Surveillance Equipment: Weatherproof Night Vision CCTV Super HAD Sony CCD Camera

Comparing Products? Search Chinavasion For Alternative: CVSH-I24-NTSC (Sentinel – Waterproof Night Vision CCTV (SONY 1/3 CCD)
Weatherproof night vision security video surveillance camera with Sony Super HAD CCD imaging sensor for the highest quality video possible you can get from a security camera.

Read more: http://www.akkuschnell.de/akku-blog/surveillance-equipment-weatherproof-night-vision-cctv-super-had-sony-ccd-camera/

Entry Guardian - Wireless Video Door Phone (CMOS Sensor)

The Entry Guardian wireless video door phone! See who is at your door from anywhere inside your home. Secure and easy to use, it even lets you remotely open electronic doors to let guests in! Know what is going outside while safe and comfortable inside. Versatile Video Monitor Wireless Receiver: With the portable receiver you can be anywhere in your home and clearly see who is at your door. You can even take a photo of your visitor should you need it later on.
The CVMN-J20 receiver also comes with large 3.4 inch color screen which allows you to see your entry way with exceptional clarity, and features a MIC and speaker so you can talk to the person at the door.

The Entry Guardian Wireless Video Phone Door provides great security systems for your office or retail business. See who's at the door from the safety of your office./ Secure and easy to use, it even lets you remotely open electronic doors to let guests in! Know what is going outside while safe and comfortable inside. The Entry Guardian is our newest home security AV intercom solution that lets you be in two places at the same time. The innovative entry monitoring security system bundles a versatile wireless video monitor receiver with a powerful CMOS security camera wireless transmitter for total home and person protection.

Manufacturer Specifications

• Primary Function: Home or Office Audio and Video Portable Intercom System
• Handheld Receiver Specifications:
  - Screen Size - 3.4 inch TFT LCD screen
  - On Screen Indicators - Monitor State, Lock/Unlock, Talk, Take a Picture, Increase Volume, Decrease Volume, View Last Picture, View Next Picture, Signal Bar, Battery Bar
  - Power Source: Internal Battery (3.7V 1350 mAh Rechargeable Li-ion)
  - Receiving Frequency - 2.4GHz
  - Wireless transmitting range - approx. 50 meters (ideal conditions)
  - Onboard Buttons/Indicators - Unlock Door, View Monitor. Talk Button, MIC, LED Indicator, Mini USB Input, Speaker, Volume -/+, Brightness control -/+, Antenna, Power ON/OFF Switch
  - Dimensions: L:102 x W:134 x H:55 (mm)
• Entry Guardian Transmitter Specifications:
  - Camera Sensor - CMOS
  - Light Source - Six (6) Infrared LED lights
  - Power Source - AC Adapter (100-240V) 50/60Hz
  - Transmitting Frequency - 2.4GHz
  - Wireless receiving range - approx. 50 meters (ideal conditions)
  - Onboard Buttons/Indicators - Call Button, 6 LED Lights. MIC, Speaker, LED Indicator, Power ON/OFF Switch
  - Dimensions: L:127 x W:95 x D:36 (mm)
• Certification: FCC, CE
• Manufacturers Ref: TLKSMJAYJ6DB

Powerful CMOS Wireless Transmitter: This amazing AV transmitter features a powerful CMOS camera sensor for picture quality and six infrared lights to provide surveillance even in darkness. What's more, The Entry Guardian easily installs and mounts on the exterior of your home for a truly effective one step security solution. The mounting holes are pre-molded into the chassis and four mounting screws are also provided which means five minutes and a Philips screwdriver and you're all set up! If you want to control your electronic door, that's easy too. All the wiring is provided. Simply connect the red wire to the positive terminal of your electronic door lock and the black wire to the negative terminal. Then whenever you press the Unlock button, your door will unlock to allows guest in. More importantly, the CVMN-J20 is a universal intercom system and is compatible with most electronic door systems.

Perfect for keeping your eye out for unwanted visitors like would-be thieves, annoying sales people, and survey takers, The Entry Guardian is also ideal for hosting a successful party. You can be grilling steaks on the BBQ and entertaining your boss on the patio, and see that the team from Accounting has arrived at your doorstep. The CVMN-J20 is also great at the office. This way your secretary isn't chained to the front desk. She can run errands and be up and about with the portable receiver and buzz people in whenever, wherever.

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Security equipment : Top 10 Security Systems Review

Safety and security are two of the basic concerns and necessities of human being’s life. Right from the Stone Age, people have been quite protective which is evident by the way they lit fire to protect them. With the world progressing fast and human beings getting more and more inclined towards materialism, security has become a major concern indeed. Not long ago, it was literally impossible to keep a total watch at your home. But security cameras, another path breaking product of technology, proved to be a major breather for many. We have shortlisted some of the best wireless security cameras for you. Let’s have a look at these.
1. Wifi IP Surveillance Camera with Angle Control and Motion Detection

The ultimate IP security camera that comes with motion detection alarm recording function. Night vision, email alert, motion detection and maneuvering functions with a click of the mouse. You can go online from anywhere in the world by visiting the IP address and login to start monitoring. This model provides true versatility in its applications with WiFi enabled and the additional option that allows this smart IP camera to alert you via email when the motion detection record function is activated. Whether you're at an airport or a coffee shop, you'll be able to check the security status of your home or business from any computer in the world that has an internet connection. Thanks to the night vision capability you can monitor and view your home or office any time, 24/7. This units Wi-Fi feature comes with WEP encrypted security options, this helps in making sure your IP security camera system is protected from hackers. You can be at your office, Starbucks, or anywhere and still have full control of your security system to see what is going on at home.

2. Entry Guardian - Wireless Video Door Phone (CMOS Sensor)

Peace of mind has a new name - The Entry Guardian wireless video door phone! See who is at your door from anywhere inside your home. Secure and easy to use, it even lets you remotely open electronic doors to let guests in! Know what is going outside while safe and comfortable inside. The Entry Guardian is our newest home security AV intercom solution that lets you be in two places at the same time. The innovative entry monitoring security system bundles a versatile wireless video monitor receiver with a powerful CMOS security camera wireless transmitter for total home and person protection.

3. Wireless IP Camera (Night Vision,Motion Detection Alarm)

Wireless IP Camera with instant video streaming across the Internet, so you can view and record live footage from anywhere in the world. Also includes video recording, night vision, and motion detect alarm. Highly user-friendly and easy to use, this Wireless IP Camera is lightweight, durable, easy to install and can be instantly accessed from anywhere around the world. The camera has both wired and wireless LAN connectivity, meaning it can connect to your router either via Ethernet cable or over WiFi, making positioning very flexible. To access the camera is then simply a case of entering the camera's IP address (found using the included software) into a web browser. From there you can screen capture or record live video. Another impressive feature of the camera is that it can be configured to automatically send you an alert email as soon as it detects motion in its field of view. Should you choose to, you can then log into the camera and view what is happening remotely and in real time, even from the other side of the world. Also includes 22 infrared LED lights for excellent night vision.

4. Complete Surveillance Kit (H264 DVR + 4 Cameras + HDD)

The SecurONE kit is a complete system for local as well as remote surveillance right out of the box. It features a state of the art H.264 digital video recording unit, four top of the line Sony CCD security cameras, a premium 500GB Seagate brand hard disk drive, and all the accessories you'll need for total private or public security without installation hassle!

