Gadget Lords

4K image transfer and HDMI 2.0

2014-01-14T20:48:00.001-08:00

To playback 3D 4K videos, a TV has to be able to produce at least 60 frames per second (fps), however, HDMI 1.4 is only able to produce a maximum of 30fps. There are two solutions to this, the implementation of HDMI 2.0 or a little trick used by many manufacturers: film data is projected via HDMI 1.4 in the 4:2:2 colour space with 12- Bit colour depth even if it is available as 4:2:0 with eight-Bit, like on a Blu-ray. 4K HDTVs will be receiving firmware updates for the 4:2:0 transmission via HDMI 1.4.

NVIDIA Control chip in displays

2014-01-14T20:45:00.002-08:00

NVIDIA has recently introduced a chip known as G-Sync that adjusts the refresh rates of both the monitor and graphics card. If G-Sync is installed in the monitor, the GeForce graphics card can determine the frequency with which the monitor should display the images. This leaves no room for delayed reactions and choppy videos. ASUS, BenQ, Phillips and ViewSonic have already announced new monitors with G-Sync for 2014.

TV cameras with 8K resolution

2014-01-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

Sky has recently started using 4K cameras for recording football games for the Champions League. Many stations are planning 4K transmissions for 2015. The Japanese will be going a step further at the World Cup in 2014 in Brazil: the NHK station will record the games with a hand- held 8K cam developed by Astrodesign with a resolution of 4,320x7,680 pixels. NHK predicts that they will be able to conduct an 8K broadcast in 2020, at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Ultra HD displays in every device

2014-01-14T20:42:00.001-08:00

4K monitors and TVs are the purest form of luxury and cost as much as a small car. But devices with resolutions of about 2,160x3,840 pixels will become more affordable starting next year. This change will be heralded by mobile computing devices from Samsung’s ATIV series. The Ultrabook ATIV Book 9 Plus with a resolution of 1,800x3,200 pixels is already in some markets. But the ATIV Q 1 , with Windows 8.1 and Android will only make its appearance in 2014. Japan Display Inc., founded by Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi has already introduced a 12-inch 4K display for notebooks and tablets. It will be installed in devices starting this year. 4K TVs such as those from the M9 series from Toshiba restrict themselves to diagonals that are 58-inches and higher. They deliver significantly sharper pictures especially with HDTV programmes. For intelligent scaling, the TVs use their integrated multi- core processors. Although the devices will cost at least 3,000 Euros (RM13,500, industry insiders say that the prices will definitely decrease as the new year passes and will be on par with the prices of HDTVs with the same screen sizes. 4K TVs however still haven’t solved their problem of transmitting via HDMI 2.0 (see below). Even TV material with 4K resolution is very rare. Large 4K monitors will continue to be used only by specialists, who work with the necessary photo and video material, even in 2014. But technology is doing something on this front: Sony has announced a 30-inch OLED monitor in 4K resolution as part of its Trimaster series – but the OLED factor makes it almost as expensive as a compact car.

Smart watch in your ring

2014-01-14T20:39:00.001-08:00

Wearable Computers are fast becoming a huge hit with consumers thanks to devices as they are designed to look stylish and also packed with features. But Wearable Computers involves much more than just watches and goggles. The Kickstarter product Ring Clock is currently pushing the limits of what is feasible. This ring has 144 LEDs that show the time. This is why the ring needs to be wirelessly charged quite often. Come 2014, you will be able to grab one of these for about US$200 (RM657).

Real Gaming in virtual reality

2014-01-14T20:37:00.001-08:00

The Oculus Rift goggles have brought virtual reality (VR) back into the gaming world. The latest prototypes have a diagonal and a horizontal viewing angle of 110- and 90-degrees respectively. The position sensor calculates head movements of the user with a frequency of 1,000Hz. This minimises the delay in image buildup, thus saving gamers from feeling dizzy. The release of the retail version is planned for the end of 2014 and is equipped with features such as a Full HD resolution, refresh rates of 90 to 120Hz and more.

At the time of writing, development kits along with the prototypes have already been distributed to game developers so that they can tune their products to the VR goggles. Apart from that, there will be drivers that optimise a series of games for Oculus Rift like VorpX for Windows. This driver makes 89 old games such as Need for Speed work with the Oculus Rift.

The success of Oculus Rift has attracted Sony’s attention and it is planning to have a VR goggle for its PlayStation 4. The initial internal tests are allegedly in progress at the moment. From the technological point of view, there is nothing that should stop the execution of these goggles; after all Sony already produces 3D goggles such as the HMZ-T3W . In addition to gaming consoles from Sony and Microsoft, a gaming-PC will also be seen in living rooms in the new year. Valve, who operates the largest online service for PC games, Steam, will be releasing its own platform that runs on the Linux-based Steam OS. To ensure that games run without jerking on large displays, Valve has already published hardware specifications for its Steam machines and even developed a Gamepad.

Mobile with extreme resolution

2014-01-14T20:34:00.000-08:00

Retina displays with ultra-high resolution are popular among tablets and in 2014, the QHD displays from LG will make higher pixel densities popular among smartphones as well. The LG display offers a resolution of 1,440x2,560 at 538ppi. Experts such as Dr. Raymond Soneira, who works with the calibration specialist DisplayMate, has mixed feelings about such a high pixel density: as it adds no value to videos and photos but makes texts and graphics look better.

Curved smartphones

2014-01-14T20:32:00.001-08:00

The Samsung GALAXY Round and LG Flex G (pictured above) are two smartphones with a curved OLED display which should be making their way over to Malaysia soon. If these devices assert themselves in the market, this trend would definitely continue on in 2014 and other manufacturers would likely follow. The curved shape also brings about other developments such as curved batteries. The scratch-proof Gorilla Glass will also be replaced by Willow Glass, which is very thin and extremely flexible.

Gesture control and Touch ID

2014-01-14T20:28:00.000-08:00

One of Google’s latest acquisition is the start-up Flutter that has developed an app for Mac OS and Windows, which makes operating media players via gesture control possible. Android and Chrome OS will also be equipped with the Touch ID function. Many Android device manufacturers are participating in the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) project. With FIDO, users won’t only be able to unlock a mobile device using his fingerprint but it can also be used as identity proof for online services.

Chips with More power and longer runtimes

2014-01-14T20:24:00.000-08:00

The British company ARM creates the blueprints for more than 95 percent of all mobile chips. It determines how quickly and economically tablets and smartphones compute. With the Cortex A53 and A57 expected to launch in 2014, we will have a new generation with ARMv8 command set, which would have support for 64-bit processes. A53 and A57 cores will be implanted together on a chip, where the powerful A57 ensures good speed when required and the weaker A53 maintains low power consumption during routine tasks. Both cores work more efficiently than the current A15/A7 generation (e.g. the ones used in the GALAXY S4). ARM is expecting a performance rise of up to 30 percent. Some ARM license holders have anticipated this development: the A7 chip used in iPhone 5s already runs on ARMv8 commands. According to insider news, Apple intends to change its chip producers in 2014 and not rely on the A8 with 28nm transistors from Samsung, but with 20nm chips from TSMC. If industry rumours are to be believed, then Samsung will dump the usual ARM blueprint for the upcoming chip generation Exynos 6 and, like Apple, modify its own chips to suit the requirements of its mobile devices better by obtaining an architecture license. Intel has started a performance race with the current Atom generation Bay-Trail. The first Bay-Trail tablets with Android and Windows 8, for example the Omni 10 from HP are already available in certain countries. Bay Trail with 64-bit will be launched some time in 2014. At the end of next year, we will witness a new Atom chip with 14nm transistors, which will improve the runtime of mobile devices to a large extent.

Turbo memory in PC

2014-01-14T19:51:00.001-08:00

DDR4-RAM has a bigger capacity and a lower operating voltage, it is also clocked higher than the current memory modules. But next year we will witness an increase in efficiency: Micron will start mass producing its Hybrid Memory Cube, which, like the V-Nand, stacks the memory layers. This enables it to achieve higher speeds at lower energy consumption. However, the PC architecture needs to be modified for home computers and there is little chance that this would be done before 2016.

Vertical Flash cells for SSDs

2014-01-14T19:47:00.002-08:00

Samsung’s V-Nand, a new type of Flash cells, makes it possible to have durable and large SSDs. Two dozen Flash cells are stacked together in a semi-conductor layer. V-Nand stores data as electrons in an isolator. The Control Gate fills and empties it. The data is read out via a channel. V-Nand is constructed in a 30nm process but achieves the storage density of a normal 20nm Flash, which achieves only 3,000 deletion cycles while V-Nand achieves more than 30,000.

10TB SMR drives are coming

2014-01-14T19:44:00.001-08:00

In 2014, Seagate plans to release its 6TB drives with SMR (Shingle Magnetic Recording) technology – SMR shows potential for producing 8 – 10TB drives.

In SMRs, the write head magnetises bits in tracks, which are as wide as those in the perpendicular technology but here they overlap one another like shingles on a roof. The reading head, which is smaller than the write head, traces bits only from the narrow space, thus achieving higher data density and higher drive capacity.

Upcoming high end PCs

2014-01-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

Thanks to latest innovations , consumers will be introduced to even less energy hungry and powerful processors in 2014. To boost the PC platform, we will also see durable SSDs, larger hard disks and a new memory standard.

Both the big CPU manufacturers are launching chips that compute faster and consume less power. AMD has taken the first step: in addition to the new Opteron processors, which are based on the power-saving ARM architecture A57 , CPUs from the Kaveri generation will be available for notebooks and PCs, starting 2014 – with an increased output of 30 percent per cycle.

Intel will start with a Haswell Refresh and the 9-series chipset with SATA Express. This interface for hard drives allows a speed of 12 Gbps – more than thrice as that of the current SATA 6G. This works well even for the fastest SSDs. 2014 will also bring in the first controllers for the Turbo USB 3.1.

The Broadwell generation of processors with smaller transistors will hit the shelves in the second half of the new year: the size has shrunk from 22 to 14nanometres. According to Intel, this would also reduce power consumption by 30 percent but still has the same performance level. Notebooks with 15 hours of battery runtime and more will become a norm. To start with, Broadwell will be available as a mobile variant with an integrated graphics chip that performs well enough for installing a gesture control à la Kinect in the new Ultrabooks by using a stereoscopic camera. The most economical Broadwell variant works well even without fans although it computes considerably faster than the latest mobile chips used in smartphones and tablets.

With the Haswell-E, Intel showcases the high-performance variant of the latest CPU generation. The eight core model will lead the Performance Benchmarks, especially since Haswell-E also makes use of the next RAM generation DDR4.

The Next-Gen Console Duel

2014-01-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

Both launched around the same time, these next-gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony are highly-anticipated devices by gamers and are on many’s wishlists.

Here are their differences and similarities

MICROSOFT XBOX ONE vs SONY PLAYSTATION 4

· Primary markets for the Xbox One: USA, UK

· RM2,250 That’s the estimated price for the Microsoft Xbox One with a controller and a Kinect sensor when it comes to Malaysia

· Primary markets of PS4: Europe, Asia

· RM1,799Primary is the cost of a PS4 basic bundle with 500GB storage. There’s also the PS Camera bundle for RM1,899; Killzone: Shadow Fall

· The PS4 has an 8-core CPU with 1.6 GHz, a 500GB hard disk and 8GB RAM

· 18 GPUs with 800 Mhz are installed in the PS4 graphics card

· The 8GB GDDR5 memory of the PS4 achieves memory bandwidths of 176GbpsDVDs and Blu-rays are supported by the PS4

· For the PS4, 4K resolution is only supported for videos

· The Xbox has an 8-core CPU with 1.75 GHz,a 500GB hard disk and 8GB RAM

· 12 GPUs units with 853 Mhz are installed in the Xbox graphics card

· The 8GB DDR3 memory of Xbox One achieves memory bandwidths 68.3 Gbps DVDs and Blu-rays

· 22 launch titles were announced for Xbox One, including Call of Duty: Ghosts and Forza Motorsport 5

· 76 Mil editions of PS3 were sold over the counter worldwide

· The new iteration of the Kinect HD camera is equipped with infrared technology and a microphone

· The PlayStation 4 Eye camera costs RM249.

· RM129 per year is the fee for a subscription to PlayStation

Plus

· According to Microsoft, 4K resolution for games and videos are supported

· Microsoft has not implemented Region Lock for games in Xbox One

· With the help of Remote- Play PS4 games can be played on the PS Vita

· Sony has not implemented Region Lock for games in PlayStation 4

· RM23 is the monthly fee for the Gold membership of Xbox Live

· The Xbox SmartGlass app turns a tablet into a second screen for the console

· Xbox One does not support older games

· PlayStation 4 does not support older games

· Xbox One supports up to 8 wireless controllers with a range of more than 9 metres

· The new additions in the PS4 controller include a Share key, which posts videos of the current game online

WHAT IS GOOGLE DOING TO PREVENT SPAM?

2014-01-14T08:36:00.001-08:00

From the Interview of Sven Naumann, Uli Lutz and Johannes Mehlem from the German Search Quality Team at Google in Dublin. They support website operators from there and work towards improving search results – by fighting against web spam, among other things.

Our test shows that Google also displays sites that spread spam and even malware. Are spammers better at the art of search engine optimisation than the operators of genuine websites?

It is true that people who circulate malware often try quite aggressively to achieve high rankings in the search results of search engines. Even if such a website escapes us every once in a while, we can assure you that we take great care to ensure that our users are protected from spam and malware. Since 2006, Google scans for malware and marks them as such. This way, we keep several hundred million users per week from inadvertently visiting sites that spread malware. We publish details about that on our Online Security News Blog and in a transparency report with many interesting statistics (can be found on google.com/insidesearch, d. Red.).

Last year, Google made two huge changes to the search algorithm with its updates Penguin and Panda. How do these updates help in the fight against spam in search results?

Panda and Penguin are two updates that significantly improve the search results by reducing the visibility of low-quality sites and spam. Although these updates attracted a great deal of attention, we carry out about 500 changes in our search engine algorithms every year. We constantly work at improving search results and at fighting web spam.

What is Google doing to keep the search results free of spam?

In addition to the constant improvements through algorithm updates, we rely on an international team, which traces new trends and spam technologies. We also support webmasters in the creation of search engine friendly websites and in taking preventive measures against hack attacks. For example, we have a full-fledged Help Centre and a blog, forum and Webmaster tools, which you can find at google.com/webmasters.

Cyber criminals are increasingly hacking genuine sites to spread malware through them. How are you tackling this problem?

We endeavour to improve our algorithms for the detection of hacked contents. This is not an easy task, because hackers and spammers mostly have excellent technical know-how. They often have no qualms in breaking laws and are very active in disguising their tracks. Lastly, it is the task of every webmaster to keep its own server and his own website safe and to minimize the risks of a hack attack. Since this is not so easy, we offer detailed help articles and other features in our webmaster tools. We also collaborate with initiatives such as stopbadware.org and provide our Safe Browsing API, which often helps to keep users from visiting potentially dangerous websites.

How do these mechanisms help users of Google search to surf safely?

To protect our users better, we have introduced corresponding warning hints into the results pages. Moreover, many browsers warn users when they click on some result. This is where the data from stopbadware.org is used. Currently, we show 40 million warnings very week in the search results and 200 million browser warnings.

Firefox OS Goes Full Steam Ahead

2014-01-13T23:41:00.000-08:00

The Mozilla Foundation recently announced the first large-scale update for Firefox OS, its mobile operating system. New devices are expected to be delivered in parallel with version 1.1. Smartphones using the open-source operating system are particularly popular in developing countries. The update offers several improvements in performance, and boasts features that Android and iOS have been providing for quite some time, such as push-notifications. Versions 1.2 and 1.3 should be here soon, and LG and Sony are planning to build smartphones featuring Firefox OS in 2014.

Pentax Features Industry- first Single-Lens Reflex Camera with Vibrating Sensor

2014-01-13T23:30:00.001-08:00

Pentax K-3, Ricoh’s new high-end single-lens reflex camera, is the first camera to feature a vibrating sensor. It is supposed to take over the task that was previously being carried out by the low-pass filter, namely, the task of blurring the images in order to avoid the so-called Moiré Effect. The Moiré Effect affects fine-resolution images of the kind that are used in textile patterns, making them look coarser than they really are. Compared to its predecessor, the Pentax K-5, the K-3’s ISO count has been raised to ISO 51200, the display has expanded to 3.2-inches, and a WLAN module is available that can send images directly to a smartphone or a tablet. This high-end model costs about RM5,890

Sony unveils the Xperia Z1 f Mini

2014-01-13T23:25:00.001-08:00

Just a month after the launch of the Xperia Z1, Sony announced a mini-version of its top model, the Sony Xperia Z1 f Mini. Although the Z1 f has the same technical specs as its elder brother, it features a smaller 4.3-inch display. The device is powered by a Snapdragon 800 CPU with four 2.2-GHz cores, NFC, LTE and a 20.7-megapixel camera. This gives it an enormous edge over the mini-models of the GALAXY S4 or HTC One, whose hardware specs are as scaled-down as their sizes. The Z1 f will only be sold in Japan for now, under NTT DoCoMo.

Samsung and LG are showing off the first curved smartphones

2014-01-13T23:18:00.002-08:00

Samsung and LG are showing off the first curved smartphones – but is it really more than just a gimmick?

In 2013, smartphone manufacturers have been promoting cameras that are attached to their devices, and the trend for next year is already plain to see; curved displays. Just in time for Christmas, Samsung introduced the GALAXY Round, the first smartphone with left and right edges curved upwards. According to the Korean manufacturer, this design provides certain ergonomic advantages and ensures that the phone sits more comfortably in the hand and near the ear. However, Samsung is claiming that the design offers other advantages as well: If the GALAXY Round is on a table, it can be tilted to the side to blend in status displays such as the clock and the status of the battery, and go through images in a gallery or music files. That being said, there are disadvantages to using such a phone as well. The phone takes a second to react to tilt inputs, and typing with the phone placed on a flat surface will be difficult as well. The hardware of the GALAXY Round is similar to that of the S4, and it is being sold in a few countries already for about 700 euros (RM3,170). Not to be left out, LG also introduced their curved display device, the G Flex in November. Its six-inch OLED display is made of plastic, and it’s curved at the top and the bottom, not at the sides. LG’s device also features a battery that is curved. This made it possible to make the overall device thinner. The G Flex is also scheduled to be introduced in Asia – for practical reasons: Currently, LG can only produce around 300,000 curved OLED displays per month.

The Best Windows Phone under Rs 10,000

2014-01-11T22:03:00.001-08:00

The Amazing Nokia Lumia 520

I really love this phone . The screen responsiveness is really amazing . This is the main reason to choose windows phone over android. Windows phone screen responsiveness is much higher than that of android phones. This super-budget Windows Phone 8 from nokia is really a stunner device.

The Lumia 520 is a fourinch slab of colour, with bright removable backs that can be swapped depending on your mood. It’s a chunky little beast, but doesn’t feel too heavy in the hand. he back pops off easily, giving you access to the battery and SIM/ memory card slots, and allowing you to swap to a whole new colour.

Why to choose Lumia 520 over android phones of it's range.

THE SUPERFAST 1 GHZ DUAL-CORE PROCESSOR.

Nokia brings you a more fun and affordable fully loaded Smartphone, powered by Windows Phone 8.The superfast 1 GHz dual-core processor allows you to switch from gaming to music, from chatting to booking movie tickets, all in superfast time. So now you can multitask to the max.

EXCLUSIVE DIGITAL LENSES.ENHANCE YOUR PHOTOS.

The Nokia Lumia 520 comes with digital lenses built in – exclusive to Nokia, adding magic to your pictures. Capture the perfect shot with SmartShoot and take multiple photos in a single click. Or add motion to still images with Cinemagraph.

NOKIA MIXRADIO. YOUR OWN PERSONAL RADIO STATION

Nokia MixRadio for Windows Phone 8 is a free streaming music app that personalizes mixes to suit your tastes. It’s ad-free and comes with unlimited downloads wherein you can download as much as you want till your subscription expires.

ACCESSORIZE YOUR LUMIA.

Personalise your phone with colourful shells. Play your music with the wireless Bluetooth stereo clip-on device or keep your mobile secure with the CR-123 Universal Car Holder. This is not just a Smartphone. This is Lumia 520.

WINDOWS PHONE 8. SEE YOUR WORLD AT A GLANCE.

Stay on top of things with Live Tiles which update in real time on your start screen. Get 7GB of storage on Microsoft SkyDrive, so you can sync your phone and computer. And pre-installed Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint mean you can work on the go, hassle-free.

Full Specifications

Main camera sensor: 5 MP
Display size: 10.16cm
Processor name: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4
Maximum talk time (3G): 9.7h
Maximum standby time (3G): 390h
Maximum music playback time: 52h
Photo sharing: Share over Bluetooth;Facebook;Picasa;Flickr;Send as email attachment;Share on TV with Play to DLNA app;SkyDrive;PhotoBeamer

Dimensions
- Height: 119.9 mm
- Width: 64 mm
- Thickness: 9.9 mm
- Weight: 124 g
Display
- Display size: 10.16 cm
- Display technology: IPS LCD
- Touch screen technology: Super sensitive touch
Photography
- Main camera sensor: 5 MP
- Camera digital zoom: 4 x
- Camera minimum focus range: 10 cm
Power management
- Maximum talk time (2G): 17.4 h
- Maximum talk time (3G): 9.7 h
- Maximum standby time (3G): 390 h
- Maximum music playback time: 52 h

Amazon's Drone Delivery System

2014-01-11T22:01:00.001-08:00

Amazon is experimenting with drones that will provide half-hour, sameday delivery, though a formal introduction of the service, dubbed PrimeAir, is years away. Amazon chief Jeff Bezos showed off an early version of Amazon PrimeAir during a recent broadcast of CBS’ 60 Minutes. “I know this looks like science fiction, but it’s not,” Bezos told Charlie Rose. In a video demo, an Amazon user is shown ordering an item online. That item is placed in a plastic container and locked into an awaiting drone, which buzzes away and drops the package at the customer’s doorstep.

Amazon is not the only organization experimenting with drones. Last June, Dominos teased the “DomiCopter” for pizza delivery, though that was really more of a marketing gimmick. In October, PETA kicked off a project to use hobby-class drone planes to monitor hunters and capture any “illegal or cruel hunting practices.” And any company considering use of drones may have to look out: In December, hacker and security analyst Samy Kamkar published details about SkyJack, which he said “is a drone engineered to autonomously seek out, hack, and wirelessly take over other drones” within Wi-Fi distance, “creating an army of zombie drones under your control.” Whether Amazon will be successful, or whether the project will crash and burn, remains to be seen.

Bezos said PrimeAir containers can carry objects up to 5 pounds in weight, which covers as much as 86 percent of the objects Amazon delivers. “We’re not going to deliver kayaks or table saws” with PrimeAir, Bezos quipped. The devices use electric motors, so they will be more environmentally friendly, Bezos continued, as fewer trucks would be on the road. PrimeAir would have an approximately ten-mile radius, so in urban areas, its coverage range could be “very signi¿cant.” No word on how deliveries to apartment or of¿ce buildings might be handled, but Bezos said they would be autonomous and follow GPS coordinates. The “hard part,” Bezos admitted during the interview, would be reliability. A PrimeAir drone, he said, “can’t land on somebody’s head.” One major impediment to Amazon—or any other company—using drones is the Federal Aviation Administration, which currently bans the use of drones for commercial use. In 2012, however, President Obama signed the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act, which includes a mandate to loosen up the restrictions and integrate commercial drones into the National Airspace System. In November, the Transportation Department revealed its long-term plan for making that a reality, but it won’t happen until at least 2015.

We may not know for sure for a while yet, however. Bezos told Rose that he is an “optimist” and hopes that PrimeAir could get off the ground in four to five years.

Watson Supercomputer Opened To Developers

2014-01-11T21:59:00.001-08:00

It’s not every day that a celebrity makes house calls. But IBM is making its famous Watson supercomputer available to software developers as a cloud-based platform. Since the Jeopardy! champ ¿rst made headlines for beating Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in 2011, Watson has tried its hand at health care and worked as a smartphone-sized virtual assistant.

Now it is giving back to the community. “By sharing IBM Watson’s cognitive abilities with the world, we aim to fuel a new ecosystem that accelerates innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit,” Michael Rhodin, senior vice president of the IBM Software Solutions Group, said in a statement. “With this move, IBM is taking a bold step to advance the new era of cognitive computing.”

The launch of the IBM Watson Developers Cloud marketplace opens the doors to developers of all sizes and industries to tap into the supercomputer’s technological resources, including a developer toolkit, educational materials, and access to Watson’s API. Initially, IBM has partnered with three businesses to develop early versions of Watson-powered apps, expected to enter the market in 2014. Consumers who use the Fluid Expert Personal Shopper app will interact in a dialogue with Watson—your new “cognitive, expert personal shopper,” according to Fluid. The application incorporates user data and questions to help people make smart purchases “by putting a knowledgeable sales associate in the hands of consumers, on demand.”

Meanwhile, health care solution provider MD Buyline is developing an app to allow clinical and ¿nancial users to make real-time decisions about medical device purchases. Dubbed “Hippocrates powered by IBM Watson,” the service provides users with access to a research assistant that provides fast, evidencebased recommendations. A second health-and-wellness service is under development by Welltok, which aims to harness Watson’s ability to learn from interactions to create personalized health itineraries for customers. “CafeWell Concierge” will provide tailored activities and management programs, and reward users for engaging in healthy behaviors.

“The signi¿cance here is that IBM will enable other companies, large and small, to embed access to Watson into their products and services, or better yet, to build applications on top of it,” Welltok board member Mohamad Makhzoumi said in a statement. “This could bring about a paradigm shift not only in how people interact with computers, but in how we live our lives.” Powered by Big Data, IBM will give app developers the option to use their own data, or access the IBM Watson Content Store. “Together with our partners we’ll spark a new class of applications that will learn from experience, improve with each interaction and outcome, and assist in solving the most complex questions facing the industry and society,” Rhodin said.

Microsoft Surface RT review

2014-01-11T08:33:00.003-08:00

Microsoft Surface RT

Microsoft’s highly anticipated Surface RT has arrived. Thankfully, it’s nothing like the dogs previous Windows tablets have been

● Price From £399 ● comPany microSoFT ● WeBSiTe microsoft.com

“The keyboard cover clicks securely into place, and you can even dangle the Surface from its cover without it hitting the ground”

