Google Docs for Android...sweet!

The Ninja is a fan of the ever-growing range of Google products, so much so that I’m looking at how easy it might be to transition to a Google based future for activities such as e-mail, calendars, documents etc. through the power of Google Docs – or as a part of Apps for Business as they call it.

Google Docs for Android now brings the functionality of this cloud-based software to the Android OS and it is impressive.

It has all the features you might expect, albeit stripped down to the basics for mobile use but also has a few surprises up its sleeve. You can even create a document from a photograph where you take a picture of an item of text, such as a sheet of printed paper, and it converts it to text and inserts that text in a new document. Very handy for clipping newspaper articles etc. as it’s like having your own photocopier and scanner in your pocket. Very cool!

Although the software is basic and clearly a version 1.0, it can only get better and with the future of computing clearly mobile, it may well play a strong part and help ensure that Google remains the number one choice in this field.

Nike GPS Watch...running bling?!

Nike have just unveiled their newest Nike+ running range's must-have item....the GPS watch.

The watch, powered by Tom-Tom's GPS technology, gives you an all-in-one running computer that tracks the basics such as time, distance and calories as well as the more exotic such as altitude, route and heart rate. It is pretty much everything a runner might need in one device.

Although not cheap at £179.00, on the Nike UK website, it might be worth it considering it even pesters you to remind you that you've not hit the pavement for a while! Dear Santa....

DVDFab? It sure is!

The Ninja is currently in the process of ripping his entire dvd and hd movie collection to his media server to enable wider streaming of films and also to enable archiving of the physical discs to cold storage. I explored a variety of options for doing this including using the popular

Nero, the ever-excellent Handbrake and digging out old faithful warez like Smartripper and DVDx but really wanted a one-click, drop-the-disc-in solution.

I wanted something to convert to h264 mp4 and also to retain the 5.1 surround sound effect rather than downgrade to just stereo mp3. I finally settled on my old version of DVDFab (v.6) and began to rip to away (but to be honest wasn’t really happy with the output results) but that was before receiving the offer to upgrade to the latest edition (v8.0.8.5) and wow what a difference that made!!!!

Optimised for Nvidia’s CUDA architecture that is designed to boost read times through the gpu, the latest editions of DVDFab offer awesome upgrades in processing speed. The difference was incredible as I saw transcoding times drop from approximately 1hr 15minutes to under 30minutes for the main movie of a dvd. At this rate I’ll blow through the conversion process for my two hundred or so movies in a matter of days rather than weeks or months.

The benefit for me of DVDFab is its ability to directly read from the disc rather than have to copy the TS folders to the hard drive first before transcoding. As a result of its simplicity, efficacy and quality of output I would have to say that DVDFab is a must-own product now for any home movie fan…

Linux...taking over the world

I do find it most amusing that Linux, the open source operating system invented by Linus Torvalds back in 1991, is now so prevalent in our everyday lives.

Long perceived as the poor relative to Microsoft’s Windows operating system and Apple’s Mac OS X (although both Mac OS X and Linux are Unix-based). Retailers rarely make Linux-based operating systems available as an option for new computer purchases preferring either a Windows variant or in Apple’s case only offering their own flavour of software.

Despite being free, Linux has long been perceived as the domain of geeks, accessible only by those inclined towards delving deeply in to the inner workings of a computer but the long extorted adage of ‘blessed are the geeks for they shall inherit the earth!’ seems destined to come true if indeed the current trends continue.

Google is at the forefront of the Linux cavalry charge with their insanely popular Android mobile device operating system. Now the world’s leading mobile OS, Android has seen explosive growth since its launch just over 2 years ago, driven by its free unit cost to manufacturers and Google’s marketing clout that enables Android devices to integrate so closely with their highly popular web-based services.

Google are also leading Android’s assault on the desktop environment with the development of its Chrome OS, a Linux based operating system designed around Google’s Chrome web browser designed to provide web access and services delivered solely through the web. Offline support is provided via HTML5 to ensure the device doesn’t cease to function when offline.

