Thursday 20 October 2011
Wednesday 19 October 2011
Thursday 25 August 2011
National Geographic's Great Map App Lets You Take the World For a Spin
The National Geographic Society
may be best known for its iconic
yellow National Geographic
magazine, which very often
includes, folded up inside, some
awesome maps from all around the world. As a youngster, I
remember pouring over National
Geographic maps on the living
room floor, hanging a map of
North America on my bedroom
wall, and using them as study aids in school. So far, National Geographic
Society has been a prolific app
creator, producing 19 apps for
the iPhone and 16 for the iPad.
The latest: The World by National
Geographic. It's a $3.99 app for the iPad only. Taking the World for a Spin The World app uses National
Geographic maps from around
the world to form the
foundation for the app, but the
organizing principle is a globe
that you can rotate in any direction and zoom into via
intuitive pinch, expand and
rotate two-finger touches. As
you zoom, you'll see yellow round
balls that indicate there is a
more focused area map to explore. For example, as you
zoom into a Northwestern U.S.
map, there's a ball for a more
detailed Puget Sound map. Tap
it, and you'll launch into that
map. Visually, the maps sort of appear
to wrap around the globe
representing their basic position
on Earth. As you zoom in, they
become more flat, of course, like
paper maps. In addition to the mesmerizing
rotating globe navigation
system, you can find or browse
the maps by regional thumbnails.
Additionally, if you want to find a
particular nation of the world, some of which can be quite small
and hard to find when you're
feeling geographically dumb, you
can browse alphabetically and
tap on the country's flag when
you find what you want. When you tap a nation, the app
will take you to a map of that
nation, zoomed into it from
within a larger map of the
region. To the right, the app
provides a list of basic facts about the country, including
things like population,
government type, capital,
average life expectancy,
currency and the like. The nation details include some
elegant photos from National
Geographic and My Shot Community photographers -- the quality is fantastic, but there's
not many photos for each
country. I found the polar regions
particularly interesting, mostly
because I rarely see polar maps,
particularly that show good
relation to the rest of the Earth.
Of course, it's not often that I have a need to venture to the
Arctic, virtually or in person. Not surprisingly, the app also
lets you share map views via
email, Facebook or Twitter. Minor Quibbles It should be noted that this app
is mostly useless when you don't
have an Internet connection. It
seems as if some very basic
maps are available when offline,
but it usually takes very little zooming to end up with a bunch
of blue circles of nothing, along
with a pop-up warning box that
says you need a network
connection for full functionality. It should also be noted that this
app is more about paper maps
as applied to an app than
something like Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Earth. So, for example,
while you can zoom into satellite
pictures deeply into your
backyard in Google Earth, you'll
quickly run out of zoom as you
dive into the "maps" in The World app. On my initial use, I expected
to be able to zoom in pretty
much indefinitely, even though
the app never promised that
feature. Still, there's something
to be said for old-school map interfaces -- all the major
information is usually always
easily visible. All-in-all, this is an excellent app.
You can certainly get lost
exploring the world through this
app, but overall I expect, after
my initial rundown of the world,
to come back to it as a fast and easy geographic reference tool.
may be best known for its iconic
yellow National Geographic
magazine, which very often
includes, folded up inside, some
awesome maps from all around the world. As a youngster, I
remember pouring over National
Geographic maps on the living
room floor, hanging a map of
North America on my bedroom
wall, and using them as study aids in school. So far, National Geographic
Society has been a prolific app
creator, producing 19 apps for
the iPhone and 16 for the iPad.
The latest: The World by National
Geographic. It's a $3.99 app for the iPad only. Taking the World for a Spin The World app uses National
Geographic maps from around
the world to form the
foundation for the app, but the
organizing principle is a globe
that you can rotate in any direction and zoom into via
intuitive pinch, expand and
rotate two-finger touches. As
you zoom, you'll see yellow round
balls that indicate there is a
more focused area map to explore. For example, as you
zoom into a Northwestern U.S.
map, there's a ball for a more
detailed Puget Sound map. Tap
it, and you'll launch into that
map. Visually, the maps sort of appear
to wrap around the globe
representing their basic position
on Earth. As you zoom in, they
become more flat, of course, like
paper maps. In addition to the mesmerizing
rotating globe navigation
system, you can find or browse
the maps by regional thumbnails.
