Apple’s Visionary Redefined Digital Age « Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger

New York Times RemembersSteven P. Jobs, 1955-2011Apple’s Visionary Redefined Digital Age

Steve Lohr contributed reporting.

Steven P. Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple who helped usher in the era of personal computers and then led a cultural transformation in the way music, movies and mobile communications were experienced in the digital age, died Wednesday. He was 56.

The death was announced by Apple, the company mr. Jobs and his high school friend Stephen Wozniak (left) started in 1976 in a suburban California garage. A friend of the family said the cause was complications of pancreatic cancer.

Mr. Jobs had waged a long and public struggle with the disease, remaining the face of the company even as he underwent treatment, introducing new products for a global market in his trademark blue jeans even as he grew gaunt and frail.

He underwent surgery in 2004, received a liver transplant in 2009 and took three medical leaves of absence as Apple’s chief executive before stepping down in August and turning over the helm to Timothy D. Cook, the chief operating officer. When he left, he was still engaged in the company’s affairs, negotiating with another Silicon Valley executive only weeks earlier.

“I have always said that if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s C.E.O., I would be the first to let you know,” mr. Jobs said in a letter released by the company. “Unfortunately, that day has come.”

Tributes to mr. Jobs flowed quickly on Wednesday evening, in formal statements and in the flow of social networks, with President Obama, technology industry leaders and legions of Apple fans weighing in.  “For those of us lucky enough to get to work with Steve, it’s been an insanely great honor,” said Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder. “I will miss Steve immensely.”

A Twitter user named Matt Galligan wrote: “R.I.P. Steve Jobs. You touched an ugly world of technology and made it beautiful.” Eight years after founding Apple, mr. Jobs led the team that designed the Macintosh computer, a breakthrough in making personal computers easier to use.

After a 12-year separation from the company, prompted by a bitter falling-out with his chief executive, John Sculley (right), he returned in 1997 to oversee the creation of one innovative digital device after another — the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. these transformed not only product categories like music players and cellphones but also entire industries, like music and mobile communications.

During his years outside Apple, he bought a tiny computer graphics spinoff from the director George Lucas and built a team of computer scientists, artists and animators that became Pixar Animation Studios.

Starting with “Toy Story” in 1995, Pixar produced a string of hit movies, won several Academy Awards for artistic and technological excellence, and made the full-length computer-animated film a mainstream art form enjoyed by children and adults worldwide.

Mr. Jobs was neither a hardware engineer nor a software programmer, nor did he think of himself as a manager. He considered himself a technology leader, choosing the best people possible, encouraging and prodding them, and making the final call on product design.

It was an executive style that had evolved. in his early years at Apple, his meddling in tiny details maddened colleagues, and his criticism could be caustic and even humiliating. But he grew to elicit extraordinary loyalty.

“He was the most passionate leader one could hope for, a motivating force without parallel,” wrote Steven Levy, author of the 1994 book “Insanely great,” which chronicles the creation of the Mac. “Tom Sawyer could have picked up tricks from Steve Jobs.”

“Toy story,” for example, took four years to make while Pixar struggled, yet mr. Jobs never let up on his colleagues. “‘You need a lot more than vision — you need a stubbornness, tenacity, belief and patience to stay the course,” said Edwin Catmull, a computer scientist and a co-founder of Pixar. “In Steve’s case, he pushes right to the edge, to try to make the next big step forward.”

Mr. Jobs was the ultimate arbiter of Apple products, and his standards were exacting. over the course of a year he tossed out two iPhone prototypes, for example, before approving the third, and began shipping it in June 2007.

To his understanding of technology he brought an immersion in popular culture. in his 20s, he dated Joan Baez; Ella Fitzgerald sang at his 30th birthday party. his worldview was shaped by the ’60s counterculture in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he had grown up, the adopted son of a Silicon Valley machinist. When he graduated from high school in Cupertino in 1972, he said, ”the very strong scent of the 1960s was still there.”

After dropping out of Reed College, a stronghold of liberal thought in Portland, Ore., in 1972, mr. Jobs led a counter-cultural lifestyle himself. He told a reporter that taking LSD was one of the two or three most important things he had done in his life. He said there were things about him that people who had not tried psychedelics — even people who knew him well, including his wife — could never understand.

Decades later he flew around the world in his own corporate jet, but he maintained emotional ties to the period in which he grew up. He often felt like an outsider in the corporate world, he said. When discussing the Silicon Valley’s lasting contributions to humanity, he mentioned in the same breath the invention of the microchip and “The Whole Earth Catalog,” a 1960s counterculture publication.

Apple’s very name reflected his unconventionality. in an era when engineers and hobbyists tended to describe their machines with model numbers, he chose the name of a fruit, supposedly because of his dietary habits at the time.

Coming on the scene just as computing began to move beyond the walls of research laboratories and corporations in the 1970s, mr. Jobs saw that computing was becoming personal — that it could do more than crunch numbers and solve scientific and business problems — and that it could even be a force for social and economic change. And at a time when hobbyist computers were boxy wooden affairs with metal chassis, he designed the Apple II as a sleek, low-slung plastic package intended for the den or the kitchen. He was offering not just products but a digital lifestyle.

He put much stock in the notion of “taste,” a word he used frequently. It was a sensibility that shone in products that looked like works of art and delighted users. great products, he said, were a triumph of taste, of “trying to expose yourself to the best things humans have done and then trying to bring those things into what you are doing.”

Regis McKenna, a longtime Silicon Valley marketing executive to whom mr. Jobs turned in the late 1970s to help shape the Apple brand, said mr. Jobs’s genius lay in his ability to simplify complex, highly engineered products, “to strip away the excess layers of business, design and innovation until only the simple, elegant reality remained.”

Mr. Jobs’ own research and intuition, not focus groups, were his guide. When asked what market research went into the iPad, mr. Jobs replied: “None. It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want.”

Early Interests

Steven Paul Jobs was born in San Francisco on February 24, 1955, and surrendered for adoption by his biological parents, Joanne Carole Schieble and Abdulfattah Jandali, a graduate student from Syria who became a political science professor. He was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs.

