Archive for November, 2008

It seems that the recession is affecting everyone, not just us little guys.  Google, the search engine giant has been quietly lying off employees since last summer.  Although the SEC mandates companies to disclose information in relation to layoffs, Google bypassed this rule by claiming in Q3 to have cut “Operational Expenses”.   How do they do that?  Well, Google has 20,123 certified employees and an additional 10,000 that are labeled as “Temporary Operational Expenses”.  Wow, how is that for a job title.  Those Temporary Operational Expenses are going to be out of a job this holiday season.  Many of these employees have been with Google for a number of years but have moved within the infrastructure enabling them to retain the temporary employee label while sliding under the SEC radar. 

An additional Chinese handset manufacturer has released plans for an Android based cell phone. Qigi is the name of the company and from the visuals released seems be a slick Smartphone. The i6 Smartphone will be available in two versions, one that runs on the Android platform and the other on Windows Mobile 6.1.
Features won’t be scarce with these powerful Smartphones with the 2.8” LCD touchscreen sporting 65,000 colors. The phone will be powered by Marvell Monohans 624MHz processor and have Bluetooth capabilities, microSD expansion slot, and built in GPS and Wi-Fi.
Connectivity for the i6 will have quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support… No 3G. You will have to count on Wi-Fi for those large downloads. These look like a pair of winners in terms of Smartphones and we are glad that the Android Trek across the globe is going well.

[Eprice Via androidcommunity]

Asus announced that they are planning to introduce ~10 new Smartphones in 2009. The success of the HTC G1 is sure to have a hand in this decision as it is no secret that HTC and ASUS are fierce rivals. Not all of the handhelds will run Google’s Android OS but will be powered by Windows Mobile.
Specifications for these phones were not released at the time this was prepared, however it is alleged that most of the new models will have 3G support and touch screen user interfaces.

Colorware has come out with some fancy colorization for the HTC G1. Those who feel the need to customize their handset have no longer to wait. This personalization is going to put a dent in your pocket with prices up a $220.00. That is more than the cost for the original phone. A cheaper version will color your keyboard for only $15.00. If you want a new G1 already dressed with your fave colors it will cost you $770.00 without a contract. This can be pricey for some but just the answer for that hardcore football fan that has to have their phone match their favorite team.
[androidcommunity]

Google attempted to trademark the term “Android” this summer in August but was refused. Google, of coarse, is not going to take no for an answer, yet. Google’s attorneys are appealing the decision before a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Even though they were denied Trademark rights they still state in their brand guidelines “Android is a trademark of Google Inc. Use of this trademark is subject to Google Permissions.” Android seems to be too common of a name with too many various connotations for Google to own but we will see.
[uspto via Android Community]

A couple of days ago we reported that the G1 had multi touch capabilities that Rye Brye, a coder, had coaxed out. Well this weekend he has updated his site with the above video demonstrating the two finger touch on the G1. Whooot!!!!
As we said before who knows if it will become a fully functional feature but, this is a step in the right direction. The G1 or some G1s have the capability of multi touch but more importantly, the Android platform has the capability. If not the G1, then maybe the next handheld sporting an Android OS will boast a multi touch screen.

I will say it again… The G1 surely does not have all of the bells and whistles… Not yet. One of the nifty things about that Apple iPhone is the multi-touch capability that we are not to big to admit is pretty cool. A sly coder going by the name RyeBrye found synaptic driver code that was commented out and after recompiling the kernel with the code back in was able to track multiple fingers. The question begs why not utilize the capability if it exists. There are two schools of thought on this given below (and commented on by RyeBrye) by an Unofficial Google employee, morrildl.
• HTC has specified that the G1 will have a single-touch screen. (This is significant, because their spec is for single touch for the G1, this means that they could in the future source touchscreens that are not multi-touch capable - so just because a certain run of G1s might have a multitouch capable screen, they have the liberty to swap out parts [and they may already have G1s out in the field that don't have a multi-touch capable screen])
• The other issue is with how the driver reports the width of the touch. It appears that the “w” element is the same on both of the fingers (although this might just be a quirk in the driver code that was commented out - since it does seem to be based on pressure and putting fingers on opposite corners and pressing lightly still shows a 1 for “w” - but placing 2 fingers close together and pressing hard will show a 15 for “w” - so I’m not entirely convinced of this)
Whatever the reason this is definitely good news and a step in the right direction. We probably won’t see any multi touch apps any time soon but it is only a matter of time before it peaks someone else’s interest.
What do you guys think is the reason for the lack of dual touch functionality?
[RyeBrye]

During the Adobe MAX developer’s conference, Adobe displayed Flash 10 running on the Google Android OS via the T-Mobile G1. Google’s Andy Rubin and Adobe’s Kevin Lynch proudly showed their Android flash collaboration, Star Dudes, Episode I. The demonstration displayed a full HTML browsing, flash experience. The Apple iPhone has little hopes of getting Adobe Flash compliant due to control issues Apple has with it’s software. It has not been release as to when the new Flash Player 10 will become available.

If you think you’ve seen everything the Android platform is capable of then you haven’t seen the new and improved Garage Door Opener by Brad Fitzpatric. I don’t think you will see this hack. uh..um app on the Android market but we will give you a link to the source code if you wanna play.
“I got it all working. I now have an Android Activity (GarageDoorActivity) which interacts with an Android Service I wrote (InRangeService), letting me start and stop the service’s wifi scanning task. The service gets the system WifiManager, holds a WifiLock to keep the radio active, and then does a Wifi scan every couple seconds, looking for my house.
When my house is in range, it does the magic HTTP request to my garage door opener’s webserver (HMAC-signed timestamped URL, for non-replayability/forgeability if sniffed) and my garage door opens. Complete with a bunch of fun Toast notifications (like Growl) and Android Notifications (both persistent ongoing notifications for background scanning, and one-time notifications for things like the garage door actually opening).”
The source code is here. When asked why he did not try to market the app the reply, in short, true form, was it was too much work… here is the code take it if you want. We can respect that view.
[ Brad’s Life]

So you say you want the new white version of the T-Mobile G1…  Well how does it feel to want?  It seems that the mysterious White G1 has been recalled due to paint chipping, and is not expected out until after Turkey Day.  The Bronze G1 has been removed from the T-Mobile site due to an inordinate amount of orders and the good old black version is on back order.  If you were lucky enough to place the order before November 5^th, you can expect your phone by the 24^th of the same month.  All of these supply issues are the kinds of problems T-Mobile and Google are happy to have I am sure.