The Weekly: 04 October
Highlights
Apple announces iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina, Mavericks comes with free iWorks, iMovie and iPhoto, BBM for everyone, Nokia makes tablet, Cover brings extra layers to Android, Possible no-battery future for all, Google builds ship, Shoot 3D photos with Seene, YouTube challenges Spotify
Apple Announces iPad Air
When numbers become too much for one hand to count, it's time to change the name. Not a very creative one at that. But that being said, the new iPad is really awesome-looking. It's the thinnest iPad so far (yes I said iPad and not tablet) and it looks amazing. What I love about the iPad Air the most is the advertisement. Here it is:
What baffles me still is why they decided to bring the iPad 2 out into stores again. No LTE, no Retina, and No Cheap. Some say it is because the iPad 2 is the most stable old iPad on iOS 7 because it doesn't have Retina.
Apple OsX Mavericks Comes With Free iMovie and iPhotoActually only on a new machine. Old machines upgrading to Mavericks will still have to pay for the two apps. Seems like a new way to move Mac users' dependence out of Microsoft Office. Makes sense, now that Office format is no longer a prerequisite for all documents. With Mavericks, Apple is attempting to unify as many of their users as possible creating a more controllable and positive environment.
iPad Mini With Retina
About time. This will make everyone want an iPad Mini now. Will probably come out by Chinese New Year next year. I'm so upgrading my iPad 2 now.
BBM Comes To Everyone
Well, everyone on iOS and Android for the moment. Old BBM users will get to recover their previous IDs and all their contacts. Because of the massive early adoption rate Blackberry will now put every new sign ups in a waiting list, which I'm now a part of. What I love about BBM is that people will need your PIN to add you into their contact list. Privacy FTW.
Nokia Lumia 2520 Announced
The inside is almost similar as the Windows RT tablet. But on the outside it is at the moment the most remarkable looking tablet in the world, simply by having actual colors. It looks like an expanded version of the Lumia 920. Although Microsoft now owns some parts of Nokia, it's apparent that the Lumia 2520 will still work out as a strong competitor to the Surface RT tablet.
What is awesome, is that the keyboard for this device comes with extended battery that will push battery life close to 16 hours. Not too bad, Nokia.
Cover Improves Android Experience
Cover is an app that adds layers ala-BB10 and Ubuntu for Phone, with the ability to peek into apps and sliding in and out of them on the go. There are a lot in this app that needs to be explained, but I think it's better done by watching the following video
The Future May Not Need Batteries. Thanks, Graphene
The idea of storing electric energy in silicon surfaces was never new but was not feasible because the silicon surface will react with the material that provides energy. Thanks to Graphene this can now be possible. Graphene, in case you don't know, is probably the hardest synthetic material in the world right now. Coating this material on the silicon surface will not only protect it from reacting with the stored energy ions, it also transforms it into a silison supercapacitator that can store a lot more energy.
Google Build Mysterious Ship
A huge barge made of a stack of containers has been spotted off the bay of San Francisco which CNET found may belong to Google. They also said it could be a floating data center, which is pretty nifty because they can then use the water to cool it. Or it could be a floating WRB stadium. I guess we'll only know for sure when Google confirms.
Seene Lets You Shoot in 3D
Only available for iPhones 4S and above. Open this app and it will show you all angles you need to cover when shooting a subject in order for it to construct a 3D photo. Sounds pretty awesome but after watching the video it just looks more like a Parallax photo maker rather than real 3D. That being said it still looks amazing. I hope users can share these photos on Instagram though because it would really suck it they can't flaunt them. Check out the video anyways
YouTube gets Into Spotify's Cage
They're starting a music streaming service, YouTube. About time, we think. YouTube has the highest collection of music videos, and was regarded as the company that single-handedly sent MTV and Channel V scampering. Now they're getting music streaming companies like Spotify and Pandora (and iTunes Music if you want) on their toes.
