All New Gadgets Updates

Apple has deviated a bit from their usual WWDC traditions as 2011’s event saw no new hardware making it out. However there was no lack of enthusiasm at this year’s event either, as the company with head honcho Steve Jobs taking his position front and center have announced some pretty exciting services for Apple users.

They kicked things off with the latest version of Mac OS X called Lion that included a plethora of new features including Multi-Touch gestures, system-wide support for full screen apps, Mission Control, an innovative view of everything running on your Mac, the Mac App Store that’s built right into the OS.

Their next big announcement was for iPhone and iPad users i.e. iOS 5. iOS 5 brings a large number of relevant updates to the platform that should make the new-generation iPhones and iPads a whole lot more functional. A new notification option has been added as well as a thumb-friendly split screen keyboard for the iPads amongst others.

Apple’s final announcement for the day was the introduction to their all new online storage system called iCloud that is essentially an upgraded version of MobileMe. It’s an online back-up system over Wi-Fi that can store all your data and some media for retrieval when necessary.

In case you missed it, you can get a quick glimpse of what went down at the Mascone Center, with our Live Coverage article here.

For a more detailed looked at the new announcements made click on the links below –
Mac OS X Lion
iOS 5
iCloud

Acer is adding some more mettle to their already-existing, huge range of laptops by bringing in the 8951G and the 5951G notebooks. Belonging to the Aspire Ethos series, these laptops seem to be well-equipped, at least in terms of features and specifications.

Both the 5951G and the 8951G will be featuring Core i processors and graphic cards from NVIDIA’s stable – GeForce GT500, to be precise. While the 5951G has an HD display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, the 8951G will have a Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution and both of these displays are encased in scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass.

The new Aspire Ethos notebooks also boast of Dolby Home Theater v4 solutions. The 8951G has five Dolby-tuned built-in speakers and Acer’s own Tuba CineBass subwoofer. On the other hand, the 5951G will support 5.1-channel surround sound with built-in stereo speakers and with the Acer Tuba CineBass booster. Rest of the specifications include an option between a Blu-Ray or an optical drive, USB ports, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and what Acer calls as big sized HDD for storage purposes.

While the specs and features look good, these Ethos notebooks will be priced from a whopping £999 (approx Rs. 73,400).

Twitter, in yet another step to outdo third party competition, introduced its own URL shortner on twitter.com. When you place a link in the update box on twitter.com, it automatically shortens it to 19 characters when you hit "tweet". You no longer need an external URL shortner like bit.ly or even a third party app that does it automatically like Tweetdeck, when you want to shorten a link.


The way Twitter shrinks the link still allows you to see the site that the link points to. The smaller version is just a shortened version of the original link, even though it's assigned a t.co link ID. Twitter also looks to make link sharing more secure. If you click on a link that has been reported to be malicious, Twitter will send you to a warning page, before taking you to the linked page itself. If however, you want analytics for the links you post, you can still use third party link shorteners like HootSuite's.

UPDATE: The automated URL shortening doesn't work for some users yet (after repeated testing on both the old version of Twitter and the new version).

It’s officially here. The internet’s now going to have a new address. Tonight when the clock strikes 12, some of world’s best known, largely used websites including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Bing, will switch over to internet’s newest address – IPv6, albeit for a day. But, a change is in the waiting. What began as a way of identifying individual connections to a computer network in the early 1980s, today boasts of a roster of about 4.3bn addresses roughly.

The global tech space is at the moment brimming with newer devices that keep pouring in. There are more than 80 million devices waiting in queue to be assigned an address. The older IPv4 addresses have been outrun by these increasing numbers, and hence this change seems to be the logical next step. Today, on World IPv6 Day, internet companies will indulge in this test, nicknamed a technical exercise to try their hands on their new address. As mentioned earlier, this change is inevitable. However, for those who haven’t switched yet, the change of address shouldn’t worry you as much now.

But, users are now expected to move forward bearing in mind the switch-over. For those who’ve gotten enterprising and have jumped on to the IPv6 bandwagon, the regular URLs should be accessible, anyways. ISPs everywhere, too will have to gear up to this impending change, and get in new routers that would support the new addresses. Companies worldwide, especially Tata Communications, one of world’s largest Tier 1 transit providers are highly optimistic of the change. Yves Poppe, Director of Business Development for IP Strategy, Tata Communications expects the change to be ‘smoother than expected’.

We’re living amidst interesting times, as technology progresses and goes mobile, the need for a larger roster would become imminent. Here’s hoping for smoother times!!

TOP 2 WAYS TO REDUCE PLASTIC WASTE

1. Carry reusable shopping bags.
   Carry whatever works for you. Some people like reusable canvas totes. Others prefer to put their purchases into a backpack or messenger bag. Do you often forget your reusable bags? ChicoBags are a great emergency alternative. While they are made from synthetic materials, they compress into their own attached stuff sack, which makes them very convenient and likely to be used. I carry several of them in my purse so I am never without a bag. If you have a car, keep your grocery bags in it and remember to bring them into the store with you! And one more thing: reusable bags are not just for groceries! Carry them for all your purchases, from electronics to clothing.
   
   
2. Give up bottled water.
   Not only does it come in a plastic bottle, but tremendous resources are used to extract, bottle, and ship it. And many brands of bottled water are simply filtered tap water. Get a reusable stainless steel bottle (like Klean Kanteen) or stainless steel travel mug, fill it up with tap water before leaving the house, and refill it wherever you happen to be. I don’t recommend reusable plastic or aluminum bottles. Plastic may leach chemicals into the water and aluminum bottles are lined with an epoxy resin, some of which has also found to leach into water depending on the brand. Why take a chance? Read my posts about bottled water for more information.
   
   

PLASTIC-FREE GROCERY SHOPPING

3. Shop your local farmers market
   Farmers markets are a great way to buy fresh, local produce without plastic, as long as you remember to bring your own bags. Normally, the fruits and vegetables at farmers markets don’t even have those little plastic stickers on them. Read more about farmers markets going plastic-free.
   
   
4. Say no to plastic produce bags.
   They are generally unnecessary. What are we worried about? That our apples won’t get along with our broccoli during the trip home? Or is it that the produce will get dirty? Hey, it grew in the dirt, and we’re going to wash it anyway, right? I put produce directly into my reusable bag, whether I’m at the farmers market or in the grocery store.
   
   
   If you do feel you want a separate bag for produce, cloth options are available. Some alternatives are EcoBags, Acme produce bags, or handmade bags from Etsy sellers. Check out this video of a woman who can make five reusable bags from one T-shirt!
   
   
   Wondering how to store your produce without plastic once you get it home? Check out this extensive list of ways to store produce without plastic.   (And read why I never use Evert Fresh green bags.)
   
   
5. Buy from bulk bins as often as possible.
   We have some great bulk food stores here in the Bay Area (Rainbow, Berkeley Bowl,Whole Foods, for example) and I can get almost all dry foods as well as some personal care products from the bulk bins. These foods include rice and other grains, pasta, beans, seeds, nuts, all kinds of flour, baking soda and other dry baking ingredients, cereal and granola, pretzels and chips, some candy, tofu, oils, nut butters, olives, herbs, tea & coffee, and more things than I can think of right now.
   
   
   The key is bringing my own reusable bags and containers with me to the store. You can carry the same kind of cotton bags for bulk purchases as for produce (see above.) Glass jars and other containers work great as well. Why shop from bulk bins and take new plastic bags?
   
   
   A question I am frequently asked is how to avoid payin