Sprint Android Phone Updates

Getting bored with the use of older Android OS 1.6 and 2.0 on your phones. Mention not, and don’t worry. Your phone  will be redecorated with all the new sounds and whistles in the newer version for Android 2.1. Although a confirmed date for the release of the new OS hasn’t been announced but it is expected to come around or before mid of 2010. A lot of questions have been put forth by the current users on the release of  this new OS. Many fear their phone might get obsolete (as always ) and  this new OS will require new hardware as well. This remains to be seen what new features will it bring in and what would its impact be on current phone users with Android as OS.

[Via http://techie01.wordpress.com]

T-Mobile launch their HTC Desire price plans

The UK T-Mobile site now has price plans for the HTC Desire online so why not go ahead and take a look.

Plans start at just £10 a month for 24 months with the handset costing £164.99. Obviously you would want to go for a plan that includes unlimited Internet so be sure to get the plan that suits your needs.

Delivery is “within 7 days” so whether that means you’d get the phone this Friday 26th is anyone’s guess. This is however the date that T-Mobile have set for the ‘release’ of the Desire on their network.

[Via http://desirefanatics.wordpress.com]

Mtube II mixes an Android tablet with an XP netbook

Been thinking about settling down with an XP netbook but can’t get the idea of an Android tablet out of your mind? We understand your pain — and so does Taiwan’s Institute for Information Industry, which is showing off the Mtube II netbook / tablet at Computex. The slick remix of an HP Mini 1000 runs XP when in netbook configuration, but then switches over to Android on an unspecified ARM processor when the screen is pulled off and used as a tablet. Yes, it’s basically the product most of us have daydreamed about for ages — much like the Touch Book — but there are some tradeoffs here: first, the Atom in the netbook base has been swapped for a VIA C7-M, so it’s not exactly a rocket, and second, the screen is connected by VNC, so video performance isn’t going to be all that great. We’re hoping the additional year of development III says it needs will solve some of those problems, but until then you know we’ll be doodling this thing all through math class. Videos after the break.

Source

[Via http://mobilebloger.wordpress.com]

Video: A Basketful of Live March Madness On the Nexus One

Every time I say I can live without Adobe Flash (s adbe) on my mobile phone, a video surfaces that causes me to reconsider my stance. This time it’s NewTeeVee with a glimpse of the NCAA March Madness tourney on a Google Nexus One over 3G. Using the Flash 10.1 beta, Adobe offered the demonstration along with confirmation that Flash 10.1 will officially hit Android devices within the next three months. Until then, I’m using these mobile methods to catch college basketball, which mostly pale in comparison. The live-stream doesn’t look flawless, but it’s not a slide-show either — not bad for a beta product over a mobile broadband connection right now.

The second half of 2010 is shaping up for quite a video showdown on mobile devices. By the end of this year, Microsoft’s Silverlight (s msft) functionality arrives with Windows Phone 7 devices, although it’s won’t initially be supported in the browser — Silverlight apps like one for Netflix will leverage Microsoft’s video platform. Android (s goog) and webOS devices will have Adobe’s Flash while Windows Mobile legacy devices aren’t getting it after all. And Apple (s aapl) will still hold the line and not allow Flash on the iPhone and iPad. Will it be Silverlight vs Flash vs HTML5 or will there be room for all three on mobile devices?

[Via http://jkontherun.com]

Welcome to droid does games dot com !!

Welcome, welcome, please be seated (which I guess you all should be unless you are reading this in a subway or somewhere with no gravity). I would like to welcome everyone to droiddoesgames.com! Let’s get this out of the way upfront why don’t we? I will pour my heart and soul (wait I think I already sold that to someone else??) into what will hopefully become the most comprehensive resource for everything related to the latest in android gaming. First things first though, I figure that a little background information might be worth your while, and maybe, just maybe, if you bear with me through this monologue of sorts, you will all see my vision and where I hope to take this site.

I am a 27 year old guy with a passion for all things electronics, gadgets, and gaming. I work in the online media industry near NYC for a relatively large publishing company and i have been on board with the  android platform since the Motorola Droid landed on our country back in November of ‘09 (did they really drop ship these puppies from stealth bombers or was that just an ad campaign?). I’ll tell you straight off the bat that I am an Apple fan- I stood in line for the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G, and subsequently the iPhone 3GS, but after three years of loyalty to Apple and AT&T, I decided it was time for something new.  I bit the bullet (and the $200 ETF) and switched over to what some liked to call “the dark side” and picked up a shiny new Motorola Droid powered by our friends over @ Google. It took a little while to get used to:  after all, out of the box, the Droid lacked the polish and finish of the 3 yr veteran iPhone, but I can now proudly say that 5 months later, I am absolutely in love with my Droid. The sky seems the limit in terms of what one can do with rooting, flashing, tweaking, and so on. As it were however, the sky is not the limit in terms of the current state of Android gaming. As we all know, the current crop of Android games pale in comparison to what is being done on the iPhone side, despite some of the rare pearls that we have been blessed with.

I’m an avid reader of engadget.com, gizmodo.com, as well as gaming specific sites like toucharcade.com. and there is no doubt that the iPhone has been compared to the PSP or DS a multitude of times.. and with good reason! But what about Android devices? Where’s the love? Publisher giants like EA Games and Gameloft are cranking out console-quality games for  iPhone OS left and right.. but thus far have left Android in the dust.. This, my friends, is where droiddoesgames.com comes in. I have come to believe that through direct exposure in the interwebs and through a focused, thriving, and highly intelligent (let’s just pat ourselves on the shoulders why don’t we?) community that Android Gaming can really start to boom, and it is through the power of the people that we, the consumers, can voice our opinions, and shout out to the world that WE ALSO have a gaming community, that WE ALSO want high-end games, and that WE ALSO want the polish and effort and details that our iBrothers are benefiting from!

I am therefore committed to bringing to light the best that android gaming has to offer now, along with quality reviews, videos, and latest industry news in order to hopefully accompany the current state of affairs into a new era… and guess what,  I am not alone!, it looks like our friends at Google are busy trying to help the process as well:

“Seven of the ten most popular paid applications on Android Market are games, so there’s a significant opportunity for game developers as the number of Android devices continues to grow at a rapid pace.

To better support this trend, we are increasing our support of Android game development.”

So you see, my friends, I think we are in good shape. I think that we have a bright future ahead of us, and I think that together we can make in impact. Just bear with me while I set everything up- we will have a community, we will have forums, and we will have us some excellent game reviews. I am currently working on establishing a few scales on which to grade games, as well as working on getting some partners on board. Please note that as the site grows (that’s the hope right?) I will be reaching out to active members of the community for potential help with reviewing, trade show attendance, and other fun stuff, so stick along for the ride, I think it will be a fun one… and remember, who says Andy can’t have any fun??

