INDIANAPOLIS -- All Linda Williams wants for Christmas is a Google Phone, but it's unlikely she'll get it. The much buzzed about phones were distributed to select Google employees last week but they are not expected to be sold to the public until 2010. The homemaker and mother of three boys said she began obsessing about the phone after a tech savvy college student, who works part time at the library where Williams volunteers, told her it would "crush the iPhone."
Williams switched her email account from AOL to Gmail earlier this year and has been a Google enthusiast ever since, jetissoning Yahoo! search and spending her free time looking at satellite views of friends' houses on Google Maps. Williams says she aspires to be a "premature user," with the Google Phone, apparently referring to the term for an individual who embraces a new technology before it becomes mainstream, more commonly known as "early adopter."
Her family is a bit mystified by her ardor for Google, which they say is becoming an obsession. Fifteen-year-old son Luke said he found his mom on eBay last month, bidding on a Google Wave invite. Once she got one, which Luke was able to get for free after posting a request on Facebook, Williams was disappointed after realizing that none of her e-mail contacts -- mostly other stay-at-home moms -- had the Wave, which relies on collaboration with others.
Williams ended up creating a wave with herself, embedding a map to her house along with a yes/no poll asking "Who thinks Google Wave is The Bomb?"
After hearing her library cohort talk about the Google Phone, Williams found out more information about the device -- by googling "google phone," of course, which she recounted to her family. "She tells me it's thinner than the iPhone, but right now she uses a pre-paid clunker cell phone that she never even remembers to turn on," said an exasperated Luke Williams. "I'm not really sure why it being 'vastly superior to Verizon's Droid' matters when you just keep it in the glove compartment for emergencies and you don't even know what a Droid is."
Nonetheless, Williams has told her family that the only thing she wants for Christmas is a Google Phone, though she is resigned to waiting until 2010 to get it.
In the meantime, she is busily planning the family's summer vacation to Mountain View, Calif., where Google headquarters is located. Williams said she hopes for a Marissa Mayer sighting, or at least the chance to try the Google vice president's favorite cupcake flavors.
Showing posts with label Google Maps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google Maps. Show all posts
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Jackson Mania Continues; World Dictators Breathe Sighs of Relief
TEHRAN, IRAN -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad relaxed happily into an upholstered silk settee at the presidential palace Tuesday as he flicked between CNN and E! coverage of Michael Jackson's death.
"Those Western fools!" he chortled to Mohammad Reza Rahimi Qorveh, Vice President for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, who nodded sycophantically. "I knew if we could just ride it out something would come along to distract them from my rightfully seized election win. I thought that it would be U.S. troops withdrawing from Iraq or Obama's latest date night with a foie gras stuffed burger -- never did I imagine that I'd get such a gift as the death of Michael Jackson."
The much-publicized delay in Twitter's scheduled maintenance has been long forgotten amidst an avalanche of stories about how Jackson's death caused Twitter to crash. Even almighty Google had 35 minutes of sluggishness as millions tried searching for "Michael Jackson," Micheal Jackson," "Michel Jacksin" and other such variations.
After a proliferation of Facebook groups supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reformist candidate who was allegedly defeated by Ahmadinejad in the June 12 presidential election, fickle Facebook users have turned their attention to creating and joining Michael Jackson pages. Over 2.3 million had joined the R.I.P Michael Jackson (We Miss You) page, and over 3 million free Sequined Gloves have been sent as virtual gifts.
After weeks of insomnia, Ahmadinejad said he was finally able to sleep now that images of women marching in green and black hijab have given way to tearful fans wearing fedoras and a single glittery white glove and making awkward attempts at moonwalking.
"Neda?" said Macauley Swift," an agent at Creative Artists Agency who specializes in image crisis management. Swift usually alternates between wearing a yellow Livestrong wristband, a green one to "Save Darfur" and a red one for AIDS awareness and prides himself on his social consciousness. Since Friday night, he has been sporting a sequined cufflet emblazoned with "King of Pop."
