features

The other day one of our engineers, Larry, took a trip to test 3G wireless connection features in Splashtop. Except it was no ordinary lab visit - Larry drove out to a stretch of a desert outside of Las Vegas. That is where a wireless carrier we are working with tests how phones or computers connect to their network, go from cell site to cell site... and perform whatever network magic they are expected to perform.

These days, many notebooks and netbooks connect to the Internet over 3G wireless. Being an instant-on operating system, Splashtop has to manage these network connections. Hence our work with the wireless chipset providers and the wireless carriers. Here is a picture Larry took during his desert adventure:

2009 was a busy year for netbooks. According to Display Search worldwide shipments are expected to hit 33 million units, that is a 103% jump from 2008. Even the very definition of a netbook is jumping around with each manufacturer molding the netbook in its own way. LG, for example, is differentiating itself through software: The LG X-120, one of the first netbooks to boast 3G cellular connectivity, includes Smart ON that’s powered by Splashtop. Engadget did a great review of it and ended up calling Splashtop “LG’s biggest asset” – we were proud to say the least.

Thanks to AT&T and Radio Shack (The Shack), the X-120 is now available in the U.S. for the first time for $179.99 with a 2-year contract. For those not interested in a subsidized netbook, I picked mine up today for $399 off contract.

If you want to learn more about the X-120 you can take a virtual demo of it on LG’s site.  I’ll leave you with this video I took of Splashtop booting up for the first time on the X-120.

LG X-120 booting Splashtop

The singular goal of DeviceVM and the Splashtop technology is to get you to whatever you're looking for, quickly and efficiently. We're the inventors of this space and continually think of ways to innovate. Sometimes we innovate by solving large technical problems like getting your machine up and functional in a matter of seconds. Other times, we observe how people are using technology and attempt to make interface changes that improve the experience of using Splashtop.

Sometimes a small shift in an interface can create a revolution and open up a world of possibilities. That's why our adding instant search to our list of features is a huge step for Splashtop. Here's an understatement: people do a lot of searching. We all know this but we didn't realize how many people use search as a tool for navigating the web. Many of us open a browser check our email, news and Facebook. But a lot of people put the word "Facebook" in a search box and click on the result. Are you one of those people?

Whether or not you use search as a tool for navigating the web, instant search is something we can all appreciate. Where was that restaurant? What was the name of the guy in that movie? What time does the hardware store close? Answers to these questions and more are now seconds away from your inquiring mind.

Our first partners on instant search are very exciting too! Yahoo, Baidu and Yandex have all jumped on board. When we set out to provide this feature it was important that we didn't let one search engine be the only dominant player. We really wanted to give people a choice as search can be very regional. That's why we picked partners who had incredible regional relevance. Splashtop users also have a choice as you can switch up the default Search Engine to whatever you prefer. Everyone wins with Instant Search!

Check out some great coverage:

BBC News - Push for 'instant-on' web search
CNET - Instant search comes to Splashtop
ComputerWorld - Eyeing Google, Splashtop partners with Yahoo for instant-on web search
Ubergizmo - (Yahoo) Search becomes a priority in Splashtop
VentureBeat - DeviceVM brings search to its ‘instant-on’ Splashtop software
jkOnTheRun - Splashtop Gains Instant Search on Netbooks, Notebooks — Expects User Base of 130m

Did you ever wonder what happens when you press the power button on your PC and may see all that text on the screen, before your operating system even starts grinding its wheels?

The first moments of your PC’s consciousness are inhabited by what is known as BIOS. That’s code that wakes up and prepares all the hardware components of you PC. Then it passes control to the operating system. Before Splashtop, operating systems would commonly take a few minutes to get going, so it was no problem for BIOS to also take its time. Many of the tasks BIOS would carry out were not at all required for browsing the web: “Do we have any joysticks connected? No? How about plotters?..”

Now the spotlight is on getting online quickly, and we are working with BIOS makers, as well as the in-house BIOS teams of PC OEMS, to make sure that the overall BIOS + Splashtop experience is as good as possible. We just announced our partnership with Insyde Software. They are a leading BIOS maker. This collaboration is about making sure that when their BIOS and our Splashtop are on the same system, the pieces know what to do to get you online as fast as possible. Besides, the electricity you consume while browsing depends on how well your system can control various hardware components. Being able to talk to the BIOS is handy again!

