IDC, is a subsidiary of IDG (world’s leading technology media, events and research company) that provides market intelligence, advisory services and events for the information technology and telecommunications. Its services are spread in the world of IT professionals, of the business executives as well as in the community investment areas, in order to help taking decisions based on fact regarding the purchases of technology and business strategy.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
IDC Research Group has conducted new research on Apple’s PC market in order to compare the first quarter of 2009 global PC shipments to the ones made in the second quarter and it was revealed that again they were coming in ahead of expectations, since the Apple’s US market share remained the same, although on the US computer vendors list they have dropped one place. As to the worldwide PC shipments (that include desktop and portable PCs, without x86 Servers), IDC’s Wordlwide Quarterly PC Tracker has predicted for last year a decline in shipments of 6.3 percent, whereas these proved to be only 3.1 percent down.

The decline was diminished due to the PC industry which evolved into more personal, portable, and more affordable devices rather than on those oriented on performance; in fact, IDC claims, these portable PCs are still the object of the shipments’ volume and growth around all the regions. Loren Loverde, program director for IDC’s Tracker Program, declares that these results indicate a positive step forward on the PC market, with new products being launched in the second half of the year that land on a background of seasonal growth and increased economic confidence. This favorable background is nourished by various factors – government stimulus, a more stable stock market and interest rates, progress recorded in the auto and financial industries. All these factors are expected to lead to a considerable growth by the end of the year.

On the other hand, Bob O’Donell, vice president at Clients and Displays dept., says that although the indicated growth may lead to a recovery, the market’s interest on getting lower prices for PCs and Mini Notebooks, can drag the value of the market to lower levels as well. Due to priorities other than spending cash, the commercial segment didn’t show any motivation in lowering the prices, remaining more conservative on this matter. But with the new shopping season of the second half of the year it is expected to be seen a recovery in the commercial space hopefully culminating with a boost growth in 2011.

According to the US’s PC vendors list the top five vendors are: Dell, HP, Acer, Toshiba, and Apple which dropped one place selling 1.213 million Macs during this period, a selling that is less than the one recorded in last year’s second quarter of 1.385 million. Worldwide the top five PC vendors do not include Apple, unfortunately, these ones - with their positive or negative growth - being listed as it follows: HP, Dell, Acer, Lenova and Toshiba.

Macs are known to work wonders when it comes to efficiency and speed, but yet there are some specific tasks that seem to last more than we have ever expected as it is with the case of encoding and converting video. Elgato, the world’s leading TV solution for the Mac which produces TV recording software and a complete range of TV tuners to record and edit TV and HD TV on the Mac, has come up two years ago with a tool called Turbo.264 a USB device that managed to do some encoding for Quick Time video.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
This year Elgado has released the Intel-only $150 Turbo.264 HD, which like its sibling is meant to speed up video encoding. Moreover the device is able to confer speeding in the process of converting video directly from AVCHD HD camcorders, enables you to trim video clips before converting them, you can also combine several clips into a single one, and in addition can output video to HD formats including YouTube HD, 720p, and 1080p, not to mention that it works faster on slow and more-powerful Macs as well. To check its capabilities the device was tested on a current 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mac mini (with 4GB of RAM) and on an older 2 x 2.66GHz Dual Core Mac Pro (with 8GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT graphics card).

After running the two tests (the first one by using RipIt to convert a DVD movie to Video TS folder of which the main feature was converted to a single Apple TV compatible movie by the aid of Turbo.264 HD, and the second one using HandBrake to convert the Video TS folder again, this time without Turbo.264 HD) it was noticed that the device performed good in regard to speed (it took 36 minutes and 13 seconds) on both Mac mini and Mac Pro. To pull a movie clip from AVCHD camcorder and to convert it to Apple TV – friendly format the Turbo.264 HD performed also a great job, being able to do the conversion in only 9 minutes and 29 seconds.

