GadgetMETER - Meet The Coolest Trends » Quang Ly

My Experience In a Fake Apple Store in China

Quang Ly — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:56:25 +0000

Fake Apple Store In China

I recently went to China (Beijing and Shanghai) a few weeks ago and came across a fake Apple Store in a mall in Shanghai. It was located right next to a fake Sony Store. Here is the picture of me at the fake Apple Store. The products did look legitimate. One of the sales clerk was on a MacBook running Windows XP playing video games. He could have been running BootCamp, Parallels, or VMWare for virtualization. Flying back to the US, ironically I sat next to an Apple Retail Manager for China. We talked about counterfeits as well as the problem of fake branded stores becoming more popular. I also saw a fake iPhone 5 and fake iPad 2 running Java operating system in Budong district in Shanghai. The performance in the fake products was very unresponsive and therefore unuseable.

Apple iPad 2

Quang Ly — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:47:01 +0000

Apple iPad 2

Apple iPad 2

Apple has unveiled the sequel to its iPad tablet, one of the biggest surprises of last year. The iPad 2 launches in March 2011 and although it is evolutionary rather than revolutionary it is certainly a step in the right direction.

From a physical point of view Apple has achieved the impossible, reducing the thickness of the iPad 2 by 30 per cent to its predecessor and actually making it slimmer than the iPhone 4. It is also 90 grams lighter than the original iPad, which may not sound like a lot but can make a big difference when you are holding it for extended periods. The iPad 2 is designed to be held in the hand for a majority of the time, but Apple has made it easier to lay on a flat surface or rest on a stand by flattening its back, eliminating the curve which could prove problematic.

Inside the iPad 2 is a brand new dual core A5 processor which is up to twice as fast as that in the original. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that it would be nine times more powerful in the graphics department, which is quite a boast and one which should excite gamers and app designers who really want to stretch the visual capabilities of the device.

Apple has embraced the world of photography by equipping the iPad 2 with not one but two cameras. The front-facing camera is designed for FaceTime, its video calling service which uses Wi-Fi to make personal conversations easy over the airwaves. On the rear you have a high megapixel unit for taking still photos and also recording video clips in HD, just like the iPhone 4. Whether users will actually ditch their standalone digital cameras in favour of their tablet is debatable, but it is good to see Apple keeping up with the competition.

All that extra processing power is put to good use not only in games like the gorgeous Infinity Blade but also in the running of new services which will be integrated into the iPad 2`s software. GarageBand, a favourite of Apple computer owners, is becoming available for the iPad, bringing with it virtual instruments, amps and recording which will surely win over more musicians to the device. Apple has also improved iMovie to make editing and playback a doddle and it is harnessing the full dual core setup to its advantage.

The one area in which the iPad 2 has not moved forward is the display. Early indications suggest it is almost identical to the LED backlit model seen on the original. This is fairly acceptable, although its lack of a true widescreen resolution and the rumours of a Retina Display with improved pixel density make it something of a letdown to anyone who has been following the device up to its launch. The iPad 2 may still not feature the same capabilities as notebook computers and laptop deals will typically offer you more bang for your buck, but as a piece of modern technology there is nothing more desirable today.

2011 Consumer Electronics Show award winner

Quang Ly — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:20:46 +0000

Edifier MP250

The Edifier MP250 “Sound to Go” micro speaker for Mac and PCs is small, compact and portable and selling very well in airport stores in the U.S. for laptop use on the road. The MP250 has been honoured with a Product Innovation Award from the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show to be held in Las Vegas January 6-9, 2011. Price: $49.99. Available online in Canada at NCIX.com and at local computer stores. More info: www.edifier.ca

Attached is a spec sheet and an image, let me know if you’d like a higher res image.

Details:

The Edifier MP250 USB is an elegant all-in-one micro speaker system housed in a beautiful brushed aluminium tube finish. Fully portable, this micro speaker system is USB powered with full USB audio streaming capability an an elaborately designed bass passive radiator. Connected to the USB port of a laptop, PC or home-based computer system, MP250 USB provides exceptional audio with far greater performance than any built-in audio solution. Volume control comes from the host device. The system is compact, robust and fully portable, protected by a soft-carry case during transit, enabling audio on the go, for personal or business use.

Price: $49.99. Available online in Canada at NCIX.com and at local computer stores. More info:www.edifier.ca

A technical specification sheet for the MP250 is attached.

About the company:

Edifier has its North American headquarters in Vancouver and, at one time, had its world headquarters in B.C. Its international head office is in Hong Kong and it is one of the largest speaker companies in China with eight million sets sold annually.

Other great Edifier speaker products to feature as Christmas gifts (if you have room).

M20 laptop speaker, iF350 and iF500 from Edifier. Let me know if you’d like product photos and information.

Facebook Mail Will Not Threaten Gmail

Quang Ly — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 01:56:02 +0000

Facebook Mail

Facebook recently launched their own mail service so users can now have their own vanity email addresses @facebook.com There are some talks that this is a threat to Google’s Gmail. I doubt this is true, at least anywhere in the near future. Yes, it’s true that tweens and teens use text and Facebook to communicate. This, however, will not cause disruption in Gmail. Remember when Google Wave was supposed to be its own Gmail Killer? Why didn’t Google Wave succeed? Because there is nothing wrong with Gmail that really needs complete overhaul. What will likely happen is that we will just be introduced to more options of communicating of our choice and the recipient’s.

phone
text
email (Gmail, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL)
Chat (Gtalk, Skype, Chat, FaceTime)

The point is no one service will monopolize communication.

MacBook Air Bugs are being reported

Quang Ly — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:44:19 +0000

The new MacBook Air models unveiled late last month are the slimmest computers that came from Apple as of late. There are reports, however, that the early MacBook Air adopters have encountered some bugs. Among the issues is a bug where the display flickers or shows horizontal lines of varying colors when a computer wakes from sleep or after hot-plugging a display. Another bug causes the screen to fade from light to dark repeatedly after waking from sleep. Apple’s internal support system includes suggestions for interim fixes in each of these cases, but no permanent fixes are available at this time. Apple has stated internally that the aforementioned issues have been isolated and will be addressed in an upcoming software update. When dealing with customers, Apple employees have been instructed to state that the company is aware of these issues and is working on solutions.

Every great leap encounters a few hurdles.

The New MacBook Air

Quang Ly — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:25:22 +0000

Apple announced yesterday their new MacBook Air which now uses up to 256 GB Flash storage for performance and longer lasting battery life. This means that the laptop boots up in a second just like the iPad or iPhone and has a stand bye period of up to a month. It comes in two models: 13.3″ and 11″.

You can now also do FaceTime on the Mac as well. Apple also announced their upcoming Mac App Store.

I’m very tempted to get the MacBook Air 13″ but just concerned with the maximum disk space of up to 256 GB. 512 GB would have been the sweet spot.

