LG-SU630/KU6300/LU6300

LG Electronics has been making waves with its LG Chocolate BL40 mobile phone and now, its Black Label Series has finally found its way towards the Korean market. The LG-SU630/KU6300/LU6300 features a widened 21:9 display with a 4” WVGA LCD Touch Screen boasting of a 800×345 resolution. It comes with DivX support for mobile phones without the assistance of a standard PC allowing people to enjoy

Philips to Launch New Phones: X806 and C702

Philips never lets us forget the fact that it’s still making handsets. And some of its latest cell phones look better than you’d expect. The latest models are the X806 and the C702 but you might have a rough time getting one since they’ll most likely go to China.The X806 will sport quad-band GSM/GPRS, a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, a 5-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, FM radio, 47MB (nice round

VTech unveils cordless home phone that syncs with cell phone

VTech has a full line of cordless phones for landlines with all sorts of interesting features. If you use your mobile phone more than you use your home landline, you may have wished that you had your mobile phone address book on your home phone more than once.VTech has unveiled a new cordless home phone called the DS6321-3 that is the first cordless home phone to be able to download cellular

Another picture of Samsung's 12MP with 3x optical zoom phone

Engadget is reporting that the Samsung SCH-W880 camera phone has been leaked ahead of the devices official launch. The handset has one very significant feature — a 12MP camera with 3x optical zoom.Typically, camera phones have low resolution sensors and no optical zoom, so it’s good to see another camera phone that is actually focused on taking pictures. Other features of the phone include a 3.3-

Samsung unveils Corby(TXT) and Corby(PRO) handsets

Samsung has added two new handsets to its line of Corby devices that are aimed at youths in Europe. The new Corby models include the Corby(TXT) and the Corby(PRO) that are offered alongside the original Corby S3650 handsets already available.The Corby(TXT) is also known as the B3210 and it features a 2.2-inch LCD, 2MP camera with video capability, integrated FM tuner, changeable covers, and 40MB

Video: LGs commercial for the BL40

Shazam Teams Up with O2 for Mobile Music Discovery Service

Shazam, the world’s leading mobile music discovery provider, today announced that it has teamed up with O2 to make discovering and capturing music even easier for O2 customers. The agreement will mean that anyone on O2 will benefit from an enhanced mobile music experience, discovering music with Shazam and then purchasing it through their mobile, on the move.O2 customers simply need to dial 2580

Vodafone to Sell iPhone in UK and Ireland in early 2010

Vodafone and Apple today confirmed that they have reached agreement to bring iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS to the UK and Ireland in early 2010. Beginning today, Vodafone UK and Vodafone Ireland customers can register their interest in iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS at www.vodafone.co.uk/iphone and www.vodafone.ie/iphone respectively. Pricing, tariffs and availability information will be announced locally in

Video: Samsung S5600 Preston Unboxing

Matt unboxes the Samsung S5600 Preston handset. An Orange exclusive in the UK. The Samsung Preston S5600 is a quad-band GSM candybar with HSDPA support. It features touch QVGA display, 3MP camera, FM Radio, Bluetooth, HTML browser, Organizer and Speakerphone.

iPhone App Review: RedLaser 2.2

RedLaser is an application for the iPhone that scans the barcode of a product and then searches for that product and it’s prices.Features: * Scans UPC, EAN, and UPC-E (NEW) barcodes! * Finds prices using Google Product Search, and Amazon (NEW)Email a list of products * Send barcodes as email attachment (NEW) — Great for inventory! * Search ANY website using a custom URL (How-To coming

Yetisports arrives on the iPhone

Yeti and Penguin are back! For the first time, the ill-assorted couple is taking off on the iPhone. After been kicked around for years, the Penguin finally gets to fly! Use the iPhones motion sensor to maneuver him trough 27 stages of all new level gameplay.Download

Nokia Messaging in the Philippines

The Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc (SMART) has recently signed a deal with Nokia to offer Nokia Messaging on selected Nokia Nseries and Eseries devices. Nokia Messaging is an easy-to-use messaging service that will be available on a special data plan to SMART subscribers beginning September 26, 2009. The Nokia Messaging plan will initially be offered with the Nokia

Now available: Android 1.6 NDK

Today Android 1.6 NDK, release 1 is available for download from the Android developer site.

To recap, the NDK is a companion to the SDK that provides tools to generate and embed native ARM machine code within your application packages. This native code has the same restrictions as the VM code, but can execute certain operations much more rapidly. This is useful if you're doing heavy computations, digital processing, or even porting existing code bases written in C or C++.

If you already use the Android 1.5 NDK, upgrading to this release is highly recommended. It provides the following improvements:

  • The ability to use OpenGL ES 1.1 headers and libraries
    If your application targets Android 1.6, your native code can now directly call OpenGL ES 1.1 functions to perform graphics rendering. This will help those programs that need to send large amounts of vertex data to the GPU. Note, however, that activity lifecycle and surface creation must still be performed from the VM. This NDK contains a new sample ("san-angeles") that shows exactly how to do that with a GLSurfaceView object.

