Apple, Google & EarthLink: Playing the Name Game

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Tom Sullivan

The really big technology news yesterday was Apple’s long-awaited iPad media event.

As with most Apple announcements, this one was preceded by a torrent of rumor and speculation.

Some of it had to do with features: would the new iPad get a Retina display (yes), would it get a better camera (yes), would it get 4G (yes), would it get Siri (not exactly).

But one of the biggest rumors was about the next iPad’s name. Would it be iPad 3 (which was the early favorite) or iPad HD (the hot, late-breaking rumor).

So what was it…HD or 3?

Turns out, neither. The new iPad was just referred to as the new iPad.

If you like to keep score, here’s an iPad rumor scorecard that itemizes the rumors and lets you know who got them right…and wrong.

And just the day before, another little tech company named Google made some announcements on its official blog about names.

Google’s Android Market, which hasn’t been around that long, is already being renamed: to Google Play.

The Google Music and Google eBookstore names will also go away as they are being incorporated into the new cloud-based Google Play.

If you’ve got an Android phone or tablet, look for the Android Market app to be upgraded to Google Play “over the coming days” (sorry we can’t be more specific). Your videos, books, and music apps will also be upgraded under the Google Play umbrella. Any previously purchased apps and media will now be available to you from Google Play.

If you want to check it out, now’s a good time because Google is celebrating the launch of Play by offering special promotions on music, movies, e-books, and apps every day for the next five days.

As for us…no, we didn’t change our name. We’re still EarthLink. But we did make a big name change late last year that some of you may have missed.

We consolidated our growing number of IT, network, and communication services for business (MPLS Networks , Integrated Voice & Data, Hosted Voice, Data Center Services , Cloud Hosting, and too many more to name here) in a new division called EarthLink Business.

The EarthLink Business name may be new to you, but we”re proud to say that the business division is already making a name for itself.

3 Holiday Tech Gifts to Avoid

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Chris Chase

Technology is going to be a big part of gift-giving this year…make sure you’re on track with these three simple rules:Avoid Subscription Gadgets

iPads and eBook readers are wonderful gifts, but often they need a data plan to go with them. The data connection is an important part of what makes the gift great, and without it the gift may end up not being used.

Unless you’re promising to pay for the plan to go with the gadget, you’re forcing monthly cost on the recipient. While it is all new and fun for the holidays, six months down the road it may not be looked upon with such acceptance. We recommend buying subscription gifts where the subscription IS the product (like a magazine, or EarthLink internet…who wouldn’t want their web connection paid for for a few months!?)

Check Before Buying iPods

Mp3 players are wonderful in that they condense a music collection and make it portable…but if your intended gift recipient already has a fairly recent smartphone (especially any type of iPhone), they may not have a need for an iPod or other mp3 player, since their phone is already covering their portable music needs. So check before you buy.

Maybe a dedicated audio player would be appreciated for workouts where their phone would not be a good fit…or a secondary player they keep in the car is on their wish list. But you have to know for sure, because few gifts are as bitter sweet as redundant ones.

Don’t Update Unwilling People

You want your parents to have a 3D TV. You want your friend to finally get a smart phone. You want your aunt to leave printed books behind and get an eReader. …noticing a theme? “You want.”

Make sure the person you’re buyign for is ready (and willing) to upgrade, or you will be frustrated trying to explain things to them, and they will wonder why it bothers you so much that they haven’t already upgraded. Make sure they’re in the market for newer technology before you gift it to them.

So make sure to check. Even if you’re just testing the waters with a sneaky “I was thinking of getting one of these,” make sure you know for sure how the recipient will feel ahead of time. After all, there may be a reason why they don’t already own what you’re planning on getting them.

Time to Speak Up – Speech Recognition a Hot Topic

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Tom Sullivan

EarthLink was founded way back in 1994 as an ISP (Internet service provider) determined to make the Internet easy for people to use. And that’s been our mission ever since.

So we’re always looking out for things that may make the Internet easier for you.

One trend in the news lately that looks promising is speech recognition. Speech recognition software allows for a simplified, hands-free experience of your computer, smartphone or tablet.

It’s not that speech recognition is new. Mac computers have for years offered built-in speech recognition (look in the System Preference if you’re curious). Windows Vista and Windows 7 do too, but you need to set it up first. Industry leader Nuance has been making its critically acclaimed Dragon Naturally Speaking software since 1997. I can tell you from personal experience the latest version is very good: I’m actually using it for this post. Android and iPhone OS have also included voice controls (Google calls them Voice Actions) for some time.

So why the buzz now?

The launch of the iPhone 4S, staring Siri. Siri is the embedded speech recognition and voice control system (personified as your own virtual assistant) embedded in Apple’s new iPhones.

While speech recognition has been getting better and better (yes, even in the dreaded automated voice response systems virtually all big companies use to route calls), it hadn’t yet really taken off with consumers because of previous limitations: the difficulty of recognizing speech variations and the requirements that users follow relatively rigid rules to use the systems. You couldn’t just talk naturally.

Siri is different because it excels at natural language recognition. You can speak to it much more freely and normally, like you would to a real person you were asking for help. And it works, though of course not 100% of the time. You can’t ask it anything (yet). Currently Siri responds well to questions or commands in 15 pre-defined areas, such as finding and sending email, searching the Internet, getting directions, playing music, answering factual questions, creating calendar entries, and more.

The good news is that as good as Siri is now, it’s only in Beta. The expectation is that its speech recognition quality and the range of subjects it can deal with will increase dramatically in the coming months.

But don’t worry if you’re not an iPhone user. Google is widely expected to push even harder now to improve its already good voice search and Android Voice Actions to compete with Apple. Apple may also open Siri up to developers looking to enhance a wide range of products. And just yesterday, news broke that in September Amazon had acquired a company called Yap for its voice-recognition technology, so you can probably expect to be talking back to your Kindle or your Amazon shopping search in the not-to-distant future.

Apple and Android phones and tablets have taken off in large part due to the usability advantages of touchscreens, which offer users a simpler and more natural way to interact with tablets. Speech recognition will be the next stage in this evolution, adding hands-free convenience on top of increased simplicity in your Internet experience.

Sounds good to us.

Remembering Steve Jobs

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Tom Sullivan

The technology industry lost one of its brightest stars last week. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, one of the most famous and respected CEOs of his time, died last Wednesday at the age of 56.

His vision, passion & leadership will be missed.

Jobs was a technology visionary credited with helping the personal computer industry to take off, developing the influential Macintosh computer, reinventing the digital music player with the iPod, launching the first successful online music store with iTunes, exploding the market for touch-screen smartphones with the iPhone, and creating a vast market for tablet computers with the iPad. He also helped make Pixar into the world’s most successful animation studio.

The Washington Post ran a great retrospective of Steve Jobs that includes a photo gallery with highlights from his life. To hear Steve Jobs speak about his life (and thoughts about death), watch this TED video of his commencement speech at Stanford University.

At EarthLink, his vision, passion and leadership will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.