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]

Android App NBA Digital Time

Android App NBA Digital Time

NBA Game Time, based on the popular live scoring app introduced last season, adds several new features for the 2009-10 season along with a stunning new look.

In addition to live scores for every game, this official NBA paid App lets you listen to live home and away game radio broadcasts and watch NBA TV video recaps.

Download via Sendspace

[Via http://justinide.net]

Coptic Agpeya - Android App

Source:  http://coptic-android.blogspot.com/

Newly released Coptic Agpeya App, the first Coptic App for Android.

It contains the complete Agpeya (Coptic Orthodox Book of Hours) for you to use when your are on the go. They would be happy to receive feature requests, bug reports (via csshenouda@googlemail.com).

Planned Features:

• - Improved text formatting
• - add French, German, …
• - more liturgical books

You can get it from the Android Market!

Screenshots

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

Android Widget Weather v2.9

Android Widget Weather v2.9

**default skin changed b/c HTC’s complains, change the skin to whatever you want using the build-in skin downloader and installer**

3.4 – weather icon in landscape clock widget

** Please note EXCLUDE THIS FROM TASK MANAGER KILL ALL LIST **

This version has Flip Clock Weather widget.

Download via Sendspace

[Via http://justinide.net]

Prototype Android Tablets with NVIDIA Tegra 2

Well hello there beautiful Tablet. Haha no not the IPad. It seems with the very high disappointment of the IPad people are looking for a Tablet that can really do the job? At least Android will have Flash….. Ha.. In the video bellow you will see two tablets running the Nvida Tegra 2, one in resistive and the other is capacitive touch screen. They both seem to be running Android 1.6, with a 1ghz snapdragon Processor, and both devices have no Multi Touch. Lets hope that they pull thru and put a ground breaking tablet together.

[Via http://androidfeens.com]