Google's Acquisition of Wavii is a Good Move

Alexia Tsotsis, in a post for TechCrunch:​

Google has finally closed the deal on Wavii, a natural language processing startup, for a price that is more than $30 million, we’re hearing from a legitimate source. Both Apple and Google were competing for the Seattle-based startup, and Google eventually won.

If you're not familiar with Wavii, it is a startup that has produced some very cool ​natural language processing and machine learning technology that aggregates news and summarizes it in meaningful ways. Wavii has a blog post on its site that explains, in general, how its technology works. The short summary of it is that Wavii creates news feeds for news topics, so (for example) it can take information from different news sources such as "Kanye and Kim K Expecting" and "Kim Kardashian: Baby Bump" and aggregate and summarize that information into something such as "Kanye West and Kim Kardashian expecting a child". Perhaps the best part is that Wavii also maintains the original source links it used to generate the summarized information so users can dig into additional details.

Anyone who suffers from a deluge of articles about the same exact news topic will appreciate what Wavii can do for users. This acquisition is a good move for Google since it will help Google to add interesting features to its search technology as well as products such as Google Now.

The House of Cards Experiment Worked Well for Netflix

Rip Empson, writing for TechCrunch:

In its letter to shareholders today, Netflix said that in spite of the fact that “some investors were worried that the House of Cards fans would take advantage of its free trial, watch the show and then cancel,” there was, in fact, very little “free-trial gaming” as the company calls it — fewer than 8,000 people signed up to watch it for free and then cancelled — out of what the company says were “millions of free trials in the quarter.”

That's great news for Netflix. There were many in the industry who were patting Netflix on the back far too early out of the gate. I took a 'wait and see' approach to the House of Cards experiment.​ Like the investors mentioned in the quote, I wasn't sure if new subscribers, drawn into free trials to watch House of Cards, would stick with Netflix after the free trial period was over. Based on Netflix's quarterly results, it is clear that the company has a winner on its hands. Kudos to Netflix for this bold attempt at reducing its dependence on the traditional content providers by creating original programming.

By the way, if you haven't seen House of Cards, you should absolutely check it out. The series will captivate you, and draw you into 'binge viewing' episodes.​

It's Difficult for Apple and Samsung to Compete with These Prices in India

Kartikay Mehrotra, in a post for Bloomberg:

Karbonn unveiled the Titanium S5 on March 15, with similar technical specifications to the Canvas HD: Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM)’s Snap Dragon quad-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera and a 5-inch touchscreen for 11,990 rupees. Samsung, the market leader in Indian smartphones, offers the same features on its Galaxy Grand for 21,500 rupees. The iPhone 5 starts at 45,500 rupees in a market where operators do not subsidize handsets.

I've recently had a lot of conversations with a friend, who is from India, about the impact that Karbonn and Micromax have had on the Indian smartphone market.​ These two manufacturers offer phones that have features comparable to what is available from Samsung and Apple but at half the price. In fact, according to my friend, these phones are cheap enough that oftentimes users will simply purchase a new phone every year since it is the easiest (and sometimes only way) for them to get the latest and greatest operating system version.

Gogo Does Not Have a Monopoly on In-Flight Internet

Jeff John Roberts at GigaOM:

In throwing out the case, Chen accepted GoGo’s argument that it doesn’t have dominant market share because it covers only 16% of all US airplanes, and it’s possible for the remaining planes, which do not offer internet, to sign up with a competing service provider. The internet contracts are sold on airplane-by-airplane basis, and not across entire airlines.

As noted in the article, Gogo has an astounding 85% share of aircraft that offer in-flight internet service in the USA. However, that is altogether different from having a monopoly on in-flight internet service when that 85% share represents only 16% of all aircraft in the USA. This lawsuit seems like it was brought forward by people who feel that they are entitled to everything that they want.

What If Zelda Was the Hero Instead of Link?

Aaron Diaz has an awesome concept for a new entry in the Legend of Zelda series:

This concept work is meant to show that Zelda as a game protagonist can be both compelling and true to the franchise, while bringing new and dynamic game elements that go farther than being a simple gender swap.

