Sorry, Steve, the stylus is back

By: Gibbs Cadiz
Philippine Daily Inquirer

1:28 am | Sunday, November 27th, 2011

“Who wants a stylus?” Steve Jobs asked an adoring throng in 2007 while unveiling the iPhone. “You have to get them and put them away and you lose them— yuck! Nobody wants a stylus.”

And with that, the accessory that had defined a generation of early smartphones from Palms to Nokias and Motorolas withered away, a sudden clunky relic in the new age of breakthrough touchscreen phones.

But if the Korean electronics giant Samsung would have its way, the stylus wouldn’t go the way of dodos and dinosaurs just yet. Its latest “game-changing product,” as it calls it, is the Galaxy Note, whose most striking feature is a stylus, the S Pen, an “advanced pen-input technology” that’s worlds away from the simplistic point-and/or-scribble technology of the styluses of old.

This one accessorizes a nifty gadget that’s a hybrid between a tablet and a smartphone—“lightweight and easy to carry, but big enough to get done what needs to be done while on the go,” said Gregory Lee, president and CEO of Samsung Asia during the phone’s recent unveiling at the Ritz Carlton Pacific Place in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Vital part

Galaxy Note remains a full-touchscreen phone, so why resurrect the stylus?

“Analog solutions like a pen still play a vital part in our lives,” said Lee. “The S Pen serves as a bridge between analog and hi-tech, with its precise, fast and rich input similar to an actual pen.”

More like a shape-shifting instrument, actually, from pen to paint brush (in a variety of styles from pointillist to wide strokes), as this enhanced stylus’ most immediate value is in the way it empowers artists and the creative-minded to transform their Galaxy Note into an instant sketch pad for highly accurate sketching and artwork.

To demonstrate this capability, Samsung brought in top Indonesian digital graphic illustrator Teddy Soegiarto to doodle and sketch on the Galaxy Note in real time during the launch. Soegiarto toggled among the phone’s pen-responsive features, from the instant capture and annotation of images to free-form scrap, which involved cutting out images in any form desired to create new visual variations. In the anteroom leading to the launch ballroom, several sketch artists and caricaturists were also around, ready to do ersatz portraits of guests on their Galaxy Note.

“The artistically inclined will just love this phone,” said Lee.

Creative options

New applications were developed to provide users greater creative options via the S Pen, among them OmniSketch and Zen Brush. The former “enables users to sketch using the S Pen as a brush, while Zen Brush provides oriental brush simulation.”

Creating digital artwork, of course, becomes hugely more appealing on the Galaxy Note’s high-definition super AMOLED screen, with its trademark stunning crispness of detail and color, and its 5.3-inch display that’s “the largest ever included in a primary mobile device” (“gigantic—not only is it big, it’s also beautiful… making the Note a true video star,” says CNet UK in its online review).

Another notable app is the S Memo, which CNet enthusiastically describes as “one of the highlights, due to the way it sells itself on the Note. Basically it allows you to create memos using text (typed or handwritten), sketches, sound recordings, maps and pictures. These can then be shared in various ways, including on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Evernote, MMS or e-mail.”

The screen’s combination of bigness and brilliance, in effect, provides a premium experience, on anything from watching videos to transcribing notes to reading an e-book to surfing the Net to jazzing up a captured image or photo (with handwritten emoticons, for instance, for e-mailing to a loved one), a map (a scrawled “Find me here!” doesn’t get more emphatic), or even a PDF file (for last-minute notes for that early-morning business presentation). That expansive display also allows for full-screen capacity (say, a newspaper’s online front page), reducing the hassle of scrolling down or zooming in.
The Galaxy Note’s Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system runs on a 1.4GHZ dual-core processor, promising a device that’s “incredibly fast and delivers a smooth user interface for seamless usability.”

There’s also 16GB of built-in storage, plus an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, and full HD (1080p) recording. All these in a gadget that measures just 9.6mm thick, for easier portability (though the mini-tablet size might admittedly still cramp some users’ pockets).


Thumbs-up
Samsung chose to do its Asian launch of Galaxy Note in Indonesia in recognition of that country’s burgeoning affection for the brand. Long a Blackberry nation, the RIM gadget having made an early beachhead across Indonesia’s various social classes (“even househelp are equipped with Blackberry here,” a Jakarta-based friend told us), Indonesia is of late fast embracing the Korean electronics brand, which has seen its share of the domestic smartphone market rise to 22 percent as of May this year. In the rest of Asia, “with the introduction of the Galaxy Note, we are confident that Samsung will firmly maintain its number one position in the mobile category in Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand,” said Lee in a statement.

The Galaxy Note, in white and dark blue variants, had its Philippine release two weeks ago, with a retail price of about P35,900. Pioneer tech blogger Abe Olandres of YugaTech.com has weighed in on the gadget, and it’s a thumbs-up: “The performance of the Galaxy Note trumps any other smartphone and tablet we’ve seen around… Definitely drool-worthy.”

Sorry, Steve, the stylus lives.

E-mail the author gcadiz@inquirer.com.ph, visit www.gibbscadiz.blogspot.com, follow on Twitter @gibbscadiz

http://bit.ly/tJr0TM

Hotmail co-founder launches free SMS service

Agence France-Presse

2:30 am | Wednesday, November 23rd, 201

 

FREE S.M.S. SERVICE Indian entrepreneur
and Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia speaks
during a press conference to announce the
launch of his latest venture Jaxtrsms in
Mumbai on November 22, 2011. Bhatia's
Jaxtrsms is a cross platform open texting
application, letting users send unlimited free
text messages to any other mobile phone in
the world. AFP PHOTO/INDRANIL MUKHERJEE

MUMBAI—Indian IT entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia on Tuesday launched a free text messaging service, promising that it would be as revolutionary as his previous venture, Hotmail.
Bhatia, who co-founded the free email service 15 years ago, said in a statement that his latest venture, JaxtrSMS, would do “to SMS what Hotmail did for e-mail.”

The application, formally launched at a news conference in Mumbai, is designed to allow users to send a text message from their mobile phone to any other mobile in the world, even if the recipient does not have the JaxtrSMS application.

Other free mobile messaging services on the market are restricted to users in a closed group who have the same application.

The free, downloadable application, which works on smartphones, has been developed entirely in India, which is one of the fastest-growing mobile phone markets in the world with more than 850 million subscribers.

Internet-enabled smartphones, however, are prohibitively expensive for most Indians, although they are gaining popularity among the more affluent in urban centers, where wireless connectivity is more widespread.

http://bit.ly/t64FB0

The new frontier of marketing, sales and service

Saturday, 12 November 2011 17:33 Manolito Tayag, Todd Wagner and Joe Hughes / Accenture 

  

WE should all now be somewhere between “aware” and “immersed” in the sharing and consumption of vast amounts of information about friends, acquaintances or indeed complete strangers that is social media. According to ComScore, Social networking on the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Friendster and MySpace now leads the share of time consumers in Asia spend on the Web (9.5 percent). Its closest competitor is Entertainment (9.1 percent) and staples such as e-mail and search come well behind (4.1 percent, respectively).

 

However, studies have shown that 70 percent of consumers worldwide have used Social Media to get information on a product, brand or company. And the Conference Board found 77 percent of adult Internet users considered blogs a “good” way to get information. So as social-media platforms evolve from being a means of sharing “stuff” to being part of the fabric of consumers’ day-to-day life, they are presenting huge opportunities to deliver value for enterprises.

So far, Social Media has brought opportunities such as “crowdsourcing” of new ideas, to “word of mouth” marketing channels, from “assisted online customer service” to “cloud recruiting.”  Starbucks crowdsourced 80,000 ideas from which 50 became new products, eBay users engaged through social media spent 54 percent more than other users, Dell made $6.5 million in incremental sales from Twitter discount coupons alone, and 28 percent of LinkedIn’s users are “hireable” senior executives.

Fundamentally, Social Media has brought interactions and inter-connectedness between consumers to a new level—everyone, everywhere, anything and anytime.

All this opportunity has come with its challenges as consumers raise their voice and businesses see their ability to influence fall.

Consumers now have the means to educate themselves about your product, prices, functionality, warranties, etc., long before they come into contact with agents or stores. They can access this information from home, from work, while out shopping and can instantly compare prices with local and international competitors even while they are browsing in a store or talking to an agent.

The traditional “company to consumer” dialogue used by marketing for decades has shifted to a “consumer to consumer” dialogue that disrupts the clean, controlled flow from you to the market. Forrester Research found nearly half of online users say information provided by other consumers is more important to them than data given by marketers of products and services.

The speed at which customers and their opinions are moving as a result of social media means companies must be able to adapt not just their offerings but their formats and processes based on what they learn from observing customers.

Not all consumers are “social media-enabled” so you cannot drop existing means of servicing customer to fund new ones. You will have to find ways to operate differentiated customer experience.

The shift of power to the consumer means customers are co-owners of your brand, significant influence lies within individuals within the “community,” the lines between marketing, sales and service have blurred, and data and technology have become essential enablers.

Our experience suggests that the following three essential elements will help you execute a successful social-media strategy:

Observe—Establish the ability to observe and interpret what customers are doing, and importantly, saying. Social-media monitoring tools can also glean both quantitative and qualitative responses to advertising campaigns for promotions, illuminate opportunities to improve one’s brand, uncover significant unmet customer needs, and identify people who may be highly predisposed to a brand or product.

Embrace—Embrace and do not try and control all the tools and social media that your customers are using and just join the conversation. This can start by simply “experimenting” with different customer experiences to discover those that resonate the most with each segment.

Evolve—Social-media activities may originate in one department but as your adoption of social media grows to include sales support, product development, customer service and e-commerce, the operational complexity increases. Establish a governance framework that engages and establishes a common set of guidelines for each of the internal stakeholders and establish the forums to enable the organization to develop collectively.

But don’t hang about—the competition has already started. According to Edelman Digital—Maxis has shown one of the biggest climbs in terms of mentions on social-media sites in 2010 and look set to continue. AirAsia has already established a team to engage and respond to customer complaints on Facebook. And while Facebook remains the No. 1 choice of social channels for consumers and companies, Twitter reached news levels as the “buzziest channel” for brands in Malaysia.

Social media has clearly disrupted our traditional modes of doing business but it is clear that companies that embrace it will be positioned to have a much greater influence on the dialogue with consumers.

• (The authors are the country managing director at Accenture Philippines, senior executive for crm practice for communications and high tech in North America and senior executive for global systems integration practice and leads the global customer service and support and integrated desktop offerings for electronics and high-tech industry group, respectively.)

 http://bit.ly/rU1LUe

Public Wi-Fi convenient, but risky

Tuesday, 15 November 2011 16:52 Salvador Rodriguez / Los Angeles Times

IT seems you can surf the Internet and check your e-mail from virtually anywhere these days—in coffee shops, hotel lobbies, airport terminals and airplane cabins. 

 

More places are making it easier to turn on your laptop or tablet computer and connect to the Internet through free public Wi-Fi hot spots.

But much like leaving your diary on a park bench, connecting to the Internet using a public Wi-Fi allows anyone with the right software to see what you are doing.

Worse, you risk being hit with malware and other virulent programs that can turn your computer into botnets controlled by hackers to attack web sites.

Here are some tips to protect your computer from digital eavesdroppers and malicious hackers:

Before leaving home:

• Enable SSL connections: One of the most effective ways you can to protect your Web surfing is to use secure connections. As you probably have noticed whenever you log into your bank’s web site, your browser displays a lock icon or adjusts the URL bar. This is your browser indicating that you are visiting the web site over a Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, connection. An SSL connection encrypts the information exchanged between you and your bank, keeping others out.

SSL connections are usually enabled for bank web sites and other sites that hold sensitive information, but they can be costly for large companies, which is why many don’t have them turned on automatically. But you can enable an SSL connection easily on many of your most used sites:

• Gmail: Most people have a Gmail account nowadays for their e-mail, and it’s always important to make sure your e-mail are safe. To enable an SSL connection for your Gmail account, click on the gear icon at the top right of the page, click Mail Settings, select Always Use HTTPS, and save.

• Twitter: Go to your settings, scroll to the bottom of the Account tab, check the box for Always Use HTTPS and save.

• Facebook: Some people stay logged on to Facebook throughout the day, so making sure your connection is secure can go a long way. To switch on the SSL connection, go to Account Settings and click the Security tab. Once there, edit Secure Browsing and check the box that offers browsing on a secure connection. Unfortunately for heavy Facebook app users, you will have to disable this when you run programs such as “FarmVille.”

• Disable sharing: People often enable sharing to connect with printers and other devices wirelessly. As useful as this can be at home, leaving sharing on in public areas is like leaving your door unlocked in a bad neighborhood. Here’s how to turn it off:

For Macs, launch your system preferences and click on the Sharing icon. Uncheck all of the boxes to disable sharing. To turn them back on, simply check whatever you’re going to use.

For PCs, Windows will ask you if you are connecting to a home, work or public network when you connect to a new Wi-Fi network. If you select public, Windows will disable sharing for you. If you’d like to do this yourself on Windows XP and 7, click the Start button and launch the Control Panel.

Here is where the method changes depending on your version of Windows. For Windows XP, click on Network Connections and right-click Local Area Connection. Click Properties and from there uncheck the box that offers file and printer sharing and then click OK. Check it to enable file and printer sharing again. For Windows 7, click Network and Sharing Center, and select Change Advanced Sharing Settings on the left. Click on the arrow of the network you’d like to disable sharing on, select Turn Off File and Printer Sharing, and save.

• Turn off Wi-Fi: One more precaution you can take is to turn off your Wi-Fi before heading out to avoid having your computer latch on to an unsafe network on its own.

For Macs, click the Wi-Fi icon on the top right corner called Airport. Select Turn Airport Off.

For PCs, right-click the wireless icon on the task bar and turn it off.

Once you’re there:

• Turn on Wi-Fi: Follow the same steps to turn your Wi-Fi on when you arrive at your destination and select the desired network.

• Log in using a VPN: If you can log into a virtual private network, your online experience will be that much safer. Most companies give employees with network access at the office a way to log into the company VPN from outside. Enabling the company VPN will encrypt your browsing and work as a shield.

If you don’t work for a company or have access to the company VPN, you can buy a VPN account with a third party.

This will give you that same protection and encrypt your activity.

Once you leave:

• Turn off Wi-Fi: Should you go to another public spot, this will prevent the computer from automatically connecting to an unsecured network.

http://bit.ly/tplvJp

PhilHealth plans to go paperless

By SAMUEL MEDENILLA

November 15, 2011, 12:36pm

 

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is considering implementing a paperless transaction to intensify its campaign to increase its membership.

PhilHealth President and CEO Eduardo Banzon said during the 12th National Forum on Health Research for Action Monday at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Manila, PhilHealth will develop its Information Technology capabilities to accommodate the surge in its membership.

“We cannot manage this through paper transactions. It has to be done electronically. We will invest in electronic transactions,” Banzon said.

“We will force hospitals and doctors to invest in electronic transaction because if we don’t this we will be forever processing claims. It will be next to impossible to catch up with the volume of transactions if we keep managing this on paper,” he added.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona said in an interview Monday only about 79 percent or 75 million of the estimated 95 million Filipinos are PhilHealth members.

This is expected to rise by another 20 million, most of which from the indigent families, after PhilHealth intensifies its membership program in line with DoH Universal Health Care (UHC) program.

He said this will be a critical step to reduce the number of families, who are vulnerable to sicknesses due to lack of funds for their treatment.

“About 12.6 million families, almost two thirds of whom are poor, were not enrolled in PhilHealth, based on the 2008 National Demographic Health Survey,” Ona said.

“It is of no surprise then that despite increasing government subsidies for health care and expansion of social insurance coverage and benefits, 16.4 million families will still have to forego four months’ worth of income in order to pay for a P65,000 hospital bill,” he said.

Aside from the expansion in the membership of PhilHealth, he said DoH will also hire an additional 12,500 health workers, most of which will be deployed to support government hospitals in remote areas.

The health secretary said they are also currently working on creating an inventory on available medical equipments, facilities, and practitioners, to come out with a more efficient delivery of medical services to patients.

”We must have accurate counts of what facilities are available in which areas so that we may know which areas are in more need of facility upgrades ,” Ona said.

He said these studies will also determine the hospitals, which could be assisted by private companies through Public-Private Partnerships.

He said they are currently proposing an P83.9-billion budget for 2013 to support this program, which is about twice the P42-billion budget for next year.

http://bit.ly/t969RE
 

OFWs make Philippines Asia’s most hi-tech

By: Abigail L. Ho
Philippine Daily Inquirer

3:11 am | Sunday, November 13th, 2011

 

 The large number of Filipinos overseas has made the Philippines one of the most tech-savvy countries in Asia, with a significant part of the population using different technology tools to keep in touch with family members abroad.

According to a survey conducted by software giant Microsoft, Filipino families have an average of 10 gadgets, the highest in the region, which they use to communicate with their loved ones in other parts of the country and the world.

Believers in technology

As many as 69 percent of those polled in the Philippines said they taught family members how to use the Internet just to be able to stay in touch with each other.

The importance of technology in the lives of Filipinos becomes much more evident during the holiday season with 46 percent of the respondents saying they would spend between 15 and 30 minutes a day to communicate with their loved ones, while another 23 percent said they would spend at least an hour.

“The findings show that technology has become an intrinsic part of our daily lives.

Filipinos are big believers that technology helps us to communicate better, and it is obvious from the rate of adoption that everyone from young kids to grandparents is finding technology easier to use,” said Mae Moreno, Microsoft Philippines Windows Client product manager.

Social networks preferred

Unlike in other parts of Asia where the telephone is still the medium of choice for communicating with family members and loved ones, Filipinos are more inclined to use social networks to stay in touch.

More than a third, or 34 percent, of Philippine respondents named social networks as their most preferred family communications tool.

In China and Indonesia, text messaging reigned supreme, as cited by 74 percent and 41 percent, respectively, of those polled.

Across the region, however, the telephone was still the most important medium of communication, cornering a 67 percent share of total responses in the seven countries included in the survey.

Love for sharing photos

One reason Filipinos prefer to use social networking sites as a means to stay in touch with loved ones is their love for taking and sharing photos, something that cannot be done when talking over the phone, the survey said.

As many as 73 percent of the Filipinos polled said photos were their most-often shared content on social networks, against the regional average of 50 percent.


Impact on family

“The results of the poll show that the popular notion of technology being a purely negative influence on family relationships is a misconception,” Moreno said.

The poll revealed that as many as 89 percent of Filipinos believed that technology had a good impact on family relationships, with 28 percent saying this had a “very positive” impact.

