Macbooks: Tempting but is it worth it?
Apple has now earned the title of the worlds most valuable company and by looking at the demand for their products you can see why. The iPhone
Some of the reasons why Macs were not a serious option in the past was because their OS was foreign (i.e. not Windows), they were comparatively underpowered and very expensive when compared to competitors. Fast forward a few years and OS X, although not the most popular OS, is very well known and owns about 10% of the market. The appeal is growing with each subsequent release sharing features with iOS (e.g. OS X Mountian Lion comes with a new Notification Centre) which is good for those who know how to use an iPhone (the vast majority of people in developed countries).
How to choose a laptop: 5 top tips
With laptops outselling desktops for the last 4 years, it is becoming more and more likely that your next computer purchase will be a laptop. One of the biggest problems with this is the massive range of products available. It is often overwhelming how many choices there are. So here are a few tips to help you on your way to selecting a laptop.
1. Portability and Battery Life
One of the advantages of a laptop is that you can carry it around. Obviously, how powerful it is can affect how long you can carry it around for. More powerful components will also make a laptop heavier due to the need for extra cooling and higher voltages as well as a bigger battery. So when you buy your laptop, make sure you see whether it is light enough for your needs and look at the quoted battery life to see whether it fulfils your demands. Some laptops contain graphics switching to switch between a dedicated and integrated graphics card in order to provide a longer battery life when needed. This is another option however these laptops are often a bit more expensive than those without the feature. Netbooks also have a decent battery life and are highly portable but most people will find them horribly slow for everyday use
How To: Move Photos from a Computer to an iPad without iTunes
One of the biggest dilemmas for those who have Apple products is the fact that you don't seem to be able to do everything you want to do with it. For example, with the iPad you have a camera connector accessory which allows you to connect your camera to the iPad via USB and copy photos across reasonably easily. So you think to yourself, this should work if I plug a USB stick directly into it and copy photos from my computer across to the iPad. But it isn't as easy as you first think, there is a process which you have to follow before this can be done which I will show you in this article.
The iPad can recognise USB flash drives through the camera connector but can only import photos and videos through it. In order to achieve this you need to trick the iPad into thinking that you have connected a camera directly so as to import the photos.
What you need:
- An iPad
- A USB Camera Connector kit for iPad
- A USB Flash Drive
- A Computer - preferably with Windows (not essential)
- Bulk File Rename Utility
What to Do:
1. First, get everything you need together
2. Now find the photos you want to copy over on your computer and put them in one folder. The iPad will only recognise the photos if the file name is exactly 8 characters which should be fine if the photos are copied from your camera and haven't been renamed. If you have renamed your files to something different, don't panic! A simple utility exists which can rename your files easily. If you open Bulk Rename Utility and navigate to the folder where you kept your photos, you get a screen like this:
How Apple’s iPad Fits into the Office
Sure, the iPad is a great device for Web surfing, book reading, and movie watching. But it's also getting a lot of interest in corporations as a possible business device for field forces, nurses and doctors in hospitals, and knowledge workers in the office and on the go.
That interest is obvious from the top iPad downloads from the Apple App Store, where Citrix Receiver, an app that makes the iPad a portal to server-based apps such as Microsoft Office and SharePoint, has stayed in the top five almost every day. Also in that top-downloads list are Apple's iWork productivity trio (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) and two Microsoft Office-compatible productivity apps (Quickoffice Mobile Connect Suite and DataViz Documents to Go Premium).
I decided to see how well the iPad could fit into a business environment. The short answer: awkwardly, but with lots of promise. (Note that all the apps mentioned here are available through InfoWorld's "no-junk business iPhone and iPad app finder" Web page.)
The iPad is very portable and has long battery life (six to eight hours in my experience, although the more networking you do via Wi-Fi, 3G, or Bluetooth, the less time you get). So it is very appealing as a laptop replacement, at least for short trips. For many users, it can indeed replace a laptop. Which users? Certainly those whose lives revolve around email, Web access, and basic office productivity work. For other users, it depends greatly on the software availability for your work tasks.
Here's what you can do, and what could get in your way.
Read the Full Story at PCWorld
Review: iPhone 4
Introduction
There has been a lot of hype surrounding Apple's new iPhone 4 but has it really lived up to it?
Pros
- The screen is awesome
- The interface is good, as usual
- battery life has improved
- Fast
Cons
- Facetime is useless
- Glass makes it feel too delicate
- Not really revolutionary
Has the recent mishap with the iPhone 4 changed your view of Apple?
There has been a lot of talk everywhere about Apple's iPhone 4 and its antenna problems. One of the highlights is Apple's conference tomorrow or tonight (depending on where you live). This got me thinking. How badly has this incident affected Apple's reputation. After this incident have you changed your mind about buying an iPhone 4 or any other Apple product?
Let me know in the poll below.
