iThinkDifferent

Apple preparing a new line of MacBook Pros with Retina graphics, USB 3.0 and a Slimmer Design

David — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:48:02 +0000

Apple preparing a new line of MacBook Pros with Retina graphics, USB 3.0 and a Slimmer Design

Apple is finishing up it’s new line of MacBook Pros set to be unveiled at WWDC this year. The new MacBook Pros will feature an all new design giving them a much slimmer body, USB 3.0 and will utilize Intel’s new IvyBridge Processors. The new Pros are also set to have a new Retina Display that is said to be powered by Nvidia graphics.

The new MacBook Pros will look similar to the current models but the body will be slimmer. Contrary to early belief, the new Pros will not have an Air like body to them. The new Pros will also follow suit with the rest of Apple’s products and will lose the optical drive that the current models have in them. Just another example of how Apple is pushing it’s App Store to provide software to it’s users. If you still need an optical drive, Apple will still sell it’s super drive as a USB accessory for your Mac.

The rest of the laptop will look very similar to current models with the same ports for charging, USB, thunderbolt, and SD. The unibody design will continue to give the Pros the same look but will lose the ethernet port on them as well. There is also a rumor that Apple has removed the firewire port as well, but that will be something we will need to wait for to hear more about.

The new Retina display on the Mac is described as Apple’s best new innovation to date. The Retina display that is in the current iPhone models as well as the new iPad will show it’s face on a beautiful 15 inch screen. Rumors are that the new Mountain Lion beta show signs that users will be able to choose modes for the display, adjusting image sizes and sharpness of the screen. This will give users more options for resolution and more freedom with their display.

Next up is the new USB 3.0 that is said to be included with the new Pros. Using Intel’s IvyBridge processors that are designed to utilize the power of USB 3.0, Apple would be smart to include this in the new lineup. Code in the new betas for OSX show signs that Apple will be including super high speed USB in the new laptops, pointing to USB 3.0. USB 3.0 is rated to give transfer speeds of up to 5Gbps, which is currently ten times faster than USB 2.0. The new 3.0 is still slower than Thunderbolt as well, which is rated at 10Gbps. I would like to see more manufacturers bring out accessories for Thunderbolt, but there is still not enough backing it.

That’s all from the rumor mill for now, but with WWDC quickly approaching, I wouldn’t be surprised to see much more information in the coming weeks. Either way, I’m very excited to see the new lineup and what they can do. Ivy Bridge processors, with a dedicated Nvidia chip, Retina Display and USB 3.0 is the perfect combination for the ultimate PC killer.

via 9to5mac

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Internet.

Flipboard on my Android – Finally! Hands On Review

nawaz — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:39:53 +0000

Flipboard on my Android – Finally! Hands On Review

Reading is mostly what large screen users do. Yup, the iPad and Tabs are heavily used for reading, and not just watching movies or videos, or an alternate for a full time laptop (let’s not forget they come very handy when sharing presentations).

Flipboard happens to be one such app that lets you not just read your favorite stories on the web – add social stories to that – but also enjoy a smooth and rich content structuring and a magazine flip style interface.

Till recently, Flipboard was only available on the iOS platform, but just recently one of the developers on XDA Forum, Valcho, extracted and leaked an Android version that had been finished and was to be exclusively available on the new Samsung Galaxy S3. Fat chance for exclusivity Samsung, once you’re on Android, you’re open to all.

So anyway, I got my hands on it in no time, and there I was with Flipping through my news stream on my Galaxy Nexus and its large screen giving a completely vivid experience, though Flipboard has a large part to play in this gorgeous interface that they’ve built (OK I’ll admit, for iOS users… darn!). The choice of fonts are cool too, the slim and slender HelveticaNeue57Condensed and HelveticaNeue47Condensed (smaller font) just gives it a cool and different feel to it, on the phone and on their own website too.

Here’s a short video from the guys at Flipboard, though I don’t know if the guy in the video actually is one of them, but anyway, enjoy!

It starts off with the cover photo of the most recent or most shared news post, followed by tiles of recent posts from other selected news feeds. It also allows me to keep my social posts from Facebook and Twitter on it, so anything new that comes in, its news worthy to appear on my Flipboard. The deeper you go in, you’ll have the ability to scroll or slide through content, till you reach a particular section, say Sports on the BBC feed, and then it’ll be back to flipping. It’s really cool how you can tap on an image and see it in its full screen view, and one more tap and it’s back to the news story. The typography throughout each post is vividly clear, especially because of the HelveticaNeue Condensed font (yes, I love this font!).

Flipboard says it’ll be releasing the Android versions officially in some time (coming months, as it says on their website though). The only problem I have with it is that it won’t go into landscape mode. Not cool, but I do hope they have it in the new update or when they officially release the app on Google Play. In the mean time, you can download it from here.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Internet.

How to Root your Android Device and its Benefits

nawaz — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:01:28 +0000

How to Root your Android Device and its Benefits

You’ve got a new Android device ad you love it because it offers you so much flexibility, loads of free apps and customizations that you can do to it. But soon enough you realize that you’re using a stock version of the OS on your handset, which has certain limitations. These limitations won’t be apparent to a general user, but if you’re a hard core product destroyer like me, you’d want more power and the ability to resurrect your device if you have to. Don’t you?

This is when you figure out you need to “root” your device to play god with your Android device. But then also need to figure out how you can make sure you don’t brick your device, and also harness its true potential. You’re lucky if you’re reading this as we’ll run you through a quick guide of how to root and make your device work magic!

Before you start though, make note that rooting your Android device will void the manufacturer warranty (unless of course you know how to "un-root" your device too, coming at the end of this piece). But if you want to be safe, wait up for an OTA update directly from the manufacturer for a safe and fully compatible upgrade to your device.

Let’s get down to business, shall we? We’ll run you through the Windows based process, but you may find a similar process if you’re a Mac user too.

Installing SuperOneClick

This is one of the easiest tools to root your Android device, and as it says, just needs One Click. More importantly, the developer has been active enough to keep this tool updated and working for the most recent devices too. To get ready though, here’s a quick checklist you’ll need to follow:

Check if you have the latest .Net Framework installed on your computer
Drivers – of course you can’t do much without drivers, so make sure you have them installed for your device
Enable debugging mode on your device. Go to Menu > Settings > Applications > Development > Enable Debugging (must have the USB cable disconnected before you do this)
Unmount or remove SD card from your device (as you don’t want to have it affected while rooting). Go to Menu > SD Card and Phone storage. If SD card is inserted, it’ll allow you to Unmount SD Card.

Go to the developer’s blog to download the latest version of SuperOneClick for your device. Once downloaded, install it on your computer. Plug your device to your computer via USB cable, and press Root to begin (backup your device beforehand though). Also if you’re using a Boot Locked phone, use the Shell Root button instead. Your device may restart once you’re done.

Install File Management apps

Once restarted, go to Google Play Store and download any of the free or paid apps that let you take control of your file system, unlike what you’ve been experiencing before. These include the likes of ES File Explorer and Root Explorer.

Going beyond root

If you want to do a whole lot more than just rooting your device, say install a custom ROM to your device, you need an app like ROM Manager, which you can also download from Google Play Store. Run the app once you’ve installed it, click on Flash ClockwordMod Recovery. It’ll ask you for Root permission, which you should provide it to proceed. Select your device from the list provided. This will download and install an update to your device allowing it to then download and install custom ROMs.

The free version of ROM Manager let’s you access some of the available ROMs for your device, while the Paid version has many other ROMs available.

Your purpose, achieved. You will now be able to download several other apps which require root access, and also install your desired custom ROMs. Go to XDA Developers Forum or RootzWiki for the largest source of ROMs, apps and developers who help each other and collaborate to bring out the best in their devices and for others too.

And just in case you’re still wondering about how you can still make do with your warranty, SuperOneClick has an option to let you “unroot” your device too. That will solve your problem. But remember, if anything happens to your device in the process, we cannot be held responsible or liable.

Happy rooting!

Image courtesy: http://www.gadgetcage.com

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Internet.

Sleipnir Browser for iPhone and iPad is the Best Free Mobile Safari Alternative

Imran — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:37:40 +0000

Sleipnir Browser for iPhone and iPad is the Best Free Mobile Safari Alternative

Safari for iOS is undoubtedly the best browser on any mobile platform. Chrome Beta for Android comes close but it’s available to only a small minority of users and it’s still in beta. Due to variations in hardware and software capabilities, it might not be possible for Chrome Beta for Android to give the same experience that Mobile Safari provides. We could be wrong though given that Google knows very well how to make a good browser.

There are many alternatives for these browsers on their respective ecosystems. For Android, we have the default Browser, Opera Mobile, Firefox and many more. For iOS, there’s Opera Mini, Mercury and lots more. The difference between Android and iOS is that Google allows third party browsers to use their own webpage rendering engines. On iOS, browsers can only use the Safari WebKit rendering engine. The advantage Apple has is that all browsers give a uniform browsing experience while the obvious disadvantage is lack of choice for users – something, most users don’t care about as long as browsers work well.

Sleipnir browser for iOS is one such example of an amazing browser that uses Safari’s engine but it wraps around an incredibly useful set of features around it while still providing blazing fast performance. The feature list includes:

Thumbnails bar - Instead of how other browsers represent tabs, Sleipnir shows the thumbnails of all open tabs at the bottom. While this takes some screen space, the full screen mode hides all this away while still letting you use gestures to navigate between websites.
Swipe gestures to switch between tabs – users can simply swipe from one open tab to another by swiping from one side to the other. This is very useful and something I miss in Safari now. It works similarly to how you can navigate back and forth in history in Safari for Lion by swiping using 2 fingers except that here, you swipe between pages using a one finger gesture.
Drawing gestures for various actions – users can draw various shapes to perform many actions. An example is that drawing an L closes the current tab.
Sync bookmarks - Sleipnir has the strongest bookmarks management we have seen on a mobile browser. Not only does it sync bookmarks, it lets you add labels to them to organize them efficiently. This is like Gmail labels but it works perfectly for managing bookmarks as well.
Tab groups - Tab grouping is an intuitive feature in Sleipner. If you’re one of those people who open tons of websites, tab groups help you efficiently manage and organize your workflow by creating various groups of websites which are completely customizable. Users can easily drag and drop thumbnails of their websites for one group to another. Tabs can also be protected so you don’t accidentally close them.

Sleipnir has tons of more features such as an ad blocker, hold down on a link to open in a new tab, full screen browsing experience, search engine choices, smart text search, flick to close tabs and much more. Another cool feature is sharing pages from iPhone to iPad an vice versa. The best thing is that Sleipnir is free and available for iPhone, iPad and Android along with Mac and Windows (Japanese only for now) so no matter which platforms you use, you can always stay in sync.

Even if you can’t leave Mobile Safari. Sleipnir deserves a download since it costs you nothing and provides an amazing experience at the same time. A win-win deal!

Download Sleipnir Browser from the App Store

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Internet.

Google Chrome Beta For Desktop Now Lets You Access Your Open Tabs On Other Devices

Imran — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:42:56 +0000

Google Chrome Beta For Desktop Now Lets You Access Your Open Tabs On Other Devices

Google introduced this feature in Chrome Beta for Android but have finally brought it to their desktop Chrome browser as well. You can now see your open tabs from other devices. Chrome keeps a history of the open tabs on any device, be it Chrome on your Android phone or tablet Chrome browser on Windows or Mac. If you have to leave your browsing session suddenly, you can always continue it on another device.

This is an amazing feature and once you get used to it, you get the feeling that it should have been there all along. Chrome is my primary browser and in my case, if I’m browsing some open websites on my work computer, I don’t have to worry about bookmarking those tabs in a folder or just try to remember what I was working on at that time – Chrome should take care of that automatically.

Chrome also keeps a history of the back and forward navigation for your various tabs so no information from your browsing session is lost. Your browsing session is seamless across all Chrome supported devices you own and you never have to start over as long as you’re signed in to Chrome. Of course, you should also have the supported Chrome Beta installed to make your browsing session

Google is rolling out this feature gradually over the next week to Chrome Beta users. If you’re using it, don’t forget to give it a try!

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Internet.

Internet Explorer 9 Performance Slow? Here’s A Quick Fix

Imran — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:37:11 +0000

Internet Explorer 9 Performance Slow? Here’s A Quick Fix

Internet Explorer 9 might not be better than Google Chrome, but compared to its previous versions, it is a much better browser. It has a faster JavaScript engine, minimal chrome, efficient browsing, download manage and many other useful features. But sooner or later, it seems to become low for everyone. This problem happens when you install too many add-ons or perhaps malware that shouldn’t be there in the first place. You just don’t get the same performance as you had when you first installed Windows.

Here’s a quick guide on using the ‘Manage Add-ons’ to speed up Internet Explorer 9 as if you have just freshly installed Windows. Now if you have a very fast computer, the performance difference might not be visible but then again, you wouldn’t be here if IE isn’t already slow for you.

Open up manage add-ons in Internet Explorer 9. You can do this by clicking the gears icon in the top right corner and choosing the option in the menu. You’ll see a list of the add-ons currently installed in your browser as below:

In Toolbars and Extensions, see if you have installed anything you don’t need. I have installed Microsoft Office and Orbit download manager and they both install extensions that I never use. So I just selected the and clicked the disable all button.

Similarly, I have Java installed but I don’t use it in the browser ( I use it for Air Video which is a desktop app ). It installs unnecessary add-ons to Internet Explorer 9 which do nothing more than slow it down and perhaps make it vulnerable to security issues. So, these also get disabled.

In certain cases, Internet Explorer also shows the time these add-ons take to load so you can better judge what is causing a performance decrease and what isn’t.

Now under Show, select “Run without permission”. As the name suggests, these add-ons are verified by Microsoft and don’t bother asking your permission to execute every time you launch IE9.

If you have install Microsoft Office like me, it installs tons of add-ons that you never need to use in Internet Explorer 9. Well, unless you do, you can selectively enable what you need. What I do is select all Microsoft Corporation add-ons here and disable them.

Similarly, Java also installs some add-ons here so I disable them as well.

The exact same applications/add-ons might not apply to everyone so the best way is to check and see what works best for you. For example, you might not want to disable Flash as any media on the Internet dependent on this plug-in wont work for you then.

If you have any tips to share with our readers, add them in the comments below.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Internet.

Steve Jobs Presentation Video from 1980 Shows His Forward Thinking On Computers, Hardware and Software

Imran — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:05:58 +0000

Steve Jobs Presentation Video from 1980 Shows His Forward Thinking On Computers, Hardware and Software

Steve Jobs has been a rare visionary in the world of computers. Like those around him such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs forever changes how we see and use computers. He was one of the first ones to recognize how computers would be a tool for users and will help them in becoming more efficient – computers are bicycles for the human mind, as he used to believe, since they amplify human abilities.

A rare footage published by Computer History Museum on YouTube show Steve Jobs presenting to a group of people as well as answering their questions in the end. Just like always, he was extremely proud of Apple and its work in the field of computing. Since this was the 1980, he mentions how these are just early days and how personal computers are helping users in doing much more than possible without them. He describes how users use Apple computers for scientific purposes as well as how children growing up using them get accustomed to them so quickly. This is something we hear about the iPad regularly now.

As Steve Jobs used to say about his products, Apple employees make products that they themselves would love to use. That’s how Apple computers came to be as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak couldn’t afford to buy one so they decided to make one themselves. One thing lead to another and soon they started building computers for a living. His vision for retail and distribution was still the same in 1980 as it was in his last stint with Apple – this vision was turned into reality much later with Apple Stores throughout the world. Similarly, his vision for the importance of software was still there back then when desktop software it was just taking its baby steps.

The video is 23 minutes long so better grab some popcorn before you sit down to watch it. It’s not in the best quality but don’t let that stop you.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Internet.

If Google’s Project Glass Ran on Windows – Parody Video Lands on YouTube

Imran — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 15:34:11 +0000

If Google’s Project Glass Ran on Windows – Parody Video Lands on YouTube

Google has shown off a rather ambitious project recently titled Project Glass. Using augmented reality concepts, this aims to take computing into the wearable format and of course, to become so personal that it knows everything about you. Creep, isn’t it? Well, no matter what you think of that aspect, Wired thinks that Google has gone overboard with their conceptual video for Project Glass. They’ve found out the opinions of a few augmented reality experts and found out that they have serious concerns over the real world feasibility of this project. Here’s what Blair Macintyre from Georgia Tech said:

In one simple fake video, Google has created a level of over-hype and over-expectation that their hardware cannot possibly live up to.

We wouldn’t disagree too much with that.

But what if, the whole concept was based on Windows itself? If it contained all the nagging prompts and annoying dialogue boxes that Windows has become so popular for? Obviously, we know this is just stereotyping of Windows based on its past history but check out the video below found by Gizmodo:

I, for one, would like to have prompts in real life to confirm whether I want to delete some item. Digging into trash for retrieval doesn’t exactly sound fun.

Seriously though, as geeks, we would love to see Project Glass be as real and functional as it is in the video but we have serious doubts as well as even on smart phones, we don’t have such augmented reality applications yet. We also have the following concerns about its practicality:

Cost
Battery life
Privacy
Internet connectivity – does it have room for a SIM?
Our biggest gripe with this? This seems like the weirdness of wearing a Bluetooth hands free in the public all over again!

