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Saturday, November 3, 2012
Smart TVs: You Won't Just Watch Anymore
The line between TVs and computers is increasingly blurring, with TVs becoming smarter and more connected than ever. As interactive, Web-connected appliances, smart TVs have search and navigation capabilities, can interact with tablets and smartphones, and offer access to downloadable apps. In short, smart TVs provide the kind of always-on connectivity that consumers have come to expect.
Windows Home Server 2011 released to manufacturers
Built on the Windows Server 2008 R2 base, Home Server 2011 features a simpler dashboard, a better backup solution, dead simple remote access to your home computers, and Silverlight-powered remote media streaming. For a more detailed look at what's new in Windows Home Server 2011, you check out Microsoft's official breakdown.
Drive Extender, of course, didn't resurface for the final release of WHS 2011 and that's something a lot of power users are still pretty irked about. Even without Extender, Windows Home Server offers a boatload of useful functionality and might be a good fit for your home network. Manufacturers have already begun building hardware, so you should be able to pick up a device in the very near future.
An evaluation download for Windows Home Server 2011 will be made available in April -- we'll let you know when the links are ready.
Windows Home Server 2011 released to manufacturers originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/windows-home-server-2011-released-to-manufacturers/
Time to Sniff, Swirl, Spit
Two weeks from today, nearly 100 international wine judges will converge on Fairplex to sniff, swirl and spit their way through more than 3,000 wines – all in attempt to crown the best of the best. The Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition begins May 27. Right now, wine staff are busy preparing the thousands [...]
Friday, November 2, 2012
Nexus 4 review
Movie sequels often don't live up to the hype of the original blockbuster, but the same isn't always true of smartphones -- on the contrary, they typically get even better. The Nexus lineup, initially thought of as a "playground" for Android developers to test their apps on, has continually gotten better at its craft (and popularity). Not only that, it's picking up momentum: in less than five months, Google has crafted two Nexus tablets as well as its latest and greatest smartphone known as the Nexus 4, and the attractively priced devices are now facing more interest than they ever have before.
The Nexus 4 is a veritable dreamboat when it comes to looks and specs. It's a smooth, elegant-looking device that comes with a large, 4.7-inch, HD display, a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and plenty of other appealing components. It exhibits a lot of commonalities to LG's current flagship, the Optimus G. And for a starting price of $299 unlocked, it's sure to attract a whole new demographic that until recently had never even heard of a Nexus. But is this a flagship smartphone that everyone will want to buy, or should the fourth-generation offering just be another target of developers' envy? Stay tuned past the break to find out.
Continue reading Nexus 4 review
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google, LG
Nexus 4 review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/02/nexus-4-review/
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VMware adds Mozy to its cloud and virtualization empire
VMware's official blog post makes it clear that the company wasn't so much interested in Mozy as a consumer offering. Rather, it's the inner workings of Mozy which piqued VMware's curiosity. CTO Steve Herrod says, "Over the past 5 years, Mozy has built one of the best examples of a globally distributed, large-scale cloud offering." He adds that the move will allow VMware to "further ramp our own cloud-related learning and accelerate new IP, scale, and capabilities" of its existing offerings.
Existing Mozy customers don't need to worry, of course. VMware has pledged to continue running Mozy's service without interruption.
VMware adds Mozy to its cloud and virtualization empire originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/vmware-takes-over-operation-of-mozy/
Nikon nudges Q2 net earnings to $203 million, DSLRs and Nikon 1 get all the credit
Nikon might be treading water in Q2 2013 (its fiscal year is time-shifted) with a slight gain to $203 million from Q1, but in the current imaging market climate, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Revenue fell $200 million to $3 billion for the period, which Nikon chalked up to a "sluggish" economy and poor performance in its business, chip and science divisions, along with a rapidly shrinking compact camera market (smartphones, anyone?). Fortunately, the company fared better in the interchangeable lens game, singling out the Nikon 1 mirrorless brand as a "solid performer" as well as its popular DSLR line. Nikon predicts more of the same for the rest of the year, with interchangeable lens camera sales growing while other divisions waffle, resulting in a $750 million profit for the year -- a mirror-image of 2012.
[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]
Nikon nudges Q2 net earnings to $203 million, DSLRs and Nikon 1 get all the credit originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 03:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/2-b4ZJFxmag/
Russian Hacker Gets a Taste of His Own Malware
After a persistent series of attacks on its government computers by a Russian hacker, the Republic of Georgia got mad and refused to take it anymore. In a reversal of roles, members of the country's Computer Emergency Response Team suckered the cybermiscreant into downloading a file infected with his own spyware that allowed CERT to photograph the alleged hacker with his computer's webcam and ransack its hard drive for files.
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Report: Google Facing Possible FTC Antitrust Lawsuit
Bloomberg is reporting today that staff at the Federal Trade Commission have formally recommended that the federal government sue Google for antitrust violations.
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/report-google-facing-possible-ftc-antitrust-lawsuit/
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Many reasons to visit the William Harrison Winery
We visited William Harrison a couple of week ago and, as often happens with small family-run wineries, the owner or winemaker will take a stint in the tasting room. On our visit, we had the good fortune to have winemaker Jim McMahon hosting the tasting room for the day. Jim came from Luna Vineyards and became head winemaker at William Harrison in 2009. Continue reading
Source: http://www.winecountrygetaways.com/napablog/many-reasons-to-visit-the-william-harrison-winery/
iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: Which should you get?
Apple has introduced their lighter, thinner, more "concentrated" iPad mini but they certainly weren't first-to-market with a small tablet. Most recently, Google and their partner, Asus, launched the Nexus 7, the best Android tablet to date.
Still, the Nexus 7 hasn't really caught on beyond Android aficionados and gadget geeks. And that's despite it's decent build quality, ultra-modern operating system, and the full-on Google support only Nexus-class devices enjoy. It remains to be seen if Apple's small tablet will fare any better in the thus-far completely big iPad dominated market, but if you're looking for an alternative, there's very few other places to look.
So what happens when you put Apple's iPad mini up against Google and Asus' Nexus 7? Apple's engineering precision up against Google's Android power? Let's take a look.
iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: Hardware
The Nexus 7 sports a quad-core Tegra 3 processor and a 7-inch IPS display at 1280x800 resolution, which translates into 216 ppi. It has NFC, Bluetooth 3.0, and GPS built-in, and they've just added an HSPA+ option to the high end model (but not LTE, and yes, that makes a difference). It's got a 1.2 megapixel, 720p camera on front, and the back is plastic, but soft-touch to make it easy to hold on to, even one-handed.
The speaker is stereo but Google doesn't make a big deal about it. The original Nexus 7 came with 8 or 16GB of storage, but that's just been bumped to 16 or 32GB. Battery life is rated at 9 hours for video, which is accurate in my experience. (Though standby time for me has been abysmal.)
The iPad mini blends an iPod touch-like casing and internals with a decidedly iPad 2-like 4:3 screen ratio, splitting the difference in side bezel almost down the middle. The back is aluminum and the front, a 7.9-inch IPS display at 1024x768 and163 ppi. How does that compare to the physically smaller but denser Nexus 7?
The iPad mini also has a die-shrunk, dual core Apple A5 processor inside, and while there's no NFC, there is GPS on the cellular model, and there are cellular models compatible with GSM and CDMA, including HSPA+, DC-HSPA+, and LTE around the world.
The iPad mini has stereo speakers but Apple likewise doesn't advertise them, and both a front facing 1.2mp, 720p camera and a rear-facing 5mp, 1080p camera. You can get the iPad mini in black or white, and in 16, 32, or 64GB versions. Battery life is rated at 10 hours for watching videos, and iPads have traditionally met Apple's battery life claims.
So when it comes to hardware, iPad mini wins on design, manufacturing, and elegance, and Nexus 7 wins on power and screen density.
iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: Software
The Nexus 7 runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean but should be updated shortly to Android 4.2. Jelly Bean is a great operating system, but it's still better suited for phones instead of tablets. Google claims the Nexus 7 uses a mix of phone and tablet UI, based on what's best for the task at hand. My guess is they're still searching for the right way to translate Android to tablets and we'll see it in 5.0 or some other future version. Right now, however, it's much more like a big phone than a small tablet, and that's not a bad thing -- it might even be better for some users -- but it's a different thing. Also, while Google and Project Butter have done a lot to improve interface and performance, it's still not iOS-level polished, and things like the back button are still an exercise in frustration. That said, Android is even more powerful than ever, with features and functions far beyond those available to iOS. Google Now is more than a few steps ahead of Siri, notifications are actionable, and apps can actually communicate with each other. Imagine that.
iOS 6 comes loaded on the iPad mini, and Apple still leads the industry when it comes not only to polish and consistency, but to pushing out software updates for their devices (granted, they have much fewer of them and much more control over them than anyone else in industry). You still can't do a lot of things with iOS, and that will frustrate a lot of users, especially those with edge or very specific power needs, but what you can do you can do easily. iOS 6 also has a complete, optimized tablet interface with multiple columns and features beyond what you can fit on a single phone-style interface screen. Safari for iPad is still the best mobile browser (sorry Chrome), the Home button is an amazing escape hatch for non-technical users, and the accessibility features lead the industry.
So software is a similar story to hardware. Apple writes better code and creates more cohesive, consistent user experiences than Google. But Google makes code that does more things and is more customizable than Apple. Argue that all you want, but at the end of the day iOS in invariably smoother, more intuitive, more up-to-date, and more pixel perfect than Android, yet just as invariably misses out on a lot of features Android gets early and gets stock. If you want something that's accessible and just works, iOS has the advantage. If you want something configurable that just works the way you want it to, Android wins.
iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: Services
When it comes to services that bring the internet fully to your iPad mini, Apple has iCloud, which includes iTunes in the Cloud, iTunes Match, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, Find my iPhone, Find my Friends, and more. As a service goes, it's... serviceable. It backs up and syncs your data and gives you access to all of the your iTunes content. But Apple is still new to the cloud and they aren't as strong at it as they are hardware and software. At least not yet.
Google was born in the cloud. They're the biggest cloud services provider in the world. Android, in many ways, is a localized front end for Google's cloud. Now the localized part traditionally wasn't as good as Apple -- they just chucked web pages inside of apps -- but Google has been getting better code as well. Now their services not only work well, but look better and perform far better than ever before.
The twist here is that you can get almost every single Google service on the iPad mini that you can get on the Nexus 7. Now, Android has by far -- by far! -- the better Google integration of course, but the iPad mini has a surprising amount as well, including the brand new Google Search. And that's also including Gmail, Google+ YouTube, Drive, Google, etc. That's a full, robust, and increasingly good set of offerings available in Apple's App Store. (For reasons that involve the difference in business models between Apple and Google.)
So, going with the Nexus 7, you get the best Google can offer, but nothing from Apple. Going with the iPad mini, you get everything Apple and almost everything Google, but there's one more kind of service to consider -- customer service.
The Apple Store is unmatched. From buying your iPad mini, to being taught how to use it, to easily getting help with it when something goes wrong, Apple has hundreds of stores in dozens of countries. If you live anywhere near an Apple Store and your iPad mini stops working, you can go in and get it fixed, or get it swapped out for a replacement, in a matter of hours. With the Nexus 7, all you'll have is lost time and patience as you wait for Google's notoriously non-human mechanisms to process you.
If you live in the Google cloud, Nexus 7 is undeniably the better choice. If you don't, go with the iPad mini. What Apple lacks in online services, Google makes up for, and you get the best customer service in the business.
iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: Content
Apple has a tremendous advantage when it comes to content. iTunes started earlier and is now in more countries and provides more content than anyone else on the planet. Moreover, like with the services above, even if you don't like iTunes books, movies, TV shows, etc., you can also get Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, and all the other content companies right on your iPhone.
Google provides a lot of its own content now with Google Play, and you have access to enough third party content that there's no real difference. If you live in the U.S., you're almost certainly good to go. If you live outside the U.S. it can literally be the difference between being able to get legitimate content onto your phone and not (if that matters to you).
When it comes to apps, Apple used to win by default based on the sheer magnitude of numbers. That's no longer true for phones, but it is for tablets. Apple has over 275,000 tablet-optimized apps. Google has a handful. Sure, you can run the 700,000+ Android phone apps on the Nexus 7, just like you can run the 700,000+ iPhone/iPod touch apps on the iPad mini, but that's a second-class experience. Do you want a big phone or a tablet?
Apple has also become slightly more open over time, and Android apps have become much better looking and better working. You can still knock Apple for being more controlling, both in terms of what apps you can get and how those apps can interact with each other (or not), but for some users the simplicity and security of that model trumps any neck-bearded annoyance.
Now, if you already have an iPhone or iPod touch or iPad, and a lot of iOS apps that work on the iPad mini, or if you've already bought a lot of iTunes media, that can make it easier and cheaper to stick with Apple. Likewise, if you already have a lot of content from Google Play, you'll find it easier to stick with Android.
Otherwise, if you're in the U.S., you're good to go with either, and if you're outside the U.S. and really care about buying your media, check and see what's available, but Apple and the iPad mini is your safer bet.
iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: Price
The Nexus 7 is $199 for 16GB, $249 for 32GB, $299 for 32GB + HSPA+.
The iPad mini is $329 for 16GB, $429 for 32GB, and $529 for 64GB, and you can get HSPA+/LTE on all of those for an additional $130.
So, while the iPad mini is much better built, uses aluminum instead of plastic, includes extras like LTE and a 5mp rear-facing camera, etc., the Nexus 7 absolutely wins on price.
iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: The bottom line
If you want to run Android, absolutely have to have a slightly higher screen density, or don't have more than $299 in your pocket, get the Nexus 7. Otherwise, get the iPad mini. Cost isn't the same thing as value.
The iPad is almost synonymous with tablets for most people, most of the time, for very good reason. If you want a Nexus 7, you specifically want a Nexus 7. If you want a tablet, you want an iPad mini.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/4sxOfxK1HOU/story01.htm
A sneak peek at the next version of Android Market and Music app
Update: Tech From 10 seems to be offline -- but we have lots of images and a hands-on review if you want to see what the new Music app is like.In what is probably a bit of a big-G whoopsie, the folks at Tech From 10 woke up to find a new, test version of Android Market installed on their Galaxy S.
Visually, the new version is almost identical. The carousel of featured apps has been updated slightly, and apps now have a 'Content rating,' but that's it (image after the break). The interesting bit, however, is the inclusion of alpha and beta apps -- most notably, there's a new version of the Music app, which looks like a scaled-down version of the Android 3.0 Honeycomb Music app (see right).
Also available from the test Android Market is 'Google Gallery 3D New 10.2', 'Google - Camera v12' and 'Google Desk Clock 10' -- but, curiously, all of the apps refused to launch on Tech From 10's Galaxy S (Vibrant) smartphone. Are they Honeycomb apps? Or, more likely, are they destined for the next Android smartphone OS, Ice Cream?
If you want to try out the new Honeycombish Music app, Tech From 10 has made the APK available for download. You can also download the three Google apps, if you want to have a poke around.
Continue reading A sneak peek at the next version of Android Market and Music app
A sneak peek at the next version of Android Market and Music app originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sharp expects to post $1.94 billion operating loss for the year, score a meager Q2 operating profit
Sharp hasn't quite laid out its Q2 2012 financials, but it has laid down some bittersweet projections. According to Reuters, the Japanese firm hopes to post an operating profit for the current term, but will take a $1.94 billion loss for the year as a whole. This prediction is a tad more dismal then its earlier forecast, which predicted a $1.25 billion loss for 2012. The TV maker also cut its predicted net loss from ¥240 billion to ¥450 billion ($5.6 billion). Sharp still is hoping its cuts, layoffs and mortgages weren't in vain -- and a short term profit for Q2 could be all it needs to vindicate the $4.6 billion loan it took out in September. Sharp also said it was penning in $1.1 billion for restructuring expenses in Q2, hopefully helping it stay on track for its 2014 profitability goal.
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Home Entertainment
Sharp expects to post $1.94 billion operating loss for the year, score a meager Q2 operating profit originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 03:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Nwc0jMZviZQ/
iPad Mini: The Difference Is in the Details
Feature for feature, the iPad mini mainly bests its rivals in the 7-inch tablet market, but it does so at a price that's 65 percent higher than those competitors. The mini has a larger display than Amazon's Kindle Fire HD and Google's Nexus 7. Its screen measures 7.9 inches diagonally, while the Fire and Nexus have 7-inch displays. Apple's tablet is longer than both its competitors and wider than Google's slate.
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