Creative Writing
Friday, 7 October 2011
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Sony cuts the VAIO SA’s starting price to $1,000, starts shipping the 15-inch VAIO SE
Sony launches 15.5-inch VAIO S, tweaks other product lines
As promised, Sony has begun shipping the VAIO S it unveiled at IFA in August, in addition to updating other notebook lines. The 15.5-inch VAIO S is part of a series-wide overhaul that started in May, bringing improved portability, performance and power efficiency thanks to Intel's Sandy Bridge platform. As with the 13.3-inch iteration introduced earlier this year, the new machine can be equipped with your choice of second-generation Core i3, i5 or i7 processors.
All of those chips carry Intel's integrated graphics engine, but you can augment that with an optional AMD Radeon HD 6470M 512MB or 6630M 1GB. If you intend on playing games -- even casual -- you might want to spring for a discrete chip considering the 15.5-inch display has a native resolution of 1080p. The system can be ordered with 4, 6 or 8GB of RAM while storage options range from single hard drives to dual 128, 256 or 512GB solid-state drives.
As with the 13.3-inch model, the 15.5-inch VAIO S affords the room for a DVD or Blu-ray drive, while the standard internal battery can be supplemented with a sheet battery. There are no big surprises in terms of connectivity as the system offers gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, WiDi 2.0, HDMI and VGA-out, one USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports. Other niceties include a built-in HD webcam and mic as well as a backlit keyboard. Pricing starts at $1,000.
Alongside the VAIO S, Sony has rolled out various fall updates across its product lines. The VAIO C has gained a Core i7, the VAIO E is now offered with a Core i5, the VAIO F and L now come with second-gen Core processors, and the VAIO SA, SB and SE have received a new color option (red). Amid other scattered changes, Sony has also announced that starting on Thursday, October 6, VAIO customers will get a free Music Unlimited plan for six months.
Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba to Merge LCD Units
Issei Kato/ReutersFrom left, Norio Sasaki of Toshiba, Hiroaki Nakanishi of Hitachi and Hiroshi Yoshioka of Sony on Wednesday in Tokyo.TOKYO — Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi announced on Wednesday that they would work with a government-backed fund to spin off and merge their liquid-crystal display businesses, joining forces in the face of rising global competition.
The deal could create the world’s biggest maker of LCDs for mobile phones and cameras, with 22 percent of the market for small and midsize screens, according to DisplaySearch, an industry research firm.
The fund, the Innovation Network Corporation, will invest 200 billion yen ($2.6 billion) in the new company for a 70 percent stake, while the three manufacturers will equally split the other 30 percent, they said in a statement.
The Japanese government has long encouraged the nation’s manufacturers to consolidate as a way to increase their presence in global markets and better fight mounting competition from rivals like Samsung Electronics of South Korea, which is now far bigger and profitable than any single Japanese electronics maker.
But the use of public money to invest in private companies, especially in volatile industries, could draw fire at a time when the government is struggling to pare down its expanding public debt. Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba have lost money in their LCD businesses, though Toshiba’s returned to profitability last year.
The overall market for small and midsize LCD screens is booming. Sales are likely to jump 22 percent this year, to $24 billion, according to DisplaySearch.
“By integrating each partner company’s wealth of display expertise and know-how, I am confident the new company will become a driving force for technological innovation and new growth in the rapidly expanding” market, Howard Stringer, Sony’s chief executive, said in a statement.
The newly formed business, named Japan Display, will hire managers from outside the three companies and invest in new production lines, the statement said. The companies, which expect to complete the merger by the spring, plan to increase sales by then to 750 billion yen ($9.8 billion), from the expected 570 billion yen ($7.4 billion) for the three units collectively.
The venture must gain approval from antitrust regulators in Japan, but authorities here have been supportive of the government push to consolidate Japanese industry.
Since 2009, the Innovation Network Corporation, 90 percent of which is owned by the government, has helped Japanese companies make acquisitions abroad and invested in promising new businesses in the manufacturing and new energy industries.
This year, the fund took a 33.3 percent stake in Japan’s first low-cost international airline, a joint venture between All Nippon Airways and a fund based in Hong Kong.
