Google has introduced the Android Market, an online marketplace for developers to hawk the apps they’ve created for the search giant’s cell phone OS, Android. At first blush, the thing looks suspiciously like the iPhone App Store.  One key difference: the quality control aspect. Users will govern quality, rather than the proprietor of the marketplace.  Unlike Apple’s App Store, Google will apparently not have to certify applications that are offered, but rather use the “Web 2.0″ approach of YouTube, allowing users to vote up or vote down certain apps on a 5-star scale, creating the bubble effect: the good content rises to the top of the heap, while the poor ones get buried. Check it out.

Tags: android, appstore, google

In a previous post, we covered how to stream music to multiple rooms in your house using the iPhone (or iPod Touch) and Apple’s Airport Express. In that article, I mentioned convention home automation: turning lights on and off, monitoring rooms, etc. I’ll explain a few options using inexpensive hardware and software combinations.

I’ve been using various home automation solutions for about 10 years. The only affordable solution used to be X10. It worked reasonably well and is still supported by a number of free software projects (Mr. House, Heyu, etc.). In fact, until just a few weeks ago, I used Heyu as a bridge between my homebrew web automation interface and my X10 serial controller. While the flexibility and utility were fantastic, a few nagging issues helped me decide to take the next step: Insteon. (If you would like to know more about X10, Heyu and Mister House, a quick search online will yield a few days worth of reading.)

Insteon is X10 evolved. X10 was a passive system that sent uni-directional commands from the main controller (CM11A) to various X10 modules throughout your house over existing power lines. Installation: very easy, reliability: ranged from fair to take-a-wild-guess. The problem lies within the fact that most X10 devices are “stupid.” They listen for a command, and (if you’re lucky) perform a simple operation: turn on, turn off, dim, etc. Also, each module needs a specific X10 “id” that is usually set by a knob. Insteon eliminates both of these issues by giving each module a unique identifier from the factory (think of it like a MAC address) as well as the ability to respond to commands so that the controller (in this case the Insteon PowerLinc) knows that the command was recieved and can even check a module’s current status. Each module also acts as a repeater to keep signals strong throughout large installations.

There are several ways to automate your home and use your iPhone (or iPod Touch) to control it all. I will summarize two of the turnkey options available.

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Tags: home automation, Insteon, iphone, X10

Patrick Cushing wrote a review of the Apple Appstore the other day, and he included some tidbits about his experience using Wordpress’s iPhone RPC client, which allows you to post blog entries and manage a Wordpress blog from your iPhone. Here’s how he summarizes his experience:

As for the WordPress iPhone application — not bad. I don’t think I’ll write many more like this because this has taken forever, but I love that I can if I want to. It’s a bit of a pain without WYSIWYG, and typing HTML on a keyboard is tedious. It just means I would have to keep basic formatting with these posts.

I totally agree with Patrick, particularly on the WYSIWYG point. I didn’t even bother posting as soon as I noticed the editor was HTML, not WYSIWYG.  Anyway, check out the rest of Patrick’s post.

Tags: appstore, software, wordpress

Nokia’s N-Series phones are excellent geek hardware, and, depending on who you ask, the best cell phones money can buy.   The new flagship in the N-Series is the N96, and, while it’s not exactly an iPhone killer, it does have three features we wish the iPhone had.

The first of these missing features is removable storage. While just about all of the N-Series devices have a small removable storage slot. That extra gig would really go a long way, especially on the iPhone, whose iPhoto and iTunes apps tend to overflow its 16 GB solid state storage.

Another feature we’d love to see on the iPhone is the digital television tuner that comes standard on the European version of the N96.  With the iPhone’s large screen, watching TV would be more fun than on the N96’s little postage stamp screen.

Of course, the iPhone’s camera leaves a lot to be desired, while the N96 sports a Zeiss Optics 5+MP job with a built-in flash. And it will record video, to boot. Let’s see if  Apple is able to work any of these features into the next iPhone bump.

Tags: camera, n-series, nokia, storage

I’ve witnessed it for myself. I live in a wooded area an hour west of Detroit. Last week, no 3G. This week: 3G. Last month, I was surprised to find solid 3G coverage at a race track surrounded by farms in north-east Ohio when I couldn’t even depend on Edge connectivity in my house! However, last weeks 3G expanison has provided rock-solid voice and network connectivity in every room of my house.

So, if your fears regarding 3G’s coverage keep you up at night, try to sleep easier knowing that the 3G network is expanding steadily. The iPhone still works great over the Edge network, but having that high-speed bump when you need it for directions, email, and quick searches on the web really makes life easier.

Tags: 3g, coverage, iphone