Articles

Apple’s new iPad: Hands-on | CNet

Apple’s next-gen iPad: New battlefields emerge | ZDNet

Apple unveils new iPad, Apple TV | Digital Life – The Age (Australia)

Apple unveils new iPad with high-definition screen | BBC Technology (UK)

My Comments

Over these last few days, Apple had warmed up the hype machine over their just-released iteration of the iPad. It is to implement a 9.5” very-high-definition “retina” display which allows it to show more detail; as well as the use of the A5X quad-core RISC processor, allowing, for example, the Angry Birds to throw those stones faster and harder at the pigs. This iPad will also be the first Apple iOS product to work with the 4G LTE wireless-broadband networks.

Similarly, Apple had driven down the price of their current-generation iPad 2 range in order to snap at the low-cost tablets such as the Amazon Kindle Fire. But this price attack is unrealistic due to the Kindle Fire and others offering the 7” screens and pocketable size whereas the iPad is more the larger 10” “satchel-size” variety.

But I see it more as being part of a highly-competitive touchscreen tablet computer marketplace with some powerful Android tablets on the marketplace such as the Asus Transformer Prime; as well as the upcoming appearance of Windows 8 this year with its support for tablet computers.

It will be like the late 80s where there have been three or more GUI-equipped computer platforms appearing on the consumer and business marketplace, offering their different capabilities. In some cases, this included implementing technologies that were considered “cutting edge” for that time. It is also like the way the smartphone market has become with two major competitors appealing to consumers and a few more competitors appealing to business users.

I would see the rest of this year as being a keen-edged time period for tablets and tablet-based apps as the competition heats up and the value factor for these products increases. It would also include whether these tablets will displace the regular computer from its place as one’s primary personal or business computing device as Steve Jobs wished for the Apple iPad platform or simply work as an auxiliary computing device. This includes the ability for these tablets to please the “core” gamers as a gaming system or a screen-equipped controller; or just be useful for casual ad-hoc gaming sessions.

I have noticed a gap concerning computer-based audio-visual setups especially as far as small business and non-profit organisations are concerned. It is to supply computer software affordable to these organisations that can manage audio and video playout duties that is a key part of their public-facing activities.

The current situation

Some of these organisations may push PowerPoint or similar programs to this task but they don’t really do the job well when it just comes to playing out video content. Typically, with most common presentation software, you have to embed the video file into the presentation on its own slide, in the case of Microsoft Powerpoint; or create a “virtual slide” for the video content in the case of EasiiSlides, a song-lyrics / text-display program that the churches love. This works well for short video clips that are held as files but may not do so for full-length content. These programs don’t even provide proper access to content held on DVDs or Blu-Ray Discs, which is still considered a cost-effective idiot-proof way of distributing video content.

On the other hand, programs like Windows Media Player and VLC exhibit their control surface on to the projection screen or require a very awkward kludge to permit proper dual-screen playback.

What is needed

Proper dual-screen operation

One issue I have noticed is that affordable laptops don’t readily provide separate and individual access to screen and sound outputs, including the integrated screen. Typically this kind of setup, if it works, tends to yield more problems than it is worth. This can be of concern if one of the screens is a different resolution or aspect ratio to the other, such as an economy data projector hooked up to a recent-issue laptop computer.

Audience screen vs operator screen

The goal behind these separately-addressable audio and video outputs is to create at least two separate views for the content – a “front-of-house” view which the audience sees and an “operator” or “control” view which the operator or presenter sees.

The audience feed would only show the video and audio that is related to the currently-playing content while the operator feed provides the video / audio content, content-runtime information, and any prompts and messages that the operator needs to know.

Some setups such as larger churches may necessitate a third feed for the presenter, with access to content timing as well as the content itself. Here, an operator can still control the flow of the presentation without the presenter “crooking his neck” to see the screen.

Universality with common video formats

This setup should be applicable for the consumer-optical-disc formats (DVD, Blu-Ray) as well as file or stream-delivered content. The latter situation should cater for content held on network resources as well as on local resources.

