By: Hillel Fuld

Twitter, as a company, has made its share of mistakes over the years. These include implementing its own retweeting system that makes it significantly more difficult to see how many people retweeted you and who they are (not to mention the fact that when I use the Twitter retweet, I can’t add my two cents to the original tweet, it all kind of defeats the purpose), the Twitter URL shortening service, which seems to break more links than it shortens, or many others. But the good news was that with all these issues, I always had Tweetdeck to fall back on. Then Twitter bought Tweetdeck.

Wait, let’s back up a little for those of you who are not familiar. Twitter, as I am sure most of you know, is a microblogging service that allows you to share short updates of 140 characters with your followers. You can also add links to external articles, photos, videos, etc. Except, contrary to what all the hype might lead you to believe, Twitter is just the foundation for an entire ecosystem of applications that use the Twitter API (not going to explain that term, feel free to read more about what an API is), it is not the end, just a means.

So there is an entire world of Twitter developers out there from Windows applications such as Tweetdeck and Seesmic, Web apps like Hootsuite and Twimbow, iPhone apps like Echofon and Tweetlogix, and Android apps like Twicca and Twidroyd. Other platforms also have their share of Twitter apps including Ovi (Gravity), Windows Phone, Playbook, and the list goes on. There are of course apps that are available cross platform and the leading name in that category is Tweetdeck.

I have been using Tweetdeck for years, since pretty much day one, and I have recommended it to hundreds of people. Not only is Tweetdeck the best Twitter client on PC and Mac in my opinion, but the team and especially Richard Barley, who was the Community Manager till recently, is super responsive and professional.

Like I said, then Twitter bought Tweetdeck, which at the time was good news since, as I mentioned, I love the team and thought they deserved the acquisition. Many commented over the past few months that Tweetdeck updates, which were a frequent thing until recently, had slowed down. All that did not matter as far as I was concerned because Tweetdeck still blew its competition out of the water. Until now.

Tweetdeck recently rolled out a new Tweetdeck for Mac and PC, which came on the same day that Twitter released a new Web UI and a new app for iOS. The interesting thing about the new Tweetdeck is that it is native, as in a regular application like Office, Skype, or any other software you download to your computer. Until now, it is was an Adobe Air application, which is a pretty buggy and resource hogging technology. So, I was optimistic.

Then I tried the new Tweetdeck and all that changed. The interface is different, the options are gone, the customization abilities are missing, and overall, the experience is far inferior to its predecessor and even other competing applications. That makes me sad, especially knowing that this is the only choice moving forward and the old version will no longer receive updates or support. I used the new Tweetdeck for a few minutes then went back to my old version and have not looked back since.

The following are four ways that Twitter is effectively killing off Tweetdeck as the industry leader in Twitter applications:

 1: No More Old School Retweets

With the new Tweetdeck, there is no more retweeting someone the way people used to in the good old days. Not to get too technical here, but in the old Tweetdeck, you can press Retweet and a tweet is automatically generated with the letters RT and the person’s name before their tweet. In the new Tweetdeck, you can only use the native retweet option, which as I mentioned above, is problematic, to say the least.

There is also a “Quote tweet” option, which essentially adds quotation marks around the original tweet for you to add your two cents. Now, essentially the quoting option accomplishes the same thing as a retweet does, and some might say I am arguing semantics here, but this, to me, is a classic case of “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. Retweeting is one of the things that made Twitter to enjoyable and viral from day one, I just don’t see why Twitter felt the need to go and change the way people retweet each other. Do you?

2: More Clicks, So Many More Clicks

Using the new Tweetdeck, it’s as if Twitter gets paid per clicks. The most basic functionality, that required one, maybe two clicks in the old Tweetdeck, now require for or five, sometimes, even more. Retweeting someone for example was one click to prepare the tweet and then Send in the old Tweetdeck, now requires anywhere between four and five clicks depending on whether you want to retweet or quote.

Adding or removing someone from a list is the same story, only a whole lot worse. There is no option anywhere on the UI of the new Tweetdeck to add someone to a list, unless I am missing it, in which case, we have another problem… You have to click the person’s profile, click Lists, and… yea, even this doesn’t work. It seems Twitter forgot to add list support in the new Tweetdeck… Which brings me to my next point…

3: Screen Real Estate

One of the best parts of the old Tweetdeck was the fact that you were able to see all your feeds at first glance without even clicking once. I had seven columns open at any given time on my 24′ display. Why seven? Well, I have my Twitter account and I manage the Twitter account of Appboy and inneractive, that’s three. Then I have my direct messages column and three columns for my favorite Twitter lists. I follow over 8,000 people so Twitter lists make it possible to stay on top of the relevant updates and people without getting lost in all the noise.

