Best Resizer

Clicker Counter – our new app in Windows Store

Mihov.com — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:22:10 +0000

A while ago, even before Windows 8 were released to the public, we have reported to have our first app published in the Windows store. The Quick Math app is intended to be used whenever you have some free minutes of time to train your brain. Check it out, as many of Windows 8 users have already done.

Today we have good news as well: we have our second app published in the Windows Store! Clicker Counter is a simple app that can help you with counting – usually things, that are moving fast or are not interesting enough. It’s really simple: one click increases the counter by 1. This is extremely useful on a bus trip (if you’re responsible , when counting traffic, when counting people that come into store or similar.

You can check out and install the app (if you have Windows 8) directly from the Clicker Counter Windows store page. Let us know what you think!

Android update to 4.2 and a day later to 4.2.1

Mihov.com — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 22:52:19 +0000

First I have received Andorid 4.2 update to my Nexus 7 tablet, a few weeks later (that being yesterday) to my Nexus phone. There have been a lot of posts about this and about what 4.2 brings, but mostly multiple users accounts, sphere camera, HDR and other effects with the camera and of course, a nasty bug. In Calendar app, the month “December” was missing from the picker.

Probably this is the reason why only a day after I got the 4.2 to my phone I received 4.2.1. The only known visible change (as it looks now) is that the month of December is back. Which is good, December starts in two days

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New Google Nexus devices available – Nexus 4, new Nexus 7 and Nexus 10

Mihov.com — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 21:49:55 +0000

Google has just released the new Nexus website, where it reveals three new devices branded by them.

Nexus 4, Nexus 10 and new Nexus 7 by Google

The first one is a new Nexus mobile phone called Nexus 4. It was manufactured by LG and is supposed to be the best Android experience available. That means that my Galaxy Nexus phone might not be the best phone in the world any more. The new Nexus 4 has Android 4.2, which is not yet available for other devices.

The second model is a new Nexus 7, a second version of a seven inch tablet by Google. The same as the first Nexus 7 the second version is also manufactured by ASUS. However, as it can be seen from the web site, it has a 3G option which was not available in the first model. Also, it also runs Android 4.2.

The third device is brand new. Nexus 10 is a 10 inch tablet branded by Google. Note that Google didn’t have a 10 inch tablet before, so naturally they want to brag about it with a highest screen resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels and a 300ppi, which is, by no accident, both higher than iPad 4. Nexus 10 was made by Samsung, so it would be easiest to compare to the new Samsung Tab 2 10.1. Nexus 10 will be running Android 4.2 – the same as both other models.

Note that all three models are not available worldwide, but in selected countries only (at least USA, UK, France and Germany). The other local Google Nexus sites still show (and sell) the older models: Galaxy Nexus and the first Nexus 7.

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Android updates to 4.1.2

Mihov.com — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 09:20:53 +0000

In one of my previous posts I wrote about Android upgrade to 4.1.1. Google has pushed out another upgrade, this time very small and with less new features. First I have received the upgrade to my Nexus 7 tablet last week, and yesterday I got the upgrade to my Nexus phone.

The upgrade went smooth without problems. What does 15 MB large update bring? Whats new in 4.1.2? Not much. The main reason for the upgrade are supposed to be new drivers for a new chip in upcoming versions of Nexus 7, but other changes should include performance improvements, bug fixes and improved stability.

The “improved stability” feature is a little tricky – I have never had any stability problems on my Nexus 7, but after installing the upgrade it restarted several times when turning wireless on or off. Also, I feel that the performance is a little worse than before, I feel that the tablet runs less smooth. However, this is not measured and can be subjective.

Google suggests to get the upgrade. Note that the update is available for Google tablets and phones and not for other manufacturers like Samsung. There have been no news if the update will be available for other phone models as well.

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Magic Calendar Maker update

Mihov.com — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:04:16 +0000

I’m happy to let you know that I have just released a new version of Magic Calendar Maker, a popular program for creating simple calendars. It enables users to create one-month calendars and export them as HTML or PDF for printing or further editing with some very basic editing capabilities built in the software.

The new version 3.4 brings some bug fixes, changed layout and other improvements.

You can get more info and download Magic Calendar Maker for free trieal from the official web site.

If you want to buy wall calendars, take a look at our online bookstore Fastbooks.eu – you might enjoy free worldwide delivery.

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Intel Ultrabook review

Mihov.com — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 08:28:39 +0000

I’m pleased to have attended the Intel AppUp event in Berlin. The event was synchronised with the IFA fair that took place in Berlin the same week. The purpose of this AppUp event was to introduce developers to the ultrabook platform and the development of Windows 8 software that would eventually be published to the Intel AppUp Store that features software for existing and upcoming platforms.

The event was interesting, there has also been a hands on demo and an evening hacking session. Intel has shown that they really mean it with ultrabooks and has given every event participant a free ultrabook with impressive specs. Here is mine:

So, before I get to specifications, just a short explanation of what an ultrabook is (or should be). Intel says:

An Ultrabook is a new category of computing devices that will increasingly give us the most complete and satisfying, no-compromise and more secure computing experience in one, sleek and portable device. Ultrabooks have great battery life and offer mainstream price points.

To try to explain this in more human friendly way, an ultrabook is a next generation notebook, that is thin and light, starts and works as fast as possible, has a fast (Intel!) processor and you shouldn’t have to think about charging its battery all the time. Sounds great! Besides that, the idea is that the ultrabook should have the same sensors as smartphones or tablets: multi touch screen, GPS, accelerometer, webcam and similar sweet things that make smart phones so smart. You can read more about ultrabooks on Wikipedia.