Location, Location, Location: Set it up in the den so you can monitor the most important bedrooms in the house. Yours and your kids. Or locate the complete system at work. One where the most important documents or inventory is kept, and one by the front, side, and rear entrance. Or have all four cameras set up at different corners of your warehouse. If you own a convenience store, point one of the cameras at the cash register, one away from the cash register facing customers, have one near the back where the alcoholic drinks are kept, and finally have one in the store room. Even in the dark, these cameras see everything because each dome camera is armed with 24 infrared sensors. Like navy seals with night vision goggles protecting you from harm. Yes, the possibilities are endless, as is the peace of mind from knowing you've got eyes everywhere and the digital evidence to present to the authorities should trouble arise.

5. 16 Channel DVR Security System with 4 SATA HDD Interfaces

16 Channel Digital Video Recorder with 4 SATA HDD Interfaces from Chinavasion. This security system video recorder has 16 Channels to record with, and 4 SATA interfaces for up to 2 TB HDD storage each.
This DVR Security System is ideal for small business, office, factory or even your executive home. You can have up to 16 security cameras (PAL or NTSC) setup around your premises, and comfortably take control of them from your office.

6. Mini Surveillance Camera with SONY Interline CCD

The I58 Mini Surveillance Camera security camera is unlike any security camera you have ever seen before. That's because only the highest quality video sensor and internal hardware is used in the construction of this device. Yes, we’re talking about the 1/3 inch Sony Interline CCD image sensor. This is the same exact technology used in full-size commercial grade security cameras. What exactly does this mean for you? Basically you get the security of knowing that whenever a suspect or criminal enters the image frame that you’ll always be able to clearly record the fine details such as facial features, body dimensions, license plate numbers and other fine details that normal security cameras struggle to capture. And since this security device comes with an impressive 36 super-bright infrared LEDs-- you can even capture detailed videos in 100% total darkness!

7. Wireless Car Baby Monitor with Night Vision + DVR - Safely Monitor your Baby While Driving

Wireless Car Baby Monitor with Night Vision + DVR. Keep a safe eye on your infant while driving, day or night!  With this high quality baby monitor you can continuously monitor your baby's status without the need of turning your head or loosing sight of the road. Simply mount the baby monitor on your car's dash and place the camera facing your child. You can now keep your eyes on the road and only need to glace at the monitor when checking on your toddler. This is the safest, easiest, and most convenient way to make sure your child is safe while driving on the road.

8. 7 Inch Wireless Baby Monitor,2.4GHz best gift for your Kids!!

Do you want to make it easy to take care of your little baby when you are busy with other things? Here this wireless baby monitor camera will be your best choice.Now you can know that your baby is safe at all times with this discrete yet cute and cuddly hidden baby safety monitor. This wireless baby monitor camera is the perfect way to get things done while keeping a close eye on your little one. Also it is really a portable unit that allows parents to see, as well as hear! Sleep a lot easier at night knowing that your baby is safe. Besides, here comes a color TFT LCD screen that allows parents to watch their child who can be clearly seen, even in a darkened room. Practical and reliable, this wireless baby monitor camera is what you need, give your baby best care with it!

9. Wireless Home And Office Alarm System

Wireless Control Home And Office Alarm System. Protect your home or office with this wireless control remote dialing home or office alarm system.

Versatile programming allows you to program up to 4 four alarm zones (garage, back door, bedroom, etc.). For added protection you can program up to 6 different telephone numbers the system will automatically dial in when the alarm is set off and it includes a telephone wire for easy network connection to your telephone land line or home or office computer. Full control of the alarm system can be gained by calling the phone line that the alarm system is hooked up to. The alarm horn is housed in the keypad to minimize setup difficulties.

10. Fortress - Biometric Fingerprint Door Lock

A tougher than Superman biometric finger print doorlock with advanced security features to keep your family and valuables safe. The Fortress Biometric Fingerprint Door Lock is an essential part of any comprehensive home security strategy! The Fortress Biometric Fingerprint Doorlock is literally built like a fortress to safeguard your home. It is solidly constructed from heavy gauge zinc alloy and stainless steel for improved resistance to brute force attacks!

Christmas security: 5 safety tips for holiday shopping online

Holiday shopping can be an exhausting experience, even online. There are so many places to visit and choices to make. You like to believe that the product and service recommendations you receive while shopping are helping show you the best bargains and important special offers. This is the claim made by many behavioral tracking advertisers. Their PhD-designed computer algorithms watch your every move and help predict what you might want to see.

But what happens when one of these friendly helpers has an ulterior motive such as selling your information to someone else or using it to invade your shopping privacy? These five tips will help ensure that you get the most from your holiday shopping experience and keep the unwanted intruders at bay.

1. Beware of upsells and add-ons - It is common practice to offer additional related items to a customer who just completed a purchase. If you purchased a pair of shoes, it is logical for marketers to assume that you might want socks or even another pair of shoes. How you deal with these prompts tells the vendor a lot about your tendencies and preferences. Most importantly, it tells them that you DO or DO NOT respond to such advertisements. Vendors design their sites and shopping carts based on this behavior. If you ignore such prompts, or quickly navigate away from the site after receiving your purchase confirmation, you will be less likely to become a statistic and more likely to keep your personal privacy intact.

2. When you are completing the checkout process, only complete transactions when the Web address starts with https:// - the 's' means that the shopping site is secure. Ensure that when visiting a Web site, they are certified by companies like the Better Business Bureau, BuySAFE, and VeriSign. Make sure the logos are 'clickable' to ensure that they represent active membership as fraudulent Web sites will just use their logo images.

3. Use a different email address - One of the biggest annoyances surrounding online shopping is the increase in follow-up emails that are sent after you make your purchase. Good marketers know that existing customers are their best customers, so almost every purchase you make online will result in a series of emails designed to get you back to the site to buy something else. Most sites assume that by making a purchase from them, you have voluntarily “opted in” to their email marketing campaigns. But don’t forget that you can opt-out by clicking on each email’s unsubscribe link, while this sounds easy enough, it can sometimes be a time-consuming, painful process. Instead, go to gmail.google.com and get a new gmail email address that you can use exclusively for online shopping. Make sure to create a legitimate email address because some purchases will require you to validate it. Once you finish holiday shopping, you can then choose to either ignore or cancel that gmail account, and your ‘real’ email inbox will remain spam-free.

4. Never click on a link in an email that looks like it is from Paypal, eBay, a bank or any other financial institution. This is a common fraud attempt that will redirect you to a web site that looks safe, but is actually a fake site meant to capture your personal information. Use security toolbars that advise if a site is safe before making purchases. Always keep your receipts and be sure to check your junk email folder if you did not receive an email receipt after purchase.

5. Review the return policy before you purchase to ensure whether a product can be exchanged or returned. Regularly run virus and spyware scans on your PC. Restart your PC after scanning for viruses or spyware. Restarting your computer will ensure that any virus or malware program is completely removed from your system.

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas!

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Staying Healthy this Christmas Holiday Time

For many folks, Christmas time means glittering lights and gaily wrapped gifts; sounds of laughter and good cheer. Unfortunately, it also means rushing around and feeling altogether too much stress, and if you let you let things overwhelm you, you could wind up making yourself sick. We decided to compile eight suggestions to help keep you healthy this winter.