In the new Tweetdeck, you can have a max of four columns on your screen with the fifth column displaying a huge arrow to scroll right and see the rest of your columns. To that I say, why?? An entire column for an arrow? That prime real estate could have been utilized by Robert Scoble’s Twitter list of tech influencers and instead it is populated by an arrow? That is what’s called a design flaw that is a deal breaker.

4: Follower Count on Tweets

With the old Tweetdeck, you could configure that under every tweet, the app would display that person’s follower count. It was a useful and unique feature to have. It is gone in the new Tweetdeck. Why was it useful? Not because you should judge a person by their follower count, that is just crazy talk. The reality is that with so much spam being sent daily on Twitter, you need an effective way to separate the real people from the bots.

A profile picture is one way and nine out of ten times, a profile without a picture is a bot. Follower count is also an accurate tool. If someone follows a thousand people and has zero followers, there is something very wrong. Generally speaking, there is a correlation between follower count and the amount of time a person spends on Twitter.

Before you cut my head off, I am well aware of the amount of spammy tools that builds up follower count without the need for any engagement on the part of the user. When a person uses those tools, I will discover it in a matter of seconds by looking at their tweets, but when someone has a totally unproportional follower/following count, I am not even clicking through to see their tweets. Like I said, it was a useful feature in the old Tweetdeck. Any particular reason Twitter had to kill it?

Here is the thing, there are so many more issues with the new Tweetdeck to add to this list, but do I really need to go on when you  have a perfectly fine old Tweetdeck to resort to? Yes, the lack of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Foursquare support in the new Tweetdeck is a problem, but I didn’t even get that far when basic functions that I do a hundred times a day are not possible in the new Tweetdeck.

Combine all that with the fact that Twitter rolled out a new Web UI on the same day as the new Tweetdeck came out and you have one less reason to ever open Tweetdeck.

Sad but true, and something we see far too often when big companies buy small ones. Unless things reverse themselves, Tweetdeck is on its way down and with all the problems with the new Tweetdeck, it is taking the fast road too…

By: Hillel Fuld

It has been quite a crazy month in and out of the tech industry and while I usually try to post these articles on a weekly basis, clearly, that did not work too well in the last couple of weeks. But since many (many) people seem to depend on these posts to get up to date, I am forcing myself to get back into the swing of things.

Here goes, the top tech news of the month written by yours truly! (Sheesh, I write a lot.)

Apple

Here you have yet another indication of just how much the iPad changed the world: You are going to want to watch this video

iPhone 4 VS iPhone 4S Speed Test (VIDEO): Worth the Upgrade? I am still on the fence, how about you?

A New Mobile Trend is Born: Retail Giants Creating Shopping Apps: THIS should be interesting…

It’s Here! All iPhone 4S Video Reviews in One Place! Now, To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade? So torn…

First iPhone 4S Commercial Airs: You might use Android, but no one competes with Apple on the advertising thing.

Apple’s 3 New iPhone 4S Commercials: Jobs Would be Proud: Three more 4S ads for your viewing pleasure

Apple Will Revolutionize Yet Another Industry This Week: Retail Shopping: Home computing, digital music, mobile, tablets, digital content, and now… Shopping!

4 of the Prettiest iOS Apps that Deserve an Award for their Design: If you have an iOS device, and have not tried these apps, you have not experienced iOS.

5 Interesting Social iPhone Apps Released in the Past Month: These are some interesting apps right here.

Apple to Sell 28 Million iPhone 4S Devices this Quarter, but Not Because of the Phone: And people were disappointed…

Adobe

R.I.P Mobile Flash: Can We Say it Now? Steve Jobs was Right. Again! Interesting turn of events.

How Steve Jobs Actually Prolonged the Life Of Mobile Flash and Delayed its Death: R.I.P Mobile Flash, see ya!

Google

Google Brings the Mobile Web, Search, and Native Apps One Step Closer: Google never ceases to amaze.

The Next Generation of NFC is Born: Android Beam: Yes, the future is here. Beam me up, Scottie.

Android Passes iOS in App Downloads, but Does It Even Matter? Spoiler: NO! It is heating up, can you feel it?

Amazon

Amazon Steps it up with 5 Million Kindle Fires Ordered and its Very Own Siri: I’ll have whatever Amazon is drinking, thank you very much.

Facebook

If Only Facebook on the Web Was as User Friendly as Facebook on the iPad is: Facebook for iPad at last!! Was worth the wait.

RIM

RIM Introduces BBX and Releases Playbook OS 2.0, Which Runs Android Apps (VIDEO): Could BlackBerry be back?

Nokia

All New Nokia Phones Running Windows Phone Mango 7.5: This new Nokia Lumia 800 that everyone is talking about, is high up on my list.

Nokia’s Back! Hate to Say it but We Told You So! (Infographic): Is Nokia back? Well not yet, but they are making all the right moves.

Nokia Interviews inneractive on Mobile Advertising and App Monetization: I am proud of this interview.

Rovio

Angry Birds Reaches 500 Million Downloads: 200,000 Years of Game Play (VIDEO): These numbers are downright ridiculous.

Twitter

Louis CK Talks about Mobile and Social Media in the Twitter Generation (VIDEO): If you watch one video today, watch this!

Tweetlogix is the iPhone Twitter App of All iPhone Twitter Apps: Best. Twitter. App. Ever

Appsfire

Appsfire is Killing it in the Mobile Space: Like mobile technology? Keep your eye on this startup!

inneractive

inneractive Named One of Globes’ Ten Most Promising Israeli Startups: Boom! In case  you don’t know, inneractive is where I work and this award made my year.

Appboy

The New Appboy.com is Live! Now here is a company operating outside of the box. Watch this space.

Wow, there you have it, folks. Might be a good idea to go back to weekly posts, this is kinda long. Anyway, I hope you made it this far and if you did, you deserve this seriously hilarious video.

By: Hillel Fuld

It is that time of the week again, time to sum up all the tech news of the previous week in one easy-to-read blog post. This edition of Above the Fuld is a little shorter than usual, as I was on vacation for three days this week. That means no coverage of the Amazon announcement for example, among other things.

OK here goes:

Apple

Ever wonder what it is like for Tim Cook to fill the shoes of Steve Jobs? ok ok, maybe slightly immature on the part of College Humor, but c’mon, you know you laughed.

What would a tech summary be without an iPhone 5 rumor? A very interesting video shedding some light on the specs of the upcoming iPhone 5. Or is it called iPhone 4gs? Who knows…

iOS5 will have some pretty neat features, this one leads the pack: We might just finally discover why Apple bought Siri back in 2010. Check out this demo video of the upcoming iOS5 Assistant feature.

Google

Google+ for iOS gets a major update: Finally, the Google+ iOS app is on par with the site and its competitors. Especially the mobile hangouts, which bring video chatting to a whole new level.

Another interesting solution for monetizing Android apps: Startapp definitely thought out of the box on this one by giving developers an easy way to monetize Android apps via search.

Amazon

While I was on vacation for the announcement, I discussed the Amazon tablet here: Looks like someone has understood that Apple’s success is not hardware or even software-related. It is all in the ecosystem and Amazon has a nice ecosystem of its own!

Microsoft

Finally! Mango is live! An interesting video demo of Windows Phone Mango. Is it interesting enough though or is Microsoft falling behind the curve?

Facebook

Looks like Facebook for iPad will finally show its long overdue face this week: Facebook is expected to announce a new HTML5 app store along with its new iPad app. Check out some of the screen shots in the post.

Skype

A new Skype iOS app is born with Bluetooth support, Anti Shake technology, and (drumroll please) ads! Looks like yet another leading mobile developer is adopting the mobile advertising model to monetize. I wonder if Microsoft was involved in this decision.

Foursquare

Boom! My interview with Dennis Crowley, founder of Foursquare:  Took me over a year to land this interview but it was well worth it. Whether you are an entrepreneur, a mobile fanatic, or just a plain old geek, you will find some gems in this interview.

By: Hillel Fuld

By now, we all know that “Geek” is the new “Cool”, and I have met my share of geeks in my time, but David Pogue is on a whole new level. David has been writing a weekly personal technology column for the New York times since November, 2000. He also writes a monthly tech column for Scientific American. In addition, David is a featured guest on various TV shows including his CNBC appearances every Thursday, CBS Sunday Morning, and his show “Making Stuff” on PBS.

David is also a best-selling “How-To” author having authored 7 books out of the wildly popular “for Dummies” series (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music). David has won an Emmy, a journalism Loeb award, and an honorary doctorate in music (pretty busy dude).

All that and more is info available on his public bio here.

However, to me David Pogue is so much more than all those awards and accomplishments. Anyone who has ever read David’s columns or watched his hilarious videos probably noticed a pattern. He knows how to simplify even the most technical and geeky concepts so anyone can understand them. To me, that is a great writer. That is what technical writers have to do in their documentation, and that is what a good Web journalist should be capable of doing as well.

For years, I have tried to “imitate” this style in all my writing so anyone can read and understand my posts. David has been my personal role model and someone I always admired. In addition, David has been known to crowd source parts of his New York Times column by asking his Twitter followers for their input. That is another thing I admire and have begun doing myself.

