iPad Pro or What Apple needs to learn

Apple announced several new products the other day. In the over all hype of ifanboys and fandroids arguing or whatever you would call them (What's the nickname of Linux fanboys? Microsoft junkies?), Apple let slip the newest name for their iPad. Well, they couldn't call it "The New iPad". That's already been taken. And, hmm, maybe to continue with iPad 5 would send them down the same naming scheme as the iPhone. I first saw the name while perusing Apple's website to find the video of the announcement. My hopes rose. Maybe, the Air name will follow the path of the Macbooks. Apple has patent for a iPad/Macbook ultrabook/whatever. There's a Macbook Pro and a Macbook Air? Will there be an iPad Pro?

Will Apple finally fulfill my wishes? Will Apple be the first to truly create the perfect tablet PC?

"Our competition is different. They're confused. They chased after netbooks. Now they are trying to make PCs into tablets and tablets into PCs. Who knows what they will do next?"

Fuck.

OK. All is not lost. Maybe we will see a better really awesome easily attainable iPad mini with loads of new features, great storage, and basically be an awesome retina seven inch iPhone? Right? Something that would fill the gap for every average person out there who wants a larger phone, but small tablets and that's it. As their only mobile solution? With hundred of thousands of apps and it all syncs magically and "just works" with their Mac back home?

"And the one most requested feature to add to iPad mini, was a beautiful Retina display. And that's what we're gonna do today."

O.K. Here we go.

"Brand new A7 chip with it's 64-bit architecture."

Holy crap?! 64-bit? Does this mean more ram and maybe real PC power in such a small package?

10 hours battery? Good, good. Faster WiFi. As to be expected. More general stuff. Alright. What nothing else? This is it? Ah well, at least they'll keep the price in the $300 range, maybe drop off 16GB and start at 32GB. Would be nice. Could make a great recommendation to the elder computer users in my household.

"And the new iPad mini with retina display with be priced..."

At $329. I get it. Blah blah LTE is extra, blah blah...

"at just $399. That's for 16 gigs with WiFi and..."

What! What?! $399? For something that's slower, less usable, more restrictive  and harder to provide support to?

Fist off. Let's start with the 64-bit architecture. Maybe Apple is prepping to make a few upgrades later in the years. But why market it so much. "Desktop class architecture in a phone!" Yeah, too bad the 500MB or 1GB of RAM in your devices have nothing extra to bring with 64-bit. So, 64-bit is pointless in a machine that has nothing close to 4GB of RAM.

Second off. If Apple is really not going to add anything innovative and worth while to their devices in these announcements, they really need to just learn to stop spewing all the techno-babble filth that none of their target audience truly understands and just market it as the New iPad. Or, the New iPhone. They did it with the iPad 3. And having to work and grow up besides the target audience, it worked. They knew nothing other than that it was new and they needed it. I could gain so much time back if Apple would just show it and move on. I don't need so much flub and neither do the people who actually buy the phone.

Why line up at the stores? The product hasn't even been announced yet?! What if the new phone is simply that. I'd love to see one time, Apple re-releases the same exact iPad and market it as new. Come on. Next year, keep producing the same exact iPad Air and just say that there are new iPad Airs. That's it. Don't show specs, don't talk new processors. Just show it off, promote a few new apps or OS "features" and open the stores to the waves of sheep. I swear. It'll work perfectly.

This post has been written by a tech geek who has used Windows and OS9/10 through-out his life, dabbled with Linux distros, owned an iPad, supported plenty of iPhones and iPads, Android phones and tablets, Blackberrys, and Windows Mobile/Phone. Keith has no cult following to any specific sect of technology. He has recommended products based on what they do and how they work, not what OS they run or how beautiful the case or screen may look. He will argue with an iFanboy for praising a product with lack of innovation and turn right around to bitch-slap an Fandroid for saying "Android did it first" and exclaim: Yeah, but WP8 did it better! and then scream at Microsoft for fucking with people's mind on Windows RT. He is the everyman of tech, and represents the entirety of the computing world. Well, except for WebOS. He only once replaced the battery in a Palm Pixi. That's it.

Windows [Almost] Everywhere...Kind of...Maybe

Check out this Microsoft advertisement:

I don't know why, but it took until tonight for me to see this ad. And I was absolutely disgusted by it. Windows is great. I use Windows everyday for work and for home. I also use various Linux distros. I've posted many times about a dream convergence device, and the Surface Pro has almost always been a part of that. This ad almost had me thinking Microsoft had the idea of "Your windows, everywhere" down part. They don't! Let me break down the ad, then how Microsoft "microshafted" us all out of a great UX.

The ad starts with explaining how IE10 is the first browser built for touch. And while I can't totally agree with this, I will give them it's the first desktop browser built from the ground up for touch. And yes, no matter how hard to say that IE10 in the "Metro" shell and IE10 on the desktop art two different things, IE10 for metro is still running on the desktop. IE10 is fantastic in every possible way. It's great on security and speed. Two things I'm a big fan of. I'm just so built into Chrome, but over the long run, I could move to IE.

Then onto Bing. I hear good things about Bing. Never really used it. Google is the default on almost any thing I use and like I said I'm built into Chrome and Google apps. Again, if Bing really does work, why not use it?

Office? Who can live without an office suit? I use Libre and Open Office extensively for work and home on my own computers and actually Microsoft Office for work. Occasionally I hit a compatibility snag. The real thing would be pretty nice.

Oh and One Note is absolutely fantastic! It'd replace Evernote and my drawing apps for me!

Skydrive, or whatever they'll be calling it soon, is great. But I'm trying to move away from cloud services.

I'm not big on gaming. I mainly play the occasional mobile game or online flash RPG. And even those on a very rare occasion.

50,000 apps. Holy crap! Fifty-thousand apps! That's it! I mean, WP has what? 140k? 150? But 50,00 apps... This is where Microsoft screwed the pooch. Let me explain.

Apple makes the iPhone-> Pretty sweet device, don't you think?-> Let's make a tablet-> Apple employee: I know, Steve, let's make a crappy half OSX and half iOS OS that barely functions and try and sell it as a modern marvel?-> Steve Jobs: Idiot! You're fired!-> Apple releases iPad and it's a MAJOR success.

Few years down the line:

Steve Ballmer: This mobile thing is really kicking it off, we should get into it-> Windows Mobile becomes the beautiful Windows Phone and gets a decent following and several really good apps.-> Microsoft employee: I know, Steve, let's make a crappy half Windows and half Windows Phone OS that barely functions and try and sell it as a modern marvel?-> Steve Ballmer: Brilliant! Let's put a lot of money into this and make developers develop their apps in the same style, that we'll call Metro and then take back, as their Windows Phone apps, but in a completely different architecture and code standard!-> Microsoft employee: *Takes money and runs before being fired for incompetence*->*Several months later* Ballmer: Fuck! Well, we put a ton of money into this, let's just try and run with it.

And thus, we arrive that present day Windows 8. Why couldn't they just build off of Windows Phone direct and allow you to boot into that to save battery life or something else? I don't know. Instead, developers have to develop three types of apps- Sorry, 4- One for WP8, one for Windows RT "Metro", Windows 8 Pro "Metro", and Windows 8 Pro desktop. When they could be building a scalable Windows Phone/Tablet 8 and a Windows 8 Pro Desktop. You see, only 2 apps. Then sell two tablets like they are know. A Windows Tablet 8 tablet, and a dual booting Windows Tablet 8 and Windows 8 Pro. (Or you know, just "Windows 8", no "Pro")

I'd like you to take a look at a post I saw a long time ago. Minimally Minimal - The Next Microsoft. by Andrew Kim. I want you to really look it over and cry yourself to sleep thinking of the Microsoft that never was. And they HIRED this guy! "Microshaft" hired him and he works in the XBox division. XBox! What the hell! Microsoft,  I swear, I think you put me, Andrew, and a few other of my fellow gadgeteers, maybe a few readers of this blog into a little committee and we will have new products, designs, and marketing schemes that will get you better sales and reputation than anything your current team is getting you. I mean "Windows RT"? Really?

