racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

Cloud-based computing made news when Google released its Chromebooks through Samsung and Acer. While it’s certainly novel to run all your applications from the cloud, you won’t be able to do much work when you’re offline. But Google’s latest features will make Gmail, Google Docs and Calendar users happy, with offline Gmail, Docs and Calendar functionality.

With these, Chrome OS and Chrome browser users can access emails, schedules and documents even without a working connection. The free Chrome plugin works via HTML5 to enable both online and offline functionality. The app actually delivers a similar user experience as with  the tablet/iPad version of Gmail and Docs, so tablet users will find this familiar.

In other news today …

Search Becomes More Social With +1 Integration

Google has earlier included +1 support in Search. But the big change of late is that the search giant will actually start using +1 data in its ranking algorithm. This gives more value to Google+ shares and website +1 buttons.

Amazon is Getting Ready to Release Tablets

Amazon reportedly has Android-powered tablets in the works. The retail giant will start shipping 7-inch tablets this October, primarily meant as higher-end ebook readers. Meanwhile, OEMs in China will start production of the 10.1-inch Amazon Android tablet starting first quarter of 2012.

Microsoft Windows Will Get Ribbons

MS Office users may have balked at the Ribbon interface introduced in Office 2007 onwards. But Microsoft is implementing the Ribbon in Windows Explorer when Windows 8 is released. This is in the aim of providing a better interface for both mouse- and touch-based computing.

Create PDFs From Your iPhone

Adobe has released a 10 dollar app that lets users create PDF files straight from mobile phones. No need for stellar processing power, since all the conversion is done in the cloud.

Google Warns of Security Breach

Are you paranoid about your online identity and security? Watch out for man-in-the-middle attacks, Google warns. A Dutch SSL certificate issuer has recently been breached, and attackers might pretend to be Gmail or any other Google app.

Are Patents Good or Bad?

This is a pressing question in today’s tech business environment rife with lawsuits. Independent BlackBerry developers are getting lawsuits for inclusion of in-app payment systems in their software. Google and Apple are helping out their respective third-party developers. Will RIM stand up for its developers, too? And the bigger question is this — are patents good or bad? Do they encourage or stifle innovation?

Check out more of my recent articles at CMS Wire and TFTS.

It’s an exciting time for social media and mobile users, as the tech world is seeing a lot of changes and upheavals.

Skype now on the iPad

Sure, Apple has FaceTime and iPad users can talk to iPhone, iPod and Mac users. But what if you want to chat and video conference with users of other platforms? Now you can, with Skype’s native iPad application.

Bit.ly Acquires Twitterfeed

Twitterfeed rose as a popular means to publish blog content to social mediums like Twitter and Facebook. The service has since gone low-profile, but with Bit.ly’s recent acquisition, users and businesses will benefit from real-time social media data brought about by the partnership.

Android Dominates Smartphone Market

It’s nothing new. Android has been on the rise for some time now. But latest figures show that the platform has taken almost 50% of the smartphone market as of 2Q 2011. Now, will Android finally overtake iPad in the near future?

Geo-Tag Your Mobile Videos & Share With Friends Online

iPhones have cameras, but social video company BitFlx makes video-taking more location- and time-relevant. The BitFlx application lets you see videos being taken nearby, which can be great for events, grassroots reporting, and simple video-sharing with friends. Works with Facebook.

Google Launches Speed Optimization Service

Google has recently launched a speed optimization service for websites, which is currently free. But will you be willing to point your website’s DNS to Google’s datacenters and let Google serve your website from their own servers?

If your iPhone or iPad was stolen, there’s a chance that your location data maybe stolen as well.

It was discovered that the iPhone/iPad was tracking its owner’s location since iOS4. According to the reporters, to their knowledge, they were not asked by Apple if they can opt-in to have the tracking applied to them.

Here’s the details on what the file is and what it does:

All iPhones appear to log your location to a file called “consolidated.db.” This contains latitude-longitude coordinates along with a timestamp. The coordinates aren’t always exact, but they are pretty detailed. There can be tens of thousands of data points in this file, and it appears the collection started with iOS 4, so there’s typically around a year’s worth of information at this point.

The most important question can only be answered by Apple: What’s this all for?

[Article and Image via: O'Reilly Radar]

Apple is suing Samsung for allegedly copying their iPhone look, product design, user interface, and packaging.

“Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smart phone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple’s technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products,” Apple said in its 38-page suit.

But the question here is whether Samsung really is their target. Is Apple going after Google’s Android by suing the hardware manufacturers? Is this all just a way to slow down Android OS powered phones from coming into the US?

Whether Apple does have a right over the design or not, will depend on the courts.

[Article via: Techcrunch | Image via: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)]

A tragedy doesn’t only show how much pain a person can experience, but it also shows how people can be at their best. One of these people is Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son. He is giving away phones to earthquake orphans and will replace iPhones that were lost.

The phones will be given for free and all the costs will be waived until the child reaches 18 years old.

Although this is not the only thing that the company is giving away freely, but it sure is important for those who have displaced loved ones and want to contact them as soon as possible.

[Article via: Engadget | Image via: Yuichiro Haga]