Radio On!
Bring up the subject of radio with almost anybody, and you’re virtually guaranteed to strike a vein of nostalgia. Some deep-seated aspect of human nature must account for this. Maybe radio creates vivid memories by making listeners stretch their imaginations… or maybe the fact that we all spent our impressionable adolescences riding around in cars with the radio cranked up had a lasting influence. But whatever the explanation may be, everyone has a favorite radio show from the good old days. And were the good old days the age of Jack Benny in his Maxwell, Jonathan Richman in his Plymouth Roadrunner, or something in between? You make the call.
Cage Match at the Newsstand
Here’s a question for you—when you view the contents of a newspaper on your Android tablet, are you reading the paper or using a tablet? If you feel like the question is academic, you’re probably not in the publishing business. Publishers are wrestling with this existential stuff around the clock, for reasons that are, well, central to their existence.
HTC Flyer Has My Attention
According to BGR.com, HTC is expecting their upcoming Flyer tablet to fly off the shelves. (pun intended).
The 7-inch screen, 1.5GHz processorm 1GB of RAM and 2 camera unit has my attention. Not even so much for all of that, but because there is a stylus. What!? A stylus? Not as a replacement for touch and multi-touch, but in addition to. You see, HTC seems to understand that some of us like to pull out a pen and write down a phone number, or jot a note. That has my attention.
The Bookseller’s Feast
In our last posting we discussed some apps and content sources that allow you to read books for free on an Android tablet. It’s worth repeating—there’s tons of great reading out there that you don’t have to pay for. But that said, it’s a fact that buying a book is sometimes the best way, and sometimes the only way, to get a copy. In this post we’ll look at a couple of apps that help you buy books. But first, this just in from the world of science.
Paring the Apple Lead
We hear via Bloomberg that Android tablets made significant gains on Apple’s iPad in the fourth quarter of 2010. Android’s market share in worldwide tablet shipments rose from two percent to 22 percent of the total while Apple’s share declined from 95 percent to 75 percent. In the fourth quarter of 2010, Apple shipped approximately 7 million iPads compared to Android sales of about 2 million.
Do Androids Read of Electric Sheep?
Our extended road test of the Samsung Galaxy Tab is entering its second month, and the tablet is getting quite a workout.
What we like most about the Tab:
-It’s surprisingly portable.
-The device is intuitive and apps are (almost) always easy to learn.
-Transferring content into and out of the Tab is a snap.
Things we’ve come to resent:
Keeping Tabs on Droid
Given the accelerating pace of technology, it’s becoming increasingly important to separate what’s innovative from what’s novel… and it’s getting harder, too. The words innovation and novelty share the same linguistic root, but they’re miles apart in their implications. Innovation connotes fresh thinking… progress… better mousetraps. Novelty suggests passing fancy… flashes in pans… gimcracks, gewgaws, and kewpie dolls. Innovation is love. Novelty is lust. Or, to put it in practical terms: innovative technology can be a good investment, but buying something purely for its novelty is usually a waste of time and money. Hence our version of the Serenity Prayer: “Grant me the insight to embrace innovation, the courage to shun novelty, and the common sense to figure out the difference—lest I make a big mistake with my credit card.”
Vizio Planning Low Cost Tablet and Phone Launch for CES
It’s CES time of year and Vizio is outing some new tech destined for CES. Following their strategy of lower-cost tech, it’s expected that both the 8” tablet and 4” phone are expected to seriously undercut Apple price points. Expect these to possibly hit when Honeycomb OS hits early summer. For the Tablet, high res screen, WiFi but no cellular service. That’s one way to keep the cost down.
Samsung Galaxy Tab Price Compared on US Carriers
Engadget did all the hard work on this, so I suggest you click on over to their site.
What this represents to me is that AT&T doesn’t look so bad in the price wars here. Of course, you are then stuck with AT&T service…
Dell Streak Froyo Updates Start Today
Why unlocked streaks only? Not sure really. All we know is that our update hasn’t arrived yet and we’re anxious to test the new Stage UI from Dell in this update. We tried going to the Dell mobile download page, and it was of no help. Guess we need to wait for the OTA update…
Here’s the scoop direct from Dell:
Phase 1 : Beginning today, Monday, November 15, 2010, an OTA update will be available to customers who purchased their Streaks as unlocked units. These units will be upgraded first because they do not have to go through the carrier approval process. Unlocked units are generally popular outside the United States and can be identified by the fact they are able to be used with a SIM card from any carrier network. The rollout of the upgrade will be gradual with different regions and versions of Donut and Éclair updated over the weeks following November 15, 2010. When a user’s device is ready for an update, the user will be notified by an update icon in the notification…
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