I have that post in my BOOKMARKS BAR. I look at it almost once a week- this post and a few others about Ubuntu for Android/Ubuntu Touch and the like- They all keep me going in my never ending quest to find the perfect convergence platform. And Microsoft, you had, you really could've had it for a second. Then you announced Windows 8 and Windows RT. And FUCKED it UP! Give me a month. No, a week, and I'll fix Redmond's entire screw up!

"Douchingly" yours,

Keith

I have't. It is engender'd...

Now, Shakespeare isn't normally my thing. Actually it's never my thing. I despise the man, but that's not what this post is about. I've just discovered how I plan to design my convergence device: A phone, "convertible", and a ultimate desktop behemoth. And that discovery is: A BIOS. Yes! Why didn't I think of this before? Instead of trying to figure out how a tablet/ultrabook/convertible thing will take advantage of full blown desktop quality hardware in duality with it's already functioning hardware, why not just boot the desktop components from the device's storage?!

It's brilliant! It's a amazing! It's alive!! Alive, I say! Currently, I can only see this working with a full blown ultrabook or convertible device. So, until I do more research or experimentation, basic pads or phones, or padfones (Eh? See what I did there?...) are out of the equation. Anyway, here's the idea.

As before a large phablet is the main device for day-to-day work. A Galaxy Note 2 (or 3?) will run Android and Ubuntu for Android (UFA) or Ubuntu Touch and Ubuntu with a Smart Dock to book into the desktop function.

Then a Surface Pro, or similar device, is powered by similar OS specifications. Same as previous posts.

The clincher now is the at-home desktop design. Here, a modified Surface Pro is somehow tethered to a practically complete desktop except for a hard drive (or SDD/whatever.). Instead of this computer booting off of a internal drive like normal, it boots from the storage in the Surface Pro and... Bada bing! Bada boom! Perfect convergence! There's no syncing (Phone aside), no special software, no special modding of OS's work together as one computer on different computers- Yada yada.

It's the perfect idea. True, I have yet to figure out how to tether the convertible/ultrabook/tablet, but that will probably be solved soon enough. I'm thinking a split SATA cable with a modded port on the side of the device. As any idea of a thunderbolt, usb, or firewire would require a controller on the motherboard of the device. Maybe not? Sure. It will take experimentation.

Anyway, just wanted to update on my discovery. Maybe this discovery will never be put to place as a brand new thing arrives. I never know in the world of technology. So, thanks for following and I can't wait to share the next discovery or final product with you! But by God! This will happen even if

...Hell and night
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light!

-Keith

Google goes back on it's word. How can I trust you with other products?

Google's excuse to put down Reader was completely hypocritical to the entire point of Google Reader. They say that information is a constant stream. And people are constantly checking website for updates and new information like Twitter and Facebook. That they no longer need a curated personal news feed! And yet, when you read articles from Reader's launch day, Google introduced Reader as a friend to help to catch all the best of that constant stream of news.

"The amount of information on the Web is rapidly increasing. Google Reader helps you keep up with it all by organizing and managing all the content you're interested in. Instead of continuously checking your favorite sites for updates, you can let Google Reader do it for you."

Dear Google,

Google+ is amazing and while I'm still getting into the community on my personal account, my other account that I follow people on right now is really full of news and communication. Although, I really miss that unread count. Much the reason why I despise Flipbook, or board, or whatever it's called. And yet, I try not to get too into google products anymore. Because, why should I? Who's to say you are going to keep it around for so long? It's not a HUGE user base like facebook or Twitter. I bet Reader had more users, and there was more social interaction on there then I'm seeing on other profiles on Google+.

Google+ is amazing and while I'm still getting into the community on my personal account, my other account that I follow people on right now is really full of news and communication. Although, I really miss that unread count. Much the reason why I despise Flipbook, or board, or whatever it's called. And yet, I try not to get too into google products anymore. Because, why should I? Who's to say you are going to keep it around for so long? It's not a HUGE user base like facebook or Twitter. I bet Reader had more users, and there was more social interaction on there then I'm seeing on other profiles on Google+.

You killed off such an innovative tool just so we can go back to the way things used to be? Are you going to pull a switch in another 7-8 years and bring Reader back and we'll call it innovative, fresh and new?

Meanwhile, I'm stuck with second rate products that lose my saved for later articles, and miss articles in a feed. Even automatically stopped following feeds I'm subscribed to. This never (reportedly) happened in Reader, but many others are experiencing it.

So, not to state I will not use Google products (Android phone, chromebook/box, soon an android tablet, Google+ user, Youtube user, Gmail User, Maps, Calendar...etc. I use 'em all). It's to say that I'm afraid to use them for fear of losing them. I'd be lost without Calendar, my Gmail, and literally lost sometimes without Maps! (By the by, nice new interface!) I would just like a little security knowing I'm good for the next decade. In that time we may see innovation, and some of those products may fall off the map (Get it?!). But I did not witness that this year. Oh no. I witness the opposite. I witness a devolution in the internet. A step backwards to an era in which I struggled to keep up the latest news and exciting reports. So thank you, Google. Thank you for letting me miss out on so much more.


Sincerely,
Keith
Your friendly neighborhood Google user

The Three Device-keteers

Bonjour!

"Gasp! French?" You say? Sure, why not.

Alright folks, just popping in here for a little update on my second post: The perfect device, that one I've dreamed forever.... I wanted to update you all on my quest to discover a near perfect flow between a single or multiple devices. I've decided to take a plunge. I'm going to customize 3 devices: A Samsung Galaxy Note II, a Microsoft Surface Pro, and a custom Ubuntu All-in-one or tower.

Huh? How do those three devices work together in anyway you asked for in your second post. True, not YET! Here, let me help: Cyanogenmod on the Note II with Holo Cards theme, the Surface Pro dual booting Ubuntu with Cinnamon Holo theme and a custom android build running Cyanogenmod w/ Holo Cards theme, and a self-built Linux box running a desktop-ier (Yes, I know it's not a word) or desktop friendlier version of the same Ubuntu with Cinnamon Holo theme.

How would this look? Well check it out.

First up is the Note II:

Why the Note II? The Stylus! The Stylus! God almighty it is the stylus! You don't know how long I've missed them. I used to have a little pda that had a stylus that allowed me to (quite crap looking) write notes a lot quicker that typing or pulling out my notepad like I do now and flipping to a fresh or finding an empty space I could use. With the big screen it limits the need (read: want) to go over to a tablet when all you want (read: need) is a few extra inches or space to read or use. With reviews of long battery life, this phone will last all day if not longer! The great looking Dark Holo Theme satisfies my Google and minimalism hunger. I only need a quick glance to see the time, upcoming events, and weather, while also checking on system info. I only use a few apps religiously so I could dedicate pages (almost full screen app size on this huge phablet.) to certain app widgets and information. I can't wait to get my grubby little hands on my perfect pocket assistance.

What made me choose the Surface Pro? The easy tablet and ultrabook metamorphosis. It can easily go from a lightweight (read: moderate-weight) tablet to a powerful and thin ultrabook. Because it's a real computer, I can easily change OSes. Which makes it easier to mod into a perfect Android tablet turns Linux powered "awesome-book." The type cover is a cover for the face and a great usable keyboard. Toss a little wireless mouse in the bag and you're good to go. Not only does it remove my original need to find a perfect VNC client on a regular android tablet or iPad, I can now set it down on a table and it instantly becomes a full powered media production machine. It's gonna be some fun late nights staying up to perfect this mod.

And since we've already got the Linux ball rolling (Android being built on Linux kernels) it's common sense to get a nice really work horse to get the big video and photo projects done while at home. Looking to dock/linking solutions it would be fantastic to use my Surface as an extra monitor. Or maybe to actually keep the Surface as the only real "computer" and just a sort of docking solution that lets the Surface's OS take advantage of some better hardware while at home. So instead of that i5 and only 4 gigs of ram, the Surface could take advantage of an array of ssd's for storage, triple the ram, a Core i7, double 2 gigs graphics cards, along with the regular extra large monitor(s), interfaces, speakers, etc.

So what are you thoughts. Leave me a comment. If you could choose 3 devices to mod to work together, what would they be and how would you do it? Would you need more than 2? 3? 4? What would be your perfect all-in-one device. The one device that could do everything?!