Yours Truly,

droiddoesgaming.com

[Via http://droiddoesgames.wordpress.com]

60,000 vs 90,000

Tim Bray  in his first Advocate post stated a daily sales figure of 60,000 versus iPhone’s daily 90,000 unit sales figure. Now, remember Apple has had 3 years to get to that 90,000 units per day figure.  But, Android has reached 60,000 per day figure in less than 2 years. See why Apple is is scared yet?

A large part of that has been due the hard work of Verizon and Motorola. We as Nadrid Developers shoudl be prepared when it becomes 90,000 Android Devices sold per day later this year.

[Via http://mobilebytes.wordpress.com]

ZumoDrive Brings Cloud Storage And Syncing Application To Android And Palm Devices

File syncing and storage startup Zumodrive is expanding its mobile offerings today with free applications for Android and Palm phones. While there are a plethora of syncing and storage services available to users, ZumoDrive, which spawned from Y Combinator startup Zecter, has a different take on file syncing. Similar to other services, Zumodrive creates a drive on your device that is synced to the cloud. But service includes a slightly different twist-ZumoDrive tricks the file system into thinking those cloud-stored files are local, and streams them from the cloud when you open or access them.

The startup launched an iPhone app last year, which let users sync their content to their phone without having to deal with local storage capacity issues. The Android and Palm apps include much of the same functionality. The apps allows users to sync their entire iTunes library on their phones even though the songs are not locally saved. Plus, ZumoDrive allows you to import your files. photos albums and videos onto your Android and Palm phones.

Additional features include video streaming from ZumoDrive directly to devices in MP4, H.264 format, music organized by artist, albums, and even playlists created on other devices, the ability to stream music in the background and listen to music over both 3G or EDGE networks.

Additionally you can access and view Microsoft Office documents and PDF files.

ZumoDrive has been gaining traction over the past year. Fresh off of a $1.5 million funding round, the startup scored a deal with HP in January to to power the backend of the technology giant’s CloudDrive on all HP Mini netbooks.

Last year, ZumoDrive released a new version of its system that wirelessly syncs playlists between devices, auto-detects content, and lets users link file folders on their devices to ZumoDrive only once so that changes in that folder will always be linked to ZumoDrive. The service was also upgraded to integrate well with media applications, like iTunes, so users can play entire music libraries saved in ZumoDrive on multiple devices without manually syncing content. We initially reviewed Zumodrive here.

Zecter previously launched a product called Versionate, an office-wiki product, that we first covered in July 2007. We wrote about them again a year ago. ZumoDrive faces competition from Dropbox, SugarSync, and Box.net.

via ZumoDrive Brings Cloud Storage And Syncing Application To Android And Palm Devices.

[Via http://liquidtv.wordpress.com]

Awesome Android

Well…. All is well here, it’s been a while since I last posted, but I don’t guess anyone’s been reading anyway. In my previous posts, I’ve been talking about my new HTC Droid Eris from Verizon, and I told that I debated purchasing a netbook from Verizon, but decided to purchase an Acer from Wal-Mart. Well, I’m sure glad I did. Verizon’s netbook costs ~ $100 and then there’s a minimum service addition of ~ $40 per month. Well, with my new HTC Eris and my netbook, I’m able to tether completely free! That’s right, I downloaded easy tether lite to my Eris and to my netbook, and here I am, in the middle of nowhere, making a blog post on my netbook . I spoke with Verizon, and the Eris does not natively support tethering, so they have no way of adding the service to my account. Apparently, lots of Eris users have been able to achieve the same results! Very excited!

[Via http://swrants.wordpress.com]

Keep your Hero locked down...

You’re probably not a Kanye fan, so you probably dont get that obscure song reference, but just humor me.  [insert video of Kanye interrupting Taylor here] “Ima let you finish Apple, Ima let you finish but Android has THE BEST OS this year!!”…

Ok.  That was painful. I was trying to segue into talking about security on the Hero.  I’ll work on it.  I promise.

Security on the Hero.  Do you have any?  Do you even care? I actually find that most people dont.  They find it too much of a hassle to add the extra step of entering in a password every time they access the phone.  To be honest I am one of those people.  It’s just annoying. And frankly, I’ve never felt the need.  I mean its just phone numbers right?  Well yes and no.  With smartphones doing more and more; more and more of our personal information is being stored on them.  Things like our Facebook and email passwords, personal documents, and of course our contacts.  What happens if you lose your phone?  Do we really want all that info easily accessible to a stranger?  I would think not.

So what do we do about it?  Well there are several apps in the market that address the situation.  I will be reviewing a few of them at a later date.  This post isnt about them.  This post is about the built in security on your Hero.  Like I said previously, I am not a fan of entering a password each time I want to use my phone.  Enter the Unlock Pattern.  Have you looked at it yet?  My first thought was “What the heck?”, but now after using it for awhile I see it for what it is… pure genius!

I slide down the screen lock, it takes 2 seconds to slide my finger in my unlock pattern and voila! I’m in.  I can set my phone down and not worry about someone picking it up and snooping.  AND I dont have to remember yet another oddball password!  Have I sold you yet?  Its the simplest thing to set up and use.  Try it.  I’m betting you’ll love it.  JUST DONT FORGET YOUR PATTERN LOL

Ciao!

[Via http://adonistech.wordpress.com]

Mobile Adaptations

Did you know that Soonr can change the mobile UI based on the device used to access it? Ever since its inception our service has had a focus on mobile devices. It’s one of the things that make Soonr so unique. Today we can recognize over 817 devices that access the system with a mobile browser. In many cases, we optimize the user experience based on the kind of device you are using. If you’ve ever tried Soonr on a Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, S60, iPhone or Android phone side by side, you’ve probably noticed the interfaces are slightly different in subtle ways. Each takes advantage of the uniqueness of the browser.

Native vs. Webkit browser UI

BlackBerry browser UI

On a Black Berry we use a more traditional menu link you can click on by moving the cursor with the trackball control.

About a year and a half ago, we introduced the first native Soonr application for the iPhone. It has been very well received and gave capabilities never before seen on a mobile phone. Last year the Android phones came to play. One of the key advantages of the Android OS was its’ openness. Android was designed for developers to be able to add functionality easily and we quickly took advantage of one of those features to enable you to upload and download files onto the phone.

You see, the iPhone has a pretty closed file system. You can’t easily write to or retrieve files from the phone’s memory without going through a very strict program interface. Android is different. Programs have direct access to the storage on the phone. Because of this, it’s easy to download files onto the phone and also upload photos from the phone. We’ve taken advantage of this in the Soonr native application for Android.

Note the "Download" option for the file. You only get this in the Android native applicaiton, not the iPhone.

This is especially useful for cases where you might want a document for offline viewing. Maybe when you are on a plane you’d like to look over a presentation or a sales proposal. With the Android application for Soonr, you can download those to your phone and look them over in places that you don’t have any kind of internet connection. This adds a new level of flexibility to business and persnol users alike.