Additionally, if you want to find a
particular nation of the world, some of which can be quite small
and hard to find when you're
feeling geographically dumb, you
can browse alphabetically and
tap on the country's flag when
you find what you want. When you tap a nation, the app
will take you to a map of that
nation, zoomed into it from
within a larger map of the
region. To the right, the app
provides a list of basic facts about the country, including
things like population,
government type, capital,
average life expectancy,
currency and the like. The nation details include some
elegant photos from National
Geographic and My Shot Community photographers -- the quality is fantastic, but there's
not many photos for each
country. I found the polar regions
particularly interesting, mostly
because I rarely see polar maps,
particularly that show good
relation to the rest of the Earth.
Of course, it's not often that I have a need to venture to the
Arctic, virtually or in person. Not surprisingly, the app also
lets you share map views via
email, Facebook or Twitter. Minor Quibbles It should be noted that this app
is mostly useless when you don't
have an Internet connection. It
seems as if some very basic
maps are available when offline,
but it usually takes very little zooming to end up with a bunch
of blue circles of nothing, along
with a pop-up warning box that
says you need a network
connection for full functionality. It should also be noted that this
app is more about paper maps
as applied to an app than
something like Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Earth. So, for example,
while you can zoom into satellite
pictures deeply into your
backyard in Google Earth, you'll
quickly run out of zoom as you
dive into the "maps" in The World app. On my initial use, I expected
to be able to zoom in pretty
much indefinitely, even though
the app never promised that
feature. Still, there's something
to be said for old-school map interfaces -- all the major
information is usually always
easily visible. All-in-all, this is an excellent app.
You can certainly get lost
exploring the world through this
app, but overall I expect, after
my initial rundown of the world,
to come back to it as a fast and easy geographic reference tool.
Sunday 21 August 2011
IBM Makes Brainy Breakthrough in Computing
IBM (NYSE: IBM) researchers unveiled a new generation of
experimental computer chips
Thursday. The chips are designed
to mimic the brain's abilities of
perception, action and cognition.
The development could lead to advances in computers that
require much less power and
space than current technology. IBM's first neurosynaptic
computing chips recreate the
spiking neurons and synapses of
biological systems such as the
brain by using advanced
algorithms and silicon circuitry. The first two prototype chips
have been fabricated and are
undergoing testing. Systems built with these chips
will be called "cognitive
computers" and won't be
programmed the same way as
traditional computers. Cognitive
computers are expected to learn through experiences, find
correlations, create hypotheses
and remember, mimicking the
brain's structural and synaptic
plasticity. IBM is combining
principles from nanoscience, neuroscience and
supercomputing to kick off a
multi-year cognitive computing
initiative. IBM and its university
collaborators have been
awarded approximately US$21
million in new funding from the
Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) for phase two of the Systems of
Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic
Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE)
project. SyNAPSE's goal is to
create a system to analyze
complex information from multiple sensory modalities at once and
to dramatically rewire itself to
adapt to the environment. Computerized Learning, My
Dear Watson Giving a computer the ability to
learn changes the way it works.
Today's computers react to
human input and programming,
while a learning computer would
process information differently. The new chip is a step closer to
actual learning than even the
Watson computer used on
"Jeopardy" to respond to
questions. "You can think of this like
Watson, since both systems have
the ability to learn," Kelly Sims,
communications manger at IBM
Research, told TechNewsWorld. "It
has to be a learning system because you can't program a
computer for every possible
question. The computer has to
be able to guess what the
different data mean. Typical
computer calculations are limited by programming. You can't
program a computer to know
everything." IBM is implementing its hardware
knowledge to fabricate a new
type of computer. IBM dreams of
a computer that is more aware
of its surroundings and is ready
to learn from them. "What we're trying to do is
create something that can take
in different information from
senses and come up with an
understanding of what is going
on," said Sims. "Watson was designed to answer deep
questions and answers, to
understand and find answers in
natural language. The underlying
hardware involved is the same
hardware we've been using for 50 years." Computers today are reaching
the walls of physics, which could
stymie the uninterrupted
progress of faster and deeper
computations. "Computers today face a number
of problems. One is Moore's Law.
We're coming to physical
limitations. You have to make the
computer go faster to get more
out of them. We could build a computer that could know
almost everything, but it would
be the size of Manhattan and it
would take just as much energy." Sims notes that the new chip is
completely different from
previous computers, even
Watson. "We found a separation in the
road from the old computers to
a new direction, and this chip is
the new way," Sims said. "For
some things, the regular
computer is perfect. It's been left brain. Now we're adding
right-brain capability." AI for Real? This new chip brings technology
yet another step closer to
replicating a human-like
intelligence. The adaptation of
brain-like structures into
computer chips could be a leap toward a much more complex
artificial intelligence. "This is a pretty cool
development," Roger Kay,
founder and principle of Endpoint
Technologies, told
TechNewsWorld. "It's complicated,
but essentially, it arranges computing elements like
processing, memory, and
communications in a manner
closer to the way our brains
store and send information in
neurons, axons and synapses. The most important changes
include the way processors are
smaller and less complex and are
associated with their own
memory, Kay noted. "The difference is the way
individual elements communicate
in a many-to-many fashion," he
said. "This computing engine has to be
hooked up to inputs such as
sensors -- eyes and ears -- and
outputs like actuators -- hands
and mouths," said Kay. "When a
sensor sees the color red, a 'red' neuron fires, alerting many
others around it with the
message 'I have red.' Another
neuron associated with a fire
engine, one with a Ferrari, and
one with blood would all fire back, maybe with a query, 'Is it
liquid? Does it make noise?' And
others in those departments fire
off input requests. An
assessment comes back, 'makes
high pitch whine,' and several neurons team to make an
output 'could be Ferrari.'
Eventually, this sort of
computing architecture could
change many things, but not for
many years. This is a long-term research project."
experimental computer chips
Thursday. The chips are designed
to mimic the brain's abilities of
perception, action and cognition.
The development could lead to advances in computers that
require much less power and
space than current technology. IBM's first neurosynaptic
computing chips recreate the
spiking neurons and synapses of
biological systems such as the
brain by using advanced
algorithms and silicon circuitry. The first two prototype chips
have been fabricated and are
undergoing testing. Systems built with these chips
will be called "cognitive
computers" and won't be
programmed the same way as
traditional computers. Cognitive
computers are expected to learn through experiences, find
correlations, create hypotheses
and remember, mimicking the
brain's structural and synaptic
plasticity. IBM is combining
principles from nanoscience, neuroscience and
supercomputing to kick off a
multi-year cognitive computing
initiative. IBM and its university
collaborators have been
awarded approximately US$21
million in new funding from the
Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) for phase two of the Systems of
Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic
Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE)
project. SyNAPSE's goal is to
create a system to analyze
complex information from multiple sensory modalities at once and
to dramatically rewire itself to
adapt to the environment. Computerized Learning, My
Dear Watson Giving a computer the ability to
learn changes the way it works.
Today's computers react to
human input and programming,
while a learning computer would
process information differently. The new chip is a step closer to
actual learning than even the
Watson computer used on
"Jeopardy" to respond to
questions. "You can think of this like
Watson, since both systems have
the ability to learn," Kelly Sims,
communications manger at IBM
Research, told TechNewsWorld. "It
has to be a learning system because you can't program a
computer for every possible
question. The computer has to
be able to guess what the
different data mean. Typical
computer calculations are limited by programming. You can't
program a computer to know
everything." IBM is implementing its hardware
knowledge to fabricate a new
type of computer. IBM dreams of
a computer that is more aware
of its surroundings and is ready
to learn from them. "What we're trying to do is
create something that can take
in different information from
senses and come up with an
understanding of what is going
on," said Sims. "Watson was designed to answer deep
questions and answers, to
understand and find answers in
natural language. The underlying
hardware involved is the same
hardware we've been using for 50 years." Computers today are reaching
the walls of physics, which could
stymie the uninterrupted
progress of faster and deeper
computations. "Computers today face a number
of problems. One is Moore's Law.
We're coming to physical
limitations. You have to make the
computer go faster to get more
out of them. We could build a computer that could know
almost everything, but it would
be the size of Manhattan and it
would take just as much energy." Sims notes that the new chip is
completely different from
previous computers, even
Watson. "We found a separation in the
road from the old computers to
a new direction, and this chip is
the new way," Sims said. "For
some things, the regular
computer is perfect. It's been left brain. Now we're adding
right-brain capability." AI for Real? This new chip brings technology
yet another step closer to
replicating a human-like
intelligence. The adaptation of
brain-like structures into
computer chips could be a leap toward a much more complex
artificial intelligence. "This is a pretty cool
development," Roger Kay,
founder and principle of Endpoint
Technologies, told
TechNewsWorld. "It's complicated,
but essentially, it arranges computing elements like
processing, memory, and
communications in a manner
closer to the way our brains
store and send information in
neurons, axons and synapses. The most important changes
include the way processors are
smaller and less complex and are
associated with their own
memory, Kay noted. "The difference is the way
individual elements communicate
in a many-to-many fashion," he
said. "This computing engine has to be
hooked up to inputs such as
sensors -- eyes and ears -- and
outputs like actuators -- hands
and mouths," said Kay. "When a
sensor sees the color red, a 'red' neuron fires, alerting many
others around it with the
message 'I have red.' Another
neuron associated with a fire
engine, one with a Ferrari, and
one with blood would all fire back, maybe with a query, 'Is it
liquid? Does it make noise?' And
others in those departments fire
off input requests. An
assessment comes back, 'makes
high pitch whine,' and several neurons team to make an
output 'could be Ferrari.'
Eventually, this sort of
computing architecture could
change many things, but not for
many years. This is a long-term research project."
Sunday 7 August 2011
Why I switched from Android to Windows Phone
Yes, I did it. And it seems to be a
pretty popular thing nowadays,
switching OSes. You've seen
these posts pop up everywhere.
'Why I got an iPhone' or 'Why I switched from Android to an
iPhone'. I guess we see it as groundbreaking when a person
decides that Android or iOS just
isn't right for them. 'You don't
like Android? But you can
customize it so much!' I hear that
a lot when I complain that I've grown tired of the OS. The truth
is, I needed to try something
new, so I got a Windows Phone 7
device. What made me make the
switch after using Android for a
year? Well, let me explain myself before you go and slaughter me
in the comments. (As a note, I
reserve the right to be biased in
this article. After all, this was a
choice I made based on my
personal preferences.) Put simply, I just got tired of the
Android UI. I've used stock
Android, Sense, Blur, TouchWiz
and several other random UI's
and launchers in between. (I do
cell phone reviews, after all.) With Android, you can go from
simple to colorful to crazy and
animated. The problem is, it all
looks the same. At the end of
the day, it's a grid of icons with
a few widgets thrown in for good measure. I understand that with Android,
the customization options are
endless. I realized, though, that
the only reason I spend hours
customizing the look of my
device and trying out different launchers is because I don't like
the way it looks. It's a simple
concept, I know, but I missed the
point for a while. If I don't like
the way Android looks, why am I
still using it? Some people point out the
widget options. That's great, it
really is. And I'm sure that it's a
useful feature for a lot of
people, but not for me. I used a
clock widget, a weather widget, and a Slacker Radio widget that I
didn't actually use, I simply used
it as a shortcut to open the app.
The idea always captivated me,
but when I really thought about
it, I realized that I just don't use them very much. It seemed like no matter what I
did to customize my device, it
still looked ugly, cluttered, and
like a beta OS. Yes, beta. Windows Phone on the other hand is simple, elegant, and
minimalistic - my three favorite
design qualities. I know the tile
thing is incredibly simple. I love
that. And they're live tiles. So
you know that whole thing with widgets? Windows Phone has its
own version. I have live tiles for
Twitter, e-mail, messaging, a
direct contact, and my calendar.
Not only that, but it's clean,
neat, and organized; not a jumbled mess of widgets
designed by different people in
different sizes and colors. Also, I love the Metro font. I
always have. Honestly, the font
alone is probably 40% of why I
bought the phone. That sounds
ridiculous, but I'm a designer at
heart. My first job was as a graphics designer and as
unreasonable as it sounds, the
font is deeply important to me.
That's one reason I could never
get a Nokia device. The font is
terrible. Not only is the Metro font beautiful, but the
transitions are as well. Again,
remember I'm a designer at
heart so transitions are a big
deal for me. The whole swooping
thing that happens with every page is amazingand smooth. Android has transitions, I know.
But you don't know when
they're going to happen or how
it will look. (Part of the reason
performance is so great with
Windows Phone is because it doesn't yet have multi-tasking.
We'll see if the upcoming Mango
update affects the
performance.) Uniformity is a big feature in
Windows Phone. The UI carries all
the way into the apps. Not just
the Microsoft apps, but every
app designed for Windows Phone
follows the Metro UI. This didn't actually play a part in making
the switch, but it's definitely an
aspect of the OS that I like. The
uniformity of Windows Phone
even affects the hardware.
Because of Microsoft's stringent requirements, I can be sure that
there are no underperforming
Windows Phone devices out
there. True, some have a few
extra features, but at least
none of them ship with a 600 MHz processor and a 3-megapixel
camera. There's also a few things about
Windows Phone that are not as
bad as Android loyalists say. For
example, notifications. All core
apps have push notifications and
the notification system is similar to the one for Android. Along
with the notification bar at the
top of the screen, each live tile
will also notify me of alerts. Now,
this system is not quite as
refined as the one on Android. The notification bar doesn't
actually pull down so the
notification goes away after a
few seconds. However, it remains
on the live tile if you have one
for that app pinned to your Start screen. Also, not all third-
party apps have push
notifications. I went through
three Twitter apps before I
found one that did. That being
said, I can live with the current system, trust that it will get
better, and appreciate that it's
not as bad as I thought it would
be. The Marketplace selection is not
that bad either. Granted, I never
really used that many apps. That
was one reason why Android lost
its hold on me. I realize that the
Android Market has literally hundreds of thousands more
apps that the Windows Marketplace, but I'm not a big app person. Every app that I
used on Android is available on
Windows Phone. The exact same
app too, not a second-rate
replacement made by some
lesser-known developer. So, the Marketplace is smaller than the
Android Market, yes, but it's not
as bad as they say. Lastly, the keyboard is
impressive. I am extremely picky
when it comes to keyboards so
when I decided to make the
switch, the keyboard played a
big role. So far, it's actually pretty good. I've used better,
but I've used worse. The
autocorrect function isn't the
best, but I'm satisfied with it. And
that's saying something. In several ways, at least in my
opinion, Windows Phone is better
than Android. In some ways, it's
just as good. In a few ways,
Android is better. I do miss multi-
tasking, but that's no big problem because it's coming to Windows Phone this fall. All in all, I'm happy with my Windows
Phone device. I have 14 days to
decide if I want to keep it or not
so you may come back in a few
weeks and see an article entitled
"Why I switched back to Android". Honestly, I really hope I like
Windows Phone because I just
don't want to go back to
Android and my only other
option is BlackBerry at the
moment. (The carrier I chose does not yet have the iPhone or
a webOS device.) We'll see.
Http://phonedog.com/2011/07/26/why-i-switched-from-android-to-windows-phone/
pretty popular thing nowadays,
switching OSes. You've seen
these posts pop up everywhere.
