Google+

So today, finally, Google+ was taken out of the field testers zone and made into a full fledged beta. This means you don't have to wait for an invite to put you into the Google+ mode. Just head over to Google Plus and sign up with your Google account!

Still not sure what is Google+ or why you would want to use it? Check out this video:

Google Wallet

In this day in age, what doesn't our smart phone do? It already fetches email, makes telephone calls, stores contacts, updates our social networks, we can buy plane tickets, access our bank accounts, and watch movies on it. If you can replace your email device, personal music player, and landline with a smartphone why can't you replace your wallet? The brilliant minds at Google have come up with a solution. Introducing Google Wallet. Google Wallet stores your bank card information and allows you to use bank cards, store cards, and coupons all within your device. When you pay at a register, using the NFC (near-Field-Communication) technology, you just tap your phone on the reader. The data is instantly sent and you automatically pay whatever it is you buy. Google Wallet also has the neat feature of being combined with Google shopper and offers, allowing you to redeem coupons at the register with the same transaction. You collect the Coupons from Google Shopper, and when you go to pay the coupons are redeemed in the transaction. You no longer have to maintain hold on physical coupons and physical cards. Everything can now be stored on the Google Wallet app. It is also password protected with a secure pin, so even if the phone is stolen thieves won't have access to your information, unlike a wallet. Check out Google Wallet and watch the video down below

Qwikster?

So this morning, I alone with countless other netflix subscribers awoke to an email from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings; something long overdue in my opinion about the recent price changes occurring with Netflix. See, starting September 1st, the Netflix streaming service and DVD by mail service was split between two separate services, meaning if you wanted both streaming and DVDs you had to pay separately for both instead of having an all in one package. The advent of this left many Netflix users upset and outraged, they were once paying 9.99 a month for the basic deal of unlimited streaming and 1 dvd a month, and now they have to pay 16.99 for both. Well, Netflix CEO emailed everyone announcing the reason they decided to separate the two services. See, Netflix has decided to change the name of the DVD service, renaming it to Qwikster. Netflix itself would remain solely for the streaming service. This means for DVD management you would have to go to the Qwikster website and manage your DVD Queue from there. Netflix's website will be used solely for streaming. Is this a good thing? Not entirely sure myself, I wasn't using the DVD service for a long time when I had both services, but when I canceled the DVD service because of the price change I found myself wishing I still had it. Certain television shows became instantly more appealing and desirable because I no longer had the service. But the new management service isn't so bad. In this case Netflix and Qwikster are both operated by the same company, but now you can have two separate charges on your account for them. And they are both operated independently. It will be interesting to see how Netflix and Qwikster operate now that they are separate entities.

Nintendo 3DS

Bought a 3DS a few days ago, review and overview shall be up soon. Generally a fun device so far!

HTC Sensation XE?

Engadget

Engadget

Image courtesy of Engadget, take a look at HTC's new concept phone fresh from their partnership with Beats audio. Meet the HTC Sensation XE, the first concept phone made through HTC's partnership with Beats Audio. Their new device, sporting a 1.5 GHz dual core processor packed with a 1750 mph battery is a Beats audio powered device that comes coupled with a nifty pair of Beats audio ear buds. The attached ear buds have an inline remote that allows you to seamlessly change tracks or answer/end phone calls, so theoretically you can use it without having to take the phone out of your pocket. Unoriginal though because there are plenty of ear buds that come with remotes in them to help in a similar fashion. What makes this unique however is when the Beats official ear buds are plugged in, the device releases Beats technology to match the ear buds, giving you deeper bass and sharper vocals. Interesting to see how this goes with Android, as I have yet to see a particular Android marketed phone that offers something in the audio department (galaxy s PMP aside). I'm also wondering if there is  possibility of a Beats made music application to help better with the music development. The phone is promised to ship to Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East later this month, hopefully we'll see a North American release. I for one would love to get my hands on those earbuds.

Patents, Intellectual Property, and Innovation

In all due sense, patents exist for the reason of promoting innovation. When one party patents something, it motivates another party to create something better and more efficient while retaining protection of the first person to their idea and to benefit from their idea. Patents are NOT made to prohibit innovation or to be used to cripple another entity of developing or producing ideas.

