brave [little] meme

Google’s newly released Nexus One has received mixed reviews from the tech press, but one of the key questions for the so-called ‘iPhone Killer’ was the reason for its apparent lack of multitouch capabilities.

According to a source working on the handset’s innards, multitouch is indeed supported on the Nexus One’s Android API’s. The decision not to implement the feature in the handset’s core UI and applications was the result of a board-level ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ between Google and Apple.

Google in fact agreed to forego using multitouch in their core UI in exchange for Apple maintaining a high visibility for Google’s apps and services on their iPhone.

What this means in practice, is that there is nothing stopping third party developers from using multitouch in their own Nexus One applications. Whether this gentlemen’s agreement holds in the face of Apple’s ongoing move away from Google’s apps (on Mapping, for example) is anybody’s guess.

I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate on my new 27” iMac. Why? For games, of course!

One thing struck me while discussing my initial experiences of the OS with my ‘Microsoftie’ dad: Windows 7, somewhat like its predecessor Vista, behaves like an OS acutely aware of its vulnerability.

With its insane default security settings and constant confirmation prompts for anything involving a system change or the running of an application, Windows 7 seems to be permeated by the mentality of a survivalist: holed up in a shiny blue cave, with lots of tinned food and water, pointing a double-barreled shotgun at the entrance.

By comparison, OSX is like a good bartender: it keeps an eye on you while you have a good time, but only asks for your car keys if you start acting stupid.

Barcode scanning apps on the iPhone are ten a penny, but £1.99 RedLaser [iTunes link] does something different: in scan mode, it constantly analyses the viewfinder’s video stream until it finds a barcode, without the user having to take a picture.

Big deal right? Well yes, because it’s not supposed to do that. Apple’s latest API’s, released with the iPhone OS 3.1 update, have expanded the use of the video camera to allow Augmented Reality apps to overlay data onto the camera viewfinder’s feed. However, as far as I know, developers weren’t allowed to actually manipulate, or process, said video feed.

How then is the RedLaser processing the viewfinder’s feed? And why isn’t the same technique used by AR apps such as WikiTude, RobotVision and Bionic Eye to process real-world markers? I’d really be interested to see AR applications expand their functionality to real-time processing of real-world markers such as billboards and landmarks. Too early to tell if and when that will become a reality on the humble iPhone.