Adobe Upgrades Flash, Aiming to Prove Jobs Wrong

Adobe prepares update for its flagship product, Flash. The new version, Flash 10.1, supports touch screens and is especially aimed to improve performance on mobile devices. The company says that it runs videos more smoothly, uses less battery, thus extends battery life and takes advantage of faster mobile processors. As company has earlier announced, 19 of 20 largest handsets producers plan to offer Flash on their devices. Google's operating system, Android, is used by about dozen smartphone manufacturers, and Flash will be available on Android devices by December.
There is a bad side of this: Flash videos won't run the same way on all handsets. Much depends on mobile processors and graphic chips. Slower chips will result in larger battery consumption.
Apple's ban on Flash causes huge issues, for example for advertising companies, because most of ads are made in Flash and they just don't run on iPhone, iPod or new tablet, iPad. I think that consumers will decide whose strategy is better. Will Apple's stubbornness and consistency in maintaining its devices without Flash for better performance prove better? Or maybe other companies like Google will success with their openness for new untested technologies. 

Source: Businessweek
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Smartphones Drive Handset Sales

Cell phone and particularly smartphone industry is booming and growing very fast - reports Gartner research group. Global sales of mobile phones in first quarter of 2010 went up by 17%. The report says that sales reached 314.7 million handsets and were notably driven by sales of white-box phones (cheap, unbranded devices) in India. New prediction expects sales to rise around 14%. Smartphones had a big part in the overall sales accounting for 17.3% compares to 13.6% last year. Smartphones has also achieved a large rise of 49% (54 million handsets sold worldwide), which is the greatest annual increase since 2006.
The best results had RIM, Apple, and Google at the expense of Nokia. Nokia, the world's largest producer, has maintained its fist place, but lost market share, falling from 36.2% to 35%. While company's middle class phones sold well, Nokia evidently lacks a good high-end phone. Research in Motion, the BlackBerry producer, placed itself in the top five vendors worldwide thanks to good smartphone sales with global market of 3.4%. Apple also did a good job reaching seventh place due to iPhone sales, which have more than doubled. Google again has proved its great strategy and noted fourth place on the global market with an enormous increase from 1.6% to 9.6%.
I think that this report shows that my thesis about the market and smartphones becoming very popular is correct and we will see even better results soon. The video above also proves some of mine statements, for example one concerning AT&T network.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, BBC, Reuters
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Garmin-Asus Garminfone

The connection between a smartphone and a personal navigation device is becoming better and stronger with new device from Garmin and Asus, called Garmifone. The author of the article says that is the best mix of navigation and smartphone ever created. I partly agree with him, because the device is really nice looking and has almost all features of an ordinary smartphone, but it is mostly aimed for navigation. We can see Garmin's (well-known producer of PNDs) influence at a first glance. Although the device is runing on Android, the home screen is different from all Android based phones, because it has three big icons, and two of them are connected with navigation, while one is just for calling. There is also a bar with favorites that can be extended to regular menu by sliding a finger. The phone is equipped with 3 megapixel camera, which offers descent quality pictures.
I think that this smartphone is made for people who travel a lot and either like or have to use navigation frequently. The phone isn't perfect, but it is a step forward in connecting a PND and a smartphone.

Source: Engadget
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Verizon to offer 'up to' five LTE handsets by next May, Android tablets from HTC and friends

I found another news connected with carriers upgrading their networks, but this time Verizon. Verizon plans to launch up to 5 mobile phones compatible with LTE, which is high speed network, considered 4G (4th generation network) by May 2011, which exactly a year from now. It means that the company may release from zero to five phones, because everything depends on phones producers like Motorola, HTC or RIM.
The company is also planning on releasing more than tablet. We have already heard about Verizon supposedly working with Google on Android based tablet. Furthermore, Verizon plans to release tablets from companies like Samsung, LG and Motorola.

I don't think that those devices can compete with iPad, but healthy rivalry is always a good thing. Verizon is also trying to compete with other wireless carriers by their plan to upgrade network to LTE, which is what AT&T is going.

