Nintendo has signed a deal with SEGA that will see the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS the exclusive home of the next three Sonic the Hedgehog games. The first game comes out later in the year, titled “Sonic: Lost World”. This pretty much means meas that all you Sonic fans will need to go out and buy a Wii U (don’t worry, there are plenty to go around).

Another Sonic game, though outside the deal, will be another for the Mario & Sonic series of Olympic-related games – this time covering the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The SEGA deal comes after news suggests that EA – which promised previously to deliver on an “unprecedented partnership” with Nintendo – may have dumped the console. Kotaku reports that the company has no games in development for the Wii U. In a statement, “We have no games in development for the Wii U currently.” However, the company did not rule out EA’s chances of returning again to Wii U development.

That said, it’ll probably wait and see whether or not the numbers could be improved to justify developing a port.

While EA has launched several of its games (mostly ports) really early on with the Wii U’s launch, the fact that it has no games in development should worry Nintendo. Why? The main problem for the Wii U is the lack of content available. Most of the content are either late ports of games already out, or from Nintendo itself.

Other announcements from its Nintendo Direct announcement include:

• Super Luigi U will be available as an additional DLC on June 21, and as a packaged version without the need of Super Mario Bros U on July 27 for a RRP of $59.95. The game features 82 updated courses, and a new multiplayer character called Nabbit.
• The Wonderful 101, by Platinum Games, comes out on August 24
• Pikmin 3 comes to Australia and New Zealand on July 27
• Game & Wario launches in Australia and New Zealand on June 29, and will include 16 games that use the GamePad.
• Resident Evil Revelations launches on the Nintendo eStore and retail outlets on May 23.

According to anonymous sources talking to AllThingsD, Yahoo is rumoured to be negotiating a deal for either a strategic alliance, a small investment in the company, or even a complete buyout of the blogging platform Tumblr – all because they want to become “cool again”.

AllThingsD reports that CEO Marissa Mayer has been interested in the service for some time, and has met with its top executives, including its CEO and founder David Karp. The deals are also reported as being serious.

A deal with Tumblr – any deal – does have some advantages, including bringing a young audience to Yahoo. A partnership deal is likely to be an advertising deal, given that Tumblr has just started pushing advertising to its users after years of resisting. However a buyout could have advantages for both – again for Yahoo, a young audience it can tap into; but for Tumblr, apparently, a better management structure.

As AllThingD notes:

In addition to figuring out its top-line business, Tumblr and its backers have also been spending a long time trying to figure out a managment structure. Even Karp’s strongest backers say that the 26-year-old needs help running the company, and for months they have been looking for a “Sheryl Sandberg”-style COO candidate.

Google Maps is about to change – at Google I/O, the company showed off its next-generation Maps product with the ability to create millions of custom maps based on what you want to do instead of one map for everyone.

Google will tailor a map just for you highlighting what it considers as useful – like the roads and landmarks that may help you get to a different location. It also lets you find local places easily, and a simple click on their information will provide more information such as the reviews and who has recommended it amongst your Google+ friends.

The new update will bring all of its imagery in one spot so you can fly through cities, climb mounts and even swim oceans – all thanks to Street View. It also introduces a new “Earth View” which simply integrates Google Earth into Google Maps without a plugin – but it does require you to have a WebGL-enabled browser (like Chrome); and Photo Tours, allowing you to go sightseeing with thousands of user-submitted images from the world.

It’s current in invite-only stage, but expect a rollout to everyone in the coming months.

First out of the block was the Google+ Stream – it will be getting a redesign to bring it in line with its mobile applications and can fit multiple devices. Also being rolled out is “Related Hashtags”, so you can go deeper on your interests with other topics related to based on a post.

Following in the footsteps of Facebook Messenger, Google will spinoff its Hangouts feature into a new app. The main focus of the Hangouts app will be conversations; and will be available today on the web, iOS and Android. Notifications are synced, so if you read it on Android it will be marked as read on iOS.

For photos, Google will let users store up to 15GB of full resolution images. Another new feature is called Highlights, automatically choosing the best images out of a gallery of images for events like – let’s say – a trip to New Zealand. Images are chosen by boosting images that have landmarks and smiling people, and removing photos that are blurry.

