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Wyse Technology is launching a new app for Android users today called Wyse PocketCloud Explore, which will allow you to search for files you have stored on any phone, tablet, PC or Mac. The app works in conjunction with a software client installed on your computer, so you can perform universal file searches, then view the files, rename them, move them into folders, share them or download them to your device.

The software lets you perform unlimited copying and moving of video, image and audio files between your Windows or Mac computer and your Android device. Meanwhile, other files types can be opened or edited in your preferred Android application (e.g., QuickOffice). You can also choose to email the file via Android’s email client.

PocketCloud is somewhat of an attack on cloud storage products like Dropbox or Box.net, which provide you with a set amount of free online storage, but then charge you when you need more. Instead, this app appeals more to the host-it-yourself crowd, since there’s only the one-time fee of $4.99 and no monthly service charges.

That said, hosting your files in the cloud may be pricier, but it’s often more secure. Unless you regularly backup, your computer is a single point-of-failure for your most valuable documents, while cloud storage providers have multiple copies of files spanned across servers which are backed up religiously.

But for $5, PocketCloud Explore is not a bad app to have on hand in case of a file emergency. Wyse also offers a full version of PocketCloud that provides remote access to your computer (iOS and Android). You can grab Explore from the Android Market here.

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An iPhone Lover’s Take On The Galaxy Nexus

You have to hand it to Google. They know that I prefer Apple products and have been generally critical of many Google moves in the past couple of years. And yet, they’re unafraid to give me their newest products to test out. To be honest, I’m not sure Apple would do the same. But I think this is a smart move on Google’s part. On one hand, they may get a negative review but they know that many will discount the negativity coming from me. On the flip side, if it’s positive: gravy train time.

Thus: my thoughts on the Galaxy Nexus. But before I begin…

Rather than do a full-on review — you’ve probably already seen plenty of those — and given that I now write an Apple-centric column for TechCrunch, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to continue my “An iPhone Lover’s Take…” series. For some background, here are my previous stories from the same angle on the Nexus One, the HTC EVO 4G, the Nexus S, a Windows Phone, and even the iPhone 4.

My colleague Jason Kincaid took a similar approach for a post a few weeks back, but did it from a slightly different angle — call it: An Original iPhone Lover Who Learned To Love Android Until Switching Back To The iPhone… Reviews The Galaxy Nexus. Oddly, he just had just switched back to the iPhone after years of Android use — but he says the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich in particular may get him to switch back yet again. Meanwhile, GigaOm’s Darrell Etherington also looked at the Galaxy Nexus from an iPhone user’s perspective and ultimately decided the iPhone 4S was still the device for him. So I’m here to break the tie.

I’ve been using an iPhone since the day the first one launched in 2007. It is without question my favorite and most-used gadget of all time. Over that same span, I’ve tried about a dozen different Android devices ranging from the G1 to the Nexus S — the results have been decidedly mixed. I pretty much hated the G1, generally liked the Nexus One, thought the EVO 4G was more or less crap, and basically enjoyed the Nexus S. But none, in my mind, could touch the iPhone.

So what about the Galaxy Nexus?

I was given the device shortly before I took off for Europe a couple weeks ago. Given that it’s unlocked and I got a 3G SIM, I’ve been using it a lot — just as much as I’ve used any of the other Android devices listed above. For a few nights, it has been my primary device when I’ve been out and about. Unfortunately, I have not been able to test any sort of 4G network with it, so consider all of this a Galaxy Nexus 3G review.

First and foremost, the Galaxy Nexus is way too big. The 4.65-inch screen is nice when I’m sitting on my couch, but out and about it feels like I’m Zack Morris holding his Gordon Gekko phone. I’d consider myself to have average sized hands for an adult male, and the screen is so large that it killed several one-handed operations for me (especially since many Android apps use a top nav system). I’ll admit that for some apps, like Gmail, having a screen larger than the iPhone’s 3.5-inch variety is very nice. But 4.3-inch may be better. This is just too big.

While the screen is too big, I am happy that Google has finally decided to get rid of hardware menu buttons and go all-in on the screen. Previous Android hardware was always made worse by the decision to include fixed nav buttons along the button. With Ice Cream Sandwich, all these buttons can now be software-based. There isn’t even a home hardware button like the iPhone has anymore — it’s all software.

I like this. The iPhone home button wears down over time and it makes noise when you click it. (Of course, the Galaxy Nexus still has a wake/power button of the right side.) I hope Apple does something more inventive with the button if they choose to keep it in future iPhone hardware iterations. Perhaps a multi-touch top on the button that allows you to swipe between open iOS apps would make the continuation of the physical button worth it.

I also like the inclusion of an indicator light on the Galaxy Nexus. Both the Galaxy Nexus and iPhone have options to vibrate or give you audio cues to alert you to new messages, but if the phone isn’t on me, I often miss those. The light allows you to see if you have new message waiting without having to turn the screen on. This is one of the few things BlackBerry got right that Apple for whatever reason hasn’t bothered to mimic.

The rest of the Galaxy Nexus hardware leaves something to be desired. The iPhone feels like a completely and thoughtfully designed object. By comparison, the Galaxy Nexus still feels rather cheap and plastic-y. It’s not awful, but you’d think Samsung could do better at this point. Some people will like having the option to remove to the back to get at the battery, but the method for doing so remains a joke. You essentially have to rip it off. I feel like I’m peeling a nail away from a finger every time I do it — it’s that unpleasant.

The battery life itself on the device is very good. I felt like the Galaxy Nexus was lasting at least as long as the iPhone 4S on a fully charged battery, perhaps even a bit longer if some cases. Again, I didn’t try it on a 4G network, which is known to drain battery quicker. (I also haven’t had the battery discharge issues that some iPhone 4S users have been reporting since the launch.) But fear not, this is not the EVO with its temper-melting 30-minute battery.

The camera on the Galaxy Nexus is definitely worse than the iPhone 4S, both in megapixels (8 vs. 5), and in image quality. But the iPhone 4S is also a ridiculously good camera. The Galaxy Nexus is still a fine point-and-shoot replacement, in my opinion. The camera seems better than any other Android device I’ve used. One nit is that while there is a method to go right into the camera from the lock screen (just like iOS 5 has), it’s too slow if the camera isn’t previously running. You’ll hit the camera button and watch as the Android main screen loads and then the camera apps loads. This feels like more of a macro than a feature.

And let’s talk about Ice Cream Sandwich. The artist also known as Android 4.0 is very solid. There is no question that the software is much improved over previous iterations in terms of speed, but mainly usability. I really like things like the multi-task tray and some of the new widgets.

Unfortunately, the system still lacks much of the fine polish that iOS users enjoy. The majority of Android users will probably think such criticism is bullshit, but that has always been the case. I imagine it’s probably hard for a Mercedes owner to describe to a Honda owner how attention to detail makes their driving experience better when both machines get them from point A to point B. As a Honda owner myself, I’m not sure I would buy it — I’d have to experience it to understand it, I imagine. And most Android lovers are not going to spend enough time with iOS to fully appreciate the differences.

Still, if the Android team ever wants to convert (or at least convince) most iOS users, they still have quite a bit of work to do here. Then again, they probably don’t (or shouldn’t) care too much about converting iOS users over to Android. All the non-smartphone users out there remain the much bigger prize to go after (for both Google and Apple).

Other things that will sound like nits but drove me crazy with ICS included the constant focusing on text fields only to have to click again to get the keyboard to pop up. If I’m in a text field, I clearly want to type something. Why should I have to click again? This doesn’t always happen, but it happens a lot — particularly in third-party apps.

Another: why is there a separate app for Messaging and Google+ Messenger? Apple baked iMessage into their SMS app, why didn’t Google? If they’re worried about anti-competitive concerns, why would they bundle all the Google+ stuff into ICS to begin with? Similarly, why do Gmail and Email continue to be two separate apps? And why on Earth is the web browser not Chrome yet!?

The new People app social unification is nice — I love the big pictures. But my god Google needs help with their duplication/merging detection. One of my friends has four separate entries — one for his phone number, one for his Gmail/Google+, one for Twitter, and one for another email. Several others had three different entries. Most had at least two. Also, Google provides an option to link your Facebook account in Accounts & sync, but it does nothing. I’m sure this is due to the Google/Facebook fracas, but why include something in your OS that is completely broken?

Ice Cream Sandwich’s voice command functionality is a joke compared to Siri — but that may be changing soon, we’ll see.

In his write-up, Jason noted that iOS is still far behind Android when it comes to notifications, I have to disagree. I find Android’s notification tray to be far less useful than it is on iOS. For example, if I get three new emails, with Android, I just see that I have three new emails all grouped together. With iOS I can see at least some of the context. Same with Tweets. The size of the alerts in this tray also isn’t uniform in Android, so Facebook alerts seem more important with their huge logo.

I do like the ability to “clear all” in Android’s notification tray though. The iOS micro clear button remains a joke that badly needs to be fixed.

When it comes to web browsers, arguably the most important feature on any of these devices, there is no question that iOS still has a big edge here. I’ve seen arguments on both sides for why one is faster than the other — most recently, data today favors iOS — but just doing a simple use case test, mobile Safari kicks the ass of Google’s don’t-call-it-Chrome mobile web browser across the board. Some pages still refuse to render correctly on Android’s browser. And the ones that do cannot seem to get the simplest feature right: double-tap to zoom. You do it on Android and there’s a good chance you could end up looking at the middle of a random paragraph.

You’ll also still see a bit of lag in ICS when you do seemingly simple things like this. It’s still not as smooth as it should be. For the most part, ICS fixes many of Android’s performance issues, but there are plenty of times that you’ll still see stutters here and there.

And then there are the apps.

To be fair to Google, Ice Cream Sandwich is currently only on the Galaxy Nexus and it still hasn’t even officially launched in the U.S. But there’s a lot of work to do here. One app that I had on my Nexus S constantly crashes now on the Galaxy Nexus. And rather than quietly closing in the background, I get a nice big Windows-style pop-up that it has stopped running. Many other apps look fairly bad on the larger screen simply because they’re not optimized for it — again, something a wider release of ICS will hopefully fix.

The main problem I have with Android apps on the Galaxy Nexus/ICS remains the ones that are also available on iOS. When the apps exist on both platforms, it’s easy to compare them and the iOS version almost always wins — and often by a landslide. Take the latest version of Twitter, for example. It was just updated to run on both. On iOS it’s smooth, on ICS, there is noticeable stutter when scrolling. It’s much worse on Facebook Messenger and Facebook itself — no big deal, only the biggest app on both platforms.

The reason for the app differences between the two platforms remains a hot topic of debate. Again, all I know is what I see: app to app, iOS still easily beats Android in most cases. One counter-example, which I talked about on stage at LeWeb last week, is SoundTracking. I actually think their app is better on Android. But that has less to do with performance, and more to do with the fact that it can access hooks that iOS doesn’t offer, like background Spotify integration. Android developers should focus more on these benefits of Android and less on making their apps exact ports of their iOS ones. Something always seems to get lost in translation — often badly lost.

Now it just sounds like I’m focusing on the negative. It’s important to emphasize the fact that the Galaxy Nexus is without a doubt the best phone I’ve ever used that’s not an iPhone. And there is no question that it does certain things better than an iPhone — namely all of the Google apps and any third-party background/OS integration beyond Twitter, which is now baked into iOS 5. Google has also managed to just about match Apple in app quantity. This is all good — competition is good.

The next step that Google needs to take (or to help third party developers take) involves around app quality. Put simply: they need to create better tools for developers to use in order to take advantage of the strengths ICS offers. This won’t happen in 6 months, but it can happen if Google works at it.

After that, it’s the intangibles where iOS holds the huge advantage. And just like in sports, it’s not clear how well you can “teach” those. At some point, Google may simply have to acknowledge that iOS looks and feels better than Android because Apple’s entire fabric is woven with design, tight integration, and attention to detail. Google’s strengths are elsewhere; they should embrace that.

Google has done some very nice work here. Both the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich are a new pinnacle of the Android platform. But in the end, it still comes down to something very simple: which device do I want to use day-to-day? Which phone do I reach for when I’m not doing a review? It’s still the iPhone. Without question.

Keep at it, Google.

Source: TechCrunch

It’s the motion in the ocean that counts, right? Wrong. Well, at least that’s how it looks when it comes to mobile advertising. (Look out, inneractive infographic below!) If you take Google at its word, then 2011 has been the year of the tablet. Or in their words, this year tablets “went mainstream”. Sure, Google would say that, as the creator of a rapidly-propagating mobile OS, right? Well, with total number of tablets sold expected to get close to 60 million by the end of the year, I think we may be able to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Of course, when it comes to advertisers and developers considering mobile platforms, the question of where revenue is going to come from — and just how much — is crucial. In terms of mobile apps, freemium is certainly here to stay, but mobile advertising, as you’ve heard, is growing like gangbusters, with U.S. advertisers expected to spend upwards of $1.23 billion on mobile advertising in 2011, a number that’s projected to increase to around $4.4 billion by 2014.

And, perhaps more importantly, the numbers show that nearly 80 percent of consumers are comfortable with or neutral towards mobile advertising. Of course, as adoption of smartphones and tablets continues at a record pace, for that comfort level with mobile advertising to remain high, Google’s research shows that users are increasingly expecting more interactive and touch-friendly ads on their mobile devices. That’s why, last week, Google launched new tablet-specific ad formats that “make it easy for advertisers to create rich media ads for tablets using existing assets (photos, logos, etc.)” and fire them out across mobile platforms.

This is great, yes, but advertisers and mobile developers want to know which platforms, OSes, and devices have the highest average click-through-rates, because high CTRs lead to monetization, and monetization leads to, well, happy developers, better ads, and hopefully happier consumers. As we saw in Sarah’s recent coverage, Apple has topped Android in mobile ad performance, but Windows is still leading the pack in Q3 mobile CTRs. And with Windows leading, while Mango “rolled out without the promised in-app purchasing support”, again, it’s all about ad monetization — especially for budding Windows developers.

So, as CTRs have become increasingly important for developers looking to monetize on mobile platforms, an interesting supplemental question has become: When it comes to the performance (CTRs) of mobile advertising, does size of the device matter? Or, in other words, should developers be turning their focus for this (and other) reason(s) to tablets?

Google holds that the audience is certainly there for tablets, and they (among others) are trying to walk the walk by developing optimized formats for advertising on all those tablet-y devices. In support of this, inneractive, a mobile app monetization exchange, has created an infographic to address whether or not mobile CTRs are higher for larger devices. Their research shows that advertisers (and developers) have a clear advantage when offering optimized ads for larger formats.

Thus, it seems that size does indeed matter when it comes to click-through-rates — and that we have yet another confirmation that tablets will be leading the way in 2012. In more ways than one.

In the end, we’d like to see results for more devices, but this is a great start. Check it out:

• INNERACTIVE

inneractive is the industry’s premier mobile ad mediation provider with over 100 ad networks and local agencies available at the click of a button. With inneractive, mobile developers know they are getting the highest performance and widest global coverage, while not compromising on personal and high quality customer care. inneractive is on the side of the developer!

inneractive offers the most advanced real time optimization platform for mobile advertising campaigns that ensures developers are maximizing in app revenue and not…

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Dismissing rumors that he might be making a comeback at Microsoft, founder Bill Gates went down under to rule out the possibility of ever returning to the software behemoth full-time.

Instead, he says, he’ll be working full-time at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation until the day he dies. Gates stepped down from his day-to-day role at Microsoft in June 2008.

In an interview with Fairfax Media, Gates declared:

“I’m part-time involved with Microsoft, including even being in touch this week to give some of my advice but that’s not going to change – the foundation requires all of my energy and we feel we’re having a great impact.”

He also says some things about Steve Jobs, but nothing that will surprise you: he was a brilliant person who was tough on Microsoft because its machines outsold his machines by a lot, and he was kinder to Gates in his last years. Sounds about right.

Gates also pointed out that it’s summer in Sydney but that he wished it was a “tiny bit warmer”.

(Image courtesy of World Economic Forum / Flickr)

• BILL GATES
• MICROSOFT

William (Bill) H. Gates was chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft had revenues of US$55.12 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2007, and employs more than 78,000 people in 105 countries and regions.

On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008 Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health…

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Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is a veteran software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software.

Starting in 1980 Microsoft formed a partnership with IBM allowing Microsoft to sell its software package with the computers IBM manufactured.

Microsoft is widely used by professionals worldwide and largely dominates the American corporate market.

Additionally, the company has ventured into hardware with consumer products such as the Zune and…

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by Matt Bieschke @ odysseyforge.com

Perhaps you own one or more tablets. Perhaps you have none. Regardless of your situation with Christmas around the corner, chances are that you might be thinking of getting one. What will it be?

The Nook, Kindle Fire, Toshiba Thrive,  Original ASUS Transfomer? Those are the notable ones besides the iPad anyway as the rest of the Android Tablet lineup just seem to blend into the noise. Thin may be in but function gets more done than form.

Even the XOOM 2 doesn’t look too impressive on paper though it’s yet to be released yet. Many of you “would be” purchasers are holding off  though because you may be in a wait and see mode since the Tegra3 quad-core and Android 4.0 ICS  were announced earlier this year. Well, that’s what I want to discuss here. The reasons you shouldn’t wait. The Tegra 4, Octa-core Tablets could well be out in late 2012 / 2013 anyway. You could be waiting forever.

If history is any indication of the future, here are some reasons to buy now (and enjoy) rather than wait…

•  The original XOOM WiFi launched with Android 3.0 Honeycomb earlier this year. Even though the 4G version of  it was plagued with serious issues months earlier, it nevertheless launched still very incomplete with nearly all the same issues. It took Motorola nearly about 10 months to get things right from a user standpoint from when it was first introduced to the market.
• Before the Tegra2 market blew up to what it is now only this year, it was mostly a single core SGX world. It’s what Apple had been using in it’s iPad, iPhone and iPod. It had been what Samsung had used in their successful Galaxy S series. There was very limited support and very few apps to that were compatible with the new OS or games to take advantage of the extra horsepower. It took many months, but we’re much better off now.
• The price always comes down. It happened with the Apple iPad. It happened with the XOOM 4G (which was up to $800 at one point).  However, those that already know this are often fine being part of the “early adopter” crowd and that’s fine. It can be fun on the bleeding edge but it’s not for everyone.
• The original Nook from Barnes and Noble caused a quite stir even if it sold well because of it’s dual boot / easy customization beyond what BN intended for it. It may have begun a trend of lower cost tablets. Now the Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire enter the market. They aren’t meant to compete with the full Android Tablets and the iPad but they’ll have further effect on pricing if they continue to do well. Especially the Fire.

What to take from all this? At the very least, that new hardware will have issues (ex: ASUS Transformer Prime / Tegra3) and so will new software (ex: Android 4.0 / Ice Cream Sandwich). Seems obvious / common sense by now, right? Though, I often surprised how it doesn’t quite work of that way for many.

Furthermore, quad-core Tablets whether they include the much hyped Tegra 3 or something else will be irrelevant to anyone’s usefulness without compatible apps and new games (or other media/graphic software) to take advantage of it. If you judge by history then it will take many months at least to see any benefit. So why pay more for something now that will be more affordable when it’s actually been (more) accepted into the marketplace. If you must wait, I’d say wait for the quad-cores to be better support by software, the Android 4 OS to mature and the prices to become more affordable.

You might think I’m crazy but if I was asked what the best Tablet out there for someone who has never owned a Tablet before I recommend either the Toshiba Thrive or the Kindle Fire. The Fire is entry level but does at least 60% of a what you expect a Tablet to do. Amazon is making the user experience really good. Probably the best out there for new Tablet owners. It’s all most the user experience, baby! In the past, the iPad was the “it” device but now there are so many better choices!

While the Thrive is a step up for nearly twice the price but it’s still certainly worth it IMO. There are many reviews of it so no need here but it’s still the only Tablet that has both a full SD slot (suports Micro and up to 128GB SDXC), full USB and HDMI ports. New users can use many of the tech accessories that they already have without after market adapters! MicroHDMI? MHL Adapter? No thanks. Then there’s the replaceable battery. No one else does this.

These are dual core Tablets, folks! Plenty of raw power already being exploited by developers folks. No waiting necessary. Enjoy it now. I’ll recommend they over the quad-core tablets any day unless of course the individual asking really values immediate performance over immediate value. Don’t get me wrong, these quad core chips are faster (of course) but don’t yet yield even of a user benefit to warrant their purchase just yet. I expect that to change and I’ll probably have to get one myself when it does.