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Top Gadgets For Christmas 2011

techconsumer — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:36:48 +0000

It’s that time of year again – jingle bells can be heard in the distance and the smell of roasted chestnuts lingers on every busy street corner. Storefronts are festively decorated with lights and ornate wreaths, while somewhere far away Santa is making his list and checking it twice. Of course, the gadget guru hasn’t noticed any of this – as he’s been glued to his iPhone playing angrybirds. Oh well, you still need to get him a gift, so without further ado, here are our Top Gadgets For Christmas 2011:

iPhone 4S

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that one of our top picks this Christmas is the newest model iPhone – The Apple iPhone 4S. Sure, the iPhone 5 wasn’t announced, and that disappointed many people, but the iPhone 4s does offer a few rather significant upgrades over its predecessor. Improvements in the iPhone 4S include:

Better camera: The iPhone 4S features an 8 megapixel camera, a significant upgrade over the 5 megapixel camera on the iPhone 4. It is also capable of shooting HD video.

Improved processor: You better fasten your seat belt, as the iPhone 4S features a major upgrade in processor power over the 4. In fact, the dual-core a5 chip offers more than double the speeds of the iPhone 4, and 7 times its graphic rendering speeds.

Perhaps the most talked about new feature of the iPhone 4S is the fact that this smartphone talks! The iPhone 4s is the first iPhone to offer “Siri” which is essentially a service that allows you to make more requests to your iPhone via voice — and “Siri” will even respond with audio. The video below shows just how advanced and potentially game-breaking this feature is:

Amazon Kindle Fire

Perhaps the most exciting and mysterious tech gadget available this Christmas is the Amazon Kindle Fire, which is Amazon’s first full fledged tablet to hit the market. This tablet should quickly become a very popular gadget for Xmas 2011, as well as a potentially hard to find gift. Why is this? Well not only is the Kindle Fire a much anticipated rival to the iPad, but it is also extremely moderately priced (especially when compared to newly launched gadgets – the Amazon Kindle Fire is available for pre-sale (from Amazon.com, of course) for only $199! Compare that to the price of the iPad (or iPad2) when they launched, or even the Samsung Galaxy and you’ve got a significant saving on your hands if you choose to make the Amazon Kindle Fire your tablet of choice.

3D TVs

Okay, these are a “little” bit big to be classified as “gadgets” but they are still bound to be a big hit for Xmas 2001, so we couldn’t resist adding them to our list. If you know someone who has been an especially good boy or girl this year ( or perhaps you yourself feel deserving) the Sony Sony BRAVIA and the Toshiba Cinema Series 3dTVs are both worth checking out for Christmas 2011.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus – (Nexus Prime) – Google Nexus 4G

The much anticipated smartphone with many names is sure to be a big hit this winter: The Samsung Galaxy Nexus AKA (Nexus Prime) AKA Google Nexus 4G. The specs are impressive: 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 4.6-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen (720p), 1GB of RAM, 8.0 mega-pixel camera and Android’s latest operating system.

Motorola Dinara

Yup, smartphones and tablets are truly the “it” items again this year as the Motorla Dinara rounds out or list. The Dinara is rumored to be leaner and meaner than the Droid Bionic. Motorla Dinara is said to include a 13 megapixel camera, an HD touchscreen, and an unspecified as of yet but what should be a heavy duty processor as well as a large storage capacity. It’s not known if it’s going to be running Gingerbread or Ice Cream Sandwich (Do these names make anyone else hungry, or is it just time for this blogger to head for lunch?) but the Motorla Dinara is certainly going to be a very high end and highly demanded phone this Xmas season.

Will you preorder the Apple iPad?

techconsumer — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:32:28 +0000

Like almost all things with the “Apple” name, the iPad is all but guaranteed to be a run away success. Many Apple fanboys and girls will not be waiting for the onslaught of user reviews that are sure to follow the gadgets release before ordering. No, these people (and there are many of them) will be looking to preorder the iPad as soon as humanly possible. While not my cup of tea (typing on a touch screen generally tends to annoy me, especially when I could much more easily use a netbook), there is no doubt that whether due to functionality, genius or hype (depends on your perspective), the iPad will be flying off store shelves before even arriving at them.

The iPad is currently available for preorder from Apple.com, and those who choose that option will receive their iPad on April 3rd. It’s obviously a good way to avoid long lines at stores if you’re one of those people who must be among the first to own an iPad. Personally, I’ll be sticking with my netbook but look forward to reading the many reviews and user stories that will soon surface concerning the product. Perhaps it really will be as “magical and revolutionary” as Apple describes.

Safari 4 Off To A Good Start

techconsumer — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:04:25 +0000

Apple’s newest release of their Safari internet browser looks to be off to a very good beginning, as the new version has seen over eleven million copies downloaded in its initial three days on the market. Notably, it is approximated that six million of those downloads were done on Windows run machines.

So why are people flocking to the new Safari? Well, the new version, called Safari 4, offers a very quick javascript engine which is estimated to be a whopping eight hundred percent faster than the one supplied by IE 8. Also, the new browser is reported to be very stable, with users experiencing a very low amount of crash issues thus far.

If you want to give the new Safari 4 a test drive, you can find it on Apple’s official page.

First Mac Turns 25!

techconsumer — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:01:19 +0000

It may seem hard to believe, but nevertheless, the Macintosh computer company released their first computer what is now twenty-five years ago. You may not know that the name “Macintosh” actually was given by Apple employee J. Raskin, who worked on the first Mac, and wanted to name it after his favorite Apple.

What were the specs of this now dinosaur of a Mac?

Well, the first Mac included a meager 128 kilobytes of RAM and a primitive 8 MHz Motorola-68000 micro-processor. Also of note, its monitor was nine inches, and was only able to display in black and white. And of course, it featured a 3.5-inch floppy drive.

One thing the first Mac and current Macs have in common? They were and are expensive! The first Mac was almost $ 2500! When you keep in mind this was back in the early eighties, that’s quite a steep price!

No More Keynotes From Steve Jobs At Macworld

techconsumer — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:15:00 +0000

For those of you planning to attend Macword this year, you may want to reconsider, as a major attraction — the Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) keynote speech — will not be taking place this year. Instead, you can expect to see Apple’s Senior Vice President of marketing deliver the conference’s core speech.

This is not just a one year pitfall, either. It is said that Steve Jobs will not be giving anymore Macworld keynotes, and after 2009 Apple will no longer be presenting at Macworld, at all.

In the past, Macworld was the place to be for Apple news, as both the iPhone and the iPod made their debut at the tradeshow. Apple now states that they will be scaling down their tradeshow efforts, and putting a greater emphasis on their retail outlets.

Netflix + Mac On The Horizon

techconsumer — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:42:55 +0000

Settle down, it’s not quite here yet – but at least Mac users are finally on Netflix’s radar. The company says it will begin providing support for Mac users in a few months time. The news was recently broken by Netflix representative “Brent” on the company’s official blog,

“We’ve been busy working getting a solution that will allow you to watch instantly on your Mac. So hang in there – we’ll have something for you by the end of the year,”

Encouraging words, however long overdue. It’s always astounding how businesses can completely ignore a large and growing segment consumers. Oh well, better late than never?

In other Netflix news, the company has parterned with Starz Play in a deal that will add 1,000 titles to its “Watch Instantly” selection, and is planning to add a further 1,500 by years end. Hits such as “Spider-Man 3,” “No Country for Old Men” and “Superbad” will be part of the new package of titles.

Microsoft “Shoe Circus” New Ad on YouTube

Charlie Jones — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:17:49 +0000

If you haven’t had the opportunity to check out Microsoft’s new commercial, featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld – check it out below:

Some people apparently enjoyed this ad, but, really, I have never seen Jerry Seinfeld so unfunny. The whole time watching, I was waiting for a rib-tickling line, or at least a smirk-worthy barb, but neither was to happen, and it’s sorely disappointing. Was this really the best they could do to compete with Mac’s popular ad campaigns?