'Why I got an iPhone' or 'Why I switched from Android to an
iPhone'. I guess we see it as groundbreaking when a person
decides that Android or iOS just
isn't right for them. 'You don't
like Android? But you can
customize it so much!' I hear that
a lot when I complain that I've grown tired of the OS. The truth
is, I needed to try something
new, so I got a Windows Phone 7
device. What made me make the
switch after using Android for a
year? Well, let me explain myself before you go and slaughter me
in the comments. (As a note, I
reserve the right to be biased in
this article. After all, this was a
choice I made based on my
personal preferences.) Put simply, I just got tired of the
Android UI. I've used stock
Android, Sense, Blur, TouchWiz
and several other random UI's
and launchers in between. (I do
cell phone reviews, after all.) With Android, you can go from
simple to colorful to crazy and
animated. The problem is, it all
looks the same. At the end of
the day, it's a grid of icons with
a few widgets thrown in for good measure. I understand that with Android,
the customization options are
endless. I realized, though, that
the only reason I spend hours
customizing the look of my
device and trying out different launchers is because I don't like
the way it looks. It's a simple
concept, I know, but I missed the
point for a while. If I don't like
the way Android looks, why am I
still using it? Some people point out the
widget options. That's great, it
really is. And I'm sure that it's a
useful feature for a lot of
people, but not for me. I used a
clock widget, a weather widget, and a Slacker Radio widget that I
didn't actually use, I simply used
it as a shortcut to open the app.
The idea always captivated me,
but when I really thought about
it, I realized that I just don't use them very much. It seemed like no matter what I
did to customize my device, it
still looked ugly, cluttered, and
like a beta OS. Yes, beta. Windows Phone on the other hand is simple, elegant, and
minimalistic - my three favorite
design qualities. I know the tile
thing is incredibly simple. I love
that. And they're live tiles. So
you know that whole thing with widgets? Windows Phone has its
own version. I have live tiles for
Twitter, e-mail, messaging, a
direct contact, and my calendar.
Not only that, but it's clean,
neat, and organized; not a jumbled mess of widgets
designed by different people in
different sizes and colors. Also, I love the Metro font. I
always have. Honestly, the font
alone is probably 40% of why I
bought the phone. That sounds
ridiculous, but I'm a designer at
heart. My first job was as a graphics designer and as
unreasonable as it sounds, the
font is deeply important to me.
That's one reason I could never
get a Nokia device. The font is
terrible. Not only is the Metro font beautiful, but the
transitions are as well. Again,
remember I'm a designer at
heart so transitions are a big
deal for me. The whole swooping
thing that happens with every page is amazingand smooth. Android has transitions, I know.
But you don't know when
they're going to happen or how
it will look. (Part of the reason
performance is so great with
Windows Phone is because it doesn't yet have multi-tasking.
We'll see if the upcoming Mango
update affects the
performance.) Uniformity is a big feature in
Windows Phone. The UI carries all
the way into the apps. Not just
the Microsoft apps, but every
app designed for Windows Phone
follows the Metro UI. This didn't actually play a part in making
the switch, but it's definitely an
aspect of the OS that I like. The
uniformity of Windows Phone
even affects the hardware.
