I enjoy reading newspapers and blogs far more than I enjoy reading books. Now I’m going to start sharing some of the articles I have enjoyed in a weekly blog post. It’s an idea I’ve nicked straight from James Cridland’s blog. Clicking on any link should open it up in a new window or tab, so get clicking.

The Digital Economy Bill was quickly passed through during the week with seemingly little thought put towards it. I often wonder if Peter Mandelson has ever used the internet?  If you’d like a quick run through of what this all means, Robert Andrews of paidContent:UK has given us this “Quick Guide To All 45 Measures“.

I don’t think any of us have escaped the news that this week the Queen dissolved parliament and Gordon announced a General Election.  This election will be the first proper social media election, and spreading like wildfire through Twitter this week were images from the website mydavidcameron.com, Photoshopping at it’s best.

In the week that Apple announced their latest update for the iPhone, Os4, Gizmodo report “How The iPhone Could End Up In Second Place“.  It’s a worthwhile article for any company that’s thinking about developing solely for the iPhone platform.

The Guardian is one of my most visited websites. It quite often holds the crown of being my web browsers homepage.

Their article “Spare a Flickr of sympathy for professional photographers” makes interesting reading.  In it it states that the popular photo sharing site now features billions of pictures by amateurs and squeezing income out of the photographic industry. I suppose I fall under the category of the photographer who owes everything to the easy shoot digital camera. But like every industry, times are a changing, and professional photographers need to get with the them.

It could be an interesting year for Bebo users. AOL want to either shutdown or sell the Social Networking site.  For me Bebo, in 2005, was the first site of it’s type which had proper mainstream appeal.  But it lost out to Facebook. Feature wise, privacy wise, and design wise, it was way out of the league of Facebook. I deleted my Bebo profile a long time ago. Most people I know now use Facebook.

What I’ve learned this week.  If you have the opportunity to name a ship, don’t name it Titanic. Surely that one was obvious? And if you are going to put your old redundant suitcases to a charity shop, check inside them before you let them go. And 2000 years after he rose from the dead, Jesus has decided to come back in a piece of chewing gum.  That story particularly got my goat.

If like me your a radio presenter who every now and again needs content for a quick link, the Daily Telegraph’s “How About That” section is an excellent resource.  And speaking of local radio presenters, back to the Guardian, “What I’m really thinking: The local radio presenter“. It’s all true.

The excellent Flight Level 390 blog continues to keep me longing to leave radio and become an airline pilot, while GERT on Blipfoto.com continues to keep me longing to leave radio, skip the idea of an airline pilot and get a job on the high seas instead.

So much reading, so little time. Thankfully Google Reader keeps it all in one place for me. Same time, same place, next week for more.

I’m going on about this like a stuck record, but it’s something I feel strongly about.

I was in a meeting at work the other day. The subject of the meeting was streaming formats, bitrates and accessibility to these streams. The usual boring work related subjects.  Along came the topic of mobile listening.  Asked by someone in the meeting “Do you own an IPhone David?” the answer was “no, no I don’t.”  And just like that, almost instantly, I was dismissed as having any sort of knowledgeable viewpoint or understanding of mobiles, streaming and their future.

Trying to bring to the meeting the idea that media organisations shouldn’t just concentrate on iPhone development, but multi platform support, bringing in devices such as Android and Blackberry was almost frowned upon, because it wasn’t the latest ‘in craze’, the iPhone.

Thinking about it afterwards, I should have said yes to the question posed to me. While I don’t own an actual iPhone,  it would seem that the term ‘ iPhone’ has become an umbrella term for anything smart phone like, and I do own an smart phone, a much smarter phone than an iPhone in my opinion. In pretty much in the same way that I own a Hoover, well I don’t, I own a Dyson, and the Tannoy system in our school was actually made by Panasonic, therefore it wasn’t Tannoy at all because Tannoy is a brand name of Sony.

I know a lot of people who love technology, love media, and quite often show me the ‘latest amazing thing’ that their iPhone can do. If I try and do the same with my Android phone I’m ignored because it’s not an iPhone.

With Apple releasing details of their latest iPhone OS4.0, news outlets like the BBC, Guardian, Telegraph and loads more are all over the story. I like these newspapers, but sometimes their over biased coverage of Apple products amaze me. And this is why your bog standard punter doesn’t know or like anything other than the iPhone, because Apple get so much coverage and the mainstream media are not at all interested in anything else.

This isn’t a dig at anyone I work with. It’s not a dig on iPhone users. It’s a dig on the general ignorance and perception of iPhone’s as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some things Apple and the iPhone do far superior than my Google Android phone. Brilliant marketing, seamless integration with your computer, well timed regular software updates and the games and graphics on an iPhone is far superior to any other phone I’ve seen .  But we shouldn’t put all our development eggs in one iPhone shaped basket. Once the iPhone app is ready we shouldn’t just sit back and rub our hands with glee because we have an fancy pants  iPhone app, because if we do that, we are alienating A LOT of people.

