Uh, whoa. When we heard Google’s threatened pullout of China had prompted Motorola to seek out an alternative search provider for its China-bound handsets, we can’t say we were expecting a partnership with Microsoft to result. But here we are, staring at a press release announcing the Bing search and Maps will be the default on Moto’s Chinese Android phones starting in Q1 — and the partnership is described as “global,” so there’s a chance it could spread. That’s just one more slap in Google’s face from Moto, following the release of the Yahoo-powered AT&T Backflip — and another step away from the tight relationship that produced the Droid. And does this mean Motorola might yet build a Windows Phone 7 Series device, despite a very public commitment to Android? We’d say Eric and Sanjay have some unresolved differences to work through.
Sony will have multiple packages. A standalone Move controller, or a package with PlayStation Eye + Move + a game, or an entire console solution. The Eye and Move and game combo will be less than $100. The preliminary launch window is Fall 2010.
One of the games for it is called Sports Champions, a game with a bunch of smaller mini games. One demo is a swordfighting duel game with a sword/mace and shield. It’s similar to the swordfighting one in Wii Sports Resort, but with a shield too. This needs two motion controllers at once.
One cool effect that they can do with the benefit of having a PS Eye is that they can do augmented reality stuff, like putting a paintbrush or a tennis racquet onto your Move controller on screen.
Sony also didn’t say that the controllers came in a pair, so for the games that require two controllers (like the swordfighting one), you may have to buy two Move controllers. Very Nintendo WiiMote + Nunchuck-esque in terms of having to buy two things.
Motion Fighters. A street fighting game that actually looks pretty cool, as it makes you make the entire motion instead of just flicking your wrist.
Oh, and there’s also a sub-controller that you can buy as an attachment to turn the controller into a WiiMote+Nunchuck like configuration. It’s also wireless.
Hands On
Update: I just got hands on with two of the games, one is Socom, a shooter that has been adapted to use the Move and the sub-controller, the second is the Sports Champions swordfighting.
Socom, compared to point-and-shoot shooters on the Wii, was much smoother, much less jittery and more accurate. The combination of Move and PlayStation Eye seems to work well in this aspect, but it’s not exactly better to use this when you compare it to a standard controller or a Mouse + Keyboard. I can see this as better for novices to shooters, being able to aim where you want to shoot.
The other game, the Sports Champions sword + shield fighting, is about what you’d expect. It’s more or less 1:1 motion, like the Wii MotionPlus, but it’s not so much more accurate than the Wii that you’d call it a dramatic improvement. An improvement, yes, but not dramatic. The left hand also holds a controller in order to wave the shield around, and that was a bit awkward in my experience. Right hand was fine, left hand a bit awkward to control simultaneously.
Swinging the hammer to your left, or right, or over your head actually moves it on screen, but again, it’s not SO much better than Wii MotionPlus. The graphics, of course, are one generation higher, but the controls, ehhh.
PLAYSTATION®MOVE MOTION CONTROLLER DELIVERS A WHOLE NEW ENTERTAINMENT EXPERIENCE TO PLAYSTATION®3
New PlayStation®Move Sub-Controller, Enabling Intuitive Navigation, to Accompany the Release of the Motion Controller This Fall and 36 Developers and Publishers to Support PlayStation®Move Platform
Tokyo, March 10, 2010 – Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) today announced that PlayStation®Move motion controller for PlayStation®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system launches worldwide this fall, offering a motion-based, high-definition gaming experience unlike anything on the market. Concurrently with its launch, SCE will also release PlayStation®Move sub-controller to be used along with the motion controller for intuitive navigation of in-game characters and objects. The PlayStation Move platform, including the motion controller, sub-controller, and PlayStation®Eye camera*1, together with a strong lineup of software titles, will deliver an innovative and highly immersive experience on the PS3 system.
