Author: Serkadis

Hint: It’s not from an episode of I Love Toy Trains

It’s actually Princeton physicists calibrating a nuclear fusion reactor with a TOY TRAIN

Ok, it’s not as absurd as it sounds, according to the NY Times. In order to fine tune the neutron sensors inside the reactor, scientists at the Plasma Physics Laboratory ran the train on a circular track for three days inside the reactor, carrying a chunk of californium-252 that released neutrons as it disintegrated.

Previously, neutron calibration had been carried out with a stationary chunk of the same element, but scientists at the lab discovered calibration is 10x more accurate if the element is moving around during the reactor maintenance. The reactor is part of a larger Spherical Torus experiments, which is looking at ways to fuse hydrogen atoms at high temperatures, in a similar manner as the sun.

And for all it’s troubles, the train was able to return to it’s spot around the laboratory X-mas tree afterwards. But don’t worry, californium-252 is hardly radioactive, so everyone was safe. [NY Times]

from no-racism.net, 8 January 2010: “January 25th, 26th and 27th 2010: trial of the revolt that set the detention centre of Vincennes on fire. Action Week, January 16th to 24th 2010. The revolt, which led to the fire that destroyed the largest prison for foreigners in France, is a concrete and historical response to the existence of detention centres and to the whole of the policy of control of the migratory flows…” more

While OCD affects around 2% of humans, some of our doggie friends also suffer from the disorder, called CCD, canine compulsive disorder.

CCD occurs more often in certain breeds, particularly bull terriers and Dobermans. Dogs with CCD may exhibit purposeless time-consuming and repetitive behaviors without the ability to stop. Some examples include chasing tails, chewing legs, licking carpet or attacking food bowls for long periods of time.

For more than 10 years, animal behaviorists from Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts collected blood samples from Dobermans exhibiting compulsive behaviors, such as blanket sucking. A researcher from the University of Massachusetts Medical School performed genetic studies with the samples that led to a genome wide association study.

Researchers were successful in identifying a genetic locus on canine chromosome 7, coinciding with an increased risk of CCD susceptibility.

Edward Ginns, director of the Program in Medical Genetics at UMass Medical School, said,

“We are hopeful that these findings will lead to a better understanding of the biology of compulsive disorder and facilitate development of genetic tests, enabling earlier interventions and even treatment or prevention of compulsive disorders in at-risk canines and humans.”

The research was published in this month’s issue of Molecular Psychiatry.

Do you have a pet with CCD?

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

New Research on Dog OCD

We wrote about the Light Touch Pico-projector recently, but some more information have now emerged about the device.

The self-contained pico-projector runs Windows CE with an attractive Flash Lite user interface and comes with a holographic laser projector that actually steers light away to produce the dark areas of an image and never loses focus even over distance.  The device is also equipped with an infra-red camera which allows users to interact with the image using multiple fingers and was 802.11b/g wireless networking.

According to Light Blue optics, any flat surface may be turned into a 10.1-inch, WVGA multi-touch display, which can recognize a variety of multi-touch gestures, including pointing, clicking, dragging, and more.

Light Touch has 802.11b/g wireless networking, 2GB of flash storage, and a microSD expansion slot. Capable of accepting external composite video input, the device has a USB On-the-Go port and a stereo headphone jack, a rechargeable 3600mAh lithium-ion battery and weights 400g.

Chris Harris, CEO of Light Blue Optics, stated, “The opportunities for Light Touch extend beyond consumer electronics into retail spaces, the workplace and the home — profoundly changing the way people interact with multimedia content and the built environment. By enabling such diverse and compelling use cases, LBO aims to become the world’s leading supplier of miniature projection systems.”

Steven Bathiche, director of research in Microsoft’s applied research group, stated, “Microsoft envisions a future of ubiquitous computing where every surface becomes a computer, and as part of this vision we collaborate on development with numerous third parties, including Light Blue Optics. We are pleased that Light Blue Optics has incorporated some of our research into Light Touch, … bringing the future of surface computers everywhere closer.”

Light Blue does not intend to sell the device directly to consumers, but to OEMs to package in a variety of contexts, such as hospitals or retail establishments.

See another video after the break.

Read more at  LightBlue Optics here.

Via WindowsforDevices.com

In my recent post on how stealth mode is a bad idea, I advised entrepreneurs to come out of their shells.  To build marketable products, you need feedback from customers, potential investors/partners and business advisers. And the veil of secrecy which comes with being in stealth mode blocks this feedback. But there is a flip-side that I want to make entrepreneurs more aware of: It is a tough world out there and some big and small competitors will deliberately or accidentally steal your ideas. A few of these players are predators much like the beasts of Pandora. So there needs to be a balance. You need to air your ideas, but use every available mechanism to protect yourself. When you do come under attack, run as fast as you can or fight like hell.

I’m going to explain all this through three examples. But first, I’ll cover the basics about patents.

A patent gives the holder the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling their invention. So the idea becomes like a piece of land, and patenting the idea before someone else does is like buying that land. Patents can be valuable when done right, but most are not. The vast majority of the patents out there are worth less than the paper they are printed on because they are obscure inventions with little real world relevance or they are filed in a way that they do not provide any protection. I’ve written about this for BusinessWeek and you can read some more tips on patenting here.

The problem is that even when you have a good patent, it can be very costly to enforce. Take the case of Amit Jaipuria, founder of GizaPage, which is based in Bangalore, India. Amit believes he owns the second patent in the world in the social networking space (the first being the “six degrees” Weinreich patent which was bought by LinkedIn in 2002-03). In early 2000 (well before Friendster, Myspace, Facebook and Twitter came into existence), he had an idea for creating an online social network for professional networking. He filed a provisional patent in India and then started the process for filing in the U.S on July 11, 2001. Five years and  three “non-final rejections” by the US Patent Office (USPTO) later, Amit was granted Patent 7047202 in May 2006 titled “Method and apparatus for optimizing networking potential using a secured system for an online community”.

By this time, the social networking space had evolved and Amit was convinced he was sitting on a goldmine. So, Amit headed to Silicon Valley with the patent and a PowerPoint presentation to raise funding for a play in the social networking space. His hope was to raise venture capital based on the intellectual property (IP) he owned. However, since the patent had not been licensed by anyone, the VCs didn’t bite. And he couldn’t get any law firm to take his case on full contingency (they wanted him to share part of their costs – and he couldn’t afford this). He decided to auction the patent through OceanTomo (which specializes in selling IP). Unfortunately, he put in a reserve for  $3 million for it and the bidding stopped at around $2.5 million. Since the patent did not reach the reserve, it did not sell that day. However immediately after that, Amit was contacted by all the major social networks. One of them even offered a hybrid arrangement with a cash and stock sale. During these negotiations, someone anonymously challenged the patent with a claim of prior art. This claim asserted that evidence existed showing a similar patent or IP  pre-dated Amit’s patent.  The challenge muddied the waters and all the social networks walked away from the deal.

After subsequent reexaminations Amit got a final decision on his patent in early 2009. The USPTO narrowed Amit’s  claims due to the evidence of prior art cited in the appeal. But other claims related to key social networking features were granted as part of the narrowed patent. Amit feels these features are unique to the industry and can cover key potential areas for feature expansion. The patent is valid until 2020 and Amit is happy he has his patent. With limited resources and a focus on building his new venture, Amit hopes that he will be able to monetize his patent sometime in the future.

The moral of Amit’s story is simple. Even if you have a patent, you probably will have trouble defending it because large entities can outgun you in court and risk-averse lawyers are generally unwilling to take dicey cases for small clients on a contingency basis. In other words, a patent is really nice on your wall but it may not give you magical powers to negotiate deals with tech titans.

There are many other cases where an entrepreneur thinks they are first with a great idea but don’t really have anything a patent can defend. Such is the case with Kent Fuselier, an indie record label owner and entrepreneur who sought to launch a reality TV programming business that relied on a Facebook fan group to generate content and vote on ideas and winners and losers. He called his business “The Texas Producer”. Kent sent out promo packets and several days later Simon Fuller, a co-creator of the TV blockbuster “American Idol” announced he was launching a similar program. Kent was beside himself and worried that this new entry with a huge backer would steal his thunder.

So Kent emailed me to ask for advice on how he can defend his IP. I am answering him here. Simply, you can’t defend that kind of IP and you need to run like hell to stay ahead of Simon Fuller and his crew if you hope to make your business work. Getting a patent on a piece of technology is hard enough but convincing a court of law that a television show concept is some form of IP is nearly impossible. Why? Because prior art of some sort is everywhere. Somewhere, someone probably discussed or nearly launched a similar concept.

Which leads me to the second part of my advice. Namely, a small company that wants to go toe-to-toe with a Goliath and win should rely on its speed and nimbleness. For Simon Fuller to get his program launched and running, it will likely take months of work and meeting after meeting after meeting. Kent can launch his program as fast as he wants to. Major networks are impossible to crack for new shows even for experienced producers, let alone those with no major national television credits. But perhaps Kent can garner a large enough Web audience that can turn his program into a viable business in its own right or even into a program that the major national content producers find appealing. So run, Kent, run and don’t look back at any IP violations, real or perceived.

In the rare instance when an entrepreneur has a very clear case and has a decent amount of resources to start a legal battle against a Goliath, the message to all the entrepreneurial David’s in the world is this. Forget about standard hand-to-hand combat or even hopes of niceties and use that slingshot right from the get go. If you are going to sue a big company, make sure they know it and you can bring it in a way that causes them real pain. Line up a crackerjack attorney. Make it clear you are in this game for the duration, even if it means selling your pet hamster and mortgaging your house. Big companies like picking on easy targets but once a corporate lawyer gets a whiff of a real fight in a case where they are likely to lose, the big corporate lawyer as often as not does the math and realizes settling on your terms might not be such a bad thing.

Three years back I wrote about Kivin Varghese, founder of BrandPort, in a BusinessWeek article on the perils of partnering. Kivin had a brilliant idea. He would pay people to watch advertisements on their handsets or on their television. His unique twist on the pay-to-view model got the attention of big name TV advertisers like Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and L’Oréal. Kivin also managed to get in the door to talk to Virgin Mobile USA, a huge potential partner.

The bigwigs at Virgin told Kivin they loved his idea and asked to see his technology and model in detail. They wanted to partner together to build a service that would give their mobile users free minutes for watching ads through the BrandPort process. His negotiations were going well until he woke up one day to read in the New York Times that Virgin Mobile had launched a new product called Sugar Mama – which was exactly like his product. When Kivin protested, they essentially told him to “buzz off”. That morning, Kivin called me to ask for advice. He explained “I had a good non-disclosure agreement, we marked things confidential, had pending patents. I did everything right. A startup that relies on deals with partners as a core part of their business model (like mine) has no choice but to reveal everything about the innovation in order to convince them it’ll be a big revenue boost for them. If I held anything back, I probably wouldn’t have gotten the deal.”

My advice was to fight for what was right and show no mercy. And that is what he did. Reluctantly.

After over a year of litigation and probably spending millions of dollars, Virgin settled the dispute. Kivin won his case and got them to license his technology so there were limits on what they could do with it. But my guess is that Kivin failed to reap any significant income. The settlement likely covered his attorneys fees but not much more. (Kivin is under non-disclosure and won’t comment.  This is what I have inferred  from our discussions before he signed the agreement and settled the case).

Kivin would talk about his experience, however. What does he regret? He was too soft early on, and it wasn’t until the last bit of the case that he was able to bring on a strong litigation team. His thoughts on what he learned: If you are going to fight back, fight back hard and right from the start. If you want to fight back, get an attack dog attorney with big IP litigation chops, don’t go cheap. Be prepared to pay them big bucks for your case because good lawyers are expensive but worth it.  And be prepared to risk everything. And I’ll add one more – competitors know that he is no pushover and will think twice before doing this again.

So, to summarize, you need to be cautious in your dealings with the world. Don’t mindlessly “bear all”. You should file patents, but these patents provide less protection than you might think. Even if you have a great patent, you will need to fight hard to defend it and will need a good lawyer. In some spaces, you simply can’t get patents even for great, original ideas.  Your only recourse is to be faster and better than newer, bigger competitors. Finally, if you do feel you’ve been ripped off, then pull no punches and go for blood.

Editor’s note: Guest writer Vivek Wadhwa is an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University. Follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa.

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The way video and other content is delivered is changing, there’s no doubt about it, but what isn’t as certain is exactly where we end up from here. So on our journey to the day when we can watch whatever we want, wherever we want, there’re plenty of avenues for content like cable or satellite, internet, an antenna or whatever. Sezmi gets this and intends to bring them all together in a way that makes sense. The encouraging thing here is that the company didn’t just take an existing platform and paste on some internet streaming, no it created a over-the-air DVR from scratch and integrated all the various sources into a unified experience. Ok, so much for the concept, how does it work? In principle we love the idea, you buy a box, pay a monthly service for a select number of cable TV channels, and get a single interface that makes sense. The problem right now is in the implementation. While we really like some of the DVR features included like profiles catered to each viewer (custom guide listings as well as custom recorded TV etc) only the major broadcast networks are presented in HD — so no ESPN HD etc — and the HD VOD content we watched show noticeable compression artifacts. Sezmi is currently in a limited pilot in LA, but will be expanding and as it does we’ll be watching to see if the dream comes true.

