I finished writing a driver for the Zephyr2 on the iPhone. It's the same multi-touch solution that Apple has used starting from the first generation iPod touch and up to and including the iPad.
Now, of course this shouldn't be construed as a promise to support the iPad eventually, but this multi-touch driver is definitely a concrete milestone that is important for pretty much all of Apple's mobile Internet devices.
More immediately, this is pretty much the sole remaining blocking issue on the first-gen iPod touch and one of the two major issues on the iPhone 3G. The other issue on the iPhone 3G is baseband SPI. I'm wondering if we can get away with just using the debug uart to make calls (if we don't care about having a fast 3G data connection yet).
Also, I'd like some opinions from this blog's readers: More frequent updates? Or just document the major advances?
Quick thoughts on Palm and HP
It could have been worse. A lot worse.
Many of the companies rumored to be looking at Palm would have bought it mostly for the patents or the brand, and tossed aside everything else. But I think there's a good chance that HP bought the company to keep running it. HP has a long history of activity in the mobile devices market, but hasn't had a lot of knockout success there lately, other than in notebook computers. Palm makes it a player again, or at least potentially a player.
The press release makes it sound like HP was especially interested in the software side of Palm rather than the hardware. WebOS was mentioned six times (compared to one mention of Pre), and Todd Bradley, EVP of the Personal Systems group at HP, was quoted in the press release as saying, "Palm's innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices."
Sure sounds to me like they're planning to deploy the OS across different classes of devices. And tablets were reportedly mentioned specifically in the press conference after the deal was announced.
So overall, I think Palm users and developers should feel good about the deal. Obviously, everything will depend on execution. But at least the company's not being immediately dismantled, which could easily have happened.
Here are some other thoughts on the deal:
Upside for Palm device sales. With HP's huge sales infrastructure, the Pre can move quickly into a lot of interesting places Palm couldn't easily reach -- especially corporate sales, more international markets, and more operator deals.
Ominous news for Microsoft. Between the gains for Android and the Apple-driven trend toward mobile companies owning their own platforms, the market space for Microsoft's mobile software continues to shrink. But more important than that, HP is the number one Windows vendor, and it now owns its own operating system. That's not an immediate crisis for Microsoft, but it should keep someone there awake at night.
Can the old dog HP learn new tricks? Historically, HP has been pretty close to inept in two areas that Palm knows how to run: Managing a consumer developer community, and creating a great user experience by combining hardware and software. If HP is wise, it will keep the Palm teams intact and let them gradually spread those skills to the rest of the company. On the other hand, if HP tries to "help" the Palm folks execute, it will almost certainly drown them in process and bureaucracy.
What is HP's goal in personal systems? The thing that surprises me most about the Palm purchase is that the rumor mill in Silicon Valley said HP was moving away from differentiation in PCs. The company has laid off many of the Apple refugees who had come in to help run the PC business, and the quirky advertising seems to have faded into the background. Supposedly, HP was much more interested in emulating Acer than Apple in PCs. But the Palm deal positions HP as a much more direct competitor to Apple.
Maybe HP sees mobile as a different marketplace, where investment and innovation can pay off better.
PS: I won't even get into the irony of former Palm CEO Todd Bradley now controlling the company again. Let's just say Silicon Valley is a very small place.
Many of the companies rumored to be looking at Palm would have bought it mostly for the patents or the brand, and tossed aside everything else. But I think there's a good chance that HP bought the company to keep running it. HP has a long history of activity in the mobile devices market, but hasn't had a lot of knockout success there lately, other than in notebook computers. Palm makes it a player again, or at least potentially a player.
The press release makes it sound like HP was especially interested in the software side of Palm rather than the hardware. WebOS was mentioned six times (compared to one mention of Pre), and Todd Bradley, EVP of the Personal Systems group at HP, was quoted in the press release as saying, "Palm's innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices."
Sure sounds to me like they're planning to deploy the OS across different classes of devices. And tablets were reportedly mentioned specifically in the press conference after the deal was announced.
So overall, I think Palm users and developers should feel good about the deal. Obviously, everything will depend on execution. But at least the company's not being immediately dismantled, which could easily have happened.
Here are some other thoughts on the deal:
Upside for Palm device sales. With HP's huge sales infrastructure, the Pre can move quickly into a lot of interesting places Palm couldn't easily reach -- especially corporate sales, more international markets, and more operator deals.
Ominous news for Microsoft. Between the gains for Android and the Apple-driven trend toward mobile companies owning their own platforms, the market space for Microsoft's mobile software continues to shrink. But more important than that, HP is the number one Windows vendor, and it now owns its own operating system. That's not an immediate crisis for Microsoft, but it should keep someone there awake at night.
Can the old dog HP learn new tricks? Historically, HP has been pretty close to inept in two areas that Palm knows how to run: Managing a consumer developer community, and creating a great user experience by combining hardware and software. If HP is wise, it will keep the Palm teams intact and let them gradually spread those skills to the rest of the company. On the other hand, if HP tries to "help" the Palm folks execute, it will almost certainly drown them in process and bureaucracy.
What is HP's goal in personal systems? The thing that surprises me most about the Palm purchase is that the rumor mill in Silicon Valley said HP was moving away from differentiation in PCs. The company has laid off many of the Apple refugees who had come in to help run the PC business, and the quirky advertising seems to have faded into the background. Supposedly, HP was much more interested in emulating Acer than Apple in PCs. But the Palm deal positions HP as a much more direct competitor to Apple.
Maybe HP sees mobile as a different marketplace, where investment and innovation can pay off better.
PS: I won't even get into the irony of former Palm CEO Todd Bradley now controlling the company again. Let's just say Silicon Valley is a very small place.
Multitasking the Android Way
[This post is by Dianne Hackborn, a Software Engineer who sits very near the exact center of everything Android. — Tim Bray]
Android is fairly unique in the ways it allows multiple applications to run at the same time. Developers coming from a different platform may find the way it operates surprising. Understanding its behavior is important for designing applications that will work well and integrate seamlessly with the rest of the Android platform. This article covers the reasons for Android's multitasking design, its impact on how applications work, and how you can best take advantage of Android's unique features.
Design considerations
Mobile devices have technical limitations and user experience requirements not present in desktop or web systems. Here are the four key constraints we were working under as we designed Android's multitasking:
We did not want to require that users close applications when "done" with them. Such a usage pattern does not work well in a mobile environment, where usage tends to involve repeated brief contact with a wide variety of applications throughout the day.
Mobile devices don't have the luxury of swap space, so have fairly hard limits on memory use. Robert Love has a very good article covering the topic.
Application switching on a mobile device is extremely critical; we target significantly less than 1 second to launch a new application. This is especially important when the user is switching between a few applications, such as switching to look at a new SMS message while watching a video, and then returning to that video. A noticeable wait in such situations will quickly make users hate you.
The available APIs must be sufficient for writing the built-in Google applications, as part of our "all applications are created equal" philosophy. This means background music playback, data syncing, GPS navigation, and application downloading must be implemented with the same APIs that are available to third party developers.
The first two requirements highlight an interesting conflict. We don't want users to worry about closing their apps, but rather make it appear that all of the applications are always running. At the same time, mobile devices have hard limits on memory use, so that a system will degrade or even start failing very quickly as it needs more RAM than is available; a desktop computer, with swap, in contrast will simply start slowing down as it needs to page RAM to its swap space. These competing constraints were a key motivation for Android's design.
When does an application "stop"?
A common misunderstanding about Android multitasking is the difference between a process and an application. In Android these are not tightly coupled entities: applications may seem present to the user without an actual process currently running the app; multiple applications may share processes, or one application may make use of multiple processes depending on its needs; the process(es) of an application may be kept around by Android even when that application is not actively doing something.
The fact that you can see an application's process "running" does not mean the application is running or doing anything. It may simply be there because Android needed it at some point, and has decided that it would be best to keep it around in case it needs it again. Likewise, you may leave an application for a little bit and return to it from where you left off, and during that time Android may have needed to get rid of the process for other things.
A key to how Android handles applications in this way is that processes don't shut down cleanly. When the user leaves an application, its process is kept around in the background, allowing it to continue working (for example downloading web pages) if needed, and come immediately to the foreground if the user returns to it. If a device never runs out of memory, then Android will keep all of these processes around, truly leaving all applications "running" all of the time.
Of course, there is a limited amount of memory, and to accommodate this Android must decide when to get rid of processes that are not needed. This leads to Android's process lifecycle, the rules it uses to decide how important each process is and thus the next one that should be dropped. These rules are based on both how important a process is for the user's current experience, as well as how long it has been since the process was last needed by the user.
Once Android determines that it needs to remove a process, it does this brutally, simply force-killing it. The kernel can then immediately reclaim all resources needed by the process, without relying on that application being well written and responsive to a polite request to exit. Allowing the kernel to immediately reclaim application resources makes it a lot easier to avoid serious out of memory situations.
If a user later returns to an application that's been killed, Android needs a way to re-launch it in the same state as it was last seen, to preserve the "all applications are running all of the time" experience. This is done by keeping track of the parts of the application the user is aware of (the Activities), and re-starting them with information about the last state they were seen in. This last state is generated each time the user leaves that part of the application, not when it is killed, so that the kernel can later freely kill it without depending on the application to respond correctly at that point.
In some ways, Android's process management can be seen as a form of swap space: application processes represent a certain amount of in-use memory; when memory is low, some processes can be killed (swapped out); when those processes are needed again, they can be re-started from their last saved state (swapped in).
Explicitly running in the background
So far, we have a way for applications to implicitly do work in the background, as long as the process doesn't get killed by Android as part of its regular memory management. This is fine for things like loading web pages in the background, but what about features with harder requirements? Background music playback, data synchronization, location tracking, alarm clocks, etc.
For these tasks, the application needs a way to tell Android "I would explicitly like to run at this point." There are two main facilities available to applications for this, represented by two kinds of components they can publish in their manifest: broadcast receivers and services.
Broadcast Receivers
A BroadcastReceiver allows an application to run, for a brief amount of time, in the background as a result of something else happening. It can be used in many ways to build higher-level facilities: for example the AlarmManager allows an application to have a broadcast sent at a certain time in the future, and the LocationManager can send a broadcast when it detects interesting changes in location. Because information about the receiver is part of an application's manifest, Android can find and launch the application even if it isn't running; of course if it already has its process available in the background, the broadcast can very efficiently be directly dispatched to it.
When handling a broadcast, the application is given a fixed set of time (currently 10 seconds) in which to do its work. If it doesn't complete in that time, the application is considered to be misbehaving, and its process immediately tossed into the background state to be killed for memory if needed.
Broadcast receivers are great for doing small pieces of work in response to an external stimulus, such as posting a notification to the user after being sent a new GPS location report. They are very lightweight, since the application's process only needs to be around while actively receiving the broadcast. Because they are active for a deterministic amount of time, fairly strong guarantees can be made about not killing their process while running. However they are not appropriate for anything of indeterminate length, such as networking.
Services
A Service allows an application to implement longer-running background operations. There are actually a lot of other functions that services provide, but for the discussion here their fundamental purpose is for an application to say "hey I would like to continue running even while in the background, until I say I am done." An application controls when its service runs by explicitly starting and stopping the service.
While services do provide a rich client-server model, its use is optional. Upon starting an application's services, Android simply instantiates the component in the application's process to provide its context. How it is used after that is up to the application: it can put all of the needed code inside of the service itself without interacting with other parts of the application, make calls on other singleton objects shared with other parts of the app, directly retrieve the Service instance from elsewhere if needed, or run it in another process and do a full-blown RPC protocol if that is desired.
Process management for services is different than broadcast receivers, because an unbounded number of services can ask to be running for an unknown amount of time. There may not be enough RAM to have all of the requesting services run, so as a result no strong guarantees are made about being able to keep them running.
If there is too little RAM, processes hosting services will be immediately killed like background processes are. However, if appropriate, Android will remember that these services wish to remain running, and restart their process at a later time when more RAM is available. For example, if the user goes to a web page that requires large amounts of RAM, Android may kill background service processes like sync until the browser's memory needs go down.
Services can further negotiate this behavior by requesting they be considered "foreground." This places the service in a "please don't kill" state, but requires that it include a notification to the user about it actively running. This is useful for services such as background music playback or car navigation, which the user is actively aware of; when you're playing music and using the browser, you can always see the music-playing glyph in the status bar. Android won't try to kill these services, but as a trade-off, ensures the user knows about them and is able to explicitly stop them when desired.
The value of generic components
Android's generic broadcast receiver and service components allow developers to create a wide variety of efficient background operations, including things that were never originally considered. In Android 1.0 they were used to implement nearly all of the background behavior that the built-in and proprietary Google apps provided:
Music playback runs in a service to allow it to continue operating after the user leaves the music application.
The alarm clock schedules a broadcast receiver with the alarm manager, to go off at the next set alarm time.
The calendar application likewise schedules an alarm to display or update its notification at the appropriate time for the next calendar event.
Background file download is implemented a service that runs when there are any downloads to process.
The e-mail application schedules an alarm to wake up a service at regular intervals that looks for and retrieves any new mail.
The Google applications maintain a service to receive push notifications from the network; it in turn sends broadcasts to individual apps when it is told that they need to do things like synchronize contacts.
As the platform has evolved, these same basic components have been used to implement many of the major new developer features:
Input methods are implemented by developers as a Service component that Android manages and works with to display as the current IME.
Application widgets are broadcast receivers that Android sends broadcasts to when it needs to interact with them. This allows app widgets to be quite lightweight, by not needing their application's process remain running.
Accessibility features are implemented as services that Android keeps running while in use and sends appropriate information to about user interactions.
Sync adapters introduced in Android 2.0 are services that are run in the background when a particular data sync needs to be performed.
Live wallpapers are a service started by Android when selected by the user.
More Blogginess
Hello everyone, and welcome to a rare (in this space) blog about blogging. My name is Tim Bray, and I’m the new editor of this Android Developers’ Blog. I am only a student of Android, but I’m a veteran blogger, I’m part of the Android team, and they’ve given me a pretty free hand to find and publish the interesting stories. I’m expecting to enjoy this and hope you will too.
