Wise Tech Info
Thursday 14 June 2012
Wednesday 13 June 2012
Meet the mintBox: A New Mini-PC with Linux Mint Preinstalled
Microsoft's “secure boot” plans for Windows 8 PCs may have many members of the open source community up in arms, but even as the ongoing saga continues to unfold, a small army of alternatives are quietly marching onto the scene.
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A few weeks ago, for example, I wrote about two new PCs from System76 that come withUbuntu Linux preloaded. (System76, incidentally, has since also said that it will ship all systems with secure boot disabled “until a more workable solution is found.”)
Then, too, there's the ever-growing array of tiny Linux PCs such as the Raspberry Pi, the Cotton Candy, the Mele A1000, the Vivaldi tablet, and the MK802 micro-PC, to name just a few.
The latest to appear? None other than the mintBox, a brand-new PC introduced late last week by the Linux Mint project in association with CompuLab.
'Packed with Connectivity'
“We’re passionate about what we do and for our very first Mint device, we wanted something unique, something special and extraordinary,” wrote Clement Lefebvre, Linux Mint founder and project leader, in a blog post on Friday. “The mintBox is Mint in a box. It’s tiny, it’s silent, it’s extremely versatile and it comes packed with connectivity.”
The new mintBoxSmaller than a DVD case, the mintBox is based on CompuLab's fit-PC3 and embellished with “a green retro-lit Linux Mint logo,” Lefebvre explained. Featuring a die-cast solid-metal case and an internal 250GB hard-drive, the fan-free device is also completely silent, he said.
Included in the easily hackable mintBox are eight USB ports along with Ethernet, Wi-fi, and Bluetooth, and an HDMI port and DVI adapter. So, too, of course, is Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon.
Two Models Available
Both basic and professional models of the mintBox are available. Priced at $476, the basic model features a 1.0 GHz dual core APU G-T40N and 4GB of RAM; the $549 professional model offers a 1.65 GHz dual core APU G-T56N and 8GB of RAM
Dell 'Super Excited About Windows 8,' Vows No Dell Smartphones
Appearing in a wide-ranging on-stage interview here at market researcher Gartner's annual security and risk management conference, Dell offered insights into several of his company's rapidly evolving business lines, including the decision to walk away from Android tablets in the U.S. market in favor of Windows.
"I think the Microsoft Windows 8 solution is going to be very attractive to customers for a number of reasons," Dell said. "You'll see us at launch, at Windows 8 launch, with a full complement of devices--tablets, hybrids, convertibles--you know every imaginable and maybe some unimaginable forms."
Dell said that he expects Windows 8 devices to enter the market with an attractive price point, and that in the business sector, where the company primarily plans to focus, shops that already run Windows will be inclined to remain in that environment as they deploy tablets and other new devices.
Windows 8 'Evolutionary'
Dell said he is "super excited about Windows 8 and what that brings to touch computing and tablets," saying the next iteration of the operating system will chart an "evolutionary path for Windows into tablets."
Dell also confirmed that the company plans to bring an ARM-based tablet to market. But his enthusiasm for mobile devices does not extend into the smartphone arena. He said in no uncertain terms that the company has no plans to bring a phone to market.
"You're not going to see us in phones, not in terms of hardware," he said.
As for Android and Apple devices, Dell said that the company is making a bid to offer businesses support through its expanding services division, which takes a "device-agnostic" approach.
"If you have an iPhone or an Android phone, we want to manage and secure that for you," he said.
Those efforts tie into Dell's work on desktop virtualization, which includes integration with mobile devices running Android or iOS. Dell indicated that the company will introduce a new package of software for securing and managing Apple and Android devices in a virtualized desktop environment later this year.
Asked if he had considered abandoning PC production as IBM did and HP has signaled it is considering, Dell dismissed the idea, saying that the company remains committed to its traditional PC business while embracing the transition to virtualized environments.
"We are unencumbered by legacy," he said. "So if you think about those other companies with one or two fewer letters in their name, they have this old stuff that they're protecting in one form or another. And we don't care about old stuff. In fact we want to get you off the old stuff and get you onto the new platforms. This is why we're emphasizing things like application modernization and migration. It's why we're taking the x86 solution and pushing it to the absolute maximum."
Dell also indicated that the company plans to pad out its portfolio of security products, a business line that the firm has been expanding with the recent acquisitions of SonicWall and SecureWorks. He said that security is one of three core business lines the company is focusing on, alongside connected devices, comprised of PCs and other end user products, and virtual infrastructure, which includes product lines such as servers, storage and networking equipment, as well as the software to bind them together.
"You really cannot be an end-to-end IT company without having a very strong security capability," Dell said.
No Cloud as Commodity
In the arena of cloud computing, Dell is staking out a position as a provider of secure private clouds and related services. But the company has no plans to enter the utility-like business of providing on-demand computing resources as Amazon and others offer.
"You're not going to see us get into sort of the commodity, you know, infrastructure as a service," he said. "That's not a high priority for us.
Why You Should Be Excited About iOS 6
In case you missed it, Apple had a little media event yesterday. Of course, I kid. Yesterday was the keynote presentation at Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) and it has dominated tech news for the last week.—including the obligatory unveiling of all things magical,like iOS 6.
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Apple revealed a vast array of new features and capabilities for the next iteration of its mobile operating system. Things like integrating sports scores and news, or movie and theater information into Siri will be welcome, but there are only a few things about iOS 6 that stand out for business users.
Apple is ditching Google Maps, and switching to its own home-grown mapping app. The best part about the change is that the new Maps app will include turn-by-turn navigation, Yelp integration, and real-time traffic updates. The Garmin StreetPilot app sets the bar pretty high, so it remains to be seen if the iOS 6 Maps app can live up expectations. But, there is no way to assign the Garmin StreetPilot app (or any other third-party mapping app) as the default, so it will be a vast improvement to at least have the default Maps app provide more useful instructions to get your from Point A to Point B.
Siri
Siri is a work in progress. Despite attempts by naysayers to compare it to other voice-interaction capabilities, though, Siri is in a league all its own. However, it doesn’t quite live up to how it’s portrayed by Apple marketing and it still has some rough spots.
With iOS 6, Siri gets a couple of distinct improvements you might find useful. First, because of the aforementioned changes to the Maps app, when you ask Siri to find a restaurant or gas station it will be able to literally help you find it with turn-by-turn navigation. Another aspect of Siri in iOS 6 that you’ll appreciate is the ability to open apps.
It was a disappointment when the iPad 3---I mean “new iPad”--launched with no Siri. When iOS 6 launches it will bring Siri capabilities to the new iPad, but not its predecessors. The iPad has established itself as a capable mobile computing platform for business, and the addition of Siri will make it even better. You will be able to ask Siri to set a reminder or make an appointment on your calendar from your iPad, just like on the iPhone.
Most of the “improvements” made by Apple are capabilities that already exist on other platforms. Android users have enjoyed things like turn-by-turn navigation for quite some time. Acomparison by PCWorld illustrates how the different mobile platforms compare against each other. iOS 6 is not revolutionary by any means, but Siri adds an element that doesn’t show up on paper in a comparison chart, yet sets it apart from other mobile platforms.
One annoying and frustrating aspect of Apple’s WWDC keynote—at least as it relates to iOS 6—is the time span between announcing the new features and capabilities, and actually making the update available. The new iOS will most likely be made available this fall, coincidentally about the same time that you should expect the next generation iPhone hardware to hit the street.
Siri Will Shake Up Apple's iPad Line
Apple announced Monday an improved version of its Siri voice-control software is coming to the new iPad, which has been shipping since March. The decision creates a wider gulf, features-wise, between the iPad 2 and the "new" (3rd-generation) model, which are priced $100 apart at the low-end (16GB, Wi-Fi).
Assuming Apple has corrected many of the well-publicized glitches that plagued the "beta" version of Siri, which debuted on the iPhone 4S, the charm of voice commands may help sway customers toward the new iPad, which starts at $499.
Currently, the 3rd-gen iPad's most compelling feature is its Retina display with 2048-by-1536-pixel resolution. The iPad 2, which starts at $399, has a 1024-by-768 display. The new iPad has a better rear-facing camera and a faster graphics engine too. (Here's a spec comparison between the new iPad vs. the iPad 2.)
The additional of Siri could spur sales of cellular-enabled iPads as well. Recent studies show that tablet owners prefer Wi-Fi-only slates over those with cellular connections. The primary reason is financial: When you're already paying a pricey cellular bill for a smartphone, you don't want to add a second data plan for a tablet.
A Siri-enabled iPad could get slates out of the house (or Starbucks and other Wi-Fi zones) more often, however, particularly if Siri's tight integration with Apple's new mapping features--as outlined in Monday's demo at WWDC 2010--work as advertised. Given Siri's past problems, however, its performance as a roadworthy assistant
remains to be seen.
Google's Sub-$250 Nexus 7 Tablet Coming Late June, Report Says
An Asus representative confirmed Google will announce a Nexus-branded and Asus-built 7-inch tablet at the end of the month with a sub-$250 price tag.
The representative, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed the news to Android Authority during last week's Computex trade show, but offered no other details about the tablet except that “it will be awesome.”
