Tablets for Ubuntu: Ubuntu on your touchpad ...!

Canonical made ​​a surprise yesterday by setting up a strange counter on the website, a counter announcing the arrival of a product in connection with touch pads. Many people have obviously thought the South African company would unveil a new slate top revolutionary, but it was finally decided to do a lot better by launching a special version of its famous distribution , a completely new version designed for our kind mobile terminals. His name? Tablets for Ubuntu, obviously. And there are better since they are more images that will soon be available, images that work with the Nexus Nexus 7 and 10.

On the question of the interface, this is no great surprise that we discover an environment very similar to other versions of Ubuntu Mobile. Same colors, similar ergonomics, Ubuntu for Tablets fits completely in the ecosystem created by Canonical and this is a good thing, especially for fans of the distribution. And yes, there are a few.

In terms of functionality, it has a lot of things, obviously. Starting with a complete multitasking that allows you to quickly switch from one application to another. The interesting thing is that Canonical was a little further by proposing a system similar to that found in Note 10.1 and, more recently on Note 2: it will be possible to display side by side two applications, two windows. The other thing nice is the management of multiple accounts. With this feature every beast, the tablet can be used by the whole family and even find a guest account for visitors.

To quickly launch favorite applications, we can also see a dock side, stowed away to the left of the screen. Dock will be hidden by default but you can bring up a single gesture.

And so, this special variant of Ubuntu also includes evil evil other features to share content quickly on social networks that you frequent or even take control of his voice terminal. And if we add to this the integration of an application store, it is said that Ubuntu for Tablets is likely to attract many users.

History finale, it may also indicate that Ubuntu for Tablets has been designed to run on tablets ranging from 6 to 20 inches. As for the images to Nexus, know they are available on the website of Canonical a few times and we'll talk when they are obviously arrived.

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PlayStation 4: a summary before the official announcement

Dear friends, dear friends, we are about to experience a historic and rare, the kind of moment that will be forever etched in our memory and we will certainly obviously not telling our children and our grandchildren. For indeed, it is tomorrow that Sony should formally introduce its new console, and then ... the PlayStation 4 ! PlayStation 4 the same cast that made ​​a lot of ink in recent weeks and has been the subject of many rumors. Yes, and in fact, if you do not follow them or if you fear being missed hallway noise that we should not miss, know that you'll find a little lower a summary of everything expressed about the PS4.

And as usual, we will obviously start with little warning usual. because in fact, a rumor is, basically, a rumor, and it should not be taken at face value letter. In other words, it is better not to pack too quickly and be very cautious about the whole content of this article.

Technical

Specifications of the PlayStation 4 remained very discreet until earlier this year. Relying on one of its sources, Kotaku is actually able to put your hand on January 90 technical documentation pages on the SDK console, documentation was very clear from the specifications of this last.

It is thus a question of four dual-core AMD64 "Bulldozer" for a total of eight cores, a GPU AMD R10xx with no less than 2 GB of dedicated memory of 8 GB of RAM , with 160GB of space storage , a Blu-ray player and an extensive connection, four USB 3.0 ports, two Ethernet ports, HDMI output and optical output program.

A few days later, it is VGLeaks which added a layer with features even more detailed and similar to what we have seen, two or three details closely. Which? RAM to begin with, that would turn around 4GB and the storage space, which would reach 500 GB Why such differences? In reality, it is quite simple, the document obtained by Kotaku was not that the SDK console, a development kit that is designed primarily for publishers and can, therefore, present some differences with the model final.

Controllers & Accessories

Lets kick now with the game controller of the PlayStation 4 and then with the new DualShock has spilled a lot of ink last week. According to the latest information in time, this new controller should take the same lines of the previous DualShock , but with several major changes. Buttons "START" and "SELECT" and have bowed out in favor of a touch area similar to that found the back of the PS Vita, touch area that we would therefore otherwise interact with our favorite games .

In addition, the new DualShock also incorporate the same technology as the PS Move . Again, it would be for Sony to push publishers to get creative in terms of gameplay . And that's not all because the handle of the PlayStation 4 may also include a microphone and a headphone jack . It could thus be no question of voice recognition, which would end up in the era of time. Recall indeed that the Xbox 720 could also play this card.

It is for the DualShock. Now, there are also other details that have emerged over the past few weeks. The most interesting of all is that the PlayStation 4 might be able to connect to our smartphones and our shelves so we can more easily take control of the console. We think especially the universal remote has on each shelf Sony, but it is likely that the manufacturer goes a little further than that and it will inspire and perhaps that Nintendo offers with its Wii U and GamePad to offer us a new gaming experience

And then there's also this patent unearthed by SlashGear, a patent which features a funny touch pad embarking controls similar to those found on the DualShock, controls like a cross directional or even an analog stick , not to mention the usual buttons . Strange, of course, but it is better not to pack too quickly because the big companies in the world have used to make a ton of patents each year to protect their ideas, patents do not always lead to products marketable course.

Games & Features

So it is for the console and accessories for these. It remains to discuss anything related to his games or features. The first thing to say is that the PlayStation 4 may not be backwards compatible with PlayStation 2 games of course, but also with those of the PlayStation 3. A blow to players with a well stocked library, of course, but the Japanese firm could suddenly propose an alternative solution based on technology developed by Gaikai , a technology "cloud gaming" that was simply to stream games on customers connected to the Internet. Recall that Sony has actually spent several million dollars last year to acquire the solution.

The question is of course how this technology will be marketed by Sony. This may eventually opt for two solutions: the sale of securities to the unit or the implementation of a solution of subscription . In my case, it is obviously the latter solution seems to be the most relevant, but unfortunately it will wait for the official announcement of the firm for more information.

Another key sticking point in the second hand market. As you may know already, the games sold used not report anything or publishers or manufacturers. Margin based on actual securities sold nine and understand why they do not carry used games in their hearts. But in fact, if you believe the latest gossip in date, Microsoft and Sony could implement a unique key and attached to the console , a key system that would prevent us from running games buddies on our PlayStation 4 or Xbox 720 our, and vice versa of course.

Price & Availability

All that is great, but we have not yet discussed the issue of price . We must be very careful, obviously, but according to the information available, the PlayStation 4 could be offered between $ 400 and $ 500 , or a little more or a little less. Note that this range is based on a simple estimation .

And then, finally, there is the date the PlayStation 4 should be available. We'll know more tomorrow, obviously, but it apparently could land in Japan and the United States just before the holiday season, so somewhere in the last quarter of 2013. In Europe , however, the launch of the console could be shifted and thus it is the latter issue only happens the first quarter of 2014 . The worst, of course, is that this would not be surprising since Sony has often proceeded in the past.

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iOS: a new concept for multitasking

iOS is a good mobile platform, it is a fact, but it is not perfect, however, and among the reproaches can send him there obviously its aging interface. An interface that has unfortunately not changed significantly in recent years. Every major update is expected at a real revolution and it never seems to happen. iOS 7 will perhaps some adjustments, but nothing says that this will indeed be the case. In the meantime, in any case, many creative trying to imagine what could become the mobile platform from Apple and that is precisely the case who made ​​a very interesting concept on multitasking. The video is obviously in the future.

Since multitasking is it always behaves in the same way. Is pressed twice on the button "home" , a horizontal bar appears at the bottom of the screen, it performs some scans side to access open applications or to get their hands on the controls of iTunes and you're done . The trick, of course, is that the button "home" is not necessarily the strongest part of an iDevice - if you have problems you should know that there are ways to fix itself - and would be very wise for Apple designers are addressing the issue for future versions of the platform.

And if they are lacking inspiration, they could easily go look towards the concept of s3ntry93 seen there is no shortage of interest. To bring up the multitasking bar on this concept, it suffices to support the bottom and in the middle of the screen. There is a vertical bar that has split the screen active, as Moses face to the Red Sea. The user will then have to place the finger on the application of their choice or to make small scans to access some common options like WiFi, Bluetooth and so on.

The result is not bad. After that, we can of course ask whether this concept is very an ergonomic point of view, but that is another debate.

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HTC One: the official specifications

It is finally here, and there. As we suspected, HTC has used its special conference to unveil the new flagship of its fleet, and thus the highly anticipated HTC One. A smartphone aimed at the high end, which has a lot of talk over the last few months and we now know that everything, absolutely everything. And you know the best? Not? Not really? Well all the rumors that have circulated about him were true. One might even say they were not wrong and you will also be able to see for yourself by reading the rest of this article.

The current context is not easy to HTC. Battered last year, the company posted a net loss of 30% in turnover and 80% of its net profit in the third quarter ( source ) . Not terrible terrible, there is no need to be an experienced economist to understand that the situation is not stupendous. No, and it is precisely for this reason that the HTC One is not just an ordinary smartphone more. And face a very attractive and Xperia Z a particularly awaited Galaxy S4, we can say that the company plays big, really big.

Design & Usability

If you have followed all the rumors circulating on the web since the beginning of the year, then you should know that HTC has been enormously One leaked in recent weeks and we go and see the amount of photos featuring . This does not surprise you, but probably not all of these images were true. One advantage the HTC and a beautiful metal shell and lines that are reminiscent of the iPhone 5 or the BlackBerry Z10. Some love it, others less, but One advantage of very neat and does not leave indifferent. We appreciate the two grids dug into the metal that protects the speaker and microphone, or the back cover textured reminiscent of previous models of the brand.

You should also know that the hull of HTC One opts for the unibody and the mobile is rather thin (9mm). The interesting thing is that the antenna integrated metal required no less than twelve years of research and development. Whichever way you hold your smartphone, so you should have no problem in terms of reception.

Technical

Turning now to the technical specifications of the HTC One. Again, remember that all the rumors in recent weeks were true. The new flagship vessel of the fleet of company benefits and a Full HD screen of 4.7 inches, a quad-core processor Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064 clocked at 1.7 Ghz, with 2GB of RAM, with 32 GB of space storage  (no micro SD card slot) and a 2300 mAh battery to top it off. Another interesting point is the sensor, which benefits from a new technology - the ultrapixel - to improve color rendition and sharpness of images. It should be noted in conclusion that the HTC One will be compatible with 4G networks and it is even possible to play with the NFC chip embedded.

The sensor board, on paper, offers only 4 megapixels. One might think that HTC engineers Bossant went crazy but they actually have designed a new type of sensor that is twice the size of the HTC One X. In other words, the technology is capable of capturing ultrapixel more light. Rather interesting, especially if we add to this the fact that the One also incorporates a stabilizer to boost even more the quality of our photos.

Features

And that's not all since HTC has also thought about integrating some friendly technologies, such as that recorded automatically cache all the images captured by the smartphone even before the user presses the shutter button, or one that allows combine several video clips into a real little film. Not stupid, this should interest a lot of people.

Besides that, the manufacturer has also made ​​sure to improve the sound quality of the device, particularly in terms of its speaker. Same as for the microphone (dual) which is able to reduce the noise to improve the recording quality. All with a little help from behind Beats Audio, necessarily ...

Conclusion

That's outline. Finally, we can also report that the HTC One goes on sale from March 15th in the UK, in black or white. Another model offering 64GB of storage should arrive in stride. We do not yet know the price of the beast but we know that it will carry Jelly Bean 4.1.2. An update to Android 4.2 is obviously to be expected and it should happen fairly quickly if we are to believe the representatives of the firm.

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An extension for Facebook DashClock

DashClock is surely one of Android applications talked about more right now. Since last week when Fred showed you this widget can be displayed on the home screen as the unlock screen , DashClock has indeed already suffered its first update and today is an extension that is about her, an extension to the widget that should delight everyone as it is simply DashClock Facebook Extension , an application that, as its name suggests, allows you to add Facebook notifications to widget, nothing more, nothing less. With this extension, so you can access directly from your widget, the number of unread messages and the number of notifications.

We note in passing that this application does nothing official: it is not developed by Facebook developers. However, it works well and does what is asked of him and that, ultimately, it is the principal.

DashClock Facebook extension is available for free on Google Play Store and requires DashClock have already installed ( we do not absolutely doubted ). Of course, as DashClock, it will not be available Android versions prior to 4.2. However, strange as it may seem to some, the extension does not need to have already installed the Facebook app itself.

All you have to do is quite simple: you install the extension and it is available in the list of extensions to add to your widget, you get a list of parameters that appear in the creation of the widget itself or via the new widget available since the last update. Then simply go into settings extension to connect with your Facebook account and set the update interval data.

DashClock thus continues to grow, and we should start to see flowering extensions of this kind everywhere.

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