Steve Jobs vowed revenge on Eric Schmidt over Android

Monday will bring one (of likely many) biographies on Steve Jobs. This one by Walter Isaacson includes the story of the falling out between Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt. The story has been leaked to the New York Times and Associated Press (likely to stir up free advertising for said book,) and it's a pretty interesting one. 

Of course, Eric Schmidt was on the board at Apple from 2006 to 2009, while also acting as CEO of Google. The two companies eventually started competing with each other through iOS and Android, so Schmidt left Apple's board. When Steve Jobs saw Google release Android, he apparently felt it was a great betrayal, and told Isaacson that he felt Android was a "stolen product." Jobs was especially angered with a January 2010 Android device by HTC, which Jobs felt had many of the features of iOS including multitouch. Apple has since sued HTC and other Android manufacturers multiple times.

Jobs told Isaacson: "I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this."


Also, when Jobs and Schmidt met at the cafe in Palo Alto, Jobs also told Schmidt: "I don’t want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I won’t want it. I’ve got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that’s all I want."


Thermonuclear war seems quite extreme, especially given that as far as Jobs was concerned Apple had never stolen an idea from any other company ever. Still, it does give insight into the rash of lawsuits between Apple and Android handset makers. It will be interesting to see if Jobs' vendetta against Android continues now that he has passed. Stories like these are tough, but even though Steve was a genius, he did have a darker side and had a hand in some terrible things the least of which is this vendetta.


Source: New York Times.

A Quick Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Rundown

While hardware junkies like myself may have spent the past few weeks drooling over the Galaxy Nexus, the onstage demo of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich proves that the software powering the device is just as impressive (if not a little moreso).

The hands-on with the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich will be coming shortly, but here’s a quick rundown of what Android 4.0 will be bringing to the table come November.

• Roboto: Goodbye Droid Sans, a new typeface called Roboto is here to rule the roost. 
• Landscape Controls: I knew that the Galaxy Nexus opted to move the classic Android buttons onto the screen, but they smartly disappear when viewing video or in widescreen mode.
• Flexible Widgets: Ice Cream Sandwich’s stock widgets are resizable and more robust than previous versions. They also now occupy their own separate space in the app drawer.
• Folders: Dragging apps and contacts on top of each other create re-arrangeable folders a la iOS.
• Favorites Tray: Users can stow their favorite apps, links, and folders into a new Favorites tray for quick and easy access.
• Taking Screenshots: This one has been a long time coming. Hold down the power button and the volume down button to snap a screenshot.
• Notifications: Hefty revamp here, as the contents are much more customizable. Music controls have been integrated, and notifications are also easily dismissed with a quick swipe left or right.
• Improved Copy & Paste: Copying and pasting content is made much easier, as you can now move around entire blocks of text. Very useful.
• Face Unlock: One of the most ambitious is Ice Cream Sandwich’s new Face Unlock feature, which allows users to unlock their handsets just by looking into the front-facing camera.
• Enhanced Talk-to-Text: Voice input seems much smarter this time around, as it’s more accurate, requires less time, and even accounts for pauses.
• Browser: The stock browser now sports tabs, and it maxes out at 16. Web pages can now also be saved offline for later perusal, and users can directly request the desktop version of a site.
• Gmail: Gmail now supports two-line previews, and sports a new context-sensitive action bar at the bottom of the screen. Gesture support allows you to swipe left and right between emails.
• People App: A new spin on the contact list. The phone’s owner has their own profile, and people’s contact details are sourced from Google+, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Users can define favorite contacts, and individual people can be placed on the homescreen or in folders for quick access.
• Calendar: Features a redesigned UI and includes pinch-to-zoom to vary the level of detail on a calendar page.
• Data Usage: Users can now drill down into their data usage over a certain period of time, including the ability to see which apps are the biggest data hogs and the ability to limit data usage to a certain threshold.
• Camera: There’s a lot to love here. It features image stabilization, improved autofocus, and integration with other apps for sending photos or instant upload to Google+. Oh, and who could forget built-in face detection, panorama and time lapse modes, and on-the-fly photo retouching and enhancements.
• Android Beam: An secure NFC-powered sharing platform that lets users share nearly any kind of content, save for applications (in that case, a link to the Market is sent instead)

Google Chrome Remote Desktop app goes beta

Watch out, Internet Explorer. Google Chrome has finally added a business-first feature that will help it seriously challenge your dominance in enterprise settings. Chrome Remote Desktop (formerly referred to as  Chromoting) has finally launched in the Chrome Web Store.

Like other remote desktop solutions, the Chrome app lets you set up one machine as a host and then connect from a second machine. The app utilizes XMPP and SSL to provide secure, zero-config connections in much the same way apps like TeamViewer and Mikogo do. You just need the person who is hosting the session to tell you the access code displayed on their screen in order to connect. Punch it in on your system, and you’re connected a few seconds later.

So why is Chrome Remote Desktop a big deal? For starters, there’s a darn good chance it’s going to be totally free. Other apps can cost thousands of dollars to roll out across a corporate network, so this could be a huge cost saving move that’s relatively easy to implement.

It’s also got the potential to prevent administrative headaches. If your machines are already running the latest version of Google Chrome, all that’s required is a simple in-browser app install –and since it’s not a standard desktop program, Chrome Remote Desktop also doesn’t carry the risk of playing havoc with your other essential apps. If Chrome didn’t cause any problems, neither will the Remote Desktop app.

At some point, Google will no doubt tie Chrome Remote Desktop to the Apps admin panel. That’ll make it an even more attractive remote access option for businesses who run Google Apps, and especially to those who have rolled out Chromebooks. But with Microsoft busily pushing Office 365,Windows Intune, and the much-improved Internet Explorer 9, Google’s not going to get a free pass from the gang in Redmond.

If Google’s Management Doesn’t Use Google+, Then Why Should You?

One of the most important rules in software is to eat your own dog food. The concept is simple: If you have confidence in your product, you use it.

Perhaps somebody should tell that to Google’s senior management, because the people in it are not eating their own dog food when it comes to Google+.

During the madness that was the launch of the iPhone 4S, I stumbled across an interesting post by Michael DeGusta. DeGusta decided to analyze how often Google’s senior management uses Google+. He counted how many times the company’s senior management, SVPs and board members have publicly posted on Google+.

The results aren’t pretty. Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have posted publicly on Google+ 22 times. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt doesn’t even have a Google+ account, nothing short of an embarrassment when company bonuses are tied to social media success.

The rest of Google’s senior management isn’t any better. Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora has never posted on Google+ and Chief Legal Officer David C. Drummond doesn’t even have an account. CFO Patrick Pichette, to his credit, has posted several times publicly.

When you get to Google’s six SVPs, the story doesn’t change much. SVP of Video Salar Kamangar and SVP of Search Alan Eustace have never publicly posted. SVP of Ads Susan Wojcicki has publicly posted once and SVP of Mobile Andy Rubin has posted eight times (neither have posted since August). The only two people on Google’s management team I’d consider “active” are SVP of Chrome Sundar Pichai (58 posts) and SVP of Social Vic Gundotra (150+ posts).

Here’s another shocker: Not one of Google’s six independent board members have ever posted publicly on Google+.

 

Leading By Example

Let’s start out with addressing a few caveats. First, these senior Googlers could be posting a ton privately and we simply don’t know it. But it’s more likely that their lack of public engagement is indicative of their lack of engagement overall. This is especially true of Google’s management, which has an incentive to promote Google+ publicly.

You could also argue that the SVP of search or ads shouldn’t be expected to be heavily engaged on Google+, but given the fact that Google intends to integrate Google+ into everything it does, I don’t buy that argument either. When Google+ first launched, Gundotra told that Google+ is an extension of Google itself, thus why the company chose the name.

It doesn’t matter how you slice it: If Google’s management truly believed in Google+ as the future of the company, they would be more engaged. Not being connected to a product that has such a direct correlation to the company’s future is dangerous. This is about leading by example. Why should Google employees be excited about Google+ if their managers aren’t excited?

The same rule applies to Google+’s million of users. The social network has more than 43 million users now and is being heavily promoted by Google. But if its creators aren’t interested enough in staying active, what’s to say its users won’t get bored just as fast?

Google’s management is a busy group, but having only three members of its management team post more than 10 times sends a terrible message. It makes people question the commitment Google has to social.

My message to Google’s management is simple: Eat your own dog food.

All you need to know about the new Apple iPhone 4S

Here comes the sequel - the second coming of the iPhone 4. For all those of you expecting to see the iPhone 5, you really have two options – continue grumbling, or open your eyes to the iPhone 4S. Lets take a closer look at what the new iPhone 4S brings to the table:

Form Factor

The 4S looks exactly like its elder sibling, at least from the outside. However, this one is a tad heavier than the iPhone 4. The 4S weighs 140grams, while the 4 weighs 137 grams.

Display 

The same 3.5-inch Retina Display as the iPhone 4. The LED backlit IPS display with a resolution of 640 x 960 pixels.

Storage 

Apart from the 16GB and 32GB versions, the 4S will also be available in a 64GB version.

Camera
BIG difference! The iPhone 4 had a 5MP camera that can do 720p HD video recording. The 4S gets an 8MP camera with 1080p HD video recording. Face Detection feature has also been added. I quote Apple on this one, “iPhone 4S includes a new custom lens, a larger f/2.4 aperture and an advanced hybrid IR filter that produce sharper, brighter and more accurate images.”

