Control dreams with your iPhone

A Japanese smartphone app lets you maximize the time you spend every night sleeping. Yumemiru takes the self-help craze of the ’90s to new scientific heights by leveraging the bundle of sensors in your smartphone. The app utilizes microphones to detect when you’re in REM sleep, the point in the night when you begin dreaming and also the moment when you are most susceptible to suggestion.

The free app has eight different scenarios to choose from, including a walk in the forest, getting rich, flying and for those romantically disposed, a scenario that stimulates dreams of love tailored for both men and women. After selecting the type of dream you want to drift off into, the app runs in the background and detects the time passed before you go into REM sleep.

Once you have entered REM sleep, the soundtrack begins to stimulate your dreams. What strikes us as most interesting is the addition of friction-less sharing; encouraging users to share their dreams via social media is a nice way to get people’s dreams to stick with them throughout the day (ask any lucid dreamer!), which is an age-old mind-hack that helps the dream ‘stick.’ It’s this feature that could be most useful for making this app a genuinely useful tool for innovative thinking.

Microsoft's labs for HTML 5

Microsoft wants to give Web developers a way to get their feet wet with emerging HTML5 technologies.

Today the company is launching HTML5 Labs, a standalone site that will include demo code for two cutting-edge HTML5 technologies that aren't quite finished: Web Sockets and IndexedDB. Developers who want to try to build sites with either specification will be given code that Microsoft plans to keep updated as each one progresses on its way to becoming a stable part of the standard.

In a phone interview with CNET last week, Jean Paoli, general manager of Microsoft's Interoperability Strategy Team said that the labs site was born out of the need for developers to experiment and use new types of code long before something is ready to market. But more than anything, people were just asking for it.

"We are receiving a lot of questions from people wondering when will HTML5 be ready," Paoli said. "Our response is that HTML5 is ready to be used today using Internet Explorer 9. So you can use whatever is stable from HTML5 in IE9. And for anything experimental, you can play and try things using the prototype."

Paoli said the prototypes should by no means be used on production sites. The reasoning behind this (besides the prototype moniker) is that these standards simply aren't yet finished, so a site you make with a prototype one week has a good chance of being completely broken as soon as there's an update.

"Sometimes it takes six months, one year, one year and a half, two years in order to have what's called a stable standard," Paoli explained. "So today browser vendors have to make a choice of appearing to support emerging standards...and providing developers with a production-ready platform to support the stable standards."

The problem this creates, Paoli said, is that trying to build those not-quite-yet-ready standards into browsers is that things can become unstable or suddenly insecure--as has recently become the case with Web Sockets, one of the two included draft technologies that make up HTML5 Labs' initial offerings.

"For the portions of HTML5 that are not stable, we believe we are going to produce prototypes, we're going to produce code, we're going to produce software that is not meant to be used to create your Web site," Paoli said. "We're going to ship this prototype code on the HTML5 Labs site, and this code is going to be timed, or it's going to be in debug mode, or it's going to be in this stage where we're saying 'this code is going to change a lot, don't use it in your Web site!'"

This release technique isn't just for developers looking to make their sites work with Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft's HTML5-friendly browser that's currently in beta. Instead, it's efforts like HTML5 Labs, and individual testing pages from other browser makers that will push things forward.

"It's important to have this prototype out there because it helps people who are in the standards body--who are trying to design the best standard for this particular technology--to actually play and experiment with software that actually implements this piece of paper they're trying to design," Paoli said.

In other words, you can spend all the time you want talking about how these specifications should work, but you still have to give it a test run every once and a while. And as an end result, the standards you're working to make stable might get there faster. "This will take care of those unstable specifications such as Web Sockets that are extremely important for the Internet but are not finalized for wide consumption," Paoli explained.

HTML5 Labs goes live today with these two standards in progress, with others to follow throughout next year. "We are going to be updating this site with multiple prototypes during the year," Paoli said. "We don't know which ones yet, but we're working on defining and understanding what are the other unstable standard specifications we need to work on to be able to advance the conversation."

Windows 8 does not get start button

Hitting the Web over the weekend, screenshots of the new Windows 8 build display the "super bar," but without the start button orb on the left, according to The Verge. Build 8220 will be the final version released before the beta, now known as the Consumer Preview, debuts before the end of the month.

Until its untimely (or timely) death, the Windows 8 start button located in the Metro UI offered access to the search, share, devices, and settings panels. The Windows start button in the desktop simply returned you to the Metro UI.

To replace the start button, Microsoft will reportedly turn that space into a hot corner, sources told The Verge. Hovering your mouse or swiping your finger over that spot will bounce you back and forth between the Metro UI and the desktop in an attempt to offer a more consistent experience between the two environments.

Fans of the traditional start button may not be happy. But The Verge believes the move is final given that Microsoft has been chewing on this decision for awhile. On the plus side, the super bar will retain its Windows 7 functionality as home to pinned shortcuts for launching your favorite desktop applications.

Windows 8 will also sport an enhanced "charms bar," a group of transparent icons that provide access to key features, added The Verge.

The charms bar can actually fill in as a replacement for the defunct Metro UI start button by offering links to the search, share, devices, and settings panels.

A number of Microsoft users have expressed concern over Windows 8's reliance on the Metro UI and touch-based input. PC users in particular have complained that the new UI doesn't lend itself as easily to navigating via conventional mouse and keyboard, at least as seen in the current Developer Preview.

Acknowledging the concerns and tweaking some aspects of Windows 8 in response, Microsoft has promised that the new Consumer Preview will be more user friendly for traditional desktop users.

45 special about Android OS

Here are the 45 special features about Android (all versions including ICS)

1. Android browser is Fast, Stable, supports Flash, and is more reliable compared to any of Competitors like Apple iPhone Safari Browser and Window’s Internet Explorer for mobile.

2. It has support to Browsers other than its default browser. Like Dolphin Mini, Dolphin Mobile, Opera Browser, Opera Mini and many other browsers.

3. Android allows you to add widgets to the Desktop. You can use those widgets on PC as you use them on mobile.

4. You can switch On/Off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Mobile Network, GPS Instantly from Notification Tab. You don’t have to navigate into hundreds of options.

5. Most of the apps, I should say almost all the apps have the access to notification system, which lets you quickly access the Application in background.

6. If you like to configure things yourself then Android is the stuff for you. It helps you to customize your Mobile in your own way.

7. The best part “Android Market” helps you choose your favorite App from more than 6 million Quality Applications.

8. Installing Apps is lot easier on Android as compared to iPhone, Blackberry and Windows mobile OS.

9. “Google Android” lets you use Other Google services like instant Google search, Google voice search.

10. The Google Map and Navigation system of Android phones is just awesome and has no competition with Bing maps and other Map services.

11. Google Android is “Open Source”, which itself is enough to like Android OS.

12. Being Open Source, anyone can get access to the source of Android and modify the codes to one’s wish.

13. Open source products don’t have many weaknesses, as flaws are very quickly disclosed by Open Source community developers and fixed.

14. Android is Open Source, which means anyone can add his application in the Android market without paying any license money.

15. Android handset let you create a Virtual Hotspot, which helps you in sharing your device’s internet connection with the other device that has Wi-Fi in it.

16. The Google cloud takes Android to the next level of Cloud Computing.

17. Android has better hardware support or I should say it is more flexible than any other OS in the market. Manufacturers can use Android with any hardware they want.

18. Android Notification System comes with Elegancy and simplicity.

19. The multitasking with Google Android is satisfying till the phone’s Hardware is capable enough of completing those tasks.

20. Android phone messaging system rocks.

21. The Android email client is sophisticated one. It helps you manage your Gmail, Hotmail, yahoo or any other email service easily.

22. The Gmail Application available in the Android is awesome. It lets you do everything which you can do on Gmail using PC.

23. Actually not only the Gmail App, but all the Google Apps are amazing. From Google Docs to YouTube.

24. Oh yes we forgot to mention that Android Default browser supports HTML5 too.

25. Google Android also supports Multi-Touch.

26. Android will never be a burden to your wallet.

27. Android lets you choose your Mobile Service Provider.

28. The world’s cheapest Android phone loaded with Android 2.1 costs around $100 which you can never expect with Windows or Apple Phones.

29. Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich supports many Sensors. Ambient temperature and relative humidity are the latest in the list.

30. Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich supports External USB controllers. In Other words future game consoles may work using an Android Supported Mobile Phone plugged to an Android powered Smart TV via HDMI.

31. Android can connect with heart monitors and other health devices which can be connected to your Android phone using Bluetooth.

32. Hardware acceleration can be done in Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich.

33. Connecting via Wi-Fi using Wi-Fi Direct is a new concept for phones. It Enables to connect directly to one another without needing a router or internet connection to act as a middleman.

34. It can take Screenshots very easily without adding some new app and all. To take a SS just simply hold down the screen lock / power button and the volume down button for around one second and here we go.

35. Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich provides you with a better option to monitor Data than any other OS.

36. Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich comes with an amazing movie studio, which helps you do some fun with your video.

37. The camera is just Awesome. The camera comes with a lot of options which helps you take picture as you wish.

38. Music Player in Android is beautiful. It comes with a great theme and many options like Equalizer 3D surround and bass boost effects.

39. While coming to the messenger, can you afford a mobile without Google talk? And that too if the mobile have Android OS in it. The Google Talk App is awesome for android phones.

40. Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich do have a great Dialpad and other improved basic phone features which lacked in previous versions of android phones.

41. Android has a Face Unlock Feature a Facial recognition feature, which will match your photo to allow you work on the phone.

42. The User interface is awesome with new Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich. Beats Apple, windows and blackberry with a pretty good score.

43. Very fast Booting up of android phones.

44. A Well Known and trusted Name behind this OS. “GOOGLE” that’s enough to like it.

45. Android helps you have a better blogging experience on Mobile Phones.

Zuckerberg's 6 success principles

This week Facebook filed its S-1 to go public.  Mark is 27.  How Mark managed to launch a social networking site after Friendster had crashed during MySpace’s zenith has been widely chronicled.  What’s been less discussed is how Mark mastered the six requirements to succeed, namely Ambition, Vision, Determination, Execution, Luck and Timing.

1) Ambition

“The tallest blade of grass is the first to be cut by the scythe”, Russian Proverb

The foundation and building block of any successful person is Ambition, or the desire for personal achievement.

People are driven by success, recognition, respect, money, power or fame. If you believe everything in The Social Network, Mark launched Facebook to level the playing field at Harvard and to succeed at getting girls.  Success is relative, subjective and fluid; over time Mark’s definition of success grew to match his brainchild’s imprint.

Wearing your ambition on your sleeve will get you cut off at the knees, but ambition is required to succeed; the challenge is channeling it properly and managing your emotions around it.  When the Winklevoss twins first hired Mark to build their social networking site, Mark never revealed his ambitions to build his own site.  It was only later – far too late for the Winklevoss – that Mark revealed his true ambition.

2) Vision

A design glitch allowed MySpace users to customize their profiles.  But that mixed blessing created a cacophonous environment which made users welcome Facebook’s clean interface.

Facebook wasn’t visionary in any revolutionary sense of the word.  Where Facebook deserves credit was that Mark et al. recognized the need for a real directory of people, not merely users.  Before Facebook it was nearly impossible to actually find people, you could “google” them but finding the person you wanted within one search wasn’t a given.  We now take it for granted, but that extension of people search and connecting them was certainly evolutionary, and it’s worth noting that most successes are not radically new but extensions and improvements of existing paradigms.

The critics may note that Mark sometimes lacked charisma.  In this context, charisma is a subset of vision:  it allows you to convince others to buy into your vision, but charisma in and of itself is not a requirement to succeed, it’s an accelerant or amplifier.  In Mark’s case, he has had the good fortune to let Facebook’s massive growth rates do the talking for him.

3) Execution

“Stay Focused, Keep Shipping”, Mark Zuckerberg

When you look back to Facebook’s functionality when it launched, it was bare bones.  Facebook has added features while scaling users, literally changing jet engines at 30,000 feet without missing a beat.  It’s easy to laugh at missteps like Beacon or the privacy dossier and fail to appreciate the velocity at which Facebook has evolved and grown.

4) Determination

To quote President Calvin Coolidge:

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

Back in 1995, Steve Jobs added: “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance”.

Determination, drive, tenacity or persistence is the most important variable, demonstrated by  Mark through his: relentless coding early on to launch Facebook to catch the Winklevoss brothers off guard; adding colleges; attacking MySpace; defending against the subsequent lawsuit from the twins;  repeated encroaching into people’s privacy (which remains one of Mark’s Achilles heels).  But, to his credit, he has repeatedly not cared or believed in himself enough to charge ahead no matter what.  Mark is a constant reminder that it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

So those were the first four traits: largely innate, can be learned, and things you can control.  But without the next two, you won’t succeed.

5) Luck

“A great fortune depends on luck, a small one on diligence”, Chinese Proverb

In sports and in business, luck can be your best friend or your undoing.

Let’s face it: Mark’s had a horseshoe up his butt.  Luck made him run into Sean Parker, who introduced him to Peter Thiel, without whom as an ally and first outside investor it’s unlikely he would have remained CEO to this day.

But you create your own luck, or when lady luck smiles down on you, you seize the opportunity.

6) Timing

Google wasn’t the first search engine, YouTube wasn’t the first video sharing site and Facebook certainly wasn’t the first social network.  Geocities, Tripod, Friendster, Tribe Networks, MySpace are just some that come to mind.

Mark’s managed the clock all along: slowing down the Winklevoss brothers; launching Facebook on Harvard first to then expand to other colleges; relocating to California; refusing Viacom and Yahoo!’s offers; closing his deal with Microsoft.

While the comparisons to Google’s IPO are understandable, Google ushered a new Internet Bull run whereas Facebook’s is coming at the tail end of Zynga, Groupon, LinkedIn, Demand Media and Pandora’s – none of which have fared particularly well.

However, much like Google’s IPO made it the Internet stock bellwether, Facebook will become the de facto stock pick of individual and institutional investors, pushing demand to justify the lofty price-to-earnings and price-to-sales multiples.

There you have it: success = ambition + vision + execution + persistence + luck + timing; with the first four being things you can control and the last two being externalities that you cannot.

While I’ve praised and criticized him and Facebook, as a fellow entrepreneur, Mark is someone all builders look up to and admire despite his obvious mistakes – reminding me of the Michael Jordan quote: “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

iOS apps crash more than Android apps

In a new study conducted by the mobile application monitoring company Crittercism, it is noted that iOS applications crash more often than their Android counterparts. The results, as you can see in the below images, speak for themselves: more applications crash under iOS 5.0.1, while Android apps appear to be more stable.

However, we should note here that the faults regarding iOS 5.0.1 most likely don’t lie with Apple itself. Because this version of the mobile operating system is relatively new, it’s more likely that iOS developers haven’t made their own third-party apps fully compatible with the iOS — resulting in the crashing. Though, on the other hand, iOS 4.3.3 — which has indeed been available for some time — also caused a sizable 10.66 percent of mobile apps to crash.

Android, as you can see, is quite stable — its most recent Android 4.0.1 accounts for just 1.04 percent of mobile app crashes. Compare that with iOS 5.0.1′s 28.64 percent!

Google Bouncer will fight Android malware

Bouncer scanning software, developed by Google, is designed to search the Android market for software that could be malicious, the company announced Thursday on its blog.

With the success of Android this year, the company says it wants to protect its many users and their devices from harm.

“Device activations grew 250% year-on-year, and the total number of app downloads from Android Market topped 11 billion,” Hiroshi Lockheimer, VP of engineering, wrote on the Google Mobile Blog. “As the platform continues to grow, we’re focused on bringing you the best new features and innovations — including in security.”

Bouncer will scan current and new applications, plus developer accounts. The blog post explained how the service will function.

“Here’s how it works: once an application is uploaded, the service immediately starts analyzing it for known malware, spyware and trojans. It also looks for behaviors that indicate an application might be misbehaving, and compares it against previously analyzed apps to detect possible red flags. We actually run every application on Google’s cloud infrastructure and simulate how it will run on an Android device to look for hidden, malicious behavior. We also analyze new developer accounts to help prevent malicious and repeat-offending developers from coming back.”

Bouncer was tested in 2011 and comparing the first half of the year to the second, Google Mobile reported a 40% decrease in malicious downloads.

Google says from the beginning, Android was designed with security in mind. And, although a company can’t prevent malware, it can control the amount of damage those threats can cause with a dynamic security plan.

Some of Android’s core security features are:
• Sandboxing: The Android platform uses a technique called “sandboxing” to put virtual walls between applications and other software on the device. So, if you download a malicious application, it can’t access data on other parts of your phone and its potential harm is drastically limited.
• Permissions: Android provides a permission system to help you understand the capabilities of the apps you install, and manage your own preferences. That way, if you see a game unnecessarily requests permission to send SMS, for example, you don’t need to install it.
• Malware removal: Android is designed to prevent malware from modifying the platform or hiding from you, so it can be easily removed if your device is affected. Android Market also has the capability of remotely removing malware from your phone or tablet, if required.

Google’s long been fine-tuning its security features for its various products. Although in the past Google’s products have clashed with that of other mobile service providers due to security concerns.