Potential iPad killer?

COMPUTER maker Acer is ready to capture the local tablet personal computer (PC) market with the introduction of its Iconia Tab A500 tablet.

The Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)-based touch screen device is expected to be available in stores locally at the end of April and will come in both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi plus 3G version.

According to the company's director, brand management and product marketing division, smart handheld, Andy Chang, the Iconia Tab A500 has been designed thoroughly to meet the current and future needs of tablet users.

"We've seen a lot of limitations that previous tablets in the market had like the absence of memory expansion slot, camera functions, HDMI slots, etc, and we have included all these in the Tab A500 tablet," he said in Kuala Lumpur last week.

The Acer 10.1-inch tablet comes with a micro SD slot that supports up to 32GB external storage, mini HDMI for connectivity to flat panel TVs, dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2, which is said to deliver up to two time faster browsing, better graphics and optimised HD viewing, 3D and console-quality gaming, and multimedia playback.

Besides that, it also comes with a five-megapixel rear-facing camera plus 2MP front-facing camera for video recording, video chat, or picture taking. The camera can also be used as a barcode scanner.

Chang is optimistic that tablet PC will be as famous as the notebook and netbook among computer users.

"The devices will not out do each other as both have their own advantages. While notebooks and netbooks are best designed for e-mail, Web browsing, power point presentation, tablets are designed for slightly different purpose. We believe people will use tablets differently from the way they use notebooks or netbooks," he said.

"Study shows that the top three applications people do on tablets are gaming, browsing and social networking, and this is what the Aconia A500 has also been designed for," he added. Commenting on the reason for Acer to adopt Android for the Iconia Tab A500, Chang said this is due to the strong support the OS gets from application developers.

"The Android-based OS and the number of applications available give users the future they can expect. So when you buy a tablet like the Iconia, you will get more than just the preload games, ebooks, apps, MP3 tools," he said.

Chang also said the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) is a strong platform. In terms of applications, the Androind market now has more than 100,000 applications and the OS has also grew 600 percent over the last year in the smartphone category. The version 3.0 will make it an even stronger competitior.

"It offers a very quick customisation, smooth operations like drag and drop at just your fingertips," he said. As the tablet market gets more competitive this year, Chang said it is likely that every other vendor will offer about the same product. "For Acer, we have leveraged our PC experience and applied it to the Iconia Tab A500. We make sure the hardware is very competitive and offers parellel experience at a reasonal cost possible," he said. One example is to make the view angel possible at 80 to 85 degree to allow users to the widest viewing angle possible Besides that, Acer has also included its own applications like the clear.fi media sharing system for seamless integration in the home clear.fi environment to easily access, play and share multimedia across the home network and to instantly publish updates to social media networks.

The Iconia Tab A500 also comes with Acer's Social Jogger, which is an application that allows users to login into multiple social networking accounts once. Its full capacitive multi-touch screen ensures an optimal on-screen experience from every angle.

The the hardware side, the Tab A500 offers aluminum casing to give a cool look and feel, while its high gloss finish anodizing decorated with laser engraved textures demonstrates subtle sophistication.

"Despite being just 13.3mm thick, it's powerful enough to provide fun and productivity in any location and would survive a drop from a table height," said Chang, adding that Acer also has plans to launch 3D tablet in Q1 next year.

The Iconia Tab A500 will be price from RM1,599 to RM1,999 depending on models. Besides the Iconia Tab A500, Acer will also be offering a smallr seven-inch Tab A100 tablet , which will be on the shelf in late May. It comes with 8GB and 16GB storage and will be priced from RM1,099 and 1,499.

Better Web experience with IE9

AFTER doing a thorough case study on Web browsing habits and concerns among people in 11 countries, including Malaysia, and 21 countries in Europe, Microsoft launched its latest browser, the Internet Explorer 9 (IE9).

According to Microsoft Malaysia's chief marketing and operations officer Danny Ong, the days of the Internet was just a place to get information was long gone.

"Today, people use the Net to interact, connect, share thoughts through videos, photos and applications, and the IE9 has been designed to meet that needs, offering features that the users like most," he said at the launch of the browser last week in Kuala Lumpur. Ong said based on the study that Microsoft did, speed, safe, abd cluter-free browser took top priority among Malaysians when it comes to Web browsing.

"In Malaysia, 91 percent of users named speed as an important feature of their Web-surfing experience, more so than most other countries in the region," he said.

Like most other countries in Asia-Pacific, Malaysian users tend to struggle the most with loading video content on the Web. It is also found that Malaysians have the desire to have greater speed for their browsers, especially when 77 percent of them want to watch high-definition (HD) movies on the Internet in the future.

Aside from speed, users in Malaysia seemed to be the most concerned about security, with only two percent of responses admitting to never worried about downloading unsafe content online. Another aspect that holds clear to Malaysian users is the need for a clean and clutter-free browser as part of their Web-surfing experience.

What Microsoft did with IE9 is featuring new features like Hardware Acceleration to harness the full potential of the PC and make online experience much faster. The company has also added a tool called SmartScreen Filter which can protect the computer by warning users when attempting to view sites or download files that are potentially unsafe.

A Tracking Protection is also added to allow more level of control and choice about the information users reveal about their online activities. Elaborating further on the features of IE9, Microsoft Asia Pacific's product manager Jonathan Wong said the new browser now has site-centric approach to bring sties front and centre through Windows 7, to enable better Web experience. "We've include features such as Pinned Sites and JumpList to enable people to put their Websites directly on Windows 7 taskbar as though they are native applications, and then to quickly perform tasks related to those Websites, such as check their inbox, see breaking news or accept a friend invitation," he said.

"Currently, there are about 1,000 of the world's top sites are offering the pinning features, like FB, Twitter, Wordpress, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Huffington Post, etc," he adds. Besides that, the new version of IE also takes advantage the power of modern Windows PC hardware to improve all-around Web browsing performance. For example, IE9 harnesses the power of graphics processing unit (GPU), unlocking 90 percent of the PC's power.

"Developers can now build faster Websites using the interoperable HTML 5 or by using plug-ins such as Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Silverlight," he said.

On the security aspect, Wong said IE9 is now designed with built-in security, privacy and reliability technologies that keep users safer online," he said, adding that the Tracking protection feature in IE9 put users in control of what data they are sharing as they move around the Web. IE9 also provides SamrtScreen filter, a feature which uses reputation data to remove unnecessary warnings for well-known files and more severe warnings when the download has a higher risk of being malicious.

To date, Microsoft claims that the SmartScreen feature has blocked over 1.5 billion malware and phishing attacks and blocking over three million attacks each day. Users can view more features of the IE9 at www.BeautyoftheWeb.com

First IT fair of 2011

MORE than 150,000 visitors thronged the inaugural Malaysia IT Fair at Mid Valley conventre centre from Jan 28 to Jan 30, 2011. Themed "Bringing IT closer to you", the fair was organised by Unified Distribution Technologies Sdn Bhd and showcased more than 80 IT product brands with more than 200 booths over approximately 4,776 square metres. Although less than half the size the bigger PC Fair, the Malaysia IT Fair managed to offer quite a good range of products for visitors including laptops/netbooks, cameras, storage, security software, and many more at discounted prices. What's new and interesting about this fair is the inclusion of activities for visitors like auctions, trivia, contest and on-stage games, which truly succeeded in engaging visitors. For example, the auction sessions allowed visitors to buy items like iPads, smartphones, laptops, speakers and peripherals starting from RM1. In conjunction with the rabbit year celebration, the organiser has also invited a well-known Malaysian Feng Shui master Kenny Hoo to give Feng Shui outlooks to the visitors.

Smartphones getting smarter

SMARTPHONES are getting smarter than ever, and Google forsee more innovations are coming to the mobile operating systems (OSes).

According to Google Southeast Asia's head of marketing, Derek Callow, today's smartphones are now more powerful than computers were just a few decades ago, which means that with a good data connection, people can now access the power of a million computers right from their pocket. "We want to take advantage of these trends by innovating on the unique features a phone offers that regular desktop computers don't have," he said.

"Phones have become very sophisticated and next year five billion mobile phones will be in the market. Our goal is to build innovative mobile apps that work seamlessly across platforms, such as Goggles, Voice Search, Latitude and Maps for mobile," he said.

For example, phones have eyes through their built-in cameras, allowing us to develop products like Goggles so one can search the web through images.

