Because I wasn’t sure about this myself, I began running a search on the web about the history of touch screen (smart)phones. Of course, the iPhone (released in 2007) is not the first of its kind, and HTC may not have produced the first one either. It’s actually pretty interesting to see that this goes a whole way back, even further that I could imagine. What follows is not a full research paper, but some highlights of what I found.

PDA vs smartphone

The first thing I wondered: what is the difference between a PDA and a smartphone? But it’s pretty vague to me. Basically, a PDA is not supposed to have a phone feature, where a smartphone does. So a smartphone is a mobile phone with more advanced computing abilities. The first one was launched by IBM (and BellSouth) in 1993, and was called Simon. The term PDA (personal digital assistant) was introduced by Apple in 1992. It referred to their platform Apple Newton (released as the MessagePad in 1993).

PDA vs tablets

The difference between a tablet computer, tablet PC and a PDA isn’t that big either. A PDA is a small handheld, where tablets have a bigger screen. A tablet computer is a full touch screen device, that uses a stylus or your fingers to input data. A tablet PC is more or less the same, but is a full functional computer. More about touch screens, later.

Apple, Android and BlackBerry

• The iPad is the second tablet computer from Apple, after the Newton MessagePad.
• The iPhone is a smartphone (even though some blogs may disagree).
• The iPod Touch might be considered as a PDA (but that’s my conclusion).
• Android itself is only an operating system, originally built for any mobile device. It’s made popular thanks to manufacturers like HTC, who is using it for some of their smartphones.
• The BlackBerry OS is designed by RIM, to run on smartphones (and email enabled mobile phones).

Feature phone

On a side note. There is also a difference between a feature phone and a smartphone. The term describes a low-end mobile phone, like the one most people nowadays are used to. It has limited functionality, usually a custom OS, but can run applications based on Java ME or BREW.

Touch screens

So what about touch screens? Apparently, they were already researched in the 1940s. But the first touch sensor was developed in the 1970s. It is difficult to find the first touch screen mobile phone (notice I’m not looking for the first touch screen device). The problem lies in the definition. Touch screen is considered to be a screen operated by your fingers (electrostatic, capacitive touch screen, which is multi-touch). Where a pen-enabled screen is a also a touch screen, but operated by a pen or stylus (pressure sensitive, resistive touch screen). And besides from these two you have other methods using infrared, acoustic waves, and so on. Of course there is a difference between all these technologies, but the basic concept remains the same. It’s a screen you touch (whether it is with a finger, pen or sausage). So I’m going to say that a touch screen device, is any device that you operate by touching the display.

The first touch screen mobile phone

Sure, we all remember the popular iPAQ, produced by HTC for Compaq (later HP). But that device wasn’t introduced until 2000. I think I might have mentioned the first smartphone with a touch screen already. So was Simon the first one on the market back in 1993?

Thanks for thinking I’m awesome! :)
You made my day, Matt.

http://www.mattclough.com/
http://gizmag.eu/issue/105/

This week I rooted my HTC Magic with the customized ROM of Cyanogen. It’s a firmware based upon Android 2.1 for the HTC Magic, HTC Dream, Nexus One and Motorola Droid. There a lot of ROMs out there, but I choose this one, because it gets good reviews, and, to my knowledge, it is the only one at the moment that is running a stable full featured version of Android 2.1.

The procedure is not that difficult. You can find a lot of information on their forum (which is down for the moment, though). But there are also other sites you can depend on for help, such as xda-developers and TheUnlockr. I actually followed a good tutorial on the last one.

Of course I made some mistakes, which resulted in a rather stressful course of trying, failing, trying and failing again. But thanks to some tips on Golb’s blog, and some support of Cyanogen’s forum, I managed to get it up and running. I lost my backups in the progress, so don’t be a n00b as me, and copy them to the hard drive of your comupter before swiping your SD card! But in the end I am super happy with the upgrade, as Android is a damn good OS. The Cyaogen Mod even comes with some extra features. And even though the upgrade progress didn’t go as smooth as I hoped it would, you can not really f*ck up your device that easy if you stick to the tutorials. I’m not going to describe the whole process here, but I will if someone is interested of course.

My smartphone is now equipped with a better and faster firmware. Suddenly my battery life is restored (since my battery drained in one day, the last few months). And I can install almost every application in the Android Market. Coming from Android 1.5 this is quite the upgrade. Of course I could have waited for an official upgrade, but because I bought my phone through my mobile carrier, Proximus, I had to wait for them to release one. And I don’t think they every will.

It’s been a long time since I made a mixtape. So here is a brand new one! Been working/playing with it for a few weeks. The result is a acid/break/crash mix of some freaky and pumping beats.

I’m using my Dropbox account for sharing the mixtapes, it seems the easiest way to do so. At least now I’m sure the files won’t get deleted after a month, as I’m using my Dropbox all the time anyway. (Stupid Rapidshare…)

Freak Like I Do (41m06s – 75,5MB – 256kbps MP3):

1. Tenacious D – Cock Pushups
2. Rick James vs Birdy Nam Nam – Super Freak Boulogne Express
3. Freaks – The Creeps
4. Martin Solveig vs Les Rythmes Digitales – About One 2.3 Four
5. Autokratz – Kick
6. Yeah Yeah Yeah – Heads Will Clap ‘n’ Roll
7. Wham! vs Rex The Dog – Young Gecko Guns
8. Les Rythmes Digitales vs Cassius – Feeling Disco
9. Beastie Boys vs Aphex Twin vs Spiller – Triple Groovy Windowlicker
10. The Ting Tings vs The Crystal Method – Shut up True Grit
11. The Crystal Method vs Random (vs Daft Punk) – Born Too Short
12. A-Trak – We Don’t Want No Goblins (Cut)
13. Kid Sister – Life On TV (Cut)
14. Rinôçérôse – Cubicle
15. Amanda Blank - Might Like You Better
16. Tenacious D – Hard Fucking

Download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3049327/Mixtapes/FreakLikeIDo/FreakLikeIDo.mp3

Cover image taken from Tasastock.

Met de hemelvaart van de iPad, ook bekend als ‘The Jesus Tablet’, worden de Lateraanse neigingen van Apple nog barokker. De komst van het nieuwe toestel was gehuld in iets wat beter beschreven wordt als religieus mysticisme dan als bedrijfsgeheimhouding. De geestelijke leider, die onlangs uit de doden opstond, vierde de geboorte van zijn ‘magisch en revolutionair’ gadget met een ceremonie die deed denken aan een hoogmis, met boven zich een glimmend Apple-icoon dat dicht in de buurt van het kruis komt als universeel herkenbaar symbool.

If you speak Dutch, this is a great article about Apple and The Jesus Tablet: De hemelvaart van de iPad. Basically the author is saying that the iPad won’t save newspapers and magazines. One of the reasons is that you won’t need to buy an app when the iPad (or every other tablet for that matter) will give you a full browser experience. Apps are useful for smartphones, where you often can browse a light version of the website on small screen. I must also agree with the fact that these apps feel like the multimedia CD-ROM we know from the 90s. Isn’t that just going back in time? I believe in mobile versions of newspapers, magazines and books, but I don’t believe that these iPad apps are the solution.

You might have seen this already, it’s being posted all over the web. I think it’s pretty interesting. Not just because it’s fun to watch someone doodling, but because the message is very inspiring too.

You can watch the full presentation, it’s worth it. One of my favourite ideas mentioned is to share the energy on a worldwide intergrid, like we share information on the internet. I’m not completely sure it’s that easy, but the idea sounds pretty logical to me.

De kritiek op burgers die in juni niet gaan stemmen, valt terug te voeren tot angst voor het lawine-effect. En terecht. Waarom? Omdat het nu echt welletjes geweest is.

What?! I’m going political?! Don’t worry. I’m not. But we need to raise our voice. Our Belgian government needs to know. That’s what democracy is all about! We are fed up with it.

For my fellow Belgian readers. Interessante lectuur:

• Oproep tot burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid klinkt luid.
  http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=212PM78V
• Wat denken die daar eigenlijk wel?
  http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=6R2PIAH9

I usually try to stay out of these discussions. But looking at what’s happening in Apple’s War On Flash, I think it’s important to give Adobe some support.

3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

Apple is trying to create a closed system for their iPhone/iPad/… devices by restricting and controlling developers too much. I do believe this is very unhealthy for the industry. A few interesting reads:

• http://www.mikechambers.com/…/on-adobe-flash-cs5-and-iphone-applications/
• http://blogs.adobe.com/…/adobe_air_on_the_android_platf.html
• http://gamehaxe.com/2010/04/10/bravo-apple/
• http://twitter.com/joa/status/11845234511
• …

Thank god I bought an Android phone.

Edit: Or install Android on your iPhone, maybe this will get you Flash on it. :)

Today some new names were revealed for my favourite festival, Pukkelpop. It’s only getting better, because The xx is coming! They were already lined up for another big festival here in Belgium, Rock Werchter. But lets face it. Rock Werchter is for pussies. Pukkelpop is what it’s all about. Anyway, so I was saying, the line-up for Pukkelpop is pretty good with names as The xx, Eels, Pendulum, Groove Armada (if they stay away for their latest album), Mumford & Sons, The National, Hot Chip, Beach House, … Do I really need to go on?

Lately I’ve been trying out some new bands. So let me give you a quick overview of what I’m listening to these last weeks. First of all (it’s playing in the background as I type), we have De Novo Dahl. To be honest, I have no idea how I stumbled on their Bandcamp. Oh wait, I do remember. I found a link on The Heavy Edition. The album cover looked pretty nice, so I clicked it. (And it said “Free Album”.) :) So head over to their Bandcamp page. At the moment you can download a lot of albums and EP’s for free, so hurry up, I don’t know how long that’s going to be.

I don’t really know much about the band, but I especially fell in love with the Bobby Thompson Reels, Vol. 1. So just take a listen to it, and decide for yourself.

Another great website I discovered not so long ago is We Are Hunted. They claim to have a list of the 99 most emerging songs in the world. It’s a rather bold statement, but I’m going to believe them for now. The website works pretty well, but it can use some more work (because in Google Chrome it still has some hick ups from time to time). What you can do is listen to the list of songs, or filter them out by genre or reference. You can also create your own chart. But I’m still working on mine.

Listening to these emerging songs, I discovered a band called Delorean. Okay, yes that name reminded me of an awesome film, but that’s not the reason why I like them. I hope I have this right, but they are supposed to be a band from Spain, playing melancholic pop music.

Take a listen to their album Subiza. The first song Stay Close is fantastic.

There is some more music I like to talk about, but it’s getting late. So that’s for another time.