Happy with the level of detail, color balance. Able to focus at about 2-3 inches, too.
I think the flash is unbelievably weak. I turned it on and noticed no difference.
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Annoying shutter sound
Fixed it. Set Tasker to go to Silent mode whenever Camera app is running. Tasker considers "running" to be whenever Camera is the active app, so the phone doesnt permanently stay Silent after the first time Camera runs -- its only Silent while Camera is in the foreground. Yay Tasker!!
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Dell Streak 5 Field Test - day 1
Felt like I was carrying a small paperback book in my hand all day (since it was too big to put in my pocket and I refuse to use a holster). Otterbox provided a nice secure grip, tho.
Backlight very weak in direct sun. Has to be almost 100% to overcome daylight. Forces you to compose camera shots almost blind.
Camera Shutter sound is annoyingly loud. I startled several passers-by with it.
Slow responsiveness. The 3 menu buttons dont always respond to presses. The phone takes a long time to return to home, rotate the screen, launch an app, etc. Much more noticeable in the field than at home. (I was also surprised at Streaks low performance benchmarks.)
The photos are pretty amazing (for a phone). High enough resolution (5 MP) to make me discard my point and shoot camera. Not sure whether its truly equivalent to a 5MP digicam, but good enough to not make wish i'd used my digicam instead.
Battery died completely after only 6 hours. The 10 minute backlight timeout didnt help, nor did the screen brightness widget that has too high of a Low setting (40%).
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Friday, February 04, 2011
Dell Streak Impact Series Case // OtterBox.com
http://www.otterbox.com/Dell-Streak-Impact-Series-Case/DEL1-STRK1-20-C4OTR_A,default,pd.html
My Otterbox case arrived today! Beach Audio got that sucker in the mail pronto. The Impact is the slimmest case they make. Even so, the additional few mm thickness makes my Streak a bit chubby. And now it doesnt fit in my pocket at all.
The soft rubber is much less slippery and the extra cushioning means my anxiety about dropping it has gone way, way down.
Tomorrow is the first big field trip for the phone, a New Years outing with some other families. It will be a test of the camera and the general mobility of the device.
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What We Use: Lifehacker Editors' Favorite Gear and Tips
What We Use: Lifehacker Editors' Favorite Gear and Tips [Roundup]
LIFEHACKER | FEBRUARY 04, 2011
http://lifehacker.com/5752189/what-we-use-lifehacker-editors-favorite-gear-and-tips
"We've had a great time detailing the hardware, software, desk setups, and productivity tips we all use every day..."
Still digesting all the great tips in this article.
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Wednesday, February 02, 2011
ROM update for Dell Streak
According to StreakSmart.com there's an official Froyo ROM update for the Streak. So here we go from 12332 to 12821.
Should fix the web browser redirect problem and hopefully also the Launcher Pro "can't connect to Facebook" problem. Wish me luck.
OK, seemed to work! Onwards...
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Should fix the web browser redirect problem and hopefully also the Launcher Pro "can't connect to Facebook" problem. Wish me luck.
OK, seemed to work! Onwards...
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in for a penny, in for a pound (Slippah vs Dell Streak vs Blackberry)
Current list of annoyances:
- Size - Doesn't fit in my jeans pocket.
- Battery life sucks big time.
- Terrible phone - Speaker too soft--hard to hear callers. Output volume to headphone jack is low. Mic too insensitive--people can't hear me. Speakerphone calls are pure torture. Music playback quality is tinny, but the Samsung GTab's wasn't much better.
- Corporate security. Access to corporate email requires secondary password to unlock the screen, so everytime the screen backlight times out, I have to swipe it AND enter a 4 digit PIN AND press enter. I can still answer phone calls without entering a PIN, however. I changed the screen timeout to 10 minutes to minimize timeouts, but that sucks battery even more...
- Handleability - Really afraid i'm going to drop it while i'm out and about. Very thin and slippery. I was used to carrying my BB in my pocket and whipping out my blackberry everywhere, it was small and easy to handle. Going to try an Otterbox for more drop protection.
- Basically impossible to make/receive a call with one hand. Take it out of pocket, unlock screen (swipe it AND enter 4 digit PIN required by my workplace), get to home page, click Contacts, click Favorites, click entry. All the while being afraid i'm going to drop it.
- Makes a pretty damn big camera. The Blackberry was much more unobtrusive. Plus, with Android, the volume of the shutter button is never the same twice (why??) so sometimes there's this huge dorky shutter sound when i take a picture. Nothing screams dork like "notification volume too loud". But speaking of dork...
- Almost embarassingly large to place a call on. As http://www.nag.co.za/2010/06/welcome-to-the-new-world-of-touch/ says, "Please beware, though, of how fast your dork rating will shoot up the minute you take out a small ringing book with moving pictures and start talking to it." (Thanks to Nag Online for the picture by the way)
Just ordered a bunch of charging cables (which are ONLY available from Dell), a new 1800mAh battery from Mugen, and an Otterbox Impact case. So $120 later...
