I just read an article that says: developers like iOS more than Android. The proof is given by Flurry, a plugin to analyze the user behaviour in apps. According to them, there are much more iOS apps that use Flurry than Android apps.

Ok, but this data is only about apps that use Flurry.

If an app doesn't spy the user behaviour with it, does not count!

And then, it's possible to directly use Google Analytics in Android apps, why I should use Flurry?

Moral: beware of stats published by an Apple fanboy, the data has been analyzed with closed eyes.

As an mp3 player I use an iPod touch. The first accessory that I lost it's the genuine charger, hence I bought another one. No, I bought two of them, because the first one made the device say "unsupported charger".

Of course, I bought a generic one, since it's ridiculous that a white plastic slab with 30 cents of electronics inside is sold for 30 euro.

Sunday I had the great idea to update the OS to iOS 5 and I was really amused to discover that EVERY USB battery charger of mine won't work anymore, including quality ones, from HP and BlackBerry.

What would have happened if any other electronics company behaved in the same way? If for example Samsung after an update did the same??? Everyone would have got angry and nobody would have ever bought a phone from them!

Why they should inhibit the usage of generic chargers? What are they waiting to place a standard micro usb connector as every other brand in the world is doing? Isn't much more convenient have a charger in the bedroon, one on the table, one at work and one in the car? Or we just have to be satisfied with the bundled charger?

All Apple fan-sites are publishing that there is in the works new connector for the iPhone, slimmer and with new useful features like Thunderbolt.

Reading this story makes me wonder: what is the point to use a special connector instead of using the micro usb, (which can also bring HDMI signals, with MHL) that it's a standard, it's cheaper, it's used by the rest of the world, and it's required to use in the European community??

Option A: in this way they can sell for 20 bucks the data cable (real price: $1)

Option B: in this way they can sell for 30 bucks the plastic dock with no electronic parts inside and which still requires the $20 data cable to work (probably the beautiful box it's more expensive to make than the dock)

Option C: in this way they can make millions with the "made per iPhone" certified accessories, like radios and so on

Option D: in this way they can make millions selling another adapter to who already owns the dock connector accessories

Option E: all the other options

Are you one of those that, having got a new iPad, are eager to see the screen with heavy scratches, scuffs or even get it broken?

Thanks to the new Mattel Apptivity toys, your dream can become true! (video in the link)

Those toys have contact points on the back, to interact with some games, so by placing an Hot Wheels car on the screen it will be posible to drive it, or slice fruits in Fruit Ninja, or eat om-nom candies in Cut the Rope; or crush your opponents in a Wrestling match by hitting the screen with the bundled figure.

Letting play a kid with a toy car on a 600 bucks screen looks like an AWESOME idea, I wonder why nobody ever thought about it 

Yesterday afternoon I installed the trial version of Parallels to test the vaunted virtualization feature of the Boot Camp partition, ie: use the real version of Windows inside a window in OS X. I was surprised at how, in the beginning, everything was running fine; even if the partition was not a real Windows Boot Camp partition, but a common PC disk, everything seemed to work perfectly.

Then I decided to restart to Windows, and I noticed the first odd thing: instead of the Windows 7 boot animation, there was the Windows Vista one ... what???

Is that possible??

I open Chrome to look for some solution on the internet and here is the second horror that I see: the taskbar is no longer visible. Parallels had changed some setting to not to keep it on top. Probably they did it to give Windows programs a nicer look under OS X, but now Windows is unusable, not to mention that Windows 7 does not have that setting anymore, and can not restore it to its original state (unless you use an unofficial patch).

As angry as an hungry monkey, I continued to search a solution to restore the Windows 7 animation instead of the Vista one. It seems to happen when the bootloader does not have a default language setting. Just type in as an administrator:

bcdboot %WinDir% /l it-IT

and it should work! It should, because iI get an error that "Windows can not find a Windows installation". What? In fact, from the control panel, in the boot options, there is no operating system!

Enraged like a gorilla, I immediately uninstall the Parallels Tools, but on reboot I still get see the same problem. So, I open the system restore to revert to a working state. Too bad! I got this error:

(This version of system recovery is not compatible with the Windows version that you are trying to recover)

That error appears even before Windows starts, so there is no way to continue or ignore it...

I took the installation DVD and... surprise? I can not even reinstall! I have to format the disk and start over!

Moral: here are 100 (or less) reasons for not using Parallels

1. The "trial" version does not access internet
2. It installs the boot loader for Vista on Windows 7
3. For installing the Parallels tools I haven't been asked for the administrator password. They used an undocumented and risky way to install them
4. The taskbar is hidden without an option to restore it to its original state
5. The startup time for Windows increases considerably
6. The Mac startup time increases considerably
7. In the Windows start menu you will find all the Mac applications
8. They made heavy changes to the system without asking or at least explain what they will do
9. In Windows, files are associated with Mac programs (eg: Windows tries to open a JPG with Mac Photoshop)
10. The hard drive is littered with all those hateful resource forks (.dsstore)
11. It gives 1GB RAM to Windows x64: not enough
12. Uninstalling on Mac leaves a lot of leftover files
13. In the end it is better to reboot and have a decent speed than using it slower and virtualized
14. Thanks to its permanent changes, you'll have to reformat Windows, losing all data

I cannot think of other reasons, is enough for now

...

well, actually I saw just one reason to buy an iPad, but I liked to write an article named "10 reasons to...", or "10 ways to..." 

Here it is:

$499 to let your cat have fun it's well worthy

And the cat is having fun! Great, we can save money on a cat-sitter!

It's great that the iPad display is scratch-proof!

Yay! The Apple conference is coming! What they will announce? How much will the the awesome tablet? How it will be named? iTablet, iSlate, iPad? Anyway, it is gonna change the world!

...

From many months ago, almost any blog that i follow through RSS, is writing rumors about the Apple table, showing photoshopped images, lists of presumed functionality, and much more...

Well... I just don't see why they see this awesomeness in a tablet. If you want a tablet to be operated with fingers, just to go on the Internet, there is already the JooJoo. You want to read books around? There is the Kindle, the Nook, and many others.

If we want a desktop replacement computer, there is already a solution from at least 5-6 years. Take my HP TC4400 Tablet. With a Core2Duo CPU, has a QWERTY keyboard, a 12" antiglare screen that can fold on itself, docking station connector, can use an external battery, and it is well contained in a light magnesium alloy case. I use it weekly to teach Japanese (Italian only, for now): with the pen, i can highlight and write on my slides very conveniently. And it's awesome to be used on a lap, with the Windows 7 handwriting recognition, that can even read my very bad calligraphy!

I don't see the awesomeness of a tablet that is in late of years with the competitors.

But maybe, as an Apple fanboy friend of mine said when I showed him my HP tablet, this would be a worldwide success only when Apple will "take inspiration" and removing function by it...

Engadget is telling us that at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas has just been announced an iPhone keyboard, for writing in full comfort for very long texts, without being forced to use the awkward touchscreen . Awesome, the main drawback is that, thanks to the many restrictions imposed by Apple on its own AppStore, you could be able to type with it only in the included software.

However, iType (what an original name!), is very easy to use, just slide the iPhone in, and use it anywhere, at school, on the bus, in the car while driving, and everywhere you'd like to improve your texting abilities, thanks to its small size:

Oh no! A little bit big!

Anyway, i see a great thing on the background, a musical keyboard for the iPhone! Oh! It would be great to compose and play songs on it! Great for musicians! It is the iDiscover, here is a detailed picture:

According to Engadget, this keyboard can also be used as a MIDI peripheral, to be used to compose music on Mac and PCs! 

The price? Still unknown... (but i suppose that it will be hundreds of dollars, like the majority of "premium" addons for the iPhone )

Creative is about to launch their new Zii, a video+mp3 player, this is a preview sketch from the FCC:

Uhm... where i saw this design? It looks so similar... to a mobile on sale from some time... let's try to merge the drawings:

Creative Zii in red, Apple iPhone in blue

So cool! The Zii is almost compatible with iPhone covers! What a smart move! It's a pity that they placed the camera in the wrong place... it's a matter of millimeters, otherwise they could write on the box: "New! Compatible with Apple iPhone covers!"

Also, the logo looks similar to another logo... and the name also is similar; Zii... Zii... it resembles another name, become famous 2-3 years ago:

Wow, Creative has been so... creative!

Hi, i am a PC, so this post should be biased... but it can't be that.

Today, on the official Microsoft Windows blog, there is a strange post:

You can save $3367 if you choose a PC instead of a Mac

What??? Ok, Macs are expensive, but, is possible that there can be a such difference? I can't believe, even if i am a Windows-fanboy

Let's see what comparison they have done:

Ok, Macs are more expensive, but just a few hundred dollars...

What's wrong:

1. You cannot compare a normal Pc with a Mac Pro (will you compare a Chevrolet Aveo with a Dodge RAM??)
2. The 5-years MobileMe subscription (why do that without an iPhone???)
3. Mac users are buying Office for $149, Pc users does not buy Office for $680 (source)
4. Mac users chooses all kinds of protection plans, PC users just a basic one

This is like comparing "apples" with oranges!

Why Microsoft did not add to the Mac expenses also an iPhone with a biennal AT&T contract, and an iPod, and other accessories?