You've heard that it was en route, and you've seen the preview. Now, it's time to enter the wild, wacky world of Android 3.0 for yourself. Honeycomb's SDK is now available for all developers to download, with the API's being deemed final and able to withstand new apps that will target the fresh platform. We'd bother spilling the beans on the added features, but we know you've already torn your left click button off in a frantic race to the source link. Simmer down, son -- the URL ain't going anywhere.

 The SDK version of Android 3.0 Honeycomb has been ported successfully to Google Nexus One. Dubbed as Honeycomb N1 alpha v0.1, this tablet-optimized version of Android will bring all the goodness from the latest and greatest version of Android to Nexus One.

Both, the soon to be released Motorola Xoom tablet, and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be based on this version (3.0 Honeycomb) of Android.
If you are feeling adventurous, you can give Android 3.0 Honeycomb a go on your Nexus One. Beware though as not everything is said to be working. Installation instructions, and download links can be found at the XDA-Developers forum here.


Download Android 3.0 Honeycomb for Nexus One

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Google's no stranger to the courtroom, and while their litigation with Oracle and Viacom has gotten all the publicity of late, VoIP Inc. -- perhaps in a move to help pay off its bankruptcy creditors -- has joined in the litigious fun by suing the search giant for stealing trade secrets. VoIP alleges Google entered a license agreement with one of its subsidiaries in 2005 for technology that allows users to click online ads to call the advertiser directly over the internet -- because, you know, the unwashed masses are just dying to chat with the makers of PajamaJeans. Google later said that VoIP violated its nondisclosure agreement by talking about the deal and killed the relationship, but VoIP claims the boys and girls in Mountain View used its tech to create click-to-call ads in a 2006 deal with eBay and Skype. The litigation is just getting started, so we've yet to see the complaint or Google's response, but we feel certain VoIP has asked for a princely sum as punishment for these transgressions. Time will tell if Google decides to cut a check, so stay tuned.

Let's be honest, the original Dell Streak had a bit of an identity crisis. The 5-inch device wasn't sure if it belonged in the tablet or smartphone world, and ultimately it was targeted at a pretty niche user. But its larger brother, the Streak 7, is more self-aware. It's a honest-to-goodness tablet meant for doing all those tablet-y things -- surfing the web, reading e-books, watching video and more. Sure, the Streak 7 may just look like an enlarged version of the 5-inch version, but they differ in more than just screen size: the 7 packs a powerful 1GHz dual-core Tegra T20 processor, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera, 5 megapixel lens on the rear, T-Mobile "4G" HSPA+ connectivity, and 16GB of internal memory. The tablet runs Android 2.2 with Dell's Stage UI for now, but Dell promises an upgrade to Honeycomb once it's ready. It sounds like one of the more well-rounded 7-inch tablets on the market right now and at just $200 on contract at T-Mobile (it's $450 without), it's actually quite well priced. However, there are quite a few things that are going to keep 7-inch tablet seekers from forking over the cash. What are those? We'll tell all in our full review -- read on for more!


Hardware
No matter how you slice it, the Streak 7 looks like a giant Streak (the 5-inch version, that is), and that's not necessarily a bad thing considering we've always had a thing for those tapered sides and its fairly rigid, plastic build. Dell's obviously trying to maintain a similar design across all the Streak family members, although it's also brought in some cues from the Venue and Venue Pro relatives -- the rear cover has the same textured diamond pattern as the smartphones. We like how it feels in the hand, but unlike the original Streak, the back doesn't house a removable battery. That actually turns out to be an incredible bummer given what you're about to find out about the battery life farther down in this review.

While many slate makers are moving towards the 10-inch form factor, we're still appreciative of the portability of the 7-inch variety. (Yes, so much so that some of us are even dying for a 7-inch iPad.) Like the Galaxy Tab or Archos 7, the Streak 7 lends itself much better to one-handed use than the iPad or any of the other 10-inch tablets we've tested. We loved being able to comfortably hold the 0.48-inch Streak up when reading a book in bed or wrapping both our hands around the 0.9-pound tablet and being able to use our thumbs to type.

Apart from the three capacitive buttons (back, menu, and home), mic, and camera on the front of the tablet, Dell's kept the design very clean. A plastic latch on the right edge, which can be hard to open if you don't have long nails, hides the SD and SIM card slots. The top of the device has a power button and volume rocker, and the left edge a 3.5mm headphone jack. Disappointingly, there's no HDMI output on the device itself; Dell will offer a separate dock that will attach to the PDMI port on the bottom of the device. A quick word on the PDMI port -- it is the same as the one on the original Streak, and because there's no other USB port on the tablet, you've got to have the cord handy to either charge it or connect it to computer to sideload files. Also, our review unit hasn't been charging via USB -- you have to plug it into the wall via its AC adapter. Yeah, it's pretty annoying.


