Further information

To make WebPages look in standard form certain standards are created by the standard-setting body: the World Wide Web Consortium, also known as W3. But all the web browsers do not follow these standards and hence each webpage may look different in different browsers. There are mainly two types of WebPages: static and dynamic. The static contents do not changes itself until specified by the designer where as dynamic WebPages adapt itself to the user and environment. The web designing has mostly two parts: the front end and the back end.

In the front end the designer decides the manner in which the data is shown to the users, it generally consist of designing the textures , design, patterns of the webpage which interacts with its users. In the back end the programmer decides how the data is handled, in general terms the back end coding is used to handle and process the data and the front end is used to show and get the data. In front end languages like HTML/CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) etc are used whereas in back end languages like PHP, ASP etc are used for the specific purposes.

The possibilities in web designing is limitless and with the attachment of Flash and other embedded technologies the range of web designing has gained an intense high leap and is moving towards its further higher development.

The touch screen is a main feature of a tablet as it is the primary form of input. The on-screen keyboard can be tapped into using a stylus and else the input can be directly written on the screen. They have wireless access and also are built for lower power consumption. The tablet comes with its own set of software and applications designed sometimes, specifically for the Tablet itself. Another attractive feature is the fact that they screen can be twisted and turned at any angle desired.

History of the tablet PC

The Tablet PC concept is credited to come from computer giants Microsoft and was first exhibited in the year 2001. The Tablet PC then was running a copy of Windows XP. The Tablet PC market reaches out to office executives who need a computer at their sides all the time. It also caters to that group of tech savvy people who need a computer at their side to be connected to the world around them.

The recent craze in Tablet PCs has brought a wide range of products available in the market. The most popular is iPad, a product brought out by apple in April 2010 and had sold 3 million devices in 80 days. It’s well known for its handling of audio visual data and is credited to have multi-touch system. Also popular is the Samsung Galaxy Tab, designed by Samsung which is runs on the Android platform and has a seven inch screen. It became a hit for its dual camera, sleek design and comfortable size.

Tablet Pcs ooze out luxury and portability and although they are not affordable to all, they might hold the key to the future of mobile computing. The Tablet PC is here to stay and will be the focus of a lot of computer companies in this year.

History of the Smartphone

The smartphone was developed around the year 1992 but it was until 1996 with the release of the Nokia 9000 that the smartphones were brought into the market as a viable option. As smartphones use operating systems, there were operating systems developed to accomodate this. The initial one being the Symbian OS which is still used today. Even Windows came up with is operating system for the smartphones and many phones were realeased which had the the tag of being Windows Powered Phones. By far, the most popular smartphone till date has been the Blackberry, which is the smartphone that most corporates use because of the business oriented feartures that are associated with it and also because of the support that it has for emails and other such office activity.

Equally influential was the release of the iPhone, which was the smartphone that was released by Apple which became an instant hit. The phone had features like multitouch and also has application that was unseen at that time. Around the same time, the Android operating system was released which had the support of Google and also was encouraged by a majority of the mobile phone makers at that time. Phones with Android became increasingly popular while the iPhone also had its second release with updated features and the ability to support 3G internet. The current share in the smartphone market is mixed with devoted followers of each brand.

The smartphone has the increasing capacity and is expected to sometime touch the power of a computer soon. Despite the fact that a whole office can be run on it and there are various application on it including maps and music player, the smartphone still does what it is supposed to do primarilly, and that is to be a phone and make and take calls.

Apple has been since time immemorial been known for its obsession with quality and design. Critics and consumers all around the globe admit that it is basically the cutting edge design of its product that sets it apart, way higher than its competitors in echelons of consumer satisfaction and appeal.

From the mesmerising Macintosh, to the surreal iphone and the legendary itouch, Apple has been coming out time and again with products that take the crowd with surprise, and the man responsible for this (well after Steve Jobs that is) is Jonathan Ive, the senior vice president for Industrial Design at Apple Inc.

Jonathan Ive

Born in London, Jonathan studied design at Newcastle polytechnic and then went on to become one of the founders of the company Tangerine. He joined Apple in 1996 and since then has been heading the design team of Apple, coming out with one dazzling product after another.

In a recent interview (one of the very few), when asked about what is the secret to designing products, he admitted that knowing the material and its physical behaviour to various industrial processes is not extra-curricular, but is rather essential. He has won a number of awards, the latest being for the designing of iphone. Well, given his reputation for innovation, we sure expect him to come out with a number of brilliant products in the days to come.

Music players typically have a display made of LCD, and use flash as memory, they connect to the computer via USB and that is how they transfer of data takes place. The main format of music is mp3 and all music players can support this. Additional formats may also be supported. The storage capacity of the music players also vary. Initially they had no more than a few kilobytes, but now they have capacity in the form of gigabytes. They might also include other things like a camera.

History of music players

The first music player was the Rio PMP300 which came out in 1998. The most popular music player however has been the iPod, released by Apple in 2001. iPod sold its hundred millionth iPod at around 2007 and had a share of over 72 percent. The user interface and the sleek design have contributed to the iPod's success and the brand name of apple was sufficient for many to go with the product. Second in line is the Zune player brought out by Microsoft in 2006. It has also been popular and its software that came with has also been acclaimed. With a very crisp screen and a good look and feel to it, Zune too has its own niche in the market. There are also several other music players and some of them include the ones by Sony and the Zen player.

Music players are often a nice thing to have when there is nothing else to do but to listen to the smoothening sound of music. Music players might have not been that great a hit when they were first released, but they are now an integral part of our lives with it being irreplaceable.

Latest iTunes

The latest version of iTunes, iTunes 10, can read, write and convert between the following formats: MP3, AIFF, WAV, MPEG-4, AAC (.m4a) and Apple Lossless. It can be downloaded for free from Apple’s website and can be used on the Windows platform too, to organize audio content on the PC. The interface is easy to use and the constant addition of new features makes it one of the most popular applications for managing digital media. Another wonderful feature of iTunes is the ability to access podcasts(many of them free) available on the iTunes Store.

iPod features

The USP of the iPod is its extremely user-friendly and hassle free interface consisting of only a click wheel and a minimal of 4-5 buttons. The buttons perform basic functions which consist of menu, play/pause, next track and previous track. The later versions like iPod touch lack the click wheel; instead they have a touch interface. The iPod also features games. Earlier, a couple of games came built into the iPod. Later, the iTunes Store started offering games for purchase. In addition to playing games, iPods can also be used as storage devices. The early models like iPod Classic have internal hard disk storage while the later models have flash storage.

Apple has enjoyed amazing success with the iPod as it continues to be popular among the masses, which is evident from the vast queues that can be seen outside Apple Stores after a new model of the iPod is launched.

iPhone extras

The iPhone’s battery is probably its only downside. Experts have suggested that it doesn’t live up to Apple’s claims. The iPhone can be charged by connecting to a computer via a USB cable or directly through a wall-charger. Other features of the iPhone include a camera and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The first iPhone had a fixed focus 2 megapixel camera and in the subsequent releases of the iPhone, the camera has continued to improve. Like the iPod, the iPhone too uses iTunes to manage its files.

The first iPhone came in two size variants- 4GB & 8GB. The 4GB model was later discontinued and a 16GB model was introduced. Now, iPhones with size up to 32GB are available. Flash storage is used in all versions of the iPhone and the memory is not expandable.

Next generation reading

A rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery powers the iPad. The iPad can play 10 hours of video at a stretch, or 140 hours of audio, or remain 1 month on standby. The iPad uses internal flash memory and currently, there are three options – 16, 32 or 64 GB and there is no provision to expand the memory. Bluetooth is present while some models support 3G too. The LCD touch screen of the iPad is 9.7 inches in size and is even scratch resistant. The size of the screen provides comfortable viewing of movies as well as pleasant reading of books. Several applications come built into the iPad such as Safari, Mail, Photos, Video, YouTube, iPod, iTunes, App Store, iBooks, Maps.

The iPad has received accolades from all quarters and is surely here to stay.

It also holds the distinction of being the first PC to eliminate floppy disk slots. The ‘i’ in iMac refers to internet and the iMac was initially launched as a low end PC ready for internet use. The first iMac consisted of a CRT display, and housed a 32MB RAM, a 4GB hard disk, a CD-ROM drive and a dial-up modem.

Current iMac

The latest iMac is a sight to behold. The display is a whopping 27-inch widescreen and it is LED-backlit with a brilliant resolution of 2560 by 1440 pixels. It provides umpteen storage capabilities with a 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA hard drive, and with an optional 2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA hard drive choice. Add to it the ATI Radeon HD 5750 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory, and you have a powerful beast at hand. It has won rave reviews all over the world and lives up to Apple’s reputation of coming up with mind-boggling products.

Another aspect of the iMac is its energy-efficient hardware components that work together with the operating system to conserve power. iMac is designed to be thoroughly environment friendly and it is known to be 95% recyclable. The latest iMac has just set another benchmark for the others.