What are your thoughts?

How To Convert iPod Touch to iPhone

Quang Ly — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:17:49 +0000

How To Convert iPod Touch to iPhone

Exciting news for Apple fans as the Apple Peel 520 is rumoured to be coming to the US. The handy peripheral will allow consumers who have shelled out hundreds of pounds on an iPod to convert their favourite musical device into a fully functioning phone. It will also save space in your handbag or pocket.

Designed like a protective case, the Apple Peel 520 comes complete with a dock connector, battery and SIM card and will provide users with five hours of talk time and 120 hours of standby use.

For even the most technologically challenged individuals, the Apple Peel 520 is easy to use. After installing the required software, two apps appear on the iPod Touch home screen: Yosian and YsSMS, which provide voice and text support. When the communication module is switched on, a signal bar and a battery icon will appear in the middle of the iPod Touch’s status bar. To make a call, users simply tap the Yosian app icon which loads the numpad screen.

The device is currently available in China for 520 Yuan but North American distributor, GoSolar USA said that the first demonstrations of the Apple Peel 520 are expected to arrive in America sometime next week.

“We’re obviously very confident that consumer demand is high for the Apple Peel 520, and we’re looking forward to getting our hands on the first batch,” said GSLO President and CEO Tyson Rohde.

“As soon as they arrive, we’ll begin distributing demonstration models to retail buyers across the country. The amount of interest in this product that we’ve received from distributors has been staggering.”

GoSolar are looking to sell the peripheral in Radio Shack, Best Buy, Walmart and Fry’s Electronics but no details regarding its retail price in the USA have been released as of yet.

The Apple Peel 520 allows you to convert your iPod Touch to an iPhone by installing an add on SIM chip. The Apple Peel 520 is planning to come the US. It will convert your favorite portable music device into a fully function iPhone without paying for 3G. You will still have use of WiFi

The Apple Peel 520 is designed like a protective case and comes complete with a dock connector, battery and SIM card. It will provide five hours of talk time and 120 hours of standby use.

The Apple Peel 520 is easy to use after installing the required software. There are two apps that appear on the iPod Touch home screen: Yosian and YsSMS, which provide voice and text support. When the communication module is switched on, a signal bar and a battery icon will appear in the middle of the iPod Touch’s status bar. To make a call, users simply tap the Yosian app icon which loads the numpad screen

GoSolar are looking to sell the peripheral in Radio Shack, Best Buy, Walmart and Fry’s Electronics but no details regarding its retail price in the USA have been released as of yet.

Historic Figures Facebook Status

Quang Ly — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 22:21:53 +0000

These are pretty hilarious Facebook status updates from Galileo, the Church, Ben Franklin, John Hancock, Charles Darwin, Isaac newton, God, Adam and Eve, Julius Caesar. By the way, did anyone go see The Social Network? What did you think?

Apple Finally Approves Google Voice App

Quang Ly — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 22:52:57 +0000

Apple Finally Approves Google Voice App - GV Connect

Apple finally approves Google Voice App (the second time) and it is available on the iTunes store now here for $2.99 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gv-connect/id347835665?mt=8

GV Connect is a native iPhone/iPod Touch application for your Google Voice account. The app features the following:

Place calls using your Google Voice number rather than your mobile number.
Send and receive text messages (SMS) from your Google Voice
Listen to voicemails and recorded conversations right on your device (pause, rewind, fast foward)
Mark messages as starred, block senders, delete conversations
Set call forwarding, do-not-disturb), rediections
Retina displays

I suspect the FTC inquiry on Apple’s blocking of a native Google Voice app sparked the change.

Google Chrome OS Tablet by HTC on Verizon

Quang Ly — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:12:35 +0000

Following the tablet footsteps laid by Apple, Google has built a Chrome OS tablet with help from HTC, and the device will launch on Verizon Wireless’ network come November 26th, 2010 — a date known otherwise as “Black Friday” in 2010.

The tablet is speculated to sport a 1280×720 display, 2GB of RAM, a 32GB solid-state drive, and WiFI/Bluetooth/3G wireless connectivity. Not bad. No word on front face or back camera yet though.

As for now, we would advise you to take the above information in with a grain of salt, at least until some more information on this so-called tablet is made available.

What are your thoughts? You want one?

Top 5 Useful and Free iPhone Apps

Quang Ly — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:57:37 +0000

Top 5 Useful and Free iPhone Apps

There are thousands of apps available to use on your iPhone, iPod and now your iPad as well and, surprisingly, many of the best are free to download.

The following list shows 5 of the very best free apps that also happen to be extremely useful as well. There are loads of apps out there that can help make your life that bit easier so it’s well worth going through them to find the ones that will apply to you and your life.

Here are a few of the best useful apps out there that are well-worth a look.

Thetrainline – For those of you who commute to work by train, Thetrainline is a free transport app that outshines all of the others – and it’s free. The app can help you to plan your journey, obtain offline results and timetables and also has a location-aware ‘next train home’ option. All of these features are available on Thetrianline’s clear and streamlined interface. There are of course other train apps available but many will cost you upwards of £5 and when you can get this one for free and it does the job – why look elsewhere?

Skype – This is a great money-saving app and allows you and your friends to chat to each other for free via your Skype app. The interface is simple and usable, enabling anyone with a Skype account to make free calls to other Skype users and also offers you the ability to make cheap calls to anywhere in the world. Pay as you Go users will find this app particularly useful but so will iPod touch owners as this app also allows them to make calls to other Skype users.

Dropbox – There are many apps out there that transfer content between your computer and your device but this one is free and actually a lot easier to use than many of the paid ones out there. Any files you want to sync up – just drop them in to a folder on your computer and Dropbox will enable you to access them.

Around Me – Around Me is a great app for when you’re out and about. It works out where you are and then shows you all the local banks, bars, petrol stations and restaurants etc that are in your vicinity. The app is really useful when you happen to be in unfamiliar surroundings and the ‘augmented reality’ landscape mode is great for getting to know the area, just be aware that this new technology isn’t completely there yet so expect that you may come across a few little errors.

Moneysupermarket.com Voucher App – No matter what you’re looking for, moneysupermarket.com will no doubt have a voucher for it that will help make savings on your purchases. There are thousands of free discount codes and vouchers on this iPhone app that can help all UK shoppers save money on whatever they want to buy.

Apple iTunes Cloud Lala Very Cloudy

Quang Ly — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:07:33 +0000

Apple iTunes Cloud Lala Very Cloudy

Many people expected that Apple would offer your iTunes music and movies over the cloud after it acquired Lala.com last December. That is of course after Apple obtained the appropriate music licenses to do so. Lala, the music serviced, shut down after being acquired by Apple this past May.

The Lala team leadership that went to Apple after the acquisition seems to leaving. Bill Nguyen, Lala’s founder, is known to be press friendly and against Apple’s culture of secrecy. Another founding member has left the company leaving Apple’s media cloud plans in a haze.

Google, on the other hand, hired Elizabeth Moody, an attorney with deep experience negotiating digital-music deals. Record executives expect Moody will help cut the first cloud music licensing agreement. Google has told label managers that it wants to launch a music service this year.

Apple is not worried though since it is still the #1 online and offline music store and jukebox.

However, in this fast pacing media game, tables can turn very quickly.

InnoPocket launched HexaPose Stand for Apple iPad

Quang Ly — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:42:47 +0000

InnoPocket have launched HexaPose Stand for Apple iPad. The HexaPose Stand is made of solid aluminum and tough polycarbonate with a chic design tailor-made for the Apple iPad. It comes with a rotatable pivot which can allow you to freely rotate your iPad horizontally or vertically. The pivot can also be adjusted 3 ways for different viewing angles for surfing, reading, gaming or movie viewing. HexaPose Stand is the perfect gadget for your iPad if you use iPad at home just as your PC. It makes your iPad look like an iMac.

Features

Clip-on, sleek looking table and desktop stand for your iPad
Solid and strong aluminum base
Precision molded polycarbonate frame to hold the iPad securely
Hold iPad in both landscape and portrait orientation
Multiple viewing angles for surfing, reading or movie viewing
Cutout gives access to iPad’s dock connector for charging and syncing

MSRP: US$49.99

About InnoPocket

Founded in 1999, InnoPocket designs and manufactures a complete line of custom cases for laptop, PDA, smartphones, MP3 players and gaming devices.

GadgetMETER’s Take

This would be great for a keyboard and desktop solution as well.

Contact
InnoPocket
Website: http://www.innopocket.com

Philadelphia Apple Store Grand Opening on Walnut Street Friday, July 30

Quang Ly — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:05:48 +0000

After years of rumors, Apple will finally open an Apple Store in Philadelphia on Walnut Street! I walk by here almost every day. It’s amazing how Apple can keep its store openings and product releases so secret.

Apple will hold the grand opening celebration for Apple Store Walnut Street in Philadelphia on Friday, July 30, 2010 at 5pm ED

Address: Apple Store Walnut Street
1607 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103

The Apple Store Walnut Street is the best place to learn about all the latest products from Apple, including the new iPhone 4 featuring FaceTime, which makes the dream of video calling a reality, and Apple’s stunning new Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone. Customers can experience Apple’s entire product line hands-on including the magical new iPad that lets users browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more. Visitors to the store can also try the updated MacBook and MacBook Pro with the NVIDIA processor for up to 80 percent faster graphics, and the incredibly popular iPod touch with access to more than 225,000 apps offered on the revolutionary App Store.

Every Apple Retail Store offers a range of free services designed to help customers get the most out of their Apple products, including face-to-face support and advice at the Genius Bar, hands-on workshops and special programs for kids. Customers who buy a Mac®at the Apple Retail Store or Apple’s Online Store can also join the popular One to One program. For just $99, owners of a new Mac get Personal Setup to customize their computer and transfer files from their old Mac or PC, plus a year of Personal Training sessions and Personal Project support on a wide range of topics, from getting started on a Mac to advancing their digital photography or moviemaking skills.

UPDATE BY JAY: Here are some more pictures I took when the family and I stopped by after dinner on Friday night. As you can see, quite the mad press!

And the requisite panoramic view!

Apple Unveils iPhone 4

Quang Ly — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:40:14 +0000

Apple finally unveils iPhone 4 to the masses. Steve Jobs introduced the new iPhone on Monday, complete with an all-new, thinner design, camera flash, front-facing camera called FaceTime for video calling, a second noise-canceling microphone, multitasking, HD video recording, iMovie App for iPhone, iOS software, and a gyroscope for six-axis motion sensing.

iPhone 4

Steve Jobs says the new iPhone is beyond any consumer product that’s ever been seen, only 9.3mm thick and 24 percent thinner than the iPhone 3GS, making it the “thinnest smartphone on the planet.”

Availability
The new iPhone 4 arrives on June 24, while preorders begin on June 15. It is available in the same prices and capacities as last year’s model: $199 for 16GB, and $299 for 32GB. The iPhone 3GS will be available for $99.

Internals
The new hardware also has a larger battery that offers longer uptime, including 7 hours of talk time 3G, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music, and 300 hours of standby.

Dual cameras
The iPhone 4 also includes a whole-new camera system that includes LED flash with a 5 megapixel lens that records HD video. The new rear camera will record 720p video at 30 frames per second. Users can also use built-in video editing to trim their HD clips right on the phone.

The handset’s forward facing camera can be used for video chat with the application FaceTime, allowing users to see someone using another iPhone 4 as they talk to them. Videos can also be edited using the new iMovie application, which will cost $4.99 on the App Store.

Captcha Fail – Hideous Secretaries

Quang Ly — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:20:16 +0000

In September of last year, Google made a smart and obvious acquisition: reCAPTCHA, the service helps secure websites while at the same time helping computers learn to read old, scanned text. Google had reportedly been working on its own CAPTCHA solution, but found reCAPTCHA’s better, and were undoubtedly happy to welcome the talent behind it. Today, just seven months later, one of those key team members is defecting to Facebook.

Ben Maurer was a co-founder of reCAPTCHA and its chief architect. As he announced on his blog today, he’ll be joining Facebook’s infrastructure team. “With all the growth Facebook has seen comes unique challenges in scaling systems. I’m looking forward to working on this,” Maurer writes.

So why leave Google for Facebook? Well certainly, Facebook is getting a lot of buzz right now as a company that can potentially rival Google in the years ahead. Also, Facebook is not yet a public company, so the move probably makes sense for monetary reasons. Most importantly though, Maurer used to be an intern at Facebook a couple of years ago, so he’s returning home, so to speak.

And the Facebook he’s re-joining is undoubtedly different than the one he left. As the service approaches 500 million users, saying they have “unique challenges in scaling systems” is putting it mildly.

Meanwhile, reCAPTCHA (at least the technology) will live on. “It’s been over 3 years since we started working on the crazy idea of getting millions of people to digitize the world’s books in their spare time. I’m looking forward to seeing reCAPTCHA continue to grow,” Maurer writes.

Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/03/recaptcha-co-founder-facebook-google/#ixzz0mxxL45a2C

Captcha Fail - Hideous Secretaries

Captcha is the scrambled text that shows up requiring the user to enter manually to prevent automated bot systems from spamming. Every once in awhile, a funny captcha appears that is worth sharing. This particular captcha comes from craigslist.org. How many hideous secretaries have you seen?

In similar news, Google acquired reCAPTCHA, which is a service to secure websites while at the same time helping computers learn to read old and scanned text. The scanned text and the second is a random. reCAPTCHA determines statistically how often users get the scanned word correctly. If it is a high degree of accuracy, then the system assumes that is the word.

Leveraging user input through captcha text is a scalable approach to scan all the books that Google wants to do with a high level of accuracy. You know how they say that eventually, we all work for Google?

Docs by Microsoft and Facebook

Quang Ly — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:28:01 +0000

Docs by Microsoft and Facebook

Look out Google because Microsoft and Facebook are teaming up to challenge Google Docs online document sharing.

Microsoft Docs looks like a real threat to Google Docs because simply Microsoft still makes a better word processor than Google. Facebook’s crowd sourcing and social networking platform creates a true online desktop and utility for productivity. Docs also have a simple domain name that people can remember http://www.docs.com.

Google needs to respond with a true social networking strategy by merging their Gmail, YouTube, and Picassa audience to a single destination to share and communicate more seamlessly. They have made a pathway so far with integrating Buzz into Gmail. It was disappointing, however, that Google Wave was still a separate destination that needed another active conversion for adoption. Furthermore, their UI across different sites like Gmail, YouTube, and Picassa do not have similar look and feel.

Via http://docs.com

Google Must Have Heard My Advice

Quang Ly — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:49:51 +0000

Google recently announced that they will be experimenting by building a super fast fiber network. I wrote a post “Why Google Needs to Become an ISP” a few months ago stating that Google needs to become an ISP because their search can be simply defaulted to another search engine. It is a war between tech companies to see who can control the platform and end-to-end services. Apple has devices, software, and stores. Microsoft has operating systems, office products, and mobile OS. Google’s strategy is simply to diversify and unify as much as possible.

Never thought my words would actually be heard from Google. They must have found it through Search

Why is Google building a high speed network? It is because the faster the network, the more people will be online which means the more ads they can display. Furthermore, Google can charge a subscription for access that is competitive to other ISPs. Google can also lease its fast fiber network to other ISPs as well for further revenue.

Hitler responds to the iPad

Quang Ly — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:37:00 +0000

Never thought I’d say this, but, Hitler got it right this time. The iPad is somewhat a disappointment. No camera. No multitasking. No Flash. No Thanks.

Cool Screenshot – Happy New Year and Resolution!

Quang Ly — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:41:40 +0000

Captured at 1/1 11:11

Happy New Year to everyone from the folks at GadgetMETER. GadgetMETER is now officially 1 year old and I am proud of what we’ve accomplished in that time.

One of my New Years resolution consists of simplifying my online and offline lifestyle.

Get rid of junk in my house I haven’t used in years
Eat less or no meat.
Reduced the number of RSS subscriptions.
Deactivated my Facebook account. (I’ll talk more about this later).
Discovered http://mnmlist.com and http://minimalmac.com. These are two great websites if you feel you are too distracted with todays bombardment of information.
Run a 10k
Enrolled at UPenn for Graduate School.
De clutter my MacBook desktop and menu bar

Now, if you are wondering how this screenshot is appropriate for this post. Well, I just happen to look at my iPhone at exactly 1/1 11:11pm so I quickly captured it. The background is a picture of Monica Belluci on my jail broken iPhone. Pretty cool huh? It must be a sign because I see it as a way to reset our tech lifestyle and look back at what’s really important: family, friend (true friends, not the persons you don’t know on your Facebook), health, and the environment. Today, we have way too many distractions in our life that really clouds our judgetment on what’s really important. Let’s take time to get rid of online and offline baggage and welcome the New Year!

So I propose this New Years Challenge for you.

Go take a walk.
Meet with a friend for coffee.
Enough with Twitter already. It’s really just for celebrities!
Delete contacts on Facebook you don’t ever engage with. Heck, deactivate your Facebook account like I did!
Delete LinkedIn. Who really uses this anyway?
Stop texting while having lunch or dinner with someone. Enjoy the moment.
Volunteer at a community center or shelter.
Donate to a charity: time, money, clothes, food. It can be anything.
Read a long form book.
Go camping or hiking.
Call up a friend. No texting!

Refuting NY Times Search Neutrality Article

Quang Ly — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:14:53 +0000

I read the New York Times recently published “Search, but You May Not Find” and find it to be one of the most biased and misguided articles from a supposedly reputable news source. The article discusses net neutrality which prohibits Internet service providers from discriminating or charging more for access to certain services or applications on the Web. The author, Adam Raff, uses the same net neutrality argument to support his claims for a “search neutrality” which you will see is a slippery slope argument

Adam explains that Internet search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, are becoming gate keepers of information and that their results should be unbiased and ranked on relevance. There is truth to this. If Search Neutrality should be the case, we would essentially have a single search engine for all our needs because they would all share the same algorithm to rank sites and content. However, what search neutrality implies is that all the engines would have the same exact results which would be anti-competitive. A user is not forced to user Google or any other search engine. The openness of the Internet allows for anyone with the best service to succeed without prohibition. Isn’t that what Net Neutrality is all about? Google itself hardly ever advertise it’s service. Users flock to Google because it does provide the most simple and effective search results. By having different search engines with varied results and services, creates competition for all sides and ultimately benefiting the users.

Adam Raff does disclose that he works for Foundem – a search site to compare products. Raff alleges that his site’s Google search rankings disappeared and thus stunted his company’s growth. Writing an article against Google on the NY Times is also a sure way to bring exposure to your company doesn’t it? What Raff doesn’t explain is why his site disappeared from search results. Gaming the system by adding keywords hidden behind background colors can do this. Listing your site on link farms solely for the purpose of Search Engine Optimization can also put your site in the “bad neighborhood”. Raff does not explain how his site might have been black listed by Google or what he tried to do to remedy the situation.

Raff further claims that Google isn’t innovative as people expect but instead buy a lot of other companies such as YouTube and Applied Semantics (now AdSense). AdWords is developed by Google but licensed under its inventors Overture. My response to this is – so what? Is buying another company a moral crime? What does acquisitions have to do with search neutrality? My understanding of what Raff is trying to say is that Google can provide preferential treatment to search rankings for it’s affiliated services as somehow it is not beneficial to the user. Hey, Raff, remember, you can still use Bing or Yahoo if you want Search Neutrality as you claim. Why is Google singled out in your article? You didn’t mention Microsoft’s interest in providing Bing as the search engine for Yahoo. I take it because your site wasn’t black listed from them.

Raff has a lot of superfluous reasons for search neutrality. However, he can best support his argument by presenting a case where if a site is black listed from a search engine without justifiable cause, then there should be an explanation and process to fix this. However, Raff’s article seems more like a kid ranting he didn’t get picked to play basketball. Maybe Raff’s next article should be on Sports Neutrality where every player no matter what his skill set, gets to score.