  • The ability to target either Android 1.5 or 1.6 devices
    The NDK parses your project's properties to know which platform release it is targeting. It will then automatically use the proper headers and libraries to generate your native code. Any application that targets 1.5 will run on Android 1.5, Android 1.6 and any future official system release. Targeting 1.6 should, thus, only be done if your application requires new 1.6 features / APIs, like the ability to call OpenGL ES 1.x headers from native code.

  • The ability to put your native sources under your application's project tree
    You can now conveniently place all your sources (C, C++ and Java) under the same tree, for editing or version control purposes.

  • Many fixes to the NDK's build scripts
    The changes to the build scripts fix some annoying bugs and also increase host system compatibility.

If you have any questions, please join us in the Android NDK forum.

Zipalign: an easy optimization

The Android 1.6 SDK includes a tool called zipalign that optimizes the way an application is packaged. Doing this enables Android to interact with your application more efficiently and thus has the potential to make your application and the overall system run faster. We strongly encourage you to use zipalign on both new and already published applications and to make the optimized version available—even if your application targets a previous version of Android. We'll get into more detail on what zipalign does, how to use it, and why you'll want to do so in the rest of this post.

In Android, data files stored in each application's apk are accessed by multiple processes: the installer reads the manifest to handle the permissions associated with that application; the Home application reads resources to get the application's name and icon; the system server reads resources for a variety of reasons (e.g. to display that application's notifications); and last but not least, the resource files are obviously used by the application itself.

The resource-handling code in Android can efficiently access resources when they're aligned on 4-byte boundaries by memory-mapping them. But for resources that are not aligned (i.e. when zipalign hasn't been run on an apk), it has to fall back to explicitly reading them—which is slower and consumes additional memory.

For an application developer like you, this fallback mechanism is very convenient. It provides a lot of flexibility by allowing for several different development methods, including those that don't include aligning resources as part of their normal flow.

Unfortunately, the situation is reversed for users—reading resources from unaligned apks is slow and takes a lot of memory. In the best case, the only visible result is that both the Home application and the unaligned application launch slower than they otherwise should. In the worst case, installing several applications with unaligned resources increases memory pressure, thus causing the system to thrash around by having to constantly start and kill processes. The user ends up with a slow device with a poor battery life.

Luckily, it's very easy to align the resources:

  • Using ADT:
    • ADT (starting with 0.9.3) will automatically align release application packages if the export wizard is used to create them. To use the wizard, right click the project and choose "Android Tools" > "Export Signed Application Package..." It can also be accessed from the first page of the AndroidManifest.xml editor.
  • Using Ant:
    • The Ant build script that targets Android 1.6 (API level 4) can align application packages. Targets for older versions of the Android platform are not aligned by the Ant build script and need to be manually aligned.
    • Debug packages built with Ant for Android 1.6 applications are aligned and signed by default.
    • Release packages are aligned automatically only if Ant has enough information to sign the packages, since aligning has to happen after signing. In order to be able to sign packages, and therefore to align them, Ant needs to know the location of the keystore and the name of the key in build.properties. The name of the properties are key.store and key.alias respectively. If those properties are present, the signing tool will prompt to enter the store/key passwords during the build, and the script will sign and then align the apk file. If the properties are missing, the release package will not be signed, and therefore will not get aligned either.
  • Manually:
    • In order to manually align a package, zipalign is in the tools folder of the Android 1.6 SDK. It can be used on application packages targeting any version of Android. It should be run after signing the apk file, using the following command:
      zipalign -v 4 source.apk destination.apk
  • Verifying alignment:
    • The following command verifies that a package is aligned:
      zipalign -c -v 4 application.apk

We encourage you manually run zipalign on your currently published applications and to make the newly aligned versions available to users. And don't forget to align any new applications going forward!

LG BL20 the Newest LG Chocolate phone


LG BL20 is the newest phone of the LG Chocolate phone series. LG announced about this phone in this month and it will be launched at the end of the year. LG BL20 is a very colorful phone with very good features.
it has a 2.4 inch color display and 256MB internal memory. it also supports up to 16GB memory cards. LG BL20 is a 3G phone which supports 3.6MBP/s HSDPA connectivity. wi-fi is not available in this phone but it has bluetooth.
LG BL20 has a 5MP main camera. the maximum picture resolution is 2560 x 1920 pixels. the camera has a LED flash and it supports video recording.

Vodafone 360 H1 full touch phone with LiMo OS




Vodafone 360 H1 is another newly announced mobile phone and it will be available at the end of this year. it's a 3g phone which supports 3G HSDPA. Vodafone 360 H1 has 3.5 inch touchscreen and 3D user interface. also this is a AMOLED display which gives very natural colors.
it has 16GB internal memory and supports up to 16GB memory cards. this phone runs with a new OS called LiMo OS. Vodafone 360 H1 has both bluetooth and wi-fi features. the main camera of this phone is 5MP and it allow high quality video recording. the camera also comes with a LED flash.
Vodafone 360 H1 has 600 MHz processor and a PowerVR SGX graphics chip. also it has a GPS receiver with A-GPS support.

A Note on Google Apps for Android

Lately we've been busy bees in Mountain View, as you can see from the recent release of Android 1.6 to the open-source tree, not to mention some devices we're working on with partners that we think you'll really like. Of course, the community isn't sitting around either, and we've been seeing some really cool and impressive things, such as the custom Android builds that are popular with many enthusiasts. Recently there's been some discussion about an exchange we had with the developer of one of those builds, and I've noticed some confusion around what is and isn't part of Android's open source code. I want to take a few moments to clear up some of those misconceptions, and explain how Google's apps for Android fit in.

Everyone knows that mobile is a big deal, but for a long time it was hard to be a mobile app developer. Competing interests and the slow pace of platform innovation made it hard to create innovative apps. For our part, Google offers a lot of services — such as Google Search, Google Maps, and so on — and we found delivering those services to users' phones to be a very frustrating experience. But we also found that we weren't alone, so we formed the Open Handset Alliance, a group of like-minded partners, and created Android to be the platform that we all wished we had. To encourage broad adoption, we arranged for Android to be open-source. Google also created and operates Android Market as a service for developers to distribute their apps to Android users. In other words, we created Android because the industry needed an injection of openness. Today, we're thrilled to see all the enthusiasm that developers, users, and others in the mobile industry have shown toward Android.

With a high-quality open platform in hand, we then returned to our goal of making our services available on users' phones. That's why we developed Android apps for many of our services like YouTube, Gmail, Google Voice, and so on. These apps are Google's way of benefiting from Android in the same way that any other developer can, but the apps are not part of the Android platform itself. We make some of these apps available to users of any Android-powered device via Android Market, and others are pre-installed on some phones through business deals. Either way, these apps aren't open source, and that's why they aren't included in the Android source code repository. Unauthorized distribution of this software harms us just like it would any other business, even if it's done with the best of intentions.

I hope that clears up some of the confusion around Google's apps for Android. We always love seeing novel uses of Android, including custom Android builds from developers who see a need. I look forward to seeing what comes next!

Mobile App Dev Tips: Usability When data is Unavailable

This article is applicable mainly to mobile applications that are designed to fetch fresh data upon launching (ie news, scores, weather, finacial info...). A little feedback to the developers out there: please allow your application to maintain and display the prev downloaded information if data connection is unavailable. This minor tweak can bring lots of joy to users and improve mobile experience when data connection is unavailable ( ie air plane mode or underground subway).

Take a look at two examples below:


















USA Today app (left) allows me to view the news articles I updated a couple of hours before I boarded my flight. Whereas Yahoo Finance app (right) just craps out and blanks out all the stock quotes because I'm using airplane mode. If you look at the way Apple built their default apps, they tend to go by this rule as Mail, Stocks, and Weather apps will all be functional up to thee point of your latest update.

ADC 2 Judging Has Begun!

ADC 2 App LogoADC 2 Judging App ScreenshotI am happy to announce that Android Developer Challenge 2's first round of judging has begun!

As a reminder, user voting determines which apps will make it to the second round. Voting will occur through an application called Android Developer Challenge 2, which is now available for download from Android Market. Android Developer Challenge 2 presents apps for each user to download and score according to a set of criteria, such as originality and effective use of the Android platform, among others. The first round of judging will last at least two weeks from today. Judging will continue until we receive a sufficient number of votes to identify the top 20 applications in each of the 10 categories (200 apps total) that qualify for the second round.

During the second round, judging will occur through a combination of user voting and input from a panel of industry experts. User voting will continue to occur via Android Developer Challenge 2 and will account for 40% of the final score that each app receives in round two. The remaining 60% of the final score will be determined by the industry expert panel.

It has been a little less than a year since the first Android-powered phones became available. Today, there are more than 10,000 applications available in Android Market. We are pleased by the energy and commitment demonstrated by developers in such a short period of time. Our goal with Android Developer Challenge 2 is to inspire the developer community to produce even more innovative apps for Android. Now on to the voting!

Download Android Developer Challenge 2:

QR code for ADC2 app download

Samsung B3210 CorbyTXT simple QWERTY phone


my previous post about Samsung B5310 Corby pro. this Samsung B3210 CorbyTXT is another new member of this family and it has very necessary features only. also this is a cheap phone.
Samsung B3210 CorbyTXT has a 2.2 inch touch screen and full QWERTY keypad. also the internal memory of this phone is 40MB and it supports up to 8GB memory cards. it has bluetooth but wi-fi is not available. it has 2MP camera and it allows video recording. like other members of Corby family, Samsung B3210 CorbyTXT has changeable battery covers called Fashion Jackets.

Samsung B5310 CorbyPRO newest phone with full QWERTY keypad


Samsung B5310 CorbyPRO is another newest mobile phone which has a full QWERTY keypad. this phone comes with very attractive colors and it has a slider design keypad. also it's a touchscreen phone.
Samsung B5310 CorbyPRO has 2.8 inch touchscreen and supports 3G HSDPA. also it has 100mb internal memory and supports up to 16GB memory cards. Samsung B5310 CorbyPRO has both wi-fi and bluetooth. it has 3.15mp main camera which supports 2048x1536 pixels maximum picture resolution.
Samsung B5310 CorbyPRO has a GPS receiver with google maps application. it has very good media player and has a featured organizer. another special thing of this phone is it has changeable battery covers called "Fashion Jackets". this phone will be available in the market at the end of this year.

