This is where it gets hard, either mobile phone manufactures have to define a standard then release it through all their phones during their refreshes and eventually years later it will be in common use. Or one company that has everyone already hammering to get the newest device and can spread millions of them in one go does it. The only company that has that kind of control over the market is Apple. No doubt their solution would be elegant, but what they can achieve that no other manufacturer can do is volume. The Olympics is the ideal testing ground for this and I would love to see it happen.

Android is suffering from fragmentation, where each handset maker has a variation of the OS; So when Google update you have to wait for the manufacture to modify it and then hope that your woefully under powered cheap handset will run it. Google are combating this with making the ‘Holo’ theme used in Ice Cream Sandwich mandatory, but they are not going all they way.

It looks like Microsoft has learnt from their previous experience in this market and by watching others namely Palm’s WebOS and Google’s Android go up against the iPhone. People want their phone to stay simple but be smart at the same time. They seem to have found a balance between Google’s open to everyone and Apple’s full control approaches to offer real an alternative. This combined with the eye watering aesthetic that Nokia have been using since the N8 it makes it a real pleasing offer.

The titled interface is a refreshing way of looking at a phone compared to Android and iOS’s very similar UI’s. Microsoft seem to have realised that the key to getting a phone OS to stick is to get apps, something WebOS failed at. I hope this could be another XBOX for Microsoft.

Fibre

Fibre optic broadband is sorely needed in the UK; the problem with what is currently being done is BT is rolling it out to all the big cities and to the houses at already get +4Mb/sec, what they see as the profitable market. Where if you take my dad’s home connection for example we are lucky if we get 1Mb/sec.The house in question is in a small village of 250 homes with 550+ people. This is the kind of place where FTTC is needed, this is where the investment is needed; communities that lie out side the 2 miles range recommended for optimum performance.

The Sorry state of the UK’s broadband and BT’s monopoly is summed up by this heroic project, B4RN. The fact that a project like this is being so successful shows that there is demand and it is economically viable to supply broadband to these areas. This project is an amazing example of what can be done and I would love to see more of this in 2012. I like the government I just feel they need to be putting more into building an infrastructure if they want to reach their goal of having the best broadband network in Europe by 2015.

4G

With the US and many other countries readying for 4G, where are we? We are stuck behind waiting for the auction of the spectrum to take place. Ofcom recently postponed the auction, but even then the spectrum used still isn’t free till 2013. This disappoints me because it provides such a convenient solution to extending broadband in rural areas. The speeds it offers rival that of FTTC and for rural areas where there are many dwellings isolated from the main road it offers an ideal solution that doesn’t suffer so badly from the last mile syndrome we see in copper. I would love to see a company that uses the 4G spectrum to provide solely internet. In all this doom and gloom however O2 and EverythingEverywhere are doing trials of 4G in London and Cornwall respectively.

Links

I am quite passionate about broadband and connectivity and if you are here are some links that you might find interesting.

SamKnows – Best way to check what is currently available in your area and any changes. Also tells you the distance from the exchange as the crow flies.

Gigaom – They have a lovely little section on broadband that covers anything to do with connecting to the internet

thinkbroadband – Great for news on developments and current coverage.

BT Infinity checker - Check to see when BT’s Infinity service will be available in your area or not as the case maybe.

Speedtest.net – Great way to check your performance

I have done this for the past few years and it has always proved to be very popular, I think mostly due to the insufferable pain anyone buying for a geek goes through. In end having to submit a list in advance so people can choose what to get me as it makes life simpler. Here are some ideas that people might enjoy this year.

Harry Potter or any other triple play BluRays – This is a great option for a geek that wants their content anywhere. Not only do you get a movie but with the triple play you get it in BluRay, DVD and download format.

The Magic Charger – A neat solution using inductive charging. Inductive charging isn’t really widely available yet, but its implementation here would save every having to think about batteries.

The Magic Bar – Another inductive charging solution for those wire free geeks, this time for your keyboard.

The Magic Wand – This one is an idea for those who have a computer in the kitchen or attached to the TV. It joins your Keyboard and magic trackpad together. It is perfect if your the kind of person that finds yourself not sat at your desk using a computer.

