• Video

This morning, before Google I/O 2012 keynote kicked off, I spoke with three developers from Ice Development Solutions, all from Phoenix, Arizona. They expressed excitement about Android and imminent Nexus 7 tablet announcement.

They feel real good about Chrome, too, but not as much about Chromebook. Some of their work involves games, and they say the hardware Chrome OS currently runs on isn't good enough. Get this: Their games run better on Ubuntu on the same hardware. Damn, good thing I don't game on the Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook.

Continue reading →

Recently I had the chance to use the Sony Speaker Dock for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod. I love the sophisticated looks; the dock would be perfect to add to the atmosphere of a get-together or party. Even though this is a Sony product, it reminds me of Apple in the sense that this speaker is very simple. It isn't overloaded with complicated buttons that you would need an instruction manual to understand.

For a dock system of its quality, the RDP-X500IP is on the less expensive end, price-wise. For example, Sony sells the dock for $250. The comparable Bose system is $150 more. If you're on a budget, however, there are many quality alternatives, from Logitech and Klipsch, among others. Overall, the RDP-X500IP is a truly fabulous audio system. It's known for great bass, which honestly is quite phenomenal for a speaker of its price and size.

Continue reading →

My wife and I just about collapsed laughing while watching Conan last night. Episode's highlight: Two videos -- one for IKEA's Uppleva television. Team Coco isn't waiting for the official release and offers set-up instructions now.

The other segment, featuring a video, may not be SFW. Conan O`Brien accepts viewer responses, via YouTube, about mistakes he makes during the show. Last night, he went to great lengths to get around one. Keep liquids away from your computer before watching this one.

Continue reading →

Samsung's new promo for next week's big mobile event is a real snoozer. It's nothing like those cheesy videos mocking iPhone users for being wannabe hipsters, who have such no lives they'll wait hours on end to buy a phone that looks exactly like the one owned now. Instead of chutzpah, galaxies pass before your eyes. Get it? New Galaxy device launch. Wake me, I fell asleep.

But wait for it. There's a pretty good punchline, if you can bear through the video's first 48 seconds. Be sure that if an iPhone user, Samsung means the dig for you.

Continue reading →

Some really strange stuff (I want to use the other "s" word, but content filters) comes into the BetaNews Tips box. I'm paying more attention to what's in it this week, given my 7-day Google Reader fast. Weirdness knows no bounds, nor my perplexity to embrace and share it. I swear to debating for 10 minutes about sharing this video. It's strange. Topical. From a vlogger with 26,664 subscribers (now I'm one of them). And, sheepishly confess, made me laugh.

Hell, I even liked the text of the email before the video link and made it the headline. If Instagram is worth one billion bucks... You got me Khyan Mansley. Commenters don't be cruel.

Continue reading →

The Start Menu is a powerful tool. Users click the Start button in the bottom left corner of the Windows desktop, pull out the Programs menu and begin tweaking and modifying. Users can right click to add new folders or shortcuts and move shortcuts from one subfolder to another. Deleting folders and shortcuts is just as simple and straightforward. If you've been stumbling around Windows 8 wondering why you can't find the Start button, there's a reason: It's gone.

In Windows 8, all that easy tweaking is, well, not so easy. Users are not able to directly change, add, or delete subfolders and shortcuts in the Start Screen All Programs view. Don’t worry. I've got you covered. Before you know it, that wildcat Start Screen will be a tamed house feline. 

Continue reading →

Windows 8 marks the biggest changes to the operating system's user interface in about two decades. Windows 1.0 and 2.0 retained much from MS-DOS, while v3 brought a totally redesigned graphical UI. Microsoft took the world by storm with Windows 95, further refining the look and feel and introducing the Start menu. The following years and new Windows releases didn’t see major GUI changes.

Sure, Windows XP brought the slipstreamed taskbar and Start menu. Windows Vista added a few new menus, meaningful search box and desktop gadgets. Other changes included Aero Peek, and Previews on running applications. Windows 7 replaced the taskbar with the superbar, providing users more control over and visibility into open applications. For the most part the Start menu is the same as Windows Vista with no changes whatsoever. Windows 8's  new tile-like UI Metro does away with it all and where the desktop motif remains for legacy apps, the Start menu is gone. Why fix something that is not broke? After all it only took over a decade to finally get the desktop prefect.

Continue reading →

"Conan" offers yet another timely spoof, here about Apple's problem with working conditions at factories in China. People have called for boycotts, others claim Apple is no worse than other high-tech companies using the same facilities. Seems like everyone has an opinion about what's really an old story.

Satire is a dish best served cold, and Team Coco packs on the ice.

Continue reading →

Since buying Galaxy Nexus last month, I haven't paid as much attention to Samsung's stunningly clever "The Next Big Thing is Already Here" advertising campaign that slaps around the iPhone hipster set. There's a new TV commercial that begins with a group of iPhone want-to-haves camped out, literally, by an Apple Store.

"Ah that looks like last year's phone" is the killer line, says a guy rising from his sleeping bag to look at an unboxing video of, presumably, iPhone 4S. Samsung snark already has soured perceptions of iPhone and boosted those of Samsung brands, according to YouGov BrandIndex. The attack ads, which never specifically mention iPhone, marks one of the most iconic marketing campaigns since Apple's "Get a Mac".

Continue reading →

At CES 2012, semiconductor company Marvell has shown up at the center of two major projects that shifted from x86-based systems to ARM-based systems. In both cases, it has also been a project that Intel had withdrawn from: Google TV, and One Laptop Per Child.

Marvell's Google TV platform announcements came quickly and with little forewarning; but its OLPC participation has been long-running and easy to track. At CES 2011, we saw the OLPC XO 1.75 running on Marvell's Armada 610 chipset. The company announced this week that those devices ship worldwide in March 2012.

Continue reading →

So-o-o-o-o, I'm trying to get into the holiday spirit here at BetaNews, which explains posting the Team CoCo video mocking Amazon Kindle Fire. That's one for all you iPad lovers and Apple fans. Retrevo has redone two classic Christmas carols, and, it only seems fair after giving iPad idolaters a present the Android army should get one, too.

Sing along for Android "our newfound king". Given Android's recent market share rise against iOS, that's no idle claim.

Continue reading →

It's dress-down Friday here at BetaNews, and I can't resist letting Samsung dress down Apple. Yesterday, the South Korean electronics manufacturer uploaded to YouTube yet another TV commercial in "The Next Big Thing is Already Here" marketing campaign. This one answers the question I posed in late September: "What if iPhone 5 isn't LTE?" -- days before Apple revealed 4S; there was no 5 and only HSPA+.

What's the answer: Disappointment, as the commercial reveals. Apple's smartphone and standard Galaxy S II both have HSPA+, but S2 is better, offering maximum 21Mbps vs iPhone 4S' 14Mbps. The Galaxy S II Skyrocket has 4G LTE -- granted only in 9 markets. I have that phone. Absolutely hilarious: The commercial's huge gaffe that will give Apple fanboys chance to do a little dressing down of their own. The TV spot is set in Denver, which is not one of the cities where AT&T officially offers 4G LTE. Whoops! No one would have noticed or cared if the location label was Washington, DC, where there is service.

Continue reading →

I'm a big fan of Kinect and Microsoft using the body as the command line. The most natural user interface is you. But selling the long-term benefits, beyond gaming, is tricky. Leading into the controller's November 4 first-year anniversary, Microsoft promotes the "Kinect Effect". It's brilliant, and forward-looking, marketing that shows Kinect's huge potential outside gaming.

I've praised Kinect before, for example: regarding a viral video where a toddler dances inside Microsoft Store and debut of Kinect Fun Labs.

Continue reading →

Apple is known for its remarkable marketing. "Think Different" is one of its most memorable campaigns -- that it's not "think differently" makes the point. Good marketing is about aspiration, of making people believe that their lives will be better if they're associated with Product or Brand X, Y or Z. They also want to feel good about others -- even by association with a product or brand that does good or claims to do so. It's one reason green marketing is so successful -- doing good by association.

"Think Different" espoused the very best of human nature, of people who had another viewpoint that enabled them to be truly great, not just for themselves but for humanity. The campaign defined the Apple brand for years. Embedded here is the original "Think Different" commercial -- not the one that aired on television narrated by Richard Dreyfus but by Apple cofounder Steve Jobs himself. I prefer Jobs' version. Listen to the passion in his voice. The visionaries depicted mean something more than their use in a marketing campaign.

Continue reading →

Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet may be nearly two months from shipping, but that's not stopping the retailer from building buzz now. Amazon only just announced the Android 2.1-based tablet this morning, and the first commercials are ready to go. The 7-inch Kindle Fire goes on sale November 15 for $199. Wanna guess what the hot Christmas gift this year is gonna be? Hint: It ain't iPad 2.

While geeks, tech writers and Apple fanatics will get all hung up on what's missing -- no camera, no Bluetooth, no 3G, no Android 3.x "Honeycomb" -- ignore their complaints. Amazon isn't selling techie features but a digital lifestyle -- that's crystal clear from this one video, and it resonates with marketing for Kindle ebook readers.

Continue reading →