Author Archive | Jared Newman

What’s Gotten Into Gmail?

Posted by Jared Newman on May 27, 2011 at 1:55 pm

My, how hyperactive Gmail has become.

Google’s web mail service just rolled out a “people widget,” which shows information about the person you’re e-mailing right next to the message, but that’s not the only change we’ve seen recently in Gmail. Here’s a quick rundown of other changes:

  • Importance Markers: Like a light version of Gmail’s priority inbox, these little yellow tabs attempt to decipher which e-mails are truly important. You can help the algorithm out by using plus and minus markers in the top navigation bar.
  • AIM in GChat: AOL now lets Instant Messenger users migrate their buddies to Gmail’s chat service. You can add individual buddies by typing their screen names followed by “@aol.com,” or add everyone by choosing “options” in AIM, clicking “Add to Buddy List” and selecting “Set up Google Talk.”
  • Advanced advertisements: Google’s been rolling out a new automated ad system for Gmail that looks not only at the content of e-mails, but at whether the user is reading or deleting messages. The idea is to make ads smarter by pinning down the user’s main interests.

I don’t know what’s going on in the Googleplex, but Yahoo, meanwhile, has been rolling out its own big upgrades for Yahoo Mail, and they’re quite nice. Perhaps Google is rapidly releasing its own new features to stay competitive, or maybe it’s just coincidence.

Whatever the case, I don’t find any of Gmail’s recent changes intrusive or offensive, but they’re not game-changers, either. And that’s okay; I like Gmail just the way it is.

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iChromy: An Alternative iPad Browser With Chrome Envy

Posted by Jared Newman on May 26, 2011 at 10:17 am

Google’s not bringing the Chrome web browser to the iPad anytime soon, if ever, so app maker Diigo is trying to fill the void with iChromy.

The free alternative iPad browser, which launches in the App Store today, mimics the Chrome aesthetic. Tabs appear at the top of the screen, and a single bar handles web addresses and searches, just like Chrome’s omnibar. There’s even a star-shaped bookmark button to the right of the URL bar, just like Chrome.

Chrome flattery aside, iChromy’s greatest asset is stability. When tab overload threatens to crash the browser, iChromy quietly shifts memory away from background tabs that you haven’t opened in a while. These pages reload when you access them again, but it’s a small price to pay for having lots of open tabs with minimal crashes. I’ve been playing with a preview version of iChromy on an original iPad for a few days, and it’s far better at avoiding crashes than my previous iPad browser of choice, Atomic Web Browser.

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PSN Users Get Identity Theft Protection At Last

Posted by Jared Newman on May 26, 2011 at 9:02 am

It took a few weeks, but Sony is making good on its promise of free identity protection to Playstation Network users.

The service, good for one year, is offered through AllClearID PLUS, and is available to anyone who activated a PSN account before April 20. To get the service, enter your e-mail at Sony’s identity theft protection page. Within 72 hours, you’ll get an activation code, which must be redeemed at AllClear’s website by June 28. The AllClear package includes $1 million of identity theft insurance, cyber monitoring and other perks.

The Playstation Network was hacked between April 17 and April 19, forcing Sony to shut down the network for four weeks. Nearly a week after confirming the outage, Sony revealed the full extent of the damage: Hackers stole names, e-mails, addresses, birthdates and passwords. There was no evidence of credit card theft on the Playstation Network, but a separate attack on Sony Online Entertainment resulted in the theft of 12,700 credit card numbers. All but 900 were expired, Sony said.

At this point, I wonder how many people are going to take Sony up on the identity theft protection offer. Judging from the reader reaction here and on other blogs, there was a strong sentiment of “I don’t care about the data, just let me play Call of Duty again.” Sony began restoring Playstation Network services on May 14, although the Playstation Store for downloadable content remains down until the end of this month.

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7-Inch Honeycomb Tablets May Be Bad News

Posted by Jared Newman on May 25, 2011 at 4:19 pm

When Google announced Android Ice Cream at the Google I/O developer conference earlier this month, it was a bittersweet moment for folks who want the perfect 7-inch tablet. Ice Cream Sandwich will finally optimize Android for a wide range of screen sizes, but the announcement implicitly condemned any 7-inch Android device that dared implement Honeycomb, the current version of Android.

