AirDrop..iThink, iShare -^|^- Steal my iPhone and I will make it a $$$ iRock :)

We all mourned the loss of visionary and creative genius, cofounder, chairman and CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs. He surrounds himself with exceptionally bright people who reciprocate and further elevate his thinking to revolutionize computer, music and mobile phone industries. 

But with the new products coming to market today, it's evident that his visions and creativity still lives and grows within Apple. I'm not going to go into details of the new products since 2011. We have certainly seen improvement and further innovations as recently as few weeks back. The new iPhone5S and iPhone5C is just absolutely beautiful...and iOS 7 is just too awesome. Maybe Android users would disagree..thats ok because its not my intention to compare iOS and Android today - not to mention Apple vs Samsung. iOS 7 is a true representation of simplicity in a new dimension, with the most complex computing platform (as of now iPhone 5S is on top of the list of most powerful computing in a mobile phone) simplified with human factor in mind. 

Some of the top features in iOS 7, among many includes: a new control center, simplified and enhanced Safari, robust multitasking, inbuilt Apple AirDrop, more friendly Siri, superb features in camera & a new simplified presentation of Photos, secure iCloud Keychain, new level of privacy with application level controls, builtin encryption of emails and personal information (when passcode is enabled), autoupdate for apps, FaceTime audio calls, iTunes Radio...etc. One of the most notable, and most important feature is additional security in Find My Phone. With iCloud and Find My Phone Service enabled, even if you phone gets stolen and completely erased or iOS gets replaced, it can never be used again without your credentials. That's certainly a great feature!  

I got carried away...so I'm not going to talk about the new iPhone models. I'm going to talk about 2 features; Find My Phone and AirDrop.

New level of security in Find My Phone service makes it practically unusable in case it gets stolen or lost. The new "activation lock" secures your device in case of theft. In addition to passcode set on your device, your iCloud username and password is required to enable and disable Find My Phone in iCloud, and the activation lock which is required to restore iOS or reactivate with a different iOS installation. This new level of security prevents a tech-savvy thief from tweaking your device to a usable device, which can be done in previous versions of iOS. Thanks to Apple! 

Make sure you always have this service enabled. It's free and would take only minutes to setup. And also do remember to turn this off, or completely erase all content and settings when selling your device to someone else...it's as good as a very expensive rock otherwise ;)

AirDrop brings "no setup" file sharing functionality to Apple mobile platform; easy and seamless way to transfer digital assets between compatible devices (Recent Macs with OS X 10.7 Lion or higher, iPhone 5S, 5C, 5, iPad 4th Gen, iPad mini and iPod touch 5th Gen running iOS 7). Limited to recent devices, unfortunately AirDrop between Macs and iOS is not supported yet. Prior to iOS 7, file sharing among iOS was quite a hassle with some third party applications with limited support.

On the technology side, AirDrop is a proximity limited..meaning, two devices has to be in Bluetooth range for this to work, which is about 10 meters. Bluetooth is used to discover AirDrop enabled devices and establish connection, following which an ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection is established between the devices for a much more robust transfer, which is very useful when you're sharing large files such as videos. 

It's very easy to setup. Drag the control center, up from bottom of the screen. Click AirDrop which is turned off by default. You've 2 options; contacts only and everyone. With "contacts only" selected, your phone will be discoverable to only those people who are in your contacts. Both devices has to be discoverable for AirDrop to work. Now sharing is a click away..open the file you want to share, click share and you'd see airdrop enabled users around you. Click the person you want to share with...once they accept, it's done. Easy!

You can AirDrop many things such as photos, videos, notes, attachments in emails, PDFs, contacts, and Safari pages among others. I'm hopeful that third party apps would integrate AirDrop soon. Downside is that it doesn't work on any model prior to iPhone 5, even with iOS 7. 

