Home Technology 2013

HOME technology Yo u r F R E E g u i d e t o t h e d i g i t a l l i f e s t y l e

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HOMEtechnology Technology Changes quickly: Ian Miller looks back at major technology changes since 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

High Speed Internet Experience: Mark Barlow looks at data changes and internet speed over the last 16 years . . . . . . . . .

4k and OLED TV Technology: Philip Wakefield on the latest technology changes in televisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Digital TV: With NZ television fully digital we preview some of the changes we can expect going forward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Magellan Echo: The smart running watch that will help you keep up to date with your exercise data while enjoying your music .

Smartphone Revolution: Henry Cooke takes a look at what’s been happening on the smartphone front in 2013 . . . . . . . . . .

Wi-Fi-Enabled Cameras: Tony Bridge examines the current state of digital photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Headphone Evolution: Listen to music on the latest Beats by Dre Studio headphones and hear sounds not heard before!

Turn your photos into Masterpieces: Corel Draw has some new software that will help with the task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Where Personal becomes Portable: ASUS has a range of computer products to suit everybody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cybercrime on the increase: It pays to have the right anti-virus protection for your computer and mobile device . . . . . . . . .

VOICE RECOGNITION: We’ve come a long way since Alexander Graham Bell made the first phone call in 1876! . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wearable Computers & Game Consoles: Patrick Pilcher looks at new technologies coming our way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tablets, Laptops and all things in between: What to expect when purchasing your next mobile device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Managing editor Oliver Lee Editor Ian Miller CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mark Barlow, Henry Cooke, Phil Wakefield, Tony Bridge Patrick Pilcher PROOFREADING Elise McDowell ARTWORK ONTIME Associates PRINTING Webstar Auckland

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PO Box 331-667, Takapuna Auckland 0740, New Zealand T: 09 486 6966 E: oliver@oliverlee.co.nz W: oliverlee.co.nz

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THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME IN THE WORDS OF The Beatles, ‘it was 20 years ago today…’

Article by IAN MILLER

For many new technology users the mobile world is all they have ever known.

The explosive growth of smartphones and touch screen tablets, like Samsung’s Galaxy Note and Apple’s iPads, are just the tip of an iceberg; a technology sea-change that will continue to mature and bring about new uses for personal computing that have yet to be invented.

Twenty years ago I was involved, with publisher Oliver Lee, in crafting the first of this annual Home Technology magazine.

In computing, there has long been an immutable law. Coined in the 1970s, Moore’s Law basically stated that the number of transistors in a circuit that powered a computer would double every two years.

While that law still holds true, this doubling effect over the past 20 years has been felt at every level of computing, from the speed at which integrated circuits work, to the amount of storage now available.

The floppy disc has long passed away and been replaced by either solid state storage or online cloud storage. The same is almost true of CD discs, as online delivery mechanisms for the latest software makes older technologies redundant, and lessens the incidence of software piracy.

FLASHBACK to 1997

In fact, online storage of documents and images is now very much a part of today’s generation of personal computer users; organisations like Amazon Web Services are making a tidy sum out of providing increasingly larger discreet data repositories for an ever-growing number of companies harnessing the security of managed facilities.

Social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn have spawned a generation of advocates and detractors. Unfortunately, for those who rue the day we will all be truly interconnected, once the horse has bolted it is way too late to close the stable door.

Although the results of social interaction is not always as nice as we would wish it to be, expect to see some rules and safety procedures brought into play in the near future; if not to prevent unwanted harm, at least to provide a mechanism for mitigating malicious damage.

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While home technology has been growing ever smarter and becoming more affordable, developments in medical computing have revealed the make-up of the human genome and opened a Pandora’s Box of life-saving techniques.

Screen technologies have also undergone amazing transformations, from large and clunky Cathode Ray television-like displays to wafer thin Plasma, LCD, LED, OLED and ultra-high definition 4K screens with seemingly never-ending brighter and more realistic, life-like representations.

Watch for desktop 3D displays in the near future that do not require today’s clunky glasses.

These tools will enable an ever increasingly realistic level of immersion for the growing numbers of players who demand nothing but the best and most powerful devices to experience their favourite games.

But, it is the world of printing that possibly stands alone as the single most important development of the past 20 years.

While desktop printers continue to plummet in price, expect to witness an explosion in 3D desktop printing.

In the very near future, you will no longer be chained to the retail matrix, but will instead be able to print the parts and objects you need – from the familiarity of your own home.

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The high speed internet ‘experience’

EXPERIENCE ALIGNED WITH connection speed Article by Mark Barlow – Technology Expert

The way you ‘experience’ the Internet is closely related to the speed at which you connect.

When I first connected to the Internet in 1987 via a Bulletin Board System I used a 300 baud modem that connected at 300 bits per second. With 8 bits per byte, and allowing for some error correction, that was approximately 30 characters per second!

