What Google Announced On February 2nd 2011 [Android]

On February 2nd 2011 Google held their Android Honeycomb preview event in Mountain View, California. 



There were a few important points announced that I think I should summarise:

  • In Honeycomb (3.0), Google have revamped the Android user interface to be optimised for tablet computers

  • Android's native widgets will be more scrollable and interactive
  • Hardware acceleration of applications will be easy to implement for developers (one line of code)
  • Media capabilities of Android have been improved (new camera application user interface, new media player integration, video calling capabiliteies in GTalk)
  • Android Market website revamped with the possibility to install applications from your computer without needing to plug your phone in (wireless syncing through Google services)

  • Android applications will enable in app purchases

You can view the full presentation here if you have a spare hour or so.

Well, here's to a bright, video cally and tablety future...

Tweaking Chrome in Ubuntu

There are a couple of tweaks I usually carry out on a fresh Ubuntu install and always forget about until the next install. I'm blogging about these tweaks as a way to make it easy on myself (and others) in the event of  a new Ubuntu install.


Tweak 1: Optimise Screen Real Estate By Hiding System Title Bar


One of the great things about the Google Chrome web browser is how it often maximises the use of screen real estate. Tabs use the space usually occupied by system title bars leaving more space for what it does best: web browsing. 


In Ubuntu the default setting is to have your system title bar visible. I prefer to have it hidden. Here's how to hide the system title bar in two easy steps:





  • Click on the spanner icon at the top right of your chrome window next to the address bar in Chrome (as in the image above). Select Preferences and a new, smaller window should open (as in the image below).
  • In the "Personal Stuff" tab in Google Chrome Preferences window, at the bottom select "Hide system title bar and use compact borders". Close your window and "Bingo Bango Bongo!" you've gained a few pixels for web browsing.
Tweak 2: Enable Backspace As Back/Forward

One of the things many Windows users have come to expect when web browsing is that the backspace button on the keyboard is a shortcut for going back a page in a web browser. Ubuntu has similar keyboard shortcuts which are "Alt + Left Arrow Key" (back) and "Alt + Right Arrow Key" (forward).

If you are uncomfortable with changing your evil brainwashed Windows ways, here's the easy way to enable the backspace key as a keyboard shortcut in Chrome: it's a Google Chrome Extension!

Backspace As Back/Forward for Linux by me@noctarius.com is an extension that does what it says on the extension webpage (because these things don't come in tins...). Click on the link at the beginning of this paragraph to get the extension.

After having done that, you should be back to your evil brainwashed ways in no time at all.

Please feel free to leave comments and/or questions below.

How To Get WiFi Working On A Dell Mini 1018 [Ubuntu]

I recently had a problem setting up a netbook with Ubuntu 10.10 Linux for a relative.




Installing Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Netbook Edition wasn't a problem, and everything worked fine except for wireless networking. Trawling through Dell and Ubuntu forums to find the solution was tough, but I eventually got to the bottom of it.

Before I go any further, I must underline a few details: 
  • the Dell Mini 1018 netbook was purchased in the UK
  • the wireless card uses Realtek drivers (not Broadcom ones)
  • solving the problem involves a small amount of terminal use
I'll assume you have installed Ubuntu on your machine and have plugged it into a router to gain internet access. (Without internet access this tutorial won't work). 

Before starting please update Ubuntu using the Update Manager.

Step One: Open A Terminal Window



Open a Terminal window (usually found in "Accessories" or "Applications")



Step Two: 

Copy and paste the following text into the command prompt:



sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lexical/hwe-wireless

You will be prompted to enter your "root" or "administrator" password. Go ahead and wait for the terminal gobbledygook takes you back to a command prompt.

Step Three:

Copy and paste the following text into the command prompt:

sudo apt-get update

Again, you may be prompted to enter your "root" or "administrator" password. As in the previous step, go ahead and wait for the terminal gobbledygook takes you back to a command prompt.

Step Four:

Now, copy and paste this last bit of text into the command prompt:

sudo apt-get install rtl8192ce-dkms

Again, you may be prompted to enter your "root" or "administrator" password. As in the previous step, go ahead. You might be prompted to confirm that you want to install a file. enter "Y" on your keyboard and then hit "Enter" on your keyboard. Now wait for the terminal gobbledygook takes you back to a command prompt.

