Netflix (for Android)

With the free Netflix app for Android phones, Netflix subscribers can watch any movie or television show from the instant streaming catalogue anywhere over a WiFi signal, as well as a 3G and 4G connections. This ability to watch movies and TV shows anywhere makes the $7.99 per month cost of a streaming-only Netflix subscription a little more worthwhile—if you have the right Android-based phone. Currently (at launch), the Netflix for Android app is only compatible with a few phones : the HTC Incredible (running Android 2.2), HTC Nexus One (2.2, 2.3), HTC EVO 4G (2.2), HTC G2 (2.2), and Samsung Nexus S (2.3).

The app, which has already been released for iPhone (free, 4 stars) and iPad (free, 4 stars), works best with a reliable Wi-Fi signal, with which it delivers excellent picture quality and flawless audio. As expected, the picture quality downgrades over 4G, and slightly more over 3G, but the streaming itself is well optimized. The list of available movies and shows in the Instant catalogue is limited, missing award winners and new releases in particular, although it's still extensive.

The home screen lists titles you might be interested in watching, based on their likeness to other titles you've rated highly or genres that you've indicated you like (which you can adjust or add through the Netflix web site). The Genres button lets you browse available titles by genre. To search all the content in the Instant catalogue, browsing by genre is one of the best ways to find films and television series. The Search button brings up a basic search bar, although you can only search by title—not actor, director, or anything else. Since the Netflix app for iPhone was first released, Netflix has tweaked the way search results are ordered, improving them so they are intelligently ordered.

More The search tool has one great advantage on Android phones: predictive text selections appear after you type a few letters, so you never get stumped finding the right movie even if you introduce a typo into your search terms. Finally, the Queue tab pulls up your personalized and ordered list of things you plan to watch.

At the top of the home screen, a Resume button will direct you back to the last title you started watching but have not yet finished. Anytime you pause or stop watching, the app remembers that point and saves it to your Netflix account so that if you resume watching from any device, you can pick up exactly where you left off.

When a reliable Wi-Fi signal is near, Netflix streams beautifully, with crisp pictures, clear sound, and no stuttering. I did experience one crash midway through watching an episode of The IT Crowd, but the app was able to capture the information marking the point where it crashed, letting me resume with no problem in less than 10 seconds. With Wi-Fi, the app works great, and if you have the patience to wait for the Instant catalogue to beef up, the app can only get better.

Streaming over 3G is another story. With one or two bars of service, I could barely page through the main menu options. With three or four bars, I was able to launch a television episode to watch, but every minute or so, I'd have to endure a pause for buffering. Additionally, the picture becomes more pixilated, as one might expect. Nevertheless, Netflix has done a very good job optimizing the Android app. For example, if you're in an area where phone service signal strength fluctuates, the buffering works in such a way that you can get your fill of entertainment fairly seamlessly, provided the signal flickers into the three to four bar range at least once every 30 seconds, give or take a few.

Future Netflix App Wish List
Despite what's missing from the Instant streaming catalogue, the app itself leaves little to complain about. The streaming is great. The app is simple. Every movie entry contains quick information about it, such as the year it was released, MPAA rating (G, PG, PG-13, etc.), running time, and either the average star rating from other Netflix users or your personal star rating if you've entered one.

One "nice to have" improvement that I'd love to see in a future release is a search tool that integrates with IMDB, which can find movies by title, actor, director, character name, writer, and more. Currently, the Android app finds matches by title only.

I'd also like to see new socially-enhanced options in the recommendation engine, such as the ability to connect with friends and see how they've rated movies, or get recommendations based on movies your friends liked. Netflix's recommendation system has a reputation for being excruciatingly lame. If you've ever had a Netflix account, you've probably cringed more than once at a suggested movie, regretting any star ratings you've inputted, much less those three stars you gave Big Momma's House 2. With so many other e-commerce sites leaning on social networks for recommendations and shopping advice, it only makes sense for Netflix to add a social component to its service with an opt-in policy and some additional privacy controls.