Helping people find answers

My experience with teaching online courses (and participating in various online communities) has led me to believe that there are three basic groups of people when it comes to finding answers to their questions:
  • Social learners: people who prefer finding answers by asking other people.
  • Resource learners: people who prefer finding answers on their own using any available resource.
  • Passive learners: people who prefer waiting for answers to find them.
We can be part of a different group in different settings, although usually people tend to have a preference for one of the groups. And why do I find this important? I think it's important to be aware of how people prefer finding solutions to their problems when you're trying to teach people or provide technical or other types of support. And be willing to accommodate differences in their favorite approach. This is especially important in an online setting, where there's a spatial and often a time barrier when you're interacting with your students, colleagues or clients.

What the first group, the social learners, needs the most is an easy way to ask other people their questions. Provide them with different channels, make yourself available. And if you want them to keep asking questions, you have to make sure they get their answers in a reasonable time frame and that the answers provide enough information value and that they don't make the person feel bad or even stupid for asking the question. Thank the people when they're asking questions, and try your best to answer them. And don't forget that often an honest "I don't know, I'll have to look it up." can be the right answer. Also, be prepared to answer the same questions all over again, but don't be afraid to link to previous answers when you're working in an online environment.

In a large group of people the second group, the resource learners, can also help you provide the right answers for social learners. Resource learners often like the challenge of an open question and will gladly share what they've learned on their own to help out their peers. Just take a look at Twitter or Yahoo! Answers. What you can do to help resource learners solve their problems more effectively, is providing a lot of different resources, which should be easily accessible and searchable.

The most difficult group to deal with are the passive learners. They tend to solve problems by following what others do, find answers that are not related to the question or simply walk away. Different circumstances can make an individual a passive learner, such as lack of time or interest, lack of confidence when using an unknown communication tool or even fear of asking the wrong questions. They often complain when they don't achieve the expected results, but you just can't seem to be able to convince them that asking questions when problems arise can help them solve problems.

So what can we do to help passive learners? My usual approach is to provide regular directions from different angles, sometimes provide answers to questions nobody is explicitly asking, and to keep offering help. Some people just might need some time to start feeling comfortable before they start asking questions, and I try to make sure they know it's never too late to start.

But at the end of the day don't forget that you probably won't always be able to turn every passive learner into a social or resource learner. This doesn't necessarily mean that you've done something wrong or they are not successful learners. It might just not be the right time, place or circumstance for them. You can't always help everyone, but do try to find out how you can best help each individual.

Samsung B7330 OmniaPRO newest phone


Samsung B7330 OmniaPRO is the newest phone of the Samsug OmniaPro mobile phone series. but this phone doesn't have the classical omnia appearance because it's not a full touch phone. it looks like a blackberry phone.
Samsung B7330 OmniaPRO is a 3G phone which supports 7.2MBPS HSDPA. also it has a full QWERTY keypad. this phone has 270MB internal memory and it supports up to 32GB memory cards. also Samsung B7330 OmniaPRO has both wi-fi and bluetooth.
it has a 3.15MP main camera with geo-tagging feature. also it runs with a Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard OS. B7330 OmniaPRO has a GPS receiver with A-GPS support. also it has many applications like pocket office.

Palm Pixi newest touchscreen phone


Plam Pre was a famous phone and was a big challenge to apple iphone. they recently announced about their another newest phone Palm Pixi. most of the features of Palm Pixi are similar to Palm Pre. but it doesn't have a slider keypad.
Palm Pixi is a 3G phone which allows 7.2MBP/s HSDPA and 5.6MBP/s HSUPA speed. it has 2.6 inch capacitive touchscreen with multi-touch support. Palm Pixi has both Accelerometer sensor and Proximity sensor.
the internal memory of this phone is 8GB but there is no memory card slot. also wi-fi is not available. Palm Pixi has a 2MP main camera with video support. it runs with 600 MHz processor and has a dedicated graphics accelerator chip.

SMS Text Messages - Hearsay Evidence

SMS Text Messages - Hearsay Evidence.C2247 / R v Leonard 2009 YEAR OF CASE: 2009CITATION: [2009] EWCA Crim 1251COURT: Court of Appeal.SUMMARY:Large quantities of various types of Class A drugs and cash were found in L's bedsit and on his person during a search by police..At trial for possession of class A drugs with intent to supply, the prosecution argued that L was a street dealer and those

Mobile Market Stats

Mobile Market StatsUseful OFCOM mobile market statistics collated from the UK mobile network operators.

Samsung E1080T cheap and simple phone


mobile phone companies has various customer range. they cover these customers by launching various types of phones. Samsung E1080T is a newest phone for people who need just a mobile phone. this phone has very necessary features only so it is very cheap.
Samsung E1080T is a 2G phone which has a 1.5 inch color display. it has 1MB internal memory which is enough to save contacts and messages. but since this phone has limited features, it has really good battery life and talk time. you can use the battery for a week after a full charge.

