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

This has been the most expensive review item I ever wrote about: the Nissan Teana 250 XV V6 luxury/executive sedan.

After an extended weekend of driving the Teana around town and winding hilly roads, we come to one conclusion: the Teana is the review car my family and I will miss most.

In a striking case of irony, analysts say Microsoft will earn more from Google’s Android operating system than it will from sales of Window Phone 7 smartphones.

As with most technology companies, Microsoft is fiercely protective over its technologies and patents. That’s why the company had been filing lawsuits against other manufacturers and technology firms that are found to be infringing on its patents and intellectual property. Some settle for licensing deals, like HTC. And here’s where Microsoft gets a lot of money from Android.

According to analysts, Microsoft will get $5 from each purchase of an Android-powered HTC smartphone. With 30 million units of HTC smartphones sold since, this amounts to $150 million in royalties to Microsoft. Still, HTC is said to have had a good deal, since other manufacturers are being charged $7.50 to $12.50 per unit for MS technologies used in their smartphones.

For those who have rooted their Android Phones, here’s some bad news for you: You won’t be able to rent movies from Android Market.

The reason according to Google:

“You’ll receive this ‘Error 49′ message if you attempt to play a movie on a rooted device. Rooted devices are currently unsupported due to requirements related to copyright protection,”

Is Google actively pushing out people who’ve decided to hack their Android OS Phones into CyanogenMod and Replicant?

Nevertheless, knowing how hackers are such an innovative group, they’ll find a way to get around this problem and be able to rent and run movies from the Android Market in a couple of weeks … but until then, better stick to http://www.lovefilm.com/.

Article from PC Mag | Image By Cyanogen (Steve Kondik) http://www.cyanogenmod.com and Android Developers http://developer.android.com/index.html (ZTE Blade) [see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons

After nearly a month, Sony is slowly returning the Playstation Network (PSN) online. However, it’s ironic that Japan has refused to allow the company to turn on the servers in their region.

Japan’s government is looking for more info on the identity theft and supposedly shoddy security that the beleaguered company had. According to
Kazushige Nobutani, an official with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, he’s still not convinced it’s ok to turn them on yet:

“We met with Sony on May 6 and 13, and basically we want two things from them,” Nobutani said in a statement. “The first is preventative measures. As of May 13, Sony was incomplete in exercising measures that they said they will do on the May 1 press conference.” The second pertained to Sony’s plan to convince users that it is now safe to provide credit card and other payment details to the company.

Maybe Sony’s still busy collecting data on their request? Nevertheless, the Japanese government are adamant to see concrete evidence that the company will definitely improve its systems before letting any of their citizens log on.

Article via Yahoo! News | Image Rico Shen [CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Business is business. If you can take out a competitor by being the best at your line of business or services all the better. But what if the one who wanted you erased was already the best at what they do? This is the case of Facebook vs. Google.

Facebook admitted to hiring a PR Firm, Burson-Marsteller, to spread news about how Google’s “Social Circles” is violating privacy rights.

As several reports have detailed this week, two former journalists now employed by Burson — John Mercurio, late of Roll Call, CNN, and National Journal; and CNBC’s erstwhile Silicon Valley correspondent Jim Goldman — were making the rounds pitching this hooey to various outlets in an attempt to capitalize on Google’s increasing tangles with the feds, and intense public interest in online privacy.

Wow, talk about kicking a guy when he’s down. Facebook has already passed Google as being the most visited site of 2010 and they still want to depreciate its obscure GMail feature.

Both companies will survive this brouhaha, but for the meantime Facebook looks just like a bully.

Article via: Wired | Image By Facebook (facebook.com website) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons