headSpark

Microsoft vs Apple marketing war

BombTech — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:57:47 +0000

So Microsoft has a new website explaining why Windows is better, easier and faster than Mac OS. The funny thing is that their slogans are a little bit repetitive from a video made by apple in 1996. You can see it below:

And the recent Microsoft anti-apple campaign here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/compare/pc-vs-mac.aspx

Sure, we had Apple’s beloved Mac vs PC ads with the two guys and funny scenarios. But that was actually clever and creative, and now both microsoft and dell seeing the threat are using the lowest tricks possible. Will they win with that? Not really.

Tablet aspect ratios, 16:9 vs 4:3

BombTech — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:47:10 +0000

So people teased the iPad for being 4:3, assuming that a 16:9 panoramic tablet would be that much better. Well below is a video that shows a comparison between an iPad and a widescreen tablet running windows 7. It’s quite clear that 4:3 is the winner here.

iPhone 2g is LOUD again!

BombTech — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:02:28 +0000

Many people mocked my iPhone 2g (2007 model) saying that it’s speaker is so quiet, that it’s not possible to actually hear an incoming call or watch youtube with no headphones. And I believed them, but then I looked at the bottom of my iPhone more closely and I discovered that after 3 years of use the speaker holes are full of dust / bits of sand and other small things. So I took a small needle and dug out most of the dirt from the speaker holes and also a lot of dust from the dock connector hole (Seriously A LOT!!). This was the first time I cleaned it in 3 years and the results are amazing. The speaker is over two times louder than before, incoming calls are super loud, youtube and games can now be enjoyed without the headphones and so forth.

If you haven’t cleaned your iphone speakers do so now. Oh and by the way, by applying pressure to the speaker holes don’t be surprised if the soft plastic bends a little bit. It does not affect the sound but it will probably happen and the holes won’t be as even after that. But they’ll be MUCH louder!

So will iPhone 4 be pulled back?

BombTech — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:07:14 +0000

It seems that the antenna issue is a bit too big for a software update to fix, and apparently adding free 29$ bumpers that fix the problem immediately is a bit too pricey for apple. I’m gonna have the new iPhone in September and I wonder if I’ll encounter that problem at all or will I be one of the lucky ones?

Luckily I barely use my current iPhone to make calls, I mostly use it as an internet / multimedia device so GSM reception is not a big issue for me. But it has “Phone” in the name so it should make phone calls without holding it the only “right way” Steve Jobs likes to hold it.

Don’t really care about all that movement against apple right now, because I know they’ll figure it out somehow and before I get my hands on iP4 the problem will be long gone. Too bad for their stocks though …

Facebook chat inside Adium

BombTech — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:43:27 +0000

It’s so simple and yet so overlooked – you can use your facebook chat inside adium like an IM. With history and all. Which is far better than typing inside that little popup window on the bottom-right of the screen. And you don’t even need to be running a browser. Simply add a jabber account to adium and log it in with :
YourUserName@chat.facebook.com
and your facebook password.

It’ll import the contacts along with their photos and since we now have more people on FB than on many of the IM’s it’s the IM of choice anyway.

iPhone ringtones from your own mp3 files but for free

BombTech — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:29:01 +0000

This was one of the big drawbacks. Paying another 99c for making a ringtone from already purchased music? This is a very mean practice by apple, and they should stop doing that because people don’t like to be charged for EVERYTHING, and for some things twice.

Ok, let’s say we want to make a ringtone. What we need here is iTunes (but I guess you already have it) and your iPhone doesn’t have to be jailbroken. It can be fresh out of the box. The idea is to make a little cheat so the iPhone / iTunes will THINK a file you provide is a ringtone. And since most technology is at it’s root stupid here’s how we do it :

1. Find a song you like in iTunes. Right click on it and go to “Get Info”.

2. Go to options tab and find a place where it says “start time” and “stop time”. Remember that your ringtone has to be 30 seconds or less. Play the song a couple of times looking at the seconds to find a perfect spot, here let’s say 0:08 to 0:28 which will make a 20 second ringtone out of it. Click ok.

3. Now make sure you’ve got your encoder set to AAC. If you don’t know what I’m talking about just follow these simple steps to do so:
– Go to iTunes preferences. Then to “Import Settings” and choose AAC as the encoder. Click Ok everywhere.

After you’re done with that select your song and either right click and select convert to MP3, or in new iTunes click the advanced tab on top of the screen and click “create AAC version” there.

Now take that newly created 20 second long song and drag it onto your desktop. Then delete the 20 second file from iTunes completely (important!). You might also want to go to the original file and reset those start and stop times. After the 20 second AAC file is delted from iTunes and exists only on your desktop you see it has a m4a extension. In MAC OS simply select it, press Command + I and change the extension from M4A to M4R. It will ask you if you’re sure to change to m4r. Say you are. In windows you can probably change the extension by either selecting Rename from the right click menu or some preferences of the file.

After this step you have a M4R file on your desktop and it should be associated with iTunes. Click on it twice to open it and it should simply open in iTunes and start playing. But you’ll notice that in the ringtones tab you now have that file. So sync your iPhone and you’re done.

3d gaming vs pay-on-the-go marketing

BombTech — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:47:36 +0000

So nintendo released it’s 3d version of the ds handheld. According to the reviews the 3d is stunning and an amazing experience. And it does movies. And there’s no need for glasses. So will it be a way for nintendo to actually win over the customers and drag them away from iphone gaming? Not necessarily, although it is a clever move nonetheless.
The iPhone has only two advantages and uses them in a great way. First is that a phone is a handheld we always carry around, unlike the typical gaming handhelds. Second is the way to purchase apps. You can buy a new app while you’re sitting bored on a bus and play it right away. You can’t do it with the nintendo, well unless it’s a nintendo store bus ;P We’ll see who comes out of it successful, but apparently mobile gaming is going to have their own clash of the titans really really soon.

Steam comes to the Mac!

BombTech — Thu, 13 May 2010 00:07:04 +0000

With over 62 Mac games as I write this, it’s finally the moment we’ve been all waiting for. It’s time to finally put the one last remaining mac vs pc argument to rest. We do have games! And no need for bootcamp! Yay!

Now you can join Steam by downloading the free App at Steam Store . After you do make sure to download the update and then quit the app.
After you restart it it will show you a popup with the info that Portal – puzzle-shooter game from Valve is available for free. It does show it to you without the app restart too, but in that case most people are unable to download it. Its 5gb so keep your DSL ready kids! And let’s shoot some holes in the walls!

Dubai panorama in 45 gigapixels!

BombTech — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:02:10 +0000

This is an amazing way to show off a new product. 4,250 individual shots taken with a Canon 7D and the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L zoom at 400mm and combined into a 45 gigapixel panorama that you can zoom in almost indefinitely. Sure the image quality is not perfect and the contrast could’ve been better. But nonetheless this is impressive. See it here

iPad + keyboard and mouse ?

BombTech — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:47:57 +0000

It sounds silly to even think about it. Here’s a device in which the navigation is SIMPLIFIED by removing keyboards and mice for it to be perfectly compact and UNLIKE a laptop. And here are some people showing us that it can be a limited (app-wise) laptop too. That’s pretty silly, but can prove useful for 3d shooters (if the device can actually support the new ones)