More often than not, simple innovation comes from the most unexpected companies. Recently, Panasonic launched the world’s first digital SLR capable of interchanging lens, with a touch based movable LCD viewfinder; the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2. While there are enough reviews out there to fill your lonesome hours, I would like to highlight the benefits of such technology to the user.
Improves interaction with the subject through the screen
Allows you to automatically adjust the auto-focus
Clicking just by touching the screen improves stability
Easy browsing of stored images
Comfortably view images in full-size
Besides the capability to click images, the Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-G2 can record HD quality video at a depth of 1280 x 720 in their proprietary ‘AVCHD Lite’ format. A dedicated video record buttons allows you to access this function almost immediately. External microphone support has been extended while the in-built microphone claims to be able to cut background and wind noise effectively. You can read more about it here.
While plenty has been written about how you can create a great Twitter background, very few have been written on how to create an elegant background without the tweet timeline obstructing the view. Creating a Twitter background can actually be a tricky affair, thanks to the various screen sizes now available. Before the launch of wide-screen monitors (or desktops and laptops alike), users had screen sizes to choose from. There were 640*480, 800*600, 1024*768 and 1280*960 variants available. With the advent of LCD/TFT/LED display technologies, computer screens have been growing at an unprecedented rate. My favourite still remains the latest iMac 27″ from Apple; with a screen real estate of 2560*1440 pixels, this is one huge screened computer. Introductions of larger screens has widened the range of screen sizes from the narrowest at 1024*768 to the widest at 2560*1440.
Your Twitter Background on a 27″
Ever wondered how your Twitter background would look on a massive screen? Try it at your closest Apple showroom and I’m sure you’ll be disappointed. Oddly repeated images, if you’ve selected the tile background option; or a lone cornered image if you haven’t. How does one optimise? While the solution is quite simple, few people actually realise it. The steps mentioned below, take you through a simple process of creating your very own customised Twitter background for your profile:
Step 1: Width of the Twitter timeline = 763 px (on any screen) Step 2: Width of scroll bar = 15-17 px (always) Step 3: Total max. width = 780 px (max.) Step 4: Left free space = (ScreenWidth – 780)/2
For a screen width of 1024 px, Step 4 would yield 122 px as result; while for a screen width of 1280 px (more common in recent laptops), Step 4 would yield 250 px as result. So what does it all mean? Well it means if you want to be safe, ensure that the main image (Logo, Photo etc.) in your twitter background image is not wider than 250 px and is placed in the top left-hand corner. If you want to be really safe, ensure the main image is not wider that 120 px. Height of the image should never exceed 550 px. Now that you have your canvas, feel free to get creative within the space, which would mean you are restricted to the height more than the width.
Meanwhile, if you want to tile (repeat / loop) your background. use the above measurements to sensibly cover the free spaces on both sides. This is an option I would never recommend for professional brands or organisations.
Quick Facts
Safe Size = 250*550 px (for wide-screens) Super Safe Size = 120*550 px (for old screens) Do not tile the background image.
Babylon Ltd., just a few moments back announced the inclusion of iBabylon application over at Apple’s iTunes store. Priced at a steep $11.99, iBabylon is targeted at the international traveler. With a 75 language dictionary and language translation support for 33 languages, iBabylon boasts of the following features:
Translation to Multiple Languages
Dictionary and Full Text Translation
Huge Selection of Dictionaries and Glossaries
Choice of 15 Interface Languages
Pasteboard Integration
Automatic Language Detection
Shake to Clear
Landscape Support
Fast and Intuitive
While there are plenty of translation and dictionary applications for the iPhone, iBabylon integrates the two and provides you a plethora of options. Its features will definitely make you sit-up and take notice, but what remains to be seen is if iPhone users buy into it despite the steep $11.99 price-point. I for one, think it’s money well spent.
Before I get onto some serious iPad bashing (and maybe let slip a few glorifications), I must say that the $499 price is a tease. The iPad seems to be a product which was released hurriedly and without much thought, Maybe the marketing team got into development without much consultation with R&D, or maybe they were working backwards from a pre-determined price point; whatever the case, the iPad is not a paradigm-shifting product. So let’s start with the discussion then:
iPad Brand Name
What the hell were they thinking? It’s the worst brand name to come out of the Apple stable. I was personally rooting for iSlate which sounded more sleek, slick and Apple-ish. Tweeple have already begun parodying it with alternate names like iTampon:
@BruinGirl2001: Will the next version of the #ipad come w/wings? will there be a model called the #itampon?
