Google Announces Mobile Phone "Open" OS
Today Google announced their long rumored mobile project, "Android," which they’ve been developing in secret. Most, including myself, were expecting an actual device. What was announced is an actual mobile platform that can be run on a wide range of devices. According to Google, Android "…will be composed of a "fully integrated mobile ’software stack’ that consists of an operating system, middleware, user-friendly interface and applications."
According to Engadget, many of the major players in the telecom industry have signed on and are official partners of Google’s Open Handset Alliance (minus Microsoft, Nokia, AT&T, and Verizon, no big surprises there). In my opinion this really raises the bar in terms of the levels of service that consumers will come to expect: devices that can operate anywhere on any network, share files easily, low-cost data access, etc. Any competition will by welcome in this space, especially in the U.S. market, where the service providers dictate what your phone is allowed to do. Read this post by David Pogue released earlier this year for a further analysis of this specific issue.
Watch this video that discusses what Android is capable of!
Hello, again & more Hon. Ted “Tubes” Stevens Antics
Hello blog, long time no see, I promise to visit more regularly! In the mean time the honorable senator from Alaska, Ted Stevens is at it again, on a smaller scale this time. Senator Stevens, who is the vice-chair for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation 
spoke up in a recent hearing about cellular communication, number portability and emerging new technologies (switching between cellular and wifi, etc.) All he wants is to have his current number follow him where ever he goes and is told politely that such things aren’t currently possible with existing technology. One would think that the vice-chair for such a relevant committee would be aware of such issues. Obviously none of the attendees have heard of Grand Central, a recent Google acquisition that provides you with one phone number which you associate with all of your current phones (home, cell, work) so that you can be tracked down no matter where you are (I’ve tested it and it works great, plus it’s free). Yet I digress, for more on Senator Stevens including audio, see this post at The Consumerist. Go here to read the remarks and watch the video (thanks government)!
Palm’s New Device
Will Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm, Inc. steal the show at the Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital conference that is underway right now in Carlsbad, CA? Palm is set to launch a “new category” of mobile devices tomorrow (11:30am PT/2:30pm ET). There’s been a lot of speculation as to what the device could be. Perhaps an iPhone competitor? Possibly a sidekick killer? Potentially a new converged device running Linux?
Many have written Palm off due to dropping the ball with the Palm OS over the past few years and not moving quickly enough to an updated platform. In the mean time Blackberry and Windows Mobile now dominate the smart phone market, however Treos are holding their own somewhat. Personally, I still use my trusty Palm TX, now two years old, as it has built-in wifi and meets most of my needs. I’m still a smart phone hold out for the as it really frustrates me that device manufacturers (Palm, RIM, etc.) do not include wifi connectivity alongside the cellular radio. This is due in part to the service providers (Verizon, Cingular/ ATT Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint/Nextel, and Alltel) strong arming the hardware makes so that they can gouge the customer for the additional data service and not allow the consumer to use the device at home or work over a wifi network. One stand out however is HTC, a Chinese company that makes a wide variety of devices, offers several models including the 8125 sold by Cingular that include wifi connectivity. So for the mean time, I’ll continue to use my outdated Palm TX as I have both wifi access at home and work which I can use to check email, etc. as needed.
Twitter!
Are you twittering yet? What? No!? Twitter has gotten A LOT of traction as a new micro-blogging tool as it was utilized by attendees to the SXSW (South by Southwest) music/media tech. conference to keep their friends up to date with their current status and location. Twitter’s approach is very simple. It asks you what you are doing and gives you 140 characters with which to answer. You can post via twitter.com, or by SMS from your cell phone and can see what your friends are up to via the same methods. Twitter officially launched last summer, but it wasn’t until the past few months that it started to receive significant publicity or coverage.
There are a few tools that have already emerged to enhance your twitter experience and usage. Twitterriffic for Macs and a new tool called Twitteroo both allow you to “tweet” directly from your desktop. You can also submit posts via IM, however due to recent explosive growth IM is currently down as they are having touble keeping up. I’m personally using twitter to keep my status up-to-date and is visible in the sidebar of my blog.
If you’re a librarian and are using twitter, I’d really like to share ideas and hear your thoughts. We’re in an era where libraries have access to an almost unlimited set of new tools and resources (many free) to help reach out to our users. Creativity is a must due to all of the “competition”! Feel free to contact me or IM (see homepage)!
I think the best tool to help people best understand twitter is to visit Twittervision, a Google Maps mash up, where you can see submissions from around the world in real time. Hope you can read 精心策劃的乾杯!
And yes, I heard you wondering, twitter is fully RSS capable and compliant! See this article over at Webware for some additional tools and tips.
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Professional and personal ideas, thoughts, and comments from your favorite tech-brarian. Actually, that's probably not a valid term, but hey, I'm not sweating the small stuff!
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