It's been a busy couple of weeks for tying together the disparate pages and services that most of know as 'the web' - and the identities, preferences and profiles of those who use and browse it.  While it's still early days, the long-term opportunities - and risks - are huge. Of course, the big news this week has been Facebook's announcements that they will be putting 'Like' buttons everywhere and working to create a universal identification/authentication infrastructure by making the web more 'social'.  Obviously a shot across the bow of Google whose various social initiatives (Orkut, Buzz, Latitude, etc...) have borne little fruit thus far.  Google has to be thinking very hard about buying Twitter who has also been heavil

Although "don't be evil" isn't Google's official corporate motto, the company and its admirers have embraced the concept implicitly and explicitly. But pride goeth before a fall, and the buzz around Google isn't just about their new social networking feature: Cynicism and disillusionment with Google is growing. Why Do They Hate Me? Last week I wondered out loud about this: When did everyone get so cynical and disillusioned with Google? It's ironic that answers rolled in on Twitter and FriendFeed even as Google was stomping into their turf with Buzz. What response did I get? Google's corporate censorship moves, especially in China, look pretty evil to some Google's lack of innovation outside search, especially its repeat

Google is announcing new over the air updates to Google Nexus One phones (aka gPhone).   Engadget is reporting that Google is also providing multitouch capability - a much sought after feature of the iPhone and now tablets - iPad.  I've blogged about the 5 reasons why I think the iPad will be successful here.  This is where Google is going with Nexus One. According to Google starting today Nexus One users will begin to receive an over-the-air software update on their phones. This update provides some great new features, and fixes a few problems that some users might have experienced, including: Google Goggles: this mobile application will now be available directly on your device by launching it from your All Apps menu. Just use yo

I was thinking about all the devices that we need to purchase and maintain - it gets expensive. Beyond the fiscal concerns, one of things that turns me off about netbooks is the idea of having another device to maintain and try to synchronize. Obviously that will become easier with time and as cloud personalization services emerge, but for now, it is a pain. Having two pc's sounds like a pain to me, but I have already gotten used to having a smart phone. So why not have the smart phone be your netbook? Smartphones are now pretty much as powerful as many netbooks, and with the rapid pace of innovation in smartphones there is no reason why the phones coming out this year should not be able to do everything that one should desire from a netb

While the media has enjoyed positioning the recent launch of Google’s Android-based Nexus One “superphone” manufactured by HTC as a direct competitive threat to Apple’s iPhone, I agree with Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital that this is the wrong question to try to answer as Apple and Google are taking very different approaches to the mobile market. Apple, as in the personal computer market, has focused on developing the most well designed, highest grossing margin, products they can imagine at the expense of market share. Google on the other hand, by open-sourcing the Android operating system to handset and device manufacturers for free, is aiming to become the most widely used mobile operating system at the expense of Microsoft�

You know I had to do a comparison. What tipped the scales for me had to be reading this anti-Android post at TheNextWeb. Since I don't own an iPhone or Android device, maybe I won't get flamed for being a Nokia fan. Let's start with the practical things first shall we? Battery Life = The lowest talk time on the iPhone is 5 hours on 3g. The N1 isn't known but it has a huge 1400mah battery. Is that better? Not really since the iPhone doesn't run more than one app at a time. Prepare to juice back up your multi-tasking Android as soon as you get home. Speed = This counts in a big way. To compare your device to computers, it makes sense to have comparable speed. iPhone 3gs has a smoking ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz, PowerVR SGX graphics setup sque

Google is introducing the Google gPhone or as the official names goes - The Google Nexus One.  Engadget has the definitive review while others are chiming in here, here, and here. Google is playing the open card by forcing fast innovation in a developer focused way - similar to what made Microsoft successful in the 80s and 90s - creating a future benefit incentive or rising tide floats all boats.  Apple in dark contrast is taking a completely different approach stay controlled and lead with economic incentives - money - their tide has risen. And This Means What? Google Nexus and Android goes beyond a me-too device. Google having its' own phone  is strategic. It’s just one piece of the user environment (aka the edge software) that