Last Step (Hopefully): Restart Ubuntu

Now all you have to do is restart your computer and Wireless Networking should be working fine.

Thanks go to Keng-Yü Lin who provided the repository and did all the hard work to make this possible in a relatively pain free manner (https://launchpad.net/~lexical), and the friendly people at the Ubuntu Forums.

Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) To Be Shown Off On February 2nd!

That's right! Google are holding an event in Mountain View, California on Wednesday 2nd February 2011!


The event will also be streamed live on http://www.youtube.com/android so those of us on the other side of the world will be able to follow the event.

I'm looking forward to this event because as well as finding out about Android 3.0 there may be more information on Android 2.4 (for smartphones rather than for tablets).

I'll blog about the event soon after the live stream finishes. Enjoy the wait and the excitement until then!

Microsoft Kinect for XBOX 360 FTW!

Before I start, with this blog post, I should let you know about my views on Microsoft and their products: I disagree with their anticompetitive business practices, think that their market dominance is bad for the IT industry and the global economy as a whole. As most human beings I live in a bit of a contradiction: although a Linux user and a Microsoft Windows OS boycotter, I own and use a Microsoft XBOX 360 games console, pay for and use XBOX Live Gold membership and generally am a bit of an XBOX 360 fanboy. I am aware that this is going to attract hate comments on my blog, accusations of hypocrisy and moral inconsistency as well as just general spam.


The Kinect Sensor Peripheral For The XBOX 360

A week ago Microsoft launched its Kinect for XBOX 360 in the UK. Kinect is a webcam-style peripheral (accessory) for the Xbox 360 games console, it enables users to interact with the XBOX 360 without a physical controller using body gestures and spoken commands.

During the month of September I was at a Microsoft training event for the Kinect, and tried out the pre-release beta of the peripheral and some of the games that would be available for it at launch. It was great fun, and gave me a good idea of how it would work on the XBOX 360. At a conference in October, I got to mess around with it again, try out more games and lose any street-cred I had left on stage in front of other conference delegates. (currently my street-cred it is at an all time low, probably in a negative range...).

On the day before the launch, my colleagues and I set up an XBOX 360 with a Kinect sensor and hooked it up to a 40" LED backlit LCD TV. Since then it has attracted a lot of interest from people of many different age groups passing by in-store. Image conscious customers won't step in front of it to try it out, but sometimes walk to a checkout to purchase it anyway. Kids love it and often are parked at the display while their parents browse other departments or are doing the rest of their shopping.

Kinect is a direct competitor to the Nintendo Wii and Sony's Playstation Move. In my opinion it is a superior system, and much better value for money than its competitors. Here's a summary of why:
  • Kinect is a one off purchase as far as peripherals go. There is no need to purchase extra conrollers or controller add-ons (as is the case with the Wii and Playstation Move) both for single and multi-player use.
  • Kinect is better value for money when bundled with a console and is on a platform that can provide HD entertainment (unlike the Nintendo Wii)
  • Kinect uses full body control which means you can use your whole body to control the games and/or interfaces (unlike the Nintendo Wii or Playstation Move which only track one point in space on the conroller). Think of it like multi-touch on a touchscreen but with depth added to it.
  • Voice control with Kinect is very, very good. In-store we have a pretty loud and noisy environment, yet it still works most of the time. Apparently voice recognition is coming to Kinect in a future update as well.
  • Open Source drivers have been already developed and released less than a week from the UK launch. If you want to, you can plug a Kinect Sensor into your PC and use it as a 3D video capture tool (it works out cheaper than buying a 3D webcam...)

The games available at launch with the device are pretty varied and aimed at the "casual gamer" market created and dominated up until now by Nintendo with the Wii console. Dance Central by Harmonix (developers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band) is a Guitar Hero like game where your guided dance moves earn you points. While with Guitar Hero and Rock Band all you do is tap buttons in certain sequences, with Dance Central and Kinect you have to actually replicate dance moves. This is probably my favourite game for Kinect so far and lead cause of my negative street-cred.

Kinect has pushed me further into XBOX 360 Fanboy territory, and deeper into a hole in moral no man's land when it comes to my views on tech and IT. Kinect for XBOX 360 is now on my tech and gadget shopping list.

