Remembering Steve Jobs

Remembering the man who changed the technology world and influenced the era of "Think Different"





On October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs died in California at age 56 due to a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
The devastating news came to millions of tech fans all over the world.

Steve Jobs was a great man, and a brilliant influence and credit to the technology world, and everyone here at Tech Beever would like to send our condolences to Jobs' friends and family for their tragic loss.

The computer entrepreneur and inventor was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. and also served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios.

In 1978, Apple recruited Mike Scott from National Semiconductor to serve as CEO for what turned out to be several turbulent years. In 1983, Steve Jobs lured John Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple's CEO, asking, "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?"

Later the following year, Apple aired a Super Bowl television commercial titled "1984". At Apple's annual shareholders meeting on January 24, 1984, to which an emotional Jobs introduced the Macintosh to a wildly enthusiastic audience.

In 1984, however, Sculley relieved Jobs of his duties as head of the Macintosh division. Jobs later claimed that being fired from Apple was the best thing that could happen to him; "The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."

Following in 1985, Jobs founded NeXT Computer in 1985, which saw the birth of the NeXT workstation. The NeXT workstation was known for its technical strengths, with its object-oriented software development system. NeXT products were marketed to the financial, scientific, and academic community, highlighting its innovative, experimental new technologies, such as the Mach kernel, the digital signal processor chip, and the built-in Ethernet port.

In 1986, Jobs bought The Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from Lucasfilm's computer graphics division for the price of $10 million, with the first film produced by the partnership, Toy Story, bringing fame and critical acclaim to the studio when it was released in 1995. The company went on to (and still does) create brilliant animated films, including box-office hits A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010). Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and Toy Story 3 each receiving the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

The second generation NeXTcube was also released in 1990, with Jobs touting it as the first "interpersonal" computer which would replace the personal computer. The NeXTcube could share voice, image, graphics, and video in email for the first time. "Interpersonal computing is going to revolutionise human communications and groupwork", Jobs told enthusiastic reporters. In 1996, NeXT Software, Inc. released WebObjects, a framework for web application development. NeXT was acquired by Apple Inc. in 1997 and WebObjects was used to build and run the hugely popular Apple Store, MobileMe services, and the iTunes Store.

Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout of $429 million for NeXT brought Jobs back to the very company he co-founded, and he served as its CEO from 1997 until his tragic death in 2011.

Under Jobs's guidance the company increased sales significantly with the introduction of the iMac, and later, the iPod portable music player, iTunes digital music software, and the iTunes Store.

On June 29, 2007, Apple entered the mobile phone business with the introduction of the iPhone, a multi-touch display smartphone, which also included the features of an iPod and, with its own mobile browser, revolutionized the mobile browsing scene. While stimulating innovation, Jobs also reminded his employees that "real artists ship", by which he meant that delivering working products on time is as important as innovation and attractive design.

With the ever importance of the Mac, Macbook, iPod, iPhone and iPad series growing all the time, it's hard not to look at Steve Jobs' work and think that this man brought something to the world with every product he placed his fingers to. Even if you're not a fan of Apple, no one can argue the influence Jobs brought to the technology world, that even if you're a firm 'fanboy' of Android, that the iPhone was a true innovation of the smartphone world. And that the iPad may not have been the first tablet in the world -- it was almost certainly a revolutionary bound forward, bringing the love, and even 'need' for a stylish, yet magical device.

It's all these things and more, that make the loss of Steve Jobs; a man who wasn't afraid to "think differently", all the more tragic.

Steve Jobs will be sadly missed, but for all the work he's done, for products that will continue to grow and evolve -- he'll never be forgotten.

Watch The "Let's Talk iPhone" Event

It's Like You're Right There. A Day After.



Apple had some guys with cameras, and, as guys with camera's do -- they filmed stuff. Cupertino has posted video of the event, and you can relive the magical (or dissapointing) birth of the iPhone 4S, iOS 5, Siri and the new iPods by visiting the source below.


Source: Apple

Is This The Robin We'll See In Arkham City?

Sure, we've had concept art of Robin for one of our most anticipated games, Batman: Arkham City, but is this the final look?

It's episode 4 of the Arkham City mini series; a comic series bridging the gap between Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, and the latest instalment sees the Boy Wonder in new threads *gasp* on patrol without Batman. We've posted some pics below to goad you into buying the digital only comic (c'mon, it's only 59p).


























It's not far off the concept art, but we're still not totally loving the hood, but the whole look gives the boy wonder a kind of Assassins Creed/inFamous kind of vibe.

And that's fine with us.

Download the comic via the DC Comics App

Leaked ipod Touch Capactive Home Button

If rumours of a 'home button-less' iPhone and iPod touch were enough to create speculation a while back, this image will probably cause a riot.
The alleged device was brought to life in the form of this prototype: an iPod touh, without, (you guessed it) a home button. The model has 128GB of memory, is running firmware 4.2.1MC14 and is marked model MC550LL.

Considering the blurry nature of the pictures, it could just be a fake, but the Capactive Touch Home Button could lead to all manner of intuitive gesture control along the bottom of the devise, which could be quite cool . Check the image below, and hit the link to CrunchGear where you can find more pictures.






source: CrunchGear

T.B.I.Y (Tech Beever It Yourself) iPhone/iPod Dock

Tech Beever has been doing some D.I.Y this afternoon, and you know what? We're going to make it a regular thing.
Today saw the birth of our T.B.I.Y (Tech Beever It Yourself) iPhone/iPod Dock. Want to make one yourself? Then take note...

What you'll need:

>A saw (we used an electric Black & Decker KS890ECN Scorpion Saw, gets the job done in no time, however, you don't need to turn the saw on, so an average hack-saw will suffice).

>Scissors (we found average kitchen scissors did fine)

>Plyers and screwdriver

>A plastic watch box, idealy one with a plastic watch holder, which we chose for two reasons, which we'll show you further on. (The box we used was from a childrens watch, which you can pick one up cheap if you don't have one)

>An iPhone/iPod USB cable, and AC Adapter

>White Sticky labels

>If you have any, some Apple stickers finish it off nicely 

     (luckily, we still had some from the iPhone 4)

>And, of course, an iPhone or iPod.

Let's begin!

With the saw, make an incision on the side of the box base, this will be where the wire will sit outside when the docks plugged in.

With the actual part that held the watch in the box, you'll need to cut and wittle a hole, so that the charger pins can sit nice and snug. Remember, this will hold the iDevice in place, so make sure it's sturdy.
The plastic will end up looking battered, so sand the rough edges down. This will be hidden later, but it still needs to be smooth.

 Now, once the hole is 'just' enough, slide the cable in, USB first, and feed the wire through. If you've measured right, it should sit quite tight.

 You only want the metal part showing, anymore and the stand wont be stable. The white part of the plug should sit tight with the plastic.

Next, place the plastic stand into the box. If you've used the one from the watch, it will snap into place easily. If not, well, we don't know... Then, feed the wire through the gap you made earlier.

Now, use a sticky white label to hide the hole that the pins come through, we chose white to match the box.

If you managed to get some, place the Apple sticker on the 'glass' looking case, this will act as the lid when the docks not in use.

And you know what? That's it! Remember the 2 reasons as to why we chose a watch box with a plastic holder? Well, other than acting as the charging dock, the shape of the holder means the wire can be wrapped and tucked away; ideal for taking it on holdiday! See the pics below for the finished product!

Although we're pretty proud of our little dock, we're sure you could do better, so send in your own! And stay tuned for our next D.I.Y Build; the T.B.I.Y iPhone/iPod Speaker Dock!

T.B.I.Y Time: Around 25-minutes

Apple App Store Hits 10 Billion Downloads

Well, they've finally done it; Apples App store downloads on iPod, iPhone and iPad, have exceeded that of planet Earths human population by reaching 10 Billion downloads (and counting).
Come on Android, it's catch up time.

Scott Pilgrim VS The World Blu Ray- BD Live Edition

As a massive Scott Pilgrim fan, getting the Blu Ray was just going to happen. However, the BD Live inclusion was a complete and utter bonus. If you're unaware, BD Live (currently only available as certain movies) is basically extras that you would find as editions to your movie, however, the vast features are far greater than regular goodies;

Automatic firmware updates
Checking each time the device is switched on to see if it has been tampered with and reporting issues


Internet chats


Scheduled chats with the director 


Internet games 


Downloadable featurettes 


Downloadable quizzes and downloadable movie trailers.

The bad news? 

You need an internet (preferably Wi-Fi) connected Blu Ray Player (not a Bonus View Player) or PS3.

Got an internet connected Blu Ray Player or PS3? Got an iPhone/iPod Touch with Wi-Fi? Then download the free BD Live app, and use your device as a remote, or, if you really want to show off, stream/download movies straight to your device, unlock hidden extras contained in the movie, and watch trailers. 

BD Live really is the future of Blu Ray, and you'd be wise getting in on the action.

Oh, and if the post title was a tad missleading, you can get more on Scott Pilgrim in the Blu Ray review which will be up asap.

Beever Rant: 3D iPod will trump 3DS

Industry analyst Michael Pachter thinks the 3DS is a revolutionary product, but he expects Apple to trump it with a 3D iPod in the future.

"On the handheld side, I see the 3DS as truly revolutionary, but expect Apple to copy it and improve the design with a 3D iPod, and to again begin to erode Nintendo's first mover advantage," he predicted in an interview with Konsolifin.net.

"Nintendo has iterated its handheld's frequently, and may succeed in holding Apple at bay; it will be interesting to watch."

Intresting, yes. But a 3D iPod? The only controls the iPod has, are touch screen and tilting the device. Hardly grounds for 3D gaming; If you move the screen, what happens to the 3D visuals? They dissapear. 


Now, if Apple made a standalone gaming console to rival the 3DS and PSP2 (note: PSP2 isn't 3D), then this would be grounds for a genuine argument. However, I can see no reason why Apple would take all the gaming revenue away from the iPod, iPhone and iPad, the companys biggest incomes, just to accomodate 3D.


Sorry Michael, the Beever has spoken.

App Review: Infinity Blade (iPhone 4)

                  

 

 

Following in the well received footsteps of Rage HD, comes Infinity Blade, the second in what we hope is just the start of amazing looking iOS games boasting advanced 3D graphics.

Epic Games (creators of the wildly successful Gears of War console series) have delivered the first mobile game built around its Unreal Engine 3. As you'd expect, it's amazing to look at, and the immersive nature of the audio-visual helps the clichéd game in terms of storyline, as well as the overall presentation of Infinity. 

 

My, what a comfy chair

 

 You have the ability to dodge, block, or parry attacks, while your own strokes of furious vengeance can be delivered via either your trusty metallic weapon of choice -- whether it be sword-shaped or more reminiscent of an axe, your protagonist will wield it in the same way -- or a spot of magical destruction, depending on your tastes. Mixed up together, the virtual buttons and gesture-based slashing represent your classic case of a control scheme that's easy to get the hang of quickly, but challenging and deep enough to require an investment of time to master fully. The most important thing is that it can be sickeningly satisfying, particularly because your blade cuts swathes through the enemies that directly correspond to the angles of your finger swipes. It just makes it that extra bit more personal.

 

 

What do you mean you've only got Earl Grey?

Epic bills this as an action-RPG title and the role-playing aspect comes in immediately following each battle, where you're studiously assessed on how stylishly you destroyed your opponent. Experience points are then distributed in a somewhat quirky way, whereby each item of your kit collects a portion of the score until it is mastered, at which point its share of the XP loot starts to be wasted. Since mastery of each item is rewarded, you'll want to achieve it, but because you lose points after mastering an item, you're encouraged to keep moving on to other swords, other helmets, and other sets of armor, which then tend to subtly alter the basic gameplay. This, in turn, helps to variegate the game's experience. Another important aspect of RPGs, the storyline, is almost entirely neglected here, but that's to be expected -- we are, after all, talking about gaming on a smartphone.

                                                                                                  

                                                                                       

It's also extremely encouraging to hear that Epic plans to expand the already rich inventory of trinkets for your warrior with even more options, all of them free, and a multiplayer element is also promised at some point down the line. Game Center integration is already present and achievements get tallied up -- yes, they do make the game more fun -- but we can't wait to start dishing out some trash talk with our super-duper combos. 

The one major downer to this game, the fact that it's basically a one-on-one dojo sparring session under all the glitz and glamor, goes out of the window when you're playing against your best buddy or colleague. The unpredictability of human opponents is the thing that's kept so many first-person shooters going far past their sell-by date (or even real-time strategy titles like StarCraft), so we can only imagine how crazed this game's followers will become once it lets you slash up your boss with something called the Sword of Storms.

In terms of its relationship with your iPhone, Epic's Infinity Blade has a predictably ruinous effect on battery life. We managed to halve a fully charged iPhone's juice with a three-hour session of on-and-off gaming, but backgrounding this app has also shown to be energy-intensive. In our limited experience, we saw our iPhone 4 chew through an atypically large chunk of its energy reserves while we had Blade in the background, meaning that you'll want to shut it down completely when you're done with it. 

Otherwise, it performed perfectly respectably for us. Some drops in frame rate were apparent, but given the visual treasures on offer, that's neither a surprise nor an intolerable flaw. There is a touch of lag in responding to our swipes as well, but that's mostly evident when battles really heat up and is again a relative non-issue.

There's no denying that, as a game, Blade Infinity is limited. The storyline can be recited in a single sentence and the basic gameplay mechanic is one and the same throughout. However, it never feels like a trudge because of some spectacular presentation, RPG elements that have been woven in intelligently rather than thrown in as an afterthought, and increasingly sophisticated enemy AI as you progress through the game. So, is it worth your £3.49? Hell yes. And even if it wasn't, you'd still want to buy it just so you could tell your grandkids that you were there when 3D games went mobile.

Note: Infinity Blade was reviewed on an iPhone 4. The game is also compatible with the iPad, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch fourth generation and third generation (16GB and above).