We'll probably have an alternative to iOS for the iPad soon, and that's the Chrome OS.

OK, I'm starting by telling that I have no idea about how popular "Hexxeh" is, but I never heard of him until now. And it seems that he isn't very popular on YouTube, as he has only a few thousands of views. But he did something really interesting, he succeeded to run the Chrome OS on the iPad. Yes, I'm sure you know, that OS created for netbooks by Google, running on the so popular iPad. So here's a video of what he did.



This seems to be quite real, because of two reasons: the first one is the pointer, which you can see that really moves when he clicks on something, and the second one is the speed of the OS, which shows that the Chrome OS might have been emulated on that iPad. Of course that there is a lot of job to do for Hexxeh, and one of the first things he needs to do is to improve the speed of Chrome OS (if he wants to release a official version of his work, of course).

Apple's Keynote Live on any OS!!

Here is where you can watch Apple's Keynote live, from any OS.

There are lots of users currently watching this (Apple's own stream isn't currently working), so if it loads slow just be patient (or try refreshing it).

Watch live streaming video from gizmodo at livestream.com

Syncing Palm handhelds (running PalmOS) with Ubuntu 10.04/10.10.

If you have an Ubuntu 10.04 or 10.10 and a (older) Palm handheld, you probably want to synchronize them, especially to install programs on your device (I have a Zire71, which doesn't have WiFi, so the only way of installing applications is via a computer). We'll be using "gnome-pilot" in this purpose. So, go to Synaptic Package Manager (System | Administration | Synaptic Package Manager), search for "gnome pilot", and install it. 

After you installed gnome-pilot, go to Start | Preferences | PalmOS Devices, and click Add. Now make sure that the port/hub in which the handheld is connected is working, and your device has enough battery. If you had your device synced before, click on "Get from PDA" button, and tap on the sync button on the dock. If that doesn't work or it's the first time you sync your device, give it an owner name, and an ID (it doesn't matter what  ID, I put 1000), click "send to PDA" and tap the sync button on the dock.

If that succeeded, close that window, and on the "Conduits" tab, enable all settings you want. Make sure that conduit "File" is enabled. When you're ready, right-click on panel (the bar with Applications, Places, System, etc) and click "Add to Panel". There, select "Pilot Applet" and click Add. A black-and-white icon should appear on the panel (if you can't find it, ask for help). 

All that you have to do now is to download applications for your PDA, and to drag and drop them over that icon. When you tap on the sync button on your device, it should be automatically installed on your device. I know, it isn't intuitive, but you can't say that it's difficult. 

If you have any problems, don't hesitate to leave a comment and I'll be happy to assist you.

Android 2.2 is coming in a few weeks.

Android 2.2, also known as Froyo, is coming up in a few weeks for Android fans. What is known is that, if now everybody agrees that it's extremely fast on powerful devices (e.g: Nexus One or Desire), the next version will be much faster. Google developed a new JIT compiler (just-in-time compiler) which accelerates programming languages from 2 to 5 times faster. Yes, you read correctly, Java is going to be accelerated up to 5X.

The new version will have Flash 10.1 support integrated, this means that you don't need anymore to root your phone and get another ROM in order to have Flash, it will be integrated into the OS. Moreover, with this new update, you will be able to transform your phone in a Wi-Fi hotspot. This means that you will be able to share a mobile data connection (from carrier) with another computers/devices, either via Wi-Fi or via USB.

The home screen (launcher) will have near the "menu" button, a phone shortcut (on left) and a internet shortcut (on right), being available in whatever screen you will be. Installation of applications on the SD card is (finally) going to be supported on this new version of Android. You will be able to install as many applications as your SD card can store. An update is coming to Market too, making it able to update all apps with only one tap.

It is know that it will come in a few weeks, and as soon as Google will announce an exact date, I will let you know.

Transform your Windows Mobile device into an Android one!

I'm starting by telling you that I assume no responsibility for any loss or damage your device may occur by doing what I am going to describe you. It normally shouldn't be any problem, but since it is a Microsoft operating system, anything can happen. Please backup important data before starting.

Androkkid is a customizable Windows Mobile application, which emulates the Android interface on your device. It looks quite good, and is a better option than putting Android OS on a Windows Mobile designed device (and it's also much simpler).

As you can see, the application has Hero's interface, and it also has another default Android interface, both with their own wallpapers and icons. As I've told you, you can customize the application however you want. You can add shortcuts to anything that can be linked on your device, you can add widgets, contacts, links to webpages, folders, and more pages (you have 3 by default).

My PDA has a QVGA screen (320 x 240 pixels), and I have to tell you that this is not the optimum resolution. This is most observable when you look at the icons, because they look very bad. However, in application's settings you can modify their size so that they can look really good (30-width by 30-height on my PDA is the best size for example).

The main problem is that if your device doesn't have a third-party Wi-Fi manager, you need either to open a feature from Windows Mobile to get access to Wi-Fi settings, or you need to exit Androkkid and then manage Wi-Fi. This happens if closing your device with Wi-Fi on causes problems (this applies to my HP iPaq 110 handheld).

Of course that you can get a third-party application from the web in order to manage your Wi-Fi adaptor, but I don't recommend this. I installed and opened a third-party Wi-Fi manager, even if it said that it has not been tested with my device. It created a conflict with HP's Wi-Fi manager that I couldn't control, and I believed that a reset would help, but it didn't. My PDA wasn't able to boot anymore so I had to hard reset it, loosing all my data that was stored on device's internal memory.

Returning to Androkkid, it needs .NET Compact Framework, which can be downloaded from here (.cab directly, in a .zip archive).

The application can be downloaded from HERE (.cab file, in .zip archive). If your device is not able to deal with .zip archives by default, search a third-party application with Google. There are plenty of them.

Customize the look of your device with thousands of wallpapers, themes, icons, and many others, from xda-developers forum.

Enjoy the new Android look of your Windows Mobile-based device.

Seesmic. Probably the best Twitter client for Android based devices.

When I was planning to buy my Nexus One, I was quite decided what Twitter client I was going to use, because a friend of mine said that Seesmic is the best option for Android. And so it was. After I got my Nexus One and I found a free WiFi AP, the first thing I did was to download Seesmic. And I wasn't disappointed at all.

Seesmic is probably the best Twitter client for devices which are running this OS. It offers a very clear (high resolution) interface, combining light colors (where the tweets are received) with black colors (where are the options), and a red line in the upper part, which makes the application look better than any other Twitter client I have ever seen (on any other mobile OS).

The application doesn't just look excellent, it also moves excellent. Anyway, it has no reason not to do it since the device has 1GHz processor and 512 MB of RAM. There are plenty of options offered by the application, so it can be easily compared to a desktop client (TweetDeck for example).

The scrolling is not as smooth as it is on the iPhone, but the main advantage here is that if you move the finger across the screen fast, it scrolls down until the bottom of the list automatically. Plus, while you scroll down, the list of older tweets is automatically fetched.

The application is always running in the background, and I discovered this because I was woken up several times during the night every time I got a reply or a DM. Actually, the application is not making any kind of pushing because new tweets aren't loaded until you open the application, but it just checks periodically for any replies or DMs.

It has also a pretty annoying bug (or it's just a communication error with Twitter), which makes all the tweets which were sent up to 1 hour ago to appear as sent 1 hour ago. I mean, if somebody sent a tweet 15 minutes ago, it appears as sent 1 hour ago. I didn't observe any other bug into the application.

To get it, simply search "Seesmic" into the Market.

iPhone OS 4.0 - what's new?

Apple's new iPhone OS 4.0 has been announced for a while, and a beta version has also been launched, being available for developers only (I know, it's on torrent networks, but don't attempt to download and install it, because it won't work -- it must be activated with Apple's servers). Now I'm going to describe you what is new inside this version.

A new feature which everybody was waiting for and which Apple decided to implement, is multi-tasking. Or at least, this is what Apple says he has implemented. It won't actually be a full multi-tasking. True, applications like those ones used for music will be making multi-tasking, but games, for example, won't. As Steve Jobs showed in the presentation, if you play a game and you want to....browse a website for example, you have to double-click the home button (the game will pause), go to safari, browse, double-click again, and go to the game, and resume playing. So, the game won't be actually making a real multi-tasking.

Apple said that they didn't implemented multi-tasking since now because it consumes more resources and power, and they have found a method which resolves this. The main advantage of this "multi-tasking" is that apps like Skype can now run in the background, so you don't have anymore to stay into Skype to speak with somebody, without having any possibility to do anything else.

Now, iPhone can finally use folders. You can now put apps for games or for weather together, for example, in a singe folder, so you don't need anymore to browse through more screens just to find an application. This is something good.

Also, you can now set wallpapers. I don't know why Apple didn't implement this earlier, but it's good they finally made it. And you now have "unified" mailbox, so all the mails will come at the same time from all your accounts. This has bad and good points, and in my point of view, I think that it's better without this feature.

What really sucks, is that Apple is going to implement iAd. This means that now everything on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is going to have ads. Steve Jobs said that this is a good feature, and it is, for advertisers, but for regular users, it is a disaster.

And, from what is known, there will still be no Flash in iPhone OS 4.0. This is totally stupid. I now think that the iPhone is never going to have Flash.

Apple says that this upgrade will be available only for future generations of iPhone, and for the 3GS. Guys who are working on jailbreak solutions showed clearly that Apple does this just for the people to buy new iPhones. Because they ran the OS 4.0 beta on both 3G and even 2G, without any difficulty.

And, you have to know that this new software was jailbroken in less than 24 hours since it was launched, so, probably, when the new OS will be available for anybody, jailbreaking will be easily done on any iPhone.

HTC has plans about launching an own OS, but how about Android and Windows Mobile?

HTC, which is the company that has about 30 mobile devices available at this moment, announced that it has plans about launching its own OS. I don't know what is in HTC's mind at this moment, because I think that this is a stupidity. It sold lots of devices, with both Windows Mobile and now mainly with Android (because they are migrating to Google's OS), and it wants its own OS.

If HTC will have its own OS, it will definitely compete with Google's Android, and this is something bad considering that HTC is making devices for Google (Nexus One). The relation between these two companies can get cold really fast if this is going to happen, considering that HTC is the main factor for Android's impressionable ascension on market.

I didn't even mention Windows Mobile because it is clearly going to...nowhere. Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 7 recently, which won't be having an unimportant feature (in Microsoft's vision), but one which everybody uses, "Copy & Paste". Additionally, Windows Mobile 7 won't have multi-tasking. And will be quite incompatible with earlier versions of Windows Mobile. So, in my opinion, Microsoft is going to destroy Windows Mobile....

HTC said that it thinks about its own OS because it want to reduce its dependence of outside developers. Wait a second...what dependence ?! What is HTC talking about ? Dependence on Android ? I don't think so. On Andoid, HTC can do what it wants. It implemented its Sense UI, and can implement many others, and even contribute to market.

I think that HTC should think again about this, because, Andoid is the best option for their devices (I don't think that they will be able to create something better, for the customers).

Will Windows Mobile 7 come in September, with LG?

After the announcement of Windows Mobile 7 at MWC (Mobile World Congress), rumors about the first phone which is going to have Microsoft's new mobile OS are heading towards both LG and HTC. The phone from LG will be most probably called "Apollo", and it seems that HTC is going to name their phone "Obsession". Nothing is unusual with the expected performances of these phones, except that LG Apollo might have a new Qualcomm processor, which will run at 1.3 GHz.

About the OS, Microsoft tries to attract people with the interface from "Zune", but I think that Windows Mobile 7 is going to be quite similar to Windows Mobile 6. Considering this, even if Microsoft tried to do a great impression at MWC, the new OS will still be pretty buggy, compatible with a low number of applications, and stylus-designed. The only new thing that is probably good related to Windows Mobile 7 is flash support, which Adobe announced that is working on.

LG Apollo is expected to come in September, while HTC Obsession is expected in October. I'm really interested what are they going to be capable of, but they will surely NEVER beat Android with their Windows Mobile 7.

Google Nexus One vs HTC HD 2. Which one do you like more?

Which phone do you prefer? It is clear, both phones have similar hardware, but their OS's are completely different. HD2 runs Windows Mobile 6.5, while Nexus runs the Android 2.1, a pretty new OS, in full development, performant and fast. They are both clear the most powerful phones on market at the moment.

Which one do you prefer? Have you got any of these two phones? If yes, what do you think about it? Below is a table which shows you the differences between them.

