Google launches Inbox Priority, a new recommendation service for your inbox. For those that never get to inbox zero this maybe what you’ve been waiting for. And in typical Google fashion they introduce there latest product with an entertaining video (seen above). I have not had a chance to see this new feature in action yet but the folks over at TechCrunch give it a thumbs up. In addition to Inbox Prioritization Read Write Web suggests a few essential plug-ins to add to your Gmail. Rapportive, which was part of the Ycombinator event two weeks ago, was first on their list.

Apple released their latest iPods. The iPod Touch now features the iPhone 4’s retina display, dual cameras, HD video recording, Facetime, and iOS4.  Even the new Nano is sporting iOS and a touch screen. They also announced the new AppleTV which is super small and compete directly with Roku, Boxee and other internet enabled streaming devices. Engadget created a quick comparison chart comparing the competition. They also do a more in-depth comparison to the strategies of AppleTV and Google’s. Ultimately, I think AppleTV’s biggest advantage is the simple streaming from your iPhone or iPad, more here. Lastly, they mentioned iOS4.1 will be out this week, and it supposedly fixes the issues with the iPhone 3G…oh it also adds video rental and Apple’s new Ping service.

Touch is the current hot technology and for good reason, it feels natural. Sony just announced they were adding touch to their eReaders and Amazon is working on doing the same with the Kindle. The NY Times talks of how prevalent touch is becoming, and how touch is becoming the key to selling gadgets. I may be in the minority but I’m not sure adding touch to the Kindle or an eReader is going to convince anyone they need it, though I do see it as a distinguishing factor when comparing features and potentially getting a consumer to go for the more expensive model.

The other hot technology is mobile. It’s growth factor has out paced any other technology, it’s the fastest growing platform for accessing the Internet and understandably so.  It’s with us everyday, everywhere. This Mobile Manifesto makes some solid points for why everyone needs to think about mobile users. Props to @juansanchez for passing that one along.

Virgin Mobile’s new MiFi is a must for anyone that is on the go or on a budget. Basically it’s a 3G receiver (via Sprint) and WiFi hotspot merged together that fits in your pocket. Now there are other MiFi’s out there but the unlimited data rate being offered by Virgin ($40/month) is what takes this over the top. Match the MiFi with Apple’s latest iTouch and Skype and you now have the least expensive iPhone on the market. Hopefully this will be the beginning of the end for $70+/month plans…though I’m not holding my breath.

Tweet of the week:

RT @infrastrukt: so T-Pain spent $500K on a 'Big Ass Chain' but only $500
for a new logo, on Crowdspring. http://bit.ly/aDps6o

…and of course there are over 100 entries.

Even without plugging it in, at only 20% of the original size it’s clearly not the same device as it’s predecessor. Internal hard drive, gone. Instead everything streams to the device via WiFi leaving you with the device, a power cable and the HDMI to the TV. All pretty cool but not a whole lot different then Roku, Boxee or WD-TV. Also not too different is the ability to access Flickr, Netflix and YouTube.

Apple is hoping the differentiating feature of their new device is the ability to rent TV shows and movies. Though this may work for some, anyone already paying for cable/directTV/FiOS isn’t going to be thrilled about repaying to rent something they can easily DVR or watch OnDemand. Don’t get me wrong, this will be a win for them, just not as big as I think they are hoping. I say this because unlike when Apple launched the iTunes Store they now have some solid competition. Amazon’s Video on Demand will sell you a episode for the same price Apple wants to rent it to you. And Hulu Plus offers a subscription method to watch the latest shows as much as you want on multiple platforms. Finally, there’s the Internet at large, choc full of places to watch much of the same content for free.

So then what is AppleTV’s differentiating feature…I’d have to say it’s AirPlay. For two reasons, the first is the ability to stream anything from your iTunes library to your AppleTV. With the popularity of the iPod, iPhone etc. everyone has iTunes; even better, they are already heavily invested in using it. It’s hard to compete with the simplicity of connecting one’s current entertainment collection to the TV/home entertainment center without needing to deal with a computer or other complications. The second and this is where I think their biggest win is, you can stream content directly from your iPhone or iPad to the AppleTV. So that video of little Johnny’s first steps can go directly from the camera that shot it to your TV for everyone to enjoy. People live on their iPhones, being able to easily share all the moments collected on it is perfect for people like my mom who never off loads the images from her digital camera because it’s too much of a hassle. The fact that one can use the iPhone as smarter remote also doesn’t hurt the simplicity factor either.

