Android developers can use the Google Nexus 10 as a testing device
If CES 2013 and other major trade shows are of any indication, a plethora of Android devices are launched on a frequent basis, sporting different display configurations. For consumers that may not mean much (aside from which device to get next), but developers have to verify if apps are rendered properly across different resolutions and pixel densities. But buying all available smartphones and tablets is not a financially-sound decision, when a Google Nexus 10 gets the job done by itself.
The Samsung-made tablet sports a large 10.1-inch display featuring a whopping 2560 by 1600 resolution and a 300 ppi density. As a result, according to Adam Powell, working as Android framework engineer at Google, the Nexus 10 can be used by app developers to test user interfaces in "pretty much all environments". The question is: "How?"
Who is Aaron Swartz?
I am not a geek, hacker or programmer but simple storyteller. Some stories are unbearable to write, such as this one -- about an amazing geek and hacker who died suddenly, sadly on January 11. The world lost someone special two days ago. As you prepared for your weekend fun, he contemplated the last moments of life before taking it. You can blame the US government, as his family does and I do. A bright star has gone dark on the Internet firmament, and we'll never know what won't be seen because of it.
I didn't know Aaron Swartz, just of him. I followed some of his accomplishments and legal woes, which surely were catalyst for his final decision. Around the InterWebs, the 26 year old is described in many ways: "programmer"; "hacker"; "activist"; "advocate". His work almost certainly touches your daily life. Swartz co-authored RSS 1.0; he helped architect Creative Commons; he was serendipitous Reddit cofounder via acquisition of his company Infogami; and he was one of the most vocal, active and successful SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) opponents.
232 years in the making, Ordnance Survey launches its first maps app for iOS
Shortly after Apple launched its disastrous maps app, Google’s CEO Larry Page made a comment regarding how it had taken Google seven years of hard work to get to where it’s at now. Seven years sounds like a long time, but it pales into insignificance when compared to the 232 years that British mapping agency Ordnance Survey has been making and refining its maps.
It’s rather surprising that it’s taken this long for the OS to put its work on iOS, but the agency has at last come up with an official app. OS MapFinder isn’t a straight alternative to Google Maps or Apple Maps though. Rather, as Ordnance Survey puts it, the app is "aimed at walkers, ramblers, runners, cyclists and generally anyone looking to enjoy the outdoors".
5 weirdest tech products unveiled at CES 2013
Four days ago I reported about "5 CES 2013 pre-show announcements you should know about". As the show leads towards a (long awaited) finale, let's take a look at the five weird pieces of tech unveiled since Sunday.
Some serve as part of the "What were they thinking?" lesson in announcing new products, while others are good examples of tech gone too far. Since quantifying which one's more out of place than the other, the following five products will be listed in a non-particular order. Feel free to name the weirdest of all in the comments below. Be advised, that's no easy task to undertake!
4.4 million Nokia Lumia sales is not impressive at all
Windows Phone 8 is not the cure for Nokia's woes. Today the Finnish phone manufacturer released preliminary financial results for fourth quarter, managing to move just 4.4 million Lumia units.
Nokia, however, remains optimistic when it comes to sales that, at least theoretically judging by timing and product releases, should be much, much higher compared to actual preliminary numbers. The company states that "Devices & Services has exceeded expectations and achieved underlying profitability in the fourth quarter 2012", but fact is the most popular smartphone series comprises of Asha devices with 9.3 million units sold, and not Lumias. Basically the cheaper and more modest smartphones drive the "exceeded expectations" and "underlying profitability" at a first raw glance.
Amazon AutoRip Changes EVERYTHING
The most important tech news this week isn't from the Consumer Electronics Show. Amazon earns distinction, with a new service that, if rightly executed, could change how everyone buys digital content. Not since Apple licensed digital tracks for the iTunes Store in early 2003 and later secured deals allowing consumers to buy a single and get the rest of the album for appropriately-reduced cost is a music service so provocative. Amazon AutoRip is as big as DRM-free and looms over Apple's iTunes Match -- and both transform music licensing and consumption.
Can you feel it? The Earth shook today, and nothing will be the same because of it.
The trick to stealing Hollywood is...
Third in a series. Some readers of my last column in this series seem to think it was just about the movie business but it wasn’t. It was about the recorded entertainment industry, which includes movies, broadcast and cable television, video games, and derivative works. It’s just that the movie business, like the mainframe computer business, learned these lessons first and so offers fine examples.
Whether from Silicon Valley or Seattle, technology companies see video entertainment as a rich market to be absorbed. How can Hollywood resist? The tech companies have all the money. Between them Amazon, Apple, Google, Intel and Microsoft have $300 billion in cash and no debt -- enough capital to buy anything. Apple all by itself could buy the entire entertainment industry, though antitrust laws might interfere.
Which size tablet is right for you?
There is no shortage of new tablets being announced at this week's Consumer Electronics Show -- Acer Iconia B1-A71, Polaroid M7 and M10 and VIZIO 11.6" Tablet PC, among many others. Meanwhile, NPD DisplaySearch forecasts that global tablet shipments will surpass notebooks this year. But what's interesting is a dramatic shift in size preference, which is why I want to know: Which is right for you?
DisplaySearch predicts that tablets with 7-to-8 inch screens will overwhelmingly dominate the market, with 45 percent share. Meanwhile, 9.7 inches -- the size Apple popularized with iPad -- will fall to just 17 percent share. Yet many of the slates debuting at CES are in the larger categories, typically between 10.1 and 11.6 inches. Does size really matter that much, and is smaller better?
Holy post-PC era! Tablet shipments will surpass laptops this year
Quick, send a load of Valium to Intel and Microsoft executives! Gasp -- to Apple, too. Today NPD DisplaySearch forecasts that tablet shipments will exceed notebooks in 2013, globally. But in China and the United States, the milestone passed last year.
About 18 months ago, analysts started the smartphone-shipments-are-greater-than-PCs meme, which I didn't take too seriously. The market dynamics are different and handsets' functionally don't replace personal computers. Tablets are a whole other matter, because they can do just that. The category's rise over laptops is hugely significant.
Firefox 18 promises faster page loading, Retina display support
Mozilla has launched Firefox 18.0 FINAL, the latest stable build of its open-source, cross-platform web browser. Version 18 debuts a new, faster JavaScript engine to improve page loading times by up to 26 per cent over the previous version. Mac users will also be pleased to learn that version 18 finally includes full Retina-display support on Macs running OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later.
At the same time, Mozilla is readying the final release of Thunderbird 18, a minor update to its email messaging tool. The most notable new feature here will be support for zoom in the compose window.
Windows 7 is great, but I won't go back
There is friendly disagreement here at BetaNews. My friend and colleague, Mihaita Bamburic, uses Windows 8, but laments that he wants to return to the last era by downgrading to version 7. While I feel for him, and he certainly has that option, I would say the same thing I did to my family when I upgraded our household computers -- yes it is different, but I doubt Microsoft is going back now.
That is a harsh statement, although I certainly put it as gently as possible to my wife and kids. However, aside from my assertion that things will not revert, there are several other reasons I feel no loss in this move.
Sorry, Windows 8, but I love and miss Windows 7
Life as an early adopter is sprinkled with moments of joy and regret after first trying out a product up until another shiny toy takes its place. The burning desire to pursue something new often backfires in my endeavors, with personal expectations rarely fulfilled by cutting-edge software or hardware. My experience running Windows 8 is no different, as Microsoft's latest entry into consumer operating systems seldom ticks all the right boxes. But I plow through, even though what I really want is to go back to Windows 7. (Oh my, my colleague Alan Buckingham disagrees.)
I started using Windows 8 in mid-August and throughout all my time with it not once did I ever feel comfortable enough to say: "This is a keeper". Fact is what I love about Windows 8 I almost never use, and what I loathe I do have to deal with every single time -- it's a self-destructive relationship I simply do not want to be in anymore. On the other hand, at the opposite end lies Windows 7, which fits me like a tailored suit -- no extra "in your face" functionality that I rarely take advantage of. Simply put -- less is more.
Hollywood can’t help but take advantage of tech companies
Second in a series. A friend of mine who is a securities lawyer in New York worked on the 1985 sale of 20th Century Fox by Marvin Davis to Rupert Murdoch. He led a group of New York attorneys to Los Angeles where they spent weeks going over contracts for many Fox films. What they found was that with few exceptions there were no contracts. There were signed letters of intent (agreements to agree) for pictures budgeted at $20-$50 million but almost no actual contracts. Effectively business was being done, movies were being made, and huge sums of money were being transferred on a handshake. That’s how Hollywood tends to do business and it doesn’t go down very well with outsiders, so they for the most part remain outside.
Jump to this week’s evolving story about Intel supposedly entering with a bang the TV set-top box business replete with previously unlicensed cable content -- an Over-The-Top virtual cable system. This was expected to be announced, I’m told, at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Qualcomm makes absent Microsoft look irrelevant at CES 2013
Pulling out of trade shows worked just fine for Apple, but Microsoft’s decision to follow suit and drop out of the Consumer Electronics Show in 2013, and beyond, could have catastrophic consequences for the Redmond, Wash.-based company.
For years we have become accustomed to Bill Gates and, later, Steve Ballmer opening the show with THE keynote address. Now a company once considered by many as the most important in the industry has reduced itself to an afterthought.
Will 2013 be another year of Apple iteration masquerading as innovation?
Apple ended 2012, Tim Cook's first full year as CEO, with a whimper. Analyst, blogger, reporter and social commentator puppy-love adoration gave way to persistent angst-questions about what's next and why the stock, which soared in September, soured through most of fourth quarter. Shares closed at $549.03, 22 percent down from the 52-week high. I can only describe 2012 as Apple's year of iteration and wonder where will be innovation this year. After all, the bitten-fruit logo company has a reputation to live up to.
By the financials, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company is the golden child. Starting in 2010, money poured in faster than the US Mint could print greenbacks. Apple takes in more cash than any other tech company ($156.51 billion during fiscal 2012), commands the largest market cap ($516.47 billion) and sits on a cash horde of at least $120 billion. But these capital gains come from past strategic investments, lucky timing (transition to the so-called post-PC era) and brilliant brand revival marketing and product execution. For the long haul, I predict that 2012 will be remembered as the year Apple stumbled -- as companies often do at the height of success -- and in this case following the tragic loss of its visionary cofounder.
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