1. Get enough sleep: There never seems to be enough time in the day to do the things you need to do, but remember that getting enough rest is one of the most important. Keep to a regular sleep schedule as much as you can, even if you are entertaining guests or traveling yourself.

2. Avoid over-extending yourself: You be everywhere, do everything or be all things to all people. If you subject yourself to too much stress, you will run yourself (and your immune system) down.

3. Eat healthy foods: There are plenty of tempting treats to enjoy around the holidays, but use discipline. If you know you’re going to a party or having a big dinner, then exercise moderation at breakfast and lunch. And don’t get into the habit of eating fast food every time you shop – it’ll pack weight on you quickly, if you’re not careful.

4. Take your vitamins: It’s hard enough to keep our diets perfectly balanced, so consider taking a multivitamin if you did not take one already.

5. Be guilt-free: If you can’t make to a friend’s party or need to leave early, don’t feel bad, because it’s not worth being exhausted over. And don’t drink excessively – not only are police strictly enforcing DWI laws, alcohol can interrupt your sleep and make you feel lousy the next day.

6. Plan your trips: If you know you need to get to two or more places on the same side of town, combine the trips. For instance, if a store is near your friend’s house and that friend is having a party, wait till the day of the party to make the trip to the store.

7. De-stress at the gym: Letting your exercise fall by the wayside will make you feel worse, not better. Consider the time at the gym to be personal time that can’t be interrupted.

8. Just chill: Take time just on your own to read, reflect, and contemplate, pray or whatever helps center you and gets you to relax. Sit in front of the fireplace with a book or take a walk around your neighborhood to admire the Christmas lights.

You’ll enjoy the holiday season much more if you stay healthy this winter, so keep yourself on the right track and don’t run yourself into the ground. Not only that, you’ll be better prepared to enter the New Year in good spirits.  Read More Holiday Relates News: http://news.top-shoppingmall.com/

Review Why Android Market is unstoppable ?

The tipping point fast approaches in the Android/iOS platform wars. This week, Android Market reached an important milestone: 10 billion downloads. While still far behind Apple's App Store, Android Market is catching up at a ferocious pace. Only huge iOS device shipments can slow Android's advance now, and Holiday sales will matter much there.

For comparison, App Store reached 15 billion downloads in July, up from 10 billion in January and 3 billion a year earlier. But Android Market is accelerating at faster pace, which isn't surprising given the number of device activations (550,000-plus per day) and how many more handsets/tablets are available compared to iPhone and iPad. Android Market went from 3 billion downloads in March to 6 billion in July to 10 billion in December.

However, Android users can buy from other marketplaces, and there are several, including Amazon Appstore for Android. Android Market download numbers don't account for these, some of which, Amazon namely, are better curated.

During second quarter, Android downloads exceeded iOS, according to ABI Research, with 44 percent and 31 percent market share, respectively.

"Android's open source strategy is the main factor for its success", Lim Shiyang, ABI research associate, says. "Being a free platform has expanded the Android device install base, which in turn has driven growth in the number of third party multi-platform and mobile operator app stores. These conditions alone explain why Android is the new leader in the mobile application market".

Androids and iPhone dominate the US smartphone market, according to Nielsen: "83 percent of app downloaders, that is, those who downloaded an app in the past 30 days, use iPhone or Android smartphones". At the end of October, 44 percent of US cellular subscribers had smartphones. In the app platform wars, in the United States at least, there is little room for another major competitor.

"Despite leading in total mobile application downloads, Android's app downloads per user still lag behind Apple's by 2-to-1", Dan Shey, ABI practice director, says. "Apple's superior monetization policies attracted good developers within its ranks, thus creating a better catalog of apps and customer experience".

In other words, developers make more money from App Store than Android Market, where free -- fitting with Google's business market -- rules. It's a shortcoming that could help iOS in the platform wars.
Successful platforms share five common traits:

1. There are good development tools and APIs for easily making good applications.
2. There is at least one killer application people really want.
3. There is breadth of useful applications.
4. Third parties make lots of money.
5. There is a robust ecosystem.

No. 4 matters most, and it's where App Store beats Android Market. But No. 3 is hugely important, too, and there Android Market has trailed behind App Store. Until recently. Over the last six months, there is increasing trend of important new apps releasing simultaneously, or thereabouts, for both platforms. Android even scored some notable short-term exclusives, such as Adobe Photoshop Touch, Proto and Debut, which released about three weeks ago for Android tablets. You can't get them for iPad, yet.

Then there is the number of devices question. Apple claims more than 250 million iOS devices out there, compared to 200 million Androids. iPad is in demand this holiday, and iPhone 4S is still fresh to market. Then there is Apple's push into China, which is now its second-most important market by revenue.

Meanwhile, Amazon Kindle Fire is tracking for 5 million units sold during the holiday quarter, while Verizon offers eight and soon nine (with Galaxy Nexus) 4G LTE Android phones. Then there is Samsung's Galaxy S II, which is in some countries selling as well as or better than iPhone 4S. The point: Number of devices matter, too.

By the way, Eric Chu, Android Developer Ecosystem, announces: "To celebrate this milestone, we partnered with some of the Android developers who contributed to this milestone to make a bunch of great Android apps available at an amazing price. Starting today for the next 10 days, we’ll have a new set of awesome apps available each day for only 10 cents each...

Review The advantage of Wireless security cameras

Wireless security cameras are fast becoming the best option for security camera installation. Whereas once wired cameras were the only option, wireless security cameras present new options for your security needs. Your security matters and you deserve flexibility in the installation and use of your security camera.

Are you unsure of the differences between these two camera systems? Here is a quick rundown of the main advantages wireless security cameras have over wired:

•  Improved flexibility A wireless camera can be moved to different locations while a wired camera is difficult to move once it is installed.  　
• Temporary setup The cost effectiveness of a wireless camera makes it ideal for a security situation that does not need constant monitoring, like a seasonal location such as a pool.　
• Appearance If you want a security camera in your home, office, or store, a wireless camera, as the name suggests, gives you the security without all the wires running around your home for an inconspicuous and more attractive appearance.

Wireless security cameras come in many different sizes, which also helps make them a more viable security option. A small, discreet camera is more apt to record the normal activities than a large, hulking device for the simple fact that people act differently when they know they are being recording. If you want to know you're getting the most accurate results from your security spy cameras , a wireless security camera is for you.

Wireless security cameras are available in black and white or color, with color providing a more identifiable image. Improvements in camera technology have made a wireless color camera just as affordable a black and white one. Most cameras have a great range of up to 100 feet, so you will be getting feed from a sizable space with just one camera.

Are you thinking this is too technologically advanced for you? Relax! Here how the camera, from a provider such as X10, works:

•     Mount your camera where you need it most (indoors OR outdoors)
•     Plug it in (battery pack is also an option)
•     Plug your video receiver into a TV, VCR, or computer
•     Begin receiving live feed!

 That's all you have to do to install the X10 Xcam2 wireless color camera, which is just one of many wireless security cameras available.

You spend a lot of time making your home and office thriving, safe places. Spend just a couple minutes more to make these places even more secure. A great form of protection in the form of wireless security cameras are just a click away.

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Review: The BlackBerry Dakota now comes with the Smart All-In Plan 3500

Today’s coolest smartphones have enabled tech-savvy users to connect to their passions, from socializing through Facebook and Twitter, enjoying music and multimedia content, doing business to surfing the net. Letting users fulfill their cutting-edge passions, Smart Postpaid offers the perfect handsets paired with the perfect All-In Plan that won’t bust the budget.

With sophisticated style and reliable performance, BlackBerry models have always been among the most coveted smartphones among today’s busy professionals.

Their freshest offering, the BlackBerry Dakota, provides power-users with superior performance from its powerful 1.2GHz processor, 8GB of expandable memory, and a newly enhanced version of the BlackBerry OS 7.

Whether sending work emails, messages, or capturing special moments, dynamic multi-taskers are sure to take pleasure in its larger QWERTY keyboard, fluid touchscreen, a 720p HD video camera, and innovative built-in apps that will make work a more delightful experience.

The BlackBerry Dakota now comes with the Smart All-In Plan 3500 – a better, more cost-efficient deal compared to other postpaid plans with the same handset model.

A compact, trendy smartphone that online-savvy teens will love, the Samsung Galaxy Y Netphone Edition is now free with Smart’s affordable Plan 349 with UnliTxt and UnliSocial.

Together with its powerful Android 2.3 operating system and blazing download speeds of 7.2Mbps, the Samsung Galaxy Y Netphone Edition boasts a nifty Social Hub feature that integrates social networking updates, messages and emails into one real-time feed.

Loaded with fun apps and the TouchWiz UI touchscreen that offers a smooth user interface, this handy phone makes connecting with friends and loved ones a worry-free experience.

Available exclusively with Smart’s Data Plan 2000 or All-In Plan 3500, the HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio is now the hottest premium phone for music enthusiasts. The custom-made Beats headsets and virtual surround sound deliver a richer, more enjoyable listening experience.

Combining outstanding sonic capabilities with chic aesthetics, it’s also loaded with all the best smartphone features: an instant capture camera, full HD camcorders with stereo sound recording, multi-window web browsing, a 4.3-inch touchscreen with lockscreen function, and a user interface that offers a hassle-free and intuitive mobile audio playback.

Another Smart exclusive, the new Nokia N9 boasts the impressive technology and solid design have made the Nokia N series the gold standard among smartphones.

The perfect mobile companion for shutterbugs and video buffs, the Nokia N9 lets users take pictures and videos of stunning quality with its 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. It also offers total connectivity and outstanding social networking capabilities with its wide range of pre-loaded apps, letting budding photographers easily share and upload multimedia content. Featuring a vivid AMOLED display and a highly-responsive touchscreen, this attractive gadget brings stunning photos and high-definition videos to life. The 16GB version of the Nokia N9 comes with the Smart All-In Plan 3500 or Data Plan 2000, while the 64GB version is free with the Smart Data Plan 3000.

Smart’s All-In Plans and Postpaid Data Plans offer each subscriber all the needed voice, SMS, and data services in one convenient, affordable package with no hidden add-on charges.

With the newest, most stylish smartphones now available with your Smart Postpaid plan, you can also get the best handsets at the best value for your money.

Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet cost less than the lowest-priced iPad

Amazon.com's Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet cost less than half as much as the lowest-priced iPad. But they have smaller screens and fewer apps, their speed is slower and their batteries don't last as long.

The iPad, the heavyweight champ of the tablet world, has summarily knocked out every challenger it has faced since it debuted last year.

The defeated include tablets with names including Xoom, PlayBook, TouchPad , G-Slate and Streak, none of which has grabbed more than a tiny sliver of the $10-billion tablet market over which the iPad reigns.

But now a pair of new lighter-weight contenders are aiming to hit Apple Inc. where it hurts: the price tag.
Amazon.com Inc.'s $199 Kindle Fire and the $249 Nook Tablet from Barnes & Noble Inc. retail for less than half the cost of the lowest-priced iPad and are undercutting the prices of nearly every brand-name tablet on the market. If the companies are successful, analysts say, they may be able to put the devices in the hands of millions who have felt that $500 was too much to spend on a tablet.

"These two companies are going to start proving that there's a media tablet market, not just an ipad Accessories / iPad market," said Tom Mainelli, a mobile device analyst at research firm IDC. "Now that some of these devices cost $200, it really throws it open to the mainstream."

But the lower cost of these devices comes with a series of trade-offs. The Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet have smaller screens — only 7 inches compared with the iPad's more spacious 10 inches — and their speed and handling are more like an economy sedan than the high-performance sports car feel of the iPad. Their batteries don't last as long as the iPad's, they have no option for cellular connections, and the catalog of applications they support is substantially smaller than Apple's.

It bears remembering, in fact, that the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet are descended from slower electronic readers — simple devices that do little more than display the text of books that users download from an online store. In that sense, the tablets improve on earlier e-readers, adding access to the Internet and social networks and the ability to listen to music, watch online videos from Netflix and Hulu and send email.

"For users looking to simply read books, watch movies, listen to music and play the occasional game, the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet are perfect candidates that will not create a big dent in their pockets," said Walter Galan, an analyst at San Luis Obispo-based iFixit. "But for those looking for a full-fledged tablet, the iPad is probably a better choice in the long run."

If you're considering a tablet, then, it's a simple cost-benefit analysis: Do you need all the fancy features and screen real estate of the more expensive iPad, or can you get by with a smaller, slightly slower tablet with a palette of more basic functions, and pocket the difference?

How to joy with you Windows smartphones?

When buying a new smartphone — or adding one to a holiday gift list — there's just one question: iPhone or Android?

But what if someone out there was doing it better than iPhone and Android?

If there's a company coming close, it's Microsoft, with its Windows line of smartphones.

I've been using the HTC Radar 4G on T-Mobile for a week, which runs the new Windows Phone operating system 7.5.

The updated OS — dubbed Mango — is a welcome upgrade to an already fantastic user experience.
It's the best phone experience that you've never tried.

Where Apple and Android have settled on home screens of small square app icons, Windows has created a vertical column of interactive tiles that display information — unread e-mails, missed calls, weather, etc.

With an easy wipe to the left, you've got all the other options and settings you'd ever want to access.

This vertical organization is echoed in other Windows phone apps. In e-mail, you can swipe left for columns of unread e-mail, starred messages and urgent ones. It's so instantly intuitive that it makes jumping from app to app a breeze. It just works.

Knows the score

The Windows phone platform also boasts the best integration of Microsoft Office programs such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Documents can be stored online and shared using Microsoft's SkyDrive service.
The big knock to the platform, though, is the limited number of apps. But that number is growing, and many of the biggies are there.

Netflix works great. So does Twitter and Facebook. One notable hole, though: no Pandora.
But the app ecosystem now has more than 40,000 titles, according to a study last week by fan site All About Windows Phone, and is rising fast.

Windows Phone 7.5 also includes a voice-controlled assistant, very similar to Apple's much-hyped Siri feature in the iPhone 4S.

It's not quite as powerful as Siri, which can also unravel a user's intent.

You can ask Siri, for example: "Will I need an umbrella tomorrow?"

The Microsoft TellMe service fumbles that request, sending you to a Web search for the phrase.
TellMe does do several things that Siri can't yet, though. You can tell the service to open an app. You can also ask for the most recent professional sports scores. Siri can't do either of those things.

A better way

The Windows Phone platform is a total joy to use.

It makes me wish that iOS and Android hadn't settled on such similar navigation systems.

We should all feel a bit cheated. There are better ways to operate a smartphone.

And, for the first time in a while, Microsoft knows something its competitors do not.

Google relaunched its search for iPad application with several tablet-oriented tweaks

Google relaunched its search for iPad application with several tablet-oriented tweaks Nov. 21. Google Instant plays a big role in the redesign.

Google might not be able to help its Android OEMs sell more tablets, but the company can certainly augment the search experience on Apple's popular iPad.

The company, whose search app for the iPad has been more like the desktop Google Web search experience than a genuine tablet app, has made its search app more visually pleasing and efficient on the larger mobile form factor. See it in action in this YouTube demo video and download it from Apple's App Store here.

Google said Web pages that users land on now load on a new, slide-in pane that will layer over the search results. iPad users can then slide the pane to the right to return to search results, and tap on any image result to use the new image carousel.

More other business:

• iPad Cases 
• ipad Accessories 

In another design change to suit the iPad's 9.7-inch display, the app lets users swipe right to view snapshots of pages they've visited and organized according to search terms.

After users select a result, they can tap the magnifying glass on the top right-hand corner to highlight the most relevant section of the page. A newly added +1 button next to the magnifying glass lets users recommend Web pages to other searchers, and users may share a post on Google+ within the slide-in pane.

Tap on an icon to quickly read an email in Gmail, or share a post on Google+ within the slide-in pane. When you slide the pane to the right, you’ll be right back to searching.

The company also added Google Instant predictive search technology to accelerate the delivery of search results. And the company ported its Instant Previews to the app so users can quickly compare Web pages before they choose their result. These Instant additions follow the company's inclusion of Instant Pages, which pre-fetches Web pages, last August.

"Tapping on an icon in the top right of the screen brings you into a visual preview of the pages for your search result, easy to scroll through with the swipe of a finger," said Daniel Fish, a Google software engineer for the search app, in a blog post.

Providing a great search app for the iPad fulfills Google's need to have placement on the most popular mobile devices and platforms worldwide. At over 32 million units shipped and counting, the iPad certainly fits that bill. Ditto for the iPhone, for which Google just launched its native Gmail app last week.

Top 3 Home Security Mistakes You Shoule to Avoid

We usually like to think our homes, apartments, garages and other property are relativly safe. We talk ourselves into the fact that our neighborhood may be safe, our town or city is safe, or that we have the right equipment to keep it all secure. This may not actually be the case.

Here are our Top 3 Home Security Mistakes:

1. The “Hidden” Key

Most people have a hidden key that they are certain is safe from intruders. The “under-the-rock” or “under-the-doormat” hidden key is one of the most over used security practices across the nation. In almost all cases, you aren’t being sneaky, and that key can be found relatively quickly. Even the most inexperienced thieves know about the hidden key trick (it’s probably the first one they try.) If you are worried about getting locked out, think about other keyless security products that could help you in this situation.

2. Unarmed Alarm System

If you have an alarm system for your home, but don’t ever use it, what good will it do? If you want your home to be safe then be sure to turn your home alarm system on. People who hesitate to turn the system on may fear an accidental incident, and therefor just don’t mess with it. Wouldn’t you rather have a mistaken alarm go off than have no alarm go off during a real home invasion? Even if you are leaving for a few minutes, that is enough time for a burglar to come into your home.

3. Garage Safety

Some people mistakenly think your garage is safer than your home because burglars are less inclined to go there first. This is not the case. Leaving your garage unlocked, or unprotected can be a huge mistake. Leaving your car keys (and home keys) in your garage is only providing a burglar entry into both places and a potential get-away ride.

Blogroll:

House Alarm Systems Tips & Guide – Keep Home Safety

Fake security cameras for the home – a visual deterrent

Home Security Store – Wireless Security Systems Review

Technology for Your Safety: Wireless Home Security Systems

Choose a right home securiy cameras – top-shopingmall.com

Surveillance cameras for home – Get your house and family protected now

Nokia News: will have a tablet running Windows 8 in June 2012

In an interview with French newspaper Les Échos, Paul Amsellem, head of Nokia France, said that the company would have a tablet running Windows 8 in June 2012.

As is typical with this kind of comment, Nokia PR's official line is "we have not announced any specific plans as it relates to tablets"; nonetheless, it seems more likely than not that Nokia will be making Windows 8 tablets.

That Nokia is planning to build a Windows 8 tablet is not surprising. Talking to Bloomberg earlier this year, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that Windows 8 will "change the dynamics" of the tablet market, and that there was a "new tablet opportunity coming." Though he did not announce any plans to produce a tablet at the time, he certainly didn't rule it out either.

Nokia is no newcomer to the tablet scene. Its Linux-on-ARM 770, N800, and N810 tablets were early attempts to produce an Internet tablet of the kind that Apple / ipad Accessories has popularized. With the viability of the tablet market now proven, Nokia's close partnership with Microsoft, and the "new opportunity" by Windows 8, the time is right for the Finns to have another stab at the market with a Windows 8 device.

What is surprising is the apparent timing. Windows 8 is a major update to the Windows platform that's not yet even in beta, with most observers estimating a fall 2012 release. Windows' end-user availability has generally lagged the software's completion and release to manufacturing (RTM) by a month or three. If this pattern holds true, it would put the RTM no later than March or April. This would require a hugely condensed beta and release candidate process, and for a release of Windows 8's scale, that's hard to believe.

The bulk of the interview was about Nokia's phone strategy in France and beyond. Just two years ago, Nokia commanded a 25 percent market share in France. This has now dropped to 16 percent. Samsung, with a 40 percent share, is now France's biggest phone OEM. Nokia hopes to improve its position by targeting the 60 percent of French people who currently don't own a smartphone at all.

Today's release of the Lumia 800 is the first step in this process. Amsellem likened the Lumia 800 to a BMW 5 Series, saying that Nokia would later deliver a lower-end 3 Series and a higher-end 7 Series to round out its offering. The 3 Series equivalent is presumably the Lumia 710 that will be available in Europe by the end of the year. Rumors of a higher-end Nokia offering codenamed "Ace" have circulated for some months. Though nothing concrete is known about Ace's specification or features, the interview does at least confirm that a high-end Nokia Windows Phone is in development, and that the Ace rumors are, at least in spirit, correct.

While it's still very early days for Nokia's Windows Phone offerings, initial indications are promising. WinRumors is reporting that Orange UK has received more preorders for the Lumia 800 than for any prior Nokia handset, including big-sellers like the N95. Nokia has been advertising heavily, and Orange is offering an aggressive promotion that gives qualifying upgrading customers a free Xbox 360 if they order a Lumia 800. Chatter about AT&T picking up Lumia handsets for a first-quarter 2012 US launch is increasing as well.

Review: IBM Replacement Found for New U.S. Supercomputer

The University of Illinois says Seattle-based Cray Inc. will take over construction of the stalled $300 million Blue Waters supercomputer project, three months after IBM pulled out citing cost and technical concerns.
Cray expects to have the computer online next year, keeping the project, which is being primarily paid for by the National Science Foundation, on track to finish on time.

"We clearly had to do it real quickly," said Thom Dunning, the director of the school's National Center for Supercomputing Applications. "NSF's goal was to keep the project on track as much as it possibly could be."

The cost and financing will stay essentially the same, Cray CEO Peter Ungara said. The NSF will provide just over $200 million with the remaining $100 million coming from the university and the state of Illinois.

Cray will be paid $188 million, the equivalent of about half of its total revenue from its most recent fiscal year.
"This is a transformational contract for the company," Ungara said. "It's a very big deal for us. It's a huge contract based on the size of the company and we couldn't be more excited about it."

