by hilzfuld on iPhone, Mobile, Tech

Nokia’s Back in the Game

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Nokia recently released a new handset as an upgrade to the previous E61i. I had a chance to play with the new E71 today and I must say, Nokia seems to have outdone themselves. With amazing specs like 10mm thickness, 2.36 inch, 16 million color display, and a whopping 10.5 hour talk time, I was sure there was a catch, and I thought it would come in the form of a sluggish OS. I was very wrong. The E71 seemed extremely responsive and contrary to some previous Nokia handsets, it actually moved very fast. Another thing about the E71 that is very different than other Nokia handsets, is that it is a very nice looking phone. It shares that Iphone-ish (I am sure that is a word by now, no?) chrome look around the edges (seems to be the new trend, with phones like the new Blackberry Bold  and the IPhone).

The E71 feels great in your hands, a very solid build, and its keyboard is amongst the most comfortable QWERTYS I have ever used. The only thing I could think of, that would prevent someone from getting this phone, is a lack of built-in memory, but in today’s day and age with 8 and 16 GB Micro SD cards, does it really matter?

The E71 offers you pretty much anything you would need in a phone (OK it does not have a 5 or 8 megapixel camera). It has blazing fast HSDPA (fast internet access when not in a hot spot), 802.11b/g (the fastest wifi around), A2DP (stereo bluetooth, something the IPhone lacks), built-in GPS, and a nice 3 megapixel camera (do you really need more than that?). 

Seems like Nokia took my advice!

– Hillel

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by Aryeh on PC, Software, Tech

This Is How Microsoft Spends 300 Millions Dollars

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This is totally pathetic. It makes no sense at all. Please let me know what you think in the comments.

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by Aryeh on PC, Software, Tech

Chrome vs IE8

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Today I downloaded Chrome along with the rest of the world, and am pretty impressed with the speed and design, but I am looking forward to the plugin capabilities similar to that of Firefox. I need my plugins to block the adverts, my social bookmarking tool bar, and tab management. If you watch the Google press conference about the  program, they blabber on about tabs and about their design etc. but where the hell are the settings to change the functionality of the tabs? I want anything I type in the address bar to open in a new tab, not the same one, is that too much to ask?  Overall it needs work, but its fast and it works great with Google Reader and Gmail, so I’m happy, but not going to use it as an everyday browser.

I also download IE8 today, come on Microsucks… which moron came up with this browser? They are regressing in their design. They want to integrate their own  StumbleUpon into the browser, which is totally unnecessary because StumbleUpon already exists, and if people choose to use the program, they will. Internet browsing needs to be simple and clean, and if people want to make it complicated, they can choose to do that themselves with plugins.  On to the installation… Ok this is the story, I downloaded Chrome and within 2 minutes, I was browsing. On the other hand, I download IE8 and it takes a good 5-7 minutes to install and to the run the installation, and then I need to restart the computer??? Its an Internet browser not an operating system, why the heck should I need to restart the computer to install a program? Again the largest computer company in the world can not figure out how to install a program without rebooting, its pathetic. Noting really new or innovative with the new IE8 and I’m not surprised.

-Aryeh

I dont want to be almost there just install the freakin program!

Addition:

This just proves my point. Look how heavy IE8 file is:

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by hilzfuld on Random, Software, Tech

Google’s Done it Again

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After playing with Google’s new browser, Chrome, I can safely say that Google has done it again. They have managed to maintain their “we make products that work” reputation. Chrome is faster than IE, Firefox, and Safari. My initial disappointment due to the lack of a compatible Google Toolbar, has now been corrected. Google designed the browser so that you do not need any add-ons, you can simply type your search words in the browser’s address bar and you are automatically directed to the search results, as if you had searched at Google.com.

All in all, Chrome offers a very nice and smooth experience with an easy-to-use interface. After Google released their Lively service last month, that was, in my opinion, unusable, I got a little worried that Google was headed in Microsoft’s direction, i.e getting too big to make really good products. It seems now, that they are in fact headed in Apple’s direction, which is where all companies should be headed.

-Hillel

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by hilzfuld on Mobile, Software, Tech

National Pride and Android

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Just thought I would make mention of the two Israeli start-ups that came in the top 50 applications designed and written for the soon-to-be released Android OS.

TuneWiki is an application that enables you to listen to music and watch video on your Android handset, while viewing different information on the screen, such as lyrics or geographical information about the singer or band. They came in the top 10.

BreadCrumbz is a pretty cool app that enables you to navigate to places that a regular GPS is unfamiliar with (dirt roads or small unknown streets). The app makes use of pictures taken by other people. For example, if you are throwing a party in a place that will not show up on GPS, you can take pictures of the landmarks nearby, and using this app, your guests will easily be able to find your location. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

Well, I for one am pretty impressed with these companies.  Let’s wait and see how they do. The fact that they won $275k and $100k respectively, is just the icing on the cake.

-Hillel

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by Aryeh on Random

On Board-On The Ground

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Breaking away a little from the tech side of the blog and onto the marketing. I just came across this company called Jumbohostel, who have taken a plane and turned it into a hostel.

The jumbo, which was built in 1976 was in serious need of repair after its company went bankrupt in 2002.

” I was getting ready to expand my hostel business in 2006 when I heard about an old wreck of an aircraft for sale at Arlanda. Since I had for a long time wanted to establish my business at Arlanda, I didn’t hesitate for a second when this opportunity struck”, Oscar Diös explains.

Oscar Diös previously owned and ran the hostel Uppsala Vandrarhem och Hotel.

In December 2007, Oscar received the permits to move his hotel to the entrance of the Arlanda airport, and in January 2008 the plane was moved to its construction site gutted, and the work began. The plane/hostel is expected to be ready by next summer.

I think that this is definitely going to be a major attraction to this noname place in Sweden. It should surely draw plenty of free press because it’s a great story that includes real innovation.

Here are some pictures of the concept design.

– Aryeh

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1523726&w=425&h=350&fv=]

more about “untitled“, posted with vodpod

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by hilzfuld on Mobile, Random, Software, Tech

Second Thoughts- Hardware vs Software

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I know I wrote before that the cellular industry is becoming a software-dominated market, but there are still some signs out there, that I might be wrong about that. Take HTC for example. I remember when, not so long ago, HTC was a no-name generic type of company. They were the type of company that made handsets somewhere in the Far East but pretty much no one heard of.

A lot has changed since those days. HTC started making such good hardware that they have become one of the, if not THE, most dominant players in the cellular world today. They are now making phones for giant corporations like Palm, Google, and Microsoft. So maybe hardware does still appeal to some, and the software trend we seem to be entering, will take some time to really take over the market.

Alternatively, maybe what people are really looking for, is a combination of the two. They want a beautiful piece of hardware that’s form factor makes it easy to operate, alongside a user friendly, easy-to-use interface, and a fast and responsive operating system. Oh yea, and let’s not forget this week’s buzz word, an app store.

-Hillel

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by hilzfuld on Mac, Software, Tech

Tech and Marketing=Apple

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I know it is a topic that is discussed and written about a lot, but I think there is a reason for that. Apple is really an extraordinary company, for so many reasons. What really amazes me about them is not the product or the technology they sell. MAC vs. PC, that debate is for a different time. I do not think there is anyone that can really claim that the original iPod, or the first 5 generation iPods for that matter (as opposed to the touch and the IPhone), were the best MP3 players on the market.  They weren’t! Yet they managed to sell 150 million iPods worldwide as of September 2007.

So how do they do it? It is very simple, their marketing abilities are unparalleled in the market. I recently read an article all about Apple’s “Marketing Machine” that left me absolutely stunned at how fundamentally different two huge corporations like Microsoft and Apple can be. Just one example that is mentioned in the article is the fact that when driving to one of Steve Jobs’ keynotes, you can notice all the billboards and buses have the current Apple products on them, and within a matter of seconds from the announcement of a new product, all that changes! The site is up and running with the new products, the store is already selling whatever it is Steve Jobs announced just minutes before, and the employees are even wearing new T-shirts. It is all just so smooth and near perfection.

Apple is the perfect example of superior marketing, merged with absolutely stunning and nearly flawless technology. They do however, need to do a little work on lowering their prices.

-Hillel

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by hilzfuld on PC, Software, Tech

Instant Gratification

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I recently installed an external hard drive for my dad. When connecting it to the PC, I realized that some of his USB ports were 1.0 and some were 2.0. I conducted a little test to see if the difference is really that noticeable. The USB 1.0 was painfully slow to the point that I could not even let it complete the transfer, I had to disconnect it and reconnect it to the USB 2.0 port, where the speed was blazing fast.

Well good news, USB 3.0 was recently announced. The speeds that USB 3.0 support are nothing short of astounding. If USB 2.0 supports 480 Mbps, USB 3.0 supports ten times that. It can transfer (are you sitting down?)  27 GBs in 70 seconds. In the digital age in which we live, this will make things so much easier. Just the thought of backing up my whole PC in a few minutes as opposed to today’s few hours, makes me want to go out and exchange all my “old” USB 2.0 gadgets.

Now all I need to do is figure how to explain the importance of this “upgrade” to my wife. Any ideas?

-Hillel

Don't worry, it is backward compatible!

Don

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by Aryeh on Mobile, Software, Tech

HTC’s Android Dream – Spy Pics

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Hey,

All the rumors regarding the HTC Dream are starting to materialize, as more and more pictures are starting to leak out. I am very excited about this phone, can’t wait to see the pricing.

Gnight

Aryeh

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by Aryeh on Mac, PC, Software, Tech

Ubiquity – Understanding Language

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When you’re on a website and you want to email the URL to a friend, why does it take so many steps? You need to copy the address, open Gmail, paste the address, add the name, and send. Alternatively, if I want to add a meeting to my calendar, I have to open Google Calendar, add an event etc.  Come on! We are in 2008, there has to be an easier way.

Ubiquity is the answer, its brand new from from Mozilla Labs. The technology uses open APIs to create a really easy-to-use command program. The shortcut keys are really amazing and very intuitive. It provides you with a set of commands, that when typed, activate certain actions that would have generally taken many more steps.

For example I could type “email this page to Steve” and my Gmail opens with a link in the body, and Steve’s email address in the to field.

Another example is, if I want to search for something or get directions to somewhere on Google Maps, you can type “map my home address to the location” and then email it by writing ” email this to Me.”

The best part is that you can easily customize the commands and shortcut keys to fit your needs.

So take a look at the movie below to better understand what I am rambling about.

Try it and let me know what you think.

Aryeh

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1516134&w=425&h=350&fv=]

more about “About Ubiquity“, posted with vodpod

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