Continue reading Sezmi plans to change the content industry; hands-on and video

Sezmi plans to change the content industry; hands-on and video originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already seen Acer issue a recall in Europe way back in October, so honestly we’re a bit disturbed it’s taken the US Consumer Product Safety Commission this long to follow suit. Various 13.3-inch Aspire One models — specifically AS3410, AS3410T, AS3810T, AS3810TG, AS3810TZ, and AS3810TZG — could cause potential burns due to a faulty internal microphone wire under the palm rest. Got one of those versions? Give Acer a ring and see if you have an affected model that’ll get fixed gratis.

Acer issues US recall for 22,000 laptops going disco inferno originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If, while perusing the Nexus One teardown, you were doing a mental tally of just how much each internal part may cost, here’s your chance to compare your numbers to some professionally obtained figures. iSuppli reports a preliminary estimate of $174.15 for the cost of materials needed to build each handset. The research firm also congratulates Google on keeping a bill of materials comparable to most recent smartphones while having “the most advanced features of any smart phone ever dissected by iSuppli’s Teardown Analysis Service.” Costliest of all things was the 1GHz Snapdragon ($30.50), followed by the AMOLED display ($23.50) and memory ($20.40) from Samsung. The Bluetooth and 802.11n WiFi transceiver cost $8.20, and perhaps the most egregious spend was $12.50 on a 5 megapixel camera that many of us might never use. Hilariously enough, Google has spent $17.50 on what is clearly identified as a “capacitive multitouch touchscreen assembly” from Synaptics, though enabling it clearly remains a bridge too far.

Nexus One hardware costs $174.15, US multitouch still priceless originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No matter how many times we go through it, winter always seems to catch us by surprise—a chilly, costly, inconvenient surprise. Prepare yourself for the rest of this season with helpful and healthy projects, clever tricks, and energy savers.

Photo by Roby Ferrari.

10. Make your own lip balm

Sure, Blistex and all the other lip balms found at the checkout counter aren’t that expensive, but they’re easy to lose, and often quite funky-tasting. Enviro-blogger Lisa Tae-Ran Schroeder shows us how to make our own lip balm in batches, creating a Burt’s-Bees-like salve that you can customize for better scents and, um, flavors, and give away as a thoughtful gift once you’ve refilled your lip balm tubes. (Original post)

9. Make shoveling a bit easier

The snow—it never stops coming, and it laughs at your efforts to get ahead on it. When the stuff gets sticky and hard to toss, grab a can of canola oil cooking spray, commonly known as Pam, and spray your shovel with it. No more stuck snow clumps, and your shoveling blade is a proper weapon in the war against precipitation. Photo by *clarity*.

8. Make homemade cold and chill remedies

They’re not FDA-approved, but piping-hot drinks and throat-soothing elixirs are usually much more welcome than a swift shot of Afrin. If you’re just cold and looking for something that feels really warm, try some homemade sbiten—or, as the Russsians call it, сбитень. If your throat’s sore from a cough, nasal drip, or yelling at that accursed driveway-entombing snowplow, give it a break with a honey/lemon/ginger infusion. Want something with a little more kick? Our readers have lots of family secrets and DIY detoxifiers, many of them involving a little 21-and-over kick. Photo by Jenny Downing. (Original posts: Sbiten, infusion).

7. Make your fireplace more efficient

Having a fireplace does great things for your house’s resale value. Actually using it lets you stay in one warm area and not have to keep a whole house quite so toasty. Learn how you can improve your fireplace’s throughput with a fireback, glass doors, and other upgrades at Mother Earth News’ efficiency guide. (Original post)

6. Keep your hands warm (and useful)

As far as gloves go, we like the Glacier Gloves for their sheer cold and moisture-repelling power, and the Dots Gloves for their ability to operate your cellphone’s touchscreen while your fingers stay encased in comfort. If you’re not looking to fork over $50 or $30 when you’ve got perfectly functional gloves, though, you can throw together some rice-powered, microwave-able mitten warmers. Or, if you’re feeling evil-scientist-y, you can make any pair of gloves work with touchscreens with just a bit of conductive thread. (Original posts: Glacier Gloves, DOTS Gloves, mitten warmers, touchscreen gloves).

