STEVE JOBS ANNOUNCES NEW IPAD

Here is the new Ipad 2 and once again it is nothing special. Those who proclaimed the new iPad as the iPad 1.5 rather than the iPad 2.0 had it right. Instead of doing a big event, the company could have simply done a small announcement and slipstreamed the upgrade into its stores and outlets.

There were only two important items added to the device: the HDMI connection and the second camera. The rest was normal and expected performance upgrades that did not need a special event.
Who is really going to use the HDMI or the camera? If you haven't noticed, the front-facing camera on the iPhone is usually used for one conference call to see if it works, then never used again. I suppose some people may use it a lot while away from home, but most people will never use it. It's a gimmick


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Apple's busy upgrading their desktops and laptops, starting with the new Apple MacBook Pro Thunderbolt ($1,200-$2,500). Available in 13-, 15-, and 17-inch varieties, these new laptops feature dual- or quad-core Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, plenty of RAM, FaceTime HD webcams, AMD Radeon HD graphics processors with up to 1GB of video memory, and the unibody aluminum enclosure we've come to know and love. New this time around is Thunderbolt I/O technology, developed by Intel, which provides a replacement for all sorts of ports while promising transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps. I know I hate Apple because I still think all of their products arew overpriced, but I still have to blog about it for all you Apple lovers out there. Idiots.

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MOTOROLA ATRIX 4G

The Motorola ATRIX 4G is the fastest smartphone not yet on the market. Come March 6th, however, it will be. AT&T has landed a screamingly fast Android device courtesy of Motorola, and that’s not all. The device is so powerful that it can power a laptop with full Firefox browser, and spit out 1080p video like it’s nothing.

For more click the jump

The Motorola ATRIX 4G is one of the world’s fastest smartphone, literally. With a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, it’s a screamer. So much so, it can power a full netbook-like laptop accessory (we’ll touch on that later). As far as other specifications go, it’s one of the few Android handsets to feature a whopping 1GB of RAM. Rounding out the feature set is a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p video recording, the first qHD (quarter HD) display, second microphone for noise cancellation, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, front-facing video camera, HDMI port, and a fingerprint scanner for security that doubles as the on/off button

This is where the phone extends beyond a phone into something more, and it gets really interesting. As you might have heard and seen, the Motorola ATRIX has a couple accessory friends, and one of them is a laptop dock — a full fledged computer powered by the phone itself. Motorola told us that there is practically nothing in the laptop dock — no memory, no processor, nothing. In addition to containing basically an 11.6-inch screen, full keyboard, and built-in battery, the laptop dock actually doesn’t skimp on some essentials. The keyboard is backlit (who’d have thunk), there is an oversized trackpad, and it’s blended together in black aluminum and soft touch rubber.

A couple annoyances include the fact that the trackpad is not multitouch, which is a pretty big issue for scrolling — and we feel like a missed opportunity to extend gestures from the laptop dock to the phone. Since the phone literally runs and is displayed on the laptop screen in it’s own window, you have to literally click and drag your finger to swipe on the phone’s display — a nice little two finger swipe gesture would have been great there, for instance. It’s also very cumbersome to use the left and right mouse trackpad buttons as they are hard to push and don’t have great tactile feedback

The initial honeymoon period with the laptop dock quickly wore off, and here’s why… When purchased with the ATRIX, the laptop dock is bundled for $499 ($199 for the device, $299 for the laptop dock). Purchased separately, the laptop dock is priced at $499. Let’s throw out the possibility of buying the laptop dock separately since in our minds, that’s out of the question. The question is if the laptop dock — a single purpose accessory for your smartphone — is worth $300, and we’d unfortunately have to say that we don’t think it is. While on paper it sounds great, and even in person it looks amazing, most of the excitement is lost when you use the laptop dock. We aren’t in love with the keyboard or the trackpad, and navigation was a frustrating experience for us. Not because of the software or processor, but because of the hardware on the laptop. Additionally, while you have your phone front and center with a full-fledged Firefox browser, that’s all you get and that’s not going to be enough for most people.

Pretty cool but I'll pass.

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MAN VS MACHINE 15 YEARS LATER

On Valentine's Day, IBM's "Watson" computer will make its television debut as a contestant on "Jeopardy!" when it will take on flesh and blood champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. It's a true showdown between man and machine, but it's not the first. On the same week 15 years ago, chessmaster Garry Kasparov threw down with another IBM creation, the super computer "Deep Blue." Here's a look back at their six-game battle. But can it go get me a beer.

