MISC 

• Refurb Xoom tablets sold by Woot still had user data on it. Word of warning – erase your own dang data before returning anything.
• AT&T throttling top 5%
• mevio fiasco (podcasts deactivated, no ability to foward feed to other hosting, lost itunes account, lost old episodes etc): http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/01/pro-tip-dont-pivot-your-way-into-irrelevancy/
  so: what’s best for podcast hosting (free archive.org?) ? what Alli is using for podcast hosting?a
• Edward seen movie Real Steel about robot boxing in 2020 : in it a transparent-display tablet for robot control that had HP logo on it! (also transparent logo)
• facebook like button and login-via-facebook to other websites – failed this week – after IPO

Android

• Google lost its app refund appeal in Taiwan – not selling apps there. Why are the big app stores not offering trials or refunds?
• Android apps more stable than Apple (comparison is ICS to iOS 5.0.1)
• Still no official word on the rollout of ICS to android phones
• ICS alpha versions moved to beta status.

Apple 

• Apple pulls OS X 10.7.3 delta upgrade after complaints of issues
• Motorola wins shortly patent war with apple and for couple days Apple pulls iPhone 4 and iPhone 3gs from Apple online store in Germany but then brings them back; why it doesn’t affect iPhone 4s ?
• No official release date for iPad 3 (2S???), but signs are pointing to the end of March.
• Edward uses iPad much less since he owns Kindle Touch – Kindle Touch usable both for eBook reading, PDF reading (with reflow) and for internet browsing!

Microsoft 

• Windows Phone 8 info leaks: http://pocketnow.com/windows-phone/exclusive-windows-phone-8-detailed
  but now users should not buy windows phone 7 phones because no upgrade to windows phone 8 ??? new in windows phone 8: support for multiple-core processors, high resoltuion than 800×600, skype. Good: windows phone 7 apps will run in windows phone 8.
• Windows 8 Consumer Preview to be launched in February
  and default home page for bing in it will be this (video of fish floating in background):
  http://www.bing.com/?win8start=1

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MISC 

• http://www.solidoodle.com/ 3D Printer – I’m not sure I understand how this thing works, but it looks really cool!! (A friend just bought a 3D printer – can’t wait to check it out!)
• Would Barnes and Noble go bankrupt without the Nook?  Some analysts think so.
• new CEO of RIM arrived, doesn’t look like he has a vision and not changes enough
• 27 German publishers to combat Apple with open digital textbook platform http://9to5mac.com/2012/01/25/27-german-publishers-to-combat-apple-with-open-digital-textbook-platform/
• Online Voting Comes Of Age http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/online_voting_comes_of_age_but_dont_expect_to_use.php
• Hilary Clinton talks about Google Chrome deployment for embassies etc wordlwide in Feb.: http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/01/26/clinton_state_drawing_down_in_afghanistan_building_more_lactation_rooms_in_washingt , also IE8 coming to same in March (doesn’t that still put them behind?), skipping IE9 and going to IE10. What is your fav browser? (Edward’s and Alli’s: Chrome)

Android

• android phones infested with virus masively, new research from Symantec:
  http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/androidcounterclank-found-official-android-market

Apple 

• Apple will be again biggest smartphone vendor by Q4 2011 (now: Samsung is):
  http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120126006752/en/Strategy-Analytics-Apple-Worlds-Largest-Smartphone-Vendor
• MacWorld was this week – tons of new accessories and some apps
• Edward got promo code for http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pdf-forms-annotate-fill-sign/id479202541?mt=8 and may review it later

Microsoft 

• Kinect will be built-in into windows 8 notebooks – first quasi-official info about it
  http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/01/27/012712-tech-kinect-laptop/
• new version of whatsapp for windows phone 7 fixes bugs
• Microsoft Hints At Xbox LIVE Platform And Titles For iOS http://www.cultofmac.com/142605/microsoft-hints-at-xbox-live-platform-and-titles-for-ios/
• Nokia Sells 1 Million Windows Phones, But Symbian Dropping Faster than Expected http://allthingsd.com/20120126/nokia-sells-1-million-windows-phones-but-symbian-dropping-faster-than-expected/
• Nokia’s Windows Phone transition shows promises kept http://gigaom.com/mobile/nokias-windows-phone-transition-shows-promises-kept/

