Well time to update your iPhone(s), and iPad(s) as there is now a software update out.
iPhone OS 4.0.1 fixes the software “bug” of not reporting the right amount of bars on the iPhone 3g, 3gs and iPhone 4 (it does NOT fix the hardware issue). It also makes the first 2 bars bigger for some reason.
iPad 3.2.1 fixes the wi-fi issues that have been reported, pdf/mail copy paste bug, video playback freeze bug, improved video out over VGA, and adding Bing to Safari.
No update for iPod touch users which means the security bug in iOS4 (in the mail app – DNS issues) is still unfixed!
Poll: You think iPhone OS 4.0.1 will fix anything?
Copy cats are not a new thing, determination is though. The JooJoo could be a threat but it’s not very well-known. The HP slate though is only being known because HP is desperately trying to market the device ahead of the Apple iPad. When I mean desperately I really mean it. It looks like it, it acts like it, and from the latest video it even syncs to iTunes (not long after Apple fixes that) like the iPad. (HP Slate vs Apple iPad, vs JooJoo).
So really the only difference (as they all look the same!) is flash. Now not having flash can be a pain in the ass for iPhone users (including me) but HTML5 video is an option and it is getting adoption because of the iPad. The HP slate runs Windows 7 with a custom UI, the JooJoo runs Android or Chromium OS (it’s not out yet so I can’t tell).
The HP slate and JooJoo support 1080p video but the display doesn’t so the only time you will use it is with an external monitor (basically never). The JooJoo also have SD and USB slots which can be useful but an adapter is never to much of a hassle.
Personally I think HP is trying with all its might to copy the iPad since it’s a hit, some users will use it because it’s not from Apple but it won’t take off like the iPad (think of the Zune vs iPod). Competition is nice but seriously the JooJoo/HP slate are not real competitors because they look the same, and almost act the same with only a few different things. The iPad has hundreds of thousands of movies, TV shows, music, iBooks, applications, and tons more so unless your browsing the web a netbook is another competitor.
Verdict: Nice try HP/JooJoo but currently your close but at the same time so far from the iPad. You can do the look, but you can’t do the walk.
No longer is Chrome the lightweight secure, robust browser anymore. Now it’s simply a browser that tailors to the needs of Abobe. On top of that Chrome will automatically update the flash player in Chrome. Which means if there is a bug in the new flash, or an exploit well then bye-bye your computer.
I can’t believe that Google has chosen this direction. I was not highly disturbed by the automatic roll-out of Buzz because I have a small footprint on Google. This however shows that Google is not doing what the end user wants, but rather what it and its partners want.
Sure if this was an opt-in thing it would be fine, but its now a requirement to run the browser. Sure you can deny the acceptance of the flash player when it installs but you really at the point don’t have a chance. Instead of extending HTML5 video progress, it shows that it wants to help Adobe in its troubles.
“We believe this initiative will help our users in the following ways:
- When users download Chrome, they will also receive the latest version of Adobe Flash Player. There will be no need to install Flash Player separately.
- Users will automatically receive updates related to Flash Player using Google Chrome’s auto-update mechanism. This eliminates the need to manually download separate updates and reduces the security risk of using outdated versions.
- With Adobe’s help, we plan to further protect users by extending Chrome’s “sandbox” to web pages with Flash content.”
So has Google gone beyond its respectable limits yet again? Vote in the poll below.
Video captured at 720×480 pixels at 20 frames per second or higher, depending on lighting conditions
Cell:
HSDPA 7.2Mbps
HSUPA 2Mbps
GSM/EDGE
Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
A2DP stereo Bluetooth
Battery:
Talk time: Up to 10 hours on 2G/Up to 7 hours on 3G
Standby time: Up to 290 hours on 2G/Up to 250 hours on 3G
Internet use: Up to 5 hours on 3G/Up to 6.5 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback: Up to 7 hours
Audio playback:Up to 20 hours
Technology:
CPU: Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz
GPU: Unknown
512MB Flash
512MB RAM
4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB)
Location Technology:
Assisted global positioning system (AGPS) receiver
Cell tower and Wi-Fi positioning
Digital compass
Accelerometer
Format Support:
Images: JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP
Video: H.263, MPEG-4 SP, H.264 AVC
Audio: AAC LC/LTP, HE-AACv1 (AAC+), HE-AACv2 (enhanced AAC+), AMR-NB , AMR-WB , MP3 Mono/Stereo 8-320Kbps constant (CBR) or variable bit-rate (VBR), MIDI SMF (Type 0 and 1), DLS Version 1 and 2, XMF/Mobile XMF, RTTTL/RTX, OTA, iMelody, Ogg Vorbis, WAVE (8-bit and 16-bit PCM)
Languages:
Display: English (U.S), French (France), German, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Korean, Japanese, Russian.
Keyboard: English (U.S), French (France), German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil).
Cost:
$520 USD Unlocked.
Carriers:
T-Mobile
Vodafone
Verizon
AT &T
Countries:
U.S., U.K., Hong Kong and Singapore.
Phew, so looks like the iPhone has met its match. As the nexus one is on more carriers, has a better camera, has a more open software framework, has a better quality screen (colors).
All is not well though. Fans of Lala and in other areas where freaked out to hear this had happened.
This could be bad news for Lala users. It’s unlikely that the innovative deals negotiated by Lala will survive through the acquisition. For over a year, Lala users have been purchasing the rights to stream their music an unlimited number of times for ten cents per song. If the deals with the music labels go up in smoke, Lala may lose the right to stream those songs. In other words, all the money users have been spending on web songs may go down the drain. If the deals are nullified, hopefully Apple will renegotiate them to at least cover existing purchases until it releases its own streaming music service. – Tech Crunch
Some say this is a smart move for Apple has they where planning to provide a streaming music experience like Pandora. Most though say that is bad, that it will result in Lala going under, or that it will be too costly for it work.
We have all heard people say Firefox is the best browser ever, but never really heard why. In response here is a list of 5 ways in which Firefox is better than Internet Explorer.
1. It’s not included with Windows.
How is that a good thing? Well most users use Internet Explorer because it comes with windows. The problem is IE has a large market share because of that. As a result IE is the most targeted to malware. Since the more people use it the more people will want to harm it. (Same goes for Mac). So you are at a less of a security risk.
2. It’s customizable.
Sure IE can have add-ons, and bookmarks, but its add-on library is smaller than Firefox. With Firefox you can change the look, what displays, the order of buttons, and the functionality. That way the browser is tailored for you, and not Microsoft’s general audience.
3. It’s Open Source.
(Open Source is free as in freedom). The value of Firefox being Open Source is that you can change it any way you want, if there is a bug you can report it, if you want to fix a bug you can, and you can help integrate new things into Firefox. This means it’s not tailored for just one environment, but all of them.
4. It’s Muti-platform.
It doesn’t matter if you are on Windows, or Mac, or Linux as Firefox will look the same for each, and will act exactly the same. That way you don’t have to change anything if you want to use a different OS.
5. Not a resource hog.
Thankfully IE9 is now HTML5 friendly…but sadly its still a huge memory hog. On my personal tests IE9 still uses 1-2GB of memory (eek!) when you have 10 or more tabs open. Firefox 4? Only 330mb…even with 20 tabs its outstanding.
So that’s the 5 reasons why you should use Firefox instead of IE.
RT @GlobalEdmonton: RCMP are reminding drivers to slow down on what's typically one of the deadliest times of the year on #AB highways h ... 19 hours ago
RT @osxdaily: If your iPad/iPhone battery life took a hit since iOS 5.1.1 update, here's a simple fix to get it back to normal: http://t ... 19 hours ago
