martes, 29 de diciembre de 2009

5 Features an Apple Tablet needs to succeed

The Apple Tablet rumor refuses to diminish. In fact, every major newspaper (For example: The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post) are fueling the rumor. Now, when it seems ‘sure’ that Apple will release something this January. Another rumor about Apple ordering 10-inch displays fuel the likelihood of releasing it soon. If the Tablet is to be released, it would need something special to succeed in the market flooded with smartphones like Droid, iPhone, and Palm Pre. iPod Touch, Kindle, and Amazon Nook might be a distant competitor but they can’t be ignored either. The desktop computer, laptop and netbook are also plying in the same market. With this crowed market a tablet, if any, would need certain features to succeed. 1. Easy to carry and easy to use: We have had enough of bulky, heavy portable electronics. People need thin, light device that can be carried around easily. May be a large iPod Touch, or better than that. 2. Connectivity and portability You would need to share stuffs with your existing devices like phones, laptops, desktops. Bluetooth might be considered granted as it is available in iPod Touch and iPhone. A couple of USB ports, DVI output can be the basic necessity. Memory card slots should also be available by default. 3. Multitasking When Palm or Anaroid entered the iPhone’s market the soft spot they kicked was the lack of multitasking ability in iPhone. The tablet can’t live with single task ability. 4. Speed, aesthetics, battery life Speed and aesthetics need to go together to succeed in the  tablet arena. Aesthetics forces skeptics to try on the new device and when it doesn’t come with speed the sustainability will be hampered. One can take for aesthetics for granted based on the superior design record of Apple. A powerful processer however can be battery hog. Proper choice of processer, the brain, of the tablet to bring the right balance of speed and battery life would be critical in success of a tablet. A 12 hours of battery life can be considered a bare minimum. 5. Keyboard, responsive display It is sure that the tablet won’t come with a keyboard. There however should be an option of Bluetooth keyboard or stylus for note taking. Responsiveness of the display on a touch screen is critical too. With the experience with iPhone, we can count on Apple on bringing out a truly responsive display to start with. It doesn’t matter weather the Apple Tablet is called iSlate, or iGuide or something else. A cool Apple Logo on the outside would certainly boost the sales in the initial days of the release – sustainability of which would depend on the five requirement I mentioned above.

domingo, 27 de diciembre de 2009

Fastest train in the world

The fastest commercial train in the world is now operational in China running at a maximum speed of 394 kilometers per hour (km/hr) in a trail run. The train link connects two cities, Guangzhou in South to Wuhan in central China, and will travel at an average speed of 350km/hr (217mph). The 1,068 km distance between the two cities can now be covered by the high-speed train in two hours and forty five minutes ? that is, a saving of about six hours of travel time. The high-speed train line uses technology developed in co-operation with firms such as Siemens, Bombardier and Alstom. The Guangzhou - Wuhan train line is a part of the government plan to build 42 high-speed train lines by 2012. In the biggest rail development program in the world, China government plans to build 34,000 km of new train tracks in addition to its existing 86,000 km railway lines. According to China's railways ministry, the average speed of the high-speed railways in other countries in the world is less than 300 km/hr; way less than the Guangzhou - Wuhan train line (in Japan it is 243 km/hr, in Germany 232 km/hr, and 277 km/hr in France). First high-speed railway network in China was unveiled at the time of Beijing Olympics in 2008 to connect the capital city Beijing with the port city of Tianjin. The train could travel at a speed of 250 km/hr.