The New iPad - Our First Video Review

Hey everyone,
We just got finished filming, editing, and uploading our first video review for the iPad. We hope you enjoy, and we look forward to making more in the future!

Welcome to Tech Byters

Welcome to Tech Byters, an Australian based technology focused blog started by David Morgan, Will Gillard and Alexander West.

Tech Byters has been created for a Macquarie University ISYS100 assignment, with it's aim to bring you up to date information and news about modern day technology.

Our blog aims to become the number one technology blog in Australia, with an aim to take on Gizmodo, CNet and ZDNet with up to date and interesting news for out readers.

Although Tech Byters is starting off small, we aim to improve the graphics of our website over time to ensure a rich end user experience. This will include full HD video reviews of technology, integration with standard web technology such as Facebook and Twitter, and what we hope will be our big differentiator, live video chat with the authors on this site.

We look forward to bringing you the tech news you are after.


thanks

Tech Byters

The iPhone 5

Its safe to assume that almost everyone who has ever had a mobile phone knows about the iPhone. It is one of Apple's best selling products, having taken the record for biggest ever mobile phone launch in history.

Every year, buzz starts up from about December and continues until WWDC, one of the events that Apple unveils new products at. It is usually here that they announce the new iPhone and wows everyone with its new features, faster speeds, and prettier looks.

The iPhone has gone through plenty of versions: The iPhone, the 3G, the 3GS, the 4, the 4GS, and shortly, the 5. Many people believe that the new iPhone will be very similar to the previous one, with newer feature, and a slightly updated body. No one ever knows for sure, and this is probably one of Apple's greatest marketing tools. When you think about it, hundreds of thousands of people all talking about a product that hasn't even been released is the best a company could wish for.

Probably the most popular rumor is that Apple's recently acquired Liquidmetal could be the basis for the new shell. Liquidmetal is supposedly as strong as titanium, but as easy to produce as plastic. This has led to many, many mockups of what it could potentially look like.

A timeline of iPhones with a mockup of the iPhone 5

A mockup of a possible new body for the iPhone 5

A large part of me likes the potential look of the metal, but they need to make sure it doesn't scratch as easily as the iPod Touch, because I had mine badly scratched within a week!
Let us know what you think of the potential new look, as well as any interesting rumors you've heard.

Why I iPad

This year I bought an iPad. Some may say I'm a late convert to the iPad arena, and being a gadget geek they would probably right. I think though, that I had some pretty good reasons for not jumping on board when Gen 1 was released. When the iPad was announced as the long awaited next release buy Apple, my initial thoughts were that it was brilliant, and it was. The entire first year of seeing the revolutionary new iPad, I would've loved to own one, however it seemed a bit big, it didn't do flash and there wasn't a huge amount of apps that could utilise the larger screen real estate it delivered. So I gave it a miss. When iPad Gen 2 was released, I thought wow, this is getting closer to what I'm after, but not quite. I'd recently picked up an iPhone 4, which had the retina screen, which truly was a huge leap up in technology and usability from iPhone 3G. There had been rumours of a retina screen on the iPad 2, but I felt a bit let down when it wasn't delivered upon. I swore though, that as soon as an iPad was released with a retina screen, I'd grab it. This year "the new iPad" was released, with a retina screen. I preordered it that morning and had it delivered to my desk on the Australian release day. I haven't looked back. I wasn't iLife sure what to expect with the iPad. I certainly didn't expect that I would stop using my laptop....completely. I didn't expect that I would take my iPad everywhere. I didn't expect that I would use my iPad as my university device to take notes, access eStudent lecture information and access university virtual labs. I expected to start reading ebooks, but I didn't think it would exceed my expectations. I expected to play a few games, but I didn't expect to be blown away by how good the games were....and looked. I've been blown away by the convenience of the device. It's been a game changer for me. So here's my top 10 reasons why I love the iPad. 1. It's always on and always there 2. Apps. The reason I don't use Android. There's an app for everything 3. Ease of use 4. The retina screen is stunning, ESP when watching a hd clip on YouTube 5. I can store so much info in the cloud from different providers and access it from my iPad 6. Finally, it's a superb ebook reader 7. Websites display as websites, not some crappy WAP style garbage like on Android 8. It's quick, especially on dual carrier hsdpa on Telstra's 3G network. 9. Battery life is great 10. It's an iPad!

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Microsoft recently announced a "Consumer Preview" of the Windows 8 operating system was made available for people who wanted to have a look at the OS that is touted as Microsoft's "next big thing". So with that in mind, I decided to take the plunge and grab a copy to have a look at.

Firing up the trusty Virtual Box I setup a quick VM and ran the Windows 8 installer that I downloaded from here. 

Firstly, the specs for Windows 8 are identical to Windows 7, so my VM didn't have a huge overhead on my system. I mounted the ISO file and began the install process. 

Installation is simple, very simple. It's been considerably cut down even from the current Windows 7 install which is minimal at best. A new colour scheme is noted amongst changes, however the biggest change is having to create (or use an existing) Windows Live ID such as a Hotmail account to integrate into the OS, which is very similar to what is done when setting up an Android phone. From what I could see, there is no way around this prerequisite, and it means that you need to have another account setup and password to remember.

The installation takes about 15 minutes on a VM which isn't too bad at all, and only requires one reboot at the end of the install process.

Once installed, you get your new desktop view.

Welcome to Metro, the replacement for the Start Button and Desktop in general. This is the face of Windows 8.

As you can see, Metro is designed for tablets taking queues from mobile OS's such as Android, IOS and Windows Phone 7. It's certainly a big change from the standard Windows desktop that we have known since Windows 95, that we came to love way back in 1995.

Now, I did say "replacement for Start Button" earlier in my article, and yes you read me correctly, there is NO Start Button. Now this is a problem, and it's something I just can't seem to get my head around. Sure you have Metro to launch your apps, and when you are in Metro you can type in what you are after eg Word would bring up Microsoft Word if installed, but if you aren't in Metro it's a pain.

Applications are now "apps" and certainly have a different look and feel than you are used to. Internet Explorer 10 does not remind you of the IE versions you have used previously. It's minimal in approach, and funky in colour scheme, however it still doesn't fill me with excitement in daily usage.

My concern is though that Windows 8 is just Windows 7, minus Start Button and with a somewhat frustrating touch based navigation menu that doesn't come naturally just plugged in over the top. It doesn't flow, it's confusing and I can't see my Mum getting to grips with this any time soon. I'd say that Microsoft have to make some significant changes to Windows 8 prior to release or lose a huge amount of market share to Apple and Ubuntu.

I've only scratched the surface on Windows 8 and there is a tonne more to see before I can pass a real judgement. My expectations aren't high at this point. Come on Microsoft, let's see something really stellar here!

Adobe Cloud

Now if I said, have Creative Suite Master Collection for $300, I might be sending you to jail for piracy but I'm not.

CS6 is a potentially $3,000 piece of software and owning it for $300 is a mega discount. And it is legit also, which makes it seem more skeptical. Just released, Adobe "Creative Cloud" is a cloud utilising application which has all of CS6's Master Collection available to you.

What is "Creative Cloud?" you ask? It is a online service that can share file saves and can be updated instantly which is awesome for collaboration of people from across the world and gives the benefit of constantly updating, patching, accessing new content that is released which is a major benefit over having to wait for CDs to be packed and shipped to you every time something new comes along.

Another real-time advantage is publishing, to either a tablet device or via the Adobe web-hosting as it integrates with Adobe Muse and this software allows you to design websites without needing HTML coding. The Adobe Digital Publishing Suite creates and delivers portfolios, brochures and other content to iPad and tablets without needing to code which is great for presentations and viewing a finished product before waiting for it to be released to preview.

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/buying-guide.html

The buying guide website says the subscription is $24.99 (AUD) per month so for $300 a year you can own Master Collection!
There are two 'snags' which is a minimum 1-year subscription, and the second is one licence and no commercial licensing exists.


This product for anyone who uses Adobe Creative Suite's products and is a 5/5 for anyone!

FBI, coming to a home near you!

We all know how American's have become very protective since the September 2001 attacks but the FBI is now calling for the major internet players to let a new bill pass. These new "surveillance backdoors' will allow the FBI to access popular internet mediums such as VoIP (i.e., Skype) and e-mail (i.e., Yahoo, Gmail etc) to become mandatory.

The new law is claiming that social-networking websites and providers of VoIP, IM and e-mail have to alter their code to ensure their products are wiretap-friendly. There is however, likely to be a minimum threshold of users before the additional coding is mandatory.

It will build on the current law from 1994, CALEA which applies to telephone companies and not web companies. Named the 'Communications Assistance for Law Enforement Act' was extended in 2004 to apply to ISP companies also.

Companies such as Apple have be lobbying against this because of obvious privacy issues and who would not blame them. It is likely terrorists or persons of interest they might be interested in will already be using more secretive methods and doubt that Osama bin Laden ever owned a Apple or Gmail accounts. The line between privacy and government interference is becoming less and less defined and this step if made into law will set a very steep precedent. What would China implement is this US law passed?

The internet community has also recently been tossed SOPA, 'Stop Online Piracy Act' in January which was a monumental slap in the face to all internet active people and this new potential law will just send those already skeptical of the government into an overdrive and the backlash would be far more significant. Though the government is trying to stop online attacks as well as those using the web to plan offline attacks the general consensus is that 99% of users are not using it for terrorist activities and it would be just one giant invasion of privacy (ironically, it could violate the 6th amendment also).

Apple and Samsung: Getting into some fist-e-cuffs

Apple and Samsung: Getting into some fist-e-cuffs.

The court hearing between Apple and Samsung occurred yesterday, basically Apple wants to stop Samsung producing their Galaxy S II Skyrocket and Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch who ironically use Android. 

This has dragged on since December, the last battle saw Apple loose on the court ruling that the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Those who do not remember, the Galaxy Tab was in fact told to not be sold until the ruling was made which resulted in numerous pallets of brand new tabs to sit idle in companies back rooms. Eventually the Galaxy Tab went on to sell, not very impressively, but respectable (did not make much of a dent in Apple's market share). 

What does all this mean?!?!

Well, Samsung has been giving Apple the "screw you" and has gon on record with the guns blazing saying that "we are [Samsung] will continue to assert our intellectual property rights and defend against Apple's claims" Nam Ki Yung said in a report article. This ultimately came about from Apple filing patent infringements on Samsung because thei Galaxy devices copied iPhone and iPad.

Why not try to copy? I mean, every idiot and their dog has an iPhone. I have an iPhone. Most of you probably scoffed your coffee reading that, YES, I own an iPhone. I want to own the Galaxy S II but I could only get an iPhone when I tried to upgrade to it. 

So here is my point, the iPad has had 3 models. They have 0 front facing camera's, the Galaxy Tab has 2. That is copying right? The Galaxy Tab has 4 icons along the bottom, the iPad after 2 remakes, continue to have 1. Patent infringement? Think not.

So what is similar? Well, both are touchscreens. Both have mobile OS, one Apple iOS another with Android. Oh wait, that's different too so we cannot count that second one. Apple seems hell bent on being the bully in the industry, a trait well taken from Steve Jobs (if you believe the stories that ex-employees talk about).

Nike+ Fuelband - Fitness and Fun

The other day, I stumbled across a page advertising the new Nike+ Fuelband. For those of you that don't know what it is, it is a bracelet/watch/accelerometer/calorie counter/pedometer all in one. The Fuelband measures your activity level throughout the day using the built in accelerometer which equates those movements into "Fuel" which is a standardized number.

I have been using it for four days and have noticed that I go out of my way to try a more physical alternative to an action which results in more fuel. There is also an iPhone app which can be used over bluetooth to update your profile and provide fun animations when you hit your goal, or double it etc.

It really is a fun way to measure your activity during the day, even if its accuracy at times is a little off.
The Fuelband is not available outside of the US, but I just ordered mine from a guy over there on eBay. The price is $150USD but some people charge more because they are in short supply due to overwhelming demand.

Visit Nike for all the information (choose US as your country to get the Fuelband page)

The Kindle Fire - The new hot thing

Amazons newest Kindle

Most people by now have heard of Amazon's newest Kindle and first contender to the tablet market. I had the pleasure of pre-ordering one from Amazon and have had a great time testing it out over the last 4 months.

Simply put, I love the Fire. It is easy to use, attractive, light, has good battery life, and is the perfect size for carrying and reading. That being said, there were e few negatives. The power/lock button is on the bottom, so I have to be careful when reading to avoid shutting it down, and outside of the US, you cant get apps from their app store. This means that side-loading is needed and that kind of gets annoying after a while.

For $199 though, I am willing to take those flaws and ignore them seeing as it has made it much more beautiful to read books, newspapers, and magazines on its very clear screen.

Visit Amazon or Wikipedia for all of the specs as well as a place to order one for yourself. I would wholeheartedly recommend a look!

The NBN

Much has been said and written about Australia's plan to deploy a mixed fibre and satellite network to it's population. Unfortunately, much of the debate has been based along political ideologies, rather than logic, fact and reason.

Here's a quick Q&A on my thoughts on the National Broadband Network.

Q. What is the National Broadband Network?
A. The NBN is simply a network being built to replace the existing copper network which was originally developed by the Postmaster General in the earlier part of the 20th Century, and Telecom/Telstra in the latter parts.

Q. What technology is being used to deploy the NBN and who will get it?
A. The NBN is being developed using a fibre to the premises model that will cover 93% of the Australian population. The remaining 7% will be covered by wide band satellite coverage, solely due to the wide expanse of the Australian landscape making it financially unviable to to fibre to every premises.

Q. What is the aim of the NBN?
A. There are numerous aims of the NBN.

• To ensure Australia does not suffer from "digital divide" by giving all users reasonable access to internet, particularly in areas that companies do not believe is commercially viable.
• To replace an aging copper network that was not designed for modern communications
• To increase Australia's GDP by enabling business to work more efficiently and effectively, while developing technological advances ahead of the global curve.
• To enable Australian business and consumers access to affordable broadband 
• To mitigate the issues with access to the current Telstra owned network by consumers and other internet service providers and to ensure that growth in the sector can occur
• To provide a network that can cope with the growing demands of business and consumers for bandwidth
• Provide a platform to implement tele-health programs, to reduce overhead on hospitals and remote communities that do not have access to common health services

Q. How much will the NBN cost the tax payer?

A. This is an interesting answer, due to the way the NBN is being funded. To break it down:

• NBN access will be similar to what you currently pay for internet access, except you will not have to pay line rental for your phone. The cheapest NBN plans begin at approximately $35 per month.
• The cost to construct the NBN is up to $43 billion Australian dollars. $27.5 billion will be funded by the Australian taxpayer, and the Government will sell bonds and borrow to cover the remaining expenses. 
• The NBN is a national asset, and as such is scheduled to return a profit to it's shareholders during the period of investment. This return will be generated from the Australian public using the NBN rather than Telstra's current copper lines. An agreement has been made to compensate Telstra for it's loss of service, in order to migrate all users to NBN services.

Q. Are there other methods to deploy an NBN that would be cheaper?

A. Yes there are cheaper methods of deploying an NBN in the short term. Fibre to the Node is often touted as a good alternative and the Federal Liberal Party went to the last election with a platform of deploying a wireless network. The Government also looked very closely at other options prior to announcing the NBN, by sending out a tender to private business to build a network that would cover 90% of the Australian population. No tender met the requirements.

Q. Why was the fibre to the premises model chosen over these other alternatives?

A. There are a number of reasons:

• Fibre to the node is similar to building the M2 motorway with only 2 lanes in each direction. It will take significant further investment at a later date (when inflation has increased the dollar for dollar requirement) to build a network that can cope with the growth in the Australian population. The network is still hamstrung by copper, which requires large amounts of maintenance cost due to it's age and suffers in performance. The overall cost of this model would significantly increase over the estimated 40 year life span of the fibre NBN and we would miss out on the benefits today.
• Wireless networks via 3g or 4g suffer from issues with latency and contention, meaning that they are not suitable alternatives for Australian business. We would also need a mobile phone tower every few hundred metres in every street to ensure coverage. Wireless is a complimentary technology, which is shown today by the take up of home broadband compared to mobile data.

Q. Why are people so anti NBN?

A. Unfortunately Australian is experiencing one of the most verbally violent and heated political area's that we have experienced. This is fuelled by the 24 hour media cycle and media ownership and business agenda's. The opposition leader Tony Abbott, stated that his goal was to "oppose" everything that the government stood for, and this included the NBN which has been a favourite area of attack for the Liberal National Party. This has flooded down to an increasingly conservative Australia who are not interested in the facts of the NBN, merely the headlines read by right wing media outlets. The primary reason given to oppose the NBN is cost. The level of funding from the Australian taxpayer is only marginally more than a years funding for the Defence budget. Over the lifespan of investment this is a very cheap option, however people find this difficult to see.

Q. How will the NBN change my life?

A. Starting at home, you will see a huge amount of new services delivered by broadband to your home. This includes television by new providers such as Apple and Google which will drive pricing down for Australian consumers. Families will be able to stream hi def video, tele conference, work from home, play games and download applications at the same time without interference.

Businesses will have greater access to fast broadband which will allow them to use secure datacentres without the requirement of expensive thin client applications such as Citrix XenApp. Business in regional areas will also have equal access without the hug cost overheads and poor performance they currently experience. Farmers will be able to store their business data in the cloud and access it securely, small business will have similar access to broadband that large enterprise currently has, but cannot currently afford.

Q. When will I get the NBN?

A. Check out the roll out plan here

http://nbnco.com.au/rollout/rollout-map.html

Q. Will I get the NBN if Tony Abbott is elected as Prime Minister.

A. That is very difficult to say, given that Abbott has stated that he will stop the NBN. However there is legislation that is in place to enable the NBN, a signed agreement with Telstra to separate and migrate users to NBN and investment by companies such as Telstra, IInet and Vodafone to connect themselves to the NBN. It is hard to imagine he could therefore "stop" the NBN, but it is highly possible that he will try to change the NBN Co plan to cover a fibre to the node network. NBN Co is funded to roll out with 3rd party contracts signed up to and including 2015 by which stage a significant amount of premises would be rolled out. 

Q. Should I be excited about the NBN? 

A. ABSOLUTELY