The Weekly: 04 March 2013
Google Reader Shut Down
It's true. They're throwing the towel on Google Reader, effective July 1, in hopes to draw all their users to Google+ and Google Currents.
Most possible alternatives in the market today are TinyTinyRSS, Feedly and NewsBlur. I've been testing out Feedly for almost a week now and it's pretty amazing. It can automatically import all my Google Reader subscriptions. The layout needs a little getting used to, and it somehow seems as if some things are missing but can't really figure it out. Will probably try out the other RSS readers.
Meanwhile you can place a flower at the Google Grave. Or if you'd like to make your voice heard you can Google (ironic, no) up some petition sites. Note: They've dug a grave for Google Glass
Twitter Music
They've just recently acquired We Are Hunted, a music discovery app, and integrating it into Twitter. iOS app coming out in a few weeks. It gives music discovery to users through personalized recommendations based on the people he/she follows. Tapping a Music tweet will allow users to listen to streams through Sound Cloud or preview them in iTunes.
Self-Healing Chip
Not sci-fi anymore. Well they don't actually call out miniature work bugs to replace broken parts, they just automatically develop work-arounds to bypass damaged systems. It can also restore to nearly ideal performance.
Still far from being commercialized across all circuit systems, but imagine the amount of potential job losses we'd have to deal with. Blame California Institute of Technology (Caltech) if indestructible machines start taking over the world.
Maker-Bot Sells 3D Printers
And they call it The Replicator. But food will not materialize just yet. With material and schematics, one can make anything from shower curtain rings to R2D2s to Perfect Grade Exias. This just screams infringements all over. But then we had the same issue when color printers and scanners first came about.
Better news is doctors are already able to print ears and arteries, and in as little as half a decade from now medicine will see tremendous transformation. The future, end of famine.
#facebook #hastags
#If #you #think #hashtag #frenzies #on #instagram #and #twitter #are #annoying #enough #facebook #just #annouced #they #will #introduce #hash-tagging. #Hell #just #broke #loose
Samsung S4
Bigger screen, better camera, more cores, sharper display, yadda yadda yadda. It monitors your eye movement when you're reading, lets you flip through photo gallery just by waving your hand. It's still plastic, but it now looks better than S3 plastic. It's a plus-point, I guess.
S3 people will probably not care too much for it, but S2 users will rave and drool for sure.
If Famous Websites Were People
"Porn or regular?"
Apple Goes Flat
So Apple will ditch the Skeuomorph design for a flatter and simpler design, kind of like what Google and Windows interface look like.
Skeuomorphism is a design concept that resembles another material, for example the leather stitching around the iOS Notepad and the flipping page effect in iBooks. So what Jony Ive is doing is replacing all those extras with pure simplicity. I think it's nice and practical, but will also make it look too much like Google and Microsoft. I hope they don't do that though, but instead work on standardizing their designs across all their in-house apps.
Sony NWZ-W273
Just as I was ranting on about the 2-year old W-Series Walkman, Sony launches a new one. What's amazing about it? 4GB space (although I'm not too sure if it's a plus point, based on my review on the previous one), and it seems you can actually swim with these.
It's waterproof to 2 meters, no sand and no sea water. Sounds good enough to me, since swimming is to me the most boring sport in the world. It's slightly sleeker. Not that I'm complaining, any smaller and I won't be able to see it. It's not out in Malaysia just yet, but you can keep refreshing this here site and wait for it.
I just hope they'd change their crappy-ass name to something a little less stupid. And I hope they'd replace my existing unit with this one.