Nokia X6 5Mp camera phone with great features



as you know "X" is the newest Nokia phone series. Nokia X6 is the one of newly announced phone in this series. this phone will be available at the end of this year. basically X6 is a full featured touch smart phone.
Nokia has launched several full touch phones but all of them has a resistive touchscreen. therefore multi-touch features is not available even in N97. now Nokia X6 is the first Nokia phone which has a capacitive touchscreen and multi-touch screen. it has a 3.2 inch touchscreen with scratch-resistant glass surface. also Nokia X6 has an Accelerometer sensor and Handwriting recognition feature.
Nokia X6 has huge 32GB storage. it also supports memory cards. this phone has both wi-fi and bluetooth. it supports 3.6Mbp/s 3G HSDPA connectivity. Nokia X6 has 5Mp main camera with Nokia's Carl Zeiss optics technology. it also has dual LED flash and supports 15fps video recording.
this phone has a GPS receiver with Ovi Maps 3.0 application. also it has a TV out, FM radio and great media player.

Introducing Quick Search Box for Android

One of the new features we're really proud of in the Android 1.6 release is Quick Search Box for Android. This is our new system-wide search framework, which makes it possible for users to quickly and easily find what they're looking for, both on their devices and on the web. It suggests content on your device as you type, like apps, contacts, browser history, and music. It also offers results from the web search suggestions, local business listings, and other info from Google, such as stock quotes, weather, and flight status. All of this is available right from the home screen, by tapping on Quick Search Box (QSB).

What we're most excited about with this new feature is the ability for you, the developers, to leverage the QSB framework to provide quicker and easier access to the content inside your apps. Your apps can provide search suggestions that will surface to users in QSB alongside other search results and suggestions. This makes it possible for users to access your application's content from outside your application—for example, from the home screen.

The code fragments below are related to a new demo app for Android 1.6 called Searchable Dictionary.


The story before now: searching within your app

In previous releases, we already provided a mechanism for you to expose search and search suggestions in your app as described in the docs for SearchManager. This mechanism has not changed and requires the following two things in your AndroidManifest.xml:

1) In your <activity>, an intent filter, and a reference to a searchable.xml file (described below):

<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
</intent-filter>

<meta-data android:name="android.app.searchable"
android:resource="@xml/searchable" />

2) A content provider that can provide search suggestions according to the URIs and column formats specified by the Search Suggestions section of the SearchManager docs:

<!-- Provides search suggestions for words and their definitions. -->
<provider android:name="DictionaryProvider"
android:authorities="dictionary"
android:syncable="false" />

In the searchable.xml file, you specify a few things about how you want the search system to present search for your app, including the authority of the content provider that provides suggestions for the user as they type. Here's an example of the searchable.xml of an Android app that provides search suggestions within its own activities:

<searchable xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:label="@string/search_label"
android:searchSuggestAuthority="dictionary"
android:searchSuggestIntentAction="android.intent.action.VIEW">
</searchable>

Note that the android:searchSuggestAuthority attribute refers to the authority of the content provider we declared in AndroidManifest.xml.

For more details on this, see the Searchability Metadata section of the SearchManager docs.

Including your app in Quick Search Box

In Android 1.6, we added a new attribute to the metadata for searchables: android:includeInGlobalSearch. By specifying this as "true" in your searchable.xml, you allow QSB to pick up your search suggestion content provider and include its suggestions along with the rest (if the user enables your suggestions from the system search settings).

You should also specify a string value for android:searchSettingsDescription, which describes to users what sorts of suggestions your app provides in the system settings for search.

<searchable xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:label="@string/search_label"
android:searchSettingsDescription="@string/settings_description"
android:includeInGlobalSearch="true"
android:searchSuggestAuthority="dictionary"
android:searchSuggestIntentAction="android.intent.action.VIEW">
</searchable>

These new attributes are supported only in Android 1.6 and later.

What to expect

The first and most important thing to note is that when a user installs an app with a suggestion provider that participates in QSB, this new app will not be enabled for QSB by default. The user can choose to enable particular suggestion sources from the system settings for search (by going to "Search" > "Searchable items" in settings).

You should consider how to handle this in your app. Perhaps show a notice that instructs the user to visit system settings and enable your app's suggestions.

Once the user enables your searchable item, the app's suggestions will have a chance to show up in QSB, most likely under the "more results" section to begin with. As your app's suggestions are chosen more frequently, they can move up in the list.

Shortcuts

One of our objectives with QSB is to make it faster for users to access the things they access most often. One way we've done this is by 'shortcutting' some of the previously chosen search suggestions, so they will be shown immediately as the user starts typing, instead of waiting to query the content providers. Suggestions from your app may be chosen as shortcuts when the user clicks on them.

For dynamic suggestions that may wish to change their content (or become invalid) in the future, you can provide a 'shortcut id'. This tells QSB to query your suggestion provider for up-to-date content for a suggestion after it has been displayed. For more details on how to manage shortcuts, see the Shortcuts section within the SearchManager docs.


