Apple Apparently 'Less Inspiring'

According to a recent survey, Apple is considered to be 'less inspiring' than it was before, but why? Not so long ago, just before the new line-up of tech was revealed last year, Apple's market share creeped up above $700 - which was a grand record for the company. However, it has been on the decline ever since, signalling that the public are less interested. Samsung is seen as Apple's main rival and it has been trying hard to out run the guys who are the perfectionists, out there in the technology world. Apple has only just entered the small tablet market with the iPad Mini, meaning that it's following Samsung's footsteps, but Apple is the one who's supposed to "Think Different" isn't it? But let's face it, where else will we see more beautiful and more perfect engineering than in Apple's iPhones, iPads and iPods?

Many people fear that the Technology Giants have lost their spark, ever since Steve Jobs died in October 2011, leaving their products looking quite similar and maybe 'out dated'. That's what the Android lovers think, in other people's eyes Apple have been creating great products that are always years ahead of the competition. Let's take the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5 for example. The S4 has a rather dull plastic backing, while the iPhone 5 has a very modern, sleek and beautiful aluminium and glass backing, notice a difference? Yes, the S4 is considerably larger than the iPhone, but do you really want to be carrying such a big device around with you? Bearing in mind that it hardly fits into anyone's pocket. The iPhone 5 is not only incredibly thin, but very light as well; and most importantly it's not the size of a 7-inch plastic tablet. The S4's screen resolution is slightly higher, but who can even notice the minuscule difference? The iPhone has a stunning Retina display which is clear, crisp and very sharp, giving you the best experience. 'What about apps and games?' I hear you ask. The App Store has over 775,000 apps and games to download, more than 300,000 of them are specifically for the iPad. The Google Play Store only has about 675,000 apps and games available at the moment, some of which are stretched to fit the tablets.

In the final quarter of 2012, Apple sold 43.5 million iPhones, Samsung beat that amount and sold 64.5 million smartphones. That either says very little or a lot. People say that Apple is 'less inspiring' than it was 3 years ago, really? The people there have stuck to their guns, working hard even though they've lost a valued member of their team, even though they have had some tricky court battles; and even though their sales have dipped in the past few months. If that's not inspiring then I don't know what is.

Will We See an iWatch?

Many rumours are pointing towards Apple releasing an iWatch soon, but are they true? They suggest that the iWatch will take voice commands, thanks to Siri, and will be able to post Facebook statuses and tweets. The watch will have to be an intelligent piece of machinery in order to attract the attention that Apple might be hoping for. It is also rumoured that the iWatch will be able to communicate with other iDevices, but is that going a bit too far? We all love using high-tech devices and being able to keep up to date with the latest goings on, but won't that turn the 'still to be' iWatch into a much smaller version of the iPhone?

Apple haven't revealed any information yet as they like to keep things quiet, but they haven't denied the fact that there might be an iWatch coming this year, in September perhaps. Numerous rumours suggest that the iWatch will have a 1 inch retina display with multitouch capabilities, an aluminium body with a sleek finish and a clever wrist strap - also made of aluminium, or another 'space-age' material. It would be able to connect to other Apple devices via Bluetooth and connect to wi-fi networks, check the weather and maybe play a bit of music. But what about battery life? It would be nice if Apple fitted the iWatch with wireless charging, which would be similar to what Nokia are using on their phones. However, all that tech is sure to come with a hefty price tag, definitely in the region of £100 to £200. What do you think - will the iWatch even be materialised or is it just a distant dream? 

iOS 6.1 GM Released to Developers

iOS 6 was released in September last year for most Apple devices. Now the final beta version for iOS 6.1 is available for developers to download. The new software caused a storm, but for all the wrong reasons. The Maps application was and is the worst, users have stated that the maps are inaccurate, black and white in some areas, small sections of the map are covered by clouds and that the 3D mode isn't the best. Recently, the Do Not Disturb mode has encountered a bug which hasn't yet been fixed, although Apple promised they would sort it out soon. But that was over a week ago now.

The first iOS 6.1 beta version was released in November and since then the company issued three more betas, including the 'Golden Master' version which is the final one, hopefully. It is said that the new software version fixes a lot of bugs in the interface and with connectivity. Nothing has been said about an update for the Maps application, lets hope there is one. The new version will, if people are right, be available for the iPhone 5, iPhone 4 and 4s, iPhone 3gs, the fourth, third and second generation of the iPad, the iPad mini and the fifth and fourth generations of the iPod Touch. It's likely that iOS 6.1 will be released in the next two months to users worldwide and it better be 'polished down' enough.

Happy Birthday Google!

14 years have now past since the internet's most popular search engine was first created. The technology giant has now gone onto bigger things, but the Google search page has remained largely the same since 1998, with few aesthetic changes over the years. A 'Google Doodle' has been used to signify the occasion. This comes only a day after the Google Play store achieved it's milestone 25 billion downloads.

Google was founded by two university students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The website was initially a university project named 'BackRub', the name 'Google' is a misspelling of googol (1 with 100 zeros). This was at a time when the web was relatively new and basic. Google search has now surpassed over 1 billion unique visitors in a single month. The company is also known for Android, the world's most popular mobile OS, Chrome, It's in-house browser, and a variety of other successful websites such as YouTube, Gmail and Blogger.

You can view the animated birthday cake doodle on the Google homepage for a limited time only. Otherwise, there's always next year...

The Google 'Doodle'

E-Mail obsession... is killing Christmas Holidays

According to a survey most UK workers are spending their Christmas holidays checking their work E-Mail which can ruin the holidays for some families. The survey questioned 1,000 people in full-time work. The survey results show that they think most people are concerned about losing their jobs so they try to keep working at home, or wherever they are spending their Christmas. Out of the 1,000 surveyed 31% said that they planned to check their E-Mail intermittently over Christmas and 15% said that they planned to check their E-Mail frequently. I think that Christmas should be a family time together, but for some families that just doesn't happend due to work E-Mails.

Robots will be invading our lives!.

They can do house hold chores, entertaining or educating children to looking after the elderly, Roboticists say we will soon be welcoming robots into our lives.
Rodney Brookes says "I think robotics technology will change who we are, just as eyeglasses and fire changed who we were before,". Robots are beginning to perform everyday tasks like hovering the floor. The latest model from Japan are able to help the elderly get up after they fall. They can also remind old people to take there medication. I think we will be seeing a lot more robots around soon.

You Tube's Redisign

YouTube have now put channels at their service making people supposedly stay longer on the site. Channels are curated lists of videos chosen by a perticular YouTube member. They also have links to social sites such as Facebook and Google+. On the other hand people are complaining about things like: "Why can't I remove videos I have already watched!" and about 17 hours after a clip had been posted about "Get more into You Tube" 6,703 members "disliked" it where as only 2,280 "liked" it. Furthermore people have been commenting "R.I.P YouTube" and "Change it back" etc. Overall it looks like people would rather it changed back than leave it. I for one am enjoying the change.

Andrew Barringer SCAN & Matthew Finnie HJPE