Google dropping IE6 support for their apps

After the recent Google issue because of IE6, its no surprise to see Google dropping usage of it for their Apps. Here is the official word from Google:

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 ​as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Starting next week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.

iDisappointed in the iPad

Granted that nothing Steve Jobs could’ve unveiled at Apple’s event last night would’ve matched the hype that was created before the iPad was launched, I still cannot understand why Apple released the iPad in the form it did. As per Steve Jobs, its a device thats supposed to sit somewhere in between the iPhone and your notebook- a device we commonly call a netbook in the PC world.

I agree that the netbook doesn’t necessarily offer the best experience in computing but at least it does allow me to do pretty much anything I can from my notebook. And most of the sluggishness on a netbook is because of the O/S. Try Moblin and you’ll suddenly realize that your netbook feels so much more usable. Coming to the iPad, pardon my language but WTF is with the name. An iPad?

Getting past the name, here are some of the things that I feel Apple could’ve done better. Lets start with the hardware. My biggest gripe is the lack of an SD card slot or a USB port. If iPad is supposed to offer you a casual computing experience than you should have Facebook working on it and one of the most used features of Facebook is uploading your photos to it. Yes, I know Apple is releasing a Digital Camera connectivity whatever but how hard would it have been to put an SD slot to transfer pictures.

Secondly, the lack on a front face camera totally destroys the chances of me video chatting with my kids at home while I’m on a business trip. Lastly, the screen resolution of 1024×768 (786.5k pixels) is just shy of 720p HD capability of 1280×720 (921.5k pixels). That means that you’re going to have to re-encode all your movies separatly for your iMac, your AppleTV, your iPad and your iPhone- not very Apple like.

Now lets get to the software. The Home screen looks like its straight out of the iPhone which works great on a 3.5″ display but looks horribly wasted on a 9.7″ screen. Just four icons placed horizontally with a tiny clock on top is not a UI I’d expect out of Apple. The lack of flash on such a device is also unforgivable- and lets not blame Adobe for it. They have, time and again, shown interest but Apple has conveniently brushed them off. And last but certainly not the least, what about this little thing called multitasking?

After all this bitching, what I’m going to say next will probably make you think of me as a fanboy. I do think the iPad has plenty of potential. I also think that what Apple unveiled yesterday is far from what the iPad is capable of. And I think, other than the hardware deficiencies, everything else will come in a firmware update. 

My guess is that the iPhone/iPad OS4.0 is going to be the game changer. Yes, I still believe in Apple. And at $500, I will probably end up getting one.

Apple unveils iPad

Engadget.com has the latest on Apple’s iPad. Here are a few pictures and detais:

1. It’s a half-inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display, and it’s running a custom 1GHz Apple “A4″ chip developed by the P.A. Semi team, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby.

2. It’ll come in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes, and it’s got the expected connectivity: very little.

3.  There’s a 30-pin Dock connector, a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, and 802.11n WiFi, as well as an accelerometer and a compass. There’s also a keyboard dock, which connects underneath in the portrait orientation.

4. The device is managed by iTunes, just like the iPhone — you sync everything over to your Mac. As expected, it can run iPhone apps — either pixel-for-pixel in a window, or pixel-doubled fullscreen but developers can also target the new screen size using the updated iPhone OS SDK, which is available today.

5. It starts at $499 for 16GB, 32GB for $599, and $699 64GB. Adding 3G costs a $130 per model, so the most expensive model (64GB / 3G) is $829.

6. The WiFi-only model will ship in 60 days, and the 3G models will come in 90.

7.  An optional keyboard dock can be purchased for typing.

8. iPad has no Flash support. Better luck next time, Adobe.

9. iPad comes with iBooks, an e-reader app and bookstore for the iPad, using the ePub format. Probable prices of around $12.99 to $14.99 expected for the books.

CON10UUM Touch Interface

Touch interface is definitely the way moving forward and CON10UUM has a nice concept video of their solution. While it doesn’t WOW, it certainly shows a very usable approach.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

ECS announces H57 and H55 Motherboard Series

PR: Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), a leading motherboard, graphics card, desktop system and notebook manufacturer, today announced ECS H57 and H55 series of motherboards with versatile technologies and features meeting next generation of HTPC.

Both ECS H57 and H55 supports the latest Intel® Core™ i5 and Core™ i3 processors with Intel® HD Graphics technology brings higher performance than previous generation. The ECS H57 and H55 motherboard family also optimize Windows 7 experience and enhance the integrated graphics capability for more stunning video quality and mainstream gaming performance than ever. Along with ECS H57 and H55 motherboard series, ECS also reveals her leading friendly designs as follows.

ECS G.P.S (Graphics Processor Sensor) technology detects Intel® HD Graphics by a simple plug-and-play, and distinguish the right types of Intel® LGA 1156 socket processor for your platform.

ECS Qooltech™ III technology comes with twin-heat-pipe cooling solution, which provides a stable working environment when system is on.

ECS 15 μ Gold Contact technology which offers 3 times extra protection to secure the motherboard stabilities and durability

ECS M.I.B II, an friendly overclocking utility for performance enthusiasts.

ECS Easy Button, Easy Clear and Easy Debug designs offer an easy way to enjoy boosting system performance without pain.

Various motherboard form factors
ECS H57 and H55 motherboards come with several options of motherboards sizes. There are ATX, Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX platforms. Users may easily build a small form factor HTPC in the living room, or, use ECS Black Series for a powerful platform

The Internet Show Middle East 2010

Why The Internet Show?
The Internet Show is a place where innovation is showcased, solutions are found and learning is done.

• Identify and evaluate new technologies
• Understand new business methods
• Learn to deliver ROI
• Create new business and revenue streams
• Learn how to generate cost savings
• Learn how to risk and project manage
• Purchase the latest solutions

Dubai Tech Nights

Dubai Tech Nights is held on the second Tuesday of every month at RIT University at Dubai Silicon Oasis. Discussions revolve around technology issues, and ways to fuel entrepreneurship and innovation in the Middle East region.

It’s aimed at technology professionals and enthusiasts living in Dubai. There’s more information about the event on the link below:

Western Digital Live TV

With an explosion in the sales of external USB hard drives, its no surprise to see people storing media such as photos, music and videos on such drives. They offer a reasonable capacity to price ratio. 

However, to view these files, you generally need to connect to a PC or Mac and launch the relevant application. Although that’s a bit inconvenient, its fine if you want to view your photos and videos on your computer. But chances are that you’d want to enjoy a movie or even your photos on your flat screen TV in your living room. That’s where the Western Digital Live TV comes in.

WD Live TV is a very small device looks like Western Digital’s external My Book hard drives. It comes bundled with composite and component cables and a power adapter required to power the device along with a remote that you use for navigating. The front of the device has power LEDs and the iR receiver giving it a nice minimalist look. On the back side you have all the connectivity options such as Composite, Component and HDMI outputs, TOSLink Digital Audio Output, Ethernet port and a power port. You also have one USB port on the back along with another USB port on the top of the device to connect two drives in total.

The device powers up within a few seconds but for some strange reason, I could not get WD Live TV to work over our 720p LCD display. I kept getting a “Incompatible mode” message on my LCD. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any other TV in the office to test Live TV with but switching over to component solved the issue. The main menu of WD TV Live lets you move between Videos, Photos Music and Settings. Each of these menus has further sub-menus and instead of writing about it, we decided to record it so you can get a better idea.

As you can see, the interface is pretty easy to use and I like the fact that you can access your network shares or a Media server. Adding You Tube is also a pretty good idea just in case you forget to pack a hard drive with your movies on it. In fact, that would pretty much be my only complain about the WD Live TV- a lack on internal storage. The device is big enough to add an internal 2.5″ hard drives and I think WD should’ve added at least a 250GB hard drive- somewhat like the LG HXF1 that we reviewed some time back.

Other than that, the WD Live TV is a pretty cool device that lets you access your media on the big screen relatively easily. Its available at most of the larger electronics stores across the UAE and is priced at US$150 or AED 550 which is a tad bit on the higher side.

Abu Dhabi Golf Championship gets iPhone App

Press Release: Etisalat, as Platinum Sponsors and Official Telecommunications Provider, has exclusively developed the ultimate iPhone application dedicated to golf fans for the ongoing Abu Dhabi Golf Championship 2010, the first-ever for a European Tour, starting today (21 January), until 24 January 2010. With its astounding user interface, live score, player profiles, push notification alert and real time live data broadcast, the application delivers the best sports experience ever for Etisalat’s iPhone users, even for the most demanding fans.

This free must-have application has been designed in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship 2010 organisers, especially for golf fans and is available to Etisalat iPhone users for download via iTunes beforehand as well as onsite at the Etisalat stand in the sponsors village. Along with live updates, the application also allows users to view the leader board, player bios, course details with 3D fly-throughs of the holes and a 2-minute video highlight at the end of each day’s play.

The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship 2010 defending champion, Paul Casey, commented on the occasion, “I’m a big follower of new technologies and am always excited when they have a relevance to the game of golf. The app gives everything a golf fan needs to improve the onsite experience and to have it right there on your phone is very cool.”

Etisalat’s iPhone app is aimed to keep the spirit of the game thriving throughout the Golf Championship 2010 as a perfect accompaniment to customers who may be on-the-road or not near the Internet or television on the day of a game, therefore keeping them constantly updated while on the move.

Emax partners with Skywards

Emax have partnered with Skywards to give their customers a bigger incentive to shop at their stores – Skywards Miles. For every USD2 spent on purchases at any of Emax regional showrooms, excluding Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Skywards members will receive one Skywards Mile. These Miles can then be redeemed for a range of rewards with Emirates and Skywards partners.

The offer is valid for all Skywards members worldwide at any of the Emax stores in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. The offer has already been implemented in the UAE, with the other territories to follow shortly. Skywards members will simply have to present their membership card or number at the time of purchase for their Miles to be credited to their accounts.

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