Samsung has become the next to rival Apple as it unveiled its Galaxy Tab at the IFA conferences in Berlin on the 2nd of September. Although Samsung have tried to put their own spin on the Tablet, noticeably by its decrease size ( 7 inch touch screen). In principle it is smaller and lighter than its rival the iPad and it matches the Apple device in almost all functions. Some suggest aspects of the tablet are even more advanced than the Apple creation.

Samsung says its research shows people want this device to be useable on the move and they need to be able to communicate with it. So the Tab can make calls  and video calls with the front and back camera (not currently featured on the iPad). As well as all the video, music and book content that you use with an iPad. The device will run using Google’s Android operating system, with a capacity of 16 or 32GB with the ability to expand by a further 32GB. Again not a feature of the iPad.

The only reservations are battery life and screen size. The camera and Flash video mean it will almost certainly have significantly shorter battery life than the iPad. And the 7 inch screen – compared to the iPad’s 10 inch screen – isn’t small as such, but you will miss that extra space when browsing or watching videos.

For now, it is an alternative to the iPad, purely for its price tag – set to be under $300, but nothing has been finalised yet.

With other technology firms including LG Electronics and Hewlett-Packard making moves into the tablet market. The price tag could be the only big difference between each device in the market, which is set to boom – especially in the run up to Christmas.

Samsung has become the next to rival Apple as it unveiled its Galaxy Tab at the IFA conferences in Berlin on the 2nd of September. Although Samsung have tried to put their own spin on the Tablet, noticeably by its decrease size ( 7 inch touch screen). In principle it is smaller and lighter than its rival the iPad and it matches the Apple device in almost all functions. Some suggest aspects of the tablet are even more advanced than the Apple creation.

Samsung says its research shows people want this device to be useable on the move and they need to be able to communicate with it. So the Tab can make calls  and video calls with the front and back camera (not currently featured on the iPad). As well as all the video, music and book content that you use with an iPad. The device will run using Google’s Android operating system, with a capacity of 16 or 32GB with the ability to expand by a further 32GB. Again not a feature of the iPad.

The only reservations are battery life and screen size. The camera and Flash video mean it will almost certainly have significantly shorter battery life than the iPad. And the 7 inch screen – compared to the iPad’s 10 inch screen – isn’t small as such, but you will miss that extra space when browsing or watching videos.

For now, it is an alternative to the iPad, purely for its price tag – set to be under $300, but nothing has been finalised yet.

With other technology firms including LG Electronics and Hewlett-Packard making moves into the tablet market. The price tag could be the only big difference between each device in the market, which is set to boom – especially in the run up to Christmas.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now that I’ve finally been able to brush the cobwebs off from a late night watching Apple’s keynote speech. I thought I best put together a summary of last night events. The trendy ones amongst you may have seen the minute by minute updates I posted on Twitter http://twitter.com/LaskysEzine . Apologies as a lot of what I wrote looking back probably makes no sense to anyone seeing it this morning.

So what was announced?

Jobs opened with a summary of 2nd Apple store to be opened in China, the new London Covent Garden store and a soon to be opened store in Spain. Then it was on to what we all tuned in for. New products and developments.

iOS

Few numbers were thrown around first. Since the first release of iOS. 120 million devices have been shipped, 230k activations a day, 6.5 billion apps downloaded (approx 200 apps downloaded a second).

Key features for the new iOS 4.1:

Bugs in Proximity sensor, Bluetooth, iPhone 3G fixed

HDR photos (High Dynamic Range photos). Simple concept, when you take a photo sometimes it’s blown out with bright light. What HDR does is take 3 photos in rapid succession: one normal, one under exposed, and one under exposed. This is then all combined to make one standout photo.

Game Center with the assistance of Mike Capps from Epic Games. Effectively this is online multi-player gaming for iPhone. Mike Capps then demonstrated working titled first person beat um up “Project Sword” on the iPhone 4. Within a matter of minutes Mike was owned by the games designer, “This is what you get when you take a designer on at his own game,”. Similar to Xbox Live and Playstation Network this game and Game Center app will come with an array of achievements to unlock.

iOS 4.1 to be released later this week. But before you could even settle back down. Jobs moves on to iOS 4.2.

iPad based. Combining HDR photos, Game Center, multi tasking and Air Play. Air Play, which many of you may know as Air Tunes allows you to stream music from all over your house from your mobile device. This is now renamed as Air Tunes and aswell as music all forms of media can be streamed anywhere in the home. Another key feature they were keen to showoff was wireless printing via Print Center.

iOS 4.2 will be available from November.

Jobs then moved on to the part of the presentation many people were anicipating. The new range of iPods. There was a big revamp of the shuffle, nano and touch models. However the classic wasn’t mentioned, which maybe an indication that this is to be phased out.

iPod shuffle

First noticable thing is that the buttons are now back. Apparently people missed the buttons. So as well as buttons being added, Genius mixes also feature, VoiceOver and a clip at the back. iPod shuffle will come in 5 colours at a retail price of £39.

iPod nano

The nano is a very popular model so how could Apple possibly make it better. Jobs’ solution was to make the screen purley touchbased and remove the click wheel. It’s tiny (46% smaller and 42% lighter than its predecessor) and really easy to use.  The new nano also features hard volume buttons, VoiceOver, FM radio, Nike+, pedometer, 24 languages and 24 hours of audio playback. Also the screen can be rotated using your fingers if the nano is clipped on to your person.

nano will come in the the same 5 colours as the shuffle aswell as red and graphite. Also will be in two capacities 8GB which retails for £129 and 16GB at £159

iPod touch

Jobs’ dubbed the touch as “the iPhone without a phone. But it’s also an iPhone without the contract!”. Which has not only overtaken the nano in popularity. But also Sony and Nintendo (50%+ marketshare worldwide) in the portable gaming market.

The touch has been revamped to feature Retina Display, 4x the number of pixels as per the iPhone. And an A4 chip which also powers the iPhone. Also features 3-axis gyro, iOS 4.1 with Game Center,  front-facing camera with FaceTime and rear camera for HD video recording.

The touch comes in 3 sizes 8GB from £189, 32GB from £249 and 64GB from £329.

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But what would a new iPod launch be without an update to iTunes.

iTunes 10

itunes 10 has ditched the CD from the logo.

Other cool features, if your library as 5 or more tracks from one album. Rather than having a string of album names in your list of songs, the space is now occupied by the album art work.

The major development within iTunes is Ping. So what is Ping? If your familiar with Facebook and Last FM this is the hybrid of both. Basically if you want to discover new music, find out what your friends are listening to and what your favourite artists are up to.

This will also be available on iPhone and iPad via a dedicated app.

iTunes 10 is available now.

“one last thing hobby”

Apple TV (not iTV as speculated) is now in it’s 2nd generation. Although it’s sold reasonably well and well recieved by it’s users. A lot of people do not understand the purpose of it. Why? People don’t want to manage storage of films and TV shows on a device that’s not a computer and nor do they want to have to sync the device with a computer.

So Apple have taken generation 1 and shunk it in size to 1/4 of it’s origanal size, so it’s palm size. The back is also simple, one power point, one HDMI slot and ethernet point. But most importantly it’s Wi-Fi enabled. Also no media is stored on the device, either rent films ($4.99 1st run)  and TV shows (99c per episode), stream content from your PC, view videos from You Tube, Netflixs and stills from Flickr.

What else can it do. Remember Air Play? Air Play can stream content from an iOS device to an Apple TV.

“You’re going to be able to watcha movie on an iPad, walk into your living room, and push a button and watch the rest of it on your Apple TV. Walk into your home with photos on your iPhone, push a button and share a slideshow on your TV. It’s going to be pretty cool.”

All this at £99

All products are now available on Laskys

iPods – http://bit.ly/8YQeJO

Apple TV GEN 2 – http://bit.ly/aca4rK

I don’t tend to watch Dragons’ Den. Mostly because I can’t stand the Dragons’ apart from Peter Jones. That said whilst channel surfing the other night the last product they reviewed was a TV channel wand. And I thought “where have I seen that before?”.

Turns out it was on the Laskys website and it wasn’t something I imagined.

http://bit.ly/9UVAcP £52.99

If you missed the episode you can always catch up here.

http://bbc.in/aqlj6g

I won’t spoil the episode for those that want to find out how the pitch went first hand. If you’re impatient there’s a nice article in The Telegraph.

http://bit.ly/cJSYAH

This is a timelapse of Nizzotch making Metagun, a game for Ludum Dare 18.
You can play the game here: http://www.mojang.com/compo/metagun/
The song is called Battery, and was made by the author some nine years ago.

Click here to view the embedded video.

…Or so you thought, Until Panasonic decided to release the new HDC-SDT750.

So, What is it?

The HDC-SDT750 is like any other camcorder that you’ve used except with an an ability unlike any other that you might have used. The Camcorder features 2 different lenses in the same camera that allows it to compile a double image of the item you’re filming. Much like your eyes this allows the camera to have ‘Depth Perception’

What does this mean?

Well, depth perception is the idea that you have the ability to tell the distance from an object with just your eyes, This gives the item shape and dimension. Therefore, with the 2 lenses the Camcorder can recreate the shape of the object on your 3D Television or 3D monitor attached to your computer.

Ok, So how good is it?

The HDC-SDT750 is best used between the distances of 1 and 3 meters. This creates the best 3D image for your viewing pleasure, anything beyond this or within this limit then the images end up fuzzy or blurred. However the Camcorder does also operate as a regular camera, Meaning that you can use just 1 of the 2 lenses to take 2D videos and, whats even better, is that you can get lenses to increase the range and depth of the camcorder (Only when used in conjunction with the 2D setting. Sadly there are no lenses (Currently) that are compatible with the 3D setting) What’s even better about the Camcorder is that it shoots in near true HD (960×1080) so that means that you can enjoy special moments in near true to life quality with the added bonus of 3D.

Ok, So why should I get one?

Being able to take those special occasions in true to life detail with 3D is important, There is no doubt that in years to come you’ll enjoy the use of the 3D with the important moments, however what is more important than this is the wow factor that you’ll get from your friends and family seeing it for the first time. Not only that but you’ll also be able to show off your new shiny camcorder and impress the neighbours with your ability to create real images that they can almost touch.

The only thing left to do now is make a 3D smell-o camera so that you can enjoy the event as if you were actually there…..

The 3D camcorder will be on sale soon on Laskys.com

Jasper Dekker‘s “touchless tap” is controlled with hand gestures only for “increased hygiene in the kitchen context”. (Speed of gesture determines the intensity of water flow; while consecutive gestures can be employed for fine-tuning.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’re like me you would have be planning and writing lists way in advanced for what to take to Glastonbury. This year I actually discovered all you need is a tent, beer, a bikini, a spiderman suit and a dog head mask. Okay well not quite, but this seems like the only items I required for most of the duration. On reflection I have thought about what else would of been handy and would have made the experience if not better (not sure thats poss), but easier. Heres my top picks from a selection Laskys. http://bit.ly/1pLQH2

Iphone battery

Notoriously God awful! There is of course the Orange charge tent. Its pretty good, in that the queue isn’t that long and there were guest band appearances too. To my delight Blame it on Coco were on whilst I was in there. But they were only on for about 10 mins and I could not take the heat. It was basically a massive green house with the glorious sunshine beating down. Not good on a massive hangover! Best i’d say to grab yourself one of these

USB iphone charger  from IWOOT

http://bit.ly/bg6Lx4

Freeloader Silver Solar Charger

http://bit.ly/affxKp

Personal Care

If you can’t make it to the shower everyday or don’t want to waste your time queuing go for the baby wipe shower and for hair removal an electric shaver or for the braver an epilator. I definitely rate these little devices but you need to get over the pain and remember red spots will appear a few days later. An epilate a few days before would prob mean you wont require shaving for the whole festival.

Make sure you take a shaver that operates cordlessly!