Or transforming the microphone one normally use to talk with his/her friends, into a way for you to easily speak a search term into your phone. "We want to create compelling - almost magical - mobile applications across all platforms and devices so that users can easily access information wherever they might be," he added.

Commenting on the trends for mobile OS and the mobile phone market in Malaysia, Callow said the number of people accessing and searching the Web from their mobile phones is on the increase as more people use Android-powered devices and other mobiles and operating systems. "And increased adoption means more web searches and more opportunities for advertising revenue and growth.

This in turn, creates a better, more innovative web, whether people access it via PC or mobile, which is a win-win situation for all parties," he said. According to the latest third-party statistics, Malaysia achieved a 218 percent increase in mobile advertising revenue this year compared to 2009, garnering an overall growth of 103 percent in 2010.

"This increase not only holds true for Malaysia, but most parts of the world as well. With more than half of all new Internet connections now coming from mobile phones, mobile has quickly become a critical part of our business, and will continue to do so in 2011," said Callow. As for Android, the OS is delivered via a global partnership network of 27 OEMs and 169 carriers in 96 countries with 300,000 daily Android activations.

The OS now has over 100,000 apps. From an unknown operating system a couple of years back, Google Android is getting much attention these days among smartphone phone and tablet computer users. As of January this year, there are over 145 compatible Android devices around the world with global partnership network of 27 OEMs and 169 carriers in 96 countries and 300,000 daily activations.

"This is a long way from when we first introduced the first Android-powered device, the T-Mobile G1, in October 2008. We’re obviously very pleased by Android’s success, which is largely because it’s open source, so anyone can use it in their devices," he said. He said Google is fully committed the development in the mobile space.

"We have teams across the globe working to optimise Google’s products across all platforms and devices. We are also working on new innovations, such as Google Goggles and Voice Search, to take advantage of the unique features mobile devices offer," he added. What makes Android different is that it is open.

"The openness of Android drives innovation for developers, who can utilise its open source platform to create apps that cater to the needs of users, and for handphone manufacturers, who can use the flexibility Android provides to customise the experience on their devices," says Callow. "The more users become familiar with how the Android operating system on their phone can make the phone more powerful and yet easier to use, the more platform providers and handset manufacturers will need to innovate and compete to give users what they want. This will mean mobile phones should get better and better," he said.

There is also the appeal of App Inventor, a new tool in Google Labs that makes it easy for anyone, programmers and non-programmers, professionals and students, to create mobile applications for Android-powered devices. "For many people, their mobile phone and access to the Internet is always within reach. App Inventor for Android gives everyone, regardless of programming experience, the opportunity to control and reshape their communication experience," said Callow.

For the upcoming Android version that is Honeycomb, Goolge is said has optimised it for tablet form factors, featuring a brand new user interface designed from the ground up for devices with larger screen sizes. "It also improves on Android favorites such as widgets, multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customisation. It will also feature the latest Google Mobile innovations including Google Maps 5.0 with 3D interaction, access to over three million Google eBooks, and Google Talk with video and voice chat," said Callow.

The other new verion Gingerbread, or Android 2.3, comes with a more refined user interface across the system, making it easier to learn, faster to use, and more power-efficient. There’s also faster, more intuitive text input and a redesigned soft keyboard for faster text input and editing, an updated set of standard applications that lets the user take new approaches to managing information and relationships and improved power management.

"Because they’re open source, Android availability in a country is determined by phone makers, not Google. It’s also up to the phone manufacturer to decide which version of Android to use on their products, whether device or tablet," he said.

It's raining tablets

IF 2010 was the year of iPad, this year could be the year of tablet war.

The recently-concluded Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, US, showed that majority of the consumer electronic product players are banking on tablets and touch-screen technologies to drive their products in the ever-competitive consumer electronics market.

Market research company Gartner expects tablet PC sales this year to shoot the roof with triple sales from 2010, while technology research firm Yankee Group estimated that tablet sales will grow from 21 million in 2010 to 168 million in 2014. Apple, which is now enjoying huge success with its iPad, still have the pole position in this war being the first to really come out with real tablet, but competitions are just seconds behind it.

