Yep, had 3 devices (double shame on me?). Seems to have one of the least graceful product depredations paths of any mainstream phone manufacturer I'm aware of.
Hypem's downfall (in my opinion) was the point where the frontpage started being bombarded with Kanye West songs. Songs like that don't need to be 'discovered', as they're already jammed into our ears at every opportunity mainstream media has. Hopefully 2U can keep a good balance.
I've got to agree with you an many others in the comments. The thing that "doesn't sit right" is that Google is looking at alternative ways to benefit their company while benefiting the community. There's always going to be a risk of monopoly. In Australia, the fiber roll-out is government owned and funded, replacing a former government telco monopoly with a current government telco monopoly. If the price is right and there's still competition, I think we should be vigilant but happy.
I really dislike "<Over-reaching statement>, here's why" headlines. Attending to the actual content of this article, I summarize it to be "I think Google+ will be big because universities are telling their students to use it".
I don't think that's the way the world works, but apparently we won't have to wait to long to find out.
I'm not against Google+ at all, I'm against attention grabbing headlines. I dislike myself a little for upping the comment count.
I see the Grandma use case, but it's so niche I can't see that being viable. As for enterprise, you'd have to have a pretty "progressive" company... and one that would be very sure that you'll never need a desktop app. Again, I would think very small numbers.
I realise Chrome OS is somewhat still a market experiment, but I think it would've gone a lot further at a better price point. For ~$200 I would put one in my living room for checking the web & controlling my home web apps. I see that as the perfect way to get people familiar with it (thinking of it more like a tablet, a limited utility), then once NaCl goes mainstream, you have a who market who's ready to start replacing their other PCs.
That TC piece on "interest-based" social networks came to mind when I saw this. I think there's a limit to what needs to be segmented, but this happens to be square in my interests and it makes a lot of sense.
Also makes me think of Ravelry, Etsy, etc. With the Facebook /Instagram media saturation of late, it's nice to see some news about something else in the social space.
Interestingly I look at this news in almost the opposite way!
I used Opera desktop for something like 10 years too. When I moved to Chrome (maybe 3 years ago?) I was like, "ah, this is what these websites are supposed to be like". I was actually quite sad to say goodbye and I still miss a lot of the features (sidebar!), but it always struck me that Opera was living in a bit of a dreamland where they just hoped the web was 100% standards compliant. Admirable, but unfortunately (in the short term at least) users suffered because so many sites just didn't quite work. This may have improved since I jumped ship.
If a major company could give Opera the resources to catch up to Chrome in that area, then I'd be excited for the potential to create a comprehensively market leading browser.
I once tried to buy a digital album from a local band, without using iTunes (just don't like it).
After searching around (which, to Benn's point, probably took longer than illegally downloading) I found it listed on Amazon. After I downloaded their ridiculous download software (just give me a zip?), I got right up to paying, when I was told that they were not licensed to sell to countries outside the US. Great. I can't buy my country's own product on Amazon. Nice one music industry.
Interesting point. Realistically, Heinz would prefer that you didn't get all the sauce out, because you'll buy another bottle more quickly if some isn't accessible.