You're driving through the Australian outback to a town you've never been to before. You come to a cross roads. The sign says go straight, your iPhone says turn left. So you turn left. You've become so accustomed to blindly trusting technology. Your phone could never make an error, could it? A day later police find you near dead out in the scorching desert. Apple Maps had thought the town was miles away from where it actually was. 

This is a true story about Mildura in Victoria, Australia. It's a typical small town about half way between Melbourne and Adelaide. Mildura is a quaint little place of 30,000, known for its vineyards and wineries.The town is connected to the two cities by a pair of modern, four lane highways.It isn't located off a dirt road in the middle of the outback. Though according to the iPhone, it is. Apple Maps had placed the town inside the Murray Sunset National Park. After six separate incidents of people getting lost in the bush, state police issued a warning to motorists. Apple's mapping software was not to be trusted. 

This topped the laundry list of problems with Apple Maps. Some roads were missing, some roads that didn't exist were there, many things were located miles from where they actually were, 3D rendering looked like a warped Dali painting. As soon as the app launched, the complaints started rolling in. Making matters worse, it was made the default mapping application. The Google Maps app was no longer an option.

Mildura is not in the middle of the outback. Source: Wikipedia

In the end, it forced Apple to do something  unprecedented. They made a sincere apology for their mistake and even pointed people to alternative apps they could use in the interim. Apple has apologized for issues before. However, they usually twist it to somehow blame the user. This time, they knew they had screwed up bad. They released an incomplete product based built using bad data. Not because they thought they could do better than Google, but because they didn't want to deal with Google. The search giant ultimately had the last laugh. The new Google Maps app for iOS broke download records. Steve Jobs must be rolling in his grave.

More important than Apple's apology is what the fiasco says about ourselves. As smartphones have become commonplace, we've gotten comfortable with letting them think for us. So much so that common sense takes a ride in the trunk.

Windows 8 stands out as one of Microsoft's more questionable decisions. The concept was a page right out of Apple's playbook. Take the strongest elements from the mobile sphere and bring them onto the desktop. The execution didn't work as well as the company had hoped, and left a lot of users confused.

The operating system hadn't fundamentally changed in seventeen years. Granted it's been spiffed up and tweaked considerably in that time. However, it still looks, works, and feels the same as it did way back in 1995. Seeing the popularity of tablets, Microsoft jumped into the already overcrowded marketplace screaming "me too!" As such Windows 8 was designed to by a hybrid OS. It had both tablet and desktop elements, and a radically new UI called Metro.

Metro was the very same interface that had gotten raving reviews on Windows Phone 7. So it made sense to port it over. The end result was the sort of beautiful mess that Microsoft seems to master ever even numbered release. The conventional desktop was hacked to pieces, missing the all familiar Start button. You were forced to use the new UI whether you liked it or not.

The Metro interface wasn't well suited for computers that lacked touch screens. In other words most systems Windows ran on. It had a great app store and a sleek interface, it just wasn't ideal for a desktop and laptop environment. It made even less sense for business. Reception was lukewarm from hardcore Windows fans and cold as ice from the general public. A month into its release and it had failed to break Windows Vista's launch sales numbers. Most people saw it as having no real advantage over Windows 7.

Window's 8's brand new "Metro" UI, -- image from Microsoft

On the tablet side, Windows RT and Surface tablets were also a sinking ship. Apple had just released the iPad 4 and Samsung had come out with the Galaxy Note 10.1. Both featured high resolution QXGA "retina" displays and fast new chips. The Surface lumbered along with its aging Tegra 3 processor and 768p display.

There was nothing particularly wrong with the Surface. As far as tablets go, it's a fine tablet. Metro worked like a charm, it was sleek, and was better designed than both Android and iOS. Problem was you could get a much better tablet with better app support for the same price. The iPad 4 and Note were three times faster and had three times the display resolution. Needless to say sales were modest at best.

That all said, Windows 8 is perhaps the most important version since Windows 95. It signals another paradigm shift in personal computing. One where touch screens will begin to dominate over traditional inputs, and tablets will begin to replace laptops. As such, Windows 8 is very much a prototype of things to come. Microsoft may have come late to the party but they've so far delivered the best mobile GUI I've seen, and it will only get better when things get perfected in Windows 9.