This is the second post covering the work done in Splashtop Labs to make Splashtop the fastest ever way to get online. For the first story, check here.

People often ask us why it is that they can only get Splashtop as pre-installed software on new PCs, but cannot download it onto their old computer. While some of this has to do with business issues, I want to cover the technical side.

Much of our engineering is dedicated to making Splashtop start up in seconds. After all, this is what people love about Splashtop. It turns out that to do a good job at starting up, you need to do many optimizations for the particular hardware that you run on. Here is an example:

Splashtop Labs have been investigating why some notebooks take longer to start than their apparently identical twins. We tracked the difference down to the different GPUs used in similar notebook versions. We discovered that the way you initialize a particular GPU may add as much as 2 seconds to the boot time – a big deal if you are trying to be up and running in 5! We would like to think that GPU vendors will optimize their products for fast start up, however, we know they have many other priorities. So the buck stops with Splashtop.

To do this level of tuning, we work closely with manufacturers on each new platform, and optimize Splashtop for the particular GPU and other hardware you will be getting. Sounds like a lot of work? It is, but Splashtop is already on dozens of products.

I decided to contribute a few blog posts along Sol’s regular posts, to shed some light on what our team is doing in the Lab to keep Splashtop the fastest way to get online. Stay tuned for more.

- Sergei

It was bound to happen eventually. Some smart folks over at Phoronix Forums have hacked Splashtop. Well, it's about time...

The fact that folks want to hack Splashtop is exciting and we want to be as supportive as possible. Just because something has been "hacked" doesn't mean it's less safe. We want to encourage folks to explore our product and help us to make it better.

We've been working hard trying to get Splashtop onto as many machines as possible over the last few months through proliferation programs. The development community has been promised an SDK from us for a while. We're very glad to see some talented developers take matters into their own hands.

In fact, we’re inspired here at Splashtop HQ and will work to get the SDK out quickly. We have an early beta version ready now and will start working with selected developers to refine and deliver a polished version. Please e-mail us at developer@splashtop.com if you're interested in helping out with the effort...and thanks to all of you for pulling us forward!

If you're interested in some of the coverage on the Splashtop Jailbreak, here you go:

Phoronix
Engadget
Gizmodo

We all know how influential Apple can be. In the first weekend of the 3G iPhone release over one million units were sold. When I was in line for the first iPhone last year, I was standing in line with super-blogger, Robert Scoble. Here's a post he shot off while we waited in line together. I think Robert Scoble is a pretty smart dude. I asked him how important the iPhone launch was in terms of milestones in technology. I remember exactly what he said (even a year later), "these only come around once in a while - this is as important as the Windows 95 launch." At the time, I didn't realize it. But, he was right. The iPhone launch was a big deal not just in terms of gadgetry but in terms of bringing the web, the REAL web to your pocket. The effect of the iPhone isn't just felt by iPhone owners, it's also felt by nearly every new mobile phone purchaser. Whether you have the new Samsung Instinct or the Blackberry Bold there are elements that that are uniquely iPhone.

So, last Friday morning I woke up at 5am. My wife looked at me like I was totally insane (and with the loving patience that spouses of gadget freaks must endure) and I set out to the mall to hit up an AT&T store. I arrived and realized I was number 30 in line. Everyone was excited. There were an equal number of existing iPhone owners and new iPhone candidates. I thought that the 3G iPhone wouldn't be as big of a deal as the original - after all, it's not that different than the original iPhone. I was incorrect. Hundreds of people filed into the mall. Most of them didn't get iPhones. I didn't stick around to experience the disappointment. I got mine. It's white 16GB and named Snowball. I won't go through the activation problems I had - suffice to say I was without a phone for about 4 hours (which is unimaginable - I'm jittery just thinking about it).

