technology
Corning Gorilla Glass 3 50% thinner and more scratch resistant
Corning is the purveyor of fine screen glass for many a manufacturers (ipod, ipad, iphone, Nexus, etc). It has now announced the creation of its next generation product, Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3. It will be thinner, stronger and more scratch resistant than its predecessor. It will retain its magical strength even when scratched (which is rarely the case for glass). Gorilla Glass 3 will be showcased at CES and should make it into your favorite 2013 gadget. Stronger, more scratch resistant glass is always a good thing for the road warrior business person.
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).
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.
It may be time to check out Outlook.com if you use gmail
Full Disclosure I have been using Google Apps for some time now and it has proven to be reliable, fast and easy to use. December 7 2012, we learned that Google was killing off its free Google Apps offering and forcing new customers to its $50 a year Google Apps for small business offering. They said existing [free] customers will be grandfathered but who knows what the future holds. Truth be told, the one service I really use is GMAIL and Drive.
Could Google maps for IOS be released tonight?
AllThingsD is reporting that Google Maps for IOS may launch as soon as tonight on the Apple AppStore. Their information is provided by a "trusted inside source" so take this with a grain of salt. I'll believe it when I see it but I hope the rumor it correct. Update on 2012-12-13 13:34 by Edward N Kiledjian Google Maps for IOS was released just before midnight yesterday and I have been playing with it a little.
2012 Interesting Twitter Statistics
Every year, the analysts and engineers at tweeter crunch all the tweet data for that year and present interesting trends. They then compile this wonderfully interesting twitterified data into a special site where anyone can go and explore. Click on the below image to see the full size version They have broken down their findings into these categories (with the twitter description for each) Golden Tweets: The top two Tweets that generated the most Retweets for the year, plus honorable mentions for a few others that caught attention around the world.
Samsung announcement at CES 2013
On December 6 2012, I wrote an article about the rumors surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S IV. Samsung isn't wasting any time and has started teasing the public, encouraging us to "get ready" because "something new" is coming. Samsung has released a teaser video which doesn't clarify anything. We know CES 2013 is taking place January 8-11 so it is possible we will see a couple new devices announced there. The reality is we don't even know if these teaser is related to a mobile device but we can all hope.
Securely format your hard drive
Many readers will buy new computers and laptops during the upcoming holiday season and some wil sell their older products. For the security minded, nothing is more important than protecting your personal information so here is a quick suggestion on how to securely format your hard drive. Formatting your hard drive is the only way to ensure your personal information is unrecoverable by the new owners. This advice applies to anyone that is using a mechanical hard drive (aka not an SSD).
Google Nexus 4 can LTE in select US locations
By all accounts, the Nexus 4 is a benchmark for other OEMs building Android devices. It is a beautiful, fast and intuitive device. The biggest complaint most customers have is the inexcusable lack of LTE. Imagine our surprise when it was reported that some Telus customers were able to force their phone onto the carriers band4 (AWS 1700 / 2100MHz) LTE network. Now users on XDA Developers have made similar claims in the US where AT&T uses the AWS 1700 / 2100 MHZ (Phoenix, Raleigh, San Juan, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Chicago, Athens, etc.
Pandora shows some love in Australia and New Zealand
Pandora has been available on the desktop in Australia and New Zealand but Pandora has now announced that its radio stations are now fully available in those countries. What is interesting is that this is the first time Pandora has offered its full service portfolio outside of the USA. This also means the Pandora Android and IOS apps are now available for OZ and Kiwis (downloadable from the app store).
Canadians hate the 36 month mobile phone contract
The CRTC is considering to create a national code for wireless services and had asked Canadians to provide input. A total of 1043 submittions were presented. It seems the most common complaint was the 36 month cell phone contract term that Canadians find excessive and that it stiffles innovation. The CRTC used twitter to thank participants and asked their followers to check back January 28th for the draft version of the code. CBC articled entitled "
Kindle store comes to Canada
As a Canadian north of the border, we have had to rely on the US Kindle store until now. This meant we had a US centric portal with limited Canadian content and all transactions were conducted in US$. Amazon has finally opened a Canada flavoured version,were Canadian authors are prominently shown and we can pay in our own currency. Too bad we still can't get the full Amazon experience (many of the products sold in the US are not yet available in Canada, we can't buy the Kindle Fire HD, we don't have Amazon Prime, etc).
Save $50 on a Kindle Fire HD 8.9" today only
The Kindle is a fantastic device if you live in the US and have access to its ecosystem. Well now Amazon is giving you one more reason to buy one [today], you get a $50 instant rebate on the already cheap Kindle Fire HD 8.9" tablet. Use the coupon code FIREHD89 during checkout. I first spotted the deal on the Kindle Twitter account: