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Why Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 Could Be the Next Big Thing in the Android Land

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:24:00 +0000

Today Samsung officially announced their first Android tablet running the latest version of Google's mobile operating system.

I'm going to muse a little on why I think Galaxy Tab 2 matters and how it stacks up against the competition.

One might think of iPad when they see the word "competition" in the context of a blog post talking about tablets. That's not the case here obviously as GT2 sports the specs awesome as of year 2010. The real incumbent here is of course Amazon's Kindle Fire.

Kindle Fire proved to be a hit - in the Android world - and quickly took the minds and market share away from other Android tablets including the former leader Samsung Galaxy Tab. Amazon clearly and smartly positioned their heavily customized Android gadget as a device optimized to consume the "content" (music, video, books). Combined with the sub-$200 price tag, the techno-system found its way to the hearts and wallets of many.

Amazon had to pay a hefty price for the success though. The decision to go custom with their Android effort cut them off the tap of Google's Android goodness. Google Maps, Google Voice, and Android Market with its 300,000+ applications are nowhere to be found on a Kindle Fire. Amazon's counterpart of Android Market, known as Appstore for Android, is a barren land as of now.

Back to Galaxy Tab 2. Spec'd similarly to Kindle Fire, it comes with Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, which is way ahead of the Gingerbread flavor found on the Fire, and the whole lineup of Google services, Android Market included. Despite the known fact that there are not many tablet-optimized applications at this time at the Market, it's plausible that due to the compact size of the device many Android applications will not only work on it but will also look reasonably good.

Samsung Hub services (Music Hub, Readers Hub, Game Hub, and newly introduced Video Hub) are supposed to act as a counterpart of Amazon's content offering. While it's hard to tell upfront how good of a match this is going to be, for many it won't likely turn the scale either way.

This leaves us with the only unknown - the price. The key ingredient of Kindle Fire success is its bargain price. In fact due to Amazon's subsidy the device can be had below cost. That's how confident Amazon is it'll be able to make up in content sales. Samsung has to price Galaxy Tab 2 very aggressively for it to find its way to success.

Will Galaxy Tab 2 succeed? Only time will tell. It's clear Samsung's got a good strategy and is going after the right market. Everything is in how well it'll execute the plan.

How to Love a Mac

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:45:00 +0000

I'm a PC. I'll take a Windows machine over a Mac any day of the year. Yet as odd as it might sound I'm learning to love a Mac. Why? That's a separate post. Someday. Maybe.

Without further ado... Ten things I like in my new MacBook Pro.

1. It's minimalist in all aspects
Just two USB ports, just one way to delete text, simply no frivolous stuff such as funny little mid-keyboard joysticks. Pure awesomeness.

2. It's compact and powerful
The beautiful body packs a spectacular brain. Just think of the core-GHz per square inch of desk space metrics.

3. It's quiet
I can't audibly tell apart a working MacBook Pro from a sleeping one. At least at my normal background noise level.

4. It can be used as a laptop
You can actually have it on your lap and be quite productive (I think). That's because...

5. The touchpad is amazingly functional
All those nifty and highly-hyped gestures actually work and you can do amazing things with just one hand.

6. It's engineered with meticulous attention to detail
Magnetically attaching power cord, a nice little battery charge indicator on the power cord connector, a satisfying muffled thump when closing the lid are all fine final touches.

7. The user experience is fluid
Animations are well-timed, transitions are smooth.

8. No anti-virus software required
Not that you can't get some if you want to.

9. It's cool (to the touch)
Aluminium body feels great and is pleasant to deal with.

10. It's sticker-free
A typical Windows machine comes pre-configured with a wealth of stickers that tell you what's inside, what came in the box, and what-not. There are absolutely no stickers to peel off of a Mac.

I'm sure there must be other things to love a Mac for. Anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:16:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 13:44:00 +0000

Facebook vs Google+: Sharing Models

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 11:29:00 +0000

I'd like to elaborate on why I think Google+ provides a better sharing model than whatever Facebook has.

Facebook groups are cumbersome to setup and use and generally feel like a Band-Aid patch so I'm not going to talk about them here.

Other than that Facebook's sharing model is a broadcast to all your "friends" - the folks you are connected to. This bulk communication method has two serious drawbacks. Many people, like me, don't share certain content on Facebook because they don't feel like the content is relevant to the the entirety of their friends, e.g. sharing family pictures with folks you never personally met. Many people, me for example, over-share by posting stuff not relevant to many of their friends, e.g. my friends who own an iPhone could care less about my Android updates.

