Tech Roundup: Apr 7, 2013
[A weekly feature on the latest trends in Science & Technology.]
Facebook's smart move poised to take narcissism to the next level:
Social Networking giant Facebook took the stage last week to announce a new home (and lock) screen replacement for Android. Called Facebook Home, the move reiterated Mark Zuckerberg's stance that they were not after a Facebook phone. Instead they were out to capture the whole of Android market! Building a new OS, even if it meant forking Android, comes at an increased risk of slow adoption when consumers these days seem to be switching between iOS and Android predominantly.
Apple's walled garden approach may have been out of step with Facebook's attempts at tighter integration and hence it makes perfect sense that it chose Android to achieve this feat. Facebook even praised Android's open-source nature during the event and the new launcher (like Nova, Apex etc.), to be available from April 12 on the Play Store, sets out to make Facebook integration closer to you like never before. That means finding other apps just got a little more harder!
The interface overlay itself looks simple and elegant and for anyone who likes to be in the Facebook world, this could be the best thing they have asked for (considering that the Android app has continued to remain pathetic). Facebook Home has also made it dead easy to message your friends via Messenger, in a step that is sure to trigger panic amongst other cross-platform messaging services like WhatsApp, Viber etc. and put the traditional SMS further at risk.
However it remains to be seen how effectively it addresses battery life and data usage concerns, and with your Facebook data all over the home screen it should put privacy advocates on alert, argues Om Malik of GigaOM. Not that Google is any better, but Facebook's blatant disregard for user privacy is quite well-known. Ellis Hamburger of The Verge made a very interesting observation when he said the whole thing can turn out to be a 'minefield' by gazing at a constant stream of bad, oversaturated (courtesy Instagram!) photos that will adorn your home and lock screen:
If Facebook wants Home to really take off, it needs to realize that we don’t live in a world as beautiful as its marketing campaigns. It could limit "Cover Feed" posts to those only from your closest friends, or it could selectively analyze photos for quality content tagged to popular locations. Until then, I foresee many jokes that start something like this: "Dude, why do you have a salad on your lock screen?" (Continue...)
Currently compatible only on the HTC One, One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, S4 and the Note II (alongside the newly unveiled HTC First), the launcher may be Facebook's best bet yet to capture the mobile ecosystem. For Google, it may be beneficial for the moment as it can lure many Facebook fanatics to buy an Android phone; but the day Facebook encroaches on the platform's open-sourced-ness a bit far to its own liking, Google will be bound to do something!
Browser wars ahoy! Google forks WebKit to create Blink:
Just when we thought web browser wars were showing signs of some abatement, Google has gone ahead to create a new rendering engine based on WebKit called Blink after its disagreements with Apple engineers. Rendering engines are the underlying stuff that decide how to interpret the layout of each web page, the HTML, CSS, JavaScript elements and so forth, and with the addition of Blink, there are now four rendering engines in total - WebKit, Blink, Trident (used in Microsoft's Internet Explorer) and Gecko (yes, in Mozilla's Firefox).
WebKit found enormous success after it was adopted in Apple's Safari and Google Chrome (and the Android WebKit browser, now non-existent since Jelly Bean). But differences between Google and Apple over some of the core features has led the search giant to this step. Google for its part has said the move "will spur innovation and over time improve the health of the entire open web ecosystem" while admitting the fact that "the introduction of a new rendering engine can have significant implications for the web." Blink is expected to power upcoming versions of Google Chrome (specifically version 28) and Opera browsers. Web designers will have more work in short!
Melting behind Antarctica's ice expansion:
In what can be termed as a truly paradoxical phenomenon, Antarctica's expanding sea ice has been a stark contrast to the Arctic which has witnessed serious shrinkage due to global warming. But a new study shows that melting of ice sheets beneath might have been the reason behind this. Freshly melted ice water, being comparatively less denser, tend to accumulate on top of the ocean and refreeze easily during autumn and winter, the study revealed. However scientists are also of the opinion that shifting wind patterns owing to climate change could have played a role in Antarctic ice expansion.
In other news:
Facebook's smart move poised to take narcissism to the next level:
Social Networking giant Facebook took the stage last week to announce a new home (and lock) screen replacement for Android. Called Facebook Home, the move reiterated Mark Zuckerberg's stance that they were not after a Facebook phone. Instead they were out to capture the whole of Android market! Building a new OS, even if it meant forking Android, comes at an increased risk of slow adoption when consumers these days seem to be switching between iOS and Android predominantly.
