Isaiah's Tech

If you remember a couple of weeks ago, Mozilla renamed their mobile browser, Fennec, to Firefox. Well, around that time, Fennec was available but in a barely usable state. Now, Firefox Mobile has just hit Beta 1 but is actually only available for Nokia's internet tablet PC, the N810. It has add-on support already and actually comes with a couple of extensions, which is a nice bonus. Unfortunately, no mobile phones can even use this browser, but it shouldn't be too long before Mozilla has a working version for handsets. Maybe Mozilla is focusing too much on this mobile browser, hence why we won't see Firefox 3.5 until June.

[Gizmodo, Tilt Mobility]

Sony looks like they'll be expanding their Bravia HDTV lineup. Starting with the W-Series which includes the 52, 46 and 40-inch models. These will have "easy access to Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Sony Pictures content, etc." These TVs are Internet-connected and will have Sony's MotionFlow 120Hz technology to get rid of blurriness. The W-Series HDTVs all have an Ethernet jack and will have "Yahoo!-powered widgets engine." It will also come with 4 HDMI inputs. No word on the pricing, but it should be available later this Spring.

Ahh, the MSI GT725 17-inch gaming laptop. Specifically, the first laptop sporting ATI's 512MB Radeon HD4850 GPU. It also comes with: a WUXGA display, which is anti-glare, a 320GB SATA hard drive, a Blu-ray optical drive, up to 4GB of RAM, a whopping 9-cell battery and an integrated 2MP webcam. "There's also an ExpressCard slot, four standard speakers plus a 'subwoofer' and a Turbo Drive Engine to make overclocking a lesson in simplicity." The laptop ways weighs 7 pounds and is claiming to be MSI's new "flagship" laptop. Engadget points out that this is understandable when you re-read that awesome spec sheet. No word on price or availability, but i can confirm it's sexiness.

iGoogle, Google's start page that rarely anyone uses, got a new feature. Sidebar chat. It is extremely similar to Gmail's chat feature. I don't really know who uses iGoogle, but i used to use it. But after i found Google Reader, i didn't really think i had any uses for it anymore. I can tell you that my Google Latitude is finally working today. =). You can all stalk me now.

Hmm, a bit more MSI news today. They will be releasing 3 new limited edition laptops in Japan. The PX600, PR201, EX620. Let's start things out with the PX600 Prestige Collection. First off, it does not have a price and they will only produce 30 units of this, so if you really want it, it probably already ran out. It has a 15.4-inch screen, a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo P8600 processor, GeForce 9300M GS graphics, 4GB of RAM, and "an equally stylish 4GB USB drive." Up next is the PR201. It will have a 12.1-inch screen, different colours (pink, green, blue), 2GHz Core 2 Duo T4200 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 320GB HDD. The MSI PR201 will go for ¥88,000 ($900 USD). Last, but not least, is the EX620. It will have the ATI Radeon HD3470 graphics card. It will be accompanied with a Blu-ray burner and "among other fairly standard specs." The MSI EX620 will be going for ¥130,000 ($1,340 USD).

Sony Bravia W-Series (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/02/sony-expands-connected-bravia-hdtv-line-with-new-w-series/
MSI GT725 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/02/msi-details-well-specced-gt725-17-inch-gaming-laptop/
iGoogle Gets Sidebar Chat: http://lifehacker.com/5163322/igoogle-adds-sidebar-chat-works-just-like-gmail
MSI Brings 3 New Limited Edition Laptops To Japan (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/03/msi-debuts-three-new-limited-edition-laptops-for-japan/

Earlier today, i mentioned the 12MP Samsung cameraphones that may be weeks away from being announced (here). Well, that's not the only news that Samsung is stirring up. Apparently, there is also a rumour of a new Samsung Omnia. It will have the same features as the 8GB Omnia, but it will instead have 16GB's of internal memory. I don't know why Samsung would do this, since the UI is pretty non-responsive. My friend got one for Christmas and it was kind of annoying to use. I only used it for a couple of minutes though, so i couldn't exactly do a thorough review. Yesterday, my friend Yang, finally got his Samsung INNOV8 for only $580 CAD. I thought that was a bit of a steal. Anyways, the phone is a bit bigger than my phone (Nokia N81) but it obviously packs a heck of a lot more features inside, such as having 8GB of internal memory and a 5.0MP camera. I didn't get to play around with the phone too much, since it was so new and i didn't really want to break it or anything. Hopefully, i'll be able to take some pictures and record some video with it, to see exactly how it is. I noticed that it's running a modified Symbian S60 OS though. I noticed this because it's the same OS as my phone. He told me that he uses Opera Mini for his browsing and that it doesn't save his passwords. He also mentioned that the browser is really fast. More on the INNOV8 when i get a chance to hold it some more. It's only missing a touchscreen.

If you're waiting for the Killzone 2 demo date, it will be on February 5. There will only be one demo, with the exception of Japan, of course. They will be receiving 2 demos. I don't know if the 2 demos will be released on the same day though.

The TV and the PC continue to bump heads. It was mentioned at CES 09 that the distinct line between TV and PC will disintegrate in the upcoming years. Silicon Mountain just pushed out it's first LCD TV-PC, the Allio. The Allio will have 2 models: a 1080p 42-inch and a 720p 32-inch model going for retail prices of $1,599 USD and $1,299 USD, respectively. Both models will have the same internal hardware. A dual-core Atom 330 processor, a 250GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, a DVD drive and it will run on Windows Vista Home Premium. Engadget also mentions that there is "no Blu-ray option, it seems." Interesting. No? Tell me in the comments if you like that the TV and the PC are coming together as one.

Rambus has been getting into a bit of trouble lately, but if we push that aside, they may have something interesting to mention. They are calling it the Mobile Memory Initiative, "a 4.3Gbps phone-oriented variant of the XDR RAM used in the PS3 that requires just 100mV of power. That means companies can either build super-powerful phones that take advantage of a complete MMI system's estimated 17GBps throughput, or build cheaper devices that offer performance equivalent to today's memory with fewer MMI parts." A long quote, but it is very informative. Basically, the message is: super-powerful phones can be made by utilizing MMI. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until early 2010 for the first products.

What a delightful introduction to this article on ZDNet. "The reign of IE is coming to an end." I love that line. Internet Explorer's market share has dropped 7% over the last year. This is because those users still using IE6 are dumping that browser for newer browsers, such as Firefox, Safari or Chrome. This is really interesting because 20% of people cruising the Internet are still doing so using IE6. Those people must be out of their mind, in my opinion. If you enlarge the chart you will notice that IE's market share is on a steady pace downwards, while Firefox, Safari and Chrome continue to gain market share. Firefox is projected to grow at least 4% from March 2008 - 2009, Safari should gain about 3% from March 2008 - 2009 and hopefully Chrome can stay above the 1% mark by March. I hope that Chrome releases their extensions / themes soon because they should start to make their move now, while users are trying to make the switch from IE6 to a better browser.

Samsung Rumours (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/02/16gb-samsung-omnia-shows-itself-other-samsung-rumors-surface/
Killzone 2 Demo: http://ps3.qj.net/Killzone-2-demo-coming-February-5/pg/49/aid/128589
Silicon Mountain's Atom-based Allio LCD TV-PC (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/02/silicon-mountain-debuts-atom-based-allio-lite-lcd-tv-pc/
Rambus' 4.3Gbps Mobile Memory: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/02/rambus-introduces-4-3gbps-mobile-memory/
Internet Explorer Losing Users (and chart): http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=1116

You have to love Google and i have more from them today.

If you use Gmail, like me, you are in luck. Today, Gmail Labs gave Gmail a new feature. It allows you to use your Gmail even if you are not connected to the Internet, Offline Gmail. How this works is beyond my knowledge. Even after watching a video on it, i still never entirely understood. Anyways, you will be able to use almost all of Gmail's features even if you are not connected to the Internet, thanks to Google Gears. "Composing emails in offline mode puts them in your outbox, and those emails are automatically sent once you're back online." This will really be useful to those Blackberry users or people on-the-go. I think it will affect more American users than Canadian users, but it's still useful, nonetheless. I think that Americans have a faster-paced lifestyle than us, in Canada. For me, the ability to use Offline Gmail is still not an option in my Labs menu, so i still have to wait for that.

Just when you thought Google owned the search engine category, they still managed to increase in 2008. From all of the search queries in 2008, Google's market share increased from 58.5% to 63.5%. As you can see from the chart, Google is the purple line, which steadily increases. The other 3 lines are other 3 search engines and it looks like their lines just go straight through the graph, with no increase. "What's even more impressive is that nearly 90 percent of all the growth in search volume was also captured by Google." This is world domination at its finest.

Yet, another chart. This one also shows Google's dominance, but this time in the browser department. The smaller the bar, the faster it is, in this case. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox were the 2 kings in this test. Internet Explorer, obviously, came in last place here. Opera 10 Alpha was oh-so-close to snagging that last place slot, but they just edged out Internet Explorer RC 1. Kudos to my 2 favourite browsers, Chrome and Firefox, for dusting those other 2 browsers.

