It may be more of a stumble than a full-on trip, but Microsoft is having a bit more technical trouble with its Windows Phone 7 update.
Microsoft's Michael Stroh, who writes for the Windows blog, acknowledged yesterday that the company stopped sending updates to Samsung Omnia 7 phones. Those are the same phones that were rendered useless, or "bricked," when Microsoft started to roll out the so-called NoDo update in February.
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20058610-75.html#ixzz1LAEVGKlH
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Phil Schiller: Apple's White iPhone 4 "Is Not Thicker"
Is the white version of Apple's iPhone 4 larger than the back version? Is there anything else in the world of technology worth talking about? We can't really debate the latter, but we're certainly not the only ones discussing the former.
Apple executives are chiming in on, "sizegate," or however you want to refer to the quote-unquote evidence that the white iPhone 4 is all of two-tenths of a millimeter thicker than its black counterpart.
Ernesto Barron used Twitter to send a direct message to Apple's senior vice president of product marketing, Phil Schiller, to inquire about the size differences between the two devices. According to 9to5Mac, which logged into Barron's Twitter account to verify that the conversation took place, Schiller sent the following as a direct message reply:
"It is not thicker, don't believe all the junk that you read," Schiller wrote.
And there you have it. Were there going to be an official Apple response about the relatively inconsequential issue, that's as close as we're likely going to get.
Of course, it's not entirely inconsequential. It's just that the alleged thickness difference hasn't appeared to prove significantly troublesome for anyone out there just yet. Engadget tried wrapping an Incase slider around both a black iPhone 4 and a white iPhone 4, and the site reported that a relatively simple process took a little bit more force in their attempts to slap the case over the latter
According to TiPB, further tests on a variety of cases have yielded none that won't fit a white iPhone 4 outright. The worst that happens is that some cases, like the Incase slider from Engadget's test, fit a little bit more snugly than what one would have otherwise encountered when putting the case on a black iPhone 4.
Apple still lists both products as having a thickness of 9.3 millimeters on its website, and the company does note that, "Actual size and weight vary by configuration and manufacturing process."
Apple executives are chiming in on, "sizegate," or however you want to refer to the quote-unquote evidence that the white iPhone 4 is all of two-tenths of a millimeter thicker than its black counterpart.
Ernesto Barron used Twitter to send a direct message to Apple's senior vice president of product marketing, Phil Schiller, to inquire about the size differences between the two devices. According to 9to5Mac, which logged into Barron's Twitter account to verify that the conversation took place, Schiller sent the following as a direct message reply:
"It is not thicker, don't believe all the junk that you read," Schiller wrote.
And there you have it. Were there going to be an official Apple response about the relatively inconsequential issue, that's as close as we're likely going to get.
Of course, it's not entirely inconsequential. It's just that the alleged thickness difference hasn't appeared to prove significantly troublesome for anyone out there just yet. Engadget tried wrapping an Incase slider around both a black iPhone 4 and a white iPhone 4, and the site reported that a relatively simple process took a little bit more force in their attempts to slap the case over the latter
According to TiPB, further tests on a variety of cases have yielded none that won't fit a white iPhone 4 outright. The worst that happens is that some cases, like the Incase slider from Engadget's test, fit a little bit more snugly than what one would have otherwise encountered when putting the case on a black iPhone 4.
Apple still lists both products as having a thickness of 9.3 millimeters on its website, and the company does note that, "Actual size and weight vary by configuration and manufacturing process."
Motorola Ships 250,000 Xooms, Sells Even Fewer
Thursday, April 28, 2011 marked the release of Motorola’s financial results from the first quarter of this fiscal year. In this document Motorola indicates having shipped over 250,000 Xoom devices, while also reporting a net loss for the same time period.
It should be noted that there was no detail provided on the number of Xooms actually sold to consumers, only those released to the channel. In fact, many reports indicate it may be as few as 15,000 devices sold.
In contrast, Apple released their financial results for the second quarter of its fiscal year, which ended in March, 2011 and was pleased to report selling 4.7 million iPads during this time.
The Xoom is the first tablet to take advantage of the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) platform and was regarded to be the most significant threat to the iPad to date. A spec by spec comparison does render the devices in a very competitive light with most critics hailing the open nature of the Android platform, but there is no underestimating the power of the identity and elegance of the iPad. Consumers are drawn to it.
Before the release of the iPad 2, the Xoom may have had a larger upper hand –but with the addition of the dual cameras, faster processor and slimmer profile, the iPad 2 has closed the gap. Add to that the simplicity of the hardware configurations, making it much easier for iOS developers to deliver solid, bug-free applications as compared to the contingencies required to develop for the ever varied Android hardware options and it becomes easier to see why more consumers are reaching toward Apple instead of Motorola.
Motorola shouldn’t be too hard on themselves. By comparison, Research in Motion (RIM) has also reported significant financial loss following the lackluster release of their Playbook tablet, their non-iOS/non-Android entry into the mobile market.
One thing is for certain: by specification standards the Xoom is a device to be reckoned with, and that will only make the iPad stronger in an effort to remain competitive.
It should be noted that there was no detail provided on the number of Xooms actually sold to consumers, only those released to the channel. In fact, many reports indicate it may be as few as 15,000 devices sold.
In contrast, Apple released their financial results for the second quarter of its fiscal year, which ended in March, 2011 and was pleased to report selling 4.7 million iPads during this time.
The Xoom is the first tablet to take advantage of the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) platform and was regarded to be the most significant threat to the iPad to date. A spec by spec comparison does render the devices in a very competitive light with most critics hailing the open nature of the Android platform, but there is no underestimating the power of the identity and elegance of the iPad. Consumers are drawn to it.
Before the release of the iPad 2, the Xoom may have had a larger upper hand –but with the addition of the dual cameras, faster processor and slimmer profile, the iPad 2 has closed the gap. Add to that the simplicity of the hardware configurations, making it much easier for iOS developers to deliver solid, bug-free applications as compared to the contingencies required to develop for the ever varied Android hardware options and it becomes easier to see why more consumers are reaching toward Apple instead of Motorola.
Motorola shouldn’t be too hard on themselves. By comparison, Research in Motion (RIM) has also reported significant financial loss following the lackluster release of their Playbook tablet, their non-iOS/non-Android entry into the mobile market.
One thing is for certain: by specification standards the Xoom is a device to be reckoned with, and that will only make the iPad stronger in an effort to remain competitive.
Google Calls Location Data 'Valuable'
By AMIR EFRATI
Google Inc.'s collection of location information from millions of mobile devices and personal computers is "extremely valuable" to the company's future business, according to an email written by a Google product manager last year.
That email and others, which are part of a public filing in a lawsuit against Google last year, shed new light on the company's thinking about the need to gather location-related data. Such information is essential for a growing number of mobile applications and websites to function properly, the emails indicate. It is also useful for companies such as Google— whose Android software powers millions of phones—that want to offer consumers advertisements that are tailored to their locations, a new frontier for online ads.
The disclosure of the internal emails follows a series of other revelations about location data gathered by Google and Apple Inc. The revelations prompted the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to schedule a hearing on May 10 to discuss the companies' practices.
Google, with users' permission, collects information about wireless networks surrounding mobile devices powered by Google's Android operating system. It also gets information about the location of wireless networks near personal computers if the PCs' owners are using Google's Chrome Web browser or versions of some other browsers.
Tech companies are using such information to build databases of millions of wireless networks, or Wi-Fi "access points," which help determine the approximate location of phones and computers attached to those networks. Using Wi-Fi is more efficient than satellite-based signals known as GPS, Google has said.
"I cannot stress enough how important Google's Wi-Fi location database is to our Android and mobile-product strategy," wrote Steve Lee, the Google product manager, in an email that emerged in a suit filed against Google by Skyhook Wireless Inc. in a Massachusetts court. The message was a response to an emailed question last May by Larry Page, who is now Google's chief executive.
Mr. Page had asked why Motorola, a maker of smartphones, had decided to use location services provided by Skyhook, a Boston-based company that also has a database of location information, instead of Google's. Motorola later decided to use Google's location services.
Skyhook, which once provided location services for Google but is now a competitor, sued Google for allegedly interfering with Skyhook's relations with Motorola and also for violating patents related to location-collection data. Google is seeking to have the suit dismissed.
In his email response, Mr. Lee said that collecting location information from Android mobile devices was crucial because Google in early 2010 had stopped collecting Wi-Fi data from vehicles it was using to take images of streets for a Google Maps feature known as Street View. A secondary purpose of the vehicles was to scan the areas around the vehicles to build out Google's location database, but Google disclosed in early 2010 that it inadvertently collected personal data from unsecured wireless networks. It has since stopped scanning for Wi-Fi information from Street View vehicles.
Both Skyhook and Microsoft Corp. say they have vehicles that search for Wi-Fi networks.
Ted Morgan, Skyhook's chief executive, said Sunday that "these email exchanges show how important owning the location system is to Google and how concerned they were about losing major device makers." He added that Skyhook began building a location database in 2003 and has "geo-coded" 500 million Wi-Fi access points.
Skyhook, which currently provides location information for some Apple devices, charges device makers to use its location services. Google's service is free.
In his May 2010 email, Mr. Lee said Google had 300 million Wi-Fi networks in its database and could pinpoint a device's location to within about 100 feet. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last year, Mr. Lee said the company began to build its location database in 2006.
A Google spokesman declined comment on the emails. In a written statement last week, the company said that "all location sharing on Android is opt-in by the user" and that "we provide users with notice and control over the collection, sharing and use of location in order to provide a better mobile experience on Android devices. Any location data that is sent back to Google location servers is anonymized and is not tied or traceable to a specific user."Apple Inc. said last week that it will scale back the location data its iPhones store. It also said it will stop collecting such data when consumers request it.
Write to Amir Efrati at amir.efrati@wsj.com
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703703304576297450030517830.html#ixzz1LADmD3Ul
Google Inc.'s collection of location information from millions of mobile devices and personal computers is "extremely valuable" to the company's future business, according to an email written by a Google product manager last year.
That email and others, which are part of a public filing in a lawsuit against Google last year, shed new light on the company's thinking about the need to gather location-related data. Such information is essential for a growing number of mobile applications and websites to function properly, the emails indicate. It is also useful for companies such as Google— whose Android software powers millions of phones—that want to offer consumers advertisements that are tailored to their locations, a new frontier for online ads.
The disclosure of the internal emails follows a series of other revelations about location data gathered by Google and Apple Inc. The revelations prompted the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to schedule a hearing on May 10 to discuss the companies' practices.
Google, with users' permission, collects information about wireless networks surrounding mobile devices powered by Google's Android operating system. It also gets information about the location of wireless networks near personal computers if the PCs' owners are using Google's Chrome Web browser or versions of some other browsers.
Tech companies are using such information to build databases of millions of wireless networks, or Wi-Fi "access points," which help determine the approximate location of phones and computers attached to those networks. Using Wi-Fi is more efficient than satellite-based signals known as GPS, Google has said.
"I cannot stress enough how important Google's Wi-Fi location database is to our Android and mobile-product strategy," wrote Steve Lee, the Google product manager, in an email that emerged in a suit filed against Google by Skyhook Wireless Inc. in a Massachusetts court. The message was a response to an emailed question last May by Larry Page, who is now Google's chief executive.
Mr. Page had asked why Motorola, a maker of smartphones, had decided to use location services provided by Skyhook, a Boston-based company that also has a database of location information, instead of Google's. Motorola later decided to use Google's location services.
Skyhook, which once provided location services for Google but is now a competitor, sued Google for allegedly interfering with Skyhook's relations with Motorola and also for violating patents related to location-collection data. Google is seeking to have the suit dismissed.
In his email response, Mr. Lee said that collecting location information from Android mobile devices was crucial because Google in early 2010 had stopped collecting Wi-Fi data from vehicles it was using to take images of streets for a Google Maps feature known as Street View. A secondary purpose of the vehicles was to scan the areas around the vehicles to build out Google's location database, but Google disclosed in early 2010 that it inadvertently collected personal data from unsecured wireless networks. It has since stopped scanning for Wi-Fi information from Street View vehicles.
Both Skyhook and Microsoft Corp. say they have vehicles that search for Wi-Fi networks.
Ted Morgan, Skyhook's chief executive, said Sunday that "these email exchanges show how important owning the location system is to Google and how concerned they were about losing major device makers." He added that Skyhook began building a location database in 2003 and has "geo-coded" 500 million Wi-Fi access points.
Skyhook, which currently provides location information for some Apple devices, charges device makers to use its location services. Google's service is free.
In his May 2010 email, Mr. Lee said Google had 300 million Wi-Fi networks in its database and could pinpoint a device's location to within about 100 feet. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last year, Mr. Lee said the company began to build its location database in 2006.
A Google spokesman declined comment on the emails. In a written statement last week, the company said that "all location sharing on Android is opt-in by the user" and that "we provide users with notice and control over the collection, sharing and use of location in order to provide a better mobile experience on Android devices. Any location data that is sent back to Google location servers is anonymized and is not tied or traceable to a specific user."Apple Inc. said last week that it will scale back the location data its iPhones store. It also said it will stop collecting such data when consumers request it.
Write to Amir Efrati at amir.efrati@wsj.com
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703703304576297450030517830.html#ixzz1LADmD3Ul
Nokia CEO Talks about New Tablet, Uncertain Between Windows and MeeGo
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop confirmed that Nokia is working on a Tablet. In an interview with YLE.fi, Elop commented that out of hundreds of tablets on the market, there is just one that is doing well. So when Nokia launches its tablet, it will be unique and will distinguish itself from its competitors. He said that they (Nokia) are always in a hurry to do the right things.
He also said that the team working on the tablet is weighing in its options on what software to use. It could use a Windows-based OS from Microsoft or simply go for MeeGo, which could make for a very interesting device.
In the 20 minute interview, Elop discussed its recent job cuts, current competitors like Google, its tie-up with Microsoft and the resulting Windows Phone 7 devices. A delay in entering the tablet market seems to be a smart move on the part of Nokia, especially with the uncertainty on the OS part, and taking the slow and steady approach on this one could give them a better chance of winning the race.
He also said that the team working on the tablet is weighing in its options on what software to use. It could use a Windows-based OS from Microsoft or simply go for MeeGo, which could make for a very interesting device.
In the 20 minute interview, Elop discussed its recent job cuts, current competitors like Google, its tie-up with Microsoft and the resulting Windows Phone 7 devices. A delay in entering the tablet market seems to be a smart move on the part of Nokia, especially with the uncertainty on the OS part, and taking the slow and steady approach on this one could give them a better chance of winning the race.
Run with MeeGo
The MeeGo Project has had multiple releases and has progressed significantly since its announcement in February 2010. This article provides an overview of the MeeGo Project for newcomers, a review of the benefits MeeGo provides to the players in the mobile ecosystem, and discusses the features in the latest MeeGo 1.1 release, announced October 28, 2010.
Introduction to MeeGo
MeeGo is an open, collaborative project between the project founders (Nokia and Intel), the Open Source community and various commercial and noncommercial partners with the goals of accelerating the adoption of Linux on a magnitude of client devices and enriching the technical Linux platform as the platform of choice for mobile computing devices.
MeeGo is a Linux-based operating system built for the next generation of computing devices across multiple hardware architectures. Different from other mobile operating systems, MeeGo is an open-source platform governed by best practices of open-source development. It includes the following:
Core operating system.
User Interface (UI) libraries and tools.
References user experiences for multiple devices.
Standard set of application programming interfaces (APIs) across all target device types.
A software development kit (SDK) that enables application developers to develop, install, debug and run applications either on reference devices or in an emulated environment.
MeeGo supports a magnitude of mobile client devices (handsets, connected TVs, in-vehicle infotainment, Netbooks and tablets). It provides choice and flexibility to create and deliver a uniquely differentiated service offering. It's an unusual project in that it is aligned closely with upstream projects, as MeeGo requires that submitted patches also are submitted to the appropriate upstream project and are on a path for acceptance. This development model has the great effect of improving all upstream open-source projects used in MeeGo, and it guarantees a unified technical approach led by the upstream projects.
Read more: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10935
Introduction to MeeGo
MeeGo is an open, collaborative project between the project founders (Nokia and Intel), the Open Source community and various commercial and noncommercial partners with the goals of accelerating the adoption of Linux on a magnitude of client devices and enriching the technical Linux platform as the platform of choice for mobile computing devices.
MeeGo is a Linux-based operating system built for the next generation of computing devices across multiple hardware architectures. Different from other mobile operating systems, MeeGo is an open-source platform governed by best practices of open-source development. It includes the following:
Core operating system.
User Interface (UI) libraries and tools.
References user experiences for multiple devices.
Standard set of application programming interfaces (APIs) across all target device types.
A software development kit (SDK) that enables application developers to develop, install, debug and run applications either on reference devices or in an emulated environment.
MeeGo supports a magnitude of mobile client devices (handsets, connected TVs, in-vehicle infotainment, Netbooks and tablets). It provides choice and flexibility to create and deliver a uniquely differentiated service offering. It's an unusual project in that it is aligned closely with upstream projects, as MeeGo requires that submitted patches also are submitted to the appropriate upstream project and are on a path for acceptance. This development model has the great effect of improving all upstream open-source projects used in MeeGo, and it guarantees a unified technical approach led by the upstream projects.
Read more: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10935
LG working on MeeGo Linux tablets, phones, and more?
LG is holding a session at the MeeGo Conference next month where the company will show off devices running MeeGo, including tablets, phones, and in-vehicle entertainment systems. It’s not clear at the moment if this means that LG will definitely be bringing these devices to market, but it at least shows that the company is putting some of its research dollars into MeeGo.
MeeGo is an open source Linux-based operating system designed for mobile devices including netbooks, tablets, smartphones, and in-car systems.
Nokia and Intel were the primary backers of the project initially, but with Nokia throwing its weight behind Windows Phone 7, it’s starting to look like LG might be the first big name electronics company to produce a MeeGo phone… or at least to show one off at a trade show.
Read more: http://liliputing.com/2011/04/lg-working-on-meego-linux-tablets-phones-and-more.html
MeeGo is an open source Linux-based operating system designed for mobile devices including netbooks, tablets, smartphones, and in-car systems.
Nokia and Intel were the primary backers of the project initially, but with Nokia throwing its weight behind Windows Phone 7, it’s starting to look like LG might be the first big name electronics company to produce a MeeGo phone… or at least to show one off at a trade show.
Read more: http://liliputing.com/2011/04/lg-working-on-meego-linux-tablets-phones-and-more.html
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