Apple's walled garden approach may have been out of step with Facebook's attempts at tighter integration and hence it makes perfect sense that it chose Android to achieve this feat. Facebook even praised Android's open-source nature during the event and the new launcher (like Nova, Apex etc.), to be available from April 12 on the Play Store, sets out to make Facebook integration closer to you like never before. That means finding other apps just got a little more harder!
 |
| Facebook Home |
However it remains to be seen how effectively it addresses battery life and data usage concerns, and with your Facebook data all over the home screen it should put privacy advocates on alert, argues Om Malik of GigaOM. Not that Google is any better, but Facebook's blatant disregard for user privacy is quite well-known. Ellis Hamburger of The Verge made a very interesting observation when he said the whole thing can turn out to be a 'minefield' by gazing at a constant stream of bad, oversaturated (courtesy Instagram!) photos that will adorn your home and lock screen:
If Facebook wants Home to really take off, it needs to realize that we don’t live in a world as beautiful as its marketing campaigns. It could limit "Cover Feed" posts to those only from your closest friends, or it could selectively analyze photos for quality content tagged to popular locations. Until then, I foresee many jokes that start something like this: "Dude, why do you have a salad on your lock screen?" (Continue...)
Currently compatible only on the HTC One, One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, S4 and the Note II (alongside the newly unveiled HTC First), the launcher may be Facebook's best bet yet to capture the mobile ecosystem. For Google, it may be beneficial for the moment as it can lure many Facebook fanatics to buy an Android phone; but the day Facebook encroaches on the platform's open-sourced-ness a bit far to its own liking, Google will be bound to do something!
Browser wars ahoy! Google forks WebKit to create Blink:
Just when we thought web browser wars were showing signs of some abatement, Google has gone ahead to create a new rendering engine based on WebKit called Blink after its disagreements with Apple engineers. Rendering engines are the underlying stuff that decide how to interpret the layout of each web page, the HTML, CSS, JavaScript elements and so forth, and with the addition of Blink, there are now four rendering engines in total - WebKit, Blink, Trident (used in Microsoft's Internet Explorer) and Gecko (yes, in Mozilla's Firefox).
WebKit found enormous success after it was adopted in Apple's Safari and Google Chrome (and the Android WebKit browser, now non-existent since Jelly Bean). But differences between Google and Apple over some of the core features has led the search giant to this step. Google for its part has said the move "will spur innovation and over time improve the health of the entire open web ecosystem" while admitting the fact that "the introduction of a new rendering engine can have significant implications for the web." Blink is expected to power upcoming versions of Google Chrome (specifically version 28) and Opera browsers. Web designers will have more work in short!
Melting behind Antarctica's ice expansion:
In what can be termed as a truly paradoxical phenomenon, Antarctica's expanding sea ice has been a stark contrast to the Arctic which has witnessed serious shrinkage due to global warming. But a new study shows that melting of ice sheets beneath might have been the reason behind this. Freshly melted ice water, being comparatively less denser, tend to accumulate on top of the ocean and refreeze easily during autumn and winter, the study revealed. However scientists are also of the opinion that shifting wind patterns owing to climate change could have played a role in Antarctic ice expansion.
In other news:
- China springs to action to contain the latest bird flu pandemic outbreak that has cost six lives so far.
- US Patent Office denies Apple's trademark application for iPad mini; rejects the bounce-back patent again.
- Sea lion becomes the first non-human mammal that can keep a musical beat.
- Google to be fined over its unified privacy policy, says French data protection agency CNIL.
- Apple is all set to announce a new iPhone this quarter, reports The Wall Street Journal.
- Microsoft's upcoming operating system codenamed Blue will be officially Windows 8.1.
- Samsung anticipates record quarter as its marketing blitz crosses spend on R&D for the first time in three years.
- Mozilla Firefox 20 and Chrome 26 for Android now available.
- Apple's new patent hints at its own version of Google's Street View.
- Popular Chinese search engine service Baidu to take on Google Glass with Baidu Eye.
- Yahoo! Mail adds Dropbox integration.
- Apple finally approves Microsoft's SkyDrive iOS app after the latter negotiates with Cupertino over additional storage purchase.
- Android Jelly Bean (4.x.x) share crosses 25% as Google begins to track Google Play Store visits; Gingerbread (2.3.x) drops below 40%.
- Users spending a colossal 2 billion minutes each day on Skype.
- YouTube for Android update fixes the annoying sign out bug.
- Development of Apple's next version of iOS running behind schedule; to bring in major user interface changes.
- Nexus 7 successor to be more cheaper; to be announced this July, reports Reuters.
Comments
Post a Comment