Great Expectations: the lost potential from concept to reality

There are many concepts in the technology world, with a few coming to light. Google Glass and Xbox Kinect are just two groundbreaking products that have made it out of the lab and into the real world. But what about the lost potential?

Above is the first video of Google Glass – then called “Project Glass” – showing how it will integrate into our lives, by showing us all the information we need, when we need it. The person in the video is reminded of calendar events, told the weather when looking outside, notified that the subway is closed and is even navigated around a book shop. There’s even no apparent connection problems – Glass is always connected.

But in reality? It’s nowhere near as powerful.

Joshua Topolsky from The Verge took a look at pretty much the final version of Glass, and though it may be useful to record a video with just your glasses, and know the time simply be looking in the top right, it isn’t that useful in everyday life. Gone is the full vision overlay, and it turns out that the only built in apps are New York Times, Evernote, Gmail, and Path (at least at launch). Useful occasionally, but not all the time. There’s no Calendar, Weather, and (at launch) there will be no cellular version (Wi-Fi only) and you have to wake glass up before using it. I understand that more third-party apps will come, but it isn’t good that Google won’t be integrating simple first-party apps such as Calendar.

Yes, it was just a concept in that video. A preview of how Glass might end up. But the real Glass won’t be that useful in everyday life, and no amount of third-party apps can give you cellular data or a full, useful vision overlay.

So that’s Google Glass, with quite a lot of lost potential, at least in my opinion. Another example of this – but less so – is Xbox Kinect, previously known as Project Natal (I prefer the original name):

Xbox Kinect – the final product – is nowhere near as accurate or as powerful as that. It will likely be improved significantly in the upcoming Xbox update (Xbox 8? Xbox 720? New Xbox?), but it will probably never be quite as good as in the demo video. 4 years after that video was put online, can anyone walk into their living room, and just start talking, with the Xbox instantly knowing who they are? No.

So… many features have been lost in the transition between concept and reality. It hasn’t just happened with these products; everything from the Pebble, which requires terrible phone setup to, in some extent, Windows 8 and Windows RT, which are overall ok but lack amazing hardware and, in the case of the latter, lack apps and compatibility. It’s impossible to incorporate everything in the final product, so I just wish that companies would stop raising our hopes with amazing concept videos only to have our dreams shattered when the final product comes to market.

Features/changes I’d like to see in Outlook.com this year

There’s a few features and changes I’d like to see added to Outlook.com soon; mostly from Gmail. Here’s the list:

• An improved Calendar – The Outlook.com calendar is still officially called Hotmail Calendar, has an old interface and doesn’t have search. I’d like to see it updated with an interface similar to Outlook.com’s, with search, and a quick add feature similar to Fantastical‘s and Google Calendar’s.
• IMAP support – I don’t really see the point of IMAP anymore, since EAS is around which supports push email along with calendar and contact sync, but it’s needed in some situations. For example, Mac users wanting to view their email in OS X Mail need to use POP, which doesn’t sync changes back to the server. Ideally, though, Apple should implement EAS support into OS X so Mac users can sync everything.
• A smaller compose window – basically the same as Gmail’s. It would be really useful.
• A dedicated iOS app – The default iOS Mail app suffices for most tasks, but since Outlook.com has added Categories and more recently Archiving it’s not so suitable. We need a dedicated, metro-style iOS app that supports pretty much all Outlook.com features and has push email/notifications. We don’t, however, need special contact and calendar apps – Cobook and Fantastical are just great.
• A much better Android app – the current Android app is rubbish. It needs the same features of the dedicated iOS app plus a nice interface. This is one of the main reasons that’s stopping me from buying a Nexus 7, so fix it!
• Delete becomes mark as read and delete – if you currently delete something that’s unread, the Deleted folder has a little 1 next to it. I don’t need to know that something’s unread in deleted because, well, it’s deleted! I don’t care!
• A much better set of Windows 8 apps – The Mail app needs to basically be Outlook.com but not in a web browser plus Windows 8 style notifications etc. The Calendar app needs searching and a form of quick add. The Messaging app just needs to be replaced by the Skype app. The People app is fine. Fix them!
• Allow multiple “schedule cleanup rules” – I’ve set up emails from several senders to automatically be moved to my Archive folder after 30 days. But I want them auto-deleted after 60 days. I can only have one of these rules. Why?!?!
• Better search – in Gmail, once you’ve signed up for the field trail, search suggestions of emails you might be searching for appear as you type. Something like that in Outlook.com would be awesome.

I think that’s all. Phew. Although it may not seem this way, there’s a lot I like about Outlook.com, and that’s why I use instead of Gmail. There are some occaisions when I do wish I had Gmail, however, and doing all the above would eliminate this entirely.

New apps for a new year

There’s several apps (Windows 8 and iPhone) that I’ve started using recently. Here’s what they are and what they do:

• Clear (iOS; paid) – this great little app lets you set and manage several to-do lists, and it uses gestures (such as swiping to complete and pinch out to view lists) to navigate. Not quite as many features as the built-in Reminders app (it doesn’t sync with any online accounts other than iCloud, for example, and there’s no notifications) but the natural gestures make this an overall better app.
• Pocket (iOS, web, Android and possibly more; free) – a bit like Instapaper, this nifty app and browser extension lets you save webpages and view them later, even when offline. It sounds simple, and it is. When configured properly, it can be a joy to use and I can’t really imagine life without it now.
• Latermark (Windows 8 and Windows RT; free) – a third party app for Pocket, it’s not without its faults. But the live tile support is nice, and the Share charm support makes it easy to add webpages in IE10 to Pocket. Significantly better than just using the web version, and is a must have until Pocket releases an official app.
• Remember the Milk (iOS and others; free and optional pro version) – another, more powerful Reminder solution, Remember the Milk is really, really useful. While Clear is more for quick to do lists, RTM lets you set due dates, how long it will take you and more, all in a clean interface. It relies less on gestures and more on buttons, but it’s still a must have app. The only downsides are that the free version is quite restrictive – there’s no push notifications, and sync to the web is manual. Not only that, you can only sync the app with the web once every 24 hours, so it’s a pain to use it on anything more than one device. If you really want to use it a lot with multiple devices, the pro version is available though.
• Fantastical (iOS; paid) – I’ve not started using this as recently as the others, but it’s worth mentioning because it’s so much better than the alternatives (aka. the default iOS calendar app). The clean UI and the awesome features like DayTicker and the ability to add new events simply by typing in some details (e.g. “Lunch on Friday at home”) make it a must have. The only things missing are the date on its icon (that’s Apple’s problem though) and the week view, which I never really used anyway.

All of these amazing apps have made it onto my first iPhone home screen or the first bit of the Windows 8 start screen, just to show how brilliant they are.

There’s one more thing I’d like to mention. It’s not an app, but it does make using some services a lot better an easier – it’s called IFTTT. This service lets you create or use other people’s recipes – if this happens, then do this. It supports integration with popular services as well, making it, well, awesome. Examples of recipes I’ve used are:

• Post on Facebook if it will snow tomorrow
• Email me if the temperature tomorrow is due to rise above 28 degrees Celsius
• When I’ve posted a new photo to Instagram, upload it to SkyDrive to Pictures/Instagram with the caption as the name
• When I email trigger@ifttt.com with the subject “#facebook”, post the content of the email as a Facebook status update (I’ve done the same for WordPress.com)
• Every time I am tagged in a photo on Facebook, upload the photo to SkyDrive at IFTTT/Facebook
• Post on Facebook at January 1st at midnight (I wonder what the post might say…)

Etc. There are basically endless possibilities, with services from Pocket to Blogger available. You can even make a special kind of USB drive blink when you’ve got a new email!

I recommend you give some of these apps a try, as I think you’ll find they really are great. It’s worth taking a look sooner rather than later, as prices are often temporarily lower (I got Clear for about 69p!)

