Apple has revealed its new range of iMacs which promise to be 50% faster than previous incarnations. This is because Apple has opted to add PCle-based Flash storage to the series, which can be be configured to a whopping 1TB or 3TB Fusion Drive, depending on which iMac option you go for. If you are looking for an entry level iMac, then the 21.5-inch version comes equipped with a 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and new Iris Pro graphics. If you want to splash the cash and go for the higher end, then 21.5-inch model and both 27-inch models feature quad-core Intel Core i5 processors up to 3.4 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce 700 series graphics with twice the video memory.
Port of call
All iMacs come with 8GB memory as standard, as well as a 1TB hard drive, but as always with Apple this can be expanded to 32GB of memory and a 3TB hard drive. Ports-wise, you get two Thunderbolt and four USB 3.0 ports and you will obviously get OS X Mountain Lion as well. When it comes to new iMac pricing, the 21.5 inch range starts at £1,149 ($1,299). The 27.5-inch iMac pricing begins at £1,599 ($1,999).
Cast your mind back to late 2008, when the first Android-powered handset saw the light of day. Obama won his first Presidential election, Apple launched its App Store (the iPhone had appeared the year before), Google announced its own Chrome browser and we got our first look at the company's new mobile OS on the T-Mobile G1. The Android of 2013 is a world away from that 2008 version, where the Android Market was in its infancy, there were no native video playback capabilities and the G1 had no multi-touch support. But Google is going to have to keep innovating and improving its mobile OS to keep the lion's share of the smartphone market. We've taken a peek into the future to consider what Android might look like in the year 2020. With new Android monikers now appearing about once a year, its codename should start with an "R" - Rhubarb Pie, Rocky Road or Rice Pudding, perhaps? Or maybe even Rolos, given the tie-up deals Google is putting in place these days? Here are the four key features we think could play the biggest part in Android's ongoing evolution over the next seven years:
1. Maps in Android in 2020
Apple's Maps app may not have set the world alight when it launched, but it's here now (alongside Nokia's offering), and that means Google needs to up its game to stay ahead. The 2013 Google Maps refresh brought with it a greater level of customisation based on your personal searches, and this will only increase in the future. With Google Now and Google Latitude tracking your every move, you'll see directions to your favourite pub appear on-screen every Friday lunchtime. If the pub in question has an Android-powered bar installed, you might even find your tipple of choice waiting for you when you arrive. As for all of the services hanging off Maps, Google is already hiring out the Street View cameras and enabling you to peek inside buildings - you can expect Android 2020 to offer better imagery of most public buildings, as well as tappable info as you move around. There might even be an option to enable Google to anonymously augment its Street View data with the snaps you take on your phone to provide an even more up-to-date view of the world.
2. Android messaging in 2020
Google has already made its intentions clear with the Hangouts upgrade we got at I/O this year. With Facebook, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Snapchat, Skype et al to battle against, there's no doubt we'll see Google push further into the universal messaging game, covering SMS, email, instant messaging and video calling with tools that are baked into Android. You won't have to have separate apps for each of these, as the UI will be unified in a way that makes it easy to seamlessly slip between each method of calling. We might even get Google Voice in the UK by the time 2020 rolls around, though don't hold your breath. How far Google can go depends on the networks and its competitors in the field - it's already launched an ultra-fast internet service in the US, so telecoms could be next. And the company has been sniffing around unused wireless spectrum frequencies, too. Don't be surprised to see free 5G video calling and texting between Android devices by 2020, with all of your conversations grouped by person rather than platform, and archived and searchable in Gmail. Eric Schmidt has already predicted that every human will be online by 2020 (no doubt hoping that we'll all have a Google+ page too), and the more people his company can help get connected the better for Google's bottom line.
3. Android payments and security in 2020
Over the next few years our phones will become even more important for making payments, transferring money and verifying our identity (everything from getting through the door at work to logging into Facebook). The Google Authenticator app of 2020 could work with your device's NFC chip to automatically log you into Gmail when you sit down at your laptop, for example, or pay for your flight when you step on a plane. Apple has Passbook, and Google will want an equivalent in place too. We've seen tattoos and pills shown off as possible authentication triggers of the future, and Android 2020 will play a big part in proving you are who you say you are, whether it's at a coffee shop or Google I/O. Basic face recognition is already available, but in the years to come it has the potential to get much more accurate. It might even be joined by fingerprint or retina scanning built into Android's camera app, or at least part of the phone, now that Apple has shown that fingerprint scanning is a viable option with its new Touch ID technology.
4. Android hardware in 2020
Hardware innovations are going to play a big part in Android's roadmap. Besides the obvious smaller, thinner, faster improvements for our phones, bendable screens should be in place in the near future - the likes of Samsung have the tech already in production, and Android will change to adapt itself through scrolling rivers of news, status updates and other notifications. Ever-changing, ever-optimising displays will be the order of the day, and the batteries and mobile processors of 2020 should be able to keep up. Google Glass has of course generated plenty of buzz this year, good and bad, as has the rumour of an Apple iWatch to compete with the Galaxy Gear. It looks like the wearable tech revolution is about to take off, and by the time 2020 rolls around this could mean miniature devices on our glasses, wrists and clothing, ready to capture every moment and record every movement. You won't need to take photos any more, since Google will simply pick out the best pictures from the unedited stream of the day's events. Nor will you need to decide what to eat for dinner - Android 2020 will know what you've been doing today (and what you're probably doing tonight), and can pick out the most suitable foods for you.
Android: the 2020 edition
The only certainty about Android's future is that it has a fight on its hands to stay competitive. Apple's new-look iOS 7 has given Google plenty to think about, not least with its tie-ins with Facebook, Twitter, Bing, Flickr and Vimeo. Android's continuing integration with Chrome and the desktop/laptop will make for an interesting story too - they're both run by the same man, Sundar Pichai, remember - and perhaps Google's biggest challenge will be to convince us that we can trust it with more and more information about where we are, who we communicate with and the way we live our lives.
Last we heard, Blizzard was still “actively working” on their DotA-like game which has been given the title, Blizzard All-Stars. The game is expected to feature characters and heroes from Blizzard’s franchises such as Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo, which should make it pretty interesting. However we have yet to hear anything about the release of the game but the good news is that if you were worried that Blizzard might have abandoned the title, fret not as a job listing found on Blizzard’s website has revealed that the company is currently looking for an eSports Director for the upcoming game. Unsurprisingly Blizzard is hoping to give their upcoming game the same amount of attention in the eSports arena like DotA 2, which might explain why the company is looking for someone to help manage it. Like we said there’s still no word on when the game will see a release, but hopefully once Blizzard finds themselves an eSports director, more will be revealed, although with BlizzCon 2013 coming up in November, here’s hoping that the company will share more news about the game’s progress then! Blizzard has been known to take their time with their games so we guess this is not a complete surprise. In the meantime who else is looking forward to the game?
We are here live at the Microsoft Surface event, and we cannot wait to bring you a blow-by-blow account of what has been released. More importantly, we do hope that we are able to spend some quality hands-on time with whatever device(s) that Microsoft has decided to announce to the masses, and you can expect the usual slew of snapshots to go along with what our wordsmith on the ground, Daniel Perez, will churn out. Let us keep our fingers crossed that whatever has been rumored will turn out to be true, and hopefully it will not be too harsh on the pockets as well. After all, times aren’t all that good despite what the economists tell you, is it? Will you be looking forward to replace your tablet with what Microsoft has on offer, or do you prefer to take the route that Apple has set before you?
The Microsoft Surface Pro 2 is a product that has been in development for 18 months, as the company's corporate VP, Panos Panay, stated during its unveiling. Therefore, it should bring quite a lot of innovation and improvements over the previous Surface Pro tablet, right? Well, we can't be so sure about that, and it will take about a month until we get to take it for a test-drive. We can, however, share with you our thoughts on its specifications and features.
Design
At a glance, not a whole lot seems to have changed. Microsoft hasn't altered its design formula, sticking to the edgy profile we remember from the first Surface Pro tablet. But the tablet's first version was build well, and we hope that its successor has followed suit. After all, it sports the same "VaporMg" magnesium casing, known for its durability. The built-in kickstand is definitely a stand-out feature, and on the Microsoft Surface Pro 2, it can be set at two degree levels, depending on whether the tablet is placed on a table, or on the user's lap.
All the necessary ports, knobs, and outputs are positioned on the tablet's left and right sides, the only exception being the power key located on top. Among them is a full-sized USB port, which, thankfully, is USB 3.0 capable. That means all your USB 3.0 external hard drives or USB drives will fly with this thing, reaching higher data transfer rates than what USB 2.0 allows.
Tablets based on Intel Core processors are usually thick and heavy, or at least much thicker and heavier than their Android or iOS counterparts. The Microsoft Surface Pro 2 is not an exception, tipping the scales at 2 lbs (907 grams). Its thickness of over half an inch isn't anything to write home about either, but that's the sacrifice one has to make if they are to have a Core chip's power at their disposal.
Display
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 with a 10.6-inch Full HD display
No surprises here, guys. Microsoft has chosen to go with a 10.6-inch ClearType touchscreen display for the Surface Pro 2. Its resolution hasn't been upgraded, so the pixel count is still set at 1920 by 1080. That results in a decent level of detail and a very clear image as a whole, but we've seen better on competitor's products. On the bright side of things, Microsoft has gone with a screen panel that has 46% better color accuracy, and that's good to hear.
Interface
Windows 8.1 comes pre-loaded on the Microsoft Surface Pro 2, as expected. It brings a better on-screen keyboard, new alignment features, allowing one to have two or more windows opened side by side, Internet Explorer 11, UI scaling at up to 200%, and more minor and major improvements. The good old Start button has been brought back, for all who were bothered by its absence.
Skype will be one of the apps pre-installed onto the device. What's more is that anyone who chooses to purchase a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 tablet will receive a year of free international calls and access to Skype public Wi-Fi hotpsots. Neat!
Processor and Memory
Intel Core i5 goes inside the Surface Pro 2
The Microsoft Surface Pro 2 is clearly meant to be used by performance-demanding professionals, although all that horsepower should be enough to run lots of heavy video games as well. Under its hood we find a fourth-generation Intel Core i5-4200U "Haswell" processor, clocked at 1.6 GHz, but capable of running at up to 2.6GHz thanks to Intel's Turbo Boost tech. Intel HD Graphics 4400 is what handles the eye-candy, delivering 50% better graphics performance when compared to last year's Surface Pro. Furthermore, the user has at least 4GB of RAM at their disposal, with 8 gigs available in pricier configurations. From the looks of it, the tablet will fly, executing even heavy tasks with ease. In fact, during the tablet's announcement, Microsoft demonstrated its Surface Pro 2 handling an input stream of RAW 6K video data without breaking a sweat. All in all, Microsoft is convincing us that the Surface Pro 2 is faster than 95% of today's laptops.
The base Microsoft Surface Pro 2 model will ship with 64GB of on-board storage, and we're expecting about half of that to be available for apps and storing files. For a Windows 8 machine, that's hardly enough space, so it would be wise to go for at least a 128GB variant. Models with 256 and 512GB of SSD storage will be also available, but at a significantly higher cost. Thankfully, the tablet comes with a microSD card slot for storage expansion and 200GB of cloud space thanks to SkyDrive.
Camera and multimedia
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 gets upgraded speakers
We're surprised to see that Microsoft hasn't done anything to the cameras found on its new Surface Pro tablet. On the front and back of the device, We find the same 0.9MP cams, capable of taking 720p videos. They will get the job done for video conversations, but their still photographs are likely to be underwhelming.
What has been upgraded, on the other hand, is the set of stereo speakers found on the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 tablet. They now feature tech by Dolby, which will supposedly treat our ears to clearer, louder sound. We aren't expecting anything groundbreaking, of course.
Battery life
The first-gen Microsoft Surface Pro had a 5-hour battery life, which was a bummer. The new model, however, can last 75% longer, so it should get you through almost a full work day on a single charge. For those who need extra power, a keyboard dock – the Power Cover, sold separately – provides up to 150% extra juice with its built-in battery.
Expectations
And that's the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 in a nutshell. It is shaping up as a good device, but we wish its maker had more to impress us with. All, in all, the Surface Pro 2 a tablet that's in many ways better than last year's Surface Pro, but looking at it now, we can't help to think that Microsoft should have some more spice to the Surface Pro's successor. After all, Windows 8 tablets aren't exactly selling like there's no tomorrow, and a stand-out member of the species would have been great having in the game. Despite being developed by Microsoft itself, the Surface Pro 2 might not be that hero, but then again, we could be wrong. Guess we'll see in a few months once the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 is out. It will be available for pre-order from Microsoft's online store start tomorrow, September 24, starting at $899.
At this morning’s Microsoft Surface event, we have already managed to bring you a hands on of the Microsoft Surface Pro 2. Well, tablets were not the only devices to be introduced at the particular event, as a slew of other accessories were given a similar treatment, too, and among them include the Microsoft Touch Cover 2. The Microsoft Touch Cover 2 happens to be thinner as well as lighter compared to the original Touch Cover at just 2.75 mm thin, where it will boast of backlit keys that deliver an even better level of readability. Not only that, the Touch Cover 2 would also come across as more rigid, where it is capable of registering keystrokes with a greater degree accuracy as well as features updated sensors which will support a range of gestures across the whole keyboard. Those who are interested in picking up the Touch Cover 2 will have to fork out approximately $119.99 a pop, where you can place your pre-order for the Microsoft Touch Cover 2 on September 24 onward, as long as you happen to reside in a market where Surface devices are available for pre-order. Accessories for mobile devices are a thriving business in this day and age, and it does not look as though this market is going to shrink anytime soon for sure! [Press Release]
With the fall of Nokia looming over him, this weekend will be an uncomfortable one for Thorsten Heins, chief executive of BlackBerry. While the Finnish firm sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft for €5.4bn (£4.5bn) this month, questions are swirling as to how long BlackBerry – which signalled its distress in August by putting itself up for sale – can survive, and in what form. Things are so bad that on Friday night, market rumours forced Heins to announce the top-line quarterly results a week early. And they are grim: an operating loss of up to $995m (£620m), including $960m of inventory writedowns on its new Z10 handsets released in January, a net loss of more than $250m, revenues half what analysts expected at $1.6bn, and phone shipments of 3.7m – which Apple will comfortably exceed with its new iPhones this weekend alone. For a company that once dismissed the iPhone for having no keyboard (a key selling point for BlackBerry phones), it's a humiliation. The low shipment figure exposes Heins's claim in April that the new Q10 phone – the first keyboard-equipped model using its new BB10 software – would sell "tens of millions". It might have sold a million. Now the question is turning to how long BlackBerry has to go. On Friday, the company said it will cut 4,500 jobs, roughly 40% of its 11,000 total worldwide, adding to 7,000 jobs cut in the two previous financial years. It will reduce its future phone portfolio from six to four. One former insider asks: "How would BlackBerry win? There's no answer to that at the moment. A buyer? I don't see how they would make the case." This weekend was meant to be a new start for the company, with an attempt to turn back the clock to when it was the star of the tech world by offering its famous BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) software free for iPhones and Android phones. But rivals such as WhatsApp are already on both, with more users, while BlackBerry's base is dwindling both among consumers and businesses. BBM's arrival on the other platforms is two years too late, says the insider. Friday's bad news drove the stock down by 20%, to a market cap of just $4.5bn. Broken up, BlackBerry might be worth more: last quarter, it valued its patent portfolio at $3bn, and says it has $2.6bn of cash and no debt. The services business has around 35m business customers, who could fetch up to $4.5bn. But who would buy it now? Silver Lake, the private equity company that facilitated the recent $24.8bn buyout of Dell, appears uninterested – and Michael Dell has said his company won't go back into smartphones. Reuters reported last week that while Canada's Fairfax Financial Holdings, a 10% shareholder, might try to stage a buyout, interest from other private equity players is muted. So where did BlackBerry go wrong? Was it the PlayBook tablet, unveiled 18 months after Apple's iPad in September 2011 with the slogan "Amateur Hour Is Over"? That has devoured $750m in write-offs, but the insider says its software was essentially that used in BB10. So, costs aside, it wasn't a distraction. Instead, Mike Lazaridis, who devised the first BlackBerrys, and Jim Balsillie, who ran the company with him, failed to grasp how quickly the change ushered in by the first iPhone in 2007 would overwhelm the smartphone industry. According to the former insider, BlackBerry underestimated the speed at which businesses would start letting staff connect their own smartphones to company servers for email and more. "BlackBerry didn't move fast enough on that, nor get BBM out soon enough," the insider says. The key failing was that BB10 was two years too late. Lazaridis and Balsillie saw that BB7, which powers older BlackBerrys, was outdated, but the new version was not released until January this year. Heins was installed in January 2012 after the board ejected the two founders, but he does not escape criticism either. He was the chief operating officer and so "had the reins of the smartphone business", says the insider. That means the delay in releasing BB10 can be laid in part at Heins's door. Yet if BB10 had taken off, it would have cut the company's throat. That's because phones using that software don't generate any service revenues from sending emails, data and web pages – which amounts to between a fifth and third of revenues, and rather more of profits. All eyes are on BlackBerry now. But the message is not a positive one. The turmoil in the smartphone industry is brutal; more casualties may follow.
Germany's Chaos Computer Club says it has cracked the protection around Apple's fingerprint sensor on its new iPhone 5S, just two days after the device went on sale worldwide. In a post on their site, the group says that their biometric hacking team took a fingerprint of the user, photographed from a glass surface, and then created a "fake fingerprint" which could be put onto a thin film and used with a real finger to unlock the phone. The claim, which is backed up with a video, will create concerns for businesses which see users intending to use the phone to access corporate accounts. While it requires physical access to the phone, and a clean print of one finger which is one of those used to unlock the phone, it raises the risk of a security breach.
"This demonstrates – again – that fingerprint biometrics is unsuitable as access control method and should be avoided," said the Chaos Club's blogpost author, "Starbug". "In reality, Apple's sensor has just a higher resolution compared to the sensors so far. So we only needed to ramp up the resolution of our fake. As we have said now for more than years, fingerprints should not be used to secure anything. You leave them everywhere, and it is far too easy to make fake fingers out of lifted prints." The group does not claim to have extracted the fingerprint representation from the phone itself, where Apple says it is held on a secure chip. Instead it relies on capturing a high-quality fingerprint elsewhere, and having access to the phone. "Relying on your fingerprints to secure a device may be okay for casual security – but you shouldn't depend upon it if you have sensitive data you wish to protect," commented security specialist Graham Cluley. Apple did not respond to a request for comment on the hack. The revelation is the third security failing discovered since the phone and its iOS 7 software were released last week. First, a hacker found that they could use a flaw in iOS 7's Control Centre feature on the iPhone 4S and 5 to access photos and send emails. Another found that the Emergency Call screen can be used to place a call to any number. The Chaos Club details its methods for the fingerprint hack, which begins with a high-quality fingerprint lifted from a glass, doorknob or glossy surface. The print, which essentially consists of fat and sweat, is made visible using graphite powder or a component of superglue, and then photographed at high resolution to create a 2400 pixel-per-inch scan. That is then printed onto an overhead projector plastic slide using a laser print, forming a relief. That is then covered with wood glue, cut and attached to a real finger. Apple introduced Touch ID, as it calls the fingerprint system, on its top-end iPhone 5S, unveiled earlier in the month. The technology uses a scanner built into the home button of the phone to take a high-resolution image from small sections of the fingerprint from the sub-epidermal layers of the skin. Apple says "Touch ID then intelligently analyses this information with a remarkable degree of detail and precision." Users can choose to use up to five fingerprints - which can be changed - to unlock the phone and optionally pay for iTunes Store purchases. They have first to create a passcode of at least four digits, and then "enrol" fingerprints separately. Apple says that the process creates a mathematical representation of the fingerprint representation, and that it is only stored on the phone. Apple's own notes about its Touch ID system on its site say that Touch ID will incrementally add new sections of your fingerprint to your enrolled fingerprint data to improve matching accuracy over time. Touch ID uses all of this to provide an accurate match and a very high level of security." The company says that "Every fingerprint is unique, so it is rare that even a small section of two separate fingerprints are alike enough to register as a match for Touch ID. The probability of this happening is 1 in 50,000 for one enrolled finger. This is much better than the 1 in 10,000 odds of guessing a typical 4-digit passcode. Although some passcodes, like "1234", may be more easily guessed, there is no such thing as an easily guessable fingerprint pattern." It notes that after five unsuccessful attempts to match the fingerprint, the user has to enter their passcode, and the fingerprint unlock will not work. Speaking to BusinessWeek just after the iPhone 5S was unveiled, Craig Federighi, Apple's head of software, emphasised that the fingerprints would not leave the phone. He said that making a finger unlocking and purchasing system "sounds like a simple idea, but how many places could that become a bad idea because you failed to execute on it? We thought, 'Well, one place where that could be a bad idea is somebody who writes a malicious app, somebody who breaks into your phone, starts capturing your fingerprint. What are they doing with that? Can they reuse that in some other location? Can they use it to spoof their way into other people's phones?'" He said that Apple's focus had been to make sure that "no matter if you took ownership of the whole device and ran whatever code you wanted on the main processor [you]could not get that fingerprint out of there. Literally, the physical lines of communication in and out of the chip would not permit that ever to escape."
A GANG which lured youngsters through Facebook and telephone calls before kidnapping them for ransom has been busted in Pakistan. The gang, which included a lawyer, his wife, the son of a policeman and four others, was active in the industrial town of Gujranwala in central Punjab province and was traced by tracking phone calls. "This gang of friends was using their female member to trap youngsters on Facebook and through phone calls," Shoaib Khurram, a senior police official, said. "The girl was assigned to trap targeted young boys in fake love on Facebook and phone and then invite them for dates." He said the other members would kidnap the boys when they came to meet her. "So far, we have got verification about two boys who were trapped in fake love of this lady and were then kidnapped by this gang. Their families later paid ransom amounts worth millions of rupees to get them free," Khurram said. Pakistan earlier this month cracked down on 'immoral' love chat services offered by mobile phone companies, stifling hopes of illicit romance in the conservative Muslim country, where dating is frowned upon. In 2010, Pakistan shut down Facebook for nearly two weeks over blasphemy and continues to restrict hundreds of online links.
The HP Slate 7 is the brand’s 2nd foray into the consumer tablet space. In 2011, HP launched its Touchpad in Australia but pulled the device from shelves just 4 days after the local launch. 2 years has elapsed since then, so what has HP learnt?
The Specs
Android 4.1
Dual Core 1.6 GHz processor
1 GB RAM
8GB internal storage
Micro SD Slot
7 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel screen
Bluetooth, WiFi
370g
The Good
Cheap at around $200
Differentiable design
Near stock Android
The Bad
Thick bezel feels unnecessary
Average battery life
No further Android upgrades at the moment
The Slate 7, as its name suggests, has a 7 inch screen. At 1024 by 600 pixels it’s not the highest resolution display on a tablet in this form factor but it still performs reasonably well. The screen was fine for watching YouTube videos on and reading eBooks. While the viewing angles were not as good as an iPad or other top-tier tablet, they were fine for most purposes. The screen was bright enough for indoor conditions, but in bright sunlight it was not very readable. A thick black bezel sits around the screen and we felt it was too thick and got in the way. Battery life is around 5 hours of use the device lasted us a few days on standby mode. The back of the device is a rubberized plastic and is available in red or silver. The bright red of our review unit added much-needed eccentric design flare to the device while the metal band around device made the build quality feel solid. The 3MP camera on the back was fairly low quality and suffered from motion blur even in everyday indoor scenarios. Photos lacked the basic amounts of contrast and sharpness expected in tablet cameras today. In slightly darker conditions, noise and grain in the images was very prevalent. The VGA quality front facing camera will suffice for Skype or video chats – don’t expect to be taking masterpieces with either camera. The tablet has a 1.6 GHz Dual Core processor and 1GB of RAM. On paper there appears to be enough processing might, when using the tablet it does not appear so. With general use of flicking through the home screen, browsing menu systems and the internet we frequently experienced noticeable amounts of lag. When we played an assortment of games on the tablet we experienced delay in the user interaction being recognized and many dropped frames.
The Slate 7 has a near stock Android 4.1 experience with the most major change being the addition of Beats Audio. We don’t see Beats Audio as a reason to buy this tablet however, some people may find the inbuilt bass-biased Beats equalizer as a nice addition. HP has told us that they do not have any plans at this stage to offer software updates to newer versions of Android. The tablet has 8GB of inbuilt storage and a Micro SD slot for increasing the storage by 32GB.
The Slate weighs 370 grams in comparison to 308 grams of the iPad mini, 300 grams of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 and 290 grams of this year’s Google Nexus 7.
Wrap Up
The HP Slate 7 sells for around $200 and while you will find it cheaper in stores and online you must be prepared to put up with its many pitfalls.
Apple iPhone 5S Smartphone is considering to be the one of the powerful smartphone introduced from Apple after iPhone 5 and it’s also officially replacing the old iPhone 5 with the power of most advanced mobile operating system of iOS 7 Firmware. The Apple iPhone 5S Specifications and Features is much impressive because its powered by A7 chip with 64-bit architecture and M7 motion coprocessor with large display screen and promising hardware and software tech specs. You can read and find Apple iPhone 5S Specifications, Features, Availability, Price and Review Details in our below Infographic.
Apple iPhone 5S Smartphone Full Features and Specifications Info:
Apple iPhone 5S is available in three different elegant colors i.e. Space Gray, Gold and Silver with the storage capacity of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. Find full specs and features of iPhone 5S in our official Infographic below.
Apple iPhone 5S Price Info and Availability for Contract and Contract-Free Devices:
Apple will begins to get pre-orders for iPhone 5S from September 20th at 12:01am Pacific Time for 100+ countries worldwide. The official price of Apple iPhone 5S will be $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB and $399 for 64GB on a two-year contract basis with AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. To Get Unlocked and Contract-Free iPhone 5S you have to pay $649 for 16GB, $749 for 32GB and $849 for 64GB storage capacity.
After four years, Pinterest is taking its first serious steps towards monetization [Update: as its traffic moves from the web to mobile]. CEO Ben Silbermann today told users “we’re going to start experimenting with promoting certain pins” because “it’s so important that Pinterest is a service that will be here to stay.” The announcement signals a shift from web growth to mobile growth and business for Pinterest. The initial tests of ads will be in search results and categories feeds. For example, when you search for Halloween, you might see a costume on sale at a local shop that had pinned the outfit. The format follows in the footsteps of other social advertising successes like Facebook and Twitter. Both similarly let businesses amplify the reach of their organic content by paying for “promotion”.
Where Pinterest Is Now: Mobile
Pinterest was founded in 2009 to let people collect and share links and photos of things they love. For a detailed analysis of its history, check out our piece “The Pinterest Roadmap Revealed”. It explains how Pinterest hit a rapid growth period in 2011 causing significant scaling challenges. In 2012 it focused on mobile, and 2013 has been about adding value to pins in the form of context, purchase links, and related content. In 2011 and 2012 Pinterest worked with analytics company SkimLinks to track traffic it was driving to ecommerce sites and earn small referral fees. Despite rumors it was earning significant revenue from the partnership, we heard the income was relatively small. Pinterest stopped working SkimLinks awhile back, lending credence to the idea that referral fees weren’t enough to support the company long-term. That’s why Pinterest has had to raise $338 million in total funding, with its latest $200 million Series D led by Valiant Capital Partners, and joined by Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, and FirstMark Capital. That capital has helped it scale its team, product, and engineering to accommodate the sizable user base it’s amassed. comScore pegs Pinterest.com at 46.9 million monthly unique visitors worldwide as of July, down from a high of 54.2 million in April. The analytics firm says Pinterest.com had 3.8 million average daily visitors in July. Its users skew significantly female compared to the rest of the web. They’re somewhat centered in the 15-34 years old demographic, but Pinterest is relatively balanced across ages. 60% of its traffic comes from the United States with 25.6 million monthly US uniques in August down from 29.4 million April, while 20% comes from Europe, and 10% comes from Asia Pacific. Fellow analytics service Compete places Pinterest’s US monthly unique visitors at 29.6 million, down from 32.2 million in May, mirroring comScore’s signals that Pinterest’s web traffic is fading. Quantcast’s numbers look a bit more erratic, but also show a drop from April and May to now. Note that it’s not clear what Pinterest’s mobile user count is, though it has between 10 million and 50 million installs on Android according to Google Play. Users may simply be shifting the way they access the service. [Update: My hunch was correct. Pinterest is experiencing the shift to mobile. While its web traffic may be declining, mobile and its total traffic is growthing briskly. After asking whether its total traffic was in decline, or only its web traffic, a company spokesperson supplied this statement:
"The world is going mobile and we're excited about that trend. Traffic continues to grow, breaking records consistently month over month and week over week. Mobile usage became the majority of traffic last summer and continues to grow in absolute numbers and as a percentage of traffic, which may account for third party discrepancies in measurement."
We've seen this same shift play out for Facebook and other companies, and Pinterest will have to grapple with the same changes including thinking mobile-first for product.] Though Pinterest isn’t nearly as large as Facebook or Twitter, the referral traffic it drives is lauded for its ability to inspire purchases. Now it’s time to use that reputation to seduce ad buys from brands and small businesses.
The Pinterest Ads Game Plan
Pinterest is working with a select group of brands to pilot its ads experiment, and at first they won’t pay for the promotion. Pinterest wants to make sure the ads work well first and deliver value to advertisers without disturbing users. To that end Silbermann defused fears, writing “I know some of you may be thinking, ‘Oh great…here come the banner ads.’ But we’re determined to not let that happen.” Specifically, he lays out that the ads will be:
Tasteful—No flashy banners or pop-up ads.
Transparent—We’ll always let you know if someone paid for what you see, or where you see it.
Relevant—These pins should be about stuff you’re actually interested in, like a delicious recipe, or a jacket that’s your style.
Improved based on your feedback—Keep letting us know what you think, and we’ll keep working to make things better.
Along with building out a sales team, Pinterest will need to do exhaustive analysis to find the right balance of ads and organic content that earns revenue but doesn’t scare users away. Expect it to err on the conservative side at first. It will also need to learn to measure return on investment for its advertisers by determining which ad views and clicks lead to purchases. If it follows the Facebook and Twitter playbook, Pinterest will first hold the hands of big advertisers as they run experimental campaigns. It would then enlarge the private test of managed sales advertising to encompass more brands. Next it would look to create a self-serve tool open to all businesses wishing to advertise. Meanwhile it would set up an ads API that would let big brands and developers build tools for running huge, efficient ad campaigns efficiently.
