Technology & Business
Nexus 7 dock will be released January 10 2013
Nexus 7 tablets flew off the shelves for Christmas and now customers are eager waiting for the device's official dock from ASUS. One of the US' largest and most respected online retailers (B&H) has listed the dock for pre-order with an expected availability date of January 10th 2013 (list price of $39.99). There is no guarantee this prediction is real and we may be left wanting and waiting even on Jan 10. Update on 2013-01-06 01:40 by Edward N Kiledjian B&H has now updated the ETA for January 16 2013.
Review of the Google Nexus 4
I recently had the opportunity to play with the incredibly in demand and very hard to get Google Nexus 4 phone and wanted to share my point of view. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive review but rather a quick summary of the positives and negatives. There is a reason why the Google Nexus 4 is sold out in most Google Play stores around the world. It is a great phone at an incredibly competitive price. The device The Google Nexus 4 is a solid and well built device that won’t disappoint.
IOS piracy site Installous down and out
Many IOS jailbreak evangelists complain that piracy is actually hurting their mission but statistics show that most IOS jailbreakers do it to access pirated content. Cydia itself doesn’t distribute pirated content but allows you to access other application repositories that make it possible to install pirated content. The king of IOS piracy, the Installous repository run by Hackulous, seems to be down. The official message on chat boards is that the site has been shut down because it is a “ghost town”.
Android's Adult only app store has legs
It’s a well known fact that Google is much more permissive with apps it admits to its app store, compared to Apple. But some content is too hot even for the open minded folks at Google, enter MiKandi. As an Android user, you can use any app store you want (the most well known are Google’s Play app store and the Amazon App store) and now can choose the MiKandi app store for all your adult needs. They want to become a broker connecting adult content developers with likeminded customers.
Time to switch from IOS to Android?
I am not an Apple “fanboy” but have been buying their mobile products since the release of the original iPhone. Every one of their products has excellent design wrapped in art. Their devices are as beautiful to look at as they are to use. But over the last year, there have been little irritants that motivated me to explore other options (Apple’s demand for absolute control, lack of innovation with the iPhone 5, Apple rejecting interesting hardware for vague reasons, etc).
Apple losing its customer support edge
ForeSee, a business analytics agency, is reporting that Apple lost 3% during a holiday period customer survey. Even with the slide, Apple still ranks as one of the best when it comes to customer satisfaction. How was it calculated FireSee surveyed 24000 customers from US thanksgiving to Christmas. Interestingly this is one of the biggest drops ForeSee has seen in years and it is Apple's lowest score in 4 years. Why ForeSee CEO told AllThingsD that "The luster of Apple is fading a bit, and keeping up with consumer's rising expectations is no easy task.
Motorola + Google may be working on a special Android phone
The Wall Street Journal is reporting [based on unnamed sources] that Motorola engineers are working on a super secret special project called the "X Phone". The industry rumor says that this special device is being built in collaboration with their masters (Google). The goal is to build a super phone that would rival the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy devices. Many have said this could be the device that raises Motorola back to mobile phone greatness. With the limited info, we really don't know what to expect so we'll just have to wait and see.
Google terminating Activesync support for general public in January
Google is a giant lab and every once in a while we see a list of projects that the sultan of search (aka Google) has decided to kill off. As part of its winter cleaning program, we learned that it will terminate public support for ActiveSync (for all but paying customer using Google Apps business, Government and education). Google will grandfather existing accounts with ActiveSync but will not allow new accounts to use it (past January 31 2013). As a workaround, Google recommends users leverage IMAP (mail), CalDAV (Calendar) and CardDAV (Contacts).
Use your dSLR as a (cheaper than) Lytro alternative
I remember first reading about the (at that time) Lytro camera and was excited about being able to change a picture's Depth of Field after the picture was taken. It meant less shots would get wasted and you could snap a picture almost instantly (since there is no focusing). The $400 photography revolution that isn't I am convinced Light Field Technology will revolutionize the consumer photography market in a couple of years. What we have now is first generation and therefore there is plenty of room for improvement.
D-Link PowerLine AV+ Mini Adapter Starter Kit (DHP-309AV) Review
WIFI Convenient but slow WIFI is a wonderful thing and makes our lives that much easier. Even with the latest and greatest technologies, WIFI is often slow and unreliable compared to a wired network. Interesting real world tests conducted by Epitiro show that a WIFI connection is on average 30 percent slower than a wired one. You're not going to wire your iphone, Android or ipad and browsing the web on WIFI works well enough but the minute you start playing games, streaming video, using HD video chatting or other service that requires low latency high bandwidth connectivity, you'll feel the pain of WIFI.