Monday, August 31, 2009

And the owner of that butt is...

So this is the moment that you've been waiting for, the unveiling of whose butt is that crouched like in the previous photo.

Well, it's none other than the Hill's cutie: Ms. Audrina Patridge. *gasp!*
Yup, I'm sure you're as shock as I was when I first saw the photos.
I mean, c'mon.. The reality tv star is definetely has a hot body with very nice curves, like what you can see up there above at the photo set. But why, oh why did she crouch like that...

Ms. Patridge was spotted visiting some local boutique stores and shopping district along with friends when her purse fell on the floor, she must've spontaneously picked it up with a never seen before "mischievous-crouch" style and that's when the photographer took a picture of her.
It was priceless... ;-)

Does Apple want your iPhone to stay dumb?

On an unexpected turn of hand, Apple has asked Bjango to take off their most powerful feature in iStat app for iPhone: Free Memory function, which allow users to free used up memory stored in RAM of their iPhone. Here's a quote from Bjango's website:

iStat’s Free Memory function was removed at Apple’s request.

We are very committed to ensuring iStat is the best iPhone and iPod Touch monitoring tool. Free Memory has been removed, but a lot of other useful features will be added in its place.

For you who didn't know yet, iStat is an app that allows you to see your iPhone’s stats for battery, memory, disk space, WiFi and Cell IP addresses, uptime & load averages, plus view and email your iPhone’s Unique ID and MAC address.

With the main star is now being pulled off from the center stage, Bjango had to lower the price of iStat from the normal price $2.99 to $1.99, and added some minor new features to temporarily fill in the empty slot.
But even Bjango informs iStat users who wish to keep the Free Memory function alive to keep running the v1.0, or if users have already updated iStat to v1.1 then it's possible to re-install the first version again.

But by keep using the iStat v1.0 means you'll never again able to click on the "Update All" again...
Talk about being smart, or being stupid? Which one do you want; update the app and feel the warm fuzzy feeling in your chest that you have the up to date version, or keep the important feature and go through the endless time on updating every apps installed within your iPhone one by one?

Actually to think of it, there's a good reason why Apple do this; when a user free used memory then it's possible there's certain important service that needed to run is being turned off and causing the iPhone to crash unexpectedly.

For instance is what happened everytime I stopped apps in my Trēo™ 750v using the memory management feature in Windows Mobile, it sometimes freeze up and I had to do a soft reset to fix it. This got me to think of Apple's policy to restrict multi-tasking in iPhone, could this is an attempt from Apple to create a more stable platform than the other crash-prone mobile platforms?

But by doing so, Apple has disabled the ability for users to have VIP access behind the velvet curtain of iPhone system. Users can't take full control over their own iPhone, nor allowed to see what's happening behind the scene, behind that glossy screen and curvy body contour of their iPhone. "It's just work," that is Apple's slogan for every and each of its products, Apple wants its users to believe that everything work by magic or there are Oompa Loompas in there churning up the gears..., and that's pretty much what the iPhone users can get.

But then what is the use of owning one of the most cutting-edge and savviest smartphones in the market, if you can't make the most of its prowess through the features provided by the apps?
Perhaps that's the way Apple want your iPhone to be, to stay dumb for good...
Oh wait, or is it you're the one that Apple wants to stay dumb...?
Darn, it beats the hell out of me to think of it... ~LOL~

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Are Android users more cheapskates compared to iPhone users?

According to a recent AdMob's survey; 81% of Android users asked are more unlikely to buy apps, while half of the iPhone users are regular App Store buyer.

Is this got something to do with the open spirit of like what the Linux users are having toward the open source platform: why pay for a dime if you can have it for free? Someone will finally made it and then release the app for no charge in the spirit of openness. After all the best things in life come for free. ;-p

But other than that, the survey indicates that Android and iPhone users are not that different and much alike. More than 1,000 Android, iPhone, and iPod Touch users were asked about their habits for downloading apps; the overall of participants said they spent roughly $9 a month for around five apps.

On average, Android users downloaded 8.1 apps per month, and iPhone users downloaded 7.6. Both users spend about the same amount of time: 80-90 minutes for browsing new apps.

Sources are from AdMob survey via PC World.

PA's 3rd edition of "There's an app for that!": Privacy, Movement and ShapeWriter

Another week went by since the second edition of "There's an app for that!", and now we've arrived at the third edition. Hope you'll like this one too..

With more and more apps are flooding into the App Store every day, it's imposible to keep track each and every one of them. Especially since there are more crap apps in there, rather than the one that's really useful for your need. Apple is proud with the abundant of apps inside its App Store, and even came up with a slogan for it: "There's an app for that!"

So with those facts in mind, I'm gathering around three of them, because who knows perhaps they'll come in handy for you someday, and I'll periodically release another edition when I found some interesting apps. Have a great start of the weekend y'all, and hopefully these apps can cheer you guys up.

Privacy_app PrivaCy

It was a quite of debate when news about how iPhone apps are sending data to 'home' (the developer who created the app) broke out on the net, in fact it is still now. It's a love and hate situation for iPhone users, since first of all the data sent 'home' is sensitive information for some users, and secondly the data can be used for good like for improving the apps by developers.

But nevertheless, for you who are not comfortable on knowing that some of the apps installed in your iPhone might be sending data without your consent, there's a free app in Cydia just to block all of those data tracking on (jailbroken) iPhone; it's called PrivaCy.

According to Patrick J from JAiB; the app adds a new item to the Settings app, right below ‘Store’. When you tap on it in Settings you’ll see a screen labeled ‘Send Anonymous Usage Statistics’ –and you can toggle On and Off this data collection for four leading companies (that provide this function within thousands of apps). Read Patrick's extensive blog to know more about data tracking by Pinch Media.

With this app installed in your iPhone, you can finally sleep tight again tonight. ;-p

Movement

Movement_app Having hundreds of app within your iPhone is like collecting trophies, so some say, it's like a good reason to brag at your geek friends when all of you are hanging out in a bar. For an avid App Store visitor, having up to 100 or above apps seems like a normal behaviour, not to mention whenever new free apps are being offered for a limited time.

But managing each and one of the apps is just plain a headache to do, from the moment the newly installed app appears in home screen to the time you spent minutes / hours to rearrange it with the other app icons. It get worst when something bad happened, you have to restore the iPhone and later the app icons are scrambled again.

Thank goodness a developer name Jeff Stieler has created an application called Movement to manage the app icons arrangement on your jailbroken iPhone, but it is done through your Mac (at least OS X 10.5). And for you Windows users, too bad because Jeff says he is not going to create a Windows version of his app. Here's the quote from Jeff:

I am sorry, but I have no plans of porting Movement to Windows.
Instead, I will focus my free time into improving Movement as it currently exists.
My apologies to all the Windows users wanting Movement, I just don't have the time!

Perhaps it's about time you PCs switch to Mac. ~LOL~

ShapeWriter

Shapewriter_app This isn't exactly a new app because it's actually has been around for quite some time, ShapeWriter is an amazing and a well known app for helping those who have trouble writing with virtual keyboard on touchscreen smartphone. Users don't have to punch the desired buttons like they used to, but simply by dragging their fingers across on-screen keyboard to produce the words they want. Here's the explanation from the developer:

Shape writing, based upon nearly 10 years of research and development, is an easy, fast, and fun way to write on a computer or mobile device. Instead of “hunting and pecking” letters, single gestures on a touch keyboard produce an entire word. For example: a stroke that roughly connects “w” to “o” to “r” and ends on “d” is recognized by ShapeWriter’s intelligent algorithms as the word ‘word’.

According to Jason D. O'grady from ZDNet; the app is based on research that began in the late 1990’s at IBM. Its Almaden Research Center published the first rigorous mathematical optimization result of touch keyboard based on the Metropolis “random walk” algorithm — the same algorithm used by scientists to understand molecule structures. *wow!*

There are two version of ShapeWriter app in App Store; one is free and the other one is the pro version worth $5 per license that will give you cut/copy/paste, landscape support, custom colors, fonts and appearances, a practice game and the ability to turn off the email footer and ads.

ShapeWriter has been gaining numerous praise not only for iPhone, but also for Android.

Dev-Team: it's all "snowy" and safe with Snow Leopard

It's been awhile since Apple overhaul its successful operating system for Macs, so it got everyone excited to see the next generation Mac OS X when it was finally made available for every Mac users on August 28th. But Snow Leopard is not an entirely new operating system, it's more like a tuned-up from the previous version.

"Refined, not reinvented." That is Apple's slogan for the new Snow Leopard, and Apple claims the new operating system will still have its simplicity and ease of use like Mac users love it. Simply put, Apple intend to make Mac OS X better and faster. It is possible this is needed to be done in order to put Snow Leopard in battle head to head with Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7, which is said to be the best Windows OS since the aging XP.

Most of Mac users immediately made a jump to download and install the new operating system, some already giving out positive feedbacks on using it for few days. But as good as it gets, a jailbroken iPhone owner should remember to think twice before hitting that update button, is it safe for my bricked iPhone?

Apparently Dev-Team also made a quick announcement that the new Snow Leopard is safe enough to use with the 'redsn0w' and 'ultrasn0w' unlock tools, here's the quote from their website:

Snow Leopard, the OS released for Mac on Friday, poses no new wrinkles for the redsn0w jailbreak or ultrsn0w unlock.

To summarize the status of our tools (all of which are available through the links at the left):

  • You can use redsn0w to jailbreak any iPhone or iPod Touch using OS X, Windows, or Linux. For both 3.0 and 3.0.1 firmwares, you should point redsn0w at the 3.0 IPSW. If you see it hang at “waiting for reboot”, just unplug and replug that USB cable.
  • You can use ultrasn0w to unlock the iPhone 3G/3GS, or BootNeuter to unlock the iPhone 2G. Both ultrasn0w and BootNeuter are available via Cydia.
  • You can use PwnageTool for Mac to create custom IPSWs with pre-installed packages.
  • For detailed guides on how to run any of these tools, sites like iClarified have some great tutorials. For specific help on any problems, feel free to use our comment system below. angiepangie and Confucious are your friendly moderators and they’re joined by a number of other very knowledgeable commenters too!

We’re glad to see Apple joining in on the “snow” theme. If only Apple had called their new OS “Sn0w Leopard”!

Hopefully that is indeed a good sign of Apple is "blessing" the unlocking tools for iPhone. That's what we all really want right? One big happy family of white "sn0w" Mac OS X. ;-p

Be bad, have WiFi in your smartphone

Here's a thought: do you need WiFi in your smartphone nowadays?

Like tangled tentacles, it's like a plant is trying to get in touch with other plants, finding a way or another to get connected. And so are we, back in the old day when the first phone invented, we found ourselves communicating with land-wired phone even up until today. Then came advanced telecommunication with wireless technology, like the one you're currently enjoying so much in your palm: mobile phone.

Technology keep on advancing, soon enough data is also transfered wirelessly. Not satisfied enough with the ability to communicate anywhere and whenever we want, mobile users are demanding to have for more and more data transported to their smartphone. Unable to coop with data demand from subscribers, wireless carriers turn their head in slow adaptation for faster data network (EDGE to 3G / HSDPA) and offering high priced data packages. Thus resulting users to look for alternative; WiFi.

According to global consulting and advisory firm Ovum in a recent data research, consumers nowadays are demanding WiFi to be a standard part of technology in their smartphones. From 77 smartphone models identified, there are 59 handsets had GPS (Global Positioning System) capability and 49 had WiFi. Tim Renowden, an analyst at Ovum said WiFi and GPS are now key features across nearly all smartphones, not just high-end models.

"Some operators still have a reluctance to admit WiFi-equipped handsets onto their networks, but Ovum believes consumers now expect WiFi to be present in smartphones," Renowden said.

There's a very good reason for wireless carriers to hate WiFi present in today's smartphones, besides the worry of network stress from massive data transfer; it's VoIP. Because using VoIP in their smartphone, mobile users are able to replace the need of subscribing monthly to make and receive calls on their phones. It's definetely cheaper, though not at all practical, especially when one is out of WiFi network reach. But still, it worry much enough for wireless carriers to ask mobile manufaturers not to put WiFi into their handsets.

I don't have to give you a too far away picture, a fine example can be seen in Palm's old smartphones: the Trēo™ 680 and 750. When these two smartphones were out in the market, WiFi already became a new trend, but unfortunately Palm's policy on not to include the technology in those Trēos is still baffled me.

Another good example of how the combination of WiFi and VoIP scares the hell out of wireless carriers is shown by the currently under investigation Google Voice app blockage in iPhone, when FCC is poking both Apple and AT&T for answers on the real reason behind the disappearance of the app, indirectly both companies admitted that they have a deal to block VoIP on iPhone.

Apple says the Google Voice app is merely still under evaluation to be given entrance into iPhone or not, Apple's reasons are because the app is duplicating iPhone functionality and thus altering the user experience. While AT&T says the wireless company didn't know nothing about it, and in a press statement said: "any AT&T customer may access and use Google Voice on any web-enabled device operating on AT&T's network, including the iPhone, by launching the application through their web browser, without the need to use the Apple App Store."

So when a giant wireless carrier like AT&T enforces an undisclosed agreement on not to use VoIP on its network, and a big mobile manufacturer like Apple is compelled to play along, then that's when consumers' rights is violated. Basically, the WiFi technology has been slowed down because of practices like that. The inability to use their rights of those who are powerless and defend it against those who have power, we should shudder at the thought...

Like it or not, WiFi is the current and future technology (as we're nearing the ratification of 802.11n Draft 2.0) for smartphone. So if you're about to buy a smartphone without WiFi in it, why don't you ask yourself the question I asked you on the top of this post.
Be bad, have WiFi in your smartphone and rebel for a cause with VoIP. ;-D

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Whose butt is that?

There's a lyric in a song that says something like this:

I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny
...
'Cause you notice that butt was stuffed
Deep in the jeans she's wearing
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring
Oh baby, I wanna get with you
And take your picture*

* taken from "Baby Got Back"

I don't want to be rude, or posting up an inappropriate post, but then hey maybe that's what so good of having a blog of my own, rite? ;-p

Anyway, it was not my intention at first but I can't help to keep this to myself.. Gotta share this one with you guys: whose butt is that on the left photo there? I mean... who's that crouching down with a pose like that to get a dropped purse?

She's gotta be desperate, or she's just having a back-pain... But wait, is that a she? You sure? Could be some sort of a sick guy who dressed like a woman.. Nah, can't be.. That fur jacket, tight blue jean and pretty high heels, that gotta be a chic girl. But... to think about it, what kinda chic girl who bend over with a pose like that..?

The lyric really hit the right spot eh? Now you're hooked after seeing the photo there, can't stop staring at the butt, thank goodness somebody took a picture for you.. ~LOL~

Here's some hints for you: yes that is a she, she's a fashionita who stars in one of MTV's reality shows, and she's also a Crackberry (uses BlackBerry). Can you now guess who she is?

Find out who she is at the end of the weekend, I'll post her whole photos on Sunday. I'm pretty sure you'll be surprised.. ;-)

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Why a tablet, Apple?

Tired of hearing the rumored Apple's tablet?
If yes, then you ain't seen nothing yet. We're only half way to the next month Apple's [music] event, as we're nearing the September 9 (if the rumor is to be believed), you'll be seeing / hearing more rumors and topics about Steve Jobs' greatest next invention.

