Papal Tweeting and The Social Media Takeover
The Pope’s Twitter: On June 28th, The Pope, Benedict XVI sent out the first ever Papal tweet from his iPad. This lends to overwhelming evidence that social media has indeed infiltrated every aspect of society across much of the world. Facebook, of both movie and social networking fame, has a staggering 500 million + users. Google just launched the first phase of Google +, its social media networking site. Twitter is big, especially when it comes to keeping up with all of your favorite celebs. All of our smartphones come outfitted with apps that allow us to access our social networking apps on the go. Social media is everywhere.
It wasn’t always. The start of social media as we know it took place with the launch of a little site called MySpace. In 2002, MySpace was created by eUniverse employees. Before long, Tom was becoming a household name and his friendlist continued to grow. MySpace didn’t start off as a social networking site. Originally the domain myspace.com was purchased by Chris DeWolfe to use as a web hosting site. In 2004, the change was made over to social networking and by 2007, MySpace was at the top of its game. The underdog Facebook overtook MySpace in 2008 in Alexa rank. Now Facebook is the world’s leading social networking site.
Social Media takes place in many other communities on the web as well. There are blogs, Twitter, as we mentioned earlier, Foursquare, and many other sites that help users stay connected and always be in touch. There are countless smaller social networking sites and any one of them could be the next MySpace or Facebook. As we know in this technologically driven age, anything can happen.
Staying on Top of Tech
4G? 3D? LED? Where will it all end? If I buy this computer, will it be obsolete in 3 months? What do I need to know to stay on top of today’s ever-changing technology? Relax…sit back…we’ve got a crash course for you to help it all make sense.
How big does my TV need to be?
How big do you want it to be? Before, you had to get almost a 40″ screen to get full 1080p. Now maker LG produces a line of monitor/TVs, the M62D series with 22″, 23″, and 27″ full (1920×1080) Hi-Def models. If you want something to really impress guests, there are the more conspicuous 3D bigscreens, like the Panasonic TC-P50GT30. This bad boy is a 50″ 3D plasma screen beast that received an CNET Editor’s Rating of 4 stars.
Computers.
Are there great deals on laptops? Yes. Is a $299 computer a great deal? Not necessarily. Don’t go for the cheapest computer or the most expensive. For checking email, surfing the net, checking Facebook, and listening to music, most people will be fine using a PC with a dual core processor with 3 GB RAM memory in it. If you are worried about it getting outdated after you buy it, find out what type of memory it takes and if it is upgradeable by going to http://www.crucial.com and using their free memory checker to get all this info. Desktops are easier to upgrade than laptops.
Should I get a tablet PC?
Tablet PCs are great. If you are looking for a laptop, don’t let the price of a tablet sway you. Tablets have limited features. They are app based and more for entertainment and web browsing than anything. Tablets are just now becoming widely available from many different manufacturers and can vary in price depending on features and platforms.
HP Slate 500 Tablet PC
iPad Apps Best Of
iPhone, Droid, HTC…
All smartphones. Touchscreen, text messaging, web-browsing, picture-snapping nirvana in your pocket. Before buying a smartphone, read the reviews on it. Touchscreens endure constant abuse from fingers frantically mashing them to spit out text messages. Make sure you get a sturdy phone and a case to protect it.
Iphone 4g Super Case – Comparable to Otterbox Defender – Blue/black
Skinomi Techskin – Invisible Skin Protector Shield Full Body Shield for Viewsonic G Tablet
While you’re at it, check the battery life and screen resolution. Not all smartphones were created equal, so make sure you get the smartest buy!
Apple by the Numbers
1 Network that brings you the iPhone 4G…AT&T
2 Cameras, one rear and one front-facing.
Apple plans on turning out 3 Million iPhone 4G’s per month.
5K – How much tech blog, Gizmodo.com spent for an exclusive first crack for the iPhone 4G prototype left behind in a California bar by an Apple Engineer.
6/7 – Steve Jobs delivered his now famous speech at 2010′s WWDC. While unveling the iPhone 4G, the face of Apple himself was temporarily unable to get an internet connection on Apple’s newest entry into the smartphone market. Scott, got any suggestions?
800:1 contrast ratio with a 960 x 640 resolution
Up to 10 hours of video playback on new iPhone 4G
2011 - When Verizon customers reportdely will be able to get their hands on their very own iPhone 4G.
May 12, 2010, Vietnamese tech blog, VietTao, uncovered yet another iPhone 4G prototype for half of what Gizmodo shelled out and in a more finished state,
13. The number of suicide attempts by workers in China’s Foxconn where many of Apple’s products, including iPhones and iPads, are assembled.
14. The number of Apple Evangelists that were probably already lined up to get their hands on one of the first iPhone 4G’s even though…
Pre-order started on June 15th.
Written By Peter Boimare
AT&T Puts “Top Hat” On Data
AT&T says no more unlimited data, but is that really a smart strategy? It might be a fiscal neccessity with the success of iPhone and the enormous amount of gigabytes being used by iPhone owners. AT&T is capping data, but will competitor Verizon when it gets its hands on the iPhone?
First off, it’s not as bad as it sounds…right? The end of unlimited data only applies to new customers. Existing customers will still be able to keep their plans. New subscribers will have their choice of two data packages for smartphones: DataPro and DataPlus. DataPro is a $30 a month 2 GB plan for heavier data users. For the casual data user, DataPlus is only $15 a month and offers 200MB of data. If users go over their data plan, they can purchase an additional GB of data usage for $10.
According to AT&T, 10% of data users are using 50% of all the total bandwidth on the network. AT&T execs argue that with the new plans in place, the majority subscribers can actually save $5 a month. If less users are using bandwidth on AT&T’s network, theoretically it would put a stop to, at least some of, the large volume of dropped calls. Maybe after the data cap is insituted, Steve Jobs will be able to get a signal on his new iPhone 4G?
Verizon may be getting the rights to sell the new gen iPhones sooner than once expected. Analysts are predicting the iPhone 4G to reach Verizon stores sometime in 2011. For now, Verizon still offers unlimited plans on all phones that include data, AT&T could lose new customers looking to surf and stream on an iPhone 4G, but also potentially current customers when their plans run out. What if the data cap was like BP’s “top hat,” too little, too late?
If AT&T doesn’t get their act together, this could lead to more changes. The world’s economy is still on somewhat rocky ground. No big corporation, as we’ve seen, is beyond money problems. AT&T is certainly no exception to the rule.
Written By Peter Boimare
Who is Number 2 in Tech? Not Apple.
Apple recently surpassed Microsoft as the world’s richest name in technology. As of the closing bell Friday, Apple’s market cap was at $233.74 billion. Microsoft’s market cap reached only $226.11 billion, to leave the Cupertino, California giant $7.63 billion ahead of them. This is the first time Apple has seen their market capitalization top Microsoft’s in more than 20 years.
It has been a long time coming. Apple has been through hard times and weathered the storm, all the while keeping a loyal customer base. The so-called “Apple Evangelists” made technological pilgrimages to Mac Expos over the years, and even when it seemed that all hope was lost, they always seemed to keep the faith. In October of 2001, everything we knew about the computer maker would change.
Apple unveiled the MP3 player that would later be described as nothing short of destiny. The iPod Classic debuted and went on to become the hottest gadget of the new millineum. This sparked the start of a new wave of smart mobile devices. Total sales of the iPod had reached over $220 million by the time of the Apple Event in 2009. For the first time since their conception, it was Microsoft, not Apple, that was on the outside looking in.
Microsoft has been the undisputed “King of Tech” for a long time. Apple spent years trying to compete with them in the computer field, but always seemed to be a step behind. It wasn’t until Apple had unleashed its triple threat (iPod, iPhone, and iPad) that they started gaining ground against Microsoft. The iPad, Apple’s tablet computer, is what pushed them over the edge. Nobody knew what kind of numbers an Apple tablet could do, but the 2 million units sold in the first 2 months quieted any naysayers. Apple had secured its place in the tablet computer market.
With the hottest MP3 player, cellphone, and tablet computer, Apple found a way around going head to head against Microsoft. This was a recipe for success for the company that was once most known for their Macintosh computers. Apple still makes Macs and MacBooks, but they no longer have to rely on them as their principal source of revenue. Microsoft recently released their newest OS, Windows 7, and will be offering Office 2010 this summer, but this probably still won’t be enough to pull ahead of Apple. All of Apple’s innovations have made them the new leader of technology and if Microsoft wants to catch up, they will have to really step up to the plate.
Future Expo
The year is 2010. We are IN the future. There are no flying cars or Jetsons-style rocket packs. What developers in the tech industry are making includes technology that is more practical than fanciful. Our nation has made the jump to Hi Def TV broadcasts. Home phones are now smartphones that go wherever we do. Video game launches are just about as important as elections. However you look at it, we are more advanced than ever and still we cast our eyes on new horizons.
Citizens of the future, while we aren’t all vacationing on the moon, many of the technological marvels we have seen created for the big screen are being developed, as you read this, in labs and factories all over the world. Some of these come in revolutionary ways to entertain. Some will change business. Some are medical breakthroughs. Others will change the way wars are waged. Starting to sound more like the future now? It should.
Watch.
Does it drive you crazy how in the movies they always have those clear moniters that display a semi-transparent image across them, but we can’t buy them at our favorite electronics retailer yet? If it does, then this is for you.
AMOLED. If you’ve never heard of it, it is technology behind Samsung’s next big offering. AMOLED stands for Active-Matrix OLED. OLED is already used in the displays of many of the new smartphones. OLED display screens are thinner and require no backlight. In an Active-Matrix LED, pixels are deposited on a thin film transistor and react as electricity, guided by a series of switches, reaches each pixel. Translation: Ultra flat, low-energy TV screens that you can see through.
Samsung already has this 19″ AMOLED TV prototype created:
Samsung 19" AMOLED TV
Work.
It’s not something from the movie Wall-E. The QB is a telepresence robot, produced by Anybot, that can act as a proxy for you if you can’t make it to that important meeting. It has two cameras and three microphones for video conferencing and is controlled through your web browser. QBs weigh 35 pounds and run $15k currently. You can order them on Anybot’s website.
Anybot QB
Battle.
Robotics maker Robotex has a different kind of robot. This one doesn’t do video conferencing and has no place on the jobsite. That is, unless your job site is a combat zone like the Iraqi desert.
At first glance, these devices appear to be gun-mounted, remote controlled cars. And they are, but they are more than that. Robotex teamed up with Military Police Systems founder Jerry Baber to create these war machines. They are designed to take humans out of combat situations in military conflicts. Baber’s AA-12 shotgun feels like a natural fit for these gun-wielding bots.
Aside from having dual mounted AA-12′s, amazing turn response, and jamming enemy cellphones and radio signals as it moves in for the kill(s), Robotex’s combat robots cost only $30-50 thousand. That may seem like a lot, until you compare it to Foster-Miller’s Talon, the next closest thing, at roughly six times the cost. To top it all off, they received a nod from the world’s most notorious contract killers, Blackwater, who will display Robotex models on their showroom floor.
Robotex Model AH
Heal.
BeBionic is offering a better solution for hand replacement candidates. The BeBionic hand is myo-electric. This means that the hand is controlled by muscle movement in the user’s arm. This will be the first artificial hand to offer full rotation, as well as the capacity to flex or extend. BeBionic’s hand also has the option for wireless control from a computer, instead of needing a USB cable to link to the computer. This bionic hand will be made available on June 19th, complete lifelike “skin” in different skintones and all.
BeBionic's new myo-electric hand
Yes, this is the future. Technology has taken us this far already, but it is constantly improving. So sit back, make sure your safety-belt is fastened, and enjoy the ride. We hope you have enjoyed our future expose’.
Written By Peter Boimare
Google I/O’s Big Announcement: Google TV – Web, TV, Android Market Apps and More…
At Google’s I/O conference today, CEO Eric Schmidt announced the company’s plans for Google TV. Google TV aims to do one thing: seamlessly integrate TV and the web into one device. Until now, TV only had full internet browsing capabilities through gaming consoles, such as PS3 or XBox 360. You can watch just about anything on your computer or mobile devices, but it’s just not the same. If it was, Americans wouldn’t be watching their TVs as much as they are. In an age of innovations, Google is taking a step ahead and creating this hybrid web-TV that could take both industries by storm.
Televisions have evolved greatly since they first made their way into consumers’ homes. The first “TV sets” were built using Nipkow’s scanning disk in the late 19th century and were still prototypes at best. These later gave way to electronic black and white sets, color TVs, and most recently plasma, LCD, and other hi-def televisions. With the many advances in technology we have seen in the last decade, it only makes sense that TV would merge with the world wide web.
The Google TV will offer access to potentially over a million channels and help you make sense of all the choices. To help you navigate through all your newfound viewing options,Google will include a special remote with a built in keyboard. Along with more channels than ever and web searching ability with Google Chrome, Google TV will offer Android Apps. Apps, or applications, are becoming more and more part of our everyday lives. Whether they are from Apple’s App Store or Google’s Android App Market, on cellphones, or tablet computers, there is an app for almost everything. Google TV will surely help to secure Google’s place in the app race. This will also help Google branch and create different revenue sources, Right now,
Google has partnered up with Intel, Sony, and Logitech to incoporate this technology into television, Blu-ray players, and set top boxes. Websites Jinni.com and Rovi (www.rovicorp.com) have already started developing applications with Google TV to bring users content. Starting this fall, you will be able to Tweet, update your Facebook status, or book a vacation – all through your TV set.
Article by Peter Boimare
Search & Destroy: The Battle for Search Engine Supremacy Between Microsoft and Google
At first there were WebCrawler, AltaVista, Excite, Lycos, and many others. As the algorythms that run them became more complex and technology evolved, a Darwin-esque process began killing off the ones who did not adapt to an everchanging virtual climate. And then there were two.
Microsoft knows this stance all too well. They are in a constant deathlock with Sony to see who will become victorious in the video game arena. Then there is the never-ending battle of PC vs. Mac, fueled by Apple’s seemingly never-ending barrage of top-selling innovations (iPod, iPhone, iPad…you get the iDea). Microsoft bought out Yahoo! in an attempt to narrow the playing field against the competition.
Enter Google. On the heels of the release of their Google Chrome search engine and Android OS, a company from humble beginnings has grown into a technological juggernaut. Google outlasted its search brethren and did it through a simplicity…well, at least to the naked eye. Google’s search relies on a series of complex formulas that really no one knows, except Google. Whatever it is, they work…because more people use Google search than any other search engine.
Microsoft’s story is one we all know. Founded by college dropout Bill Gates with friend Paul Allen in 1975, Microsoft was the world’s first computer language developer. The Redmond, Washington based corporation has since grown to become one of the largest and most influential companies in the world. They also hold the patents for Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, and Windows. 20 years after the start of Microsoft, Bill Gates released his “Internet Tidal Wave Memo” to the company and the rest was history. MSN (Microsoft Network) launched on August 24, 1995 to compete with AOL and has gone on to dominate all of its competitors…except one.
Google was started up by two college buddies, Larry Page and Sergei Brin PhD, in March of 1996 as a research project for school. Google wasn’t always Google. It started out with another name, “BackRub”. Page and Brin decided that it should be renamed the year after its conception to something a little catchier…Google. Google comes from the word “googolplex”, meaning 1 followed by 100 zeros…or a very large number like the amount of webpages they would one day be able to index. This was all part of the philosophy the Google founders wanted to convey to users. They were going to change the way we search and they weren’t going away anytime soon.
The first search engine ever created did not belong to Microsoft or Google. A Montreal student named Alan Emtage created Archie in 1990. Archie, short for archives, was a database of filenames on the internet that it would match to users searches. Later on, two other search engines were created with the names Veronica and Jughead, both characters from the popular Archie comics.
Start of a New Era
The World Wide Web was born in 1991 when Tim-Berners Lee decided to merge hypertext with DNS and FTP servers. The first website in the history of websites(http://info.cern.ch/) went online August 6, 1991. Berners-Lee went on to found the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) at MIT in 1994. By the end of the year, there were around 10 different search engines including Excite, Lycos, Yahoo!, LookSmart, and WebCrawler.
Feeling Lucky?
By the time Google hit the net in 1996, they were one of many portals people could use to navigate through the increasing number of sites. Many people were confused by Google’s strikingly simple page. It had the Google Beta logo and a search box with no pictures, only a few links, and two buttons: “Google Search” and “I’m Feeling Lucky”. Google’s homepage has remained largely unchanged to date. Microsoft’s MSN search was already ahead of them by about a year, but still not their biggest competition.