I hope you’ve had a good Christmas, and I hope you will have a good New Year.

Hello, old friend (update)

Update: Both of these devices have since stopped working… again. The alarm clock still turns its alarm off, and the keyboard’s “B” key is faulty (just make sure you never buy any of these products, especially the keyboard). I’ve switched back to my old, boring alarm clock with a very long sleep period and I sometimes use my iPhone, and I’m back with my rubbish Dell keyboard for the time being. Maybe I’ll buy a better Microsoft keyboard at some point.

…and here we are, you and me, on the last page.

Well, not really. Since I stole part of a quote from Doctor Who, I just had to steal the rest. In reality, I hope to have many, many years left on this planet and I’m only half way through the book I’m reading currently. Moving on.

I’ve recently started using two old, ‘faulty’ products that have since been replaced. Products I never thought I’d use again. But I have, and I’d thought I’d tell you all about it. I must have such a boring life…

Exhibit number 1: faulty alarm clock

A long time ago, an alarm clock turned its alarm off automatically and so was replaced. Its replacement worked fine for many, many months. But there was a problem. There was only (shock horror!) one alarm on the replacement. Terrible for dog walking mornings. Also, there was no custom sleep time (the time before the alarm goes off again after you hit the sleep button on those early mornings). It was stuck at 5 minutes. And 5 minutes is long enough so that after pressing it a couple of times, you’ve lost half your reading time. Sorry, Kindle. So I recently decided to look at its predecessor, with two alarms and a custom sleep time (I choose 1 minute so at most I lose 2 minutes of reading time). To my surprise, the alarm hasn’t turned off by itself even once! It’s amazing what time can do to an item.

Exhibit number 2: (still) faulty keyboard

I actually wrote about the fun I was having with my Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 a little while back. Look there before reading here. So I replaced it with a basic Dell keyboard. But I’ve really missed the curve and the keys – they don’t press down as much and are a lot nicer than the Dell’s. Same story as the alarm clock’s – I dug it out recently, and checked if it worked. The caps lock is still dodgy, but Shift exists for a reason. I actually think that the Caps Lock should be removed from keyboards altogether – unless you’re really one for SHOUTING on Facebook, it’s just not needed. Anyway, you might think why switch from a working keyboard to a dodgy one? Well, I type quite a lot. Whenever possible, I type my homework (and not just because my writing can be terrible) and I also type on Facebook (more than you might think). Not forgetting here on All of Time and Tech. So the keys are just important, and I’ll use this keyboard for as long as possible – at least until more keys stop working. It’s a well known problem that this model of Microsoft keyboard has problems.

Well done! You’ve reached the end of the possibly most boring post I’ve ever written. And that includes Hi World, written back in September 2010 (!). As a reward to your patience, I shall leave you to do other things. But before that, comment this: have you ever re-used a ‘broken’ item again because it’s not so bad after all? Or do you just put up with the replacements, no matter how much worse they may be?

 

What I think Windows Store/metro/modern/Windows 8 apps should be called – Live apps

It’s a well known fact in the technology world that you shouldn’t call Windows 8 apps “metro-style apps” as they were called for a long time by both Microsoft and others. Thanks to being sued, though, alternatives have had to be thought up. Many have called them “modern” apps – even Steve Ballmer at bit at Build 2012 – though Microsoft says these are not the new name. And a final often used name is “start screen apps”. The official new name(s) are:

• Windows 8 style apps – I don’t like this because the apps usually run on Windows RT as well, so it’s misleading. Also, what happens when Windows 9 comes out?
• Windows Store apps – This is a little better because it isn’t operating system specific – it will still be relevant when future Windows versions arrive. But some formerly-known-as-metro-apps aren’t in the Windows Store though. Like IE10, which has a desktop version and a Windows Store version… but, wait, it’s not in the Store! So this name doesn’t work that well.

