So 2011 then…as the saying goes ‘time flies’ and all that and it couldn’t have been more appropriate for this year. This year consisted of nothing but work dominating my life. Being at the same defence company I have been situated at for the past 6yrs+ now has seen me lose that ‘killer determination’ I once had. I have settled down there now to the point where my confidence is slowly waning on a daily basis and an ‘I can’t be arsed’ attitude is beginning to emerge.

August 2011 marked an important event in which I was chosen to work on a special project, which would be very good for my future. At the time of writing, the project is in full flow. Sadly it leaves me horribly tired by the week’s end. Enough about that anyway.

On the technology front it has been an incredible year:

• After dominating the Mobile market for many years, Apple are now feeling the heat of competition from the likes of HTC, and mainly electronics giant Samsung. So what better way to stall your competitors than suing their rear ends off. 2011 was the year in which every mobile company just sued everyone else – what a time to be a lawyer!
• Social Networking became gained even more popularity in 2011 and what better way to show off the brilliance of Twitter than by starting a RIOT. After the shooting of a seemingly innocent man in London, various folk took it as an excuse to set buildings on fire and raid shops….and then post photos on twitter of them with their ‘loot’ – clever that. It is also clever that Twitter was the main communications tool being used by the rioters to organise themselves. Twitter came in for the heaviest criticism as generations clashed as to its role, perpetuation and culpability.

The social network was pinned for inciting the riots though the Police used it against the rioters and convicted a great deal of them, therefore restoring some faith and the unstoppable momentum of social media services meant responsibility slowly became the key message.

• Sony were just as heavily criticised for the hacking of their PlayStation Network, which went unnoticed for several days before they released a statement admitting that data from over 100m+ users was compromised. Restoration to the service took well over a month, however Sony’s reputation had taken a colossal hit and apologies were simply not enough. For the following months, hackers continued to cause havoc with the stability of the network.
• Without a doubt the largest story of 2011 ws the passing of legendary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Plagued by health problems in the past few years, Seve had stepped down as CEO at the start of 2011 taking a long medical leave. He later resigned as CEO in August 2011 sparking rumours about his health. Tim Cook was to become the new CEO of Apple as a result.

Job’s passing had a profound impact on the tech world, and I have an unpublished article (too long!) to show exactly why. Suffice to say he had a hand in all the technology you utilise today. Music, Film, Personal Computers, Mobile Phones and of course Tablets.

I confess that prior to the release of the first iPhone in 2007 I was never an Apple fan – that one device changed the world. What really made me sit up and take notice was Steve quoting Alan Kay, a legend in the computing world and someone who I worshipped as a teenager. I recognised the quote immediately.

“People who are really serious about software, should make their own hardware”

Well I have managed my first review in a very long time here on Kainzy.org. It’s obviously been long overdue but with real life work commitments, it is so hard to spare the free time. Anyway, I have written a short ‘review’ if you will on Apple’s latest iPhone. The device is already a heavily controversial one, but at the same time it is a device  feature packed with great hardware. As always, you can find it in the reviews section.

It’s been so long since I last wrote a post on this blog that I had actually forgotten my blog login details!

Enough of my long abscence from this blog anyway. I will be posting a lot more frequently here as the mobile wars I predicted earlier hots up this week.

Apple’s WWDC (World Wide Developers  Conference) begins tommorow in San Francisco,  Moscone West for three days. Of course the one highlight of WWDC every year is the most talked about mobile device since it’s first launch in 2007 – the iPhone. Love it, or hate it you just cannot ignore the massive impact the device had on the mobile world. Anyone denying this is pretty much fooling themselves to be honest.

I have previously stated that 2010 will be all about the mobile operating systems such as Mobile OSX found on the iPhone,  Google’s Android as well as Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 7 arriving towards the end of the year. My predictions of Apple falling behind couldn’t have been more accurate. The Android OS is gaining ground at a colossal pace, but at the same time OS fragmentation is occuring as certain Android apps work with the latest version of Android and not earlier versions.

Apple’s recent Mobile OSX 4.0 preview was less than impressive, infact it was very poor when you look at the improvements Android received a few weeks later at the Google I/O conference. Apple introduced nothing new, well nothing new that the Jailbreak world already had. Apple’s multitasking features looked ‘tacked on’, and don’t get me started with the ‘folders’ in which you can organise apps into – Jailbreakers have seen it all before, a long time ago. Also shown was the inclusion of iAds – in-app advert banners that are meant to be non-intrusive…I can’t see any users liking that imposed upon them. What was shown by Apple was ultimately rather poor, but there was a lot more that we never got to see.

Since then there have been numerous ‘leaks’ of the next iPhone. Gizmodo recently got into trouble for obtaining the lost device, which was left in a bar and more recently another phone somehow turned up in Vietnam of all places, sporting a slightly different build around the camera lens area. These devices, to me look like engineering prototypes or samples that contain the latest iPhone 4 hardware but not the final ‘look’. The general build of these ‘lost’ devices stray from Apple’s general designs in the past, but it also lines up with various case patents they have taken out over the past years. So who knows?

Credits: Gizmodo

Tomorrow will be very interesting indeed. Hardware wise I cannot see Apple really bringing anything impressive to the table, especially given that the HTC Evo 4G has some of the most insane hardware known to man at present. Since I bought my iPhone 3G it has spent most of it’s life jailbroken to give me custom features I just cannot live without and that Apple don’t want to allow. I shouldn’t have to go to such lengths just to unlock a device’s true potential. Suffice to say I am tempted by Android’s potential but Mobile OSX has a solid set of quality apps now…at last, whilst Android apps are just taking off.

I for one look forward to the show, just to learn about what will be coming for the year ahead in the mobile world and also for the newly announced iPad.

Two Tablet models:

Tablet 1:

• 10″ LED Backlit IPS Panel Widescreen feat a touch display and a resolution of 1024 x 768
• 3GS style Oleophobic coating to be present on the screen
• Wifi N ONLY wireless connectivity
• Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR Tech
• Assisted GPS (same as iPhone 3G/3Gs)
• 16, 32GB storage ability
• Dual Cortex A9 Tegra 2 SoC
• 2x USB ports
• Twin speakers and a Microphone
• 3.5″ Headphone connector
• Accelerometer
• Runs Mobile OSX (the same OS that is present on the iPhone’s and iPod Touch)

Tablet 2: All of the above with the following additions.

• 10″ OLED Widescreen display featuring the same details as Tablet 1.
• Built in iSight web camera
• Wifi N & 3G wireless connectivity
• 64, and 128GB storage capacities

Compare my guesstimate specs with Apple’s iPad specs and you’ll see I wasn’t too far off! Ideally I was expecting a 10″ touchscreen housed in a smooth aluminium body that presently encases present day Macbook Pro’s and Macbook Air’s. I had expected Mobile OSX to power the device, why not? The appstore despite being criticised heavily in every area has been a monumental success for Apple. It may be flawed in many ways having a system where you cannot effectively trial apps before purchase but at the same time it has been hugely successful thanks to a superb SDK that developers have access to.

Mobile OSX in my eyes was the perfect foundation for a tablet. I have to admit that I am not a fan of previous tablets, I have hated their swivel screens, which screams ‘BREAK ME’, and I have disliked the fact that these things ran a fully blown OS, Windows for the most part. In my eyes a portable hand held device shouldn’t have the complexity of a full OS, instead it should be instantly accessible and easy to use without too much underlying complexity. Mobile OSX as seen on the iPhone and iPod Touch was just perfect, so perfect that even my technophobe parents can use my phone with ease, whilst previous phones have just baffled them.

I wanted a flat panel that my parents could pick up, tap on icons and bring up films, and photos without indulging in complex, puzzling OS features that they don’t need e.g window min/max/close icons that adorn our application titlebars. Given that they can pick up my iPhone 3G and browse my camera roll easily scares the hell out of me – but they can do it, and they’re confident when using the OS…if only Apple could stick that onto a 10″ screen I thought…

It was obvious that Apple were going to demonstrate gaming on the slate pad, and whilst I am not a fan of iPhone gaming (due to poor battery life) I do appreciate what the gaming developers have done. For this reason I was under the impression that the device would be powered by the Tegra 2 SoC (system on a chip). Instead they’ve opted for an in-house 1GHz A4 SoC. I have previously touted 2010 as the year for mobile devices, and mobile apps thanks to processors such as the Tegra 2 arriving so I would love to see the A4 benchmarked against the competition as it would be the perfect chip for future software and intensive video demands. Sadly it would also cost Apple millions just to get the chip from nVidia, so there was a strong chance that this wasn’t going to happen anyway.

Do I want the iPad? There is no doubt that it’ll be an awesome device for my parents as they have easy access to all my iTunes content. First impressions on the device are good, but lets see how badly the UK gets ripped off on pricing, as no prices for the UK have been stated just yet. Besides…I think five computers in this house is more than enough.

The A9 dual core Tegra 2 SoC

I have been following Mac Funamizu’s work for quite a few years now and have always been in awe at his thought processes that results in his conceptual designs. Mac Funamizu is amongst the best, he is a web/graphic/industrial designer working in Tokyo, Japan. His blog petitinvention has a wealth of some of the most gorgeous designs I’ve seen.

These are some of my favourites.

This first design is a transparent futuristic desktop known as Zafiro. It resembles designs that wouldn’t be out of place in Sci-Fi movies such as The Island, or Minority Report. Transparent OLED panels are already out and about today, but not perfected just yet. Several transparent OLED designs were shown off at the CES show this January.

Zafiro concept

Aluminium Bevel

Data disk docking?

Deformable metal keyboard

My second favourite design of Mac’s is known as Looking Glass. It seems to resemble a futuristic tablet modelled on the Augmented Reality concept, where live overlays can be displayed on a device pointed at a building, or shop. Augmented Reality technology has been around since early 2009 and 2010. AR will become popular on high end mobile phones through the latter stages of 2010.

Looking Glass

AR means you can point the tablet at a building and get overlay info

Grab incoming weather data

My third favourite is called iPetals, a stunning solar charger and stand. Just gorgeous. You are better off checking it out on Mac’s site though as he has a ton of cool designs that are somewhat awe-inspiring. Mac also resides on Twitter!

Something has been peeving me off lately – and it’s those annoyingly deceptive Apple iPhone 3GS adverts that are currently being sprawled across our UK TV screens. Now upon first viewing it doesn’t seem too bad, until you actually begin to think about it.

This is the new iPhone, and it lets you do some pretty incredible things… You can copy a phone number, and paste it in a text. You can copy an article, and paste it in an email…

Fark me Apple, welcome to the year 2000. My Nokia 6600 could do that, and that was one of the first generation of smartphones. Practically any one of today’s ‘dumb’ phones manage that task. What truly irritates me is that Apple is using Cut & Paste as a selling point. Even worse is the fact that this very feature is rather finicky and intrusive and yet it is marketed to the user as a technology breakthrough. Kind of sad given that Clippy – a third party application available to Jailbroken phones could do the same thing quite a while ago.

The advert ends on an even sillier note:

Copy & Paste on the iPhone 3GS, the most powerful iPhone yet.

Of course it’s the most powerful iPhone yet – it’s just happens to be the latest version, and there have only been TWO before that! I just think the ad is truly deceiving. The next iPhone, due in June 2010 will most likely market a 5mp camera as revolutionary, when the rest of the market are on 12mp variants. For those who have yet to see the advert, it is available on YouTube.

So you can imagine my joy when I saw a transforming 2GB USB drive on the interwebs, in the guise of Ravage himself! Sadly it’ll be available come September 2009. So far it’s only available for pre-order stateside from BigBadToyStore for $42.99. I’m sure some UK retailer will snap it up too. Do want!

<–hurhur

Ok, admit it. How many of you lot have begun ignoring your blogs in favour of Twitter? Since returning to the fast growing service in February 2009 I am pretty much guilty of this as I have indeed ignored this blog, something I never thought I would do.

I suppose it is a multitude of things though. Yes Twitter is to blame, but aside from that I have been focusing on my working life pretty much 100% since the year began. I had enough distractions towards the end of 2008 and wanted to start the year fresh – and have done. So, work goes incredibly well. Too well infact and I am almost struggling to cope with some of the things now bestowed onto me.

I think Mr.Wud stated what I’ve had on my mind for a while now. I have noticed that a lot of bloggers since moving to Twitter have just let their blogs slowly gather dust, as it were. Blogging takes some thought, time and planning in some cases before one publishes a post. Twittering is limited to 140 characters a ‘tweet’ (message) so you can jibber-jabber about anything without a care in the world.

Does that mean my blog is pretty much stagnant i.e dead? Well no. I’ve put a lot of work into it, but time is precious, and after coming home from a long day at work I pretty much crash out on the bed/sofa. Twittering on the move is simple and quick, blogging isn’t so and that is my problem right there. I will continue to add reviews, and thoughts that cannot be twittered though but I predict things will be rather quiet for the most part.

Anyway, I’m pretty much looking forward to this summer. I had plans to visit Australia, NSW this April-May as I understand the weather isn’t hot at this time of the year. Heat=baad, Cold/Rain = Good. However as usual, those plans have gone tits up thanks to my parents who don’t want to go.

This summer see’s the arrival of the third iteration of Apple’s iPhone (the plodphone). I am excited as hell, even more-so with the new OS 3.0 that will be launched alongside it. My current Jailbroken iPhone is such a strong part of my everyday life that it’s hard as hell to live without it. I just can’t wait for the next version.

Windows 7 Release Candidate (Build 7100) was leaked onto the interwebs just a week ago and my, it is good enough to ship retail in it’s current state. I’ve presently got it sitting on my Samsung NC10 netbook and it quite literally flies in comparison to XP SP3, that was on there. I await soundcard drivers for my Auzentech Meridian er soundcard so I can install the RC release on my main desktop rig though. Oh, and we can now uninstall that heap of gobshite known as Internets Explorer!! How cool is that?

I had written a ‘short’ story over the past few months based on the Fallout universe and my adventures since discovering the game late during December 2008. However it has ballooned to such a size that I’ve no idea how to get it onto the blog! It was about my adventures in the game basically with a nice bit of fiction about my lone quest to get to Rivet City, and then to find ‘Dad’. Most people who know me know that I can pretty much sprout A4 paragraphs in minutes, so trust me – it is large!

Hmm, I gotta get out more!

Aside from Twitter virtually taking over any spare free time I have, I’ve also been buying a few toys. The most recent is a Blu-Ray player to replace my old HD-DVD player. The ‘Panny’ BD35 as it is known has received rave reviews online for it’s superb picture processing abilities and such a machine at a shade under £200 was too hard to ignore. You can find my review in the erm, reviews section!