The combination of the PS3 system and PlayStation Eye camera detects the precise movement, angle, and absolute position in 3D space of PlayStation Move motion controller, allowing users to intuitively play the game as if they themselves are within the game. PlayStation Move motion controller delivers unmatched accuracy through its advanced motion sensors, including a three-axis gyroscope, a three-axis accelerometer, and a terrestrial magnetic field sensor, as well as a color-changing sphere that is tracked by PlayStation Eye camera. Through PlayStation Move system, both fast and subtle motion can be detected, whether the user is swinging a tennis racket, or painting with a brush. With PlayStation Move motion controller, users can provide direct input through action buttons and an analog trigger, while receiving physical feedback from rumble functionality and visual feedback from the sphere’s ability to display a variety of different colors. Furthermore, PlayStation Eye camera can capture the player’s voice or image, enabling augmented reality experiences.
The newly announced PlayStation Move sub-controller is a one-handed controller, developed to further expand the game play options that PlayStation Move games can offer*2. PlayStation Move sub-controller features a sleek curved design that pairs with the motion controller and comes with an analog stick and directional buttons that allow users to easily control the game when moving characters or choosing a direction. Like all other Wireless Controllers for the PS3 system, it comes with a built in lithium-ion rechargeable battery as well as Bluetooth® technology, enabling the controller to transfer the input information wirelessly to the PS3 system without a cable. PlayStation Move motion controller and sub-controller will further broaden the gaming experience on the PS3 system for all genres, from games that use one motion controller to games that use both controllers.
The introduction of PlayStation Move controllers has been well received within the industry and now 36 third party developers and publishers*3 have decided to support PlayStation Move platform. In fiscal year 2010, SCE Worldwide Studios will also release more than 20 games that are either dedicated to or supported with the PlayStation Move platform.
SCE, with strong support from software developers and publishers, will deploy various measures to enhance the PlayStation Move software title line-up and vigorously promote the PS3 platform.
This article was written on April 30, 2008 by CyberNet.
One of the things that I’ve grown accustomed to in iTunes is listening to the streaming radio stations. When you go through an entire work day sitting in front of your computer it’s nice to have a variety of music at your fingertips without needing to assemble your own playlists. Wouldn’t it be nice, however, if you could record some of the songs so that you can listen to them later on?
A few days ago Download Squad dug up an online service that will do just that. Chilirec is completely free, and once you signup you’ll be ready to roll. During the signup process you’ll be prompted to choose from hundreds of online radio stations (many are the same as the ones in iTunes and other media players) that you want to record from. After about 5 minutes the songs will start rolling in from the radio stations that you selected, and you’ll be able to create playlists out of the songs that are being played.
One interesting thing that I noticed is that you can save any song in your playlist to your computer simply by right-clicking on it as seen in the screenshot above. It will be stored in MP3 format which means it shouldn’t have any troubles playing on external devices.
The service is actually pretty incredible. After a little while you’ll be able to start searching/sorting all of the songs that have recorded, and after 2 days it will automatically start putting together “toplists” that show what the most frequently played songs are on the radio stations you listen to. Very cool.
The downside? Yeah, unfortunately there is one. I’ve noticed that some of the songs don’t get “clipped” at the right time. That’s because some of these online radio stations change the “now playing” information (artist, song title, etc…) before the songs actually end. I’m sure there are some radio stations out there that don’t do this, but a lot of the ones I listen to do. It’s definitely worth checking out though.
Astronaut Andrew Feustel spacewalks to perform repairs on the Hubble; click to enlarge.
Take a number of the Hubble Space Telescope’s most stunning images, give them a 3D look, and display them on an IMAX screen–what’s not to love? Yet Hubble 3D, an IMAX and Warner Brothers film made in cooperation with NASA, manages to go far beyond that.
Much of the film focuses on last May’s mission of the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-125) to repair the Hubble. The astronauts brought an IMAX 3D camera with which they were able to capture spectacular sequences of the grueling and dangerous spacewalks the crew undertook to conduct the repairs. Coupled with stunning views of Earth, this section of Hubble 3D provides an immersive experience that astronauts who have seen the video have termed the closest thing yet to actually being in orbit.Hubble 3D will open in selected IMAX theaters March 19, but we were fortunate enough to get a preview this week.
