Thursday, December 30, 2010
Nintendo Issues Health Warning to Parents: Beware of the 3DS
To be on the safe side, stick with the regular, 2D, Nintendo DS.
Source(s): Yahoo
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Five Steps to Cut the Cable/Satellite Cord and stream, Stream, STREAM to your TV!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Verizon's Red Brick Road to LTE. ATT Right behind.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
After-Christmas Sales Start Early Morning On 12/26
OC Register gives you a sneak peak of the the deals that will be available, as well as links to a few of the retailers' circular ads.
Wake up early, because most stores open their doors at 6am!
Sources(s): Raycom, OC Register
Friday, December 24, 2010
The Coolest, Most Useful App? Word Lens
Currently, it's only available on the iPhone, but Broadband Genie is reporting that it will eventually be released on Android (and included in the upcoming Nexus S). Go ahead iPhone fanboys, keep bragging to the Android fanboys while you still can!
Source(s): Broadband Genie, YouTube, Quest Visual
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Do you really need 4G?
Source(s): PCMag, lifehacker
iPhone 4 on Verizon? Yes!
We're pretty sure Apple has no plans of announcing the iPhone 4 on Verizon any time soon -- at least not till next year. Since Apple doesn't do trade shows, it's unlikely that anything will be announced at CES. According to Beatweak, Verizon will have a keynote, but chances are, anything this huge, must definitely be announced by Mr. Jobs. This should give Verizon extra time in getting their LTE network setup, and developing upcoming LTE smartphones. With Android rapidly gaining market share, Apple's got to make a move.
Source(s): Beatweak
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Tuesday, December 21, 2010
4G hungry San Franciscans: December 28th, Save the Date
Monday, December 20, 2010
Nokia N8 ... Powered by Windows Phone 7 OS?
When Nokia hired Microsoft Exec Stephen Elop September of this year, I knew some big changes were coming up for the mobile strategy of both firms.
Nokia, suffering from a corporate structure that is resisting change by resting on the laurels of its global featurephone domination, needed a facelift. Suing Apple wasn’t really doing it for the Finnish company’s powerhouse image. Nokia had a leading edge OS – Symban S60 – in the N95, but that was back in 2007. Nokia is now essentially last in line in the smartphone race.
Microsoft on the other hand released a seriously depressing device – the Microsoft KIN. Was it the marketing, was it the feature set, was it the delivery? Nobody knows completely, but we’re all on the same page -- that it bombed.
Nokia has excellent hardware device construction. They’ve made some of the best devices of our modern age, cramming some serious electronics into our palms, featured in films and music.
But, they could really do with a single OS line (right now they’re befuddled with Symbian^3, Meego and Maemo).
Microsoft on the other hand could do with a solid, dedicated hardware partner and some customers for their refreshed OS -- Windows Phone 7. They’ve developed a fantastic device but just frankly too late to the game. Anybody who would have gotten a Windows Phone (like Ian and I) waited so long that we lost hope and jumped ship to Android earlier this year. Sure, Microsoft has teamed up with Samsung and HTC to offer some fantastic devices -- but these manufacturers are goaled on moving devices, and are uncaring to whether they carry Android or Windows Phone 7. With the Android share numbers that we're looking at right now, wonder what the big wigs with the ROI pitch-books would do.
Going back to where I started this article and the hint of the image that’s been circling the internet; there is a lot of value in an alliance between Nokia and Microsoft. Great hardware + software = awesomeness. Nokia has a ton of featurephone customers who will upgrade to a smartphone when LTE (true 4G mobile network) becomes daily coffee and data plans become much cheaper. When they’re ready to switch, Nokisoft will be ready for all those consumers. @ 40% of global mobile consumers, that’s an amazing place to be.
Let’s find it all out during CES 2011. Keep checking back, wannabetechie!
update1.1: some blogger just commented that even though this could be a perfect stopgap measure, it is very likely to be warded off as 'loony' as Nokia has the same stringent control patterns exhibited by Apple. See the rant/post here. You make the decision.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Chrome OS Pilot Program: Deadline to Apply is December 21st
Apply here:
http://www.google.com/chromeos/pilot-program.html
Make sure you're over 18 and do it by December 21, 2010.
Source(s): Engadget, Google
Nexus S With Gingerbread: The Latest Specs
Connectivity
* Quad-band GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900
* Tri-band HSPA: 900, 2100, 1700
* HSPA type: HSDPA (7.2Mbps) HSUPA (5.76Mbps)
* Wi-Fi 802.11 n/b/g
* Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
* Near Field Communication (NFC)
* Assisted GPS (A-GPS)
* microUSB 2.0
Display
* 4.0" WVGA (480x800)
* Contour Display with curved glass screen
* Super AMOLED
* 235 ppi
* Capacitive touch sensor
* Anti-fingerprint display coating
Size and weight
* 63mm x 123.9mm x 10.88mm
* 129g
Hardware
* Haptic feedback vibration
* Three-axis gyroscope
* Accelerometer
* Digital compass
* Proximity sensor
* Light sensor
Processor and memory
* 1GHz Cortex A8 (Hummingbird) processor
* 16GB iNAND flash memory
Cameras and multimedia
* Back-facing: 5 megapixels (2560x1920)
* 720 x 480 video resolution
* H.264, H.263 MPEG4 video recording
* Auto focus
* Flash
* Front-facing: VGA (640x480)
* 3.5mm, 4-conductor headset jack
(stereo audio plus microphone)
* Earpiece and microphone
* Software noise-cancellation
Battery
* Talk time up to 6.7 hours on 3G
(14 hours on 2G)
* Standby time up to 17.8 days on 3G
(29.7 days on 2G)
* 1500 mAH Lithum Ion
Software
* Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
* Android Market
* Calendar
* Gmail
* Google Earth
* Google Maps with Navigation
* Google Search
* Google Talk
* Google Voice
* Voice Actions
* YouTube
Source(s): Google
The Next Generation of Smartphones
One of the biggest changes we saw was a move from Pentium to the Core architecture (Intel). A lot of people were confused with the technology shift. Core Solo, Core 2 Solo, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo etc. A lot of words, often confusing. Basically, think of a core as an engine. Double (or triple or quad) them up and it's like having a bunch of engines inline. A significant improvement in power. There was a significant performance different when the number of cores doubled.
Fast forward to today and that same shift in technology is coming to smartphones. BGR reported last week that LG just revealed the first dual core smartphone.
I'm excited to see how the operating systems will take advantage of this leap in technology. We're just a quad core processor (4 cores) and an improvement in low power good brightness display technology from seeing super computers in our palms.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Streaming and the Cloud: Is this for you?
What's this article about?
- I don't want to watch this 1080p movie on a 14" laptop. Hold on, what the heck is 1080p! Why does my home video look grainy on my TV? I don't want peas in my soup!
- iPads don't do gameday.
- I don't really want to connect my laptop to my TV with a thingamajigga mumbo jumbo to save a few dollars
- What's streaming? What is this cloud thing all about? I don't like clounds n e ways because they cause rain.
- An internet connected TV like this Samsung LN46C series TV
- A network blu-ray player or sound system
- *Home media connectivity device like Boxee, Roku or Apple TV
- **Gaming system (limited streaming services)
Xbox Live | Vudu | CinemaNow | Amazon VOD | iTunes Store | |
SD (480p) | n/a | 3.99 | 3.99 | 3.99 | 3.99 |
HD (720p) | n/a | 4.99 | 4.99 | 4.99 | n/a |
HD (1080p) | n/a | 5.99 | 4.99 | 4.99 | n/a |
SD Purchase(480p) | 16.99 | 9.99 | 15.95 | 9.99 | 14.99 |
ABC TV Shows on Netflix
- Grey's Anatomy
- Brothers & Sisters
- Desperate Housewives
- Lost
- Ugly Betty
- Scrubs
- Reaper
- Phineas and Ferb
- Good Luck Charlie
- Hanna Montana
- The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
- The Suite Life on Deck
- Wizards of Waverly Place
- Greek
- Make it or Break it
- Melissa & Joey
- The Secret Life of the American Teenager
- High School Musical
- High School Musical 2
- Camp Rock
- Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam
- Beauty & the Briefcase
- Avalon High
- Revenge of the Bridesmaids