The elder mr. Jobs, who worked in finance and real estate before returning to his original trade as a machinist, moved his family down the San Francisco Peninsula to Mountain View and then to Los Altos in the 1960s.

Mr. Jobs developed an early interest in electronics. He was mentored by a neighbor, an electronics hobbyist, who built Heathkit do-it-yourself electronics projects. He was brash from an early age. As an eighth grader, after discovering that a crucial part was missing from a frequency counter he was assembling, he telephoned William Hewlett, the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard. mr. Hewlett spoke with the boy for 20 minutes, prepared a bag of parts for him to pick up and offered him a job as a summer intern.

Mr. Jobs met mr. Wozniak while attending Homestead High School in neighboring Cupertino. The two took an introductory electronics class there.

The spark that ignited their partnership was provided by mr. Wozniak’s mother. mr. Wozniak had graduated from high school and enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, when she sent him an article from the October 1971 issue of Esquire magazine. The article, “Secrets of the Little Blue Box,” by Ron Rosenbaum, detailed an underground hobbyist culture of young men known as phone phreaks who were illicitly exploring the nation’s phone system.

Mr. Wozniak shared the article with mr. Jobs, and the two set out to track down an elusive figure identified in the article as Captain Crunch. The man had taken the name from his discovery that a whistle that came in boxes of Cap’n Crunch cereal was tuned to a frequency that made it possible to make free long-distance calls simply by blowing the whistle next to a phone handset.

Captain Crunch was John Draper, a former Air Force electronic technician, and finding him took several weeks. Learning that the two young hobbyists were searching for him, mr. Draper had arranged to come to mr. Wozniak’s Berkeley dormitory room. mr. Jobs, who was still in high school, had traveled to Berkeley for the meeting. When mr. Draper arrived, he entered the room saying simply, “It is I!”

Based on information they gleaned from mr. Draper, mr. Wozniak and mr. Jobs later collaborated on building and selling blue boxes, devices that were widely used for making free — and illegal — phone calls. they raised a total of $6,000 from the effort.

After enrolling at Reed College in 1972, mr. Jobs left after one semester, but remained in Portland for another 18 months auditing classes. in a commencement address given at Stanford in 2005, he said he had decided to leave college because it was consuming all of his parents’ savings.

Leaving school, however, also freed his curiosity to follow his interests. “I didn’t have a dorm room,” he said in his Stanford speech, “so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned Coke bottles for the 5-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.”

He returned to Silicon Valley in 1974 and took a job there as a technician at Atari, the video game manufacturer. Still searching for his calling, he left after several months and traveled to India with a college friend, Daniel Kottke, who would later become an early Apple employee. mr. Jobs returned to Atari that fall. in 1975, he and mr. Wozniak, then working as an engineer at H.P., began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club, a hobbyist group that met at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park, Calif. Personal computing had been pioneered at research laboratories adjacent to Stanford, and it was spreading to the outside world.

“What I remember is how intense he looked,” said Lee Felsenstein, a computer designer who was a Homebrew member. “He was everywhere, and he seemed to be trying to hear everything people had to say.”

Mr. Wozniak designed the original Apple I computer simply to show it off to his friends at the Homebrew. It was mr. Jobs who had the inspiration that it could be a commercial product.

In early 1976, he and mr. Wozniak, using their own money, began Apple with an initial investment of $1,300; they later gained the backing of a former Intel executive, A. C. Markkula, who lent them $250,000. mr. Wozniak would be the technical half and mr. Jobs the marketing half of the original Apple I Computer. Starting out in the Jobs family garage in Los Altos, they moved the company to a small office in Cupertino shortly thereafter.

In April 1977, mr. Jobs and mr. Wozniak introduced Apple II at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. It created a sensation. Faced with a gaggle of small and large competitors in the emerging computer market, Apple, with its Apple II, had figured out a way to straddle the business and consumer markets by building a computer that could be customized for specific applications.

Sales skyrocketed, from $2 million in 1977 to $600 million in 1981, the year the company went public. By 1983 Apple was in the Fortune 500. No company had ever joined the list so quickly.

The Apple III, introduced in may 1980, was intended to dominate the desktop computer market. I.B.M. would not introduce its original personal computer until 1981. But the Apple III had a host of technical problems, and mr. Jobs shifted his focus to a new and ultimately short-lived project, an office workstation computer code-named Lisa.

An Apocalyptic Moment

“It was one of those sort of apocalyptic moments,” mr. Jobs said of his visit in a 1995 oral history interview for the Smithsonian Institution. “I remember within 10 minutes of seeing the graphical user interface stuff, just knowing that every computer would work this way someday. It was so obvious once you saw it. It didn’t require tremendous intellect. It was so clear.”

In 1981 he joined a small group of Apple engineers pursuing a separate project, a lower-cost system code-named Macintosh. The machine was introduced in January 1984 and trumpeted during the Super Bowl telecast by a 60-second commercial, directed by Ridley Scott, that linked I.B.M., then the dominant PC maker, with Orwell’s big Brother.

A year earlier mr. Jobs had lured mr. Sculley to Apple to be its chief executive. A former Pepsi-Cola chief executive, mr. Sculley was impressed by mr. Jobs’s pitch: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?”

He went on to help mr. Jobs introduce a number of new computer models, including an advanced version of the Apple II and later the Lisa and Macintosh desktop computers. through them mr. Jobs popularized the graphical user interface, which, based on a mouse pointing device, would become the standard way to control computers.

But when the Lisa failed commercially and early Macintosh sales proved disappointing, the two men became estranged and a power struggle ensued, and mr. Jobs lost control of the Lisa project. The board ultimately stripped him of his operational role, taking control of the Lisa project away from him, and 1,200 Apple employees were laid off. He left Apple in 1985.

“I don’t wear the right kind of pants to run this company,” he told a small gathering of Apple employees before he left, according to a member of the original Macintosh development team. He was barefoot as he spoke, and wearing blue jeans.

That September he announced a new venture, NeXT inc. The aim was to build a workstation computer for the higher-education market. The next year, the Texas industrialist H. Ross Perot invested $20 million in the effort. But it did not achieve mr. Jobs’s goals.

Mr. Jobs also established a personal philanthropic foundation after leaving Apple but soon had a change of heart, deciding instead to spend much of his fortune — $10 million — on acquiring Pixar, a struggling graphics supercomputing company owned by the filmmaker George Lucas.

The purchase was a significant gamble; there was little market at the time for computer-animated movies. But that changed in 1995, when the company, with Walt Disney Pictures, released “Toy story.” that film’s box-office receipts ultimately reached $362 million, and when Pixar went public in a record-breaking offering, mr. Jobs emerged a billionaire. in 2006, the Walt Disney Company agreed to purchase Pixar for $7.4 billion. The sale made mr. Jobs Disney’s largest single shareholder, with about 7 percent of the company’s stock.

His personal life also became more public. He had a number of well-publicized romantic relationships, including one with the folk singer Joan Baez, before marrying Laurene Powell. in 1996, his sister Mona Simpson, a novelist, threw a spotlight on her relationship with mr. Jobs in the novel “A Regular Guy.” The two did not meet until they were adults. The novel centered on a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who bore a close resemblance to mr. Jobs. It was not an entirely flattering portrait. mr. Jobs said about a quarter of it was accurate.

“We’re family,” he said of Ms. Simpson in an interview with The New York Times Magazine. “She’s one of my best friends in the world. I call her and talk to her every couple of days.”

His wife and Ms. Simpson survive him, as do his three children with Ms. Powell, his daughters Eve Jobs and Erin Sienna Jobs and a son, Reed; another daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, from a relationship with Chrisann Brennan; and another sister, Patti Jobs.

Return to Apple

Eventually, mr. Jobs refocused NeXT from the education to the business market and dropped the hardware part of the company, deciding to sell just an operating system. although NeXT never became a significant computer industry player, it had a huge impact: a young programmer, Tim Berners-Lee, used a NeXT machine to develop the first version of the World Wide Web at the Swiss physics research center CERN in 1990.

In 1996, after unsuccessful efforts to develop next-generation operating systems, Apple, with Gilbert Amelio now in command, acquired NeXT for $430 million. The next year, mr. Jobs returned to Apple as an adviser. He became chief executive again in 2000.

Shortly after returning, mr. Jobs publicly ended Apple’s long feud with its archrival Microsoft, which agreed to continue developing its Office software for the Macintosh and invested $150 million in Apple.

Once in control of Apple again, mr. Jobs set out to reshape the consumer electronics industry. He pushed the company into the digital music business, introducing first iTunes and then the iPod MP3 player. The music arm grew rapidly, reaching almost 50 percent of the company’s revenue by June 2008.

In 2005, mr. Jobs announced that he would end Apple’s business relationship with I.B.M. and Motorola and build Macintosh computers based on Intel microprocessors.

His fight with cancer was now publicly known. Apple had announced in 2004 that mr. Jobs had a rare but curable form of pancreatic cancer and that he had undergone successful surgery. Four years later, questions about his health returned when he appeared at a company event looking gaunt. Afterward, he said he had suffered from a “common bug.” Privately, he said his cancer surgery had created digestive problems but insisted they were not life-threatening.

Apple began selling the iPhone in June 2007. mr. Jobs’s goal was to sell 10 million of the handsets in 2008, equivalent to 1 percent of the global cellphone market. The company sold 11.6 million.

Although smartphones were already commonplace, the iPhone dispensed with a stylus and pioneered a touch-screen interface that quickly set the standard for the mobile computing market. Rolled out with much anticipation and fanfare, iPhone rocketed to popularity; by the end of 2010 the company had sold almost 90 million units.

Although mr. Jobs took just a nominal $1 salary when he returned to Apple, his compensation became the source of a Silicon Valley scandal in 2006 over the backdating of millions of shares of stock options. But after a company investigation and one by the Securities and Exchange Commission, he was found not to have benefited financially from the backdating and no charges were brought.

The episode did little to taint mr. Jobs’s standing in the business and technology world. As the gravity of his illness became known, and particularly after he announced he was stepping down, he was increasingly hailed for his genius and true achievement: his ability to blend product design and business market innovation by integrating consumer-oriented software, microelectronic components, industrial design and new business strategies in a way that has not been matched.

If he had a motto, it may have come from “The Whole Earth Catalog,” which he said had deeply influenced him as a young man. The book, he said in his commencement address at Stanford in 2005, ends with the admonition “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

“I have always wished that for myself,” he said.

A version of this article appeared in print on October 6, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: STEVEN P. JOBS, 1955-2011; Redefined the Digital Age As the Visionary of Apple.

Great Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail launches iPhone application

The nation’s premier paddling trail now has a state-of-the-art smart-phone application users can download for free to more easily navigate Southwest Florida waters.

Lee County Parks & Recreation has announced the Calusa Blueway iPhone app, which helps canoeists, kayakers and Stand-Up Paddleboarders glide through Estero Bay, home to Florida’s first aquatic preserve and 50 miles of the 190-mile great Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail. the app offers improved safety and convenience and is now available at no charge at the Apple app store.

A first-of-its-kind navigational aid, the Calusa Blueway application provides real-time GPS coordinates and navigation, interactive trail map with places of interest identified, boating tips and regulations, a brief history of Mound Key inhabitants and a key to the island’s flora, fauna and wildlife. Find more information and a link to download the app at LeeParks.org/BluewayApp.html.

Future plans include expanding the app to encompass the entire Calusa Blueway, including Pine Island Sound and the Caloosahatchee River as well as creating an application for other smart phones. the app was developed with a grant from the West Coast Inland Navigation District.

The Calusa Blueway app complements the existing destination-specific iPhone application offered by the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau. the custom-produced application pairs with the destination guidebook produced in conjunction with Lonely Planet. the VCB’s virtual guide features more than 100 points of interest such as attractions, shops, restaurants, activities and accommodations; direct contact information for each point of interest; Google maps with the points of interest plotted; videos; and a link to FortMyers-Sanibel.com.

The blueway app will be featured at the upcoming Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival, which runs Nov. 3-6. Selected as one of the Southeast Tourism Society’s Top 20 Events for 2011, the festival this year has Canoe & Kayak magazine as its national sponsor and is offering guided trips, demonstrations, on-water instruction, SUP activities, speakers, a film festival, evening socials, a fishing tournament and races.

Most event sites are reachable by paddlecraft, bicycle or trolley. this year the Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival is centrally located on the Sanibel Causeway and serves to highlight the offerings of the Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail. Festival details are available at CalusaBluewayPaddlingFestival.com, including a schedule of events. for trail information, visit CalusaBlueway.com. Find the festival on Facebook and Twitter. the festival is coordinated by Lee County Parks & Recreation.

The Calusa Blueway app is designed by Pearl, a Lee County-based, full-service communications firm with expertise in custom brand development and management, advertising and marketing promotions, public relations, website development and new technology applications to grow client business. Visit discoverpearl.com.

OmniTouch could shrink smartphones dramatically

The smaller the smartphone, the better — that is, until the screen is so tiny that the user can’t see it, or the keyboard is too small to be used easily. There are limits to how small a smartphone can be.

Or are there?

A Carnegie Mellon University doctoral student has been working with Microsoft Research on his idea to use a wearable projector that turns any surface — a piece of paper, a tabletop, a wall, even a hand, arm or leg — into a graphic interactive surface that serves as a computer or smartphone touchscreen.

The “OmniTouch” technology uses a depth-sensitive camera similar to Microsoft Kinect to track the user’s fingers on everyday surfaces. by tapping or dragging fingers on the image projected onto a surface, the user can perform the same functions he or she could do with a touchscreen found on smartphones or table computers, or with the mouse on a tabletop computer.

The projector superimposes keyboards, keypads and other controls onto a surface, automatically adjusting for the surface shape and orientation to minimize distortion of the projected images, a news release states. But in time it also could project websites, photos and videos onto any surface.

Chris Harrison, a doctoral student at CMU’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, worked with Microsoft Research to develop the technology. The prototype sits on a person’s shoulder and projects an image that transforms any surface into a touchscreen.

OmniTouch could represent the first step toward replacing the touchscreen in favor of convenience without requiring larger hardware, as does the iPad, a larger version of an iPhone, he said.

But the prototype must be miniaturized to the size of a pack or cards or even a matchbox so it will fit on the back of a cell phone, on a pendant or other small surfaces. The goal is making it unobtrusive so the user can turn any surface into a touchscreen, keyboard or computer monitor.

Mr. Harrison, a former intern at Microsoft Research, will describe the technology on Wednesday at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology in Santa Barbara, Ca.

In a news release, Microsoft Research’s Hrvoje Benko said the goal is to capitalize “on the tremendous surface area the real world provides.” it also marks an important step in Microsoft’s efforts to explore the use of touch and gesture in devices to extend the powers of computing.

Any surface instantly can be transformed into a keyboard or touchscreen. The projector can determine with three-dimensional motion whether the finger is tapping or just hovering. The projector is the only hardware necessary to make it work.

“Imagine it being imbedded into a Bluetooth earpiece. That’s not farfetched,” said Andy Wilson, a principal researcher with Microsoft Research who worked on the project. He said it could allow people with diminished eyesight or advancing years to use smartphones more easily.

OmniTouch represents one example of an image functioning as the real thing.

“Mobile devices are an interesting thing,” mr. Harrison said. “We love the idea they are mobile, but we hate the fact they are so tiny. they must be tiny enough to fit into our pocket. how do you keep things mobile but make the interaction big? Normally those don’t go together.”

But in time, OmniTouch technology, he said, might provide the best of both worlds.

The smaller the smartphone, the better — that is until the screen is so tiny that the user can’t see it or the keyboard is too small to used easily. There are limits to how small a smartphone can be.

Or are there?

A Carnegie Mellon University doctoral student has been working with Microsoft Research on his idea to use a wearable projector that turns any surface — a piece of paper, a tabletop, a wall, even a hand, arm or leg — into a graphic interactive surface that serves as a computer or smartphone touchscreen.

The “OmniTouch” technology uses a depth-sensitive camera similar to Microsoft Kinect to track the user’s fingers on everyday surfaces. by tapping or dragging fingers on the image projected onto a surface, the user can perform the same functions he or she could do with a touchscreen found on smartphones or table computers, or with the mouse on a tabletop computer.

The projector superimposes keyboards, keypads and other controls onto a surface, automatically adjusting for the surface shape and orientation to minimize distortion of the projected images, a news release states. But in time it also could project websites, photos and videos onto any surface.

Chris Harrison, a doctoral student at CMU’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, worked with Microsoft Research to develop the technology. The prototype sits on a person’s shoulder and projects an image that transforms any surface into a touchscreen.

OmniTouch could represent the first step toward replacing the touchscreen in favor of convenience without requiring larger hardware, as does the iPad, a larger version of an iPhone, he said.

But the prototype must be miniaturized to the size of a pack or cards or even a matchbox so it will fit on the back of a cell phone, on a pendant or other small surfaces. The goal is making it unobtrusive so the user can turn any surface into a touchscreen, keyboard or computer monitor.

Mr. Harrison, a former intern at Microsoft Research, will describe the technology on Wednesday at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology in Santa Barbara, Ca.

In a news release, Microsoft Research’s Hrvoje Benko said the goal is to capitalize “on the tremendous surface area the real world provides.” it also marks an important step in Microsoft’s efforts to explore the use of touch and gesture in devices to extend the powers of computing.

Any surface instantly can be transformed into a keyboard or touchscreen. The projector can determine with three-dimensional motion whether the finger is tapping or just hovering. The projector is the only hardware necessary to make it work.

