Mike Gdovin | August 6, 2011
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The iPad As A Computer

Since the original iPad was release and subsequently followed by many competing tablets, tablets have taken off. In fact, some people have replaced computers with tablets and some chose to buy tablets instead of a computer. I don’t think this will really hurt the computer industry but, this has greatly impacted the netbook market. Tablets typically are lighter, more portable and have better battery life than laptops and netbooks. Personally, I replaced my netbook, which I used mainly for notetaking in class, email, and surfing the web with an iPad and can’t find anything that I need to do that the netbook could do and my iPad couldn’t. For many people this is the entire extent of what they use computers for, making it a possibility for those people to use just a tablet instead of a computer. Don’t get me wrong, computers will alway have their place and I think most people will still have a computer and many will have both a computer and a tablet to have the best of both worlds.  But for those who only use their computers for surfing the Internet and checking email as many do, the iPad would be a perfect device. One example of this would be grandparents or other older people who just want a computer for communicating with family and web surfing.  The iPad is also great for tasks like word processing as well as long as you have a good app. I use QuickOffice, it is $15, but, it edits word, excel and PowerPoint documents and even connects to Dropbox, Google Docs and many other cloud services making it easy to get work done whether on a mobile device or computer. Another good test case for this is someone who only wants For many users, this is the extent of their computer usage and for people who have never used a computer, an iPad is much easier and simpler to use and learn.

Currently, the iPad is not able to operate as an independent device, it instead, must be first connected to a computer and sync with iTunes to initially setup the device, synchronize data and to upgrade the operating system. When iOS 5 come out in the fall, the iPad will be able to be setup as a stand-alone device, can sync over wifi both to a computer and the cloud and iOS updates will be done over the air. iOS5 will also be adding a lot of other features that will let the iPad work as an independent device even if you don’t have a computer.  iOS 5 will cause many people realize that the iPad and other tablets already do more than they need a computer for and they could just get that instead of a computer.

The iPad is great for travel, on my past two week long trips, I just took my iPad and iPhone and left my computer at home. When I go on vacation I usually just do basic computing tasks like surfing the Internet, checking email and maybe writing a little. As long as I can get a good Internet connection, my iPad des everything I need, since I don’t usually do video editing or anything else that my iPad can’t do. The iPad is much lighter than a laptop and is so thin it can go almost anywhere. I probably could just bring my iPhone but, the bigger screen is nice to have for writing longer e-mails and working on documents.

There are a few accessories that I highly recommend for people who are considering using an iPad instead of a computer. Every tablet user should have a case of cover and screen protector just to keep the device protected, but if you want to use it as a computer-replacement, I recommend these additional accessories:

1. Bluetooth keyboard

For all those who aren’t full fans of or uncomfortable with the on-screen keyboard the Apple Bluetooth keyboard or any Bluetooth keyboard can help those who prefer a physical keyboard over the iPad’s touch screen keyboard. There are even cases that make an iPad look a lot like a laptop with the iPad on the top half of the case and Bluetooth keyboard on the bottom with a clamshell design. These are typically more expensive  than a regular bluetooth keyboard, but could be good for those who are used to working with a laptop. A standalone Bluetooth keyboard is usually between $30 and $70.

2. Airprint Compatible Printer

 

If you want to print anything from your iPad you need to use AirPrint. As of right now a printer needs to have a special air print driver so you can wirelessly print from your iPad. Apple has a list of compatible printers listed on their website, and I think AirPrint will be built into most printers soon.

3. Camera Connection Kit

For those who take digital pictures, you will need the Camera connection kit which is $30 so you can copy your pictures onto your iPad, but in my opinion if you wan to do any kind of photo management or editing you should stick with a computer. But, this is a nice accessory for clearing off memory cards while your traveling so you can take more pictures.

4. AV Adapter

if you want to display your iPad on a bigger screen like a HDTV or other monitor, you need the AV adapter to connect it to a device via HDMI. Remember that to mirror your iPad screen you need to have the iPad 2, the original iPad will only output supported apps. If you have a new Apple TV, you can also display your screen wirelessly over your home network.