Another feature added is called “Auto-Enhance” to make a perfect image – such as removing noise, softening skin on the face and even add structure to the clouds. The last feature is called “Auto Awesome” which will have five effects such as Motion (creates a GIF based on burst shots), HDR, Panorama and “Smile” (creates a new image based on all smiling faces).

All of these features are rolled out today.

Hate TouchWiz but want the hardware specs of the Galaxy S4? Google has got you covered. The company has partnered up with Samsung to bring a Galaxy S4 that runs on the stock version (or ‘Nexus’) of Android.

The phone will feature LTE – meaning that it is likely to have a quad-core processor instead of its ‘eight-core’ processor – and will feature 16GB of storage. The phone will also have an unlocked bootloader.

It will be sold through the Google Play Store for US$649.

Google has launched its new music streaming service that competes heavily with Spotify. The new service, called Google Play Music All Access, promises to bring a unique, Google approach to subscription music.

Features are pretty much similar to Spotify – you have access to its large library of music to stream, while also able to store your own music (via its locker service). In addition, there is a radio “without rules” – letting you play any song immediately, and remove them with a swipe of a finger.

It’s US$9.99 per month with a 30-day trial. As usual, this will be out in the US only.

Google has also shown off new changes to Google Play. The website will get a brand new redesign to match the brand new design on its tablet and mobile apps; while also showing off a new option to show tablet-designed applications (based on their guidelines) when viewing the top lists.

Google has confirmed its new gaming API called Google Play Game Services (very imaginative name). The services combine four features – Cloud Save, Achievements, Leaderboards and Multiplayer support.

Cloud Save will let developers sync gameplay cross multiple devices, meaning that you will never lose progress when moving between devices. Achievements and Leaderboards are self-explanatory, with  Leaderboards using Google+ circles being used to track high scores among friends and players worldwide. The multiplayer API will make it easier for developers to add competitive or cooperative game play, and uses Google+ Circles to make the connection between 4 friends or auto-matched players.

Several games are already adding the API to their games including Kingdom Rush and Osmos. The services are available for Android, iOS and for the web.

BlackBerry Live is happening now, and the smartphone maker has now revealed their plans to target the developing market. Called the BlackBerry Q5, it features the traditional BlackBerry keyboard and designed to be “confident, fun and bold” for the young (their words, not mine).

The Q5′s keyboard has been re-engineered so you can type faster and more accurately, and with the update to BlackBerry 10, you can now have keyboard shortcuts. Like the Q10, it has a 3.1-inch touchscreen.

While the hardware is different, software is pretty much the same. You still get BlackBerry Messenger with Video, BlackBerry Hub, the camera additions like Time Shift and Story Maker, and access to the over 100,000 apps on the BlackBerry World store (including the ported Android apps – because nothing says confidence in your OS like porting apps from a different platform).

The Q5 will hit selected markets across the world (except for North America) beginning in July.

Developing.

After all the hype in London, Nokia has today introduced the Lumia 925 – touted as a “new take” on the flagship Lumia 920. And the changes are pretty substantial compared to the Lumia 920 – with a new body, bigger battery and an improved camera.

The Lumia 925 looks similar to the Lumia 920, and still uses polycarbonate as its body, not all over. The new design combines it with a metallic border. However it does provide for a thinner and lighter design with 8.5mm thin and weighs only 139g – compared to the 10.7mm thickness and 185g weight of the Lumia 920.

Radical changes have been done on the screen- a new 4.5-inch AMOLED display has been used instead of an IPS display (still has ClearBlack and PureMotionHD+). It is also protected by Gorllia Glass 2 and has a wider viewing angle compared to the Lumia 920. Other changes include a bigger battery that raises it to just above 13 hours for max 3G talk time, and storage being cut from 32GB to 16GB.

Other hardware specs include a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, and 1GB of RAM.

The biggest changes are found in the camera. It still has an 8.7-megapixel PureView rear camera, with the same aperture. The flash has been changed to a dual LED flash, but now includes six physical Carl Zeiss lenses – with Nokia touting this has improved low-light photography and lets you capture great photos day or night. (Of course, after the fiasco with their phone cameras last year – we’ll have to wait and see if it works or not)

Nokia has added a brand new app called “Nokia Smart Camera”, which lets you become more creative with your photos with such features as Action Shot; and able to create the best image through features such as the Remove Moving Object feature and Best Face (the names tell all). In addition, the Hipstamatic-produced app called Oggl will be bundled with all Lumia smartphones to share pictures with “like-minded creatives and photography enthusiasts”.

