Geeks Anonymous: Goodbye Google Reader, Dropbox $100 Million Tab, Samsung’s Game Arcade
This week in tech news brought a lot of drama and unsuspecting moves for big name companies, so our Geeks Anonymous recap should go smoother than expected.
Lets start with the mourning for Google Reader…or lack thereof. Google referred to the situation as spring cleaning, a trivial reference if you ask me. Come July 1st the Google service will be no more, which of course warrants the question – will they cut anything else?
We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader – Google
I am almost 100% sure Google isn’t losing anything from keeping Google Reader around, but they are simply not satisfied with the statistics. But, I guess when you compare it to their other golden services then anything less than first place is unacceptable. Since Google is the first choice for most web users couldn’t the powerhouse manage some of their products to get a little less love than others.
DropBox’s New Acquisition
Dropbox dropped a pretty penny on a new start-up, which they brought under their roof hoping to expand their arsenal. It cost Dropbox around $100 million to acquire Mailboxthe revolutionary email service that has these tech companies in frenzy even before its launch. Mailbox is offered as a mobile app, and its creators are on a mission to transcend the typical email system. Mailbox allows users to swipe their messages one way or another to archive or trash the message, users can snooze emails until a designated time with just the tap of a button. These snoozed messages will return to your inbox at a later time automatically which seems very usable because I tend to forget.
Mailbox was still in its start-up phase and needed money to release the email management service and keep it rolling and Dropbox was there to help, or should I say feed? Yahoo had their hand in the cookie jar as well. Of course Yahoo would take a shot because, to be honest, their email service is the neglected technological step child. Dropbox has official dived into the email category but how will they integrate their cloud storage with Mailbox?
Samsung Game Arcade
Samsung’s release of the Galaxy S4 was held this past week and I was in New York City at the time, but I wasn’t able to make the event. Although I can count on Samsung popping up in the news again, this time with their own game app…really. As reported earlier in Geek Mag the Samsung gamepad works with most of the recent Galaxy devices and a selection of the tablets.
It’s powered by two AAA batteries and has the look of a regular console controller. This gamepad would be used for Android games, except most games aren’t compatible with these types of controls. This could lead to the next PSP or Nintendo DS, but in a versatile manner where the smartphone device is the actual screen and platform. Physical controllers are not seen much anymore anyway, so I feel this would attract a dedicated gamer crowd and bring new reason to own a Samsung device.
New games for Google Play would have to come of f the gamepad release, which is set to launch in May. It will also debut with 8 compatible games, and there are 80 games already released that the gamepad can be used with. This is a new approach taken to the mobile gaming market; a very interesting approach because the device consists of two parts, but changing the hat of the Samsung smartphone interests me most. We will have to see what the gamepad will price at when it is released, but there is no doubt that Samsung is attacking from all fronts.