Six Point Zero

Windows 8.1 To Get A Start Button Because Windows Is Dumb Without One

Good news! Microsoft super blogger Paul Thurrott details the return of the Start Button and the figurative demise of the Metro/smart tile/Start Page thing with Windows 8.1′s ability to boot right to Desktop, sidestepping the worst part of Windows 8. Best of all, as previously reported, Microsoft isn’t charging for these fixes.

There’s nothing better than the classics.

Source : TechCrunch.com

Samsung Galaxy S 4 compared with other smart phones

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 which was just revealed looks underwhelmingly the same as the older Galaxy S III. During the Unpacked event, the main highlight was on its smart features on camera, voice commands, hand gestures and eye tracking.

With the hardware specs put side by side with other models including the latest Full HD Androids, iPhone 5, Lumia 920 and Z10, we noticed that there have been some improvements on the S 4′s dimensions.

While the Galaxy S 4 boasts a bigger Full HD screen at 5″, the height remains exactly the same as the current Galaxy S III at 136.6mm while at the same time, they have narrowed the width at just 69.8mm. The battery on the S 4 has been upgraded as well to 2,600mAh which is ~~300mAh~~ 500mAh more than the old one but yet it is slimmer at 7.9mm and lighter at 130g. This means that the S 4 should be easier to hold in the hands.

While display is an improvement, being the first Full HD smart phone from Samsung, it loses out in terms of pixel density to HTC One, due to its smaller 4.7″ screen. In reality, at over 400ppi, it is really hard to differentiate which display has higher pixel density. All matters now would be the display quality especially viewing angles, brightness and contrast.

One obvious advantage which the Galaxy S 4 has over the likes of HTC One and Xperia Z would be its removable 2,600mAh battery. If we put the dimensions side by side, the Galaxy S 4 is actually shorter than the 4.7″ HTC One and it is just as slim as the Xperia Z’s 7.9mm thickness. Even with its extra 300mAh battery capacity, the Galaxy S 4 is at least 13 grams lighter as well which is rather impressive. For those that prefer the thinnest, lightest and shortest, the iPhone 5 is no contest at all with its super slim 7.6mm thickness and weighs just 112 grams.

So far Samsung hasn’t reveal much details on the variants available and based on their official spec sheet, there will be 2 models available. One will be running on a Quad Core 1.9GHz processor while the other on a Octa Core 1.6GHz processor. We are likely to get the Octa Core version in Malaysia.

Edit: As pointed out by reader min402, the Octa-Core set up in the Galaxy S 4 doesn’t mean all 8 cores are running simultaneously. Rather it has a dual set up of either Quad-Core A15 and Quad-Core A7 which switches depending on intensity of processing required.

In terms of OS version, the Galaxy S 4 runs the very latest Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Availability wise, Samsung has shared that it will be launching with 327 operators in 155 countries by end of April.

Bohemian Guitars Lets You Twang Out On A Real Oil-Can Gitfiddle

As the site’s resident guitar shredder, I have a soft spot for musical instruments on Kickstarter. While these Bohemian Guitars don’t have the same features as a GTar or aJamstik, it’s still a pretty cool little instrument.

The bodies are made of repurposed oil cans and they include a single coil pickup and come in three styles: honey, motor oil, and moonshine. The guitars are handmade in Georgia.

The creators, Josh Kirsch, Adam Lee, Shaun Lee, and Mark Friedman, found inspiration in their creations through a childhood spent in South Africa.

The inspiration behind the oil can guitar comes from the resourceful residents of the townships in South Africa who re-purpose used materials into playable instruments. Through Bohemian Guitars, brothers, Adam and Shaun Lee, who spent their childhood growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa, are able to share a piece of their homeland and spread the joy created by the beautiful sounds of oil can guitars with musicians all over the world.

You can get a guitar for a pledge of $270 for early birds or $285 for folks who are lolly-gagging. They are looking for funding of $32,000.

While it doesn’t connect to an iPhone or use cloud computing to calculate Black Keys tablature, it’s a cool little crowdsourced project for fans of artisinal hardware.

FlicFlac - Enable you to change the Audio Format Easily

There are various applications that offer the facility to change the format of the media, especially audio, and most recently, one of the applications that are very simple and free of charge is introduced FlicFlac.

FlicFlac bring a very simple interface, allowing you to change the audio file format FLAC, WAV, MP3, OGG and APE to other formats easily, without having to make a variety of settings, such as changing the bitrate and so on.

To use it, users simply need to drag-and-drop audio files, and next pressing the button audio format of their choice, and it will automatically change it.

And if you are a developer, to FlicFlac source code is also provided to allow you to play with.

Source : Amanz.my

Android claims 75 percent of smartphone shipments in Q3, 136 million handsets sold

Android devices already counted for a lion's share of phones shipped during Q2, and now fresh IDC figures show Google's OS claiming the top spot with a hefty 75 percent marketshare in the third quarter. In total, 136 million Android handsets were shipped during the time frame, a new record in a single quarter. Even with the help of new hardware, iOS lagged behind in second place with a 14.9 percent stake of handsets. Both Blackberry and Symbian clung to their respective 3rd and 4th place spots, making up 6.6 percent of total shipments. Windows-based phones (both WP7 and Windows Mobile) fell to 2 percent, keeping Microsoft in fifth place just above smartphones running Linux. However, withWindows Phone 8 devices making their debut, we wouldn't be surprised to see Redmond's numbers get a boost when IDC's next report rolls around.

Source : Engadget.com

Upin & Ipin Dash Game For iOS Users

Before this, LesCopaque already introduced two games Upin & Ipin for iOS users, and apparently, very soon, they will present a new game named Upin & Ipin Dash, and still exclusive to iOS users.

Shown on the display screen, it looks Upin & Ipin Dash brings home like Subway Surfer game, requiring players to compete for who can last the longest, where games become progressively faster.

Source : Amanz.my

The New iPad Mini

Apple Senior Vice President for worldwide product marketing, Phil Schiller announced the new Mini iPad during Apple special event at the California Theater, San Jose, California. iPad Mini is a smaller version of the iPad tablet.

Among the features iPad Mini are: