0 Comments Google acquires BlindType

Touch typing on a small keyboard is a pain, period. This is one of the things I am afraid about. When I give up my HTC TouchDual and move to Desire, I will no longer be able to type with my Stylus (which is not easy, but easier than finger typing). But now, it seems, I might have reasons to be happy.

Google has recently acquired BlindType, an impressive new technology that recognizes the location of your fingers on the screen to accurately predict the text you want to type.

BlindType has been acquired by Google!

by BlindType team on 10/01/10

We are excited to announce that BlindType has been acquired by Google!

We want to thank everyone for their overwhelming support and positive feedback. We know that typing on your mobile device can be a frustrating experience, which is why we've worked hard to make touch typing easier and faster than ever - the way it should be.

We're excited to join Google, and look forward to the great opportunities for mobile innovation that lie ahead.

The BlindType team

You no longer have to worry about hitting the exact keys on your small touch phone keyboard. You can type anywhere on the screen as if there was a keyboard underneath and the application will figure out what you mean. You don't even have to worry about the size (scale) of your keyboard, or its orientation (see picture).  We can expect this to be available on an Android phone soon.

View the video demo…

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0 Comments Lose a bet, win a job!

Apparently, Feross Aboukhadijeh, a Stanford Computer Science student, made a bet with his roommate, after Google Instant was launched, that he could create YouTube Instant in less than an hour.

Well, he lost the bet but before we went to sleep that night, he did finish YouTube Instant and posted an update on Facebook. He is now a celebrity and has been offered a job by YouTube CEO Chad Hurley on Twitter!
Courtesy: http://www.feross.org/

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0 Comments HTC Desire vs. Samsung Galaxy S

I have finally decided to let go of my HTC Touch Dual after using it for 2 years. The experience has been mostly positive though I did have some problems with the touch screen and had to get a new one about 6 months ago. Anyway…

 

With so many new phones in the market, buying a phone can be laborious. For about 2 months now, I have been waiting for the launch of HTC Desire in India and now that it is finally available, I have a problem. At the Delhi airport recently, I could lay my hands on a Samsung Galaxy S and I have to say, I was impressed. More than anything else, by the 4-inch touch screen.
A difficult choice. I re-reviewed several reviews (!!) on Engadget, Gizmodo and numerous other TechLogs…you name it and I have probably been there. I laboriously scanned through thousands of comments from users and non-users on forums (e.g.. here). I even posted a status message on Facebook and tried to get more views. At the end, here is my summary for anyone who cares:

HTC Desire	Samsung Galaxy S
Pros Spandragon 1GHz 3.7” AMOLED Screen (Already updated to) FroYo (Android 2.2) Sturdy built quality 5 MP Camera, with Flash Excellent UI (HTC Sense)	Pros Hummingbird 1GHz 4” Super AMOLED Screen Swype 8GB/16GB + 512MB Dedicated Memory Superior Gaming Experience
Cons Inferior display in bright sunlight 576MB Shared Memory Poor battery life (expected to improve with FroYo)	Cons 5 MP Camera, No Flash Plastic body; low-cost iPhone feel TouchWiz UI, not even remotely as good as HTC Sense Eclair (Android 2.1), FroYo update expected Slightly more expensive

I was always leaning towards HTC Desire, given my positive experience with HTC over the last two years. And when they announced the FroYo update for Desire, the choice was made. What do you think?

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0 Comments iPads for Peace

I have a plan for the universe and it involves iPads, mobile phones and the new Almighty…the internet! There is a lot of talk of promoting religious tolerance in these times of crisis. Lets call this my little tribute to the anniversary of 9/11.

People say Muslims need to introspect and Islam needs to reform away from fundamentalism. Why only Islam, I think every religion needs a reform that will lead it in the direction of greater tolerance. Geert Wilders is not Muslim and hell he is unbearably intolerant. The same goes for Muthalik and his band of goons, Togadia et. al. But hey, I have a solution. Some might find it ridiculous, some might find it funny, but I am serious; I really think it can work!


So here is how you do it. Gift each and every religious leader in the world an iPad (or any other tablet); force them to install instant messengers of their choice and to add each other as friends; make them open an account on Facebook; have them join an online discussion forum. Simple? Well, that is almost all I am asking for. You do this and viola, in no time, you will find this world a better place to live.

Even if they just poke each other on FB, even if they just frequently buzz each other on messenger, even if they have serious and abusive fights on the discussion forums, I think it will help. 

Want to do it even better? Make all their interactions public and throw in a few infidels (non-believers) too. Let the world see what the Rabbi had to say to the Imam when they ran into each other online. Let the world know what was the first wall post from the Shankaracharya to the Pope. And of course, let the infidels comment on their actions…just for fun! :P

Give them cell phones too, it wont cost much. Let the world pay their internet and phone bills, as long as they talk to each other, not only amongst themselves. Let them preach, as long as they don't preach only to their blind followers but also to the non-believers; let them argue as long as they are also willing to listen and to answer any question from anyone.

Make them go out for a beer (oh well, at least a Chai) and force them to hang out at TGIF every Friday evening. No, stop laughing...I am serious! :)

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0 Comments Googling into the future…

Yes, I admit… I am a Google fan! But then, who isn’t? Here’s a preview of their latest innovation – Google Voice.

 

I like to keep informed about how Google is going to (pleasantly) surprise me next and this new service is no exception. I haven't tried it, yet... but the concept seems brilliant. Incidentally, Google sent me an invite to sign up the beta for Google Voice but since I am not in the U.S., I was unable to do so. 

I can’t wait to have my own Google Number… and you?

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0 Comments March of the Metaphorical Footprints…

Recently, I posted about the carbon footprint of Spam and it seems Carbon as a currency is gaining currency! What exactly is Carbon Footprint? Here’s how the UK Carbon Trust defines it:

the total set of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product

Image Courtesy: British Recycled Products

You can calculate your own Carbon Footprint here. It requires some guesswork about your consumption habits but it will give you a general idea about where you stand vis-à-vis the rest of the planet.

Carbon is not the only metaphorical footprint that has become popular in recent years. In fact, its not even the first. I think the metamorphic footprints started in a big way with the Ecological Footprint  – a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. Then there’s the Water Footprint  – the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. You can also find references to Social Footprint, usually in the context of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Anyway, coming back to the Carbon Footprint. I recent read about a new washing machine that claims to have a Carbon Footprint 40% lower than the most efficient alternative. How so? Well, it uses 90% less water and (therefore) significantly less electricity for drying the laundry. This “green gadget” from Xerox uses thousands of tiny nylon beads that have the characteristic of attracting and retaining dirt particles (now you know why nylon clothes get dirty very easily!) in conjunction with detergent and a little water. Read more here.

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0 Comments The Carbon Footprint of Spam…

We all know how irritating Spam can be. No matter what filters you use, there will always be some new spammer who find its way into your inbox. Have you ever wondered how much time and resources the world spends on creating and sending Spam and on preventing Spam from entering our mailboxes?

Image Courtesy: ICF/McAfee

According to the estimates of a recent report (PDF: 2.33 MB) by ICF International (commissioned by McAfee Inc.), approximately 62 trillion spam emails were sent out in 2008. The report estimates the global carbon footprint of these spam emails as well as the estimated savings by the use of spam filters.

Here are some key findings:

• Annual energy use on Spam – 33 Terawatt Hours (TWh) or 33 Billion KWh – equivalent to the energy consumption of 2.4 Million US homes.
• If this energy is assumed to be produced from coal-based power plants, the Green House Gases (GHG) emitted would equal the GHG emission of 3.1 Million passenger cars using 2 Billion US gallons of gasoline.
• The same gasoline could be used to drive around the planet 1.6 Million times.
• Spam filters annually save the planet 135 TWh of electricity – the impact equivalent to taking 13 million cars off the roads.
• For a typical medium-sized business (presumably, in the US), the annual energy consumption on emails is roughly 50,000 KWh – 20 percent of which can be attributed to Spam.

The Economist ran an article on the report (link requires subscription) and some of the reader comments are really interesting.

• What incentives do spammers have to send messages that can be easily filtered? One of the readers points out that even if 1 in 12.5 million messages leads to a real sale (of pills, for example), sending spam is worth the effort. Spammers not only make money from selling the pill but often much more by getting access to your financial information (credit card number) and its misuse. The fact that the marginal cost of generating and delivering spam to every additional person is so low (economies of scale?) makes it worthwhile.
• Another reader is very apologetic about his own comment when he quips, “I apologise for the CO₂ produced in my typing, and hence readers reading, this comment.”

Now, coming from McAfee Inc., these results are not very surprising. That Spam Filters save GHG emissions equivalent to removing more than 3 million cars is excellent news indeed – but to what effect? Spam is a “created paper tiger” that McAfee et al. shoot down and in the process make huge profits. Obviously, they are not doing this to “save the planet”. But then again, as Michael Douglas says in Wall Street, “Anything worth doing, is worth doing for money”.

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0 Comments The Petabyte Age: Making science obsolete...??

1 Terabyte = 1,000 Gigabytes; 1 Petabyte = 1000 Terabytes

Did you know that Google's servers process 1 Petabyte of data every 72 minutes?

A recent issue of WIRED magazine carries a series of articles on how the Petabyte Age is changing the world. While all of them make a good read, one in particular seems rather bold, to say the least...and has created a controversy of some sort...

The End of Theory: All models are wrong, science is obsolete!

Click on the link to read the full article and judge for yourself. The author suggests that today we have so much data and data processing (computing) power at our disposal that we don't need models (simplistic representations of reality) and theories (generalizations that broadly explain the logic behind the data and the models). Rather far-fetched, I would think.

Every scientist, researcher and statistician understands that mere correlation between data means nothing for explaining causation. Petabytes of data on how many times this article was read, by whom, from where and for how long will say nothing about the quality of the article or agreement / disagreement among the readers. Sure, it might provide some hints, but data is JUST data...and will always remain that.

Interpreting data and converting it into information requires wisdom, which comes from knowledge, which comes from all the theories and science that constantly keep evolving. Garbage In, Garbage Out... and the more garbage you put in, the more of it will come out UNLESS it is processed scientifically.

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