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Can Sony's Vaio P13 Topple Apple's MacBook Air?
"My Office Is Not A Starship, Or Why Speech Recognition Is Not For Me" - Joe Kissell
Steve Wozniak: Microsoft On Dangerous Ground Resting On Its Laurels
PayPal Fixes Critical Account Security Bug Discovered By Indie Researcher
Can Sony's Vaio P13 Topple Apple's MacBook Air?
The FinancialExpress's Pranay Parab observes that three key moments in the short history of computers happened in the last six years. In chronological order, these were: iPhone, MacBook Air and iPad. Apple Inc. launched these game-changing devices in three years (2007-10), and today, similar machines are everywhere.
Parab says no write-up on ultrabooks is complete without mentioning MacBook Air, which was obvious inspiration for Intel's ultrabook (thin, light Windows laptops) spec. The latest MacBook Air promises 12 hours of battery life, thanks to Intel's fourth-generation Core series processors, but Windows ultrabooks also offer those same processors, and in some respects outdo the aging MacBook design. EG: Sony's Vaio P13, which is lighter than the MacBook Air at a featherweight 1.06 kg, and has a touchscreen as well, although many laptop users consider the latter a dubious addition.
Parab notes that the Vaio P13's build quality is excellent is good, its slightly curved edges making it easy to hold and carry. the keyboard is good, with well-spaced keys and backlight. Then there's Microsoft Windows 8. which users tend to either love or hate. He observes that with an average trackpad and a touchscreen that's inconvenient for the desktop mode, the Vaio P13 seems suspended in transition between two input methods the software not permitting a complete switch to touchscreen, while the hardware limits the user experience in desktop mode, anf he advises that you'll be better off buying a USB mouse along with the P13, since the awkward to manipulate and ergonomically disastrous when vertically-inclined touchscreen isn't as responsive as the iPad's, with users likely to find it difficult to execute the swipe-down gesture that closes apps, although otherwise it's a decent panel.
As for battery life, Parab reports that while Sony claims the laptop can last 8.5 hours on a single charge (or 16 hours with an additional battery sold separately - an option Apple doesn't offer), during tests, the Vaio P13 achieved only around six hours in moderate, real world use (while the mid-2013 MacBook Air has frequently exceeded Apple's nominal 12-hour claim in lab testing).
He summarizes that if the touchscreen and better display are priorieits, andand if you need Windows, get the Vaio P13. If battery life and a superior trackpad are your primary needs, get the MacBook Air.
For the full review visit here:
http://goo.gl/gXAZiE
"My Office Is Not A Starship, Or Why Speech Recognition Is Not For Me" - Joe Kissell
Macworld's Joe Kissell says that for most of his life, I dreamed of interacting with my computer the way the crew of the Enterprise did on Star Trek. No keyboard or mouse - just tell the computer what information you need or what task you want it to accomplish, and the right thing happens.
However, he says that over the last two decades, every time he's tried working with a speech-based interface - whether it's Apples long-standing Speakable Items (now in the Accessibility pane of System Preferences), the Dictation feature introduced in Mountain Lion (see the Dictation & Speech preference pane), or a third-party tool such as Nuance's Dragon Dictate, he's encountered a problem he couldn't get past: namely his coworkers.
Ergo: talking to his computer all day invariably distracted people nearby who were trying to concentrate on their own work, and he disliked the ease with which others could eavesdrop on everything I dictated.
Your editor, a longtime dictation software fan and user, agrees wholeheartedly. Voice dictation and control are great when you're all by yourself with your computer or iPad, not so much when others are within earshot. It distracts them and it distracts me to the point that I'm rendered incapable of anything approximating coherent articulation of what I'm thinking.
However, Kissell reports that the now has an entire home office to himself, complete with a functional door, and had imagined that he could finally start talking to hsi computers with impunity, only to make the bewildering discovery that his home office is not a starship, and morever it turns out that voice control is a poor fit for the type of work he does here on Earth, especially given the design of OS X, and unsuited to his personality type and work style.
He elaborates on why here:
http://goo.gl/n1jikU
Steve Wozniak: Microsoft On Dangerous Ground Resting On Its Laurels
In an interview with the BBC's chief business correspondent Linda Yueh, Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak maintains that rival Microsoft has been "resting on" the markets it built up a "long, long time ago," adding that one of the key reasons for the Apple's success has been that despite being a big company, it has remained nimble and innovative, and lending his stamp of approval to the job Apple's current chief executive Tim Cook is doing in that role with a hard act to follow.
You can check it out at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23839181
PayPal Fixes Critical Account Security Bug Discovered By Indie Researcher
The Register's Iain Thomson reports that PayPal has fixed a critical flaw that allowed an attacker to delete any account at will and replace it with one of their own, brought to their attention in April, by security researcher Ionut Cernica who had discovered that US PayPal account holders could add an email address to someone else's account by visiting a PayPal webpage, which in turen allowed the account to be deleted.
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/j8kJtB
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