Screenshot – Google Phone Confirmed

Quang Ly — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:22:18 +0000

Google Phone

The rumors of the upcoming Google Phone has been laid to rest. Here is a screenshot of the Google Phone running Android 2.1 operating system. It is a Google branded phone but built by HTC. It is expected to be available as unlocked GSM in early 2010 on both AT&T and T-Mobile. Google apparently had a lot of influence on how the phone should be designed and operate since it is essentially their brand.

This comes only a few months after Verizon’s successful launch of their iPhone competitor Droid which also runs Android but version 2.0. Seems like iPhone competitors are coming out before the release of the next generation iPhone 4G which will be a bloodbath.

Via TechCrunch

Apple MacBook Touch Tablet Report by Oppenheimer

Quang Ly — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:11:32 +0000

MacBook Touch iTablet

Oppenheimer released their report on the rumored Apple Tablet predicting the size and functionality of the potential game changer. It also suggested the pricing and sales structure for publishers and the app store.

You can download it here (right click save as).

Thank you Kevin Rose for this.

Popeye’s creator, E.C. Segar, celebrated with a Google doodle

Quang Ly — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:29:09 +0000

Google doodle featuring Popeye

• Google doodle depicts Popeye eating spinach
• 115th anniversary of E.C. Segar’s birthday

When I was 5 years old, I went through a phase where I was really into Popeye. I remember as a kid walking around acting tough (and even enjoying my spinach). An aunt still calls me by Popeye till this day. I even had a pipe through blew out bubbles!

When I opened up Chrome this morning, it went straight to the Google home page where I saw this latest doodle. It brought back a lot of childhood memories. Popeye was an inspiration to me where the little guy can beat the brute (his nemesis was Bluto) and still get the girl Olive Oyl. Whenever Popeye and Bluto fought, Popeye would lose at first until he finds a can of spinach in his back pocket or laying around some where. As soon as he eats it, his fore arms grew 3x its size. I always wondered why Bluto wouldn’t just eat the spinach as well. Heck, even Olive Oyl could use some calories.

Want a Google Wave Invite? We have some!

Quang Ly — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:58:46 +0000

Google Wave Invite

Google Wave is a hot topic now. It is Google’s ambitious project for next generation unified real-time communication and collaboration tool. I finally got my invite and can now invite up to 8 others. I’m giving them away so if anyone is interested contact me through the web form. It even works on the iPhone!

What is a wave?

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.
A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

Black Friday Deal – Brother HL-4040cdn Color Laser Printer with Duplex and Networking

Quang Ly — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:22:03 +0000

Guys, I found this amazing deal for a color laser printer. The price has come down a lot and accessible for the average consumer / prosumer. Get it for Black Friday or as a Christmas gift for that geek in your family.

From The Manufacturer

Flexible Paper Handling and High Yield Toner for Volume Applications
Using Brother’s high-yield replacement toner cartridges (TN-115 series cartridges sold separately), you can enjoy lower operating costs and greater output for increased efficiency. And with a generous 300-sheet total paper capacity consisting of a 250-sheet paper tray and a 50-sheet multi-purpose tray, the HL-4040CDN can handle large-scale print jobs with ease. Plus, with flexible paper handling that accepts a wide range of media types and sizes, you can print high-quality business materials using letter- and legal-sized paper, envelopes, and more.

Fast Printing in Brilliant Color
Create professional-quality documents in color or monochrome at speeds of up to 21 pages per minute (ppm). Produce brilliant color documents at print resolutions up to 2400 x 600 dpi for exceptional clarity when printing business materials with both text and graphics.

Automatic Duplex Printing for Easy Two-Sided Documents
Create two-sided documents quickly and easily thanks to the HL-4040CDN’s duplex feature that automatically prints on both sides of the paper for professional-looking business documents. Automatic duplexing also helps to reduce paper consumption, as well as mailing and filing costs.

Built-in Ethernet Network Interface
The Brother HL-4040CDN offers Ethernet networking capabilities for added versatility. Its standard network interface allows multiple computers within a workgroup to connect to a single printer.

Direct Printing via USB Flash Memory Drive and PictBridge
Sometimes you just need a printout fast, and the HL-4040CDN has got you covered. Simply connect any USB flash memory drive to the printer’s USB Direct Interface, and enjoy fast printing without the need for a computer. This saves time and provides added convenience in a fast-paced office setting.

The HL-4040CDN also supports quick and easy direct printing of images from any PictBridge-enabled digital camera without having to download them to a computer first.

Compatible with both Windows and Macintosh, the Brother HL-4040CDN Color Laser Printer measures 16.5 x 18.7 x 12.5 inches (WxDxH) and weighs 64.2 pounds. It is backed by a one-year express exchange limited warranty.

What’s in the Box
HL-4040CDN Laser Printer, one TN110BK Standard Yield Black Toner Cartridge (approx. 2,500 pages), TN110C Cyan, TN110Y Yellow and TN110M Magenta Standard Yield Color Toner Cartridges (approx. 1,500 pages each), and one DR110CL Drum Unit (approx. 17,000 pages.) [Toner yields are approximate and are based on 5% coverage (letter). Drum life may vary based on various types of use.]

What Free Apps Are You Thankful For?

Quang Ly — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:49:02 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Instead of the usual answers to what are you thankful for? Family, friends, blah blah blah. I want to ask you what Free Apps are you thankful for?

It takes a lot of effort to develop applications. We should recognize the author’s efforts.

Here is my personal list to start:

WordPress
Shazam
Pandora
YouTube
Gmail
Google Chrome
Google Voice
Google Calender
Google Apps
Google Docs
Firefox
Dropbox
Cydia (iPhone Jailbreak)
LogMeIn Free

Video – SixthSense Technology Is The Real iPhone Killer

Quang Ly — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:58:47 +0000

Sithsense Paper Laptop

I have been following Pranav Mistry’s SixthSense technology since his debut at TED conference in which he had a standing ovation. SixthSense allows for an ultra portable and interactive augmented reality based on genstures. It enables interactions between the real world and digital information.

His latest invention which he displayed at TED will kill any iTablet rumor from Apple or likes. Better yet, it is the introduction of the paper “laptop”. It works by attaching a microphone on the paper to sense the touch. Check out the whole video.

Via Engadget

Death to USB Dongles

Quang Ly — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:00:52 +0000

It has been a few days since my last post. I’ve been really busy researching Grad School and curriculum. Anyway, some of you may know that I make music under the Delta Dreams project. It is sorta like Portishead meets The Killers. I switched to Logic Studio which is a great unified music sequencer over the summer.

Previously, I used ProTools LE. It has great workflow but wasn’t very reliable. I didn’t get the performance as I did with Logic Studio. Furthermore, I had to purchase a lot of 3rd party software synthesizers that required the despicable USB dongle. The USB dongle is essentially a hardware USB drive that has your authorization code in it to run the program. I received this email from KORG (music equipment supplier) a few days ago that tells me they no longer support USB dongles but now authorizes the key to your computer. It is very confusing and it just reinforces my hatred towards these things. Why am I as a legitimate buyer have to suffer while software pirates do not have to deal with this issue?

