We waste time looking for a perfect lover instead of creating a perfect love
Sitting next to you doing absolutely nothing, means absolutely everything to me.
it's ridiculous, it's been months and for some reason I just can't get over us.. and I'm stronger than this; enough is enough; no more walking around with my head down... I'm sooo over being blue crying over you I love you
You never leave my mind. Even when I have a million things to worry about
The words "I love you" are not for anyone to say from their mouth to their beloved one. It's a feeling that you can whisper to each other from heart-to-heart without saying it aloud
The best boyfriend you'll have isn't the best looking, the funniest, or the richest. It's the one that makes you feel gorgeous, hilarious, and like a million dollars. He makes sure you know he loves you.
Tired of trying, sick of crying Yeah I'm smiling, but inside I'm dying.....
Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it's better to leave them broken... than try to hurt yourself putting it back together.
It takes a couple seconds to say Hello, but forever to say Goodbye.
I don't use excuses, don't ask why.. it's just a breakdown, it happens all the time. so get out of my face, don't even try You want to help me? Just let me cry
I didn't want to admit it, it was easier to lie, And hide the hurt and emptiness, to smile instead of cry
Trying to forget someone you love, is like trying to remember someone you never knew..
Love begins with a smile grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop...
Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad, but its the middle that counts the most.
Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy
Everyone's going to hurt you.. sooner or later you just have to decide who's worth going through the pain
Sometimes when I say "Oh, I'm fine" I want someone to look me in the eyes and say "tell the truth"
When someone really loves you. they will never hurt you. And if they do, you can see it in their eyes that it hurts them too...
When she cries the makeup runs from her eyes And it spills the truth about how she fells inside
It's not how bad the problem is, but how badly it's hurting the person who has it
It's hard to answer the question "what's wrong?" when nothings right...
My eyes burn from these tears you think you'd learn over theses years Good things won't last forever.
Look behind the mascara and the shinny lipstick look a little deeper and maybe you will see that this girl you are looking at really isn't me
I'm mad at myself, not at you. I'm mad for always being nice, always apologizing for things I didn't do..
So sorry for the person I became. So sorry that it took so long for me to change. I'm ready to try and never become that way again cause who I am hates who I've been..
There's a smile on my face but I don't know why its there I put it on to satisfy all the people that don't even care
We are all attracted to people all the time. what it is that attracts us to others? and what the others find attractive about you?
These are some of the questions our team are going try to and answer in this series of videos.
With millions of people to choose from, finding that perfect someone should not be that difficult. But the media, social pressures, and human nature itself have turned it into a mystery.
We are surrounded by manipulative images, celebrities, and glossy perfection. We are given rules about dating through books, websites, and the press. They are all pressure us to confirm to an ideal of what is attractive.
Google has been serving up Groupon-style deals through their Google Offers service for over a year. They offer city-specific deals in each area they support, and allow users to buy these offers, and use them later. For example, a user would spend $15 for a voucher that can be used to buy $30 worth of t-shirts.
Until today, these offers were delivered on the Google Offers website, by email to subscribers of a certain city, or via a Google Offers app for Android. Today, Google released a Google Offers iPhone app that will allow users to browse through and purchase offers. App users can see featured offers, browse through offers by category, check out offers in different cities, and view nearby offers on a map. The app makes purchasing an offer easy, and then lets you see your active offers, when they expire, and how far away they are.
Unfortunately, the Google Offers app is only available in the U.S., and Google only supports offers in selected areas. If Google does offer its deals in your city (click here for list), go ahead and download the app here.
Spotify, an online music streaming service that allows users to browse through a large catalog of music, and play any song on-demand, has announced today that it is getting the business of streaming radio. In the new Spotify iOS app, users will be able to choose a song, artist, album, or playlist, and Spotify will create a "radio" station based on that selection. The station will play songs that are similar to the selection made originally, and will alter its selections based on likes and dislikes users give to specific songs. This seems like an open attack at Pandora, which does exactly the same thing, and has been doing so for close to 6 years.
Spotify is free to use in the U.S., with premium subscriptions available, but the iOS app only offers limited features to non-paying customers. The new iOS app, which is out now, offers the new radio feature to all costumers, even non-paying ones, however, non-premium costumers will occasionally be interrupted by audio ads.
Spotify's radio service differs from Pandora is a few ways. For example, users can save songs played on the radio in one tap. They can also create new stations based on their friends shared playlists.
Radio on Spotify
This new Spotify feature can be found in their iOS app on both iPhone and iPad, which can be downloaded here.
Microsoft has always been a company devoted to creating great software. They are the makers of the Windows operating system, which runs on many devices, all manufactured by other companies. The company has announced today that it will no longer rely solely on partners to create the devices that run their operating system.
Microsoft announced a tablet today, that will run on the latest edition of Windows, Windows 8. This device will be manufactured directly by Microsoft. Windows 8 is thought to be the first version of the popular operating system that is really fit for tablet devices, and it seems to make sense that Microsoft would create a device that fit well with the new operating system.
Microsoft is calling this new tablet device Surface. The Surface tablet sports a 10.6 inch screen with a 16:9 ratio, a slick design and some unique features. The design clicks nicely with the look and feel of the operating system that runs on it. Windows 8 features a design mentality called metro, which features minimalistic fonts, colors and tiles. The minimalistic approach continues on the tablet itself. The device has a nice magnesium casing and a boxy but appealing design. It also sports a built in kickstand that allows it to stand upright.
Like the Apple iPad, the Surface tablet has a cover that attaches to the device magnetically. The thing that sets Surface's cover apart is that, when open, it doubles as a touch-sensitive keyboard and track-pad that will transform the Surface into a more laptop-like device. With the kickstand open, the device will sit on a table and be usable just like a laptop. Microsoft will also offer a higher-end keyboard cover that offers a more physical keyboard-like experience.
The Surface tablet will be available in two models. The first, and lower-end model, will run on the ARM processor, and will be called the Surface RT, as it runs on Windows RT, the only version of Windows 8 that will be compatible with ARM processors. This model will weigh in at 676g., and will be 9.3mm thick. It will sport a microSD slot, a full-size USB 2.0 port, and Micro HD video, and will be available in either 32 or 64 gigabyte versions.
The higher-end model will be called the Surface 8 Pro, and will run Windows 8 Pro, using an Intel processor. It will be a bit heavier and thicker than the RT version, at 903g. and 13.5mm. The 8 Pro version will sport a microSDXC, a full-size USB 3.0 port, and Mini DisplayPort video. The 8 Pro version will be available in 64 and 128 gigabyte versions. The 8 Pro version will also have a stylus for handwriting that will lock on to the device magnetically.
The announcement of this device seems to be a step in the right direction for Microsoft. It seems like they really got everything right this time. However, there is no pricing announced yet, and that may be a large factor in the success or failure of the Surface device. There was no word on when the Surface will be available, but it can be assumed that its launch will coincide with the launch of Windows 8.
The video below was created by Microsoft to showcase some of the features of the new tablet.
If you’re updated with the latest news about SEO world and Google updates, I am sure that you already knew about the main reason why website usually banned because of having a low value of quality linksor unethical strategy.
Surprisingly, iAcquire was banned by Google from purchasing paid links for their clients. iAcquire is known as the biggest SEO agency that works with large companies. Unfortunately it is now banned by Google 1 week ago because of overpriced services of link buying strategy. (read more )
Some webmaster can’t blame iAquire for buying links because clients are expecting instant results. Even some of big names in SEO services are also doing it.
Some are asking, what if you’re competitor has these 10 people to report your website in Google? Does Google gives an automatically action to banned your website without weighing what is reality?
With this news, we should really be careful in SEOing our websites because Google frequently updating.
We seek with the safest and still effective link building strategy.
White Hat SEO? Or Grey Hat?
White link builders says:
Yes! That’s what I am talking about! My competitors who keep on doing an evil grey hat will someday noticed by Google. Even if they have big investment doing it, I will someday get on the top searches. The good thing with this is I can totally sleep sweet at night without worrying. I am sure that Gods of Google will give me rewards …
REALITY:
Millions of webmasters keep doing “Grey hat strategy” to take risk without worrying with the future of Google updates. There are many of them have succeeded on top and earned tons of money; because of it, they are now contented with doing “Grey hat strategy”. The advantage of these grey hat link builders is the knowledge of what they have learned and when will they get penalized. They will start again with their experiment but will create link building intelligently. “There are many webmasters keep on experimenting how to catch the easiest way to be on top”
Penguin Update : (Observation of Some Webmasters):
Lot of webmasters hates the penguin update.
Some websites are punished because of paid links. Some doing paid links but still on top.
Penguin also hit some innocent sites, along with a lot of spammy ones.
Paid links? Why? – I think it’s only forbidden when you obviously keep on linking with many blogroll links or purchasing links not related to your website & buying links to the website that get deindexed. But if you have relevant article content with one of your keyword(anchor txt) e.i for post paidt or guest blog post in a relevant/trusted websites/blog are the safest way to do. – ces, webmaster says.
Feel free to comment voice out your idea about SEO penguin.
Obviously there are many rumors spreading out recently because people are very curios with the upcoming of iphone5. As I can recall it’s been 2 years since this iPhone 5 saw a hardware redesign. Till now apple users, geek gadgets are very excited to see the iphone5.
Gadget Geek catches latest gossip about Apple products from their “secret source” inside of the apple campus. The newest rumor is that iPhone5 will have a taller length of body and have 4 inches screen. Clearly that this is a good fight with the latest android phones that out in the market. (Android phones with large screen). Of course it will have good graphics resolution. Some gadget review website says that it is builds of ioS6 that add a fifth row of icons to the iPhone’s home screen.
“What we’ve learned: the new iPhone will indeed be longer and thinner than the iPhone 4 and 4S. Approximate measurements are 125mm by 58.5mm by 7.4mm—a 10mm jump in height, nearly 2mm reduction in thickness, and virtually identical width. According to our source, Apple will make one major change to the rear casing, adding a metal panel to the central back of the new iPhone. This panel will be flat, not curved, and metal, not ceramic. Our artist’s rendition provides a rough idea of what this change will look like; it echoes the current-generation iMac design, to be sure.” From ilounge.com
From reliable rumors, Iphone5 will be released in this coming of September or October 2012. The said rumors are reliable from ilounge.com – which are very updated with iphone products. Also, it will have a small dock connector.
A picture posted by 9to5Mac
I hope I can purchase iphone5 when it’s already released. It would be definitely good and always be useful. Lot of apple fans is waiting for it. Apple phone is very reliable and worth buying. Nowadays it is known with overall good performance compared to other phones.
It's not unusual for seniors who live on their own to worry about accidents and other potentially life-threatening incidents. Even a relatively minor slip-and-fall can prevent them from contacting loved ones or emergency services, and the situation can become much more dangerous in the event of an urgent medical crisis. With a reliable medical alert system, however, seniors can gain a sense of security and continue to enjoy an independent lifestyle.
A medical alarm system can immediately inform family members, neighbors, or emergency personnel during an emergency, or call attention to potential health hazards that need to be immediately resolved. These systems usually consist of a main base console and a wireless alert device such as a watch or pendant worn by the user. Some medical alert system devices not only enable users to quickly get in touch with their caregivers, family members or emergency services, they can also store critical medical information such as existing medical conditions, allergies, and blood type – information that can help save a person's life during an emergency.
Seniors who use a medical alarm system can benefit from two-way live communication directly from their watch or pendant. Should they fall down, suffer an injury, or encounter other emergencies inside or outside their home, they can speak to a family member or neighbor right away, and signal help with just one push of a button.
Modern features such as remote call-answering are also available, which adds more functionality compared to older-generation personal emergency alert systems. Most systems also provide a dedicated 911 button to help users quickly contact emergency medical personnel during a crisis.
Independent seniors as well as those with chronic medical conditions can also effectively maintain their safety and overall well-being through a medical alert system. Some devices, such as the SilverCare system from Orange Dot Technologies, can alert the wearer of medication schedules and doctor's appointments.
Learn more about Orange Dot Technologies and the SilverCare Personal Safety Alert Device by visiting OrangeDotTech.com, or by calling 877-745-8701.
Womanalways loves shinny and eye-catching stuff. They always like to wear and carry stuff that has good looks. For all the gadget lover females, it’s the time to grab a Cute Bear Necklace Flash Drive. Everyone wants to have a USB these days and this ladies special USB is a must have for females.
One exciting featuring is the flash drive is made from shinny crystals. Bear shape of this gadget gives it a dashing look. It comes with a necklace so need to carry it in hands, just wear it around the neck and you will grab attention.
The Coolest Bear Necklace Flash Drivecomes with a 16GB USB 2.0 interface which is large enough to carry movies and all other important documents.
The features of BearNecklace Flash Drive include:
·Stylish butterflyshape design.
·USB 2.0 interface.
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·Weight is just 67g.
AboutHKColorDigital Workshop:
HKColorDigital.com offer their customers with wide range of USB products which would be more helpful in all kind of works and also in every occasions. Through the websitebest and high quality electronic gadgetscan be found.
Guest post by Catherine Lee In the business world the most widely used format for sending and receiving data is the PDF. To edit PDF documents, we need to have an editor specially created for editing PDF documents. Wondershare PDF Editor is a very useful tool used for editing PDF files easily and efficiently by using a set of intelligent algorithms. It enables users to edit PDF files like they would using a word processor, with a simple user interface. The user can understand the program easily and use this it for any business purpose. Currently in the market, there are several PDF Editors available. But how is Wondershare PDF editor different than all the others out there? The difference between other editors and Wondershare is having the functionality of more expensive Nitro or Adobe products, nested within a scaled-down, minimalist, more intuitive design framework. You can edit and insert many objects, like images, hyperlinks, and more very easily. The main key differences that make Wondershare PDF Editor stand out are:
User friendly interface.
Less clutter
Every feature offered by the editor is directly available to you. No need to search around the menus.
There are many unique features found in Wondershare PDF Editor. These include:
Unique Style Of Annotation: You can effectively maintain various types of elements with intelligent behavior of Wondershare PDF Editor..
The Total Text Editing feature is very useful for editing text, easy alignment, and having the Word environment.
Objects like images of any format, links, tables, and more can be easily added, modified and rendered.
One click conversion to a Word document of any format (2003, 2007, 2010).
Support for 17 languages.
You can easily split and merge PDF documents.
The system requirements for running Wondershare PDF Editor are:
You can get Wondershare PDF Editor at Wondershare.com/pdf-editor. For Windows, it is totally free to use Wondershare PDF Editor beta with full feature for 100 days. You can also download PDF Editor beta to update it to the upcoming paid version for 50% off. For Mac, You can Try or Buy it for $49.95 (Version 1.6.0)
The world is moving away from traditional mediums. Fast. Mail have become email. Phone calls have become Skype. And now newspapers are slowly going digital. But going to each newspaper or magazine's website or app can be difficult and inconsistent. That's where PressReader comes in.
PressReader is a multi-platform service that brings over 2100 newspapers and magazines directly to your iPhone. Or any other platform you could think of. PressReader offers apps for Android (Gingerbread or Honycomb), the BlackBerry Playbook, the Apple iPad and iPhone, and both Windows Phone and Windows 7 Slate PC. They also offer apps for both Windows and Mac, as well as legacy versions for both BlackBerry phones and Windows Mobile phones. So, yeah, they've got an app for any device you'll ever use. And all the devices you'll never use. And they're all free apps.
But what exactly does PressReader do? It allows you to subscribe to and read specific newspapers and magazines on your device. They offer over 2100 newspapers from 95 countries and 54 languages. But it's not like they're all newspapers you've never heard of, from countries you've never been to, in languages you have no idea how to read. It's not like that at all. PressReader's got some big name newspapers, like The Washington Post, the Daily Mail, and USA Today, among many others.
Playing with the iOS version of the app, I found it simple and easy to use. It has a nice slider at the bottom of the page, allowing for users to swipe through specific sections of the newspaper. You can attempt to read the newspaper straight, by zooming in on the specific article you're interested in. However, tapping on a headline will bring up the story in an extremely easy-to-read format. Any continuations of the story on a different page will appear there, right below the first half of the story, as a convenience.
The iOS app allows you to print either the screen you are seeing, or the entire page in the newspaper via AirPrint. You can use text-to-speech to listen to your newspaper, and the voices used are surprisingly un-robotic, although they can err on certain things. For example, instead of saying "10 million dollars", when it sees $10M, it would say "10 dollars M".
Overall, the app seems pretty nice. I found no shortage of reading material, and most of the newspapers I'm interested in were available, including my hometown paper, The Denver Post. The one paper obviously missing is The New York Times.
If you only read a couple newspapers and magazines regularly, checking to see if they have individual apps might be a good idea, as they'll be more personalized and work better with that specific paper than PressReader. However, if you read many papers regularly, or even if you just want to be able to look up an article any time someone mentions one, PressReader is a definite download.
$0.99 is not too bad for a single issue, but buying that every day might be a bit expensive. $29.95 a month is pretty expensive, and while it may be worth it if you're subscribing to many newspapers or magazines, if you just want to subscribe to one or two, it's probably too expensive. It'd be nice if there was some sort of middle ground where one could subscribe to one or two newspapers for something less than $30 a month, and more affordable than buying each issue for $0.99.
PressReader is a great service overall, there are a few flaws, but if you can get past them, PressReader could be a great way to digitize your newspapers, slowly shy away from paper, and simplify your newspaper and magazine consumption.
A new option has recently appeared in Google searches, called Applications. When clicked, it searches for the query searched, but looks specifically for apps, searching sites like Apple.com (for iOS apps), Google.com (for Android apps), CNET.com, and more. You can choose from a few sites to search specifically, as to find certain apps that may be compatible with your device, or apps from a site you specifically trust.
A full-size screenshot of the new feature in action can be seen here.
Instagram, the extremely popular photo sharing app, has finally been released on Android. As we reported earlier, the Android version of this popular app has been in the making for a while, but hit Google Play (formerly known as the Android Market. Confusing, right?) today.
This app brings the same photo-sharing functionality as the iOS version did. It allows you to take or import a photo, a cool retro filters, and share it out for the world to see.
The app has been so popular, in fact, that Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram, said that it had been logging 2,000 new sign-ups a minute. Not bad.
The app can be downloaded for free from Google Play here. More information can be found at instagram.com.
Will you be downloading the free new Android app? Why or why not? Answer in the comments.
A minor update to the Kindle Fire, Amazon's color touch-screen multimedia tablet, began rolling out to users today. Version 6.3 adds a few minor features, including a new toolbar for sharing notes and passages from inside a book. Another, more major feature, is called "Book Extras". Book Extras brings extra written content into the book you are currently reading, including glossaries or biographies. Another new feature extends the rental period for movies. The rental period now starts from when you start playing the movie, as opposed to from when it's downloaded. Textbooks will now retain formatting and page numbers, to make it easy for a Kindle-using student to keep up with the class in regard to textbook page numbers. Personal documents added to the device will now be synced with Amazon Cloud.
Rooters, do not fear. Although the update will revert the rooting process taken, the xda-developer forums already have rooting instructions for the latest update. You should be prompted to install the update on your Fire, but if you are not, you can download it from Amazon's website here.
Everyone is very excited to know the introduction date of iphone5. We have heard lots of rumors but then it is still unofficial. I saw uncertain information about this and I just love how the information goes well saying
“On 04-09-12
it* will yet again set a new standard.
*It is powerful, innovative and unique. Its name
contains only 3 vowels (i,o & e) and ends in #5. ”
A Clue
^
Here's a clue:
It debuted in 2007.
Today it is used worldwide.
Its the gold standard in its field.
Its market-share has doubled annually.
The name of its inventor begins with an "S".
Many have tried competing; none have succeeded.
Soon it could positively impact millions of people worldwide.
A new update; Windows Phone SDK 7.11 is now ready to support 256 MB devices and generally to be fit with the windows 8 preview that already announced in public. We all know that most apps are becoming more delicate to the memory space and with this update, it is vibrant that developers will do their very best to sustain the useful specs of windows phones.
According to the company, this update goal is to the compability of Windowns 8, a patch for Visual Studio, bug fixes for the Advertising SDK, additional language support and capability for IntelliSense to switch between RAM configurations.
The new, third-generation iPad, over-viewed in this Gadgetator article, will hit store shelves tomorrow, March 16th.
If you want to get your hands on one as early as possible, waiting in line at an Apple store, as Mashable says, may not be the best choice. Apple stores will start selling the new device at 8:00 AM, local time, while 24-hour Walmarts will begin to hand out the device at 12:01 AM. The Best Buy at Union Square in New York City will also have the iPad at midnight.
It seems interesting that Apple would allow retailers to begin to sell the iPad before they themselves do, but it may just be another noticeable difference in Apple in the post Steve Jobs era.
Will you be waiting at a Walmart or Best Buy at midnight for the newest iPad? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Instagram is a popular iOS app that allows you to share photos with friends and followers, as well as add cool retro-looking filters to the photos you share. Click this link to read more about Instagram.
Android users have never been able to use Instagram, as it is an iOS exclusive. Well, was an iOS exclusive.
At South by Southwest, a geek conference in Austin, Texas, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom announced that Instagram would be coming to Android pretty soon. He says that currently, the Android Version is in a private beta testing stage, and will be "coming soon".
"In some ways, it's better than our iOS app. It's crazy", said Systrom. In addition, he announced that the iOS version of the app, which was featured as Apple's iPhone App of the Year in 2011, had reached over 27 million downloads.
Although we still don't know exactly when Android users will gain access to this great service, as Instagram co-founder says, it's coming soon. So Androiders, hold on, soon you too will be able to take vintage square images.
We've all been waiting for the next generation iPad. Rumors about it have been floating around basically since the launch of the iPad 2, and now those rumors are all either confirmed or denied. Mostly confirmed.
With the new iPad, Apple is really focusing on graphics and images. The new iPad sports a Retina display, Apple's proprietary term for a display that, when viewed at a normal distance, the pixels are not discernible. The Retina display is also found in the iPhone 4 and 4S, as well as the iPod touch 4th generation. Although the iPad has less pixels per inch (PPI) than the iPhone and iPod touch, it has a 2048x1536 resolution, making it a higher resolution than even an HDTV.
The A5X Chip
The graphics are also greatly improved, as the new iPad boasts the Apple A5X chip, a dual-core system-on-a-chip with quad-core graphics. This makes high-quality games look much better, and really works well with the new Retina display.
The third feature focusing on images and graphics is the new camera built into the iPad. The new iPad sports the same front-facing Facetime camera as the previous iPad 2, however, the rear-facing camera is greatly improved. The new rear-facing camera, or, as Apple calls it, the iSight camera, features a 5MP sensor, as well as the same 5-lens optics system as the iPhone 4S, to give much-higher quality images than the iPad 2. The iSight also allows for 1080p HD video-recording, with built-in video stabilization. The interesting thing about the new camera is that Apple is calling it an iSight camera. The iSight name was originally used for the front-facing web-cams on the Macs, and was later replaced with the name "Facetime". Until now it had seemed that the iSight brand was killed.
The three features above all really work together to give users a great visual experience on the new iPad.
The iPad now also supports 4G LTE, on both Verizon and AT&T, giving much faster wireless speeds than before. One will have to buy an iPad specifically for the 4G carrier they want to use, and the 4G iPads also support 3G, if one does not live in a 4G LTE supported area.
The features above are all known to be battery-drainers, but Apple claims the same 10 hour battery life as the previous iPads, while only making the iPad a bit heavier and thicker, at 9.4mm thick, and 1.44 pounds heavy.
Voice Dictation Built into the Keyboard
Another new feature in the iPad is Voice Dictation, powered by Siri technology. Although you won't get the same Siri personal assistant you find in the iPhone 4S, the new iPad does have a voice dictation feature built into the software keyboard, so you'll be able to dictate text instead of typing in any app.
Along with the iPad announcement, Apple announced updates to Garage Band and iMovie for the iPad, as well as a completely new app to complete the iLife suite. iMovie now allows for you to create, as the Apple press release says, "Hollywood-style trailers as you shoot HD video". Garage Band also has a new feature, called Jam Sessions, which allows a group to wirelessly connect and record music together. iPhoto, a new Apple app, allows grouping of photos and a great editing feature. All three of these apps cost $4.99 each.
The new iPad is available for pre-order now, and will be available to buy March 16th. The cost remains the same, starting at $499, so if you want one, pre-order now at Apple.com. The iPad 2 is also still available, at a reduced price of $399.
Interestingly, Apple is veering off from it's naming scheme, as they are calling the latest version of the iPad "The New iPad", instead of iPad 3 or iPad HD, as some thought it would be called. It will be interesting to see whether or not Apple continues this new way of naming devices with the next iPhone.
What do you think? Will you be buying a new iPad? Let us know in the comments.
Apple, the creator of both the Macintosh OS, running on all Mac computers, as well as the more popular iOS, that runs on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, has announced yet another update to the Mac OS that will bring both of those platforms closer together.
Until July 2011, the Mac and iOS platforms were completely separate. They had no similar user interface features, the underlying operating system was completely different, and the Apple-made apps were different from Mac to iOS. In July 2011, the next version of Mac OSX, the operating system Mac computers run, called Lion, was released. Lion brought some of the best features from the iPhone to the Mac. These weren't so blatantly iOS features, but more like an iOS-like experience coming to the Mac. After that point, the two platforms became more and more alike, with some of the major Mac apps coming to iOS, and more.
Recently, Apple announced the newest version of Mac OS, Mac OSX Mountain Lion, which will be coming this summer. The main idea of Mountain Lion is that Apple is bringing the best features in iOS to the Mac, and this time they're doing it straight out. As the Apple press release says, "OS X Mountain Lion... brings popular apps and features from the iPad to the Mac..."
Officially, Mountain Lion brings over 100 new features to Mac OS X, but many of those will go completely unnoticed. Any iOS user will probably recognize most of the main features in Mountain Lion.
Firstly, iChat has been replaced with an application Apple calls Messages. Messages allows you to use AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger, and Google Talk, as well as iMessage, the free Apple service originally introduced on iOS that allows users to send and receive text messages without using SMS. Mac users and iOS users both text each other, making iMessage a fluid messaging experience. The beta version of iMessage is available as a free download from the Apple.com website.
Reminders, an app also introduced on the iOS platform is becoming a Mac feature. It allows users to create simple lists with tasks to do, as well as set a time for the app to remind you to do that tasks. A user can create custom lists, and fill them with tasks, as well as set a priority, repeat date, and add notes. With iCloud, all Reminders data is synced from the Mac the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, and vice versa. Reminders had been integrated into iCal, but is now a separate and more simple app.
Notes is an app that has been on the iPhone since the very beginning, but is coming to the Mac as its own app for the first time. In addition to the simple note-taking abilities found in iOS, Notes for the Mac also allows you to add photos, videos, links, rich text, and bullet-points to make a more-robust note-taking platform. In Notes for the Mac, a user can also drag a note and pin in to the desktop.
Notification Center is another feature taken straight from iOS, and it looks almost exactly like the iOS version. Notification Center allows one to see and keep track of everything happening on the Mac. Any new emails, messages, calendar events, reminders, system updates, and even notifications from third-party apps will pop up non-intrusively at the top of the screen, and to see all of them in one glance, one can just swipe left from the right side of the track-pad, to view the Notification Center. Clicking on a notification will bring you directly to the proper place in the app.
One of iOS's least noticed feature is the ability to share photos, links, and more to various places with a tap. Mountain Lion brings this same feature to the Mac, called Share Sheets. Mountain Lion apps that integrate this feature will have the familiar share button, that, when clicked, will drop down a list of sharing options specific to that app.
Game Center, Apple's social gaming network launched originally for iOS is now coming to the Mac. Game Center allows players to play multiplayer games from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, and now a Mac. Game Center also shows what games your friends are playing, and recommends new games a user might like. Game Center allows you to challenge friends in games, check out leader-boards, and earn achievements.
AirPlay mirroring, a feature found in the iPad that allows a user to hook up his device to any AirPlay supported device (such as an Apple TV), and mirror exactly whats happening on the screen, and put it on the big-screen, is now coming to the Mac in Mac OS X Mountain Lion. This can be used to play games, watch movies, or give conference presentations, all from the Mac.
A new feature that is specific to the Mac is called Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper is a security program for the Mac. Security is something that many think is not a problem on the Mac. For many years, due to the Mac's smaller market share, hackers and virus-authors kept away from the Mac, because Windows had a much bigger audience. However, with the Mac's market share slowly rising, bad guys see more potential in writing viruses for the Mac, and therefore viruses are becoming more common. Also, since there is this idea that the Mac is secure, users don't have software to protect themselves, and therefore are more likely to fall for a virus. Windows users, on the other hand, know of these insecurities, and are more likely to protect themselves. Gatekeeper is a really important feature that will help protect Mac users as malware becomes more common.
Mountain Lion is available now to registered Apple developers, and will be coming out for the public sometime this summer, but, like Apple did last time with their FaceTime app, a beta Messages app is available as a free download from the Apple website. Like Lion previously, Mountain Lion will probably be available as an upgrade for a relatively low price.
This is a major step forward in the evolution of the Mac OS X platform. Apple seems to be very set on slowly bringing Mac OS and iOS closer together. High-end users may feel that their desktop experience is dying, but all of the features found in the previous versions of Mac OS X are still there. Making Mac OS more like iOS is not taking away from the experience of a high-end user.
The iPhone and iPad seem to be very easy-to-learn platforms. Many people who could never operate a desktop computer can work an iPad fine, because of its intuitive user interface. Making Mac more like iOS can also be a great business move for Apple, because users who may never have touched a computer, but are familiar with iOS, will be more likely to get how to use a desktop computer, because of its similarities to the iPad.
This announcement not only lets us see what the next version of Mac OS X will look like, it lets us see Apple's strategy for the Mac, one that we will see in versions of Mac OS X for years to come.
Microsoft is calling this new tablet device Surface. The Surface tablet sports a 10.6 inch screen with a 16:9 ratio, a slick design and some unique features. The design clicks nicely with the look and feel of the operating system that runs on it. Windows 8 features a design mentality called metro, which features minimalistic fonts, colors and tiles. The minimalistic approach continues on the tablet itself. The device has a nice magnesium casing and a boxy but appealing design. It also sports a built in kickstand that allows it to stand upright.
The Surface tablet will be available in two models. The first, and lower-end model, will run on the ARM processor, and will be called the Surface RT, as it runs on Windows RT, the only version of Windows 8 that will be compatible with ARM processors. This model will weigh in at 676g., and will be 9.3mm thick. It will sport a microSD slot, a full-size USB 2.0 port, and Micro HD video, and will be available in either 32 or 64 gigabyte versions.
PressReader is a multi-platform service that brings over 2100 newspapers and magazines directly to your iPhone. Or any other platform you could think of. PressReader offers apps for Android (Gingerbread or Honycomb), the BlackBerry Playbook, the Apple iPad and iPhone, and both Windows Phone and Windows 7 Slate PC. They also offer apps for both Windows and Mac, as well as legacy versions for both BlackBerry phones and Windows Mobile phones. So, yeah, they've got an app for any device you'll ever use. And all the devices you'll never use. And they're all free apps.
The third feature focusing on images and graphics is the new camera built into the iPad. The new iPad sports the same front-facing Facetime camera as the previous iPad 2, however, the rear-facing camera is greatly improved. The new rear-facing camera, or, as Apple calls it, the iSight camera, features a 5MP sensor, as well as the same 5-lens optics system as the iPhone 4S, to give much-higher quality images than the iPad 2. The iSight also allows for 1080p HD video-recording, with built-in video stabilization. The interesting thing about the new camera is that Apple is calling it an iSight camera. The iSight name was originally used for the front-facing web-cams on the Macs, and was later replaced with the name "Facetime". Until now it had seemed that the iSight brand was killed.
The iPad now also supports 4G LTE, on both Verizon and AT&T, giving much faster wireless speeds than before. One will have to buy an iPad specifically for the 4G carrier they want to use, and the 4G iPads also support 3G, if one does not live in a 4G LTE supported area.