I know that in terms of influence, not many people can match David’s far reach. Just a few weeks ago, he wrote about top photography apps in the New York Times, and one of the apps he included in the list happens to be an app developed by a friend. Trust me when I tell you, the very mention of the app in David’s column immediately caused the download numbers to absolutely skyrocket.

David, along with Walt Mossberg, were the first people to review the iPhone when it came out. To me, Walt and David are the two remaining old school geeks that lead the way in genuine and professional tech journalism. I, for one, feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to interview both Walt and now David.

So David, thanks for this interview (and the follow on Twitter), it is very much appreciated. Keep up the awesome work you are doing.

The following are the questions I asked David, along with his answers:

1. While I am sure most people reading this know who David Pogue is, please tell us about yourself and your background. What led up to you becoming the tech journalist for the New York Times?

Sure. I started out as a musician; after Yale, I conducted and arranged Broadway musicals in New York for ten years, which a lot of people think is a strange preparation for becoming a tech columnist! Sheet-music software got me interested in tech. I don’t have to write out my music by hand? I can just play it, and the computer does the notation for me? Where do I sign?

In time, I wound up writing software manuals, how-to computer books, and computer-magazine columns for 13 years. Then the New York Times asked if I wanted to take over its consumer-tech column. I thought it over for–oh, must have been one-tenth of a second–and then said yes.

2. What are five of the most amazing technologies or gadgets you ever covered in your column?

I tend to like things that simulate magic. (Did I mention I’m also an amateur magician, and I wrote “Magic for Dummies”?) Wireless things, like WiFi and the Wii and the Kinect. Things that make it seem like computers understand us, like speech-recognition software and phone apps that respond to tilting or touching. Things that make us look good or professional with very little effort, like really nice cameras and camcorders. And simple things. Products that do amazing things with the touch of a button and very little technical bushwacking. The iPad is a pretty good representative in that category.

3. While some of my other interviews here were appreciated by my geeky friends, my parents will read and love this interview as well. What differences do you see between the young tech generation and the last generation in terms of how they view the world we live in?

Younger generations always adopt new technologies more quickly than their parents–nothing has changed on that score in 5 million years. (“The wheel!? Why do you need to invent the wheel? Why can’t you WALK to the wooly mammoth skeleton like we did!?”)

But I do feel as though the last few years have really accelerated the pace. Even today’s college kids never knew a world without the Internet, and today’s elementary-schoolers never knew a world without CONTINUOUS, ubiquitous Internet (thanks to smartphones).

My message, my entire writing life, has been: “Don’t let anyone make you feel inferior because you don’t get the latest tech. Nobody could possibly keep up–not even me. The trick is to adopt the tech that makes your life easier or better, and ignore the rest with a clear conscience.”

4. Now to get a little geeky, you cover apps a lot, what are five of your favorite apps and why?

1. Dragon Dictation (free). Speak to type. In general, excellent accuracy. After the transcription appears, one tap slaps the text into an outgoing e-mail message, text message, Twitter or Facebook update. Or just copies it to the clipboard.

2. LED Light (free). The LED “flash” on the iPhone 4 is incredibly powerful; you could practically light up a runway with it.  Just open this app to activate the LED instantly bright and easy.

3. FlightTrack Pro ($10). Incredible. Shows every detail of every flight: gate, time delayed, airline phone number, where the flight is on the map, and more. Knows more—and knows it sooner—than the actual airlines do.

4. Line2 (free). Gives your iPhone a second phone line with its own number—one that makes or receives calls over WiFi when you’re in a hot spot (no AT&T minutes!), or over AT&T when you’re not. Unlimited texting, unlimited calling, $10 a month.

5. SoundHound (free). Beats Shazam at its own game. Hold this app up to a song that’s  playing on the radio, or even hum or sing the song, and the app miraculously identifies the song and offers you lyrics.

5. What are five gadgets that you use regularly and have changed your day to day life?

I carry around three things every where I go: a 13-inch MacBook Pro, an iPhone, and a Canon S95 digital camera, by far the best small camera made. At home, I get incredible use out of a Neat Receipts micro-scanner, a TiVo Series 3, and a Nikon D80.

6. Do you own a tablet? If so, which one and how do you use it? If not, why not?

I had an iPad here on loan for a review for a long time. My kids wound up using it constantly, but since I do more creating than consuming, I generally stuck to my laptop. Just too hard to write fast and lots on the glass keyboard.

7. One of the blatant changes we are seeing in tech is that while companies like Microsoft used to completely dominate, now Google, Apple, Facebook and others are spreading the wealth and even surpassing Microsoft in some cases. Do you think this trend will continue with new companies reaching such levels in the coming years?

