Monthly Archives: October 2011

Ubuntu Linux to come to Tablets and Smartphones by 2014 : Do we need one more OS?

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It’s never bad to have alternatives, right? Windows and Mac are the current highest market share holders in the computer OS area, but we always require an alternative. To prevent market domination or to enforce healthy competition. Ubuntu was made for this purpose, or even if it wasn’t, it’s still doing it.

Ubuntu was destined to enter the smarphone and tablet market. It’s very obvious because if it wants to survive it has to adapt to the changing computing devices. Canonical (Creator of Linux) founder, Mark Shuttleworth is going to announce the future plans at Ubuntu Developer Summit. He says Version 14.04 – April 2014 will see the launch of the OS on tablets and phones.

Ubuntu Unity Interface

They have been in talks with partners for over 18 months and the OS is going to land on ARM powered tablets which are predicted to be out next year.

I can’t deliver a product schedule yet, Ubuntu is already working with hardware partners to bring products to market. As progress is made Ubuntu will take the device-specific code, open source it, and roll it into standard Ubuntu ~ Mark Shuttleworth, Founder – Canonical.

Even Ubuntu’s desktop interface moreover looks like it’s meant for a tablet. It’s too simple to be on a Desktop. The release of the new unity interface was a signal that they’re eyeing touch devices. I don’t think they can really melt a rock because they cannot match the magnitude of iOS or Windows Developers in just few years. Via ZDNet.

Now Siri works perfectly on iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4G!

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Siri was launched exclusively for the iPhone 4S but hackers have managed to get through. They have been able to port Siri to the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4G. This proves that the A5 processor (bundled with 4S) is not a compulsion for Siri to work. There are about 20 steps after which Steven Troughton Smith managed to get it working.

If you are wondering, “How to get Siri working on iPhone 4 and iPod Touch?” then here’s a flat answer – They’re not planning to release it to the public because it’s illegal to repack Apple’s code and distribute it. But I don’t think it will take more time for other hackers to get this working and release it once we know it’s possible. And we will update you on this as soon as it’s released. Have a look at the video after the break.


Steve Jobs was Rethinking Television : It indeed is the Last – One Last Thing…

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Steve Jobs said, “I’ve finally cracked it”. When the word was out, there erupted a billion guesses about what he had found out.  He was talking about something that all of us have grown up with. The TV.

When I first heard Apple’s releasing a product called Apple TV, I thought it’s a television screen that they’re selling. It was an obvious guess. Later on, I learnt, it’s type of a device which controls the content on your Television and connects it to the internet, iTunes, Netflix and other services. It sought to revise the TV concept. Then the Remote app to control Apple TV from any of the iDevices reckoned the existing remotes useless. But now, Apple is turning back to my conjecture. They are eyeing Television.

If you clearly observe, Apple has constantly been trying to narrow it down. Either by bringing iTunes to your TV or remote to your iPhone or App Stores to Macs. This is all part of their long term strategy and vision. To put it across, at one time everything is just going to converge into one centralized system. iCloud was made for this. To stitch all the devices together into a simple system. In this, I see Job’s vision and his Zen philosophy,which stresses on focus and simplicity.

The problem with innovation in the television industry is the go-to-market strategy. The television industry fundamentally has a subsidized business model that gives everybody a set-top box for free or for $10 a month. And that pretty much squashes any opportunity for innovation because nobody’s willing to buy a set-top box. Ask Tivo. Ask ReplayTV. You know, ask Roku. Ask Voodoo. Ask us. Ask Google in a  few months. Sony’s tried as well. Panasonic’s tried. A lot of people have tried. They’ve all failed. – Steve Jobs at the D8 Conference.

Apple is eyeing the Television Market and definitely urges to redefine and change this market. Surprisingly, this industry has not undergone much change since its inception. They’ve grown thinner and SMART TV’s began by changing the interface. Every product from Apple focuses heavily on User Interface. This is it. An opportunity to re-invent another industry.

What analysts think is that since Apple came up with the Siri on the iPhone, the voice controlled assistant they think it makes a lot of sense to them to bring it to TV. It wants to kill the concept of a buttoned remote. It could bring a revolution in TV industry like what happened in Music when iTunes came out. If you command Siri to play a movie according to your mood, using its own Artificial Intelligence maybe it can. You let your assistant pick up stuff you’d like and your in command.

It’s not a new idea, something like this is already in the market. Can you guess what it is? Damn. It’s Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox. Basic TV controls are present but something like Siri (assuming an adaptive version of the iPhone Siri for TV) is far away from Kinect’s imagination.

But I don’t get it and I don’t think this is what “Jobs Finally Cracked it”. Apple could have something like this ready in few months. They could work on Siri, connect the iPhone to the Apple TV and then all the commands would be processed on the iPhone and sent to Apple TV.

There is something more to it. A new method of media consumption and a brilliant user interface. Something that we haven’t imagined as of yet. Yeah, I’m excited.

Whats up with the New Background on Etiole?

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If you’re wondering why is Etiole’s background what it is, you have come to the right place.

CERN - Graph of Collision at the LHC

The picture at the back is from CERN’s Large Hadron Collider experiment. Technology is a lot more than just your gadgets and electronic devices. It is a vehicle of innovation. It revolutionized every aspect of our life. It is the outcome of the hard work many great men put in. Technology is what makes good things great. At Etiole, all of us know this fact very well.

The Hadron Collider is a brainchild of technology and a daring effort to find the mysteries of the universe. It is trying to fill the gap left by many unanswered questions. If you reflect on life philosophically, you would exactly know what I’m talking about. The image is a symbol of this effort and the ongoing evolution of technology. It’s inspiring and amazing. And that’s why, we put it here.

If you’re interested in Technical Details, here’s an excerpt about the image from the Official CERN page after the break.

First collisions of lead ions seen by the ALICE experiment on 07.11.2010 recorded by its innermost detector, the Inner Tracking System. The shaded structures represent a perspective view of the detector elements. The lines are the reconstructed particle trajectories and the colour scale indicates the energy of the particles.Such collisions produce an unprecedented number of particles, reaching thousands per collision.

Twisting and Bending Mobile Phones are the new Mobile Gestures : Nokia

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At today’s Nokia event, in the shadow of the Lumia 800 there was another “great” piece of technology. Nokia had put a prototype of a mobile device which is nothing like you see everyday.

When iPhone and other smartphones poured in, they brought in the pinch and zoom, swipe and tons of other gestures. Now, Nokia (Surprisingly, Nokia => WHAT?) is pointing directly at the future of these devices with this prototype they’ve got.

If I go by my intuition, I think this is what Mobile Phones are going to become in the coming decade. The prototype responds to various gestures and actions which are performed by the user on the phone. They include holding the screen and twisting it to move up-down the menu. The Screen is made flexible to withstand and comprehend such gestures. Technically, I guess they are using some specifically engineered OLED screen. Its called Nokia Kinetic Device.

You can zoom in by bending the the phone outwards or zoom out by pushing in. I feel that these gestures are quite natural and it won’t take us much time to get used to them. Nice move Nokia. Lumia 800 was good and this is better. Nokia’s time is fast approaching!


Hat tip Engadget.

These are what Nokia’s first Windows Phone 7 Devices are going to be : Lumia 800 and 710

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Lately, a lot of ups and downs in the smartphone market have forced many good players to go broke OR partner with rivals. Nokia’s daring step to go into “strategic partnership” with Microsoft is due effect, tomorrow.

But you know what? We’ve heard it before Nokia’s big event tomorrow and we present to you the first ever Nokia Phones on Windows Phone 7. Namely, two of them.

Lumia 800
Lumia 800 Leaked

Lumia 810 Leaked

Looks a lot like the Nokia N9, infact it’s a design replica.  It features a 512 Mb RAM and 50 hrs music playback support and NO MicroSd slot. Fair enough. The startling feature, its running WP 7!
What excites me the most is, will the hardware get a long well with the software?

Lumia 710

Lumia 710 Leaked

Lumia 710 Leaked

Lumia 800 is supposed to be the higher end model while Lumia 710 serves as the bottom. It looks “cheaper” and also lacks a MicroSd Slot.

For now treat them as rumors if you want, till they’re proven right tomorrow. Thanks WinRumors.

Thailand floods strike Hard Drive Manufacturers: Supply drop predicted

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The Thailand floods, due to the never ending monsoons (which broke the past 50 year record) have put the Hard Drive Industry onto the edge of the cliff.

The Hard Drive manufacturers have had to absorb great damages to their supply units. Western Digital, top player of the Hard Drive industry had suspended production in its various units. Other Hard Drive companies have been indirectly affected due to a shortage of components which are built in Thailand.

It will take few months until the factories are restored to their previous production capacity. They’ve declared that the volume of production will see a fall in 2012.

“We are working with our suppliers to affect the recovery of their supply chain and to ramp existing capacity in other locations,” Timothy Leyden, Western Digital’s COO said.  All this means that you are likely to observe a lift in the Laptop and Hard Drive prices very soon. Take your cue, buy the Gigabytes and Terabytes soon.

Thanks CRN and TIMN.

iPhone 4S Review : It fills the gap before the next powerful iPhone

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If you’ve come here reading reviews and posts deciding whether to the buy the iPhone 4S or not, get it if you are a diehard Apple fan, only and only. There are no major improvements in the 4S except the name (which reminds me of Steve Jobs so much).

I’ve got an iPhone 4 and I have no reason to upgrade to iPhone 4S because it looks just the same. Even if I would want to show off the 4S, who knows the phone I have is the new or the old one?

Hardware

Major changes have been made under this section. The core processors have got a facelift and the 4S rocks a dual core A5 CPU (800 Mhz approx). This is what appears in iPad 2. Undeniably, Apple has focused its vision onto hardware now. They are eliminating hardware which is not engineered or made by Apple one by one. (FYI iPhone 1 was running on Samsung ARM 11 CPU) You know what this means, Right? The iWorld.

The new CPU wouldn’t make much impact if you’re not used to playing games which flaunt brilliant graphics or apps which require such higher processing power. Even if you don’t use such apps, this could work out well if you multitask with several apps. 4S is capable of running Siri, the digital assistant that Apple revealed only because of this dual core. As of now, we don’t think other iPhone versions are capable of running Siri due to hardware constraints.

Design Same as iPhone 4

Camera

During the Keynote, Tim Cook’s most lethal weapon indeed was the camera which turns out to be a game changer here. Compared to other smartphones, this is the most superior camera you will see. And if you didn’t know, megapixel don’t matter much in a camera quality. What matters is the sensor quality and the materials used. Apple got this right, Big time.

The sensor on the 4S is larger than the previous and has got five lens elements. It shoots at 8 Megapixels, 3264×2448 pixels with backside illuminated sensor. It’s got a larger aperture, f/2.4 and the image sensor is backside illuminated. For not so Techy people, it means that your photos will be better in low light settings.

You know what’s the biggest add on? You can shoot two pictures one after the other in about .5 seconds which no available phone allows you today. Apple’s got video right too. 1080p HD video and the clarity is as good as the photos. This could give all the camcorders a run for their money. Maybe after getting an 4S you could possibly call yourself a photographer?

Siri Assistant

If you’ve used Siri’s app, you would know that Apple’s version is just a tweaked and advanced version of the previous software. It’s more intelligent than you think. The application revolves around logic and learns from your previous commands, easily follows up conversations. We’re going to post more on this once we get a hands on.

These are the major changes on the newer version of the most selling smartphone. I would recommend you to stick to your iPhone 4 and wait for a major upgrade which will have LTE support (which means blazing fast speed) and NFC (Near Field Communication). Much to talk when iOS 5 comes out.

You know, “The Journey is the Reward” : Steve Jobs

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The title represents one of those frantic buddhist quotes that Steve Jobs believed in.

I had this strange feeling that Jobs was going to pass when he resigned from Apple. It was obvious, why would a man leave his dream job? Especially a man like Steve who always followed his heart?

This morning I woke up to find that the greatest idol of my childhood (and for many more years to come) is no more. I couldn’t help myself from getting too emotional.

Relation I (and many more like me) shared with Steve Jobs

I don’t know Jobs and not had one conversation with him. I’m not even sure if he has ever read my name. There are millions like me whom he has helped and changed while not knowing us. But we knew him. He was the great visionary who had the guts to always follow his intuition and make the Apple of his dreams. We’re connected to him through all his inventions, we’re listening to Music, Playing games, Surfing the Internet, Watching Television Shows. We’re all surrounded by Steve’s creation.

For me, one of things why Technology always enticed me was Apple. They always challenged their past to make something better. The perfectionist Jobs lead to the perfectness of the products.

What about his family?

Steve Jobs had 4 children and wife, Laurene Powell Jobs. Three Daughters (One of which is adopted) and a son.  They will be good and FYI Laurene is also a good-to-do entrepreneur.

Will Apple be the same without Jobs?

Ofcourse not. Nothing can fill the gap of a brilliant personality like Steve’s. The Optimistic attitude. The Aura. Nothing can replace it. Apple will never be like Jobs’ Apple.

Will the world be the same without Jobs?

Obviously not. His ideas changed the way we interact with Digital Media and probably shook the hell out of mobile companies. He raised the standards and ethics of business. He made the tech scenario beautiful and perfect.

Emotional Attachment..

I shared something more than just what most people do. He’s served as an inspiration for me. His presentation skills have awed me, time to time.

I started blogging and first few posts were dedicated to Apple, a company who we knew to make MP3 Players. Today, six and a half years later under the direction of Jobs, they shaped the Digital World. I’ve covered almost all product unveilings from 2005 and liveblogged many. His controversial statements, sudden replies to emails and random acts have left a mark on my mind. I can never forget him. He’s left a legacy and inspired millions of children like me to get up and follow our hearts.

How can I miss his speech? I’ve seen it 100′s of times and I request you to see it too. After 15 minutes you will know why.