Prakash Advani's Blog

Looks like HP is going to kill webOS. HP webOS as a part of the Palm acquisition. I sometimes wonder why did HP acquire Palm in the first place?  anyways,  webOS is the new operating system which Palm decided to ditch their OS kernel use Linux as their kernel as Linux has mult-tasking. Since webOS is already based on Linux, they should open source the layer on top. How will this help?

It will make webOS live, there are thousands of applications for the Palm platform which will continue to have moment. Open Source developers can continue maintaining webOS without any cost to HP.

It will give the market a new alternative to Android, where there isn’t really much options today for phone makers. iOS is by Apple only, Symbian isn’t going anywhere and Windows Mobile is a non-starter.

If it gains Momentum, HP could start offering it to their customers. If not people could at-least use the good bits for their applications.

KhanAcademy a non profit offers free courses in every possible subject right from Biology to Maths. I found it very interesting. The best part is the content is all under creative commons, free to use and share. Even Bill Gates is endorsing it!

Have a look: KhanAcademy.org

Nice video created by Linux Foundation to celebrate 20 years of Linux.

20 Years of Linux

After KDE announced that they will support Wayland in 2012, Google Crome browser will also support Wayland, which means you could run Google Crome directly on Wayland without X? Sounds like fun.

2012 looks exciting if the world doesn’t come to an end

Image by Linux Foundation

Motorola has updated the Defy with Defy + which is scheduled to launch in September.

Most of the specs remain the same of the earlier one like Gorilla Glass a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash. The size and dimensions also remain the same with 3.7″ screen. Like the Defy, the Defy + is also waterproof, dust proof and scratch proof.

The processor has been upgraded to 1 GHz, a larger 1750 mAh battery and android has been updated to 2.3.3. This should improve the performance and user experience.

Still no front facing camera and HD video recording.

Google has acquired Motorola Mobility essentially for its 24,500 patents.

Google has been bogged down by patent hoarding companies which have put pressure on Android as a platform. They decided instead of focusing on innovating, they would focus on building a patent portfolio.

Google had no choice to pay for patents,else they would end up losing the wonderful Android platform that they built because of patent wars.

What Google in going to do next is anyones guess.

Strip Motorola Mobility of its patents and software talents and sell of the hardware seems like a logical one.

If google decides to continue selling hardware, they would compete with other companies in the Android eco-system such as Samsung and HTC.

However what they would be able to do is tightly integrate hardware and software like Apple does.

The least I expect is to have the latest Android available for Motorola phones.So if you have a Motorola phone, have fun!

I have been using the Kindle for a few months now, here is brief review.

• Its very easy to use thanks to the e-ink technology which doesn’t emit light and feels just like paper.
• Very good if you like to read a lot.
• With 3GB of space, you can carry 1000′s books in a light form factor. Very good if you travel a lot or are moving residence, you can carry all your book collection with you when you move.
• Can play music. It plays MP3, but you can’t select or browser. You can only hit the play button and it plays in a sequence.
• Has Wi-Fi support and 3G as an option.
• The 3G version allows you to use unlimited browsing anywhere in the world without any subscription or data plan. However you can’t use it for anything else such as email.
• Works with Ubuntu, shows up as a drive and you can drag and drop files.
• Uses standard Micro-USB chargers used by many phones today.
• Its environment friendly as it replaces paper.
• You can purchase any book, newspaper in a few seconds and they automatically get delivered to your kindle.
• You can increase font size so it makes it easy to read.
• You can add bookmarks and notes to your books.
• The 6 inch size is quite handy, light weight and easy to manage.
• Battery life in days (claimed 1 month) and not hours.
• Lots of free e-books can be read easily.

Olympus E-P3, the third generation of Micro four-third camera is now available.This is a perfect camera for someone who wants a professional camera in a compact body.

Whats nice:

• Built in Flash
• Fastest auto focus
• Built-in auto focus illuminator light
• 12 Megapixel
• Touch sensitive LCD. What would be better if they had a varied angle LCD like the Panasonic G3 which can be swivel screen.
• Full HD 1080i60 movies in AVCHD format
• In-body image stabilisation.
• USB 2.0 (have yet to see cameras with USB 3.0)

During my interview with Hindu Business Line, they also took a video about Ubuntu.

Congratulations Apple users, you are soon going to have 11 new features which Android users already enjoy

Many Apple fanboys find Android a copy of the Apple.. now its Apple who is copying from Android. Apple iOS5 has copied 11 features from the Android platform which will show up in iPad2 and iPhone 5.

Here is the list:

• Notification Bar
• Cloud Synchronization
• Wireless Syncing
• Tabbed browsing
• Voice Control
• Split Keyboard:
• Real time messaging
• Over-the-Air Updates
• Twitter updates
• Multitasking
• Widgets

Read the complete article.