Music from the Cloud

May 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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Some 30 years ago Sony created the Walkman, and soon after came the Discman. Then with the advent of computers, came the MP3 player. Most of the first players were flash based, meaning they had no moving parts, but didn’t hold a lot of music. Very shortly after came hard drive based MP3 players, giving users plenty of space, at the expensive of battery life, and adding moving parts that would eventually fail back into the mix. Then the capacity of flash storage increased enough to give users plenty of space and fix the cons that came with the previous generation of players. Times are changing though and a new contender is on the market.

Between many new portable music players having WiFi and loads of people using their smartphones as music players, all these people are constantly connected. So instead of having to spend time transferring music from a computer to music player you transfer your music to your own secure storage space hosted on the internet. Once your music is in a single location any connected device, a portable music player, computer, tablet or otherwise can access all of your music anytime.

Several large companies have just recently started offering cloud music services. Amazon.com has introduced their storage with a two free gigs of storage and options to upgrade for additional. They have also offered an Android native client for access, but nothing for the Apple iPhone yet. Google has also launched its own cloud services, but it is not yet available to the public as it is currently invite only.

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What is Left for the Personal Computer

May 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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What is Left for the Personal Computer

It’s no secret that computer evolve at a rapid pace. They get faster and smaller and continue to use less power making them ideal for portable use. Laptops currently outsell desktops, so what exactly is next on the horizon for users? The mobile market place has blown up, there are several operating systems to choose from when picking out a phone and each one comes with its own marketplace full of applications. These applications range from productivity applications, to utilities intended to help work flow, and even a huge variety of games, and when it comes to games we aren’t talking solitaire. With the advances in hardware, full-on 3D games can be found. The latest rounds of smartphones coming to market have dual core processors, something that has only become main stream on most desktops in the last 5 years.

Phones get thinner, they contain more memory and the displays they have get larger and have higher numbers of pixels. Essentially making them capable of doing nearly everything your desktop can do. The market is already starting to see consolidation of smartphones and laptops. Motorola has a new platform that is essentially a laptop screen and a laptop keyboard with a place to slide your phone in, meaning everything you work on stays with you at all times and when you need the larger form factor, it’s there to use.

Some speculate that the traditional desktop might not have all that much life left in it. There is no reason why computing can’t become essentially nothing but a mobile platform for most people. But the question remains, is that what consumers want?

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New Developments in the Age of Smartphones

May 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

New Developments in the Age of Smartphones

It has become clear that most traditional style cell phones are going away. Take a look at what’s in production today, not much for flip style phones, and you hardly even find phones with antennas on them. No more tiny screens, even keyboards on phones seem to be going away. Many phone companies even have faster development times based on not having to spend too much time developing software for every phone. Manufacturers can take an existing phone operating system and make it to work with their hardware.

There are a variety of changes that are being made that many consumers haven’t even considered. The average battery life has increased by quite a bit, while battery sizes get smaller and smaller. This is important because it paves the way for phones with smaller profiles and slimmer form factors. The displays on today’s smartphone hasn’t just got bigger, pixel density has increased making the displays crystal clear.

Most new phones contain GPS devices, which used to be primarily good for being located by emergency services or enabled users to pinpoint their location on a map, but now a number of companies are offering recovery and locator services for people who lose their phones or they become stolen. In addition when a phone comes up missing, users can visit a web page that allows them to remote wipe the handset removing all personal data and in some cases locking the handset so it cannot be used. Near Field Communications (NFC) are starting to emerge in phones allowing users another way to communicate with objects that have this new wireless tech.

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Gadget Information: The Technocel PowerPak

March 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Ever have the experience of loving to play with your new iPad or ereader and then out of nowhere you run out of power and are unable to play around with the new gadget? It can be tricky trying to find a way to plug the devises in and power them up. This is exactly why Technocel’s PowerPak was invented.

Technocel created the Powerpak as a way for those that are constantly on the go to have a way to power up their mobile devices without having to constantly look for an outlet or wall socket. The way that the Powerpak works is fairly simple. There are two USB ports that allow users to plug their devices into them. The amazing thing about the PowerPak is that it runs off a battery, a 2500mAh lithium-ion battery to be exact, so there is no need to have to plug your devices into the wall anymore. Instead, you simply plug it into the PowerPak and the device will quickly be charged up.

So the question arises what happens with the device if it doesn’t fit into the USB port? There are interchangeable UBC connectors that allow the user to find the right one to fit their mobile device. The best part is that Technocel estimates that over 95% of the devices will be able to use this PowerPak.

If this sounds like something you would love it doesn’t hit store shelves until sometime in late 2011. Until then you will have to keep looking for a wall socket or remember to plug those mobile devices in at night.

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Cool Tech Gadget: The Loop Pointer Air Mouse

March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There is always talk about technology advancing at the speed of light. Well this is the case with the computer mouse. Many people assume that there are only two types of computer mice on the market. There is the corded mouse and the wireless mouse. However, there is also a very technologically advanced mouse that many people use for meetings or boardroom conferences. This is the air mouse and The Loop Pointer mouse just might be the new wave of the future for air mouses.

Air mouses are used almost essentially like a wireless mouse. The only difference is that it doesn’t require you to have a flat surface in front of you to use. The problem comes in when the user has to hold the mouse in the same way that they would a computer mouse. However, that all changes with The Loop Pointer.

The Loop Pointer is an air mouse that looks like a little loop. Instead of having to hold it in a cramped hand style the Loop can be held like a handle. It also contains two buttons so that you are only limited to one. In many ways this is exactly like a computer mouse without having to hold it like one.

The Loop Pointer can do everything that another mouse can do. It can pull up files and walk around facing your audience without having to worry about whether or not what you want is appearing on the screen.

While these air mouses won’t replace a traditional computer mouse they will make it easy for those holding conferences and meetings to show off their information and in many ways the air mouse is a fun technological tool to play around with.

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The Daily: How Much Will People Pay for Information?

March 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Internet has slowly started to take over specific areas of the world that people used to use. One of these areas is the field of newspapers. There has been a long debate over whether or not people will actually pay to read information and news that they could get for free through other media outlets or through the television set. However, it looks like this debate will not last much longer as the latest experiment with paying for information will start in February.

It was announced that on February 2 the founder of The Times will release an iPad app that users will pay to use. This app will feature news and information that only iPad users will be able to access for a slight fee. This is the first online newspaper for the founder of The Times and it is the first newspaper that was developed specifically for the iPad.

It is believed that those that use the iPad will be looking for information and news and will start to turn to this new application as a way to retrieve the information. The main focus group of the new application is younger, media savvy people who are looking for a new way to view and receive the information that they get on a daily basis.

Currently this test app has a name of The Daily and will feature exclusively content that can only be received by subscribing. At the moment there are over 100 different writers that cover a wide range of topics and areas of expertise. This will be a new experience in what people will or won’t pay for information.

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