The solution offered by the presentation software typically doesn’t allow for playback off a DVD or Blu-Ray disc and a lot of users either connect a regular DVD player to the projector or mess around with DVD-playback programs to play out DVD content.

Cue mode

The dual-screen setup could allow for “cue” operation. This is where  the operator views content on the operator screen in order to preview or “cue-up” that material. Then, when it is time to show the content,  the operator then redirects it to the “front-of-house” screen and speakers.

Playlist and controlled-playback support

These should support stored playlists or active queue lists especially if they are to be used to play shorter content like music videos, video lyrics or “shorts”. Here, this could be augmented with support for “stop” entries which cause the equipment to stop playback when these files are reached.

The “stop” entries could work in a similar way to what I have noticed with some consumer MiniDisc decks where these units could be placed in to “auto-pause” where they wait at the start of the next item after they play the current item. This made these units, especially the Sony MDS-JE520, earn their keep as cost-effective audio-playout machines for community radio, churches (as I have seen), theatre groups and the like.

The playlist functionality could also support slideshows of still pictures with or without sound. This could include support for sound peculiar to each slide with or without a background-music track that runs through the playlist in a similar vein to those “theatre slides” shown before a movie session at the cinema.

Conclusion

The media-playout function is another example of software and hardware product designers missing out on a user group, namely small-business and non-profit organisations, due to a perceived low value in that group. But it is a group that should be observed and catered for with the right-priced hardware and software.

Article

Laptops dominate UK speinding in personal computing kit ! RegHardware (UK)

HP Envy 15-3000 Series full-size laptop

Relevant Links

Product Reviews – Laptops, Notebook and Netbook Computers

Buyer’s Guide – Buying a laptop or notebook computer

My Comments

It has been so easy to say that the tablet computer, especially the Apple iPad, has become the preferred computing device to buy. But latest figures from the UK have shown up that the laptop computer still hangs on as the main computing device to use.

There are some key reasons behind these figures realised by GTK who measure the equipment sold to the customers rather than boxes moved out of warehouses. One is the ability to create content on a lightweight machine that can be shifted around the house very easily.

This is more so as most of urban Britain lives in smaller houses like terraces or semi-detached houses as well as an increased number of flats.This kind of living is very receptive to the New Computing Environment which is central to portable computing.to

Toshiba Satellite L730 ultraportable notebook

As well, the typical 13”-17” laptop computer, including the new Ultrabooks uses a regular full-size keyboard that is conducive to full-bore touch-typing and most 15”-17” laptops also implement a proper numeric keypad that benefits very-quick numeric=data entry. You also have RAM sizes and secondary-storage sizes that accommodate most computing activities. I have even seen some people connect up regular desktop keyboards, mice and displays to these laptops to use them as “stationary one moment, portable the next” computers.

Unless you use the Android-driven Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, you need to kit out a tablet computer with Bluetooth keyboards and mice to use them properly for content creation.

What this is really saying that the 13”-17” laptop computer is being preferred by the British as a regular-use computer because of its flexibility and portability and the tablets are being purchased and positioned as auxiliary casual-use computing devices.

Introduction

I am reviewing the Brother QL-700 desktop label printer which is the high-speed heavy-duty version of the QL-570 label printer that I previously reviewed. It is pitched at high-throughput applications such as the delivery segment of an online-order business or the mailroom in a busy office, whereas the QL-570 is pitched as a desktop labeller for most low-throughput applications.

Details

The QL-700 which is the heavier unit can use the same Brother thermal labels and tapes as the QL-570, yet is able to turn out labels and badges at a quicker rate than the previous model. It retails for AUD$149 and effectively uses the same software as the other model, working as a printer for the host computer using the supplied driver rather than needing special software to print at all.

Tape loaded in Brother QL-700

Like the Brother QL-570 label printer, the Brother QL-700 connects to the host computer via USB, and is self-powered like the QL-570 with an easy-to-replace “cassette-recorder” AC cord, which has the same advantages of not being dependent on “wall-wart” power supplies. Like the QL-570, it could benefit from having a two-port or three-port self-powered USB hub integrated in to the unit, which would benefit use with other workstation devices like bar-code readers, scales or keyboards.

If you are upgrading from a Brother QL-570 label printer, you do not really any retraining because the loading and operating procedures are effectively the same for both units.

As a labeller, the Brohter QL-700 still does the job properly and reliably, being able to work with continuous tape or cut labels and turning out sharp text on these labels. The supplied address-book software can turn out advanced mailing / shipping labels with the barcode for the ZIP code but this only works properly with goods destined to the USA. It could work in a country-specific manner by supporessing this barcode for other countries or using destination-specific barcode systems where applicable.

Limitations and Points Of Improvement

Tape loading bay - just like the QL-570

Like the Brother QL-570, the QL-700 could benefit from implemeng the USB POS device classes ; and could also support printing on to regular thermal-print paper rolls used with point-of-sale devices. This can then make it an ideal partner for a high-traffic point-of-sale environment rather than just a label maker.

Similarly, the Brother P-Touch software that comes with the QL-series label printers could take advantage of the continuous-length tapes to turn out stick-on measuring tape for applications such as health and education.

Brother could also turn out a 12-volt variant of this model which can run from a car battery for use with high-throughput outdoor applications like disaster relief and country events.

Conclusion

I would recommend using the Brother QL-700 for high-turnaround environments like online-order businesses or offices with high-traffic mailrooms – if the business has outgrown the QL-570’s capabilities, the QL-700 would be a perfect step-up unit.

When used with the Brother VM-100 visitor-management software or similar visitor-registration software, the Brother QL-700 could satisfy the needs of a very busy registration and check-in desk at a very busy event.

Article

Telstra lodges its plan to split | The Australian

Previous Coverage

Telstra split ‘wont fix monopoly’ according to rivals

My Comments

As I have previously mentioned in this site, there needs to be further action taken concerning providing a wireline telecommunications service that is really competitive. The idea of Telstra splitting its telecommunications business between wholesale and retail is still about moving the wireline infrastructure to another entity with monopoly powers. This is compared to France where fibre-optic Internet can be provisioned by competing interests who have their own fibre-optic infrastructure but have access to the same ducts, poles, wiring closets and other physical infrastructure.

Other issues that weren’t raised included the definition and provision of the basic telecommunications service. This includes whether universal-service funds should be set up to competitively provide this service, how the national emergency-contact service is to be provided and how disaster-relief and social-telecommunications needs are to be provided in a competitive world. As I have said before, it would be best to look at what the UK and France are doing as they have moved from a government-run “PTT-style” telecommunications monopoly to a lively competitive telecommunications environment.

Apple and others may have us streaming content on a temporary basis in to our homes after we subscribe to them or another content provider but we will still want to download content to our home networks. This is so we can believe that we really have bought and owned the content rather than perpetually renting it. As well, an increasing number of content providers will take advantage of the digital environment to affordably distribute content under a “to-own” philosophy where we can buy that content in a digital form for cheap.

An example of this would be a few of the US’s well-known magazines, especially National Geographic, offering their back-issues as a collection of PDF files on a CD collection or a USB hard disk. Similarly, we would purchase digital albums of our favourite recordings from various online stores including iTunes. As well, when I went to a travel fair on Sunday 19 February, a country provided an optical-disc-based “slide collection” of images of that country at their stall.

The question that many will ask is how can it be made easier to deposit this content so it is available across the home network. Here, we could copy the files to a public “media folder” on a network-attached storage unit that is on the home network. But we would have to know where that “media folder” exists and how we should present the media to the network. As well, we would need to make it easier for a collection of PDF or other “electronic-book” files to be discovered on a mobile computing device such as a tablet.

A secure network installation routine for small networks

There typically are installation routines in place for provisioning software to computers but these look after putting the software in place on the computer from a user-carried, network-hosted or downloaded package and making the software discoverable in the computer’s operating system. The practice is also similar for delivering software updates and add-ons for network-attached storage devices and other similar devices.

Most media that is purchased online for download is typically downloaded to the user’s regular computer or, in some cases, their mobile device and manually copied to the network-attached storage using the operating system if it is to be shared. It also holds true for digital photos that are downloaded from one’s digital camera or content held on a “carry-through” physical media container like an optical disc or USB memory key. This can be a pain for people who don’t have much computer experience or patience.

One way to make this easier would be to provide a secure simple network installation routine for content collections. This could be based on the routine knowing common variables that represent the content collection and where particular content classes should go. It could manifest in a download handler associated with an online music store that knows the location of the download-music folder on the NAS.

Such routines would need to have a high level of security in order to prevent questionable software from being made available to the network. They will also have to properly support and handle permission systems that are part of most network operating systems.

These routines could allow the copying of “new” media files from the source to particular folders or, in some cases, mount the content collection to the NAS’s file system if it was in something like a USB hard disk such as the National Geographic example. Then it would force the media to be annexed to the index created by the NAS for searching and browsing the media. Of course, there will be the desire to install a skinned microsite which allows one to browse or search a media collection and this would work if the NAS uses a Web server.

Making “electronic-hard-copy” formats discoverable over the network

With DLNA at its current point, it is now feasible to provide images and audio-visual content to nearly every network-enabled audio and video player, allowing users to search or browse for the content they are after. This can be done using the device’s control surface or a control point hosted on another device and the browsing and searching can be performed against many different attributes such as the artist, title, date, user-assigned keyword or genre or a combination thereof.

But this concept hasn’t been extended to the “electronic hard-copy” document that is used for e-publishing. This will become more relevant as we purchase e-books and similar documents and create our own “e-libraries” and store them on NAS drives on our home networks. This will be of importance as large collections of works are made available in electronic hard-copy format for sell-through download or supply on a physical medium like a USB hard disk or optical-disc collection.

Here, PDF, ePub, XPS and other electronic-hard-copy files could support standardised metadata and the DLNA specification could be extended to permit discovery of content held in these electronic hard-copy formats. This would allow people who use e-readers, tablets and smartphones equipped with the right software to discover and download this material to these devices without having to know the file hierarchy of a NAS or use file managers to “pick up” the content. This software could then be integrated in to these devices in a similar manner to how DLNA media player software is becoming de rigeur for the standards-based tablet or smartphone.

Conclusion

The main issue here is that to be comfortable with newer content-delivery methods, we need to he able to do what we used to do in acquiring and annexing the content to household-common content pools so that all members of the household can gain access to the material. This then has to be made easier to d when it comes to file-delivered content especially for people with limited computer skills and what has been made available for photos, music and video content must extend to e-books and similar content. It also must allow the use of standards-based technology that doesn’t tie the user down to a particular vendor.

Introduction

I am reviewing Sony’s VAIO Z-Series which is their top-shelf ultraportable computer and a model that courts the Apple MacBook Air or the high-end Ultrabooks. This gold-finished variant uses a “split-personality” setup where it can gain extra functionality through a supplied docking station that houses discrete graphics, a power-supply and what’s more, a slot-load Blu-Ray reader / DVD burner.

The computer itself

The Sony VAIO Z Series is available in two versions – a gold-finished variant which is supplied with an extended-functionality “docking-station” unit a cheaper black-finished unit which has the docking-station unit available for AUD$699 extra

The VAIO with the optical-drive docking station

This docking-station unit has the AMD Radeon discrete video chipset as well as a Blu-Ray reader / DVD-burner drive in it and has a Gigabit Ethernet connector and two USB connectors on it. It connects to the computer using a single cable that plugs in to the right-hand side, where it can also power and charge the computer. Here, you have to make sure you press an “undock” button on the plug and wait for a blue light to turn off before you unplug this plug. It even stands on a gold-plated vertical stand which emphasises the market position that this computer is targeted for.

Aesthetics and Build quality

The VAIO Z Series aesthetics is very similar to a lot of the 13” “thin-and-light” ultraportables and the “champagn-gold” finish for this model that I am reviewing makes it look the part even in a business hotel’s lounge. There is still the good build quality associated with all of the Sony VAIO computers in this model.

As for overheating, the computer is well-ventilated to avoid this problem and the use of integrated graphics and outboard discrete graphics cuts down on this problem.

User interface

The VAIO Z Series comes with an illuminated chiclet keyboard but the illumination is more subtle than most similar implementations, more like what you see with luminous watches. It can still allow full touch-typing but could benefit from the home keys being made easier to find by feel and the keys have the hard-plastic feel about them.

The trackpad has a rough-textured area to move the cursor with and smooth-textured selection buttons. This makes it easier for one to operate the Sony VAIO’s trackpad by feel.

Audio and Video

The video setup in the Sony VAIO Z Series is very unique amongst laptops. Here, it would work with the Intel HD integrated graphics in a standalone environment or, if it is connected to the Blu-Ray module, it can work with an AMD Radeon discrete chipset in that module. The USB 3.0 link allows the use of the laptop’s screen and video connections or the video connections on the Blu-Ray module.

The setup that Sony has worked on for the VAIO can let it become a high-flying high-performing laptop for business, gaming and beyond as well as a battery.conserving laptop for basic tasks on the road.

Right-hand side connections - headphone, Ethernet, HDMI, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, power

glossy screen which may be of concern in bright environments  but the darker bezel surrounding the screen does make for improvements in improving the display’s legibility.

The audio subsystem is different in that it just uses the Intel HD audio chipset whether on the Blu-Ray module or standalone. The internal speakers are likely to distort on high frequencies too easily and this can be a problem with smaller laptops. I would improve on this design with a discrete sound subsystem like Creative Labs SoundBlaster in the Blu-Ray module and fit audio inputs and outputs to that module for better sound quality.

Connectivity and Expansion

The idea of the docking station that is part of the VAIO Z Series has permitted Sony to provide a highly-functional computer which suits different applications. Here, you have one USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 connector on the computer as well as the VGA and HDMI video outputs and Ethernet socket. But this level of connectivity is replicated on the Blu-Ray docking station with the ability to connect peripherals to both devices.

The USB 3.0 port can be set up to provide charging power for gadgets when the laptop is off in a similar vein to what the Toshiba laptops that I reviewed offer.

Docking Station connections - USB 2.0, USB 3.0, Ethernet, HDMI, VGA, computer cable, power

Battery life

The battery is able to last for around five hours of continuous stand-alone use due to the laptop using just the integrated display in that mode. If it is playing optical discs, it would be done on external power due to the Blu-Ray external module becoming the laptop’s power supply.

Limitations and Points Of Improvement

Lid view

One point of improvement that I would see for the VAIO’s Blu-Ray docking modules would be to enable one or all of the USB ports on the docking station to be powered charging ports. This is irrespective of whether the laptop is connected to the docking station or not, so as to allow one to power or charge a mobile phone or similar gadget from this device at all times. The function could be selectively enabled through the use of a hardware switch on the side of the docking module.

Similarly, the Sony’s docking module could house an advanced audio subsystem like Creative SoundBlaster and have audio connections to allow the VAIO to yield Sony’s high-quality audio standards with a nice set of speakers.

For that matter, the idea of an advanced-function docking station that Sony implemented with the VAIO Z Series could be taken further with a micros hi-fi system, home-theatre system or AV component that integrates this functionality in the same chassis. Sony could then take this concept across all of the VAIO “thin-and-light” computer series and use a connection like the new “Thunderbolt” connection for these enhanced-functionality modules.

A cheaper “Fairlane-grade” variant of the Z Series black-finished variant could benefit from a 320Gb regular hard disk that is assisted with a 20Gb solid-state drive implemented for quick-start behaviour. This is becoming a trend for some of the Ultrabooks so as to provide for lower price points and granular model lineups.

Conclusion

Doesn't look out of place in that business hotel's lounge

The prices that are set for the Sony VAIO laptop make it appealing for the “Rolex-class” of businessman who wants an ultraportable that shows the wealth. But the concepts that are espoused in this model could be implemented in the Ultrabook class of thin-and-light ultraportables.

It may be worth thinking that If I were to buy the black version of this model, I would use the docking-station module that is optional for that model as leverage for the deal.