It seems like HTC are now shopping around for their own mobile operating system. HTC has made a huge amount of money from Android based smartphones, but they feel that this is just simply not enough. After all, Google’s free operating system is getting expensive.
“We have given it thought and we have discussed it internally, but we will not do it on impulse,” Wang said in an interview with the Economic Observer of China, noting that HTC’s Sense UI would allow the company to offer distinctive products using any operating system. HP’s webOS is an obvious candidate, and although Wang did not refer to the platform specifically, the report notes that HTC and Samsung have both been in talks with HP. ”We can use any OS we want. We are able to make things different from our rivals on the second or third layer of a platform,” Wang said. “Our strength lies in understanding an OS, but it does not mean that we have to produce an OS.”
Have you ever wanted to see live performances that you could make? Well the O2 Academy has started to use their YouTube channel for live performances and backstage footage.
Fans will be able to upload their own videos from any of the O2 venues, thus showing the world what stupid things you did at that crazy concert.
“O2 Academy TV celebrates the raw aspect of live music in our venues, giving fans a unique opportunity to get closer to the artists they love, and giving artists a creative platform to promote their shows,” says head of music sponsorship Jasmine Skee.
Jolicloud, the operating system developed originally from Ubuntu OS especially for netbooks, will reach the final 1.0 version by the end of this week, as was announced in Jolicloud blog.
The open source community as well as the non-open source really loves this operating system, mainly for the simplicity which is offered and the small footprint making very suitable for netbooks (maybe for tablets later?).
The name already says it, this operating system will be “cloud-friendly”. Here are some of the specs:
Built in HTML5.
Over 700 apps available for download. Including the most important ones for Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Chrome, Skype, etc.
Applications are installed with one click.
Applications updates are simplified.
Install Jolicloud on as many devices as you’d like, and they will always be automatically synchronized. Any app you download, delete, or move around will be the same on all other machines with no extra work on your part.
Google is reaching an important milestone in their mobile battle roadmap: Introducing App Inventor for Android. With this tool we’ll be able to develop our own tools for Google’s mobile operating system.
The interesting part of this tool is that will not require great expertise for users to actual create their own apps with App Inventor.
Take a look to this simple video where we can create a “Pet the kitty” app:
App Inventor is currently working with invitations, and you need to subscribe to get one. We are expecting more news in the next few weeks.
Microsoft, once the dominant giant in the technology industry, has more recently been forced to share the stage with a number of competitors. Apple and Google being major players on the field now, not just in technology and research but in the consumer market with devices like set top boxes, hand helds, and entertainment apps. Microsoft is quickly losing ground in this arena, and they are determined to change the course.
Recently it was announced that J. Allard, a major influence in the shaping of the X-Box, would be leaving the company on a rumored disagreement with Steven Ballmer over the cancellation of the Courier Tablet project. While questions remain, what is for certain is that Microsoft may be making some major changes in their executive management in the Entertainment and Devices division. This change would mean more than just replacing, but rather a full scale revamp to find their footing in a race that Microsoft has been steadily losing ground in.
The division is more than just the X-Box, but also includes the Zune and their mobile operation systems. This comes as a relief for me because I’ve personally felt that Microsoft has always missed the mark on their efforts for mobile consumer devices. Whether it’s phones or the Zune, Microsoft seems so divided, with so many fragmented operation systems that lack consistency or the attention to detail that their competitors show. It will be interesting to see where Microsoft ends up after these changes.
Phonescoop were at CES in Las Vegas last week and managed to spot a phone floating around the convention. Only it wasn’t just any old phone. It was a Windows mobile phone running the new OS which is yet to be released – 6.5.3. The video above runs through all the new changes and make a note on how it’s more finger friendly.
Undoubtedly, we’ll be seeing this new OS very soon indeed is Microsoft are sending out phones running it to conventions. I’d say it will be available within the next month or two. As for now this video is as close as you or I will get.
Yesterday, Google released public information about its new Chrome OS at the official press event. They showed videos of the OS and gave real-time demonstrations to reporters.
It looks a lot like the popular browser of the same name. It uses tabs like those in the browser instead of buttons in the task bar. The colour scheme is also very bright with a lack of colour. This may pose problems for laptop users in terms of battery life.
Here are a few screenshots to give you an idea:
I guess this would be the equivalent of the start menu in Windows. It’s called the applications panel and it’s where you launch programs from. May of these are affiliated with Google as you would expect such as YouTube, Google Reader and GMail however they also have others such as Facebook, Twitter and their old rival, Yahoo Mail.
The Chrome browser is integrated fully with the OS, as one would expect. Other Google services such as Google Talk also work seamlessly with it by launching discreet pop-ups and notifications when user interaction is needed.
Here is chess, an example of an app, running in a tab in the new OS. All apps can either run as a tab or can be viewed in full-screen.
At this stage I’m getting fed up. Every day I open my inbox there are a dozen e-mails from colleagues and readers of the
various publications I write for including Crenk asking about the news or a new product. There’s always at least one talking about the supposed upcoming Mac Tablet.
‘What do you reckon will be included?’, they ask.
Honestly, I’m nowhere near 100% certain. Obviously you’d have a touch screen QWERTY keyboard, media centre of some sort and maybe even fingerprint recognition (I believe Apple have patented that idea).
In truth, only the bigwigs at Apple could tell us. And even then they would probably just numb our brains with pre-release jargon so we all buzz around the internet still asking ‘Ohh, what could it be?!’
My reason for writing this post is clear and simple. I want to know what you would like in a Mac tablet. Send us in your thoughts, opinions and ravings here at Crenk. Either leave a comment below of tell us on the Crenk Twitter.
They could be about anything – ‘when will it be released?’, ‘what features will it have?’, ‘how much will it cost?’, ‘what will it look like?’ and so on. I look forward to reading your replies.
Google’s mobile platform Android is taking off very quickly. Multiple phone makers are picking up on the OS because of is functionality and features. Now, HTC have come out of the OD closet and stated that by 2010 over half of their phones will use the popular OS. This follows the Android success of their previous phones the G1 Magic and the Hero.
They have also announced that a new phone coming out in a couple of month’s time in either September or October which will be based on the Qualcommis platform from Brew mobile. While they may be stepping away from the Android OS for a little while I’m sure that they are busy as beavers behind the scenes working closely with Google and their Android platform.
The developers of mobile phones actually quite like the Android platform as it’s extremely easy to work with. Because Android takes care of the look and feel of the phone developers just have to give it their own little twist instead of starting from scratch with themes, user functions and then get on to the programs.
Netbooks are taking the market by storm. While they haven’t overtaken the laptop or notebook in many areas including sales they are ideal for family environments where each person has a netbook for e-mail, internet etc… and perhaps one central computer when you need performance and reliability. Syncing and even using those net-books with a Windows OS can be annoying because the screen is small and there isn’t a lot of RAM to keep you ticking over.
This is where Jolicloud comes in. It’s a new OS designed especially for netbooks. The desktop OS is designed like the main screen of a smart-phone with large icons taking you to your main programs and websites such as Twitter, Google, RSS feeds, E-mail and Skype. This is a great feature. Think about it. On a netbook you haven’t got a lot of things that need to be done. Just basic things so you might as well have them all up on the home screen along with some great search tools and tabs.
The netbook is based around the app idea. You can run a number of apps right on the desktop even if they are web based. For example, Wikipedia and Gmail are all available to open on the desktop. Twitter and Facebook are also available for your social needs. The interactivity and smart-phone feel of Jolicloud makes it so much better than what others would have left it at.
It’s also very easy to install and is designed to be installed on Netbooks with limited performance capabilities. The layout and the themes look great. Its basic but has great colours and is finished nicely. All in all, this is a great OS filled a gap in the market and I’m sure that many will flock to it. 8/10
Google is reaching an important milestone in their mobile battle roadmap: 
Yesterday, Google released public information about its new Chrome OS at the official press event. They showed videos of the OS and gave real-time demonstrations to reporters.
Dear Readers,
Google’s mobile platform Android is taking off very quickly. Multiple phone makers are picking up on the OS because of is functionality and features. Now, 
Netbooks are taking the market by storm. While they haven’t overtaken the laptop or notebook in many areas including sales they are ideal for family environments where each person has a netbook for e-mail, internet etc… and perhaps one central computer when you need performance and reliability. Syncing and even using those net-books with a Windows OS can be annoying because the screen is small and there isn’t a lot of RAM to keep you ticking over.