Other than that I love it !!
Mostly.
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Dell Streak - more home page
). 7″ GTab was just too big for me.
Dell Streak 5"
$399 unlocked, comes with Froyo 2.2 installed.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sound of Sunday: Best quotes - CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/01/30/sunday.sound/
"I firmly believe it. I think if you listen to the street, they are not asking for democracy, they are not asking for anything except the removal of Mubarak. He's become a symbol for everything that they find objectionable. It doesn't mean it can't be a transition as orderly and I certainly hope it is. But he is a symbol now and you've got to change the symbol." --Edward Walker, former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, "State of the Union"
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Dell Streak summary
NET EDITORS' RATING 3.5 stars | Very good R R The good: The Dell Streak offers an unprecedented combination of processor power, screen size, and design quality. Support for 3G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth hit all the wireless sweet spots, while photo, camcorder, and calling capabilities blur the boundaries between tablet and phone. The bad: Battery life isn't great, the touch-screen keyboard is awkward, music quality is below average, and the position of the camera tends to cloud photos and video. The bottom line: The Dell Streak is the first Android tablet worth taking seriously, though its size puts it on the fence between tablets and smartphone.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
IBM to Open Big Data Center in China - WSJ.com
http://online.wsj.com/articlel/SB10001424052748704698004576103911333025164.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews (sorry not full article)
"BEIJING—International Business Machines Corp. agreed to cooperate with Chinese network services provider Range Technology Development Co. on the construction of a cloud computing data center in China, which IBM said will be Asia's largest in terms of floor space."
If you thought Facebook's privacy was a sieve, how about the "open book" that would be a data center in China. Think that serves china customers only? I'm sure that center will serve customers worldwide. Do you know where exactly in the cloud your data is? all your gmail is probably already belong to china.
This paranoid moment brought to you by princess teri.
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Sunday, January 23, 2011
Boxwave and Magic Doodle
Do you have an Android device?
Then check out Boxwave capacitive styluses, and the Magic Doodle app.
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Thursday, January 20, 2011
Reconnect (Dell/Goodwill)
Goodwill Industries and Dell Inc partnered in 2006 to create RECONNECT, a free program for consumers to reuse and responsibly recycle unwanted electronics. For details visit reconnectpartnership.com. (This is in San Diego, not sure what areas of the country it serves. You can drop off unwanted electronics for free!)
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Peace Corps Gang Rape: Volunteer Jess Smochek Says US Agency Ignored Warnings - ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=12599341&sid=3029941
This is very disturbing. (warning, graphic story)
"Between 2000 and 2009, Peace Corps figures show there were 221 rapes or attempted rapes, 147 major sexual attacks and 719 other sexual assaults—defined as unwanted or forced kissing, fondling or groping."
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Thursday, January 13, 2011
TechCrunch: Chrome plans to ditch h.264, skirts slippery slope
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/11/google-chrome-browser-h-264-video/
From the comments:
"Psst... hey Google! You might want to amend that whole not being evil thing you all love to kick around so often. Removing support for a standard for no other reason than to spite a competitor when it means potential inconvenience for your customers... that's the sort of thing users label "evil." "
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Lifehacker - why we still might like AT&T after all
"GSM and UMTS technology is widely used worldwide. UMTS phones can be easily moved from one UMTS network to another, making them ideal for international use. [CDMA] can't use a SIM card, making it far more difficult to switch handsets.
Calls: In general, Verizon will drop less calls. It's unclear what impact the iPhone will have on its network, but we don't expect it to be as bad as AT&T was in its early years. Verizon's network has proven itself to be more robust.
Speed: In general, AT&T has the faster 3G network, and in some cases it's a great deal faster than Verizon.
Simultaneous voice and data: Only AT&T is capable of talking on the phone and surfing the web at the same time, but Verizon is working on a solution, saying the fix might be implemented by the end of this year."
The Big Picture: INVESTING IN A STRUCTURALLY UNBALANCED WORLD | The Big Picture
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/12/investing-in-a-structurally-unbalanced-world/
"Longer term I remain very bullish on China. For the last few thousand years, China has gone through long cycles of increasing power, national unity and expansion, followed by slow decline and then national disintegration. And then the cycle repeats. With the ascent of Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s and the disaster of the Cultural Revolution imprinted on all minds, the national disintegration phase ended. China is now in the up-phase of increasing power, national unity and expansion. I have no doubt that a nation of 1.3 billion hard working talented people with a religious craving for material improvement is a great long run place to put your money."
