Android 2.2 lays down the gauntlet, includes WiFi tethering

So the iPhone might finally get USB and Bluetooth tethering next month, huh? Well it may turn out to be too little and too late.

At its IO Conference today in San Francisco, Google announced Android 2.2 (code named “Froyo”), and as expected, the new version of its mobile OS includes Wi-Fi tethering — something previously available only on PalmOS phones (like the Pre+) and on rooted Android devices. They even demo’d a Wi-Fi iPad connected to it.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if the iPad could tether to an Android device but not to an iPhone? Actually no, it would be sad.

No word on if and how carriers may charge for tethering on Android, but unlike the current iteration on the Pre+, an additional charge appears likely. In addition to Wi-Fi tethering, Android 2.2 also includes USB tethering, which is faster than Wi-Fi.

And that’s not all. Android 2.2 also includes a rash of other new features, including:

• Adobe Flash 10.1
• apps on microSD
• a JIT compiler
• faster V8 javascript engine
• (optional) automatic app updates
• OpenGL ES 2.0
• a new one-handed camera UI
• revamped Google voice search, and
• desktop to handset music streaming

I hope Cupertino is paying close attention. Customers won’t accept a substandard mobile OS forever. I hope that Apple has some tricks up its sleeves for WWDC on June 7, or iPhone OS 4 is bound to be a disappointment.

Top 10 smartphones and cell phones of 2010

Top 10 smartphones of 2010

 Sprint HTC EVO 4G

Apple iPhone 3GS

Nokia N8

Verizon HTC Droid Incredible

Google Nexus One

 AT&T Palm Pre Plus

 

T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide 

RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700

T-Mobile HTC HD2 Windows Mobile Device

Motorola Droid - Verizon

High fives for HTML5 at Google I/O - Videos | ZDNet

At Google I/O in San Francisco, Google execs Vic Gundotra and Sundar Pichai push HTML5 technologies to conference attendees. The execs believe switching development efforts from desktop-based applications to Web-based applications is key to continuing growth in the medium.

                    Women in Tech 2010

Last year, our list of the Most Influential Women in Technology raised plenty of eyebrows, ire, and fist pumps of joy — depending on the reader. And we’ve no doubt this list will follow suit. But the overwhelming number of nominees and fresh names proved that, while women in tech may remain at a distinct disadvantage by almost any metric (average salary, top-management representation, etc), there is also plenty to celebrate and be inspired by.

The Entrepreneurs SEE FULL LIST Jen Bekman Founder  20x200 Coming of age during the tech boom, Jen Bekman worked her way up through the online ranks -- New York Online, Electric Minds, Netscape, Disney/GO Networks, AOL, Meetup -- only to split the scene for what seemed like career derailment. READ MORE	The Brainiacs SEE FULL LIST Fernanda Viegas Cofounder  Flowing Media As an undergrad, Fernanda Viégas dropped out twice and studied chemical engineering, linguistics, and education on two continents, before finally finishing with a degree in graphic design. And then, she didn't want to be a graphic designer. READ MORE
The Media SEE FULL LIST Alison Lewis Creative Innovator  Switch Craft An illuminated wedding dress and RFID tea cups that can control videos are just two of Alison Lewis's tech-infused DIY projects, which involve clothing, home accessories, and small electronics and can be found in her book and blog. READ MORE	The Media SEE FULL LIST Darlene Liebman Cofounder and Vice President of Production  Howcast Studios What is Howcast? We're a new media company that creates shortform instructional videos and distributes them online, over on-demand TV, and through our iPhone and Android apps. We launched two years ago and have more than 100,000 videos on the site. READ MORE
The Gamers SEE FULL LIST Susan Wu Cofounder and CEO  Ohai The U.S. virtual goods market will jump 60% this year to $1.6 billion, and analysts estimate worldwide annual revenue could reach $10 billion -- the equivalent of Hollywood’s 2009 box-office earnings. Founder of online-gaming firm Ohai Susan Wu knew that virtual goods (products that exist only online) made real money, and she went after the digital wares like a hot commodity. READ MORE	The Brainiacs SEE FULL LIST Amber Case Cyborg Anthropologist Amber Case is just your ordinary cyborg anthropologist. "My father used to read me bedtime stories out of this book called Evolution of Consciousness," Case says. READ MORE
The Media SEE FULL LIST Meredith Artley Managing Editor  CNN.com Last December, just after CNN.com unveiled a redesign with a simplified, user-centric interface to better showcase its breaking news, a new blog appeared named Afghanistan Crossroads. READ MORE	The Brainiacs SEE FULL LIST Jill Tarter Director  SETI When astronomer Jill Tarter was awarded the TED Prize in 2009, she was given the opportunity to make a wish big enough to change the world, and she did: “I wish that you would empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company." READ MORE