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LAMBORGHINI HARD DRIVE

Cool harddrive from Asus. Imbued with lines inspired by the company's sportscars, this external hard drive looks the part, and with available USB 3.0 connectivity, stands to live up to the promise of performance. Unfortunately the price tag is suitably Lambo-like as well: the starting price of $120 for a 500GB drive with the slower USB 2.0 connection makes it almost twice as expensive as an ordinary hard drive

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COOL LAPTOP CHAIR AND CASE

Openaire is a hybrid of a laptop case, portable workstation, and a chair.


Designed by Beau and Nick Trincia, Openaire consists of a laptop sleeve that acts as a desk and a protective shell that functions as a chair.
Cool but probably wouldn't buy it.


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TECH TUESDAY: BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK DEMO

Search Amazon.com for blackberry

Way cooler than the ipad if I was into the touchscreen idea.

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COOL DELOREAN HARD DRIVE

If you're looking for a drive to use as a Time Machine backup for your Mac, what better enclosure could you find than an actual time machine? The Delorean Time Machine Hard Drive ($250) is a 1:18 scale replica of the iconic Delorean from Back to the Future, with details like working doors and hood, a Mr. Fusion reactor, and 1950's wheels + rims, plus a 500 GB Seagate hard drive buried inside. Let's just hope this time machine doesn't fall into the wrong hands, lest your private photo collection become the property of the Internets. I might just get one.

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TECH TUESDAY; DELL INSPIRON DUO

The Dell Inspiron Duo($550). This hybrid netbook/tablet features a flip-around 10.1-inch screen that functions as a normal display in notebook mode, but becomes the touch-friendly basis for Dell’s customized, media-friendly duo Stage software when flipped to the outside. Windows 7 Home Premium, two USB ports, an integrated webcam, and an Intel Atom processor round out the specs. This is hot. Put it on my Christmas list


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RARE APPLE COMPUTER SOLD AT AUCTION

A rare Apple I computer assembled by Steve Wozniak -- of which only around 50 are thought to exist -- has sold at Christie's auction house for £133,250 ($213,600), slightly below what the company had seen as the high end of its estimate but nonetheless a record price for any personal computer. Wozniak himself was on hand to autograph the machine for the winning bidder, and called the original Apple "an important step" that put "the whole formula [for how personal computer
work] out there for the world to see."
The particular copy up for auction (#82) included a signed letter from Jobs suggesting monitors that could be used with the machine, and all the original support materials, including the optional cassette interface card and the original bill of sale ($741.66), including the cassette adapter and tax. The operation manual is also notable for having the original Apple logo on it, depicting Sir Issac Newton under the apple tree.
Why would you buy this when you can get an iphone for $200 bucks I do not know.

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EVER WANTED TO DELETE YOUR MYSPACE PROFILE

Well this is how you do it, but just one question is anyone still using myspace anyway?

via: gizmodo

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OBAMA HAS A NEW WEBSITE

It's called: www.whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com so check it out.

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ANOTHER TOUCHSCREEN TABLET: HP SLATE

If you're in the market for a tablet but need a more business-oriented box than the iPad, check out the HP Slate 500 ($800). Powered by Windows 7 Professional and a 1.86GHz Intel Atom processor, the Slate features an 8.9-inch touch screen, an active digitizer for pen support, 2GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD, an HD accelerator for video playback, front- and rear-facing cameras — of the VGA and 3 megapixel variety — and an included dock with HDMI output. Pretty cool

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WIFI DIRECT IS HERE

It is official: Wi-Fi Direct is here, and the non-profit Wi-Fi Alliance is now certifying products as Wi-Fi Certified Wi-Fi Direct. Alliance members include Apple, Cisco, Intel and other major tech vendors.

Wi-Fi Direct is an emerging technology meant to meet the growing demand for easy, portable wireless network connectivity. It's peer-to-peer wireless networking, which means that devices such as notebooks, tablets, cameras, and printers can "find" one another and establish wireless connectivity without need of the presence of a wireless router, an access point, or a hotspot.


How is it used? Imagine synching your mobile device or laptop to a printer, digital photo frame, or TV without connecting to a Wi-Fi network. For more details read the entire article from Pc MAG.

-via pcmag

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