AC Classrooms, Solar Power, Tablets for All Students – Welcome to a Municipal School in Maharashtra

In Wablewadi, a village in Pune district, there exists a government school unlike any other in the country. Though it has been around for many years, today, it is Wablewadi's best kept secret. This municipal school has undergone a complete makeover in terms of infrastructure as well as teaching approach.

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. In 2012, when Dattatreya Ware took charge as headmaster, he noticed that children weren't too enthusiastic about coming to school. At the time, there were only 30 students who were actually attending classes. Disturbed by this trend, Dattatreya held a meeting with the parents. "I told them that children need to get a good education and for that they need to have a proper environment. So, we thought of developing the school," he says. During the meeting, the parents decided that they wouldn't accept external donations to renovate the school. They managed to raise approximately Rs. 17 lakh to give the school a much-needed makeover. It took almost a year for the work to be completed. The 66 households in the village funded the entire project. And that's not all, the entire work was done by the parents and no labourers were employed. Today, this school is air conditioned. It runs on solar power. And the children are taught through e-learning and activity-based methods. The best part is that it has more than 90 students now. "The entire environment has undergone a tremendous change. Children come as early as 8 a.m. and stay till 7 p.m. We literally have to shoo them away," says Dattatreya. The campus is a Wifi-enabled one and every student has a tablet. There is a beautiful botanical garden in the school as well.  There are only four teachers in this school, including Dattatreya. It is his vision that has made the school what it is today.

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. The school has math, science, language and crafts labs, as well as a sports room. The teaching and learning is completely different from other traditional schools. There is a focus on the interest of student.  For instance, a group of students may learn math one day and language the next day. There are no fixed hours for classes. At the end of the day, if they haven't understood certain concepts, the students look it up on the Internet.

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. They are provided an alternative and holistic learning experience. "Since the school is under the Maharashtra State Board, the children take examinations at the end of the year. But, all of us strongly feel there is no need to tell the students they have a problem by giving them marks. This is why we don't have exams during the year. In fact, we should be able to teach them well and the test should be for us," he says. The efforts made by Dattatreya and the other teachers haven't gone unnoticed. In 2013, renowned Indian scientist Vijay Bhatkar visited the school and was so impressed that he said "it was his dream school". The Wablewadi Zilla Parishad School is also ISO 9001-2008 certified.

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."All we want is for learning to be a joyful process. And we wish other schools in Maharashtra would emulate us so that many more children can enjoy going to school," says Dattatreya. Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter (@thebetterindia).

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Source: AC Classrooms, Solar Power, Tablets for All Students – Welcome to a Municipal School in Maharashtra

Tablets dead after six years

In 2010 the Tame Apple Press told the world that tablets that Microsoft had wasted a decade trying to sell were "game-changers" and created a unique fad – a tech toy without a purpose.

In just six years tablets have disappeared. There weren't any tablets at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and no one is really interested.

Samsung, Sony, HTC and LG didn't have any new tablets and did not mention them during their conferences.

Lenovo has released some cheap Android tablets. Huawei announced the MateBook which is more of a Surface Pro-like device running Windows 10 for laptops.

Part of the problem is that you can find good tablets for less than $200. And there's no differentiating factor between Android tablets. Those that are in the market work fine and if you have got a use for it then you don't need another one.

The last thing to kill it off is that phones have become bigger. This was something Jobs said could never happen and Apple fanboys were programmed to mock fablets even while they were trying to type messages on tiny screens with their sausage sized hands.

So it looks like tablets were nothing more than a fad which made Apple rich and provided little technological benefit. It was pretty much what I said when they first came out. But what is a Cassandra-channelling hack supposed to do against the heavy marketing skills and a tech press which has basically surrendered to a big corporation.

Source: Tablets dead after six years

Amazon Fire OS 5.1.1 Update Has Problems

Amazon pushed out a massive Fire update a few weeks ago that has the build number 5.1.1. Many people have been experiencing issues such as degrading performance of the tablet to certain apps becoming unresponsive.

Here is what customers are saying;

Well, my Fire was working just fine until the latest OS "upgrade". After it my Fire is slow as molasses, runs down the battery in record time and "beeps" at me constantly like it's trying to shut down. If you think that is acceptable behavior, then there's something wrong with you.

Since the recent upgrade I have been unable to connect to Internet at home. In addition, the latest Kindle book I purchased will not open. I get a pop up box telling me to delete from device and either download again or purchase from Kindle store!

Yes, the "home" tab and "recent" tab are crap compared to the old carousel. The carousel needs to be brought back, quickly. With this new update my fire went from smooth to clunky.