These features will be shipped to all Windows Phone 8 devices in the upcoming “Amber” update – and should be rolled out during Q3 this year.

The Lumia 925 comes out in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and China in June, with other markets including the US and Australia coming soon. It is indeed coming to Australia, but Nokia Australia said “It’s too early to share details on availability and pricing.”

Adobe creates a cloud, Microsoft creates an Xbox, Google creates glass and we create a podcast. All this and more on TECHGEEK Weekly. We also talking about mysterious packages turning up for Google I/O, The IT Crowd and much much more.

Yes! We’re back for another week (sorry about that impromptu 3 week break, whoops) to give you the latest (well not really) in tech news. Get ready to listen to the best podcast from the award winning website, TECHGEEK.com.au.

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Show Notes

Stories

YouTube offers paid subscriptions for channels – will you pay though?
Google I/O Predictions: Google Glass, Google Hangouts, Nexus 4 LTE, etc
Creative Cloud
New Xbox
Leaked Microsoft ‘memo’ says next-gen Xbox won’t require constant internet connection
WWDC
Report: iOS 7 could be delayed, will see massive overhaul
Twitter Music

British cult hit ‘The IT Crowd’ to return for finale special
Little Printer now available in Australia, New Zealand
Google Now available for iOS
Samsung Chromebook review: Warning: may contain excessive amounts of Kanye West.

This is The Briefing, a ten-minute-or-less podcast of tech news, for the week ending May 11, 2013. In this edition: New Zealand government plans to end software patents, Zuckerberg’s new lobby group courts controversy, and Windows Blue confirmed.

For those who missed out what The Briefing is, here’s a blog post explaining the show. Feel free to offer any suggestions, improvements and constructive criticism for our new show.

Host: Terence Huynh
Length: 4:15

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On Twitter: @tgbriefing

http://www.forbes.com/sites/reuvencohen/2013/05/08/new-zealand-government-announces-that-software-will-no-longer-be-patentable/

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/technology/fwdus-raises-uproar-with-advocacy-tactics.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/technology/teslas-elon-musk-leaves-zuckerbergs-fwdus.html

http://allthingsd.com/20130506/microsoft-confirms-windows-blue-update-coming-says-windows-8-passes-100-million-downloads/

http://techland.time.com/2013/05/10/windows-blue-preview-coming-next-month/

http://techgeek.com.au/2013/05/10/youtube-offers-paid-subscriptions-for-channels-will-you-pay-though/

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/8/4314408/ea-confirms-10-percent-of-staff-laid-off-in-major-restructuring

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/06/business/nintendo-taps-smartphone-apps-for-console-boost/#.uy7rnkpycok

http://techgeek.com.au/2013/05/06/pirate-party-australia-announce-senate-candidates/

http://techgeek.com.au/2013/05/07/optus-telstra-and-tpg-big-winners-in-digital-spectrum-sale/

http://influencing.com.au/#!story/43134

Sony has just announced that its upcoming Xperia Tablet Z – touted as being the slimmest, lightweight and water-resistant tablet – is now available for preorder in Australia via the Sony Store online and through retailers nationwide.

The Xperia Tablet Z features a 10.1-inch WUXGA display powered with its Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 to provide TV-like viewing experiences on the tablet; and a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 2GB of RAM. It runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and comes in two modes – 16GB and 32GB. The 32GB model only comes with Wi-Fi, while the 16GB can come with LTE or Wi-Fi only.

It is also water and dust resistant, being able to survive being submerged in 1 metre of water for around 30 minutes.

The tablet doesn’t come out until June 6 with a RRP price of $539 (for the 16GB Wi-Fi only model).

YouTube has officially confirmed what everyone has been speculating for the past few months – they will start offering paid subscriptions. It has already signed up over 50 channels in its “pilot program” that will charge at least $0.99 per month to access their premium content, with a 14 day free trial. In addition, you can access the channels from any device – desktop, tablet, phone and TV.

Some content include Sesame Street (which will be offering full episodes on their channel), UFC classic fights, and children’s content from National Geographic. YouTube plans to offer this to some more qualifying partners “in the coming weeks” as a self-service feature.

However, will you pay to watch? Well, similar to newspapers, it probably depends on what you will serve on the channel. If it’s the average run-of-the-mill science content, Let’s Play video or even a daily vlog – then no, don’t bother putting that behind a paywall.

But, sports? That could be a game changer. The BBC has shown us with the 2012 Olympics that the Internet is perfect for covering sporting events – letting them broadcast all the sports concurrently and without interruption. Imagine a similar scenario where you could watch all the football matches from a particular league – live and on demand. The same for AFL, NRL and cricket.

If YouTube pushes heavily for sporting rights – then this could damage television broadcasters.

Whether this could be a success or not also depends on the demographics. This is the same problem newspapers currently have when putting content behind a paywall – we are so used to having it delivered free (with advertising) that if we have to pay for access, we go elsewhere or find an alternative source. YouTube’s demographics are largely teenagers to young adults (it goes to explain why Justin Bieber is popular, and the amount of Let’s Plays around the Internet).

Digital content online has been growing – both in quantity and in quality. Take for example, Netflix’s original programming push with Lilyhammer, House of Cards and Arrested Development; plus Microsoft’s Halo 4: Forward Until Dawn. However, while Netflix a paid subscription per month – it shows that people are willing to pay for content.

The problem is that YouTube is somewhat different – you can subscribe to many channels to receive what content you want to receive. Some may see this as a positive – given that you can don’t pay for crap you don’t watch. Others may not like that idea because it doesn’t give variety.

What do you think?

Photo: Kainet/Flickr (Creative Commons)

The Australian Government has announced the winners of the digital dividend auction – with Optus, Telstra and TPG the big winners in a deal worth nearly $2 billion. The new spectrum, to be made available after the digital television transition is completed, will be used to deploy LTE.

Telstra has secured 2 x 20MHz blocks in the 700MHz band, and 2 x 40MHz blocks on the 2.5GHz band; while Optus has secured 2 x 10MHz blocks on the 700MHz band and 2 x 20MHz blocks on the 2.5GHz band. Both Optus and Telstra have confirmed that both will be used to assist in its 4G coverage – with the 700MHz band to help expand its rural and regional coverage and improve metro coverage.

TPG has acquired 2 x 10Mhz blocks on the 2.5GHz band – and will use it to help expand its wireless broadband market. In an ASX/Media release, “TPG believes that the 2.5GHz spectrum is a valuable asset which, with developing technologies, will bring TPG the opportunity to offer innovative and value-adding products to its customers”.

The Government was not able to sell another two 15MHz blocks on the 700Mhz band – worth $1 billion – and intend to keep them for another two or three years before selling them at auction.

Pirate Party Australia has announced their Senate candidates for this year’s election – hoping to replicate the success of other Pirate Parties across Europe (most recently, in Iceland).

President David Campbell and Secretary Brendan Molloy will contest the Senate seats in New South Wales – with Molloy being the lead candidate. The other candidates include:

• Joe Miles and Geoff Hammett for Victoria
• Melanie Thomas and Liam Pomfret for Queensland
• Thomas Randle for Tasmania

“Australia needs strong representatives that actually stand for principles. I intend to be that representative, pushing back on the encroaching surveillance state of data retention and Internet censorship, while offering positive and much needed reform for copyright, digital liberties and civil liberties,” Brendan Molloy said in a statement.

“For too long the electorate has been treated poorly by the incumbents, assuming that the voter will only choose between the big two parties. We offer Australians a real option for political change. I look forward to the public discourse, and hope everyone will join us in creating a better future for Australia.”

Pirate Party Australia was created in 2009, following the footsteps of the first Pirate Party in Sweden by Rick Falkvinge (who created the party in response to tough copyright laws). Now, there are Pirate Parties in 40 different countries – all who support direct democracy, reform of copyright and patent law, information privacy, and transparency and freedom of information of government.

The Pirate Party has managed to get a lot of their success in local elections – but has representation in the European Parliament (Sweden); as well as having a parliamentarian in the Czech Republic, and recently three members in Iceland.

This is The Briefing, a ten-minute-or-less podcast of tech news, for the week ending May 4, 2013. In this edition: Microsoft hit by lawsuit over Skype, eSports league caught Bitcoin mining on gamers’ computers, and Google in trouble in the UK over tax.

For those who missed out what The Briefing is, here’s a blog post explaining the show. Feel free to offer any suggestions, improvements and constructive criticism for our new show.

Host: Terence Huynh
Length: 4:03

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On Twitter: @tgbriefing

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/2/4292976/intel-brian-krzanich-ceo

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57582349-38/microsoft-hit-by-patent-lawsuit-over-skype/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57582167-93/despite-complaints-of-spamming-path-stands-by-its-apps-invitation-process/

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/341740,kogan-mobile-claims-victory-in-ispone-battle.aspx

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/05/esea/

http://gawker.com/massive-bitcoin-business-partnership-devolves-into-75-487857656

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/01/us-tax-uk-inquiry-idUSBRE94005H20130501

http://theweek.com/article/index/243497/why-cern-is-recreating-the-very-first-web-page

Little Printer – the compact thermal printer that prints out lots of web content such as news headlines, weather and a daily sudoku puzzle – is now finally coming to Australia and New Zealand. The developers, BERG, have announced that they will open up shipping to the two countries after being restricted to just the EU, USA and Canada.

BERG will have a new production run of Little Printers in July (they do a limited number every few months or so) and are taking pre-orders which will then be shipped at the same time in July as all other orders.

So what is it? Little Printer connects to the cloud – and is controlled by your smartphone (iPhone, Android and Windows Phone) – to receive content that you have subscribed. There is a large variety of content available like Instragram’s Picture of the Day, headlines from The Guardian, The Times’ One Down brain teaser, birthday reminders from Facebook and even the daily weather.

As well, you or your family members can print out messages if they are running late right from the smartphone.

However, that said, the Little Printer is pretty darn expensive. The Starter Pack – which includes the printer itself, 3 paper roles, a 1m ethernet cable, and the Cloud Bridge and power pack (which lets the printer connect to the internet) – costs US$219. On top of that is the $50 shipping fee to any part of Australia or New Zealand – bringing the overall cost to around $269.

BERG has also announced that there are now replacement paper rolls. The paper rolls are BPA-free – which, according to the developers, is something what may owners had requested – and have been extensively tested. They come in batches of five rolls, and cost $7.50 – plus the $11 flat shipping rate.

via BERG Cloud blog

A new report has claimed that latest version of Apple iOS could be delayed as Jonathan Ive, in charge of iOS design at Cupertino, has embarked on a massive design overhaul to replace the previous skeuomorphic look that was promoted by the former software chief Scott Forstall (who was dumped from his role last year).

According to Bloomberg, engineers are also apparently racing to get this finished in order to show a preview of it in June for Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The company is still hoping for a September release, but internal deadlines for testing are being pushed back compared to iOS 6, according to their internal sources. For instance, new features that are submitted for testing in February ran a month or more behind schedule. As well, people from the Mac team have been roped in to help with its development.

The new iOS is said to include drastic changes to the user interface. The UI changes will apply for all apps, and will move towards a flatter design that feels more unified and less cluttered. However, the big UI changes – including email, which hasn’t seen much change in UI between versions – may not be ready this year and could be released in future versions.

Google has finally made the popular feature of Android phones, Google Now available on iOS through the App Store.

Google Now is the real time information service that provides useful information gathered from your Google searches, calendars, apps and location. For example, Now can show the quickest route to your workplace depending on traffic conditions, show if your flight is delayed and weather information of the city you’re in.

There are a few things missing from the iOS app including airline boarding passes, local events and push notifications. The app does utilize background location services, so it won’t be completely lost when you open the app.

Google Now for iOS is available right now from the Apple App Store. Just download the Google search app or update the current version you have on your device!

This is The Briefing, a ten-minute-or-less podcast of tech news, for the week ending April 27, 2013. In this edition: AFP arrest LulzSec leader, Microsoft set to reveal the next-generation Xbox, and Google loses key patent lawsuits against Microsoft and Apple.