More people buying Wi-Fi-enabled devices

As more electronic devices become networked, consumers are flocking to gadgets with built-in wireless access, according to a report released Monday by In-Stat.

Worldwide shipments of TVs with Wi-Fi are expected to jump from less than 5 million last year to around 65 million in 2014. Wi-Fi-enabled Blu-ray players will also be up there, with more than 61 million units expected to ship in another four years.

Collectively, shipments of all stationary electronic devices with built-in Wi-Fi, such as TVs, Blu-ray players, gamee consoles, set-top boxes, and photo frames, are likely to surpass 200 million units in another four years.

Portable gadgets with Wi-Fi are also in hot demand and expected to get hotter. Among all Wi-Fi-enabled devices, mobile phones will enjoy the greatest volume over the next few years, with In-Stat projecting 515 million handsets shipping around the world by 2014.

Shipments of tablets with built-in Wi-Fi, such as the Apple iPad, are forecast to hit more than 46 million in another four years, while notebooks will surge ahead with 265 million units shipped. Portable game consoles, such as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, could see shipments of more than 30 million in another four years.

Overall, shipments of all Wi-Fi-enabled appliances and devices could soar past 3.5 billion by 2014.

Security Encrypted search - Google

Google delivers encrypted search Wi-Fi fiasco

The company confessed that its Street View cars had surreptitiously harvested payload data from open Wi-Fi connections. The cars were meant to merely record the hotspot's SSID and MAC address to help improve location-based services, but the company claims that the piece of legacy code used to collect the information was mistakenly reaping payload data as well.

Google insists that the data wasn't used by the company and is in contact with the relevant authorities in each country to ensure that the data is disposed of properly.

Read more: Google delivers encrypted search to head off Wi-Fi fiasco | Security | News | PC Pro http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/357976/google-delivers-encrypted-search-to-head-off-wi-fi-fiasco#ixzz0oAmOdaJl

Semantic Web 3.0

Web (Re)Design"Web 3.0" may be subjected to the same techno-spin as "Web 2.0", but unlike its often-abused predecessor this term is allied with an official World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) initiative known as the "Semantic Web". In a nutshell, the Semantic Web is about two things:  

Common standards and formats for the integration and combination of data drawn from diverse sources.

A language for recording how data relates to real world objects that allows either a person or a machine to start off in one context, and then move through many other contexts connected simply by relevance. 

Web 3.0 HTML5 video/audio and CSS3

"How One Miami Web Design Firm Positions for iPad and Web 3.0 Transitions"

With its recent introduction the iPad was heralded as a W3C standards-based device, encouraging if not requiring compliance with HTML5 in general and support for HTML5 video and audio in particular while dropping Adobe Flash altogether. It is as if a line were drawn in the sand with Apple on one side, Adobe on the other, and website owners and developers expected to ally with one or the other. But choosing the one means alienating advocates of the other, and we didn't see that as good business for anyone except maybe Apple. We decided instead to support both-HTML5 video/audio as well as Flash-and we developed the VA4Most.js™ freeware Javascript utility to accomplish that.

Online marketing websites http://WebReDesignMiami.com andhttp://PervasivePersuasion.com before it attest to the fact that our Miami web designboutique has for years promoted the benefits of W3C standards compliance and practiced what we preached. So naturally, we were pleased that by making clean HTML5 and CSS3 a key component of being “iPad Ready", Apple was forcing the issue. But practically, we do not expect our web design clients and their user base to abandon proprietary plugins like Flash or FLV media overnight. So our approach with VA4Most is to support Flash for what's now, support HTML5 video and audio for what's next, and facilitate the transition from one to the other.

As we explain at VA4Most.WebReDesignMiami.com, our freeware may not be the first open/proprietary HTML5/Flash video/audio media embedding alternative. It is, however, the first of its kind to pass all seven tests of “Web 3.0 Readiness". This means, among other things, that web pages serving up video or audio can leverage VA4Most to qualify as “iPad Ready" today with no changes needed when browsers like Internet Explorer 9 add native HTML5 video and audio functionality tomorrow.

Say Hello to Media 3.0

Media 3.0

Smart TV Is Almost Here: Do you wish your television set was connected to the Internet? Google and Intel hope you do. They’ve got a new web TV platform in the works and Sony will be the first consumer electronics company to offer the Smart TV service. Paul Otellini, Intel chief executive said, “The revolution we’re about to go through is the biggest single change in television since it went colour,” OK then.

Set A WiFi Password Now: Google admitted that its Street View Vans unknowingly gathered data, like emails, from unsecured WiFi networks, mostly from people’s homes. The moral of this story, stop right now and go set a password on your WiFi router!

NYT Will Charge For Online Content: After many rumors, the New York Times announced that the NY Times.com will start charging users to read articles beginning in January. The Times has yet to reveal how much it will cost to access certain content or whether it will be a pay-per use or subscription model.

WiFi owner fined for lax security in Germany. German citizen responsible for the security of their own private wireless network. http//:news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10116606.stm

Harness the Power of Your Network

Wireless for Home networking.

WiGig Alliance has announced the initial spec of the technology that would replace High-speed cable with Wireless for home networking.
WiGig would use 60GHz spectrum, to achieve data rates of up to 7Gbps, and retain backwards compatibility with current-generation WiFi devices. Literally, this would kill the current 108Mbps 802.11n spec for good.

Strong Backing, Technology

WiGig is working with the WiFi Alliance, and added networking giant Cisco to its board of directors, which all shows that technology is the future for our homes. Apart from that Intel, AMD and Dell, along with a handful of cellular companies, and some consumer electronics makers are all members of the board.

At this moment, the spec is not fully public, but as soon it does, we will find compatible devices operating of  three frequencies: the 2.4GHz chunk of the spectrum used by 802.11b/g devices, the 5GHz region used by 802.11n, and the new, 60GHz area of the spectrum that is currently not in use.

60Ghz is great for wideband wireless data communications because:

• A lot of unlicensed space in that region
• Almost zero interference (only few newer technologies operate in that region)

But at higher frequencies like that of 60GHz, signals don’t travel as far and are more prone to being absorbed by intervening devices and are very Line-of-sight centric. It would almost die on the edges and corners of rooms. But, WiGig plans on getting around by using beamforming. Beamforming is a technique in which we employ multiple transmitters. On a signal being transmitted to the recipient, its’ position is known, the signal is sent from each transmitter with slight delays in timing needed to ensure that it causes a constructive interference pattern at the destination. With constructive interference, the signal at the receiving end is amplified and hence works decently over 10-12 meters.

Replace the Cables, WiFi finally

We’ve been watching claims from industry’s leading wireless researchers, but none of them has provided a practical Wireless network to replace the current gigabit ethernet. This time things could play differently. A really high theoratical value: 7Gbps might come to 1gbps  (in the worse case). which is, still, very usable and attractive.

Today’s home Network is more demanding than ever with various file-serving and consuming devices, like NAS boxes, HDTVs, DVRs, and multiple wireless smartphones, notebooks, PCs.

There are a large number of MultiGigabit standards for the Wireless HD, but WiGig is more promising because of underlying technology that makes it: long range, low-power, and hence good for low-powered devices like smartphones.

What WiMAX 2 promises- The Future of Wireless

"Major Wi-Fi changes ahead  Improved or new standards, new frequencies will make Wi-Fi networks ever-more pervasive"

         WiMAX Toshiba 13.3" Satellite U505-S2008 Intel Core i3 Laptop 4GB Notebook 500GB Computer PC

Technical Details

• Intel® CoreTM i3-330M processor o 2.13 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache, 1066MHz DDR3 Mobile Intel® HM55 Express Chipset
• Configured with 4GB DDR3 1066MHz (max 8GB); 500GB Serial ATA hard disk drive with TOSHIBA Hard Drive Impact Sensor (3D sensor)
• 13.3 diagonal widescreen TruBrite® TFT LCD display with Webcam and microphone at 1280 x 800 native resolution
• Intel® WiMAX/Wi-Fi Link 6250 wireless LAN
• Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit