onsdag den 28. november 2012

Sej GPS-legetøj til iPhone og Android:

Kilde: ohgizmo.com

SPOT Connect Gives Your Smartphone Satellite Access

It’s all well and good that you’re the adventurous type, likely at any time to be found camping in the Amazons, spelunking in the Yucatan or trekking in the Himalayas, but bringing your phone with you on those adventures might just be more dead weight in your backpack. Cellular reception is not universal. Satellite phones are notoriously expensive, so maybe the SPOT Connect can be a good compromise.

Simply pair your smartphone with SPOT Connect, and get connected to a global satellite network that lets you send messages and GPS coordinates from virtually anywhere on the planet. Update Twitter and Facebook. Send email and text messages. Request non-emergency help from professional service providers. And in the case of a critical emergency, send an SOS message requesting emergency assistance.

You’re limited to 41 characters at a time for custom messages, and you can save a 120 character predefined message. Not a whole lot, but should be enough for quick updates. More important than letting your buddies in on which caves in Namibia offer the most guano/sq.ft. coverage is the fact that you can transmit your coordinates to the GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC) in case of emergency. That right there is reason enough to spend the $169 that the device costs. Plus the $99 yearly for the subscription to the service.

It works with iPhone and Android devices.

Mere om Quartz data lagring:

kilde: Wired UK

Laser-etched quartz will store data for hundreds of millions of years

By Liat Clark

25 September 12

Comments3

Hitachi says it's about to solve our data problems, with the announcement that information could potentially be preserved for hundreds of millions of years if it's laser-encoded onto slabs of quartz glass. The downside -- you can't fit all that much on to each piece.

Hitachi concedes that the technique, developed in collaboration with professor Kiyotaka Miura of Kyoto University, is about longevity and does not tackle the more pressing problem of managing the vast and growing amount of world data. Nevertheless, as it turns out, the chemical properties of a piece of quartz are a bit of an embarrassment for the average hard drive. While the former can (according to experiments carried out at Kyoto University's lab) withstand temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius for two hours and have its information "played" back without "degradation" using an optical microscope, the latter will probably fail within a decade in average conditions. The more old school thedata storage method, it seems, the better the chance of survival -- Hitachi says tape (remember that) will last between 15 to 30 years.

Since the method -- which works by imprinting a series of dots in binary code (100 at a time) using femtosecond laser pulses onto four layers of quartz -- can only store around 40MB on an area about 2cm squared and 2mm thick (a hard drive can store a terabit in the same surface area), it's likely to be used for the long-term storage of "historically important items such as cultural artifacts and public documents, as well as data that individuals want to leave for posterity".

Hitachi calls it "CD-level digital data volume" -- but imagine if you could chuck that CD into a burning pool of lava and use it again later. The point is not quantity, it's quality. The quartz glass is basically impervious (unless you smash it) -- it can withstand water and magnetism and still function.

"The volume of data being created every day is exploding, but in terms of keeping it for later generations, we haven't necessarily improved since the days we inscribed things on stones," said Hitachi researcher Kazuyoshi Torii.

Hitachi says that as society continues its rapidly accelerating shift from paper to digital data, there should be a long-term storage option like this. Artefacts like the Dead Sea Scrolls need to be stored in special temperature-controlled rooms -- Hitachi's method is the future-proof version of this for your data. The method is, however, going to preliminary be aimed at companies with "large amounts of important data to preserve, rather than individuals," said Hitachi spokesperson Tomiko Kinoshita. The company believes that by 2015 the system will be commercially viable and companies will be able to send data to Hitachi for conversion.

It's a shame the technique will not be immediately accessible to everyone. It would be nice if everyone had the chance to get one thing down for perpetuity -- to put down one piece of information and limit yourself to selecting only the most important details of your life, in the same manner that projects like This Is Your Jam ask you to sum up your mood/taste with one song, could prove an interesting exercise. Like TIYJ, the new technique is about only choosing the best, which is subjective, so perhaps their should be a few global questionnaires on how the method could be used to store some of the world's most precious data for future generations.

The technique, developed from Hitachi's own laser tomography storage system, devised back in 2009, is being slated as a "semi-permanent" storage system for digital data (we'd like to see what the company comes up for the permanent spectrum, considering they already have the next few hundred million years covered). A spokesperson will go into more detail on the technology and its potential uses at the International Symposium on Optical Memory in Tokyo on September 30.

Ny Datalagring - i Quartz !!

Kilde: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/26/hitachi-announces-permanent-quartz-storage/

Hitachi announces permanent Glass Storage

Sure, we can store huge quantities of bits in a tiny space, but how long will that data last? Current optical, magnetic and flash storage media have limited shelf lives, so Hitachi has announced a new way of locking up ones and zeros in quartz glass for hundreds of millions of years. The data can be etched with a laser in three layers on the crystals at a density slightly higher than a CD, then read out with an optical microscope, meaning that future generations could restore the info without needing a proprietary drive. The technology could come to market in three years, according to the research lab -- but would likely be targeted at companies first, who would need to send in their data to be encoded. Hitachi said the media withstood two hours of 3500 degree Fahrenheit temperatures in testing without data loss, meaning that archaeologists from the future may one day uncover your questionable taste.

onsdag den 21. november 2012

Folkens, dagens sidste indlæg bliver i gastronomiens tegn af talentfulde skribent of livsnyder Nicolai Klingenberg. Følg hans fede blog på www.my-pleasure.dk - NU !

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RETOUR STEAK – NÅR DET SKAL VÆRE SIMPELT OG GODT

Skrevet af Nicolai Klingenberg d. november 20, 2012 ·

I dag skal vi til bords – og vi skal have bøf a la Retour Steak. Et spisested i Ny Østergade uden dikkedarer, men med højt humør, god spise og en drilsk akustik. Men også en kompetent og opmærksom betjening, der er både ung og uformel. Og jeg beklager i øvrigt de knapt så gode fotos – belysningen var ikke i top, og billederne blev skudt med en iPhone.

Adressen hvor dette skilt hænger hedder Ny Østergade 21, København K

Uden at lyde hård i filten, så kan Retour Steak umiddelbart godt bære præg af at være en pop-up restaurant. Lokalerne er rå, og indretningen forholdsvis simpel – dog skal blomsterne i baren nævnes. De bryder en smule. Men det viser sig hurtigt, at akustikken ikke er den bedste, og det kan være et problem, når lokalerne er fyldte. Og det var de, da jeg lagde vejen forbi. Men her stopper de milde klager til gengæld også. Og de “hårde” klager har jeg ingen af.

Et ikke helt fair øjeblik, for de ansatte bød på smil ad libitum. Men så fik du til gengæld også set, at man kan begynde aftenen i baren.

Vi får et bord, og det ligger i den bagerste del af lokalet. Jeg er i bil, så jeg lader min ven bestille vino – valget falder på en flaske rødt fra Bourgogne. Den er fra 2009, og jeg lader mig fortælle, at det er en Pinot Noir. Den får lige en dekantering, og så skåler vi.

Den medspisendes valg

Det handler dog om bøffer, og jeg må stå ved, at det københavnske udvalg er og bliver stort. Der findes vel næppe en restaurant, der ikke serverer bøf med “fritter og bearnaise”, med mindre man går på specialrestauranter, hvor fokus bevidst er anderledes. Vi peger på menukortet og vælger begge en ribeye på 350 gram, der ønskes tilberedt medium rare. Mens vi venter, kommer der en omgang maltbrød til bordet, som kan påsmøres en omgang smør og havsalt. Det er simpelt – ment absolut positivt – og det fungerer.

Hov – mangler der noget?

Bøf bearnaise er og bliver en klassiker, og selvom det kan virke som en nem ret, så kan den altså “fuckes up” – pardon my french (fries). Det er dog ikke tilfældet her, og min begejstring for rigelig syrlighed og estragon indfries til fulde. Bøffen har fået et lille prik over i’et i form af et grillet hvidløg – og ønsker du “noget mere”, kan du tilkøbe dig enten grønsalat, tomatsalat med basilikum eller gratineret spinat, der ligger i prisspektret fra 20 til 30 rørende kroner.

Det gjorde der – og det var bearnaisen. Hermed det komplette måltid.

Jeg får ikke spurgt, hvor kødet er fra, men velsmagen er ikke til at komme udenom. De 350 gram er den mindste ribeye kortet har at byde på – og den eneste anden vejer 500 gram. Kortet er og bliver simpelt, og det passer mig glimrende. Der er kun kød på tapetet blandt hovedretterne, mes forretterne tæller syltet rødtunge og en halv kogt hummer i kategorien “ikke kød”.

Nu skrev jeg godt nok, at det negative var nævnt, men min medspisende blev ærgerlig over, at tørre mund i en serviet, man normalt ville finde til en havefest. Han mente at

Og en afslutning a la cortado…

Roger Ebert anmeldelse: Hitchcock med Anthony Hopkins

Vurdering: 3/5

BY ROGER EBERT / November 20, 2012

Sir Alfred Hitchcock remains one of the most famous directors in movie history, not only because of his droll public image, but also because of the enduring appeal of so many of his films. As someone who has tried with mixed success to show Hollywood classics to non-buff audiences, I've noticed how his very name inspires fond grins from many viewers, and how even some of his less famous works undeniably hold their attention.

He knew something universal about moviegoers, and it may come down to his most familiar theme: The Innocent Man Wrongly Accused. It's surprising, then, that his most successful and infamous film, "Psycho" (1960), had no leading characters who were innocent, certainly not Norman Bates and not even the purported heroine, played by Janet Leigh. "Hitchcock" is the second feature in a few months, after the made-for-HBO "The Girl," based on the life of the great man. "The Girl" was based on his unrequited lust for his leading lady Tippi Hedren, of "The Birds" and "Marnie." Hedren adamantly refused his advances, her daughterMelanie Griffith once told me, and he cruelly sent the young girl a doll of her mother, displayed as a corpse in a coffin. No similar outrages are dramatized in "Hitchcock," which adopts the conventional truism that behind every great man there lurks a great woman.

There may be truth in that, but the screenplay for "Hitchcock" centers to a distracting degree on his marriage to the screenwriter and editor Alma Reville. As "Hitchcock" tells it, Alma (Helen Mirren) acted as his chief adviser, censor, muse and friend, and steered him through the uncertain waters leading up to "Psycho."

It was a troubled time for Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins), who after the great popular success of "North by Northwest" (1959), could focus only on those critics who charged he was growing old and losing his edge. Determined to prove them wrong, he grew obsessed with a book by Robert Bloch, based on the life of a Wisconsin body snatcher named Ed Gein.

I find it amusing that 52 years after the film's release, I might still be accused of a spoiler by describing Gein's (fictional) crime in the movie, which involved killing and stuffing his mother. Taxidermy figures in the early scenes, and Norman carries on conversations with his dead mom in which he does both voices. In real life, a search of his house revealed a shocking number and variety of human body parts.

Hitchcock decided Ed Gein would make a perfect macabre villain for one of his films. Hitchcock's agent Lew Wasserman (Michael Stuhlbarg) disagreed vehemently. So did Paramount chief Barney Balaban (Richard Portnow), despite the fortune he'd made from Hitchcock films. Alma found the story disgusting. Hitchcock pressed on, personally financing the production by taking out a loan on their home. When at last Alma loyally came around, she was invaluable to him — even though his financial gamble put her beloved home and its pool at risk.

"Hitchcock" tells the story not so much as the making of the film, but as the behind-the-scenes relationship of Alma and Hitch. This is a disappointment, since I imagine most movie fans will expect more info about the film's production history. I also found a subplot distracting, in which Alma begins a series of private meetings devoted to working on a screenplay by her friend Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston). Hitchcock, whose marriage had become sexless, nevertheless began to fret his beloved spouse might be having an affair.

This focus on Alma's personal life is somewhat speculative and seems to have been employed by director Sacha Gervasi and screenwriter John J. McLaughlin to skew the film in the direction of a "woman's picture," of all things. They can't entirely be blamed, because I learn from the trade papers that this film was refused permission to show or copy any footage from "Psycho," or even use the famous Bates family home that still stands on the back lot at Universal. There's irony here, because in 1998, director Gun Van Sant won permission to make an actual shot-by-shot remake of "Psycho."

Given the focus of this film, much depends on the character of Alma Reville, andHelen Mirren is warm and effective in the role; her intelligence crackles. Anthony Hopkins, superb actor although he is, would not seem to be an obvious choice to play Hitchcock, but I accepted him. His makeup job is transformative.
As Anthony Perkins, who played Norman Bates, James D'Arcy is uncanny. He captures the nature of the man. Scarlett Johansson, as Janet Leigh, doesn't look a lot like the original but projects her spunk, intelligence and sense of humor.

Hitchcock comes across in the movie as an enigma. Who was the real Hitchcock? I interviewed him once and haven't a clue. The closest we'll probably come is in the book-length conversation he had with director Francois Truffaut, but they were talking shop, not blonds.

De første 4G tests er kommet - og de er slemme !

Kilde: BBC Technology NewsBy Jane WakefieldTechnology reporter

Outside of the city centre, Manchester has no 4G coverage, tests suggest

The first large-scale test of EE's new 4G network has indicated less than half of Manchester city centre is able to take advantage of its high speeds.

Data collected by mobile coverage firm RootMetrics and shared exclusively with the BBC reveals just 40.2% of its test locations had access to the 4G network.

Outside the city centre there was no 4G coverage, according to the tests.

RootMetrics also found 4G provided much faster speeds indoors, something EE's rivals had questioned when it launched.

Quick song

In test locations that had access 4G, users were getting speeds averaging 17Mbps (megabits per second), according to the survey.

Across all test locations, including those where 4G was unavailable, EE averaged download speeds of 7.6Mbps.

That is still double the average speed of the next fastest operator in the area - Vodafone - which recorded average download speeds of 3.1Mbps in previous tests.

It means that, for example, downloading a song would take less than 15-25 seconds compared with the minute or so it would take on a typical 3G network.

The survey also found:

31% of tests were achieving speeds of more than 10Mbps
9% achieved speeds of 6-10Mbps
18% speeds of 3-6Mbps
23% speeds of 1.5-3Mbps.

That left 19% achieving speeds of less than 1.5Mbps, which actually compares favourably with EE's rivals.

In previous tests, 46% of all the tests for other mobile operators performed at these low speeds, according to RootMetrics.

While the patchy coverage may frustrate users, it mirrored rollouts in the US, where deployments had typically launched with 30% to 60% coverage, said RootMetric's chief executive Bill Moore.

"Although EE's 4G service is much faster than any network currently available in the UK, our testing shows that 4G connections are not consistent even within a nominated area," he said.

"Customers need to be aware of this as there will be an expectation of blistering fast mobile internet speeds whenever they use their phones," said Mr Moore.

EE told the BBC the rollout was "ongoing".

"Every day we expand coverage," said a spokesman.

EE has currently deployed 4G in 11 UK cities, with a plan to increase this to 16 by the end of the year.

Indoor coverage

When EE's network launched, rivals questioned whether the spectrum band that it was using - 1800MHz - would provide good indoor coverage.

But the results suggest that it is not significantly worse - 93% of tests conducted indoors were successful, compared with 97% of outdoor tests.

The survey suggests that 4G has actually offered an uplift to typical indoor speeds.

In fact, RootMetrics found that indoor download speed was higher than its download speeds outdoors - averaging 9.7Mbps versus 8.6Mbps. The caveat to this is that the test did not separate 4G coverage from 3G.

"You would never get the indoor speeds we have seen without 4G. The figures are far in excess of what 3G is capable of on average," said Mr Moore.

Both coverage and speed tests were conducted in Manchester during November using off-the-shelf Samsung Galaxy S3's.

The firm will be testing more 4G services in other cities around the UK and the findings will be published on its website.

MiFi Liberate: Har verden brug for mobilt hotspot.. med touch?

Kilde/Source: Engadget.com

There are two factors that are of the utmost importance when it comes to choosing mobile hotspots: speed and battery life. Further down the list is portability, with hardware design ranking even lower. So the idea of a touchscreen MiFi struck us as a ridiculous luxury, the sort of thing we'd find in a SkyMall catalog. This is why we were intrigued by the MiFi Liberate, Novatel Wireless's first-ever 4G LTE MiFi with a built-in touchscreen. While it might seem like a gimmick, the interface does, in fact, provide quick access to vital stats like data usage. Novatel wasn't content to leave it at that, though: the Liberate has features we would never dream of adding to a MiFi, including media streaming, GPS and even a basic messaging app. Fortunately, the addition of such features don't inflate the price: it's available for $50 with a new two-year agreement with AT&T. How well does it all work? Join us after the break for our review.

MiFi Liberate review

See all photos

HARDWARE

Out of the box, the Liberate looks almost like a miniature Magic Trackpad thanks to its wedged profile and wide surface area. Measuring 99.5 x 73.1 x 8.8mm and weighing in at 120 grams (4.05 x 2.88 x 0.34 inches, 4.26 ounces), it's undeniably chunky, and is quite a bit larger and heavier than past MiFis. Still, it's perhaps the best-looking MiFi yet, with sharp gray edges and a glossy black exterior. On the left side of the battery cylinder is the power button, while the micro-USB port sits on the right. There's a Reset pinhole on the back, along with a flap covering the microSD slot, which can accommodate cards as large as 32GB. Inside the aforementioned enclosure is a 2,900mAh lithium-ion battery.

The star attraction, of course, is that 2.8-inch color TFT touchscreen. It's not a particularly striking display, what with its modest 400 x 240 resolution and shallow viewing angles. Also, while it's a capacitive panel, the responsiveness here leaves much to be desired. We occasionally had to swipe at the display several times before it would react, and we encountered quite a few screen refresh hiccups when scrolling through lists. It also takes a second for the internal accelerometer to rotate the display when we flip the device upside down. Obviously, we're willing to give it a bit of slack due to the secondary importance of a touchscreen on a MiFi, but given that it's the device's marquee feature, we expected more than just a passable attempt.

Setting up the Liberate is fairly painless. Simply pull the tab that separates the battery connection, power it up, and you'll be presented with a handy setup wizard that lets you know the SSID along with the WPA encrypted password. Don't worry if you forget it; just launch the connection details app to get a look at it again. You can also change the password by going to aspecial website, which is a nice step up security-wise compared to other MiFis with static passwords.

SOFTWARE

The Liberate runs on a proprietary Linux platform with a limited set of apps and features. Yet the fact that there are apps on a MiFi at all is pretty exceptional. A status bar tops off the interface, which is comprised of 10 shortcut icons that you can navigate by scrolling horizontally across the screen. With a tap of the finger, you can discover connection details, data usage and a list of connected devices. We found this ability to quickly check data usage quite useful, especially as AT&T does enforce a monthly data cap of 5GB per individual user.

As for settings, you can turn on airplane mode, cellular data or international roaming; adjust screen timeout and screen brightness; enable sound alerts; and even change its WiFi range -- "high" gets it the best distance while "low" saves the Liberate's battery. Security-wise, the Liberate supports VPN pass-through, WiFi Protected Setup, NAT Firewall, anti-CSRF, session timeout, block retry attempts and admin password hash.

Curiously, the Liberate can receive text messages, but you can't send any due to the lack of a keyboard. Thus, the messaging feature here is mostly limited to service alerts from AT&T -- or, you know, the occasional errant text message. The lack of two-way communication feels like an oversight, and it does highlight the weirdness of having messaging on a MiFi at all.

MiFi Liberate web portal screenshots

See all photos

As we mentioned earlier, the Liberate is unique in that it can act as a sort of DLNA or media streaming server thanks to its microSD card slot. Load up your favorite media on the card, head to the browser-based console on whatever device you're using and start streaming those files. You can also stream the music directly to a DLNA-capable device by selecting the Liberate from that item's DLNA interface. We tried it out on both an iPad and a laptop, and it worked well enough; we experienced no buffering or hiccups. As neat as it is, we wonder if it's truly necessary -- we're hard-pressed to think of a scenario where a smartphone or a tablet wouldn't do the same job.

Last but not least, the Liberate adds GPS to any device that happens to not have this feature. We connected the Liberate to a Macbook Air and indeed, it pinpointed our location accurately on the map, right down to which side of the street we were on. Again, most smartphones have GPS these days so this has rather limited functionality, but it's there if you want it.

PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE

A mobile hotspot is useless without solid performance, so it's fortunate that the Liberate actually fares quite well. We connected a tablet, a smartphone and a laptop to it for a whole day and were consistently pulling LTE speeds of around 15 Mbps down and 8 Mbps up with the Liberate getting about three bars of signal strength. We managed to have about 10 to 20 browser tabs open simultaneously and performance didn't take much of a hit at all. Of course, speed can vary depending on location. In the Potrero Hill district of San Francisco, performance dipped by a couple of points on average, while we suffered a five-point loss in the Mission district where the signal strength sometimes dropped to one to two bars.

We have to say we're really pleased with the Liberate's battery life. After about eight hours of constant use (we had the computer hooked up to IRC and both the smartphone and tablet had push notifications turned on), battery percentage barely budged past the 80 percent mark. We also left it connected overnight and it stayed alive for almost 24 hours on idle. Novatel rates Liberate's battery life as up to 11 hours, and right now, we're inclined to believe it.

PRICING AND THE COMPETITION

The Liberate is one of two mobile hotspots available from AT&T; the other is the Elevate 4Gfrom Sierra Wireless. The Elevate also offers 4G LTE speeds along with a microSD card slot, but it only lets you connect up to five devices while the Liberate expands that to 10 devices. Instead of a touchscreen and a 2,900mAh battery, the Elevate has a simple 1.77-inch LCD plus a 1,800 mAh battery rated for up to five hours. It's also considerably cheaper than the Liberate at only $1 with a two-year agreement. While we lament the Elevate's poorer battery life, it's probably the better deal if you don't need the Liberate's extraneous features. As for the data plan, AT&T offers a set price for mobile hotspots: you get a 5GB per month for $50 a month.

If you're not tied to AT&T, Verizon might have even better options with either the Jetpack MiFi 4620L or the ZTE-built Jetpack 890L. The MiFi 4620L looks and feels like a traditional MiFi with only the most basic of information on its OLED display, while the Jetpack 890L has a sleeker design with a larger OLED. Both offer 4G LTE, the ability to connect up to 10 devices, receive SMS usage alerts and are compatible with global networks. The MiFi has a rated battery life of 10 hours, while the Jetpack 890L goes up to five, and are priced at $50 and $20 respectively after a two-year contract. Verizon's data plans are definitely more varied than AT&T's: you can select one of five different monthly plans: 4GB for $30 a month, 6GB for $40, 8GB for $50, 10GB for $60 or 12GB for $70. Our personal preference would be for Verizon's MiFi 4620L due to the flexibility for more data and its simple and familiar interface.

WRAP-UP

As far as its core functions go, the MiFi Liberate delivers on its promise. It really is a solid mobile hotspot with decent LTE speeds and excellent battery life. The ability to connect up to 10 devices is great, and it has a fair price of $50 after a two-year agreement with AT&T. Still, it's not without faults. Though the touchscreen did provide quick access to valuable connection information, we wonder if it was overkill -- a simple LCD like the one on the Elevate would probably have sufficed. The touchscreen itself was also unpleasant to use due to poor responsiveness. Features like messaging, media streaming and GPS are alright, we suppose -- there's no harm in having them -- but they do seem unnecessary. In the end, the MiFi Liberate is a decent purchase if you need a mobile hotspot. And if you want a hotspot that's also a touchscreen device with extra fancy features, you're better off using your smartphone instead.

IFA 2012: Uden Ole De Leeneer :-(

IFA: Det handler om indholdet

Der var ikke de store nyheder på gadget-fronten på IFA-messen i Berlin. Til gengæld var der stor fokus på indholdet på fladskærmen og på, hvordan fjernsynet integreres med andre enheder.

07 SEP 2011 KL. 12:37 - AF JAKOB MEDGYESI

De seneste par år har de store nyheder på gadgetfronten været 3D og tablets. På dette års IFA-messe i berlin var der selvfølgelig stadig stor fokus på de fronter, men efterhånden som fladskærme, tablets og mobiltelefoner er blevet hvermandseje, er fokus begyndt at bevæge sig i retning af at skabe brugbart indhold og på at integrere de forskellige enheder, så de kan spille sammen.

Både Samsung, Sony, Philips, Panasonic og LG forsøgte i høj grad at overbevise pressen om, at netop deres tilgang til det var den bedste, og at de kunne levere det bedste indhold på skærmen - udover de traditionelle tv-kanaler.

Streaming, streaming, streaming

Som vi kunne skrive efter at have snakket med Sonys repræsentanter, så regner de med at kunne lancere streaming af både musik og film indenfor en overskuelig fremtid med deres Music Unlimited og Video Unlimited-tjenester.

Meningen er, at man skal kunne streame ubegrænset musik for et fast beløb om måneden, og at man skal kunne leje film direkte via fjernsynet eller computeren.

På samme måde fokuserer Samsung på indholdet. De har fået aftaler med en lang række udbydere af streaming-indhold, så man kan se film, nyheder og sport på skærmen.

Gadgets skal spille sammen

Men lige så vigtigt er det at kunne få fladskærmen til at spille sammen med ens tablet eller mobiltelefon. Sony demonstrerede for eksempel, hvordan man kunne smide film eller billeder op på skærmen ved at trække filerne op på et fjernsynsikon på ens tablet.

Med deres nye tablet Sony Tablet S lancerer de også en universalfjernbetjening, hvor stort set alle moderne fladskærme kan betjenes direkte fra tablet'en. Også Philips har apps, som kan bruges til at betjene fladskærmen, og Samsung lancerer en ny mini-tablet på fem tommer, der vil følge med deres high-end-skærme.

Med den kan man til dels betjene fjernsynet direkte, men man kan også få billedet fra fjernsynet over på tablet'en, så man kan se videre, selvom man lige skal på toilettet eller ud i køkkenet.

I år lader det til, at disse teknologier hos nogle af producenterne er begyndt at modnes. Betjeningen af indholdet på skærmene er begyndt at blive mere logisk, og specielt når det kommer til producenter som Sony og Samsung, der selv producerer al deres hardware, så er der begyndt at komme et klart bedre samspil mellem fjernsynet og de eksterne enheder.

Men er vi kommet dertil, hvor man kan bruge fjernsynet til egentlig browsing på nettet? Ikke her og nu, for hvis vi skal være helt ærlige, så er der ikke meget sjov ved at skulle indtaste en web-adresse med den traditionelle fjernbetjening.

Det vil dog ændre sig, hvis og når vi får Sonys Google TV til Danmark. Her har fjernbetjeningen et indbygget tastatur. Og vi kan også forestille os, at Samsungs tablet-fjernbetjening vil kunne bruges på samme måde.

Ikke kun TV

Som sagt var hovedtendensen på IFA indhold på fjernsynsskærmen og samspillet mellem forskellige gadgets.

Og 3D og tablets var fortsat blandt de meget tydelige tendenser, der fortsatte fra sidste år.Men ved siden af alt det var der også en enkelt tendens mere, der var fremherskende: Ultrabooks - lette, tynde og kraftige bærbare, der desværre oftest er i et prisleje, der trækker tænder ud.

Læs alt om årets nyheder på IFA her

Men både Sony, Samsung, Acer, Lenovo og Asus fremviste de lækre ultrabooks på messen. Og der er ingen tvivl om, at denne type bærbare er fremtiden.

For selvom de her og nu koster op til 25.000 kroner, når det står helt slemt til, så vil teknologien fra dem langsomt dryppe ned gennem rækkerne, så vi om få år kan få noget, der svarer til de lækre maskiner til priser, man kan betale.

IFA 2011 i retrospekt

Der var som sådan ikke det helt store nyheder på årets messe, der kunne stjæle al vores opmærksomhed. Dette var ikke året, hvor vi første gang så en ny teknologi.

Til gengæld så vi mere modne udgaver af teknologier, vi allerede har set før. 3D fungerede bedre, tablets'ne var federe, de bærbare var mere bærbare. For nu at bruge en floskel fra gadgetverdenen, så handlede det om evolution, ikke revolution.

Hvad synes I var den største nyhed ved IFA i år?

Smugkig på Windows 8: Det er en fornøjelse

Om en lille måned dukker den nye version af Windows op i butikkerne. Vi har prøvet den nyeste version og kommer her med de sidste indtryk inden den endelige anmeldelse.

21 SEP 2012 KL. 10:33 - AF JEPPE CHRISTENSEN Kilde: Tv2 Beep

Der er blevet skrevet meget om Windows 8. Mange pæne ting og nogle knap så pæne ting. Dette smugkig på den færdige udgave af operativsystemet skal ikke tages for andet end skribentens (det er mig!) holdning, og der skal selvfølgelig tages forbehold, at vi endnu ikke har haft fingrene i et færdigt produkt bygget til Windows 8, og at mange apps før frigives på lanceringsdatoen den 26. oktober eller kort efter.

Når vi nu har fået det af vejen, så lad mig fortælle om, hvordan jeg egentlig har leget med Windows 8. Det er sket på en Series 7-tablet fra Samsung, der har fungeret som udviklerværktøj for mange programmører verden over.

Der er tale om pc-indmad med Core i5-processor, fire gigabyte hukommelse og 64-gigabyte SSD-disk, men den er konstrueret som en ren tablet med berøringsfølsom skærm på 11,6 tommer med 1366 x 768-pixel opløsning.

Jeg har nu brugt den færdige udgave af Windows 8 – den som Microsoft selv kalder RTM, eller Release to Manufacturer – på Samsung Series 7-maskinen i en lille måned, og jeg er gennemgående godt tilfreds med oplevelsen.

En Apple-brugers bekendelser

Og det skal altså siges, at jeg udelukkende har brugt Apple-hardware over de sidste fire år. Først med en MacBook Pro og senere med en MacBook Air – og ja, jeg ejer både en iPhone 4S og den nye iPad.

Men til de fleste situationer kan jeg faktisk meget bedre lide Windows 8 på Samsung Series 7. Installationen af operativsystemet var nemt som ingenting, den starter op og vågner fra dvale på i løbet af sekunder, og den fandt selv min trådløse HP-printer og installerede driverne. Kort og godt: den virker bare – mindst lige så godt som mit Apple-grej.

Brugeroplevelsen i Windows 8 er intuitiv, pæn og behagelig i brug. Når man først lige har vænnet sig til at gøre en finger ind fra venstre side (for at se kørende apps), eller højre side (for at tilgå Startmenu og Indstillinger) eller fra bunden (Flere muligheder), så føler man sig helt hjemme i operativsystemet.

Har du prøvet en Windows Phone-mobil, så vil du nikke genkendende til oplevelsen i Windows 8. Det var utrolig nemt at tilføje mine Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter og Flickr-konti, og når først de er inde i systemet, så kommer de indbyggede apps til Kontaktpersoner, e-mail, kalender og fotos til live med indhold, der dynamisk opdateres og holdes ved lige.

Det funker bare

Jeg er godt tilfreds med e-mail-programmet, kalenderen fungerer bare, og det er sjovt at gå på oplevelse i, hvad dine venner og bekendte foretager sig på de mange forskellige sociale netværk. Den indbyggede chat-app gør det nemt at kommunikere med dine venner via Facebook eller Messenger, og lur os om Skype ikke også snart integreres.

Mange bryder sig ikke om, at apps nu kører i fuldskærmstilstand i Windows 8, men det er jo også tilfældet på min iPad eller min Google Nexus 7-tablet, og på min MacBook lader jeg oftest mine programmer fylde hele skærmen og skifter mellem dem med Command-Tab-genvejen. Det samme kan gøre med Alt-Tab på Windows.

I Windows 8 kan jeg hive en app ind på en lille del af skærmen, eksempelvis chatklienten eller e-mail, og holde forbindelsen med omverdenen mens jeg arbejder på en artikel eller surfer nettet med Internet Explorer eller Google Chrome. Ja, du læste rigtigt. Google har allerede frigivet en tidlig udgave af Chrome, der virker med Windows 8 og det fungerer fremragende.

Jeg savner nogle flere apps i Microsoft-butikken, men lur mig om de ikke finder vej når først operativsystemet lanceres officielt den 26. oktober. Der er allerede nogle gode apps derinde, men jeg forventer selvfølgelig at finde alle de applikationer, jeg allerede nu bruger på min iPad og Nexus 7-tablet.

En ”rigtig” computer
Det der er rigtig fedt ved Windows 8 på en tablet som Samsung Series 7 er, at jeg får en tablet-oplevelse, der er mindst lige så god – hvis ikke bedre – som den vi får hos iOS (altså iPad, red.) eller Android samtidig med, at jeg også kan starte det klassiske Windows-skrivebord og gå i gang med rigtige og tunge Windows-programmer som Word eller eksempelvis Photoshop.

Jeg tilslutter det medfølgende trådløse tastatur, og ind i mellem også en trådløs mus, og så bliver min tablet lige pludselig forvandlet til en rigtig arbejdshest. Jeg kan arbejde seriøst med dokumenter, redigere fotos i Photoshop og uploade en færdig historie til TV2 via VPN-adgang og alt det stads. Der gemmer sig hele tiden en fuldt funktionsdygtig pc under overfladen, og det betyder at jeg aldrig behøver at gå på kompromis i forhold til at løse seriøse arbejdsopgaver.

Betyder det at der ikke er problemer og irritationsmomenter ved Windows 8? Selvfølgelig ikke. Jeg ville faktisk ønske at Startmenuen var tilgængelig, når jeg befinder mig i den klassiske Windows 8-oplevelse. Jeg skal selv lave genvej til de mest bruge programmer, ellers skal jeg hele tiden ud i Windows 8-brugermenuen for at starte et nyt program, og det er altså også selvom det skal køres på det klassiske Windows-skrivebord.

Men altså, når først du har oprettet genvejene til de mest brugte programmer, så kan du opholde dig i ”det gamle Windows” lige så lang tid du har lyst uden overhovedet at tænke over den nye brugeroplevelse i Windows 8. Og jeg kan altså godt lide at jeg har adgang til dem begge på den samme enhed.

Det skal også siges, at Samsung Series 7-maskinen ikke er perfekt til Windows 8. Jeg synes den er for tung, og når jeg arbejder med tunge programmer, så går blæseren i gang. Men jeg er ret så hug på Lenovo Thinkpad 2 Tablet, der blot måler 9,8 millimeter i tykkelse og vejer 650 gram, men alligevel leverer en fuld Windows-oplevelse.

Også Microsofts Surface ser rigtig spændende ud. Den lille udgave er tynd og let, men kommer med Windows RT, der ikke virker med klassiske Windows-programmer. Men den virker med Office 2013, og hvis der kommer et par gode apps til billedbehandling, så kunne den sagtens fungere som en god rejsecomputer.

Kort sagt: Jeg kan sagtens se, hvor Microsoft bevæger sig hen med Windows 8 og det er altså et spændende sted, der kombinerer den gode brugeroplevelse fra tablet-computeren med fleksibiliteten og mulighederne hos den traditionelle pc. Går man en smule på kompromis begge steder? Måske, men antageligvis kun for en kort periode, og fordelene ved at have begge oplevelser i én maskine er i mine øjne klart at foretrække.

Jeg glæder mig rigtig meget til den 26. oktober.