“Imagine it being imbedded into a Bluetooth earpiece. That’s not farfetched,” said Andy Wilson, a principal researcher with Microsoft Research who worked on the project. He said it could allow people with diminished eyesight or advancing years to use smartphones more easily.

OmniTouch represents one example of an image functioning as the real thing.

“Mobile devices are an interesting thing,” mr. Harrison said. “We love the idea they are mobile, but we hate the fact they are so tiny. they must be tiny enough to fit into our pocket. how do you keep things mobile but make the interaction big? Normally those don’t go together.”

But in time, OmniTouch technology, he said, might provide the best of both worlds.

First published on October 18, 2011 at 12:00 am

Dexim Displays New AppSpeed iOS-controlled Vehicles

ONTARIO, Calif., Oct. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –Dexim ( dexim.net ), a leader in consumer electronics accessories, highlights its new AppSpeed, a motion-control iOS application for dexim’s new radio-controlled (RC) vehicles, at Pepcom’s MobileFocus media event. The latest additions to dexim’s Visible Green eco-friendly charging line are also on display.

The first AppSpeed vehicle in the product offering, the AppSpeed Monster Truck, is compatible with all iPad (TM), iPhone (TM) and iPod Touch (TM) models and is controlled wirelessly from a corresponding free application available on iTunes. MobileFocus attendees will also have an exclusive look at the new AppSpeed Race Cars expected to be available later this month.

Capable of being controlled through multiple functions, the AppSpeed’s traditional touch sensor mode controls the vehicles from the Apple devices’ touch screen, while the gravity sensor allows the user to direct the vehicle by simply gyrating their device, taking advantage of the built-in accelerometer. each function gives complete, 360 degree control over the vehicle’s movement and speed for up to 50 feet (15 meters).

Unlike anything else in the mobile charging market, dexim’s Visible Green charging solutions provide power-hungry users with an affordable and environmentally friendly option that adds flare to the charging process via the cables glowing EL technology. Building upon the success of the award-winning Visible Green Smart Charger, the latest additions include new cables and colors, a car charging kit, and even a micro-USB compatible for Smartphones.

for more information, please visit dexim.net .

about Dexim.

Dexim is a worldwide registered brand manufacturing an extensive line of accessories and applications compatible with various popular consumer electronics.

Copyright (C) 2011 PR Newswire. all rights reserved

Buying Guide: Best FM transmitter for iPhone & iPod: 5 on test

There are several in-car solutions for listening to your iPod while we drive, though by distant a many available is a common FM transmitter.

These accessible small inclination block into a wharf connector of your iPhone or iPod and emanate their possess mini radio station, transmitting whatever’s personification on your iPod app on an FM radio magnitude that your automobile radio can afterwards balance to, usually as it does with normal radio stations.

This way, we get a available resolution to in-car audio that doesn’t need wires trailing all over your car, or need a new stereo system.

These FM transmitters can send your song over a operation of about 10 metres, that is some-more than adequate for in-car use. the usually thing we need to make certain of is that we find an dull rope on a spectrum, as differently you’ll strife with broadcasts from blurb radio stations. this can be a pain when travelling prolonged distances and relocating in and out of a operation of opposite internal radio stations.

FM transmitters come in all shapes and sizes during opposite cost points and with opposite features. Some have charging cables and even their possess apps to assistance we name a transparent frequency, while others are so elementary they usually have 3 buttons.

to assistance we select a ideal FM transmitter, we’ve been on a highway with 5 opposite inclination from 5 opposite manufacturers, and put them all by a wringer.

1. Belkin TuneBase FM LIVE – £30

2. Griffin iTrip Auto – £32

3. KitSound MY FM – £16

4. Logic 3 FM Transmitter Charger – £24

5. Monster iCarPlay Wireless 300 – £25

Test one: Features

The simple things we wish from an in-car FM conductor are a ability to autoscan for a giveaway frequency, a ability to manually change magnitude though too most fuss, a ability to assign your iPhone, and a ability to supplement preset stations so we can save time. not all a inclination here have all these simple functions, while some surpass them by a prolonged way.

Starting during a bottom finish of a pricing scale, there’s a KitSound MY FM, that has usually an autoscan symbol and and and reduction buttons, though no preset ability. in contrast, a Monster iCarPlay Wireless 300 has 3 preset stations, though no ability to autoscan for a transparent frequency, that creates it frustrating to use.

Both a Monster and a KitSound can charge, though don’t come with cigarette lighter adapters for removing power. the Monster does come with a USB lead, usually zero to block it into.

The Monster iCarPlay Wireless 300 is also quite bad during changing frequency. in fact, it feels unequivocally primitive to use compared to a other models.

The Logic 3 conductor is engaging since it includes an in-car charger, though lacks autoscan and is concordant usually with iPods. That’s excellent for people with an iPod touch, nano or classic, though if you’ve got an iPhone you’ll hear a nasty credentials sound on a radio. If you’re an iPhone owner, make certain a conductor we go for is unequivocally concordant with iPhones as good as iPods to equivocate this.

Next adult is a Griffin iTrip Auto, that is unequivocally drizzling in features. the in-line controller has a small arrangement and a menu symbol so we can cycle by opposite settings screens, such as preset stations and autoscan, and if that’s not adequate there’s also a dedicated app we can download on your phone to do a autoscan and tweak sound options. there are also lane controls on a in-line clicker and arrangement unit.

Finally a Belkin TuneBase FM is a usually conductor here that comes with a stand. It plugs into your cigarette lighter, and a stretchable arm positions your iPhone or iPod accurately as you’d like it. the Belkin also has a possess app, though distinct a Griffin we have a few simple iPod lane controls within a app as well, so we don’t have to disaster about switching apps to change magnitude and control your music.

Like a Griffin, there are also earthy buttons to control things like autoscan and presets, so we don’t need to use a app if you’d rather usually hang with determining a section directly.

Test results

Test two: Ease of use

Having a available mount unequivocally does make a outrageous disproportion to how easy these inclination are to use, generally when you’re driving.

The Griffin takes second place interjection to carrying lane controls and a possess iPhone app, while a Monster comes final since of a out-of-date arrangement and frustrating control system. the KitSound lacks features, though it’s flattering easy to use, as is a Logic 3 device.