It’s gone to the extent of ‘iTampon’ becoming a trending topic on Twitter; nothing can be more insulting. We netizens would like to see somebody’s head roll.
iPad Screen Size
9.7-inch. Large screens are nice and it is competitively larger than the Kindle DX. But the one big question is, are they competing with the Kindle? Technically speaking they can’t, for the simple reason that Kindle is an e-ink reader while iPad is LCD/O-LED based. On the plus side, we’ve now got colour for those of us who weren’t entirely impressed with B/W readers to begin with. But it will be difficult to use iPad as an e-book reader on a bright sunny day or in rooms with strong backlighting.
At a resolution of 1024×768, the screen’s worst property is its 4:3 aspect ratio. All current displays are being shipped in 16:10 or 16:9 widescreen versions. iPad’s 4:3 aspect ratio is a step back. This will only make the job of web designers and programmers that much more difficult. Not to mention, a lot of screen real-estate will be wasted while watching movies, TV shows and videos.
iPad OS
I have no idea why it took Apple two years to develop the iPad. There is very little work done on the iPad OS since it’s not very different from the iPhone OS. If it’s meant to be a product between the iPhone and MacBook, then the OS should’ve been more Mac OS than iPhone OS. While the OS can be complimented for its simple clean interface (touch-enabled), where it misses out on is:
a. No multi-tasking – You can’t run more than one application at a time
b. No TSR program support – You can’t run small applications in the memory
c. No external device support – You can’t use optical/pen drives, printers etc.
d. No file system browser – You can’t browse and access files independently
e. No multi-user support – You can’t manage multiple users or accounts f. No flash support – You can’t access websites built using flash
In simple words, the iPad OS is not meant for a full-fledged computing device. The OS is a far cry from being able to support a Netbook or a Tablet PC.
iPad Market
Is there one? If it’s a competition to the Kindle, then we need to wait and watch their positioning. As I see, there isn’t a market for a large iPod Touch and that’s exactly what the iPad is. If the product doesn’t add more than 10% to Apple’s revenue, then it wouldn’t have garnered a mass appeal.
iPad Ergonomics
I’m extremely disappointed to report that the iPad is the most user-unfriendly gadget to come out of Cupertino. With no docking support in landscape, using it in portrait makes little sense. Absence of a groove for a strong palm-hold makes it substantially risky to move around with. Glossy reflective screen does more harm than good. No camera or webcam would mean no video interactions. 8-finger typing is neither here nor there.
iPad Pros
While there’s little to be excited about when it comes to the iPad, there are a few technological advancements:
a. 10-hr battery backup
b. Intuitive multi-touch gestures
c. Custom Apple A4 processor
d. Easy-to-use GUI
e. Newly launched iBookstore
Conclusion
iPad is just an over-sized iPod Touch. The most thoughtless gadget yet from Cupertino. But at $499, it might have hit the sweet spot – The Ultimate Tease.
So what do you think about the iPad? Will you buy one? Share your views in the comments.
Ideally I would’ve liked to embellish the headline better, but realised it looked perfect as it was. I’m sure the producers of the movie concurred with that thought. Everything about this movie was a ten-on-ten. Everything. From the simplistic title card to the performances by Sean Penn (for which he won his second Oscar) and James Franco.
What I loved most about the movie was the way it ended. It closed like every American Classic should, with a quote; a quote so powerful yet simplistic that you wish you had it pasted on your wall.
I know you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. So you, and you, and you… You gotta give em’ hope… you gotta give em’ hope.
So call up your DVD library and ask him to deliver, Milk (no pun intended). What will bring that ah! moment will be the parting frames where they reveal to you how ‘in character’ Sean Penn is as they show frames of the real Harvey Milk. This actor is a sheer work of genius, and if you think he was fantastic in Milk, then you must order up 21 Grams and I Am Sam. Let me know what you thought of the movie.
