Is Windows Phone 7 for Me or You This Christmas Season?

Microsoft is trying to get into the smartphone business just like Google's popular Droid phones run on Android.  The only thing is that Windows Phone 7 has nothing to do with Windows.  It is not run on Windows.  And it is the first generation of phone released by Microsoft on the new platform.  It is by most measures release 1.0.  We must quickly say that Microsoft is tinkering with the app phone software in that this release is a new creation, a new design for the company.
If you are used to the features found on Android and iPhone, it will be hard for you to settle for those offered by Windows Phone 7.  You will be surprised to find out that WP7 does not offer the following features:  You can not add new ringtones.  You can not organize your apps in folders.  You can not copy and paste.  You can not send videos as MMS messages.  Forget about video chat. WP7's browser does not allow you to play flash videos.  As far as the HTML5, the new kid on the block, WP7 will not play it either.  It can not even play videos in its own Microsoft's Silverlight format.  Forget about Online news videos, Hulu, youtube and more.

Now what are some of the good features of WP7?
Windows Phone 7 comes equipped with Word, Excel and Powerpoint.  This way, just any Microsoft products, it allows you to be productive.  It is fast or as fast as its competitors.  By paying $15 a month, you can play your music on Zune through the phone.  Based on all of this, I would say this is a Me-too gadget.  The only good thing is the new rethinking of the app software.

Good luck with your new WP7 if you receive it in your Christmas bag!

Here is a summary of the phone's main features:  The Good vs. The Bad

What better place to start than the beginning?
Good

* Responsible for user interface
* Crisp text and graphics (almost like e-Ink)
* Seamless integration of Facebook
* Quick Start from the camera to capture fleeting moments
* Interface clear
* Attractive aesthetic design that calls for a high concept magazine
* Easy Google, Facebook, installing Windows Live
* Think about the elegant, new, eye-candy user interface

The Bad

* Not compatible with external storage
* The lack of cut-paste functionality / (coming in early 2011)
* Does not have WiFi hotspot
* The lack of integration of Twitter (coming soon)
* Finnicky Google integration
* No unified inbox and e-mail thread
Applications * not persist in the background
* Most of the operating system is optimized for vertical view (horizontal orientation is not as ubiquitous as we would like)

Samsung Epic 4 G: A Great Phone with Lots of Whistles and Bells, and Great Kicks

Here are some of the great things, specifications you want to know about this phone:  5.1 Megapixel camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, 4" display and touch screen, android 2.1 OS, bluetooth capability.

It has the new hummingbird processor which makes games and movies easier to watch. And the good thing is that you have great battery consumption.

Epic 4 G is the best deal you can get in phone out there.  The super Amoled touchscreen allows you to use the phone in sunlight with no major problems.  It is a great phone to have with you.

Google and Verizon Wireless Unite to Give You The Best App Phone, The Motorola Droid X, For Now

If you are on the market to buy a new smartphone or a superphone, consider yourself lucky because you will have many choices. The state of the art app phone changes quickly. Some say that the technology does not give you time to adapt to it. A New York Times reviewer sums it up this way, "Last November, you might have been tempted by the Motorola Droid, “the best Android phone on the market.” A month later, the HTC Hero was “the best Android phone on the market.” By January, “the best Android phone yet” was the Nexus One. In April, “the best Android device that you can purchase” was the HTC Incredible. In May, “the best Android phone on the market” was the Sprint Evo...."

What's the hoopla all about the Droid X?

The Droid X allows you to do your typing onscreen. That is a major leap from the original Droid. There is no way you will not notice the size of the Droid. It is the biggest app phone on the market these days. One of my colleagues has one. She could have bought two of them, but decided to go against the idea of giving his daughter such an advanced phone as her first phone. He thought it is too big for the little girl. At this size (5 by 2.6 by 0.4 inches), it allows its users to do a lot with ebooks, GPS and other applications.

The Droid X comes equipped with many features such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, two mikes for noise cancellation, powerful speaker, unusually powerful vibrate mode, FM radio and Verizon’s expensive but not-call-dropping network.... Do you want more? How about this? The Droid X has an 8-megapixel camera with dual LED flashes.

Find out more info about this phone by reading this article.

iPhone 4 is the Phone for You: Here is what they are Saying about the new Apple Phone

The iPhone 4 is thin and sharp. Apple has ditched the rounded, organic look of previous models for an almost Mid-Century Modern stainless steel band around two slabs of black glass. (All iPhone 4s available right now are black; a white model is coming soon, Apple says.) The result is a phone that's slightly smaller and noticeably thinner than all of its competitors, at 4.5-by-2.31-by-.37 inches.

60
diggs
diggThe device comes in two memory sizes, 16GB and 32GB. There's no memory card slot, and Apple cut down on the size of the SIM card slot. (Apple hates slots, because they mar the phone's lines.) They're using tiny "Micro-SIMs" now, which shouldn't bother you much if you're in the US; US users have no reason to ever remove the iPhone's SIM card.

Most phones feel like gadgets, because they're all metal and plastic. The iPhone 4 feels like jewelry, because of all that glass. The front of the phone is nearly-indestructible Gorilla Glass, according to Apple, and the back is a different kind of tempered glass. That will make the phones relatively resistant to scratches, but I'd still recommend a case if you want to keep yours looking pristine.

Apple's "retina screen" is pretty great, although it doesn't live up to its bombastic marketing copy. (What could?) The IPS LCD technology used has incredibly deep blacks and noticeably richer colors than the iPhone 3GS did, the viewing angles are wider, and it looks much better outdoors. It's far more beautiful than any other screen technology I've seen except for Samsung's upcoming Super AMOLED. I look forward to testing those two technologies against each other.



The iPhone 4, like the 3GS, is a GSM/HSPA 7.2 phone that operates on AT&T's and foreign 3G bands. Also like previous iPhones, it's not the greatest phone for voice calling.

Cue the screaming nay-sayers: "If it's not the world's best voice phone, what good is it? A phone should be a PHONE!" Yes, that is a valid view. There are phones for you. The iPhone 4 is not the phone for you. Move on. There are millions of people for whom making long, heartfelt voice calls isn't their primary desire—they send scads of text messages, play games, Fingerpoke on YouFace (if they're Tina Fey) and make brief voice calls to get their points across. The iPhone is for them.

If you're looking for salvation from dropped calls, the iPhone 4 isn't it. In extremely weak signal conditions in our lab and our basement, the iPhone 3GS actually connected slightly more calls successfully than the iPhone 4 did—about one in ten additional calls went through. The iPhone 4 gave a truer picture of signal strength than the 3GS did, though; its "bar" meter is quicker to respond to changes in RF than the 3GS is.

Apple also acknowledged that the "iPhone death grip" is real, and holding the phone the wrong way reduces signal strength. I made Speedtest.net data speed tests slow down and even stall out by picking up the phone and holding it in my left hand, with one finger on each seam of the phone and the bottom-left corner against the pad of a slightly sweaty palm. Putting the phone down on the table caused the speed test to resume. The death grip only made a difference on voice calls in weak signal conditions, though; with decent or strong signal, it didn't affect the iPhone's ability to connect calls. Adding one of Apple's $29 plastic "bumpers" fixed the death-grip issue entirely.

Take a Look at iPhone4 FaceTime, HD Recording and More

At this year's WorldWide Developers Conference, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone4 and talked about its features as a revolutionary step in the right direction. He is a showman, a marketing strategist. He added that this new phone is the best thing that Apple can produce since the original iphone came to the market.

What are some of the features of the iPhone4?

There is no doubt that being able to use facetime video to talk to friends, family members and business partners is a great addition to the phone. How many times that we want to talk to someone and see this person in real time? Iphone4 FaceTime allows you to do just that.

In addition, with this phone, you have a front-face camera that allows you to take pictures. It also comes read with HD video recording and making capabilities which you can edit right on the phone itself.

The 5-megapixel camera built into iPhone 4 captures amazingly detailed images. A built-in LED flash illuminates low-light scenes. And the 5x digital zoom gets you closer to the action

Here is a list of some of the features you will encounter on the new iphone:

iMovie, iBooks, iTunes store, iPod, phone, photo, keyboard, safari, voice control,mail, appstore, iphone, folders, camera, messages, maps and compass, photos, search etc.


Pre-order starts June 15 and available on June 24!


Visit urbanbookspublishing.blogspot.com

Official Google Blog: Introducing Google Places

Official Google Blog: Introducing Google Places

Linux on the iPhone: Android running on iPhone!

Linux on the iPhone: Android running on iPhone!

Gizmodo Revealed The Look and Features of The New iPhone: What's New and What Has Changed?

What's new
• Front-facing video chat camera
• Improved regular back-camera (the lens is quite noticeably larger than the iPhone 3GS)
• Camera flash
• Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
• Improved display. It's unclear if it's the 960x640 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the "Connect to iTunes" screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.
• What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack
• Split buttons for volume
• Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic

What's changed
• The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. Tapping on the back makes a more hollow and higher pitched sound compared to tapping on the glass on the front/screen, but that could just be the orientation of components inside making for a different sound
• An aluminum border going completely around the outside
• Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution)
• Everything is more squared off
• 3 grams heavier
• 16% Larger battery
• Internals components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for the larger battery

Welcome to iPad, the new Apple's Tablet Computer:

Apple brought to the world its tablet computer called the iPad.

