Flipboard, Your Social Magazine

Read your favorite website content in simple beautiful way.

Pixlr Online Photo Editing - Recommended

Pixlr is an free online photo editor that works great if your not on a pc that has photo editing software or if your restricted on a company computer.

My New Touchpad and Thoughts

Checkout my new Touchpad review.

Baseball Collector's Dream Site - Zistle.com

Great place to keep track of your card collections online.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

CyanogenMod’s latest HP TouchPad Android video shows WiFi, Android Market


HP TouchPad Angry Birds Rio

The CyanogenMod team has posted a new video showing the progress developers have been making in porting Google Android to run on the 9.7 inch tablet. We’ve already seen the benchmarks to show that Android performance is pretty good on the tablet, but now we can also see that CyanogenMod has come a long way since the team’s last video — when Android already looked pretty good on the TouchPad.
Major updates include support for WiFi, basic audio support, and limited support for the Google Android Market (although it looks a little funky on a 1024 x 768 pixel display).



HP TouchPad Android Market

The accelerometer is also now working, which means you can automatically rotate the screen simply by changing the position of the tablet from portrait to landscape or vice versa. You can also play video games that use the tablet’s motion-sensing hardware.

Not everything is working perfectly just yet though.

While the HP TouchPad has a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core processor, it’s only using one of those cores in this latest demo — and there’s a mediaserver app which is using most of the CPU cycles. The CyanogenMod team is working on those problems.


There are also still some applications that don’t work. For instance, the official YouTube app doesn’t work, but you can use a web browser to watch videos from the online video site — but playback is still a little choppy.

CyanogenMod 7 is a custom Android distribution based on Google’s source code for Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It includes some tweaks for tablets, but the team won’t be upgrading to Android 3.2 Honeycomb anytime soon, since the source code isn’t available. Instead they’re waiting for Google to release the code for Ice Cream Sandwich, the first version of Android designed to run on both phones and tablets.

In the meantime, Gingerbread has a few key advantages over the webOS 3.0 software that originally shipped on HP’s tablet. First, there are hundreds of thousands of third party apps that can run on Gingerbread, compared with about 6,000 apps for webOS — and that includes high quality eBook readers and other apps that are sorely missing for webOS.

When running webOS, the TouchPad can also feel a little sluggish at times. When surfing the web, the tablet seems to fly. But I’ve spent a fair amount of time waiting while launching applications or flipping between apps that are already open.

HP has also discontinued production of webOS hardware, and while the company has promised to keep the operating system alive by looking for partners to license webOS for their phones, tablets, or other devices, it’s not really clear at this point how frequently we’ll see new software updates or third party apps for the platform. So installing Android (even an unofficial version without support form HP) could help make the tablet more useful and provide some hope of future (and equally unofficial) software updates and improvements.

The CyanogenMod 7 team won’t be releasing their Android port for the HP TouchPad to the public until some more of the kinks are worked out. But progress the team is making is pretty remarkable.

Source: http://liliputing.com/2011/09/cyanogenmods-latest-hp-touchpad-android-video-shows-wifi-android-market.html

Friday, September 16, 2011

HP TouchPad: Homebrew patches that improve productivity


It is estimated nearly a million TouchPads have been sold by HP, making it one of the top-selling tablets behind the iPad. True they were sold at ridiculously low prices, but there are a lot of buyers happily using a darn good tablet as a result.
One of the strengths of the webOS platform is the homebrew development community building patches to the system to improve operation. Many of these are designed to give better performance by altering things behind the scenes, while others improve core apps to make them better serve the user’s needs. The letter patches (available through the PreWare system) add features that become part of the core app once applied. Here are some good patches that make the apps work better.
UberCalendar HD. The Calendar app on the TouchPad is a decent application, but missing some functionality that this patch adds. UberCalendar adds a wonderful agenda view in the left pane of the display that displays all events collected from the view on the right-hand pane. The patch also adds a host of settings that can be enabled through the Calendar app preferences. While the standard Calendar app defaults to Day view only, this patch lets you choose the one you prefer (day, week, month). It is a primary example of one of the major advantages to webOS over other platforms: the ability to patch core apps instead of writing whole new apps to replace them.
ThumbNav Browser Controls. The TouchPad browser is very good, but the simple menu this patch adds makes it even better. With a simple swipe in from either the left or right edge of the display, a little menu pops up on the side of the screen presenting common tasks such as Next, Previous, and Add Bookmark. You can also fire off another instance of the browser to do other things. The ability to do these common tasks without moving you hand to the top of the screen is far more useful than you might think.
Browser Power Swipe. For those wanting an easy method for moving back and forward in the browser, this patch adds simple gestures to perform that function. Just swipe back to return to the previous web page or forward to go to the next page in the sequence.
Launch with Folder View Minimized. The email app in webOS is very good, but this little patch suits my preferences better. The Folder View normally displays on the left, showing email folders (Inbox, Starred, etc.). Since I almost always work in the Inbox folder, I was always collapsing this Folder View pane to devote more screen to the actual email. This patch does that by default.
Always Show Previous and Next Buttons. This patch adds buttons facilitating moving back and forth between individual email messages in the email app. They appear at the bottom of each email to make it a simple tap to move up or down in the messages list.
There are other patches available in the PreWare homebrew system and it is worth scanning through them to see if there are others you might find useful. The patches I have listed here are easy to use yet add a lot of functionality to my daily TouchPad usage.

