It turns out that his hobby 9to5Mac.com blog was always his favorite and in 2011 he went full time adding his Fortune Google followers to 9to5Google.com and adding the style and commerce component 9to5Toys.com gear and deals site. In 2013, Weintraub bought one of the Tesla’s first Model S EVs off the assembly line and so began his love affair with the Electric Vehicle and green energy which in 2014 turned into electrek.co.
In 2018, DroneDJ was born to cover the burgeoning world of drones and UAV’s led by China’s DJI.
From 1997-2007, Weintraub was a Global IT director and Web Developer for a number of companies with stints at multimedia and branding agencies in Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong, Madrid and London before becoming a publisher/blogger.
Seth received a bachelors degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California with a minor in Multimedia and Creative Technology in 1997. In 2004, he received a Masters from NYU’s Tisch School of the Art’s ITP program.
Hobbies: Weintraub is a licensed single engine private pilot, certified open water scuba diver and spent over a year traveling to 60 cities in 23 countries. Whatever free time exists is now guaranteed to his lovely wife and two amazing sons.
If you’ve got a Motorola Atrix 4G, you might want to hit up AT&T this weekend because they are offering the ability to turn your Atrix into a Laptop for $49. The Motorola Lapdock lets you put your Atrix into the back and run a “Webtop OS with Firefox as the browser)/
I reviewed the Atrix 4G at Fortune last year and loved the phone but didn’t find the Lapdock system all that impressive at the time. Since then, Motorola has put out some updates. At $50, I think it is a no-brainer accessory if you have this phone. Expand Expanding Close
If you are after a Kindle Fire Alternative, check out what Sellout.Woot has on offer today. In addition to many Kindle Fire-like specs, these also have the ability to go 3G on either Verizon or Sprint (but no contract is required) and they also have some quality cameras for video conferencing. They come with Android 2.2 but are updatable to Android 2.3 and beyond via Cyanogen Mod.
Since the Carrier IQ news hit today (and previously) and everyone seems to be equating it with Google, I thought it would be good to point out a few facts.
1. Carrier IQ is something that Carriers put on phones as part of their OEM software. This is out of the hands of both Google and the manufacturers.
2. Carrier IQ is on Blackberry, Nokia’s Symbian Windows Mobile and Android depending on the Carrier. It was even on iOS before version 4 (Update: all iOS).
3. Google’s Nexus devices don’t have Carrier IQ on them no matter what carrier they are on. Pure Android devices and many Android devices don’t have it. The carrier determines what products get the software. Google is powerless to stop carriers from putting them on Android devices.
4. If you have a Carrier locked phone, the best way to get rid of Carrier IQ is to install Cyanogen Mod…or wait a few days until this all blows over and updates are issued.
5. Verizon, the number 1 Android carrier in the US has denied using Carrier IQ. So that leaves out a lot of you. Expand Expanding Close
Last week (ending today), Amazon had a pretty incredible Penny Pincher sale where it offered just about every Android and otherwise phone (except Apple’s iPhone) for a penny with a two year plan. That’s what we call a game-changing, evening of the field. Sure, carriers and the plans matter, but if every phone is free, you can get a pretty good idea which are the most sought after phones in the “price not being an option” category.
From our Amazon Affiliate account we can see just how many of each phone our readers picked up, thereby getting a pretty good sample of what are the hot phones out there. Here are some stats:
– >90% of phones were Android (not surprising from a Google site)
– Motorola Droid RAZR and Sprint’s Galaxy SII were the big winners (well done readers!)
– Verizon was the dominant carrier with the top selling (RAZR), and 3 of the top 5 phones.
– Samsung Galaxy SII was 3 of the top 6 and the number one seller overall across all carriers
– We’re aren’t sure why*, but 9 of you bought Motorola Bionic’s giving Motorola the second place prize (*We love the RAZR and aren’t sure why one would pick a Bionic over a RAZR).