No matter what phone you or your team members use, Soonr will give you a great user experience. Check out the Soonr for Android application in the Android Market place. Download it to your phone for free and have an easy and robust way to access your Soonr account which is connected to your computers and your team members.

[Via http://blog.soonr.com]

Apple iPhone UI vs Android UI II

You know one of the defenses against Apple bonehead patent lawsuits is offense, right? So what feature. MultiTouch controller code has been posted that is backwards compatible with Android 1.5 and Android 1.6, you will find it mentioned here and the direct download link is here. It is one of the features I will be implementing to differentiate Gallerie form the default Android Gallery application.

[Via http://mobilebytes.wordpress.com]

Finally every thing is right in my world...

It took a week but I finally have Internet again.  Why was is so complicated?  I have no idea, maybe because I switched from conventional AT&T broadband to AT&T Uverse Internet.  All I know is that it took way too long to get connected.  I never realized how much I depend on the Internet.  I watch all my TV shows through Hulu.com or tv.com and I get my news from my RSS Reader.   Talk about a week of feeling out of touch.

On the positive side I did learn how to teether my cell phone (an old G1 running a Cyanogen Mod of Andriod) to my computer, so I was able to do my online homeschool stuff with my daughter.  But it was so much slower than I am used to, so I tried to use that trick as little as possible.

[Via http://whendadstayshome.wordpress.com]

Apple's Patents Prior Art

I wonder how feasible it is for Google since they have not been sued to launch a Search for Prior Art on Apple’s Patents campaign? I do not think they could offer Nexus One’s as direct prizes but I am sure they could come up with other prizes.

But on a good note, all the OEMs attempts at new UIs gets pushed right back in the Google/OH camp to accomplish thus decreasing fragmentation.  Talk about unintended consequences.

[Via http://mobilebytes.wordpress.com]

Engadget

If there’s one thing we’re pretty sure Windows Phone 7 Series will be worse at than its Windows Mobile precursor it’s in the running of various and sundry other operating systems. We’ve seen Android running on seemingly every WinMo handset ever created and more recently Ubuntu has been receiving the mobile treatment. Last month it was on an Xperia X1, now an HTC Touch Pro2 is getting a taste.

A modder who goes by the handle sebbo90 is the one responsible for this, running basically the same technique as used earlier on the X1. It looks quite easy: just download a 200MB zip, extract it to your phone, then run an exe within. A few moments later you’ll be in open source heaven, and, from what we can tell looking at the video below, it works remarkably well. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have to hit up eBay to find a used handset and get hacking.

via Engadget.

[Via http://z3bb.wordpress.com]

Returning the new Motorola Backflip Android phone

Because according to level 4 Motorola support on why I can’t install Google’s own .apk web install app to allow scripting:

due to carrier restrictions the option to enable untrusted sources has been disabled

Guess, what, due to carrier stupidity I’m returning this otherwise pretty nifty phone. I’m also looking to turning off AT&T completely, dumping my iPhone, and going with an android phone.

[Via http://blog.apphacker.com]

Sense UI vs Android UI

For those of you not familiar with HTC’s, Motorola’s, and other manufacturer’s phones running what is called the “Android OS”, here’s a quick rundown of what it is and why the two versions of it are so great.

But first, vocabulary you’re going to want to familiarize yourself with:

Important Terms

• Android OS: Google’s open-source operating system based on Linux and used by cell phone users all over the world
• Sense UI: a user interface designed and implemented by HTC that runs on all HTC-branded phones and the Google Nexus One, laid over the default Android interface
• Android UI: the user interface designed and implemented into the core Android OS by Google, used on all other Android phoness
• MotoBlur UI: a third, less common UI, very social networking-based, for phones like the Cliq, Devour, and Backflip

Phones

• Droid: a Motorola phone for the Verizon Wireless network, one of the most powerful Android-branded consumer phones, with slide-out keyboard
• Nexus One: Google’s first cell phone, running on T-Mobile, one of the most powerful Android phones currently available
• Hero: a popular HTC phone for the Sprint and GSM networks, with the bottom “lip”
• Eris: another Verizon Wireless Android device, running Android v1.6, has a Nexus One-like form factor
• Desire/Legend: two similar HTC phones that have yet to be released; promise to be the best Android phones yet
• Cliq: a Motorola slider phone running on T-Mobile, includes the MotoBlur UI
• Devour: a Motorola slider phone with MotoBlur, coined “the Droid’s little brother”, running on Verizon Wireless
• Backflip: AT&T’s first Android phone, includes the MotoBlur UI and a very unique design

So, what is the Android UI? Basically, it’s what most Android users are seeing on their phones if they have any phone such as the Motorola Droid and Google G1. The real distinguishing feature about the Android UI is how industrial it looks. It’s very clean-cut, uses matte colors, orange highlights, green checkmark and radio buttons, and a lot of silver and dark grey interface elements. Here’s an example:

This is an example of the 2.0 firmware Android lockscreen, found on the Motorola Droid. This is one of the better examples of the Android v2.0 UI’s flashy interface elements.

This shows what the screen on a Droid might look like while docked in a desktop dock. Android v2.0+ has a unique interface when docked that allows users to access, music, photo slideshows, and alarm clock settings, as well as weather, straight from the dock interface.

This is what a typical Android v2.0+ settings menu looks like. As all Android-based interfaces, it is very simple, easy to navigate, and the icon metaphors are east to decipher.

This is an example of the older v1.5 – v1.6 Android interface. Very plain, and sort of feels like an old Linux distribution. Good thing, too, because the Android OS is actually based on Linux.

So all in all, the default Android interface has come a long way from 1.5 to 2.0, and we have yet to see a good many changes come with 2.1 (whenever that is). Maybe not interface-related changes, per say, but it’s very possible that the Droid, which runs Android v2.0.1 and the default Android UI, might get some sort of Sense UI upgrade in the near future.

And now, Sense UI… My favorite. The Sense UI is an HTC-created interface that is laid over the Android system to make it look beautiful. Some people may disagree, but this being my personal blog, if you don’t like the Sense UI, you have no soul, and no sense of great design. Sense is gorgeous. Let me explain.

Let’s start with the lock screen.

It’s simple, it’s elegant, and it’s not obtrusive if you’ve got a background image you want to see when you turn your phone on.

Press the bar and drag down to unlock the phone. This version is the HTC Hero version of the lockscreen. The Droid Eris has more of a curved version of the clock/unlock bar that’s shown above.

This is what a Sense UI phone’s home screen looks like. The icons are a style fitting of the phone, and the bottom bar allows for quick access to applications, phone functions, and settings. The flip clock/weather widget on the top animates when the time or weather changes. Pretty cool. When I had my Eris (before I switched to the Droid), that was my favorite feature.