Screen


When powered off, the Streak 7 looks like it has virtually the same display as the Galaxy Tab. Both have highly glossy, 7-inch Gorilla Glass screens that feel incredibly smooth to the touch. However, that all changes when you turn them on. In comparison to the Galaxy's 1024 x 600 resolution display, the Streak's 800 x 480 panel just looks cheap, and the experience is definitely felt when browsing, reading, looking at photos, or watching a high-definition clip. In a side-by-side comparison of the same photo, the Streak 7 just looked low-rate in comparison to the Tab's crisp rendering. Yep, it's pretty much a Pixel Density Enthusiast's nightmare.

Even more noticeable is how much brighter the Galaxy Tab's display is. Hands down, Samsung went with a better quality panel than Dell, and it really makes a huge difference considering, you know, the entire tablet experience is centered around the screen. That quality also translates to mediocre viewing angles -- when held horizontally at about 45 degrees, colors start to fade to black. Vertical viewing is better, although in comparison to the Galaxy Tab's screen, which can be seen at virtually every angle, it's yet again just second rate. Beyond all the actual viewing quality issues, the capacitive screen is extremely responsive, and it, along with the Tegra 2 processor, keeps it responding to our taps and flicks quickly. The accelerometer was equally as snappy, though we wish there was a quicker way to disable it than having to go through the display settings menu.


Software


While most tablets announced at this year's CES wait on Google's release of Android 3.0 Honeycomb, which has been designed for tablets, Dell's gone ahead and released the Streak 7 with Android 2.2. We're well aware that there are no Honeycomb tablets shipping yet, but there's something about the Streak that just feels rushed to market, and that experience is even more pronounced when you realize Dell didn't do anything on top of the OS to make it more tablet friendly.

The software experience is the exact same as that on the original Dell's Streak and Venue -- it consists of the Stage UI, which includes Dell's own full-screen widgets and launcher. The widgets are actually useful -- the Home pulls in the local weather and recently used apps, Social your Twitter or Facebook feed, Web a search bar and thumbnails of your bookmarks, and Gallery locally stored pictures. The good news here is that if they aren't your thing, you can easily delete them and customize the panes with regular Android widgets and apps. The launcher at the bottom provides easy access to the browser, app tray, and mail app. We've been trying to figure out how you can customize the launcher, but we haven't come up with a solution yet.

On the topic of that mail app, it nor any of the other native apps, like the calendar or messaging, have been revamped to take advantage of the extra screen real estate. Unlike Samsung, Dell's done no retooling here to take advantage of the larger screen, though considering the resolution is the same as the Streak, it may have just figured it didn't really need to. If we had to sum up the software package, we'd say that you're really just dealing with an oversized smartphone experience here, and while a few months ago that may have been enough for Android tablet seekers, that's about to change as soon as Google releases Honeycomb in the coming days or weeks.

Dell preloads the Steak with quite a few applications. Ours came with BrainPOP (a educational game for kids), Zinio (a magazine app), Kindle, Let's Golf, Blockbuster and Slacker Radio. T-Mobile also throws on its T-Mobile TV and Qik Video Chat apps. It also comes with Swype, though the size of the device lends itself quite nicely to regular thumb typing.


Camera


Speaking of that Qik Video Chat app, we were able to successfully chat with a former colleague using the 1.3-megapixel front facing camera. The app itself doesn't provide the best quality video -- it was better on WiFi than 4G, but it's still not desktop grade video calling. That said, when we took some stills with the front lens, we found the quality to be decent -- unfortunately, it picked up the bags under our eyes and our messy hair. Obviously, in comparison, the 5-megapixel cam on the rear took much crisper shots, although they seemed a bit washed out. We still have to admit taking a picture with a 7-inch viewfinder is nothing but awkward. Still, the auto focus was quick and the flash came in handy when we went to take shots in a dark taxi cab. There's no continuous or panorama shooting mode like the Galaxy Tab, but the Streak 7 can record 720p video. Motion capture was quite smooth, though the footage was fairly grainy and oversaturated.

Performance and battery life


The Streak 7 is the first tablet we've tested with NVIDIA's 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 T20 processor. Oddly, the device indicates that the processor is downclocked to about 800MHz, and Dell tells us that it downclocks to conserve power. Either way, the performance was extremely snappy. In most instances, we found it to be more responsive than the Galaxy Tab -- there was no lag opening applications, scrolling down webpages, or flicking through Dell's Stage widgets. Similarly, games like Asphalt 5 and Angry Birds were very fluid.

Beyond promising fast performance, Tegra 2 promises full HD playback, and the Streak 7 certainly confirms that. A 1080p clip of Justin Bieber's Never Say Never played with no stuttering or lag, however, that's obviously pretty pointless considering the lower screen resolution. That aforementioned dock with HDMI-out will be the solution for those looking to take advantage of that HD video. Streaming 720p video on YouTube also worked quite well and general Flash performance was pretty decent -- we were able to get some of the New York Times' Flash videos playing within a few seconds of loading the site. The Streak 7 notched an average of 35 MFLOPS in Linpack -- that's considerably better than the Galaxy Tab's 14 MFLOPS.

