Google Chromecast Review.

 

Google just announced a $35 HDMI dongle that pushes movies, TV shows, and music from Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, and Chrome to your TV from smartphones, tablets and the Chrome browser. According to Google, Chromecast can switch control from one device to another without skipping a beat.

Unlike the more expensive Apple Airplay, which sends video to a TV set via streaming right from an iPhone or iPad, Chromecast makes its own connection to the Internet from home wifi networks making it more reliable. UPDATES (more…)

Maps and the end of distance.

 
Maps are hot. Or that’s what it seems, since Apple is ditching Google Maps software on its latest iOS 6 and bringing turn-by-turn directions, 3D flyover, local search, Siri integration and more to iPhone and iPad users sometime this fall on their own Maps app.

Google, never the shy one, release an update to Google Maps with amazing 3D fly-over technology, biking and walking directions (I use both all the time), indoor maps, live traffic, and public transportation (including schedules!). The best new feature? Offline Maps: users can see and interact with the maps, even if without internet connection. All devices running Android OS 2.2 and above will be supported.

It is amazing that in cities like New York or Los Angeles distances determine where we live and work, on which activities we engage, the areas we discover and even our dating patterns. Due to the good public transportation in the Netherlands distance has become irrelevant. “We can reach almost any destination by train easily and relatively quick. In our busy lives we now think in time rather than distance. Therefore the current maps, as we know them today, are obsolete. Thinking in time affects a map and hence the shape of the Netherlands also depending on the perspective from which we look.”

Maybe one day we will have something like this in the U.S. Or maybe not.

How to remove your Google search history (before it’s posted on YouTube).

 
For a long time I have been a huge advocate of Google products. Every single day I use Google Calendar, Gmail, Documents, Voice, Finance, Contacts, Currents, Music, among many other apps. I actually believe Google is one of the most innovative companies in the world and provides the best cloud computing experience. That was until about 30 minutes ago…

I just found out that as part of the Company’s new privacy policy unification, all the searches I’ve made, and all the sites I’ve visited will be combined with several other Google products like Google Plus and YouTube.

” When you sign up for a Google Account, we ask you for personal information. We may combine the information you submit under your account with information from other Google services or third parties in order to provide you with a better experience and to improve the quality of our services. For certain services, we may give you the opportunity to opt out of combining such information.”

And this part is key: “March 1, 2012 is when the new Privacy Policy and Google Terms of Service will come into effect. If you choose to keep using Google once the change occurs, you will be doing so under the new Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.”

How to avoid this? Thankfully you just need to follow FOUR simple steps to erase and turn off your search history.

Step 1: Go to https://google.com/history

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The Cloud Wars.

 
Adobe recently announce that “everyone can join the Creative Cloud,” and while customers will have access to a free membership to explore certain features, a monthly price of US$50 (based on a one-year subscription) has been set. The idea is that users can access the latest version of Adobe’s popular programs (like Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4), without  buying the boxed version and subsequent upgrades. In addition to receiving updates to the programs as soon as they are released, users also get 20GB of cloud storage for syncing their work.

On Amazon, Adobe Photoshop CS5 costs around $639. With a yearly subscription you save about $40. Not an amazing deal if you need to use the software every day, but you could  “rent” it for $50/month, and only use it when you need to meet a deadline, and then stop paying while you are working on something else. The idea is good on paper, but I am not completely sold on the benefits of a subscription system. Unfortunately, I believe that there’s no turning back. This is how we will be buying and using software in the near future.

At the same time Adobe set the “Creative Cloud” pricing, Amazon lowered their S3 storage rates. Small businesses with fairly typical 50 TB of data capacity, will see a 12% reduction in costs. Bigger companies storing up to 500 TB of data will enjoy a 13.5% reduction in costs.

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