Google

• New privacy policy – easier to read, but annoying customers –  why? http://www.google.com/policies/

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MISC

• Protect IP Act (PIPA), Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), OPEN Act – many sites go dark on 1/18/12 to protest (XDA developers, REDDIT, WikiPedia, CyanogenMod included)
• KODAK company goes bankrupt, some other companies like Microsoft and IBM fear they can long-term also share this destiny. Did you have Kodak camera or somethig? Kodak bankrupt because failed in TRANSITION from analog film to digital cameras.

Android

• Some Sprint devices get Honeycomb update.  Evo 3d only gets an update that removes the embedded “spyware” CarrierIQ.  Interesting since Sprint announced back in November that HTC devices would receive ICS in “early” 2012.
• Diana tries alpha versions of 3 Ice Cream Sandwich ROMs, but WiFi tethering didn’t work, and one ROM wasn’t stable.
• Second update available for Harley’s Galaxy S on C-Spire, but we don’t know what it is because the update won’t install – had to take it to the store for the last update.

Apple 

• Education event 1/19/12: iTunes U app, iBooks 2, iBooks Author
• review of ibooks 2 by Edward, thoughts about it
• Absynthe jailbreak

Microsoft 

• windows 8 app store details revealed this week: open source apps will be allowed, laucnhing in early Beta next month (February),  only metro-style apps will be purchasable/downloadable, non-metro-style not but searchable,
•  Edward this week (!) got popup on his windows phone that new OS update is available – probably “disappearing keyboard”thing – not updated yet because no over the air updates in windows phone like in iOS – shows that microsoft is pushing updates continuously
•  rumor: windows 8 for ARM processor only for OEMs, not widely available so much more expensive, no way to install windows 8 for ARM on android and HP tablets etc.

Google

• Google Backup of Android devices – GRRR!!!  Even if you turn it off, it still immediately begins to restore the minute you do a hard reset.  This is BAD if you are trying to fix a problem, and you aren’t sure what app(s) are responsible.

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MISC

• ICANN new domains – wtf?! Wasn’t .xxx bad enough? thick whois system ICANN
  wants to indroduce – so no private whois and one needs to identify to registrars etc.
• the US embassy and terror alerts in Bangkok
• Was yours one of the disappearing 4Square accounts this week?
• SOPA
• samsung’s bada OS to merge with intel tizen OS (samsung is biggest maker of smarpthones globally!)
  http://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabethwoyke/2012/01/13/samsung-merging-its-bada-os-with-intel-backed-tizen-project/

Android

CM lets you put ICS on HP Touchpad. Why would anyone do this other than just to do it?

Apple 

in China – chaos in Beijing

OnLive desktop/CloudOn

Edward saw Mission Impossible 4 movie: 99% of gadgets  in it from Apple: iphone 4, macbook air, ipad (!) and only in 1-2 scenes android sighted.

Microsoft 

dominated the videogame industry last year, with the Xbox capturing nearly half of all consumer spending from physical sales in 2011.

About $6.7 billion, or 40 percent of consumer retail spending, was spent on the Xbox, breaking down into two categories: $2.1 billion on consoles and $4.6 billion on games, according to NPD data released today.

- Allthingsd

2 main CES trends (apart from windows ultrabooks and android tablets) :

1. kinect-like control of TV sets,  2. voice control of TV sets

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/disruptive-power-gesture-voice-recognition.html

*** windows-phone-powered nokia lumia 900 coming to USA in March, announced at CES

*** windows phone supports only 1-core and 800×480 now but microsoft employees claim

nonsense that 2-core not needed, in meantime: Galaxy SII LTE from Samsung has dual-core 1.5GHz while many android phones have dual-core 1.2GHz.

Amazon 

has released a new ‘Send to Kindle’ feature for PC users. It’s a downloadable extension for Windows that adds a “Send to Kindle” option when right-clicking on a file in Windows Explorer or in the print dialog in any application.

Files sent with Send to Kindle go to the user’s Kindle Library, and they can be downloaded on the e-ink Kindle models as well as the iOS Kindle app. The last-read page, bookmarks, notes and highlights are synchronized automatically, except for PDFs. The Kindle Fire is not listed. Support for Mac is “coming soon.”

.    - ReadWriteWeb

Kindle Touch power user tip: type in search field this:

~ds

… which means “symbol of tilde, <~> disable screensaver” then screen saver wil not come

again but power off button not working as usual and only 20 seconds

holding down helps by resetting. no debug mode needed though!

LTE and NFC 

in smartphones – some have it but not ripe  yet?

NFC in many smartphones already: mobile payments by moving phone to Point Of Sale, gathering local information via NFC, Bluetooth headset that pairs by NFC/touchin device, NFC used to faster log-in to WiFi hotspots, NFC explodes!

mobile world congress next month! predictions: more LTE/4G phones probably

LTE in Europe now available for USB sticks and separate routers, not in phones yet, in USA in phones already

ipad 3 will have LTE (4G)? but what is the point if it has no internet connection sharing?

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Edward – resident Windows Phone and Kinect expert
Diana – resident Android expert

What did you like best in the 2011 tech world?

I liked the push for competition, but not so much the litigation.

Plethora of e-readers.

the best in 2011: iCloud, iOS5, Windows Phone mango with multitasking and WiFi tethering, Kindle Touch, Kinect

Siri and clones like it

What do you want to see in 2012?

Whatever happened to those paper thin batteries?

One social network to rule them all, or updates to what we’ve got  so we can have the best of all worlds. Can we kill off Facebook, or will it see a renewal when it goes public? Facebook is still the only social network for many, will never die

Too many social networks for me to keep up with.  I’m having difficulty getting into google+.  Like Alli’s trouble with WhatsApp, hard to remember (or know from day to day) who is on which one.

Built-in cross platform messaging. I loved WhatsApp, but couldn’t’ keep track of who used it, or remembered to reinstall it.

I want to see in 2012: Ivy Bridge Intel processors so that next generation of notebooks has much longer battery life and much quieter fan/ventilator, more martial arts kinect games, apple TV that can run all iOS apps

A winning lottery ticket so that I can afford all this cool stuff!  I would like to  see better  updates to Android devices.

Windows Phone news last week:

- microsoft removes page about updates and says updates only on request from operators and then backs down from it but image lost
- everybody expects nokia lumia 900 at ces – rumors about it
- downfall of HTC continues (courtesy of samsung, nokia, lg)

recent Kinect news:
kinect star wars delayed from 2011 to February 2012 (possibly)
Edward enjoys self-defense camp kinect game
new packs in fruit ninja kinect

Kindle:
Edward loves Kindle touch despite owning ipad
Kindle tip: put “convert” in email with PDF to your kindle and PDF will be converted to “reflow PDF” – easy to read on kindle . can nook do it? -Not at this time (Diana)

iPad 3 rumors: digitimes is prolific in their creation, and they are often quoted.  However, they are just as often blasted for being totally in left field

Nook Tablet vs. Nook Color – where’s the beef?!?!

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Mul­ti­ple reports have emerged of T-Mobile switch­ing on 3G for fre­quen­cies that exist­ing unlocked iPhones and other devices can use. At least some parts of Neva­da and some parts of North­ern Cal­i­for­nia and the North­west are see­ing 1,900MHz repur­posed to be used as addi­tion­al car­ry­ing space for theHSPA+ 84Mbps net­work antic­i­pat­ed for 2012. Those who live in the altered areas are see­ing speeds faster not just than they would on EDGE but faster than AT&T’s real-world 3G, at 7.92Mbps down and 1.8Mbps up.

How jealous of Verizon streaming Wild card games and Superbowl?!

The US International Trade Commission has just ruled in favor of Apple’s patent claims against HTC, banning some HTC devices from sale and importation to the US. The decision comes after ITC found that HTC violated two claims on one of Apple’s patents. This final patent infringement ruling will not take effect until April 19, 2012.

Victor Webb (Gadget Gurus): 

We haven’t experienced any real issues with signal strength on our LTE Galaxy Nexus units in the few days we’ve been using them since release, but Verizon is now saying that there is an issue — and it’s working on a fix. In a response tweeted by official Verizon account @VZWSupport today, the company says that reported signal issues are “currently being investigated” and that a software update is in the works, but there’s no release date yet. Various reviews have sporadically reported problem…

BT to sue Google: The six patents in question “relate to technologies, which underpin location-based services, navigation and guidance information and personalized access to services and content,” BT said.

Apple sues Samsung over Smartcover patent infringement

Nuance buys Vlingo

Blackberry Playbooks stolen…I guess it’s the only way RIM will get rid of them. Amazon almost bought RIM…came to its senses.

Blueant headphones

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Welcome back to the newest iPad convert – Diana

NTSB wants to ban use of ALL electronic devices in cars.
WTF?!?!?!

American Airline pilots using iPads – passengers to use Galaxy Tab 10.2 (and if they’re safe for pilots with WiFi off, then why can’t the passengers use them?)

Invasion of the iPhone News Readers – Flipboard, Zite come to the iPhone, Google Currents for iOS.

Invasion of iOS from Microsoft – OneNote for iPad, Kinectimals, Skydrive (Yay!) come to iOS.

Remember the days of paying 700 bucks for an unlocked devices?  - Galaxy Nexus

Windows Phone 7 sms bug

On the Verge with John Gruber

Great Amazing Incredible stylus find – Jot http://adonit.net

Remember when we first left Palm and went to WinMob, we wanted StyleTap? StyleTap iOS Wrapper SDK lets you submit Palm os apps to Apple – Cool or <yawn>?

Tom and the Nook

 
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We will be bringing Diana back soon. After an entire show devoted to choosing an Android tablet, she bought an iPad and is in love.

Speaking of iPads and love, Jerry’s house got (another) new toy….iPad 2 for Lara!

I got a Kindle Touch very comfortable!

AT&T / T-Mo merger no mo

Mirosoft Office for iOS YES!

Xbox & Kinect selling like hotcakes    (no pepper spray needed)

• Xbox 360 sold more than 960,000 con­soles in the U.S. alone, with more than 800,000 sold with­in a peri­od of 24 hours.
• More than 750,000 Kinect for Xbox 360 sen­sors were sold in the U.S. – stand­alone and bun­dled.

Paypal on Cyber Monday – up more than 500% from last year. Wowza!

Google Maps 6 for Android – indoor mapping.

Hello iTether Goodbye

iOS 5.1 beta…blocks all those shortcuts everyone was so excited about 2 weeks ago.

The case roundup: Graft Leverage for iPhone 4 – FTW!   e13tron Hybrid?  Not so much. Full review of LifeProof case coming.

 
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Scott Bryan capturenotes.com, CaptureNotes on Twitter,  support@capturenotes.com

CaptureNotes 2 note taking application

Locating information in your notes

Written, typed, audio, add in pdf

Flags

Get App Savvy

iPad in education

App store prices

Wrist rest

“Paragraph” mode

Archiving and iCloud

Notebook sharing

Tying it all together in a total suite of tools

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Apologies for half the podcast going missing. No excuse other than it got eaten mid upload.

iOS 5.0.1 and battery issues

iTunes Match Live

Icon and Shortcut Crazy – Link to Control Panel and Applications using URL access codes.

Customize your own icons using Icon Project

Add shortcuts to your homescreen using QR codes

Use Siri to access control panel options by using contacts

Google vs. Siri

On the Verge – Matias Duarte, Windows Phone 7 giveaways (trade your crappy phone for a HTC Titan), new Photography tech

Brian Williams interviews Annie Liebovitz  but reminds us that it’s all about editing

The Nest – tablet stand  not The Nest thermostat

LapGuard

E13tron Hybrid Case

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