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To: Zen Dollar Round who wrote (11179)	10/19/2011 6:46:50 AM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 32692

The BAD NEWS keeps on coming for the iSheep.... Android outsold iJUNK by a 5:1 ratio in Q3.... iPhone market share will take a considerable hit Apple's inventory skyrocketed with almost 6 million unsold iPhones stuck in warehouses and 2.5 million iPad. What that means that the imploding iPhone numbers are even worse... only 11.25 million iPhones sold in the Q4 quarter... that's almost a drop of 50% from last quarter and 1/5th what Android SOLD to end users (55 million activations)...

To: Zen Dollar Round who wrote (11179)	10/19/2011 7:01:45 AM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 32692

New UI and Core Features in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Overview New UI and Core Features in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Overview by Quentyn Kennemer on October 19th, 2011 at 12:35 am Alongside some redesigned (and very good-looking) apps, the entirety of Android OS has gotten a very pretty update with Android 4.0. Matias Duarte said we wouldn’t recognize Android as we know it and, well, he was right. Let’s jump right into all the new UI changes and features we’re getting, shall we? Color scheme To go along with the change in color scheme made in Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich for phones also adopts the heavy blue accents in various parts of the operating system. Some status icons – such as WiFi and signal strength – are blue, as are menu selections, check boxes and more. I personally like it, but I know some will miss their green. Font (Roboto) Google made a big deal about the new font they’re using for Android 4.0. It’s called Roboto and is supposed to look good no matter type of display you have, but is said to really look good for the 720p display on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. They used Roboto throughout their press conference and I can say, at least for me, that it was pleasing to the eye. System-wide Gestures Google’s focusing on simple gesture-based navigation in Ice Cream Sandwich. In most apps and parts of the UI, swiping up, down, left or right will do a lot of things. In Gmail, for instance, you can switch between different emails with ease, while in Gallery you can move on to the next page of images. We will discuss some scenarios where this is used below. Lockscreen Google’s borrowed some elements from the Honeycomb lock screen but have made it even better. You can either unlock the phone go directly to the homescreen or unlock it and go directly to the camera app. The camera is the number one thing people need very fast access to as things can happen in a blink of an eye and they’ve made that happen here. And while this isn’t quite “lockscreen,” the call reject and answer functions deserve mention here. Like many phones now (including Samsung’s TouchWiz 4 devices), you now answer calls by sliding to the left or the right – reject and answer, respectively. You can also reject and immediately send a pre-written text to let your caller know why you had to reject the call. The list of pre-written texts can be customized to your most common situations. Homescreen and Launcher Stylistically we get a similar launcher to Honeycomb’s. When placing apps and widgets, you can use the light “plus” symbols in the background to help you figure out how much space you have and where you can drop the application or widget. Also coming from Honeycomb are resizable and scrollable widgets. Controls are present on all four corners of a compatible widget, while scrollable widgets are presented in the same card-like system from Honeycomb as well as the traditional scroll (like the Calendar and Gmail widgets from Honeycomb). Folders have gotten a great overhaul. To create folders, simply start by dragging one app icon over another and the folder will automatically be created. Opening the folder will give you the ability to either launch an application, reorganize application icons or rename the folder. And more than just apps, you can also put people into folders so you’ll have one-click access to all your favorite contacts. A dock at the bottom gives you icons for opening the apps and widgets tray, the phone application and the browser. You also have two additional spaces to put whatever you’d like there. You can simply drag and drop any application icon or folder (including “people” folders) for access on any of your homescreens. Jumping into the apps tray is nothing out of the ordinary. We’re greeted to a tabbed layout for switching between applications or widgets. Scrolling through each set of homescreen items is the same – simply flick left and right, just like Honeycomb. On-screen Controls At the bottom of every screen – at least on the button-less Galaxy Nexus – are software buttons for Home, Back and switching between apps. These controls can be dimmed or can be completely shut off depending on what you’re doing. We imagine there’s a “flick” gesture to bring it all back up. Notification Bar The notification bar has gotten a pretty significant facelift. You get more information such as the amount of items within a notification, as well as a photo to the left relevant to that notification. Some apps will simply display its icon, while others may show your contacts’ faces (such as for missed calls and text messages). Also new to the notification bar is the ability to dismiss individual notifications. If you want to get rid of a notification but don’t want all of them to go, simply swipe it off of the screen either to the left or to the right. Intuitive, simple and EXTREMELY useful. Other features include the ability to pull the notification bar down while your lockscreen is up as well as native lockscreen controls for the default music application. We imagine the former is an optional feature for those worried about security. Hardware Acceleration Although Google made no mention of this in their press conference or in their platform highlights for Android 4.0, they noted in the SDK notes that if developers target SDK revision 14 in their applications, hardware acceleration is on by default. This means smoother application use as the GPU will handle a lot of the eye candy. Redesigned Settings Menu The settings menu has been redesigned with new controls and new UI elements. Not too much of a stray from the norm but it all looks very nice and clean. Multi-tasking As I alluded to before, you switch between different apps by pressing the right-most button on the on-screen controls. You get a list of apps you’ve recently used and a snapshot of your latest activity within those apps. You scroll up and down to traverse the list and tap it to jump back into that application. It’s the same feature introduced in Honeycomb, but new to it is the ability to get rid of any of the apps you want. Just like with notifications, simply swipe the card off of the screen and away it goes. Text Input and Editing The Android 4.0 keyboard is more reminiscent of Gingerbread than it is Honeycomb, but it’s gotten some nice upgrades. Alongside improved text prediction, keyboard responsiveness and accuracy, Google’s added better text editing controls. The tabs for moving word selections are back, but you can now replace selected words with the tap of a button. You can also drag and drop that word anywhere within your sentence if for some reason you ever need to jumble words around. Perhaps the biggest change is to voice recognition and input. You still have a microphone icon to activate voice input, but you no longer have to get your sentences out in one breath in order to avoid pressing the button multiple times. If you stop on a certain word or section, it adds the words you said in real time and continues listening for new words until you specify you’re done with inputting text. — And these are just the things they talked about on-stage. It seems like there will be a lot more that hasn’t been revealed so already you can tell Android is a completely different operating system with this upgrade. Click here for our rundown on the core applications Google’s updated and included in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