Terrible OS update. Everything slow, slow, slow. Spent 2 days getting everything working again so I'm reluctant to downgrade but I may have to bite the bullet and choose that route. The speed is worse than my 5 year old android phone!

FYI battery runs down because tapping the home button no longer closes the app and returns to home, just sends the app to the background. Tap the new task switcher button, wait a second for the X to appear in the top right corner and tap the X to close the app and return home.

In order to help placate a growing number of angry customers, Amazon has announced that it is now possible to downgrade your tablet back to OS 4, but you will lose all of your data and files.

Amazon has explained the downgrade process on a new help page they created.

We hope you will enjoy the Fire OS 5 update, but if you want to go back to Fire OS 4, you can choose this option from Manage Your Content and Devices. Select your Fire tablet from the Your Devices tab and select "Reset and Downgrade to Fire OS 4" in the Device Actions drop-down.

Downgrading to Fire OS 4 requires a factory reset and will remove all of your personal information, Amazon account information, downloaded content, and applications from internal storage.

Your Fire tablet will be downgraded to Fire OS 4 within 72 hours. Your device must be powered on, connected to Wi-Fi, and with battery level of at least 50%. Fire OS 4 will download in the background and the device will reset and downgrade when the download completes and the device is idle. It is not possible to cancel the rollback process once the request has been made.

If you later decide you would like to upgrade to Fire OS 5, simply return to the Manage Your Content and Devices page and choose "Upgrade to Fire OS 5."

What do you guys think about the new Fire OS and do you plan on downgrading?

Michael Kozlowski (5945 Posts)

Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about electronic readers and technology for the last four years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the Huffington Post, CNET and more. Michael frequently travels to international events such as IFA, Computex, CES, Book Expo and a myriad of others. If you have any questions about any of his articles, please send Michael Kozlowski an email to michael@goodereader.com

Source: Amazon Fire OS 5.1.1 Update Has Problems

A tablet in every backpack: Lexington Two completes tech rollout

ColaDaily.com is your source for free news and information in Columbia and the Midlands.

Thursday's weather didn't call for snow flurries and there were no jingling bells or red and green decorations at B-C Grammar No. 1. But the mood at the West Columbia elementary school was definitely festive.

"It's like Christmas in February," fifth grade teacher Preston Deaver told his class.

There's nothing like that new tablet smell. (photo by Rachel Ham)

Students got to unwrap a gift from Lexington Two as part of the district's final leg of the 1-to-1 technology rollout. Tablet distribution began a year and a half ago, and carts of brand-new devices were delivered to B-C Grammar Thursday morning.

"This puts an exclamation on the (rollout)," said Rob Burggraaf, Lexington Two elementary instructional technology coach.

The order of schools receiving tablets was determined by how much classroom technology was in place already. Students in grades 3-5 at BC Grammar have had access to Chromebooks.

Deaver ended the school day Thursday by letting his students turn on their tablets for the very first time. As the screens on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Education devices lit up, so did the kids' faces.

Students were led through the basics of how to personalize their tablets, including taking a selfie for their lock screen, and how to care for them. Deaver's instructions for carrying the tablets are to "hug it" with both arms to minimize the risk of drops.

Fifth grade teacher Katherine Meetze said the tablets can be used for instruction and projects in all subject areas. Since the tablets are checked out to one student only, Burggraaf can send personalized help in the form of apps that address math remediation, language help or other types of resources.

"This helps to individualize instruction, especially for our ESOL students," Meetze said.

Fourth grader Victoria Watson said she plans to use her tablet to explore math apps related to multiplication and fractions.

"I'm most excited to do classwork and different games," she said.

The excitement was too much for some students. (photo by Rachel Ham)

Before the tablets were released into the students' hands, teachers got a how-to lesson from Burggraaf. He advised not every one of them must incorporate the tablets immediately but can add the new technology into instruction at their own speed.

"Ask what do your kids need," he said.

Many kids already have devices at home, and Meetze said she will talk with her students about the right amount of "screen time" and when it's appropriate to use a book for research versus Google. Burggraaf said teachers can create a custom search engine that only pulls information from kid-friendly sites so their students are safeguarded.

Burggraaf also encouraged teachers to create opportunities for their student to use devices not just for individual research or educational games but for pair or small-group work where kids are discussing their finds and how they solved a certain puzzle or problem. A few of Deaver's students demonstrated problem solving Thursday by helping their deskmate figure out how to change a setting or color.

"We must use the tablets as a tool," Meetze said

Burggraaf said students will be able to gain real-world skills like typing, troubleshooting, how to care for technology and how to be polite online.

Shovels aren't in the ground yet on Lexington Two's major building projects funded by the voter-approved bond referendum, but the monies are being put to good use through the 1-to-1 technology initiative. Burggraaf said about $2.7 million of the total initiative budget to date – approximately $4.5 million – comes from the bond referendum monies. State funds make up the rest of the budget.

"The remainder of the bond referendum money allocated to the 1:1 program will be used to purchase needed supporting equipment for the technology initiative and to refresh the pool of devices when this current set of devices reaches the end of service life," Burggraaf said.

  1:1 Technology, B-C Grammar, bond referendum, Cayce, education, Lexington County, Lexington Two, Local News, Pine Ridge, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Education, schools, Springdale, West Columbia

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Source: A tablet in every backpack: Lexington Two completes tech rollout

Foxconn's Sharp deal hits last-minute problem

Sharp's board approved the bid from Foxconn, which is formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry today, the person familiar with the situation said.

Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group won a board vote to take control of struggling Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. but then said it would postpone signing a definitive agreement because of "new material information".

But the freakish series of events raises questions about why Sharp went ahead and announced the deal if it knew Foxconn was getting cold feet.

Century-old Sharp, which supplies smartphone and tablet screens to Apple but started life making belt buckles and pencils, was once among Japan's leading firms and its brand was internationally recognised.

Foxconn's offer was said to be in jeopardy, though, as Japanese government officials were looking to keep Sharp's technology within the country, and so were favoring the company's buyer to be a fellow Japanese firm.

Whether Apple is involved in the deal or not, it's good news for the Cupertino company. iPhone displays are now manufactured by Sharp, Samsung, and LG, with Foxconn handling the assembly process.

Before Foxconn's statement, Sharp's stock tumbled to end 14 per cent lower as investors anxious that the share dilution from the deal could be larger than ­expected. The fund has said it wants to merge Sharp's display business with Japan Display Inc, in which it is the top shareholder. The deal is worth a total of around US$6 billion, including around US$4.5 billion in new shares and around US$1 billion in preferred shares. But policymakers warmed to Foxconn's offer as a step towards bolstering foreign direct investment in Japan. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou personally acquired 38 percent ownership of a Sharp display factory in Sakai, Japan, back in 2012, although a subsequent deal for Foxconn to purchase a 10 percent stake in the company fell apart.

A takeover by Foxconn, which assembles various electronics products such as smartphones and television sets for the likes of Apple and Sony Corp (6758.T), would vastly expand sales channels for Sharp's liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. The lenders are Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's core unit Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, and Mizuho Financial Group's Mizuho Bank.

Source: Foxconn's Sharp deal hits last-minute problem

A tablet in every backpack: Lexington Two completes tech rollout

ColaDaily.com is your source for free news and information in Columbia and the Midlands.

Thursday's weather didn't call for snow flurries and there were no jingling bells or red and green decorations at B-C Grammar No. 1. But the mood at the West Columbia elementary school was definitely festive.

"It's like Christmas in February," fifth grade teacher Preston Deaver told his class.

There's nothing like that new tablet smell. (photo by Rachel Ham)

Students got to unwrap a gift from Lexington Two as part of the district's final leg of the 1-to-1 technology rollout. Tablet distribution began a year and a half ago, and carts of brand-new devices were delivered to B-C Grammar Thursday morning.

"This puts an exclamation on the (rollout)," said Rob Burggraaf, Lexington Two elementary instructional technology coach.

The order of schools receiving tablets was determined by how much classroom technology was in place already. Students in grades 3-5 at BC Grammar have had access to Chromebooks.

Deaver ended the school day Thursday by letting his students turn on their tablets for the very first time. As the screens on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Education devices lit up, so did the kids' faces.

Students were led through the basics of how to personalize their tablets, including taking a selfie for their lock screen, and how to care for them. Deaver's instructions for carrying the tablets are to "hug it" with both arms to minimize the risk of drops.

Fifth grade teacher Katherine Meetze said the tablets can be used for instruction and projects in all subject areas. Since the tablets are checked out to one student only, Burggraaf can send personalized help in the form of apps that address math remediation, language help or other types of resources.

"This helps to individualize instruction, especially for our ESOL students," Meetze said.

Fourth grader Victoria Watson said she plans to use her tablet to explore math apps related to multiplication and fractions.

"I'm most excited to do classwork and different games," she said.

The excitement was too much for some students. (photo by Rachel Ham)

Before the tablets were released into the students' hands, teachers got a how-to lesson from Burggraaf. He advised not every one of them must incorporate the tablets immediately but can add the new technology into instruction at their own speed.

"Ask what do your kids need," he said.

Many kids already have devices at home, and Meetze said she will talk with her students about the right amount of "screen time" and when it's appropriate to use a book for research versus Google. Burggraaf said teachers can create a custom search engine that only pulls information from kid-friendly sites so their students are safeguarded.