Final Word
The biggest complaint about Netflix overall, and it's a valid one, is that a lot of movies and shows most people would like to watch just aren't in the Instant bank. And it's not just new releases. Almost all the Academy Award Best Picture winners are absent from the list, too, from Ben-Hur (1960) to Gandhi (1983).

Netflix doesn't deserve the blame here (the movie studios do). If anything, Netflix has a history of being slightly ahead of the curve, offering media streaming several critical months before the masses were ready to adopt it, in effect buying enough time to fine tune the service before it became widespread. By the time movie publishers figure out how they're going to try and recoup some money in the new disc-less world, Netflix will be set up and ready to negotiate the terms, having already ironed out the basic issues and gotten North America on board.

If Netflix eventually pushes a fully disc-less agenda (which I think it will), the Android app will be an integral part of the service's value proposition. The trick will be for the developers at Netflix to test out service on all the many Android phones that exist. Netflix instant streaming is already supported by many set-top box streaming players, three game consoles, Blu-ray players from 10 manufacturers, and a host of other devices. Netflix is a leader in the market, and it's positioned to only get better.

original article.

Analyst: Prepare for 'iphone 4 s on sprint and tmobile.

This is bitter sweet news for me.. only becasue i wanted an iphone and considered swithing from tmobile to at&t but then verizon got it and rumors were leaked to belived that tmobile were in talks.. but i couldnt wait years for a new phone so i recently purchased a my touch 4g and now i want the iphone if it comes to t-mobile! just my luck1 but i am excited if i can somehow get the iphone4s.

I should know better than to report on analyst predictions about the next iPhone -- they're often wrong -- but the latest from Jefferies & Company analyst Peter Misek is irresistible.

Misek said in a research note that the iPhone 5 will actually be called the iPhone 4S, suggesting that it'll be a minor upgrade similar to the iPhone 3GS in 2009. The new phone will include Apple's A5 dual-core processor, better cameras and minor cosmetic changes.

But the bigger piece of scuttlebutt is carrier support. Misek's research note said the iPhone 4S will support Sprint and T-Mobile, finally bringing Apple's smartphone to all four major U.S. carriers. Verizon's speedy LTE 4G network, however, won't be supported. Reportedly, Qualcomm's LTE chipset isn't producing sufficient yields, so superfast downloads will have to wait for the iPhone 5. The iPhone 4S will support HSPA+ networks, Misek's research note said.

Most of this stuff seems plausible, and the T-Mobile iPhone rumor has shown its face before. The only real curveball is Sprint support, but with AT&T losing its exclusivity on the iPhone earlier this year, a Sprint iPhone wouldn't be a shock. Most rumors expect the iPhone 4S, or iPhone 5, or whatever, to launch in September, so we'll find out what Misek's inside dirt is worth then.

Original Article.

pple, Verizon to offer wireless updates to iPhone?

Ideas like these make me very curious to see what the future holds for us.. whats next! that's the exciting part waiting and expecting only the best from now on.

Will Verizon iPhone users finally be able to update their devices wirelessly without the need for iTunes?

Multiple sources have told Apple news site 9to5Mac that Apple and Verizon Wireless will soon offer over-the-air updates to the iPhone following this fall's expected release of iOS 5. Although iOS 5 itself won't be available wirelessly, 9to5Mac reports that any future updates to the OS will come over the air. With such a change, people would no longer need a PC and iTunes to act as the middlemen to keep their smartphones current.

If the reports are true, Apple would join rival Google, which already offers Android users the ability to update their devices sans computer. Apple reportedly also has the technology to update its devices over the air already, but the company has apparently been cautious about opening it up everywhere. However, Apple has been chatting with Verizon about unleashing this technology since early this year, said 9to5Mac.

The sources didn't say whether wireless updates would also be available on AT&T or international carriers of the iPhone. No specific mention was made to the iPad or iPod Touch, but the same technology logically should extend to all of Apple's iOS devices.

Though over-the-air updates would provide a convenient, mobile way to keep the iPhone updated, there are a couple of potential pitfalls.