The survey, “Families and Technology 2011,” was conducted via MSN in seven countries across Asia, including the Philippines, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It had more than 3,700 respondents.

http://bit.ly/rWOafe

Internet keeps government honest – Google chief

Agence France-Presse

12:50 pm | Sunday, November 13th, 2011

HONOLULU – Broader adoption of the Internet will keep governments on their toes as wired-up citizens exercise their new found power to check rights abuses, Google chief Eric Schmidt said on Saturday.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, speaks
to delegates of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) summit Saturday, November 12, 2011, in
Honolulu. ANDRES LEIGHTON/AP PHOTO

“In nations and communities around the world, citizens are turning to online tools to keep their governments honest,” he told business leaders on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Honolulu.

“Whistleblowing has never been so easy,” he said.

Schmidt cited demonstrations that toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt in which activists used Facebook to schedule protests, Twitter to coordinate them and YouTube to broadcast the events to the world.

“Online citizens can find like-minded allies, they can find like-minded diasporas from a country,” he said.

With 52 percent of the global population under the age of 30, the youth can have a bigger say on issues because they are the most prolific users of the Internet.

“They are the ones who are online, that’s how you reach them, that’s how they talk to each other. They share applications and proxy and circumvention tools and help magnify each others’ causes,” he said.

But while governments should not ignore online protests, Schmidt also warned that they could be exaggerated.

“It’s easy in the online world to create the impression of a revolution in the form of noise. It’s important to understand what is a legitimate protest and whether it’s just people trying to create some noise… some excitement.”

Greater adoption of the Internet will lead to the creation of two global systems – the physical sphere where the government has power over its people and a virtual world where people can have more influence, he said.

And there’s little place to hide for those who do bad.

Atrocities against citizens can be documented more easily and “we can start trials against evil-doers before (their acts are) even stopped,” he said.

“There are no caves online.”

With only an estimated two billion of the global population of seven billion online, there is still room for expansion, Schmidt said.

http://bit.ly/tHd02z

Android now “king” in Southeast Asia

By: Paolo G. Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

2:15 pm | Friday, November 11th, 2011 

 

MANILA, Philippines–The King is dead. Long live the King. Or so it would seem in the vibrant telecommunications market in Southeast Asia—now ruled by the Google Android smart phone operating system (OS).

Results of the latest study by international market research firm GfK showed that the Android OS, which is used on the cheapest to the most expensive of mobile phones in the market today, has finally overtaken the long-time leader, the Symbian platform, in terms of sales in Southeast Asia.

“GfK Asia’s retail tracking reveals consistently healthy sales performance of Android phones—the only smartphone OS which has been registering unwavering month-on-month growth over the last 12 months,” GfK’s regional account director for telecommunications Benedict Hong said.

“Compared to the third quarter a year ago, sales volumes of Android smartphones has grown exponentially by over 1,000 percent,” he added.

The firm described the demand for smart phones in the seven key markets in Southeast Asia, made up of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines, as “insatiable,” showing no signs of slowing down.

In the third quarter of the year, about 4.7 million smart phones worth around P1.5 billion were sold in the seven countries, or about double the same period last year.

About two in every five—about 40 percent—of units sold in the area were devices running the Android OS, an open system that Google lets manufacturers use on their phones and tablet computers for free, GfK said.

Along with the Research in Motion OS, which is used in BlackBerry smart phones, and the Symbian OS usually seen on Nokia devices, they make up the three top smartphone operating systems in Southeast Asia with combined shares totalling nearly 90 percent, GfK said.

From just over 50 models of Android smartphones available in the market a year ago, the figure has swelled to almost 170 models in the last quarter,” Hong said.

“With the on-going engagement and partnership model between Google and major manufacturers, we can expect more innovative Android smartphones to swamp the marketplace; at least until there is another major breakthrough that can shake the dynamics of the smartphone OS industry,” he said.

GfK noted some outliers in the region, particularly, Indonesia and Vietnam, where the RIM OS and Symbian are still the dominant systems, respectively.

Smart Communications, the Philippines’ largest mobile network, said the Android OS has made it easier for manufacturers to release smart phone units. With a free and popular system available to them, manufacturers are now able to focus on coming out with powerful hardware without having to worry as much on software.

Smart, a unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), has bet big on the popularity of the Android OS. It recently launched a line of Smart Net Phones, which run on Android. Its chief rival, Globe Telecom, is the exclusive distributor of the popular Apple iPhone in the Philippines.

“If Google had not come out with Android, someone would have had to invent something like it,” Isberto said, noting that competition between manufacturers, which eventually leads to better and more affordable devices, would be less vibrant without the platform.

http://bit.ly/vbZSxL
 

Google integrates YouTube, Chrome more deeply into Google+

11/06/2011 | 08:40 AM

In a bid to enhance sharing on its upcoming social network, Google has integrated its video-sharing site YouTube and its Chrome browser more deeply into Google+.

Vic Gundotra, Google's senior vice president for engineering, said YouTube and Chrome are now more accessible from the Google+ network.

"It's no secret that YouTube is filled with tons of great content (from inspiring speeches to music videos to honey badgers). We wanted to bring YouTube directly into Google+—as well as make it easier to watch and share your favorites – so we're launching a YouTube 'slider' in the stream," Gundotra said in a blog post.

A user can mouse over the new YouTube icon at the top right of Google+, and a message will slide out asking "What would you like to play?"

Based on the user's input, YouTube will start playing a list of related videos in a new pop-up window.

Even if one moves the pop-up elsewhere, they can still navigate their playlist from the slider.

"Sharing YouTube videos with your circles also works (of course), but there's a nice little twist: the people you share with can open a related playlist directly from your post! Last but not least, we’re starting to include YouTube playlists in Google+ search results," Gundotra said.

On the other hand, Gundotra said Google is also rolling out two new Chrome extensions for Google+ – the +1 button and notifications.

"Of course, if you don't use Chrome, then you can use Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer. The new version – also rolling out today – includes these same sharing and notification features, Gundotra said.

He added Google has "lots more" planned for Google+, after YouTube and Chrome.

A separate article on tech site Mashable said this was the latest in a series of enhancements to Google+.

Only last summer, it said Google incorporated the ability to play YouTube videos in Google+ Hangouts.

http://bit.ly/s5JGbh

Smart hastens mobile broadband deployment

November 4, 2011, 1:18am

MANILA, Philippines — To quickly deploy high speed mobile broadband services nationwide, Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) has to date fired up over 1,200 High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) base stations in 120 cities and municipalities throughout the Philippines.

HSPA+ is a next-generation network technology that can deliver aggregate speeds of up to 42Megabits per second (Mbps).

As of middle of this month, HSPA+ service cover 50 cities and municipalities in Metro Manila, Rizal, and Bulacan, as well as key locations in Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos City and Zamboanga City, according to Smart Chief Wireless Advisor Orlando B. Vea.

"We have stepped up our network transformation program," he elaborated. “Last month, we had about 500 HSPA+ base stations. It took us just a month to more than double that count."

Already, subscribers are reaping the benefits of the country's most extensive and robust mobile broadband network in the country, Vea added.

“They are enjoying a better mobile Internet experience on the devices such as the Smart Bro Rocket and the Netphone that we have introduced in the past few months."

To fast track the deployment of HSPA+ base stations, Smart tapped the services of three major international network suppliers. (EVA)

http://bit.ly/rJzTo5

The man who fired Steve Jobs

By: Charlie A. Agatep Contributor
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:03 pm | Saturday, November 5th, 2011

STEVE Jobs (left) and John Sculley during
their honeymoon days.

Twenty years ago, in the spring of 1985, I went to Serramonte Plaza in Daly City to shop for the new Macintosh Plus. As advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Macintosh Plus cost $2,600 and was a big improvement from the Mac 512kb. It had one megabyte of RAM expandable to four megabytes. I thought I’d wait for the Mac SE with 20 MB internal hard drive but there was no telling when it would be launched.

As the PR industry in the Philippines was becoming more and more competitive, I wanted frantically to retool Agatep Associates, my public relations consultancy, into the image and likeness of Apple Computer.

Walking out of the store with my prized MacPlus, I heard the news that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, had been fired by John Sculley, ex-marketing VP of Pepsi Cola who was hired by Jobs himself to become CEO of Apple. Jobs reportedly made a legendary pitch to Sculley, asking him whether he preferred to sell sugared water for the rest of his life or come join him and change the world. Crestfallen with disbelief, I kept mumbling as I drove my 1982 Toyota Corolla to our house in Pacifica City: You soda jerk John Sculley, you will pay for this. May your conscience drive you nuts for the rest of your days.

How could they fire Steve Jobs, what did he do? Didn’t they recognize his genius for creating the Macintosh? How did they fire him, unceremoniously after a shouting match? And how did Steve Jobs take it, pained and bitterly disappointed, like the way Juan Manuel Marquez felt after losing to Manny Pacquiao by a split decision in their second fight? I thought for a moment about Job’s millions of adoring fans across the globe who must have been feeling the same let-down and who were at that instant cursing Sculley.

Firing people reminds me of the comedy-drama “Up in the Air,” a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Walter Kirn. The story is about a corporate downsizer Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney, who led a suitcase life traveling around the country firing people for a living. In the real world you don’t fire people like that. And as it turned out, Jobs was not really fired. The Apple board of directors merely took away his managerial powers over the Macintosh unit but he retained his position as Chairman of the Board.

Creative genius

APPLE CEO Steve Jobs holds up
an Apple Nano in this file photo. AP

After Jobs died of pancreatic cancer, John Sculley offered an olive branch to the world and gave a candid interview with Dow Jones Newswire. Jobs was a creative genius, he said, but some of his employees described him as an erratic, temperamental manager. Apple’s president, Mike Markkula, wanted to retire but he believed Jobs lacked the discipline needed to run Apple on a daily basis.  By the end of 1984, Macintosh sales slowed down. Jobs kept meetings running past midnight, sent out lengthy faxes, then called new meetings at 7:00 a.m.

Sculley reminisced: “The directors instructed me to ‘contain’ Jobs and limit his ability to launch expensive forays into untested products. Steve believed I was the wrong person to lead the company.  On May 24, 1985 he called a board meeting to resolve the matter.

The board of directors sided with me.  They asked Jobs to step down as head of the Macintosh division. He remained as chairman of the board but he was extremely hurt. He resigned from Apple after five months. Today, twenty six years later, I still disagree with how the executives handled the situation. I was not responsible for Jobs’ departure.

“When Steve was gone and I took over I was highly criticized. They said, How could they put a guy who knows nothing about computers in charge of a computer company?

Looking back, it was a big mistake that I was ever hired as CEO. Steve was the first choice but the board wasn’t prepared to make him CEO when he was 25, 26 years old.

They looked for high-tech candidates to be CEO.  Ultimately they recruited me. The idea was that Steve and I were going to work as partners. He would be the technical person and I would be the marketing person. Steve always wanted to be CEO. It would have been much more honest if the board had said, Let’s figure out a way for him to be CEO.

You could focus on the stuff that you bring and he focuses on the stuff he brings.

“It would have been better if Steve would have been the CEO and I would have been the president. I wish Steve and I did not have a falling out and I had gone back to him and said, this is your company, let’s figure out how you can come back and be CEO. I wish I had thought of that. But you can’t change history. In the past I tried, but he never had any interest in re-engaging.  He clearly blamed me,” Sculley said.

Trainee

John Sculley, who was the architect of the Cola Wars, joined Pepsi-Cola in 1967 as a trainee. Then In 1970, at the age of 30, he became Pepsi’s youngest marketing vice president.  He is remembered for the Pepsi Challenge advertising campaign that he started in 1975 to compete against Coca-Cola. The Pepsi Challenge included a series of television advertisements that first aired in the early 1970s, featuring lifelong Coca-Cola drinkers participating in blind taste tests. Pepsi’s soft drink was always chosen as the preferred product by the participant.

During Sculley’s governance, sales at Apple increased from $800 million to $8 billion. However, he remained controversial at Apple because he veered away from Steve Jobs’s sales procedure, particularly regarding the decision to compete with IBM in selling computers to the same types of customers. Sculley was ultimately forced to resign in 1993 as the company’s margins eroded, sales diminished and stocks declined.

Jobs and Sculley spent months getting to know each other before Sculley joined Apple.

Jobs had no exposure to marketing other than what he picked up on his own. This was typical of Steve. When he knew something was going to be important he would try to absorb as much as he possibly could.