Test results

Article source: feedproxy.google.com/~r/techradar/allnews/~3/VIIO-nxV7tY/story01.htm

Prime Seven Most affordable Iphone 4 Accessories

Soon soon after Apple Iphone 4 hits the marketplace, it took all the most up-to-date cell cellphone behind simply because of its excessive top quality multi-touch technology, individual friendliness and Apple iphone applications which makes this gadget fully customized according to the wants of individuals which eventually proves that Apple has dominated the cellular mobile phone business. this domination provides birth to a good deal of little enterprises, which style add-ons for Apple Iphone.

Subsequent are a few of the best Iphone 4 equipment which are categorized on the basis of their goal and usability for the finish customers. these add-ons will allow the Iphone 4 user, fully avail its talents and capabilities. some of the pursuing equipment will also do the job for Apple iPod as nicely.

Ventev PowerCELL – Transportable Backup EnergyAll those who journey a great deal expression mobile telephone charging issues. there are old tactics to charge your mobile telephone employing travel charger whilst you are traveling and automobile charger throughout your journey but these strategies are some-how dependent other items. how about possessing a black-box whilst will just plug into your Apple iphone to begin charging? now, Ventev PowerCell has released a new moveable backup energy which can supply charging facility to your Apple cellphone with out currently being dependent on other people. You can command you telephone anywhere with this portable charger for Apple iphone.

The PowerCELL 1700 mAh is particularly created for all Apple Iphone models but it has been also been examined for other Apple items which include iPod Nano, Shuffle and Touch. this modern and common remedy delivers portable energy of 1700mAh from PowerCELL to your gadget utilizing Common Serial Bus (USB) info cable accompany your Iphone.

Greatest on the web Price: Around $47.99 to $50.

Iphone Circumstances OtterBox 2000 Collection Water resistant Sharp CircumstanceThe OtterBox water-proof circumstance has a extremely large utilization for all those who really like h2o sports activities. this dry box has an exterior dimensions of 6.855″ x four.571″ x one.829″ which can effortlessly carry your Apple iphone to defend it from water harm. The OtterBox 2000 has been examined to one hundred ft of depth and proved to serve its function flawlessly.

Cost: All around $15.ninety nine to $eighteen

NaztechCaimain-Exotic Luxurious Crocodile Structure CircumstanceAre you looking for low-cost vogue Apple iphone instances, they you are reading about the correct things, The new Naztech-Caimain Exotic Crocodile sample situation is an elite and stunning scenario for you Apple iphone, it’s created from 1 of the best supplies of the globe referred to as Polyurethane (also recognized as artificial leather). The exact crocodile patterns are etched on this premium high quality material to give genuine Alligator pores and skin search.

Very best on the web Value: Close to $19.99 to $22

NazTech Common Voyage Scenario with Stow gone CompartmentWherever you go, you will have always something along; this might include driving license, credit card, national identity card, your cash and so on. how about carrying your Apple iphone and all these in a single wallet circumstance? NazTech Universal Voyage Situation is produced from the highest high quality components, getting a separate segment for your cell mobile phone, a zipper enclosure and a revolving clip that can be tied with your belt or purse. this stylish situation comes in different colours to cater personal selection.

Greatest on the web Value: Around $18.99 to $twenty

Motorola MOTOROKR T505 Bluetooth Speakerphone with Digital FM Transmitter

There are numerous Bluetooth wireless speakers for Iphone 4 which include Motorola MotoROKR EQ5 Extremely-Transportable Wireless Speaker 89242N (close to 94$), Samsung CK811 Transportable Bluetooth Stereo Speaker (around $70), Motorola MotoROKR EQ7 Ultra-Transportable Wi-fi Speaker 89243N (around $190) etc which are truly great at their functionality and features. there is yet another extremely trendy Wireless bluetooth speaker for Apple iphone by “Motorola named MOTOROKR T505 Bluetooth Speakerphone” which is also outfitted with digital FM transmitter with subsequent functions.

  • Connects wirelessly with Wireless bluetooth enabled telephone and car stereo.
  • A two watt speaker specifically developed for vehicle/motor car
  • An sophisticated audio caller ID attribute which speaks the mobile phone range of incoming name.
  • Clips to the visor and can simply be moved from 1 automobile to another as there is no set up needed.
  • StationFinder attribute finds and convert to tune FM radio for sharp and noises no cost radio transmission in your vehicle.
  • Features Newest echo and sound reduction engineering improves the sound good quality.
  • Equipped with a automobile charger
  • The Class two Wireless bluetooth connection ranges from eight to 10 meters (33 ft)
  • EasyPair tends to make it simple to connect with other Bluetooth enabled units.
  • Suports any phoen with Wireless bluetooth stereo that supports A2DP (Sophisticated Audio Distribution Profile)

Very best on-line Cost: All-around $78.99 to $85

LG Photo voltaic-Driven Transportable Wireless bluetooth Automobile Kit HFB-500Wireless bluetooth automobile equipment is now a will need of each driver to make sure protected driving. how about a Wireless bluetooth vehicle package that runs on natural powers! The photo voltaic energy powered Wireless bluetooth automobile package for Apple iphone shops loading vitality although exposed to Sun light. Each and every two several hours of charging gives one hour of speak time with a total backup speak time of sixteen hrs. this accent is designed by LG but it has a great compatibility with Apple Apple iphone. amongst other Apple Apple iphone Components, this accessory has an surroundings friendly answer for conversation whilst driving. this apple accessory characteristics.

