I want a tablet but I do not know what to get :-(

I have been holding out till they released Windows 8 to decide on which tablet to buy. I really like having Windows 8 as the operating system because it would make switching between the Desktop PC and the Tablet seamless. All the other tablet OSes have a compromised OS - and the manufacturers admit that too. But they say that it is for the best user experience.

 

The problems with the current tablets

 

Let's look at a few of those examples where the current line of Tablets do badly.

• I know that Flash is not great, but all of the live cricket streams are using players that a built on the flash player and I cannot just continue watching a cricket match on the bed on any of the tablets out there.
• You cannot simply plug in your flash drive and read the contents of it straight from the tablet. Everything out there requires you to have a separate PC for doing just that.

Let me give you an example.

Couple of weeks ago, we went to see the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise. There were discount coupons for foreigners, where you have to download the coupon, print it out and hand show at the ticket counter for a JPY500 worth of discount from each ticket. We usually print documents from the Convenient Store close by. It costs only JPY10 per print. Anyways, I copied the PDF file (which I saved from Google Chrome) to the flash drive and was planning to take the print out on the way. When I inserted the pen drive, it could not detect the PDF file. Somehow it had gotten corrupted. We were already late for the train. I had to run all the way back to the apartment, copy a working PDF file and come back to take the print out. If I had a tablet with me, I didn't have to go all the way back the apartment to do that. I could have simply copied it from the Tablet.

Apple’s 2012 iMac vs. DIY PCs. Are iMacs really that expensive?

Apple just introduced their latest line of iMac desktops. They are elegant looking for sure, even thinner than the previous generation, but they come with the hefty price. The base price of the 27” model is priced at $1,999. Remember, this is the base model. It would cost a lot if you go up in the ladder.

Price is not the only problem with the iMac. The slim design comes with limitations. You cannot put components in the highest end of the performance spectrum due to thermal limitations. How can you dissipate all that heat from it? Even if you had the money, you cannot build a monster with an overclocked 6 core CPU, 3 or 4 graphics card,over 10TB of storage and 3 displays (that you can game on). It just isn’t possible. So, even if you take the pricing away, PCs have their applications that no Mac can serve. They can simply extend further and further beyond what an Apple desktop PC can.

Now, let’s come to our topic for today.

Ever wondered how much it would cost you to make a PC with the same config or ever wondered what you could build for the same price? Then read along.

Finding the fastest DNS server for your internet connection

Ever wondered if you could speed up your address translation performance by using the fastest DNS server for YOUR internet connection? Stop wondering, because there is a tool for that.

It’s called DNS Benchmark. It is a free tool developed by Gibson Research Corporation. You can download it from here. (BTW, like all other tools from Steve, this is so tiny for all the things it can do. He is an efficient programmer.)

I guess there is no point in me explaining everything all over again, when Steve Gibson has explained everything clearly on his website. Check it out, run the benchmark and see.

Zephyr – the ultimate gesture based multitasking for your jailbroken iPhone

I had known about this Jailbreak tweak for a while but the price of it held me back. It is US$4.99 in the Cydia store (BigBoss repository). But I finally gave in and bought it.

Double clicking the Home Button to activate the app switcher is sometimes a pain. By default, you have to press the Home Button twice to activate the app switcher but the OS does not always register it as two button presses. More often than not, it would regard it as a single press and you are taken back to the Home Screen. 

Further, the phone responds to the double presses slowly. At least, it is too slow for me. Maybe not for the average Joe though. I am very sensitive to the slightest delays BTW. Zephyr fixes both these problems.

Here’s a small video showing it in action.

Oh bummer! The iPhone 4S USB cable is damaged.

The day before yesterday I found out that the USB cable of my iPhone 4S (which I never unplug from the PC) was damaged near the 30 pin connector end. It must be due to bending, but it wasn't bent as much as the iPhone 3GS cable used to. And it is still working fine. Apple's quality must be going down.

I wonder if they will replace the cable if I take it to the Apple Store. I mean, I have Apple Care+ too. But it is working fine at the moment. But I won't contact them until it stops working. Besides, I have my wife's cable for the time being.

 
Note: I wonder if ZAGG has a replacement cable that is protected by their InvisibleShield, just like the ZAGG SmartBuds that I am using.