What is the reaction of some of the bloggers who’ve never even tried it: “No physical keyboard!” “No removable battery!” “Way too expensive!” “Doesn’t multitask!” “No memory-card slot!”

There will be a lot of speculations until the iPad actually goes on sale in April. Once more people start using, the reviews will change. Bloggers will begin to say good things about the ipad. You can preview what the scenario will be like : positive reviews, people lining up to buy the thing, and the mysterious disappearance of the basher-bloggers.

"The iPad is, as predicted, essentially a giant iPod Touch: aluminum-backed, half-inch thin, with a 10-inch screen surrounded by a shiny black border. At the bottom, there’s the standard iPod/iPhone connector and a single Home button. It will be available in models ranging from $499 (16 gigs of memory, Wi-Fi) to $830 (64 gigs of memory, Wi-Fi and 3G cellular)."

YPN: Yahoo Publisher Network Calls It Quits by April 30, 2010: YPN Just Could Not Compete

Here is the message that is sent out to all Yahoo Publisher network publishers:
"Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program closing April 30, 2010


After conducting an extensive review of the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program, we have decided to close the program effective April 30, 2010. We expect to deliver final publisher payments for the month ending April 30, 2010 to publishers no later than May 31, 2010.

Because our content will no longer be delivered to your ad unit spaces after April 30, 2010, we recommend removing all YPN ad code from your pages by that date.

For the opportunity to continue earning revenue, we suggest using Chitika, a leading advertising network that syndicates Yahoo! Content Match and Sponsored Search ads. Chitika has set up a special process for YPNO beta publishers to participate in its platform. Visit http://www.chitika.com/ypno/ for more information.

Thank you for your participation in the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta. If you have any questions regarding this announcement, please contact our Support Team at (866) 785-2636, Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PDT."

With All Its Gas Pedal Problems, Will Toyota Become the Hyundai of the 1980s?

Updates: For a few days now, we do not know which Toyota vehicle is not subject to a recall. Even the Toyota Prius is not exempt. Its anti-lock breaking system has problems according to many owners. In the meantime, Ford is accelerating is sales campaign to take business from the embattled Japanese car maker.

Toyota has been announcing massive recalls and plans to repair the problems.

"Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) U.S.A., Inc., today announced it will begin fixing accelerator pedals in recalled Toyota Division vehicles this week. Toyota’s engineers have developed and rigorously tested a solution that involves reinforcing the pedal assembly in a manner that eliminates the excess friction that has caused the pedals to stick in rare instances. In addition, Toyota has developed an effective solution for vehicles in production.

Parts to reinforce the pedals are already being shipped for use by dealers, and dealer training is under way. Many Toyota dealers will work extended hours to complete the recall campaign as quickly and conveniently as possible, some even staying open 24 hours a day. The company has also taken the unprecedented action of stopping production of affected vehicles for the week of February 1.

“Nothing is more important to us than the safety and reliability of the vehicles our customers drive,” said Jim Lentz, president and Chief Operating Officer, TMS. “We deeply regret the concern that our recalls have caused for our customers and we are doing everything we can – as fast as we can – to make things right. Stopping production is never an easy decision, but we are 100% confident it was the right decision. We know what’s causing the sticking accelerator pedals, and we know what we have to do to fix it. We also know it is most important to fix this problem in the cars on the road.”

Lentz added: “We are focused on making this recall as simple and trouble-free as possible, and will work day and night with our dealers to fix recalled vehicles quickly. We want to demonstrate that our commitment to safety is as high as ever and that our commitment to our customers is unwavering.”

On January 21, Toyota announced its intention to recall approximately 2.3 million select Toyota Division vehicles equipped with a specific pedal assembly and suspended sales of the eight models involved in the recall on January 26.

Toyota vehicles affected by the recall include:
• Certain 2009-2010 RAV4
• Certain 2009-2010 Corolla
• 2009-2010 Matrix
• 2005-2010 Avalon
• Certain 2007-2010 Camry
• Certain 2010 Highlander
• 2007-2010 Tundra
• 2008-2010 Sequoia

No Lexus Division or Scion vehicles are affected by these actions. Also not affected are Toyota Prius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser, Highlander hybrids and certain Camry models, including Camry hybrids, all of which remain for sale.

Further, Camry, RAV4, Corolla and Highlander vehicles with Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) that begin with "J" are not affected by the accelerator pedal recall."