Archive | March, 2011
Is HeyTell the Next Killer Smartphone App?
I have a confession to make. I am absolutely addicted to HeyTell, and I’ve actually managed to get a good portion of my friends on it. What is HeyTell? Putting it simply, it’s a smartphone app for both iOS and Android which gives you “push-to-talk” capability. Users send messages to one another by recording messages. The company says that these audio files typically are no bigger than an e-mail, allowing them to be transferred quickly.
The fun factor of this app hasn’t escaped mobile phone users: about four million registered users are now on the app. The most surprising thing may be the fact that there is no huge company behind this: it’s merely a husband and wife developer team–Steven Hugg and Jen Harvey.
Great Idea: “Where’s My Windows Phone Update?”
24. March 2011
So far, Microsoft’s Windows Phone update process hasn’t gone too well. A February update went awry after it disabled a small percentage of handsets, which in turn forced a delay in this month’s delivery of the long-awaited copy and paste.
But instead of bottling up and hoping the whole ordeal would blow over, Microsoft has responded with the one thing that touches a journalist’s heart: information. To let users know when they can expect the latest software, Microsoft has created a website, dubbed “Where’s My Windows Phone Update?“
“When an update is available, a message appears on your phone letting you know,” the website says. “But we understand that it’s hard to wait, and that many of you want a better sense of when to expect your update.” Amen.
Fun with the New Squeezebox Remote Android App
24. March 2011
What happens when you install the new Logitech Squeezebox Remote app from the Android Marketplace and proceed to play around with the interface from a remote location? You scare the pants off anybody who’s still at home and wondering why the little radio box is suddenly playing music all by itself*. That’s what happened this afternoon when I decided to test out the new Android app despite not being anywhere near my Squeezebox. The app loaded beautifully, and apparently it had no trouble communicating with my player. Here’s the text message I received from home shortly afterward: “Your squeezebox just came on by itself. #afraidtogodownstairs”
Gmail: So Good and So Annoying
24. March 2011
My new TIME.com Technologizer column is on Gmail. Hey, let me quote myself:
For all of Gmail’s flaws, it has the same relationship to other e-mail clients that Churchill said democracy has to other forms of government: It’s the worst one except for everything else.
Rumors of Firefox’s Death are Greatly Exaggerated
24. March 2011
There’s misguided analysis out there this week (see here, here, and to some extent here for examples) on how supposedly Firefox is dead or in trouble. Better stop the presses: it sure isn’t happening yet. In the first 24 hours following the browser’s official release, consumers have downloaded it more than 4.7 million times, double the rate for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 debut last week. Downloads continue at a fairly torrid pace — you can follow here.
Firefox 4′s success is evidence of the fact that consumers are still looking past Microsoft when it comes to browsers. According to NetApplications, Internet Explorer’s market share is now down to 57 percent. IE has been on a consistent decline for the past several years, and the upstart success of Chrome (which now has 11 percent of the market), and Firefox (at about 22 percent), show that consumers are ready for life post-Microsoft.
So Long First-Gen iPad, We Hardly Knew You
24. March 2011
Here comes the iPad 2 again, like the world’s smallest, sleekest freight train, and in its wake, a trail of “while supplies last!” ads and deals and ballyhoo touting Apple’s original slate. Get it while it’s not-hot.
Apple’s iPad 2 (see our review, “It’s Still the One”) already debuted in the U.S. on March 11, but it’s still looming in the UK, Canada, and over 25 other countries. In goes global at last this Friday.
That’s not stopping customers from snapping up the original iPad in droves, if tales of sold out stores and online listings are true. They may well be. Apple’s knocked the price down $100 on original iPads, and it seems buyers are making a run on remaining stock. The 16GB model with Wi-Fi’s apparently already MIA.
Banning Gay “Cure” Apps and Police Tipoff Tools: Are We Overreacting?
24. March 2011
Between the controversies over gay “cure” apps and police checkpoint tipoff tools, it’s been a tough week for Apple’s App Store. But while it’s pretty clear that an app designed to “cure” homosexuality verges on hate speech, are we courting trouble, turning which apps are “acceptable” and which ones aren’t into a political nannying game?
Take “police avoidance.” Senators Frank Lautenberg, Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, and Tom Udall are asking Apple, Google, and RIM to scupper mobile applications designed, it seems, to help inebriated drivers dodge police. The senators also dispatched letters to the companies that designed the apps, requesting they either pull them or excise a “DUI checkpoint” feature.
The apps allow users to view realtime updates of checkpoints reported by others, a kind of “citizen awareness” system designed to give drivers who may or may not be inebriated a tactical edge. Think of it as a more sophisticated version of the light-blink signal oncoming driver sometimes give to warn of a speed trap up the road in the other direction.
Color: Share Photos With Those Around You–Automatically and Instantly
23. March 2011
Back in November, entrepreneur Bill Nguyen–the founder of Lala and other companies–bought himself a cool domain name: Color.com. Now his new startup is announcing a cool free app to go with it: Color, a photo- and video-sharing program for iPhone and Android handsets. It should be available for both platforms tonight.
While I’ve met with the company, received a demo, and played with the app a bit, I haven’t had extensive hands-on time with the service. So this isn’t a review. But I’ve seen enough to know that Color is a fresh take on the seemingly well-trodden concept of photo/video sharing; it’s nothing at all like Flickr or Instagram or Path or other services you might be using. And if it lives up to its potential it could be a big hit.
Like umpteen other apps, Color lets you snap and share photos and videos. But instead of sharing them with people you specify, it shares them with people near you–and if those people are using the Color app to capture stuff, you can see it, too. It all happens in real time in one shared stream, without anyone involved having to do anything except shoot photos. And it creates a group-created visual record of events large (like a concert or a conference) and small (a birthday party or a dinner out).
Is Motorola Building a Web-Based OS? It Already Did.
23. March 2011
From the original Droid to the brand-new Atrix, Motorola’s been all about Android over the last year and a half. But if Thomas Claburn’s anonymous source is correct, that may eventually change.
In a report for InformationWeek, Claburn writes that Motorola is building its own web-based operating system as a way to curb its reliance on Google’s Android. Motorola has reportedly hired mobile and web engineers away from Apple and Adobe, but its not clear whether this rumored OS is anywhere near completion.
Except, Motorola already has a web-based OS that’s complete and on the market right now. I’m talking about Webtop, the software that runs on the Motorola Atrix’s laptop dock and set-top dock. If it didn’t have a little window for running the phone’s Android apps, there’d be nothing Google about it.
Yahoo Goes for Instant Results With Search Direct
23. March 2011
I’m not a huge fan of Google Instant, mainly because it seems more gimmicky than anything. Well, Yahoo’s jumping on the instantaneous results bandwagon, debuting a product called Yahoo Search Direct. Like Instant, it will instantly cull its (or should we say Bing’s) database for results. There’s a difference here however, and Yahoo might actually be on to something.
Go to search.yahoo.com and try it out. For example, type in the query “philadelphia weather.” Once Search Direct figures out that is what you are looking for, a brief summary for the forecast appears next to the suggested terms. It works for other types of queries, such as “LeBron James”. Entering his name pops up his current season stats.
Yahoo’s effort here is to match its users with “answers, not links,” kind of like an Ask Jeeves on steroids. There might be a chance depending on what you’re looking for that you would never have to leave Yahoo’s site.
Google is doing something similar at times with Instant, but at least in my use it seems Yahoo’s a little quicker on the draw. Right now about 15 different types of searches will give those instant results — weather, sports, music, and news are just some — but Yahoo says this eventually could span hundreds of categories.
The company will also monetize the feature by allowing for advertisers to embed an ad for select queries. For example, searchers for “Target” could be presented with the current video advertisement in that pane much like the weather forecast or sports statistics appear.
Go ahead and try it. Do you think it’s better than Instant? Let us know in the comments.
AirPlay Coming to an HDTV Near You?
23. March 2011
Bloomberg is reporting that Apple may be about to allow streaming media directly to HDTVs. The company’s AirPlay technology allows iTunes audio to be streamed to devices that support the technology, but it is apparently considering adding streaming video to the platform. This would then be licensed to third-party set manufacturers, Bloomberg says.
If things go as Bloomberg’s sources seem to believe, we may see the first AirPlay sets later on this year. It would also be a bit unlike Apple to do so, since traditionally it has preferred to control the experience from top to bottom.
Such an expansion opens up a multitude of possibilities. For example, an iPhone owner would be able to stream videos stored on the phone to any TV with the technology with minimal setup–no Apple TV box required. It would also help Apple to extend itself from just a computer and gadget maker to a technology licensor, which can be even more profitable since there is little overhead to the sale of information.
Currently Apple is reported to make $4 from each device sold with AirPlay on it, according to the Bloomberg report. Technology is already there to allow streaming video, sources say, although licensees are not permitted to access it under the current agreement.
Kyocera Echo: It’s a Phone! It’s a Tablet! It’s a Phablet!
23. March 2011
I’m still scratching my head about the Kyocera Echo I just saw here at CTIA in Orlando. It’s a dual-touchscreen Android 2.2 smartphone with a patent-pending hinge that allows you to line the displays up side-by-side, so that it looks sort of like a square-ish tablet with a black line across the middle:
Why Wireless Carriers Both Promote and Dread 4G
23. March 2011
Here at the CTIA Wireless show in Orlando, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse says that with the planned summer launch of HTC’s 3D EVO and 4G EVO tablet, Sprint will have 22 4G devices, more than any of its rivals. Verizon says it will bring its 4G LTE network to 147 markets by year’s end, while AT&T is simultaneously building out its HSPA network while preparing to launch its LTE network later this year.
No question, 4G is the next mobile battleground for what shapes up to be a smaller field of national carriers. But at a day of sessions on the subject (sponsored by Fierce Wireless, which among other things publishes a first-rate daily newsletter on the wireless industry), the dominant theme seemed to be that the carriers may not be ready to deal with the enormous bandwidth demands their fast devices and networks will inevitably produce.
Unsettled: Judge Says Google Book Deal Would be Monopoly
23. March 2011
It looks like Google’s attempt to bury the hatchet with authors and publishers in its bid to digitize a world’s worth of books may be in jeopardy after a New York federal judge on Tuesday rejected a $125 million settlement reached in October 2008.
Google promotes that settlement on its Google Books page as “with a broad class of authors and publishers to make the world’s books even more accessible online,” but Judge Denny Chin was having none of it. Chin said the deal would “arguably give Google control over the search market,” and that its terms went too far. Specifically: That the settlement would give Google a “de facto monopoly” on digitized content.
You may have heard that Google wants to scan and convert to text every book in the known universe. You may have heard that notion sold by politicians like John Conyers as possibly “the greatest innovation in book publishing since the Gutenberg press.” You may also have heard it called “a disaster for scholars,” or as UC Berkeley language professor and longtime NPR contributor Geoffrey Nunberg puts it, “a mishmash wrapped in a muddle wrapped in a mess.”
Take A Self-Portrait Every Day. Every Day. Every Day
22. March 2011
Remember this guy?
If you’ve spent any time at all on the internet in the last few years, you’re probably responsible for one of the 18 million (now approaching 19 million) views of his video, mashing together years’ worth of self-portraits into a few minutes of thrashing hair and regular shaving.
His name is Noah Kalina, he’s a New York-based photographer, and he has teamed up with some other people to create Everyday an iPhone app that makes it super-easy to create your own version of this video.
The app thinks about everything, so you don’t have to. It helps you line your face up in roughly the same position every time you take a shot. It reminds you to take your photos on a regular basis. It saves them all for you, and when you’ve taken enough, it automatically turns them into a timelapse video, ready for posting online.
Note the word “enough” there. This app is best suited to people who aren’t in a hurry. Even after a month of daily photos, you’re not going to have much to show. This app is making a big splash at launch – and deservedly so, because it’s beautifully made – but we’re going to have to wait about a year to start seeing good videos.
I’ll make a note in my calendar for March 22nd next year, and we’ll see.
(This post republished from Techland.)
RIM’s PlayBook Has a Price and a Date
22. March 2011
RIM has finally announced the specifics on how much you’ll pay for its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, and when you’ll be able to do so: It goes on sale April 19th for the familiar-sounding prices of $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB), and $699 (64GB). The 7″, businessy tablet is the single most intriguing iPad alternative, simply because it’s not that much like an iPad; it’s looked good in demos for months, and it’s be intriguing to see just how close it comes to living up to its hype and promise, both of which are considerable.
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24. March 2011
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