The design and performance make the MacBook Air a standout product among the latest crop of ultrabooks. You can run any applications youll need for business use, including Microsoft Office, and the trackpad and Mac OS X make the Air a pleasure to use.

Pros:

Lightweight, slimline design, great battery life, affordable price tag

Cons:

Waiting for Mavericks, no Retina display

Overall Rating:

Price: £949 for 128GB or £1,129 for 256GB
Manufacturer: Apple

Specifications:
Model: MacBook Air 13in (2013 model)
Processor: Intel Core i5 1.3GHz, configurable to 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i7
RAM: 4GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory
Storage: 128GB or 256GB
Display: 13.3in 1440x900 LED-backlit widescreen
Connectivity: 802.11ac WiFi, 802.11a/b/g/n compatible, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: 2x USB 3 ports, Thunderbolt port, MagSafe 2 power port, SDXC card slot, dual microphones, headphone jack
Weight: 1.35kg
Dimensions: 325x227x17mm
Battery: Integral 54Whr lithium polymer battery

Review : 
 The original MacBook Air established itself as the benchmark for thin and light laptops, and with its upgrade to Intel Core chips in 2011, it got the performance boost to match its sleek design and build.

The latest 13in model launched by Apple in June is pretty much the same on the outside as the 2011 edition, aside from the addition of dual microphones on the left-hand side. Meanwhile, OS X Lion has been updated to Mountain Lion – youll have to wait until the autumn to get hold of a MacBook Air running the latest Mavericks version – but Apple has made some tweaks to the battery to get more juice out of the machine.

Weve been trying out the Core i5 1.3GHz 13in version with 4GB of RAM to see if Apples battery promises live up to expectation, helped on by the inclusion of a processor from Intels latest Haswell processor architecture rather than the previous Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge versions.

Build and design
The 13in MacBook Air doesnt quite meet its 11in little siblings feather-light credentials, but its still one of the thinnest and lightest laptops around, partly thanks to its inclusion of flash storage.


It measures in at 325x227x17mm and weighs only 1.35kg, adding just under 300g compared with the 11in 1.08kg model, and expanding by just 25mm in width and 33mm in depth. Even with the rise of ultrabooks since Apple first released this hardware a few years ago, PC manufacturers have struggled to drive down weight and size, while retaining decent performance and battery life at a reasonable cost.

Even though the 13in MacBook Air is stick-thin and lightweight, build quality is superb and extremely sturdy, while the unibody design gives the laptop a sleek, high-end look. Apple has included a 79-key island backlit keyboard that is well proportioned into this 13in model, with 12 function keys and four arrow keys laid out in a user-friendly format. The keys have a short travel distance, meaning only a light touch is needed when typing.

Another key area where the MacBook Air surpasses the majority of its Windows-based counterparts is the trackpad. The trackpad itself is huge, and more than adequate to carry out swiping and pitching gestures comfortably, making it a breeze to scroll up, down and around the screen. But be warned – once youve got used to the trackpad, youll find it difficult to downgrade back to a normal mouse experience.


Its easy to tailor the trackpad to work in the way you want it, with options for one, two and three finger clicks, right clicking, as well as dragging up or down the trackpad. The only real downside weve found is that the trackpad can get glitchy – for example with the right-click functionality – once youve had your MacBook Air for a couple of years or more.

Display
The first downside to get out the way is that, sadly, Apple hasnt added a Retina display to the MacBook Air. Retina screens offer a resolution up to 2880x1800 on the 15in MacBook Pro models, delivering more screen real estate with amazing colour and definition. However, adding Retina would have likely added cost to the MacBook Air, and decreased battery life.



The 13in non-Retina screen on the MacBook Air isnt a downgrade compared with other laptops, though. It has an LED backlight and comes with a maximum resolution of 1440x900, compared with the 1366x768 maximum on the 11in. You can also easily change the resolution to a range of preset options depending on your needs: 1280x800, 1152x720 and 1024x640 at 16:10 aspect ratio, or 1024x768 and 800x600 pixels at a 4:3 aspect ratio.

The display offers sharp colours and brightness, and isnt very reflective compared with many laptop models we have seen, so you wont get screen glare apart from in bright sunlight. The display is high quality for watching video or viewing images. The ambient sensor is also a great touch as it automatically adjusts the brightness of the screen and lighting of the keyboard, meaning you can use the MacBook Air in a dark room and still easily see all the keys and screen.

Ports
Anyone needing a laptop with lots of native connectivity should look elsewhere. The paper-thin chassis simply doesnt allow for a wide variety of ports.


On the left-hand side of the 13in MacBook Air, youll find the power connector, a USB port, headphone socket and dual microphones. Audio quality is decent on the MacBook Air, although if youre planning on using the speakers regularly to watch films or TV, or for webconferencing, youll either want to invest in a comfortable pair of headphones or buy some extra speakers, as the maximum volume isnt very loud.

On the right, Apple has added a second USB port, a single Thunderbolt connector and an SDXC card slot, something not offered on the 11in model.


The MacBook Air has been designed for portability, so its necessary to chop features like optical drives and even an Ethernet port. However, for those not happy relying on WiFi connectivity, you can purchase an Ethernet adaptor to plug into the USB port for £25, an accesory weve found handy over our years using the MacBook Air.

The inclusion of the Thunderbolt port goes some way towards mitigating the lack of others. Not only does the port provide transfer speeds that are up to 20 times faster than traditional USB, it also allows the Air to connect with VGA, HDMI, mini Display Port and DVI devices, via adapters.
Unfortunately, only a power cable is provided in the box, with everything else needing to be purchased as an optional extra. A standard Thunderbolt cable costs £39 and a VGA adapter will set you back another £25.

Storage
While the 11in MacBook Air received a storage upgrade with the latest batch of releases – the entry-level jumped from 64GB up to 128GB of storage for the same £849 price tag and a 256GB version appeared for £1,029 – the 13in models were missed off the upgrade list, coming in the same 128GB and 256GB formats. But the good news is that the price tags have dropped, so the 128GB model is now available for £949, down from £999 for last years model, while the 256GB model is now priced at £1,129, down from the 2012 price of £1,249.
Next: Operating system---> Read the rest of this post ---->V3

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The long wait is almost over, dear Nokia N900 owners. The Finnish companys developers are almost done porting MeeGo to the sweet QWERTY slider and promise to release it to the general public in a few days.
The update will be available on the MeeGo site, which should enable dual-booting of Maemo and MeeGo on the Nokia N900 so you can get a taste of the upcoming MeeGo mobile OS.
There is no exact date mentioned for the PR 1.3 update but "quite close now" (MeeGo dev team words, not ours) sounds very promising.
The bad news is that this is a try-at-you-own-risk kind of deal so Nokia wont be offering support for the MeeGo-enabled N900 officially. This is not to say they wont be releasing updates or fixing bugs, but you will be the one taking the risk of something going wrong with the new OS.
So are you on board for the update, or are you going to stick to the dead-end Maemo?

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Apple has updated the iWork suite of productivity apps - Pages, Numbers and Keynote - for iOS, OS X and iCloud bringing new features like ability to share password-protected files via iCloud and improved compatibility with Microsoft Office files.

The update brings other new features and improvements to the iOS and OS X versions of apps that seem to focus on UI-related changes, collaboration and compatibility enhancements, greater flexibility when working with certain controls, and more. 9to5Mac details the changes in the iCloud version of the three applications that include a redesigned UI, an ability to see what documents have been shared with you, rich formatting of text in table cells, and more.

The full list of changes in Pages, Numbers and Keynote for iOS and OS X is included below.

Whats new in Pages for OS X version 5.1

• Vertical ruler.


