sabato 31 agosto 2013
New iPad Smart Covers
Engadget's back to school guide 2013: docks
Welcome to Engadget's back to school guide! Today we're talking docks. Head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back; in early September, we'll be giving away a ton of gear, including some of the picks in our guides.
Plug and play... and then party in your dorm. That's how the kids do it nowadays, with their iPods, iPhones and Android devices connected to virtual libraries of stored and streaming music. But unless you're rocking an HTC One with BoomSound, the dinky speakers on your daily driver just aren't going to adequately pump out the late-summer jams. For those at-home boogie breakdowns, you're going to need some serious hardware. And lucky you, we're here to sort through the clutter and highlight the best back to school picks for any budget.
Filed under: Peripherals
Transparent gel speaker plays music through the magic of ionic conduction (video)
It may be hard to believe, but that transparent disk in the photo above is actually a fully functioning speaker. A team of researchers at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have pioneered a never before seen application of ionic conductivity by creating a see-through artificial muscle that can produce sounds spanning the entire audible spectrum. While ionic conduction isn't a novel idea, it's been considered impractical due to the fact that ionic materials react poorly to high voltage. The team, which included postdoctoral research fellows Jeong-Yun Sun and Christoph Keplinger (pictured above), circumvented that obstacle by placing a layer of rubber between two sheets of transparent conductive gel, allowing the system to work with both high voltage and high actuation, two qualities necessary for sound reproduction. Theoretically, soft machine technology such as this can be used to do much more than play Grieg's Peer Gynt, particularly in the fields of robotics, mobile computing and adaptive optics. To watch it in action, check out the video after the break.
Via: The Verge
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Apple should have its own game studio, and here's why
The App Store's single biggest category is games, and games are enormously popular on the Mac App Store (and many other places) too. There isn't a shortage of third party developers who write games for the Mac, but can it be done better? I think so, and I think Apple should lead the way with its own in-house Mac game studio. It's time to let the Mac platform shine as a premiere game development platform, instead of as an also-ran.
In the annals of game console development, some of the most important games for each successful system come from the developer of the console technology themselves, or at the very least from studios they own (and thus work closely with). This is called first party development. Bungie was acquired by Microsoft, for example, and turn Halo into a franchise that is almost indistinguishable from the console it's mated to. Microsoft also has its own in-house Windows game development teams, though Windows gaming is already so huge, it's not nearly as important.
Sony has its own constellation of first party studios - development studios it owns outright. Take Guerilla Games, for example, makers of the Killzone series - acquired in 2005. Or Evolution, the company behind the MotorStorm series. Naughty Dog, which this year released the amazing PS3 zombie shooter, The Last of Us.
Nintendo without its own first party development would be practically unrecognizable - the company largely succeeds in the console market because of the strength of its first party titles. Nintendo doesn't farm out development of Zelda games, Mario or Donkey Kong. Those and many others happen in house.
Trickle-down economics
Of the two platforms Apple current owns - iOS and OS X - iOS is, as a gaming platform, considerably more advanced in some ways, despite OS X's comparative age. Mobile device users love their games, and third party developers have responded enthusiastically, developing tens of thousands of games. Apple's created APIs and other technology to support games. And mobile software middleware makers - creators of libraries that app developers can use to shave time off their development process - have to support iOS. What's more, study after study shows that despite Android's considerably larger worldwide marketshare compared to iOS, iOS device users continue to spend more money on software (and iOS piracy is considerably less).
All this adds up to a thriving iOS game market that's filled with a diverse swath of titles.
The Mac App Store is something of a different story. There are quite a few indie titles represented, and there's certainly been an influx of games to the Mac App Store that are, in fact, conversions of iOS games. And why not? You use the same tools to make an iOS game as you do a Mac game. Producing and publishing a Mac build isn't a huge logistical or engineering issue anymore.
But most weeks in the top selling Mac App Store games category, it's a tug of war between the two major players in Mac game publishing: Aspyr and Feral Interactive, with a few other companies occasionally sneaking in just to mix things up. Typically one or more of the others will be a hot Mac version of a game that's already available for iOS.
So we Mac users get a trickle of games that our Windows-using brethren have already played, and games that we've already played on iOS. That doesn't establish OS X as a premiere game platform at all.
A waiting game
Aspyr and Feral do excellent work. Without them, there'd be almost no AAA games available for OS X. But their focus is very specific: they make Mac conversions of games from other platforms. And that puts Mac gamers at a disadvantage, because it takes time for these games to get to the Mac.
First the companies need to identify the games they want to bring to the Mac platform. Then they need to negotiate the rights to develop and publish it for the Mac with the original licensor. Next they do the actual coding of the game, and finally, after getting the approval of the licensor, they publish the game.
This is the way it's been for many years, and it's why it can takes months - sometimes years - for a Mac conversion of a once-hot PC game to make its way out the door. In fairness to Aspyr and Feral, they've done a lot in recent years to narrow the gap. But there's still a gap.
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How Effective is the iPad as a Business Tool?
Source: http://tabletbuzzblog.com/how-effective-is-the-ipad-as-a-business-tool/
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Android Central Podcast - Live!
Android Central 147: We have new toys — live at 4 p.m. EDT on Aug. 30
The Android Central Podcast is recorded live in front of a live studio audience, so you can catch us in the act.
Or watch us live from your phone with the all-new Android Central app!
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/ObyNhvjW7NE/story01.htm
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Cruzerlite SPI-Force Galaxy Note 2 case review
A phone case for the unapologetic Android fan among us
Trying to get a case for the Galaxy Note 2 that protects it but doesn't add too much more bulk to an already large device is tough, and Cruzerlite has decided to not even attempt to keep things small with its SPI-Force case offering. Instead, what you are getting for the extra bulk is serious protection around the entire device and a sturdy center-mounted kickstand for when you need it.
This is going to be a polarizing case design, but it's one worth looking at if you need some intense protection for your Note 2. Stick with us after the break and learn a little more about the Cruzerlite SPI-Force case.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/e-r0Hv9me0s/story01.htm
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1Password 4 for iPhone and iPad half price in back to school sale!
1Password needs little introduction really, it's one of our absolute favorite apps for iOS to keep your passwords strong and secure. It isn't the lowest priced app you'll come across, though – you pay for what you get mind – but Agilebits is known for frequent sales helping folks get in for less. Now, for back to school time, 1Password 4 for iPhone and iPad is half price at $7.99 for a limited time. If you've been on the fence about picking it up, now is definitely a good time!
- $7.99 - Download Now
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/ySX5OpRWAPA/story01.htm