Googling Friday #22

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Googling Friday. Let’s see what is going on this week in all things Google!

Motorola Atrix 4G Goes on Sale

The new Motorola Atrix 4G phone is now on sale at AT&T, Radio Shack, and Walmart locations. I have checked out this one on its website and I have to admit if I had to get an Android-based phone this would be the one I would choose. Look how smooth the top info bar is, it is a lot like the iPhone. The one thing about other Android phones is the icons seem clunky compared to the iPhone, but with the Atrix, that is not the case.

Some of the specs on the Atrix:

OS: Android 2.2 (FroYo)

Talk Time: WCDMA up to 540 min.; GSM up to 530 min.

Standby Time: WCDMA up to 350 hrs.; GSM up to 400 hrs.

Camera: 5 MP (Front and rear facing webcam)

Memory: Up to 16GB on board (expandable to 32 via Micro SD)

Processor: 1 GHz Dual Core








Honeycomb SDK now available for Developers

Android 3.0 Honeycomb SDK is now live for developers to download and build their apps on. I am curious about this platform and seeing what if can offer in the tablet world.

The Daily coming to Android in the Spring?

Speaking of Android-based tablets, NewsCorp’s The Daily is looking to launch on it come this Spring. For those that don’t know it has been plagued with glitches on the iPad as I have been using it myself. Lot of crashing and black screens, but to their credit they are on top of things and pushing updates to patch the issues. So maybe for Android users they will have the kinks worked out.

Google Recipe Search

Google is starting to roll out a new feature that allows you to search recipe’s under a recipe only filter in the general Google search website. This is great news for me as I am trying to eat a lot healthier so this is going to help me out a lot, but as of this writing I am not seeing the Recipe link on Google’s site. I will do a follow up next week though after it does show up and maybe even cook something.

Well, that is going to do it for this edition. I didn’t expect to spend so much time on Android this week but I had a lot in the news queue about it to discuss. See you next week!

AppleTalk Thursday #7

Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of AppleTalk Thursday. Quite a bit of Apple news this week so as always let’s dive right in.

Verizon announces price plans for iPhone

Verizon yesterday announced its pricing plans for the iPhone 4. Which are the same as their other smartphone plans. Existing Verizon customers can order their iPhone TODAY! All you AT&T (and other carrier) switchers, will have to wait until next Thursday.

Skype 5 out for Mac

Great news Skype has released Skype 5 out of beta for the Mac. There is one catch to it though, group video chat is now a premium feature. You can go with a monthly fee of $9 or a day pass of $5 for the service. I couldn’t imagine doing the $9 a month as it is a feature I hardly use, however the pay as you go $5 plan is appealing. If I do video chat it is usually 1 on 1 and not a group video chat. I guess we can call this the “Leo Laporte Fee” as he relies on Skype video group chat for his TWiT podcasts with contributors that are not in the TWiT Cottage.

Apple wants eBook makers to offer in-app book purchasing

Ok so this one is looking nasty. Apple rejected Sony’s eReader app on the basis that it lacked an in-app purchase of book content. Now keep in mind Apple approved the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook apps, both of which when shopping for content, open the mobile Safari browser to access the Kindle and Nook eStore...just like the Sony eReader app does. So this is baffling but Apple has offered an explanation in that it is simply enforcing a pre-existing rule in the app store and that developers must offer both in-app purchase content along with web-based store access. So does this mean that Apple will be pulling the Kindle and Nook apps soon? I sure hope not as I rely on the Kindle app for my book reading and if they did pull it I would buy a Kindle before using Apple’s own iBookstore and iBooks reader app. I hope Apple rethinks this policy quick.

Apple introduces Paid Subscriptions to iTunes App Store

With The Daily coming out yesterday, Apple announced it now supports subscription plans in the iTunes store for publishers content. I think The Daily will be the first of many publishers under this new plan. Which leads me to the last article of the day....my initial review of The Daily!

The Daily: Initial Review

So yesterday Rupert Murdoch the CEO of NewsCorp announced The Daily for the iPad. It was also released about an hour after the announcement. I downloaded it right around that time and I have to admit it is pretty cool! The photos of the stories are great quality and video is sharp. Also it has the ability to read out articles to you so you can be doing something else while still getting caught up on the events of the day. It will also update throughout the day so in essence it is a live paper. During the first 2 weeks it is free courtesy of Verizon, after which it will cost 99 cents per week or $39 a year. That is a great deal for a daily publication. The closest thing I can compare it to is the Wall Street Journal app also owned by NewsCorp, but even better. For now The Daily is strictly an iPad publication but the door is open to other platforms making tablets such as Android once that market has established itself.

Well, that is going to do it for this edition of AppleTalk Thursday. See you all next week for another edition.

AppleTalk Thursday #4

Hey everybody and welcome to another edition of AppleTalk Thursday. We have a bit of Apple news to discuss this week so let’s get right into things.

Mac App Store is Here

Of course hours after last week’s AppleTalk Thursday went out, Apple rolled out the Mac App Store as part of the 10.6.6 update. Among the notable apps is Angry Birds and Flight Control HD which are popular games on the iOS devices and the Twitter app (formerly Tweetie). They also are selling the iLife (3 of them anyway) and iWork apps, although the iWork apps are still the ’09 variety and not the updated iWork ’11. iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand each sell for $14.99 which if you add them up, come up to $45, a single license copy of iLife ’11 sells for $49 in optical media format but you can actually install the apps on the Mac App Store on multiple computers so if you add in the Family Pack cost of $79 you are getting quite a deal. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers sell for $19.99 each compared to $79 for optical media single copy and $99 for Family Pack. Of course not all the developers have jumped on board yet, they maybe taking a wait and see approach. But I love it, it is like having one big software virtual mall. It also scans your other apps that you have pre-installed and will alert you to an update for it if that application is part of the store. Apple has reported it had 1 million downloads of apps in the first 24 hours of its launch.

Verizon gets the iPhone 4

I discussed this on Tuesday Tech Talk as it broke that day. I had quite a bit of information on it and you can find that post here. What has not been determined yet is the cost of the data plans from Verizon for the iPhone. One would think they would be the same as the data plans for their other smart-phones. But the fact they are throwing in a mobile hot spot device (MiFi) to connect up to 5 devices to it, is pretty sweet and reinforces Verizon’s confidence in their network where AT&T had to be dragged kicking and screaming to a still pricey tethering plan for the iPhone. Now comes word that the iOS 4.3 update will include mobile hot spot feature as part of the OS so clearly, Apple by teaming with Verizon can negotiate with AT&T from a position of strength for a more competitive tethering plan. The Verizon iPhone will go on sale on February 10th at Apple and Verizon store locations as well as their online stores. Also of note Verizon and Apple will sell a CDMA based iPad as well.

Microsoft fights Apple on “App Store” trademark

Microsoft being the crybabies they are (see Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer), have filed an objection with the US Patent & Trademark Office over Apple’s plan to trademark the term “App Store”. Hey Microsoft, it sucks to be dominated doesn’t it? In my opinion, Apple was the first to launch such a store way before Android and Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry so they should get the right. Be creative enough to come up with your own name losers..oh wait this is Microsoft we are talking about...they have no imagination!

Jobs and Murdoch to launch The Daily on January 19th?

The much rumored iPad only digital magazine The Daily is expected to be announced on January 19th in San Francisco. If it is anything like NewsCorp’s Wall Street Journal app for the iPad, then it would be well worth subscribing to at the 99 cents per week expected cost.

Apple eliminated restocking fees

Wow, first Best Buy and now Apple will be eliminating restocking fees according to an article from 9 to 5 Mac starting this past Tuesday. Not heard anything confirming this so take the article for what its worth.

AT&T and Apple lower price of 3GS iPhone to $49

If you just want to get an iPhone but don’t need the latest and greatest there is good news, both Apple and AT&T have dropped the price from $99 to $49 on the 8GB 3GS iPhone. So if you missed out on the Radio Shack and Best Buy offers, the deal is here to stay. iPhone 4 pricing remains the same though.

iOS App Reviews

Apple Remote (FREE) - If you have an AppleTV did you know that with the Apple Remote app you can control it from your iPhone or iPad? I have used both for controlling mine and I actually prefer it over the line of sight based remote that comes with the AppleTV. Course it can also play iTunes content from your Mac(s) while you are sitting in the recliner or pulling into the garage and pulling a nice prank on your unsuspecting significant other who thinks your Mac is possessed all of the sudden (Yes, I did this once.)

Goodreads (FREE) - If you are a user of Goodreads and have an iPhone, then this app is a must have! For those that don’t know, Goodreads allows you to share what books you are reading, have read or want to read with other friends that are book readers. Think of it as Facebook for book worms. So sign up for the service which is free and download the app. You can find me here to see what I’ve been or will be reading.

Green Bay Packers (FREE) - Ok so I am a bit bias here as Green Bay is my team in the playoffs right now being that my Chargers and Titans failed to make it this year. But this is a good model for how any sports team thinking about making an app should follow. Videos, schedule, injury updates, etc. it is all there.

Well, that is going to do it for this edition of AppleTalk Thursday. Look forward to sharing more Apple related news with you here same time next week!