Google Wiider

[Kamalot]

In a suprising move, Google has revamped their application Google Reader to be compatible with Wii. (http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=557) Anyone using Wii's Internet Channel can take advantage of the new functionality and Wii remote shortcut controls immediately.

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa55/goodavatar/wiider2.png (http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=557)
Google quietly launched Google Reader specifically designed for the Wii last night — the new interface even makes use of the buttons found on your Wiimote. On my initial digging, I cannot find a similar interface designed specifically for the PS3 browser.

Google Reader can take advantage of the buttons on your Wiimote, letting you navigate easily from the comfort of your couch:

* up/down: scroll up/down
* right/left: next/previous item
* 1 button: show subscriptions
* 2 button: show links

When showing subscriptions:

* up/down: previous/next subscription
* right: select current subscription
* left: close
* -/+: collapse/expand folderI'm gonna try this at home. Don't forget to add Evil Avatar to your RSS list.

Source (http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=557)

[Kamalot]

Honestly, I'm shocked that Google is spending any energy or effort on getting their applications optimized for Wii at all. They must be have a substantial number of visitors who are using the Wii browser, enough that it makes sense to spend the energy making optimizations.

[BlackPete]

Google is basically run by people who are geeks at heart. The search engine itself basically launched with a minimalistic interface, which went in the completely opposite direction of most flash-oriented sites back then and (surprise surprise) many people liked the simplicity.

They're always doing some kind of oddball experiments that don't always pan out, but at least they're always tinkering around just to see what will happen.

So seeing this from Google is a pleasant surprise but not a huge shock. It will be interesting to try this at home tonight...

[Deathbane27]

This level of third-party support for a console is just creepy.

[Evil Avatar]

There is something horribly creepy about people viewing Evi. Avatar on their Wii.

[CrashCart]

Honestly, I'm shocked that Google is spending any energy or effort on getting their applications optimized for Wii at all. They must be have a substantial number of visitors who are using the Wii browser, enough that it makes sense to spend the energy making optimizations.
Aren't Google developers required to work some amount of hours each week or month on pet projects? I thought that was how they populated the Google Labs with so many different projects.

[shunoshi]

Honestly, I'm shocked that Google is spending any energy or effort on getting their applications optimized for Wii at all. They must be have a substantial number of visitors who are using the Wii browser, enough that it makes sense to spend the energy making optimizations.

Now that the new version of Opera allows you to have google be your default search engine, this doesn't come as too big of a surprise to me. I'll have to check this out.

[silv]

Probably a result of some Googler's 20% side project.

[mkelehan]

Wait a minute. There's a way to make your website respond to Wii remote buttons?

[ghostgirl]

Aren't Google developers required to work some amount of hours each week or month on pet projects? I thought that was how they populated the Google Labs with so many different projects.

Yep, the 20% projects. 80% of their time is devoted to google, 20% to their own projects. Google maps is a good example of what comes out of those pet projects. It sounds like this is one as well. :)

Good for them!

[Sandman]

I've never seen the need for an rss reader, especially if you use iGoogle.

[Podfork]

Anyone familiar with the Stylish plugin for Mozilla apps and basic understanding of CSS can do this (on a per-PC level - you obviously need access to Google's servers to do it at site-level). I'd wager Google engineers have enough familiarity to knock something like this up in 10 minutes of their lunch hour.

Still, anything about the Wii is, obviously, an industry-revolutionising occurance that heralds a wave of change across the globe. :rolleyes:

[agentgray]

I've never seen the need for an rss reader, especially if you use iGoogle.
I use it and Google Notebook almost exclusively. I have about 15 sites I follow via RSS. If a headline catches me I follow through with it. Plus, half the time I read a post or article and it's just the content. I'm not bothered by site "splash"

[lockwoodx]

Wii 1, Ps3 0

[Arthen]

Honestly, I'm shocked that Google is spending any energy or effort on getting their applications optimized for Wii at all. They must be have a substantial number of visitors who are using the Wii browser, enough that it makes sense to spend the energy making optimizations.

They let their engineers run free from time to time. Sometimes you get Google Earth and others you get things like this.

Business justification has little to do with it.

[agentgray]

Wait a minute. There's a way to make your website respond to Wii remote buttons?
Via AJAX and knowing the right request code for the button press there is.

[Wraith]

I've never seen the need for an rss reader, especially if you use iGoogle.I use personalized Google with Google Reader as the main feature on the page. Works pretty slick. I don't like having a bunch of non-scrollable rss feeds as individual elements on the page. I just have Weather, Calendar, Google Reader (with maybe a couple dozen subscriptions), Quote of the Day, Word of the Day, and Gmail as elements on the page.

[Karmakin]

StumbleVideo.com has a similar function, it recognizes D-Pad inputs to move to the next video or to thumb up or thumb down the various videos.

By the end of the year, expect Wii-designed versions of a lot of popular sites.

[Doctor Setebos]

I have about 15 sites I follow via RSS.I follow 62 (http://share.opml.org/viewsharedfeeds/?user_id=6249) currently and use Google Reader religiously. :)

[Thrak]

This is pretty cool. I was a big bloglines.com user, and switched over to Google Reader a couple weeks ago. I find it saves me time in being able to scan headlines and then expand the headlines I want to see and read the articles. Definitely need to try this on the Wiil. Not that I think I'll switch by any means, but it's neat to see.

[agentgray]

I follow 62 (http://share.opml.org/viewsharedfeeds/?user_id=6249) currently and use Google Reader religiously. :)
Geesh. Ever use the email from reader feature? Love that in sending links to friends.

[Mr.Green]

Wii 1, Ps3 0
Or maybe the PS3 just doesn't need special support?

I don't know really, just saying. I couldn't care less about browsing the web on my consoles. I see this like, I dunno, shitting from my mouth. I have something else that does the job just fine.

[kokyunage]

Google Notebook? Jesus, I didn't even know about that. Sometimes I completely stumble into these awesome software solutions from them that I never knew I needed until I try it. I love Google but every time the above happens I get angry that I'm not as smart as they are.

[agentgray]

Google Notebook? Jesus, I didn't even know about that. Sometimes I completely stumble into these awesome software solutions from them that I never knew I needed until I try it. I love Google but every time the above happens I get angry that I'm not as smart as they are.
Oh, yes, use it with the firefox plugin. It's brilliant if you want your own "archive" of data and such. It's just a simple copy/paste.

Oh, and you can share them as well. even invite collaborators, export it to Google Docs, etc.

[Ravenlock]

Sweet. I've been using Google Reader to get all my RSS feeds (including Evil Av) for months, so being able to load my feeds up on the Wii in the morning while I eat breakfast will be pretty freaking awesome. Can't wait to try it tomorrow.

[Spiffae]

all google engineers are required to use "20% time" - 20% of their work time is to be spent on personal projects - they can recruit members, and make the things as big or as small as they want - the catch is that google owns whatever they make.

It's a great way to keep up innovation from what is probably the highest concentration of extremely smart nerds in the world - most of the stuff on google labs is the result of 20% time. Sometimes it develops into amazing stuff, sometimes not. Considering how many wii gamers work at google, you can be sure that this was someone's 20% time project.

[mkelehan]

Via AJAX and knowing the right request code for the button press there is.
So... that essentially means we have a form of Wii homebrew on our hands. Somebody could, and I'm not suggesting they do due to the legal ramifications, make a web-based NES emulator that plays using the remote held sideways. That would kill the NES side of the VC business instantly.

[rinichanraar]

Pretty cool, but I still can't bring myself to do any web-browsing on my Wii. :o

[Royal Fool]

So... that essentially means we have a form of Wii homebrew on our hands. Somebody could, and I'm not suggesting they do due to the legal ramifications, make a web-based NES emulator that plays using the remote held sideways. That would kill the NES side of the VC business instantly.
Well, I dunno about that, I'm more interested in flash and java games that respond directly to button presses and gestures. Little 3D adventure homebrew titles (like the popular japanese room games) with mouse support on the Wii would be awesome. Or regular flash games that don't use mouse controls, some of them could be replicated to just use the D-pad and face buttons.

Fucking cool, IMO.

[shnastybiznastic]

So... that essentially means we have a form of Wii homebrew on our hands. Somebody could, and I'm not suggesting they do due to the legal ramifications, make a web-based NES emulator that plays using the remote held sideways. That would kill the NES side of the VC business instantly.
What would they use to display? Flash? Without any complex logic, flash 100%s my CPU. Imagine if you have emulation of a complicated semiconductor added on there. Don't try to offload the emulation to the server side either, no one has network latency that low!

[mkelehan]

What would they use to display? Flash? Without any complex logic, flash 100%s my CPU. Imagine if you have emulation of a complicated semiconductor added on there. Don't try to offload the emulation to the server side either, no one has network latency that low!
The thing is, there already ARE Flash NES emulators.

[the1bullet]

Honestly, I'm shocked that Google is spending any energy or effort on getting their applications optimized for Wii at all. They must be have a substantial number of visitors who are using the Wii browser, enough that it makes sense to spend the energy making optimizations.

The developers probably just have wiis and wanted to do this. Isn't necessarily a need for the company. Cool, in any case.

[shnastybiznastic]

The thing is, there already ARE Flash NES emulators.
You just made my day. I imagine that would make an interesting project for a CS graduate. "hey, here's basically the worst language/environment to run an emulator in, lets see if er can do it!"