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It’s funny. For as much as Android phones have been known a prime spec war battleground for years now, they may have finally reached a tipping point. Big screens, fast processors, and 1080p everythings have become standardized. What matters now is thoughtfulness and execution, and at a glance, HTC’s One is right on the money. More »

Mark Zuckerberg should fill out one of the claim association forms from the California State Comptroller’s office. Turns out, he has an unclaimed paycheck from 2004 from PayPal to the tune of $308.62, BetaBeat reports. More »

Here it is: the fourth and final piece of the Ubuntu puzzle. We’ve seen the OS on smartphones, on TVs and of course on desktops, but the tablet version has spent a little longer in its dressing room. Fortunately, Canonical feels that the last stage in its four-screen strategy is now ready for the limelight and has released a video of the software in action. The clip is embedded right after the break, where you’ll also find details of the preview code coming to the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 this Thursday, plus our take on why this is such a big deal.

Starting with the preview, you heard it right — the tablet OS will be made available to devs and enthusiasts at the exact same time as the smartphone preview on February 21st. So in addition to the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4, you’ll also be able to get a taste of touch-based Ubuntu on a Nexus 7 or Nexus 10. Canonical is promising to provide installation tools and instructions to smooth the process of flashing the early build to your device. (Note: this isn’t to be confused with the older desktop version of Ubuntu which could be made to run on a Nexus 7.)

Commercial tablets containing Ubuntu aren’t likely to be available until well into 2014. The latest we’ve heard is that a barebones smartphone will arrive early next year (albeit with some indications of a possible October launch), followed a few months later by a high-spec smartphone with access to an app store and docking mode, and then by tablets at some point after that. Although Ubuntu has made good progress in recruiting an unnamed silicon company to optimize its chips for the OS, it has yet to cement any deals with device manufacturers or carriers.

Regardless of precise dates, why would someone bother with such a latecomer to the mobile OS game? There are actually a few good reasons. Most importantly, Ubuntu is so lightweight that — by the time Ubuntu 14.04 rolls around — it’ll be able to use the same code across all four form factors, with the same security features, user profiles and UI fundamentals.

Since the OS will be a constant, a smartphone-oriented app will work on an Ubuntu tablet or any other Ubuntu device without having to be ported or even tweaked. (Although devs will still have the option of adding functionality or UI elements that are specific to one category of device, or that only wake up when a device is docked — like when a tablet is attached to a keyboard or when a phone is hooked up to a bigger display.)

“We’ve cracked this one in a way that has eluded Microsoft” — Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical

This is very different to what Windows offers, for example, with its separate WP8, RT and Windows 8 versions. In fact, Mark Shuttleworth claims to have “cracked this one in a way that has eluded Microsoft,” not least because Ubuntu’s approach means that smartphone- and tablet-sized apps can run side-by-side on the same device in split screen mode. For example, you could have the Skype phone app running at the same time as a tablet document editor. This feature will be called “side stage,” and judging from the video — which is all we have to go on at this point — it looks like a nifty approach to multi-tasking, and perhaps slightly more flexible that Samsung’s multi-window solution in TouchWiz.

Filed under: Tablets, Software

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HTC unveiled its newest flagship phone, the HTC One at a special press event in NYC and London today, and the drastically different design marks a departure from a strategy of trying to beat other Android OEMs (read: Samsung) at their own game. Instead, HTC looks to be taking cues from Apple to better compete, in more ways than one.

HTC’s newest Android smartphone has a physical design that can’t help but be compared to the iPhone 5. There’s aluminum all over the place (it’s a unibody chassis with chamfered edges), it comes in both white and black, and a rounded rectangle look that’s sure to remind iPhone 5 owners of their own hardware. It even has the iPhone 4′s external wireless, edge-running antenna. And the emphasis this time around wasn’t on specs, speeds and technical details, but on features and software: HTC’s tacit acknowledgement that a fight over who can build the best Android hardware isn’t one it can win against Samsung. Consumers have to perceive these devices as operating in different categories, with HTC doing something Samsung can’t or won’t.

The central piece of the HTC event today was all about what the One is that all other Android phones aren’t. That’s why HTC put its “BoomSound” front-facing speaker system on display, highlighted the Ultrapixel camera with its low-light capabilities, and showed off the Sense 5 UI with its BlinkFeed automatic, live-updating content feeds. That’s why it emphasized content partners, another page out of Apple’s book. In many ways, HTC’s event was more like the introduction of a new mobile OS than an iteration on an Android smartphone design. The company has put a strong focus on software at previous device launches, but here it seemed even more concerned with making this about OS skin updates.

HTC also downplayed the internals, which surprisingly aren’t as leading-edge as they could be. The screen was a big tentpole of the presentation, but that’s another Apple tactic, since it impacts user experience in a much more direct manner than internals. And the quad-core Snapdragon 600 chipset is new, but not the top-of-the-line model. 2GB of RAM is essentially table stakes, and 32 or 64GB of internal flash storage is nothing to write home about. It did bring up design directors, however, to discuss what went into the creation of its software and hardware, and showed videos highlighting technical innovations like the UltraPixel camera sensor and body design, all Apple-style moves.

This isn’t about competing against Apple or Samsung, it’s about fielding a great phone.

It’s pretty clear that HTC’s strategy here isn’t to build a better Android smartphone than Samsung and beat it that way. That’s arguably what the entire HTC One line has been until now: essentially a different but similar approach to the Galaxy strategy. Now, we get a back-to-basics simplified naming scheme, a physical case that better approximates Apple’s high-market industrial design, and an emphasis on user experience and software, instead of crowing loud and long about the spec race that has been popular among Android OEMs int the past.

This is a pivotal launch for HTC: It needs to be seen by consumers in non-relative terms to Samsung in order to stand out, since it hasn’t been able to succeed when lumped in with the general mass of Android OEM device-makers. To accomplish that it has to stand apart, and there’s no better example of a smartphone-maker that’s been able to do that than Apple. But carving out a niche in the face of the ascendant Samsung will prove difficult without Apple’s first-mover advantage, so while HTC’s strategy is arguably bold, by no means does it guarantee success.

If you work in a decent sized building odds are that your air is recycled like crazy. Every try jogging up the stairs of an office building or tall hotel? After about 10 floors you feel a burn in your lungs attributed to the lack of humidity in stairwells. Imagine what the nasty air does to your system! Not to mention static. Yuck. Solutions.com has a couple options that will help you try to make the air more natural and breathable – one for the techno type and one for the artistic type.

If you enjoy using your computer power try out the USB-powered Personal Humidifier for $24.98. A full, 4 ounce tank will get you 4 hours of humidity. So you won’t worry about saturating your laptop with mist. If you forget to unplug it or have a meeting run late don’t worry it will shut itself off after 2 hours or when the tank is empty. Traveler alert! It is small enough to stash in a suitcase or computer bag too. Finally! A cure for dry hotel rooms.

For those of you that prefer a more artistic approach to generating humidity try the Decora Room Humidifiers. The porous ball inside the reservoir bowl gently and naturally release humidity via evaporation. You simply get to look at an artistic addition to your room, office, cubicle or wherever. A set of two run $24.98. Whether you want the technical & portable route or the more natural process don’t let your humidity levels drop thanks to heating and poor air quality.
[ Add More Humidity copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]