My suggestion is “Live apps”. This works because:

• The ‘Live’ name is known from Windows Live, now a dying brand. It follows a trend at Microsoft of using old, well-known names in new products, like with Outlook.com (the successor to Hotmail)
• The apps themselves are live and always up to date
• It links to Live Tiles, which these apps have
• It doesn’t have any of the problems the Microsoft suggested names have – it isn’t operating system specific and it is still relevant to apps that can’t be downloaded from the Windows Store.

The one trouble is that Microsoft is already using the name “Live apps” for Windows Phone 8 apps that can be pinned as live tiles. So the same name is unlikely to be implemented as the new name for metro apps, but at least it’s an idea.

The best phones and tablets available in my opinion – late 2012

With the recent Windows Phone 8 launch and the new Nexus 4 announcement recently, I thought I would do a list of the best phones in my opinion. Usually, I’m not a big fan of Android but this has changed recently…

Smartphones

1. HTC Windows Phone 8X (Windows Phone 8)
2. Nokia Lumia 920 (Windows Phone 8)
3. Google/LG Nexus 4 (Android 4.2)
4. Apple iPhone 5 (iOS 6)
5. Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE (Android 4.X)

I’m a big Microsoft fan and I am really integrated into their ecosystem, so WP8 devices are at the top of the list. The Lumia 920 hasn’t yet been reviewed (though it does support LTE in the UK, unlike the 8X) so it may be better than the 8X, but the 8X seems the best at the moment. After those phones, the Android powered Nexus 4 is next. Yes, really. I usually find Android really fragmented and that it does not work well with Microsoft services such as Outlook.com and SkyDrive (though the pretty rubbish Hotmail app and recently released SkyDrive apps can be used), but the Nexus 4 looks great aside from the fact that there is no LTE. I think that is basically unacceptable in late 2012, but I suppose it won’t make a different here in the UK because LTE is pretty rare – you have to be on EE, have a compatible phone and also pay a lot of money. It is certainly not as widespread as in the USA. Next up in the iPhone 5, mainly because of the impressive hardware (though a bigger screen that isn’t just taller would be nice). I find it to be very light, the camera to be awesome and the selection of apps unbeaten, but iOS is just so stale and boring, rubbish compared to Windows Phone and Android 4.2. Maybe the recent changes in iOS management (mainly a head person being sacked) means it will get better. It’s just a question of whether my ageing iPhone 4 will see the hopefull revamp. Last on my list is the GS3 LTE because, mainly, I love the hardware (the big screen is lovely – Apple, take note!) and it is one of the few phones supporting LTE on EE in the UK, alongside the Lumia 920 and a handful of other phones. What I don’t like is the fragmentation and the many OEM customizations - it will be forever before it gets Android 4.2, and I like stock Android thanks a lot. Other phones are not of interest to me at all.

Large tablets

1. Microsoft Surface RT (Windows RT)
2. Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro (Windows 8)
3. iPad (4th generation, iOS 6)
4. Google/Samsung Nexus 10 (Android 4.2)

Not as much to say here. I love the Surface because of the awesome hardware (I wish the screen res. was higher though) and the even more awesome Windows RT software, especially with Microsoft Office 2013 preinstalled. If you’re going to get one make sure you get a Touch Cover as it’s pretty useless without it. After that is the Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro, because I think it’s the best PC replacement available. Next is the iPad 4th generation, the version just announced at the recent Apple event. I don’t really like iOS, and the only reason the iPad is really on here is because of the best and large amount of tablet optimized apps – sure, Android has loads, but many are not optimized for a large, ~10 inch screen. Finally, the Nexus 10. The screen looks amazing (a higher dpi than the iPad!!) but it needs more apps to beat the iPad. Another awesome feature of this tablet is multiple users – though Windows 8 and Windows RT handles multiple users better, this is still a welcome feature.

