The San Jose leg of the ongoing, worldwide battle between Apple and Samsung is really heating up, with pivotal members of both companies now taking the stand and offering their take on proceedings. For those of you who've been living in a cave for the past few months, Apple is claiming up to $2.5 billion in damages from Samsung regarding a wide range of alleged patent infringements, mostly circulated around the design of the Korean outfit's Galaxy design and form factor.
It is always a nice and refreshing change to see new designers, developers and manufacturers putting their brains into gear in an attempt to invent and produce a product that doesn't conform to normality and isn't just a blatant copy of something that is already out in the marketplace. Thankfully, that is exactly what Ballantine has done by introducing the world their wearable and programmable t-shirt that comes with an engaging built-in display that takes pride of the place on the stylish garment.
Google's new Nexus 7 tablet has already proved to be extremely popular gadget amongst technology fans. As expected, it hasn't flown off the shelves as fast as we generally see the iPad go, but recent reports have shown that consumers have already depleted official supplies of the 16GB model, with prospective purchasers now needing to wait until more come off the manufacturing line before they can get their hands on that Jelly Bean goodness. With Google only recently launching their first Nexus 7 commercial via YouTube, it represents a pretty decent success story without any actual defined advertising and we are pretty sure the popularity will continue as we move forward.
Microsoft's Kinect peripheral has been a revelation since arriving to market just over 18 months ago. The perfect addition to the Xbox 360, it has driven sales of the console up dramatically, allowing consumers to interact with their entertainment box in a manner previously only supported by the Nintendo Wii.
The YouTube Ninja Unboxing videos have become a trademark of any new Nexus release, and the trend which started out all the way back in 2010 with the Nexus One has carried through to Google's newest Nexus outlet, the Nexus 7 tablet.
In terms of concept designs, Apple has pretty much been covered in every aspect. Any hint of a new product is designed by enthusiasts for the masses to drool over, and even if it's not likely to ever hit the market, a fan of the Cupertino company will likely be sitting at their Mac, dreaming it up.
You don't need to be an expert to know that relations between both Samsung and Apple are at an all-time low. With the blocking of Galaxy Nexus sales in the United States and a collection of other legal battles between the two, it is clear that the two companies both believe that the other has copied ideas in order to make their own smartphones better. Whether you believe that or not is almost as complicated as asking you about religion or politics. Needless to say, we'll leave it there.
Steve Jobs once professed to have "cracked" three markets he deemed to be key in Apple's progress. One was the textbook market, which has already become a reality with iTunes U. The next was the television market, which is hotly-rumored to be in the works for the not-so-distant future, while the third area was the photography market, which although affected by both the iPhone and iPad, has yet to be attacked by Apple in a manner which would back up Jobs' claims.
For those technology loving fans around the world who may have had their heads buried under a rock in the last week, or been located somewhere that is detached from the world wide web then it may come as a shock to learn that Microsoft recently lifted the covers on a pretty sweet looking tablet, named the Microsoft Surface. Powered by Windows 8, the Surface looks like it will be a serious contender in the tablet space when released but somehow I don't think Apple are panicking just yet.
Do you ever sit back and think that people have way too much time on their hands to have come up with the weird and zany inventions that adorn our shelves and are available for sale on the internet? We are currently sitting at the pinnacle of innovation and technological advancements, and if we have absorbed anything on our journey here, it should be that anything is possible and it is often the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, and surprisingly, they do!
