What Is Friday Flick Find?

Friday Flick Find at TechPatio is my way of highlighting a video I’ve watched in the past week, that I really liked or found interesting. Note that it’s not Friday Flickr Find, it’s just “Flick”, as in movies… So watch this category, Friday Flick Find, I will post my first entry tomorrow. It’s an amazing … Read more →

Summary: Apple Q3 2009 Quarterly Financial Statement

Here’s a summary of some of the highlights from Apple’s Q3 2009 results, announced yesterday. Note that Apple’s fiscal year does not follow the calendar year, their fiscal year ends in September so their third quarter results are more like second quarter Apple call it their “Best Non-Holiday Quarter in Apple History” Apple turned over … Read more →

iPhone 3GS In Malta By Vodafone Late October

Steve Jobs with iPhoneSorry non-Maltese readers, you will probably not find this one that much interesting. However, I know a lot of people in Malta are getting really impatient waiting for the iPhone 3GS to arrive in Malta and Vodafone doesn’t seem to be willing to release any information at all, not even an expected release date. When iPhone 3GS was first announced by Apple they said, I believe, that both Malta and Denmark would be receiving the iPhone 3GS On July 9th (as I recall). Three danish providers (Telenor, Telia and “3”) recently announced that they will start selling the iPhone 3GS on July 31st, that’s 3 weeks later than the expected date by Apple.

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iTunes Now Syncs With Palm Pre Again And Android

Last week Apple released an update to iTunes breaking the “compatiblity” allowing Palm Pre to sync with iTunes. Shortly after the stock price for Palm dropped, though it’s not certain that the two events are actually connected. Nevertheless, say hello to Salling Mediasync – an application that’s been around for quite some time allowing iTunes … Read more →

Mobile Apps To Become “As Big As The Internet”?

Unless you’ve been living offline for the past year or so, you probably already know what kind of success Apple is experiencing with their App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch. Many other handset makers are trying to get in on the action by launching their own App Stores, so far not with the biggest … Read more →

Google: Chrome OS Will Be Free Of Viruses

Chrome_OS_logoAttention all virus developers: Queue up at the unemployment office, cause Chrome OS will not be vulnerable to viruses, according to Google Engineering Director Linus Upson in an interview with New Scientist magazine.

“We are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.” says Linus Upson.

Google Chrome OS is based on Linux but unlike traditional operating systems, most of Chrome OS will take place in the cloud. Meaning, much less stuff to download to your computer, with possible virus and malware included. Security experts are said to believe this will improve security.

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A Day At The Patio – Attacked By Flying Bugs, I Wonder What Kind?

P1050357I’ve spent most of my Sunday out on the patio relaxing, enjoying the sun and so on. When suddenly the peace was interrupted by a flying monster, yelling out “mayday, mayday” as he approached my sunbed at an unbelievable speed and without any sign of stability at all – like if he had lost a wing or something.

Crash!

Right there, next to my sunbed, was this huge bug on his back trying to get back on his feet and take off again. Well, to be honest, it was probably only around 1.5″ long or something like that, though I’m not sure what kind of bug this actually is, any ideas?). He buzzed around for a few minutes when I decided to go grab my camera and shoot a few close-up pictures of the beast, just in case he transformed into something really scary, I would need pictures to prove what I saw. It didn’t, though.

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Get Rich Schemes – How To Avoid Internet Scams & Phishing

Uncle Scam Wants YOUR MoneyIn his “Atlantic City”-song, Bruce Springsteen sings:

Now I been lookin’ for a job but it’s hard to find
Down here it’s just winners and losers and don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line
Well I’m tired of comin’ out on the losin’ end
So honey last night I met this guy and I’m gonna do a little favor for him

When it comes to “get rich” schemes and Internet scams, don’t be a loser and get caught on the wrong side of the line, no matter how tempting the offer might be. We’ve all tried to receive e-mails saying that a rich uncle of ours, that we never heard of, died in a country far far away and we can get all his millions of dollars if only we transfer some money down there first to cover the expenses and so on. What happens – you never see your “cover the expenses”-money or the money from your rich uncle. While this kind of scam is so old, people still fall for it.

