Aux

Posts tagged with "software"

Installing Windows 8 Developer Preview in a lazy way

Thursday, September 15, 2011 7:59:03 AM

Hi there! I'm a lazy guy. I'm too lazy to burn a DVD and, well, I don't have a DVD drive actually. I'm too lazy to make a bootable USB Flash. And again - I don't have 10 GB Flash (: And I'm very lazy to partition my HDD. But I want to use Windows 8 anyway. Oh, and I forgot to mention, that I hate virtualization. Sounds impossible? Not really.

If you want to install W8DP problem free, read on!

Got your own UI for Android? Add a switcher!

Monday, March 14, 2011 8:42:58 AM

software, android, open source, acer ...

A well known Acer Liquid community member piter1225 posted a short article on custom Acer UI and how they respect user choise by allowing to turn off their UI in phone settings.

Manufacturers want their devices to stand out from the crowd and it is understandable. Some of them, like HTC, did a good work on creating great UIs like HTC Sense. But some people like me prefer stock Android experience. And this is why I love my Acer device and Acer in general - they provide choise. It is VERY important in my opinion. This is what Android is all about for me. Take a note HTC, Samsung, LG and others.

By the way, Acer devices are also 100% unlocked. That means you don't need any dirty hacks to exploit ROM protection to be able to put some custom stuff inside your phone - just plug your USB cable and use standard Android tools like you do with everyone's favorite Nexus One. This is also great, because you lower risks of bricking your device and get full freedom for customization.

Way to go Acer! But please, provide us proper kernel sources (: That would make your devices even better!

1 comment

Improving Android, part 1 — Market.

Friday, March 11, 2011 8:42:54 AM

android, google, software, improving ...

I want to write some articles on Android usability and my thoughts on UI improvements. Being an active Android user and a fan I see some inefficiencies every day. I hope Google guys will find my articles and implement some of my suggestions. I think that that will improve overall user experience with Android platform.

Today I will start with Android Market. It is one of the most important Android features for me — I use it everyday to search, install and update lots of useful apps and games. Improving it will benefit both users and app developers.

If you have any comments and/or suggestions — feel free to leave a comment. I would also appreciate spreading the word about my articles — that will show how user interface and experience are important to both users and app developers and may influence Google decisions. I do really want Android to become even better and I hope you want it too.

Let's start!

Pocket Legends Developer Makes More Money on Android Than on iOS

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 10:04:34 AM

fun, games, android, software ...

There's a nice story on Phandroid about Spacetime Studios — creators of Pocket Legends mobile MMORPG. Their story is that they make more money from Android users then from iOS users even though there is still no in-app payments in Android world. This is rather uncommon as of today. But I think I know the answer - Android lacks high quality games. So such titles (and yes, Pocket Legends are awesome!) are rare. So they do generate a lot of money - people are hungry for hi-end entertainment here.

Thinking about making Android app? Make it REALLY hi-end! Everyone will love it!

No comments

Opera 11 is out already!

Thursday, December 16, 2010 8:41:30 AM

software, web, wallpapers, browsers ...

It is 16th of December, 2010 and new version of Opera browser for desktops if out. And yes, I'm writting this post from it right now. I think everyone knows what is packed inside, so I'll give you a link to brand new Opera wallpapers. They are here (:

No comments

Notion Ink Adam - the tablet I'm waiting for

Monday, December 6, 2010 7:58:40 AM

software, android, adam.tablets, open source ...

Tablets! This is what gadgets are all about today! iPad, Streak, Galaxy Tab and tons of Chinese clones - they are everywhere! But I'm still waiting for a very special one...

It is called Adam and is made by Indian company Notion Ink. It is not yet available (they had a lot of troubles with investors), but should be soon. No release date is set, but it will come either this December or in January 2011.

So it is not available, had troubles, what's so great about it? First of all - 10.1" 1024x600 PixelQi display. Watch this video to learn why PixelQi rocks. This video is worth thousands words (:

Next its hardware is notable: NVIDIA Tegra 2 (that's dual-core, baby!), 1GB of RAM and 1GB of ROM, HDMI, USB etc. It just has all the bells and whistles. And I do care about performance, so there's no rivals for Adam.