5. Winter-proof your body

When it’s so cold you can “feel it in your bones,” you’re really feeling it in your face, hands, and everywhere else on your skin. Real Simple goes step-by-step in helping you avoid the worst wear and tear from the weather, including the most important factor—timing. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention this DIY heated clothing, which basically turns your long johns into self-wired thermal blankets, but let’s restate the obvious: be really careful if you’re hooking your clothes, and legs, up to a battery. Photo by buildscharacter. (Original posts: winter-proofing, heated clothing).

4. Really use your freezer

Left on its own, it’s easy to let your freezer become little more than an overflow box for the stuff that’s just about to go bad in the fridge and recipe ideas that never quite launched. If you’re buying food when it’s fresh (second half of that monster post) and using your freezer efficiently, you can actually buy less food during the cold season. That way, you save your bucks for when the getting’s good in spring.

3. Have emergency kits for home and car

Our weekend editor Jason lives in a land where being entirely trapped by snow, whether at home or in a car, is a real possibility. It hasn’t gotten that dire yet, but he’s planned ahead, and so should you. Take his tips on putting together a winter emergency kit for your home or car, and you’ll feel less like a victim of inevitable precipitation and more like a great winter preparedness story waiting to happen. Photo by Clarity.

2. Keep exercising

Forget what you’ve heard about cold-weather exercise—it’s perfectly fine, if you take the right precautions. About.com offers up a few tips for keeping safe and warm on the roads, and Runner’s World offers a webapp designed to help you decide what you should wear. MetaFilter founder Matt Haughey has previously outlined the best gear for winter cycling. Some dreary days, though, it’s not the pants or gloves you need to get running, but motivation. One winter runner learned to trick her mind into running all winter, using a few tricks from psychology, chemistry, and plain old bragging rights. Photo by lululemon athletica. (Original post: myths, running, cycling, myths).

1. Lower your heating bill

It’s not the most fun of weekend projects, but putting a dent in your energy costs does free up money for things that are much more fun. If your’e an apartment dweller, take the advice of many winter-hardened Ask MetaFilter posters on non-permanent upgrades for a drafty rental. Got your own place? We’ve previously focused on easy ways to stay warm, as well as the more intensive money-saving moves that are worth the hassle. (Original posts: apartments, Easy ways)

When winter’s finally over—only 70-plus days to go!—what will you consider your most valuable winter behavior or equipment? Get all sturdier-than-thou in the comments.

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This is an add-on to the Google Nexus One review…

I have issues with Android and Google’s approach to it. I think it’s an amazing concept — people holding hands, skipping down sugar-encrusted roads with pink ponies and colorful rainbows — but the execution falls flat in many ways if you’re a hardcore phone user, and Google has constantly missed the mark in almost every area.

Part of my main issue with Android, and this applies slightly less to HTC Sense UI handsets, is that there’s practically no human emotion with Google when it comes to technology. Everything is statistical and analytical. While you could argue that being this way is way superior to “feeling” and “emotion”– it might be 95% of the time — you still will almost always lose that charm and that amazing feeling of connecting to something. People would die for their iPhones, people would die for their BlackBerrys – and they feel like their lives are in there. People feel connected to their BlackBerrys. Some sleep with them next to their pillow. No one gives a crap about their Android phone, there’s zero emotional attachment. The closest example would be Palm’s webOS. A great concept, besides Apple’s iPhone OS, it’s the most polished, the most friendly, and the most human. Do you see that?

Hello. Fucking. Humans. If you’re going to use that line, at least have the sense to actually make it make sense. Plus, isn’t the point of all this technology to make everything feel more natural and more human? I mean, that’s why we have robotic dogs that learn (shout out to Just Blaze and I for having Sony AIBOs), that’s why our car remembers our personal settings when we enter the cockpit, that’s why our TiVos know exactly what program we want to watch. And yet, with everything moving forward in the technology space, Android continues to feel systematic and clinical.

Andy Rubin is brilliant. To this day, I still compare things to the Sidekick OS because it was so ahead of its time in every way, and it made sense. But Android still feels half baked even after two years. And you can’t prance around smiling without raising the bar. You can take your non-multi-touch device and shove it — it’s inexcusable.