To: Zen Dollar Round who wrote (11179)	10/19/2011 7:08:35 AM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 32692

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich – All New Core Applications Overview Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich – All New Core Applications Overview by Chris Chavez on October 19th, 2011 at 12:39 am The joint Samsung/Google event just came to a close and I must say — Google definitely stole the show. Ice Cream Sandwich seemed to propel the OS light years ahead of it’s predecessors and competition thanks to an all new overhauled UI implemented throughout the entire Android OS. One of the areas Google did a great job at addressing was the aging core apps. Now, they’ve been completely revamped unifying not the the way the apps look, but the way the behave as well. The same gestures found everywhere else in Ice Cream Sandwich will work the same as in these core apps. Let’s take a look. CORE APPS Browser One of my favorite overhauled new apps is the Android Browser. The all new browser features easy a whole new way of tabbing. Tabs behave the same way as opening up your most recently used apps, being displayed vertically for you to swipe through or swipe to the left to close a tab. My favorite part about the all new tabs is how they can now be saved for offline viewing. In a move that is sure to make a lot of Android/Chrome users happy, Google has finally provided bookmark syncing with Chrome which means whether you’re on your phone or desktop, you’ll always have your bookmarks easily accessible. A few more features Google added was an easy to click “request desktop site” option in the menu for when you want to see the full, desktop version of a site and the new “incognito mode” for viewing those special sites online. Gmail Our beloved Gmail app has been shown some love in Ice Cream Sandwich featuring an all new, UI and a new “action bar” along the bottom of the app for accessing your most used functions. Navigating through the app is done very much the same way as in the rest of the UI. Once a message is open, simply swipe left or right to move to the next or previous message. Skimming through your email inbox has never been easier. My favorite part? The offline function that can store all your emails for easy access of up to 30 days of email without any data connection. Calendar The Calendar app saw a revamp as well. Featuring that same consistent UI and swipe gestures for navigating. A new pinch-to-zoom function has also been added which allows for you to see a little or a lot of information on upcoming events. Settings The Settings app added a new feature with what Google is calling “Data Usage Controls.” Clicking on DUC allow you to see a full chart of all your data usage for the current billing cycle and even gives you a projection of where you’ll be at the end of the month. The data chart is fully interactive allowing a user to set a “threshold limit” using the onscreen bar that will cut off all background data for the month once you’ve reached a specified amount of data. While I like how Android is putting users in full control of their smartphones, I can see how this will be an extremely complicated process for soccer mom’s and Joe Schmoe’s. Camera The old and aging Android camera app has finally been revamped in Ice Cream Sandwich featuring zero shutter-lag for taking quick snap shots. Google has also added some features to the camera app like the always fun and functional, panaroma shot for taking sweeping pictures of landscapes or events. A few video features have also been added like continuous focus, taking video snapshots and even the ability to zoom while recording. Gallery Editing photos has never been easier or looked better thanks to the all new and improved Gallery app. First off, gone is the 3D Gallery app and it’s been replaced with Android’s “magazine UI” featuring big, eye-popping thumbnails and displaying information like friend tags. Also built into the app is some light photo editing tools, giving users access to various “hipster filters” and immediate posting to social sites. Contacts/Dialer If there was one area I was always embarassed of Android — it was the contacts/dialer. Thankfully, the contacts or “People” app has finally seen a dramatic facelift. The all new People app features the same gestures found in the rest of the Android OS which the ability to swipe left or right to get to dialer, or call logs. My favorite part? The addition of high resolution photos for your contacts. No more blurry pictures of your friends and family when they call you. Google is really attempting to make the contacts application more than just a quick dialer. They’re calling it a “live window into your social life” thanks to social updates and “quick contacts.” Oh yeah — and they’ve also gone ahead and included visual voicemail in the call log “where it should be.” Also added was the ability to reject an incoming call with a text message and swiping gestures for accepting or rejecting a call. The Rest YouTube, Maps, Google+ and Music was also mentioned as receiving overhauls but weren’t shown on stage. As far as Android Ice Cream Sandwich’s all new revamped UI and system features, don’t forget to check out our overview of all that good stuff here. As you can see, Google has done a great job at completely overhauling the UI and how we as Android users will, moving forward, interact with the OS. It’s a more unified experience and something Android has been desperately needing for a long time now. How do you guys like all the new additions?

To: Zen Dollar Round who wrote (11179)	10/19/2011 7:15:34 AM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 32692

OH MY!!! - "Ice Cream Sandwich propel the OS light years ahead of it’s predecessors and competition thanks to an all new overhauled UI implemented throughout the entire Android OS" Message 27711150

To: Zen Dollar Round who wrote (11179)	10/19/2011 7:20:48 AM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 32692

iPhone sales fell in Q3, Apple may lose the No.1 smartphone maker spot to Samsung or even Nokia iPhone sales fell in Q3, Apple may lose the No.1 smartphone maker spot to Samsung or even Nokia By Vlad Bobleanta on 18 Oct 11 unwiredview.com Apple has reported its financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter of this year (which is the actual third quarter in the calendar – and that’s how we’ll refer to it from now on). These results are a mixed bag, since the numbers are mostly up (and by a lot) compared to the same quarter last year, but things are worse than they’ve been the previous quarter. Although there’s a big caveat there. So let’s dig in. The company posted quarterly revenue of $28.27 billion and net profit of $6.62 billion. Compared to the year-ago results of $20.34 billion and $4.31 billion respectively, that’s a 38% bump in revenue and a 53% jump in net profit. However, compared to the previous quarter (which would be Q2 in the calendar, but Apple’s fiscal Q3), things aren’t as bright. Revenue is down by 1%, and net profit is 10% lower. It’s basically the same story when we look at iPhone sales numbers. Solid growth compared to last year, a slowdown compared to last quarter. Apple sold 17.07 million iPhones this quarter, which is 21% more than last year, but it’s also 19% less than last quarter. iPads have been doing better. Apple sold 11.12 million of them this quarter, which is 166% more than last year, and 20% more than last quarter. The iPod is slowly being replaced in people’s purchasing decisions by iPhones or iPads, that seems pretty clear. Apple sold 6.62 million iPods this quarter, which is 27% less than last year. iOS units sold this quarter were approximately 31.5 million, according to Horace Dediu‘s estimates, which is almost 5% less than last quarter. That number is heavily influenced by the poor iPhone (and possibly iPod touch) sales, since, as mentioned before, iPad sales are basically growing like crazy quarter after quarter. In fact, Apple has sold 40 million iPads so far. Apple sees the tablet market becoming larger than the PC market in the future, and that’s certainly a possibility, though probably not a very near-term one. Regarding the iPhone’s performance, it has to be said that during this quarter, almost everyone was anxiously waiting for the next iPhone. That didn’t come in the third quarter, so its sales aren’t included in these numbers. And naturally sales of the previous model started to decrease when the iPhone 4S announcement came near. And Apple says that the reduction in iPhone sales came near the end of the quarter, when speculation about the new model reached a new high. However, because of this sluggish iPhone performance, an interesting thing may happen. Apple’s crown of being the No.1 smartphone manufacturer in the world will probably only last one quarter. Apple has held that crown last quarter, but in this one it’s almost sure to lose it to Samsung, unless the Korean company posts some seriously bad results (which it almost certainly won’t). Interesting is also the fact that even Nokia may once again be in front of Apple. All it takes for that to happen is the Finnish company selling 400,000 more smartphones than last quarter. And with its new device launches over the past few months, who knows, perhaps it’s going to surprise us. As for the future, Apple naturally expects its next quarter (the fourth of 2011 in the calendar, but the company’s first 2012 quarter) to break records. That’s entirely possible, seeing as how the iPhone 4S has already broken a ‘ sales in the first weekend‘ record. Add to that the fact that there will also be a holiday shopping frenzy, and over the holidays, gadgets have become very popular gifts, and this perspective starts to make sense. The company expects its revenue to be $37 billion in the next quarter, which would be 30% more than in this quarter.

To: Zen Dollar Round who wrote (11179)	10/19/2011 7:30:49 AM
From: sylvester80	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32692

Intel Gains While Apple Tumbles.... LMFAO.... too funny.... news.businessweek.com