This is the “new” Sense UI, which people are guessing will be updated later this year. It’s codenamed “Espresso”, and is generally a nicer-looking update to the current Sense UI. As long as it has that widget… :p

So, to close, I hope you learned a bit about the two Android interfaces available to consumers on current Android-based phones. I know I didn’t cover everything there is to know about the UI’s, nor did I explain the (form) features of the phones that factor into the decision to run Sense or not, but that may be for another time. Until my next post.

[Via http://chrisdazzo.wordpress.com]

Motorola Devour Video Review

Motorola Devour jkOnTheRun

This movie requires Adobe Flash for playback.

You asked for it and you’ve got it! The Motorola Devour (s mot) is the latest Android (s goog) phone appearing on the Verizon (s vz) network in the U.S. The Devour has a sliding QWERTY keyboard and a unique side-mounting battery. Motorola includes its Motoblur technology on the phone, which is a unique social network aggregator.

The phone owner’s social networks are easily configured for Motoblur, and once that is done, all status updates appear on the home screen in real time. In the video I show how my friend’s Facebook and Twitter updates all pop onto the home screen as they occur. I also show how well the phone performs with all of this activity.

Our in-depth review contains the details and lots of photos of the Devour.

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Mobile OSs Are No Longer Just About Mobile

[Via http://jkontherun.com]

HTC: We have our own patents

Although not disclosing too much information, HTC don’t seem to be too worried about Apple’s ‘let’s sue because we’re scared’ tactics.

In an article on the Mobile Blog, HTC have said they will protect its’ innovations as creations and that they have their own patents. Google are also said to stand strongly behind HTC on the issue – and why wouldn’t they seeing as they develop the Android system themselves.

Read the full article here

[Via http://desirefanatics.wordpress.com]

View Security Cameras on a Google Android PDA Phone

View security cameras on your Android phone

Our new standalone DVR systems and Alnet PC-Based DVR Systems not only provide the ability to record from your home or business security cameras, but also can provide you with the ability to view your cameras remotely over the internet from a Google Android based PDA phone.  These 2 types of systems have totally different remote viewing capabilities.

    The most basic remote viewing is our H.264 Standalone DVR, this system provides a basic remote viewing through a standard web browser.  This system will load a JPG for up to 4 cameras at once and can be set to refresh the image up to 1 time per second.  This provides you with the ability to watch your camera system from your Google Android G1, Droid, Eris, Hero, Moment or other Android PDA phones.

    Our more advanced Alnet PC-Based DVR Systems provide improved resolution of recording, better remote viewing and enhanced abilities for viewing from your Google Android PDA phone.  This software has an app designed specifically for connecting to your camera system, and can stream live video up to 30 frames per second, playback video from your server, control Pan/Tilt/Zoom cameras or even control inputs and outputs that are connected to the system.  This PC-Based Alnet DVR system consists of a DVR Card and software that will install into your PC and record from the cameras onto your PC and is great for home or business security camera systems.

   Find out more about the features and types of systems that allow you to view security cameras on your Android PDA phone

[Via http://platinumcctv.wordpress.com]

Smartphones for the teeming masses

One of the key questions about where the demand opportunity for high-tech will be is about the adoption of smartphones: what will be their penetration?

One of the important considerations here is the price point:

• we’re already seeing smartphones on the $99 value menu offered to consumers
• a key and closely related question is how much do these smartphones cost, to the network operators who market them, and to the vendors who build them

A news item from DigiTimes, which follows the ODM and EMS community in Taiwan and China closely suggests that prices may be falling faster than (some had) anticipated, heralding smartphones for the teeming masses, rather than just the technological elite.

Prices for Android-powered smartphones are declining at a pace faster than expected due to competition for orders from handset makers in Taiwan and China…

Huawei Technologies has pursued an aggressive pricing strategy to push sales of its Android phones, especially through telecom channels… China-based telecom equipment and handset maker is making a second customized Android-powered phone, the Pulse Mini, for T-Mobile, which will begin to market the model in the UK in April 2010 with an unlocked price [that] represents a reduction of over 54% compared to … its predecessor, the Pulse, said the sources. Huawei began to ship the Pulse to T-Mobile in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Despite the threat from Huawei, most Taiwan handset makers insisted that they will continue to focus on medium- to high-end Android models to avoid fierce completion in the low-end segment.

[Via http://blog.endeavourpartners.net]

Tracking data usage on Android

I haven’t talked here about my new toy: an HTC Magic smartphone which runs the Google Android operating system (version 1.6 for now).  I’ve had it for almost two months and I love what it can do.  For me, it’s better than an iPhone, and it was so much cheaper to boot!

I have one nagging problem: I want to be able to track my data usage at an application level.  There are many apps which will track usage by day, and I can get a good picture of how much data I am using, but not why I’m using it.  Surely this isn’t a new need.  Can someone please point me towards an app that’ll do this?  If there’s an app for this, it’s not easily found in the Android Market or on the web using numerous granular Google searches.

[Via http://steamedpuddings.net]

Fish & Chips

This has been a bad week for water dwelling mammals.  First, at Seaworld, a killer whale named Tillikum allegedly attacked and kills it trainer.  Whats worse, is that it allegedly isnt the first time that this specific whale has killed a human!  A dog would be put down if it even nips someone and draws blood.  I guess killer whales have a 3 human minimum?  More likely Seaworld has some great attorneys.

Second [yes. I know this is a really bad segue.  Just work with me on this one.] I see there is a new update for my Dolphin [see? it kind of works] browser.  So being the geek that I am, I immediately download it, full of anticipatory excitement.  Imagine my immense disappointment when I attempted to run the app after the update.  I say “attempted” to run as I actually have YET to run the app because now it immediately force closes each and EVERY time I attempt to use it.

This really cheeses me off because up till now, I was totally in lust with Dolphin.  It worked beautifully.  It was fast, looked good, and did what I wanted it to do.  Was even planning on making a donation to the developer.  Now, not so much. I have no idea what the problem is.  It dosent give me an error.  It just refuses to open, going right to force close instantly.

So now I’m back to the Android browser.  Which is fine for now. I actually like the stock browser.  Sure its a little slower, and dosent have all the bells and whistles.  It just works.  Right now, thats whats important.

I’ll be evaluating other browsing alternatives probably early next week, as I am moving this weekend.  Till then… Ciao!

[Via http://adonistech.wordpress.com]

“Android” The Boy’s Club Of Smartphones

Android, it seems, may be figuratively stuck in a treehouse with a “NO GIRLS ALLOWED” sign nail to the door.

Google’s smartphone platform has paying attention a disproportionate number of male users, according to a report released today. And in case you think the gender gap is worldwide to all smart phones, Apple’s iPhone actually proved to be fairly female-friendly.

Android and iPhone User Differences

The report, assemble by mobile advertising firm AdMob, is based on a survey of smartphone users around the world. While the sampling isn’t essential 100-percent scientific, it does give some attractive fodder for the always-popular Android-iPhone comparison game.

According to AdMob, almost three-quarters of Android users are male. That’s not to say you have to be a guy in order to succeed as an Android fanboy, of course — but the fellas sure do hold a great majority in Google’s court.

iPhone users, in comparison, are attractive close to consistently divided when it comes to gender. A full forty-three percent of Apple fanatics are female, AdMob finds. Palm’s webOS is a similarly balanced story, with 42 percent of its user base waving the woman card.

(Windows Mobile — er, sorry, Windows Phone 7 Series — wasn’t mentioned in the learn. clearly, its users fall into several undefinable gender category. I won’t ask.)

The Android Gender Gap

So why the gap with Android? AdMob’s psychoanalysis didn’t go into detail, but one could surely speculate that marketing may play a role. The Motorola Droid — arguably the fastest selling Android phone thus far, still with the debut of Google’s Nexus One — has been the subject of a widespread and unforgettable advertising campaign. In addition to the whole iPhone-bashing “iDon’t” thing, the Droid’s marketing has unquestionably revolved around several male-friendly concepts.

From robot-focused commercials toward spots featuring stealth fighter jets, the Droid’s marketing has made its target audience very clear. One ad even famously asked if a phone should be pretty, then went on to bang the iPhone as a “tiara-wearing, digitally clueless loveliness pageant queen.” The Droid, it explained, is a robot — “not a princess.”

Now, will all women be turned off by that type of approach? Of course not; plenty of tech-loving ladies be grateful for geeky stuff as much as any manly man. But it’s hard to deny that exterior of the world of technophiles; the campaign was usually designed to plea to guys. And that may be part of the reason why Android, thus far, is leaning a lot to the boys’ side of the playground.

As the number of Android handsets continues to expand (exponentially, it sometimes seems), I’m guessing this gender gap will grow to be less pronounced. Let’s hope so, anyhow — this three-to-one guy-girl ratio sure doesn’t do a lot for our street cred.

[Via http://technonewsworld.wordpress.com]

HTC Desire 720p video recording?!

An HTC representative has said that the Desire can record video at 720p in a video recorded at the Mobile World Congress.

Now, whether the phone actually ships with the software to record in 720p is another question. Other reports have suggested recording resolutions of WVGA (800×480) but if the hardware can support it then the software will surely follow in a future firmware update.

Start watching from about 3:10 for the HTC Desire talk.

[Via http://desirefanatics.wordpress.com]

Is Android better than the iPhone OS? My personal oppinion

Introduction

Mac OS X is my favorite OS out there so the announcement of the iPhone OS back in 2007 was breath taking for me. I imported the first generation of the iPhone at the end of 2007 and was impressed by it’s intuitive interface and I still am. But there were some features missing like copy/paste or MMS (which I never use.. so it wasn’t something I missed much).

A year later Apple announced a new Version of the iPhone OS and introduced system wide copy/paste, mms and other new features. It doesn’t matter if you like Apple or not, compared to it’s competitors it was a huuuge step forward, NONE of them was able to offer an alternative as good as the iPhone OS.

Of course there were some other phones with touchscreens, some of them even with multitouch but they were laggy or the interface was just crap. On the spec they had better hardware, but with the iPhone Apple has proved that Software is the most important part of a phone, and not a 12Mpx camera or a faster CPU.

Android for the masses

In 2009 Google introduced Android 1.5. I downloaded th SDK and used the emulator to play around with the OS but wasn’t impressed that much after all. There was just not enough eye-candy or features to impress me, not sure what the real problem was but for me it was not an alternative to my iPhone.

During one year, more and more Android devices where released and it wasn’t possible to ignore the fact that Google has built a real competitor to the iPhone, as a technology enthusiast I downloaded the Android SDK and tried Android 2.0 and my first thought was WOW! Android was finally usable (I ignore the fact here that HTC created a really nice Home replacement with its Sense UI).

Motorola Milestone (EU version of the Droid)

After two years with the iPhone I bought the Motorola Milestone which shipped with Android 2.0 after a month Motorola released 2.0.1 which solved many bugs (Camera focus … ). For now I can say I like the device and I like Android, with a few exceptions.

I like it but…

1. Copy / Paste available, but why not in the Gmail application?! Unbelievable this still doesn’t work. So it’s not possible to copy text from an email, that’s really annoying!
2. Copy / Paste is not intuitive at all, here’s the way to copy and paste from a web page: 1. hardware button settings, 2. click on more, 3. click select text, 4. try to mark the text and let’s hope you don’t miss some text! because if you did you can’t change the selection it automatically copies the text if it’s right or not, you have to restart the whole process if you missed something! Compared to the iphone: 1. double tab the text, 2. change your selection, 3. click copy.
3. Market Bug (Motorola specific).. unable to set notifications for new Updates, Market crashes
4. I think the user interface was designed by a developer, not many nice icons, it looks like a huge patchwork, eye candy is definitely missing
5. Way too many settings
6. No breadcrumbs or labeled back buttons; on the iPhone you have this little button on the top left with a label, I mean you can go to settings -> iPod , then the button has the label “Settings” on the android theres just nothing you have to navigate back with the hardware button  on the screen you can’t see your position there’s just a title of the current  screen  … have fun with nested settings … *back, back, back, back, back, back … *

Is Android better than the iPhone OS?

Well we can’t say it’s better or worser than the iPhone OS. Yeah it has some strange behaviours and bugs, but in the end you get an OS which is unbelievable flexible you can replace the default apps and customize the homescreen as you wish, and if you like you can even replace the home app.  And you can change the background of the home screen (take that iPhone!).

But I wouldn’t recommend Android devices to my mother or father, I think they would be overwhelmed by it’s flexibility. All technology interested people with a basic understanding of computers and the WILL to play around with the phone until it fits their needs will be happy with the device, for all others I still recommend the iPhone.

[Via http://blog.lipp.ws]

In Response To "Apple, Google, RIM: Smartphone Shakeout"

The Globe references an article published by TheStreet.com titled, “Apple, Google, RIM: Smartphone Shakeout”. The author, Scott Moritz, opines on the current state and future of the major smartphone players including Apple, Google and Rim.

In his analysis of Apple, Scott mentions AT&T’s network outages suggesting the debacle may indeed tarnish customers’ perception of AT&T. Indeed, I agree with Scott on this point, however, I don’t feel it’s a deal breaker for most average iPhone customers who have modest usage requirements. Scott goes on to suggest “the iPhone is getting stale. Design fatigue will soon set in as gadget fans start to crave something new”.  Design fatigue? According to who? The iPhone remains the most elegant piece of hardware and offers the slickest and most intuitive user interface available today.

Scott goes on to suggest the next iteration of iPhone will require a significant improvement to motivate original iPhone owners to upgrade and to capture new customers. While I do agree that Apple needs to continue to innovate, I don’t believe the next iPhone requires a significant improvement or risk losing customers.  Existing iPhone customer would not simply drop their iPhone in favour of a competing smartphone. For one, the user experience of the iPhone and the ecosystem Apple has developed with the App Store and iTunes provide an extremely compelling reason to stick with Apple, especially if you’ve invested in apps. As for attracting new customers, Apple’s marketing machine will take care of that. Apple has really captured the hearts and minds of consumers with great advertising and with great products such as the iPod and iPhone. Average customers such as families, students, regular people, not tech geeks will have Apple at the top of their list when evaluating a smartphone. Let’s face it….if you want your kid to be the black sheep of the class, send them to school with a Black Berry.

Now, I think it’s important to stress that I’m talking about consumers here, not corporate customers. Apple has never aggressively targeted the corporate market and may not need to. Corporate penetration will occur organically as more and more consumers ask their IT departments to support iPhone. That being said, as a Canadian, I truly hope RIM continues to flourish and succeed in corporate environments. Competition is good for the industry and for consumers, however; I just can’t see them gaining any real traction in the consumer smartphone market.

As for Google, I do agree with Scott that it is still too early to make any predictions regarding the success or failure of Android. Certainly sophisticated users who don’t like playing in Apple’s sand box and prefer Android’s open, albeit, less tightly integrated ecosystem will embrace Android, but are there enough of them to really challenge Rim and Apple? I think we’ll still be having this same debate at the end of 2010.

[Via http://canadalovesapple.wordpress.com]

Steve Jobs hates Google and Adobe even more than I do

I haven’t been a fan of Adobe products ever since Creative Suite became a total pain in the backside to install on a network, and when they took over Macromedia and inherited Flash, I liked them even less. Nor am I a fan of Google, whose laissez-faire attitude to privacy runs utterly contrary to their stated company ethics, and whose Windows software is too often amateurishly designed with support for managed networks either not present at all, or added several months late as an afterthought.

My own distaste, however, pales in comparison to that of the CEO of Apple, as reported by Gizmodo:

“That ‘Don’t be evil’ slogan Google’s known for?… ‘Full of cr**,’ Jobs said, after which he was reportedly rewarded with a big round of applause from the gathered throng of Apple employees… ‘Make no mistake, they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them.’”

The attacks became more specific when it came to Adobe:

“Jobs also criticized Flash for being buggy. When a Mac crashes, it’s usually because of Flash, he reportedly told the crowd. ‘The world is moving to HTML5′, he said.”

I’d have to agree with the first part of his assessment: Flash, along with other Adobe software, has more bugs than a world-class etymologist. I cannot recall a single instance of my browser crashing within the last year that wasn’t down to Flash or Adobe Reader. That said, if a browser plugin is taking down the whole system, Jobs needs to level some rage at his own developers, since the OS should be able to cope with one piece of miscreant user-mode software.

However, the world ‘moving to HTML5′? I think that’s a little premature…

Gawker elaborated on Jobs’ Flash hatred, reporting that he told Wall Street Journal staff that the reason for not including Flash support was that it was obsolete:

Jobs… “called Flash a ‘CPU hog,’ a source of ’security holes’ and, in perhaps the most grievous insult a famous innovator can utter, a dying technology. Jobs said of Flash, ‘We don’t spend a lot of energy on old technology.’ He then compared Flash to other obsolete systems Apple got people to ditch.”

Again, no argument from me on the first part. In the days before dual-core machines, I would regularly see Flash max out a CPU just by having two Flash-based advertisements on the same web page in Firefox (IE was less afflicted since the Flash ActiveX control is more efficient). It got so bad that I started using FlashBlock to whitelist sites I actually wanted to use Flash on, and I’ve been using it ever since.

After that is where the argument falls apart. Calling Flash an ‘old technology’, with the implication that it is obsolete along with the floppy drive and Firewire, isn’t premature, or even just wishful thinking: it’s downright conceited. Jobs is implying that the lack of support for Flash was a design decision, and not a compromise because the extra CPU load would shatter the iPad’s supposed 10-hour battery life. He spent his time with the Wall Street Journal trying to convince them that moving away from Flash to HTML5 and JavaScript would be ‘trivial’, a claim so demonstrably false it’s hard to believe he’s being anything but disingenuous.

Here’s my opinion, and the opinion of most people who aren’t Steve Jobs: Flash is here to stay, whether we like it or not. So where does that leave the iPad and it’s deliberate lack of Flash support? Google’s Android platform, which Jobs claims is out to destroy the iPhone, supports Flash, as does Windows Mobile, and every major desktop OS brower. If the iPad takes off, other manufacturers are bound to copy the form factor, with what I predict will be two major differences:

1. it will be cheaper, and
2. it will have Flash support.

The iPhone and iPad are the odd one out here, yet Jobs seems to be equating the unequivocal success of the closed iPhone/App Store ecosystem with eventual dominance of the entire web. That’s a big leap to make, and not necessarily correct.

Next week, I’ll examine in more detail the different ways I see this one playing out. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a quote from a Wall Street Journal op-ed, written shortly after their meeting with Jobs. It’s a description of Apple that would have seemed ludicrous a few years ago, but is now becoming increasingly familiar:

“A company preoccupied with products is in danger of becoming a company preoccupied with strategy. And by ’strategy’, we mean zero-sum maneuvering versus hated rivals. Oh well, it’s a fallen world we live in.” – Holman Jenkins.

[Via http://angrytechnician.wordpress.com]

Tēnā koutou, androiders!

Hello there!

I ‘m sure you know blogging is a hard thing to keep up with and can become very tiring and boring unless you have something interest to say or have an interesting topic to talk about. I’ve decided to give blogging another go. My topic is gonna be this green little fellow.

In the last months, I’ve begun to play around with Google’s Android SDK, in a very “on–and-off ” fashion unfortunately, to learn to develop and deliver applications for the Android mobile operating system.

The purpose of this blog is to write down everything I learn, do, find on the web, etc. related to Android and to help myself to keep the thing “on” I will try to keep myself from addressing other themes and will try to make Android the center of the universe of this blog.

Like my programming teacher once said to me:  ”If I say it to you, you’ll forget; if  I explain to you, you will remember; but if you write it down.. you will understand“.

So here I go again.

[Via http://androidwillbitetheapple.wordpress.com]

Android: Returning values from a custom Dialog

Context:

Cases which involve using a custom dialog to capture user input, may require the captured data to be passed back to the displaying activity. The following describes exactly this… how to pass back data from a custom dialog to the displaying activity.

ps – by custom dialog we mean a custom class that ‘extends Dialog‘.

