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4 Most Underwhelming Technologies of CES 2012

Florence Ion — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:31:02 +0000

While CES is the ultimate showcase for brand new technology and innovative gadgets, it can become redundant. Throughout the labyrinth of booths, there are a myriad of copycats, all trying to garner interest in "the next big thing". The fact of the matter is that many of these things are not the best things to come out of the show floor. Read on and I'll tell you why.

1. Ultrabooks

Samsung and Toshiba were among the many notebook manufacturers touting their Ultrabooks as the next generation of high performance computing in an ultra-thin package. While this is great news for PC users that were once limited to ginormous desktop set ups and bulky laptops, this evolution is long overdue. As an Apple user, you're aware of this: the MacBook Air was introduced in 2008 and made waves with its feather-thin design, and the latest iterations proved that a laptop doesn't have to be bulked up to be beefy. All you need to do is introduce the right components (flash storage) and omit the unnecessary (the optical drive) and you've got a hit on your hands.

2. Android on Everything

In the immortal words of Dr. Seuss, "I do not like it, Sam I am, I do not like that Android is everyone's solution to their problems." Perhaps the most exhausting and overwhelming trend of CES -- or really, the direction in which mobile technology is evolving -- is that there is a saturation of Android products hitting the market. As an iOS user, you may be spitting at the mere mention of it, but like it or not the Android's reach is expanding beyond just smartphones and tablets. For instance, Poloroid showcased the SC1630 point-and-shoot camera, fueled by Android, and it was an underwhelmingly slow piece of technology. There are already so many smartphones armed with powerful lenses and camera sensors, that purchasing an entirely seperate gadget for casual picture-taking is as pointless as purchasing a point-and-shoot. The unfortunate part of it all is that there seems to be a trend in gadget-makers desperate to reclaim the clout they once had by inserting Android in there somewhere. Didn't these companies learn anything from Apple? Keep things simple.

3. Audio Amplifiers

iFrogz announced that it is releasing a audio amplification device for the iPhone and iPod touch called Boost. Though it's an affordable solution for getting some decent volume out of your iOS device's tiny speakers, it's so incredibly inefficient. Think of it as addressing a large crowd with nothing but a funnel -- you still have to yell into it for everyone to hear you. Affordable sound solutions were showing up everywhere this year from companies like iHome, Klipsch and XtremeMac, and they were much better at actually amplifying the iPhone's sound into booming, bass-thumpin' audio, without any traces of strain. So while sound amplification is a good idea in theory, to put it into practice means spending money on a product with little shelf life.

4. Smart Watches

Tucked away in the corner of the South Hall was a small booth showcasing a "watch phone." Though it was equipped with multi-touch, the watch itself wasn't extraordinary. It featured a VGA camera phone and only a few basic functions. It would have been a fun gadget to debut before smartphones ever hit the market, but the concept is just too late to the game--like a company introducing its first DVD-slash-VHS player to a world that's already utilizing Blu-Ray players and streaming set-top boxes.

Then Sony had to go and announce that it, too, was working on a SmartWatch that pairs with its upcoming launch of Sony Ericcson phones, and that's when the groans from the Mac|Life editors could be heard halfway around the world. This concept feels dated, and while we can all remember thinking how cool it would be to talk into our watches, the iPhone has done enough to satiate our desire for Star Trek-like technology. Um, have you met my friend Siri?

CES 2012: Microsoft's Last Keynote

Seamus Bellamy — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:29:31 +0000

It's hard to write about Microsoft's final Consumer Electronics Show keynote without feeling a little bit depressed. What should have been the company's CES swan song felt more like a rambling late night phone call from an old friend who just wants to talk about the way things used to be. During the company's 60 minute kick at the can, which started 30 minutes late, CEO Steve Ballmer and dreamy corporate shill Ryan Seacrest didn't provide the keynote's attendees with a single piece of information they didn't already have.

Touching briefly on the topics of the company's Windows Phone 7 smartphone platform and their partnership with Intel in rolling out 78 different iterations of Ultrabook ultra portable computers over the next year, Ballmer and Seacrest quickly moved on to focus on Windows 8.

Sadly, there wasn't much new here either. As we'd already heard late last year, the next version of Windows is being designed to operate on both ARM and x86 processors, paving the way for hardware manufacturers to install the OS on a wider variety of high-powered and ultra efficient low-powered personal computers, tablets and other devices than ever before. As Microsoft had previously indicated, Windows 8 will rely heavily on HTML5, not just for application design, but for playing video as well: Neither Flash nor the company's own SilverLight technology will be offered on Windows 8.

The fact that Windows 8 users, just like Mac owners, will have access to an app store was rehashed as well. The Windows Store for Windows 8 will go live on February 1, featuring a number of free applications that anyone using the Windows 8 Developer Preview will have access to. On the same day as the Windows Store comes online, PC users can also anticipate the arrival of a PC compatible version of Microsoft's Kinnect motion-control hardware, which up until now has only been available to users of the company's Xbox 360 console.

Remember all of those commercials during the holidays that featured friends and family using voice controls to search for and order videos and movies via embedded services in Xbox Live, like Netflix and ESPN? They riffed on that, too. There was some good news here for Xbox owners though: Microsoft has brokered deals with a number of new content providers. Verizon customers who own an Xbox will have access to 26 FIOS channels. Other services, such as Infinity on Demand, as well as content from News Corp. and Fox, will also be making an appearance on the gaming console as well. In addition to this, Ballmer noted that Microsoft was working with a number of companies such as American Express and Mattel to bring new Kinnect-enabled applications to market.

For a final showing at one of the largest tech-centric showcases in the world, we're sad to say that what Microsoft provided us with this year was weaker than we could have imagined. Here's hoping that moving forward, the company is able to not only deliver on what it rehashed last night, but also wow consumers with a something awesome in the weeks and months to come.

Microsoft Exits CES: The Right Move at the Right Time

Seamus Bellamy — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:18:44 +0000

This past December, Microsoft announced that the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show would be its last -- a surprising move for a company that has cast such a dominating shadow over the trade show for the last decade. As the tech giant struggles to reposition itself in a rapidly changing consumer marketplace, it's the only move that makes sense.

As Apple has seen fit to point out, maintaining a product release schedule mandated by the advent of an annual trade show is, well, insane. Innovation cannot be measured or planned to the day. To provide consumers and pundits with a guaranteed peek at what you're working on before it's ready, or worse, deploy a product into the market place before it's ready is just asking for trouble. Just look at Windows Vista, RIM's Blackberry Playbook, or the iPhone 4 and its legendary antenna woes and you'll grasp what we're talking about. Apple twigged to this, and now releases their products and services when it feel it's ready to face the uncompromising scrutiny of the consuming public.

After suffering a number of painful fiscal failures over the past few years -- the Zune, the Kin, and a slower than expected adoption rate of Windows 7 -- Microsoft has finally seen fit to circle their wagons, and with good reason. In our opinion, 2012 will be a make or break year for the Redmond-based company.

Don't get us wrong, Microsoft's not hurting. Far from it: Despite the gains made by Apple over the past few years in the area of personal computer sales, the company's overall world dominance of the PC market is still unquestionable, thanks to the huge number of Whitebox Windows OEM installations and in-store purchases of the operating system. The same can be said of the company's productivity suite. Despite its steep price point and many faults, nothing comes close to competing with Microsoft Office when it comes to sales. But the company still can't seem to get a handle on the increasingly vital mobile technology market. Given the amount of cash consumer and enterprise users have thrown at tablets, smartphones and mobile apps over the past year, this lack of understanding could be a serious hurdle to Microsoft's continued success and relevancy.

There's little doubt that Microsoft recognizes its shortcomings in this area. Though it was successful in entering the gaming market, it fell short when attempting to penetrate the already saturated mobile market. As such, the intriguingly lackluster Zune music player was cancelled this past year as a hardware partnership with Nokia was brokered, and the company's Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system, while attractive and functional, has failed to capture the imagination of consumers or developers. As a possible fix for this, there's a good chance that Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, which was originally envisioned as a unified OS for tablets, laptops, and desktop computers, may be extended to operate on appropriately specced smartphone hardware as well. And why not? The operating system's Metro interface is insanely touch-friendly, as far away from the company's horrible Windows 7 touch interface features as the original iPhone was from the Apple Paladin.

Following in Apple's now trade show-free footsteps, Microsoft, free from the prying eyes of pundits and the public, could finally produce a unified product offering that consumers, enterprise users, and the media could all get excited about. That's a win for everyone, even devoted Apple aficionados and fanboys. After all, competition breeds innovation, and pushes forces everyone to up their game -- Cupertino included. We'll just have to wait and see what Microsoft's got in store for us tonight at its last and finaly CES keynote.