In the past 10 years there has been a massive boost for the need of Patent and Intellectual Property lawyers. Why? Because of the rapid development in the field of mobile technology. Any reader of technology news sites such as Engadget, Gizmodo, or TechnoBuffalo know how much of a hassle the new "Patent Wars" are becoming. You can't go a day without reading about one company suing another for patent infringements, whether something as obscure and public as "slide to unlock" to mundane as the name "AppStore". The use of patents here however isn't to protect ones rights or ideas. No it's far from that.

You can say a brief history for the use of patents in the attempt to monopolize mobile technology started with the advent of the iPhone. When the original iPhone (OG iPhone) was first released, it really was YEARS ahead of it's competitors. It had a sleek design, an amazing web browser, and it was a dedicated personal music player (PMP). This was a whole year before there was any news about "Apps"; any aficionado of mobile technology can tell you that Apple did not have the "AppStore" until version 2.0, which came out the summer of 2008 (OG iPhone was released June of 07). In point, it was THE device to have. And believe me, for a whole year this device monopolized the smart phone market. Windows Mobile started seeing a decrease in revenue as more and more people started looking towards the iPhone. When the iPhone 3G came out, and the price dropped significantly for it's subsidized price ($99 on contract), Windows Mobile diminished even more. However something else came out that lit the fuse that started the desire for Apple to maintain its hegemony over the mobile market.

In October of 2008 the HTC Dream (G1 in N.A) was released. It wasn't using Windows Mobile, the common smartphone operating system at the time, nor was it using Symbian which was the "opera web browser" of mobile operating systems. No, the Dream used an operating system developed by Search Giant Google. At the time, Google had just finished phasing out Gmail to the general public, and was pretty much known only at this point for being the most used search engine in the world. Google basically came out of nowhere, in a market that was rapidly becoming dominated by Apple and their iPhone brand, and introduced a new player. All thoughts aside, the Dream was a shitty device. It was huge, the keys faulted, and was introduced to a market that was expecting Apps galore. At this point iOS' AppStore had already 100,000 apps available in the market, whereas the new Google Marketplace had about 20 starting out. Big mistake in Google's part. But this didn't stop Google.

You see, Apple monopolized the market in one way. Every year they would release an iPhone, with great features. But it was always lacking in something, something mundane that it should have already had, or something that other phones had but it didn't. That way when they released the new phone next year, with those features, they would attract new customers to it and also force existing users to update. Ingenious I know. Google could not hope to do the same. See Android was the underdog. They couldn't expect to launch a device lacking in features, to do so would be suicide in the mobile market. Instead what they did was release Android as an open source system. What does this mean? Well unlike Apple, which restricts iOS to run only on Apple manufactured phones, Android could be made to run on anything. Manufacturers hoping to tackle Apple began a lengthy process of advertisements and developments to develop their own Android powered "iPhone Killers". The most prominent at this point being Motorola, who plunged millions of dollars in advertisements backing Big Red (Verizon) to market the "Droid" series of phones. And to be honest, Motorola was immensely successful in their marketing attempts. On a side note, if you ask people what kind of Android phone they have, unless they really know the different kinds of phones, they will say a "Droid", whether its a galaxy S phone or an LG. Back on topic, Motorola single handedly brought Android to the public's eye. At this point everyone was making an Android phone. HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, just to name a few, are some of the prominent makers of Android powered devices.

To tackle Apple's control with their singular devices, Google enlisted an army, an army of manufactures producing phones in mass. Slowly to this point, Android has been overtaking market control and sales over Apple's devices. Apple was scared now. They knew that unless they did something, the rapidly developing under-dog would take over and leave Apple in it's dust. Apples answer to the ever-growing Android? Patents. Loads and loads of mundane patents. Although they knew the couldn't completely cripple Androids development, and knowing they can't target Google (that would be similar to Nazi Germany invading Soviet Russia during the Winter) they attempt to halt their enemies productions. To a degree it was successful for Apple. They managed to block manufacturers from producing, not in mass, but with enough time to continue spewing out iOS updates to match the competition. Does this make sense? They momentarily continue to stop manufacturers to make their own devices better, using inane lawsuits regarding "Slide to Unlock" and "iPhone 3G design" (we're in the dawn of the iPhone 5 and this is still being brought up?).

