Oh look, a new post.
Anyone want a Google Wave invite? You know you do, hit me up on Twitter or by email aaron [dot] nelsen [at] gmail [dot] com.
First come, first serve.
Category: Google
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.Me – Apple’s missing link
Except it’s not.
It’s a nice thought that the revamp of .Mac will yield a brilliant and usable service to connect everything in your digital life, but the likelihood of that happening just isn’t very high.
Colin Pape of Seeking Alpha thinks that Mobile Me (or .Me as some are calling it) is going to be the magic bullet for Apple, and it will suddenly tie all their products together. I’m sure that’s what Apple is aiming for, but they’ve neglected .Mac for so long that I’m not sure an overhaul and a new name is going to be enough to breathe life into it.
On the other hand, some rumors suggest that Apple will be turning .Me over to Google for a portion of it’s revenue. Though with Steve’s ego, I find this hard to believe. It’s a nice idea though, imagine a Google run service that would allow for unlimited email/file storage and instant syncing of your contacts/calendar/photos/email/music from your phone (iPhone or Android) to the web, and your home or office computer.
While the promise of an easy solution all in one place is nice, why pay for it? Nothing .Mac currently offers is worth the yearly fee, you can easily find free or cheap alternatives to most everything it offers.
Only time will tell I suppose. I’d be more than happy to be wrong on this, the more innovative products and services Apple launches the better.
[ In the interest of full disclosure, I currently hold stock in Apple ]
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Google’s new fav icon
Correct me if I’m wrong, but pulling up Google now yields a styilized blue g instead of the classic G.
The significance? Nothing really, just thought I’d share.
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GrandCentral is Down
I use GrandCentral as both a business number and as a filtering system. When I fill out a form online that needs a number, I give them my GrandCentral number, that way if they start stalk calling me I can send them straight to voicemail or block them completely.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that GrandCentral has been down all morning, with no information posted on their blog or on Google’s main blog. Their website was down earlier today, but it appears to be up now. Though none of my three GrandCentral numbers are currently working.
For more info, hit up TechCrunch.
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Improve Google Maps on the iPod touch/iPhone
This mostly applies to the iPod touch seeing as the iPhone also has cell towers to rely on, but apparently Skyhook has setup a page for users to submit their access points. No word on how quickly they’re added to the database, or if they even actually make it in, but it at least makes me feel like I’m contributing.
You will need the MAC address for your router in order to complete the submission.
I live in the middle of no where, which currently yields “Your location could not be determined” on both my iPhone and iPod touch, so I’ll let you know if Skyhook ever adds my AP to their database.