Nvidia Shield Plays Great, but Who Is It For?

Nvidia's Shield is a handheld gaming device that tries to do a lot of things at once. It plays Android games and media like a phone or tablet, but also streams high-quality games from a PC that work with its attached controller.

While the Shield does many things well, it certainly isn't a product with mass-market appeal due to several factors. Between its $299 price, (which puts it out of range of an impulse buy), Android's weakness as a gaming platform, and the work you have to put in to stream PC games, it's a tough sell for all but the most hard-core gamers.

If handheld PC gaming is your bag, the Shield is worth investigating. The handheld does a lot very well, though it's not the game-changer Nvidia wants it to be.

The Beefy Shield

The first thing you'll notice about the Nvidia Shield is its heft. It isn't on the small side, making the term "handheld" almost a stretch. It clocks in at about 1.25 pounds, almost twice the 3DS XL (12 ounces) and a little less than a full sized iPad (1.33 pounds).

The Shield's 5-inch screen folds closed to make the console portable. Opening the lid reveals the full controller, with two analog sticks, directional pad, and A, B, X and Y buttons. There are also additional buttons for Shield functions on the controller's face, including the volume control, back and home buttons, and the a glowing Nvidia logo that launches the Shield's gaming hub. There are also triggers and bumpers on the Shield's rear.

While all these are the trappings of a modern gaming controller, there are some differences. The most notable are the twin analog sticks, which are recessed to allow the Shield screen to fold down. The compact design makes these sticks strange to use; you'll have to stretch your thumbs a bit for great control.

The Shield's horizontal touch screen acts much like an Android device. You can control apps entirely from the screen, though one of the Shield's analog sticks can also act as a virtual cursor. The 5-inch screen's 1,280 x 720 resolution looks sharp, and games, movies and other media look great on it.

Android Gaming

The Shield's newest update, which arrived Monday morning, revs it up to Android 4.3 "Jelly Bean," and the physical design aside the handheld functions much like other stock Android devices. You'll be able to access Google Play for any media you choose to install, and apps like Hulu, Netflix, YouTube and Google Chrome work as they should.

Android has come a long way for games, but it's hard to review the Shield without pointing out the Android ecosystem is still not as diverse as Apple's, and that is painfully obvious in the gaming hemisphere. Great mobile games still arrive on iOS first, with Google Play teeming with knock-off titles.

Nvidia has done its best to play curator by creating a Shield Store, which features all the 100+ games that support the Shield's control scheme. There are some bigger titles in here, like zombie shooter Dead Trigger, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and racing title Asphalt 8. Many of these games are highly polished and make full use of the Shield's Tegra 4 processor.

The curated Shield store does offer brief descriptions of each game as well as prices, but you can't see information like ratings until you jump into Google Play to buy the game. The store would also benefit from the ability to sort games by rating, genre or price.

GamePad Mapper

Nvidia responded to users' complaints about a such a small pool of Android games having controller support by introducing a GamePad Mapper feature on Monday. The feature allows gamers to add controller support to any of their own Android games to adapt them to Shield, in theory.

When players start any unsupported game, they'll hit the Shield's start button and enter GamePad Mapper mode. Here they can assign virtual joysticks and buttons to real buttons on the Shield, and tie gestures or in-game actions to joysticks or buttons.

Mapping my first game (Plants vs Zombies 2) took a little bit of trial and error as I learned how each of the gizmos worked. It's not the smoothest process, but eventually I was able to get up and playing with the Shield's controller. For those not interested in a learning curve, previously created profiles from either the Nvidia team or other players are available to download once you load up GamePad Mapper.

This feature isn't perfect — it's putting a bandaid on the touch-to-controller problem until a game's original developers step in — but it works well enough for some games. I was able to lead the Houston Rockets to victory in NBA Jam on Android, a game that is usually frustrating because of its virtual controls. I can also imagine users coming up with some creative mapping to share with others if this is widely adapted.

PC Streaming

The Shield's most touted feature is GameStream, the ability to stream games from a PC to the handheld's screen, allowing you to play high-quality titles around the house. It's a nice destination, but the journey is a huge pain.

To access PC streaming functionality, you're going to need a pretty solid gaming desktop with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 or better graphics card. You'll also need a wireless router that can broadcast at both 5GHz and 2.4GHz, aka simultaneous dual-band capability. The Shield can technically stream over just 2.4GHz, but the lag will be so bad Nvidia doesn't recommend it.