Burggraaf also encouraged teachers to create opportunities for their student to use devices not just for individual research or educational games but for pair or small-group work where kids are discussing their finds and how they solved a certain puzzle or problem. A few of Deaver's students demonstrated problem solving Thursday by helping their deskmate figure out how to change a setting or color.

"We must use the tablets as a tool," Meetze said

Burggraaf said students will be able to gain real-world skills like typing, troubleshooting, how to care for technology and how to be polite online.

Shovels aren't in the ground yet on Lexington Two's major building projects funded by the voter-approved bond referendum, but the monies are being put to good use through the 1-to-1 technology initiative. Burggraaf said about $2.7 million of the total initiative budget to date – approximately $4.5 million – comes from the bond referendum monies. State funds make up the rest of the budget.

"The remainder of the bond referendum money allocated to the 1:1 program will be used to purchase needed supporting equipment for the technology initiative and to refresh the pool of devices when this current set of devices reaches the end of service life," Burggraaf said.

  1:1 Technology, B-C Grammar, bond referendum, Cayce, education, Lexington County, Lexington Two, Local News, Pine Ridge, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Education, schools, Springdale, West Columbia

Comments
Source: A tablet in every backpack: Lexington Two completes tech rollout

The Problem With Evidence-Based Policies

CAMBRIDGE – Many organizations, from government agencies to philanthropic institutions and aid organizations, now require that programs and policies be "evidence-based." It makes sense to demand that policies be based on evidence and that such evidence be as good as possible, within reasonable time and budgetary limits. But the way this approach is being implemented may be doing a lot of harm, impairing our ability to learn and improve on what we do.

The current so-called "gold standard" of what constitutes good evidence is the randomized control trial, or RCT, an idea that started in medicine two centuries ago, moved to agriculture, and became the rage in economics during the past two decades. Its popularity is based on the fact that it addresses key problems in statistical inference.

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For example, rich people wear fancy clothes. Would distributing fancy clothes to poor people make them rich? This is a case where correlation (between clothes and wealth) does not imply causation.

Harvard graduates get great jobs. Is Harvard good at teaching – or just at selecting smart people who would have done well in life anyway? This is the problem of selection bias.

RCTs address these problems by randomly assigning those participating in the trial to receive either a "treatment" or a "placebo" (thereby creating a "control" group). By observing how the two groups differ after the intervention, the effectiveness of the treatment can be assessed. RCTs have been conducted on drugs, micro-loans, training programs, educational tools, and myriad other interventions.

Suppose you are considering the introduction of tablets as a way to improve classroom learning. An RCT would require that you choose some 300 schools to participate, 150 of which would be randomly assigned to the control group that receives no tablets. Prior to distributing the tablets, you would perform a so-called baseline survey to assess how much children are learning in school. Then you give the tablets to the 150 "treatment" schools and wait. After a period of time, you would carry out another survey to find out whether there is now a difference in learning between the schools that received tablets and those that did not.

Suppose there are no significant differences, as has been the case with four RCTs that found that distributing books also had no effect. It would be wrong to assume that you learned that tablets (or books) do not improve learning. What you have shown is that that particular tablet, with that particular software, used in that particular pedagogical strategy, and teaching those particular concepts did not make a difference.

But the real question we wanted to answer was how tablets should be used to maximize learning. Here the design space is truly huge, and RCTs do not permit testing of more than two or three designs at a time – and test them at a snail's pace. Can we do better?

Consider the following thought experiment: We include some mechanism in the tablet to inform the teacher in real time about how well his or her pupils are absorbing the material being taught. We free all teachers to experiment with different software, different strategies, and different ways of using the new tool. The rapid feedback loop will make teachers adjust their strategies to maximize performance.

Over time, we will observe some teachers who have stumbled onto highly effective strategies. We then share what they have done with other teachers.

Notice how radically different this method is. Instead of testing the validity of one design by having 150 out of 300 schools implement the identical program, this method is "crawling" the design space by having each teacher search for results. Instead of having a baseline survey and then a final survey, it is constantly providing feedback about performance. Instead of having an econometrician do the learning in a centralized manner and inform everybody about the results of the experiment, it is the teachers who are doing the learning in a decentralized manner and informing the center of what they found.

Clearly, teachers will be confusing correlation with causation when adjusting their strategies; but these errors will be revealed soon enough as their wrong assumptions do not yield better results. Likewise, selection bias may occur (some places may be doing better than others because they differ in other ways); but if different contexts require different strategies, the system will find them sooner or later. This strategy resembles more the social implementation of a machine-learning algorithm than a clinical trial.

In economics, RCTs have been all the rage, especially in the field of international development, despite critiques by the Nobel laureate Angus Deaton, Lant Pritchett, and Dani Rodrik, who have attacked the inflated claims of RCT's proponents. One serious shortcoming is external validity. Lessons travel poorly: If an RCT finds out that giving micronutrients to children in Guatemala improves their learning, should you give micronutrients to Norwegian children?

My main problem with RCTs is that they make us think about interventions, policies, and organizations in the wrong way. As opposed to the two or three designs that get tested slowly by RCTs (like putting tablets or flipcharts in schools), most social interventions have millions of design possibilities and outcomes depend on complex combinations between them. This leads to what the complexity scientist Stuart Kauffman calls a "rugged fitness landscape."

Getting the right combination of parameters is critical. This requires that organizations implement evolutionary strategies that are based on trying things out and learning quickly about performance through rapid feedback loops, as suggested by Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock at Harvard's Center for International Development.

RCTs may be appropriate for clinical drug trials. But for a remarkably broad array of policy areas, the RCT movement has had an impact equivalent to putting auditors in charge of the R&D department. That is the wrong way to design things that work. Only by creating organizations that learn how to learn, as so-called lean manufacturing has done for industry, can we accelerate progress.

Source: The Problem With Evidence-Based Policies

Microsoft Surface Book review: the best Windows laptop, with detachable screen

The Microsoft Surface Book is a full-blooded, powerful PC-in-a-screen attached to a very good keyboard body, making it the best Windows 2-in-1 yet, if a laptop is your primary usage. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

The Surface Book is the first of a new line of laptops from Microsoft with a twist, the screen comes off.

Microsoft's Surface Pro line started off clunky: big, heavy and rather industrial in design. The latest Surface Pro 4 is thinner and more capable, but pretty much the same: a Windows 10 tablet with a removable keyboard.

But the Surface Book is a different animal altogether: a laptop first, tablet second. It sounds like an odd distinction, but it makes quite a difference if the keyboard is your primary driver of a computer.

Laptop first, tablet second The screen detaches from the laptop base to become a tablet. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

Speaking of the keyboard, it isn't just a dumb accessory. It holds a larger battery, an SD card slot, two USB 3.0 ports, a mini DisplayPort and a magnetic charging socket. But it can also have a discrete graphics card within it, depending on the model, giving the Surface Book much more grunt when required.

The rest of the workings of the computer are included in the screen, which makes it even more remarkable just how thin it is.

The screen and keyboard are connected by a fancy Fulcrum hinge that rolls out instead of just pivoting. It extends the length of the base of the keyboard to better balance the screen, without having to add weight.

It looks weird, almost cool, and in practice works well. It doesn't tilt quite as far back as some other laptops, but far enough for comfortable viewing at a desk.

The keyboard and screen are made from a grey magnesium alloy, which looks and feels nice, but marks quite easily. In my short time with the Surface Book I've noticed scratches on the underside of the keyboard and a mark on the lip despite looking after it carefully.

When shut, the hinge does not fold flat, instead it has a gap about a finger's width creating a wedge shape that tapers from 22.8mm to a point of 13mm thick.

Attach the tablet in reverse for a handy presentation screen or for watching video on a flight. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian Specifications

Screen: 13.5in LCD 3000 x 2000 (267 ppi)

Processor: Intel Core i5 or i7 (6th generation)

RAM: 8 or 16GB

Storage: 128, 256 or 512GB

Operating system: Windows 10

Camera: 8MP rear, 5MP front-facing

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB 3.0, SD, mini DisplayPort

Laptop dimensions: 232.1 x 312.3 x 22.8mm

Laptop weight: 1.52 or 1.58Kg

Tablet dimensions: 220.2 x 312.3 x 7.7mm

Tablet weight: 726g

Windows 10 Attaching the screen backwards to the laptop base allows it to be folded back down on the keyboard, held at an angle for easier writing with the stylus. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

As you might expect, being a Microsoft-made machine, the Surface Book runs Windows 10, which is arguably the best Windows version to date.

The software doesn't really have any particular tweaks or customisations for the Surface Book that aren't available on any other Windows 10 convertible.

The operating system is both refined and a mess in equal proportions. The best way to describe it is a modern, overhauled user interface layered directly over the same-old Windows.

Getting around, launching programs and daily business operates in this top layer and is genuinely quite easy to use and useful. But when you need to change something serious, uninstall a desktop program for instance, you get booted back into the same Control Panel I remember from Windows 2000 - it has barely changed.

It's powerful, of course, and you can get what you need done, but the difference between what is essentially the Windows 10 layer and the underworkings is quite jarring. For the uninitiated I suspect it could be quite baffling, particularly if you're using your finger at the time and suddenly have to tap on tiny boxes.

