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Shantz

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Posts posted by Shantz

  1. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted

    I think it is. Apple, like any other company, protects its own interests (present or future). I dont know whether to call it good or bad, because I see such "protecting own (present or future) interests" practices by many other companies, not just apple. Google, by virtue of it giving android for free and not intending to make money out of android itself as they say, have nothing to protect as such, so they will allow anyone to make anything as long as Android is gaining traction. What they are doing with honeycomb notwithstanding, its still essentially only make money from ads etc (right?) Since its open, it would not have an issue with any competing manufacturers or platforms etc. its just two different ideologies of doing business. Neither is wrong.

    ^^ I agree. Both approaches have their own merits and both companies have the right to choose what they want to do with their resources and their OSs.

  2. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted

    @Achilles: the streaming is free for end users but the companies who are streaming it can be made to pay. And how many times do I have to repeat, Google hasn't "started" doing this. Firefox and opera are already shunning H.264 for many years.

     

    Android requirements have already been clarified by Superfrag. As I told on last few pages as well. Android is open, Google apps are not. If you want google apps and want to use Android trademark, you need to fulfill CDD requirements, if you don't want Google apps, you don't need to. You can take Android code and build/sell your own device without talking to Google even once. Guys like you who have never contributed to any open source projects and get all their "definitions" from apple blogs are always confused. This is true for a lot of open source projects. All of them varying degrees of licenses and for a lot of them you HAVE to fulfill their compatibility requirements to distribute your derivatives, and for most of them you cannot use their trademarks for your own derivatives.

     

    I never said Flash is the champion of open web. I said that when Apple blocks Flash, it is called "champion of open web" by fan boys like you, but when Google just drops native support for a technology, still allowing its usage through plugins, you come out all guns blazing saying they are closed? If you want h.264, you can use a plugin. This is called open. If you still want native support, you can still download chrome source and compile it with native H.264 support. This is called open.

     

    Facetime is based on open standards but others are not? Dude, while you speak from Apple presentations, I speak from experience. I have developed commercial video conferencing solutions and coded for them from very own hands. Almost all of them are all built on open standards. But building on open standards doesn't mean the end result is open. Just like all the solutions I coded are closed and not compatible with each other, FaceTime is closed as well. Why declare it as an open standard when till 1 year later you don't have anything to show for it. Heck, they don't even allow anyone from outside mac/ios world to talk to it or even apps in their own ecosystem.

     

    Anyways, explaining all this again and again to you is a waste cuz guys like you are so blinded by how Apple "interprets" open that writing these walls of text is probably OHT for you (or some times I feel whether you even bother to read it at all lol) Come back and talk when you have more information than reading wikipedia and macworld blogs.

  3. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted · Edited by Shantz

    Ah, the android apple fights of yore :wub:

     

    Let's just face it, there will always be a section of the crowd who will not look beyond iOS. Likewise for Android. Each OS has their own glaring niggles. Live and let live folks! :P:bigyellowgrin:

    I'm actually more than willing to look beyond Android. I have such a long list of gripes that I have with Android that even Apple fanboys can't have. Since you, rithvik, gaurav etc get my twitter feed, you would know I do call out Android and Google for all that they do wrong. I do not feel pride in defending them or anything. The only thing I am against is FUD that people spread. I'd switch from Android in a heart beat if I had a better alternative but for now it is the only option to suit my needs out of all the mobile OSs (all of which are lacking in one way or the other). I might even switch to RIM's new platform or webOS pretty soon especially because I have a lot more important role in RIM's devices as compared to Android and it gives me more development satisfaction.

     

    The only thing I am contesting is how dropping native support for H.264 is going to support development of other codecs. All that will result in is the few people, who used to access H.264 video natively through the HTML5 video element, to start using the Flash plugin. If Google really wanted to promote WebM, Theora etc., why not have YouTube serve video, exclusively, through those codecs? Would that not result in more innovation in the development of these open codecs?

