February 2012

More cool Nokia gear

by Volker Weber

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The current Nokia design is working for me. On an emotional level it all screams "you want me". This is a 2200 mAh portable charger and weighs only 75 grams. It's supposed to charge everything that can use a USB port as charging source.

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The two faces of Windows 8

by Volker Weber

Belkin iPhone Remote

by Volker Weber

When you want to shoot photos and videos on the iPhone while you are in the picture, you can use a mirror, the front facing camera or do timed shot. Or you can use a bluetooth remote like this one from Belkin.

At first I did not know what the left part was about. It detaches, it twists and turns:

And then it dawned on me. This is just a clever little stand, you can attach to the phone so that it does not fall over. Put it in the back when you are tilting up, or in the front, when tilting down.

The remote uses two AAA batteries, so don't forget to turn it off when not in use. This all is working just nicely. Downside: you have to use Belkin's LiveAction app and that is a stinker.

PS: While shooting the photos, my G11 dropped from about one meter height on a hard floor. It's badly bruised but seems to be working OK. Just a stark reminder not to invest too much of your money into a camera that you are actually using.

Watching the MWC show

by Volker Weber

Remember MWC 2011? Android tablets were going to give Apple a run for its money.

The news coming out of MWC 2012 sound familiar. Android phones with 4.3", 4.7", 5" screens, Android tablet with 5" screens, 7" screens, 10" screens. Some of them on ancient Android versions, some of them on ICS. Smartphone screens are getting larger, tablet screens are all over the place. Hands and pockets are still the same size.

App designers will have a lot of fun with form factors and screen resolution. Geeks will be looking at dual cores and quad cores.

And all of that does not matter a bit. People will be checking their Facebook, their WhatsApp, their email. Operators will try to protect their minutes and texts business. They will throttle data usage so that you cannot upload your megapixel images, your HD videos, or they won't let you make video calls. When you travel across a border, the very same carrier will charge you a fortune. It's the same old, same old.

There has been a single exciting thing coming out of MWC. And some of the pundits did not get it, since it's not on Android.

The big elephant wasn't even in the room. It's coming next week.

Linus Torvalds Venting

by Volker Weber

So here's a plea: if you have anything to do with security in a distro, and think that my kids (replace "my kids" with "sales people on the road" if you think your main customers are businesses) need to have the root password to access some wireless network, or to be able to print out a paper, or to change the date-and-time settings, please just kill yourself now. The world will be a better place.

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Hong Kong Accelerate

by Volker Weber

SwitchNews - a Google News client for Windows Phone

by Volker Weber

  

  

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Flat

by Volker Weber

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The Lumia 900 has been announced with HSPA+ for Europe, where LTE networks are not yet deployed. And it looks as if my observation from Lotusphere holds true for the final product. The screen will be flat and not curved as on the Luma 800.

A camera phone unlike any other

by Volker Weber

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The Nokia 808 Pureview has a 41 megapixel sensor and a monster lens, making it quite thick compared to other phones, but not to other cameras. It does not shoot 41 megapixel images, but it combines the output of many pixels into one

The sensor will give you around 3x lossless zoom for stills, and 4x zoom in full HD 1080p. For 720p HD video, you’re looking at 6x lossless zoom. The sensor has an active area of 7728 x 5368 pixels, totalling over 41Mpix. Depending on the aspect ratio you choose, it will use 7728 x 4354 pixels for 16:9 images/videos, or 7152 x 5368 pixels for 4:3 images/videos. Nokia says:

Pixel oversampling combines many pixels to create a single (super) pixel. When this happens, you keep virtually all the detail, but filter away visual noise from the image. The speckled, grainy look you tend to get in low-lighting conditions is greatly reduced. And in good light, visual noise is virtually non-existent. The level of pixel oversampling is highest when you’re not using the zoom. It gradually decreases until you hit maximum zoom, where there is no oversampling.

This sounds really amazing. But you will have to put up with Nokia Belle. Easy for me. I want one.

Skype brings voice and video calling to Windows Phone

by Volker Weber

  

  

  

With Skype for Windows Phone Beta you can make free audio and video calls** to your Skype contacts over 3G and 4G or WiFi***, make affordable calls to landlines and mobiles using Skype Credit, create and hold one-to-one and group chats, and update your profile and account information, among others features.

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HTC One

by Volker Weber

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This is the 2012 HTC line. 500, 600 and 300 €, left to right. The flagship comes with a 4+1 core processor and 12 core graphic. The +1 processor keeps the engine running while the other four sleep. Just to make sure this thing runs for more than an hour. :-) 4.7" screen, ICS 4.0 with Sense 4.0. You get 25 GB of Dropbox for two years. And Dropbox now has an Android client that lets you upload photos in the background. Speaking of photos, HTC claims they have a really good camera and an f/2.0 lens. iPhone 4S is f/2.4, the Lumia 800 has f/2.2, I believe. HTC says the camera starts up in 0.7 seconds and the autofocus takes just 0.2 seconds. You can keep shooting with the camera button pressed until the memory is full or the battery is depleted.

Looking at the photo above, the HTC One family of phones still has fixed buttons on the glas, unlike the Galaxy Nexus. The device on the left is the thinnest HTC Android phone ever, with only 7.8 mm. Also, the screen is "only" 4.3 inches so it makes a lot more sense than the flagship. Personally, I find both of them too large. I would however be very interested in trying the new camera.

Grounded. At 120 mph.

by Volker Weber

Google+ app for BlackBerry

by Volker Weber

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iCloud and MobileMe push email disabled on iOS devices in Germany due to Motorola lawsuit

by Volker Weber

Today's WTF moment:

iCloud and MobileMe push email disabled on iOS devices in Germany due to Motorola lawsuit

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Blast from the past

by Volker Weber

Just a quick note to let you know that your Plazes check-ins and favourite places are now available to you on Nokia Maps. Simply log in to your Nokia account and you’re good to go.

Plazes. That was way before Foursquare, Gowalla, etc. Now it comes back deep-fried.

Six errors

by Volker Weber

Apple Computers is a famous example: it was founded by (mostly Republican) computer engineers who broke from IBM in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, forming little democratic circles of twenty to forty people with their laptops in each other’s garages.

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Does IBM Lotus Notes Traveler support the BlackBerry PlayBook?

by Volker Weber

Does IBM Lotus Notes Traveler support the BlackBerry PlayBook?

No.

However, the BlackBerry PlayBook supports IBM Lotus Notes Traveler.

Emotion in a RIM ad? Hell is freezing over.

by Volker Weber

Finally a directional microphone for my iPhone

by Volker Weber

I was hoping to have this for Lotusphere, but it arrived only today: the Belkin LiveAction microphone. It solves one little problem I have with video recording on the iPhone: you have to be in a really quiet surrounding to get a decent sound level. This microphone however has two characteristics: a very narrow beam and one that catches more surround sound. Both favor the object in the front of the camera. I am pretty sure that this microphone will let me record live interviews in busy places.

The iPhone in this picture is held with a Glif on top of a Manfrotto tripod.

PlayBook Connected

by Volker Weber

SLR Camera Simulator

by Volker Weber

The race is on

by Volker Weber

Porsche-Blackberry P9981: Geschmiedet für Männerhände

by Volker Weber

Marco Dettweiler in der FAZ:

Wohlhabende ältere Männer, die in ihrem Berufsleben ständig ein Blackberry benutzen mussten und sich an das überkommene Betriebssystem gewöhnt haben, könnten mit dem P9981 dem Hersteller treu bleiben.

Treffer. Versenkt. Genau der richtige BlackBerry für mich also.

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System failure

by Volker Weber

The Roche Group goes Google

by Volker Weber

For the last two and a half years, our two different email and calendaring platforms have often been an obstacle for effective collaboration. To end these platform interoperability issues, the Roche Corporate Executive Committee made the decision that all employees will move to Google Apps as the single common platform for the Roche Group.

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Flying is easy. Landing however ...

by Volker Weber

Mac OS X - Download the free Messages Beta

by Volker Weber

Pad, iPhone, and iPod touch must be running iOS 5 to receive iMessages. Mac computers must be running Messages Beta to receive iMessages. Messages Beta requires OS X Lion v10.7.3. Internet connection required.

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Nokia Belle looks nice

by Volker Weber

  

  

  

  

Nokia Chat

by Volker Weber

  

Symbian is finally done. Nokia Belle is the OS that should have shipped with N8 two years ago. Here is a nice chat app for mutilple IM networks, made by Nokia. Of course it runs in the background.