Most iOS updates now weigh in at over 600MB, a hefty payload to deliver wirelessly. 9to5Mac believes Apple would have to pare down the size of its updates, perhaps by offering smaller and more incremental updates rather than fewer and larger updates.

Also, updating an iPhone through iTunes first syncs the contents of the device to the PC as a precaution in the event the update fails. If an update were to bypass iTunes, people would need some other way to back up and sync their devices, perhaps through some sort of cloud-based system.

Tech enthusiast site Pocket Lint adds a slightly different spin to the story, saying that if Apple were to apply over-the-air updates, it would apply them universally and not just to the Verizon iPhone. The site believes we'll hear more about this potential new development in a month when Apple opens the doors to its Worldwide Developers Conference.

Article.

Sony's Anonymous claim: a health warning

Long article but i mean i know everyone was pretty shocked and intrigued by this story when it first happen.

This week, Sony Corporation claimed to Congress that its investigation of the breach by which millions of customers had their credit card numbers compromised had turned up a document left on the server in question entitled "Anonymous" and containing the phrase "We are Legion", itself a fragment of our longtime slogan. Some have taken this as proof that Anonymous was responsible for the most significant online heists in memory. After all, the online activist movement has lately been engaged in a battle with Sony over its treatment of two individuals who taught others how to alter the PlayStation 3 in such a way as to install Linux OS on the gaming console, making Anonymous a natural suspect.

But those observers who are most familiar with who Anonymous is – such as the dozens of journalists who have been free to watch us at work in our operational venues – tend to agree with us that the circumstances of this incident are highly suspicious, and that any investigation into the crime in question must take into account the natural question of who might benefit from such an act – in other words, a party or parties who would have an interest in smearing Anonymous.

The perpetration of a crime for the purpose of framing another party and thereby damaging its reputation is hardly unusual. The FBI spent two decades operating a programme called COINTELPRO, by which agents would infiltrate "dangerous" groups, such as those advocating civil rights, and then promote violence by its members in order to discredit their cause in the eyes of the public and justify police crackdowns. A congressional committee that investigated the issue concluded that "the Bureau conducted a sophisticated vigilante operation aimed squarely at preventing the exercise of first amendment rights of speech and association."

Such practices continue today. It was only a few months ago that Anonymous's counter-investigation into a group of federal contractors including HBGary Federal, Palantir and Belrico revealed that the three companies – collectively known then as "Team Themis" – had prepared a plan to attack WikiLeaks to submit to law firm Hunton & Williams (retained by Bank of America, panicked over the prospect of a leak concerning its executives). The scheme was to consist of such things as disinformation, placement of fake documents, clandestine operations against WikiLeaks supporter Glenn Greenwald, and "cyber attacks against the infrastructure to get data on document submitters".

Of course, Anonymous itself engages in attacks of that latter sort. On the other hand, Anonymous does so against dictatorships and corrupt institutions that engage in corruption alongside the state – and when we do, the FBI raids the homes of our alleged participants. Not being as respectable as our corporate counterparts, we are not permitted to act with seeming impunity.

Now, having made enemies of the dozens of other firms whose wrongdoing we have exposed in the months since, by way of Operation Metal Gear and other crowdsourced investigations, Anonymous is accused of having committed a major crime entirely different from the campaigns of civil disobedience for which we are rightfully known. The evidence is a single document that helpfully names us as the perpetrators. Sony has thus managed to shift attention away from its own failure to protect client data, while federal agencies have been diverted into a pursuit of us, this time for a massive theft rather than popular acts of revolt. Presently, I have no proof that this action was taken by any of the powerful and sophisticated enemies we have made in the world of intelligence-contracting or law enforcement; but neither can they prove that Anonymous was responsible for this heist.

At any rate, an investigation is being conducted by the usual people. Congress is now on the job. Even more heartening, Attorney General Eric Holder says that the justice department is taking this "very seriously". It is good to see those two entities adopting a healthier work ethic: when, a few months ago, Representative Hank Johson called for Congress to look into the activities of Team Themis in coordination with Hunton & Williams, Representative Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas, declined, asserting that this was the responsibility of the justice department. He did not seem to think it problematic that, as shown by the HBGary emails, it was the justice department itself that recommended Hunton & Williams to Bank of America.

Eric Holder having presumably been too busy to investigate that particular matter, Anonymous is, of course, flattered to learn that criminal activity that allegedly involves us is a higher priority than dubious activity that definitely involved his own department. Or perhaps, there is some other explanation

Article.

What Should Apple’s iCloud Look Like?

I'm very interested to see what the future has in store for us technology wise, its going to be pretty epic!

Friday morning, John Paczkowski of Digital Daily confirmed Om’s report earlier this week that Apple acquired the domain name iCloud.com. Apple has acquired and not used domain names in the past, but if Cupertino is planning to use the iCloud brand, what should that trademark encompass?

There’s already plenty of speculation out there about what plans Apple might have in store for cloud service offerings. A revamped MobileMe complete with iOS device remote media streaming of your photos and music is one frequently mentioned possibility. Clues that a service called Photo Stream is coming to iOS have already showed up in code from Apple’s mobile operating system, and rumblings that a cloud music storage and remote streaming service is on its way are only getting louder.

Apple also probably won’t take away any of the existing service it already offers. It’s currently in the process of moving all MobileMe Calendar data to remote server storage, and cross-device email, notes and address book syncing also seem like likely candidates for any larger cloud service package from Cupertino. Indeed, AppleInsider is now reporting that this is in fact the case.

But what else do you want from a cloud service offering from Apple? Are the existing MobileMe offerings even something you’re interested in? Are mobile bandwidth costs a concern? Should Apple’s cloud plans include a basic free offering, and what extras, if any, would you be willing to pay for?

Original Article.

White Iphone 4 chunkier than its Black sibling?

Hello happy Friday!! well yesterday my boyfriend bought the new white iPhone 4, and i will admit its soo sexy! looks elegant, expensive, it just looks nice! i want one for my self but sadly i do not have at&t or Verizon, so the white iPhone 4 can be slightly chunkier, but either way its damn sexy, who said bigger was bad?

After nearly a year of waiting for the white iPhone 4, which went on sale Thursday, it seems the phone is -- and take your choice here of words — fatter, chunkier, thicker — than the black version.

Those who bought the much-desired white iPhone, which became available Thursday, compared the thickness of the phone next to its black version, and find it to be about 0.2mm thicker than the black iPhone 4.

On Apple's website, the technical specs for the iPhone 4 show it to be the same, although a photo of the black iPhone is used for the tech specs, which lists the depth of the phone at 9.3 mm, or .37 inch.

"I noticed it when my trusty Case Mate Barely There case barely fit on my new white iPhone 4," said Rene Ritchie on TiPb's website. "In fact, it fit like my old black iPhone 4 id back when it had BodyGuardz front and back. It still went in, but it was a much closer, almost too close fit compared to the black iPhone 4. Whether the extra thickness has to do with opacity, a layer of UV protection, or something else is unknown."

Ryan Cash, who handles marketing for a company that makes business apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad, also saw the difference after comparing a colleague's newly purchased white iPhone to his own black iPhone.

"I was a bit surprised when I picked it up off his desk (I had my black 32 GB in my other hand at the same time) — it immediately felt thicker," he said on his blog. "We placed them side-by-side on his desk, and sure enough, the white iPhone was a hair thicker."

Over at DVICE, there was this to say: "First, Apple makes its customers wait 10 months for a white iPhone because it needed a special UV coating and second, it's now fatter than the black one and might not fit in your old case? Forget it."

We've asked Apple about the size difference, but have not heard back yet. The white iPhone has been problematic since it was first announced last summer.

"It was challenging,” Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller told Ina Fried in an interview this week for All Things Digital. "It’s not as simple as making something white. There’s a lot more that goes into both the material science of it — how it holds up over time…but also in how it all works with the sensors."

Schiller, Fried wrote, "said that it turned out there were a lot of unexpected interactions between the color of the device and various internal components. Also, like fair-skinned humans, white iPhones need a little more UV protection from the sun."