For Sony, Japan’s largest exporter of consumer electronics, spinning off its LCD business will help the struggling company focus on areas where it is more competitive, like advanced sensors for digital cameras and mobile phones. In July, Sony reduced its annual profit forecast by 25 percent, to 60 billion yen ($771.24 million), as a result of lackluster sales.
JOINING FORCES Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi will spin off and merge their liquid crystal display business.
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Thunderbolt I/O. Lightning-fast data transfer.
ith one port, MacBook Air gives you access to a world of high-speed peripherals capable of transferring data up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0. Or use the Thunderbolt port to connect the new Apple Thunderbolt Display and transform your ultracompact MacBook Air into a complete desktop workstation. Power over 4 million eye-popping pixels while enjoying some major benefits: Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, an additional Thunderbolt port, three USB ports, a FaceTime HD camera, 2.1 stereo sound, and a built-in microphone. The display even charges your MacBook Air, so there’s no need to unpack and unravel your power adapter. With two quick connections — the MagSafe power cord and the Thunderbolt cable — you’re up and running in seconds. Unplug them, and you’re on your way just as fast. 
All-flash storage. Instant-on gratification.
Devices like iPhone and iPad have already demonstrated the advantages of flash storage: reliability, speed, and efficiency. So the decision to use flash storage in an ultracompact notebook like MacBook Air made perfect sense. With flash, your computer starts up in almost no time and accesses data quickly. Flash also gives MacBook Air the astonishing ability to remain in standby mode for up to 30 days.3 Which means your MacBook Air snaps to in an instant, whether you open it tomorrow, next week, or next month.
Backlit keyboard. What you see is what you type.
As incredibly compact as MacBook Air is, it still manages to fit a full-size keyboard that makes typing as natural as it is comfortable. And now the keyboard is backlit, so you can type with ease in even the dimmest light. A built-in ambient light sensor detects changes in lighting conditions and adjusts the display and keyboard brightness automatically. From a seat in a sunny café to a seat on a cross-country red-eye, you’ll always have the perfect lighting for any environment.
Multi-Touch trackpad. It goes hand in hand with OS X Lion.
The Multi-Touch gestures in OS X Lion make everything you do on MacBook Air more intuitive, direct, and fun. And the spacious Multi-Touch trackpad is perfectly designed for them, whether it’s a three-finger swipe to activate Mission Control or a four-finger pinch to see all your apps in Launchpad. Gesture responses in Lion are smooth and realistic. So when you’re scrolling up and down a web page or swiping from one full-screen app to another, it’s almost like you’re touching what you’re seeing.
Watch the Gestures video 
iOS Operating System
You know how to use iPhone from the first time you pick it up. That’s because the revolutionary Multi-Touch interface in iOS was designed for your finger. And the simple, beautiful Home screen is the easiest place to start. From built-in apps to over 500,000 apps available from the App Store. From making a FaceTime call to editing a video with iMovie. Everything you touch is easy, intuitive, and fun.
Over 200 new features.
The features included with iOS 5 make iPhone even more powerful, innovative, and fun to use. Here are just a few. Learn more about iOS 5
Notification Center
It’s the one place where you’ll see what’s up. iPhone works with your apps to let you know about missed messages, calendar invitations, friend requests, and more. New notifications appear discreetly at the top of your screen. And you can see a summary of recent notifications when you swipe down from the top of any screen.Learn more about Notification Center
Messages with iMessage
Now you can text it up with fellow iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users running iOS 5. Messages with iMessage are unlimited.1 And secure, too. Talk to all your friends or family at once with group messaging. See who’s reading with delivery and read receipts. And if words aren’t enough, send photos, videos, locations, and contacts.Learn more about Messages
Reminders
You’ll never miss an important deadline, errand, or grocery item thanks to Reminders. Create lists of things to do that you can check off as you go. Even add due dates and locations — pick up mustard at the store after work, for example. Reminders knows exactly when and where to send you an alert.Learn more about Reminders
Twitter Integration
Twitter is integrated into iOS 5, so you can sign in once under Settings and begin tweeting directly from Safari, Photos, Camera, YouTube, and Maps. You can even start typing a friend’s Twitter handle and iOS will autocomplete the rest from your contacts.
Photos
Touch up photos right on your iPhone — without the help of photo editing software on a computer. Crop, rotate, enhance, and remove red-eye. Then organize your shots into albums, so you know exactly where your favorites are when the next photo-sharing opportunity presents itself.Learn more about Photos
Camera Enhancements
Here’s a photo op for your photo ops. Now you can access the Camera app right from the Lock screen. Use grid lines and pinch-to-zoom gestures to get your shot just right. Focus with a tap. Then press the volume-up button and take your photo.Learn more about Camera
The world’s largest collection of mobile apps.
With thousands of apps in practically every category, iOS is the platform for the world’s largest collection of mobile apps. Apple gives third-party developers a rich set of tools and APIs, and they’ve created apps and games that redefine what a mobile device can do. Where do you find these apps? Just browse the App Store on your iPhone and download them with a tap.Learn more about apps from the App Store
Performance and stability that lead the industry.
iOS is a desktop-class operating system that’s been reinvented for mobile devices. Because it’s based on the world’s most advanced computer operating system — OS X — performance in iOS is fast and stability is rock-solid. It manages power efficiently and delivers outstanding battery life. iOS even ensures that performance and battery life don’t suffer when you’re multitasking with multiple apps open at the same time.Hardware and software made for each other.
Because Apple makes both the iPhone hardware and the operating system, everything works together seamlessly and intelligently. This integration enables apps to take full advantage of iPhone hardware features such as the Retina display, the Multi-Touch interface, the accelerometer, the three-axis gyro, accelerated graphics, and more. FaceTime is a perfect example. It uses both iPhone cameras, the display, the microphone, and your Wi-Fi connection.Learn more about iPhone features
Multi-Touch technology.
You already know how to use iPhone, because you use the most natural pointing device there is: your finger. Nobody does Multi-Touch better than Apple.Really long battery life.
The power-efficient A5 chip and iOS 5 deliver outstanding battery life. So you can keep making calls, checking email, and browsing the web.Safe and secure by design.
iOS is highly secure from the moment you turn on your iPhone. All apps run in a safe environment, so a website or app can’t access data from other apps. iOS also supports encrypted network communication to protect your sensitive information. To guard your privacy, apps requesting location information are required to get your permission first. You can set a passcode lock to prevent unauthorized access to your device and configure iPhone to delete all your data after too many unsuccessful passcode attempts. And in case your iPhone is lost or stolen, Find My iPhone allows you to locate it on a map and remotely delete all your data. When you get it back, you can restore everything from your last backup.2
It comes with built-in parental controls.
Parental controls built into iOS help you manage just about everything your child can do on iPhone. Set custom restrictions for Safari, Camera, FaceTime, Game Center, YouTube, Location Services, and more. Even manage access to stuff you’ve already purchased from the iTunes Store and App Store.Ready for business.
Businesses around the world are choosing iPhone for its enterprise-ready features and powerful security. iOS works with Microsoft Exchange and standards-based servers to deliver over-the-air push email, calendar, and contacts. iOS protects your data by encrypting information in three separate areas: in transmission, at rest on the device, and when backed up to iTunes. You can securely access private corporate networks through industry-standard VPN protocols. And companies can easily deploy iPhone across an enterprise using configuration profiles.
The New York Times. Breaking news...
Accessibility built in.
iOS comes standard with a wide range of accessibility features that help people with disabilities experience everything iPhone has to offer. For example, the built-in VoiceOver screen-reading technology allows those who are blind or have low vision to hear a description of the item they’re touching on the screen. iOS also offers out-of-the-box support for over 30 wireless braille displays and many other award-winning accessibility features, such as dynamic screen magnification, playback of closed-captioned video, mono audio, white on black text, and more.Learn more about accessibility and iPhone
Works all over the world.
iPhone and iOS are made to be used around the world. The user interface is localized into over 30 languages, and you can easily switch between them. Because the keyboard is software-based, you can select from over 50 different layouts with support for language-specific features including diacritic marks on characters, handwritten input for Chinese, and contextual character options for Japanese. In addition, the built-in dictionaries support over 50 languages, VoiceOver reads screens in 36 languages, and Voice Control understands over 20 languages.
