The AppsLab

Yesterday afternoon brought the official announcement of Facebook Places, the giant network’s entry into geolocation services that had been rumored for months. We’ve been bullish on location for a couple years (whatever happened to Fire Eagle), so this announcement is huge, even though I rarely use Facebook anymore and don’t plan to use Facebook Places.… Read More

Last week, you’ll recall I had a bit of an adventure upgrading my EVO to Android 2.2. The reason was to test drive a couple new features that Google announced last week, Chrome to Phone and Voice Actions. Chrome to Phone is a Chrome extension that can send data from your browser to your phone.… Read More

I’ve been playing foursquare for about a year now, and one of my primary reasons has always been to visualize my movement through the world. Weeplaces provides the coolest foursquare checkin visualization I’ve seen so far. HOW TO: Visualize All Your Foursquare Check-ins Each city builds with traveling lines while time progresses across the bottom… Read More

This is another one of those informational posts that’s as much for me as it is for you and Google. Unlike the iPhone, which makes it very difficult to install non-approved apps on a jailed phone, installing non-Android Market apps on an Android phone is a breeze. So, if someone sends you an apk to… Read More

I love Android. I love my EVO. I’m grateful that Google opened my eyes. But, there’s a rub with Android. It’s the same one with Linux. They’re both too hard. Let me qualify before you break out the flamethrower. Obviously, they would be similar, since Android is based Linux kernel. When I talk about Linux,… Read More

So, yeah, it’s French hip-hop, and yeah, it features Facebook metaphors IRL, but it’s still clever. Plus, it has a good beat, and I can dance to it. H/t EUROPOPPED via TechCrunch. EUROPOPPED observes the irony of the American imports featured, i.e. Facebook, iPhone and hip-hop, but don’t forget Venice Beach and tourism by association.… Read More

This is cool, and as with traffic lights, it’s very cool to see innovation around objects that you’d think have reached their ultimate potential. The Sharpie Liquid Pencil: You Can Erase It for Three Days, Then It’s Permanent I love this stuff.

By way of John Gruber, Mike Monteiro has finished the GMail game by successfully using up its storage, which amounts to 8.19 GB. An irony pointed out by a commenter, GMail does boast “Who needs to delete when you have so much storage?!” in its Trash folder. When GMail launched, its storage limits were fantastically… Read More

I covered this low tech hack shortly after the G1 made its debut, and it’s worth repeating. Our oily finger trails betray the unlock PINs (for iPhone, iPad) and patterns (for Android) for our devices. I noticed this on both my OG iPhone and my EVO, but I wonder how often it’s actually been used… Read More

I had an interesting design epiphany last week. Ever since twitter.com made the avatar prominent, everyone building a stream has realized that attaching a face (or personal representation) to an artifact makes it easier to scan, consume and recall information. It makes sense. So, last week, someone on Connect had an issue with some analytics… Read More

Update: The integration is fixed and working like a champ. Get version 1.0 Beta #5.2 for Android. If you read here, you already know we’re huge fans of 1Password (@1password) and Dropbox (@dropbox). For the uninitiated, 1Password keeps your multitude of credentials in a secure vault, and its browser plugins make them readily accessible when… Read More

Lots of WebCenter mobile stuff lately, including the Spaces iPhone app and John Sim’s work with mobile platforms. Even as the guys dropped the first beta version of the new-new Chrome extension for WebCenter last week, Anthony has been tinkering with WebCenter integration on Android. Interested? Here’s the scenario. You’re in a meeting, the ideas… Read More

A couple posts I ran across last week underline general concerns with using Android phones. To be clear, I’m still in love with Android and my EVO, but these are real issues that non-technical people (or those with a low tolerance for tinkering) may find off-putting or worse. louisgray.com: As Froyo 2.2 Looms for Evo,… Read More

So, it’s finally in the wild, at least inside the firewall. Rich (@rmanalan) and Anthony (@anthonyslai) put the finishing touches on the WebCenter Chrome extension, and it’s now in beta testing. I’ve been teasing these changes for a while, and it’s the culmination of a lot of work by the guys. Here’s a rundown of… Read More

This was surprising, but it makes sense. Official Google Blog: Update on Google Wave Give credit to Google for pulling the plug on a product that wasn’t meeting expectations and for realizing that pieces of the product make sense in other Google products. After the initial buzz around Wave (unintentional pun), which we fell victim… Read More

I found this article fascinating, definitely worth a read, even if you don’t have children on the way to college someday. What’s Wrong With the American University System – Culture – The Atlantic From a hiring perspective, I haven’t dealt much with so-called Millenials, and I hear mixed reports about their expectations. I do know… Read More

Christopher Jones has collected several interesting sessions that could be of interest to those of you building web apps on what he calls the OPAL stack (Oracle PHP Apache Linux). He throws in our favorite, Ruby, and Perl for good measure. Check out his list of sessions from OpenWorld, Oracle Develop and JavaOne, all of… Read More

If you read here, you’ll know I’m in love with data visualizations. Have you noticed that visualizations have become more beautiful lately, i.e. over the last decade or so? Good data visualizations are as much art as they are information. Anyway, here are a couple blogs dedicated to beautiful data that I read avidly. FlowingData… Read More

Pretty slow day today, until this video: Watch a Flamethrower and a Fire Extinguisher Battle in Slow Motion Be still my geeky heart. Also interesting today, this brief history of data visualization by Shawn Allen of Stamen Design (h/t FlowingData). This is a class I wish I could take.

Rich (@rmanlan) and Anthony (@anthonyslai) have been heads-down enhancing the WebCenter Chrome extension for quite some time now. Today, Rich let me know it’s nearly done and almost ready for some beta testing. The extension still posts to WebCenter and shows you your activity stream, which is pretty sweet in and of itself, but it also… Read More