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Re:Android Becomes Top Mobile OS In The US on Wednesday August 04, 2010 @09:01PM (#1576742)
"I think you are misreading what the "writing on the wall" is..."

iOS is still the winning team at the moment, not Android, in terms of total devices out in the wild and more importantly to developers, app sales. I wonder how much more money the App Store has made since, say, January 1st, 2010 than the Android Marketplace...

"I would not at all debate that the overall app ecosystem on the iPhone is superior to Android, largely owing to its early lead, yet the gap is rapidly narrowing. Very rapidly."

Is it? The gap in total number of apps might be narrowing, but I don't see the quality gap getting any closer.

As to "Dropzone" (I assume you mean Dropbox?) allowing local saving, yes, it does. But it saves the files to the SD card, and opening the same file in Dropbox isn't any faster than downloading it for the first time. On the iPhone, after the initial download, the file opens noticeably faster.

You can call the Android Twitter client whatever you'd like, but the UI is not (in my opinion) nearly on the same level as Twitter or Twitterrific or numerous other iOS twitter apps, and scrolling is still janky as ever (much like scrolling in the rest of Android).

RealCalc is fine, and spinner or not is a personal preference. But show me an app for Android that has the kind of attention to detail as described here: http://tapbots.com/blog/design/designing-convertbot

Mail in Android 2.2 is not superb, and not as responsive as Mail for iOS. Plus, the UI for Mail in Android makes my eyes burn. Gmail for Android is wonderful, but I find Mail for iOS just as good for use with Gmail.

Yes, there are hundreds of note taking apps for Android, but most are ugly and don't sync. Plus I'm not a big fan of the apps that do sync (AK Notepad and 3Banana), as I don't like the style of note taking encouraged by snaptic.com.

The calendar app for Android is alright, but it misses the little things. In Calendar for iOS, when I move to say February 2011 and go to create a new event, it intelligently knows that the date of the new event is likely in February 2011. Try this in Android's calendar app...

2.2 is nice, but it's very telling that most people immediately go and download LauncherPro to replace the jerky scrolling found in the default launcher. And 2.2 still doesn't reach the level of responsiveness found in iOS4 while using the iPhone 4. And yes, games on Android are pathetic, nothing more to say on that front. It may sound like I hate Android, but I actually think it's pretty decent. I did enjoy my time with the Nexus One. But it reminds me heavily of the differences between Windows and OS X; Windows is functional but not enjoyable, OS X is both.

Re:Android Becomes Top Mobile OS In The US on Wednesday August 04, 2010 @03:56PM (#1575660)
"Seeing the writing on the wall..."

Really? Is this what it has come to? I bought an iPhone 3G on day one, used it until the Nexus One came out, and have recently gone back to iOS and bought an iPhone 4.

Why? Because in my opinion, the quality of the apps I use on a daily basis are simply superior on iOS as compared to Android, whether the iPhone has 1% or 99% of the smartphone market. I'll repeat that again: the quality of the iPhone and iOS4 remains the same regardless of its market share!

I love Android's openness, and I even use Google Voice as my sole telephone number (yes, even with my iPhone 4). Wasn't enough; couldn't take the glitchiness, even in Android 2.2, and other annoying features of Android.

Because I know someone will yell "provide examples," here are some superior iOS apps that have no rival on Android: Reeder for iPhone (NewsRob is okay...), Twitter (Twitter for Android is okay...), Instapaper, Simplenote (there are glitchy apps that use the Simplenote API on Android), Dropbox (can't save for local access on Android), Pastebot, Calcbot, Convertbot (all are great examples of apps that are possible on Android, but have no where near the attention to detail), BeejiveIM, Calendar (yes I know Android has a calendar app, but it's weak), Mail (for all non-Gmail accounts, Android sucks, and for Gmail accounts, I find iOS4 to be equal to Android's stock Gmail app), etc. Oh, and I forgot to include all of the games that Android lacks, but I don't really play games so I didn't miss them with my Nexus One.

Point is, not everything is zero-sum; I can enjoy my iPhone regardless of how small or large its market share is! Can't we all just get along?

Re:Notetaking as a way to stay smart on Saturday July 31, 2010 @10:37AM (#1563764)
Or, store your .txt files in Dropbox and sync with Simplenote. Double the backup / accessibility :)
I imagine steve19 is saying it should be easier to move iPads than Mac computers. People already have computers in the traditional sense and are generally happy with them; there isn't a pressing need to upgrade more than every few years. In contrast with this is the iPad, a brand new product that people can purchase on an impulse (due to its lower-than-a-computer price) and show off to friends.
Re:What, Me Exercise?: The Hacker Exercise Regime on Tuesday June 22, 2010 @09:11PM (#1453782)
Coffee contains caffeine (unless you get decaf), which is a stimulant. Stimulants increase your metabolism and therefore enhance weight loss.

This all assumes pure coffee, no sugar or other additives. Other than this, I agree with everything else you said :) I decided to nitpick your statement because caffeine is actually a useful dietary aid in losing weight, and can even reduce appetite in addition to increasing basal metabolic rate!

Re:The Bitter Truth About Sugar on Sunday June 20, 2010 @07:15PM (#1447394)
There are different types of sugars. High fructose corn syrup is usually either 55% fructose and 45% glucose, or 42% fructose and 58% glucose.

Honey is about 40% fructose, 30% glucose, along with sucrose and maltose. It's also known to have antimicrobial and antioxidant effects.

Equating high fructose corn syrup with honey is a major oversimplification.

Re:AT&T Gives Up on the iPad 3G Unlimited Data Plan on Wednesday June 02, 2010 @02:03PM (#1398797)
I don't understand why you are being downvoted. You didn't say you liked that the new plans offer very low data / dollar or that you have to pay more to tether (despite the fact that we are now being charged per bucket), you simply stated (correctly) that there is no such thing as "unlimited." More companies ought to outright state the limits to their plans / services (e.g., Gmail and its exact storage amount versus Yahoo Mail and its "unlimited storage").
Re:Microsoft to invest $150 million in Apple (1997) on Wednesday May 26, 2010 @09:07PM (#1382352)
The question is what does it mean to be an underdog? Yes, Apple is an underdog against Microsoft in terms of market share, but few would make the argument that Apple is an underdog against Microsoft in terms of creating a quality OS.

Apple simply has different goals than Microsoft. Apple sells low volume and high margins, Microsoft sells high volume and low margins.

All this underdog talk is bunk.

Re:Apple Should Acquire Dropbox on Wednesday May 26, 2010 @09:03PM (#1382339)
it'd probably require a USB cord to sync too ;)
Re:Google is leapfrogging Apple on Saturday May 22, 2010 @01:00PM (#1370623)
Smart Keyboard Pro: text expansion, custom dictionaries, custom skins, and more. I'm not the developer even if I sound like a walking advertisement, I just love the app that much.
Re:Google launches Google TV on Thursday May 20, 2010 @10:13PM (#1366150)
You must be with the U.S. Department of Education...
Re:College for all? Experts say not necessarily on Saturday May 15, 2010 @12:31AM (#1349354)
"I believe that apprentices could start practicing medicine and law much earlier in their careers and learn the facts they need along the way."

As a medical student that just today finished his first year, I take a little offense to that ;) Namely, there are already fields for exactly what you describe: nurse practitioners, and to a lesser extent, physician assistants. They are taught general patterns of a small set of diseases, and can only diagnose that small set of diseases that specifically follow the course (i.e., pattern) that they were taught.

After a year of schooling, I am nowhere near ready to practice internal medicine or family medicine, let alone specialty fields. I can spot your garden variety shingles, ear infection, etc., but anything more requires experience - and knowledge - that I do not yet possess (even after a year of grueling studying!).

Re:Mac SteamPowered Client (dmg) on Wednesday May 12, 2010 @05:28PM (#1342326)
Isn't the switching over to discrete graphics a good thing? Who plays games on their computer "on-the-go?" Wouldn't you want the better performance?
Until it runs out of glycogen and turns to beta-oxidation...

On the plus side, you'll be really sensitive to insulin when you do get some carbs into your system again :) And hey, I just read an article that said lowering insulin levels is the key to the longevity gains resulting from caloric restriction.

Re:New Core i5/i7 MacBook Pros released on Tuesday April 13, 2010 @09:24PM (#1263872)
Not to be snarky, but, we know :)

"We chose killer graphics plus 10 hour battery life over a very small CPU speed increase. Users will see far more performance boost from the speedy graphics" (Steve Jobs).

Re:Google – you can change the game, damn it on Thursday April 08, 2010 @04:25PM (#1250784)
I was actually thinking the same...