Sunday, January 09, 2011
CES: HP Believes In 3-D Too, But On A Larger Scale, Much Larger - Oliver Chiang - SelectStart - Forbes
<blockquote>"HP is not looking into mere 3-D movies or TV shows here, they are looking into large-scale live 3-D projections of big events like concerts and sports games. The company is calling this type of re-creation a "3-D immersive event". "The road does not scale," said an HP executive, talking about the issue with live events. The company sees the technology as being able to solve that problem, to re-create the experience of a live event, potentially in multiple locations and at multiple times. HP says it has already been working with the NBA over the past four years, recording its all-star games in large-scale 3-D."</blockquote>
CES 2011 wrapup
A great show this year. I ran out of time before I ran out of show, I
don't remember the last time that happened. My big regret is that I
didn't make it to Sony (where I can easily spend half a day). This
year it was fun to observe the race to market of 3DTVs, tablets, and
smart TVs.
don't remember the last time that happened. My big regret is that I
didn't make it to Sony (where I can easily spend half a day). This
year it was fun to observe the race to market of 3DTVs, tablets, and
smart TVs.
The technology for smart TVs (plain old internet connectivity) has
been around for years - nothing new there, at the hardware level - but
what has been missing is a model for interacting with devices in a fun
and simple way, which is what Steve Jobs has shown us. For example, Panasonic has been showing internet connected TVs for years but its never been really compelling and never gotten off the ground. So Add to that revolution in man-machine interface,
app software development that is several orders of magnitude faster
and cheaper than the Microsoft model, enabling an incredibly rich
array of apps to be essentially crowd-sourced in days or weeks rather
than years. And this paradigm of dead-simple user interfaces is going
to work incredibly well in all kinds of devices - beyond fridges and
printers and tvs and cars to, well, I'm guessing everything.
Given that, it seems inevitable that many different app/OS niches will
need to co-exist. It won't be a matter of wanting to run Angry Birds
on your fridge. (Remember a few years ago, the killer app was
slideshowing photos off an SD card! That was all the CE industry could
think of to do with a big LCD screen! There are still fridges made
today that have that feature!)
It all comes down to the problems that have to be solved.
Kitchen appliances need apps to solve the problems of minimizing
energy cost, and simplifying service calls.
Cars need apps to solve the problems of navigation and handsfree
operation, etc.
Fridges need apps to solve problems of keeping pantries stocked.
Printers need apps to connect directly to devices and enable
ubiquitous printing.
Etc.
I don't think app developers are a fixed resource we OEMs have to
fight over. I think multiple armies of app developers will naturally
rise up to specialize in one or more applications and environments. It
does mean that OEMs will need to hold their app developers, and
customers, closer.
Remember 5 years ago at CES when Microsoft showed the House of the
Future - and it was basically 14" screens on every wall with a big
empty Windows desktop with a Start button in the lower left corner?
Ugh.
Apple has created a completely new vision of how we might interact
with electronic devices, and has proven the business model can work.
So don't forget to sign up for CES 2012, my prediction is it'll be the
year that *everything* gets connected to the internet. In a truly
meaningful way.
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--
Sent from my mobile device
Wacom tablets
Finally got to play with an Intuos 4. Anyone who has spent any time creating art, even nonprofessionally, will appreciate the Wacom tablets. They eliminate some of the tedium of creating art (switching colors) but preserves all the fine-motor control thru which the artist's talent flows. The new tablet surface that feels like paper, rather than slick plastic, is incredible.
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Golla cases
Every year Golla's booth keeps getting bigger and bigger. They used to be a tiny booth way over on the sidelines. Love their patterns.
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MakerBot's Thingomatic
If i had an extra $1225 I'd want one too. Booth staff claimed Microsoft designed one of their new mouses with this. Takes any STL file, and Google Sketch can be converted to STL. $50 a coil for either ABS or PLA.
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Blackberry Playbook
The Blackberry Playbook manages to set itself apart. Similar to WebOS, the Blackberry tablet OS has some very unique features that people could really fall in love with. Here's an example. The Playbook does not have any navigation buttons. To reach the home menu, swipe up from the lower bezel into the screen area. To bring down the menus, swipe down from the upper bezel into the screen area. To switch from app to app, swipe from the left or right bezel towards the center. A very intuitive way to get around. The price for this is a slightly larger bezel than the GTab, about a third of an inch taller. Oh yeah, it's thinner and lighter (0.9 lb vs 1lb) than the GTab. (The industrial espionage network is alive and well. These products are all designed in secret, yet are very similar, with later products besting previous products by just a little bit. Tell me that happens by accident.)
As an aside, I think HP is making a huge tactical mistake by not bringing their Palm OS products to the show. They have to convince developers to write apps, and convince customers why they should buy hardware that isnt iOS and isnt Android. This is going to take a concerted messaging campaign. And where better than CES? That's what Blackberry is doing.
Apple can afford to not come to the show. But they are the thought leaders, they make the halo products for mobile, they have a charismatic leader, and their own highly anticipated Apple press events. Is HP all that? Or are they just penny-wise and pound foolish?
