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New Generation Wireless-Drives
Understanding Wireless Storage: Kingston Wi-Drive and
Seagate GoFlex Satellite
Let me pose a hypothetical situation: say you bought an iPhone or iPad, but cheaped out and got a 16GB model. You’ve got around 10GB worth of music, a few gigs in photos and applications, and you lose the rest to formatting and the OS itself. Basically, you’re maxed on capacity. Day-to-day, this isn’t a huge issue, but let’s say you’re going on vacation and want to have some movies to watch so that you can avoid the customary in-flight chick flick [or replace with whatever type of movies you dislike]. HD movies aren’t storage friendly, they take a solid chunk of storage space, and you don’t want gut your portable music library for the sake of watching a couple of decent movies on the plane. So what do you do?
Fret not, there is now a solution to that dilemma by way of Kingston and Seagate, among others. Both have recently launched wireless storage devices, streaming your media files to your mobile device via WiFi. Now, both of these are non-ideal solutions to a relatively marginal problem, but that’s to be expected in any newly conceived market. With the shift to cloud-based data and media streaming for mobile devices, there is going to be a gradual de-emphasizing of local device storage. We’re already seeing that in a big way with Google’s Cloud OS and Apple’s iCloud service, so wireless storage technologies are going to play an important role in handling media streaming for the future. The two devices we’re looking at today are pricey and aren’t perfect by any means, but they point the way to what the future of local media storage might look like. Interested?
Adobe Kills Mobile Flash Plug-In
Adobe announced via a press release today that it would cease development of the Flash Player for smartphones and tablets, and would shift its focus to HTML5 support for those devices. This decision is due at least in part to Apple's refusal to allow Flash on iOS, making HTML5 the de-facto standard for developers wishing to target the highest number of platforms possible with the least amount of development effort.
Adobe says that it will now focus on enabling Flash apps on mobile devices through its Adobe AIR software, rather than developing plug-ins for specific platforms. The final version of the Flash Player plugin for mobile devices will be 11.1, which will come to Android and the BlackBerry PlayBook soon - following its release, updates will fix bugs and security problems rather than add new features.
Though Flash will likely live on in Adobe's portfolio for the forseeable future (Adobe's announcement confirms that Flash Player 12 is already in development), this change of course marks the beginning of a slow fade from relevance on the desktop as HTML5 becomes more feature-rich and browsers' implementations of it improve. Adobe itself will speed this transition along when it releases the final version of Adobe Edge, its forthcoming HTML5 development software.
Galaxy Nexus outdoes iPhone in browsing, but not graphics
The soon-to-be-released Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been run through the benchmark gauntlet and AnandTech compiled the results to find it bested all comers in the web browsing department.
The Google phone was put through a pair of browsing benchmarks--Sunspider Javascript Benchmark 0.9.1 and Rightware Browsermark--and it came out with the top results in both cases, ahead of the Droid RAZR running Gingerbread and iPhone 4S running iOS 5, which swapped turns in the 2nd and 3rd place spots.
Motorola shareholders approve Google takeover bid
A Motorola Mobility Xoom tablet on display.
Shareholders of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc late Thursday approved a 12.5-billion-dollar takeover offer from Google Inc, gaining the internet giant a stronger foothold in the handset sector, and expanding its patent portfolio.
Motorola said shareholders voted with an “overwhelming majority” in favour of the deal, which put a premium of more than 60 per cent on the company relative to its trading value when the offer was made in August.
The deal remained subject to approval by the U.S. competition watchdog, which filed a second request for information on the planned takeover with Google in September.
Google already has some market influence in the mobile sector with its Android operating system for smartphones and tablet computers.
Motorola said it expected the acquisition to be completed in early 2012.
Nokia Lumia 800
Nokia Lumia 800 Review: Nokia’s Most Promising Smartphone Yet
The Nokia Lumia 800 ($580 unlocked; price as of 11/16/11) is the first phone from the Finish phone maker to run Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Mango OS and should make its way to the U.S. in early 2012. Nokia has put some of its finest craftsmanship into the Lumia 800, creating a solid and sleek smartphone. Combined with the latest version of Windows Phone 7, the Lumia 800 is a solid choice for anyone in the market for a Windows Phone -- but not yet in the same league as the iPhone 4S and Android heavyweights.Solid, Attractive Hardware With Few Letdowns
The Nokia Lumia 800 has a matte polycarbonate unibody chasis that is a bit on the chunky side, but the slightly curved shape makes it comfortable to hold. Measuring 4.58 by 2.40 by 0.47 inches, the Lumia 800 fits easily in most pockets or bags, and it won’t weigh you down at 5 ounces. The left side of the phone has no buttons, while on the right side you will find a volume rocker, a lock key and a two-step camera shutter. The buttons are easy to press and there is enough space between the volume rocker and the lock key, so they don’t get confusing when you reach without looking.A loud and clear speaker is at the bottom of the Lumia 800, while at the top you will find a headphone jack, a microUSB port for charging and syncing, and the microSIM card slot. The speaker is slightly muffed if you stand the phone vertically (which covers it), but the quality is good when just sat on a flat surface.
The pop-out plastic panel covering the USB port at the top of the phone can be quite problematic though. The flimsy panel needs to be open vertically when charging the phone and can be easily broken by pushing it back too much. Otherwise, there are no visible screws or moving parts in the monoblock design of the phone, which is available in three colors: black, cyan and magenta.The Nokia Lumia 800 has a curved 3.7-inch Gorilla Glass display that houses the three touch (with haptic feedback) Windows Phone keys (back, home, search) below it. The AMOLED display resolution is 800 by 480 pixels, which is standard for Windows Phone 7 handsets, yet below the pixel density of competitors such as the iPhone 4S or the Droid Razr. Nevertheless, text rendered on the responsive Lumia 800 display is sharp and images are bright and richly saturated.
The Lumia 800 comes with 16GB of built-in flash storage (512MB of RAM), but there is no SD card slot for memory expansion, which could be a letdown for those who need ample storage for their media library. You do however get 25GB of free storage via Microsoft’s SkyDrive, so you can offload some of your photos and other media there. The phone also lacks a user-removable battery, but there’s an FM radio on board.
Windows Phone 7 Mango Sprinkled With A Bit Of Nokia Fairydust
Windows Phone 7.5 Mango has been covered extensively by PCWorld, including a general overview and a look at the new features in this version. Out of the notable improvements in this version, multitasking is a breeze – just hold the back button and you are presented with chronological panels of the apps currently in use.The People Hub now connects to Facebook, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Windows Live and Outlook, so you can have all your contacts consolidated in one place, including their latest social status updates. The Pictures Hub also integrates with Facebook or SkyDrive, and can automatically detect whether a person is in the photo, asking you whether you want to tag them (there’s no face recognition feature).
Other notable search features built into Mango include the Local Scout, an app that uses GPS to show you amenities around you, including restaurants, shops and attractions. The Bing app can also identify songs (similar to Shazam on iOS and Android), scan QR codes and Microsoft Tags and lets you search with voice queries. Mango even has its own version of Siri (the iPhone 4S voice-enabled assistant), which in my tests was quite hit and miss (I tested it with both American and British accents). The Mango voice assistant allows you to call contacts, open apps, execute local searches or dictate messages.
Unlike Android, phone manufacturers can’t throw their own custom skins over Windows Phone, but they are allowed to put a few branded tiles on the homescreen or add special features. preloaded the Lumia 800 with a full set of custom ringtones (including a version of the classic Nokia tune). There’s also a custom ‘Nokia Blue’ color scheme enabled, which is slightly darker than the standard shade from Windows Phone. The best bit of Nokia’s additions is Nokia Drive, a GPS application that provides free point-to-point navigation (you need to download country-specific maps at first use), as well as Nokia’s own music store.
Good Camera, Best Used Without Flash
The Lumia 800 rocks an 8-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens at the back, which provides sharp and colorful images in daylight. You can bring up the camera almost instantly by pressing the dedicated shutter on the side (phone needs to be unlocked). The shutter button has two steps, so you can focus by slightly pressing it, and then take the photo by pressing all the way down. You can also focus by touching the display and holding it until photo is captured.
There’s a dual LED flash for low-light conditions, which does a fair job with objects close to the camera, but otherwise images shot with the flash can be a bit grainy and yellowy. The camera can record video at 720p HD (though most competitors now can do 1080p), and videos are smooth and sharp. Unfortunately, Nokia did not include a front-facing camera for video chat on the Lumia 800. This is a strange omission since one of the updates in Mango is support for a front-facing camera. Additionally, just about every smartphone out there now has a front-facing camera so it is strange that Nokia wouldn't include one on its flagship phone.
Performance Packs A Punch, But Not A Knock-Out
When most high-end phones run on dual-core processors, Nokia opted for a single-core Qualcomm 1.4GHz chip with 512MB of RAM on the Lumia 800. That’s not on par with some Android smartphones running dual-core 1.2GHz processors and 1GB of RAM, but the Lumia 800 doesn’t stumble when you put it to work. The 1.4GHz processor inside is zippy enough for handling multiple open apps, gaming via Xbox Live or browsing the Web. In several days of testing, the Lumia 800 did not stall or stutter under pressure.
The version of Lumia 800 that I tested was a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone, capable of up to 14.4Mbps downloads on HSPA. Call quality over 3 UK’s network was good, and my friends noted I sounded clear over the line, while the sound from Lumia 800’s speaker was good, but muffed at times (which could be due to the other party’s line). The Lumia 800 does not have 4G connectivity.
I have not had a chance to test the battery life formally. In daily use however, the Lumia 800 kept a charge through a whole day of hands-on tests. Windows Phone 7 Mango also has a battery saver option under settings, which can be turned on when battery runs low. The option will then automatically turn off some services (such as automatic email retrieval) or kill background apps in order to preserve battery life.
Bottom Line
The Nokia Lumia 800 is probably Nokia’s best smartphone so far. It has a sturdy and sleek construction, with a vivid display, paired with refreshing software from Microsoft. If you are just upgrading to a smartphone or you have one of Nokia’s Symbian devices, then the Lumia 800 is a stellar upgrade: it’s fast, easy to use and it looks great. But compared with the iPhone 4S or high-end Android phones though, the Lumia 800 has a few potential deal breakers: it’s lacking a dual-core processor, 1080p video recording, a front-facing camera for video chat
It is a small world... And Theres a lot know..!!
“It is a small world. You do not have to live in it particularly long to learn that for yourself. There is a theory that, in the whole world, there are only five hundred real people (the cast, as it were; all the rest of the people in the world, the theory suggests, are extras) and what is more, they all know each other. And it’s true, or true as far as it goes. In reality the world is made of thousands upon thousands of groups of about five hundred people, all of whom will spend their lives bumping into each other, trying to avoid each other, and discovering each other in the same unlikely teashop in Vancouver. There is an unavoidability to this process. It’s not even coincidence. It’s just the way the world works, with no regard for individuals or for propriety.”
— Neil Gaiman, English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films,Anansi Boys, Morrow, 2005
— Neil Gaiman, English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films,Anansi Boys, Morrow, 2005
A Tribute to the Genius
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me.… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful—that’s what matters to me.” – Steve Jobs
On October 5th 2011, we lost an icon, one of the biggest geniuses of our times, The Zen-Master of Technology - Steve Jobs. He was not only an icon; he was an idol, an eternal source of inspiration, a maverick and a marketing genius. He was the patron saint of entrepreneurs. Sir Isaac Newton once reflected that if his vision extended farther than others it was because he stood upon the shoulders of giants.
As any creative person knows, and certainly those in business will tell you, that the road to ultimate success is often paved by initial failures; as long as they are viewed for what they are i.e. a treasure trove of valuable lessons.
From humble origins in 1976, Steve – more than anyone else – propelled Apple Inc. into one of the world’s best known and most admired consumer electronics companies. This was achieved through a relentless pursuit of innovation, technical perfection and high emphasis on design aesthetics. He inspired a cult-like following for himself and Apple products, many of which bore his signature style.
For 35 years, Steven Paul Jobs stood like a colossus at the global intersection of computers, consumer electronics, popular culture and fine design.
TIME magazine got it right when they called him “Technology’s Great Inventor”. People would wait anxiously to see his amazing keynotes; they would have to go through a huge line to buy the new Apple product because after hearing his speech, they felt that we couldn’t survive without the latest Apple release.
As he once said during his most valued thoughts,
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”
We actually liked all his perfectionism because his charisma and enthusiasm would get our attention in a way we could feel he was speaking directly to us, solving our problems, delivering something only we were thinking about. He knew exactly what to do, to grab our attention; in fact that’s what we loved about him.
For some, his philosophy is - what matters most is figuring out what you love to do, passionately pursuing a career in that area, committing yourself to thoroughly understanding it, always going by your own judgment, monitoring how you spend your time, and continually adjusting your activities in order to achieve the greatest happiness possible.
Apple and Steve Jobs were not really making computers or consumer electronics. It manufactured personalized dreams for seven billion human beings. In moments like this there is not much we can say, only thanks, thanks Steve for being so amazing. Rest in Peace.
On October 5th 2011, we lost an icon, one of the biggest geniuses of our times, The Zen-Master of Technology - Steve Jobs. He was not only an icon; he was an idol, an eternal source of inspiration, a maverick and a marketing genius. He was the patron saint of entrepreneurs. Sir Isaac Newton once reflected that if his vision extended farther than others it was because he stood upon the shoulders of giants.
As any creative person knows, and certainly those in business will tell you, that the road to ultimate success is often paved by initial failures; as long as they are viewed for what they are i.e. a treasure trove of valuable lessons.
From humble origins in 1976, Steve – more than anyone else – propelled Apple Inc. into one of the world’s best known and most admired consumer electronics companies. This was achieved through a relentless pursuit of innovation, technical perfection and high emphasis on design aesthetics. He inspired a cult-like following for himself and Apple products, many of which bore his signature style.
For 35 years, Steven Paul Jobs stood like a colossus at the global intersection of computers, consumer electronics, popular culture and fine design.
TIME magazine got it right when they called him “Technology’s Great Inventor”. People would wait anxiously to see his amazing keynotes; they would have to go through a huge line to buy the new Apple product because after hearing his speech, they felt that we couldn’t survive without the latest Apple release.
As he once said during his most valued thoughts,
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”
We actually liked all his perfectionism because his charisma and enthusiasm would get our attention in a way we could feel he was speaking directly to us, solving our problems, delivering something only we were thinking about. He knew exactly what to do, to grab our attention; in fact that’s what we loved about him.
For some, his philosophy is - what matters most is figuring out what you love to do, passionately pursuing a career in that area, committing yourself to thoroughly understanding it, always going by your own judgment, monitoring how you spend your time, and continually adjusting your activities in order to achieve the greatest happiness possible.
Apple and Steve Jobs were not really making computers or consumer electronics. It manufactured personalized dreams for seven billion human beings. In moments like this there is not much we can say, only thanks, thanks Steve for being so amazing. Rest in Peace.
