Thursday, August 2, 2012

Apple : Apple accrues more streaming video with Amazon Instant on iPad

Apple : Apple accrues more streaming video with Amazon Instant on iPad

Apple accrues more streaming video with Amazon Instant on iPad

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Apple accrues more streaming video with Amazon Instant on iPad

Apple continues to beef up its streaming media options with the addition of Amazon Instant Video for iPad.

Amazon launched the streaming Instant Video service in February 2011, and since then it's expanded to the Amazon Kindle Fire, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 gaming consoles, Roku, Mac and Windows PCs, smart TVs and Blu-ray players, and now, Apple's iPad.

This announcement comes just a day after Apple covertly employed a new partnership with Hulu to bring the Hulu Plus stream to second- and third-generation Apple TV boxes.

With Netflix and Hulu Plus already available on the iPad, Apple's streaming video offerings are becoming quite robust.

Amazon Instant's offerings

Amazon Instant's expansion to non-Kindle devices comes with plenty of benefits for users.

The iPad app offers several useful features, including a "Your Watchlist" function that allows users to queue up videos to watch or purchase later regardless of whether they own them.

Like other Amazon Instant apps, the iPad version also uses "Whispersync" to remember playback positions across multiple devices.

And naturally, iPad users will have access to their entire library of Amazon Instant Video purchases and subscriptions.

Users with a $79 Amazon Prime membership can access a selection of more than 17,000 free streaming TV show episodes and movies, and an additional 100,000 or so are available for individual purchase.

Amazon Instant's lacking functionality

At the time of its launch in May, the Xbox 360's Amazon Instant Video app didn't allow users to purchase individual titles from within, instead referring them to the service's website.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed today that the iPad app similarly won't allow users to purchase video from with the app, though content purchased from a web browser is instantly added to users' libraries.

"You could use Safari to scan the Instant Video library and then purchase the titles that you want to watch, and then once you purchase them, they'll automatically go into the app," the spokesperson told TechRadar.

"You can't actually purchase via the app," the spokesperson emphasized, but "there's not a step in between purchasing and it getting to the app, so once you purchase, it'll just automatically be there."

There's no word on whether Amazon plans to add that functionality, but even with this slightly annoying extra step, Amazon Instant is surely robust enough to offer a decent alternative to Netflix and Hulu Plus.

Sir Jony Ive says Apple came close to scrapping the iPhone

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Sir Jony Ive says Apple came close to scrapping the iPhone

Apple's Head of Industrial Design Sir Jonathan Ive says the company came close to scrapping iPhone on several occasions during its development stages.

The recently-anointed Knight of the Realm told an audience at the British Business Embassy that Apple considered abandoning the idea as it wasn't good enough to be considered great.

"There were multiple times where we nearly shelved the phone because we thought there were fundamental problems that we can't solve," he said.

The Essex-native says Apple often reaches the point in the production process where: "we were pursuing something that we think 'that's really incredibly compelling', but we're really struggling to solve the problem that it represents."

In the case of the iPhone Sir Jony referenced one problem where putting the prototype to his ear would result in said extremity dialling a number.

It's good, but it's not right

Ive says that the bravest points in Apple's history have coincided with the moments where the company has admitted it needs to revisit a good idea in order to make it a great one.

He added: "We have been, on a number of occasions, preparing for mass production and in a room and realised we are talking a little too loud about the virtues of something.

"That to me is always the danger, if I'm trying to talk a little too loud about something and realising I'm trying to convince myself that something's good.

"You have that horrible, horrible feeling deep down in your tummy and you know that it's OK but it's not great.

"And I think some of the bravest things we've ever done are really at that point when you say, 'that's good and it's competent, but it not's great'."

Roy Walker, of Catchphrase fame, would be proud.

Lenovo's Windows 8 ThinkPad Tablet 2 going head-to-head with iPad

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Lenovo's Windows 8 ThinkPad Tablet 2 going head-to-head with iPad

Lenovo's been teasing the Windows 8-equipped ThinkPad Tablet 2 for some time and now a mysterious source leaked the device's official specs sheet to the internet at large.

The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet successor will run Windows 8 and come packed with a pen stylus, an optional physical keyboard dock much like the Microsoft Surface's Type Cover keyboard.

The Tablet 2 also sports an Intel dual-core Clover Trail processor, a 10.1-inch WXGA touchscreen, 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

And, in case the specs themselves don't make it clear enough what Lenovo is going for, one leaked chart even compares Lenovo's tablet side-by-side with Apple's iPad.

Stiff competition

The chart, titled "Best in Class," compares the ThinkPad Tablet 2 and iPad in categories including OS, available apps, resolution, input methods, speakers, cameras and more.

The tablet comes out on top in more areas, although even Lenovo has to admit that the iPad's 2048 x 1548 resolution is superior to the ThinkPad's 1366 x 768 ratio, and that Siri is leagues ahead of Windows Voice Control.

But Lenovo's ThinkPad Tablet 2 includes HSPA+/LTE compatibility and optional NFC and fingerprint reading, as well as Mini HDMI, microSD and USB 2.0 connectors, propelling it further ahead of the current iPad's offerings.

The ThinkPad 2's cameras are also superior to the iPad's, at 8MP for the rear and 2MP for the front, both with LED flash.

Its stereo speakers also trump the iPad's mono noise emitter while, on the opposite end of the spectrum, it offers a dual microphone with digital noise reduction.

Size-wise, the ThinkPad Tablet 2 measures 262.6 x 164 x 9.8mm and weighs 650g.

Biting the Apple

Lenovo's ThinkPad Tablet 2 compares favorably with Apple's current iPad, but what about the Apple tablet's yet-unrevealed fourth iteration?

The next iPad could blow the ThinkPad Tablet 2 out of the water and Lenovo might never see it coming.

Then again, who knows when Apple will actually announce a new tablet?

A Lenovo spokesperson declined TechRadar's request to comment on ThinkPad Tablet 2, saying only that the company hasn't announced any new products.
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