So I’m not entirely surprised to hear a rumor from DigiTimes that Acer is pushing back its 7-inch Acer Iconia Tab A100 until August or September. Sources tell DigiTimes that many Android applications are incompatible with the 7-inch display in Honeycomb, and Acer is unwilling to revert to older versions of Android, which aren’t optimized for tablets.

Google is reportedly busy “resolving other issues,” the sources said. I’m reminded of when Samsung was working on the Galaxy Tab with Android 2.2, and Google’s director of mobile products, Hugo Barra, warned against the idea of putting a smartphone OS on a tablet.

It’s unclear whether Acer is tweaking Honeycomb on its own or simply waiting for Ice Cream now. At least one tablet maker, ViewSonic, is reportedly pushing ahead with its own 7-inch Honeycomb tablet, the ViewPad 7x. ViewSonic will show off its tablet later this month, according to Pocket-Lint, so we may see whether the smaller screen can handle Honeycomb at all.

But if DigiTimes’ report is accurate, it reaffirms the idea that if you want a 7-inch Android tablet, Ice Cream Sandwich is worth waiting for. Unfortunately, Google hasn’t said when this version of Android will launch, so the 7-inch tablet of my dreams remains unrealized.

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Minecraft Brings Timed Exclusivity to Smartphones

Posted by Jared Newman on May 25, 2011 at 1:19 pm

For some time, I debated whether Minecraft’s exclusivity with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play gaming phone was a newsworthy event on its own. Don’t get me wrong, I think Minecraft is awesome, but the idea of one platform getting a game before others is not something I’d usually write about here.

Except, this particular timed exclusivity applies to smartphones. That’s something.

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Google Mobile Payments: Don’t Get Too Excited Yet

Posted by Jared Newman on May 25, 2011 at 10:12 am

All bets are on Google launching a mobile payment platform with Sprint on Thursday, allowing people to pay for goods and services with their smartphones.

The mobile payment concept, which relies on technology called near-field communications (NFC) embedded in smartphones, has a lot of potential. In the long haul, it may eventually replace the need for credit cards. But I wouldn’t get too excited about this rumored announcement just yet — assuming that is what Google will talk about at a press event in New York on Thursday.

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Ad-Supported Kindle’s a Hit, and Now It’s 3G, Too

Posted by Jared Newman on May 24, 2011 at 9:59 pm

Turns out, people will gladly stare at an occasional ad on their Kindles to save a little money.

Amazon’s Kindle with Special Offers, an e-reader that shows advertisements and discounts on its home screen, is now available with a 3G connection. Like the Wi-Fi model, the 3G Kindle with Special Offers is $25 cheaper than its ad-free counterpart, selling for $164. The Wi-Fi version sells for $114.

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Windows Phone “Mango” Pushes Apps Off the Pedestal

Posted by Jared Newman on May 24, 2011 at 4:37 pm

As I read This is My Next’s liveblog of the Microsoft Windows Phone event today, one quote from Microsoft’s mobile president Andy Lees resonated: “The problem is that today smartphones only include basic communications — everything else is an app,” he said.

That remark sets the tone for nearly every feature that Microsoft will bring to the next Windows Phone upgrade, codenamed “Mango.” The gist? Apps aren’t everything.

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Landscape Tablet Users: You’re Holding it Wrong?

Posted by Jared Newman on May 23, 2011 at 4:15 pm

Tim Bray, Google’s Android developer advocate, has stirred the pot by unequivocally declaring that portrait orientation makes for a better tablet experience than landscape orientation.

He notes that outside of tablets, tall and narrow is the natural way to convey information. Books arrange themselves into dual walls of text, newspapers are arranged in columns and windows on the computer screen tend to be tall and thin, or at least sliced into vertical panes. “So hold your damn tablet the right way up. That’s the way the information wants to be, anyhow,” Bray writes.

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Sony’s Bringing PSP Games to the PS3

Posted by Jared Newman on May 23, 2011 at 1:07 pm

Finally, some good news out of Sony. The company announced that it’s going to remaster PSP games for the Playstation 3, with high-definition graphics, new content and possibly 3D support.

Best of all, the players’ progress in a game will be transferable between either platform, so you can pick up on the PS3 where you left off on the PSP, and vice versa. Japan will get the first PSP remaster with Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, a hugely-popular game in that country. It’s not clear what other games or regions are in the works, but hopefully the E3 trade show in June will bring some clarity.

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