Back when I was a product manager for a large mobile network operator, we faced a constant problem. How do you launch a new product to the public? Most people are reluctant to try new things. Even in the exciting world of proto-smartphones, convincing someone to download, install, configure, and use a new app was difficult. Sure, we could run expensive advertising campaigns. Send hopeful text messages. Have a big celebrity endorsement. Or maybe get our customer service reps to push it. In the …
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Android is belatedly getting a Bluetooth tracker feature which doesn't rely on proprietary apps. Long-time readers will know that back in 2016 I reviewed both the Chipolo and the TinTag. Both of those were adequate at finding things which were in range of your phone, but hopeless at finding lost items - because they required everyone to have a special app installed. But now, under pressure from Apple's incredible Find My network, Google has started rolling out a similar service to modern…
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Google's Android platform has dreadful support for Unicode. Even the most recent Android versions are missing out on languages, characters, and symbols which were added to Unicode in the last decade. Back in 2013, Google created the "Noto" project. Its aim? To include "all the world's languages". They wanted to banish "tofu" - the little white blocks □ which indicate a missing character - hence the name "No Tofu" / "Noto". There was great flurry and excitement which has, thankfully, been s…
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There's a law in the USA called the DMCA - Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Amongst its myriad provisions is the ability for copyright holders to send takedown notices to service providers. If someone has ripped off your content, you can send them a legal letter saying "take that down". People often send DMCA requests to Google saying "this site has stolen my copyrighted content - please remove that page from Google." Google, to their credit, let me know that they'd recently received a…
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Some of my best friends are designers. But I think we can all agree that - however well-meaning - they can be a little obsessive. Whether it is fretting over tiny details, or trying to align to a grid which doesn't exist, or spending time removing useful affordances in the name of æsthetics - they always find a way to make something prettier at the expense of usability. Google used to have some beautiful logos for its apps. Each had a distinct shape, style, and colour. Then, someone decided …
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These are notes to myself - and anyone else who finds them useful. Before starting, I booted the Google OS to install the latest firmware and an eSIM. After a few days of enduring Google's naggy software, I was ready to commit to installing something better. I tried using the Web Installer. It managed to flash some of the partitions and then failed with: Failed to execute 'claimInterface' on 'USBDevice' So I used the CLI instructions which were comprehensive. Worth re-reading them a few…
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Google Books is one of many projects that Google has forgotten about. There's no support available and, of course, it's impossible to send them a bug report. The best anyone can do is write a ranty blog post and hope it gets noticed. When I search for my name in Google Books, it returns books I have reviewed. These aren't books that I've written. They don't mention, quote, or cite me. My reviews don't appear on the dust-jacket. Google has got confused. Here's an example. Go to the Google…
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My good friend Jess wrote this a little while ago: Jessica Rose@jesslynnroseThe function of a system is its output.If you have dog grooming machine that sometimes smashes puppies and you keep running it, you're in the dog smashing business.If you work for a mass surveillance company that keeps enabling genocide and undermining democracy...❤️ 2,711💬 26♻️ 013:19 - Thu 07 January 2021 The whole thread is worth reading. One thing she doesn't cover is how you should respond when someone proposes to…
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Many gallons of digital ink spilled at Google's plans for "Web Environment Integrity" which - depending on who you believe - is either an entirely reasonable proposal to protect users or a devious plan to add DRM to the entire web. (It's the latter, obviously.) We'll never know exactly whether users want this because Google is pathologically adverse to performing or publishing user research. Anyway, I have a solution to all of Google's problems. Forget this notion of untrusted "user agents" …
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Cartographers occasionally sneak deliberate mistakes into their maps. Known as trap streets they are a simple "copyright trap". If someone copies their map without permission, the fake street shows evidence of the source of plagiarism. Google do this sometimes. They once proclaimed that Argleton was a real place - despite its non-existence. While I was looking for something to do in London recently, I came across this curious entry. Why does Google think there is an "Ancient Metal Vault" in …
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There's no one dafter than the previous owner of your property. Over the years we've found dodgy wiring, horrificly bodged plaster, and things plumbed in backwards. We've started re-doing our garden recently. The hideous decking was quickly rotting away and needed removing. But what would we find under there? Google's StreetView for the web lets you take a short trip back in time - if you're lucky, you might catch a glimpse of what your garden looked like over the year. (That's a random…
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Many years ago, Google applied for the .zip Top Level Domain. ICANN, in its infinite wisdom, granted it. And now, I think, bad things are going to happen. You see computers try to be helpful. They see you wrote "visit example.com" and autolink the thing which looks like a domain name. That's handy - especially as most people don't have the time or skill to write HTML. So what happens when things which are not domain names look like they are domain names? I've been worrying about this for a…
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