Rev2.org

As much as other options seem to be attempting to replace it, email is still the bread and butter of most of our Internet usage.  Thousands of applications and software suites have been created to make email more useful and manageable since its inception.

For the Mac user, however, the choices have usually been sparse and with the emergence of easy-access Web-based email, it’s even harder to really organize your inbox.  That’s where Sparrow comes in.  It’s a simple, minimalist email app for the Mac that goes a long way towards simplifying your email experience.

Sparrow has a Twitter-like look to it that condenses a lot of information into a small space.  Any email account can be integrated into your Sparrow inbox, including Gmail, AOL and more, using IMAP.

Much of Sparrow’s great usability comes from Gmail.  Threaded conversations within a subject, color-coded labels for quick reference, and more are included in Sparrow, but incorporate something that most Gmail users don’t have: the Mac’s multitouch capability.  You can do a lot of your email marking and prioritizing through gestures rather than multiple clicks thanks to that.

When minimized, Sparrow resides on the Menu Bar with an indicator so you always know if new messages arrive.  Aliases, notifications, and great handling of attachments all round out Sparrow’s services.

This application will change the way Mac users interact with their email.  It’s a great addition to the toolbox of any busy person.

AT&T announced a deal this weekend that would buy T-Mobile USA from its owner, Deutsche Telekom, for a cash and stock trade worth $39 billion.  This would be one of the largest telecom consolidations in history and will likely see a lot of scrutiny from the U.S. government before it would be allowed to go through.

The merger would make AT&T the largest U.S. wireless carrier by a very wide margin and given the Federal Communication Commission’s evil eye towards wireless carriers already, the companies were smart enough to say that the deal could take up to a year to foment.

The combination would mean AT&T would have a total of about 129 million subscribers while Verizon has only 94 million, just under AT&T’s current total (as of December 2010).

T-Mobile has already let customers know, through a new FAQ on their website, that access to the iPhone would not come until after the deal completes.

Given that, the question of who wins in this situation is pretty important.  It won’t be anyone but the shareholders in AT&T and T-Mobile.  Here’s why.

Consumers will lose a major competitor in the wireless market and one who, generally, offers lower and more competitive prices in order to compete with the larger AT&T and Verizon.  With T-Mobile gone, only Sprint remains as a small carrier and it’s getting smaller (and less relevant) by the minute.

Handset makers will see the GSM-based market completely consolidated into one monopoly and potentially see LTE dominated by only two players (Verizon and AT&T with 4G).  This means they’ll be looking at only being able to sell their technology to companies that can, essentially, dictate terms.

Sprint will continue to lose market share because, without T-Mobile to team up with against the big boys, they essentially have no more lobby worth mentioning in Washington.  This means the others will be able to regulate them out of business.

Gigaom points out that Google (specifically Android) may also become a big loser here.  With only two major companies vying for the Android phone (and also carrying Apple’s iPhone), the handsets and OS could become the de facto property of the carriers, shutting Google out.

All in all, this is not good news for anyone, really.

Following the recent Pwn20wn hacking challenge to crack the WebKit browser engine utilised in both Android and Blackberry OS6 powered devices, RIM, the makers of Blackberry handsets, have advised users to disable Javascript to avoid the loophole discovered during the challenge.

The hacking challenge took place during the CanSecWest conference last week. The exploit discovered allows users misdirected to a malicious website to hack the phone via the use of Javascript commands. While Google, the creator of the Android operating system, were able to act quickly enough to release a security patch to avoid the security loophole affecting their devices, RIM offered the following advice to customers:

‘Users of BlackBerry [OS] 6.0 and later can disable the use of JavaScript in the BlackBerry Browser to prevent exploitation of the vulnerability. Important: Turning off JavaScript may impact the ability to view web pages, or result in a diminished browsing experience.’

The security hole allows access to information on the phone itself and any external media currently inserted; photographs and other saved documents may be accessible. It does not allow access to application data such as personal e-mail, contacts or calendars, as these are stored in a separate internal file system to the main device.

RIM realise this is a temporary solution and anticipate the release of a security patch imminently. In the meantime, users can be careful when browsing websites, not following suspicious or unsolicited links.

The Japanese Prime Minister’s Office has launched an English-language Twitter account giving translated updates to the world on the situation quickly unfolding in Japan. Since the earthquake, registering 8.9 on the Richter scale, hit last Saturday, the media has been constantly updating the breaking news as it develops. This account, @JPN_PMO, offers translations from the official disaster Twitter account, @Kantei_Saigai.

@Kantei_Saigai gives news updates regularly primarily for the benefit of the media and citizens currently in Japan, offering times of press conferences and providing details for evacuations. The account also reveals an insight into the general welfare of the country during the crisis. While the translations available from @JPN_PMO are not perfect, for the many tourists and foreign nationals within Japan who are unable to read Japanese, the account will offer a chance to access information about the earthquake quickly and easily.

This is effectively the first time that Twitter has been used in such a way to supplement state media and radio messages, the usual media by which disaster information is delivered. Whilst it comes at a terrible time, the Japanese government’s innovative use of the technology recognises the importance of the social network in the 21st century and how far it has progressed. Many prominent Tweeters have been particularly vocal in their donation efforts and support, with many offering donations for retweets. The platform has been used for charitable purposes in the past, offering a ‘wildfire’ effect as Tweets spread quickly around the internet.

Last night, analysis firm Piper Jaffray finished a survey and found that except for a handful of units still available, the iPad 2 has sold out and is largely unavailable.  The team believes that over 400,000 units of the new iPad have sold, beating the first-generation iPad by at least 100,000 in its debut.

This also means that the iPad 2 sold nearly half a million units in only one day.  Surveys of new buyers shows that about 70% of adopters for the device are new to the tablet and, unlike with the previous release, about half of all iPad 2 consumers are PC users, so the tablet has bridged the gap from its Mac-centric past.

The Piper Jaffrays survey also found that most iPad 2 buyers are iPhone owners, a large portion of them own a Kindle, and many will be purchasing apps and games.

The survey and sellout of the iPad 2 this weekend show that despite contenders for the tablet market, the iPad is still on top.

Meanwhile, with the release of the new Apple gadget comes news that someone has, of course, cracked it.  The infamous Comex, whose made a name for himself jailbreaking Apple gadgets, had an iPad 2 broken in just minutes – from 2,500 miles away.

After gaining access to the gadget’s core, he installed Cydia (another operating system) and promises to release the procedure for jail breaking the iPad 2 soon.

Spreaker is a new audio browser-based application allowing users to easily record, promote and share radio programs throughout the world.

The site allows logging in via Facebook Connect, with users able to share their radio shows with friends on Facebook as well as users of Spreaker itself. This allows Spreaker to piggyback onto Facebook’s vast user base, greatly increasing its profile and potential users.

The innovative audio start-up has a feature-rich console with which users can record their own shows. This console permits access to the user’s music library as well as connecting to a line-out or internal microphone. Shows have the ability to either be performed live, or pre-recorded for later uploading. An App for iPhone and iPad has been released allowing users to listen to shows on the go.

Spreaker has already generated a significant number of users, suggesting the combination of obvious polish, usable and interesting features and bold branding could lead to a successful endeavour. The free version of the website allows for shows to be recorded in half hour slots, and also allows a total of 1 hour’s worth of music to be uploaded for use in radio shows. Upgrading to Spreaker Premium allows shows to be recorded in 3 hour slots and a total 60 hours worth of music uploaded. At $19.90 a month, it isn’t difficult to picture this premium option as particularly viable for small to medium sites who spend many hours producing podcasts, saving time.