– HTC was #3 with the Rezound having an impressive showing and the Thunderbolt getting picked up 5 times (again, not sure why you’d pick a Thunderbolt over a Rezound at the same price). HTC on AT&T was a poor showing with none of the new Amaze 4Gs showing up. In fact, with the Titan, HTC sold more Windows phones on AT&T than it did Android. The EVO wasn’t as popular as you’d expect on Sprint with the Galaxy S II selling a whopping 9 times as many units on the carrier .
Overall, no huge surprises, especially at the top, though we’re somewhat surprised that Sprint’s Galaxy SII beat both of AT&T’s combined. Toward the bottom, we started seeing some unlocked Nokias (5 C6’s) Windows Phones (3 HTC Titans, 3 Samsung Focus Ss) and a few BlackBerry Bolds.
The big question is: How will the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon upset the line? Whatever the outcome, Verizon is already the clear winner with the RAZR and Rezound (and Bionic) already topping many granted holiday wish lists.
Much like Google Plus, Google Talk will now allow multiple person chat conversations. We’ll see if everyone gets the ability to chat with 9 people at the same time (and also how effective that is).
You can buy the score as an ‘iPod touch” type of device and be on your way with a nice little music, video, wifi player with an older iPhone like 480-320 3.5 inch display. or you can sign up for Cricket’s very capable service.
Amazon has some truly remarkable phones for free with a plan in its current penny pincher sale.
For the first time ever, AmazonWireless is offering ALL AT&T, Sprint and Verizon phones for a penny. The promotion is live now and runs through 11:59 PM on Cyber Monday (Nov 28th) and only applies to new activations (with a two-year contract).
Additionally, AmazonWireless’ $100 Hotspot Holidays deal can be quite a savings incentive. If you activate the hotspot feature on your new phone at the time of purchase, you will receive a $100 Amazon.com credit. Not a bad way to make some extra spending money for apps…or holiday gifts.
Standouts on each carrier include:
Droid RAZR, Bionic, Incredible 2, X2 and others on Verizon: FREE
Samsung Galaxy SII, Skyrocket and Amaze 4G, Atrix 2 and others on AT&T: FREE
If you are looking for some good weekend Google listening, hit up some of the books below. Clicking the link at the right gets you a free Audiobook if you haven’t signed up yet. Our favs:
As mentioned last night, Google Music offers several MP3 album and single downloads from popular artists, as listed below. It’s one of the best collections of free MP3 downloads we’ve seen. The deals:
It you want access to all of the apps on the Android platform (including all of Google’s great apps) on your Kindle, you’ll want to get the Android Market on there. Once rooted, it is a pretty straightforward process as outlined in the steps below. Is the Kindle going to replace the Nook as the go-to cheap hacking Android Tablet? Expand Expanding Close
I’m just crossing 48 hours with the Kindle Fire and have a few quick observations that I think need to be brought to the surface on this great little device.
It isn’t an iPad competitor any more than a Mercedes SUV is a competitor to a Toyota Prius. A 7-inch tablet is an entirely different use case than a 10-incher. At $199, it is more likely to take away iPod touch customers rather than iPad customers from Apple. But mostly, Kindle people will be people who wouldn’t have considered an Apple tablet previously.
The Fire isn’t a speed demon. A few minutes navigating with the Fire is all it takes to realize that there are hiccups. To me, it feels more sluggish than a Galaxy Tab 7 from last year, especially on CPU intensive stuff. Amazon has done nice things with the interface and they should be congratulated on their virtual keyboard (it is one of the best I’ve used), but make no mistake, inside of this case is bargain basement components.
If you are new to Amazon’s ecosystem, there isn’t a lot of content in there. Getting some will be expensive. In my family, my wife has the Prime account and our music in the Amazon Cloud is tied there as well. That means any audio and video has to be purchased or brought over manually.
The Kindle quickly became a Hulu Plus and Netflix player in our house – which the Barnes and Noble Nook can do just as well. Or any Android tablet.