Solution:

Step 1 – Define custom interface

// step 1 - to return values from dialog public interface OnFooEventListener { public void fooEvent(int fieldOne, int fieldTwo); }

Step 2 – Declare the above interface as a field member

// step 2 - to return values from dialog private OnFooEventListener onFooEventListener;

Step 3 – Add it to the custom dialog constructor

// step 3 - to return values from dialog public FooEventDialog(Context context, OnFooEventListener onFooEventListener) { super(context); this.context = context; this.onFooEventListener = onFooEventListener; }

Step 4 – Call it within the view object’s event listener, (in this case a radio button)

Button btnOk = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btnSet); btnOk.setOnClickListener( new Button.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { // step 4 - to return values from dialog onFooEventListener.fooEvent(fieldOne, fieldTwo); dismiss(); } });

Overview – So the class should look something like the following

public class FooEventDialog extends Dialog { // step 1 public interface OnFooEventListener { public void fooEvent(int fieldOne, int fieldTwo); }

// step 2

private OnFooEventListener onFooEventListener;

// Other member fields

...

// step 3

public FooEventDialog(Context context, OnFooEventListener onFooEventListener)

{ ... }

@Override

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)

{

// other stuff

...

Button btnOk = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btnSet);

btnOk.setOnClickListener( new Button.OnClickListener()

{

@Override public void onClick(View v) { // step 4 - to return values from dialog onFooEventListener.fooEvent(fieldOne, fieldTwo); dismiss(); } }); } }

… That’s all there is to it.

Wa’Allahu A’lam !

[Via http://ibnaziz.wordpress.com]

So EXCITED!

Via Yahoo! News:

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion on Tuesday introduced a new browser for its devices, which runs on WebKit, the rendering engine behind Apple’s Safari browser. The New BlackBerry browser is touted as easier and faster to use, and will be available later this year.

The Internet browser on BlackBerry devices has been lagging behind competitors such as Google Android, Palm’s WebOS and Apple’s iPhone. But faced with consumer pressure, Research In Motion bought Torch Mobile last year, a browser-design firm, to pursue its competitors in the race for the best mobile browser.

The new WebKit-based BlackBerry browser was showed scoring 100 percent in the Web-rendering Acid 3 test, and can handle AJAX, CSS and HTML5. The browser can also pan, zoom and scroll through websites loaded, and RIM claims that it’s more network-efficient than other mobile browsers.

Last year it was rumoured that the new BlackBerry browser would support Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight, though this has not been mentioned in Tuesday’s announcement. Adobe announced this week that it will launch the AIR platform for the Google Android OS, and RIM devices are expected to be next on the list.

RIM has been very allusive though on availability details for its new browser, which is expected sometime later this year. It is unknown yet whether it will come as part of an updated BlackBerry OS or whether it will come as a downloadable upgrade from its website or the BlackBerry App Word.

I am beyond EXCITED for this. I like that RIM is focusing a bit more towards the “non-business” aspect of the BlackBerry.

[Via http://nickydoo.wordpress.com]

Giveaway: Android Decals

Today we are featuring some very cool vinyl Android decals made by David Lindberg. Please check his site out for all of you custom printing needs.

Android Decals: 1 Large $6 & 2 Small $6

Contest Rules:

Must be resident of the United States

Follow DailySmartPhone on Twitter and/or fan DailySmartPhone on Facebook

Leave a comment on the Youtube video by following this link.

Contest will run through Feb 21st and the winners will be announced the following week. Good luck.

—Mitch

[Via http://dailysmartphone.wordpress.com]

HTC COMES OUT BLAZING!

At MWC 2010, technologies and innovations concerning the present mobile market are numerous and fun. HTC comes out blazing with three new phones to show off. They three’d them! Haha…ha. Ha.

HTC Desire

A Close Relative to the Nexus One

Do you desire this multi-touch, 3.7″ AMOLED equipped phone? Do you lust for its 1 GHz Snapdragon processor? Do you desire Android 2.1 with Sense UI? Do  you long to feel its optical touchpad? I do.

HTC Legend

The HTC Hero's Evolution.

Legends use legendary things, right? The older HTC Hero has been upgraded. It is now thinner and lighter (low-carb diet), faster (agility training), better looking (tips from me) but still featuring its heroic signature, the Android chin. The AMOLED display is sure to make you stare, 384 MB of RAM for speed, and 600 MHz of processing power is nothing to scoff at. Android 2.1 with Sense, you won’t miss anything with the Legend.

HTC HD2 Mini

The Beast Shrunk

Last but not least. Well, maybe in size. HTC has decided to come out with a smaller version of their beastly HTC HD2 phone.  The screen of course is smaller resolution, and the processing speed of the device is smaller, but not really noticeable with everyday tasks. Although this runs Windows Mobile (hopefully 7 in the future), the Sense UI is still there and this phone looks pretty nice as well.

Conclusion

I have always liked the design and performance of HTC phones. With their new hardware and software innovations, it’s not hard to see them as one of the top brands in mobile phones. I am down for doing a review, no, multiple reviews if any of you decide to get me one of these phones. You know you want to.

[Via http://threemythoughts.wordpress.com]

Adobe brings AIR to Android, promises Flash 10.1 in the first half of the year -- Engadget

 

Adobe brings AIR to Android, promises Flash 10.1 in the first half of the year

By Vladislav Savov posted Feb 15th 2010 7:16AM

Convergence has always been a big theme in tech, and its focus at MWC this year seems to have landed firmly on procuring an application platform that is OS-agnostic. Earlier today, we heard of the big carrier cabal intent on slaying the beast that is multi-platform development through cooperation, but if you ask Adobe the answer is much simpler: just slap AIR on your phone. The company’s grand vision of the future sees AIR as the facilitator of a "feature-rich environment for delivering rich applications outside the mobile browser and across multiple operating systems." If that sounds like your cup of tea, it’s now available on Android and there are a number of cool demo videos at the DevNet link below. As to Flash Player 10.1, that’s also heading to Android, to be completed within the first half of this year, while also including support for WebOS, Symbian, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices. We all know who’s missing from that party, but Reuters reports Adobe has expressed confidence that Apple will "eventually bow to market pressure" and join in on the fun as well. We shall see. Video of AIR apps running on the Droid awaits after the break.

Adobe brings AIR to Android, promises Flash 10.1 in the first half of the year – Engadget

Technorati Tags: Android,Mobile,Engadget

[Via http://bryan646.wordpress.com]

BUZZZZZZZZZZZ!

So I wake up one day to find my buddy, Nakoolt, emailing us about this new Google Buzz! This is what Google had to say:

“Share updates, photos, videos, and more.

Start conversations about the things you find interesting.”

Maybe this is their way of saying: “Bring it on twitter!!!”  Definitely is an interesting and some-what cool app, but the current issue being privacy of your “buzz”es! Although it has been fixed by Google, I am still finding my way around it and trying to figure it out. Now you can customize who to share your “buzz” with.

