Swedish Tech Report

Man this is sweet. Sony Ericsson have integrated Spotify into both the Timescape and Mediascape functions on the Xperia X10. This is one of the things that I plan on trying on my Xperia X10 and think that it may be just thing that will make me sign up for the Spotify service. I am looking forward to when this firmware will be released:-) Imagine the combination of Spotify and Android 2.1 on the Xperia X10:-) Jummy:-)

When we work together with operators we often together add or tweak functionality specific to that operator, its partners or a specific consumer target group. In the XPERIA X10 we have in some markets made special integrations of this kind into Timescape and Mediascape. In the example that Gustaf describes in the video below you see a cooperation made with the operator Telia in Sweden. The service integrated is the Spotify music streaming service (www.spotify.com) which is a great success here in Sweden. The integration makes Spotify appear as an online music service in Mediascape and songs played through Spotify shows up as event tiles in Timescape. There are of course other things made on other markets so this is just one example.

According to Engadget Amazon have started rolling out the 2.5 Kindle update that handles both Facebook and Twitter on the Kindle. It will start to roll out to a limited set of users and then go on to everybody in May.

Supposedly the update contains the following fixes:

• Organize books and documents into collections
• pan and zoom within Pdf:s
• Kindle password protection
• Two more fonts
• Share book passages with friends on both Facebook and twitter

I have been using Windows Phone/Windows Mobile since the days of my Jornada 525. That was a cool device with it’s flip cover and all the things that you can do with that device. I feelt rich when I knew that I could afford a 32 Megabyte Compact Flash card for 500 SEK. Man I feelt powerfull walking around with my MP3 files on that card. It feels weird actually thinking back about this since in my current ‘main’ device the HTC Legend I am using a 2GB MicroSDHC card and it feels small at the moment. May have to get an 16 GB MicroSDHC card for it.. But enough of my memories:-) I recently got to new devices to play with: HTC Legend and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10… Two great Android based devices… 

These are also the reasons to why I am selling my X2.. Windows Phone does not feel right for me at the moment. Things may change with Windows Phone 7, but at the moment it feels like I have much more things to do instead with Android instead of Windows Phone.

I do love the concept of Widgets. The process of allowing you to customise your seven homescreens on the Legend is beautiful… Using any of the 978 widgets availible on the market place allows you to do exactly what you want on your device:-)  As soon as I root my device I plan on publishing screenshots on my homescreen.

I am planning on rooting my device when it becomes availible for the Legend.

There is a couple of things that I want to do and try with technology. The first priority that I have is to rebuild my my Windows Home Server.

As it stands right now I plan on using these components in my Windows Home Server rig:

1. AMD Athlon X3
2. Gigabyte motherboard(do not know the correct modelname)
3. 4 GB RAM
4. The fourth thing that I plan on getting is a Wireless card since I want my device to run on wireless.
5. 2 TB Hard drive. As it stands right now I think that these options are the most price worthy.

I have decided on a 2 TB hard drive because it is the most priceworthy hard drive right now. You have pay 70 öre per Gigabyte here in Sweden.

The thing that I have been pondering is what case to actually use these components in and right now I am leaning towards an Antec 1200 case. It is one of those cases that you can have plenty of components inside but at the same time also keep them cool and quiet. Next thing that I have been thinking about is what power supply to use. I have two powersupplies that I am not using at the moment so generally I figured why not use one of these?

So the powersupply that I am in the end going to use is the Antec TPQ 850…

The next thing that I have been thinking about is netbook coverage. That is something that I feel have gone neglected here on Swedish Tech Report. I am actually in the process of selling my Xperia X2 to purchase a blue HP Mini 210.  Is netbook coverage something htat you would like to se here perhaps?

What does everyone think about this?:-)

Over at Sony Ericsson product blog they have done a great video on how you can do to personalise your X10 Mini.. As a person which enjoys using my X10 from Sony Ericsson I can not wait until the X10 Mini comes out on the market. I think that this may be the device that makes it my main device.

What are your thoughts on the X10 Mini Pro? I am liking the looks of it:-)

Microsoft USA have released a new commerical for Bing in the US. I think it is a good commercial from Microsoft promoting Bing, but I would like to see these commercials in Europe:-)

I have been using an old PC as my main desktop for my Windows Home Server and now with the release of the beta of the new Windows Home Server the usage of Home Sever is getting much more interesting. Right now I have a fairly basic setup with an Intel Core2Duo, 2GB Ram and a 1 TB hard drive.  What I have been missing is the hard drive space… When you backup another desktop and laptop you are quick to run out of space. I plan on adding two more 1 TB hard drives, 2 GB RAM and ATI Radeon 5430. That would be an interesting setup for me I think:-)

The case that I will be using with this setup is an ANTEC 1200. It is a cool case with the blue fans but it has what I would like to call perhaps the most important part and that is space. This would allow me to actually improve the hardware in it as the time moves on.

Anyone else out there using a home server setup? If so what is your setup?

Microsoft has released a beta for the upcoming Windows Home Server called ‘Vail’. It includes improvements in these four key areas:

• Extending media streaming outside the home or office
• Multi-PC backup and restore
• Simplified setup and user experience
• Expanded development and customization tools for partners

If you want it now you can download it through the Microsoft Connect site.  It is only available in 64 Bit build. Since it is a Beta it is recommended that you install it on your secondary computer.

After using and loving the experience that I have had with Android, but with a few quirks on the experience I knew that I had to do the update since I could not find certain applications on the Android marketplace, and that gave me a weird feeling since from what I have heard all applications should be accessible on the Android marketplace.      The applications that I have been wanting to try on my device was Evernote and WordPress but could not find them on the marketplace. Especially since I could find them on the Android Marketplace on my Sony Ericsson Xperia X10.

Here is the information from HTC about the update:

In our commitment to providing you with the best user experience, we are pushing out a new firmware update to your phone to enable apps that use the camera.  Your phone will receive a notification of this update when it is made available.  Simply press OK to accept the update via a data connection such as Wi-Fi or GPRS/3G.  After installing the update, you can confirm a successful update by confirming the Software Number (From the Home Screen go to MENU> Settings> About Phone> Software information> Software number).  The new software number after the update will be 1.31.405.4 for an HTC phone. Note： We recommend using a free Wi-Fi hotspot or an unlimited data plan to apply this update. If not, standard data connection charges may apply. For any questions, please contact us at http://www.htc.com/www/CA_Hotline.aspx” 

The FOTA update was simple to install. It asked me if I had an unlimited dataplan or WLAN connection. Since I have an unlimited dataplan through 3 I knew that this was a no brainer to install directly. What suprised me about the update was the size, 8.74 megabyte. I was happy to find the update provided me with the applications that I missed from the Android marketplace, but I seem to have a new problem now. Some times it can not hold a stable data connection, so I have to reboot the phone to be able to use the dataportion on the device. Anyone else have problem with the data connection after applying the update?

Sense feels more stable now then before. When going to my left or right home screens the device is much more quicker then before. Do not get me wrong it was quick before, but now it feels like they somehow raised on the device. Perhaps better utilization of the processor on the device? 

Twitter clients such as Tweetcaster Pro and Seesmic works much better in the background now. They update without problems. One thing that I ran into from time to time is that I had to close down the open apps with a task manager to be able to use my device. 

What I like with the device is that now the device does not only feel quick on the outside but also on the inside. They have managed to optimize the update process much more better then before. That small lag that I had before when accessing the start menu is not there anymore. Much appreciated:-)

The device is much more responsive then before. They have made much strive in optimizing the device for usage. With this update I am much more happier with the device then what I was before. It feels like the device is just as  sexy on the inside as it is on the outisde.

It is cool seeing these type of advertisements for the X10. It is a great product and I am glad too see it get that extra push.