Taking a look at the gaming and tech trends in 2012

If there's one thing about Nintendo, they've never played a conservative game. Their innovations are small, yet have a profound impact on gaming. Take something as simple as the plus shaped D-Pad. It's hard to believe that something so ubiquitous didn't exist prior to the Famicom. The Wii U is a little different. The latest gimmick is something that has existed for some time, just never really implemented: dual screen gaming.

A lot of entertainment providers talk about multiple screens. When I watch a movie on TV, I'm frequently on my iPad looking up actors, directors, discussing it on Twitter. The Wii U is a natural extension of the tablet revolution as much as it's an extension of the DS. The motion control that made the Wii famous has been pushed aside for a tablet-like controller with a touch screen interface. Have your inventory pulled up at all times, touch to solve puzzles, or even detach it from the TV and take your game with you to another room. Play your games on your TV the same way you loved to play them on your DS.

The Wii U GamePad is such an innovative product, it was introduced by Sony, six years ago. Back then it was called RemotePlay. The much touted feature would have allowed you to play PS3 games on your PSP. A couple of indie games implemented it but it never got far beyond that. Possibly owing in part to the PSP's low resolution and painfully slow WiFi. The same function is present in the Vita and has been used a bit more effectively, but not by much. So far only one game officially supports Wii U style mobile control. Apple also has this technology via AirPlay to stream iOS games to a TV and use iPad or iPhone to as a controller. Both these systems require the purchase of costly peripherals.

Where Nintendo excels the most is jumping in on trends before anybody else does. Even if they didn't originate the idea, they're the first to see its potential; no matter how small.

After yesterday's Japanese teardown, the folks at iFixit have taken apart the new 2012 iMac. Unfortunately, this thing is not as repair friendly as originally thought. It appears that the LCD is indeed glued onto the chassis, instead of using magnets like older models. This makes it quite difficult to get inside, and requires the use of a heat gun. You'll also need double sided tape to reseal the whole thing when you're done. It's a better design than the retina Macbooks but still poor overall.

On the bright side, iFixit has confirmed that the CPU is user replaceable. However, they gave it a 3 out of 10 on the repairability scale, due to the glued display and buried components. This seems to be a huge price to pay for having a super slim computer, in an environment where it doesn't need to be super slim.

All-in-ones don't make ideal desktops in general due to the amount of compromises you need to make. Apple lately has chosen to put form over function. While it hasn't hurt the reliability of their computers, it does turn them into yet another disposable consumer good if anything should fail. I think we need to add a fourth "R" to that old environmental mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle, and repair. If Apple wants to make their systems impossible to fix and upgrade, then the price has to come down. Otherwise they're just not worth it.

If you're looking for an alternative to the iMac, Dell's XPS One series is something to look at. Specs are similar to the iMac, though the system is considerably cheaper. It also features a touch screen and is easy to repair. Some reviews state that it's noisy though. Once again, there's always drawbacks with all-in-ones. The old tower design is still king if you're a non-compromises type of person.

Source: iFixit

Apple's new iMac is thinner and lighter than any desktop before. It really solidifies the idea that these are just laptops stuck to the back of a screen. Japanese tech site Kodawarisan submitted the late-2012 iMac to its first teardown. Inside we find some decidedly non-laptop design features.

The logic board is laptop-like in most ways. Very sparse compared to your typical desktop PC motherboard. Heatpipes with blower cooler keep the CPU and GPU sufficiently chilly. There's four USB ports, two thunderbolts, and an ethernet port. Looks like it takes up to three sticks of DDR3-RAM, presumably in a triple channel configuration. I'm told the 27'' model has a hatch to easily upgrade the memory, but the 21'' model doesn't.


The nVidia GPU stripped naked. The late-2012 iMac comes with one of four: GT 640M, GT 650M, GT 660M, or GT 675M. The first three come with 512mb of GDDR5 while the latter ships with a fill gigabyte of graphics memory. Even the lowly GT 640M should be enough to handle most current games at playable frame rates.


