This is, by far, the best explanation of the SOPA and PIPA bills that I have seen on the internet.  Watch and learn.

Apple debuted their newest iPad use today…              Textbooks.  Truly who didn’t see this coming anyway.

iBooks 2 has brought the textbooks update so that now the iPad will have full textbooks available for purchase  and download.  First thing to mention is that these books are usually a gigabyte or more each which will fill up your iPad pretty quick even if they don’t fill up your backpack.  The textbooks all have videos, interactive pictures, and the ability to take notes which will help students as long as it works as advertised.

The best part of the update is the Mac app that allows would be authors to create and publish multitouch books for the iPad and iBooks 2.  The publisher app is free on the mac app store and is aimed at putting more content on the web so that this update doesn’t go unused.

Four arrests, $50 million in assets seized, and dozens of domains and servers belonging to MegaUpload, the file transfer website, were taken into custody by the United States federal authorities earlier today. The unsealed documents, generated two weeks ago by a grand jury in Virginia, were opened today.

How convenient that it was a day after the widespread internet protest against the American SOPA and PIPA bills. The piracy case against Megaupload started two years ago. The website is one of the largest anonymous data transfer sites, with subscriptions and free options. It generates about $175 million in income a year and per the New York Times, causes an estimated $500 million in damage to copyright holders.

The site’s founder Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz) was arrested in New Zealand. Seven people are being targeted by the grand jury indictment with “Mega Conspiracy.” (Which might be known as megaconspiracy.com after all this?) A total of four of the seven are currently under arrest, the other three remain at large.

In retaliation of this action against Megaupload, Anonymous has worked on taking down the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) website, the Department of Justice (DOJ) website and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) website with targeted DDoS attacks.

Several other sights have been targeted, like the US Copyright Office site, record label BMI and French copyright authority HADOPI. This may or may not be the best course of action after the January 18th protest; however, it does once again show the solidarity of the internet in a different way.

More on this to surely come later.

[Source: One | Two]

At first it was a bootlegged version of The Dark Knight Rises trailer that hit the web and made its rounds, now the studio has given in and put out the HD version on Apple’s website and of course it made it to Youtube.  I can’t wait to see this in theaters and might just take opening day off to make it happen. Shoot some comments off and let us know what you thought of the trailer.

Steve Jobs; the name is synonymous with innovation, temper, drive, a piece of fruit, but one word rings out above all of the rest…

Genius.

It doesn’t matter whether or not you like Apple products, no one can say that Steve Jobs wasn’t one of the most intelligent people on the planet.

It is with a heavy heart and thoughts towards his loved ones that I write this article bidding farewell to a legend.  Steve Jobs started Apple Computer in 1975 when he and Steve Wozniak started building the Apple 1 in Job’s garage and on April 1st, 1976 Apple Computer was incorporated by Jobs.  After many different turns an twists such as Steve leaving Apple in 1985 (when he started NeXt computer and bought part of George Lucas’ ILM and making it into Pixar) and coming back to pull the company out of the gutter in 1997 (Apple’s stock price was as low as $3 a share before Jobs came back) Steve finally hit his stride and Apple never looked back.

One of Steve’s first decisions when he came back to Apple in 1997 was to get rid of the “museum” of previous Apple products on the companies campus.  Jobs knew that any company that looks at its past won’t spend enough time looking at its future.  An icon of a new age of computing and a evangelist for humanity Mr. Jobs you will be missed.

A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.
Steve Jobs

Apple’s market share is bigger than BMW’s or Mercedes’s or Porsche’s in the automotive market. What’s wrong with being BMW or Mercedes?
Steve Jobs

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.
Steve Jobs

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
Steve Jobs

I think we’re having fun. I think our customers really like our products. And we’re always trying to do better.
Steve Jobs

I want to put a ding in the universe.
Steve Jobs

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
Steve Jobs

It is piracy, not overt online music stores, which is our main competitor.
Steve Jobs

It took us three years to build the NeXT computer. If we’d given customers what they said they wanted, we’d have built a computer they’d have been happy with a year after we spoke to them – not something they’d want now.
Steve Jobs

Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation.
Steve Jobs

Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.
Steve Jobs

The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.
Steve Jobs

To turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue to innovate for years, it requires a lot of disciplines.
Steve Jobs

You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.
Steve Jobs

 

The thoughts and cares of the 8 Days a Geek staff go out to Steve Jobs’ family and loved ones.

Amazon announced their newest gadgets for us today.  I’ll outline some of the bullet points below:

The Kindle Fire ($199)
- 7-inch IPS display, ultra-wide display, dual-core processor. 14.6 ounces
- Android
- Wispersync for movies, tv, and books
- Bookshelf UI
- Gorilla Glass display
- Amazon App Store
- Plenty of graphics power
- Amazon Silk Browser

Technical Details

Display 7″ multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) technology and anti-reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors. Size (in inches) 7.5″ x 4.7″ x 0.45″ (190 mm x 120 mm x 11.4 mm). Weight 14.6 ounces (413 grams). System Requirements None, because it’s wireless and doesn’t require a computer. On-device Storage 8GB internal. That’s enough for 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books. Cloud Storage Free cloud storage for all Amazon content Battery Life Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with wireless off. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as web browsing and downloading content. Charge Time Fully charges in approximately 4 hours via included U.S. power adapter. Also supports charging from your computer via USB. Wi-Fi Connectivity Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.1X standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks. USB Port USB 2.0 (micro-B connector) Audio 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, top-mounted stereo speakers. Content Formats Supported Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8. Documentation Quick Start Guide(included in box); Kindle User’s Guide (pre-installed on device) Warranty and Service 1-year limited warranty and service included. Optional 2-year Extended Warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately. Use of Kindle is subject to the Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use. Included in the Box Kindle Fire tablet, U.S. power adapter (supports 100-240V), and Quick Start Guide.

The Kindle Touch (WIFI $99 or 3G $150)

- IR touch screen (no extra plastic layer)
- Book X-ray (see a bar chart of where words appear in a book)
- Wispersync

The Kindle ($80)
- Buttons at the bottom (no keyboard)
- Less than 6 oz
- Ad-supported

Technical Details

Display Amazon’s 6″ diagonal most advanced E Ink multi-touch display, optimized with proprietary waveform and font technology, 600 x 800 pixel resolution at 167 ppi, 16-level grayscale. Size (in inches) 6.8″ x 4.7″ x 0.40″ (172 mm x 120 mm x 10.1 mm) Weight 7.5 ounces (213 grams) System Requirements None, because it’s wireless and doesn’t require a computer to download content. On-device Storage Up to 3,000 books or 4 GB internal (approximately 3 GB available for user content). Cloud Storage Free cloud storage for all Amazon content Battery Life A single charge lasts up to two months with wireless off based upon a half-hour of daily reading time. Keep wireless always on and it lasts for up to 6 weeks. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as shopping the Kindle Store, web browsing, and downloading content. Charge Time Fully charges in approximately 4 hours via the included USB 2.0 cable connected to a computer. U.S. power adapter sold separately. Wi-Fi Connectivity Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n (in b or g compatibility mode) standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not connect to WPA and WPA2 secured networks using 802.1X authentication methods; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks. USB Port USB 2.0 (micro-B connector) Audio 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, rear mounted speakers Content Formats Supported Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced(AA,AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion. Documentation Quick Start Guide (included in box); Kindle User’s Guide(pre-installed on device). Warranty and Service 1-year limited warranty and service included. Optional 2-year Extended Warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately. Use of Kindle is subject to the Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use. Included in the Box Kindle wireless e-reader, USB 2.0 cable Quick Start Guide.

www.amazon.com/kindlefire
www.amazon.com/kindletouch

These links don’t work right now unless you clear your cache, but go ahead and give it a try.

Photos are from Amazon.com

I, along with other Netflix subscribers, received an apology email from Netflix CEO Reed Hasting this morning.  What was he apologizing for?  He was apologizing for his company being a bit of a D-bag lately.  Here is the exact email that I received:

Dear Jesse,

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn’t make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.

 

So in recap, Netflix will now only deal with streaming, Quickster will deal with DVDs and (hopefully) games, and Reed Hastings is sorry for not letting his customers know.  I understand the seperation of the streaming and DVD services into different services within Netflix, however, I think that spliting DVDs into a different team is a little much.  Oh well.

You want to make me happy Reed Hastings?  Don’t take away our ability to stream to 2 or more streaming devices at once.  Some of us like that feature.

Do you think this is a good move for Netflix, or are they just wasting time and energy?