"I think that NEDA stands for National Eating Disorders Association. Every year someone goes overboard in trying to lose weight and our HR department makes us give them NEDA paraphernalia," Swift said.
New York Times Editor Bill Keller, meanwhile, dismissed allegations that he had ceased his output of Q-head stories on the Iranian election based on his on-the-ground reporting to return to the United States and helm the Jackson coverage.
"That's nonsense," he said in a phone call Tuesday afternoon. "Just because our Michael Jackson Times Topics page is eight times more popular than our one on Iran doesn’t mean that we’re not devoting adequate coverage to the latter. Roger Cohen is still opining for us from Iran.”
The interview with Keller was interrupted by an unidentified voice asking whether they should have Frank Bruni write a breakout on Michael Jackson’s favorite restaurants or combine it with Mark Bittman’s article on his favorite recipes (chicken quesadillas, cheese potatoes).
Ahmadinejad wasn't the only tyrant jubilant over the massive news coverage of Jackson's demise. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il planned to send a ship loaded with nuclear arms materials to Myanmar on Friday, the day that a public memorial at the Staples Center and Neverland is reportedly planned. "Even if the ship is intercepted, it probably won't even make the evening news," Kim said gleefully to his military adviser.
"Those Western fools!" he chortled to Mohammad Reza Rahimi Qorveh, Vice President for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, who nodded sycophantically. "I knew if we could just ride it out something would come along to distract them from my rightfully seized election win. I thought that it would be U.S. troops withdrawing from Iraq or Obama's latest date night with a foie gras stuffed burger -- never did I imagine that I'd get such a gift as the death of Michael Jackson."
The much-publicized delay in Twitter's scheduled maintenance has been long forgotten amidst an avalanche of stories about how Jackson's death caused Twitter to crash. Even almighty Google had 35 minutes of sluggishness as millions tried searching for "Michael Jackson," Micheal Jackson," "Michel Jacksin" and other such variations.
After a proliferation of Facebook groups supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reformist candidate who was allegedly defeated by Ahmadinejad in the June 12 presidential election, fickle Facebook users have turned their attention to creating and joining Michael Jackson pages. Over 2.3 million had joined the R.I.P Michael Jackson (We Miss You) page, and over 3 million free Sequined Gloves have been sent as virtual gifts.
After weeks of insomnia, Ahmadinejad said he was finally able to sleep now that images of women marching in green and black hijab have given way to tearful fans wearing fedoras and a single glittery white glove and making awkward attempts at moonwalking.
"Neda?" said Macauley Swift," an agent at Creative Artists Agency who specializes in image crisis management. Swift usually alternates between wearing a yellow Livestrong wristband, a green one to "Save Darfur" and a red one for AIDS awareness and prides himself on his social consciousness. Since Friday night, he has been sporting a sequined cufflet emblazoned with "King of Pop."
"I think that NEDA stands for National Eating Disorders Association. Every year someone goes overboard in trying to lose weight and our HR department makes us give them NEDA paraphernalia," Swift said.
New York Times Editor Bill Keller, meanwhile, dismissed allegations that he had ceased his output of Q-head stories on the Iranian election based on his on-the-ground reporting to return to the United States and helm the Jackson coverage.
"That's nonsense," he said in a phone call Tuesday afternoon. "Just because our Michael Jackson Times Topics page is eight times more popular than our one on Iran doesn’t mean that we’re not devoting adequate coverage to the latter. Roger Cohen is still opining for us from Iran.”
The interview with Keller was interrupted by an unidentified voice asking whether they should have Frank Bruni write a breakout on Michael Jackson’s favorite restaurants or combine it with Mark Bittman’s article on his favorite recipes (chicken quesadillas, cheese potatoes).
Ahmadinejad wasn't the only tyrant jubilant over the massive news coverage of Jackson's demise. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il planned to send a ship loaded with nuclear arms materials to Myanmar on Friday, the day that a public memorial at the Staples Center and Neverland is reportedly planned. "Even if the ship is intercepted, it probably won't even make the evening news," Kim said gleefully to his military adviser.
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