Sadly, that good performance news turns quite sour when it comes to battery life. There's no way to beat around the bush on this one: the Streak 7's battery life seriously disappoints. In our past few days of usage, the most we've been able to squeeze out of it was about six hours of juice. We powered on the device at 6 pm on Friday evening and after about five hours of intermittent usage on T-Mobile's 4G network -- checking Twitter, e-mails, looking up a few addresses on Google Maps, and surfing the web -- the tablet was totally dead. With just WiFi on, we got closer to six hours of sporadic use. Similarly, on our battery rundown test, which loops the same standard definition video with brightness set at 65 percent and WiFi on, the 2780mAh battery only lasted three hours and 26 minutes. That's half as long as the Galaxy Tab, and while that's to be expected since the Tab has a larger 4000mAh cell, it really is pretty inexcusable for a highly mobile device like this.

	Battery Life
Dell Streak 7	3:26
Archos 70	6:00
Archos 101	7:20
Samsung Galaxy Tab	6:09
Apple iPad	9:33

 Google is ready to show us something new on February 2nd and has invited people out to its Mountain View headquarters to find out what.

Please join us for and in-depth look at Honeycomb, Android ecosystem news and hands-on demos.

We believes attendees are in for more than just a recap of what we already know about Honeycomb, and that new tablets could well be in the offing.
With not long to go until we all find out exactly what Google’s Android team has in-store, expect rumors-galore as we all try to guess what it is.
Patience people, patience!

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One of the first things that happens after a new platform emulator breaks loose is that a bunch of hackers far smarter than ourselves get hold of it, tear it apart, and port it to whatever's convenient. In the case of this week's Android 3.0 Honeycomb preview, "whatever's convenient" would be the Nook Color, which reigns as perhaps the cheapest decent-quality Android tablet money can currently buy. Naturally, xda-developers has a thread going on the subject as we speak; the current port is said to be really slow and mostly broken -- but then again, that kind of describes the current state of the emulator itself. Good news is that the developer says he plans on working on graphics acceleration to improve performance over the weekend, so with any luck, the Xoom might have some unofficial competition before too long. Follow the break for another shot.

 

So we've just installed Google's first public-access preview of its tablet-focused Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system, an early build of the platform's SDK that features "non-final" code and APIs; it's intended primarily for developers who want to get a head start on making their tablet app dreams come true, but naturally, we needed to install it and take it for a test drive ourselves. Here are our quick observations:

• Like Android SDK emulators before it, Honeycomb's is extremely slow -- nearly to the point of uselessness in this case. We'll give them a mulligan since this is a preview build, but seriously, we wouldn't recommend installing this unless you enjoy pulling your hair out.
• There appears to be some sort of orientation bug that prevents us from going landscape, which is what we really wanted. Sorry about that! We've shot the video sideways and rotated all of our images; if we're able to figure it out or a newer build is released with orientation properly working, we'll update.
• The browser looks great -- specifically the UI, which is going to make desktop browser users feel right at home perhaps more than any other tablet browsing experience to date. As with the rest of the emulator, it was too slow to really use -- and it kept crashing on us -- but we're digging the look.
• The system for adding and managing widgets is a joy to use -- it makes your entire desktop accessible from a single screen, and we like the amount of detail you can preview for each widget before deciding whether to use it and where to place it.
• In general, the window animations and screen transitions seem cool, but none were smooth or fast enough in the emulator to know for sure. Jury's still out until this gets faster or we're using Honeycomb on actual tablets.
• We're not in love with the dim, squashed segmented display that Google is using for the time in the lower right; we're hoping there are plenty of alternative fonts available.

Since the emulator doesn't provide a "Google experience" build with access to the Android Market, Gmail, or other "branded" Google apps, we weren't able to deep-dive on how real-world applications are going to look on the platform -- but with any luck, Motorola's Xoom should be shipping within a few weeks. In the meantime, check out a video after the break!

Update: We've figured out the orientation trick -- you need to uncheck automatic orientation in Settings, then flip the emulator from landscape to portrait (counterintuitive, we know). We'll be updating the media as soon as we can!

Update 2: Second video (in the correct orientation this time!) added after the break.

After a bit of a false start, Google's finally officially turned on Google Voice number porting for all existing users. $20 is all it takes to swap your main line over to the service, although you'll have to cancel your existing service contracts to make it all happen. The service is currently only for existing GV users, so you can't open a new account and port straight away, but Google says new accounts will get the option in the "next few weeks." So -- anyone out there going to take the plunge?

When we stumbled upon an $800 price for the Motorola Xoom yesterday, our instinctive reaction was to leap forward to the next obvious question: when? Well, that call has now been answered by an internal Best Buy document that's just dropped into our inbox, which explicitly pinpoints February 17th as the launch date for Moto's highly touted, Honeycomb-equipped tablet. Stock is expected to land at the big box retailer on February 16th, with the big party going down the day after. There's a note confirming that the Xoom will come with its promised 32GB of onboard storage, but anyone looking for confirmation or denial of the earlier pricing leak will be left disappointed. Guess we'll all have to set our calendar alerts for about a month from now and exercise patience in the mean time.

[Thanks, dajarbot]

Update: Our tipster has also uncovered a price: $699.99. That's a hundred green leaves south of  Verizon's supposed pricing and should soothe a few agitated souls.

It looks like Google has started rolling out Android 2.3.2 OTA (Over-The-Air) update for Google Nexus S users. The update is officially marked as Android 2.3.2 Build GRH78C and it is just 600KB in size. While we are not sure about the full official change log yet, but what we know is that it has fixed that nasty SMS bug which used to send text messages to wrong contacts.

If you haven’t got the OTA update notification yet, you can install it manually by following the instructions posted below.
Step 1: Download the official Android 2.3.2 update for Nexus S from here.
Step 2: Copy this file to the root of your SD card. (Nexus S users no longer need to change the file name to update.zip)
Step 3: Now power off your phone, hold down the “Volume Up” button, followed by the “Power” button to turn it back on.
Step 4: Now use the volume rocker buttons to navigate to “Recovery” option and then select it using “Power” button.
Step 5: Now when you see an exclamation mark –like image on the screen, hold down the “Power” button followed by “Volume Up” button.
Step 6: At this stage you should be presented with Android’s Recovery menu. Now select the option to apply the update from SD card, followed by selecting the actual update “.zip” file using the “Power” button.
Step 7: That’s it. Wait for the phone to complete the update process. Once its done, select “reboot system now” option to reboot your phone into Android 2.3.2 Gingerbread.

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Shortly after announcing their fourth quarter earnings, Google announced that their Co-Founder Larry Page is going to replace Eric Schmidt as CEO of the company. Schmidt is going to takeover as Chairman of Google.
Schmidt explained in a blog post:

For the last 10 years, we have all been equally involved in making decisions. This triumvirate approach has real benefits in terms of shared wisdom, and we will continue to discuss the big decisions among the three of us. But we have also agreed to clarify our individual roles so there’s clear responsibility and accountability at the top of the company.
Larry will now lead product development and technology strategy, his greatest strengths, and starting from April 4 he will take charge of our day-to-day operations as Google’s Chief Executive Officer. In this new role I know he will merge Google’s technology and business vision brilliantly. I am enormously proud of my last decade as CEO, and I am certain that the next 10 years under Larry will be even better! Larry, in my clear opinion, is ready to lead.
Sergey has decided to devote his time and energy to strategic projects, in particular working on new products. His title will be Co-Founder. He’s an innovator and entrepreneur to the core, and this role suits him perfectly.
As Executive Chairman, I will focus wherever I can add the greatest value: externally, on the deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership that are increasingly important given Google’s global reach; and internally as an advisor to Larry and Sergey.

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Developer Steven Troughton-Smith has managed to run MeeGo OS on Google’s Nexus S phone. He has managed to run it via rootfs image on the internal memory, which means that you don’t have to risk flashing your phone to get it running alongside Android 2.3 Gingerbread. This feat also marks MeeGo as the first non-Android based OS to have been ported successfully on the Nexus S.


If you are feeling adventurous, you can give MeeGo a go on your Nexus S. Beware though as not everything is functional at the moment. It is still a work in progress, which hopefully with time will improve.

So if you’re insane enough, you can try it yourself right now…
You will need to build a MeeGo rootfs first, in ext2 format. Use my kickstart as a base, it has a few niceties like adb support (i.e. the only way you can interact with it right now). With your image successfully compiled, copy it to linux/rootfs.ext2 on your Nexus S’ internal memory (completely safe, no flashing required).
My boot.img is here – you will need to use fastboot to boot it (fastboot boot nexuss-meego-boot.img), or you can flash it to recovery if you want to dual boot.
As seen in the photo, you won’t really be able to see anything onscreen, but you can use adb to get a root shell like on any Android device. Poke around, play with it, improve upon it, etc. Actually going much further than this is beyond me unless I can find some talented kernel hackers with Nexus S hardware to test on.
Go nuts!

And here is a video of it in action:


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 The Consumer Electronics Show is like a giant ice cream sundae – it’s big, wildly colourful, takes some real effort to get through and is a delicious mix of different ingredients. All covered in a glitzy Las Vegas sauce.
So what’s hot at this year’s show?
The technology trends at CES 2010 included: 3DTV, ultra-skinny HDTVs, motion-controlled gaming (Kinect and Sony’s PlayStation Move had yet to launch), not to mention early tablet prototypes, digital cameras, camcorders and iPhone-controlled Wi-Fi helicopters.
Many of the same key themes apply to CES 2011 and what you’ll see here tends to dominate the technology year ahead. So here are our hand-picked highlights of this year’s electronic expo…

Mobile phones 


CES 2011 isn’t traditionally a venue for big mobile announcements, but several tech titans chose to unveil new kit and new technologies. Before the show started, LG had revealed its Optimus 2X handset, featuring a dual-core Tegra 2 processor. The forthcoming Motorola Atrix 4G phone also boasts a 1GHz dual-core CPU.
Speed is just one mobile battleground for 2011; screen technology is another. The iPhone 4′s 3.5-inch Retina display has set an impressive benchmark and Apple’s rivals have been surprisingly slow to catch up.
That should change in 2011. The new Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc features a stunning 4.2-inch ‘Reality Display’; while the LG Optimus Black incorporates a four-inch ‘NOVA’ screen that promises unparalleled energy efficiency and brightness.
And just when we’d got used to the idea of Super AMOLED, Samsung has rolled out a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen for its new Infuse 4G phone. Nice.