My iPhone did finally activate and I was in love all over again. The most remarkable change was the new firmware which included the app store. There were over 500 applications. Some seemed better than others. But, there were some real quality apps. A post on ReadWriteWeb really describes this iPhone release - it's about the apps. Sure, you can have those apps on your first generation iphone, but many of the location-based apps won't be as fulfilling. Also, the 3G network really adds value to many of the apps.

My favorite app right now is the Pandora app. Pandora allows you to stream music over the web given individual music channels that you create. So, if you really like Elvis Costello you can create an Elvis Costello channel and Pandora will play Elvis Costello and artists like him. They do a great job of playing music you'll like. I set up the Pandora app on my iPhone 3G, plugged it in to my car stereo and started streaming channels in my car. I drove all over the place, streaming music to my iPhone and listening to it on my car stereo.

I was so excited about it. Pandora streaming to my phone while driving. It's another one of those moments when I realized that the future is about Web Application delivered to your devices. Always slightly ahead of the curve, Apple is pushing the envelope. It makes me think that Splashtop is really in the right place at the right time. Our emphasis on Web Applications as the core of our lightning fast environment is the right bet. If any of our readers have an iPhone or use iTunes, I'd be really interested in which apps you find exciting.

Just for fun, here's an episode of "Will It Blend?" featuring the new iPhone 3G:

update: Techcrunch wrote an article today that similarly praised Pandora.

It has been too long since we've featured awesome Web 2.0 apps here on the Splashtop blog. We got all caught up on events and awards. This week I want to get back to our roots and our core message.

Splashtop gets you to your favorite web applications seconds after you hit the power button.

That's what we're about. So when I see a great new Web app I've got to give it a shout out. Last week I was introduced to a great new application called Presdo. Someone called it "deceptively simple." Why deceptive? Because it's a very powerful application. I get very excited when I see a powerful app in a simple package.

This is the basic interface:

Let's say I type in "have the product meeting with Sergei at 3pm"

This is what I get:

It naturally interprets what you're trying to do and then provides everything you would need to do with that event. It can email Sergei to let him know. If I provide the basic location it'll map it for me. If I need a cafe, it'll suggest it for me. Finally, if I need to export it to another calendar like google calendar or outlook, it'll make it happen pretty seamlessly. It makes calendaring events kinda fun, actually. It just goes to show you that you don't need all that desktop software when you have a fully functional web browser.

Take 2 minutes and give Presdo a try. You might just find a new way to calendar all of your events. I've been using it a week and I'm hooked.

I like to try out new services as frequently as possible and see if they're a good compliment to Splashtop. After all, particular applications are better suited for Splashtop given their purpose. kwiry is a great example of a well suited Splashtop complimentary web application.

Last week I briefly mentioned Jott, an easy way to have voice-based messages translated to text and left for your contacts or yourself. Jott makes it easy to send an email to others while you're in the car.

kwiry plays in the same general space but has their own set of killer features. kwiry's strength lies in their ability to allow for SMS-based self-messaging. In other words, you're in the coffee shop and you hear this great song. You ask the Barista, "who are you playing right now?" She answers, "the Black Keys." Ten times out of ten I would get my coffee and then forget the name of the artist. Later in the day I would be thinking, "the Black...something. It's not the Black Crowes. Who was it again?" kwiry solves this problem by allowing you to text yourself "the Black Keys" and then be reminded about it once you power on your PC.

Make kwiry a bookmark in your Splashtop browser and you can get to those reminders instantly. kwiry takes it even further by giving context to your reminders. When you get back to your PC and see "the Black Keys" you'll get options to listen, purchase, find reviews and even tour dates for the Black Keys. This, of course, works with many different things you might text yourself - not just the Black Keys. ;)

There are other things you can do with kwiry including friending people and seeing their kwiry's. This can be really interesting as you can see what your friends are thinking about. This feature is similar to Twitter but the content is very different because kwiry is much more reminder-based, not as much micro-blog oriented. Give kwiry a try and let me know what you think.

**Update: For those of you who signed up for Jott last week, I spoke to the guys at kwiry and they actually just launched Jott compatibility yesterday. They've got instructions on how to integrate kwiry and Jott so you can send in reminders with Jott and have them go to your kwiry inbox (complete with search results). We like things that play well together : )