... The 5" Dell Streak - tablet AND phone, thank you very much
Remember how i said a 5" tablet might just be the perfect size for me? I was so right. You really have to get the Streak in your hands to appreciate its size. Having used the Samsung 7" Gtab for a few months, its incredibly painful going back to my Blackberry's 3" screen. It's like looking at the internet thru a keyhole. But the Gtab is almost embarassingly large to pull out in public. I tried to take pictures with the Gtab today at the show. Everytime I pulled it out, folks would turn and stare. It makes for a really ridiculously sized digicam, even tho i love ereading on it.
Smartphone/tablet size is a highly personal choice. It depends on how mobile you want to be with it and how important ereading is to you, and what ereading formats are important to you. When it comes to ereading, bigger is definitely bigger. Rich newspaper and magazine formats (Zinio) look awesome on nothing less than a 10" screen. And the aged (im looking at you baby boomers) will like the bigger fonts available on the larger devices. But folks that want a mobile companion and NEED to be connected all the time will be better served by a 4", 5", or 7".
So, 4" and 5" are best if your needs are making calls, taking pictures (hello food bloggers) and need total portability.
The hybrid sizes of 5" and 7" are even better if ereading and larger fonts work better for you. These sizes combine the best of both worlds - portability of mobile phones and readability of a tablet, as long as you have a purse or loose fitting pants.
Another thing to consider, are you going to still carry a phone as well as your 7" tablet? Or start using Skype or Google talk, and divorce your cell phone company? But then only make calls at home or at hotspots? To solve that dilemma, the Streak is the only tablet-class device that is a 3G phone as well. It is a little strange holding the beast up to my ear but not that much different probably from a 4.3" Droid X or the Samsung 4.5" Infuse phone.
Its a bit of a catch 22 because you really need to testdrive the applications you want to use before you buy. I really want a Dell Streak now, but I didnt know that before I used the GTab.
I believe there's room for many display sizes in the market and i hope all these choice points are preserved in the market. But spend as much time as possible test-driving devices before you buy.
http://m.engadget.com/default/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/06/dell-streak-review/&category=classic&postPage=1
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Zinio, world's largest digital magazine newstand.
If you cant get enough of the ads in print magazines, this may be for you. Zinio offers 80% of the mags currently available in the US. Apparently their big selling point is their subscriptions (yes, subscriptions) dont cost more than the print version. Who would pay *more* than they would for a print mag? Especially when half the content is ads? Zinio delivers the mags exactly as they appear in print. But one of my guilty pleasures is People mag (and its ilk) so i may have to check this out.
They demo'd it on a 7" screen which was perhaps a bit on the small side. It might be one reason to keep me from switching to the...
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Viewdle
Being demo'd at Qualcomm's booth.
Qualcomm's booth was full of the best 3rd party apps available on equipment powered by Qualcomm. Meaning, most of the tablets and phones that shipped this year! However, next year may belong to Nvidia and its dual-core Tegra's.
Demo was light on details, so Viewdle deserves some offline study.
Casio Mil-spec G'zOne Brigade phone
Casio is the king of extreme electronics. This looks like something my brother would use.
Doesnt this look like Mr Fusion from the 3rd Back To The Future movie?
It's Black and Decker's vertical paper shredder.
You are looking at 5 glass speakers from Greensound Technologies
According to the booth rep, the current design is 25 watts, with a 70 watt design coming in Spring. The large Serac speakers run $19,000 for a L, R, and subwoofer. The smaller Orbis speakers cost $8k for 3. Apparently glass has trouble reproducing bass. They sounded pretty good in their glass listening room, even still. And they looked pretty damn cool. I mean, what are you going to spend your money on? 3D TV and 3D glasses?
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Modlet energy monitoring and control
Finally the energy monitoring products can track historical data, not just instantaneous (like KillAWatt). This might be the year to buy!
Modlet captures energy usage at 1 sec intervals from up to 100 outlets. Web interface. Captures up to 3 weeks of data while your PC is off. Can also turn outlets off remotely. $50 for Modlet and zigbee receiver; $45 for extra Modlet.
The Envir only enables up to 9 outlets, and also sells a dedicated base station to display historical information. Integrates with Google Power Meter, i dont know if Modlet does.
Our neighborhood is enabled for for Google PowerMeter - we'll have to check it out and perhaps get some Modlets.
Kenmore Appliances
A focus on using electronics for energy consumption monitoring, rate monitoring, and simpler service/support, rather than displaying pictures from SD cards (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Call the service center, hold your smartphone up to the washer, press a button, and the washer emits fax-machine-like tones to transmit diagnostic info to the service center. Actually that suggests to me that these are not actually internet connected. The Kenmore won't be available in stores until 2012 (!!) but a version of it is at Sears now.