The design and scope of what Blue Waters should be able to do in the years ahead will change, he said.
Once completed, the supercomputer will be used for a range of projects, including the study of how tornadoes are formed and how viruses invade cells.

Blue Waters was announced in 2007 as a project to build what would have been at least briefly the world's fastest computer and a computer that could operate at sustained speeds of a petaflop -- a thousand trillion operations a second and a long-sought standard that makes massive computational projects possible.
There are now a number of computers capable of faster peak speeds, the fastest being the K Computer in Japan.

Blue Waters will still aim to be able to run at petaflop speeds for long periods, but it will also now incorporate graphics processing units, or GPUs, which will increase its power, Dunning and Ungara said. GPUs have tremendous power to allow them to handle high-demand graphics applications, but they've only seriously been applied to general-purpose computing since the Blue Waters project was conceived, Dunning said.
The incorporation of this relatively new use for graphics technology could also extend the computer's life / batery life , Ungara said.

"I think we're building a system that almost future-proofs it in many ways," he said.

Blue Waters' will have what Ungara called "a tremendous amount of memory," 1.5 petabytes, a quadrillion bytes. Large amounts of memory were something Dunning said researchers told the university they'd like to see in the project as the university looked for a new builder.

Cray competed to be the builder of Blue Waters when the NSF chose the University of Illinois and IBM in 2007, and Ungara said he'd thought a lot about the project since then, "but it hasn't been anything that's been in our plans or even our dreams over the last couple of years."

But as far back as April, officials at the Supercomputing Center said, it was apparent that there were problems that could derail the project.

When IBM / IBM battery backed out in August, it cited technical and cost concerns about the project, but didn't provide details. A $72 million building built just for the project, the National Petascale Computing Facility, was built on the university campus.

At the time, the NSF said there were no guarantees that the project would continue.

Now, Dunning said, 25 groups from around the world, including several from the university, have tentatively been given time on Blue Waters, with perhaps a dozen ready to go when the computer goes online.

"We'll be holding (the projects) back trying to figure out how we schedule them on the machine," Dunning said.

How to Optimize Your Phone for Maximum Battery Life?

Tired of watching your phone die when you need it the most? Here's a collection of tips and tricks for wringing a little extra juice from your Android, iOS, or Windows Phone 7 smartphone's battery.

Do you know where your smartphone is? Unless you're using it to read PCWorld.com, your phone is probably plugged into an outlet somewhere to charge, because the battery stinks. You can find plenty of good reasons why your smartphone battery sucks, most of which stem from the failure of lithium ion batteries to keep pace with the exponentially increasing power demands of rapidly evolving smartphone technology. Thankfully, plenty of tips and tutorials are available to help you wring every last drop of juice from your smartphone battery, and such tricks can be distilled down to two critical steps: Configure your smartphone for maximum battery life, and then download a reliable and trustworthy battery-optimization app.

Optimize Your Phone for Maximum Battery Life

Configuring your smartphone for maximum battery life entails giving up a few luxuries such as GPS tracking and a stunningly bright screen; but after testing these tricks, we’re willing to bet that you won’t even notice the loss. What you will notice is the few extra hours of battery life you’ll earn with simple tweaks such as dimming your smartphone screen, reducing the screen timeout to the shortest available time (preferably 15 seconds or less), and switching off the power-sucking Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios when you aren’t using them. Making those three changes should net you an extra hour or two before your phone dies.

Download Battery-Management Apps

Once your device is running lean and mean, you should download a few good battery-optimization apps to ensure it stays that way. The best app for your needs will vary depending on what sort of smartphone you carry.

Android users have access to a smorgasbord of apps that boost speed and improve battery life, but many of them directly affect your phone's system settings and require a rooted device to function properly. Unfortunately, few apps on the Apple App Store are capable of automatically managing your iPhone’s system settings. If you’re carrying an iPhone and you’re concerned about reports of poor battery life, pick up a system monitor app such as iStat to keep an eye on how your phone draws juice, and use that knowledge to troubleshoot your battery-sucking iPhone 4S. If you own an older iPhone or an iPad, check out our quick fix for the Apple iOS 5 battery-drain issue instead.

If you use a Windows Phone 7 smartphone, update the firmware to the latest version of Mango and try the new Battery Saver feature. This great battery-management utility allows you to automatically disable power drains such as Live Tile and email updates when your battery starts to run low. The typical tips for conserving smartphone battery power are also appropriate for Mango users.

No matter what tools you select, be cautious and avoid bogus battery-saver apps; we’ve seen a recent rash of Android malware masquerading as battery-upgrade utilities. Be sure to install a trusted mobile security app, and consult a few reviews before you download any questionable apps.

Apple's new iPhones are having some stumbles out of the "battery gate"

Apple's new iPhones are having some stumbles out of the gate: recently the new iOS 5 was revealed to suck down more battery than anyone predicted, and the voice-command feature, Siri, became so popular it seems to have stunned Apple's servers.
Apple's response to one problem, but not the other, is typical of the company. I think Apple did the right thing with the battery-life issue, but I'm frustrated by its lack of a public explanation for the Siri problems—and yes, the two issues are different and require different approaches.

The iOS 5 battery drain problem seems to be a complex interaction between a phone's software, a mobile network, and location. We've seen bugs like this on phones before; remember how some of Samsung's Galaxy S devices initially had serious GPS flaws? It can take a while to pinpoint where the problem lies.
Apple reacted here with deliberation and thoughtfulness. The company didn't freak out or say anything rash. It monitored the complaints for a few days, made some calls to affected consumers to get more details, clearly went back into the lab to find out exactly what was causing the problem, and issued a statement that a fix is coming.

I can't see what more people could have asked for here—but I understand why they wanted more, and I'll get to that in a moment. Apple is a bunch of humans, in a building, hopefully working no more than 12 hours a day, with a lot of products in the pipeline. They heard about a bug, they double-checked before saying anything, they found the bug, they're fixing the bug. Case closed.

The recent problems with Siri, on the other hand, are a lot less difficult and ambiguous, because they're entirely under Apple's control. Siri is a service operated by Apple. It's being overloaded under the weight of its popularity. This is similar to the Mobile Me fiasco of 2008.

Unlike with a complex handset bug that needs lots of testing to verify, it's relatively easy for Apple to know its servers are overloaded and issue some sort of quick statement, for instance: "The tremendous popularity of Siri has led to stress on our servers. We are adding capacity to resolve the problem, but for now, be aware the service is in beta."

In a curious twist, Apple seems to have been tweaking Siri's error messages to make her explain herself, telling Apple blogger John Gruber that "my mind is going." That fits with Apple's strategy: if you have to admit the products are fallible, try not to admit their creators are as well.

Apple's Counterproductive Mystique

Apple promotes its products as perfect objects produced by demigods. That is transparently false and in fact impossible, but it has worked for the company so far. That approach only becomes a problem when the human origins of Apple's gadgets turn into obvious bugs.

The company takes a very different approach to PR than other tech firms do. Apple execs generally don't speak at conferences, except when the conferences are run by Apple itself or by the company's special friends. They don't mingle with journalists or consumers on a regular basis, and they don't invite queries. The message is: our products are perfect enough to speak for themselves. That builds a mystique not just around the products, but around the creators. Apple's staffers hold themselves above and apart from the regular folks in the technology world.

