512 Pixels

Time:

Everybody likes Android, Google’s open-source smartphone operating system. But a smartphone operating system isn’t all that satisfying without an actual kick-ass smartphone wrapped around it. Now Android has one: The Droid is a hefty beast, a metal behemoth without the gloss and finish of the iPhone, but you don’t miss it. The Droid’s touchscreen is phenomenally sharp and vivid, it has an actual physical (not great, but good enough) keyboard, and best of all, the Droid is on Verizon’s best-of-breed 3G network. It’s Android’s first credible challenge to the iPhone.

The iPhone 3GS scored fourth.

Ars:

We have already mentioned a few of the downsides of this beta (lack of bookmark organization, no extensions), but there are other downsides that inevitably come as part of prerelease software. A few Ars staffers have already had Chrome crash during not much more than regular browsing (though I, personally, have not). There’s also the cadre of users who are mounting a campaign against the “toppy tabs” that sit above the address bar—not a detail that I’m in love with, but is also not throwing me for a loop either.

Ultimately, Chrome may not be ready for your hardcore browsing needs, but it’s definitely getting there. The progress made on this project since the first developer releases is noteworthy, and I came away from Chrome thinking that I could potentially make the switch—not yet, but perhaps after it exits beta. The speed and ever-so-subtle usability changes have piqued my interest enough that I’ll definitely be back. For the rest of you who haven’t tried Chrome on the Mac yet (or are thinking of trying it), it’s definitely worth a look.

Chrome — so far — is crazy fast. It’s off to a good start, but until Extensions are available to Mac users, it’s pretty limited in what it can do.

Enjoy.

Wired highlights some of the widely-spread, widely-believed, totally untrue statements made on Twitter this year:

Bill O’Reilly is gay (Jan.) // Rick Sanchez is high on crack and might not be coming into work today (Jan.) // Britney Spears is dead (March) // Pork gives you swine flu (April) // Google is buying Twitter (April) // Apple is buying Twitter (May) // Prop 8 was overturned (May) // Steve Jobs is dead (June) // Sarah Palin is getting divorced (Aug.) // Kanye West is bisexual (Aug.) // Jeff Goldblum is dead (June) // Zach Braff is dead (Oct.) // Microsoft is buying Twitter (Oct.)

If you have to be told that untrue things can be circulated via social media, you probably shouldn’t be using it.

The sad thing is that they even have to crowd-source this.

This also comes to mind.

Tablet computers have never really taken off, but if rumors are correct, 2010 will be the Year of the Tablet. Jeff Bertolucci of PC World raises a good question, though: do consumers want these things? Here’s an excerpt:

Conceptually, a tablet device is appealing: An 8- or 10-inch LCD color display with touch input — essentially a netbook screen minus the rest of the computer. A tablet could resolve many of the ergonomic limitations of today’s smartphone, namely the small display that limits its usefulness as a Web browser and media player.

But given the saturation of mobile phones and laptop computers, particularly in the consumer market, is there a place for the tablet? Assuming that a slate computer would work best in the home – not many of us would want to lug a 10-inch tablet around all day – what benefits would it provide to the average user?

The question of consumer desire doesn’t completely sum up the problem of tablets, however. The more complete question is about need. If the tablet does end up being real, Apple won’t have to work hard to make consumers want it. Almost everything they produce is snapped up by their customers without much thought. The problem they’ll have is making a tablet people look at and realized they need it. In other words, what would a tablet add to Apple’s current lineup? What would a tablet offer above a laptop or iPhone?

A tablet would theoretically fit into Apple’s product family somewhere between the iPod touch and the MacBook — where a netbook would be, if Apple made one.

The thing is, I’m not convinced people need anything in that category. The iPhone can easily perform the tasks most people use netbooks for today. No one in their right mind buys a netbook to run Photoshop, and no one expects their iPhone to crunch a bunch of PSDs. An Apple tablet would have to offer something unique, and do it in a better way than the iPhone and the MacBook.

The answer to that problem may be all about the OS Apple chooses to power the device. A tablet running something close to Mac OS X could be positioned as a very portable Macintosh — basically, a very easy way to use OS X apps on the go. Selling a tablet as a oversized iPod touch could take advantage of the ever-growing App Store, but wouldn’t be as flexible as a device running Mac OS X.

Maybe the strongest option would be a hybrid between the Mac and iPhone OS. I imagine this as a device running Mac OS X, but also having the ability to run apps purchased from the App Store in some type of environment like OS X’s Dashboard. That way, the tablet is both the most portable Mac and the largest iPod touch on the market.

That’s something I’d want — and it would fill the one gap I see in Apple’s offerings.

Mike Rowe of the Discovery Channel recently filmed a video interview, answering questions submitted by Reddit users. It’s great. Here’s the best question:

Is there any chance you’ll stop having sex with my wife in her dreams? It’s getting pretty old, Mike.

Here are links to the interview on YouTube:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

I’m totally bookmarking this chart.

Jenna Wortham of the New York Times has written one of the best stories I’ve read about the App Store yet.

Loren Britcher:

I want a 3GS with the original aluminum enclosure. Plastic gets slimy.

Shawn Blanc agrees too.

Time has a look back at what has become a national tradition:

Today it’s a multimillion-dollar extravaganza that attracts thousands of tourists every year, but the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree hasn’t always been so glamorous. On Christmas Eve 1931, with the nation mired in the Great Depression, a group of construction workers erected a 20-ft. tree on the muddy site of what would become one of the city’s greatest architectural and commercial monuments. Despite their grim faces, the men had cause to celebrate. Unlike most of their colleagues, they were about to get paid. (Notice the wooden crate at the foot of the tree and the clerk behind it dispensing checks.) Two years later, a Rockefeller Center publicist organized the first official tree-lighting ceremony.

Apple Insider:

Apple has outfitted its Mac Pro desktop machines with a new 3.33GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon upgrade option, at a cost of $1,200, as well as 2TB hard drives for the Mac Pro and Xserve.

The new, faster processor for the Mac Pro is offered in addition to the basic 2.66GHz quad-core, and the 2.93GHz Intel Xeon, which costs an extra $400. The new “Nehalem” Xeon processor-equipped Mac Pros debuted in March. They feature an updated system architecture that delivers twice the performance of the previous model, and start at a price that was $300 lower than its predecessor.

Tasty.