Herding Cats or Losing Them: Google and the Android Crowd
December 30, 2011
Forget Google’s Android patent problems. How about this alleged issue? Business Insider reported on new Droid dilemmas in the article “For Google, Fixing Android is Like Herding Cats.”
Apparently, a deal that was made between Google and seven cell phone companies last May, to release new versions of Android to all phones that are less than 18 months old, has turned sour. Sony Ericsson is the only company that has said it will live up to the agreement.
The article states:
This is a problem for users — they’re not always getting the latest experience that Google has created, and they can’t always use the latest apps. It’s a huge problem for developers — if they target only the most recent software, they don’t know how many customers they’ll be able to reach, and on what timeline.
It appears that unless Google gets more leverage, like the Motorola deal for instance, the search giant can not force these companies to honor their original agreement without contractual obligations.
Jasmine Ashton, December 30, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
YaSabe Creates iPhone App For Hispanic Users
December 23, 2011
Hispanic immigrants are the fastest growing minority group living in the United States today and 25 percent of them are iPhone users. With these two facts in mind, it is not surprising that a new iPhone application has been released that is specifically designed meet the needs of this demographic.
According to the recent YaSabe news release YaSabe Unveils Location-Aware iPhone App for U.S. Hispanics, the Hispanic local search company has created a new bilingual search application that helps users discover their options and find local businesses nearby. Users can search and browse in Spanish or English and change the distance to find out what is available around them.
The article states:
The YaSabe iPhone application lets users search in Spanish or English by name, product, service, or category for any of the 15,000,000 local businesses in the US. YaSabe highlights those businesses that speak Spanish and that particularly appreciate and welcome Hispanic customers and you can get one-click directions to any business right from your current GPS location.
By offering unique bilingual content and innovative technology to help consumers search and browse for local businesses, YaSabe is the first business that is making it a priority to address the search related needs Spanish speakers living in our country.
Jasmine Ashton, December 15, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Arabic Voice Service from Google
December 23, 2011
It’s about time. MENAFN reveals, “Google Introduces Arabic Voice Search Service.” Google is working to incorporate Arabic into its Voice Search for mobile phones. Voice Search is currently available in the United Arab Emirates on Android phones (version 2.2 and above) and iPhones.
Achieving that functionality is not as simple as it may sound. We learned from the write up:
The process would begin when Google streams sound files to their datacenters in real-time, then they would turn the audio information into phonemes, into words, into phrases, finally, Google would compare phrases against the billions of daily queries to assign probability scores to all possible transcriptions and deliver results.
Whew. This is why I’m not a developer. The Arabic speaking world is a huge market; Google’s move makes good sense. One question. How does the service work in a noisy restaurant?
Cynthia Murrell, December 23, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Marketing Love in a Time of Mobile Apps
December 22, 2011
As holiday shopping hits a crescendo this week retailers are examining how to increase sales, analyze shopper data more efficiently and strengthen mobile advertising all in one fell swoop. The article, Malls, Retailers Focus on Mobile Phones to Reach Shoppers, Boost Sales and Study Consumers, on http://www.cleveland.com/, explores some controversial mobile app and Smartphone technologies retailers are employing this holiday season.
Although the Federal Trade Commission and several consumer watchdog groups have put a nix to several Big-Brother-esque programs put in place by malls and large retailers to monitor shopper activity and behavior due to privacy violations, some programs are alive and thriving. Many complain that the programs are all one sided, in favor of the retailer, but that is not necessarily the case. In most instances consumers receive a nice reward for their privacy being violated.
As the article explains of the relationship between retailer and consumer,
With traditional retailers fighting online competition from companies from Amazon to Zappos.com, the retail industry must give consumers a reason to choose brick-and-mortar. Online retailers collect data about shoppers and use that information to tailor advertising and suggest purchases. Now stores and shopping-center landlords see cell phones as a path to influencing what people buy, how long they shop and how much they spend.
