Up until the latter stage of last year, Apple had been somewhat slack in its upgrading of the iPad, and even the fourth-gen model - despite its Retina display and faster CPU / GPU - wasn't deemed a particularly big leap from the iPad 2. But with the iPad mini hitting the scene last October followed by the Retina iPad mini 2 and iPad Air just recently, the iPad range is now a larger and more diverse product line.
Google's Project Glass is perhaps the most exciting thing to manifest from the search giant since the original Nexus 7 made waves last year, and even then, it's difficult to justify including a small, cheap tablet in the same sentence as a product that could prove to be game-changing. The Explorer Edition has gone down well with creative types, and in the past month or so, we've seen Google expand the beta testing to bring more interested parties into the fold. Now, it has been made known that Glass Explorers can purchase a second pair of the geeky spectacles, and with the refreshed model of Glass having only been released in October, the development process appears to be moving through the gears.
PayPal is used by millions as a convenient way to send money around the world. The eBay-owned company is seen as the de facto payment method for transactions through the Web's favorite auction site, but in recent times, we've seen a marked effort from PayPal to expand its range of services. As a part of this movement, PayPal has today launched its very own digital gift store, and although it plans to work with many companies and merchants in the future, the launch of the service sees Apple as its main partner.
The iPad continues to hold the number one spot in the tablet market almost four years after its inception, and although the market is now awash with devices offering 'proper' processors and ultrabook-esque form factors, it would seem that nothing can stop the Apple iPad. Many, especially Microsoft, have suggested that the limited nature of the ecosystem is to the detriment of the user, besetting iPad owners with restrictions to which they cannot get the most out of their slate. But whatever this may be, it doesn't appear to be affecting the work or skills of Kyle Lambert, who has created a true masterpiece of a finger painting using nothing more than his iPad Air.
There are a ton of apps on the App Store which are due for an update for iOS 7, and one of those apps is WhatsApp for iPhone. After a long wait, which almost felt like an eternity, or maybe light-years for some, the famous cross-platform messaging app WhatsApp has been updated with a brand new face for iOS 7.
The holiday season deals kicked off this weekend and for large parts of today due to Thanksgiving, and with more festivities coming up during the next couple of weeks, it's a great month to be a tech fan. In the spirit of things, Apple has announced that it will ship items for free up until and including December 22nd, without any minimum spending requirement. Also, the company revealed the latest dates one can order certain items for receipt before December 24th, while extending its returns policy to January 7th for items purchased from November 1st to December 25th.
Nike is renowned for its prowess in making premium sportswear, but has also showed in more recent times that it is unafraid to delve into the world of technology. Close ties with Apple have certainly helped matters, and with the FuelBand SE - the company's second-gen wrist-worn activity logger - having recently been introduced with a plethora of color options, this push shows no sign of slowing down. An interesting tidbit from the DigiTimes suggests the company could be taking things a step further, plotting a new smartwatch for release as soon as the first half of next year.
When Microsoft announced the Xbox One some people were disappointed to learn that there was no user replaceable hard disk, whereas the PS4 makes things nice and simple by having a trapdoor for easy access. Once Xbox Ones started being taken apart after its big release it was found that inside that big black box was a standard 2.5-inch laptop hard disk, the likes of which can be bought from any self respecting computer outlet. Almost immediately, the prospect of adding new, larger disks to Xbox One consoles became a possibility.
Windows and OS X have been competing for years in the battle of the two major desktop platforms, and although Windows has been comfortably ahead since the beginning of time, Apple's Mac operating system has certainly made some headway in more recent times. Microsoft's Windows 8.1 and OS X Mavericks 10.9 are the latest entrants to the market, and although, as noted in the headline, Windows 8.1 has just sneaked ahead of Mavericks in terms of reach, the latter's 2.42% market share has now surpassed that of each of its predecessors.
Sony's PlayStation 4 may have launched a week sooner than the Xbox One in the United States, but here in the UK, the opposite was true, with the Sony blockbuster arriving a week behind the Redmond company's effort. While early pre-order figures seemed to swing in Microsoft's favor - particularly after it sorted out those issues with regional locking, the playability of used games, and so on - the PS4 has, in its first 48 hours on sale, emerged as the fastest-selling console of all time in the UK. Considering that Sony has some ground to make up after losing out in the previous-gen console war, this is hugely indicative that the tables - and Sony's fortunes - could finally be turning.