“One of the things that fascinated Steve was when I described to him that there’s not much difference between a Pepsi and a Coke, but we were outsold 9 to 1. Our job was to convince people that Pepsi was a big enough decision that they ought to pay attention to it, and eventually switch. We decided that we had to treat Pepsi like a necktie. In that era people cared what necktie they wore. The necktie said: Here’s how I want you to see me. So we have to make Pepsi like a nice necktie. When you are holding a Pepsi in your hand, its says, Here’s how I want you to see me.

Perception

“We talked a lot about how perception leads reality and how if you are going to create a reality you have to be able to create the perception. We did it with something called the Pepsi Generation. Steve loved those ideas. A lot of the stuff we were doing was focused on how we would bring the Mac to the market. It had to be done at such a high level of perception that it would sort of tease people to want to find out what the product is capable of. The product couldn’t do very much in the beginning. Almost all of the technology was used for the user experience. In fact we got a backlash where people said it’s a toy. But eventually our product became more powerful.

“At the end of 10 years, I didn’t want to stay any longer in Apple. I told the board I wanted to leave, even as IBM tried to recruit me at the time. They asked me to stay. I stayed and then they later fired me.  The board gave me the assignment to try and sell Apple in 1993. I tried to sell it to AT&T, IBM and other people. We couldn’t get anyone who wanted to buy it. But if I had any sense, I would have said: Why don’t we go back to the guy who created the whole thing and understands it. Why don’t we go back and hire Steve to come back and run the company?

“It’s obvious looking back now that that would have been the right thing to do. We didn’t do it, so I blame myself for that one. It would have saved Apple the near-death experience that they had. I’m convinced that if Steve hadn’t come back when he did – if they had waited another six months – Apple would have been history. It would have been gone.

During my watch, everything we did was to follow Steve Jobs’ design philosophy and methodology. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as good at it as he was. It wasn’t the time to could build consumer products and he wasn’t having any more luck at NeXT than we were having at Apple. The one thing he did better: he built the better next-generation operating system which eventually was merged into Apple’s operating system.

Steve Jobs later claimed that being fired from Apple was the best thing that could have happened to him. He said: “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

If Steve wasn’t booted out of Apple when he was a 30-year-old brat, he would not have had the driving force to redeem himself and create NeXT, Pixar, the Toy Story, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. He would not have changed the world.

(The author is the president of Agatep Associates, a public relations consultancy, and group chair of Euro RSCG Agatep, an advertising and marketing services agency. He was two-time president of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines and professor of PR, Journalism and Advertising at the University of Sto. Tomas, Assumption College and St. Paul University.)

http://bit.ly/uTxepN

PHL needs ICT body to meet global broadband standards —Angara

11/05/2011 | 05:07 PM

A senator called Saturday for the swift passage of a bill creating a Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to meet global broadband targets set by the United Nations.

 

Sen. Edgardo Angara said the UN Broadband Commission on Digital Development had set four new “ambitious but achievable” targets for both developed and developing countries by 2015.

 

“For the country to meaningfully participate in the ICT-driven future, we have to ensure that broadband Internet is widely available and affordable to all,” said Angara, who chairs the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (COMSTE).

 

He said the Broadband Commission had decreed that all countries should have a national broadband policy including making broadband services more affordable.

 

The targets also require that in four years, 40 percent of all households in developing countries should have Internet access.

 

Also, the Internet penetration rate should equal 50 percent of the population.

 

“A task like this isn’t easy and requires close coordination between ICT stakeholders. We are already making inroads in enhancing our broadband infrastructure. But government needs to step up and create a DICT that will become the focal point of such efforts,” Angara said.

 

He also cited studies from Nielsen show that only one out of three Filipinos currently have access to the Internet.

 

This is lower than figures shown for Malaysia and Singapore where 38 and 67 percent of their respective populations are able to log on to the Web.

 

Also, Angara cited the IT Industry Competitiveness Index from Business Software Alliance (BSA) which ranked the Philippines 52nd out of 66 countries in terms of its capability in supporting an IT production sector.

 

“Our competitiveness is at stake-- we lag behind our neighbors not only in setting up the necessary broadband infrastructure, but also in laying down the policy environment conducive to the growth of a full-fledged IT industry. We need to hasten the passage of a DICT bill so that we can catch up as quickly as possible,” he said. — TJD, GMA News

http://bit.ly/vdwkVW

SC: Search of gov't worker's office PC valid for investigation

11/04/2011 | 08:28 PM

The Supreme Court has recently held that the search by the government of an employee’s office computer in connection with an investigation into work-related misconduct does not violate the employee’s constitutional right to privacy.

In a 33-page decision penned by Justice Martin S. Villarama Jr., the Court denied the petition for review on certiorari of Briccio “Ricky” A. Pollo, former supervising personnel specialist of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and officer-in-charge of its Public Assistance and Liaison Division (PALD) under the CSC’s Mamamayan Muna Hindi Mamaya Na Program.

Pollo’s petition assailed the Court of Appeals ruling which had dismissed his petition for certiorari to nullify the CSC proceedings wherein he was found guilty of dishonesty, grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, and violation of RA 6713 and accordingly dismissed.

The Court found that the search conducted on Pollo’s computer was justified at its inception and scope using the test in the US case of O’Connor v. Ortega as the CSC pursued the search in its capacity as a government employer and the search was undertaken in connection with an investigation involving a work-related misconduct.

The search was occasioned by an anonymous letter-complaint to then CSC chairperson Karina Constantino-David accusing Pollo of lawyering for parties with pending cases with the CSC. David immediately formed a team with background in information technology (IT), and issued a memo directing them to conduct an investigation and specifically “to back up all the files in the computers found in the Mamamayan Muna (PALD) and Legal divisions.”

It was found that most of the files in the 17 diskettes containing files copied from the computer assigned to and being used by Pollo, numbering about 40 to 42 documents, were draft pleadings or letters in connection with administrative cases in the CSC and other tribunals.

The Court found tenable the CSC’s argument that the warrantless search of the above computers was justified since “these furnished the easiest means for an employee to encode and store documents. Indeed, the computers would be a likely starting point in ferreting out incriminating evidence. Concomitantly, the ephemeral nature of computer files, that is, they could easily be destroyed at a click of a button, necessitated drastic and immediate action.”