This is another reason I switched to Logic Studio. I don’t need USB dongles sticking taking up slots on my MacBook Pro. It comes with world class plugins that meets me musical creative needs.

Dear KORG Legacy Collection user,

We hope you are enjoying your KORG Legacy Collection software suite.

This email is to inform you that we have released the latest updater. Thank you for your patience.
Please be sure to read the following notice with regards to the changes in copy protection for Korg Legacy products.

******************************

************************************
Important notice regarding changes to the copy protection method for Korg Legacy software titles
******************************************************************

November 9, 2009

Korg announces that there is a change to the copy protection method for the KORG Legacy Collection series. Korg is switching from the USB Key Copy Protection to the Challenge/Response License Authorization where a unique license code is issued to your computer.

To all KLC series customers, we apologize for any inconvenience associated with this change, and greatly appreciate your cooperation and understanding.

Today, we have released KLC updaters* where you can choose either copy protection method. Please note that we are going to stop providing user support services for the USB Key Copy Protection system effective from April 30, 2010. And from May 2010, any updates we issue will support only the Challenge/Response License Authorization system, not the USB Key Copy Protection system.

We appreciate your continuing support for Korg’s KLC series products.

KORG Legacy Collection team

*… KLC-1/Virtual MS-20/ANALOG EDITION/ANALOG EDITION 2007 v1.2.3, KLC-DIGITAL EDITION v1.3.2

For information on downloading/installation of the new license authorization based versions, please visit the following web page.
http://www.korguser.net/shop/software/support/copyProtection/

For Frequently Asked Question concerning the new copy protection method, please visit the following web page.
http://www.korguser.net/shop/software/support/copyProtection/faq.asp

******************************************************************
KORG Legacy Collection series update
******************************************************************

KLC-1/Virtual MS-20/ANALOG EDITION/ANALOG EDITION 2007 are updated to v1.2.3 respectively, and KLC-DIGITAL EDITION is updated to v1.3.2.

The stability has been improved (including bug fixes), and this version now supports Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (32-bit).
*Regarding Windows 7 support, we will check the compatibility after DAW applications support this OS.

You can download the updater freely from the “Download for registered users” section of KORG USER NET (http://www.korguser.net). Enter your registered e-mail address and password into the provided fields on the right side of login page, log into KORG USER NET and click [Download for registered users].

==================================================================
Please do not reply to this e-mail address. This is not an active reply desk. All queries should be directed to your local Korg distributor:
http://www.korguser.net/html/distributors_list.html
==================================================================

Sincerely yours,
KORG USER NET

Google Voice Quick Reference

Quang Ly — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:07:34 +0000

Google Voice Quick Reference

Google Voice is really quite an amazing service with a lot of features – for free. Granted if you have a smart phone with browser or near a computer to manage your calls. For those of you still sticking to your dinosaur phone lacking an Internet browser, this Google Voice Quick Reference is for you. Just print it out and put it into your pocket. I didn’t even know some of these features were available such as conversation recording. Managing Google Voice features is now whole lot faster.

Via TechCrunch

Transfer Your Mobile Number to Google Voice

Quang Ly — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:02:18 +0000

Transfer Your Mobile Number to Google Voice

I’ve been using Google Voice since it was owned by Grand Central. It is a great platform for managing free calls, SMS, and contacts with intelligence. Now Google Voice lets you port your mobile number from your carrier to Google as well. This way, your voicemail is accessible from the cloud. By allowing Google Voice to manage my voicemail, it solves my issue with AT&T which prevents me from receiving voicemail notifications. Once you receive a voicemail, you can be alerted a number of ways by transcribed email or SMS text messages.

Google Voice can let you have a single phone number that automatically rings to your mobile, work, home and other phones based on rules and settings. For example, calls from your kids will ring all numbers while office related contacts only ring your work number.

The process to move your carrier number to Google Voice requires a few steps. However, it is very worth it in the end.

Via TechCrunch

Google Wave Already Works With iPhone

Quang Ly — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:36:49 +0000

Google Wave iPhone App

Google Wave has been making headlines in the tech world. Not many people know this since not everyone received the official invite yet but it already works in the iPhone. It looks quite fantastic. You can simply go to wave.google.com in mobile Safari on your iPhone and wil be prompted that you are using a browser not supported during the preview, however, once you click through, it actually works well.

You can save a bookmark on your Home screen and it creates a little icon like other Web pages on the iPhone. However, Google Wave is a bit different. Once you launch it it removes the Safari wrapper which allows you to nagivate to another page or search the Web. It actually looks like a regular native iPhone app.

The screen shot on the right is what Google Wave looks like on the iPhone launched from the Home screen bookmark. The screen shot at the bottom is what it looks like from within Safari.

Via TechCrunch

Google Phone Coming To Verizon

Quang Ly — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:46:08 +0000

Google Phone Coming To Verizon

Google’s Android operating system for mobile phones will be available on the Verizon Wireless network under an agreement the companies announced Tuesday.

Verizon states that Android-based handsets will becoming in the next few weeks. Android is Google’s operating system for mobile phones. The new Android-based devices will come loaded with mobile apps developed by Google, Verizon, and third parties.

Even if this competes with the tremendously popular iPhone, we believe as long as there are innovative devices coming out, it will force companies to improve for the sake of consumers.

The telecom industry was stale for so long. Remember when the Motorola RAZR came out? It looked slick at first, but there weren’t many features. They also kept coming out with many different versions with little varied features confusing the market. Apple’s iPhone was a game changer and forced telecom to make better phones and provide richer services.

Dropbox Online Storage and iPhone App

Quang Ly — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:06:06 +0000

Dropbox Online Storage and iPhone App

Dropbox is an easy to use online file storage that syncs your files across all your computers. I installed it recently and must say it is very intuitive, easy, and fast! You simply go to their website, create and account, and then install on your computer (both Windows and Mac compatible). You can then select your drop box folder to by synced. Files or folders that are in your Dropbox folder are then synchronized online. The performance is great. When you make a change, Dropbox sends the “delta” only to the server thus making the change very quickly. You can also access your files through the website.

The free version begins with 2 Gig of storage space with an additional 1 Gig by referring friends. There is also premium paid version which offers much more.

Dropbox recently released an iPhone application to make it even easier to access your files anywhere in the world. This new iPhone app will let you get access to all your Dropbox documents, PDF’s, pictures, videos and much more. Dropbox also introduced offline viewing in the iPhone app, with “Favorites.” If you add a file to your ‘Favorites’, they’ll be accessible at any time. To do so, just hit the star at the bottom of any file, and it’ll be added. Otherwise, your files stay in the cloud. This is great for people who complain that the iPhone does not offer local file storage. Dropbox offers this and more with automatic sync with their cloud!

