Google Drive About To Launch?

Stuff Facebook. Sod Twitter. I’m obsessed by Google. I know this statement doesn’t make me cooler, smarter or sexier but they really do make nice web products. So when I saw this bit of gossipy news, I got very excited.

Apparently, venturebeat reports that a bit of code has been found in Google Pack software which reads:

GDrive provides reliable storage for all of your files, including photos, music and documents.

With another bit saying:

GDrive allows you to access your files from anywhere, anytime, and from any device – be it from your desktop, web browser or cellular phone.

Eek!It makes perfect sense to me that they should offer this facility and I think they have suitably held out for a long time.

During my time at AOL I worked on a localised project of numerous names but would be most people will know it as XDrive. Though a great idea – virtual storage and lots of it – the time and market thirst for such a product wasn’t right (we weren’t sharing large files or viewing video in the way we are now) and it cost a lot of money to run with little viable sources of direct income. I think the imminent launch of Google Drive will be interesting as, it seems, Google have held out and waited until there was a market for the product.

Using picassa, google docs, gmail for all my web stuff, I am starting to find that my 10GB storage allowance across the Google network is being quickly used up but I am unwilling to pay for additional access as right now I can’t use the additional space as I wish. Google Drive will change this as I then have a virtual drive, something mac users are used to with .mac. Couple this with Google Gears, the offline access tool, for all Google products and full integration with mobile (and in particular my iPhone) and you’re getting closer and close to the perfect consumer web apps solution. For me, at least!

Source: venturebeat

Thanks, Qype!

Today I received a package in the post consisting of a bag of jelly beans and a long sleeve t-shirt. The sender wasn’t my mum or someone late for Christmas but Qype, the user driven content local listings and review site, as a thank you for submitting a certain number of reviews and contributing to the site.

I’ll confess that the jelly beans weren’t very tasty and I’ve given the t shirt away but it’s little ‘real world’ offers like this that can generate some warmth towards a website. And it got me talking about Qype – albeit to the person I offloaded the t shirt to. Though they’ve now taken this promotion down as I imagine it presents a dent to the bottom line so I am now thinking about ways to create a cheap real world connection to some of the Boring websites.

We yawn to keep our brain cool!

Apparently so. The Discovery Channel writes

If air in the atmosphere is cooler than brain and body temperatures, taking it in quickly cools facial blood that, in turn, cools the brain and may even alter blood flow. Prior studies reveal yawning leads to a heightened state of arousal, so a morning yawn may function somewhat like a cup of coffee in providing a jolt of energy.

The new findings also explain why tired individuals often yawn, since both exhaustion and sleep deprivation have been shown to increase deep brain temperatures, again prompting a yawn-driven cool down. Yawning additionally appears to facilitate transitional states of the brain, such as going from sleep to waking periods.

So I feel a lot less guilty for yawing through holiday pictures now!

Europe: stop recycling, the planet doesn’t need your help!

Ever sat in a café in Paris and coped a listen to the radio in the background? Aside from the very catchy jingles the French seem to love in their advertising (Eurostar travellers will be familiar with SNCF’s “ba da baaa da” at Gare du Nord), you’ll hear a lot of French language music. Actually, you’ll hear at least 40% of French language music on French radio due to the Pelchat amendment to the 1994 Broadcasting Reform Act requiring this. So there you are, sipping a erm.. cafe and you hear a really familiar tune on the radio but you don’t recognise the voice.. wait a minute.. it’s not even in English!

Living in the UK, we (thankfully) don’t get to experience much of this euro-recycling but today I came across a classic example of 3, count em, 3 songs from 3 different countries, performed by 3 different acts but all the same 1 song (this sentence was sponsored by 3 mobile broadband).

So from France we have L5, Deconnecter
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnYc21JiNBg]

From Spain we have Natalie, De Repente
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuql6ty7Tk4]

Finally, from Germany we have the er, talentless Sandy and Unexpected
[youtube=http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=utIGzfyqI6A]

Ok, that’s enough for one day. Sorry.