Yes, Egypt, you can tweet

I love stuff like this. You realize, of course, that Egypt has cut off all Internet access. So how can people get the news out to the rest of the world? (Isn't that amazing, how quickly we take tweets and the like for granted???) So to get around this, some Google engineers put Speak2Tweet together. See the announcement on the official Google blog:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-weekend-work-that-will-hopefully.html

"Over the weekend we came up with the idea of a speak-to-tweet service—the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection."

"We worked with a small team of engineers from Twitter, Google and SayNow, a company we acquired last week, to make this idea a reality. It’s already live and anyone can tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855) and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt. No Internet connection is required. People can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet."

How's that for a weekend project? Again, stuff like this makes me proud to work for Google.


Don't forget to check the Google Transparency Report, by the way. This is a way to track Google activity around the world, and to see which countries are blocking Google at any point in time.
http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/

Notice that Egypt has been blocking Google for a few days now, since January 27th:
http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/traffic/?r=EG

Android Keyboards

One of the best things about Android phones is that you can use alternate keyboards. The Android API allows app writers to create custom keyboards that improve on the stock keyboard. Some are quite innovative.

My goal with this post is not to advocate one keyboard over another, although I have my favorites. Rather, I want to show that an open platform like Android allows phone vendors and app writers to experiment with other input methods, and this rapidly improves the text input experience. Many people, myself included, have a problem tapping on a tiny software keyboard. There is a reason people love the Blackberry keyboard, and stick with it. But with these aftermarket alternatives, I can honestly say that I don't miss my old Blackberry.

Even if you don't choose an aftermarket keyboard, the stock Android keyboard has improved quite a bit from the early days. In fact, the first releases of Android, if you go back that far, did not even have a software keyboard. Yes, it seems like forever ago, but it was actually just a tad over two years ago.

I happen to be a big believer in Swype. This is a superior input method, in my opinion, where you slide your finger from letter to letter without lifting it up from the keyboard. Easier to use when holding a phone with one hand, and faster than tapping, too. I specifically limited my choices for my work cell phone to phones that had Swype pre-installed.

I am trying FlexT9 at the moment on one of my phones. I really like it. It seems to recognize words while tracing better than Swype does, and it doesn't suffer (as much) from Swype's main infuriating problems:
1. Swype insists NOT allowing making the actual letters you trace the default word choice (particularly bad when it inserts crap like "2moro" when you just wanted to type "2.")
2. Swype constantly adds misspelled words to your dictionary so you're likely to make more mistakes over time.

FlexT9 also adds very solid voice input (I haven't compared against Google's voice input, but others seem to think that it is as good or better) AND handwritten letter inputs, which is very handy in some situations. Very flexible.

Some feel that FlexT9 is better than Swype. From Internet2go:
"Nuance's FlexT9: Most Complete Android Keyboard Replacement" by Greg Sterling
http://internet2go.net/news/hardware/nuances-launches-most-complete-android-keyboard

"Best known for speech solutions, Nuance has introduced 'FlexT9.' It's an Android replacement keyboard that offers four diverse methods to input text: speech, 'trace,' write and 'tap' text prediction. The app costs $4.99 but is well worth the money. I've been using it for the past two weeks and find that it's highly accurate and provides more flexibility -- hence the name -- than other, competing keyboards.

"A novel feature of T9 is the capacity to draw letters or symbols directly on the touchscreen."

"The built-in Android keyboard is considerably weaker than these replacements and one of the major weaknesses of the user experience (vs. the iPhone for example). Going back to the native keyboard after using T9 (or SwiftKey, Swype) feels like a step backward. But replacing the keyboard dramatically improves the Android handset experience."


Swiftkey is another aftermarket keyboard, which is praised in the above article as better than FlexT9 at predictive capability when "tapping" input. I've not used it because I'm sold on the "trace" method of text input but I have heard others praise it.


How many of you had Palm Pilots back in the day? Remember the "Graffiti" text input that you used with those? If you do, you'll be happy to hear that there is a Graffiti app available for Android. You can use that method of input if you like!


Keypurr is a keyboard that is fairly conventional but uses some tricks to make the keys as large as possible. Keyboard layout is somewhat standard (letters are in the normal QWERTY keyboard layout) but some letters and symbols are combined on the same key. The software figures out which letter you wanted automatically based on subsequent letters you type and the possible words that develop. Or you can "flick" your finger in the direction of the raised letters to choose something other than the main letter for a given key.


Finally, there are text input methods that are really ... different. The promise of methods like this is that they will be easier to use once you figure them out and really memorize them. Once you do, you'll be able to compose messages without looking at your keyboard at all. These methods are called MessageEase and 8pen.

