It seems everyone is releasing an Android tablet this year. Unfortunately many tablets will not have access to the 70,000+ apps in the official Google market nor Google's own apps like Gmail and Maps and here's why.

The Android platform is open source which means that anyone can download, tweak and install it on any hardware of their choice. While this liberty is a wonderful thing, it puts the burden on third party developers to support an infinite range of hardware from toasters to servers. To alleviate this burden, Google set some requirements and guidelines for devices wishing to accessing the market in an attempt to standardize the target hardware.  These requirements are defined in the Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD).  Unfortunately, the latest CDD as of now (2.2 Froyo) includes some restrictions that are not tablet friendly.

A few tablets will be able to access the market but those manufacturers seem to have made sacrifices in order to pass the compatibility tests.  Rumors are that the Gingerbread 3.0 CDD will include higher resolutions as well as other tablet friendly enhancements which means that some of these incompatible tablets may be able to access the market after an upgrade to Gingerbread but we won't know for sure until the 3.0 CDD is released.

Fortunately Google does not restrict Android to installing apps only from the official Google Android App Market nor do they restrict companies from running third party app markets. So, while users may not have access to the main app market they're still able to acquire apps from a number of alternate repositories.

Below are a few of the hardware incompatibilities that I noticed while browsing.This is not an exhaustive list and many of the device specifications are from unofficial leaks.

Update (2010/9/01)

Sanyo has just announced a new mobile USB booster, the KBC-L2BS, which offers the enhanced 1A charging without the need for a separate parallel cable. The new booster looks identical to the KBC-L2A so assuming the cells haven't changed it should be similarly priced but it'll probably show up in the more expensive mainstream stores like Yodobashi & Bic before the cheaper novelty stores around Akihabara.

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I've mentioned the Eneloop KBC-L2A (KBC-L2S in the US) in a previous post. It's a 5v 5000mAh Li-ion USB battery booster that I carry as regularly as my wallet. With it, I know I'll have enough juice to power all my gadgets for an entire day.

Unfortunately the KBC-L2A has a few limitations like not having a power level indicator and, more importantly, having a max output current of 500mA @ 5v for each of the two USB ports. 500mA is actually the official specified current for USB ports but recent computers provide more for power hungry devices. None of my current devices require more than 500mA but I did have a problem with a Verizon MiFi which I rented in Hawaii. It simply refused to charge from this booster but did charge from a 1A cigarette adapter.

Enter the 100円 (~$1.16 USD) cable.

Credit for this one goes to the unnamed author of Universe's Blog who found a solution (albeit rather insecure).  This is my modified solution.

There's a bug in Google Calendar which lists any Facebook private events as "busy" instead of displaying the actual event name.  This is a huge pain in the arse especially if you check Google Calendar via non-standard views such as an Android widget.  The workaround is to pipe the calendar data through a proxy filter to sanitize the offending ical data before it gets to Google.

The source code for this filter is below but if you don't have access to a PHP server and you trust me then follow these steps to use my filter instance.

I was going through some old backup files and came across this little script I wrote a few years ago.  This script was helpful for me back when I was using Windows and VMWare so I thought I'd share it.  I've since moved to Linux and VirtualBox so this script won't receive future updates.

If you're obsessed with trimming computer resources (like me) and follow guides like Black Viper's service configuration to squeeze every bit of performance out of your machine then you probably also hate that VMWare Workstation installs a bunch of auto-start services and background apps.  You could set the services to start manually so they're not wasting resources but that would require remembering to start them before launching VMWare each time.  Enter VM Launcher.

A common complaint about using a VPN is Internet apps like IM and Web either disconnect or run slowly.  The problem is that Windows uses the VPN's gateway by default which means all non-local traffic is piped through the VPN connection.  Depending on the remote network configuration, this will either break or slow the traffic of Internet apps.

I saw this unique new GPS unit for SLR geotagging on Engadget a few months ago called the GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr Plus.  Besides being $20 cheaper than Nikon's GP-1 on sale, the PhotoTrackr plus is also wireless, doesn't occupy the hotshoe, and consumes less camera battery so the decision to get it was easy.  After a little waiting it arrived and I must say I'm impressed.

The tech and security news stream has been full of iPad AT&T hack coverage with AT&T trying to downplay the severity of the hack and security experts rebutting AT&T's claims stating that the ICC-ID can be used to determine other information.  I'm not an expert on 3G security and don't know much about ICC-IDs but I can tell you that this leak has serious indisputable security implications regardless of potential attacks via the 3G network which everyone seems to be focusing on at the moment.

The leak of verified email addresses, especially of high-profile individuals and those with security clearance, is a huge problem.  Obtaining current email addresses is the first step in targeted attacks like the recent one against Google and others. 

Now that these addresses are public you can bet many accounts on that list are receiving carefully crafted, targeted phishing emails known in the industry as "spear phishing" or "weaponized email".  A single click on a link in a very legitimate looking email could compromise not only the computer on which the link was clicked but potentially every computer on the same network.  Imagine if New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg or White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, both whose emails were leaked, were to click on a malicious link in an email appearing to be from a legitimate source.  What kind of damage could that do?  If Google and other high-tech corporations could be hacked, I'm sure the US government is not unhackable.