Larry Page is a grown-up now

The good old Google Co-Founder Larry Page is worth 14 billion dollars, according to the Forbes magazine. Now that Google has announced that Mr. Page is now ready to overtake the empire, his value may rise even further. Starting from April 4th, Eric Schmidt will become the Executive Chairman and Co-Founder Sergey Brin will continue working on strategic stuff and new products.

Commenting on these changes, Eric said: “We’ve been talking about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making for a long time. By clarifying our individual roles we’ll create clearer responsibility and accountability at the top of the company. In my clear opinion, Larry is ready to lead and I’m excited about working with both him and Sergey for a long time to come.”

Larry said: “Eric has clearly done an outstanding job leading Google for the last decade. The results speak for themselves. There is no other CEO in the world that could have kept such headstrong founders so deeply involved and still run the business so brilliantly. Eric is a tremendous leader and I have learned innumerable lessons from him. His advice and efforts will be invaluable to me as I start in this new role. Google still has such incredible opportunity–we are only at the beginning and I can’t wait to get started.”

2011
01/22
CATEGORY
Android
2 comments

8 things iPhone 5 needs to have

The German site pcgameshardware.de did some research on different internet communities and found out what new features would be the most desireable ones among iPhone fanboys (and girls).
These are the improvement wishes for the iPhone 5:

1. Bigger resolution for the cam
Because of its HDRI-feature iPhone 4 might take neat pictures even in dark surroundings. But the resolution of 5 MP still lags behind the mainstream phone cams. 8 MP would be nice, but this might need a different phone architecture.

2. Interactive icons
User said they’d wish to see the status (like installation progress or other numbers or texts) right inside the icons. Would be a bit better than the push-thing and could provide a slight touch of multitasking, which the iPhone 4 is still lacking.

3. Multitasking
Users also want some real multitasking. This could need a lot more battery and cpu though, so we’d have to wait for some technological improvements on this side.

4. Wireless iTunes-Sync
You still need a cable when syncing with iTunes. Users said they’d like the iPhone 5 to be able to wirelessly sync their iTunes stuff. Some are even suggesting a cloud computing solution.

5. LED-notification for missed calls
Says it all.

6. Manual entries in the spelling-checker
It is no fun to enter a frequently used word (which is not in the dictionary) every single time.

7. Glas backcover alternative
The actual backcover gets broken too often, it seems.

8. Custom unlock screen
You can now see notifications for facebook messages for example, but still: why can’t the unlock screen display more information? You wouldn’t have to unlock it everytime you need to see relevant information.


2010
12/01
CATEGORY
Apple
iOS
iPhone
TAGS






115 comments

Carrier-unlock for iPhone 3 and iPhone 3G (05.13.04 baseband and above)

Owners of iPhone 3G (or iPhone 3GS) with a baseband later than 05.13.04: Waiting for a carrier-unlock? The iPhone Dev Team released another version of the famous PwnageTool. It uses the 6.15.00 baseband from iPad firmware 3.2.2, which also runs on the iPhone 3G and 3GS, which are using the same Infineon chip.

Dev Team suggests two “simplified routes” to get your iPhone unlocked. You will have to use the redsn0w tool, then install ultrasn0w via Cydia. Could be a bit risky though!

>> read the full instructions @Dev Team blog


2010
11/29
CATEGORY
Apple
iOS
iPhone
12 comments

Majority of smartphones have a touchscreen nowadays

For the first time ever, smart phones with touch screens accounted for more than half of all smart phone shipments globally in Q4 2009, taking 55% of the market, according to the latest Canalys estimates. Touch-screen smart phone shipments were up 138% year on year in Q4, reaching almost 30 million units, in a quarter where overall smart phone market growth stood at 41%. Canalys puts total touch-screen smart phone shipments for the year at over 75 million, more than double the 2008 figure. Total smart phone shipments in 2009 hit a new peak of 166 million units.

“Looking at the whole of 2009, it is no great surprise to see Apple at the top of the table of leading vendors of touch-screen smart phones,” said Canalys analyst Tim Shepherd, “But Nokia stands out as a very close second, seeing tremendous growth thanks to models such as the Nokia 5800 and N97. And Nokia was actually the leading vendor by volume of touch-screen smart phones in the final quarter of the year.” After Apple and Nokia, HTC and Samsung took the third and fourth spots, though Canalys notes that Samsung also ships a lot of touch-screen mobile phones that are not smart phones.
Independent research conducted by Canalys with 4,000 consumers toward the end of last year showed that 60% of those interviewed wanted a touch screen interface on their next mobile phone. And although some existing users said they will switch back to a different interface, Canalys expects the overall shift toward touch screens to continue during 2010. User interface (UI) design and the input technology vendors build into their handsets is a factor in attracting customers to particular devices, but Canalys points out that it is also key to enabling discovery, acquisition and usage of new applications and services.