Of the two I think 8pen has more promise, but I admit that I haven't gotten comfortable with it yet. I'm just happy to see that Android is where the innovation is taking place. I look forward to the schemes people come up with in the future.

MessageEase

8pen

Any other keyboards that I need to try? Let me know, I'm sure I've missed some.

Quote of the Day: Kennedy on revolution

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - John F. Kennedy, in a speech at the White House, 1962

This quote seems particularly apropos given recent events in Egypt.

Hate Speech

Much has been made of hate speech lately, about how one side incites its followers to commit violent acts. Here is a nice compilation of what the left wing media does not choose to mention in this conversation.

"The progressive 'climate of hate:' An illustrated primer, 2000-2010" by Michelle Malkin
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/10/the-progressive-climate-of-hate-an-illustrated-primer-2000-2010/

I have only looked at a fraction of the material in this list and it is appalling. Have a look for yourself and see what you think.

Google Voice Search and Voice Actions for your phone

Do you Google Voice Search (not to be confused with Google Voice) yet? Maria Sharapova does. That's good enough for me! :)

In all seriousness, it's a great feature if you have an Android phone. It's also available on other phones through the Google Mobile App (I used to use it when I had a Blackberry, for example). Here is a video showing how to use Voice Search. Actually, on an Android phone they call it Voice Actions, because it is integrated into the phone such that it opens up the appropriate app depending on what you ask for (dialer if you say "call ...", GMail if you say "send email ...", Maps if you say "directions ...", and so forth).

In fact, one of my new year's resolutions was to use Voice Actions more. The voice recognition has truly gotten a lot better since the first time I used Voice Search over two years ago on my Blackberry.

It also makes for a fun video. Check this out on YouTube (I should add, check it out using Chrome while reading Blogger as long as I'm shilling for my employer today):
"Maria Sharapova by Dan and Jonny"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiIm-_Kq__M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

What's that? You thought I'd show a picture of Maria Sharapova rather than pictures of Voice Search? Yeah, you're right. I guess I should.

New Zodiac pickup lines

As some of you may be aware, some people believe that the Zodiac dates have shifted and a thirteenth sign should be added.

Naturally, this means that some pickup lines need to be updated. From the Huffington Post:
"Zodiac Pick-Up Lines: The Funniest Tweets!" by Katla McGlynn
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/14/zodiac-pick-up-lines-twitter_n_809267.html#s224346&title=Judes_Dickey

For you Scorpio women out there:
"With the new zodiac system it turns out I'm no longer a psychotic Scorpio bitch! Wanna go on a date?"

Some other favorites:
"we should probably date now that I have YOUR astrological sign tattooed on my ass."

"Are you a Pisces? I used to be a Pisces!"

"I beat Cancer. (Now I'm apparently a Gemini.)"

Finally, a nice play on the recent shift in dates:
"so baby, what's your signs?"

Facebook: Back to the Future

Is Facebook the next big thing, or is it just the latest in a series of fads that we'll soon forget? I've discussed this question before (Social Networking - Required Reading, December 10, 2010). Now John Dvorak weighs in. Suffice to say, he's not impressed with Facebook. From PC Magazine:
"Why I Don't Use Facebook" by John C. Dvorak
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375715,00.asp

Summary: "Facebook is basically AOL with a different layout and all the same retro problems."

"Facebook is actually the logical end-point of what AOL should have become. AOL had some web initiatives, such as Geocities or Hometown, which could have easily morphed into Facebook, but it didn't. It could have made the transition rather easily. I can't find anyone who argues with this premise."

"Facebook is retro because, like AOL, it's retro by its nature. It's a closed system. Some people like a closed comfy system and others don't. I, for one, don't. If I want a personal webpage with all sorts of information about myself, I'll go to Wordpress.com and make one. By doing this, I don't turn over any data, control, or information to an onerous third party to sell, use, or exploit. I can close down the site when I want. I can say what I want. I can pretty much do whatever."

"Facebook is a simple system for the masses that do not really care about technology and do not want to learn anything new except something easy like Facebook."

"There is no reason for anyone with any chops online to be remotely involved with Facebook, except to peruse it for lost relatives. So, next time you log on, remember it's really AOL with a different layout.

"Welcome to the past."


This post, in the comments section, by David, sums up Dvorak's article pretty well, I think.

David:
"Darren, what you don't get is the title of the article: John is explaining why *he* doesn't use Facebook, not why no one should use. What he points out is that by subscribing to Facebook you are trading off your freedom to maneuver as you want for a standard, simple, interface to your online presence.

"If you are OK with that, as most people who just want to 'connect with old friends' are, then you can just go and create a profile. If, on the other hand, you don't want to a) provide a third party with a lot of private data b) depend on that third party to keep your internet presence, setting up a custom webpage is just a matter of hours."