Google Apple Map App Flap - 3D Beauty vs. Powerful Beast

So it might be a great looking map app, but without Google's meta-data underneath, will it be as useful? I love beautiful cartography, but I rely on data.
Android Payback: Apple to Cut Google Out of Stunning New 3D Maps App in iOS6 - Forbes »
Apple's animosity over Android has made it want to cut its dependence on Google's services being bundled into iOS. Siri is making inroads into search, and next up is maps. It was widely reported yeste...

 

We're Moving--Back to the Old Neighborhood

As you may have guessed from the last post, the HutchTech Blog is moving back to it's old haunts at blogger--whew, I'm glad I never deleted that account.

Please visit the blog at hutchtech.blogspot.com or subscribe to the RSS feed using http://hutchtech.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

- Hutch

P.S.  I'll continue to cross post here at the posterous site for awhile--probably until they close it down--but eventually you'll need to move over to the old/new site on blogger.

[The Hutch Tech Blog] So Long, Posterous. We Hardly Knew Ye.

While I have always used blogger in one way or another, I have been a real fan of posterous.com for the last couple of years. Great news for the posterous team--they were bought out by twitter. More power to 'em. Bad news for the rest of us--their service will probably be shuttered in the not too distant future. There's no firm date yet, but I didn't want to wait until the last minute to jump ship.

So this post marks a new beginning of sorts--a slow return to blogger. In fact, this is a test post to see if certain pieces are now working properly.

Posterous is (almost) dead! Long live posterous!

- Hutch

P.S. Posterous Team, thank you for the great run. Posterous was a beautiful and forward-thinking platform. All the best to you in your new endeavors!

NO FOOLIN': Watch Amazon VOD on the iPad

Special thanks to my co-worker Darren who shared an app with me today called iSwifter.  As an Amazon Prime member, I had been looking to play Amazon VOD titles on the iPad.  I'd tried some of the browsers that promised to play flash video, but wasn't able to get any of them to work.  So I downloaded the free version of iSwifter, signed in to Amazon VOD and hit the link for LOST--it worked like a charm.

iSwifter bills itself as an app for playing social media games on Facebook, Google+, etc.  But I think I've found the solution to my Amazon VOD dreams.

Now, fair warning, iSwifter only gives you 24 minutes of video for free, but with the $4.99 in app purchase you can get rid of the time limitation.

Enjoy!

- Hutch

How Amazon Followed Apple and Google Didn't

Amazon finally took the plunge today and went all in on the Apple model. Well, kind of.

You see Apple has been all about the ecosystem for the last decade. Their devices and computers each share enough of the same DNA now to make them feel somewhat similar, familiar. And if you really want to use them, you need to buy into the iTunes media world that they've created. Good, bad or ugly it doesn't matter. It's worked. And worked well. Like ol' Palmolive Madge used to say, "You're soaking in it."

But slowly, quietly, almost deftly Amazon has been building an ecosystem of its own. You probably didn't notice S3 or EC2, but you're using them more often than you know. You missed the fact that they had an MP3 store, until you realized how easy it was to save some coin on your music and that they're little iTunes importer actually worked (cross-platform too). Then came the streaming movies and TV shows. Okay in a pinch and sometimes cheaper than iTunes. Finally you figured, hey, why not join Amazon Prime, I'm ordering everything from Amazon anyway. And you were right, but then, what did they do, they GAVE you free streaming stuff. What? Free? What are these people thinking? And then you realized it. Another ecosystem. It was too late to stop once you noticed. They had you. You were using the Kindle device, or at least an app on your smart phone or iPad, or maybe even in the browser on your computer. And there it was, clear as day, you were living in another ecosystem.

And now comes the (at least currently) sad part of our story. Let me preface this by saying what a total Google fan-boy I am, but alas this tale of woe is true. Google just can't get a break. They're either late the game (e.g. Google+ [which I TOTALLY LOVE]) or they're way too early (e.g. Google Wave [which I TOTALLY miss]). Sure they'll store your music, and maybe even sell you some, but it's not really everywhere, accessible, easy. They have a bookstore, but it's B-grade at best. Google's still big and powerful and they're not out of the game yet. But let's be honest, isn't it just a bit sad to see how poorly the Google ecosystem works (or doesn't work) together? It is for me. I so desperately want Google Docs to be meaningful, but Dropbox bests it in almost every way. Wait! Do you hear it? There's a faint rustling coming from over there. Maybe it's G-drive. Maybe he can save us! Or maybe, just maybe, he'll create yet a third ecosystem that we'll all have to be a part of.

Stranger things have happened.

- Hutch