Technology Trends in 2010

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Michael Gabriel Sumastre

eReaders and eBook Players

The year 2009 was witness to the rise and fall of technology and gadget trends. It was characterized by intensified video gaming blow outs, a new approach to mobile phone use and computer portability, and an endless quest to create better and more advanced gizmos.

As the New Year unfolds, video game expert and technology analyst Scott Steinberg unveils at Digitaltrends.com a sneak peek on the "what’s what" in technology for 2010.

1. The year 2010 may be the time for eReaders and eBook Players — digital tablets designed to simulate the customary reading-on-paper experience — to come into their own. Expected innovations in 2010 include selections powered by Android OS, more affordable models and full-color eReaders with touch screen and wireless 3G support.

2. Smartphones will continue to shine in 2010, but with added surprises. Android-run and Windows Mobile-powered smartphones will create an established market. Cell phones will likely be run by applications that offer more power and flexibility, allowing these devices to evolve and potentially replace laptops. Adapting to lifestyles, Smartphones will be must-haves in 2010, and Google’s Nexus One Smartphone is to watch out for.

3D TV

3. The household names in television manufacturing are keen at beginning a new era of TV viewership. Shops filled with a display of cutting-edge three-dimensional TVs, as well as Blu-ray players that power 3D flicks, will be anything but extraordinary in 2010.

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Mozilla’s Fennec Browser: The Firefox Version for Mobile Phones

Posted on March 29, 2009 by Michael Gabriel Sumastre

Mozilla Fennec Logo

Mozilla recently launched the first release of its mobile browser, Fennec. Touted to be the mobile Firefox, Fennec is currently in rough beta and understandably, it has a lot of bugs and things that need to be worked out.

At first look, however, Fennec is quite impressive, very easy to use even with the smaller screen space of a Smartphone. I particularly liked the integration of touch screen features. It allows you to zoom, scroll and pan using your fingers or stylus. You can also “flick” the page you are on to transfer to another tab.

What I found particularly interesting is that it gives you the option to download add-ons, which is the benchmark and the advantage of Firefox over all other browsers. Add-ons, I think, makes the Firefox browser your own, making it easy for you to do the things you need and want to do, without having to go through a lot of installations to your desktop. Just give me my add-ons and I am happy! And the fun part is, installing add-ons of Fennec is as easy as it is on Firefox!

Mozilla, however, does not stop there. Fennec has the features we have all come to love with Firefox: easy bookmarking features, that all-in-one navigational bar, and customization features via about:config. If you have used the latest Firefox 3.1, you would be amazed that Fennec also has TraceMonkey, a JavaScript engine that made Firefox 3.1 faster!

I do have one beef though. Fennec has put its menu on the left part of the screen, where you would have to move any page you are on to the left to see it. It is a small hindrance, however, considering that Smartphones have really smaller screens. And with that out of the way, you can find the familiar buttons: back, forward, advanced preferences and favorites. You can access a lot of functions from thereon, including add-ons management, themes, plugins, and privacy settings.

Fennec is great at optimizing your screen space. When you scroll down, the address bar disappears, giving you more space for the Web page you are viewing. That and the "hidden" side bar menu, gives you your whole screen to read on.

We had to borrow a Nokia N810 just to see how it runs for ourselves. I do hope Mozilla gets Fennec out for the iPhone soon. Unfortunately, I heard that the iPhone is not one of those platforms that Mozilla is targeting, along with Palm and Blackberry. It will soon have Fennec versions for every other phone though.

Useful links:

1. Download Page

2. Mozilla Wiki Page (for mobile phones)

3. Firefox 4 Beta on your Android Phone

The Future of Computing

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Michael Gabriel Sumastre

In the future, your mobile phone will be your computer. It will allow you to connect to a central database of files where you keep your spreadsheets, documents, unedited blog posts, pictures: anything and everything you’ve ever kept on you current desktop will be on that central database. You dock your phone onto a device that allows you to view everything from a bigger screen, and a standard sized keyboard. Wherever you are, you have all these with you, and it will all fit into your palm.

Sounds like science fiction? Not really. All these things are possible. Proof of concept is that all the aforementioned technologies now exist. The "central database" is the cloud. If you are somehow unfamiliar with how software as a service and the general cloud computing environment works, head on over to Google Documents at http://docs.google.com, using your Gmail account details, log-in. What you would see there is your typical Microsoft Office suite under Google’s vision: accessible anywhere and free. Or perhaps, you are the type of techie who just loves hardware. Can you imagine using your mobile phone to remotely access your office computer. Imagine, accessing your PC at your headquarters in Baltimore while you’ve forgotten your laptop in your hotel while you’re out in Zimbabwe.

Impossible? Not really. Right now there are applications for the iPhone that acts like a desktop remote access pogram, such as the Mini Vmac, while it is now possible to access your computer from the Android-based G1 phone using a VNC server and the LDXE GUI.

Granted that we would need to use faster and more powerful mobile phones or Smartphones than what we have now for us to be able to experience the same speed by which we remotely access a desktop from another desktop. But judging from the advances we’ve seen in mobile phone technology over the recent years, such a powerful Smartphone will be available in no time.

What about docking? Well, that technology has already been deployed on Celio Corporation’s REDFLY Smartphone Dock. Basically, you connect your Smartphone to the REDFLY. Although it looks like a normal laptop or netbook, REDFLY doesn’t have the processors, operating system, CPU, or hard drive. Your Smartphone becomes the CPU.

So you think my scenarios above are still in the realm of science fiction? Think again. Everything is possible; the only question is how and when these innovations all come together.

Gadget of the Week: Palm Pre

Posted on January 21, 2009 by Michael Gabriel Sumastre

Image Courtesy of The-Gadgeteer.com

Palm Gets Ready to Clobber the iPhone

Things are looking up for Palm. For years, the company has been struggling to keep up with other Smartphone manufactures, most notably against Apple’s iPhone. But the company is hoping to turn the tide and go back to the glory days of the Palm Pilot and Palm Treo with the upcoming release of the Palm Pre.

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Tag Archives: Smartphone

Technology Trends in 2010

Mozilla’s Fennec Browser: The Firefox Version for Mobile Phones

The Future of Computing

Gadget of the Week: Palm Pre