It seems that ‘Mood’ sensing technology has always adapted and remained alive for many years. Starting with the mood ring, then the mood cards that popped up during the 90′s. Now, the mood defining technology has evolved for use on the iPhone, or iPod Touch. It’s a pretty cool app, even if it’s a bit useless. I never understood the point of mood rings, considering I already know what mood I’m in. But it’s fun, and is a neat distraction app.
Axiotron, announced the release of a tablet computer at Macworld earlier this week. Although tablet computers aren’t anything new, Axiotron’s Mac powered tablet computer is the largest you’ll find. The screen is 15.4″, and uses touch screen technology. If only I could get past the $4,599 price tag (and that’s after saving $399 for a pre-order)
Macworld Expo 2009 – Booth #502
El SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA – At the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, California, hardware and software manufacturer Axiotron® yesterday unveiled the Modbook® Pro, the world’s fastest and largest-screen tablet computer. With its sleek black enclosure made from precision-machined aluminum, powerful graphics processing capabilities and revolutionary Synergy™ Touch technology, the Modbook Pro redefines the tablet computing experience.
An aftermarket modification of the unibody Apple® MacBook® Pro computer, Axiotron’s Modbook Pro offers a 15.4-inch pen-enabled display with a pixel resolution of 1440×900 WXGA, and features a surface layer of the company’s etched, paper-emulating ForceGlass™ for optimum drawing and writing comfort. The screen assembly is flush-mounted in the top bezel, providing a completely level drawing and writing surface and maximizing the Modbook Pro’s on-screen workspace.
In addition to the RF-based pen digitizer components, the Modbook Pro also feature Axiotron’s Synergy Touch, a revolutionary technology that — unlike any other touchscreen computer — employs touch functionality primarily in support of the pen input. Synergy’s user interface, Quicktouch™, appears on the screen as translucent overlays of buttons and pads, permitting users to enter text or keyboard shortcuts with the “alt,” “option” or “command” keys to directly modify pen clicks.
While the Axiotron Modbook Pro completely replaces the original Apple MacBook Pro’s enclosure, it leaves the main system components unmodified, maintaining 100% compatibility with both the system hardware as well as the Mac OS® X operating system. The voided Apple warranty will be replaced by Axiotron’s one-year Modcare® Hardware Warranty, covering the complete hardware solution top to bottom.
As another first, customers can order their Modbook Pro with a partitioned drive preinstalled with Windows Vista® Business Edition. The Modbook Pro also comes with Axiotron’s Quickapps™ suite, including Quicktouch (the pen-supporting touch user interface), Quickclicks™ (on-screen software keyboard and shortcuts), Quickflip (screen rotation utility), and Quickscript (advanced handwriting recognition).
The Axiotron Modbook Pro is compatible with all 15.4-inch unibody Apple MacBook Pro systems, hosting up to a 2.8GHz Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM, up to 320GB of storage on a 7200-rpm hard drive or 128GB of storage on a solid-state drive, and an NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600M GT graphics subsystem.
The Modbook Pro is slated to ship in May/June 2009. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for an Axiotron Modbook Pro built from a customer-supplied Apple MacBook Pro base system via Axiotron Modservice™ starts at $3,049. An Axiotron Modbook Pro built from a brand new Apple MacBook Pro base system starts at $4,998. Customers can direct pre-orders through Axiotron’s website at http://www.axiotron.com/buy. Placing a pre-order now will secure a customer’s place in line when the Modbook Pro begins shipping.
To celebrate the Modbook Pro’s unveiling at the Macworld Expo, Axiotron is offering the following discount promotions through January 19th, 2009.
Modbook Pro Promotion:
Customers who pre-order a complete Axiotron Modbook Pro, including those built with a new Apple MacBook Pro base system, will be eligible for a manufacturer’s discount of $399. With this discount customers can get a complete Axiotron Modbook Pro solution that includes the 2.4GHz Apple MacBook Pro for as little as $4,599.
If you’re looking to edit the pictures you take with your iPhone, without transferring them to your PC then this app is a must download. Crop, rotate, and added other effects utilizing the touch screen interface of your iPhone. It might not be a freebie, but depending on how much you use your iPhone camera the $2.99 is well worth it
iTunes, and iPod owners have been begging for it, and Apple has finally delivered. As of yesterday, Apple is allowing iTunes users to download their music free of DRM. The change comes by way of iTunes Plus. For those who want to have their current library DRM-free, Apple is offering another solution as well. With iTunes Plus, users can upgrade their current library to DRM-free at $0.30/song.
The other big change coming to iTunes is the pricing structure, which will take place in March. Instead of having all the music at the standard $0.99/song, there will be three tiers. Depending on the label, and age of the track the new prices are, $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29.
There’s yet even more changes for iTunes, as it is now compatible with the 3G network. So, all of you iPhone users now have the ability to download iTunes tracks over wi-fi on your 3G connection.
Has anyone tried out the downloads over the 3G network to see if they’re working properly? What do you think of the DRM-free solution implemented by Apple? Will the new pricing tier be more cost effective for the consumer in the long run?
For those who are financially challenged, like myself you’ll enjoy today’s free app. Mint.com is a service that monitors your various online counts, varying from checking accounts to credit cards. It tallies all of your assets and debts and helps you develop a budget. It’s heavily encrypted and very secure. In fact I did some extensive research to find if people had security problems with Mint, and I couldn’t find any. The Mint.com App is just a miniature version of the website, and has many of its features.
If you have numerous checkings, loans, investment, or savings accounts online then do yourself a favor and sign up for Mint, and download the Mint App for your iPhone, or iPod Touch.
It’s hard to believe that the iTunes App Store has only been around since July. I currently only own an iPod Touch, but it’s hard to image not having the ability to download Apps onto it.
The New York Times has written a very interesting article about the App Store, and the craze that has surrounded it. I think they raise some valid, and interesting questions about the App Store and just what makes it so popular.
Statistics show that 9 out of 10 iPhone owners have downloaded atleast one App from the App Store onto their device. I don’t think there’s any question to the popularity of the App Store, but how about its usefulness?
I would like to ask a follow-up question to the 9 out of 10 iPhone. How much use do you get out of the Apps that you’ve downloaded for your device? I believe that the responses would be quite varied. The factors for how useful an iPhone App is based on the user. I’m sure for people that travel, that iPhone Apps are used in abundance. I’m not a huge traveler, and there’s a few Apps that I continually use on a regular basis.
Sportacular, is probably my most used App as I use it to keep up with my favorite sports teams and when they play in the upcoming week. I also use Wikiamo quite a bit, as I always seem to need a bit of information on obscure subjects quite often.
What I find most surprising about the App Store is how many of the ‘cool, but I’ll never use’ Apps make it to the “Top” lists on the front page. iFart Mobile is sitting atop the Top Paid Apps at the moment. I keep trying to think of reasons why so many people want it on their phone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for having a slew of fart noises on command, but having it at the #1 spot? It just seems wrong somehow.
Of course the most popular category for downloads, is Games. For the Top Paid Apps, 7 out of the 10 are games. This isn’t a huge surprise, as it’s always handy to have some entertainment when you’re having to wait in a boring lobby or line.
What I really want to know, is how do you use the App Store? Do you download useful Apps that you use on a daily basis for organization and business purposes? Are you an iFart Mobile owner? Do you do quite a bit of gaming on your iPhone?
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