waterfail.com » Geek Peek

A story about the Semantic Web

rtbox — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:15:36 +0000

I’ve never really liked the whole “web 2.0, web 3.0″ terms though >_<

Web comics that probably couldn’t be improved with lens flare – #1

PacMan Turns 30

aeclasik — Sat, 22 May 2010 01:09:21 +0000

Google Pac-Man

Today, on PAC-MAN’s 30th birthday, you can rediscover some of your 8-bit memories—or meet PAC-MAN for the first time—through our first-ever playable Google doodle. To play the game, go to google.com during the next 48 hours (because it’s too cool to keep for just one day) and either press the “Insert Coin” button or just wait for a few seconds.

Gaming’s greatest crossover!

aeclasik — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:28:00 +0000

This just looks like a beast…

No related posts.

Conan Vs. The Googlers (G-Men)

aeclasik — Sun, 09 May 2010 02:29:33 +0000

Now I’m not big on watching interviews, or anything on youtube for an extended period of time, but this was one of those rare occasions where I kind of lost track of time and ended up watching the whole thing. What starts off as an awkward interview ends up as quite a funny Q&A.

Chrome > Lightning

aeclasik — Thu, 06 May 2010 01:45:27 +0000

When normal benchmarking tools just don’t cut it, use the forces of nature…at least that’s what Google likes to do. Check out the newest video for Google Chrome, which goes along with the rest of their other videos

Speed Tests

The Making of…

Are you BUZZing yet?

aeclasik — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:54:41 +0000

Google Buzz

It seems Google has been busy within the last few weeks trying to broaden their user base by introducing their line of social networking products. First came Disco, Googles version of Last.fm & Pandora and now they are aiming for the two biggest social networks out there, Facebook and Twitter. For those who don’t know yet, or don’t own a Gmail account, I’m talking about Google Buzz.

When you look at Buzz for what it is, you might notice that it is essentially Twitter on crack or a cleaner version of Facebook. Perhaps this means Google feels a little threatened by the success of these social sites and its ability to deliver content in “real-time”. This is one of the main philosophies Google had when developing this product, according to their keynote presentation. Google realized that more and more people are compelled to share, anything, from what they are eating to useful news related content. With the introduction of Buzz, Google is able to find the relevancy in the content people put out on the digital realm.

Unlike most Google products, they usually go through a Beta phase, but Buzz skipped all that and went straight up to the public. Which says, Google really wants this product to be out there now to contend with both Twitter and Facebook.

From a quick look, Buzz does not introduce anything new per-se. But instead, it takes current ideas and try to streamline them with “a Google approach”. During the keynote, Todd Jackson (Buzz Product Manager) stated 5 key features of Buzz. So I’ll try to do a quick run down of them:

Auto follow: With this, your current Gmail address book is essentially your “network” of friends. The problem with something like this versus Facebook, is a lot of people do not own a Gmail account, and especially when all their friends are already using Facebook as a means of communication why go through the trouble of joining another network just to talk to the same people. Which brings up the next key feature.
Rich fast user experience: Personally, I don’t use Facebook all that much. From time to time I will log on just out of curiosity, only to be bombarded with 50+ FarmVille requests. With Buzz, I don’t have to deal with any of that and can just focus on what people are saying. Aside from that, all Gmail keyboard shortcuts have been mapped to work with Buzz.
Private & Public sharing: Since e-mail is seen as one of the only remaining forms of privacy online, Buzz introduces a bridge between the private and public site of the internet. This is causing much controversy among pundits online since Buzz is built directly into Gmail.
Inbox Integration: I quite like this feature and think it will really streamline the whole process of “buzzing”. This integration brings social updates and conversations directly to the Gmail Inbox and from which you can update or reply to any comment without ever having to stray away from the inbox.
Just the good stuff: Though this feature sounds vague, it is quite an important feature when “buzzing”. Google takes the initiative to filter content so you only receive the “good stuff”. This is quite useful when you have friends who constantly Buzz about how awesome their life is, or their day to day tasks.