Something Is Rotten In The State Of Android Tablets (In The UK)

Last week I wrote and published my blog post about the Samsung Galaxy Tab. In it I pointed out how Samsung and other manufacturers (Archos, Toshiba, Advent, etc.) would be on their own with their devices and left behind in a bit of a mess when it came to the longevity of their products and ability to provide firmware updates.

A few events over the past week show how some of the main retailers in the UK offering these "early" Android tablets are maybe having a case of cold feet (no weather pun intended during this cold snap...).

On Saturday, Tesco, the UK supermarket chain which has a rapidly growing electrical and non-food department, marked the Samsung Galaxy Tab as "discontinued" and reduced the price by an other £30 to £469. (At launch the price was £529 before being reduced a week later to £499 and then to £469).

During the past weekend, PC World (part of DSG) has "pulled" the Toshiba Folio 100 (a 10" Android Tablet) by raising its price from £329 to £999.99 (making it unsellable). This is apparently after negative feedback from customers and high return rates.

A Toshiba Folio 100 at PC World on November 15th 2010.

Maybe jumping in at the deep end of the Android tablet pool without Google's support is going to hurt brands (Samsung and Toshiba) as well as retailers because of disgruntled customers and their negative impression of Android on tablet computers. As usual, often it is the first impression that counts, especially with computers and user interfaces. Hopefully there will be the long awaited launch of Android Gingerbread (Android 2.3) soon, and we will know which manufacturers and devices will be left behind and which will be able to march on with their Android Tablets in their jacket pockets...

Samsung And The Galaxy Tab: Left To Their Own Devices...

In the UK, on November 1st 2010, Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab, a 7-inch tablet computer. Running Android 2.2 FroYo as an operating system, with a 1 GHz ARM processor, 512 MB RAM, 16GB of storage (expandable via microSD), it looked excellent with a  specification sheet like that.

Samsung Galaxy Tab (official image courtesy of Samsung)


I had a chance to play around with the Samsung Galaxy Tab in October at a conference, before the official launch. At the time I didn't get a chance to use it for long, but it seemed good. The same Samsung customised skin from the Galaxy S Android phone had been ported to a larger and higher resolution screen (1024 x 600) and seemed to be very snappy and responsive.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab I got to play around with in October next to my trusty T-Mobile Pulse Android phone


Before I go any further, I should state that I work for a retailer that sells the Samsung Galaxy Tab, participated in the set up of the display units in  a store and have been playing around with the device since a couple of days before the launch. This disclosure should preemptively avoid any "Screw you Mike Arrington...!" moments. (If you don't get the joke, watch Leo Laporte losing it here)

After playing around with Samsung Galaxy Tab for over ten days, I've lost my initial interest in the device for three reasons:
  1. Before having an in depth experience with the Tab, I had read about the Google statement saying Android 2.2 FroYo wasn't yet ready for tablet computers, and that it was still aimed at mobile phones. Only after using the Samsung Galaxy Tab for a while did I realise how right that statement is. On the surface all is well with the user interface and the pre-installed applications, but when installing many apps from the Android Market (such as the Engadget one or Robo Defence) the applications are in a letterbox on the large 7-inch screen. To add to that, even though Swype comes as a standard keyboard on the Tab, using a keyboard on the multi-touch  screen is uncomfortable and slow. I really hope the device gets an update to the iteration of Android for tablets.
  2. Screen legibility in a bright environment is ok, but the tempered glass touch-screen is smudged easily and is a very reflective. I wouldn't be able to use this device as a portable web browser/ebook reader as much as I would like to, because my eyes were very tired after demoing it for just over six hours in a strip lighted store.
  3. The price is steep. In the UK, at launch, the Samsung Galaxy Tab was sold at £529. After a week on sale, the price was reduced to £499. Still, when compared in functionality to a netbook with an integrated 3G radio, the Galaxy Tab is double the price.
If you were considering purchasing the Samsung Galaxy Tab, my advice would be to hold on to your hard earned cash a little longer. Android tablet computers are just starting to hit the market, but Google (main input and guide of the Android platform) doesn't think the operating system is ready for these devices. My advice is to wait until the Android platform is slightly more mature and Google endorses the use of the Android OS on tablets. If you do buy one, you may end up doing a Samsung Galaxy Tab reboxing like Jeff Jarvis did with his Apple iPad...

Samsung and other manufacturers (Archos, Toshiba, Advent, etc.) who decided to jump forward into the market before Christmas with Android tablets may just be left to their own devices when it comes to the long term longevity of their products and software updates.

Feel free to let me know what you think and ask any questions in the comments section below.


How To: Set Up Identi.ca On Seesmic For Android

This "How To" should guide you through setting up an Identi.ca account on Seesmic for Android in three easy steps. I'm told that Seesmic for iPhone and Blackberry have similar settings so it may work in the same way there.


Identi.ca is an open source social networking and micro-blogging service. While similar to Twitter in both concept and operation, Identi.ca provides many features not currently implemented by Twitter, including XMPPsupport and personal tag clouds. In addition, Identi.ca allows free export and exchange of personal and "friend" data based on the FOAF standard; therefore, notices can be fed into a Twitter account or other service, and also ported in to a private system similar to Yammer.

I find Identi.ca is a great micro-blogging service, and usually post my status updates there. Identi.ca then posts my status to Twitter and Google Buzz pulls the status update from Twitter. To simplify things: I post once to Identi.ca, and maintain a presence on three separate social networks. [I deleted my Facebook account earlier this year, but you can set up Twitter to push your status to Facebook as well].



Seesmic For Android is a native microblogging client, that supports Twitter and Google Buzz. If this tutorial is successful you should be able to use Identi.ca from the Seesmic application too. [Seesmic is also available for Windows Phone 7, iOS and Blackberry on mobile devices, as well as for computer desktops and as a web client]

Before starting this "How To", there are a few things you should have set up:

  • An Android phone with Mobile Data / WiFi
  • The Seesmic for Android application [Available in the Android Market and from Seesmic]
  • An Identi.ca account [Register here]
I hope this tutorial makes sense and is easy to follow. Please let me know if there are any problems with it through the comments section at the end of the post, thanks!

Step One: Open The Seesmic for Android Application


You should be presented with a screen like this if you have not used Seesmic before and have no accounts set up. Proceed by tapping the "Add Twitter account" onscreen button. 

If you are already using Seesmic for Twitter and/or Google Buzz: [ Menu > Accounts > Add Account > Add Twitter account ]

Step Two: Enter Your Identi.ca Credentials


Enter your Identi.ca username and password, but DON'T sign in. Tap the "Advanced" drop down menu button under the "Make this my default account" tick-box.

Step Three: Set Up the Identi.ca REST API server Details


Under "REST API server" option type in identi.ca/api/ as shown in the picture above.

Then untick the tick-box called Use XAuth. Your final screen should look like this:


All done! You should now be able to sign in and use your Identi.ca account through the Seesmic for Android client. Enjoy!



Google Chrome OS Is On The Way



Google Chrome OS is on its way according to "Industry Insiders".


Google Chrome OS is a Linux based operating system aimed to be used exclusively with web applications and has not been released yet.


If "Industry Insiders" are to be believed, the first devices running the OS will be available on the market before Christmas this year (December 2010). It is also reported on the interwebs that Google may be launching an own branded device manufactured by a third party company.


I'm looking forward to this development in the consumer electronics market, hopefully with an interestingly priced device (£100 / $150).


Here's to hoping...

Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Netbook Edition

On the 10th of October 2010 (10-10-10 Get it?) Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat was released for desktop, server and netbook.

Since this version of Ubuntu has been in Beta, I've been using it both on my desktop computer and on my netbook (an ASUS EEE PC 900A). The improvements since the Beta version have been noticeable to me, mainly in speed and stability of the user interface.


The new user interface on the Netbook Edition, called Unity, has a fixed dock and is completely different to the one from previous versions of Ubuntu Netbook Edition. After getting used to it, I find it more responsive and lighter on my netbook than the previous versions of Ubuntu Netbook Edition too.



As usual, you can download Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Netbook Edition for free from http://www.ubuntu.com/netbook. On the download page, there are also easy step by step instructions on how to set up a bootable USB flash drive. The bootable USB flash drive is particularly useful if you want to just try out Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition without installing it. If you then decide you would like to install it, there is also an option to do that.



The installation process has been simplified, and makes setting up a dual-boot system much easier. Setting up a dual-boot system is the best way to have both Windows and Ubuntu on the same machine, giving you the option to choose between operating systems when you turn the computer on.



Overall I think this is a great netbook operating system once you get used to it.

Feel free to comment and let me know your views on Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.