So sad. Hours after Modern Warfare 2 was released, an aimbot and wall hack surface. Feel free to vent about Infinity Ward in comments below. I won’t stop you.
Category: News
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Look! A Modern Warfare 2 aimbot and wall hack
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Apple’s Atomic War
With the release of 10.6.2, Apple killed unsupported support for the Atom processor — the processor used in low-cost netbooks. Certain models of netbooks could run OS X quite easily, and people used them to make the Little Netbook Apple Refuses to Make. While it’s a stretch to say Apple has killed the hackintosh market, it’s certainly proving it isn’t going to sit around and ignore it.
The reaction has been interesting and varies from casual indifference, to the defense of Apple’s action, to thinking Apple cancelled Christmas. While I’ve been a vocal supporter of Apple’s right to continue to club Palm over the Pre syncing fiasco, I imagine it’ll sound hypocritical when I say I’m disappointed in Apple over this move.
Up until now, Apple’s stance with the hackintosh community has largely been don’t ask, don’t tell. The people who bought a netbook and, hopefully, bought a copy of OS X to install it, were aware of the risks of doing so. Getting it to run might involve waving a dead chicken at the screen, or it could be completely painless. However, the person undertaking this task knew of the risks. So, there was little harm done.
I’d like to take a look at some of the armchair theories I’ve seen, and offer my own armchair analysis of them.
Apple wasn’t happy with the (alleged) piracy
The piracy angle has two fronts: your interpretation of the EULA, and how many copies of OS X running on hackintoshes were purchased.
In terms of the EULA, while I know Apple strongly disagrees with this, my personal take is as long as I’ve bought a legal license of OS X (and if it’s an upgrade license like Snow Leopard, I have the requisite Leopard copy), if I want to install it on a piece of non-Apple gear as long as I don’t waste Apple’s or mine time with supporting it, I’m in the clear. Now, this is not legal advice in any way, and all the usual disclaimers. It may be a tenuous stretch, but in this case I don’t consider a person creating such a hackintosh a “pirate.”
The second front, though, has no defense. If you’re creating a hackintosh and download a torrent or borrow a buddy’s disc, and don’t own a corresponding license, you’re a pirate. Where things get gray is if you’re downloading a hacked OS X distro, but have a legal license, are you a pirate? I have no data on how many hackintoshes were running pirated OS X installs, and I don’t have any corresponding data on how many Snow Leopard installs are legal. That said, since Apple offers no copy protection, I’m going to say that piracy wasn’t a motivator.
Apple didn’t like seeing netbooks with Apple stickers on them
In the somewhat wonky world of Apple’s Land of Preventing User Confusion, I can actually see this one being a reason for doing this. Now, I go to a fairly technical university and the overall number of netbooks I’ve seen is small, and zero of them have been running OS X (unscientific poll taken while trying to find tables at the canteen and library). I’ve never actually seen a hackbook, much less one with an Apple sticker slapped on it. But there are enough pictures on Flickr of people doing this, so I can see Apple getting irate and going, “OK, enough already.” Who knows, maybe people were walking into Apple stores looking for “that cute little Apple laptop I saw the nice guy at the airport using.”
Apple doesn’t have products running the Atom chipset
I’ll buy this one. While having support for the chipset doesn’t hurt anything, it’s unnecessary code. Maybe Apple was thinking of using the chipset and decided against it. Maybe knowing support for that chipset was keeping Jobs up at night. If Apple does end up using the chipset, it’s easy enough to re-enable the code in the future. Which is about as close as I’ll get to mentioning the oft-rumored, never-promised Tablaslabawhatevah. Some have opined that by doing this code cleanup Apple didn’t know it was breaking Atom support. I don’t agree. While it’s possible there’s nothing evil about its intent, I think it was intentional.