You could say I’m bipartisan in the whole Mac versus PC debacle, but I found this new Microsoft ad to be simply sub par – especially after so many tech blogs abound spent time hyping up the Seinfeld-Gates partnership.

Well, watch it for yourselves. Am I wrong? Is it good?

If True, I’d Buy It – iTunes Subscription Service

Charlie Jones — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:51:08 +0000

The rumor is back, and if it’s true, iTunes can charge my visa card right now, because it would be a heck of deal for music connoisseurs, like myself.

An anonymous tip is currently circulating the blogs-of-Mac-worship, buzzing that Apple is preparing to launch an unlimited downloads, iTunes subscription service. If it’s true, other music subscription services will be forced to compete, or risk being put down.

Apple, and more specifically CEO Steve Jobs, have been publicly resistant to the possibility of an iTunes music subscriptions offering, stating that users wish to “own their music”, and standing by its popular retail model, while companies such as Napster, Real Media and even Microsoft try their hands at ruling the unlimited-download arena.

The anonymous tipster responsible for the resurgence in iTunes subscription rumors claims to have details of the possible offering: the subscription would run for $129.99 a year for regular users, and 179.99 a year for use with Mobile Me. It was also stated that songs would be of 256Kbps quality, with half of the iTunes library initially offered.

Now, before we get too excited, rumors of an iTunes subscription service have surfaced before, but they’ve never made it “to the shelf” as it were. However if Apple realizes that this is what its users are clamoring for, it could very well become a reality.

Ipod Nano on Fire!

Charlie Jones — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:08:20 +0000

Apple is smokin’ — literally this time. Reports out of Japan indicate that users of first Generation iPod Nanos (circa 2005), have experienced battery problems resulting in the unit emitting smoke. This is mostly likely to occur during battery recharge, as the battery and subsequently the unit overheat. I know, I couldn’t believe there were people out there still using First Gen iPod Nanos, either.

Kudos to Apple, as they are stepping up to the plate on this one, and have issued the following statement – “Apple has determined that, in very rare cases batteries, in first generation iPod nanos sold between September 2005 and December 2006 can overheat causing failure and deformation of the iPod nano.”

The Apple representative, also spoke of replacement Nanos for those affected:

“Any first generation iPod Nano customers who have experienced their battery overheating should contact AppleCare for a replacement. Any other customers who have concerns about their first generation iPod Nano battery should also contact AppleCare.”

So if you’re using a iPod Nano First Gen from Japan, it may be time to upgrade, or, beware of fire!

Rhapsody’s New DRM-Free MP3 Store with Full Song Previews

Bob Caswell — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:17:33 +0000

Today’s big announcement comes from Rhapsody, the online music service previously known for its subscription-based streaming music for a monthly fee. Well, turns out people are more interested in owning their music rather than renting. So now we have another major competitor for iTunes and Amazon MP3.

I’m already a fan of Amazon MP3. And considering Rhapsody is slightly more expensive (in line with iTunes at $.99 per song and $10 per album), I need something to justify that difference. Switching music download services is easy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need a reason. Rhapsody’s answer: full song previews. The only catch is that this is limited to 25 full previews per month.

The other area where Rhapsody might be better is in its interface. It’s too early for me to tell, but I can say that it wouldn’t take much to beat Amazon MP3. Amazon’s interface isn’t horrible, but Rhapsody’s could easily be better. Other than that, the free album promotion going on right now is probably the most pressing reason to give Rhapsody a try.

Again, it’s too early to tell if these reasons will be enough to make me switch on a more permanent basis, but Amazon definitely has a worthy competitor for music shoppers interested in content from the big four labels. Whatever the case, Rhapsody is yet another reason to avoid iTunes’ premium priced restricted music.