Bringing a new contender into the increasingly-crowded tablet market, Samsung has revealed Galaxy Tab 10.1, their newest Android-based tablet. The new Tab will run Android 3.0, or “Honeycomb”, and can be expected in some markets as early as March.
The updated Tab 10.1 is powered by NVIDIA’s dual-core Tegra 2 processor and sports a 10.1-inch screen with a 1280×800 resolution (slightly better than the current iPad’s resolution). There will be 16 and 32 GB models, and both will support WiFi and 3G capability on GSM networks. Unlike the original Galaxy Tab, the Tab 10.1 will not include Samsung’s Android platform customizations or its TouchWiz user interface. It will be a stock, untainted Honeycomb device.
The Tab 10.1 is lightweight at 1.23 pounds; it weighs less than both the iPad and the Motorola Xoom. Android enthusiasts are going to have some tough tablet choices to make in the next month or so, but the relative similarity of the hardware specs between the devices means there isn’t a lot of differentiation going on yet.
The arrival of Honeycomb could finally give Samsung the kind of software user experience needed to compete with iPad in a way that the original Tab could not.

The cost of making international calls on your mobile can be one of the most dreaded things about international travel. Thankfully, a new startup called Voxtrot (http://voxtrot.com), has jumped on the scene to help with this problem. Voxtrot™ is a Swiss company  founded by enthusiastic entrepreneurs with a passion for cutting-edge technology and innovation.

Bascally, Voxtrot is a  free mobile network.  On the Voxtrot network it’s as if your mobile carrier is giving you free worldwide mobile calls.  Unlike other “free” call and text services there are no logins, usernames or passwords to forget, and you can use your everyday contact list.  In short, you use your phone as you always have, so long as the person you are calling is also connected to Voxtrot. If that’s the case, the call will be free! It’s a potential international-calling game changer.

Right now Voxtrot is only available on Android™, but other platforms will be supported in the near future.  Although its use is limited to others using the service, this is still a great solution for business since it would be easy to set up everyone in your organization before the next big business trip.

So, how is this possible?  Well, in a nutshell, Voxtrot simply uses the Internet to connect you to any other Voxtrotter in the world. It works anywhere, on all types of networks including EDGE, GPRS, UMTS/3G, HSDPA, and WiFi. Voxtrot works seamlessly with the existing apps on your phone and your current carrier.

You can download Voxtrot from the Android Market or you can get it directly with your mobile browser on join.voxtrot.com
You can find out more about Voxtrot on their beta website and on Facebook and Twitter.

Every day, more and more of our personal information flies around on the Internet and so data security becomes increasingly important.  Unfortunately for average Joe the web user,  security has been stagnant for years; you pick your username and password, and you take your chances.

Fortunately, Google is making some authentication and security options much robust for those who want it.  Enter “two-factor authentication” which was available to Google Apps customers since September and is now rolling out to everyone. The interface is a bit confusing, and the set-up process is cantankerous, but it’s well worth looking into if you’re looking to up your security quotient. You can activate this new security option by hitting the ‘two-step verification’ link on this page.

So, what exactly does it do?  Well, when you login to your Google account, you’ll need to enter both your existing password and a second passcode — one that you can’t write down, memorize, or lose,  because it’s always changing. Because the second passcode is dynamic,  it’s nearly impossible to phish. This second password is generated by new mobile app called ‘Google Authenticator’ which is available for Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry. The code can be generated with a non-smartphone by having Google call or send a text message to the phone number that you enter during the feature setup. Much like Agent Maxwell Smart, your generated password will only be good for a short period of time.

It’s not as work intensive as it sounds, because you can elect to only require this second password once per computer.  This is enough to prevent phishing, but doesn’t mean you’re generating new passwords each time you log on. In order to save passwords in most desktop apps, you’ll have to generate a unique app-specific password for each application that you would like to protect. But again, you can save this in your key chain so you only have to do it once per app.

So, maybe you’re thinking “that’s great, but what if I change phones for some reason?”  Well, you can designate a second, backup phone number to which the passcodes can be sent.  Two-factor authentication isn’t a new idea. Business folks probably remember getting a code off of their key fob to access the office VPN for years now. However, giving consumers access to this same protection is a big win for security of personal information.

The iPad’s MobileSafari is a big pretty browser which allows users to use the full version of most websites as opposed to a mobile version or a separate application.  Facebook notably did not make a special app for iPad stating that the browser was powerful enough to support a full Facebook experience. However, iOS’ limitations often cripple the iPad’s browser, especially when it comes to uploading media. Often great sites are slow to produce an app, leaving unreliable 3rd parties to fill the hole. Tumblr is one of these sites that has left iPad users in limbo, sure there is an app designed for iPhone, but it just does not do justice to the 10 inch tablet. In steps Tumblita to bring sexy back to your iPad Tumblr experience.

Tumblr, for the uninitiated, is Twitter for blogs, it was even created by the same folks that created Twitter.  Tumblr is without a doubt my favorite and most used social networking service.  Tumblr is a very powerful social networking tool that is perfect for startups. It is by far the most social of the blogging platforms because of it’s unique feature of letting you reblog others posts. Tumblita lets you view your Tumblr dashboard in a ‘river of information’ style interface seen in many mail applications and RSS readers. There is a large view of a single post which is dynamic, and a static list of other posts, positioned to the side  in landscape mode, and as a pop out list in portrait mode. Tumblita also supports posting new media to your blog, the main feature that was missing when using the mobile browser. You can also easily schedule posts for the future, add tags, and more.  There are still more features that regular Tumblr users would like to see, like asking questions and replying to posts, but Tumblita is still the best Tumblr experience on iPad to date.  With some work this application could be truly great.