Link: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money? →

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Tarun

I don’t use anti-virus software at all on my Mac. Partially for the reasons described in the article. In general, having virus protection is a good idea, but the freeware alternatives work well.

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Link: Microsoft bets on Windows 8 to succeed where Android has failed →

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Tarun

Nilay Patel, The Verge:

A quick look through the halls of Mobile World Congress reveals an endless number of iPads, quite a few Android tablets, and almost no touchscreen Windows PCs. But Microsoft is here in Barcelona promising that balance will change dramatically by next year — the company just released Windows 8 Consumer Preview, a beta version of a radically new version of Windows built with tablets specifically in mind. And while Windows 8 has a long way to go before it can challenge the iPad, it feels almost inevitable that Microsoft will quickly succeed where Android tablets have thus far failed — especially because Microsoft is aggressively courting developers to write apps for its new Metro interface.

I completely agree.

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Link: Two Steps Forward, One Step Backward →

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Tarun

Tom Warren on The Verge:

Office 2010 introduced the idea of a Professional Plus edition, and it appears this could be making its way to Windows along with the following SKUs:

Windows 8 Starter edition
Windows 8 Home Basic Edition
Windows 8 Home Premium edition
Windows 8 Professional edition
Windows 8 Professional Plus edition
Windows 8 Enterprise Edition
Windows 8 Ultimate edition
Windows 8 ARM edition

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Link: Yelp IPO →

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Tarun

Reuters:

Yelp’s stellar debut follows those of other Internet sensations like LinkedIn Corp, Groupon Inc and Zillow Inc. But while those stocks made large first-day gains, they have since declined.

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Link: Apps as Channels →

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Tarun

Claire Atkinson for the New York Post:

Apple is pitching the idea of offering channels as apps for its devices, including its Apple TV set-top box. It’s unclear whether it would group the apps together and charge a fee — similar to a cable-TV subscription — or offer the channels on an a la carte basis.

(via Jim Dalrymple)

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Link: Without Internet, Urban Poor Fear Being Left Behind In Digital Age →

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Tarun

Excellent article by Gerry Smith on HuffPo:

A year ago, Maldonado’s computer stopped working and she cannot afford a new one. So almost every day she borrows one of the library’s laptops and sits down at a desk, rushing to submit customers’ orders online or research and write papers for her medical billing class before the library closes.

When she returns to her apartment, she rummages through her purse and places whatever money she can spare in a jar half-filled with coins and crumpled dollars. She’s saving to buy a laptop — and grasping for a lifeline in the digital age.

“My teacher assumes everyone has Internet at home,” she said. “I feel like I’m being left behind.”

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Link: Why Lytro Could Succeed →

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Tarun

Interesting perspective from David Cardinal on ExtremeTech:

By launching a direct-to-consumer camera Lytro has leapt ahead of all its potential competitors for the race to become king of light field and computational photography, but that strategy can backfire if limitations of Lytro’s first camera tarnish its brand before Ng and co can move on to some of the amazing future possibilities for their technology.

Though the Lytro camera has received some bad press, the technology behind it is miles ahead of any competition.

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Weekly Download #31: iPad 3, Google Goggles, T-Mobile, Facebook, iFactory, Chomp, Microsoft, Nokia, Siri

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Tarun

Big big show kicks off with the iPad 3 Apple Event announcement; Google’s Glasses/Goggles product development; T-Mobile whining about poor earnings; Facebook interleaving ads in your news feed; the ABC News piece on Apple factories; Apple’s acquisition of Chomp; Microsoft letting go of the past; Nokia betting on camera enthusiasts; Siri in your car. Thanks for listening.

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:04 — 33.4MB)

Posted in Android, Apple, Business, Design, Facebook, Google, iOS, Microsoft, Mobile, News, Podcast, Research, Social Networking | Tagged , , | Permalink | Comments Off on Weekly Download #31: iPad 3, Google Goggles, T-Mobile, Facebook, iFactory, Chomp, Microsoft, Nokia, Siri

Link: iPad Event: March 7th →

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Tarun

Good ol’ Jim Dalrymple:

As expected, Apple on Monday announced an event to show off the company’s next generation iPad. The invitation, sent to me by Apple, says the event will take place at 10:00 am on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

The best part:

Has the iPad 3 invite gone out literally as Eric Schmidt stepped onto the #MWC stage? AMAZING power play.

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Link: Siri Rides Shotgun →

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Tarun

This seems like the first time Siri has extended beyond core Apple applications. Perhaps a hint of what could be announced in March.

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Link: Now That’s a Lot of MegaPixels →

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Tarun

Sharif Sakr talks about the Nokia 808 PureView Smartphone:

Now that Carl Zeiss-lensed camera: it handles continuous-focus 1080p, but is claimed to have an incredible sensor resolution of over 41-megapixels when shooting stills — or 34-megapixels for 16:9 images. It uses some clever interpolation jiggery-pokery that condenses four or five pixels into one pixel, to produce a smaller file size for the output image.

Like maybe to 3 or 4 images on the phone? How many pictures can the phone fit? Clearly for camera people… but would they really buy the phone? Why not just have a Nikon D series camera?

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Link: Making Devs Pay for Subscriber Data Usage →

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Tarun

Interesting idea coming out of the MWC:

AT&T Inc. is preparing a service that would let content providers and developers of mobile applications pay the wireless carrier for the mobile data its customers use, the carrier’s network and technology head John Donovan said in an interview Monday.

