Posts tagged Google
Are you a Fanboy?
Jun 30th
A new Fanboy category was created because I felt my original post What Makes a Fanboy a Fanboyjust didn’t completely capture what truly makes up a Fanboy. So without any further explanation here is the first of many examples of being a Fanboy.
Are you a Fanboy?
You are possibly a Fanboy if you secretly deep down believe that the CEO of the company in question will contact you and personally thank you for your support and contributions because you checked the “Help make product x better by automatically sending usage reports and personal data to company A” box.
You are most likely a Fanboy if you say you are only enabling this “selfless” feature in order to help the developers find and fix issues. However in reality, you truly believe that once you check this box, the developers will take an unprecedented amount of interest in what you do in order to cater the next releases around your needs and amazing automated statistics.
You definitly reach Fanboy status if the first two points are met AND you believe that the company in question undoubtedly should hire you on as a consultant. The reason they should hire you is because you feel you are a true hardcore power user. You believe in fact that you have used their product in every possible way it was intended to be used and only you and those who agree with you know what needs to be tweaked for the next release.
Do not get this last point confused. There is a very thin but definitive line between knowing what needs to be tweaked and knowing what needs to be fixed in a product. We all of course know that if you acknowledge that there is a problem, your small group of fans will lose faith in you and your Fanboy status will be revoked.
Gingerbread? Yes, Please.
Jun 30th
Shortly after FroYo became available to Nexus One users via the OTA release, rumors are starting to pop up about the release of Android’s next update – Gingerbread (3.0). Many reports are indicating the upgrade will be made public in October of 2010 (6th update in the past 1.5 years for Android). The only two rumored upgrades will be that the phone will have a user interface overhaul to reduce the need for 3rd-party user interface configurations, and the picture gallery will be very similar to that on the Nexus One. But… apparently there will be some hardware requirements in order to run Gingerbread: 1GHz CPU, 512 MB of RAM and a display of at least 3.5″.
The phones that are currently available on the market (or will be soon) are:
- Nexus One
- EVO 4G
- Droid Incredible
- Droid X
- Galaxy S, Captivate, Fascinate, Vibrant, Epic 4G
- Desire
Once again, Nexus One owners can rejoice!
What features do you want Android to include in Gingerbread?
FroYo 2.2 Heading to all Nexus One Phones
Jun 29th
According to a recent blog post from Google, all Nexus Ones should receive the Froyo update by the week’s end. This is good news for many Nexus One users that have been waiting patiently for the OTA update since Froyo debuted in May 2010.
Here is the blog post from Google:
Monday, June 28, 2010
New Android 2.2 Software Update for Nexus One phones
Starting today, Nexus One users will begin to receive the Android 2.2 (codenamed Froyo) over-the-air software update on their phones. This update provides some great new features including support for making your handset a portable hotspot and support for Adobe Flash within the browser. For a complete list of everything we’ve included in Android 2.2, please see the Android 2.2 Platform Highlights.
In order to access the update, you will receive a message on your phone’s notification bar. Just download the update, wait for it to install, and you should be all set. This update will be rolled out gradually to phones – and most users will receive the notification by the end of the week . We hope you enjoy these new features.
Come back to GadgetMe.net for a full review and highlights of Froyo 2.2 on the Nexus One. Please leave comments regarding the update and what you think of it!
Microsoft is alive and well (very well)
Jun 27th
Microsoft posts some very interesting numbers about how they stack up against google and apple.
What makes a fanboy a fanboy?
Jun 13th
I enjoy reading articles about the different gadgets and geek trinkets that are available these days. I don’t read them because I am so much interested in the articles but more so that I am interested in the amazingly funny and interesting comments people write about them. Such as this article from dailytech.com in which “MartyLK” felt he needed to explain how those who don’t like Apple will eventually one day end up committing suicide.
One thing that I have noticed more and more over the past few years is the use of the term “fanboy.” Such as, “I hate all you stupid effing “Google fanboys!” More often than not the term “fanboy” is used by people who use it as a cheap way to insult another commenter. Such as:
- Commenter 1: “The Apple iPhone is better than the Motorola Razr because the iPhone has a compass, accelerometers, and plays my mp3s very easily.”
- Commenter 2: “Commenter 1, you are such an Apple fanboy!”
I also find other posts that the term “fanboy” is used correctly. For example:
- Commenter 1: “The Blackberry Storm is so much better than EVERY other phone out on the market. RIM says that the touch screen is more sensitive and acurate than the iPhone!”
- Commenter 2: “Commenter 1, you are such a Blackberry fanboy!”
So what really makes a fanboy a fanboy I ask? Well I put together a working list of things that I believe make up a fanboy.
- You buy or wish to buy everything a specific manufacture puts out without actually doing real research comparing their product to other competitors. (Only reading the manufactures sales pitch does not constitute as research.)
- You adjust your “needs” or “wants” to fit a specific device.
- You defend a manufactures short coming with only the excuses the manufacture feeds you.
- You deep down know that you will never actually consider another manufactures product when you need to upgrade or replace your current devices.
With all of this said I do want to make it clear that just because you are partial towards a company’s product line such as Apple, Google, or Microsoft does not make you a fanboy. I believe you can be partial towards a company but still respect the competition if they are worthy of respect. I believe that there are companies that maintain “the best” at what they do and it would be stupid to go away from them. Just remember, fanboy goes both ways. The next time you are about to tell someone they are a fanboy, ask yourself, are they the fanboy for praising a device or are you just a fanboy of the competitor?
Evolution of Android
Jun 10th
By now there is a good chance you have heard of Android. The mobile operating system that is pushing Apple to the brink of insanity. But that’s a good thing, right?
Android will be found on almost 100 phones by the end of 2010. It was created by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google with the goal of keeping mobile devices open for development. The software has been available as open source since October of 2008.
The first phone to run Android was the HTC Dream and ran version 1.0. The phone is also known as the Google Phone or G1.
The first official software release was made available in May of 2009 and it’s name was Cupcake (1.5). Cupcake’s Platform Highlights include various user interface refinements and key feature updates. After 1.5 came, you guessed it, 1.6 – Donut. In October 2009, only five months after a major Android update, Donut was released. The update was minor, but still brought some key enhancements to the mobile operating system. In January of 2010, Android released 2.0/2.1 (Eclair) which added some additional features. Again, this upgrade was minor, but needed to fix bugs and upgrade the API. Are you noticing a pattern here? Android puts out updates fast and they name them after food.
The latest Android SDK release was 2.2 (Froyo). The SDK was made available to developers in May of 2010. Although Google is calling the software release minor, few people see it as such. Some of the key features that I am looking forward to: tethering, mobile hot spots, the Davik Performance boost, and many others.
From what I can tell Android is going to continue to put out updates at least once per year. And if you were following along, Android released four updates in the past year. That’s pretty incredible.