But moving away from that subject, I just caught a glimpse of the new Spiderman Trailer and I have to say, I was seriously impressed.  They casting looks solid (who doesn’t love Martin Sheen!) and no, Andrew Garfield isn’t Tobey McGuire, but that’s OK it should be a different spin, especially for this new origin.

I will say this though, Origin Stories are REALLY getting played out for me.  It’s why I liked Superman Returns, even when a bunch of people hated it.  Superman has been a known commodity for more than seventy years, do we really need another re-telling of his origin?  Can’t we just accept that EVERYONE knows he’s from Krypton (or at least not from Earth) and that EVERYONE knows he grew up on a farm?

Same thing with Spiderman.  EVERYONE knows he got bit by a “radioactive” spider EVERYONE knows his uncle dies.  Lets skip over that and move forward to the stuff everyone wants to see (and no I don’t mean Emma Stone’s breasts…though I can’t say I’d complain) I mean Spiderman in action; fighting crime and being a hero!

This has been an official Tim Blacksmith Rant.

Enjoy the trailer!

Gamestop tends to catch flack from developers saying that they undermine the business of video games with used sales.  They catch flack from customers because of the low price they pay for almost new games (that they mark up sky high).  Now they’ll catch flack from me for STEALING things from brand new games.

The recent release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution had a little present inside for its first batch of customers; a coupon to play Deus Ex: Human Revolution on the up and coming online gaming service OnLive (the game costs $50 to play on the service).  After going to their local Gamestop stores to pickup their copy of the game, customers started to notice something odd; there was no coupon in the copies that Gamestop was selling.

Could this be a mess up?  I wish.  Gamestop employees were given instructions from higher up in the company to open the game boxes, remove and discard the coupon, and put the games back on the shelf as new merchandise.

After Gamespy acquired an email regarding the issue and made it public, Gamestop was sure to update their Facebook page with a “valid” reason for the trespass:

Regarding the Deus Ex OnLive Codes: GameStop’s policy is that we do not promote competitive services without a formal partnership.
Square Enix packed a competitor’s coupon within the PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons.
While the new products may be opened, we fully guarantee the condition of the discs to be new. If you find this to not be the case, please contact the store where the game was purchased and they will further assist.

This is shady by any standards and if a customer would have bought the game and returned it without a coupon worth $50 Gamestop would laugh in their face and send them out the door.  If you want to work out a deal for special “no coupon” copies of the game that might make people mad, but at least they would know what they were buying.

Fox recently made the move to make online tv viewers who aren’t paying for their service (Hulu Free users) wait for 8 days after their shows air to watch them.  A few show already have this limit on them and while Fox is the first to do this widespread they definitely won’t be the last.  All the trouble that cable companies are in and someone goes and kick a hornet’s nest.

This story isn’t about Fox and their waiting period though, it’s about what happened after the 8 day wait was made a reality…

PIRACY.

Here are some stats from TorrentFreak.com:

During the first 5 days, the number of downloads from the U.S. for the latest episode of Hell’s Kitchen increased by 114% compared to the previous 3 episodes. For MasterChef the upturn was even higher with 189% more downloads from the U.S. For MasterChef; the extra high demand may in part have been facilitated by the fact that it was the season finale.

Well, one thing to take away is that you don’t get between The Food Network and its viewers.  I believe that some if not all of the content creators and providers out there (like cable companies) think that sites like Hulu and Netflix are the competition when really the competition is torrent sites and piracy.  Sites like Hulu and Netflix allow content creators a chance to make some money off of their content whereas if they put it behind a paywall people will just find other ways to get it for free.

(Keep in mind that this time restriction only affects free users of these services and paid users will find no change in their service.)

DISCLAIMER: This is a rooting method that is still in development and as such should be treated like a loaded gun pointed at your head.  It could go off and mess up your day with little or no notice.  Do not attempt this if you are not sure what you are doing unless you are willing to take the risk.  8 Days a Geek and I do not take responsibility for whatever you may do to harm your device during this process.  Consider yourself warned.

Head over to Revolutionary’s website. You will need two files for Windows; you’ll need the root tool itself and the HTC drivers. Click on this link to get to the info page on Revolution’s website or click on the link on their site that says, “Please,carefully read our documentation page for this tool” that’s where you’ll find the HTC drivers. On the main page toward the bottom there’s a link to download the Windows (and also the Linux if you’re into that sort of thing) tool.