Google is fighting for Net Neutrality and they are going to "give users the tools to figure out whether internet service providers are interfering with their broadband connections by blocking or 'throttling' certain applications." Google partnered up with the New America Foundation and Planet Labs to "further develop Measurement Labs, an open-source platform that researchers can use to find out information about broadband connections." Google looks like it is really backing up Net Neutrality and it is a good thing. "One of the tools Google plans to provide users on its M-Lab site is called DiffProbe. It will help users detect whether an internet service provider is giving some traffic a lower priority than other traffic." The more information the user has, the more control they have. This article on TechCrunch was very well-written, that's why i pulled so many quotes from it.

I'm about to show you a video of Google's highlights throughout the years. It goes through pretty much everything Google has done for the first 10 years and it really is amazing. It is also a well put-together video. Here it is, via YouTube.



Offline Gmail (and picture): http://lifehacker.com/5140668/gmail-goes-offline-with-google-gears
Google's Search Growth (and chart): http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/28/google-gobbled-up-90-percent-of-all-us-search-growth-in-2008/
Google Chrome's Speed (and chart): http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10151584-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
Measurement Labs: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/28/google-introduces-a-new-weapon-in-the-fight-for-net-neutrality-measurement-labs/
10 Years of Google (and video): http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/01/ten-years-of-google-video.html

So, the first 'official' review came out for Killzone 2. The Official Playstation Magazine has stated that it liked the game, a lot. They gave it a 5 stars out of 5 and even mentioned that it is a "powerful contender for the best game of 2009." This is pretty good news and i just hope that the magazine isn't being biased, since it is the Official Playstation Magazine and this game should be the game to go after in 2009, for Playstation 3 owners. I hope this game is all it's hyped up to be, even if i don't have a Playstation 3 by the time this comes out, which is very likely. Hopefully, we'll see more review's from other sites and magazines soon, since we can't base our whole point of view of the game on just one review, from the Playstation Magazine.

There is new rumour that says that the Blackberry Curve 8900 is going to come out a week earlier than scheduled. It is now reported to be releasing on T-Mobile on February 11. Unlike the [good-looking but terrible] Blackberry Storm, the Blackberry Curve 8900 will have Wi-Fi. The camera is also pretty decent at 3.2 megapixels. The release date for Canada is currently unavailable, but hopefully it'll be around the same date as when the US gets it. The Blackberry Bold is quite popular in Canada, so i wonder if this Curve will top the popularity of the Bold.

After my last blog post, i went to Wal-Mart and the mall near my place, Bramalea City Centre, with my mother. At Wal-Mart we got more Ferrero Rocher and i got myself some more sliced pineapples. Thanks to my girlfriend, who actually introduced me to such a good tasting fruit. Anyways, after Wal-Mart we went to the mall. I got hangers, for my clothes, and my mom sent some package to the Philippines or something, i think it was money. So, on our way home, i plugged my iPod into the radio in the car. I played "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith and we both sang the whole thing all the way home. And no, i do not listen to Aerosmith all the time, so do not ask why that's on my iPod. Anyways, we got home and as i was eating a Rogers Internet commercial came up. It's the commercial where one guy is on the computer and his friend is over his shoulder watching what he does. The friend on the computer shows the other friend a video, and what do you know, it starts buffering. The friend watching asks if he has Rogers and he says, "No, but look how fast it's going." When clearly, it is buffering and being utterly slow. The guy watching says, "You should get Rogers High-Speed Internet because it's the fastest." This is where my mom commented and said, "That's not true." I asked her, why she though that and she said because when she clicks on Chikka (some texting program) it takes forever to show up on her computer. I laughed and asked, "Do you mean when you click on the icon on your desktop, it takes forever to pop up." And she said, "Yeah, it takes forever because the Internet is so slow." I laughed really hard and explained to her that, her opening an icon on her desktop has nothing to do with the Internet. The reason that it took forever to pop up was because her computer is 9 years old now and running Windows 2000. She told me that she's going to get a new one and i told her to just wait until the new AMD's come out with Windows 7, since it will be a significant upgrade. If she gets a new computer, i know that, that's coming to me and i'm just going to give her this one that i'm using now. If i get a new desktop, i'll be ready for Starcraft 2 easily. Anyways, i just though i'd like to share that amusing story with you all. Time for me to play Hot Shots Golf Fore until i sleep. Have a good night everyone.

Killzone 2 Review (and picture): http://kotaku.com/5123687/the-first-killzone-2-review-is-in
Blackberry Curve 8900 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/05/t-mobiles-blackberry-curve-8900-seemingly-pegged-for-february-1/