The work on Android is done at various places around the world, but in Mountain View, California there’s a building on the Google campus with an Android statue in front of it, positioned among dessert-themed sculptures that illustrate the major platform releases to date.
As of now, this blog has a header image taken from where some of the Android work happens, behind the statuary looking out. There are a ton of places on the Internet where you can read people’s opinions about what’s happening next with Android, and a lot of them are good. The one you’re reading now is the one that’s written from the inside looking out.
History
This space has been used mostly in a just-the-facts press-release-flavored way and, while that’s been useful, I thought it could be livelier. Because, even after only a few weeks’ exposure to what’s going on here, I’ve discovered that there are a ton of interesting Android stories, and while some of them probably have to be secrets, there are more than enough we can tell to crank up the interest level here.
I offered this opinion internally, loudly and repeatedly, and Android management surprised me by coming back with “OK, it’s your problem now.”
Future
I’m not going to write everything here; I’m going to track down the people who actually do the creative Android-building work and get them to tell their own stories. I will bend over backward to make sure the articles have the voices of the people who write them.
We will go on being a source for hard opinion-free just-the-facts Android news. But I’d like to surround each burst of that with a cluster of reportage about what it means and how we think it will affect the Android communities.
The immediate future is going to be pretty intense, because we’re only a few weeks away from Google I/O, and I don’t think that I’m telling any secrets when I say that there will be Android-related announcements at that event. So the problems that come with the new job probably won’t include scaring up content.
The first new-flavor post is going to be on a currently-hot subject, multitasking and background processing, written by an engineer at the center of the Android universe.
Wish me luck, and stay tuned!
Move Your App! Developer Challenge
If you are an android developer, this might be interesting to you. Snaptic is hosting a challenge to see if you can build an app that inspires and/or encourages people to get off of their butts and move around/exercise (inspired by Jamie Oliver). Grand prize is a fully paid trip to TED2010 conference with other prizes including Macbook Pro, etc... Submit your idea by May 21st, 2010. See more info here: https://snaptic.com/challenge/
The port to the iPhone 3G is coming along. This is a picture of an iPhone 3G booting into a BusyBox / Buildroot shell. As you can see, wireless networking is working great. We can also talk to the baseband over the debugging channel. This might be enough to get calling, etc., working but we may need to figure out the SPI transport.I'd still like to get the WM8991 codec working for it in openiboot (shouldn't be much trouble since there's a datasheet), just so we can iron out any quirks before testing it inside the kernel. We also need a new multi-touch driver (they've upgraded from Zephyr to Zephyr2). After that, we'll have a working port of Android.
Also, for existing developers and testers, I've implemented the Android wi-fi driver extensions so WLAN should be working better now. I know people had problems associating with WPA protected networks, etc. See if this update helps!
My first coupon mobile experience!
Last night I was craving for some Jamba Juice so I stopped by a nearby store and overheard some chatter about an existing buy 1 get 1 offer. When I asked about it, the kid behind the counter explained that I would need to bring in a printed coupon in order to redeem. I asked if I can find the coupon on my phone would they accept and he agreed. I then Googled "Jamba Juice coupon" on via iPhone and showed the coupon as seen here and got myself an extra mango-a-go-go smoothies for FREE :)
Android repos are up
We've gotten a tremendous response -- far more than I've actually anticipated before the release. I would like to thank the community for their interest. The amount of support and enthusiasm that was displayed was truly humbling to someone used to cynicism about this project.
The thing I'm most excited about is the fact there are now many developers working on several different things... a pretty big change from when I was hacking on the source tree virtually alone. There are developers actively working on the first generation iPod port, the iPhone 3G port, and a second-generation iPod touch port and things are moving much more quickly than I've anticipated. With so many helping hands, I'm sure that we can get these ports to production quality.
To coordinate our efforts, I've setup a series of git repositories on GitHub. You can clone the Android tree using Google's repo tool thus:
This command populates the majority of the tree from the main Android kernel.org repositories, with any changed project from my tree.
A fellow with the nickname of "konaya" on IRC has volunteered to administer a website for us at http://www.idroidproject.org. We can use the wiki to document iPhone Linux/iDroid and the forums to provide help to newcomers. We also have a developer mailing list (please ask in IRC if you wish to get added to that).
The thing I'm most excited about is the fact there are now many developers working on several different things... a pretty big change from when I was hacking on the source tree virtually alone. There are developers actively working on the first generation iPod port, the iPhone 3G port, and a second-generation iPod touch port and things are moving much more quickly than I've anticipated. With so many helping hands, I'm sure that we can get these ports to production quality.
To coordinate our efforts, I've setup a series of git repositories on GitHub. You can clone the Android tree using Google's repo tool thus:
repo init -u git://github.com/planetbeing/platform_manifest.git -b android-sdk-1.6_r2-iphoneThis command populates the majority of the tree from the main Android kernel.org repositories, with any changed project from my tree.
git://github.com/planetbeing/kernel_common.git branch android-2.6.32-iphone is our kernel tree. It is included in the main repo checkout as well.git://github.com/planetbeing/iphonelinux.git as always is our openiboot/bootloader tree. New hardware support will be trialled there and then ported into the Linux kernel.A fellow with the nickname of "konaya" on IRC has volunteered to administer a website for us at http://www.idroidproject.org. We can use the wiki to document iPhone Linux/iDroid and the forums to provide help to newcomers. We also have a developer mailing list (please ask in IRC if you wish to get added to that).
Taping Business Mobile Phone Calls
Taping Business Mobile Phone CallsThe Financial Services Authority (FSA) consultation report, entitled "CP10/7 [PDF] Taping: Removing the mobile phone exemption" and published in March 2010, can be downloaded here:http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Policy/CP/2010/10_07.shtmlThis informative consultation report identifies new regulation that is needed where financial transactions and contracts
St George's Day 23rd April
St George's Day 23rd AprilI was taken by surprise when I was asked recently why are we celebrating St George's Day? So rather than me stand on my soap box giving my version of events, I reproduce the information from St George's Day and LTH Hotels tourist information so that anyone not understanding why we celebrate the 23rd April every year in England will see the historical and cultural
A to-do list
I'm gratified at a lot of the developers that want to help! This is the only way this project can stay alive. That being said, let's start to get a little organized. Here's a to-do list:
http://theiphonewiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=IPhoneLinux_To-Do
I'm proposing that unless someone wants to step in to host and administer an iPhone Linux website/wiki/forums, we use the iPhone Wiki to exchange information since it's there already. That said, Be Bold and work on whatever you like! If you have patches to openiboot, send them using git. If you have patches for the kernel or Android stuff, just contact me with it (IRC preferred, e-mail is okay) and I'll see about how we can publish them.
I'll personally be focusing on the first gen iPod touch and 3G port since I think I have a comparative advantage in that area.
http://theiphonewiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=IPhoneLinux_To-Do
I'm proposing that unless someone wants to step in to host and administer an iPhone Linux website/wiki/forums, we use the iPhone Wiki to exchange information since it's there already. That said, Be Bold and work on whatever you like! If you have patches to openiboot, send them using git. If you have patches for the kernel or Android stuff, just contact me with it (IRC preferred, e-mail is okay) and I'll see about how we can publish them.
I'll personally be focusing on the first gen iPod touch and 3G port since I think I have a comparative advantage in that area.
Android running on iPhone!
I've been working on this quietly in the background. Sorry about the initial video quality, but YouTube promises that the quality will get better as the video gets processed more. The back part of the version I uploaded to Vimeo was cut off.
I think that says it all, really. Donations via paypal to planetbeing at gmail.com. If you'd like to help, come join #iphonelinux on irc.osx86.hu.
Thanks to CPICH for reversing support, harmn1, posixninja, jean, marcan and saurik for patches, and last but not least, TheSeven for his work on the FTL.
Pre-built images and sources at http://graphite.sandslott.org:4080/pub/idroid/idroid-release-0.1a.tar.bz. Read the README. For generic openiboot instructions, there's plenty now that you can search for.
It should be pretty simple to port forward to the iPhone 3G. The 3GS will take more work. Hopefully with all this groundwork laid out, we can make Android a real alternative or supplement for iPhone users. Maybe we can finally get Flash. ;)
EDIT: Apparently on some iPhones, the installation of openiboot appears to be failing (THIS MEANS IT WON'T BOOT UP AGAIN). This is being investigated (I can't reproduce it on my own phone), but meanwhile you can just do a "tethered boot". In openiboot console, don't install but do !zImage, kernel, !android.img.gz, ramdisk, boot "console=tty root=/dev/ram0 init=/init rw" (after installing the other images to the second partition). If your phone won't boot up again, a DFU restore will get it back to normal. Take a deep breath. Calm down. There's nothing to worry about. :) We'll get this sorted out by tomorrow.
EDIT2: Fixed! It was previously only working on phones that used PwnageTool due to some assumption I made. Thanks geohot! Redownload the archive or just openiboot.img3
I think that says it all, really. Donations via paypal to planetbeing at gmail.com. If you'd like to help, come join #iphonelinux on irc.osx86.hu.
Thanks to CPICH for reversing support, harmn1, posixninja, jean, marcan and saurik for patches, and last but not least, TheSeven for his work on the FTL.
Pre-built images and sources at http://graphite.sandslott.org:4080/pub/idroid/idroid-release-0.1a.tar.bz. Read the README. For generic openiboot instructions, there's plenty now that you can search for.
It should be pretty simple to port forward to the iPhone 3G. The 3GS will take more work. Hopefully with all this groundwork laid out, we can make Android a real alternative or supplement for iPhone users. Maybe we can finally get Flash. ;)
EDIT: Apparently on some iPhones, the installation of openiboot appears to be failing (THIS MEANS IT WON'T BOOT UP AGAIN). This is being investigated (I can't reproduce it on my own phone), but meanwhile you can just do a "tethered boot". In openiboot console, don't install but do !zImage, kernel, !android.img.gz, ramdisk, boot "console=tty root=/dev/ram0 init=/init rw" (after installing the other images to the second partition). If your phone won't boot up again, a DFU restore will get it back to normal. Take a deep breath. Calm down. There's nothing to worry about. :) We'll get this sorted out by tomorrow.
EDIT2: Fixed! It was previously only working on phones that used PwnageTool due to some assumption I made. Thanks geohot! Redownload the archive or just openiboot.img3
Nokia C3 upcoming Nokia phone
Nokia 'C' is the one of the newest mobile phone series of Nokia. they already launched couple of phones for this series. Nokia C3 is a one of the newest mobile phone which announced in 2010 April. it will be available at the end of this year. basically Nokia C3 is a middle range mobile phone which has a full QWERTY keypad. but according to it's overall features; this phone may be cheap.
Nokia C3 is just a 2G phone, but it has wi-fi to get high speed internet. the phone has a 2.4 inch display which supports 320 x 240 pixels(relatively high). it also has a 3.5mm audio jack so you can use any headphone to listen to the music.
Nokia C3 has 55MB internal memory and it supports up to 16GB memory cards. this phone has bluetooth which allows to share files and use for headset.
the main camera of this phone is 2MP which is enough to capture clear pictures. it also capable of to record 15fps .3gp format videos.
Nokia C3 has a FM radio and Opera web browser. it comes with many new applications for Social network integration and will be available in three colors.
Nokia C3 is just a 2G phone, but it has wi-fi to get high speed internet. the phone has a 2.4 inch display which supports 320 x 240 pixels(relatively high). it also has a 3.5mm audio jack so you can use any headphone to listen to the music.
Nokia C3 has 55MB internal memory and it supports up to 16GB memory cards. this phone has bluetooth which allows to share files and use for headset.
the main camera of this phone is 2MP which is enough to capture clear pictures. it also capable of to record 15fps .3gp format videos.
Nokia C3 has a FM radio and Opera web browser. it comes with many new applications for Social network integration and will be available in three colors.
Mobile Telephone Examination Charges
Mobile Telephone Examination ChargesGiven the changing economic climate I have now assembled a team of examiners, and with flexible charges starting from: £15.00 per hour With more complex handsets upto £80.00 per hour. MTEB-Examiners - for all your mobile telephone examination needs.Genuine enquiries to: MTEBmembers@gmail.com
Nokia C6 Mobile Phone Specs
Nokia recently launched the Nokia C6 smartphone with a slide-out QWERTY keypad and a 5 megapixel camera. This handset comes with a 3.2 inch touchscreen display, 3G connectivity, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 16 GB expendable memory and so on. Check out the complete specs of this device below.Nokia C6 Full Specs:▪ 3.2 inch TFT touchscreen display▪ 640 x 360 pixel resolution▪ Symbian^1 User Interface▪
Nokia E5 Mobile Phone Specs
Nokia recently launched the Nokia E5 business smartphone with full QWERTY keypad and a 5 megapixel camera. This handset comes with an 1 click access to SMS, MMS, Email and IM. Other features include a 3G connectivity, A-GPS, Wi-Fi, 32 GB expendable memory and much more. Check out the complete specs of this device below.Nokia E5 Full Specs:▪ 2.4 inch QVGA LCD display▪ 320 x 240 pixel resolution▪
Nokia C3 Mobile Phone Specs
Nokia recently launched the Nokia C3 smartphone with full QWERTY keypad and a 2 megapixel camera. Other features include a Wi-Fi, 8 GB expendable memory, Bluetooth, Stereo FM Radio, etc. This handset comes with an 1 click access to SMS, MMS, Email and IM. Check out the complete specs of this device below.Nokia C3 Full Specs:▪ 2.4 inch QVGA display▪ 320 x 240 pixel resolution▪ 262K colors▪ Series
UTRAN & GERAN 3G Inter-PLMN Handover
UTRAN & GERAN 3G Inter-PLMN Handover
.
The subscriber's home network is France. The visited network where the subscriber is registered in a VLR (Visitor Location Register) is Germany. The signalling connection between HLR (Home Location Register) and VLR is indicated by dotted lines. The calls for the subscriber are controlled by the MSC collocated to the VLR where the subscriber is registered.