Nesting As A Business
Pinterest is one of many Silicon Valley startups hoping to gain traction first and figure out monetization later. Most never achieve the former and fold before they get to the latter. But Pinterest found a place in the hearts, bookmarks, and home screens of many by translating our collecting and nesting instincts to the digital world. You might never be able to afford that dress, that car, or that vacation home, but there’s satisfaction in simply saying “this defines me”. Now it just needs to convince advertisers of the value of a spot in our homes of 1s and 0s.
Forget iOS 7 - if you're looking for a truly new mobile operating experience, you should be turning your attention to Sailfish OS, the mobile OS born from the ashes of Nokia's abandoned MeeGo project. The open-source Linux-based software, available for all would-be developers to tinker with, was passed up by initial developers Nokia after they sealed their Windows Phone deal with Microsoft. But it has now (in its Sailfish form) found its way into its very first handset, the Jolla smartphone. And, unlike other would-be pretenders to the Android and iOS throne, Sailfish has an app-based trump card in that it should be compatible with all existing Android apps. Sailfish may live or die based on the reception it receives on the first smartphone it arrives on, so what's the Jolla smartphone hardware that it will make its debut on like? By the numbers, it doesn't sound half-bad, in a mid-range sort of way. Measuring 4.5-inches with a display running at a near-Retina sharpness of 960x540, it'll be powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor clocked at 1.4GHz, backed by 1GB of RAM. An 8MP camera sits on the rear propped up by auto-focus features and an LED flash, with a 2MP video calling unit up front. Storage size listed is 16GB, which can be expanded by microSD cards. A two-tone black and aqua-blue chassis looks to feature, though there's been no word on other shades being available yet, nor the thickness of the handset. Not a startling spec-sheet then, but that should be more than enough to see the low-power OS run smoothly we'd say. Again, due out before the end of 2013, it's being priced at €400 (£337). Would you give this new kid on the smartphone-OS block a spin? Let us know in the comments below.
HTC has done a good job offering various color options for its flagship One. So far, we’ve seen silver, black, red, and most recently blue, which is exclusive to Best Buy. But, for those of you with some extra Benjamins to burn, 31 of them will get you a 24 karat gold model from HTC — in Russia. Despite its flashy shell, the $3,093 phone is exactly the same on the inside. It packs the quad-core 1.7 GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, 32 GB of internal storage, a 4.7-inch 1920 x 1080 HD display, 2 GB of RAM, the 4 MP Ultrapixel camera, Beats Audio and Boomsound, and HTC Sense 5.0. Besides the precious metal finish, your chump change will get you a wooden box and certificate of authenticity.
In a shabby back-alley office in Shibuya, a Tokyo district known for youth culture and tech ventures, defectors from corporate Japan are hard at work for a little-known company they fervently believe will be the country's next big manufacturing success.Like a startup anywhere in the world, its bare-bones setup crackles with an optimistic energy and urgent sense of purpose. What's different, for Japan, is that this startup's talent is drawn from the ranks of famous companies such as Mitsubishi, Michelin and Nissan. Kohshi Kuwahara, 26, worked for more than two years at electronics giant Panasonic Corp. before hopping to Terra Motors Corp., a little-known venture that pays far less but is out to conquer the world with its stylish electric scooters. As with his colleagues at Terra, he resiled from the hidebound culture of big Japanese companies and felt a deep sense of frustration at their eclipse by rivals such as South Korea's Samsung and America's Apple. "If you're stuck in a system that promotes just by seniority, it's living a slow death like animals on a farm," said Kuwahara. "I wanted to be in a tough competitive place." Despite having some of the developed world's least hospitable conditions for starting a new business, Japan's "salaryman" culture of guaranteed lifetime employment at a household-name corporation is no longer the unquestioned ideal. Ventures are sprouting again after a decade marred by some high-profile failures and a striking aspect is their focus on manufacturing. Facebook and Google they are not. They are Sony and Toyota, all over again - but with young fresh faces. Terra Motors founder and president Toru Tokushige, 43, said one sign of progress for startups is that these days they have no problems recruiting quality people. A few years ago, all he could hire were what Japan categorized as the losers, those who had no hopes of getting hired at an established company. As Sony Corp. and other mainstream brands lose their luster, Terra is gaining a chance to shine. Tokushige's 15 employees now hail from top-name companies, and the interns are enrolled in Hitotsubashi, one of Japan's top universities. He acknowledges that plans for his tiny company to break into global markets still sound a little crazy by mainstream Japanese standards. But he believes his way of doing business is superior to bigger companies, where decision-making tends to be bureaucratic, slow and oriented toward avoiding risks. "Mainstream companies started out as ventures. That means old-time Japanese did it," he said of the humble beginnings of Honda, Sony, Panasonic and All Nippon Airways. "We can do it, too." At their former employers, Tokushige's workers felt stifled, although they were promised stability, status and money. They knew what they could contribute was limited, while at Terra, they can hope to make a crucial and tangible contribution. "What we want to do is create another Sony or another Honda," said Kazuaki Konno, 35, an engineer who worked previously at Nissan Motor Co. and Boston Consulting before joining Terra. At a shareholders' meeting in June, Sony President Kazuo Hirai was asked by an investor about an alleged exodus of talent from the company. The