The processor
Possibly the biggest upgrade over the iPhone 4- the 4S gets dual core power. The ARM Cortex A9 dual core 1GHz processor powers this one. The iPhone 4, in comparison, had a 1GHz single core ARM Cortex A8 processor.

And the RAM bit?
The iPhone 4 has 512 MB of RAM, and the iPhone 4S gets a bum up to 1GB. Need I explain in detail the expected performance improvement?

I sure hope you aren’t missing that inconspicuous by its absence iPhone 5 anymore. Because the 4S isn't finished yet!

iOS 5
The 4S comes with the new iOS version out of the box. Agreed, the iPhone 4 will get the update as well, but the better processor and upgraded RAM will mean the 4S’ performance will be much better.

With the new OS comes the much awaited iMessage service. The Camera can now be accessed right from the lock screen itself. The updated Photos app lets users crop, rotate, enhance and remove red eye from the snaps before sending them along.

SIRI
The 4S gets the voice control feature as well. You can enter text, get the weather update and even search the web. Currently works with English, French and German. Not confirmed if this feature will be available on the iPhone 4 as well.

Battery
While the same 1420 mAh battery has been carried forward from the iPhone 4, Apple claims that the 4S will offer 8 hours of talk time while on the 3G networks.

Pricing and availability

iPhone 4S comes in either black or white and will be available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the new 64GB model.

The iPhone 4S will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries by the end of October including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.”

Best Windows 7 Explorer Tips and Tricks

Windows Explorer in Windows 7 has been significantly changed and improved since the days of Vista and XP. This article provides some of the more useful tips and tricks for getting the most out of Explorer.

NOTE: Some of these tips require you to tweak the registry. Before doing so, be sure you back up the registry. We also recommend creating a restore point you can use to restore your system if something goes wrong.

Using the Backspace Key to Go Up Like Windows XP did

Windows Explorer in Windows XP allowed you to move up a folder using the Backspace key. If you got used to that feature, you’re probably frustrated that it was removed in Windows 7. The Backspace key in Windows 7 moves you Back in the folder browsing history, not to the parent folder of the current folder. If you want the same feature like Windows XP to go up a folder, you have to use the Alt + Up shortcut key.

View Details and Previews for Files

When browsing through your folders and files in Explorer, it might be helpful to be able to view the contents of the files without opening the files and to view details about the files. The Preview pane and the Details pane allow you to do this. To turn on one or both of these panes, click Organize on the Explorer window and select Layout to display a submenu. If a pane on the submenu has a check mark next to it, it is currently being shown in Explorer. Turn the panes on and off by selecting them on the submenu. You can also press Alt + P to turn the Preview pane on and off.

Disable Thumbnail Previews

If Windows Explorer seems to be operating slower than usual, you can speed it up by disabling the thumbnail previews.This can be done by turning on the Always show icons, never thumbnails option on the Folder Options dialog box.

NOTE: This tip works in Vista, as well.

Choose a Different Startup Folder

By default, Windows Explorer opens to the Libraries view. If you use a specific folder often, such as My Documents, you can change a setting to open that folder when you open Windows Explorer.

I will explain you how to do this in the following article:-

Set the Windows Explorer Startup Folder in Windows 7

 

Access Hidden Options on the Right-Click Send To Menu in Explorer

When you right-click on a file in Explorer, the Send to submenu on the popup menu provides options for taking action on the selected file. You can send the file to a compressed folder, create a shortcut to the file on your desktop, fax or email the file, or send it to another folder. However, there are additional options available on the Send to menu that are not visible by default. There is an easy way to view these extra options. Simply press the Shift key while right-clicking on the file.

Open a Command Prompt Window from a Windows Explorer Folder

If you use the command prompt often to manage your files, there is an easy way to open a command prompt in the working directory you want from within Explorer. This is accomplished the same way as accessing additional options on the Send to menu, as mentioned above. To open a command prompt at a specific directory, hold the Shift key down when you right-click on a folder and select the Open Command Window Here option.

You can also go the other direction. If you have a command prompt window open to a specific directory, you can open the same directory automatically in a Windows Explorer window. To do so, just type "explorer ." or "start ." after the target folder. Your explorer window will open with that folder open.

Quickly Resize Icons and Change the View in Explorer

Do you change the view in Windows Explorer among the different sizes of icons or to details or list view often? If so, there is a shortcut that allows you to do this quickly and easily using the keyboard and mouse. Simply hold down the Ctrl key while scrolling the mouse wheel in any folder in Explorer.
If you keep scrolling down, the icons get smaller until they switch to List, Details, Tiles, and then Content. This trick essentially scrolls through the options on the Change your view button in Explorer.

NOTE: This trick also works to change the size of the icons on the desktop icons.

