Software
Apple iPad, no thanks!
Jan 27th
From looking on Gizmodo, Engadget and other sites, mostly Twit Live, I came to the final conclusion. You let me down Apple. You have fun with that device. Thats just gonna be another thing I will never own unless you can impress me with the developed apps that are coming, but honestly. I don’t want this at all, let me count the ways!
- Big, Ugly Bezel
Have you seen the bezel on this thing?! It’s huge! I know you don’t want to accidentally input a command when your thumb is holding it, but come on.
- No Multitasking
This is a backbreaker. If this is supposed to be a replacement for netbooks, how can it possibly not have multitasking? Are you saying I can’t listen to Pandora while writing a document? I can’t have my Twitter app open at the same time as my browser? I can’t have AIM open at the same time as my email? Are you kidding me? This alone guarantees that I will not buy this product.
- No Cameras
No front facing camera is one thing. But no back facing camera either? Why the hell not? I can’t imagine what the downside was for including at least one camera. Could this thing not handle video iChat?
- Touch Keyboard
So much for Apple revolutionizing tablet inputs; this is the same big, ugly touchscreen keyboard we’ve seen on other tablets, and unless you’re lying on the couch with your knees propping it up, it’ll be awkward to use.
- No HDMI/HD Video Out
Want to watch those nice HD videos you downloaded from iTunes on your TV? Too damned bad! If you were truly loyal, you’d just buy an AppleTV already.
- The Name iPad
Get ready for Maxi pad jokes, and lots of ‘em!
- No Flash
No Flash is annoying but not a dealbreaker on the iPhone and iPod Touch. On something that’s supposed to be closer to a netbook or laptop? It will leave huge, gaping holes in websites. I hope you don’t care about streaming video! God knows not many casual internet users do. Oh wait, nevermind, they all do.
- Adapters, Adapters, Adapters
So much for those smooth lines. If you want to plug anything into this, such as a digital camera, you need all sorts of ugly adapters. You need an adapter for USB for god’s sake.
(1 votes, average: 2.00 out of 5)
Loading ...Google’s Nexus One, who’s da mastah?
Jan 10th
SHO NUFF!!!
What I like:
- UI is much better, OS seems fairly fast and responsive.
- Google Maps Navigation.
- Solid HTC hardware. About the size of an iPhone, feels good in the hand/pocket.
- The bundled apps are excellent with (obviously) deep Google integration.
- 5MP camera w/flash, options to set white balance, effects, location, and focus.
What I didn’t like:
- Some UI inconsistencies between Google apps.
- GPS sucks the battery down pretty fast.
- There are only a handful of good Android apps, most of them are written by Google.
Final thoughts:
Android based phones have always seemed ..how to put this.. Linux-like. That is, solid and utilitarian but lacking the eye candy and attention to detail. This phone/OS release closes the gap on the iPhone, but doesn’t overtake it. That said, if my favorite iPhone apps make the jump to android I’d seriously consider making this my full-time phone when the Verizon model is released. Nice job Google, you’ve come a long way in a short amount of time.
-Source
So with that, I want to know what phone is your baby?
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(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5) Loading ...Sneak Peek: Photoshop CS5
Jan 5th
There’s a chance you might already have seen this ’sneak peek’ video, in which case forgive me. For those of you that haven’t seen it, read on and take the jump to view it.
This is actually old news, but I only just stumbled across it a couple of days ago. You see, news of Adobe’s next Creative Suite is so hard to come by that this is still the latest Photoshop development! In fact, since October, the only news they’ve released was to announce the cancellation of their Flash CS5 public beta. But can I say, having just watched the the ’sneak peek’, I am now very, very excited about the possible applications for Adobe’s CS5. Give us more news, Adobe!
Do you see the 3D elements that have been thrown in? The wire frame, the joints (the kinematics!), the simulation of a paint brush’s tip… it’s really quite crazy. I know Adobe gets a lot of flak for the continuous milking of their cash cow, but after that video I could almost forgive them.
With no news since October, and their usual 18- to 24-month development cycle, we might actually see Photoshop CS5 and Flash within a couple of months. I’m positively eager to review both of them.
(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5) Loading ...
Google Chrome OS (w/ video)
Nov 20th
So Google finally let loose with a real glimpse at Chrome OS today, unveiling it at an event in Mountain View today. It’s pretty much what we’ve thought all along: a bootable browser with an affinity for web apps – especially Google’s.As you’d expect from a “browser OS,” Google pretty much admits that Chrome OS isn’t really intended for offline use. They see devices running Chrome as a compliment to the existing systems in your home or office. Local storage? That’s not really part of the big picture either. Everything you save heads straight for the cloud.
It has a few good features from MAC a few from PC and obviously Google’s spin on things with features like the notification panel and such. Check out Google’s first produced video telling you exactly why they made this thing.
(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5) Loading ...ProTools for less. Become a pro sooner!
Sep 14th
Sorry but removed clickable highquality links
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...The New Paypal
Jul 27th
For years, PayPal had no rival in the online payments industry. Then, in 2007, Amazon launched its Amazon Payments, which not only gave PayPal a rival with real muscle, but was considered friendlier and more open to third party developers, thus why many apps utilized Amazon Payments instead of PayPal. And let’s not forget about Google Checkout, which also competes in the space.
However, Paypal is taking a swing back at the competition today, revealing PayPal X and Adaptive Payments, a new initiative that allow third party developers to utilize PayPal in completely new ways. Prepare yourself for split payments, payment aggregation, and PayPal on other websites.
The Basics of Paypal X
PayPal is essentially opening up its platform to developers so that they can build new products off of PayPal. This is called PayPal X. The first part of this new initiative is PayPal Adaptive Payments, which refers to the new APIs (application programming interfaces) that will help developers do new things with PayPal.
All of the developer-related information will be placed on PayPal’s one-character domain, X.com. Here are some of the things that are now possible:
- Send Money: Peer-to-peer payments can and will happen on multiple platforms, not just on PayPal.com
- Split Payments: You can now split payments among many recipients via the Platform. For example, if you need to pay multiple people a commission on the sale, you can send just one payment instead of four or five.
- Payment Preapproval: Once you log into a system and confirm prepayments, the API will automatically transfer funds based on pre-set specifications.
- Payment Aggregation: To reduce the costs of payment transactions, users can soon aggregate multiple payments into one lump transaction. Amazon Payments already offers this.
This could be good news for a lot of smaller firms and third-party developers. Let’s take TwitPay as an example. TwitPay allows users to send and receive micropayments via Twitter
. It is run on PayPal, and in fact is one of the first apps utilizing the Adaptive Payment platform (and probably the reason they switched from Amazon Payments). The new API lets you do things like send payments right on Twitpay.me (and hopefully soon split payments).
PayPal Adaptive Payments doesn’t come out to all developers and users until November, but expect to see more websites utilizing the new PayPal X very, very soon.
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...Google Wave; Prepare for your Invite!
Jul 23rd
Less than two months ago, Google dropped a spectacular surprise upon the world: Google Wave. The communication tool aspires to redefine not only email, but the entire web. And from our very first test of Google Wave to our complete Google Wave Guide, we have to say that it’s a game changer.
Well, in the last two months, Google and third-party developers have been hard at work testing out the system, fixing the kinks, and building some amazing extensions (which we discussed in-depth previously). Still, only a handful of people, almost all developers, have access. That’s about to change soon though: on September 30th, Google will start sending out about 100,000 invites for the next version of Google Wave.
Google Wave’s Rollout
Google made the big revelation in a blog post on the Google Wave developer’s blog. The post is part of an update on the Google Wave Hackathon, which allows developers to come to the Googleplex and work with the Google Wave API to build extensions such as Wave in Wordpress, a bot that allows you to easily place Waves in WordPress posts.
It looks as if the testing in the Google Wave sandbox is going well though – it opened up the sandbox to 6,000 new developers and up to 20,000 more will get access before the end of August. But this pales in comparison to the 100,000 users that will get access on starting September 30th.
According to Google, at that point Google Wave will appear on Wave.Google.com, instead of the Wave Sandbox. They will help further test for bugs, provide feedback, and play with apps. Google intends to invite groups of users, so the invites may not come out all at once.
If you want to be part of the next wave of testing (haha, get it?!), you can sign up for updates here. Until the invites go out though, you’re going to have to get your Google Wave fix from our extensive Wave
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...
