Meet Google's secret weapon for fighting Apple and Microsoft

(Credit: Photo by: Jason Hiner/CNET)

Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha pulled off one of the most difficult things to do in the technology industry: He surprised people at a press conference.
When Jha took the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 and revealed the Motorola Atrix smartphone and the "Lapdock" that made it act like a laptop computer, it sent reporters scrambling. They expected the unveiling of the Motorola Xoom, the highly anticipated and already-leaked first official Android tablet to take on the Apple iPad. But, it was the Atrix and the Lapdock that stole the show.
Was this a hybrid smartphone/PC, the veritable missing link of computing? If so, how did it work?
The key was Motorola's homegrown software called "Webtop" that made the Atrix act like a computer once it was docked. When Webtop launched with the Atrix two months later, the obvious question was how Motorola beat platform giants Microsoft and Apple to the converged smartphone-PC device?
The answer is complicated but fascinating, and on the eve of Motorola Mobility's merger with Google, it leaves the combined companies in an enviable position. The success of Android has established Google as a key player in mobile computing devices, and once consumers and business users start looking to consolidate their many devices, Webtop could make Google the company that's best positioned to make that consolidation possible.
CNET and its sister site TechRepublic interviewed current and former Motorola and Google employees as well as industry experts to explain how Webtop emerged from a brainstorming session to become, potentially, a major weapon in the fight for dominance in the next generation of computing platforms. What emerged from our reporting is a clear picture of a technology that disappointed initially but may be about to spring into the mainstream.
The idea of using a phone as a fully functional computer has been around for more than a decade, of course. In the late 1990s, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates often said a phone would eventually replace the big PC towers. More recently, Apple CEO Steve Jobs declared the arrival of the "Post-PC" era in 2010, as the iPad's surprising popularity began to erode overall PC sales.
Still, neither Microsoft nor Apple have made the leap to using their smartphones as PC replacements. That gives Motorola/Google a lot of running room as it waits for final regulatory approval from China.

The Secret Weapon

Webtop started in mid-2009 with a handful of engineers in Motorola's Sunnyvale, Calif., lab thinking about how they could get past the frustration of the mobile Web browsing experience.
"There are Web sites that simply don't work without a mouse," said Sean Chau, Motorola's chief software engineer. He and his engineers wanted to make that exasperating mobile experience a thing of the past. "It was just a few folks getting together and saying, 'What can we do?'"
Once they settled on a rough concept of a dockable phone with a desktop environment and a full Web browser embedded inside, Chau's team quickly "hacked something together."
Great idea. But the fate of the project hung on whether Chau could sell it to their CEO, Jha. First, Chau sent Jha video clips that showed the user experience for Webtop on very early prototypes. Then he explained in phone conversations that Webtop was meant to give a docked smartphone the "full Firefox browser including download and upload support, full Adobe Flash for desktop, and multi-window multitasking," said Chau. "At a high level, the key positioning was maximizing the user experience of your cell phone with a keyboard, mouse, and large screen."
Finally, Chau met with Jha and presented him with working prototypes. He showed how right-click, copy-and-paste, the scroll wheel, and window resizing all worked in Webtop just like they did on a PC.
Jha connected with the concept. "The moment he saw those demos, he wanted to go for it," Chau said.
Webtop would later be tied to the Atrix smartphone since the two products arrived in the market at the same time. But at that point, "We were working on Webtop before an Atrix ever existed," Chau said.

From the Motorola press conference at CES 2011, this photo shows the Atrix in a desktop dock with Webtop running on a standard monitor.

(Credit: Jason Hiner/CNET)

Just as Webtop was starting to take shape at Motorola at the end of 2009, AT&T sent out a confidential RFP to its smartphone hardware partners asking them to submit their best concepts for a "game-changing" Android device.
It was a proverbial "pivot" moment for AT&T. It wasn't offering any Android phones and its exclusive agreement with Apple for the iPhone was going to end in December 2010. What's more, AT&T's Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices were running out of steam and it needed something it could put a lot of promotion behind. On Motorola's side, it had just launched the original Droid in partnership with Verizon. The Droid was the first Android 2.0 device and it was already a hot seller. The rest of the wireless industry suddenly wanted in on Android.
The match made sense. Motorola and AT&T execs had a private meeting in Las Vegas at CES 2010, where Motorola showed off its idea for a new device codenamed "Evora." AT&T liked what it saw and over the next two months the two companies went back and forth on details. In time, Motorola introduced the idea of adding something new to Evora called "Virgil" (the codename for Webtop). The Motorola team was excited about Virgil, but AT&T executives? Not so much.
It was time for another Chau demo. This time he had to convince AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega. Chau flew to AT&T headquarters in Atlanta and went through his Webtop dog-and-pony show. The AT&T chief was hooked. "We've got to have this," Chau recounted de la Vega saying. "Webtop is something best experienced," Chau added. "It's hard to describe over the phone or even in slides. We did much better in person showing working prototypes."
Once AT&T was on board with the "Virgil" concept, the stage was set for the Atrix to become a spotlight-grabber.
By March 2010, Sprint and HTC were hogging the Android headlines at CTIA Wireless 2010 with the new HTC EVO phone and AT&T and Motorola needed an awnser. The Atrix was fast-tracked. A top phone launch usually has a lead time of 12-18 months in order to line up marketing and finish product development. The Atrix was shortened to about six months to get it ready for the holiday season. For the Webtop team, that meant dropping everything on their long-term development of the OS and focusing on getting the software to work on this one phone.
There were snags. One of the biggest was RAM. It turned out the phone was going to need way more RAM than even the most high-end smartphones in order to load Webtop alongside Android. Chau's team had to appeal to CEO Jha to get it.
"Without Sanjay's push, we wouldn't have gotten the RAM we needed," said Chau. "It's not cheap. We needed that kind of financial and organizational support."
Jha also had to provide the funding and executive backing for the special laptop docking device that the team was developing. It was going to be slim and slick, but it was going to be expensive to produce and it would have to be priced fairly high. But, the Motorola team thought that it would generate far more buzz than just a glorified desktop dock that attached to a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. There were already phones that were starting to connect to HDTVs (including the EVO). Jha agreed.
"Sanjay really pushed on the Lapdock," Chau said.
All the pushing worked. By the fall, the device moved into the testing stage and AT&T invited 10 CIOs from Fortune 500 companies to get a demo of the Atrix and Webtop. The consensus: You've got a winner if you integrate Citrix, an enterprise technology that allows companies to host desktop apps like Microsoft Office on servers and users simply connect to those servers and then run the apps from there.
Around the same time Citrix came up at the CIO pow-wow, AT&T told Motorola that it wanted to change the new device to add chips for HSPA+, its speed-boosting 3G service (AT&T would later spin it as 4G). This was a response to Verizon, which was about to launch LTE, a true 4G service.
The thinking was that if AT&T's flagship Android device went to market without the fastest wireless chips, customers wouldn't think it as a high-end device. AT&T and Motorola had a decision to make: Launch in time for the holiday season or delay the product to add Citrix and HSPA+? They bet on the two big additions and pushed the launch back to CES 2011 in January.
The launch was a success. Webtop caught the entire tech industry by surprise. Competitors didn't have anything like it. Both CNET and Engadget named the Atrix the "Best of CES" in smartphones.
My headline at the time was:
Breakthrough device of CES: Motorola Atrix = Phone + PC

The Motorola Atrix and the original Lapdock were unveiled at this January 2011 press conference at CES.

(Credit: Jason Hiner/CNET)

The problem with Webtop

There was a hitch: The first version of Webtop was awful.
But, it was awful in the same way that Android 1.0 was awful. It was awful in the way the original MacBook Air was awful. You didn't want to use it right away, but once you tried it, you had a feeling that it was bursting with promise, and a sense of inevitability.
Unfortunately, Webtop could be so slow that it was practically unusable if you wanted to work with it for more than about an hour. It could lag at doing simple tasks like launching the Web browser or opening the Android app window that allowed you to use your mobile apps from within Webtop. Even though the Atrix was the first major smartphone to sport 1GB of RAM, it still felt unbearably sluggish in Webtop mode. Ultimately, Webtop was 1.0 software and it felt like 1.0 software.
Still, plenty of corporate customers decided to run trials. A year later, Motorola reports the number of companies testing Webtop devices has grown significantly, but none of these companies are willing to talk about it. (That's never a good sign.) While neither AT&T nor Motorola will release numbers on the sales of the original Atrix, it's safe to call it a disappointment. It generated tremendous buzz and got a lot of positive reviews from the tech press. But that was a grade on a curve, based more on potential than the device itself.
Nonetheless, as Google nears finalizing its acquisition of Motorola, the tide may be turning on sales of Webtop devices, and that could set up a huge opportunity for Google and Android to use Webtop to launch a full frontal attack on Apple and Microsoft.

What will Google do?

Webtop recently has made several big strides. After the tepid reception of the Atrix, Motorola launched Webtop on several other devices on multiple carriers during 2011: The Photon (Sprint), the Droid Bionic (Verizon), and the Atrix 2 (AT&T). Then, at the end of the 2011, Motorola quietly rolled out Webtop 2.0, tucked into the Motorola Droid Razr, a stylish, high-end LTE phone on Verizon.
Webtop 2.0 had several key improvements:

• An updated version of Firefox.
• Offline syncing for Google docs.
• Webtop's App Bar became customizable.
• Added the ability to see the battery life of both the phone and the dock simultaneously.
• Improved the management of phone and dock charging.
• Added VGA video-out capability (the common port used to connect to conference room projectors and many computer monitors).
• Added support for more PC expansion ports.

This screenshot of Webtop 2.0 shows the Mobile View app, which is used to access all of the phone's apps and settings while it is docked.

(Credit: Jason Hiner/CNET)

After launching the updated version of the Webtop software in the Razr, Motorola unveiled a new version of the dock called the Lapdock 500 Pro that sported a 14-inch screen, a Web cam, a VGA video port, SD card slot, Ethernet jack, headphone jack, and even a set of Android shortcut keys on the keyboard. This made Webtop + Lapdock a much more viable PC replacement.
While the original Lapdock was thin, slick, and brushed metallic, the Lapdock 500 Pro had a more utilitarian look in the mode of a MacBook Pro or a business-class HP laptop. Most importantly, Motorola finally got the price right. The original Lapdock was $499. Motorola sells the Lapdock 500 for $349, but the price at Amazon and other retailers is $249. Verizon regularly runs specials where sells it for $149 when a customer buys it with a Motorola smartphone.
While AT&T eventually cooled on Webtop and the Lapdock after the disappointing sales of the Atrix and Atrix 2, Verizon, perhaps a better fit because of its Verizon Business division, carried on.
Verizon also looks at Webtop and the Lapdock as more than just an enterprise product. The carrier thinks it could be a tool for consumer technophiles and individual business professionals. In February, Verizon put a lot of promotion behind Webtop and the Lapdock by giving them a prominent spot in its Droid Razr commercials.
Verizon declined to comment on the sales numbers of its Webtop-powered phones or the Webtop accessories, but everyone I've spoken with at Verizon has been very familiar with the Lapdock and generally upbeat about it.
In March, I spoke with a sales representative at one of Verizon's large retail locations and asked if they were carrying the LapDock 500. He said the store was selling it, but since the new commercials started running the store was having a hard time keeping them in stock. However, smaller Verizon stores that I called said that they only sold the Lapdock 500 as a phone order item and didn't have any in stock.
Michelle Gilbert, public relations manager at Verizon Wireless, said, "We tend to see more business customers who travel a lot purchasing the LapDock 500 Pro."

He also said that there's no virtualization involved. The bottom line: It would be relatively straightforward for Google to integrate Webtop into the native Android code without complicated software engineering. And, by the time Google would pull this off in the next major release of Android, dual core hardware will be standard on virtually all smartphones (with quad core on high-end smartphones), providing the power Webtop needs to run smoothly.

There's another x-factor: Google's ChromeOS. ChromeOS and Webtop are very similar animals. If you look at Google's Chromebooks and Motorola's Webtop + Lapdock, you see browser-centric operating systems based on Linux. It's all about giving users a fast, slimmed-down laptop experience. It lets you get on the Internet and access all of your Web apps and services in a traditional computer browser with a mouse and keyboard, but without all of the extra overhead and distraction of a full operating system like Windows or Mac.
Chromebooks have never taken off, of course, and from a technical standpoint ChromeOS and Android have no connection or integration. That's where Webtop comes in. Webtop could become the bridge between Android and ChromeOS. Google could merge the Webtop and ChromeOS teams, take the best of both of code bases -- the speed of ChromeOS and the fuller experience of Webtop -- and emerge with an empowered version of ChromeOS that is now integrated into Android.
In the smartphone war against Apple, this would give Android a feature the iPhone likely will not have any time soon. Appealing to consumers? Maybe. Many of them could replace an ailing old Windows PC with a dockable Android smartphone.
Appealing to business customers? Absolutely. Most companies are moving business apps to either the cloud or private browser-based apps. Webtop-enabled Android devices -- if they are well-orchestrated -- could take a big bite out of the corporate sales of Windows.
But it's no slam dunk. The fragmentation of Android and the fiasco of Android updates has shown that Google is not yet a master of working with hardware partners, and adding the complexity of a dual-purpose device will demand even stronger leadership from Google. It's going to have to get tougher and more persuasive with hardware makers.
There's also the question of convincing hardware partners -- many of whom would be cannibalizing sales of their own Windows PCs -- to get on board with this converged strategy. The best argument that Google will be able to make will be that the hardware makers can replace low-margin PC sales with high-margin mobile accessory sales (docks).
Perhaps the biggest problem is Webtop brain drain. In February, Webtop's biggest champion, Seang Chau, left Motorola just as U.S. and EU regulators were approving the Google deal. Chau jumped to Microsoft to lead the mobile division of Skype. While Sarah Gaeta, Motorola's director of product management for Webtop, said no one else has left the Webtop team, the loss of Chau was a body blow.
Google is still unwilling to talk about the trajectory of Webtop and how it could shape the future strategy of ChromeOS. But last Fall when Google announced that it was buying Motorola, it said, "The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem."
We're about to see how much they really mean it.

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Monetize your blog with Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger

When you share your words, thoughts and photos on Blogger, you are sharing your passions with the world. Sometimes, you’re passionate about brands or products. Starting today, you can make money by promoting relevant products in your posts, gaining income for each new customer you introduce to your favorite brands.

This is a new way for you to monetize your blog, giving you control over the advertisers and products you promote, and better connecting your readers with the things you love.

 To get started, go to the Earnings tab on Blogger, and click “Get Started”. If you have an existing AdSense account and the content of your blog matches available ad categories, you're already set. Select an affiliate ad from the “Advertiser Products” widget that appears in the Post Settings panel in the post editor. If you don’t already have an AdSense account, sign up.

When you post about a brand or product from a featured advertiser, the Google Affiliate Ads for Blogged widget will help you to display an affiliate ad in your blog, which can be a text link, a product image, or a banner. You may earn commissions when someone clicks on your ads and makes a purchase on the advertiser’s site, going beyond “payment per click” to “payment per action” and extending the influential relationship you have with your audience.

Get started with Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger today to monetize your blog and bring your readers to the products you love.

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Facebook Updates Android App: 1.9 Adds Photos, Message Sharing From Home Screen

Facebook has released an update to its Android app today that should give users of the social network on Android devices a more integrated and instant experience — and takes Facebook another step closer to making its mobile app experience more like the one people have when using the social network on the web.

Specifically, the new version lets users share photos and messages direct from the home screen of their devices, and it includes several features that had been in the standalone Messenger app.
Facebook for Android 1.9, according to a blog post from Facebook software engineer Frank Qixing Du, also integrates several features that had been in Facebook’s separate Messenger app. These include the ability to see when your friends are online or on their mobile devices; the ability to add people to a group conversation; and a more intelligent contact list, sorting it by the people you interact with most.
After updating the app, camera shortcuts and messaging shortcuts will also appear in your Android app tray, as shortcuts separate from the Facebook app itself:

As before, you will also be able to upload photos, track what your friends are uploading and writing, and look up the phone numbers of your contacts.
So far, the reviews in the Google Play app store have been mixed. On the minus side, several are pointing out that there is now some confusion between Facebook’s Camera and Messenger apps, and those that users would have already had — the native Android apps. Also these new additions take up extra space for now. On the plus side, there’s strong praise for the new design and better Messenger integration.

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Facebook Allows File Sharing With Rollout Of .Edu-Exclusive “Groups For Schools”

With today’s rollout of college collaboration tool “Groups For Schools”, Facebook gets nostalgic for Zuck’s Wirehog and lets students share un-copyrighted files up to 25mb. Soon all U.S. colleges and then those around the world will be able to create groups for dorms, classes, and clubs that can only be joined by people with that school’s “.edu” email address. The idea is that you’ll share more nerdy or racy content if it’ll only reach your classmates.
We broke the news in December of Facebook first testing Groups For Schools at Brown and Vanderbilt, but it’s made several tweaks, including easier messaging between classmates and a better-converting onboarding flow that shows your friends who are already signed up and auto-creates groups for your dorm, clubs and more. If Facebook gets serious about file sharing it could become a dangerous competitor to Dropbox.

A few details on the new file sharing capability. Groups For Schools users can click an “Upload File” button above the news feed. It accepts files up to 25mb in size, but no .exe files are permitted to prevent malicious programs from going viral. Other students can download the files straight from the news feed. To avoid legal issues, Facebook monitors for and disallows copyrighted files, so this won’t become your new source for MP3s and pirated movies, and leaves a somewhat sketchy gap for Dropbox to fill.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s pre-Facebook project was a peer-to-peer file sharing service called Wirehog, but it didn’t have such protections. It was part of Facebook until early 2006 when Sean Parker “put a bullet in that thing” to prevent Facebook from getting shut down for copyright infringement the way his previous company Napster did. Now Facebook will surely be watching to see if file sharing is a hit, and could roll it out to all users or look to acquire someone in the space if people love it. Dropbox might be a bit big, but a small tech + talent acquisition could go down. Facebook already has what it needs, though, as it bought file sharing service Drop.io in 2010, along with its founder Sam Lessin who went on to create Timeline.

Facebook has saturated much of the market for college students. So if it can’t get more users in this key demographic, it wants them to engage more. Back when I joined Facebook at Stanford in early 2004, people felt like they could share anything because it would only be seen by others at our school or the few others allowed on the service. You could also list your specific courses on your profile, which was a great way to find and friend people you met in class. With time, though, Facebook opened to all schools, and then everyone, students got worried about discussing parties or nerdy physics homework, and Facebook lost some of this engagement.

Groups For Schools could emulate this now-lost safe haven. Anything you post within the Groups For Schools section for your college can only be seen by other students who’ve authenticated through their .edu email address. That means no worries about parents, young siblings, or potential recruiters seeing your drunken frat party photos. It will also spare your friends back home from geeky news feed stories about you looking for people to study with. Students who want access when Groups For Schools reaches their university can sign up here.

This all follows a trend Facebook has been trying to foster: share more with fewer people. That’s why it created Smart Friend lists, put privacy controls into the news feed publisher, and launched the standard Groups feature for everyone. The same way that Facebook started by rolling out to colleges, then companies, Groups For Businesses could be on the way. That means companies like Yammer and products like Google Docs better study up, because Facebook’s social graph-equipped Groups could put them to the test.

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What a Web Designer Should Learn from Steve Jobs

Recently, Steve Jobs announced that he has given up the CEO position from Apple but many people didn’t notice that he said he will continue to work in the company, believing that Steve Jobs have quit his soul project. I am sure that Apple will develop Steve ideas and his amazing vision won’t be ignored by the new CEO. Talking about Apple, the no. 1 company in the world, this is in fact the story of a single, but amazing individual, Steve Jobs.
Along time he has created this brand, was forced to abandon it and a few years after, Apple was managed again by him. The second mandate was one that will enter into the history, the “iproducts” being turned into a nice reality. From Steve Jobs anyone can learn something; he managed a huge company in a perfect manner and developed many fascinating ideas that it’s impossible not to pay attention to him. Here, we have a blog dedicated to web designers, hence it’s normal to present some aspects that can be learned from Steve Jobs and apply them in design or in the management of a web design career. It will be great that each visitor comes with his opinion about Steve Jobs and his manner of work; the more brains, the more competent conclusions we will obtain.

_{1. The design is decisive}

From iPads, Iphones and iPods any web designer must understand that, in our economic conditions, a product is appreciated only if it has a perfect design. The opportunities are almost countless and, in order to sell and be profitable, anyone should be attractive but also guarantee top quality. It’s enough for a single detail to be neglected that the potential clients will look after another solution. In these circumstances, a wise web designer won’t allow himself to do any mistakes and will double check his work before presenting it to the customers. A misshaped logo or a bad color combination represents a sufficient reason to reject a layout and an unsatisfied client can be the worst advertising ever.

2. Clients pay a lot of money for quality

Jobs didn’t own the patent for this idea but he made it fundamental in the management of Apple. As long as the products created are the best in the world, it’s a normal conclusion to also be the most expensive. Some people consider it an avaricious mentality but it hides the base of a future growth: without money, the development of the next innovations is impossible. Besides that, which genial employer will work for a small amount of money? Obviously, the same Steve Jobs, his annual revenue from Apple being 1$.

3. Marketing is the entity that bring clients, the quality of the products maintains them

Definitely, the correct application of this idea is the source of profit for Apple and the web designer must be aware of it. Marketing isn’t optional, as I said people all around the world have an amazing number of options and, in order to be noticed by them, a strategy is required to be well-known, to be a selling brand. This aspect was the strong point of Apple and it must be a good example for any web designer. Yes, it’s true, you may be the best web designer but as if you aren’t known by too many clients, no project is gained and no money directed in your account.
Surely, a wise marketing strategy will make people buy a product or require the services of somebody but once they are disappointed by these, they won’t ever come back. Also, the great CEO took this into account and manufactured the best quality ever seen on market. The same principle can be applied with the web designers: it is not enough to have a strong portfolio and pay a good SEO specialist to appear first in the Google searches, you should offer the best services to all your clients.

4. Discipline, hard work and self-evaluation are mandatory to be successful

It’s pretty simple to say that, from now, someone will offer only the best products and services. To be the best a strong discipline is required, many hours of hard work per day, many sacrifices and a correct evaluation of the situation. These are the ingredients of the precise recipe for success but very few people manage to get over at any price. The great merit of Steve Jobs is that he has made a lot of sacrifices; even if the competition is harsh and his health isn’t perfect, he keeps up-to-date to make new brilliant innovations. All people, including web designers must comprehend that nothing qualitative can be achieved without any effort and personal sacrifice.

5. Establish a clear direction and never give up

No matter if you are a web designer working in a company or a freelancer, you must establish some clear directions to follow and never quit the dream of turning it into reality. Don’t be afraid to dream, it is the advice from Steve, he believed in his objectives and anything else didn’t matter. Having clear checkpoints, it is easier to evaluate yourself and see the advance until reaching the desired purposes.