Canonical have been the most ardent of supporters of Linux with their iterations of Ubuntu, probably the most popular desktop Linux OS. It offers rock solid performance and a beautiful minimalist environment as well as increasing hardware support for no cost. It has risen in popularity as it works well on low-powered netbooks which have become increasingly prevalent lately.

Beyond the computing environment, numerous consumer devices run some form of the Linux system including set-top boxes, televisions, gaming consoles, networking equipment, network storage devices, media players. Its pervasiveness is increasing all the time and with an increasing amount of computing done via mobile or handheld devices, Linux, through Android’s popularity in particular, seems set to emerge as the world’s leading computing platform after all.

A win for the little guy…

Xoom! Awesome hardware, awesome advert!

Burning Man?

The recent revelation of a leaked internal memo from Stephen Elop, the CEO of Nokia, to his organisation’s staff hints at a looming step change in focus for the world’s biggest mobile phone manufacturer. Having seen its market share eaten away at both ends of the scale by competitors such as Apple and Google’s Android, he has hinted that the company now finds itself standing on a ‘burning platform’ and needs to make a critical decision to ensure its survival.

This decision seems to be focused on partnering with another major phone manufacturer as the current ‘ecosystem’ approach of building constantly evolving handset operating systems, applications-led interactivity, retail marketplaces etc. has left Nokia out in the cold. Its MeeGo software has failed to deliver and its Ovi store has trailed far behind the Apple and Android retail approaches. The likely partner appears to be Microsoft and its fairly new Windows Phone 7 operating system. Any joint approach would likely be a good move for both companies and Elop used to work for Microsoft so it seems logical.

He blames a loss in brand preference in key markets and the strategic foresight of Apple and Google who built much-desired high-end phones that established their credentials and high levels of public desire. Google then began the assault on the mid-range market that Nokia has dominated for so long and has now set it sights on the low-end as well with even cheaper Android powered-devices.

The memo is very frank and is an incredible insight in to a massive technology company’s corporate thinking and one can only hope they right their ship before it does indeed burn and sink…

The full memo can be found on Engadget here

Honeycomb for Phone

Google have alerted the media ahead of an announcement about their upcoming Android mobile operating system version 3.0, code-named 'Honeycomb'.

In the announcement they have indicated that the system will be designed for both tablets (as expected) and smartphones (a surprise). It will be intriguing to see what features will be on the respective types of device but the preview video (previously posted below) should give you a taste of what to expect from this major milestone in the Android evolution.

A win for the Black Hats

Law firm ACS:Law which caused a stir by sending out letters chasing alleged filesharers for payments on behalf of copyright holders has elected to drop all its criminal prosecutions. At the launch of their letter/invoice campaign, the company came under attack from hackers via a DDoS who exposed corporate e-mails to the internet that seriously undermined the legal process and left it itself exposed to data protection laws.

It now appears that a dirty tricks campaign from the black hat brigade full of threats and subterfuge has tolled and the firm has withdrawn all its actions. It may not be the end of the story for them though as the courts and the SRA law society are investigating their inferred bullying tactics. Also, legal representatives of the accused are now looking to sue for damages.

Where this leaves any future legal process against illegal filesharing remains unclear but yet again the power of the internet has shown its teeth…and once more the black hats fade back to the shadows with a wry smile with their mission accomplished..

The awesome Open Rights Group succinctly summed the whole thing up here

More Atrix Goodness

The above video better outlines the concept behind the development of Motorola's new Atrix phone launching later this year. It's a fabulous idea and it seems to have the hardware to make it work and back up its promise of being one device for all things multimedia! Cost will likely be high though but if it replaces a bucketload of your existing kit it will surely be worth a look...

I can see one potential problem though....if we are to become truly reliant on a single device to do all our multimedia and pc work and be our alarm clock, phone, bath time musical accompaniment etc.....what happens if we leave it in our desk at work overnight for example? It would be a bad start to your day to discover you have left your now vitally-important phone synced in its bedside cradle or, worse, lost it!

This video is also pretty neat...

Android - coming to a desktop near you!

This is a very cool and interesting development. Motorola unveiled their new Atrix phone at this year's CES event in Las Vegas. It is a very high spec Android phone with 1gig of RAM, dual processors, hd video capture, large battery and a very high res screen. However, the most interesting trick it can pull is that when it is connected to a dock it can operate as a web-top pc, outputting to a monitor via hdmi and controlled by a keyboard and mouse. There is also a laptop-style dock where it can connect to a portable screen and keyboard and be used in a bigger but still portable. This modular approach is very intriguing!

The time when our mobile phone is as powerful as a regular desktop pc is fast approaching and this might be the first device of this kind off the grid...

Film of the Year 2010

With the New Year having arrived, the Cyborg Ninja can now reflect on yet another fabulous year of movies in 2010 and come up with the next selection for the coveted 'Ninja film of the year'!

Despite the depth of movies on offer, there were two obvious favourites with one getting the nod by a nose. My choice for film of the year was Knight and Day - a hilarious romp of a movie with a nice slice of tongue in cheek to go along with the rollicking action. The special effects were a bit ropey in parts and the story was ludicrous but I loved it for its humour. Inception was an oh-so-close second - a simply amazing film that had a clever plot, awesome visuals (the Blu-Ray is mindblowing!) and a stunning conclusion but it was the fun of Knight and Day that won out.

Previous winners:

2010 - Knight and Day (runner up - Inception)

2009 - Star Trek

2008 - Vantage Point (runner up - Eagle Eye)

2007 - Shooter & Bourne Ultimatum

2006 - Deja Vu (runner up - V for Vendetta)

2005 - Transporter 2 (runner up - Stealth)

2004 - Bourne Supremacy (runner up - Man on Fire)

2003 - The Italian Job

2002 - Bourne Identity

2001 - Spy Game

2000 - Mission Impossible 2

And if I had to pick a film of the decade...it should probably go to either Supremacy or Ultimatum but the heart says that Vantage Point deserves it....an incredible telling of a gripping story, albeit a far fetched one, but so cleverly told it deserves the recognition!

Google Goggles...find beer here!

It has to be said that Google Goggles is simply amazing! ! It might be the most compelling reason to buy an Android phone. You simply take a picture of something and Goggles recognises it and runs searches based on what it saw.

Now it appears that the latest version (v1.3) will even solve Sudoku for you! The video above should explain the concept but the Ninja would thoroughly recommend getting a new Android phone for this app alone it's that cool!

Honeycomb is here...

In an intriguing twist, Google have unveiled the latest iteration of their world-conquering Android mobile phone operating system - version 3 or 'Honeycomb'. In a twist, however, it is only for the tablet form factor but the UI looks very impressive with 3D elements and obvious speed increases over other mobile OS systems.

What will be interesting is to see what elements of this version are incorporated in to the handheld mobile version of Android, either in the next edition or as an update to Froyo or Gingerbread.

Internet under threat by stealth?

There is a worrying effort underway recently to put the time limit (or at least some from of cap) back on the internet. This goes against the principles of net neutrality and the progress that has been made since the days of dial-up modems. What is perhaps more scary is the stealthy approach that is being taken by both government and major industry players to install this cap.

Mobile phone operators seem content to cap internet use with restrictive data plans rather than supporting its growth with truly unlimited add-ons. Current offerings always have the caveat of fair use and often 500mb or 1gig limits apply. Data costs in the USA seem very high compared to the UK and the recent efforts of Verizon and Google to hash out a supposedly fair compromise over net neutrality seem weak.

Recent UK government efforts have focused on addressing big industry concerns such as piracy (through the much-hated Digital Economy Bill) rather than dealing with the end-users rights. Even the recent effort to make those wishing to access smut have to opt-in seems sneaky. On the face of it seems like a worthwhile effort to protect the vulnerable but this is bound to involve some form of surveillance (packet-sniffing) to monitor web traffic, a far scarier development.

Even BT, the gatekeeper for the internet in the UK has said it will allow content providers to pay for their data to receive higher bandwidths, in essence creating two-tiers on the web. Big guns like YouTube would be able to afford the upgrade but smaller start-ups would be stalled due to the likely prohibitive cost being a barrier to entry.

2011 will likely be the year a number of these issues are clarified but the end user seems to have little in the way of power to influence the decisions and indeed the general public may be completely unaware of the whole issue.

Another HD Mobile Phone/Camera

The Ninja has already raved about the looming Panasonic Lumix mobile phone but another Asian firm, Altek, has unveiled an equally impressive device. The Leo is an Android-powered mobile phone partnered with a 14meg image sensor and 3x optical zoom. The styling of the device is also incredible - it looks amazing - and Altek are calling it the world's 'first 3.5G professional camera smartphone'.

With all the innovations in Android this could be an absolutely stormer of a phone, capable of allowing photographers to have a quality snapper in their pocket at all times as well as the best mobile OS! Rumours are it will be launched in Europe in early 2011...roll on the launch date!

Nexus Two? No...Nexus S

Last year Google launched the Nexus One – a mobile phone created in partnership with HTC (long the favoured mobile phone manufacturer of The Ninja). The Nexus One was intended to provide a pure Android experience, offering the finest iteration of the open source software and hardware a user can find. It was also expected to offer a unique retail approach whereby users could buy an unlocked handset directly from Google themselves, avoiding contracts and then pick their network of choice.

This did not turn out to be as radical a concept as they had hoped but the device itself was warmly received and treated with reverence by all who used it. With Android growing rapidly in popularity, it was seen as the premier option and received preferential treatment in terms of updates of the operating system, receiving Android 2.2 (codenamed ‘Froyo’) well ahead of any other devices.

Now it seems that a new edition is on its way – a Nexus Two. It will land in the coming weeks and will feature Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). In a small change, it will be made by Samsung and should help push the operating system further ahead in this highly competitive market which has long be heralded as the future of computing. It will be interesting to see what impact it has…

Digital Economy Act 2010 - Under Review...

Thank goodness that cooler heads have prevailed and the Digital Economy Act will now receive a judicial review.

The Act was rushed through Parliament in the 'wash up' period ahead of the General Election and was intended to shore up our digital operations and help clamp down on activities such as illegal filesharing and thereby ready the nation for a more robust and secure future in this field.

However, the bill was horrendously skewed towards corporate demands and placed the rights of the individual web user right at the back of the queue. Indeed, it came to light that the bill's 'three strikes' policy was written using text provided by the BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) the trade body of the record labels - i.e. those who stood to benefit most from a powerful, industry-focused bill.

Mercifully, the collective efforts of organisations such as the Open Rights Group and isp companies such as Talk Talk and BT have persuaded the courts that a review is necessary. Hopefully a more balanced approach can now be implemented.

Windows Phone 7 Lands...

Well it's finally here...Windows very late iteration of their mobile phone OS - Windows Phone 7. The launch today showcased the initial launch partners and devices with the lovely looking HTC HD7 (see photo below) looking like the pick of the bunch.

The Ninja has used HTC Windows mobile phones for years, since the original SPV came out on Orange in the UK and has loved using the awesome Touch Diamond 2 device (with a custom ROM obviously!). However, it remains to be seen if Windows can re-establish itself in the market now that Android and iPhone have crafted such big shares of this crucial computing space.

It is widely acknowledged that the handheld market is the next battlefield of computing and Microsoft needs a good OS to compete. Hopefully they can leverage their Xbox and Windows environments to make this a compelling platform.

I will be watching developments closely as I begin to formulate plans for my next mobile device - it will be an HTC, the question is whether its a WP7 device or an Android one...

Lumix Phone - the reveal...

Panasonic have unveiled their recently touted Lumix mobile phone which many hope will bring the perfect synergy of powerful imaging device and smartphone to the handheld market. Engadget posted a video on the item:

The phone may look relatively uninspiring but you can't knock the specs - hopefully the performance will outweigh the rather bland looks. Still can't tell what OS it is running on though...

A Lumix Phone...yes please!

A teaser site has appeared evidently promoting a soon-to-be-released Lumix mobile phone from Panasonic.

Rumoured to pack a 13 megapixel CMOS sensor, the device will hopefully marry all the photography goodness of the Lumix camera range with a solid mobile phone.

It would be brilliant to have an awesome mobile with a fully-featured camera for times when carting the dSLR wasn't practical. Intrigued to know which OS it will run on...Android?

....no doubt more to follow...