The setup of the Shield took some time, and getting every piece to work together felt like I was keeping several plates spinning at once. Nvidia does have most of the guides you'll need available online, but I ran into some specific problems that took a little good, old-fashioned trial and error.

Once you get GameStream up, it does work really well. I spent a couple hours playing Saints Row IV in the comfort of a couch in a different room from the PC. I could also manage my downloads and game library through Steam's Big Picture Mode, which also works on the Shield. The visuals looked really sharp, and the Sheild's onboard speakers actually sound crisp for their size. It's also worth noting that GameStream's signal worked more than 30 feet away from the PC — though any farther and I'd lose the signal.

There are about 50 games that officially support GameStream, though other games that have controller support might also work fine. (Saints Row IV wasn't in the "supported" list when I started testing, for instance.) Each game does present some of its own quirks though; there wasn't a button mapped for Borderlands 2's menus, where you manage your inventory and look at the game's map. Instead you have to double tap the screen to bring up a virtual keyboard, and hit "m" to go to the map. Yup. That's what I want to do every time I want to see where I'm going.

If you can put up with the work, GameStream is definitely Shield's killer feature. Now that it's officially "out of beta" we should see more PC titles supported as well.

Console Mode

Nvidia added the logical extension of GameStream to Shield with Monday morning's update: Console Mode. This turns Shield into a mini media machine, connecting to a TV through the Shield's HDMI output. You can even control the Shield via a third-party Bluetooth controller if you wish.

Console Mode is great for secondary functions like media viewing. Apps like Netflix, Hulu and Twitch scaled up easily, though I had to utilize the virtual cursor for some functions the controller wasn't programmed to do.

Some Android games worked really well, too, making them a big-screen experience that actually looked great. I was able to play Max Payne for Android and Star Wars Pinball while lounging in bed. I was able to play Max Payne for Android and Star Wars Pinball while lounging in bed. But plenty of games simply didn't work on big screen, including the aforementioned NBA Jam, which loaded in only a quarter of the screen, and Dead Trigger, which couldn't recognize any of the controller actions.

Console Mode can also be used with GameStream, though it's a very long daisy chain of devices to get it there. If your PC isn't in the same room as your TV, then I can see the appeal of having a device in the living room to send PC games too, though it's almost as funny to sync a Bluetooth controller to a device that already has a controller attached to it.

The streaming worked pretty well, though there was a small amount of lag when streaming about 15 feet away from the PC. It wasn't so bad that we couldn't keep playing, but situations that required more processing power would tax the system a bit.

It's also not going to be the highest resolution. Console Mode can only stream games at 720p to the television, though Nvidia said an update to support 1080p was in the works. This feature's timing is especially interesting considering Valve is about to beta-test its Steam Machines, which are computers meant to bring PC gaming into the living room through streaming.

Worth Noting

It should be said of course, that Nvidia provides companies like Mashable products for review, along with generally excellent support to make sure we get the most out of our testing.

Nvidia provided us a version of Monday's patch early. For reasons nobody is sure of, the patch bricked the Shield, freezing it on the startup screen despite multiple reboots. Nvidia quickly swapped our review unit with a brand new Shield, which handled the patch perfectly. This isn't to caution against installing the patch, but to state the surprising fact that if a Shield becomes bricked, there's no real way for its owner to reset the system. With another Android device, you could probably wipe it from a PC and reinstall the operating system, but this isn't the case for the Shield.

Conclusion

The Nvidia Shield is a solid performer with some great components. Its screen is beautiful, and the Tegra 4 handles games like a champ. PC streaming is a great idea, and looks beautiful when executed. But because of it's $299 price point, I wonder exactly who the Shield is for. That price doesn't reflect the fact you'll need a high-end graphics card and a $100+ router to access the Shield's biggest feature.

If you're a diehard PC gamer looking to move around your house more, or want to try streaming PC games to your television, the Shield is for you, though it's hard to say how big that market is. With the proliferation of other Android devices that work well for gaming, not to mention sub-$100 Android gaming consoles like OUYA and GameStick that can be used for media browsing, PC streaming would be the only reason to purchase a Shield, and even that has caveats.