I’m not saying these new tablets will replace computers, computers will always have their place. However, the most basic users and new users who have a limited needs for their computer might be better off with an iPad or other tablet device. One thing to keep in mind though is that if you are considering having a tablet as your only computer, then you may want to consider the 3G models because they will allow you to have Internet access anywhere you can get a cell phone signal and might be easier than having to setup a home Internet service provider. Tablets are still relatively new technology and there are a lot of things it can’t do, for some, it works and they don’t need do anymore than you can already use an iPad for. For people who are very basic users, or those who have a netbook in addition to a regular computer  the iPad is a good choice. It is not a replacement for the majority of users, but it is a great travel device or additional device to a computer; however it is very simple to use, so the most basic users would be able to do what they need to do without being overwhelmed.

Category: Apple, Computers |
Mike Gdovin | July 19, 2011
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Going Paperless- The Definitive Guide

An on-going project that I have been working on this year has been to go paperless. It was one of my big projects for this year in order to to reduce clutter and make it easier to find information in much less time than it would take to sort through many paper documents. I started slowly and then expanded as it became feasible. I plan to not carry any paper documents with me next semester in school and to apply this also to other projects.

1. Manuals

I had a huge folder of user manuals, setup guides and other documentation in my filling cabinet that was difficult to transport between home and my dorm and also not necessary since I rarely use them.  The best way I found to digitize manuals  was to Google the device I needed the manual to and then “PDF”. Many manufacturers had PDFs available on their websites, while some of them where available as a webpage as PDFS which I just downloaded. For those that we just webpages or some other format, I converted them to PDF first.  On Windows this can be done by using Cute PDF Writer and on the Mac you can do it by clicking File—>Print or holding the Command+P keys on your keyboard and then choose PDF from the bottom left side of the print screen. I was able to find the majority of manuals online for my devices, if you can’t find them from Google or the manufacturer’s website where manuals can usually be found in the support page try Retrevo has many manuals posted in PDF format that are free and  easy to download.

2. Documents
To digitize my documents, I got a Doxie Document Scanner. Although any scanner can be used to scan documents (as long as it can save to PDF or other document format) I picked the Doxie  because it’s flat and fits under my computer stand and only requires a USB cable to operate. In addition to all that, it’s easy to transport and scans documents really well. My friend Michael Plasmeier uses an auto-feeding document scanner which allows him to scan many documents at once however, these are much more expensive and bulky which I didn’t want to have  t transport back and forth to school.  Doxie makes it easy to scan documents (photos too) and save them in a variety of file formats. I scan documents to PDF files although Doxie can also save to: Evernote, Google Docs and other cloud sites in addition to many file formats. One thing to note however, is that the Doxie, as of the writing of this article, does not support OCR (Optical Character Recognition) which lets you scan files and make them into editable text files on your computer. Personally most of the files that I scan are just for reading and do not need to be edited but be aware of this if that is something you need.

3. Receipts:
Receipts I do two different things with, for minor purchases, I just take a picture with my iPhone camera and save it as a note in Evernote which synchronizes across all my devices and  the cloud. Evernote allows me to conveniently access those receipts no matter where I am and can easily find them with a quick search.  For more major purchases, I scan them to a PDF using my Doxie scanner and then save them as a file on my computer in a reciepts folder which is organized for easy access. I do this to have a higher-quality scan of important receipts, although phone cameras are getting better, the scan is much better resolution. You don’t want to have a bad copy of a receipt which has important information that  you might need down the road. Another quick sidenote, the IRS has begun to accept digitized reciepts for taxes as well so scanning receipts can make it easier to get organized come tax season.

4. Business Cards
Being a college student, I don’t have many business cards that I need to hold onto but, I just use the camera on my iPhone to take a picture and then file them in Evernote for easy access like I do with receipts.  I also highly recommend copying the information into your address book so it can be easily access if you need it. There are also specialized apps on iOS and most mobile platforms to scan just Receipts and Business cards but, the cloud synchronization of Evernote and the fact that one app does many things, all in one app makes me choose to just use Evernote to simplify my life.

So, after I digitize these files, I organize the PDF files and put them in my Dropbox  which makes sure that they are accessible anywhere and a backed up so the files won’t be lost. Evernote takes care of everything stored there and syncs them across all my devices automatically.

