The Nokia N8: What It Means for Apple

The Nokia N8: What It Means for Apple Some may argue that it's way too early to be making assumptions of Nokia's new hope, the N8 mobile phone announced earlier this week. For those that don't yet know, Nokia's N8 mobile is a stylish, multitouch multi-media mobile with a 12-megapixel Carl Zeiss optics HD camera. And it runs Symbian 3, the new OS announced by Nokia and the Symbian Foundation earlier this year. The N8, as I've mentioned, is the icon of hope for the fledgling mobile maker that was once the titan of cell phones across the world. Quite embarrassingly for the Finnish giant, they even lost face to young mobile up-start Apple in their home turf, Finland. The thing is, Nokia didn't play their cards right the first time round. When the mobile sphere began to evolve about three years ago, with the introduction of Apple's iPhone, Nokia focussed on enhancing the physical attributes — the hardware — of their devices, instead of working on their user experience. It stung Nokia painfully, and they feebly attempted to rectify their mistakes with the Ovi Store and Ovi Services. However, just having an app store won't cut it in this business. So that's why they've decided to start afresh with a brand-spanking-new operating system, Symbian 3, that will be launched with the new N8. Here's the part where Apple needs to worry: Nokia, despite its few stumbles over the past few years, is seasoned as this game. They know how to play it right when they've got a fresh start; they proved this when they re-focused their business strategy from a pulp mill (believe it or not) to telecommunications equipment, and then consumer connectivity products. It's Symbian 3 that will win it for Nokia. This operating system is designed from the ground-up to be all that a mobile phone in this era needs to be: productive, intuitive and social. Right from the home screen, Nokia has integrated easy-access to your favorite social networks — Twitter, Facebook, MySpace. It's a heck of a lot more informative than the iPhone's meagre time and notifications blocks in the lock screen. Sure, Apple's got the style, but Nokia's got the openness. Developers on the Apple platform must pay Apple $99 just to get their app on a physical phone to test (leave alone submitting it to the App Store), whereas on Nokia, with the new Qt framework and cross-platform development tools, programmers can get up-and-running building apps for the new Symbian 3 in no time, leverage current technologies like C/C++, saving time rather than having to learn a whole new environment and language (Cocoa on Mac). Of course, we'll have to see how Symbian 3 performs, and for that, we'll have to wait 'till Q3 2010, when the N8 officially releases.

Windows Touch Pack with MS Win 7 Touch Abilities: Getting Ready for the Touch Revolution

• Windows Touch Pack with MS Win 7 Touch Abilities: Getting Ready for the Touch Revolution.
• Software Compatible on Windows 7? How to Find out windows 7 compatibility
• Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac Screenshots and Preview

Windows Touch Pack with MS Win 7 Touch Abilities: Getting Ready for the Touch Revolution. People have different and varying interest. Some are inclined on arts, some are interested on sports while others are only familiar with fashion. Therefore not all people who use the computer and the internet are interested in the technologies and innovations brought about by modernization. Some computer users find satisfaction in just using the hardware and apparatus without deep understanding of what they are utilizing; take for example the new Touch screen features of computers. Well so much for the introduction, time to hit it with some real hard stuff! If you are not that updated yet, you probably have not yet heard of the "en suite" support of Windows 7 for multi touch applications. Never assume that any monitor or computer screen may function just by merely the touch of the finger, to use the touch applications, you would need a special touch screen display. The adoption of touch screen monitors was on a still as many manufacturers have been taking it slowly too or they have not yet probably embraced the concept of the touch screen technology. The bigger names in the industry, however, like Lenovo, HP, Fujitsu, Asus and Dell have paved their own ways towards this touch controlled screens. They have started supporting the recent trend in the computing world. Yet, the knowledge about Windows 7's innate ability for touch applications is still not widely known by computer users. So to address this scarcity of consumer awareness, Microsoft has launched the Touch Pack of Windows 7 to reiterate on the touch abilities of the latest Windows operating system. The Touch Pack, in essence, is a compilation of games and services that utilizes the multi-touch abilities of Windows 7. Yes, it is a strategy to promote and expose to the public what touch abilities Windows 7 is equipped with. The Windows 7 Touch pack includes a blackboard which integrates the concepts of physics in a puzzle solving problem game. Another game called "The Garden pond" basically promotes relaxation by using calm settings in Japanese gardens. The Microsoft Rebound is about controlling electrically charged Tesla spheres using the finger tips, a metal ball must successfully go through the electric charge and catapult its way to the opponent's goal, while the Surface Globe is about the exciting earth exploration and Surface Collage is a service to arrange and deal with photos that I'm sure many would find useful, and finally the Surface lagoon is a simulation screen saver with rocks and fish.

Software Compatible on Windows 7? How to Find out windows 7 compatibility I was tempted to try out Windows 7, and who'd have guessed the compatibility issues was a bonus with the OS. I had to dig my way through many web results only to find out that Vuze client for Windows 7 was unavailable. Gotta love vuze for its video conversion. Anyway, it can be really frustrating for Windows 7 users who are not able to use the software that has been smoothly functioning on Windows XP or other windows platform. The Windows 7 Compatibility center Microsoft has a section where all the compatible and incompatible softwares for windows 7 are listed. This can be helpful if you are running windows 7 32 bit or 64 bit machine and have no clue if the software that you are about to download will run on win 7. Visit the compatibility center of Windows 7 Software by clicking here. Nothing innovative or mind blowing service from Microsoft, but definitely useful at times to find the software compatibility. The search box allows you to input the software (also hardware) name to check if it is compatible with Windows 7.

Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac Screenshots and Preview Later this year, Microsoft will be releasing the next major upgrade of their industry-standard office and home productivity tools for Mac users. This improved version, titled "Office:Mac 2011″, will set the productivity line for Apple's computers in tow with their Windows counterparts, introducing many features that will be present in Microsoft Office 2010, also releasing soon. Whilst Apple provides their own productivity suite, iWork, it only consists of three applications: Pages, a word processor, Numbers, a (limited) spreadsheet and data capture app, and Keynote, the headlining app that puts PowerPoint to shame with dazzling features. However, with Office:Mac, Microsoft has included the familiar Word, PowerPoint and Excel apps, along with Entourage, a Mac-native email client. While Entourage has served users well, it's never been seen as a replacement for the titan of emailing, Outlook. Enter Office:Mac 2011, and Microsoft has written a native version of Outlook for Mac, complying 100% with Apple's Human Interface Guidelines. In face, the entire suite has been overhauled from the UI side. The Redmond software maker has decided to go with the intuitive Ribbon interface first introduced in Office 2007, and which I find far better than the old "toolbox" system, especially for apps with functionality the size of Excel and PowerPoint. Initial reports from beta testing puts Office:Mac in favorable light. It seems that Microsoft has listened well to the gripes of users of previous versions of their popular productivity tools, and fixed many problems (UI issues being one of them), and focusing on making this iteration of the suite up-to-date with the latest Mac OS X technologies. This includes bringing back Visual Basic for Applications functionality, which was lost in the 2008 edition to much disgruntlement. BoyGeniusReport has managed to get quite a few screen shots (50+ of them, to be precise), and below are some of the more interesting pics of the new Office:Mac 2011 suite. Excel Workbook Gallery New Outlook for Mac app Outlook for Mac - looking good! Macros is Back!

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How to Repair iPod Screen [Guide] An Apple iPod is one of the most prized possessions of the owner of one. And if there is a problem with a new one, it is a big hassle for the owner, not mentioning the mental stress that one has to go through when such an expensive gadget develops a problem. A very common problem that an ipod may develop is  that of a defective screen, commonly called negative black effect. These sort of screens have problems displaying dark colors. Often what happens is that the screen is quirky of flickering while playing the videos on the ipod. This may be a very frustrating problem. There may be a few reasons why this happens. Let us see how we can try to eliminate the iPod screen problems.. Guide to Repair iPod Screen One of the best way to solving it permanently is to replace the screen completely. There are companies which can facilitate this process for you. Most of them have the largest inventory of hard to find digitizers, glass lenses, and LCD screens available for the ipod and iphone models. The ipod screens they provide help fix the problems fast. Most of the screens include free installation. This is the way how you can avail this service. 1. Order the ipod screen replacement service available at the website of the company. In this, you can choose Rapid Repair to do the installation for you, or choose self-installation. 2. Send your device to their Repair Service Center using your own packaging. Instructions on where to send it will be sent to your E-mail address after you complete the order. 3. Once received, a Technician will replace the screen with a tested, fully functional Apple OEM screen for that particular model. And if all these solutions are not good enough for you, and you want to try repairing ipod screen on your own then: First, turn the auto brightness off on your iPod. This may reduce the flickering of the screen and if you are lucky, then this simple thing may solve the problem of the screen of your ipod for a long time to come. Check if the battery is low, although this kind of a problem happens even if  your battery is fully charged and the ipod is running off the USB power. Put a little pressure on the back and bottom right corner and the ipod device would usually correct itself for a while. This is a method that of course, is not a permanent solution to the problem in hand, but the fact remains that you can use this method as a temporary measure until the manufacturer replaces your device. Manufacturers of ipods have finally officially acknowledged that the problem is a really existing one and that a corporate policy on fixing ipod touch screen problems is a necessity. The causes of the problem has been narrowed down to bad quality control of the manufacturer and misapplication of the reflective coating of the LCD screen. Companies like Apple have launched replacement policies for the defective touch devices until upgraded outputs have been released to meet the expectations of the clients. Software updates have not proved effective so far.

The Little Battle Between Apple and Adobe Because Apple refused to integrate Flash applications in the Apple iPad and iPhone, Adobe has thrown a lot of not so nice statements against Apple. Apple seemed not to mind as it always stayed so silent and never gave a reply. Well, that is actually how it was before. Just recently, in a public statement which may have been done once in a blue moon, a representative from Apple had given the company's response to Adobe's allegations about the former tying down software developers to the iPhone and would not allow usage of cross-platform such as Flash. Apple's spokesperson, Trudy Muller, announced to CNET that it was actually the other way around. If there is any application that is proprietary and closed to other developers, that is Adobe's Flash. In truth, H.264, JavaScript, CSS and HTML5 are all standard, basic and open. The beginning of the string was when Flash did not appear as one of the many applications of the iPhone. This incident was followed in a little battle when Lee Brimelow from Adobe had announced in a special meeting that a few of the most widely-known sites relied on Flash and that some Jobs are not satisfied with the technology. Then soon after when iPad was launched, it was Apple's turn to enlist and enumerate sites that are supporting iPad application, most of which do not even have a shadow of Flash. Incidentally, the company plans to present conversion ability of Flash to Ipad programs and applications to developers such as what took place with the iPhone. In response to this, Apple decided that the terms of iPhone developers be altered as such that only just a few programming languages may be allowed, Flash is not included among these selected few. It was so unfortunate for Adobe as it has included a major feature in its latest Creative Suite 5 regarding this Flash applications conversion into iPhone program. One can call this an instant product kill. Then came the announcement by Adobe that future versions of Creative Suite shall not include any feature about Flash-iPhone conversion. What made it interesting was that along the process, Adobe surely made a hit on Apple. Mike Chambers, the Principal product manager of Adobe Flash developer's relation has made special mention of Apple being one of the locked and closed platforms which in the near future shall be brought down by open programs.

Best Tablet PC For Effective Computing. Gear Up for the iPad Slate Wars!

