Reflections & Outlooks [Lists]

Technologies:
- 40+ Things You Need to Watch in 2011 - Mashable
- 8 Sci-Fi Technologies That Are No Longer Just Fiction - Mashable

Movies:
- 55 Science Fiction/Fantasy Movies to Watch Out For in 2011 - io9
- Some cyberpunk moives to Look for in 2011 - Cyberpunk Review

Games:
- Zero Punctuation: Top 5 of 2010 - CrunchGear

Interactive Automotive Platforms [List]

- Abalta WEBLINK
- Audi Multi Media Interface (MMI)
- BMW ConnectedDrive
- OpenXC
- Cadillac CUE 
- Chevrolet MyLink
- Chrysler Uconnect
- Ford MyFord Touch
- Garmin K2
- Kia UVO2
- Mercedes-Benz mbrace2 
- Mitsubishi EMIRAI
- Nuance Dragon Drive!
- Parrot ASTEROID Smart
- QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment
- Toyota Entune

Cellphone Loyalty-card Replacements [List]

- CardBank
- cardMobili
- CardStar
- Key Ring
- LoyaltyCard
- OneGratis
- PlacePop
- Punchd
- Scanaroo

Apple over-coming iPhone log-in hell by integrating Facebook?

Image via CrunchBase

The biggest nightmare for me using the iPhone is logging into every stupid App I download. Lately it sounds like Apple might be looking for a way to fix this by integrating Facebook Connect. Facebook no doubt already has the largest user-base and effective log-in platforms known.

Safari already offers an option to remember passwords but does nothing for the problem described. Each iPhone App wants you to create an account with yet another user-name & password. This annoyance is most noticeable once you find yourself restoring the phone to it's original configuration. Few of these accounts do little more than store user-settings in the cloud, from what I can tell. It's not like they ask many personal questions beyond what do you want your user-name & password to be.

I'm not overly concerned with privacy but I know there's been lots of commotion regarding Facebook's overly complex privacy settings. I'm guessing Apple will likely just make it an option to speed up the log-in process on Apps.

NEWS LINKS:
- Pocket-lint - Facebook integration on way with iPhone OS 4.0
- Gizmodo - Facebook Might Be Built Into iPhone OS 4

Google phone store closing!?

This is my plead to Google, please re-purpose the Google phone site into a useful comparison tool for picking the right Android phone hardware & Apps to meet customer's needs. Am I only one who cares to compare? Also Google would you please set a proper example to company's like Apple. Yes that fruity company that tries to convince us all they always know what's best & shouldn't question their leadership, that's a joke people.

Overall I just want an easy way to look over the latest & greatest Android hardware & Apps. Perhaps even add a social layer to the mix. I know Google has failed at that in the past but this is new, this is Android. I want a way to sync my phone and share my travels. Come on Google! Show me having options stands to better my options instead of the complete opposite. Right now I'm confused by the abundance of Android phones on different networks. Help me to see through the confusion & complexity. The phone companies aren't going to do it, that's for sure.

SYNC/BACKUP FEATURES:
- photos (example Picasa integration)
- music
- SMS, MMS (make search-able via online interface)
- App preferences
- phone settings

LINKS:
- Google Phone

Personalized Wardrobe [List]

SUBSCRIPTIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS:
Bombfell
Frank & Oak  
StyleSeek
Trunk Club

SUITS:
A Suit That Fits
DressMonkey
Indochino
Modern Tailor
My.Suit
Oumlil

DRESS-SHIRTS:
Bespokeable
Blank-Label
Bleuflamme
Cut on Your Bias
Hamilton 
J. Hilburn
Joe Button
Second Button
ShirtsMyWay

DRESSES
CONTINUUM: Ddress
Cut on Your Bias 
UnitedStyles

T-SHIRTS:
Reactee
SonicShack
Twitgear

SWIMWEAR:
Shortomatic

Mobile Platforms

This is certainly somewhat unexpected. Especially given who everyone is competing with but Samsung, Creative, and some others are releasing mobile platforms of their own. Not sure what chances these have against Apple & Google. Regardless of what you or I think these new platforms do seem to bring a lot to the table with regard to user-interface design.