Host: Terence Huynh
Length: 4:23

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Link Dump

On Twitter: @tgbriefing

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-24/lulz-security-hacking-leader-arrested-in-nsw/4648134

http://techgeek.com.au/2013/04/27/livingsocial-hacked-50-million-customers-and-email-addresses-affected/

http://techgeek.com.au/2013/04/25/microsoft-announces-a-new-generation-for-the-xbox/

http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/26/4268782/next-xbox-drm-achievements-live

http://techgeek.com.au/2013/04/22/new-android-malware-found-can-bypass-app-verification-process/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/04/26/google-glass-has-already-been-hacked-by-jailbreakers/

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/04/google-keeps-losing-itc-finally-tosses.html

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/04/court-determined-frand-rate-for.html

http://techgeek.com.au/2013/04/22/jb-hi-fi-enters-the-ebook-business-with-now-books/

http://www.afr.com/p/technology/iinet_considered_merger_in_face_h9eTTlAarGYwkSGpXyNZzL

Daily deals website LivingSocial (second only to Groupon) has disclosed that they have been hacked and that the attacker accessed the names, email addresses and “encrypted” passwords of 50 million customers worldwide.

“We recently experienced a cyber-attack on our computer systems that resulted in unauthorized access to some customer data from our servers. We are actively working with law enforcement to investigate this issue,” the site told customers.

“We are sorry this incident occurred, and we look forward to continuing to introduce you to new and exciting things to do in your community.”

Customers are now urged to reset their passwords. However, if you log in to LivingSocial through Facebook Connect, you do not need to worry as your Facebook login credentials have not been compromised. If you have a separate account, however, then you need to create a new password.

LivingSocial stresses that the passwords were “hashed” and “salted”, and that they never stored plain text passwords. In addition, they also said that no credit card information nor merchant banking information was accessed or affected by the attack – they are stored in a separate database.

According to its spokesman Andrew Weinstein, talking to Reuters, these affect customers in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Southern Europe and Latin America. Customers in South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand were not affected by the attack.

Whether this announcement is Microsoft’s attempt at a next-generation console, or new plans for the Xbox 360 is unknown; but Microsoft will showcase a full lineup of blockbuster games at E3, in relation to this reveal.

In addition, the official Xbox website has been added with a timeline highlighting key events and milestones from both the original Xbox and the Xbox 360 – ranging from the launch of the launch of the original Xbox in 2001, to the tenth anniversary of Xbox LIVE in 2012.

Plenty of discussions on Home turn into ‘I hate Facebook’ agreements, one of the only reasons why I think that I may actually add something to the conversation. Home isn’t for non-Facebook users, so it makes little sense to say ‘I hate Facebook, but here’s my review of Home’.

Along with the majority of Generation Y, I do use Facebook. I don’t have a religious attachment, but I do check it pretty much daily. My friends are on it, it’s a nice service and I find a lot of the content interesting. But replacing core Android experiences, like SMS and your lock and homescreen, with Facebook? While it isn’t as deep as an Android ‘fork’, it’s still a major change and one I’m still unsure of.

As you would expect with a Facebook phone, Home is a horizontal marquee of the Facebook Newsfeed. From now on, while using Home, you have to understand that the first thing you see when you do anything with your phone will be Facebook. Wallpaper doesn’t exist, instead replaced with a Ken Burns pan of photos of your feed. Notifications, apart from with the HTC First, are just Facebook notifications in a clean card-interface. Swipe to remove, tap to view.

But that’s the problem with Facebook Home. There’s nothing wrong with the blurry photos, the inconsistancy of updates and the sporadic update intervals. The problem lies with how you use your phone.

If you have a job, if you’re a teenager, if you’re an adult then Facebook Home likely won’t work for you. For me, the majority of Facebook posts on my feed are great, photos are relevant and the screen is calm. But occasionally, a rogue status update, one which is completely inappropriate, one which you’d usually skip while checking Facebook, takes over your screen. Whether it drops a C or F bomb, or whether it’s an awkward photo, Facebook Home simply doesn’t work in a world where it’s entirely possible for your boss, your partner, your friends to see you using your phone. Facebook is a place for friends, and that fundamentally means a place only for friends. A phone, in many ways, is public property. You can put a passcode on it, you can watch over it at all hours of the day, but as soon as it’s unlocked: boom. Embarassment.

I’m a firm believer in purging Facebook friends from my Newsfeed as soon as anything I don’t like pops up. But if you don’t work at filtering out the crap, and I mean really be strict, Facebook Home will just end in embarassment.