It will be interesting to see where Google plans to take Buzz in the next few months. Especially what it will mean to current Twitter & Facebook users. I do foresee a future for Buzz but the progression might be very slow at the start, though once people start to realize that Google really know what they are doing, they will all start “buzzing”.

A couple small points:

Love the product name, Buzz really gets my attention. Like what the fuck is tweet, I’m not a damn bird. I’d rather check out the “buzz”
The logo looks super clean and perfect for the product name
The look of the whole interface is much easier to navigate compared to Facebook

Disco Dancer

aeclasik — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:45:32 +0000

Travolta Power!

In recent years Google has already found a way to takeover the online video sharing market with the acquisition of YouTube in late 2006. Now it seems they want to take it a little further with a new “product” from TestTube (similar to Google Labs) called YouTube Disco. Over the last few years, more and more people have been relying on Last.Fm and Pandora for their online music, and it would seem Google wants a piece of the pie.

YouTube Disco Playlist Creator

Like Pandora, Disco has their own discovery tool, but it’s hard to tell how they actually recommend new music for the user. Nonetheless, the recommendation tool worked quite well, and just from 1 search I was able to find some new artists who I’ve never heard of. The best part about Disco is the ability to create your own playlist of videos, which is something these other sites can’t do that well. One thing that seemed apparent, YouTube is really flushing out their Vevo content through Disco. This means, a lot of the videos will be available only in Canada and USA.

iPod, meet your new daddy, iPad

aeclasik — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:36:27 +0000

Apple iPad

While I sit here eating this big beautiful ‘Macintosh Apple’ I think to myself, what is the best way to start off this new blog? Well, the only thing that came to mind was the biggest thing in tech news this week, that being the announcement of the new Apple iPad. Now if you don’t know what this is, or have been living in a cave then let me give you the down low on this ‘magical’ new product.

Apple has recently introduced their entry into the tablet market. This device will act as a halfway point between their already popular line of mp3 player’s, specifically the iPod Touch, and their increasingly popular laptop’s, the MacBook. The iPad (I cringe a little every time I say this), boasts a gorgeous 9.7″ (1024 x 768) touch screen, weigh’s in at only 1.5 pounds, has the latest and greatest in WiFi with 802.11n + there is a 3G model for when WiFi just isn’t enough, I could go on, but that’s what Google is for.

Now you could say, a tablet? Why a tablet? Well, what else does Apple have to release? They clearly have made their mark in the music industry with the iPod’s and have revolutionized the way music is purchased with iTunes Store. Also they are slowly but surely gaining market share with their line of computer hardware. Last but not least, the iPhone, whose sales have literally demolished every other phone available in the market today. So I ask, what else is there? Enter the tablet. Apple has been working on such a product for quite some time now, ever since the Newton back in…whenever that was made. Plus with all their recent developments in the ‘touch’ category, a tablet was inevitable. Though these machines have been around for quite a while, I deem it really hasn’t seen the light of day till now. With all this good news about this product, there just doesn’t seem to be enough new things to excite anyone here at WF.

iBooks

While I was prepping to watch the keynote, I kept saying to myself, ‘ Steve will surely show me something that will blow my mind’. Sadly, it was quite the opposite. Instead what I saw was ‘a very big iPod Touch’ in every way possible. No Flash support for Safari browser, no multi-tasking, no camera, and no USB slots. I honestly have no idea how the people over at Apple saw this device as a halfway point between the iPod Touch and the MacBook. From the looks of it, it leans much closer to the Touch than anything else. Aside from all the limitations, one thing does stand out in my opinion, the new app iBooks and the iBookstore. Personally, I’ve always wanted the Kindle, but I don’t read enough to actually invest in one. With the iPad, it provides me with the option to do so much more than just read e-Books. Plus, it makes me wonder about how this will effect publishing in general. Over the last few years print media has seen a huge decrease in readership especially with all the online content out there. This provides a perfect medium for publishing companies to display all their content right to the hands of the new-age consumer.

All that aside, being an Apple user I have grown quite fond of their products and realized they really know how to make something that will sell (even the MacBook Air sold a decent amount). On the flip side, before this completely flops, it is sure to push some of the other competing companies to release a tablet of their own.