latechna » apple

Opera Mini iPhone/iPod Touch

logtech — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:49:26 +0000

Opera Mini has finally been released on the Apple iPhone and iPod touch. From the current test it is 10 times better than Safari. The first thing you will notice is speed. Pages load much faster than Safari (lifehacker chart). The speed of a loading website makes a considerable different especially when on Edge or 3G. The tab browsing on Opera is nice, it is out-of-the-way and easy to use. Page zooms are quick, however we found sometimes they were to quick. We also found there is only one zoom level, however, Opera will re size everything so you don’t have to worry about that too much. One feature which we found useful was search in the website which Safari lacks. With some test we found that Opera had some trouble with formatting pages, cutting off text, and making headers too big. However, this does not take away from the over all experience. Over all it is a speedy browser that has some issues like startup time and zoom, but is probably one of the best mobile web view experiences yet.

Update: Skyfire another mobile web browser may come out on the iPhone and iPod Touch soon; it might have flash.

Tip: Loop Video on the Apple TV

logtech — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:30:29 +0000

The Apple TV can do a lot. However, one thing it can’t do is a simple loop of a video. Let’s take for example you want to use the Apple TV as a small video player to loop one or many videos over and over. There is no checkbox to loop the video so you have to do a little workaround. It is not so much of a trick as just playing with playlist. Here are the steps.

1.Connect the Apple Tv to your iTunes library as the main library not as a shared library.
2.In iTunes create a normal playlist.
3.Drag your video into the playlist.
4.Now sync the Apple TV so the playlist transfers.
5.In the Apple TV’s Settings menu select Audio and Video.
6.In Audio and Video settings make sure that “Show playlist” is set to “All”
7.Now go to Movies and My Movies
8.You will see something that says playlist once selected you should see the playlist you transferred.
9.The movie will loop

Tips:
When the video transitions to the next replay of the video the transition is sort of harsh (a quick flash). If you want to better transition just place about .5-1 second of black at the end of the movie. You may also choose to add to the front of the video and add a fade transition.

The Way of the Apple

logtech — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:05:37 +0000

Apple’s new iPad came out this Wednesday, and many were expecting a revolutionary device. Except for some features like iWorks, and a larger screen size, the iPad is not too different from the iPod touch.

Many were expecting a high price, but then again we were expecting a better device. Granit it is the first generation, however Apple should have enough experience with the iPad’s brother the iPod. Overlooking the similarities of Apple’s previous devices, the iPad doesn’t include many essential features that we would expect from a device of similar price. It doesn’t include multitasking, which would be helpful in a netbook replacement. [picappgallerysingle id="7695472"]Also another cool feature would be a camera which would allow for teleconferencing and other video applications. One of the biggest things missing, however, is Flash support. Flash makes up a very large part of web content and a device that is suppose to give you, “the best web experience”, does not deliver. There is a lot brewing up on the web about the Flash support and Adobe themselves, the makers of Flash, respond to the no Flash iPad in a blog post. Stating on the Adobe blog, Adrian Luidwig said, “It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers.” It is clear that Apple should rethink the web experience and hopeful come out with an update that includes Flash support.

Apple’s new book store, iBooks, was bound to come. Considering the expanding market for e-books and e-readers, it was clear that Apple had to get in. Although the iPad has nice 9.7 inch, LED backlit display, it does not mean it is a good reading device. I have not got a chance to try the device out for myself, but from what I have seen there is no way it could replace the quality of e-ink devices (or a real book). Because of this, the iPad will not cut away too much at the Amazon Kindle market, and other markets. The iPad is made much more for reading textbooks and business documents, not full novels.

It is clear that this is not a device that could replace the laptop. Despite that it is light and carries features like a stripped down version of iWorks and the Apple Appstore, does not mean it is a replacement for a netbook, let alone a laptop. It is clear that the iPad (1st gen.) may go the way of the Newton, but I hope that Apple can make a better 2nd gen. tablet that is more like a netbook or even a laptop replacement.

Apple's iPad

logtech — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:27:37 +0000

Despite the name, Apple’s new iPad is an attractive device. In essence the tablet is a 9.7 inch iPod touch with the ability of 3G. It runs on a new version of the iPhone software and has a fairly high quality screen. It has a very nice browsing experience (except no Flash yet) and a good mail client. Viewing pictures is a clean and easy process however there is not build in camera which is a disappointment. Video including Youtube, will play in HD . The AppStore and iTunes are the same except for the addition of iBooks. iBooks is like iTiunes for books, and that’s about it. iBooks is defiantly not a new idea but will help a industry. And of course there is a maps app and a calendar app. Most apps in the store will work on the device. The most important part of this however is the price. The starting price is at $499.99. This was a lot lower than expected, however it is not surprising because if they priced it at 999 for example, it should be more like a computer which it is not (Price list below). The 3G is a lot cheaper than you get with a computer at $ 30.00 for unlimited data. The iPad is said to last 10 hours and a month on standby. Over all this is a sleek device that will create a new category that we will see change the way we do computing. However, this is probably not the device to define this new tablet category. (The iPad wifi is available in 60 days and the 3G in 90 days).

	16 GB	32 GB	64 GB
Wi-Fi	$499	$599	$699
Wi-Fi + 3G	$629	$729	$829

Envivio iLiveTV

logtech — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:51:43 +0000

Envivio iLiveTV is a new service for the iPhone and iPod touch that allows you watch live TV from online. Envivio uses Apples new HTTP streaming format which allows for the live video to be streamed right to the phone or iPod. iLiveTV works over 3G and of course Wi-Fi, however your mileage on how well the stream comes through may vary. Over all on a Wi-Fi connection the stream came through fairly well and only had a few buffers in the beginning. iLiveTV is a online app only and there is nothing to download. This is a ok idea, however the interface can be a little odd. At the moment the app only has about 6 channels including KRON, KTEH, KGO-TV and few others. These may not be main stream channels but it is a good experiment that works well. If you would like to try this for yourself you can be put on their waiting list for a password for the site. Check out the pictures below.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Hulu desktop

logtech — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:59:45 +0000

: Image via CrunchBase

Hulu.com recently came out with a new desktop app. This app is available for both Mac and PC and is pretty easy to use. Although can be slow at times it is still very intuitive. If you have a Windows Media Center remote or a Mac Frontrow remote you can control this software with them. Just a little while ago Hulu told Boxee and other software that they had to get rid of there link to Hulu. It is now clear why they did this, although it is a little disappointing they are not allowing there website out there. hulu.com/labs

Apple suit agenst Psystar's Mac clones, recall to come.

logtech — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:17:04 +0000

I must say it was bound to happen anyways. Apple is very secure about were there software is placed. They don’t like there OS installed on a PC like computer , like this Psystar computer.
Check out news.com’s article on the recall.

Apple suit: Psystar’s Mac clones must be recalled | Beyond Binary – A blog by Ina Fried – CNET News.com

Is the Macbook Air going to survive?

logtech — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:08:50 +0000

I don’t know but it seems like people love thin, or do they. Well the most popular thin laptop the Macbook Air is popular with only one group. The laptop is made for those who need to surfer the internet, write documents, or do simple things like that. The Air lacks many external components including more USB ports, and a optical drives. Also on the inside you will not have much hard drive space. All and all right now it dose not seem like the Air will do to well. I don’t think there is a big enough group to get a computer like this. From what I see the Air will probably get a overhaul or taken off the line. If you take a look at PPX, (Popsci Prediction Exchange), the stock is going up and down for this computer but over all I don’t know if it look to good for this computer. It looks like it might just be swept away in the air.