Apple isn’t stupid, the leveraging of their other products to sell you additional Apple products is nothing new for them and in the case of the AppleTV it’s that leverage that makes the AppleTV such a strong product.  They’ve also priced it right. At $99, it’s cheaper then some of their competition and at a price that easily justifiable for anyone that dropped thousands for their entertainment center.

• If you have Gmail, then you might want to check out Rapportive’s browser plug-in. While viewing your email it’ll provide a sidebar full of the contact’s profile including various social services and CrunchBase. At the bottom of the sidebar is an area to add personal notes for the contact. It’s a simple addition but could be priceless once you start using it. For more see TechCrunch’s write up.
• As a UX lead finding out how users are interacting with a design is invaluable. There are a number of new solutions out there providing inexpensive remote testing options. But eye tracking has required use of specialty equipment. Even though we have one where I work it’s a huge hassle and the whole process makes for a very artificial environment. GazeHawk’s offering may change all that as it uses standard webcams. Additionally, offer a service to use their network of participants to test your work. For more see TechCrunch’s write up.
• There was even stuff for the couch potato in all of us, Teevox showed off their iPhone app. It’s a remote control for watching Hulu and Netflix videos on your PC. The app’s UI is simple and straight forward and even better is there is nothing to install on your PC in order for it to work. I encountered a few crashes on my 3G, but that seems like standard behavior with iOS4, so I can’t fault them on that. Fore more see TechCrunch’s write up.

The merger of TV and PC is getting closer everyday. Working in the industry it’s all to clear where things are going so it was interesting to read TechCrunch’s somewhat harsh editorial on the full-on assault being staged against the cable companies. In the TechCrunch editorial they get the gist right but fails to keep in mind that not everyone is as technically inclined as the TechCrunch audience. With that in mind cable TV’s convenience, flexibility and overall simplicity (despite the poor UI of their set-top boxes) will keep it alive for years. They followed up the editorial with some put things into perspective for anyone outside the industry.

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Ok, this one’s title alone made me laugh last week, Twitter’s not stupid – you just have boring friends. Andrew succinctly states for those that think “Twitter is inane, pointless, time-wasting or just narcissistic bleating only means either a) the people you’ve chosen to follow are the wrong ones; or b) you’re expecting something from Twitter it’s not offering: passive entertainment.” Still, Twitter isn’t for everyone.

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The patent war continues. With the Oracle’s suit against Google people hypothesized that it was the patent war to end all patent wars…well last week Microsoft’s co-founder, Paul Allen (via Interval Licensing) launched his own patent lawsuit. The list of patent violators named in his company’s lawsuit covers just about every major web player out there sans Microsoft and Amazon, as noted in FastCompany’s coverage. On first blush the patents in dispute seem horribly vague and undeserved as Amazon’s “one-click” patent.

Other news that doesn’t include Google being sued for patent violations include their addition of Google Voice into Gmail.  Though I’ve read that due to high demand there has been some issues with Voice, but I’m sure that will be address shortly. In the meantime, enjoy Google’s little promo video.

Yahoo! launches an experimental search engine with a knowledge of history. Seems like an interesting concept, was a little awkward to understand the search results so I’d like to see where they go with this one.

Speaking of too little, too late, MySpace is finally getting on the Facebook bandwagon with their new Facebook status syncing feature.  Even though this is only the first version, it’s kind of funny that it only goes from MySpace to Facebook, which would require you to actually go to MySpace in the first place. Ironically, I went to MySpace for the first time in over 18 months in order to watch this video promoting their new profile editor. It features Steven Slater, JetBlue flight attendant that went off in a rage on a customer. It’s actually entertaining, smart and even makes a self deprecating reference to being dominated by the FB.

Had enough, if not Mashable has a Weekend Recap: 15 Stories You May Have Missed. Lastly and completely random is a list of 24 things you might be saying wrong.

Maybe one of the biggest announcements of the week surround Facebook Places becoming a reality. Facebook held a live, streaming event to announce they were getting into the location check-in game. Rather then take on the two biggest social location services Facebook is actually working with Foursquare and Gowalla. They will soon have an API for other location services to use as well. Almost instantaneously there were people referencing FB as Stalker’s Paradise.  Clearly with Places as an auto-opt-in service it could be yet another privacy concern.  If you want to block your friends from being able to “place” you Bill Cammack entertainingly walks you through the steps.  If you have the Facebook app for iPhone or use touch.facebook.com you can start using Places now.

Even before iOS4 came out and crippled my iPhone 3G, I’ve been leaning towards switching over to Android. Before I make the switch I’m bringing my 3G back to life by reverting it back to iOS3, here’s how. If you want an idea of what it’s like to switch, my buddy Arpit, wrote about his first month with Android covering some of the differences between the two platforms both as a user and a developer. A concern of many developers is if Android is a viable market place, Aaron La gives details on his experience with his Advanced Task Manager app. At $10,000 a month in supplemental income I’d say he’s doing pretty good.

Verizon has been having a good few weeks. More rumors about the iPhone coming out for the Verizon network, though I wouldn’t run to far with that one just yet. They did announce their new HD guide for FiOS subscribers. I don’t have FiOS but I’m glad to see one of the biggies pushing those Motorola boxes into the 21st century.  The current set top box that powers America’s TVs features technology that’s nearly a decade old.

They also boasted about there upcoming iPad app that’s will work as a second screen as part of their TV Everywhere.  They also talked about updating their VOD experience.  Comcast and Time Warner are also working on iPad apps.  Comcast showed their prototype  earlier this Spring at the Cable show and Time Warner shows theirs in this YouTube clip. If you’re not up to speed on TV Everywhere check out GigaOm’s Everything You Need to Know About TV Everywhere.

Though not everything has gone as Verizon would like.  Their new “rule the air” campaign is targeting women with the chance for equality, through Verizon of course. See the commercial and a great rant from TechCrunch’s Alexia Tsotsis.

In the most recent issue of Wired, they proclaimed that the web is dead. So of course the retorts started to follow, Boing Boing uses Wired’s own numbers to show that the Web is alive, well and growing nearly exponentially.  Then again they said Print was dead, Rock was dead…Technologizer has a collection of the death of everything.

To end here’s a beautiful time-lapse video of the Perseid Meteor Showeras seen from Joshua Tree National Park and taken by Henry Jun Wah Lee .

Though you kinda know what’s going to happen the way the story unfolds is wonderful.  It also reminds me of a doll shop around the corner, very creepy and always empty. Thanks Bee.

Google is also getting some heat from Oracle as well.  This time it’s their Android platform that is getting the heat, more precisisly Google’s version of Java that runs it. Daniel Eran Dilger takes Google to town in his long but engaging article “How Oracle might kill Google’s Android and software patents all at once.” Charles Nutter gives a different point of view in his “My Thoughts on Oracle v Google.”

Apple also had some patent fun this week when they published an exact copy of FutureTap’s Where To app inside one of their patents.  Where To has been around since the first generation of iPhone. Apple and FutureTap have worked things out, mostly just a failure to credit rather then a stealing of ideas.

On a lighter note, Engadget reports on the Canadian cable company Telus’s ability to use your Xbox as an IPTV…well sort of.  The Xbox is more of a client to the set top box, but the set top box is one step closer to becoming history.  And Netflix signs a deal with Epix to start streaming movies as of September. Even though they won’t have the content for 90 days after it shows on Epix, this is a huge win for Netflix and their growing instant queue.

Visa tries to bring online shopping into the exciting world of social media and comes off as too cool for school.  Check out RightCliq to see some decent ideas layered with marketing cheese and the uncomfortable feeling that you’re being watched. Or just check it out just to watch the campy video.

Placepop gets interviewed by Scobleizer and talk about their virtual loyalty card/app.  It’s a mix between your classic loyalty card, Foursquare, Gowalla and Groupon.  Interesting enough Placepop mentioned if Facebook gets into the “check-in” game the whole check-in thing will explode.  Sure enough Facebook is working on Facebook Places, their foray into the location based excitement. Everyone has their opinion on what it may be, Gigaom writes how FB will change the game, though it’s just one of the many ideas floating about.

