09 · 02

Google Being Sued Over Nexus One Issues

Another week, another suit. This time, Google’s being pulled into court to fight against a class action lawsuit that states Google breached

google-nexus-one

their contract between them and their customers. Nathan Nabors of Florida is the man leading the charge as he feels Google misled buyers on its features – as some of them failed to maintain 3G connectivity – and felt that they failed to provide adequate support throughout the time they were selling the device.

The lawsuit looks to cover anyone from Florida and California that purchased the Nexus One through Google. T-Mobile and HTC were not listed as defendants even though the hardware (HTC) and the network (T-Mobile) both make up significant pieces in the puzzle that still has yet to be solved with the Nexus One’s apparent 3G shenanigans (which HTC admitted was an issue, though they never committed to providing a fix).

Google’s been reached for comment by the breaker of the story – TechCrunch – but nothing has been said yet. Once we learn more, we’ll bring the juicy details right to your monitor.

09 · 02

How To Write Good

Yes, deliberate mistake :)

It grates when people write poorly, huh. When writers write well, the words almost become invisible. The focus shifts away from technical details, and onto the message.

Is there an easy way to write better blog posts? E-mails? Web copy?
Let's take a look at three guidelines for web writing.

1. If You Can Say It, You Can Write It

The Dilbert Mission Statement Generator - sadly now offline - comes up with convoluted gems this:

"Our challenge is to assertively network economically sound methods of empowerment so that we may continually negotiate performance based infrastructures"

Satire, one would hope.

However, the US Air Force uses the following mission statement:

"The mission of the United States Air Force is to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests - to fly and fight in Air, Space, and Cyberspace"

"Deliver sovereign options"?

Who talks like this? Well, apart from the US military.

Nobody.

Good web writing is the same as good spoken language. Use short sentences, short words, simple structures and a natural, predictable flow of ideas. Avoid waffle, hyperbole and words that hide meaning. Whenever you finish a piece of writing, read it aloud. Cut or rephrase phrases that sound clunky, because they'll read clunky, too.

Your writing will sound warm and human.

The human voice is especially important online. Communicating at a distance, particularly two-way communication, is relatively new to humans. To help people connect with one another more easily, it pays to write in a warm, conversational style that mimics personal conversation when conducted in close, physical proximity.

When you think about how you would say something, especially to a specific person, you choose words, expressions and structures based on that personal context. Try to imagine that person in front of you as your write.

This approach works well for all applications - from formal legal sites, to personal sites.

2. Planning

Planning what you're going to say helps you to complete any writing task more quickly and easily.

  • 1. Identify and list your goals. What is the message? What is the desired action you want your reader to take? What is the key thought you want your reader to take away?

    For example, a goal list might look like this:

    *inform people the last project went well, even though there were problems
    *highlight the good aspects about the project
    *highlight the problems
    *present ideas on how these problems can be overcome in the next project
    *get everyone revved up and excited about the next project

  • 2. Think about the audience. Who is your audience? What do you know about the person or group?
  • 3. Determine the right tone and format based on answers 1& 2
  • 4. Write quickly. Don't edit, even if your writing is a mess. Separate out your writing and editing functions.
  • 5. Draw a solid conclusion. Calls to action work well.
  • 6. Read aloud what you've written. Cut, fix and tighten. Writing comes alive in the rewrite.

Solid blog posts sound spontaneous, but they're not. They're often structured, worked and reworked.

3. Hyperbole Doesn't Work On The Web

Hyperbole means extreme exaggeration. i.e. "All the perfumes of Arabia could not sweeten this little hand". Web readers tend to gloss over the flowery and the convoluted.

On the web, people scan, so the shape of your writing - how it appears on the page - can be just as important as what you say. So think about the shape and form of your writing. Can you use bullets, headings and images to break up large blocks of text? Sometimes, the best thing to do is not write at all. Can an image convey your message? If so, use it.

Also consider context. When visitors arrive on a page, a page deep within your site, do they know what your site is about from glancing at that one page? If not, consider using chunks of content to provide context. These chunks of information can be repeated on every page of your site, and should be self explanatory. Think directory entry. Your repeat visitors will become blind to it, but your first time readers will appreciate it.

We could go on all day about web writing. However, we'd like to hear your tips. How do you approach writing on your site? Do you plan? Do you wing it? What style of writing gets the best results?

09 · 02

On Its Second Birthday, Google Chrome Officially Hits Version 6


Ever since it became stable enough to use on a day-to-day basis on a Mac last year, Google Chrome has been my browser of choice. Other browsers have been adding some nice features — but Chrome keeps adding them faster. And today on its second birthday, that rate of change isn’t slowing down.

Google has officially rolled out Chrome 6 as the latest stable version of the browser today. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone using the dev or beta builds of the browser, but it’s nonetheless an important mark as it means it’s stable enough for mass consumption.

Remember that it was just two years ago when Google surprised the world by announcing a new browser (a little early) via a comic. The next day, we got the first shots of what the browser would look like — and it was released as a beta for Windows users. It actually looks pretty much the same today, but it’s now much, much faster (and when it launched it was already faster than most browsers out there).

Google says that Chrome today is a full three times faster when it comes to JavaScript performance versus Chrome circa 2008. The rapid speed increases have also undoubtedly pushed rival browsers to become faster, so we’ve all benefited.

Arguably more important to me is that despite adding all the new features – and extensions — Chrome still seems lightweight today. I fondly remember the good old days of 2004 when I first started using Firefox as my main browser and thinking how fresh and lightweight it felt compared to the atrocity that was IE. Firefox, sadly, got bloated over the years. So far, Chrome hasn’t put on the same weight. Here’s hoping it never does.

As I said, Chrome is also showing no signs of slowing down from a development standpoint. The browser is already in the process of morphing into version 7 as well. Chromium, the open source browser that Chrome is based on, has been hit version 7 a couple weeks ago — and the dev build of Chrome just went 7 as well. Google has said they hope to iterate every six weeks going forward.

These next few months are going to be arguably the most interesting times for the browser yet. The Chrome Web Store will soon open, bringing tightly integrated web-based apps into the browser. And then, of course, Chrome OS is due before the end of the year.

Happy birthday Chrome.

Chrome then:

Chrome now:

09 · 02

Samsung Fascinate Roaring Into Verizon Stores

September 9th still sounding fishy to you? One of Engadget’s sources – an employee of one of Verizon’s corporate locations – has confirmed to them the arrival of the long-awaited Samsung Fascinate. Verizon’s not made any noise themselves leading up to the launch of this thing, but Samsung’s been putting out ads and Best Buy’s been taking pre-orders. It feels like a launch is looming, but at the same time it feels like Verizon couldn’t care less to generate any hype. Perhaps I’m jumping the gun – their marketing strategies are unpredictable as we’ve seen with the rather quick and dirty Droid 2 launch – but I’m still content just knowing that the last Galaxy S device in America is finally set to make its rounds.

fascinate-in-stores

09 · 02

Verizon Fascinate Commercial Available For Your Viewing Pleasure

Here we have your daily does of Fascinate news, the commercial for Samsung showing the Verizon Fascinate has been put up on YouTube by Samsung. As if some of us weren’t already drooling over this phone enough, they had to go ahead and rub it in our faces.

It’s a pretty sweet commercial we think, at least they are not trying to rip off a Droid, or Halo commercial. If you would like to watch the video first hand feel free to below.

Kyle Reddoch

I am an aspiring Web Developer, Android Fanatic, Family Man, and all around Web Geek! I also do Freelance Development work.

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