Apple has led the way in removing optical drives from notebooks - a pattern followed by Windows OEMs with the ultrabook - and with the latest iMac refresh also eradicating the optical media slot, it's fair to say its days are numbered. With improved connections, most music, movies, and software can be downloaded and shared in a much more convenient fashion via the Web, but it's fair to say optical media isn't the only piece of once-essential hardware leaving our computers and notebooks in an apparent hurry. Improved online services have seen native storage space become less and less relevant, and with many consumers now relying heavily on Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud and SkyDrive, are we going to see an increase in Chromebook-esque devices which all-but omit the hard drive / flash storage?
Now Halo 4 and Call Of Duty: Black Ops II are done and dusted, perhaps the next most anticipated title will be Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V. Up until recently, the developer has been dropping bundles of screenshots and images intermittently, but with pre-orders having officially begun and a Spring release date now confirmed, the level of excitement for the next version of GTA is reaching fever pitch.
HTC recently agreed to pay Apple 300 billion won (US$276 million) in a settlement over a number of patent disputes, but Samsung's mobile chief has chipped in to remind us that his company has no intention of following suit. Apple recently announced the settlement of an ongoing patent dispute with the "quietly brilliant" Taiwanese outfit, which has seen both parties put pen to paper on a decade-spanning worldwide licensing agreement that not only covers patents currently in existence, but also future patents.
Although iOS is one of the faster and more fluid mobile operating systems out there when it comes to viewing UI animations, it seems that jailbreak fans do seem to love a good Cydia package that gives the impression that the system is performing faster that it actually is. In the past we have had tweaks such as ClockWind that existed to boost animation speed, so users perceive it to be faster than it actually is, and now we have a tweak called Accelerate that is claiming to be the revival of iOS, although we aren't to sure that it was in such a state that it needed revival.
The only thing worse than having little or no battery left on a mobile device, I find, is knowing you had ample time to put it right. You thought the one hour charge would be enough to fill up, only to find when you're about to leave that your device's juice levels are still not at their peak. We live in the midst of a "there's an app for that" culture, but such has been the advancement of Cydia over the past few years, that the same can now be said for tweaks. If you're looking for a tweak to help you better manage your battery, well, there's a tweak for that.
Since the release of iOS 6, the flaws of the Maps app have stood out like a sore thumb in an operating system which, otherwise, is fairly polished. When it first made its appearance along with the iPhone 5 back in September, people were tripping over themselves to pour scorn on an implementation which was supposed to be the center piece, but following an apology from Apple CEO Tim Cook by means of an open letter, the issue has petered out as consumers have sought alternatives.
The HTC Droid DNA is really only a surprise in that we now know when it is going to be made available and what it will be marketed as. For all intents and purposes, we knew pretty much all there was to know about the phone before today's announcement, what with it basically being a Japanese J Butterfly - a phone that went on sale a few weeks ago. Still, it's all official now, so let's take a look.
The iPad mini is a highly sought-after device, and if you thought the $329 starting price was a little steep, things just got a whole lot more expensive. London-based Gold and Co. has released a limited edition set of 250 24kt gold iPad minis, so if you have lots of disposable cash and want to offload it somewhere, this looks like a viable avenue.
The problem with running on old software is, you're always likely to be left behind. In order to coerce consumers into updating or upgrading, the newest software is developed first, and anybody left behind is, well, simply left behind. While those on Windows 8 can already enjoy Internet Explorer 10, anybody still straggling on Windows 7 will still be waiting for the new version, and although it's not quite ready for end-user release, a preview version has now been dropped by Microsoft.
In terms of holiday season gifts, those of generations past may have received little more than an orange in a sock, but nowadays, electronic gadgets are at the very top of most people's "want lists." In anticipation of this, Apple puts out its "perfect gift guide" annually to help consumers decide which iPhone, iPad, iPod, or MacBook to purchase, and today, that day has arrived once again.
