4 shorts

Gizmodo: Comparison of all the smartphone app stores

Yahoo Mobile: Abandons BB app. Focus on iPhone

El Reg: Second-generation of BlackBerry Storm with pictures

Prototype: Good looking Android phones could change the game. Design please.

4 shorts

Very sober article about unmaintained iPhone apps and slowdown in development:

Developers may depend on static libraries for which they don't have source code. This prevents them from rebuilding their applications using the 3.0 SDK. According to Snyder, this "effectively denies them the ability to take advantage of the new 3.0 APIs, and possibly permanently limits the lifetime of their app." Fortunately, he points out, most static libraries in use are either distributed with source or are maintained by companies like AdMob who very much want to keep them up to date.

This introduces a brand new puzzle into the iPhone development equation. Business plans that were predicated on getting applications ready for the 3.0 launch, whenever that should happen, must now start building 3.0 compatibility into their 2.x products. If a company wants to release a bug fix or offer any updated features over the next few months, they'll need to task their engineers with a whole new development effort. There's no way to keep programming for 2.x until 3.0 debuts.

Strategy Analytics: 900 % growth for Android phones in 2009. iPhone's growth 79 %. Still, I can't grasp how Google benefits directly from Android...

“Android has fast been winning healthy support among operators, vendors and developers. A relatively low-cost licensing model, its semi-open-source structure and Google’s support for cloud services have encouraged companies such as HTC, Motorola, Samsung, T Mobile, Vodafone and others to support the Android operating system. Android is now in a good position to become a top-tier player in smartphones over the next two to three years.”

How netbook revolution looks like ?

Whatever else netbooks bring to the table, the category's strongest selling point has been its low cost. Where once speed was everything, today's recession-rattled customers are willing to trade the power of full-fledged PCs for rock-bottom pricing.

Lenovo: What kind of future for netbooks ?
Touch, Win 7, bigger

So, there is still going to be a need for notebooks: some people will see netbooks as second devices, as companion devices – I just want to grab this when I go off to do whatever – but, other people are going to say, well, why own two things where I’ve got to worry about syncing them, where I need to make sure that the data is the same as on my other notebook. So, some people just don’t want that hassle either.

Bonus link:
Palm Foleo's rise from the death

NEW SECTION: 4 SHORTS

Keep innovating my publishing venture


I am introducing new content section on my blog.

It will be called and tagged 4 SHORTS and it will contain 4 quick web links / comments / stories about things on my mind or what I found on the Web that catches my eye but without extensive story.

4 quickies, pure jewels.
Not shared over twitter, luckily.

Where 2.0 conference
The past five years have seen significant changes in the geospatial web. Its importance and functionality have matured—it's not just maps anymore! Where 2.0 2009 will take the exploration of "location aware" even further.

Boxee
on a laptop or connected to an HDTV, boxee gives you a true entertainment experience to enjoy your movies, TV shows, music and photos, as well as streaming content from websites like Netflix, CBS, Comedy Central, Last.fm, and flickr.

Hyperlocal news
a package of information about your neighborhood, or even your block, assembled by a computer.

Web photos with shopping links
Everingham's vision ultimately became Pixazza, an online advertising startup that converts photos on Web sites into interactive advertisements.