“This is an area where Apple is still in an enviable leadership position, having built up a vast, easy-to-access library of content and applications that will help continue to drive the success of not only the iPhone, but also the other devices it launches, such as the iPad,” noted Canalys VP and principal analyst Chris Jones. “For vendors with similar aspirations, attracting developers to their chosen smart phone platforms is an ongoing challenge, especially as more platforms and application stores launch onto the market. Developer bandwidth is as big an issue for this industry as network bandwidth. And if you get it right, you have a much more effective lock-in when that user comes to replace their device, it isn’t just about building new revenue streams.” Canalys research shows that Symbian remained by far the largest smart phone OS by shipment volume in 2009, increasing in absolute terms despite losing share to the much faster growing RIM, Apple and Android.

2010
11/29
CATEGORY
Phones
126 comments

iPad 2 to be released in Q1 2011

Rumors have it that Apple is planning a release of iPad 2. This has been reported by the Chinese newspaper “Economic Daily News”, which has already correctly predicted the release of the first iPad. iPad 2 is said to have a 7-inch LCD-touchscreen.

Anyway, here’s a video on the iPad 2-rumor.

2010
11/28
CATEGORY
Apple
Rumors
iPad
109 comments

Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 to get Android 2.1

For those of you who own an unlocked Xperia X8: Sony Ericsson is beginning to finally push Android 2.1 (with its 32 batches) to the handset right now. But not all of Xperia X8-devices are likely to get the upgrade. You should check your eight-digit “SI-number” (e.g. 1242-4858) matches any of the numbers on the list, which you can find >here.

Btw, AT&T probably isn’t going to provide customers with Eclair any time soon.

via

2010
11/28
CATEGORY
Android
Sony Ericsson
TAGS



194 comments

Security experts find vulnerabilities in WebOS

Since WebOS’ environment is built to simplify application development, JavaScript can come pretty close to its core and thus potential attacks can reach the system. WebOS has always been less secure than other mobile operating systems.

Now some researchers found really scary holes which allow “hackers” not only to steal data, but also to remote-control the devices (here: Palm phones) and turn them into botnets. HP said they have fixed this particular bug (as of the WebOS 2.0 beta), but there are plenty of other security issues they’ll have to work on. For example, there are bugs which are including floating-point overflow or denial-of-service.


via darkreading

2010
11/26
CATEGORY
Security
WebOS
TAGS



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iPhone 5, iOS 4.3 and The Daily (short summary)

Apple seems to have internalized this one market rule according to which comsumer goods should become obsolete as soon as possible in order to maintain the market circulation. So shortly after the release of iPhone 4, there are already plenty of rumors about iPhone 5 (and NFC) spreading on a whole lot of blogs. Example one. Example two. Example three.

The same applies for the iOS. Just a couple of days after iOS 4.2 came out (later than expected), Apple seems to be preparing the next version. Some blogs keep mentioning iOS 4.3. The blog Macstories refers to a “reliable source” mentioning not only the usual maintenance tweaks and bug fixes, but also “subscription billing APIs” coming with the next version of iOS.

Speaking of subscriptions. Some of you may already have heard of this deal thing between Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch launching “The Daily”, an electronic newspaper which will cost around 99 cent. The difference to free online news: The Daily won’t contain any links and the articles won’t be edited afterwards.


2010
11/25
CATEGORY
Apple
Rumors
iOS
iPhone
TAGS










128 comments

Out of the oven on Dec 6th: Android Gingerbread

For everybody who hasn’t heard it yet: Android 2.3 is probably going to be announced on December 6th at “D: Dive Into Mobile”, an event which is part of the legendary “All Things Digital” conference. Andoid-founder Andy Rubin is going to give a speech and chances are that he’ll finally give us an official statement on the release of Gingerbread. Wouldn’t it be nice to receive the update before Christmas?

It’s a pity Android 2.3 is already becoming obsolete because of all those rumors concerning Honeycomb and Ice Cream. Btw, Honeycomb is expected to hit the “market” somewhere between Q1 and Q2 2011.

2010
11/25
CATEGORY
Android
Rumors
TAGS



168 comments

RIM: Kik Messenger banned from App World due to “breached contractual obligations”

A few days ago, RIM kicked the infamous Kik Messenger from its App World for no apparent reason. Looks like there are a couple of theories about why this might have happened. I’m not going to go much deeper into detail here, for there is a risk of spreading rumors. Seems like the Kik-folks are caught off guard about RIM kicking them out.
Here’s what one of the Kik-developers says:

“Kik is a small start-up with a big idea – just as RIM once was. We are thrilled by the popularity of our instant messaging app.
Some people have suggested that we’re “too similar” to RIM’s instant messaging product, and that somehow this is behind their decision. We would be surprised and disappointed if there is any truth to this, as RIM has always championed the BlackBerry ecosystem as an open platform. However, if true, the implications would go well beyond Kik to the entire mobile community, users and developers alike.
We urge RIM to embrace the spirit of a fair and open mobile platform that will enrich their users with more great new apps. Everyone – BlackBerry users, Kik users, our businesses and the wider smartphone community – will win.
Surely the one thing we can agree on is that the user should come first. On behalf of almost 1 million BlackBerry users who have already downloaded and use Kik, let’s work together and put this behind us.” via

We’re now waiting for RIM to comment on this affair.

2010
11/25
CATEGORY
Conflict
RIM
TAGS
126 comments