hardware – Tales from the bits

Amazon Drones: Air Delivery in 30 minutes

George Bagropoulos — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 19:00:29 +0000

Amazon is waiting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to launch Amazon Prime Air. Amazon hopes that the new rules for UAV will be in place early in 2015.

There are many questions for UAV delivery. Safety of the drones, security, privacy and many other issues.

Below is the footage of a test flight. In my opinion it is amazing. What is your opinion?

No More Woof technology translates dog’s brain signals to speech.

George Bagropoulos — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 21:27:07 +0000

The Nordic Society for Invention and Discovery (NSID) created a prototype called No More Woof that translates dog’s thoughts to speech. This is still work in progress and not a finished product. By using No More Woof you can let your dog speak its mind! Are you ready to listen?

The technology used in No More Woof is the result of combining the latest technologies in three different tech-areas, EEG(Electroencephalography)-sensoring, Micro Computing and special BCI (Brain Computer Interface) software. The EEG reads the brain’s electrical signals, they get analyzed and translated by the BCI using a Raspberry PI and you hear the results.

This is an ingenious use of technology which might improve inter species communication.

What are your thoughts?

Tablet Shipments Slow in the Second Quarter of 2013

George Bagropoulos — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 16:11:35 +0000

According to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide tablet shipment growth slowed in the second quarter of 2013 (2Q13). The slowdown is compared with the first quarter of 2013. The 45.1 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2013 were up 59.6% from the same quarter in 2012, when tablet vendors shipped 28.3 million devices.

In the top five we have Lenovo and Acer tablet reappearing.

Top Five Tablet Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Second Quarter 2013 (Shipments in millions)

Vendor	2Q13 Unit Shipments	2Q13 Market Share	2Q12 Unit Shipments	2Q12 Market Share	Year-over-Year Growth
1. Apple	14.6	32.4%	17.0	60.3%	-14.1%
2. Samsung	8.1	18.0%	2.1	7.6%	277.0%
3. ASUS	2.0	4.5%	0.9	3.3%	120.3%
4. Lenovo	1.5	3.3%	0.4	1.3%	313.9%
5. Acer	1.4	3.1%	0.4	1.4%	247.9%
Others	17.5	38.8%	7.4	26.2%	136.6%
Total	45.1	100.0%	28.3	100.0%	59.6%

Source: IDC Worldwide Tablet Tracker, August 5, 2013

I am expecting to see some serious new models comming up on the third quarted to warm up the market. Let’s see what will launch Apple for the next quarter to close the gap.

The Keyboard is dead, long live Celluon’s Magic Cube!

George Bagropoulos — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 12:43:35 +0000

Celluon has developed the Magic Cube which projects a full-sized red QWERTY keyboard and multitouch mouse on flat surfaces. It connects easily to any Bluetooth HID devices, including the latest iPhone, iPad and Android devices. It has a built-in lithium polymer rechargeable battery. It is compatible with the latest operating systems.

In my opinion, this technology should be incorporated in all mobile devices and tablets. Say goodbye to the old heavy keyboard. Just think how less they are going to weight and also how easier it will be to type tp tablets without having the keyboard to hide half of the screen.
Amazon already sells Celluon Magic Cube Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard and Mouse

Google Nexus 7 available from $199

George Bagropoulos — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:44:13 +0000

The new Google Nexus 7 tablet is available from $199 to order online from google directly. The delivery will start mid-July.

Google announced Nexus 7 today at Google I/O.

Microsoft Surface

George Bagropoulos — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:01:01 +0000

Microsoft Surface is a tablet announced by Microsoft.

According to Microsoft there will be two versions of Microsoft Surface. One running Windows RT and another one running Windows 8 Pro.

An interesting feature is that the cover becomes an ultra thin keyboard.

The Windows RT version will have the following characteristics:

Light: 676 g
Thin: 9.3 mm
Clear: 10.6” ClearType HD Display
Energized: 31.5 W-h
Connected: microSD, USB 2.0, Micro HD Video, 2×2 MIMO antennae
Productive: Office Home & Student 2013 RT, Touch Cover, Type Cover
Practical: VaporMg Case & Stand
Configurable: 32 GB, 64 GB

The Windows 8 Pro version will have the following characteristics:

Light: 903 g
Thin: 13.5 mm
Clear: 10.6” ClearType Full HD Display
Energized: 42 W-h
Connected: microSDXC, USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort Video, 2×2 MIMO antennae
Productive: Touch Cover, Type Cover, Pen with Palm Block
Practical: VaporMg Case & Stand
Configurable: 64 GB, 128 GB

Microsoft has no data on the mobile information related to Surface.

For a hands-on review click here.

It appears that Microsoft tries to create a tablet that will be comparable to iPad. To my opinion this is a tough task to succeed.

From what I saw, the only feature that is new is the touch cover. I am using a tablet (iPad) for long time now. I bought a keyboard / cover that I do not use. In my opinion this is not a great feature to decide for a purchase of a tablet. You can always buy an external keyboard if you need one.

In my opinion tablet software is still in its infancy. We are approaching the tablet from the wrong angle. Even companies have not decided yet on the features they want to offer for the tablet.

Let’s take for example the iPad. I have the iPad 3G. I do not want to jailbreak it. I cannot use it as a phone. I need to carry 2 devices. A mobile phone and a tablet. I have the simplest mobile phone on the planet (without camera) just to make phone calls and I do all my work using the iPad. Will Microsoft give 3G to Surface? Will Microsoft allow users to make phone calls from their tablets? Will Microsoft use the kinect knowledge to create a more intuitive interface for Surface?

A Lot of questions which only the future can answer.

iPad 2 3G Europe Travel

George Bagropoulos — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:47:45 +0000

(Last Updated: 29/June/2012) We just returned from a trip to London. Both myself and my wife, Alina, have an iPad 2 3G 64GB each. Remember to take with you the proper power adapter changer.iPad 2 is a must have travelling assistant. As soon as we arrived to London, we purchased a 3G SIM for iPad 2. Just choose any provider that has pay as you go option for iPad 2 data.A small investment of around US $30. I had 3GB of data available. It is a good thing that iPad 2 is not locked to any provider, so changing the SIM is very easy. Alternatively you may use WiFi but I didn’t want to take the risk of being in an area that has no WiFi coverage.

I used the built in application Maps. It is amazing. You press once the notification icon and you find your position, you press twice and you receive your bearing. It also has a digital compass. You know instantly if you are heading to the correct direction. The application has also a feature to give you instructions on how to get to your destination by foot, car or public transportation. It also provides time estimations from your current location to your destination.You can see a list of turn-by-turn directions or a highlighted map route with estimated travel time. You can also mark specific locations and find the best route between them. So you’ll be finding your own way right and left. So, using the iPad 2 you’re less likely to get lost. Unless, of course, you want to.

The other 2 applications we used were:

Make sure to download the Skype for iPad application.

TripAdvisor helps have the perfect trip with access to real traveler reviews, opinions, photos, maps, and forums that can answer even the most specific questions when you’re on the go. TripAdvisor is the world’s most trusted travel site with over 50 million reviews and opinions by travelers.

Recently, I visited Switzerland. I took the train from Geneva to Lausanne. I had my 3G off and I was not connected to any WiFi network. I had location services on and I could track my route using an offline map. It was great. I used it also when I took a cab to track the road.
The application is Europe – Offline map with directU – (free)

Other useful application when traveling are:
The app covers more than 5000 airports and 1400 airlines. See flight details on zoomable maps or get real-time departure info, delays and gate numbers at a glance. Full international coverage means you can track all your flights worldwide. It’ll even update you on cancellations and help you find an alternate flight. FlightTrack Pro works seamlessly with TripIt. Forward your airline confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com, and flights appear automatically in FlightTrack Pro. Works with over 1000 travel sites! It can also sync with your calendar. There is also a standard edition for this application.

What programs do you use on your iPad 2 or the new iPad when you travel?

Why did I choose iPad 2 over other tablets?

George Bagropoulos — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 10:04:14 +0000

For long time I was resisting the temptation of owning a tablet. Recently I quite resisting and I bought an ipad 2. It took me sometime to make that choice because I wanted to be 100% sure that I am purchasing the correct tablet according to my needs.

Before making my final choice I wrote down my needs along with devices that allowed me to do so:

To be able to read books and articles

For this functionality I considered the Kindle Fire. It has a 7″ display 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors. It also has 8GB enough to store movies and books.

To connect to the Internet and receive/send emails

Both Kindle Fire and Samsung Galaxy offer this

To be able to connect remotely to work

VPN is a common feature for all tablets.

To replace the need to carry all the times my notebook(laptop)
To have big screen so I can watch videos

This feature puzzled me a lot. Ipad 2 is not supporting flash. I decided to follow down the HTML 5 path.

To be able to connect with other devices – computers, projectors etc
To have both 3G and wifi.

I want to be connected all time.

To be able to take pictures or video.

This option erased Kindle Fire from my list.

Although almost all tablets meet my requirements, I choose iPad 2, mainly for its stability and ease of use.

I found only one annoying thing. It has a strange limit on 3G, you cannot download files greater than 20MB. I have no download limit from my carrier, so it is strange that the iPad has this limit. I hope Apple to remove this barrier in the near future.

IPv4 is over. Hello IPv6.

George Bagropoulos — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 17:25:13 +0000

On February 3rd, 2011, ICAN announced that the available pool of unallocated IPv4 Internet addresses is now completely emptied. This is a historical moment.

ICANN’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Rod Beckstrom said “This is a major turning point in the on-going development of the Internet. No one was caught off guard by this. The Internet technical community has been planning for IPv4 depletion for some time. But it means the adoption of IPv6 is now of paramount importance, since it will allow the Internet to continue its amazing growth and foster the global innovation we’ve all come to expect.”

IPv4 uses 32 bits for the addressing. This makes 4.3 billion addresses. Only 3.7 billion IPv4 addresses are usable by ordinary Internet access devices. The others are used for special protocols, like IP Multicasting. Today, none of those 3.7 billion IPv4 addresses remain unallocated.

IPv6 has a 128-bit address space, which is 340 undecillion addresses (340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456).

You can find more on IPv6 addresses here. You can also find information about the RFCs in the TCP/IP Guide.

Apple – iPad

George Bagropoulos — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:39:12 +0000

The newiPad from Apple is simply fantastic. It has a multi-touch high resolution screen which makes surfing on the Internet, reading emails, browsing photos, watching videos a new experience.

Some technical specifications:

Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
Depth: 0.5 inch (13.4 mm) — extremely slim!!
Weight: 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model;: 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

The display is a 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-back-lit glossy wide-screen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology. The resolution is 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi).

The storage capacity:16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive.

The sensors: Accelerometer and Ambient light sensor.

More technical details can be found on the Apple’s web site.

After viewing the presentation videos I just wanted to have an iPad.