Before condemning retailers for utilizing scores of data mines waltzing in and out of their stores every day, consumers should examine their habits and devotion to mobile apps. Without consumer usage these app-utilizing marketing campaigns would be a waste of time. If one doesn’t want to be exploited by a retailer, turn off the phone. Easier said than done, just like search.
Catherine Lamsfuss, December 22, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Google and British Telecom
December 21, 2011
I remember when British Telecom was gaga over Google. Now, not so much. I don’t have a dog in this hunt, but I want to document “BT Sues Google in U.S. over Patent Infringement.” Here’s the quote I noted:
Florian Mueller, an IP analyst who has closely followed the twists and turns of patent litigation, said on his website that BT had become the fifth large publicly traded company to bring patent infringement litigation against Android. “With so many major patent holders asserting their rights, obligations to pay royalties may force Google to change its Android licensing model and pass royalties on to device makers,” he said.
Android business model? Hmmm.
Stephen E Arnold, December 20, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Google Intern Explains Android Lag
December 16, 2011
Leave it to a student intern. Not even the X Factor interns reveal the inside scoop about technology.
Here’s a useful insight into the Google method of “good enough.” Apple Insider reports that a “Former Google Intern Explains Why UI Lag Occurs More Often in Android than iOS.” The intern in question is one Andrew Munn, who ironically took to Google+ with his explanation.
Munn, who interned on the Android team, listed several reasons for the slowness of Android as compared to Apple’s iOS. See the write up for specifics, but it all boils down to one thing. The article asserts:
The original Android prototype didn’t have a touchscreen, as it was meant to be a BlackBerry competitor. As such, Android’s architecture is meant to support a keyboard and trackball. Munn further claimed that after the original iPhone arrived in 2007, Google rushed to complete Android, but ‘it was too late to rewrite the UI framework.’. . . ‘Android is the only mobile OS left that existed pre-iPhone,’ the report noted.
The current state of affairs may be acceptable to Google now, but more may be needed to capture half the market for smart TV sometime in 2013. Munn, for one, is confident that his former team will make the rewrite. “Eventually,” he said.
We’re waiting for an intern to explain open that is closed and fragmentation that is not fragmented. Is UX pronounced “Yuk”?
Cynthia Murrell, December 16, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Desktop Search: A Rusty Anchor?
December 14, 2011
Perhaps the papers aren’t doomed after all. Online Media Daily reports, “Newspapers’ Mobile Traffic Surges.” Perhaps the move to mobile apps will save journalism. The article cites a report from the Newspaper Association of America. We learned from the write up:
More than 20 newspaper publishers found that page views for mobile content increased 65% in September, compared to the same month a year ago. Many papers reported triple-digit page view jumps across their mobile offerings, the NAA said. A Pew study also released in October found that users were more likely to trust apps that came from preferred news organizations.
But, is this paid content or free? Probably some of each. It’s in the advertising, though, that newspapers will reap the rewards of venturing into the mobile arena.
This sounds like good news for the papers, but I’m afraid the nature of mobile will cost us in accuracy; this is more evidence that search is officially smaller and less inviting for cross checking and validation.
We read the data differently. Desktop searching is a rusty boat anchor. What about in depth research? Mired in the muddy bottom we fear.
Cynthia Murrell, December 14, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Fat Apps Microsoftize Mobile Apps
December 10, 2011
If it seems like a step backward, that’s because it is: Network Computing declares, “Fat Apps Are Where It’s At.” At least for now.
Writer Mike Fratto makes the case that, in the shift from desktop to mobile, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Cloud-based applications that run only the user interface on mobile devices are a great way to save space– if you can guarantee constant wireless access to the Web. That’s not happening yet. Wi-Fi is unreliable, and wireless data plans with their data caps can become very expensive very quickly.
