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Nokia
may still not have brought turn-by-turn navigation to Maemo with its own Ovi Maps, but N900 users can now get their fix courtesy
of Sygic, which has just released a version of its Mobile Maps app for the device. Available only
in Europe to start with, the app costs €60, and includes maps of both eastern and western
Europe, along with the usual "millions" of points-of-interest, speed camera locations and speed
limit warnings, and plenty of customization options (including support for multiple languages). No
firm word on availability outside of Europe just yet, but Sygic does say that additional regions
will be announced "gradually." Head on past the break for a quick demo video.
The Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) is a free, open
source program developed at Tufts University. It lets you create concept (mind) maps and analyze them in various
ways. One very useful thing it can do is generate concept maps from .CSV files. Here's an
introductory screencast (length: 6 min 9
sec). You can watch all related videos here.
The program runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new
media Now is Gone in 2007.
Despite some initial flaws, Google Buzz continues
to show promise as a social marketing platform. It has a significant (though somewhat latent)
user base, with an increasing number of loyalists who swear by it.
When a green field lies before you, so does opportunity. Some non-profits stand to gain from
being part of the early Buzz adopter community. Whether a cause needs to further the dialogue
with a tech-savvy crowd, or is attracted to the functionality of Gmail integration, Buzz does bring some new capabilities to
bear.
Here are four great uses for Buzz in cause-based activity.
1. Manage Public Conversations Better
A useful feature of Google Buzz is its public threaded conversation stream. This format has
significant advantages over Twitter’s disjointed @reply conversations
and hashtag-based threads, as well as Facebook’s often high privacy walls.
“We’ve been looking at using Buzz to have public conversations about Mothers Fighting for Others‘
work with an orphanage in Kenya,” said Jeff Turner, President of Zeek Interactive. “We want to be able to facilitate a consistent thread
of conversation, but we want it to be more public and open than Facebook or [Google] Wave would allow. With Buzz, we feel like we
can maintain a clear stream of thought around a topic, and at the same time, do it in a public
forum where someone we might not be able to envision being interested could join in.”
2. E-mail Integration Means Better Workflow
Non-profits could use Buzz to manage workflow across a group. This can be
useful for an organization with project teams spread across multiple offices or in the field.
With e-mail integration, it saves
the organization from having to set up a separate account with another private conversation tool
like Basecamp.
“An example would be to set up Buzz as a private group for a project team, large or
small,” said Shireen
Mitchell, a Washington D.C.-based digital activist. “Twitter updates, blog posts, and
other related content that has an RSS feed can be connected to individual [Buzz] accounts
tracking topics related to the project. The team can make comments and select “like”
to provide a consensus of interest on each update. This would keep the team updated on news,
topics and content for any existing issue-driven social media campaign of the organization.
[It's] sort of a mini crowdsourcing of the team.”
3. Finally Connect to “Unsocial” Users
Another interesting aspect of Buzz’s workflow and e-mail integration is the use of a system
that blends 2.0 functionality with a 1.0 system. Non-profit managers can use this to
intelligently blend workforce conversations between younger and older, or tech-savvy and
entrenched members of their teams. Crossing
the streams may enable better communications.
“Google Buzz allows users to publish private streams to specific contact groups,”
said John Haydon, a non-profit social media
strategist. “This is a perfect way to include staff members who don’t use social
media in important real-time conversations, especially during news-worthy events like the
earthquake in Haiti.”
4. Geo-Location Adds a New Element
When Google launches a social network, it brings more to bear than your average start-up.
Consider the ability to integrate geo-location with Google Maps into your social network activity. People
can see social activity on the fly.
“Fast forward to a cause marketing campaign like Starbucks’ partnership with Product
RED,” said Joe Waters, author of the Selfish Giving blog. “Buzzing about the latest campaign to a really large
audience with geo-location features [enabled] lets people see in real-time all the people
[talking] about the campaign in their area — especially in densely packed areas in New York
where [Starbucks] are practically right across the street from each other.
“In short, Buzz can potentially broadcast a cause marketing campaign to a much larger
audience than say Twitter. And the geo-location feature, if it takes off, can give a program a
real-time, tangible quality that can’t be replicated on another [social media]
platform.”
Andy Grauland scours
Google Maps for stunning natural imagery. The 19-year old Dane has close to two dozen extracts
on his site. Take a look at places where no street view exists, and feel free to zoom/pan.
(via, see also (previously))
Unless you have
been living under a rock all this while, you would have known about the Google Nexus One
smartphone that is touted to be a “superphone” by Google, as it squares up against
the almighty Apple iPhone which has a worldwide legion of rabid fans, ready to come to its
defense any day. Well, the Google Nexus One also has a different moniker, where it is known as
the HTC Desire – previously known as the Bravo. Guess all of the hardware specification
will more or less remain the same as the Nexus One, as this model will retain more than a handful
of quality features to keep you hooked to it. More on the HTC Desire will be explained right
after the jump.
The handset itself will run on a rather well executed alliance between the Google Android
operating system as well as the HTC Sense user interface which enables users to customize
multiple home screens with web feeds and other content that one would find most relevant. Apart
from that, you will always be in the loop since the HTC Desire allows you to receive a continuous
stream of comments, photos and status updates on popular social networking sites including
Facebook and Twitter. To contact one of your friends is a snap, since all possible avenues of
communication will be offered, ranging from email to SMS, Facebook and calling. With a virtually
endless amount of downloadable apps from the Android Market as well as Google services such as
Google Maps, Google Search and Gmail, the HTC Desire sounds like a truly complete handset for any
smartphone user.
Hardware-wise, you get a 3.7″ AMOLED touchscreen display with multi-touch capability,
offering an above average web browsing and multimedia experience. HTC has also thrown in an
accelerometer that makes it a snap to rotate the angle of the display, while a proximity sensor
will set the display to standby mode whenever you are entertaining a call, so that there
won’t be any accidental selections of options. A 5.0-megapixel camera with autofocus and an
LED flash lets you snap quality photos in a jiffy, but don’t expect it to hold up as well
as a regular consumer class digital camera. It really depends on which carrier do you want to get
tied down to in the UK with the HTC Desire, but most of them often throw in a free gift to make
the deal all the more enticing.
As I mentioned in my further post about the Nokia Map Loader, I would test the downloaded maps on
the N900 on my road trip only with the GPS functionality. The main reason why, is saving roaming
costs being abroad, which can be very high in some countries. Finally I got home and the test
succeeded with almost satisfying results. Mostly I described the functions of Ovi Maps in my post
Ovi Maps – Navigation on the N900, so please get further information about how
to use the map functionality there. Although ...0 0
If our
comprehensive
video preview of Fat Princess for PSP whet your appetite for more, you'll be glad to
know that the full experience isn't too far away. Fistful of Cake will be appearing on
both UMD and PSN on April 27, promising "new game modes, new maps, a new extended storyline for
single player." And although the single player options have been greatly expanded, multiplayer
remains a big focus for the game, with 8-player Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure support.
The PlayStation.Blog
features a Q&A, a new trailer (posted after the break) and box art. Curiously missing from the
announcement, however, is a price. An SCEA rep told us the price has yet to be "100% confirmed,"
and that an announcement would be forthcoming.
If our
comprehensive
video preview of Fat Princess for PSP whet your appetite for more, you'll be glad to
know that the full experience isn't too far away. Fistful of Cake will be appearing on
both UMD and PSN on April 27, promising "new game modes, new maps, a new extended storyline for
single player." And although the single player options have been greatly expanded, multiplayer
remains a big focus for the game, with 8-player Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure support.
The PlayStation.Blog
features a Q&A, a new trailer (posted after the break) and box art. Curiously missing from the
announcement, however, is a price. An SCEA rep told us the price has yet to be "100% confirmed,"
and that an announcement would be forthcoming.
The shortest way to describe this is that Google is no longer a verb. It's becoming
a noun. Not just the few clicks to find information, but the information itself and the
experience surrounding it.
Today, we get to add Google's chapter to "Will One Company Dominate
the Cloud" introspective series and take a glimpse of the silent revolution from "index" to
"be" that is transforming the company and it's products to the default way to engage the
Internet.
As fate has it, Google done us a big favor in preparing for this piece. The company has launched
an assault on the enterprise with its movement in the Google App Engine, having a
stand-off with China, and negotiating with the EU. And that was
just a bit of Google
news from this week.
Sponsor
Whereas it's a bit more clear where Amazon and Cisco win (our
recent analysis) as they head towards the cloud, with Google it takes a bit more expansive view.
We have to take the focus out a bit, to be able to dial in on the details.
Acknowledgment: Developers are the Products they Build
We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Tim Bray. He has been a key contributor and thought leader
in key areas of interoperability and information design, including his leadership in bringing XML
to the world. He recently announced that he's joining Google and focusing on Android in a
transition from Sun.
Several things struck us about our dialog that we think are key for Google.
First, when Bray described his new job at Google, he talked about what he wanted to do and what
he saw that needed to be done. Within three days of being there, he has a sense of ownership of
the companies products and mission. In some organizations, you may never get such a luxury.
Second, Bray described his opportunity to "roll up his sleeves" and get back in the groove as a
developer on a project he feels passion for. He mentioned his desire to take the open APIs of
Android and expose some of the information in a more portable way, for example to transfer a call
log from one phone to another. A very interesting project, with tangible results. This type of
innovation lives on top of all the work the company has done to make the API exist, and to
attract individuals who are willing to rethink how it should really work.
We think that this is the most interesting thing about where Google is right now. It's "open"
mantra gives the company the ability to see a whole generation into the future of information
channel disruption. And, by bringing in "no holds barred" developers like Bray and a legion of
others, the company is patiently solving problems that many of us don't even know exist.
Lastly, Bray said something that caused us some deep thought.
His comment, "when the Drizzle team was moved into Google, they
just kept working on the their open source project and things stayed nearly the same."
What caused us to pause was that open source development, whether Linux or XML, gives the
developer, as a person, a way to contribute to the world. And it's documented. If the Internet
was the Bible, leading a key open source initiative, is like getting your own chapter in the
book, where time will be the judge of your actions. Much better than your manager alone.
To know that hard work, intellectual capital, libraries are available to the world after the
contract is complete. This really speaks to the artist in us, in a way, the paid open source
developer is using Google as a canvas.
If working at Google offers this emotional spark to employees, it will gain entirely new
efficiencies in solving the big problems, in the context of individual efforts. Maybe this open
source spirit is embedded into Twitter, and is why it works. We like to contribute to our version
of the greater good...and want fans to cheer us on.
What we learned; acknowledgment matters, and connections to the whole population of people is an
amazing vehicle. Google: become an indie rock star - with the strength of grep.
All of the Information on Earth
Google's destiny to become the hub of the worlds information is
intertwined with history. And this comes with artifacts of policy and posturing. To start with,
not everyone agrees that Google should achieve a dominant cloud position. As we're noticing,
stopping it is another matter.
We'd like to suggest that in 2010, the company is not shy about stepping towards its future and
will use its power, technology, and cash to stir it up. Here is our list of organizations in the
world that Google has, is, or will be, continually bumping into in its quest for cloud
information dominance.
China (counties own the filters for the people)
ATT (service providers own consumer on the network)
Penguin (book publishers own the words in the texts)
Visa (financial institutions own the digits in the transactions)
Facebook (social networks know the details)
Amazon (commerce sites own the decision point)
Twitter (owns "what's happening")
Microsoft (owns the computer applications and files)
Open can be a Key to Unlock Doors
We see both practical and strategic reasons that Google has a
deep connection with the open source movement. Strategically, being the new optimized layer,
removing all historic barriers to information give the company more leverage. Practically,
solutions can be built where information is free.
Reviewing a few examples, such as Google Earth, Android, and even GMail and we see that where
there are open protocols and information disruptive products can be built. Once they are built,
the Google wields a significant economic advantage in binding the worlds information assets and
converting them to eyeballs.
Here, we take a quick look at the information assets that Google is investing the global cloud.
Results: Google has moved away from Page Rank to "Closest Object" in it's
default results. What this means is that many businesses today show up as widget in the results
in google with embedded links, maps, and other efficiencies.
Ads: This is perhaps the best known and most valuable insight and unique
asset, who wants to pay for what customer
Realtime index: Google has worked to keep up with Twitter's realtime firehose
Semantic index: The company continues to add more and more microsyntax parsers
into its index, giving more controlled tools for publishers
GMail: It had to be done. And it is monetized.
Documents and files: Google Docs and the Apps Marketplace create a whole new
stream of information about an individual. Private, personal, and shared.
Mobile transactions: This is an interesting sample of where Google's strategy
to build the Android OS pays off in the cloud. Not only does Google get to connect mobile to
the rest of the offerings, but also to be able to dial in on movements, calls, and other
critical tasks in our real-time lives.
Books: Indexing all of them, first is an interesting piece of the strategy to
break apart historic containers of knowledge. Is the book copyrighted? How about the quote?
Browsers: The browser knows a lot. Google's Chrome moves it from being default
search, to being default experience. This was a great example of where access to information
"Faster pages" is the simple value proposition for consumers to switch.
Filters: Protecting companies, trademarks, and interpreting the legality of
free speech. Someone has to do it, if we're all one people.
Health transactions: Google has even taken on one of the most sensitive
challenges, private health information. And, it's connections to legacy systems that prefer EDI
to JSON.
It's clear that Google is making progress. What we've also learned in this review is that the
companies biggest asset - people - may scale to solve problems in lightweight ways that entire
teams and companies haven't been able to in the past. Perhaps being open, or transparent, gives
the company a unique advantage in being prepared for a cloud future.
Is the cloud where the action is?
What verb would you be if you were hired at Google?
Microsoft just launched a
new version of its Bing iPhone app. The iPhone app gives you comprehensive
access to Bing's core services, including Bing maps and
directions, as well as news and image search. Besides offering better stability and a few
interface tweaks, the new version of the Bing app also integrates more tightly with the iPhone by
giving you access to your contacts in the mapping feature and making it easier to copy and paste
URLs and share interesting results through email.
Sponsor
Releasing Bing for iPhone Worldwide was an Accident...
Just as it launched this new version of the app, however, Microsoft also
pulled the Bing applications from all the non-U.S. versions of the App Store. According to a
statement Microsoft
sent to Neowin, the company "inadvertently made it available to all countries in which the
Apple Marketplace has a presence." Why it took Microsoft three months to pull the app, which was
released in December 2009, remains a bit of a mystery.
New Features
If you are in the U.S., however, the Bing iPhone app remains to be the best way to access
Microsoft's "decision engine" on your phone. The new version now includes a number of interesting
new features. One of the most useful features is the app's ability to let you bookmark maps,
websites and direction. Sadly, however, this feature isn't integrated with Apple's Safari, so
your bookmarks don't carry over to the iPhone's default browser.
