Mac OS X Lion top 10 features

1. Multi-touch gestures — Apps will be controlled by different multi-touch gestures; including three fingered swipe, scroll, pinching and zooming.
2. Full Screen Apps — Much like iOS5, apps will be full screen in OS Lion.
3. Mission Control — Like an expanded expose. All of your open app instances are grouped by app
4. Mac App Store — Mac store is now built in, as well as in-app purchases. The new built in version will also include push notifications for app updates.
5. Launchpad — Make a simple gesture: pinch motion — all your apps fly on screen.
6. Resume — Before you had to quit apps. Now when you launch an app in Lion – it brings you right back to where you were when you quit.
7. Autosave — Lion automatically saves your work in the background without you having to do much.
8. Versions — Automatically save different versions of your document as you’re working.
9. AirDrop — A Dropbox-type feature that allows you to get documents between computers.
10. Mac Mail Version 5 — Including a threading feature called conversations.

Must have add-ons for Thunderbird 5

Well below is the list of add-ons I like to use with thunderbird

1) Thunderbird Conversations: This is a must have add-on. This addon provides a conversation view for Thunderbird, including contacts tooltips, attachment thumbnails, quick (inline) reply, integration with other addons, and much more.

2) QuickFolders: Cut through the clutter of the folders sidebar with your favorite folders as tabs. Open folders and sub folders, move mails without scrolling around or searching.

I am using the above two add-ons and enabled vertical layout and hidden the folder pane. Look at the screenshot below

what is new in Android 4?

As we are getting near to the release date of new android version, which is middle of Nov, 2011. Lot of rumors floating around some of like to believe rumors

1) Better performance there is no surprise as with every new version they does come up with  performance improvements.

2) Universal operating system for both tablets and mobile phones. That is something will really help both for users and developers for pushing new changes quickly. Hope this also brings much more user friendly UI.
3) Not sure how true it is but people say android 4 has camera sensor, but even if the software supports it what about the hardware.

As Android 4 is a major release there must lot more features which are coming as part of the bundle, hope make our experience with android much more enjoyable.

Wait continues………

What happens to orkut?

Google plus is almost here. It looks almost looks like facebook but has more features when compared to facebook. Now its facebook that need to play catch up game. The one advantage facebook is 750 M user based it already got. But once thing I don’t understand is Google already got Orkut as social network and now they got google plus, what happens to Orkut and its users now?

1) They will automatically migrate all the orkut users to google plus and shut orkut.

2) They shut orkut and redirect all its users to google plus to start a fresh.

 

Not sure what they are going to do, lets wait and see.

Future and Android

Just amazing and fearsome to know one platform having controlling everything around you from mobile to your car and house.

This article I am pasting here is by Marko Gargenta on the website http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/07/3-android-predictions-home-clothes-car.html

Prediction 1: Android controls the home

Marko Gargenta: Google painted their vision of Android @ Home at the last Google I/O. I think this has huge potential to make Android the de-facto controller for many other devices, from lights to music players to robots and factory machinery. We are seeing the first stage with numerous home security systems being developed using Android, as well as set-top boxes powered by Android. At the moment, many of these devices simply use Android as a replacement for embedded Linux and they're still just self-contained devices.

In the second stage, manufacturers will start exposing libraries so developers can build custom applications for their devices, effectively turning them into platforms. I predict this will happen later this year as manufacturers realize the power of letting users hack their systems. The latest case study with Microsoft Kinect should help pave the way.

In the third stage, various devices will be able to interact with one another — my phone can detect my TV and my TV can communicate with my stereo. This will take a bit longer to get to as we still don't have common protocols for this type of communication. We also run the risk of companies developing their own proprietary protocols, such as a Samsung TV only talking to a Samsung phone, etc. Compatibility may require Google stepping in and using the Compatibility Test Suite(CTS) as a tool to enforce common protocols.

Prediction 2: Wearable Android

Marko Gargenta: The form factor for Android boards is getting to be very small and the price of the actual chipset is approaching the $100 point for a full-featured device. This allows for development of wearable Android-powered devices. Some of them will be for fashion purposes, such as watches. Others will be for medical and safety applications. I predict that toward the end of this year we're going to start seeing high-end fashion accessories based on Android. We may not be aware they are Android-powered, and we may not be able to develop for them. At the same time, early medical devices will emerge, initially for non-critical applications. These will likely be closed, purpose-built systems with little opportunity for development or extension.

Prediction 3: Android and networked cars

Marko Gargenta: This is the next big frontier for Android to seize. The car industry is now at the point where the mobile phone industry was 5-10 years ago. People are going to want more from their car systems as they realize that things like Google Maps beat any stock navigation system. Consumers will want car-based connectivity to the Internet as well as apps.

The first stage of networked car development will involve using Android to build proprietary systems. This is already underway withcommercial systems being built for cars without users even knowing the systems are based on Android. The second stage will involve connecting the cars to the Internet. This can be done in a couple of ways: cars can have radios with their own connections to the Internet or a driver's mobile phone can be tapped for online access.

Whatever approach we take, 4G and LTE network developments will help the process quite a bit. Once the cars are connected, manufactures will have the opportunity to open up kits for developers to build purpose-built applications for those systems. It is likely that manufacturers may tightly control what apps are allowed into what vehicles by running their own proprietary app stores with strict policies and quality control. This is simply the nature of the auto industry to self-police itself and focus heavily on testing the software. It is not very likely that we'll be able to simply download car apps from a major app market right away.