Man I’ve gotta tell you, everybody’s worked out about Starcraft II these days, but I didn’t expect Hitler to be all on it too ! Anyway, this has got to be by far one of the funniest reply I’ve seen since the game, and please forgive me if I agree with the German leader on this discussion – even Starcraft 1 has LAN ! Oh, also, it gets a little… NSFW at the end, so you shouldn’t watch it if you’re against swearing or anything. Though as a sidenote, if you’re not into swearing, Starcraft II can definitely cure you of that… problem.

Clinton said the whole situation is a “complex set of issues”, and the US is working to fix this issue with UAE, as well as with other countries, with Lebanon Telecom Authority claiming that they’re also considering the security implications that come with the Blackberry use.

“We are taking time to consult and analyze the full range of interests and issues at stake because we know that there is a legitimate security concern, but there’s also a legitimate right of free use and access,” she said. “So I think we will be pursuing both technical and expert discussions as we go forward.”

Well, thing is Blackberry isn’t taking this too good, with their stock shares dropping since the RIM ban in UAE was announced. Thing is, it’s about to get a lot more complicated, especially if the US government gets involved.

There is still a lot of fuss and questions regarding Google’s involvement in the smartphone industry, but the latest reports should help settle this once and for all. Just two months ago, the sale rate was at about 100.000 Android phones per day; now, it’s double.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt told attendees at the Techonomy conference, “Android is not just phenomenal but incredibly phenomenal in its growth rate.”.

What’s even better, is that for the first time, people in the United States bought more Android phones than iPhones. Now that’s something to wrap your mind around. Estimates have it this way: two years from now, Android will be used in 75 million smartphones, summing up almost 20 percent of the market share.

“The OS started with entry-level models in 2008, but the flexibility Android offers for hardware designs and its appealing business model in terms of revenue sharing have attracted vigorous support,” says Tina Teng, senior analyst, wireless communications for iSuppli.

Source: Wired

All hop abord the Blackberry train and welcome the newest wagon: the Torch. Now the thing is, a tear down doesn’t usually happen until the gadget is up for commercial use. However, the good people over at Crackberry already had hold of the Blackberry Torch, and they did what every person with common sense would: they tore it apart.

So they also made a video of the slider (which is guaranteed to work for 150,000 cycles or more), and the magnesium tray in which the display sits in is also visible. All in all, lots of pictures, for those who want a peek in the guts of the new BlackBerry Torch 9800.

Source: CrackBerry

]]> http://www.zmetech.com/gadgets/blackberry-torch-has-quite-a-few-surprises-to-offer-121145/feed 1 http://www.zmetech.com/software/windows-7-going-up-mac-os-x-continues-to-fall-121082 http://www.zmetech.com/software/windows-7-going-up-mac-os-x-continues-to-fall-121082#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 20:23:38 +0000 osamik http://www.zmetech.com/?p=1082

Microsoft seems to have struck gold with Windows 7: it went straight past Vista, and continues to grow and grow as competitors such as Mac OS X goes down for the 4th consecutive month.

Windows 7 now has 14.46% of the market, going up almost a full percent and surpassing Vista, that commands just under 14.34%. However, Windows XP still rocks the house with a wooping 61.87%.

Well on the other hand, Mac OS X shares dropped to 5.06%, while Linux is still trying to get to that 1% target they’re fighting with for so long.

Anyway, one thing’s for sure: Microsoft came back kicking when few people expected it, and Windows 7 promises to be the user’s friend for quite a while now.

“This was not a typical case, in which suspension and notification would be the norm. This was a critical matter brought to our attention by law enforcement officials. We had to immediately remove the server.”

This is odd. I mean, why take down all 73.000 blogs ? What’s even more startling is that this seems to be just the beginning. Rumour has it, more and more websites are being constantly monitored, but nothing is clear at the moment. Anyway, one thing’s for sure: the copyright war is far from being over.

Well personally I never asked myself such a question, but the guys at Dark Roasted Blend did, and damn I’m happy they did – out of curiosity if nothing else. So as it turns out, that epic quest would require 45 million ink cartridges that would add up to about half a million liters of ink that would be sprayed over 700 square miles of paper, which would require about 40,000 trees to make. Yeah, all those add up to one thing: the internet.

Motorola will be the next big shot to announce their Android phones, as the company plans to unveil this further today, at an event in San Francisco (stay tuned for further updates from there). Thing is, let’s face it: mobile applications for smartphones are today’s hottest. Just think about the fact that Apple’s App Store has had more than 1 billion (!) downloads in just a year of activity and add those who have… one way or another managed to get apps without downloading. It’s obvious that the market is hungry, and as I already said, Google delivers.

“Developing for the iPhone is a no-brainer,” said Noam Bardin, CEO of a mobile app company called Waze, which has developed navigation applications for the iPhone, Android, Symbian, and Windows Mobile platforms. “You get more bang for each line of code you write for the iPhone. But then the question becomes, which platform do you develop for next?”

Right now, it seems they’ve just moved in for the Android.

“What’s happening is Android is the third platform for people to think about,” said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, a free, visual voicemail service that is available for the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android devices. “The way we have done it is as YouMail has gotten a larger and larger audience, we’ve started to see 4 percent or 5 percent of our audience on Android. And we’ve built an Android app to satisfy those folks since it’s relatively easy to do.”

This comes after just earlier this week, Yahoo announced some other applications (including ones for Flickr) being released for iPhones and a handful of Blackberrys.

“We will make these applications available on Android devices and the Palm Pre later,” Sandeep Gupta, senior director of mobile applications at Yahoo said. “We’re not waiting until these devices have critical mass, but we do have to prioritize. And that means developing apps for devices with the most interactive mobile users first.”

Androids didn’t experience an explosive growth or over night successes, but their growth is steady and firm. In many ways, it has the potential to be an even better platform for developers than iPhone, as many have already been impressed by their approach to the market. Not only did they make the source code free for developers but they can also post their apps directly on the Android market. This means developers get updates and new version of their apps instantly, instead of having to wait for approval, which is the case with Apple. This has often been a subject of topic, with many complaining that the process is long and sometimes applications are rejected without any reason being given.

“The biggest challenge for a developer when it comes to Apple is getting their application certified,” Bardin said. “The whole process is a black box. You don’t know how long it will take or if your application will be approved.”

So it remains to be seen how the Google platform will develop, but I’d definitely put my money on it.

The much awaited Rhapsody app has been long awaited, and the wait has not been in vain: it’s available. At least in the US. Well it can’t cache like Spotify, but for 15$ a month you can stream how much you want, over Wi-Fi, 3D and Edge. Another good thing is that it’s free for a week. According to them, they have over 8.000.000 songs, but perhaps the only bad thing is that they only stream 64 kbps quality.