New Chromebooks Almost Perfect And Still No Buy

Photo by Google / All rights reserved.

I read an article at ReadWriteWeb about the lauchn of the new Chromebook. Faster and more features. While I completely disagree with the article as such, I had to make an extensive comment on the post.

I thought it might be interesting to post it here, too.

No, no, no and no.
The new Chromebook is awesome. Everything is good... except the price.
I don't see any need for a OS anymore that I have to maintenance. Just now, again even on Linux... Upgrade, now Google Talk-Plugin doesn't work anymore. 2 years before, it was WIfi. Windows? Don'r bother me with Virus protection to renew every year and sucking cpu power to scan my system. Screw it. Mac? Really? I'm not in bed with the worst from both world. (sry, mac users, no offense, but it's not for me. I care about how a company behave. And Apple is not for me.)
The Cloud is the future. Wait, nooo. It's the present for me for nearly 4 years now. Everything (sic) I do is in the cloud. And I never regret it. Again, maybe it's not for everyone. I would think twice if I plan to take over the world and stored my critical documents on any webserver. But no, I like to hear "Johann Sebastian Bach" from the cloud everywhere.
Yes I have to admit, I work the whole day without starting a program other for the system itself. Without the need to maintain it, I could make 90% of all my work without leaving the browser. From photo editing to movie cutting, I do it in the cloud. So everything is fine.
Except the price. This thing is TOO EXPENSIVE. Why? Because even if a browser is all I need, I don't want to pay as much, or even more, than for a Notebook/Netbook that can do much more. And seriously, the price is where the masses is looking for. You could have the best thing, people will buy the thing with the best price/performance relation. And so I do. Sell me this for $199 and I'm ordering today. But for $449, I would rather ordering a custom netbook with much better technical data and install a low-end Linux system with chrome and hassle with maintaining it. But for $250 it's worth to have a little bit more work.
Samsung and Google needs to realize that. A sad thing.

Related articles

• Google unveils the new app-driven ChromeOS (and its new hardware)

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• Google Chromebook is faster, attractive, quick to boot up

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Lib-Ray Is the Free Blu-Ray Format

The team from Lib-Ray.org is about to bring you a HD video format that is capable to replace Blu-Ray quality for distributing movies without DRM.

Sounds like it's too good to be true. In fact, the team is urging that everything at Blu-Ray is against their business model and the kind they treat media.
While in early stage it's likely that VP8 will be used to archive this goal. Together with Matroska and Ogg Vorbis sound, a high quality is possible without patent encumbered stuff. this combination is used in WebM, too, but the site says the format will not necessarily be identical to WebM. That leave the team room for their own improvements.

The VP8 codec has constantly made progress since it's release, and not only equals the quality of MPEG4, but in some cases, even overcome it.
However this project is completely independent from WebM and also wants to establish a region-free, non-drm distribution standard that plays in different devices and could be used to replace Blu-Ray.
While it's very unlikely that the big movie companies are ever releasing their stuff without drm-crap, independent Indy-movie companies might very welcome this format. They will save a lot of money for licenses.

The project is at Kickstarter, ready for your support. In my eyes, it's one of the most remarkable projects. The goals are high, but the techniques are pretty there already. Take a look for yourself if you like.

Project site: Lib-ray.org

Update [06/04/2012]: The Kickstarter project is financed. You can still support the project. Things are looking good.

Towel Day 2012 - Something Special

Again, I grabbed my towel and went off to watch out for spaceships to rescue us from the Vogons. :)

And of course I checked the date exactly and found out this:
05/25/12 ... Can you see it?

5+25+12 = 42

So I'll guess we have to celebrate this especially good.

Here is my quote for today:

The Facebook Hype... Save Our Money

It's been a fantastic start. I was wrong. They made even more money than everyone could have hoped for. It's a big thing. The tech IPO hype continues. Everyone rejoice, money is made out of thin air. With no real basis, this hype is doomed to blast your money out of window.

All this chit-chat about the tech-bubble. It bust once. And nobody seem to have learned something. We want to believe. Believe, that it will go on like that. But it won't. It's obvious and everyone knows it, that the Facebook stock market hype will soon be over. And then there will be pure fear. The fear of people losing their money, because they trusted a malfunction system.

Français : Phases d'une bulle spéculative English: Evolution of stock-market bubble (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For people outside the finance markets the stock market is ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is that a company with no real material value is entering the unreal stock market, apparently making money out of thin air. But may nature help them if people demand their money. There is no money, face it. That doesn't mean a lot of people won't get money out of this. The quick traders will. They always do.

My totally unqualified and biased prediction:
Within 2 years, Facebook stock will fall, as the competition close up very fast, and people realize Facebook has nothing which can't be replaced in no time. Traders will then quickly sell their stock and than the panic spreads. Money is going to be wasted. Oops sorry, there is no money.Value will be wasted. Facebook will be bought by a big media company after that happened, and it's going to be ruined. It will be around, but ruined from false values and creepy media ghouls.

Don't bet on my prediction. I don't even bet on the photo sharing services of Facebook.

Related articles

• Can Facebook live up to its IPO hype? (theglobeandmail.com)
• Apple Co-founder to Buy Facebook Stock (newsy.com)
• What We Can Learn From Facebook's IPO (pcmag.com)

Germany Is Not Allowed To Talk In Hangout Air

How low can you go? Who is to blame for that.
The new big thing is going on without Germany...again. "Hangouts on Air" are not available in Germany.

F**k who? Germany or Google?

Not only that you can't start a HoA from a Germany IP, no can't even join one. It's ridiculous. This situation is not acceptable. While some say the "Rundfunkmedienstaatsvertrag", a law in Germany, is too blame, I doubt it. This law would probably violate the constitution and get ousted by the BVerfG, if it really would reach for having a public hangout.

Even if this law would possibly be interfere, I would have demand Google to do it anyway and possibly giving the responsibility to their users. If the Germans can't technically make actions against a malicious law, then the Internet is doomed once and for all. It's a localnet then.
All Google needed to do imho, would have been stating there is no support in other countries, and users need to act according to local laws. So then everyone could go against that in court, if one gets sued by whoever want to sue a private person for having a hangout in public. I'm quite sure such a case would have no substance in court.
But this way, Germans can't do anything. Is Germany still a free country? I mean Saudi Arabia and the UAE are allowed to have Hangouts on Air, and Germany not? Really?

Google, lawyers, politicians, I don't know who to blame, but on Ustream.tv and Justin.tv and many other audio streaming services, you can stream without limits even from Germany. So I would have thought Google had a bit more courage against non-free countries.  Germany apparently doesn't have the same level of free speech than other countries in Europe have. Or is it just that Google didn't launch it there? Like Google Music?

Related articles

• Google Hangout On Air Could Be A Big Thing
• Google Hangouts On Air Challenges Ustream.tv And Others

YouTube, Copyright Claims, And Real Artists

A few days ago something happend to me at YouTube, I only heard about it on the TwiG-Netcast and read some articles about. I uploaded a Geocaching-Video and it triggered the YouTube rights system.

A company, I've never heard about, should now be able to insert ads into the video. Instead of my own ads. It was because I used a music track from Zero-Project. An artist I really like and I used his music for a netcast before.
The strange thing is, the music was licensed under a Creative Commons License BY. So what happend. I'm allowed to use the music according to the free license. Yes, Zero-Project used a free license for that song.
So, I disputed the claim. After getting in contact with the artist, it turned out that this company was given the right to act like this. Basically it looked like a good idea. Some other people wrote him about this problem, too. But Zero-Project did not want to give a hard time for them who wanted to use his tracks.

Now something happened, what shows the difference between a real artists and the music industry behavior. He contacted that company and also stopped the order to monitor for his songs on YouTube. He got the confirmation that it will be removed within some weeks, the period Google needs to stop their systems from monitoring videos for those tracks.
Now it's up to YouTube and Google what will happen to my Video. Approx. until mid-June it will take for my video to come with my ads. So I missed on that. Nobody will watch it then anymore :).

The disputed video

The system has flaws. Obviously. I can understand that Google must use such a system. They are forced to do so. But I really think it shouldn't be so easy to claim stuff for middle-man companys. It's not Google's fault, it's not those company's fault and it's certainly not the artists' fault. It's the need for it, that is wrong. This is a typical example for collateral damage in the fight of the music industry against their own costumers.

Zero-Project's response was great. In some weeks, I and all the people on YouTube can use his great music again for their stuff. And you can support him. If you like his music, show him that there is no need for such a system. You can buy his works on his site, in high-quality sound formats, the lossless FLAC e.g.

I'm not promoting stuff easily, but this new generation of musicians, that get it, deserves your support. Just listen to some of his tracks before you buy, and you will be happy to do so.

Google Hangout On Air Could Be A Big Thing

There it is. Over the next weeks, more and more users will be able to use Hangouts On Air. Live Streaming and recording to YouTube. A feature many can't waiting for. It could be a new killer feature for vloggers and podcasters.

Unfortunately I have no access until now. So I couldn't really try it. For me it's important that it is possible to record a hangout hassle free on YouTube. Without a lot of restrictions. That will be key. A 10 minute conversation is one thing, but to address vloggers and podcasters, there need to be no length limit.

I do some podcasts. One normally ranges between 30 and 60 minutes and one between 60 and 90 minutes. I ditched live streams, because it was horrible to broadcast. With Hangouts, I totally see coming back, or at least, having discussions recorded.
There is a whole new set of possibilities. You could add community engagement in your netcast. You could easily having a conference with guests from all over the world. Or have a simple way to do a multi-camera setup recording on GNU/Linux. A webcam and 1 or more Android phone(s). You can click which one will be shown easily.
Talking about Android phones. From Gingerbread upwards, you can enter in Hangouts via the Google+ app and participating quick and easy from almost anywhere.

I'm thrilled to stream from a live geocaching trip out of the forest :) Honestly, you could let people chime into your podcast and having something like outdoor reporters. You see, there is a wide range of possibilities. If, and only if, Google sets the limits very high. For everyone and not only for a few "approved" celebs.

I have no problem with the TOS from Google, stating that the user who started the Hangout is fully responsible for all the content shown in the recorded video. This is mandatory and should be clear anyway.

Let's see...
[via Official Google Blog]

Related articles

• How To Get Started With Google+ Hangouts On Air
• Google now lets everyone broadcast their Hangout on YouTube
• Google+ Hangouts On Air comes out of beta, read this terms of service caveat