All About Android 183 - The Appeal of a Diverse Ecosystem

This week I was a guest on All About Android, the TWiT.tv netcast about all things Android. It was great to be back on the show with Gina Trapani, Jason Howell, Ron Richards and Bryan Burnett.

Check out the Youtube video I have embedded below.

In episode 183 we discussed the name of Android 5.0 and called it the day (before?) Lollipop was announced. I also got to speak of my review of the Tesco Hudl 2, and demoed the Skyscanner Hotels app. (Also avalable at http://twit.tv/show/all-about-android/183)

If you like what you have seen of All About Android, you can subscribe to the video and/or audio here: http://twit.tv/show/all-about-android. To vote in the Android App Arena you can go here: http://aaapoll.com/183 (Go Skyscanner Hotels!).

The Verge Is Here!

I follow technology and consumer electronics news and views a lot. The internet is a great tool to do this, and as in real life the sources are important.

News collection, communication and redaction are of paramount importance in an industry as open, manipulated and secretive as it is. For many years Engadget used to be the first site I went to, and I even started listening to the Engadget podcast. Earlier this year Engadget went downhill. The Engadget protagonists Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel and Paul Miller and their "Special Guests" (among them Joanna Stern) left AOL (parent company of Engadget) and went off to start their new venture with SB Nation, as I blogged in this post.

The Engadget Fragmentation (it's a podcast meme applied to the team) lead to SB Nation and a site called ThisIsMyNext.com was started as an interim home for the crew and their new content and excellent new podcast. Later this summer a name was announced for the new venture: "The Verge".

The Verge is now live and it is an impressive new site. Much thought, effort and work has gone into the creation of The Verge, which is definitely something new. As well as a consumer electronics news site it is also a community hub (you can register and join in the forums), device database and covers more than just consumer electronics. The design is clean and magazine like, definitely easy to spend time reading and skimming.

Well done to everyone involved in the launch of The Verge, my new first click website for news and views on consumer electronics!

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below.

This Week in Google reaches episode 100! [Netcast]

Yesterday evening I watched episode 100 of This Week in Google, one of my favourite netcasts.

TWiG Episode 100 as viewed on my Ubuntu laptop.

This Week in Google, also known as TWiG,  is a netcast (or podcast if you prefer the term) available as a live video stream at http://live.twit.tv/ at 2000 UTC weekly on a Wednesday and later as a download from http://twit.tv/twig. TWiG covers the news and views on Google, cloud computing and social networking. The netcast often heads off on tangents that inevitably lead conversation to subjects such as the TV show Glee, the Chipotle fast food restaurant and food, and Jurgen Habermas (a favourite of Jeff Jarvis).

TWiG is usually hosted by Leo Laporte, Gina Trapani and Jeff Jarvis. Often there are guests involved in the websphere of cloud computing and social networking such as Kevin Marks, Chris Di Bona, Kevin Purdy, Matt Cutts and others.

As was said both in the love-fest that was the beginning of episode 100 and in the chat room, congratulations to Gina, Leo and Jeff and all involved in the show. I find it pleasant to watch/listen to and also enjoy the interaction the hosts and guests have with listeners in the chat room and on Twitter.

Here's to another 100000 episodes of This Week in Google!

This Is My Next Podcast. Yes It Is!

This morning I'm in a good mood. I woke up and listened to This Is My Next Podcast episode 1, a new podcast presented by Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel and Paul Miller (all three formerly of Engadget and the Engadget Podcast).

Is this sponsored by the Orange Mobile Network?

The tone, structure (what structure?) and 8-bit intro music are a seamless continuation of what the Engadget Podcast was with the Boss, the Attorney and the Pixel Density Enthusiast (and Trent Wolbe's production).

"It's not the end of the beginning. It's the beginning of the end of the beginning. Of the end. Of the beginning." TIMNP (2011)

Well done guys! Great show! Keep informing and entertaining us!

Engadget Fragmentation Leads To SB Nation

During my usual news reading this morning I woke up to tweets and posts from Joanna Stern, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller and Joshua Topolsky speaking about their future.

From what I understand, the future of the motley crew is bright, much brighter than it would have been on the Engadget ship flying the Huffington Post Tech flag...


As Kara Swisher reports, Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller, Joanna Stern, Ross Miller, Chris Ziegler, Justin Glow and Dan Chilton will be joining a yet unnamed tech project at SB Nation (SportsBlog Nation).


I have been following Engadget for years and enjoyed these writers and reviewers' posts, as well as the brilliant Engadget podcast with Topolsky, Patel and Miller + guests. It was sad to see them leave Huffington Post Tech.


So, to take a meme from the Engadget Podcast, all this Engadget Fragmentation has lead to SB Nation.


I look forward to reading and listening (maybe even watching) content created, interpreted and relayed by the crew formerly at Engadget. I especially look forward to listening to the Podcast trio formed by Joshua, Nilay and Paul +guests.


All the best to all involved in the new venture!


Feel free to post comments/questions.