I see many complaints about how Apple and their new OS X Lion update is pushing the “natural” two-finger scrolling which mimics how you would use a touchscreen device such as an iPhone or iPad. The new scrolling is completely backward from what we are accustomed to and many people are asking how to change it back to the good-old-days of Snow Leopard.
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How to Change the Backward Scrolling Trackpad in OS X Lion
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Nokia N9: Most Interesting Phone of 2011
If I were able to try out any smartphone that has either just been released or will be released in the near future, I would have to go with the Nokia N9. Yes, I would even choose it over the iPhone 5 that may be released as early as this Fall. It’s not that I think that the N9 is the best of the bunch in terms of comparing it to Apple’s phones or any of the various flavors of Android or Wndows Phone 7. Instead, this is the phone I’m most curious about for the simple fact that it’s so different from the competition in several ways.
Hype HTML5 Software Review
I’ve written in the past about why it’s time to dump Flash content from your website. I’ve done this on my own sites and am not recommending Flash for any newly created websites that I manage for my customers.
So does that mean that my websites have to be completely static in nature without any movement or pizzazz? Well, for the past few months, the answer has been an unfortunate yes. While there are ways to create some javascript files but I never found any decent tools to work with. So my sites right now are Flash-free but admittedly, a little bit boring.
OtterBox Nook Color Commuter Series Case Review
OtterBox is by far my favorite smartphone case company. Their products are of high quality and are really designed with the user in mind. That’s why I had really high expectations when I finally got my hands on the OtterBox Commuter Series case for the Nook Color. Needless to say, my expectations were met after working with the tablet case for a few days.
Using Google Correlate to Improve Website SEO
SEO is all about optimizing a website to achieve the top search results. To do this, not only do we have to understand how search engines operate from a technical level, but we also have to understand customers and how they may use different search phrases on a search engine. And just as major search engines such as Google and Bing are constantly changing how their search engines operate, people also change their search phrase behaviors based on times of the year and geographic location.
If only we could somehow figure out a way to correlate some search phrases with others based on past history and search locations. Using this correlated search phrase information, we could more accurately target the people we want to visit our website. Remember, the more you can learn about how your customers search, the easier it is to optimize your website for them.
Microsoft will Profit from Apple’s iCloud
Apple has made several major announcements this past week at their World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). Besides the big news of iOS 5 and OS X Lion, Apple presented iCloud, which is a cloud-based service that can be used to store music, photos, applications and just about any other data files imaginable. Since your data is stored on Internet-accessible servers, iCloud users can get access to their data with any Internet connected device that can run the iCloud software. This includes Macs, iPhones, iPads and even Microsoft Windows PC’s.
Perhaps it’s Time to Install Antivirus on Your Mac
I’ve never been a huge fan of antivirus software and that is one of the several reasons I use a Mac as my primary computer. I realize that simply owning a Mac doesn’t prevent me from all malware attacks, but it does reduce my chances. Additionally, since I consider myself to be more in-tune to malicious attempts such as phishing emails and other tricks to get users to install malware on their systems, I’ve always felt reasonably safe and therefore I haven’t been using anti-virus software on my Mac for years.
My thinking has changed considerably however now that a crimeware kit has been found to be for sale on multiple websites. Crimeware kits such as the popular ZeuS kit have been for sale for years to people that wish to create malware for criminal activities such as identify theft and botnets. I’ve never been too worried about malware created using these kits because they only targeted vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows operating systems. This new crimeware kit has been specially crafted to target Macs and the OS X operating system.
Which Version of CM7 Should I Run on My Nook Color?
If you’re a CM7 Nook Color junkie like me than you probably wonder which of the many stable/nightly or modified versions of CyanogenMod 7 you should be running. We’ll, I’ve tried plenty of them and my favorite right now is called “Phiremod”. Phiremod is a modified version of the most stable CM7 7.0.3 OS. This is Android Gingerbread 2.3.3 if anyone cares. In addition to the stock CM7 features, which include working bluetooth (albeit limited range still), Phiremod includes the following additions:
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Looking to the Crowdsource for Answers
Sometimes in life, we simply don’t have the answers to difficult problems. In the software engineering field, that is typically the point where you call up your favorite consulting company and bring in some “hired guns” to take a shot at what you are struggling with.
Do you have a Facebook Marketing Strategy?
Now that I am offering social network marketing services for my clients, I’ve been doing a great deal of research on the topic to help refine my marketing strategies. One of the articles that was most interesting to me was research conducted by Buddy Media. Buddy Media is a big player in the social network marketing arena. And because of this, they are using their customer data to find the best trends on how to construct marketing posts as well as the ideal days and times to post them. (more…)
Otterbox iPad 2 Defender Release Date is May 13
Just an FYI for all of you iPad 2 owners out there that haven’t yet found that perfect case to wrap around your new tablet, you should absolutely check out Otterbox. I have heard from a very reliable source that Otterbox is launching their Defender Series case for the iPad 2 this Friday, May 13 for a cost of $89.95.
