Tech Week in Review 8-13-2010

Google Launches Chrome to Phone and Voice Actions

At their mobile event yesterday, Google launched two features for mobile that aim to make life easier and illustrate the changing landscape of the web. Chrome to Phone and Voice Actions both enhance and extend your mobile device. Chrome to Phone makes it easy to shift things from your computer to your mobile, like when you’re in the middle of reading Black Web 2.0, but have to step out. Voice Actions give you the power to free your hands and just tell your phone what to do. It’s like voice dial on steroids and it works on any Android 2.2 device, I was able to search what does dr dre look like today? and get an answer.

If you had previously been playing with the Chrome to Phone beta, you may need to uninstall the Chrome extension and the Android app and start from scratch to get things working.

Twitter Working with TweetMeme For Official Tweet Buttons

When we all heard that Twitter was coming out with its own set of sharing buttons, the immediate question was, “What about Tweetmeme?” As it turns out, Twitter and Tweetmeme are working together on this latest project. The Twitter Buttons enable publisher’s to offer a simple way for their content to be shared, while also optionally suggesting users that visitors should follow.

Google and Verizon Propose Net Neutrality Rules

At first, the NYT came out saying that Google and Verizon had made a backroom deal on net neutrality where Google would simply turn a blind eye and let Verizon do whatever they wanted on their network. This first story was quickly deemed false by both Google and Verizon.

A short time later, the real joint policy proposal for an open Internet was published. While the proposal is nowhere near what was originally thought, many were still unsatisfied and some even outraged. The attacks came from every side, many misrepresenting the facts. Google was forced to answer these claims and dispel the myths.

iPhone Users Have Better Love Lives Than Android Users

This comes from OKCupid data analyzed by Gizmodo. The post is actually interesting in that it shows how taking a quality photo instantly makes you more attractive online. This isn’t just good for getting a date, but also key in presenting yourself or your brand online. Besides using a quality camera, the primary take-aways from the post are:

  • Don’t use the flash – it makes you look 7 years older
  • Control your foreground – be the focus of the photo and let everything else fade/blur. You will either need some image manipulation skills, a camera that lets you control the aperture, or just make sure you are way closer to the camera than anything else.
  • Take your photo in the afternoon – while the data doesn’t explain why photos taken at this time seem more attractive, it could be due to lighting.