thelump.net

This Week in Lumps
#10 [24/07 - 30/07]

· Just how good is Google? Maybe a better question would be: What cant Google do? To the average ‘Mr. and Mrs. Stone-Washed-Jeans’ in the High Street, Google helps you find anything you need to find, using words typed into a search box. I would say that out of ten random people asked, at least seven or eight would know this; even the less computer friendly would still be aware of the brand, and what they associate this name. A recent report found that Google’s brand value had risen 44% in the past 12 months to £8.8bn, putting it in the same league as Disney, and Microsoft. One of the main reasons why the brand is so well known, is because of the good repulation Google have thrust upon themselves; the products and services under the Google banner are reknown for doing the job, and doing it really really well, and people who use the web more often than ‘Mr. and Mrs. Stone-Washed- Jeans’ will know this through experience. So how would someone be able to cope if one random day, Google decided to remove everything. and I mean… everything, just removed and cancelled. Could someone who uses computers more frequently be able to cope? I had to put it to the test; could I manage 48 hours without anything created (or aquired) by Google? and also, Is there anything out there in the vastness of the Internet that can replace it?

First off, I have to list just what I’d be giving up. You may be aware of what Google is, and can do, but you might not be aware of many other products they have, despite the fairly large list that has been growing over the last 5 years. If I were to explain what my current Google catalogue includes, maybe the first part of this challenge will seem less… obvious. So here goes:
My Firefox startpage is set to iGoogle, my email account has been GMail now for over 2 years, with help from the GMail Notifier, I read my RSS feeds through Google Reader, I use Google Notebook to assist with the writing and prep work for this blog, for work I use both Google Maps and Google Earth, everyone and their uncle uses YouTube and Google Video, Picasa sorts and cleans up my photos, the list goes on and on. I have stuck by these products for one main reason: they do the job well. So, cut off all these things, and suddenly the Internet could seem a quieter, less reassuring place. For me, anyway.
Secondly, I need to talk about the replacements. If I’m removing applications and websites from my day to day rituals, I need substitutes, and that gives me the 2nd part of the challenge. Lets go back a few weeks. In week 5, I wrestled Ask.com up against Google’s strongest product; its search engine. Sadly for Ask, it slumped and sulked like a crying child in a supermarket; It seems that to stop the rivals all falling by the wayside, they need to be unique, they need to offer a search facility that differs slightly from what Google offers. So, for the 48 hours, I shall use a mixture of ChaCha, Hakia, and Fisssh!, all three of which are included in AltSearchEngine’s top 100 shortlist for alternative search engine of 2007. In week 6, I listed a few websites I was aiming to try out and test to see if they could fit into my daily viewing habits. One of those is Pageflakes, which will be my stand-in homepage (or startpage) for the duration, even though I’ve been using it sporadically for a month or so now. For email I will temporarily forward everything to my Yahoo! account, meaning I can have two days of trying out Yahoo! Mail beta, which has been open for testing to the public (replacing the last versions) in September last year. For my new RSS feed reader, I’m trying out Bloglines. For online videos, TV-Link, and for photos I will have to suffice with Flickr and Uber.

Be sure to check on next weeks entry for the conclusion.

~

· For a couple of weeks now I had planned to review the Transformers film over The Simpsons Movie, for differing reasons; I always assumed TSM to be either really really good, or hitting just below expectation, and that everyone would be reviewing it. But maybe the same thoughts could be echoed over Transformers, could it live up to expectation?. Directed by Michael Bay (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor) and stars Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, the plot is pretty straightforward and self-explanitory: A war kicks off on Earth between two robotic clans, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, leaving the fate of mankind hanging in the balance. Sounds like it can only be a winner, doesn’t it? Well, dont hold your breath…

Transformers, as much as I was hoping it wouldn’t be, is a generic popcorn movie, a mindless action flick, Family fun, the world over. Okay, I can just about say through my teeth that I enjoyed (maybe tolerated) it: its action packed, its insanely loud (to the point I actually considered sticking popcorn in my ears to see if it helped), and, well, its something I grew up with. Alas, I wont be joining the badly dressed teenagers queuing up to see it again. Some may argue (and you may find me agreeing with them) that the film lost all chance of being the summer Box-Office runaway smash the moment that Michael Bay was announced as director. It just seemed to lose that special something from the beginning: there was no sense of flow, the story wasn’t as strong as it could be, neither was the human acting, and overall it was much too long, towards the end I felt like I was no longer in the cinema, more like I was sitting in the dentist waiting room, itching to just get it over and go home. I seem to remember that I never really enjoyed Armageddon either. Both films share the feat of leaving me desiring more. Where’s the youthful feeling I used to get when I opened a new toy? Where’s the heart and soul?

Shia’s acting and his character were… okay. In some parts he seemed to keep the film alive, in others, it made me want to frown until my faced resembled a pug dog. The only reason I knew his name beforehand was due to my knowledge that he’s starring in Indy 4, which will be out next year. I can only hope he shines much brighter then, I’d hate to see him dampen two of my childhood memories.

I had planned to review the Transformers film for weeks now, I hadn’t planned to go deaf in the process. I just hope that The Simpsons Movie can restore the smile to my inner child.

~

· Comic book fans can set yet another date in their diary, as June 13th 2008 is set to be the release date for the new Hulk film. The Incredible Hulk, based on the fictional Marvel Comics character, is set to be directed by Louis Leterrier (Transporter I and II) and starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, and William Hurt. Its not set to be either a remake or a sequel, which is a relief. Whats more exciting is that Ed Norton actually rewrote the script that was originally written by Zak Penn. When asked about this movie, he admitted:

I was a Marvel kid, I had subscriptions to a lot of the Marvel comics.

So far, from what I’ve read, I have faith in this film. Unfortunately I also had faith in the 2003 version by Ang Lee, which turned out to be a flop, despite huge promotion, and anticipation (no thanks to the success of Spiderman in the same year). In that effort, Hulk didnt really look like a Hulk at all to me, more like Shrek, who was a little bit angry. With Norton fully committed to this project, I think it will turn into a winner. Norton will be to Hulk what Bale was to Batman Begins. Speaking of Batman, I’m hoping more information will soon be released on the ‘…Begins’ sequel ‘The Dark Knight’, currently also pencilled in for a July 2008 release. A teaser trailer was shown off at the San Diego Comic-Con, and already I want more. The first taster of what was to be expected was released in May, with pant-wettingly scary pictures of Heath Ledger appearing as The Joker.

Filming began for The Incredible Hulk on the 9th of July and will last until October 24th.

~~~

That was the week in lumps, a week in which: BBC launched the iPlayer… thousands complain, the Beowulf trailer was released, The NHS explain what 120 calories look like, and the Wii reached 800,000 sales in the UK, and becomes the fastest selling console ever.

This week is completed by the sound of geeky drummers everywhere wetting themselves. Why? Someone made this custom PC case. It’s possibly the sexiest thing ever.

ttfn
x