Demy by Key Ingredient
Displays recipes from the internet
3 timers
Water resistant
Kitchen conversions
7" LCD 800X480
Capacitive touch
Keyingredient.com
Mydemy.com
Next year they will add ability to add ingredients to shopping list. Also the ability to scan food item barcodes to add them to shopping list.
Nice product but could also be done with existing apps on phones and tablets. For example, I like the shopping list feature on Upvise, can add items from any device.
Dynamics Inc presents PoweredCards.com (Credit card technology)
Press a microswitch and the card changes to the other number and reprograms the magnetic strip.
Another version of the card displays 5 digits of the credit card only if the password entered on the microstrip is correct.
The boot rep said their studies showed that people would tolerate credit card protection only if it slowed down the process by less than 2 seconds.
They said their cards could not stop sophisticated hacking but "80% of fraud is simple fraud" (pen and paper).
Friday, January 07, 2011
PLEASE READ! ! RSS Feed broken
I have and will continue to edit this blog extensively (technical problems), so Google Reader's cache is quite unreadable - please read the blog directly and not thru an rss aggregator. Thank you.
Disappointment
Thursday: TVs, Satellite Radio, Pizza
TVs:
Panasonic now has a whole range of 32 - 60" LCD and Plasma 3DTVs. Did you know the only way to get a copy of Avatar in 3D is to buy a Panasonic TV?
HD was confusing enough, now how many people will be in "wait and see" mode while 3D and internet connectivity shakes out? Personally, we don't even have a flat panel or blu-ray at home yet.
Speaking of 3D, Sharp had an amazing direct-view (no glasses) 3D demo, 4" and 10". It looked fantastic. But viewing angle was maybe 90deg from side to side.
I'll take it tho, because you know how i feel about those 3D glasses.
Satellite Radio:
Sirius XM now streams 120 channels over the internet to iPhones, Android, and Blackberry for $12.95/mo. Hope they got their money's worth out of those satellites!
Know what I paid for a piece of pizza today? $7.00!
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Panasonic now has a whole range of 32 - 60" LCD and Plasma 3DTVs. Did you know the only way to get a copy of Avatar in 3D is to buy a Panasonic TV?
HD was confusing enough, now how many people will be in "wait and see" mode while 3D and internet connectivity shakes out? Personally, we don't even have a flat panel or blu-ray at home yet.
Speaking of 3D, Sharp had an amazing direct-view (no glasses) 3D demo, 4" and 10". It looked fantastic. But viewing angle was maybe 90deg from side to side.
I'll take it tho, because you know how i feel about those 3D glasses.
Satellite Radio:
Sirius XM now streams 120 channels over the internet to iPhones, Android, and Blackberry for $12.95/mo. Hope they got their money's worth out of those satellites!
Know what I paid for a piece of pizza today? $7.00!
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Copia
I wouldn't be interested in the commitment rquired of a reading club but it would be very interesting to read other folks annotations.
Thursday: Internet TVs
These seem to be bursting onto the scene fully formed. Saw 3 today -
But what's interesting is the Viera tablets. Available in 4, 7, and 10" versions, these Wifi tablets are "integrated" to the TV but in only a minor way, from what I could see.
"Screenshare" allows a 2tuner receiver to send the 2nd image over wifi to your Galaxy device. It's delayed a few seconds (what I observed at the show), so don't plan to watch the same show in both places (altho you can). So now you can continue watching your program in bed on your GTab. (Take that, Panasonic.)
"Photoshare" instantly uploads pix from the SH100 wifi-enabled phone directly to your TV (3sec)or harddrive (20sec). When I think of share I think cloud. Uploading to the TV for sharing at home is cool, but we also want to do this at friends and relatives homes, who may not have Samsung TVs - hence the value of upload to the cloud.
"Zone detection" uses "geomagnetics" based on GPS location and wall distances to define physical locations in your living room that trigger your Galaxy device to run a predefined app when placed there - such as "launch TV remote control app", "backup my tablet", "upload video to harddrive", "play motivational speaker video," etc. Detection seems to be accurate to within a few feet.
And I haven't finished going thru the Samsung booth yet!
Disappointing Slashgear review
Disappointing Cnet review
Videochat:
Seems to be standard functionality on all internet-connected TVs.
HD Skype must have been developed with living room chat in mind. Saw Panasonic's demo of HD skype at 720p on a 42" flatscreen.
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1. Panasonic Viera. Panasonic does have an internet-enabled OS for its TVs, with the standard apps, fitness, and content options. Skype is available thru their BluRay player.
But what's interesting is the Viera tablets. Available in 4, 7, and 10" versions, these Wifi tablets are "integrated" to the TV but in only a minor way, from what I could see.
2. Samsung SmartTV. Already boasting 150 3rd party apps, this environment is part of the TV (not a separate box). They have apps (games, netflix, youtube), search (google search ripoff), and skype for videochat.
