New Tech of E3 and Apple!!!

Hi

Well the first day of E3, the internationally renown gaming expo, has been full of major releases and announcements. Not all of these have come from E3 however - Apple, being the company they are, could never have a day of major announcements without one of their own. Not only did iPhone 4 pre-ordering start for countries were the device will be released on the 24th, the company released an update to the Mac Mini. The ultra small computer not only has a uni-body shell similar to the MacBook Pro, but also HDMI output and a SD card slot. I really like this upgrade as I have always wanted one - but not even more as Apple is exhausting its abilities as a media center device.

Microsoft finally fully unveiled their "Project Natal" device, dubbed the Kinect. This XBOX 360 add-on allows you to control games with motions, but unlike the Wii, it does not require a controller. This seems like another face palm for me. This device seems strikingly similar to the old EyeToy for the PS2 or Playstation Eye for PS3. The XBOX even had a version of these called XBOX live vision. All three devices sort of.....well...failed miserably. I seriously do not know why Microsoft thinks a better version of this 1999 technology will sell. There will be tonnes of people buying it in the beginning, but only because of media. Well at least that is what I think.

This device should be released in the US in November and has no price yet.

A motion sensor device for the PS3 is also in the works, although it uses a rather suggestive looking controller(the bottom pic). The Wii is a pretty awesome console and for so cheap its great but by the looks of it, Sony and Microsoft are trying to annihilate it.

Lastly....NEW XBOX !!!!! No, it is not the ridiculously named XBOX 720, it is still called the XBOX 360. The thinner version of the 360 has had a visual redesign as well as included Wifi (such a new concept). Personally I think too little (hardware wise) too late and.....it's sorta ugly....

It will be sold for $500 from July 1 in Australia.

Till next time :)
AndrewCow

NEW iPHONE (I love Gizmodo) - Part 2

Hi
FINALLY the iPhone post. Now because I am sure you have already seen everything about the iPhone 4G or whatever, I will make a quick list of new features we expect will be in the new iPhone, most likely being announced on June 7.  Here we go:)

• Bigger battery(same size of phone but smaller components)
• Different shape - although it is almost the same size, it is a much squarer shape
• The screen looks to be HD, although no one can be sure
• It seemed to have what looked like a secondary Mic for noise cancelling
• Flash!!!!!!!! That is a camera flash not the program flash. I hope you didn't get your hopes up(By the way, the next post will be the death of flash for iPhone)
• What looks like a better camera, but once again, no one can be sure
• There is a weird split in the top of the case as shown below - no idea what it is for
• by the way, the hole next to the head phone port is the noise cancelling mic
• Also, the back of the phone seems to be a glass type material or something. Oh yay:) now we can get not only a cracked screen, but a cracked back.
• There is a front facing camera:) yay lets all Skype grandma on my iPhone
• Lastly, the side volume buttons have been separated.....no idea why and the SIM card slot is now microSIM(much smaller) and no the side

So that's about it:) I really like the look of it:) Multitasking. Front facing camera. HD!!:) I WANT ONE NOW

AndrewCow

p.s. Oh.....by the way reading back at that post I realised many people would not get the whole lets Skype Grandma joke........Its an Internet nerd thing:)

NEW iPHONE (I love Gizmodo) - Part 1

Hi
You all have already probably heard this, but oh well, its just so funny. Now i'm not sure if this was a deliberate leak by Apple, but even if it was, I don't think they meant it to go this far.

You see what happened was a senior Apple software developer was seen at a bar somewhere around San Fransisco and when he left, a man(not named due to legal reasons) found what looked like an iPhone 3G/S on a stool. He called around to see if it belonged to anyone but no answer. That is when he took the phone off sleep and found many interesting things. Firstly, the senior software developers Facebook page was open. Secondly, the man realized the phone was running the new OS4. Unfortunately, he didn't think to explore many features because the next day, the phone had been deactivated using Apples MobileMe service.

It could not be restored as the firmware is device specific( the 4.0 firmware for the 3Gs will not run on it) so not much has emerged about the upcoming firmware update. The hardware though, it looks epic.

More on that on Friday
AndrewCow

iPhone OS 4.0 - Part 2

So my take on iAds, changes to the photo app and all the other small changes in iPhone 4.0.

Firstly iAds. I do not have much to say. They look really cool. If you haven't seen them go HERE. Basically they are just a very advanced, interactive form of advertisement that i'm sure apple will charge a HUGE amount of money for and people will pay because the iPhone is more popular than Oxygen. They look sorta fun actually I think. Oh well, only time will tell.

NEXT other things. Changes to the photo app. FIrstly there is now facial recognition and events as well as a way to view geo tags on the phone(knows using the GPS the location of where the photo was taken). Also there is FINALLY a rotate button as well as albums, zoom ( FINALLY as well) and focus for the video camera. Before, you could focus in the video camera but only before you started recording so I presume this will be focusing while recording. Most of this stuff has been available on other phones for years so im very happy apple has finally got it, and in the classic apple manner, it looks kuch better than on any other previous phone.

Finally, other updates include a better mail system (I didn't see any thing wrong with the old one but oh well), bluetooth keyboard connectivity (means you could type on a wireless keyboard straight into your iPhone and some tweaks to the iPod functionality.

LASTLY:) the greatest feature ever to have existed is coming to the iPhone. If this had never been invented, i'm positive the world would be total chaos. YES I am talking about the technical wonder that is spell check.

And on that, to reference top gear, bombshell, I leave you
AndrewCow

p.s. feel free to follow my blog for all your technical needs:)
p.p.s oh yea my the way the MacBook/MacBook Pro range have finally been updated with better processors, better graphics and, because of the better processor, higher battery life.