Sonicorp

Kodak Birth Father Of Cameras Closes Camera Business

Mark Kwan — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:45:15 +0000

It’s the end of an era. Kodak the birth company of cameras has closed there digital camera and pocket video cam business today. This move was part of there bankruptcy filing and cost cutting that they announced last month January 4, 2012. All production for these products are scheduled to cease at some point in the first half of 2012.

This news from Kodak isn’t really a shocker to most of us in the world, as we knew the company hasn’t been doing too well on these fronts. With in a big battle with Apple and HTC about camera patent infringements and filling for bankruptcy, it’s not entirely surprising to see it shift gears and refocus on other areas. (And yet, it’s still somehow shocking and sad, given its iconic status in the photography field.) With no longer focusing on the digital camera and video camcorder side of the company, the company hopes its new concentration on retail-based photo printing, inkjet printers, camera accessories and batteries will help rejuvenate its ailing business. It will also look to strike some licensing deals for future camera products.

Don’t worry if you still own and use a Kodak branded digital camera or video camcorder and it’s still under warranty. The company will honor them and continue to offer technical support and service. It simply won’t be making any new dedicated capture devices.

RIP to Kodak the birth company of cameras, we will sorely miss you.

New Xbox To Turn Heads 720 Degrees

Mark Kwan — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:25:06 +0000

Many of us speculate on what the next generation of the Xbox will look like and also feature. We don’t know exactly, but a gamer can always dream of the perfect gaming console.

With talking about an unreleased product, there is always going to be rumours. These rumours can always excite or disappoint people, especially gamers. This time, IGN has it from sources close to the project that the Xbox 720 or Xbox Next; whatever they wind up calling the thing) will be six times as powerful as the Xbox 360. What makes it so powerful?

The graphics processing unit (GPU) that Microsoft will pack into this next-gen console, is said to be powered by an AMD 6000 series GPU. Like the current Xbox, it will support 1080p also DirectX 11, 3D and multi-display capabilities. Not only will the new Xbox be six times more powerful than the Xbox 360, it will be 20% more powerful than Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U.

It looks like the new Xbox will be making the move to Blu-Ray discs instead of the current DVD, much like there competitor Sony. Now there games will be able to support up to 25 to 250 gigabytes of data, rather then the standard 8 GB. This allows for big games to be placed on a single disk, instead of splitting the game onto multiple disks like we have seen before.

A new form a Kinect maybe be bundled with the new Xbox, also even feature an onboard processor for much better tracking of motion. Some how the system will implement an anti-used system, forcing users to have new games. I know this will make developers happy but piss off a lot of gamers.

Sources supplied from IGN, we could see production of the new console beginning late this year 2012. The next-gen Xbox will go on sale between October and November of 2013.

With all rumour articles, we cannot confirm if these facts are true to there words. But until Microsoft officially releases information about there next-gen Xbox console, probably at this years 2012 E3 event we all just have wait and just keep on dreaming.

What do you think of the rumoured next-gen Xbox? Is there any other features you would like see implemented into the upcoming console?

Apple Revolutionises The Textbook Industry

Mark Kwan — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:58:22 +0000

Few weeks before Apple’s educational event, many people anticipated the announcement of the upcoming iPad 3 today. But many were disappointed when the only iPad related news revealed was the ability to download textbooks/e-books. Apple’s main focus today was to share to the world that they would make textbook industry much easier students and especially publishing companies, with the ability to update there content at anytime. Carrying heavy loads of textbooks to class will no longer be a chore, with the ability to now reduce them into one light and portable device, the iPad.

iBooks Author

Today, Apple announced the ability for Mac users to create there own textbook/e-book with the tool called iBooks Author. This application is mainly focused at the publishing industry, with the ability to assist in the transition from traditional print textbooks to feature rich digital textbooks for the iPad. What makes this application so great, is it’s available for free download.

This application may look and feel familiar to yourself, if you have ever used Apple’s iWork’s Page or Keynote applications. It’s like they did a mashup with these two apps, with taking full advantage of the drag and drop mentality available. Great for users who lack programming or coding skills.

iBooks Author is available for Lion, and will be present in the Mac App Store for free, giving everyone the ability to create custom next generation e-books.

While the majority of iBooks Author is simple enough that anyone can pick it up and get cracking on their own e-books, the application also supports HTML 5 and Javascript so that more complicated models, diagrams, and charts can be created.

Textbooks will be available in a new iBookstore section titled, you guessed it, Textbooks.

iBooks Author is available today on the Mac App Store.

iBooks Author

Developer: Apple

Categories: Productivity

[Available on the iTunes Store]

FREE

iBooks 2

Also announced today at Apple’s New York educational event, is their next iteration of iBooks. With this new update, they focus on taking old fashioned textbooks and brining them to the digital generation. iBooks 2 allows books, specifically textbooks for schools, the ability to add interactive aspects. Textbooks are no longer static, tap on a picture, and a movie will play. Page elements don’t just sit there any more. Pinch to zoom in, and see the illustration come to life with animation.

If you’re focused on just reading instead of interacting, though, switching to portrait mode will bring you right back to the boring old black and white. Also, the interface is noticeably less obnoxious. A lot less “IT’S JUST LIKE A BOOK,” and a lot more cool.

Very interestingly, the summary of each chapter is now interactive as well. Instead of just checking boxes, you’ll be able to get immediate feedback on what you retained from the chapter, and what you forgot.

Flashcards and notes are also important tools, so iBooks is tackling them as well. Just a few taps, and the content from your book is now in a flashcard for you to study with. Better yet, you can randomly shuffle them so you’re not dependent on the order. Highlighting and note taking are always easily accessible.

Of course, all of the benefits of iBooks remain. Once you purchase a book, you can keep it forever and re-download it at will.

This is a free update to the iBooks app, and it is available today.

iTunes U Update & K-12

As of today, iTunes U has mainly been used for lectures in video and audio form. Somewhat impressively, there have been over 700 million downloads of iTunes U content. Today, Apple is announcing a brand new iTunes U App designed to let teachers design and disseminate their entire class.

Teachers can now customize their class, offer a syllabus, update the hours of their availability, and give assignments right inside iTunes U. In addition, the iTunes U app now allows on-demand streaming of any available lecture. No more need to download and sync if you don’t want to.

Now, iTunes U has been used at the college level up to this point. As of today, K-12 schools can now sign up and use iTunes U as well. Very exciting, and big news for kids.

This wonderful learning app is offered completely for free, and is available in the app store today.

SOPA, We Vanish You!

Mark Kwan — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:45:29 +0000

Wikipedia is no doubt in almost everyone’s lives by now and Jimmy Wales, the founder of the free community created online encyclopedia is about to send a big message to the U.S. government regarding two internet censorship bills that are being considered seriously. The two bills being protested are SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECTED IP Act) that have raised enough eyebrows because of their heinous corporate favoured nature.

These two bills can deny services to websites that are suspected offenders of intellectual property and can be barred from search engines and even worldwide DNS servers. Wales announced on Twitter today that starting at midnight on Wednesday, January 18, the English version of Wikipedia will go offline for full 24 hours and will instead show a letter of protest and a call to action that urges visitors to get involved with the fight against these bills.

Source: Twitter
Read: SOPA (Wikipedia)

This issue affects a whole lot of people than the ones living in U.S. but some light at the end of the tunnel can be seen as Congressman Lamar Smith may be considering pulling DNS-blocking provision from the bill and also the official White House blog states that they will not be supporting any legislation that reduces freedom of expression and increases cyber security risk. We all are in this and should participate in the help against SOPA and PIPA.

Whether this protest will cause good or make things worse is to be seen. There are talks among some hacker groups about creating a SOPA-Free internet which is satellite based and will not be bound by any law – in itself that’s bad because who wants rough internet when we already have too many problems with spam and hacking with the internet as we know it.