Applying the analysis and principles in O’Connor and US v. Simons, the Court further held that Pollo failed to prove that he had an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy either in his office or government-issued computer which contained his personal files.

“Petitioner did not allege that he had a separate enclosed office which he did not share with anyone, or that his office was always locked and not open to other employees or visitors. Neither did he allege that he used passwords or adopted any means to prevent other employees from accessing his computer files,” the decision said. And even if Pollo had such expectation of privacy, the Court held such was negated by the CSC policy regulating the use of office computers in its Office Memorandum No. 10, S. 2002 that put its employees on notice that they have no expectation of privacy in anything they create, store, send, or receive on the office computers.

“Petitioner’s claim of violation of his constitutional right to privacy must necessarily fail. His other argument invoking the privacy of communication and correspondence under Section 3(1), Article III of the 1987 Constitution is also untenable considering the recognition accorded to certain legitimate intrusions into the privacy of employees in the government workplace,” stressed the Court.

The Court also upheld the CSC’s dismissal of Pollo based on evidence consisting of a substantial number of drafts of legal pleadings and documents stored in his office computer, as well as the sworn affidavits and testimonies of the witnesses presented during the formal investigation. It concurred with the CSC’s finding that Pollo’s explanation that those files retrieved from his computer hard drive actually belonged to his lawyer friends whom he allowed the use of his computer for drafting their pleadings in the cases they handle as implausible and doubtful.

As to Pollo’s contention that the CSC should have not entertained an anonymous complaint, the Court ruled that the administrative complaint in this case is deemed to have been initiated by the CSC itself when David, after a spot inspection and search of the files stored in the hard drive of computers in the two divisions adverted to in the anonymous letter as part of the disciplining authority’s own fact-finding investigation and information-gathering found a prima facie case against Pollo and thus formally charged him. — Newsbytes.ph

http://bit.ly/vLetPO

Google bakes freshness into search results

Agence France-Presse

7:21 am | Friday, November 4th, 2011 

 

AP file photo

SAN FRANCISCO—Google announced Thursday a major adjustment to its search engine to bake more freshness into results.

“Search results, like warm cookies right out of the oven or cool refreshing fruit on a hot summer’s day, are best when they’re fresh,” Google fellow Amit Singhal said in a blog post.

“Even if you don’t specify it in your search, you probably want search results that are relevant and recent.”

The change to Google’s results-ranking algorithm was expected to change outcomes of about 35 percent of searches, giving higher ranking to current information.

Types of searches affected included hunts for hot news topics such as the Occupy Wall Street movement and topics along the lines of frequently updated consumer gadget reviews.

“Different searches have different freshness needs,” Singhal said.

“This algorithmic improvement is designed to better understand how to differentiate between these kinds of searches and the level of freshness you need, and make sure you get the most up-to-the-minute answers.”

http://bit.ly/u0Tfq2

 

Mobile firm targets teens with entry-level smartphone

Posted on October 31, 2011 10:25:53 PM

WITH TODAY’S fast-paced lifestyle, the need to keep up with the latest puts quite a lot of pressure on today’s youth. This desire to be at the forefront of what is trendy and what is hip -- from wearing the hottest fashions to owning the newest gadgets -- has become a top priority for a lot of teenagers. Where technology is concerned, one of the trends that have become hardest to ignore is the smartphone.

 

The emergence of these handsets has had the youth constantly tapping on their keypads sending text messages, chatting on social networks, playing games and downloading applications. However, most of these don’t come cheap.

Fortunately, Samsung has created a dependable entry-level smartphone the youth can easily afford, the Samsung Galaxy Y, their first Android smartphone.

Small wonder

Powered by an 832 MHz processor and HSDPA module of up to 7.2 Mbps, the Samsung Galaxy Y runs on an Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system that lets users browse through Web sites, check e-mail and play various media smoothly and with less lag. More importantly, its users can also access over 150,000 apps available in the Android Market to bring together their favorites in social networking, gaming, music and so much more.

Photos and videos taken with the Samsung Galaxy Y’s 2-megapixel camera can be viewed smoothly because of its 3-inch LCD display and 240x320 pixel-QVGA resolution.

Its TouchWiz user interface punctuates the experience further as users can customize their own menus.

For P5,990, teens with a severe lack of edge in their mobile experience can now get an upgrade and a make-over at the same time.

 

http://bit.ly/vzW3bm

Funeral expo shows new ways to deal with the departed

Posted on October 31, 2011 10:36:34 PM

HONG KONG -- For the seven million citizens of Hong Kong, living comfortably in one of the world’s most densely populated cities is difficult enough, but dying presents its own set of challenges.

 

A German company has come up with touch screens for memorial databases for people whose ashes were scattered at sea.

Around 43,700 people died in the territory in 2010. By 2020 that number is expected to rise to almost 53,000.

A majority will be cremated, since land shortages forced most people to abandon burials in the 1980s and cremations became acceptable.

But now the city’s public columbarium, where relatives can keep ashes in an urn in a 30 cm (one foot) crevice in a wall, has run out of space.

As a result, Hong Kong residents have been forced to store their loved ones’ remains in funeral homes, privately run storage facilities, or their own homes.

“In recent years, there are more than 100,000 people waiting for columbarium space,” said Tiu Tong Ng, Honorable President of Hong Kong’s Funeral Director Association.

“Usually it takes three to four years to obtain this kind of space. The government has to solve this problem,” he told the Asia Funeral Expo held recently. In 2010, the government identified 17 new potential sites for columbaria in five districts, and looked at relaxing regulations on private columbaria in industrial buildings.

But local residents are resisting these plans, concerned about bad feng shui and a constant stream of mourners burning the traditional paper and incense offerings in their neighborhood, especially during festivals.

The government has also urged residents to think of alternatives, such as scattering ashes in memorial gardens or at sea. But these are unpopular with Chinese mourners, who want a permanent resting place to visit and honour their dead.

Enter SIMTECH, a German electronics company that produces touch screens and has teamed up with the manager of two memorial gardens in Shanghai to provide memorial databases for people whose ashes were scattered at sea.

Visitors can type in the name of a person on a screen and then call up pictures, a curriculum vitae, or whatever the person wanted.

SIMTECH says that once installed, the screens require no maintenance and have been tested to withstand temperatures from -40C to 80C.

