Apparently when Palm announced that it had surpassed the 5000 app mark back in September it was fibbing a little, The count included not only webOS App store it also included beta application catalogs and homebrew repos. With the “Number of Apps in my Market Wars” an ongoing feud between Apple’s App Store (Over 300,000) and Google’s Android Market (Over 100,000) and the recent entry of Windows Phone 7, which in less than 3 months it has grown to somewhere close to 5,000. Ironically it has taken close to a year for Palm’s webOS to reach this small number, It seems that webOS & Blackberry’s App World are having similar problems getting developers on board…
In 3 minutes Google takes us on a awesome trip around the internet and the world during 2010! Touching on important issues, pop culture trends, technology advances, those we have lost and new groups we have come to love. Using a very clever mix of Google technology its an awesome, fun and riveting way to see what the world searched for during 2010. The video highlights Google Instant search, Google Talk Calling, Google Earth and much more making this not only a wonderful piece of entertainment but also a VERY clever technology showcase.
A few months ago YouTube upped the video time limit from 10 minutes to 15 in a move that made many YouTubers happy. It looks like the change has been spurred by the likes of Hulu and Netflix getting first run tv shows according to the New York Times. Read more…
The Dose Network is looking for writers and we want you! We have 3 sites, TheMobileDose.com, AndroidDose.com andTheTechDose.com each with a specific area of interest and each site is looking for writers! Some articles will be featured on the other sites and TheDoseNetwork.com if the content fits for the other sites. For more information about The Dose Network check out our About Page
TheDoseNetwork is actively seeking freelance writers who can help us with day-time news coverage, app reviews, opinion pieces, and feature articles.
The ideal candidate will have some writing experience, but applicants with a strong subject knowledge who can display writing ability will be considered.
Applicant requirements:
Excellent research and writing skills
Comfortable writing posts WordPress
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To apply, please send us a short resume and a quick writing sample related to the site’s subject you most wish to write for. We would also like a bit about you and your experience with technology and the subject matter of site you wish to write for. Please email your “application” to apply info _a_t_ thedosenetwork.com with the subject “TheDoseNetwork Writer”
Discover Financial Services has over the last few years conducted consumer holiday shopping surveys to gauge interest in what is being purchased and spending habits. This year has proven to show some interesting results from what I read in their report. Some 38% of respondents said they would be spending less this year which is a 5% drop from last years 43%.
“Consumers are beginning to feel more confident, and hopefully, that should bring some holiday cheer to retailers,” said Dana Traci, vice president of rewards and product management from Discover. “We’re seeing stronger confidence in shopping, but consumers are still looking for great deals and continue to be mindful of their budgets.”
The trend continues where shoppers determine what brands they are shopping for this year as well, in 2009 57% of those surveyed said they would be shopping for cheaper brands as opposed to this years 31%. Thats a pretty significant drop but what that doesn’t tell you is that quite possibly there will be less money available to retailers and OEM’s, for instance if a consumer spent $2000 on gifts in 2009 and primarily shopped inexpensive brands they would have gotten more compared to spending $2000 in 2010 on the high end or more expensive brands meaning less total items being purchased even though the same amount of money is involved! Is this a good trend? I’m not going to speculate on that, just that its happening and could actually mean fewer purchases in the larger scheme of things. What really surprises me is the comparison of 2009 vs 2010 6% of those surveyed said they planned to re-gift items this year down from a whopping 17% last year! There was also a 12% drop in those that planned to wait until the last minute for deals down to 23% from 35%.
Now where actual purchase intentions and what consumers want shows some very interesting data in my opinion, When purchasers were considering smartphones 44% advised they were looking to purchase an iPhone, 42% an Android powered smartphone and third at 34% was Blackberry. Consumer Electronics topped peoples wish lists at 44% while only 32% of those surveyed said they would be purchasing them as gifts, what was tops for purchasers? You guessed it Apparel, I guess Aunt Louise is getting everyone scarves and socks again this year! Take a more in depth look at the data after the break. Read more…
Google made a proposal to the Apache Software Foundation a couple of weeks ago regarding taking over the Google Wave project and migrating the codebase from Google to the ASF. This is absolutely great news for Wave users and fans! As the original proposal from Google mentions there are some very large players in the Wave game notably the US Navy as a major user of Wave. I know I’m extremely happy with the renewed interest in Wave, I don’t think there could have been a better home for Wave outside of the Apache Software Foundation, who is famous for the worlds most widely used Web Server software (including this site and those of TheDoseNetwork.com) Read more…
Oracle vs. SAP was a short 11 day trial that cost SAP $1.3 Billion (Yes thats a B-BILLION). Its a landmark case in that its the largest amount ever awarded for Software piracy. In a statement before the trial SAP apparently admitted to infringing upon Oracle’s intellectual property when in 2005 it aquired TomorrowNow and used its assets to gain customers from Oracle. The argument wasn’t about if SAP had infringed they conceded that fact, the differences were where each company valued the losses of Oracle. SAP claimed it was in the neighborhood of $40 million where Oracle’s claim was much higher at $1.7 Billion, Apparently Oracle was more convincing… Read more…
Intel has started mass production of its Oak Trail Tablet PC platform. The platform is based on Intel’s tried and Atom processor line (the current Oak Trail spec sheet points to a Atom Z670 processor) combined with the SM35 Chipset. The package in OEM quantities is expected to sell for as little as $25 when shipping with MeeGo, Windows 7 will command a steeper price tag though no specifics were given. Read more…
While other major manufacturers have already shown us their foray into the 3D Notebook realm Acer has finally stepped up and shown us their first 3D notebook. Based on Nvidia’s 3d Vision technology the Acer AS5745DG-A54E/L uses active glasses unlike some others on the market that are using a passive technology. Along with the 3D technologies implanted in this 15.6inch Notebook the system sports an Intel Core i5-460M CPU @ 2.53GHZ, 4GB of RAM 640GB HDD HDMI Out and an Nvidia GeForce GT 425M GPU. Acer is hoping to have this in stores in early December for the Japanese market. Sorry all you mobile gamers looking to get your hands on one, no word yet on any possible stateside release.
LifeHacker’s Kevin Purdy recently posted a wonderful article about Google Voice and how to maximize its potential. A fair amount of people are using the Google Voice service since it broke out of private beta several months ago. It has become quite a mature and usable product (I use it as a business line without having to have a separate phone. It allows a ton of customization and even allows you to make and receive calls on that new number. In the article Kevin details the art and science of Google Voice showing you just how far you can hack it into submission and make it do your evil (or not so evil) bidding! From a simple alternate number, to call screening, voicemail transcription, quiet hours on your phone, its own special brand of voicemail and so much more… Read more…
