The good folks over at Cerulean Studios have released the first public beta of their Trillian instant messaging client for Android. Having recently dumped my Nexus One to go back to iPhone 4, I have not had a chance to test this software, but knowing the quality that is the entire Trillian platform, I’m going to tell you to go download and install this client anyway.
They’ve engineered Trillian for Android to run on devices running at least Android 1.6, which means your 2-year-old G1 won’t be left behind! At the same time, users with the latest and greatest phones can enjoy shiny high-res graphics!
For anyone who lives on multiple IM networks (AIM, Facebook Chat, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ) Trillian is one of the original multiprotocol clients, having lived through the times when they’d frequently be clicked off AOL’s network. I’ve been using Trillian for Windows forever (their new Windows 5.0 beta is out, and it’s awesome as well) and have been using Trillian for iPhone since the day it was released.
Cerulean Studios have done a fantastic job of making sure their clients are native to the environment they’re running on, yet are all tied together by their Astra cloud platform. They also have clients for Blackberry and Mac OS available, as well as an awesome secure web client for getting to your IM’s on public computers. For anyone who is multi-platform as well as multi-protocol, Trillian is the best choice to keep your instant messaging contacts in sync.
I’m not sure I would have paid $29 for a copy of McAfee, but Intel decided it was wise to go all in and spend almost $8 billion to acquire them.
Of all the security companies out there Intel had their choice of, they picked one of the most bloated and ineffective scanning engines, and the one that has one the worst track record when it comes to false positives that eat your computer alive.
I can say that having spent almost 4 years managing their corporate suite, and having their software updates crash my systems (I eventually dumped their software for Microsoft Forefront) and rebuild my configuration multiple times, I’m not looking forward to them integrating their technologies on Intel chips.
(McAfee Press Release)
Oh Facebook, I was so excited when you announced your Places feature last night. I rushed to my iTunes account to update your client, and was so looking forward to dumping Foursquare and Gowalla. I even reserved this very post to talk about how anyone working for those two companies should start looking for alternative employment, like, yesterday.
Alas, you have failed me on the first try. I live in Kansas City, and while we may not be the biggest city in the country, it’s not like we’re out in the middle of nowhere. (Although it may seem that way if you’ve never been away from the coasts.)
It looks like Foursquare and Gowalla get to hang out on my iPhone a little while longer. In other news, I’m now the mayor of the local Ann Taylor Factory Outlet due to my wife’s shopping habits. Oh joy.
Update: Facebook has released an update (3.2.1) for their iPhone app (gee, that was quick) to fix some bugs, and explain to users outside the United States that the places feature is not currently ready for them. However, inside the US, no one I’ve talked to has been able to use Places yet. It’s been explained to me that Facebook is rolling out the feature gradually to users, which seems to kill any buzz or excitement there may have been for me.
I’ve made an Executive Decision here recently, and decided to drop the use of the Echo/JS-Kit commenting system on the site in favor of Disqus. Unfortunately comments have not been migrated from the old system (yet) so all of our previous stories show up with no comments. I hope to have this corrected soon.
The folks over at Coveroo have extended a cool offer to TechVirtuoso visitors, 15% off any of their customizable phone & mobile device cases. For not much money, you could easily put your company logo on the back of every Blackberry in your company. They have a really cool laser engraving and color logo application process that we’ll be posting up a review of soon, as soon as they get my custom iPhone 4 review unit* shipped out. They claim their logo application process is so strong that it will never fade, peel, or rub off your phone.
Just pick out your case and enter HOTAUG15 at checkout, and the 15% discount will be applied to your order.
They also frequently give away free cases to followers of their Facebook and Twitter feeds. What is not to love about that?
*FTC disclaimer: Review unit provided to TechVirtuoso by Coveroo at no cost.
I’ve never been one to have commitment issues. But my decision to move from the iPhone 4 to the Nexus One just couldn’t stick. Last month I wrote about what I saw as the flaws of the iOS platform and specifically the issues I had with the iPhone 4. I also wrote a glowing review of the Nexus One and I stand by (most) of that analysis. But yesterday I sold my Nexus One and will soon be buying an iPhone 4.
When I announced this “news” on Twitter and Facebook last night I think I stunned just about everyone of my friends and followers. I got a lot of questions like “What did Android do wrong?” but did get a few statements like “I knew you’d be back” … when I left last month, I didn’t intend to come back. But there were a few lingering issues that I just couldn’t get past.
Subsidies
The Nexus One I purchased cost me $529 direct from Google. So I take that phone and attach it to my AT&T account and then pay AT&T the same amount of money for my voice, data and TXT messages as I would if I were on a 2-year agreement. AT&T spends nothing upfront and makes a larger profit from me than it does for someone who spends $199 for a iPhone 4. The obvious benefit for me is that I can take my phone and go to another carrier, or cancel my account anytime I want. But here’s the kicker… my only real choice is AT&T.
Beyond the logistical issues of having every friend and family member I know being on AT&T (free mobile to mobile) and the fact that they have one of the better networks in the Kansas City area… Google for some reason designed two different Nexus Ones. One radio optimized for T-Mobile and one for AT&T. So if I decided I was fed up and wanted to move to T-Mobile, I’d basically cripple my phone by relegating it to EDGE network data speeds. And since obviously Verizon and Sprint are on different technologies, they’re not even something to be considered. Google would have been wise to use a radio that would work on both types of GSM networks, if that were possible. Realistically, I’m locked into AT&T, regardless of if I have a 2-year contract or not.
So the real question for me was, in order to make the value of owning the Nexus One “worth it” … was my experience with it more than 2.5x better than the iPhone 4?
Basically. No. (more…)
We’re pleased to announce that the winner of this weekend’s Lenovo A70z Giveaway is… Dennis Hwang (@dennishwang) – congratulations to him, he should be receiving his brand new all-in-one PC very shortly.
We had an overwhelming response and as a consolation prize to all our visitors, we’d like to offer you all a second chance to win!
Ivy Worldwide, which was our partner in giving away the last system, is conducting a survey of people involved with small and medium business, to get their opinions on technology purchases. It’s an easy, 15 question survey, that enters you into a random drawing to win a Lenovo A70z, as well as many other prizes.
There are some caveats, and there is no set cut-off date for the contest. When Ivy receives a sufficient number of submissions they’ll take that data and select a winner. Only people who complete the survey fully will be eligible to win, and you’ll need to give them your e-mail address as that’s how they’ll contact you to let you know you’ve won. Don’t worry, they’re good people and won’t give away your contact information to bad people. In fact, once the contest is over they’ll remove the contact data from their records forever.
We’re also looking forward to getting some other gear to giveaway in the coming months, so keep checking back for more awesome free stuff (and check back for our regularly scheduled IT content too while you’re at it.)
Complete the Survey
As I explained in a previous entry on Tuesday, I’ve made the decision to leave the world of Apple mobile devices for the land of Google Android. To briefly bring you up to speed:
Ever since the iPhone supported Exchange, I’ve been a huge supporter. I’ve spent two good years on the iOS with my iPhone 3G. … When the iPhone 4 was announced, I followed the WWDC keynote with great anticipation. I ooh’d and aah’d at all the advances in design and software. … (after getting it) Taking it home that night, I started to notice something was a little off with my phone. … (antenna issues) I dropped a few calls that weekend, including one to my father who seem’d to have lost my mother, but I could make due. … The view from most of the people within the Apple world was that it was firmware related, and would be quickly fixed. Then Steve Jobs opened his mouth. … I found myself deeply disappointed in the device and the operating system. Enough so that I’ve made the switch to Android.
There, now that we’re all up-to-date, I’m happy to say that my Nexus One is activated and I’ve had the last couple days to play with it. Having had experience with many different mobile device styles and platforms, including Windows Mobile, Palm OS (the original, not the WebOS) and iPhone, I can honestly say that the Nexus One and Android OS is the best mobile experience I’ve ever had. (more…)
The only thing we like better than getting toys to play with and review is giving those toys away!
TechVirtuoso, Lenovo, 21 other technology blogs, and Ivy Worldwide have teamed up to offer our visitors a free Lenovo A70z All-in-one PC. Each site is giving away their own computer, and this is the same machine that Frank Owen reviewed yesterday, except brand new and without his grubby fingerprints all over it! This is $1200 value that can be yours by doing two simple things!
- Make sure you’re following the @techvirtuoso Twitter account. (We’ll contact you via DM to let you know you’ve won)
- Tweet this message, exactly as it says below:
Win a Lenovo A70z PC by following @techvirtuoso and RT this! See http://bit.ly/bRPNRI for more details. #freestufffromTV
But wait! There’s more!
As a special treat for our regular visitors, we’re giving you a second chance to enter your name into the running. All you have to do (after you do the steps above) is comment on this post and tell us what you’d do with a A70z. Would you replace your current desktop? Put it in your kitchen? Use it as a kiosk at the office? The possibilities are endless.
The contest starts NOW (July 2) and ends on Tuesday, July 6. We’ll announce a winner here on the site and on our Twitter account. We’ll contact the winner directly via Twitter DM, with information on where to send us your name, shipping address, phone number, email, etc.
There is one small catch for our visitors, we can only give this unit away to those of you who live in the US & Canada. Sorry to everyone who falls outside that area, it’s not our computer and those are the rules. We’ll get something cooked up next time that has world wide appeal.
Hardware Specs
- Processor: 2.93 GHz Intel E7500 Core 2 Duo
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
- RAM: 2GB (max 4GB)
- Display: 19 in (diagonal) Widescreen LCD, 1440 x 900, TFT active matrix
- Graphics: Intel GMA X4500
- Hard Drive: 320GB Serial ATA-300 7200 rpm
- DVD-Writer
- Webcam: 1.3 megapixel camera
- WiFi: 802.11b/g/n
- Ports: USB 6 ports, Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T, Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, PCI Express Mini Card
- Dimensions & Weight: 2.9 in x 14 in x 18.6 in, 17.6 lbs
You can check out more specs and images or configure your own A70z, by visiting the Lenovo website.
More Contests
As we mentioned, we’re not the only site giving away this system. Each site will have different rules for their contents, and you’re welcome to enter as many or few of them as you like. But you can only win one system. We encourage you to enter as many times and visit these other sites.
When I think business class laptops, I think Lenovo Thinkpad followed by HP’s Elitebook. When I think business class desktop’s I think of HP followed by Dell. Lenovo is looking to change that.
The Lenovo ThinkCentre A70z touts it’s ease to upgrade as well as a low price point. The A70z ThinkCentre design is just what I have come to expect from Lenovo. Sturdy, simple and well designed even when it comes down to the packaging.
(more…)