Other ideas that will change the future came from the NY Times Magazine’s annual “year of ideas.”  Though these are from 2009 (last year), some of them are still ahead of their time.  I was impressed by the advertisement that changed states based on whether someone was watching it or not.  Really drove the issue home.  My one complaint is that I couldn’t find a date to any of these projects/articles.

This one is for the designers out there, the User Interface toolkit for Illustrator has a plethora of icons, symbols and other elements that may help you get that next comp out the door with out pulling your hair out.

Every week I send out/post/share a number of links that I think are informative or sometimes just purely entertaining. This is my first attempt to collect them in one place. Hope you find something of worth and I welcome any comments, suggestions or links. Thanks.

Google is looking to get into the social web, they move their big idea gun Vic Gundotra from Android to all things social (Google Me) at the same time they decided to kill Google Wave, another of their social fails. Though, I believe Wave was more of a UI/workflow fail then a social failure, none the less Google has people talking. Om Malik breaks down Google’s social skills with a great analogy between cricket and baseball.

Meanwhile the current king of social media, Facebook gets some heat for their take on Yahoo! Answers, called Facebook | Questions. Based on the name alone, I’d say it’s a poor choice, who doesn’t prefer getting answers rather then more questions. Makes you question if even the mighty Mark Zuckerberg (and crew) understands his market. With that in mind here is a great rant/request for Facebook Dear Mark Zuckerberg: Ask the Question by Ellen (a Facebook user since 2007)(a Facebook user since 2007).

Continuing in the social vein is I Tweet, Therefore I Am a NY Times editorial on how Twitter (and the social web) has become both a social mirror and stage that define us as we define ourselves.

On a more entertaining note, if you’re asking yourself what your social strategy then whatthefuckismysocialmediastrategy may have the answers you’ve been searching for.

Or if your just curious as to what the web and the world look like to a 16yr old web developer/entrepreneur you’ll want to check out this interview by Scobleizer with Raj (a 16yr old developer) (@mynameisraj). Even though he’s only be 16 he is well spoken and introspective enough to offer an intelligent window into the how teens see/use the technology.

If you were waiting for the legal consent before jail breaking your iPhone, wait no more. It’s now totally legal and even better iPhone dev team already offer a solution.

Lastly my friends over at TicketLeap get some love from Guy Kawasaki in his “How to use social media to sell event tickets” Glad to see their complete overhaul get some attention.

More then likely there will be a hundreds of quickly put together dumb and/or kitschy apps. Ideally this is where Darwin’s laws of survival will come into play filtering out the deluge of iFart type applications. On the flip side, there will also be some quality apps that may not have seen the light of day if it weren’t for the reduced skill set needed to create them. In general, I see App Inventor being used by designers and developers to quickly prototype an idea before having it developed via traditional methods.

Regardless of how App Inventor is ultimately used, it’s the democratization of technology that is the game changer.

Links:
Google App Inventor

To combat the network problems AT&T has come up with a solution…the AT&T 3G MicroCell™. It’s your own personal cell tower, allowing you to sit in your basement (or where ever) and still have a working phone. For anyone living in one of these soft spots in AT&T’s network this is a great workaround till AT&T upgrades their network with thousands of new cell towers.

The MicroCell serives is also great for AT&T, rather then having the expense of putting up another cell tower in your area you can do it for them. Even better, you have to pay them $150 to do so. There’s also an additional monthly fee if you’d like to have unlimited calling from your MicroCell otherwise the minutes used while connected to your personal cell tower still count against your monthly plan. Yes, that means (without the added plan) you’re paying for the minutes even though you are hosting the call through your own broadband connection.

If that wasn’t shady enough, even if you have the plan and you initiated a call on your MicroCell when you go outside your phone may switch back to the true AT&T network. Once back on AT&T’s network it won’t switch back to you MicroCell till the call is complete. So you’re back to your original lack of reception and since it doesn’t switch back to your MicroCell you’re (unknowingly) back to using your plans minutes.

You have to hand it to AT&T for turning there biggest thorn into a new revenue source. That is brilliant thinking. Steve Job’s righteous retort has nothing on AT&T’s brilliance with this solution. Sure charging for the hardware is somewhat understandable, but the true magic lies in the added fees and how the system always works to AT&T’s benefit.