The Silk browser wasn’t impressive. It is slow, (probably more a processor thing here than a software thing). I had more success with the Dolphin browser. Expand Expanding Close
As promised, Hulu Plus just hit the Amazon Appstore. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be able to be downloaded for any devices (including my Galaxy Tab 7) besides the Kindle Fire (check Android market for full compatibility list). Strangely, even after “Whistper-synching” it over to the Kindle Fire, it hasn’t shown up.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka9IwHNvkfU] Fascinating story from the New York Times:
Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, is deeply involved in the lab, said several people with knowledge of it, and came up with the list of ideas along with Larry Page, Google’s other founder, who worked on Google X before becoming chief executive in April; Eric E. Schmidt, its chairman; and other top executives. “Where I spend my time is farther afield projects, which we hope will graduate to important key businesses in the future,” Mr. Brin said recently, though he did not mention Google X. Expand Expanding Close
The Kindle Fire isn’t a revolutionary device, but it is Amazon’s most important product ever. [It] takes Amazon’s wildly popular services and presents them in a solid piece of hardware with a responsive, easy-to-understand interface that works. It doesn’t have the iPad’s extra layer of polish and sheen, but with the Amazon brand, a wide ecosystem of services at its disposal, and that $199 price point, it doesn’t really need it. In that sense, Apple’s tablet just met its first real competitor.
The Fire deserves to be a disruptive, gigantic force — it’s a cross between a Kindle and an iPad, a more compact Internet and video viewer at a great price. But at the moment, it needs a lot more polish; if you’re used to an iPad or “real” Android tablet, its software gremlins will drive you nuts.
(The iPad finally has serious competition). If you like what Amazon Prime has going on in the kitchen, the Fire is a terrific seat. It’s not as powerful or capable as an iPad, but it’s also a sliver of the price—and that $200 will let you jack into the Prime catalog (and the rest of your media collection) easily and comfortably. Simply, the Fire is a wonderful IRL compliment to Amazon’s digital abundance. It’s a terrific, compact little friend, and—is this even saying anything?—the best Android tablet to date. Expand Expanding Close
Google Inc. and LG Electronics Inc. may unveil a television using the search giant’s software at the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, according to two people with knowledge of the project. The product would be LG’s first model with Google TV, said the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions aren’t public.
Samsung and Vizio have also been rumored to be working on GoogleTVs and might unveil one at CES in January. However, with Google’s purchase of Motorola, Google no longer really needs a set-top box partner. Motorola makes them. Even without Motorola, it isn’t hard to put GoogleTV on an OEM box.
Google’s other current partner Sony is also slashing prices as low as $180 for their GoogleTV/BluRay combos.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7ridjtcza7E] Motorola Ad
I’ve been enamored with the Droid RAZR since the unveiling event last month. It is everything about the “anti-iPhone” Droid message multiplied by 100. From the excellent commercials to the handsome styling to the robot-y motif. Where Samsung and to a lesser extent HTC make efforts to assimilate to the smartphone (read: iPhone) norms, Motorola’s Droids try to differentiate.
On hardware alone, this is probably my favorite Android device so far. It is incredibly thin but also much more sturdy than the typical Galaxy handset. Somehow, however, it manages to be just as light. Compared to HTC’s latest offerings (including the monstrous Beats Rezound that I am also testing now – see pictures) and frankly Motorola’s previous Droid Bionic, Droid X, this thing is in a totally different class.
Droid Bionic (right) is thicker at its thinnest point than the RAZR at its thickest
And about that Bionic. Pity the people who bought that device in the previous months knowing that Amazon sells the Droid RAZR for $111 on launch with $100 gift card for tethering. Effectively, that is the best Android phone you can have for $11… Expand Expanding Close
Well, the advantages of the Nook Tablet are falling by the wayside as Amazon signs up more and more content partners at this late hour for its Kindle Fire. Today Amazon announced that the Fire will also have Hulu Plus and ESPN ScoreCenter apps.
