Episode 84 – The Closed Source Toilet

By | February 28, 2012

Dilbert CartoonJere returns.

 

Show Notes

  • Guru gets ICS on the Transformer
  • FBI turns off 3000 GPS trackers after Supreme Court ruling
  • W3C says WebKit’s dominance is damaging the web. 
  • Would you pay extra for services that use the most data on your phone? Per service pricing?
  • Sprint almost merged with MetroPCS…what would this have meant for Jere Jones?
  • Comcast sues Sprint for patent infringement on SMS/MMS, mobile broadband, and more. 
  • Man Sues AT&T for throttling his service and wins. “Matt Spaccarelli said his phone is being throttled after he’s used 1.5 gigabytes to 2 gigabytes of data within a new billing cycle. Meanwhile, AT&T provides 3 gigabytes of data to subscribers on a tiered plan that costs the same — $30 per month.”
  • Platform News
    • HTC unveils Sense 4.0. Scales down custom skin, lets more Android show through. 4.0 includes Beats audio built in, now supports all applications. Adds in new car mode. Focus on improving camera software. Offers two years of 25GB of Dropbox service with each phone.
    • Unofficial Music API close to Completion. Written in Python. The problem is that with an unofficial API, Google can easily break compatibility. Reports say Google Music may not be living up to expectations.
    • Are projector phones the next big thing? Samsung releases Galaxy Beam
    • Virgin Australia will be using the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to provide in flight entertainment to passengers. Free in business class, rent in coach. Virgin CEO John Borghetti commented, “The Samsung tablet is being recognised as a better product than Apple. That’s not unusual, second-generation stuff usually is. In fact, it’s getting better reviews than the iPad 2. The screen itself is better, and the [Android-based] system is a plus. It’s (also) much thinner, as you know, and overall it’s a better product.
    • Chrome extension allows for downloading of Android apps to the desktop. 
    • Could Mountain Lion blunt Android’s momentum? – Integration between Google on the desktop and on mobile…
    • Google Voice now offers filtering by Google+ circles. 
    • Bicycle prepares playing cards with NFC and Android apps…brings new meaning to marking cards
  • Phone as desktop
    • Using your phone as a portable workstation by adding a bluetooth keyboard and TV. Pros and cons?
    • Canonical plans out Ubuntu for Android, plug your phone into a monitor, and it becomes a desktop computer.
  • App News
    • Google Docs updated, becomes useful by finally allowing collaboration and editing.
    • ChargeBar – MIUI Battery Bar (Market Link)
    • Official Twitter app gets ICS support, and support for Kindle Fire and Nook. 
    • User hooks USB floppy drive to Android tablet, runs DOS emulator and plays old games on floppy
    • QuickPic updated to 2.0, uses cleaner UI inspired by the Android design guidelines. (Market Link)
    • ssLauncher, new magazine style launcher. (Market Link)
    • Comcast to launch streaming service called Streampix for its users, Android app will be offered within the year.
    • Dropbox feature for instant camera upload out of beta, now in market. (Market Link)
    • Cerberus security app hits 100,000 users, offering free licenses till the end of the month.
    • Chrome Beta updated, perfomance improvements abound. will improve by leaps and bounds.
    • Nova Launcher leaves beta. Nova is billed as everyone’s favorite ICS launcher. Available in free and paid version. (Market Link) From the developer who brought you the TeslaLED flashlight app and WidgetLocker lockscreen. 
    • Domino’s Pizza app now available in US. (Market Link)
    • Citibank Mobile for Android now accepts mobile check deposits.
    • Moneto NFC microSD cards now available for $30, includes $10 in spending money. currently only works with Samsung Galaxy S line. Waiting for someone to hack this for other uses. 
  • Guru returns to Astrid in an attempt to manage his life.
    • Astrid updated, offers tablet optimized UI, subtasks, and more. 
    • Managing Life on the Go with Astrid
    • Astrid offers tagged lists, filters to display relevant information, deadlines, color-coding, etc. It also offers a web app with syncing, as well as Google Tasks and Producteev syncing. Most amusingly, you can outsource tasks using Taskrabbit.
  • This is why Guru doesn’t do video reviews…ELPresador reviews the Galaxy Note
  • If you Could Have One Feature currently not in Android, what would it be?
  • Developer’s Corner – Amazon AppStore proving lucrative for developers – Of 110 top apps appearing in both the Appstore and the market, 42 of them are making more money with Amazon, with 28% of the revenue. Distimo claims 50% of Amazon’s apps aren’t in the Android market. 

2 thoughts on “Episode 84 – The Closed Source Toilet

  1. Jerëmy

    Guru~
    your podcast sounds fine but the volume level on your podcasts is pretty low compared to other podcasts I listen to such as engadget or android central.
    could you make the Android Buffet podcast’s volume level a little louder for your future podcasts? that would be great. thank you sir. love your show.
    -Jeremy

  2. Jerëmy

    Guru~
    your podcast sounds fine but the volume level on your podcasts is pretty low compared to other podcasts I listen to such as engadget or android central.
    could you make the Android Buffet podcast’s volume level a little louder for your future podcasts? that would be great. thank you sir. love your show.
    -Jeremy

Comments are closed.