6. Ask your subordinates to be better, but you must be the best

“My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better” is one of the most commented phrases of Steve Jobs and once its essence is fully understood, a manager will become wiser all of a sudden. We don’t like them but the role of bosses is to make the subordinates work better, faster and sooner or later perfectly. In spite of that, it’s immoral to ask someone to do something that you have no idea how to solve, the subordinates have a special gift to see if a boss is specialist or just an ordinary amateur. Their respect of them is gained only by the real specialists and Steve Jobs really demonstrated what passion, innovation, strong will and intelligence means.
I hope you noticed that there is nothing new, original or secret, all these are well-known before Steve Jobs but he deserves his eulogies because he is the one who cumulated all the qualities needed to be the best manager. Please let me know if you agree with this idea and share your thoughts with us!

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How to Create CSS3 Buttons [Tutorial]

 

Topic: CSS3
Difficulty: Beginner
Estimated completion time: 30 mins

In this tutorial we will be making some cool CSS3 buttons and we will try to make a precise copy of them. Let’s get started…

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Google+: Should Facebook Be Worried?

We all know that the social networking world just got a little more crowded with the introduction of Google+. This fast growing new network aims to dominate the reigning social champion that is Facebook and people sure are buzzing like Google+ has a chance. However, one must pose the question: Is Facebook actually nearing its end and will Google+ dethrone the king?
The answer is simply, no. Too many roadblocks are in Google’s planned path to the top. For one, with over 750 million users, Facebook has become very, very well established on a worldwide basis. In fact, if Facebook were a country, it’d be the third most populous nation in the world. Google+ has too long a way to go to even remotely come near the power of Facebook. It’s like the iPod and Zune situation that happened a few years ago: the iPod was too popular for any other competitor to have a chance in the market and, ultimately, the Zune died. Where is the space for Google+?
Seriously, congratulations to Google+ for reaching ten million users in a very quick three weeks when it took Facebook three years to reach twelve million users. The speed of Google+ adoption surely is impressive. However, let’s think critically about these numbers.

The people who have created a Google+ account are clearly interested in social media and it must be a fairly large part of their life to actually want to test out a beta version of a new service. Because of this, it’s safe to say that most Google+ users still use their Facebook to stay connected with their friends on that service. They’re still updating their status, sharing newsworthy stories, and uploading photos. So, just because Google+ has twenty million users does not mean that Facebook has lost twenty million. To be honest, I’ve created a Google+ profile but do not use it because what is there to do? I can choose to communicate with the seven people I’m connected to on Google+ or communicate with these seven and over 500 more on Facebook. The choice is easy.

The numbers are only one side of the story, though. Additionally, requiring people to switch from a well-established service is too large a barrier for Google+. The activity of Facebooking has practically become a ritual activity for most young people. Who doesn’t have the App on their smartphone, use Chat to communicate with friends during a college class, or check their News Feed after work? For many, Facebook has become an ingrained, required activity in their day and users have invested hours upon hours into their profiles. Many people have tons of interests, connected to pages and groups, and filled their page with large amounts of pictures and videos. Basically, Google+ is asking people to scrap their efforts on Facebook and start fresh, only to redo the same things all over again.

And, what about my 50-something year old parents and all the other late Facebook adopters? What has caused Facebook’s numbers to increase so much lately isn’t the same as to what caused it to grow a few years ago. Lately its older, middle-aged adults finally, maybe grudgingly, creating accounts, not young people. These people have created an account probably because they felt they have to in order to stay connected. I highly doubt that they would at all be interested in switching their learning and using efforts to a new service like Goolge+.
This brings us to the point that Google+ is nearly identical to Facebook. Where is the incentive to create an account on a site that offers the same service? Some will say that Google+ has features that Facebook does not, like Circles and Hangouts. This is not true. Facebook already has a Circles feature titled Lists. Truth be told, most people do not use Lists, but it is still there. Also, Facebook has already matched Hangouts with Skype integration.
It really comes down to a one or the other decision because people do not have any more time to devote to social media. To communicate with both Facebook and Google+ users would make even the simplest task tedious. Can you really imagine someone updating their status on both services, let alone posting photos?
I believe the deal breaker for Google+ is the number of people on Facebook. Simply put, people will stay where their friends are: and their friends are on Facebook.
With two highly similar social networks, the best that will come out of this situation is innovation. Both services are competing with each other, with nearly endless resources I’ll add, trying to best the other’s features. This will only benefit the end-user and, ultimately, in my opinion, Facebook users. A theoretical example is Google+ could develop a new feature; Facebook would see what works and what does not and then provide their users with an innovation that works better, thus eliminating a reason to switch services. In fact, Facebook should take a hint from Google+’s Circles and redesign Lists.
Because Google+ has been positioned as a “Facebook killer”, it has neglected to compete with easier, less established targets like LinkedIn and Twitter. Facebook has become for friends and family, LinkedIn is for professionals, and Twitter has become a nearly unmanageable free-for-all where content is basically lost forever minutes after posting. I’d love to see Google+ repositioned to invade Twitter’s space.
Now I’m going to bring up the debacle that is (was?, I don’t know anymore) Myspace. Google+ does not seem to have much to offer in order to do to Facebook, what Facebook did to Myspace. Where Myspace failed was in their lack of a definite marketing strategy. Sure, at first it was a way to connect to friends, and then all I saw was a music promotion website that was all the while becoming unusable due to outrageous load times from dancing and glittering backgrounds, instant-starting videos and audio files, and endless spam posts about checking out a new artist or porn website. Facebook stepped in and defined itself as an easy, clean way to socialize online. We know that Facebook’s strategy works because it has allowed it to reach an estimated value of around 75 billion dollars. This isn’t to say that Google+ couldn’t take over one day, but Facebook must be doing something extremely right in order to have been around so long.
Google+ simply cannot be the same service that Facebook is. If they do not find a better strategy to position their offering, Facebook has nothing to fret about.
What does everyone else think about Google+? Are you deleting your Facebook and making the big switch? Did I miss something completely? Please share your thoughts.

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18 Essential iPhone Apps For Web Developers

Now that iPhones are getting more and more popular, the categories of people using them range from simple users, that only need the basic functionality of the phone – for the calling purpose, to people that try to stay updated and in pace with new technologies or even are somehow related with it, like web developers. For web developers, that are, in most cases, obsessed with their work and are practically tied to their PC or notebook, it’s very important to have something that can cover at least some of the necessities that emerge when away, with some inspiration to deal with and only with their mobile at hand. If this mobile is an iPhone, then rest assured that your needs will be covered, as there are millions of applications to play with when there’s nothing on your mind except that new idea for your website that won’t stop bugging you until it’s transformed into some coding. These great applications that would make any web developer happy have their cost ranging from free to just a few dollars.
Here are 18 of them that we consider essential and a must have in order to part gladly with your pc at least for some time if in vacation or just away. So take a look and decide for yourself how useful and helpful would they be when there’s the need of performing some tasks on the go or applying some changes to a project in the last minute.

Code Cheat Sheets

 

 

Color Stream

FTP on the Go

Ego

Read & Note

Source Viewer

Developer’s Tool Kit

Web Tools

What The Font

Full Screen Web Browser

Network Utility

Dropbox

Analytics App

HTML Cheat Sheet

php Cheat Sheet

CSS Cheat Sheet

jQuery Cheat Sheet

DatabaseViewer

Source: http://designmodo.com/iphone-apps-web-developers/#ixzz1iqIeVzsx

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The Latest Trends in Web Design

Web design has gone from a simple page presentation of certain information on the Internet to fancy design, with intricate details and complicated applications; hence it is an industry walking hand in hand with the increasing needs of the fast developing technology and trends.

Trends come and go, some of the old trends are hidden in a box, while other old trends come back to life and in some cases some totally new revolutionary trends appear that beat up all the rest. This is why web designers all over the world have to keep up with the latest trends in web design, because the client would always ask for this.

For example, you cannot ignore social network buttons. These popped up not so long ago as a trend, because social networks are very popular on the net nowadays and ignoring them would mean that you are practically not part of the crowd. Or else, you simply cannot forget about having a compatible design of your website for mobile phones and tablets. This is definitely one of the newest trends that cannot be ignored. The prediction is that soon the Internet will go mobile and if the future asks for it, a designer will have to keep up with that.

So this is why we have decided to let you know about the latest web design trends in 2011 and the upcoming trends of a new year. If you think you can add something to this list, we’d be glad to read it! There is no particular order of the presented trends. Each trend is important and it all depends on the type of website a designer is aiming for.

 

Big typography, small typography

Using typography in web design has been pretty “trendy” lately and it doesn’t fade away yet. The alternation of big typography and small typography can create pretty impressive effect, without even using fancy graphics. The minimal effort of creating the typography you need for your website will save you some precious time, surprisingly creating a perfect design.
Of course this doesn’t work for all the types of websites, but you might still use some impressive typography in the headers, logos or footers. You never know how you end up liking this trend and including it in more designs, coming up with new ideas at the same time. Using extra-large fonts and mixing bold and scrolling letters has become a trend and it can easily grab the users’ attention.

 

Go For Images and Photo Backgrounds

Just like big and noticeable headers and footers, images and photos are used on backgrounds in order to attract the visitors’ attention. We have already written some posts about photograph backgrounds that you can check out for more information, and this is more or less a pretty popular trend taking up the web lately. Remember the most important rules: use only high quality photos and don’t let the background mix with your content.

 

Social network buttons not to be ignored

As I have mentioned before, social media networks have conquered the web. People share and socialize and this is pretty much what life on the Big Web is. Hence don’t even try to forget about including social media icons and not just the most popular ones. People are different and there are so many social networks out there and it won’t hurt to include all of them so that people can share the information they like on their favorite websites.
Another thing to consider is the design of the social network icons. It all depends on the designer how cool and original they will look.
Don’t forget about creating personal pages on social networks. There is a greater chance that people will find your business there than your own website. This comes as a tip rather than a trend but it’s worth mentioning.

 

Draw your own design

This is a trend that I have found on one website and I simply loved it. It looked so original and funky. This is, of course if you would be able to create a “hand-drawn” design. I read somewhere that this is an upcoming trend in web design and I would agree with that from an aesthetic point of view.
It is simply original to see a hand drawn web design, and I am sure people will be impressed to see it and remember it. Even though this is not a new trend, but many web designers avoid it. I think this is a great way to get closer to your design, considering the fact that it doesn’t have to be perfect but you will definitely add a personal touch to your website.

 

One Page Layout

This trend is more suitable for personal profile websites. This will be like digital business cards, where one can present their most important information and contacts without creating some super website that in the end is kind of useless in this case. It’s all about going minimalist and present the information clearly but still in an elegant way. Go for one page layout if you are thinking of setting a personal profile on the web.

 

Compatible for touchscreen devices

Besides the already “old” mobile format for websites, you don’t have to forget the compatibility with touchscreen devices. With the increasing popularity of tablets and smartphones, you cannot but just go mobile and have a version of your website for smaller screens. Overall the design has to be striking as well, but as seen on a small screen, hence having a smaller resolution but preserving the details that you would like people to focus on.

 

HTML 5 and CSS3

Although there are plenty designers who simply adore Flash, it is slowly giving way to the upcoming HTML5. Flash is not that compatible with mobile versions of websites and as Internet users migrate to smartphones and tablets, web designers need to find how to fix that and the answer to that is – HTML5. It gives web designers and developers a chance to deliver their designs faster, at the same time ensuring flexibility and connecting data.
CSS3 is another upcoming trend for web design and developers are glad to meet it. You can build content-rich web sites with lightweight code requirements and you will have clean and fast-loading pages – what else would you want? Mastering CSS3 is another must for further designs on the web.

 

Animation and 3D

To add more depth perception to your websites a 3D design is probably the best option. Yes, it is difficult to master animation and 3D, but once you do that, you can be sure your website will be special and unique in its own way. Users will appreciate websites that ”think out of the box” and that have that something that no other websites have.

