BlueStacks says it plans to come up with a Ms. Android in 2012.(Credit: BlueStacks)
The typical Android user apparently does not look kindly upon flip-flops, opting instead to pair his jeans and T-shirt with the far-more-practical sneakers.
We say "he," because the typical Android user is male, according to the folks at BlueStacks, a startup that makes software for running Android apps on Windows PCs. Using data from Nielsen, as well as information culled this month from more than 145,000 of its Facebook followers, BlueStacks created a composite Android user dubbed Mr. Android 2011.
"Mr. Android is everything Android users are...all their dynamism, visualized as one person," John Gargiulo, vice president of marketing and business development at BlueStacks, tells CNET.
So how would you spot Mr. A 2011 walking down the street?
Well, while there's a 47 percent chance he has black hair, green-haired Android users are an extremely rare species, clocking in at only 3 percent of those polled. Subtle pompadours, however, appear to fit the Android aesthetic, a trend marketers of hair products may wish to keep in mind.
It's worth noting, as BlueStacks points out, that the data used to create composite Android guy is "unscientific, but then again, so is love" (an area, according to the poll, where Android users fare just fine, thank you very much, nerd stereotypes).
Nonetheless, makers of Android hardware and software may be able to glean a few useful (if not brand new) insights here.
For example, 62 of those polled use Android for play; 38 percent use Android for work; a third have zero paid apps on their phone; and average monthly data usage tallies up to 582MB (compared with iPhone users, who grabbed 492MB of data, according to a Nielsen survey conducted earlier this year).
But onto the stuff that's really going to matter in that Mr. Android pageant...
When it comes to accessorizing, 37 percent of Android users polled wear glasses; and, somewhat oddly, 45 percent wear one of those fast-becoming-obsolete wristwatches (a mind bender from Tokyoflash, we're guessing).
We're especially interested to hear that 30 percent of Android fans polled have freckles, a stat that baffled us at first but could be explained by Android's reported dominance of the Sun Belt.
So, Android users, do you see yourself in this image?
Leslie Katz Leslie Katz, senior editor of CNET's Crave, covers gadgets, games, and myriad other digital distractions. As a co-host of the now-retired CNET News Daily Podcast, she was sometimes known to channel Terry Gross and still uses her trained "podcast voice" to bully the speech recognition software on automated customer service lines.
It may be small but the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray smartphone is packed with features. By SUBASHINI SELVARATNAM, bytz@thestar.com.my The first thing you will notice about the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray is its size. In a market dominated by large Android smartphones, the Xperia ray is rather unique. Of course, the small size makes it easy to use and store - the Xperia ray can easily slip into one's front pocket or even in a women's dinner bag. The review unit we received has a pink shell which makes it look rather feminine. But not to worry as it also comes in other colours, namely black, gold and white.
HARDY: Xperia ray's display is made from scratch resistant mineral glass so you don't have to worry about it being scratched easily.
In use Since it is a compact smartphone the obviously downside will be the screen size which is only 3.3in. Some may find the screen a bit too small to play games while others may find watching videos a bit of a hassle. Although it was good enough for browsing webpages but one can't help but wish for a bigger screen for a better experience. Despite its size, the Xperia ray's display is sharp and vibrant. Sony Ericsson says it is powered by its mobile Bravia Engine which makes it great for viewing photos and watching videos. The display is also made from scratch resistant mineral glass so you don't have to worry about it being scratched easily. Snapping photos and videos with the Xperia ray was a fun experience. The front-facing camera on the smartphone makes it easy to snap self-portraits in VGA resolution. For more serious photo taking there's the 8.1-megapixel rear camera which works great and has lots of cool features such as face detection, scene detection and smile detection. You even get three options for smile detection - big, normal and faint smile. How cool is that? Although it doesn't have two cameras the smarphone has a feature called 3D Sweep Panorama which allows it to capture 3D images. However, you will need a 3D TV to view them. Other standard features include geo-tagging and red-eye reduction. The camera can also shoot 720p HD videos and can be easily uploaded to YouTube to share them with family and friends. The Xperia ray, which is powered by 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon processor, is fast. Launching apps is almost instantaneous and there is no lag generally. You can download tons of app from the Android marketplace and the phone comes with a 4GB card for storing them. For text input, the phone has a virtual keypad. It wasn't easy for me to type messages as the screen is small and the keypad is very tiny. I would have much prefferd a physical Qwerty keypad instead. One of the nice features of the Xperia ray is its built-in radio tuner which allowed me to listen to my favourite radio station while waiting for friends. Also, the bundled earphones were pretty decent for listening to music. In terms of battery life, the Xperia ray lasted a whole day of usage which mainly consisted of surfing the Web, watching videos on YouTube and downloading applications.
Conclusion Overall, the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray was a fun smartphone to use even for a non-Android fan like me. It is fast, has a great camera, the screen is beautiful and comes with a nice pair of earphones. On the downside, the Xperia ray's small screen makes it difficult to use the virtual keypad. If you are looking for a compact Android smartphone, the Xperia ray is definitely one of the better ones. Pros: Sharp and vibrant screen, decent camera, nice earphones. Cons: Small screen. Xperia ray (Sony Ericsson) Android smartphone NETWORK: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSPA 850/900/1900/2100, GPRS/EDGE OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) DISPLAY: 3.3in touchscreen (480 x 854-pixels) CAMERA: 8.1-megapixels (rear) with autofocus, VGA camera (front) CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth, WiFi, micro USB MEMORY: 300MB EXPANSION SLOT: MicroSD (bundled with 4GB card) STANDBY/TALK TIME: 440 hours/7hours OTHER FEATURES: A-GPS, radio tuner, 720p HD video recording (720p) DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 111 x 53 x 9.4mm WEIGHT: 100g PRICE: RM1,279 RATING: 3.5 Review unit courtesy of Sony Ericsson, 1-800-88-9900
By Deborah Sweeney, Forbes Contributor, West Coast CEO who knows small business and entrepreneurs.
Truly a Lightbulb Moment
Got a resolution for 2012 at the workplace yet?
Or better yet, what are the resolutions that your employees have for the company next year?
These resolutions could be lofty. Nab every sales call, land the biggest accounts, open offices in every major city overseas. They could be set on a smaller scale too. Leave earlier in the morning to avoid getting caught in traffic, ask for more beverage options in the kitchen, delegate tasks to other department members more often. All good goals for any team to work towards, but difficult for a CEO to process when they don’t know what their staff resolves to work towards, if they plan on working toward anything at all.
If you’re stuck in a place where the progress forward looks cloudy, this is the time to work on building a better work team for 2012. A team that is roaring and ready to go and certain of how their place in the company can lead to its eventual success. Building this team takes time, talent, and creativity. Sometimes it requires hiring new people and firing those who aren’t doing their part. More than just shooting off a couple of emails and hoping for the best, your team for 2012 will rely on you to think outside of the box as well as inside at some of the common sense bits that get overlooked. From new hires to clones, here are my tips on the building for the better within your company team.
Not every person who gets hired for your business needs to be strictly all about business. Who will handle the legal division of your firm, the public relations aspect of your brand, the IT work for when the computers suddenly crash? A grad degree in business is attractive on paper, but not useful in every setting. Look into hiring candidates with backgrounds in other studies like communications that you would typically pass over.
2. Don’t Hire A Clone Of Yourself
Great minds think alike, but a greater mind will want to work with a team that expresses a slew of opinions and ideas across the board. Working with a team that is just like you won’t challenge your company to grow in a new direction if you all agree on the same things all the time. It’s easy to want to hire someone just like you, but more rewarding in the long run if you get someone to offer what you cannot to the table.
Get an idea of whether or not a potential employee will be a good fit within their department by inviting the managers and senior staff members to the job interviews. They may have questions and concerns related to their field that you won’t touch on that decide whether or not a future hire is the best decision to make
Welcome to the team! Beyond just your employee handbook, there are rules to the game of working within the company. Some work teams are much more by-the-book in terms of how to conduct yourself and may be much more quiet and soft-spoken. Others are willy-nilly and a lot more extroverted and open to embracing new ideas with members encouraged to leave their shyness at the door. A new hire needs to know the company culture early on so this isn’t so much of a shock to their system.
