MG Siegler on Google's recent track record→

MG Siegler on his loss of faith in Google:

I specifically remember being excited about the launch of Google Calendar in 2006 because Google was a company cranking out hit after hit after hit. Great products. But recently, what have they done?

…

That’s maybe my biggest problem with Google. They release something, and I no longer have any faith that it’s going to be any good. It’s hard to get excited about a company like that. It’s the same reason why it’s hard to get excited when Microsoft and Yahoo release new things. The track record just isn’t there any more. The faith is gone.

I’ve been noticing the same thing about Google recently. Don’t get me wrong: Google is still a great company, and I still love them. I love that they never seem afraid to try something new, and so they end up with their hands in a ton of products spanning all kinds of areas (though that arguably could be seen as a bad thing). I just remember a time when they could do no wrong. Lately, though, it almost seems as if they can do no right.

Redesigned Gmail and Google Reader coming soon→

Google has really made a conscious effort to put more emphasis on its design lately. I can’t wait to try the new Gmail and Google Reader:

“Internal” Google staff video of the new Gmail look

Upcoming changes to Reader: a new look, new Google+ features, and some clean-up

What Google's "Don't Be Evil" mantra really means→

If you ever wondered what Google meant by its famous “don’t be evil” mantra, here you go:

It had nothing to do with market tactics like stabbing former partners in the back or playing hardball with weaker competitors. It was all about users. Google gave three examples: it would only show relevant ads, would never show pop-ups or other annoying “tricky” ads, and would never sell search results. In other words, it would never make a product worse for users just to make a quick buck.
Sounds pretty good to me. [Business Insider]

Google Cr48 notebook impressions

Now that I’ve had my Google Cr48 notebook for a few months, I thought it would be a good time to post some impressions. Full disclosure: as a member of the pilot program, Google shipped me a Cr48 notebook completely free of charge (and yes, I get to keep it), so big thanks to them for being so generous.

First, a little background: the Cr48 is Google’s notebook running its soon-to-be-released Chrome OS, which is notable because the entire OS is essentially just a Chrome web browser. In fact, if you want to know what it’s like to use Chrome OS right now, simply download the Chrome web browser, set it to full-screen, and that’s more or less it. There’s no desktop, no support for native apps like Office or Photoshop (only web apps from the Chrome Web Store), and extremely limited file management. It’s about as bare-bones as you can get.

Overall, the Cr48 is a pretty nice netbook. Google makes a point of calling it a “notebook” rather than a “netbook,” but let’s be real: it performs more like a netbook, which I’ll get to in a minute. That said, it’s definitely one of the nicest netbooks ever created. It’s clear that the Cr48 tries very hard to be a MacBook, and for the most part it succeeds. I absolutely love the matte black finish — it looks and feels really great. There are no logos whatsoever (a very nice touch), and there’s even a chicklet-style keyboard and a large multitouch trackpad that serves as one giant button, just like on the MacBook.

The Good
From a productivity standpoint, I actually really like using my Cr48. Although I’m a big fan of multitasking, the nice thing about having nothing but a full-screen browser in front of you at all times is that there are no distractions like chat windows or Twitter clients to get in the way. It’s almost like the modal computing experience of using an iOS or Android device — interacting with one app at a time — only brought to a real computer (with tabs!). I tend to keep whatever it is I should be working on in a single browser window and open all of my distractions (e.g. TweetDeck, Google Reader, etc.) in a separate window that I can easily Alt-Tab to for quick access. It might not sound like a lot, but being only able to see one tab/window at a time really does make a difference. With that in mind, the Cr48 is pretty ideal for writing/blogging at the local coffee shop (where I happen to be writing this entry at the moment)

The Bad
The Cr48 does have a few hardware issues — namely an underpowered CPU and a finicky trackpad — but it’s pretty hard to complain too much considering I didn’t pay a dime for it. It’s also difficult to fault Google since I’m sure many of these hardware decisions were made knowing that they were going to give these things away for free. My biggest gripe about the Cr48, though, is that it’s pretty damn slow (hence why I refer to it as a netbook). Not only is it incapable of playing YouTube videos in HD, which in my opinion should be the absolute minimum for any computer released these days, but slowdown is also noticeable when loading websites, scrolling, or even writing emails. The good news is that these issues should disappear entirely once third-party Chrome OS products with improved specs are released later this summer.

Thoughts on Chrome OS
If you really think about it, the idea of using a web browser as your OS is actually pretty smart. I’d be willing to bet that the large majority of people spend most of their time on their computers either emailing or browsing Facebook/Twitter/some other website. For users like that, ChromeOS is great — it’s fast, secure, updates automatically, and perhaps best of all, it means one less person using Internet Explorer. Power users will definitely long for the ability to install native apps — for example, I had to wait until I returned home from a recent trip to San Francisco before I could process my pictures since there was no easy way to edit RAW images on the Cr48. For the most part, though, I think average users will be fine without support for native apps.

I’ve heard a few people question why Chrome OS is necessary when you can basically mimic the experience on your current computer by simply downloading the Chrome web browser (as I suggested earlier). Here’s the key distinction: average users don’t know how to use their OS, but they all know how to use a web browser. By making the web browser their OS, they never have to worry about things that they shouldn’t have to worry about in the first place (e.g. installing/uninstalling programs and that dreaded Windows registry). Chrome is also the most secure web browser, so Chrome OS users will inherently be running the most secure OS. Nice.

The key will come down to pricing. There are rumors that Asus will be releasing a $200 Chrome OS netbook, and in my opinion that’s exactly the right strategy: make the thing so damn cheap that every household can afford one (or two). It’s the same strategy that Amazon used when it dropped the price of the Kindle to $129, and it works. I would gladly pay $200 for a portable computer that I could take with me on trips and to the local coffee shop for some blogging. Please just make it faster!

Spot translations

Good times at Spot last night as I met up with a few old high school buddies. We ordered the dessert omakase, which turned out to be way too much for even four people. The desserts there aren’t nearly as fancy as nearby ChikaLicious, but it’s nice that the restaurant can fit more than 10 people.

The highlight of the night was definitely when we spent a good 30 minutes testing out Google Translate’s ability to translate speech on the fly. If you think about it, that’s a pretty remarkable accomplishment… as long as it works. To its credit, it actually works pretty well, but it definitely came up with a few hilarious mistranslations. For example, our very first test was when I said “hello” and somehow Google Translate returned the following translation:

Moral of the story: never greet native Japanese speakers. Ever.

The "readability" of Google Maps labels→

Google isn’t exactly known for coming up with the prettiest designs, but their products are always highly usable. This article explains why the labels in Google Maps are simply more “readable” than those on, say, Yahoo! or Bing. Pretty cool stuff.

It turns out that Google uses a variety of techniques and visual tricks to help make its city labels much more readable than those of its competitors. From the use of different shadings to the decluttering of areas outside of major cities, it sure seems like Google has put a lot of thought into how it displays the labels appearing on its maps. I have no doubt that little touches like these are among the many reasons why Google remains the web’s most popular mapping site.

[41Latitude via DC Domain]

Why you'll give up Gmail for Facebook Mail [Updated]→

On Monday, Facebook will supposedly launch its own email service, which those inside the company have dubbed its “Gmail killer.” Gizmodo breaks down the number one reason why it might just be able to do that:

Since Facebook knows how you interact with all your contacts, they would be able to perfectly separate what is important from what is not. Having used Gmail’s Priority Inbox for a while, I have the feeling that Facebook could do much better given all their data and some clever, but not overly complicated logic. Moreover, it’s not only about separating what is important and what is not. Their data tracking and analysis could allow them to do many other things. For example, they just have to analyze who is tagging you in photos, who is with you in those photos, to know who are your real friends, and categorize mail accordingly. They can automatically classify mail from the person who just became your fiance or lower the priority of that ex who keeps mailing you. The possibilities of using your social interactions to enhance the mail experience are endless. I have no doubt that Facebook will exploit this information to your advantage—and theirs, I’m afraid.

This definitely has the potential to be revolutionary, but will it actually kill Gmail? I’ll believe it when I see it. [Gizmodo]

Update: Read what Facebook has to say about its new messaging platform — watch the embedded video, it’s worth it. It’s Facebook’s most revolutionary product in a long, long time. I can’t wait to try it out.

Why Google can't build Instagram→

Robert Scoble on why Google can’t build Instagram:

Tonight I was talking with an exec at Google and I brought up the success of Instagr.am (they’ve gotten more than 500,000 downloads in just a few weeks) and asked him “why can’t Google do that?” I knew some of the answers. After all, I watched Microsoft get passed by by a whole group of startups (I was working at Microsoft as Flickr got bought by Yahoo, Skype got bought by eBay, etc etc).

I love Google, and while I tend to think that the big G can pretty much accomplish anything it desires, Scoble brings up some good points. A few that stood out to me:

1. Google can’t keep its teams small enough.
5. Google’s services need to support every platform.
6. Google’s engineers can’t use any Facebook integration or dependencies like Instagram does.

An interesting read. [Scobleizer]

What if Google’s social layer is Chrome?→

MG Siegler over at TechCrunch ponders the possibility that Google’s often-rumored social layer might be baked into the browser level of Chrome itself. Essentially, you would login to Chrome and it would handle your logins for the entire web automatically. He adds that Facebook could also utilize a similar strategy with its own browser, and here’s how it would work:

You might laugh at the notion of a Facebook web browser, but be honest: how many of your friends would use it? Probably a lot. If it had chat, alerts, and, of course, the News Feed, it would be a huge hit. You could visit any site on the web, but you’d be already logged in to your Facebook account. And you’d have one-click access to all your Facebook credits to buy whatever you wanted. And you would already be logged in to comment anywhere. And it would be huge for sharing. Huge.

One universal login to rule them all? Sign me up! [TechCrunch]