Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 15th Jan 2013 23:28 UTC
The smartphone world is, at this point, a two-horse race. Android has the numbers, Apple's iOS has the figures. Everything else - Symbian, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, etc. - are also-rans. Irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Even though, say, Windows Phone not making any serious headway into the market, despite boatloads of money poured into the platform, RIM still thinks it can do better with BB10. Austrian website Telekom-Presse has a pretty detailed video hands-on with a BB10 device - the Z10 - and it left me with one burning question: what is BB10's identity?
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RE: Will give me something to play with
by StephenBeDoper on Wed 16th Jan 2013 02:19
in reply to "Will give me something to play with"
Member since:2005-07-06
The only thing I somewhat like about BB OS is that it takes some UI cues from WebOS - but even that was done in a much inferior way (I still love the WebOS card metaphor and their implementation of it).
Same experience here. I picked one up when they reached the CAD $140 mark a few months back - I'd used one when they were first released and I'm also using a Pre2, so I figured I'd get some use out of it just because of the UI being familiar/comfortable.
But in practice, I've found that it's *just* different enough to cause an "uncanny valley" effect - E.g. webOS reacts to much shorter swipes from the top/bottom than PlaybookOS does (though it could just be perception, due to the different screen sizes). That (IME) makes the UI feel less responsive. Though I will say that the bundled EMail client (once RIM finally released one) beats the pants off anything I've tried for Android tablets - seriously, when did auto/self-BCC become some kind of exotic/premium feature?
RE: Will give me something to play with
by matt4pack on Wed 16th Jan 2013 18:25
in reply to "Will give me something to play with"
Member since:2013-01-16
RE[2]: Will give me something to play with
by umccullough on Wed 16th Jan 2013 21:53
in reply to "RE: Will give me something to play with"
Member since:2006-01-26
A QNX based real-time OS based on gestures is pretty much the ultimate OS but it gets nothing but bashed on an OS website. Makes sense.
Yeah, except it's a closed system, which is a huge strike against it compared to Android (and hopefully WebOS).
I was even excited about the possibility of running android apps on my playbook (which I thought was a pretty awesome feature for RIM to include) - only to find they've really made it a PITA to do so now.
My opinion of BB OS is less about the technology, and more about the company that owns it - they're pretty pitiful these days.
RE[2]: Will give me something to play with
by dagw on Fri 18th Jan 2013 13:47
in reply to "RE: Will give me something to play with"
Member since:2005-07-06
A QNX based real-time OS based on gestures is pretty much the ultimate OS
On paper and in theory I agree with you. They have a very interesting technological core. A QNX core with a choice of Qt or HTML 5 app development and the possibility to easily port Android apps with the Android run time.
That being said I kind of have to agree with Thom, it doesn't matter how awesome your technology is if you use it build a mediocre product. There are many many ways they can screw it up, and based on what I've seen and read chances are they probably will.
That being said I again, I really hope I'm wrong and that it will be awesome, and if that's the case I'll happily leave Android behind and my next phone will quite possibly be running BB10.
Edited 2013-01-18 13:50 UTC
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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Member since:
2006-01-26
A while back, I picked up a refurb Playbook to mess with - hoping eventually that someone would port Android to them.
Sadly, rooting it is a royal PITA given how they locked it down, and nobody seems to give a rat's ass about running Android on it. All the forums that revolve around this device (and other Blackberry devices) are rife with zealots who bash non-blackberry fans with a vengeance.
To this day, my Playbook sits here on the shelf collecting dust, until something more interesting comes along. The app store from RIM is pretty sorry - compared to my Touchpad running ICS (CM9), there's nothing of interest there for me.
The only thing I somewhat like about BB OS is that it takes some UI cues from WebOS - but even that was done in a much inferior way (I still love the WebOS card metaphor and their implementation of it).
At least it seems I'll be able to throw BB10 on the Playbook eventually - that will breathe new life into the device for a day or two