Revisiting Google IO 2012 Edition: where are they now ? Google IO 2013 is around the corner and obviously all the tech blogs are already in line for the live keynote blogs and the goodies free stuff we are going to find under our chairs by the end of it … which made me reflect on the past 2 google IOs I have been attending, and how it is difficult to transform a few geek’s dream into a real marketable consumer product that the rest of us will actually … buy.
[Reproduced from AllThingsD, May 14, 2013] Where Are They Now? Google I/O 2012 Edition. This year’s Google I/O developer conference is shaping up to be a very different show from last year’s spectacle. The company has downplayed expectations ahead of the event, saying that it will shift the focus back on developers and services rather than new hardware products and a new operating system. We’ll find out exactly what’s in store tomorrow, when Google I/O 2013 officially kicks off with a three-hour keynote. But, before that, we thought this would be a good time to take a look back at what has happened since the last I/O. At times resembling an action flick more than a developer conference, Google I/O 2012 was most memorable for the outrageous Google Glass demonstration and hardware announcements. But with all that hype comes some disappointment. Google Glass Skydivers, rooftop bikers and rappellers — that’s how Google first introduced Google Glass to the world. This wearable computer allows users to take pictures and video, get directions and search the Internet by voice. At the time of the conference, U.S.-based attendees could preorder an early version of the futuristic glasses for only (!) $1,500. Google has since been holding developer events, and the glasses have been making the rounds at high-profile showcases and with some tech bloggers. In an interview with NPR last weekend, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said the company has shipped about 2,000 units to developers. However, there is still no release date for the device. If you just can’t wait, you can always make your own. Nexus Q Looking to take on Apple, Microsoft and Amazon in the battle for the living room, Google introduced its media-streaming device, the Nexus Q, at I/O last year. The bocce-ball-sized unit allows users to wirelessly stream Google Play content to a TV or home theater system, and there was much praise when Google announced that it would be manufactured in the U.S. But Nexus Q — or at least this first attempt — turned out to be a nothingburger. A mere month after its debut, Google postponed the Nexus Q indefinitely after getting initial feedback from users saying they wanted the device to do more. The company said it would work on making the product better, but we have yet to see any updates. And we won’t be hearing about it at this year’s conference. [more] --->
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Facebook open compute project is set to turn the server industry upside down, along with Amazon and Google. From new server architectures to machine firmware to ultra fast communications and virtual storage, #bigdata is going to help us get less physical IT costs and more flexibility.
[Reproduced from Wired 05.08.13] Facebook Rattles Networking World With ‘Open Source’ Gear Google solved the problem ages ago, but only for itself. Now, Facebook is building a solution for everyone else. As far back as 2007, rumors indicated that Google was designing its own networking switches, creating a cheaper and more effective way of moving information across the massive data centers that underpin its web empire, and early last year, the rumors crystallized into the real thing, as photos of a Google switch appeared on the web. Google still won’t discuss these switches, but it has revealed a similar project, and according to a former Google engineer who once worked on the switches, the company fashioned this new gear because its data center network had expanded to the point where traditional hardware just couldn’t get the job done. “When Google looked at their network, they needed high-bandwidth connections between their servers and they wanted to be able to manage things — at scale,” JR Rivers told us last fall. “With the traditional enterprise networking vendors, they just couldn’t get there. The cost was too high, and the systems were too closed to be manageable on a network of that size.” In other words, Google needed switches that could run new software and new protocols. ‘We aim to produce an OS-agnostic, open source switch that can be treated just a like a bare-metal server when it comes on the network.’ Read More, click here ---> Crowd Lending set to revolutionize the lending industry. There was a really good story this week on All Things Considered (check http://tinyurl.com/cfhmwp4) and eventhough currently Lending Club is probably the size of one or two local branches of a credit card bank, it is interesting to the institutional investors getting in the business of crowd lending. Great business strategy story.
[Reproduced from Forbes | 5/02/2013] Google Buys Stake In Lending Club, Valuing Peer-To-Peer Lender At $1.6 Billion Google GOOG +1% has just bet on a less-hierarchical future for the credit industry. The search giant bought a $125 million stake from investors in peer-to-peer credit site Lending Club , together with Foundation Capital. The site cuts out banks by matching lenders with borrowers, offering a better spread between interest and savings rates. Rather than issue more equity, Lending Club invited current investors to sell their shares. The sale valued the company at $1.55 billion, Lending Club said. Google took more than half of the new stake. Lending Club says it wasn’t looking for new funding. “We want to have Google as a shareholder,” said Lending Club’s founder and CEO Renaud Laplanche. “We didn’t need additional capital.” Lending Club generated $34 million revenues in 2012 and is forecasting sales of $90 million for 2013. Laplance said the company became cash-flow positive in the third quarter of 2012 and has since been profitable. France-born Laplance founded Lending Club in 2007 after he became irked by the massive disparity between the 18% interest rate on his credit card bill, and the 1% savings rate at his bank. The company has since mediated on more than $1.7 billion in loans and is now among the world’s biggest peer-to-peer lenders. One of the company’s original investors, Rebecca Lynn of Morgenthaler Ventures, said Lending Club was one of several credit market places she was looking at before investing in March 2009. Lynn, who had a background in financial services, said she liked the company’s strict underwriting policies and focus on prime and super-prime borrowers. “They’re creating a financial market place very similar to the way eBay created a goods marketplace,” she said. So how might Google fit into Lending Club’s future? “There is a lot of alignment between Google and Lending Club,” said Laplanche. “We’re not ready to announce specific products yet or services but we have several concepts we’ve discussed over the last few weeks that we’re looking forward to explore in the next few months, to lead to a concrete product.” Among the possibilities: products from Lending Club that benefit from Google’s expertise in writing algorithms for large user bases. Google’s own large user base “could benefit from our product,” said Laplanche , adding that products like Google Wallet could, for example, be enhanced with a credit solution. Laplanche added that Lending Club and Google both believed in making market places (like advertising and banking) more transparent. “We’re hoping it’s going to work both ways, like any good partnership.” Prepare for more flat design
Flat design is in. Adding to yesterday’s flat design post, it looks like apple is redesigning all its interfaces away from skeuomorphic into flat as well. Thank you Monsieur Ives. Apple’s iOS 7 Team in Deadline Crunch Mode, Adding Engineers John Paczkowski May 1, 2013 at 10:44 am PT iOS-7Apple’s iOS 7 is so significant a reimagining of the mobile operating system that the company is mustering additional engineering resources to get it out the door in time for a preview at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, which is June 10-14 in San Francisco. Sources who declined to be named because they are forbidden to talk publicly about Apple’s plans tell AllThingsD that the company has been “borrowing” engineers from the OS X 10.9 team as part of an effort to double down on iOS 7. “Yes, yes — it’s essentially a repeat of the iPhone/Leopard scenario,” one source said, referring to Apple’s 2007 decision to pull engineers from OS X 10.5 to work on iPhone. “Not as much of a fire drill, though. It will ship on time.” News of Apple’s iOS 7 scramble was first reported by Daring Fireball last month, and reiterated today by Bloomberg. So what is it about iOS 7 that has caused Apple to rally additional engineering resources? It’s a pretty big update. With SVP of Industrial Design Jony Ive now oveerseeing interface design, sources say Apple has adopted a unified approach to software and hardware design. And evidently the spartan, elegant aesthetic that Ive has developed around Apple’s hardware is now being brought to bear on its software, as well. Last week, 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman reported that iOS 7 would feature a “flat” design that favors simplicity over flash. I’ve heard similar descriptions from sources who say iOS 7 is iOS “de-glitzed.” “Put it this way,” said one source who has been briefed on iOS. “You know Game Center’s green felt craps table? Well, goodbye, Circus Circus.” |
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