NVIDIA Tegra 4 and Project Shield

CES does not officially start until tomorrow, but NVIDIA have already completed their keynote. The presentation itself was far from polished, but they did have a couple of interesting announcements.

Firstly, they officially unveiled the new Tegra 4 architecture which they claim to be "the worlds fastest mobile processor". The Tegra 4 is using a new 28nm manufacturing process, which should offer higher performance, better battery life and generate less heat than its predecessor. The processor itself is a quad-core implementation of ARM's A15 and it has 72 GPU cores (I assume CUDA cores), although the official clock speeds have not yet been announced. Overall it's clear that this is a leap forward for ARM based graphics and if the performance to battery life ratio is competitive, then I fully expect to see a lot of Tegra 4 Android and Windows RT powered tablets in 2013.

I think it's fair to say the second interesting announcement suprised everyone. NVIDIA unveiled a new hand-held games console known as Project Shield which is powered by the previously mentioned Tegra 4 chipset and runs a stock version of the Android operating system.

The device itself looks like a combination of an Xbox 360 and PS3 controller with a 5-inch LCD display attached, which also acts as a lid (clamshell design) for the device.

Project Shield is capable of running all existing Android games and also has access to Tegra specific software which will be optimised for the chipset.

Although the prospect of a dedicated Android gaming device is interesting, the real unique selling point is Project Shield's ability to stream game play from a local PC equipped with a Kepler based graphics card (e.g. GeForce GTX 650 and above). This is comparable to Sony's "Remote Play" feature for PlayStation, as all of the intelligence is handled by your PC (Kepler GPU), with Project Shield excepting the user input and displaying the output. This entire process is completed over a local wireless network and Project Shield even lets you stream the content to your HDTV via wireless (requiring a smaller receiver) or using a standard HDMI cable.

NVIDIA demonstrated a number of Steam games streaming at full quality directly from a Windows PC over wireless. The experience looked great and early hands-on reports have said the playback was smooth and there was no noticeable input latency. NVIDIA were also quick to point out that this service should be compatible with any PC game that supports a controller, regardless of weather it was downloaded or installed from optical media.

Overall I am certainly intrigued by the concept, essentially taking the technology that powers cloud based gaming services such as OnLive and making them available locally, where networks have higher bandwidth and lower latency. Not only will this allow users to take broader advantage of their pre-purchased games collection, but also provide a fast and simple way to play PC games on their HDTV (something that I would certainly be interested in).

The only negative is that NVIDIA did not share specifics regarding the release date (expected seomtime in 2013) or price. Personally I believe it's the price which will determine the success of the product. If priced to high (e.g. £200+) the next generation games consoles from Microsoft and Sony (expected to be announced at E3 in June) will likely swamp the market. However if NVIDIA are smart they could offer Project Shield at a discount or bundled with NVIDIA graphics cards, which would likely be the final nail in the coffin for AMD (ATi) in the discrete graphics card market.

The Ubuntu Phone

Today Canonical revealed their previously teased Ubuntu Phone OS. As the name suggests this is a new operating system designed for the smartphone, which borrows many design concepts from Ubuntu on the desktop.

Unsurprisingly Ubuntu Phone OS uses the Android kernel (due to its open source nature), but interestingly doesn't use the Android Java Virtual Machine (Dalvik) which Canonical believe will deliver better performance. The operating system is also expected to support both ARM and x86 processors, making it compatible with the majority (if not all) mobile hardware on the market today.

The operating system itself looks interesting, with design cues coming from Ubuntu, webOS and of course Android. Unlike other smartphones Ubuntu have attempted to make a gesture rich experience, with the majority of actions being triggered by a swipe (similar to Windows RT).

Ubuntu Phone OS also supports true multitasking, which includes a "cards" layout (again similar to webOS) of all your running apps. 

Regarding apps, Ubuntu Phone OS supports HTML5 with APIs providing integration with the operating system, but also uses QML to allow for native apps with engines in C or C++, JavaScript and OpenGL. This hits the major requirements of a modern smartphone, allowing rapid development with web technologies, but also enough power to run the latest high performance games.

Mark Shuttleworth (founder of Ubuntu) has released a keynote video which introduces the new product and frames Canonical's vision of mobile computing. 

Overall I think Ubuntu Phone OS looks interesting, but unfortunately we have seen interesting many times before (e.g. webOS, MeeGo), therefore in my opinion simply being different (even better) will not be enough to succeed. People are now very in-grained into the iOS or Android eco-system and to a lesser extent, Windows Phone, therefore I'm not convinced there is room for another player.

This is especially true considering Canonical have said they don't expect to have a consumer version ready before 2014, at which point we will likely be on the verge of iOS 8.0 and Android 6.0. With that said, they have promised to make a developer preview available in the next few weeks, however this will only support the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and will likely be very buggy.

I'll be sure to checkout the preview when it's made available, but I can't help but think Ubuntu Phone OS will be reduced to a niche player for enthusiasts, instead of going head to head with the likes of Apple and Google.

Control Multiple Computers with one Keyboard and Mouse

I, like many IT professionals have multiple computers on my desk at work. Where possible I prefer to leverage virtual environments to access different systems, however this is not always practical when you are running high performance applications or need direct access to the hardware.

The challenge with multiple computers is that your desk can quickly start to look like a technology showroom, with multiple peripherals for each computer. Anyone that follows LifeinTECH will know that I'm a strong believer in "minimal living" and therefore having multiple peripherals doing essential the same task is far from ideal.

Introducing Synergy, a small open source application for Windows, OS X and Linux that enables one keyboard and mouse to seamlessly control multiple computers (assuming they are connected to the same network).

When I first encountered this software I was a little sceptical, the idea sounds great, but history has proven that there can be a big difference between a great idea and a great product. Therefore I'm pleased (and a little surprised) to report that Synergy works amazingly well! I currently have it setup to enable my Apple bluetooth keyboard and Magic Trackpad to control my Mac (acting as the server) and Windows 8 PC. 

Even better, the installation is quick and painless, with no annoying "bloatware" or complex configuration. Simply install the Synergy agent on all computers, select one to be a server and the others to be clients. I tested on a corporate network (even over wireless) and everything worked instantly, with no obvious input lag.

As a result, if you have multiple computers and wish to use one keyboard and mouse, then look no further than Synergy! Once you are thoroughly impressed I recommend you head over to the development team's website and make a donation (they certainly deserve it).

Windows 8 - Search Frustration

I've been using the final version of Windows 8 for the past few months (see my Windows 8 Initial Review) and although there is a lot to like, I have also identified a number of challenges.

One area that continues to frustrate me is the new search! As the majority of my applications are currently "desktop only" I don't like having them all pinned to the Start Screen (as they are not live). Therefore I find myself using the search functionality a lot.

In principle this is fine as it works just like Alfred on the Mac, you simply hit the Windows key (where ever you are in the Operating System) and start typing. However, searching is only as good as the results and this is where Windows 8 falls short.

For example, I obviously have a number of files on my PC related to LifeinTECH. Therefore if I search for"LifeinTECH" I would expect Windows 8 to quickly highlight all files related to this keyword. Instead Windows 8 returns nothing, simply stating "No apps match your search".

This is fine (and expected), however I can see from the right pane that 84 files match "LifeinTECH". So why do I have to manually click the "Files" button? Why can Windows 8 not automatically highlight the most related items regardless of weather it's an app, file or even a web search?

Both Alfred and Spotlight for the Mac work in this way and even learn your most used items over time, normally resulting in the top hit being the item you are looking for.

Although this may seem like a small issue, in my opinion it's a major flaw that significantly impacts the overall user experience and is not something I would expect from a modern Operating System.

On a positive note, I'm confident the issue can be easily resolved, as the actual search algorithm works as expected, therefore even some simple logic, for example, "if no apps are found, automatically show the category with the highest number of results", would dramatically improve the situation.

I hope this "feature" will be part of a future Windows update.

Google Services on iOS without ActiveSync

On the 31st January 2013, Google will officially drop support for Microsoft ActiveSync (Exchange) which is used by many people today to synchronise Gmail, Calendar and Contacts with their smartphone. This is not a problem if you own an Android device, but will impact iPhone and Windows Phone users.

As a result, it's important to update your settings if you want to continue to receive e-mails and synchronise your calendar and contacts with Google. Unfortunately there is currently no good option for Windows Phone, however iPhone (iOS) users can follow the guide outlined below:

Gmail app for iOS:

In the past year (thanks to Google's acquisition of Sparrow) the Gmail app for iOS has improved a lot. It now supports push notifications, multiple accounts and has an easy to use, minimal user interface (just like Apple's Mail app). As a result I now recommend that all Gmail users download and switch to this app as their default mail client on iOS. The other great thing is that setup is as simple as signing in with your standard Google credentials.

Anyone familiar with the standard Apple Mail app or Sparrow will feel right at home and you can update the notification options by selecting "Settings > Notifications > Gmail" (just like other iOS apps).

Google Calendar:

Calendar and contacts are a little more difficult. For calendar we will use a service called "CalDAV". To set this up simply navigate to "Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars" and select "Add Account".

You will now be prompted with the usual options (Exchange, etc). Select "Other" and then "Add CalDAV Account". Enter the following settings:

• Server: google.com
• User Name: <Standard Google Account Details>
• Password: <Standard Google Account Details>
• Description: Calendar

Finally tap "Next". Your Google Calendar account will now be configured and fully accessible from the standard Apple Calendar app.

Google Contacts:

Contacts is very similar to Calendar, accept we use a service called "CardDAV". To set this up simply navigate to "Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars" and select "Add Account".

Like before, select "Other" and then "Add CardDAV Account". You must now enter the following settings:

• Server: google.com
• User Name: <Standard Google Account Details>
• Password: <Standard Google Account Details>
• Description: Contacts

Finally tap "Next". Your Google Contacts account will now be configured and fully accessible from the standard Apple Phone and Contacts app.

That's it! Your Google account has now been re-configured and will push / synchronise information just like before. Enjoy!