There are so many fundamental issues with Android’s OS that still haven’t been addressed and it really makes my head spin. Uniformity is not a word you’ll find in Android’s dictionary. How about the fact that the application icons aren’t the same size. Uh, why? Since there’s no transparent padding around the icons — you know, something that might be smart — there’s no uniformity in the touch areas when you go to tap on an icon. The fact that the Clock and Camera icons have different touch areas than the Facebook and Email icons is mind blowing. It’s not like you’ll always end up not triggering a touch event if you go to hit the Camera icon instead of the Maps icon real fast, but more than once I’ve had touch events not register due to icons not being uniform in size or at least in touch. It’s a small, but very important point that really reflects how poorly Android is designed in some areas.

Other issues that I can’t live with day to day? How do I copy text from non-editable field like an email, webpage, or SMS, or even a 3rd party application? Oh, I can’t. Say what you want about the iPhone not having copy and paste for two years — a joke — it’s the single best implementation on the planet for a smartphone and Google’s approach is almost as bad as RIM’s with the Storm-series.

Android doesn’t make sense as a whole. It’s fragmented, poorly executed, the Android Market for apps is a mess, and developers still don’t care about it. There’s not one single good IM program that I could rely on day to day (I don’t use Google Talk), the browser is decent at best. It’s faster now, sure, there’s a 1GHz CPU under its ass, but it’s not intuitive, and there’s always erroneous touch events; when I want to hit something I hit another link, button or app by accident.

For a company that’s so smart, and makes so much sense, it’s unbelievable how little sense Android makes in most places. I just can’t see why you’d want to run Android over the iPhone OS? Multitasking? Ok, we’ll have that with iPhone 4.0. What else? App Store limitations? Come on. Plus there’s a chance iPhone 4.0 will be announced in literally weeks away (Apple will up their screen resolution on the iPhone to probably double, and have a new resolution for their “slate”) — you can be sure Apple is going to come out swinging. Android isn’t a game changer. It’s a decent OS, dreamed up by an incredibly smart man, with unlimited resources and unlimited access. That’s why even in Android 2.1, it’s so disheartening to see an operating system that I can’t use daily.

I apologize for comparing this to the iPhone so much, I really didn’t set out to. But I’ve used an iPhone every day of my life since it first came out in addition to every BlackBerry ever available simultaneously, and I actually had an open mind about the Nexus One possibly replacing my iPhone. I felt like maybe I wanted more “freedom” and “flexibility” and not have to deal with Apple’s ridiculous train of thought sometimes. I wasn’t too plugged into the Apple ecosystem. I already paid out the ass to upgrade my entire library to non-DRM status, I use Exchange and Gmail, both are supported on the Nexus One — nothing was really holding me back.

But in the end, I found that the lack of any meaningful applications for Android really made it a no go from the beginning. I’m talking about quality — re-read the word quality — applications, here. The best VNC and RDP applications on Android are a joke. There’s not a single enjoyable Twitter application, and any application that’s on Android that is available on the iPhone pales in comparison. If you can find an application on the Android platform that’s better than the iPhone counterpart, I’ll send you a BGR Ninja hat.

Seriously Google, you take no responsibility for the actual “experience” of this phone, yet you tout it as your tag line. Applications in Android Market don’t work for all devices. They have to be updated, they might not work with a new resolution, or all touch screen display — try using one of those NES/SNES emulators on the Nexus One — the comments and “reviews” on apps are worse than Sidekick user’s AIM screen names, there’s no authority and no accountability in Market, and outside of people that know what they’re doing, you’re basically leading the rest into a forest with wolves in the dark, while they’re bleeding and blindfolded. Why does the VNC application I bought and paid for crash on the Nexus One with a Java.IO error? Because your entire OS is fragmented, poorly driven, poorly policed, and because in typical Google fashion, you’re already on to the next thing before making this an absolutely flawless experience for users. What happened to ferociously making sure the absolute core applications in your package were 100% perfect before shipping? BlackBerry’s email application is flawless. Apple’s web browser is flawless. But there’s not a single application on Android that doesn’t have carbon spots in it. (Look it up)

Here’s another issue on why for the foreseeable future Android won’t be anything like what Apple or another company can offer: coders aren’t designers. It’s really as simple as that and anyone in the business will know exactly what I’m talking about. That’s why Apple’s entire developer ecosystem is different, because believe it or not, Apple’s developers are amazing designers that make beautiful things, and they happen to know how to code. That’s entirely different from someone who’s the best coder in the world and trying to create something that looks, works, and feels great. And so, this is my issue with Android and why you won’t see applications of iPhone-quality on Android aside from any SDK and programming hurdles.

