2010: And The Battle Between Android, The iPhone; Google And Apple.

I wrote yesterday that evidence has emerged that a new iPhone, in the next eight months, is becoming a very real possibility.

Some people believe that this newest iPhone will be one on steroids, and as I said yesterday, it had better be, because the competition is really beginning to heat up from newer phones such as the Motorola Droid. 

Verizon's and Motorola's hugely expensive ,"Droid Does," advertising campaign also appears be working too, with some estimating that they may have already sold upwards of 700,000 to 800,000 Droids. However, others are not too sure, believing that the actual number sold will be somewhat lower than their intended goal of some one million phones.

Despite the braggadocio contained in Verizon's  $100-million Droids ads, it appears that the Droid may not quite be the iPhone killer that Verizon and Motorola had planned and hoped it to be. Yesterday, for example, Stewart, writing for Aslop Louie Partners, provoked a storm with his post entitled: "Droid Doesn't: It's Not Ready For Prime Time." His post prompted over 144 comments, and some rather ones nasty at that, when he began his post by saying things such as:

"The Motorola Droid is truly terrible, in part because it has such promise (and has been amazingly well reviewed — I worry I’m missing something). Ironically, most of the blame for the cruddiness of the phone really should be laid at Google’s feet, not Motorola’s.

The hardware (which is Motorola’s) mostly works. The keyboard is horrible and I’ve never used it, which means that it is a real design flaw given how much weight and mechanical operation it adds to the device. (The software keyboard works well enough that I’ve found it adequate but the other problems with the software make it barely useable.) The camera button on my Droid doesn’t work and never has, so I call up the camera from the home screen. The on-off button is poorly placed for one-handed operation and requires real force to actuate. But this is just version 1.0 issues that Motorola will likely fix next time out."

Sadly, for the Droid and Android in particular, there seems to be more wrong with it than just posts like Stewart's. There have been further reports, such as this one, that suggest that developers are especially not all that happy with Android as well.

French developer Game Loft, for instance, recently declared that they were leaving Android to solely concentrate on developing for the iPhone, claiming that they sold 400 times more apps for the iPhone than they did for Android, but they have since apparently reversed that decision.

What ever, some developers are still very concerned and worried that any apps that they might write for Android may, or may not, work across all Android phones, since different manufacturers will be building phones with different and far ranging specs, from different CPU's, to different graphic chips and, as well, to various and different types and sizes of screens, making it all the more difficult for them to consistently write apps for. 

Apple and Google, according to some, are on a collision course and seem headed straight for the divorce courts, as Google, all of a sudden, finds itself competing directly with Apple in the smart phone sector, and, as well in the OS and browser space. Some are even reporting that Google is about to introduce its very own branded hardware, the so-called "G-Phone", which could end up alienating Google even further from Apple, and, not to mention, quite possibly also a few of its own Android partners.

Apple has not only banned certain Google apps, like Google Voice, from its APP STORE, but now reports are saying that Apple is about to bring out its own mapping software that may take maps, especially on the iPhone, not only to a whole new level, thanks to its purchase of its very own map company, but also as a part of an effort to help free itself from any need for Google or any of its apps.

In addition, to the above, some have even dared to speculate that it's entirely possible that Apple is about to directly compete head-to-head with Google by creating its very own search engine! If true, then both of their plans of entering each others traditional turf could end up making them both bigger foes, to themselves, rather than their much hated and mutual nemesis - Microsoft!  

In conclusion, this would be a bloody shame, because, in the end, I would much prefer to see them working with rather than against each other. By themselves each company is hot commodity, but together they are even hotter still, and by working together they are both in a better position to not only challenge and take on big, old Microsoft, but together they are in a much better position to also dominate and influence the entire world of high tech! By directly competing against each other, sadly, the only really big winner will end up being Microsoft, and that's the last thing that either Google or Apple really needs, or really wants.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, December 01 , 2009

The Next iPhone In 8 Months: What Can We Expect?

When will the next, and best ever, iPhone be coming?

Well, according to some reports, such as this one, data from analytic software has revealed a mysterious new iPhone, build 3.1, and if the past is to be trusted, it means that we can expect the next iPhone in the next eight months, around or mid 2010, as well.

