Apple iPhone 5 Arrives at Last

Posted by Jeff in Apple, Technology

Apple iPhone 5 arrives at last, Apple claims its the thinnest, lightest iPhone ever featuring an all new aluminum design.

Apple press release copied below to give you all of the juicy details.

Apple® today announced iPhone® 5, the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, completely redesigned to feature a stunning new 4-inch Retina™ display; an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance; and ultrafast wireless technology*—all while delivering even better battery life.**

iPhone 5 comes with iOS 6, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features including: the all new Maps app with Apple-designed cartography and turn-by-turn navigation; Facebook integration; Passbook® organization; and even more Siri® features and languages.

“iPhone 5 is the most beautiful consumer device that we’ve ever created,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “We’ve packed an amazing amount of innovation and advanced technology into a thin and light, jewel-like device with a stunning 4-inch Retina display, blazing fast A6 chip, ultrafast wireless, even longer battery life; and we think customers are going to love it.”

iPhone 5 is the thinnest smartphone in the world, with an all-new 7.6 mm anodized aluminum body that is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than iPhone 4S. Designed with an unprecedented level of precision, iPhone 5 combines an anodized aluminum body with diamond cut chamfered edges and glass inlays for a truly incredible fit and finish.

The new 4-inch Retina display on iPhone 5 delivers even more pixels than iPhone 4S, making the already incredible Retina display even better. By making the screen taller, not wider, iPhone 5 is just as easy to use with one hand so you can tap, type and scroll the same way you always have, while enjoying even more of your content including amazing apps optimized for the larger Retina display, widescreen HD video, a full five days of your Calendar and more of every web page.

iPhone 5 supports ultrafast wireless standards including LTE and DC-HSDPA, so you can browse, download and stream content even faster. To support the latest LTE technology, Apple has pioneered a unique single-radio LTE solution that provides blazing fast speeds while fitting perfectly into the new remarkably thin design. iPhone 5 features dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi support for a wireless experience up to 150 Mbps.***

The all-new A6 chip was designed by Apple to maximize performance and power efficiency to support all the incredible new features in iPhone 5, including the stunning new 4-inch Retina display—all while delivering even better battery life. With up to twice the CPU and graphics performance, almost everything you do on iPhone 5 is blazing fast for launching apps, loading web pages and downloading email attachments.

The 8 megapixel iSight® camera is the most popular camera in the world and with iPhone 5, it’s even better. The new camera is completely redesigned with incredible optical performance, yet amazingly it’s 25 percent smaller than the camera in iPhone 4S.

The new iSight camera in iPhone 5 features a sapphire crystal lens cover that is thinner and more durable than standard glass with the ability to provide crystal clear images. The new panorama feature lets you capture jaw-dropping panorama images of up to 28 megapixels by simply moving the camera across a scene in one smooth motion.

New video features include improved stabilization, video face detection for up to 10 faces and the ability to take still photos as you record. A new FaceTime® HD front facing camera makes FaceTime calls incredibly clear and can also be used for self portraits and recording 720p HD video. iPhone 5 also allows you to share photos with friends and family using iCloud’s Shared Photo Streams.

iPhone 5 features the new Lightning™ connector that is smaller, smarter and more durable than the previous connector. The all-digital Lightning connector features an adaptive interface that uses only the signals that each accessory requires, and it’s reversible so you can instantly connect to your accessories. The Lightning-to-30-pin Adapter is also available to connect iPhone 5 to legacy 30-pin accessories.****

iPhone 5 introduces new enhanced audio features including a new beam-forming, directional microphone system for higher quality sound, while background noise fades away with new noise canceling technology. iPhone 5 now includes support for cellular wideband audio for crisper word clarity and more natural sounding speech. Wideband audio will be supported by over 20 carriers worldwide at launch.

iPhone 5 comes with the new Apple EarPods™ featuring a breakthrough design for a more natural fit and increased durability, and an incredible acoustic quality typically reserved for higher-end earphones.

iPhone 5 comes with iOS 6, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new user features including: an all new Maps app with Apple-designed cartography, turn-by-turn navigation and an amazing new Flyover™ view; Facebook integration for Contacts and Calendar, with the ability to post directly from Notification Center; Passbook, the simplest way to get all your passes in one place; new Siri features, including support for more languages, easy access to sports scores, restaurant recommendations and movie listings;*****

Siri and Facebook-enabled apps like Photos, Safari® and Maps; and Shared Photo Streams via iCloud®. Pricing & Availability iPhone 5 comes in either white & silver or black & slate, and will be available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the 64GB model. iPhone 5 will be available from the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, and through AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and select Apple Authorized Resellers.

iPhone 5 will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK on Friday, September 21, and customers can pre-order their iPhone 5 beginning Friday, September 14.

iPhone 4S will also be available for just $99 (US) and iPhone 4 will be available for free with a two-year contract.******

iOS 6 software will be available on Wednesday, September 19 as a free software update. iPhone 5 will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries on September 28, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

*LTE is available through select carriers. Network speeds are dependent on carrier networks, check with your carrier for details. ** Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary. *** Based on theoretical speeds, actual speeds may vary. **** Sold separately. ***** Not all features are supported in all countries. ****** Availability varies by carrier.

Lamborghini Aventador J Premieres at Geneva Motor Show

Posted by Clive in Cars

Lamborghini Aventador J Premieres at Geneva Motor Show

At the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, Lamborghini presented it’s most uncompromising super car in it’s history.

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The Lamborghini Aventador J offers the driver a full on experience of power and dynamics. At the same time, the 700 hp two-seater is a first class technology showcase, combining innovative solutions and brand new materials.

The Lamborghini Aventador J is a radically open auto with the exterior melding with the interior. The designers and engineers in Sant’Agata Bolognese have not only dispensed entirely with the roof, but also with the front windshield.

This requires that driver must have the right equipment for driving at  speeds higher than 300 Km/h. This kind of driving at the limit is a highly exclusive experience – the Lamborghini Aventador J is fully functional for road use…. if you have deep pockets or even get hold of one.

Maserati GranTurismo Sport

Maserati choose the Geneva International Motor Show to unveil its new GranTurismo Sport.

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Bolstered by the success of a model that brought the entire concept of the Grand Tourer up to date, the new GranTurismo Sport gets a restyling and a host of new technical features.

The new GranTurismo Sport in the Maserati MY13 product range replaces the GranTurismo S. In the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand it will be marketed beginning with the MY 2013 range.

The powerful 4.7-litre V8 engine can now deliver a maximum power of 460 HP without penalising fuel consumption and emissions. These parameters enable the GranTurismo Sport to reach an impressive top speed of 300 km/h, accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.7 seconds.

Watch 30 Storey Building Go Up in 15 Days

Posted by Jeff in Business, Real Estate

Watch a 30 storey building get built in 15 days flat. Yes, China is the new Dubai.

The Chinese sustainable building company, Broad Group, managed to put building companies in the West to shame as they completed a 30 story hotel in 15 days.

Using prefabricated building techniques is part of their secret, the building was built over Christmas and finished before New Years Eve 2012.

Year in Review 2011 (Part 1): Massive Change, Inspiration & Heartache

Posted by Jeff in Opinion

Year in review 2011 (part 1): We saw incredible change sweep across the political landscape, Osama Bin Laden killed & Amy Winehouse pass away. What else happened in 2011, a momentous year?

 

Year in Review 2011: January

In sport we saw the transfer of Fernando Torres to Chelsea FC from Liverpool FC as Kenny Dalglish took over.

In tennis Novak Djokovic brushed aside all-comers in the Australian Open.

Apple announced it had passed 10 billion downloads from its app store and that Apple had made profits of $6 billion as Steve Jobs announced he would take medical leave.

In entertainment Ricky Gervais kicked up a storm at the Golden Globes (they have still invited him back for 2012 though!). Colin Firth & Natalie Portman started to win all the film awards available for ‘The Kings Speech’ & ‘Black Swan’. Meanwhile Oprah was launching her own TV channel.

Actor Pete Postlethwaite passed away as did singer Gerry Rafferty.

Arnold Schwarzenegger bowed out of politics and a tragic shooting occurred in Arizona that left 6 people dead and Gabrielle Giffords with brain damage.

Year in Review 2011: February

In Egypt the President, Hosni Mubarak, started to realise that he was in trouble and that the protesters were not going away. Mubarak finally left on Feb. 11th after defiantly stating he was going nowhere. We presume the army changed his mind.