With Circles Google+ strikes a balance between these extremes by letting us share content with people who most likely will be interested in it. It translates to less spam and higher engagement (comments, re-shares, +1's). In Google+ it seems plausible to have 1000+ folks in your circles and still be able to meaningfully communicate with them.

In contrast to Facebook's symmetric friends model Google+ Circles are asymmetric, which is another great way of cutting down the amount of spam coming your way. More on that later.

Bye Facebook, Hi Google+

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 14:09:00 +0000

Two days in and I'm packing up my Facebook stuff and moving over to Google+.

Even though I haven't tried some of Google+ awesome features such as Hangouts (group video chat) Circles was enough to get me going.

Google's social history is long and painful. Friend Connect, Wave, and Buzz are all high profile failed efforts. None of these "solutions" solve a particular problem.

Seeing other folks typing live in Wave was utterly cool, even mesmerizing at times, but as a service it was no match to existing tools in any particular area.

I tried hard to get the gist of Friend Connect and couldn't. Several years in I still view Friend Connect as a fancy way of subscribing to blogs in Google Reader.

Buzz was a blatant exercise of throwing stuff at the wall and seeing if it sticks. It didn't.

Meanwhile Facebook ruled the social arena. It did basic sharing right and demolished all the major competition as a side effect. It ventured into the more advanced area of targeted content sharing with its groups effort and failed miserably.

Enter Google+. With Circles Google goes after the only major Facebook weak spot - targeted content sharing. Circles are easy to grasp, easy to use, and solve a well-known major problem. Once you try it you are sold.

After day one in Google+ I was hopeful the service will take off and fly. After day two I'm confident this is going to be the case.

Goodbye Facebook, hello Google+.

Google+: First Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 23:18:00 +0000

Finally I got into Google+ and managed to play a little with its main feature - Circles. Here are my initial thoughts.

Limited Sharing Done Right

Circles are a Google attempt to solve the hard problem of targeted content sharing. From what I see it looks like Google nailed it. You add people to your circles (family, friends, coworkers, etc) then you share the news with one or more circles. It's as easy as that.

What Happens On the Other Side?

The people you share with receive your updates in the Incoming stream. When you are on the recipient side in Google+ Incoming is essentially your spam folder, which you might want to check occasionally for good stuff.

Once you add a person to a circle of yours their updates start appearing in your main stream as well as the stream for that particular circle.

Public Updates

You can share your updates with particular people, circles, groups of circles, "extended circles" defined as your circles and the circles of the people in your circles as well as with the whole world.

A public update appears on your profile, is visible to all the peeps who added you to their circles, and spams the Incoming stream of all the folks you decided to share with but who didn't put you in a circle of theirs.

You might want to make sure your public update is meaningful for an average Internet stranger whose random circle you ended up in.

Google+ For Business

The Google+ counterpart of Facebook fan pages will be available later this year. Till then we'll see a lot of unauthorized brand profiles and other ingenious use of personal Google+ profiles for business purposes. Be ready for more spam coming to your door.

Android Tablets Based on TI OMAP 4 Processor Will Have Netflix HD

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:30:00 +0000

It might be surprising for a person not closely following Android news that Netflix is currently not available on Android tablets. The good news is it'll change soon.

Androinica » Netflix HD certification goes to TI OMAP 4 first: "TI has confirmed that its OMAP 4 processor is the first to gain certification for Netflix HD video streaming on Android devices. TI was able to obtain the certification to broadcast full HD 1080p video thanks to M-Shield security that fights piracy, a big concern for Netflix and its content providers"

Google+ Theme For Gmail

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:06:00 +0000

If you can't wait for Google new look and feel wave to reach your Gmail, go to Options/Mail Settings/Themes and select Preview (Dense) or Preview.

Android App: GateGuru - Your Mobile Airport Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:36:00 +0000

Androinica » GateGuru gets you through the airport with all necessary info [App Reviews]: "GateGuru is a travel companion that provides information on nearby airports and the trips that you take through them."

Bored with Craigslist? Try EggDrop!

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:31:00 +0000

Will Craigslist budge? Highly unlikely. But it's going to be fun while the guys have funding.

EggCartel Makes Craigslist Look Even Older With The Fast, Mobile EggDrop (And Funding): "Adding items is as easy as taking one picture with your phone, setting a price, and uploading. You can add a title and other details, but EggDrop does the rest to categorize your product on the backend. From there, it’s listed in a location-based directory accessible by the apps. Users look for items they’re interested in and can watch them to see how the price fluctuates, or can put down a bid right away. It’s Dutch auction-style, so the price goes down over time if no one bids."

