Twitter is cool for many reasons. Among them: You get to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. Here’s a discussion that I butted into on Saturday afternoon between Jeff Judge and John P. Wood of Signal, LLC.
@jjudge: What are the best Android phones right now or soon to be released? I haven’t been paying attention.
@johnpwood: @jjudge I love my Samsung Galaxy Nexus
@rayhightower: Competition pushes all of us to excel. “Android vs iOS” is good for customers!
@johnpwood: @rayhightower @jjudge absolutely!!
This brief exchange on Twitter made me think about competition in our industry.
1,000 Words
Cult of Mac posted a great image (below) of what smartphones looked like before and after the iPhone. Apple’s influence on the smartphone marketplace is clear.
Competition from Apple caused Google to improve Android.
Now… does the Android ecosystem also influence Apple? Yes. Would Apple have moved from Edge to 3G as quickly as it did if Android didn’t offer it first? Would Apple have offered the App Store?
Competition encourages all vendors to step up and perform. Customers win when vendors compete.
Microsoft Enters the Game
A well-circulated video shows Steve Ballmer laughing at the 2007 introduction of the iPhone. Says Ballmer: “…it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good email machine.”
History has proven otherwise. In 2012, business customers have abandoned their keyboard-equipped Blackberry devices for iPhones and iPhone-influenced Androids.
Today Microsoft is selling a different product. iPhone-influenced? Perhaps. But Microsoft never stands still still.
Windows Phone
I first played with the Nokia Lumia 800 running Windows Phone back in January. Impressive. Clearly influenced by the iPhone: It doesn’t have a mechanical keyboard.
Beyond that, the device felt good. The user interface was slick and responsive. I’ve only played with the Nokia Lumia a few minutes at a time, but those minutes had me hooked.
Even more impressive: Both of the Lumias I played with are owned by iOS developers. Each developer found the Lumia impressive enough to spend his personal funds to acquire one. Game on. Let’s see how this unfolds!
This guide will show you how to run the tablet version of Android (Honeycomb) on an off-the-shelf Barnes & Noble Book Nook reading device. When you’re done, you’ll have an inexpensive tablet useful for testing Android apps.
Why Hack a Book Nook to run Honeycomb?
The Book Nook runs a trimmed down version of Google’s Android OS. It’s suitable for basic testing, and you can buy one from Barnes & Noble for $250. It comes with built-in WiFi and no long-term contract. In fact, no contract at all.
Another “Hack a Nook” Article? Why?
Yes, there are many good “Hack a Nook” articles out there. The problem: Most seem to be missing small (yet significant) steps that took awhile for me to figure out. Hopefully this guide will save you time.
These Directions Could Break Your Nook
Follow these directions at your own risk. Everything in this guide could be wrong. You have been warned!
Supplies Required
You’ll need the following supplies to follow this guide:
Barnes & Noble Book Nook Color.
MicroSD card of 4GB capacity or larger. A class 2 card will work, but a class 10 card will perform faster.
Laptop or desktop with a way to write to the MicroSD card.
Unzip the file in a convenient place. This example uses the desktop.
Insert the MicroSD card into the reader on your laptop/desktop. Depending on how your machine is configured, you might need an SD adapter.
Open a Terminal window. Determine the designation of the MicroSD card by using Disk Utility from the command line: $ diskutil list. Mine happened to be /dev/disk1
Unmount the MicroSD card: $ diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1. Of course, you’ll use a different designation if that applies.
Write the image to the MicroSD card: $ dd if=~/Desktop/nookhoney04.img of=/dev/disk1 bs=1m
The last step, writing the image, took over 40 minutes! This is probably because I was using a Class 2 MicroSD card. If I had to do it all over again, I would use a faster card, Class 6 or Class 10.
Preparing the Nook
While your laptop is writing the image to the MicroSD card, power on the Nook to make sure it operates with the standard Nook system. Sometimes hardware is dead-on-arrival. You wouldn’t want to waste time with a dead device!
Once you’re sure that the Nook works:
Shut it off by holding down the power button in the upper left corner. You should see this image:
Flip it over to reveal the MicroSD door, beneath the word "Nook".
Open the MicroSD door. If Disk Utility has finished writing the MicroSD image, remove it from the laptop and insert it in the Nook.
Power on the Nook. It should boot from the Honeycomb image on the MicroSD.
And that’s it. You’re now running Honeycomb on a Nook!
To Go Back to the Nook
If you decide to run the native Nook system again, power down the unit, remove the MicroSD, and power up the Nook.
As a designer, as a developer… What can you do with mobile devices? What can you create? What problems can you solve? What trends can you unleash?
As an entrepreneur, what kind of team do you want to build? As an investor, what projects do you want to back? What new uses can you imagine for mobile devices?
When movie cameras were first invented, early cinematographers planted the camera in front of a stage to film simple stage plays. Then one day, someone got the bright idea to take the camera outside. Movies are more exciting when the camera can move around!
We are currently in the camera-in-front-of-the-stage era of mobile devices. Will you be the one to take the camera outside?
Our only limits are the size of our ideas and the degree of our dedication.
WindyCityGo is produced by ChicagoRuby. The ChicagoRuby motto: When smart people challenge each other to grow, great things happen. So we’re always looking for a chance to fill a room with smart people, a solid agenda, good food, and a learning-friendly atmosphere. What a wonderful opportunity for serious learning and powerful networking.
Serious Learning
In true open source tradition, we created WindyCityGo to scratch our own itch. That itch came about in a few ways, such as:
In the middle of a broadcast, journalist Charlie Rose held up an iPhone. “As a software development platform, this device is where the PC was in 1982” he said. If Charlie Rose gets it, you can bet that other thought leaders will soon fall in line.
The CEO of a Chicago-based software company stated publicly that fifty percent (50%) of his company’s 2011 revenue will come from custom-built mobile apps. His company has produced web-based software for several years, so the shift to mobile is huge.
End users want mobile apps. The best developers & designers seek continuous improvement. The result: WindyCityGo.
Powerful Networking
“No one of us is as smart as all of us.” The author of that quote, President Woodrow Wilson, understood the value of networking. So we’ll gather together at WindyCityGo for:
Learning. Many of us learn faster and better in groups.
Bigger projects. The biggest, boldest, most audacious projects require teams to tame them. What better way to build a team than in a room full of like-minded professionals?
Positive energy. Positive energy is contagious. And we mean contagious in a good way!
So… drop by and take a look at the sessions, and register early if you see something that fits you. We look forward to seeing you at WindyCityGo.
Photo Credit: Cult of Mac
