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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Tasker – Android Automation Gone Wild (~5.50 purchased from dev, ~6.50 purchased through market)
Tasker has been around a while, and much has been said about it, but I think it worth mentioning again.  This gem of an app allows the user to automate almost anything on the device – without root, and without being an Android (or any kind) of programmer.

The concept (and the UI) can be intimidating initially, but after a little poking around, the power becomes apparent.  As described on the Tasker web site, “Tasker performs Tasks (sets of actions) based on Contexts (application, time and/or date, location, events) in user-defined Profiles or home screen widgets.”  From something as simple as turning the screen off automatically if you place the phone face-down to as complicated as a fully-functional alarm clock with snooze, or even automated NANDROID backups, Tasker can replace the functionality of several applications, saving you valuable space on your device.

In addition, Tasker can improve battery life in several ways.  First, by replacing several applications with the functionality of Tasker, there are fewer programs running in the background.  Second, you can use Tasker to automate turning on and off different services – like turning on GPS when opening Google Maps, and off when exiting, or turning on your WiFi automatically when you get to certain locations, and off again when you leave.

My Tasker Profiles

Things I’ve done with Tasker:
Automatically change my sound “profile” (ringer, notification, system volumes) at different times of the day, complete with an emergency volume over-ride if certain individuals call at night (I have teenagers and an aging mother).
A widget that “remembers” what sound profile was active and toggles between that and silence (great for meetings any time of day).
A custom alarm clock that wakes me exactly the way I want to be wakened (I am NOT a morning person).
A second alarm clock that only rings on specified Saturdays, for an enrichment education class that I teach.
Change the screen timeout if the device is plugged in; turn the screen off if the device is placed face-down.
Start my WiFi when I get (near) home, turn it off when I leave.

The direct purchase version offers an additional feature not available in the market version, and that is file encryption.  Although I purchased the direct version, I have not tried this yet.

Despite the struggle of learning the concepts (and, to some extent, navigating the UI), Tasker can be well worth your time.  The Tasker website also has a WIKI with numerous walk-thoughs and downloadable examples, graded by difficulty, which can be accessed directly from the UI.  The UI also allows you to backup and restore your data.

Smart Shortcuts – A smarter folder alternative(Free)

"Tools" Smart Shortcut

Android FROYO introduced the ability to create folders to organize applications and other shortcuts.  Smart Shortcuts does this, but handles them much better.  For example, if you install a new application and want to add it to your games folder, using the built in folders in Android, this new application will be sorted at the end of the list, irrespective of where it belongs alphabetically.  Without recreating the entire folder, you cannot change this.

Smart Shortcuts will automatically sort your new application alphabetically when you add it to an existing shortcut (folder).  Also, with Smart Shortcuts, you can change the icon associated with each shortcut.  Except in Go Launcher EX, I haven’t found any other launchers that let you do this to Android folders.  Further, if you uninstall an application, then later re-install it, Smart Shortcuts remembers what category(-ies) you had previously assigned, and automatically puts the application back into its respective shortcut(s).

In addition to creating application shortcuts, you can create bookmark, contact, file/folder and “freestyle” shortcuts.  Freestyle shortcuts are simply shortcuts that have a mixture of application, bookmark, contact or file/folder links.

Smart Shortcuts has a simple, intuitive interface for managing your shortcuts.  This interface also allows you to backup and restore your settings.

MultIcon – Vacuum-pack your shortcuts (Free)

My home screen

If you are like me, you prefer having the things you do the most immediately at your fingertips, rather than scrolling through several pages of launcher screens to find what you are looking for.  This nifty, intuitive little application allows you to put multiple shortcuts in a single “space” on your home screen.

The default is to place 4 shortcuts in a single space, and for most devices, this is probably a comfortable number.  Further, for each of the widget styles available, you can configure the number of columns and rows available when you create the widget.  For example, on the 1×1 widget, you can configure it to have up to 36 spots (3 columns and 12 rows).  On a phone, this is entirely too many (the icons are almost too tiny to see, much less select accurately), and even on a tablet this is a bit extreme, unless you are able to “stretch” the widget, or configure the number of rows and columns (of the home screen) it occupies.  Even at 4 links per widget, however, you can quadruple the number of spaces available on your home screen.

If you don’t want to use all the “spaces” created by a MultIcon widget, you can set them to blanks – I like to use every other spot, so that my icons are staggered diagonally.  Until you define what goes in each space, touching the space will launch the manager, which allows you to specify what to want in that spot.  After the spaces are all assigned, if you want to change what is there, you can open the application and select “Edit Widgets”, which places all the widgets into a modifiable state.