And the last, but not least - custom software. Adam is an Android tablet, yet they've rewritten a lot of internals to make the best UI experience. And they made custom apps for everything: calendar, mail, you name it! And they all look great!

This is a short story, so I suggest you visit their CEO blog for more details. There are loads of interesting information.

No comments

Opera 11 AMP Android Wallpaper

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 1:05:51 PM

software, android, wallpapers, browsers ...

I've just resized official Opera 11 Beta wallpaper (just one at the moment, others will follow soon) to look great on Android devices. All common screen resolutions are supported (480x800, 480x854, 320x480, 240x320), enjoy!

No comments

Opera 11 Beta is out

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 9:50:36 AM

software, extensions, beta, opera ...

Say what?! Yep! The beta of the latest version of the best browser in the world is out in the wild! And I must say it is great!

Yes, it comes with improved performance, better HTML5 and CSS3 support and all other techy stuff, which no one understands. But this time Opera also comes with some very sleek UI and functionality improvements which make this release the best browser out there.

The greatest thing is Tab Stacking, of course. Like to open lots of tabs? Tired of them converting into tiny and unusable squares? Well, that's a thing of the past! Just watch how it works. Very usable in my opinion.

Another great feature is Visual Mouse Gestures. Mouse gestures are native to Opera, everyone in the world copied this idea from Norway guys. But yet many people don't understand the power of gestures and how to properly use them. So these Norway guys visualized gestures to help you out. Nice move! Now my mom will use them.

And yes, there are extensions. I've been using Opera since 2001 and version six and guess what? I've never felt I need any extensions. Unlike other browsers Opera has everything useful built-in. But some people do not agree with me. So now you can celebrate! Extensions are here! Enjoy at last!

If you need more techy details, please read changelogs.

2 comments

PowerAMP - the BEST audio player for Android!

Friday, November 12, 2010 1:30:54 PM

news, PowerAMP, fun, players ...

A few days ago new audio player for Android was released. It is called PowerAMP. And I think it is the best out there! But why? Well...

First of all it supports tons of formats: MP3, OGG, FLAC, APE, WMA, WAV, WV and some more. That automatically makes it better then everything else, because all other players use Android's own sound sub-system which does not support lossless audio in any way. There are some players with lossless support, but they all are buggy, unstable and eat battery like Godzilla eats people.

Next major feature if equalizer and tone control with all bells and whistles. Yet again Android does not have support for EQ and every player lives with that. EQ is good and does not kill your device's performance together with battery.

And there are a lot of minor for most people features, like having both music library together with folder listing, tag editor, tag encoding chooser, widgets, lock screen, etc - lots of them!

PowerAMP has a trial version, full one costs 5$ - not much and definitely worth every penny. It works on 2.0+ devices, supports low resolution screens and works on older devices without FPU. It can be laggy and will drain battery on devices with FPU, but hey - it's the price to pay, sound processing is very resource intensive. So if You lack FPU then either upgrade your device or live with that.

All in all PowerAMP is great and there's no choise. Many people were waiting for proper audio player for years and now it is in Android Market. Grab your copy today!

No comments

A few words on Opera 11 Alpha

Friday, October 22, 2010 6:20:58 AM

opera, news, software, web ...

So I've downloaded this new alpha to give it a try. And I should say I'm pretty impressed! Last two years Opera Software were chasing everyone and trying to innovate like insane. This process resulted in a very unstable browser releases. They also were increasing performance in synthetic tests, but browser failed in real life. I was unable to browse some specific pages and flooded their bug reporting system. So?

So it works now! Opera 11 Alpha is fucking awesome and fast! Oh yeah! If they keep it (and maybe improve it) to the release, then Opera 11 will be the best release from Opera Software. Oh yeah, baby! Thanks, guys! You did a great job!

5 comments

1 2 3 4 5 ... 16 Next »