Contents
Nexus Q Hacks • Google “Search As You Type” Service • GroupMe • Coding Horror Likes Win8 • Amazon Same Day • Hate your Mobile Carrier • Stone Skipping Robot
Nexus Q Hacks
The Google Nexus Q entertainment sphere has only been out a few days but enterprising experimenters have already created some notable hacks for the Android-based device. One of the best is streaming 1080p Netflix video. The friendly hacking community is posting hints for all to see on the xda-developers Nexus Q forums.
Google Offers “Search As You Type” Service for External Sites
Google is offering a “Search As You Type” service for its AdWords advertisers to use on their own sites. This is a signal that predictive search form completion may become the norm on the web.
New GroupMe Feature Lets Friends Plan and Pay for Group Activities
Looking to distinguish itself from a crowd of competitive services, including Apple’s iMessage, group messaging app GroupMe has introduced Experiences by GroupMe. Friends can choose an activity and associate it with a unique Web address. Using the address they can recruit more friends to attend and each person can pay for their ticket or share of the activity.
Coding Horror Blogger Likes Windows 8
Windows 8 will reach enterprises in August and consumers in October, but it seems to have more word-of-mouth detractors than supporters. Unlike the problems that plagued Windows Vista, the stated issues with Windows 8 are not with its technical performance, but with the user interaction design. Windows 8 supports a legacy interface for older applications and a new Metro interface for new, especially touch, applications. The legacy experience is sufficiently different from Windows 7 to annoy the detractors and many people just don’t seem to want to like Metro. I was interested then, to see that Jeff Atwood, a developer and human factors blogger whose opinions I respect, really likes Windows 8.
Amazon Aims for Same Day Delivery
This article posits that Amazon is abandoning its efforts to fight state sales taxes because it is building out local distribution channels to provide same-day delivery. This strategy will allow Amazon to out-compete bricks and mortar competitors for customers who want their merchandise within 24 hours while still realizing a cost advantage from not maintaining retail storefronts.
This Will Make You Hate Your Mobile Carrier Even More
Verizon and AT&T are engaged in overt price signaling to each other and it is perfectly legal. Meanwhile, their marginal cost for providing text messaging and additional minutes of talk time are essentially zero.
Just One More: Skippy the Stone-Skipping Robot
Resort town Sun Valley Idaho is promoting summer activities by allowing web visitors to control a stone skipping robot. Unfortunately, as of this writing, a mention on Reddit had brought the site to its knees. Perhaps we’ll have to rename the “Slashdot effect” to the Reddit effect. You can read more about it at Gizmag.
TravelTekker 