Dropbox can also let you share files and folders to anyone in the cloud. The iPhone app also lets you upload pictures and video (with iPhone 3GS).

In just a few days, Dropbox reached over 2 million users. Impressive.

When is Google’s rumored GDrive coming? Google???

Screenshot Google Wave

Quang Ly — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:18:44 +0000

Google Wave Collaboration

Google recently released their new web-based collaboration tool called Wave to developers, volunteers and select Google Apps members. The shortest way to describe Google Wave is real-time Gmail on steroids. Wave is the entire Google Product while a wave (lower case) is an individual message or document. Google is initially targeting students, colleges, and collaborative teams to test out this new paradigm of communication.

A wave can include a message with rich content (images, YouTube video, links, maps) and can be shared with other users. There is also a video playback feature that shows a new member coming into the wave the history of the changes.

A wave can also be embedded on another site such as a blog. Currently, there are still bugs to be worked out but this does seem to be a promising step forward for Google to compete with Facebook, Twitter and other crowd sourcing social networks.

Google Wave Header

Here is the Google Wave 3 Panes: Navigation, List, Rich Content.

Google Wave Default View

A wave with rich content

Google Wave Rich Content

Google Wave is similar to Gmail with search features, tagging, file uploads, and even folders. The rich web interface is completely drag and drop.

Google Docs Now Convert Images to Text

Quang Ly — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:29:01 +0000

You can now use Google Docs to perform OCR image-to-text conversions when you upload high-resolution files. It is a nice newly added feature from Google (and of course it is free)

For 3rd party webapps or services that uses Google Docs, they can use this URL parameter to accept JPG, PNG, and GIF files for conversions. Keep in mind this is still in beta.

Tell us what you think of Google Docs OCR performance. Was it good for you?

Google Docs OCR Convert Images To Text

Via Life hacker

AT&T Introduces A-List for Free Unlimited Calling

Quang Ly — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:04:08 +0000

AT&T Introduces A-List for Free Unlimited Calling

AT&T’s recently announced A-List plans on September 20, 2009. This calling feature lets customers talk with up to five people on any network for free, including landlines. The service is very similar to T-Mobile myFaves, which provides free and unlimited calling to customers’ five favorite people. The A-List feature is available on individual Nation plans that cost $59.99 or more. FamilyTalk customers with plans costing $89.99 or more can choose up to 10 people to talk with free of charge.

Want even more free calls beyond what AT&T offers? Add your Google Voice number to your A-list so now you can talk to anyone in North America without using your minutes. Google Voice acts like a conference call with the number you want to talk to (incoming or outgoing). The call with Google Voice is free which connects you to the number you want to talk to. When someone outside your network calls your Google Voice number, your Google Voice then redirects that call to you. So now the conversation is between your AT&T number and Google Voice. If you want to make a call outside your network, call your own Google number and sign into the Google voicemail system, you’ll have the option to place a call. Just press 2 and enter the number. You can also visit Google Voice mobile on your phone.

So what are you waiting for? Log into www.att.com/alist now and add your out of network numbers for free unlimited calls.

How To Fix AT&T iPhone Visual Voicemail Notification Alerts

Quang Ly — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:39:38 +0000

iPhone Visual Voicemail Notification Fix

One of the most frustrating and surprisingly under reported issues is with AT&T and iPhone Visual Voicemail notifications. When you receive a voicemail on your iPhone, an alert appears and you can play your voicemail as if its a song. There is now a solution!

Since the iPhone 3GS was released, some customers experienced lack of alerts for voicemail (me being one of them). I recently found a fix for it while I was researching tethering for 3GS. Apparently, tethering your iPhone may cause this issue.

So here’s the fix. Navigate to Settings → General → Network → Cellular Data Network and within the Visual Voicemail section add “acds.voicemail” into the APN field. Your visual voicemail will now work once again.

CAUTION: This fix does break the tethering. You can’t have voicemail notifications and Internet tethering work at the same time.

Via Apple Blog

Google Liberates Your Data

Quang Ly — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:06:12 +0000

Google Liberates Your Data

Google officially launches DataLiberation.org to inform users their expectations on how their private data is exported. Actually, Google has already provided some of this to a certain extent. A few weeks ago, I helped my brother and his wifey export the content from their Blogger site to a self hosted WordPress installation. It was very easy to do. The only things that weren’t transferred were the images which I haven’t figured out how to do yet.

Imagine you want to move out of your apartment. When you ask your landlord about the terms of your previous lease, he says that you are free to leave at any time; however, you cannot take all of your things with you – not your photos, your keepsakes, or your clothing. If you’re like most people, a restriction like this may cause you to rethink moving altogether. Not only is this a bad situation for you as the tenant, but it’s also detrimental to the housing industry as a whole, which no longer has incentive to build better apartments at all.

Google’s Data Liberation movement plans to give users greater control over their data and easier facilities to export and import with Google apps.

Via The Data Liberation Front

Steve Ballmer grabs Apple iPhone from Microsoft employee and ‘stomps’ it into ground

Quang Ly — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:24:33 +0000

Steve Ballmer grabs Apple iPhone from Microsoft employee and ‘stomps’ it into ground

Microsoft is having a tough time these days with its image. Google forced Microsoft to to launch the free vaporware Office Online to compete with Google Docs. The Zune player which was meant to compete with the iPod is a dud. The Zune’s slogan “Welcome to the Social” has got to be one of the worst in history. You kind of need a crowd to market with that slogan first don’t you think? Let’s not even talk about the horrible name of Zune itself.

Now it looks like Microsoft has another publicity stunt they have to dampen. Microsoft Steve Ballmer, at a conference to showcase Bing 2.0 and a new Windows 7 commercial, saw an employee take pictures with his iPhone. He then grabbed the iPhone, threw it to the ground, and pretend to stomp on it after much booing from the audience.

The good news is that no one threw eggs at Ballmer this time. If Ballmer spent the same energy trashing the iPhone, Microsoft might have some relevancy left in the mobile market. Otherwise, Ballmer should just c:\>format himself

Via TechFlash

Google Voice Now Fowards SMS To Email

Quang Ly — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:55:49 +0000

Google Voice Now Fowards SMS To Email

One of the most popular feature requested from Google Voice was the obvious forward inbound text messages to email. You can now receive incoming text messages to your email. Furthermore, you can even reply from email as well. Users previously could respond to the Google Voice text message on their phone but email forwarding was previously not an option.

Now, once we can have Gmail push to our iPhones then I can cancel the ridiculously priced text messaging plan from AT&T.

Via TechCrunch

iPhone App: Twitscoop Real Time Twitter Trends

Quang Ly — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:54:33 +0000

Twitscoop iPhone App

Have you ever wondered what people are talking about in the cyberspace cloud in real time? Well, now you can with the iPhone App Twitscoop.