    People don't need to use flash. MS has already released a H.264 plugin for Chrome. They are dropping native support because they don't want to expend energy on it and want to move away from it. The mechanics of changing this for a service like youtube vary greatly so they are also going to remove it from youtube slowly as it would have a much bigger backlash. WebM support for youtube is being rolled out gradually just like they started rolling out HTML5 some time back. Once WebM gains critical mass, then it would be the time to remove H.264 from youtube. They have time till 2015 to do this.

     

    Pre-emptive action to protect oneself from a company's possible anti-competitive actions (I don't see how they can do all that you said they can with antitrust laws in place) in the future is not open innovation. I was merely commenting on the reason you claimed — this isn't a big deal for Chrome users let alone others.

    Anti-trust may or may not be applicable for them. MPEG-LA is a body with many patent-holders. It is not a single company. They also have the authority to charge fees differently depending on number of users, amount of video streamed, etc just like anyone else and can easily outwit Google. Besides, they wouldn't want to bank upon courts to save themselves from losing one of the biggest parts of the company which is going to be even more important in the future.

     

    Again, they are not setting a trend here but following one. As I mentioned, the biggest browser of them all "Firefox" already doesn't support it natively. Nor does Opera. And they have all given the same reason as I mentioned for this lack of support in the past as well. That is why, I don't see why it is a big deal.

  5. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted · Edited by Shantz

    Is it though?

     

    The reason cited is "to enable open innovation". http://blog.chromium...-in-chrome.html

    I think it is pretty safe to say that most Chrome users consume H.264 video, including Google's very own YouTube, through the ubiquitous Flash plugin. Even more so because Chrome doesn't natively support H.264 any longer. I don't see how such a scenario helps in the development of WebM & Theora video codecs.

    yes. It is to enable open innovation because right now MPEG-LA is locking in as many people and companies as possible into H.264 by allowing free usage but their license clause allows them to begin charging whenever they please. The fees amount will also be upto their whims and fancies and can run into millions of dollars putting many small start ups out of business. The clauses also allow discretionary charging so the patent holders can pick and choose to put a rival company of their choice out of business overnight by charging them much more than the others. I don't know why people are making such a big deal out of Chrome dropping the support when Opera and even market leader firefox don't support H.264 natively from the very beginning because of this very reason. Chrome is just following them, not creating a new idea.

    Moreover, they are still not "blocking" H.264. As mentioned by you, H.264 is still consumable through flash and all of them do allow other plugins too for users still wanting H.264 support without flash unlike a certain fruit company which blocks one of the most widely used web technology, which is gauranteed to remain free and allows you to develop your own implementations without licensing issues, and still heralded as the champion of open web.

    Edit: Another point. Google mentions in their post that they want to direct their resources towards other codecs instead of spending the same on H.264 development. It is completely their prerogative where they spend their energy and money on. They don't want to spend it on H.264 but if anyone else wants to work on it, they are not stopping them either. In a similar way, Apple just stopped their own Java versions on mac and started directing users towards openJDK for future support. Why is again that not questioned when this is?

  6. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted

    So they have a problem with the name and not what the app actually does? It can do something downright illegal if it has the right name. :lol:

     

    Score.

    Emulators are not illegal. Names are. There was a DMCA complaint against it by Sony and hence has been removed. Google will remove any app that is infringing someone else's copyrights.

     

    And don't even begin to talk about open standards. Apple has spearheaded industry standards more than probably any other company. Android supporters get this out of your head, free is not open. Open source is not open standard. There is a difference. Google so ardently (supposedly to oppose Apple & iOS) supports Adobe Flash and removed support for H.264 from Chrome, which is an industry standard pretty recently.

    lol open standards...

    H.264 is patent encumbered and anyone using it is liable to pay huge amounts as and when MPEG-LA demands. That was the reason behind chrome dropping it, not open or closed. Also, chrome dropped "native" H.264 support. You can still use plugins for it.

    Also, if you think H.264 is an "industry standard", Flash is even more so. It is used more widely on the web than any other competing technology, has full specifications available to general public, has many alternative non-adobe implementions available to be used.

     

    Apple fanboys like you are the ones who use "open" words more than anyone else. You pounce on anything and everything Android and label it a contradiction to open even when you don't even understand what open is or if the matter at hand does not even relate to being open. Apple keeps promoting everything it does as being open and you boys keep lapping it up like there is no tomorrow. Facetime was supposed to be an "open standard". I haven't seen as much of even an API doc from Apple for it.

  7. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted

     

    It's a new day. New FUD.

    I tried the OTA thing with Google. The problem was that the address book in Google does not have as many category headers and does not accept new ones. For eg. If I have the number for a restaurant saved according to it's location instead of simply using "mobile/main/work" etc., Google won't pick it up.

    You seriously take FUD spreading to new levels..Do you do it on purpose or you are too dumb to use a phone or service?

    Google and Android support at least 7-8 built-in headers and also support custom ones. When you choose a label for a phone number, right below home/workl/mobile etc, it says "Custom". Any custom labels you create for any phone numbers WILL be sync'ed back and forth.

    You can also create custom groups for contacts and those will also be sync'ed back and forth.

  9. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted · Edited by Shantz

    Worst part is, when I enabled google contacts sync, it added all those dumb flipkart, amazon email IDs into my OSX addess book and completely messed it up! I had to start from scratch and had to completely clean up my google contacts, which is again why I said bypassing google is what I want.

    That's not an issue. It is all in the settings. There are two ways to solve it.

    1. You must have enabled the option in gmail to add any person as a contact to whom you send email to. You can disable this option.

    2. You can leave the above option enabled and instead go to the account settings in your contacts app on android for the gmail account and set it to sync only any particular groups you want. This way you can have as fine a control you want over what contacts you want synced and what you don't.

     

    Before I forget, freedom from that sucky iTunes is priceless.

    True. That is one big reason I may never switch to iOS. You have to do everything through itunes for iOS but I use linux and they don't even have itunes for linux.

     

    Oh, there's one cool feature android offers. Cross app interaction with limitless possibilities

    Yeah, I just love this so much. Apps can interact amongst themselves so easily. e.g. The other day I coded up a simple app that turns the plume notifications on and off through a widget instead of me having to go into settings etc. (Though I later replaced the app with tasker. Tasker is such a brilliant app. I use it to control so many things and other apps behavior on the phone)

  10. The Mobile Phone Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted · Edited by Shantz

    Guys, I'm looking to buy a new phone for my wife. Requirements are:

    1. Should be sturdy. It's going to endure a lot of short falls and maybe even bites (courtesy Shantz Jr.).

    2. Excellent battery life. Lots of calls through the day (Around 3-4 hours of calls). Should last at least 1.5 days with this.

    3. Should look good, support high capacity memory cards and good music quality

    4. Good camera

     

    Price no bar. Any suggestions?

     

    PS: So far, only things that have hit me are Nokia C5 and Samsung Wave 2. Are they good options?

  12. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted · Edited by Shantz

    The bolded part. You misunderstood me. Android can't be used properly without Google's everything.

    That is a common misconception.

    1. You don't require "gmail". You require a Google account. Without an account, how would you do anything in any eco-system? DUH.. Don't you have an Apple ID for the same purpose?

    2. You don't even require a Google account per se. If you don't have a google account, you can still use Android fully. You just can't use Google apps which require an account for personal stuff which should be available only through authentication. Google apps that don't require authentication can still be used.

    3. Google allows third parties to provide same services on Android that they provide, so again having google account is not a necessity. You can choose to use any competitor's service.

    4. Google allows you to use third party apps after authentication for accessing even google services.

    5. Again, how does a desktop app "by google" to access something "that requires a google account" make Android more open? :ko:

     

    Done with your FUD for the day?

     

    RDF. Really? I'm sure the 39.5 Xooms and 67 Galaxy Tabs sold till now would have sold millions if Steve Jobs had launched them in a keynote. Like the first Macbook Air. Or the Apple TV. It's nothing to do with the product itself.

    NUMBERS. Yeah, right....

  13. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted · Edited by Shantz

    ^^ Outlook mail/contacts/calendar don't involve any google services. They connect directly to your exchange server. About syncing woes, I think there is seriously some issue with your phone as you seem to have a lot of sync, notifications, etc issues which many others including me have never faced. Probably something special to Galaxy S? But then I don't see other Galaxy S folks complaining about it.

     

    But yes, a desktop sync app in addition to the OTA mechanism would be welcome but I don't see/expect them to do it.

  14. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted · Edited by Shantz

    Please tell me an easy way to sync my outlook mail and calendar with Android. No? Or an easy way to sync my existing outlook or windows/OSX address book with Android? No! Please tell me an easy way to sync my existing music collection and apps with my phone without additional work like third party applications? No? Right!

    Well, its pretty simple. I do all that already without any 3rd party app. Only music "syncing" isn't there. But you can simply copy your music to your device. if you really want to sync music, yes you have to use 3rd party apps for now but the new Google music will even allow music syncing over the air. I actually find google approach much easier. You buy a new phone, login with your existing google account and everything will sync to it over the air easily. No need to tether to a PC. I'd want a desktop app though if I was into gaming because they require large downloads.

     

    Er..that would be Google really being open. But it's not about that. Rubin would just change the definition again.

    Er.. Please enlighten us why having a proprietary desktop app to sync stuff with your phone will be more open as compared to providing built-in OTA mechanisms along with APIs for anyone else to create apps for the same on any OS instead of restricting you to even desktop platforms? :ko:

     

    Nah. Your explanation has to contain atleast one of "bootloader, GHz, open, open-ness, evil, tegra 2, dual core, OMAP, free, ads, open, RAM, choice, widgets, root" to make sense here. What the hell is wrong with you? Y U No Speak Android?

    What to do? :( In the regular world outside RDF, we don't work with MAGIC

    • Like 1

  16. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted

    What Superfrag said in reply to your and DS' posts. There are plenty of geeks who do care, and if they were gonna go with unlocked bootloaders and had enough community support, I might one day get an SE phone as against sticking to the Nexus line when I'm looking for a phone a year or two down the line.

     

    For those who aren't geeks (by your assumption that they could care less about OS versions, bootloaders and such), SE phones should be good enough cos they work smooth on stock with their MediaScape or Timescape or whatever that interface is called. For those who're even dumber, there's always iOS :P as evidenced by the American masses ordering large quantities ;) Whatever reputation SE lost was lost among the geek crowd, the kind that write reviews more than the commoner. So yeah, they do regain a bit of the same if they go the distance to unlock bootloaders.

     

    That is not all. Why I say this is a brilliant move is because this is a solution to the problems that carriers/OEMs face with providing warranty services with messed-with phones and hence lock them down completely for everyone. This creates a new avenue where you are giving out your IMEI and hence signing off of your warranties which makes the situation amicable for both sides. So, those who want to use their phones normally can continue to do so but those who want to mess with them don't have to waste time on hacking them and playing cat and mouse games with the OEMs in finding/patching exploits.

  19. The Android Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted

    You know when you say use tasker, why don't you put in a link or a how-to with it instead of making us ask "How exactly?"

     

    Is this what you're saying btw? - http://androidforums.com/android-applications/226070-tasker-phone-security-profiles.html

    yes, something like that.. And I don't put in a "how exactly" with tasker because I assume you would know how to use google and tasker manual. If you don't know either of the two then it is best to not use it because you are going to mess up something.

  25. The Old Cricket Thread

    in General Chatter

    Posted

    thats ok. We indians also do that but the shittiest moment was a re-toss at finals of wc.

    Wtf. Fk u sanga.

    well dats every keeper does in da world ;) ... no biggie :P ...

    Karooo has generally seen the keepers only in Brian Lara cricket, cricket 99, ashes cricket, street cricket champions, etc etc that's why he doesn't know that :P This was his first real cricket match :P

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