Hasta La Gadget!

There are hundreds of devices to choose from when you’re considering a new desktop computer, laptop or mobile device. We’re overwhelmed by all of the choices we have, but choice is good. When it comes to computing, as far as operating systems, there are three huge players: Microsoft, Apple and Google. Yes, Google.

A curious thing happened during Chrome’s rise to being the most-used browser – an operating system was born. Perhaps that was the plan all along, one can never truly know with Google. What I do know is that when you’re on the go, especially with a laptop, the primary piece of software that everyone uses is the web browser, so why not build an operating system on top of it?

That’s exactly what Chrome OS is and it’s starting to make its way to consumers. Google has announced strong partnerships with hardware manufacturers like Samsung and Acer to build affordable (not cheap) laptops built for a world that accesses information in the cloud. When I say the cloud, I mean, email, files, web surfing, chatting and social networking. These things are all done very well through the browser and not through an installed desktop application.

You’d be hard-pressed to find something that you can’t do through the browser, and need actual installed software for. For me, it was using Spotify to listen to music, but that’s being sorted out as we speak. I sat down with the Chrome OS team to discuss its evolution and current iteration and came away quite impressed.

The OS

Chrome OS is an open-source operating system built on many of the things that you might be using already with the Chrome browser. Everything is quite familiar, with the full integration of all of Google’s core products: Drive, Chrome, Gmail, Play, Plus, and of course Search. If you use Google products, then using Chrome OS will be an extremely natural experience for you.

Everything runs pretty quickly on the device that I’m using right now, the latest Samsung Chromebook. I find that I’m not looking to drag and drop things onto a desktop, because it gets messy. Instead, everything is held in an internal filesystem that can be dragged and dropped anywhere, including Google Drive. This makes for moving files between systems super simple. Since all of the things you would probably want to do are available via Chrome extensions, you’ll be able to evolve your environment as new things become available.

Speaking of super simple, I was able to open this laptop, log in with my Google credentials, and start using it as if it were my tablet or phone within three minutes. Since everything is synced, it doesn’t matter what device you’re using in a Google world. It just works. And more importantly, it’s easy to iterate on, on the fly.

Caesar Sengupta, Product Management Director on Chrome OS at Google, told me:

The story for Chrome OS starts way back. It starts with the browser, Chrome. Google’s a web company: We push the boundaries of the web; everything we do is largely on the web. One of the things we realized early on was the web wasn’t keeping up with the potential of what the web could be. We were building apps like Gmail and Google News – rich and vibrant. Browsers weren’t able to handle it. And the web is a platform that allows you to deploy globally without installation. You could pick up any machine login and work. In order to build fun and sexy stuff, you have to build on it.

The Hardware

The hardware itself, like I mentioned, the Samsung Chromebook, looks strikingly similar to the MacBook Air. Yes, start your complaining about copycatting now, that’s not the point. It’s light, runs quickly, and does exactly what you’d want to do. Especially if you rely on a web browser a lot.

Here are full details about what’s inside:

• 11.6’’ (1366×768) display

• 0.7 inches thin – 2.42 lbs / 1.1 kg
• Over 6.5 hours of battery 1
• Samsung Exynos 5 Dual Processor
• 100 GB Google Drive Cloud Storage2 with 16GB Solid State Drive
• Built-in dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• VGA Camera
• 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0
• HDMI Port

• Bluetooth 3.0™ Compatible

It’s pretty impressive, but who cares about all of that. It just works, and it works quite well.

Regarding its strategy in rolling out Chromebook hardware over the past year, Group Product Manager Ryan Tabone told me:

The point of the prototype was to develop the software. Samsung and Acer shipped devices last year – same form factor but based on Atom. We basically just offered these devices online. The people who were ready for it, came to it. We realized at Google this journey is going to take us some time. The world is moving into these ecosystems. For a web company to have hardware, it was an area we needed to have a strong offering in.

The Price

Price is one of those things that trips everyone up. We know what an iPhone costs, kind of. We know what an iPad and a Surface costs. Prices are expensive to some and cheap to others. This particular Samsung Chromebook is $249. You can call it cheap, or you can call it inexpensive. I’ll go with the latter.

The nice part about machines at that pricepoint is that you can get them into the hands of kids. In fact, Google is seeing pretty good traction in schools that are picking up Chromebooks for entire classrooms. They’re easy to administer from a high level and low-priced enough if they were to get broken, stolen or lost.

Also, I tend to break things or drop them in toilets. Don’t ask. In that case, running out and picking up another laptop that I can be up and running on in a matter of minutes in my exact previous state is pretty priceless. So let’s call this thing inexpensive, shall we?

Sengupta had this to say on the price:

There was a core group of people who were using these as additional computers, for other people in the family, like my wife. She does a lot but does it all online.

Tabone had a good point:

When have you ever thought of giving someone a computer as a gift?

Never.

The Point

Computing doesn’t have to be difficult, it should be fun and efficient at the same time. You can do both, and Google does a wonderful job of facilitating that with its current suite of products and services. Even if you’re not an Android phone user, which I’m not, you can still find value in Chrome OS.

From a usability, price, and compatibility perspective, it’s difficult to find another operating system on hardware that runs this well, and without so little effort to actually make it work. Basically, you won’t be getting tons of calls from mom and dad on how to use it. That’s good for us, but for them too. It’s empowering. You should use technology, it shouldn’t use you. And the best technology finds itself getting completely out of the way.

If you use the Chrome browser, you’ve already been testing it, you just didn’t know it. Chrome OS won’t change the way that you compute, it’ll just make it easier.

Netflix works pretty well and appears to be in 720p

Presented at CES 2012, the Samsung ES8000 Series has been introduced earlier this year to the US market. In this review, we are taking the 60-inch Samsung UN60ES8000 for a field-test to see how new features such as voice control, motion control and face recognition work in the real world. More importantly, we will cover the image quality and smartTV aspect of this series of HDTV as it promises that you will not only need an external “box” to stream top Internet content, but also that you won’t need to change television to upgrade to the latest internal hardware, thanks to the processor upgrade option. Finally, it’s hard not to mention the industrial design that is ultimately one of the most important criteria if the “television” qualities can be established. Let’s take a closer look… (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nokia Lumia 920 Review, Droid DNA Review,

Smoking somewhere other than your couch can be such a drag. Cramming a pipe, lighter, poker, burnables, and grinder is too much for one’s pockets. But with the smoCAN, everything you need is consolidated in a single, secure case. More »

As a wristwatch brand, San Francisco-based Xetum has been making a bit of a name for itself by delivering high-quality Swiss movements in contemporary cases designed in California. The company offers just two models, the Stinson, based on the solid, reliable and very popular ETA 2824-2 automatic movement, and the Tyndall, based on the ETA 2895-2 elaboree movement. Recently, the company added a PVD version of the Tyndall to the lineup, adding even more modern flair to the watch’s striking design.

Xetum’s watches can be polarizing. Hardcore watch snobs often aren’t all that happy with new brands to begin with, and Xetum’s Swiss-made, California-designed way of doing things seems to rub that crowd the wrong way. But the company’s unique face and case designs have also won a lot of fans, and after wearing the PVD Tyndall for the past couple of weeks, I definitely count myself among them.

The PVD Tyndall has a highly readable black face with white markers and hands. The hands and the 12, 3, 6 and 9 indicators are all coated with Super-LumiNova to provide illumination in the dark, which does the job, though it does seem to have to spend a lot of time under direct sunlight to build up a decent and lasting charge. The face design itself offers a lot of usable info, including 24 hour markers on the inner ring, but even with the small second hand dial, the face doesn’t feel cluttered. Instead the face is reminiscent of a pilot’s watch, and feels like a precision instrument.

The black face goes exceedingly well with the black PVD-treated stainless steel case. Xetum’s lugless case design looks even more understated in black, and in fact the 40mm case size actually wears a little smaller than most other watches at that size since it doesn’t have the lugs. For me, with a medium-sized wrist, it’s just about perfectly sized, but I generally don’t go in for oversize watches, preferring instead to stay under 42mm. The screw down crown design and raised lines along the outer edges of the case’s exterior give the watch a subdued industrial vibe, which works very well with the instrument-style face.

Click to view slideshow.

On the reverse of the watch you’ll find a viewing window for that beautiful ETA 2895-2 movement, with a custom Xetum rotor that’s also been given the PVD treatment. The lugless design necessitates a somewhat squat viewing window, which adds to Xetum’s overall unique design, but also slightly obscures the movement at the top and bottom.

The Tyndall PVD ships with a stitched black leather strap with a cork inner lining that tapers in from 20mm at the wide end, and it’s a very comfortable watch to wear. It ships with a deployment clasp, so the band should have a longer life than otherwise, and the clasp has the same PVD treatment as the case, and includes the Xetum branding. The clasp is a perfect example of Xetum’s attention to detail: it’s very good-looking hardware, even though it doesn’t really need to be.

Overall the Tyndall PVD is a very satisfying combination of intelligent, measured design choices and quality manufacturing. It’s substantial and solid without feeling heavy or bulky, and the movement keeps excellent time. I found that the advertised 42 hour power reserve was more or less accurate. The Tyndall is also a watch that works equally well worn on a weekend trip to the mall, in the board room or at a wedding. This is definitely a watch I’d buy for myself, and at $1,495 I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it for anyone looking for a unique addition to their collection that feels fresh without venturing into the realm of gimmicks or excessive flash.

Seeking power was an arduous task as most folks learned early on in the
aftermath of superstorm, Hurricane Sandy. Desperately seeking power for
our cell phones, iPads and laptops became part of the zeitgeist emanating from those affected in New Jersey and New York. The power grid
that used to affect only our heat, electricity and land lines now
included cell towers that experienced disrupted service as well. Even
for those services that remained operational, without electricity we
needed alternatives to charge our devices.