Anyone who tries to predict the future of tech winds up looking like a moron, so I’m not going to go there.

But I will say that there’s nothing more exciting than seeing the Internet make possible new businesses, new business models, new ways of interacting, that nobody’s thought of before. Groupon, for example–the fastest-growing business in the history of business: zero to $1.5 billion in sales in less than 18 months.

So yes, I do feel that we’re just at the Cro-Magnon stages of the big wave. I’m certain there will be other disruptive companies and businesses yet to come.

8. How do you view the future of the mobile industry? What trends do you think we will see over the coming years and will it continue to grow at this intense pace?

Nobody really knows. But I’ll tell you what I hope for: ubiquitous Internet. Right now, WiFi is just in a few lucky spots. 3G cellular is OK, but it’s outrageously priced — and capped per month. 4G is a big boondoggle as far as I’m concerned–all this advertising, and still only a few cities have it (and at a fraction of the advertised speed). Wake me when there’s nationwide unlimited 4G coverage for $20 a month.

Thanks again for the interview, David. I also really enjoyed your answers that were honest and straight forward, a style you have become recognized for and associated with over the years.

By: Yoni Weisinger

Toshiba announced the release of the Libretto W100 for their 25th Anniversary. The exact details are a bit vague, but what we do know is that there will be a limited number of these sold and they will be on the market in August. So what is so great about the Libretto that possibly revolutionizes the notebook computer?

The thing that really sticks out about this notebook is that it has not one, but two 7.0-inch multitouch 1024×600 pixel resolution displays. This concept may very well redefine true multitasking. With Toshiba’s new LifeSpace interface, which is essentially a virtual bulletin board, imagine you are importing photos from your camera and you see one you don’t like, just drag it down and edit it or save it for later.

You can also capture an image from the top screen and drag it down to view later. The Libretto runs full Windows 7 so you can type up a Word document using the beautiful various onscreen keyboards with haptic response (possibly customizable for different languages and programs?) or use a bluetooth keyboard and use one screen for research and the other to type.

Both screens can be used to view one webpage document or any program. The Libretto is also an eBook reader. The exact specifications are not definite but supposedly it’s powered by an Intel Pentium U5400 CPU operating at 1.2 GHz, 2 GB of DDR3 memory and a 64 GB SSD, which makes it quite powerful.

Other specs include a 1-megapixel webcam, Bluetooth, MicroSD card, Wireless-N , one USB port, an 8-cell battery and a Windows 7 operating system. It’s also a very portable device, measuring merely 4.84 inches by 7.95 inches when closed, weighing just under 2 lbs.

Speculated pricing is in the $1,099 range. Keep in mind that this concept is designed with portability in mind not performance.What Toshiba did with the Libretto W100 was create a whole new class of notebook computers.

I look forward to hopefully getting my hands on one and maybe one day we will all finally be able to say goodbye to the physical buttons forever.

By: @Hilzfuld

While the mobile industry is busy talking about and comparing the Nexus One and the iPhone, there is one phone that really gives a clear perspective of the entire market and sums up the industry in a nutshell. It was not long ago when I first laid hand on the famous Motorola RAZR. “Wow, what a phone”, I thought, but what was it about the RAZR that so impressed people. What did the phone really being to the table that made people by the RAZR by the millions? Let’s be honest, was it the features that the phone offered or was it simply a pure case of style over substance? Did the RAZR revolutionize the mobile phone in that it offered better wireless broadband? Did it offer a better camera? Was its user experience superior to its predecessors?

The answer is a big fat no. The RAZR did nothing in terms of functionality. The only thing it did was push the boundaries of mobile hardware. Motorola managed to build a mobile phone that would amaze anyone that would hold it. We all fell for it. Not only did us “dumb” consumers fall into the trap, but all of Motorola’s competitors did too. All the big corporations that spend billions on market research, spent the next year or two competing who could make the thinnest phone. What about functionality? What about experience? Not many phones before or after the RAZR offered such a poor user experience. So how were we so blind?

Instead of trying to answer “what were we all thinking?”, what we should be trying to answer is “Have we learned from our mistakes?” I believe we have and the HTC HD2 proves my point. The mobile industry has completely evolved in my opinion from a hardware-centric market to a software-obsessed one. Why obsessed? Because, today, many consumers are purchasing their mobile handsets based on the number of apps the market that compliments that phone hosts. I have heard on many occasions (and I will not deny that I have even said this) consumers trashing the Android platform because compared to Apple’s 130,000 apps, the Android Market has only 20,000. Think about that for a second, 20,000 apps to install on your mobile phone. Who needs so many? OK, so you are probably thinking that it is not the number that matters, rather the variety. While the App Store has an app for “pretty much anything”, there are many things not yet available in the Android Market. This is true, but I would dare to say that you can find 99% of apps you will need in the Market.

