Software : Google's mobile focus testing is the least creepy use of a white panel van

Google's mobile focus testing is the least creepy use of a white panel van

Posted:

Google is coming to a state near you and it wants to throw you into the back of its white van. No this isn't a kidnapping attempt, the search company just wants you to try some apps.

The company is using the van to help it break out of its Silicon Valley bubble. The van will make multiday stops in seven states, stopping near colleges, libraries, parks and some of Google's own regional offices in hopes of finding out how average Americans are using the company's multitude of digital offerings.

Its custom-built, white van drive on a cross country roadtrip in an effort to break out of its Silicon Valley bubble. according to the Associated Press. The van will make multiday stops in seven states, stopping near colleges, libraries, parks and some of Google's own regional offices in hopes of finding out how average Americans are using the company's "multitude of digital offerings."

Google hopes to invite 500 would-be volunteers inside to interact with apps and other Google products on their smartphones, all so that researchers can non-creepily watch them. It'll take anywhere between 15 and 90 minutes, and there's no mention of a two-way mirror. In fact, in exchange for being observed as the illusive everyman, volunteers will get some sweeting Google swag including T-Shirts and gift cards.

The urban experiment is all part of a goal to take Google's Silicon Valley laboratory out on the road and get the opinions of people outside of the San Francisco Bay area.

"We are trying to understand the whole end-to-end experience," Google researcher Laura Granka, said to the Associated Press. "Which is why we are trying to get out to more locations and see more people."

The Google Van will start its trip in New York and travel to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, from March 14- 18; Clemson, South Carolina, March 21-22; Atlanta, March 23-25; Boulder, Colorado, April 4-8; Salt Lake City, April 11-15; Reno, Nevada, April 18-20; and South Lake Tahoe, California, April 21-22.

Google said if the trip proves to be insightful, it may send more mobile labs to other cities across the US and even hit the road in other countries. It's like the Google Maps project all over again.

(You can find an image of the van on The Associated Press)

Is Google working on a Nexus Car?

Via Gizmodo

Microsoft knows you're deep in Evernote, so it made a OneNote Importer

Posted:

Anyone who has watched a Microsoft keynote within the past year or so knows all about the power and versatility of OneNote for Windows 10. But what if you're neck-deep in, say, Evernote? Turns out, Microsoft has an app for that, too.

The Redmond, Wash. firm has published a new conversion tool that allows Evernote users to (kind of) quickly and easily bring their notes from that service to Microsoft's. It's simply dubbed the OneNote Importer, and you can download it for free in a "preview" edition right now.

But, if Microsoft has already made, in its eyes, a superior note taking solution, why bother making such an app?

As Bill Nye would say, it's all about friction

The reason for the OneNote Importer is simple: no amount of evangelizing – and Microsoft sure does a lot – can sway some people who simply have too much invested in another solution.

It's for this same reason that Apple released an iOS conversion app on Android's Google Play Store. This is all about reducing the friction as much as possible for you and I to switch from one service or platform to another.

However, if you're strictly an Evernote Web user (like I was before writing this very sentence), you'll have to download and log into the service's desktop app before you can use this tool.

So, that alone was one level of friction I had to surpass to check out this little app.

So, does the thing work?

Once you download and launch the app, it becomes immediately obvious that this is most definitely a preview. For one, the app's overall resolution does not scale with sharper displays.

At any rate, making the conversion happen is simple. Just log into your Evernote account through the app, select which Evernote notebooks you'd like to import, then log into your Microsoft account (or a school or work account).

From there, you can decide how the notes will be organized once they're imported into OneNote before clicking the "Import" button. Finally, you watch the progress bar slowly move toward the right, depending on how many notes you're importing and accept the prompt to open OneNote.

But it's not over yet: your OneNote will still need to sync said notes, but that process only takes a few more seconds. Just make sure Evernote is not currently open anywhere else, or else the sync simply won't happen.

So, yes, the OneNote Importer works like a charm, if an unpolished charm. And, as Microsoft is eager to tell you on its download page, its app offers everything that Evernote does (and more) for free.

The fact that you can draw on notes with OneNote alone might be enough for some to switch, but friction is a mighty powerful force – both literally and figuratively.

What do you want to see in a Surface Pro 5?

Yahuui Blog

Saturday, March 12, 2016