Smaller tablets

1. Amazon Kindle Fire HD
2. Google Nexus 7
3. iPad mini

I’m quite integrated into Amazon’s ecosystem, so I think the Fire HD is the best 7 inch tablet for me. Next up is the Nexus 7 – the hardware seems great and the app selection is decent. The final one is the iPad mini. The good points of this tablet is the sheer amount of apps available – all iPad optimized apps – and the build quality. Bad points include an unreasonably high price, a low screen resolution (it’s significantly lower than the Fire and the Nexus, even though these tablets are nearly an inch smaller) and the fact that iOS is so very stale.

So those are my favourite phones, tablets and smaller tablets. If I could have all of them, I would.

What are your favourite devices at the moment?

The Nexus 4 – a cheap, awesome Android phone that unfortunately lacks LTE

My favourite phone at the moment.

What I’d like to see in Windows ‘Blue’

It leaked out a little while ago that Microsoft is working on the next version of Windows that’s scheduled to come out in the summer of 2013, codenamed ‘Windows Blue’. This of course won’t be a major update, but rather an update to Windows 8 that’s a bit more than a Service Pack. Here’s what I would like to see in the update to Windows 8:

• The dropping of the version number from the Intel/AMD version of Windows. Microsoft is moving away from version numbers in its products, as seen recently with ‘the new Office’ and ‘Windows RT’ without a version number. I think Windows for Intel/AMD processors, currently called Windows 8, should just be called Windows (and Windows Pro for extra features) with Windows RT staying as the ARM version.
• Less reliance on the desktop. Though people with touchscreen’s can stay in the modern interface most of the time, they’re thrown back into the desktop at some points without wanting to be (e.g. deleting user accounts and choosing which updates to install). The modern PC Settings should have more features from the desktop Control Panel so touch users can avoid the desktop entirely.
• A touch mode for File Explorer. I know I want to let touch users avoid the desktop entirely, but they may want to browse and manage their files. Currently, File Explorer is rubbish for touch and I think a touch mode like the ‘new office’ has would be great.
• IE tab syncing. I would like to be able to see the tabs I have open on my desktop PC and my Windows Phone 8 device from my tablet. Simple.
• In Windows RT, there should be an option to pay for other Office apps. In the first version of Windows RT (shipping soon), people get free Office Home & Student 2013 RT which includes just Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote. That’s fine for consumers, but what about businesses who want to manage their email with more power than the built-in Mail client? There should be an option to purchase Outlook RT, Access RT and Publisher RT.
• Talking about Mail, I would like more functionality please. I know the version of Mail I’m using now on Windows 8 Pro RTM probably won’t be the one generally used (I think Microsoft will update it via the Windows Store around 26th October), but if there isn’t, say, conversation view in the new version of Mail I’d like it in Blue please.
• Skype app and Messaging app merged. We all know a Skype app is coming to the Windows Store soon, but I would like it merged into the built-in Messaging app (which currently supports the dying Windows Live Messenger and Facebook). When I say merge, I mean include the Skype app and just add Live Messenger and Facebook support. The Messaging app is rubbish.
• Background audio in modern IE and Xbox Video. It’s really annoying when I’m watching a YouTube video in modern IE, I hit Start to check for new mail and lose the audio. Same for when I have the video app snapped to the side playing Windows Weekly. Background audio is in the music app, so why not in IE and Video?
• Automatic download and install of new app updates from the Windows Store. I don’t want to manually click or touch ‘Update all’, I want my apps automatically updated! This feature is really needed.
• Basic photo editing in the modern Photos app.
• A free or very cheap price for this upgrade, with it being available soon after RTM and of course at least one beta being available (a year in stable software is just too much).

I think that’s about all. A long list for a year’s work, yes, but it’s mostly different teams so hopefully a lot can be done for next summer.

What would you like to see in the next version of Windows?

No, it probably won’t be called Windows 9.

Minecraft may not be put on Windows 8

Got an email from microsoft, wanting to help "certify" minecraft for win 8. I told them to stop trying to ruin the pc as an open platform.—
Markus Persson (@notch) September 27, 2012

I'd rather have minecraft not run on win 8 at all than to play along. Maybe we can convince a few people not to switch to win 8 that way..—
Markus Persson (@notch) September 27, 2012

It seems like the ‘Minecraft’ creator Notch doesn’t really want to put Minecraft on Windows 8 because of the fear that Windows 8 will be locked down and be bad for games. See the above tweets and this Verge article for more information.

