Google Wave makes email so yesterday

Google Wave is one of those things that can't really be described and explained in words.  You have to see it for yourself.  

This thing is amazing.  The ability to have all your communications all in one place.  That's neat.  So imagine blog comments, emails, chat messages all in one place, and can be managed coherently.  

And you have Google Voice unifying your phones.  Imagine what Google Wave and Voice can together... It sounds cool, but also sounds scary when Google has all the data...

For those that don't know what Google Voice is, you can find out here.  Their home page describes it as "Google Voice is a service that gives you one number for all your phones, voicemail that is easy as email, and many enhanced calling features like call blocking and screening, voicemail transcripts, call conferencing, international calls, and more."

Interesting times we're living in alright...

What?! Mario was Popeye? Princess Peach was Olive?

That's right, according to the book - "Philosophy of Nintendo", Nintendo was going to release an arcade game based on Popeye in the 1980s before their home console was out.  

However, they ran into copyright problems, and could not use Popeye.  Instead they asked Miyamoto-san to design something.  And Mario was created to replace Popeye and Princess Peach to substitute the damsel in distress, Olive.  Instead of Pluto, Donkey Kong was created.  

And by the way, Mario was named after an employee in the US offices because they looked similar.  

And that would be the Nintendo trivia of they day =)

Thanks for reading!

Source: Philosophy of Nintendo - page 98-99

GTD Tip: Use Evernote to search text within images

Search technology has really come a long way.  If you have one of the latest Macs, you can instantly "Spotlight" (search) a keyword, and it would go through emails, files, and your calendar to find stuff at ridiculous speeds when compared to old operating systems.  

But there's still one thing missing.  It can't search inside images.  So if you take snap shots of your documents and business cards, they won't come up in your search results unless you name them properly.  I'm eagerly awaiting the day where text recognition technology in images comes to the consumers.  

Until then, I suggest everyone to take a look at Evernote.  This software is available on the web, desktop, and phone to let you takes notes, snap shots, and even serve as storage for files.  The best benefit of Evernote to me is the text recognition technology.  So you take snapshots or scan images of, let's say, business cards, it will become searchable.  

The downside is that these images must be synced and processed by Evernote's servers.  I am not comfortable with having a lot of business and sensitive documents out there in the clouds so I'm currently not using it.  But I am sure many will find it useful and handy.  

Forget that Wii controller, you ARE the controller with Project Natal from Microsoft

The big thing for me from E3 is the Project Natal from Microsoft.  YouTube video below.  

They sure love to share their concepts, something Nintendo would never to.  Simply because someone might copy you.  Anyways, it's an awesome concept, and hope it's gonna happen someday.  It would change gaming, computing, and just interfaces.  This would be our first step towards Minority Report.  

It would be so cool to be able to turn on TV by moving your hands.  Flick to change channels.  You could pinch to zoom in or out.  Possibilities so endless!

Well back to reality.  The real more concrete news I like from E3 is the announcement of New Super Mario Brothers for Wii.  Basically imagine the original side scrolling Super Mario with the ability to play with up to 4 people simultaneously together.  Most games these days are competitive in nature.  What happened to all those co-op games where you work together to pass the game.  Like Contra, Gradius...  So I'm looking forward to this one =)

Thanks for reading!

How Nintendo and Apple are similar?

Other than building innovative products, what do Nintendo and Apple have in common?

They both went through tough times. Apple didn't perform well while Steve Jobs was away. Nintendo went down losing it to Sony's PlayStation during the era of Nintendo 64 and GameCube.

They connect the dots. In many cases, both companies do not use the most advanced technology, but rather a set of proven technology. Apple's iPod is a great example. From Nintendo, both Wii and DS are examples.

They both had popular white products. From Apple, white iPod and white MacBooks. From Nintendo, white DS and white Wii.

They both had "cube" products that didn't sell very well.

They both had portable products that sold like hot cakes - iPod and GameBoy.

And just to throw this in, apparently, Iwata-san, CEO of Nintendo, uses Apple and delivers his keynotes with Apple's Keynote presentation software. And Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, owns both the GameCube and the Wii.

Source: Philosophy of Nintendo - page 162-163

The prototype of the DS was actually a pocket PC

In the summer of 2003, Mario creator Miyamoto-san showed what would become the DS today to Iwata-san, CEO of Nintendo.  

The prototype was a pocket PC.  In order to simulate the dual screen nature, Miyamoto intentionally put a strip of black tape to divide the screen into two halves.  And he wrote a simple program where blocks would fall from the upper screen to the bottom screen.  In the bottom screen there was Mario, and if you tapped Mario with the stylus, it would make him jump.  

Pretty interesting bit of trivia.

Source: Philosophy of Nintendo - pg. 49

Nintendo - how it's different from other innovative companies?

Just finished reading "The Philosophy of Nintendo" (a Japanese business book on Nintendo).  And here is one interesting thing I found out.  It's the "I knew it all along, but never realized it" kind of thing.

Nintendo has always been viewed as an innovative company in the gaming industry, and more so with the success of Wii and DS.  It's often compared to Apple and some may say this company has the magic of Silicon Valley startups like Google.  

The interesting thing is Nintendo is an innovative company, but with strong roots back into history.  Similar to visionary companies like P&G.  In fact, Nintendo's headquarters is located in Kyoto, the old capital of Japan, where things do not change like Tokyo.  

In Built to Last, a famous business book about visionary companies, there was this theme of "preserve the core and stimulate progress".  And that comes to mind with Nintendo.  

Nintendo proves the innovation can happen anywhere, and it doesn't have to be Silicon Valley.  

Source: Philosophy of Nintendo (pg.  13)