This speculation is based on the fact that eight months prior to the release of present iPhone G3S, a similar iPhone 2.1 build was spotted in the wild, and naturally, this leads many to assume the same will be the case here as well, and I, for one, tend to agree.

Of course, that doesn't mean Apple will necessarily follow the same schedule, but it's interesting to speculate that indeed may be the case. Personally, I would love to see it come out even earlier than that, because even though no other phone currently can quite match the iPhone overall, they are already coming awfully close to it in many aspects, and in a few cases, they even better it!

So, just what can we expect from the next iPhone, the G4, or what ever they call it, anyway?

Well, personally, I'm thinking that there might be a very good possibility of it having, at least on a higher end model, an OLED screen, and who knows, maybe even a built in keyboard, but with the latter possibility being the less likely of the two. Hopefully, as well, a higher resolution camera of at least 5 mega pixels or more, will also be included.

Of course, then again, there's also the very real possibility of Apple finally taking advantage of its purchase of PA Semiconductor. This would give Apple the potential to build very unique and enhanced chips, and ones that its competition could never hope to match. These chips would give the iPhone a major advantage by making the iPhone far superior when handling video and audio, as well of that of other apps in general. This chip advantage would make the iPhone not only faster, but, most likely, also much more energy efficient in the process as well. By enabling the iPhone to achieve better battery life, the possibility of Apple finally enabling full multi-tasking on the iPhone suddenly becomes all the more feasible. The competition loves to brag that they offer full mulit-tasking, but they don't tell you the truth - that it comes at a very high cost - namely, significantly reduced battery life! That, of course, is the main reason why the iPhone now only allows limited multi-tasking, but, hopefully, these new chips, with less battery requirements, will overcome this problem.

Another possibility, besides that of an OLED screen, would be for a larger screen, and one requiring considerable less energy then the present one. In addition, I'm fully expecting some major updates to the iPhone OS itself, and its user interface, and ones that will provide major new features, along with many minor ones that should easily match or exceed many, if not all, of the nifty new software features found in some of the newer wannabe iPhone copy cats out there, like the Palm Pre or Motorola Droid.

The iPhone is still the champ, and it still reigns as the king of the hill when it comes to smart phones, but if it wish's to remain there, then Apple really has no choice but to up the ante, and up the ante considerably! This is why I firmly believe that the next iPhone will be a much more bigger event than then that of the 3GS, as big as that was. It might not equal or best the introduction of the original iPhone, but it will definitely have to be much bigger than the latter, because with Android, the Palm Pre and others, Apple is going to have a much harder time keeping its competitive advantage than it ever has before.

Oh, by the way, in conclusion, that $3.1 million dollar iPhone that I, and many others, wrote about last Friday, has apparently been sold to a very, very rich person in good old Australia! That person, according to some, obviously is not only very, very rich, but, to them, also ostentatious and a very, very crude ass-clown, as well! Personally, I think that their being just very, very jealous. I know that I am, but not because he, or she, has that tacky diamond encrusted iPhone, but rather because he, or she, can actually afford it and I can not, because I am so very, very poor - boo hoo!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, November 30 , 2009

iPod telephony pic via: Engadget

Black Friday Bargains!

Today just happens to be Black Friday, the day after Thanks Giving Day, and a time when various companies try to stimulate their sales by drastically lowering prices for the day.

You can find prices slashed on a host of goods from various firms, including, of course, those that sell anything to do with the Mac and other Apple products, as you can see here.

Black Friday may not be an official holiday as such, but it's considered to be the official start of the Christmas shopping season, and the most important season for sales, and the one season that can easily make or break a company for the entire year. As far as the term of Black Friday goes, according to Wikipedia:

"The term "Black Friday" originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the red (i.e., posting a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., turning a profit)."

Well, of course, as many know, Black Friday sales are not only confined to the U.S., as some retailers the world over have also enacted Black Friday sales of their own, which brings me to the point of this small post - the diamond and gold encased iPhone pictured at the beginning of this post.

Yes, you'll probably won't find it being offered in any of the Black Friday sales flyers from your local Target, Walmart, K-Mart, or, for that matter, down at your local mom and pop store on the corner, but hey....... it's bargain priced at a mere $3.2 million dollars U.S!

Ok, for my 2 cents, I would tend to think that anyone who would pay $3.2 million for a phone would not only have to be more than just your average, everyday super-duper rich bloke, but probably would also have to be a little bit on the nutty side as well! Seriously, if I had an extra $3.2 million, just burning a hole in my pocket, I think it would be a lot smarter to just buy a regular phone and spend the rest down at either McDonald's or at Burger King. After all, come on, why spend $3.2 million for a fancy iPhone when you can get a regular, ho-hum iPhone and an extras a million and a half Big Macs or Whoppers at the same time? Hell, my diet would be shot, but who-in-hell cares - because, I really, really love them cheese burgers...... hmmm, yummy in the tummy - BURP!

Whoops, excuse me for burping like that! I guess I really shouldn't eat them yummy burgers quite so fast, hah? (blush!)

Seriously, in an age when the world is experiencing its worst economic crisis ever, and one in which millions and millions of people have already lost their jobs, their savings, their homes and their hope and dignity, I find that this 'over-the-top' modification to be totally needless, impractical, down-right silly, and totally and utterly offensive!

One the other hand, other than that, mind you, to be quite honest, I would definitely go out and snap up one of these myself if I could, but unfortunately, at the moment, I'm a little short of change - by approximately $3,199,999.98! But hey, at least I've got the two cents as a beginning down payment, and i'm saving up the rest as we speak, so if anybody reading this post - please, please...... if you any extra change that you can spare me, please, please let me know as soon as possible, because quite frankly, the next time I line up at the local soup kitchen I will be able at least to chat on the phone in style while waiting in line!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, November 27 , 2009

Via: PhoneArena, via: TechBlog, via: Engadget

Is This The Best MacBook Air Clone Yet?

Lots of people have noticed how Microsoft seems to virtually copy Apple's every little move, but one thing about it, when Microsoft does copy, at least they add their own little slant to it, just like they did with Aero Peek's take on OS X's Expose, or Windows 7 new OS X dock inspired taskbar. Microsoft's copying is very much the same in some ways, but very much different in others.

When it comes to other Apple copy cats, however, they can be a lot more blatant, and in your face, such as this MacBook Air copy, running, of all things - Windows XP!

At first glance, and as you can see from the enclosed pictures above and below, this fake copy-cat of a MacBook Air could very easily be mistaken for the real deal, other than having all of those ugly stickers attached to its case, and, of course, running good-old XP on its screen.

As Shanzai.com says, this particular Chinese model is one of the best fake MBA's that they could find, with its embossed Apple logo on the back and the MacBook Air badge on the lower front of the screen, which also just happens to be 13 inch's like the Apple product. Some people have pointed out that it may, in fact, be a modified iiView nebook, and it certainly looks a lot like one to me.

Shanzai posts many more pics on their site, so check em out. In the meantime, they also posted this YouTube video of the fake MacBook Air doing its thing - booting into Windows XP, as you can see below:

Looks can be deceiving, as they say, and Shanzai points out that the MacBook Air fake appears to be, in reality, merely nothing more than a net book, complete with an underpowered Atom CPU as you can see from Shanzai's CPU-Z dialogue box below. Shanzai also posts some benchmarks scores, so be sure to check em out as well.

Well, what can you say, could this be the best MacBook Air fake yet?

Personally, I'm not sure, but it could very well be, at least according to Shanzai anyway.

One thing is for certain: people, in the past, have always either copied or borrowed from Apple's unique and stylish designs, just as they still continue to do today, and I'm pretty dang tooting sure that they will continue to do so in the future. Being the best in its class virtually guarantees that copy cats will do just that - copy! It also goes to prove that Apple's products and services, be it the iPod, iPhone, the Mac, the APP STORE, iTunes, or even including the lower case "i" in its products names, etc., are indeed are the very best in the world, and second to none! After all, who wants to copy from the worst in their class, virtually no one, that's who! People copy success, not failure. As I remember, not too many people have ever tried to imitate or copy Microsoft's "Bob", or Apple's infamous hockey puck, now have they?

In conclusion, as far as my money goes, the little that I possess anyway, it is no better spent than on buying the originals themselves - Apple's! You can have the copy cat products, if you wish, but as far as the original Apple products go, they might cost a little more in the beginning, but in the end they are well worth it!

Aren't you too?

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, November 26 , 2009

Via: Engadget

Cool CaseMods: The OS/XBox!

Engadget did a post yesterday on what they described as a "mesmerizing" video (seen above) of a guy who created, what I would call, the ultimate XBox, and a XBox that he transformed into an OS/XBox!

That's correct, an OS/XBox, and one that just happens to be not only one of the coolest casemods ever, but, to boot, also just happens to be one of the coolest 'hackintosh's' ever as well, and one that I must admit, if not entirely quite mesmerizing, the ten-minute plus video, is at the very least an extremely fascinating one to watch indeed.

The creator of this little master piece, Will Urbina, said that the whole project cost him approximately $1,500 in parts, but, in the end, he ultimately ended up with a computer with the power of a spanking new, uber-priced MacPro tower. With a 2.93 Intel Core Duo processor, NVIDIA GeForce 980GT graphic card, 8GB of RAM, a 16GB SDD, four traditional hard drives, one of which sports OS X, and the other Windows 7, plus two 500GB 7,200rpm drives in a RAID array for video editing, Will now has more than enough power to run Final Cut Pro which he uses in his work. Buying a MacPro would have set Will back about $4,500 big ones, so Will saves himself a cool extra $3,000 bucks, which makes it one hell of a hot deal if you ask me!

I only wish I had the skills that Will expertly displays in his video, and, not to mention, his incredible patience that he also needed, and quite obviously possess, and then maybe I might be tempted to try building one myself. Sadly, however, lacking the skills, patience and the brains that Will has, I will have to continue to be content to 'pay-an-arm-and-a-leg' to Apple for my gear. Will has created, as Engadget duly noted, one of the most awesome XBox casemods of all time. Its black, shiny, fast and powerful, and best of all - it runs OS X!

When you think about it, I guess you could say that when ever Will has the will to do something - he will! So, in conclusion, all I will say is: 'way-to-go' Will, and congratulations on a job well done and for sharing the experience with us all.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, November 25 , 2009

My Problems With Buying an i7 iMac

I'm planning on personally buying a spanking new 27 inch quad 2.8 GHZ i7 iMac as early as next month, and my mind is racing with the thoughts of putting this exciting, ass-whooping beast through its paces.

Oh, the glory of that huge LED screen, its glorious speed, its enormous power and the sheer and utter disappointment of it all!

Sheer and utter disappointment?

Absolutely!

That's because I'm a rather disappointed in hearing the news that some, but not necessarily that many, people are receiving their spanking new i7's DOA!

Ouch... now thats what I call a real downer, and according to several reports, such as this one, some people are going through the big - fat, oh no, this can't be happening to me - shock of finding that when booting up, for the first time, their new machine - doesn't, and that the experience of their new dream machine is actually more like that of a nightmare, because the cursed thing just won't boot the @#$!#%$%^ up!

As the above source states, its not universal, as most people, in fact, have no problems at all, and as they go on to say:

"Now, our review Core 2 Duo 27-inch iMac is perfectly fine, and Chris Ziegler's new Core i7 machine doesn't have any problems either, so these obviously aren't universal issues, but if you're about to stick one of these under the tree for someone it might be wise to do some surreptitious testing first."

If you can try out an iMac before you buy it, well then that would be great, but sadly, since one can only get the top model by ordering one directly through Apple, one has no choice but to take their chances, and that sadly include little old me, since the nearest Apple store is some 400 miles away! That means that I have to order mine online and not only do I have to go through the agony of waiting for the 'precious' to arrive, there is now the fear that once it does - it will be dead-on-arrival! If it arrives DOA, then I wil have to go through the whole agony of waiting, in angst, all over again - UGH! Trust me, at my age, I simply don't have any extra time to spare, let alone the patience!

Unfortunately, quality issues is part of the price that has to be paid when manufacturers, like Apple, contract out their manufacturing to other firms. Even though the percentage of people suffering from such DOA machines is likely to be very small, those problems were a lot smaller still when Apple actually owned and operated its own manufacturing facilities in California, Ireland and Singapore. Besides the DOA units, there's also an issue with some units sporting cracked screens, but I won't go there... one problem at a time please!

The other big problem I'm having with purchasing a shiny new - oh, my... isn't it so pretty, 27 incher - is not so much with the machine itself, but rather with Intel, namely being that .... the bastards won't take a break! That's right, the giant tech company is already getting ready to unleash a newer, faster and far more powerful CPU - the 32mm i9! This little bugger will be at least 50% faster than the i7, and it will replace those quad cores with six ass-kicking cores, and we all know how Snow Leopard loves the more cores that you can throw at it, now don't we?

According to a report by Engadget, early Core i9's are showing some very promising and awe inspiring benchmarks, and ones that will make you wonder why you even bothered to consider a Core i7 in the first place! What's even more upsetting for me, is the fact that these new cpu puppies could be here to play with as early as this January - and that's barely little over a month away!

Oh, woes me, woes me!

At least on the brighter side of things, reports are indicating that this new wonder chip will also be coming at a premium price, and with massive power requirements, some 130W, to boot! This at least makes me feel a little wee bit better about buying an i7 iMac now, but, however, I still can't help to find it extremely frustrating to contemplate that my new hot-trotting baby will be out of date shortly after I purchase the dang-toothing thing! But that's the world of high-tech for you, because like time itself, it never stands still, and no not for anybody, including little old me - boo -hoo!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, November 24, 2009

iPhone Jail Breaking: Is It A Can of Worms?

It was barely two short weeks ago that I wrote about the very first iPhone worm and the dangers that can result from jail breaking it. Even though now only limited to the Netherlands, a far more dangerous worm, infecting jail broken iPhones there, has now emerged.

The latest worm works on the exact same principle as the first innocuous worm, but, this time, with the malicious intentions of gathering the banking information, including passwords, for ING Direct banking customers. As Engadget points out, it's most likely that this infection could and will easily spread far beyond the borders of that beautiful nation, and especially when considering how this nasty can easily be spread via a WiFi network to other jailbroken iPhones!

Even though there is now only two such jail broken iPhone worms currently known, you can bet your last piece of fried chicken liver, banana and jelly-filled cream pie, that they won't be the last two to attempt to worm their way onto your jailbroken phone. No doubt there are already others out there, but they simply haven't been discovered as of yet.

Apple has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect the iPhone from such security risks, including creating an APP STORE acceptance policy that has generated a lot of negative press. One purpose of the store's acceptance policy, of course, is to help weed out such worms like the two described above, among others, as Phil Schiller recently explained in an interview with BusinessWeek, who reported that, according to Mr. Schiller:

"The number of applications available at the App Store is now north of 100,000, and about 10,000 are submitted each week. As the volume rises, so does the number of potential problems. Schiller compares Apple's role to that of a retailer determining which products line store shelves. "Whatever your favorite retailer is, of course they care about the quality of products they offer," he says. "We review the applications to make sure they work as the customers expect them to work when they download them."

Wow, with that many apps constantly up for review, it's no wonder why Apple felt it was necessary to introduce a partial automated approval process to help speed the process along. With so many apps being reviewed, it's amazing that we don't see far more problems than we do. However, as they say, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease," and it's why those few developers who complain about being rejected seem to get the lion share of the press's attention.

In conclusion, are jail broken iPhones really a can of worms?

Yes, as far as I'm concerned, and the bottom line is that, even though far from being perfect, Apple's security and approval methods are still, nonetheless, a far better, and safer method than those offered by Apple's competitors, all of whom love to brag that their phones are better, just because they don't restrict developers, or their apps, in anyway, shape or form. That's just a bunch of bunk on their part, and the moral of the story is that, for security reasons alone, you shouldn't be jail breaking your iPhone in the first place, because once you open a can of worms, it can be very hard to wiggly your way out of.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, November 23, 2009

By the way, the cute little iPhone worm graphic is via: Engadget

Google's Chrome OS: Is It A Game Changer?

Above and below are several YouTube videos describing Google's latest concepts for its upcoming browser-based operating system, Chrome OS. Apparently, it's call Chrome for a very good reason - it's a Linux version of its Chrome browser!

Google's Chrome OS is certainly different, but is it a game changer?

I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I really get it - an OS that is a browser, or is that, a browser that is an OS? An OS that only works on netbooks, an OS that can't handle dedicated apps, and OS that only handles web base apps, and an OS that can't access regular hard drives, only SSD's?

