Googling Friday #2

Hello folks and welcome to another installment of Googling Friday. Last week I was quite busy so I do apologize for not having one out. Let’s get into this week’s Google news and review.

Google to launch Chrome OS-based tablet on 11/26

Looks like HTC is making a tablet similar to an iPad but based on the Google Chrome OS. It will be sold by Verizon with an on-sale date of November 26th aka Black Friday. Below is an artist rendering of what it may look like.

Chrome Web Store in October

Google’s Chrome based web store will be rolling out in October. It will allow users to purchase web apps from the store using Google Checkout and Google will only take a 5% of revenue from the apps sold in contrast to the industry standard 70/30 split (developer/store operator).

Now for this weeks Google web app review

Google Reader

I have been reading RSS feeds for a few years now using different applications. For a long time I used NetNews Wire as a desktop app until they decided to synchronize with Google Reader which I started to check out. Ever since then, I have not used the NNW desktop and strictly use the Google Reader web app as one of my tabs on my browser. I do use the NetNews Wire app on the iPhone and iPad though and the layout on them is very professional, more than I can say for an app like Reeder. Using Google Reader you can create folders for your different subscriptions for example Sports, Tech, News, etc. If you see something you like and want to save for future reference say like something to include in a blog post, you can star the article. Also if you have an Instapaper account, you can save the articles there for later reading. I will have more about Instapaper in the next edition of Triple T.

So if you are looking for something to streamline your RSS feeds on I would really recommend Google Reader. It works great with third party apps like the ones mentioned above.

Tuesday Tech Talk #56

Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. I have quite a few things to talk about this week and not all of them are Apple related so hope you enjoy!

Google Wave shutdown

Google announced last week it will be ceasing updates to Google Wave and will shut it down at the end of the year. For those that don’t know, Google Wave is a online collaboration web application that had a lot of buzz initially but faded fast. I haven’t used it in months.

Android update

There appears to be an update on the way to the Android OS in early September. While I’m on the subject of Android, I’m not getting into the whole iPhone vs Android “battle” anymore. You have 2 great mobile OS’s that are NOT using Windows and that is a win for almost everyone.

Microsoft Office for Mac release date

Microsoft has finally set a release time for Office 2011 for Mac. It will become available in late October and will be available in 3 flavors. A Student & Home edition for $119 which will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Messenger, a Home & Business edition for $199 ($279 for a 2 computer install) that will include all the above plus Outlook, and an Academic version for $99 that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Messenger but will only be available in authorized academic channels and from Microsoft directly.

Verizon to get iPhone in January?

Stop me if you heard this one before. According to a source Apple has apparently ordered millions of Qualcomm CDMA chips from a January launch. What I don’t understand though and correct me if I’m wrong but the CDMA doesn’t allow you to both talk and use data at the same time so to me a CDMA based iPhone would lack the feature found in the GSM based iPhone available from AT&T. Personally I would love to see it happen, this is America and the iPhone should not be tied down to a single carrier.

Google now allowing switching between multiple accounts

If you happen to have more than 1 Google account, you can now switch between them without having to log out and log in. Yes I do admit, I have 2 Google accounts. Why? Because their free and why not.

Bill Gates on the future of education

Bill Gates has some interesting ideas on how in the future the dynamic of learning will be turned on its head. No longer would there be an X amount of students in a classroom, instead students for free will be able to watch lectures online. He envisions higher learning as not place based and how no matter how you learn you should get credit for it i.e., watching an online lecture.

This Week’s iPhone/iPod touch/iPad apps

Instapaper ($4.99) - This app which works for both the iPad and the iPhone and iPod touch allows you to read stories you choose to read later off websites. The cool thing about it is you can read them while offline. Here are a couple of screenshots.

Vonage Mobile for Facebook (FREE) - This awesome app allows you to talk for free with other Facebook friends who have the app on their iPhone, iPod touch, and Android devices (iPad coming soon). I tried it out with my friend Dave in California and the quality was excellent! Dave lives in an area where his 3G is not the best so a lot of times his calls will drop or fade but with the WiFi connection on the Vonage Mobile app it was excellent. Which leads to my next point with Vonage and Skype having apps for the iPhone, how soon until Apple allows the Google Voice app into the store?

CellTower ($2.99) - This handy little app will show on a map the nearest cell towers to you and who owns them. So if you are ever in an area with low bars, now you can find out why that is.

Friendly ($3.99) - This is a nice iPad based Facebook browser. Although for the price I would like to see a few more features like chat and attaching links with a status post. That being said there is a 2.0 version coming soon so hopefully it will offer such features.

TuneIn Radio ($1.99) - My friend Jeremy was telling me about this app. It allows you to listen to radio stations all over the country on your iPhone or iPod touch. It also allows you to record them within the app as well.

Well, that is going to do it for this edition of Triple T. Tune in Friday for another Googling Friday post about all things Google. Take care!