Source: Engadget, Reuters
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AT&T to cover about 250M people with HSPA+ by year's end

While smartphones producers fight over shares in the market and develop their products, wireless carriers aren't sleeping and are adjusting to rising demand for data transfers. AT&T, one of the biggest carriers in the U.S. plans to provide HSPA+, high speed wireless network to 250 million people in the U.S. by the end of 2010. HSPA+ allows transfers between 7.2 and 14.4 Mbps (megabits per second). AT&T decided to take this step before upgrading its network to LTE, which is very high speed network, which is close to 4G.

AT&T has strong competition, because other giants like Verizon or Sprint are upgrading their networks as well. The most important thing is that users hopefully will benefit and that network won't be as overloaded as it used to be.

Source: Engadget
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Adobe targets Apple in ad campaign launched today, publishes open letter from founders

Adobe has launched a campaign to change Apple's mind about Flash. The campaign includes advertisements like the one above, a website promoting the idea with facts about the Web ("truth about Flash"), and an open letter from Adobe's co-founders. The letter doesn't say anything about Apple or Steve Jobs, but it is obviously aimed at the iPhone producer. The campaign is a response to Jobs' criticisms on Flash and the company's refusal to use Flash on its devices. The letter discusses the open market and the freedom of choice for users:
We believe that consumers should be able to freely access their favorite content and applications, regardless of what computer they have, what browser they like, or what device suits their needs. No company - no matter how big or how creative - should dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web.
When markets are open, anyone with a great idea has a chance to drive innovation and find new customers. Adobe's business philosophy is based on a premise that, in an open market, the best products will win in the end - and the best way to compete is to create the best technology and innovate faster than your competitors.
We believe that Apple, by taking the opposite approach, has taken a step that could undermine this next chapter of the web - the chapter in which mobile devices outnumber computers, any individual can be a publisher, and content is accessed anywhere and at any time.
In the end, we believe the question is really this: Who controls the World Wide Web? And we believe the answer is: nobody - and everybody, but certainly not a single company.

It is a interesting move from Adobe, but in my opinion it unluckily it won't be successful, because Apple is unlikely to change its mind so easily. Apple probably new all these facts before and knowingly just ignored them. The company is sure that other technologies like HTML 5 will help in the future, but they don't have solution for the present situation. On the other hand, what this campaign is trying to achieve is to turn people against Apple and rise more complains on Jobs' company from users. The results will be visible soon.

Source: CNET, Engadget, Adobe
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The GM Android Car: Coming Soon?

Google is talking with General Motors about connecting Android smartphones and GM's OnStar car service. Although both Google and GM decline to comment, the connection would truly beneficial for both sides. Ford and Microsoft has already created something similar, called MyFord, but it is a little less developed than the planned Android system. Android would allow to control a car to a larger extent, for example it would let user start up or stop engine, unlock the doors and adjust other in-vehicle settings. The OnStar navigation system would also benefit, because the current one shows only turn-by-turn direction and Android could use its own GPS maps. 

It sounds really impressive and would be profitable for both companies, and what's more important for users as well. It would increase safety on roads, because as it is in MyFord the user will be probably able to control the phone by voice, and the car would for instance read text messages. Unluckily, the confirmation from either companies will come not sooner than 2011.

Source: Motor Trend, PC World
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Verizon and Google Developing iPad Rival

Verizon, the biggest carrier in the USA by subscribers, is working with Google on a tablet computer. Verizon's CEO said that the company wants to compete with AT&T, which is the carrier for Apple's iPad and Amazon's e-reader, Kindle. Google declined to comment on this announcement, it just said that anyone can use companies software in order to produce phones and other mobile devices. Verizon mentioned that the tablet will be possible available next year, when the company installs its faster network. We know one thing that Verizon and Google have been working together on smartphones, so their further cooperation may result in creation of a tablet. Both companies have rivals to compete with and that is Apple and AT&T.

But what does this mean for customer? It means alternative for the iPad, especially for people who don't like Apple. It will probably have new features, not seen on other tablet, so it enriches the offer on the fast growing tablet market.

Source: The Wall Street Journal
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NPD: Android ousts iPhone OS for second place in US smartphone market

First results of Google's strong promotion, good strategy and effective carrier distribution has just appeared. Google is second on the smartphone market in the United States. It is placed behind the strong leader, RIM, but it has moved ahead of Apple for the first time. According to NPD, a market research company, RIM maintained its domination on the market in Q1 2010 with 36 percent, and that's partly because of the BlackBerry 6 announcement. Android, thanks to all these things that I wrote about, like Flash, new innovative smartphones has jumped ahead of Apple reaching 28 percent. iPhone OS is on third place with 21 percent.