Beyond dual-core processors and improved screen technology, there are several other new features we can expect in new phones. The Google Nexus S has already reignited interest in Near Field Communications (NFC), while LG has been demoing the Bluetooth-rivalling Wi-Fi Direct. 4G connectivity will also become more of a standard feature, using either HSPA+ or new LTE networks.

Tablets & Slates

Last year, the tablet PC market was embryonic – we still had our fingers crossed that the Courier prototype was real. It wasn’t. In fact, the tablet market didn’t really kick off until Apple launched the iPad in April.
Since then we’ve seen Dell, Archos and Toshiba dip their toes into tablet waters, while Samsung has turned tech heads with its 7-inch, Android-powered Galaxy Tab.
This was only the start. If tablet PC announcements at CES 2011 are anything to go by, 2011 will be the year of the tablet/slate/pad. Motorola, for example, has unveiled its smart-looking Motorola Xoom, a 10.1-incher running an early build of Android 3.0 (aka Honeycomb). Not to be outdone, LG is offering sneaky peeks at its G-Slate, which also runs the new Android OS.
Other manufacturers keen to jump into the tablet market include Asus, which has launched four Eee Pad and Eee Slate tablets at CES, and RIM, which is readying its iPad-esque PlayBook. Lenovo, meanwhile, has a 10-inch ‘LePad’ device.

There’s also been a lot of buzz around the Adam tablet from Indian start-up Notion Ink, while Acer is again showing off its Iconia tablet. It’s not the dual-screener that we saw last year. Instead, the A500 model features a single 10.1-inch display, Android 2.2 and Nvidia’s dual-core Tegra 2 engine inside.
As for the iPad, we’ve seen a variety of accessories and mods. The Fling iPad Joystick, for example, attaches to the iPad using gentle suction cups; while the iCade turns your Apple gadget into a mini coin-op arcade cabinet. Thinking about buying an iPad? Don’t. The technological leaps we’ve seen at CES suggest that the iPad 2 can’t be far off…

Android 3.0
While Android mobile phones wait for the latest OS upgrade to version 2.3 (Gingerbread), Google has been showing off its tablet-friendly Gingerbread OS (Android 3.0). If you buy an Android tablet in 2011, make sure it runs this…

3D

The 3D love-in at CES shows no sign of cooling. Like it or not, want it or not, 3D technology continues to be shoehorned into new TVs. Panasonic has predicted that 3D is an ‘unstoppable force’ and that a third of all new TV purchases will be of 3D models by 2014. Its new 3D plasma TVs look stunning.
But what sort of 3D will we be watching? Sony is betting big on Active technology and its HX929 telly certainly offers impressive pictures thanks to the built-in X Reality engine and edge-lit LED.
The HX929 is just one of 27 Bravia sets launching this year. Sony also has a new BDP-S780 3D Blu-ray player and is readying a 3D consumer camcorder for a spring release.
In contrast, LG is taking a different tack and has its corporate eye on ‘passive’ 3D. Its latest Infinia range of 3D televisions are using the technology, which uses polarised glasses rather than the more expensive Active Shutter system. LG also has the world’s biggest single panel OLED TV, a stunning 31-incher.
Then there’s Toshiba, which is showing a range of glasses-free, autostereoscopic 3D TVs at CES. Don’t scoff. The technology is getting better. Sophisticated view point overlay technology means you’ll even be able to move your head while watching the 3D content.
Of course, 3D isn’t just restricted to HDTVs. Both Sony and LG have unveiled 3D-capable laptops, while LG is demoing a 4.3-inch mobile touchscreen with a 480 x 800 pixel resolution that can be used for watching 3D videos or playing 3D games sans specs, much like Nintendo’s 3DS.
Finally, how about 3D surround sound? LG’s HX996TS home cinema set-up delivers an audio experience worthy of your local multiplex. And for the ultimate 3D experience, Sony’s 3D headset prototype drips Tron-style design and in-your-face mini OLED displays.

OLED
Speaking of OLED… Every year we ask the same question: “what’s happened to OLED?” The answer? It’s still coming. To whet our appetites, Mitsubishi has been showing off a 155-inch OLED display at CES, while LG has vowed to expand its own small line of organic LED sets beyond the current 15- and 31-inch models.