It’s a shame, because Home, other than that core doubt, is pretty damn good.

If you can somehow get past the risk of a familiar glance, then you’ll also need to fit into the small group who can actually get Home. It only works with the HTC One, One X and One X+, as well as the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Note 2. And for whatever the reason, it’s only on the Play Store in the US. No idea why, since a staggered launch can’t work in a nation of around 160 million Facebook users.

But once you actually get it installed, it’s actually great.

Animations are smooth, and even iPhone-like in their responsiveness, the critical requirements to open apps, talk and text work for me and it’s beautiful. While Facebook cheated in press-shots, with DSLR-quality photos, it actually does look great. And Chat-Heads, the unintrusive yet always available Facebook messages are brilliant, never even taking you away from what you’re doing. It’s magic.

There are no folders, the app-drawer isn’t always buttery and Facebook can have problems with filtering the good from the bad, the C-bombs from the great statuses, but when you look past that, Facebook seem to have created something competitive and distinctively innovative for a more social phone experience. It’s basic, and that’s a good thing. For me, though? I do like the dignity of a good wallpaper and a hidden feed.

The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook is a like a MacBook Air suffering an identity crisis. There are great intentions, and the software is amazing, but in the end it’s just the web and it’s a slow computer in a fast computers body. However there are glimmers of hope that make the Series 5 Chromebook a decent laptop, for the price.

The hard question to answer when reviewing the Chromebook is whether to judge it on potential or the reality.

I’d always wanted a Chromebook. I always saw Google’s vision of the web as an operating system to be courageous, but also a safe bet, especially for a company only possible because of the internet. Right now you’re likely reading this from the web (unless you’re caching us). Your email is likely used through the web, whether it’s a Gmail, Hotmail or an ISP-powered system. Even movies and music have been positioned to work right from a web browser, with Google Play Music, Spotify, Rdio, JB Hi-Fi Now and BigPond Music all living in the browser. In fact, Google’s efforts to defy logic, by working against the benefits of ‘native’, through YouTube, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Reader (oh, wait) and even Search, shows that the Chromebook wasn’t a step into the dark for them, but an eventual conclusion. The problem is whether they had finished the previous stage of actually creating the platform.

I believe they have.

The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook, though, is practically built to be a secondary device. It’s got great design principles, but its cheap materials, ARM processor and ‘netbook’ OS show that this, unless you’re not reliant on any native software (Photoshop, Office, Final Cut), is meant to compliment your tower or heavy laptop. And I think it does this job well. Kind of.

The plastic body creaks below the weight of my hand, while the top of the clamshell requires force to open. There is no hinge like you see on modern laptops, where the computer will open without holding down the keyboard area. But it speaks volumes on the weight of the Series 5 Chromebook. It’s really light.

From a distance, family members assumed I’d received a Macbook Air. My school, a Apple-only laptop haven, didn’t bat an eye when I began using the Chromebook. And you can’t blame them. The metallic paint-job, the black island-style keyboard layout, and even the way the plastic surrounding the keyboard dips into the frame of the device, show that Samsung surely took ‘inspiration’ from Apple. The comparitively unique design of the Pixel is proof of this. Samsung took an expensive design and recreated it under the conditions of a $350 notebook. And they did a great job when you consider that price.

While the body feels cheap, and even flimsy, weighing in at 1.1kg, when you actually use the device  the restraints of using cheap materials melt away into a decent keyboard, and a great trackpad. And while continuing the theme of plastic over more industrially-preferable materials, seen in the smooth MacBook trackpad, Samsung and Google have made something that works really well. And my only complaint is that it can be a little loud, especially if you’re in a quiet room where every noise draws attention. The trackpad, overall, is responsive and never becomes a barrier, unlike so many other Windows laptops. It even has Macbook-quality scrolling, with Chrome OS providing inertial scrolling. But the performance of the processor let the trackpad down.

Inside the case is Samsung’s Exynos 5 Dual Processor, an ARM processor, and while it isn’t bad, it isn’t good. YouTube videos regularly stutter, the browser can freeze with just 5 tabs, and the smooth scrolling can turn from butter into gridlock quickly. It’s disappointing that something as essential as watching a video via Chrome can break the OS, occasionally even forcing a reboot.

