Last night Google Hotpot launched. It is a very early version of Google’s local ratings service, giving users the chance to rate local restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs – well pretty much any place really. Initially I thought (as I suppose many people did) that this is only the web interface, but I also noticed this morning that Google Maps automatically updated on my Android phone (don’t worry, I told it that it could do that) to include a fancy widget to help you rate places as you go to them.

Or: Why McAfee’s URL shortener is worse for the internet than all the other URL shorteners.

Yesterday, under the pretence of something about making everything secure, McAfee went and launched the beta of its own URL shortner, McAf.ee. Here I am going to explain why this is a terrible idea for numerous reasons.

I was discussing on Buzz a few days ago about the best ways to keep in the loop while on the go. I thought I would briefly note down my thoughts for the record.

On my Nexus One I use a combination of two apps to keep me in touch over Buzz. I use the official Google widget, which provides a great creation mechanism, combined with Seemsic for Android, which provides the reading experience. Admittedly it’s a bit clunky having one for each of the activities, but that doesn’t mean I don’t use Seesmic to post – but from the home screen the widget provides the best experience.

I was thinking the other day about how I use the iPad, Nexus One, netbook, MacBook, desktop PC and so on together. I found it strange how I could accept iOS 3′s restrictions on the iPad, but when I tried to use an iPhone I found myself constantly annoyed about being unable to perform the various tasks I wanted to do.

iPad Unboxing

I suspect what it comes down to is the fact that I expect my mobile phone to perform a lot of tasks – and in many ways, I have been spoilt by the Nexus One allowing me to do pretty much anything I could ever want it to. However with the iPad, there is no precedent – there hasn’t really been a truly widespread tablet of this kind before, so coming in to it makes it a new experience.

Nexus One

Sure, it isn’t without its annoyances here and there when things go horribly wrong (and hopefully iOS 4 will go some way to address that); but I still think the iPad user experience is managed and what I would expect it to be.

Earlier this month Google announced App Inventor, an easy way for anyone to get started on building Android applications. Earlier this week I got myself an invite, and headed over to see what’s what.

App Inventor is in its very early stages. It’s a closed beta, with invites going out to people when Google have the capacity and find suitable people. This shows, as there are still some clunky parts and limitations that will have to be overcome before release, but other than that it seems like an excellent preview of what’s to come.