Computing
If you were expecting big things from Steve Ballmer this year, like us you’ll have been disappointed.
Microsoft’s keynote speech at CES was notable for what the company didn’t announce rather than what it did. The existence of Avatar Kinect, for example, was leaked before Ballmer took to the stage. Kinect itself will be coming to the PC this year. But Microsoft haven’t said exactly when.

ADDED FUNCTION: Cut and paste functionality is coming (finally) to Windows Phone 7

With one eye on the rapidly expanding tablet market, Ballmer did reveal that the upcoming version of Windows would be fully compatible with mobile ARM processors such as the Tegra 2 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragons. But seriously: how hard would it have been to do a tablet running the Windows Phone 7 OS right now?
And speaking about Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has sold over 1.5 million handsets since launch and plans to add copy/paste functionality into the next update. It’s a good start, although these numbers won’t have Apple or Google quaking in their boots.
Beyond Microsoft, Intel announced its new Sandy Bridge processor architecture in the shape of Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2600K desktop CPUs. AMD, meanwhile, tore the wraps off its new Fusion chips, which combine CPU and GPU processing on a single die. Ta-daa!
Elsewhere, Samsung’s Series 9 laptops caught our roving eye – they have a distinct and alluring MacBook Air about them. Similarly, the Razer Switchblade concept looks as if it’s been designed for playing World of Warcraft on the bus.

Everything else

As ever, CES is a melting pot of big-name products, ambitious peripherals and small-fry accessories like iPod docks, USB hubs and indestructible mobile phone cases. So you often need to look beyond the multi-million dollar displays into the carpeted back-alleys in order to unearth some of the show’s other gems.

• OCZ showcased a monstrous 4TB solid state drive (SSD)
• Nokia had a netbook running a build of the MeeGo OS, designed in cahoots with Intel
• Fulton Innovation demonstrated the magic of wireless electricity
• Nike+ and TomTom unveiled a new SportsWatch that keeps track of where you go

It’s been a good show. But perhaps not a great one. Dominated by tablet PCs/Android 3.0 and new mobile phones, previous themes like 3D have taken a back seat. Companies like LG have even dragged the whole ‘digital home’ concept back into the spotlight. Really? That’s so 2007…

What did you think was the most exciting announcement at CES 2011? Let us know by telling us what you think below…

Hackers have finally managed to port Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a jailbroken iPhone 3G. It looks a bit sluggish, but that is to be expected, everything else seems to be working fine as can be seen in the video embedded below.

http://twitvid.com/6SWN3 – For those of you in doubt, this is Android Gingerbread on iPhone 3G, apologies for the crap video

Also, since it is based on the iDroid project, you will be able to keep both iOS and Android in a dual-boot configuration on your iPhone.


 No word on the release date yet. We’ll inform you when it is available for the general public to try out. Till then, why don’t you go ahead and take out your old iPhone EDGE or iPhone 3G from the closet and try out Android 2.2 Froyo on it?

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As for the widgets we've seen so far, the first one to stand out is one dedicated to Gmail which, frankly, is about time. There's also a revised calendar look that just like Gmail lets you scroll through items from the home screen, a new browser widget, a revised contact widget, and what looks to a stack of YouTube links that shuffle through what we'd guess is a finger flick downward. Before you ask... of course there's picture frames and bizarre variations of an analog clock.


Gmail. If you've used it on the iPad or Galaxy Tab, you pretty know what to expect here. It's a two-column format with the menu on the left and the list of mailbox on the right, which shifts to mailbox on the left and specific message on the right when you dive deeper. All the standard features look to be present and laid out intelligently. We're not ashamed to say this is one the more exciting parts for us.



GTalk. A sleek two-column menu with contacts on the left and options for video chat. Video chat looks somewhat grainy, and you can switch between front- and rear-facing camera, mute yourself, and nix video altogether.



Books. Unlike the current Android version that simply tiles the books, the Honeycomb rendition we've seen stands the tomes up in a row that to browse through. It doesn't capitalize on screen space as much as, say, the iBooks menu, but maybe there's more options. Shop and search are stacked up clearly on the top right. Every instance of actually reading seems to rock the two-page format, but bear in mind we've only seen landscape mode so far.



Browser. Here's where it gets interesting. The browser appears to be more or less a variant of Chrome, none too surprising. There's tabbed browsing, incognito mode, and bookmarking. Add in a physical keyboard, and you've got a Chrome OS killer, ironically enough.

 

Keyboard. There's a few notable difference between the landscape Gingerbread and landscape Honeycomb QWERTYs. The symbols key have moved to above shift, a tab key has been placed in top left, delete is in the top right (as it should always be) with enter right below it and a second shift below that. The spacebar and comma are now both on the right and along the bottom row of keys (with secondary functions displayed in grey), and the spacebar now enjoys the company of emoticon, and forward slash on the left, and apostrophe, hyphen, and voice on the right.

Wrap-up. This is probably Google's most dramatic update to the Android platform yet, and clearly the one that really pushes its UI in a much-needed user-friendly direction. The open question now is how might this transition to the phone platform, if at all?

