Mobile Computing News

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Where in recent months it was impossible to go a day without reading and writing about Apple and its iPhone, RIM is dominating all of the news right now. While there is a cloud of uncertainty regarding exactly what is happening at RIM, and, more specifically, their stance on Android, a Blackberry fan site may have scored a huge coup. N4BB has uncovered Blackberry’s 2011 software roadmap and to call it interesting is an understatement.

Blackberry OS 7 this year?

The massive reveal is, of course, the release of Blackberry OS 7, which is scheduled for November 2011. The chart refers to BB 7 integration, which is somewhat unclear. N4BB writes: ‘It isn’t clear if Blackberry OS 7.0 will be an ‘update’ to 6.1 or if it will be released on newer devices first and potentially rolled out to older devices later. Also, it is not clear if the “integration” is for developmental purposes or an official release. Nonetheless, it is a good sign to see the possibility of QNX-based Blackberry smartphones nearing availability.’

What else is coming?

While the new Blackberry OS 7 is undoubtedly the big news, the release of BIS 4.0 (Blackberry Internet Service) this March or April, with a 4.1 update in either August or September, is huge. BIS is a big part of the reason many folks swear by their Blackberry smartphones, so long-term fans will no doubt be happy to hear about the update.

Several other RIM developed apps, including the Facebook 2.0 beta 1 and 2, a new App World for the Playbook scheduled to release this month, a Blackberry Protect update and Social Feeds 2.0 are on the cards.

No Android reveal

Incidentally, the software roadmap shows no signs of whether the Playbook will be getting Android playback support, or whether BBM is making its way to iOS and Android. What do you make of this software roadmap, and what are you hoping to see in Blackberry OS 7?

Photo: fiveinchpixie / Flickr

Blizzard, the folks behind the beloved StarCraft, WarCraft and Diablo franchises, has just turned 20 years old. As a testament, perhaps, to its age and influence on the PC gaming landscape, the entire industry has been reflecting on the immense impact this studio has had on video gaming.

Thank you

Two of the company’s co-founders, Frank Pearce and Michael Morhaime, showed their gratitude by recording a video clip they sent out to fans. In it, Morhaime says: ‘When we first started the company in 1991 there were just three of us and we really just wanted to use this opportunity to thank you for all these years of support, because without you we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.’ Pearce would later add the community’s support ‘humbled’ Blizzard, while saying he loved that they shared the ‘intense passion for gaming’ Blizzard has.

Humble beginnings

The company started out being called Silicon & Synapse, releasing Battle Chest, Lost Vikings and Rock n’ Roll Racing in between 1992 and 1993. It wasn’t until 1994 the company changed its name to what we know them by now, and really began leaving a mark on PC gaming and later MMO gaming, through the first release of WarCraft. 1997 brought Diablo and 1998 brought StarCraft. Slowly the young company built a loyal following, impacting PC gaming with each subsequent release.

Not so humble now, are we?

The company is nowhere near as small as it once was. With its World of WarCraft franchise dominating MMO gaming and PC gaming in general, and being central to all of Activision Blizzard’s operations, it’s surprising the developer has been able to maintain the values that made them so popular with PC gamers all those years back.

Forever etched in history

Few companies can say they have had an ever-lasting impact on video gaming. Fewer still can claim they have had an ever-lasting impact on popular culture. Blizzard, thus, is a unique case of a company that can claim both, with its World of WarCraft franchise in particular, having a major impact. Hey, you don’t get a whole South Park episode dedicated to your franchise if it isn’t a big deal, and that’s the truth.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

While stand-alone GPS devices are under increasing pressure due to competition on smartphones, GPS as a technology is only going from strength to strength. The latest signal that the navigation system is infiltrating our lives without signs of slowing down is the adoption of the technology in the aviation industry.

European Commission says ‘Go’

The European Commission has announced that EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, is cleared to be used in aviation. The system can tell airplanes and choppers their location within a couple of metres, making them safe for use. The European Commission certified the system for ‘safety of life’ uses this past Wednesday.

So what changes?

Effectively what this means is that pilots are using GPS navigations systems in their planes. This is a slight change, in that historically, larger airlines landing at international airports have been reliant on ground-based system to guide them to the runway. The beauty of EGNOS is that it will help certain final approach phases on these planes, as well as improving the aircrafts position en route to its destination.

Where this navigation overlay will likely see widespread use is in smaller aircrafts landing at smaller airports, because the ground infrastructure is comparably limited to the larger airports.

Key European

EGNOS and Galileo, Europe’s very own GPS equivalent, are key initiatives for Europe. Antonio Tajani, who is the Vice President of the European Commission, made the announcement of the clearance.

Speaking to the BBC directly after, he said: ‘I believe in Egnos and Galileo, not because they are my dream, but because they are part of our industrial policy’. He continued, saying: ‘Space may be up there, but Egnos and Galileo will deliver services to the citizen here on the ground’.

Proliferation of the technology

Navigation systems and technology go far beyond the rudimentary functions of GPS devices and smartphones, with agriculture, transportation and even the climatology industry being hugely dependent on them. The fact that Europe is fast tracking its own systems so that it does not have to be reliant on America’s GPS satellite navigation systems is indicative of this.

Photo: Playstation

Gesture-based controls have been one of the biggest developments in gaming in recent years, and the scientists behind it believe its applications go far beyond just playing. While Microsoft Kinect is on its way to the PC for use as an alternative input device, the team behind the Playstation Move is bringing it to computers as a research tool.

Would you please Move.Me

Sony is launching a new application called Move.Me, which will grant developers access to the Move interface. In many ways it is intended to serve as a tool for researchers and enthusiasts to experiment with the Playstation Move controller, while also closing the gap between it and the Kinect which has been hackers’ paradise for the last few months.

Speaking on Move.Me, Sony issues a challenge to innovators, saying: ‘We want to see what innovative applications programmers can create using the PS Move controller, the PS3 system, the PlayStation Eye camera and a PC’.

Going beyond gaming

The company continues, saying: ‘Move.me is designed for academic researchers, university instructors, college students, programming hobbyists, and HCI developers. Show us how you can take the PS Move beyond traditional gaming and into areas such as: Games and tools that support kids’ physical fitness and nutrition; Kid-friendly programming interfaces for computer/technology classes or individual learning; Physical therapy and rehabilitation; Sports physiology or fitness training; Music and the creative arts’.

When can you get it?

Sony has Spring 2011 as the release window for Move.Me going live, which is effectively between June and August of this year. What interests us most is seeing how a PC-centric approach to the interface will change how developers interpret it.

See, as long as the Playstation Move controller is associated with the PS3, the tendency to make games is obvious, but, as we’ve seen with Microsoft, the minute you put it on a computer with intelligent developers, the possibility could be game changing.

If you can’t be bothered to wait until spring to mess around with the Playstation Move motion controller, you can always buy the motion controller today and use it as Sony initially intended.

Photo: re-ality / Flickr

While the talk of the day is no doubt the unveiling of the Apple iPad 2, what struck me hardest about the Apple press conference held on 2 March was the company’s propensity for talking up big numbers, and showing off its achievement. It’s almost as if Apple throws their sales numbers around to show off, but it puts in perspective just how remarkable the company has been, and what a sales machine it has become. Below are some snapshots.

100 million iPhone, 15 million iPads

Apple announced that they recently sold their 100 millionth iPhone. For a handset that costs a ton of money, subsidized or unsubsidized, that is insane. What’s even more insane is it has only been on sale since the middle of 2007, meaning the company has achieved these numbers in less than four years.

One step further down the line of Apple’s touchscreen revolution is the iPad. While people – consumers and analyst alike – were unsure of how successful it would be when it first launched, Steve Jobs took to the stage at the Apple press conference to say that the tablet PC had moved 15 million units in 2010. The device only launched in April, so those sales numbers represent nine months worth of sales, not even a full calendar year. To put that in perspective, that gave Apple 90 per cent of the tablet PC market, and sold more units than the entire tablet market had prior.

65,000 apps

The next major stat the company revealed at the Apple press conference was that there were over 65,000 dedicated iPad apps. This means the Apple iPad 2 will hit the ground running with respect to applications. Never one to shy away from taking jabs at competitors, Jobs pointed out that, by comparison, Android Honeycomb had only 100 apps.

To be fair, Honeycomb only just came around, but again Apple’s strategy of throwing big numbers around to show how far off the pace their competitors are is working. Whether the Apple iPad 2 will have the same level of success its predecessor had is as yet unknown, but what is clear as day is the success prior to it shows Apple has a ton of momentum.

For a blow by blow of just how the Apple press conference went, including big stats and all, have a look at Engadget’s blog on the event.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

Tobii and Lenovo are developing input technology that could fundamentally impact how we interface with computers – especially for people suffering from disabilities. The two companies are working on eye controlled laptops, technology that will allow your eyes’ movement to replace the mouse.

How does this work

Tobii says that its eye control input technology will allow a user to perform certain mouse and trackpad-associated functions like select, scroll and point. All the user would do is stare at a certain widget and that would select it.

Tobii and Lenovo are also touting the eye tracking and controlling laptop system as simple and intuitive, meaning functions one already performs – like looking at a specific point of your screen – will have enhanced uses built into it.

In celebration of laziness

If you have a disability, especially one that limits how you can use your hands, the benefits of this type of technology is very obvious. For the rest of us who immediately began thinking up the wonders of having a spare hand for carrying a beer while you work on your computer, we really need to get that laziness in check!
This isn’t happening soon

For those who were hoping this absolutely necessary tech was being fast-tracked, prepare to be a little disappointed. Only 20 prototypes of the eye-controlled laptops exist at present, with Tobii and Lenovo sharing the shipment evenly by getting ten each for performing additional tests and putting it to work. It’s highly likely that this could be another awesome project at a major tech company that never makes it out of the R&D play factory.

Technology is beautiful

We genuinely wonder if people take the time out to realise how wonderful and amazing technology often is. We control computing interfaces by just running our fingers on glass, we have devices that keep us alive in hospitals, and now you have prototype eye-controlled laptops available, too? Sure, this may not reach market any time soon, but the implications, especially for people with disabilities, is amazing.

Our trusty old school Lenovo notebooks will have to suffice for now, but let it be known, Mr Mouse, your days are numbered.

Photo: beltipo / Flickr

In one of the strangest stories doing the rounds online, a RIM rep may have prematurely revealed that the BlackBerry Playbook will have Android support built-in. More specifically, RIM’s tablet PC will be able to run Android applications straight from the Android market place. Colour us curious, surprised, and confused all at once.

MWC 2011 coming back to haunt you

In an MWC 2011 video, where a BlackBerry Playbook demo is being shown off, a RIM representative is clearly heard saying: ‘We will also support Android apps when we release the Dalvik engine on top of QNX.’ If this were indeed true, it would be a dramatic oversight for the representative to be the one to reveal it, let alone for the representative to even be knowledgeable of such developments at the company.

This isn’t new

Incidentally, this is not the first time news of Android support on the BlackBerry Playbook are doing the rounds. Back in January already, BGR reported the company was working around the clock to bring Android to the RIM tablet PC, so what the rep says could be confirmation this is actually happening – or him just repeating what he read on tech sites. Who knows?

Why would RIM do this?

The benefits of doing this are obvious. RIM will have immediate access to a multitude of tablet PC applications. Assuming the Android layer built into the QNX mobile OS the Playbook is running on is solid, this would mean RIM would dramatically fill the application void so many fear it will help when the BlackBerry Playbook launches.

However the knock on effect here is that this is a quasi-admittance of defeat. Sure, the Playbook running on the QNX mobile OS and not Froyo or Honeycomb is a sign that the company has not completely thrown in the towel, but the presence of Android on the Canadian company’s handsets is certainly telling.

Playbook has got to work hard

With the Android-based Motorola Xoom widely considered the closest competitor to Apple’s iPad, it will be interesting to see if the BlackBerry Playbook with its QNX mobile OS platform will be able to put up a fight when it is released.

It’s safe to say the entire computing world’s eyes are fixed on tablet PCs in 2011.

Photo: Axel Bührmann / Flickr

Gartner Research reports that the server market bounced back all through 2010, with Q4 sales punctuating the year long recovery. The research firm reports, however, that the market will see growth slow in 2011.

Growth and more growth

Revenue from overall server sales was up 16.4 percent compared to the year prior, while the volume of servers shipped was up 6.5 percent. The reason for this growth, says Gartner [via PC world], is the adoption of the newer Opteron chip servers from AMD and the Nehalem processor-based servers from Intel. Furthermore, companies replacing their x86 servers after businesses resumed usual operations post the economic crash is a big contributor tot his growth in server sales.

Gartner, however, predicts that post recessionary spending is mostly over, suggesting that growth will slow this year.

How the pie was served

In terms of revenue for the big players in the space in Q4 server sales, IBM dominated. The venerable tech firm saw revenue of $5.2 billion, giving it 35.5 percent market share.

Close behind was HP, whose revenue allowed the company to grab 30.4 percent marketshare. HP, however, sold the highest volume of servers than IBM did, with 767,026 units, taking a healthy 32.2 percent of total shipments for the quarter.

Dell – who was the third biggest company in terms of revenue – sold the second most servers in the quarter, with 515,274 units for 21.6 percent of total industry shipments.

Oracle took a pummeling in the quarter, seeing its server shipments crater 40.8 percent. This meant revenue dropped by 16.2 percent for Q4. Making up the rear was Cisco, with sales in the low single digits after its first full year of operation in the server game.

Photo: Aljawad / Wikimedia Commons

Outside of Steve Jobs, no man has had more of a visible impact on Apple’s products than Jonathan Ive. And here we’re being literal, since as Apple’s chief industrial designer he conjured up the iconic look of the first iMac, Macbook Pros, Macbook, iPod, iPad and iPhones. In short, he’s very important to what makes Apple Apple. So the news that he wants to relocate to the UK to raise his family will come as somewhat unwelcome for the Apple team and shareholders alike.

To raise my kids

According to the Sunday Times [via The Daily Mail], a British friend of Ive’s has revealed that the Apple designer wants to move back to the UK to raise his family there. Apparently he wants to send his children to British schools, but Jonny Ive and Apple’s board have – as can be expected – been at loggerheads about his proposed relocation.

You’ll lose your job

At Apple, Ive’s official title is Senior Vice President of Industrial Design. According to the board, if Mr. Ive were to move back to England and instead commute to California, he would not be allowed to keep that position.

Maybe you don’t need the job

The Times has also reported that Mr Ive is about to cash in a lot of stock options he was given in 2008 as a way to keep him with the mobile devices titan. The Apple designer is looking to cash them in soon, reaping a pretty tidy $30 million (£18.6 million) windfall. While it’s undoubtedly obvious that Jonny Ive is extremely passionate about his job, it’s safe to say he doesn’t need it for the money. The board must be confident his commitment to the job may be enough to keep him in place.

Whatever it is, it’s abundantly clear the last thing the company need is to lose their iconic CEO and the equally iconic Apple designer in the same period. Hopefully they come to an amicable decision that will see everybody win.

Photo: Bryan Gosline / Flickr

Apple is number one at many things. It’s the biggest tech company in the world, it’s the number one seller of tablet PCs and personal music players in the world, and it has the number one digital download storefront on the planet. As if that isn’t enough, Apple also has a number one spot in the film business – no company in the world has more product placement in mainstream films than Apple does.

Number one product placement company in the world

The company was featured in 30 per cent of the top grossing films at the US box office in 2010. Three in every 10 top films. Essentially, you can’t escape Apple no matter how hard you try – not in public, online, or even in films.

That’s a lot of placing

Brandchannel, who said they identified 591 products or brands in 33 movies that reached the top spot at the box office, conducted the study [via Reuters]. This averaged out to about 17.9 placements per film, a smidgen above the 17.5 placement per film seen in 2009.

The film that was ridiculously over the top with its product placement was Iron Man 2, which had 64 brands identified over its running time. For a two-hour film, that would be a brand every two minutes, making Tony Stark’s latest adventure more commercial mash-up than movie, surely.

Run faster, Nike

The Apple product placement machine managed to worm its way into major films like Toy Story 3, Kick Ass, and even The Other Guys. Runners up were Chevrolet, Ford, and Nike.

Top of the head

From personal experience, the Apple product placement crown is easy to believe, and it even extends to television and other media. From the top of my head, when I was catching up on series watching, I saw Apple products in V and Dexter, three of the premiere shows currently running on television. If you play video games, you will no doubt remember the liberal product placement of Apple’s tech in the cult PS3 classic, Metal Gear Solid 4.

There’s no escaping Apple, clearly.