I’ve seen videos like this before and the concept is awesome and hopefully something that will become a reality. This is probably one of the best ones I’ve seen though, take a watch:
If you’re interested in reading more about this you can do so here.
Put your hands up if you’re one of those people that owns a number of devices and having charging docks and cables everywhere drives you mad. Ah, I see everyone putting there hand up, I’m exactly the same, well at least I was, then I received a Uniross Power Pod.
The Uniross Power Pod is an incredibly useful multi-device charging station that supports all sorts of devices and allows you to do all your charging in one place. Let’s look at some photographs first, then I’ll tell you a little more about everything is can do:
At it’s foundation, the Uniross was built to charge small hand-held devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players and hand-held game consoles – it sounds like only a few things, but here’s the comprehensive list of what you get:
That’s going to cover almost every hand-held device you might have! I’ve had mine for a couple of weeks, it lives in the kitchen where there used to be several charging cables and devices, I now only have the Uniross and a far neater area. I should probably add that it charges my iPhone and iPod’s pretty darn quickly as well.
The device sells for R399, which is a complete steal if you ask me. It’s available at Makro for those of you who want one :)
Exciting times! Sony has just announced their first ultrabooks, the Vaio T11 and T13. Here are the details, via the GSM Arena blog:
Both Ultrabooks will feature a sleek magnesium and aluminum body that will be 17.8mm thick. You get a full set of ports, including Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0 and also an SD card slot. It has the traditional VAIO chicklet keyboard and a MacBook style trackpad that will hopefully will be similarly good.
On the inside you get Intel’s Core i3-2367M processor with Intel HD 3000 graphics. You also get 4GB of RAM, 320GB hard drive (with the option to go for an SSD), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. The battery is said to last up to nine hours with the SSD model.
Let’s hope these two make it to South African shores!
If you were buying an ultrabook, what would you choose?
Images from SlashGear.
You all know that I’m crazy about KickStarter and love coming across new things. Well, today’s one of those days, I’ve found something awesome, the Pebble.
Pebble is an infinitely customizable e-paper watch, which works with your iPhone! Download new watch faces, use sports and fitness apps and get notifications from your phone. I’m surprised I missed this one though, it’s been hot since the day it was announced on KickStarter and amount required was $100,000 and they’ve raised A MASSIVE $7,949,799!
Here’s the intro video:
How awesome is that?!
So, on Friday last week, on a public holiday (Freedom Day), I went and ticked off another of those annoying, I’ve-never-done-that-before, items.
I went to a iStore (actually Digicape Claremont) with m’mate Chris M who you might know :) on a launch day, and bought a brand new iDevice. A new iPad. A black, 64GB, wifi-only iPad, to be precise. Yay me!
I’ve been using a first-gen 32GB wifi model for a while now, and it has slowly (mostly as apps improved) become the mainstay of my photo-editing workflow. Now quickly, before the zealots start throwing Molotov cocktails at my obvious stupidity and blatant heresy, let me say… No, I’m not a pro photographer. No, I don’t shoot a gajillion pics every shoot. No, I don’t shoot a Nikon D10million with 87MP uncompressed RAW images. I shoot a combo of iPhone and Nikon P300/P500 images, all JPG, all 12MP or under. And the iPad (even the first-gen), works just fine for ME. Thank you. Now settle down.
So, you may be asking, if the first-gen worked so great, why upgrade, right? Well I’m glad to respond, that the three major reasons I had, have all been very nicely addressed, and my experience with the device has improved hugely, because of them. So let me tell you about the reasons in a bit more detail. Full disclosure. I’m a visual artist (photographer). My metaphors lean in that direction.
DISPLAY:
This is actually quite simple. It really can’t be conveyed in words, without doing a Steve and just blathering on and on in superlatives. It does exactly the same as the iPhone Retina display did, when it launched. It makes everything else look like crap. It gives the rich feeling of really high-quality printing. Illuminated. Sharp edges. Velvia (deep rich, saturated) colours. Surf with SuperBlue whites. Viewing the same image on the two devices, side-by-side, makes you feel like you NAILED the focus on the new one, and the other, you JUST missed it. It’s still a great image, but dammit, it’s just … soft. Huge win for the Retina display.
SPEED:
The new iPad is faster than my first-gen. Duh. But, it’s not faster in a blow-your-hair-back kinda way. It’s faster in a never-keep-you-waiting kinda way. It’s like they had a got an Apple Genius to find all the pauses and hesitations, the ones that first-gen iPad users have become resigned to (and just lived around), and simply deleted them. All meat, no potatos. This is most apparent (to me) in photo-editing apps, which open files, apply filters, and generally go about their business with a very zippy, very pleasing, haste. Even Photoshop Touch (with it’s built-on-Air innards) runs very smoothly. Win.
DESIGN:
I absolutely ADORE the curved back of the first-gen iPad. How it hints at the same radius curve on the iMac. Sensuous. Gorgeous. To look at. To hold? Not.So.Much. I never completely feel like I have hold of all of it. It’s just a glimmer of doubt, but it simmers all the time I have the damn thing in my hand. “Don’t drop it…careful”. I felt the same way about the iPhone 3G I owned. Gorgeous. Felt WONDERFUL in the hand. Until I dropped it. Twice. The second time, the water did it in, proper. The new iPad is FAR less graceful. It’s thinner, with nicely radiused edges, with a flat back. It’s apparently put on a few grams since the second-gen, as well, but that doesn’t matter to me. It’s skinnier, lighter, and better shaped to hold onto, than the first-gen. Win, win, win.
ODDS and SODS:
- Why not a 3G (4G, LTE) model? The blindingly simple iPhone personal hotspot (which I have already) versus almost a grand an a half more. Boom.
- Why the 64GB model? Couple of reasons. Retina display means apps need Retina-ready graphics. Apps get bigger. Logarithmically bigger. Also, I want my whole iTunes librbary on the thing, and some movies and video podcasts. Oh, and did I mention? I take PICTURES! That.
Right. That’s enough from me. Hope I helped clear up some questions around the new iPad. If I didn’t address yours, sound off in the comments. k? Thanks for your time.
The new iPad is being released in South Africa on April 27th and the prices have been announced:
The new iPad has the following features:
It will be available at DigiCape’s, iStores and FFWD in Fourways.
Who’s getting one?
Quite awesome, FNB have announced that they’ll be bringing the new iPad to South Africa and it will be released from the April 27th.. I must admit, after reading 8 different press releases, none of them state April 27th 2012, but I have to assume it is 2012 or they iPad 4 will be coming out – then again, it’s Core =\
Just look at the quality!
Click to enlarge!
I’ve got an iPad 2 so I won’t be upgrading, but that new retina display on the iPad will be to die for though and let’s not forget about the A5X chipset with quad-core graphics, 1080p HD video capabilities and finally a decent camera with 5 megapixels.
You can find out more about the new iPad on Apple’s website.
Twine is a wireless module tightly integrated with a cloud-based service. The module has WiFi, on-board temperature and vibration sensors, and an expansion connector for other sensors. Power is supplied by the on-board micro USB or two AAA batteries (and Twine will email you when you need to change the batteries).
The Spool web app makes it simple to set up and monitor your Twines from a browser anywhere. You set rules to trigger messages — no programming needed. The rules are put together with a palette of available conditions and actions, and read like English: WHEN moisture sensor gets wet THEN tweet “The basement is flooding!” We’ll get you started with a bunch of rule sets, and you can share rules you create with other Twine owners.
Because the hardware and software are made for each other, setup is easy. There’s nothing to install — just point Twine to your WiFi network. Sensors are immediately recognized by the web app when you plug them in, and it reflects what the sensors see in real time, which makes understanding and testing your rules easy.
Here’s a screenshot of the software:
Quite an incredible little device if you ask me! Find out more on the website.
From time to time I spend a few hours on KickStarter looking at all the incredible ideas and this evening I came across a fantastic little device called CloudFTP:
CloudFTP in its simplest form allows you to wirelessly share any USB storage with the iPad or iPhone. In a little more detail, CloudFTP is a pocket size adapter that can turn any USB storage device into a wireless file server, sharing files with WiFi-enabled devices (iPad, iPhone, computer etc.). It can also automatically connect to the Internet to backup and synchronize your USB data with popular online Cloud storage services like iCloud, Dropbox and box.net.
The KickStarter required $100,000, but raised $262, 351 by January 6th 2012! There is clearly a massive need for wireless access points, which you’d imagine we’d already have mastered, clearly not.
I think it’s an awesome device, big up to Daniel Chin for coming up with this idea!
Finally technology has caught up with expectations with the ultra-responsive, ultra-sleek Ultrabook – inspired by Intel. Ultrabooks Rethink personal computing by providing the most complete and satisfying computing experience. So whether you are travelling over the Easter weekend or whether you are looking for a hot accessory to match your new outfit bought at SA Fashion Week, an Ultrabook is what you need. So we know you want to be Ultra-cool and Ultra-efficient so we are giving away the stylish Asus Zenbook UX31E Core i5, featuring a 2 second resume time and only at 3mm at the front and 9mm at the base.
1. How desperate are you to get your hands on this Ultrabook?
All you have to do is submit a photograph to us of your current computer setup that shows how desperately you NEED a new Ultrabook. One of you will instantly change from desperate to Ultra-cool at the end of April when the winner is announced. Make your experience Ultra….enter now!!
2. BONUS ENTRY (will only count if you’ve submitted a photograph)
Desperate for this machine, send a Tweet or update your Facebook Status saying, “I want to win the #zenbook in the www.iMod.co.za competition! /cc @imodcoza” – if you send that Tweet or update your Facebook Status, you’ll get an extra entry into the competition.
Send your photograph to ultrabook@imod.co.za now!
Terms: I need to receive at least 30 entries in order to give away this beautiful machine, so please spread the word! Competition closes on Sunday 29th April, 2012, any submissions made after this date will not be included. Limited to South African residents only.
Join the Intel social media communities on Facebook or follow them on twitter to keep up to date with all Ultrabook and Intel Innovations .
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