It seems like forever ago that Google launched their Nexus One handset – it’s been available through Google themselves since January, but today Vodafone have begun promoting the handset, by announcing… not very much at all:
Not only are there no prices for Nexus One tariffs, there’s still no release date available (although reports suggest it will be April) – the best you can do is register for further information as and when it’s released.
Given that it was common knowledge Vodafone were suppliers for the Nexus One, we have in fact learnt nothing from today’s hollering and cheering. And while it must have looked like a must-have for Vodafone at the time, manufacturers HTC are already pushing out better-specced handsets that threaten to leave it standing. Gah.
Well, it seems genuine and everything, and there’s the logo at the bottom, so I guess I best send them all my details and not give it a second thought:
Of course it’s not proper news that we’ve got for you, like an exclusive involving copyright, China or YouTube. It’s far more substantial than that, and it’s all thanks to avid Bitterwallet reader Sean Atherton who has the eyes of a hawk. Specifically, a hawk capable of using a PC and navigating Google Maps, despite the lack of opposable thumbs.
While mooching about the streets of London, Sean spotted this encounter between Google and the law; two Google cars caught together in the wild, with the Street View of one car showing the driver of the other been approached by traffic wardens, as a police officer eyes them up at the end of the street:
The raised hand of the first warden, the second seemingly speaking into her walkie-talkie – they’re taking Google down for their illegal parking (assuming that parking restrictions are applicable in that particular controlled parking zone – we couldn’t be arsed to check). You might think you’re big, Google, but you ain’t bigger than a pair of frumpy, middle-aged traffic wardens with a job to do.
Although Google are still playing their cards close to their chests and saying that the Nexus One is due for a Spring launch, sources close to the Daily Telegraph say that April is going to be the month when the new smartphone hits the shops in the UK.
As in the United States, the phone will only be available directly from Google with the actual phone-type jiggery-pokery provided by their chosen partners, Vodafone.
Meanwhile, the Telegraph’s report seems to suggest that Google have an intriguing new insect-based strategy when it comes to promoting the Nexus One.
Yeah, because Bitterwallet REALLY has the high ground when it comes to spelling errors dosen’t it?
If you’d like to pay your last respects to Internet Explorer 6, there’ll be a short memorial service held in Denver on 4 March. Those unable to attend are asked to send flowers. The adored and once popular web browser has been in ailing health over the past several years. The news of the elderly eight year-old’s demise follows Google’s decision to no longer support the browser.
Not that IE6 is dead just yet, but it’s free publicity for a web design agency. Apparently there’ll be cake and beer at the wake, so that’s good. Hooray! For he’s a jolly good fellow, etc.
A iphone, yesterday. We could have illustrated the story with a Nexus One or a Blackberry but we didn't.
The BBC have announced they’ll be launching free, official mobile apps for iPhone, Blackberry and Google’s Android later in the year, in a move that is certain to annoy other news-carrying organisations. Especially Rupert Murdoch’s News International – which we’re sure you’ll agree is an enormous boon. And we’re always on the look out for enormous boons.
As traditional newspapers struggle to get to grips with a paper-less future, apps are being seen as a new way to direct traffic to their floundering websites, but only if there’s money in it. The Telegraph and Sky already have free apps but with limited content, while The Guardian have launched a paid-for iPhone app, but it costs £2.39 and is somewhat lacking when it comes to usability. The BBC News app could well be a significant kick in the chops for other newspapers with similar paid-for plans.
The News app, due in April will contain content from the BBC News website, including written stories, correspondent blogs as well as audio and video. It’ll be followed up by a BBC Sport app in time for the World Cup, which has got our app glands leaking all over the place.
The Beeb say it’ll focus on football from its launch, with content from the BBC Sport website and 5 Live radio, including live commentary, and, if events are screened live on the BBC Sport site, they’ll also be available to watch through the app. No plans have been announced for the apps to be available on the most-popular Symbian platforms as yet.
Google are exploding like a jacked-up supernova right now, with projects flying in all directions. Earlier in the week they decided to try plugging maps into GMail and setting their sights on social media with Google Buzz. It’s bollocks. Now they’ve announced plans to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a number of trial locations across the US, initially serving up to half a million people.
Google are planning to deliver broadband services at speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, and the network will be open access, meaning other service providers can take advantage of Google’s infrastructure. In that knowingly earnest way, Google state: ” Wedon’t think we have all the answers – but through our trial, we hope to make a meaningful contribution to the shared goal of delivering faster and better Internet for everyone.”
It was probably the first thing that Google’s Street View people told their car-bound camera team before they hit the highways and byways of sunny Norway: “Be alert at all times for the threat of two men dressed as scuba divers who will chase after you with pitchforks.”
The training briefing will have continued: “They’ll be waiting for you by the side of the road, sitting quietly in a couple of deckchairs. It’ll all look innocent but they’re on the hunt for Google Street View cars and it’ll kick off massively as soon as you arrive on the scene.”
Everyone, it seems, is still dribbling over Google’s three month-old Superbowl ad, touched by the simple story-telling and heartfelt romance. Google now has a site called Search Stories with other commercials made last year, telling similar tales of real life intersecting popular search-engine consumption. Here’s one of them:
The Google search box uses autofill, that common feature where a search box takes a crack at guessing what you’re searching for as you begin typing. This is what happens in the ad above – but according to AdFreak, when the user types “making friends” the autofill results seen in the ad are markedly different to those that actually appear online:
Presumably the results are for Google.com when used in the US, since Google UK results look very different. Nice.