investor expressed worries about continued creativity at Sony. Hirai reiterated he would do all he could to keep innovation going, but he did not deny the allegation. Such defectors are setting a trend, said author Ryuichi Kino, who has written books about the Japanese auto and nuclear industries, and is working on a book about the advent of career switches and job-hopping in Japan. "These people are searching for their place. For those with talent, they would rather go where they are wanted than endure suffering where they are," he said. The office of Terra Motors is a tiny room in a building in the crammed slummy Shibuya district known as "Bit Valley," Japan's equivalent of Silicon Valley for housing startups. Recently, Terra came out with an electric scooter targeting emerging markets that connects to smartphones to gather location-based and electricity-consumption data. They charge from a regular plug outlet. Terra, set up in 2010, received investment capital from top funds, including one run by former Sony President Nobuyuki Idei. It already has top market share in electric scooters in Japan, and is eyeing overseas markets including Vietnam, India and the Philippines. Its success so far is against the odds. The World Bank, in ranking the ease with which a new business can be started, scored Japan 114th among 185 economies. New Zealand was at the top, and the U.S. was No. 13. Singapore was fourth, while Ghana was 112th. Japan's initial public offerings, at 36 in 2011, make for a fraction of the numbers in the U.S. at 134, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Adding to the obstacles, the prevailing message for the past decade in Japan was that startups were not to be trusted. The ones that used to get attention tended to be video-game companies such as Gree Inc., which got slammed over the alleged anti-social addictiveness of its games, and the wayward, such as Net services company Livedoor, whose founder was arrested in a securities fraud scandal. It is only recently that some vigor has returned to ventures. Part of the explanation may be the renewed focus on manufacturing. Japan's four decades of industrial success after World War II were followed by more than two decades of stagnation, mainly because of the absence of innovation, said Masazumi Ishii, managing director of AZCA Inc., a California consulting firm specializing in international corporate development. For innovations to happen, poorly performing large companies need to be allowed to fail, and innovative smaller companies must be nurtured and funded, he said. The technological prowess is there. Japan still produces its share of Nobel Prize winners, ranking eighth in the world, and Japan's top universities file as many patents as do top U.S. universities, according to Ishii. "Japan has the capability to innovate. But the problem is that this capability does not translate to commercial value."
BlackBerry Ltd launched its new Z30 flagship smartphone on Wednesday, as it battles to win back market share despite uncertainty around its future.Once a pioneer in the smartphone arena, BlackBerry said last month it was weighing options that could include an outright sale, in the face of lacklustre sales for its new devices that run on the BlackBerry 10 operating system (Review). The long-rumored BlackBerry Z30 device, which is first being unveiled at an event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will be BlackBerry's new top-of-the-line device, taking the crown from the smaller BlackBerry Z10 (Review I Pictures) that was launched early this year. The new touchscreen device, which boasts a five-inch display and a 1.7 gigahertz processor, will compete against the likes of Apple Inc's new iPhone 5s (Review) and Samsung Electronics Co's Galaxy S4 (Review I Pictures), along with a slew of other devices that are powered by Google Inc's Android platform. The company faces an uphill battle in generating interest in the new phone, however, given the lack of clarity around its future. (Also see: BlackBerry may put itself up for sale) While the company has long aspired to make its BlackBerry 10 operating system the No. 3 smartphone platform in the market, the latest industry data indicates that Microsoft Corp's Windows Phone platform is in fact more likely to clinch that spot as its devices continue to gain ground. Although the new line of BlackBerry devices has been well received by reviewers, analysts say the company lacks the financial heft to vie against industry giants like Apple, Google, Samsung and Microsoft, which boast massive marketing and R&D budgets. Some analysts contend that Microsoft's move earlier this month to acquire Nokia's phone business and license its patents for 5.44 billion euros, poses another hurdle for BlackBerry, as the software giant is likely to redouble its catch-up efforts in the mobile device business. But Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry, which is set to report its fiscal second-quarter results next week, appears to be sticking with its product roadmap for now, even as it reviews its alternatives. The company, which touts the Z30 as its "biggest, fastest and most advanced smartphone" to date, said the device will begin to hit store shelves in the UK and parts of the Middle East as early as next week. The smartphone will go on sale with select carriers and retailers in other regions over the remainder of the year, said the company, adding specific pricing and availability will be announced by its partners at the time of their respective launches.
That’s why Pinterest has had to raise $338 million in total funding, with its latest $200 million Series D led by Valiant Capital Partners, and joined by Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, and FirstMark Capital. That capital has helped it scale its team, product, and engineering to accommodate the sizable user base it’s amassed.
Pinterest is one of many Silicon Valley startups hoping to gain traction first and figure out monetization later. Most never achieve the former and fold before they get to the latter. But Pinterest found a place in the hearts, bookmarks, and home screens of many by translating our collecting and nesting instincts to the digital world.
