Quick update...

Good morning! I just wanted to stick a quick post out there this morning because Google I/O begins today at noon for us east coasters, and that will most likely skew what I will write about for the next few entries.

So the one thing I wanted to point out was the rumor that's been circulating that AT&T will be discontinuing the HTC First. As it turns out, Facebook Home is a flop. Who knew! Well, the numbers don't lie:

Those are the numbers from the Facebook Home page on the Google Play store. This, at least to me, is not surprising at all. From day one, I thought Facebook Home was a neat concept, but I didn't believe it would take off... at least, not with people over 20. And it didn't. Just a few short weeks after the arrival of the HTC First, AT&T slashed the price down to $0.99 from $99. This was the beginning of the end for the First. And now rumor has it that AT&T is simply getting rid of it altogether. And who can blame them? Mediocre device sales mixed in with a stock launcher that has a 2.3 star rating? No thanks. Even 99 cents is too much when you can get better hardware on a number of other phones, and you won't have to uninstall Facebook Home the moment you open it.

This is strike 2 when it comes to Facebook meddling in hardware. Unfortunately, Facebook Home isn't dead, as I'm sure Zuck & Co. will beat that horse as long as possible to justify the amount of time put into it, but I will be extremely surprised if Home makes any sort of progress.

With any luck, this will be my last post about Facebook Home. Now I can concentrate on the new goodies that will emerge from Google I/O!

How Much Do You Love Facebook?

Earlier today, Mark Zuckerberg was happy to show off Facebook's "new home on Android". Many sites and blogs were in a rumor frenzy for the past few days about a Facebook phone which, in the end, fell flat. Today's Facebook announcement was to showcase Facebook Home which is simply a new homescreen launcher.

Have You Been Scroogled?

Every now and then Microsoft likes to remind people that "Google goes through every Gmail that's sent or received". They do this in hopes of converting users to Outlook.com. Just over a week ago, Microsoft fired up their smear campaign again, and this time there's a commercial...

Maybe I'm Using Facebook Wrong

I have a strange feeling that I am not using Facebook correctly. You see, Facebook has introduced their newest feature that will be pushed out to everyone shortly called Social Graph. If you don't keep up with tech news (or even if you do) that title may confuse you. A better title for the feature would be something along the lines of... Facebook Search, because essentially... that's what it is. It's simply a way to find in-depth things about your friends on the social networking site, and if Facebook doesn't know, they turn you over to Bing for help. You can search for... well, anything! From friends in your town that like steak to married people that like prostitutes. Remember, if you put it on Facebook... it's public information, and now it's even more public.

Why Google+ Is Better Than Facebook

If you called me a Google fanboy, I would most likely smile and nod. I make no argument against it, because it's true. But on the other hand, I try to be honest and unbiased when suggesting Google products to others, and that is what I will be doing now. Today, I will try to explain my opinion (hey, it's my blog, I can have an opinion) of why Google+ is better than the juggernaut, Facebook.

Everyone knows Facebook. Love it or hate it... you use it. There are over a billion monthly users of Facebook, and with a 5 year head start on Google it's unlikely that the mammoth social network worries too much about the competition from Google+. But perhaps they should, as Google+ really is a great network. Let me tell you why...

In this day and age, privacy is a myth.

Today, is February 29th, 2012. Which makes tomorrow March 1st. Tomorrow, Google is implementing their new Privacy Policy and a lot of people are up in arms about it, including the FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz who says that the change forces consumers to make a "brutal choice". But if you actually took the time to read the new privacy policy, you'll notice something odd. You will notice that they aren't really changing anything about what information they collect. Google is taking the numerous different policies for its numerous different services, and combining them into one easy-to-understand policy. The internet giant isn't collecting data any differently than before. Instead, Google is going to store all the info it gets in one place, instead of having parts of you spread out all over the different services. Don't take my word for it, go read it for yourself.

People aren’t very smart.

And if that offends you, then it’s most likely you that I’m referring to. You see, the internet has been buzzing lately with all this talk about privacy on the web, and how much information do you really have floating out there for anyone to see. There is a very simple answer to that question, and I know what it is. The amount of personal information about you that is floating out in cyberspace is the exact same amount as the information that YOU put there in the first place. Now, I know some of you are shaking your heads in disbelief but let’s just think about this. The most common information about you would be what? Your contact information. Name, address, phone numbers, etc. Do you have an email address? Then odds are, you have voluntarily given that information to the internet. Many websites that you have signed up with have required that you put in some personal information. Date of birth, gender, etc.  Almost all of the information that can be found about you online has been put there by……you. So who is to blame here? Is it the search engine that points people to what they are searching for? Or is it your fault for supplying the info in the first place?

Good idea? We’ll find out in 8 years.

Google has recently announced they have secretly been working on cars that drive themselves. Although Google is the first to admit that this is not a replacement for the driver, but more of another tool to be used… like cruise control. I think this is a fantastic idea, but sadly, even an optimistic view puts the mainstream use of it at least 8 years in the future. Dangit, I wanted to drive and text NOW! Seriously, this is a great idea and I hope it gets implemented into the cars of tomorrow.