Pinboard (guardiantech)

Playing with Fire: what it's like to make an app for Amazon's smartphone >> GeekWire

guardiantech — 2014-07-12T10:32:18+00:00

Dave Cotter and Bruno Botnivik of SquareHub:

We liked one-handed shortcuts, and determined we could take One-handed reading further, similar to how Amazon has done this in their Silk browser. Using the Dynamic Perspective Motion Gesture APIs, we wired up the family news feed, so you can read the news feed easily with one hand, just by tilting the phone backward slightly. We then coupled that capability with the Head Tracking API so that we can detect when the user is looking at the family feed and scrolling accordingly, and then stop scrolling if the user’s head turns away from the screen, or if the distance between the phone and the user’s head is above a certain threshold. No fingers involved. Improved information display was a real win for our app. The Fire Phone’s Home screen carousel enables app widgets, which we used to display recent messages and additional context for family communication in a richer way than traditional phones. Two key things we discovered about Amazon’s app widgets in comparison to those on other platforms: First, they are really easy to develop, and second, customers don’t have to configure ANYTHING to use them. We believe this will be a great time-saving feature, since you don’t have to jump into the app to see recent activity.

Amazon Fire TV first impressions >> PVRblog

guardiantech — 2014-04-07T20:04:04+00:00

Matt Haughey:

The biggest failing is that end users (that's us!) don't get a truly Universal Search. If you search for "Bob's Burgers" (arguably the best network animated comedy show today) on Amazon's Fire TV, you get results that you can buy any single episode from their 4 season run for $1.99 each or a full season for $29.99. I'm a member of Hulu Plus and Netflix as well, and installed the apps on the Fire TV, but there's no mention of them in the search results or even after clicking the "more ways to watch" button. On Netflix, you can stream the first couple seasons of Bob's Burgers for free. On Hulu, you can watch the latest episodes from the current fourth season for free as well.
Now, I know Amazon is in the business of making money and would of course want you to buy the episodes from them, but Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos got famous for putting a customer's needs first (The Bezos Doctrine) before profits. Of course, Apple doesn't offer this kind of search on AppleTV either, but if anyone would have been crazy enough to give free streaming options before paid downloads, I would have hoped that Amazon Fire TV could be the first, but sadly it's not.

Don't miss his Venn diagram of "stuff that is good to watch" v various streaming options either.

Galaxy S4 FIREBALL ATE MY HOUSE, claims Hong Kong man >> The Register

guardiantech — 2013-07-29T16:17:15+00:00

According to Mr Du, he was playing a quick game of Love Machine on his Galaxy S4 when it exploded into flame, causing him to cast it onto the alarmingly flammable sofa and thus gutting his whole house.
Thankfully no one was seriously hurt. Both Du and his wife got out of their Hong Kong apartment with minor injuries as the Swiss publication Le Matin. In other words, Samsung is off the hook.

Samsung Galaxy S3 explodes, turns young woman into 'burnt pig' >> The Register

guardiantech — 2013-07-15T14:27:26+00:00

According to a report in the French-language Le Matin of Lausanne, Switzerland, 18-year-old Fanny Schlatter was on her job as an apprentice painter, loading paint cans into her boss' truck, when her smartphone exploded in her trousers.
"All of a sudden I heard a sound of explosion-type firecracker," Schlatter said (according to Google Translate), "then I felt a strange chemical smell and my work pants began to catch fire."

"Burnt pig" was Schlatter's own phrase for the smell from her injured leg. A lithium-ion battery fire, apparently. (Thanks @Smurfuhrer for the link.)

Sand won't save you this time >> In the Pipeline

guardiantech — 2013-04-10T08:04:35+00:00

Carrying on from dioxygen difluoride (aka FOOF):

In a comment to my post on putting out fires last week, one commenter mentioned the utility of the good old sand bucket, and wondered if there was anything that would go on to set the sand on fire. Thanks to a note from reader Robert L., I can report that there is indeed such a reagent: chlorine trifluoride.
I have not encountered this fine substance myself, but reading up on its properties immediately gives it a spot on my “no way, no how” list. Let's put it this way: during World War II, the Germans were very interested in using it in self-igniting flamethrowers, but found it too nasty to work with.
…It’s been used in the semiconductor industry to clean oxides off of surfaces, at which activity it no doubt excels.

Maybe mention this stuff next time someone tells you how hard their job is. (Thanks @allanedwards on Twitter for the link.)

REVIEW: Kindle Fire is no iPad killer - but it is a killer device >> Chicago Sun-Times

guardiantech — 2011-11-14T06:51:09+00:00

"The Fire is by no means a dumb device. It’s just that it’s more of a “hall pass” than a real computer. I can research, write, and file a 2,000 word article on my iPad, complete with photos imported from my SLR. The most ambitious thing I could accomplish with the Fire would be to receive a Word file attached to an email from my editor, make some cuts and changes, and then email it back. "I’m sure that the Kindle Fire team sleeps soundly, regardless. Through all of the Fire’s features and the ways that the device presents itself, Amazon clearly wants to define the Fire as a content device with tablet-ish bonus features available to users who wish to seek those functions out." Generally, he's positive about it; his point though is that it's not an iPad or a personal computer. Compare and contrast...

Kindle Fire searches twice as big in UK as iPad >> Experian Hitwise

guardiantech — 2011-10-05T05:32:49+00:00

"It was only a couple of months ago that I was blogging about the online battle between the iPad and Kindle. Back in August, iPad dominated the UK search market, with twice as much search volume as the Kindle. Amazon’s announcement last week of a new backlit tablet to challenge the iPad, called the Kindle Fire, has turned the market on its head." People really, really want to know about Kindle Fire. This isn't actually good news for Google, but it's great news for Amazon.