Let the Barricades Rise- To stop anyone from seeing this movie!

Poster for the Film

I saw a few movies this- Sorry, last year. And I saw my first movie of this year, just a few hours ago. Sadly, it doesn't set the scene well enough for the rest of the year. So here is my first film review for my new blog location.

Les Misérables, the gruesome and harrowing tale of the dodgy, parole escaping Jean Valjean. After stealing some bread to feed his sister's dying child, he is sent to jail and slave-like labor for an ungodly amount of time. After serving all time he must, he is put onto parole- For life. But SURPRISE, he doesn't like that! A novel, several movies, musical, I believe plays have been done, and now a movie based on the musical adaptation. I'm talking about the 2012 film adaption of the musical adaptation of the novel. Yes, quite a mouthful, but so is this review.

I'll start with the cinematography: Absolute horror! I couldn't believe that any director would approve of this. Tight shots! Oh good Lord! Who had this vision of tight shot after tight shot, after tight shot. You can't have a movie made entirely out of tight shots! Show a little set! A little location! Even when there were 3-5 people on screen, they got a fucking tight shot of them all in there! Stop! It don't think it was until midway did I start to see a few more medium or even some long shots. But god forbid you put a wide angle lens on that camera, Mister Tom Hooper, director.

Russell Crowe as Javert,
the police inspector set on
arresting Jean Valjean. Again.

While some can place it into color balance during photography, I place it into editing. Yet, when in one shot during a scene a person is pale as can be, then the next (a tight shot, none the less!) they are rosy red, how can you let that go?! Also, near the beginning, some songs has easily seen skips so as to make it look as the actors could do everything in one take. And I mean some pretty easily seen skips.

Let's get into my main beef, but technically the only good thing out of the actors in this entire film. That is, the audio. If this wasn't a musical, I'd call this the best audio EVER for a live action film. Yet, this is, in fact, a musical. And, in that fact, should require, recordings. I was actually surprised that there wasn't a cast recording. As, 1: It sounds better during the film. And 2: You can sell it for more cash. And we all know Hollywood loves cash. They made this movie didn't they? And they also made that Karate Kid remake with that talentless Will Smith's talentless child? So how does a MUSICAL sound without any good vocal recordings? Take a guess. It doesn't good. Horrible mixing, because layering individual tracks over one another when they were all recorded at the same time in the same place with the same room tone has so much extra noise and over powering that you cannot distinguish one another.

Anne Hathaway singing I Dreamed a Dream

But!- And that's a big BUT! It's an amazing feat for those actors. I have to give them credit. Especially a prostitute Anne Hathaway singing- While crying, on cue and on camera, LIVE!- a pretty good version of I Dreamed a Dream. And to hear Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman sing like that was nothing I expected. Nothing worthy of awards, but certainly something I'd pay to see- By itself.

Now, I've never been a fan of the story. It's has its faults as a novel all on its own. So I truly wasn't expecting much walking in. Surprisingly, I was one who sat through the entire movie. I did see a few people walk out, something I'd never seem myself for any other film. While sitting through the beginning I thought the only person who could have saved this story was if Tim Burton was the director. Some people might yell, scream, and bitch. I started to bitch at myself after I thought of it. Telling myself that if Mr. Burton was to direct, the two main characters would be Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. And then, BAM! Up come the Thénardiers! And there is Miss Bonham Carter, herself, in her delightfully twisted acting style along the semi-also-twisted Sacha Baron Cohen. The duo make a charming husband and wife who steal and trick plenty of guests to their inn.

Helena Bonham Carter as Madam Thénardier 

I'd love to tell people to not see this movie. But you will. You'll want to experience it for yourselves. I did. Not expecting much. Even though I hated it, my ticket still counts towards the millions others that they will announce after it will probably have won multiple awards for things it shouldn't have. I can only give Anne Hathaway a single award for her single scene performance of I Dreamed A Dream. Sadly, it still isn't anything truly award worthy. A problem with today's counts of how many people went to see a movie is equivalent to how good it was.

