Apple Tablet

Seven Things We Wish the Apple Tablet Would Have It looks like the long wait for the rumored Apple tablet will be over  this week. We should finally get a glimpse of something that could be  insanely great or maybe not so great. We think we have a pretty  good idea of what it will look like. We're pretty sure it will be a  media player with a 10-inch touchsrceen LCD display that will run  iPhone apps or Mac OS apps, play movies or videos, "read" books  and newspapers, browse the web, and probably some new things that  some clever Apple engineers have thought up. We also expect to see  an iBookStore and an iSlate (or whatever the call it) apps store right  out of the gate. We think it might be more interesting to fantasize about the features  that we don't think will be included but could make an Apple tablet  truly insanely great. Here's our list. We'd also like to know what's  on your wish list. Add a comment or drop us a line.

1. Folio Display What if you could open the tablet like a book but could also rotate it  and use it like a netbook with one panel serving as a keyboard and  the other a display. How about if one panel swung all the way around  so it converted to a real notepad-type device?

2. Touchless, Gesture-Based Interface Suppose the video camera (or two) was able to interpret your gestures  and even map them to a keyboard. It would be like a multitouch display,  without the touch. You could wave your hand around and manipulate  objects on the screen.

3. Haptic Feedback Haptic feedback was developed to provide tactile feedback to doctors  performing remote control procedures. It now appears in other devices  like game controllers and smartphone screens that vibrate to add an  extra dimension to the user interface. Some people might find haptic  feedback helpful when typing on a soft keyboard.

4. Solar Charging When Retrevo recently asked potential buyers of an Apple tablet what  feature could help persuade them to buy one, the most popular feature  was solar charging. Imagine being able to leave the tablet in the sun and  let it charge. Solar charging could also come in handy where electricity  wasn't available like on a hike or at the beach.

5. ATSC Mobile TV tuner If the tablet is going to me a true multimedia player, it would be nice if  it had a TV tuner built in so you could watch you favorite shows in  bed or on the bus. ATSC Mobile tuners are already starting to  appear in cell phones and other mobile devices, why not in a tablet?

6. Next Generation Wireless Connectivity WiFi and 3G are nice to have and available in most populated areas  but the next generation high speed wireless connectivity is already  here. WiMax, LTE, and 4G networks are starting to be deployed  around the United States and elsewhere. Let's get high speed data  transfers moving on this tablet sooner then later.

7. Built-In Pico Projector Imagine you are lying in bed with your new Apple tablet and a movie  or TV show is being projected from it onto the wall or the ceiling.  How about using it to make a presentation at a meeting? With a  built-in pico projector you’d be able to do all that and more.

Now It's Your Turn That's what we think could make the Apple tablet even more  interesting. What features would you like see them include or  maybe nothing they could do could get you interested in buying  a tablet? Let us know what you think.

Uses of Camera Phone

Ten Great Uses for Your Camera Phone

That you may not have considered

A camera phone can be handier than you think. Here are some innovative ways in which you can put yours to use.

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IN THE OFFICE

• Capture a whiteboard after a meeting.
  How many times have you left a meeting wishing that you could capture all the great ideas on a whiteboard or easel board? Now you can.
• Shoot before you scan.
  Use your digital camera to capture documents, photos or anything else that you want to capture. A scanner is nothing more than a digital imaging device. Today's high-resolution cameras can capture documents and photos quicker and easier than a desktop scanner

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ON THE GO

• Be prepared for an accident.
  Carry your digital camera in the car with you. In the event of a fender bender you can take pictures of the accident for your insurance company or court date.
• Give better directions.
  You have probably given directions to your home or office hundreds of times, but have you ever considered taking pictures of intersections, signs or landmarks to make it easier for the visual learners to find you?
• Do I have mustard on my face?
  Heading off to a meeting or date after a meal but can't find a mirror? Take a quick self portrait to see if you have condiments on your face or lettuce between your teeth.
• Digital breadcrumbs.
  Traveling in a new city or a foreign country and don't know your way around (or even how to pronounce street names)? Take a picture of the hotel, the street sign and the address on the building so that you can find your way back.
• Find your car in a crowded lot.
  Take a picture of your space number, row or section.

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AT HOME

• Photograph your home and belongings.
  Photos are extremely useful in helping you remember your belongings in the event of a loss, plus they provide proof of ownership to your insurance company.
• Take pictures of guests.
  You may ask overnight or out-of-town guests to sign a guest book, but how great would it be to have their picture accompany their entry.
• Create activities for the kids.
  With the increasing number of kid-friendly models on the market, why not use it as learning opportunity. Create games or activities that require using the camera, such as a scavenger hunt or a storybook.

Have a great time.........

Everything HDTV and 3DTV Too
                 
CES 2010 gets underway this week. We think it's going to be a big show for HDTV and everything to do with home entertainment including Blu-ray players, streaming services, speakers, mounting equipment and more. We also expect to see a lot of activity around 3DTV as competing technologies from Sony, Panasonic, LG and others vie for attention.

CES Might Look More like Comdex
           
With a slew of new processors and chips from Intel, Nvidia, and Broadcom running everything from all-in-one-PCs to all kinds of mobile devices, we expect to see a lot of attention paid to computers, chip sets, and operating systems.

Apple Might Steal the Show Again
Two years ago Apple stole the buzz at CES all the way from San Francisco when it announced the iPhone. There may be more Apple buzz this year with the latest rumor indicating a tablet announcement could come as early as January 26th. Apple may also capture a lot of show buzz with a very prominent iPhone app area.


Will Kindle Get Some Competition?

                                 
Amazon must have been pleased to watch Barnes and Noble and Sony struggle to  deliver the Nook and the Daily Edition this season but we expect to see lots of e-Reader activity at CES. Plastic Logic has been promoting their large screen e-Reader for a year and has promised to have something to show at this year's show. Spring Design will be showing their Alex e-Reader that looks very similar to the Nook. One e-Reader we're anxious to see is a rumored 2 page color reader from Asus.


What to Expect in TVs at CES
Every year the talk of the show is about the biggest and thinnest TV set. Of course we'll see the 100 inch plus TVs, the millimeter thick TVs, and bigger OLED TVs but we also expect this to be the debut of many new "connected" TVs. Between streaming services from Netflix, Amazon and others and the popularity of watching YouTube videos on the living room TV, it's only natural that consumers will want to connect their TVs to their broadband connection.
                           
The Vizio VF552XVT was announced at last year's CES but could be the standard by which other connected TVs are judged. The VF552XVT is a 55-inch LED backlit LCD TV with built-in WiFi and a QWERTY remote that has a list price of $2,199.

Toshiba Cell Regza
                
The Toshiba Regza 55X1 is another cutting edge TV that just became available in Japan for about $11,000. We've read their Cell platform and 3GB of storage give this TV (and companion box)  the  ability to store up to 26 hours of high definition programming from up to eight channels at once.

Will We See Any 4KTVs?

Courtesy HDMI Licensing, LLC
What are the odds your new HDTV will it be obsolete anytime soon? Will Ultra High Definition (UHD) TVs start to appear on the scene at CES this year? A 4K TV will display 4 times the resolution of HDTV. We thought we might see a 4K Toshiba Regza TV that upconverts HD video to 4K but so far it's been a no show. We'll be keeping a look out for 4K resolution TVs at this year's show.

3DTV Format War Looming?
             
With the popularity of recent 3D movies like "Up" and "Avatar," we expect to see a lot of activity around 3DTV at this year's show. The standard for putting 3D programming on Blu-ray has just been finalized but the glasses and display standards remain to be settled. So far it looks like a race between the active shutter glasses championed by Panasonic and passive glasses backed by others. Let's hope it doesn't end up creating as much turmoil as the high definition DVD format war.

Aside from the new Blu-ray 3D standard other standards are falling into place like the new HDMI 1.4 standard which will adds support for 3D to HDMI. We also read that DirecTV is going to introduce a 3D HDTV channel sometime in 2010.


Mobile TV
The new digital TV transmissions are good for stationary antennas but what about watching your favorite show on the go? A new ATSC variation called ATSC M/H (mobile/handheld) can work in mobile environments. Another mobile TV solution comes out of the popular European DVB standard which Qualcomm's FLO TV is based on. We'll be looking for products like AircastTV's iPhone mobile TV accessory and other mobile TV products for handheld devices and in the car TV.


Laptops, Netbooks and All-In-One PCs
                         
                           

Intel Inside the Convention Center
Intel is going to be a behind the scenes star of this years CES. The new Pineview processors running on the new Pine Trail platform will feature prominently in a host of laptops, netbooks, and other mobile devices. The Pine Trail platform includes new Atom processors with on-chip graphics like the 1.66GHz Atom N450, dual-core 1.66GHz Atom D510 and Atom D410.  Intel's new CULV chips which can potentially produce very long run times between battery charges will be powering many new laptops and laptop convertibles (tablets). Intel will also be showing off its new 32nm cores.

Broadcom is Inside Too
Broadcom has recently announced a batch of new chips, some of which may feature in products mentioned at thus year's show. The BCM7632 is a single chip Blu-ray controller that not only supports streaming services like Netflix, Pandora, and Vudu but will also support the new 3D Blu-ray movie spec. Their BCM2763 mobile phone chip supports 1080p video recording and playback, and 20 megapixel images while  BCM70015 Crystal HD chip will help make Atom-based netbooks able to play HD videos.

And Nvidia is Inside Too
Netbooks equipped with the new Intel processors and Nvidia's Ion graphics chip will also be able to play HD video.  The Ion platform should also make for some fast gaming a claim Nvidia says Broadcom chips can't make.


Windows 7 Multi-Touch Brings it All Together
Microsoft doesn't appear to have a lot to offer at this year's CES. The Xbox 360 doesn't have a built-in Blu-ray player, the Zune HD isn't hurting iPod Touch sales, the Windows Mobile phone OS is losing ground and who knows when Media Servers are going to finally catch on?

Meanwhile, Microsoft does have this cool gesture-based interface called Natal as well as a multi-touch interface built into Windows 7. We expect to see more laptops and all-in-one computers showing off all the cool things you can do with a multi-touch display.

More Questions…
We'll be looking to see what's happening with Micro Four Thirds cameras like the popular Panasonic GF1. Will Canon or Nikon finally jump in and legitimize the category?

How many devices will be running Android? Yes, there's the Archos tablet but will we see netbooks and other mobile internet devices creating more opportunities for Android app developers?

Will any new smartphone grab as much attention as the Palm Pre or the iPhone did? Is Nokia going to show anything with its new Maemo phone OS?

Will we start to see products with next generation high speed wireless like LTE of Wimax?

What's Not Going to Be Hot at CES 
We don't expect to see much action in the MP3 category as the iPod Touch appears to be running away with the market. We would like to see the new Sony Walkman that is available in Japan but don't think we will see it at this year's show.

Cameras have their own trade show but aside from some novel features like Nikon's built-in pico projector, we haven't heard anything sensational coming to CES in the way of cameras this year. Same goes for camcorders.

GPS is not going to be the hot category that is was in past years. The more interesting aspect on GPS will be to see which gadgets get GPS features like geo-tagging cameras or social media savvy smartphones.