Tag google

Google Chrome ∞

There is an untold general, cross-platform, inter-device rule regarding versioning: Major versions are major because they expose significant improvements and functional upgrades to the user whereas minor versions are typically either minor feature upgrades or bugfix releases. Many projects, corporations and communities deviate from that loosely defined rule, but none do so more than Google […]

What's wrong with this?

Check out this table. A bunch of modern, high-quality, high-performing codecs. AAC+, AAC LC, enhanced AAC+, MP3. All decodable by Android, on all devices. Sadly, Android devices can only encode on AMR-NB at the sad sampling rate of 8KHz. At the miserable bitrate of 4.75 to 12.2kbps. At qualities unheard of since the early days of the telegraph (ok, I'm kidding --- AMR-NB is the voice codec most GSM and UMTS phonecalls are carried over). Now, you may be asking: Couldn't the manufacturer add encoding support for more audio codecs? Sure, and some do. Others, like HTC for example, don't. Even on high-end devices like the Desire. Devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs clocked at 1GHz. With hardware support for stereo AAC encoding. No, really, what on earth is wrong with these people. At the same time, HTC went into the hassle of adding encoding support for h.264 and 720p (using MPEG4). And it makes me wonder: that they added h.264 encoding support means they are at least clued up with respect to paying royalties, adding the codec to the system and making use of it. That they introduced 720p using MPEG4 on the other hand makes no sense: how useful is 720p video recording --- recently introduced with HTC's Froyo build for the Desire --- or the capability to record audio as a whole come to think of it, when the recorded audio on this phone sounds like a wax record from the 1880s, not least because of the totally backwards codec they use throughout, while one of the most powerful mobile device CPUs in the market today just sits there idling. Idiots.

Android, the HTC Desire and Localisation.

Having recently stepped up our efforts to provide an Android version of AthensBook before the end Summer 2010, I’ve acquired an HTC Desire, the flagship Android phone from HTC, featuring the latest Sense UI, impressive hardware specs and a gorgeous display. Sadly, while Android is a much more ‘open’ and an extremely fascinating platform (for […]

Nexus One. A Message to the World from Mountain View.

It must have been sometime near mid-December when I first actually saw and used — albeit briefly — a Nexus One. A Googler, the owner, graciously let me use it for a bit after receiving it as part of the Google corporate gift that the device got — more a publicity stunt rather than an […]

On the Motorola Droid

It should be no surprise that Verizon would invest in Android, given the onslaught that AT&T’s exclusivity with the iPhone has brought to everyone, despite the fact that Verizon’s network is superior to AT&T’s, the fact that it has a number of popular handsets and services etc. And while Europe remains the place where mobile […]

Here comes the Cavalry!

Welcome Google! About a year since we first came up, designed and implemented Geo|Ads, Google just launched their own Location Based Advertising in the States. We always knew we were tiny. Some thought we had interesting ideas. At least now we know that they are not exactly bad from a business point of view either =) <div style="width: 480px; margin: auto; margin-top: 10px; "

Ye Olde Google Maps

Google Maps is an invariably fantastic service that has slowly become a de facto platform for easy geographic representation of data. Lots of sites use the service, APIs and tools provided to visualise, inform and project information onto maps. In Hellas (Greece), Google has — with the help of Teleatlas, the primary data provider for […]

Google Wave Developer Sandbox

I’ve been granted access to Google Wave for a bit less than a day now, and from my limited time with it I can say the following: It feels much more like an application than a web page. This is contrary to most other ‘apps’ by Google, including Google Docs, Maps, GMail, Reader etc. where […]