For our third travelogue I would like to take a look at one of the following topics:
ATTACK!
It’s been almost a year since Google’s mobile Android OS was released into the consumer marketplace on the HTC Dream’s hardware (also known as the T-Mobile G1). With all the hype over this OS and the overwhelming support of all major US carriers, including AT&T (although the will be the last of the four major carriers to introduce an Android based phone), it seems as though Google’s Android OS has been taking its sweet time taking over the marketplace. One of their biggest competitions, the iPhone, has done an amazing job at saturating the market, but even though it seems like this “Jesus phone” (Michael Arrington, Techcrunch.com) might be the be-all end-all of the mobile market, Adroid has been slowly building it’s army in preperation for an attack. Luckily for us, it looks like this attack is about to enter it’s next phase during the time of this travelogue. Verizon Wireless has been taking shots at the iPhone and AT&T very deliberately lately, and they recently decided to unveil their big guns; it looks like they will be releasing their “flagship” Adroid phone possibly within the next two weeks. So is this just more hype, with the possibility of seeing the Android platform put on what some call “Amerca’s most reliable network” (yes, verizon says that, but there are many tech journalists who would agree, especially in comparison to AT&T) or are we about to just see another mediocre Android phone that is still a step behind the iPhone?
Verizon attacks AT&T/iPhone
Verizon’s latest AT&T/iPhone attack PLUS Android phone announcement
Rediscovering 3-D
Three dimensional filming has been played with since as early as the 1890’s with William Fiese-Green, who tried to patent a form of 3-D movie processing. Since that time, there have been multiple periods during the twentieth century where the three dimensional film fad has revived its hype and tried to make its way back into the mainstream film industry. We find ourselves, once again, in one of these revivals in the twenty-first century with a slew of films coming out at a constant pace, and, even though it is likely that film makers said this during previous revivals, it looks like film makers are looking to it as the future of filming. Is it possible that it is here to stay this time though? Film industries, such as Disney, see this as a staple for future filming, and films aren’t the only ones jumping on the bandwagon, television makers are starting to put out televisions that will allow for 3D viewing and even graphic cards makers are improving their technology to allow this process to be done on both computers and (possibly in the future) gaming systems. Of course if history is simply repeating itself, then it’s likely that this will not last. If I were to go with this topic, I would like to see what developments are coming into light because of this onset of a 3D revival; everything from films to new technology being developed because of this new media.
Possibly Relevant Posts:
- All about the hype…where’d it go? (1) | Craig Donahue
- History Repeats Itself: Microsoft to Apple, Apple to Google (1) | Craig Donahue
- What Does the Droid by Motorola Bring to the Table to Make it an iPhone Contender? (6) | Craig Donahue
7 Comments
If anyone wants to get in on the Droid hype, check out the website. See if you can figure out the countdown.
http://www.droiddoes.com
I vote for the Android, I think it’s more timely. But it’s up to you. What are the rest of you saying?
+ You have not mentioned the greatest difference between the iPhone and the Android (which has a lot to do with this week’s reading)
Android – Open Source VS Apple – Proprietary
I would definitely tackle Android phones in your travelogue rather than the 3-d topic (which you can do any time). Android is a much more interesting topic, and the timing couldn’t be any better. Have you ever used an Android phone or do you plan on getting one?
I vote for Android too. Something I’m curious about… I’d say all of my tech-friends (those early adapters) have all had iPhones since they were first introduced into the market. Is Verizon trying to get iPhone users to switch over to the Android? Do you think people will? Then there are all those sticky contract issues… Or is Verizon targeting kind of a “second-tier” market? Perhaps people who are open to new technology, but didn’t need to jump on the iPhone bandwagon right away.
I think both are pretty interesting, but in the interst of ongoing topics I think android is a little more relevant. Its pretty amazing that following the G1, its taken til just about now for more and more products to be announced. I know that they just announced an android based e-reader, something a lot of people were getting excited about, as well as android netbooks.
The open source nature of it makes it really exciting, especially given the versatility of platforms it is/will run on eventually. I’m excited that I could seamlessly go from my android phone to android tablet to desktop without having to use windows mobile or some other proprietary os.
I know that you said in class that you’re going with the Android thing, but if you do for some reason decide to write on 3-D instead, Roger Ebert just wrote an article that might interest you: http://www.spectator.co.uk/arts-and-culture/all/5402013/does-anyone-like-3d.thtml.
He’s not a fan, basically.