Tag Archives: Retina Display

Computers

Smile! Microsoft stuffs the SkyDrive website with new, photo-friendly features

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Microsoft is giving photographers a few more reasons to store their images on SkyDrive, with a heaping helping of new options for viewing and managing photos on the Web.

The meatiest improvements on SkyDrive.com are related to sharing photos and files. Previously, you could only share an entire folder or individual files. Now, SkyDrive.com lets you share multiple files at a time from anywhere in your cloud storage. You can share an entire day’s worth of photos just by clicking on the date heading. The recipient will see the photos you’ve shared as a single album.

Microsoft
Selecting a group of photos by date to share. (Click to enlarge)

Microsoft is also giving a much-needed makeover to the “Shared” folder on SkyDrive.com: It now shows the files you’ve shared, not just the ones shared with you. That should make it a lot easier to figure out what you’ve shared in the past and control who has access to your files.

Microsoft
Viewing all shared files, including files you’ve shared. (Click to enlarge)

Other changes are minor, but still helpful. Animated GIF files will actually animate now when viewed through SkyDrive.com, and you can now rotate photos directly through the Website, which should help with camera photos that don’t come out facing the right way. Also, the “All photos” view in SkyDrive has been expanded, so you can seek out photos in individual folders, not just the entire drive. For computers with ultra-high resolutions, such as the MacBook Pro with Retina Display and its new wave of Windows rivals, SkyDrive.com will show higher-resolution images to match.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Computers

Move over, Apple: Toshiba Kirabook gives Windows its first Retina rival

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Thanks to Toshiba, Windows finally has a laptop with a high-resolution display to rival Apple’s vaunted Retina-sporting MacBooks.

The Toshiba Kirabook has a 13.3-inch, 2560-by-1440 resolution “PixelPure” touch screen, for a pixel density of 221 pixels per inch. That’s pretty close to Apple’s 13-inch, 2560-by-1600 MacBook Pro with Retina Display, which sports 227 ppi. By going with a 16:9 aspect ratio instead of the standard 16:10, Toshiba shaved off some of those vertical pixels, but the Kirabook has the advantage of a 10-point multi-touch screen.

So far, no other PC makers have announced Windows laptops with pixel densities above 200 ppi. Google’s Chromebook Pixel is the only other laptop to attempt such a high screen resolution, coming in at an eye-watering 239 ppi.

Although Toshiba is the first Windows notebook maker out of the gate with an ultra-high-resolution display, it probably won’t be long until other companies follow. Samsung has already showed a prototype Series 9 notebook running a Retina-level display resolution, for example, though that line’s recent refresh topped out at a 1080p display.

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From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2035408/move-over-apple-toshiba-kirabook-gives-windows-its-first-retina-rival.html#tk.rss_all

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Should You Believe in an Apple 4K TV?

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

The TV industry continues to search for the next big thing that can potentially reinvigorate a new upgrade cycle. TV technology doesn’t change as rapidly as other consumer electronics industries, and we can go ahead and consider the attempted transition toward 3-D dead.

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, 3-D TVs were nowhere to be found, and that’s a good thing because it was so obviously a gimmick from the get-go. Companies are now turning their attention toward 4K TVs, which boast “Ultra HD” resolutions. The “4K” moniker refers to the horizontal dimension, which is approximately 4,000 pixels. One challenge with 4K adoption is that there’s really not much content optimized for such high resolutions.

Apple has successfully popularized super high-resolution displays in mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, and is working on doing the same in PCs, starting with the Retina MacBook Pros. The latest rumor out of DIGITIMES suggests that Apple is interested in launching a 4K TV with a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, which doubles the dimensions of standard 1,920 x 1,080 HDTVs.

Can Apple push the TV industry forward in the same way?

Not you again
The questionable report says that Apple has been trying to line up panel suppliers, but most Ultra HD panel vendors are booked up through 2013. Meanwhile, Apple already has other capacity locked down at panel makers for its iDevices.

DIGITIMES believes that Apple is hoping that LG Display can pitch in with Ultra HD panel production, as LG Display is one of Apple’s primary display providers for its other products. If LG Display can get its facilities in order, Apple could potentially launch the long-rumored iTV by the end of 2013. However, chances are that the Mac maker will end up launching in early 2014, if DIGITIMES‘ dubious predictions turn out to be accurate.

First off, I wouldn’t doubt that Apple has 4K TV prototypes, since the company makes all sorts of prototypes that never see the light of day. At the same time, it’s a long road between prototype and commercial viability. If such prototypes exist, perhaps that’s where these rumors come from.

Here’s why Apple faces much larger challenges in catalyzing 4K TV adoption — and why it’s so unlikely.

Lessons learned
First, we should look at the industries where Apple has or is in the process of catalyzing high-resolution change, and we’ll see that there are some very notable differences.

