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Microsoft back in the Smart Phone Industry

Microsoft proclaimed Monday that it was back in the smartphone business, unveiling snazzy new handsets from HTC, LG, and Samsung that boast jumbo touch displays, speedy processors, HD video recording — and, most important, Redmond's completely revamped mobile OS, the touch-friendly Windows Phone 7. But will its rebooted platform be enough to get Microsoft back into the game against the likes of Android and the iPhone? That's the question of the hour.

The clean, uncluttered look of Windows Phone 7 takes the new platform in a startlingly different (and welcome) direction from the old Windows Mobile, but there are also some key missing features. There’s no launch "cut-and-paste" support, for example — surprising, given that the new OS comes from the cradle of Microsoft Office — although Microsoft now says an update adding copy-and-paste is on tap for early next year. There’s also no Flash or even Silverlight video support in the Windows Phone browser, nor will any WP7 handsets support 3G tethering, at least for now.

Then there’s the matter of apps — or the relative lack thereof — a given for what’s essentially a brand-new mobile platform. Microsoft has already announced that some key Windows Phone 7 apps from the likes of Netflix, Twitter, Slacker, OpenTable, eBay, IMDB and Flixster (no Angry Birds, though) will be available at launch or shortly thereafter. And AT&T's de la Vega announced Monday that Windows Phone handsets on the carrier will get an app for U-verse mobile TV streaming sometime in November. (Oh, and by the way: The Xbox 360 will at last be able to hook into the U-verse TV service, as well. Can't wait.)

Still, Redmond clearly has a long row to hoe before its Windows Phone app store can even begin to compete with the Android Market or Apple’s gigantic iPhone App Store — and then there's the overall battle for the smartphone market in general, which has seen Microsoft slip far behind RIM, Apple and Google.

The new iPod Touch

Been salivating over this device from Apple!!! Hope to get one soon :)

iPod Touch 4th Generation Launched, New iPod Nano 2010, Apple TV. Apple has made a number of announcements at their annual September Apple event. Normally, the announcements that are made during the event are well known to the general public ahead of time, but this year’s presentation featured a number of surprises.

Steve Jobs also announced that Apple was planning to add a number of social networking features to their iTunes software. The service, which will be called “Ping,” will allow you to see what your friends are listening to a downloading via iTunes. The technology was acquired by Apple last year when they purchased Lala.com. The Ping section of the service will work like any other social network, and will allow users to follow friends in a similar way to the structure of Facebook and Twitter.



Jobs also announced that Apple was planning on releasing a smaller version of their Apple TV device that will stream movies and television shows over the Internet, on your television screen. The device will reportedly cost $99, down from $229.

The product is already available, and will allow users to stream high definition content. Netflix is already on board with the program, and will have streaming content available over the device via their instant queue.

The new line of iPods will feature a built in FM tuner that can also display photos. The iPod will also now be completely touch screen, and will not have any buttons on the device itself. It will cost a total of $149 for the 8 GB version of the iPod and $179 for the 16 GB version.

Blackberry releases Playbook

Looks like the all rumors are true... BlackBerry maker Research in Motion coming out with its own tablet were true — well, everything except for the name.

Instead of the "BlackPad" (ugh), RIM is calling its 7-inch, camera-packing tablet the BlackBerry PlayBook. CEO Mike Lazaridis showed off the long-rumored device during the keynote of RIM’s BlackBerry developer conference in San Francisco on Monday.

RIM says its new tablet will arrive in the U.S. in early 2011, and in overseas markets in the second quarter of next year. No pricing details yet.

Expect a 0.9-pound tablet that’s 9.7mm (or 0.4 inch) thick, complete with (as rumored) a pair of cameras: a 5-megapixel camera in the back, and a 3MP lens in front, both capable of recording HD video — nice.

The 7-inch display — the same size as that on the just-announced Samsung Galaxy Tab — will boast a resolution of 1024 by 600, and yes, it’s a capacitive multitouch display, good for such multi-finger gestures as punching and zooming.

The "no-compromises" PlayBook will run on a new tablet OS designed by QNX Software Systems, which RIM acquired back in April, and it’ll be powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor, complete with a whopping 1GB of onboard RAM (compared with just 256MB for the iPad). The PlayBook will also support multitasking and Flash (think Flash Player 10.1), by the way, as well as multimedia-friendly HTML5 Web standards.

As far as data: The PlayBook will arrive with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, with both 3G and 4G (yep, 4G) versions coming "in the future," according to RIM. The PlayBook will also connect to a nearby BlackBerry via Bluetooth for viewing e-mail, calendar, to-do items or contacts — meaning, presumably, that you’ll be able to tap out messages on the PlayBook and fire them off from your handheld BlackBerry.

We can also expect "nonproprietary" microUSB and micro-HDMI ports, with the PlayBook capable of outputting full-on 1080p video via HDMI, RIM says.

A slick promo video for the PlayBook shows features such as tabbed browsing, an app task bar, threaded messaging, on-the-Web YouTube video, and tablet-sized e-mail and event interfaces — all very iPad-like, with the added twist of the PlayBook acting as a BlackBerry companion (or the BlackBerry "amplified," as RIM puts it) in addition to a stand-alone slate:

Source: Yahoo News

Google's answer to the iPhone

The Nexus One is a smartphone from Google, which uses the Android open source mobile operating system. The device is manufactured by Taiwan's HTC Corporation, and became available on January 5, 2010. Features of the phone include the ability to transcribe voice to text, noise canceling dual microphones, and voice directions while driving.

The phone comes unlocked and is not restricted to any particular mobile network provider. Google currently offers it for use on the T-Mobile network in the United States; a version for use on the Verizon (US) and Vodafone (European) networks is expected in the second calendar quarter of 2010. When it was released, reviewers found it to be the best smartphone that ships with the Android OS.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

Friendster vs Facebook

FRIENDSTER

VS

FACEBOOK

It's been a while now since FB took over the place of FS when it comes to the number 1 Social Networking site. I can still remember back when I was in highschool when everyone got so addicted to Friendster. Everyone I know has one or at least 99% of my close friends. It was the "IN" thing back then. Not until last year when I first had a chance to use Facebook and since then I rarely check my Friendster account.

Today everyone was shocked... FS is back? Is this an attempt to regain it's reputation as the best Networking Site? What would people from Multiply and Myspace say about this? Multiply who's members are majority in Asia and Myspace with majority of their member are the young crowd in the US.

Windows 7

Have you tried Windows 7?

I have heard a lot of good reviews regarding this new OS from Microsoft... some even said that it's a worthy successor to XP which Vista never was.

Working in a technical account gave me an idea that it is indeed a better OS than Vista. I remember before when we had numerous complaints from customer's who first had their chance to use Vista and I was expecting that it would be the same with 7 but I was wrong. It's been more than a month now since Windows 7 was launched and I'm surprised that our site haven't had the same experience as with Vista. So I guess it is a better OS.

What do you think?