But that’s not biggest threat.

What really sucks, are the phishing sites. They can be really, really hard, to spot.

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Palm Pre and iTunes Don’t Play Nicely Anymore

Apple just released iTunes update 8.2.1 and with that new update, Apple also made sure Palm Pre will no longer work with iTunes. Palm Pre works by “telling” iTunes that it’s actually an iPhone/iPod and apparently Apple doesn’t like that and they previously said they do not intend on supporting Palm Pre. The official description … Read more →

Sony Ericsson GreenHeart: C901 & Naite

Sony Ericsson GreenHeart - Naite (left) C901 (right)
Sony Ericsson GreenHeart - Naite (left) C901 (right)

Sony Ericsson recently announced two new environmentally friendly mobile phones from their new GreenHeart line. Sony Ericsson “GreenHeart” is the result of a long commitment to try and avoid using dangerous chemicals in design and production.

Sony Ericsson C901 GreenHeart is the first high-end product in the GreenHeart line, it comes with an electronic user manual within the phone, rather than a paper manual. This reduces 90% of the paper. The phone also comes in a smaller package to reduce the costs of transportation. The device is produced of at least 50% recycled plastic and it’s equipped with a sensor that automatically adjusts the displays brightness to match the surroundings, which is nothing new though, but I assume it could be a bit more aggressive on the C901 than other phones? Sony Ericsson used a water-based paint to color the phone to avoid “volatile organic compounds”.

Sony Ericsson C901 GreenHeart also ships with the WalkMate application that allow users to compare their walking steps (pedometer) with the equivalent distance if covered by car. When it comes to the technical specifications, C901 GreenHeart is not bad either. It comes with a five mega-pixel camera with auto-focus and Xenon-flash. It supports smile shutter and face recognition, best-pic, red-eye reduction, PictBridge and photo blogging. Obviously the C901 also has a mediaplayer, stereo bluetooth, e-mail, games and FM radio with RDS. Sony Ericsson C901 GreenHeart comes with the MH300 GreenHeart headset also made partial out of recycled plastic.

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10 Unknown Tech Heroes That You Would Not Have Been Without

marty_cooper_motorola

You know the names Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and other celebrities in the IT industry. None of these IT-celebrities would be making a name if it were not for a bunch of rather unknown tech heroes who made the really big discoveries.

Swedish PC World has compiled a list of the ten largest technology heroes in the IT industry. How many have you heard of before?

  1. Marty Cooper
    As an employee at Motorola, Marty Cooper in 1973 filed a patent application for a radio telephone system. He was also the first person who ever made a telephone call to a mobile phone. Cooper said that he got the inspiration for the invention from Star Trek… how cool is that!
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  2. Mike Lazaridis
    Mike Lazaridis moved to Canada from Turkey when he was five years old. When he was 12 years old, he won a prize for having read all the books in science in their local library. In 1984 he jumped to his studies and started the company “Research in Motion” (RIM), which later developed the mobile phone Blackberry.
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  3. Tony Fadell
    Fadell had an idea and tried to sell it in different places, eventually he became employed at Apple. In 2001 Apple launched its first iPod, which quickly became a success worldwide. Fadells name is mentioned often when Apple prefers to keep the spotlight on another person within the company. Fadell was promoted to Senior Vice President of Apple’s iPod division in 2006 but stepped down in 2008 to work as an adviser for Steve Jobs.
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Congratulations, App Store – 1 Year Birthday

It’s been one year already, since App Store was launched along with the iPhone 3G. When App Store was first launched it came with around 500 applications and the next weekend they had already 10 million downloads. Nine months later, Apple’s App Store reached one billion downloads and had over 35,000 applications in place. No … Read more →

Grab Energy Out Of The Air And Charge Your Devices

You probably have tried it several times already, running low on battery – or maybe even empty – with your mobile device. Specially if you have an iPhone or other similar media-fancy device, thanks to all the power hungry technologies such as 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, big touchscreens etc. Fear no longer, cause Nokia is having … Read more →