April Fools… again…

I was browsing around and wanted to get an update on whatever happened in the CrunchPad story..  and somehow I had missed this one when it first came out.  I’m thinking..  ”$49 times 800… huh?” and “why on earth would people do this…”, then it struck me.

Maybe Google can tweak their index?

Introducing The Do-It-Yourself CrunchPad Kit [Video].

Cuban: Is Facebook the new Internet? – Tech and gadgets- msnbc.com

Probably the best Cuban post I have read:

Cuban: Is Facebook the new Internet? – Tech and gadgets- msnbc.com.

The new Kin commercial – Dude or Chick?

Take a look at the new Kin commercial.  The immediate reaction might be “what was Microsoft thinking, encouraging people to sext” but then a much more interesting question comes up – was that a dude or a chick?

What about Tweet Fraud?

Twitter provides more details on their monetization plans.  From the TC article: “Promoted Tweets will be sold on an impression-basis at first (CPM)“

I wonder if retweets contribute toward the impressions charged? Then instead of click fraud we will have tweet fraud!  Then again, it seems like the Twitter forces are eager to point out that CPM will be temporary.

via Twitter CEO Ev Williams: Revenue Is A Feature.

Twitter’s Ryan Sarver Calms Developers, Leaves Callback #

Making big moves in the Twitter ecosystem is a good way to spread some FUD if not properly explained. That’s why I’m really happy that Ryan Sarver posted this message on the Twitter Development Talk Google group.  Of course it’s much better to prep the development community before making any wild swinging motions, but better late than never.

But I did want to point out one very big statement Sarver makes when describing the previous description of the new Blackberry client:

We will also admit our mistakes when they are made and the Blackberry client should never have been labeled “official”. It has since been changed and you won’t see that language used with Twitter clients in the future.

(Ryan Sarver)

NO official Twitter clients, ever? Now, it’s entirely possible that there could be an official Twitter client that is never called the official Twitter client.  Maybe we’ll just have to wait and see on this one.

But one thing that really caught my eye (maybe he does this all the time, I don’t know) is that he left a phone number where you can reach him.  In case you missed it, it’s 617-763-9904.  This must be a temporary throwaway number; I can’t imagine how useful a phone number is when you give it out to hundreds of thousands of developers.  But still a nice touch!  I’m trying to think of an original enough question to warrant a phone call.

TechCrunch Design Fail

As a TechCrunch fan, I love the succinct articles, sense of humor, and intelligent filtering and focus they apply to the thousands of storylines that circulate the net every day. I can go up and in a few minutes scan the headlines and spot where things are moving in tech that day. It’s fast and easy, which is why the new headline widget at the top is a horrible addition.

Not only does the new widget move slowly, but the transition effect is visually confusing (especially in the morning).. Maybe just a simple down arrow in the lower right to cycle to the next three most popular stories at once would do it? Don’t get fancy on us, TechCrunch! It’s all about the writing!

Remembering Ed Roberts

Ed Roberts passed away today:

Bill Gates – What I’m Thinking – Remembering Ed Roberts – The Gates Notes.

Low-cost, more efficient solar cells mostly plastic

Solving the world’s energy demands will certainly take a number of technologies working together to power the grid. But one development that’s really exciting is the possibility that small communities and individual homes could provide their own power. If prices are low enough, and the technology is integrated and close to invisible, power generating features will become a staple of home construction in the future. Getting everything small enough, and efficient enough, is the key.

For communities, there are real possibilities in alternative nuclear energy sources (with big advantages over coal burning plants and centralized power generation). But this recent development in solar shows that there are some potential gains coming in solar as well as the technology advances.

EETimes.com – Low-cost, more efficient solar cells mostly plastic

iPad and Cloud 2

 Just read a Benioff post on TechCrunch, and overall I agree and appreciate the enthusiasm, but it reads like something I would write after the first time I saw an iPhone.  I do think touch is the future, and the iPad form factor will usher in a wave of applications, but there will still be places for other kinds of devices, applications, and even companies in the future. (And if and how Facebook remains unchallenged remains to be seen).

Take touch on the desktop. It’s more about the position of the human body, and length and reach of the arms and how it relates to the optimal position of the screen for viewing… there are many reasons why touch might not dominate the desktop (though certainly, as we see today, it does and will on handheld devices).

And video versus chat? How many of us multi-task while chatting? That just doesn’t fit into video.  Video conversations are great but it is a more dedicated form of communication where multi-tasking may not be welcome.

One thing I whole-heartedly agree with: the industry is fun again. There is an amazing about of innovation in both hardware and software. And one of the most interesting developments to watch is the upcoming (it’s already started) battle between Google and Apple for ownership of the app market.

Benioff talks about rewriting apps – from a developer perspective, Android is open, Apple is not. It’s a little like the early 90′s, when I could write against the Windows API and have an app working on every PC, or target Apple’s OS, which only ran on Apple hardware.  There’s no doubt that the iPhone/iPod/iPad are among the most beautiful products ever (both hardware and software) but Android will gain ground and once it does (and even now), developers will have to choose where to spend resources.

I do think all key apps will be rewritten, but there will still be a mix of platforms, devices, form factors, user interfaces…just like today. Only, a lot more exciting.

Hello, iPad. Hello, Cloud 2..

Introducing Gravity

Signed up for Gravity yesterday; had heard about this on TechCrunch a while back but they were in closed beta. Well, they just opened up and it’s great.

Gravity might draw some initial comparisons to Twitter, but it really doesn’t go for the same space.  Gravity is more about conversations, and creating and discovering great threads.  Groups of conversations revolve around “Worlds”, and you subscribe to people, worlds, or conversations by “Orbiting” them.  I like the analogy, and the site is well executed.

From a basic angle, it looks like the folks at Gravity took a look at microblogging, blogging, message boards, Google groups, and took what was best about all of them and created something new.  But this is one of those cases where the whole might be greater than the parts; there’s something really compelling about the site that makes it way more attractive than Google Groups, for example.

They do have an API, though I have not had a chance to dig into it yet.  Off the top I don’t see any messaging features besides email notifications on posts, orbits, etc., though I have a feeling those would be integrated at some point.

From a couple different posts I read it seems like each user is allowed to create one world, but unlimited conversations and comments.

Check out their introduction video – it’s to the point and does a great job explaining the basic premise. Thinking of the proposition they are offering, again I’m reminded that all these different elements have been done before. But sometimes it’s really how they are put together that creates a great site.