Looks like HTC is on a roll with its HTC One. It is now offering developers a new SDK for the IR API so that new apps can take advantage of the phone’s IR port.
I believe this is a good move by HTC, since the IR function is one of its unique features.
The Mac Pro is now no longer available in European stores due to it not reaching new regulatory requirements. Apparently Apple might be releasing a new version from June but there has been no official confirmation.
From 1st March the Mac Pro is gone completely.
Somehow I won’t miss it and I have never really noticed it in an Apple store. Have you ever seen one in a store?
The new phone from Sony is now officially on sale. They have also been offering a deal with a £300 pair of headphones thrown in for nothing. Sony have taken out marketing campaigns all over the place and also have a very strong newspaper presence.
I must admit the offer of a free pair of £300 headphones was tempting. The pay as you go price on Three was £449. My theory was I could sell the headphone if they were poor and lower the total cost of ownership.
Of course if the cans were excellent then I would have to keep them.
This does make me wonder just how much the actual phone costs to manufacturer and once the limited free headphone offer goes, will the price drop.
I really like this phone from Sony. I think they have thought of every aspect of the phone from the design, everyday practicality, sound and video quality and using it with a Sony Eco system.
I hope this is a success for Sony as it has stiff competition from Samsung with the S4 soon to be announced. Mind you if the S4 looks like a slightly bigger S3 then Sony should have nothing to fear as the S3 doesn’t look special like the iPhone or Sony Xperia Z.
I intend to spend some time with the Z over the weekend along with a Note 2 and will add a short post next week on my views.
The new touchscreen laptop is out from Google. $1,300 dollars for wifi and later the LTE for $1,450.
Specs include –
12.85-inch, 400 nit display at 2560 x 1700 resolution (239 PPI)
Gorilla Glass multi-touch screen
32 GB storage
Backlit Chrome keyboard
HD Webcam
2 x USB 2.0 ports
Mini display port
2-in-1 card reader supporting: SD, MMC
Intel Core i5 Processor (Dual Core 1.8GHz)
Intel HD Graphics 4000
4 GB DDR3 RAM
59 Wh battery
Just who will buy this at the high prices I’m not so sure.
eBay has a new home page style.
Your new eBay homepage features a personalized feed of products based on the interests, brands and trends that match your passions and preferences. The ever-changing collection of items – pulled from eBay’s selection of over 400 million listings – creates an inspiring, visual shopping experience that’s just for you.
Not sure what to make of this but maybe it will highlight stuff I need without searching. But another question is will sellers have to pay more to be seen. Another money making exercise by eBay in my book.
Acer has released 2 new phones.
The E1 packs a dual-core 1GHz processor and runs Jelly Bean on a 4.5-inch qHD display — and will be available in both dual and single SIM configurations. The E1 includes two speakers with DTS Sound, plus “Float” software that prevents notifications from popping up when you’re watching videos.
The Liquid Z2 is an entry-level handset with a dual-core 1GHz CPU and a 3.5-inch HVGA screen. It runs Jelly Bean with an optional interface that mimics a feature phone’s home screen. Like the E1, it’s available with one or two SIM cards, and you have your choice of a 3-megapixel or 5-MP camera.
These phones are budget affairs and will suit somebody just not sure who when there are better options available. Maybe the dual sim arrangement will be the key selling point.
Tizen 2.0 SDK and source code has appeared laden with enhanced support for HTML5 and a beefed up Web UI framework that enables full-screen and multi-window features. Developers can now leverage new hardware APIs for Bluetooth and NFC support, and access a device’s call history, calendar and messaging “subsystems.” Support for background applications, text-to-speech and IP Push have also made it into the operating system along with reference applications including the likes of a calendar, gallery and phone app. In addition, a native IDE and a spruced up web development environment have been released with the latest code.
Is this Samsung’s new super weapon to take on Google and ultimately dump the need for android. Time will tell. But the new operation system shows promise.
Sony held a press conference today to release details of its new Playstation 4. It is also releasing an app.
The PlayStation App will allow gamers playing Sony’s newly announced PlayStation 4 gaming console to look at in-game maps, buy games from the PlayStation Store while on the go, or watch other gamers play on their own PS4s.
As to what the PS4 looks like, well that’s a mystery. Who on earth does a press conference on a new device but doesn’t show you what it looks like !
Similar to PC architecture, the PlayStation 4 will run on a high-end X86-based CPU, with a “highly-enhanced” PC GPU, and 8GB unified GDDR5 RAM, with 176GBps bandwidth. The system will have a powerful 8-core 64-bit AMD CPU and its 1.84 TFLOP Radeon GPU will reside on the same die to enhance performance. In addition, the system will use a hard drive to provide ample storage capacity. It will also sport a 6X speed Blu-ray drive, as well as USB 3.0. Sony’s spec sheet is as below.
So that’s the news on the PS4.
About a week ago Facebook admitted its website was attacked but no data was compromised. Now I would point up they took a month to confess to this which is not acceptable.
We only have Facebook’s word that nothing was stolen but hackers being hackers might have a different story. So this beggars the question just how safe is if to have all your personal data online. In the news one website after another is being targeted. It worries me this might be a unified hack trying to destroy the safety net of the web and our data.
Another account that got hacked was Burger Kings. The hackers rebranded it MacDonalds. Clearly meant to be funny but again shows issues on security.
I really think web based companies need to ensure their security is above the hackers abilities.
But are they? And will this ever be possible ?
Finally some while after the BBC sports app launched on iOS it has finally come to android. The App will support android version 2.2 and upwards and also has been designed to work with 7 inch android tablets.
However I do not personally understand why we have BBC apps for news and sport when if you browse the BBC website on an Internet browser it simply comes up with a mobile version that is actually better than the app.
I detects perhaps some conflict within the BBC over having an app and a mobile web version of their website. Which version would you prefer, an app or browsing via the browser.