• Share password-protected documents via iCloud link.


• Customizable alignment guides.


• Set keyboard shortcuts for styles.


• View character count with or without spaces.


• Improved precision for inserting and pasting objects.


• Create charts with date, time, and duration values.


• Delete sections from the page navigator.


• Improved compatibility with Microsoft Word 2013 documents.


• Export password-protected documents to DOCX format.


• Custom number formats in charts are preserved on import of Pages 09 and Microsoft Word documents.


• Start a list automatically using new special characters.


• Improved support for bidirectional text.


• Improved ePub export.


• Bug fixes and stability improvements.

Whats new in Numbers for Mac version 3.1

• Sort by multiple columns.


• Sort a subset of rows.


• Text autocompletes when editing cells.


• Chart date and duration values.


• Optionally highlight rows and columns on mouseover.


• Progress indicator for calculations.


• Custom number formats in charts are preserved on import of Numbers 09 and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.


• Share password-protected spreadsheets via iCloud link.


• Export password-protected spreadsheets to XLSX format.


• Improvements to AppleScript support.


• Improved compatibility with Microsoft Excel 2013 spreadsheets.


• Bug fixes and stability improvements

Whats new in Keynote for Mac version 6.1

• New transitions including Droplet and Grid.


• Enhanced presenter display options.


• Share password-protected presentations via iCloud link.


• Custom number formats in charts are preserved on import of Keynote 09 and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.


• Create charts with date, time, and duration values.


• Improved compatibility with Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 presentations.


• Bug fixes and stability improvements.

Whats new in Pages for iOS version 2.1

• Share password-protected documents via iCloud link.


• View character count with or without spaces.


• Export password-protected documents to DOCX format.


• Start a list automatically using new special characters.


• Create charts with date, time, and duration values.


• Improved support for bidirectional text.


• Improved ePub export.


• Improved compatibility with Microsoft Word 2013 documents.


• Custom number formats in charts are preserved on import of Pages 09 and Microsoft Word documents.


• Bug fixes and stability improvements.

Whats new in Numbers for iOS version 2.1

• View and edit spreadsheets in landscape orientation.


• Chart date and duration values.


• Share password-protected documents via iCloud link.


• Export password-protected spreadsheets to XLSX format.


• Improved compatibility with Microsoft Excel 2013 spreadsheets.


• Custom number formats in charts are preserved on import of Numbers 09 and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.


• Bug fixes and stability improvements.

Whats new in Keynote for iOS version 2.1

• Use the new remote feature to control slideshows on other devices.


• New transitions including Droplet and Grid.


• Enhanced presenter display options.


• Share password-protected documents via iCloud link.


• Create charts with date, time, and duration values.


• Custom number formats in charts are preserved on import of Keynote 09 and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.


• Improved compatibility with Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 presentations.


• Bug fixes and stability improvements.

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Sony Ericsson launch Android-powered cell phone with named Xperia 3. The phone has candy-bar shaped design and is equipped with a 4-inch full touch-sensitive LCD screen.

Features of the Xperia 3 phone include 3G connectivity (supporting 900 / 2100 HSDPA), Wi-Fi connectivity, aGPS, and MP3 music player. The most impressive feature of the phone is its 8-megapixel digital camera with autofocus, LED flash, face-detection, and smile-shot features.

Although the Xperia 3 phone is powered by Android, its interface will looks a little bit than regular Android phone, as the Xperia 3 will have Sony Ericsson’s 3D panel user interface. Price and availability of the phone is still unknown.

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The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 may well be the best-looking Android tablet in the market right now. And Id say it possesses the best customised Android Honeycomb interface thanks to Touchwiz UX.

I was fortunate to get a review unit within a week of its launch in Singapore and so Im here to give my review on this attractive device.

Package
The Tab includes, besides the usual charger, a pair of earphones, one of the few tablet makers to package in the box. The USB cable doubles up as charging cable, its length is rather short.

