Binary Impact
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27th
JAN
Comparing the Big 4: Google vs. Microsoft vs. Apple vs. Yahoo!
Posted by Mavrik | Filed under Tech
It’s no secret that Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Yahoo are always expanding their reaches, slowly but surely adding new products and services into their line-ups. The New York Times’s Nick Bilton took a step back and surveyed their empires.
It doesn’t come as much of a surprise to see how much these four behemoths overlap, and I doubt anyone will be surprised when these companies continue to fill in this grid in 2010.
Looking at the empty spaces reveals where we might look for these companies to grow. There have been grumblings of a Google music store for a while, and it seems entirely possible that Apple’s Tablet will at least in part emphasize its capabilities as a gaming device.
As the companies stretch and grow, some of their endeavors will prove more successful than others, but until then this chart is an interesting reminder of how vast their reaches already are.
Tags: Apple, Google, Hardware, Internet, Microsoft, Search, Software, Technology, Yahoo!
29th
MAY
Hulu Launches Desktop App For PC And Mac
Posted by Mavrik | Filed under Tech
If you haven’t heard of Hulu, you’ve been living under a rock because even my nontech-savvy parents know what it is. In just two years, the website has significantly altered the TV/Internet landscape, and now the company is taking it one step further.Hulu has just released a desktop application that lets users access all of Hulu’s content without using a web browser. The app also works with both Windows Media Player and Apple remotes. To me, this is the soon-to-be future of television. The strange thing is that this is essentially the same idea behind what Boxee on the Apple TV, which has been thwarted by Hulu with every update to the service leading users to desperately try workarounds to continue to use Boxee. Maybe Hulu just wants to have total control over their content. But even with Boxee, you still saw the ads (Hulu’s source of income) so I don’t know why they would care. In any event, yay for Hulu Desktop. The release video is below.
6th
MAY
Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 Available Now ["Free" Until June 2010]
Posted by Mavrik | Filed under Tech
Yes boys and girls, the newest release of Windows 7 is out and available for everyone. As a beta tester, I (and many others) know it is MUCH improved over Vista. So if you’re tired of Vista and want a free OS until June of next year, click the link below.
UPDATE: As Jonathan so eloquently stated. RC1 is free for the most part except for one thing presented here. Starting Match 1st the OS will shut down every 2 hours just to nag you that much more into buying the real version. Although I’m sure by that point there will be a pretty huge flaw in the OS that will practically force you to upgrade regardless. Lucky for those of us who have access to a student discount mwahaha.
Tags: Microsoft, OS, Software, Technology, Windows 7
27th
FEB
Is Safari 4 Beta Overhyped? [Hint: YES!]
Posted by Mavrik | Filed under Tech
Obviously this is my own opinion, but I honestly think Safari, while having a much improved interface, still falls short of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox in my book. Apple claims it’s 3x speedier than Firefox, which is always arguable especially when looking at Lifehacker’s own test. If I’m looking for speed, I’m going with Google Chrome. But speed aside, Safari just doesn’t look as good as Chrome either.
I’m doing a lot of comparing with Chrome because Apple seems to have borrowed very generously from Google’s design choices. The first I have issue with is the tabs in the titlebar of the window. I love this feature in Chrome, but with Safari 4 I’m just not a fan of having the HUGE tab that divides in half every time you add one. That’s personal preference though. At the same time, I think this feature looks much better on Mac OS X than XP or Vista.
I can go on nitpicking on how certain features are better implemented in Firefox or Chrome (like Top Sites among other things), but that’s not the point of this post. The fact of the matter is that Apple is playing catchup with this new installment. It’s not breaking any new ground at all yet most of the tech blogs seem to be in awe by it. It’s great that they were able to implement all these upgrades to “bring the browser back,” and maybe I’m missing something, but they’re not original. I have more respect for Chrome now because I can see how much it influenced the direction of Safari.
Maybe some of it is because they both use the same source code, but it’s important to notice that a lot of the “new” features of Safari are straight from Google.
Tags: Apple, Browser, Chrome, Firefox, Google, Internet, Mozilla, Rant, Safari, Software, Technology
6th
FEB
Google Chrome Could Support Extensions by May
Posted by Mavrik | Filed under Tech, ZOMG
According to a schedule for this year’s Google Conference, there will be a panel entitled “Developing Extensions for Google Chrome.” It’s a little cryptic, I know, but I think that means additional Chrome functionality is coming.
This is good (or maybe just intriguing) news for Firefox addicts like myself who can’t bear to part with their precious extensions, but like Chrome’s features and it’s potential. And since this isn’t really official news, details are rather thin.
Tags: Chrome, Firefox, Google, Internet, Lifehacker, Mozilla, Software, Technology