So what kind of ultrabook this we receive? First of all, it is not and it will not be available for sale, ever. It’s a developer model, which means that it’s more powerful in some perspectives and less complete in others. It comes with 13,3 inch multi touch screen, Intel Core i7-3667U processor, 180 GB SSD disk from Intel and 4 GB of RAM. It has a webcam, GPS, accelerometer, magnetometer and gyro meter. My experience is that the battery lasts between 4 and 9 hours, depending on how heavy I use it. The ultrabook was pre-installed with 64bit Windows 8 Release Preview (which was already outdated when I received it, because RTM was already available). There was no development environment, so I had to install Visual Studio 2012 RC separately.

This ultrabook is quite powerful and pretty fast. I love the Windows 8 ultra fast startup time – it starts in less than 15 seconds, wakes up from sleep in no time and starts from hibernation in less than 8 seconds. Impressive, but I was expecting speed like that from the use of Windows 8 on my first tablet. It also works fast when working; the SSD disk and i7 processor help a lot for great responsiveness. Its keyboard is pretty good, typing is quite fun. Unfortunately the screen is pretty reflective, so there are a lot of fingerprints on it from touch functionality. There are (only) two USB slots, but there is not much need to attach other devices to the ultrabook since it has the majority of them already inside.

Above all, it’s a great computer and even a better platform. I have already developed some sample apps for Windows 8 and they are quite fun to use, even if very basic. And the touch functionality of the screen makes me miss it when I’m using a regular computer with Windows 7 or XP. I believe that touch will dominate notebooks soon, and I sure hope they find something out against the fingerprints.

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QuickMath is our first app in Windows Store

Mihov.com — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:26:23 +0000

I’m happy to share with you that Windows Store has successfully reviewed and published one of our first Windows 8 (metro) app. The process of being published is supposed to be quite tough, so that only the best software comes through. I had to wait for the review a couple of days, but finally the software was published.

QuickMath is a simple app to help you train your brain in doing calculations faster. How? Simply by training! You are presented with two numbers from 0 to 100 that you have to multiply. Sounds simple, but when you actually try it, you might be surprised how hard it is for example to multiply 63 by 26. Want to try? If you have Windows 8, install the QuickMath from the Windows Store and give it a try!

Nexus 7 tablet quick review

Mihov.com — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:56:57 +0000

I own my Nexus 7 tablet for a little more than a month now. I have ordered it through a friend from UK because it was only available in UK and USA at the time. Thanks Sašo! The reason I have ordered it was because my other tablet, ExoPC has problems with a part of the touch screen and because I like my Galaxy Nexus smart phone so much. The price was affordable, so I made a impulsive purchase.

My first impression after taking it out of the case was “it’s heavy!” as I was used to my mobile phone, which is of course much lighter. After I turned it on it has upgraded to Android 4.1.1, so the experience was similar to the one with the phone, which is perfect. Smooth use, lots of apps. Luckily the battery is much better and it lasts several days even with obsessed use.

Compared to my Windows 8 tablet I was disappointed about the start-up time. Nexus 7 needs a minute or more to start, Windows 8 tablet only 15 seconds. I figured out that Nexus 7 was made to be always turned on, but that’s a shame for battery. I was hoping they made a system that would start in 5 seconds. Yes, I’m naive… So I have it always turned on and it starts in zero seconds.

Second, I have tried if the keyboard is big or good enough for some longer texts. It’s not the same as a normal keyboard, but it can be used for longer texts as well. For example, I’m using Nexus 7 to write this post. The main disadvantage is that you need to put the tablet down for comfortable typing, for example on a table, which means that you can’t lay in the bed and type. Also, I have installed SwiftKey keyboard (but the phone version), which makes my typing faster.

After a couple of hours of use I have discovered, that there are no such good use cases for the device. I have my Galaxy Nexus, so the main advantage of the tablet is a bigger screen and longer battery life. Disadvantages are that you don’t carry it with you if you have a smart phone (no real need to do so) and that it has no 3G internet access. Which means that I have to use tethering if I’m away, which again means that I have to have the phone with me. However, after a time I have discovered that it’s useful for watching tv or TED videos while eating… Not really a perfect reason to buy it, but it’s not a waste of money. Also, it’s quite useful for showing photos to friends – - however, you have to upload them first.

I miss an USB port for uploading content, otherwise I like it as is.

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The size of Google web search index

Mihov.com — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 07:24:03 +0000

Google usually doesn’t share much information about their capabilities, numbers or upcoming releases. This time they have shared the size of their search index in a blog post about a new service called Google Cloud Platform.

The size of Google web search index is 100 petabytes (info from July 24, 2012).

The other numbers they have shared are:

There are 425 million Gmail users .
Youtube infrastructure can serve 4 billion hours of video every month.

In other news it was reported that Google+ network had 250 million users in the beginning of July 2012.

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Android stock news and weather app not working

Mihov.com — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 21:38:13 +0000

Several days now the stock Weather and news app on Android phones is not working. The weather app is available on ICS and Jelly Bean devices and displays a nice weather widget on home screen. When clicked on, the app opens full screen and shows current weather from The Weather Channel and 7-day forcast. By swiping right the top news appear. Note that the weather location can be obtained automatically by location.

There are no good reasons that the stock app is not working. The widget and the app show network error and won’t connect. Since many Galaxy Nexus users have received Android update to Jelly Bean, there are numerous guesses on the net if the weather app stopped working because of the update.

However, the reason for the misfuntion can be the accessibility of the searver that provides weather dara. According to some older reports, this has happened before and was solved in a few days.

Let’s hope this time the issue will also be solved soon – news and weather app is really nice to use, small and cosy.

Update: The issue was resolved after two days.