With Hulu Plus, Amazon Kindle Fire users can instantly watch thousands of TV episodes – including the entire current season of popular shows like Modern Family, Glee, Saturday Night Live, The Office, House, and Grey’s Anatomy – from top networks including ABC, Comedy Central, The CW, FOX, NBC, MTV, VH-1, and hundreds more. Hulu Plus also offers entertainment fans access to classic TV favorites like Lost, Ally McBeal, and Battlestar Galactica and hundreds of popular and award-winning movies for $7.99/month with limited advertising. ESPN ScoreCenter brings Kindle Fire customers scores, news, and standings from hundreds of sports leagues around the world. Never miss another goal, pitch, basket, try, touchdown or wicket. Whether you follow the NFL or the Premier League, the Ashes or MLB, MMA or Formula One, ScoreCenter offers the most comprehensive global sports coverage available.
How are people going to pick competing 7-inch Androids when they don’t even have Hulu Plus? Expand Expanding Close
Starting at Midnight PT tonight, Amazon will give every new purchaser of a new Hotspot device some Amazon Credit – hopefully enticing them to pick up a Kindle Fire.
With a hotspot-ready smartphone, you can access the Internet on your Kindle Fire or other Wi-Fi devices anywhere.
Beginning at midnight PST tonight and for a limited time, customers who buy hotspot enabled smartphone will receive a $100 Amazon.com Gift Card. Also, those that purchase a mobile hotspot device will receive a $50 Amazon.com Gift Card (Note: for new lines of service and upgrade customers. Hotspot feature for smartphones must be activated at time of purchase to qualify.)
This promotion extends to some of the most desired phones out there, including the new Motorola Razr releasing tomorrow, Samsung Epic Touch 4G Android Phone (Sprint) , Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (AT&T) and even the HTC DROID INCREDIBLE 2 Android Phone (Verizon Wireless) , which is available for only $0.01!
Additionally, we’ve heard that Amazon is having a special on the RAZR Launch for $111.11. If the above deal works on that, you are looking at $11 for one of the sickest phones on the market when bought with a tethering plan.
AT&T SVP Larry Solomon told the Mashable audience that NYC would be getting AT&T’s LTE “sometime soon” (at 3:30).
Even with the background being sketchy, the math is in your favor NYCers. AT&T says it will cover 70 million customers in LTE by the end of the year. It is going to be hard to get there with their 15 markets if NYC isn’t one of them.
For good measure, AT&T was in NYC last week handing out to reviewers their impressive LTE smartphones the 4.5 inch HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy II Skyrocket. We’ve got both phones in hand but won’t be able to offer up a comprehensive review until NYC LTE is lit up (or I visit Silicon Valley for the holidays – whichever comes first)
You have to wonder if someone is playing a a joke on the Verge. Someone sent in a box cover that purports to hide a 6-inch Android 2.3 tablet that does double time as a remote control for your cable box. If this isn’t a Punk’d-ing, the device is with cable company testers right now and will be used to control the cable box, GoogleTV be damned.
The box calls it a “dedicated controller,” but it also seems to show the tablet wirelessly displaying its entire UI on the TV, so we’re guessing it can be used to watch and stream content in addition to serving as a remote control for one of Motorola’s cable boxes. (That would also explain the hardware power and volume buttons next to the display.)
We don’t know much specs-wise, but the box says the design is “optimized for low cost,” so we wouldn’t expect anything high-end inside. It also looks like it says something “OS” in the upper left, so it seems like a fairly custom version of Android. There’s also IR control and RF4CE, which is a ZigBee-based RF control protocol, as well as a high-capacity 4,000mAH battery
Of course “Corvair” is also a car that Chevy built in the early 60s that makes every “worst car ever” list and was the subject of the Ralph Nadar book, Unsafe at Any Speed. We’re hoping that Motorola’s naming/branding department is playing a joke on us in this case.
Also, as Motorola gets folded into Google, this will likely get folded into GoogleTV, which is to say, cancelled…just like its namesake.
If you’ve got a Motorola Atrix 4G, you might want to hit up AT&T this weekend because they are offering the ability to turn your Atrix into a Laptop for $49. The Motorola Lapdock lets you put your Atrix into the back and run a “Webtop OS with Firefox as the browser)/