The tablet in the box is protected with separate pieces of plastic front and back. The plastic is so tightly stuck to the glossy back surface that I am happy to leave it on as a protection against the white scratchable surface.

Size
The Tab is the slimmest tablet for its screen size, a hairline thinner than iPad 2. It has a slightly bigger surface area than Motorola Xoom.

Comparing thickness between Galaxy Tab 10.1 and iPad 1.

The back is flat, not curved like iPad 1 or Asus Transformer, and that makes the Tab extremely slim and easy to slip in your bag.

Design and Specs
Running on dual core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor, the Tab has 3 hardware buttons located at the top left. The volume rocker direction is uniquely swapped: press the left to reduce volume, press the right to increase. This is in alignment with the on-screen volume indicator, but if you use the Tab in the portrait orientation, you would need to press down to increase volume.

The speakers are located at the upper area of the tablet, so you wont block the speakers when holding the Tab naturally. The glass surface is less reflective, which makes viewing more comfortable. The surface also feels smooth to the fingers when swiping, and finger prints are easily wiped off. Audio quality is pleasantly balanced for long periods of listening. 

Built quality
The exterior is entirely made of plastic which is easily dented. I have already dinged the volume buttons and I have no idea how I got the scars. It was certainly not due to drop as it looks more like scratches. See picture below to be the judge (click to enlarge).

Touchwiz UX Skinned Interface
The Tab has, in my opinion, the best Honeycomb interface customised. If you are familiar with the Galaxy S phone interface, then you will feel right at home with the Tab. All the menu icons are splashed in full colour, and the font sizes are made bigger to ease viewing. The slide-out notification pane has the usual short-cut icons allowing you to manage your Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Sounds, Flight Mode, etc. Stock apps like File Manager, Music Player are all customised with multiple columns to improve usability. The Tab even has the familiar vibration feedback as you type or when receiving incoming notifications. Samsung has its TFT LCD screen colours heavily boosted to make images look more vibrant without appearing unreal (until you do a visual comparison with the competitors).

The other customisation to the OS is the MiniApps. Select the up-arrow icon in the middle of the status bar and a row of apps slide out - Task Manager, Calendar, World Clock, Pen Memo, Calculator and Music Player. Click on any of the apps and it will appear as a floating window on top of your existing screens. You can use the floating app and navigate the main screen at any time, and the floating app will remain on top at all times. You can choose to "maximise" the app, and in doing so the MiniApp will close and the actual full-screen app will be loaded. This MiniApp implementation is Samsungs solution to multiple-window multi-tasking. For now, the list of MiniApps are not customisable.

Besides the standard Honeycomb soft-icons to the left side of the status bar, the Tab has a fourth "Screen Capture" button for ease of snapping the screen contents. The button can capture almost every screen on the Tab (even the camera preview), except when the MiniApp dock appears which hides all other status bar information.

Unfortunately, all the wonderful customisations have put a toll on the Tab. It is noticeably more laggy in between finger swipes and icon selections, so this would certainly put a dent on user expectations.

Camera
Ironically, with all the greatness of the interface, the 3mp rear and 2mp front camera quality are not to be taken seriously. It is a pity considering the camera app has many shooting modes and custom settings like metering mode, focus mode, white balance and exposure compensation.

3mp camera with LED.

Video Playback
Just like all the other Tegra2 Android tablets I have tested, the Tab fails to play my reference MP4 and MKV video files smoothly, even when using third-party software-decoding video apps. The playability is a far cry from Galaxy S2, and even my single-core Galaxy S plays the same files without missing a beat.

Battery Utilisation
Battery performance on 3G network is quite good. When I turn on auto-sync for Gmail and corporate mail, sets Tweetdeck to refresh feeds every 10 minutes, and check on the Tab regularly throughout the day for mails and social network feeds, the Tab uses up just 50% in 16 hours.

Expandability
The Tab does not come with generic connectivity ports like HDMI, memory card slots, or USB. However, there are official adapters that allows you to do all the above.


Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is light, thin, delivers striking colour display, has good battery life, is easy to operate with customised interface and apps, and 3G-enabled for data access anywhere. Almost perfect... just marred by laggy interface, uninspiring camera quality, and underwhelming video performance. Still, dont let it stop you from owning the best-looking most user-friendly Android interface in the market.

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Its been more than a year since I reviewed a Windows phone. Back in 2012, it was the Nokia Lumia 800. Today, I was handed with the Nokia Lumia 925 that is launching tomorrow (20 July) in Singapore.

Within the span of the 2 Windows phones, I have reviewed numerous other Android devices. As I held the Lumia 925 for the first time, fond memories flowed back to me.

On first impression, a few things stand out from the Nokia Lumia 925:

1. Premium touch. Nokia cleverly designs the phone with an aluminium frame around the sides while opting for polycarbonate rear face.

2. Straightforward layout. Instead of positioning the connectors and buttons all around the phone, the Lumia 925 puts all the buttons - volume, power, camera - on the right, while the SIM card slot and headset jack on the top.

3. Size. The Lumia 925 has a squarish dimension (70.6 x 129 x 8.5mm) which is more friendly on the hand and for typing in both portrait and landscape compared to most other modern Android smartphones.


Ill be sharing more detailed experience on the new Nokia Lumia 925 over the next few weeks. While I am not a Windows Phone user, I will try not to compare too much with other mobile OS. I am already finding some great stuffs on this new smartphone, and cant wait to share my thoughts.

The Nokia Lumia 925 retails for S$799 in Singapore, available in white, black and grey.

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A Dutch court on Tuesday lifted a ban on notorious file-sharing website The Pirate Bay that had forced two major Internet service providers to block access, calling the measure "ineffective".

The decision on appeal slapped down an original January 2011 ruling by another court ordering popular ISPs Ziggo and XS4All to deny access to The Pirate Bay site.

"Service providers Ziggo and XS4All cannot be forced to block The Pirate Bay," The Hague Appeals Court said in a statement, explaining that most web users simply dodged the blocking measures.

"The service providers subscribers in any case mainly use proxies or resort to other torrent sites," the court added.

"The blockade is therefore ineffective," it added.

Ziggo and XS4All were dragged to court three years ago by the Brein Foundation, which defends copyright owners in the Netherlands.

(Also see: Pirate Bay moves from Sweden to Norway and Spain in search of safe havens)

Both service providers appealed but subscribers were blocked from accessing The Pirate Bay.

"It was clear from the start that the measures were ineffective," Ziggo spokesman Erik van Doeselaar told AFP.

"We think the court made the right decision," he said.

XS4All added it was relieved by the appeals decision.

"We are pleased with the appeals courts decision to uphold the freedom of information and the rights of Dutch citizens," it said in a statement.

The Pirate Bay is one of the worlds foremost file-sharing and download sites and has been repeatedly found guilty of copyright violations in the Netherlands and Sweden.

(Also see: Pirate Bay may set sail to North Korea)

Although the appeals court ruled in Ziggo and XS4Alls favour, it warned: "It is very important that the service providers dont themselves violate copyright restrictions."

The Brein Foundation which has to pay Ziggo and XS4Alls costs of between 300,000 and 400,000 euros ($410,000 and $550,000), said it was considering taking the case to the countrys highest court.

"The courts judgement is to the detriment of the development of the legal online market, which needs protection against illegal competition," Brein Foundation director Tim Kuik said in a statement.

"It also goes against decisions by judges in other European countries," the Brein Foundation added. The Pirate Bay has been blocked in several countries, including Britain.

Founded in 2003, The Pirate Bay which boasts more than 30 million users makes it possible to skirt copyright fees and share music, film and other files using bit torrent technology, or peer-to-peer links offered on the site.

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