Gadzooki

Apple iPhone: Love It Or Hate It (part 2)

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The other day, we wrote about the positive points about Apple’s upcoming iPhone. Now, while the phone is still under development (or perhaps just being refined) as we speak, many have already commented on possible downsides with the product. The iPhone–or at least the concept, as it is not yet in the market–is not without faults, if you consider the one that Steve Jobs demoed in the 2007 Macworld Expo and Conference to represent how the final product should be.

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In terms of hardware, the lack of a physical keyboard is considered by some to be a potential problem because some people still prefer the tactile feedback of an actual keypad. And just like an iPod, users cannot change the batteries themselves–which would require external battery add-ons should one wish to extend battery life.

On the software side, it seems the iPhone will not be supporting third-party games and applications or widgets. This seems to be limiting, especially considering that Steve Jobs claims the iPhone runs some flavor of OS X. Users also cannot download music directly from iTunes (even if the phone can go online via WiFi or the cellular network). You would have to sync the phone via your computer. There’s also no bluetooth syncing, even if the phone supports this protocol (as with most new Macs).

Network-wise, Apple is releasing the iPhone only with a single network, which is Cingular. This means people have no choice of which network they can use the phone with (and users will have to be tied-in to the subscription for a couple of years). The price is also quite steep for a phone with a two-year lock-in. $500? Come on. It doesn’t even support high-speed data access through 3G!

Still, disadvantages aside, many view the iPhone to be a work of wonder. It’s a first-generation phone for Apple, after all. Perhaps a few years down the line we’ll get an iPhone with better refinements and which would be more affordable. I hope that time comes soon, because I want one!

Apple iPhone: Love It Or Hate It

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As we earlier wrote about, one of the main topics of Steve Jobs’ keynote at the 2007 Macworld Expo and Conference was the much sought-after iPhone. Much has been speculated about how Apple’s phone would be, and even how it would be called, given that the “iPhone” trademark is actually already been owned by Cisco. Nonetheless, Apple chose to name its product “iPhone”, and it seems to be an exciting product!

Engadget was among the first to break the news, and cites some of the key features of the iPhone.

Sweet, glorious specs of the 11.6 millimeter device (that’s frickin’ thin, by the way) include a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 touchscreen display with multi-touch support and a proximity sensor to turn off the screen when it’s close to your face, 2 megapixel cam, 4GB or 8 GB of storage, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP, WiFi that automatically engages when in range, and quad-band GSM radio with EDGE. Perhaps most amazingly, though, it somehow runs OS X with support for Widgets, Google Maps, and Safari, and iTunes (of course) with CoverFlow out of the gate. A partnership with Yahoo will allow all iPhone customers to hook up with free push IMAP email. Apple quotes 5 hours of battery life for talk or video, with a full 16 hours in music mode — no word on standby time yet. In a twisted way, this is one rumor mill we’re almost sad to see grind to a halt; after all, when is the next time we’re going to have an opportunity to run this picture? The 4GB iPhone will go out the door in the US as a Cingular exclusive for $499 on a two-year contract, 8GB for $599. Ships Stateside in June, Europe in fourth quarter, Asia in 2008.

At first glance, the features seem to resemble your run-of-the-mill smartphone and PDA, save for the fact that the screen is larger and more crisp than other devices of the same size. However, it’s in the user interface that makes a big difference. The iPhone will not have any physical keyboard or keypad type input mechanisms. Instead, it will use a touchscreen. But this will not be like the existing touchscreen technologies that we now have with Tablet PCs or even touch-sensitive PDAs and mobile phones. The touch screen technology of the iPhone will be much like that of the current iPod’s clickwheel (something that feels more like a laptop touchpad rather than a flexible screen overlay popular with PDAs). Apple is said to have patented over 200 technologies just for the touch sensitive aspect of the iPhone itself.

Also, there’s the GUI factor. Apple is known for using very intuitive GUIs over powerful back-end processing. This is one reason why Apple OS X has much appeal over other operating systems like Windows. OS X features a visually-appealing, easy-to-use graphical interface over a powerful UNIX-based architecture. Apple’s engineers and UI designers seem to have thought things up very well. For instance, you can pinch an image from its corners to resize. And you can just drag around icons to move them. An on-screen keyboard lets you type in text, and this will appear and disappear by itself as necessary.

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Apple: No Longer Just a “Computer” Company

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Apple shocked the geek world at the start of the new year with Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at the Macworld Expo and Conference in San Francisco. It was here where he announced the oft-rumored and much-awaited iPhone, and along with that the change of the company’s name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. Taking out the “Computer” from the name meant a huge shift in the company’s primary focus from being a company about computers, to being one about consumer products.

True enough, Apple had always been considered a niche company, catering to only a minority in the world’s computer-using population. These were mostly those who loved and preferred Apple products, particularly professionals in graphics and video production, and as well personal users who prefer the non-complexity of using Macs. However, this all changed when the iconic iPod became the most popular portable music player, and the iTunes Music service became the largest online music store. Apple was then catapulted to a dominant position in the music industry.

Among the things discussed in the 2007 Macworld keynote, notable was the introduction of the iPhone and the Apple TV (styled  TV). The iPhone is seen as revolutionary, as analysts think other mobile phone manufacturers are likely to follow suit with the innovations that the iPhone is supposed to bring in, like a touch-based user interface, unified messaging, and the like. The Apple TV, meanwhile, is touted as something that will help bring Apple into the consumer’s living room.

What’s the trend we’re seeing here? Tech companies are increasingly moving away from computers, and towards more consumer-oriented applications.

Buying a Car: Gas vs. Diesel

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SUV.gifCars are, after all, another great big expensive gadget that we love to splurge/spend on. So in follow up to our previous guide on buying a car we think it’s best to give a few tips about the specifics (i.e., options and choices you can look out for).

One basic question would be the engine type: gas (or petrol, as some cultures would prefer to call it) or diesel. These are worlds apart in terms of the various benefits and disadvantages. Diesel-powered cars, however, are not as popular as petrol-powered ones particularly in passenger cars in America. But in other parts of the world–particularly in Europe, since the EU has stringent emissions standards–diesels are fairly popular. If you’re considering buying a car soon, and thinking of your engine options, read on.

Here are some disadvantages of diesel engines.

  • Heavier than comparable gas engines- this results to a heavier vehicle.
  • More expensive, so this will add to the cost of your purchase.
  • Slow acceleration (they’re meant for torque rather than horsepower, meaning better pulling power).
  • Produce more smoke – Diesel engine fumes may be bad for your health, if you have lung problems.
  • Diesel engines work with heating up the fuel for combustion, and hence can be difficult to start in cold weather.
  • Noisier and have a tendency to vibrate more than gas engines.
  • Diesel fuel may not be readily available in some areas.

Here are benefits of diesel engines.

  • Better fuel efficiency – You get more miles per gallon of fuel on a diesel. Most likely, diesel will be cheaper than petrol, too.
  • Lower carbon emissions – Diesels are considered environment friendly, in this regard, since they put off significantly less Carbon Dioxide than petrol engines (though they release more particulates in smoke).
  • Use of biodiesels – Some diesel powered vehicles can run on “clean” diesel–fuel derived from vegetables, ethanol or other oils (rather than fossil fuel).
  • Longer lifetime – Diesel engines can last twice (in terms of mileage) than comparable gas powered engines. This means your vehicle can have a longer serviceable life.
  • Better pulling power – Diesels may not necessarily be able to overtake gas-powered cars in terms of acceleration, but diesels can haul heavier loads.
  • Better idling endurance – You can leave your vehicle idling for extended periods (hours, even) without overheating.

The list of pros and cons extends farther–we can only cite a few. In the end, it boils down to user preference. If you’re in need of a large pickup truck or SUV for hauling your trailer, boat, or some other load, a diesel is probably best for you. If you prefer a small commuter car built for a smooth, comfortable ride, then you’re probably best off with petrol. However, these days, the line is being blurred in terms of comfort and smoothness of ride. So we think it’s best to choose according to your needs and the intended use of your car.

A simple guide to buying cars

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Buying a car can be quite confusing especially for those who are not as well versed with car speak and car terms. Because a car is a major ticket purchase one should be very careful in inspecting a prospective car before actually parting with the hard earned cash. This would not be so much of a problem if a new car is being bought, but not everyone can buy a new car. A large percentage of the car buying public would opt to buy a second hand or used car so that they can realize a little savings for their purchase.

Cars

Below are some tips on how you can buy a car in a manner that is effective and covers all of the basics:

* Do not hesitate to ask questions – you should not be embarrassed or uncomfortable when you ask questions about the car that you are eyeing. Continue to ask questions and exhaust all of the inquiries. Stop only if you feel that you already have all the answers that you need. Also remember that having asked all of those questions does not mean that you are now required to stick with that particular dealer to buy your car. Asking questions does not mean you have an obligation to get your car from them. You should also ask for all of the pertinent figures in writing so that you can study them at your own leisure before committing to anything. Take your time to make decision when you are buying a new car. But if it is a used car that you are looking for and you have found one that fits your requirements then you should make the decision then and there. No two used cars are alike so if you try to put off your decision for the day, you may return the following day and discover that the car has been sold to another person.

* Shop for a car but leave your emotions at home – shopping for a car can be an emotional experience. Something in our brain is wired in such a way that we can easily fall in love with a car. This is all well and good but a definitely bad practice if you are shopping around for a car. When shopping for a car you should not let your emotions dictate what you should do. An inability to walk way from a car could very well result in you paying much more than you ought to. Be transparent with car dealers when you tell them what your budget is for a car.

* Have a general idea of what you want – Do your homework before you even go out and shop for a car. Know what you want even before you see your first car. Knowing does not exactly mean being sure of what you want down to the model, make and engine displacement. A general idea would do so you can immediately narrow down the field.

It’s the price not the payments – A rookie mistake is negotiating the payment terms with the dealer. What you should negotiate for instead is the price of the car. A dealer who only wants to talk about payments is hiding something about the actual price of the car. Don’t get fooled by this tactic and insist on a price negotiation instead.

How To Get Windows Vista Free

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windows_vista_box.jpgThis is something Windows lovers would find interesting (I for one, do use Windows from time to time, but I prefer to use my Mac for day to day work).

Amit of Digital Inspirations writes how you can get Vista for free. There are five ways:

  1. Buy a new Vista capable PC.
  2. Attend the 2007 CES conference in Las Vegas.
  3. Get nominated for the Microsoft MVP programme.
  4. If you were part of the Vista Beta tester program, Microsoft will send you a complimentary copy.
  5. If you register for PowerTogether webinars, Microsoft will ship you a free copy.

Of course, most of these options are not exactly “free” in the sense that you don’t have to shell out anything in order to get your copy of Vista. You’ll still have to shell out some money for buying a new PC, attending CES, and registering for PowerTogether. Getting nominated for the MVP programme means you must have had some accomplishment in the IT industry, and if you were part of the Beta tester programme, this means you spent some time and effort actually looking for bugs!

Still, it’s a good idea to have options. But as for me, I probably won’t be installing Vista anytime soon. I’ll wait for a few months until Microsoft releases major patches or a service packs. First generation software (and hardware) are usually not as stable and reliable as mature ones.

Nikon D40 Review

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What I love about entry-level digital SLRs are their prices and sizes. For an amateur photographer like myself, they’re advanced enough to play around with, but not too expensive to break the bank. And the size is just right–they’re usually smaller than their pro counterparts. I’m not one to lug around a big camera bag stuffed with various lenses and accessories most of the time. While I’m mostly a fan of Canon when it comes to their venerable Rebel lower-end D-SLR series, I can say Nikon has been coming up with quite a good set of their own to challenge the Rebel’s dominance.

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DPReview–one of our favorite camera review sites–has recently reviewed the new D40, and the result is quite surprising for an entry level camera.

The Nikon D40 is an all new affordable, compact, point-and-shoot digital SLR from Nikon, it follows on from the D50 but at a significantly lower price point and with a subtly different feature set. The biggest news however is probably fact that Nikon resisted the temptation to keep chasing megapixels (hooray for that) and instead appear to have concentrated on what makes a good camera, a decent viewfinder, short shutter lag, very short viewfinder blackout. They’ve trimmed some of the ‘less important features’ (you can’t change the exposure steps for example) but have squeezed a range of new features such as custom Auto ISO which we welcomed with the D80.
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The D40 is perhaps one of Nikon’s most important digital SLRs. It’s certainly their smallest and lightest, their most affordable and ships with a fairly decent kit lens too.

Nikon focused (pun intended!) on the essentials, and did away with the “megapixel” battles. One thing you’ll miss, though is the onboard autofocus drive motor. So unless you’re using Nikkor AF-S or AF-I lenses (those with built-in focus motors), you’ll have to focus manually.

Still, we have only but kudos to Nikkon for releasing its smallest and most affordable D-SLR to date!

Multi Function Flight Sim Panel

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chmfp (Custom).jpgIn my younger years (that doesn’t mean I’m no longer young), I used to love playing flight simulators on my PC. Back then, there were no high-tech simulators for consumer-grade PCs, so I ran rudimentary DOS-based software like Chuck Yeager’s flight simulator. This application was so simple that the planes were represented by polygons instead of graphics. Of course, the creators tried to make the representations look as accurate as possible–so for instance, an airplane’s silhouette was more or less similar to the graphical representation.

However, as PCs gained processing power, the software also became more complex, and at some point I already stopped playing (or is it actually considered playing?) flight sims. So for now, my “flying” experiences are usually based on reading up, particularly other peoples’ blog and forum postings about flight sims.

However, for people who are still interested in running flight sims, it helps to have the right gear. And this includes joysticks, pedals and other such input devices. To simulate the cockpit of lager commercial aircraft, you can try out CH Products’ multi function panel.

CH Products, the makers of the uber flight sim gear have teamed up with Ergodex to create a serious toy for flight fans called the Multi Function Panel. This MFP allows sim flyers to design their own cockpits or duplicate the cockpits from existing aircraft like the 777 or F-16. You can emulate avionics panels, comm panels and GPS panels with the wireless display. The Ergodex tech allows the 25 different buttons to be placed anywhere on the base which connects to your PC via USB. You can even go all out and design your own glass cockpit by connecting up to 16 MFPs to your PC at once. – everything USB

Connecting 16 panels might seem too much, but I guess if you’re at the cockpit of an aircraft you will have your hands (and eyes) full with the number of instruments and buttons.

Sony Vaio. Now In Color!

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Ask me what my favorite laptop brands are and I’ll tell you hands-down that it’s either Apple or Thinkpad. I absolutely love the way they design their notebook computers to be simple, functional and usable. Oh, and they look cool, too. And what’s even more important, they come in the two colors (and gradients in-between) I consider to be best for laptop computers: black, white, and matte metallic grey!

Okay, forget the candy-colored iBook G3’s of the late 1990’s. The more modern G3 and the G4 iBooks came in shiny white. PowerBooks came in black (from the Wallstreet to the Pismo), white (the Titanium editions), and then metallic grey (the newer Aluminum editions). The same goes with the MacBook (black and white) and the MacBook Pro (metallic grey).

And let’s not get started with the Thinkpad. IBM’s flagship brand (since sold off to Chinese computer maker Lenovo) comes in any color as long as it’s black. Sure, it’s not cutesy candy-colored but it’s business sexy.

Black comes off as serious, while white looks clean. Grey is a good in-between. Just don’t make it too glossy or it would look like cheaply painted plastic.

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Nikon D80 Previews

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Nikon D80.pngFor shutterbugs, the brand of cameras and photography equipment used is not only a matter of preference, but it can be almost like a religion. As I earlier mentioned when I wrote about the new Canon Digital Rebel XTi, you’re either a Canonite or a Nikonian. It’s like the two major religions of the photography world. The other ones have their specific niches and followers. But Canon and Nikon still lead the pack in terms of followership (or worshippers?). After all, these are the ones with the widest variety of accessories and lenses that are usually compatible across product lines within the same brand.

Canon’s Digital Rebel series is considered a good entry-level set of cameras because of affordability and compact size. Of course, you can expect this series not to be as fully-featured and fast as its bigger brethren, the professional-grade digital SLRs. The camera we will be introducing here today is along the same lines as the Digital Rebel, but something that’s on the opposing side. Nikon announced just recently the D80, the upgrade to its formidable D70 introduced in 2004.

The D80 now sports a 10-megapixel CCD (up from 6 MP) and will come with new lens options included in the kit, featuring ED glass and a Silent Wave Motor (SWM) for fast and quiet zooming.

What’s about prosumer-grade DSLRs, anyway?

The “prosumer,” the pseudo-economic term coined in the mid-1980’s meant that an individual is both a producer and a consumer. This can either be that the individual is no longer dependent on industry for his needs, or that he can do what can otherwise be done professionally, but without the need for compensation. In short, a prosumer can be anyone from a very serious amateur/hobbyist, to someone who is just in between being a consumer or a professional in one’s field.

Hence, a prosumer camera can be expected to be more advanced than simple, consumer-grade cameras, with features and functionalities that professional-grade cameras have. However, these are a tad lower than the pro equipment in terms of performance and price. Prosumer cameras can be ideal equipment for aspiring pros who are still learning the ropes. These can also be great as alternate or backup cameras for professionals for easy switching across different lens focal lengths and features. Prosumer cams can also be ideal weekend-cameras for pros who are more used to carrying around the larger high-end cameras at work.

Nikon D30: Previews

So, what do people have to say about the D30. For now, we’re being treated to sneak peeks or previews of early units. Reviewers have yet to get their hands on production units (meaning the same units that hit store shelves or shipped with online purchases). Previous are positive, so far.

According to Imaging-Resource, the D80 is a good improvement over the D70 in terms of handling, built and features. The D80 gets even closer to the higher-end D200 in terms of similarities in functionality, parts and interface.

Given that it uses a close variant of the CCD sensor employed in the D200 though, it seems safe to assume that it’s basic imaging characteristics will be at least roughly comparable. Taking that as a given, we’re confident in predicting that the Nikon D80 will be an enormous hit. It delivers a huge step up in virtually every parameter relative to the earlier D70/D70S, and even the D100 owner on a budget may want to consider it over the the higher-priced D200. In our limited time with it thus far, it impressed us with its solid feel and responsive handling, as well as for just how much of the D200’s capabilities it incorporates. In the back-and-forth battle between the two giants, Nikon has once again thrown down the gauntlet to Canon, with an exceptionally capable camera (sporting an unusually capable kit lens as well), at a very aggressive price.

DPreview gives a short introduction, and weighs the D80’s features against that of its precursors, D70 and D70s. DPreview notes that there are some feature downgrades, such as a slower minimum shutter speed. But overall, the D80 is a good upgrade over its precursors.

The D80 slots nicely between the entry-level D50 and the semi-professional / professional D200, clearly based on the D70 design but also different enough to be seen as a completely new model. It features a ten megapixel DX format CCD (the same we presume as used by Sony in the DSLR-A100), the metering sensor from the D50 and numerous other items taken or modified from the D200.