The general public has now become aware of the "Patent War" between Apple and say, the world, but now you have third party companies who just buy patents for a living (lodsys) who target manufacturers for the hell of it! I thought patents were used to defend ones ideas and promote development? To spur new ideas into the market, whilst protecting the owners ideas and allowing them to fiscally benefit. Not in these cases. Here patents are used by jealous and greedy businessmen who want to monopolize mobile technology and mobile markets.

Benefits of Jailbreaking?

Why should you jailbreak your iDevice?

Tweaks available in Cydia (jailbreak app store) allow your iPhone to do many things that it cannot normally do under apple's restrictions. I'll admit, Apple has come a long way when it comes to servicing fanboys of the jailbreak scene; adding multi-tasking and wallpapers was one of the biggest I'll admit. But there are still many tweaks and applications that fall under Apple's priorities that are available to jailbreakers. I want to discuss with you my favorite tweaks, the tweaks that bring out some of the hidden potentials of your iPhone or iPod Touch or even your iPad, and why they work.

First off is locktopulas. Sounds like a funny name right? In short locktopulas allows you to lock certain apps right from your springboard. Whenever you choose the app, a password prompt is provided. This is especially useful if you don't want snoopy people going through your pictures or SMS messages. I find this especially useful when you're drunk and want to prevent drunk texting/tweeting. I'm digressing a little but locktopulas is a great application that is something the iPhone should already do.

Next I want to talk about the notification system on all iOS devices. When Apple announced push notifications back in firmware 2.0 they didn't tell us that the obtrusive notifications system was going to be a part of it. It seems that whenever you get a text message or aupdate, you get a HUGE notification bubble. You can't reply directly from there. Once you click the reply button you are removed from your app and pushed to the messaging app or whatever is being pushed. Many times I'm in the middle of a game or a text message and a push notification is sent to me. I really want to just avoid the notification and go back to it later and continue what I'm doing, but canceling the notification doesn't tell you what it was later on. Hence this tweak called MobileNotifications+. It basically revamps facebook ps the notification system and makes it less obtrusive. Instead of a huge bubble overtaking your screen, it becomes a bar in the top under the system bar, and stays there with the option to view later or open. When you double click the home button to see the multi-tasking bar, a new window opens right above the multitasking bar. This space holds all the notifications received. A great notifications indeed.

HTC Droid Incredible Review

So guys, I've taken the plunge. I bought an HTC Droid Incredible on eBay and am extremely happy and content with my purchase. This phone is nothing short of its name; it really is INCREDIBLE. Here's a short review for you guys. BTW yes, it's rooted :)

Verizon's HTC Droid Incredible follows the candy bar design brought in by Apple's iPhone. It's very minimalistic in the front design of the phone. The only button on the front of the Incredible is the optical joystick. There are 4 touch sensitive "buttons" on the front of the phone as well, symbolizing home, menu, back, and search respectively. They are very responsive contrary to many other HTC touch android devices (nexus one). The power/lock button is on the top left of the device, next to a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The volume rockers are on the left side of the device, as well as the micro usb charging port. There are no other physical buttons.

On the back of the phone is HTC's self described "race-car" design. Raised bumps on the back cover give it the look of a edged race-car. Some people like it, others don't. I would have preferred a straight back to be honest.

It sports an 8 mega-pixel camera with dual led flash and with its latest firmware update (2.2) it can record 720p video. It has an AMOLED screen with 480x800 WVGA resolution. It sports qualcomms incredibly fast snapdragon processor which clocks in at 1ghz speeds. Of course, it can be over-clocked to 1.5 ghz ;). On normal clocked speeds, the Incredible can achieve quadrant scores between 1300-1375, while over-clocked to 1.5 ghz it can achieve between 1700-1900 scores.

The Incredible currently supports the latest Google Android build (2.2) Froyo. It gained mobile hotspot support, as well as an updated HTC Sense UI. It also supports Adobe Flash 10.95.1, something other Smartphone manufacturers have failed to allow (Apple, i'm talking to you). HTC's Sense UI gives the phone much more functionality by adding HTC specific applications and add-ons. HTC skins, Peep (HTC's own twitter client), and the addition of Scenes are just some examples. There are over 50 HTC specific widgets which help enhance the Android experience. Android itself has a pretty high learning curve, but HTC simplifies it greatly. Like all other android phones, the Incredible has access to the Android marketplace, which gives it access to over 40,000 applications.

It comes with a 1300 mph battery, one you probably don't want to use. I ended up getting a 1700 mph battery to help last me an entire day, but even still that doesn't happen. Then again, I use my phone on a constant basis so its not the phones fault. All smartphones are plagued with bad battery life. It is preloaded with 8 gigabytes of flash memory, which is amazing, and also has support for up to 32 gigabytes more with the micro SD expansion slot.

It has all the redundant wireless connections which make it pointless for me to say but I might as well say anyway. It has WIFI support right out the box, GPS, Bluetooth, and Verizon's 3G on EVDO1x and Rev1 bands. Running on Verizon's CDMA network gives the Incredible an advantage over many other android phones. Verizon has an excellent network with a wide coverage market. It's 3G speeds are comparable to that of it's main competitor AT&T's own 3G speeds, but still lags a little behind AT&T speeds. Where it loses in speed, however, it makes up for with actual signal.

Overall the HTC Droid Incredible is an amazing phone. It's fast, responsive, versatile, and has a beautiful screen. The minimalistic design makes it an incredibly desirable phone. Call quality on Verizon's network is flawless and access to Android's ever expanding and evolving marketplace makes it a viable opponent against other Smartphones like the Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy S line of phones, and Blackberries. However, poor battery life and no front facing camera puts the phone a little behind the curve. The race-car design is etchy and HTC should have included an option for either that or a completely flat back. The display, one of its biggest proponents, also hinders it. Making it almost unbearable using it outside in sunlight. Anti glare protectors should help solve this issue though.

One Click Root Method for Droid Eris

http://www.xda-developers.com/android/1-click-eris-root-app-no-pc-required/

Lately guys it seems that all the "rad" methods of rooting and jailbreaking have fallen onto one-click options. Sure that makes it simpler for the common user, but I sorta miss having to go through the struggle of installing stuff, running command code, and feeling boss while doing it. :sigh: Oh well. Here's a new method for rooting the Droid Eris. It utilizes some exploits found by jcase and eclips3 from the xda-developers forums. These guys are always making new milestones for these devices. Well watch the vid, subscribe, and hit the like button there.

Oh and maybe I should let you guys know, thanks for all the views on my froyo video. See, I made youtube individual partner status for that video. Thanks so much guys and hopefully this one gets the same response!

4.0 Jailbreak for iPod Touch and iPhone (Universal)

Universal Jailbreak for iPod Touch and iPhone on 4.0

Go to jailbreakme.com on your iDevice and jailbreak away :)

Peel?

There's this new device that just recently received FCC clearance. Its a small package from Sprint called the Peel, and what this nifty little device can do is turn your iPod Touch into an iPhone. Well sorta. See, it uses Sprints own 3G network, albeit the slower kind, and routs it to a device that can snuggly fit into the casing. The space seems oddly reminiscant of, lets say, apple's own top notch media player. If you catch my drift. Even having the headphone jack on the bottom right. It can also tether internet to up to 5 different devices. So far it has its own battery, charging via mini usb, although no word yet if it charges the device. Earlier a Chinese variant was released which charged the device and was made specifically for the iPod Touch. Still not sure here though. Hopefully more news of this comes out soon, because I already tether my Android phone to my iPod Touch, and if this comes out, it's bye bye Verizon for good.

**News and image courtesy of engadget**

KaosFroyo

First off, i'd like to apologize for a very late blog post. I've been working full shifts at my job and its been taking a toll on me. So without further adeu, lets begin with my first Rom review.