Hopefully this leads to an end consumer benefit. Perhaps at least answers the throttling issue that keeps coming up.

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Link: Microsoft Phasing Out ‘Zune’ & ‘Live’ Branding →

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Tarun

Both brands that probably should have been taken to the graveyard around version 7, but we’ll take it.

Now, how bout letting go of Windows? May I suggest Tiles?

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Link: Apple’s Chomp Acquisition →

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Chris

Earlier this week Apple acquired app search company, Chomp. What could this mean for Apple? Well, likely a much better, enhanced Genius feature for one.

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Link: Nightline’s “iFactory” Piece →

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Tarun

ABC News gets the exclusive look of the Foxconn factories, largely due to the relationship with Apple and also due to the Fair Labor Association’s recent push to investigate the company.

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Link: Facebook Will Soon Use Page Content as Ads →

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Tarun

E.B. Boyd for Fast Company:

Facebook is making the new ads social by default, meaning they will automatically show users when their friends have already Liked the advertiser. And the new formats will draw their content exclusively from posts to brands’ Facebook Pages, rather from advertising copy written independently.

As soon as you like a business page, you are opting in to seeing ads from them directly in your news feed. These ads are also displayed as sponsored links on the right hand side of the home page, as well as when viewing photos.

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Link: T-Mobile Blames Lack of iPhone for Customer Loss →

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Tarun

Nice catch by Eric Slivka at MacRumors:

T-Mobile USA today announced earnings results for the fourth quarter of 2011, revealing a net loss of over 800,000 contract subscribers during the quarter. The carrier, which is now the only one of the four major U.S. carriers to not carry the iPhone, specifically blamed the launch of the iPhone 4S for the defections, mentioning the iPhone by name seven times in its release.

7 times means someone was bitter about a deal that went sour. Of all the carriers to have the iPhone after AT&T, T-Mobile  would have been the easiest to implement due to using GSM technology. But let’s not forget about the epic breakup that occurred between them last year. That’s likely the main reason the deal never came to fruition.

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Link: Google Goggles →

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Tarun

It was about time that the software available on Android and the Google ecosystem starting to propagate beyond the phone. A scoop by Nick Bilton for the NY Times:

The glasses will send data to the cloud and then use things like Google Latitude to share location, Google Goggles to search images and figure out what is being looked at, and Google Maps to show other things nearby, the Google employee said. “You will be able to check in to locations with your friends through the glasses,” they added.

Everyone I spoke with who was familiar with the project repeatedly said that Google was not thinking about potential business models which might also benefit from tools like this free w2 generator. Instead, they said, Google sees the project as an experiment that anyone will be able to join. If consumers take to the glasses when they are released later this year, then Google will explore possible revenue streams.

There looks to be some clever UI and gesture based navigation involved. The best part is that ads will not immediately be prevalent. And they shouldn’t be given the high price tag of 250-600 for the service. If it runs on 3G/4GLTE though, you may expect to have a service charge on the goggles to get the best usage out of them.

I am personally weary about this, for a completely random reason: ever wonder why the virtual boy failed? Giving someone a dedicated screen to wear all day could seem cool, but imagine the strain.

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Link: A Look at the RIM Problem →

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Chris

As mentioned during our most recent podcast, The Verge has a great article on the current problems with Research in Motion and how Blackberry went from hottest device on the market to irrelevant and fast. The article is worth a read as it dives pretty deep into the RIM’s history.

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Weekly Download #30: Mountain Lion, iPads, Browser Cookies, Nook, Playbooks, Blackberry

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Tarun

At the crack of dawn, Apple surprisingly announces Mountain Lion for developer preview. We cover the implications of the next OS, including what it means to be iOS-ified. We also discuss iPad sales; cookies being exploited, Nook/Playbook/Tablet B-lists, and the fall of RIM. Thanks for sticking with us for 30 episodes!

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:23 — 32.6MB)

Posted in Apple, Business, Design, Google, iOS, Lion, Microsoft, Mobile, Mountain Lion, Podcast, Research, RIM | Permalink | Comments Off on Weekly Download #30: Mountain Lion, iPads, Browser Cookies, Nook, Playbooks, Blackberry

Link: The Fake Pokemon Yellow iOS Saga →

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Chris

Ars Technica documents an interesting case of a blatant ripoff app being approved and making its way to number 3 on the charts within the App Store. An interesting read on the Apple approval process and how this fake Pokemon app managed to gain so much attention.

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Link: “Finally” Playbook OS includes Native E-Mail →

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Tarun

The price has been slashed to $199 as well. Too little too late?

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Link: Barnes & Noble Launches $199 Nook Tablet →

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Tarun

This makes it mostly comparible to the Kindle Fire, except for the storage and RAM, which may not be an issue given the low demand for resources in a reader-tablet. As media gets richer, however, the Kindle has the clear advantage.

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Link: Office for iPad Coming Soon →

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Tarun

Looks slick.

Update: Or not.

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Link: NY Times Gets Less Love from Apple After Foxconn Reporting →

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Tarun

Interesting insight from the Washington Post, noting that the NY Times has lost some exclusivity in publishing information about Apple products because their recent investigations into Apple’s supply chain:

Under normal circumstances, that combination of shortcomings would qualify as an embarrassment for the New York Times. Yet if the lack of access is even remotely related to Apple’s dim view of the paper’s investigative reporting, the paper may take pride in losing the hunt for “Mountain Lion.”

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