Michael Arrington over at Techcrunch has a video showing some new experimental Google features.

It allows people to vote and comment on search results.

This works very much like the Social News website Digg where people can vote, promote and comment on stories.

This could just be a sandbox experiment for Google or an early peak at the future of user driven Internet search.

User created input/content is at the heart of popular web sites like Wikipedia and Digg so the concept is well established.

At the core this turns Google into a popularity contest. It will turn Google search results into a Ebay style rating system where “98% of people think the link is good”.

There is nothing better than a personal recommendation, so would user input on search results make for better search?

Overall I would say yes.

Check the video fascinating stuff.

Link: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/16/is-this-the-future-of-search/

Today Apple announced that the iTunes music store has now sold over 5 Billions songs.

As if that wasn’t enough they are now the No.1 Music retailer in the US.

I can’t be bothered to complain about DRM/Quality or Cost.

No I look on today as a tiny bit of history.

Vinyl > Tape > CD > Download.

Bricks and Mortar > Digital.

Game over Cupertino wins.

By the time my Kids grow up and want to purchase music the world will be a different place.

By far and away the best digital distribution model available today is offered by Steam. If I buy a game from Steam I can play it on any computer I sign into and install the Steam client on.

This iTunes model of Download, License, Backup or Else is just plain dumb in comparison.

I would imagine a subscription based model is the next big thing.

Link: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/06/19itunes.html

Asus eee PC

It wont be long before these small form factor laptops become more mainstream.

Today these are either underpowered (the HP) or too plastic (Asus) however there is a lot of buzz around low cost mini laptops.

If the HP Mini came with an Intel dual core I would probably spring for one.

I want small but powerful. I have discounted these new “mini” laptops for the moment because of the lack of power and heat problems.

Dell have nothing in this sub 10″ market. They only recently launched a tablet based Latitude. A good few years behind the other large OEM’s.

I think these mini’s are going to be very popular especially with younger people. The prices range from £200 to £500.

From £269 to £169 but still on the relatively expensive lengthy monthly contract.

A number of things are happening here.

1) The iPhone isn’t actually that popular in the UK. This is based on their choice of network provider (O2) and cost of the hardware.  Outside of some Tech friends I haven’t actually seen an iPhone in the wild.

2) Apple are about to announce a hardware revision. I would imagine the discontinuation of the 8mb model and the introduction of a 32gb to partner with the existing 16gb version. So O2 don’t want left with a load of 8gb stock they cant sell.

So even at £100 off this is still too expensive over the life of the contract.

As for the hardware revision, the worst kept secret in tech is the inclusion of 3g. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for adoption of the iPhone, particularly in Europe.

When you download an application you should be given the full disclosure about what is being installed on your equipment and given some options/choices.

If you download the latest version of iTunes for Windows what you are really installing is:-

iTunes
Quicktime
Apple Mobile Device Support
Apple Software Update
Bonjour

If you decide to uninstall you are faced with 5 separate uninstall’s from the control panel add/remove programs.

Nice touch for a user who changes their mind. A unified uninstaller would be welcome.

To cap this off the Apple Software Updater then suggests the additional download of the Apple Web Browser Safari 3.1.

The motive behind the web browser install is ad revenue. Apple have an inroad to 100m windows PC’s. How very opportunistic of them!

Where do Apple draw the line on this issue?

You may think why does this matter?  I look after hundreds of PC’s and I care what gets installed right under my nose.

Take Bonjour for example. This is Apples networking protocol that makes connecting devices easier (PC’s and Mac’s)  It operates on UDP Port 5353. Now as a network admin what if someone were to design an exploit that does something bad with Bonjour for Windows.

Do I now have to wait on Apple to fix it or run around frantically getting it uninstalled. I hope I don’t have to find out.

Dealing with Microsoft security is bad enough. Do I really need to worry about drive by installs from Apple, a company that really should know better.

For those who like a conspiracy theory why is Bonjour in this software bundle in the first place?  Why now?  I suspect we will find out in 10 months time at the Macworld 2009 keynote. But it doesn’t take a genius to see it has to do with networking PC’s and Macs.