The Arab uprisings also gathered pace in other countries, Bahrain & Libya in particular.

In sport the Green Bay Packers triumphed over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. The F1 driver Robert Kubica had to have 7 hours of surgery after a horrific crash in Italy. The Olympic schedule was also published for the 2012 games in London. We are not far away now.

In music Adele stunned everyone with her performance at the Brits and went on to become the artist of 2011. Radiohead released a new album and the Glastonbury headliners were announced including Beyonce and Coldplay.

A new Enid Blyton book was uncovered and tragedy struck in New Zealand as a 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch at the busiest time of day.

Year in Review 2011: March

Steve Jobs made his last major product launch as he unveiled the iPad 2, Adele conquered the charts, Richard Branson started to recruit astronauts, Microsoft launch IE9 while Nintendo go all 3D on us, over 1 billion people watch a cricket match and Sabastian Vettel shows the form that will let him dominate the F1 season.

Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor passed away as did the not quite so well known Knut the polar bear.

The big story of the month however was the devastating 8.9 earthquake and subsequent Tsunami that struck Japan triggering a nuclear incident and destroying countless lives.

Also destroying lives was the Libyan leader Col. Gaddafi as he plunged his country into what was effectively a civil war. The UN enforced a no fly zone and entered into action against Col. Gaddafi forces.

Read more in Year in Review 2011 (Part 2) here.

Merry Christmas to ALL of our Readers

Posted by Jeff in Opinion

Merry Christmas to all of our loyal readers… especially you… yes you.

I wondered what I should write to mark this special occasion. In the end I thought that it is best to let the late, great John Lennon speak, walking the tightrope of reflection and hope.

YouTube Most Viewed Videos 2011

Posted by Jeff in Entertainment, YouTube

YouTube most viewed videos 2011 list has been announced & it may surprise you that someone we had never heard of last year tops the list.

So here is the run down of the most viewed videos of 2011, although we think it is a bit premature of YouTube seeing as though we haven’t reached the end of the year yet but there you go.

Don’t forget that you can see the DT News channel on youtube where we post the occasional press conference and other titbits.

1) Yes, Rebecca Blacks ‘Friday’ video surpassed 100 million views and got there in a surprising short amount of time as its notoriety was propelled by ‘haters’ trashing the song and performance. I think Rebecca Black has had the last laugh though.

2) Next up is a video of a talking dog from Canada (well kinda) with almost 80 million views.

3) With almost 62 million views here are The Lonely Island crew with a tribute to Jack Sparrow featuring the legend that is Michael Bolton.

4) At no. 4 are the talking twin babies, my personal favourite. You’ll see what I mean and they will be hard to resist. Meet the talk show hosts of the future.

5) Nyam Cat is up next with 55 million views. Quite why is baffling to me but there you go, make up your own mind…if you still have it after listening to this.

6) Karmin are at no. 6 with a cover of ‘Look At Me Now‘ by Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes. Strangely addictive after a bit of Christmas sherry.

7) Here are The Lonely Guys again with a dittie called ‘The Creep‘ feat. Nicki Minaj & John Waters. You will have togo to YouTube to watch this one.

8) 10 year old Maria Aragon is up next with a cover of ‘Born This Way‘ by Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga herself prompted this video to go stratospheric when she tweeted “Can’t stop crying watching this. This is why I make music. She is the future.”

9) The no. 9 spot is taken by a viral ad from Volkswagon entitled ‘the force‘ for obvious reasons. Designed for the Superbowl it actually got picked up prior to the event by bloggers and went viral very quickly around the world.

10) Last on the list with almost 40 million views is this short video showing a cat hugging a kitten…. yes almost 40 million views… I know.

Tintin Movie, ‘The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn’, Comes To Life

Posted by Tracy in Entertainment, Movies & Film

Tintin movie called ‘The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn’, comes to life thanks to the efforts of director Steven Spielberg & producer Peter Jackson.

The Tintin movie, with a budget of around $100 million, uses the latest technology in motion capture to create super realistic 3D animation that they call ‘performance capture’.

You can understand why Spielberg and Jackson got together for this project. Jackson brought us the special effects monster that was the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Spielbergs achievements in ‘daring do’ movies need no introduction.

Most of the other major players in the Tintin movie happen to be British. The screenplay was principally written by Dr Who’s writer Steven Moffat and most of the cast are British.

Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell plays the lead role of reporter Tintin while Captain Haddock is played by Andy Serkis who won acclaim for his portrayal of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play the bumbling detectives, the Thompson twins, while James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, plays the villain Ivanovich Sakharine.

The Tintin books have been bestsellers for decades around every corner of the world, from China to Europe, but America has been slow to catch on.

For Spielberg he hopes that this will now change as the film opens across the US. He has been a fan since his Indiana Jones days and he admits to wanting to make a Tintin movie for the past 30 years.

With so many Tintin stories to base the film on they decided to use 3 books as a basis for the movie. The Secret of the Unicorn, The Crab with the Golden Claws and Red Rackhams Treasure.

Tintin Trailer

Tintin Reviews

The Tintin movie has premièred in Europe and is coming to the US and rest of the world soon. Perhaps the biggest thumbs up for the film has been the good reception of the Tintin movie in Belgium, the home of Tintins author, the late Georges Remi (pen name Hergé).

Here is what other people have said:

Variety: “the director and his team have deployed both technologies with subtle finesse throughout, exploiting 3D’s potential just enough to make the action scenes that much more effective without overdoing it…. The characters, with their exaggerated features, almost resemble flesh-and-blood thesps wearing prosthetic makeup.”

Hollywood Reporter: “First Tintin instalment takes Steven Spielberg back to his fun-filled, visually splendid roots.”

Telegraph: “there’s a mechanistic quality to Spielberg’s craft that’s undoubtedly disappointing: a film directed by one such distinctive artist and based on the work of another shouldn’t feel like it could have been made by almost anyone.”

Empire: “Action-packed, gorgeous, and faithfully whimsical: Hergé thought Spielberg the only director capable of filming Tintin. He was onto something.”

Film4: “An entertaining start – roll on the next one”

Photo:tintin.com

iPhone 4S, Siri, iMessaging, iOS 5 & iCloud Launched by Apple

Posted by James in Apple, Technology

iPhone 4S, Siri, iMessaging, iOS 5 & iCloud launched by Apple with Tim Cook taking centre stage for the first time.

No iPhone 5 but instead an upgraded version of the iPhone 4, logically called the iPhone 4s (super? sensational? sanitised? sucks? make your own mind up).

iPhone 4S or iPhone 4, what is the difference?

Well the iPhone 4S comes with a some upgraded features including the dual-core A5 chip seen in other recent Apple products, a new camera which allows for full 1080p HD recording and a so-called intelligent assistant called Siri.

The iPhone 4S includes an 8 megapixel camera with a custom built lens allowing for a larger f/2.4 aperture opening. Both these features will mean much sharper images and should provide a noticeable improvement in quality over the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4S is also able to record in full 1080p high definition and with built in image stabilization, your videos should also be watchable.

The new A5 dual core chip will mean apps and software will perform much faster, no more missing that photo moment while waiting for the camera software to start up.

Graphics will also be massively improved as we saw when the chip was introduced on the iPad 2. Apple say graphics run 7 times faster than on the standard iPhone 4.

It is also worth noting that the hiccup of the original iPhone 4 launch, the antenna, has once again been looked at. Apple claim that the dual antenna design now allows much faster download speeds as it uses intelligent switching for sending and receiving voice and data.

Siri Voice Control

Siri allows you to speak into the iPhone 4S and either get an answer back or an action accomplished. It also allows effective dictation ala ‘dragon speaking’ which is a welcome addition to the feature set for many people.

Siri will also, cleverly, understand context. So if you ask “Will I need an umbrella this weekend?”, it understands that you want to know the weather forecast for the weekend.

It’s a pretty clever addition for the iPhone 4S and not limited to any particular function. You can for example, tell Siri to remind you to call Dad when you get home. Siri will then look up Dad’s number in your address book, schedule a reminder and monitor your location for the right time to remind you.

You can use Siri for all iPhone 4S functions, making calls, getting directions, making appointments or meetings, email, internet browsing, calculations etc.

In my eyes, Siri appears to be a giant leap forward for how we interact with our devices. Although sadly it appears that the processing power needed for Siri means it is available on the iPhone 4S only.

iOS 5 with iMessage

Launched at the same time as the iPhone 4S is the latest version of the iPhone operating system called iOS 5. Claiming over 200 new features including the new iMessaging service and notification centre.

iOS 5 now has better integration with services such as twitter so you can share instantly a message or photo.

The new iMessage function allows for grouping of contacts, so sending items such as photos to certain people and not others becomes easy.

iCloud

iCloud was touted a while back but with the launch of the iPhone 4S it really comes to the fore and should be considered it’s official unveiling.

It’s a free service for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Mac users that allows the storage and synchronisation of all your content across all your devices. This could be any content such as music or documents.

You can for instance, set up photo streaming. This means that you take a picture on you iPhone 4S and it instantly gets sent to the iCloud and then synchronised to your home computer.

iPhone 4S Summary

There has been alot of criticism in the media about the iPhone 4S launch and it appears that the main reason is that everyone was expecting a whole new redesigned iPhone 5.

While it is true that it is a little disappointing that the iPhone 4S is not the iPhone 5, if you are in the market for a new phone the it is still one of the very best. Perhaps if the iPhone 4S just had a new screen and new case, they could have called it the iPhone 5.

The speed improvements, full HD recording, image stabilization, Siri and all the other software updates really do make a difference and are just enough to keep the iPhone 4S ahead of the pack.

Personally I think it is easy to underestimate the importance of Siri.

For me it is the future of how we interact with our devices. We see in science fiction movies all the time the idea of devices that understand any voice command in the same way as a human. No more pre-programmed, rigid commands and voice training your device. Instead just a natural use of language.

If you already have an iPhone 4 there is more incentive to wait for the iPhone 5, it is debatable whether an upgrade to the iPhone 4S is worth it. If you can get a great trade in price for your old model then I would go for it, otherwise I would wait.

Introducing the iPhone 4S (Video by Apple)

Waiting for the iPhone 5?

p.s. Developing apps for the iphone is getting more popular, see here if you would like to find out how to make an app.

9/11 – 10 Years On. Leave Your Message of Support

Posted by Clive in Opinion

9/11 anniversary is this Sunday and we take a look back to pay tribute to those who lost their lives 10 years ago.

It is 10 years ago on Sunday that nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on that fateful day, 9/11/2001. I bet you can remember exactly where you were, what you were doing and with whom when you heard the news.

On 9/11, hijacked passenger planes flown by 19 religious extremists, under the influence of Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, hit the world trade center in New York. Another hijacked plane was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon.

9/11 Heroes

A 4th plane disintegrated when it crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The result of some 9/11 brave passengers who attempted to seize back control of their hijacked plane.

There were many other 9/11 heroes that day and for the days that followed.

Well over 300 fireman lost their lives on 9/11, they had gone into the buildings to evacuate others and do what they could to tackle the immediate dangers. They would not come out again.

Many of those looking back on 9/11 today talk about the frustration of being powerless to help those trapped inside.

A photographer taking pictures from a helicopter spoke about being unable to even attempt to airlift people from the roof of the twin towers. In order to stop suicides, the doors to the roof were always locked.

Although the day was a tragic one, showing the worst of a few. It also showed the best in many. Tales of compassion, courage and kindness abounded on 9/11.

Strangers helping strangers, emergency crews knowingly risking their own lives in order to help someone else. Aid, help and support pouring in from around the world.

It was not only in the United States that the pain of 9/11 was felt. British casualties made up the largest number of victims outside of the many US citizens, but people from over 90 countries died on 9/11, making up about 14% of the casualties.

9/11 is remembered every year all around the world. Just this week in London, the mayor Boris Johnson and former New York City Fire Commissioner, Thomas Von Essen, unveiled a sculpture by US artist Miya Ando. Standing 28ft tall it is made from 3 twisted remains of girders from the twin towers.

10 years on from 9/11, the repercussions still echo around the world. It seems that lives have been lost every single one of the 3,650 days since as a direct result of the 9/11 attacks.

Whether they are soldiers fighting in the so called ‘war against terror’, civilians caught in the cross-fire, or whether they just had too much exposure to the dust cloud that enveloped ground zero on 9/11.

But I wouldn’t want to end on that note, I would rather focus on the amazing people who did incredible things that day. To reflect, not on the way that victims died, but in how they lived their lives.

9/11 remembered in video

Please leave your thoughts and comments on 9/11 below.

 

Photo: waynek007