QSB provides a really cool way to make your app's content quicker to access by users. To help you get your app started with it, we've created a demo app which simply provides access to a small dictionary of words in QSB—it's called Searchable Dictionary, and we encourage you to check it out.

Yahoo! Finance Goes iPhone App

Yahoo! Finance has long been my favorite website to check in on the stock market. I've been using this site for the past 10 years as I am very familiar with its ins and outs. I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted with a prompt this evening indicating a new iPhone app for free. Already, the iPhone default stock quote app is powered by Yahoo. I've always felt it was a bit lite despite the recent updates of offering news and other data; as a work around I've been hitting up Yahoo's Mobile sites to get my finance news needs.

This iPhone app is pretty cool; Yahoo has done a great job providing all the top features to the small screen. The application is essentially broken down by four tabs which covers its major functions: Market News, Quotes, Research Tools and Tech Tickers (multimedia news). I wish the app has a sign-in feature which would download my desktop preference to the small screen (ie. the stocks I am following, etc...). All together, this is a pretty cool little utility app that I'll be using frequently.

Motorola DEXT MB220 the first motorola phone with Android


Motorola DEXT MB220 is a newest and high quality smart phone of Motorola. it has almost every feature in a smart phone. also another special thing is Motorola DEXT MB220 is the first Motorola phone which runs Android OS. they announced about this phone in this month and it will be available at the end of the year.
basically Motorola DEXT MB220 is a 3G HSDPA phone. also it has a full QWERTY keypad which opens in slider mechanism. another thing is Motorola has developed a special interface for this phone named MOTOBLUR UI.
the internal memory of this phone is 1GB and it also supports up to 32GB memory cards. Motorola DEXT MB220 also has both bluetooth and wi-fi. it has 5MP main camera with 24fps high quality video recording. Motorola DEXT MB220 has a full GPS receiver with A-GPS support. also it has a Digital compass and a very good media player which supports many file types.

LG GW620 another new Google Android Smart phone


as i know LG GW620 is the first LG phone which runs Google Android OS. it's a very handy phone and has tons of new features. it has 3 inch capacitive touchscreen and slider mechanism full QWERTY keypad. also LG GW620 is a 3g phone which supports 7.2Mbp/s HSDPA.
this phone has 5MP main camera which support 2560 x 1920 pixels maximum picture resolution. also it supports video recording. as my title says LG GW620 has newest version of Android OS. it has both wi-fi and bluetooth. the internal memory of this phone is 64MB and it supports up to 16GB memory cards.
LG GW620 has a full featured GPS receiver with google maps. it also support A-GPS feature. it has stereo FM radio, photo editing application and many useful features.

Android 1.6 SDK is here

I am happy to let you know that Android 1.6 SDK is available for download. Android 1.6, which is based on the donut branch from the Android Open Source Project, introduces a number of new features and technologies. With support for CDMA and additional screen sizes, your apps can be deployed on even more mobile networks and devices. You will have access to new technologies, including framework-level support for additional screen resolutions, like QVGA and WVGA, new telephony APIs to support CDMA, gesture APIs, a text-to-speech engine, and the ability to integrate with Quick Search Box. What's new in Android 1.6 provides a more complete overview of this platform update.

The Android 1.6 SDK requires a new version of Android Development Tools (ADT). The SDK also includes a new tool that enables you to download updates and additional components, such as new add-ons or platforms.

You can expect to see devices running Android 1.6 as early as October. As with previous platform updates, applications written for older versions of Android will continue to run on devices with Android 1.6. Please test your existing apps on the Android 1.6 SDK to make sure they run as expected.

Over the next several weeks, we will publish a series of blog posts to help you get ready for the new developer technologies in Android 1.6. The following topics, and more, will be covered: how to adapt your applications to support different screen sizes, integrating with Quick Search Box, building gestures into your apps, and using the text-to-speech engine.

If you are interested to see some highlights of Android 1.6, check out the video below.


Happy coding!

Samsung S5230W Star WiFi newest internet phone


Samsung S5230W is not a very expensive phone. but it's a full featured phone which has full touchscreen. it has a 3 inch resistive touchscreen and an Accelerometer sensor. also Samsung S5230W is not a 3G phone. but it has both bluetooth and wi-fi.
also Samsung S5230W has very good music quality. it powered by samsung's popular Digital Natural Sound Engine technology. the internal memory of this phone is 50MB and it supports up to 16GB memory cards.
Samsung S5230W has 3.15MP camera and the camera application has face and smile detection features.

T-Mobile Pulse, another newest phone with Android OS


as you know, HTC manufacturing many mobile phones for t-mobile like t-mobile G1. T-Mobile Pulse is the newest mobile phone which manufactured by HTC. this is also a full touchscreen phone which has lots of new features. basically it's a 3G phone which supports 7.2 MBP/s HSDPA and 2MBP/s HSUPA.
it has 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen which supports multi-touch. also T-Mobile Pulse has an Accelerometer sensor and a Trackball. the internal memory of this phone is 32MB and it supports up to 16GB memory cards. T-Mobile Pulse has both bluetooth and wi-fi.
the main camera of this phone is 5MP and it also allow video recording. T-Mobile Pulse runs with Android OS, v1.5 newest version. also it has a GPS receiver with A-GPS support.

BCCH data uncovered

BCCH data uncovered.The data found in the elementary file broadcast control channel (EFBCCH) 7F20:6F74 / 7F21:6F74 can provide useful data relating to a geographical radio area when combined with location area information data..Method for translating BCCH information data. The question is, is the translation below to find the BCCH frequencies correct and what have I not mentioned below? You will

Palm OS Apps 50% Off

Those of you still using the classic Palm OS on your Treos, Handmark has a little treat for you. Take 50% off on Palm OS applications and games when you use promo code palm50 at checkout. You can buy your apps with this 50% off offer at Handmark.com or PocketExpress.com.

Apple Disappoints with Pathetic iPod Updates

I had high hopes for Apple to slowly get rid of its older iPod formats (nano, classic and shuffle) and focus more of its energy on the iPod touch in today's Rock and Roll event but to my disappointment, the 3rd generation iPod Touch is pretty much the same as the 2nd gen. Still no integrated mic/GPS/camera. Looks like Apple pulled an iPhone-3GS kinda update to its internals only with faster hardware and more internal storage. The only good news is that prices have come down a bit for the iPod Touch.

The shocker for me was to see Apple putting a video camera onto the iPod Nano 5th gen along with a bigger LCD and FM Radio w/ live pause. I just don't see the point or appeal here. A video cam is much needed on the iPod Touch. But apparently, Mr. Jobs thinks of the iPod Touch only as a video gaming platform... whatever!

If you've been holding out from buying a 2nd gen. iPod Touch because you were waiting for the new one, I would say go ahead and save some money and pickup a 2nd gen. Wait a year and my bet is the next iPod touch will have the camera and other much needed features.

BTW - iPhone/iPod Touch firmware gets an update to 3.1

Nokia N97 Mini, the newest edition of N97


Nokia N97 was not successes as they thought. because when it born, there were many competitors and it's price was high. Now they announced another version of N97, it is Nokia N97 mini. this is a light version of N97 and the price may be less than N97.
the display of this phone is 3.2 inch, it is bit less than N97. also N97 mini has an Accelerometer sensor and Handwriting recognition feature. instead of 32GB memory, this light version has a 8GB internal memory. it also supports up to 16GB memory cards.
Nokia N97 mini has both wi-fi and bluetooth. it has 5MP camera and the maximum picture resolution is 2592x1944 pixels. the camera has a dual LED flash and a video light. this new phone also has the features like GPS, digital compass etc..

Nokia X3 new mobile phone with Nokia X series


Nokia X phones series is the newest mobile phone series of Nokia. even now they have announced couple of handy mobile phones for this series. Nokia X3 is a very new and handy design phone of this series. it has a slider mechanism keypad. since this phone is a 2G phone, the price it may not be expensive.
Nokia X3 has a 2.2 inch color display. this is a very good music phone which gives very quality music out. also it has dedicated music keys and 3.5mm audio jack. Nokia X3 has 70MB internal memory and supports up to 16GB memory cards. also it comes with a 2GB memory card included. it has bluetooth but wi-fi is not available.
Nokia X3 has a 3.15 mp camera with a LED flash. it also allow video recording. they haven't mentioned about the standby time but Nokia X3 has more than 24 hours music play time.

Mobile Phone Identity Theft

Mobile Phone Identity Theft.With a title like that you could be forgiven if you thought that someone had taken your mobile phone, stolen the name off it and just chucked the hardware back at you. Not interested in the phone, only want the name. Oh yes, call me Nokia N70 from now on..The latest scare of Mobile Phone ID Theft as reported by Matt Cole Newsbeat Report for BBC online service Newsbeat

Samsung S7550 Blue Earth environment friendly mobile phone


if you have seen my previous posts, you may find Sony Ericsson GreanHeart eco-friendly mobile phone series. eco-friendly mobile phones are new trend of mobile phone industry. it will help to reduce the future e-waste. now samsung has contributed this concept by launching their newest eco-friendly mobile phone. it is Samsung S7550 and samsung has named their eco-mobile phone series as "blue heart".
Samsung S7550 is a very good touchscreen phone which has 3 inch touchscreen. also it has an Accelerometer sensor and smart unlock feature. S7550 is a 3G phone which supports UTMS. the internal memory of this phone is 110mb and it supports up to 16GB memory cards. also Samsung S7550 has both bluetooth and wi-fi.
the main camera of this phone is 3.15MP and it supports video recording and geo tagging feature. it has GPS receiver and FM stereo radio. Samsung S7550 made with eco-friendly material. also it has a new application called eco-walk and eco profile mode.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 8MP camera phone announced


if you are interested in new smart phones,you may familiar with Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. it's a world famous and very successful mobile phone. now Sony Ericsson recently announced about it's new brother, Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2. like X1, this new phone has a full QWERTY keypad. also the new XPERIA X1 has many improved features.
basically Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 is a 3g phone which supports 7.2MBp/s HSDPA and HSUPA. it has a 3.2 inch resistive touchscreen and an Accelerometer sensor. this phone has a new user interface called XPERIA panels user interface. XPERIA X2 has 110mb internal memory and supports up to 32GB memory cards. another great feature of XPERIA X2 is it's 8Mp camera. the maximum picture resolution is 3264x2448 pixels and it has a LED flash. the camera application has many features like face detection and touch focus.
unlike XPERIA X1, this new phone runs with Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional OS. it has 700MHz processor and 256MB RAM to run it properly. also Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 has a GPS receiver and TV out.

Smartphone will out sell Desktops by 2010

According to this Switched article, analysts believe by 2010, smartphone sales will exceed desktops. Hence the reason why Dell and Asus have taken the plunge in smartphone development. The way I see it is that full size computers will still be around but will be left with professionals who need its supreme processing power for specialized tasks. Smartphones, netbooks and tabloids will be evolved to the point where average consumers can do "most" of the daily tasks ie. simple spreadsheet, writing a letter or book report, ecommerce, bill paying and use any "cloud-computing" solutions.

Subsidiarity Isn't working

Subsidiarity Isn't working.Sometimes, something can be said, a word or phrase, that sticks in my mind and eventually I have to go and research it, just to see where it leads..Throughout most of the 80s a "fit the need of the moment terminology” was being used by European ministers which had been noted with particular emphasis embracing the word "Subsidiarity"..Subsidiarity was pulled from EC

AT&T Insider Sales Event 9/9/09


If you are an AT&T customer, keep an eye out for your inbox, I just got an email informing me about an "Insider Sales Event" which comes with a unique barcode that I can take it to a store in NYC to get $50 off a phone (if I sign up for another 2 years of service). I am not sure if this allows me to upgrade my iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS. My email says its only good for the NY area so I am not sure if its a nationwide promo. Promo also includes a 25% off accessories and a chance to enter a drawing for Yankees tickets.

Some News from Android Market

I'm pleased to let you know about several updates to Android Market. First, we will soon introduce new features in Android Market for Android 1.6 that will improve the overall experience for users. As part of this change, developers will be able to provide screenshots, promotional icons and descriptions that will better show off applications and games.

We have also added four new sub-categories for applications: sports, health, themes, and comics. Developers can now choose these sub-categories for both new and existing applications via the publisher website. Finally, we have added seller support for developers in Italy. Italian developers can go to the publisher website to upload applications and target any of the countries where paid applications are currently available to users.

To take advantage of the upcoming Android Market refresh, we encourage you to visit the Android Market publisher website and upload additional marketing assets. Check out the video below for some of the highlights.

Lexus Side Loading Apps to iPod Touch?

I just got back from the US Open 2009 (mobile site too, cool) out in Queens; we try to get to the Grounds Admission days at least once per year just to enjoy the scene. Lexus typically uses this event to introduce new models (last year it was the crazy IS-F sedan) and this year it was the IS-C convertible as well as the 250HS Hybrid sedan. When I was talking to a rep about a vehicle, she asked me if I would be interested in receiving a $1,000 off discount via email, upon agreeing, a rep pulls out an iPod Touch and launches an application which takes down my name, address and email. The application is custom designed to let the Lexus reps have quick access to input a lead and select any of their models to add me to their database. They had very nice finishing touches like all sorts of email extensions (gmail, aol, yahoo) so the rep can quickly complete the email field. I noticed the iPod Touch was connected to WiFi so they must be uploading the potential customer info live wirelessly (instead of saving to device and download later). I couldn't find this app on iTunes so it must be something they've developed for internal usage.

A very cool example of how Lexus is leveraging robust mobile experience for their employees to capture valuable customer leads in a stylish way!

Samsung S3650 Corby cheap full touchscreen phone


Samsung S3650 Corby is a full touchscreen phone which has 2.8 inch touchscreen. but it's a cheap phone because it has very necessary features only. Samsung S3650 has an Accelerometer sensor to identify the rotation. also it has the smart unlock feature.
Samsung S3650 has 32Mb internal memory and supports up to 8GB memory cards. also this is a 2G phone and HSDPA is not available. it has bluetooth and mini USB port.
Samsung S3650 has 2MP camera which supports 1600x1200 pixels image resolution. it also supports video recording. this phone has a good stereo FM radio with RDS. also it has a quality sound media player.


Nokia Mural great flap design phone



flap design phones are a fashion for some people. but unfortunately most super smart phones like iphone 3Gs and Nokia N97 are not flap design phone. but now nokia announced about their newest flap design phone with many new features. it is Nokia Mural.
Nokia Mural is a 3G phone which supports 3.6MBp/s HSDPA. it has a 2.2 inch internal display and 1.6 inch external OLED display. this external display is a hidden one and when the phone is turned off, there is no mark of the display.
Nokia Mural has 70MB internal memory and supports up to 32GB memory cards. it has bluetooth but wi-fi is not available. the main camera of this phone is 2MP and it allows video recording. also it has dedicated music keys to easily control media player.