iPhone 5 specs, release date, and price

It's finally here. The fifth generation iPhone, aka iPhone 5, was officially announced yesterday and it's coming to the stores pretty soon. Let's look at some of the specs and features of the iPhone 5.

First of all, there were some major changes in the exterior specs. The iPhone 5 holds a 4 inch screen. Although it is still relatively a small screen compared to other smart phones, it is a big improvement for Apple as all the iPhones in the past always had 3.5 inch screen. Software wise, a fifth row for app icons on the home screen has been added due to the bigger screen. However, I discovered that the screen is not full HD because the total pixel count is 1,136 x 640 and that 640 line needs to be at least 720 pixels to be a full HD. I thought that was a bit of a disappointment. On top of the bigger screen, the iPhone 5 has gotten thinner from 0.37 inch to 0.30 inch and also got lighter and now weigh 3.95 ounces.

Design wise, you can see that the iPhone 5 has a metal back (again) instead of the glass back which caused some problems on iPhone 4 and 4S where people kept dropping it and it cracking. Apple also changed the color of the metal frame to dark navy ish color. The dock connector has gotten smaller as you all probably know by now and the audio jack was moved to the bottom which I thought was a little odd.

I know this was expected but the 4G LTE network will be available in addition to the GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, and HSPA data network that's currently available for the iPhone 5. The question is which carrier will support an LTE iPhone 5. In Australia, Telstra, Optus, and Virgin Mobile; in the US, AT&T, Spring, and Verizon Wireless; in Canada, Rogers, Bell, Telus, Fido, Virgin, and Kudo; in Asia, SoftBank, SmarTone, SingTel, SK Telecom; in Europe, Deutsche Telekom and EE. Carriers that do not support LTE will still be able to use the iPhone 5 but will have to run on dual-band 3.5G HDPA+.

Now let's move on to the inside of the iPhone 5. A faster chip, A6 vs the current A5 chip, was installed in the iPhone 5 and the chip will generate much faster speed in graphics yet being 22 percent smaller than the A5 chip. You will be able to see Web pages load 2.1 times faster and the Music app 1.9 times faster. The battery is much more powerful in order to accommodate the battery draining LTE. Battery life is always quite misleading but according to Apple, you will get 8 hours of 3G talk, 8 hours of 3G browsing, 8 hours of LTE browsing, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music playback, and 225 hours of standby time.

One last thing, Apple decided to give a name to its camera, "iSight". Nothing really changed about the camera itself but they added a few handy features to it. The iSight has backside illumination, a hybrid IR filter, a five-element lens, and a f2.4 aperture. There is also the new dynamic light mode and you will be able to take pictures in panorama mode.


The iPhone 5 will be available in black and white version on September 21 to Australia, United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The phone will start selling in other countries by the end of this year. The phone will be available in 16GB for $199, 32GB for $299, and the 64GB for $399.

Read more »

Android malware vulnerability statistics

With the technology growing so fast, it's not only the PCs that are vulnerable to viruses but we also need to be cautious with our mobile devices. It has been reported that the rate of Android devices getting infected with malware viruses varies by country.

If you look at the graph above created by Lookout Mobile, a security software for Android mobile devices, the U.S. has the lowest rate of malware infection with less than one percent whereas the Russia has the highest with 42 percent. The second highest is Ukraine with 28 percent, then China with 7.6 percent, and Israel with 2.6 percent. Some European countries like France and Germany have a fairly low risk of infection with less than 0.4 percent. These numbers are based on the calculations of app-based threats and web-based threats. Lookout added all the number of threats on new Lookout users within their first week of use and divided it by the total number of registered users and kept the record monthly.

I want to warn the readers to be cautious of the apps you download because these people can easily create fake apps to infect your hardware. Here's a good tip for securing your Android:

1. Stick to the official Google Play store, if it's available in your country.
2. Password-protect your phone. Always. You just never know when you might lose your phone, but why risk having all that stored data fall into the wrong hands?
3. Download an Android security suite with antivirus detection, for all those apps you sideload.
4. Use a Web shield in your mobile browser to block phishing attacks and other Web-based threats; most suites will include this.
5. Block apps with adware with an app like Lookout Ad Network Detector (unfortunately not integrated in its Editors' Choice suite) or Trustgo Antivirus and Mobile Detector.

source: https://www.mylookout.com/resources/reports/state-of-mobile-security-2012

Read more »

iPhone 5 launch date announced

The long waited iPhone 5 is finally going to be officially launched. Apple will be holding a launch event on September 12, unveiling their next generation iPhone, commonly known as the iPhone 5. There seems to have been a lot more hype on this iPhone compared to the predecessors and we're about to find out why. Following this event, Apple will announce the 7-inch iPad in October so there's a lot to look forward to in the Fall season for Apple.

Read more »

Pirate Bay founder arrested.

Recently, one of the highly used torrent site was shut down DDoS and now a founder of even a bigger site, Pirate Bay, got arrested in Cambodia. Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, co-founder of Pirate Bay, has been living in Cambodia since 2009 when the officials started tracking down the torrent site owners. In 2009, the four Pirate Bay founders had to pay US$4.4 million and serve one year in prison. Then in November 2010, all four except Warg, who was ill at the time, appealed their sentences. From then, Warg just kept pushing back his dates and finally got the international warrant in April 2012 to pursue him.

Read more »

Sony 4K TV coming to Australia in December

It was announced today that Sony's 84 inch TV with 4000 pixels is finally coming to Australia. The actual resolution of this 4K TV is 3,840 x 2,160 compared to 1,920 x 1,080 on most TVs today commonly known as 1080p. People are still questioning whether there are enough 4K contents available for us to spend that much money on a TV. It's nice to see how the technology is evolving, from LCD TVs to OLED TV and now the 4K TV. It's funny tho, because Sony wasn't able to come through with the OLED TV alone. As for the TV, I personally don't like the stand but the body design looks pretty nice.

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 specs leaked

Samsung's Galaxy Note 2, or what I like to call it Galaxy S3 with better design, is quite stunning. Like most new phones coming out now, it's running on 1.4GHz quad core processor and pretty much have the same specs as the Galaxy S3. However, the Note 2 will hold 5.5 inch screen which is .2 inch bigger than the original Galaxy Note.

Read more »

Motorola RAZR M 4G LTE

With the recent announcement of the LG's Optimus G, it seems like the competitors are feeling pressured to win the LTE smart phone battles. This quad core Motorola phone has a 4.3 inch qHD super AMOLED display and it will run on Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB RAM and a 8MP camera that can take 1080p videos. I personally don't like the design on this phone and the fact that it's a Motorola doesn't seem that reliable. It seems like there are quite a few new phones coming out like I mentioned in the previous post so I'm just gonna wait and see.

Read more »

Quad Core phones about to get dominated

LG recently released a teaser of their latest quad core phone, Optimus G, and the specs are quite intimidating. The 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4, the 2GB of RAM, the 4.7-inch IPS display, Android 4.0.4 and 13-megapixel camera. The screen resolution was also announced to be 1,280 x 768 but there's a high chance that all these specs may change because these are still in pre-production stage and the design is going to change as well. If any of you guys reading this are in the market for a new phone, I'd suggest you wait since there are few new phones coming out with really good specs.

Read more »

OLED TV, Samsung or LG?

OLED TV, the latest technology in TV industry, is being talked about more frequently as they are coming closer to the release. In this post, I'd like to talk a little bit about what we can expect and what options we have. If you didn't know, there are currently Samsung and LG making the OLED displays and it could be highly debatable which one is better (if you're fortunate enough, that is).

First off, the main difference between LG and Samsung in their OLED TV is that LG uses IGZO WOLED technology and Samsung uses LTPS RGB OLED. The production cost for the Samsung's OLED is 25% higher than LG's. This definitely will have an impact on pricing of the product. Another thing you should consider is the awards. LG received the best product award at CES 2012 in Las Vegas and also claimed that their OLED technology is at least two years ahead of their competitors. This may not be an advantage that keeps a company going for a long time but at least you will know which one will be more likely to succeed with the first generation of the technology.

Read more »

Build a house in 20 hours with a 3D printer

The recently developed technology called 3D printer has surprised us with many tangible items like pen holders,  iPhone cases, and even guns that can actually shoot. You think gun is big? Imagine a whole house. The idea of making a house with a 3D printer was initiated by Professor Behrock Khoshnevis and they tested that it can be done in 20 hours. He got this idea from his perspective on ghetto villages that have poorly constructed make shift corrugated iron shack and believes having a better shelter will improve the society.

The houses built using a 3D printer will cost 25% less than traditional houses and will reduce the labour costs at the same time. It uses a mixture of concrete and fibre polymers making it much more stronger than the materials used in most houses today. If your current house can handle 3,000 pounds per square inch of pressure, the houses made with this 3D printer will be able to handle 10,000. Also, the fact that a house can be built in 20 hours is another great factor to consider. Professor Behrock Khoshnevis did mention that you can design a house however you want with this 3D printing technology. You can have those dream house you wanted from when you were a kid (slides coming down from your room to the kitchen or a mysterious house with like trap doors to pull a prank on your friends).

Read more »

Demonoid shut down and owners under investigation

Demonoid is one of the biggest torrent sites in the world where people can download pirated copyright materials for free. Their primary ISP was located in Ukraine although they did change their location quite frequently. The server was shut down by DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) on July 25 and the Ukraine officials are making sure no one can use this site. Demonoid was the 538th most visited website and had about 3 million peers. My gut tells me that the world of torrents is slowly coming to an end with this incident as a start.

Read more »

Watch out for Active 3D

Samsung recently issued a warning on 3D TVs that it may cause seizures or some sort of medical problems from their 3D TVs. Samsung didn't mention this but from reading the warnings, you can easily tell that this is a warning for all active 3D TVs. They stated that the following problems are caused due to the flickering technique used in active 3D glasses. Also, if there is a history of epilepsy or stroke in your family, it is not advisable to use this particular technology. Some other symptoms that show active 3D is not for you include:

• epileptic seizure or stroke
• altered vision
• lightheadedness
• dizziness
• involuntary movements like twitching
• confusion
• nausea
• loss of awareness
• convulsions
• cramps
• disorientation

If you see any of these symptoms, you should immediately stop viewing your 3D TV and seek medical specialist. Due to lack of research and studies, they are unsure of how common these problems are but until a study is done, it is highly advisable to choose a different type of technology when viewing 3D TV. The technology used in the movie Avatar which was a polarized glasses, commonly known as passive 3D, is more recommended at the moment.

Active 3D TV: Samsung, Sony, Panasonic
Passive 3D TV: LG, Vizio, Toshiba, Panasonic.

Read more »

LG 3D Smart TV Dual Play demonstrated

I just saw an interesting video that demonstrates the new feature on LG's 3D smart TV called Dual Play. Pretty much it's a feature that lets you and your "opponent" view each of your own full screen when splitting screen. I find this feature quite intriguing as it's an advanced technology that will take gaming to next level. I wish I had this when I was a kid, maybe I could have maintained a better relationship with my brother..


If you see in the video, it shows you the special type of glasses used for dual play mode. I found out that you can easily make those with your passive 3D glasses from LG. All you really have to do is just grab 2 3D glasses and put all the left lens on one glasses and all the right lens on the other. It turns out, the dual play mode works by displaying different set of lines to each player without interlacing them in each glasses.

Read more »

NASA's Curiosity rover landing in Mars today

The Curiosity rover is part of the robotic mission called Mars Science Laboratory that was launched by NASA on November 26, 2011 and it's landing in Gale Crater at about 05:31 UTC on August 6, 2012. They have showed concept videos and computer simulations of this mission but now we'll be able to see it for real. The Curiosity rover cost about $2.5 billion and it's been traveling in space for eight months. If it lands successfully, it'll open up a a lot more information on how it's like in the planet Mars. It'll help us learn about Mars' habitability, climate and geology.

If you want to watch the landing live, you can head over to the link below once the time comes and enjoy the clip.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/watch-live-curiosity/

Read more »

Nixeus and its 27 inch hi-res monitor

I know a lot of people haven't even heard about Nixeus and I honestly haven't either, until I read an article about this monitor. I looked at its specs and it's actually quite impressive. The 2560 x 1440 WQHD resolution with LG S-IPS panel, 6ms response, 8-bit colour, stereo speakers and all the ports we need for just $US430. I'm quite skeptical about its price because the specs look too good to be that cheap but I guess we'll have to wait until August 21 because that's when it's going to be released.

One thing I noticed, tho, was that it seems like everybody's using LG's panels on their displays now. I heard even LG's biggest competitor, Samsung, gets their supplies for TV from LG. I know there's a lot more than just the panel when it comes to displays but they now must have a pretty high reputation especially since they started building bigger displays like the 84 inch 4K TVs.

Read more »

Dick Smith DVD player blown up in front of a kid

Last week, something horrible happened to the Lyons family while traveling to Rochester, Victoria. Heath Lyons was driving with his daughter Ava in the car when Heath smelt something burning. He thought it was the engine so he pulled the car over and got out to check what it was then he heard an explosion in the car. It turns out, the portable DVD player that his daughter was using exploded, setting fire on Ava's clothes and burning her right and, cheeks, lips, nose, eyelids and eyebrows. She was taken to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne and she's recovering pretty well.


The actual cause of the explosion is still being investigated with the product manufacturer but from what we know as of now, it was the battery that overheated and blew up. Currently, Dick Smith discontinued this product and they are offering recalls. For your reference, this model was Dick Smith 9" Portable DVD/Media Player, Catalogue number D6202. If anyone reading this has this product, it's highly advisable that you take it to Dick Smith immediately to prevent anymore incidents.

Read more »

Linux thinks NVIDIA sucks, Valve disagrees

Linus Torvalds, software engineer and hacker who pretty much developed Linux, considers NVIDIA as the worst because NVIDIA doesn't support Linux well even though high number of NVIDIA chips are being used in Android mobile devices which have Linux in them. However; Valve, a company that has been working on improvements regarding this matter, disagree with Torvalds' remark. Valve works with Linux, along with AMD and Intel, and they have a great amount of interest in this subject as Steam's Left 4 Dead 2 release is nearing.

Developers are trying their best to work things out since the game supports Linux OS and there's a potential in providing the best gaming experience with Linux OS. Valve claims that Ubuntu draws better performance than GeForce GTX 680 on Windows 7 when playing its co-op zombie shooter games. There were also great improvements in Linux with their fps as the Open GL Linux now can hit 315fps compared to 6fps on their first version. As Linux is becoming more suitable for gaming, there's a possibility that Linux will become mainstream and Torvalds will be very sorry.

Read more »

LG Cinema 3D Smart TV bringing Pororo in 3D

The famous cartoon made in Korea, Pororo the Penguin, is now airing in 3D through LG's Smart TV in Korea. Could this possibly mean it's coming to Australia as well? I have a few nieces and nephews who love this show and I think it would be good news for them and it'll have kids glued to the TV. They're also coming out with 3D glasses that have Pororo designs on it for the kids.

The LG Cinema 3D Smart TV will be the only TV airing the Pororo in 3D for a whole year and you can get the contents from the LG 3D World app.Unfortunately, Pororo in 3D is not yet available in Australia so we'll have to figure out a way to keep our kids occupied for now but both Pororo and LG being globally renowned, I think it'll be available in most countries pretty soon.

Read more »

Wikipad tablet saving 3D for later

When the Wikipad first showed up at CES this year, the company received a lot of recognition and they were granted a partnership from Gaikai in order to bring cloud gaming services to the Android tablet. Now they are coming out with a 10.1 inch tablet with 1280 x 800 resolution, 1.4GHz Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and internal storage starting from 16GB. This tablet will ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and don't worry, the gamepad dock is included in the box. Earlier, they mentioned that this tablet will be offering glasses-free 3D but they suddenly decided to push it back for their later models.

Read more »

3D game apps coming to LG 3D Smart TV

LG Electronics is partnering up with game content providers to take full advantage of their 3D and smart TV functions. LG is actually the first to bring 3D-enabled game apps to a smart TV. Now, those of you with LG Cinema 3D Smart TV can enjoy popular smart phone games like Frisbee Forever, Burn The City, Downhill Bowling 2 and Penguin in 3D. The magic remote used by LG's Smart TV will be used as a motion-sensitive game controller to play these games. Bringing 3D games to smart TV is a good way for families to enjoy their evenings and spend more time with their kids.

Read more »

Samsung and their prescription active 3D glasses

Have you ever tried wearing your 3D glasses on top of your prescription glasses? Apparently, Samsung allowed the service to provide prescription 3D glasses for their 3D TVs. After hearing about this news, an anonymous customer of Samsung electronics purchased one of their 3D TV. However, when the customer tried to get the glasses prescribed, the eye doctor didn't have any idea what Samsung was talking about and told the customer that it was not possible to make such prescription glasses with the active 3D glasses. Then the customer went ahead and complained to Samsung saying that Samsung lied just to increase their sales and took advantage of people with bad eyesight but Samsung only offered a refund without any explanation. Typical Samsung's solution to their problems.

The technology to put prescription in 3D glasses, if it exists, has a very good intention just like the prescription sunglasses we see people wearing today. However, the following point was made by LG, competitor of Samsung's 3D TVs and their point is valid. "There's a limit in producing prescription 3D glasses for Samsung. First of all, it's not a clip on, even if it was, it would be too heavy for consumers to enjoy it." LG continued, "The family will most likely share the glasses and putting prescription will be quite inconvenient for people to share it."

Read more »

BMW electric scooter doing 120 km/h

Although it's just a prototype, the BMW C Evolution is very close to production and it looks quite promising. This electric scooter was tested in London and it can travel 100 kilometers (62 miles) after charging for three hours. This scooter can go up to 120 kilometers per hour (75 miles per hour) according to BMW. As you can see in the picture, this scooter looks stylish with the BMW feel while maintaining the scooter look. You'll have a better idea on what you're dealing with once you watch the video below.

Read more »

Samsung ES9000 75" LED TV unveiled

The new 75" 3D LED TV by Samsung is coming to the shelf in August with the $9,999 price tag. This TV was displayed in New York to promote the SpaceFest and the predecessor of this particular model, ES8000 75 inch that was shown at CES failed to come through but the ES9000 is soon to satisfy those with big living rooms.

There hasn't been any official specs released by Samsung but there were a few hands-on reviews done by the authorities and there were few significant improvements in the TV. It hasn't been proven through controlled test but according to few of the reviewers, the clearness, contrast, and brightness were superior to other older models of TV. It's kind of obvious that these should be improved in a later models but I want to see the specs before I make any further insights. Also this TV's display is held by 0.31 inch bezel and the frame has the rose-gold finish. And as we can see just from the picture, there's the built-in camera on top of the TV that is still being questioned but starting to get appreciated.

Another thing that was introduced with this TV was the best seller app on smartphones called Angry Bird. This app was integrated with the TV so that you can just use the gesture control to play it. This app isn't a major selling point at this point since it's already available in few other TVs but it sure will excite the owners of Samsung Smart TVs.

On the other hand, there's also the 84 inch Ultra HD 4K TV coming out from LG (LM9600). I sense another huge competition in the next half of this year. As much as I love Samsung's work, I just can't resist the 4K TV. I'm hoping to get my hands on either one of them and test it out before I make anymore opinionated statements.

Read more »

Samsung's earnings in Q2 revealed

The numbers for Samsung's Q2 earnings were shown and it's huge. They reported an operating profit of $5.9 billion. It's being speculated that this is largely due to their smartphone sales. The ultimate Galaxy S3 was released in Q2 and it sure made a lot of contribution to the company's sales. Samsung also has quite a few impressive HDTVs although it wasn't much of an asset, it still contributed a little to the company's sales.

Read more »

OS X Mountain Lion Launch

The long waited OS X Mountain Lion has finally launched today. The main purpose of the OS X Mountain Lion that I can see is to make all the Apple devices have the identical interface. I guess the main upgrade would be the iCloud syncing ability. Just like in all iOS devices now, your Mac will be able to join the cloud to share files more easily. Apple had this OS up on their main website for quite a long time to get people all hyped up about it, but is it really worth the $19.99? Let´s take a look at it closely.

source: Apple

First of all, one of the most talked about feature on this OS is the notification center. Just like the notification center on iOS devices with iOS 5, it´ll contain all the alerts including reminder, email, messages, software updates, friend requests, etc. Also, when you want to see all your notifications, you simply just need to swipe your trackpad from right edge to the left or if you don´t have a trackpad, you can just click the bulletin icon on the top right of your screen. If you get an alert while the notification center is not on, you´ll get a pop up on the top right hand corner. You can also change the settings to make it show up differently.

Next thing is Messages. This was available as a beta for a really long time and Apple just took it down recently from their official website. The Messages just simply syncs all your iMessages with your iOS devices and integrates iChat at the same time. It can come pretty handy when you´re at home and you´re on your computer and all of a sudden you need to send someone a text message. One thing about the Messages, tho, is you´ll need to use your Apple ID instead of your phone number when sending text messages, meaning the recipient will see your email address not your phone number.

Apple also added an app called Power Nap. What that does is it allows your computer to sleep while still receiving all the data. In other words, this app has the same function as "push" in iOS devices. There are other features like sharing status messages to twitter and facebook more easily.

I personally think the notification center is the only benefit from this OS and I'm quite skeptical if that is really worth 20 bucks.

Read more »

Galaxy Tab 10.1N good to go

There has been a lot of feud going on between the two giants in electronics market (Samsung and Apple). As you know, Samsung once had their Galaxy S2 banned in Europe for infringing Apple´s patent last year. Law suits kept coming and Samsung´s Galaxy Tab 7.7 is now banned in all European countries. Galaxy Tab 10.1N was also tried few months back but Samsung redesigned it to make it distinct from its original and now it´s good to go. Samsung made a statement that if Apple continues to sue Samsung for such generic design patents, it´ll be much harder to have any type of design innovation in the future.

Read more »

LG entering US Computer Market

LG announced recently that they´re looking to enter the US computer market in October. They will be partnering up with Microsoft and are planning to release their laptop running Windows 8 in the states on October 26. LG has their market open in Europe, China, and of course Korea. LG is doing this in hopes of becoming one of the largest electronics manufacturer in the world. And I see a potential because they were able to maintain the 2nd place in Korea and couple of their executives were seen in Best Buy, discussing their plans for the market. This expansion is a great opportunity for them to be recognized. 

They´re not going for the desktop, tho. They think there are not as much demands for desktops as there are for all-in-one PCs and laptops. LG is hoping to crush their competitors like HP, Lenovo, and Asus with the above mentioned laptops and other various models. Those laptops released by LG won´t be budget models but premium ones which are likely to be marked as high end models.

Read more »

iPhone 5 going into production

As the release date of the iOS6 is nearing, more and more reports of iPhone 5 is rolling in, although there hasn´t been any official word on the release date.

It has been reported that a Taiwan-based manufacturer has begun the production of iPhone 5 in Shanghai. Pegatron will also be a second production source for the ¨new iPad¨, commonly known as iPad 3. Foxconn, primary manufacturer of Apple´s iPad, will also be manufacturing the iPhone 5.

Earlier news of the iPhone 5 mentioned that the iPhone 5 will have a larger 4-inch Retina display screen as opposed to the 3.5 inch display screen on a previous iPhone. iPhone 5 will also have both glass and aluminum on the back of the phone.

Read more »

The first 4K movie to watch at home

People have been quite skeptical about the 4K TVs that are soon to be released because there aren't any 4K contents available. You don't need to worry no more. New Zealand, famous for "Lord of the Rings," is releasing the first 4K movie for consumers to watch at home. The film is called "TimeScapes" and it's 50 minutes long showing scenic night skies photographed by Tom Lowe. And one of the photos in the film actually won the 2010 astronomy photo of the year. This film is currently selling for $299 and lower quality for $99 on a hard drive.

I know some of you are still wondering if this one "film" can really initiate the 4K industry. Well, once the 4K TVs finalize and come out to the market, more 4K contents are going to roll out and it'll make a hit. I know I'm pretty stoked for the LG's LM9600 4K. I think this following video will get you pretty pumped for 4K TV as well. Try putting your face really close to your screen to kinda get an idea of what you're dealing with here.

Read more »

Windows 8 coming very soon

For those of you PC users, the long waited Windows 8 is going to be launched on October 26th. It's been about 3 years since the Windows 7 OS was launched and Steven Sinofsky assured us after the preview of Office 2013 that we just need to wait a little longer before getting our hands on the ultimate Windows 8 OS. For those of you wondering what new features are available on the Windows 8, there are tons of new great features and I found the most in-depth review article and I couldn't top that so I'm just going to share a link. 

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/31/windows-8-release-preview-detailed-impressions/

Read more »

Is it a right time?

With all the smartphones and smart TVs pretty much dominating the whole electronics market, the gaming console is struggling to survive. Consoles like Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox, and Nintendo Wii are still favored among many kids and even some adults but in such a busy society, people would prefer a smart phone or something they can carry around with them all the time. Having said that, the Ouya is coming out with a new gaming console to "upend console gaming".

This console will cost $99 and currently, the Kickstarter campaign is looking at whether to fund this prototype to start production. The Ouya founders already generated enough money so it's just a matter of time before it gets released. However, people are wondering what exactly this console is going to offer that's going to upend the gaming console. It's going to have a few free games from the market but there aren't any hardcore games like Battlefield or Soul Calibur available which makes the audience hesitant to support the console.

The Kickstarter wants to bring games back to the television and create something new that would attract a variety of audience like how smart phones and tablets did by not dedicating themselves to gaming systems. Honestly, I have some doubts and don't know if they're ready but I'd really love to see gaming on TV come back.

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy S3 problem already?

As you all know, Samsung recently released one of their greatest products, Galaxy S3. I gotta be honest, I've seen couple of my friends with this phone and it was one of the best phones I've seen up till now. However, I just found out today that it's got some issues. Some of the technicians did a test and found out its screen is suffering from burn ins.

For those of you who don't know what a burn in is, it is a permanent discoloration of areas on an electronic display when non-uniform pixels are used to display same image like a 'splash screen' for a long period of time.

source: etnews

It's hard to believe that this isn't the first time Galaxy is suffering from screen burn-ins. Galaxy S2 also had the same issue immediately after their AMOLED screen was announced and had to offer free warranty repair or an exchange. I thought they would've fixed the problem with their ultimate Galaxy S3 but guess what? They didn't fix the problem but they just added a warning on their manual to avoid any in-warranty repairs. "Do not operate your device with a paused screen for a long time. We are not responsible for any problem arising from the said cause." This is what they added in their manual. I'm highly disappointed in how Samsung handle their problems; not many people read the manual nowadays, especially with phones, and it's not fair for those who end up getting their screen burnt in and being told that there's nothing that can be done.


I know Samsung for their screen uniformity issues and not only their AMOLED screen is having this problem but also their OLED screen seems to have a similar problem as well. The self light-emitting technology used in OLED deteriorates over time, making the image darker but the blue pixel used in Samsung's OLED specifically has the shortest lifespan and it will have a great impact on the color. On the other hand, the TFT-LCD technology, which is used in LG's display, requires another backlight since it can't light itself so it can still get a little darker over time but it won't have much impact on the image quality.

Read more »

Smartphone App numbers

It's been a great year so far with all the smartphone companies competing each other. One of the most important factor in a smartphone is the apps and the numbers show who's winning the smartphone battle. Apple currently has 650,000 apps in their App store with 30 billion downloads, Google play has 600,000 apps with 20 billion downloads, and RIM has 90,000 apps in their App World with 3 billion downloads.

I was a little surprised with RIM's number because they have been doing pretty bad recently. To be honest, I was skeptical when they announced the Blackberry 10 OS because Blackberry has their own unique style in PDA market and them trying to get into smartphone business now seem like nothing more than a fear of falling behind. In fact, I saw some reviews on the Blackberry 10 and they have nothing better to offer than most other smart phones in the market already.

Read more »

Smaller & Cheaper iPad?

It has been reported that Apple is now in the process of developing a smaller iPad with 7.85 inch screen and will sell for a lot less than the current iPad. This is a big move for Apple because, as you all probably know, Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple, inc.) disapproved of the idea of making a smaller iPad very much because he felt there was no need for a medium sized tablet device. However, with all the competition like Google's Nexus 7, Galaxy Tab, and Amazon's Kindle Fire, Apple might have thought it was necessary for the size down in order to maintain their tablet synonym title.

I don't have much of an opinion on this one because at one side, I know Apple can pull it off but on the other side, I don't know if I need a 7.85 inch iPad. I see the luxury in current 9.7 inch iPad but 7.85 might look a little awkward. But who knows, I might end up buying one hehe

Read more »

LG's new 3D TV & HD Smartphones showcased

Last night, LG Electronics showed off their new products at a Comic-Con preview. LG is apparently working with Legendary Entertainment and using their clips to promote their products. The 47LM7600 was displayed and one of LG's rep was giving a short explanation of what's new in the TV model. As most people know, LG uses passive 3D technology on their LED TVs and so this model comes with passive 3D as well. It also has a very wide viewing angle (165 degrees) and like most other 3D TVs it has the 2D to 3D conversion feature that lets you convert any 2D content into 3D. Oh, and the most interesting feature was the Dual Play mode. It's a feature where you can split your screen into two and each player gets their own full screen by wearing a special type of glasses. As a gamer myself, this feature is a must because I play with my friends a lot and the half screen can get quite annoying. 

As for the smartphones, the LG Spectrum and the LG Nitro were seen. I was really surprised because these phones actually have 3D technology installed and it allows you to film in 3D as well. I watch shows and stuff while I'm transporting and having a 3D phone would definitely make my life more fun lol. I'm quite skeptical about its battery performance tho. I'm sure it'll use up a lot of battery in order to handle all the 3D.

Read more »

Are you a fan of 4D movies?

A company called CJ Group in Korea is planning to bring 4D technology to 200 theaters in the states. They're adding a few more senses like seats moving and vibrating along with smell, wind blowing, and water spraying. All this, of course is added on top of 3D.

I really like the fact that 3D is slowly becoming mainstream and they're trying new things with the presentation of entertainment contents. However, knowing how entertainment business works, the 4D is probably going to be more expensive and I find all the features other than smell (maybe) not quite attractive. I think I may be a little annoyed if I get sprayed or if my seat keeps moving around. I definitely will try it tho because when 3D came out, I thought it would suck when it first came out but I love it now. I just hope it comes out here sometime soon.. If anyone reading this from the states get a chance to try it, please leave comments below on your thoughts!

Read more »

Hello Everyone

I just opened up this blog so I can keep you guys updated on mostly tech news and anything interesting I find online. I do take this very seriously and I'm actually trying to get a job at one of the tech news sites as a journalist so any criticism/encouragement is highly appreciated. Many thanks to those of you already reading this and I will get back to you guys again in a bit!

Read more »