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I find myself posting more about websites and industry news, but hey, it’s an interesting and fast changing time in the tech world.

The future of the Internet isn’t online. It’s offline. As news of Firefox 3 and promises of offline web applications start to heat up, Google is again ahead of the pack with their initial offline offering: Google Gears and a new iteration of Google Reader.

Google Gears is an add on to Firefox or Internet Explorer that allows compatible web applications to work when you don’t have an internet connection. For Google Reader, it allows you to download 2,000 of the most recent feeds for offline viewing. I imported my OPML from Netvibes just to try it out. One click of a button and it downloaded 2,000 posts/entries in under 15 seconds. Click the same button when you have connectivity and it will sync what you’ve read with any new content. Downloading feeds to go offline was pretty fast, but it excluded any pictures embedded in any of the posts. While this is more efficient, it prevents Google Reader from being “fully functional” when offline. This makes it hard to enjoy visual dependent posts such as the one below from the Flickr Blog.

Especially when compared to the online view.

Although it is easier and easier to get online with free wireless hotspots all over the place, there are times when no connection is available (on an airplane springs to mind). And if you’re like me, you wish the internet could be everywhere, all the time. This is a nice start, but I don’t use Google Reader. Expect to see offline functionality soon for Google’s proposed MS Office killer.

The number one site that I wish could be available offline, because it is my key to the Internet, is Netvibes (Check out this post to see why I like Netvibes so much). BUT, Netvibes currently only works online. The question is: Is all this development for offline functionality frivolous when everyone and their Grandma will have wireless in every nook and cranny possible in a few years?

Pictures from my Grandfather’s birthday party are up on Flickr. He turned 96 on Monday. Check out the set here on Flickr.

First – check out this interesting article I found on Digg this past weekend.

The article is about how, since 2001, Steve Jobs and Apple defied market trends set by Dell’s direct-to-consumer business model by focusing on the aesthetics and design of their retail store. It contrasts the success of Apple’s retail store to Sony’s retail store (that opened a few years later in 2004).

The article mentions how the Sony store is generally empty while the Apple store is usually flowing with people. I have experienced this first hand. At my local mall, making the comparison is easy since the Sony store is directly adjacent to the Apple store. At first glance, the Sony store almost looks closed with dark walls, dim lighting, and a few unenthusiastic employees trolling the floor. On the other hand, the Apple store looks alive with white walls, bright lights, multi-colored iPods, and eager customers. This, as well as a comparison of their stock prices over the last 5 years, speaks volumes about the image of both companies.

Where did Sony go wrong? Growing up, Sony was synonymous with cool, easy to use and reliable electronics. If you wanted a portable tape or CD player you knew what brand to get – a Sony Walkman or Discman. And with their multiple failures to create a portable music player that the world loves, Sony lost its hold on being the proprietary eponym (with Walkman/Discman) to reference portable music players. Now most people refer to almost any portable music device as iPod-like. Their retail stores are just the latest addition to their list of missed targets and their slow decline out of consumer electronics (not to mention the PS3 losing momentum to the Wii and the XBOX 360).

Sony will have to try extra hard to regain the consumer’s trust and interest, and that will include more a new flashy marketing campaign and releasing a product decked in white. Redesigning their retail store wouldn’t hurt, but as always: at the end of the day, it’s the quality of the product that sells itself. I hope Sony turns itself around, if not for just the presence of competition – but it has a long steep mountain to climb to knock Apple off the top.

I somehow found a way to run 3 times this week, which sadly is not that much, but still the most I’ve run in the last 7 weeks. I’ve found that sticking to a blogging schedule about running has made me want to run just so I don’t have to put a big donut for how many miles I’ve run in the past week (more specifically for week 3).

The third run of this week was outside, and a preview of what it will be like to train during the summer. I think it was in the upper 80s, and I definitely could feel the heat. Not looking forward to running outside when it’s 90 degrees everyday. Anyways onto the stats… Read the rest of this entry »

As consumers, we are often slaves to our cable company by the location of our house. Aside from getting Satellite TV, there isn’t really a choice other than the cable company that’s assigned to your area. Living near the edge of Arlington County in Fairfax County, I am stuck with Cox Cable. Just a few hundred yards away in Arlington County, you can have Comcast Cable. Although many people hate Comcast cable, I’d rather have it than Cox. At least Comcast is trying to take steps forward by making a deal with TiVo to use their amazing DVR software (which is very much delayed), HBO onDemand in HD (which no one else has), as well as consistently adding HD channels like The Food Network faster than Cox Cable to their HD lineup.

The new star on the block is Verizon FiOS. I only know one person that has it, but he likes it because it’s cheaper and you get more. Soon, it looks like he’ll be getting a lot more with the rollout of the new Interactive Media Guide (IMG). It’s rare that a big company will sit back and design a product that addresses the consumer’s everyday gripes about a product rather than just pushing something out into the market just to be there. You can tell that Verizon listened to consumers, and then thought about how to make the TV experience simpler, more convenient, and enjoyable again. It also looks like they took a page out of XBOX 360’s book with navigation tabs (or blades as the 360 calls it). They’ll even be rolling out Weather, News and Stock widgets in the future. It’s a shame I’m not eligible for FiOS where I live.

Take a look at some screenshots or the video preview of IMG’s design and functionality.