So today is no exception, like yesterday I'll be talking some more about Apple's tablet. Apart from that, what is the better way to tease you guys with those drool worthy images of how the tablet might be, than by keep talkin' about it over and over and over and... ~LOL~
Previously I've talked about what we know so far about the Apple's tablet, and if the deadline to introduce the device has got something to do with how many Steve Jobs' spare lives left, but the biggest question still remain: Why a tablet?*

* Note: the following discussion (ranting is more likely) only assume that Apple is indeed working a tablet computer for the Sep. 9 event

If you watched the latest PATV, Sammy was talking about the Apple's tablet too and his reason on why he much prefer a MacBook Pro rather than a tablet is a spot on. Many of you must've also agree at some point and wondering on why would Steve Jobs pick a tablet as the incarnation of his next idea to change the world, so we to speak. With the big wide blank space left out cold lying somewhere without answer, let's have some fun by trying to assess the posibilities and try to burrow inside the unfeasible mind of Steve Jobs.

The survey says...

According to a new survey conducted by Retrevo (via AppleInsider), an electronics product review search service; 34% of 300 students surveyed said they prefer "small lightweight netbook," while only 17% are planning to buy an Apple MacBook, the rest said they're going to get PC laptop. This is an obvious and clear sign that netbook is gaining popularity in the academic circle, a society which is populated by 20-something crowd, the age of consumers that are most likely to buy an Apple MacBook because of its "coolness".

In the contrast of high-priced MacBooks compared to the low budget netbooks, Apple need to act fast to attract that 20-something crowd back to its embrace. Analysts believe, tablet is Apple's answer, and it will become a very different device (from other similar devices) that will target a very niche market. Something Apple loves to do.

But on the contrary, Apple dislike survey and never did market research (that we know of). “We do no market research. We don’t hire consultants”, said Jobs in an interview with Fortune magazine. "But we never hire consultants, per se. We just want to make great products.”

Because for Steve Jobs, there's only two kinds of product he acknowledge: amazing product or trash. There's no in between, there's no a so-so product for him, it's either a good end result (for him) or simply just trash. That's why he often taunt his engineers to create the impossible, and sent them back to the drawing board again to start from scratch if he sees something he doesn't like. And for that very reason, Jobs believes that the customers are paying Apple's gadgets for the right price.

If the price is right...

With the global economy crisis slowly past us all, yet still leave an unsecure financial feeling behind, and the irresistible price of netbooks looming restlessly on Apple's most potential buyers, I don't think Apple is only planning to sit pretty and do nothing. That is just not right for the company who has won Fortune's Most Admired Companies this year for its innovation, there's got to be something brewing at Apple's kitchen...

But here's one small fact; no matter how good Apple make their Macs, price is still the crucial part on deciding to buy a laptop, especially for students with limited budget. Money talks, but not the way the saying is originally intended. But Apple still won't make a computer under $500 price tag, Steve Jobs even has said something like this when he was asked about netbook's attractive price: "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that."

That's why rumor has it the Apple's tablet will costs around $700 or above, even though Apple is going to positioned its tablet against netbooks. The tablet itself along with the price tag will fill in the gap between the iPod Touch and cheapest MacBook, creating another option for users to pick according to their need.

What a tablet can do?

Let's toss aside the "coolness" factor that we know for sure the netbook's can not and will not compete with Apple's tablet, and while we're at it let's also throw away for a moment the price tag predicament that we know for certain Apple's tablet price can not be the same and will never be under netbook's. With those two factors out of the picture, the only remaining left is the features comparison.

The first idea of netbook is as simple as its name; it's only for surfing the web, email, chatting, read/compose documents, and all other light tasks that don't need powerfull hardware. And as long as the users are not using netbook for heavy multi-tasking, it's not designed for that. All because of the netbook's design, it must be small and lightweight so it'll be easy for users to carry netbook.

A tablet's design is pretty much close to the netbook's I've just described above, in fact a tablet has to be better since there's no physical keyboard attached to it. A tablet is smaller and more lightweight than a netbook, thus it's unlikely to be more powerful than a netbook. And let's not forget Apple's multi-tasking policy in iPhone/iPod Touch: there's no multi-tasking allowed. Combining them all, a tablet will have to rely more on the "cloud" to do more tasks.

If the "cloud" is the limit...

The netbook popularity marks a new dawn of how people use their mobile computer, and it's going up onto the cloud computing. Apple realized this very well, that's why the company is building a gigantic new data center in Maiden, North Carolina. So big, that Rich Miller the editor of Data Center Knowledge called it as "a big-ass data center.”

“The companies that are building the biggest data centers tend to also have the biggest cloud ambitions,”says Miller. And that is for a very good, and also for a very BIG reason. Apple is selling more and more iPhone and iPod Touch every year, App Store is growing larger every day, Push Notification needs more power to move around the cloud. And with the coming of a new family member into the products line-up, Apple must think of expanding its cloud services. It's only natural, a family always move to a bigger house when a baby is coming, or expand the house to make room for the new offspring.

We all familiar with how Apple do its business, there's no way Apple is only planning to sell its tablet just like that without any new features in it that will make it more than just an ordinary tablet amongst the existing similar products in the market. For all we can imagine, it's possible that Apple is preparing some kinda cloud services to compete with Google.

The search giant company is the biggest threat to Apple, all of you remember how Apple blocked Google Voice app in App Store, and now the issue is currently being investigated by FCC. The Google Voice app can turn iPod Touch into an iPhone, because of the VoIP service provided by Google. The aforementioned app basically eliminates the main thing that differentiate iPod Touch from iPhone: voice call, no wonder AT&T is so pesky about the app existence.

While on the other hand, there's a theory that Apple blocks Google Voice app because the company wants to have similar service pre-installed within the tablet, avoiding such trouble with AT&T and FCC, since the device is physically different from iPhone/iPod Touch.

Killing two birds with one stone...

But wait, can't the iPod Touch do everything the tablet can do?
To tell you the truth, from what I've talked so far above, all in all if I may say: Apple's tablet will most likely like a giant iPod Touch but with bigger body and larger screen. It can do pretty much the same of what iPod Touch can do already.

So far Apple has keep improving and adding more features into the iPod Touch, blurring even more of its function from an entertainment mobile device or a PDA. But what is the difference of iPod Touch from its siblings, the other iPods? The big wide screen of course, its a better solution for people who wants to watch a movie or read an e-book on iPod but the screen is too small.

And there's also a problem of storage, every iPod line-ups including the Touch have limited storage capacities. The biggest capacity iPod Touch got is max at 32GB, it's barely enough to fit in one or two HD movies. A tablet has more space inside to host bigger storage capacity, along with bigger battery, hopefully. So with a tablet, Apple hopes to give an ultimate entertainment mobile device which can perform as PDA as well. In short, Steve Jobs is going to "kill two birds with one stone."

Love it or hate it?

Then where does that leave us with the Apple's tablet? Like it, or hate it? Or perhaps you don't vote? Hear... hear... If your choice is the latter, maybe it's because you haven't seen the device yet. Same here. Previously, there's a live shot of the purpotedly Apple's tablet circling around the blogosphere, it was coming from a French blog. But I don't believe it's the real deal, since the device is so not Apple-like quality design, it's lacking that "cool" minimalism aesthetic you see in every Apple's products.

Actually, for me the closest live photo shot of the highly rumored Apple's tablet was coming from Pocketables. The gadget blog received two sets of photos from an anonymous tipster showing an unidentified MID that runs Android OS, but when you see it closely (pictured above) it does have some similarity to Apple iPod Touch. Such as the silver/chrome finish of the mysterious device's round bezel, and the dark glossy screen reminds me of the MacBook's screen. Could it be the real deal?

Unfortunately we'll have to wait few more weeks till Apple's rumored September 9 event to see the real tablet... *sigh*

PA's 2nd edition of "There's an app for that!": Safari Download Manager, ActivateMMS2G, Spell Numbers

Time flies by so quickly when we're busy doing things, it's already been a week since the first edition of "There's an app for that!". Hope you'll like this one too..

With more and more apps are flooding into the App Store every day, it's imposible to keep track each and every one of them. Especially since there are more crap apps in there, rather than the one that's really useful for your need. Apple is proud with the abundant of apps inside its App Store, and even came up with a slogan for it: "There's an app for that!"

So with those facts in mind, I'm gathering around three of those funny yet quite useful apps, because who knows perhaps they'll come in handy for you someday, and I'll periodically release another edition when I found some interesting apps. Have a great start of the weekend y'all, and hopefully these apps can cheer you guys up.

Safari Download Manager

Downloading large files is considered a common thing in today's digital era of HD (High Definition) movies and audios, music sometimes offered not only per one song but in albums, and sometimes you need to download a bulk of documents on the go, what can you do when you left your laptop behind?

This is when Steve Jobs' words really proven right: ”You know, one of our entrants into that category if you will is the iPhone, for browsing the Internet, and doing email and all the other things that a netbook lets you do. And being connected via the cellular network wherever you are, an iPhone is a pretty good solution for that, and it fits in your pocket."

That's right, you got your iPhone/iPod Touch in your pocket. It can help you to download those files you needed right away, but wait a sec, how do you do that exactly? Enter the Safari Download Manager (SDM), a $2 dollars worth app that helps you to manage your downloads on your iPhone. From finding the files in a website, to lets you continue browsing while the downloads keep moving, with the app you can download several files and put them in queue or download simultenously,.

Safari_downloader_screenshot The geniuses behind SDM are Dustin Howett and Youssef Francis, here's a quote from them:

"This extension brings a full download manager to Safari, complete with running and controlling multiple downloads, accessible via a new toolbar item. This is an improvement on other existing extensions that take over the currently displayed document to display status information, hindering your navigation. Safari Download Manager (SDM) allows you to continue browsing while downloads are taking place (and can even download in the background, as Safari will not exit if there are any pages loaded).
Users can configure filetypes to download and add their own extensions and mimetypes to the download list."

The SDM app will add a new tab at the bottom bar of the Safari, and once you start downloading, a badge will pops out to show you how many downloads are going. At the download tab, you can view your downloads and the progress bar, still in there you can cancel any downloads too.

Safari Download Manager app only available in Cydia App Store, Apple should've let this app in the official App Store, it's about time iPhone users make use the 3G connection don't you think?
* SDM screenshots are courtesy of ModMyI

ActivateMMS2G

Don't believe everything you heard from big companies, not even if it is Apple. Only a fool take everything they say for granted... ;-p

They say the iPhone Classic, you do remember this poor first gen iPhone with only EDGE connection, can't have MMS because of hardware limitation. Creating a wave of jealousy from the brave first adopters to those who have the iPhone 3G / 3G[S]. But is it? Or is that only another Apple's marketing strategy to lure people to buy the new iPhone? Either way, not everyone is jumping to buy a newer iPhone whenever Apple releases one, in fact there are people out there who still linger to their iPhone Classic.

So fear not, o' you brave souls, there's an app for that, to enable MMS in your iPhone Classic. ActivateMMS2G is can be considered as a hack app that will patch your iPhone 2G (EDGE) to allow it to receive and send MMS, the app can be found in Cydia. All thanks to the creative genius iSpazio who have made this happen, here's the detail on how to install the app (via iHackintosh):

141430-activatemms2g_original Pre-requisites:

  • iPhone 2G OS 3.0 Jailbreaked with Cydia.
  • Uninstall "asBattery" if you had installed previously.

Instructions to enable MMS on iPhone EDGE:

  1. Go to Cydia and download the package ActivateMMS2G available in the repository of iSpazio.
  2. Restart the iPhone.
  3. Next go to Settings > Messages and make sure MMS Messaging is ON. If it’s not, restart your iPhone one more time.
  4. Go into Settings> General> Network> Cellular Data Network, and add the MMS info for your carrier. You can check out their website or just call them and ask them.

* Note : Do not install the hack on Firmware 2.2.1 or view a black screen with the Apple logo and will have to restore. If you haven’t jailbreaked your iphone 2G with OS 3.0 yet then follow the easy steps Unlock/Jailbreak iPhone 2g OS 3.0 Using RedSn0w on Windows Mac.

Good luck!

PS: there's also a hack from iHackintosh on how to activate video camera in iPhone Classic (2G) and iPhone 3G using the iPhone OS 3.0 software, but looks like it's not easy as it look...

Spell Numbers (to activate Emoji)

Step10 According to a market data from Gfk Japan, the 32GB iPhone 3G was the most popular smartphone in Japan on July. Do you know why? I think I know why, it's probably got something to do with Emoji icon allowed in Japan's iPhone 3G. ~LOL~

Anyway, for you who don't know yet; Emoji is the Japanese term for the picture characters or emoticons used in Japanese wireless messages and webpages (taken from Wikipedia). Emoji is very popular in Japan especially among the teens, but apparently Emoji also become more and more popular world wide thanks to iPhone. However, there's a small tiny problem in using Emoji: it's not standardized yet. Each Emoji icons are different from one smartphone to another, and also not every wireless carriers allow Emoji. This is why Apple has stated that viewing Emoji picture characters on an iPhone requires iPhone OS 2.2 or later and a SoftBank SIM.

But thank goodness it was not the end of the world when Apple said that, like the saying goes like this: "there's a way if there's a will," there's an easy hack to enable Emoji in iPhone using a free app called Spell Numbers. But before the Emoji is activated in your iPhone, you need to activate the easter egg in Spell Numbers app first, here's the instruction complete with screenshots. Furthermore, the instruction says that Emoji on/off setting will still be around even if you delete the app.

There's a good news though for those who love Emoji icons; Apple and Google is joining hand in hand to propose an encoding for these emoji. But it looks like going to take some time before the proposal is finished, because so far there are 674 icons already and lots more to come. Read the proposal document (via What Japan Thinks) for more technical details.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Jennifer Aniston strikes a pose when taking a call

So this is how Jennifer Aniston pose when she's taking a call with her cell phone (pictured above), she really knows how to pops out that curvy line of her body to the max. Mmm... mmm..

It's been awhile since my last post about Hollywood celebrities, and I'm glad this time around is everybody's princess of sweetheart; Ms. Jen Aniston. She's the only one from the entire cast of "Friends" tv series who is continue to be sucessfully keep existing in the wide screen even until now, Jen is currently spotted working on her new movie called "The Bounty" at the downton Manhattan on Friday morning.

There's a hot rumor about on set love between Jen and her co-star Gerard Butler, everyone involved in the movie kept saying that there's a special kind of chemistry between them two on and off the set of the film. That's a relief to know actually, perhaps the always gorgerous-looking Jen can finally find love again with him, after all a princess deserves a king (Gerard Butler played King Leonidas character in the "300" movie).

Friday, August 21, 2009

Glass Platform sets new size for Android phone

Are you one of those people who are not satisfied with the size of your mobile phone and wish your desk phone is better than it, and your shout out is often something like this: “Why does my cell phone have ten times the functionality of my desk phone?”

Then your prayer is going to be answered, in big sized. Cloud Telecomputers has introduced Glass Platform, an Android-powered desk phone for business. The idea to build a desk phone that can perform like today's smartphone is based on that particular inquiry above, and the company believes many 21st century business professionals need such powerful phone on their desk. Here's a quote from the announcement:

“Glass makes the desk phone relevant again,” said David McMorrow, Cloud Telecomputers CEO. “It thoughtfully integrates business applications with IP telephony to bring the office phone into the 21st century. It’s a technological leap forward in terms of applications and usability, helping professionals to be more productive and informed in their everyday communications.”

The very reasons for Cloud Telecomputers to adopt Android is because of its prowess and openness, so partners and software developers can immediately jump into the already thriving platform. So far, the prototype model (pictured above) features are:

  • 8 inch color touchscreen
  • Tap to dial by name or phone
  • Click to dial from Microsoft's Outlook
  • Bluetooth connection to answer your mobile phones
  • Voice dialing and voice notes
  • HD speakerphone
  • Android OS
The company anticipates Glass-enabled phones being available in first quarter 2010, with suggested retail prices ranging from $599 to $699, depending on features and configuration.

What more impressive is that according to an interview with David McMorrow the Cloud Telecomputers' CEO, Rob Jackson from Phandroid found out that: "Cloud Telecomputers is a small company with less than 10 employees…!" And I must agree with Rob, that how come a small company like Cloud Telecomputers can build such a nice Android phone, while multi-billion dollars worth giant companies like Motorolla and Sony Ericsson who have hundreds of people concentrate to build Android phone haven't announce something solid so far..?

Makes you wonder doesn't it? Big wonders are often came from small package... ;-)

Duracell's myGrid charger is almost as cool as Palm Prē's TouchStone

Wow, what you see up there is for real. Wireless charger for our lovely little cute gizmos is going from just a dream to have into a reality, and the exclusivity is no longer only for Palm Prē's TouchStone owners, because Duracell has announced its own version of wireless charger: myGrid.

Unlike the Palm Prē™ which simply use a special back cover to work with the TouchStone for quick and hassle-free charging, Duracell's myGrid still needs you to use a special mount for your mobile phones, called Power Clip™, other kit includes Power Sleeve. But the best thing about myGrid is it allow you to charge multiple devices at once (up to four devices), and promised to work with four famous smartphone brands: Apple, BlackBerry, Motorolla, and Nokia.

Another feature of the myGrid's ultra-slim profile is it can detect when being touched and shuts off, it also detects moisture and metal like keys or coins. Duracell claims that charging with myGrid is as fast as using standard charges, based on USB 2.0 specs.

The myGrid will be available in October this year, but Duracell hasn't disclosed any pricing and exact date yet. Sources are from PhoneMag, via Engadget Mobile.

Google Listen for Android

Google really is one scary tech giant, well at least for me, because the company which is famous for its on-line search engine seems to keep on inovating and releasing new services, apps, softwares, etc. And recently Google has just released another new free app for its own Android OS: Google Listen.

Google describes Listen as an audio search app, user can type in the keywords and the most relevant results will be shown, after the desired audio feeds downloaded over the air users can listen using the app.

In the layman's term, Google Listen is kinda podcast manager app. But Google prefers to call it as a digital magazine, because user can download as many podcasts he/she want and then put them in queue to be played later.

* Note: As I'm writing this post, Google Listen website is currently down. Probably caused by the heavy traffic of Android users who are trying to download the app, the website stated: "Over Quota". Even Google can have a bad day, huh? ;-p

Apple's new patent features 'file transfer in call' for iPhone

Apple is working another new feature for iPhone, that once again will help change the way we use our mobile phone; or in this case is Apple's iPhone. Apple has filed a new patent called “Auto messaging to currently connected caller”, which is basically will allow you to send text message, email, file, phone book contact info, etc. while the user is making call.

Here's a snipped explanation from the patent (via ModMyI):

While a user of a mobile device is using telephony services, the user may want to send a message or a file to another part . . . To send this information, the user may have to disconnect the call, and then perform a lookup of the caller's contact information prior to being able to send the message or file. This multi-step process can be tedious for the user.

This feature isn't entirely new for smartphone, but its potential hasn't been fully tapped yet. And if Apple can truly bring this new feature for iPhone come true to realization, then there'll definetely more satisfied iPhone users in the future.

Why? Well, I can't describe a way to use it better than what Staska from Unwired View did:
"It pisses me of, when a friend calls and asks someone’s contact info, and then I have to hang up, look it up and send it via SMS. And why do I have to do that? What’s wrong with keeping the call session open, giving me easy access the usual UI elements, and then giving me an easy way to use other messaging app to communicate with a person I am talking to?"

That's true you know, why hasn't anyone think about this before?

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Could it be Steve Jobs' health linked to Apple's tablet deadline?

There's a riveting story around the blogosphere last night, as I was climbing into my comfy bed and tried to doze off to sleep with reading the latest news on my Trēo™ 750v, I read another article that covers Apple and its psychedelic CEO Steve Jobs.

Bryan Appleyard from U.K. Times Online (yes, his last name alone can easily fooled you like he's from Apple Inc. ~LOL~) has wrote an article that caused quite a buzz, it's not because his writing reveals hidden dark secrets of Apple that we haven't know already or telling us how "obnoxious" Steve Jobs is. But the reason is because Apple was trying so hard to block the article to be published, here's a quote from the article:

Apple hates personality stuff and press intrusion. “We want to discourage profiles,” an Apple PR tells me stiffly, apparently unaware she is waving a sackful of red rags at a herd of bulls. Another PR rings the editor of this magazine to try to halt publication of this piece.

Aside of how the witty words twisted with sarcastic humor managed to keep my sleepy eyes wide open, a blazing speculation stroke inside my tired mind when I read this particular information in the article:

Rumours suggest he is, in spite of the transplant, about to do it (Apple keynotes) again in the next few weeks. It will be a dual sensation: the sight of a walking, talking Jobs and of a new tablet computer, a sort of giant iPhone, which, some say, will yet again change the world.

If we are to believe the credency of the article's source that says: Excitement intensified early this month when an unnamed "analyst" was reported as having actually held the tablet. He said it was "better than your average movie experience", and we are to believe the Apple's tablet is to be introduced at next month Apple's September event, then just take a moment of pause to think about it...

Thin_steve First of all, Steve Jobs never missed an important key notes and the only stopping him from standing on the stage is because of his health issues. Secondly, Apple's tablet is supposedly to become the next great thing after iPhone. In the article, Bryan Appleyard describes how Apple has changed the world when Steve Jobs introduced iPod families and the all wonder iPhone. In fact, Andrea Cunningham, a PR hired and fired four times by Jobs has said this about the Apple CEO: “My God! He’s single-handedly changed the world, like, at least three times!”

Third and the upmost delicate inquiry is how well Steve Jobs? Apple has been keeping its CEO's health issues as low as possible from the mass media, and so does Jobs himself. He was dead at least a couple of time before, first when he was diagnosed had a pancreatic cancer, second when he had to undergone a liver transplant in which to get one means you must on the top of the death list.

When Jobs took an absence of medical leave on January this year, he swore to every Apple loyalists out there that he will still be working at home and make all of the important decisions for Apple, and even without mentioning it we all know he's watching over his next biggest project: the Apple's tablet. A project that was certainly stalled because of his health issues at that time.

I dunno if Steve Jobs has nine spare lives (which is only 7 left if we took account of above almost death experiences) in his closet, or if he has the uncanny ability to cheat death itself, but don't you think at this point at least he's thinking like: how about if I don't make it the next time around when the grim reaper comes to visit me again? If so, don't you think Jobs is thinking that he should hurry and announce one of his latest brain-child gizmo before the time really is running out? After all, the Apple's tablet is supposed to be another Jobs' creation that will change the world, so we speak...

I'm not saying nor wishing bad things to happen to Steve Jobs, but even though I'm not an Apple fanboy, I still wish to see him to wow us all again with his usual spectacular keynote. And I believe the Apple stock holders can't be agree more than to see Jobs introduce a gadget that will make all of geeks and Apple fanboys to queue over night to get it, an Apple device that still have Steve Jobs' signature on it and that will last long enough even if an "unwanted" situation happened.

All of us are in favor to see the mysterious and highly rumored tablet at Apple next event, an event that has been reported by John Paczkowski from All Things D that according to sources close to the company, the date is Wednesday, Sept. 9. But again the source emphasis that there will be "NOT involve any discussion whatsoever of the tablet Apple is reportedly developing."

But hey, don't take my words or any rumors for granted. Because like Bryan Appleyard has wrote in his article about Apple's 'mafia code of silence': "Executives feed deliberate misinformation into one part of the company so that any leak can be traced back to its source," as far as we know it Apple could be giving misinformation of there's no tablet involved on the next September event. Like the company did before when asked if there will be a small and cheap iPod, the next day Steve Jobs introduced the Nano.

That's the hard thing about Apple is, the Cupertino-based company is not affraid of lying and giving out misinformation, which is why Apple has always been a favorite target for journalysts to write about. No joke, a $140 billion dollars worth company who is not affraid to lie to the press, how twisted and cool is that? ;-p

Because one we're certain of, Apple has been caught red-handed on shooting an ad at Jax Truckee Diner some time ago (pictured below). “Apple found us, they're trying to show us as a hip and cool spot for the 20-something crowd,” the owner Bud Haley said. But looks like anyone involved in the ad shoot were sworn to a secrecy on what the ad is for.

For all we know, the new ad shot at the restaurant which is located “At The Tracks” on 10144 West River St., California, could be for any new products including this Apple's tablet. Or it may also for the most likely rumored new iPod Touch with camera, which has been leaking out on the net for the last couple of days ago.

Whatever Apple has prepared in store for us on September 9, I believe it'll be a blast no matter what, because the real caveat is to see Steve Jobs back on the stage once again and when the keynote is about to end he'll end it with the usual “and one last thing”, and then like a child we will once again drop our jaw seeing the new shiny toys... ;-D

A Sense of Hero on your Magic

Love playin' those catchy words... ;-)

Rejoice you HTC Magic owners!
Because HTC has just officially announced that its latest HTC Sense UI (User Interface) is coming to Magic for free, but only if you have the one that's without the "with Google" logo on the back. Here's the snipped news taken from the HTC's announcement:

"From August 29 onwards, will also hold large-scale outdoor activities, so that more consumers have the opportunity to experience the HTC Hero. In addition, until early October ended October 31, where to buy HTC Magic of consumers will be able to HTC official website to download the latest software free of charge..."

Mark your calendar for October, because the software upgrade will only be available for a month. Although from what I'm hearing on the net, that HTC Sense UI software upgrade is only going to be offered through Taiwanese wireless carrier Chunghwa, but I believe it's more likely it'll find a way into every Magic in all over the world.

While for you who own the handset with "with Google" logo on the back of your Magic, means it'll depend on each wireless carrier who issued the handset whether to release the software upgrade or not.
Feeling down? You're not alone...

For you who have been brave enough to became early adopters and bought T-Mobile G1 when it first came out, unfortunately you G1 owners won't be able to receive any more software updates after the 'Cupcake'. The reason is as what Android Engineer Jean-Baptiste Queru has explained in his Twitter account: the internal memory of G1 doesn't have enough capacity to host future Android OS, including 'Donut',

Monday, August 17, 2009

Chiming in about Apple's tablet

Everybody have their own opinion about the rumored Apple's tablet, it's the hottest topic around right now. Whenever the subject pops out, it attracts everyone's attention right away. Ranging from analysts to bloggers, they have been adding the fuel to keep that rumor mill churning up and burning for months. So at the end of the day, I can't help but to chime in my little squeaky voice about the anticipated yet never-existed (as far as we know it in real life) tablet device...

The facts or simply just rumors?

On early August, Kaufman Bros. a Wall Street analysis firm revealed that Apple had investigated screen sizes ranging from 4 inches to 12 inches. What for? Well, what else than for a tablet sized computer.

And not long after that, Piper Jaffray the senior analyst Gene Munster chimes in about the possibility of Apple's tablet: "Last week we spoke with an Asian component supplier that has received orders from Apple for a touch-screen device to be fulfilled by late [calendar year] '09," he writes. "This data point underscores our thesis that a tablet will likely launch in early [2010]."

Apart from the excitement of another highly rumored Apple event to be held on September, many have raised some voice about how the tablet won't even be announced at the event, in fact it's planned for early 2010.

The tablet is a no go for September event?

For those who have been keeping records of Apple events over the past four years, it is highly possible that Apple will hold a keynote event in early September like it did before. MacRumors has done us a favor by reminding us of the events in the past:

  • 2005: Apple’s “Here We Go Again” event introduced the Motorola ROKR mobile phone with iTunes support alongside the release of iTunes 5 and saw the introduction of the original iPod nano to replace the iPod mini.
  • 2006: Apple offered the “It’s Showtime” event introducing iTunes 7 and iPod updates, as well as a sneak peak at the “iTV” that launched several months later as the Apple TV.
  • 2007: Apple held a “The Beat Goes On” event introducing the original iPod Touch alongside updates to the remainder of the iPod line, an iTunes 7.4 update, and iPhone price drops.
  • 2008: Apple held a “Let’s Rock” event to introduce iTunes 8 and new iPod Touch, Nano, and Shuffle models.

The similar event, if it does happening next month, will focus on music and entertainment. Jim Dalrymple from Loop Insight added in his point of view:

"Very reliable sources familiar with the product have said speculation of the tablet being introduced during the September event are flat out wrong. The Apple tablet, they said, would not see the light of day until the first part of 2010.

The event in September will be focused on music, which means we could see new iPods and perhaps some updates to iTunes. The tablet computer will not even be mentioned as part of the event, my sources said."

That is one disheartening rumor to be heard. One can only speculate that the tablet could not be announced at the September event because Apple is going to announce the all new iPod Touch with camera (also rumored) to compete with Microsoft's new Zune HD. But this is Apple we're talking about here, Steve Jobs could even introduce both the new iPod Touch and the tablet at the same time next month. You know how his mind work; unfathomable...

What is a tablet for?

That is a very basic question for everyone, including Apple themselves and end-users. Because the current tablet computers I know in the market today are not doing so well, but most of them are Windows-powered. So Apple ought to think how to turn around the mistakes made by Microsoft (and Linux) to market a failing category of mobile computing, Apple should have more tricks in their sleeves to impress the nowadays greedy consumers.

Again, Piper Jaffray the Senior Research Analyst at Gene Munster states in a report about the use of Apple's tablet:

"Key apps, like Safari and Mail, could be made larger to make use of the larger screen resolution, making Apple's tablet appealing for more extended use, and the company could continue to leverage its primary asset in mobile computing, the App Store, in this scenario. We believe this is the most likely scenario given the success of the multi-touch platform and the App Store ecosystem, which could be accelerated with a tablet device."

All in all, the tablet will be used primarily for web surfing, e-mail, and digital media, competing with netbooks without being a netbook. That is in rhyme with Steve Jobs' statement about netbooks: "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that." So Apple is going to make a mobile device that works close like a netbook, but doesn't look like a netbook and obviously won't call it as a netbook.

Look and name can be different, but the guts inside can bring close the similarity. Jason D. O'Grady from The Apple Core blog said he has received a leak from a source back in May:

"According to my source said tablet could arrive in the September or October, it will run the full Mac OS X, have a slot loading SuperDrive, an “iPhone-type” GPS chip and an Intel Core Duo processor – presumably Intel’s Atom."

Speaking of hardware specifications, Apple has already arrived to the point where it can make a gorgeous tablet computer. Apple has managed to put in so many small sized hardwares into constrainted and limited space in almost its product line-ups. Take MacBook Air for an instance; all Apple need to do is replace the screen with multi-touch display like the one used in iPodTouch, flip the thin display to always face upward, remove the hinge, remove the keyboard and then voila! You got yourself an Apple tablet.

O'Grady goes on saying that a tablet is perfect for student to take to school, because it's "a Kindle-killer and the ultimate eBook reader." Then comes in a backing rumor from Gizmodo, where its Editorial Director Brian Lam received a phone tip from an insider at Apple which stating that the tablet "will come in two editions, one with a webcam and one for educational use."

The tipster continue and said that the tablet "would cost $700 to $900—More than twice as much as a netbook." That does sound very Apple-like devices, the high price tags. But to put that kinda price tag for students, or for educational use device? That's a pretty steep price for average students, I suppose if that's the price then Apple is targetting a very niche consumer market...

I don't want to argue if that's a wise decision or not for Apple to market a tablet, because the Cupertino-based company has done wonders of its products while the competitors are still trying to figure out why and how.

The look that can kill

There's nothing more intriguing and appealing than a new gadget with its new sexy look, any Apple fan-boys are willing to kill to have a first look of the tablet, literally speaking. BGR has stated that there are around 3,563,849th images of Apple’s tablet so far in the net, but it got one that is close enough to the real deal.

Unlike the others, which are mostly only generated from computer graphic rendering, the photo above looks to be showing the Apple tablet in real life. A French blog has posted up the photo, but not saying anything of its origin nor its source. Nevertheless, the photo shows almost everything like the tipster has said to Gizmodo:

"The device, which I've held mock ups of, is going to have a 10 inch screen, and when I saw it looked just like a giant iPhone, with a black back— although that design could change at any time" they said, "with the same black resin back, and the familiar home button."

If that is the real thing, then although I can't speak for everyone, it's quite dissappointing. Not exactly what we have in mind, especially when you've seen Jesus Diaz's (Gizmodo) "wet dream" concept of his own iTablet.

But what do I know, right? I'm not an Apple analyst, even the real ones were often wrong. As for me; the iTablet, or iPad, or whatever Apple will call its tablet is just like a giant iPod Touch. If the Apple's tablet look is just like how Jeroen (Flickr link) pictured it at the top of this post, then that's enough for me to buy one. ;-D

PA's 1st edition of "There's an app for that!": RunPee, Haircaster & Drinkspiration

With more and more apps are flooding into the App Store every day, it's imposible to keep track each and every one of them. Especially since there are more crap apps in there, rather than the one that's really useful for your need. Apple is proud with the abundant of apps inside its App Store, and even came up with a slogan for it: "There's an app for that!"

So with those facts in mind, I'm gathering around three of those funny yet quite useful apps, because who knows perhaps they'll come in handy for you someday, and I'll periodically release another edition when I found some interesting apps. Have a great start of the weekend y'all, and hopefully these apps can cheer you guys up.

RunPee

Runpeeiphone1 Imagine this; you're in the middle of the movie you've been dying to see since last week, and all of a sudden you can't hold on much longer to go to the bathroom for a small leak, blaming it on that huge glass of diet cola you bought won't help. Unfortunately the story of the movie is just beginning to get more interesting as your bladder feels like to explode any moment, and you definetely don't want to miss those exciting scenes of the movie.

RunPee is a $0.99 worth of app for giving out information about the movie you watch, not the summary of the movie, but the timing in the movie that safe enough for you to run to the restroom and release that annoying bladder of your of its pain without missing too many significant parts/scenes of the movie.

Don't laugh, although this app is kinda funny the first time you heard it, you'll be grateful for its service to help you lessen the frequency of getting scolded by the people in the same row you sat because you stepped too many times on their feet when you're trying to take leaks.

RunPee claims it is already very popular in China, where it gets more visits than the next 10 countries combined. And the RunPee creator Dan Florio describes his app perfectly:

"Our iPhone app gives movie goers “immunity” from the effects of mega-sized sodas and flushes away those grueling post-movie restroom lines where you have to wait your turn in pain and avoid awkward eye contact with the 30 other people in the restroom with you….a bladder is a terrible thing to hold."

But you must be warned though, that how important scenes in a movie are different from one individual to others.

Haircaster

Haircaster Everybody must had one or two bad hair day once in awhile, either it's because of the way you sleep last night or the way you abuse the use of hairspray in that particular morning, or maybe the most common excuse for everyone is to blame it on the fine weather. The sun is shining bright, the air is just about right, but for no apparent reason your hair just won't cooperate with you today to make you fabolous like usual.

Well, what do you know? There's an app for that; Haircaster is another $0.99 worth of app to help you deal with one of those fundamental things in our life, the hair style for today. The app description says that it uses a "proprietary formula developed in consultation with hair care professionals" to analyzes the actual weather conditions including: humidity, wind, rain and temperature – anywhere in the US to tell you what kind of hair day you can expect outside.

And one of its ultimate advice for you, God forbid if your hair ever falls into the wrong direction because how the wind blows, is to "STAY HOME!" Meaning you'll have to cancel those important meetings, the multi-billion dollar contract ready to be signed today, the hip parties you need to attend, etc.

Drinkspiration

Absolut-drinkspiration Drinking has always become a sensitive topic to discuss, whether it's because of the effect or worst is what it can cause to others too, but even as in present day it is still a lifestyle. The most important thing is to be responsible, and not to drink before or when you're driving.

Absolut has launched Drinkspiration, an app that works as an interactive encyclopedia of recipes that helps you find and share personalized drink recommendations based on spirit, taste, weather, time of day, bar vibe, sound volume, real-time drink trends, etc using help of GPS, Twitter and even Facebook.

"Have you ever found yourself in a bar without really knowing what to order? With Drinkspiration you'll never have this problem again. Drinkspiration is your best friend in the bar, giving you guidance, personalized recommendations and an all-encompassing gateway to the drink universe, right in the palm of your hand," said Fredrick Tallroth, senior manager, Interactive Marketing at the Absolut Company.

Users can also sign up for an account at absolutdrinks.com and the drinks ordered in your mobile app automatically create top lists in your profile. The company says the app has been downloaded 43,000 times in its first 13 days on the iTunes App Store.

Just remember, alcohol drinks are for adults and not good for those who're pregnant.
Don't drink because you've just watched Madmen, and think that drinking made them successful. ;-p

Friday, August 14, 2009

Zune HD is now official

After long of unintentional and intentional leaks, Microsoft finally came clean of its newest entertainment mobile device that's made to directly compete with Apple's ever popular iPod: the Zune HD. There's no drum beat or even the sound of breath-holding (that silence moment before the the velvet curtain opened) for the announcement, since we pretty much already knew it is coming.

Nevertheless, it's worth the news coverage because Microsoft apparently has packed in some serious specs inside the Zune HD. The most notable and worth mentioning is none other than NVIDIA's Tegra chip ultralow-power HD processor, which is why the Zune HD is capable of HD video playback to an HDTV in 720p resolution! A Monsterous beast...

The other specs and features include:

  • Built-in HD Radio™ receiver. Allows you to listen to higher-quality sound than is available from traditional radio channels, as well as access additional programming through HD2 and HD3 multicast channels from many of your favorite local FM radio stations at no extra cost.
  • HD video output capabilities. Supports HD video playback from the device through a premium HDMI A/V docking station (sold separately) directly to an HDTV in 720p, making it easy to enjoy better-than-DVD-quality video on your own big screen at home.
  • OLED touch screen. Allows you to easily flip through music, movies and other content. The 3.3-inch glass screen and 16:9 widescreen format display (480x272 resolution) offer a premium viewing experience.
  • Built-in Wi-Fi. Allows for browsing, streaming or downloading new music from Zune Marketplace.
  • Internet browser. Full-screen Web browsing, optimized for the multitouch screen with zoom-in and zoom-out gestures.
  • Accessories, at home and on the road. Zune HD and AV Dock charges and syncs players while playing supported 720p HD videos on HDTVs. Play HD Radio, music and podcasts from your Zune HD device through your car stereo using the Zune Premium Car Pack.
The Zune HD is set to hit store shelves on Sept. 15, available in 16GB ($ $219.99) and 32GB ($289.99) capacities. Pre-order starts on-line on Thursday, Aug. 13 but only for Zune HD in 16GB Black and 32GB Platinum. Afterwards, on Sept. 15 both 16GB and 32GB capacities of Zune HD will be available in five different colors with the option to customize your player with one of 10 new engravings designed by guest artists.

