The Hawkeye » Technology

Fear and loathing in iPad support

Samantha Clark — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:50:58 +0000

For the iPhone’s three generations, a common complaint among techies is the lack of support for Adobe Flash video, the most widely used video playback technology on the Web. Apple CEO Steve Jobs stated that the issue was Flash’s poor performance— badly written ActionScript code can, in fact, suck up resources faster than a tornado. Other techies suspect the reason had to be about maintaining control over video to favor Apple’s paid iTunes offerings.
The iTunes conspiracy theory seems unlikely, given Apple’s recent approval of a Slingbox iPhone app and a Netflix iPad app. With the recent launch of the iPad, it’s clear that Apple’s goal is to do more than ignore Flash. Apple wants to kill Flash and other RIAs. Its weapon of choice: the still-evolving HTML5 browser.
Apple has begun promoting Websites that use some of the more backed parts of HTML5’s standard, including the tag for video playback. Apple’s iPad website features Safari, a mobile Web browser that supports the latest Web standards— including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. The message is clear: Flash can be dumped for the HTML5 video tag.
Because media sites are so desperate to find new ways to make money, the iPad will become the driving factor in Web access. They see the iPad as a way to change the expectations that content must be free, especially now that they know that advertising won’t pay for it either. Thus, they’ll support the iPad’s creator and driver: Apple.
Media sites’ influence over Web developers, videographers, and the like will push HTML5 into the sites that most people visit, and that will create the expectation that the HTML5/CSS3 approach is better than using proprietary formats such as Flash.
Anything “proprietary” means there’s a dollar cost, while the “open standards” line Apple is, usually means there is less cost and that will also push the eventual abandonment of Adobe Flash.
Flash, Silverlight, and WebFX will continue to have a place for delivering interactive capabilities, but Apple won’t support them. Apple wants developers to use the Web for lightweight content and capabilities and its iPhone for heavier-weight content and capabilities.
For Apple to win this battle against Flash, They’ll need Microsoft on their side. Microsoft is basing its upcoming Window Phone 7 with Silverlight as its main app provider. Its tied Silverlight to .Net to gain instant momentum. If Windows Phone 7 takes off, Silverlight might get some real traction.
.Net is used largely for app develoment, not for Web development, and certainly not for content development. Adobe has been the major force in content oriented development technology, and as Apple weakens Adobe’s role on the mobile side, content-oriented developers are no more likely to turn to .Net and Silverlight than they are to Java and JavaFX. They’ll turn to HTML5 and/or to Xcode, as well as the equivalent of Xcode for the Google Android platform.
None of this will happen overnight, but Apple has clearly declared war on Flash video and by proxy on today’s RIAs.

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Robotics regionally recognized

Megan Resler — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:25:05 +0000

The MTHS FIRST Robotics club was recognized during the first weekend of April at the Seattle Regional Robotics competition, winning both the Business Plan Award and Safety Award.

The event was held at Key Arena for the 3rd year in a row. It was led by Derek Burkett and David Krienke, the Robotics team who won the Underwriter’s Laboratory Team Safety Award. The team managed the distribution of safety glasses for the entire event, showed the team’s comprehensive safety plan, and posted safety posters around the event.

The Business Plan Award was also given to the MTHS robotics team for the second year in a row.

Our team was awarded for developing the best and most comprehensive business plan. Brandon Crader and Tyler Baker worked to update last year’s plan, also an award winner, and received the award again this year. As the regional event’s judges noted, this bodes well for our team’s growth and development in the year’s to come.

Emilie Woog finished the 2010 robotics season by receiving the top female engineering award for the entire Regional Event.

The “Dean’s List” award is given to the top male and female engineering students from all 64 teams present at the event, roughly 1000 students. This month Woog will travel to Atlanta, GA to compete for the National Dean’s List Award.

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iPad: A quantum leap in handheld computing

Carly Wicklander — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:54:36 +0000

Whatwill it be called? iSlate? iTablet? Something else? Will it even be announced? If so, will it float or bring about world peace? Well, questions are starting to be answered, as Steve Jobs has finally unveiled the iPad. At 0.5 inches thin, weighing in at 1.5 pounds and with a 9.7-inch IPS display, it’s a glorious piece of machinery, meeting up to many expectations. There will be three different models, with 16, 32 and 64 GB of flash storage, and you can find more of the specs here. You can play games on it, type on the on-screen keyboard, check out the iBook store and read newspapers, among many other features. If you thought the iTouch was the bee’s knees, just wait, the iPad is perfect for all those wonderful technology lovers.
This new sleek and shiny product from Apple is hitting the shelves in late March, but stores are accepting reservations for those who are just too excited to wait in line on opening day.

Environment: The iPad supports going green by reducing environment usage by having a mercury and arsenic-free LCD screen display and by using recyclable aluminum and a glass enclosure. It is also free of PVC (poison plastic, polyvinyl chloride) which may cause future health risks.

Battery Life: When fully charged, the iPad can get up to 10 hours of surfing the Web or watching videos. However, in order to charge it you’ll need to get a computer dock since the iPad does not have any USB output. The battery is built in, which means it has to take a trip to the Apple store in order to be fixed.

Positives: Of the many great features the iPad has to offer, there are several that really stand out, such as lighting fast Internet access with built-in Wi-Fi, and a microphone with an amplified speaker for perfect sound quality. The iPad also has a highly responsive multi-touch screen, which allows Web pages to be seen as they were meant to be seen – one page at a time, with vibrant color and sharp text. So whether it’s looking at a page in portrait or landscape, you can see everything at a size that’s actually readable. Scroll through a page just by flicking a finger up or down on the screen. Or pinch to zoom in or out on a photo. There’s also a thumbnail view that shows all open pages in a grid, to quickly move from one page to the next.
The large screen makes the iPad ideal for watching all kinds of videos: from HD movies and TV shows to podcasts and music videos. Not only can iTunes and the App Store be accessed, anything else on the Internet can also be.

Negatives: Unfortunately, the iPad comes with several flaws. No Flash support or USB connectors. No camera and no multi-tasking, meaning there is no way two apps can run at the same time. Another limitation is the relatively bulky adapters that are needed to connect the iPad to cameras or USB devices. Also awkward is the use of the touch keyboard, which typing longer texts, becomes rather complicated unless you have a flat surface to type on. If necessary, you can also buy an additional keyboard for around $30.
Although the iPad has a number of productivity applications, including e-mail, calendar, and iWorks, it doesn’t really function as a computer. You can’t have a browser window open at the same time you’re typing a document or working on a spreadsheet. That said, the iPad isn’t positioned as a computer, so if you want productivity, stick to a laptop.

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Back To School Technology

Sammie Clark — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:32:19 +0000

Ipod WAKE-UP LIGHT $ 199

Some teens need nothing short of a bullhorn blasting in their faces in order to wake up in the morning. However, some students appreciate a more subtle approach. The Philips’ Wake-Up Light looks like a soothing pillow with an iPod dock attached so the user can set its internal lamp to gradually illuminate in the morning just like a sunrise, even if the user is getting up before the crack of dawn to finish a paper.
The wake-up light can set the clock radio or iPod tunes to come on as the lamp begins to glow, or the user can even choose from a selection of wake-up sounds, ranging from “morning birds in the forest” to “sounds of the African jungle.”

SONY PSP GO $249

Available Oct. 1, the new Sony PSP Go is perfect way to blow off steam with an enhanced 3.8-in. display, slide-out controls, 16 GB of flash memory, Wi-Fi and a growing arsenal of downloadable games from the online PlayStation Web site.

DESIGNER USB FLASH DRIVES $16-25

With a mission to bring style and soul to consumer electronics, Mimobot flash drives offer a myriad of USB drives from 1GB to 8GB. Each USB drive has a specific theme or design. Like Star Wars? Or Halo? Mimobot offers a wide selection of clever USB drives based on the characters of Halo and Star Wars. Not into video games and sci-fi? Mimobot also carries various hello kitty USB drives, the ever popular Domo brand, as well. Each custom USB drive is 2.5” tall by 1” wide, and comes with a one-year limited warranty. For more information please check out the Web site www.mimoco.com.

LIVESCRIBE SMARTPEN $199

Taking notes during class just got a whole lot easier. At about the size of a Sharpie, this pen packs a voice recorder with up to 2 GB of storage; it remembers everything it has written in digital form so the handwritten notes can be synced with a PC or Mac. The smart pen also keeps track of whatever was being said while the notes were being taken — just tap a word to hear all of what Professor Motormouth was saying at that particular moment. How does it work? The Smartpen has infrared sensors that use the tiny dots on the custom (and required) Livescribe notebook paper.