Source: zdnet.com

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

HP TouchPad Not Charging? How To Fix


Many customers have complained that their HP TouchPad tablet will not charge and get a message stating the connected charger isn’t supplying enough power to charge the device.
The TouchPad charger is two pieces which twist apart. If they are not fastened correctly and tight, the tablet will not charge and/or you may get the error message.
Simply unscrew the top off, and then screw it back on snug making sure writing on the side of the connector are aligned correctly.
Most of the time this is a simple fix and you’ll have your TouchPad back up and playing. If not, you may need to contact HP.
Hope this helps many of you!

HP's TouchPad likely share gains show Android's tenuous tablet position


HP’s TouchPad—and the $99 fire sale that came with its death—will slow the market share gains for Android tablets, according to IDC.
IDC said global media tablet shipments surged 303.8 percent in the second quarter compared to a year ago — to 13.6 million units. IDC is forecasting 62.5 million units for 2011, up from its previous outlook for 53.5 million units.
That overview, however, is a footnote to the market share battle in tablets. As everyone knows, Apple’s iPad is top dog with 68.3 percent market share. RIM grabbed 4.9 percent of the market with its PlayBook and Android tablet share fell to 26.8 percent in the second quarter, down from 34 percent in the first quarter.
The upshot is that Apple and RIM thwarted Android’s tablet advance. RIM’s showing was solid overall, but the real hit to Android market share will come from HP’s TouchPad.
HP killed the TouchPad, but its liquidation sale was a hit. IDC said:
IDC expects many consumers who were on the fence about buying a media tablet to scoop up $99 TouchPads as a result of HP’s decision to end production of its tablet product. IDC expects close to a million TouchPads to ship into the channel before the end of the year. As a result, WebOS’s worldwide market share is forecast to reach 4.7% in 3Q11. However, with no clear plan to license or sell the OS to other vendors, IDC expects WebOS market share to shrink back to zero by 1Q12.
The bottom line is Android’s tablet share will fall to 23 percent in the third quarter before rebounding in the fourth quarter. It’s clear that price matters and Android tablets need to become less expensive in a hurry to gain market share.
In fact, Android’s tablet march looks downright shaky for the likes of Motorola, HTC, Samsung and others. Consider:
  • A soon-to-be-defunct tablet derailed Android market share.
  • An Amazon tablet will give consumers more choice with a quasi-Android device.
  • A year from now there will be Windows 8 tablets available.
None of those items are good for massive Android market share gains.

Source: ZDnet.com

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Touchpad Incredible App Review