Is that what I think it is? It sure looks like a fully upgradable CPU. The image depicts an "Ivy Bridge" Core i5-3470S, which is a low power, quad-core chip running at 2.9ghz. It has a TDP of 65W. Apple has always used low voltage variants to keep the thermals down while keeping performance reasonable. Though it's likely the top end model uses a standard CPU. Intel doesn't produce low voltage i5s running at 3.2ghz.

The logic board appears to use an LGA 1155 CPU socket. In theory, there's nothing stopping you from upgrading to an i7, assuming the firmware allows it.


In the last picture, we see the iMac with all its innards exposed. Including a removable hard drive. Apple combines traditional HDDs with SSDs, called a fusion drive. You should be able to remove and swap out the drive with any 2.5'' one. The SSD is nowhere to be seen in this picture, nor does it appear to be soldered  to the logic board. It is possible Apple is combining the two drives into one package, as Seagate does.

As for getting into the system, it's rumoured to be quite easy. Simply remove the display with suction cups. Though at least one French site claimed it was glued. Due to poor translation, it's unclear. We'll have to wait for the first teardowns on this side of the pond to get a full grasp of how easy it is to take apart.

Assuming it is easy to get into, this is a major step in the right direction for Apple. When you pay that much for a computer, it shouldn't be disposable. Keep them fixable.

The new iMac starts at a relatively steep $1299, as one would expect.

Source and Images: Kodawarisan

I've been told for quite some time now that I'm wrong about mobile gaming. Many fellow gamers have said that smart phones and tablets are not cannibalizing the console and handheld market. A recent study by Neilson proves them wrong. Kids want Santa to bring them tablets, not games.

The study looked at interest in electronics for kids 6-12 and teenagers. Almost half off all children said they wanted an iPad. The Wii U topped second place with 39%. The iPod Touch, iPad Mini, and iPhone rounded out the top five. Only a quarter of all kids wanted an Xbox or PS3. In the case of portables, 29% wanted a 3DS and 18% wanted a PSP. Only 14% wanted a Playstation Vita.

In the case of teenagers, things are a little different. The iPad still topped the list with 21% wanting one. Computers, non-iOS tablets, Wii U, and iPhone rounded out the top five. Only 8% of teens said they wanted a game console, with the PS3 being the most popular. In the case of portable systems, the 3DS and Vita actually come out on top. It's a Pyrrhic victory with only 5% and 4% respectively.

Things aren't full of Christmas cheer for console manufacturers this year. Though we're hardly set for another crash, a lot of what's going on mirrors 1983. There's a strong interest in multi-functional devices over dedicated gaming systems. Interest in portables has taken a nose dive. Still, it's unlikely parents will be willing to spend upwards of $500 for an iPad. Especially for the little ones. If Sony and Microsoft take anything from this, they will need to get their new systems out by Holiday 2013. The current generation has finally run its course.

Source: IGN
Image copyright Bethesda, via Nukapedia

Dying gaming magazine Xbox World has decided to go out with a bang. They claim to have gotten the inside scoop from developers, delivering us the tastiest rumours yet.

The 720, which will be simply named "Xbox" will pack some fairly impressive hardware for a console.  Blu-ray support, 8gb of RAM, Kinect 2.0, possible augmented reality, and a quad-core CPU capable of running  two threads per core. You can pair this up with the earlier rumour that Microsoft plans to use AMD's Radeon HD 6670 graphics chip.

The magazine also shows a mock up of the console, which looks quite similar to a black Mac Mini, though about twice the size. The case is rumoured to be magnesium alloy, marking the first time we've seen metal used instead of plastic. Making an unfortunate return are proprietary hard drives.

Is this the next Xbox? Image by CVG and Xbox World.

Microsoft has been silent on the next Xbox. Though I think we will see things start to accelerate over the next few months. We may even see a possible prototype at CES in two months time, readying for a possible Holiday 2013 launch. Now that Nintendo is pushed out the first eighth generation console, you can bet Microsoft and Sony will not sit on their laurels for too much longer.

Source: CVG

Been on the fence about getting a Vita? Now is as good a time as any with Christmas fast approaching. Our first weekly cheap comes from Best Buy Canada.Sony has released their first ever Vita bundle since launch, to celebrate the latest installment in Assassin's Creed.