I've had my rooted Eris for about 2 weeks now. In my course I've downloaded and installed about 4 roms. Out of the 4, I have to say, the one with the LEAST problems was KaosFroyo vs 23 and 24. KaosFroyo takes the Cyanogenmod 6.0 which runs a ported version of Froyo 2.2 and runs it on the HTC Droid Eris. Overall performance of the rom was very smooth. SetCPU worked nicely in overclocking the processor to 710 mhz safely. Screen scrolling was smooth. Applications ran well. I saw limited FC's in using many of the stock apps, although I did have issues with the Gallery 3D app, although that reason is for the hardware. Using it along with ATK is your best bet, killing background apps that just cause clutter. Live wallpapers work, but only a limited few. Some things that don't work are wireless tethering (the main reason im not using it anymore) and the camera preview on the main camera app. You can use CameraMagic to bypass that if you insist on needing the preview, although you dont necessarily need it. I found video recording to be extremely choppy though, but I didn't use that too much.

All in all it's a good rom, with good stability and good upgrade timing. I was using v 23 at the time and as soon as I was almost done it updated to v24 and left me with it longer because it was so good. I mainly don't use this anymore because wireless tethering isn't working at the moment, which is something I use for my iPod Touch (shhh don't judge). Next time I'm going to review the Evil Eris rom or the Aloysius rom. I'll figure it out. This week i'm working full time again so my update might take a while. Until next time, take care!

Iphone 4 fail report

Its funny how you lose respect for a company when they try to half ass themselves out of a situation by pointing fingers at others. And that my friends is what Apple pretty much did today in their press event. Pretty much they said:

"Hey metrosexual iPhone users who drive a Prius or BMW and look like Ross from friends, were not perfect, but these lower end phones that can hardly compare to our phone are just as bad as ours are in terms of signal strength, so heres an iPhone 4 bumper so you can please stfu about our fail and leave us alone now. kthnxbai?"

Seriously Apple? You have the audacity to compare your product to the Samsung Omnia 2 (people actually bought that phone?) and the HTC Droid Eris? Both btw are VERIZON phones, who's favorite catchphrase isn't "hello, are you still there" like it is for iPhones, but "can you hear me now? Good :]". Sorry for the bash but come on, at least take responsibility and admit that you screwed up the algorithms in your design. Its the least you can do at most, considering you released a new phones that is ALREADY behind the curve. Come on, ever since the release of the Nexus One, EVERY android phone that went against an iPhone during CNet's prize fight has always defeated the iPhone. Even the iPhone 4 lost the HTC Evo 4G.

However, at least they gave users the option to get a full refund of their phone or a free bumper. Which is what they should have done in the beginning of the press release. I could hardly give a flying **** about the sales or the comparison in dropped calls with the 3GS or your excuses or your finger pointing. All I was interested in hearing was how you planned on fixing this issue. Come one Apple. Next time don't half-ass a product just because it looks pretty. Please?

Discrepancies?

It seems that every few months software updates are coming out for phones and new features are being added all the time. This was made more apparent with the release of the Iphone and widespread knowledge of new versions of Iphone OS and its new features. Android, a similar smartphone platform also debuts new versions of its Android OS every so often, however I find it to have great discrepancies based on the actual device and the service provider. This is somewhere where I would say the Iphone beats Android devices.

See, when Apple releases a firmware update, it goes through to AT&T and then its pushed to the devices via iTunes updates. Because the Iphone is locked to AT&T, firmware updates need to only go through one round of testing with the service provider, meaning a much quicker update sent to the actual phones. Android phones on the other hand are on every service provider and come from a number of handheld manufacturers. Not only does Google have to send out its updated firmware to the handheld manufacturers, but it also needs to get approved by the service providers as well. Usually it isn't that big of a deal, since many of the higher end phones receive much greater priority and therefor get updates passed quicker through testing. However, as a user of a lower-end Android phones I see that phones like the Droid Eris, the HTC Hero, and the Mytouch 3G and G1 all get overlooked when it comes to software upgrades. Android 2.0 itself was released when the Motorola Droid was released November 6th, and the Droid Eris was released the same day with Android 1.5. It took until April for 2.1 to be pushed to phones for an OTA update. The Droid itself is already on firmware 2.1, with news of 2.2 being pushed on it sometimes in the next month. Why are there so many discrepancies with Android phones, that upgrades need to be sent directly to the Service provider for approval and editing before it allows for them to be transferred to the phones? This nonsense makes Android weaker to the Iphone in my opinion.