.
The subscriber's home network is France. The visited network where the subscriber is registered in a VLR (Visitor Location Register) is Germany. The signalling connection between HLR (Home Location Register) and VLR is indicated by dotted lines. The calls for the subscriber are controlled by the MSC collocated to the VLR where the subscriber is registered.
Breaking News: Opera for iPhone Approved
Just got an alert a few minutes ago about Opera Mini app got approved
by iTunes and should be avail. for free within 24 hrs. Wow, I am
pretty surprised, the Apple approval process is a mysterious thing.
Good for Opera though.
by iTunes and should be avail. for free within 24 hrs. Wow, I am
pretty surprised, the Apple approval process is a mysterious thing.
Good for Opera though.
Review: Apple iPad 16GB WiFi Edition
Special thanks to my friend Elliot for letting Amy bullying you into lending us this iPad the first day you received it…
I have had the pleasure of getting my hands on a brand new Apple iPad to play with over the weekend and I have never felt such a mixture of emotions towards a mobile device of my entire life. Just when I think I have fallen in love with it, I’ll find a reason or two to remind me how much I find it to be inadequate. As soon as I thought I’ve come up with enough reasons to dismiss this gadget, I will see something much more polished than the iPhone and the potential it has to be the next greatest thing. Perhaps by the time I’m through writing this review, I’ll will have reached a verdict.
Lets get physical!
Its hard not to concentrate on the iPad’s sheer size when all of us have been trained for the past 3 years to associate this OS to the pocket-friendly iPhone. Looking at the iPad for the first time makes you feel like you are starring at a freakishly large iPhone. With a push of the home button (given this device’s larger size, I find myself using the home button to power on much more so than on an iPhone where I would use the power button 50% of the time), the LED powered screen lights up with intensity and clarity. At 1.5lbs, the built and feel of the device can best be described as hefty, in other words, don’t expect to prop this device with your hands for a long period of time. I find myself setting it flat against the table top for all of my usage. In terms of buttons, switches and ports, an iPhone user will find his or her way around the iPad no problem. There is the 3.5mm headphone jack with the power switch up top and the data port with the speaker and microphone on the bottom. Apple switched the volume control to the right side and added a lock switch right above it. It’s a little disappointing that Apple did not consider to include some basic computing ports such as GPS, USB and HDMI ports or include a much needed webcam for video conferencing, its little things like this that throws in mixed signal at me to question what this device is good for.
Power Up!
The first thing I wanted to try is to surf the web on this thing, the model I am reviewing is a WiFi-only model. Typically, when I am connecting to any computing device, first thing I reach for is my USB key that holds my network’s 26-character WEP string and I would copy and paste it to establish connection, I got pretty frustrated when I realized I have to key this in manually since the iPad lacks USB ports. Given the new onscreen keyboard is much larger (almost as big as the uber-small keyboard I’m typing on Sony VGN-TXN27N 10.1” laptop for this review), keying in the WEP key is about as pain free as any touchscreen device can wish for. Most of my typing on the iPad is done using both of my index fingers since I just can’t type it as if it’s a real keyboard, I just don’t see how it can be done; I guess in that respect, the iPad’s keyword is “twice” as fast as I can type on an iPhone. Battery seems to hold a strong charge that lasts; over the past 12 hours of sporadic usage, it consumed 10% of its power while connected to WiFi.
Default App Experience
If you are familiar with an iPhone, navigating the iPad will be second nature to you. A handful of default apps made its way over to iPad with much enhancement. Surfing the web on this device is pretty amazing; it is basically desktop web surfing enabled (minus the Flash support); in ways, surfing the web in the native portrait mode is extra refreshing given you’ll see more page coverage before the fold compared to a laptop’s 16:9 screen in landscape mode. Google, of course, has already designed web-apps to conform and leverage iPad’s new screen real estate, for instance when you login to Gmail via iPad, the new layout has the inbox stacked on the left half of the screen with the email conversation stacked to the right; where things gets confusing is the way some sites such as Google treats the iPad (as a mobile device thus serving mobile web apps instead full website), I managed to toggle over to the desktop version of Gmail but couldn’t get it to go back to mobile version which can be a frustrating experience, lets just call this one of the many platform/identity crisis iPad faces. Given that the sceensize is now 9.7” at 1024x768, the web-based apps experience is a lot more powerful than the experience you’ll get from your iPhone, so long as Flash is not involved, the iPad has enabled some potential there.
YouTube, Calendar, Notes, Contacts and GMAP are all beefed up with better graphics which draws many design cue straight out of Apple’s desktop OS X. YouTube for some reason really popped out on the iPad with amazing clarity and much better presentation than the iPhone and/or desktop browser experience. The basic operations to move App icons around or add/remove from dock is the same as an iPhone; only major difference is the ability to navigate in landscape mode. I often refer to the iPad as an iPhone on steroids physically, but I’ll hand over some credit to Apple for giving the default apps some performance-enhancing treatment as well.
iPad Apps 3rd Party
Apple is betting big on the iPad Apps to help define its market for iPads; with faster hardware and larger screen real estate, 3rd party app developers will surely come up with creative ideas to boost user’s mobile experience. Already, I’ve heard good things about some very creative applications developed for iPad or in the works. For instance, Scrabble managed to tie in iPhones to allow a mobile Scrabble game using iPad as the game board. Whats noteworthy is that default iPhone/iPod Touch apps should work on the iPad, However, by introducing iPad to the mix, the mobile strategy for just about every company out there just got a lot more complicated; you now have up to 4 different hardware to consider before designing an app and thats not including thinking about other non-OSX mobile platforms, so I digress…
I downloaded Marvel’s Comic book app which looks spectacular with ability to double tap to zoom into to a pane; never have I enjoyed reading a comic book more than on the iPad; ABC’s app is also amazing in that it serves up most of its TV shows via high quality stream with some commercials in between (they’ve really figured out a way to make money via the web and emerging platforms, kudos to ABC team). I know Apple has released iWork for iPad to legitimize iPad’s role as a productivity tool, I didn’t get around to test that so can’t make any comment but according to TUAW, the Keynote app fell a little short. I’m not sure why Apple did not bring the Weather App and Stock App along but I found Weatherbug and Bloomberg for iPad does a marvelous job of covering both subject matters. As for the whole using iPad as an eBook alternative, I’ve never really used an e-ink based product to compare so I can’t comment on that; I have to imagine thou iPad’s screen brightness may not be ideal for long hours of reading.
Conclusion
Throughout the entire time I was playing with the iPad, I’ve gone back and forth with my feeling towards it. On one hand, this device is a bit bulky, heavy and limited on flexibility (no USB, no ethernet, no webcam, etc…) but on the other hand, the applications for the iPad makes it super robust and unique for a solid mobile experience. While the iPad’s 9.7” screensize is comparable to a netbooks, somehow I find the shorter reading distance between my eyes and the iPad much more comfortable than the reading distance between my eyes and a netbook or laptop screen. I have every reason to believe the iPad will become a very formidable device as more 3rd party apps get developed. As for me, the iPad’s size will make it compete for a space in my backpack that has a laptop in it otherwise, but unfortunately, iPad just does not deliver enough functionality to replace my laptop. The lack of a webcam and mere fact that an iPad will need to be sync’d with a desktop via iTunes pretty much defined its limitation as a computer replacement.