"Screenshare" allows a 2tuner receiver to send the 2nd image over wifi to your Galaxy device. It's delayed a few seconds (what I observed at the show), so don't plan to watch the same show in both places (altho you can). So now you can continue watching your program in bed on your GTab. (Take that, Panasonic.)
"Photoshare" instantly uploads pix from the SH100 wifi-enabled phone directly to your TV (3sec)or harddrive (20sec). When I think of share I think cloud. Uploading to the TV for sharing at home is cool, but we also want to do this at friends and relatives homes, who may not have Samsung TVs - hence the value of upload to the cloud.
"Zone detection" uses "geomagnetics" based on GPS location and wall distances to define physical locations in your living room that trigger your Galaxy device to run a predefined app when placed there - such as "launch TV remote control app", "backup my tablet", "upload video to harddrive", "play motivational speaker video," etc. Detection seems to be accurate to within a few feet.
And I haven't finished going thru the Samsung booth yet!
3. Logitech Revue - already shipping at $300, this is the winner in my mind. It's a separate box, so future upgrades and evolutions won't force me to throw away my TV. Google TV, media player, apps like Netflix and Pandora. View your Logitech webcam that you have trained on your front porch thru the web browser (in the picture below, the feed of the tall travel mug in the box, in the lower right corner, is taken in complete darkness).
Disappointing Slashgear review
Disappointing Cnet review
The addition of Search to media playback is very intriguing. But here's a hole in media search. My own pictures and videos are not tagged or titled in any useful way. Because what would really be cool is to search for all pictures of Samantha and Mom. Or all pictures at the beach. Or videos taken at school. I have no way whatsoever to search the terabytes of personal digital files that I have. Other than that, I totally get Google TV now:
Videochat:
Seems to be standard functionality on all internet-connected TVs.
HD Skype must have been developed with living room chat in mind. Saw Panasonic's demo of HD skype at 720p on a 42" flatscreen.
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Thursday: Tablets
Didn't pay a whole lot of attention to these since I love my Samsung Galaxy Tab. I picked up a "no-name" tablet (Exo PC brand) and it was very heavy. Weight is the kiss of death in a portable device.
Motorola Xoom: is this the only 4G tablet at the show? iPad competitor, sleek and thin and all black. 10" 1280x800 16:9 screen, 720p video, HDMI out, dual core ("mfr not disclosed"), battery size and life not disclosed, browsing with tabs and incognito mode. 3g + wifi; will not have a Wifi version (heard many Q's about this. Are that many people interested in a Wifi only version? For a device that might rarely leave home, that makes sense). "Upgradeable" to 4G (well, hspa+ not true 4G) but would not disclose whether this was sw or HW change. I think it's SW change because HSPA+ uses same freq as HSDPA. Weight=iPad. In summary, it's wow because its first to market. Article on the Xoom.
By the way, its camera is at the top of Landscape mode (along the long edge), this is the first tablet I've seen that places the front-facing camera here.
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Motorola Xoom: is this the only 4G tablet at the show? iPad competitor, sleek and thin and all black. 10" 1280x800 16:9 screen, 720p video, HDMI out, dual core ("mfr not disclosed"), battery size and life not disclosed, browsing with tabs and incognito mode. 3g + wifi; will not have a Wifi version (heard many Q's about this. Are that many people interested in a Wifi only version? For a device that might rarely leave home, that makes sense). "Upgradeable" to 4G (well, hspa+ not true 4G) but would not disclose whether this was sw or HW change. I think it's SW change because HSPA+ uses same freq as HSDPA. Weight=iPad. In summary, it's wow because its first to market. Article on the Xoom.
By the way, its camera is at the top of Landscape mode (along the long edge), this is the first tablet I've seen that places the front-facing camera here.
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Thursday: Phones
So far this is turning out to be a pretty interesting year at the show. It took us over an hour to get to the show on the bus today because of a sulfuric acid spill on the strip. I decided to start in Central rather than South and I didn't even finish that today. Saw Motorola, Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung, and a few others and did not even get to Sony. Samsung's booth is scaled way, way down from last year's LCD "shrine." Panasonic is twice as big as last year, occupying space downstairs of the mezzanine now. Also this year I saw charging stations near the hot dog stands where folks could plug in their phones.
The "Old Guard" of Microsoft and Intel still guard the gates of Central. Huge throngs of people as usual. But I don't buy anything these guys make anymore, so I pushed thru to get to the booths mentioned above.
- Phones
The Motorola Atrix, with its 1950mAh battery, is still the champ in my mind, primarily for battery ife. 9hr talk time, 14 days standby. The Samsung Infuse is nice and all with its AMOLED screen, but can a 4.5" display trump a huge but slim battery? The AMOLED really looks nice tho, the android icons look like smooth molded plastic rather than pixels. Don't know if I would use the Webtop accessory (full keyboard, large screen, with hidden dock in back to dock the phone).
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Thursday, January 06, 2011
Eye-Fi's Direct Mode hands-on: from camera to tablet in seconds (video)
I would actually use my digital camera again if i had this. I take 95% of my pictures from my phone because i want to post them in real time. I'm really excited about this prpduct because now i'll be able to post the panoramas that my sony digicam can do. Yes, its too much trouble to take the SD card out and put it in my laptop (which is neber on these days anuway).
Eye-Fi's Direct Mode hands-on: from camera to tablet in seconds (video).
ENGADGET | JANUARY 06, 2011
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/eye-fis-direct-mode-hands-on-from-camera-to-tablet-in-seconds/
Apple patent application suggests yet more possible gestures for iPods
Gesture controls may seem non-intuitive and non-discoverable.. Until a major respected brandname creates an arbitrary set of controls that then BECOMES the defacto standard...
"Apple patent application suggests yet more possible gestures for iPods.
ENGADGET | JANUARY 05, 2011
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/06/apple-patent-application-suggests-yet-more-possible-gestures-for/Apple's already put some basic gesture controls to use on its sixth generation iPod "
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Gizmodo: Tech specs of HD Netflix streaming
http://m.gizmodo.com/5093323/the-tech-specs-of-hd-netflix-streaming
RE: BANDWIDTH NEEDED FOR HD VIDEO STREAMING: NETFLIX CODEC (FROM MICROSOFT) USES BETWEEN 2.5 AND 3.5MBPS.
Engadget: Motorola Atrix 4G hits AT&T's website, complete with specs -- Engadget
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/05/motorola-atrix-4g-hits-atandts-website-complete-with-specs/ok its blowing me away that smartphone screens are now being described as fractions of hdtv resolutions."...a 4-inch QHD display (or 960 x 540), and a 1930 mAh battery that promises nine hours of talk time..."
1930mah battery?? drool. wait, of course being 4g this probably means less airtime than my 3g phone on a 1200 mah battery. and who cares about talk time as a battery spec? lets talk drain time for icanhascheeseburger, youtube and angry birds.
this is my new fav phone. at least for the next 5 minutes.
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3G and 4G Wireless Blog: Comparison: HSPA+ vs LTE
http://3g4g.blogspot.com/2008/01/comparison-hspa-vs-lte.html
" Advantages of LTE over HSPA+
Flexible Spectrum usage possible with LTE: LTE will be the same whether the bandwidth available is 5MHz or 20MHz. Ofcourse the data rate will increase when the BW is increased. With HSPA+ only 5MHz bandwidhts possible. Similalrly with HSPA+ only FDD mode of operation is possible whereas with LTE FDD or TDD mode is possible.
Spectrum Effeciency: Better spectrum effeciency, by a factor of 2 atleast over HSPA+
Simpler Architecture: LTE has a much simpler and relatively flat architecture compared to the legacy UMTS network in HSPA+
Higher Data Rates: LTE gives DL data rates of 144Mbps and UL of 57Mbps. [WOW!!!] HSPA+ gives 42Mbps in DL and 11Mbps in UL [THATS AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE IMPROVEMENT OVER 3G RIGHT THERE. AND ABOUT 5X FASTER THAN WIFI AT HOME WITH CABLE MODEM BACKHAUL, WHICH WOULD PROVIDE ABOUT 7-8M DOWNLOAD 2-3M UPLOAD (THATS WHAT I GET WITH COX). FASTER THAN MY WIFI AT HOME AND COSTS ALMOST NOTHING TO DEPLOY? NO WONDER ATT WANTS TO EXPLOIT THAT.]
[QUESTION IS WHAT IS A USER GOING TO DO WITH 144Mb? ONLY NEED 5-10Mb FOR NETFLIX STREAMING VIDEO, EVEN HD. THAT BW MUST BE SHARABLE SOMEHOW]
Ultra Low Latency: 10ms instead of 50ms for HSPA+ [GREAT NEWS FOR STREAMING APPS LIKE VIDEO AND VOIP]
Short TTI: 0.5ms instead of 2ms for HSPA+
Advantages of HSPA+ over LTE
Will be ready much before LTE: HSPA+ technology should be available in Q1 2009 whereas the earliest with LTE would be sometime in 2010.
Much less investment in infrastructure: Since HSPA+ is evolution of HSPA which is already being deployed, it would be easier and less costly to upgrade. With LTE since its based on OFDM a lot of new components will be required. Also in case of LTE the number of components are reduced but since they work in a different way, new components will be required.".
Samsung Infuse 4G heading to AT&T, brings 4.5-inch goodness
Ask and ye shall receive...! Here's my new phone.
