Latest Discoveries
Microsoft released a new product called Songsmith, an application that helps you write your own songs for PC only. In concept it’s a cute app but after you watch this ad I wouldn’t go near it, ever. Besides the fact that the ad is incredibly painful, they use a MacBook Pro as the computer they are demonstrating the program on. They try to cover it up with a few stickers, but this is really shocking. Who is responsible for this ad???
-Aryeh
Source- TechCrunch
Engadget Mobile just reported that an employee of Australia’s Telstra let us all know that HTC will soon be releasing a device that will be better than the Pre. Now, the big news is not that HTC is announcing a new device, or that it will be a good one. The amazing thing about this report is that manufacturers like HTC are now looking to create Pre-killers.
No more of yesterday’s iPhone killers. The iPhone is somewhat already part of the past, and the company responsible for this is no other than Palm. I don’t think anyone would have believed this scenario to be possible even a month ago. The truth is though, that Palm deserves the credit and a lot of it for their new Pre. It really is an amazing device that includes all the characteristics necessary to make what can be considered the best handset on the planet.
Like I said in the fourth episode of Likemob (the best podcast on mobile news), it is not the hardware that is getting everyone excited. Although, the hardware is definitely worth mentioning. They did manage to get a full QWERTY (even though it is a portrait one) into a 17 mm package along with a beautiful 3.1 inch multitouch touch screen display. But the OS is what makes this phone number one.
Palm really went all out with Web OS. I guess the two factors that make this OS a huge winner are the “card” interface and Synergy. The card interface allows the user to easily switch between tasks, such as viewing pictures, listening to music, and writing an email. All you do is press the Home button and the device zooms out for you to see all the tasks that are currently open. The coolest part, I think, is the ability to simply swipe one of the open tasks right off the display and by that, close the application. So unlike Symbian for example, in which closing a running app is a whole huge deal, this is completely seamless and could not be easier.
The other big thing that Palm introduced us to with the Pre, is Synergy. It is as it sounds. It basically combines all the different social circles of your life into one easy and basic interface. This includes a layered contact list with contact information from your Outlook, Web email account, Facebook account, and any other place the specific contact has info stored. This also includes a joined calendar and a combined email interface. It just makes things simpler.
What remains to be seen with the Pre is of course how well it will works in reality. Another huge question mark is the usability of the Palm App Catalogue. What will the installation process be like? Will it be similar to the Apple App Store or perhaps something closer to the hellish Symbian experience? We also do not know the pricing yet, although there is a rumor circulating that it will go for $399 with a contract.
Whatever the case may be, Palm has already succeeded in doing what no company has done in a long time. They have managed to finally give Apple something to worry about. There has been talk about various iPhone killers, but correct me if I am wrong, I have never seen anyone use the term “HD Killer” or “Omnia Killer” before. The mobile world has now moved on from the iPhone due to Palm, and the new goal of the cellular giants should be to create what is now called a Pre-Killer. Sounds better than iPhone killer anyway, doesn’t it?
-Hillel
It took me a while to overcome my expectations and disappointment from Apple’s latest keynote on January 6th, 2009. With rumors of new Apple products, such as an iPhone Nano, a netbook, a new Mac Mini, and an official Apple Space Shuttle, my expectations from the keynote were higher then the American people’s expectations from Barak Obama.
Nevertheless, I decided to make the best out of the new releases and downloaded iWork 09 for my Macbook Air and the Keynote Remote Application for my iPhone 3G. As someone who loves to give presentations and lectures, creating effective presentations was always my goal. Over the last year, I started using Keynote from time to time, when the only reason for a non-intensive use was the lack of proper Hebrew support. Other than that, all of my English presentations were created with Keynote on my Mac. While giving the presentations, I used the Apple Remote with a program called Remote Buddy and of course my personal presentation skills. As I always said, gadgets and presentations will never replace a good presenter. On the other hand, a good presenter will always know how to use gadgets and presentations to enhance his own performance.
So I started playing with the Keynote application. The pairing process was very simple and intuitive over a wireless network. Such networks can be created with the new macs very easily, which makes it effective in case you do not have a wireless network around you. The process takes about 5 seconds to understand and implement.
After pairing the devices, there is a very limited number of options, which include the choice between a landscape or portrait view. Both of the views have their advantages:
•Landscape – The landscape view presents 2 slides. The slide on the left is the current slide shown on the board, while the slide on the right is the next action and not necessarily the next slide (e.g. if we have a white slide with one sentence that pops up when we click the mouse, the left slide will be an empty slide, while the right slide will include the sentence). The transition between the actions is done by sliding the right slide to the left with your finger. The changes occur on the screen immediately.
•Portrait – The portrait view includes one slide at a time. In order to perform a click, you just need to drag the slide to the left with your finger. If you are a notes person, Apple has been thinking about you. The portrait option includes your notes built in to your iPhone application.
Unlike the Remote Buddy application, the Keynote Remote does not include the option to program different kinds of behaviors and actions, and includes only the basics, such as: first slide, previous slide and settings view. There is no doubt that Apple’s general approach of keeping things simple is also the strategy behind this product, no matter how sophisticated the presentation is.
Personally, I find this application to be very intuitive and effective, although it might draw some attention from your audience while you are presenting cuz how many people make presentations with their iPhone or iPod touch?
Just to summarize, here is a list of pros and cons:
Pros – Easy to use, very intuitive, lets you see the slides without looking at the screen, includes 2 kind of views and makes you look cool and techie.
Cons – Wifi might be a bit slow sometimes, it supports only Keynote, which requires a mac. Oh, and you have to have an iPhone or iPod touch. This program will not help you if you are a BAD presenter, as a matter of fact, it will decrease your performance.
-Lior
As we wait for any big news from CES, and grieve about the almost total lack of any news at all from Macworld, I thought I would tell you about a desktop application that is up there with the best I have ever used. It it not new, but its latest updates make it a real show-stopper. I am talking about the IM, Social Networking, and email aggregator for PC, Mac, or Linux; Digsby.
I have been using Digsby for months now and I have to say, it is almost flawless. Now, for me to say that about a program is a big deal, I am the kind of user that gets annoyed by the most trivial and ridiculous little quirks that 99% of people would never notice. Anyway, Digsby gives you a very clean and nice looking interface that includes the following services (sit down, it’s a long list):
Those are the IM networks only, here is what else you have access to without even opening up your Web browser:
Now, for the big news, the latest Digsby update added the following social networking sites:
OK, enough lists. Bottom line is, Digsby pretty much offers you every possible tool used to communicate on the Web (I guess Skype is missing, but then again, with so many VOIP options in the above lists, why use Skype?).
In addition to all the available services, the actual experience is absolutely perfect. Tabbed conversations, awesome skins, nicknames, reply from within popup notifications, Facebook and Twitter updates that do not disturb your work, and more and more. I can go on and on with Digsby’s amazing features, but I am sure you get the point.
Just to summarize, ever since I installed the latest update, I have not opened up a browser more than twice, and that was to check the news. So, why is it not the perfect program? Well, if I have to name something, it does not include CNN updates, yet!
-Hillel
If you are reading this blog, chances are you know that CES is approaching. You also probably know that MacWorld is upon us, and that Steve Jobs does not have any sort of cancer, just a small curable hormonal imbalance.
Well, I am not a doctor and do not understand Jobs’ condition, and I have no friends at MacWorld, so I will be focusing on CES. I have an old friend that contacted me a few weeks back with a very interesting proposition. He said he is going to CES as a press analyst and he would be glad to represent Tech N Marketing by bringing us the latest and greatest from the show. Zvi is a blogger himself and works in the industry, so I am sure he will have only interesting news for us.
He will be sending us pictures, videos, and info from the show as soon as new products are announced. So, we will finally know more about Nova and other rumors that have been circulating. I told him to focus on Palm, Microsoft, and any other mobile news, along with anything else he deems interesting and blog worthy. If you have specific requests, please leave em in the comments, and I will ask him to focus on them as well.
Anyway, just to tell you a little bit about Zvi, read the following summary.
” I was born in Baltimore and grew up in Israel from 1986. In 1999, I returned to Baltimore and went to Towson University and graduated with a BS in business and finance. I was the credit manager for TESSCO technologies. TESSCO supplies wireless communications, as well as networking products and solutions to business professionals. For the past three and a half years I have been the senior underwriter for Atradius trade credit insurance. My analysis focuses on the consumer electronics, telecommunications, and semiconductor industries.
I work hand in hand with a handful of major manufacturers and distributors along with many other CE channels. My main focus is credit and finance and the viability of companies making payment on goods and services within the CE industry. I have extensive knowledge in product life cycles, inventory management and SKU information and of course what products are moving in the market.
OK, to sum things up, Zvi knows a lot about a lot, and I am sure he will send us some awesome updates. So check back here regularly during the show for frequent updates, you never know, we might be the first to report a huge announcement by one of the main industry players.
-Hillel
David Pogue, who is an columnist at the at the NY Times, gave this lecture, which is more like a stand up comedy show. Check it out!
-Aryeh
After the huge success of certain apps that surprised us all (OK, I will say it, iFart), and the resulting quote on Apple.com from Tech N’ Marketing, I think I am going to share with you my thoughts on not only very useful apps like VLC Remote or Nimbuzz, but also on an app that is just pure entertainment. This app truly has no practical use whatsoever, in fact I challenge my readers to come up with an original way to use the following app.
iSteam: This app displays what looks like steam on your iPhone display and lets you draw shapes using the steam, like you would do on a car window. You can “steam up” the display by blowing into the mic on your iPhone’s or restarting the app on your iPod Touch. Yes, the app works on an iPod Touch even though it requires a mic to fully take advantage of the app’s functionality. Can you think of any scenario in which you could actually benefit from this app? I know I cannot.
-Hillel
Hey All,
I have been using Twitter for some time now and I’ve been trying out different desktop clients. Some of them include Tweetdeck , Twhirl and others. I have found that they are all over packed with features that the average user will never use. All the features make the interface very crowded and hard to use.
Twittastic to the rescue!
Twittastic is an easy to use client that looks like the Web-based Twitter. It has many cool features that do not overload the interface. These include:
The developer is a funny guy. You can follow him at www.twitter.com/KCorax
It’s light and easy to use with a single downside; no MAC version.
Check it out – http://www.twittastic.net/
-Aryeh
Still not much going on except for what seems to be a revival of a an old rumor; an iPhone Nano. Nobody knows anything about this device except that hints of its announcement keep mysteriously showing up all over the Web. First it was the small case that we saw, and now the below image brought to us by MacRumors.com.
I was sure this was a fake when the last pictured appeared, but now I am not so sure. I’ll tell you one thing, I do not understand why Apple would release such a product. If I were Steve (does he even make decisions over there anymore?), before I released an iPhone with a much smaller touch screen, I would release an iPhone with the ability to copy and paste, something that was available when my parents bought their first computer.
Well, if Apple does end up announcing an iPhone Nano, will it look like the picture displayed above or maybe the device introduced by Dave Letterman in the video below?
-Hillel
There really has not been a lot going on lately in the cellular world. It seems that 2009 is going to be a year that can be summed up in one word; Android. Pretty much all cellphone manufacturers are jumping on the Google OS bandwagon. Palm could also rise from the dead this year with Nova, but we will only know that after CES, when we find out what Nova is.
Yesterday, we saw some possible spy shots of the G2, which looks like an Android version of the HTC HD. Today’s rumors are that Sony Ericsson seems to be releasing their version of an Android phone, and it looks pretty amazing. It has a huge touch screen and a slide out full QWERTY, kinda like the N97 running Android.
In other news, we recorded our first podcast yesterday. It is called Like Mob and it will be available on iTunes shortly. In the podcast, Aryeh, Itamar, and I ramble on about all the newest cellular developments. In this episode, we talk about Nova, the G2, the American 5800 Xpress Music, Samsung’s Android phone, the Nokia E63, and how the iPhone is on sale at Best Buy and is now officially unlocked.
Let me just warn you that our recording setup was not ideal this episode, so the audio quality left room for improvement. Next week, it will be better.
-Hillel
The big news today is that Engadget Mobile, one of my favorite sites, just started a new podcast, nice!
OK, maybe there are some other big developments in the cellular world like Steve Jobs not presenting in Macworld, and the Apple’s announcement that this is the last Macworld, but I still think the Engadget Mobile podcast is the biggest.
About Apple, I think we are going to see a huge decrease in press coverage and general interest in the Macworld event this year without Steve Jobs’ famous “Oh, and one more thing”. I also seem to be missing something here, why is Apple canceling Macworld?
In other news, Palm is really causing Apple-like hype about their big announcement, I just hope they follow in Apple’s footsteps and do not disappoint. One more thing. Since we seem to be in the mode of dying companies coming back to life, could this phone be the next Motorola success story?
-Hillel
