We are approached all the time by people/companies to blog about their products, apps and just about anything relating to technology. I myself do this for Payoneer so understand their good intentions but I need to believe in the product in order to blog about it. This is an open invitation for anyone to pitch us something but we need stories that are interesting and/or relevant to us and our readers. I think that makes sense, agreed?
Mobile
Reviews and Rants
Itinerary for Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress
With the Mobile World Congress approaching, the list of new mobile innovations just keeps getting longer. There does not seem to be one particular handset that is going to make the most amount of noise, and if there is such a device, it has not been leaked to the press. So I thought I would round up a few of my favorite stories from the last week or so regarding what we will be seeing in Barcelona next week.
Some Amazing New Startups
I could not agree with Aryeh more, it was really nice to see all competition put aside for the night and a room full of people, some highly successful, some working on becoming highly successful, there to just try to lend a hand. They had U.S lawyers there to give legal advice on starting a company, they were offering all members of TechAviv office space in various cities to get their company started, and assistance in job placement using TechAviv’s community. It was a truly inspirational night.
Now, down to the details.
Everyone’s Copying Apple; Some Just Do A Better Job Than Others
Wow, seems like the mobile industry is really booming over the last few days. Today, we are seeing some big news come from Samsung and T-Mobile in the form of an 8mp touch screen device, dubbed the Memoir.
Google, LG, Asus & Garmin Making News While Microsoft Disappoints
There is so much going on in the tech world, I literally could not decide on one topic for this post, so consider this an overview of today’s events.
Toshiba Comes, Sees, and Conquers
As I woke up this morning, I was happy to discover that the entire Web (OK, at least all the geek sites that I visit first thing in the morning) was covered with a story about a truly amazing new cellphone. I was pretty surprised that this new cellphone does not originate in the Apple kingdom, not Palm, not Samsung, not even Nokia.
Another Peek at the Pre
Palm’s VP of design apparently did not read our blog yesterday, as he seems extremely confident and calm in this video of him showing off the Pre. Either that, or he has a really good poker face, and he thinks Apple will flinch first. Yea, that is more likely than him not reading the best tech blog on the Web.
-Hillel
Palm Might Sue Apple
No, I am not confused. It is true, Apple might get sued for infringement on numerous Palm patents that are implemented in the iPhone, as reported in a very lengthy and interesting article on Engadget. To sum things up, it is true that certain technologies we saw in our brief introduction to the Pre seem to be patented by Apple, and therefore if acted upon, might cause a delay in the release of the Pre. One of these so called technologies is the way the iPhone UI “springs” when reaching the top of a Web page (I seriously cannot believe they patented that). You can see it demoed in the video below.
However, it seems that for every one patent owned by Apple and possibly “stolen” by Palm, there are two of exactly the opposite. Seems like Palm has a patent on the way the iPhone adjusts the screen’s brightness, the method in which the iPhone toggles between different dialing options (speed dial, dialer, contacts, and call history to be exact), searching for a contact by typing initials only, and the way you implement conference calling in the iPhone. So, it is safe to say that if Apple does decide to sue Palm over certain patents implemented in the Pre, Palm will not go down without fighting. We might all be surprised to see Apple actually lose a legal battle at the end of the day.
Of course, chances are none of this will ever happen, kinda like the Cold War and how neither side ever launched out of fear of the other side’s retaliation. If Apple loses this battle, they will owe Palm royalty fees for every iPhone ever sold, that would be a whopping 16 million devices. I also do not see Palm taking the first shot in this war, I don’t think anyone doubts the amount Palm has to lose. If they lose this battle, say goodbye to the Pre, and therefore we can pretty much uncover the grave we dug for them right before they surprised us with the Pre.
As Nilay Patel of Engadget so elegantly puts it, “All we want is for both Apple and Palm to come to the table, hammer out a cross-licensing agreement like other companies in the wireless industry do all the time, and get back to work on innovative, exciting technologies and devices. The lawyers get paid that way too, you know”. Could not have said it better.
Watch the video below to see an iPhone technology for which Apple could sue Palm. I did not even know the iPhone did this, did you?
-Hillel
The Unbreakable Cellphone
You gotta see these videos of the amazing LG Renoir being seriously tortured and surviving. Engadget summed it up by saying, “The handset was left in the freezer at -20C (-4F) for 12 hours, dropped to the floor, stepped on, thrown in a clothes drier for 15 minutes, caked in dust, dunked in wine, and run over by a Ford Focus”. All that, and it worked perfectly. Pretty awesome.
Watch the videos below, might as well turn down your volume, unless of course you speak Russian.
-Hillel
iPhone to Offer Wireless File Transfer; Finally
Looks like some very smart developer is working on one of the most sought after features for the iPhone, wireless file transfer. As I wrote those words, I thought to myself how hard it is to believe that Apple left out such basic bluetooth functionality like file transfer and stereo bluetooth. It really does not make sense to me, and I would love to hear some suggestions from my readers in the comments. Why is Apple so opposed to making our lives that much simpler, with features (I would not even call these things features) like copy/paste, video capabilities, and running multiple apps simultaneously?
I am a firm believer that most companies do not just leave out basic functions when designing a mobile device. I am sure somewhere along the line, Steve and some of his buddies were sitting in a very nice conference room somewhere and discussing what the iPhone would and would not have.
Maybe the conversation went something like this:
Steve: ” I want to make the best mobile device the world has ever known. It will have an amazing touch interface, and will work better than any previous phone”.
One of his buddies: “Well, OK, we can do that, but just take into account that certain functions that were available 10 years ago, will not be able to be implemented on this phone. No way we can get copy/paste functionality in it, for example. Not to mention Bluetooth functionality that can be found in the most basic of Nokia phones.
Steve: “OK, go ahead as planned, as long as you can swipe between pictures”.
OK, so that did not happen. What was really going through Apple’s mind when leaving out file transfer via Bluetooth? Please share your insights.
One thing I will tell you in full certainty, if this developer pulls it off, he will be a very rich man. Watch the demo in the video below.
-Hillel
The President’s Smartphone
According to ABC World News, Obama is going to be able to keep his BlackBerry for private emails, but all official government business has to be handled on this bad boy the Sectera Edge, an NSA approved smartphone.
This phone is one of the many reasons why I don’t want to be president of the United States.
-Aryeh