Google’s HTC-made smartphone the Nexus One (pictured), faces stiff, cheaper competition in the coming months – from HTC.
They’re bringing out a phone that has been codenamed Bravo – it’ll be remarkably similar in spec to the Google phone apart from in pricing, as it is expected to be about $100 cheaper.
Better still for customers, they’ll be able to get the Bravo over the counter from mobile retailers as opposed to direct from Google, who have been criticised by the poor customer support available for the Nexus One.
The Bravo is expected to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona next week, and should appear in the shops shortly after the UK launch of Google’s phone. If you’re eyeing up a Nexus One, you’d be well advised to do your homework on its cheaper cousin.
We don’t understand American Football in the Bitterwallet office, so we all trooped into work late last night with a 24-pack of Heineken and watched Escape to Victory instead. While they was knacking the goalie’s arm all over again, the fuss in the US was over Google – they are rumoured to have spent up to $5 million on their Superbowl commercial.
After blowing all that cash on the airtime, they didn’t bother producing anything new – this ad was first seen in November last year. Not that they’d have spent much producing a fresh ad, given that it featured nothing other than a Google homepage and search results:
Slightly more cheerful than Hemmingway’s attempt at brevity but what’s interesting about this (and the recent domination of billboards across the UK for their Chrome operating system) is that Google has in the past refused to advertise its services, preferring instead to let word-of-mouth do the talking. But the last twelve months has seen new players emerge in search, in both Twitter and Bing, so Google to is moving to secure its market share – less Googling means less Google Ads.
Of course you’ve looked for your own house on Google Maps. Everyone has, including your ex. The bitch. But staring down on your roof got boring, so Google invented Street View so you can stare through your own windows. A-Mazing. And that was cool for a couple of years, too. Now it’s time to turn it up a notch. How would you like to Google walk through your own living room?
Well you can’t, and that’s not Google are doing, so tough. What they are doing, is beginning to experiment with adding the interiors of shops to Street View. A blog reports that a New York store was visited by Google employee, who explained they wanted to photograph the interior for a new service called Google Store Views. Photos were taken every couple of metres through the store, and products were photographed too.
Google would neither confirm or deny the fact there was a Google employee stood in the store talking about new Google products. It sounds like a lot of effort for Google to go to for every store (and liable to quickly become out-of-date), so perhaps it’ll be a premium advertising service sold to chains of stores? Who knows. We don’t.
Vodafone have already confirmed they’ll be carrying Google’s Nexus One smartphone in the UK, but it looks as though T-Mobile will be getting a piece of the Google pie as well – if the indiscreet tweetings of their head of corporate affairs are to be believed.
Robin O’Kelly is the man who can’t keep a secret and yesterday he blabbed “T-mobile in talks to range Nexus one also. Happy landing” to anyone who would listen. He later added: “We’re talking to Google re nexus and hope we can come up with something very soon. Will let you know as soon as.”
So it looks as though Google won’t be following the iPhone route of using just one preferred carrier at launch and customers will probably have at least two choices of network when the Nexus One launches at some point later in the year.
It’s all about bloody e-books at the moment, innit? The weekend saw heavyweight publishers Macmillan lay seven bells out of Amazon in a spat that will have ramifications for the future pricing of e-books. Now it’s Google declaring the right to publish any book they pretty much feel like.
It’s actually been going on for several years since Google Books was first launched. Our future planetary masters are attempting to finalise a court settlement to sell digital versions of out-of-print books; that’s not books that are out of copyright – even the bestsellers of five or ten years ago may no longer be reprinted because demand has waned. Google wants to acquire the digital rights to these titles and is haggling other the settlement details with US publishing bodies and authors. Although only US customers would be able to buy the content initially, they’re looking to acquire the rights to material by authors elsewhere in the world.
What’s happened since this process began, and what’s irritating many authors and publishers is that they were opted into the deal by default, and had to actively opt-out by the end of last month – otherwise Google grabbed the right to publish their work. Google also wants to publish “substantial extracts” of each title before the buyer decides whether to purchase the book in full.
And of course, Google is the innocent party in this, insisting the matter is “not about acquiring rights to books” but about “creating a new revenue channel for rights holders, and opening up access to these books”. Google fail to mention what a ludicrously rich vein of revenue it would open up for them – as it stands, they’re proposing to cream off 37 per cent of the revenue.
It’s all about bloody Google at the moment, innit?
It’s all about bloody tablets at the moment, innit? Forget about last week, we’ve moved on. It’s been known for some time that Google are developing a version of their new Chrome operating system for tablet devices, and now the first images of how it may look like have surfaced. These mock-ups have appeared on the official Chromium website in recent days, posted by the project’s lead designer:
Because Chrome is open-source, there are likely to be plenty of Google-powered tablets springing up in the coming months, and no doubt an official Google piece of kit too; the Nexus One was all about Google showing consumers and manufacturers how best to utilise their Android OS, so a Google tablet wouldn’t be unexpected.
feral trolley of the week
