Google's Android Has Hit A Wall, And Now It's Fading In The U.S. (GOOG, AAPL)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/androids-market-share-in-the-united-states-2013-4

Something is happening to Android in the U.S.

After years of runaway success, it's now losing share to Apple's iPhone, according to the latest data from comScore.

For the three months ended in February, Apple had 38.9 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, up from 35 percent for the same period ending in November. Android fell to 51.7 percent over the same period, down from 53.7 percent.

The United States is not the world, but it is a leading market for smartphones. So, it's worth paying attention to these trends.

Apple has been able to eat in to Android's lead thanks to increased distribution, and lowered pricing. The iPhone wasn't on Verizon until February 2011, four years after the iPhone debuted on AT&T. It later joined Sprint, then some regional carriers, and this year it's going to T-Mobile.

Apple offers the iPhone at a variety of prices on Verizon and AT&T, from $0 to over $400. A free-on-contract iPhone has make it an option for more people.

Android is a great operating system available on a number of excellent phones, some with gigantic screens. It's odd that it's gone flat. It's not just a U.S. phenomenon for Android, either.

When Andy Rubin stepped down, Google released new data on Android activations. While year-over-year growth remains spectacular, growth during the holiday season was relatively tepid.

We're not sure if this is a blip for Google, or the start of something bigger. We've seen Android have the occasional set back in the past.

SEE ALSO: Apple Is Preparing Major Changes To The iPhone's Software

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Scientists Can Read Dreams Using Brain Scans

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5993732/scientists-can-read-dreams-using-brain-scans

A team of scientists claim to have developed techniques which allows them to read dreams via brain scans—and it could help us better understand what goes on in the brain while we sleep.

The team of researchers, from the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, in Kyoto, have been performing MRI scans while people drift into early stages of sleep. Just after participants fall asleep, they are awoken and asked about what they have seen. Each tiny mental image—from bronze statues to ice picks—is recounted and recorded, and the entire process repeated 200 times for each participant.

That gives the scientists a database of images, linked with brain activity, which can be grouped together into similar visual categories. So, cars, trucks and buses might all be linked under the category of vehicles, for instance.

From there, the scientists were able to analyze brain activity while participants slept, and attempt to predict what they were dreaming about. The results, published in Science, show that the researchers could predict what volunteers were seeing—at least at the broad broad category level—with 60 percent accuracy. Not perfect, but pretty impressive. Professor Yukiyasu Kamitani, one of the researchers, explains to the BBC:

"We were able to reveal dream content from brain activity during sleep, which was consistent with the subjects' verbal reports. I had a strong belief that dream decoding should be possible at least for particular aspects of dreaming... I was not very surprised by the results, but excited."

But this is only the start. Crucially, the scientists have only so far considered light sleep—and now the researchers are particularly interested in studying more vivid dreams which occur during deeper sleep. Next stop, Inception. [Science via BBC]

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Turn a Raspberry Pi Into an Always-On Usenet Downloading Machine

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5993580/turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-an-alway+on-usenet-downloading-machine

One of the nice things about the Raspberry Pi is the that it doesn't require a lot of power to run. This means you can leave it on all day long without it putting a dent in your electricity bill. To take advantage of that, How-To Geek has a guide for using your Raspberry Pi as an always-on Usenet machine.

The setup hinges on SABnzbd, and includes setting it up to start automatically, UNRAR files as they come in, and sending all the files over to an external harddrive. The nice thing is that you can tap into SABnzbd with a mobile app so that you don't ever really need to look at your Raspberry Pi. If you're a big Usenet user who consumes a lot of power with a desktop PC that's always on and downloading, this low-powered solution is certainly worth a look. If you need a little primer on how Usenet works, check out our guide. Head over to How-To Geek for the full guide.

How to Turn a Raspberry Pi into an Always-On Usenet Machine | How-To Geek

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Asus Ai Charger Quickly Charges Your iPhone or iPad Over a Regular USB Port

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5993609/asus-ai-charger-quickly-charges-your-iphone-or-ipad-over-a-regular-usb-port

Windows: Asus's Ai Charger is a free utility that finally lets you charge the iPad from your PC's USB port, which otherwise doesn't offer enough juice to charge the tablet. Ai Charger also promises to charge iPhones and iPods 50 percent faster using standard USB ports.

Blogger Matthew Hunt posted this chart comparing charging time for the iPhone 5 with Ai Charger versus USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and the wall charger. In this test, Ai Charger is about as fast as the wall charger!

Ai Charger apparently works by sending up to 1.2A through the USB port, so charging your iPad via USB won't be quite as fast as through a wall charger. Still, this means you can travel with your laptop and iPad and leave behind the power brick if you want to.

Asus says the Ai Charger works with all motherboards and systems, but because it's hacking the power going through the USB port, this is a use-at-your-own-risk utility and your mileage may vary. After installing Ai Charger on my Dell laptop, my iPad went from "Not Charging" to charging up. Some folks over on XDA Developers are even reporting the utility works on some non-Apple devices.

Asus Ai Charger | via PCWorld

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HTC One $649 64GB Developer Edition pre-orders start at 10AM ET, ship later this month

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/05/htc-one-developer-edition-pre-order/

Last month HTC announced the SIM and bootloader unlocked Developer Edition of its new One would be available at the same time as regular carrier versions, and it's held to that promise. Tonight it tweeted pre-orders will begin the morning of April 5th at 7AM PT / 10AM ET, a day after AT&T's list opened and the same day as Sprint. While there was no mention of ship or regular sale date, Android and Me reports being told by company reps at today's Facebook event that sales will begin April 19th, which it confirmed to us in a subsequent tweet. We're sure you'll cherish the hours / days left to decide if parting with $649 is worth having that 64GB metal-backed wonder (no, it is not transparent, this is just a rendering) to yourself without the phone company's interference.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: HTCdev (Twitter), Android and Me

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