NPD has also presented that there was overall drop in mobile phones sold, and therefore the price of devices has gone up. However it doesn't apply to smartphones, because their price has an average of $151 and has noted a 3 percent decrease over the past year. This proves my thesis that smartphones are becoming cheaper and more accessible for masses.

Source: Engadget
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ARM Powered Android LEGO Rubik's Speedcuber

I found again an interesting piece of information concerning mobile processors. It is commonly known that solving Rubik's cube isn't very easy and takes usually a lot of time. Of course there people who can solve it in minutes, but computers are even faster. The video above shows a Lego set made from Lego Mindstorm NXT pieces powered by Motorola Droid, running on ARM Cortex A8 processor (550 MHz) and Google Android operating system. The machine solves the cube in amazing 24 seconds.

The video presents the power of ARM processors and Android OS. I think that it could possibly used as promotional material by both companies. I know that it is not connected with my topic to some extent, but ARM which provides chips for smartphones is an actual leader on the market, so it has to promote its products, because other companies like Intel are interested in this market. It indirectly shows increasing competition on the market.
UPDATE: Seems like video has been deleted so I'm putting up a picture.

Source: Engadget
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Intel Updates Its Atom Microprocessor

Intel announced yesterday a new Atom processor series called Z6xx. So what's new about? Atom processors has been traditionally made for netbooks, but now the new version will be also used on smartphones and tablets. Microprocessors for mobile devices has been made mostly by ARM, producer of popular and powerful Snapdragon chip. The Atom Z6xx is based on a new platform called Moorestown, which as Intel claims is much more powerful and energy-efficient. The company says that they have boosted performance while lowering power consumption. It resulted in up to 50-fold consumption reduction in the standby mode. The calculating speed has been boosted to 1.5 GHz on smartphones and up to 1.9 GHz on tablets. The Z6xx microprocessors will bring 3D graphics and what's shocking, possibility for playing 1080p HD videos.

It sounds impressive, but the information that Intel provided might not be completely true, because it hasn't been actually tested on portable devices. Of course the new processor brings variety to the market and we'll see if it will be able to compete with ARM, Apple or Nvidia.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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Survey says: most teens don't have a data plan, almost all send texts

Survey made by Pew Internet Research group shows that new Microsoft Kin phones may fail. Kin phones that are made particularly for teenagers who love social networking will be available online tomorrow and in Verizon stores on May 13. According to the survey only 23 percent of American teenagers form 12 to 17 use social networks on their phones, while 72 percent of them uses their cellphones for texting. Microsoft may think that it is a great idea, but as we see from the survey, Kin phones probably won't find much popularity and many users. Especially that the data plan costs $30 per month and obviously not every parent is willing to pay price that high. Another thing that might not be appealing in Kin phones is that, games are not supported on these devices, and as the survey has shown 46 percent of teenagers uses phones for playing games. The survey shows also other interesting information presented on nice graphs. I think that Microsoft should have looked at the survey before releasing phones. On the other hand who knows, maybe Kin phones will fill the niche in the market and gain popularity.

Source: Engadget

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Shakira's 'Waka Waka' official song for World Cup

"Waka Waka - This is time for Africa" performed by Shakira has been chosen an official theme song for the soccer World Cup 2010 in South Africa. I listened to the song on YouTube and I can't say I liked it, because I'm not a fan of this type of music, but I overall I don't think it was very bad.
Song triggered off some protest. Local musician are offended that some Colombian singer is performing this song, instead of an African artist. I think that the are partly right, because they are hosting the World Cup and would like to present their original culture.
I couldn't find any information confirming that "waka waka" means something bad in one of African languages. But if this is true, it is obviously an inappropriate title for the song.

Source: City Press
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The H.264 Encoding Boom

Steve Jobs announced last month that Apple doesn't need Adobe Flash on its mobile devices and that the company has substitutions to Flash videos. He basically meant HTML 5 videos with H.264 codec. H.264 is a more modern format and that is why it is supported on Apple devices. Jobs believes that this the future of Web videos, and we have sufficient grounds for thinking so too. Based on Encoding.com data that is presented on the graph above H.264 is becoming more and more popular format. Encoding.com is a company that encoded over 5 million videos over the past year for many websites like Nokia or MTV. The company believes that the graph represents Web in general and they are right. 40 percent of all videos on the Web are YouTube videos that are available in H.264 format.