In addition to shortcuts for applications, you can place other shortcuts (including Smart Shortcuts, Tasker Task widgets, Playlists, individual mailboxes, direct dial or direct text links and several others, depending on what is installed on your device), and several control toggle-widgets (WiFi, Airplane Mode, BlueTooth, etc, and even a toggle for edit mode).

The downside to Smart Shortcuts and MultIcon is that they do run in the background, and therefore are a drain on your battery. However, I have found the drain negligible, and the benefit of making my device work better for me is worth the trade-off.

Not all the best things in life are free, but two out of three ain’t bad!

My friend Leanna over at TiPb recommended the Wacom stylus, but I just couldn’t bring myself to spend $30 for what looked exactly like every other stylus out there. So I kept looking until I stumbled upon the Jot stylus from Adonit. While they have both a Jot and Jot Pro model, I figured I could get away without the rubber grip on the pro model, and still get a stylus for $20.

The Jot comes in a variety of colour options: I chose red. The barrel is smooth aluminum, and fairly chunky – certainly more so than an ordinary Bic style pen. I was pleased that the vanity embossing is small and unobtrusive on the Jot stylus. At the end is imprinted “Jot” and at the same end, but opposite side of the barrel, “Adonit.”

The Jot stylus comes with a cap that screws onto the end when you’re using it. It’s a great little feature that will protect the tip when you want to toss the stylus into your purse, pocket, or briefcase to take with you. Bizarre note here. The Jot stylus comes in a hard plastic package. While it was easy enough to remove the stylus, the cap was separate. I pulled and pulled but could not remove the cap from the package. Finally I tried twisting it out, and realized it was turning. It had been screwed into a plastic piece, so I laboriously unscrewed it and removed it from the packaging. Once I had the cap removed, I saw the notice beneath where the cap had been informing “unscrew cap to remove.” It would have made more sense to me to put this notice on top, where you could see it prior to attempting to get it out of the package.

The tip of the Jot stylus is what sets this stylus apart from all the other capacitive screen styli available on the market. Instead of having a bulbous rubber tip, the Jot ends in a point that looks like any pen and a tiny metal ball bearing that fits into a flat plastic disk.

The flat plastic disk allows you to slide smoothly across your touch screen, and because it’s opaque, allows you a better view of where on the screen you’re touching, than you can possibly get with the more common round rubber end.

Because the disk is on a ball bearing, you also have a good bit of flexibility as to how to position your stylus on your screen. Movement is fluid, and this is the perfect companion to writing or drawing apps on your tablet.

Pick one up for yourself in red, yellow, or green for $19.99. Or go for the Pro in gun metal, silver, or turquoise, with the rubber grip for $29.99. That extra ten dollars not only gets you a rubber grip, but the Pro attaches magnetically to the side of an iPad 2 or other tablet with magnetized bezel.

In spite of what the “Pro” name implies, GO SMS Pro (like all the other applications from the GO Dev Team), is free.  And yet, the application is amazingly feature rich – and ad-free.

One of the biggest advantages that GO SMS offers is the ability to backup and restore your SMS messages from within the application.  You can back up all messages, an individual thread, or even one single message.  Once the backup is complete, you can email it to yourself or just let it sit on your SD card.  I happen to be anal about keeping text messages, so this is a fantastic feature for me.

If you happen to be a privacy freak, GO SMS has you covered several ways.  You can apply a lock to the application (either a code or a pattern).  There is also a “private” message box, which is encrypted and accessible only with a numeric password.   Once your password is created, you can add contacts to the private box.  From that point forward, all messages from that contact are encrypted and sent to the private box.

Another “folder” available in GO SMS is a filter box.  You can set this up so that messages from unknown sources (i.e. not in your contacts), certain area codes or even specific numbers are sent here.  It’s like a spam folder for your SMS.

A couple of weeks ago, I took my required week of vacation from work.  I was concerned that the time I was away would be a little too long for the two small plants on my desk to go without water, so I planned to send a co-worker a message mid-week asking him to water the plants.  Asking him ahead of time was an invitation to forgetfulness, as was trying to remember to send the message myself.  GO SMS saved me there.  Within the application, there is a Scheduled Message folder, in which you can schedule messages ahead of time.  In addition to one-time messages, you can also set them to repeat daily, weekly, monthly or annually – great for birthday and anniversary wishes.  You can set the date and a specific time to send the message as well.  When the message is sent, GO SMS places a notification in the status bar of your phone.

The last built in folder is for favorites – mark individual messages as favorites and they will be sent to that folder.  You can also create your own folders.

One of the most unique features of GO SMS is the ability to send finger-written messages and “doodles.”  These messages appear as they are created on your phone, but the recipient gets a hyperlink which points to the message (presumably on the GO Dev team’s servers).  I don’t know how long these are retained; more than likely, they are purged after a given period of time.  You can also send voice messages.

GO SMS is highly customizable.  You can change font and background colors, ringtones and vibration patterns, as well as LED notifications (to the extent supported by your hardware).   There are numerous other customizations; too many to cover within the scope of this review.

Like Handcent SMS, GO SMS also has pop-up notifications, from which a quick-reply can be sent.  You can turn these off in the settings.

How does the GO Dev Team offer their feature-rich applications for free, and without ads?  They make their money from the themes they sell.  GO SMS is theme-able, and the GO Dev team sells several attractive themes.  I was more than happy to support them by purchasing one of these themes.  You can also download a widget to allow you to create your own theme(s) – which, in theory, you could turn around and sell.

If you are looking for a free and highly customizable replacement for the built-in messaging application, GO SMS is an amazing choice.  I would sincerely recommend this application, as well as their others (GO Contacts EX, GO Launcher EX, GO Weather).

One of the biggest features of newer keyboards is their ability to predict what you are trying to type.  In some cases, this can be a good thing (changing “thr” to “the” for example).  In others, it can be a down-right annoyance.  An example of this was when I got my first Android phone, and was sending a text to Alli.  The “spell wrecker” (which I hadn’t realized was making a mess of things) garbled one of my messages so badly that neither Alli nor I could figure out what I had been trying to say.  In response, I tried to type “LMAO.”  The auto-correction engine kindly changed that to “knapsack,” and once again, I hit send before I realized that it had been changed.  On the up side, “knapsack” is now a standing joke.

In addition auto correction, some keyboards take text prediction a step further.  These not only predict what word you are currently typing, but what word you are going to type next.  This feature can greatly speed up your typing, especially if the prediction “learns” from your previous entries.  For the purposes of this review, I will call that “Advance Prediction.”

AI Type Keyboard (Trial/~$4.82)
Text prediction/correction: Both
Accuracy: Good
Advance: Yes; learns
Button size: Taller than average
Word tracing: No
Multiple layouts: No
Multiple languages: Yes
Application size: 6.39MB
AI Type Keyboard has fairly good text prediction, and has decent advance prediction.  When it auto-corrects something you type, it plays a notification sound.  I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not.  Being hyper-sensitive, I’d probably be annoyed by it eventually, and yet it is nice to know that it changed something you typed.  One unique (and nice) feature that this keyboard has is “Undo” and “Redo” buttons.

Big Buttons (Free/$2.99)
Text prediction/correction: Neither
Accuracy: N/A
Advance: N/A
Button size: As the name implies, big.
Word tracing: No
Multiple layouts: No
Multiple languages: N/A
Application size: 192KB
The free version of this is definitely a no-frills application.  The keyboard’s main feature is the very large buttons, which are achieved by employing a slightly altered QWERTY layout.  Typing on this requires a little getting used to, but would be a nice alternative for individuals with very large fingers. The Deluxe version claims to offer prediction, correction and voice-to-text, cursor keys and more.

DioPen (~$11)
Text prediction/correction: Prediction only
Accuracy: Fair
Advance: No
Button size: Small
Word tracing: No
Multiple layouts: Yes
Multiple languages: Yes
Application size: 10.86MB
DioPen’s claim to fame is that it does handwriting recognition.  While one friend of mine claims that this made her “typing” the fastest it had ever been, I found that it slowed me down considerably.  This is because I stopped to check every word as it was translated.  I also found it difficult to write longer words, despite the fact that you can split them up into smaller parts, as DioPen does not automatically insert spaces as it translates.  Oddly, this fact also caused problems for me because I frequently forgot to insert a space after words were complete.  I found that the larger the writing, the better the accuracy of the translation and printing worked better than cursive.  Writing capital letters and numbers proved to be a frustrating challenge.  There are also full- and half-QWERTY layouts.  Unfortunately, in these modes I was unable to get a long-touch to insert the appropriate symbol.