Luckily this was pre the world wide web and the Internet was still primarily text based, but the ‘experience’ was still very slow – how things have changed!

Now, with the advent of fibre broadband I can get a connection that runs at 1Gbps, that’s 1 billion bits per second or 3,333,333 times faster than 1987! Back then I used to pay sixteen dollars per megabyte for my international data, now I get 250Gb/month for one hundred dollars.

Most of the fibre connections to homes will be slower than 1Gbps (apart from in Chorus Gigitown http://gigatown.co.nz/) but if I am willing to pay I can get it. The fibre connections most people will have into their homes will be either 100/50Mbps down/up or 30/10Mbps down/up. Even using the old copper cable I can get a VDSL2+ connection that runs at 15–70Mbps down and 5–10Mbps up, if I’m close enough to the exchange or cabinet. And on my LTE-enabled cellphone I can achieve peak speeds close to that of VDSL now!

The availability or coverage of this network is also expanding rapidly, thanks to projects such as the Rural Broadband Initiative which is increasing cellphone coverage in the rural areas by another 6,200km².

The future of our ‘experience’ is also very bright. The Internet is invading virtually everything in our lives, including our TVs,

phones, cameras, toys and cars. But, this is only going to increase rapidly over the next couple of decades with the ‘Internet of things’. This pervasive, connected network will be everywhere and enable ‘miraculous’ applications and services.

One of the major benefits of this high speed connectivity is the ability for applications to offload the ‘smarts’ to a data centre in the cloud. Coupled with a growing range of sensors and rapidly increasing application intelligence, this network will learn about us and anticipate our needs.

This is already evident in applications such as Apple’s Siri that learns how you speak, interprets your words and uses context, such as location, time and background knowledge of you, to deliver answers to your questions.

In 1987, this was still science fiction.

Some people will say that this will invade our privacy even more, but I personally believe our privacy was largely lost years ago and we need to embrace the new open world. The benefits will outweigh the negatives!

The speed of our connection to this network are also going to continue increasing. In the fibre area, there are technologies that will allow 10Gbps connections already being deployed. In the mobile area, the first LTE-Advanced network has already begun deployment in South Korea. This will enable data speeds of up to 1Gbps into your hand.

The future is bright and very fast!

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4K AND OLED TECHNOLOGY

promising for consumers Article by PHIL WAKEFIELD

It is a fierce race to be the best and be crowned the ‘ultimate TV’.

Another contender for the ‘ultimate TV’ crown, OLED, uses an Organic Light-Emitting Diode display with self-lighting pixels that don’t need backlighting like LED TVs (including 4K). So, the TVs can be much thinner while producing deeper black levels than even plasma TVs.

Move over CSI, NCIS and SVU – here come UHD, 4K and OLED. These are the acronyms for the latest TV technologies that threaten to make other displays as antiquated as black-and-white.

UHD stands for Ultra High Definition and is also known as 4K, because it has four times the resolution of Full HD (3840 x 2160 horizontal and vertical pixels versus Full HD’s 1920 x 1080). Such is the leap in colour, clarity and contrast that it’s predicted UHD will usurp 3D, because viewing movies in the format is so immersive. The bump in resolution also makes having mega-screens in your home practical as you can sit much closer to them than Full HD and still not see the pixel structure.

The downside of buying a UHD TV is not so much the cost. Yes, they’re still 2–3 times as expensive as a top-of-the-range LED TV, but since the first 84-inch models were launched last year for $25,000–$35,000, smaller 55-inch and 65-inch displays have gone on sale for $7500–$11,000. More of a hindrance is the lack of native 4K content to watch. For a limited time, Sony is bundling Blu-ray movies with its TVs that have been mastered to optimise their TVs’ 4K upscaling capabilities, but they’re not true 4K. However, Sony’s General Manager of Marketing, Matt Smith, says broadcasters are

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committing to more 4K content production and transmission around the world, “Broadcasters and content providers need time and investment to gear up, but it is coming soon without a doubt, via traditional broadcasters and the Internet.” Indeed, Sky TV already has signalled 4K compatibility will be a feature of its next generation of MySky + decoders.

In the meantime, retailers are exploiting the allure of 4K TV with showroom demonstrations. “Our New Zealand dealers have been quick to embrace this new technology and promote its very obvious, improved user experience, even when up-scaling from high definition sources,” Smith says.

Sony has five 4K models on the market in NZ and so far the ratio of sales has been weighted toward the 65-inch models. “Obviously, early adopters making this level of investment tend toward the higher screen sizes for the best experience,” Smith says. “But we expect this trend to change as prices drop and more choice in screen size become available.” oliverlee.co.nz

LG was first to market the ‘infinite contrast’ technology here with its just launched, curved 55-inch Full HD model that boasts a picture quality as eye-popping as its $17,000 price tag. That is $10,000 more than a 4K TV of the same screen size.

