Apple Producing a 4″ iPhone?

  By admin | May 4, 2012 - 4:08 pm | Apple, Mobile Devices, Telephony
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(CNN) — On Thursday morning, iLounge released mockups of what it says the next iPhone is going to look like, according to the site’s own unnamed sources. The main differences in appearance between the next iPhone and the current iPhone 4S? A metal back, a smaller dock connector, a 20 percent decrease in thickness, and a longer 4-inch display.

Concept designs for future iPhones are a dime a dozen and usually look like something Syd Mead might have slapped together after a glue-induced aneurysm. But iLounge’s concept looks pretty good. It may not prove to be an accurate prediction in the end, but it’s a sensible proposal.

The most obvious change in iLounge’s mockup is the 4-inch screen. That’s a big bump, as the iPhone’s display has stayed at 3.5 inches with a 3:2 aspect ratio since 2007. Why in the world would Apple change it now?

It all comes down to LTE. LTE radios take up more room in a smartphone than 3G radios and use more power. To put LTE capabilities in the next iPhone, you need to make room not just for the radio, but find enough juice to power it without significantly decreasing battery life.

The problem is there’s just not a lot of room inside an iPhone for anything more than is already there. An iPhone is a densely packed sandwich of silicon, radios, flash storage, motors and cameras. Over the past five generations, Apple has packed in everything that makes up an iPhone about as densely as possible, and the battery still makes up the bulk of every device.

If it’s going to fit anything else, Apple needs to make more room.

That’s one reason why iLounge is saying Apple will be ditching its current dock connector for a micro-sized version: Space saved in this area is space Apple can stuff with a larger battery or make for a bigger LTE chipset. But it’s also a reason why Apple would make the display bigger.

There’s been a lot of talk over the last couple of years that with the iPhone 5, Apple would bump the display up to a larger four inches, but the rumor’s always had a lot of problems. Increasing the iPhone’s display while maintaining its current 3:2 aspect ratio would make the device wider in the hand and harder to operate one-handed. It would also either decrease the pixel density of the iPhone’s Retina display, making it less “retina-ey” and more jaggy to the eyes, or require more pixels per inch to compensate, causing iPhone developers to design their apps for multiple resolutions (the exact same kind of fragmentation problem that’s bitten Android on its ass). No good.

That’s why conventional wisdom (until a couple months ago) was that Apple would keep a 3.5-inch display and eschew LTE until the radios were sufficiently small and power-efficient to fit into the current iPhone’s form factor. But with the new iPad’s WiFi + 4G release, Apple has made it abundantly clear that it is finally ready to embrace LTE. And the way the company is going to do it is by making the iPhone’s display longer, but not wider.

This theory was first floated over on The Verge, then gained traction when Daring Fireball’s John Gruber hinted that the person who had initially suggested it might just work for Apple, and know what direction the next iPhone would go. It’s got a lot to recommend it.

By ditching a 3:2 aspect ratio in favor of a 9:5 display, the new iPhone would feel about the same in the hand as the iPhone 4S, retain its current 326ppi resolution, and allow Apple room for an LTE chip and more battery. Apps could either be easily updated to support the new iPhone’s 4-inch display without breaking compatibility with 3.5-inch devices, or run in a letterbox without modification at their existing resolution.

There are other perks. Lengthening the display allows the iPhone in landscape view to show 16:9 videos without the ugly bars on either side. It gives game developers more room for on-screen controls, like virtual buttons and thumbsticks, without a gamer’s fingers obscuring what’s on the display. And so on.

Only Apple knows for sure what the next iPhone will look like, but iLounge’s concept isn’t necessarily all wet. Putting the display on a stretching rack might be the key to getting an LTE iPhone this year. And if you think Cupertino would never mess around with an iDevice’s aspect ratio like this, might I introduce you to our good schizophrenic friend, the iPod nano?

(Originally from CNN.com’s Tech blog [link])

Top 10 April Fool’s Jokes of 2012

  By admin | April 2, 2012 - 11:01 am | Uncategorized
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In our never ending mission to bring you top of the line technology, and news, here are this years top 10 April Fool’s Day jokes.

10. Conan O’Brien buys Mashable: American TV host announced on April 1 that he is taking over popular social media news blog Mashable and ousting its founder and CEO Pete Cashmore. [link]

9. Toshiba Shapes: Toshiba USA posted on its website 3 new tablets they would be offering on April 1st, the Oblong, the Rhombus, and the Amore. [link]

8. Google’s Really Advanced Search: Google is the undisputed king of online April Fool gags. This year they had plenty to play on us and the Really Advanced Search did grab our attention. We even screen captured it. [link]

7. 8-bit Google Maps: On April 1, Google launched ‘Quest’ that converts Google Maps images into an 8-bit video game adventure. This is being termed as Google’s best April Fool’s Day prank ever. [link]

6. Sony’s Vaio Q – the world’s smallest ultrabook: Sony gives Apple’s Retina display a run for its money with a full HD 1080p display compressed into a tiny winy 0.75×1.25 inch LED backlit screen on the power-packed ultrabook. [link]

5. Turn your desktop PC into a tablet: We all want a tablet, don’t we? The Tablifier is a do-it-youself kit to convert your obsolete desktop computer into a supercool tablet. [link]

4. BMW Driverless Running Coach: The official 2012 London Olympic Games sponsor BMW announced through ads published in British newspapers that it has developed a technology that turns your car into a driverless running coach. [link]

3. India secretly brings back black money:  IBNLive’s April 1st story on India secretly bring back black money into the country was one they wished was true. [link]

2. A journey to the center of the Earth: We all know of Richard Branson’s plans to take us to space, and this April 1, he announced plans to take us to a journey to the core of an active volcano through what he calls Virgin Volcanic. Of course, knowing the Virgin chairman, this might not be a joke. [link]

AND NOW FOR OUR PERSONAL FAVORITE:

1. Apple patents the rectangle: The Register, a tech website, gave Apple a new patent in its arsenal against Android, the rectangle. [link]

avast! Business Protection

  By MBramblett | February 6, 2012 - 11:13 am | Avast, Disaster Recovery, Security
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AVAST Software has launched avast! Business Protection, its comprehensive IT security software for small and medium-sized businesses. avast! Business Protection uses the award-winning 6.0 antivirus engine and includes a new browser-based central management console, giving IT administrators and service providers the ability to remotely manage protected desktops and servers in their network via the internet.

From start to finish, installing avast! Business Protection takes less than half of the clicks demanded by other major competitors. Well-designed default settings and the ability to inherit configurations from the previous system combine to make installation easy. Once fully installed, avast! Business Protection still takes a quarter less computing resources than most of the competition.

“AVAST is about freedom,” said Vince Steckler, CEO of AVAST Software. “With avast! Business Protection, we are providing the comprehensive network and endpoint security that businesses need in a package that is simple enough for people who are not IT experts to freely operate.“

avast! Business Protection highlights:

  • Light and compact – avast! Business Protection takes 0.75GB of computer space for full installation. That is less than a third of the space required by Symantec Protection Suite, Small Business Edition and still a quarter less space than similar products from AVG, ESET, and Kaspersky.
  • Fully mobile administration – The unique avast! Administration Console enables remote access via any computer browser, freeing system administrators from their dependency on a fixed location or a specific machine as they have with AVG or Symantec.
  • Install and forget – avast! Business Protection automatically detects new computers as they attach to the company network, alerting system administrators to unknown “rogue” machines and enabling them to decide how new devices should be administered within the secure network.
  • Proven protection – avast! Business Protection builds on the tested antivirus engine in avast! 6.0 which has won industry recognition from organizations such as VirusBulletin and AV Comparatives for its detection abilities, fast scanning speed, and light footprint. avast! Business Protection includes on-access rootkit detection and enables boot-time scans to find and remove malware hidden within the OS.
  • Keeps data private – The new SafeZone™ feature enables safer banking and transfer of sensitive information with a virtualized desktop guarding against data-stealing malware such as keyloggers. System administrators decide who can use this function.

“Business users get avast!’s proven detection ability together with the look and feel of our consumer AV products,“ said Mr. Steckler. “Organizations are spending too much time and too many resources to keep their antivirus protection functioning. They should be able to focus on their core activities and not have to micromanage their antivirus application.”

avast! Business Protection comes in two variants. avast! Business Protection includes all of the previously mentioned console and security features. avast! Business Protection Plus has the additional features of the Silent Firewall and Antispam filter to defend against intrusions and keep fraudulent emails out of employee mailboxes

Avast Small Business Console Screen Shot

Are Your Passwords on the Naughty List?

  By admin | January 4, 2012 - 11:49 am | Disaster Recovery, Security
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If you thought that cybercrimes weren’t a worldwide problem, we have some numbers that may quickly help you to change your mind.

Worldwide, Norton estimates that cybercrime costs the global economy $338 billion a year; ZDNet says that’s more lucrative than the underground drugs market.And when you consider that more than two-thirds of us, according to Norton, are victims of some sort of cybercrime, it should make you want to do more than just sit up and take notice.

There’s a continual cat-and-mouse game being played out every day, with criminals trying to find ways to access networks and the information on them.  IT administrators are waging the battle to stop the hackers from penetrating the networks.  In many cases, they succeed; you don’t see the news stories about attacks that have been prevented.

You can help protect you business with hardened firewalls, and intrusion detection devices. Windstream, for instance, offers managed network security, like managed firewalls, and managed intrusion detection and prevention from their secure Network Operations Center, staffed around the clock by certified expert security professionals.

Of course, even the best security infrastructure won’t prevent breaches if your users aren’t doing their part.  It all starts with solid passwords; Time magazine recently ran a list of what it called “the most awesomely bad” passwords of all time.  Number one on the list:  “password.”  “123456” was number two followed by “12345678.”  If your password is on the list, change it.  Now.  Because we may not know what it is, but trust us…there’s a bad guy who does, and who’s out there just waiting to hack into your account and your network.  That’s not just us saying this: researchers at Georgia Tech recently reported, “Human error, lack of user education and weak passwords are still major vulnerabilities.”

We continuously work with our clients to help improve their Internet security and lessen the chances that they’ll be the victims of cybercrimes. We do our part, and know that our customers are doing theirs.  It’s that kind of constant, cooperative effort that serves, perhaps, as the best mouse repellent out there.

Introducing the snom 7xx series of advanced SIP phones

  By MBramblett | December 1, 2011 - 12:15 am | Telephony, VoIP
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snom, a leading provider of VoIP phones and PBXs, has released a new line of IP phones, adding to its existing line-up of executive SIP phones. The snom 7xx series of phones includes two new phones, the snom 720 and snom 760, both designed to offer small/medium businesses advanced, enterprise-class functionality at small-business friendly prices.

The snom 720 and snom 760 bring together the multiple programmable buttons and popular standard business functionality of the snom 3xx series with the advanced functionality, sleek styling and Gigabit Ethernet switch capabilities found in the snom 8xx series. Both will be available immediately for order to St. Aubin Technologies clients.

Both the snom 720 and snom 760 offer a Gigabit Ethernet switch, automatic provisioning, wireless LAN connectivity and snom’s superior wideband high definition voice quality. Both phones can transfer data at a speed of 1000Mbits/s without slowing down the network or a connected PC, and both models feature Bluetooth connectivity via optional USB stick, allowing users the freedom to use a compatible Bluetooth headset with their snom 7xx series phone.

The snom 760 features a high-resolution color display and two USB ports for a variety of connectivity options, as well as a newly designed handset grip that increases user friendliness by providing silent pickup and return of the handset. The snom 760 also includes a 16-key programmable busy lamp field and 4 context-sensitive keys complemented by the large, easy to read display.

snom 760

snom 760

The snom 760 also offers the standard desktop feature set of any snom phone, and is ideal for business environments that require a greater level of visual functions, such as the use and delivery of XML-based data. The large display also supports caller images, uploaded by the caller or included in the user’s address book.

snom 720

snom 720

The snom 720 also supports all standard VoIP calling features, including an address book with 1,000 possible entries, speed dialing, URL dialing, ringtone selection and LED call indication. In addition, the snom 720 and 760 also feature wireless LAN (WLAN) connectivity via optional USB stick.