If an app like Tweetie 2 existed on Android, I think the Android Market would literally crash, die, burn, and hang itself by how natural, beautiful, and thoughtful that application is. Now, multiply something like that 5,000 times and you’ll have an idea of why all this Android hype amounts to very little. We have the best Android device ever made in the history of the world, finally! Oh wait, Apple’s event is in 2 weeks and no one will remember this. Until Android 2.2 launches with a new device. Then I’ll write another review.

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Ah, the Google Nexus One. Google’s current “flagship” Android device received an enormous amount of attention in the time leading up to its release. While definitely justified, it also came with a dose of unrealistic expectations. Admittedly, it is one of the most powerful smartphones on the entire planet (no, we won’t refer to it as a superphone), and it’s packed to the brim with the latest high-end specifications that any true geek would love. But, what’s the verdict? Well, you’ll have to read on to find out obviously. We’ve reviewed the phone with an open mind, and have also offered up some personal thoughts following the review. Just remember that violence is never the answer, ok?

Hardware

It is really remarkable how HTC has so beautifully blended a perfect mix of gigahertz processors, gorgeous and beautiful capacitive displays, and great crafted casings. We’ve got a big, bright 3.7″ AMOLED capacitive 800×480 display, a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 512MB of RAM, world-wide 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash among other things, into a tight and slim 11.5mm package.

This time around, the hardware still isn’t completely perfect. The capacitive display, while excellent, doesn’t have the same response as its largest competitor in the touch screen arena. It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but we feel like the 5% or so difference  becomes noticeable with everyday usage. It could be a combination of hardware and software (and most likely is) but for the most part, the average user will have no issue rapidly switching through homescreens, flicking through email, or firing off text messages on the large and responsive display.

One other annoyance is the touch-sensitive buttons below the screen, however. They seem to be the exact same as what’s on the HTC DROID Eris, and we are having the exact same issues. Their contact point seems to sit a little higher than it should, so if you press the button normally from the bottom half, your touch probably will not register. You have to hit it at exactly the right point — the top 25% — and even then you may hit the screen instead because it’s right there, sitting 1mm above, after all. The haptic response also isn’t entirely comforting as is on the Motorola DROID, whose touch-sensitive buttons are the most friendly we’ve ever used.

The trackball as a navigational input device is fine — it’s a trackball that’s been used on many, many devices for many years. Is it necessary? Probably not, but we gather that some people prefer anything physical they can “count” on in this day and age of all touch, no feel.

Software

And, unfortunately we have to mosey on to the software side of things.

Android has gone through a pretty big transformation between now and over a year ago. There’s built-in Exchange (contacts and email only) support, Facebook, widget support, updated browser with a useless double-tap feature, voice search / commands, and many others. And while in our testing Android 2.1 worked reasonably well, we just can’t get over the fact that in addition to software inconsistencies which we’ll touch on below, there are still small slow downs and hiccups even with this 1GHz processor. That’s not good.

With that said, Android 2.1 doesn’t add too much more than what the Motorola DROID offers (that runs Android 2.0). We’ve got “live” wallpapers which are animated wallpapers for your homescreen that dynamically change based on different events: time, time of day, sound, touch — those are fun, if not a compete waste of battery. Additionally in Android 2.1, every text entry field is voice-enabled (data connection required) so you can practically say what you’d like to type, and Google will try their best to figure out what you are saying. In our limited testing it actually worked quite well in pretty low-noise environments, but your mileage will obviously vary based on your speaking patterns, accent, background noise, and other variables.

The application drawer which used to slide out from the bottom of the device no longer does so. It’s just takes a simple tap to engage your application list that beautifully fly in from behind you. Think of it as exactly the opposite transition effect that the iPhone uses. There’s also a News and Weather widget/application set which looks great and is pretty customizable. It’s definitely the best implementation we’ve seen on Android in terms of a news/weather widget, but that also speaks to how poorly 3rd party widgets and applications are designed and developed on Android as a whole. The redesigned photo gallery is visually impressive and the 3D effects with accelerometer-injected tilts are enticing. But, we’d have rather Google spent more time on perfecting other applications instead of jazzing up the photo viewer.

Don’t get us wrong, Android 2.1 comes with some improvements visually and under the hood as well, but Exchange support is still mediocre at best, and we get this incomplete feeling. Again, a “feeling.” You’ll see why that’s important.