Besides, says Fratto, services that aim to place the familiar desktop environment onto mobile devices, like Citrix XenAppor VMware ThinApp, are barking up the wrong tree. The article asserts:
There isn’t the screen real estate available on mobile devices–certainly not on phones–to populate menus and pull downs. . . . But that is how desktop apps are designed. Lots of features displayed for quick access because you have the room to do it while still providing enough screen space to write a document or work on a spreadsheet. Try using Excel as a thin app on your phone or tablet. See how long it takes for you to get frustrated.
So, Fratto proposes “fat apps” as the temporary alternative, applications designed for mobile use with local storage that let you continue to work without a connection. Bloatware is back, at least until we get affordable, universal wireless access worked out. At a conference last week, one firm told me, “Our mobile app for an equipment manufacturer is only two or three gigabytes.” Svelte? Just like Word.
Cynthia Murrell, December 10, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
New Google App Sneaks Chrome on the iPad
December 3, 2011
In the battle between Apple and Google, it appears that the search giant has come out with new way to come out on top, and search is not the primary focus. Google has created a search app that is superior to the experience of any Android tablet and puts the core Chrome elements onto an Apple product.
If you are wondering why Google has suddenly decided to stop innovating for it’s own products, and has chosen to invade Apple’s, The Next Web article “Google Just Used It’s Search App to Sneek Most of Chrome OS onto the iPad” states:
“The reasons why it has shipped a pack of its most potent apps in one convenient dashboard are evident if you look at the tablet landscape as we know it. Google’s “official” version of Android is losing the tablet race, flat out. Products from manufacturers that have no access to an ecosystem beyond the Android Market have proven not to work. Now, Amazon has launched the Kindle Fire, which stands to quickly attain ’2nd place’ status behind the iPad, utilizing a tweaked version of Android that Google will gain nothing from.”
iOS devices account for 2/3 of mobile searches on Google’s platform, making it the largest outlet for Google’s primary product, ads. Google recognizes this fact and has created an app for its fans who use Apple products.
With such a seamless integration, it appears that Apple may not be able to separate itself from Google, no matter how hard they try. This is a certainly a clever move on Google’s part but definitely not the most innovative. Is this the new Google?
Jasmine Ashton, December 03, 2011
Artificial Solutions and Teneo NLP
November 30, 2011
I learned from one of my two or three readers that Barcelona was home to a natural language processing company. Several years ago, I spoke with a person familiar with the company Artificial Solutions. After a bit of fumbling around, I located a trade show at which the company was exhibiting. The company’s NLP system is called “Teneo.” The application which I recalled was the use of the NLP system for customer support. The company has expanded since I first learned about the firm. The technology has been applied to mobile devices, for example.
The company told me:
Teneo Mobile is a platform independent technology designed to enable companies, organizations, manufacturers and developers to create their own virtual assistant as a mobile app, regardless of platform, mobile device and even language. The Natural Language Interaction (NLI) engine is covered by patents. The system can currently be built in up to 21 different languages, including Mandarin and Russian.
The company, founded in 2001, is owned by its founders, the private equity fund Scope Growth II and some private investors. The company has tallied more than 200 projects in the public and private sector in 30 countries and 21 languages. In the telecommunications sector, the firm’s customers include:
The firm’s technology is based on the Teneo Interaction Engine. According to the firm, its system will:
reason like a human, using advanced linguistic and business rules to decide how best to respond to your customer’s request. Context comes into play here, such as time, date and place, as well as information picked up from previous conversations, customer data retrieved from your CRM system and transaction data from your ERP system. At this point, the Teneo will also eliminate any ambiguities from its initial analysis. Even one word can alter the meaning of a customer’s request. Teneo will instantly and dynamically re-assess content as the interaction develops, to understand what has changed and give the right answers. Natural language is full of subtle nuances, which Teneo is able to pick up and interpret. It understands idiom and slang, even dialect and SMS shorthand – and it’s also sympathetic to grammar, syntax or spelling mistakes.
For more information about the technology and its vertical applications, navigate to www.artificial-solutions.com.
Stephen E Arnold, November 30, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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