128GB iPad

Apple have announced that their iPad with Retina display (what we call the iPad 4th Generation) will be available with even more storage capacity from 5th February 2013. The new size is 128GB, as you probably guessed from the title of this blogpost! There was no fanfare or an Apple special event to break the news, just a simple press statement, but then the product remains the same. The new size is available in both Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi+Cellular options. The costs in the USA are $799 for the Wi-Fi only and $929 for the cellular option.

A whopping 128GB flash drive takes the iPad with Retina Display into new territories. This doubling of storage capacity from 64GB to 128GB, and coupling an iPad with Retina Display with the Apple Wireless Keyboard brings it into competition with a MacBook Air, which is $999, to use US dollars for a direct comparison. And the $999 MacBook Air is only equipped with 64 GB flash storage!

Both the MacBook Air and the iPad + a wireless keyboard give you the option to quickly and accurately type emails, documents etc. for work. But the iPad has a lot more to offer for play. The multi-touch interface works brilliantly with games and creative apps, and also for showing off your photos. It's a tough choice to make if you have $1000 to spend on Apple products!

More and more complex applications are being released for the iPad too. Companies such as Autodesk and WaveMachines Labs take the iPad format very seriously with their AutoCAD WS and Auria apps respectively. Both companies are quoted in Apple's press release of acknowledging that their customers will benefit from a larger storage option on new devices.

Is this enough storage to tempt buyers away from tablets with expandable memory? Can you foresee ever using up 128GB, thats a fair few apps, photos and films. But the with the 4G LTE high speed it is quick to download a large file, so it's probably very useful. Let us know in the comments below what you think of the this addition to the iPad product line up.

App of the Day - App Gratis

App Gratis gives you access to one free app for iOS devices each day. These include paid apps such as WhatsApp and Cut the Rope, but each app is only free for one day! There are also links to lot's of discounted apps and apps which were already free too.

The app limits itself to one push notification a day, to make sure it does not become annoying. If you have an app which you are marketing at a cost a 24 hour give away could greatly increase your user base. And users of good apps share their experience with other iPhone users!



Download today and start discovering paid apps for your iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch, for free!

The Chrome Story

Google Chrome is a fantastic web browser. It's fast, free and automatically updates itself in the background. Other browsers now include features like auto update, such as Mozilla Firefox, and all modern web browsers have dramatically increased in speed.

But Google Chrome is still way ahead in browser benchmarks. In fact it's hard to remember a time before Chrome! From page hits in 2012 Google Chrome is the most popular browser visiting Web Warp Blog with just shy of 40% market share.

Check out the video below for a bit of Google Chrome history from Google themselves.

Paperless 2013

Is 2013 the year that the paperless office finally exists? Probably not, but there is no harm in trying. Since technology such as fax machines, photocopiers and printers have become common place in offices it has been inevitable that our use of paper has continued to increase. And paper isn't expensive so there is very little financial incentive to just stop printing.

We waste the planets resources, cutting down trees, creating paper, and shipping tons of paper to your office just to print out an email which could be read perfectly well on screen. It just doesn't make sense. In 2013 a group of companies have teamed together to sponsor an initiative 'Paperless 2013'. It is no surprise that these sponsors offer technologies and products that will help anyone hoping to reduce their paper consumption. These include online storage and scanning products.

To get email updates with hints and tips from Paperless 2013, or to just find out more, visit www.paperless2013.org

Ubuntu for Phones

Ubuntu is the most popular linux distribution and is seen by many as a real alternative to Microsoft's Windows and Apple's OS X operating systems. In 2013 Ubuntu comes to smart phones to join the competitive mobile operating system market. Their promo video (below) looks really impressive and they are inviting developers to make their apps compatible with a mobile linux OS.

Ubuntu has grand aims, they are hoping to produce a single OS which can run desktop computers, TV's and smartphones, creating a truly unified experience. Ubuntu offer a lot to desktop users, including access to cloud based storage which is fully integrated into apps within the OS. And have I mentioned that the desktop version is essentially free! There is now a suggested donation but it is certainly cheaper the Windows or OS X.

The Ubuntu phone features interesting usability traits. The 'lock' screen does not require 'unlocking' as such, just swiping in various areas of the screens edge to access specific content on your device. The OS allows you to go full screen and enjoy the most of your photos, videos or web browsing experience. Would you consider trying a new mobile operating system? If it works well this may encourage increasing numbers of users to try this linux distribution on the desktop too.

More information Ubuntu's website www.ubuntu.com

Starbucks $1 Reusable Cups

From today Starbucks are offering a $1 plastic reusable cup in all of their US and Canadian stores. This cup will pay for it self in 10 visits to Starbucks as coffee bought with your reusable cup is 10 cents cheaper. Starbucks already offers this price reduction when customers bring in their Starbucks tumblers (and in the UK too), however it is hoped that the cheaper reusable cup will encourage more customers to change their habits and reuse their cup.

Starbucks will wash out the reused cups with boiling water free of charge before filling it with your chosen beverage. It is encouraging that large corporations are increasingly trying to change the culture of throwing away paper cups.

iCloud and Mac OS X Lion

Apple offers their latest operating system, OS X Mountain Lion, for a reasonable rate in your local currency. However not all existing Mac's meet the minimum hardware specification, and are therefore limited to it's predecessor Mac OS X Lion. This is typical of new operating systems as the demands on the system hardware tend to increase or sometimes older processors architectures are no longer supported for upgrade, such as Apples transition from PowerPC to Intel processors about 5 years ago.

This blogpost is about the specific implications of running Mac OS X Lion along side the latest versions of iLife and iWorks applications supporting iCloud.

Firstly Shared Photo Streams are NOT included in the latest versions of iPhoto and Aperture when running on Mac OS X Lion. This can not be due to a hardware restriction as the personal Photo Stream (up to 1000 most recent photos) works perfectly and keeps all your latest snaps up to date just as on iPhones, iPads and Apple TV's. So why omit it? To encourage you to upgrade to a new Mac?

When it comes to iCloud storage of documents for iWork the Apple webpage says: "iCloud requires iOS 5 on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), or iPad; a Mac computer with OS X Lion or later". So you would assume that Pages, Numbers and Keynote would be fully integrated with iCloud document storage as shown on the Apple webpage advertising each service, assuming your Mac is running either Lion or Mountain Lion.

This, however, is not the case. From the Help file in Pages: "Updating documents using iCloud works differently, depending on whether you’re using OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion (v10.8)". How different you ask? Well the method of transferring files on Mac OS X Lion is to use www.icloud.com! Cloud services such as Google Drive and Dropbox, for just two of many examples, which include a desktop app, syncing automatically, offer a far neater solution to push your content to cloud storage than via a web browser. The web browser method is a handy tool for when you are away from your computer, not a primary workflow. The requirement is then that you manage the library on your Mac and choose what to upload or download. iCloud is supposed to 'just work' and the versions feature should stop you losing old parts of a document.

These two examples could be included on older systems if not for Apples need to add new features which are unique to the latest OS. In many cases systems which can't run Mountain Lion can in fact run either Windows 7 or Windows 8 using boot camp and can enjoy Shared Photo Streams with the iCloud application for windows.

So in summary, always remain up-to-date or unfortunately expect some disappointment.