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Moving

by Volker Weber

Letzte Warnung

by Volker Weber

#evag

Some of the action is here

by Volker Weber

Neuinstallation

by Volker Weber

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BlackBerry is my parachute

by Volker Weber

When travelling, I always carry a BlackBerry. It will never be stuck on a Wifi connections which requires me to click "I accept the TOC to get to the internet" repeatedly.

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How to fail at social networking

by Volker Weber

Follow this simple step-by-step guide:

  1. Build a large collection of contacts. Put everyone in the same box.
  2. Register for a social network,
  3. Invite everybody from your collection.
  4. Do not share any original thoughts. Instead like, plus, or comment with a one-liner. Fill your stream with automatic posts from feeds that do not require thinking. Foursquare is a good candidate. Pinterest is the latest one.
  5. Accept all incoming contact requests and follow back everybody.
  6. Connect to as many people as possible and put them all in your collection.
  7. GOTO 2.

You will now follow more people than people follow you. You will not have shared anything meaningful. You will be unable to gather any interesting data from your massive inbound streams. Nobody else has as many imaginary friends as you have. And none of them cares.

The algorithm does not terminate. Welcome to social networking hell.

The Document Foundation announces LibreOffice 3.5: "the best free office suite ever"

by Volker Weber

Berlin, February 14, 2012 - The Document Foundation announces LibreOffice 3.5, the third major release of “the best free office suite ever”, which shows to end users the improvements derived from the development strategy adopted since September 2010. LibreOffice 3.5 derives from the combined effort of full time hackers - the largest group of experienced OOo code developers - and volunteer hackers, coordinated by the Engineering Steering Committee.

Share the love.

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Deutsche Fachpresse bei Windows-8-Show unerwünscht

by Volker Weber

Microsoft will auf dem Mobile World Congress Ende Februar in Barcelona die Beta-Version von Windows 8 vorstellen, von Microsoft als "Consumer Preview" bezeichnet. Doch deutsche Fachpresse ist dabei unerwünscht: Fachjournalisten erhalten keine Akkreditierung für die Veranstaltung.

Bei IBM hat auch schon mal jemand versucht, mich zur Lotusphere auszusperren. "Too honest", hieß es damals.

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SONOS to publish new desktop controllers and drop PowerPC support

by Volker Weber

Sonos sent a heads up to Mac customers today about a new SONOS controller to he shipped this spring. It is safe to assume that it follows the same UI theme as the controller for iPad.

Why would SONOS dispense this information before shipping? The new controller won't run on PowerPC and requires Mac OS X 10.6 and above. That's Snow Leopard or Lion. Make your plans accordingly.

Einführung des E-Postbrief langsamer als gedacht

by Volker Weber

Bisher haben sich laut Gerdes gut 1 Million Privatkunden, mehr als 100 Großkunden und rund 4000 Mittelständler für den E-Postbrief angemeldet

Das ist falsch. Die Post hat ein Preisausschreiben veranstaltet, an dem 1 Million Privatkunden teilgenommen haben. Und dieses andere Dingens, die "sichere" Email, die gar nicht sicher ist, weil Ihr sie zwischendurch auspackt, interessiert auch niemanden.

Erinnert sich noch jemand an die qualifizierte Signatur nach deutschem Signaturgesetz?

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AVM macht alles richtig

by Volker Weber

Aus meiner Inbox:

Hi Volker,

Du hast mir mal die 7390 empfohlen. Vielen Dank nochmal dafür. Die Box läuft weitgehend prima.

Leider bricht aber immer wieder mein Sonos zusammen. Nach einem Restart der Fritzbox läuft es dann aber wieder.

Da dies Problem nur sporadisch auftritt und ja nur im Zusammenspiel vieler Komponenten auftritt sah ich die Chancen die Ursache zu finden und zu beheben als zu gering an. Daher habe ich mich an AVM mit der Bitte gewendet doch bitte eine Option zu implementieren die Fritzbox nachts automatisch einmal durchzustarten. Einleitend hatte ich noch mit einem Satz mein Sonos Problem beschrieben und geschrieben, dass ich gar kein fehlerfreies Produkt erwarte, sondern eher auf den Workaround hoffe.

