Author: Jimmy Wolfee

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Android and Apple IOS continue to rise in USA

Android and IOS undoubtedly are one of the mobile operating systems in the world today and their popularity continue to rise day by day. As per the latest data gathered by comScore survey both Android and IOS are witnessing explosive growth rate in USA. Here are the few points extracted from that report:

  1. There are approximately 110 million smartphone users in USA
  2. Out of 110 million 50.9% use Android OS based handset.
  3. 31.9% use Apple IOS based iPhone. There is rise of about 1.7 % in the market share of IOS.
  4. Users of Windows Phone based smartphones rise from 3.9% to 4.0%. Not a significant growth but still positive sign for Microsoft.
  5. RIM’s Blackberry is the only looser here. There market share dropped from 13.4% to 11.4%. Due to this RIM has to restructure their company by laying of its employees. There are also rumours that it will strike a deal with Microsoft to save RIM from becoming bankrupt.
  6. As far as the manufacturers are concerned than Samsung leads the list woth 25.7% market share followed by LG with 19.1%. Apple is ate their with a market share of 15%.
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What are the new features in Android Jelly Bean?

android jelly beanAs you all know that Google has recently released the next major release of Android operating system in the form of Android Jelly bean 4.1 which can be considered as the successor to Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0. Even after the launch of Jelly Bean version of Android, Gingerbread is still the most dominated version of Android till date.Up till now only 7% of the Android based smartphones use ICS 4.0 and majority of the smartphones are still on Gingerbread.

This low adoption of ICS 4.0 can be attributed to the fact that the new versions of Android requires more processing power and memory which is not present in low end Android based smartphones which forms the majority of Android market share.

Google brings some new features in the Jelly bean but still according to me Jelly Bean is just a minor update to ICS.

  1. Google has made some changes to core of the operating systems by increasing the overall system frame rate to 60 FPS. They have also included Vsync which will help in improving the overall response of the touch screen.
  2. Google has also introduced some improvements to their voice typing engine. Earlier one have to download the app and database from Android market to enable Voice Typing but in Jelly Bean 4.1 it will be integrated to the very core of the system there by making it smaller in size and more efficient. The integrated Voice Typing engine in Jelly bean does not require an active internet connection for its working. It can work in offline mode also. Voice detection is also improved as compared to older version.
  3. Jelly Bean now supports Braille which will help blind users.
  4. Default camera application for Jelly Bean is also improved greatly. Features such as easy deletion of the images and wireless sharing over NFC is now present.
  5. There are some improvements in field of Notification also. In Jelly Bean one can perform basic tasks or operations from the Notification panel itself without going into the application.
  6. In Jelly Bean update Google introduced Voice Search which will rival Apple Siri. Voice Search functionality in Jelly Bean will be able to understand speech commands from the user and produce the results as accordingly.
  7. Google had also introduced a new app or you can call it a core functionality known as Google Now for Android Jelly Bean OS. Google Now will basically present before you different suggestions based on your previous activities like search, your geographical location and other. It is definitely one of the cool feature in Android Jelly Bean.
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How to compile C++ programs using Microsoft Visual Studio?

If you are an engineering student than you should be searching for a good compiler to compile you C++ programs on latest edition of Windows OS. Your college must have asked you to install Turbo C++ on your computer in order to practice your home work but Turbo C++ is now an age old compiler and is not recommended for latest editions of Windows operating systems.

But why use Turbo C++ when you have Visual Studio or its free avatar Visual C++ Express Edition to compile your C++  programs. Compiling your programs on Visual Studio can be a confusing task for first time users but nevertheless it is an easy one. Here are the steps which you should follow to compile your programs in Visual Studio:

1. Firstly you have to download Visual Studio from Microsoft’s official website. If your college is under their dreamspark program than you can get a free full copy of Visual Studio 2010 for learning purpose. But in case your college in not in their list than you can either download a 90 day trial copy of Visual Studio Professional edition from here http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=16057 or download free Visual C++ express edition from here http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/visual-cpp-express

 

2. Now open Visual Studio by clicking on its icon. In the home window click on the File –> New –> Project

3. Now after this a windows will open which will ask you the type of the project. Here click on Win32 option under the Visual C++ category in the left sidebar.

4. After this click on the Win32 Console Application in the right side of the same window and input a name and location in the fields given at the bottom of the window.

5. After this a Win32 Application Wizard window will open. Click next on this window. After clicking next, check the box besides the Empty Project option and then click Finish button at the bottom of the window.

6. Now right click on Source Files folder on the left side bar and click Add –> New Item –> C++ File (.cpp). Enter a name for the file in the box at the bottom and click Add button.

7. A new window will open after the above operation. This will be the editor window where you can type your C++ program. After typing you program click on the Debug option in the menu bar and then click Start Debugging option from the drop down menu. After clicking this option you will see the console window with your desired output and if there occurs any error while compiling than it will be notified in a new window.

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Adobe to stop offering Flash player for Android OS

Adobe must be angry with the fact that the latest Google Chrome browser for Android ICS 4.0 will not support Flash player. Also the Google Chrome is the default browser for ICS 4.0 OS and now as a result of this Adobe announced that from coming 15th of August they will stop offering the downloads of Flash Player app for Android on Google Play Store.

The Flash player application will be available for download on Google Play store up till 15th of August. After that they will remove the application from the store. Adobe has also recommended Android users to delete the Flash player app from their mobiles before upgrading to the latest Android version that is either ICS 4.0 or Jelly Bean 4.1 as the app will create problem in the new version of Android due to incompatibility.

Adobe has also announced that those users who have Flash player app installed on their older version Android phones will continue to receive security and bug fixes even after 15th August.

Support for the Flash player on the Android was one of the key feature which has helped Android OS in gaining all around popularity and also distinguishes Android from Apple’s IOS because Apple is always against the use of Flash player in smartphones due to the excessive drainage of battery by Flash player app. But that particular era is now over.

The main reason for the kicking of Flash technology from Android is the advancements which are taking place in the field of HTML 5. HTML 5 is the latest version of HTML which supports the playing of native media content without the need of a dedicated player like Flash. HTML 5 is still under development and is not yet fully supported by all web browsers but sooner or later HTML 5 is bound to become the next major internet revolution.

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Microsoft to expand Windows 8 Marketplace to more countries

Microsoft has recently announced the launch of their latest mobile operating system Windows Phone 8 which will replace the present generation Windows Phone 7. Windows 8 Phone will feature some serious improvements over its 7th version which includes support for dual core chips, NFC and making the development of apps or software easy for the 8th version because the new Windows Phone 8 shares the core with the desktop edition of Windows 8.

Today Microsoft announced the expansion of their Windows Mobile marketplace to over 180 countries. initially it was available in very few countries and because of this Windows Phone OS never gets successful. This will include the launch of both App Hub and App Marketplace to more countries.

Developer from these countries can now be able to submit their apps to the Windows Phone 8 marketplace and consumers from now onwards will be able to download or purchase apps from this new Windows Marketplace.

The full list of countries are given in the image below:

list of countries with new microsoft marketplace