Anyway! To make a long story short (Too late.) the film sucked and I hope you never waste your time with it. Up next is my review of The Hobbit that I saw a few days earlier. I drove an hour and a half to see it in it's original HFR 3D version and will post a review of that along with a comparison of it and its 24fps, 2D or 3D version. I haven't decided which one to see for comparison yet. Then in February it will be my reaction to the Golden Globes, and then, hopefully, early March, the Academy Awards. Good to see Lincoln and Hobbit off on good starts for both of them.

Cheers,
Keith

Mixing up the traditional podcasting set-up

Well, hello again! I know, I'm here before I said I would be on my last post. Today's post is happier. Today is continuing what I hope to turn into a long line of posts over the lifetime of this blog. And that series is a compilation of my dream devices/set-ups. Whether that be the perfect phone/tablet/docking computer in my second post, the perfect desktop set-up, a brilliant sound system, the best home theater PC, or the perfect mixer- Like in today's post.

I do voice-overs, contribute to podcasts, and am hoping to start my own podcast(s). So I want a perfectly simple, but a power horse of a set-up. Today, I present, after a few weeks of pouring over schematics, ADC/DAC codecs, and other people's set-ups, the People's Podcasting Perfection!

A vertical overview of the planned mixer, with faders and everything.

Alright, keep calm and be cool. I know, it's not a physical thing- Yet! It will be soon. I'm buying up everything I'll need. The problem right now is trying to find the best possible codecs, faders, preamps, and pots. (I classify radial dials as pots, faders are on their own.) What!!! You thought I was gonna build everything from scratch! Ha!

Anyway. Let's throw up the signal path:

Presented in my rush to finished at least a presentable
version, this is not in a standard formatted signal path.

So there it is. Let's start with an over view. The mixer has 3 simultaneous inputs, 4 total inputs. One microphone with a balanced combo jack applying standard and 48V phantom power for those who use condenser mics. It will carry a unity gain with up to +25 and a insert jack. Then one stereo input over balanced 1/4 jacks. A second stereo input has a little fun: USB! Yes! USB! Switchable between a stereo input over RCA or 1/4, (I haven't decided yet) and a stereo return from a USB connection to a PC. "Return" you say? More on that later. All inputs are planned to have 3 band EQ modulation and panning via pots, and a fader for final volume control. For the mic input, I first thought I would want a built in compressor/limiter, but then decided people might be bringing in channel strips, their own preamps, and even processing. Leaving the combo jack as a balanced or stereo input and an insert jack to allow for so many combinations was a no-brainer.

Next are the buses! The first one is from Philadelphia to New York in about 45 minut- What? Not the right buses? Oh, THOOOOSE buses! Gotcha.

Each of our individual channel strips can apply bus sends post-fader. ALL are post fader. You can make your own with pre faders, but I've never seen the use. I've included a Main Mix like normal, plus I've added a pre-mix- Yeah, let's call it that: a Pre-Mix™. (Trademark Keith Borst 2012) It allows you to send (POST FADER!) the input signal to your headphones for prepping levels before you bring it into the main mix. Or even queuing up a clip for an intro or outro and want to listen without it interfering with your main mix. AAAND! An aux bus! Yup, now you can also add your channel strip to your favorite VOIP program. To explain the need for this, I need to tell you that we also send the main mix to two outputs. (technically three) One goes to a stereo balanced output, one to the headphone out, and one to the USB CODEC! Yes! It's completely digital! No need to by an ADC/DAC, it's built right in! Now sure, I provide the switchable third input and a main bus out if you wish to connect your own audio interface, so by all means: Play around with it.

Here's where the aux bus comes into place. While the USB connection allows the audio out of your computer/device to come into the mixer, and the main mix to be sent to the computer, your participant on your VOIP service of choice will hear themselves with a delay if you send them the main bus as an input. So, the aux bus allows you to select which inputs to send to a secondary output that you can use as your input to your VOIP service. Brilliant!

So there you are! A perfect little mixer for VOs or podcasting. Do you like everything? Is there something you think isn't needed to bring down the price? What would you add to perfect this for your set-up? Thoughts? Opinions? Spare change? Send any, anything you've got. No, I'm kidding.

Please comment and tell me what you think.

Thanks,

Keith