It's good that Apple is looking to the future, but I think they should concentrate a little bit on the present situation.Right now 70 percent of Web content is Flash based, and Apple doesn't have solution, so there are many complains. On the other hand, maybe it is not worth to come up with something for now, because the technology is developing so fast that we will see HTML 5 in very near future. 

Source: TechCrunch
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Microsoft Cancels Innovative Courier Tablet Project

Microsoft has cancelled a tablet project called Courier. The project was almost completed and it was in its late prototype version. Courier is rather a booklet than a tablet, because it has two 7 inch (or so) screens that with the iPhone like home button between them and it can be closed like a book. The prototype is very innovative and compelling, because it can be controlled by both fingers  and pen. Multi-touch screens support flicking, drawing, writing, and multi-touch gestures.

It's a pity that the project is being cancelled, because it is really innovative and would be  appealing for customers. It would also be a great rival for Apple's iPad, but maybe that's also the reason why it is not supported any more. Microsoft probably thought that iPad's launch was too strong and that the tablet market will become to crowded soon.

Source: GIZMODO, MobileBeat

Skyfire for Android streams Flash video

New mobile browser for Android has been released, and what is so innovative about it, is that it is the first mobile browser that supports Flash videos. Skyfire 2.0 (that's how it is called) is basically a typical Webkit browser, with an exception that it plays Flash content by translating the Flash code into the HTML 5 code, which allows to play videos. What's more Skyfire is adjustable to our needs, because it sets resolution and video quality for the best performance on the Android phone. Indeed, as CNET reports videos played smoothly and without lagging. In addition to this it has a special bar with buttons that allow easy searching for similar content, and easy sharing pages on social network websites, like Twitter or Facebook. It will also support multi-touch pinch-zooming on phones with Android OS 2.0 or higher.
Obviously, the browser has some disadvantages. It is only beta version, so it sometimes crashes a browser tab, doesn't play interactive Flash content like games or Flash-build menus. Skyfire CEO says that the company will releases a version of its new browser on BlackBerry 6 as soon as it emerges. There is another rival for Skyfire, and that is Opera, which is a really fast browser. Opera is already available on iPhones and Skyfire admits that it has intentions to release a version for iPhone but certainly without Flash support. Skyfire 2.0 with Flash support puts Android ahead of other smartphones, and will bring Android more popularity and satisfaction for the users. It also brings more heat in war over the smartphone market.

Source: CNET, MobileBeat

BlackBerry OS 6.0: What we know so far

Research in Motion announced its new operating system BlackBerry 6. The company said that it will be available some time third quarter this year without any particular dates. At  WES 2010 (wireless Enterprise Symposium) RIM provided a sneak peek of the new OS. A video presenting multi-touch features like pinch to zoom was shown. Some new features are cover flow in media player, new WebKit-based Web browser with support of tabs, or easy social networking.
One really good thing that RIM wants to do, is to make BlackBerry 6 backward-compatible. It means that it will be supported on the older models for example those without touch display. This is what Microsoft haven't done with its upcoming Winodows Phone 7 Series. I think that RIM made a  very good move, because we can see that the company cares about its customers. Unluckily, we'll have to wait couple months to see how this new OS actually functions and looks like.

Source: CNET, AppleInsider

Nokia launches first open source Symbian phone

Nokia plans on releasing first Symbian 3 phone, N8. It will have multi-touch screen with support of gestures such as pinch to zoom, or flick scrolling. Whats impressive about this model, is its 12-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and an optical sensor. Obviously with this type of camera it can record high-definition videos, and capture high quality pictures. There is 16GB of internal storage and it supports microSD cards up to 48GB. Of course it has apps available to download from Nokia store, called Ovi Store, which can be compared to Apple's Appstore or Google's Android Market.
Symbian 3 is a very good step forward for Nokia. New operating system allows personalize user interface with applications and widgets. It is open source and thanks to Nokia Qt software it makes much easier for developers to write apps. I think that Nokia made a first step to compete with the best smartphone producers on the market. As somebody said Symbian 3 is evolutionary, but not revolutionary and I agree. It is not very well developed but it is fundamental for the future version. This OS will help Nokia remain the producer of the world's popular smartphone OS, Symbian, and it will be able to compete with iPhone and Android phones.