In mobile devices, displays are relatively small, which also means that the cost for a consumer to adopt a high-resolution display is less (or nonexistent with the presence of smartphone subsidies). When Apple went from the iPhone 3GS to the iPhone 4’s Retina Display, consumers didn’t have to pay a dime more than the $200-on-contract price. Meanwhile, it incentivized its legion of developers to optimize apps and content for higher resolutions.

It then had both pieces of the puzzle: consumer willingness and optimized content. It’s fair to say …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Linux

John Baer: Chromebook Pixel – The Saga Continues

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On Thursday February 21 Google pulled the curtain back on the much rumored Chromebook Pixel. Here are the specifications.

    Screen

  • 12.85″ display with a 3:2 aspect ratio
  • 2560 x 1700 at 239 PPI
  • 400 nit screen brightness
  • 178° extra-wide viewing angle

    • Inputs

  • Gorilla® Glass multi-touch screen
  • Backlit Chrome keyboard
  • Clickable, etched-glass touchpad
  • Integrated 720p HD camera

    • Size / weight

  • 297.7 x 224.6 x 16.2 mm
  • 3.35 lbs / 1.52 kg

    • Industrial design

  • Machined from anodized aluminum
  • Active cooling with no visible vents
  • ENERGY STAR® certified

    • CPU

  • Intel® Core™ i5 processor (Dual Core 1.8GHz)
  • Intel® HD Graphics 4000 (Integrated)

    • Ports

  • 2 x USB 2.0
  • mini display port
  • SD / MMC card reader

    • Memory

  • 4GB DDR3 RAM

    • Storage

  • One terabyte Google Drive cloud storage for three years
  • 32GB solid state drive (64GB on LTE model)

    • Audio

  • Combo headphone/mic jack
  • Built-in microphone array
  • Integrated DSP for noise cancellation
  • Powerful stereo speakers tuned for clarity

    • Connectivity

  • Dual-band WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n 2×2
  • Bluetooth® 3.0
  • Built-in LTE modem (LTE model)

    • Battery

  • Up to 5 hours of active use (59 Wh battery)

    • Suggested Retail Price

  • $1,299

The quality of the product is outstanding and I should be reaching for my plastic but I’m not. A ZNet blog post by James Kendrick states it best.

So Google’s wonderful display on the Chromebook Pixel had the desired effect on me. It made me want a great display, so I bought a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. I don’t think it ended quite the way Google hoped it would, though.

Why did Jim abandon the Pixel and spend $200 more for an Apple?

Perceived value.

  • Apple Brand
  • OS X
  • 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
  • 128GB flash storage
  • 7 hours of battery operation

In reality the price of the Pixel may very well be a great value for a laptop of this build quality, but the market expected something different. In my opinion priced at $699 or $799 sales would be viral and the Google Play store would be showing “Sold Out”.

Some things I would change to reach these price points.

  1. Replace Intel i5 with a low power ARM SoC (nVidia / Samsung / Qualcomm / LG / Others)
  2. As the product does not morph into a tablet, lose the touch screen
  3. Replace the anodized aluminum case with a stylish polycarbonate material
  4. Up battery operation to 7 hours

If the goal of Pixel was to make a statement the result has to be something different, something better, and something more affordable than a high end Ultra book or Mac book.

Hopefully the next round of Chromebooks will get there.

The post Chromebook Pixel – The Saga Continues appeared first on j-Baer.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Planet Ubuntu

Science & Technology

Apple Cuts Prices, Updates Specs on MacBook Pro with Retina Display

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Less than a year after debuting the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, Apple has announced hardware updates for both the 13-inch and 15-inch models. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display is now available with a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 processor and 256GB of flash memory, for a reduced price of $1,699. The base 13-inch model, with a 2.5 GHz i5 128GB of flash now starts at $1,499 — $200 less than the price prior to today.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Tech

Science & Technology

Who's Going to Buy a 128GB iPad?

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Earlier today, Apple introduced its new 128GB iPad, expanding beyond its standard 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB variations for the first time since 2010. The device offers the same array of features found on the current, 4th-generation iPads, like a 9.7-inch ‘Retina Display,’ Apple’s A6X processor, and optional LTE connectivity, but twice the maximum capacity. But with the Wi-Fi-only and LTE-enabled models priced at $799 and $929 respectively in a climate of increasing focus on streaming media and low-cost tablets, who is Apple really targeting with its storage-heavy device?

The most obvious target are archivists and passionate digital media collectors — the type of consumers that have an ever-expanding collection of ripped or downloaded movies and music and want to take it on the go. The 128GB iPad is certain to be alluring to users already hooked into Apple’s content ecosystem, specifically those who purchase films, TV, and music almost exclusively through iTunes.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Tech

News, Politics, Government

128 GB Tablets to Hit Market

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By Tom Coughlin, Contributor Apple announced that it was providing a Retina Display iPad with flash memory storage capacities up to 128 GB of storage capacity.  The WiFi version of this device is to sell for $799.  Apple says that it has sold 120 M iPads overall and that there are over 300,000 native iOS applications available in the Apple Apps store.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest