Author: Toby Leftly

Andy Rubin took issue with Steve Jobs’ analysis of the openness of Google at Apple’s earnings release, and tweeted his opinion on the matter. Unfortunately, the tweet was either massively ironic, or completely misses the point of what Jobs was attempting to say. The tweet Rubin sent was a terminal command intended to demonstrate the full extent to which Android is open: the definition of open: “mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; make” However, what Rubin ultimately demonstrates is that Google simply has a different…

Pantone, the controllers of all things color have released a new product that brings color from the real world into your workflow. Pantone Capsure is a new handheld device from Pantone that allows you to sample a color anywhere, anytime and bring it back to your computer to use in your projects. The device picks the closest Pantone Matching System color and downloads it to your computer. This kind of technology has been available for some time in hardware stores, but now designers can use the technology directly. At $649 the device isn’t exactly cheap, but will be a godsend for those who aim to use…

Palm Web OS is now officially resigned to the history books. It was really only a matter of time, but now the official title of the mobile OS is HP WebOS. After a bit of a rocky start in the Palm Pre, WebOS essentially tanked because of lack of polish compared to other mobile operating systems. Well, WebOS is back, and apparently it’s now a strong contender. The OS now features true multitasking, an updated version of Synergy, Palm’s interesting social media integration software, Adobe Flash and a number of other advancements. The first device to run HP WebOS 2.0 will be the Palm Pre 2, released in France…

2010 is a big year for the internet. The number of people browsing the world wide web will reach and surpass 2 billion, nearly a third of the world’s population. That number has doubled in the past five years alone, with 226 million new internet users this year alone. The International Telecommunication Union released figures highlighting the importance of the internet, particularly in developing nations. The figures show that 71% of people in developed countries are online, compared with only 21% in developing nations. The ITU says it’s particularly important for developing countries to…

Steve Jobs rarely appears at Apple’s financial conferences, but when he does, oh boy, lookout. Steve Jobs isn’t shy by any means, but he’s definitely not a loudmouth, so his confidence at yesterdays earnings announcement is either his pride getting the better of him, or he wants to make sure we’re all watching while his company makes the future. Jobs stopped just short of cattiness while describing RIM and Google’s position in the mobile market. On RIM, Jobs noted that they have reached the end of their competitive advantage, and are faced with the difficulty of adapting to a new model. “We’ve…

With Apple’s “Back To The Mac” event now only three days away, the rumor mill is churning at a rate of knots. Engadget has a picture that is supposedly the new MacBook Air, although it brings into question a contradictory rumor that the new Air would be only 11.6″. MacRumors updates with some new information, including possible specs. They claim the new Air will be available in 11.6″ and 13.3″ sizes, both unibody design and thinner than the current model. The new Air will also apparently all contain SSD cards rather than traditional hard drives. They will use Core 2 Duo CPUs with 2GB of RAM. The photo…

According to yet another lukewarm survey by yet another random analytics company, your tweets are worthless and nobody likes you. Research conducted using 1.2 billion posts over the past 2 months found that 71% of tweets disappear into thin air. Only 6% of tweets were retweeted, 23% received a reply. Over 90% of retweets occur within the first hour. More amazingly, only 1.53% of Twitter conversations go further than two replies. It’s comforting to know that something tweeted in error after a drunken night out won’t still be a conversation point in five years time, but surely the negative implications…

Ahead of Apple’s upcoming October 20th announcement event, people have been wondering exactly what will be announced. Of course, 10.7 Lion seems to be the obvious answer, considering the image used in the event invitation, but there’s one other announcement that might also make sense for the event. Apple’s iLife software is over two years old, a lifetime in computer terms, longer considering how far Apple has advanced in that short time. The new Mac OS might not be released for another year or so, but by then iLife will be three years old. The new iLife hasn’t been discussed at all, but Apple has moved…

One point I was curious about among the tidbits regarding the release of Windows Phone 7 is what kind of support Flash will receive. Adobe and Google have been hiding in dark corners together, murmuring about how best to deal with Apple’s threat to both of their business models, but where does Microsoft stand on all that? Turns out Windows Phone 7 contains absolutely no Flash support whatsoever. Microsoft’s Andy Lees, president of the mobile communications division spoke out about Flash on WP7, and insisted it wasn’t a “religious thing”. “It’s not a religious thing; we support standard H.264…

Niklas Roy’s workshop has a large window right in front. After getting fed up of passersby peering in, he decided to take action. In a move that would make Mark Zuckerberg’s head explode, Roy came up with a privacy scheme so nerdy and so unique that he’ll almost certainly win the Techi Nerdiest Solution To An Everyday Problem award. If the award existed. Or even Techi awards existed. Niklas’ may have been short on curtains and tall on tech, or he may just have been looking for a creative approach. Either way, this is awesome. I won’t ruin it for you, but the small piece of curtain uses robotics to move along…