Mobile Internet for iPad vs. Laptops

An important first step with any Apple device is figuring out your wireless Internet situation forstreaming media. The obvious trend is toward a heavy focus on mobile Internet capability, and you can get that with both laptops and iPads.

Wi-Fi networks typically give you Internet service in a well-defined area (i.e. a house, apartment, office, or school). Mobile Internet, on the other hand, lets you get online in more places, without seeking out Wi-Fi networks. So whether you’re in a hotel, a restaurant, or a friend’s house, you’ll still have Internet access on your devices.

Today we’ll give you a quick breakdown of the different ways to access mobile Internet on

your new iPad or Macbook. Particularly with the recent release of the iPad Mini, it’s an important time to understand the differences.

Mobile Internet for your iPad

Whether you have an iPad Mini, an iPad 2, or an iPad with Retina Display, you’re likely interested in the mobile Internet capabilities of your new device. All three can connect to a Wi-Fi network, and are mobile-ready in some way.

The iPad with Retina Display (iPad 3)and the new iPad Mini both offer Wi-Fi and cellular data options. That means you can sign up through a cellular provider (Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint), and your iPad can access the Internet in the same way as your smartphone. So, whenever you have cell service, you have Internet service on your iPad as well. This feature costs extra, however, and cellular data can be turned on and off at any point .Both of these devices are compatible with any 3G or 4G network that your carrier may offer.

The iPad 2 does not have 4G internet capability, but it is compatible with Verizon and AT&T’s 3G netwoarks. If you sign up via one of those two providers, you’ll have 3G access wherever it’s available. Otherwise, you’ll need to purchase an external USB or mobile hotspot device to access mobile Internet.

Mobile Internet on your laptop

None of Apple’s laptops currently have built-in mobile broadband capability, and thus require an external device. Wireless Internet companies like CLEAR offer devices that give you access to 4G Internet while you’re on the go. CLEAR is MAC compatible, making it a great option for mobile Internet on your laptop.

Why should I sign up for a mobile Internet plan?

Even if your laptop or tablet already has Wi-Fi capability, adding a mobile Internet plan can still be a great idea. A strong mobile Internet service gives you a lot of flexibility for where you can get online. On top of that, mobile Internet plans are affordable and have small, easy-to-use devices.

If you choose a Wi-Fi only tablet, you can always add mobile capabilities through CLEAR or another provider. This can actually be a good way to save money up front, while still giving yourself the freedom to upgrade later.

Source : http://www.themacherald.com/2012/12/mobile-internet-for-ipad-vs-laptops.html

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911 text messaging service coming in 2014

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ost 911 centers can't receive text messages. But that doesn't always stop people from texting the familiar number in an emergency, not knowing their pleas for help won't be seen.

A new initiative announced Friday will finally bring the 20-year-old SMS texting technology to emergency centers across the country in the coming years.

The top four wireless carriers in the U.S. have agreed to speed up their efforts to support text-to-911 capabilities, making it available by May 15, 2014, according to a statement from the Federal Communications Commission released Friday.

"Access to 911 must catch up with how consumers communicate in the 21st century -- and today, we are one step closer towards that vital goal" said FCC chairman Julius Genachowsk.

Once the carriers are set up, local emergency response centers will still need the proper equipment, software and training, so the feature won't be available instantly. However, eventually the carriers and FCC hope to provide 90% of the population with text-to-911 features. The service will not support third-party texting apps or roaming users.

In the meantime, the carriers will implement a much-needed alert message warning anyone who sends a text to 911 that their message was not received, and that they should make a phone call instead. That auto-reply system will be up and running by June 30, 2013.

The carriers will handle support for texting until the national next-generation 911 service is completed in the next decade. Most 911 systems are managed locally, but the next-generation 911 project is a national push to update the systems to handle modern communications, including calls over the Internet, images and photos.

One-third of the estimated 240 million calls to 911 are from wireless lines. Current systems do support the modern technology -- for example, some can pinpoint what tower a call was routed through to determine a caller's location -- but SMS text support has been more difficult.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/07/tech/mobile/fcc-carriers-announce-text-to-911/index.html

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Apple iPad mini

Apple today introduced iPad mini, a thinner, lighter iPad design that fits in one hand. It features a stunning 7.9-inch Multi-Touch display, FaceTime HD and iSight cameras, ultrafast wireless performance, and 10 hours of battery life. Apple today also announced the fourth-generation iPad featuring a 9.7-inch Retina display, new Apple-designed A6X chip, ultrafast wireless, and the new Lightning connector. iPad mini with Wi-Fi starts at $329 (U.S.), and the fourth-generation iPad with Wi-Fi starts at $499 (U.S.).

Everything you love about iPad — the beautiful screen, fast and fluid performance, FaceTime and iSight cameras, thousands of amazing apps, 10-hour battery life* — is everything you’ll love about iPad mini, too. And you can hold it in one hand.

Colors are vivid and text is sharp on the iPad mini display. But what really makes it stand out is its size. At 7.9 inches, it’s perfectly sized to deliver an experience every bit as big as iPad.

Right from the start, apps made for iPad also work with iPad mini. They’re immersive, full-screen apps that let you do almost anything you can imagine. And they make iPad mini practically impossible to put down.

With advanced Wi‑Fi that’s up to twice as fast as any previous-generation iPad and access to fast cellular data networks around the world, iPad mini lets you download content, stream video, and browse the web at amazing speeds.

With the new A6X chip, FaceTime HD camera, blazing-fast dual-band Wi-Fi, and access to even more cellular data networks around the world, iPad with Retina display is twice as fast and capable of so much more than you ever imagined.

Source : http://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/overview/

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Apple uses U.S.-made 'engine' for iPhone, iPad

The single most important internal component for the iPhone and iPad is already manufactured in the U.S.

Apple gets key chips for the iPad from U.S.-based manufacturing sources.

Key chips for the iPhone and iPad are being made in the U.S. -- future U.S.-made Macs, asdisclosed today, notwithstanding.

This year, CEO Tim Cook has been talking about U.S. manufacturing more than usual. Partly to counter Apple's largely make-it-in-China strategy but also because of U.S. manufacturing strengths.

The same essential points he made in a Bloomberg interview today he made back in May.

To wit: "It's not known well that the engine for the iPhone and iPad is made in the U.S., and many of these are also exported.... The glass is made in Kentucky," he said today to Bloomberg.

Making the "engine" -- essentially the Apple A5 and A6 chips -- is something the U.S. excels at. Intel fabricates the engines for the Mac and PC industry at multibillion-dollar "fabs" (or fabrication facilities) in the U.S. And Globalfoundries and IBM make processors on a smaller scale in New York.

In Apple's case, the A5 and A6 processors are made in Texas (by Samsung presumably, though Apple has never confirmed this).

And it's no mistake that Apple wants this high-end, high-tech production in the U.S. Processor tech is arguably the single most important thing inside the iPad and iPhone. That's why Apple has taken control of the design and has spent millions of dollars acquiring companies to get that expertise.

And it's also no mistake that Apple has been talking to Intel about manufacturing future Apple chips. Indeed, it makes sense to hook up the world's premier device company with the world's premier chipmaker.

That, along with more U.S.-based Mac assembly, could make Apple's production footprint in the U.S. a lot bigger than it has been in a long time.

Source : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57557600-37/apple-uses-u.s.-made-engine-for-iphone-ipad/

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Shape-shifting robot made by MIT scientists

The tiny robot is powered by magnets

It may not look like a character from the Transformer franchise, but a tiny robot made in the US is able to change shape.

Built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it uses magnets to mimic molecules that fold themselves into complex shapes.

The research could lead to robots that could be reconfigured to perform many different tasks.

But one expert said a lot of work was still needed.

Part-funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the research was presented at the 2012 Intelligent Robots and Systems conference.

"It's effectively a one-dimensional robot that can be made in a continuous strip, without conventionally moving parts, and then folded into arbitrary shapes," said one of the researchers, Neil Gershenfeld, head of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms.

To fold itself into a new shape, the device uses an "electro-permanent" motor - similar to the electromagnets used in scrapyards to lift cars.

It is composed of pairs of a powerful permanent magnet and a weaker magnet with a magnetic field that changes direction when an electric current is applied.

The magnetic fields of each magnet either add up or cancel each other, making the robot move.

Research race

The prototype comes a year after the same team published a theory it was possible to create any 3D shape by folding a sufficiently long string of subunits.

Robots in the Transformer series easily change their shapes

Jeremy Pitt, deputy head of the Intelligent Systems and Networks Group at Imperial College London, said it would be challenging for such a robot to work alongside artificial-intelligence machines, but the technology could have many real-world applications.

"It is a fascinating example of what happens when mathematical proof, that an arbitrary 3D shape can be built from a sufficiently long string, meets engineering innovation - the miniaturisation of motors and magnets and the minimisation of power consumption," he said.

"There is going to be an interesting research race between groups trying to create reconfigurable structures out of such chains and those trying to build them out of independent self-assembling units."

Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20596003

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Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13

A full-time laptop meets a part-time tablet

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NThe good: The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 looks as good as any 13-inch ultrabook, with the added attraction of a 360-degree screen and a laptop body that can fold into a tent, stand, or slate.

The bad: Tablet mode leaves the keyboard exposed, and the Yoga 13 costs more than standard ultrabooks with similar components.

The bottom line: The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 is a convertible touch-screen laptop/tablet that most importantly doesn't compromise the traditional laptop experience.

The biggest hardware trend marking the launch of Windows 8 is theproliferation of touch-screen laptop/tablet hybrids. Some have screens that pull apart to become separate tablets, while others have screens that flip, twist, or rotate to give you a tabletlike shape to hold. We call those latter models convertible laptops, and one of the best examples to date is the new Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13.

The name Yoga is suggestive of the system's big selling point, that the display flips fully over to become a tablet. In fact, it has four basic usable positions -- clamshell laptop, tablet, stand, and tent.

The reason the Yoga stands out from the suddenly crowded touch-screen laptop scene is that it does something other convertible or hybrid laptops do not. When set up as a traditional laptop, the 13.3-inch Yoga doesn't compromise the all-important clamshell experience. The excellent double-hinge design means that it looks and works the same as any other ultrabook laptop, unlike the complex and often clunky mechanisms in systems such as the HP Envy x2,Sony Vaio Duo 11, or Dell XPS 12.

The Yoga works best as a full-time laptop and part-time tablet, because when it's folded back into a slate, you still have the keyboard pointing out from the back of the system. Although the keyboard and touch pad are deactivated in this mode, it's still not ideal. Plus, despite the hype, Windows 8 is still not a 100-percent tablet-friendly OS, and there are some frustrations that span all the Windows 8 tablet-style devices we've tested.

The Yoga certainly seems to be everyone's choice for a great Windows 8 ambassador -- both Microsoft and Intel have touted it as a best-in-class example, and Best Buy is currently featuring it in a television ad. At $1,099, you're paying a bit of a premium, but not outrageously so, for an Intel Core i5/8GB RAM/128GB solid-state drive (SSD) configuration (note that our early review unit had only 4GB of RAM installed), but a less expensive Core i3 version starts at $999. If I had to pick a single first-wave Windows 8 convertible touch-screen laptop, the Yoga would be at the top of my list.

Source : http://www.cnet.com/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-yoga-13/4505-3121_7-35477652.html

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Lanka’s inaugural satellite launch on Thursday

The much awaited Sri Lanka’s inaugural and the regions third communication satellite launch would take place 2012.11.22 Thursday from Beijing China at 3 30 p.m. Sri Lankan time. The Supreme Group is a fast growing Sri Lankan home grown company with a special focus on Sri Lanka and regional satellite communication opportunities. They have already invested US $ 100 million.

Chairman, Supreme Group, R. M. Manivannan (inset) and images of the satellite being installed in China

In addition they had already invested US $ 20 million for a satellite training and transmitting station in Kandy. The funds for this historic venture are being mobilized through MIL Bank.

Chairman, Supreme Group, R. M. Manivannan speaking to Daily News Business said that they would further invest US $ 60 million next year for further development of the project.

“Our main strength and revenue base is bulk commodity trading which includes large scale contracts of urea, coal, bitumen, PVC, iron ore. In addition we are also involved in reinsurance, investments, oil exploration, mining and consultancy. After the huge success the company enjoyed doing large scale regional business, we wanted to do something big and beneficial to Sri Lanka and this is the reason we decided to launch a satellite for Sri Lanka.”

“Being a patriot this launch of the satellite would once again prove that “nothing is impossible” for a Sri Lankan.”Subsequent to the launch in China the satellite would be positioned right over Sri Lanka and after programming it would be ready by early next year. Manivannan said he has opened doors for a new industry in Sri Lanka and this will trigger a positive attitude especially within the private sector and investor community thus brings in similar large scale, Sri Lankan initiated innovative projects into Sri Lanka.”

“When we made our initial efforts to design, manufacture and launch a satellite owned by us, none of the western manufacturers took us seriously and we have proved our critics wrong by scheduling the launch of the satellite on Thursday.”

With the capital raised and firm plans in place, it was still an uphill task to find the suitable partner who would be willing to offer us the technology support. This is when we contacted the Chinese state owned, China Great Wall Industry Corporation who was a tower of strength for this operation,” he said.

“This project, while commercially creating a whole new industry in Sri Lanka, and would also bring in a total of US $ 320 million within the next three to five years. In addition there will be foreign exchange earnings along with high technology employment generation.”

He also said in a few months the local telecommunication and TV viewing industry would see a major transformation with numerous benefits being offered to them for better quality and lower price.

“Eventually this will lead to technology transfer and we can provide employment and a knowledge base to Sri Lankans who wish to venture into the space industry.”

Source: http://www.dailynews.lk/2012/11/20/bus01.asp

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