It has been more than a year in the making, and incredible! is finally ready to hit the catalog. Geoff Gauchet (the developer also known as "Zhephree") has sent us the final version of his social streaming application for the TouchPad to show you what all of the hype is about. He also wanted us to let you know that incredible! is on its way to the webOS App Catalog right now, and should be available within the next few days. This is the very same app that we raised over $1500 earlier this year for, and now we finally get to answer that question, "Was all of the hype worth it?"
If Glimpse by Inglorious Apps is an extension of webOS multitasking in the form of an app, incredible! is an extension of webOS Synergy. It was made to bring all of your social streams into one place so that you don't have to access multiple apps to keep up with your entire network, and to give you complete access to manage what content is most prominent in your stream at any time. The app itself wasn't designed to allow you to manage the settings of those accounts or check your private messages; instead think of this as a way to more productively watch your Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Foursquare streams throughout the day (similar to Google Reader for social networks), and you'll start to understand why this app is still very useful.
You also aren't going to have access to a search function right away, either, which can be a bit of a bummer to those of us who like to keep up with the latest Twitter trends or look at all of the latest updates from someone on Flickr. At first this was a pretty major problem for me, cause I'm always doing searches to find what people are saying on various topics. But as I continued to use the app and get to see how it all works, I realized that you aren't supposed to use this app like a typical Twitter client. incredible! is a very different beast, indeed!
So how do you use it? Geoff has designed the app to put a lot of focus on the stream of content that is going through right now, rather than on what might have happened in the past. The main view is setup into three typical webOS 3.0 panes which, from left to right, show your action bar, the stream of content, and the details pane for individual items. After you've gone through the steps on first launch with setting up all of your accounts, these three panes will be lit up with activity that's going on right now, and if you set everything up wisely, you'll never skip a beat.
Before I explain how filters work, it's important to understand how to post updates or reply to messages. In the top left corner you'll find your "Send" button, which will give you access to updating specific accounts individually or all of them at once. I was a bit confused at first on how to change which account I was updating, but you'll notice in the dialog box that appears after tapping "Send", that there is a drop-down button in the bottom left corner (it will show your default account until tapped). Select that and you'll see a list of all of your groups and accounts that are available for that update or reply (obvious limitation here: you can't reply using Twitter if the item was posted on Flickr). Once you've selected the accounts that you want to post to, the other buttons should look familiar: adding a link, photo, location or smiley emoticon is as simple as tapping the buttons that are below the text field.
If you want to post to multiple accounts at once, you'll need to create a new "Group" using the menu option in the top left corner. Each group that you create will consist of multiple accounts from Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or Foursquare; and can have any combination and number of accounts included at once. Once you add the appropriate accounts and name your group (I have one called "Personal" and another called "Work") you'll have a new option available when posting a new item that will allow you to select that group for updating. Just as when you would select either your Facebook or Twitter account from the dialog box, now you can select your recently created groups to update or send pictures to all of those associated accounts at once.
With your accounts and groups now setup, you can start getting to the real meat of incredible!. You don't just have to view the same stream all day as life flies by; incredible! has a built-in filter system that makes these updates dynamic and intuitive. The easiest way to see this is by tapping the "Photos" icon in the left sidebar, which will then display all posts from your accounts that have photos included. Or you can tap on the "Filters" icon (which is just above Photos) to break down your stream by account or type. Where things get really cool, though, is with a feature that Geoff calls "Rules".
In the same way that Gmail allows you to create filters in your email based on the content, subject line or author; incredible! allows you to create rules that perform specific actions based on the author, content, account or service that the item is from. First tap and hold on an item that you want to create a rule for and then follow the instructions to set that rule. With this feature I am able to hide certain spammy people from my stream and highlight others so that they stick out more amongst all of the noise. You can even create custom rules with code that Geoff provides on his website, making the possibilities of what to do with these rules completely limitless. I've created a rule that searches for mentions of PreCentral and highlights them in my stream as Blue, but you might create one that keeps your best friend right in the foreground of your social life.
There are some other really nice touches that Geoff has included in the app. Images appear within the stream itself as thumbnails and websites show up in the details pane so that you can see them all at a glance before deciding to get a closer look. You can change the background image of the app to be one of the three pre-defined ones in the preferences, or to even pull in the background that you use on your Twitter account. You can also choose to use someone's real name rather than twitter handle while looking at their other accounts and updates, which makes being on a social network a little more... well.. social.
The app isn't without its downsides, though. Where other apps have spoiled us with pull-to-refresh, incredible! is stuck with a refresh button that activates each time you tap it. You also can't save images to your device or copy the URL to whatever item you're looking at to share it (though you can favorite it). Tapping on hashtags and other links open up the default web browser, which is certainly fine, but I'd have preferred to see it all within the app itself. There is also very sadly no JustType support, which means I'll have to open the app directly before updating any statuses.
The app itself looks fantastic and feels really good. It does lack a few features, but I think I'll find myself using it as my daily driver for keeping up with my networks. For managing my accounts or checking private messages and such, I have other apps like Facebook or Spaz HD that I can use if needed (and I will be needing them). As Geoff has said in his latest blog update, though, he still isn't quite finished with it and updates might still be incoming if enough people demand something specifically, but he's going to take a break for a little while to let it all soak in before jumping back on the development wagon.
incredible! is coming and we're excited to see it arrive. It fills a much needed hole in the webOS app catalog as a beautiful and fast social network application that syncs with four major networks that are out there. We won't say it's perfect (what app is?), but we will say that it'll be worth the money once it hits the app catalog. 
For smartphone owners, there is still hope to be held. Geoff has mentioned in his blog that he will continue work on it in due time, and will hopefully have a release sometime in the future.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Fullscreenweather.com - Best Radar Weather Streaming App

Fullscreenweather.com is an interactive radar map that show the radar and temperatures.  Storm tracking is a great feature that lets you know what direction the rain is going. Besides just working great on the desktop, this website also works great on the HP Touchpad. 



The storm tracks feature is under the setting menu in the top left of the screen. Click on the radar selection and hit play to view the rain direction of movement.

I use this website anytime that it's storming or the possibility of a storm. From my experience it's been very accurate.

Be sure to check this website out at http://www.fullscreenweather.com


Monday, September 5, 2011

Flipboard, Your Social Magazine.


flipboard review
Since the first time launching a few years ago, apple iPad has a lot of great application that produced by many App vendors. one of the most interesting App for iPad is Flipboard.
Flipboard is social magazine app that able to display content of websites, blog, social magazine feeds, article, image and video uniquely like a conventional printed magazine. Flipboard is not a new App for iPad because this App already runs since 2010 and until this article created Flipboard entering to the version 1.5 and still one of exclusive application for iPad.
With simple interface and ease use of operation, and capability exclusive content support from various of website, online magazine, and popular blog makes this application become “must have” App for iPad user. And also support from social media website like a Facebook, twitter, linkedin and others makes more interesting, just imagine all the content from your most favorite blog and your social media timeline Facebook and Twitter displayed and packaged at the one display with beautiful flip effect.
For everyone that hobby to browse, read the article from website or blog, you should try this app, you will feel very comfort, have a better browsing experience. It’s sounds like advertorial post, but this is what i really feels using this app :D
And the good news is until now this app is still free. Yep still free! You can download this app flipboard at here
Image credit: http://filpboard.com
My addition: I trying out flipboard on a friends iPad and it's one of the best apps I've seen.  Read everything like a book.  I hope they bring this to the HP Touchpad and webOS.

New Blog Look

I was tired of the dark theme and have decided to change the look of my blog.  You may see some odd things as I'm in the process of changing it around.  Hope you enjoy the new look.  Be sure to check back to see the progress.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Pixlr Online Photo Editor - Recommended

Pixlr is an free  online photo editor that works great if your not on a pc that has photo editing software or if your restricted on a company computer.



A picture of me when I was in the US Air Force.

Pixlr works very similar to Photoshop. You can open a photo from your pc, picasa, facebook or even from a URL. It has the same basic functions as Photoshop such as layers, filters, adjustments and more. This is definitely a website I recommend trying out. Click on the link below now.

http://pixlr.com/editor/

Saturday, September 3, 2011

webOS Pivot September issue now available; Always Learning

Another edition of webOS Pivot, the exclusive App Catalog Magazine for the HP TouchPad, has been pushed out to devices on schedule this week. In this September issue of the magazine, the Pivot team takes a look at education, learning and the information superhighway (the internet) and how your TouchPad can get you connected with it.

As is usually the case with Pivot, this edition will give you a list of books to check out in the Amazon Kindle app to get your fall reading list set. You'll also see 23 total apps shared over 42 pages that cover a multitude of activities and interests. No matter what type of life you live, Pivot will have you covered with finding at least a couple of apps that you will want to download. Whether you're a student who needs to get Study Buddy HD or Pix for your homework, an amateur chemist who likes to have the Periodic Table on hand at all times, or if you just need to watch you caffeine intake to be sure you don't suffer from the affects described in Death By Caffeine HD.

Check out webOS Pivot on the HP TouchPad right now by launching the App Catalog and waiting for it to download in the background. Then let us know in the comments; what apps did you download from this issue?


webOS Pivot September issue now available; Always Learning | The #1 HP webOS, TouchPad, Pre, and Veer Community | PreCentral.net:

'via Blog this'

HP Touchpad and Skype to Skype

This will be a tutorial on how to my Skype to Skype calls within Touchpad.

1. Open your contacts from the app menu.
2. Click the edit pencil in the bottom right hand corner.
3. Scroll down to "New IM Address"
4. On the right hand side click .MAC and select Skype.
5. Click save.

That's it.  Now make free Skype to Skype calls. Hope this helps.

Update: I've managed to to Skype with video from desktop to Touchpad and iPad to Touchpad with success.  Happy Skyping.

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More