If you haven’t already read my high praise for Otterbox cases, you might want to check out my previous blog about my experiences with the Defender and Commuter series for the 4th Generation iPod touch. I’m still rockin the Otterbox Commuter and it still looks as good as the day I got it. If you want protection while keeping the iPad 2 stylish and slim, you’ll probably be very happy with their new offering.
Is the Social Network Bubble About to Burst?
The signs of a dot-com bubble burst were all over the place beginning back in 2000. Unfortunately, most of us had tunnel vision and failed to see those signs. Looking back, there were some really bad Internet-based businesses with no real way to make money. Yet, investors still gave them money just to try. The reason was that some Internet-based companies had sound business models and stocks their were flying high. Everyone else thought they could do the same thing. They too wanted their own little slice of E-cake at the party. Unfortunately, just because a business wants a stake in a popular trend doesn’t mean it’s going to make any money. Investors never really noticed that these companies had no sound business model.
So are we in a social networking bubble now? Are we throwing good money just to get a slice of the Facebook-cake? To answer that question, let’s first look to the past at two dot-bombs from over 10 years ago.
Nook Color CM7 Nightlies, Tablet Tweaks II and Dalingrin’s Overclock Kernel
I have this pair of shorts that I really love to wear. They look nice and are comfortable. The only problem is that the zipper slides down during the course of the day. I don’t want to look like a slob and so I’ve gotten into the habit of checking the zipper every so often to make the necessary adjustments. It’s a pain in the ass but I really like the shorts so I deal with it.
That’s sort of how I feel about the current state of the CyanogenMod 7 (CM7) project for the Nook Color. It’s a really sweet Android OS and by far the best I’ve tested. The only problem is that a new nightly update comes out a several times a week, if not every night. Since I love to tinker with the latest and greatest, I have to make sure to frequently check for updates…similar to frequently checking the zipper of my shorts.
The currently nightly is up to version 40 and making progress all the time in many critical areas including video playback and Bluetooth. One major note is that back in nightly 37, CM7 merged with Tablet Tweaks; which are a bunch of mods specifically designed for tablets as opposed to smartphones. The tweaks include features such as: (more…)
3 Technology Lessons Learned From an Earthquake
I grew up in the Midwest and therefore far away from any earthquake fault lines. Now that I’m spending some time in Thailand, I experienced my first earthquake a few weeks ago. Fortunately it wasn’t nearly as devastating as the quakes that have rocked Japan over the past few months but it was jarring enough to learn some lessons so I will be more prepared in the future to help stay safe and connected.
Nook Color with Working Bluetooth: Almost Perfect
So after rooting my Nook Color that came pre-installed with Android 2.1, and playing with SD bootable versions of Android 2.2 and honeycomb 3.0, I finally decided to check out Android 2.3 in the form of CyanogenMod 7.
According to their “About” page, CyanogenMod is a “customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for several Android devices”. CM is basically a group of android developers that are very talented at modifying the Android open source project source code for developing ROMs for a range of hardware devices. And back in January of this year, CyanogenMod decided that the Nook Color was a worthy hardware candidate.
Topsy Beating Google in Social Networking Search
We all know that Google is the king of website search engines. But Google’s weak spot as of late has been in the social network arena. From Buzz to Orkut, Google just can’t seem to understand the social network market.
China Unicom’s WoPhone OS is a Blessing for Apple
The WoPhone OS is a Chinese-government backed operating system for smartphones and tablet devices that is said to be ready to go head-to-head with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android OS. (more…)
Google’s Major Search Algorithm Overhaul: How Did You Fare?
On February 24, Google stated on their official blog that they made a dramatic modification to their search result relevancy algorithm.
As many search engine optimizers (SEOs) and website owners are aware, Google is constantly changing their search result algorithm. But these modifications are typically very small in scope and tend to go unnoticed. This recent change impacted nearly 12% of all search queries. That’s a very big deal.
Review of Nook Color Running Android 3.0 Honeycomb
I’ve been spending a great deal of time playing around with my Nook Color lately. As you may have read in an earlier post, I tried out running my NC with Android 2.2 Froyo but the experience wasn’t all that great. Since then, I simply have rooted the stock Android 2.1 and have been very happy with the results.
But lately, there have been two new advances in the Nook Color hacking community. The first is the fact that CyanogenMod has now adopted the NC as one of their supported devices. CM7 is a modified version of Android 2.3 which is code named “gingerbread” and the CM community is performing new builds every night.
Tablet and Smartphone Dinner Table Etiquette
I’ve been to plenty of lunches and dinners with various friends, family and business associates where the conversation hits one of those common yet uncomfortable lulls in the conversation.
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