Despite this major issue, battery life is still nice because of the processor, usually getting me the expected 6 or more hours of use. It still confuses me how this could get worse battery than a good tablet computer, such as the Nexus 10 or iPad since it’s essentially a Chrome browser running on a phone processor.

On the back is a SIM-slot, a USB 3.0 port, USB 2.0 port, HDMI output and the power adapter. On the left side sits the SD card and headphone port. Stock standard, although including USB 3.0 is odd. Perhaps intended to run another OS off?

The 11.6″ screen is also quite average. It has the texture of a cheap iPhone matte-screen protector, a hazy look. Viewing angles are poor, and while you get used to its quality, returning to a computer with a nice screen is a serious treat.

But, otherwise, the device is as you would expect. It is a $350 laptop and nobody will deny it.  But for what you’re paying, the actual overall design is nice and I eventually learned to love it, not because of how it felt, but for what it holds within: the OS. It’s just a shame that they couldn’t make it fast enough to feel better than a Netbook, instead retaining the reputation of a secondary-device, intended to become an afterthought of daily life rather than a delight.

Despite the manufacturers grip on Android, Chrome OS remains in the power of Google and only Google. Even the start screen, which only appears for 10 seconds max (the quickest I’ve seen being 6 seconds) shows a shiny Chrome logo, with no Samsung influence ever seen in the OS. When you startup the computer its apparent that, if you’re a person scared of a Google account or part of the unproven ‘Google doesn’t give me privacy’ clan, then this isn’t the computer for you. It’s the Google OS in ways Android can never become.

fA bridge wallpaper sits in the background, and your first interaction with the Series 5 Chromebook is logging in to your Google account. And as a Chrome user, I was then greeted to a Windows-style taskbar filled with my Chrome apps and all of my settings. It’s magical that Google have finally realised the dream of stateless OS, where you can have the same system on any device. As a Google Drive user, this was my computer. My files, my settings, everything just there from boot. It was so incredible that I started to forget which computer I had been using last while switching between a marble-white MacBook and the Netbook of my dreams.

As you start using Chrome OS, which is simply a browser in a window-environment, it’s still apparent how much attention to detail Google has put into it. There’s the app drawer, with the option to open apps as Windows, pin them to the browser or just open them as tabs. The search key on the keyboard opens up the omni-bar from anywhere in the OS. ‘Natural-scrolling’ is an option, as well as switching the Control and Alt keys to match an OS X users instincts. And the design of the OS just shows that Chrome OS is the Google OS. Everything about it screams Google, and that’s a good thing for me. Even something as simple as powering down the computer shows an interesting fade-to-white animation, rather than just flicking the screen into darkness.

It’s the care of Apple, with the design of Google. And Google hasn’t created the OS and then created the platform, like every other company does, but rather released an OS to work with their existing platform of the web. I am that weirdo who uses Google Docs, the one who listens to all of my music through Spotify and watches the majority of video through a browser.

I am the definition of Gen-Y, without the Tumblr addiction.

And Chrome OS just works for me. You can’t explain why the Pixel isn’t so crazy unless you have used Chrome OS. If you replaced my MacBook Pro with a Pixel, I’d likely never realise. And complaints of it only working when internet is available, while definitely realistic, have been subdued by Google through offline apps for Google Drive (which finally works), Gmail and Calendar. It isn’t complete, but it matches the offline capabilities of Office, excluding Excel. And for me, I never had to worry about being offline because I never use a laptop offline. Most people are the same. And if you aren’t if you do somehow drag around a laptop on public transport or through your daily routine, then the option for a 3G connection or just tethering your phone is obvious.

There are plenty of flaws. It’s slow. It feels like a $350 laptop. And a few little things, like the shallow-keyboard, poor video performance and the lack of an Android-style universal search or notification section is odd, do subtract from perfection. But it still feels great, in a weird way. The problem is that I wouldn’t buy it. I’m waiting for the $350 equivalent of the Pixel.

A laptop that does perform to the standard of a 4 year old MacBook. And when that comes, I’ll be jumping on the Chrome OS bandwagon and never looking back. A stateless OS is the future. Windows and OS X show Apple and Microsoft’s desires for this. But neither have fully realised it. Google has.