Job: with Chris Paul @ IBM

Hey folks,

Chris Paul, who visited our class, is hiring. Here is a bit of the email he sent me:

"I have a college hire slot for a fulltime position on my team. I am looking for a front-end UI developer...skilled in web standards markup, PHP, javascript, etc. Ideal person has an understanding of design refinement. "

He says he is most likely looking for a undergraduate, but I would imagine that a qualified Masters student would be seriously considered too.

If you are interested, please contact him at cpaul@us.ibm.com

Best,

Ben

Studio: a bit of user research (homework!)

Folks,

Because we don't have time for a full round of crits this Thursday, I'm asking you to do a bit of user research with your apps for Thursday.

Find a friend, a relative, or grab someone in the hallway, explain the basic idea of your app, then have them start using your prototype (software or paper). Video the result using one of your phones.

Put the result somewhere online (e.g. DropBox), then play it for the class on Thursday. We'll spend about 10 minutes for each group.

Best,

Ben

Find: Nokia's Photorealistic 3D models of cities

From our student Abhijit, one of things that Nokia is bringing to WP7.

Read: The Future of Microprocessors: moores law scaling over, programming challenge begins


The Future of Microprocessors

Energy efficiency is the new fundamental limiter of processor performance, way beyond numbers of processors.

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Find: ARM predicts dual-core Cortex-A15 devices in late 2012, quad-core variants 'later on'

Still exponential. Wow. 
Smartphones and tablets, the two hottest categories of consumer devices right now, are dominated by ARM processor designs, so when the company speaks up about its product roadmap, we're inclined to listen in close. The next generation of ARM system-on-chip has been dubbed Cortex-A15 and was expected to ship in 2013, but that's now been accelerated slightly to late 2012, which is when we're told to expect actual devices on sale with A15 silicon on board. Single- and dual-core variants will get us started, before quad-core options start filtering through in 2013. ARM promises a stunning fivefold improvement in performance over current Cortex-A9 SOCs and already has NVIDIA, Samsung, ST-Ericsson, and Texas Instruments signed up as licensees for that new hotness. So now even Samsung's "desktop-class" 2GHz dual-core chip that's slated for 2012 has a reason to look over its shoulder. Happy times!
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Find: iPhoneTracker Maps Everywhere You've Been with Your iPhone

Alarming and intriguing. 

Find: HP, here’s how you can win in mobile

Good points, cloud is a frontier for mobile, apple is behind there, hp and others would do well to differentiate that way. 

But as I always say: cloud but localfy.  Syncing is a pain, but so is connectivity. 

Other frontiers: developing markets, integration into new categories, pull entertainment, web apps, prosumer mobiles, pay as you go, VoIP only, semantic web, social first. 

Hp could be good in many of these, as could Microsoft. Not optimistic about rim. 

Find: ASUS Eee Pad Transformer

This hcomb tab has a keyboard dock, and reviews well. 


ASUS Eee Pad Transformer (UK edition) review


Lecture: menus

Folks,

We will be talking about menus on Thursday. Here are my notes, and corresponding images.

In preparation, please read the following papers:
Best,

Ben

Find: Dear RIM, I'm your customer and I don't wear a suit

I think that RIM will have to kiss anyone beside their business customers goodbye. If they are smart, they will make BBM a cross platform app so that some non business folks will still be around when they have stabilized their corporate business. Keeping their corporate business these days means treating suits more and more like consumers, so they should be well on their way to consumer appeal by then.

Find: Google announces Q1 earnings: $8.58 billion gross revenue, $2.3 billion net income

3 billion installed android apps, downloads up 50% from last qtr, 350k android devices activated *per day*

Find: Google expands NFC check-ins

Not sure I want to have to dig out my phone and unlock just to check in. Now if I could do it while paying.... Wonder if nfc distance is controllable. Eg very picky when paying, but easy further when checking in. 

Google expands NFC check-ins, clutters more restaurant windows

Recommended on GoogleGoogle's love affair with NFC continues to blossom, and QR codes are starting to feel like a neglected stepchild. 

