RIP Vox. The social/private blogging tool is closing later this month.
Gmail Priority Inbox got a lot of attention. The Bean loves Gmail, but this feature drew one big yawn. Clunkiness > Usefulness.
Calling phones via Gmail (and via Google Voice / Google Talk) is more like it. You can get a quasi-phone line with inbound and outbound calling... all for free. If they actually packaged it decently, and you didn't have to deal with 3 separate products, it could be the end of Skype. Usefullness > Clunkiness (but only slightly).
But, while Skype's main rev stream may be doomed, they're making some nice improvements like 10-person video calling.
Apple launched Ping, a social network around iTunes. Granted, the Bean hates iTunes, but what? It's already bloatware, with all sorts of functionality that shittily replicates stuff that's better done in a browser. (Eg Buying/watching TV on iTunes blows.) And why the generic name? They'll probably start suing anyone who uses the term ping in any context. It'll probably be a huge success though.
Television (drug of the nation before facebook)
Lots of attention to Internet TV lately. While Netflix does a lot right, it sucks that one must stumble through iTunes or subscribe to an evil cable company to watch Mad Men. So, we welcome the new Apple TV, Google TV and Amazon's TV forays to keep things progressing.
We think it'll come down not just to numbers of shows and movies, but to the virtual and physical interface. The Bean wants Netflix, DVR software (pulling off cable/satellite/broadcast), DVD playback, Pandora, YouTube, Hulu, etc etc all intuitively accessible via one remote with text that's easy to read from 15'. Over time the DVD playback and DVR/cable/broadcast pieces will become obsolete, but for the next few years it's certainly needed.
WMC is the closest thing right now that covers this, but it seems you still can't fully integrate Pandora, Hulu, etc. (Have yet to try this quasi-integration approach for Hulu.) And, long-term, WMC's doomed because, well, it's a Microsoft product.
YouTube’s Life in a Day Gets an Interactive Gallery
9 minutes ago