Google Goes Social with Google+ Project

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:39:00 +0000

The Keep Me Posted button is broken now by the way.

The Google+ project: real life sharing, rethought for the web.: "Right now, we're testing with a small number of people, but it won't be long before the Google+ project is ready for everyone. Leave us your email address and we'll make sure you're the first to know when we're ready to invite more people."

On Inadequacy of Android In-app Payments for the Situations Where They Could Have Been Most Useful

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:29:00 +0000

Nowadays more and more Android applications allow us to buy something from within an application. This goes way beyond ammo and spells towards coupons (Groupon) and movie tickets (Movies). Here in the land of real goods and services the troubles start.

What I'm talking about is in-app payments - a standard Android mechanism that can be used to buy "stuff" from within an application. It works like a charm for charms, spells, ammo, and eagles but fails miserably for real-world things that I actually want to buy.

Why? Because of Google's 30% cut. Everything that goes through the in-app payment chain is subject to 30% deduction similar to what Google charges developers for regular paid applications.

Because of that the application vendors have to resort to proprietary payment solutions, which results in sub-optimal user experience. As a user I'd rather allow Groupon or Movies to tap into my Google Checkout account that I use for Android Market purchases anyway versus giving my credit card information to an application that I potentially don't trust.

My hope is some day there's going to be a distinction between pure virtual goods and real world goods and services and the vendors of Android applications that facilitate real world transactions will be given more favorable terms to enable them to leverage in-app payments for all the good things they have to offer.

T-Mobile Officially Announces myTouch 4G Slide, Boasts Phone's Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:09:00 +0000

The ability to take multiple pictures in a quick succession is a very handy one for those of us who's into kids, sports, and insects. While present in pro-grade cameras, the feature is less common in consumer photo equipment and until today was unheard of in smartphones. myTouch 4G Slide's BurstShot changes all that.

Androinica » T-Mobile makes myTouch 4G Slide official: $199, 4G, “most advanced camera of any smartphone”: "The 8 megapixel camera has an illuminated sensor with wide aperture lens, instantaneous shots to shutdown shutter lag time, Sweepshot for taking panoramic images, ClearShot HDR to take contrast-heavy HDR photos, and BurstShot to take multiple photos in succession. The camera also shoots 1080p HD video."

ActionComplete for Web Adds Recurring Tasks, Enhances Email Integration | ActionComplete

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:58:00 +0000

ActionComplete for Web has just received a major feature update. Now the web application handles recurring tasks and sports full-fledged email integration.

A user can create a task that repeats every specified number of days, on particular days of the week, or on a chosen day of the month. The recurrence can be unlimited or have a specified end date. A popup or email reminder can be automatically setup for every new occurrence of the task.

Email integration comprises several nifty features: email reminders, Nag me (TM) reminders, sending tasks to ActionComplete via email, and checking off tasks by email.

Email reminders are sent out at the time specified by the user. An email reminder is a vehicle that can be used to check off the corresponding task. It's as simple as replying to the reminder, typing the word "done" in the body, and hitting Send button.

Nag me (TM) is a smart opt-in email reminder system that automatically notifies a user about the tasks that haven't been touched for 30 days or more. Nag me (TM) is yet one more effective way to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

It's easy to send tasks to ActionComplete via email. Every user has a special ActionComplete email address that can be used to send in new tasks and check off existing tasks. The details of setting up and using email integration features are described in the user manual.

ActionComplete for Web is sold for $19.99/year. When a user first signs in to the application, he/she is issued a license that allows access to the full product for 7 days.

The full press release can be found here.

ActionComplete for Web Adds Recurring Tasks, Enhances Email Integration | ActionComplete

E-Readers Are On The Rise, Grow Faster Than Tablets

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:37:00 +0000

I wonder if that's because they are not as expensive or because they actually have a purpose?

Pew: Adoption Of E-Readers Doubles In 6 Months, Bigger Than Tablets: "A new Pew research survey of U.S. adults conducted in May, 2011 shows that ownership of electronic readers such as the Amazon Kindle or The Barnes & Noble Nook is now at 12 percent. The ownership of e-readers doubled from six months prior when it was 6 percent."

Vegetarian Recipes at Recipe.com

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:09:00 +0000

Vegetarian Recipes - Vegetarian - Recipe.com: "Anyone can follow these easy vegetarian recipes for a healthy weeknight meal. From shepherd's pie to cheesy lasagna, your family will come back to these vegetarian recipes again and again."

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 18:41:00 +0000

J.K. Rowling Announces Pottermore.com: Harry Potter Forever

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:56:00 +0000

And you thought the fun was over?

J.K. Rowling, the author of the bestselling series of books about the battle between the good and the evil in a parallel magical world, partnered with Sony on a website that aims to help the story live on.

I don't know about you but I'll definitely be buying those eBooks.

pottermore.com is said to open in October. You can register now and get in earlier than that if the stars align.

Pottermore: Sony: "Pottermore is an online reading experience built around the world of Harry Potter, created for a new digital generation of readers who can share and participate in the stories, showcase their Potter-related creativity and discover new information about the world of Harry Potter from the author herself. It will also be the exclusive place to purchase, for the first time, eBooks, as well as digital audio books of the Harry Potter series."

Archos Announces 2 Powerful and Affordable Android Tablets

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:27:00 +0000

Both tablets run a dual-core 1.5 GHz A9 processor (Texas Instruments). More importantly they have a full suite of Google applications on board, which is a big deal considering the history of Archos Android products.

ARCHOS Unveils Fastest Tablets with G9 Tablet Range: "While the competitors’ tablets are priced starting at $499, ARCHOS is offering an 8’’ tablet starting at $279 and 10.1’’ tablet starting $349.

ARCHOS is offering cutting-edge performance such as a more powerful and faster processor, unique 3G solution, enhanced multimedia experience and more storage capacity with the built-in 250GB HDD from Seagate.

ARCHOS are the first in the industry to offer a tablet with a hard drive, bringing 8 times more storage at the same cost of a standard 32GB tablet.

ARCHOS are also the first to offer such high performance at such affordable price, making ARCHOS G9 tablets the best cost-performance value.

The ARCHOS 80 G9 and ARCHOS 101 G9 will be available at the end of September and will be shown beginning of September at IFA."

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:54:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:03:00 +0000

Glympse Helps You Share Your Location, A Few Hours At A Time

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:11:00 +0000

I used it for a while around 2 years ago and finally quit due to the lack of meaningful sharing opportunities. (You don't want to share your daily commute to/from work, do you?)

Admittedly it's got to be useful for the folks who drive around a lot and are chronically late to everything. Not that they are going to be on time more often, but it'll give them a plausible excuse of why it happens.

Glympse Raises $7.5 Million To Help You Share Your Location, A Few Hours At A Time: "So far, the service offers applications for iPhone and Android that let you create ‘Glympses’, which include a map of your location in real-time. You then share these Glympses with friends via SMS, email, Facebook, or Twitter — clicking on the link will take them to a webpage that shows a map with your location updating in real-time (the Facebook widget actually updates directly in the News Feed). You get to set how long you want each Glympse to last — it can be as long as four hours, though the average Glympse is around forty minutes. Once it expires, they can no longer see your location.

Say, for example, you were running late for a meeting and wanted your coworkers to have a sense for when you’d be arriving at the office. Instead of having to send a series of text messages (“15 minutes..”, “traffic bad, make that 30 min”, and so on), you could just send a Glympse that let them track your progress on a map. Then, when you arrived, you could turn the Glympse off and the map would stop updating."

Android App Review: miCoach from Adidas

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:40:00 +0000

About a month ago I installed this wonderful application on my phone. For those wondering what I'm talking about, miCoach is "digital personal coach" application for runners, bikers, skiers, and other folks interested in having important metrics such as pace, distance, and time captured during their workouts.

The initial setup is sort of lengthy but once you are through, including the online part at micoach.com, it's a smooth ride, stroll, or run.

Although there are many things you can do with and in the app I found that the Free Running is the mode I need. In this mode the only guidance you get is periodic announcements of your time, mileage, and whatever other characteristics you select, such as pace and calories burnt.

Initially I was quite excited about the pace notifications but soon figured the measurements were not quite reliable (albeit funny as during my runs they ranged wildly between somewhat above a minute per mile and fifty-something minutes per mile) and turned them off.

Over the past month, or maybe six weeks, the application was quite stable and trustworthy. There was one serious glitch when the app bailed out without a notice after exactly 22 minutes of use. Barring that single occasion the application yielded remarkably consistent tracks and was generally well-behaved.

If you are a proponent of active lifestyle and happen to have an Android phone around miCouch might be just the thing you need.

MyGengo Raises $1 Million, Login Page Broken

noreply@blogger.com (Borys Burnayev) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:11:00 +0000

Is this why I can't log in to mygengo.com/string for a few days?

MyGengo Raises $1 Million To “Own” Translation: "Translation service MyGengo has raised one million in seed financing from Point Nine, Mitch Kapor and Wenceslao Casares."