And, perhaps a little help in the diet department, too.

Original Article.

Twitter Looks To Widen Appeal To More Users

Who tweets? anyone? lol i tweet and so does almost everyone i know tweets or has a twitter account, but they make a good point, you can tell when the account is active or not. anyways enjoy the article, I'm about to tweet it :)


Twitter Inc., trying to put recent management changes behind it and build its business, is taking steps to broaden the appeal of the well-known messaging service.

Twitter is making a concerted effort to educate its users about what, exactly, it is. WSJ's Amir Efrati explains why to Stacey Delo.
.The San Francisco company, which lets users broadcast and view short messages, wants to make it easier for new users to navigate the service and help longtime users find interesting content.

While Twitter has more than 200 million registered accounts, it doesn't say how many are active users. Users discuss a variety of topics, but some people—especially adults—view the service as a vehicle for celebrities to broadcast their thoughts online.

Twitter wants to show how the service works to first-time users by highlighting tweets from people in their geographic regions, such as local politicians and musicians, when they first sign on, people familiar with the matter said.

Jonathan Strauss, chief executive of Awe.sm, which tracks marketing campaigns on Twitter and Facebook Inc., argues that Twitter needs to attract more mainstream Internet users if it wants to justify its multibillion-dollar valuation. "Most people understand Twitter exists, but they don't understand what Twitter is and how they can participate," he said.

For more experienced users, Twitter is developing ways to create a narrower stream of the most relevant tweets rather than requiring users to wade through messages in chronological order.

As it looks to add tools for power users, Twitter is also in advanced talks to purchase a program used by many Twitter users to view and manage tweets, Tweetdeck, for around $50 million, people familiar with the matter said.

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Bloomberg News

Jack Dorsey, a Twitter founder, recently returned as its product chief. He has become more active advising the company.
.It is unclear when the changes will be introduced or how Twitter may use Tweetdeck. A spokesman for Twitter, which has made seven small acquisitions to date, declined to comment. TweetDeck Inc.'s chief executive, Iain Dodsworth, couldn't be reached.

The moves come as Jack Dorsey, the founding chief executive of the four-year-old company, formally returned as product chief three weeks ago after being pushed out by the board two-and-a-half years ago.

Mr. Dorsey remained chairman of Twitter's board after his ouster, and also leads a mobile-payments company named Square Inc. Mr. Dorsey has been laying out his vision for Twitter to its executives, said a person familiar with the matter.

Twitter allows users to post messages of up to 140 characters in length, and those messages can be viewed by other users. People log on—often through their mobile phones—to track everything from sporting events to transportation delays to natural disasters. Egyptians, for example, used the service to organize revolutionary protests earlier this year.

The company has been slower to build a business around its popularity than some other Web players, such as Facebook. The research firm eMarketer puts Twitter 2010 ad revenue at $45 million and expects ad revenue to reach $150 million this year.

Yet Twitter investors are buying up shares of the privately held company on secondary exchanges or through individual middlemen. Twitter completed a financing at the end of last year that valued the company at around $4 billion, though it has argued for higher valuations in low-level talks with potential acquirers, including Google Inc., people familiar with the matter have said.

The company this year will try to make the breadth of its content more visible to first-time visitors, helping them quickly discover information about stocks, sports and other organizations and individuals they care about, the people familiar with the matter said.

One possibility is showcasing tweets by well-known people or organizations located in the user's region, or from certain types of users, such as athletes or musicians.

Twitter users already have created thousands of "lists" in which such content on specific topics is grouped together, and Twitter is looking at ways to promote such lists, said a person familiar with the matter.

Twitter is also exploring concepts similar to a Facebook technology called "EdgeRank" that highlights posts by a user's closest friends—an effort that is being aided by Ashish Goel, a Twitter research fellow and Stanford University professor, these people said.

"Most of the time what people want is the most relevant and important information, and without filtering its content for individual users that's difficult for Twitter to satisfy," said Awe.sm's Mr. Straus

Original Article.