10 Most Impactful Events in Tech in 2011

Seamus Bellamy — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:00:11 +0000

Technology moves faster than poop through a goose: New products crop up quickly, while established brands and well-loved hardware can disappear just as fast. The same goes for those that make new technology possible, with new entrepreneurs bringing their wares to the fore, and legends leaving us years before their time. This past year proved no exception. With the new year creeping ever closer, we submit to you ten of our picks for the most important tech stories of the year. Designed by Apple users for Apple users, we're sure you'll find yourself nodding in agreement at more than a few of our choices.

Cloud Wars: Apple's iCloud Versus Microsoft's SkyDrive

Seamus Bellamy — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:29:31 +0000

What’ll it be: Mac or PC? Consumers have their reasons for loving or hating both platforms. When expressed in online forums and the user comment sections of websites like Mac|Life or our sister site Maximum PC, these rational talking points act to chum the digital waters, attracting the most irritating of all predators: The Fanboy. With Macs users now capable of easily running Windows and OS X on the same computer, and Windows rig owners leveraging iTunes to keep their iPads and iPhones purring along, you’d think the hostilities would be settling down.

Unfortunately, there’s a new argument to be had, and it revolves around the issue of which company, Microsoft or Apple, provides a superior cloud computing experience: SkyDrive or iCloud. While we wear our pro-Apple leanings like a badge of honor, we wouldn’t be doing our readers a service by simply declaring iCloud the single greatest cloud computing and storage platform of all time. Instead, we present you with a blow-for-blow account of how the two of the web’s most prominent cloud computing platforms -- iCloud and SkyDrive -- stack up against one another.

Data Sync Capability

If you’re a Mac, Windows or iOS device user, iCloud is nothing but win. Contacts, calendars, and Safari bookmarks all sync automatically between devices. Users are also able to opt into syncing their documents and other data via the service as well, albeit with a lot less finesse than we’re use to seeing from Apple. Recently, SkyDrive introduced a mobile app for iPhone and Windows Phone 7 users to access and interact with their files on the go. Through the use of online applications such as Windows Live Hotmail Calendar, Mail and Contacts, users are able to interact with their information on the go, just like their iCloud-loving counterparts. That said, iCloud’s integration with OS X and iOS native applications is second to none, making SkyDrive’s data syncing methodology look primitive by comparison.

Winner: iCloud

Storage

Any cloud computing solution worth it’s salt should be able to provide you with all of the room you’ll need to tend to your storage needs without making you feel cramped for space. iCloud provides users with 5GB of free storage space that can be used for cloud-based iOS backups, email storage and file serving. If they need additional storage, users can purchase an upgrade to 10GB, 20GB or 50GB for $20, $40 or $100 per year respectively. Right off the bat, Microsoft gives all SkyDrive users 25GB of free storage space. That’s a whole lot of bang for absolutely no bucks.

Winner: SkyDrive

Music Services

iCloud users in the United States finally gained access to Apple’s snazzy new iTunes Match service this past November, and all in all, it’s a pretty sweet deal. For $24.99 per year, subscribers can scan and match up to 25,000 tracks from their personal music library to Apple’s servers, and download them to any of their authorized computers or iOS devices to as high quality 256 kbps DRM-free AAC files.

What does SkyDrive bring to the party? Not much. While Microsoft does offer the company’s faithful access to the Zune Marketplace and Zune Music Pass through their Xbox 360, PC, and Windows Phone 7 hardware, it’s not touted as being a part of SkyDrive, and therefore disqualified from entry in this showdown. Even if it was, it doesn’t play nice with Apple branded hardware. Sorry, Redmond.

Winner: iCloud

Web Apps

There’s a lot of services out there offering cloud storage -- Dropbox, Amazon, SugarSync and Box to name a few. What makes iCloud and SkyDrive compelling is that in addition to giving consumers a place to stash their files, they also provide the means to tinker with that content to boot. By logging into iCloud.com, users are able to work with their calendars, contacts and email. While they have access to any of the iWork-related files they may have uploaded to iCloud, Apple sadly hasn’t provided any means of editing those files or creating new ones without the aid of a computer or iOS device with Pages, Numbers, or Keynote installed on it.

SkyDrive on the other hand, is glut with web-based applications. In addition to it’s Windows Live mail, calendar and contacts applications, SkyDrive also offers users online versions Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint and the company’s excellent OneNote note taking app, all of which are useable without owning computer-side versions of the software.

Winner: SkyDrive

Messaging

If you’ve got a SkyDrive account, you’ve also got a Windows Live Messenger account to go along with it. Born from the ashes of Microsoft Messenger, Live Messenger offers messaging clients for a wide range of devices, including Mac computers, Windows PCs, Xbox 360, Blackberry phones, and Symbian devices. iChat? It’s exclusive to Apple hardware, but uses AOL’s chat protocols, so it can be used with a number of different chat clients. Additionally, when users rock iChat’s client on their Macs, the software also grants them the ability to chat with users from other networks including ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, XMPP and wait for it… Windows Live Messenger. Sorry, Microsoft, but you’ve come up short on this one.

Winner: iCloud

Photos

By turning on PhotoStream, iCloud users will automatically see the photos they’ve taken with their iPhone or iPad 2 appear on all of their other PhotoStream-enabled iOS devices, Windows PC or their Macs if iPhoto or Aperture are installed. PhotoStream stores a maximum of 1000 of your most recent images. As if that weren’t enough to keep shutterbugs happy, Apple recently included the ability to delete images from your PhotoStream camera roll -- a feature often requested by users since the service was first launched.

In contrast, SkyDrive offers users access to Microsoft’s Windows Live Photos in order to store and share their photos. While it’s not as elegant a solution as what Apple has on offer, Microsoft’s take on taking your photos to the clouds incorporates sharing to services like Facebook, Flikr and YouTube as well as as the ability to make basic edits to your photos from any internet browser. Apple’s simplicity of function versus Microsoft’s larger feature set. We have to call this one a tie.

Winner: Tie

Find My iPhone

We’ll keep this one simple, folks. iCloud users get free access to Apple’s awesome Find My iPhone service, that tracks enabled Mac computers and iOS devices no matter when they roam. SkyDrive? Not so much. Microsoft currently doesn’t offer anything remotely like Find My iPhone, though Windows Phone 7 does have its own built-in homing device that can track down a phone if it's left behind. But for a Windows laptop or stolen desktop PC? No help there.

Winner: iCloud

Verdict

The overall winner: iCloud! Due to it’s wide variety of services, and overall simplicity of use, iCloud trounces SkyDrive with ease, provided you’re using a device made by Apple. For everyone else, SkyDrive -- offering a full suite of free tools and ample space for most people’s files -- is a compelling way to compute in the clouds. What do you think readers? Which service would you declare the champ? Sound off in the comments!

Amazon's Rumored Smartphone Will Bring Serious Competition for Apple

Florence Ion — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:45:24 +0000

Just imagine it handheld-sized.

Citigroup's research department is whispering hearsay that Amazon's got its own ideas for a smartphone next year. The "KindlePhone," as it's referred to in the article from All Things D, is allegedly slated for launch in late 2012. It's a fantastic idea for technophiles who have already adopted the Kindle Fire and are eager to step further into the Amazon ecosystem. And it's an amazing opportunity for Amazon to beat Apple at its own game.

Amazon's ecosystem is one that's as powerful than Apple's. Dare I say, it could be even more so if Amazon were to officially team up with Google and give them a key to the ecosystem, in exchange for Google's web app enterprise. The trick is that you're already a part of it as long as you've used Amazon to purchase something in the past. It greatly changed its game when it officially entered the Kindle Fire into the ring.

Amazon's tablet definitely had its appeal before it officially hit the market and arrived on people's doorsteps. And while some reviews may look unfavorably upon the technological shortcomings of the device it's still a game changer in many ways. It's an Android tablet that locks you into an ecosystem you've long been a part of and have already been spending your money with, anyway. It's an accessible, affordable, interactive alternative to simply perusing through the site through a browser window. And now you can give Amazon even more cash by signing up for a Prime account, which subsequently gets you speedy shipping on the hoards of products you purchase from the site and access to thousands of online videos. Oh, and let's not forget one of iTunes' biggest competitors: the Amazon music store and cloud storage. Amazon's even got its own Android market place with daily free sponsored apps. Wait, what is Apple again?

So while iTunes is still getting its bearings on playing nice with all platforms -- Apple has taken the most important step by ditching MobileMe for iCloud, which works with PCs -- Amazon could really be planning the most powerful offense of all by entering the smartphone market. At least one thing's for sure: 2012 is going to be a hell of a year for smartphones.

Live Blog: Let's Talk iPhone

Mac|Life Staff — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:00:51 +0000

Join us on Tuesday, October 4 at 10AM PST as we live blog Apple's very special iPhone event. Let's talk about the next iPhone with Tim Cook and friends, straight from Apple Town Hall. Bookmark this page and make sure to be right here tomorrow to join in on the conversation. After all, we've been waiting for this for awhile.

If Cover It Live is down, check out our Analog Live Blog or follow us on Twitter.

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=8700f456db" mce_href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=8700f456db" >Live Blog: Apple iPhone Event</a>

The Week's 10 Hottest Apple News Stories, September 23

J Keirn-Swanson — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:19:19 +0000

Will Google Wallet Ever Make It to iOS?

Ryan Whitwam — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:52:27 +0000

Google has officially begun its quest to kill your physical wallet with the new Google Wallet mobile service. Google Wallet has been in field trials in a handful of cities, but has now gone national with the help of MasterCard PayPass. Currently, Google Wallet is only available on the NFC-toting Google Nexus S 4G from Sprint. As the service continues rolling out, are iOS users going to get a chance to ditch their wallets for good?

As it exists on Android, Google Wallet is totally dependent on near field communication (NFC). This is a short range wireless technology in the same class as RFID. Users just need to place the phone near the PayPass scanner and the saved credit card information is transmitted. Google, recognizing the potential security nightmare this could lead to, added a PIN code to the app.

An iOS user that fancies Google Wallet has bigger issues than just finding one of the readers. The current iteration of the iPhone lacks the NFC technology used by Google Wallet. The iPhone 5 has intermittently been rumored to both have, and not have an NFC module. Although, current rumors have the fifth iPhone coming with a multifunction Qualcomm chip with NFC support. At they end of the day, the hardware decisions made by Cupertino will affect the fate of Google Wallet on iOS.

If Apple does add NFC technology to the next iPhone, there is no guarantee they would want any part of Google Wallet. Back in May, Google said that Wallet would be an open standard that any mobile company could use; they just need to have NFC, and work with Google to implement the service. Apple has a habit of eschewing outside standards, instead choosing to develop their own.

Google’s push to get NFC into phones may be a slow burn, but partnering with the established PayPass system is a smart move. If Google tried to deploy its own branded readers, the uptake would undoubtedly be lower. While the network of PayPass readers is small in some areas, it’s giving Google a solid head start. If Apple or another manufacturer wanted to start a rival wireless payment service, they would be at an immediate disadvantage.

Google recognizes that most devices don’t have NFC, and that won’t change overnight. Back at that original announcement, the idea of NFC stickers paired with a Google Wallet account was floated. Those stickers have yet to materialize, but this might be a way out for iPhone users. Should the iPhone 5 lack NFC, or if Apple decides to pass on the service, a sticker bypasses all that in the lowest of low-tech ways.

The drawback, and likely the reason these stickers weren’t part of the announcement is the relative lack of security. The integrated app interfaces with the NFC chip to transmit a PIN code, and that might not be possible with external NFC stickers. It would essentially be like walking around with a credit card taped to the back of the phone.

Google’s purpose is obviously to get the Wallet service on as many devices as possible, but as is usually the case with iOS, the ball is in Apple’s court. The folks at 1 Infinite Loop don’t have to add NFC, and they don’t have to accept a Google Wallet app in the App Store. If the hardware support is there, iOS users might have a web app to look forward to, just like Google Voice for the longest time. All we can do right now is wait on the iPhone 5.

Adios Amigos - A Note From Robbie

Roberto Baldwin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:01:29 +0000

I could wax poetic with thousands upon thousands of words about this, but I'm pretty sure you have better things to do than read my meanderings.

Today is my last day at MacLife.com.

To the readers and the staff at Mac|Life, thanks for four years of awesome. If you're the inquisitive type, you can keep an eye on my Twitter account for information on what I'm doing next. For now, it's about the Mac|Life.

Hey, remember that time I dressed up in a bear suit? Yeah, that was good times.

Thanks everyone,

-Robbie
Mac|Life Online Editor until 5PM PST.