Technology Information: June 2012

Apple unveils new MacBook Pro with Retina display

Apple says its newest MacBook Pro laptop computer will be about as thin as its already-slim MacBook Air. It will also have a sharper display, akin to what the iPhone and the iPad now have. The MacBook Pro, with what Apple calls a 'Retina display', comes with a relatively high price tag of $2,199 or $2,799, depending on the configuration.

Apple says its newest MacBook Pro laptop computer will be about as thin as its already-slim MacBook Air. It will also have a sharper display, akin to what the iPhone and the iPad now have.

At 0.7 inches, the new MacBook Pro -- Apple's highest-end laptop -- ranks among the thinnest laptops in the market and will hit store shelves months before many Microsoft Windows-equipped "Ultrabooks."

Size The MacBook Pro with Retina display is 0.71 inch thick when closed, compared with 0.95 inch for the regular models. The Air is 0.68 inch at the thickest point, though it's as thin as 0.11 inch around the edges.

The MacBook Pro with Retina display features the latest Intel Core i7 quad-core processors up to 2.7 GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.7 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M discrete graphics, up to 16GB of faster 1600 MHz RAM and flash storage up to 768GB.

The new MacBook Pro Retina display is the world’s highest resolution notebook display with over 5 million pixels, 3 million more than an HD television.

Storage. The Air is lighter partly because it uses flash memory rather than a regular hard drive for storage. That means less capacity for the same price. (With inputs from HT Media)

Weight. The Air remains the lightest of them all, at 2.38 pounds for the smaller model and 2.96 pounds for the larger one. The Pro with the same-sized display as the larger Air is about 50 percent heavier, at 4.5 pounds. The Pro with Retina Display is 4.46 pounds, compared with 5.6 pounds for a comparably sized Pro.

Display. The Retina screen measures 15.4 inches diagonally. The regular MacBook Pro comes in 13.3- and 15.4-inch models, while the Air is available with 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch displays.

To slim down the Retina-equipped MacBook Pro to near-Air dimensions, Apple got rid of the DVD drive and the traditional spinning hard drive. Instead, it uses flash memory for storage. The model also lacks an Ethernet port for Internet connections.

The MacBook Pro, with what Apple calls a "Retina display," comes with a relatively high price tag of $2,199 or $2,799, depending on the configuration.

7 Google X Projects Turning Science Fiction Into Reality

We all love watching sci-fi movies. But wouldn’t it be better if all those futuristic gadgets became a reality? Google is one tech company that is working hard to blur the line between science fiction and reality. The company has a hush- hush lab headed by co-founder Sergey Brin somewhere in the Bay Area of North California. Called the Google X, the lab is said to be the den of 100 odd futuristic projects. Read on to find out
7 such Google X gadgets that will blow your mind.

1. Indoor Maps

Google maps are a godsend for the world. But the company cranked it up a notch by introducing Indoor maps. ‘Indoor maps’ give users the indoor layout of certain airports and malls in USA and Japan. The user is marked by a blue do. It becomes easy to maneuver your way using the Indoor maps.

This was one of the first launches by Google X and was minimally publicized. The company launched apps for smartphones with the indoor map feature too. The idea sounds promising and let us hope that Google goes on to map our whole world for us.

2. Google Glasses

‘Project glass’ has also had its share of publicity. Google is in the process of developing an augmented reality head-mounted display. In simple words they are developing a pair of glasses that run on android platform and will provide its users with a hand free display of information from the internet. it will work through voice commands similar to Apple’s Siri.

Sergey Brin recently made an appearance on a television show with his Google Glasses. The glasses are said to be “a heck of a lot further than people have imagined.” Do we already see a queue for their release?

3. Bat Cave

A running joke among Googlers is that Sergey Brin is Batman. We know he is cool enough to pull off being Batman but he is called so because he is apparently developing something similar to a ‘batcave’

There is a storage place where he works on his secret projects. No other person can access the repository but a few who have had a glimpse inside say that there were blueprints of buildings and power supply plans. Nobody knows what Brin might be designing, but it could be a new headquarter or a new data storage building. Whatever it may turn into, Brin has earned the reputation of the secretive superhero that has the capability to shock the world.

4. Robots

Google X laboratories are a playground for robots. These engineering marvels roam about freely on the campus doing activities we thought only humans were capable of doing.

Sergey Brin turned half human and half machine when he attended a course at NASA campus as a robot. While he was miles away at a computer that was capable of steering the Brinbot, his robot self went around different groups taking part in discussions with attendees through video conferencing. Now this sounds like a scene right out of star trek.

5.Google +

With Facebook raking in millions how Google could be behind? Sergey Brin along with Google’s senior vice president Vic Gundotra developed Google+ a social networking site. Launched back in 2011 the site achieved about 200 million users in this short time span.

Google is experimenting with the site by adding video hangouts and integrating search. The company has recently acquired Meebo to boost Google+. So we can expect it to become the next big social network.

6. Web Of Things

Technology has already made us lazy and Google is all set to add another level to that by developing a concept called the web of things. It will enable most of our home appliances to sense our needs and act accordingly. The devices will be connected to the web all the time and human beings can remote control them.

If this technology becomes reality we will see our dinner plates updating out status, refrigerators ordering our grocery and coffee makers brewing our coffee on their own. Wouldn’t that be a blessing?

7. Self driving Cars

The Google self driving cars turned into a reality recently with the state of Nevada giving them licenses. This is one Google X project that has caught on a lot of attention. The team lead by Google engineer Sebastian Thrun has designed these cars that drive themselves.

The Google cars are said to be better drivers who get ‘honked at more for following traffic rules’! These cars could get the alarming accident rate down in the US. The future of transportation has arrived courtesy Google X.

Apple to bring Siri to iPad, integrates Facebook

Users will also be able to "Like'' movies and apps in Apple's iTunes store, Apple executive Scott Forstall said in San Francisco at Apple's annual developers' conference.

SAN FRANCISCO: Fresh off a disappointing initial public offering, Facebook is getting a big boost from Apple, which is building the social network deep into its iPhone and iPad software.

With the next version of Apple's software, users will be able to update their Facebook status by talking to their phones.

Users will also be able to "Like'' movies and apps in Apple's iTunes store, Apple executive Scott Forstall said in San Francisco at Apple's annual developers' conference.

Siri, Apple's voice-command application, will add a host of new languages, including Spanish, Korean and Mandarin Chinese, Forstall said. "She" will also be able to launch applications and movies. She will also run on iPads for the first time.

Apple says the new software, iOS 6, will launch this fall. It updates the software annually, usually coinciding with the release of a new iPhone.

Even as Apple lends Facebook a hand, it's cutting off one of its links to Google Inc., which makes a rival suite of software for smartphones. IOS 6 will use Apple's own Maps applications rather than Google's. The application will come with traffic reports and turn-by-turn navigation.

Apple also said the new version of its Mac operating system, Mountain Lion, will go on sale next month for $20. The update brings features from Apple's phone and tablet software, like the iMessage texting application, to the Mac.

Microsoft, Apple competitor's when it comes to computer software, is also making Windows more like its phone software, with the release of Windows 8 later this year.

Mountain Lion will also bring dictation to Macs. Users will be able to input text by talking to the computer, in any program. This is already a feature of Microsoft's competing Windows software.

On the hardware side, Apple showed off a laptop with a super-high resolution Retina' display, setting a new standard for screen sharpness.

The new MacBook Pro will have a 15-inch screen and four times the resolution of previous models, Apple executive Phil Schiller said.

Apple already uses Retina displays - with individual pixels too small to be distinguished by the naked eye - in its latest iPhones and iPads.

On the phones and tablets, the Retina display is a standard feature. On the MacBook, it's an expensive upgrade. The new MacBook will cost $2199 and up, $400 more than the non-Retina MacBook with the same-sized screen.

Apple's other MacBooks are being updated with the latest processors from Intel.

Missing from Monday's presentation was any mention of Apple's ambition to get into making TVs. Analysts had speculated that Apple would at least update the software on the Apple TV, a small box that connects a TV set to iTunes for movie downloads, as a prelude to perhaps launching a fully integrated TV set.

Top 10 Alternatives To Google Search

Google is the big daddy of all the search engines. But when it comes to topic specific searches, Google may not give you the best results. There are various other search engines designed to derive results for topic specific search. Here is a list of 10 such search engines that can act like the perfect alternative to Google.

1. Guruji.com

Launched: October 16, 2006

Known for: specifically designed for India

Launched by Anurag Dod and Gaurav Mishra, two IIT Delhi engineers, guruji.com is a search engine designed especially for the Indian user. It scores over Google because of its language advantage. Users are able to type in their own vernacular languages instead of transcribing the vernacular term in English.

The search engine also provides users the services for searching images, services within a specific city, music, cricket, movie timing, and finance. Guruji.com will work because its search is region specific.

2. isoHunt

Launched: January 2003

Known for: One Of The Best BitTorrent Index

IsoHunt is a BitTorrent index with more than 1.7 billion torrents in its database. It is one of the most famous torrent search engines. Thousands of torrents are added to and deleted from it every day. Users of isoHunt perform over 40 million unique searches per month. The site has been involved in several lawsuits regarding copyright infringement. But the site founder, Gary Fung wishes to work with the content owners.

January 16, 2007, isoHunt was taken off-line but after a major hardware upgrade, the site resumed normal operation by January 22, 2007

3. Answers.com

Launched: 1999

Known for: Gives Consolidated Responses Taken From Several Sources

Answers.com was created in 1999 by Bob Rosenschein in Jerusalem, Israel. The website was then known as GuruNet.com which later acquired the Answers.com domain name. This search engine enables knowledge exchange which includes wiki WikiAnswers, ReferenceAnswers, VideoAnswers, and five international language Q&A communities.

This search engine intelligently and automatically integrates and retrieves information from disparate sources and delivers the result in a single consolidated view to the user. The searches can be made based on several categories.

4. Wolfram Alfa
Launched: May 15, 2009
Known for: Answering Factual Queries By Computing The Answer From Structured Data

Wolfram Alfa is where you go to find answers to very specific questions. Instead of giving a list of websites as answers this site gives users the specific responses. The website was developed by Wolfram Researches. Wolfram Alpha is based on the computational platform Mathematica, written by British scientist Stephen Wolfram in 1988.

Apple’s Siri uses Wolfram Alpha for 25% of its searches.

5. Pipl.com
Launched: October 2007
Known for: The Best Search Engine To Search People

As the name sounds this search engine lets users look for people. The searches are done based on the name and location provided by the searcher. Its results are much more accurate than those of Google is because they use ‘deep web’.

The website not only produces links to all the profiles on social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, blog mentions, and photos on Flickr but also finds mentions of the searched name in public records, including property records, SEC filings, and birth databases. It also finds e-mail addresses and summarizes “quick facts” about the person.

6. Yummly.com
Founded: January 2009
Known for: The Ultimate Guide For Food, Cooking And Recipes

Yummly is the quintessential search engine for food and recipes. It uses semantic search for search and ‘understands’ food on a variety of levels, allows users to search by ingredient, diet, allergy, nutrition, price, cuisine, time, taste, meal courses and sources, and ‘learns’ about users based on their likes and dislikes. Yummly uses this information to categorize food for search and make recommendations.

Yummly was founded by David Feller and Vadim Geshel in early 2009. Its headquarters are located in Palo Alto, California.

7. Scour.com
Founded: 1997
Known for: The Perfect Mix Of Search Plus Social Networking

Founded in 2007, Scour was originally named Aftervote.com, a search engine with an AJAX backbone with one mission: to deliver the most relevant results as efficiently as possible. Almost exactly 1 year later, Aftervote was acquired by Internext media, owner and operator of the ABCSearch Network and re-branded to Scour.com.

Scour’s aim is to find the perfect mix of search and social networking. Users are provided with a platform to vote and comment on relevancy.

8. Dogpile.com
Founded: November 1996
Known for: ‘Fetching Results’ From Other Search Engines

Dog pile is a metasearch engine that ‘fetches’ the best results from other search engines such as google, bing and yahoo. They also get results from video and audio hosting websites. The search engine is owned by InfoSpace Inc.

The idea behind creating dogpile.com was to save the user’s time by bringing the best results from other search engines together. The time-saving philosophy even inspired their name. In rugby, players come together and pile on top of one another. This is exactly what Dogpile does – it compiles all the best results in one easy-to-access place.

The In July 2010, Dogpile was ranked the 770th most popular website in the U.S., and 2548th most popular in the world by Alexa.

9. Goby.com
Founded: September 2009
Known for: Search Engine For Travel Specific Queries

Goby.com is a search engine for the traveler. It lets users search through 400 categories for things to do while they travel. Users are asked to input the kind of activity they want, their desired location and the desired date. Related results are shown accompanied with the maps of the area. Users can also share information using the Facebook connect option.

Goby was co-founded in July 2008 by noted database pioneer, Michael Stonebraker, Mark Watkins, Vince Russo, Andy Palmer, and Mujde Pamuk. The company received series A funding from Flybridge Capital Partners and Kepha Partners. The company is headquartered in Boston, MA.

10. Everystockphoto
Founded: April 2006
Known for: Search Engine For Photos

It is license specific search engine for photographs. It allows users to tag, rate, comment on or collect photos. The website has a collection of licensed photos accumulated from several sources which are presented in a systematic format to users.

The website is owned by Vibrant Software, located in Vancouver, Canada. The site is also connected to twitter. They also have their own blog and news feed.

5 Creepy Technologies That Will Disturb You Soon

We all love technology. The way it makes our lives better, the way it makes our work easier, the unimaginable things it perform and so on. But have you ever thought about how these advanced technologies are invading our lives.

Well, if you never heard about the below listed technologies, keep an eye on them. Because today or tomorrow, they are going to pop up into your “private” life, making others aware everything about where you are, who you're with, what you are looking for to even your feelings.

Environmental Tracking: We Know What You're Doing

Google’s latest patent for targeting the ads involve one interesting technology capable of determining not just where you are but what you are doing based on ambient sounds, temperature, and other environmental conditions.

For example, you might call some service may be Google, and thanks to the sounds of the crowd and an announcer, the service knows you're attending a soccer game on a cool night. Google could then send you a targeted ad, such as a coupon for dinner near the stadium or a deal on sweatshirts at the stand if the weather drops below 60 degrees.

But think, the same technology can be used for ill purpose, it could let others know where you go and what you do when you get there.

Mood and Voice Recognition: We Know How You Feel

Fujitsu and Nagoya University have recently invented a technology capable of "reading" certain moods and intentions. Specifically, the technology aims to nullify the phone phishing scams by picking up on keywords from the executor and by measuring the voice and pitch of the victim. If it detects many faults, then, you will get a scam alert that the call is fraud.

Using voice recognition and analyzing voice patterns for stopping crime is cool. However, imagine a bad guy using it while trying to sell you some fraud and he is being able to change his pitch and convince you as his phone tells him whether you are calm, distressed, or defensive.

Facial Recognition: We Know What You Look Like

Companies are competing to develop reliable face-recognition software for some time now. Facebook, has now facial recognition to identify your friends in photos. Another startup called Faced.me recentlyannounced a technology through which you select a picture and the software identifies the person in the picture in about a second. After that, you can connect with that user on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Under secured use, this kind of face-recognition technology seems to be cool. But it turns ugly when used as a tool for quickly connecting with someone by snapping their picture secretly and quickly learning someone's identity from that single photo, whether found on the Web or taken with a camera

Augmented Reality: We See What You See

The idea behind augmented reality is you point a camera-enabled device at something and instantly get information about it. For example, you could point a device at a still photo from an event. The device could identify the scene and start playing a video clip about the event. Google, meanwhile, developed Google glass through which you could, for example, look down a city street and see digital details overlaid on the screen such as street names, areas of interest, and directions.

Augmented reality will prove good for many applications based on entertainment, education, and business. But with it you're pretty much letting a third party "see" in real time where you are, what you're doing, who you're with, and so on.

GPS Tracking: We Know Where You Are

Last year, some mall owners faced public objection after announcing plans to discreetly track shoppers via their personal mobile devices. The purpose was to collect a precise view of customer foot traffic, which in turn help retailers improve the layout of their businesses. But they rolled back the scheme after being accused of violating customers' privacy.

This technology is good that it provides detailed, yet anonymous data on foot traffic, which could be used for designing better stores, stadiums, city streets, and so on. Unfortunately, it turns bad when a company could track you anonymously based on your device, collecting identifying information about you that could be sold or stolen.

Rare Apple-1 PC on sale

Apple l, the first Apple computer made by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976 is set to be auctioned on June 15 by Sotheby's.It is expected to earn between $120,000 and $180,000. It is believed less than 50 of the original Apple l are still in existence, with only six known to be in working condition.

A visitor takes a photo using an IPhone of a fully functioning Apple I computer (C) on display with its interfaces at Sotheby's in New York, June 8, 2012. Sotheby's is to offer during an auction on June 15, 2012 a rare working Apple I. The Apple I, the first Apple computer made by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, was produced at 200 units, with only some 50 units surviving and six known to be in working condition.

