Google guy goes Gaga over Backplane

Monday, June 6th, 2011

We know the name of Lady Gaga is used time and time again just to draw attention to websites with no link to their actual content, but trust me, this girl has gone tech.

A blog post in the New York Times has revealed the global phenomenon that is Gaga has put her hand in her pocket to invest in tech start-up Backplane. Why? It is all down to music…

Gaga become a spokesperson for Apple’s Ping project from its launch, even recording video messages for Steve Jobs’ keynote. But, when working closely with the Apple CEO, her manager Troy Carter decided its integration with social networks didn’t go far enough.

Carter, along with tech investor Matthew Michelsen, went on the search for a start-up with the technology to put their plans for musicians to connect and inform their fans around the world into action.

““I said why try to find a platform, let’s try to build one,” Michelsen told the New York Times.

Here they stumbled upon Backplane, a tiny firm with just seven employees but the inventive software to create Carter and Michelsen’s vision.

So Gaga is investing in the Silicon Valley start-up, but she is not going it alone. Enter stage left Eric Schmidt, Google executive chairman and former CEO of the internet giant, to put in his two cents – or million dollars. His investment company, Tomorrow Ventures, is also stumping up the cash and the first round of funding has already raised over $1 million.

A new music service with the backing of the industry’s hottest star and one of the tech world’s most famous CEOs? This sounds pretty exciting to me and with names like Gaga and Schmidt on-board, I am thinking this will be a success rather than a bad romance…

Please saw off the branch you are now sitting on…

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

I am heartily sick of installers asking me to close down all other windows etc. I appreciate that updating a library that may be in use is a problem but it is irritating.

To top it all I ran an install today that asked me to close the installer! That’s what comes of the company wrapping installers in its own roll out – and presumably never testing it. Or maybe someone had a sense of humour or even a grudge against the support team who would have to take the calls.

Here’s to the <irony> unobtrusive, fast and painless updating we can expect in the future </irony>.

HP Touch Pad – touch to share with webOS!

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

As I have blogged before HP are voicing a serious commitment to webOS. I say voicing because it is hard to see many actual devices yet, but it is a non-trivial task they are about so we shouldn’t expect instant products and it is easy to doubt just because the kit isn’t here yet.

Here is a link to a video the sort of thing that should be along soon but as yet no price or firm date.
Fierce Wireless – HP TouchPad demo

Looks good though! The Touch to Share looks cool (10:20 mins in). Plenty of other videos after this one has run.

As a developer, webOS is good with me, if you can write a web page (java script, css, HTML, …) you can write apps. You can also write in C/C++ if that’s your thing, just get hold of the PDK to do that.

webOS Connect – tweet central

Friday, April 1st, 2011

An exciting night at webOS connect,

http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/2011/03/21/developing-for-mobiles/
http://webosconnect.com/en/home/home
I live a sheltered life but I have never seen so many people tweeting at one event. There were various presentations all enthusing about webOS and its new development environment. My favourite presenter was ubershinysheep (AKA Ben Tattersley) – youth and enthusiasm are always going to win in a 10 minute slot.

The key new thing seems to be display scale-ability – the same app running nicely on a phone or a slate. That and a much nicer development environment – but they always claim that. The key buzz word is Enyo – you can do your own google.

Have a look at http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23webosconnect for some tweets – if that’s your thing, if it isn’t then maybe you shouldn’t be doing mobile development.

Amazon releases cloud music player… for US ears only

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

I was genuinely excited when I woke up this morning to discover Amazon had finally launched a cloud-based music service.

I’d now be able to connect to the cloud with my HTC Desire, hook up to all my tunes, and then buy more songs when out and about via the Amazon MP3 player. I went online and ordered my 5GB Amazon Cloud Drive and uploaded some songs (for whatever reason it took 3 hours to upload around 3GB of music – not massively impressive…).

Then I discovered the smartphone-to-cloud capability was only available in the US. My dreams were shattered into tiny shards of pain and I put my headphones over my ears and went back to blasting out some tunes in my inconsolable, cloudless depression.

Now, considering most albums are actually released here a few days before the US, how come we have to wait longer for this?

In fact, if cloud computing is meant to make access to files super fast and insanely easy, and if data can be delivered from anywhere over the cloud, why the Dickens can’t the UK and elsewhere get hold of this service from today? Are we not good enough guinea pigs for you Amazon? You must have enough storage space to accommodate our musical needs…

And I thought the tech world understood that my generation was full of impatient brats like myself, so why aren’t they catering to my every demand? I want it and I want it now, so deliver it unto me posthaste.

Perhaps others will pip Amazon to the post in making cloud-based music services available to the world…

Almost all of my music is stored on Apple software/hardware. Now, given how much Apple hates being behind competitors, I’d hope Steve Jobs and Co will have a cloud-based music depository ready soon. And I’d hope they’d make it available in the UK straightaway, not treat us like unwanted relatives and keep us waiting.

Surely the likes of Google and Facebook are having a look at what they can do in this arena as well. Even BT are rumoured to be bringing out a music streaming service, although that’s a slightly different kettle of fish.

If tech behemoths like these all get on board, the cloud might prove to be the chimera that is the ’saviour of the music industry’ (that’s if the industry is actually dying – another question entirely). It will certainly change things anyway. Let’s just hope everyone has the foresight to do things globally now, rather than acting in an insular fashion.

Developing for mobiles

Monday, March 21st, 2011

Since HP acquired Palm webOS has had a lot more going for it. HP seems to want it on all platforms, not just phones
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/110209xc.html

The idea of an OS that runs on your PC, slate, phone, MP3 player, …. seems nice for users and a joy for developers – though it could put a few of us out of a job, the hours I’ve spent porting apps from one OS to another have kept me in work and mortgage payments many a time!