How I wish Apple Stores would allow me to AirDrop money and in return I get their products AirDropped....iPhone 5S. No harm in dreaming, eh ;) 

Predicting 2008 - Forthcoming Technologies

Many new technologies have exploded throughout that year 2007, including Facebook, iPhone, Nintendo Wii. A recent technology from NeuroSky which translates brainwaves to commands, making it possible for any electronic appliance to be controlled by just concentration, is a major breakthrough in 2007. It’s hopefully going to be on the market this year. You can read more about it on Neo’s Blog. Using nano-technology to boost battery power for laptops, iPods, mobile phones or other devices that use lithium batteries, is a notable technology demonstrated in 2007. This technology is s not on the market yet. I came across this interesting article about technology prediction for 2008 in BBC website. Here's the link to the article.

This year is going to be remarkable in the development of technology. BBC has predicted 5 major technologies that could be BIG this year: the web to go, Ultra Mobile PCs, IPTV, WiMax, and Mobile VoIP. Technologies that could blur the online and offline world have been announced in 2007. Google announced Gear which would enable online web content to be taken and used offline. Adobe’s Air used an EBay desktop application built using Air that could do much of the legwork required to setup an auction offline making the content to be posted automatically when the user connects to the Internet. Microsoft Silverlight has the ability to run desktop applications in a web browser. Zoho, creator of free online office package and other applications, use Google Gear to enable users to use these applications quite similar to desktop applications. Still these technologies are not used much, but BBC predicts that many more applications that use these tools will come out this year. A lot more is to come yet!!!

Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) has not taken off yet. One of the most talked about UMPCs is ASUS EEE, a sub-£200 laptop about the size of a hardback book, weighing less than 1Kg. The laptop runs Open Source Linux and uses 4GB of flash memory instead of hard drive. The manufacturer predicts to sell 5 million in 2008. Samsung has shown off chips that could be used to make 120GB memory cards. We could see more laptops coming out with flash memory instead of hard drives this year.

IPTV has not been used much because of the internet bandwidth. Internet bandwidth is presumed to improve this year and IPTV is predicted to capture the market soon. BBC is also has a product coming out, iPlayer, which allows people to catch up BBC’s output over the internet. WiMax, a technology that delivers high speed broadband over long distances, is used quite widely in United States. Although it has not been used much in many other countries, BBC predicts WiMax growth to be notable in 2008. Voice over IP (VoIP) is becoming quite famous for making calls over the internet. Some mobile phones are VoIP enabled with services like Skype. More mobile phones manufactures are introducing VoIP enabled phones and it could grow rapidly this year.

What other technologies can we expect this year? It’s quite unpredictable, what they could come up with. Narrowing the divide between online and offline world, and NeuroSky’s recent technology that translates brainwaves could be the most notable. Don’t you wish just thinking what you’ve to write in this blog, instead of actually having to typing everything? I do!! How much time could you save? My dream is to use the PC/laptop, lying on the bed, wearing a glass with NeuroSky's technology. So that I dont' have to use the mouse, type, sit here looking at the LCD/TFT. How cool could that be? :P There is so much to come. It’s going to be a big year for techno geeks making it much harder to keep up with new technologies that it has ever been. I’m still lagging behind trying to keep up with last year’s developments. Don’t expect any less!!!

Cheers!!

Hamemtt

Picture taken from guardian.co.uk

Nanotechology to Boost Battery Life 10 Times

I want to use my laptop for several hours, maybe a day, without connecting to the wall outlet. Don't you? I hate it when my iPod dies, when I so badly need it. Don't you wish, you don't have to charge your mobile phone so regularly? Technology is promising these advancements, and it's very close.

Stanford researchers have demonstrated how they could use nanotechnology to boost battery life. They used lithium batteries which lasts 10 times longer with  the new technology. Lithium battery is most commonly used to power laptops, iPods, mobile phones, and many other electronic devices we use everyday. Electric cars or solar panels could produce more electricity with this new method using silicon nanowires.

These researchers are going to form a company or work in partnership with a battery manufacture for mass production using this technology. It might bring up the price of these devices a bit, but I hope it will go down real soon as any other technology does. How about lots electric cars on the streets next decade, too soon? Drive whole day, and connect to wall outlet in the garage at night. Wow!!  A major breakthrough in electronics, we cannot accept any less. :)

Cheers!!

Hammett