PLATFORMS:
- Aliyun OS
- Apple - iPhone OS
- Baidu Yi (based on Android)
- Google - Android (user-interface replacements Aro, Borqs, HTC - Sense UI, Intuitive User Interfaces, CyanogenMod, Fluffy Spider, petitpetit PTPT, Rightware - Kanzi, Samsung - TouchWiz, SPB Shell 3D)
- Microsoft - Windows Mobile (user-interface replacements HTC - Sense UI, Intuitive User Interfaces, SPB Mobile Shell)
- Mozilla - Firefox OS
- Open webOS
- RIM - BlackBerry OS
- Sailfish
- Samsung - bada
- Smartisan (based on Android)
- Tizen

APP STORES:
- Apple Apps
- Samsung Apps

DISCONTINUED:
- ACCESS Linux Platform (user-interface replacements ELSE Mobile)
- Azingo
- Creative - Plaszma OS
- MeeGo (merger of Moblin & Maemo)
- Nokia Ovi
- Symbian

Stuff Apple iPhone/iTunes Should Fix

WHAT TO FIX:
- iTunes should provide an easier way to organize the iPhone's applications (example: App Management in iTunes)
- iTunes should allow the management of iPhone application settings (for easier inputting of complicated passwords)
- Give applications the option to run in the background

RELATED NEWS/LINKS:
- MobileCrunch - 8 Little Things We Still Can’t Stand About the iPhone
- The Industry Standard - Nine really frustrating things about the iPhone
- PleaseFixTheiPhone

Stuff Google Reader Should Fix

I'm pretty sure any and all information obsessed people are using Google Reader by now. The thing though is that despite how great it is there are still some pretty annoying issues with it. A lot of these options no doubt shouldn't be added to everybody's account, but instead should be handled like Gmail with the lab projects.

WHAT TO FIX:
- Add filter options (to block unwanted news and better organize news, example: Google Reader Filter, FeedHub)
- Add an option to customize the keyboard controls
- When searching, dig deeper into articles
- Qualitatively rank news (example: AideRSS, PostRank)
- Consolidate similar news items and only show the most informative source unless I want to dig deeper
- Stop accepting article updates as new news
- Stop screwing up the times of articles, just date the article as it is posted not as I change the tags or whatever else
- Stop erasing my tags when I star an article
- Integrate a preview option
- Provide a list for reviewing which articles you just looked at regardless of when they were received
- Enable the “Send mail as” feature from Gmail
- Support password protected feeds (example: FreeMyFeed)
- Enable expiration options (for high volume blogs)
- While in "List" view mode the scrollwheel should high-light one article at a time

WHAT HAS BEEN FIXED:
- While searching allow editing of tags in list/expanded view

Stuff Facebook Should Fix

If go to the applications page you'll see that you can add a bookmark to Causes and Groups but not Pages. There's also a number of other problems that just drive me nuts which I've listed below.

WHAT TO FIX:
- Add a "Recently Added" link to the actual friends page
- Add "Pages" to the "Authorized" applications page
- Add "Pages" to the "Wall Permissions" applications page
- Add "Pages" to the tab-bar (along-side Photos, Causes, Boxes)
- Make it possible to add a bookmark to "Pages" just like you can with Causes and Groups
- Split the "Authorized" applications page with a Facebook default apps section (not a new page just add a header for default apps with all the Facebook default stuff)
- The "Wall Permissions" section lists old apps you've removed from your Facebook (they might as well rename it the history page)

NOTE: When I say bookmark I'm talking about that little bar at the bottom of Facebook where you can stick quick-access links to your Facebook apps.

Does MySpace hate the Groups feature? (Profile 2.0)

Go check out the brand-new profile editor and you'll see what I'm talking about, no groups module and no links to your groups. Practically the only way to get to the groups part of the website is through the "More" menu. Once you get to the groups page you still have to click once again if you want to see only your groups.

WHAT TO FIX:
- Add a groups module to the new profile editor (preferably make the module look identical to the "Friend Space" module)
- Add a "My Groups" link in the Profile menu
- Add a groups link next to "View My:" on your profile
- Fix the "My Groups" page, it's miscounting the number of active-groups (dead groups seem to still get counted)

Google Android - Future Devices

Since I'm having a difficult time remembering what devices are in the pipe for Google's Android, I thought I should compile what I do know. So far HTC is the only company with a product on the market and Motorola is apparently not going to have anything until Christmas of 2009.

DEVICE MAKERS:
Archos
Asustek
Garmin
General Mobile
GiiNii
HTC (T-Mobile site)
Huawei Technologies
Kogan Technologies
Lenovo
Motorola
OpenMoko (official site)
Samsung

UNOFFICIAL DEVICE MAKERS:
Nokia

Consolidation of the Linux cellphone OSs

Considering how much consolidation has took place in the last year, I thought it'd be worthwhile to make a list of all the acquisitions. So far this is as many as I've come up with.

NEWS LINKS:
- Wind River buys Mizi Research
- Intel buys OpenedHand
- Nokia buys Symbian
- Nokia buys Trolltech
- Microsoft buys Danger
- Access buys PalmSource
- Google buys Android

Web Innovations [list]

Below are some of the most intriguing innovations when it comes to enhancing productivity. I've gathered as many of them as possible but other examples exist.

