Techno rants

--> New Apple Maps Logo Old Google Maps logo Google maps was brutally axed from the iOS platform during the latest iteration of the operating system, as usual there is huge resistance from iOS users, since google maps was a better option to what is currently being provided by Apple maps. While Apple maps are generally fine, with mapping data provided by tomtom and open street map, they lack street view, public transport locations and accurate POI data. To compensate for this short fall Apple has provided turn-by-turn navigation and unique 3d feature called flyover. while the turn-by-turn navigation is a critical feature which was missing from Apple's mobile platform, I'd much rather have street view than the terrible flyover feature which makes roads and bridges looks like roller-coasters and buildings look like sausages emerging from the earth. Another massive error on Apple's part is the launch of incorrect maps where entire cities are either...

Ditching the expected nomenclature, Apple has launched its new tablet device today, "The new iPad". What was the point in bringing out iPad 2 then going back to the old days of how iPods are named, the blasted generation title. So whats on everybody's mind is, should I upgrade or not? For me its a no, but that's me. Apple has bumped up the hardware in the "new iPad", while keeping the design the same. Frankly that is a pretty good idea as the iPad 2 still has a fresh design. So what's changed, first and foremost is the screen. It has been given the retina title, with a resolution of 2048 * 1536, that is a mind blowing number of pixels, when a full 1080p HD screen is olny 1920 * 1080 pixles. Everything is much more crisp on "the new iPad", you no longer see a grid but a seem less image. Next is the backward facing camera, which apple renamed the isight camera. Its now 5MP and takes decent images. I found myself scratching my head at thi...

Getting out if the clasps of apple, i have moved to google's android platform in particular the motorola DROID RAZR. Hardware wise the phone is great, it has awesome battery life, great screen quality, its light but feels sturdy and with its kevlar, steel and gorilla glass build it is definitely a premium device. So whats wrong, well its android itself. Though i absolutely hate apples business practices, such you can't offer anything cheaper at another outlet if your in apple's development ecosystem. Which frankly i think is anti-competitive, due to the giant market share apple possesses, it pretty much shift market prices towards apples favor. The best example of this is the ebook market. Prior to ibooks l, ebooks were at low prices such as $3-5, ibooks launched, apple and publishers wanted higher prices and due to these broad market altering agreements prices of ebooks are now at $12. Getting back on track, i want apple to have an ecosystem competitor, so they c...

Apple have been pushing this new thunderbolt port from intel, it combines PCIe and display port technology, thus we are seeing a ranger of connectors from apple to go from thunderbolt to HDMI, DVI etc. also we have seen the introduction of the new apple cinema display which as apple are have named the thunderbolt display since it connects through thunderbolt I/O technology with 10 Gbits/sec speed why only apple pushing this port? well there is usb 3.0 though not as fast it is more widely used as most laptops are coming with at least one usb 3.0 port and many peripheral 's are making the switch as well as the fact that its backward compatible, thunderbolt we should not count it out yet, thunderbolt or light peak as it was called has the ability to add extra hardware components such as graphics cards. the best example of this sort of implementation is with 2011 vaio z, it has a core i7 processor and is made to compete with the macbook air though is no where near the same price,...

If any of you out there would want and video screen capture on your mac, it is quite easy and apple has already provided the tools for the job. Though it is not sophisticated as many third party applications it works fine and is more stable than many of them which I have used. Quciktime 10 has the ability to make video screen capture and export them as .mov First open Quciktime 10 Then under File open New screen recording or alt + command + N Finally this should be self explanatory press the record button and click the screen

the battey life on my new macbook pro 13" has been a mixed result, while I have tested it running at half brightness settings and the keyboard backlight off I was able to run the machine from 100 - 0% for approximately 5 hours, during this time I was actively using the computer using the web browser (chrome since its the best). An interesting thing which I found out was that the running of multiple desktops and the number of widgets running on the dashboard affects battery life. after adding an extra desktop that is a change in 36 minutes of battery life, so if you don't have access to a power outlet keep your desktops to a minimum

There is no longer any point to stop the inevitable, tablets/slates are the future, Netbooks you have been dumped. At the consumer electronic show you could be forgiven to think that the this year its just a tablet show. Every major manufacturer and some minor ones all have declared tablets and slates, all different sizes with or without keyboards and as usual most of them are running the android os while other are running windows 7. Now if your wondering "android on a tablet, that doesn't sound so good" or " hey isn't that OS mad e for smart phones, on a larger screen it'll look terrible and feel clunky " well Google has announced Android 3.0 honeycomb (got to the Android names) a version of the OS optimised for tablets and most if not all the Android tablets are running a dual core processor. well lets get stated the tablets announced and some of their specifications are listed below: Motorola Xoom The xoom the most coolest device to roll up this y...

What can we expect from the iPad 2, rumors are running rampant of retina displays and camera's, what can we really expect from apple? Leaked case designs have confirmed that the new iPad would probably be thinner than the current generation, we can also expect at the bear minimum a forward facing camera to enable FaceTime, since Steve Jobs promised over 3 million FaceTime capable devices within a year of last July. The inclusion retina display is a bit of a stretch though since the the aspect ratio doesn't allow for the same pixel density of the ipod or iphone. Though we should expect a higher resolution display. What about the processor? well the apple A4 processor is fast and is being used in the ipad, ipod touch and the iphone albeit on different clock speeds, the A4 is a good processor but it seems very 2010ish not 2011. At CES this year we saw the arrival of android tablets Motorola "xoom", Toshiba Tablet, Vizio Tablet, Lg Tablet etc. etc. etc. All these tablets...

The iPad is apples new tablet device, I can't help but call it a giant iPod touch since it's runs the same operating system software and is aesthetics are a dead give away. But this is defiantly a new device, with apps taking full advantage of all the new screen real-estate making this a totally new experience. Though some apps are just bigger versions of the original iPod/iPhone apps and the use of the pixel doubler showcased by Steve jobs is terrible, as iPod/iPhone apps are pixelated and in some cases writing is unreadable. The LCD IPS display just pops and photo's movies and everything else looks awesome. The lack of a key features such as a camera, HDMI output, USB port and a SD card slot reduces the functionality of the iPad greatly when compared with other net books, which is the market that the iPad is competing for, though there is a camera connection kit for about another $50 but it still is an extra. when comparing the iPad to other e-readers such as the amazon k...

The reason I bought a Mac was OS 10, in future if apple phases out the OS 10 and shifts its focus to iOS personally I would see no reason to buy a mac anymore, HP offers laptop and desktops which have comparable aesthetics better hardware with at lower price. The iOS should stay in the mobile/portable world while OS 10 should be placed in more powerful computers. But it looks like that apple will probably shift all their products into an iOS/restricted type of environment, we are seeing this today as we see apps like iMovie, Keynote, Pages & Numbers move to the iOS environment, apple are probably doing this since a lot people have iphones, ipods and ipads. they are used to the iOS environment so if it were to translate into desktop environment, more people would buy apple laptops and desktops. genius market strategy for apple and they would make a lot of money but I still don't like it.