Category: android

Android is *still* blowing everyone away

Posted on

Remember when we told you that Android was Blowing Everyone Away back in May of this year?

They were on the up, with about 37% of market share, RIM was in freefall (down to 25%) and Apple was doing “ok”, fairly steady at about 25%. Well, now Business Insider have updated that graph for November – 6 months on:

As BI note:

Android now has 52.5% of the global smartphone market. No matter how you want to slice it, that’s amazing. It’s stealing share from every other smartphone operating system other than iOS, which is basically flat.

Which begs the question, when you look for your next phone – why would you look at anything except Android?

New Flickr for Android App not available anywhere important (and yes, I mean “here”)

Posted on

Woohoo!

As a devout Android fan and a devout Flickr fan, you can only begin to imagine my excitement when I heard that there was a new OFFICIAL! Flickr for Android app out. And that it seems set to challenge the currently iPhone only world of Instagram:

…there’s one feature that will catch everybody’s attention: photo filters.
The photo filters feature is almost identical to that of Instagram. The app comes with 10 filters that [Flickr Product Manager Markus] Spiering says are designed to “beautify” photos. They’re automatically uploaded to Flickr but can also be shared via Twitter, Facebook and email.

All well and good, but when I went to download it, I was told:

This app is not compatible with devices in your country.

Boo! At the time, there was nothing about this on the official help topic on flickr, nor on their blog, although they’ve now updated with a FAQ topic, telling us:

The Official Flickr for Android app is currently available in the below countries from the Android Market. To find it just go to the Android Market and search for “flickr yahoo”.

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States,

If the official app isn’t available in your country yet try one of the other great third party apps that you can use to browse and upload to Flickr!

Which is great. Unless you’re not in one of those countries and you want to use the app, obviously. I’m not sure what the restriction is – or rather why the restriction is, but as a fully paid up member of Flickr since 2005, I’m a little annoyed to be left out.

In the meantime, I shall continue using the undoubtedly brilliant Vignette (QR code) and the undoubtedly “ok” Flickfolio (QR code) for my photo-taking and uploading to Flickr needs.

Port Pourri

Posted on

Much excitement Chez 6000 today as I discovered a new website. And yes, it’s suitably nerdy, so you’re going to love it too.

Right, so you know when you are passing the harbour in Cape Town or looking down at it from the Mountain? [Joburg readers will have to try to imagine the scene, it’s like looking down at a pool of acid drainage from a mine dump, but with ships and a higher pH]
Anyway, you know when you do that and you see all the ships and you wonder about what they’re doing there and where they’ve been?
Well now you can find out, thanks to MarineTraffic.com. And what’s more, you can see which ships are on the move and where they are going.

Some green ships and a red ship off Agulhas this evening.

And should you wish to impress your friends with your impressive knowledge of all things nautical, all you have to do is click on a boat and you get all sorts of “interesting” info about the vessel in question:

Which is all well and good, but which does require you and your friends to have a sea view from your office. Or to have your laptop on the beach. And that’s not ever so helpful.

If only there was an app for your phone so you could have the information to hand, wherever you were.

And of course, there is: for Android (QR code below), for iPhone and not for BB.

Perhaps it sounds rather dull, but it’s actually quite addictive. Soon you’ll be tracking tankers, cargo ships, German Navy vessels and mysterious “Unspecified Craft” around our shores. And because it’s free, you can try it risk-free and simply delete it for a full refund if you’re not completely satisfied.

You’re welcome.

Computicket app now available for Android users

Posted on

No huge fanfares here, this app does exactly what you would expect it to do. And that’s cool because the computicket website is a pain to use on a handheld device.
With this, you can browse listings and events and check seating plans before buying your tickets via their secure server. All very nice, very smooth, very user friendly.

Will it crash on the mornings when tickets for big events like Coldplay and U2 are released?

Probably.

Available free on the Android Market now, or just scan here: