My Minimalist Keyboard

Multitasking Has Finally Arrived

Apple CEO Steve Jobs delivering his presentation on the iPhone OS 4.0 yesterday
The anticipated fourth version of Apple's iPhone Operating System, dubbed the 'iPhone OS 4.0', was officially announced yesterday. The new OS will have more than 100 new user features, including playlist creation, 5x digital zoom in the camera app, customizable home screen, tap-to-focus for video, auto photo-geotagging, and support for Bluetooth keyboards. But what really got me excited was the one thing that everyone has been anticipating on Apple's smartphone device for years: Multi-tasking.

There's a reason why Apple hasn't been implementing multitasking into the iPhone OS until today, and that was to preserve battery life and performance. Apple has finally found a solution to that with its multitasking feature unique to iPhone OS. Although users are still confined with one app on screen at a time, double-tapping the home button now allows the user to bring up a new menu at the bottom screen that reveals working apps that users can switch to without literally shutting down the current app.

Another impressive feature that I was so excited to hear is the ability to create folders. Now users can organize apps into folders with drag-and-drop simplicity, thus eliminating all the clutter. This also allows faster accessibility to your favourite apps, and with this new feature, users can manage up to 2160 apps at once, that's much more compared to the current 180 apps the iPhone can carry.

Other features worth noting are security and compatibility enhancements for business features, better mail management, iBooks apps, a gaming social network and iAds, a new way of displaying ads in mobile devices without hindering productivity.

The iPhone OS 4.0 will be available for download in June for iPhone 3Gs and in September for the third generation iPod Touch (and yes, it will be for the iPad as well). Unfortunately, owners of the iPhone 3G and older iPod Touches are out of luck as they will not be able to enjoy some of the features (arguably no multitasking), due to hardware limitations. That said, now is the perfect time to get the iPhone 3Gs, though I'm sticking with my iPod Touch until a 64GB iPhone is out.

What's This?

Witness the unveiling of a technological breakthrough February 9, only at Macworld.

It's Upgrade Time

Click here for more details.

The Memorial

Watched this late last night via live-feed. It was a really sad moment in entertainment history.

iPhone 3Gs, Worth The Wait?

A new version of the iPhone was finally revealed by Apple at the WWDC yesterday. Now sporting 32GB, runs up to 2x faster, equipped with tons of cool new apps, the ability to cut, copy and paste, a 3-megapixel camera and the biggest surprise - it now shoots video! I think I've found the ultimate iPhone I've been looking for. Guess I've to cancel the Flip Mino from my wishlist then.

Click here to learn more.

Apple Unveils Snow Leopard

Apple yesterday finally unveiled its latest operating system update, the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard will run faster than the current operating system, and will include updates to all of its apps. Apple also announced that the new operating system will launch in September.

“We’ve built on the success of Leopard and created an even better experience for our users from installation to shutdown,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Apple engineers have made hundreds of improvements so with Snow Leopard your system is going to feel faster, more responsive and even more reliable than before.”

Read the full press release here.

Another Round of Unveiling

Apple has started putting up banners a week prior to the Worldwide Developers conference (WWDC), which runs from June 8-12. The theme of this year's WWDC appears centered around the App Store. The phrase refers to the iTunes App Store that was launched (less than) one year ago, but has seen major success with over 1 billion apps downloaded in the first nine months. The iPhone will clearly take center stage at WWDC with discussion about the upcoming 3.0 Firmware release as well as possibility that Apple will announce a new iPhone.

What else to expect from the upcoming Apple WWDC? The new OS-X Snow Leopard, of course! I'm really excited on this and I can't wait for an upgrade. In other news, Microsoft Windows will release Windows 7 in October 22, that's five months late since I switched to a mac pretty recently. Nevertheless, I'd still install Windows 7 on my PC desktop at home, coz I've seen how sweet it looks. But Snow Leopard has already kept me drooling.

Currently Listening To...

The soundtrack is already out, and their video is also on its way. An excellent tune to get you pumped up on your way to the theatres next month. Talk about psyched. In the meantime, where on earth is Terminator Salvation???

A Whole New Canvas

At these troubled times when I don't have Adobe Photoshop CS4 on my mac, I thought I'd use Pixelmator as a temporary alternative to work on my photos. Not bad, really. The interface is pretty much identical to Photoshop, but it isn't a resource hog, which I like. Sometimes its best not to depend heavily on one photo editing tool.

Hiatus

My, how much I have neglected blogging these past week ever since I'm employed in a media company. Work has taken it's toll (I work on weekends now), and an upcoming event requires me to design a video project which needs to be completed within a given time frame. Be back in a few days.

The Future of Laptops

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

MacBook Goes Metallic

The New MacBook
Here's to the all new generation of MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Apple has redesigned the look of their notebooks and giving it an entire aluminum body. The screen is now fully covered with glass, with an entirely revamped frame similar to that of the iMacs, a standard design for current Apple Computers. They've also removed the two mouse buttons below the touch-pads of every macbooks and pros, as they've introduced a newer, much advanced technology on multi-touch. Now you can use up to 4 fingers on the large track-pads!


The biggest change is the move to include an Nvidia chipset and integrated GeForce 9400M graphics for far superior graphics on the notebooks. This is great for next-gen gaming. Everything else on the specs have also been upgraded. The new MacBook and MacBook Pro line-up is already available in stores as announced by Steve Jobs yesterday at the Apple Notebook Conference in Cupertino, California. So wait for it to arrive in Brunei, it should be pretty soon.


The New MacBook Pro. iLike!

Nano-Chromatic

Honestly I love the newer design of this release of the iPod Nano. I prefer this than the previous smaller biscuit-sized Nano released late last year, which had an awfully tiny screen.

Newer Nano

Steve Jobs has announced a line up of new products for this year's holiday season at the Apple's "Let's Rock" Event in San Francisco earlier. The star of the show was the revamped iPod Nano. Check it out.





So what's new with this 4th Generation Nano?

• Thinnest iPod ever built
• Much taller than its predecessor with an even larger screen
• New curved aluminum design, and curved glass over the display
• arsenic-free glass, BFR-free, Mercury-free, PVC-free and highly recyclable materials (cleanest, toxic-free iPod ever built)
• Enhanced user interface
• It's got an accelerometer! (you can flip it into landscape mode)
• Shake the nano and it shuffles your songs!!
• Voice Recording program built-in
• Improved battery life: 24 hours of music and 4 hours of video
• Comes in purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, and silver
• Available in 8GB and now 16GB!!
• Comes with headphones with a built-in inline remote, with volume controls as well as next/previous (nice!)

In other news, the iPod Touch body has also been revamped to look like the iPhone 3G, only thinner. More new games were also added into the Touch. As for the original iPod, The thickest iPod Classic (160GB) has been discontinued due to lack of popularity, and so the thinner 80GB Classic has been upgraded to 120GB without altering its size and price. And lastly, iTunes 8.0 is finally here!


iTunes 8.0 has a new feature called 'Genius'. Something to do with smarter playlisting, which seems pretty cool.

Source: macworld.com

New iPods Coming Soon?

My iPod is over a year old already and it's still rockin! Speaking of iPods, Apple will roll out new products on September 9. Could it be a revamped iPod Nano? New softwares for the iPod Touch? Or will the much awaited iTunes 8.0 with a recommendation engine finally come to light? Stay tuned as the next appearance of Steve Jobs and the unveiling of Apple's latest wares continues.

New iPhone Now In 3G

The iPhone is now an ipod, phone and an internet communicator in a blazing 3G device. Apple has announced the release of the new iPhone 3G just recently and it will be shipped worldwide in July 11. With the new 3G feature, surfing and downloading will be faster than before. In addition, the Maps now run in GPS (finally!). Oh, and the new iPhone now comes in black.

iPod Touch Alternatives

Touch-screen is the future! But if you're looking for alternatives to the iPod Touch, then check out these 5 touch-screen portable media players on the market. Some of these gadgets even offer more than Apple's little gizmo. It's alright to be different than the rest.

Samsung YP-P2 (8GB, black)

An excellent-sounding MP3 player that will appeal to those looking for a cool touch-screen interface and stereo Bluetooth capability.

Slacker Portable Player (8GB/40 stations)

The best player for audiophiles and control freaks, but its excellent accompanying service makes it perfect for those who want their music provided to them for very minimal effort and cost.

Archos 605 WiFi (30GB)

This is one of the best mobile distractions money can buy. It plays your movies, music videos and TV series tremendously thanks to its magnificent 4.3-inch touchscreen in 800 x 480 resolution. Watching your favorite videos on this baby is far more convenient than lugging your laptop or squinting on an iPod.

Cowon Q5W (40GB)

The Q5W aims to do everything a gadget-aholic may want in a portable video player. Unfortunately, its confusing dual interface and high price hold it back from greatness.

Cowon D2 (4GB, black)

If you can get on board with it's PDA-like touch screen interface, the reward is great-sounding audio, an assortment of features, and a fantastic battery life.

Source: CNet.com

The World's Thinnest Notebook

There's Something In The Air

In 2007 last year, Apple unveiled the iPhone and rocked the world. The year 2007 was declared the year of the iPhone and Time Magazine called it the technology of the year. So what's in store for 2008?

Yesterday at Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Apple unveiled its latest product, the MacBook Air, and according to Steve Jobs, it is the world's thinnest notebook. The MacBook Air measures 0.16-inches at its thinnest point, while its maximum height of 0.76-inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks on the market.



The MacBook Air has a stunning 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, a full-size and backlit keyboard, a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, and a spacious trackpad with multi-touch gesture support (similar to the iPhone's multi-touch) so users can pinch, rotate and swipe.

The MacBook Air is powered by a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor with MB L2 cache, and includes as a standard features 2GB of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi technology and Bluetooth 2.1. This ultra-portable notebook is designed to be fully 'wireless', so the optical drive isn't included.

Now this is how ultra-portable should be. Rather than sacrificing a full-size keyboard or a full-size 13-inch screen, you could still get the slimmest and lightest notebook to lug around. This is a high-performance notebook without compromising all that. The MacBook Air is so thin that Steve Jobs pulled the laptop out of a manila envelope during his keynote!