GO Keyboard (free)
Text prediction/correction: Both
Accuracy: Varied
Advance: No
Button size: Average
Word tracing: Yes
Multiple layouts: Yes
Application size: 5.73MB
Being the fan I am of the GO Dev Team’s other applications, I have to say that I was underwhelmed by GO Keyboard, or at least by its word-tracing capability.  I wasn’t able to get it to recognize the word “Now,” which it alternately tried to turn into “Nike” or “Notes.”  The rest of my test sentence was similarly poorly predicted.  Text prediction was better when I typed the words out letter-by-letter.  GO Keyboard offers one unique feature – a fantasy text plugin, which you can download.  In addition, like other GO apps, GO keyboard is theme-able.

Graffiti (Free/$2.99)
Text prediction/correction: Prediction only
Accuracy: Good
Advance: No
Button Size: N/A
Word tracing: N/A
Multiple layouts: No
Multiple languages: Japanese and English only
Application Size: 4.88MB
Graffiti is a blast from the Palm OS past.  In this form of handwriting recognition, individual letters are written with (mostly) single-stroke representations of letters.  In the picture, the letter A is represented.   While I loved the nostalgia factor and was surprised at how quickly I reverted to this method, my main frustration was that if I made a mistake half-way through and wanted to go back and correct it, I could not.  I could place the cursor at the spot that I wanted, but the moment I “typed,” the cursor jumped immediately to the end.

Keypurr Keyboard ($1.99-sale/30 day money back from dev)
Text prediction/correction: Both
Accuracy: Good
Advance: No
Button size: Large
Word tracing: No
Multiple layouts:  Yes
Multiple languages: No
Application size: 3.21MB
This keyboard also employs a modified QWERTY layout, which like Big Buttons, takes a little extra time to get used to.  An interesting feature of this keyboard are 12 “F” keys, which insert programmable text.   The first few are pre-programmed with Date-Time, a smiley, “Thanks!” and “How are you?”  All of them can be modified in the settings.  While on the surface, this seems cool, scrolling through the list would probably get annoying after a while.  There are also auto-text shortcuts (i.e. “r” is changed to “are” and “ty” to “thank you”), several of which are pre-programmed.  You can add to and delete from this list in settings.  Since Google changed their refund policy to 15 minutes (which in most cases is not sufficient to evaluate a program), it is nice that the developer offers a 30-day money back guarantee.

Perfect Keyboard (Free/Trial/$2.75)
Text prediction/correction: Both
Accuracy: Good
Advance: Punctuation only
Button size: Average
Word tracing: No
Multiple layouts: No
Multiple Languages: Yes
Application size: 2.39MB
Anyone running a rooted device with CyanogenMod for their ROM will recognize this as the default keyboard.  Unlike many other keyboards, when you go back to correct a word, this keyboard recognizes the word that the cursor is on and displays suggestions immediately. Other than that, I found nothing extraordinary about this keyboard.

SlideIt (Trial/$5.99)
Text prediction/correction: Both
Accuracy: Good
Advance: No
Button size: Average
Word tracing: Yes
Multiple layouts: No
Multiple languages: Yes
Application size: 4.58MB
SlideIt keyboard has the ability to trace words like GO Keyboard. It has a switch to turn off this functionality, although why you would use that switch escapes me; all you need to do is to type the letters individually anyway. The keyboard has a couple of different skins that can be used to change the appearance.

Smart Keyboard (Trial/$2.99)
Text predictioncorrection: Both
Accuracy: Good
Advance: Punctuation only
Button size: Average
Word tracing: No
Multiple layouts: Yes
Multiple languages: Yes
Application size: 2.04MB
Functionally, this keyboard is almost exactly like Perfect Keyboard. However, it also has auto-text shortcuts like Keypurr. In addition, you can also select an AZERTY or DVORAK layout for your keyboard. This keyboard has an annoying nag screen in the trial version to encourage you to upgrade.

Swift Key X (Free/1.99-sale)
Text prediction/correction: Both
Accuracy: Good
Advance: Yes; learns
Button size: Small
Word tracing: No
Multiple layouts: No
Multiple languages: No
Application size: 6.25MB (before language installation)
Swift Key can go through your texts, emails, Facebook posts, Tweets and blogs to learn your style before you even use it the first time. As you use it, the prediction gets better, however, until then, it can come up with some amusing results. Recently, I was typing an email, and was going to suggest that the recipient have someone who needed help call me. When I typed, “… have her…” the word Swift Key suggested was “eliminated.” In the settings, you can configure how Swift Key applies the suggestions it gives.