5. Answer Questions, Communicate Often
Future goals and upcoming projects will have a series of questions that come with them, especially if a team member is new. Hold plenty of open discussions and meetings to provide insight into what you’re working on. Keeping communication lines between all team members and yourself is key to the success of the project and the overall organization as a whole.
6. Hire People With Different And Complimentary Personalities
Much like not having dozens of clones of yourself, don’t do a similar thing with your favorite employee (and don’t play favorites either). It’s cliche to say it, but your team needs to have the snowflake effect where no two think or behave exactly the same despite having similar strengths in their field. Personality goes a long way and can work to give your company the face and voice it needs if it doesn’t already have a defined one.
7. Hire Milliennials
They are young, eager to please, tech savvy, and well educated. And if you treat them well, they will stay with your company (though not forever which is to be expected). Interview the bright young things and bring them on to see what they’re made of. You might find yourself to be pleasantly surprised.
8. Pay Your Interns
It isn’t a practice that every company commits to or can commit to, but at the very least offer a stipend if you decide to bring in seasonal interns.
Gets kind of hard to create a voice for your online persona if the person creating it has never visited your office or interacted with your employees before doesn’t it?
10. Offer Flexible Schedules
This is a rule of thumb for both new hires and longtime employees. Circumstances do arise where not every member of the team can be there to make a meeting. If multiple members can’t do it or aren’t ready just yet, offer to reschedule the event. Employees with additional commitments outside of work like family or school will also appreciate a flexible schedule in being able to accommodate their lives and still work.
11. Encourage Employees To Pursue Outside Interests
Beyond just being a CEO, you may serve as a mentor to some of your staff. And your staff isn’t here solely for the company itself. They may be actively pursuing acting on the side or writing or engaging in other hobbies that could turn into their next career move later on. Have lunch with your staff both new and old to see what they’re all about on the side of their full-time job. Encourage them to share their published work with you or invite you to the opening of a gallery they have a painting featured in. Your acknowledgment of what they are truly passionate about is worth more than you think it might be.
12. Create Jobs Based On Valuable Skills
Want to a hire a new employee, but have nowhere to put them where you know they will really fit in at? Create a position based off of their skill set. You may even wind up creating an entirely new and much needed department!
Facebook is the power hitter in social networking today, and is likely to drive the most activity and a fair share of the innovation in social networking in 2012. But it's not the only company driving things forward.
That puppy is about to get very, very rich.(Credit: James Martin/CNET)
Here's are five ways social networking is likely to play out in the coming year.
1. Mobile social networking means good news for new social startups In the U.S., the majority of consumers will soon have smartphones (Neilsen puts the figure at 44% today). Smartphones are about the most import
Smartphones know where you are, who your friends are, who's nearby, and soon thanks to NFC, they'll know what you're buying and where. They are the key element of the next, mobile phase is social networking.
Facebook is serious about mobile social networking, but it is not the leader in this space in terms of design or technology. Smaller companies, like Path and Milk (with its first app, Oink) are coming out with new takes on mobile interaction. Square could play in this economy as well. All these services will likely use Facebook's network to put people or businesses or in touch with each other in new ways. More specialized mobile networks (really riders on top of Facebook) will appear next year.
2. Twitter makes big impact with brand marketers While Twitter's new brand pages won't eat into big advertising or marketing budgets in 2012, the new business-friendly features will make an impact. Twitter is a highly effective platform for spreading brand messages via consumer/fans, and it doesn't take much to create an effective Twitter-based campaign.
While Facebook is still the most important and best social vehicle for marketing, Twitter will matter a lot in 2012 due to its simplicity and effectiveness.
You won't see a Super Bowl ad in 2012 without a Twitter tag on it.
In 2012, the major political campaigns will be even more dependent on social networks, possibly to the extent that effective social campaigns will be more important than broad-stroke and increasingly expensive TV ads. Certainly, no candidate will be able to succeed without a strong following on each of the major social networks.
4. Google+ remains a critical success but a consumer flop Google+ has a lot of good features, but it needs much more than that to take on Facebook and Twitter. Even Google's tacit promotion of Google+ on its other services and toolbars won't be enough to make it part of the daily diet of social networks for the hundreds of millions of users that Facebook has in its thrall.
