Right Science Technology and Health

A report from Engadget today has revealed that Apple might be working on the next Apple TV, built with iPhone OS, and it will only cost $99 when it is released. If their sources are accurate, the device would more closely resemble “an iPhone without a screen.”

It would carry the guts of a next gen iPhone, meaning the A4 processor, 16GB of internal storage, and iPhone OS. They also say it will be much smaller than the current generation and have only a couple plugs on the back. The new Apple TV would also be capable of 1080p HD video which is much nicer than the 720p video the current generation is limited to.

Read the rest of this entry »

According to a rumor last night, an analyst claimed that Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer would have a part in the Steve Jobs keynote at Apple’s WWDC next month.

The rumor said that he would be presenting Microsoft’s foray into iPhone development by announcing support for Visual Studio 2010. Sound too wacky to be true? That is because it turns out the rumor was not true, which has been confirmed by Microsoft today.

Read the rest of this entry »

As predicted, Apple’s market capitalization passed Microsoft at the end of trading today, and it is now the second largest in the US market cap list just behind Exxon. With a capitalization of over $222 billion USD, Apple has quickly exceeded Microsoft’s $219.53 billion, in part due to losses from Microsoft.

Great news for Apple, even amongst new reports that they might be facing more investigation into antitrust practices, this time involving the iTunes music store. Apple had allegedly been halting marketing support after labels made exclusivity deals for Amazon’s “Daily Deal” specials.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dell has officially announced plans for the UK launch of their new Android mini-tablet, called the Dell Streak. The launch will take place on June 4 in the UK via O2, although no price has been announced. Unfortunately the US launch is not expected until sometime later this summer.

The new Google Android mini-tablet will carry a 5-inch Gorilla Glass touchscreen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 16GB of expandable storage, 5 megapixel camera, and it will run version 1.6 of the Android OS.

The Dell Streak is a hybrid device that lives in the space between a smartphone and other larger tablets or netbooks that you might be using right now. We designed it to provide a wide range of users flexibility to do what they need with a mobile device.

Read the rest of this entry »

There might not have been much doubt, but Steve Jobs is officially confirmed to lead the keynote at WWDC on June 7. The Apple CEO will be giving the keynote at the World Wide Developers Conference, where tickets sold out within eight days as developers look forward to five days of events and presentations focused on Apple development.

The opening day keynote draws in the most attention of course. In previous years Apple has chosen to announce new gadgets, including the iPhone, and this year is expected to be no different. With so many next gen iPhone leaks, it is almost certain that Apple will announce the new device.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bad news for anyone who is looking to get out of their AT&T contract in the future. According to reports today, the phone provider is looking to increase the fees a customer gets when they cancel their contract early.

These fees are currently $175 for customers who want out. Now AT&T is looking to raise early termination fees for smartphones to $325 for any new contracts after June 1. AT&T’s Mark Siegel confirmed the new changes in the following response.

“The idea is, and we think that it’s fair approach, that if you spend less on a device, your early termination fee should be less,” he said. “If you spend more, your early termination fee should be more.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Google facial recognition is the next frontier in the company’s assault on privacy, critics say. But Google insists facial recognition technology will be used carefully, if at all. Get the details here, and see photos and video below.

Okay, let’s not freak out or anything. They’re not hijacking your webcam to capture identifiable images of you just yet. In fact, there doesn’t appear to be any plans to use the technology on the actual computer user.

Read the rest of this entry »

Another big announcement at Google I/O today, this time revealing a new platform called Google TV. By focusing on television they hope to bring new experiences that merge the power of the web with the power of television.

Of course this is not a new idea, but Google is hoping to make the experience seamless and without compromise. To do this they are using an Android interface to give powerful features like search. You can search for a show or channel and find it, whether it be on TV, or through an internet source like Hulu or Netflix. It gives you options to choose your source, even for a specific episode of a show. They hope this will destroy the borders of traditional television and allow you to bring content from anywhere.

Read the rest of this entry »

At Google’s I/O conference today the company announced a new open source video format that rivals H.264 for web video called WebM. Many opponents of H.264 have long argued the fact that it is too closed and could require licensing fees to use in the future. This even caused a rift in deciding a standard video component for HTML5 for web browsers. Apple sided with H.264 while others sought out an open source alternative. With Google’s WebM project they hope to solve this problem by using the VP8 codec for web video. The new format is targeted at low power mobile devices, clearly intended to replace the need for H.264 on phones.

To help launch the new project they announced immediate support in future builds of Firefox and Google Chrome. YouTube has also added integration to support WebM. Both Opera and even Internet Explorer 9 have confirmed playback support in the future. Adobe has pledged Flash player support of the codec as well, making it very easy for companies to start using it right away. The one company that still has not said anything regarding the new project is Apple.

Read the rest of this entry »

As rumored, Apple has just unveiled the latest update to their lower priced MacBook line. The MacBook Pros received their updates just last month, and now it is time for its polycarbonate brother to get a refresh. The latest update adds an Intel 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, Nvidia GeForce 320M, and an extended 10 hour battery life. This is a significant update compared to the previous model which only carried 7 hours of battery life. The new MacBook features an introductory price of $999, keeping it a tick below the thousand buck line.

The baseline model also comes with 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 memory, a 250GB hard drive, and an 8x SuperDrive. The maximum memory that is allowed is 4GB and Apple offers up to 500GB of storage if you choose. Either way the specs are nearly identical to the 13-inch MacBook Pro, except you get 2GB of memory instead of 4GB. Basically Apple is offering the polycarbonate MacBook to help bring the cost down, sacrificing some upgrade options to make it more affordable.

Read the rest of this entry »