So, how does the HD2 prove this point? Well, the HD2 is the ultimate phone, or at least it would have been back in the RAZR days. In terms of its hardware, it lacks nothing. Where do I start? The screen is a ridiculous 4.3′ (compared to the miniature 3.5′ on the iPhone), the processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which is 1GHZ compared to the 600MHZ on the iPhone (this means everything works faster on the phone, including how fast you can access the wireless internet, not to be confused with how fast the actual connection is). The camera is 5MP with an LED flash. The entire phone is 11mm thick, which when compared to the RAZR’s 14mm (when closed) is just insane.  When I said it lacks nothing, I was not kidding.

So, why are people busy talking about the iPhone and the Nexus One when there is an HD2? The answer? No one cares about hardware nowadays. The Windows Marketplace, which is the equivalent of the App Store on the iPhone is just non existent. I mean it exists, but with the numbers and the variety of apps it provides, it might as well not exist. Like a friend who recently reviewed the HD2 told me, there is only a limited amount of time you can spend on Youtube.

To be fair,  I will say that the HD2 is not all hardware. HTC did as good of a job as they could at covering up the origins of the phone’s OS. At first glance (that might actually last a long time), you do not even know you are on a Windows Mobile phone. The phone is also the first Windows device to have a capacitive touch screen, as opposed to the resistive touch screen, which can be found on all the older Windows Mobile devices. No need for a stylus with the HD2. However, if you are like me and enjoy getting to know your phone well, you will eventually encounter the old Windows Mobile you once saw in older devices. It is hidden well, but it is very much there.

In addition to the fantastic job HTC did designing the UI, all the various social tools are integrated into the new OS. Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, they are all preinstalled. A nice touch, but not enough. The bottom line is, we seemed to have learned our lesson. The HD2 is the modern RAZR, as I see it. It is beautifully designed, it really is. The experience, if I am being honest, is leaps and bounds ahead of what the RAZR was, and I am not just talking about something that happens over the years. I do not blame HTC for the HD2′s lack of popularity, I blame Microsoft. They need to get with the program, make app development as easy as it is on the competing platforms, and most of all, they need to get their priorities straight.

I don’t know about you, but this whole “Microsoft falling behind Apple technologically”, is Deja Vu of the whole Mac VS. PC saga. All I can say is, this is still a new space relatively speaking, and so it is not too late for Windows Mobile, but if Microsoft does not make a major switch in the way it views its mobile OS and its ecosystem, the Apple commercials mocking the Windows Mobile platform are not far off.

On the flip side, if you want a phone that incorporates all the new technology and pushes the limits of the mobile industry, the HD2 has it all. The internet on the HD2 for example, is less like the mobile Web as we know it (http://www.broadbandexpert.com.au/), and more like the desktop experience we have grown accustomed to. That is what 4.3′ of screen will do for you. Let’s sum it up by saying, take the HD2′s looks and slap on some of Apple or Android’s personality (and by personality, I mean 3rd party apps), and you got yourself a phone that will beat out any and all competition.

By: Hillel Fuld

Before I start, let me wish all of you, my loyal readers, a happy 2010.  I know it has become so cliché for bloggers to thank their readers, but I am going to do it anyway. When I started writing for Tech N’ Marketing, I never imagined how fast it would take off and how popular it would become. I really have you to thank for that, and so, at the risk of sounding corny and predictable, let me say, that it is greatly appreciated. Really.

Since we are on the topic of new years, and my Twitter stream (follow me here) is filled with “Top 10 <fill in the blank> of 2009″ and “Top 10 <fill in the blank> to expect in 2010″, I thought I would sum up the past year, and some might say the decade, in two words. Yes, two words that pretty much include almost all the huge developments of the tech world in the last year and decade. If these two words are not directly involved with some tech development, they are almost for sure involved somehow behind the scenes. The two words are Apple and Google.

I am  not going to talk about all the things these two tech giants have accomplished since the year 2000 because the list itself can be an entire blog post, I will just say that together these two corporations have completely changed tens if not hundreds of industries. What is interesting to me is that the two companies who are so dominant in the same markets have such different outlooks on products and their releases. While Apple will not release a laptop that has the screws on the bottom sticking out too much for their liking, Google pretty much thinks of an idea, then releases it to get consumer feedback. They did it with Gmail, they did it with Wave, and they most recently did it with Chrome for Mac.