Have you started drooling and feeling confuse on which one you should get between Zune HD or iPod Touch? Then perhaps you can see the obvious differences with the help of below comparison chart of the two entertainment devices, courtesy of PC World.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

iPod Touch used for taking orders in a seafood restaurant

Like Sammy who's currently in the big city of New York, I am also in the big city of my own country: Jakarta. Just arrived yesterday for running a small errand and having a(nother) week off before a crazy month full of works ahead, for the next week I'll be having the busiest month of the whole year at work. A very good reason to have a week off for myself, don't you think? *wink*

So here's what happened: Me, my big sister and her husband went to this new seafood restaurant near their home. It's a new establishment, everything is new and shiny including the tables and the chairs, along with the awkard new trainees who were serving us. But what really attracked me right away was not how yellow the color of the waitress' teeth (yes, I took notice of the small thing like that), it was the shiny iPod Touch hanging on her neck.

Soon enough after we sat down on the un-comfortable chairs, the waitress immediately held the iPod Touch and began playing with it as if she was browsing the music in it. Apparently, the waitress was preparing a list of order for our dinner, she kept flicking the iPod Touch while she asked on who's name the order should be. I couldn't hold on my curiosity no more, so I deliberately stood up so I can have a clear look on the iPod's screen.

And what do you know? The restaurant has installed a special app inside each and every iPod Touch carried by the waitresses, for taking orders of the customers with it. Neat. The app is very simple,seemed to work and look like the mobile Safari. It shows many lists of menu available in small fonts, making the waitress to zoom in/out using the pinching finger gesture feature. After we finished ordering, the waitress pressed a print button and our order is quickly printed out with a small printer nearby the counter. Again, pretty neat and impressive. WiFi plays a great deal in transferring data across the crowded room, both for mobility and ease of use.

I tried to take a picture with my Trēo™ 750v, but unfortunately the manager politely asked me not to. Perhaps they are affraid competitors will try to steal the ideas, or the designs...

When I was paying for the dinner at the cashier, I asked the owner on why he uses a cutting edge device like iPod Touch for his restaurant, and he told me that way he managed to cut off half of the hassle of having to write down the orders again to the kitchen. That does make sense, and if I may say that method is working. Customers were pouring into the restaurant like rain, there were no long waiting to order the food, except of course waiting for the food to be served; it's a proof that the diners are pleased with the quick service.

But here's the thing that still bothers me even until now after we left the restaurant: is it profitable enough to use iPod Touch for a restaurant that offers foods priced below average like that one? You see, that seafood restaurant is offering foods priced below the average price of other restaurants in order to attract customers. It's not a fancy restaurant that charged high price, heck there's even no service fee included in the bill (it's supposed to be a mandatory in big cities). The price of the food is indeed quite cheap, comparing to the other restaurants in the capital city.

While the iPod Touch itself is roughly priced around US$315 in here, and if I'm right on the head count of the waitresses in the restaurant; there were about 10-12 of them who carried iPod Touch around their neck. It can be considered a big investment for a start up business which hasn't yet have a constant customers flow... Have in mind though, using traditional method: paper & pen is by far cheaper than a cutting edge device like the iPod Touch. And you have to think about a unit replacement whenever one gets broken, or worst get stolen. Because in real life, business is all about profit: more income and less spending.

Does the use of iPod Touch more favorable (if not, more profitable) than the price to afford it?
Have you ever see similar use of iPod Touch, or even iPhone, for business use? If yes, then please don't be shy to share the story with us.
Have a great weekend y'all!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Trēo 650 appears in "Mr. Woodcock" movie

Woodcock screen grabs

Don't ask how I spotted this in "Mr. Woodcock", a movie released back in 2007, in which the part where Palm Trēo™ 650 make an appearance is more important to discuss right here right now.. ;-p

As you can see at the pictures above (click to enlarge them), the Trēo™ 650 is being used by Amy Poehlr, the talented comedian from Saturday Night Live show. And Seann William Scott, playing as John Farley character in the movie, is jaw-dropped when seeing the Trēo™ 650. Just kidding... he actually surprised about the email shown on the Trēo™.

Wow, everybody is saying the Palm Trēo™ line-ups is old and not trendy anymore compared to the today's new cutting-edge smartphones out there in the market. But even the oldest of them all, the Trēo™ 650 is still making appearances in Hollywood movies. Yes, although the movie itself is not new... But still, the Trēo™ is close to the heart of everyone, and refuse to die just because it's called old fashioned by those who never know it personally...

'My Tether' app turns your Palm Prē into 3G WiFi Router

The nightmare is approaching fast for Sprint, the one and only wireless carrier in the world right now who's officially offer Palm Prē™ is going to face its worst nightmare: data bandwidth clog. Where previously, Sprint (including Palm) was caught off guard with the found of Palm Prē's data tethering capability and tries to make the news low profile ever since then.

But now, there's a new app for the Prē™ called 'My Tether' that will allow the smartphone to become a 3G WiFi Router. "This app allows you to use your Pre to connect to the internet. It allows you make your Pre into an WiFi hotspot to share your EVDO connection, as well share your EVDO or WiFi connection to tether over USB, or Bluetooth PAN," says Raja Kapur the app developer at his website.

There are two versions of the app, version 1.5 is offered free but requires you to hack your Palm Prē™ first, the updated version 2.0 needs $10 worth of donation and offers more features such as:

  • Added WiFi network name & WEP key customization options
  • Added option to disable sleep mode on Palm Pre
  • Added ability to turn off the LCD only, doesn't put the device into sleep
  • Removed dependence on webosinternals.services
  • My Tether remembers your last tether option & opens to same one
  • My Tether now sets your screen timeout timer setting back to what it was before it was disabled
  • Added checks on WiFi tether screen to existing WiFi connection & prompt with option to disable WiFi
  • Added dashboard notifications on status of WiFi Tethering
  • When WiFi Tethering is turned off the old WiFi connection is automatically re-enabled

Although 'My Tether' app v2.0 only offer WEP encryption, it's much better than none at all. But if you're still interested in the free version, then follow the instructions from PalmPreHacks on how to hack your Palm Prē™. Watch the embedded video below for more information on how to hack your Prē™ and turn it into a hotspot in under an hour.

Days of relieve with help from my Trēo

Hey PalmAddicts, how's it hangin'?
It's only been a while since my last post, and it already feels like for a very long time.
I've been given more responsibilities at work, thus I now have less time for my own personal leisure time; blogging for PalmAddict. It has been a crazy weekend, with a close relative's wedding to piling works, I've caught a cold in between of the time. Thank goodness they all worked out by themselves...

But during those hectic moments, I found how valuable my trusty Trēo™ is. Sure, my Trēo™ 750v is an aged product compared to iPhone or BlackBerry Bold, but that aging smartphone still work fine for me and it does what I know it's capable of. Ohkay, I admit there's this one time where I must do a soft reset, but other than that the Trēo™ never dissappoint me.

The temptation to replace my old Trēo™ has crossed so many times in my mind, but at the end of the day I hold it in my hand and while I'm trying to remember what I've done with it the whole day, I always question back to myself on why I should replace a fine working device I love so much with something else.

Listening back to the old songs of Michael Jackson with my Trēo™ when the King of Pop died...
Took precious and important pictures with my Trēo™, sent them with email & MMS...
Make calls, reject calls, make missed calls, make prank calls and other usual phone stuffs...
Wrote funny, sarcastic and few love SMS with my Trēo™...

It's inevitable to replace my aging Trēo™, it's only a matter of time I guess... But until that time comes, I'll keep on making the most of it while it lasts. Sometimes I wonder, and I'm pretty sure most of you have too, how we are if we don't have a smartphone in our life today..?