Set the Windows Explorer Startup Folder in Windows 7

When you open Windows Explorer from the Taskbar in Windows 7, it defaults to the Libraries view. Today we take a look at changing the target path to allow you to customize which location opens by default.
When you click on the Windows Explorer icon on the Windows 7 Taskbar, it’s set to open to the Libraries view by default. You might not use the Libraries feature, or want to set it to a different location that is more commonly used.

Set Windows Explorer Startup Location
To change the default startup location for the Windows Explorer Taskbar icon, if you have no Explorer screens open, hold down the Shift key, right-click the Explorer icon, and select Properties.

 Or if you have Windows open, right-click on the Explorer icon to bring up the Jumplist, then right-click on Windows Explorer and select Properties.

 Windows Explorer Properties opens up and you’ll want to click on the Shortcut tab so we can change the Target.

 A common place you might want it to default to is your Documents folder. So to do that we need to enter the following into the Target field:-

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n,::{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}

Now when you open Windows Explorer from the Taskbar, it defaults to My Documents.

If you use the Start Menu to access Windows Explorer, open the Start Menu and go to All Programs \ Accessories and right-click on Windows Explorer then select Properties. Change the target path to where you want it to go.

Now we want Windows Explorer to open up to My Computer so we entered the following in the Target field:-

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /E,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

When you click on the Explorer icon in the Start Menu it defaults to My Computer.

Here I showed you a couple of commonly used locations that you might want Windows Explorer to open to instead of Libraries. You can set it to other locations if you know the GUID (Globally Unique Identifiers) for the object or location you want it to default to.

How to Dual Boot OS X and Ubuntu

Dual-booting on a PC is easy: you stick in a LiveCD disk, drum your fingers for a few minutes then let the installer take care of all the difficult stuff.

But how does one dual-boot Ubuntu on a Mac?

It’s actually not that difficult; there are various guides and how-to’s on the internet. But to help clarify the process I thought I would share a method.

Whilst I don’t guarantee that it will work for you (although in all honesty it should), be sure to make a back up of anything vital before attempting this. Seriously, do it.

Ready? Let’s begin…

Step one: Install rEFIt

Unlike a typical PC where the GRUB boot-loader is used to present your dual-boot options, Intel Mac users need to install something extra: ‘rEFIt’.

‘rEFIt’ is a visually slick (think BURG) boot-interrupter that allows you to boot between OS X and your Linux distribution(s) of choice.

rEFIt should be installed from within OS X, and doesn’t require the use of too many braincells to accomplish: -

1. Download the rEFIt-0.14.dmg disk image and ‘mount’ it (double-click on it)
2. Inside the ‘rEFIt’ filesystem/folder double-click on the “rEFIt.mpkg” package.
3. Follow the instructions and select your Mac OS X installation volume as the destination volume for the install

If everything went well you will see the rEFIt boot menu appear on your next restart.

For extra peace of mind create a bookmark to the ‘Troubleshooting section‘ of the rEFIt website incase any issues arise.

Step two: Resize the disk in OS X

The next step is to make some space for your Ubuntu install. I typically do this in OS X because it’s easier.

• Open Disk Utility in OS X
• Choose your main hard-drive from the left hand pane
• Choose the ‘Partition‘ tab
• Click the ‘+‘ sign to the bottom of the harddrive window and create a new partition by dragging the slider. You can also specify a partition size directly in the size box
• For ‘Format‘ choose ‘Free Space’ (this will help us easily identify the partition later on)
• Apply

Be generous when allocating disk space you need as trying to change it later can lead to all sorts of problems.

Step Three: Reboot with a LiveCD in the tray (and connect a wired keyboard and mouse)

Once you’re all set you just need to pop your LiveCD into the disk drive and reboot.

Press the ‘C’ after the start ‘chimes’ sound to boot from the Live CD.

Step Four: Install to your created partition

If you’re an iMac user using bluetooth peripherals do be aware that these will not work out of the box in Ubuntu, so have a wired keyboard and mouse to hand.

Proceed to install Ubuntu on the ‘free space’ partition you created earlier. Ubuntu may prompt you to install it on freespace (double check the size) or, if it doesn’t or you just want to be super-cautious choose the ‘Advanced’ option from the partition screen. From here select (check the box under ‘format’) ‘free space‘ and choose the ‘EXT4′ filesystem when asked, and mount point should be set as ‘/’.

The above looks a bit crazy, but once you’re in the partition editor of the LiveCD it’s straightforward.

I should also add that I don’t usually bother adding Swap space but you may wish to.

Step Five: Reboot

Once all is done you just need to reboot your Mac and select ‘Linux’ from the REFit bootloader when it appears.

If you’re using a bluetooth keyboard you will need to press a button on your keyboard and wait a second before you are able to select boot entries with rEFIt.