Device	HTC HD2	HTC (Google) Nexus One
Operating system	Windows Mobile 6.5	Android 2.1
Processor	1 Ghz Snapdragon	1 Ghz Snapdragon
RAM	448 MB	512 MB
ROM	512 MB	512 MB
Screen	4.3 inch TFT, Capacitive	3.7 inch AMOLED, Capacitive
Multi-touch	Yes	Yes
Size	120.5 x 67 x 11 mm	119 x 59.8 x 11.5
Weight	157g	130 g
Battery	1230 mAH	1400 mAH
Battery life	Talk time 5.3 hours on 3G Standby 390 hours on 3G	Talk time 7 hours on 3G Standby 250 hours on 3G
Camera	5 megapixel with Dual LED Flash	5 megapixel with LED Flash
Video	640×480 at 30 fps	720×480 pixels at 20 fps
Connectors	3.5mm headphone, microUSB	3.5mm headphone, microUSB
Control	5 hardkeys, volume keys	4 softkeys, illuminated trackball, volume keys
Additional features	proximity sensor, digital compass, car cradle	proximity sensor, digital compass, dual microphone

Cloudo - Your virtual desktop OS.

Cloudo is a free internet application, which allows you to take everything from your computer with your, wherever you go, without carrying physically anything with you. It's practically a virtual PC. You access it via a username and a password, and you can upload, download and view different files on it.

It has basically a few applications and games available, but its secret consists into a XML editor. If you known XML, you can make anything using this markup language. Additionally, Cloudo offers an word editor, text editor, mail client, calendar, and even a contact manger. So, you can use it even you don't know XML at all. You can upload any file from your PC, and view them or download them anywhere on the earth. It's really simple. And free.

Try it: http://cloudo.com/

Installing Ubuntu on MacBook (via VirtualBox).

Today I have installed Ubuntu (under VirtualBox) on my 13,3" MacBook White. Ahead, I'm going to describe everything you should know, in order to get Ubuntu and Mac OS X on the same MacBook. I want you to know clearly. Ubuntu will run inside Mac OS X, it won't be installed separately. In order to boot Ubuntu, Mac OS X needs to be already booted. They're going to run at the same time.

So, let's get started. First, you need to get VirtualBox from here, and a image of Ubuntu from here (please choose your country). Install VirtualBox like any other application for Mac OS X, and start it. Let the image of Ubuntu like it is.

Now, on VirtualBox, do the following:

• click "New"
• click "Next"
• give it a name and at operating system select "Linux", and at version select "Ubuntu"
• select an amount of memory to allocate to Ubuntu (do not give it more than your current free RAM memory; 512 MB are really enough if you don't have more) and click "Next"
• be sure that "Create new hard disk" is selected, and click "Next"
• click "Next"
• check "Dynamically expended storage" and click "Next"
• here just select the size for Ubuntu, and click "Next"
• now click "Finish"

As you can see, on the left column of VirtualBox, your new Ubuntu appeared. Now do these:

• click "Start"
• select "OK"
• when the window appears, click "Next"
• now, at the Media Type select "CD/DVD-ROM Device", and at Media Source click on the folder from the right, click "Add", and select the recently downloaded image of Ubuntu. Select it and click "Select"
• click "Next"
• click "Finish"

Now the image of Ubuntu is going to be booted automatically. Install it like usually. Don't worry about the partitions, let it install itself on the entire hard drive, because it's a virtual one, made by VirtualBox. None of you data will be affected.

After the installation of Ubuntu is completed, give it the requested reboot. Don't worry if Ubuntu moves hard, it is normal at this moment. Now, on the window of Ubuntu, click on "Devices" (the button is up, on the silver bar), and select "Install Guest Additions". On the window that appeared, select just to open the folder. Now, drag the file named "VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run" on the desktop of Ubuntu. Continue by doing the following:

• on Ubuntu, go to "Applications" --> "Accessories" --> "Terminal"
• here, on Terminal type: "cd Desktop" (without quotes)
• type in Terminal: "sudo sh VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run"
• now you have to enter your password (that one you have entered when you installed Ubuntu; type it, and even you don't see anything, it is there; tap enter when done, or if you haven't entered a password, just tap enter)
• wait for a few minutes
• when installation is completed (last line is like the line you saw at the start), close the Terminal

If any reboot is requested, accept it. When you are ready, open the Terminal again and:

• type "sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf"
• enter again the password you have entered during installation, and tap enter
• on the window that has appeared, modify where it says "Modes" with the resolution of your monitor (on my MacBook White 13,3" it is 1280x800)
• save that file and close it
• restart the operating system

After restart, Ubuntu should already be running on the selected resolution, on full screen.

Now you can change many settings in VirtualBox (while Ubuntu is shut down), as the video memory allocated to Ubuntu. Be sure not to give it too much, as the operating systems are sharing their resources. For Desktop Effects, 3D acceleration should be enabled, but on my Ubuntu (10.04 Alpha 3), the mouse disappears when the 3D acceleration is on.

So, that's all. Congratulations if you succeed. Your new Ubuntu installation is completed. Enjoy!

P.S: This works also for the installation of Ubuntu under Windows, because all you need to to is 100% the same.

What OS are you using on your phone?

With so many mobile OS's available, I'm really interested to see what are my readers using on their phones. So, please vote! :)

p.s: I'm using iPhone OS.

Watch Apple event from San Francisco online (10 AM PST).

The Apple event is scheduled to start from 10 AM PST time (San Francisco) -- or 6 PM GMT (London time). From what is known, we should expect a new iPhone (iPhone 4G is the most probable name), a new software for iPhone (iPhone OS 4.0), and iSlate (Apple Tablet).We'll see what Apple will announce at event (so far, on internet appeared photos of expected iSlate and iPhone OS 4.0).

What it live at: http://livetechevents.com/.

Update: The tablet has been confirmed !! Its name is iPad, not iSlate.

Update: Audio + Video (sometimes) here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/27/apple-announcement-live-v_n_438659.html

Chrome 4.0 dev version for Mac.

Chrome 4.0 version for Windows has been recently launched, but there is no 4.0 version for Mac yet (officially). But I have Googled a little, and I found a dev version of 4.0 for Mac, which is very close to the official version. I've installed it, and the main changes are that it supports extensions (finally!!), and the webpages are loading promptly than before (before meaning 4.0 beta).

Screenshot:

Download link: http://www.4shared.com/file/208169285/4bdf0597/GoogleChrome.html

Do you know how to take screenshots on Mac OS X ?

Mac OS X is for sure, if not the best, the most complex OS ever developed. I'm talking now especially about its shortcuts, which are very various and not guessable in any case. For example, do you know how to take a screenshot into a Mac OS X based computer? All you have to do is to press at the same time the following buttons: "Shift", "cmd" (Apple key), and number "3". A screenshot will be instantly sent to you desktop. This is really simple. Give it a try! :)

TweetDeck. The popular Twitter client.

TweetDeck is one of the world's most popular Twitter clients. His popularity comes from its efficiency and ease of use. It is for me the best Twitter client I have ever used. It comes with a dark interface, just perfect for the eyes. You can add many columns, started from your timeline, replies, dm's, public timeline and even columns with searches (you can view constantly what people from all over the world are saying about something).


I'm using it almost everywhere. On my computer (Linux), on my Windows-based Laptop, on my MacBook, and even on my iPhone !! Its installation will also install Adobe AIR, which will practically manage TweetDeck. But when you're using TweetDeck, do not use any other Twitter client at the same time. Both clients might search periodically for updates, and the requests limit per hour will be passed, so you will have to wait for them to reset in order to receive new tweets. And it can connect even to your Facebook, MySpace, or/and LinkedIn simultaneously, and get updates from this networks.


Just try it, I'm sure you'll like it: http://www.tweetdeck.com/.

Google Chrome OS on VirtualBox.

Even if Google Chrome OS is still not available for complete installation on regular computers, it can still be ran on virtual machines. A good and free virtual machine is called VirtualBox, and it can be downloaded from the official site here. Everyone should be able to install and use VirtualBox, since it is very simple and efficient.

By the way, you should start downloading the image of Chrome OS from here, while I'll tell you what else you need to know. The image archivated, so if you are under Windows I would recommend you to download and install WinRar, and when the image download is completed, you can unarchive (or dearchive, or how it should be told) it. Leave the image as it is. In the VirtualBox, Google Chrome OS should be set as a Linux operating system, then as version Ubuntu. Everything you need to do is simple, and for additional informations you can either visit this link:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/19/guide-install-google-chrome-os/, or you can leave a comment and i'll help you. You will have to login into OS with your Gmail username and password.

I've tested it on a Macbook with 2 GB of RAM and Intel Core2 Duo processor at 2.00 GHz, and it worked fine.

Attention!! Do not allocate to VirtualBox more than your current free RAM memory, otherwise the computer can become unstable or it can stop responding !! (it would be good if you save your work before starting the virtual machine)

Thanks to WebUpd8 for everything.