Braun LS5560

http://bit.ly/aAAB4v

Philips HP6509

http://bit.ly/b3mooZ

Tool Box

Your never know when you might need any one of the 13 nifty little tools in this gadget! Needle for clothing fail, bottle opener – obvious! Nail cleaner!  A very handle gadget in a very handy compact size.

http://bit.ly/ccbCYa

Tent Music

Required for early morning and late at night went you and your mates are chillin round your tents. A good pair of battery operated mp3 player speakers.

http://bit.ly/cJHcaF

Back Ache

The healings fields at Glastonbury do provide a message service but if you got a willing friend then grab why not take your own massager! Great for when the back ache from dancing and sitting crossed legged on the hard floor for four days, kicks in!

http://bit.ly/96FyOk

And if you have got any room left how about these:

Hunters Festival Survival Kit

http://bit.ly/avHIPq

Solar Camp Shower

http://bit.ly/cGB6u8

Disposable toilet! Yes you did read that correct!

http://bit.ly/cQmOEU

Read more about festival magic at Corinne’s own blog: http://buyttttride.blogspot.com/

Did we miss something? Do you have the perfect gadget or bit of tech that everyone should think about taking to a festival? Let us know in the comments as usual.

The iconic iMac desktop computer has been revamped once again. To become, the “fastest, most powerful iMac yet”. Visually, not much has changed. But it’s sleek, simplistic appearance didn’t need much changing anyway, and this desktop remains the best looking around.  It’s what’s inside that has changed.

The processors have been upgraded to Intel Duel-Core i3, i5 or i7, depending on which model you choose.  The top of the range model comes with the Intel Quad Core i7 processor. Put simply means, that everything is much quicker to do – managing photos, editing videos, playing games, or whatever you use your computer for. Also comes with 4GB memory as standard with an additional 3 slots to add more memory (up to 16GB). And with storage space of 2TB, there’s plenty of room for music, photos, films and TV shows.

From experience of Macs, they’re quite quick anyway, but these improvements will make the new iMac incredibly fast and powerful so you can run multiple programmes at the same time with ease.

This iMac also comes with the newer, smaller wireless keyboard, and the wireless magic mouse. Which is, as far as mice go, pretty revolutionary and really easy to use. It’s got no buttons or scroll ball, and moves quickly and seamlessly, as well as being ultra responsive and a huge improvement on the previous mouse. As there are no wires connecting the keyboard or mouse to the main computer, the design remains really simple and sleek.

The display is also incredibly bright and sharp, with LED backlighting, and the same aspect ratio (16:9) as a HD TV, 1000:1 contrast ratio giving brighter colours and deeper blacks. And with 178 degree viewing angle looks great from any seat in the house, even if you viewing the screen side on.

If you look behind the screen the built, you’ll see the built-in iSight camera. You’ll be able to use iChat to communicate in person (without actually being in the same room as someone else). And also use Photo Booth to create silly photo effects without need to install software or configure a camera.

Although the new  iMac is not hugely different from its predecessor. The improved processor makes it just that extra bit better. It’s not cheap, but this is a top of the range all-in-one, with both great design and high performance specification, so arguably worth the money.

MIcrosoft launch their latest version of the Xbox 360 this Friday. So I thought I’d take a look at what’s new in the box (cracking pun there).

Well first stand out feature is that it now comes equipped with a 250GB hard drive. Ideal if your using Zune through Xbox live to download HD movies and also to install games onto the hard drive.

For me personally the built in WiFi is a necessity so you can connect to Xbox live straight away. Without the need to purchase a seperate wireless adaptor or run an ethernet cable to your router. Very important to me personally, especially after my 4 letter swaering fit when I bought my Xbox 360 two years ago only to find out it didn’t have built in WiFi.

However the big talking point of the new console is the Microsoft’s answer to tht Nintendo Wii, the Kinect. Which Steven Spielberg hails as:

“This is a pivotal moment that will carry with it a wave of change, the ripples of which will reach far beyond video games”

So rather than using a remote like the Wii does. The Kinect captures full body body motion using a sensor. An array of games will be available such as Dance Central and Your Shape Fitness Evolved.

One more key point Microsoft has addressed which has been the pain to manyof 360 owners. Is it’s new processor which generates less heat than it’s predecessors. Hopefully this will stop the infamous Red Ring of Death and consoles journey to Stuttgart for repairs. Especially when your console decides to pack in the week before Modern Warfare 2 is released.

In summary I believe the new features will add some new life into the Xbox360 with the  new range of games designed for  the Kinect. I’m still a traditionalist at heart and I would always take a joypad over motion technology. But this is a great stride for Microsoft to target the casual gamers who have fallen in love with the Wii’s playability.