“From a hardware point of view, OLED will of course become more and more prevalent in the market but due to production costs and yield rates it is unlikely to be a mainstream product in the near future,” Smith says.

Ironically, a casualty of the 4K and OLED race to be the best has been the world’s leading plasma TV maker, Panasonic, quitting the technology to concentrate on 4K TV. Panasonic has already released a 65-inch model and will offer more sizes next year. But Panasonic’s Audio-Visual Group Product Manager, Grant Shaw, says New Zealand remains a strong plasma TV market, and Panasonic, which will continue its 2013 plasma range until March/April, is committed to ongoing after-sales support.

“People who buy plasma won’t be disappointed.

It’s always been best for movies and sports, and offers fantastic value for money.”

BETTER THAN REALITY Why settle for reality when there is PANASONIC 4K? Delivering a picture so beautiful, it’s even better than the real thing

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New Zealand’s TV has gone digital

The digital switchover is complete Article by PHIL WAKEFIELD

But, what are our options for watching digital TV? The biggest transformation in the history of New Zealand television since the change to colour 40 years ago is now complete: as of December 1, all of the country has gone digital.

Auckland, Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty were the last regions to switch over from analogue to digital transmissions, but there was keen awareness of digital TV’s advantages – from better sound and vision, to on-screen programme guides – long before the nationwide rollout began in September, 2012.

‘The most common question we’ve always been asked about our TVs is, “Do they have Freeview built in?” Panasonic’s Audio-Visual Group Product Manager Grant Shaw says.

Freeview is the platform that free-to-air digital channels use to broadcast via satellite (in standard definition) or UHF (in high definition) to compatible TVs and set-top boxes.

But, it’s not the only way to watch digital TV. Sky TV was the country’s first digital broadcaster but requires a monthly subscription to view, prices ranging from $47 for a basic package to more than $200 for all the options.

In-between is Igloo, a joint venture between Sky and TVNZ, which combines more than 30 free-to-air digital channels with 11 pay channels for $25 a month, plus on-demand options where you pay extra for movies or live sport.

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While Igloo offers flexible viewing options it can’t record programmes, unlike MyFreeview, MySky or other personal video recorders with hundreds of hours of hard drive storage that allow you to watch what you want when you want.

Another advantage of digital TV is the ability to add over-the-top services, like Quickflix, an entertainment streaming service that will be on the Freeview|HD platform from early next year, with possibly TVNZ and MediaWorks (TV3 and Four) catch-up services to follow.

So, you’ll be able to watch these services directly on a TV screen rather than a computer screen.

Some TV manufacturers, like Sony, Panasonic and Samsung, already offer Quickflix on their latest models, along with YouTube and dozens of other app channels.

Panasonic’s Shaw says after Freeview|HD integration, the next most common question consumers ask about TVs is, “Are they smart?” In other words, can they connect to the Internet? oliverlee.co.nz

This year, Panasonic introduced its My Home Screen, which lets users personalise their smart TVs with apps unique to them, while Sony’s smart focus is on how TVs interact with tablets and mobile devices.

Freeview’s General Manager, Sam Irvine, sees Internet TV being pivotal to the future of the platform, for both free and pay services.

“All Freeview|HD devices with an Ethernet port since 2011 have the ability to add IP [Internet Protocol] content direct from the current platform – i.e. broadcast an app that then gets the stream from a server or content distribution network. It’s that easy!”

In the meantime, more broadcast channels are coming soon to Freeview|HD. “There will be space early next year on Freeview|HD for another five to eight channels, depending if they are SD or HD,” Irvine says, “so expect a bunch of new channel launches.”

Stay tuned.

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Magellan:

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST Mobile location services and personal recorders add value TO life.

by smart devices and smart software that seamlessly does the job – and a lot more – for you, by ‘talking’ to each other using Bluetooth.

It was true, not so long ago, that sticking to an exercise regime required a commitment to maintaining a notebook constantly; laboriously entering everything: every time you went for a run, how far you went and even your heart rate at the beginning and the end of your run.

Bluetooth, a low-power device-to-device communication protocol, means that the runner now has instant access to an increasing amount of personal data, collected by a growing number of smart devices; like the Echo, a smart running-watch from Magellan.

But, notebooks are fast becoming a thing of the past. Instead, they are being replaced

Specialising in GPS applications and map-routing devices like Navman, Magellan offers a number of high-end devices that add value to basic location information across a range of outdoor pursuits, from off-road 4WD activities to hiking, running, cycling and tramping.

While Magellan’s level of mapping detail goes way beyond the everyday mapping provided online by Google, its integration with accessories that can monitor heart rates provides a level of information capture that can be invaluable to the serious athlete.

When coupled with your smartphone, the Magellan Echo watch provides a handy interface to the growing number of sports

fitness applications that are available on smartphones, and allows its wearer to see, at a glance, instant fitness results and to even change the music being listened to, through a headset, as the exercise progresses.

“As its name suggests, this device echoes anything your fitness app tracks. At the moment the Magellan Echo is compatible with popular fitness apps including all Wahoo Fitness apps, Strava, MapMyRun, iSmoothRun and MapMyFitness, with more being added each month. The watch has been specifically built on an open platform so new apps can be developed for compatibility with Echo all the time,” said Paris Basson, Brand Manager Magellan Australia/New Zealand.

Deliberately designed to withstand the rigours of hard-working exercise buffs, and available in black, tangerine and blue, the Echo is showerproof and runs on an easy-to-replace battery, so it does not require constant recharging.

And, when not used to monitor your fitness, the Echo works pretty well as a watch.

Of course, it looks good, too. www.magellangps.co.nz/echo

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The smartphone revolution

It’s been a banner year for the smartphone – just like the one before it Article by HENRY COOKE

Around half of New Zealand adults now own a smartphone, and that is ever increasing, but not every smartphone is created equal.

The abundance of options can be a little daunting, even if you’re on to your third device. A whole lot has happened in the last year. While iPhone could comfortably have been recommended to you as the single ‘best’ smartphone a few years back, times have changed and the math has gotten a little more complicated. Still, it’s a whole lot easier to choose a phone than a car, and the new developments can be pretty exciting.

While much has changed this year, our phones don’t look much different. It’s all been on the inside.

The software that runs on nearly every smartphone has been updated. The update to Android was relatively small, but the release of iOS7, which runs on iPhones and iPads, was momentous. Apple completely

“...Apps are why people buy smartphones, and apps are where much of the innovation is happening”

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overhauled the iPhone, rebuilding their visual design and adding a host of new functionality. They threw out the faux-leather textures and gaudy 3D representations, simplifying the look and feel of iOS with bright colours, transparency and a general ‘flattening’. After eight years of iOS attempting to look like the ‘real world’, iOS7 dove deep into abstraction – it looks purely digital now.

This brought Apple a lot of criticism, both from those who hate change and those who think Apple didn’t go far enough, but it was certainly bold.

Outside of the Android and iPhone bubble, not much has changed. Microsoft essentially purchased Nokia, and their Windows Phone has grown a respectable amount — 150 per cent by some estimates — but, they haven’t released a major software update this year.

Windows Phone seems to be slotting into the place Blackberry used to inhabit, with decently specced and reasonably priced business-orientated smartphones. And, what of Blackberry? They are rarer and rarer; the company continuing their downward spiral.

On the inside of our phones, the spec race continued apace. Nearly every smartphone seems to have a quadcore processor these days, at least a gig of RAM and a high resolution screen. Big screens are the norm for any proper Android phone now, to the detriment of all of us with regular-sized hands. While the megapixel count of cellphone cameras continues to go up, many still have serious problems in low-light, even with a flash. The iPhone 5S has the first 64-bit smartphone processor – oliverlee.co.nz

not quite speeding up the phone, but letting it handle larger amounts of data simultaneously. Most new phones come with 4G/LTE connectivity, allowing for much faster data speeds while away from Wi-Fi, and both Vodafone and Telecom have finally launched their 4G networks in New Zealand’s urban areas. Sadly, our data caps remain draconian, so all that speed is really just a way to run up your bill faster.

But, specs aren’t the main story here. Apps are. Apps are why people buy smartphones, and apps are where much of the innovation is happening. The iPhone’s early lead in this area has been all but nullified in 2013. While yes, developers still seem to develop for iOS first, Android apps usually arrive very soon after and all of the ’important’ apps are on Android now. This makes a lot of sense, as 81 per cent of smartphones now run Android.

Windows Phone has been left in the dust here – they still don’t even have Snapchat.

Photo apps, like Instagram and Snapchat, are more popular than ever. Snapchat allows you to send photos and videos to friends which delete themselves within 10 seconds, although your friends can always

screenshot them.

Facebook attempted to buy Snapchat for three billion dollars in November, but their offer was rejected.

Snapchat’s popularity with teens is worrying for Facebook, as they are losing ground amongst this crucial segment. A bevy of smaller photo-apps arrived in 2013 too, like Landcam (iPhone only) for intensive photo editing, Cycloramic for hands-free panoramas, and Seene for immersive 3D photos (iPhone only). Video apps finally started to catch up, with Twitter launching Vine in early 2013, as the Instagram equivalent for video. Instagram responded, of course, by adding a video feature.

Outside of the camera space, matchmaking apps have taken off. Tinder, Grindr and Down strip away the clutter of dating websites,

giving you an almost too-casual method of weeding out people you want to meet in your area. These apps only work if there are enough people on them, but New Zealanders in urban areas have decidedly latched onto them.

So, what lies ahead? A few tentative steps from the big companies show us what they are playing around with, and what could dominate 2014. The iPhone 5S came with a sophisticated fingerprint scanner, which

can only be used to unlock the phone and buy apps, but within a few years you could use this technology to buy anything and everything. LG and Samsung experimented with curving their phones slightly, with both the G Flex and the Galaxy Round. The G Flex curves vertically, and can actually flex a bit, while the Galaxy Round curved horizontally, with the curves serving as giant buttons.

Neither of these devices are available in New Zealand yet, and they aren’t that great as phones, but they could be glimpses into the future, especially since Apple are rumoured to be developing a curved iPhone.

Our phones are starting to guess what we want from them, before we even ask.

The Moto X can hear voice commands without any buttons being pressed. The Galaxy S4 can be activated by a wave of the hand.

Google’s ’Now’ service gathers all the data Google has on you — your searches, oliverlee.co.nz

your calendar, your email — and sends you alerts at the right time, like suggesting when you have to leave in order to make a flight, all without any prompting.

Expanding into these ’contextual’ services means your pocket-based phone may not be enough. Google have dominated the wearable field this year with Google Glass – and the glasses aren’t even released yet.

Elsewhere, every hardware company is rumoured to be developing a smart watch, and Samsung has even released one – but its terrible battery life and limited features mean it has found limited success.

Mobile technology is fast becoming the only consumer technology that really matters.

It’s already a very different world out there, but the biggest changes are yet to come.

It should be fun.

“…Expanding into these ’contextual’ services means your pocket-based phone may not be enough.”

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HOW VERY FLASH: WI-FI-ENABLED CAMERAS

camera manufacturers fight back Article by TONY BRIDGE

Digital photography has come of age, and the pace of change in the way we take, view and share images has become a tsunami.

In fact, the wave of change is rolling so fast that it has caught a number of camera manufacturers napping. And, you can blame it all on the smartphone and social media.

Until recently the humble compact camera was the device most users would pick up to record those important moments in their life, such as holidays, weddings and the children’s birthday party at McDonald’s.

Then, they might take the memory card into their camera shop and make prints for the family album. According to some industry figures, 11.2 million compact cameras were produced in 2012 for people wanting to do just that. In 2013 that number had fallen by 48 per cent. The compact is dead. Long live the smart phone.

smartphone, typically 12–18mm² (about the size of your little fingernail) cannot beat the superior quality of the larger sensor found in a DSLR (300–800mm²). Sensor size matters more than pixel count when you are looking for the quality necessary to make a canvas print for your lounge wall.

And in this, the DSLR will always outshine a phone camera.

Until recently you could have the now-factor (convenience) or wow-factor (quality), but not both. Now there is a way. Companies like Transcend and Eye-Fi have released Wi-Fi-enabled SD cards, which enable you to download your images directly via a wireless connection, eliminating the need for card readers and cables. You can connect and

There is something very cool about taking a photo, uploading it for instant feedback then being able to download and make prints later, if we want to. And, nothing beats a smartphone for versatility and ease of sharing online.

Each day, according to one commentator, 600 million images are uploaded to Facebook alone.

However, for all the flexibility of the smartphone, the quality out of the tiny sensor used in a HOME TECHNOLOGY 2013

Better still, new cameras on the market have built-in Wi-Fi to enable direct downloading from the camera. Nikon have introduced a range of cameras which do just this; the S9500, S6500 and waterproof AW110 compact cameras come with on-board Wi-Fi, while the D5300 enthusiast DSLR has both Wi-Fi and GPS included in the camera.

Now you can shoot that award-winning image of elephants at a waterhole in Botswana, get it online straight away and make your friends green with envy.

Of course if you have your smartphone with you, it is a relatively straightforward process to create a Wi-Fi hotspot on your phone, connect the camera to it, and then push your pictures up to your social media page, email them or upload to cloud storage while still out in the field.

Now you can have your cake and eat it, too.

These days, people want to share their lives and special moments online, on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. And, they want to do it NOW.

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upload directly to the cloud or to your laptop/tablet.

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BEATS BY DRE:

THE EVOLUTION OF HEADPHONES Article by HENRY COOKE

Ever since the iPod was released, making headphones has gotten a lot harder.

Headphones — the ones that go over your ears, not in them — used to have one real job: sound good. In 2013, headphones are expected to sound good, look good, fit comfortably, survive the inside of a bag and fold away for easy transport. Yeesh.

Sometimes manufacturers meet the challenge, often they do not. The great sounding headphones will have a three metre cord that barely fits in your pocket or look terrible, and the great looking headphones will sound horrible loud. It’s a difficult balance, but with their latest flagship ‘Studio’ headphones, Beats have managed it pretty well.

Beats are also known as Beats by Dre; Dre is, of course, the famous rapper and producer. One expects celebrity endorsed headphones to be regular headphones essentially, but with a larger marketing budget. However, over the last few years Beats headphones have really stepped it up. Dre, along with a group of actual industry people — Beats was co-founded by Dre and Jimmy Iovine, the chairman of Interscope Records — craft every aspect of the audio experience, and it shows.

The Studio headphones were the first Beats launched, way back in 2008. The new 'Studio 2' headphones follow the basic design of the 2008 model: they are both curvy and straight with a distinctive feel, and come in an array of colours. Beats headphones have a very recognisable look: one which is interesting without being garish: the elegance of Sennheisers meeting the vigour of Skullcandies.

But, how do they sound? Beats headphones combine quite powerful hardware with onboard software, creating a strong and bassy audio signature that doesn't leave midtones in the dust. Undoubtedly, Beats headphones sound best when playing genres that favour a bassy sound — hip hop, dubstep, a lot of rock — but they sound great with everything else, too.

I found myself discovering tiny features on quiet emo albums that I had entirely missed the first five hundred times I listened to them, as well as enjoying the power of some really loud music on a noisy bus in the morning. This power needs to come from somewhere, so these Beats include a rechargeable battery that should last two or three days of use, and can be charged basically anywhere with a standard Micro-USB cable.

The Studios fit tightly but comfortably over your head, so they cancel out a whole lot of noise, even without the noise cancelling turned on.

The included cord, which is exactly the right length for pocket-to-ear listening, can control volume and pause music from most smartphones and computers. On the actual headpiece is a handy mute button, which you can hold down to mute both music and the noise cancelling feature, letting you hear the world around you, if only for a second or two. The Studios won't fit in your pocket, but they are fairly light, and will fold up to fit in the included hardshell case.

Beats Studio headphones are near-luxury items. Everything about them kind of just works: from the comfort to the sound to the decently sized battery. All that, and you won't be embarrassed about wearing them around your neck all day. Still D.R.E., indeed.

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Article by IAN MILLER

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY more than simply taking a photo Today’s photo- and video-editing software helps you to unleash your creativity and enhance your work.

Today’s photography tools guarantee that your happy snaps will never look snappier. Applications are opening up avenues for people who never believed they could be creative.

As processing power continues to increase exponentially, the software that once cost hundreds of thousands of dollars is becoming commonplace. With the progression of mainstream PC operating systems and today’s multi-core processors and hyper-threading techniques, application developers like Corel can provide features we once only dreamed about.

Studio software applications provide up-to-the-minute sophistication, while many top-end pro video editing tools, like Corel’s VideoStudio Ultimate X6, enable ultra-sophisticated editing and production control, constantly changing and challenging high-quality video resolution, and fast maturing, dedicated 3D video capture. Even home users will find photo-editing packages such as Corel’s Paintshop Pro X6 can transform happy snaps into works of art.

While the adoption of a richer operating environment unleashes computer editing capabilities, new users should not feel swamped.

Today’s software is a natural progression, but with the increase in power comes a new challenge for their designers: how to make these tools understandable. Easy to understand online manuals and help files are provided to make sure the user is never far away from assistance.

Indeed, today’s photo- and video-editing software is seamlessly blending the edges of each art-form. It is becoming increasingly more challenging to determine what is real... and what is make believe. oliverlee.co.nz

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Where personal becomes portable MANUFACTURERS NEED TO KEEP ON TOP OF THEIR GAME Article by IAN MILLER

Personal computing is more portable than ever and manufacturers ARE NOW NEEDING TO BE ONE STEP AHEAD. In the high volume and overcrowded world of portable personal computing, manufacturers need to stay well ahead of their users and deliver devices that will perform to the very high standards generated by the gaming community.

Asus has long been associated with personal computing, and for good reason.

The manufacturer is renowned for delivering products that perform exactly as specified, right out of the box.

As personal becomes portable the needs of users change; and in order to meet these increased expectations, manufacturers like Asus have to stay on top of their game and deliver devices that more than meet the users’ demands.

While today’s PC generation are swiftly moving from the desktop to more easily transportable laptops and tablets, the Asus transformer book T100 harnesses latest design and manufacture techniques to deliver a stunningly high resolution 10.1” display, along with a detachable keyboard, and all in a package that weighs only 550 grams. Light enough to tote without stress.

quality four-speaker Quad array, co-developed by leading European audio specialists, Bang and Olufsen.

These improvements in design do not come at a price. Instead, the cost of portable and personal computing continues to remain constant, even though the performance and internal component specifications continue to improve, generation on generation.

In today’s top-end portable gaming devices, high colour, high definition and top-end audio systems are matched with continued improvements to both ergonomics and devices design, making machines, like the Asus G75VW intelligent computing platforms powered by the third generation of Intel’s Core i7 CPU with a proven NVIDIA graphic processor, leave many lesser devices trailing in their wake.

When equipped with a solid state hard drive that has no rotating parts, the Asus G75VW also delivers a lightning fast two-second start-up, making it one of the fastest loading laptops on the market.

But, it is not just changes to the internals that make today’s laptops so desirable.

user-friendly. Along with faster than ever boot times, display technologies mimic the real world more accurately than ever. While holographic displays are still in the design labs, 3D displays and matte-finished anti-glare screens lessen eyestrain and deliver wide-angle viewing, so that gaming is no longer limited to the gamer.

And, in a world where design and development never sleeps, Asus is one of many developers migrating their technologies onto the fast emerging PHABLET market – where the mobile phone and the portable tablet computer merge to provide an always on, always interconnected world of personal computing.

Already immersed in developing next generation technologies, Asus is working hard to develop platforms that seamlessly merge hand held ease of use with screens that are large enough to be truly useful.

While still in its infancy, tomorrow’s interconnected portable and very personal computing environment will make what were once future fantasies tomorrow’s realities.

Manufacturers like Asus have laboured long and hard to make their machines way more

But, being lightweight and high-resolution displays are not the only expected features of today’s portable computers. High definition audio and stunning graphics are built into the Asus N Series laptop – long gone are the tinny speakers of yesteryear. The N Series sports a cinematic oliverlee.co.nz

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AVOID BECOMING A VICTIM OF CYBERCRIME Article by IAN MILLER

The problem is that an ‘open environment’ like Android is a perfect platform for cyber crime.

Are your kids safe? It’s not a simple question to answer is it? This is especially so when it comes to protecting their lives online.

Trend Micro believes that over 60 per cent of parents do not know what their children are getting up to online... and that is something you really do need to worry about.

In this modern age of online social networks and smartphones, there is a fair chance that sooner or later your child, or you, will have their phone stolen or have some nasty person hack their identity and screw up their lives.

As a concerned parent, you do not want that to happen and neither do the folk at Trend Micro. That’s why they are releasing a product that will help keep your kids safe online.

A lot of new smartphones run on Android, and in the days before smartphones it took cyber criminals 14 years to create 350,000 pieces of malware aimed at the Microsoft Windows PC operating system – that’s software deliberately designed to do bad things.

In contrast, in just four years since the smartphone Android operating system was released, cyber criminals have launched more than one million pieces of malware.

Trend Micro is amongst a growing number of software developers with specific interest in malware. These companies make their living crafting software designed to counter the threat of malware and provide a safer environment for people, just like you, to use their mobile computing environments.

While Apple has long been at the forefront of mobile smartphones’ safety measures with its iPhone operating environment, which

offers backup procedures to safely store data running on a smartphone and the ability to track down a stolen phone, the same has not been true of Android devices.

According to leading industry analysts, Apple’s dominance of the smartphone market may be in a decline, as an ever increasing number of people choose cheaper phones with higher resolution screens and online capabilities over the Apple iPhone.

Of course, there are always answers and solutions: Trend Micro’s Mobile Security ($49.95 for a two-user licence) is designed to stop Android malware in its tracks by identifying risky settings and suggesting changes to increase safety. And, even if your phone does get stolen, this software will let you track it down and potentially recover it, or wipe the phone so nobody else can get at your data and use it, or use the phone.

We may not be able to save the world, but by taking steps to minimise the danger we face online we may be able to save our kids... or at least slow down the potential for irreversible damage in this brave new world.

But, while Apple also makes the operating system that runs on the iPhone, the same is not true of most other smartphone vendors. While Nokia was recently acquired

by Microsoft and runs the software giant’s own Windows Mobile operating system, most other smartphone makers have elected to use Android.

Launched by Google in 1999, Android phones now drive over half the smartphones in circulation, and it is highly likely you, or someone you know, have a smartphone running the Android operating system. oliverlee.co.nz

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WORDS DO MORE THAN convey a command VOICE RECOGNITION HERE Article by IAN MILLER

“Mr Watson, come here...

I want to see you.”

The latest version of Dragon’s Naturally Speaking offers voice-activated commandand-control centres, where speech triggers software that responds to the spoken word.

On March 10, 1876, when Alexander Graham Bell called his assistant Thomas Watson over the very first mechanical device for exchanging the spoken word, the telephone revolutionised communications.

After all, if it was that easy, wouldn’t everyone be doing it? You will.

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Over the past 20 years there has been another revolution. Instead of using a keyboard and a mouse, the next generation of computer users are talking to their machines – and the machines are answering back.