Phone quality

If T-Mobile actually had coverage… Joking aside, the Nexus One, as a phone, is the best phone we’ve ever used. It sounds so, so great and is really refreshing to be able to have an excellent and smooth voice exchange with another party. In addition to the call sounding great on our end, the call also sounds absolutely perfect for the other person as well. Why, you ask? Because HTC has ingeniously integrated dual microphones for superior noise-cancellation. It’s been done before in other applications, in some form or another — Motorola has long had CrystalTalk — but it’s the best implementation on a phone that we’ve ever used. Literally, you could be on the busiest street in New York City with babies crying, cabs honking, wind blowing, and there’s a decent enough chance that the person you’re speaking to on the other end wouldn’t even notice. And oh yeah, it will be supported by Verizon Wireless this “Spring” so you can pair that with “America’s Most Reliable Network.”

The actual loudspeaker on the phone is decent. It’s definitely loud enough, but it’s not that clear and can get distorted pretty easily if the volume is raised up enough. With that said, calls with speakerphone enabled still were pleasant enough and both us and the poor test subject on the other end of the line had a clear enough conversation without disruption.

Screen

When you think of an AMOLED screen you probably think bright, beautiful colors, crisp, sharp detailing, and you also probably think, “that might not be the best screen to use at the beach.” And, if you thought that last part, you’d be right. The screen on the Nexus One, while gorgeous, is not usable in direct sunlight and it’s rather depressing. Getting over the sunlight issue, the screen isn’t as rich as the Motorola DROID’s display, unfortunately. We didn’t miss the actual resolution in terms of having more room, but the DROID’s display doesn’t show pixelation like the Nexus One does, and just honestly seems like a better product. Now, before you get too worked up, the Nexus One display is in and of itself great, but if you’d like to know the best of the best, it would have to be the DROID’s display.

Camera

The camera is decent, if not semi-enjoyable to use due to the speedy processor and fast photo snaps. It’s worlds better than the Motorola DROID’s camera, in both hardware and software partly in thanks to HTC (even though they aren’t known for their excellent cameras) and partly in thanks to some refinement with Android 2.1’s camera application. Unfortunately since this is a Google Experience (read: not raped by manufacturers), some of HTC’s awesome tweaks like tap to focus aren’t present. It’s such an invaluable feature for a touch screen device with a camera, and it’s a shame it’s not in here. In general, echoing our thoughts from the DROID review, though, Android’s default camera application is mediocre at best, slightly frustrating, and mildly confusing. It’s a recurring theme you’ll see in Android and in my personal thoughts coming up later later, you’ll see exactly why – one of many issues is that there isn’t a single amazing application on the Android platform.

Battery:

The Nexus One ships with a 1400mAh battery, and while you’d think that 1GHz CPU would run through that battery like a Kenyan track star, the battery actually holds up quite well. Power users are probably going to have to have a charging station visit at some point during a long day, but for regular phone, browser, email, and multimedia usage, the Nexus One actually almost lasted an entire day.

Google services

What would a “Google Phone” be without Google’s services? Everything is stuffed into Android, and Android 2.1 just as you’d expect. Obviously Google’s Gmail app is the best you’re going to get if you’re a Gmail warrior, and other Google services tightly integrated into the Nexus One (and more Android phones) you can look forward to include: Google Maps, Google Navigation, Google Voice Search, Google Contacts, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Voice, Google Market, Google News and Weather, and of course, YouTube.

Conclusion

The Nexus One is the best Android phone to date, and if you love your Android devices, this is the phone that beats them all. There are always going to be new handsets around the corner — HTC isn’t slowing down, Motorola is pushing forward, and countless other manufacturers are pumping out handsets — but right now, this is it. Now, if you ask us if the Nexus One is the phone for you, we’re not sure. If you’re stepping up from another basic smartphone or regular phone, there is little doubt you’ll be drawn in by the beautiful screen, the oh-so-easy Gmail and Google service integration, and a solidly built handset with amazing phone capabilities. However, if you’re coming from a BlackBerry or iPhone, we’re not sure you’ll be able to ride it out as Android still feels undercooked to us, and while the “openness” definitely shines through, we feel it might be shining a little too bright.

Personal opinion

For my personal opinion on Android as a whole, head over here!

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Let’s look back at the week that was in Microsoft news. Here were the top stories:

Microsoft kicks off CES with a look back and glance forward: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer used his keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show to revisit some of his company’s recent successes and to lay out a vision for where it’s headed (our liveblog). There was no major Apple-preempting tablet announcement, however.

Microsoft legal unfazed by Ubuntu Windows XP GUI clone: Microsoft legal has decided to react passively to the news of Ylmf OS, a Linux distribution that clones the look and feel of Windows XP.

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