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Is The Internet A Human Right?

No.
At least, that is what Vint Cerf, of TCP/IP, IEEE, and Google fame, decides in a NY Times op-ed piece. But the idea is subtler than the flame-bait headline; the decidedly less flashy “technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself” that appears a couple paragraphs later expresses his position more accurately.
It’s a difficult topic to address, not just because it’s naturally inflammatory, but because it is difficult to pin down what exactly is meant by “right,” and what is meant by “internet.” Without defining terms, any assertion is meaningless. But a little thought seems to exonerate both Cerf’s position and that of the people who take exception to it.
First, consider what is meant by human right, as differentiated from civil right or privilege. A human right is inalienable, fundamental, and emergent from the fact of existing as a human being. That’s not the same as civil rights (which are granted universally by a governing authority) or privileges, which are not guaranteed in any way. To remove a privilege or civil right is to restrict a person from having the same things others may have; to remove a human right is to prevent them from being a human being.
And now, what is the internet? It is simply a means of communication, like the telephone or smoke signals. It is new, it is powerful, but it is not different.
Would you say that by removing a person’s ability to send smoke signals, you are preventing them from achieving the status of humanity? No – you do that by preventing them from having children or getting a basic education, or torturing them, or enslaving them. These are human rights, though it is not a fallacy of scale to compare the idea of the internet to them. The internet is among the most transformative and important developments mankind has ever wrought. But that doesn’t make it a right.
What humans have a right to is free expression and association. A human alone, or gagged, is not a human. But as the revolutionaries last year showed (and continue to show, though less under the public eye), they can use the internet if it is there, or not use it if it is not there, to the same end: free expression and association. The internet is, indeed, an enabler, a tool, and a very important one.
As for its status as a civil right or universal service, that is something that will differ between countries and cultures. But the UN report makes a good point:

…the full guarantee of the right to freedom of expression must be the norm, and any limitation considered as an exception, and that this principle should never be reversed.

In other words, if an authority fails to provide the full set of tools for expression, or restricts them unnecessarily or unreasonably, that is enough to consider them in breach of the promise to provide for basic human rights. This acknowledges both Cerf’s position and the position of others who rightly consider the internet the most important means of communication ever be invented.
So, is the internet a human right? It is our best and most effective way of achieving a universal freedom of expression, and it should be treated as such. But to enshrine it, as others have said, as a human right when it is in fact merely a powerful enabler thereof, is an unnecessary step. Laws and regulations, and things like UN guidelines, should be aimed at enshrining rights in their pure and timeless forms, not in derivative forms, however widespread and important those derivatives may be.

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Do Blogs Need Comment Reels? Yes, and Here’s How

Commenting on blogs is broken. But what we need is a solution, not an abandonment of the concept. The question comes up every few months, but new social commenting technology means there are better answers now than ever before. Over the last day MG Siegler, MacStories, and mobile developer Mike Gemell have all written about choosing the nuclear option and turning off comments entirely on their sites. Their key reasons for doing so seem to be:

1. Comment reels are full of trolls, bile, and spam links
2. There’s no way for popular sites to keep up with comments on old posts
3. Comment reels give random people too much visibility and distract from primary content

Here are my proposed solutions to these problems. Disqus, Livefyre, Facebook, and WordPress, how about you race to see who can be first to offer all three:

1. Authenticated Identity Sign-In With Minimum Friend/Follower Count

When people have to tie their comments to their identity, they become a lot more civil. The issue with Facebook is that it’s easy to create a throwaway or dedicated commenting account to troll from. An ideal commenting system would allow the host to set a minimum friend count for commenting. A 20 friend count minimum would make it much harder to create a troll account, make bans more long-lasting, and ensure at least someone wants to hear what a commenter has to say.
Update: This is meant to authenticate a commenter’s identity, not to discriminate against loners. Those who don’t meet the requirement can always tweet at the author. An alternative I like, suggested by GigaOm’s Mathew Ingram and ReadWriteWeb’s Jon Mitchell, is a trust pyramid where veteran commenters approve newbies. This is similar to the system The New York Times is testing.

2. Ability To Lock Comments After A Certain Period Of Time

Long-standing authors have more historic content than they can possibly moderate. Comments on old posts are often irrelevant due to newer information that has emerged. I want the ability to lock down and prevent further comments on a post after a designated period of time. I could then commit to moderating and responding to comments on posts younger than a week, a month, or 6 months, and direct all those wishing to comment on old posts to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or elsewhere.

3. Dedicated Comments Page For Each Post

Comment shouldn’t be given even close to the same prominence as the post they refer to. Forcing readers to comment on social networks or their own blogs is too much work, and inefficient for an author to keep up with. A compromise would be the ability to host comments on a separate page linked to at the bottom of a post. It would also make the original post load faster, give sites more control over presentation, and create a dedicated discussion area.
–
Comments keep bloggers humble, honest, accurate, and in touch with their audience. Personally, I enjoy debating with people who think I’m wrong, as long as they’re civil. I really value my commenters and often update my articles with thoughts they’ve inspired or corrections they’ve cited.
With the above options, blogs of all sizes could conduct efficient, meaningful discourse with their readers. There’s no need to nuke the trolls. If we limit and hide them, we can coexist peacefully.
For more thoughts on why comments are important, check out rallies of support from GigaOm’s Mathew Ingram, AVC’s Fred Wilson, and Droid Life’s Ron Offringa.

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Holo Promise: Google Moves To Ensure UI Integrity On All Android 4.0 Devices

Google has posted a bit of new info to the Android Developers blog that is probably less of a big deal than people are making it into, but still worth looking at. The post details a requirement that all manufacturers include in their Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) devices the default Holo theme. They don’t have to use the theme, they just have to have the data composing it on the phone.