"Samsung Infuse 4G heading to AT&T, brings 4.5-inch goodness
ANDROID CENTRAL | JANUARY 05, 2011
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/bcwbUTjkG5g/samsung-infuse-4g-headed-att "
Tablets climb the curve
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Global-tablet-sales-may-apf-3918474880.html?x=0&.v=3
After using the Samsung Galaxy Tab for a few months, I actually think a 5" tablet might be the perfect size for me that balances portability with bifocal-friendliness.
Seems tablets could go at least 2 ways - mobile or in-home. That is, super smartphones with 4-7" screens, finally large enough for baby boomers with aging eyes to participate in the mobile revolution; or 7-10" in-home laptop replacements.
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"A research group says the global market for tablet computers such as the iPad will almost triple by the end of 2014.
Yankee Group said Wednesday it expects tablet sales to rise to $46 billion in 2014 from $16 billion in 2010. The researchers say tablet sales are rising faster than high-definition TV sets, handheld gaming consoles or even MP3 players.
Apple Inc.'s iPad, the main player in today's tablet market, costs $499 to $829 depending on the configuration. According to the forecast, the average tablet price tag will be $237 in 2015."
After using the Samsung Galaxy Tab for a few months, I actually think a 5" tablet might be the perfect size for me that balances portability with bifocal-friendliness.
Seems tablets could go at least 2 ways - mobile or in-home. That is, super smartphones with 4-7" screens, finally large enough for baby boomers with aging eyes to participate in the mobile revolution; or 7-10" in-home laptop replacements.
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Look back at CES 2010
Here are my posts from last year's CES. This points to January 2010's posts, so just ignore the first one you see about guns. :)
I still stand by my call on 3D glasses as a FAD that will not stand the test of time. Let me be frank. Here is my gut-level check on new technology. Will it get you laid? I rest my case.
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Mobile Future: Mobile Year in Review 2010 Video | Mobile Future
http://mobilefuture.org/content/pages/mobile_year_in_review_2010
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Highlights of the Mobile Year in Review 2010 Video
Massive increase in apps downloaded
FIVE BILLION apps downloaded —up from 300 million in 2009
Whopping expansion of location-based services
FIVE MILLION Foursquare users —up from 200,000 users in 2009
Surge in mobile social media platforms
347 PERCENT growth in Twitter mobile usage
200 MILLION mobile Facebook Users
100 MILLION YouTube videos played on mobile devices everyday
Ongoing explosion in data traffic
3,000 PERCENT growth in one carrier's data traffic since 2008
3,339: average number of texts sent per month by US teens.
Unprecedented competition and choiceAlso: 2010 is the year mobile phones killed digital cameras, or so they say...
96 PERCENT of mobile users can choose from 3 or more providers
92 PERCENT of mobile users are satisfied with their provider
4 CENTS: average voice rate per minute in the US
77 MILLION: number of smartphones shipped in the fall of 2010.
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Monday, January 03, 2011
Six Things to Expect at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/pDfeWzYbIFw/
Tablets, 4g, cars, 3d TV.
Snore. Bring on the toilet scrubbing robots!!
iRobot's Toilet-Scrubbing Robot Is The #1 Thing I Want To See At CES
Huh. A roomba for the bathroom. Cleans the wet smelly floor? How does the damn thing get clean? I dont want it then wandering my tiled hall spreading germs eveeywhere. It's defiled, like Japanese toilet slippers. Skeptical...
UPDATE: apparently it not only dispenses cleaning liquid but slurps up the grey water up into an onboard resevoir. Hmmm! Maybe it is time for a Roomba!
It's raining tablets at CES Las Vegas: What's your bet? - International Business Times
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/97035/20110103/it-s-raining-tablets-at-ces-las-vegas-what-s-your-bet.htm
How can they possibly differentiate themselves??
Stock Market Matrix: The Investment Triangle
Princess Teri says: buy and hold was a lie!!
"Stock Market Matrix: The Investment Triangle
THE BIG PICTURE | JANUARY 02, 2011
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/01/stock-market-matrix-the-investment-triangle/
One of the things I frequently reference is the long term secular periods of bull and bear markets. Holding onto a broad basket ... "
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Joe Robinson: Slow Down: How to Break Free of 'Time Urgency'
"Chronic clock-consciousness makes you want to book up every second with something productive, which squeezes out living time. There's no time for an impromptu conversation with a significant other or friend, or give some new activity a try, because there can't be any deviation from mechanical momentum. When time panic is at the controls, you can never be fully available to anyone or any moment. Type As are particularly wracked by time urgency, which can make relationships very difficult. They're usually on their way somewhere other than where you are most of the time, since it's the clock, not the content of what they're doing, that's the priority."
Part 2: How Google Might Automatically Insert Links to Google Maps in Web Pages
http://www.seobythesea.com/?p=4405
This would do it - once i clicked thru to google maps, i can just "star" the place manually. This seems trivially obvious, although detecting whether a bunch of text is an address or not might be the hard part.
still, if they only detected regularly formed addresses, seems that would solve 98% of the problem.
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