Apple Could Issue an iPhone 4 Recall
In light of what has become a PR nightmare over the faulty reception issues of Apple's iPhone 4, could the tech giant be considering a recall? PR experts say it'd better.
In a recent Cult of Mac post, PR experts outline the dangers of Apple continuing to skirt the recent accusations of a bad antenna design, especially after yesterday's news of Consumer Reports magazine claiming it is unable to recommend the iPhone 4 after recent tests found too many faults with the phone's hardware. “Apple will be forced to do a recall of this product,” Matthew Seeger, an expert in crisis communication, told Cult of Mac. “It's critically important. The brand image is the most important thing Apple has. This is potentially devastating.” [Source: Techland]
Apple's iPhone 4 seemed like a pretty cool device when it first came out but now it seems like Apple's image as a company which prides itself on the quality of its products is in tatters. The iPhone 4 has a serious design flaw with its antenna and the problem is not the design fault itself, as many great companies have released a product with a flaw in it, but the fact that Apple is not admitting to the mistake. In fact they are blaming the consumer by saying that they are holding it the wrong way. It is this arrogance which could lead to the failure of the product.
What’s the point of the iPad?
The iPad. A magical, revolutionary device in a category of its own. But what's the point?
Apple created their own category of device. A device which has more capabilities than a smartphone but is not quite a laptop. The device seemed pretty slick with the ability to use apps similar to the iPhone but on a larger screen. Using iWork on this thing seemed pretty cool when it shown off at Steve Jobs' keynote and how awesome would it be to watch videos on a device like this if you were travelling on a train or in the passenger seat of a car. You could have hours of entertainment right at your fingertips. On top of this you could browse the internet in a new, revolutionary way. This seemed like a dream device.
Then you found out about the limitations. No USB port to export your iWork documents, an additional adapter so you could connect your camera and the fact that you could only install things Apple wanted you to install. Then there are the obvious things such as a front facing camera for video chat. This seemed like a no-brainer, to be able to talk to your friends with an iPad would be an awesome experience. But it seems Apple left this feature out, probably to release it in the second generation. Next, it raises the question of where will you use it? Sure you could take it to school or work and take notes at a meeting but the touchscreen keyboard kind of limits it as you have to be looking at the screen to get your fingers in the correct position. You could use it on the bus or train to watch movies or read books. Firstly, reading books on a screen this bright and vibrant, although implemented well, will just not work. The backlight will cause eye strain and this cannot be avoided. Reading whole novels on this device will lead you to ruin your eyes even if you think it is fine in the beginning. Secondly, why would you want to fork out so much for a device where you can only watch movies. That's what a portable dvd player is all about and you can buy one for about $50 now.
So you have this device, something which was supposed to be magical and revolutionary but it wasn't. Its the tiny limitations of the product which make you realise how awesome it could have been but just wasn't. What is the point of buying a device like this? Can you name any uses specifically for this device which warrants the need for a new category of device?
You can also find this article at my newsvine.com column
What about the iPhone 3G?
Has Apple left iPhone 3G customers out in the cold? These are the first iPhones which came out internationally and now with the latest iOS4, sure the 3G will get the update but most of the features which people want are simply not there.
I can understand the logic behind no multitasking as the phone isn't optimised for it. It's processor will probably not be able to cope. I also understand that Apple want to make sure the end user gets an enjoyable experience when using their product. However, I cannot think why some other of the highly anticipated features such as customisable wallpapers, folders and iBooks were not allowed on the older iPhone. They probably would have worked fine as customisable wallpapers and other cool features have been available for jailbroken iPhones for ages. These ran fine, there were no complaints about the performance and the processor seemed to cope. This seems like a ploy by Apple to get everyone to renew their contracts with their carrier for the iPhone 4. Not a good practice if you ask me. The fact that the earlier products have just been abandoned so users are forced to fork out money to upgrade or live with an inferior phone which could have done so much more. The funny thing is, Apple have such an influence on people that everyone will accept this and move on.
iPhone 4 Impressions
Sorry about not updating the blog in ages. I have been extremely busy. So, I thought what better time to make a new post than on the introduction of a new Apple product. Quite frankly, I thought the iPad was a bit of a disappointment to me personally and I have to say that i was expecting big things of the iPhone 4. However, I believe this new product is just trying to play catchup with its Android counterparts for this generation. Yes, Apple has added over 100 new features to iOS 4 but none of them are truly revolutionary.
Take this quote for example of Apple's website:
"People have been dreaming about video calling for decades"
My first reaction to seeing this on Apple's website was to burst out laughing. You have to have been living under a rock for the last 6 years to not have noticed that most new phones have video calling capabilities. As well as this, FaceTime can only be used on WiFi between two iPhone 4s. The chances of the person you want to call being on a WiFi network with an iPhone 4 is astronomically low. Why wouldn't you just use Skype?
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