  • Wireless bluetooth 2.
  • Get in touch with/Conclude selection
  • Quantity handle essential
  • Last amount redial choice
  • Voice recognition method for dialing
  • Straightforward pairing of multi-connection (highest of up to 2 phones)

Greatest on the web Cost: All around $89.ninety nine to $95

Parrot Wireless bluetooth Conference MiddleAll those who are into offshore enterprises can now conduct convention like they are sitting in one particular space meeting, the new “Wireless bluetooth Seminar Centre” for Apple iphone permits you to execute appropriate meeting calls for organization purposes. The devices take your Iphone to a up coming stage that it truly turns into a convention name machine. Wireless bluetooth Conference Middle accessory is created and made contemplating the reality that Apple iphone is a PDA/enterprise telephone and now largely employed by company class as nicely. Convention name is some thing that businessmen would normally do specifically when communicating with off shore organizations. this system can also be employed by a family members member living abroad, far absent from the dear ones. The system has the strength to allow you appreciate your family discussions and fun at a distant location.

Parrot Bluetooth Conference Middle functions:

Very best online Price: All around $ 299.99 to $320

The costs pointed out towards every single researched item are the minimal costs obtainable on-line; one of the websites which is providing bare minimum online price for all the above goods is WirelessPhoneGallery with a house delivery service within US and Canada.Read more: iphone accessoriesArticle Source: articlealley.com/prime-seven-most-affordable-iphone-4-accessories-1827676.html

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6 Free Apps to Turn an Android Phone Into an Apple iPhone 4S

  • AP Photo/Steven Senne

    Oct. 14, 2011: Elliott Johns, of Boston, displays an iPhone 4S in front of an Apple Store location in Boston. The faster iPhone with better software and an improved camera went on sale in seven countries Friday as hundreds of buyers camped out for hours to be among the first to get one.

The iPhone 4S and its new iOS 5 operating system offer a host of new features, including Siri voice control, a Cards app for sending paper greetings in the mail, Reminders that help keep you up-to-date, and Find my Friends for tracking people down. 

But Android users don’t have to feel left out. There are a host of third-party apps that bring this functionality to Google’s mobile OS.

Cards Alternative: Postagram

The Cards app from Apple, which comes with iOS 5, will let you create digital cards directly on your iPhone or iPod touch—and after they’re complete, Apple will drop the physical missives in the mail for you. It’ll cost $2.99 for domestic delivery and $4.99 for international delivery.

But Postagram, a free app that’s available in the Android Market, been providing this very service for quite some time now—and at a cheaper rate, too. for 99 cents per Postagram sent, you choose a photo to mail and the service prints the image out on thick, glossy photo paper at a 300 dpi resolution, which pops out of the card as a 3 x 3 inch print. you can even add a custom 140-character message along with the photo if you wish.

Siri Alternative: Vlingo

Android users often opine that newer iterations of iOS simply play catch-up to a cache of features that already exist in their phones. Vlingo Virtual Assistant for Android is a testament to that ethos, and it’s the closest thing to Apple’s new Siri voice control.

Tell Vlingo to “Text Chris; Where are you?” or “Find French restaurants,” then sit back and watch as it does exactly what you want. get the app for free on the Android Market.

iMessage Alternative: Whatsapp Messenger

Ditch your carrier’s exorbitant SMS plans and send messages, pictures, audio notes, and video messages over 3G or Wi-Fi with the free Whatsapp Messenger. like BlackBerry Messenger (and iMessage), the app lets you know when your note has been sent and exactly when the person on the other end has seen it.

Whatsapp also sends push notifications for each individual message, so you never miss out on what your friends are saying. It also supports group chat.

Newstand Alternative: Zinio

Newsstand on iOS 5 supposedly organizes your magazine and newspaper app subscriptions, but Zinio has been around for far longer and already aggregates many of your favorite digital publications in one place. you can purchase both single issues and full subscriptions of top titles in the app, plus watch videos, bookmark content, view interactive media, and even share articles with friends.

Best of all? Zinio gives you access to a sampling of the best pieces across top News, Science & Tech, Art, Lifestyle, and Entertainment magazines—for free—as soon as you download the app.

Reminders Alternative: Astrid Tasks

Astrid Tasks is the most popular to-do list for Android, and its best add-on feature is Astrid Locale. The app contains powerful organization tools to begin with—reminders, list organization, deadlines, sorting, and audio or vibration alerts—but Astrid Locale throws in the last essential—location-based tasks—into the mix. The only downside is having to shell out $1.49 for the upgrade.

Find My Friends Alternative: Google Latitude

Anyone who’s ever had to find their friends in a crowded venue will be familiar with the hassle of those extremely vague responses: “beside the speaker,” “next to the guy in the cowboy hat,” or “to the left of the stage.” Find my Friends from Apple, included in the upcoming iCloud, will let you share your location with friends and family and eliminate those messages.

But Google Latitude is an old tool that had already been implementing this. After signing into your Google account, the app lets you check into places, share your location with your friends, and even unlock offers where they’re available. you can find it in the Google Maps application on Android.

Tell us with a video or a photo what app is your favorite — and we may feature it on-air!

Copyright © 2011 LaptopMag.com. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

‘Carelessness’ leads to Rockport high school’s $56,000 laptop repair bill

ROCKPORT, Maine — Camden Hills Regional High School spent $56,000 on laptop computer repairs last year, a cost officials are calling astronomically high.

A bill that large could jeopardize the entire laptop program at the school, Camden Hills officials said.

The school is one of 69 statewide that participate in a Maine Learning Technology Initiative program, under the Maine Department of Education, that makes laptops available to high school students.

Camden Hills spends about $150,000 to lease 778 laptop computers each year from the state.the school this year exceeded that budget by more than one-third for repairs. And the $56,000 tab doesn’t include the repairs covered by Apple’s warranty or paid for by students for intentional damage.

“I shivered when I wrote that check. I don’t want to write another one,” said William Shuttleworth, superintendent of the school district.

Compared with other high schools, Camden Hills’ costs are astronomical. Nearby Rockland has a high school of about 520 students, about 100 fewer than Camden Hills, and it paid $5,500 for repairs last year.

Machias Memorial High School spends about $5,000 on repairs for its 140 laptops — that’s about $30 per laptop in repairs compared with Camden Hill’s cost of about $70 per computer.