“I think it’s also very interesting for the cemeteries that they can offer their customers something new,” said SIMTECH business manager Stephan Simanowski.

Since the Shanghai memorial garden introduced the technology two years ago, ashes being scattered at sea have increased by 100%, he added.

The technology is also available for land-based burials. One noted Chinese director, Xie Jin, has a screen on his tombstone playing his biography and films.

Biodegradable urns

The expo also showed that, like many other industries, the funeral business is also trying to go “green.”

Biodegradable urns, paper coffins and emissions-reducing crematoria were all presented.

Custom-decorated, recycled cardboard coffins made by an Australian firm, LifeArt, can carry 250 kg but weigh only 10 kg, their lightness helping to fight global warming.

“You’ll probably have an 80% difference in emissions and burn time,” said Natalie Verdon, LifeArt business manager.

“That’s been a very big thing for all the crematoriums, to watch the emissions.”

For those who don’t want to be parted from the departed, the South Korean firm “Immortal Jade” offers to turn ashes into the precious stone in under an hour -- for a mere $1,500.

“We process for (around) 40 minutes,” said manager Marie Park Youngeun.

“It’s just made from the pure ashes, but we can also add some colors if you want a certain color. And it varies in color and size because you have different elements in the body,” she added. -- Reuters

http://bit.ly/vwsrPg 

Beauty in the eye of the Googler

Tuesday, 01 November 2011 16:14 Mike Swift / San Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE, California—Google Inc. has been described as functional, powerful, scary, speedy and fun. But beautiful? Hardly ever.

New CEO Larry Page is trying to change all that, cribbing a note from one of his business role models and competitors, the late Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. Almost immediately after becoming CEO in April, Page ordered a redesign of Google’s online properties, attempting to create a unified look and feel that would proclaim “Google,” just as the aesthetic character of Apple products renders them instantly recognizable. The universal redesign is the first in the company’s 13-year history.

Google’s new, less-cluttered look debuted with the Google+ social network at the end of June, and is now being phased in to Gmail, Calendar, Documents, Search and other Google sites across the company’s online empire. While Google’s plans for a wholesale face-lift were overshadowed by the hubbub over the launch of Google+, Page months before had set in motion a crash program by the company’s user interface (UI) designers to remake the face of Google.

“Larry likes things done fast, so he was like, ‘Hey guys, can we completely transform Google’s look and feel by the summer?’” said Jon Wiley, the company’s lead user experience designer for search. “As designers, we kind of felt like we were the dog that had caught the car.”

With its geeky, data-driven identity, Google has rarely been lauded for its aesthetics. But with consumers flocking to Apple’s iPhones and iPads, and with Facebook launching new products that emphasize look and feel as well as functionality, Google and other Internet companies are increasingly focused on appearance, as well as how they work.

“It’s really clear that consumers care about [design] now,” said Khoi Vinh, former design director for The New York Times web site, who is working on a startup connected to the iPad. “In an earlier age when tech was still rough and immature, you could win on technology alone. But now, tech is mature enough that people really value and look for the best possible design. It’s why Apple sold 4 million iPhone 4S’s” its first weekend on sale.

Interactive design students in programs like New York’s School of Visual Arts have become targets for Silicon Valley recruiters, with companies like Apple, Yelp, Twitter, Facebook and Google making job offers to recent graduates, said Liz Danzico, chairman of the school’s MFA interactive design program

Her students are in demand because tech companies are realizing that design “can be a differentiator for users,” Danzico said.

Facebook made waves in design circles in April when it bought Daytum, a startup for collecting personal statistics and sharing them through striking digital graphics, bringing its principals Nicholas Felton and Ryan Case to Silicon Valley from New York to work on its upcoming Timeline feature. Facebook touted the acquisition at its annual developer conference this year, and Vinh said other tech startups, like Groupon, Airbnb and Pinterest have raised the bar for online aesthetics.

Page “cares passionately about great design,” and believes a common “design language” could unify Google’s array of online products, Wiley said.

Google has launched its new look and feel for its popular Gmail product.

The redesign includes new shapes for buttons; the hiding of many controls until they’re needed, resulting in a cleaner look; consistency of appearance across desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones; and a “color language” where bolder reds, blues and greens all have specific meanings. Even the search homepage—a product whose aesthetic minimalism has been praised in the past—got a revamp, with a smaller Google logo.

Google’s face-lift has drawn praise from design experts, although the consensus remains that the company hasn’t matched Apple. On his blog, Vinh called the update “less beholden to the brutally analytical decision-making that has guided Google product design and aesthetics in the past.”

In an interview, he called the Google redesign changes “competent,” and “professional,” but said there was room for improvement: “I don’t think any of them are as much of a ‘wow’ moment as what you would get from Apple, which is one of their main competitors.”

Page tried to drum up some attention recently, bringing up the changes during Google’s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts, as he talked about how Google+ is intended to be a model for the rest of Google.

“Our ultimate ambition is to transform the overall Google experience, making it beautifully simple, almost automagical, as we understand what you want and can deliver it instantly,” Page said.

“Think about it this way: Last quarter, we shipped the ‘+,’ and now we’re going to ship the Google part,” Page told analysts. “The new visual design—beautiful, consistent UIs for Search, News, Maps, Translate and lots of other features—is only the beginning of that process.”

Wiley, a former improvisational comedian who once hoped for a career on Saturday Night Live before discovering the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s, said removing “clutter” is one of the biggest thrusts for the redesign.

Google has always been colorful, he said, but its use of color has not always been effective. Color “is additional information for the eye; it creates a lot of visual information. That can start to actually get in the way of the content. What we wanted to do was be sure there was a focus on the content.”

In the new Google design, a bolder red is a cue the user is about to create something, such as a new spreadsheet. Blue is the color of action, meaning “do it; go for it; make it happen,” Wiley said. Green is the color of sharing.

There are fewer visible controls. In Google Docs, for example, the buttons to organize or delete a spreadsheet are hidden until you click on the file. And the buttons are designed to work for touch screens as well as mouse-driven clicks.

Wiley said the personality and culture of a company should translate into the feel and function of its products.

“Yeah, we are creating a language for Google,” he said. “We are trying to tell a story with the design that is reflective of Google’s character and personality, the things that make Google, Google. It’s kind of hard to describe in words.”

http://bit.ly/vOgHpI