The flexibility to choose a phone on any service provider is great, but the options of firmware and software updates makes Android lacking in the performance market. I believe that if Google wants to topple Apple's grip over the smartphone market something needs to be done to ensure that all of their current handhelds have the same software version.

Droid Eris Leaked Root

While root for the Droid Eris had already been out for quite some time, Leaked Eris users who flashed the leaked 2.1 firmwares were...for better terms....left out. Leaked users were unable to gain root access to their phones due to changes in the radio, which prohibited them from downgrading or even upgrading to official firmware. However, a method for rooting the leaked firmwares of the Droid Eris was unleashed. With this it would seem that users who had leaked could gain root access and so therefor "flash their brains out". Everything seemed fine and dandy at first, but after reading the instruction the difficulty level for root rose tremendously. Only if you've already had extensive knowledge with these devices could you understand what it was that you needed to do to gain root. For many user (including myself) it seemed like the only thing to do was to upgrade to an Incredible.

However, on July 13th Leaked users received a blessing. User wag3slav3 from the xda-developers forums was able to write scripts that enabled novice android users to root their leaked phones. You don't know how happy that made me. Using his fool-proof guide (many edits later) I was finally able to root my Leaked Droid Eris. What did I do immediately following? I flashed KaosFroyo v21 to my phone. And I have to say, I can't believe it took me this long to get this type of access to my phone. And i'm happy that I finally got it. I jumped up and down like a little boy in a candy store. Note it was 2 AM when I finally rooted so my family members were in shock to wake up and hear me galavanting in joy. I've had almost a whole day with KaosFroyo and I just updated to v22, after a few more days I will start posting reviews for roms that are released at xda-developers. Hoping to make the main emphasis and focus of this blog based on Android.

The afformentioned link to the forum post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=724741

Microsoft Courier

So, I saw this video, and I just fell in love. Comparing the Ipad to the Courier to me is a no brainer. The Courier has a much broader demographic and I can actually see myself using this for more than web browsing. Ipad, i'm sorry. Thanks for engadget for this demonstration!

Root for the Droid Eris

So, WE FINALLY HAVE ROOT STATUS!!!!!!

This means the Droid Eris now has the unlocked potential to run applications as admin, just as you would when using root on a linux computer. So what can we do with this? Run a 2.1 ROM that hasn't been totally supported by verizon!! So i finally have my 2.1 on my Eris. I'm so happy <3

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=617203 for more info!

So?

I am now typing this using my Windows PC. Yes, I un-installed OSX and re-installed Windows. Well Windows XP, but it's okay. i'll stick with this flavor for now, as long as I can play my steam games :)

Droid Eris 2.1?

So, rumors have been going around, mainly around androidforums, where it originated, and now flooding xda-developers. Android 2.1 with udpated Sense UI is supposedly going to be released on the Droid Eris for Verizon, and SUPPOSEDLY someone has already recieved the update. Kinda. His phone just doesn't work. Meh -_-

I want Android 2.1 SO BAD! Like seriously, if I don't get google maps navigation, I will shoot someone -_-

ANDROID!!! I LOVE YOUUUUU (FANBOY)

Moved back

I'd just like to make a general announcement and say I made the move back to OSX. I have a 13 inch macbook pro as my personal computer, and when I got it I immediately loaded it with Windows XP. When windows 7 was releasing, I removed XP and installed Snow Leopard since I got a free upgrade. I liked it, but really wanted to try Windows 7. I had windows 7 for about 3 months, and now I've decided to delete the partition and make the computer a fully based OSX machine. Maybe i'll keep it this way, who knows.