The Good

Solid guts with great GPU

PC streaming has virtually no lag

Access to full Google Play

The Bad

Pricey

Finicky Console Mode

Recessed joysticks feel terrible after extended play

The Bottom Line

While the Shield is a great gaming device, it suffers from a high price point against an already crowded field of Android devices.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Mashable

Your Voice Will Drive the Xbox One Dashboard

Your Voice Will Drive the Xbox One Dashboard

Microsoft released a video of the upcoming Xbox One's dashboard, demonstrating the Kinect's voice control and console's multitasking capabilities.

The staged video shows a gamer navigating his Xbox One dashboard, which has tiles that bear a strong resemblance to the Xbox 360, and, by extension, Windows 8.

He changes activities quickly, all with voice command, hopping from a movie to the game Titanfall when he's alerted the match is ready. He then records and shares game footage through voice commands, while playing simultaneously. The player then abruptly starts a movie and answers a Skype call from his friend, who reminds him that he has a life outside of Xbox One.

The video also shows off another Xbox One dashboard feature called "snap," which places apps on the side of the main screen, giving users access to other content like Internet Explorer, their friends' list or Skype — all while simultaneously playing a game or watching live television.

The Xbox One hits shelves in North America on Nov. 22.

Source: Mashable

This Smartpen Connects to Your iOS 7 Device via Bluetooth

Although it’s true that the simple function of writing things down on paper is rapidly falling out of fashion thanks to our digital devices, there are still some out there with a preference for jotting down notes with a pen or pencil. For those users, the new Livescribe 3 Smartpen could be perfect bridge between old school writing and smartphone technology.

The new device, a worthy follow-up to the company’s Sky Wi-Fi smartpen released last year, can record everything the user writes and hears. Once that information is captured, it has the ability to then transfer that data to your iOS device via Bluetooth.

Compatible with iOS 7, the device's app immediately displays the transferred data as soon it's opened on an iPad or iPhone.

By introducing a Bluetooth version of its smartpen, Livescribe has made the prospect of using one of these still somewhat bleeding-edge devices significantly more attractive. Most mobile users are already trained to pair their wireless keyboards and headsets via Bluetooth, so working the Livescribe 3 into one’s existing mobile toolkit should be absolutely painless.

Equipped with a micro-USB charging cable, the Livescribe 3 is available for $149.95. The company is also releasing a Pro Edition that includes a leather smartpen portfolio with a 100-sheet hardbound journal, as well as a one-year subscription to Evernote Premium.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

First impression: iPad Mini with Retina display

By: iPadfanzz staff on October 24, 2013

The second generation iPad mini is out and it is slim, sleek and fast. Without changing the basic formula of the first generation iPad mini the company has upgraded the 7.9-inch tablet’s screen to Retina Display quality.

The screen resolution now has 2048×1536 resolution at 326 pixels per inch (ppi), much better than the previous version which had a 163 ppi screen resolution. That makes the text sharp and readable. The 326 PPI is also the same density of the iPhone 5 and 5S screen and pretty much the same as the Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HDX, which show 323 pixels per inch. Like on all of those tablets, the graininess of the old mini's screen is gone. This year's mini is also slightly thicker and slightly heavier than last year's.

The good thing about a higher resolution display is that pinch-to-zoom pinches and zooms incredibly quickly and sharply.

The new iPad mini with Retina display comes with a 64-bit A7 chip which also powers the new iPhone 5s. Apple says the new chip offers up to four times faster CPU and up to eight times faster graphics performance than the previous generation one. The tablet runs a 64-bit version of iOS 7, designed to take advantage of the A7 chip. The A7 chip supports OpenGL ES version 3.0 to deliver gaming console-level detailed graphics and complex visual effects.

In addition, the iPad mini also sports the M7 motion coprocessor. The chip takes care of measuring motion data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass sensors, sending them to apps without waking up the A7 processor, leading to improved battery life. It also recognises different types of motion.

The new iPad mini comes with two antennas to support MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) for up to twice as fast 802.11n Wi-Fi, according to Apple. The Wi-Fi + Cellular model comes with more LTE bands to support more 4G LTE networks.

Further, Apple has placed two two microphones inside the new iPad Mini - one at the top edge and the other one at the back. The company claims that the two microphones work together to capture better sound by suppressing audio from the source the user is not focused on, improving the quality of FaceTime calls, making video recordings better and enhancing Siri's voice recognition capabilities.

The iPad Mini with Retina will sell for $399 for the 16GB WiFi model. Wi-Fi plus cellular connectivity is $529. iPad mini with Retina display goes on sale in November end.

Apple Announced to end the Era of Paid Operating Systems

Amid a slew of incremental improvements to its iPad tablets and MacBook laptops, Apple today announced some landmark news about its oldest surviving operating system: It will not charge for the latest big upgrade, Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, breaking from a tradition that goes back 16 years and shining a light on a long-unfolding reversal in how tech profits are made. 

Eighteen years ago, the tech industry’s dominant company made nearly half its revenue selling OS licenses. Now, as Apple just confirmed, the prices of OS licenses are headed towards zilch.

Prices of Apple’s Mac OS X have long been on the wane. After four releases that cost $129, Apple dropped the operating system’s upgrade price to $29 with 2009’s OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and then to $19 with last year’s OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Microsoft — the king of the operating system in the ’80s and ’90s and on into the aughts — still charges PC makers who sell the Windows OS preloaded on their desktop and laptop machines, but that business is shrinking, thanks in large part to the continued success of Apple. And just last week, Microsoft announced that, much like Apple, it would not charge consumers who upgrade their machines to the latest version of Windows, version 8.1.

Part of what’s going on here is that the low-cost mobile ecosystem has changed the way people think about operating system software. Smartphones and tablets have left traditional computers in the dust, and their operating systems and apps are overwhelmingly free. Upgrades to Apple’s iOS platform — which powers the company’s iPads tablets and iPhones — have long been free, as have new versions of Google’s Android mobile OS. Like Microsoft, Google supplies operating systems to outside hardware makers, but unlike Microsoft, it doesn’t charge them for the software. Phone and tablet makers can load Android on their devices for free.

So, as the mobile world takes off, it’s only natural that the desktop and laptop world would move towards the free model as well.

Microsoft’s OS sales once generated 47 percent of its revenue, but they contributed just 25 percent last year on decelerating Windows licensing (and even that figure is inflated by ad revenue from Windows Live). In response, Microsoft is restructuring as a “devices and services” business — meaning a company that sells hardware like the Xbox and web services like Azure. In other words, it’s becoming more like Apple. Apple isn’t really a software company. It makes software and services that run on its own hardware devices.

In a way, operating systems are returning to their roots as a kind of loss leader. Before the personal computer revolution of the late 1970s, operating systems were just one piece in a vertically integrated stack of technology, a stack that also also included hardware and support services. Operating systems like Unix and VMS were used to sell minicomputers and workstations, and companies made their profits on hardware and support contracts. OSes such as BSD UNIX were completely free, and programmers would pass them around at will. Under the same philosophy, Apple gave away new versions of its Macintosh operating system until the crisis years of the late 1990s, when hardware sales slowed dramatically.

In the rapidly developing smartphone and tablet markets, tightly-coupled stacks are once again dominant, so OS makers can subsidize their operating systems with profit from the products integrated into them. Google, for example, subsidizes its mobile OS by selling online ads, and, in theory at least, by selling Motorola-branded hardware. Apple’s iPhone profits come from hardware and service sales, not the OS.

“The $0 [Mavericks] price is linked to the trend towards vertical integration,” says programmer and longtime OS X watcher John Siracusa. “A company that makes both the hardware and the software for a device can choose where to put its profit margins. Given the proven magic of ‘free’ in the minds of consumers, it’s better to put all the profit in a single basket. Free hardware is difficult to pull off, so software gets the nod: buy our hardware, get our software for free.”

Yes, even Microsoft is moving towards the vertical stack. It recently acquired phone maker Nokia and sells its own tablets. But this game of cross-subsidizing the operating system will be tougher for Microsoft, since the company is no Apple when it comes to hardware — and no Google when it comes to online services. The company rose to prominence in the horizontal PC era, when Microsoft could play one hardware vendor against another, dictate prices, and keep a computer’s hefty OS markup hidden from consumers. Those were the days.

“The OS always ‘seemed’ free. You got it with your computer,” says former Microsoftie Joel Spolsky. “Doesn’t mean it wasn’t a profit center. Probably the only people who noticed the price of Windows were the people who went out to the store to buy a newer OS for their older computer to upgrade it, but I don’t think that was a super-mainstream thing to do. Most people didn’t upgrade their OS until they got a new computer.”

So to the average consumer, the 21st Century sea change in OS pricing might not be particularly apparent. But to Microsoft shareholders, it will look very real and very scary. The company must make up that 25 percent somewhere else.

Apple unveils redesigned 9.7” iPad Air

By: iPadfanzz staff on October 23, 2013

As expected, Cupertino-based Apple has given a major design overhaul to fifth-generation version of its 9.7-inch flagship tablet.

It's now the "iPad Air" and has the same 9.7-inch display as all of its predecessors, but with an updated shape following the design language of the iPad mini.

It weighs just one pound, making it the lightest full size tablet in the world. It is .4 lbs lighter than previous generations. Also, the iPad Air only 7.5mm thick, which is 25 percent thinner than previous iPads.

The new iPad Air is 20 per cent thinner, 28 per cent lighter and has 43 per cent smaller bezels than last year’s iPad 4. According to the tech giant, the new tablet is the thinnest full-sized tablet in the world. The 9.7 inch iPad Air with Retina display looks a lot similar to the iPad mini.

The new tablet does not have the TouchID feature the company last displayed on the iPhone 5S.

Giving some performance boost, Apple has now upgraded the iPad’s processor to the A7. The iPad Air now has the same 64-bit A7 chip and the M7 motion co-processor that was introduced recently with the iPhone 5S. That means the new tablet is eight times faster than the original iPad and renders 72 times faster graphics as compared to first version. According to Apple, the iPad Air now comes with a 2x improvement in CPU performance and a 2x improvement in GPU performance over last year's fourth-generation model.

The A7 chip is accompanied by that M7 motion co-processor that was used in the iPhone 5s, which focuses on computing information generated from the sensors to make the device smarter all around. The 64-bit architecture chip contains more than 1 billion transistors.

The device also gets its Wi-Fi upgraded to MIMO technology, gaining multiple antennas that provide data transfer at up to 300Mbps over 802.11n.

On the camera front, the iPad Air just have a 5MP iSight camera. The 1.2 megapixel 720p FaceTime camera has been upgraded to a camera that can shoot in FullHD 1920 x 1080 resolution, though.

Overall, the new iPad has taken most of its design cues from the iPad mini and the more recent iPhones, starting with the chamfered edges and the new silver and "space gray" rear shells.

Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller hailed it as a "screaming fast iPad," noting that it is eight times faster than the original model that came out in 2010.

The iPad (fifth generation) will be available in black, white, silver, and space gray (no gold, for some reason), and will replace the current generation (fourth) iPad at a $499 starting price. Wifi + Cellular starts at $629.

Meanwhile, the iPad 2 will remain in the line up for $399.

New iPads will be available on November 1, just in time for the holidays.

Sketchy photo claims iPad 5 will have Touch ID fingerprint scanner

By: iPadfanzz staff on October 18, 2013

CtechCN.com has published an image featuring an iPad 5 with Touch ID, the fingerprint recognition system Apple introduced last month with the iPhone 5s. The site, however, has little track record to judge.

The photo shows that the Home button seems to be larger and more noticeable than on the iPhone. That also means that the Apple’s Home button design would differ on the iPad from the iPhone if Touch ID were to be integrated.

The company is all set to announce the next update to its iPad lineup on October 22.

Apple released the Touch ID fingerprint scanner at its September iPhone event with the iPhone 5s, but notably left the Touch ID feature out of the cheaper iPhone 5c.

Rideye Video Camera for Bikes

Rideye cameras will now feature twice the video history— 2.5 hours instead of the original 1.25 hours. The campaign is on track to hit quantities much higher than originally anticipated, which allows the purchase of components at a lower cost. All past and future pledges are eligible.

Cycling through heavy traffic just got a little less risky with Rideye camera surveillance, which documents bike accidents in HD, much like how black boxes are used to investigate the causes of airplane crashes.

As a mechanical engineer and avid bike rider, Cedric Bosch created Rideye to make cycling safer for everyone. After working on the project for the past year, Bosch launched a Kickstarter campaign this month to help move it into production. Initially, he became inspired to create Rideye after his best friend was seriously injured in a hit-and-run bike accident last year. Rideye's automatic video footage would identify hit-and-run drivers, and help prevent false claims.

"This is one of those products that people have been wanting for years, but nobody has made until now. People love to bike — it's an insanely popular sport — and biking to work is getting more and more popular each year. But everybody has this lingering fear that they'll get hit by a car, and the driver will drive away and never be found. Rideye solves that problem, and lets people ride with total peace of mind," Bosch told media.

Rideye' s bike-friendly features include a one-touch power button, 24-hour battery life and easy install on handlebars. If the camera is turned off at the time of a crash, accident-detection sensors will automatically begin to record, and once the camera's 4 GB internal memory or 1.25 hours of video time is filled, it will auto-delete the oldest content. With a USB plugin, camera footage can be saved to a computer.

As of Thursday, Rideye became one of the most popular Kickstarter technology projects. With over 150 Kickstarter backers, Bosch is enthusiastic that the campaign will exceed its $32,000 goal. A Rideye camera is now available for $99 to Kickstarter backers, although the retail price will eventually be $149. The campaign has until Oct. 10 to gain more supporters. Rideye plans to go into production this fall, and send shipments from November through December.

"At this point, I am targeting a new goal— $100,000 (three times the original). We have some great stretch goals that we will unveil halfway through the project," Bosch said.

LED Light Up Shoelaces

The latest LED light source plus high transmission fiber, smooth effect more strong, effect is far superior to the plastic pipe material products, through the CE ROHS authentication, waterproof processing, etc. Its really an impressive gadget and anyone would wish have this one, even me too. 

It is suitable for the all kinds of shoes like roller skates, dance shoes, basketball shoes, football shoes, children shoes, casual shoes, sports shoes, suitable for outdoor sports, night running, large festival party, concert, promotion, encouragement and other activities. These are just Perfect for night wearing. Its cost is almost $2.36. 

Fashion / Magic LED Flashing Shoelaces:

This gadget has Unique style, Ultra bright and eye-catching, for they are the shoelaces can light up and flash! LED back-lit offers safe, thin, comfortable and non-intruding light which has 

3-mode flashing: 

It has 3 different modes i.e Steady on, fast strobe, slow strobe

Battery Timing: 

Flashing or intermittent discharge is 60-80 hours, 2-3 months of normal use, the battery can be replaced

Powered by 1 x CR2032 battery.

Other Specifications: 

• Net Weight: 40g
• Shoelaces Length: 80 cm / 31.4 inch
• Light source: LED
• Shoelace material: Glass fiber
• Control box material: plastic

iPad 5 timeline

By: iPadfanzz Editor on October 14, 2013

Oct 9

New Photos Offer Clear Look at Fifth-Generation iPad Ahead of October 22 Event

Oct 9

Supply Chain Sources Feed Speculation on Apple's Display Plans for Future Devices

Oct 8

Apple's iPad-Centric Event to Take Place on October 22

Oct 8

iPad Mini and Fourth-Generation iPad Have Most Responsive Tablet Touch Screens

Oct 3

New Report Summarizes Display Rumors for Future Apple Devices

Oct 2

New Video Explores Possibility of Touch ID in Fifth-Generation iPad

Oct 2

iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 to Be Equipped with 8-Megapixel Rear Cameras

Oct 1

Delta Employees 'Fought Hard for the iPad' as Microsoft Announces Surface 2 Deal

SEPTEMBER

2013

Sep 30

Refurbished 128 GB iPad Models Begin Appearing in Apple Online Store

Sep 30

Staples Now Selling iPad, iPad Mini and iPods in U.S. Online Store

Sep 29

Detailed Video Showing iPad 5 Physical Changes

Sep 27

MacRumors Roundups: iPad 5, iPad Mini 2, Mac Pro, MacBook Pro and More

Sep 27

Design Drawings Purportedly Show Exact Dimensions of Smaller, Thinner iPad 5

Sep 26

iPad 5 Smart Covers Begin Surfacing in Multiple Colors [Update: Fake]

Sep 26

L.A. School District Halting Home Use of Issued iPads After Students Bypass Content Restrictions

Sep 24

Next-Generation Full-Sized iPad Rear Shell Emerges in 'Space Gray'

Sep 24

Apple May Be Working With Quanta Computer on Larger iPad

Sep 18

Sapphire Home Buttons Coming to New iPads?

Sep 18

Next-Generation iPad Mini Rear Shell Surfaces in 'Space Gray'

Apple iPad 5 release date, price and specs rumours

By: iPadfanzz Editor on October 14, 2013

Apple is all set to release the new 9.7-inch (2048 x 1536 pixels) iPad 5 that will feature an iPad mini-style design with a smaller size, thinner side bezels, and an improved processor. The fifth-generation iPad can be summed up with three words: thinner, smaller, and lighter.

Reports suggest that Cupertino-based Apple is all set to release two new iPad models at an Oct. 22 media event, including the second-generation iPad mini, or the so-called iPad mini 2.

The iPad 5 actually takes several design cues from the iPad mini, featuring the same thin size and small bezels found in the mini while retaining its 9.7-inch Retina screen. Picture it as a larger version of the iPad mini based on leaked prototypes, cases, and specs.

Under the hood, the tablet will come with an A7X 28-nanometer chip from Samsung as well as increased RAM. It is also reported to include an 8-megapixel rear camera with a larger aperture, providing better picture taking capabilities in low-light conditions.

Recent design drawings from a case maker suggested that the new tablet will measure 7.5 mm thick, 2 mm thinner than the current iPad and 0.3 mm thicker than the iPad mini. The iPad 5 will be 1 mm shorter than the current iPad, but its narrower side bezels will reduce the width of the device by 16mm, or nine percent.

With the iPad mini's thinner and more power efficient screen technology, along with more efficient LED backlighting, the iPad 5 is also able to adopt a battery that is roughly 15 to 20 percent smaller than the battery in the fourth-generation iPad.

Reports suggest that the fifth-generation iPad will incorporate the same GF2 film-based touch sensor used in the iPad mini. Previous iPads used a glass-based G/G touch sensor, which is significantly thicker than the film-based touch sensors.

Rumors also suggest that Apple may introduce its Touch ID functionality to the iPad 5S, as it should ideally be on all its devices. . Though Touch ID is currently used to unlock the iPhone 5S and make purchases on iTunes, it is expected to be used with other apps and payments in the future. A number of leaks suggest that Apple is designing the iPad 5’s front panel with the fingerprint scanner in place.

The iPad 5 is likely to sport an 8-megapixel snapper. If Apple follows its tradition, it will give the new iPad the 8-megapixel camera of the iPhone 5 which will improve its imagery manifold.

The iPad 5 is likely to cost £399 in the UK. Whether that's a 16GB or 32GB model is anyone's guess.

The Sticky Situation That Delayed the Pebble Smart Watch

While about 69,000 people waited for his company to ship the smart watches they had ordered through the crowd-funding site Kickstarter  the CEO of Pebble was informed by his manufacturer in China that there was a problem: The adhesive designed to securely attach the screen protector to the electronic body wasn't sticking.

The glue problem was one of many unforeseen manufacturing and assembly issues that forced Pebble to miss its shipment deadline by several months. Such hurdles are common with any hardware product but can be particularly troublesome for small businesses on tight budgets, like those that use Kickstarter to raise money.

Pebble wasn't exactly strapped for funds last year (even though venture capitalists didn't like the idea). It took in more than $10 million on Kickstarter through pre-orders and donations in April 2012. But each production problem could mean another delay, another missed order, another unhappy customer and another week Migicovsky must spend personally overseeing the process at his contractor's factory just outside the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

"We had the assembly line go down for days," Migicovsky said in an interview last week. "I learned what Christmas is like in China."

Manufacturing problems plague even the largest and most experienced operations. For the last couple of years, the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing has struggled to print a new type of $100 bill due to applying too much ink or none in some spots, as well as issues with wrinkling. Drug shortages resulting from quality control and other manufacturing issues have plagued the pharmaceutical industry, including Johnson & Johnson, the world's biggest seller of health-care products.

Before introducing the Pebble smart watch last year, Migicovsky and his team had no experience working with manufacturers overseas. The Pebble's predecessor, called inPulse, sold just 1,500 units. Of those, 700 were assembled by the startup inside a garage in Waterloo, Ontario — not far from BlackBerry's headquarters — and the rest were put together in a small factory in San Jose, Calif.

When the Kickstarter campaign for Pebble took off, Migicovsky sought advice from a friend at Sifteo, another hardware startup. Migicovsky was directed to a consulting firm called Dragon Innovation, which helped him connect with suppliers in Asia.

We "were actually planning to do it in San Jose," Migicovsky said. "But everything is built in China, and it's a big advantage to have the supplier just down the road."

Over the next eight months, Migicovsky spent about one-third of his time traveling back and forth between San Francisco and Asia. He invested in polo shirts to wear to business meetings, which often ended up dripping in sweat by the end of a sweltering summer day. "Price negotiations are hard," Migicovsky said. "And it's hot over there."

Migicovsky signed an agreement with Taiwan-based Foxlink Group to assemble the Pebble watches in a plant near Shenzhen. A team there attempted to recreate the formula Pebble had used to build its prototypes in Silicon Valley. At one point, things started to fall apart. "The glue was failing," Migicovsky recalls.

The adhesive was crucial to Pebble's design because it helped to keep water from seeping in and shorting the electrical components, according to researcher iFixit. "Pebble employs tons of adhesive," iFixit wrote in a report.

Migicovsky flew to China and spent two to three weeks at the factory helping to figure out what went wrong.

"Experimentation follows a different course" in China, he said, where there are a lot of random trials without proper documentation, making any successful outcome difficult to reproduce. "They're not using the scientific method," he said.

It turns out that the glue itself wasn't bad. "The moisture in the air in Shenzhen is different," he said.

The conditions in Chinese plants aren't necessarily what you see in staged photographs. There aren't people wearing bunny suits meticulously working on pristine, white factory floors.

"The window was open," Migicovsky said. If it rained, he urged the workers to move to a different room. Foxlink didn't respond to requests for comment.

Even in less-than-ideal conditions, they eventually perfected the gluing process. Migicovsky said he enjoys the trial-and-error nature of assembly, but he recently hired a director of manufacturing to manage it all. While based in Pebble's headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., Jake Lin spends about half his time in Asia.

Last-minute travel to Asia is still a fairly common occurrence for Migicovsky. He was in Taiwan last month. He's started keeping a small gym bag or backpack at home ready to be packed with a toothbrush, phone charger and laptop. He buys new clothes, including Polo shirts, once he arrives in Asia. "It's much cheaper over there," he said.

source: mashable

Eye Tribe Tracker - Eyes Tracking Gadget

The Eye Tribe Tracker is an aftermarket eye tracker currently available for Windows-based tablets and computers and serves many functions from gaming to reading. Built to work with any Windows 7 or 8 device with a USB 3 interface, The Eye Tribe Tracker allows users to navigate, interact and actuate software running on the device, purely by tracking eye movement or by a combination of eye tracking and touch. 

The first iteration of this device comes with a Windows SDK so developers can begin to learn how to code Windows apps that use the device. Android and iOS versions of the kit are planned to follow in early 2014.

We first told you about this inexpensive eye tracking device about a week ago when they opened up pre-ordering for the Surface Pro version on September 6th. However, I had a chance to speak with company partner Sebastian Sztuk — an engineer by trade and maker of most of the company’s prototypes — at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013. He showed me a pretty cool demo and let me know that the company’s strategy is actually larger than the external unit we tested.

If this external Tracker — which is mainly focused on developers  — is Horizon 1 for their company strategy, Horizon 2 is consumer focused and has sights set on direct hardware integration. In fact, the company is in negotiations to come out with their own tablet with built in eye-tracking software and hardware and then ultimately a spec so any hardware maker can integrate.

A prototype of that vision is shown below (created for Android OS and running on an existing Samsung tablet).

I’ll admit, just thinking about using The Eye Tribe Tracker brings thoughts of eye strain to mind. However in speaking with Sebastian, he declared that after a brief, one time calibration, their technology is really just tracking the things your eyes are already doing anyway as you interact with the tablet. So I guess there’s not much to dislike here.

The concept was obviously compelling to some other people at Disrupt because the company took home the Big Data Startup of the Year awarded by SAP, worth over $40,000 is goods and services from the software giant. — techcrunch

Apple iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C set for October launch in India

By: iPadfanzz staff on October 6, 2013

Apple is set to launch its new iPhones – the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C – in India as early as this month.

The India launch for the new iPhones was apparently revealed during a high-level meeting with some of the biggest retail chains in the country earlier in the week, where Apple also announced plans to increase its presence in the top 50 towns of the country. It is expected that the company would launch the smartphones before Diwali.

Apple is expected to host an event on October 15 to unveil the new iPads where it could also possibly announce the second wave of countries where the new iPhone will launch.