I think Notch is overreacting - though the Windows 8/RT Windows Store is kind of locked down, Windows 8 can still run traditional programs (like Minecraft) on the desktop. That is still open.

What do you think about Notch’s decision?

Quick Note – a good Windows 8 style Sticky Notes replacement

Before Windows 8, I used Sticky Notes all the time to remind me to do chores and other things. Sticky Notes is still available in Windows 8, but they still reside on the desktop and I spend most of my time in metro Windows 8 style apps and the start screen – the desktop is only used occasionally for file management and legacy applications like Office. So what is a good metro Windows 8 style replacement?

I think it could be Quick Note. This free app is available from the Windows Store, and works on both Windows 8 and Windows RT. The reason why I use this instead of OneNote MX is it lets you pin individual notes to the start screen, so it is just like having Sticky Notes on the start screen. The only bad thing, in my opinion, is that there is no syncing between computers – I’m pretty sure Windows 8 style apps can sync information using Microsoft accounts, and so I’d love for that feature to be implemented.

Have you got any great Windows 8 style replacements for desktop applications?

Microsoft SkyDrive – the best of iCloud and Google Drive/Dropbox

I may seem a little biased, but I really think that SkyDrive is the absolute best of these services in one service. Here’s why, and how it copes with each situation.

Front-end service (like Google Drive and Dropbox)

Front-end service means that you manage your files yourself – you can see the folders in the cloud, for example. GDrive, as I’ll call it, and Dropbox offer desktop apps to let users drag files into a certain folder and have them synced to the cloud and to their devices. SkyDrive also offers this, but it has advantages:

• More space, and better prices for buying even more space. SkyDrive offers 7GB free (25GB for old users in some cases), while GDrive offers 5GB free and Dropbox offers just 2GB free (though by referring many friends you can get up to 18GB free).
• Better Microsoft Office integration (no surprise there). When you upload an Office document to GDrive, you have to convert it into the GDocs format to edit it. When you’ve done that, the file on your PC in your GDrive folder is simply a link to the web, so no offline access. With SkyDrive, the web can edit Office docs and you do have offline access as well.

So SkyDrive works great as a front-end service. But what about the iCloud way?

Background service (like iCloud)

A background service works in the background – it automatically syncs computer settings etc. as well as photos from your phone and more. And SkyDrive works great as a background service, as shown with Windows 8. When you sign into a Windows 8 (or Windows RT) device with a Microsoft account, a ton of stuff is synced. Customisation settings, browser history and favourites, language settings and even passwords (when you’ve ‘trusted’ the PC). I won’t go into much detail here, but you can view my post about it as well as watch a video by clicking here. The best thing about SkyDrive as a background service is that the data synced doesn’t count against your storage limit – that’s just for your docs, photos and files.

Integration with Outlook.com/Windows 8 mail client/Windows Live Mail/Hotmail

One feature I love about SkyDrive is it’s way to escape attachment limits – it can store large photo albums and even office docs (that your friends can edit) for your friends to view without clogging their inboxes (though you can of course send normal attachments if you wish to do so). It works with:

• Outlook.com
• Hotmail
• Windows 8/RT mail client
• Windows Live Mail

I personally find this feature brilliant, and I couldn’t live without it.

So SkyDrive, in my opinion, works great as both a front-end service and a background service, and is basically all you need in a cloud service. But its usefulness depends on what ecosystem you’ve invested in. If you use Gmail, Google Docs, Google+ and have an Android phone, Google Drive will likely be the most useful to you. If you have a Mac, iPad, iPhone and you buy your content in iTunes iCloud will be very useful to you. But if you’re like me and have a Windows PC and use Hotmail or Outlook.com SkyDrive will be very useful to you… especially if you upgrade to Windows 8 when it’s released.

Which cloud service do you use?