The sleek A4-sized tablet of joy is now faced with more than 50 competitors knocking at its door wanting a piece of the market share. At CES 2011 alone, easily 50 PCs were announced, signalling huge competition ahead. Companies like Samsung, LG, Motorola, Asus, Lenovo, Fujitsu, RIM, Dell and Sharp have shown that they are ready for the tablet war with their own versions of the devices, expected to hit the market this year.

And many of these tablet PCs are expected to run on Google's latest Android 3.0 operating system, also known as Honeycomb. Apple, although didn't make any appeareance at CES 2011, has been rumoured to come out with iPad 2 this year. This could futher add the heat to the already hot market.

The beginning of the end of record stores

Berka (third from left) with American band Boys Like Girls at the launch of the new Nokia Comes With Music X6 phones.


THE music retail industry is changing. Once people who wanted to listen to their favourite artists would go to a music store and buy their album, in CD format.


But now, it's different. The new generation of youngsters would just go online get the songs they wanted. It's easeir that way and costs less or even free.


For these users, they were born in the Internet age and buying and getting things online have been what they do everyday.


For the industry, tuning to what the people need and like is vital, and Nokia has made a good start with its "Comes With Music" initiatives.


Knowing what its young users want, the gloabal phone vendor has bundled its latest phones, the X6, with songs offerings, for free.


According to the company's general manager, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei Vlasta Berka, the new phone comes with Nokia's Comes With Music service, offering users unlimited access to million of tracks from a diverse catalogue of international and local artists.
"The service offers consumers a new way to discover and download music, revamping their entire digital music experience," he said at the launch of the phone in Kuala Lumpur recently.
The Nokia's music catalogue comprises a diverse range from all four major record labels, namely Sony Music, EMI Group, Warner Music Group, Universal as well as independent record labels.
With Comes With Music-enabled devices, users will have access to download and keep high-quality tracks on Ovi Music.


Currently, there are 3.5 million songs and growing worth RM80 million for download over the Comes With Music service for the next 12 months.
What Nokia is doing could help the industry fight music piracy as consumers can legitimately download songs from the correct source.


This way, music makers can be rewarded better over what they do. Hence, help fluorish the local music industry.


Besides that, partnership with the local music industry is important and Comes With Music provides great opportunity for local artists to get their music heard by fans locally and internationally.


Meanwhile, Recording Industry Malaysia (RIM)'s chairman and Universal Music Group International senior vice president, Asean, Sandy Monteiro said the service offered by Nokia will revive the slow music industry, in terms of CD sales.
Over the last 10 years, the music industry has dropped 50 percent worldwide. Ironically, he said although the music industry looks like a sinking industry, the consumption of music is higher than ever as people are now moving online to get their music.


Monteiro said in 2004, digital music download accounted for five percent of the industry sales, but last year, it had grown to 30 percent," he said, adding that in a few years' time digital downloads will over take CD sales.
Monteiro said local artists will benefit as they will get their share of royalty every time their song is downloaded.
Apparently, there is a mechanism that track the number of downloads, etc so that every artist will get what they deserve.

Sony greets 2010 with fresh technologies

THREE-dimensional TVs, Blu-ray, Internet and network-enabled tech will be among the hot consumer product trends from Sony Electronics for 2010 as the company steps up efforts to offer users new enhancements in the consumer electronics market.
Its president and chief operating officer Stan Glasgow said under the three umbrellas of the consumer tech above, Sony is rolling out new products and technologies that will change consumers' perception and experience.

"The new products will see Sony uniting its strength in the electronics, movies, music and games arena, he said at the new products showcase at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2010 in Las Vegas, US.
"We’re serious about delivering entertainment experiences that inspire, excite, and engage consumers. At the same time, we’re committed to providing them with the content they want everywhere and anywhere,” he said of Sony's direction in the consumer electronics market.

This year will see Sony making big moves in the 3D TV and related 3D tech areas. The new products from Sony will change how people view TVs, acquire high definition and 3D content, and use social networking sites.
Its new 3D capable Bravia NX800 LCD televisions for 2010 will include its first full HD 3D integrated TV, bundled with two pair of active shutter glasses as well as a built-in transmitter. The Edge LED Backlit LCD series will feature screen sizes from 22 to 60 inches to suit the broadest range of consumers.

The 3D TV is said to feature Monolithic design that allows it to be displayed at a six-degree upward slant, for natural viewing experience.
Complementing these sets are two other series of 3D-capable models that will have many of the same features, with the active shutter glasses and 3D Sync Transmitter which come separately.

Besides that, Sony’s 3D initiative also extends to several other products, including a soon-to-be announced Blu-ray 3D player and home theater system, in addition to upcoming 3D announcements for Vaio PCs and digital still cameras.
"To ensure there is "live link" in the 3D space, we (Sony) does not only coming up with the products, but also working on content creation, acquisition, production to distribution and presentation in theaters and the home," said Glasgow.

In an agreement announced at CES, Sony has signed on to be an official sponsor of ESPN’s new 3D network. Under the agreement, ESPN will utilise Sony professional HD cameras for its productions.
"ESPN will showcase a minimum of 85 live sporting events in 3D during its first year beginning with the first 2010 FIFA World Cup match on June 11 featuring South Africa vs Mexico," he said.

Other events to be produced in 3D include up to 25 2010 FIFA World Cup matches, Summer X Games, college basketball, NBA basketball, college football and basketball.
On the Blu-ray department, Glasgow said the technology is now an integral part of several Sony products.

The entry-level BD players, PlayStation 3 systems, Vaio PCs with read/write drives, a 400-disc mega-changer that utilises Gracenote Music and Video ID technology to the latest networked player that combines full Blu-ray Disc, DVD, CD, and SA-CD functionality with the ability to instantly stream movies, videos, music and more from Netflix, Amazon video on demand, YouTube, Slacker Internet Radio, Pandora, NPR, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, and more than 25 content providers through the Sony Bravia Internet video platform.

Another new product by Sony at the CES is the Dash device. "It takes on a new dimension on how people access and customise content," said Glasgow.
The Dash device, which looks like a digital photo frame, is a personal Internet viewer with a seven-inch colour touch screen to allow users to have quick, customised information and entertainment.

"The Dash device accesses a wireless home network and continuously updates information designated by the user. That information is then delivered by more than 1,000 selectable free apps to give consumers customised Internet content," said Glasgow, adding that being connected these days is critically important, but equally important is the ability to choose and personalise content like Facebook, etc.

On the digital book front, Sony also announced the third addition to its Reader line digital book products, the Reader Daily Edition, joins the Reader Pocket Edition and Reader Touch Edition, and offers wireless access to new releases and The New York Times bestsellers in Sony’s Reader Store (www.readerstore.com).

Continuing its efforst in the digital imaging sector, Sony this year is making new enhancement to its Cyber-shot digital still cameras, digital SLRs and Handycam camcorders.
"The new enhancements will give consumers more flexibility in creating and managing their content," said Glasgow.

He said Sony’s new consumer Handycam camcorders, Cyber-shot digital still cameras, and several other devices are now be capable of using SD and SDHC as well as Memory Stick flash memory cards.
Additionally, Sony will introduce SD and microSD memory cards in sizes ranging from two to 32 Gigabytes. Sony will continue to advance the Memory Stick format and will now add the SD format to its full-line media offerings as well (microSD/microSDHC cards will range from 2 to 8 Gigabytes).

Besides that, Sony is also unveiling 17 new camcorder models, starting with a new prosumer model, HDR-AX2000 that delivers full HD performance with film-like progressive scan.
The social media activities the past years has gotten Sony's attention and the company has come out with a special camera device known as Bloggie to cater to this Web community.

Its new Bloggie camera models MHS-PM5 and MHS-CM5 include some of the same features and shooting options found in more expensive cameras, such as face detection and image stabilisation, along with the ability to easily upload content to popular video sharing Web sites in an ultra-compact body.

Finally, Sony has also introduced a new element of Sony’s digital imaging plans is the TransferJet feature, a wireless high-speed data transfer technology that allows two TransferJet-enabled cameras to communicate and transfer files simply by bringing the TransferJet marks on each product within one inch of each other. The Transfer Jet technology will also find its way into Sony’s VAIO notebook line, starting with the F Series.
To transfer photos, TransferJet-enabled still cameras must each utilise the TransferJet Memory Stick media. The technology will be featured in the Cyber-shot line beginning in February and other Sony products throughout 2010.

The Sony product announcement was highlighted with a special appearance by singer Taylor Swift, who will document her life using Sony products.