My iPad was also a great help in going paperless, I use Good Reader to sync my Dropbox to my iPad for offline reading and  Evernote for accessing Evernote notes on my iPad. Both apps are also available on the iPhone as well for full portability.

The last question you probably have is: What do I do with the old papers? Anything with personal information should be shredded for security and then anything else, should be recycled. This way, you get rid of all the extra paper clutter from your home or office but get rid of it in an eco-friendly, green way. You may want to keep important paper files just to be safe but by digitizing them, you now have more options of what to do with them and more portability.

By following these steps, you should be able to eliminate much of the paper-clutter in your life and then as more arises, just continue to follow these steps to make sure no new paper clutter begins to accumulate. For example, when you have a receipt that you want to save from any e-commerce transaction, just save it as a PDF using the steps I mentioned above.  Also, remember that since you are relying on your computer even more for important information,  backup is critical. You should always backup to the cloud at least so that in case of a fire or anything else that would damage your work area, your files are safe. I highly recommend Backblaze which offers unlimited backup on internal and external hard drives for just $5/month.  Once you reduce the amount of paper you use in your life, you will find it easier to find information and less cumbersome.  If you also utilize the iPad, it will also be more portable because you can take what would be many heavy books full of papers in one lightweight, portable device.

Category: Communication, Technology |
Mike Gdovin | July 9, 2011
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Facebook and Twitter, Beware of Google Plus

Last week Google launched Google Plus, and I got an invite yesterday and really like it so far. It has a lot of features similar to Twitter and Facebook like: messages, commenting, +1 (which is like the “Like Button” on Facebook.), chatting and much more. It also has group chatting which they call Huddle and there are also “Hangouts” which are group video calls which would be great for business meetings or any other video conference call. There is also Circles which allow you to group friends so that you can choose who can see content you share on Google Plus and who’s content you want to see. This is done by selecting a Circle on the left side of the stream which shows post just from the circle. You also can choose which circles have access to posts you put on Plus as well so you could choose to share something just with friends and not family or visa-versa.  Facebook and Twitter both have lists, which have similar purposes,  but, they are difficult to create, while circles are easy to make and intuitive to use.

Of course since Google Plus is currently in a private beta test right now, so there aren’t many people on yet but, it has been growing a lot and I think that it will continue to grow with the even more new features that I’m sure are coming soon. It is a great social network but, there are two things that I want to be added to make Plus even better.

1. iOS Application: There is already a Google Plus application for Android and rumor has it there has been one submitted for approval for iOS so hopefully it will be coming soon.  In the meantime, there is a HTML5 mobile site but, there’s no push notifications, huddle or Hangouts all of which would be great to have on iOS devices.

2. Social Media Integration- I would also like it if I could post all my tweets in Google Plus like I do in Facebook, and also do the same with pictures I post on my Flickr Stream. One thing Google can do is merge Buzz and Google Plus since Buzz already has those features.

But this is a great new network which will give Facebook an Twitter a run for their money. The video Hangouts are a feature that Plus launched with that Facebook didn’t have until they recently announced a partnership with Skype bringing video chat to Skype. However, they still don’t offer group video chat and not nearly as compelling as hangouts. I highly recommend Google Plus and if you can get an invite, give it a try and see what Facebook, Twitter and all other social networks need to compete with.

Category: Internet, Websites |
Mike Gdovin | July 1, 2011
2 comments

Thinking of Upgrading to Final Cut Pro X? Wait!

As I mentioned previously, Final Cut Pro X did not receive the warm reception from editing professionals Apple probably expected. It lacks a lot of features that Final Cut Pro 7 had, in addition to the ability to edit legacy Final Cut Pro files. So the big question is: Should I Upgrade to Final Cut Pro X? Well, I would say for current Final Cut Pro users to wait until they add back the missing Pro features or at the very least, keep the old Final Cut Studio and also install Final  Cut Pro X. With the new version of Final Cut, you can install Final Cut Pro X and during the installation process, it will move the old version of  Final Cut to a folder called “Final Cut Studio” so that you can run both. If you can afford it, you might want to get the new software, just to learn it so that you can be prepared for when it gets straightened out and then continue to edit most projects on Final Cut Studio. If you are a Final Cut Express or iMovie user and are looking into take the next step into more advanced editing this might be a good choice especially for iMovie users, because Final Cut Pro X can import iMovie Projects. Final Cut Express users will like it for the new pro features, as long as they don’t have a need to edit old projects. For those who want to get into editing Final Cut Pro X would be a good way to get started but if you are a current Final Cut user, wait until the pro features are added back but consider buying Final Cut Pro X to learn it and get ready  for when it is all straightened out.