Vita AC Liberation Bundle, Best Buy Canada: $200

The bundle features...
-PS Vita WiFi system
-4gb memory card
-Assassin's Creed: Liberation game

All for $250. That's a savings of $60 over buying everything separately. On top of that, Best Buy Canada is throwing in a $50 gift card if you buy it in store. So you can get an entire Vita system for just $200. If you've been sitting on the fence about getting a Vita for the holidays, this looks like the bundle to get.

Image courtesy of Sony

This week's Steam sales are heavy on horror, just in time for Halloween.
-Left 4 Dead 2 $4.99
-Just Cause 2 $3.74
-Deadlight $12.74
-Lucius $21.24
-Killing Floor Complete Pack $9.99
-Guns of Icarus Online $14.99
-Rock of Ages $2.49
-Hitman: Absolution $44.99
-Left 4 Dead $4.99
-Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams $13.49
-Train Simulator 2013 Deluxe $45.99
-Trains vs Zombies 2 $8.99
-Just Cause $2.49

Apple's event yesterday generated excitement as they usually do. Though I sensed it wasn't as much this time around as we've seen in the past. It's been a year since Steve Jobs died and you can already feel the magic starting to disappear. This time around it was a new product announcement that seemed to anger fans more than encourage them to open their wallets. The iPad 4 caps out a growing list of questionable decisions the electronics giant has made in the past few months.

It's been seven months since Apple introduced the iPad 3. We were told it was a revolutionary device with it's revolutionary new retina display and graphics. In reality, it wasn't that special. It also had some major hurdles such as the infamous yellow screens. I still bought one, like many did. I even went for the expensive 64gb model so I could do more photo and video work with it.

I sort of suspected Apple would refresh the iPad at the fall event. Though most of us assumed it would simply remove the dock connector and replace it with lightning. Instead we got a new iPad with a speed bumped processor A6X, said to be twice as fast as the current A5X. Less than a year and the iPad 3 has been rendered obsolete. It's now selling at some stores for less than an iPad 2.

Many people who bought the 3 are justifiably upset. Myself included. It feels like we got conned into a product that Apple pushed out to make quick cash, full well knowing they were going to replace it soon after. If the update cycles are now down to half a year, it's impossible to keep up with. Especially with Apple's notorious reputation of planned obsolescence on the software side.

After the fiasco with maps, the incompatible lightning connector, and the war with Google, Apple has certainly generated a lot of bad blood with their fans. It's time to replace Tim Cook as their CEO and get someone younger in there to take the reins. Trying to copy Jobs' formula isn't working anymore. Until that happens, I can no longer recommend iOS products. Especially after seeing what Jellybean can do, and the potential for Windows RT. Apple is quickly losing their position as the best in the mobile market. It's only a matter of time before their cult status leaves with it, and history repeats itself.

Nintendo import fans are once again out of luck. Nintendo has announced that the Wii U will be region locked. This isn't a big revelation for the company. Almost every single console to come out of Big N has been. Dating as far back to the classic toaster NES.

Nintendo is currently the only company that has mandatory region locks on their consoles. Both Sony and Microsoft give the choice to developers. The Playstation family is well known for being friendly to the import community, with few games being locked. Notable exceptions include games by Atlas, a big Japanese developer. In fact, it seems this feature is more favoured in Japan that it is by Western publishers.

It's a well known fact that Japanese gamers and otaku are being gouged on media. Resident Evil 6 for example sells for $20 more in its home country than it does in North America. For the same price in the US, you can buy the Resident Evil Anthology, which contains all six games in the series.

The purpose of region locking is simply to make money. More from Asia-Pacific gamers than we in the west. While one could argue the game costs the same or more due to import duties, publishers get less of that money. It also explains why Nintendo has been so hostile to digital download. All a Japanese gamer would need is a North American gift card to grab the game at a significantly cheaper price.

This is a big letdown for import fans. Many popular games don't get global releases for one reason or another. Xenoblade Chronicles was launched in North America a full two years after it's Japanese debut. It's also unfortunate that Nintendo keeps making this choice instead of embracing globalization. Instead they'd rather keep screwing Japanese gamers with artificially higher prices.