Only someone like Google could implement this crazy idea properly but real world features and adaption would be something to be seen.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Internet.

Apple HQ Pictures Give A Look Inside The Campus Where All The Magic Happens

Imran — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 16:28:37 +0000

Apple HQ Pictures Give A Look Inside The Campus Where All The Magic Happens

Apple is best known for its secrecy which surrounds its product plans and launches and how there’s a lot of strictness in its offices to ensure that the secrecy remains intact. Ever since the late Steve Jobs showed off Apple’s plans for their new campus (which would look like a spaceship), most of us have wondered what their current campus looks like from the inside. There have been many peeks in various videos from the company for its products but this is an extensive look by Apple Gazette at the various parts of the Apple campus in Cupertino, California which most of us hadn’t seen before.

The above picture is from their collection which Apple Gazette has found through searching around the web. The campus is built just like how one expect an Apple building to be – clean, bright and spacious. There’s not much that you could consider ‘fancy’ around the campus corridors, reception areas and so on. What’s odd are the signs on the restrooms for both men and women. There are also a few pictures which show meetings in progress, Jonathan Ive’s design labs with lots of industrial machinery inside, the wireless testing facility for testing signal reception and interference ( which was first shown by Apple during their press conference to address antenna gate issues with iPhone 4 ) and much more. They’ve also shown some pictures of the Apple Company Store which is regarded as the only place of the world where you can buy merchandise with an Apple logo on it (legally and officially, of course as Apple doesn’t take non-permitted usage of its logo or even ex-CEO’s name/looks lightly)

There’s a stark comparison between Apple’s campus pictures and what you see of the Google Plex. Google Plex comes off us more of a play area with lots of colorful things going around, crowded workspaces with lots of personalization and lots of comfortable furniture. On the other hand, Apple’s campus looks very serious, somewhat like a university when you look at the Apple town hall, cafeterias, recreational rooms and other places look. It doesn’t seem ‘fun’ like Google Plex but more work oriented.

Check out the complete set of pictures here.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Internet.

Use Facebook To Receive Messages from Your Friends Via SMS

Imran — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:29:24 +0000

Use Facebook To Receive Messages from Your Friends Via SMS

Despite the rapid growth of data services and cheap data packages, users often find themselves away from an Internet connection sometimes. In some places, data packages are cheap with bad quality service and slow speeds while in places where they are fast, they are very expensive and it’s easy to run out of data limits. Luckily, it’s easy to stay in touch with friends despite such problems. Facebook lets you setup text messaging so all your notifications and messages from friends are sent to your phone via SMS.

Setting Up Facebook Text Messages/SMS

It’s very easy to get started. Go to your account settings and navigate to the Mobile tab. Add your mobile number here.

Make sure you select your country and add your phone number, without the country code.

Facebook will send you a confirmation code which you’ll have to enter here. For privacy reasons, uncheck ‘Share my phone number with my friends’. Rarely do users have a friend list where they would want to share the number with everyone. Remember to keep ‘Allow friends to text me from Facebook’ though. Click next and you’re done.

In case your mobile carrier isn’t supported by Facebook, you can suggest them to add support for them by going here.

Configuring Facebook Text Messages

Facebook provides a set of options to customize the events for which you can receive text messages as well as the timings so that Facebook doesn’t wake you up from sleep at the middle of the night. We all have those friends who message at those times.

You can also setup Facebook to not send you SMS when you’re online on the website. A very handy feature is subscribing to updates by particular friends or pages. This way, you can be sure that you don’t miss any update from those you care about the most.

Facebook also lets you configure whether you just want to receive messages specifically sent to your mobile or all messages that land in your inbox. It is recommended that you leave it as ‘When someone sends me a Message on web or mobile’ so that you don’t miss anything.

Last option, which can help prevent overload of incoming text messages is configuring the number of daily messages that can be sent. Facebook sets this as unlimited by default which is how it should be as restricting the number would mean that you could miss important messages or notifications from Facebook.

An alternate method for receiving messages via SMS is through Gmail. As long as your friends have your mobile number, they can send you instant messages via SMS as long as they don’t exceed their daily SMS credit quota. Here’s how it works: every time you send an SMS message, your credit ( initially 50 ) decreases by one. When you receive a response to your message in chat, you get 5 credits back. Maximum amount of credit can only be 50 per day. Of course, responding to the messages is charged through your carrier’s SMS rates just like with Facebook text message so make sure you don’t go overboard and get charged with a high bill as a result.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Internet.