PlugBug – We have seen those wall plugs with USB ports in for charging but most of us aren’t going to go around and change the plugs in our house just to have a USB port. This adapter from Twelve South fits onto your MacBook /Air/Pro charger and allows you to charge any usb device as well. The rest of their products are well worth a look.

Lowkey Stand – These guys offer some great desk solutions for laptop and desktops that are worth a look.

I ? Math – What nerd would be complete without a nerdy T-Shirt? This one really is nerdy, but just search the internet and you will find thousand with witty remarks.

Canvas Print – Hello Canvas offer a great quality product and they are super cheap. Speaking from experience I have 4 of their prints and love the quality of every one.

aJays Four – Another favourite product of mine, you have no idea how hard it is to find reasonably price good quality headphones with inline controls that work with your iPhone. These work seamlessly with my iPhone and look great. They don’t offer the same comfort as full in ears, but they also sell a more expensive in ear version.

Holga iPhone Case – A little geeky camera case for your iPhone great for anyone who uses Instagram or similar apps.

Past suggestions:

2009

2008

Choosing gifts for a “Geek” can be hard work, so we tend to actually tell our family what to buy and where from. But that doesn’t mean we still don’t have problems choosing what we really want for christmas ourselves. I am going to try and help by scouring the internet for gifts to delight all geeks around the world. My list contains some obscure but cool gifts and some more obvious ones.

1. The Book Arc – this is a laptop stand similar to the mStand and Griffin Elevator, but this holds your laptop sideways leaving you more desk space.
2. Films – Either blu-ray or DVD’s are great ideas, my personal favourite for this year would be Transformers.
3. A Seagate 1TB USB hard drive – In general any hard drive is great for christmas as the size of our personal data is forever growing.
4. Opteka .35x Fisheye – although not a great fisheye it is said to be great for the price point and ideal for new photographers wanting try a fisheye out with splashing all the cash.
5. Airzooka – this marvellous childish toy shoots air at who ever you aim it at, totally ideal for family gatherings.
6. Incase Laptop sleeve – sleeves are much smaller than laptop bags, and these incases ones look great with a plain design.
7. XMI X-mini II Mini Speaker – These mini speakers put out some serious sound for their size and after getting one for my birthday would recommend them to anyone.
8. TV Box sets – any TV series you love tends to be a great present.

Hope this helps.

Copyright: http://www.flickr.com/photos/deep-resonance

Just before the release of Windows 7 Apple announced a couple updates to some of their products. They released what are basically widescreen versions of the iMac, which have to be said look extremely nice, they also gave them a bit of a speed bump. They released a slender new aluminium Apple remote, a server version of the Mac Mini and a new MacBook with better longer battery life and a plastic unibody shell.

But most importantly they released the Magic Mouse, that is unbelievably cool. One of most talked about announcements is a flipping mouse. It is so hard to find a good bluetooth mouse these days. Logitech are the only company that sell a good basic bluetooth mouse ever other mouse wants you to plugin some form of dongle. Is it so unreasonable to use a technology that could be built into every Laptop and is in nearly every phone. Anyway back to the Magic mouse, it has the most sleek and stream line design of any mouse I have ever seen. I don’t know if I would really uses all those fancy finger gestures, but as long as I don’t have to lift my right finger to click with my left I might actually have to buy it.

What I did buy was a copy of Windows 7, there are so many version it can get really confusing but after looking around people were suggesting to get the 64-bit version on a Mac as Apple have drivers for 64-bit Windows 7 unlike Vista where there are only drivers for the 32-bit versions. In the end I bought the 64-bit Home premium version. I decided to get Windows 7 after playing with the beta which has to be said was rock solid and great to use. I need it for some of my A level subjects such as Physics where we are given a CD which, surprise surprise is Windows only and for DT where we use a lot of Windows design software packages such as “Pro Desktop”. I think I might wait till I have the official word from Apple that it is supported under Bootcamp, which is said to be coming by the end of this year.

WWDC

With Apple pulling out of Macworld in the years to come WWCD is left as Apple only regular annual event. Even without Steve Jobs giving the keynote it was a riveting presentation to watch and there were many exciting announcements.

MacBook Pro’s

The new Macbook Pro line now includes a 13″, 15″ and 17″. The introduction of the new 13″ initially confused me as to where Apple are going with this, but after a bit of thought I believe Apple are moving their laptops in to the MacBook Pro label leaving the MacBook label free for something new.

As an avid photographer I have been waiting for the day that Apple would add some sort of a card reader into there laptops and finally they have. The addition of the SD card slot may seem insignificant but it is one of those little thing like the backlit keyboard that will help set Apple laptops apart from the rest.

Another feature Apple were emphasising was the improved 7 hour battery life. I have used my MBP for nearly two years now. As a heavy user of my laptop the battery is nearly dead (lasting just over 1 hour on a full charge). Apple are claiming that their battery will last 1000 recharges compared to a typical 300, if this translates into real life use then I am one step closer to an upgrade.

With all these great updates you would expect in the economic climate of today that the prices would rise but Apple lowered the prices.

Snow Leopard

As expected Apple went into some depth on the new OSX release. They focused on the refinement they had made, for example the reduction of the OS by 6GB and on a MBA that would be a significant help. There are also simple speed improvements throughout the OS due to many of the refinements. They spent some time discussing the new improved Quicktime 10 and the addition of exchange support.

Apple are billing this update as a no thrills update with a software speed bump, because of this again they came out with some radical pricing to entice existing uses to buy it. At $29 could anyone say no to updating?

iPhone 3.0

Before WWDC Apple held an event to talk about the 3.0 update. Some of the highlights were cut and paste, tethering and in app purchasing. Cut, copy and paste were finally announced and from playing around with it well implemented. Tethering has been a hot topic of discussion with a few free work around’s already been put out.

With the ability now to create turn by turn GPS apps, the in app purchasing is being used as a subscription method. Spotlight is another feature that in my experience has been very useful. The average person has page after page of apps on there iPhone and with spotlight it makes it easier to launch all those apps.

A feature that has been neglected is the ability for apps to now interact with add on hardware. This would be great in a word processing app where you could add a keyboard, but there is much more you could do, a barcode scanner for delicious library, or even if you want to buy something off amazon you could find it in a real store and scan the barcode then purchase it from amazon while standing in the store.

A feature that was only announced at WWDC was Find My Phone, it uses the MobileMe service to track down your iPhone and place its location on a map. We have already seen how it can save people from loosing there phones and might make MobileMe a worthwhile purchase.

iPhone 3GS

The climax of WWDC culminated in the announcement of the next version of the iPhone. The new phone offers an improved camera with 3 megapixels, auto focus and video. The new phone is reportedly much faster and has a built in compass which dramatically improves the GPS experience. There is no alteration to the case design which in my opinion was a mistake, the matt backing which we saw in many of the leaked photos would have been a good choice for the new 3GS model.

Palm Pre

Just before the announcement of the iPhone 3GS Palm released the Palm Pre. From what I can gather from reviews of the Palm Pre, physically the device is nicely designed but where it really excels is in the Web OS it uses. Its use of gestures makes it easy to navigate around the phone and the UI is very good. Palm are also taking a very active ad campaign against the iPhone as users come to an end of their two year contracts. The Palm Pre is by far the iPhone’s best competitor but personally I think the iPhone still offers more.

Many Apple rumours sites have been busing with rumours of new MacBooks and MacBook Pro’s and then Apple sent the email about the 14th October event with this image attached the hype rose significantly. There have been many leaked images of supposed MB and MBP cases most of them look great and I love the whole aluminum idea. I am a great fan of the chicklet keyboard that first appeared on the MB and then the black version of it that appeared on the MBA, and that has appeared in most of the leaked images. Not much has been said about actual insides of the new MB and MBP’s but I hope they will contain intels new Nehalem chip set. I shall be sitting awaiting to see what happens at this Apple event and will hopefully do a post containing my reactions if I have time.

So a few months ago I purchased a 24″ Dell E248WFP LCD and when I am using it I find my self running 2x more apps than usual and absorbing information way faster than with 15″‘s. My dream setup would have another 19″ vertically along side with chat and Twitter in it but for now I have only this. My point is the extra pixels really do improve and increase productivity, I know it is all the rage to go small i.e. MBA but sometime a compromise is to far and I think this is one.

I would advice anyone who can afford a larger screen and would use it to get one. A larger screen can really help make things look clearer and you still have your laptop’s screen if you wan it.