Other new features include better parental control settings, private search and the ability to
edit your search history and support for first generation iPod touch devices.
Infinity Ward community
manager Robert Bowling has announced that
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
will host its first worldwide double XP weekend from April 2 until April 5 on Xbox Live, just a few
days after the "Stimulus
Package" maps are set to arrive.
Unfortunately, in conveying this to Joystiq readers -- many of whom are
statistically likely to be interested in the news -- we've expanded a perfectly concise tweet
into a pompous, self-referential article and unfairly reduced the internet's available supply of
letters and punctuation.
Infinity Ward community
manager Robert Bowling has announced that
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
will host its first worldwide double XP weekend from April 2 until April 5 on Xbox Live, just a few
days after the "Stimulus
Package" maps are set to arrive.
Unfortunately, in conveying this to Joystiq readers -- many of whom are
statistically likely to be interested in the news -- we've expanded a perfectly concise tweet
into a pompous, self-referential article and unfairly reduced the internet's available supply of
letters and punctuation.
This week: Mapping! It's one of my favorite topics. We'll discuss how maps are made, who owns the
aerial image of your backyard, and how to crowd-source mapmaking. With Peter Birch of Google and
Nick Black of Cloudmade.
Kevin Nakao is VP of Mobile & Business Search for
WhitePages, a Top 40 Web and Mobile
Publisher. You can find him on Twitter,
and on the Whitepages
Blog where he writes about mobile, local, and social media.
While last year’s SXSW seemed to serve as the
“coming out” party for location-based services (LBS), maybe this year’s
conference signifies the migration of these platforms into mainstream culture. And perhaps the
only real “new” concept to emerge this year is the idea that there is finally a real
opportunity to make money via “location.”
Here are five things that companies should consider as they look to utilize location-based
services (LBS) as part their mobile strategy.
1. Location Shouldn’t be the Only Goal
From finding the nearest ski slope on REI’s Ski and Snow Report to a nearby movie on Flixter, there are
plenty of Top iPhone applications that have incorporated a “lead with the offer, not the
capability” philosophy into their mobile product offering to provide a better service.
Build the best service first, then add the bells and whistles.
With all the hoopla surrounding location, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that
location’s real appeal to advertisers is the fact that with this functionality, you can
reach the on-the-go user, who is ready to buy and consume. Just because Twitter and Facebook offer location doesn’t make
that valuable or new to advertisers. Location-targeting via IP address has been around a while.
For the same reason radio is a great advertising channel for retailers, LBS advertising is also
valuable: because it can reach the consumer near the point of sale.
However, if you apply any city’s share of the total U.S. population, the results show some
pretty low estimates of Foursquare users in individual localities. What emerges is a very
“long tail” — a steep, narrow graph — of local user adoption. This shows
why it is important to achieve scale if you hope to see return on investment in the location
marketing space.
For example, using these rough estimates of a city’s proportional share of the U.S. population, if a
local pet supply store wanted to target people in San Francisco, the estimated reach would be
1,310 Foursquare users. Even if you double this audience estimate, the number is fairly small for
even a local marketer. We had to hit around 4 million downloads of the Whitepages iPhone app to
achieve the minimum scale needed for advertiser geo-targeting. Today, 80% of our campaigns from
major brands are geo-targeted.
Editor’s Note: It’s important to remember that these are just rough estimates.
Because Foursquare was initially only available in a handful of major metro areas, the geographic
distribution of users may not precisely follow the geographic distribution of the
population.
3. Mobile Battery Life is Key
Battery life is the single biggest threat to location. With GPS on, the phone is asking the
network where it is, and this chatter can drain battery life — anyone with an iPhone knows what I am referring to. Thus, phone
manufacturers will play a critical role in the future of LBS. RIM, the manufacturer of BlackBerry devices, faced this problem early on with
the energy-tax of e-mail polling, and as a result, their devices now have some of the best
battery life.
Foursquare has helped us move forward here as well. “Check-ins” help to address the
issue as they offer efficient geo-triggers without having to keep battery-draining GPS features
on at all times.
4. Location Will Be the Battleground of the Mobile OS
Looking forward, I predict the mobile platform wars will be fought with location and maps. This
is an important feature that a platform can use as a point of differentiation for consumers and
developers.
In anticipation of that battle, Apple purchased mapping company Placebase, and Google is starting to provide unique
mapping features like turn-by-turn navigation on
its Android devices. The only hope I see for
Windows Mobile is if they do something
completely revolutionary on the mobile location front. A development like this was alluded to at
the recent TED conference with its augmented reality
layering of geo-tagged Flickr photos and real-time
video integration.
5. Location Pays
At WhitePages, we monetize our mobile services through a mix of premium, national display, and
sponsored links for local business. Our effective CPM (revenue per thousand ad impressions) for
sponsored local links is $30-$50 — double the effective CPM (eCPM) rate we see for premium
display ad campaigns from national brands. The eCPM multiple of local targeted ads over ad
network rates is a staggering 10x.