Source: InformationWeek, BBC

Ban on iPad in Israel has been lifted after a technical scrutiny. Apple's new tablet was banned, because the Ministry of Communications declared that the iPad may interfere with other wireless devices. Couple iPads that had been brought from abroad have been confiscated and now are going to be returned to their rightful owners.
The same issue now occurs in South Korea, where the iPad hasn't been yet approved. Before the official launch, the device has to be tested for interference with other electronic devices. In Korea this is not only done for iPad, but also for other devices.
On the other hand I think that the ban in Israel was strange and mysterious, because the Ministry of Communications justified the ban with the interference standards set by European regulatory agencies. It is weird, because none of European countries have banned Apple's tablet. It is difficult to determine whether it was aimed at Apple or not, but one fact is sure. Apple will gain more customers and make higher profits.

Source: InformationWeek, Telegraph.co.uk

Lake Oswego centenarian loves her first computer

A 99-year old woman, Virgina Campbell, says that iPad has made it possible for her to read and write again. She got iPad on her birthday from her daughter and son-in-law. She has glaucoma, so it has been very difficult or even impossible to read  before. She says that it is iPad backlit screen and adjustable fonts that allowed her to read again. She has never owned a computer before and Apple's table is her first computer type device. She also started writting poems on her new iPad, one of them praises Apple's device.
This is another prove how useful is iPad for people with impaired vision. That is also why iPad is supported by the National Federation of Blind. Apple brings computers to people that have been unable to use them before. Because of the simplicity of the iPad it is accessible not only for people with vision problems but also old people. As it is commonly known old people have difficulties with learning and absorbing new things, and Apple makes it easier for them.

Source: KOIN

Adobe scraps work to bring Flash apps to iPhone

Adobe will cancel the development of the Flash-apps-on-iPhone technology. It is a response to the Apple's ban on generally speaking tools that may be used to play Flash on Apple devices by easily converting code to iPhone compatible, like recently released Adobe CS5.
Mike Chambers, Adobe's principal product manager for the Flash platform said: "The primary goal of Flash has always been to enable cross browser, platform and device development." He also mentioned that "this is the exact opposite of what Apple wants. They want to tie developers down to their platform, and restrict their options to make it difficult for developers to target other platforms." Adobe is considering legal action against Apple.
Apple responded that they have substitution to Adobe's Flash. It is HTML 5, CSS, JavaScript, and H.264, which allow to perform basically similar actions to Flash on Apple devices.
Adobe has an ally that is willing to cooperate, Google. Both companies are working on bringing Flash to Android devices. The progress is satisfying. I think that Google will gain advantage over Apple. There have been many complains on Apple that their devices are missing a part of Internet, because of the lack of Flash support. The competition is becoming more stiff.

Source: CNET

The Apple earnings lift — not always what it seems

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Investors responded to Apple's announcement about financial results in second quarter, and Apple's stock gained almost 6 percent today. Apple has closed on Tuesday at $244.59 and opened today at $258.79. The stock price varied a little during the day reaching a maximum of $260.25 and closed at $259.22. This the biggest one-day increase since May 2009.
Analysts say that it would be a good sign if Apple's shares haven't been already so high. They also analyzed computer companies that had 5 percent increases after releasing financial results and showed that usually stock price rose about 1.9 percent over the following week.
Analysts also found out that if shares are at least 10% over their 50-day moving average, the stock price tends to go down. It doesn't bode well for the investors, because Apple share are traded now at about 16.3 percent over the moving average.
I think that the stock price will stay at the same level or slightly increase this week. We can also see that iPhone sales are propelling this increase. Apple's shares in cell phone market are rising and iPhone is becoming a popular device outside the United States.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Apple has another record quarter, posts $3.07b profit

Apple has noted a record revenue and net profit this quarter ending March 27. The company reached revenue of $13.5 billion and profit of $3.07 billion. That means 49 percent larger revenue than last year in the same quarter and an astonishing 90 percent increase in profits over the prior March quarter results.
The revenue this quarter is the highest ever in non-holiday quarter. iPhone sales recorded 131 percent unit growth from March quarter a year ago and were the highest ever. The company has also achieved a huge increase in international sales.
I think that as Steve Jobs said, customers have enthusiastically responded to revolutionary iPad and that iPad sales contributed to this record in a large extent. iPad sales were higher than the company expected. Also iPhone and iPod has taken part in this record. iPhone is still incredibly popular and stays on the top of smartphone market. So does iPod, which is one of the most popular MP3 players.

Source: Apple, Engadget

Dell Mini 5 Coming To T-Mobile And AT&T?

Dell is planing on releasing smartphone or you would rather say tablet, because of its big size, called Dell mini 5. It has been confirmed that the device is coming to AT&T, but it is also possible that it will available in T-Mobile.
Dell Mini 5 owes its name to huge 5 inch touchscreen that has resolution of  800 x 480. It features a powerful 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, 405 MB RAM and only 1.63 GB internal storage, but there is also possibility to extend memory with microSD cards. The device is another phone that runs Android operating system. So as we can see Android is becoming more powerful and popular, which means that Apple's iPhone OS is getting a serious rival.
Dell Mini 5 offers very good multimedia experience. It has 5-megapixel camera that is able of capturing pretty good, high quality videos and pictures. Watching movies is also a pleasant experience, because of its big display and the smoothness with which the device plays 720p videos.
The phone is big compared to other device of this type, so it may look weird while holding it and talking. It is also probably uncomfortable keeping it in a pocket or generally carrying it.
It will be available later this summer.
I think that Dell Mini 5 despite some disadvantages is a great idea, because it fills a gap in the market. It is between a tablet and a smartphone, so it is sort of unique and for example can compete with both iPhone and iPad. As I mentioned is a good alternative to Apple devices.

Source: PC World, Engadget

Apple's iPad war on Adobe and Flash

The war between Apple and Adobe has escalated with the release of iPad. Applications developers who are going to write programs for iPad have to sign an agreement with Apple which mentions that applications can be written either in Objective-C, C, or C++ and that code has link directly against the documented APIs (API is application programming interface which is a protocol that makes the applications compatible with the device) and can't link through intermediary translation or compatibility layer or other tool. But what this basically means is that using Flash is prohibited.
When iPhone first showed up, Steve Jobs explained that the device won't be compatible with Flash, because Flash is buggy and causes many crashes. This excuse is reasonable, because processing power is limited on a mobile device, and performance is more important.
Even though this might seem a foolish move made by Apple. Adobe is growing very fast, 75% of all websites is Flash based, 70% of online games run on Flash, 75% of video websites are played with Flash including giants like Hulu and YouTube. These numbers show how powerful and popular Adobe is. So I think that refusing to use this technology is stupid and the only one who suffers is the user. If Adobe still continues growing, Apple may even lose customers. There have been many complains on iPhone OS devices because of not supporting Flash. In my opinion Apple should solve this problem as soon as possible and become "Flash compatible".

Source: The Guardian

HTC Droid Incredible Officially Lands on Verizon April 29

There is new Droid coming up in Verizon later this month. It comes from HTC and is called HTC Droid Incredible. It features Android 2.1 operating system, Sense User Interface, 8-megapixel camera, and 3.7 inch AMOLED display. It also has a powerful 1 GHz processor.
HTC's sesnse user interface is useful, because it allows the user to customize and personalize the phone and makes the interface "visually pleasing." 8-megapixel digital camera offers photos and videos of higher quality than for example Nexus One or HTC Desire. There is also a very handful feature that allows the user to pinch anywhere on the homescreen to see thumbnails to the open pages.
Thanks to these functional features navigation is much easier than many competitive phones like Nexus One that also runs on Android. This phone enriches HTC's line of Android phones and gives some variety in Verizon offer. But essentially it is a CDMA version of HTC Desire, so it might not be good enough to compete with upcoming iPhone 4G.

