Browsing Tag

ipad

Microsoft Surface announced. We can’t kill the iPhone so we’ll go after the iPad says Microsoft

June 19, 2012 By steve In Technology

We know Microsoft can make software (sometimes) but how are they going to do on their very first commercial PC that they’ve ever directly designed and sold.

Time will tell as the Microsoft Surface comes to consumers very soon.

The Microsoft Surface has been designed to take on, and maybe even take out, the all-powerful Apple iPad, and when you take a look at the design and features, the Microsoft designers must be bloated with hope.

The tried and tested tablet specs that you’d expect to find are there: a 10.6 inch high-definition touchscreen, front and rear facing cameras and a thickness just shy of the iPad.

The party-piece of the Microsoft Surface however is definitely going to be its incredibly thin plastic cover. What may seem like a gimmick and a complete rip-off of the now very popular iPad covers is actually a keyboard and touchpad when folded around to the front. Couple that with the 22-degree kickstand on the back, and you are now looking at the world’s thinnest laptop. The video is a must watch.

The keys on the keyboard are slightly raised and some awfully clever technology allows the keys to know the difference between a keystroke and a resting finger.

Microsoft say that they’ll be bringing two devices to market: a cheaper ARM chip driven device as well as a more expensive Intel chip driven device. All options will run the new Windows 8 OS in some form or another.

With a lot of ground to catch up in the marketplace and an app store that is found seriously lacking, how do you think the Windows Surface will fair in the market? Comments!

New from Apple. No iPhone 5…and look, the world still turns!

June 12, 2012 By steve In Technology

Yesterday was a big day for apple, it being their annual WorldWide Developers Conference and all. While everyone was waiting to hear the words “iPhone 5” spill out of the mouth of Tim Cook (the guy who took over from Steve Jobs but nobody thinks is worthy), the miracle never came.

Instead Timmy did announce a bunch of new Apple related toys and upgrades that should give Apple Fanboys something to spend their money on while the iPhone 5 is put together.

The broad strokes:
A new mobile operating system, iOS 6
A new Macbook Air lineup
A new Macbook Pro model
And Mountain Lion OS x

Here’s what it all means.

The new iOS 6 will only be around later this year once developers have finished working on it to make it worth our while. But there is a lot to expect, depending on your perception.

Firstly this version of the OS will bring Siri, good and proper, to the iPad. Not that naf “dictation” thing it used to do, but proper Artificial Intelligent assistant Siri.

Siri will also be able to launch apps on your iDevice for you, just say the name and it’ll open. How lazy do you have to be? And the phone app on the iPhone has even received a bit of a bolster in the form of Siri taking things over for you.

If someone calls while you can’t speak, you can reply with an SMS. Siri will remind you later that you missed the call.

She’s also been updated with a “Do Not Disturb” feature that enters a mode which doesn’t receive calls or messages. It’ll then notify you when you wake up of who called. This feature can also be found in some other devices by activating the “silent” button and then the “ignore” status of your consciousness.

The Macbook Air revamp is quite a significant move on Apple’s part in the face of competitive brands dishing out Ultrabooks like they’re dehydrated food packs in Somalia.

The tiniest Apple notebooks all get the new 3rd generation Intel “Ivy Bridge” processors and up to 512GB of flash storage via a solid state hard drive (solid state is the way to go for immediate access to applications and programs). These enhancements make this device twice as fast as its predecessor.

The Apple MacBook Pro range is getting similar upgrades including a 60% speed boost in graphics processing thanks to the new Intel chips and Nvidia graphics technology.

And even better news, a whole new Macbook Pro model with Retina display technology (like in the iPad 3), a 15-inch screen and a body almost as thin as the Macbook Air.

The last big announcement was the new OS x Mountain Lion. The main change, it’ll now have a drop down menu with all your notifications like you saw on the iPad or iPhone in iOS 5.