TouchPal (Free)
Text prediction/correction: Both
Accuracy: Good
Advance: Yes
Button size: Bigger than average
Word tracing: Yes
Multiple layouts: Yes
Multiple languages: Yes
Application size: 6.83MB
TouchPal has a very nice combination of word-trace capability and advance text prediction. Another interesting feature that TouchPal has is the ability to insert numbers and special characters by swiping up or down on the appropriate key, which is faster than a long-touch.

TSwipe-Pro (Free)
Text prediction/correction: Both
Accuracy: Good
Advance: No
Button size: Bigger than average
Word tracing: Yes
Multiple layouts: Yes
Multiple languages: Yes (limited)
Application size: 3.68MB
TSwipe-Pro offers a great variety of keyboard layouts, and larger than average keys, but otherwise has no extraordinary features. In addition, despite its being free, there is an extremely annoying nag screen demanding that you register the application. The cynic in me says this is a shameless ploy to get my personal information, and I refuse to do it.

Despite the variety of keyboards available, I have yet to pick a favorite. I have switched to various ones from time to time, but typically end up going back to Swype (which I didn’t review here as it is included in the OS on many phones now). Swype’s one advantage over the other keyboards that offer word-tracing is its ability to handle mid-sentance and mid-word capital letters. With a last name that has a capital three letters in, this is a big deal for me. That being said, of the applications reviewed here, my favorite would be TouchPal. The combination of advance prediction and word-tracing ability are the exact features I would like to have.

RIM cancelling java. no more java on bbx.  you go native, webworks, flash or go home
they said java wont give the same user experience on qnx or bbx.
the playbook and new smartphones will be called box
bbos + qnx = bbx
A week with the iPhone 4s

Jerry’s new case fever -

• SGP Neo Hybrid
• Scoshe Bandedge g4   Review

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The leather is nice quality; it is not smooth, yet not too heavily grained for my overly-sensitive fingers.  The case itself is fairly thick at just over an inch, but that is understandable given the design.  The cover is sturdy and rigid; and it is nicely padded, with the ROOCASE logo embossed in the lower right corner of the front.  The Nook could probably withstand a fairly intense jolt while inside.  It has dual zippers to close the cover, which means that it could be zipped shut while the power cord is plugged in.  The zipper pulls are a little larger and heavier than I like.

The interior is advertised as microfiber, but it feels fuzzy – more like crushed velvet.  Unlike my old case, the stitching of the interior doesn’t leave smudges on the screen.  There is an elastic pen holder in the center.  The elastic is wide, but the loop is so large that even the heftiest of pens would not be held tightly without a clip.

There are two business card holders and a flap for papers, but the case is a little small to hold an 8.5×11” paper folded in half; less a design flaw than a limitation of the size of the Nook.

The case has an inner sleeve for the Nook itself.  The sleeve attaches to the case via two large round pieces of Velcro.  This allows you to stand the sleeve sideways in the case, and using the large kickstand on the back of the case, to stand the Nook in a readable position.

The fit of the sleeve is fairly accurate, and the Nook is securely fastened inside via a top flap which folds inside the back and fastens with a strip of Velcro.  The sleeve has cutouts to access all the buttons and the power jack.  The top flap partially covers the headphone jack on mine.  If the flap were even 1/4″ narrower, this wouldn’t be a problem.

Unfortunately, you also can’t access the microSD card slot without taking the Nook out of the sleeve.  For most people, this probably isn’t an issue, but since mine has a dual-boot card (which must be removed to switch from Android to the Nook software), it would be nice to have access without pulling it out of the sleeve.  There are holes in the back of the sleeve over the Nook’s internal speaker.  Although I didn’t try it with the sleeve removed from the case, the sound would probably be fine, but I suspect it would be muffled if it were set inside the case, or even flush on a table or desk.  Since I don’t use my Nook for music, this isn’t an issue for me.

The kickstand, which is slightly recessed in the back of the case, has magnets which hold it closed when not in-use, and the construction of the stand itself seems fairly sturdy.  There is a piece of ribbon that is intended to keep the stand from extending too far, but on mine it is longer than the reach of the kickstand, so it serves no real purpose.

ROOCASE (http://www.roocase.com) makes a variety of case styles for many different devices.  This design retails for a little under $50, but if you search, you can find it for less; I found mine on Amazon for $27.  I would recommend these both to protect your device and for their excellent appearance.