Wednesday 30 April 2014

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT GOOGLE i/O 2014 PREDICTIONS

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT
GOOGLE i/O CONFERENCE 2014 PREDICTIONS
#Google #i/o2014 #Android #Chrome #ChromeOS #Glass #Nexus #Silver

Good early morning, Synapse Circuit Readers. How are you today? I am feeling pretty good of late. The was Sun is out albeit sporadically but it is better than no Sun at all! Yes, the Animation Special is on the way! Again, life has a habit of taking over an intended course of action! But the Animation Special is on the way!

Yes, as always the world of Tech is constantly throwing up all manner of things – some good and some bad! What’s happening with Google?


THE UNEXPECTED
The Google Input / Output conference is coming up pretty fast and it seems like this year’s conference will be a pivotal one in terms of what Google brings to mobile and wearable devices.

The one thing nobody could have anticipated was the sudden departure of Google + Vic Gundotra! What on Earth happened there I wonder? It is said that it is because G+ has failed to match or surpass Facebook in terms of users. If this is true I think this is because Google have done a number of things to hurt G+...

1. Time; Google haven’t given G+ enough time to build and develop like Facebook. As massive as Google is there is no way they can spring a social network of the magnitude of Facebook metaphorically overnight. Facebook has been around for 8 years and is still going strong-ish! G+ has been around for only 3 years. Google must give their social network time to develop!

2. Google have shot themselves in the foot by insisting upon its people using their real names and as a result I am sure that this has caused all sorts of issues for individuals involved in an “Alternative” lifestyle be it music, political viewpoint, etc. It took Facebook a comparatively long time before they changed its User Name policy.

3. Annoyingly they badgered users to tie in their YouTube, Blogger and other accounts to G+. I am quite sure that G+ users would have preferred to allow their other Google accounts to develop naturally on their own. I think G+ users, like me, prefer to keep the accounts separate.

Well, that’s all I can think of at the top of my head. All of the above does not bode well with social network users. I personally feel as though Google are forcing itself upon the users. That said, I do think G+ is a great alternative to Facebook and Twitter. I find that in many ways G+ is better than Twitter in that it is easier to connections with others. And, yes, G+ - like all the social networks – has a factor of detractors, trolls, etc but it is easy to block undesirables. I also find it annoying to not only receive G+ notifications but to get them by email too????

I can only speculate that Google have changed its mind regarding the direction of G+ is going. I think we have already seen the direction... I am not sure that I like it! I’m beginning to think that Tim Cook and crew may be right about, “Google drops projects that aren’t profitable...” I just hope that Google will assign a team of visionaries to give G+ a good overhaul! I mean, just look at the recent change in the Facebook for Android app – this change has been a very good one! Google needs to assign a forward thinking team behind G+ for sure!


EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED?
Hmmmm... One can never quite tell with Google... One year they are skydiving showing off Glass and the next year they are quite subdued.

ANDROID 64-BIT
I am anticipating the announcement of a 64-bit version of Android. CPU manufacturer Qualcomm are developing 64-bit CPUs as are other manufacturers. So, could it be Android 4.5 or Android 5 that will be ready to take on the 64-bit CPU? Or will there be a 4.5, Liquorice or Lollypop, before the 64-bit 5? Oh, then there’s project HERA that is said to not only bring new icons but to fuse parts of the Chrome OS; here I just hope that Android users will be able to get to use those wonderful looking Chrome apps! We’ll see!

SILVER
Apparently, the Nexus range of devices is giving way for the new premium “Silver” range. Google is reputedly working with manufacturers to lose UI overlays. Some report that this move is to “take back control of Android from Samsung” but I think that’s a load of horsepoop! I think that because Google will make great changes to Android that it will look to maintain the Nexus vanilla ethos and work with manufacturers to create the best premium experience. I am sure that Samsung, HTC, LG, etc will be still releasing handsets with their own particular UI overlays. Then again if Android becomes more advanced that they won’t have to utilize custom UIs. I have always said that the likes of Samsung should offer widgets over a UI!

In any event I expect that there will be a Nexus 6 handset and Nexus 7 III tablet this year. It’d be great if the premium Silver range extended to tablets!

However, going back to the Silver handset(s)... Google are keen on banishing external storage capacity on their handsets so as a result I am expecting them to announce at least 64GB storage capacity as standard. There again, Google does want us to use their cloud service. But that’s another incident where I am not too happy with Google. Everytime I take a picture I get pestered to back it up on Google Plus and / or Drive services. I wish Google would take a step back once it has let me know that the facilities are available. I find Google too invasive at times. Gosh! I went a little off topic! Anyhoo! Could it be that HTC will be responsible for the first Silver device?

GLASS
Yes, the controversial Google Glass! I do think that Google Glass will take off when it is finally available to the public. There have been some negativity towards Glass and it seems to be coming from deeply religious people who believe that it signals the beginning of Transhumanism and how the human being will become a machine. But I am sure that if one of those anti-Tranhumanist folk lost a limb that he or she would welcome a bionic one to replace it. See my GLASS: TRANSHUMANIST HYSTERIA article here:
http://synapse-circuit.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/synapse-circuit-google-glass.html
I expect Google to announce the availability of Glass.

ANDROID WEARABLE
Smartwatches are definitely here and I envisage that Google will be announcing a few wearable models that will be on sale this year. It looks as though they are partnering with Lenovo Motorola to bring out a selection of smartwatches. Who knows if there will be a wearable computer – apart from Glass – thrown into the mix?

GOOGLE NEXUS
It is doubtful if Google will discard the Nexus concept altogether. No! I have it mind that Google will keep the Nexus concept going for cost effective handsets. I do believe that Google will announce a sub £100 Nexus handset not too dissimilar to the Moto G. According to CEO Larry Page it costs about $5 dollars to make a handset so I can only hope that the level entry Nexus will boast last year’s spec as found in the current Nexus 5. Why not? We are seeing the prices of top Samsung handsets fall quite dramatically... The Galaxy S3 is a still top notch handset – if you can live with not having 4K video. Imagine the Nexus level entry range having the innards of the Galaxy S3? Then again look at it this way: pick up a handset such as the Galaxy S3, root it and install a custom ROM that will give you the vanilla Android experience. If Google are going to announce a level entry Nexus handset they certainly have a bit of work cut out for them. I am curious as to what is going to happen there. Of course, Google may just drop the Nexus range altogether which would be rather strange given that they have established it as an excellent brand.

With the Nexus 7 III I am expecting a design that features a slimmer bezel and perhaps we’ll be seeing a multitude of different sizes i.e. 7”, 8.9” and maybe, just maybe, a 10”! I’ve heard rumours that LG, HTC and ASUS will do a tablet for Google.

HTML5 APPS & VP10
In conjunction with the latest Android and Chrome OS and Chrome (browser) developments I am expecting to learn more about how Google will use HTML5 and the video format VP10 (an upgrade from 9 maybe) to create cross platform apps that can not only run on Android but iOS and Windows 8 too! Again, I am expecting to see how HTML5 will enable Android to adopt some of the ChromeOS characteristics.

HTML5 is really starting to take off now with apps and websites making use of its multimedia capabilities. Could it be that Google will announce a follow up to their one time App Inventor which is now owned by MIT that uses HTML5 routines? You just never know with Google. I think that drag and drop HTML5 apps has the potential what to be WYSIWYG is to website creation. Do you remember when it was all about hand coding to build a simple page? It’s going to be pretty much the same with apps – simple drag ‘n’ drop content to create simple apps. It would be something if Google’s Web Designer program will feature an output to APK?

CHROME OS
I would imagine that there will be more Chromebooks and one that will feature 4G built in as well as WiFi! I am expecting something from Samsung, Dell and HP.

I find myself wondering why there isn’t a Chrome OS tablet... Perhaps that’s coming through Lenovo Motorola.

MAPS
I am anticipating more on Google Maps by the way of development. I couldn’t possibly imagine that those developments can be other than all round improvements, 3D imaging and so on.

CONCLUSION
It is going to be a very exciting conference from Google this year as they keep pushing the boundaries of technology. We’ve yet to learn what these robots are going to do that they have recently acquired. I hope to learn more! Get ready!

IN THE MEANTIME...
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