Location-based inventory will also become scarce as Apple recently
announced that iPhone apps will not be permitted to access GPS capabilities for advertising
alone. There now needs to be some consumer benefit and functionality in order to access a
user’s location. Geo-targeted inventory on mobile will continue to be at a high premium
with no excess supply or ad networks to drive it down.
Conclusion
It is my hope that by this time next year, SXSW –- the festival of
“emerging” music and technology –- will have finally moved on from
location. It’s clearly happening now, and if integrated wisely, location will be making
companies too much money to be called the “cool kid on the block” any longer
Once upon a time, you had to bring travel guides, maps and paper tickets
on every trip. Today, you can just take your smartphone and get access to all of this information
without having to lug a couple of books and magazines around with you. Today, according to a
new
study by analytics firm Compete, 38% of smartphone users conduct travel research on their
devices and 28% use their phones to book at least some of their trips and travel activities.
Sponsor
Compete found that the most popular travel-related activity for smartphone owners is finding more
information about a destination while they are already traveling (34%). Close to a third of
smartphone owners who responded to Compete's survey also use their phones to check up on the
status of their lodging and transportation reservations. For most smartphone owners, this
probably means checking up on the status of their flights. A quarter of smartphone owners also
use their phones to research lodging, destination and transportation options. Marketers will be
happy to hear that 22% of users look for a specific transportation company's or hotel's website
and 21% use their devices to do research on a specific travel agency's site.
Interestingly, though, while about a third of smartphone owners use their devices for
travel-related activities, only one-fifth of all smartphone owners have installed travel apps on
their devices yet. Those who haven't installed travel apps yet are looking for comprehensive
services that can notify their users of unplanned schedule changes (52%), notify users of rate
changes (48%) and consolidate all travel reservations into one itinerary. While there are already
numerous apps like WorldMate and TripIt that solve these problems, there is clearly an opportunity for
these companies to market their apps to a wider audience that isn't aware of them yet.
En France, le pourcentage de la population pratiquant le noble sport de la pétanque est
inversement proportionnel à la consommation de bière (en litres, par an et par
habitant). Et pourtant, il est rare que je ne décapsule pas une canette lorsque je
m'adonne à ce sport de l'extrême. Mais les chiffres sont les chiffres. Et les chiffres sont formels.
// Source : Merci au toujours étonnant Strange Maps pour ces cartographies très sérieuses tirées de
l'édition 1997 d'un manuel de géographie de classe de première. Probablement
un avant goût des nouvelles questions aux nouveaux concours d'histoire et géographie
du Capes. //
Je suis rentré de Las Vegas hier soir tard après une correspondance via Londres et
c’est l’esprit encore un peu embrumé par le manque de sommeil et le
décalage horaire que je vais tenter de rédiger ce compte-rendu sur le Microsoft Mix
10 qui s’est tenu à Sin City de lundi à mercredi.
Le Mix de Microsoft se tient traditionnellement à Las Vegas chaque
année et c’était ma première participation. Cette conférence
réunit des développeurs venus du monde entier, soit près de 3500 personnes
hautement expertes en programmation dans un environnement Windows. J’étais pour ma
part invité par Microsoft France dans le pack « presse et
média », petit privilège qui nous donnait accès à toutes
les conférences et au silence feutré de la salle de presse, richement dotée
en connexions web, muffins et café américain.
Côté impressions, ma première fut celle du gigantisme des
lieux. Dans une ville ou le problème de l’espace ne se pose pas (encore)
puisque plantée en plein désert du Nevada, l’unité de mesure de base
semble être l’hectare (y compris pour les chambres suites d’hôtel), et le
complexe hôtelier et loisirs dans lequel se déroulait le Mix en compte exactement
vingt-quatre, d’hectares. L’autre impression est le paradoxe entre l’image
corporate et assez peu fantaisiste de Microsoft et le choix du lieu, même si Las
Vegas est devenue en quelques années une grande ville de congrès, ce qui en
banalise fortement le côté joyeusement déluré (voire
dépravé). La dernière sensation est celle procurée par
l’ambiance de ce Mix, particulièrement cool et bon enfant, où rien
n’est imposé, et où vous pouvez naviguer au gré de vos
affinités et de vos centres d’intérêt pour picorer ici et là de
l’information au fil des keynotes ou des sessions. Impression renforcée par la
musique d’introduction ou d’attente entre les keynotes, à forte dominante rock
(et du bon).
Les développeurs sont à la fête dans ce type de
conférence, et nombre de sessions – trop techniques pour moi et sans grand
intérêt pour la plupart d’entre vous – ont certainement fait le bonheur
des programmeurs.
Côté annonces, même si aucun scoop fracassant ni aucune présentation ne
fut de nature à provoquer un séisme dans le monde de l’informatique et du
web, plusieurs nouveautés ont été présentées. Vous avez
déjà certainement lu de nombreuses choses sur le sujet, aussi vous donnerais-je
simplement mon point de vue sur ce que j’ai retenu :
Silverlight 4
Ce fut le premier sujet de la première keynote, mais aussi la première
grosse surprise pour moi. A votre avis quel est le taux de pénétration
mondiale du player Silverlight dans les ordinateurs, autrement dit, quel est le pourcentage
d’ordinateurs équipés de Silverlight ? 5% ? 10% ? Vous n’y êtes
pas du tout : près de 60% ! Rappelons pour ceux qui sont moins au fait que Silverlight est
un environnement de développement et de lecture de fichiers multimédia dans le
navigateur web directement concurrent de Flash (qui lui équipe 98% des ordinateurs).
L’environnement Silverlight est composé d’un outil de développement,
Expression Blend, lui-même intégré à Expression Studio et du player, un plugin à installer dans son
navigateur web. Le taux d’équipement a connu une très forte croissance depuis
que certains grands médias ont délaissé Flash pour signer un accord avec
Microsoft en vue de la diffusion de leur contenu multimédia. Ce fut le cas notamment avec
des chaînes de TV américaine, canadienne et norvégienne lors des derniers JO
de Vancouver. Chez nous, c’est par exemple France TV qui propose notamment la vidéo
à la demande dans un player Silverlight, comme ses journaux télévisés.
La keynote fut donc l’occasion d’annoncer la disponibilité immédiate de
Silverlight 4 (applaudissements de l’assistance) en version
développeur, la version définitive arrivant d’ici fin avril.
Pour l’internaute, quel est l’avantage d’installer le player
Silverlight si l’on possède déjà Flash ? Ce n’est pas
véritablement une question d’avantage mais de choix : si vous voulez accéder
au contenu multimédia d’un site en Silverlight, vous devrez installer le plugin
sinon vous aurez droit à une jolie page vide. Pour les avantages il faut voir du
côté des éditeurs de site : la technologie Silverlight serait plus
évoluée et plus flexible que Flash (smooth streaming HD, deep zoom… ) et
consommerait moins de ressources. Côté versatilité des applications,
Silverlight représente un avantage incontestable car il sera nativement
intégré dans Windows Phone 7 Series : les applications du futur Windows Phone
seront en Silverlight, et les sites proposant du contenu Silverlight seront normalement
compatibles avec les Windows Phone de prochaine génération. Un exemple nous a
été fourni avec
Seesmic pour Twitter sur Windows Phone présenté par Loïc Le Meur.
Windows Phone 7 Series
J’ai déjà eu l’occasion de vous parler ici de Windows Phone 7, lors de
sa
présentation officielle au MWC de Barcelone le mois dernier. Nous avons pu cette fois
prendre en main un
prototype de mobile Windows Phone 7 et, pour un proto et un OS en version beta qui a encore
un bon semestre de développement devant lui, la bonne impression de départ est
confirmée. A ce sujet je voudrais en profiter pour tordre le cou à une affirmation
un peu simpliste que je lis régulièrement : Windows Phone 7 Series
n’est PAS une copie de l’OS de l’iPhone, et c’est même
tout l’inverse. Microsoft, contrairement aux autres, a compris in extremis que s’il
tentait de faire un énième iPhone killer (ou iPhone like) il allait droit dans le
mur (un mur sans fenêtres cette fois, hahaha). Les équipes de Windows Phone,
largement renouvelées par rapport à celles qui avaient conçu les versions
précédentes, sont donc parties d’une feuille blanche et ont tenté de
repenser complètement ce que devait être l’interface utilisateur d’un
mobile. D’ailleurs le résultat n’a pas grand chose à voir avec
l’iPhone puisqu’ici nous avons affaire à une logique de hubs (les
grands thèmes, People, Music, etc…) et non plus à un choix par icônes.
Je reviendrai dans un article séparé et complet sur la session à laquelle
j’ai assistée sur la genèse du design de l’interface utilisateur de
Windows Phone 7 (nommée « Metro »), un moment passionnant au cours
duquel j’ai pu récupérer un document riche en informations dont je publierai
quelques extraits scannés. Maintenant on ne pas nier que l’iPhone ait imposé
un nouveau standard de fait dans le mobile. Un standard qui est devenu en un peu plus de deux ans
l’ABC de l’interface mobile, comme les quatre roues et le volant pour
l’automobile. Difficile dans ce cas de se démarquer complètement. Nous
verrons si Microsoft va réussir en faisant de cette alternative un nouveau paradigme.
L’accueil de l’assistance et des grands éditeurs semble en tout cas
très encourageant, et de nombreuses applications ont déjà été
développées, et présentées au Mix, comme notamment une version
très convaincante de FourSquare mais encore une application Shazam pour Windows Phone ou
des jeux et même une fonction de télécommande pilotant un robot-canon qui
catapulte des missiles en carton-pâte dans le public (applaudissements).
Les outils de développement pour Windows Phone 7 Series sont disponibles
immédiatement et sont gratuits ici : http://developer.windowsphone.com/
(applaudissements).
