Different versoins of android

Sorry for not posting in a while--busy week!

Most of the people reading this blog know what Android is. For those who do not, it's an open source operating system for cell phones, media players, and tablets. In one of my past posts, I listed a couple different versions of the OS. Some people were confused by the different names given to each version. This is my attempt to clean up some of the confusion. First things first. Google, the maker of Android, gives a "code name" to each version of the operating system. They are as follows:

Android 1.0 and 1.1                       No code name
Android 1.5                                   Cupcake
Android 1.6                                   Doughnut
Android 2 and 2.1                         Eclair
Android 2.2                                  Froyo
Android 2.3                                  Gingerbread
Android for Tablets 3                   Honeycomb
Android for Tablets 3.x                Ice cream sandwich

Most cell phones are currently running 2.1, 2.2, or 2.3. Gingerbread did not release too terribly long ago, so it is still being rolled out to many cell phones. Tablets, which is an emerging market, unfortunately, still run mostly on 2.2 (Froyo). It works fine, but Froyo is designed for cell phone sized screens. Many makers and home brew Android fans are hard at work porting Honeycomb to their devices.          



I intend to have a full review of the tablet I purchased very soon.

A Break from Gadgets

A reader had a question with regard to the post about tympanometers. The question and the answer are as follows:

Question: You mentioned that a problematic chart could indicate a hole in the eardrum? What causes this? Is it genetic and is there an operation that could fix this?

Answer: Although it may be possible that a hole in the eardrum be genetic, I have never heard of such a case, and it would be rare. The most common cause of eardrum perforation is trauma or infection. Examples of trauma would include: a direct strike/blow to the ear, skull fracture, explosion, foreign objects (this includes Q-Tips) being pushed too far into the ear, or burns--either from heat or chemicals. If they are severe enough, infections could also cause holes in the eardrum.

In most cases, the eardrum will heal on its own within a few weeks, or a few months. If, for some reason, the eardrum does not heal on its own, a physician may decide to try and patch it up. This technique involves covering the eardrum in a chemical that facilitates growth/healing and covering it with a piece of paper patch. This can be done in the physician's office and may need to be done several times before the hole properly heals. If the hole is too big to be patched, or if the patch does not work, surgery can be performed to fix it. This outpatient surgery, called tympanoplasty, involves using a small piece of skin to cover the hole and is quite successful.

For more details or further clarification, you can visit the website where I found this information: www.entnet.org.