Asus to provide OS upgrade for Transformer tablet this month
As Asus ‘Transformer Prime’ has emerged running on Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), owners of ‘Transformer’ tablets have started pestering Asus for the upgrade.
The customers do not have to wait long, as the Taiwanese company has confirmed through Facebook that before the month end the original tablets will get the upgrade to Android 4.0.
The exact date is not revealed, but will be informed shortly. The company engineers and technicians who had been to China for celebrating the New Year have since returned and are on the job of ICS update for the tablet TF 101. Even if there is some unforeseen delay, the date will not go beyond the first week of March.
But the bad news for Asus is that the online retailer Clove has refused to sell the early stock of the new Transformer Prime because of complaints from the UK customers about its Wi-Fi issues. Asus has in the meantime refuted the complaint. Clove has arranged to test the products by itself to the dismay of Asus. This will prompt the users to lose confidence in the assurances of Asus.
Asus agreed that the GPS facility of Transformer Prime has some issues and so the company was forced to remove the mention of GPS in the specification sheet of the tablet.
Tablet ASUS TF300T Launched – Could This Be The Affordably Priced Substitute for the Prime?
In the spring of the year gone by, ASUS launched its dual-core, Transformer Tablet, and then came the Transformer Prime later in December. Following this there were talks of a new upgraded edition of the Prime being introduced named TF700T that had different display and camera specifications. There also seems to be another prospective device getting ready for release because there have been pictures that had just come in that exposed an unheard of TF300T tablet.
As of now there are no facts that people can speculate about. This could probably be because ASUS could be having ideas of launching this new tablet as an affordably priced substitute for the more expensive Prime. This would in all probability mean that the dual processor would not have changed, but there could be certain enhanced features to prevent the feeling that it is old and outdated device. The tablet may have 1080p display that the new Prime is availing, but this could become quite a problem if they hope to keep the cost of the tablet down.
The only other piece of information that people have received regarding the TF300T when the pictures were sent across is that the tablet has a plastic back panel. This goes to show that the ASUS have understood things from the GPS issues it had earlier.
Microsoft releases ‘Kinect for Windows’ in the USA market
A ‘Windows PC’ version of ‘Kinect gesture controller’ has been just unveiled by Microsoft in the USA. The cost is $249 on Amazon and via Microsoft store.
The UK launch is expected shortly.
Microsoft has justified the cost. Greg Eisler of Microsoft said that the ‘Kinetic system for Xbox’ costs only GBP 90 because the console version is at reduced rates on account of game purchases and Xbox Live subscriptions. But the reduction will not apply for the Windows version, which requires Microsoft to create a platform not limited to the living room but much beyond that.
The beta license for the Kinect software will be valid up to June 2016. The developers can continue using it along with ‘Kinect for Xbox 360’ hardware. However the developers must use the hardware along with the Software Development Kits (SDK) to use the apps.
He advises developers to use ‘Kinect for Windows’ sensor, which is the only one meant for use in the personal development purposes, in the ‘Kinect for Windows’ application development
The system is supported on Windows 7.
Kinect for Windows has been so built that other companies can incorporate it into their
System quite easily. In other words, Kinect can be implanted directly into the devices.
Interestingly, there are reports that the Asus laptop integrates the feature.
Microsoft will be releasing the version later this year at a cost of $149.
Asus determined to resolve all its tablet issues
Certain technical problems have developed to the quad-core Prime, the latest Transformer tablet from Asus, soon after its launch.
Its GPS (Geographic Positioning System) performance has been below standard. In fact, Asus was forced to delete the mention of it from its specification.
There are Wi-Fi issues as well. But the authorities clarified that with thorough check it has been confirmed that none of the units dispatched to the UK has any such problem.
Tablets had graphical anomalies, with horizontal stripes, signal noise during playback etc.
Asus has clarified that all the issues will be sorted out somehow or the other by weekend.
