Apple preps Oct. 4 event, iPhone 5 on deck

Apple has made it official. It will have an “executive presentation” Oct. 4 that is widely expected to include the iPhone 5.

The invite, sent to reporters, indicated that the event will start at 10 a.m. PT. All the invite really said is that it was time to talk iPhone.

A few observations worth noting:

• The event is at Apple headquarters and appears to be a bit less imposing than the usual massive keynote.
• There’s even a cafe breakfast and coffee bar at 9 a.m. PT before the event.
• The approach from Apple seems a bit different this go round.

Whether the event reflects a new Apple approach to the media remains to be seen, but the iPhone chat is notable because it’s CEO Tim Cook’s official coming out party.

The iPhone presentation isn’t likely to include the pizazz of a Jobs keynote, but the fifth version of Apple’s iconic phone is going to be notable. For Apple, the iPhone 5 will set the stage for the next year.

Rumors have been circulating for months about the iPhone 5, but what is known indicates some serious volume for Apple.

• The iPhone 5 will be the first Apple device to be available on the top three carriers in the U.S.—AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. That latter one isn’t official, but reports indicate that Sprint will get the iPhone.
• While the iPad gets a lot of attention, the iPhone remains the cornerstone device for the company. “The iPhone is the cornerstone of Apple’s consumer strategy, with few opportunities larger than the global handset market. Now it is positioned to ride a wave of smartphone growth that could top a billion annual unit shipments by 2015,” said Morningstar analyst Michael Holt.
• Apple’s iPhone 5 will provide profit fuel for the next three quarters at least. Wedbush analyst Scott Sutherland argued that the iPhone 5 is a first installment of a new product cycle for the smartphone. He said:

Our checks indicate interest remains strong in the iPhone 4. We also see increased global distribution, especially in China and other emerging markets driving growth. Apple added 42 carrier partners in FQ3, with most added at the end of the quarter and more coming online. By comparison, RIM distributes through over 600 carriers, meaning Apple still has a large opportunity to increase distribution. We also expect new product launches including a new iPhone in early October with store training to begin soon, an iPhone targeting emerging markets, and a LTE iPhone in 2012 with an improved UI. We now expect 21 million iPhones to ship in FQ4, up from 20 million. More importantly, we expect 26 million units in FQ1, up from 23 million, due to seasonality and iPhone 5.

source: ZDNet 

Study: 28 percent of 3DS owners don't care for 3D effects

Nintendo's 3DS portable game console was heavily hyped before its release due to its use of 3D effects on one of the console's two screens. The 3D visuals can be seen without the need for special glasses and can be adjusted or turned off entirely. But since the console was released in February in Japan and in March in the US there's been some questions as to the overall need for the 3D effects for the games made especially for the console.

Gamespot reports that according to a new study by Interpret, just 22 percent of Nintendo 3DS owners surveyed believe that the 3D effects improve gameplay while 28 percent believe the effects actually detract from the gaming experience. 13 percent of 3DS owners say they play games on the console with the 3D effects turned completely off. The study also indicated that for non-3DS owners, 28 percent of them were not even aware that the console allowed for glasses-free 3D effects. The survey was conducted in May of this year with 1,600 people participating.

In terms of 3D gaming overall, Interpret's study says that just seven percent of gamers believe a handheld console is the ideal platform for playing games in 3D. 56 percent of those surveyed believe the best 3D gamingexperience is with a large screen TV connected to a console; but at the same time, wearing glasses to experience the 3D effects is still a problem. 37 percent of those surveyed said they experienced nausea or dizziness which watching 3D games and entertainment on the screen.
source: Neowin.net

ThinkPad Tablet: Ready for the boardroom(review)

Android tablets are a dime a dozen, but the folks behind the ThinkPad line of notebooks are looking to change that. The ThinkPad Tablet by Lenovo brings professional styling, sturdy construction and special features to the tablet that are unique to the genre. Android is ready for the boardroom.

The ThinkPad Tablet has typical black styling familiar of the line of laptops, and while a bit heavier than some Android tablets there is no mistaking the solid construction. The attention to detail is evident in every aspect of the tablet, from the solid casing to the buttons beneath the screen covered with Corning Gorilla Glass. The ThinkPad Tablet will satisfy anyone wanting to give a professional image.

Check out the ThinkPad Tablet with pen and Keyboard Folio captured in photos

Hardware

Specs as reviewed:

• OS: Android 3.1 Honeycomb
• CPU: NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core mobile processor (1.0GHz)
• Display: 10.1” Multi-Touch Capacitive-Touch IPS Display, 1280 x 800 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio
• Memory: 1GB system RAM, 32GB storage (expandable through SD slot)
• Cameras: 5MP rear-facing; 2MP front-facing camera
• Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, SIM slot for 3G (not tested)
• Ports: Full USB 2.0, MicroUSB 2.0, MiniHDMI, 3.5mm combo jack, DC-in jack for AC adapter, dock port
• Battery: 3250 mAh Li-polymer
• Measurements: 10.3 x 7.2 x 0.56 inches
• Weight: 1.6 pounds

The specs of the ThinkPad are fairly typical of the genre, but Lenovo has included some special stuff to make this stand out from the crowd. Foremost is the use of an N-Trig dual digitizer which allows optional pen input on the screen in addition to the typical multi-touch input. The pen rests in a silo on the tablet when not in use.

Lenovo put a full SD slot on the ThinkPad, and a regular USB port that works with the optional portfolio case. The USB port can be used with standard USB flash drives for file exchange. File transfer can be done via the SD slot, too.

The 10.1-inch IPS screen is not the brightest I have tested, but it has outstanding viewing angles which is a good trait for a tablet. The front-facing camera does a decent job with video chatting, and the speaker, while not anything special, is quite loud for a tablet.

In a move rare for a Honeycomb tablet, the ThinkPad Tablet has four hardware buttons beneath the screen (in portrait orientation). These are a Lock Screen Rotation, Browser launcher, Back, and a Home button. These buttons are very rigid and can be hard to press. I find I end up using soft buttons on the screen out of habit.

There are two cameras on the ThinkPad, a 2MP front-facing camera and a 5MP camera on the back. The front camera delivered decent video chatting using Google Talk. The rear camera is nothing spectacular, as I found photos taken with it to be very basic. This tablet will not replace your basic point-and-shoot given its lackluster quality photos, not to mention its unwieldy size for snapping shots.

The ThinkPad construction used in the tablet make it easily the most rugged tablet I have used. It is heavy at 1.6 pounds, but it feels nice and solid in the hand.

Software

Lenovo is aiming the ThinkPad Tablet at the enterprise worker, and the software that comes standard reflects that aim. While there is plenty of entertainment software (Slacker, Netflix, Kindle, Zinio, Angry Birds), the tablet is loaded with apps for the worker. These include LANDesk, Computrace, Citrix Receiver, and McAfee Mobile Security. A full version of Documents to Go comes standard allowing viewing/editing of MS Office documents.

Lenovo has customized Honeycomb 3.1 to add a home screen launcher and a favorite apps wheel for easy access to the apps used most often. The Lenovo App Shop is front and center offering apps the company deems fitting for the ThinkPad.

The onscreen keyboard included on the tablet is the flexT9 keyboard by Nuance. This keyboard has good predictive text and autocorrection that starts learning from your typing as soo as you begin using it. I found it to be a decent keyboard, and it works with the optional pen to allow coarse editing of documents by pen. This experience was variable, and perhaps it would be better over time.

The web browser is typical Android with some special features. In the Settings screen there is a Labs function that makes web pages display in a full screen mode. Swiping in from either the left or right side of the screen causes a wheel menu to appear with common browser functions, such as Next and Previous. I normally use the Dolphin Browser on Android tablets, but this is a decent alternative.

The optional pen works with the MyScript Notes Mobile app that is preinstalled and uses a notebook metaphor to allow taking ink notes with the pen. Handwriting can be automatically converted to digital text if desired, or ink notes can be left as written. The latter worked better for me, as the ink-to-text conversion was not very accurate. The pen is the only input method allowed with the Notes app, which was a bit odd given the presence of an Android keyboard.

Source:ZDNet

iPhone 5 to debut Oct. 4, ATD say

Apple will debut its iPhone 5 on October 4, with new Chief Executive Tim Cook leading the show, All Things Digital reported today.

The report, citing unnamed sources close to the situation, said the new iPhone itself would go on sale "within a few weeks" of the announcement.

Rumors have swirled for months about when exactly the new iPhone would arrive, with October looking increasingly likely.

The iPhone 5 carries tremendous significance for Apple. The company faces mounting pressure from the Android realm, with a confusing array of budget-minded and high-end models, but Apple chooses to put many its eggs in many fewer baskets. That's worked out well for the iPhone 4, though, which has attained mainstream success.

The iPhone 4 has held up well under the competitive pressure. But with the breakneck pace of the smartphone market bringing higher-speed LTE networks, larger displays, NFC payments, and other features, Apple's flagship phone is starting to look a bit long in the tooth.

The iPhone is important for many other companies besides Apple. Manufacturer Foxconn is said to be making 150,000 iPhone 5 models a day. Accessory makers, too, are champing at the bit, as exhibited by Case-Mate's premature publication of apparent iPhone 5 cases.

Purported cases for the iPhone show a possible tapered back compared to the blockier iPhone 4 design.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20109331-264/iphone-5-to-debut-oct-4-atd-says/#ixzz1Ye2BO0Cz

Chrome 14: The best Web browser keeps getting better (Review)

It’s odd. When Firefox moved into its accelerated development path, Firefox really didn’t get much better. In fact, it’s been getting less stable. Google’s Chrome Web browser though just keeps getting better with every new release. Chrome 14, in my opinion, is now clearly the best Web browser for any operating system available today.

  

Why? Well, look at all the raw numbers. To see how Chrome 14 ranked, I put it up against the latest releases of Firefox and IE 9 on a Windows 7 box.

When it comes to Web standards compatibility, Chrome 14 is a winner. On the Acid 3 compatibility test, which checks out how well a browser complies with Web standards such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), JavaScript, and Extensible Markup Language (XML), Chrome had a perfect score. Firefox 6 had a score of 97 and IE had a 95.

On the recently, August 23rd, updated HTML5 Test, which checks to see how compliant the Web browser is with the HTML5 Web page standard, Chrome is king of the mountain again with a score of 341 out of a possible 450. Firefox 6.02 came in second with 313 and IE 9.0.8 came in a distant last with 141. Anyone who tells you that IE is HTML5 compliant is trying to sell you Windows. It’s not. It’s not even close.

Download.com: Chrome 14

Moving on to performance, I use Chrome 14 on all my systems. That means I use it on various Linux desktop distributions; Chrome OS on a Samsung Chromebook, Mac OS Snow Leopard and Lion and Windows XP and 7 PCs. It runs fast on all of them.

For performance benchmarking, though I use my Gateway DX4710 running Windows 7 SP1. This PC is powered by a 2.5-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor and has 6GBs of RAM and an Intel GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) 3100 for graphics. It’s hooked to the Internet via a Netgear Gigabit Ethernet switch, which, in turn, is hooked up to a 60Mbps (Megabit per second) cable Internet connection.

The first benchmark was Kraken 1.0. This is Mozilla’s take on the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark In Kraken, lower scores are better. Chrome 14 beat its last version, Chrome 13 and all other comers with a score of 4578.5millisecondss (ms). Chrome 13 had a score 4927.7ms.; Firefox took second with a score of 7588.2ms.; and IE came in last with a wretched 17,051.9ms.

With Peacekeeper, another JavaScript-performance benchmark, where higher scores are better, IE wins with a score of 8,343. Chrome comes in second with 7,663 and Firefox comes in a distant last with 4,588 points.

According to Google’s own JavaScript test V8 Benchmark Suite, where higher scores are better, Chrome 14 takes first with 7,591. The others aren’t even competitive. Firefox flops with a showing of 3,614 and IE does even worse with 2,193.

Finally, on SunSpider 0.9.1, the oldest of the JavaScript Web benchmark tests, where lower results are better, Chrome wins again with a score of 249.9ms Here the results are much more competitive. IE 9 is hot on its tail with a score of 252.6ms. and Firefox shows well with 301.2ms.

The results? Chrome is more standard compliant and faster than its closest competitors. Chrome has more than just that going for it though. This latest release includes some nice minor fixes and some very interesting major features.

Chrome 14: Pretty and Fast. (Gallery)

The fix I think most people will like is that print preview is now not only included, it works automatically. That’s the good news. The bad news is it doesn’t work well for Chrome on Macs. The feature, which is powered by Chrome’s built-in PDF reader, worked sporadically for me on both my Snow Leopard and Lion systems.

While that was annoying, it was nice to see the feature work perfectly on my Linux and Windows systems. Mac users may be mollified to find that Chrome 14 does work with Lion’s overlay scrollbars. You can also use the hot-key combo of Ctrl+Shift+F to activate basic support for Lion’s full-screen mode.

The two important new features aren’t going to be important to you in the short run, but it may be a different story in the long run.

The first, Web Audio application programming interface (API) lets developers create interesting sounds effects for games and applications. With it, programmers can add 3D dynamically positioned sounds sources and mix multiple sound sources. The results can be quite interesting. Try and see for yourself. I can see some very interesting games and musical applications coming out of this.

A far more significant feature is that Chrome 14 now supports C and C++ applications in Google’sNative Client SDK (software developer kit). Native client lets developers create local applications that run locally within Chrome.

What that means isn’t, as some people will have it, that Google is trying to redefine the Web. No, but what Google is doing, as has been doing ever since they introduced Chrome OS, is to redefine the desktop. What’s important about Native Client is that instead of just running applications off the Web, you’ll be able to run local applications at your machine’s full speed instead of at your Internet’s speed. In addition, since Native Clients run within the Chrome security sandbox, they’re much safer than most applications.

Put Native Client applications together with Google’s support for HTML5 local data storage for its applications and it’s clear than ever that Google wants Chrome to be just not your browser, but your operating system as well. At this time, there are only a handful of Native Client applications and those are only available via the Chrome Web Store, but I see big things coming here.

Indeed, I see big things coming for Chrome in general. It’s not only faster and more fully featured than ever, it’s also becoming more popular by the day. Indeed, in some South American countries, Chrome is already the number one Web browser. At this rate, I can see the day when it’s the number one Web browser in the world.

source:ZDNet