Because of Microsoft's stringent requirements, I can be sure that
there are no underperforming
Windows Phone devices out
there. True, some have a few
extra features, but at least
none of them ship with a 600 MHz processor and a 3-megapixel
camera. There's also a few things about
Windows Phone that are not as
bad as Android loyalists say. For
example, notifications. All core
apps have push notifications and
the notification system is similar to the one for Android. Along
with the notification bar at the
top of the screen, each live tile
will also notify me of alerts. Now,
this system is not quite as
refined as the one on Android. The notification bar doesn't
actually pull down so the
notification goes away after a
few seconds. However, it remains
on the live tile if you have one
for that app pinned to your Start screen. Also, not all third-
party apps have push
notifications. I went through
three Twitter apps before I
found one that did. That being
said, I can live with the current system, trust that it will get
better, and appreciate that it's
not as bad as I thought it would
be. The Marketplace selection is not
that bad either. Granted, I never
really used that many apps. That
was one reason why Android lost
its hold on me. I realize that the
Android Market has literally hundreds of thousands more
apps that the Windows Marketplace, but I'm not a big app person. Every app that I
used on Android is available on
Windows Phone. The exact same
app too, not a second-rate
replacement made by some
lesser-known developer. So, the Marketplace is smaller than the
Android Market, yes, but it's not
as bad as they say. Lastly, the keyboard is
impressive. I am extremely picky
when it comes to keyboards so
when I decided to make the
switch, the keyboard played a
big role. So far, it's actually pretty good. I've used better,
but I've used worse. The
autocorrect function isn't the
best, but I'm satisfied with it. And
that's saying something. In several ways, at least in my
opinion, Windows Phone is better
than Android. In some ways, it's
just as good. In a few ways,
Android is better. I do miss multi-
tasking, but that's no big problem because it's coming to Windows Phone this fall. All in all, I'm happy with my Windows
Phone device. I have 14 days to
decide if I want to keep it or not
so you may come back in a few
weeks and see an article entitled
"Why I switched back to Android". Honestly, I really hope I like
Windows Phone because I just
don't want to go back to
Android and my only other
option is BlackBerry at the
moment. (The carrier I chose does not yet have the iPhone or
a webOS device.) We'll see.
Http://phonedog.com/2011/07/26/why-i-switched-from-android-to-windows-phone/
Thursday 4 August 2011
Tuesday 2 August 2011
Dell introduce new dell streak 10
Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) on Friday launched the Dell Streak 10 Pro
tablet in China. This is the
company's first 10-inch tablet. It
runs Android Honeycomb 3.1. Dell Streak 10 Pro The device has work and
personal modes, with a firewall
of sorts between them so
there's no leakage of information
between the two. "What's interesting to me is that
Dell set up this tablet for both
work and play modes with a
security firewall of sorts
between the two," Charles King,
principal analyst at Pund-It, told TechNewsWorld. Other tablets on the market
don't have such an integrated
approach, King pointed out. Dell said it's launching the Streak
10 in China and will focus on that
market and other emerging
nations because that's where
the growth lies. "I think the bigger issue is that Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) relatively weak in China, so Dell will be able
to define their market and
they'll be able to do better with
a product that hasn't done well
so far," Rob Enderle, principal
analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. Dell did not respond to requests
for comment by press time. Oh Yes, They Call It the
Streak The Dell Streak 10 has an Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) Tegra T20 duo
dual-core 1GHz processor. It has a Gorilla Glass 10-point
capacitive touch 10.1-inch WXGA
screen with a resolution of 1,280
by 800 pixels. The Streak 10 has a 2MP front-
facing camera and a 5MP rear
camera with autofocus, flash and
zoom. It can shoot 1080p high-
definition videos. It also features 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory. It
supports SDHC cards of up to 32
GB capacity. Dell's tablet
supports Bluetooth and WiFi, and
Dell says it will add 3G support if there's demand for that. The device has dual stereo
speakers, two microphones, a
micro USB interface and a battery claimed to offer up to
12 hours of life. The Streak comes in black or
gray, has a brushed aluminum
back, and supports traditional
Chinese. It has the standard
sensors -- GPS, an accelerometer, a compass and a
gyrometer. Its weight is about one and a
half pounds. It measures 10.3 by
7 by 0.5 inches. Software includes Dell Work
Profile 1.0, Dell Stage and Sync
Up, Dell Backup and Restore, Dell
OTA software for over-the-air
updates, Swype, Baidu apps, and
apps for Accuweather and Quickoffice. The Dell Divide software consists