The movie, narrated by Leonardo Dicaprio, opens with the STS-125 crew suiting up and talking about the importance of the mission and their growing excitement about it in the hours before liftoff. Among them is Mike Massimino (@Astro_Mike), who on that mission became the first astronaut to tweet from space. The film cuts away to a history of Hubble and a tour of its images (some of which you’ll find after the jump) but always returns to the saga of the repair mission.
Locking the barn before not after the horse has left, Ford says it’s adding more data security to its Sync platform that brings Bluetooth and music connections to Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles. Ford said security hasn’t been a problem but with 2011 vehicles able to browse the Web – via a cellphone or smartphone, while the car is parked – Ford’s Sync guru declared it would be “just prudent” to add more security. Even if hacks haven’t happened yet, people freak out at the idea that somehow a hacker could mess with the car’s security or safety systems and next thing you know, there’d be Fords crashing left and right like they were Toyotas.
The App Store censorship horse may have been beaten to death, but mainstream German media—whose iPhone applications have been censored by Apple because of its content—are not surrendering. I’m glad. In fact, I hope they win this war.
The censorship problem is not only about the 5,000 titillating apps that fell down in flames after Apple’s latest puritanic raid. Except for apps from well known slippery-when-wet publishing houses like Playboy, that raid closed the smutty graphic category entirely. The censorship problem goes a lot deeper than that, and it has affected mainstream publications already.
Freedom of the Press
The polemic in Germany started when Apple took down Stern’s iPhone app without notice. Stern—a very large weekly news magazine—published a gallery of erotic photos as part of its editorial content. It wasn’t gratuitous: It was just part of the material published in the magazine itself, integrated in their usual sections.
The entire app was taken down, according to the Spiegel, and publisher Gruner + Jahr had to eliminate that content in order for the application to go up to the store again. They learnt their lesson, since they haven’t published any other material that may offend Apple’s “moral police”—as the German press calls it.
Then came Bild, a large daily newspaper printed by publishing powerhouse Axel Springer AG. Bild also distributes its content through a dedicated iPhone application. This app gives access to its sections from a central springboard. Last December, they released a new mini-app called Bild-Girl, which shows a woman moaning and getting rid of her clothes every time you shake the iPhone with your free hand.
Apple didn’t take that well and asked Bild to put a bikini on the girl. Bild complied. But now Apple also wants Bild to censor the naked girl that comes in the PDF version of the printed newspaper, which is accessible from the Bild application too. Apple is trying to force them into censoring their publication, even while the women are pre-emptively censored: Their nipples are pixelated and unrecognizable in the iPhone-distributed PDF document.
That’s when the Bild editors went ballistic.
It Can Get Worse
I don’t blame them, because I’m going fucking ballistic at this stage of the proceedings too. How Apple can force Bild to change their editorial content? Or putting it another way: If Gizmodo decides to release an iPhone application tomorrow, would Apple take it down whenever we publish a NSFW post that shows nipples?
Probably they would, if they receive enough complaints. (We receive some from time to time, so it’s not out of the question). What about magazines, books, or comic books—like Watchmen and other adult graphic novels—that contain explicit sexual descriptions or graphics? Would those be censored too in the future, if enough people think it’s politically incorrect?
What about other content? Like Bild Digital’s CEO Donata Hopfen says: “Today they censor nipples, tomorrow editorial content.” The Association of German Magazine Publishers agree, and they have asked the International Federation of the Periodical Press to make a complaint to Apple. I agree too: This is just not about the nipples. If Apple had established a firm set of rules about tits and pink beforehand, there wouldn’t be any problem. But this censorship is completely arbitrary and unexpected.
How? Imagine Gawker develops an iPod/iPad application, one that gives access to Gizmodo.com, Gawker.com and all its publications—except Fleshbot, for obvious reasons. Now imagine that we get the scoop of the Next Big Thing from Steve Jobs, and decide to publish it in the app. Would Apple send another letter threatening us to take down the app, perhaps? Would Apple have banned an hypothetical Gawker app when Gizmodo uncovered Steve Jobs’ health problems?
I don’t think that’s a crazy thought. In fact, knowing how things work, I think it’s entirely possible.
And it doesn’t have to be about Apple or tits. There are plenty of applications that have been deemed blasphemous or offensive by Apple, and banned from publication. Would publications showing a caricature of Prophet Mohamed be taken down as well? That would get Phil Schiller plenty of complaint letters.
I don’t really know what Apple may do in these cases. And that’s the problem. The fact is that they forced Stern and Bild to do change their editorial content decisions, and anyone or anything could be next. Apple is a corporation and they can do whatever they want, after all. In fact, that’s the argument of the people who defend these decisions: It’s Apple’s prerogative to do whatever the hell they want with their store.
But knowing that the Apple iPhone-iPod-iPad triumvirate is the largest mobile application platform in the world—practically owning the category—couldn’t that be considered an abuse of quasi-monopoly power? I have no idea. I will leave that question to the lawyers of the Association of German Magazine Publishers. And the lawyers of the International Federation of the Periodical Press.
And if indeed things get any worse, I hope the lawyers at the European Union, and hopefully some commission at the United States’ Senate will give us the answer. [VDZ and Bild (Google Translated) via Spiegel]
I spoke to Imagination Technologies—maker of the PowerVR chip that powers smartphones like the iPhone, Droid and many others—and they said, definitively, that you’ll have graphics comparable to the PlayStation 3 in 3 years.
They know this because these are the chips they’re designing right now. The way the development process works for phones is that Imagination comes up with a chip, which they license, and that works its way through development cycles and people like Apple or HTC, which then incorporate them into their phones, which they in turn have to productize and bring to market. The whole thing takes three years. But in three years, says Imagination, you’re going to have a PS3 in your pocket. And that’s not just running at the 480×340 resolution that most phones have now, that’s PS3-esque graphics on 720p output via HDMI to a TV. Hell, some phones in three years will have a 720p display native.
But there are going to be some interesting things between now and then. Imagination is still working on support for the products out now—the chips in the iPhones and the Droids and the Nokias that use PowerVR. The two most interesting things are Flash acceleration in hardware and OpenCL support, which enables GPGPU computing.
The first is obvious. By utilizing a software-based update, phones on the market right now can run Flash acceleration. Imagination’s been working with Adobe for about three years now, and they’ve gotten the acceleration up to about 300% compared to using just software. They think they can do even better. Even still, 300% is pretty damn good for just pushing what you can do with your current phone.
Secondly, there’s OpenCL support, which allows devices to utilize the GPU—the graphics chip—to help out in general purpose computing. For a more in depth look on what this means, check out our feature on GPGPUs, but in essence it’s going to allow multi-threaded tasks to be executed faster than they would be otherwise.
I also asked Imagination about what’s going to be different about their chips that will hit the market one, two and three years from now, and they say one of the big things is going to be focused on multiprocessors. Theoretically you can get about three or four into a phone without going too crazy on power demands, which will help them pull off that PS3-equivalency we talked about earlier.
Keep in mind that this stuff is what’s “possible” in three years, based on what hardware is going to be available in the phones released then. A lot of this is still based on phone makers like Apple or HTC or Palm or Motorola to make these features available. But since most of the major phone manufacturers are going to have essentially the same chip, it’s in everyone’s self-interest to push as much power out from their phones as possible.
But if you’re looking forward to what’s coming one year from now, check out the screenshots in the post, taken from the demos they had running on sample hardware.
“We use the epub format: It is the most popular open book format in the world.” That’s how Steve Jobs announced the iPad. And wow, that sounds like all the ebooks you own will just work on anything. Um, no.
The idea of an open ebook format that works on any reader sounds nice. Buy it from any source, read it on any device. In a few cases, it’s true, and that open format thing can work for you. But, in reality, right now? You’re pretty much going to be stuck reading books you buy for one device or ecosystem in that same little puddle, thanks to DRM. And well, Amazon.
The Hardware
Okay, so the easiest way to put this in perspective is to quickly list what formats the major ebook readers support. (Why these four? Well, they’re the ones due to sell over 2 million units this year, except for Barnes & Noble‘s, which we’re including as a direct contrast to Kindle just because.)
• Amazon Kindle: Kindle (AZW, TPZ), TXT, MOBI, PRC and PDF natively; HTML and DOC through conversion • Apple iPad: EPUB, PDF, HTML, DOC (plus iPad Apps, which could include Kindle and Barnes & Noble readers) • Barnes & Noble Nook: EPUB, PDB, PDF • Sony Reader: EPUB, PDF, TXT, RTF; DOC through conversion
You’ll notice a pattern there: Everybody (except for Amazon) supports EPUB as their primary ebook format. Turns out, there’s a good reason for that.
EPUB, the MP3 of Book Publishing
The reason just about every ebook uses EPUB is because the vast majority of the publishing industry has decided that EPUB is the industry standard file format for ebooks. It’s a free and open standard, based on open specifications. The successor to Open eBook, it’s maintained by the International Digital Publishing Forum, which has a pretty lengthy list of members, both of the dead-tree persuasion (HarperCollins and McGraw Hill) and of the technological kind (Adobe and HP). Google’s million-book library is all in EPUB too.
It’s based on XML—extensible markup language—which you see all over the place, from RSS to Microsoft Office, ’cause it lays out rules for storing information. And it’s actually made up of a three open components: Open Publication Structure basically is about the formatting, how it looks; Open Packaging Format is how it’s tied together using navigation and metadata; and Open Container Format is a zip-based container format for the file, where you get the .epub file extension. When you toss those three components together, you have the EPUB ebook format.
While we’ve only see EPUB on black-and-white e-ink-based readers so far, like Sony’s Readers or the B&N Nook, the capabilities of the file format go way “beyond those types of things,” says Nick Bogaty, Adobe’s senior development manager for digital publishing. Unlike PDF, which is a fixed page, EPUB provides reflowable text, a page layout that can adjust itself to a device’s screen-size. With EPUB, content producers can use cascading style sheets, embedded fonts, and yes, embed multimedia files like color images, SVG graphics, interactive elements, even full video—the kind of stuff Steve promised in the iPad keynote. So, we haven’t seen the full extent of EPUB’s capabilities, and won’t, until at least April 3 and presumably much later. Even if the books you buy from Apple iBook store worked on other devices—and as you will soon see, there’s little chance of that—don’t count on the coolest stuff, like video, to be somehow compatible with current-generation black-and-white e-ink readers.
D-D-D-DRM!
But let’s not get too excited seeing the words “free” and “open” so much in conjunction with EPUB. It’s like MP3 or AAC, and not only because it’s become a semi-universal industry standard. Make no mistake, these files can be totally unencrypted and unmanaged, or they can be wrapped up in any kind of digital rights management a distributor wants.
So far, according to Bogaty, the DRM every EPUB distributor currently uses is Adobe Content Server, which conveniently also wraps around PDF files. Sony and Barnes & Noble both use it on their readers, though since Adobe’s DRM doesn’t allow for sharing books between accounts, B&N actually uses a slightly custom version, and manages the Nook’s lending feature using their own backend. (Adobe is working on a sharing provision.) It does, however, support expiration, which is how Sony’s vaunted library lending feature works.
The plus side of all this compatability that it’s actually possible to move files from a Sony Reader to a Nook, using Adobe Digital Editions to authorize the transfer. (Though according to some reviewers, that would be like moving pelts from a dead horse to a rotting bear.)
Apple, on the other hand, chose EPUB as the preferred file format, but will be wrapping DRM’d files from its iBooks Store in the FairPlay DRM, which is used to protect movies and apps (and formerly music) in the iTunes Store. As always, expect them to be the only company using it.
(There’s a precursor to EPUB’s dilemma: Audible downloads. You can buy Audible audiobooks from an enormous number of sources, but the ones you buy from iTunes aren’t going to play on any other Audible-capable device, no matter how many logos they slap on the box.)