Category: Video Production |
Mike Gdovin | June 29, 2011
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Personal Update- 6/29/11

Even though its been over a month since my last update, not too much has happened. I have been home from College for over a month and a half not too much has happened. I have been working at Staples as an Easy Tech Associate selling computers and other electronics. I really enjoy working at Staples and helping people buy electronics. That has been keeping me fairly busy but that’s not all that I have been up to this summer.

I have written several blog posts including my coverage of WWDC and the release of Final Cut Pro X. I plan to write many more posts throughout the summer and possibly work on some other projects. You also may notice that this site also looks different, I gave Gdovin.net a much needed face-lift in the form of a new theme and have also integrated  my Flickr photo gallery as well!

I also got an iPhone, I have the 16 GB Verizon model. After no new iPhone was announced on WWDC and rumors began to emerge of Verizon replacing their unlimited data plans with tiered plans, I decided I would get the iPhone 4. As I mentioned in previous blog posts, I don’t see the next iPhone having any major new features, so I got the iPhone 4 and have really enjoyed having it. I sold my LG Env and iPod touch since my iPhone serves the purposes of both devices. This is first smartphone I’ve had and plan to write a blog about my experience. I also have been working on going paperless and as I mentioned previously, I will write a blog about that in the near future.

 

Category: Personal Update |
Mike Gdovin | June 21, 2011
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Final Cut X Release Thoughts

Well, it’s finally here, today Apple released Final Cut Pro X and released along with it Motion 5 and Compressor 4. Final Cut Pro X is available in the Mac App Store for $299 while Compressor and Motion are each available for $50. So instead of $1,000 for the total suite as it was previously, you could get the whole thing for $400. However, we lost a few applications from the previous suite. The last version of Final Cut Studio included DVD Studio for DVD authoring, Live Type, which I assume was integrated into Motion, Soundtrack Pro which is probably integrated into the advanced audio editor in Final Cut Pro X and Color which is also integrated into Final Cut Pro X in the new color correction tools. I hope that the three remaining applications still have all the functionality that the former apps had  in addition to the new features. But now, you no longer to switch apps.  If this is the case, which at least I think it is, you really just need to use Final Cut for editing and then, use Motion just to make motion graphics  and then Compressor to prepare it to distribution. This will save a lot of time from switching apps as you had to in previous versions of Final Cut Studio.

Final Cut Pro X along with the other new Final Cut apps is a nice looking upgrade I’m going to wait until I see full reviews before considering upgrading. Although, I must say that the new features like Auto-render and the new advanced media management make this really tempting to get. But for those who couldn’t afford the Final Cut suite previously, it’s much more affordable to get the newest version of Final Cut now that it costs 40% of what it used to. However, for those who are familiar with previous versions of Final Cut, as I am, Final Cut Pro X is completely different so  you will have to re-learn the all-new interface. The one thing that i’m waiting for is to find out whether or not it will work with projects from previous versions, which it should, but I cannot be without them. But it looks like a great new version of Final Cut is here!

Category: Apple, Video Production |
Mike Gdovin | June 14, 2011
2 comments

Should you Upgrade to OSX Lion?

At WWDC last week, Apple demonstrated the new features of the next version of OSX, Lion. Lion will be out sometime in July for $29.99 in the Mac App Store. Although there aren’t many major new features, Lion is a good upgrade though and features like Mission Control and Launchpad make it hard to resist for $30. You need to have at least a Core 2 Duo processor  and Snow Leopard to upgrade to Lion. If you don’t have that, you won’t be able to upgrade, if you have the system requirements and don’t have Snow Leopard yet, you can still buy a Snow Leopard disk and upgrade prior to upgrading to Lion, if you would like. But if you have a fairly new Mac, the $30 upgrade for having all the newest features is worthwhile.

