google has a useful new tool to manage your “digital afterlife.” The feature sends passwords to trusted contacts if you have been inactive, and provides a way to send on many aspects of your digital life — except for any media you bought. Read more »
With the new Galaxy Mega 5.8 and 6.3 smartphones, Samsung continues its quest to offer a phone for every sized hand. In fact, it’s mimicking the Android market itself with an array of choices; a clever strategy. Read more »
Looking to get in early on a potentially disruptive technology, Silicon Valley’s top investors have teamed up to form the Glass Collective, committing to the technology and supporting developers building for it. Read more »
Google’s Susan Wojcicki says the viral success of a Pepsi prank video shows how online ad viewing is becoming a voluntary experience where marketers strive to produce content viewers want to watch. Read more at paidContent »
After hearing about the applications of big data for better ads, song recommendations and social media analysis, nothing makes me happier than hearing about technologists coming together with non-profits to use data to fight human trafficking. Read more »
The IT industry is undergoing a cataclysm of innovation that is disrupting big businesses, offering opportunities for entrepreneurs and redefining the role of IT in the corporation. GigaOM’s Structure event helps you understand what’s next. Read more »
In a bid to make itself more palatable to IT, Dropbox will add single sign-on, SAML support to its business edition. Read more »
Intel and ZTE announced a strategic collaboration last month and already have a new product. The ZTE Geek smartphone uses Intel’s latest Atom chip promising more speeds and better battery life. With a foothold in China, Intel isn’t out of the mobile game yet. Read more »
People wondered why Google sold Frommer’s Travel barely nine months after acquiring it in the first place. The answer is that it’s keeping a huge number social media followers from sites like Facebook. Read more at paidContent »
Launchers are nothing new to Android, having been around for a few years now. That’s why I’m not surprised a Facebook Home style launcher is already available in the Google Play store. Read more »
Hot on the heels of Google announcing plans to build a gigabit fiber to the home network in Austin, AT&T has said it plans to do the same. Read more »
Here’s a roundup of all our coverage from Google’s decision to bring its Google Fiber project to Austin, Texas. Read more »
I’m live-blogging the Google Fiber announcement in Austin, Texas, starting at 9am PT today. Austin’s getting gigabit broadband, y’all! Read more »
Google prepped developers on how to create rich, actionable notifications in Chrome for web apps back in February. Now, the supporting code is in the browser for Windows and Chrome OS devices. Is Google Now next? Read more »
In a new book, former Kindle exec Jason Merkoski examines where e-reading platforms are now and how they could change in the future. If you’re looking for secrets about Jeff Bezos, though, you’re in the wrong place. Read more at paidContent »
Ron Johnson, former retail chief of Apple was hired by JC Penney as a man with the silver bullet. Both didn’t realize: winning comes from team (and timing). Read more »
Almost every tech company claims to hate patent trolls, but they certainly don’t always back up their words with actions. Recent patent activity around the Hadoop big data platform might show how companies can effectively battle trolls — if they really want to. Read more »
This week Facebook became the next tech giant to build upon Google Android. That raises quite a few questions — and some potential answers — about privacy, control over Android and who might use Facebook Home as their full-time Android launcher. Read more »
Its a unicorn. No it’s a phone. Actually it is Facebook Home, for now; Apple’s China Syndrome is making it think different; The Bit coin boom (& bust); Chrome & WebKit go to war and did Vdio really kill the Rdio star? Read more »
Got browser tabs that don’t seem to retain their data in Chrome OS? The problem is annoying, particularly if you open and close numerous tabs during a session. This one command line is a big help to reduce the issue. Read more »
Google and the City of Austin are planning an event next Tuesday to show business leaders, “something new” that’s coming to the city. Could it be a Google Fiber gigabit network? Read more »
Most of what we’ve seen from Google’s Project Glass is after fact, not while the connected glasses are actually in use. This demonstration offers a glimpse of the Glass user experience and how developers should design for it. Read more »
Developers can now sink their teeth into the smartphone OS that picks up where MeeGo left off. However, the operating system will struggle to make its voice heard in a turbulent year for mobile. Read more »
Starting April 12, you can get the HTC First from AT&T: An LTE, Android 4.1 phone with Facebook Home as your launcher. AT&T hasn’t provided many specs, but some nosing around on the HTC site yielded quite a few. Read more »
Facebook didn’t quite unveil its own phone, but you can make your Android phone a Facebook phone with a custom launcher. The question now is: will you? Read more »
Getting into Google Compute Engine isn’t impossible, but it isn’t super easy either. You sign up and wait. Now Google is opening the door to new users willing to pay for support. Read more »
Could any other cloud storage services get integrated into Google’s Chrome OS or will Google Drive be it? Others could be added if this feature enhancement request is approved and coded. Read more »
There’s both good and bad in Google’s news that it would be forking WebKit to create the Blink rendering browser engine. It really comes down to motive: Is it just for speed of development or for more control over web standards? Read more »
A year ago, it seemed mobile was going to be Facebook’s achilles heel. Things seem to have turned around, though I am not entirely convinced that it means big dollars for the company. Read more »
The algorithmically generated travel guides have received a major update on the iPhone and iPad, with the Android versions set to receive similar upgrades at some point down the line. Read more »
It’s about time Google’s Nexus 7 tablet gets a refresh and sources tell Reuters it will happen in July. Here’s what to expect in terms of pricing and hardware changes. Read more »
Got 20 minutes to spare on your commute or at work? Why not tune in to this week’s call in podcast where we answer your tech questions. Plenty of Chromebook tips on this week’s show as well as thoughts on the Facebook phone. Read more »
In October, I suggested that more than half of all Android devices would run Android 4.0 or better within four to six months. My time was just about up, but it happened as planned. That’s good for developers and for end users. Read more »
There’s little doubt that Facebook will unveil a new phone on Thursday, but the star of the show will be software, not hardware, in this battle between Facebook and Google for user engagement. Read more »