The idea of an OS written with the web in mind also seems a good one.

Anyway, if you are interested try a google, but I’d suggest
http://www.palm.com/us/products/software/webos2/ & http://developer.palm.com/
as good starters.

And if you want to get more involved on a less virtual level try
webOS CONNECT London Kick-off
http://www.amiando.com/webosconnectlondon.html

I’m off to polish my java / java script!

iPad 2: An iPad 1 owner’s verdict

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

So I happen to own an iPad. In about three weeks or so it will be out of date thanks to the arrival of the iPad 2.

Should I be upset about this or should I support Apple and its continuing development of its hardware into ever more shiny, more powerful bundles of joy? Well, because of what Apple announced during its much-hyped event in San Francisco, I’m not too depressed. In fact, I’m a little non-plussed.

This is largely because I’ll be able to get what excited me most about Steve Jobs’ revelations from iOS 4.3. From the additional number of titles coming to iBooks via Random House, to the additional pieces of software like GarageBand and iMovie which I can use for work and play alike, iOS 4.3 looks pretty splendid.

OK, I’m a little jealous about the iPad 2’s enhanced graphics (nine times better) and the processor (twice as fast), and maybe a tad upset I won’t have cameras to make my face look even more ridiculous on Photo Booth, but outside of that there was nothing too mind-blowing to send me into fits of rage at my antiquated iPad.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d switch to an iPad 2 without a moment’s thought and it’s another beautiful piece of kit from Apple. I’m fairly certain it’ll be superior to any other tablet to come out this year. But, and this was probably expected, the iPad 2 announcement didn’t inspire the same reaction as the initial iPad introduction did.

Another slight disappointment was that Jobs didn’t really go in-depth to answer questions surrounding the iPad’s business capabilities – it would have been great to have had a fuller explanation about why the iPad is as good inside corporations as it is outside. I’ve used my iPad for work and it’s absolutely fine – almost as effective as my laptop and definitely less cumbersome.

Well, at least Marc Benioff joined in to give his backing to the device. The Salesforce boss congratulated Apple on the release of its latest baby via Twitter and was even included on one of the promotional videos saying iPads and tablets were the business devices of the future. To have the backing of an enterprise-focused man like Benioff is probably enough to prove the newest iPad is good enough for plenty of organisations.

For now, though, I’m happy enough with the iPad original and won’t be chucking it out of the office window like some new-age rockstar. Neither will I be running out and picking up an iPad 2 with froth pouring from my mouth – largely because it wouldn’t be worth spending half my monthly wages on.

Admittedly, if I were a rich man, it’d be in my hands not too long after release. But to me, a big iPad fan, this hints that anyone not convinced by the original will not be astounded by this latest iteration.

Shock of the New

Monday, February 14th, 2011

A sunny seaside Saturday, what else is there to do but stroll round the shops and browsing? This time, in an emporium of electronics where for the first time we see some of the many tablets on the market.

(more…)

Fixing meeting dates – a doddle?

Friday, February 11th, 2011

Has anyone used http://www.doodle.com ? Seems a great way of scheduling a meeting without sharing outlook calendars or sending a thousand I can do … can you? mails.

Being an old cynic I’m reluctant to enter all my invitees (is that a word?) email addresses – if they get a ton of spam I’ll feel responsible. Am I being unreasonable?

Having had a bit of a google I’ve found several similar tools and this rather nice slide show comparing them

http://www.slideshare.net/umhealthscienceslibraries/online-scheduling-tools-doodle-and-more

I’m rather taken with http://www.slideshare.net/ itself too!

So has anyone written an app that lets you chuck all your phones in a heap and it sorts out your next available evening / weekend / work time meeting in a range of dates? Should be do-able unless someoen has one of these.

Hate trains, love iPad

Monday, February 7th, 2011

I’ll start by saying that the concept of commuting itself is anathema to me. I experienced it for a year straight after leaving university and will never return to the stress-inducing miasma inside modern British train carriages on a regular basis ever again.

The heuristic lesson may have been learned, but sometimes I’m forced to get on a train for some reason or another and am reminded of a more melancholy time of my life.

This morning, however, my ire at British trains was somewhat tempered. Certainly not by the extra £50 I had to pay for a relatively short journey from Birmingham to London. Definitely not by the inane hunt for a seat. Nor was it the inevitable, yet still unbearably frustrating delays that cooled my proverbial beans.

No, no. It was my iPad that made the early morning hours considerably easier than they would have been. And I learnt something too: the iPad has a solid business case.

I hadn’t ventured to write an entire article on the device, acquired over a merry old Christmastime, until this very morn. And it proved surprisingly easy.

I just got Notes up and running, flicked back and forth between my sources, wrote the piece, emailed it to myself, and as soon as I was back in the office it was posted. Simple.

The keyboard is perfect for typing away on and the autocorrect function works like a charm if you do miss any keys. Perhaps some haptic feedback would help, just so you know you’ve hit a key, but it was simply a pleasure to use. Not to mention Notes is quite a pretty little free app anyway.

The iPad is less cumbersome than my laptop, takes about the same time to flick between apps and has a longer battery life. I’m not sure I’ll bother taking the old notebook outside with me again.

The whole experience this morning would have been even less of a bother if the train’s Wi-Fi hadn’t been the tech equivalent of a drunk slug on Valium.

If only the Government, train companies and the stations themselves were as dedicated to quality as Apple are, then things might run a little smoother. Anyone else excited by the iPad 2?

Note: this blog has not taken into account the white iPhone 4 delays, which would have been an apt analogy for British train punctuality.