You may be thinking that it’s just a matter of time before ebook stores all go DRM free. That would be wishful thinking at best. While ebooks might seem a lot like digital music circa 2005, you can’t rip a book, so the only way to get a bestseller on your reader is to buy it legally, or to steal it. It’s pretty much that simple. There will be free books, there will be unencrypted books, and the torrents will rage with bestsellers (as they already do). Still, DRM’s gonna be a hard fact of life with every major bookstore, since they’re going to at least try to keep you from stealing it. You don’t see Hollywood giving up DRM, do you?
Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and How The Dead PDA Business Affects the Live Ebook War
Did you know that Amazon owns Mobipocket, which mainly targeted ebooks for PDAs and smartphones, and had its own file format that with roots in the PalmDOC format? The Mobipocket format, consequently, has two extensions: .mobi and .prc. I bring it up, not because you should care about Mobipocket—you really shouldn’t—but because the Kindle’s preferred AZW format is actually a very slightly modified version of MOBI, which is why it’s easy to convert files from one format to the other. Unprotected AZW files can be renamed to the MOBI or PRC format and simply work with MobiPocket readers.
The problem with Mobipocket is that it’s not a very capable format, since it was originally designed for ancient-ass PDAs and all. So there’s another special Amazon format that’s a little more mysterious, called Topaz, which is more capable than MOBI, with powers like the ability to have embedded fonts. It’s used for fewer books, and carries the file suffix .tpz or .azw1. For what it’s worth, some people complain books in the Topaz format are less responsive than the standard AZW files. In truth, none of this may matter if and when the Super Kindle arrives.
In terms of DRM, Amazon uses its own DRM on both formats. Both have been cracked, though it apparently took longer with Topaz. This may be good news for pirates, but matters not at all from a cross-platform point of view, since that format is completely proprietary, and nothing but the Kindle or Kindle software will read it anyway.
But the old PDA legacy crap doesn’t stop with Amazon. Palm once owned its own ebook platform, which it sold to a company who called it eReader. Eventually, the format and the software platform came to be owned by Barnes & Noble. I’m only dragging you into this because Barnes & Noble actually still sells many books in this format, even while they transition to the more popular and “open” EPUB format. You can spot an eReader format because the file ends in .pdb—but you only see that after you bought the damn thing. That is to say, even if you care enough about formats to go with the reader that supports the one you like, you still might get stuck with a limited, if not completely proprietary, stack of books.
PDF, I Still Love You
In comparison to EPUB, PDF is simple. Developed over 15 years ago by Adobe, the portable document format has been an open standard since 2008. You’re probably pretty damn familiar with it, but the main thing about it versus these other formats is that everything is fixed—fonts, graphics, text, etc.—so it looks the same everywhere, versus the reflowable format that adjusts to the screen size. Hence, Amazon offers PDF without zoom on its Kindle DX, which has the screen real estate to (usually) not muck it up too much. With smaller screens than the PDF’s native size, it requires some pan-and-zoom voodoo, and it still usually looks pretty disgusting.
Zoom issues notwithstanding, having a fixed format has advantages. For instance, a lot of “electronic newspapers” were transmitted via PDF back in the day, because it retained their design. It’s really nice for comics. (Consequently, you can bet scanned-comic piracy to explode when the iPad arrives, unless Marvel and DC come up with killer strategies to get their comics on a device that’s clearly begging for it.) Wikipedia covers a lot of the technical ground, surprisingly thoroughly, even if the usual Wiki caveats apply. As mentioned above, it can be protected with Adobe Content Server DRM, just like EPUB.
The Great Shiny Hope: Apps
The other path for digital publishers: Build an app to hold your books and magazines. This is the route magazines are taking, because they’re envisioning some fancy digital jujitsu. With Adobe AIR, which is what Wired and the NYT are using in various incarnations for their respective rags, they’re able to do more advanced layouts, more rich multimedia, Flash craziness, and other designer bling that EPUB can’t handle, says Adobe’s Bogarty. Also, importantly you can dynamically update content, like when new issues arrive, which you can’t really do with EPUB.
Interestingly, the publisher Penguin is alsotaking the app route for their books, building apps using web technologies like HTML5 for the iPad, so their books are in fact, way more like games and applications than mere books. So it’s another tack publishers could take.
But the app business can help with the openness of the big ebook file formats, too. Many people read Amazon’s proprietary formats on their iPhone, because Amazon wants to sell books, and Apple wants people to use apps. Barnes & Noble has a reader app, too; while not great, it at least somewhat helps get over the PDB/EPUB confusion. It’s pretty likely that these and many other ebook apps will turn up on the iPad, unless Jobs decides that they “duplicate” his “functionality.” Since iBooks itself is an app you have to download, it probably won’t be an issue. Here’s hoping.
The Upshot
The idea of an open ebook format that works on any reader sounds really nice. And in some cases, if you pay really really close attention, it’s true. That open format thing actually can work for you. But the reality? You’re pretty much going to be stuck with the books you buy in one device working only in that same ecosystem, or at least hoping and praying for an assortment of proprietary reader apps to appear on all your devices. Now, where’d I put that copy of Infinite Jest? Was it in my Kindle library, my B&N library or my iBooks library?
Still something you wanna know? Send questions about ebooks, bookies or horse heads here with “Giz Explains” in the subject line.
We’d be naive to think manufacturers were twiddling their thumbs while Apple pimps out its iPad. Sure enough, there could be as many as 50 tablet devices from competing manufacturers worldwide this year, according to mobile microprocessor company ARM.
In anticipation of the upcoming tablet invasion, ARM has rented out more space at the Computex electronics trade show in Taipei to accommodate the new devices, according to ComputerWorld.
“The first tablet devices will launch in the second quarter by [mobile network] carriers,” said Roy Chen, ARM’s worldwide mobile computing ODM manager, during a press meeting in Taipei. “You’ll see a lot more in the third quarter.”
ARM licenses its microprocessor technologies to many manufacturers for their mobile devices, so we can trust that Chen has some inside knowledge about upcoming tablets. (The iPhone’s processor is ARM-based, for example.)
Chen noted the majority of the tablets will launch in China, but that “companies everywhere” are delivering tablets as well. He didn’t name specific companies. However, in the United States we’re aware of upcoming tablets from HP and Dell. And before the iPad even lands, startup Fusion Garage plans to release its JooJoo tablet.
Wired.com last year predicted that 2010 would be the year of the tablet after hearing from industry sources that several major manufacturers, including Dell and HTC, were planning to launch tablets.
This article was written on July 13, 2006 by CyberNet.
Microsoft has decided to demonstrate its newest version of Windows to a hacker and security conference in September. The conference will help expose some potential problems that Vista might have so that they can be taken care of before the expected January release. It looks like this is becoming a common practice according to PC World:
More and more software and hardware vendors are trying to weed out vulnerabilities before products go to market, and they often turn to the underground and above ground security community for advice.
There will be two different people from Microsoft making presentations. The first speaker will lead a more general discussion on any possible security holes and try to get input from the attendees. The second speaker will present Vista’s BitLocker Drive Encryption and try to gather input on that.
BitLocker Drive Encryption prevents hackers from trying to break into Vista in the event a computer is lost or stolen. It will lock out the intruder that is trying to access files using hacking software or other tools to compromise the data. This feature won’t be found on every version of Vista, instead you will have to fork out the money for the Ultimate or Enterprise editions. Microsoft always makes sure you have to pay extra for useful features .
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
One of the things that I’ve grown accustomed to in iTunes is listening to the streaming radio stations. When you go through an entire work day sitting in front of your computer it’s nice to have a variety of music at your fingertips without needing to assemble your own playlists. Wouldn’t it be nice, however, if you could record some of the songs so that you can listen to them later on?
The App Store censorship horse may have been beaten to death, but mainstream German media—whose iPhone applications have been censored by Apple because of its content—are not surrendering. I’m glad. In fact, I hope they win this war.
The entire app was taken down, according to the Spiegel, and publisher Gruner + Jahr had to eliminate that content in order for the application to go up to the store again. They learnt their lesson, since they haven’t published any other material that may offend Apple’s “moral police”—as the German press calls it.
“We use the epub format: It is the most popular open book format in the world.” That’s how Steve Jobs announced the iPad. And wow, that sounds like all the ebooks you own will just work on anything. Um, no.
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