Right now, I count 40 apps on the market (all of them are free, but paid apps are coming with a 70 percent cut going to developers), and I know of several that are supposed to launch today that have not yet appeared on the phone. But if you are going to get a phone today, here is my list of the top ten apps worth downloading and checking out.
Installing and running Firefox 3.1 beta 1 is a revealing experience. Just like Chrome reminded us a few weeks ago, the basics of a browser matter. We have been using Firefox 3.1 beta 1 for a day now and we have come to two conclusions: We refuse to go back to a previous version and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is in deep trouble.
Joining Asus to the mini laptop market. Dell launched its mini laptop (Inspiron Mini 9), which comes with Ubuntu Linux ($349) or Windows XP ($399). It only weights 2.28 lbs.
Specifications:
Processor — Intel Atom Processor (1.6GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
OS — Mini OS powered by Ubuntu 8.04 / Windows XP
LCD Panel — Glossy 8.9 inch LED display (1024X600)
Memory — 512MB2 DDR2 at 533MHz
Hard Drive — 4GB Solid State Drive
Video — Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
Sound — Base LCD Assembly
Wireless — Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
Battery — 32WHr Battery (4 cell)
Color — Obsidian Black
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Texas Instrument developed the handheld projector, DLP Pico Porjector. The project has WVGA display with 1000:1 contrast, as well as 0.5W speaker. It also comes with preview and slideshow functions. Its battery last about 2 hours. Isn’t this something nice to have?
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Picasa 3.0 beta is out and so is the new web album. A news released from Google Official Blog. It’s got a new way for exploring pictures. But the key feature is the name tag. It can scan all your pictures and regonize human ( sometimes dogs) faces. You can put name tags associate with the faces, display pictures with only certain people. I am really impressed by the face recognition. Not only that it groups similar faces, but also make good sugguestion on associating faces with existing name tags.
Google Chrome starts up slower than Firefox. But once an instance is running, starting another is a lot faster than IE and Firefox. Surfing the web is fast, but I couldn’t tell the speed different from Firefox. All the google web applications run faster, but Lotus notes web application doesn’t work 
.
The biggest question I have is where are the plug-ins ? And I can’t find any information on how to develop them. I also heard that it crashes on 64-bit windows. But it’s a beta software, what can we expect? I believe once the bugs are fixed, and the plug-ins come out (It will be nice if we can import Firefox plug-ins).
According to google blog (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html), google is launching its own brwoser for beta testing today. And it has a comic book to explain the browser in detail (http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html). Google Chrome will have indenpendent process for each tab. Jailing each process for security purpose. Its engine is WebKit. It uses V8 for Javascript VM and built with Google Gears. While some of its features are seen in Mozila and other browsers, I will say it is like google says “a fresh take”.
I’ve looking for a open source replace for M.S. Project for a long time, and finally found Projity. It’s being used by HP, IBM, BOA, etc.
Found a DIY VGA Test Box from Pyroelectro.com
This will be something come in really handy for monitor recycle business.