Camera,though u can't believe,this is phone camera
With 8 megapixels and all-new optics, this just might be the best camera ever on a mobile phone. It just might be the only camera you’ll ever need. And if you think that’s amazing, wait until you see your photos.
Mega megapixels.
The iPhone 4S camera gives you 8 megapixels — that’s 60 percent more pixels than the camera on iPhone 4. They’re engineered with a higher, full-well capacity to collect even more light. With more megapixels and more light, you’ll see a dramatic difference in the resolution and details of your images. So your photos look stunning everywhere you show them off — on your iPhone, your computer, or your HDTV. And they’re rendered pixel for pixel in prints as large as 8x10.
All-new optics make all
the difference.
Great photography isn’t just about megapixels — it’s about light, too. The all-new, advanced optics in this camera work together to make sure whatever light you have gives you the best image possible. The custom lens uses five precision elements to shape incoming light, which makes the entire image sharper. The larger f/2.4 aperture lets in more light, so photos look brighter and better. And the advanced hybrid infrared filter keeps out harmful IR light, so you’ll see more accurate and uniform colors.Turn down the lights.
Or turn them way up.
Pull out your iPhone in moonlight, candlelight, or under little white lights. Or shoot in bright light. Like at the beach. iPhone captures low-light and lots-of-light moods beautifully. So darks aren’t too dark and lights aren’t too light. Even action shots are less blurry. The next-generation backside illumination sensor is engineered with increased sensitivity and a shorter exposure time to achieve the same scene brightness — colors are less saturated and you’ll see more details. And the refined LED flash automatically kicks in when it’s needed (but you can always turn it off).
A5 chip and iOS 5.
The power behind your photos.
The A5 chip is designed with an image signal processor that’s just as good as the ones found in DSLR cameras. It’s how you can tap to focus and control exposure. And it’s the power behind zero shutter lag. The image signal processor makes the iPhone 4S camera faster, so you’ll catch all the action as it happens. The camera also uses advanced algorithms in iOS 5 for even more color accuracy, better white balance, and greater dynamic range. When you see your photos, you’ll see exactly what that means.This camera loves a face.
With new face detection, this camera is smart enough to know whether you’re taking a portrait or a group shot. It focuses on the most prominent face in the frame and balances exposure across up to 10 faces. So you’ll definitely catch smiles. And maybe even a smirk or two.
Capture the moment in
a split second.
Think about all those fun, fleeting moments you wish you’d caught on film. Now you can open the Camera app right from the Lock screen. So when things happen fast, you’ll capture them fast. Compose a quick shot with grid lines and pinch-to-zoom gestures. Focus with a tap. Then press the volume-up button to take a photo. And suddenly, everything is a photo op.Edit photos right on iPhone.
It’s not just an amazing camera. It’s an on-the-fly editing studio. Crop, rotate, enhance, and remove red-eye right on iPhone — without the help of photo editing software on a computer. Then organize your shots into albums, so you know where your favorites are when you want to show them off.
HDR. The best everything.
All in one shot.
Tap HDR and take a photo. iPhone 4S captures three photos from that one shot, each with a different exposure level. Then it layers the shots together to create a single photo that combines the best parts of each shot. The wide range of light is more accurate in an HDR photo. And iPhone saves both the original and the HDR photo in your Camera Roll. You can clearly see the difference.Photo Stream.
And other ways to share.
With Photo Stream in iCloud, new photos you take are automatically sent to all your devices, so you can show them off on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.1 Post them to the web the second you take them, and they’ll be the envy of your Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter world. Share them on your HDTV with AirPlay.2 Or send your photos through iMessage or MMS. Or go old-school and send them in an email.
iPhone 4S Photo Gallery
View a collection of unretouched photographs taken using iPhone 4S. Click an image to see it larger.
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