Google+ also doesn't have enough muscle to be a big player as a branding tool, compared to Facebook and Twitter.
Even inside Google, we hear, employees don't use it very much.
So, the prediction? Google won't kill Google+, not after its failures with Orkut, Buzz, and Wave. The company will continue to blend Google+ into its other offerings, in particular GMail, Picasa Web, and its search result pages. But few people in the real world, if any, will switch over from Facebook to Google+. The smart thing for Google? Buy Pinterest. But this is a predictions story, not an advice column.
5. Facebook and Yelp: Social network IPOs do well For all the bad-mouthing of the Zynga IPO, it's not doing all that badly. As of this writing, it's down 5% from its offering price, and the stock has only be trading since December 16.
In other words, the stock wasn't priced crazy-high nor crazy-low, and if it doesn't drop much further, its middling out-of-the-gate performance will be unlikely to cool the ardor for social network stock offerings in 2012. Facebook and Zynga are two sides of a coin in the social network business. The one's success fortifies the other.
Interest in Facebook stock will be high as the company nears its IPO. The fire for this one will be stoked by the press, by politicians holding it up as an example of American technological and economic prowess, and of course by underwriters. From a financial perspective, it's far too early to tell if the IPO itself will be aptly priced. But Facebook's influence is growing, the company is making a lot of money, and a successful IPO will be good news for every social company out there. The forces are lining up to make sure this IPO is incredibly well-orchestrated, and successful in the right ways: that is, it pops when it goes public, but not too much.
Rafe Needleman
Rafe reviews mobile apps and products for fun, and picks startups apart when he gets bored. He has evaluated thousands of new companies, most of which have since gone out of business. Feeling lucky? Send pitches to rafe@cnet.com. And watch Rafe's tech issues podcast, Reporters' Roundtable, every Friday.
'Google+ is for finding, and talking with, the people who are interested in the same thing you are,' says tech blogger Robert Scoble, and as such may represent a refreshing break from Facebook for some. (JG Image)
Google is adding 625,000 new users a day to the Google+ social-networking service, which may total 400 million members by the end of next year, according to independent analysis of its growth.
The site’s popularity has accelerated in recent weeks, with almost a quarter of its total user base joining in December alone, said Paul B. Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com, who tracks the numbers as Google+’s “unofficial statistician.”
Google, the world’s largest Internet-search company, aims to challenge the social-networking supremacy of Facebook, a site with more than 800 million members. Google+, which lets users organize their friends in circles, was introduced earlier this year as a test project and then opened up to the general public in September.
Google+ may be benefiting from the popularity of Google’s Android mobile operating system, which makes it easy to sign up. As the service gains traction, more people will invite family and friends to join, further accelerating its growth, Allen said in a Google+ posting. He works at FamilyLink.com, a company he helped start in 2006.
Katie Watson, a Google spokeswoman, declined to discuss the current user numbers. The company last gave an update during its October earnings conference call, when Google+ had more than 40 million users.
Bloomberg
Google+ surpasses 62 million users
by Lance Whitney
Google+ has captured more than 62 million users, at least according to one "unofficial" count.
Chiming in with his own Google+ post yesterday, Ancestry.com co-founder and Google+ unofficial statistician Paul Allen reported the latest numbers as of December 27.
Running queries on different surnames to gauge the number of total users, Allen and his team found a surge in daily signups over the past several weeks. Around 625,000 new users have been hopping aboard the social network each day, which means almost a quarter of all Google+ users joined in December alone.
Assuming that rate continues, Allen's crystal ball sees Google+ hitting 100 million users on February 25, 200 million on August 3, and 293 million by the end of 2012. But can Google maintain and even increase that growth rate? Allen believes so.
"I expect the growth to continue to accelerate," Allen said. "Google can continue to integrate Google+ into its other products and word of mouth will continue to build. Most importantly, 700,000 Android devices are activated daily and this will become a very significant source of new users for Google+. That number will also grow next year."
Google has been busy the past few months integrating Google+ into more of its products, such as its core search engine. The company has also been fine-tuning its social network by adding more features and sanding over some of the rough spots. It also unveiled its Google+ Pages in early November in an attempt to reach out to the business world.
Still, Allen's numbers alone don't paint the full picture. His team records how many people Google+ is signing up. But they don't factor in how frequently those people actually use their accounts. Data from ComScore and Experian Hitwise released this past summer showed a decline in the number of weekly visits.
And rather than just relying on word of mouth, Google realizes that it also now has to tap into the world of advertising, using such celebrities as the Muppets to promote its social network to the average user.
Lance Whitney
Lance Whitney wears a few different technology hats--journalist, Web developer, and software trainer. He's a contributing editor for Microsoft TechNet Magazine and writes for other computer publications and Web sites. Lance is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and he is not an employee of CNET.
Ran Chengqi, the Director of the China Satellite Navigation Office introduced China’s global navigation satellite system. Beidou is independently established and operated by China. It can provide accurate, reliable all-time, all-weather positioning, navigation and timing services.
The State Council Information Office held a press conference Tuesday to announce its Initial Operational Capability.
Ran says there are three steps in Beidou’s development. Ran Chengqi, director of China Navigation Satellite Office, said, "The first step was achieved in 2000 when the Beidou satellite demonstration system was established. It made China the third in the world to possess its own independent navigation satellite system. The second step is that the system will be able to provide services to the Asia-Pacific region by 2012. The third step is that by the year 2020, the system will be completed with global coverage."
China is implementing the second generation of its navigational satellite system, known as Beidou.
So far, ten satellites have been launched, forming the basic system. Ran Chengqi announced that from now on, Beidou will officially provide Initial Operational Service to China and its surrounding areas. Services include continuous positioning, navigation and timing.
Beidou is one of the four satellite navigation systems in the world. The other three are America’s GPS. Russia’s GLONASS, and Europe’s Galileo.
Besides China's Beidou, there are three similar services around the world: the GPS of the US, the Russian Glonass and the EU’s Galileo.
The Global Positioning System, or GPS, was developed by the US in the 1970s and completed in 1994. It is the most widely used navigation system now. GPS provides location and time information in any weather, anywhere on or near Earth. GPS was originally run with 24 satellites, and four backup satellites have since been added. The system provides two types of signals, one for military use and the other, civil.
Russia’s GLONASS - or Global Navigation Satellite System developed since 1976, had achieved full coverage of Russian territory by 2010. Now the total number of satellites in orbit is 28, among them, 23 are in operation, 3 are under maintenance, and 2 are being tested. Though its precision is a little less than GPS, it is a strong performer with few operational interruption.
The European Union’s satellite navigation system is known as Galileo. It is the first navigation system to focus on civilian use, and aims to provide high-precision positioning services for European nations. Galileo is formed of 32 satellites and two ground operations centres. Compared with GPS, its precision level is ten times higher.
China has now developed the Beidou Satellite Navigation System, which can operate unmanned. It includes five static and 30 non-static satellites, and its locating precision reaches ten metres. It not only provides navigation, location and timing services, but also a communication service. Compared with the other systems, Beidou has a much stronger location performance.
As the Beidou Satellite Navigation System is further developed, China is now applying the system to more areas, such as the transportation of dangerous items, postal services and even car rental.
Besides Beidou, there are three other satellite navigation systems in the world. They are the GPS of the United States, GLONASS of Russia, and GALILEO of the European Union.
GPS, or the Global Positioning System, was developed by the US in 1970s. It provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth.
GPS was originally run with 24 satellites, and four backup satellites have been added. GPS provides two types of signals, one for military use and the other civil.
GLONASS, the Global Navigation Satellite System, is a radio-based satellite navigation system developed by Russia starting from 1976. By 2010, GLONASS had achieved 100 percent coverage of Russia's territory. In October 2011, the full orbital constellation of 24 satellites was restored, enabling full global coverage. It displays high-level performance in avoiding interruptions.
Galileo is a satellite navigation system developed by the Europeans. It is the first civil use oriented navigation system and aims to provide a high-precision positioning service for European nations. Galileo is formed of 32 satellites and two ground operations centers. Compared with GPS, its precision level is ten times higher.
The typical Android user apparently does not look kindly upon flip-flops, opting instead to pair his jeans and T-shirt with the far-more-practical sneakers.
It may be small but the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray smartphone is packed with features.
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