Windows RT, the version for ARM tablets of Microsoft’s flagship OS, is finally available on a range of devices, including its own Surface RT. The 10.6in screen provides a fraction more room in which to manoeuvre than the iPad, but it’s just as thin as Apple’s tablet at 9.5mm. The Surface is easy to squeeze into a bag, and it isn’t too heavy to carry, at 686g. An optional cover adds around 200g. In contrast to the rounded iPad, the Surface has a far more angular, businesslike yet sleek design. In portrait mode, Windows 8’s tile-based interface looks odd, but held in its preferred landscape mode the Surface promotes wrist strain. This tablet is very much designed to be operated from a desk. The kickstand is an important element. A bracket flicks out at the tablet’s rear, in the process revealing a microSDXC slot, which lets you add up to 64GB more storage, but the kickstand’s rake isn’t adjustable. Adding one of two keyboard covers creates what feels like a pint-sized laptop. These keyboards are a genius invention. The Touch Cover, just 3mm-thick with flat keys, initially feels strange in use, although you quickly get used to it. Its pressuresensitive touchpads are fine for casual use, but serious typing demands the Type Cover. This is double the thickness, but fitted with real keys. Both keyboard covers click securely into place, and you can even dangle the Surface from its cover without it hitting the ground. The Surface RT feels like a premium product right out the box. We’d have been more impressed in this regard had it not been for an unseemly gap on therear, through which the internals are on display. The VaporMG chassis, made from injection-moulded magnesium, makes the slab strong and nice to the touch; although, within minutes, we’d tainted its absorbent ﬁ nish with scores of ﬁngerprints.

Performance

Windows RT can’t run regular x86 software, making it all but useless when faced with legacy Windows programs. It’s designed to run on ARM processors, and the Surface is ﬁ tted with a 1.3GHz nVidia Tegra 3 quad-core chip and 2GB of memory. There’s precious little software available for Windows RT, which includes our usual benchmarking utility. Through Internet Explorer 10.0 we were able to run SunSpider, in which the Surface recorded 1,024ms in the Desktop mode and 985ms in the Modern UI. Both scores trail the iPad’s 854ms. From the user’s perspective the interface is extremely slick, just like Windows Phone 8. The interface animations are smooth, and tasks such as pinch-zooming in Internet Explorer are responsive. Apps don’t launch as quickly as we’d like, though, and we were often left staring at Windows 8’s swirly dots for several seconds upon ﬁ rst launch – behaviour we’ve previously noted in Windows Phone 8. At its comparable £399 price point, the 32GB Surface has twice the storage of the 16GB iPad 4. A microSDXC slot lets you add up to 64GB more. There’s also a  64GB Surface RT, which costs £559 (including the Touch keyboard). The 1366x768 pixel count is common on 15in laptops, but on a 10.6in tablet it gives a higher 148ppi pixel density. The screen looks good at a regular viewing distance, matching the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, but it’s no Retina iPad; look closer and fuzzy edges are noticeable in reading type. More than the usual Wi-Fi, the Surface has two antennae for better wireless performance, plus Bluetooth. There’s also a headphone jack, micro-HDMI, full-sized USB, and a keyboard dock and charging port. The Surface won’t charge over USB, although this port accepts peripherals. Our experience of battery life bemused us. We started the day with a full charge, and used the tablet for 90 mins while shooting our video review, and 30 minutes browsing the web. The next day the battery was ﬂ at. Microsoft touts a seven- to 15-day idle runtime.

Softwhere?

Most interaction is via the touchy Modern UI with its tiled design. Learn all the ﬁ nger gestures and it’s a breeze to navigate. One handy feature is the ability to conﬁ gure multiple user accounts. Logging into the tablet with our Windows Live account instantly populated the tablet with our contacts, email and calendar. The Store lets you buy apps, although many everyday utilities, including Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Google Maps and Dropbox, are missing. The Surface includes a preview of Ofﬁ ce 2013, which runs within the Desktop tile. This makes the Surface a great portable productivity PC.

Bottom line

The Surface RT is a very well built and a cleverly designed tablet. The hardware is mostly sound and Windows RT runs smoothly, but lacks decent apps.

SPECIFICATIONS

1.3GHz nVidia Tegra 3 quad-core ARM; 2GB RAM; 32/64GB ﬂ ash storage; 10.6in (1366x768) LCD; 802.11a/b/g/n, 2x2 Mimo; Bluetooth; microSDXC; USB 2.0; Micro HDMI; Microsoft Ofﬁ ce Home & Student 2013 RT (preview); 31.5Wh ﬁ xed lithium battery; 275x172x9.5mm; 686g

Apple iPad with Retina display Review

2014-01-11T08:31:00.003-08:00

Apple’s fourth-generation iPad, known as the iPad with Retina display, is its best yet, and is still the benchmark for all large-screen tablets

“The extra pace is more noticeable in demanding tasks, and particularly in graphics”

● Price : From £399 ● comPany: aPPLe
● WeBSiTe : apple.com/uk

Just seven months after Apple unveiled the 'new iPad', or iPad 3 as it's better known, came this iPad with Retina display, aka the fourth-generation iPad or iPad 4. Those who have already bought an iPad 3 have good reason to be peeved: this is Apple's fastest iPad yet, and by quite some margin.

Design and build quality

There's no mistaking the iPad 4 from the previous version of Apple's tablet. Oh wait, yes there is. Once again, Apple has stuck to the same rectangular shape with rounded corners and edges. There's no change in the dimensions, so it's 186x241x9.4mm and 652g (662g for the cellular model). As we've come to expect from Apple, the build quality is exceptional. Attention to detail is paramount, and the iPad truly feels like a premium device. There's just one visual change to the design, which comes in the form of a Lightning dock connector. If you want to use existing 30-pin accessories with this iPad you'll need to separately purchase a £25 adaptor.

Hardware

First and foremost in the list of hardware tweaks is a new processor, the 1.39GHz Apple A6X, which is paired with 1GB of RAM. This dual-core processor with quad-core graphics is said to offer twice the speed of its predecessor, and double the graphics performance. Our benchmarking revealed some impressive results. In GeekBench 2 we saw 1,769 points, which is signiﬁ cantly faster than the iPad 3's 750 and has only recently been beaten by the Google Nexus 10's 2,505. The iPad 4 retains its crown in the SunSpider JavaScript test and GLBenchmark graphics test, however, where it recorded a speedy 854ms and 39fps respectively, versus the Nexus 10's 1,329ms and 27fps. But it's the real-life user experience that's most important. The iPad 4 is a nippy device, but we didn't feel it was twice as fast as the iPad 3 in general use. We could see no difference in general navigation, but the extra pace is more noticeable in demanding tasks, and particularly in graphics – the iPad 3 was capable of only 22fps in our benchmarks. Price and storage options are the same as with previous iPads – £399 for the 16GB, Wi-Fi-only version, up to £659 for a 64GB iPad with Wi-Fi and 3G/4G LTE connectivity. Be wise with your selection, though, since there's no possibility of storage expansion through memory cards. Bear in mind that apps supporting the Retina resolution take up considerably more space than previous versions, and you may ﬁ nd yourself ﬁ lling up 16GB of storage faster than you expected. The screen hasn't changed either. It's still a 9.7in Retina-quality (1536x2048) LED-backlit IPS panel, and there's still no faulting this display. The other big change is 4G LTE connectivity. The iPad 3 was marketed as 4G-capable, but it didn't meet the frequencies in use in the UK so Apple removed the claim. If you want, and can afford, 4G mobile broadband, then this iPad will cater for your needs. The iPad mini also supports 4G in the UK. Other connectivity options, such as Bluetooth, remain the same, but Apple has upgraded the Wi-Fi with channel bonding. There's not a great deal of change when it comes to the iPad's cameras either. Those hoping for an 8Mp rear camera will be disappointed to ﬁ nd it's still the same 5Mp iSight camera seen in the iPad 3. It's unsurprising, then, that the photographic capability of the iPad 3 and 4 is very similar. The iPad forms a useful camera if you don't mind using such a large device for composition. The only change here is the addition of a back-illuminated sensor, which should help in low-light situations. More useful is a 1.2Mp FaceTime HD front-facing webcam, which can also capture 720p video. This image quality is offers is much improved over that of the iPad 3, which will not only better your Photo Booth pictures, but be more useful for Skype and FaceTime calls.

Software

The iPad 4 is preinstalled with the latest version of iOS. This includes the Siri, voice assistant which was introduced to the iPad with the previous generation voice assistant which was introduced to the iPad with the previous generation of the tablet. Some recent and notable changes to the operating system of the tablet. Some recent and notable changes to the operating system include the switch from Google Maps to Apple's own mapping include the switch from Google Maps to Apple's own mapping system, which hasn't been Apple's proudest moment – the app has received heavy criticism for its system, which hasn't been Apple's proudest moment – the app has received heavy criticism for its Apple iPad with Retina display REVIEWS many failings, so it's handy that third-party alternatives are available in app form, many failings, so it's handy that third-party alternatives are available in app form, and you can access Google Maps in the Safari browser.

Battery life

Apple touts a double-digit battery life of 10 hours when browsing the web over Wi-Fi. It's difﬁ cult to suggest a typical usage ﬁ gure, since everyone will use their iPad in different ways, but we'd go along with that claim.

SPECIFICATIONS

9.7in (1536x2048 ‘Retina’) LED-backlit multitouch display with IPS technology; Apple iOS 6.0; 1.39GHz Apple A6X dual-core processor; 1GB RAM; 16/32/64GB storage; dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n; Bluetooth 4.0; 3G/4G LTE; 5Mp iSight rear camera; 1.2Mp FaceTime HD front camera, 720p video; 42.5Wh lithium-polymer battery; Lightning connector; 241.2x185.7x9.4mm; 652g