Google IO week!

Tuesday the 10th May was Android Keynote day. 

Lots of interesting stuff for developers and how they can continue to make Android the platform of the future. Honeycomb 3.1 is due out any day now, and Icecream Sandwich will be out later on in the fall. It should bring tablets and phones together on a common version. There was also an agreed movement to reduce fragmentation caused by the current Mfg and Carrier skinning... lets hope that works out, or that at least there will always be a Nexus version.

Yesterday, Wednesday was the Chrome Keynote day. Both browser (with Angry Birds) and Chrome OS. Chromebooks were announced to be available in US and 6 other countries around the world in June. I might well see if I can get one via Pixmania in late June/July :)

Otherwise, although I am tempted by aspects of both the iPad and Android tablets, particularly the Eee Transformer, I think I'll hold off a bit longer. 

Fwd: WhatsApp video

Get WhatsApp for your iPhone, Android, Nokia or BlackBerry today: http://www.whatsapp.com/download/

Mobile wonderings

I have the iPhone 4 and the Nexus One, both comparatively recent acquisitions. I like them both OK, and have gradually added apps which are really necessary to be able to share between my various Mac and other systems, e.g. Dropbox, Evernote, RTM, to name a few. I am a Google user, so most of my notes exist 'in the cloud'. I do backup things frequently tho' not in a scheduled way.

I have been checking on to the Nexus often to see if the promised Gingerbread update has arrived or not, so far 'not'! :(

I find myself using the iPhone 4 more often; there is something lighter and more attractive in some way, tho' I have apps which will do 90+ % of the same things on the Nexus.

But, more often recently I have been asking myself why I and others more than me are so keyed up by the latest and greatest new phones, when we use them so little in fact.

Is this another (tho' milder) form of the Gentoo obsession, when I spent a year or more waiting for new kernel versions to be incorporated onto my systems, spending days upgrading various components just to be 'on the (leading) edge'. If so, perhaps its time to take stock and get a life.

The lucky thing is that I am not hooked, like so many younger people, by Facebook, and/or Games!

Twitter is something I follow a limited number of people, and I only tweet occasionally. Buzz I belong to, but there are even fewer followers in either direction.

So, its time for another mindmap exercise to decide the future of my mobile interest, investments, etc.

Gingerbread manual update

Spent hours with update zip to no avail: ( Like several others I was getting a file check error even though the MD5 checksum proved to be correct. This is a painfully slow way to enter text so I'll add more latter. .

5 tips for using Blogger on your Android phone

5 tips for using Blogger on your Android phone: "Earlier this month, we announced the first version of the Blogger app for Android on the Blogger Buzz blog. Today, we’d like to share some tips on how you can use the Blogger app to quickly publish posts when you’re on the go.

1. Attach photos as you compose

Take photos using your phone’s camera and instantly add them to your post while you draft. You can also insert photos from your phone’s gallery, all within the Blogger app.

2. Include your current location
With your phone’s GPS, you can let your readers know where you’re blogging from by selecting your current location, no additional typing needed.

3. Share to Blogger
Share videos, products, photos, links and other interesting things you would like to include in your blog via the share button that’s available in many apps, including Google Maps for mobile, YouTube, and your web browser. After you share an item to your Blogger, it will be inserted into new post that’s automatically created for you so that start can composing right away.

4. Switch across multiple Blogger accounts
If you’re an author of more than one blog, you can easily switch between your different accounts by tapping on the orange arrow next to the title of your blog. That way, you can publish articles for each of your blogs to keep your all of your readers up to date.

5. Keep track of published posts and saved drafts
See what you’ve composed in an easy to read list by tapping the list icon located on the top right-hand corner.

We hope that you enjoyed these blogging tips. If you haven’t done so already, you can download the free Blogger app for Android 2.1+ devices from Android Market or scan the QR code below. As always, we would love to hear what you think so please feel free to share your thoughts with us through our feedback form.

Happy blogging!

Posted by Shaun Seo, Product Manager, Blogger

"

Nokia/Microsoft working relationship

This was rumored for a week or more, but I like many, probably, hoped Nokia would choose anone but MS... they both believe that MS Windows Phone software will complement Nokia's quality hardware. However, I think its going to take a long time before that starts to produce any results.

They should have started working on a high-end Android series instead of or as well as Meego, which anyone who tried it - I did -  could see what a dog it was, and its not improved in a year of Intel and Nokia working on it...

Right now, MWC Barcelona is in progress, and Android is absolutely EVERYWHERE.

HTC have just anounced their Flyer tablet, and it looks damn nice, as do a myriad of others.

Apple media are trying to reduce the Android glow by rumors of iPad 3 and Nano iPhones, but this is clearly Apple leaked... bastards!

Nokia and Microsoft Join Forces :(

Have just read the news of Nokia and Microsoft joining forces :( I
guess they know what they are doing, BUT... my simple view is that
Nokia could have very quickly produced a super quality Android phone
acceptable to all as their top of line models, while continuing with
Symbian^x. This they could do ultrafast vs anything Nokia and MS/WP7
will be able to do... we'll see how it goes. At least I can drop the
AAS podcast now. I wonder what they will do..?