World's Tiniest Battery To Better Gadget Up-times

In the future, when a day arrives that your touchscreen smartphone battery will last you for longer than a single day, one of the people who we would like to thank could be Jianyu Huang. The Hindustan Times offered a cryptic write-up about the U.S based Sandia National Labs researcher who has invented a battery thinner than human hair - or in today's record, the world's thinnest battery.  

This lithium-based battery is so tiny that it was baked inside a transmission electron microscope. Huang says that doing it this way helped them figure out how such micro-batteries worked and bettered their understanding of how batteries worked in general. As those microscopic electrodes put together have a chance for significant improvements over what we've got now, they could be used in hybrid cars, laptops and cell-phones. You can read their entire discourse about the matter here.

 It's good to hear about those scientists working on improving battery technology, rather than just the chip-makers constantly working to budget power consumption. Because let's face it - we're doing a lot more on our mobile devices than we were a decade ago; be it shooting hi-def video or using cell-phones as GPS navigation systems. All these things require more power; and with most smartphones measuring in the range of just 9 to 12 mm thickness, I doubt how many would trade back that slimness for better battery life

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Sony Intros Ultra-Chic Colorful Walkman E-series

Finally Sony has launched an ultra-stylish range of E-series Walkman media players. They support a 2.0-inch QVGA LCD screen, which allow you to view album artworks and videos. The E-series features 5 of Sony's proprietary sound technologies such as Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) to create more natural tones, closer to the original recording. These support a new and easier user interface so that users would have no problems in navigation and enjoying music and video. Since they appear like mass storage devices, you can conveniently and easily drag and drop files to the Walkman, rather than depend on any software for that purpose.


The Walkman PMPs are packed with unique features such as the Karaoke Mode, which automatically reduces the volume of original performer's vocals, thus letting you fill in his/her place with your vocals. There is even the facility to adjust the key of the song to match their natural pitch without affecting the playback speed. They also suppport the new SenseMe channels, which automatically analyze and categorize the music library with Sony's 12 Tone Analysis technologies to create themed playlists. Users can then pick a music channel to suit his/her mood. Last but not the least, there is FM radio for an element of surprise when you feel that listening to MP3 is too predictable.

They are available in bright and cheerful colors like Gold, Red and Black, these are targeted at the young and the young at heart. The Walkman E-series NWZ-E353 and NWZ-454 are available in 4 GB and 8 GB capacities, and can be bought at all Sony Center and other major electronic outlets across India. The E353 with 4 GB capacity is available in Black and Red for Rs. 4,990, while the E454 with 8 GB is available in Black and Gold for Rs. 6,990.

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Macs, iOS devices to do Wireless Presentations?

For people having their heads spinning over the title and sub-title of this story, let's begin right with the basics. AirPlay is a simplified jargon for the technology that allows transmitting audio-visual content from a Mac or an iOS device (like the iPhone or iPad) to the Apple TV. Apple TV is a small box that connects to a television via HDMI and streams content over the Internet or stored locally using Wi-fi. 

Now, Keynote is an application and part of the iWork suite for creating presentations on a Mac (and even the iPad) - like Microsoft PowerPoint that most of you would know. Now, while their creative application suite called iLife was updated to the latest 2011 version, the iWork isn't yet updated from version 2009. And the reason for them to delay this update? Because they're trying to get AirPlay to work with Keynote.  

Softpedia reported about a person who mailed Steve Jobs if AirPlay would allow streaming wireless presentations via an iOS device or a Mac, and got back an "It is all coming soon" answer. So, is this news any worthy to jump off your chair? If you own or plan to own an Apple TV, then maybe. With it and the new Keynote 11 software, you would be able to wirelessly project your presentations to an LCD TV. You could do it on a projector as well; provided that it has an HDMI port or you have an HDMI-to-VGA converter ready (since Apple TV only has the HDMI out port).  

While this may be good news, we hope this feature will also come to Keynote on the iPad soon. I'm sure many corporate folk using an iPad would want to show off their hand-made slides with the freedom of walking around the boardroom.

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Apple Sued for Updates making Phones Unusable

Every time Apple releases a major iOS update, older iPhone and iPod touch owners get disappointed. One such disgruntled person - Bianca Wofford from San Diego has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple for false advertising, unfair and deceptive business practices by encouraging iPhone 3G users to download iOS 4. Apparently, Wofford stated in the suit that the iOS 4 software update "rendered the iPhone 3G devices virtually unusable, constantly slowed, crashed or frozen".

Apple had released iOS 4.0 software udpate back in June and stated that a few new features like multi-tasking won t work on iPhone 3G. Wofford's lawyers wrote in the lawsuit (PDF) - "The true fact of the matter is that the iOS 4 is a substantial 'downgrade' for earlier iPhone devices and renders many of them virtually useless iBricks."

Wofford contended that not allowing iPhone 3G downgrade from iOS 4 to iOS 3.x was Apple's attempt to willfully manipulated consumers into purchasing the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4. And due to the iOS 4 update, Wofford claimed that her iPhone 3G had gone from 99 percent reliability to "about 20 percent functionality".

Back in July, an Apple spokeswoman had acknowledged that the company was aware of the lag in performance of iPhone 3G post iOS 4 update and would be working on a fix. At the September 4 event keynote, Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted that the bug that lead to poor performance of iPhone 3G with iOS 4.0 would be solved in the iOS 4.1 firmware which was released on September 8.

The complaint filed in San Diego County requires an approval from a judge to gain class action status. Wofford, in the complaint, stated, "Apple has falsely, intentionally and repeatedly represented to owners and consumers of the iPhone 3G that its new operating system for the device, iOS4, was of a nature, quality, and a significant upgrade for the functionality of all iPhone devices, when in fact, the installation and use of the iOS4 on iPhone 3G resulted in the opposite - a device with little more use than that of a paperweight."

Apple iOS 3.0 update totally left out iPhone first generation and left many dissatisfied. Users who updated their iPhone 3G phones with iOS 4.0 weren't happy with the performance. The iOS 4.2 update is due later in this month and it better improve the performance of the iPhone 3G.

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