A blue box will popup on the site. Leave this page open because you need that box to finish the process.
Make sure your EVO has “USB Debugging” on. (to do this go to Settings >Applications > Development > USB Debugging and check mark that entry.) Then connect the phone to your PC.

Unzip the S-OFF tool you got from Revolutionary’s website on your computer. Then run the tool: revolutionary.exe (I would run is “as administrator” to avoid any potential problems).

The next prompt you’ll get is for your beta key. To get it, go back to the Revolutionary webpage (you should have left it open right?) Enter in all of the information it asks for.

The webpage will then give you a beta key.

You must select the text of your beta key and hit Control+C (or right-click > Copy). Then, you must paste the beta key (right-click on icon in upper-left corner) into Command Prompt. You can try to type in the key manually, but I had a few issues with this (none “world ending” but it would freeze). If you do decide to type in your key remember that the key is cASE sENSITIVE.
After using the correct method, Revolutionary will make your EVO S-OFF (your EVO will restart a few times and then you’re done).

Then the program will ask you if you would like to install a custom recovery; make sure you say yes (needless to say you need to be connected to the net for this part).
At the end, the program on your PC will quit and your EVO will be in Fastboot. Congratulations, your EVO now has S-OFF and a custom recovery.
Your EVO is still running an unrooted ROM but following the instructions here will walk you through how to install a root .zip file on your phone to remedy just that situation.

Enjoy your new root EVO.

I’m not a huge Superman fan first of all, but this looks strange, I’m not a fan of the basketball leather costumes and his hair looks like a 50′s greaser. Who knows, Snyder is a great film maker, So I have faith, what do you think?

I’ve had my Google+ account for about a day now and I thought I would share my impressions with you.

First of all, I have to say thank you to my friend Tyler for sending me an invite to Google+.  I’ve used G+ on my Android phone and on the web via the mobile web app and the desktop web app.  While all of the routes of access let you use your G+ account very well the full desktop version is where I’ll focus.

Google+ is Google’s version of a few different services all rolled into one easy to use interface.  The easiest way to describe Google+ is a mesh of iCloud, Facebook, GroupMe, and TinyChat.  Let’s look at some features.

Circles - This is the big feature everyone is talking about.  When you add your friends into G+ you are asked to sort them by circles (friends, work buddies, pro contacts, etc.) Using circles you can share your content with a certain group of friends, a couple different groups of friends, or everyone.  Facebook does have groups but it’s nowhere near as clean or straight forward.

Sparks – These are basically RSS feeds that you can share with your circles.  Pretty straight forward and simple.  Google is making sharing everything the main feature in G+.

Huddle - This is the feature that I plan on using the most.  Huddle very closely resembles the social chat app GroupMe.  Using Huddle, you can add G+ users and normal cell phone users alike into a chat room and have a synchronized conversation with all of them at the same time.  GroupMe does this very well and I have used it quite a few times, but I’m very anxious to try Huddle the next time I need to use a service like that.

Hangout - Hangouts are group video chats for you and your circles.  Start a hangout and wait for your friends to come and hangout with you.  I have only had one hangout but that one worked very well.  You can also watch a youtube video together.  The best part about hangouts is that with a group of people online and in the hangout the person that is talking will be set as the focus and take up the largest screen.  The focus feature makes this very useful for video podcasts and other situations where interviews could happen.

Uploads from phone – If you get the Google+ app you can also set your phone to upload pictures and video automatically to G+ so that you can share them later.

What does all of this mean?  Google seems as if it’s going after Facebook in a big way with all of these new social features.  I think that if they get the users that Facebook has then they could muscle their way in pretty well, but you have to remember that a social network is only as good as the number of friends you have on it.

So Steve Jobs shared a few of Apple’s new goodies today and there were quite a few of them.  I’ll highlight the big ones below.

First on our list is OSX Lion, the newest update to the Mac operating system.  Lion will be available in July and will only be on the Mac App Store and will cost $30 (up to 5 devices).  I like the Mac App Store and how easy it is to use, but I would like to have an OSX Lion Disc just in case the worst happens.

Some of Lion’s new features include:

- Fullscreen mode – All apps wil now be able to take up the entire screen of your machine and knock the menu out of the way.  No more window cluttered workspace.