Lets see if this new product can take over twitter, or better yet, collaborate and build something stronger!!

I’m using it on both my Android and Gmail Pretty sweet!

[Via http://crazydq8.wordpress.com]

Android PMD 5

PMD 5 comes with some new additions to the Android Rules and a nice new features in that you can define a rulest and stick outside the pmd.jar unlike PMD 4. Thus for an ANT target you have:

pmd report generated and transformed to html

[Via http://mobilebytes.wordpress.com]

Techno & Mobile Episode 13 Februari 2010

Kelahiran operating sistem (OS) ponsel Android harus diakui telah menggairahkan kembali persaingan pasar ponsel dunia. Berbagai vendor kembali bersemangat melahirkan ponsel baru mereka dengan menjajal OS baru tersebut.

Selain ponsel Android, Anda juga akan menyaksikan teknologi baru dalam perangkat televisi. Tidak ketinggalan ikuti juga liputan techno event juga tips dan trick membuat email Anda serasa chatting.

Saksikan Techno & Mobile, sebuah program yang menyajikan topik hangat seputar dunia inovasi, gaya hidup serta teknologi gadget yang tayang pada Sabtu, 13 Februari 2010, pukul 13:30 WIB hanya di Metro TV.

[Via http://technomobile.wordpress.com]

Are iPhone OS and Chrome OS both walled gardens?

I find it very amusing when I read the latest iPad and Apple critics talking about Apple and their “limiting” iPhone OS, and how it keeps the user trapped within a walled garden. It is very difficult to hold back my laughter when they in the next sentence endorse Chrome OS as if you have full freedom when accessing it.

Let me give you a very brief non-technical example.

When I got my iPod Touch (G1) I could take it out of the box and start using it right away. I did not have to connect it to the Internet or login. I turned it on and I was using it.

Lizzie had the same experience with her iPhone 3G. She started using it the second we exited the store. Did not have to login to some fancy web site or anything. Turned it on and started using it right away.

Sounds too good to be true, right?

As far as we know now, to login to Chrome OS you need a Google account; which probably means you need access to the internet, right? Hang on, how is this more freedom compared to the iPhone OS?

Sure, it might be easier to get root access if you are running Chrome OS, but they are forcing you to have a Google account? I am not so sure I like that.

Of course you need an iTMS account to access the App Store, but that is only when you are downloading applications. You do not have to login to Apple to access your iPhone or iPod Touch.

I would love to see how people would react if you had to have a certain Microsoft account to access windows; now that would make a few people see red, right?

In the end, it does not matter how you look at it, both might be “limited” to certain users, but in the end if some users do not care about these limits, let them use it for fudge sake. Stop whinging and moaning about the competitor. I am actually more interested in hearing why you like what  you use, not why you hate what you do not use.

I am also playing the devil’s advocate here, but please leave your opinion at the bottom.

[Via http://randomoid.com]

Google Buzz-Kill; A tool for Thieves and Rapists?

Earlier today Google released Buzz, which I happen to love so far. But I noticed something after I posted my first Buzz. Something I found actually quite disconcerting; unless you disable your exact location, Google’s Buzz will post your address. Imagine a complete stranger having your home address to do with what they please.

Now, let’s take a little step back into internet history with a site we have all come to love or hate, Craigslist. Craigslist was great when it first started to get some tickets, sell stuff, buy used equipment, etc. (which I still use a lot btw) but it has now being used by many thieves for scams like these two examples here and here.

A problem I can already foresee on Google’s Buzz, it crooks or rapists seeing a location that you are at when you Buzz about something. And having seen an older one of your Buzz’s locations, these people could possibly find out where you are at and look at older Buzz’s which now they have the address to your home. In turn they could clean out your house  if they find out you are on vacation or at a meeting in another city.

For the female Buzzer, a stalker could view your photo on one of your Buzzes, and if attracted, they could conceivable track you down to the location you are currently at and follow you home. This could be particularly dangerous if you are walking home alone from an event you just buzzed about.

My suggestion: use the location map when Buzzing around town but not with a specific address, otherwise, you can surely expect the unscrupulous to provide you some  unexpected company or become an uninvited treasure seeker into your home to grab your belongings while you are away on vacation – selling your items on Craigslist of course.

[Via http://fonefrenzy.com]

Apple PROHIBE la palabra Android.

Parece ser que a Apple le llegan los problemas y ya sabemos que cuando vienen, lo hacen de par en par.

Tras la presentación de su esperadísimo iPad, la frialdad del “dia después”, que sus datos financieros no hayan sido los mejores en su historia en estos días atrás, que Android esté pegando fuerte, hace que la empresa de la manzana mordida, se ponga nerviosa, bueno, no la empresa en si, pero seguramente su capitán, Steve Jobs si y es que, puedo leer una noticia que me parece un tanto surrealista, pero que me hace reflexionar y publicar este artículo. A modo de resumen:

Google promociona un concurso, en el que una aplicación destaca, se llama Flash Of Genius si, la palabra Flash pone muy nervioso a los de Apple y termina siendo finalista y muy aplaudida, esa aplicación llega a la App Store, que en principio es aceptada, pero de buenas a primeras, la palabra Android, que sale en la reseña de la misma, previo aviso a los autores por correo electrónico,  es cambiada por “erroneous”.

Parece ser que Google y Apple tienen una “guerra a tumba abierta”, los de la manzana, quieren integrar Bing en su futuro iPhone, con lo que Google quedaría al margen, algo que parece que no ha sentado muy bien y el caso, es que aparantemente no hay una norma que impida a los desarrolladores mencionar a la competencia, pero con la fuerza que está cojiendo Google y su Android, me temo que esto no será lo único que suceda entre estas dos mega empresas.

¿Que será lo siguiente?. No dudes que en MUY PERSONAL os lo contaremos.

Fuente.

[Via http://distrito.wordpress.com]

Barnes & Noble Nook Gets Update Today..

Looks like the Barnes & Noble Nook will be receiving an update today. The upgrade is suppose to speeds up the Nook. The update should role out on it’s own over the air. But if you cant wait for the update you can update it manually here.

Also check out the video at the bottom.

The update consist of:

• Enhanced in-store seamless connectivity to enjoy free Wi-Fi, with More In Store content promotions exclusively for Nook owners

• Improved opening of eBooks and ePeriodicals

• Improved response to Reading Now and Settings buttons

• Current reading page and bookmarks on all eBooks are properly saved when you power your Nook off

• Eligible LendMe eBooks in your library have LendMe flags

• Easier navigation of daily subscriptions with issues rolled into one folder

• Improved “back” button functionality for navigating eBooks and ePeriodicals

• Personal files downloaded and displayed in My Documents can be sorted by author and title

• Overall system improvements and battery optimization.

Source: Gizmodo

[Via http://androidfeens.com]