Open code is irrelevant to Android's success

Put differently, open code or not Android is going to succeed. iPad uses iOS and it is entirely proprietary and has very large community of developers are developing apps for the platform, Similarly, though Google said Android will be open source, the strategy seems to develop versions of the OS and then make the source available to big partners not to all comers though. The way Android has gone past iOS in number of phone that use it, this free source or not issue is not really going to matter. developers will work with the Android for the phone or the tablet avatar.

IT departments beware though, these devices are going to come into the enterprise and your network. Read about issues in the referred article.

Why open code is irrelevant to Android's success 

Motorola Xoom versus the iPad 2

According to this blog item in Computerworld, the Motorola Xoom is better than iPad. Originally the writer compared the Xoom with the original iPad on eight counts. Even when iPad came out he finds that the Xoom is still better! While jury is still out on which is really better, quite often the arguments border on religious fervor, we'll have to wait and see what wins in the market.


The original eight counts of better features were the OS, better hardware, better screen resolution,  front and rear cameras, better browser, it is able to play Flash, no Apple big brother to decide what you should see or not and apps are better on it.

Honeycomb or the Android 3.0is meant for tablets and improved quite a from the earlier versions. As easy to use as the iPad OS it can be customized and is rich in features. Notifications are handled better and multitasking and switching between apps is easier. NVidia Tegra 2, 2 core processor gives you better graphic capabilities. That includes 3D games. iPad processor is a single core one.Xoom wins over iPad with a 10 inch, wide aspect, 1280x 800 pixels vs. 9.7 inch with 1024x 768 pixels.

Tow cameras lets video chat to be done easily while making photo/video taking quite easy.Chrome on the Xoom with tabbed browsing is better than the Safari on the iPad. Motorola has not barred Adobe flash, so you can get to see all the flash content and download them as you like. Xoom does not have Apple breathing down you neck and decide what is good for you! Google's built-in apps, including Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Calendar, is better than IPad comes with.  Xoom's Tegra 2 chip, lets you use vector graphics and 3D rendering in Google Maps.

That was in early March. Then came the iPad2 announcement and the author Preston Gralla still finds the Xoom to be the better one. iPad2 moved to 2 core processor and 2 camera configuration. So that was a bit of catch up. He is still not happy with whatever tweaks have been done to iOS 4.3 but Honeycomb remains better still. Xoom advantages of the apps, no whims of Apple affecting you and ability to still enjoy flash remains advantages according to the author. I, too, think he is probably right. But, as I have said it still may get decided on entirely different reasons. These advantages will remain, however.

Motorola Xoom versus the iPad 2 --- the Xoom is a clear winner - Computerworld Blogs

Hottest Technologies Of 2011

Following article is a review of the new technologies that emerged as the new year dawned. this report is based on the consumer electronics show right in the first week of the year. According to this Forbes article the Motorola XOOM tablet generated a lot of buzz as that is the tablet device that is coming out first with the Android 3.0, the Honeycomb.
NVIDIA dual core Tegra is another technology to watch for. The dual core version of the combine CPU and GPU type created a lot of interest, now they are upgrading this. Microsoft's Surface takes touchscreen interface to the extreme. It is a 40 inch 1080p kind of display that takes touch based inputs. Possibilities look very promising!Samsung SUR40 also is in the game but is targeting businesses.

really thin TV and very smart smartphones and 3D cameras are some more things to watch out for! Read in detail in the Forbes article.



The Hottest New Technologies Of 2011 - Forbes.com

Wintel No More!!

 The long time partners are certainly looking around. Microsoft announced at the latest CES, this Jan, that it would release a version of Windows on ARM series processors.Other half of the partnership was busy showing off devices that use the 2nd generation core architecture processors (aka Sandy Bridge). Intel was busy promoting all kinds of devices that ran Android and Meego (Intel+Nokia promoted, Linux derivative). The devices included Google Smart TVs, set-top boxes from Boxee and Logitech, and a raft of tablets, of course. Well, the partnership has not exactly broken down, but both partners are playing the field and trying to find opportrunities in this changing marketplace.
Is the Microsoft-Intel marriage finally over? 

OverDrive Helps Connect Libraries and Users with eBooks - AppScout

With the coming about of eBooks, what happens to the libraries!This application from OverDrive is an example of things to come. With the dematerialization of content (everything is just electronic bits and bytes)  one would think the library, as we know it, may cease to exist. instead the libraries are evolving too and they now lend out a lot of electronic books and other contents. This app from OverDrive finds you the library, in your neighborhood that has the content and lets you get connected. The library would lend out the material and use it the way you want to.

The application allows users on multiple platforms to download its OverDrive Media Console app to read eBooks too after the content has been downloaded.  The OverDrive Media Console is available for iOS and Android. You thus have them on iPads as well as Android based tablets. Phones like iPhone as well as other Android phones can be used too. The same app can be used to search for specific books or media in electronic format. The Console app is available for free from iTunes App Store and the Android Market.

OverDrive Helps Connect Libraries and Users with eBooks

Android is Moving into Sub-laptop Space

When Android came out on a cell phone, it was quite a sensation. Within a couple of years now, it seems to be moving into these small formfactor laptops. Gartner reported from Computex 2009 in Taiwan that Android is set to move into this space certainly. Computex showed quite a few exaples of these products that used Android.

This space actually includes couple of types of products. The netbooks, 10 inch display with Atom on the inside kind of products that are primarily aimed at being a net aid. These products are actually PCs with scaled down performance, being the same Wintel combination. In fact lot of people are seeing these as truly affordable laptops.

The other product category in the same display format are called smartbooks as these use the processors used in smartphones and giving you similar net access on the small notebook format.Thees are predominantly ARM processor based.

Examples on both kind of platforms were seen on the show floor, coupled with the fact that Microsft is not going to port windows 7 onto ARM, there's enough incentive for Goole to fill that vacuum. Additionally ports to MIPs also were shown. Acer is even doing a x86 port of Android. So, what's going to stop Android! Let's watch and see, this is going to be interesting.

Kindle, Mobile phone or what!!

Battle for the electronic reader has been going on for a while. The holy grail seems to be a book sized device that offers the same ease of page turning as book. Though Amazon's Kindle has been in the market for some time and there's a second version of it now out, nobody knows for sure if this is waht the readers at large need. Kindle offers additional advantage over a book in the sense that you can download a book anytime you want. It's like acrrying a library with you and picking one to read at any time. That's an advantage over a book. but not everybody is comfortable reading the electronic display however close to printed paper look like. Will electronic paper take over here! The verdict is not in yet. The yonger generation who grew up with electronic displays may look at it differenjtly. they may me far more willing to read a book in the electronic form.

Now with the Google service of making books available on mobiles, iPhone & Andropid phones for the time being, will that compete with Kindle like devices! Mush smaller displays here adds another disadvantage to the book reading on the mobile paradigm. But the comfort is unbeatable. It is available with you all the time. qwe are used to doing a lot of things with these little things. So would we like to read books on them too! Who knows!!