- Mission Control – A pumped up  version of Expose’, Mission Control lets you see all of your open apps, widgets, and desktop spaces.  You can drag windows where you want and put them into easy to organize stacks.

- Launchpad – This feature basically makes your apps and folders look like those on an iOS device.  Simple, but great.

- Resume – This is my favorite features of Lion.  When you are using an app and decide to quit Lion will save everything about the app’s state and bring it all back as soon as you start the app back up.  From highlighted text to the position of the windows everything will be back as soon as you start the app back up.

- Versions – This feature allows you to save a file you are working on at any point and go back to that point later.  Simple, but useful

- AirDrop – This feature allows you to share files over wifi with a simple drag and drop interface.

- Mail – An updated mail app that kind of looks like the iOS mail app is also in tow.

iOS 5 will bring many new features to the iOS platform.

- Notifications – Apple took a note from Google and made their notifications a little less annoying.  With an Android-esque drop down menu, the next version of iOS gets a little more polish.

- Newsstand – This is basically an iBooks store for magazines and periodicals.

- Twitter integration – Twitter will be integrated directly into the OS to allow you to enter your credentials once and al other apps will pull them from the OS.

- Camera and Photo apps – A new camera app is included in the update and it brings a very sought after feature to iOS; taking a picture by pressing the volume up button.  Also, the new photo app allows you to edit photos directly on your device.  A lot of photo editor devs are crying a little inside right now.

- Wifi Sync – FINALLY!  Now your iTunes will sync to your device over Wifi.

- PC Free Startup – When you get an iOS device you normally need to hook it up to a PC and update it.  Now iOS will startup with a welcome screen and update over the air.

- iMessage – A new messaging app for iOS devices that allows you to have free conversations between iOS devices.

iCloud is the big buzz at this year’s WWDC.  A cloud based syncing service that will push sync your photos, music, documents, and backups to all of your other iCloud capable devices.  The best part…  It’s free.

- iTunes – Sync your music purchases to the cloud straight from iTunes.

- iTunes Match – For $25 a year iTunes will match your music library up with songs on iTunes so you can listen to your music library without having to upload anything.

Great WWDC overall.  What features were you wanting that you didn’t get?

Want more WWDC goodness?  Check out some of the live blogs at Gizmodo, Engadget, and Thisismynext.

Locked bootloaders suck.  For those of you who don’t know what a bootloader is or why it would be locked let me put it simply.  An Android device with a locked or signed bootloader makes rooting the device more difficult.  All of you who have read my articles know that I despise closed systems on mobile devices and a locked bootloader tries to lock things down without locking them down totally and that, as I previously mentioned, sucks.

Motorola is famous for implementing such tactics as lock/signed bootloaders and other things to keep custom ROMs off of their handsets and until recently HTC had been toying with the idea as well.

In a comment from HTC’s CEO Peter Chou he says, “There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we’ve listened. Today, I’m confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience.”

While devices like the Thunderbolt, Incredible S, Sensation and EVO 3D are either proven or have been said to have locked bootloaders we can only hope that this policy will flow down to older devices and open all of HTC’s handsets.  Good job HTC.  This is why I buy your handsets.

Name: Netflix
Usage: Streaming movies and tv shows
Price: Free (monthly plan required)

IT’S HERE!!!

Netflix has finally come to Android devices.  While you can only run it if you own one of these phones: Samsung Nexus S, Evo 4G, Droid Incredible, T-Mobile G2 or Nexus One;  there are ways to make it run on other devices. The app itself is great and it works unbelievably well.

Netflix will allow you to manage your instant queue from inside the app as well as browse suggestions and genres.  I really can’t say how well the app works.  In the playback photos below you’ll notice that, just like all other netfilx apps, the quality depends on your bandwidth.  I ran the app on a 3G connection with Sprint and there was only about 10 seconds of buffering and the quality was fantastic (no if only my battery liked it as much as I did).

If you have one of the handsets that I listed above and have a Netflix account then get the app (don’t think, just do it).  If you have an Android device (the Nook Color works well) then follow the link in the first part of the review to “convince” your device to play nice with the app.

You’ve read correctly. The Netflix official streaming app has arrived on the Android market and is ready to download for owners of these handsets: Samsung Nexus S, Evo 4G, Droid Incredible, T-Mobile G2 or Nexus One. The rest of you will have to wait just a bit longer.