In support of trying to stop SOPA and PIPA. Sonicorp.ca will also be going offline all day Wednesday, January 18. Not only will Wikipedia and our site be offline, but a bunch of other websites will be also including many tech sites. So if you run a website, why not protest also, by shutting down your site this Wednesday.

Steve Jobs Introduces The iPhone To The World

Mark Kwan — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:02:53 +0000

Today marks the 5th anniversary of when Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone to the world in 2007.

It was the day that changed telecommunications forever. I still remember driving down to the states to pick up my original iPhone and the joy that came with it. Happy 5th Birthday iPhone!

iPhone Keynote Part 1

iPhone Keynote Part 2

iPad 3 To Have Improved Features Plus Price Drop For iPad 2

Mark Kwan — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:25:59 +0000

Many anticipated that Apple would release a brand new iPad 3 late last year, even though the iPad 2 was already released in March. Well that request was never fulfilled, instead we can look forward to a late March or April release of the iPad 3.

According to iLounges’s Jeremy Horwitz, he tweeted multiple details from sources regarding the next iPad. First of all, the next-generation iPad is said to be receiving vast improvements to the cameras. These include the front facing camera now becoming a FaceTime HD camera and the back camera will be the same 8MP affair in the iPhone 4S. Given how popular the iPad is for video chat, a FaceTime HD camera makes a lot of sense.

In addition, Horowitz says the design will be the exact same as the iPad 2, with the exception of being 1MM thicker to accommodate the new Retina Display. Horowitz says you’ll hardly be able to tell, because the “curve radiuses on the body will change only a little to accommodate the added thickness, not dramatically. Think iPad 2 Pro, not a redesign.”

Last but not least, Horowitz says that while the iPad 2 will stick around next-generation, its price will drop to $399, not the $299 we’d previously heard rumoured. Again, that seems a lot more in-keeping with Apple’s M.O. of having only $100 separate the price of the various models in the iPhone family.

Year 2011, The World’s Technology Flashback

Mark Kwan — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:50:34 +0000

The year 2011 was the biggest year for Sonicorp, we launched our brand new website dedicated to tech enthusiasts and to anyone interested in tech. October 4th was the day Apple’s iPhone 4S was launched. Apple’s first dual-core smartphone is such a success that it is still difficult to acquire one, which is good business strategy working for the Cupertino Company. Unfortunately 2011 also saw one of the biggest creative minds, Steve Jobs parting from this cruel world. Steve Jobs will not be forgotten as he played a huge role in almost everyone’s lives. I have rarely seen a modern household without a single Apple product.

It was a huge year for Android too. Google’s open-source operating system took leaps in just single year becoming one of the most wanted mobile platforms and at times even more desired than the iPhone. It was likely the fragmentation of devices in the market and lack of iPhone availability that played some role in Android’s success. Latest information from ComScore suggested 25% of smartphones in Canada were powered by Android. Research in Motion probably had the worst year of all times with huge outages that affected millions of users and smartphones rushed out the door. RIM even got pulled into the court multiple times; over the term BBX, forcing them to rename it to BlackBerry 10 and then over the term BBM where BBM Canada seems to be taking the hit for use of this term.

Hopefully 2012 will be a new stepping stone year for our beloved Canadian innovation company. We have seen Microsoft emerge with its Windows Phone 7, attempting to get a share of the pie from the smartphone industry, we will have to wait and see how 2012 works out for them – if they don’t dump the idea like many others in the past. Mobile CPUs took a huge step forward in 2011 with the fruit of all hard work to be seen in 2012. Snapdragon detailed S4 Processors with improved power management and speed capabilities up to 2.5GHz – now wait till we get a smartphone with that kind of speed. Dangers lurking around for one of the wireless providers in Canada to either go out of business or get purchased by another rival company.

On the other side of the tech world we are starting to see some high performance super-thin Ultrabooks from Asus, Acer, HP and more – with swivel touch screens that give users the capabilities of running Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 in a old-fashion laptop orientation or as a tablet. This will hopefully fill a gap between people wanting to carry a tablet for convenience and a laptop for full functionality. Sony’s Playstation 3D display arrived on Canadian shelves around November 29 and has seen some moderately good response – I’d definitely want a 24-inch 3D display for just $400. Mazda built a new regenerative braking system for regular Joe internal combustion cars producing around 10% increase in fuel economy, which should show up in your next Mazda purchase in 2012. Victoria, British Columbia is seeing some love from Microsoft Game Studios, which is marked to open early 2012 and will employ over 60 people from local area and around the world.

In a nutshell, 2011 has seen phones jailbroken, Netflix finally arriving to Canadian tablets, competition in mobile industry heating up excessively forcing carriers to loosen up a little, greatest smartphones making it to consumers’ hands, Canada getting some LTE love from Rogers and Bell, some of the best performing computer hardware and peripherals getting unleashed, BBM Music officially rocking BlackBerry users, many Canadian companies going mobile with Apple and Android apps, Roku finally launching their media streamers for Canadians in 2012… The list can go on. Ultimately, we think 2011 was a set-up stage for the next year starting tomorrow and will see some magnificent changes to the tech industry, be it cars, smartphones, computers or home entertainment units. We missed a lot, because we had a short year. Feel free to add to the list of worldly accomplishments in the comments.

Last but not least, we would like to extend our appreciation to all 1,500+ Twitter followers under the three months of launch of our new website, you guys made Sonicorp what it is today, we thank you for it – Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays From Sonicorp.ca

Mark Kwan — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:54:55 +0000

The people at Sonicorp would like to take this opportunity to thank our loyal readers for another successful year and to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! We would also would like to thank everyone who supported us in 2011! Especially to all the people and companies who help make Sonicorp possible for our viewers, including Houston Mannis and Eric Andrews & Rav Jagdev of CubixCloud web hosting.

We wish you all the best in the upcoming year of 2012!

Facebook Timeline Is Now Live

Mark Kwan — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:02:07 +0000

Some of us were able to enable this feature ahead of time, but Facebook has officially scraped the old profile pages for Timeline.

Watch the video below for more information on Timeline.

Preview your timeline
Once you get timeline, you’ll have 7 days before anyone else can see it. This gives you a chance to get your timeline looking the way you want before other people see it.

Decide what to highlight
To help you get started, your timeline includes some of your top photos and stories. Hide or highlight whatever you want and add anything that’s missing.

Control who sees your stuff
Only the people you originally shared a post with can see it on your timeline. If you want, you can go back and change who sees a post, delete it or just hide it from your timeline.

To get Timeline simply go to http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline.

YouTube Gets A Fresh New Coat Of Paint

Mark Kwan — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 23:50:48 +0000

You may of already known about YouTube changing it’s site to there new Cosmic Panda design in the past 10 days. Even tinkered with your browsers coding to enable it early. As of now, however, the new YouTube is available to everyone.

YouTube says that this is the biggest redesign in its history today, including drastic changes to its homepage and channel pages. One major reason for the huge change is to coincide with its parent company Google’s new design scheme. YouTube pressed the button and switched the homepage for every user worldwide at 3:30 p.m. CST Thursday.

The new homepage design resembles a lot like Facebook or there cousin Google+. Smack right in the middle of the page is an activity page, while a left-hand navigation bar provides a set of filters for what you see in the feed.

Once your on the YouTube homepage you’ll be greeted with a giant “add channels” button located in the top left-hand corner of the page. Directly under that will be a list of your top 10 favourite channels, there you can “pin” channels that you most frequently visit. This makes it easier to find there videos.

Google+ and Facebook are also featured in the navigation bar, listed right beneath the first feed. Click on either and you’ll be able to view videos shared by friends on those networks. G+ videos are automatically in there since YouTube accounts are linked to users Google identities. Facebook requires an opt-in login.

YouTube videos on the site that are currently popular and also trending have been relocated down to the left column to make way for YouTube’s new focus on social networking.

Another major new feature is the the Subscriptions feed which have had a huge update. The way YouTube handled subscriptions before, is they would of just post videos onto the homepage with other videos and send you an email. People’s most recently uploaded videos are displayed directly front and center of the page. This change could mean traffic growth for individually produced channels and major studios like G4TV and HBO.

There are four new channel templates that content creators can use, including one template designed for networks (with prominent featured content) and one for bloggers (with the most recent content first). Executives and designers at the company emphasize that this just the beginning of the redesign; more channel-focused changes and channel templates are coming soon.

According to YouTube not everyone seems to have the redesign just yet, but it’s rolling out now. For more information about the new channel design you can check out the video below or even read the YouTube user manual.

What’s your first reaction to the new look for YouTube? Love it? Hate it? Tell us by leaving a comment below.

Roku Finally Coming To Canada Early 2012

Mark Kwan — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:25:46 +0000

The next year will mark a major step forward in home entertainment for Canada as Roku just announced they will start selling the streaming content box Roku 2 HD, XD and XS in Canada starting early 2012. In case you didn’t know, you can play Netflix in HD on Roku box along with a host of file formats just like any other media streamer.

The company is looking to build its 350 channels with region-specific content, which can be provided free, supported by ads or with a subscription – Take that Rogers Cable. Click on the link below to read the press release.

Source: MarketWatch

Roku Announces International Expansion

Roku Streaming Platform Now Open to Content Providers and Developers in UK and Canada

SARATOGA, Calif., Nov 17, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Roku, the leading streaming platform in the U.S. today announced plans for international expansion. Roku expects that consumers in the United Kingdom and Canada will be able to purchase Roku streaming players beginning in early 2012. Roku is expanding its open platform to support region-specific channels. Publishers of video, music, games and other Internet-delivered content can now reach their customers’ TVs directly through Roku. Content can be free, ad supported or paid. Those interested in developing for Roku should contact partners@roku.com.

Roku launched the first Netflix streaming player in 2008 and is now the leading streaming platform in the U.S. With more than 350 channels of content, Roku delivers the best collection of streaming entertainment available for the TV. Roku’s open streaming platform brings new content providers to the TV screen and expands the offerings of existing platforms such as channels found on traditional cable and satellite networks.

“This year has been one of many accomplishments for Roku in the U.S. In July, we introduced Roku 2 which brings casual games to the TV and last month we unveiled the $49.99 Roku LT. We’ve added casual games including Angry Birds and PAC-MAN as well as premiere channels including HBO GO,” said Roku Founder and CEO Anthony Wood. “And now we’re looking forward to kicking off 2012 by expanding to Europe and Canada and providing consumers abroad with the best in streaming entertainment — a natural evolution for Roku.”

To make Roku players available in Canada, Roku is working with Synnex Canada Limited, a subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation SNX -0.47%.

BlackBerry PlayBook Gets a Price Drop

Mark Kwan — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:01:28 +0000

Starting Friday, November 18, 2011, the Blackberry PlayBook will be getting a $300 price drop. Wal-mart will be one of the first retailers to get the drop (see flyer). Price match at Future Shop or Best Buy to get even more savings!

New Prices:

16 GB $198 (Was $498) #SKU :30269706
32 GB $298 (Was $598) #SKU :30269713
64 GB $398 (Was $698) #SKU :30113246

If you don’t already own yourself a tablet, I suggest picking up a BlackBerry PlayBook before they are all sold out.

2011 Holiday Buyer’s Guide

Mark Kwan — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 06:42:51 +0000

Looking for the perfect holiday gift? Check out Sonicorp’s 2011 holiday gift ideas for expert advice and recommendations for the latest tech gifts for you and your family.

Audio:

Sonos Play:3
Sonos

Streaming music to your home couldn’t be any easier with this stylish device, the Sonos Play:3 can be easily controlled by any iOS device or Android smartphone using a free app. It can also be connected to your home network for ease of streaming Internet-based radio and audio services, even music stored on your Mac or PC.

MSRP | $299 USD | $329 CAD