The Psystar lawsuit forced its hands
Now we’re getting somewhere. Up until recently, creating a hackintosh was very much a do-it-yourself affair. You had to get the hardware and do the grunt work to get the OS on it. Granted, while it’s gotten a lot easier over the years and many sites have complete walkthroughs, it’s still an undertaking. Psystar, though, upped the ante. It recently released the Rebel EFI tool which, allegedly, will allow you to install OS X on darn near anything. It’s not a stretch to assume it’s going to sell a netbook running OS X. Given the lawsuit, I believe Apple did this to both be able to demonstrate to a court it has taken measures to prevent OS X from running on un-supported hardware, as well as eliminate a future product line from Psystar.
Like I said, I’m a little disappointed in Apple. But I can understand why it would cut the code for an unused chip. I’ve given some thought to getting a netbook and hackintoshing it, but after I got my new MacBook Pro a month or so ago, that desire faded away. I’m much happier using Apple-built hardware. I have a Dell Ultraportable laptop for work, and the small trackpad on that drives me nuts…I don’t want to think of one smaller.
What about you? What do you think of Apple’s decision?
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Google CEO Schmidt: Why We Bought AdMob
Google earlier this week said it was buying AdMob, a mobile advertising network, for $750 million in stock — clearly an attempt to get a running start in the mobile advertising business. Together, according to some estimates, the two companies control 30-40 percent of the mobile ad market.What wasn’t said was that without AdMob, it would take a long time for Google to get thousands of apps to use its ad service as that would involve re-tweaking thousands of iPhone apps that were using AdMob’s network. Google didn’t have time for that, as CEO Eric Schmidt explained in an interview with Bloomberg:
“AdMob is clearly the best of its ilk for applications monetization…We think that’s as strategic as search monetization, which, of course, we’re very good at…One the key success points for the iPhone was this enormous development of apps, and particularly free apps, which are advertising supported…Now that we have our Android platform coming out, and really with some serious partners behind it, it will also be important to have that be true for Android as well as the others.”
Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus, a marketing agency, puts it all in context:
With the acquisition of AdMob, Google now has access to usage data of many of the most popular mobile apps–especially the apps in the iTunes App Store. For iPhones. If Google is taking on Apple for mobile OS market share, they just scored a huge competitive advantage. Google will know more details than ever about how people are using iPhone apps, how they are engaging with advertising within those apps, and users’ loyalty to those apps. Dashboards like the above only provide a window into the beginning of the mining that Google is likely about to do on their mobile handset competition.
Get the complete lowdown on mobile app stores, including details on who is doing what, in this special report, which is included in the annual subscription of GigaOM Pro. Subscribe to GigaOM Pro for $79 a year, get this report.
Google has been worried sick about the rise of the app economy because it undermines its ad-based search paradigm. As Andy Abramson explained:
If your business is built on things like web based technology (search), cloud based technology (Apps) and advertising from traffic that goes to and through your search engine or when people are looking at their content in the apps, the concept of many app stores has to be very, very scary for a few reasons.
Well nothing like a bit of fear to loosen the purse strings. AdMob is Google’s second-largest advertising-related acquisition to date, behind DoubleClick, for which it paid $3.2 billion. The company also paid $1.6 billion for YouTube. Notably, Schmidt said he doesn’t view AdMob-sized deals as the norm for future deals.
Photo courtesy of Charles Haynes via Flickr.
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Has YouTube Found the Right Ad Solution?
YouTube has begun testing a new kind of ad format on some of its videos – skippable pre-rolls. These ads let users choose whether or not they want to watch the ad as it appears at the beginning of a video.
YouTube says that when it first began testing in-stream ads a couple years ago, abandonment rates on videos were as high as 70%. They found that users were much more likely to view and engage with overlay ads.
"But over time we found that different kinds of content provide different experiences for viewers, and that in-stream ads work pretty well on certain videos, like clips from TV shows or full-length movies," says YouTube. "We first launched in-stream ads last year, and we’ve continued to innovate and test different in-stream formats on YouTube (like user-choice pre-rolls)."
Users may find the skippable pre-rolls slightly annoying but tolerable, since they are still in control of whether they have to watch it or not. They may come off as a bit intrusive, similar to pop-up ads, but if they are easy to skip, people will probably be willing to continue on with the video.
Chances are, they will see enough of the ad to begin with to at least gain some kind of brand awareness. That’s really going to be all up to the ad though. Advertisers looking at this kind of spot may want to strongly consider getting the meat of the message in as early as possible.
"We know what you’re thinking: who would choose to watch an ad when they can skip it?" says YouTube. "Well, that’s what we’re trying to find out. In our previous research, we’ve actually seen that lots of users will watch pre-rolls. Abandonment rates are affected by several factors, notably length and creative. When a pre-roll is only 15 seconds, we see completion rates as high as 85%. Also, creative matters a lot: the quality and relevance of the ad itself seems to have 3x the influence on abandonment online as it does on TV. Viewers online tend to be much more active in making choices about what they watch."
Remember that these new ads are only being tested at this point, but YouTube seems quite optimistic that it may have found its best advertising solution yet. We’ll see if the tests confirm this, and if this becomes a normal ad-type for the world’s most popular video site (and 2nd largest search engine).
Related Articles:
> Watch: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay Talk YouTube
> 35 Ways to Improve Your Online Video Performance
> YouTube Videos in AdSense Could Drive Clicks
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Sanyo rolls out “eneloop Stick Booster” for charging mobile devices
I know this thing looks like a …curling iron, but it’s not. The so-called Stick Booster [press release in English] is Sanyo’s newest addition to it’s ever-growing series of green, “eneloop”-branded products. You can use it to battery-charge your mobile devices.
The stick can house two AA-sized batteries and is being marketed as a “handy power source” for gaming handhelds, portable media players and cell phones in particular. It has a USB port, a charge output time of 90 minutes and can also be used for the iPhone as Sanyo itself emphasizes. Sized at 18 (diameter) x 148 (length) mm and sporting an aluminum body, the stick weigs 76g (including the batteries).
The batteries (that come packaged with the stick) can be recharged about 1,500 times. The device will hit Japanese stores at the beginning of next month and hasn’t been announced for international markets yet, but you can already pre-order it over Geek Stuff 4 U for $34.72 plus shipping.
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Videos on how to do stuff to your BlackBerry
In thinking of an idea for a how-to article for this week, I went to the BBGeeks YouTube page to see what we’ve already covered. I realized that we need more videos up there. Over the next few weeks and months, expect a lot more in the way of video content. It might be stuff you already know, but a little video tutorial never hurt anyone. So, because I was already on YouTube, I went through and picked out some pretty good BlackBerry how-to videos. Hopefully you find something worth your while herein.
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Apple Surpasses Nokia as Most Profitable Cell Phone Maker
Despite controlling a much smaller share of the market, Apple is now much more profitable than Nokia, overtaking the handset maker as the most lucrative company in the business of selling cell phones. Apple also overtook Samsung during the last financial quarter, so it actually jumped from third to first place overall among global cell phone companies.Research firm Strategy Analytics (via Reuters) points out that while Apple is now the most profitable company in the cell phone industry, both Nokia and Samsung both still beat the Cupertino company in terms of sheer size. That’s especially good news for Apple, which makes much more on a per-unit basis than any other mobile phone maker. It makes approximately $320 pure profit on each iPhone sold, according to Strategy Analytics.
Estimated profits for Apple during the third financial quarter of this year are around $1.6 billion, compared with $1.1 billion for Nokia during the same period. It’s a commanding lead, and one that will likely only grow as Apple continues to end exclusivity deals around the world, opening up iPhone sales to more and more potential subscribers.
Of course, there isn’t a direct relationship between Apple’s gain and the slides Nokia and Samsung are experiencing. Other factors are at work, including the growing popularity of Google’s Android platform, which is being adopted by more cell phone makers and network providers. The arrival of the Palm Pre probably also had a negative impact on the handset sales of the two industry leaders.
Nokia is in the midst of a legal battle with Apple over what it sees as blatant copyright violation. Charles recently wrote about the conflict over intellectual property between the two firms. Nokia alleges that the iPhone infringes on not one, not two, but 10 patents it holds regarding wireless tech and standards. The timing of the suit, which comes shortly following a significant drop in market share for Symbian OS, seems quite suspect.
The future for Apple looks bright indeed, so long as it can continue taking in the same incredibly high profit margins on the iPhone. Part of its continued ability to do so is probably due to the fact that the 3GS iPhone revision actually seemed to require very little change on the production side, which would go a long way to keeping manufacturing costs down. A significant update will require more time to become profitable, but Apple’s continued success with the device means that the turnaround time required for that to happen will be remarkably short.
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If Mobile Carriers Don’t Address Demand for Wi-Fi, Ad-Supported Services Will
Mobile network operators must find better — and cheaper — ways of incorporating Wi-Fi access into their data plans, according to a new study conducted by two companies with skin in the game. The study from mobile broadband gateway provider Stoke and international Wi-Fi access provider Trustive found that more than 64 percent of the 300 business users polled said they use Wi-Fi for data roaming — apparently favoring the technology over cellular access — and 42 percent of respondents said they plan their Wi-Fi usage in advance of traveling so they know where and how they can access the Internet.And price is largely driving their decisions about how they access the web. An overwhelming 86 percent of the 300 business users polled said price was the most important factor in selecting a Wi-Fi access provider, and 72 percent of respondents paid for their own Wi-Fi access.
Meanwhile, the survey also found nearly two-thirds of users relied on being connected, with 65 percent of respondents accessing the network when they need to download materials rather than carry their information with them. That demand — coupled with the rise in Wi-Fi usage due to the traction of WiFi-enabled phones — indicates a need for mobile operators to embrace the technology more effectively in their data plans, said Barry Hill, vice president of sales and marketing for Stoke.
“The survey demonstrates widespread dissatisfaction with mobile operators,” Hill said in a prepared statement. “On the plus side, it indicates that due to high and unpredictable data roaming charges, Wi-Fi is the wireless broadband preference for workers when traveling. Users expect operators to bundle affordable worldwide Wi-Fi access together with cellular data plans. Increasingly, they will select operators based on the mixed wireless access experience.”
But the figures also highlight the opportunities that exist in using free Wi-Fi as a marketing tool, as Stacey and Om pointed out yesterday. Business users feel they must be connected as often as possible wherever they travel, but are footing the bills themselves. If carriers can’t find ways to deliver data plans that incorporate Wi-Fi for road warriors, many ad-supported services such as those funded by sponsors like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo will try to meet that demand.
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Verizon Saygus V1 VPhone Hands-on Videos
At a pre-CES show in Manhattan last night, handset manufacturer unveiled their first Android handset, the Saygus VPhone. The handset will be available to Verizon Wireless customers but being an Open Development Initiative handset, the device wont be supported by Verizon. Instead, handset support will be supplied by Saygus themselves.
According to Saygus executives, the handset will ship with Android 1.6 but will be updated to Android 2.0 at some point in the near future.
As previously mentioned in our earlier post, the VPhone will feature a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3.5-inch (800 x 480px) high resolution capacitive touch display, 5 mega-pixel camera (with flash), and support for supports EVDO Rev. A, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR connectivity.
The handset also includes an accelerometer, digital compass and microSD card support up to 32GB.
The Saygus VPhone is expected to launch late 2009/early 2010.
[via phonescoop.com]
If you’re looking for more info on the new Verizon Android phones, then be sure to check out Droid Forums & Droid Eris Forums
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Target Black Friday ad
Well, well, well. If it isn’t Target’s Black Friday ad? Let’s see what’s inside, shall we? Oh my, hello there 32-inch HDTV for $246. How do you do?
Stores open at 5AM on Black Friday. Doorbusters are marked with an asterisk and are good “while supplies last,” according to the circular.
Digital Cameras
Kodak ZD15 Digital Camera – $129.00
Nikon CoolPix S203 Digital Camera – $88.00
Polaroid V130 2″ Color LCD Camcorder – $39.00
Digital Media Cards
Lexar Media 4GB microSDHC Card With 50 Free Song Downloads – $10.00 *
Lexar Media 4GB SDHC Card With 50 Free Song Downloads – $10.00 *
DVD Players
Memorex Compact DVD Player With Progressive Scan – $19.99
RCA 7 Inch Dual Screen Portable DVD Player With Car Adapter – $88.00
RCA 7 Inch Portable DVD Player – $47.00
Sony Blu-Ray Player With Free $20 Gift Card – $149.99
Electronics
Casio Keyboard With Stand And Song Book – $49.99
Digital Decor Color LCD Key Chain Holds 48 Pictures – $10.00 *
First Act Electronic Drum Set – $35.00
GE 6 Foot HDMI Cable – $9.99 *
Memorex Home Audio System For iPod – $49.99
GPS Systems
Garmin Nuvi 1350T GPS System – $179.00
TomTom XL340S GPS With Case – $97.00
Hard Drives
Western Digital Elements 1TB Desktop Hard Drive – $59.98
Western Digital Elements 500GB Portable Hard Drive – $59.98
Miscellaneous
$10 Gift Card With Any $100 In Store Purchase – $0.00 *
3-Slot Charging Station – $14.99
MP3 Players
$15 Gift Card With Any Apple 8GB iPod Nano Purchase – $0.00
$30 Gift Card With Any Apple 32GB iPod Touch Purchase – $0.00
Apple 32GB iPod Touch With Free $30 Gift Card – $295.00
Apple 8GB iPod Nano With Free $15 Gift Card – $145.00
Photos
Digital Decor 7 Inch Digital Photo Frame – $29.00
Portable USB Storage
Lexar Media 4GB Twist And Turn USB Drive With 50 Free Song Downloads – $10.00 *
Televisions
Apex 40″ Full HD LCD TV – $449.00 *
Haier 7 Inch Portable Digital TV – $79.99
Westinghouse 32″ LCD HDTV – $246.00
Video Games
$10 Gift Card With Select Video Game Purchases – $0.00
$20 Gift Card With Any DSi System Purchase – $0.00 *
$50 Gift Card With Any Call Of Duty Super Elite XBOX 360 System Bundle – $0.00
$50 Gift Card With Any XBOX 360 120GB Elite Game System Bundle Purchase – $0.00
Animal Crossing Wii Video Game – $27.00
Assassins Creed II PS3 Video Game With $10 Gift Card – $59.99
Assassins Creed II XBOX 360 Video Game With $10 Gift Card – $59.99
Batman PS3 Video Game – $37.00
Batman XBOX 360 Video Game – $37.00
Call Of Duty Modern Warfare PS3 Video Game With $10 Gift Card – $59.99
Call Of Duty Modern Warfare XBOX 360 Video Game With $10 Gift Card – $59.99
Call Of Duty Super Elite XBOX 360 System Bundle With $50 Gift Card – $399.99
Call Of Duty Wii Video Game – $27.00
Cooking Mama DSi Video Game – $17.00
DSi Game System With Free $20 Gift Card – $169.99 *
Guitar Hero 5 Wii Video Game – $37.00
Halo 3 ODST XBOX 360 Video Game – $37.00
Hannah Montana DSi Video Game – $17.00
iCarly DSi Video Game – $17.00
Littlest Pet Shop DSi Video Game – $17.00
Need For Speed Nitro Wii Video Game – $27.00
Personal Trainer Cooking Game For DSi Video Game – $7.00
PS3 Black DualShock Controller – $39.00 *
Rock Band PS3 Video Game – $7.00
Shaun White PS3 Video Game – $7.00
Shaun White XBOX 360 Video Game – $7.00
Shift PS3 Video Game – $37.00
Shift XBOX 360 Video Game – $37.00
Sim Animals Wii Video Game – $27.00
Star Wars Clone Wars PS3 Video Game – $37.00
Star Wars Clone Wars XBOX 360 Video Game – $37.00
Super Squad DSi Video Game – $17.00
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Wii Video Game – $27.00
Ultimate Alliance 2 PS3 Video Game – $37.00
Ultimate Alliance 2 Wii Video Game – $37.00
Ultimate Alliance 2 XBOX 360 Video Game – $37.00
Video Rocker Extreme 2 Chair – $29.98
Wii Mario And Sonic Olympics Video Game With $10 Gift Card – $59.99
Wii Music Wii Video Game – $27.00
Wii Nerf Video Game With $10 Gift Card – $59.99
Wii Play Remote Bundle – $39.00 *
Wii Sports Resort Video Game With $10 Gift Card – $59.99
XBOX 360 120GB Elite Game System Bundle With $50 Gift Card – $299.99
XBOX 360 Black Controller – $39.00 *
Target Black Friday Ad [BlackFriday.info]
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rally fighter sighted
saw the rally fighter in the flesh in pasadena, pretty crazy considering it was just a sketch a little under a year and a half ago. -
Convicted German Murderer Wants His Conviction Erased From Wikipedia
EFF has the bizarre story of a convicted murderer in Germany who is demanding that Wikipedia censor all mentions of the guy’s name. Apparently, he (and his lawyers) are using a part of German law that allows for the protection of “names and likenesses of private persons from unwanted publicity.” However, as the EFF points out, he’s not a private person. He became a very public person when he was tried and convicted (along with his half-brother) for killing Bavarian actor Walter Sedlmayr. Apparently, his lawyers are going after multiple service providers, trying to get the guy’s name taken off the internet. The EFF points out that the press has published the two convicted murderers’ names for Sedlmayr’s death: Wolfgang Werle and his half-brother Manfred Lauber, and that this appears to be nothing more than an attempt to censor history across multiple borders.
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Tentative Agreement Reached With Oklahoma Lawmaker Stalling Veterans’ Health Bill
Congressional Quarterly: “Senate Democratic leaders reached a tentative agreement with Tom Coburn, R-Okla., on Tuesday night that averted the necessity of filing cloture on a veterans’ health care omnibus measure and could lead to passage of the bill early next week. … On Monday, Coburn said he objected to the bill because its five-year, $3.7 billion cost was not offset” (Oliveri, 11/10).
CQ Politics: “The wide-ranging Senate bill focuses on caregivers of veterans injured in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. It would provide caregivers with health care, counseling, support and a stipend. The legislation would also expand services in rural areas and ensure that veterans who are catastrophically disabled or who need emergency care in the community are not charged for those services” (11/10).
Politico: reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Coburn “illogical” for blocking the veterans’ legislation, “criticizing the Oklahoma Republican for supporting war funding while blocking health care funding for veterans. … [Coburn] sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), saying that the Caregiver and Veterans Services Act of 2009 needs to be fully debated” because of its five-year price tag (Sherman, 11/10).
FOXNews reports on Coburn’s reluctance, noting: “A GOP senator under fire for blocking a veterans’ health care bill that aims to expand mental care and offer home assistance to wounded veterans had a message for his critics: ‘Show me the money.’” Meanwhile, “Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the bill is a ‘lifeline’ for many veterans. … [Coburn] is the only senator objecting,’ Durbin added” (11/10).
Capitol News Connection/WAMU reports that, in the House, the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., said “We’ve raised the health care budget by more than 60% for example, which is unprecedented.’ … Filner’s fellow committee member Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) also says Congress has generally done right by veterans when it comes to making money available. … ‘I think the key right now is to make sure that the implementation is going properly,’ says Lamborn.” (Wynne Johnson, 11/11).
Meanwhile, The New York Times reports on the new mission of Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki as he tries to deal with issues such as how to provide for veterans’ need such as care giving for the injured. “For months, Mr. Shinseki has been crisscrossing the country as President Obama’s pinstriped evangelist for veterans’ care, raising concerns about a coming tide of post-traumatic stress cases, traumatic brain injuries and other physical and psychological scars of battle. .. In nine months, he has pushed the department to make it easier for veterans to receive compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder.” He has also promised to attend to the disability compensation system. “Perhaps most ambitious is his goal of getting 131,000 homeless veterans off the street in six years” (Dao and Shanker, 11/10).
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Disney Princess Web Cam
First, I doubt this is an officially licensed Disney product. Something tells me Brando doesn’t have that kind of pull. Second, this thing is $52. I’m pretty sure you can buy a cheap webcam and put a mirror next to it for the same price. Third, wouldn’t this look great next to my Beanie Babies? Like totally! I could put Weenie and Tiny on both side of it, like protective lions! OMG are you doing NaNoWriMo? I am totally doing it and I’m doing a vampire story but about kid vampires who go to high school at a special vampire school in England. I KNOW!And there won’t be ANY sex in it.
From the product page.Disney Princess USB Web Cam is not only a Mirror, but also a web camera. Now, you can always look beautiful when you are videoconferencing with your friend. The mirror contains 7 LED lights surrounding. When it gets the connection, the LED lights and sound will be turned on. It can also be used as a spy web cam since it looks like a funny gadget more than a webcam.
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Public consultation on the nanotech research code of conduct
The European Commission has opened a public consultation in order to receive input from all people and organisations involved or interested in nanosciences and nanotechnologies research in Europe, and notably researchers, policy makers, industry, media and civil society organisations.
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The Samsung Intrepid: A nice phone, if you can accept Windows Mobile
By John P. Mello, Jr., TechNewsWorld
Business users whose lives revolve around their mobile phones won’t be disappointed with Samsung’s Intrepid smartphone. The handset, which uses Sprint’s 3G network (EV-DO Rev.A) domestically and also connects to 3G networks abroad, is packed with features aimed at the pinstripe crowd.
Intrepid (USD$149.99, excluding taxes, with two-year service agreements, $50 instant savings and $100 mail-in rebate) runs under the latest version of Microsoft’s cellphone operating system, Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional.
One improvement in this edition of Windows Mobile is a customizable Today screen. It displays frequently used features, the arrival of new text and e-mail messages, missed calls, and calendar appointments. You can also dial calls from the keyboard when that screen is displayed. Typing numbers from the keyboard ordinarily requires the use of the “Fn” key. That would make keyboard dialing very awkward. In Today mode, though, numbers can be dialed without using Fn.
Built for road warriors
Intrepid is designed for power-hungry business users. It has Microsoft Office Mobile for editing Word and Excel files and viewing PowerPoint presentations. Email is handled through Windows Mobile e-mail. Other features include stereo Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, microSD card support, and easy access to social networking sites like Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, as well as instant messaging and threaded text messaging.The unit is a one-piece mobile phone along the lines of the Palm Pixi or Treo Pro.
On the unit’s front is a QWERTY keyboard and 2.5-inch display. Between the keyboard and display are controls for starting and ending calls, accessing the Windows Mobile operating system, navigating around the screen and giving the OK to perform a function. In addition, there are two “soft” keys which change function from task to task.
Comfortable keyboard
The phone’s 320-by-240 pixel display is sharp and bright, but text in smaller fonts is difficult to read. Items displayed in the screen can be manipulated via touch or a telescoping stylus that is conveniently stored in the side of the phone. The addition of the stylus is a necessary one since some of the icons on the screen are so small, poking them with a finger can very difficult. Generally, the display is responsive to tapping by digit or stylus — although less so compared to something like an iPhone or iPod touch — but from time to time multiple jabs are necessary.
The QWERTY keyboard is comfortable to use for thumb typists. Because the keys are rounded slightly, they can be securely pressed without accidentally hitting an adjacent key. Some of the keys do double duty on the keyboard. These secondary functions appear as red characters above the QWERTY ones and can be accessed via an Fn key. The typography for the secondary characters is very small and largely difficult to see.
Designed for convenient use
On the left side of the Intrepid is the volume control and charger. On the right side of the unit are the power and camera buttons and the compartment for the stylus. At the back of the unit is the lens for its 3.2-megapixel camera, a speaker and a reflective button. The button can be used to frame self-portraits or arms-length shots. On top of the phone is a jack for a headphones.
As sophisticated as the Intrepid is, it’s designed for convenient use. Need to make a call? Press the green talk button. A telephone keypad pops up on the screen. You can start poking in numbers or use screen icons to access your address book or a log of recent calls. If you start punching in numbers, as you do so, the phone automatically checks the address book and call logs for the digits and dynamically displays corresponding matches on the screen. This technique greatly speeds up the process of making a call.
When you’ve found the number you’re looking for, you can poke an onscreen send button to make your connection. Once connected, more buttons appear that allow you to turn your speaker on or off, access your call log, make a note about the call or mute the phone. The speaker button is especially opportune because it eliminates the need to hunt for the speaker control when you’re making a call.
Office in a pocket
Both still images and video can be captured with the Intrepid. Its 3.2 megapixel still camera produces images in four sizes from 640-by-480 to 3,048-by-1,536 pixels and has a number of advanced features for a phone cam. For instance, shots can be over- or under-exposed with exposure compensation. Multiple images can be garnered rapidly in continuous capture mode. It even has smile recognition, where the camera won’t fire its shutter until it detects the subject smiling.
The phone’s video camera also has exposure compensation. It has three video qualities — high, normal and economy — in two sizes (320-by-240 and 176-by-144 pixels) as well as a variety of white balance settings (auto, tungsten, fluorescent, daylight and cloudy), metering choices (center weighted, spot and matrix) and special effects (black and white, sepia, aqua and negative).
The Samsung Intrepid is stuffed with features that enable a businessperson to carry around an office in her or her pocket. However, although the latest version of Microsoft Mobile is improved over previous editions, it still lacks the intuitiveness of its newer competitors. It feels like a desktop operating system downsized uncomfortably to run on a small screen. That kind of compromise, however, may be irrelevant to Windows shops looking for some robust hardware that gives their users a familiar interface on both their big and little screen devices.
Originally published on TechNewsWorld
© 2009 ECT News Network. All rights reserved.
© 2009 BetaNews.com. All rights reserved.
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Mozilla Celebrates The Fifth Birthday Of Firefox
Mozilla is celebrating the fifth birthday of its Firefox browser today.
Mozilla says in the first four days of launch, more than 1 million people had downloaded Firefox 1.0 Now that number is at 330 million users globally, accounting for almost a quarter of all Internet users.
Currently Firefox is available in more than 70 languages and offers users more than 7,000 add-ons to customize their browsing experience.
The Mozilla Blog provides more details. "From your desktop to your mobile device, Mozilla is committed to building an open and participatory Internet. We’ve come so far in the past five years and we’re incredibly excited about the next five."
"To celebrate this milestone, Mozilla communities are hosting parties all over the globe in a special campaign called ‘Light the World with Firefox‘ – shining the Firefox logo from Tokyo to Rome, from Paris to San Francisco, and more. For full details on parties in your area or to check out other ways to join in the celebration, head to http://www.spreadfirefox.com/5years/."
Related Articles:
>Internet Explorer Losing Market Share In Europe
>Mozilla Aims To Integrate Social Media And Email Into One Inbox
>New Google Chrome Release Includes Bookmark Sync
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God of War Collection Trophies made easier…ish
If you’ve played the first two God of War games, you know the moves, you know the tricks, so having a walkthrough for God of War Collection would seem…
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CVS Settles With New York Over Expired Product Sales; North Carolina Gets Grant For High-Risk Pool
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that CVS, the drug story chain, has agreed to pay $875,000 to settle charges that it sold products years after their expiration dates, Reuters reports. The out-dated products, sold at 142 different stores, included “over-the-counter drugs, baby formula, eggs and milk,” and in some cases items were sold more than two years after expiring (Stempel, 11/10).
“A CVS spokesman says the company is committed to keeping expired products off shelves and that the settlement doesn’t include any admission of wrongdoing,” The Associated Press reports. “Cuomo reached a similar settlement with Rite Aid in 2008” (11/10).
In North Carolina, the federal government is giving that state a $1.5 million grant to provide monthly subsidies to people to aid participation in the state’s high risk insurance pool, North Carolina News Network reports. “The state’s high risk pool provides health care coverage for those who cannot find affordable insurance in the private market” (Reinhardt, 11/11).
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Make community service a part of higher education
…President Obama spoke directly to the students in the audience (at Texas A&M University) and on other campuses around the nation, reminding them that community service is among the oldest American traditions, an activity that “binds us to each other — and to our communities and our country.”
… Organizations such as Texas Campus Compact and the National Youth Leadership Council provide expertise in designing and sustaining service programs.
Read the entire article in the Houston Chronicle
