Best Android Wiki I Found...

androidwiki

I think this is the best wiki page I found about the android platform, it shows from the history of the Android OS to how to develop your own software applications. I enjoyed the clarity of the tutorials and the list of Books available it has. I found the basic code samples, not all that basic for me, but a great tool for people with the right skills to understand and follow the examples. I will be using the Maven Android plug in I got introduced to on this wiki, a real tool for the new developer with minimal configuration rate which means less time in front of the computer, a great plus for me. Another great find on here was the newest emulators for the nexus android tablet which could be a great tool in case I feel like developing apps for this tablet or any Android tablet in the market. I think the new Movit Maxx Android tablet is a great alternative to the apple Ipad just because it will be much more affordable than the latter in the long run. Finally, I think I'm going to buy the Android netbook this wiki talks about the Alpha 680M just to see how much I can learn and develop in complete Android OS environment.

My Screencast: Google TV

I found a great slide show about the New Google TV and I thought I'd share it with the class because I think is going to end up being a great tool for people that use the internet and computers as much as we do.
             GOOGLE TV

Social Networking for Business or Pleasure?

I’m sure more than one have wondered if Social Networking websites are really meant for business. One thing is for sure, social networking websites per say were not created for that purpose. Now a even tweeter is used for business. I found this book that explains to you how all of these social websites could be used for personal gain. Not much of the book was really helpful to me, I guess I'm not the entrepreneurial type and in all reality only Marketing majors would be really interested in this type of literature. The list of websites you could use is endless, if you want to make business oversees there's even more to go through. I read about websites that I've never heard of like Squidoo, which the books kind brushes you off on how to set up the account and use more extensively. The book goes through flickr, twitter, facebook, digg, and youtube extensively but not in a very deep way (kind of like on the surface), emphasizing their business powers which I won't try to go through here because I'd just bore you to death. The one thing that I enjoyed was the positive attitude carried throughout the whole book, but then again it is marketing itself.

On the first few of chapters the book focuses on the RESULTS approach, Recommit to marketing, Expect success, Seek partners, Understand your audience, Look for win-win situations, Take strategic action, Stay visible. According to the book this approach will help you get back on the winning horse but of course never forgetting to add social media to the equation. One component that the book pays a lot of attention to understanding your audience and goes as far as saying you have to be able to drop the customers that don't meet your best audience criteria. The next step for “success” is to set up your social media marketing site, the process is pretty much what we did in class with our Facebook pages. The only difference that I found was you have to find your true voice and tell the story of your product/business and share with those interested in it. There are so many social websites that could be used to do business with others. The book explains a wide variety of the ones that the author thinks are the more useful, but for me they are pretty much the same thing and the book goes through them very vaguely, which means more leg work for the people that really want to make use of the book in their personal goals.

I don't think the book is a real tool to become rich and successful no book is but it does give you an understanding of a wide variety of the newest social media websites and it gives you a not very deep idea on how to use them and take advantage of the different tools and characteristics of each one of them. All the websites talked about in the book start out to be free to the user, but the author makes it a point to explain that you have to think about your time as money so the more time you spend the more you're really paying for it.

So, my conclusion is don't buy this book unless you are really computer handicapped and can't figure out how to set up and account and use Facebook or linkedIn or any other website that helps you connect with other people.

 Sources: 30 days for Social Media Success by Gail Z Martin, 2009

And the Winner is: Android

After a lot of debating, I decided to write about the latest article that compares the most popular smartphones Operative Systems in the market I found in a magazine called Maximum PC  (one of my favorites computer magazines because is oriented to the hardcore computer aficionados). The magazine editors took the iPhone 4, HTC Droid Incredible, Blackberry Torch and Nokia N900. They compared every comparable aspect on each one of the smartphones from hardware specifications to flexibility and customization. Bottom line, the Android OS is a winner on its own. The best phone as a whole was a tougher question to answer but at the end they picked the HTC's Incredible which is no surprise for me.  On the article they do clarify that the iPhone 4 has a superior screen, great touch interface and more apps. If you ask me, in the long run the iOS is not flexible at all and the applications and music from itunes make a big dent on your wallet. I hope my findings will help some people to give a second thought when is time to decide what phone to get. Click here to read the entire article. Keep your comments coming.

Low Battery all the time?.. here's a solution!

I was wondering why my phone's battery doesn't last a full day, after all I'm really careful about avoiding over usage in general. I've had friends and family complain about the same very thing. I've been looking for an app or widget or tip or trick that I could share with them about how to solve this problem. Well, I found a great application for that is doing the trick for me, SystemPanel App/Task Manager . Click on the link and it will take you to the developers page with three different instructions to download it to your phone or computer. Try it, I think is an amazing and affordable solution, they even offer the lite version of the app for free!.

The New DroidPro for Verizon... a great power phone!

I found the first picture of the new Droid Pro from Verizon. I read the press release and sounds like is going to be powerful phone with looks of the business oriented Blackberry and the Opened-source flexibility of the Android OS.  If anybody is interested in reading more about it, I'll post the press release http://www.mydroidworld.com/forums/droid-pro-discussions/5014-droid-pro-first-pics.html

Lots of Android Apps use private user information suspiciously...

I was really surprised when I read an article saying that 2 out of 3 android applications use personal private data "suspiciously". According to a study conducted by scientists at two different universities and Intel Labs, on 30 applications randomly selected from the most popular apps from the android market found out that some apps send sensitive information to different servers without the user being aware. I guess I give permission to my private information as soon as I hit the install key on my phone applications, but I should be given the choice if such information is going to be handled by third parties. As an android fan I'm really hoping for improvements in this matter so we can keep advancing in the right direction as an open source platform.
For the entire article visit http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/30/suspicious_android_apps/