The Apple Rumour Mill

With rumours of the iPad 2 media preview due to take place on Wednesday, I’m taking a look at all that the Apple Rumour Mill is churning out, and what we can potentially expect from Apple over the next year…

iPhone 5

Well… there’s not too much hot gossip on the iPhone 5 – only this; an apparent leak of the new screen for the next Apple phone. It’s the bezel of the new potential iPhone 5 screen, which is much bigger than the one of the iPhone 4. Whether or not we will see this on the next Apple phone, who knows – I will keep my ears to the ground for the next set of iPhone 5 rumours the Apple grinder kicks out.

Is Apple’s head designer heading home?

Head of Industrial Design and the man behind the iPhone, iPod, iPad and the MacBook, British born Jonathan Ives is rumoured to be leaving the Apple HQ and heading home to the UK so that his children can attend school here.

Whilst I think it’s sweet that he wants to educate his kids in England, this teamed with an unwell Steve Jobs would create a cloud of uncertainty for Apple, which could impact their future products and share prices. I hope he does stay a little longer as, being the Apple-a-holic that I am, I want him to continue producing more fantastic gadgets for me to play with… and of course, review for all of you.

iPad 2

At the International CES technology conference, mock-ups of how the new iPad 2 will look have been leaked – the next model has a flatter back and will be slimmer at just 9.8mm, which is 4mm sleeker than the original model.

Matching the iPhone 4, there are front and back cameras to enable facetime and back left of the new model hosts a huge speaker to play the 128GB worth of music and films you can store on it. We'll also be getting a USB port and enquiring minds would really like to know if we can run Microsoft Office on this version. Is it any different aesthetically? Not really… Will the technology behind the new model blow us all away? I hope so…

It may be lighter, there is talk of a white version and expect a retina display iPad to blow away the competition. The thinking is it will be dual-core as all the tablets are taking this road in 2011.

Unsurprisingly the media launch in San Fran, is on March the 2nd - the UK event is set to take place at the BBC Television Centre in London on the same date. The press invites see an Apple iOS calendar peeling away to reveal the top right hand corner of an iPad, tantalisingly not showing evidence of facetime or..... anything.

However, there is a chance that this mock up is just to throw us off the scent, rumour also has it that this iPad 2 is the new ‘Big Thing’ to come out of Apple HQ, fully equipped with new apps such as iMilk, iFire and iMotivator:

Seasonal Technology Marketing Needs a Shake Up

Watch out for the Man in a Bunny Suit!
Let’s admit, everyone, including myself loves receiving a beautifully wrapped present and opening it to find a brand new gadget inside. The kind that will keep you awake at night unless it is switched on, working and you’ve played with it. Seasonal celebrations such as Christmas and Valentines provide countless opportunities for technology suppliers to persuade us to buy their products for our loved ones. Some do this well, others do this badly and some just miss the mark completely.

Just to say…
February 14^th marks the annual day of love. Since 1382 we have been displaying our affection on this day with the exchange of poetry, cards, flowers and now… camcorders. Garish pink and purple ad campaigns, asking us who we would rather kiss or elope with, are taking over the tech world, and are being complimented by offers on pink iPods, Hello Kitty Cameras and…. TV remotes? (yes, apparently TV remotes make the perfect gift for loved ones who like watching TV).

One does have to question, who are they talking too? With Valentines day set aside for romantic gestures… we are being told that these now come in the form of pink gadgets and are seemingly being convinced to buy them instead of flowers and chocolates, but does this really have the desired affect? “Keep you’re special someone safe with a Cisco Fixed Network Security Camera,” or “Sat-Nav’s: The way to your loved one’s heart”. Need I say any more?

Look out for the man in the bunny suit!
Well Easter is just around the corner and I dread to think what will come next… I anticipate websites laden with Easter eggs, poke a chicken competitions and maybe, if you buy an ink cartridge or a paper shredder it will be delivered by a courier man in a bunny suit who presents it in a basket full of Easter eggs… now there’s a thought.

‘Tis the Season…...NOT YET!!!
As we all know when you are young, an hour in the playground feels like a lifetime and as you get older the years fly by. Just as you are getting used to this year’s politics, economic furore, world disasters and revolutions, out comes the tinsel, the lovely ecard with the dogs and kittens and 'that' woman is warbling over shop speakers again (you know who I mean).

Christmas is the time of year when technology retailers go all out to convince you to buy from them. Turning websites into a scene from the inside of Santa’s grotto, they all compete to see who can have the most snow, holly and reindeer on their landing page.

