I don’t even understand the point of this. Just don’t even bother announcing it until you’re ready to let the world at it.

Seriously, stop it.

I don’t usually post about applications, but Boid for Android is a beautiful Holo-themed Twitter application. When I found out that it’s built by a group of seventeen year olds, I was even more impressed. It doesn’t have push notifications yet, but that’s all it needs to be perfect (and they’re coming in the next release). These guys seriously know what they’re doing.

Having switched from iOS to Android in April, if there’s one remark I have about the platform is there really aren’t that many great applications for it. If it’s not buggy and slow, you can be sure as hell that it’ll be ugly. It’s nice to find something that defies both of those from time to time.

Lets just hope that Twitter doesn’t stop things like this from happening.

If you still didn’t think Samsung doesn’t know how to create their own ideas, just a look at their new “S Dock” for Windows 8 should set off alarm bells. They’re either douchebags who just copy others’ ideas in the hope of getting away with it, or, they don’t understand the meaning of “innovation.”

I don’t understand how we have these great products in the market that synchronize and do everything ‘magically’ in the cloud, yet they don’t even talk to each other properly yet. I still can’t read my Twitter notifications on the internet and then not have to read them a second time on my phone and I still can’t read and reply to text messages from my computer, nor can I receive calls using it.

For a long time, I’ve been wishing my phone and my PC could talk to each other a bit better, but it still hasn’t really happened. When Windows 8 was announced, that hope was renewed in a slightly different way. Leaks talked about support for missed calls and SMS support. This got me imagining a world where I could use my phone and tablet interchangeably, never having to double up.

A tablet seems like a natural extension for my phone. When I’ve got it with me, and I’m actively using it, it...

Great piece by Alex over at The Next Web on what the Windows 8 tablet form factor is shaping up to be. It seems like Microsoft’s specifications politely suggest OEM’s should include a easily disconnected keyboard, and at a guess, that it should fold around and protect the screen when not in use. So far, every single manufacturer that’s unveiled a tablet provides a screen with the device.

What’s more interesting, is that this essentially binds Microsoft’s position that their tablet OS be a landscape-only affair. Metro applications – so far – don’t seem to offer a different layout for when the tablet is rotated into portrait, very similarly to the experience in Windows Phone. It’s not a bad move necessarily, just a by-product of a OS that scrolls across rather than down.

There’s something about a photo. It holds a thousand memories. A moment that we couldn’t possibly recreate in our minds as accurately. It reminds us of how happy we once were.

Except… maybe we’re all lying to ourselves. This past weekend, I spent most of my time curiously observing people taking photos of each other smiling. It’s odd, isn’t it? As soon as we point a lens at someone, smiles come out.

Why is that? I am definitely not ‘happy’ every time a camera is pointed at me. Do we do it to try and remember those moments as happy? Perhaps to tell our kids about all of the amazing times we had? Maybe we are trying to convince ourselves that we’re having so much fun by taking lots of photos? Or, even worse, are we trying to convince others (on the internet) that we’re having fun?

Perhaps it’s all of the above. It’s not always been this way. I stumbled upon a fascinating set of...

Microsoft finally has all their eggs in one basket, and when presented like this, it looks impressive. It’s nice to see them using one graphics department.

This is my work PC after around two weeks of using the Windows 8 release full time. Metro requires a lot of maintenance, since every application you install is thrown there by default now. I know it can look pretty, but I don’t want to spend hours maintaining it.

It’s tiring, and to be honest, I really don’t care enough, so just avoid it. My PC should be smart, and not require me to do tons of manual work to tidy up all the time. It’s a usability disaster.

I echo the thoughts of Jared Erondu, it’s a great step forward, but why exactly is Microsoft scared of dropping the text altogether?

Simplicity is Microsoft’s new thing, it’s time to embrace it fully.

Update: Since this post went live, someone posted a set of other company’s logos in the new Microsoft style. It’s worth a look… it actually works quite well.

Further to my post earlier today, I got thinking about how much of a shift the mobile space is going through right now, then I read this post about how Todd of TechnoBuffalo doesn’t want the next iPhone. At first, I expected it to be another anti-Apple rage about how the next iPhone isn’t really revolutionary, but it’s not. And he’s right.

Despite what many think, Android and Windows Phone aren’t playing catch up anymore in the mobile space. They’re stable enough, and have gained enough mind-share that they are operating in their own spaces now, like Apple does.

Everyone’s playing their own game

Android is innovating in it’s own way, bringing some pretty incredible cutting-edge technology to the world, even if it’s not quite done yet. It’s had NFC for well over a year, and for some reason some handsets feature barometers right now, a technology I’m not really sure we need, but I’m...