Google Reader Redesign

Posted on 11/01/2011 by Harry

Google Reader released their updated design yesterday.

I haven’t had a lot of time to play with it but what I see so far I like.

The updated design is minimalistic and stays true to the other design updates Google’s been applying to their other products. Google Reader even seems to load a little bit faster which is a huge win in my opinion.

Some people are upset about the layout of the new sharing options and how it blatantly promotes Google+ sharing. To that I say: big deal. If you can help your own product in any way you’d do the same.

The main issue I was worried about when the re-design was announced was that the usability of Google Reader would decline. Ater using it for one day I find my speed at reading through hundreds of RSS items to have not slowed in any way.

Good job Google Reader team!

Today’s Top Tech Headlines

Posted on 10/12/2011 by Harry

Today was an insanely busy day for tech.

Let’s recap just so our heads don’t spin off our shoulders:

Apple Released iOS 5 to the public. This set off riots of upgrades, overwhelming Apple’s servers and preventing hundreds of thousands from upgrading to the goodness that is iOS 5. Dark times.

Apple released OS X 10.7.2 which brings iCloud compatibility to OS X. Now you can access all the neatness of iCloud directly from your iMac or MacBook. One of the coolest goodies is photo stream: take a picture on your iPhone and zap! It’s waiting for you in Aperture or iPhoto. Nice one Apple.

Google was rumored to buy Akamai, one of the largest CDN’s around. Then the rumor said they aren’t going to buy Akamai. I’m hoping for a new tech rumor to come out tomorrow that Google is going to buy Exxon Mobil to power their new data centers with gasoline. That’d be amazing.

Renown author Steve Yegge accidentally published a Google+ rant about Google’s institutionalized inability to become a platform like Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook. He took down the mistakenly public post only to have it reposted across the interwebs. As the old saying goes, if you want something to be private don’t put it on the internet. Then again, the rant was excellent, and a very fun read.

Every blog under the sun had 20+ posts about Apple’s new launches today. I swear to god, I’m never going to see a doctor again for as long as I live. (That is in reference to the old saying, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’.)

Oh and I’m proud to mention that GetGlue and company (that means me!) released some new code into the wild, making our site the best its ever been (just like what every code release does: make things better). [Of course that’s ignoring code regressions, but those don’t count - rather I’m not counting them here.]

So that’s the world of tech, today, October 12th, 2011. Tune in next week folks!

Update: In more somber news Dennis Ritchie, creator of the C programming language, passed away today. A moment of silence for this great and hugely influential man.

Google Acquires Motorola Mobility; HP Drops Consumer PC Business

Posted on 08/22/2011 by Harry

Last week two huge pieces of tech news was released. Both have the potential to change the current computing landscape in a big way. The fact that they were both announced within a week’s time of each other made last week a blur of commentary and punditry.

The first big piece of news to break last week was Google’s announcement that it is acquiring Motorola Mobility (the hardware/Android division of Motorola). The ramifications of this action are great. Through this acquisition Google will have access to a hardware manufacturer, giving them the ability to create an Android phone that they control from the software all the way down to the hardware.
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Google Cr-48 Chrome OS Flash Review

Posted on 06/01/2011 by Harry

Today, mostly on a whim, I grabbed my Google Cr-48 Chrome OS notebook with me to take on the train into work. At home I use the device infrequently for two reasons: 1) My first experience was with an early build that still had trackpad issues – causing my use of the device to be highly frustrating and un-enjoyable. 2) You can’t beat the power of a MacBook Pro.

Still, one area that the Cr-48 excels is its lightweight and portability. I don’t know how much a Cr-48 weighs but it is most certainly less than the ~4lbs of my 13″ MacBook Pro. And that’s something that I greatly value. I hate carrying around my bag all day, and when it’s heavy I hate it even more. So having a lightweight notebook in tow is absolutely delightful.

Right now I’m on train somewhere between Stamford and Grand Central station. Definitely closer to Stamford as it’s not even 9am. When I first got on the train I threw my bag onto the overhead storage shelf and sat with my phone – but after less than five minutes I got up and dragged out this here Cr-48 that I’m writing on right now. I brought it to try it out didn’t I? So I might as damn well give it a try!
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Google’s Body Browser

Posted on 12/16/2010 by Harry

I don’t know any other company that has as many fun side-projects as Google does. From the now defunct Google Wave to the recently updated Google Earth Google seems to always be buzzing with a new toy to share. Today’s newest Google Lab release is no exception. Allow me to introduce you to Google’s Body Browser, bringing the power and interactivity of Google Earth to the human body. View this post for more details.

Oh, Funny Google Searches

Posted on 11/04/2010 by Harry

Hehe. I was looking at the search queries people use to find my blog. One from today is “who got d7000 from wolf camera?” Hehe.

Exploring Git

Posted on 10/28/2010 by Harry

Was doing some research on git today. I’ve been using SVN a lot at work and was looking to start using SVN at home for my personal projects but, per a reminder by a co-worker, I set my eyes back to git and have just been doing some reading onto its capabilities and use. I’ve found that git is a very handsome revision control system. (If you’d like for me to go into more detail on what a revision control system is, why it’s useful, and why it’s awesome, just leave a comment asking for a post and I’ll do so.)

Starting with Six Revisions introductory guide to git, I felt like I had a good base understanding of what git is (as compared to other revision control systems). From that article I branched out onto Google and came across this gittutorial Manual page hosted by kernel.org. After going through the entire tutorial, and performing the actions described, I feel pretty confident that I’ll be able to start using git without any problems.

So no more worrying about losing a version of a file after I experiment with something else. This is going to make my web development life tons easier.

Week of Links 014 & 015

Posted on 10/23/2010 by Harry

This is a double-featured Week of Links because I’m so late getting it online. This covers this past week, and the week before that one.

As you can tell these posts are becoming harder to keep on top of, and as such I am going to have to put my ‘Week of Links’ on hiatus for a little bit. Life has gotten way too busy and I simply don’t have the right amount of time to dedicate to these posts. Also I want to start focusing on longer term projects. That means that they’ll be less regular updates from me, but hopefully with more things to share when I do update.

For now please enjoy this latest Week of Links.

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Week of Links 013

Posted on 10/14/2010 by Harry

I know it’s late. Life’s getting busy. You should be able to enjoy what I’ve found for you here. Let me know what you like best.

Also I’m sure you’ve noticed the new ‘Week of Links’ graphic. Courtesy of Rachel. Thanks Rachel.
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Harry Wolff

Personal blog of Harry Wolff. Web creative with passion for novelty.

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