Wenige Minuten später bekam ich Antwort. Aufgrund der Geschwindigkeit bin ich eigentlich von einer automatischen Nachricht ausgegangen. Dem war aber nicht so. Die haben zum Einen geschrieben, dass sie meine Anregung an das Produkt Management weiterleiten, aber ich zum Anderen durchaus ein fehlerfreies Produkt erwarten kann und ich mich bitte an deren Support werden soll.

Das habe ich nicht(!) gemacht. Trotzdem kam eben, einen Tag später, die u.a. Nachricht. Das Produkt Management ist tatsächlich involviert worden und dort hat gleich jemand mitgedacht und einen Hinweis auf eine Beta version geschickt, die den Fehler beheben soll.

Der langen Rede kurzer Sinn. Wider Erwarten war die Interaktion mit AVM wie mit einer Firma, die sich für die eigenen Produkte und ihre Kunden interessiert. Unglaublich cool. Deswegen wollt ich Dir das auch mitteilen,

AVM werde ich in Zukunft auch gerne weiterempfehlen.

Viele Grüße und ein schönes Wochenende,

Ich bin ein Fan guter Produkte. Auch wenn sie etwas mehr kosten. Lieber einmal richtig investiert statt dreimal Schrott gekauft. AVM ist nicht der einzige Hersteller von DSL-Routern. Aber mit Abstand der beste.

Und hier noch die Support-Mail:

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Dr Mike Taylor: The parable of the farmers and the Teleporting Duplicator

by Volker Weber

Imagine a world where food is cheap and freely available, thanks to the amazing Teleporting Duplicator. What could go wrong?

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Utilities vs Networks

by Volker Weber

Networks beat utilities in the age when everyone is connected to everyone else. This is a big opportunity for startups. We've already got a few bets in this area and are looking to make more.

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vowe singt in Osnabrück

by Volker Weber

The New York Times: How Sonos Outshines Apple in Home Audio

by Volker Weber

Sonos should have been roadkill beneath Apple’s tires.

Only it isn't.

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Body of a dancer

by Volker Weber

Nokia Belle is available

by Volker Weber

Nokia Belle is now available for update on the Nokia N8, E7, C7, C6-01, X7, E6 and 500. Read on to learn all about Belle’s exciting new features.

You cannot use Nokia Software Updater for Mac:

Update to Symbian Belle is not possible with NSU for Mac (due to required backup/restore)

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Meeeeeeeeeeep

by Volker Weber

LibreOffice vs Apache OpenOffice

by Volker Weber

The infographic tells it all. Data have been extracted from Ohloh, using the same metric for both projects.

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Free PlayBook for your Android app submission

by Volker Weber

heise online: IBM plant Stellenabbau in Deutschland

by Volker Weber

Dem Technologiekonzern IBM steht einem Medienbericht zufolge in Deutschland ein massiver Umbruch bevor. Das Unternehmen plane, in Deutschland mittelfristig eine hohe vierstellige Zahl der derzeit rund 20.000 Stellen abzubauen, berichtet das Handelsblatt am heutigen Mittwoch unter Berufung auf oberste Führungsgremien der deutschen IBM.

Das zeichnet sich schon eine zeitlang ab. Heimarbeitsplätze müssen nicht unbedingt in deutschen Heimen sein und schon gar nicht von eigenen Mitarbeitern besetzt werden. Dazu eine projektartige Organisation, in der Mitarbeiter möglichst flexibel eingesetzt werden. Urlaub, soviel man verantworten kann.

Mal gespannt, was da noch kommt. Crowdsourcing for Outplacement? Der Kunde benennt Mitarbeiter, die er nie mehr sehen will? Und IBM wird das bestimmt "Social" nennen.

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TDF to base community-driven foundation in Berlin, Germany

by Volker Weber

Berlin, February 1st, 2012 - The Document Foundation (TDF) today announces that it will base its community-driven entity in Berlin, in the legal form of a German Stiftung. This kind of structure is recognized worldwide as a legally stable, safe and long term entity, providing the ideal cornerstone for the long term growth of the community and its software.

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RIM tries to be social. Falls flat on face.

by Volker Weber

What is it? The Bold Team or the Old Team?

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Old vowe.net archive pages

I explain difficult concepts in simple ways. For free, and for money. Clue procurement and bullshit detection.

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