Find: Intel and Micron announce new 20nm NAND Flash manufacturing process

Within five years, our life will be in our pocket. How will we find anything?

Find: Neonode's zForce optical touchscreens hitting ASUS tablets

Interesting. No layers means no refraction ,making it easier for me to touch what I'm aiming for. 

Neonode's zForce optical touchscreens hitting ASUS tablets later this year

It's been over a year since Neonode coyly said some nameless "Asian companies" would use its multitouch zForce displays in future products. 

Find: Apple patent application reveals more projector possiblities, including a projector-equipped laptop

This is the right solution for the chronic video out problem. Want some!

Find: President Obama complains White House technology is '30 years behind'

Finds: E-book sales triple year-over-year, paper books decline in every category

Find: The Tragic Death of the Flip

Sounds like someone could make a lot of money by reincarnating flip. 

Find: Mobile Application Development: Web vs. Native

Nice review on native vs web mobile by the developers of phonegap. 

Find: Researchers Give the iPad Display Some 'Depth'

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BlackBerry PlayBook review

The words "play" and "book" are a bit of an odd choice for RIM's latest attempt at consumer relevance, a tablet that, at its core, runs one of the most hardcore and industry-friendly operating systems known to man. The OS is QNX and the hardware is, of course, the BlackBerry PlayBook. It's an enterprise-friendly offering that's also out to conquer the consumer tablet ecosphere, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the BlackBerry handsets that have filled the pockets of corporate executives and BBM addicts around the globe.

It's something of a serious tablet when compared to the competition running software from Apple and Google and, while it certainly has games, its biggest strengths are rather more boring. It does a really great job at displaying PowerPoint presentations, for example, and has the security chops to keep last quarter's dismal sales figures from falling into the wrong hands. Exciting stuff? No, but useful features for sure, and regardless of whether you find those intriguing or boring this is RIM's seven-inch, Flash-having but 3G-lacking tablet clad in an unassuming but extremely sophisticated exterior. It's what's running behind the glass that disappoints.

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Beta 1 for webOS 3.0 leaks

Find: Windows Phone adds multitasking, deeper OS integration, and sensor access to dev platform

#more

We knew it was coming, and today at MIX 11, Microsoft showed off its developer platform for the next version of Windows Phone, which developers will be able to get their hands on for free in May. The new application platform adds:


  • Multitasking for background processing, audio and file transfer, and fast app switching, including background audio playback for HTML5 webpages

  • Deeper integration of apps into the OS, allowing programs to leverage Live Tiles, including push notifications via Live Agents running in the background

  • Raw access to the camera and sensors (gyro and compass) via the Motion Sensor library, letting apps to control device hardware
  • Microsoft hopes this will allow developers to make even more creative and engaging apps. To get our juices flowing, it showed off demos of new app concepts from Skype, Spotify, Layar, Qantas, Amazon Shopping, and Kik Messenger. Check out our gallery below and hit the break for the details.

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Find: ASUS Eee Pad Transformer US launch pegged for end of April

Comes with keyboard dock for laptop use and another 10 hrs battery. Only $549 is a good deal. Prices only going down from here. 

Find: Online news overtakes paper, and nearly half of it is mobile

Wait, this is just now happening? The Pew Project's 2011 report on mobile devices' effect on media was published this week; it's a fascinating read from end to end that reveals a wild swing in the way we've gathered news and information as human beings over the past decade, but a couple stats really stand out. First off, the internet has finally overtaken newspapers as a news source, putting it behind just television -- and we already know the writing's on the wall there since the young ones are already preferring the web. And of those web-savvy, voracious consumers of information, some 47 percent are getting at least some of it on the go, either through their phone or tablet (like, say, Engadget's lovely selection of mobile apps). Mass transit commuters have always been a haven for newspaper-toting businessfolk -- but with iPads continuing to sell like hotcakes, not even the subway is safe from the tablet onslaught.

Online news overtakes paper, and nearly half of it is mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Ars Technica  |  sourceThe Pew Project (1), (2)  | 

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Find: Nokia announces Symbian 'Anna' update for N8, E7, C7 and C6-01

Ok, how many more updates?

Find: Google snags PushLife, will probably use it to push music to your Android phone

Google music?

Find: Apple reportedly hires top UK gaming PR execs from Nintendo and Activision

From nintendo to apple. First of many?

Find: Nokia E7 review

Over the years, we've seen a steady stream of business and messaging-centric landscape QWERTY smartphones come and go, with HTC arguably leading the pack via its collection of Windows Mobile, Android, and WP7 devices featuring sliding keyboards and tilt-out displays. But few of HTC's offerings are as iconic or memorable as Nokia's line of Communicator clamshell phones -- starting with the Nokia 9000 in 1996, continuing with Symbian S80 models, and culminating with the Nokia E90 atop S60v3.

The Nokia E7 is the latest in this distinguished succession of Communicators and the manufacturer's current flagship device, dethroning the Nokia N8 which continues on as the company's media mogul. Now that the E7 is finally shipping in the US, we can begin to answer a few outstanding questions about Nokia's latest high-end device. Is it the greatest Communicator to date? Can it carry the torch for Symbian in the immediate future? And more importantly, how does it fare in today's shark-infested Android and iOS waters? Jump past the break for our full review.

Continue reading Nokia E7 review

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Find: Nokia Beta Labs debuts Shoot and Tag scene app

Say what you will about Nokia, the company has never had a shortage of ideas. And the latest from the kids at Nokia Beta Labs? Why, that would be a little something called Shoot and Tag. An app available -- you guessed it -- as a beta from the company, Shoot and Tag automatically creates individual scenes in the videos you shoot on your phone, not dissimilar to the chapters on a DVD. But that ain't all! You can also create your own scene markers, just in case you find yourself capturing footage you know you'll want handy access to later. Ready to give it a shot? Hit the source link to get started -- but not before peeping the demo after the break.

Continue reading Nokia Beta Labs debuts Shoot and Tag scene app for your mobile phone

Nokia Beta Labs debuts Shoot and Tag scene app for your mobile phone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 10:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceNokia  | Email this | Comments

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Find: Sony Ericsson Xperia Play review

The PlayStation Phone. We've had quite the intimate history with this gamepad-equipped slider, learning of its secretive existence way back in August and then handling a prototype unit in January, so you'll forgive us for feeling sentimental and still entertaining our pet name for it. The Sony Ericsson marketing gurus renamed it the Xperia Play when it finally went official at MWC this year, but the PlayStation connection remains as strong as ever. Aside from the D-pad, iconic game keys, and two touchpads, this device comes with a little app named PlayStation Pocket, which will be serving up dollops of classic PlayStation One gaming to all those with a taste for it. Yes, the Sony influence is strong with this one, and the Android Market will be joining the fun with Xperia Play-optimized titles from third-party developers. So all we really need to know now is whether the Android smartphone underpinning this smash-bang fusion of old and new school entertainment happens to be any good. Shall we get Started?

Continue reading Sony Ericsson Xperia Play review

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Find: Nokia promises strong Symbian devices through Windows Phone transition, major OTA update this summer

Nokia loves telling the world about the 150 million Symbian handsets it will ship in the years to come. Problem is, that's far from a factual statement -- it's a goal, a hope, and something that will only be possible if developers and fans don't abandon the platform wholesale as the company transitions from Symbian to Windows Phone smartphones over the next two years. As such, Nokia is desperately trying to convince us that Symbian and the Qt developer framework are far from dead. In an open letter of encouragement to developers from Purnima Kochikar, VP of Nokia Forum & Developer Community, Purnima attempts to coax devs into fine-tuning their Qt skills in preparation for a "strong portfolio" of new Symbian products with "GHz+" processing and faster graphics coming in 2011 and 2012. Presumably she's talking about the T7, X7, and E6 leaks among others. And because Symbian is still the leading smartphone platform in markets like China, India, Russia, and Turkey, she hints that Nokia will likely continue to support Symbian well beyond the transition to Windows Phone, at least in select markets.

Of course, hardware has never really been Nokia's issue so it's nice to hear Purnima commit to a first major Symbian user experience update this summer that includes the new home screen, icons, browser, and navbar we've already seen, in addition to a "fresh look and feel" to the Ovi Store and Maps with the latter also getting a integrated social media services update. The Symbian update -- some of which has already been seen on the C7 Astound -- will come to "all users" over the air. Too late to save the platform but just in time for the S...

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Samsung Galaxy S II motion-zoom option

Intuitive, one handed... If motions are small and without many false positives, it may work. 

Find: LePad's slimmer successor should arrive in September

Odd to have two products arrive so closely. Hopefully this signals rapid innovation -- the u1 is cool. 

O2 scraps mobile tethering surcharges

This is weird. UK carrier O2 has decided to do exactly what we've been asking mobile operators to do for donkeys' years -- it's going to allow users to chew through their data allowance in whatever fashion they like, without imposing artificial surcharges for tethering secondary devices to your phone. Up till now, you'd have had to swallow a salty £7.65 ($12.24) charge each month to get your tether on with O2, but for whatever reason, that has now been scrapped for subscribers on pay-monthly deals. Hit up the source link for a detailed list of O2's new contract options -- they don't include any unlimited 3G data plans, unfortunately, but we'll take what we can get for now.

[Thanks, Neerav]

O2 scraps mobile tethering surcharges, cheers up a whole United Kingdom originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Find: Super Pong Table serves up four-way retro play

Bet phones could make a pretty awesome multiplayer pong platform. Kanak et al, what do u think?

Find: Wp7 studio cloud service?

A conclusion for Captain Obvious to draw, this is not. As with most mega-corp job postings, the wording in Microsoft's latest is just obfuscated enough to keep us guessing, but a few key phrases have us (as well as ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley) on edge waiting for the next big thing in cloud storage. Judging by the rousing reception seen by Amazon's Cloud Drive, we're guessing that the folks in Redmond haven't forgotten completely about Kin's one positive feature: Kin Studio. Based on a new job request, there's a Windows Phone Mobile Studio brewing, and the leading thought is that this is really Kin Studio... but for WP7 devices. Granted, this may be nothing at all like it sounds -- we could be looking at a future home for apps, or simply another aspect of Zune that'll make music management a wee bit easier. That said, we'd love to see Microsoft bust out a world-class streaming / storage service for its mobile platform, and you can bet we'll be prying for details at MIX next month.

Microsoft job posting teases Windows Phone Mobile Studio, requires thinking cap to grok originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink ZDNet  |  sourceMicrosoft  | Email this | 

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Find: HP rolling out webOS 3.0 beta to Early Access developers today

Interested in developing for HP's upcoming TouchPad? Sure you are -- but to play ball, you're going to need access to webOS version 3.0, which the company has announced will be getting delivered as part of the festivities at its webOS Connect event in London today. Of course, you can't just wander in off the street and get access to it: you'll need to be signed up for the Early Access program, which has been dropping early webOS SDK builds on eager devs for some time. Naturally, we'd prefer a real, actual, physical TouchPad to the mere idea of a TouchPad in emulation coming from the soft glow of our laptop displays... but we'll take what we can get while we wait for the June launch.

[Thanks, Michael]

HP rolling out webOS 3.0 beta to Early Access developers today originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Find: Researchers show off 'flex' interface for touchscreens

No, it's not an actual flexible touchscreen, but this so-called "flex" interface developed by some researchers at Osaka University is still pretty novel. Rather than simply moving content off the screen when you're browsing something like Google Maps, it treats what's on the screen as an elastic, flexible material and squishes the content as it gets closer to the edge of the screen, which still lets you see it while you focus on a different area. That, the researchers say, would be just as effective on phones and other devices in addition to large touchscreens, and it would obviously be fairly easy to implement. Check it out in action in the video above.

Researchers show off 'flex' interface for touchscreens originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceDigInfo TV  | Email this | Comments

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Find: Osborne 1 celebrates its 30th birthday

On April 3rd, 1981 -- thirty years ago today -- Adam Osborne unveiled the Osborne 1 at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. It had a 4 MHz Zilog Z80 CPU, two single-sided floppy drives, 64K of RAM, and a five-inch monochrome CRT display. Nothing particularly special there, even back in the day. No, what made the Osborne 1 extraordinary was the fact that the 24-pound plastic machine had a carrying handle on the back -- and at the bargain price of $1,795 with software included, it became one of the first mass-produced portable computers to succeed. Which, of course, spurred competitors to create an army of even more luggable, loveable machines. Shortly after helping to change the course of history, Osborne and his computer fell into a spiral of pain, but the next time you admire the way your ultralight slides into a manila envelope, you'll know who to thank. Find a short but sweet chronicle of the Osborne 1 at our Technologizer link.

Osborne 1 celebrates its 30th birthday, and that of the portable computing revolution originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Apr 2011 13:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Find: Sony confirms Honeycomb tablet in US by summer

Has that foldover I mentioned in class. 

Find: Use NFC Task Launcher to Experiment with Near Field Communication Tags

Find: Android chief Andy Rubin reaffirms commitment to open source

Guess it's not ready yet?

Find: HTC's market capitalization reaches $33.8b, overshadows Nokia and RIM

Just to bring it home. Betting rim and nokia have more ip tho))

Find: atari 2600 on my iPhone? Sweet!

You still can't play them with an iCade cabinet just yet -- though that's coming, in June -- but Atari has now delivered quite a present to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners. The company has just released its Greatest Hits collection for iOS devices, which includes 18 classic arcade games and 82 Atari 2600 games -- those available either in 25 separate packs for $0.99 apiece, or in one massive time sink bundle for $14.99 (Pong comes free with the app itself). As you can see, you'll also get things like the original box art and arcade cabinets for each game, and some of the titles will even let you play head-to-head with a friend over Bluetooth. Ready to get started? You know where to find it.

Atari's Greatest Hits collection brings 100 classic games to iOS devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Ars Technica  |  sourceiTunes  | Email this | Comments

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Find: Pandora mobile app found to be sending birth date, gender and location information to ad servers

Ad folks get my location? No way. 

Find: BlackBerry Torch 2 gets an early hands-on

We'd already heard that the BlackBerry Torch 2 would basically be a Torch with some significantly bumped specs, and that's now been all but confirmed by BGR, which managed to spend a bit of time with the device itself. As you can see, it's nearly identical to the original Torch in terms of appearance, but BGR says the device's 1.2GHz processor could "light a fire" when paired with BlackBerry OS 6.1, and that its 640 x 480 display "looks absolutely great." As with the Bold Touch it got its hands on yesterday, BGR says the Torch 2 will be making its official debut at BlackBerry World next month, with a launch on AT&T to follow in July. Hit up the source link below for a few more hands-on shots.

Update: N4BB has just posted a full spec sheet, which reveals a codename "Jennings" while JerukNipis has some more, clearer shots of the slider -- including a nice closeup of the textured battery cover.

BlackBerry Torch 2 gets an early hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrackBerry  |  sourceBGR, N4BB,

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Find: Enzo's Pinball gets you all touchy-feely with your phone

We got a hands-on sample of Haptify's haptic-powered apps a couple months back and came away intrigued, but yearning for more. Well, the company is finally ready to sate our penchant for playtime physicality with its first game, Enzo's Pinball. The game debuts with three tables ("more coming soon"), and is designed to let you feel every bump, rattle, and ricochet as if it were the real thing. It isn't identical to its tangible counterpart, but it is an upgrade over the rumble-free digital competition. Haptify's haptic black magic works with handsets running Android 2.1 and up, so there's an awful lot of potential pinball wizards out there. You can grab the game in the Android Market and it'll cost $1.49 to give in to your tactile desires.
Enzo's Pinball gets you all touchy-feely with your phone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 13:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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