Internet Explorer 9
Je vais être direct : pour moi Internet Explorer est mort depuis
longtemps. Je n’utilise plus jamais ce navigateur sauf dans deux cas bien
précis : pour tester une page web et quand j’y suis contraint et que je n’ai
pas d’autre choix (PC d’entreprise sans navigateur alternatif principalement).
Aujourd’hui je partage mon surf entre Firefox la plupart du temps et Google Chrome, sans
oublier bien sûr Safari sur iPhone ou… Opera sur Windows Mobile [1].
Je ne suis évidemment pas un cas isolé puisque les parts de marché
d’Internet Explorer, largement préservées par une forte présence
d’origine dans Windows et en entreprises, se sont fortement dégradées au
cours des cinq dernières années, passant de plus de 90% à moins de 60%
(source).
Internet Explorer 9 va-t-il changer la donne et permettre à Microsoft de
reconquérir une partie du terrain perdu ? En tout cas là aussi on sent le
vent du renouveau, qui consiste surtout ici en une mise à niveau. En substance, la keynote
sur IE9 a principalement consisté à démontrer que cette nouvelle version
allait faire à peu près aussi bien qu’un Firefox, qu’un Chrome ou
qu’un Safari, démonstration comparative à l’appui (applaudissements).
Aussi bien, c’est tout ? Non : mieux. Microsoft, décidément en mode
reconquête semble vouloir faire un peu mieux et a introduit dans Internet
Explorer 9 un traitement GPU, soit une accélération matérielle via
un traitement par la carte graphique des données rendues par le navigateur, ce qui promet
normalement un affichage optimisé et plus fidèle mais surtout un temps de
chargement des pages très fortement réduit.
Le reste de la démo a donc consisté à mettre en exergue la bonne
intégration de SVG et de HTML5 et CSS3 dans Internet Explorer 9, à tel point que
cette présentation ressemblait davantage à un inventaire des progrès et
avantages de HTML5 plutôt qu’à une démo du futur navigateur de
Microsoft. Pour vous faire une idée vous pouvez télécharger une version de
preview ici : http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/. Attention, cette preview n’est pas
compatible avec Windows XP ni avec Vista première version. Il vous faudra au moins Vista
SP2 ou Windows 7 pour l’installer.
Tous ces arguments, qui montrent là aussi que Microsoft tente de se remettre en question,
seront-ils suffisants pour inciter les internautes qui ont déserté Internet
Explorer à le réutiliser ? L’avenir le dira. Pas gagné pour
autant…
En vrac
D’autres annonces et démonsttations ont été faites lors de ce
Mix 10, et je vous les livre en vrac car toutes ne justifient pas à mon sens un
développement détaillé :
le code source du player vidéo de Silverlight 4 va être prochainement
publié en open source
présentation de Pivot, un outil en Silverlight de gestion de de
manipulation d’images (notamment pour les archives de presse) aux effets étonnants.
Je vous conseille de regarder la démo ici : http://www.getpivot.com/
présentation de Bing Maps qui propose un mode Street View
à base de photos retraitées en 3D (possibilité de tourner autour d’un
bâtiment) avec une technologie empruntée à Photosynth.
démonstration d’un widget eBay « eBay Simple
Lister » en Silverlight qui permet aux vendeurs de scanner par exemple
directement le code-barre ISBN d’un bouquin pour le mettre en vente. Toutes les
données ISBN seront alors incluses automatiquement dans son annonce avec notamment la
couverture du livre.
présentation des dernières avancées sur JQuery par son
créateur, John Resig.
hormis les applications Silverlight, Windows Phone 7 supportera les jeux
multi-plateformes : vous pouvez commencer une session de jeu sur votre XBox360 chez vous
et la continuer sur votre Windows Phone si vous devez partir en déplacement. Voir la
démo dans cette vidéo.
Ce que je n’ai pas vu au Mix 10
Au rayon des petites déceptions, et contrairement à ce que certains, dont je
faisais partie, envisageaient, nous n’avons pas vu trace ni du Slate de HP et encore moins
du Courier, pour lequel le blackout d’information semble être total chez Microsoft.
Sauf si j’ai raté quelque-chose, rien non plus sur Office 10 et sa version Online,
mais nous en saurons certainement plus d’ici fin avril.
En conclusion
Le vent tourne et après des années de domination écrasante sur
l’informatique mondiale, Microsoft apparaît dans une nouvelle posture de challenger
dans des domaines ou le marché et les utilisateurs l’attendent au tournant,
notamment le mobile, la navigation web et le respect des standards. Concernant le mobile,
à une époque où l’on commence à assister à des querelles
de chiffonniers entre Adobe, Google et Apple, notamment dans le débat autour de Flash,
Microsoft se démarque et va proposer une solution avec un avantage concurrentiel
incontestable : l’intégration de Silverlight dans Windows Phone. Un avantage
énorme pour les développeurs mais aussi pour les consommateurs, qui risque de
rendre très vite obsolètes les questions existentielles sur Flash et les
applications mobiles riches.