Needless to say, come back to 8DAG this Saturday for Android App-aholics Anonymous because you know I can’t help but review this app.

It’s official,  Microsoft has signed a deal to purchase the web-base telephony company Skype.

Microsoft will bring out ye ole’ checkbook and plunk down $8.5 Billion dollars for Skype (Ebay paid $2.6 Billion for Skype in September of 2005).  What does this mean to users of Skype?  Microsoft will no doubt be rolling some of Skype’s feature set into its Xbox Live service (the kinect does have a camera after all) and hopefully will keep most of the other services unchanged.  I am a very active Skype user and here is my wish list: 1. Less ads for paid users.  2. No charge for group video chat up to 4 people.  3. Don’t raise prices (this one is important).

What do you think Microsoft’s plans are for Skype?  Will we be appalled or pleasantly surprised?

Ok, so day 2 of Google I/O is over and here are some of the highlights from that.

- Chrome Updates – Google has added support for things like Hulu, Netflix, and offline apps (Gmail, Calendar, etc.).  Additions like these make Google’s Chrome OS just a little better for the traveler or student looking for a Chrome machine.  Only one question rattles in my head; if Chrome OS is basically a Chrome browser then why didn’t it have this functionality to begin with?

- New “Chromebooks” – Google, Samsung, and Acer announced the first new Chromebooks at Google I/O.  The Acer Chromebook will have an eight second boot time,an 16GB SDD, instant-on, tIntel Atom N570 CPU, two USB ports, webcam, HDMI and 6.5 hour battery life.  All of this can be yours for the price of $349.  That price is a little more than I was thinking a Chromebook would cost but depending on your usage maybe it will be worth it to you.

Samsung also unveiled a Chromebook that has an 8.5 hour battery life with a dual core atom CPU.  Nothing too different yet it costs $429.  Still a little expensive for a notebook that is trying to take the place of a netbook.

Samsung and Google also teased a desktop version of a Chrome computer (Chromebox) but were very reluctant to give out any details.

- Chrome OS Subscriptions – If you are a student, school, or enterprise and don’t want to buy a Chromebook outright then Google has you covered.  Enterprise users and IT departments can get Chromebooks for $28 a month per user while Education members can get them for $20 a month per user and both are said to have a three year contract (this includes software AND hardware updates through the contract).  Interesting that Google is offering hardware updates with its service and maybe a service like this will make it easier for schools to keep updated and working hardware in their classrooms and libraries.

- Chrome Store – Not much here except that the Chrome store is now available throughout the world and it now has Angry Birds.  Let’s face it, somebody cheered for Angry Birds and we all know it.

It was an action packed two day gathering of some of the greatest minds in tech and geekdom.  What do you think about some of the stuff coming out of Google I/O this year?  What didn’t get announced that you wanted to see?

So, there’s this little meeting that some company in California has every year and a whole lot of geek types seem to get a kick out of it.

I am of course talking about Google I/O 2011.  There were some pretty good news on the first day of the conference and here is a real quick sum up of the bulletins.

- A new version of Android – Google is giving us another dessert around the fourth quarter of this year (developer release).  The new version of Android is called “Ice Cream Sandwich” and it’s not just for phones or tablets; it’s for everything.  Google is planning to fight its Android fragmentation problem by creating a version of Android that is made for phones, tablets, and even computers.  There are more details and a live video feed at http://www.google.com/events/io/2011/index-live.html.

- A new version of Honeycomb – Honeycomb (Android 3.0) just released and yet Google has seen fit to add more features.  The big update and the one I am most excited about is a new USB API that will allow Android devices to use USB peripherals such as controllers, cameras, and storage media.  This addition turns Android tablets into more than just tablets; now they are gaming devices and content production machines.  This update also brings digital video rentals for around $2 a pop alla iTunes style.  The Motorola Xoom tablet got the update today and Google TV will get it later this summer.  No word on any other Android tablets.

- Google Cloud Music – A little later than Amazon’s release of their cloud player, Google’s version of a could player is strolling down the information super highway.  Google’s offering is basically a storage locker for your music.  You can’t buy music like you can on Amazon, but at least you can upload the music that you want.  You can request an invite to the beta by going here [Google Music].

One day down and one to go.  What kind of things did you want to see come out of Google I/O?  What do you think of what Google did let out?