If Asus sticks to its words, then the only hitch for the UK buyers will be the performance of the GPS.
In any case it has not been an auspicious start for the tablet. However things are expected to improve from now onwards.
Incidentally, the original Transformer owners must be wondering as to what happened to the Ice Cream Sandwich update, while the Transformer Prime has been already updated.
It is reported by Verge that the update will certainly come next month at least to USA. The UK users will have to wait for some more time. However it is heartening that there is some positive movement in that direction.
Apple to enter education sector with its iBook next week
Apple has invited media to witness a launching event aimed at the education zone. The event is scheduled to take place on 19th January, in New York. It is strange to note that Cupertino said nothing about the subject matter but just said that it is an “education event” and it will be conducted at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in the city.
Currently speculation about the event is rife because last February, Apple conducted a like occasion and along with Rupert Murdoch, launched “The Daily” and the result of that daring adventure – Apple’s embark on the written world – is still continuing.
There are a number of reports about the event, of which, one is with regard to Apple’s intention of entering the education market with an expansion of its iBook. The reason for this belief is that textbooks are a comparatively profitable sector and Apple is very popular among students and digitization has not yet taken place in the textbooks sector.
The only clue that could be relied upon comes from Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs’ remark found in the biography written by Walter Isaacson. During a chat about Murdoch’s new digital curriculum service, Steve Jobs remarked that the arena was ripe enough to step in as it was estimated to be worth about $ 8 billion.
Mr. Jobs was irritated by the present method by which state classification of textbooks is done. The present practice is that some of the US states place their order for textbooks in bulk and markets like Texas and California are benefited. The local state boards of education have to clear the content of these textbooks where ideological issues creep in.
Dr. Don McLeroy, leader of the majority conservative faction on the Texas Board of Education said that they are trying to keep the balance since history as well as academia is leaning towards the left. For selling the textbooks in the market, they have to fulfil certain requirements and Mr. McLeroy and his supporters have already changed more than 100 requirements. The works of Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Freidman are to be covered by textbooks, the word ‘capitalism’ should be substituted with “free-enterprise system” etc are some of the changed requirements.
Jobs’ plan was very simple. He planned to hire good textbooks writers. Once they come up with interactive digital titles, publish them on iPads. When it is available it would be a great help to students for they no longer need to carry head loads of text books. In fact Jobs met major publishers like Pearson Education and had discussion about making partnership on this project.
Jobs remarked that the present process of certifying textbooks is shady and once textbooks come with iPad, there won’t be any need for this certification. The rotten economy may last for some years but in the long run every thing could be made alright and the economy could save money.
Though Apple has got abundant cash reserve, it is doubtful whether Jobs’ vision would be materialised, since the presence of money-minded managers like Mr Tim Cook, makes it all the more doubtful.
Microsoft non-committal in the release date of the next version of OS
It has been reliably learnt that ‘Windows 8’ Operating System will surface in October 2012. However, Janelle Poole of the ‘Windows Business Group’ refuses to comment about the exact launching date. He said that generally Windows releases take place every three years and Windows 7 was released in October 2009. Hence there is no harm in expecting a release of the new OS in October 2012. Janelle Poole is more concerned in the happenings of the next month.
It may be recalled that Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, had announced at the Microsoft Developer Forum at Tokyo in May 2011 that the new version of the Windows Operating System will be kicked off in the next year.
It means that one may be justified in expecting the release of it in the month of October. From what we have seen in the past, October is the month for most of the releases.
Steve Ballmer had also said that much more can be expected along with the new Operating System.
J.T. Wang, the CEO of Acer had also stated that units with Windows 8 will be landing in the second half of the year 2012, during the company’s press conference at the Vegas expo. Acer has also plans to introduce new ‘Ultrabook’ products at the same time.
All these confirm that plenty of exciting things from Microsoft will emerge in the near future.
Dell Streak 7 Tablet
With the best consistency Dell has authorized communities, countries, customers and people all over the world to use its technology to realize their dreams. Dell is one of the world’s best companies which as grown with its innovation in supply chain management and electronic commence.
Dell has given life to its latest new device that is Dell Streak 7 Tablet. This beautiful Tablet was launched on March 2011 at market and this sunning Dell Streak has captured all mobile lovers’ attention towards this cool tablet. It is well designed with stylish grey colour and also built with all advance features which make this device outstanding.
Dell Streak 7 Tablet is well developed and powered with the fastest dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and runs a high speed Android operating system which is Android v2.2 Froyo. It has 16 GB internal memory storage which is a huge memory for which you can store song, movies, photos, documents, games, applications etc. Besides this 16 GB storage memory it has the capability of extending its memory using this available card slot for MicroSD with an expanding capability up to 32GB.
Dell Streak 7 features a compact 7.0 inches screen with TFT capacitive touch screen in 16M colours and supports multi-touch option, Corning Gorilla Glass protection and three types of Sensors that is Accelerometer, proximity, compass which makes is so smooth and simple in its usage. The tablet is so compact that it needs only a little space for its storage and it weighs approximately 453.6g and comes in body dimension of 200 x 119.8 x 12.4 mm.
This Dell Tablet is built with an awesome camera with a 5 Mega pixel in 2592 x 1944 pixels resolution and many important features like auto focus, LED flash and Geo Tagging which makes it capture pictures with an excellent quality and clarity. It also provided with a secondary camera with 1.3 Mega Pixel which could be used for internet video calling. This Dell device has the capability to capture your sweetest movements of your life through its video recording capability with 720p quality.
This cool Tablet can open and supports messaging options like SMS threaded view, MMS, Email, IM and a has a predictive text input option in which you type very easily and save a lot of time.
Dell Streak 7 Grey Tablet is equipped with a standard battery type that is Li-lon 2780 mAh and ensures a stand by time up to 72 hours and gives a talk time back up of up to 4 hours. It supports 2G network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and 3G network HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100 / 1700.
As in data connectivity options it supports GPRS, EDGE, Speed in HSDPA/ HSUPA, WLAN with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, a fast Bluetooth connectivity v2.1 with A2DP, EDR and a USB support . The Device also has a very fast web browser of HTML and Adobe Flash.
This Dell Tablet allows you to enjoy hearing beautiful music’s according to the users preference with supportable music Formats like MP3/WAV/eAAC+/WMA, and together enjoy watching movies and videos from the Tablet in full screen with the best clarity. It supports video formats like MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV etc. it also supports social network integration, integration with Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk etc.
It has a Quick Office document viewer in which you can view and edit different types of document formats very easily. Another important feature this tablet is capable of is that it has a Photo viewer/editor feature in which you can edit, crop, add colour, add special effects etc and also view in slides.
This device also supports many other features like GPS with A-GPS support, Supports almost all java application with MIDP emulator, it has a beautiful organizer in which it very east to add entries and many more advanced features are available in this stylish Tablet.
New ‘OnLive Desktop’ app to surface in USA in the second week of January
The new app ‘OnLive Desktop’ will deliver Microsoft applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint to the iPad of Apple.
OnLive is better known as a gaming service, capable of bringing high end gaming to desktop, laptop, netbook and its own mini-console, with the help of remote servers and broadband connections. OnLive is utilizing its cloud computing abilities for better purposes. For example, the new OnLive Desktop app is used to bring the ‘Windows 7 productivity software’ to the iPad.
The OnLive Desktop app, which is free of charge, has 2 GB of online storage and has access to cloud based versions of MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint and many utilities.
The software can provide handwriting recognition, ‘on- screen’ Windows keyboard and full desktop functionality.
A paid version of the OnLive desktop is also in the offing. The users can avail 50 GB of cloud storage, additional software etc by paying GBP 9.99 every month. In the interest of business establishments, an Enterprise version has been created which can provide custom applications and adequate control over user permissions.
