Tech world taking risks

Welcome back to another issue of Spec Tech.  This week Google kills a product, Windows 8 price increases and LG is rumored to have a new phone on the way.

Imagine having the first social streaming media player. In June Google released the Nexus Q, an orb that allowed you to stream music from your phone/tablet to a home entertainment center.  Now that sounds awesome, but not at a price of $300. Upon initial negative reviews from critics, Google refunded customers and stopped selling the product.
 
It is now dead, but could it be revived in May at Google’s I/O conference?

Are you one of those people who like BlackBerry’s?—the phone not the fruit. Well, on Jan. 30, RIM will finally unveil the BlackBerry 10.  This might be RIM’s savior or final nail in the coffin.  I will report more on this as information becomes available.

If you have thought about buying Windows 8, buy it now! The limited pricing of Windows 8 will expire at the end of January.  Right now you can upgrade for $40, but after this month it will cost $120, and Windows 8 Pro will cost $200.

The LG Optimus G Pro is on the way.   It’s rumored to have a 5-inch HD display, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and a 13 megapixel rear camera.  It would also ship with Android 4.1—Jelly Bean.

That’s it this week folks.  Have a great weekend and come back next week for another issue of the Spectator.

Question of the Week: What phone would you like to see more: an iPhone 5S or a Samsung Galaxy S4? Email me at smsetser@valdosta.edu

Mastered 4K Blu-rays arrives soon

Hello and welcome back Spec Techies to a new year.  Glad to know that we all did NOT vanish on Dec. 21. Let’s catch up on new tech from the CES event last week.

First, the show was mostly about 4K television sets.  Don’t know what 4K is?  Well, it is an Ultra High Definition (UHD) pixel resolution.  Its pixel count is 3,840x2160-- four times the amount of pixels in your current HDTV.  Sony is really behind this revolution being the only cable/movie studio to create content for 4K.  In the summer, Sony will launch a 4K video distribution system as well as improve 4K blu-rays. 

Imagine you are at a sit down restaurant, but instead of waiting for a waiter/waitress to take your drink/food order, you simply order on your 22-inch Touch Table PC.  This is just a concept, but the MTT300 Touch Table PC would allow you to touch your desired order, pay and even listen to music all at your table.  Of course the waiters/waitress would still bring your order. 

Do you love playing games on your Android device but find that pesky touch controls are difficult to use?  Then Nvidia has got you covered.  Not only did they announce the new Tegra 4 processor, but also Project Shield.  This is a controller, which looks a lot like the Xbox 360 controller with a touch screen attached just above the controller.  This screen is 5-inches with an output of 720p.  But that is not where it stops.  It can also stream your PC games to the screen.  As a demonstration, they showed Project Shield running Borderlands 2 with no hiccups.  There is no release date or price yet.

Project Fiona was announced at the last CES.  The newly named Razer Edge is a 10-inch, Windows 8 tablet-- a full PC.  It had an attachment for physical controls before they were built directly on the system.  The tablet can be customized with an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce GT640M LE graphics.  It has a separate dock for USB and HDMI connectors.  You can get an i5 chip for $999 with 4GB RAM and 64GB SSD memory.  It will be available Q1 2013.

Well, hope everyone has a great rest of the semester. Starting Jan. 31, I will begin a new video series for my favorite video game systems of all time.  If you are interested in being a guest in my series, email me at smsetser@valdosta.edu.  The Spec Tech blog is located at http://vsuspectech.blogspot.com/

Question of the Week:  What is your favorite mobile Operating System? Android, iOS, or Windows 7/8?

SpecTech Top 5 Favorite Video Games (#1)

My favorite video game of all time is.......

Come back to see my new top 5 list; my favorite video game consoles of all time!