Monthly Archives: February 2013


If the growth rate for mobile data does drop it's likely because carriers are… 1

If the growth rate for mobile data does drop it's likely because carriers are making data more expensive for users even while the cost to deliver it drops

Cisco lowers mobile data growth estimates – while doing its best to hide the drop
Cisco (CSCO) recently released its new 2012-2017 mobile data growth projections and the numbers seem strong. The company is calling for 66% compound average growth between 2012 and 2017, leading to……

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+Motor Trend Magazine has started a +Waze group, learn more about this crowd-sourced…

+Motor Trend Magazine has started a +Waze group, learn more about this crowd-sourced navigation and traffic app at http://www.androidcentral.com/waze-android-app-review 

Reshared post from +Waze

Excited to announce our first magazine partner Motor Trend Magazine! To celebrate, we opened a customized Motor Trend Waze group (US only). Be sure to join the group to stay up to date on future contests and games!
FULL STORY: http://bit.ly/YaHvEW
MOTOR TREND ON TWITTER: http://bit.ly/NLZM6F

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If this proves to be true, we won't be upgrading to a new XBox unless the cost… 1

If this proves to be true, we won't be upgrading to a new XBox unless the cost of games comes down dramatically

$60 per game is just way too much for games you can re-sell or buy used

New Xbox requires an always-on connection to block used games, says report
With just two weeks to go until we “see the future” of PlayStation, we’re starting to hear more details on the future of Xbox. Edge magazine reports that Microsoft’s new console will require an…

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Just because you have access to a motorized vehicle, it doesn't mean you have… 1

Just because you have access to a motorized vehicle, it doesn't mean you have the intellectual wherewithal to avoid doing something colossally stupid

The Ten Biggest Car Jump Fails Caught On Camera
Cars were born to fly, but jumps can easily go wrong. Jalopnik readers have put together the ten most painful, spine-crunching failed jump attempts in modern automotive history. Welcome back to Answer…

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* +Samsung Mobile's new low-end +Android phones reveal the lie behind their… 2

* +Samsung Mobile's new low-end +Android phones reveal the lie behind their refusal to upgrade Galaxy S phones to ICS*  

Samsung has launched a pair of low-end smartphones in South Korea, both of which are running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. While they are styled to look like the larger Galaxy S3, the internals of these 3.5 and 3.27-inch phones read pretty much like the original Galaxy S series with 1 GHz single core CPUs and 512 mb RAM. So in reality these are really shrunk-down Galaxy S devices with smaller, lower res displays.

Until a week ago, my son was using a Galaxy S Fascinate and from mid-December 2011, it was happily running and Android 4-based custom ROM. Clearly Samsung could have upgraded these phones if they wanted to, it was just a business decision to push customers to newer phones.  

Samsung announces Galaxy Young and Galaxy Fame | Android Central
Almost identical entry-level Galaxy S3-alikes

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For a while in the early 2000s, Apple devices all used industry standard connectors,… 1

For a while in the early 2000s, Apple devices all used industry standard connectors, but Monoprice probably paid a part in changing that

I love +Monoprice and it's my go-to site to buy cables and accessories of all sorts. However, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the rise of Monoprice is part of the reason that today's iPhones and iPods use a proprietary connector instead of the standard micro-USB found on virtually every other mobile device. 

Apple is the most profitable tech company in the world and not so long ago Best Buy was also very profitable. One of the key's to Best Buy's profits was selling ridiculously over-priced cables and other accessories along side no-margin TVs. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Apple recognized the trend toward generic connectors early. A decade ago, Mac laptops had standard DVI video outputs, Firewire and USB. DVI was eventually supplanted by the mini-display-port which was smaller (good) and unique to Apple at first (bad). Similarly iPods went from Firewire to the 30 pin dock and now the Lightning connector. 

By using proprietary connectors, Apple can charge a premium for its own connectors and extract a tax from any other company that wants to get into the business of hooking up to its devices, which is bad for consumers. 

How Monoprice Is Eating The Tech World From The Inside Out
An empire built on cheap HDMI cables stretches its reach. Monoprice is angling to be the next huge electronics brand.

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Great plug for +Daniel Treadwell's WordPress Plugin that imports your G+ con… 1

In album February 4, 2013

Great plug for +Daniel Treadwell's WordPress Plugin that imports your G+ content

I've been using this plugin to push my G+ posts to my blog for more than a year and it works great. I just have to remember to go in to the blog periodically to clean out revisions since the plugin updates earlier posts with comments and any edits.

Reshared post from +Guy Kawasaki

+Daniel Treadwell's Google+Blog WordPress Plugin is simply magic. It takes your Google+ posts and places them in your WordPress blog. 

I learned about this a few months ago from +Peg Fitzpatrick, but Holykaw.com, the site where I wanted my Google+ posts to appear, was not running on Word Press until this weekend. 

For some reason, I have no problem writing Google+ posts, but I have great difficulty writing blog posts. If you're like me, Google+Blog WordPress Plugin can solve the problem. Now I can make a Google+ post like this (the picture on the left):

https://plus.google.com/112374836634096795698/posts/4fNMNjjJ7pD

And it will automatically appear like this in our WordPress blog (the picture on the right):

http://holykaw.alltop.com/ape-on-wall-street-journal-bestseller-list

Even the comments are carried over, so that the Holy Kaw post instantly looks popular because it shows the Google+ comments.

Here's where you get the WordPress plugin:

http://gpb.minimali.se/google+blog/

Thank you +Daniel Treadwell!

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As you exceed about 35 mpg, the actual fuel (and dollar) savings from increased mileage… 2

As you exceed about 35 mpg, the actual fuel (and dollar) savings from increased mileage get smaller and smaller

While +Jonny Lieberman got slightly worse mileage in the C-MAX than the Prius V during his test, the real-world implication is actually pretty small. As MPG increases, the reduction in fuel use for every extra MPG gets progressively smaller especially as you approach 40 mpg and beyond. I explain it more detail in this article http://green.autoblog.com/2009/07/23/greenlings-where-are-the-most-important-mpg-increases-at-the-u/

With the mileage that Jonny got in each vehicle, the difference in annual fuel costs is only about $80 (based on 15,000 miles a year). If you drive less aggressively than Mr Liebermann, the difference is likely even smaller or flips in the other direction. It sounds like the C-MAX is definitely worth a look. 

Reshared post from +Motor Trend Magazine

It may not be the most exciting comparison but we recently put the 2012 +Toyota USA Prius V against the 2013 +Ford Motor Company C-Max Hybrid.

Which gas-sipper do you like more?

Find out who won here: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/alternative/1304_2012_toyota_prius_v_vs_2013_ford_c_max_hybrid_comparison/viewall.html

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The Canadian penny is no more, time to drop the U.S 1

S. version

Reshared post from +Google Canada

Google Doodle Celebrates the Penny on its last day of distribution by the Canadian Mint
www.google.ca
Some fun Penny facts courtesy of the Canadian Mint.
>  35 billion pennies have been minted since 1908, and the total weight of all those coins  (103,617 tons) is almost double that of the Titanic.
> At 2.35 grams, a penny weighs about the same as a hummingbird.
> If all those pennies are stacked up, the height (52,600 kilometers) is the equivalent of about 100,000 CN Towers, the iconic edifice in Toronto.
> If placed side by side, all those Canadian pennies would circle the earth 16 times

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