Cheapest Jelly Bean Phone

Want a phone that has (or will have) Android Jelly Bean? They're still pretty expensive.  Looking at rough prices, for unlocked or no-contract devices:

Nexus 4: $300
Nexus 7: $200
Nexus 10: $400
Galaxy S III: $575
Galaxy S II: $420
S Advance: $300
Ace 2: $270
Ace Plus: $222
Galaxy Note: $520

Galaxy Note 2: $710
Galaxy Nexus: $460
Nexus S: $420
One X: $470
One X+: $650
Xperia T: $500
Xperia TX: $480
Xperia V: $500
Droid Razr M:
Razr HD: ?
Razr Maxx HD: ?
Atrix HD: $420
Electrify M:
Xoom: $325
Optimus LTE II: ?

More phones will eventually get the upgrade I'm sure, but right now it looks like the cheapest option is the Nexus 7, though it isn't a phone.  At least you'll get all the features of Jelly Bean.

Google Music in Gmail Chat?

Curious little bug in my Gmail.  When using the labs feature that shows an Android icon for friends who are on chat on Android phones...their name disappears.

The curious part:  hover your mouse over the name, and an "Invited" and a beamed note appears on the right...smells like a social music service is coming.

IE9 Beta - Battle of the "chrome"

Before Google's Chrome browser was released, "chrome" meant something different.  In browsers, it meant the borders and widgets around the web page itself.

I've heard a lot of chest thumping by Microsoft regarding how much IE9 gets out of the way.  So, I did a comparison of the chrome myself in the picture below.  Check out the red line I drew.

From left-to-right, the browsers are:

• Internet Explorer 9.0.7930.16406  (Engadget review, Lifehacker review, RWW coverage)
• Safari 5.0.2 (with one tab open, as two tabs adds even more chrome)
• Chrome 6.0.472.59
• Firefox 4.0b6. 

Guess what?  They're right.  Not only is more of the page visible, but also the title of the page and other controls have disappeared.  I am a dedicated Chrome user at the moment, but I may have to rethink my loyalty.

Import and Manage Your Photos

Here’s what to consider when choosing the right system for your personal photos.
This isn’t everything, but a good sample.
Three techniques:

	Traditional	Sync	Cord-Cutter
Overall	It stinks, but this is how most people do it today.	Complicated and not adaptable, but if you can set it up then you can get the best of both worlds.	Where most people will end up in the long run, but requires faith in Internet-based services.
Store	Computer Memory Card External Hard Drive	Picasa + Picasaweb (pricing) Live Mesh + Skydrive (25gb) Windows Home Server Dropbox	Facebook Flickr MobileMe Picasaweb
Backup	Mozy Carbonite	Apple Time Capsule Network attached storage Amazon S3 connectors	Backupify Local archive
Share	Email attachments Burn and mail a CD Upload then share: Facebook, Flickr, Kodak Gallery	Picasaweb Windows Live Spaces	Links, anywhere
Edit	Adobe Photoshop Apple iPhoto	Windows Live Photo Gallery Picasa	Picnik Photoshop Express Aviary
Import	Camera import software Windows import tool	Same as Traditional	Eye-fi card
Print	Home printer Costco Wal-Mart Walgreens …local photo guy	Best of both worlds	Picasa: Walgreens, Shutterfly, American Greetings Flickr: Snapfish …or download and upload to Costco, etc.

Amazon Down

Wow, you don't see that very often.

The Facebook Ultimatum

Summed up in a few words on Mark's blog post today....

Google Announces Android TV?

I just peeked at the Google I/O conference schedule...you gotta love those "TBA" spots.  Is it last minute scheduling?  A time buffer?  In my humble estimation...it's Google TV!  Coming soon to a set-top box near you.