Demanding children are busy asking for laptops, cameras, games consoles and phones and the tech world aims to capitalise on this as much as possible… “Come and poke Santa’s little helpers” they cry, in a bid to get you to enter a competition, that you subsequently lose but they still have your email address, so they can aggressively send you offers on ‘cool gifts’ year upon year until you give in.

More Computers wins PC Advisor's Best Specialist IT Retailer

I'm pleased to say the readers of PC Advisor have voted MoreComputers.com winner of the PC Advisor Awards 2011 reader award for Best Specialist IT Retailer. It's fantastic news. The awards were voted for by more than 14,000 PC Advisor print and online readers and I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who voted for us.

Our customer service and development teams also deserve a big thank you too, without their hard work and commitment we'd be lost - Go team!

Take a look at all the award winners here at PC Advisor Awards 2011

Tech-citing 2011

As people are purported to like people, I thought I would let you know what I actually look like. This is me supporting MoreFrom at the recent Sheffield Business Awards. So there you go.

I'm not sure if this has ever been stated in an outright manner, so I felt it best to say so now and at the beginning of 2011. We'll start as we mean to go on. TheLadyTron loves all things tech. I love the idea of tech, the plans for tech, gadgetry and gizmos. I can occasionally be found pondering how the internet takes images, words and graphics and can send them to squillions of screens for all to see at the touch of a button or from the heat of your finger on some clever bit of kit.

It's very overwhelming. Go on, try and plot the process in your head, I dare you! I guarantee you'll get the same look on your face that I did and it's not one you'll want to be seen sporting in general public (or the Apple store in my case).

What (wo)man can now do is amazing. We are all explorers of space, the fantasy has become reality. It might not be in suits amongst the stars but it is definitely in another dimension.

Enough of my theological musings and on to the main points. Last year was a very exciting year in technology and 2011 promises more of the same. I thought I would outline some highlights, whilst I wait for a Galaxy Samsung to be dropped off for my entertainment:

Apple's MacBookAir - Launched last year, initially I got rather excited about this pretty bit of kit. On closer inspection the spec is not as impressive as the Macbook Pro so I ordered another one of those but with a solid state drive.

Kinect - I fear this was rushed to launch for the usual Christmas gaming wars. The concept is well-received and the console itself does what it should but gamers the world over can be heard shouting "Give Us Games!!". When will these companies learn; take a product to market when it and all the necessary components are ready and not before.

Google is to hire more than 6000 people in 2011 - Apparently this is to counteract the increasing threat of facebook who can now boast that 10% of their 2,000 strong workforce used to work for the top dog search engine. Google, rather sensitively or fortuitously (you choose dear reader), announced this on the day Yahoo Inc. let plans be known for staff cuts of 150 - 200, due to falling revenue figures.

Internet TV - This years big thing is all about Internet TV. Apple, Google and Samsung are already dominating the headlines with their efforts, debuts and relaunches planned for the coming 12 months. The Beeb has come under heavy and probably undeserved fire, for rumours on what is happening with their Youview TV. Apparently there are technical glitches but as the BBC is renowned for quality and their website is still light years ahead of most, I'll reserve my judgement.


App Inventor - A free app for inventing android applications. All you need is this free browser-based software, a mac or a pc and a google account. No programming skills necessary. Go on have a play...you know you want to...

Tron Legacy - This is obviously a nod to my heritage, the main reason for mentioning last years uber cool cyber release. What it lacks in plot it makes up for in stunning visuals and action sequences. Nuff said.

Sony Ericsson PSP Phone - Planned to be released around May 2011, I'm not sure I would want one as a permanent extension to my arm, like my current phone is but I deffo want to have a play.

Cyber Clean - Goo in a pot to get rid of all the nasty things lurking between your alt button and your Z key. Apparently there is more bacteria contained within the un-chartered depths of the gaps between your keys than under a public toilet seat. The only difference is the absence of smell to alert you....euuwwwwww!!

Carrera not Scaletrix - I had to buy a slot car set recently, not for a child but for a client. Random I know and I was informed by a secret geek agent that anybody who knows anything about slot cars doesn't buy scaletrix but Carrera. Carrera uses...wait for it.......German engineering which makes for a more reliable slot car that doesn't come off the track as easily. Who knew?

Rumour Mill - (As quoted from Stuff Magazine) "Netbooks running Google's Chrome OS will launch this month ◆ The sequel to Fusion Garage's doomed JooJoo tablet is incoming, with Android replacing its shonky proprietary OS ◆ Toshiba is prepping a Regza-branded TV phone with a 4in screen ◆ Google's Nexus Two will launch at the same time as Android 3.0. ◆ The next iPhone will have the SIM card built in."