Adobe’s Flash to HTML5 tool released

In a battle that’s been brewing longer than my coffee, Adobe’s finally starting to capitulate in Apple’s crusade against Flash. They’ve released an AIR tool, “Wallaby”, that lets developers convert Flash content to HTML5. I’m glad to see them try to make things work – it’s pretty obvious that Apple’s not going to change their mind anytime soon, and the more content available on iOS, the better. And although it’s still in very early stages, the tool seems to work decently well.

HP promises WebOS across all their PCs

I’ve heard some rumors before that HP might try to push WebOS out on PCs in the future, but certainly didn’t expect to see an announcement any time soon. But in from official announcement, from 2012 onwards, all HP computers will be dual-bootable with Windows and WebOS. I appreciate and understand the mentality of providing a unified experience across all devices, but don’t quite grasp how they think the mobile operating system will be useful on a traditional PC. No complaints from a consumer’s perspective – I’m all for more options. I’m just not sure the effort’s worth it on HP’s part; hopefully they’ll prove me wrong.

Android’s number one

We all knew this was coming, but Android’s formally secured the spot as the most popular mobile OS in the United States. Given the insane number of Android devices on the market, the 31.2% market share makes plenty of sense. Granted, at a 30.4% share, BlackBerry could easily rise to the top – but in the long term, I don’t see things changing too much.

iOS 4.3 drops

In preparation for the iPad 2 launch, iOS 4.3 went up for download on the 9th. There’s nothing mind-blowing here, just some small tweaks and updates: Personal Hotspot functionality on the iPhone 4, better JavaScript support, Home Sharing, and some AirPlay fixes. And sadly enough, support for the iPhone 3G was dropped.

iPad 2!

Apple’s iPad 2 was finally released to anxious lines of nerds at malls nationwide. 1 GHz A5. 1024×1768 resolution. Two cameras. 10 hour battery. Enough said.

Do you go crazy thinking about WebOS on a PC? Wait in line for an iPad 2? Any other thoughts about the last week’s news? Drop a comment!

Windows 7 SP1

In what feels like forever, Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 has finally been released to manufacturing. It seems that few new features are being bundled with the update, but security and stability tweaks are abound. It’s interesting that it’s taken this long for Microsoft to come out with SP1; I’d like to think that the initial release’s large install base, coupled with SP1′s backend nature, means Windows 7 is headed in the right direction.

Touch(pad) me baby

Wow. This is quite beautiful. HP’s dropped official word on their tablet strategy, plus two new phones. Their flagship tablet, the Touchpad (previously known as Topaz), will be coming at an undisclosed price sometime later this year. It’s running WebOS 3.0 on a 1.2 GHz dual-core Snapdragon, and totally eliminates all traces of Palm branding. In addition to the Touchpad, the Pre 3 and Veer were also unveiled, the former being a beefier iteration of the Pre 2, the latter being comparable to the Pixi at the size of a credit card. What really excites me are the possibilities for integration between HP’s tablets and phones; the ability to sync webpages by tapping the two together was *touched* on. I think HP’s really nailed the balance between design and functionality; outside of the iPad, this would now be my tablet of choice.

Sprint and Kyocera rock some dual-screen Android

For those of us who just can’t survive without email on one screen and a browser on the other, Kyocera’s Echo device promises exactly that. Announced by Sprint at an “industry first” event, the Echo sports two 3.5″ displays on top of a 1 GHz Snapdragon. It’ll without doubt have its fair share of bugs (Android 2.2 being one of them), but the concept is interesting. The idea of a dual-screen handheld’s been around since the days of the Nintendo DS, but has never been well-executed on a phone. I’m skeptical about the design going mainstream, but it’s serving a currently overlooked niche.

Nokia ditches Symbian

In a massive victory for Windows Phone 7, Nokia has partnered with Microsoft to offer the operating system across new devices. Even though I’ve never really been familiar with Symbian (and there’s probably a reason for that), I’m glad to see WP7 gain momentum like this. I’ve always been a big believer in the concept of the platform as well as its Metro UI, and really hope it takes off.

AOL goes shopping

AOL’s been doling out the cash the past few months, most recently in their acquisition of The Huffington Post. Outside of this particular deal, I’m curious to see what AOL will be doing with HuffPo, About.me, and TechCrunch; their entire strategy seems fairly disjointed. They rebranded a while back, but I’d like to see them drop a huge bomb with one brand-new integrated experience. Deep down inside, I guess I wouldn’t hate it if AOL succeeds. </oprahmoment>

Pandora files for IPO

This one’s been coming for a while, but I certainly didn’t expect Pandora to drop an IPO at this very moment. Coming right after LinkedIn’s offering announcement, Pandora’s looking to raise $100M from stock. They’re largely unprofitable at the moment, but both their impact on the music industry and their potential advertising reach should make for a compelling investment. I’ll definitely buy a few shares.

Smartphones beat PCs in sales

In a statistic that echos the future of computing, total shipments of smartphones just eclipsed those of PCs in Q4 2010 (100.9 vs. 92.1 million units, respectively). A quick walk through Best Buy is quite telling on this trend; all the innovation and rapid change is in smartphones and tablets – not PCs. Stating the obvious? Yes, but it’s still cool to see these predictions come to light.

Lusting after a Touchpad? Could you see yourself using a dual-screen Android device? Going to buy any Pandora stock? Hit me up!

This is my attempt at starting a quick, weekly wrapup of current tech trends with an injection of my opinion. I’ve recently been wondering how much of my blog-reading is actually retained, so I thought about taking some notes while going through my RSS reader. But I’d rather get in the habit of sharing with everyone else. So here we go.

You’re welcome to just read the relaxing green text to hit the high points.

Verizon iPhone

February 10. Pretty self-explanatory. I’m really tired of hearing the phrase “Verizon iPhone”, but it’s nearly impossible to not mention when discussing recent tech news. Rumor has it that Verizon’s been in talks with Apple since 2008, although VZW was never a contender for the original iPhone.

Tablets that aren’t the iPad

Motorola Xoom

We’re now hitting the point where Android tablets are starting to catch up to the iPad. The Motorola Xoom, LG G-Slate, and Galaxy Tab are the most compelling three in my eyes, although new ones seem to pop up daily. Plus, Android 3.0 Honeycomb looks absolutely beautiful; an operating system that’s being built solely for tablets (for the time being) will make this new hardware really scream.

More 3D TVs

OMG3D!

People can’t seem to get over this one. The concept’s been around for a couple years, but got an even heavier push at this year’s CES. Between random trips to Best Buy and at this year’s CEDIA, I’ve seen plenty of the devices, but I’m still not sold; cumbersomely wearing glasses to stare at a headache-inducing image just isn’t attractive. And even though attempts are being made at eliminating the glasses, there’s plenty of barriers that need to be broken.

PlayStation cracking and resulting legal kerfuffle

What’s crackin’, yo? George Hotz, the fellow responsible for a smattering of iPhone jailbreaks, has done the same with the PlayStation 3. His FAIL0VERFLOW project allows for custom firmware, which in turn allows for pirated games and software that’s not blessed by Sony. A California restraining order followed, but was put on hold due to the fact that the coding was done in New Jersey.

Mmm, Ice Cream Sandwich

While most Android users are still waiting to get ahold of 2.3 Gingerbread, it’s looking like Google’s on track to release 2.4 “Ice Cream Sandwich” sometime this summer, likely at Google I/O. Faster speed and better Flash support is rumored, although I’m somewhat confused by the naming. If 3.0 is Honeycomb, I’d think 3.1 would be Ice Cream Sandwich for the sake of keeping the alphabetical progression intact. Not to mention the mouthful that “Ice Cream Sandwich” is. And get this: the added “Sandwich” seems to be an attempt to avoid confusion with Froyo when Google rolls out their Android replicas. Shenanigans.

iOS 4.3

Developer betas of iOS 4.3 have been seeded. The update has awesome new multitouch gestures for iPad multitasking, and also brings the ability for iPhones to create a personal hotspot. Unfortunately, it looks like support for the iPhone 3G is being dropped, which is pretty bad news for me. Good thing it’s just in time for the Verizon iPhone. Arrgh, I said it again.

Misc

I also stumbled across this really cool “Connected Store” concept from Intel. The future really is fresh; I can’t wait until every conceivable surface is a screen.

Thoughts? Anything I blatantly missed? Think I can crank one of these out every week?