In conclusion, I see the iPad as a weird filler device between a laptop and cell phone, but due to its size and incomplete hardware offering, it suffers from a bit of identity crisis (not small enough to be a pocket-able mobile device but not powerful enough to replace a laptop). At the end of the day, I would still prefer to carry an iPhone and MacBook Air around town.
Lets get physical!
Its hard not to concentrate on the iPad’s sheer size when all of us have been trained for the past 3 years to associate this OS to the pocket-friendly iPhone. Looking at the iPad for the first time makes you feel like you are starring at a freakishly large iPhone. With a push of the home button (given this device’s larger size, I find myself using the home button to power on much more so than on an iPhone where I would use the power button 50% of the time), the LED powered screen lights up with intensity and clarity. At 1.5lbs, the built and feel of the device can best be described as hefty, in other words, don’t expect to prop this device with your hands for a long period of time. I find myself setting it flat against the table top for all of my usage. In terms of buttons, switches and ports, an iPhone user will find his or her way around the iPad no problem. There is the 3.5mm headphone jack with the power switch up top and the data port with the speaker and microphone on the bottom. Apple switched the volume control to the right side and added a lock switch right above it. It’s a little disappointing that Apple did not consider to include some basic computing ports such as GPS, USB and HDMI ports or include a much needed webcam for video conferencing, its little things like this that throws in mixed signal at me to question what this device is good for.Power Up!
The first thing I wanted to try is to surf the web on this thing, the model I am reviewing is a WiFi-only model. Typically, when I am connecting to any computing device, first thing I reach for is my USB key that holds my network’s 26-character WEP string and I would copy and paste it to establish connection, I got pretty frustrated when I realized I have to key this in manually since the iPad lacks USB ports. Given the new onscreen keyboard is much larger (almost as big as the uber-small keyboard I’m typing on Sony VGN-TXN27N 10.1” laptop for this review), keying in the WEP key is about as pain free as any touchscreen device can wish for. Most of my typing on the iPad is done using both of my index fingers since I just can’t type it as if it’s a real keyboard, I just don’t see how it can be done; I guess in that respect, the iPad’s keyword is “twice” as fast as I can type on an iPhone. Battery seems to hold a strong charge that lasts; over the past 12 hours of sporadic usage, it consumed 10% of its power while connected to WiFi.
Default App Experience
If you are familiar with an iPhone, navigating the iPad will be second nature to you. A handful of default apps made its way over to iPad with much enhancement. Surfing the web on this device is pretty amazing; it is basically desktop web surfing enabled (minus the Flash support); in ways, surfing the web in the native portrait mode is extra refreshing given you’ll see more page coverage before the fold compared to a laptop’s 16:9 screen in landscape mode. Google, of course, has already designed web-apps to conform and leverage iPad’s new screen real estate, for instance when you login to Gmail via iPad, the new layout has the inbox stacked on the left half of the screen with the email conversation stacked to the right; where things gets confusing is the way some sites such as Google treats the iPad (as a mobile device thus serving mobile web apps instead full website), I managed to toggle over to the desktop version of Gmail but couldn’t get it to go back to mobile version which can be a frustrating experience, lets just call this one of the many platform/identity crisis iPad faces. Given that the sceensize is now 9.7” at 1024x768, the web-based apps experience is a lot more powerful than the experience you’ll get from your iPhone, so long as Flash is not involved, the iPad has enabled some potential there.YouTube, Calendar, Notes, Contacts and GMAP are all beefed up with better graphics which draws many design cue straight out of Apple’s desktop OS X. YouTube for some reason really popped out on the iPad with amazing clarity and much better presentation than the iPhone and/or desktop browser experience. The basic operations to move App icons around or add/remove from dock is the same as an iPhone; only major difference is the ability to navigate in landscape mode. I often refer to the iPad as an iPhone on steroids physically, but I’ll hand over some credit to Apple for giving the default apps some performance-enhancing treatment as well.
iPad Apps 3rd Party
Apple is betting big on the iPad Apps to help define its market for iPads; with faster hardware and larger screen real estate, 3rd party app developers will surely come up with creative ideas to boost user’s mobile experience. Already, I’ve heard good things about some very creative applications developed for iPad or in the works. For instance, Scrabble managed to tie in iPhones to allow a mobile Scrabble game using iPad as the game board. Whats noteworthy is that default iPhone/iPod Touch apps should work on the iPad, However, by introducing iPad to the mix, the mobile strategy for just about every company out there just got a lot more complicated; you now have up to 4 different hardware to consider before designing an app and thats not including thinking about other non-OSX mobile platforms, so I digress…I downloaded Marvel’s Comic book app which looks spectacular with ability to double tap to zoom into to a pane; never have I enjoyed reading a comic book more than on the iPad; ABC’s app is also amazing in that it serves up most of its TV shows via high quality stream with some commercials in between (they’ve really figured out a way to make money via the web and emerging platforms, kudos to ABC team). I know Apple has released iWork for iPad to legitimize iPad’s role as a productivity tool, I didn’t get around to test that so can’t make any comment but according to TUAW, the Keynote app fell a little short. I’m not sure why Apple did not bring the Weather App and Stock App along but I found Weatherbug and Bloomberg for iPad does a marvelous job of covering both subject matters. As for the whole using iPad as an eBook alternative, I’ve never really used an e-ink based product to compare so I can’t comment on that; I have to imagine thou iPad’s screen brightness may not be ideal for long hours of reading.
Conclusion
Throughout the entire time I was playing with the iPad, I’ve gone back and forth with my feeling towards it. On one hand, this device is a bit bulky, heavy and limited on flexibility (no USB, no ethernet, no webcam, etc…) but on the other hand, the applications for the iPad makes it super robust and unique for a solid mobile experience. While the iPad’s 9.7” screensize is comparable to a netbooks, somehow I find the shorter reading distance between my eyes and the iPad much more comfortable than the reading distance between my eyes and a netbook or laptop screen. I have every reason to believe the iPad will become a very formidable device as more 3rd party apps get developed. As for me, the iPad’s size will make it compete for a space in my backpack that has a laptop in it otherwise, but unfortunately, iPad just does not deliver enough functionality to replace my laptop. The lack of a webcam and mere fact that an iPad will need to be sync’d with a desktop via iTunes pretty much defined its limitation as a computer replacement.
In conclusion, I see the iPad as a weird filler device between a laptop and cell phone, but due to its size and incomplete hardware offering, it suffers from a bit of identity crisis (not small enough to be a pocket-able mobile device but not powerful enough to replace a laptop). At the end of the day, I would still prefer to carry an iPhone and MacBook Air around town.
So, Apple has finally announced the support of multi-tasking...
So, Apple has finally announced the support of multi-tasking for
iPhone via the upcoming OS 4.0 update along with a slew of features
like game center and iAd network; but wait... Apple didn't really
release multi-tasking, atleast not to the millions of original iPhone
and iPhone 3G. What-the-Hell is the matter with you Apple? I'm not
entirely sure what the exact breakdown is between iPhone vs iPhone 3G
vs iPhone 3GS is but I'm pretty sure it ain't right to make the broad
statement that "iPhones support multi-tasking"
Sent from my iPhone
iPhone via the upcoming OS 4.0 update along with a slew of features
like game center and iAd network; but wait... Apple didn't really
release multi-tasking, atleast not to the millions of original iPhone
and iPhone 3G. What-the-Hell is the matter with you Apple? I'm not
entirely sure what the exact breakdown is between iPhone vs iPhone 3G
vs iPhone 3GS is but I'm pretty sure it ain't right to make the broad
statement that "iPhones support multi-tasking"
Sent from my iPhone
Seminar on GSM Standards Updated
Seminar on GSM Standards Updated.Updated for Seminar on GSM Standards (previous link):http://trewmte.blogspot.com/2010/03/seminar-on-gsm-standards.html.It doesn't appear easy to take in the mobile telephone technical standards and that the numerous standards that are out there add an additional layer of perceived complexity..To address this particular matter and demonstrate that dealing with
SierraSnowboard Introduces Mobile Site
Sierra Snowboard is probably one of the coolest ecommerce site/community for snowboarders, I've been a big fan and customer for a while now. They have just introduced a small mobile initiative for their members. I don't believe it is mobile commerce enabled but since I like them so much, I'm definitely making a plug for them!To get to their mobile site, you have to type in the following URL into your mobile browser (someday in the future if this site becomes an all out mCommerce site, I hope they enable auto detect mobile user agent): http://www.sierrasnowboard.com/mobile
Garmin-Asus nuvifone M10 now available across India
Garmin and Asus announced the launch of nuvifone M10 in India. The M10 is a full-touchscreen powered by the latest version of Windows Mobile, namely Windows Mobile 6.5.3.In India the nuvifone M10 comes with preinstalled map data (provided by Nokia’s wholly-owned subsidiary Navteq) for 62 of tthe country’s largest cities and offers turn-by-turn voice guided navigation with junction view and lane
LG GB280 music phone in Brazil with Lady Gaga
A new LG music phone has been launched in Brazil — the LG GB280, an affordable slider that comes with Lady Gaga wallpapers and several Lady Gaga songs. A few of her popular songs are such as Paparazzi, Dance in the Dark, and Bad RomanceLG GB280.The LG GB280 musich phone features a TFT display with a resolution of 176×220 pixels, 2-megapixel camera, music player with embedded Dolby Mobile sound,
USPS is the only Mobile Friendly Mailing/Shipping Website
.jpg)
I'm not exactly sure what Fedex and/or UPS is waiting for but I'm pretty tired of not able to track my package easily over my smartphone browser when I visit their website on my iPhone. On the other hand, the United States Post Office actually has a mobile enabled website allowing me to track my package on the go. Lets see if I can make this any easier for Fedex or UPS, your tracking number is probably one of the most emailed information in the world; more and more people are accessing their emails from their mobile device; it might make sense to enable your website to allow easier access on a mobile device.
.jpg)
A dissenting view on the Yahoo - New York Times merger
The reactions to the New York Times - Yahoo merger announcement this morning were predictably brutal. "The best corporate merger since AOL-TimeWarner," TechCrunch wrote. On the radio this morning, one of the commentators talked about "the blind leading the crippled," and joked that they should both merge with General Motors so we could "get all the deadwood together in one place." The impromptu picketing of Yahoo headquarters by angry Flickr users probably didn't help.
I have a different take on the deal, though. After years of failed "new media" ventures based more on hope than synergy, I think this one might actually make business sense. Here's why:
No more paid content fantasies. The Times had been headed down the road toward making its content paid-only for anyone reading more than a few articles a month. In my opinion, this was a huge roll of the dice that could have destroyed the company's long-term prospects. The Times online edition is the most popular newspaper site in the US, and has been very gradually closing the gap with CNN, the US online news leader. Moving to a paid model would have cut the Times audience very substantially, leaving some other news operation to seize the number one position. As we know from other areas of the web, there are very strong network effects online. Once the Times surrendered the online traffic lead, I think its role as the newspaper of record in the US would have gradually been lost.
No more Yahoo search fantasies. Yahoo has had a terrible time deciding what sort of company it wants to be. For a long time it was supposed to be a "new media" company, which apparently meant it had the business practices of a film studio without the cool movie premieres. Many people in Silicon Valley still think of Yahoo as the failed Google wannabe, which is kind of like criticizing Sweden for failing to be Germany.
Unfortunately, Yahoo has been feeding that comparison lately with radio ads touting the benefits of Yahoo search. One was a scenario about a woman who was able to use search to find where a movie was playing, but not the actual showing times of the movies. Let's do a reality check, gang. Have you ever looked up a movie online? Do you know how hard it is to confirm where a movie is playing without also finding the showtimes? The effect of the ad is to position Yahoo as the search engine for stupid people.
And besides, it put the focus back on search, where Yahoo is destined to be an also-ran forever. The company shouldn't drop that business (it generates a lot of cash), but it's not the future engine of Yahoo's growth.
So, what is Yahoo's future? I think its biggest strength, what we used to call in business school its "core competence," is its ability to pair brand ads with content. Yahoo is world class in its ability to work with major brand advertisers to match their online ads with words and pictures that attract the people they want to target. It's not as sexy a business as search advertising (because the revenues and growth rates are not as good), but it's a real business and Yahoo does it better than anyone else I know of.
Yahoo's challenge, in my opinion, has been that not all of its content is top quality, so some of its sites are not as attractive to advertisers as they should be. In places where Yahoo has great content, such as Yahoo Finance, the engine seems to work very nicely. In other areas, Yahoo's content is very me-too, and so are the results.
The synergy. The New York Times' challenge is that it has great content but can't make the online audience large enough to pay for its huge editorial staff (the Times currently reaches 1.25 percent of global Internet users each day, according to Alexa). Yahoo's challenge is that it has huge reach (27% daily reach of global Internet users) but inconsistent quality. Pair the Times' outstanding content with Yahoo's reach and advertising expertise, and maybe you could make the world's most powerful online publisher.
Anyway, that's what the merger's going to test.
Next steps: Clear the decks. To make the merger work, both companies are going to need to focus on what they do best, which means paring away the other businesses they've added in the past as diversification experiments. In the NYT's case, that means letting go of a lot of other media properties the company has picked up over the years. There's going to be just one national news leader, not three, and it doesn't make sense to keep on paying full editorial staffs at several different places, many of them duplicating each others' work.
And at Yahoo, that means stepping back from being an internet conglomerate. Search is important as an on-ramp to quickly get eyeballs to the content of the new Yahoo, but it's not the long-term goal in itself. A friend at Yahoo told me the other day that a third of the company would probably quit if Yahoo decided to focus on publishing. My thought: that might be better than gradually bleeding the best and the brightest throughout the company as they lose faith in Yahoo's overall direction.
A human resources executive at Apple once listened to employees complaining about a reorganization, and then said, "when the caravan starts moving, the dogs all bark." It was a heartless comment, but he had a point. In that spirit, the picketing by Flickr users is probably a sign of healthy change.
Or it would be if any of this post were true. But it's April 1, and I'm indulging in a little bit of tech industry fantasy. In this case, though, I'd call it a dream.
Memories of past April Firsts:
The tech industry bailout (link)
iPhones worn as body piercings (link)
Spitr: Twitter meets telepathy (link)
Sprint and Google, a match made in Kansas (link)
I have a different take on the deal, though. After years of failed "new media" ventures based more on hope than synergy, I think this one might actually make business sense. Here's why:
No more paid content fantasies. The Times had been headed down the road toward making its content paid-only for anyone reading more than a few articles a month. In my opinion, this was a huge roll of the dice that could have destroyed the company's long-term prospects. The Times online edition is the most popular newspaper site in the US, and has been very gradually closing the gap with CNN, the US online news leader. Moving to a paid model would have cut the Times audience very substantially, leaving some other news operation to seize the number one position. As we know from other areas of the web, there are very strong network effects online. Once the Times surrendered the online traffic lead, I think its role as the newspaper of record in the US would have gradually been lost.
No more Yahoo search fantasies. Yahoo has had a terrible time deciding what sort of company it wants to be. For a long time it was supposed to be a "new media" company, which apparently meant it had the business practices of a film studio without the cool movie premieres. Many people in Silicon Valley still think of Yahoo as the failed Google wannabe, which is kind of like criticizing Sweden for failing to be Germany.
Unfortunately, Yahoo has been feeding that comparison lately with radio ads touting the benefits of Yahoo search. One was a scenario about a woman who was able to use search to find where a movie was playing, but not the actual showing times of the movies. Let's do a reality check, gang. Have you ever looked up a movie online? Do you know how hard it is to confirm where a movie is playing without also finding the showtimes? The effect of the ad is to position Yahoo as the search engine for stupid people.
And besides, it put the focus back on search, where Yahoo is destined to be an also-ran forever. The company shouldn't drop that business (it generates a lot of cash), but it's not the future engine of Yahoo's growth.
So, what is Yahoo's future? I think its biggest strength, what we used to call in business school its "core competence," is its ability to pair brand ads with content. Yahoo is world class in its ability to work with major brand advertisers to match their online ads with words and pictures that attract the people they want to target. It's not as sexy a business as search advertising (because the revenues and growth rates are not as good), but it's a real business and Yahoo does it better than anyone else I know of.
Yahoo's challenge, in my opinion, has been that not all of its content is top quality, so some of its sites are not as attractive to advertisers as they should be. In places where Yahoo has great content, such as Yahoo Finance, the engine seems to work very nicely. In other areas, Yahoo's content is very me-too, and so are the results.
The synergy. The New York Times' challenge is that it has great content but can't make the online audience large enough to pay for its huge editorial staff (the Times currently reaches 1.25 percent of global Internet users each day, according to Alexa). Yahoo's challenge is that it has huge reach (27% daily reach of global Internet users) but inconsistent quality. Pair the Times' outstanding content with Yahoo's reach and advertising expertise, and maybe you could make the world's most powerful online publisher.
Anyway, that's what the merger's going to test.
Next steps: Clear the decks. To make the merger work, both companies are going to need to focus on what they do best, which means paring away the other businesses they've added in the past as diversification experiments. In the NYT's case, that means letting go of a lot of other media properties the company has picked up over the years. There's going to be just one national news leader, not three, and it doesn't make sense to keep on paying full editorial staffs at several different places, many of them duplicating each others' work.
And at Yahoo, that means stepping back from being an internet conglomerate. Search is important as an on-ramp to quickly get eyeballs to the content of the new Yahoo, but it's not the long-term goal in itself. A friend at Yahoo told me the other day that a third of the company would probably quit if Yahoo decided to focus on publishing. My thought: that might be better than gradually bleeding the best and the brightest throughout the company as they lose faith in Yahoo's overall direction.
A human resources executive at Apple once listened to employees complaining about a reorganization, and then said, "when the caravan starts moving, the dogs all bark." It was a heartless comment, but he had a point. In that spirit, the picketing by Flickr users is probably a sign of healthy change.
Or it would be if any of this post were true. But it's April 1, and I'm indulging in a little bit of tech industry fantasy. In this case, though, I'd call it a dream.
Memories of past April Firsts:
The tech industry bailout (link)
iPhones worn as body piercings (link)
Spitr: Twitter meets telepathy (link)
Sprint and Google, a match made in Kansas (link)
Verizon Palm Pre Plus for $29.99 with new Contract on Amazon
Amazon.com has the Palm Pre Plus Phone (Verizon Wireless) for $29.99. It is an amazing deal on at Amazon.This price is valid for 12 hours only. This price is for a new contract or renewal of existing contract,Get FREE 2-Day Shipping when you purchase this item plus a service plan. Just select 2-Day Shipping as your shipment type (no Saturday delivery). Check your confirmation e-mail for delivery
HTC Smart lands in India for $222
HTC and Bharti Airtel have officially announced the HTC Smart, which reportedly “marks HTC’s strategic focus on India.” Based on Qualcomm’s Brew Mobile platform, the HTC Smart is a really affordable handset. The handset will become available in 30 major cities across India for a suggested retail price of Rs. 9,990 (about $222).The HTC Smart offers a 2.8-inch QVGA display, a 3.2-megapixel camera,
iPhone HD Coming Soon?
Apple could be set to release the iPhone HD later this year, according to a new video ‘uncovered’ by a tech fan. John Gruber from Daring Fireball went on to dispense some information he has heard about the next iPhone.He informed that It will be based on the A4-family CPU system (meaning it would be part of the same CPU family as the iPad). The resolution would be doubled to 960×640. Also, it
SlingPlayer Mobile for iPad and Windows Phone 7 coming soon
SlingPlayer marketing manager Dave Eyler today confirmed that his company is working on a version of SlingPlayer for the iPad. Sling Media had previously committed on a native app for several platforms and said that on other platforms–mobile included–that a Flash app would be used.The party under the radar says that “they are actively moving towards the H.264” which points to none other than
KDDI au Toshiba IS02 QWERTY Phone
Japanese carrier AU/KDDI just announced that the Toshiba IS02 (aka Toshiba K01) will launch in June. The phone is one of the thinnest Windows Mobile handsets available at the moment.First launched at Mobile World Congress last month, the phone is powered by Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5.3 OS, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 4.1-inch OLED touchscreen, followed by 3G
Samsung Galaxy S Pro with QWERTY Keyboard
Samsung’s Galaxy S, an Android 2.1 smartphone first unveiled at CTIA 2010. The Galaxy S getting the Pro version and it will sport a QWERTY keyboard. The keypad shown in the picture actually looks pretty good, but renders tell us nothing about how comfortable it is to use. Eldar Murtazin also manages to give us a June launch date, but pictures of this device are predictably not yet
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