Meanwhile, wireless Bluetooth connections increase the accuracy of the spoken word; couple this with interfaces that work with Twitter, Facebook, Gmail and Hotmail and suddenly it starts to make sense.

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computer, and you needed a mouse to make things happen.

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In the same way, personal computing is evolving. First, we had green-screen Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) displays. Then, someone invented colour and a graphical user interface (GUI). But, you still needed a keyboard to enter information into the

Dragon’s Naturally Speaking claims to be up to three times faster than traditional input methods, letting the user perform more with less.

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Early telephone systems meant cranking a handle and talking to an operator. Then, you simply dialled a number and, magically, the other party picked up the phone.

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SHORTS…

By PAT PILCHER

2013 - What a year! Phones got smarter, TVs got bigger (and cheaper) and tablets gained market share at the expense of PCs. Nothing stays still in the crazily fast world of tech, and things look set to become more frenzied in 2014. Here’s a taster of some tech trends to watch out for in 2014.

WEARABLE COMPUTING

There’s been a heap of hype around Google Glass, glasses with a computer that use your voice and can overlay digital content on top of what you’re seeing, just like fighter pilots use. They’ve yet to be officially released, but if industry scuttlebutt is to be believed, Google Glass could launch in 2014.

Google’s über goggles will allow you to access emails, search for info, snap pictures and film videos all using voice commands.

Unsurprisingly, it has the potential to be a real game changer, however price and availability in New Zealand could also play a big role in determining the fortunes of this tech locally.

GAME CONSOLES

No look at tech trends is complete without mention of gaming, and 2014 is looking to be a bigger than huge year for Xbox and Playstation, as Sony and Microsoft both launch next-generation consoles. Not only will both feature a crazy amount of processing power but also look set to blur the boundaries between gaming and entertainment.

Both consoles are expected to incorporate social-media-like connectivity and technologies such as object- and voice-recognition which could see them becoming far more interactive. Adding the gaming tech equivalent of a cat to the chicken coup will be the arrival of a new gaming box from online PC games distributor, Steam.

Hold on to your hat gamers – 2014 will be a huge year.

TABLETS, LAPTOPS AND ALL THINGS INBETWEEN Today’s mobile computers are faster, slimmer and pack more punch than ever before Article by IAN MILLER

Choosing a mobile device may not be easy – there are so many choices. Today’s computer shops are filled with a plethora of different devices.

For many, the simplicity of a smartphone will be enough to grab emails, chat with friends on Facebook or LinkedIn and communicate with family, business associates and loved ones over Skype, or the changing world of Google and Google hangouts. For others, the traditional familiarity of a screen and external keyboard serve to reinforce the belief that “doing computer stuff” still requires bulk, weight, heft and ready access to a power cord.

Of course, it is mandatory that today’s mobile device, whatever the breed, has to be able to cut the mustard with clear

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high-resolution video; this means the installed camera (usually just above the centre of the screen) has to be able to capture a good quality picture. This is very much a pixel problem with some new smartphones now sporting built-in cameras of up to 40 million plus pixels – more than quite a few of the dedicated digital cameras in the marketplace.

As well as the front camera above the screen, the majority of tablets and cellphones also have another camera on the back of the device, so that you can share your immediate surroundings with the party at the other end of the line.

While keyboards are still mandatory for many mobile devices, like laptops and tablets, these may not always be the usual or traditional keyboard, with keys and buttons and touch pads.

An increasing number of mobile devices let you choose to use an external keyboard; they also have a keyboard display on the screen.

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With growing touch-screen sophistication, the onscreen keyboard may even be the only means of entering text and data into your device.

Although still in its (comparative) infancy, voice operated systems, once the preserve of the desktop, are finding growing acceptance in the mobile world. Speech-to-text and text-to-speech are two areas that are receiving huge amounts of laboratory time, as engineers and designers labour long and hard to develop mobile systems that can actually hear in one language and either speak or display the results in another language altogether.

While Apple may have led the way with SIRI, a quasi-intelligent automated assistant that responds to voice commands and prompts with seeming ease, the efficacy of the technology depends largely on stable mobile internet connections to process the input audio, analyse its structure and create a response that not only make sense but also has just enough casual flippancy to pass for something resembling human interaction.

And where it was once an unspoken rule that the hard drive in your mobile device would inevitably fill up faster than you could delete unwanted files, the growth of cloud-based storage services like Microsoft’s Sky Drive, Apple’s iCloud and Google, sit alongside hundreds of different platforms competing for the privilege of storing your remarkable home snaps of family and friends mean that there is almost no limit to the amount of content you can create with your mobile device.

Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition will have your ideas appear on screen three times faster than typing. Talk your way through email, Excel, Word, more.

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