The flip side of this approach, of course, is that when the products don't speak for themselves, consumers feel uncommonly let down. When the curtain is ripped away to reveal that their devices are just very good consumer electronics created by a bunch of smart but fallible humans, many people feel subtly betrayed. Consumers expect Apple's Olympians to be better than us, but of course, they aren't. They're just people. They make mistakes.

This marketing strategy is also why Apple's bugs get so much more press than other companies' bugs, by the way. When you promise perfection, any imperfection is news. When you call your products "revolutionary and magical," that's a high bar to set. Nobody else promises perfection quite to the extent Apple does.
I've always felt that Apple could do better by pulling back that curtain just a little bit. I remember when I asked an Apple exec, many years ago, about a missing feature in one of its products. The exec told me: we don't have infinite staff, we have to prioritize, it's a tough problem, it's on the list, we're working on it. If Apple said that about managing Siri's server load, I think most people would forgive the company. And if Apple said that about more things more often, I think Apple's critics would forgive it more often. Humans like to empathize, and Apple's marketing approach invites admiration and even worship for the company, but not empathy.

But who am I to criticize? Apple's strategy is stunningly successful because consumers are looking for something simple and perfect, something to pull them out of their difficult and complex lives, something handed down in beauty from the clouds. The company can clearly take a few blows to the chin to protect that mystique.

Popular smartphones Review- iPhone v. Blackberry

In the year 2011, it's become standard to own a cell phone that can surf the web, download music, and send texts in a matter of seconds. The two most popular smartphones among teens are the BlackBerry and the iPhone.

When the first iPhone / ipad Accessories came around in 2007, it was almost revolutionary.Adults and teens alike were fascinated by the touch-screen technology and the phone's various capabilities. Although the iPhone is fairly simple to use and many new users are familiar with iTunes as well as the app store, many argue that the phone itself is overrated.

A popular opinion about the iPhone is that the touch-screen keyboard is difficult to type with since the keys are spread apart. One of the more popular features of the iPhone is that it functions as an iPod complete with the iTunes store, which makes it simple to purchase music and add it to the iPod without the hassle of connecting it to a computer. Many users also agree that the internet browser is simplified, easy to navigate with, and rarely freezes.

A few years back, many viewed the BlackBerry as strictly a business phone, used by adults and multi-taskers. Today, it's one of the most popular smartphones among teenagers as well as adults. Many teenagers claim that the primary reason they had for purchasing one was to utilize an application that is complete with every BlackBerry -- BBM, or BlackBerry Messenger. The application almost resembles an instant messaging tool, and makes communication between other BlackBerry users simple. It's also free.

Several BlackBerry users also agree that although the interface of the iPhone is quality, BlackBerries can sustain a longer battery life and are less prone to breakage. The e-mail service also allows the user to manage more than one address, which is beneficial to e-mail users with several obligations. However, BlackBerry owners claim that the music application is more difficult to use than the iPod feature on the iPhone.

“I’d rather buy an iPod separately than use the music app on the BlackBerry,” said one tenth grader.
If you're looking into purchasing either a BlackBerry or an iPhone, you should consider what your priorities on your cell phone are. Also, the price of these devices should not be ignored, as both require a separate payment for internet usage and other services.

One 11th grader told us he would not be getting a smartphone any time soon. “My family is tight on money,” he said.

If you are in the market though, whereas the iPhone offers simplicity in watching movies, listening to music, and downloading apps, the BlackBerry is a more sophisticated phone meant for communicating with friends and family as well as keeping things organized.

How to Hands on with GarageBand for the iPhone and iPad

Apple's music-making app goes universal, presents compelling new features

It’s no secret around these parts that we’re pretty fond of GarageBand on iOS. Apple’s mobile music app hits all the right notes, appealing to newbie musicians and professionals alike, offering massive amounts of functionality behind the guise of an easy-to-use interface and playful instrument designs; it’s almost hard to believe the program has only been around since March.

Now, GarageBand is getting its first full update, and it’s a whopper: The app has gone universal, with a brand-new iPhone and iPod touch interface, and has added a bunch of new features, including custom chords for Smart Instruments, an Arpeggiator, new velocity settings, transposition, new time signatures, quantization options, and support for AAC and AIFF export.

I spent the morning playing around with GarageBand on both my iPad 2 / iPad Cases and iPhone 4; here are some initial impressions on the update.

Phenomenal cosmic powers… itty bitty living space

When I first got a chance to play with GarageBand on the iPad back in March, I had little expectation for an iPhone port. While the device's portable size makes it ideal for recording vocal snippets and guitar parts on the go, I was skeptical about the viability of GarageBand’s full feature-set on such a small device. I’d owned guitar and piano iPhone apps before, but found them severely lacking in actual usability, thanks to small screen space and poorly-done interfaces.

GarageBand's iPhone implementation retains every feature from its iPad version.

As of Tuesday, I am very happy to be completely, utterly wrong. Not only does GarageBand’s iPhone and iPod touch version make music creation, editing, and exporting a snap, but the folks on the development team have somehow managed to implement almost every single feature from GarageBand for iPad into the device, and without compromising on design or user experience, at that. (The only missing feature I could find was support for multiple keyboards on one screen—something that makes little to no sense on a device as small as an iPhone or iPod touch / Ipod cases.)

All your instruments from GarageBand for iPad are ready and waiting; all your settings, ready to be tweaked. The design team has made some very clever adjustments to compensate for the iPhone’s small screen: The instruments themselves take up the full length of the screen, saving a small amount of space for the toolbar, which offers all your controls, hidden in several nicely-defined menus.

To access alternate instrument styles, other instruments, or to return to your songs list, tap the upside-down triangle in the upper left corner. If you want to swap back to your song timeline for editing, tap the timeline button immediately next to it. This button is intelligent: When in timeline mode, the icon switches to that of the instrument you have selected; tap it again to return to instrument mode, and it will turn into the timeline icon again.

In the center, you have your standard play controls: A button for returning to the beginning of the song, one to Play/Pause, and one to record. Off to the right, there are one or two icons, depending on the complexity of your instrument. The first—the effects icon—appears only if your instrument has additional toggles that the iPhone simply doesn’t have space to display. (For example, the Autoplay knob and Chord/Notes toggle for the Smart Guitar.) Tap the icon, and the play area will slide down, revealing the extra controls.

Tap the effects icon on the iPhone, and the chords view will slide down, revealing extra controls.
I like everything about this implementation. For one, the effects area still provides you with some access to the instrument (or, in the case of Smart Instruments, their chords) so that you can try out effects without constantly switching views. In addition, the GarageBand designers have been able to have a bit of fun stretching the instrument design metaphor, which leads to really beautiful discoveries: Tap the effects icon while in Smart Guitar, for example, and as the chords slide down, so does the entire guitar, revealing the curve of the instrument.

The last icon in the toolbar—the ever-familiar gear icon—has been multi-purposed here into a single window for track, section, and song settings. (In the iPad version, all three have separate pop-overs.) Like the effects view, you can test out a tweak made without having to leave the screen by tapping the volume icon in the upper left corner; it’ll play a snippet from whatever you’ve been working on.

I didn’t have too much time to play around in GarageBand’s editing mode, but it, again, looks remarkably similar to its iPad cousin. You have full access to loops, support for cutting gestures, and the same eight-track limit for songs. Our full review of GarageBand 1.1 will likely take a closer look at the music-making process, but from the limited time I spent with it, I was incredibly impressed.

Instrument ch-ch-changes

GarageBand's custom chords feature lets you adjust any one of your Smart Instrument chords.
You’d think adding universal support to GarageBand would be enough for one update, but there are plenty of other tweaks. The program’s Smart Instruments—Smart Guitar, Keyboard, and Bass—now offer support for custom chords, something I’ve been itching for since its release. You can adjust any of the eight pre-formatted chords by tapping Edit Chords in the settings pop-over and test them on the fly; if a chord you picked doesn’t work well with the one next to it, you can just adjust it at will.

Smart Keyboard, Keyboard, and the Sampler get an Arpeggiator, a feature that sounds like it should be destroying things in a science-fiction film; in reality, the only thing it’ll destroy is your free time. Based on the synthesizer effect of the same name, the Arpeggiator lets you define a sequence by playing a chord, then proceeds to create an arpeggio from that input. You can add a varied octave range (from one to four) for your arpeggio, change the note order, and alter the speed and note kind (1/4 - 1/32 note, dotted, or triplet).
Those who like velocity-based instruments—Drums, Smart Keyboard, and the Sampler among them—will be happy to hear that there are now some rudimentary controls for adjusting sound. Because your iOS device doesn’t have a pressure-sensitive screen, GarageBand uses the velocity of your touch to imitate force. The Velocity Sensitivity setting offers four options: High, Medium, Low, and Off.

You can transpose tracks made with the Keyboard, Smart Keyboard, and Sampler.From my experience, off presents a default forte) sound with every tap; Low seems to more-or-less provide the same sound as when off; Medium offers two distinctions between taps, forte and piano; and High offers forte, mezzo-piano, and piano options. In English: Off—Loud; Low—Loud; Medium—Loud and Soft; High—Loud, Medium-Soft, and Soft.

Other instrument features include a transposition option for the Keyboard, Smart Keyboard, and Sampler: If you’re unhappy with your track, or want a different sound, you can adjust it by half-steps and octaves. And if you’re a drum enthusiast, you’ll also find a new switch in settings to separate the bass drum from the cymbal.

General tweaks

GarageBand’s instruments have gotten most of the new goodies in this update, but there are a few new general features out there, too: Two new time signatures, 3/4 and 6/8, join the default 4/4; you can change your song’s key without automatically transposing your other tracks to the new key; and new quantization options allow you to correct your song’s timing with swing and triplet notes. Finally, you can export your finished song in two new formats: AAC (from low-quality 64 kbs to iTunes Plus-quality 256 kbs) and uncompressed AIFF.

In short: This is a huge update. I spent several hours digging around, and even then, I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what it has to offer. I certainly like what I see, though, and can’t wait to dig around a little more. Who knows? There might even be some treasure lurking beneath the surface. For that, you’ll have to stay tuned for Macworld's full review of GarageBand 1.1, coming soon.

Review iPhone 4S battery life problems: bug in location services suspected

A flaw in Apple's location services system in its new iOS 5 software is increasingly suspected of being the cause of rapid battery drain for some owners of the iPhone 4S.

A growing number of people have found that the "Setting Time Zone" element of the Systems Services within the broader Location Services product seems to be operating even when there is no chance that the user would have moved to a different location or time zone. An icon beside the setting, which indicates whether it has been used in the past 24 hours, suggests that it is running repeatedly to access the phone's location even when there is no apparent reason to do so.

Location services can prompt large drains on any smartphone's battery: they use a combination of the Wi-Fi network name, where available, plus mobile mast data and GPS sensor input, to calculate the phone's position. The mobile mast data, for example, is usually calculated by comparing the strength of signals from the three nearest phone masts and triangulating against them. However if such a calculation is made too often, by polling the masts, it will begin to use battery power unnecessarily.

On iDownloadBlog, Oliver Haslam suggests: "it appears that iOS 5′s GM release introduced a bug that causes the Setting Time Zone function to keep the location tracking circuitry running constantly, draining battery power considerably. Switching it off may mean that your iPhone will no longer set its own time zone when you travel, but that's a small price to pay for having your iPhone last more than 12 hours on a full charge… We have tested this method on 4 different iPhone 4s handsets, including an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 3GS. All have reported drastically improved battery life after switching 'Setting Time Zone' off."
Some commenters have suggested they see little difference, but the purple icon beside the setting indicates that it is active - and for many people will have been active during the past 24 hours.

Apple's use of location services is deeply integrated into the iPhone 4S and iOS, but others have suggested that it is consuming too much battery power. "Two years working with dedicated GPS units taught me to be extremely careful with GPS settings: [it] kills battery very fast," David Hamilton, a web and Java consultant, remarked on Twitter.

Discussions on Apple's support boards are still raging over what specifically could be draining the battery so much more rapidly. Apple has not so far made any comment, but the Guardian reported on Friday that its engineers have begun contacting some people who have been reporting exceptionally rapid use.

The Guardian's own latest tests on an iPhone 4S found that it achieved 36 hours of battery life with a mixture of Wi-Fi, mobile data, and combined use, including 6 hours' using apps, phones, browsing and some location services. The majority of that included having the "Setting Time Zone" tab activated. There is no data yet from the ongoing tests about what effect disabling it has had.

Apple Review: Will Apple's TV Set Be Powered by Siri?

As soon as Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs hit the streets, buzz about a possible Apple television set has hit a fever pitched. The idea was renewed based on comments Jobs made that he had finally "cracked" the interface for such a device. Now a new report suggests that we may have already met that interface: Siri.

It's been less than a month since the new digital voice assistant on the iPhone 4S debuted to the public, but Apple may already have plans for it to feature as the controller of a connected TV. Nick Bilton, writing for the Times' Bits blog, says Apple engineers tried one thing after another in their search to simplify or do away with the remote control. After floating ideas like a wireless keyboard or iPhone control, they eventually had their eureka moment: just talk to it.

Although the report cites anonymous sources who say Apple has a television in the works, it's not clear if the information about Siri as a controller comes from them or is Bilton's speculation. It does seem like a logical move for Apple to include Siri in future products ipad Accessories iPad Cases , particularly any TVs it may be working on. However, it remains to be seen if consumers fully embrace it as a control mechanism or see it as a barely useful extra. In addition, integrating Siri would require a level of electronics that most TVs don't have, pushing the price up.

Apple executives have been planning a dedicated TV product since 2007, the report says, ever since the original Apple TV set-top box came on the scene. Of course, that product flopped, Apple itself started calling it a "hobby," and basically let it languish until late last year, when the stripped-down model was released and became something of a hit, thanks mainly to the $99 price.

Getting into the TV business isn't without its challenges, but Apple appears set on bringing its tremendously influential brand, along with iTunes, to the living room in a big way. The numbers certainly make it look attractive: Earlier this week UBS said an Apple TV could potentially ad $100 billion to Apple's value as a company, if it's a success.

When will the real Apple TV arrive? The Times predicts an announcement in 2012 with a product release in 2013, but that sounds absolutely nothing like Apple, which almost always launches products as soon as it unveils them. Credit Suisse put out a report earlier this week that said an Apple TV is still two or three years out, mainly because Apple still needed time to work out content deals.

The discussion of Apple TV had definitely moved from "if" to "when," though. Now all Apple has to do is deliver on a groundbreaking product that will shake up a broken industry and execute on a production and marketing strategy in a category it has no experience in. Again.