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Robotics update

Shahrum Ali — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:03:01 +0000

While winter sports are finishing up, Robotics Team is starting to prepare for this year’s competition.
The weekend of March 6 marks the start of this year’s regional competition. The team will start by traveling to Portland for their first face-off, and then later to the Seattle Key Arena for the second. The team has been preparing most of fall, have already shipped their robot, and spent the last few weeks planning strategies.
Despite being only around for a short three years, the team shows an impressive record. 2006, the year the team first formed, they took the Rookie All Star Award in Atlanta. In 2007, doubling in awards, they were a regional finalist and also took the Safety award, honoring safety features in design. Last year, they took another finalist spot in Seattle and also won the Imagery award, rewarding presentation and spirit.
Every year, the producers of the competition, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) throw in an extra twist to challenge their competitors According to Team 1778 Co-President Brandon Crader, their year’s challenge is a slippery playing field. “The floor is like ice,” he said. “There’s almost no friction. They always add a twist to the end to make it more fair.”
For now, the most important factor for the team is more recognition. Crader and his team are looking for more recognition of their club. “We’ve been looking for a lot of support from our school,” he said. “So that they can see our accomplishments.”

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Lasers diverting missiles on commercial planes

Cassie Soriano — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:00:40 +0000

On July 11, a commercial American Airlines plane successfully completed its flight from New York to California, equipped with a missile-repelling system.
The JetEye system, developed by the United Kingdom-based BAE Systems, is an infrared missile defense system that diverts shoulder-fired missiles. It works by firing a laser once it detects heat-seeking missiles in order to divert it. “The flight represents the final phase of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s [or DHS] Counter-Man-Portable Air Defense System program,” written in the article “Passenger plane flies with laser system that repels missiles” on CNN.com “[It is] designed to test the suitability of missile-protection equipment for commercial aircraft.” The JetEye was developed in Jan. 2004 during the early phases of the Counter-Man-Portable Air Defense System program [also known as the Counter-MANPADS program.] It has received $105 million in funding, and BAE Systems was recently awarded a $29 million contract by DHS for a final suitability evaluation.
The purpose of JetEye being installed on a commercial flight is to counteract terrorist threats. Five hundred thousand to 700,000 shoulder-fired missile weapons have been manufactured worldwide, and sometimes sold for as little as $5,000 in Middle Eastern and Central Asian arms markets. BAE Systems has been working with American Airlines Maintenance and Engineering Services to test the system on commercial flights.
JetEye will also be installed in two more American Airlines 767-200 aircraft until March 2009 for daily cross-country flights, including FedEx and other cargo planes. Other defense companies, such as Northrop Grumman, have urged that the system be installed on commercial aircrafts that transport soldiers and equipment to war zones. American Airlines will not make this system mandatory, however they have agreed to cooperate with test flights. No missiles will be launched at the plane during the flights to test the system, however.

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War of the game consoles

Brendan Moran — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:58:10 +0000

If you’re talking about video games, the conversation inevitably revolves around at least one of the major gaming console producers in the world today; Microsoft of the United States, or Sony and Nintendo of Japan. Subjects of the video game industry love to claim their favorite system as dominant, be it Microsoft’s Xbox 360 with its fantastic online service, Sony’s Playstation 3 boasting Blu-Ray capability, or Nintendo’s Wii with a fully gyroscopic controller.

In terms solely of console sales, Nintendo appears to be storming the market. International sales for the Wii numbered at just under 30 million at the end of July this year, the Xbox and Playstation trailing behind at 19 million and 14.41 million respectively. It is important to note, too, that the Wii was released an entire year later than the Xbox. The Wii doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to dethronement either, selling more units in July than the Xbox and Playstation combined.
Some argue that numbers don’t reflect on true quality, and this is often times is the case. Both the PS3 and 360 boast more power in hardware than the Wii, which can’t play DVD movies or output in high-definition. The hardware specs seem to correlate directly to the prices, however. The Wii will currently put you out $250. An Xbox 360 with a 20-gigabyte hard drive sells for $300, while a Playstation 3 with a 40-gigabyte hard drive and blu-ray support costs $400 [impressive considering that even the lowliest of standalone Blu-Ray players retail for almost $300.]
Microsoft and Sony have made it clear in numerous video game conferences and press releases that they do not consider the Wii to be in the same league as their consoles. That statement isn’t entirely unfair considering the vast differences in hardware, namely the Wii’s distinct controller design. Outside of the console war, Microsoft and Sony both seem to be doing poorly. Their stocks are both selling at only a few dollars above their 52-week lows of $24.87 and $36.90, respectively.
Each company has their pros and cons, and it’s still too early to call off the fight. The longer these systems stay on the market, the more their prices are cut and the more units they sell. Even years after these consoles are replaced with more advanced, next-generation systems, nerds everywhere will undoubtedly still be arguing over which was better, regardless of sales, profits, or popularity polls.

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