MacBook Air

One of the biggest surprise is the ability to instantly resume with the touch of a button (it’s really instantly resume). Although Windows 7 shows vast improvements in resume time compared to its predecessor, even the best Windows PCs cannot match this new Mac feature.

The speed is simply due to the fact that it has flash storage, but greater attribution goes to the fact that Apple built the new Air knowing there would not be a traditional storage anymore. Thus, it designs the system accordingly, allowing it to speed up tasks even further.

The typical challenge for Windows is when they need to make sure the operating system works on everything that meets its minimum specifications. Working with a wide range of hardware partners and supporting years old machines, Windows cannot focus on the ultimate performance for the sake of compatibility.

Developments on chip should help speed things up. Microsoft still have another advantage on the price front – thanks to flash storage that continues to be far pricier than traditional hard drives.So, any move to standardize on solid state storage will ensure Windows laptops remain price-competitive.

There is one more thing that worries people in Redmond – Apple is planning on bringing an app store to the Mac, which may rejuvenate Apple’s computers as a place for software development. This is a good opportunity for small, inexpensive programs that have succeeded on the iPad and iPhone. It’s quite hard to get a $1 program distributed in the traditional software world, but simply easy in a world of application stores. Software distribution method also makes the Air’s lack of an optical drive more acceptable.

Apple App Store

Microsoft is also taking action with planning of an app store of its own for Windows 8, though there is no time estimate when the debut is scheduled.

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AMD has recently released two of its next generation graphic card, the Radeon HD 6000 Series which marks its lead in the graphic card market. The HD 6850 and the HD 6870 are powered with the Barts Graphics Processing Unit. Here is the specs of both beasts.

Radeon HD 6850: Features and Specs:

- GPU at 775 MHz
- 2. 960 Stream Processors and 32 ROPs
- 6-Pin Power Connector
- 1GB GDDR5 RAM
- PCI Express 2.1 x 16 Bus Interface
- Eye-Definition Graphics
- AMD Eyefinity Multi-Display Technology
- AMD EyeSpeed Visual Acceleration
- AMD HD3D Technology
- AMD CrossFireX Multi-GPU Technology
- Integrated HD Audio Controller
- AMD PowerPlay Power Management Technology
- AMD Catalyst Graphics and HD Video Configuration Software

Radeon HD 6870: Features and Specs:

- GPU at 900 MHz
- Clock Speed of 4200 MHz
- 1GB GDDR5 VRAM
- 256 Bits of Memory Interface
- Multiple Video Outputs
- 2 DVI, 2 Mini Display Port and a HDMI connector
- 1120 Stream Processors and 32 ROPs
- 6-Pin PCI Express Connectors

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The new Google TV sets with LCD screens ranging from 24-inches to 46-inches will hit the US market by early next week with pre-orders can be made at Best Buy’s and Sony’s websites. The retail prices is expected to be between $600 to $1,400.

The price is about $200 to $300 higher than the price of similar TVs. Though with the current economic situation people tend to pinch their wallet from unnecessary buy, the strong sales of iPhone and iPad proved otherwise. People are still willing to buy breakthrough gadgets but Sony need to rally a marketing campaign to convince people out there why the products worth the extra money.

The high-definition sets unveiled Tuesday evening in New York will have LCD screens ranging from 24 inches to 46 inches, with recommended retail prices from $600 to $1,400. Sony will begin selling the new sets in its online store Saturday, and they should be available in Best Buy Co.’s U.S. stores by early next week. Pre-orders are currently being taken at both Sony’s and Best Buy’s websites.

Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey isn’t convinced that Sony and Google will be able to make a compelling enough case to turn this new generation of TVs into a must-have item, even though he is impressed with the technology inside the sets.

“Price is going to be important,” he said. “Google TV is a powerful experience, but most people aren’t going to understand it unless they can see it in action. And Google isn’t known for its consumer marketing experience. I think they have the right concept here, but I am not sure about the execution yet.”

Like millions of mobile phones that have been sold in the past two years, Sony’s new TVs will be built on Google’s Android operating system. It will navigate websites with Google’s Chrome browser and rely on Intel Corp.’s Atom chips for its processing power. The system can comb through the Internet, television programming guides and even DVRs from satellite operator Dish Network Corp. to find all video connected to a request entered into a search bar at the top of the screen.

The remote control for Sony’s Google TVs includes a standard, “QWERTY” keyboard to enter the search requests or make other comments on the Internet while retaining the ability to watch TV simultaneously.

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Opera has announced v10.5 of its browser this week in an ‘alpha’ format (read: this isn’t even beta yet, casual users stay away). Despite this, however, it represents a potential game changing update for the company.

According to the respected benchmark of suites run by specialist site betanews.com Opera 10.5 not only boosts the speed of its web browsing performance, but jet propels it to speeds in excess of anything we’ve even seen from the beta and developer versions of Chrome.

To put this into some context Betanews uses a benchmark whereby the speed of Internet Explorer 7 is classed as 1.0 using Windows 7 making all other browsers results relative to this. Consequently, IE8 scores 1.55, Opera 10.2 5.85, Firefox 3.5 11.12 (3.7 alpha 13.29), Safari 4 20.83, Chrome 22.5 and Opera 10.5 24.5.

This is a monstrous turnaround and is also backed up by a stylish redesign of the interface which makes us think why oh why has Opera not classified this v11.0. Where more stable versions of Opera 10.5 can go from here, nobody knows!

So Opera 10.5 represents a real twist in the tale. How will other browser developers respond? Well, can only rub our hands with glee at the prospect of finding out.

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Proving a more credible than the usual water cooler talk is an exclusive from the Financial Times in which the well respected (if disturbingly pink) paper is placing a lot of faith: Apple is planning a “major product announcement” next month which it believes will be the company’s long awaited iTablet (mock-up shown).

Backing this up is some digging the FT has done which reveals Apple has rented a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for several days in late January. Of these 26 January is believed to be the key date. Of course this doesn’t prove anything. The Cupertino giant has long held events in January as part of its commitment to MacWorld, though its 2010 plans have been less certain after it controversially announced it would no longer be attending after 2009.

The optimistic would then say Apple must be looking to kick off its own replacement show with a major bang. Naïve or not, there is some credence here since iPhone, iPod and Mac lines have all been recently updated leaving them little scope to be modified again so soon. Secondly it has long been known that Apple is working to tie-up deals with all sorts for content providers, from TV and film studios to magazines and broadsheets newspapers. I’d also argue Apple has largely tread water since the original iPhone was announced, with much of what has followed being evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

All in all then, we’ll allow ourselves this little flight of fantasy and say maybe, just maybe… after all it’s Christmas!

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