Adobe: Ink and Slide

Primarily known as a software giant, Adobe for the first time in their history recently released hardware products in the form of Ink & Slide. Usually known for their famous softwares namely, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flashplayer not to mention one of the most widely used softwares in the designing world: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe released Ink & Slide in a bid to revolutionize digital designing.

These tools are perform brilliantly while drawing sketches, layouts & are complimented with a variety of apps, which enrich user experience as well. Also available to customers is the Adobe Creative Cloud, which allows users to store their designs, preferences etc in a “cloud” making them available across multiple platforms & accessible from virtually anywhere.

Ink: -

Basically a Bluetooth equipped stylus, the Ink is an impressive tool for drawings & sketches. Made of aluminium & plastic, Ink has a premium feel to it & its twisted profile ensures a comfortable grip. The nib is small & gives the user a pen like feel unlike the marker like feel normal styluses provide.

Equipped with Adonit’s Pixelpoint tech, Ink has a wide range of pressure sensitivities again making the user comfortable while making sketches as its tip practically glides across the screen.

At the rear end of the stylus, a concave button is present which gives user access to the various apps available with the stylus. For storage, users have a hollow cylindrical storage compartment, which has a charging dock at the end. A fully charged Ink allows users to have almost 8 hours of functionality.

Slide: -

Slide can be defined as a combined ruler, drafter, French curve depending on the need of the user. In size, it is similar to an average USB stick & is built of the same material as the Ink which aluminium & plastic accents.

Fairly easy to use, it has a single concave button at the top which allows users to browse through tonnes of shapes, layouts, designs etc. When placed on a tablet, it does not budge easily helping the user to draw accurate shapes & lines. Unlike Ink, Slide does not come with a storage compartment so care should be taken while storing it.

Compatibility & Operation: -

Ink & Slide are compatible with iPad Air, iPad Mini along with 4th generation iPads as well. Setup is fairly simple as all a user needs to do is to turn on the Bluetooth of both the devices (iPad & Ink), pair them from Adobe’s Sketch & Line app.

Personal preferences namely, 3 palm rejection, LED colour & Slide toggle modes can be accessed from this app as well. Though Ink & Slide can be used without signing up on the Adobe Creative Cloud, additional perks such as stored colour palettes/designs become available if a user signs up.

Overall: -

As tablets are quickly emerging as the new substitutes for laptops/desktops, people especially digital designers are in need of something more than a keyboard & mouse for putting their ideas into paper. Adobe’s Ink & Slide satisfies such a need to some extent with its versatility, variety & simplicity. Priced at $199, some might call it overpriced, but given the features, it provides along with its uniqueness, it is a steal.

Get Ready For A Test Flight With NASA To Mars

NASA made easy to travel to MARS: 

NASA moved one more step forward in the history of space by launching the First spacecraft named Rosetta, which will be rotating around a comet. It will be landed on its nucleus and will be sending data back to the earth. A new invention has shocked the entire world due to its effective use. The spacecraft Rosetta was launched in the year 2004, but was reactivated in 2014 after a record of 957days of staying in the state of hibernation.

The main focus 7 duty of Rosetta was to reach the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the month of August and to study the celestial object and to prepare for mooring on the nucleus mostly by November.

Claudia Alexander, who is a Rosetta's U.S. project scientist at NASA's (JPL) in Pasadena, California was very excited and feels proud to see some zero’s and ones coming down, he rejoices and is waiting to extract what actually this all want to inform. Research and study are the all-time focused works for the Scientist, which will help them to make human travel Mars easily.

The current news reflects that Rosetta is approaching the main asteroid belts positioned between Mars and Jupiter. The exact location of the spacecraft is almost 30000 miles away from the Comet, but positively by august the instrument will be able to begin its work and map its surface.

The total number of instruments launched in the space can be calculated as three they are namely, MIRO, Alice (Ultraviolet spectrometer), and IES. These three forms the part of the Suite of 11-science instrument abroad the Rosetta orbit. The main activity of each can be briefly classified as:

MIRO: The MIRO was lunched and positioned to scrutiny the effect of dust and gas, which leaves the nucleus in order to form the comet and its tail giving it a striking look. It gives details of the formation of comet and it leaves the purlieu of the sun.

Alice: It acts as the calculator which measure the proportion at which the comet produces different elements such as water, carbon-di-oxide, carbon mono-oxide as it approaches the SUN. It also helps in analysis of the gas in the comet’s coma.

IES: The main objective of IES is to work upon the plasma environment of the comet, predominantly the coma. They work upon the charged particles present in the outer atmosphere of the sun or present in the solar winds as they meet up with the gas flowing out from the comet. The accumulative effort of the entire three segments will help the scientist analyses the possibility to set Human on Mars.

In December this year, the engineers at NASA will start the final assembly of ORION spacecraft that would take men to Mars.The Orion’s flight test in December will provide with all the necessary data, which in order will help to analyze and arrange the entire perquisite for sending Humans to mars safely. In the future, Orion will be in position to launch the NASA’s new heavy lift Rocket, SLS (space launch system)

The SLS (Space launch System) will be world’s first heavy lift rocket which will be in position to carry Human Beings in space.

One OS to Rule them all – Apple’s New Mantra

Ever since the arrival of computing in consumer space, companies have focused to create a coherent and easy-to-use experience for their customers. Moreover, this is especially true for companies with vertical integration like Apple, which manufactures its devices along with providing the required services. This creates a coherent environment and helps to tie the customer to the Apple ecosystem. However to truly achieve this, they need to start with the core service integration – the OS.

The Present Situation: 

Right now, Apple sells iPhones and iPads like hot-cakes with their own venerable and simple iOS as the primary operating system. It is fairly capable and has the largest third-party app ecosystem, the AppStore, which arguably has the most quality-oriented apps and games. Thus, once you own an iPhone and want a tablet, your natural choice would be an iPad since you get the strong ecosystem and your subscriptions carry over as well as iCloud and iTunes.

However, the problem lies in the fact that the same ecosystem does not power Apple’s more serious devices – the MacBook Air/Pro and MacPro units. What it lacks is a quality ecosystem and the enviable integration with its mobile counterparts. In addition, Microsoft is slowly trying to merge Windows 8 and Windows Phone into one, in order to gain market, same with Google – Android and Chromebooks.

The Possibilities: 

Think about what a single united OS with at-par functionality can do. You were playing your favorite game on your MacBook Air and now suddenly need to go out and it’s a 2 hour commute. So you may pause your game, pick up your phone and continue where you left off. Likewise, with music or videos. Not to mention, you could buy an app and enjoy the same on all your iGadgets. Thus, customers getting an Apple device are locked to the ecosystem and hence it makes sure their future gadgets will be from the Cupertino giant. Apple are already targeting some of it with their hand-off mechanism and unified notifications between iOS and OS X but it still has a long way to go.

How to go about it? 

Uniting two different paradigms of computing – one for the on-the-go and casual users and other for more serious work – can prove to be a challenge as Microsoft with their Metro design language is finding out. The first problem is that laptops and desktops are traditional non-touch devices with mouse and keyboards and hence demand a different UI paradigm than smartphones or tablets. So applications and games universal to both will have to account for that and hence there has to be a coherent API and tools to provide for that. They will also have to address different architectures – x86 vs. ARM, which can be mitigated if they can produce x86 capable ARM to have it everywhere.

It seems like the future is bright for Apple with a unified OS and ecosystem and even more coherent experience. Granted it may take time but consumers will flock for the foreseeable future if they pull it off.

The SLT-A58 from Sony is the Best DSLR for an Experimentalist Photographer

Sony has always done justice to its reputation for innovation. It has excelled in each and every field that it had laid hands on. Sony had a reputation in the market for handy-cams and in no time, we found it mosey the market of Digital Cameras. Before the other brands have sensed the competition, Sony has made its strike. Sony started producing the best one can hope for in the world of Digital cameras and DSLRs. They have extended the boundaries of affordable DSLRs. They can pack up the best combination of features in one chassis and tag the package with quite an affordable price.

Enough of Technology Inside one Chassis

The looks and design of the Sony A58 is no different from that on any other DSLR, but the features incorporated in this new output from Sony, are far more supporting and especially the optical viewfinder is not what one expects at such a price. This new DSLR from the esteemed house of electronic manufacturer Sony is tagged at Rs.45,990.As this camera falls under the category of an entry level camera, the features offered is far more than what other brands offer for a camera of this sort. The control features installed for this camera goes at par with other competitive brans like Canon and Nikon.

What Makes it Perfect with all the Necessary Features at this Range? 

This camera is different from other models of the same range on other technological factors. It is different from Nikon and Canon regarding the eye sensor feature in the viewfinder. This deficiency of an eye sensor forces its users to switch modes manually. This often causes professionals to divert their concentration while changing the modes, which is quite hectic in the middle of a professional shoot.

Now coming to its zooming features and stats, in a DSLR no one expects a Digital zoom as we can get the best zooming manually and that is exactly, what DSLRs are meant for. But the A58 got a zooming that makes it quite different from the other cameras of this category. If you want to judge the minute features from afar, this digital zoom can be of some use. This helps in better quality of picture composition and fastens the roots of photography and clarity. The zooming control is also useful for navigating through the previews and to zoom into the pictures you preview on the LCD.

The SLT-A58 is Perfect for the Hands of a First Timer

When you are dedicated to photography and prefer carrying your DSLR wherever you move, the weight is a factor. The camera is light enough and the amount of weight that this DSLR has, is just what is needed for a steady shot. This is the best camera for a first timer as it balances the complex and simple features to give its users a sufficient guide to perfect Focusing and quality captures. All you need to do to accommodate with this new DSLR is to understand the OLED viewfinder.

Done with candies? Have a soda – says King

Sequels are the rage these days. The sequel to the most loved and hated game – Candy Crush Saga from King – has arrived on Google’s play store with a soft launch – Candy Crush Soda Saga. Only this time, there is some soda as well to go with the gummies. So is it different or all the same with a new package?

Initial Impression: 

It seems like King is following the “don’t change the winning mantra” rule by the book. The overall look of the game is almost identical to its predecessor and has gaudy colors and a cartoonish look written all over it. In fact, it might well be taken for a clone of the original game, only it is not.

It seems like King wants to cash in on its candy crush saga popularity while it is still there and is apparently milking the cow to the end. Therefore, instead of hard candies and chocolate, they are now selling soda and gummies.

Gameplay: 

The original gameplay is largely retained and so is the general feel about the sequel. If you are a fan of earlier editions, you feel right at home and can start climbing up the ladder. In fact, only the hard-core fans might able to detect the differences between this and its predecessor – where gummies float in soda unlike dropping candies.

The catch – it is still a match-3 puzzle game with the annoying energy system retained in most certainty. There is also a purple block which lets you create new combinations, match possibilities, and can make for more challenging levels.

As this is a King game, in app purchases run rampant and loud in-your-face type. There are all in all 75 levels to grind through with these purchases significantly making the progress less of a burden.

Early Preview: 

Early adopters in play store are already complaining about a lack of daily bonus wheel and overall lack of challenging levels, however some have stated that level 55 in particular is hard to overcome with some difficult moves, though others do not agree.

There are also reports that the exit button on Android is fixed. As for early preview, crashes, force closes and logging-in troubles remain though these kinks will most likely be ironed out by King come release time.

Verdict: 

So King is out again with another sequel based on the same formula that led to the widely popular original game in this series and the overall gameplay being largely similar gives it a milking the cow feel, but then who doesn’t. Should you play it? If you have fetish for match-3 puzzles or just want something to pass your time, pick it up, chances are it will do just fine.

On the other hand, diehard fans of the series are sure to play this and complete it without sparing a thought. While there are preview versions already available for Android and AppStore and release is imminent now, other platforms are going to miss the title yet again it seems. King has no interest in the rising platforms such as WP8 or BB10 and they will be skipped.