I  haven’t yet decided if  I’m going to upgrade to Lion, mainly because my MacBook Pro has a Core 2 Duo processor which can run Lion, and although the new features are nice I don’t like running software that just has the minimum requirements, especially Operating systems because I’m afraid it could run slower than Snow Leopard. The other major factor preventing me from definitely upgrading to Lion is that I currently use Final Cut Studio 2 and it is unclear if it will still work on Lion and that is a very important piece of software which has to work so that is also preventing me from upgrading. I still may upgrade but, I want to make sure these things are cleared up first which I recommend to anyone who has crucial software to check if their  software is going to work (I would just recommend a Google search) and then if it works, upgrade to Lion.

If  you have a fairly new Mac and theres no crucial legacy software that you need to run like I do, I would recommend getting the upgrade it’s inexpensive and has a lot of great features. Although this isn’t a huge upgrade with major new features, OSX is already so advanced there isn’t that much you can upgrade, but it still is a great piece of software and should definitely considered by anyone eligible to upgrade.

Category: Apple |
Mike Gdovin | June 7, 2011
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WWDC 2011 Summary

Yesterday Steve Jobs and other Apple executives unveiled the three new products they previously mentioned in their Pre-WWDC press release and nothing else, for the first time in 5 years there was no new iPhone hardware announcement probably because there are not many new hardware features they can add, from what I can imagine. I think  they will release a minor upgrade in the Fall when iOS 5 comes out. So here is what was discussed at the 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference keynote yesterday:

Lion:

They reviewed the same 10 feature that they showed off at the Back To The Mac Event back in October.

1. Multitouch gestures- already exists in Snow Leopard,  but more in Lion.

2. Fullscreen Applications

3. Mission Control: expose and spaces combined

4. Mac App store (already out) – built into lion, in app purchases, push notifications and sandboxing

5. Launchpad: iOS app icons and folders to organize apps

6. Resume- restores  to where you  were before you quit; restore even works after a reboot and resumes right where you left off.

7. Autosave- automatically saves documents and saves multiple versions; can lock to prevent autosave if you don’t want it

8. Versions: autosaves multiple versions for easy reverting similar to Time Capsule

9. Airdrop: Peer to peer document sharing

10. New Mail app: similar to iPad mail app including conversation view and better search

Lion will be available in Mac app store only for upgrade  which is great because you don’t need to go out and buy a disk, further killing the disk. However, what are you supposed to do if your computer needs to have a fresh OS install? Are they going to ship flash drives instead of OS disks like they did with the new Macbook Air? You just have to buy once and then you can put it on up to 5 authorized devices for just $29.99 and will be available in July! Lion server will be an upgrade app available through the Mac App store for $50 there will be no Server edition!

 

iOS5:

This is one of the biggest upgrades to the iOS and gives us a lot of features that iOS users have wanted for a long time.

1. Notifications: they completely re-did the notification system. There is a notification center, that has all your notifications in one place so you don’t get spammed with push notification. To get to the notification center, you just swipe down from top and new notifications appear on the top of the screen. There is more information on lock screen with notifications and you can swipe a notification to get directly to it. There are also animated widgets in notification center including weather and stocks.

2. News stand: This is iBooks for newspapers and magazine subscriptions, you can subscribe to them in one convient place and they download new issues in the background.

3. Twitter: Twitter is now built into iOS  and iOS Apps can access twitter with a single login for the device.  Twitter is also integrated into Apple apps like camera like photo tweeting, too bad all the photo tweeting sites are shutting down.

4. Safari: Safari reader easily reading articles,taking multiple page articles and combining them into a single page and stripping out the ads. Reading list also has easy sharing via Twitter, e-mail and more and you can save articles and sync progress across devices using iCloud. Reading list like Instapaper to save later. Safari also added tabbed browsing which is a major improvement over the current multiple page system.

5. Reminders: Reminders is a new list making apps built in to iOS5  with reminders. It also has location-based reminders so that if you cross a geographic marker like going to the Supermarket it could remind you that you need to pick-up milk. This syncs with Outlook, Calendar, and iCloud.

6. Camera: The new camera app launches much fast which is huge for anyone who has used it and know how long it takes to launch. You can now also  take photos from lock screen. Some of  the other new features are optional  Gridlines, pinch to zoom, tap for autofocus and autoexposure and the ability to use the volume button to take a picture. You can also now edit photos directly in the camera app.

7. Mail: Mail gained rich text formatting (you you can send even more annoying messages from your iOS devices), addresses, flagging, search for the entire message, swipe to inbox for easier access, draggable addresses, S/MIME support for enterprise, a new system-wide dictionary and a new adjustable keyboard that will follow your thumbs and can be moved to work whatever way is best for you.

8. PC free: This is probably one of the biggest announcements and received the most applause, you no longer need a computer to setup your iOS device and upgrades also are smaller and can be done over the air meaning no more tethered upgrades. There is also Wifi sync so that you don’t need to connect your device or devices to your computer they automatically sync over WiFi.

9. Game center: You can now social network more with friends, have profile pictures and other social features. There is also  game recommendations with direct download and turn-based games support.

10. iMessage: iMessage is like Blackberry messenger for all iOS devices. You can send Text, photo, video, and contacts and iMessage also supports group messaging.  Other features include delivery receipts, text receipts and typing indication.

Some of the other features of iOS5 are AirPlay mirroring meaning if you have a Apple TV you can mirror your device screen on your TV without a HDMI cable and adapter) and  multitasking gestures. iOS 5 will be coming out in the Fall and I can’t wait for this amazing upgrade.

iCloud:

Apple is now shifting their digital hub strategy from your personal computer to the cloud and making the computer just another device like mobile devices. Devices will push content and syncronize them through the cloud through their new service: iCloud which is the much needed replacement for MobileMe and unlike it it’s predecessor, iCloud “Just works”. iCloud is made of 9 services:

The first three are the MobileMe replacements which have exchange-style sync these apps are: e-mail, contacts and calendar. Then, you can sync your iBooks and App store  purchase history and re-download them on any device for free.  iBooks will sync bookmarks like Kindle Whisper sync so you can pickup where you left off in your iBooks on any device. The next app is my favorite which is Wireless Backup which performs a daily backup to the cloud which backs up music, books, pictures, videos, App data and user settings automatically and can easily restore wirelessly as well. Documents in the cloud allows you to  sync documents through all devices and pushes changes to all devices and is built-in to the newest versionsPages, Keynote and Numbers for iOS. Photo stream pushes photos to all devices and even directly to iPhoto on the Mac or pictures photo on Windows. This is built into apps directly and you can also stream directly to Apple  TV. iCloud stores the  last 1000 photos on the devices and 30 days on the cloud, computers obviously can store all the pictures. The final service is iTunes in the Cloud which lets you access your iTunes purchase history and re-download purchased songs on up to 10 devices for free. iCloud is completely free for 5 GB of storage and will come out in the Fall with iOS 5. However, iTunes in The Cloud will be released as a beta with the next iOS update.

Apple’s final announcement was iTunes match which detects your ripped songs and songs you purchased from other store like Amazon and replaces them with a iTunes version in a high-quality AAC file. This will cost $24.99 per year so you can use the benefits of iTunes on The Cloud with all your songs. The one question I have is does this require you to continue to pay to keep receiving the benefits or will they replace the original track for good?

This was a great keynote despite the lack of hardware and I look forward to both new pieces of software and iCloud and will continue to cover them in future articles and will cover WWDC next year for more great Apple announcements.

 

 

Category: Apple |
Mike Gdovin | June 2, 2011
One comment

Maximum Laptop Screen Size

I recently was looking at laptops in a store and I was shocked by how big the 17 inch screen laptops were. It’s one thing to see a picture of a 17-inch laptop on a website, but in person, when you see various laptops right next to each other, you can really see that although it is a 2-inch (diagonal) difference, it makes a major difference in the size of the laptop. Personally,I never bought a  laptop with a screen larger than 15-inches; I think with that size, it give a big enough screen without being too bulky and cumbersome to travel with. Even though I don’t and haven’t carried my laptops with me a whole lot which is mostly a personal preference.  If you need a bigger screen than my recommended 15-inches and don’t mind it not being portable then I would recommend just getting a desktop computer so that it could be connected to as big of a monitor as you want. The one reason that I would recommend someone getting  a larger screen laptop is if you need it for graphic-intense purposes like graphic design, video editing or video games while your on the go. Those are just some of the tasks that benefit from the larger screen while some people need that type much workspace on the go, I think most computer users don’t. Another important reason is if you have issues viewing things that are small, then you might want to choose a larger screen laptop so you can make things large enough to be easily read.

If you want the best of both worlds, you could get a smaller screen laptop like maybe a 13 inch laptop  and then when you need a larger screen, you can  connect it to a larger LCD monitor so when you need the big screen when you work at a desk but if your traveling, you can just use the laptop’s monitor. This solution works great as long as you don’t need the large screen when you travel since, traveling with an extra monitor is even more cumbersome than a larger laptop. The other downside of this, is that the smaller screen laptops usually have less power for example, the top-of-the-line 13-inch MacBook Pro is still significantly less powerful that the entry 15-inch MacBook Pro. This is most likely because of the obvious fact that the smaller laptop has less space inside the case so parts have to be smaller in order to fit, and typically smaller  component are typically less powerful. This is a consideration that is important if you need you computer for high power tasks. But either way unless you have graphic-intense purposes for your laptop or if you have vision issues, I think that most people should get laptop with a 15-inch screen at the most to maximize usability as well as portability

 

Category: Computers |
Mike Gdovin | May 31, 2011
2 comments

WWDC 2011 Predictions

Well, to be honest, Apple more or less told us what the major announcements are going to be for this years Worldwide Developer Conference keynote; which Steve Jobs will be giving next Monday at 10 AM PST. This morning they put out a press release stating that they keynote will unveil OSX Lion, iOS5 and Apple’s new cloud service iCloud. I think these will just be the main announcements and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Steve Jobs has one of his typical “One More Things” at the end of the presentation. I think that the surprise announcement will be a new iPhone which rumor has it will be a minor upgrade called the iPhone 4s. So I will go through each of the announcements Apple confirmed and then my thoughts of what the iPhone 4S will be.

Mac OSX Lion- I think that Steve Jobs will give a review of the new features of Lion that were shown off at the Back To The Mac event in October and then demonstrate some additional features. I fully expect a release date and pricing to be announced during the keynote; I expect it to be an affordable upgrade like Snow Leopard was perhaps even for the  same $29. I also think that they distribute the upgrade through the Mac App store at the very least as an option if not the only method of upgrading since, that is how they have already been delivering the developer previews. As for time frame, I think that Lion will be available within the next month if not the day of the keynote which is the most likely release date.

iOS 5- The iOS 5 announcement will be a demonstration of the new features which are rumored to be a major upgrade to the iOS. The rumored features are: new notifications, widgets, much deeper cloud integration, gesture support and Near field communication (which allows users to use their phone to make payments). I think this could go one of two ways: either it is the typical WWDC where they announce new hardware and software and the software is  released the day of the keynote with the new hardware following a week or two later. Or, he other possibility is that this will be just a preview of the software and will be released in the Fall with a new iPhone at that time. I’m thinking it will be the standard WWDC with new hardware and software announcements but, there have been rumors of a Fall iPhone release because the Verizon iPhone 4 was released just a few months ago.

iCloud- I wrote about  what I think Apple will do for their cloud service in my last article. With a name like iCloud I think that it will be both a data service like MobileMe and hopefully over-the-air iOS sync as well as a music streaming service. If it was something like iTunes live, I might think it was just a music service but I think we will be getting both. The service will most likely have a free version as well as a premium version which will at least have a private beta release on the day of or very soon after the keynote.

iPhone 4S- If there is an iPhone announcement next week, I don’t think that it will be a major update but, instead a minor release like the iPhone 3Gs. I think the 4S will have the faster duel-core A5 processor like the iPad 2, maybe a better camera, and  maybe the addition of near field communication technology. There won’t be a new case design or any major new features, just a slight modification.

These are the four major predictions that I have for WWDC and think they are the most likely. Other things that we might see are: the release of Final Cut Pro X, updates to the rest of the Final Cut Suite, and possibly other software upgrades. However, many of these announcements are much less likely. Check back to Gdovin.net after the keynote for review of what did happened.

Category: Apple |
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