Online Observations

I have to say, the Windows Phone looks really slick

Windows Phone was announced today, and I have to say, I am impressed (if demo videos are anything to go by). It looks really slick, and at least graphically, it makes the iPhone look like something from the last century. Now, if it can only match up the iPhone on usability and ease of use, I am definitely going to consider getting one.

Head over to http://www.windowsphone7series.com/ for demos and general buzz. Notice that they want to call it Windows Phone, and not Windows Mobile 7. They are going to be very strict with manufacturers on the phone specifications (a leaf out of Apple’s book, I guess). Here are a couple of screenshots to get you started.

For a quick understanding of what’s new and what’s it all about, check out the coverage on MobileCrunch: http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/02/15/microsoft-announces-windows-mobile-7-now-officially-dubbed-windows-phone/

Twitter launches local trends

I like this. I really like this. To me, the Twitter trending function didn’t make a lot of sense a whole lot of times. The reason was because a lot of times the trends didn’t really appeal to a worldwide audience and were localized towards wherever the majority of the users come from (the USA?). Anyway, Twitter has now launched Local Trends.

As you can see in the image, you can set a location for where you are, and see what the people there are talking about. I am guessing that Twitter will use the geolocation information for finding out which tweets are coming from where.

You have to set your location for this to work. However, you are going to be disappointed if you do not live in either Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, UK, or the USA. Because these are the only countries for which local trends are supported right now. You can also further fine tune the local trends if you live in any of the 15 cities that are supported right now. A long way to go, but I am guessing now that the basic functionality is up, its just a matter of adding support for newer locations. Anyway, even now, you can see what people in Chicago are talking about, and whether its the same as what people in Atlanta are tweeting.

Nice going, Twitter.

Asterix Turns 50

One of my favorite comics ever turned 50 this week. Asterix by Uderzo and Goscinny. I have the entire collection at home, and since I was a kid I have read these in both Hindi and English. Originally, a French comic, this has been translated in a large number of languages, and has been printed millions of times. On the 50th anniversary of Asterix, a new comic (Vol 34) has been released (which I will get as soon as I can), and this is a great news for all Asterix fans all over. I have read all of mine multiple times, and here comes something new.

Finally, the rest of the world can access the awesome Kindle

The Amazon Kindle book reader has always been in my sights as a must have gadgets. I buy over 50 novels or books each year, and that alone will easily pay off the price of the device in less than a year. Not only that, it will help me because I will reduce the use of paper further in my life (which is being environmentally conscious).

The one thing that has kept me from buying it so far is the fact that it works only inside the United States… or it used to. But that is no longer true. Amazon has now launched an international version of the Kindle – here’s the product page for Kindle International. This is perfect for me. It guarantees connectivity in almost all the places I visit in the world, although the only thing that is free (when it comes to downloading content over the air) is the download of purchased books. That suits me just fine.

I can use the USB connection for translating documents and other reading material by hooking it up to my laptop. I am definitely buying this baby within the next couple of months. This is going to be such a lot of fun.

The only downside is that I will have to give up my love of the physical form of the books. I love books as much for their content as for their feel. For example, I prefer to buy hard cover copies because they are usually printed in better font and on better paper. It makes a noticeable difference in the comfort of reading if you have a nicely printed book. Still, I can’t wait to get my hands on the Kindle.

A perfect match, IMO

Google’s acquisition of reCAPTCHA is a thing that was bound to happen. reCAPTCHA’s technology has been working for identifying printed text from old books by combining them with recognized words in a dual word CAPTCHA. Google of course is spending big money towards books and newspapers, and so it makes perfect sense for them to acquire a company which is already working on digitizing old printed text which cannot be managed reliably through OCR.

Good show reCAPTCHA.

Google releases Chrome version 3, but still no plugins

The latest release of Chrome sneaked up on me (I didn’t notice it update on my computer), but it was a pleasant surprise. I first noticed it when my “New Tab” page started showing a new look. And I like it. It is completely redesigned, and for the better I have to say. One of the newest things that got added to Chrome is Theme support. There is a decent themes gallery which can be used to customize the look and feel of your browser. Here’s a screenshot of the Theme gallery.

There are other improvements and bug fixes, and the browser is supposed to be faster now. However, the one thing that is conspicuously missing is support for plugins.

Yes, there is no plugin support still.

I think till that is available, there will be no major shift to Chrome, especially now that FireFox 3.5 is so much faster in rendering pages.

Twitter makes it clear that spam and bots are not welcome

Last week Twitter released new Terms of Service for its ever popular service. Here’s a blog post by Biz Stone Twitter’s new TOS describing the new terms of service in a rather interesting manner. One of the main things to notice about the new Terms of Service is that there are specific sections dedicated towards usage of API, storage limits, mail bombing, viruses, etc. This sends out a clear message to people who have been using the API to their own selfish ends. I am pretty happy with this because Twitter was getting to be a real pain with all these marketers, bots, and spam.