Apple’s iMac, iPod, or Macbooks are pretty much engineered to perfection both in their software and hardware, and Chrome for Mac has no Delete option for bookmarks (yes, this is true, I dare you to find one). OK, relax, I know it is in Beta, but I just cannot imagine Apple releasing such a product to the public. Now, let there be no misunderstandings, I am not expressing an opinion here, and I honestly do not know which method I like better, I am simply pointing out the different ways these two leading corporations approach the same subject.

If I gave you the impression throughout my various articles about Apple, that I am a fanboy, let me clear the air. I have a Macbook, yet, I am writing this post on my home PC. I have an iPod Touch,  but I use a BlackBerry Bold as my primary mobile device. I think Apple makes superb products, but they are not without shortcomings. It is also true that Google released tens if not hundreds of new products over the past few years, so to get all these services out the door, one can say that Google cannot afford to have the strict standards for which Apple is so well known. Another difference is that Google is a software company, while Apple, although they have software products as well, are  best known for their superior hardware.

At the end of the day, Google and Apple have both changed the tech world forever, and I cannot help but wonder what the future will bring for these two companies. We  have some amazing products to expect this year from both Google and Apple, such as Chrome OS, the Nexus One, iPhone 4G, and the famous Apple Tablet. I don’t know about you, but I am excited to see what’s next.

Lastly, one of the big components of Apple’s unprecedented success is of course their marketing machine, which, fanboy or not, most people would admit, is oiled to perfection. The biggest part of that marketing strategy is of course their famous keynotes and more importantly, the presenter, Steve Jobs. However, as you will see from this video, even Apple makes mistakes. Here are some of the funniest Apple bloopers over the years. Enjoy and happy new year!

By: Aryeh Altshul

I have been meaning to review Xobni (“Inbox” backwards – it took me forever to figure that out) for a while now. The delay can be blamed on the fact that I have been using Xobni so much, I haven’t had the time. This is one of the only pieces of software that I shelled out cash to get the premium version, because it is just that good.

Xobni is an add-on for Microsoft Outlook that is a must for all outlook users. I use Outlook for all my work emails with clients and customers and Xobni has really touched on the key missing features of  Outlook, and offers an easy-to-use plugin to fix all the issues.

The first and most important is the Email Search. Outlook’s search is very primitive and slow, Xobni provides an easy-to-use search that can find anything and everything. It searches all messages, people, attachments, appointments, and links , while providing easy-to-navigate results.

With the search comes a profile for every person that you have in your inbox. Xobni indexes all the mail and harvests the emails and phone numbers of all the people you contact. So there is no more search old emails for email addresses and phone numbers, they are available in the easy to access profile window.

Underneath the profile window you have links to their LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Hoovers, and newly added SalesForce profiles. There is also an email analytics feature so you can see what time of the day you get emails from that person, how many times etc, which will tell you when and how it is best to write to them. Then comes the real beauty! All the emails, links, and attachments you have sent back and forth with the person and all the people who have been CC’ed in your emails are all threaded, so you don’t need to go searching around for the next email message in the conversation.

One of the more useful features, which I found myself fighting with everyday before Xobni, is the AutoSuggest feature. Outlook will AutoSuggest people who you have written to already, while Xobni searches your whole email for all addresses. This has saved me hours of time looking through old emails to find addresses.

For a complete list of all the features, take a look at the Xobni Feature List!

Being that the Microsoft Office suite is very fragile when you add anything to it, the big concern that people have is that it will slow down Outlook.  I, and others in my office, have not experienced any slow downs or crashes. Different people use XP, Vista and Windows 7 with an exchange server. I do know that one of Xobni‘s main focuses is to make the program flawless.

I highly recommend Xobni for all Outlook users.

By: Hillel Fuld

So out of all the topics I generally write about, rarely will I discuss Web browsers. However, this week, the way I access the Web, both on my home PC, and on my work Mac, has completely changed for the better. The way I had my desktop set up until this week was that Chrome was my default browser on my PC and Safari was on my Mac. In both cases, I had Firefox installed and ready to launch whether it was on my quick launch bar or in my Mac’s dock. On my PC, I also had Internet Explorer at hand’s reach, just in case I come across one of those few leftover web pages that are displayed correctly in IE only. This week, all that changes.

Chrome launched their new version that now supports extensions. For those of you who do not know what that means, it means that there are officially no more reasons to ever open up Firefox, unless of course you want to open it, go have a cup of coffee while you wait for it to launch. Like I said, Chrome was my default browser since it launched, but I always needed Firefox installed, just in case I needed to use one of my many Firefox extensions. I am now using Chrome with over 20 extensions, and it has not slowed it down even in the least, making it the ultimate browser when it comes to speed, security, simplicity, and now, functionality.