But unfortunately to all these good things you have to pay a price – the image quality; comparing the videos created with Handbrake and the ones made with Turbo.264 HD application, one could notice the videos belonging to Turbo device displayed a poorer quality in regard to the image. Though this application provides the option to create settings customizing, there are some issues here: first of all some Mac users may not be that familiar with the data rate setting or even to effectively tweak an overscan, secondly even if you know-how, tweaking those settings you can meet the situation where the results won’t be able to play on the planned device, for instance if you set a video’s data range too high and Apple TV will not be able to play it. Next to this fact there were moments when the software failed to recognize that the device was plugged in but at a re-plugging the problem could be solved. Although one encounters these issues, it is recommended to own a Turbo.264 HD a valuable addition to your computing needs, especially when you use a slower Mac.

Data security has always been and still is a concern for everybody who needs to be protected against outside intrusion which doesn’t have to be a beneficent one. The Data Locker Pro AES 320GB is a portable drive focused on security and protected by a password. Beside its aspect which makes it look coming out of the spy movies the drive presents security features that emphasize its good mark. The LED screen displays a number pad that will let you introduce your password, and only after introducing the correct password you can unlock it and make it recognizable by the computer.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
The features of the Data Locker include the turning on/off the device, an Auto Lock feature, a feature based on hardware that detects malfunction, a panic mode for self destruction, an ability to detect violent force attack and an AES encryption based on hardware. The mode featuring the self destruct operation means that you are allowed to program a delete of the data that exist on hard drive in case one has attempted for nine times to unlock without success the device. This feature proves to be very helpful indeed as long as it doesn’t get on the hands of the child who plays around the house and out of curiosity is testing it to see how it works. And for you not to reach this embarrassing situation it is better if you just create a back up for your data, since all the security features depend on the drive itself. Another thing: software and drivers do not require accessing or downloading either.

The unit presents itself twice times thicker than an iPhone measuring the same length and width. The drive is a 2.5” SATA having a speed of 5,400 rpm with a 8MB buffer. Though it is covered in a plastic-metal combination it looks somehow fragile and it is good to prevent it from careless handling. The USB port can draw a current of 5 Volt and 500mA therefore you can not mount it on some laptop, since the laptop’s USB ports have insufficient power output to be able to spin up the drive. Data Locker as mentioned before has the encrypting process inside its mechanism, fact that prevents it from faster copying test, the drive using the encrypting feature while writing, in this way slowing down the times for copying.

The drive is compatible with Mac and PC and works also with Time Machine. At its first mounting on your computer it appears on the desktop in the form of two separate 150GB volumes, of which the first one can not be changed since it contains security software and the second one you will be able to use for storage. Whereas reformatting the drive with the use of Disk utility you will be able to condense the two volumes into a single 300GB unit. For updating the firmware that belongs to the drive needs to use windows. Anyway, owing such a security device ensures you of the freedom to work on your PC without being afraid of being hacked or trespassed by the intruders and Data Locker Pro AES is created to offer the comfort of security.

While controls are challenging, it’s hard to find fault with this tennis game

Gameloft, international publisher and developer of video games for mobile phones and consoles, is behind the new iPhone game “Real Tennis” which is not as smooth to learn as it is with Let’s Golf, but as soon as you get a grip on it, you can be assured that it is a real fun to play. The game presents a lot of options, allowing you to start directly accessing Instant Play or if you are into more excitement you can get yourself involved in Championship and Tournament modes. Not to mention that it presents the Wi-Fi based multiplayer option for up to four persons. Characters with different strengths and vulnerable points are displayed for you to choose form. Even if the names are not related to real tennis players some names like “Kantikova” may ring a bell to you. The selection for the type of field allows you to opt between clay, grass, and synthetic courts your ball behaving different according to the field you choose.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
On the left side of the screen there is the d-pad which activate your player and on the right side there is the interactive button to have control upon your swing. This button determines how high you throw or how deep so you have to be careful with your tap or swipe touch, whereas the d-pad can affect the depth or the dropping of your shot. Playing single is kind of hard in order to render your character a position that enables him to move fast for returning a volley, one may have the feeling of playing some sort of soccer penalty hit simulation where one has to guess the direction he has to turn after serving. It seems that being a “pro” in Wii Sports tennis doesn’t qualify you to be the same with this Real Tennis 2009 game, as defeats outnumber the winnings. This happens till you discover that the place where you are doesn’t matter as much as it matters in Wii Sports, since once you realize that you are in the right hemisphere you can make the contact quite often, and this awareness changes your perspective on the game.

In doubles, on the other hand, the computer is the one which controls your partner, and as any other computer is determined to make your life miserable. But there are moments when it can play good enough to offer you a task easy to handle such as to cover just half of your side of the field. In this case it is left more time on your hands when you can consider the placement of the ball and strategy of swinging.

Next to the d-pad mentioned before there is available also a joystick option and its feeling seems to be more acceptable even though one can play better with the d-pad. The strange thing is that these controllers (d-pad and joystick) have the ability to block some action; when your partner is playing left and you do the right, you simply witness the chaotic fly of the ball out of the controlled action. There is the accelerometer but it helps while serving, or to fix the position where you’d like your serve to land. Using the multitouch option the serves prove to be more powerful, and all in one Real Tennis is nevertheless a fun game to play and one can even get improved the more often he plays.

One year ago App Store has opened an access of 50,000 iPhone apps and some of them aren’t necessarily worthy to be remembered of but the ones that had a real impact made App Store to carry its success up to the present days. According to the popularity, quality, innovation, or simply temerity editors have release a list of the most significant apps which ended up in 12 apps, one for each month since the App Store has been opened. Being on this list, an app doesn’t have to be a must for the users, but it is relevant for the iPhone platform.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
And the first to start with is “Amazon Mobile” which gives you quick access to search for products on Amazon, including the prices, descriptions, and since there is a link to the Amazon.com account it enables you to make the purchase directly form your iPhone.

“Cydia” application enables you to install tools to access the entire content of your iPhone and iPod touch as well as install additional apps that deliver capabilities that Apple do not provide. Having Cydia installed allows you to shoot and stream video, download YouTube videos, you can file apps into folders, and a lot much more.

“Flight Control” application is a game that can rival the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP in capabilities; it displays an airfield which features two runaways and one or two helipads, and as helicopters and planes appear on the screen, through the use of your fingertip you need to create a flight path to help them land safe. It sounds easy, but only for a short time; wait and see how crowded it becomes and you will see that it will be hard to manage the flights in order not to collide.

“iFart Mobile” app is the one to simulate the sound of blowing winds and in the first year of releasing this was a novelty for the iPhon users.

“KoiPond” an app that has animated Japanese carp swimming randomly on your iPhone screen and it is worth having because it conveys the sense of reality to hear the sounds of splashing water when you touch the screen in KoiPond.

“MLB.com At Bat” is the old app present in App Store since the first day and it offers live scores, game status data and highlights of Major League Baseball games. It is an app that has come in time with a lot of updates, the 2009’s being GameDay Audio Support which allows users to tune into the radio broadcasts.

The “Postage” application seems to be quite a must by creating electronic postcards through an optimized iPhone interface. Lots of options to play with regarding images, designs, photo effects, and text styles.

“Remote” app enables you to navigate an iTunes library, displays contents of iPhone touch’s screen for you to choose what music or video you like without pressing too many buttons. “Rolando”, a game where you navigate from point A to point B using the iPhone accelerometer in a smart way enabling you to turn your device to get the Rolandos rolling. The last one is “Twitterrific and Tweetie” a microblogging service that allows you to post short messages for others to read, in this way iPhone becoming an always-connected way to communicate that is available upon you.

This is the list of the top 12 apps of App Store that made their way toward your iPhone or iPod touch each one of them bringing the novelty and necessity to their consumers.