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Best Tablet PC For Effective Computing. Gear Up for the iPad Slate Wars! While the Apple iPad does have a huge chunk of the tablet consumers, multiple groups are each bent on regaining their stands on certain grounds. Grasping the concept that they could attack where the iPad is most vulnerable, more and more manufacturers are focusing on their marketing and products development to have the common enemy count the time until it waves the white flag. Well, it sure sounds melodramatic, but it sure is real with how things are going with the rivalry between the Apple iPad and all the other slates pc tablets; So real that the changes, new faces, multiple integrations and agreements are coming up in a matter of days. But what's cooking the slate war out there? Check out the best tablet pc that are ready for the battle.. Asus Eee Pad With a warning that Asus will launch an even meaner product in June, the Eee Pad poses a lot of questions, particularly to its OS and use of Qualcomm's Mirasol. Whispers have it that the Waveface concept will be likely seen in this Tegra 2 tablet. What's guaranteed for now is it will feature the nVidia Tegra 2 graphics and dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, and possess 3G and wifi capabilities. Fusion Garage JooJoo This $499 tablet is the most predictable threat with its known first generation graphics, web-based applications, built for easy computing with out-of-the-box flash video. We've heard so much about this 12.1-inch device with multi-touch display and Ubuntu Linux interface. It's an enemy without threatening warfare. HP Slate Now this slate PC is altogether a different story, with its most advanced armaments, intelligent capacities and solid gains on the lengthy war. It's guaranteed to keep the Apple iPad closely watching and working overtime to ensure their scope of consumers stick to their side of each battle. This slate from HP is known already to have an 8.9-inch multitouch screen and runs on Windows 7. It comes also with hardware-backed Flash video playback, and runs the Kindle app of Amazon. Microsoft Courier The courier is one tablet that could go head-to-head with the Apple in terms of interface. This folding two-screened gadget is expected to hit the market before the end of 2010. Reports mention the Courier is armed with the nVidia's Tegra 2 chip. It is further to be fueled with Zune's HD and Windows Mobile 7 series phones, both good news for consumers. Dell Mini 5 (Streak) In the Dell army of tablets, the Streak is tagged the great contender in the slatewars. With its 5-inch multitouch display which is much smaller compared to the iPad and other competitors, it's definitely well-armed. Plus, its other features like higher speed, convenient front-facing camera and voice recognition puts the Streak at a greater advance. This 5.9 x 3.1 x 0.4 inch of an eight-ounce tablet also has the leading key specs and is expected to hit the market by June this year. Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Finally, ready for the next battleground would be the IdeaPad U1 with powerful arsenal of Windows 7. It could be switched from just a simple machine to a multitouch tablet, independently running its Linux interface. Whether you use the pad as a laptop or as a multitouch tablet, two or more tasks can be run on either mode. This Lenovo offering comes with 8 hours battery life, 3G screen and a keyboard base you can operate independently.

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• Review: Whole New World of Sony Free Realms MMO Game [Massive-Multiplayer Online]
• Awesome iPhone 4G/HD Concept Pictures Wish Were True
• HD video recording: Sony Ericsson Vivaz Phone Is It A Worthy Heir to Satio?
• Free Antivirus Software for Mac – Review

Review: Whole New World of Sony Free Realms MMO Game [Massive-Multiplayer Online] Several friends introduced me to the world of MMO or massive-multiplayer online games. I had no idea that there were a lot of options for in-game purchases for these online games. Some offer monthly subscriptions, pay-per-play, and free-to-play. These MMO games offer a wide array of games from older ones like the ever popular World of Warcraft to new releases like Warhammer Online. But when you look at these games, most of them cater to much older players. This is why Sony created the kid-friendly MMO Free Realms. My Sony Free Realms MMO Review I tried the games for myself. The graphics were rather impressive. I became interested myself after seeing them. MMO Free Realms is free-to-play making it even more inviting. It has now been able to generate more than ten million players, constantly increasing as of this writing, making it a huge success in the industry of online games. When you play these games, other than being free of charge, you don't have to deal with software installations, all that is required is a stable Internet connection. After you log in, the game automatically runs in your Web browser. In the typical MMO games, we choose our characters then go through a series of stages. With these games, the concept Sony used is rather different, this is because Free Realms is meant for much younger players first and foremost. As I started to play, I learned that enjoying these games would need an open mind. If you are only interested in a typical MMO system then you won't probably enjoy Free Realms. Free Realms was designed to introduce first time players to the online world by providing game training and social interaction applications like chat. I started with their line of 2D/3D mini-games. After a while, I proceeded with their Adventure Gameplay feature where most of the games were on combat and exploration. Free Realms also come with Simulation games for those who may be interested in virtual gardening, housing, and pets. Parents will surely be pleased with the kid-friendly MMO experience offered by Free Realms. Not only are the games less confusing but the numerous gameplay options ensures pure enjoyment even for players who are much older. Probably the only downside is the subscription feature because Sony restricts a number of games for paying players only. But considering how Sony intends to support the MMO for a long time, we can expect Free Realms to improve.

Awesome iPhone 4G/HD Concept Pictures Wish Were True Pictures can be deceiving. That's what we thought when Engadget released the iPhone 4G leaked pics, not many were in agreement with the fact that it was the next generation iPhone from Apple. And few days later, Gizmodo, after meddling with the device they owned for over a week, proved the existence of Apple iPhone 4G/HD with a short video preview; Apple fans were enlightened. They praised the design, features and the specifications of the iPhone. This was big! People loved the new iPhone 4G. The iPhone 4G Concept Photos What if the conceptual design of the iPhone 4G were true? Not that the leaked iPhone is a dismal failure, but, the conceptual pictures of the iPhone looks stunningly awesome when compared with the real iPhone HD/4G. Because not much of the work is involved in designing the concept pictures. That being said, we wish to bring those iPhone Concept pictures into the picture to appreciate the time consumed in designing them. So let's check out the best and awesome iPhone 4G/ iPhone HD Concepts:

HD video recording: Sony Ericsson Vivaz Phone Is It A Worthy Heir to Satio? One among the giant names in the electronic industry, Sony Ericsson, is not alienated when it comes to manufacturing the latest model phones with excellent cameras. As a matter of fact, the latest Sony Ericsson Vivaz is just another addition to the company's line of awesome handheld phones with satisfactory camera. Sony Vivaz runs on the European third generation frequencies and is impressively able to be used for incessantly auto focusing a 720 pixels of video recording through its PowerVR GPU and 720MHz Cortex A8. Based on various consumer reviews, Vivaz succeeded the Satio model of one Swedish-Japanese firm in terms of high definition video shoots. Sony Ericsson Vivaz possess an awesome 8.1MP camera designed especially to allow trouble free upload of YouTube videos and store them on the phone's 8GB memory card. Short Sony  Ericsson Vivaz Review This Sony Vivaz is of course equipped with touchscreen technology, a resistive one at that, with an ergonomic layout that fits perfectly with the palm of your hand. Though it is not as smooth as compared to HTC Legend and iPhone, nevertheless the screen is still responsive and does not require additional pressure to get the screen to activate. Holding the phone is already a good experience. Today's social generation will surely want to get hold of the Vivaz for it has an excellent set of multi-media and social networking features. The Vivaz may be placed in line with (and possibly be preferred more than) LG InTouch Max GW620 and Nokia X6. The physical layout of Vivaz fits perfectly on the hand of the user and is lightweight but not necessarily flimsy. The entire surface of the phone is loaded with smoothness, and as a result it can slip from the hand quite often if you are not cautious in handling it. Together with the LCD display and being totally plastic made, there is nothing to be set aside with the Vivaz design. There are four color combinations to choose from if you are interested to purchase a Vivaz, one that I have tried is the Moon Silver. Its back panel is colored silver with sides covered in dark blue shade. Several buttons too are on the Vivaz phone namely the menu, and end call buttons on the handset front, volume and camera buttons on the right side and a power button on the top. The package contains several supplementary items like microUSB cable for connecting it to the PC.

Free Antivirus Software for Mac – Review Although Apple has marketed the Mac as a computer that's free from viruses and other malware, and it is true that the Mac is immune from the majority of viruses written for computers, it's starting to become more important for Mac users like you and I to wake up and take some new preventative measures, as more users flock to the Apple platform. As is the case with Windows, the more users of the operating system, the more lucrative the market is for hackers and cyber criminals to write virus code for that system. Until recently, Mac OS X had about 50 -60 malware code infections. However, recent reports from the Mac community point to increased risks in the platform, and many analysts are pointing accusing fingers at Apple for not taking security as seriously as Microsoft. But we're not going to wait for Apple to take the stand against virus makers; in today's post, I'm going to tell you about a really cool (and free) anti-virus software for the Mac called iAntiVirus. It comes in a few editions, with the basic one being free (the only feature limitations I found were no customer support and the software is for personal use only, but that's OK for me and should be for most of you readers out there). iAntiVirus is really quick to load (it's a small file, so it's quick to download too). It offers full-time protection, and allows you to Quick Scan your Mac (what I did, and posted the screenshot). This process is pretty fast, and from my experience, quite thorough. After a few minutes, it posts a report about the scan, detailing the number of files scanned, and the number of affected files. Luckily for me, my MacBook is pretty clean! What's cool about iAntiVirus program is that is has always-on protection, so in the unfortunate event that you open an infected file, the software will quickly come to the rescue and alert you to the properties of the file. The application displays as a small icon in the menu bar, and clicking the icon opens up a list of options — showing the iAntiVirus screen, setting the the protection to always-on, app preferences and a few other options besides. While this free version is limited in phone-in customer support and is for personal use only, I found it a great way to safeguard my Mac against any threats, in this age of computing when Apple computers are becoming more and more common. Mac OS X comes with great rock-solid UNIX security and a strong firewall, but hey, it's still better to be safe than sorry! iAntiVirus can be downloaded from here. (Direct link)