Among the reasons for the Rockport school’s high bill is carelessness. the IT manager at the school said it’s not uncommon to see students holding one of the white Macbooks balanced on the palm of their hands like a waiter carrying a tray. Sometimes computers get knocked off tables or desks. Sometimes students set them on the floor and other students accidentally step on them.

“We’ve been hammering the message of $56,000. We can’t pay that again. It jeopardizes the program in 2014. We can’t afford it,” said Tom Heath of the school’s technology department.

To pinpoint exactly why the computers keep getting broken, Shuttleworth said he sat down with a group of about 30 seniors this month and asked them, why did this happen?

The first answer he got from the group was carelessness.

“I bet you don’t take your iPhone for granted,” Shuttleworth said in response.

“We didn’t pay for these [laptops],” the student replied.

Other students said there were no consequences for accidentally breaking a computer, that they would just get a new one.

There is some consequence for breaking one of the leased Macbooks. if the damage is intentional, the student must pay. but a student who pays a $50 fee for a laptop at the beginning of the year can cause any accidental damage to the computer and the school will pay for repairs, no matter the cost.

The $50 fee isn’t insurance; it’s more like a one-time damage pass offered by Camden Hills.

“So what would you do differently if you were the boss?” Shuttleworth asked the group of seniors.

One student said the school should periodically check on the computers to see if they are in need of repairs. Another said students shouldn’t get replacement computers.

“If you lose a book, you pay for it and get a new one or you don’t graduate. Maybe that’s what should happen,” one teen said.

The trouble for Camden is that these laptops have become essential, according to Shuttleworth. Without them, teachers can’t go on with their regular lesson plans and assign computer-based homework.

From may to September, the school sent 128 of its 778 computers to be fixed — some with multiple problems — for a total cost of $56,285, according to the documents given to the school board.

According to a report given to the school board this month, the repairs broke down this way:

• 120 broken hinges or casings at $105 each

• 81 broken screens at $322 each

• 37 broken chargers at $79 each

• 16 broken logic boards at $816 each

• Five broken hard drives at $314 each

According to Jeff Mao, who supervises the state program, Camden Hills’ bill is just about the highest bill he has seen. He had seen only one like it before, at Massabesic High School in Waterboro.

Calls made to Massabesic High School were not returned.

“Other schools have issues, but not of this scale,” Mao said. “We said ‘holy moley’ when we saw that number. It’s an outlier in the state. this isn’t happening elsewhere.”

The Department of Education is watching Camden Hills to see how it deals with the problem, according to Mao.

Camden Hills leases its computers from the state, which has a pool of 1,200 laptops ready to be deployed as replacements. To replace a computer would cost the high school about $425. that means it’s cheaper to replace a computer than to repair a logic board — and Camden Hills had 16 broken logic boards.

“They could ask for a replacement and it would cost less,” Mao said. “It’s a local decision.”

According to Heath, the school didn’t know the replacements were so cheap.

“No one gave us that option,” Heath said.

According to Mao, each school is made aware of that option in the online policy manual for the program.

“It’s not a secret,” Mao said.

To get a replacement computer, the school just has to request one from the state. when the state last contracted with Apple to buy 72,000 computers, Apple agreed to give 1 percent more, or an additional 720 computers, to the state. with those extras, the state created a “buffer pool.” that pool grew to 1,200 after some schools returned computers when their enrollments dropped.

Each school may have 1 percent of its damaged computers replaced for free each year. For Camden Hills Regional High School, that works out to about seven free replacements a year.

After that, school districts can buy extra computers from the state.

Unlike the state program that provides free computers to middle schoolers, the high school program is optional. about 55 percent of Maine high schools chose to participate in the program.

Other schools deal with technology in other ways.

It didn’t make much financial sense for Bangor High School, the second-largest high school in the state with 1,400 students, to participate in the state program because of the per-student charges, according to Scott Morrill, the school district’s technology director. Instead, the school has about five computer labs with 15 computers each. its library has about 50 computers. each classroom has a few computers and laptops for student use. In total, the school owns about 200 computers — a computer for every seven students.

The school opens the library an hour early and keeps it open two hours after school for students. this model, Morrill argues, will prepare Bangor’s students for a college atmosphere. Colleges usually don’t hand out laptops, but they do offer resources. Also like a college, Bangor uses online programs — namely Google Apps — to assign homework. Students can use any computer with Internet access to work on and turn in their assignments.

One obvious option for Camden Hills Regional High School would be to limit the computer use at the school and outside of school. the high school lets students take the laptops home to do homework. but regimenting the computer use isn’t the way Shuttleworth wants to go. that isn’t the purpose of the program, he said. Students use the laptops like a textbook and teachers assign computer-based homework because they know the students have access.

“It’s essential to student learning. Because a textbook is missing a couple of pages isn’t a good enough reason to not give out textbooks,” Shuttleworth said.

According to the Mao, Shuttleworth’s instincts are good. Limiting students’ access to computers doesn’t help with damage bills, he said.

“Sometimes you see that with a program like this, in order to protect damage they’ll limit when students can take computers home or limit what they can do with them. They think they’re reducing the damage potential, but the less useful the tool becomes the more students become careless because it’s no longer essential,” Mao said.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Headed to Sprint?

um, just i small thought before you assume that its not coming to sprint…the image DOES ONLY specify the poster,not the phone so it doesn’t have to be fake, whether it is or not ,is up in the air. according to several sources, there are actually 5 distinct models, GT-I9250, GT-I9250T, GT-I9250M, SC-04D, and SCH-I515 (though they all look the same) for the Galaxy Nexus. the two that were mentioned include the LTE and HSPA+(verizon and AT&T) there are still 3 more models to take into consideration and some do suspect that there will be a sprint model and an international model. leaving only one…the one being used for overseas.a quote from geek.com…” the SCH-I515 will be the Verizon Wireless variant, packing an LTE and EVDO radio on the inside. Sources suggest the GT-I9250 will go to AT&T, while the GT-I9250T will likely go to T-Mobile. There’s not been any confirmation about the GT-I9250M or the SC-04D, but it seems like a Sprint version and an international version would be all that’s needed to tie this release up in a nice global package.”