Twitscoop allows visualization of real time trends and discussions on Twitter straight from your iPhone. The tag cloud grows and shrinks in real-time depending on the popularity of the topic. The app has a trend algorithm that pulls buzz words, breaking news, and content such as pictures, links, and videos.

Strangely, the key feature lacking in Twitscoop is the lack of ability to tweet from within the app. It is such an obvious feature that they should include it in future updates.

Twitscoop is available for $0.99 on the iTunes App Store.

Screenshot – Why Google Needs To Become An ISP

Quang Ly — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:22:09 +0000

Google is facing a lot of threats to its future relevancy lately. First, Apple claims to have “not yet approved” its Google Voice app which allows cheap international or free calls to Canada, free SMS texting, and phone intelligence. Secondly, Google’s competitor, Yahoo, partners with Microsoft to use their Bing search engine. Thirdly, Facebook is still growing and becoming a social desktop with rumored micro payments and online check out in the works.

Successful technology companies are the ones that control the platform. The platform allows 3rd parties to extend features by using the APIs. An example is the widely successful iTunes App Store. This allows the company controlling the platform to grow exponentially with scale and thus profit with others effort. This is another reason why Google wants to be the operating system for both mobile phones (Android), laptop computers (Chrome OS), and browser (Chrome browser).

Google’s core business is search and advertising. What do you do, however, when the ISP serving the user injects their own ads instead of defaulting to your engine? Well, most recently, I noticed this when searching using Safari but instead of the usual Google Search page, I get Comcast with Yahoo results!

Is this a threat to Google? Absolutely! Is this legal? Not sure. But by the time this matter goes through the courts. Google may have lost so much revenue that it doesn’t matter if Google wins by law. Remember the fate of Netscape browser after Microsoft included their own browser in their Windows releases? Microsoft got fined a huge amount. However, by the time it was over, Netscape was gone (well, actually sold to AOL) but is no longer relevent.

Domain High Jacking By Comcast

Get Your Pre-Order of Mac OS X Snow Leopard Right Now

Quang Ly — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:04:06 +0000

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is now available for pre-order. It will be shiipping this Friday August 28, 2009. One of the biggest advantages is that it frees up 7 Gigs for disk space and performs faster. The reason being is that Apple decided to toss out support for PowerPC chips and go solely on Intel (Universal Binary).

Mac OS X Snow Leopard

The price is only $29 for an upgrade? Much more reasonable than the headaches and price you get from Microsoft Upgrades.

Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard

Make Free Calls to Canada with Google Voice

Quang Ly — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:17:25 +0000

Make Free Calls to Canada with Google Voice

Google Voice now allows you to make free calls to Canada from within the continental US. Previously, you can only make free calls within the US with your Google Voice number.

You can make the call by logging into mobile apps , or by dialing your own Google Voice number from one of your phones and selecting option 2 to place a call. You can also install GV Mobile for a jailbroken iPhone from the Cydia store. GV is now free and can utilize your phone’s Contacts.

GPush Notifications for Gmail on iPhone

Quang Ly — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:54:52 +0000

GPush Gmail Push Notifications

There is finally a simple iPhone app to allow Gmail push notifications. Can’t wait every 15 minutes for your iPhone to automatically check your email? This app is for you and the reviews have been pretty good. Push notifications allow you to receive a new email rather than having your mail application check (or pull) for new email. Simply turn on the app, enter your Gmail username and password (running over encrypted SSL) and you can get push notifications with From and Subject fields. It supports a variety of alerts such as sounds, badge, or vibrate.

A neat trick is to setup Google Calender notifications to push to a different email that you setup on GPush. You will still get alerts but they won’t come into your main inbox. This reduces SMS alerts which costs you less money as well. Every now and then you will just have to push your email for “junk” or notifications.

It only costs $1 at the App Store and may go up to $2 eventually.

Screenshot: Facebook 3.0 iPhone App

Quang Ly — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:53:54 +0000

Facebook 3.0 iPhone App

Facebook App v 3.0 is in the approval process for the App Store. Already Joe Hewitt (app developer) is working on v 3.1. Here is the a screen shot of the new version the Facebook app.

It looks like the this version comes with much needed improvements most notably video uploads with the iPhone 3GS. It will also come with a better News feed much like the Facebook site with the ability to “like” items.

Apple shouldn’t have a problem approving this app since there isn’t really much that AT&T would object to that would compete with their business. Version 3.1 is expected to support push notifications as a lot of users are hoping Facebook will become the unified communication platform.

Google Palestine and a Bomb?

Quang Ly — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:36:49 +0000

Google Palestine and a Bomb

Google’s Palestine page has a doodle that closely resembles a bomb. However, it is actually not a bomb, but a drawing of an electromagnet in celebration of the birth of its inventor Hans Christian Ørsted. Well, could have fooled me and all the Googlers out there. It has a wire and a compass (which looks like a timer). That magnet does look like a stick of dynamite.

This is just poor taste regardless if it was never meant to offend anyone. Google and their smart engineers should have seen this coming. Google, let’s hire some real artists shall we?

Spy Camera Finder

Quang Ly — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:02:39 +0000

Remember how high-tech hidden cameras were in action movies? These rogue tools are now accessible to almost everyone. Miniature cellphones come with video recording capabilities like the iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 3G can also record video after it has been jailbroken with the Cycorder or Video Recorder app from the Cydia store. These devices are small enough to be hidden almost everywhere. ESPN Reporter Erin Andrews was recently a victim of a spy camera.

KJB Security SF-103 Spy Finder Personal [Misc.]

The Spy Camera Finder will help you find hidden spy cameras in your hotel, locker room, or next vacation. Just look through the view finder and scan your room to detect the location of hidden cameras (even if they are off). It works by using “optical” augmentation” to locate video cameras.

For $87, it is reasonable and affordable way to protect your privacy. It is also small and lightweight enough to be portable.

Via Gadget Grid

Another Reason Why MySpace Is Irrelevant

Quang Ly — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:41:40 +0000

I sometimes receive a Friend Request whenever I log into MySpace. The majority of the friend request in my music profile on MySpace are from other bands (also known as band spam). I do try to listen to them and if I like their music, I confirm the request and post something on their wall like “Hey, great music! I dig!”.

But sometimes I do receive Friend Requests where the Profile No Longer Exists. I assume that these are spam accounts that were detected after the request was sent. However, having an avatar with No Photo and status of This Profile No Longer Exists has not purpose. You cannot click on it and it doesn’t provide any value to the user.

Why can’t MySpace simply not show any of these This Profile No Longer Exists messages of these deleted accounts? The user cannot track what the profile originally looked like so what’s the point? There is no added value to displaying these items. Why has this been over looked for so long?

MySpace No Longer Exists or Is Relevant