This is less a blow aimed at third-party UIs and more a general integrity check that ensures apps and services will have the choice to provide a consistent face to the user across many devices.
Imagine you are designing an app that finds nearby restaurants and pulls recommendations from your social stream – or something. You have your default buttons, your text fields, your animations, and so on that you make yourself a nice little interface with. For some time, it has been the case that a theme like Sense or TouchWiz could pre-empt those default UI items and substitute their own — a color scheme or set of icons consistent with the rest of the theme. This practice probably wasn’t very common (I have no data to support this but I haven’t run into it much) but it’s potentially destructive to apps that are designed with care.
Google will now require manufacturers to include in their distribution, custom or not, the original Holo theme files. It is up to app developers to determine whether they are used or not. You can signal whether you want your app to use whatever UI items are the default on the phone (so, Sense on an HTC phone if they were to put out a Sense-based ICS device), or you can choose to force the elements to be in the Holo theme provided by Google.
This allows developers to be totally sure their app will look the way they want it to look, while at the same time allowing manufacturers the freedom to create custom launchers, themes, widgets, and so on. It just prevents those manufacturers from affecting and possibly breaking (though, again, I haven’t heard this is a major problem) apps that use and rely on default theme elements.
Those are the immediate effects. But imagine you’re a developer. There’s little reason not to put the flag requiring the use of Holo. Your app may look a little different from some others on a themed device, but UIs on Android are already all over the place, and really, most people won’t notice (though I wish they would) that the text field in one app has a grey gradient and in another there’s a blue one. Choosing Holo guarantees your app will look the same on every compatible device. It’s just consistency at a different level.
None of this means that a certain look will be required on an Android device, even for access to the core Google apps and Market. I’m not sure they even could (launchers and themes could easily run atop the default). But it does show Google acknowledging that a consistent UI is a plus and making that an easier play for devs.

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Fly Or Die: The Nokia Lumia 710 And The Meizu MX

I’ve been playing with the Nokia Lumia 710 for a week or so now and I’m pleased to report that Nokia may have a chance. The phone, while a bit chintzy, is inexpensive, fast, and feature-rich. I doubt you’d be able to find a device as easy to use and comfortable as the 710 at a $50 price with two year contract. We also tried the Meizu MX and came away, well, un-awed. It’s a cool phone, it’s only available in China right now, and there are a few bugs to work out before it could consider a second life on this side of the pond. I was more kind to it than Erick, but we’re both equally trepidatious.
Look for a full Lumia 710 review in a few hours and until then, enjoy our handsome mugs and even more handsome cellphones.

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Are You The World’s Best Programmer? Compete In Facebook’s 2012 Hacker Cup

Facebook has announced its 2012 Hacker Cup, a global computer programming competition. The event will serve as an important recruiting tool to attract great coders to the company, which is constantly battling for fresh engineering talent with other tech giants. In each round, competitors will try to solve complex algorithmic problems as quickly and accurately as possible. Finalists are flown to Facebook HQ, with the winner named the world’s best hacker. Hopefully, the event will go smoother than last year, where instructions were vague and scattered, leading to confusion and frustration.
Programmers looking to claim the bragging rights and token $5,000 grand prize can register here. The competition’s 3 preliminary rounds and the finals will be held throughout January. Here’s some sample questions from last year’s competition, and a review of the finals.
Sure, many of the world’s best programmers already have comfy jobs or are too busy running startups to compete, so the winner might not be “the best”. Still, this is a great way for independent hackers, and especially those from outside the US, to make a name for themselves. Personally, I think some other tech companies should put up their best talent and try to steal the show from Facebook. Imagine the story if Google or Microsoft won the Hacker Cup.
With Silicon Valley in a talent crunch, tech companies are doing whatever it takes to instill the idea that they are serious but open minded engineering companies. Facebook has been especially aggressive in trying to portray itself as a place where independent thinkers can build highly visible and influential products without the bureaucracy that plagues bigger companies like Google. Last month it began listing the address of its new headquarters as “1 Hacker Way”, and brought young teams from 14 colleges to Palo Alto to compete in a hackathon. Google has retaliated with big cash counteroffers to stop employees from signing with Facebook.
Though procedures were smoothed out for the finals, Facebook’s first Hacker Cup in 2011 may have done more to hurt the company’s image than help. A Quora thread by Andrew Brown details how competitors weren’t sure of answer submission time limits or format. The Hacker Cup system also buckled under the massive traffic, causing competitors to miss submission deadlines.
Expect Facebook to be better prepared this year, and use the competition to sift out engineering talent from beyond the elite universities where it recruits directly.

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Like Twitter, Google+ Now Has Trending Topics

Google quietly added a trending topics section to Google+ last night which now shows up when you perform a search on the social network. The new “Trends” section appears on the right-hand side of the page, and currently lists the top 10 items under heavy discussion like “Natalie Wood” and “Breaking Dawn,” for example.
The feature was first spotted by Richard Lusk who posted a screenshot to Google+ and tweeted about the update. Because the feature only appears after you perform a search, Lusk and others are suggesting that “Trends” should appear next to the homepage’s main stream, where the feature would be more obvious. That’s probably not a bad idea, but for now that space is used to prompt users to add more friends via “Suggestions” and “Send Invitations.” Since Google+ is still trying to grow its user base, it may not be ready to give up that key spot just yet.
What’s more interesting about this development is its potential for future integration into Google Search. Earlier this month, the company announced a change to its algorithm (the “freshness” update) which impacted 35% of searches. The update’s goal was to better highlight more current content, including things like recent events, hot topics, reviews and breaking news items. The increased focus on more recent content seemed to almost forgo the need for a specific “real-time” search vertical, like the one that Google shuttered back in July when its contract with Twitter expired. At the time, the company said it would re-open Google.com/realtime with Google+ search results in the future. The introduction of Google+ Trends could certainly be the first step towards that.
We asked Google about its future plans in this area, but a spokesperson would only say that there are “no updates at this time for trends to be incorporated into Google Search.”

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