Enfin je ne pourrai pas finir ce billet sans remercier l’équipe de Microsoft France
pour son accueil, sa sympathie et sa bonne humeur tout au long de cet évènement, et
notamment un super poke au camarade David Cohen, aux petits soins avec nous.
(applaudissements)
Pour en savoir plus (vidéos et autres compte-rendus) :
Rebellion et Sega viennent de sortir le premier DLC payant pour Aliens VS Predator 3. C'est
disponible sur Steam, Xbox 360 et on imagine sur PS3 pour environ 6 euros. Le DLC contient : Quatre
maps multi qui auraient dû être dans le jeu de baseUn bon gros doigt d'honneur de la
part de Rebellion et Sega pour vous remercier d'avoir acheté le jeuSi vous faites partie de
ceux qui ont pris le jeu plein pot sur Steam, vous serez également ravis d'apprendre qu'AvP
3 est actuellement en promo à 33€. Une bonne affaire ?
peut-être, mais on peut surtout trouver le jeu à bien meilleur prix ailleurs : sur
Amazon.co.uk, par exemple, le jeu est actuellement à 25€ sur PC
et 40€ sur consoles, et vous avez la boîte en plus.
Laminar Research has released an update to its series of X-Plane flight simulator apps for the
iPhone and iPod touch. The update adds a replay mode that is activated when the app is paused to
allow users to view the last few minutes of their flight and provides higher-resolution maps,
complete with buildings and airport runways. Other new features include new paint and increased
detail for many of the aircraft, a more detailed lighting and fog model...
Posh (Portaneo), le portail de widgets personnalisable et collaboratif open source, vient de sortir
en version 2.2. Outre l'ergonomie et le design revus, ainsi qu'une meilleure gestion des groupes,
et l'administration de tags, Posh peut maintenant être connecté avec les applications
Typo3, Joomla, Alfresco, Google docs, phpBB, permettant ainsi une "widgetisation" de ces
applications dans le portail.
Par exemple, la solution Posh + phpBB permet de créer à la demande des forums dans
des widgets Posh. La solution Posh + Typo3, permet de créer des widgets à partir de
chaque plugin Typo3 (plusieurs centaines sont disponibles, dont Google Maps, Guestbook, FAQ, shop,
... ) ou d'articles Typo3. Le site web de l'Université des Compétences est d'ailleurs
construit sur Posh couplé avec phpBB pour les forums et Typo3 pour l'actualité, les
vidéos, la gestion des membres...
Portaneo profite de cet événement pour mettre à jour son site Portaneo.org
à partir de Posh. Ainsi la communauté de contributeurs peut se présenter via
leur profil, échanger plus facilement, se mettre en réseau autour de sujets libres,
créer leur page de widgets, tout en continuant à utiliser les anciens services du
site (forum, forge...)
Premier test avant un lancement mondial ? Toujours est-il que Google maps vient d'introduire une
nouvelle fonctionnalité en Australie : les icônes sponsorisées. Alors qu'elles
étaient auparavant génériques [...]
Premier test avant un lancement mondial ? Toujours est-il que Google maps vient d'introduire une
nouvelle fonctionnalité en Australie : les icônes sponsorisées. Alors qu'elles
étaient auparavant génériques [...]
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Non-profits could use Buzz to manage workflow across a group. This can be
useful for an organization with project teams spread across multiple offices or in the field.
With 
Unless you have
been living under a rock all this while, you would have known about the Google Nexus One
smartphone that is touted to be a “superphone” by Google, as it squares up against
the almighty Apple iPhone which has a worldwide legion of rabid fans, ready to come to its
defense any day. Well, the Google Nexus One also has a different moniker, where it is known as
the HTC Desire – previously known as the Bravo. Guess all of the hardware specification
will more or less remain the same as the Nexus One, as this model will retain more than a handful
of quality features to keep you hooked to it. More on the HTC Desire will be explained right
after the jump.
The shortest way to describe this is that Google is no longer a verb. It's becoming
a noun. Not just the few clicks to find information, but the information itself and the
experience surrounding it.
We recently had the opportunity to sit down with 
His comment, "when the Drizzle team was moved into Google, they
just kept working on the their open source project and things stayed nearly the same."
Google's destiny to become the hub of the worlds information is
intertwined with history. And this comes with artifacts of policy and posturing. To start with,
not everyone agrees that Google should achieve a dominant cloud position. As we're noticing,
stopping it is another matter.
We see both practical and strategic reasons that Google has a
deep connection with the open source movement. Strategically, being the new optimized layer,
removing all historic barriers to information give the company more leverage. Practically,
solutions can be built where information is free.
Microsoft just launched a 
Infinity Ward community
manager 
Kevin Nakao is VP of Mobile & Business Search for
Once upon a time, you had to bring travel guides, maps and paper tickets
on every trip. Today, you can just take your smartphone and get access to all of this information
without having to lug a couple of books and magazines around with you. Today, according to a
Recommandations
)
and reject those that you are not interested in
(
)