The Apple l, the first Apple computer made by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, is seen on display at Sotheby's on June 8, 2012 in New York City. The computer was an integral component to the the personal computing revolution; it is set to be auctioned on June 15, 2012 and is expected to earn between $120,000 and $180,000. When originally sold, the monitor, keyboard and cassette interface were sold separately. It is believed less than 50 of the original Apple l are still in existence, with only six known to be in working condition.

Facebook App Center: All You Need To Know

Last night Facebook held a press conference in San Francisco, where they announced their new App Center for iOS, Android and for web as well.

According to Facebook, this App Center is a place to find new Social Apps. This App center has already been rolled out for the web but is yet to make its debut in iOS and Android devices. We’ve noticed that all the web, canvas and mobile apps are listed in this App Center.

Facebook said this in its blog post: “The App Center is launching with over 600 apps, including new apps like Ghost Recon Commander, Jetpack Joyride, and Ghosts of Mistwood.” Facebook also revealed these stats about how users use applications:

More than 230 million people play games on Facebook every month

More than 130 games on Facebook have more than 1 million monthly active users.
More than 4,500 timeline apps have launched since f8 in September 2011.
Facebook drove people to the Apple App Store 83 million times in May.
Facebook drove people to iOS apps 134 million times in May (someone who already has the app and is directed back to it from Facebook.)
As of May, seven of the top 10 grossing iOS apps and six of the top 10 Android apps have integrated with Facebook.

This App Center will give you suggestions for installing new apps according to the apps that you’ve used before and which apps your friends are using. You’ll be able to browse the App Center through the Facebook app installed on your respective iOS or Android devices. Facebook has also created a webpage for browsing the App Center via a personal computer.

How it works?

Simply log into your Facebook account, type into your browser’s URL and you’ll be forwarded to the new web-based App Center of Facebook. There you’ll be able to see recommended apps, apps that your friends are using, top rated apps, and trending apps as well.

Then all you have to do is choose an App that you want to install, click on that app and you’ll be forwarded to the detail page of the app you just selected.

The app detail page is the one stop shop for all the information on an app. Here you can find how many users are using that app, what are the ratings, how many friends of yours are using it, who is the publisher and on which platform you can install it (like Android, iPad, iPhone, or Facebook.com).

If you are browsing the App Center via a computer, the App Center gives you an option to send that app to your mobile (if it is compatible to a mobile device). So, all the apps built for Android, iOS or the mobile web has a “Send to Mobile” button on the App detail page

Whenever an app requires a download, you’ll be forwarded to the install page on Google Play or Apple App Store.

This App Center of Facebook has also fueled rumors about Facebook developing its own mobile phone, which now seems to be true because there was no real need for Facebook to launch a separate app store. But whatever the case is, Facebook’s App Center opened new gates for developers for showcasing their free and paid apps. After all, Facebook is (sort of) a home for around 800 Million people.

Unboxing the Nokia E63 NAM smartphone

Outstanding smartphones and tablets at MWC

With Mobile World Congress in full swing there are tablet and smartphones announcements everywhere. Highlights from the showroom floor include the Nokia 808 PureView, the Huawei Ascend D quad, the HTC One X, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, ASUS’s 3-in-1 PadFone, the Samsung Galaxy Beam and an unnamed Fujitsu smartphone. Unless otherwise noted, pricing and release dates have not been announced.

A smartphone with an incredible high-resolution camera The Nokia 808 PureView is somewhat of an amazing anomaly in the smartphone world with its massive 41MP image sensor and in-house-developed pixel over-sampling technology. The Nokia 808 PureView is expected to launch in Europe in May.

The world’s fastest quad-core smartphone Huawei calls its Ascend D quad smartphone the “world’s fastest quad-core smartphone.” The device is powered by Huawei’s own K3V2 quad-core processor and boasts a slimline (8.9mm thick profile) design. The Ascend D quad series will launch in China, Australia, Europe, Asia-Pacific, North and South America, and the Middle East in Q2 2012.

A waterproof quad-core smartphone with a 13.1MP camera and fingerprint sensor Despite not having an official name for its flagship quad-core device, Fujitsu has been busy showing off its waterproof prototype smartphone.

A tablet for those who love to draw and take notes with a stylus Samsung has taken its tablet-smartphone hybrid Galaxy Note and turned it into a 10.1” tablet that works in conjunction with a stylus. The Galaxy Note 10.1 can be used with your finger or with an advanced pen-input called the S Pen.

A smartphone with a built-in projector The Samsung Galaxy Beam may not be a high-end smartphone but it does come with its own built-in 15 lumens projector.