While we can't independently confirm Android Authority's report, we do know that Google has hinted at its own tablet since December. That's when Eric Schmidt said the company would “market a tablet of the highest quality” within six months. Google later showed interest in competing with budget tablets such as Amazon's Kindle Fire.
Last month the Nexus tablet popped up on benchmarking site Rightware. According to the specs will use a quad-core NVidia Tegra 3 processor, and come with the Android 4.1 (“Jelly Bean”) operating system.
In January, Asus announced the MeMo 370T, a 7-inch Android tablet with Nvidia's Tegra 3 quad-core processor inside, and promised a price tag of $250. Since then, Asus has gone quiet on the fate of the MeMo 370t, leading to rumors that it will actually form the basis for Google's tablet. Nvidia, meanwhile, has announced a reference design for sub-$200 quad-core tablets, so it's possible that a Nexus tablet would make use of this design.
Google is hosting its Google IO developers conference at the end of June -- and it's a likely venue for a tablet announcement. The tablet will likely appeal to tech enthusiasts because unlike the Kindle Fire, a Nexus tablet would be able to access the full Google Play app market, and would run the latest version of Android without any modifications.
As for other Asus tablets, the representative said the Transformer Pad Infinity TF700T is still on trackfor a late June launch. But U.S. wireless carriers have shown resistance to Asus' Padfone, a phone that docks into a tablet, because it would basically provide free tethering on the larger screen. Only AT&T is open to the idea, but negotiations are going slow, the rep said.
Apple Kicks Google Maps Off iOS
As expected, Apple has announced its own mapping solution for iOS 6,featuring real-time traffic conditions, turn-by-turn navigation, Yelp integration, vector graphics, and 3D flyovers. The new Maps app, due out this fall with iOS 6, means the end of the Google Maps-powered app that iOS devices have used since 2007.
For iOS users, this news comes not a moment too soon--many of the features Apple announced Monday have been available on Google Maps for Android for years. Apple's break with Google means the iPhone maker can finally offer significant improvements to Maps on iOS instead of relying on a reluctant partner/competitor to bring new maps features to Apple devices.
If you have an iOS device, chances are the new Maps app will be arriving on your handset, since nearly every popular iOS device in use today (with the exception of the original iPad) is getting iOS 6. Apple introduced the new Maps app during the keynote address at the company's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.
Here's how the new Apple-designed Maps app matches up to the old Google-powered one.
The New Stuff
There are several new additions to the iOS Maps app, including a visual redesign that uses vector-based graphics instead of bitmap images. Vector graphics are drawn by the device based on a set of instructions, instead of loaded from a remote server. This change means that it will be easier for users to pan across a map quickly, without having to wait for new map images to load every few seconds. Google introduced vector graphics for Google Maps for Android in 2010.
Apple has also integrated real-time traffic information and turn-by-turn navigation into its new Maps app. There are numerous third-party apps on iOS that offer turn-by-turn navigation, but having a baked-in version is slowly becoming the standard. Nokia has offered this option with its smartphones for some time, and Google added the capability for Android handsets in 2009.
The new Maps app will also include local information for more than 100 million businesses worldwide at launch, as well as integrated Yelp reviews. Apple first integrated Yelp information into the iPhone with the introduction of Siri on the iPhone 4S.
Similar to the recently announced Google Maps overhaul, Apple's maps in iOS will be getting photo-realistic 3D flyovers for major urban areas across the world. However, Google's 3D flyovers are actual images, while Apple appears to be using detailed and lifelike computer-generated models.
The Not-So-New Stuff
As mentioned earlier, Apple will be offering local information for more than 100 million businesses worldwide. Maps for iOS already offers local information, but we'll have to wait for the final product to see if the new Maps app matches up to the current Google-powered local listings.
Apple is also making a big deal about Siri integration with the new Maps app. The thing is, Siri wasalready integrated with Maps--allowing users to say things such as "show me the nearest coffee shop," and see their results on a map. In iOS 6, however, when users ask Siri for directions to a coffee shop the Maps app will also be able to supply turn-by-turn navigation, instead of just directions. Google added voice command navigation in Google Maps for Android in 2010.
The End of the Road
Apple didn't come right out and say this, but it's a good bet that Google's Street View feature will be gone in iOS 6. Maps will also be losing walking and transit directions, but Apple said during the WWDC keynote that it plans to incorporate third-party solutions into the Maps app for metro transit information.
Connect with mario wisdom (@wismario17) on Twitter and with Today@PCWorld, http://wisetechinfo.blogspot.com/ for the latest tech news and analysis.
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