Today in Google

Today Google announced their newest tool in an already vast arsenal, Google Wallet has made it's debut. The rumors of such a service have been floating around for a few weeks now after it had been revealed that the big G was looking to secure a new form of checkout scanner in select stores across the country. Also not to mention the fact that they had released the Google Nexus S phone with a new form of wireless communication known as NFC or, Near Field Communication, as it were.


The big news today though isn't necessarily that they have announced the new service in of itself but who they have already partnered up and ready to roll with it. The first big contender is MasterCard and their PayPass system. If you happen to have a capable phone, it will now essentially act as a it's own PayPass MasterCard virtually anywhere that PayPass is accepted. This could mean in many places around the world even, negating the hassle of exchange rates of currency and the like. Very cool stuff.


Next up we also have Citi Bank MasterCards being officially supported. Then we also have Sprint which there doesn't seem to be a lot of concrete details on yet. With the way Sprint has cozied up with Google Voice recently though, I expect some really tight integration of Sprint services (payments, etc) into the Android OS on their handsets.

As far as retailers go we have so far: Macy's, Subway, Walgreens, Toys 'R Us and Noah's Bagels with 'many more in the coming months'. 


The service itself will begin with some trials in New York and San Francisco before spreading around the states, again in the 'coming months' which could or could not happen at this point. Things seem very beta-like to me as it stands now.


Finally Google has announced Google Offers, a new service which will provide discounts to consumers from the various retail partners that have signed up. I'm guessing there will be tighter integration with this and Google Latitude as things start to get rolling full-steam. Latitude has had similar offers for about a month now when you check in to various locations frequently, very much the same way 4Square works.


There's a lot more in store with this and if anyone will really be able to bring the fire, it's Google. This really seems like a natural progression for them being as heavily monetized by ads as they are. Anyway, that's all I really have to say about things now, may write a small followup later on as more information is brought forth.

It's Here

The time has come. With 2010 now behind us and 2011 ready for action I can finally start focusing on my writings here more effectively. I have only been waiting because I really wanted to get started with a fresh year and therefore, a fresh outlook on life.

Now I have been talking about some big project that I'm planning on starting and now I shall announce it along with a few other resolutions I decided would be good goals to work toward.

First, this blog is going to beging focusing on the James Joyce's book Finnegans Wake. Long considered to be the most difficult book in the English language to read, Joyce's tale utilizes language that he considered to be more akin to dream speech than anything else. It is a book many may consider indecipherable, incoherent or just plain silly and it very well may be; however, my plan is to not only read the book thoroughly but also offer my ideas and opinions on the subject.

I am not the most highly educated individual nor would I claim to be the most suitable person for analyzing Joyce's gibberish. But alas, this is precisely what I intend to do.

Other than that though I did mention other projects. Firstly, I plan on creating more intricate videos for posting on YouTube rather than the vlog style musing I've been doing recently. Secondly, I am going to attempt writing and publishing a children's book by years end. I have some vague ideas of where to take that but have not started quite yet.

And then, that is it, that's all I have in the works currently. Hopefully I can keep it all up and hopefully someone out there is able to find this and enjoy it.

Thanks

[Post Edit]
Forgot to mention, along with the other little (big) projects above I am also planning updating this blog with multiple pages with various focuses and maybe a layout change.

Thanks again!