As for the Mac version, Google officially released Chrome for Mac this week, which quickly replaced Safari, but they did not enable extensions yet on the Mac version. Word on the street is that it is a matter of days before extensions are enabled on the Mac, but if you cannot wait, use Chromium and install Chrome extensions that way.

So what are browser extensions? To simplify things, I will give a short explanation, then list a few examples to illustrate the point. A browser is a program like any other program on your computer. You can unistall Internet Explorer, just like you can uninstall Microsoft Word. You can install Firefox or Chrome the same way you can install Skype, Open Office, or any other program. Now that we understand that point, there seems to be some confusion about what a browser does as opposed to an operating system, and Google’s release of Chrome OS did not make things easier.

A browser is the program you use to view the internet. It is your gateway to the worldwide Web. That is it. An operating system is what your browser and all other application run on, in fact your entire computer needs an operating system to run (yes, I know there were computers before Windows, but I am not going there). So, browsers are used to view the web. That is the basic principle of a browser, but with extensions, your browser becomes so much more.

Chrome is known for simplicity. It has less icons on the toolbar then Firefox and IE, and it runs much snappier than both. Simplicity, in my opinion, is what contributes to Chrome’s popularity. However, there are many people out there who do not use Chrome as their default browser since it did not support extensions. Now that it does, I see no reason to use any other browser.

The following is a list of some of my favorite Chrome extensions. Now please bear in mind that Chrome extensions have been publicly available for only a few days, so I am always finding new ones, and new Chrome extensions are also always being developed. These are some of the best ones I have found so far:

• Chrome Extensions Quicklink: This is the most basic extension I am using. What it does is simply places an icon in your toolbar that gives you quick access to all your extensions. If you are like me, you are installing, uninstalling, and configuring your Chrome extensions all the time, this enables you to access them in one click. It saves you the time of going to the menu of Chrome and clicking extensions. Yes, I know, it sounds kinda silly, since in essence it only saves you one or two extra clicks,  but since Chrome extensions do not slow down the browser at all, unlike in Firefox’s case, no reason not to add this extension.

• Tab Menu: This extension is not the kind that is going to offer you some brilliant functionality that will save you tons of time. Similar to Chrome Extensions Quicklink, this just saves you a few seconds each time you use it. Tab Menu for Chrome essentially adds an icon to your toolbar that enables you to view all your open tabs in a simple and orderly list. You can open any tab from the list or alternatively, close the tab. Once again, this is for the user who has over 10 tabs open at any given time. This by the way, is one of the major advantages of Chrome, each tab is its own process, so it wont slow down your browsing experience if you open many tabs at once. It might slow down your computer, if it cannot handle so many processes running simultaneously, but that is a discussion for a different time.

• Picnik: This Chrome extension, as opposed to the previous two, will save you some serious time. Picnik for Chrome gives you full access to the online photo editing service, Picnik, straight from your browser. In one click, you can take a screen shot of the open web page, capture any image on the page, or simply launch the Picnik site. Once you do any of those, you can use the many features supported by the Picnik website. So, for example, something I do often, is take a screen shot of the open page and then crop it down to the area I want to capture. I used to do that by opening a program, now I do it within the browser. A lot easier and a lot quicker.

• One Number: There are tons of Chrome extensions available to notify you of new developments in the various Google services you use. There is of course a Gmail Checker, a Google Reader notifier, a Google Wave extension, and even a Google Voice notifier, but do we really need to install one Chrome extension for each service? The answer? No! One number gives you alerts for Gmail, Google Reader, Google Voice, and Google Wave. You can also choose which ones are relevant and enable only those. So, for example, I do not use Google Voice and rarely do I use Google Reader, so I have One Number notify me of new Gmail and new Waves.

• Brizzly: There are more Twitter and Facebook extensions for Chrome than you can possibly imagine. However, out of the many ones I tested, Brizzly is by far the coolest. It gives you full access to your Twitter stream including Twitter lists, mentions, and DMs, as well as full access to your Facebook account. There are many features packed into this extension and I could literally write a whole blog post just about Brizzly, but to just name a few, the Chrome extension enables you to see the full URL of shortened links, it displays pictures and videos inline with no need to open them up in another window, and enables you to easily switch between Facebook and Twitter in one click. It is a very useful extension for those social butterflies among us, however, I will say, they need to work on a next version that will open a lot faster. Iin the current state of the extension, it takes a few seconds to open, which kinda defeats the whole purpose of a browser extension.

There you have it folks, my first list of awesome Chrome extensions. I will surely be writing a continuation to this post in the coming weeks, since I am constantly discovering new Chrome extensions. Please share your favorite Chrome extensions in the comments, and if you want me to try or review yours, feel free to send it to me on Twitter here.