Well aware that this will not the first article you’ll have read about the new Apple iPad, what I hope to do here is look at some of the features and aspects of the device to provide an overview that is both informative and helpful for anyone still on the fence about whether to buy one or not.

First off let’s talk about the keyboard.

I’m typing this review on the iPad using the keyboard in landscape mode. The keys are are represented on screen in a larger format than expected with plenty of space between the keys.
Not all the keys are represented as one would hope, and a special mention to the omission of the apostrophe which requires the user to click into a new menu before you get access.

The iPad software attempts to automatically correct spelling and grammar which is great, but it would be more helpful if it was more accurate. At the time of writing this post it has only corrected successfully around 50% of the time, which means its still not good enough to rely on, makes it hard to let the words flow and actually makes it more time consuming.

A minor gripe for an iPhone user might be the location of the shift button located where the delete key is on the smaller phone keyboard.

These things aside, the more one becomes accustomed to the interface and learns to relax with this device you can let it’s power and the intuition of the OS really do it’s thing.
The important point is that this is not as intuitive as we may have been told.

Screen

The screen on the iPad is around six times larger than that of the iPhone although the resolution doesn’t appear to be as good as on the iphone4 – the letters on the keyboard show pixelation and images in some of the iPad apps can be a bit blurry.
However there is no denying that having this much real-estate available affords better and more user-friendly interfaces within applications.
To have columns in the email or Settings applications mean it’s a much more smooth process to do what you want to do with as few swipes and clicks as necessary.

The swipe action works very well on the iPad and requires less actual movement of the finger, and selecting and loading apps is as easy as it is on the iPhone.

The spacing of the apps icons does feel a bit too far apart for no real reason, but the forthcoming update to allow folders should mean that you can have all the important bits of software in one place.

The iPad does not function very well outdoors as the screen is very difficult to view in direct sunlight.
With this in mind it is worth considering whether it really is worth the price hike to purchase the 3G version at this stage, rather than wait to see what improvements are made in the next version.

I was given the 32Gig WiFi version to test here at Laskys E-zine, and so far with a couple of movies, a few TV shows, some books and a fair few apps I’ve barely scratched the surface of the space available.
This again makes me feel that unless I was planning to use the iPad as my main portable media centre I could save further money and reduce the spec down to 16Gig for version 1.

The WiFi seemed to be stronger than that of the iPhone 4 and had a strong signal around 20 meters outside from the base inside – so with a glare reduced screen attachment it’s possible to take it out to the garden with you.

Applications and uses

There’s no doubt the iPad is not just for Christmas. Nor is it a one trick pony.
The beauty and simplicity of the OS is such that by adding modules or applications that suit your needs, you can customise the product from the inside to do exactly the things that suit your individual needs.
No two iPads need be the same. This is the same philosophy as for the iPhone of course and nothing new.
However, to have a larger screen than before does tend to skew the usage towards reading, gaming, and drawing. Even music applications are starting to look very good and make good use of the screen size.

At the moment lots of applications are being updated to work on the iPad and it is just a waiting game for your favourite app to be re-released.

But in some cases the applications are being re made altogether for the larger screen format and classed as HD or iPad version, and in most cases when this is done a far higher price is being attributed to the program.
Sometimes this is justified by extra features not present on the original, but in a fair few cases there may be no extra a functionality at all.
Be aware that the cost of the iPad itself is just the beginning!

Overall having spent some time with the devise, I have learned to love it for what it does well, and feel just a bit let down when I’ve found it can’t do something I was hoping it could.
The experience of using the iPad is not by any stretch a let down however and new uses and applications are being revealed daily.

It’s important to remember that the iPad at this stage cannot be classed as a full computer replacement device – you still need a computer to sync it with of course – but there is also still some issues such as document reading, printing, and saving that needs to be addressed.

In the short term this is a device that will change the way you acquire and process information – an interactive and customisable tablet that can put you in contact with mass media and online culture (if not contribute to it too – remember there’s no camera).
In the long term this devise is set to revolutionise how we interact with tools that talk, and how we build and display the interfaces that provide us with a window out to our community.

Let us know your experiences and thoughts about the Apple iPad in the comments below.