OnLive Desktop will also land in smartphones, Android tablets, Macs, PCs and also televisions through MicroConsole with Bluetooth keyboard.
The users will have the facility to access the same desktop from any of their devices from anywhere and create and edit documents and presentations.
OnLive Desktop can be had from App Store from 12th January in the USA. The date of its availability in the UK is not yet revealed.
Safeguard Your Laptop Data From Being Stolen
Gone are the days when laptops were meant for experts and people who could afford an expensive carry along computer. Laptops have become so common, and you will find that practically every office going person is carrying a laptop, more because of the ease of use and the fact that they can carry work to and from the office.
They have become so common, that very often people are careless and leave their laptops lying here and there in cafeterias, libraries and other places where there is every chance that it can be stolen. As you can well imagine, the laptop is something that a person can walk away with without being suspected that he is stealing it. In addition a house break can also be the cause of your laptop getting carried off.
People have such important information saved in their laptops that rather than the laptop being stolen, it’s the information therein that is far more important and vital. Therefore there should be ways to protect the laptop.
There are ways to strengthen the log-in password and methods by which you can safeguard the responsive services that can be got at using your web browser. However the fact is that when the mechanism is with someone who is unfamiliar, one has to think of better ways to protect the laptop.
One technique is encryption from lone files to the encryption of the complete drive. In this way you can absolutely block data such that even experts in the police department will not be able to get at it.
Another means of protecting laptops is to utilize third-party software that can be accessed remotely. There is one such open source safeguarding software that can be used to protect laptops called the Prey that can be installed after it is downloaded from the website preyproject.com.
If your laptop is missing and you have Prey installed all you would have to do is to report the missing theft with Prey systems and the moment the thief logs on to the Internet through your laptop you will be notified. The software will enable you to watch the thief surf the web, take pictures of whatever he is doing and if he logs on to any social networking site you will also be able to get all his personal details like his name, school, age, IP address, address of his ISP, and even pictures of the thief . all this can be forwarded to the police who will have no difficulty getting their hands on him and returning your laptop to you.
The only problem with these types of applications is if the thief would be able to get on to the system intact r otherwise. It would be a great idea to keep a guest account on, so as to ensure that the application would be in a position to track the perpetrator when he accesses the Internet using that account. This application called Prey can even cover desktops as well as mobile phones.
There is one other well used application known as logmein.com that can be utilized for Macs and PCs and this is a solution that offers the fundamental facility free of cost. This application concentrates more on facilitating the log-in of remote accessibility, instead of trying to get back your device that has been lost or stolen. This application also has a furtive mode which implies that if someone is utilizing your device, you have the option of logging in without his knowledge and taking pictures of them browsing the Inter
Sony forced to reduce the cost of its tablet personal computers
Sony has decided to slash the cost of ‘Sony Tablet S’ by $100. The reduction is applicable to both 16 GB and 32 GB versions of the tablet.
Sony has been forced to take this action in view of the stiff competition from Android tablets. Samsung and Motorola are also giving enough headaches to Sony.
But the biggest to take on Sony is ‘Amazon Kindle Fire’ tablet, which is acclaimed to be the most gifted and enviable product, selling like hot cakes in the online stores of Amazon.
Since its inception in October 2011, ‘Sony Tablet S’ has faced mixed reactions from the public. Its strange but unique design has won the heart of many customers; but there has been criticism with its internet connectivity features. Its physical build is also not satisfactory for the customers.
Sony had already reduced the price of the tablet by $50 in December 2011. Further reduction now gives an indication that the product is not becoming as popular as hoped by Sir Stringer and other top officials of Sony.
There does not seem to be a further cost reduction at least in the UK. The current cost for 16 GB and 32 GB models are GBP 349 and GBP 429 respectively. These are, in fact, lower than those announced by ‘Dixons’ originally.