The future of mobiles isn’t the iPhone. It will play a large part of the future, but so will Android, Symbian, Blackberry, WebOS, Meemo and who knows what else as time goes by.

There’s no denying. Apple IPhones are very popular. Every 2nd person seems to have one. So quite rightly when a company, an organisation, an individual, whoever, decide that they want a mobile application (or app as they have now been abbreviated to) they quite rightly decide to make their app for the IPhone.

While it’s unlikely that one make or model of phone is going to overtake Apple’s domination of the market any time soon, I can see it being highly likely that in a year or so from now Google’s Android operating system will have taken the lead on the number of devices it’s installed on.

Google announced this week that Android is now available on 27 models of phone, and this number is only going to grow.

Anyone who has used the Android OS can tell you that it’s as good as the IPhone, and with it’s ability to multi task and less restrictive over what can be installed, it has many advantages over Apples system. What’s stopping it at the moment is the lack of apps compared to the IPhone.

So if you are a developer of mobile apps at the moment, while you may be tempted to develop solely for the IPhone, I’d also seriously consider making an app for Android as well. Because in a years time I personally believe that Apple are going to have a serious competitor on their hands.

I’ve started learning Java with the aim of trying to get my head around making Android appications. Maybe within a year, when I believe my Android prediction to come true, I will be ready to release an app.

Of course I say all this being an Android fanboy. I’m biased. I want to see it do well. If you’re developing a mobile application and you want it to get the highest possible user base then really you should still be developing for Symbian (found on most Nokia phones) who accounted for 50% of the OS’s installed on mobile phones sold in Q2 of 2009, compared to only 12% for the IPhone OS and only 2.8% for Android.

[Update: 17/02/10] Some interesting statistics on this article here.  Apparently 60,000 phones  a day ship with the Android OS. That’s 21.9 million a year.  Apple shipped 8.7 million IPhones in the last quarter, or 34.8 million a year.  The gap is closing.

I’ve always been a fan of Google. You probably know that by now. I use their search engine. I use their browser. I use their phone. I use their email. I even have my work in Google thanks to some clever Microsoft Exchange filters. Anyone who sends me a text message appears in my Google Mail. I use their maps. I’ve blogged about it all in the past. So it would only be right to blog about their latest invention.

Out of the blue, out of nowhere, last night came Google Buzz. It’s billed as some sort of cross between Facebook, Twitter and Google Mail. Think email meets social networking. You’re confused aren’t you? I am. I like it’s idea… I think. I’m just not entirely sure what it’s for. And I think a lot of people are thinking the same.

Buzz is a new tab in my Google inbox. And I have my Google inbox open all day every day. Whenever I’m at a computer, my Google inbox is there. And so is Buzz now. All of my contacts in Google are now also there. That includes friends, colleagues and acquaintances. My Google Buzz is closely linked to my Twitter, Flickr and this blog. I make a post on one, and appears in my Buzz. I can also make individual buzzes separate from any other service. And then any of my Google contacts can then make a comment on that buzz, whatever it may be.

What Buzz seems to good at is geo-tagged buzzes (is buzzes the collective term we’re going with by the way?) Google actively encourage you to include your location on your buzzes, so people around you know what’s going on near you. Location aware social network is going to take off massively this year. Twitter is already allowing you to geo tag tweets. Mobile phones with internet access and GPS devices are pretty common, it makes sense to combine the two to give a better localised experience for all.

Will I use it more than I use Twitter? Probably not. But then my Twitter account lay almost dormant, updated once a month at best for its first 12 months. Same with my Facebook. There’s a chance the same could happen with Google Buzz.

What I’d like is a service that all my social network posts, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Last.FM, Buzz, Picasa, YouTube, WordPress are all linked in as one. Some websites already offer services like that, but I’d quite like it to be handily in my Google inbox, and while Buzz gets very close to that, it just doesn’t quite seem to do it… yet.

But it’s still early days. I will be watching and participating with interest.

Tweet was the social media buzz word of 2009, will Buzz be the same for 2010?

It was a perfect opportunity to do something interesting with the website. Tracking Santa was an idea that came up in the office during last week. Something similar to the NORAD Santa website that is run every Christmas Eve.

As he started his journey from Lapland this morning, we tracked him as he made his way to Aberdeen.

A few people asked me during the day on Twitter what was the technology behind it?  Simple answer, Google Maps and a tracking device on Santas sleigh. Simple eh?

I remember reading, what only seems like a couple of years ago, an article professing that one day location aware devices such as your mobile phone would be all the rage. At the time it seemed like a great idea on paper, and something that would be many years away (much like that self drying jacket in Back To The Future II).

However in those last two years, location aware devices have subliminally made their way into my life.  The self drying jacket still has yet to show.

Equipped with only my mobile phone (an HTC Hero running Google Android – something I keep meaning to blog about), here’s how Google affected my weekend.

Google Mail – http://mail.google.com

Not entirely new, but I felt it was worth a mention. My only email provider for 5 years now.

Whether you send an email to my gmail address, my ‘professional’ address (david [at] davidrlewis.com) or my work address, they all come into my Google Mail account, and are then sorted through various filters.  My whole life, and its past five years, are stored under my Google Mail account.

All the information for the apartment we were staying at in Fort William were saved on an email. Directions, times, cost, phone number and even the door code were there.  No need for any bits of paper.

With Google Mail being so well integrated into Android, it’s handy for emailing photos to people (or Twitter), and mailing your dad with your current co-ordinates (he likes keeping track of where I am).

There is one downside to email being so easily available, it’s difficult to ignore your boss when he emails you on your day off.

Google Maps - http://maps.google.com

Google Maps is hardly anything new either. I’ve used this on my phone for a good two years now.

It was the saving grace on a college trip to Orkney last year, and it still impresses me every time I need to rely on it.

It’s still not quite suitable for replacing your Sat Nav yet (although turn by turn direction for Google Maps is now available on the new version of Android), it is useful if you have a passenger in the car who can reel off directions or if you vaguely know the area.

Google Sky Maps – http://www.google.com/sky/skymap.html

Lack of light pollution is one of the nice things about getting out of the city.  I could sit and watch the stars all night if it weren’t too cold.

Google Skymaps is a very handy application for your phone.  It takes your location by GPS, and what direction your phone is facing via its built in compass, and presents a map of the night sky, customised especially for you. As you turn your phone to a different part of the sky, the map moves with it too. Showing you the names of the stars, constellations and planets in your eye line.

If you don’t tell the person you’re with at the time what you’re using, you can sound as knowledgeable as Patrick Moore.

What it can not do for you however, is get rid of cloud cover.  Of which there was quite a bit this weekend. I expect Google are working on this as we speak.

Google Places – http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/06/places-directory-app-for-android.html

This is something new to me.  You tell it what you want to find (restaurants, bars, museums, that sort of thing) and by using your phones location (either by cell tower or GPS) it will tell you all those nearby. In fact it will give you exactly how far you need to go and in what direction. It will even show you turn by turn on Google Maps if you feel the need.

It will also give you user ratings and comments for the place you’re about to visit. Very handy if you can’t decide where  you want to have your Sunday Roast. Google recommended me the Snow Goose Vintage Inn in Inverness, and I can vouch for it’s recommendation.

Google Latitude - http://www.google.com/latitude

This runs within Google Maps, and it’s quite a good idea, in theory.

So long as you and your contacts use Google Latitude, you can see where they are at any time on Google Maps. In turn they can see where you are.  Your phone will then beep at you if one of your friends is nearby, so you can have a coffee, or most likely what I’d do, try and avoid them at all costs.  You can switch it off for privacy, or even lie about where you are (I was in New York City last week).

Where the idea falls a bit flat is that so far I know very few folk who use it. It’s a bit of a catch 22. It’s only good if people use it. But no one will use it because they don’t know anyone on it.

I so far know two people on it. One who lives in Greater London, and one who hasn’t updated their location since May. Not very useful.

What I do use Latitude for is the “I’m currently in” section on the front page of this website.  It’s set to vague mode so you don’t know exactly where I am (like my flat). It’s there because I was experimenting with coding something I plan to use in the future. I can imagine it’s also useful for potential burglars (although my brother in law lives right next door so don’t even think about it).

Google Latitude also provides a nice map of my location history, which only I can view. Great for fans of nostalgia and map geeks, two categories which I fall in to.

Conclusion

So there you have it, my weekend away with Google. Some of what they provide is very handy, some a bit more pointless. But it’s amazing to think what we could be using location aware devices for in only a few years.  All that, from the palm of my hand.

There is one problem with all this though.  When the mobile signal goes or the battery dies, so does your ability to do  anything. And the more and more we rely on Google, the more and more scuppered we’re going to be when it all goes horribly wrong.

Here’s some of the common terms or questions asked in the last month along with the answer to them.

darren brown lottery
It was a con wasn’t it..? He never predicted the numbers, you cant, it’s impossible.

what time does Aberdeen College finish?
about 5pm, although it ultimately depends on what your timetable says.

car ferry aberdeen to norway
Afraid not. If only there was.  Emma hates flying.

baby meerkats at blair drummond
Well worth a visit. Very cute.

aberdeen to stavanger plane cruise height
I’m by no means an aviation expert but I would imagine about 12,000 ft?

asda statutory rights policy
Off the top of my head, I’m not sure..

bt payment processing fee
It’s about £5!! Outrage.  Pay by Direct Debit wherever you can kids.

edinburgh zoo a disgrace
It is..  a waste of money. Don’t go.

if i buy an iphone in uk can i use it with canadian sim?
Not unless it’s unlocked, which coincidently O2 are now doing for free..