The character designs, to my eyes, look like they are a mixture of the Skyward Sword and Wind Waker designs but with a flavor all their own. My favorite design is the 'Sheika Nomad Robes' outfit for Zelda. I like that the concept for the story and gameplay share a heritage with the previous games in the series, yet it is obvious that there are new storylines and gameplay mechanics mixed in as well. Overall, kudos to Diaz for this thoughtful concept.

AppGratis was Banned From the App Store for a Good Reason

Parmy Olson, writing for Forbes:

App Gratis had amassed roughly 12 million users on iOS by then, but it also walked a fine line between expanding, and following two of Apple’s guidelines for app developers:

- That they don’t promote apps in a similar or confusing way to the App Store.

- That they provide “lasting entertainment value,” as opposed to being “not very useful, unique, [and] are simply web sites bundled as Apps.”

There has been a lot of press about this event. The fact of the matter is that AppGratis's business model--at best--skirted Apple's guidelines and--at worst--violated them. Apple's decision makes sense when you consider their goal of making the App Store a beautiful walled garden. Apple doesn't want the App Store rankings to be manipulated by developers who pay for downloads. AppGratis, unfortunately, is predicated on the idea that developers can pay to get their app out to many people for free (i.e. 'gratis'), which ran afoul of Apple's guidlines.

Companies Suddenly Want to Get Into the Android Launcher Business

Parmy Olson, writing for Forbes:

Messaging app KakaoTalk is gearing up to release an Android launcher that will be similar to the mobile product Facebook announced last week called Home. KakaoTalk’s co-CEO Sirgoo Lee revealed the plans in an interview with Forbes, adding that the launcher would be released “within a couple of weeks” and would make accessing its free-messaging and calling app easier for current users, most of whom are in southeast Asia. “We hope to put in features that will attract non-KakaoTalk users as well,” he added.

Facebook's recently announced Facebook Home, it seems, will be the first of many Android launchers that will attempt to garner greater visibility by catering to their specific user base.​ Also, I was unaware that KakaoTalk has such a large percentage of users in South Korea (66%) when compared to Facebook's share (17%).

'In Defence of the Floppy Disk Save Symbol'

Connor Tomas O'Brien, in a blog post:​

Those who believe that the floppy cannot represent saving a document because nobody uses real floppy disks anymore miss an important point: while symbols initially piggyback on the meaning we assigned to a material object in order to stand in for something more abstract, once a symbol is used often enough, the symbol itself is enough to carry meaning, and the material object is no longer important.

O'Brien has an interesting viewpoint on this topic, which has been on a lot of designers'  and developers' minds ever since we started debating things like skeuomorphism.

'Engineering Serendipity'

Greg Lindsay, writing for The New York Times:

Silicon Valley is obsessed with serendipity, the reigning buzzword at last month’s South by Southwest Interactive Festival. The term, coined by the British aristocrat Horace Walpole in a 1754 letter, long referred to a fortunate accidental discovery. Today serendipity is regarded as close kin to creativity — the mysterious means by which new ideas enter the world. But are hallway collisions really the best way to stoke innovation?

It's tough to create an environment where creative professionals (such as developers) are highly productive. You have to hire the right team, you have to work on interesting things, and you have to figure out your workplace situation. The article covers a topic that has become de rigueur these days. It isn't enough to simply do the aforementioned steps; a company must cultivate an environment where developers meet each other in informal settings and 'talk shop', thereby generating fresh new ideas.

The First-Person Shooter Version of Mega Man Would Have Been Weird

Michael McWhertor and Wes Fenlon, at Polygon:

The game would have stayed true to core Mega Man X gameplay concepts, re-imagining his X-Buster arm cannon, his dash and his ability to appropriate the special powers of his fallen enemies. Platforming elements, including X's wall jump, and classic Mega Man X characters would have been re-imagined in new ways.

The videos are quite interesting. They show a Mega Man game that has a completely different style than previous editions.​ That difference, in fact, might have been the downfall for the game (which was never made beyond prototyping). The article mentions the transition that Metroid made from 2D to 3D, but it's worth noting that the style change was not quite as drastic since Metroid was always somewhat 'dark'. Mega Man, by comparison, has historically been a lot more 'upbeat' in terms of art style.