Well, no doubt Microsoft is watching this one very closely, and I'm pretty sure that this morning there is a lot of relief in the ranks of Microsofties within Microsoft's Redmond campus, and not to mention a lot of hysterical smirking going on as well! I can just see Mr. Balmer's face now, with that huge glowing smirk on his face, but, if I were him, I wouldn't be betting that Chrome OS isn't going to have an impact, because it will, I just know to what degree yet. If anything, it's definitely going to shake things up, and especially for the net book and, quite possibly, the tablet market, as well.

Chrome OS is an OS designed to be small, fast and make what people do the most - surf the net, chat, handling video and music, done as easily and as quickly as possible. And all that, being web based, without the need for a lot of computer horse power or other resources!

Here, below, you can see Chrome OS's approach on fast booting:

Above we can see Chrome's Artist Themes, and directly below more on Chrome OS's security:

Above, Google's Martin Bligh talks about Chrome OS & Open Source, and if your interested, Gizmodo also has a very nice gallery of screen shots from Chrome OS here. Chrome OS certainly looks interesting in many aspects, but I'm not convinced that a lot of people, myself include, are going to find it's interesting enough to make them abandoned the more traditional OS's, be it OS X, Ubuntu or Winodows 7, for Chrome OS's non-traditional one. For that reason Google is depicting Chrome OS, for the time being anyway, as a secondary OS, because clearly it won't be able to do a lot of the things that a traditional OS can. But then again, on the other hand, it won't have a lot of the hang-ups of traditional OS's either, like system bloat or their higher end hardware requirements..

Chrome OS is a web-based OS, based on Linux, and designed specifically for cloud computing. In addition to not needing a lot of processing power or storage, everything else needed would be based on other peoples servers, meaning, namely, of course, mostly Google's servers. But the question is: do you really want, or trust, having all of your personal information placed in the hands of strangers? For me, no way, and cloud computing supporters are really going have their job cut out for them in trying to convince me otherwise. I, like many people, prefer having my own destiny and information placed safely in my own hands, thank you very much.

So,will Chrome OS upset the traditional OS providers, and will it be a game changer?

That's still much too early to answer, but one thing I do know, however, is that Chrome OS is completely different, completely radical and totally unconventional in its thinking, but that's exactly the type of thinking that can end up making the biggest difference, of all, in the end! Whether or not Chrome ends up achieving that, changing the landscape of traditional computing is yet to be seen, but one other thing is also certain:

This one is going to be especially interesting to watch, and watch we all will.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, November 20, 2009

My Favorite Linux - Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

Just like Vista 1, or Vista 2 (Windows 7), the Linux world has been highly impacted by OS X's look-and-feel, which can be easily seen in open source projects such as Compiz and Beryl's Fusion (now a part of Compiz) and their attempts to create an animation desktop experience similar to that of Apple's highly praised OS.

One of the biggest, and one of the best known Linux distros, of course, is that of Ubuntu. The latest release of Ubuntu is Karmic Koala, and as Arstechnica reports, it has recently just climbed down from the tree and they give it an eleven page review that is both enjoyable and informative as well.

Arstechnica's review goes into various aspects of the new release, including its installation, boot performance, look and feel, its desktop manager, Gnome, its One Web service, and Ubuntu's Software Center among others. The article is well illustrated, informative and one that no Ubuntu or Linux aspiring fan would want to miss reading.

There has been, as they point out, a fair number of problems associated with the latest release, but, overall, Ubuntu is still the most refined, in my humble opinion, of all of the zillions of Linux distros out there today. Ubuntu is not only the best known of Linux distros, but it's probably also, in my humble opinion, the one and only distro that has any chance what-so-ever of ever becoming a major OS on the par with that of either Windows or OS X on the desktop! Of course, that could all change once Google finally releases its own Linux OS, Chrome, in the near future.

All distros, as Arstechnica points out, have their fair share of technical problems and limitations, just like those of the two big commercial OS's, but nonetheless Karmic Koala, even though still only an incremental improvement, is still rather a compelling one at that, as its creator and main sponsor, Canonical, busily works on delivering its next major update to be known as Lucid Lynx. (You just got to love those code names!)

Ubuntu is very customizable, as you can see in the video below of it sporting an OS X look and feel. As much as I love Ubuntu, however, at this point, like that of Windows 7, it's still only confined to being a guest OS on my Macs, as nothing thus far anyway, comes quite as close to offering the elegance, the power and the ease of use as does Snow Leopard, my primary OS, and the one OS that every other OS seems hell bent on imitating and copying in one form or another.

In conclusion, my opinion on this very fine Linux distro is much the same as that of Arstechnica's, who concludes their own post by stating:

"Ubuntu has achieved a level of popularity that is unprecedented for a desktop Linux distribution. It has gained an enormous following among open source software enthusiasts and is even beginning to attract some mainstream recognition. The Karmic release continues Ubuntu's march forward and will raise the bar a notch for other desktop distributions.

Despite its strengths, Karmic still has a long road ahead before it will be a suitable candidate for desktop dominance. Audio support, hardware compatibility, upgrade reliability, and ease of use remain areas where the developers still have a lot of work to do. Canonical and the Ubuntu community clearly take those challenges seriously and are making good progress in each new release."

Amen to that, and my favorite Linux distro of all time - Ubuntu 9.10!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, November 19, 2009

Has Microsoft's Surface's Met Its Match?

Has Microsoft's Surface met its match from Evoluce, a new multi-touch table from Germany?

Evoluce basically looks and performs in a similar fashion to that of Microsoft's offering, but with some very distinct and unique features of its own. Evoluce is a massive 47 inch HD table that runs Windows 7, and as you can see above its looking good - sehr gute!

According to Evoluce's press release, the new German touch-table features:

"True Multi-Touch and Multi-Pen on large-format LCD

Multi-touch grows up: Evoluce announces innovative 47 inch multi-touch Full HD LCD for launch of Windows 7

Hallbergmoos, 30. October 2009. Large-format interactive LCD-screens enable collaborative work directly on the screen surface. Evoluce developed sensing technology for the first time reveals the full potential of multi-touch applications.

"Windows 7 launched at the end of October 2009. Our Evoluce ONE is launched too. The 47 inch multi-touch LCD supports not only Windows 7, but also a variety of other innovative multi-touch applications coded in Flash, C++, WPF or Silverlight. Our developed "Integrated-Through-Screen-Optics" (ITSO) technology enables true multi-touch and multi-pen applications, that can be controlled simultaneously by pen, finger, gesture and object recognition," said Wolfgang Herfurtner, CEO of Evoluce AG.

The comfortable multi-touch operating on the surface is achieved by a scratch-resistant coating. The screen has been designed for easy horizontal and vertical integration or can be a stand-alone device.

MIM, the in-house developed multi-touch input management tracking software, recognizes an unlimited number of simultaneous inputs ("true multi-touch"). The tracking data can be accessed via universal interfaces by the multi-touch application."

The Evoluce looks and sounds like a great German product, and as Vince, from "As Seen On TV," says about the ShamWow, "Its German, so you know its got to be good!" The two big questions are, however, will it be good enough to take on mighty Microsoft, and has the time for multi-touch finally arrived?

Well, when it comes to multi-touch at least, for one thing, it already has arrived, beginning with the iPhone and the iPod, which demonstrated that multi-touch could be both fun and practical. They have been huge success's, but Microsoft's Surface table, on the other hand, however, has seen only limited success in certain locations, such as hotels, casinos and other commercial venues, do mostly to its high cost, ranging up to $7,500 or more per unit, not to mention its huge size and weight! However, as far as taking on mighty Microsoft, well Engadget, for one, certainly thinks that Evoluce has what it takes to give Microsoft's some very real competition.

Seen above are two more videos of Evoluce in action, including one that appears to be running Coolris, which is a plug in for both Safari and Firefox that makes extensive use of Apple's WebKit 3D Transform to provide some visually stunning 3D effects, in this case, searching through photos on Flikr or on your computer. Engadget also mentions that it will support some "other OS" in the near future, which I take to be OS X - at least I hope so.

What's especially compelling abut Evoluce is that it both supports 'out-of-the-box' haptic feedback, and with its "Integrated-Through-Screen-Optics," Evoluce also supports recognition of an unlimited number of simultaneous inputs - ah, those clever Germans are, well, just so damn clever!

It's interesting to note that much of the multi-touch technology demoed in Windows 7 and the Surface table are both based on patents owned by Apple! What Apple can, or will do about them, that I don't know, but its safe to say, in conclusion, that multi-touch has definitely arrived and is here to stay. It's already arrived on the screen, on the track pad, and now it can even found on mice, such as Apple's new Magic Mouse, and it's anyone's guess where it will end showing up next.

As far as Evoluce goes, well, I'm afraid the Germans have beaten the Americans at their own game and the Evoluce looks to be a far more compelling product than Microsoft's offering, and if anyone is clever enough to take on the Americans giant from Redmond, its got to be those uber-klug Germans.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Blast-From-The-Past: The First Portable Computer - The Osborne 1

The MacBook Air and the Dell Adamo may weigh less, be lighter, faster, slimmer, more powerful and a look a hell of a lot sexier, but the Osborne 1 beats them both in one important area, and namely that it was the the very first portable computer of them all!

The Osborne 1 was released in 1981 at a price of $1,795 dollars and, for awhile, it was selling upwards of 10,000 units per month. It initially sold only 11,000 units in its first eight months, but once successful it helped to spawned a whole series of copy cat computers from other manufacturers such as IBM and Compaq. However, eventually what really sank the Osborne 1 and the company was Osborne's announcement that it was working on a newer and far more advance model, the Osborne Vixen, which helped in greatly dampening sales for its existing portables, and eventually dooming Osborne computers, which was already in bankruptcy proceedings, to the history books. This helps to explain, I believe, just why Apple, in part, is so damn secretive about its upcoming products.

Wikipedia lists the Osborne 1's specifications as being:

• Dual 5¼-inch, single-sided 40 track floppy disk drives ("dual density" upgrade available)
• 4 MHz Z80 CPU
• 64 kilobytes main memory
• Fold-down 69 key detachable keyboard doubling as the computer case's lid
• 5-inch, 52 character × 24 line monochrome CRT display, mapped as a window on 128 × 32 character display memory
• IEEE-488 port configurable as a Parallel printer port
• RS-232 compatible 1200 or 300 baud Serial port for use with external modems or serial printers

I remember seeing this ad as a lad, and thinking, at the time, how cool the Osborne 1 looked, and how cute I thought its Lilliputian, but amazing, 5 inch black-and-white screen was. The screen itself offered only some 53x24 lines of text, and as you can see below, displaying the game Colossal Cave Adventure, circa 1982, the tiny screen is a long way from the screens that we see on today's portables, such as the MacBook Pros, let alone a desktop like the new LED 27 inch iMacs.

The Osborne 1 was a pioneering computer that was, what I like to call - a gym computer - because carrying around its 51 (W) x 32.5 (D) x 22.5 (H) cm case all day, which weighed in at about 24 pounds, was probably about the equivalent of working out at the gym all day! Comparing its weight to that of a modern 2 to 3 pound laptop, let alone a modern netbook, then the Osborne 1's weight seems absolutely gigantic and almost comical.

Getting back to the monitor, its only graphic mode, as stated, was its ability to display graphic characters and all that in glorious monochrome. The sound output on this historic machine consisted of nothing more than a few mere simple beeps. No chance of anyone running War of Warcraft, let alone Crysis on this baby, no sire and that's for dang-tooting sure, let me tell you.

In addition to its operating system, CP/M a forerunner of DOS, other software available were CBasic, the word-processor WordStar, the spread-sheett SuperCalc, the mail program MailMerge and DBase II a data base program.

As the first portable computer ever, the Osborne 1 has forever earned its place in the history books, and just like the Ford model T, this computer will always be fondly remembered. When you consider the stark contrast between the Osborne 1 specs and that of the portable computers of today, which also include pocket computers such as the iPhone, this vintage machine, for one thing, really helps to demonstrate just how amazingly far technology has advanced since the good old days of 1981, and it rather makes one wonder just how much farther portable computers and technology will advance in the next 30 years, or so, does it not? Will tomorrows computers make todays computers seem like yesterdays? Will the latest MacBook Pros seem just as funny and laughable as the Osborne 1 is today?

That I don't know for sure, but one thing that I do know, however, is that - in spite all of the progress achieved in the past, or just how much progress will be made in the future, one thing remains true - the Osborne 1 helped paved the way for them all!

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Photos via: Wikipedia