DATA-RETRIEVAL/EXTRACTION:
- CoScripter
- iOpus iMacros (Firefox add-on)
- Kirix Strata
- OutWit Technologies (Firefox add-on)
- Silk

BLOG (BROWSER ADD-ONS):
- DashBlog
- Tynt
- Wordpress.com Sidebar
- Zemanta

HISTORY (BROWSER ADD-ONS):
- dscover.me
- historious
- Infoaxe (Firefox add-on)
- Newtiny
- Peer Belt
- Sitesimon
- Voyurl
- Wowd

AGGREGATORS:
- Flud (iPhone)
- Flipboard (iPad)
- Genieo (iPhone)
- HeyStaks (iPhone, iPad, Android)
- NewsSquares (Chrome)
- paper.li
- PostPost
- Pulse (iPhone, iPad)
- Seesmic (Chrome, iPhone)
- TweetDeck (Chrome, iPhone)
- Twimbow (Chrome)

NETWORKING (BROWSER ADD-ONS):
- Greplin
- joinbox
- Wowd

SEARCH (BROWSER ADD-ONS):
- Boounce
- Buzzdock
- Click.to
- CloudMagic
- FastestFox
- Glydo
- Juice
- Qitera Assist
- SimilarWeb
- Veoh Video Compass
- yolink

PHILANTHROPIC (BROWSER ADD-ONS):
- Better Human Race
- Better The World

EMAIL (BROWSER ADD-ONS):
- ActiveInbox
- All My Purchases
- AwayFind
- Bccthis
- Boomerang
- Boxbe
- ClearMyInbox
- CloudMagic
- Gist
- Greplin
- Gtriage
- gwabbit
- harmon.ie
- Meshin
- Mingly
- MonkeyContact
- Mozzomail
- NudgeMail
- OtherInbox
- PhilterIt
- Ping
- Rapportive
- Sanebox
- Slice
- Taskforce
- ToneCheck
- Unroll.me
- YouSendIt
- Xerox - Business of Your Brain
- Xobni

RICH INTERNET APPLICATIONS:
- Adobe AIR
- Appcelerator Titanium
- CloudStack
- Google Chrome Web Store
- JavaFX
- Microsoft - Silverlight
- Mozilla - Open Web Applications

SITE-SPECIFIC BROWSERS:
- Bubbles
- Fluid
- Gabtastik
- Mozilla Prism
- Pokki
- WebRunner

COMMAND-LINE TOOLS:
- ActiveWords
- GoogleCL
- Humanized Enso
- Keyboardr
- Kwyno
- Mozilla Ubiquity (Firefox add-on)
- PodiPodi
- Quix
- Shortwave
- SparkTab
- YubNub

PRODUCT DATABASES:
- Curisma
- Decide
- Drippler
- FindTheBest
- gdgt
- MeetGadget
- ProductWiki
- Snowboarding Definitive
- Sortable

BOOKMARK SLIDESHOWS:
- Bookmark Previews (Firefox add-on)
- BridgeURL
- Flem (Firefox add-on)
- Iterasi
- MyJugaad.in
- WebSlides

OVERLAYS:
- Apture
- bit.ly Preview (Firefox add-on)
- Cortex (Chrome)
- CoolPreviews (Firefox add-on)
- Deckkr Rollscreen
- Evri
- HHOTT (Internet Explorer add-on)
- Hoverme (Firefox add-on)
- Identify (Firefox add-on)
- iGlue (Firefox add-on)
- Interclue (Firefox add-on)
- Issuu - Smart Look
- Kikin (Firefox add-on)
- KwiClick (Firefox add-on)
- MashLogic (Firefox add-on)
- Microsoft - Gaze
- ParrotFish
- PopIn (Firefox add-on)
- Quiqee
- SearchMenu
- Snap
- stix.to
- summer
- tldr.io (Firefox add-on)
- Veoh Video Compass (Firefox add-on)
- Vysr

INTERNET TV:
- Boxee
- Chumby
- DivX TV
- Flingo
- Google TV
- LG - NetCast
- Kylo
- Microsoft - Mediaroom
- Open Screen Project
- Samsung Apps
- Sharp - AQUOS Net
- SONY - BRAVIA Internet Video Link
- SyncTV
- TVBLOB
- Yahoo! Connected TV
- YouView
- YourScreen

Why DOS was better for gamers than Windows...

I have to admit my first experience with Windows started with Windows 3.1 on an emulation program called SoftWindows, yes it was slow as hell and the first game I played was Day of the Tentacle. I grew up using Mac OS for games and when I first used Windows I thought it was pretty ridiculous that you had to go back and forth between DOS and Windows. In fact when I first used Windows 95 I thought their plans were to keep DOS around for gaming purposes. However, now that it's a decade later and I'm using Windows Vista, I know that was never what they intended. No instead I now play games for as long as Windows will let me before it shuts my game down without even so much as an error prompt to tell me why.

My reasons for a return to a DOS-like environment for gaming is simple:
- it reduces the number of system resources used to just those needed
- doesn't allow other Windows programs to prompt you while playing games (especially those pesky anti-spyware programs)
- it's brain-dead simple