Sandeep's Blog » Cool Gadgets

ipad launched by steve jobs

sandeep — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:20:58 +0000

Oops, he did it again. Steve Jobs has the world going into a tizzy over his latest creation, the iPad. Millions are at the Apple altar, waiting for the latest offering. There will be the usual queues of people waiting in the cold and rain, pushing, pulling, manipulating to be among the first to get the gadget. Jobs can’t help himself. He just goes on creating. It’s in his DNA.

The world now accepts the revolutions brought about by his inventions of iPods, iPhones and eMacs. But the actual revolution was really his first invention which was the Macintosh in 1984, which was an extension of the Lisa and the Apple 2c of 1979. That revolution went by unheralded and unnoticed. Jobs was even removed years later from the Apple company he founded.

But a creator never rests. Jobs arose as the proverbial phoenix and took the company to dizzying heights.

Some critics are unable to understand or fathom Job’s genius. They attribute his success to his penchant for secrecy and the nearly theatrical manner in which each new invention is revealed. Yet, they miss out on the real reasons for Steve Job’s success.

I always said that Jobs is the genius of the century. He is the guy who concretised what the sci-fi films showed in the sixties and seventies. He anticipated the needs of the future. But Jobs is more than just a solution provider. The arid monochromatic world of technology had not even thought of the use of colour till Jobs splashed the world with pinks, blues and greens with his new range of iMacs in 1998. Computer companies suffered from functionalism. They created for utility. Jobs brought aesthetics into the field. He got in the design element. He elevated a functional gadget to an artistic one.
Till Jobs began rolling out his creations, computers were those drab machines meant for office use. They were boring, they were difficult to use. They were dependent on technicians. Jobs empowered the user. Anyone, from a child to an octagenarian could use computers easily. Not only was the interface easier, the possibilities of doing things ranging from film editing to graphic designing opened up.
Thanks to these inventions, people began to dabble in were till now the domains of the specialists. People began to experiment fearlessly. At the same time, these were powerful tools in the hands of the experts and the quality of animation took a quantum leap with Pixar studios.

There is another aspect to Jobs contribution to the technological revolution. That Jobs is a visionary in his field, is mostly accepted. But critics miss out on the fact that Jobs’ vision is a unifying one.

While the world was busy inventing specializing in different gadgets, Jobs brought different functions into one gadget. And more. He incorporated leisure time activities as well, whether they were games or music. He introduced fun.
The use of a machine is not a chore to be accomplished. It is an indulgence of senses, of the intellect and of aesthetics. Jobs put a genie in our hands that appears upon rubbing the sleek track pad or the iPhone screen. After all, only geniuses can gift us genies!

( from ahmedabad mirror , 29th JAN 2010 )

Samsung Galaxy i7500 to hit O2 stores next week?

sandeep — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:55:35 +0000

If a report from the hit or miss Register Hardware blog pan out, Samsung’s highly anticipated freshman Android offering could make its debut as soon as next week. According to the post, various O2 retail staff have confirmed that the Galaxy i7500 is now listed in their inventory system and shipments will arrive next week. That’s not to say the phone will launch next week but if retail locations actually do receive these alleged shipments, we can certainly expect a launch shortly thereafter. O2 would not confirm the Register’s report, saying only that the handset would launch “in the next few weeks”. We’ve been waiting for the i7500 ever since we

All 12 megapixels of Sony Ericsson’s Satio get poked and prodded by the FCC

sandeep — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:55:34 +0000

Mmmmmmm, Satio. If Symbian is your thing, it pretty much doesn’t get any better than this forthcoming beast from Sony Ericsson. Hell, even if Symbian isn’t your thing, you still have to respect this monster of a handset. While the ever-mysterious Xperia X3 (aka Rachael) still sits at the top of our list of Sony Ericsson kit we need ASAP, the Satio comes in at a close second. Why? If you weren’t paying attention

Samsung releases list of countries slated for August launch of the Omnia II; US not included

sandeep — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:55:34 +0000

This morning, Samsung announced the list of countries that are slated to get the Omnia II in August. Missing from the list is the United States and other major markets including the UK, France and Germany. Pretty odd, considering we know Best Buy is (or was) slated to score it later this month. We’re guessing: 1) Something was delayed. 2) BBYM will get shipments on the 23rd but the handset won’t be available for sale until early September. 3) Samsung just can’t mention the US yet as there has been no official announcement with AT&T. The

Facebook 3.0 submitted to the App Store

sandeep — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:57:38 +0000

It’s time to whip out your rosary/tallit/tasbih/whatever and start praying like you’ve never prayed before. That’s right folks, Facebook 3.0 has just been submitted to the App Store. We’re not insinuating that we believe one of Apple’s App Store approval monkeys will roll his or her icosahedral die and have it settle on “deny the app without cause just for the hell of it” (actually, we are), but we just can’t stand waiting another day for the fifteen new features Facebook 3.0 has in tow. Hit the jump for the complete change log.

Thanks, Tony!

The “new” News Feed
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Five million iPhones headed to China? Not so fast…

sandeep — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:00:14 +0000

The report from earlier this week that China Unicom purchased five million handsets from Cupertino may be false. China Unicom spokesperson Yi Difei is quoted as saying that China Unicom and Apple are still in negotiations and the International Business Times-sourced report about a $1.5 billion order is not true. Tiffany Yang, an Apple spokesperson in Beijing, also re-iterated that there is no new information about an iPhone agreement with China Unicom. We concede that these official responses may be feeble attempts to defuse a rumor that has spread like wildfire but until official word

BlackBerry Bold 9700 shows up in Bell’s inventory

sandeep — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:43:49 +0000

It’s Saturday and we’re in the midst of a company picnic that involves copious amounts of alcohol and plenty of good old fashioned debauchery, but we thought we’d take the time to let all the BlackBerry lovers out there know that Canada’s Bell now allegedly has the BlackBerry Bold 9700 in its system. Upon seeing the handset in inventory, it’s easy to jump to conclusions and assume that the new Bold is about to ship to dealers (and that Bell’s HSPA network overlay is about to have its switch flicked). We should caution you though, that it’s pretty standard for all Bell devices to show up in the inventory system as many as four months

BlackBerry Bold coming soon in white?

sandeep — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:17:05 +0000

At least it’s not pink… We received an email from a professor at York University (in Canada) where we’re told TELUS and now WIND utilize their advanced wireless testing facilities. Since they do so much testing, it stands to reason RIM would be pretty interested in sending them devices to test, right? Well, it seems that RIM sent York University an all white BlackBerry Bold. Here’s a picture of the keyboard and there’s a shot of the back after the break. What do you guys think? Me likey.

Thanks,

3,563,849th image of Apple’s tablet surfaces

sandeep — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:45:11 +0000

Behold! The latest “no seriously, this is the real thing!” image of Apple’s forthcoming, maybe real, definitely imminent, 100 percent fabricated, probably not, kind of confirmed tablet computer hit the net this morning. This time around, it comes from a French blog with a fair track record and its source is not disclosed. Right on. The image shows a device that certainly fits in with the design of the iPhone/iPod touch and iMac, though the placement of the home key is a bit odd considering such a device would be held by its ends. The most interesting aspect of this particular iPad/MacBook Touch/Macblet/iTab/Aplet/etc is the depiction of OS X on the