Source: PC World

After iPad, Rivals Offer Variations on a Theme

As soon as iPad, Apple's new tablet, appeared in sales, other companies started thinking about their own devices. These tablets, generally called slates, are characterized by low-cost, capability, low weight and thickness and the lack of physical keyboard.
Google and H.P. are preparing their versions of slate in response to iPad. H.P.'s slate is said to have camera and ports for other devices like mouse. Google plans to release Android based tablet that would a rival to iPad. There are couple reasons why Google has chosen Android instead of its other computer operating system, Chrome OS. Chrome is made only for browsing web and Android is already fully developed platform having features very similar to iPad.
What makes Google tablet attractive are company's popular services like Google Books, Google Reader and Google Voice., and the fact that it is going to be more like computer, which means much more functional.
There are also rumors that Nokia, world's largest cellphone producer, plans on making its own slate. 

Google probably won't be as successful as Apple, but it will bring competition and rivalry to tablets and e-readers market. Apple will keep lead, but with an opponent behind Apple will have to improve and develop its product. Free market with competition is always beneficial for everybody, and especially customer.

Source: New York Times

Apple's iPad Brings Easy Reading to the Blind

Apple received support from the National Federation of Blind for its new tablet, iPad. The device is accessible for the blind people, because of VoiceOver feature. VoiceOver enables easy navigation through menus.
Usually e-readers are useless for the blind, and the idea of portable books, magazines, and newspapers is appealing. Apple's iPad maybe a very useful device for them, because it allows to read easily, and in contrast to other e-readers, navigate easier. For example Amazon's Kindle is adjusted for the blind, because voice integration for all text, but the navigation is a complete failure. A blind person using Kindle needs, another person who can see to turn pages or generally navigate through menus.
I think that Apple had truly gained trust and support of many people, especially blind by this one feature. This is a great option that allows blind people to use e-readers, which are a really good invention. Visually impaired people are now one step closer to become ordinary people.

Source: Forbes - blog

Hands-On: Can Kin Phones Make Microsoft Cool Again?

Microsoft unveiled two new Kin phones. Kin Phone One and Kin Phone Two will be available in the US in Verizon next month and in Europe in Vodafone later this year. They price is still unknown.

Apple Confirms IPad Wi-Fi Issues, Suggests Fixes

First issues with iPad, Apple's new tablet, has been reported by the users. Problems concern the Wi-fi connection that is said to not work or be suddenly dropped. Apple confirms that the issue may exist and suggests some solutions.

Browser Exploit Brings Jailbreak to the iPad

We didn't have to wait much until Apple's new tablet device, iPad attracted hackers' attention. It lasted only one weekend and today a group that is the author of a method of jailbreaking iPhone, jail broke iPad. They used an exploit in Web browser Safari to gain root access to the device.

Analyst estimates 700,000 iPads sold Saturday

Apple iPad's sale has started this Saturday and it exceed many expectations. The estimates introduced by Piper Jaffray Gene Munster say that including presales Apple sold 600,000 to 700,000 of the new iPads. It is twice more than senior analyst predicted.

A different kind of company name

Today Google announced that it has officially changed its name to Topeka as a response to Topeka's rename earlier in march (my post). The company's official blog says that company didn't know how to honor the city in Kansas for the name change, but today on April 1st Google Topeka finally could repay for it.

YouTube redesigned its website and made it visible to users today. Google's video sharing website has introduced new design in January and has been developing it since that time. The new design serves two purposes. The first one is that the new interface is simpler and cleaner and therefore more friendly for the user. The second aim is to convince people to watch more videos, stay longer and potentially never leave.

Ask a Nuclear Physicist: What Exactly Did the L.H.C. Do Today?

Today, at CERN in Geneva in the Large Hadron Collider scientists produced an enormous collision of two proton beams setting new world record. The new record of energy created in the collision is 7 tera-electrono-volts. It is 3.5 times more than the previous record achieved in Fermilab, a collider near Chicago.

New iPhone Could End AT&T's U.S. Monopoly

Apple wants to release a new version of iPhone, but not for an exclusive current carrier, AT&T. The company plans to change the carrier from AT&T to Verizon, which offers faster network, CDMA, while AT&T uses older one, GSM.

New Nvidia Graphics Card Pushes the Edge

On Friday, Nvidia presented at the PAX East gaming festival in Boston, Massachusetts two new graphic cards from GTX series. GTX 470 and GTX 480 work on company's new Fermi architecture. New graphic cards are supposed to bring the best gaming and multimedia experience.

Today, at the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver competitors at the Pwn2own competition successfully hacked the most popular browser. Safari running on Snow Leopard on a fully patched MackBook Pro, Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox on Windows 7, and iPhone were exploited.

Obama Twitter account 'hacked by Frenchman'

On Tuesday, a French hacker was arrested on a charge of hacking Twitter accounts belonging to notable people, for example Barack Obama. He was arrested after a long operation which lasted for months and was carried by the French police and FBI.

Branson spacecraft completes test flight

Today, the maiden flight of the world's first commercial spacecraft took place in California over the Mojave Desert. The spacecraft, VSS Enterprise, carried by a carrier plane successfully completed its first flight - announced Virgin Galactic. The owner of the company, British millionaire Richard Branson has dreamed about bringing space flights to people and now his dream is slowly coming true.

Today, SanDisk announced a new microSDHC memory card of enormous capacity of 32GB, twice larger than currently available. MicroSD cards are used mainly in smartphones, because of their size (these cards are about the size of a dime and are 1mm thick).

On Firday morning, at 5:20 a.m. local time in Geneva scientists have established a new record in energy in LHC (Large Hadron Colider). Physticists accelerated proton beams at 3.5 TeV (tera-electron-volts), which is the highest energy level ever reached in the LHC. They are planing to colide two these beams to achieve an enormous 7 TeV collision, that is half of the collider's maximum energy.

Hubble 3D (2010): The Universe Up There

Hubble 3D is the latest IMAX production and it is basically about the space mission made by space shuttle Atlantis and its seven member crew to repair and modify the telescope. The movie features narration by Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie was directed by Toni Myers and is distributed by Warner Bros Pictures Distribution.

It's Official: Facebook Rules the Web

Last week Facebook was ahead of Google in Internet visits in the U.S. reaching 7.07 percent of all visits and beating Google, which achieved 7.03 percent.

Internet Explorer 9: An Early Look

Microsoft released an early version of Internet Explorer 9. It doesn't look like a web browser, because it's not even a beta version, but it just gives us some hands-on experience with the new browser's engine. Microsoft emphasizes speed of its new product and indeed we can see progress that the company made.

Robots Compete in New York City!

The First Robotics Competition happened in New York City at Javits Center on March 12 through March 14. Kids from NYC had their chance to show robots they built and compete in a battle.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered a new energy source that uses nanotechnology and therefore can't be seen with the naked eye.

Google finally added bicycle routes to Google Maps, but it is undeveloped, because it provides direction only in 150 cities and covers about 12,000 miles of routes.

Meet PlayStation Move, Sony's PS3 Motion Controller

During 2010 Games Developer Conference, Sony announced its new product, PlayStation Move. The PlayStation Move is a motion controller that looks like a wand with a colored bulb at the end.

Google Tests TV Search Service

Google is testing new search service that will connect the television and the Internet. The new service will allow Dish Network users to search online content for videos or shows from sites like YouTube. It will run on Internet-connected set-top boxes, that will have Android operating system.

Panasonic 3D TVs Arriving This Wednesday

Panasonic announced that it plans to start selling 3D HDTVs later this week. New TVs will arrive to Best Buy stores around the United States and the event beginning sale will be at Best Buy on Union Square in New York City. Panasonic has lower the price of the new model about 50% compared to its price in Japan.

YouTube to Offer Captions on Videos

Google plans to add two new features to YouTube videos: automatic captions and automatic timing. These options are aimed to help people who are deaf or hearing-impaired and also people who want to watch videos in other languages. On Saturday at the press conference in YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California, Google's software engineer presented new features and talked about reasons why Google wants to invest in this project.

Google Android Phones Can Now Search With Written Gestures

Google introduced experimental application for Android operating system, that enables searching the content of the phone using handwriting instead of typing in keyboard.

Topeka 'renames' itself 'Google, Kansas'

Bill Bunten, Topeka's mayor has temporarily changed city's name to Google. The purpose of the rename is to attract a Google project of ultra-fast broadband Internet connection. The city from March 1 will be known as Google, Kansas for a month.

Today, Apple sued HTC, the smartphone maker from Taiwan, which is the largest dealer of phones with Google's Android opertaing system. Apple accuses HTC for stealing its 20 patents, and applying them in phones like Nexus One, which is designed and sold by Google.