Two Android 'developer advocates' weigh in on the year's most closely watched horse race
A pair of veteran high-tech luminaries, both hired by Google (GOOG) within the past 14 months, chose this week to write on their private blogs about how they see the Apple (AAPL) vs. Android competition shaping up in 2011.
What's interesting is that they disagree.
Former Microsoft (MSFT) start-up evangelist Don Dodge, who posted his predictions Monday, neatly summarizes the conventional wisdom. In the horse race between Android and iPhone, he writes, "Both will win because they are playing different games. Android will win the market share battle, but Apple will generate bigger profits."

"Apple develops and controls the hardware and software on all their devices," he writes in The Next Big Thing. "The Mac has never had more than 10% market share, but has been extremely profitable for Apple. Apple goes for the high end of the market where they can charge high prices and enjoy great profit margins. Apple has been successful with this strategy multiple times, and will do it again with iPhone.
"Google has a very different strategy with Android. Google provides software (Android) for free, and makes Google search, Google Voice, Gmail, Contacts, Maps, Places, and other services work seamlessly with Android. Mobile search and advertising are the revenue streams for Google. The advertising revenues are certainly lower versus selling hardware, but the profit margins are very good."

Tim Bray, who left Sun Microsystems (JAVAD) in February and joined Google in March, sees it differently. "I'm less convinced," he writes in a piece posted Thursday on his Ongoing blog.

"The iOS ecosystem is something like the Apple ecosystem of yore, but the App Store bouncer at the door is a huge, qualitative difference. And the Android ecosystem, at least in its hardware-agnosticism, recalls Windows, but Google's business goals are so different that trying for historical analogies seems really risky to me.
"Anyhow, what do I think? I think Apple will sell a ton of devices because they're good, and superbly marketed. I think a bunch of people will sell a ton of Android devices because they're good and there are so many options for different needs and networks and price-points.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Apple shipped a cheap iPhone. And there's nothing fundamental in Android that would get in the way of a industrial-design and user-experience rock-star team, whether at Google or one of the handset makers, testing the hypothesis that these things are central to Apple's success.
"Which is to say, it would be sort of surprising, but not that much, if this time next year, dirt-cheap iPhones were competing against Androids that push the user-experience lever farther than Apple or anyone else ever has. In that scenario, where are the prognosticators' towers of sand?"

Google built the Cr-48 with hacking in mind, so it's no surprise that we're seeing other operating systems crop up. Still, it's fun to watch, and enterprising hackers have got most of the usual suspects up and running: first Ubuntu, and now Mac OS X and Windows. It sounds like a lot of work, and we pledged that 2011 was going to be the year we sat on our asses and didn't do anything hard, but you're welcome to give it a shot! Just hit up those source links below for instructions, and follow after the break for video of OS X in action.

Quick quiz: In 2010, did you purchase an Apple (AAPL) iPad or a smartphone, or sign up for Netflix? If you answered yes, congratulations -- you were part of at least one of the top tech trends of 2010.

The last year was defined by a broad range of significant technology trends and events, several of which stemmed from the iPad launch. Here's our list of the top 10:

1) Launch of the iPad: The iPad jump-started the tablet market in the big way. Sure, there were early pioneers in the market, like Apple's Newton in the mid-1990s and Microsoft's (MSFT) tablet launch in 2001, but it was the iPad that drew a flood of other me-too tablets to the market, from Dell's Streak to Samsung's Galaxy Tab. As James Ragan, senior equity analyst of Crowell, Weedon & Co., puts it: "The iPad launched the whole tablet segment and proved groundbreaking."

2) E-Readers Take Off: At least partly thanks to the iPad launch, e-readers like Amazon.com's (AMZN) Kindle and Barnes & Noble's (BKS) Nook gained far more traction in 2010. "We were so early in the S-curve of e-readers that the iPad helped increase interest," says Mark Mahaney, a Citigroup analyst. "The iPad exploded interest in e-readers, and that benefited Amazon." Jeff Bezos says the latest generation Kindle became the top-selling product in the company's history during the critical holiday selling season. Research firm Gartner predicts worldwide e-reader sales will soar 79.8% to 6.6 million units in 2010.

3) Cell-Phone Firms Develop Tablets: Cell-phone manufacturers have begun morphing into computer makers with the development of their own tablets. Samsung officially launched its Galaxy Tab in September. Motorola Mobility's CEO Sanjay Jha said his company is coming out with a tablet computer in the new year, as is Research in Motion (RIMM), which is planning to release its BlackBerry PlayBook in the first quarter.

4) It's All About the Apps: Still talking about the hardware features on your cell phone? That's so 2009. The bells and whistles of cell phones today are all about the software. The trend became even more apparent when the world's largest handset maker, Nokia, pushed out its longtime CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo in favor of former Microsoft executive and software veteran Stephen Elop in September.

5) Android Beats Apple iOS: Google's (GOOG) Android mobile operating system pummeled Apple's iOS this year, demonstrating how quickly things can change in the world of smartphones. During the third quarter, Android-powered phones jumped to the No. 2 spot in worldwide smartphone sales. Android captured 25.5% of the market, up from a mere 3.5% a year ago. Apple's iOS, which ranked No. 3, saw its market share fall to 16.7% that quarter from 17.1% in the year-ago quarter. That marked the first time Apple's iOS posted a year-over-year decline.

6) Wireless Goes Everywhere: Smartphones, notebooks and tablets made "mobility" a buzzword in 2010. "It was the year you could access the Internet over the wireless infrastructure from anywhere," analyst Raglan says.

7) Internet Stocks Boom: The year saw an Internet supernova as stocks exploded with triple-digit gains, leaving investors awestruck. From Jan. 4 through Wednesday's close, movie-rental site Netflix (NFLX) had soared 237% to $180.27 a share. "Netflix captured the greatest gains during the year, as consumption of video streaming took off," analyst Mahaney says. OpenTable (OPEN) blew up with a 190% gain to $71.88 a share, and Chinese search giant Baidu (BIDU) flagged a 141.7% gain to close at $99.11 a share.

8) Google Leaves China: Google's exit from mainland China captured headlines earlier this year, after the search giant and the Chinese government butted heads over censorship issues. In the end, Google lost the battle. The search giant created a landing page for Chinese users to access information from its Hong Kong site.

9) Companies Head for the Cloud: Cloud computing demonstrated strong growth in 2010, Ragan notes. Indeed. Earlier this year, research firm Gartner forecast that worldwide cloud services would see revenues jump 16.6% to $68.3 billion by the end of 2010. And by the time 2014 rolls around, those revenues are expected to reach $148.8 billion.

10) IPO Letdown: The prospect of hot IPOs from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn kept investors on edge for most of the year, but these companies left folks with long faces as none of them filed an S-1 IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission

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What Might Make the List in 2011

If you didn't participate in any of 2010's top 10, don't worry. The next year promises to come with its own set of hot new tech trends and key events. One of the first big tech events happens Jan. 4, when Motorola (MOT) plans to split into two companies.

As for trends, Wall Street analysts expect tablet computers to take an even bigger bite of the consumer-notebook market next year. They also forecast that some of the largest advertising budgets will migrate over to Internet videos from TV. And, of course, all eyes are watching Verizon Wireless with the anticipation that the behemoth cellular network will soon finally carry Apple's iPhone .

According to Hitwise data released today, Facebook was the most visited website in the United States for 2010. Facebook.com took 8.93% of site visits between January and November 2010. Google.com came second at 7.19%, Yahoo! Mail third with 3.52%, Yahoo.com came fourth at 3.30%, and YouTube was at fifth with 2.65%.


Facebook beat Google.com out of its crown this year. However, according to Hitwise data, all Google sites combined cover up 9.85% of all site visits. Which makes Google as a whole still more popular than Facebook.

The combination of Google properties accounted for 9.85 percent of all U.S. visits. Facebook properties accounted for 8.93 percent, and Yahoo! properties accounted for 8.12 percent. The top 10 Websites accounted for 33 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010, an increase of 12 percent versus 2009.

   The term “Facebook” was the most searched term this year. And the term “facebook login” came second, from ninth place last year. The analysis revealed the most searched terms were social-networking related, which accounted for 4.18% of the top 50 searches.

Top searches from various other categories include:

Personality – top 5 people searches
1. Kim Kardashian
2. Oprah
3. Rush Limbaugh
4. Miley Cyrus
5. Glenn Beck
Movie Titles – top 5 searches from within Movies category:
1. Star Wars
2. Paranormal Activity 2
3. Avatar
4. Transformers 3
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow
Music – top 5 searched for artists/bands:         
1. Lady Gaga
2. Justin Beiber
3. Eminem
4. Taylor Swift
5. Michael Jackson
Branded Destinations top 5 search terms:
1. Disney World
2. Disneyland
3. Six Flags
4. Universal Studios Orlando
5. Great Wolf Lodg
Top TV show searches from Television category
1. Dancing with the Stars
2. American Idol
3. Young and the Restless
The top generic search term was "hulu" within Television category
Sports – the top searched for athlete was Tiger Woods and the top sports team was the Dallas Cowboys from within the Sports category.
News and Media – the top searched for person was Bret Michaels followed by Tiger Woods and Sandra Bullock within the News and Media category in 2010.
Real Estate – the search terms "houses for rent" and "homes for rent", combined topped the combined searches for "houses for sale" and "homes for sale" in 2010 within the Real Estate category.

• Realtor.com was the top search term overall for Real Estate category.

Employment – Indeed accounted for 2.47 percent of all searches in the US among the top 50 terms for the Employment category in 2010 when combining common search terms – e.g., indeed and indeed.com.

In 2009, Facebook was the third most visited website, getting to the top this year came as a surprise. Although this was predicted before, and Hitwise came to the same conclusion back in March.   ] 


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