To make way for progress, Google had to beat out the little guys. They did this very effectively by indexing more web sites and returning more relavent results for user queries. Their lack of frills and fast, concise answers lured in 84.7% of all web searches between its homepage and partner sites in early 2004. This led Yahoo to take their name off Google’s list of partners and strike out on their own. Not by force, but through smarts Google prevails. Google’s code of conduct is “Don’t Be Evil”.
If you Buy the Sites People go to, You Can Control the Web.
YouTube is one of the most viewed sites on the internet, due to user submitted clips and viral videos spanning virtually every topic imaginable. Google purchased YouTube in 2006 for a whopping $1.65 billion. That was not their only key power play. Google also bought Pyra Labs, maker of Blogger, back in 2003, a small part of Aol in 2005, and more recently, 3D Desktop software maker ClickBump in 2010. This has been just a part of Google’s push to stay on top.
Locked and Loaded
It wasn’t until 2010 that Microsoft swooped in and bought out Yahoo! and changed the game with what they billed as “the first decision engine,” Bing. Bing takes a more visual approach to searching the web and even has the comedic TV spots to prove it. All things considered, it is very apparent now that Microsoft has their sites set on Google. $47.2 billion to stay at the table and see the cards. Microsoft can do that. Bill Gates was recently downgraded to the world’s second richest man.
What does this mean for those of us who are innocent bystanders merely searching the web for fun and work? For now, better, faster search results. As Microsoft and Google battle it out, both companies will have to strive to provide better services to corner their share of the market. If you don’t like either search engine, the other guys like Excite and AltaVista are still out there. They just don’t get used as much anymore. As for the surrender of Google or Microsoft, they are far too entrenched in technology for this to be likely anytime in the near future. There is too much ammunition and too big of a fight in the hearts of both sides. The battlelines have been drawn and now all we can do is watch the carnage unfold-
Article by Peter Boimare
Tablet Computers A-Z – How does the competiton stack up vs iPad?
While tablet computers are hardly new, this year many big names in tech are capitolizing on the hype created by the launch of the Apple iPad. Who is making them, what features do they have, and why do we need them?
Adobe has found inspiration for its new Android based tablet in iPad. More specifically, in Apple’s decision to to not allow Adobe Flash or Air on iPad. Of course, Adobe was not happy about this snub. They set out to make their own tablet computer that could run Flash and Air and compete with the iPad. This Week at the Web 2.0 Expo, Adobe unveiled a prototype of their new tablet. It turns out Adobe is powered by the next-gen NVIDIA tegra 2 mobile web processor. We can expect to see more tablet computers using this technology as we move futher into 2010.
Apple’s iPad
Archos also has a new tablet on the way. The Archos 7 Home Tablet has a 7 inch touchscreen display and uses the Android OS, but will not have full access to all of Google’s Android apps. We can expect the Archos 7 Home Tablet
and the Archos 7 Media Tablet. These are smaller tablets that are designed for accessing media, TV, and wi-fi internet on the go. Both the Archos 5 Media Tablet and the Archos 7 Media Tablet have Adobe Flash capabilities.
Dell’s plans for their upcoming tablet, Looking Glass, recently were leaked. The Looking Glass, looks to cash in with a 7 inch touchscreen, Android 2.1 OS, and NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 processor. (Told you there would be more tablets powered by the Tegra 2…) The downsides are that while it does have a TV tuner and a camera, the TV tuner only offers a 800×480 display and the camera is just 1.3 megapixels. We can expect to see Dell’s Looking Glass in stores this November.
Hewlett Packard (HP) has a tablet of their own in the works, although right now we are not sure what it will be. We have been seeing plans for the HP Slate tablet, but HP’s recent purchase of Palm lends support to rumors that HP may in fact postpone or squash the Slate in favor of another approach. If HP does still rollout the Slate later this year, here is some of its vital information: The HP Slate will is run by the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Menlow Z530 and will also support a pen device. While it only offers B/G wireless connectivity, the HP Slate tablet will feature dual cameras, a VGA webcam on the face of the pad and a 3MP camera on the back, and a 5 hour battery.
Microsoft bailed out on their original plans for their Courier tablet project, but Bill Gates assures the tech world that Microsoft is certainly not out of the tablet race yet. Gates acknowledges that Apple has done well with its iPad, but will look to develop tablet computers designed with students in mind using Microsoft’s stylus.
By Peter Boimare
View pictures and videos of these tablets at http://squidoo.com/tabletcomputersinpictures
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