of a separate, secure desktop
with work apps, widgets and
shortcuts that provide secure,
managed connections to work,
as well as communication and productivity tools. SyncUp lets Streak 10 owners
autosync the device on their
home WiFi network. Dell's offering the Streak 10 at
about US$460 through today. Exploring Cathay Launching the Streak 10 in China
underscores the importance of
that country to Dell, according
to the company. It points out that more people
are online in China than
anywhere else in the world and
says it has a significant retail
presence in the country, with
thousands of Dell-authorized retailers in more than 2,000
cities across the nation. Presently, Apple dominates the
tablet market in China. Figures from Analysys
International show that the iPad
accounted for more than 78
percent of the market in the
first quarter of 2011. Samsung was a feeble second, with just over 5 percent. Dell didn't even show up in
Analysys's figures. However, Dell might just have a
chance to make some headway
in China. Many Apple products, including
iPads, are sold on the gray
market in China, and although
demand for them is strong,
"Apple just doesn't have the
presence in China, and they're not likely to get it because
they're so concerned about
knockoffs there that they're not
going in big," Enderle said. "That creates the dynamic for
Dell to be successful in the China
market,"
tablet in China. This is the
company's first 10-inch tablet. It
runs Android Honeycomb 3.1. Dell Streak 10 Pro The device has work and
personal modes, with a firewall
of sorts between them so
there's no leakage of information
between the two. "What's interesting to me is that
Dell set up this tablet for both
work and play modes with a
security firewall of sorts
between the two," Charles King,
principal analyst at Pund-It, told TechNewsWorld. Other tablets on the market
don't have such an integrated
approach, King pointed out. Dell said it's launching the Streak
10 in China and will focus on that
market and other emerging
nations because that's where
the growth lies. "I think the bigger issue is that Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) relatively weak in China, so Dell will be able
to define their market and
they'll be able to do better with
a product that hasn't done well
so far," Rob Enderle, principal
analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. Dell did not respond to requests
for comment by press time. Oh Yes, They Call It the
Streak The Dell Streak 10 has an Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) Tegra T20 duo
dual-core 1GHz processor. It has a Gorilla Glass 10-point
capacitive touch 10.1-inch WXGA
screen with a resolution of 1,280
by 800 pixels. The Streak 10 has a 2MP front-
facing camera and a 5MP rear
camera with autofocus, flash and
zoom. It can shoot 1080p high-
definition videos. It also features 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory. It
supports SDHC cards of up to 32
GB capacity. Dell's tablet
supports Bluetooth and WiFi, and
Dell says it will add 3G support if there's demand for that. The device has dual stereo
speakers, two microphones, a
micro USB interface and a battery claimed to offer up to
12 hours of life. The Streak comes in black or
gray, has a brushed aluminum
back, and supports traditional
Chinese. It has the standard
sensors -- GPS, an accelerometer, a compass and a
gyrometer. Its weight is about one and a
half pounds. It measures 10.3 by
7 by 0.5 inches. Software includes Dell Work
Profile 1.0, Dell Stage and Sync
Up, Dell Backup and Restore, Dell
OTA software for over-the-air
updates, Swype, Baidu apps, and
apps for Accuweather and Quickoffice. The Dell Divide software consists
of a separate, secure desktop
with work apps, widgets and
shortcuts that provide secure,
managed connections to work,
as well as communication and productivity tools. SyncUp lets Streak 10 owners
autosync the device on their
home WiFi network. Dell's offering the Streak 10 at
about US$460 through today. Exploring Cathay Launching the Streak 10 in China
underscores the importance of
that country to Dell, according
to the company. It points out that more people
are online in China than
anywhere else in the world and
says it has a significant retail
presence in the country, with
thousands of Dell-authorized retailers in more than 2,000
cities across the nation. Presently, Apple dominates the
tablet market in China. Figures from Analysys
International show that the iPad
accounted for more than 78
percent of the market in the
first quarter of 2011. Samsung was a feeble second, with just over 5 percent. Dell didn't even show up in
Analysys's figures. However, Dell might just have a
chance to make some headway
in China. Many Apple products, including
iPads, are sold on the gray
market in China, and although
demand for them is strong,
"Apple just doesn't have the
presence in China, and they're not likely to get it because
they're so concerned about
knockoffs there that they're not
going in big," Enderle said. "That creates the dynamic for
Dell to be successful in the China
market,"
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