The success of the Microsoft Kinect motion sensor for the Xbox 360 has obviously set the minds of the men and women in Redmond wandering. The motion detecting sensor was launched for the Xbox 360 in November 2010 and has so far shifted approximately eighteen million units. The estimated sales total paint an impressive picture by themselves, but when you take into account the 360 console itself has shipped around the sixty six million units, the fact that for every 3.6 consoles sold a Kinect has also been sold is very impressive indeed.
The way smartphone and tablet gaming has bullishly pushed aside competition from standalone devices in recent years has been nothing short of remarkable.
There were undoubtedly good times and bad times shared between the two rivaling tech-gurus Steve Jobs and Bill Gates over the years.
The inclusion of Notification Center in iOS 5 was a much welcome addition, and although it still doesn't perfectly deliver notifications, it does go a long way to improving upon the previous method of delivery. Notifications within iOS 5 have received a total rewrite from the ground up to change the way the whole system works, with the epicenter of that new system being the main Notification Center screen.
I remember watching an episode of The Outer Limits about seven years ago, and although a purely fictional televisions series, this particular episode focused around the creation of humanoid life forms using what they called nanobot technology aimed to create intricate Androids in the form of humans. The whole premise of the show was that these robots could then be used to carry out the more menial tasks associated with everyday life.
There is no getting away from the fact that mobile phones are quickly becoming much more advanced, with mobile operating systems such as Android, iOS and Windows Phone becoming the most talked about software throughout the tech world. The introduction of the Apple iPad in 2010 has also started a trend amongst manufacturers, with a new release of an Android powered tablet seeming to come every other week.
Well, we all know it is only a matter of time until mobile operating systems take over the world which are used to power all of our gadgets and household appliances. The only question that remains to be answered is; which operating system will reign victorious amongst consumers in the ongoing battle of the OSes? The current heavy weight contenders have to be iOS, Android and Windows Phone, with Blackberry hanging on for dear life but looking set to fall by the wayside sooner rather than later.
Back in December of last year, much was made of a very useful app from dev outfit App Cubby known as Launch Center, which utilizes the iOS 5 Notification Center in order to launch series of apps and tasks.
With one or two third-party apps already knocking about, the guys at Valve Corp. have just a released an official Steam app for both Android and iOS.
It's no secret that a technology company may file a large number of patent applications, a lot of which can sit awaiting approval for years before anything becomes of them. A large majority of these applications may result in nothing exciting, whilst some form part of a larger jigsaw, but on a whole; companies tend to be able to go about their patent filing business without much interruption.
