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From the dept of "Why Didn't I Think of That?" comes yet another useful site:

http://scriptsrc.net/

It's just a page of links to the latest versions of the most common open-source script libraries hosted on Google. The developers added convenient "copy" buttons for all the major script libs that you can just click to copy the relevant javascript library includes to your clipboard for easy pasting into your web pages. Not a game changer, but a handy site to bookmark anyway. Contains script src info for jQuery, jQueryUI, Chrome Frame, SWFObject, MooTools, YUI, Ext JS, Prototype, Dojo, and script.aculo.us and show the number of times each has been copied, giving you an idea of the relative popularity of each library. No surprise, JQuery is vastly more popular than any other JS framework. After several years of somewhat serious javascript work, I can confirm that JQuery makes me wish I'd never heard of Prototype and Script.aculo.us when I first started working with JS libraries. Anyway, check out scriptsrc.net the next time you're wondering what the Google CDN locations are for any major JS lib. 

I stumbled across a couple of neat apps for my Android OS phone (HTC Incredible) that offer two new approaches to speed typing on a touchscreen.

The first is called Swype (UPDATE: It's not actually available yet for the HTC Incredible or most other phones). It allows you to slide your finger from one letter to the next, tracing out a geometric shape with your finger as you do so. This allows words to be recognized by the shape you trace out on the phone's screen as you slide from letter to letter, so you theoretically don't need to be as accurate, so long as you're consistently innacurate. I've read some reviews of Swype and people generally either seem to love it or hate it. The demos I saw made the software look somewhat sluggish at recognizing words, and if it's not sure about the word you still have to choose from a list just like the word recognition built into the standard AndroidOS keyboard. Here's a video that shows how it works:

The other app that aims to make typing easier is called ThickButtons . ThickButtons watches what you're typing and tries to increase the size of the letters you are most likely to need next. For English and the romantic languages, it actually doesn't require much processing power to do something like this since most western language words have common prefixes and word stems. Anyway, it seems like another decent idea and most reviews I've read seem fairly positive. Check it out the video:

Of course, I haven't tried either app myself. I try to avoid typing on my phone at all costs, but I plan to try them both eventually and report back. Maybe I'll even start typing more on my phone.

UPDATE: I have finally gotten around to trying ThickButtons on my HTC Incredible and I definitely like it. Anxiously awaiting the arrival of Swype. 

CNET pits the HTC DROID Incredible against the iPhone 3GS and determines that the Incredible is "The best phone we've seen". The kicker, just like I've been saying since the release of the iPhone, was call quality. Going into the final round, the phones were essentially tied in terms of overall features, construction, performance, etc. It was that crappy AT&T network that lost the iPhone the top spot. That's the #1 reason why I don't own an iPhone. Of course there's about 10 other reason that are just as important to me, but the #1 reason is still that it runs only on the horrible AT&T network. 

Check out the full prizefight on YouTube.

Last week I took the plunge and finally ordered my first smartphone. I went with the HTC Incredible, which runs the latest version of the Android OS. I was hoping the iPhone would come to Verizon in time, but I gave up waiting and now I'm even happier that I went with the Android OS -- according to a story posted on Slashdot today, the iPhone OS is #3.

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/05/10/195251/Android-Sales-Surpass-iPhone-OS-Sales

Seems to me like Apple is quickly painting itself into the same corner it always does. Regardless of the whole Flash controversy, developers really don't appreciate the way they are being manipulated and manhandled by Apple. Developers are being told they can't use particular development tools such as Flash even though Adobe spent the past year creating a way to compile Flash apps to native iPhone apps, thus negating the whole need to run Flash on the iPhone, but Apple killed that, saying they won't approve any app that was not created on their platform with their tools. So, developers are also being forced to buy a Mac even to run the development tools. Then they have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get an app added to the iPhone app store, assuming it doesn't compete with one of Apple's own apps or contain some feature that Apple doesn't want users to have. I see the beginning of a massive market slide for the iPhone as more and more developers focus on the truly open Android platform.

Apple has done this kind of thing every time it gains a foothold in a new market and it has always hurt them in the long run, forcing them to come up with yet another new market for another new gadget every couple of years just to stay ahead of all the bad will they create by taking an "Apple knows best" approach with the geeks who ultimately influence decision makers. I can see corporate customers moving completely away from the iPhone in the next 12-24 months as developers jump on the Android bandwagon. Of course, Apple's never had this much cash in the bank before either, so maybe they will be able to throw enough marketing money at the problem to prop up their platform for years to come, but if it remains a "closed" platform I wouldn't be surprised if the iPhone platform ends up becoming a small and shrinking niche within 3 years. Consumers are already somewhat annoyed about Apple's strong-arming the publishing industry (Amazon in particular) to increase pricing for e-books to coincide with the release of their iPad. Apple is always making enemies out of those who should be their allies...it's nothing new for them. I suspect that the Apple koolaid won't taste so good once there's a bunch of other comparable devices available on open platforms.