For more on Windows 10 read:

There are couple of things to note for the Surface Book. The first is Windows Hello, which recognises your face and logs you in without passwords, is fantastic and works as quickly as the computer can boot.

Activating tablet mode actually helps when trying to tap things or use the Surface Book as a tablet.

The Surface Book has a beautiful, high resolution and pixel-dense screen that has great viewing angles and looks brilliant, until you reach an app that can't scale properly. In that case you end up looking at blurry icons and text - a really bad experience, which was all too common in my use of desktop Windows programs such as Evernote, various text editors and other programs.

Apps from the Windows store don't suffer from the same problem, but they're often not as powerful. Evernote Touch is a good example, but it's better than attempting to peer at a blurry mess.

As a laptop The Surface Book's keyboard and trackpad are excellent. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

First and foremost, the Surface Book is the best Windows laptop I have ever used. Period. It's fast, has an excellent backlit keyboard, really great trackpad, enough ports and it's relatively light at just over 1.5kg.

Some Windows laptops are thinner, some are lighter, but none have quite as good a combination of screen, keyboard, power and industrial design.

I managed to get a good working day out of it on battery power and still had enough for a bit of light reading on the train home with the tablet.

It's worth noting, although not unique to the Surface Book, that being able to touch the screen for input is excellent, even when doing boring things like typing, as moving the cursor around is so much faster than using a trackpad.

As a tablet The tablet is light enough to hold for short periods with one hand, but is quite large. You're unlikely to leave home with just the tablet part of the Surface Book. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

The tablet is held onto the keyboard by a very fancy "memory wire" locking mechanism, which changes shape when a current is applied across it. The mechanism is electronic: pressing a button on the keyboard or an icon on the screen disengages the tablet.

You have to pull it directly up from both sides while holding the keyboard down. It sounds hard, but isn't. Attaching it is just a case of plonking the screen over the connectors. The two then grip each other automatically.

The screen can be placed either way around on the keyboard base, meaning like a laptop or inverted, so it can be folded down like a raised notepad on a desk or stood up as a display.

It's worth noting that the tablet can only be detached while the Surface Book has power, which means if it dies in your hands then there's no reattaching it or detaching it to flip it over and close it properly.

The screen is very sharp, on a par with an iPad or Google Pixel C, while its 3:2 aspect ratio means it's about the size of an A4 bit of paper. Websites, comics and books all look great. It has two front-facing speakers that are loud and clear for watching video, while the headphones port is in the tablet, not the keyboard.

The 13.5in screen means its significantly bigger than most other tablets and at 726g it's also pretty heavy. Despite being a full-blooded PC it's still only 7.7mm thick, which is really quite impressive. That's thinner than most smartphones.

I managed to get around three hours of reading life out of the tablet with a decent brightness. Microsoft reckons it will stretch to four hours for video playback. The tablet can also be charged separately from the keyboard, should you need to.

The biggest drawback of a PC as a tablet is that the instant-on nature of most other tablets isn't quite as instant for Windows. It can be a couple of seconds if it's shut down and not just asleep, which it does after a set period.

Surface Pen The Surface Pen makes it easy to sketch out ideas on the 12.5in screen. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

Microsoft's stylus is one of the best in the business, with a good weight and size. It magnetically attaches to the side of the screen, which stayed put when I was moving around, but got knocked off in a bag.

It has 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity and really does feel like a pen on paper. The nib can also be changed if you prefer a harder or softer feel.

There are two buttons. One on the side acts like a modifier key for tap or drawing actions. The top button acts like an eraser and can be configured to launch various programs or perform actions when single, or double press or a press and hold. By default it launches OneNote on a press, which allows you to draw on the screen in a second or so.

Price

The Microsoft Surface Book starts at £1,299 for the base model with 128GB of storage, a Core i5 and 8GB of RAM, but without a discrete graphics card in the keyboard.

The i5 version with 256GB of storage and a discrete GPU it costs £1,599. The Core i7 version with 256GB, 8GB of RAM and the discrete GPU costs £1,799 and with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM £2,249.

For comparison, Apple's 13in MacBook Pro (just laptop) starts at £900, Dell's XPS 12 2-in-1 starts at £899 and Asus's convertible T300CHI £800.

The grey magnesium body looks and feels premium, with Microsoft's shiny Windows logo on the back. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian Observations

It's a work in progress: I've had a couple of updates that have fixed issues and strange behaviour with the machine

Occasionally it wouldn't charge through the keyboard until disconnecting and reconnecting the screen

Sometimes it won't enter tablet mode, requiring a restart

Power-saving mode is essential if using like a tablet

It uses more of the battery in the laptop first, so the tablet has some juice left to detach it (you can also charge the tablet separately)

Occasionally it would power on when it was meant to be asleep, cooking itself in a bag

The fans only fire up when when trying to do something heavy, normally it's completely silent

A dock is available to turn it into a pseudo-desktop, with ethernet, USB, headphones and multiple mini DisplayPorts. However, a monitor that worked fine when plugged directly into the Surface Book wouldn't work when plugged into the dock.

Verdict

The Surface Book is one of the best Windows 10 laptops. But its party piece is more than a gimmick. When detached from the body the screen makes for a decent, if short-lived, tablet that's super slim and easy to hold.

The screen is great, the hinge is interesting and the mechanism for detaching and re-attaching works very well.

The Surface Book is arguably the best compromise yet between a laptop and a tablet, if your main usage is going to be as a laptop. It solves the problems of the Surface Pro when being used on your lap or anything other than a desk.

But, as a tablet, the apps available for iOS or Android for offline media consumption or similar are missing, as are mobile games. It's also very expensive – but for that money you get a powerful machine, with an excellent stylus and a work-ready battery.

Pros: excellent keyboard, decent trackpad, brilliant screen, great stylus, 13-hour battery, fancy hinge, great 2-in-1 compromise, proper ports, Windows Hello

Cons: Windows has a tablet app gap, software bugs, expensive, tablet-only battery could be longer, heavy for a tablet, HiDPI mode fails for desktop apps, interface is a mess if you dig deep enough

Other reviews
Source: Microsoft Surface Book review: the best Windows laptop, with detachable screen

Supergran bakes 500 trays of tablet to help homeless family

17:27 Wednesday 24 February 2016

WHEN Margaret Bayne heard that a homeless woman and her four children had been squatting on a beach in Kenya for five years she instinctively knew she had to do something to help.

Following a conversation with a friend who raised money to build a school in nearby Kikambala,a coastal community in Kilifi County, the retired social worker from Perth decided to put her formidable tablet making skills to the test to raise money to buy the destitute family a home.

Mrs Bayne set to work and made nearly 500 trays of Tablet – a Scottish delicacy similar to fudge - in her kitchen over the course of two years.

The grandmother of five sold the sugary treat to friends, acquaintances and members of the public in Perth and Dunfermline and managed to raise £5,469.

The astonishing feat means that Elizabeth Charo and her children, Philip, 14, Kezia, 12, Daniel, 10 and Caroline, 7, now have a roof over their heads.

Handymen in Kikambala, an hour's drive from Mombassa, erected the basic but functional brick property in the grounds of Jack Well's School that was bankrolled by the Perth fundraiser and Dawn Ann Halliwell.

Mrs Bayne, who battled through personal health problems to continue fundraising, explained that she named the two roomed house, which will soon have an outside dry toilet, porch and be painted white, Vanilla Cottage because she used the sweet essence in her baking and cottage is a Scottish word.

READ MORE - Edinburgh restaurateur feeding 600 orphans in Ethiopia

She and her husband Bruce travelled to Kikambala last Autumn to meet and hand over the keys to Elizabeth who was left overwhelmed and speechless by the kind gesture.

Mrs Bayne, who is a member of the Church of Scotland, said: "I learned about Elizabeth and her four children through Dawn Ann Halliwell who has been building this school in Kikambala Kenya since 2010.

"She told me of the mother and her children squatting on the beach and I wanted to help.

"It touched my heart and I knew that I could really make a difference to the lives of this family.

"I am a Christian and believe that God has plans for all of us so I asked Dawn Ann how much would it cost to build a house.

"And I said I could make tablet to finance it.

"But I was told I was mad and it could not be done but I was determined to help this poor woman and her children who were living on a beach 20 minutes away from the school with no shelter."

Mrs Bayne said she was very thankful to all the people who sold and bought her tablet for this worthy cause

She admitted that she was "gobsmacked" that she had actually managed to raise enough money to pay for a house in Kenya.

For more charity stories please visit The Scotsman Giving Back

Source: Supergran bakes 500 trays of tablet to help homeless family

Surface Pro 5: New Windows 10 Tablet To Release This October?

It has almost been a year since Microsoft last launched its first Windows 10 products. Because of this, the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 became stars overnight. The latest Surface products became the most wanted devices of 2015. If anything could have stopped people from buying these devices, it would be the price. Now the rumors are that the Surface Pro 5 is coming.

2015 has been great year for Tech lovers! iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S, Surface Book, Surface Pro 4, Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge+, all of these devices were launched at almost the same time towards the end of the year. Is 2016 going to be the same? Though Samsung has already released Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, Note 6 is yet to come. Then there are other devices lined up, iPhone 7 and MacBook Pro 2016 for example. And now Surface Pro 5 is also set to be coming out in October 2016. I hope the last quarter of this year is better than the last year.

With Surface Pro 5, Microsoft may also fix the sleep issues that have been a major problem with Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. As a result, the battery life of Surface Pro 5 will improve. The Windows 10 tablet and laptop even after shutting down were not properly going to sleep. This, in turn, was eating up all the battery of the devices. Even after claiming that the Windows 10 gadgets would last for 9 hours on single charge, this problem brought the battery life down to 3 hours. Surface Pro 5 is hence, said to be improved version of Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book.

With regards to Microsoft Surface Pro 5 price, a report published in Times Of India said, "The hybrid tablet is said to be priced at $899 for the entry-level model, with models featuring beefier specs expected to cost $999 and $1,599."

Already excited for Surface Pro 5? We're excited too. Let us know what you think!

 

Tags:MicrosoftMicrosoft SurfaceSurface BookSurface Book sleeping issuesSurface Pro 4Surface Pro 4 sleeping issuesSurface Pro 5Surface Pro 5 priceSurface Pro 5 release date

Source: Surface Pro 5: New Windows 10 Tablet To Release This October?

Network outages, low-speed, biggest tech problem, survey finds

Almost a third (31%) of workplace tech-users said that network outages and poor Internet speeds were the "biggest recurring technology problem" at their company, a new survey has found.

Remembering passwords was also a big issue. Close to a quarter (22%) of the respondents thought remembering all of their passwords was the biggest tech difficulty they faced.

IT service management company Samanage surveyed about 3,000 U.S. adults. Around half of them said they used technology at work. Those respondents were given the study's questions.

Less problematic, but still a big issue, was restricted access to websites, files and software. Workers didn't like that type of limitation and said it was a technology problem.

Fourteen percent had issues with the curtailment. They reckoned that it was the biggest tech issue that faced them.

Also some employees were quite happy to take software downloading matters into their own hands, particularly males, the study found.

Almost one in five employees (18%) confessed to "downloading and using an app without IT knowledge," the report says.

"The number of men (23%) who admitted to bringing in outside IT applications was nearly twice as high as the number of women (12%)," Samanage discovered.

Younger folk, such as Millennials, were more likely to perform shadow IT, too. The IT service company found that almost a quarter of the group (23%) download apps without IT management approval.

Samanage also looked at productivity. It says it's calculated that American enterprise wastes $1.8 trillion annually because of "outdated technology hindering workplace productivity."

In this particular survey, it says it's found that a third (36%) think their company's technology is "outdated."

That number rises the younger the respondent, with 40% of the Millennials thinking that the tech was old hat.

However, even with the latest gear, productivity could be thwarted. Tablets, it found, surprisingly, weren't particularly productivity-creating.

Only 5% of the respondents thought tablets helped them "be the most productive."

But as one might expect, the computer was the most popular productivity-creator with half (51%) of all of the respondents giving it the nod as most productive technology available to them.

E-mail came in second, at 14%, and the smartphone third at 11%. Worryingly, below that, at 10%, was the company's own applications or software.

Another surprising find was that chat wasn't used much at work. In fact, it was the least frequently-used collaborative tech. Only 7.2% used it frequently.

And chat's user base became more dismal the older the user group was. Only 2% of the respondents older than the age of 65 used it frequently.

Much more popular was, of course, e-mail with a whopping 63% saying that they used it most frequently.

Things could be improved, some thought. Twenty-percent said non-essential tasks should be automated; and 12% wanted mobile devices.

Rounding out that list was cloud apps, scheduling notifications, and way down at 7% was chat.

Forty percent of the respondents answered with: "I don't know," when asked how productivity could be improved with technology.

That was the biggest response to that question. And where we come in.

This article is published as part of the IDG Contributor Network. Want to Join?

Source: Network outages, low-speed, biggest tech problem, survey finds

Huawei Matebook vs. iPad Pro: Battle of the giant tablets

Huawei, long known for its high-end phones, is jumping into the tablet market and the PC market all at once with the Huawei Matebook. Announced this week at the Mobile World Conference, the Matebook is a Huawei's first 2-in-1 tablet and its first Windows 10 device.

This giant tablet isn't just a potential laptop replacement: It's also a close competitor for the iPad Pro. They look similar, they're sized similarly, and they're even exactly the same thickness. But which is the better buy? Here's a by-the-numbers rundown.

Related: iPad Pro review

iPad Pro Huawei Matebook

Dimensions 12 x 8.68 x 0.27 (in) 10.98 x 7.64 x 0.27 (in) Weight 1.57 pounds 1.41 pounds Keyboard Available for $169 Available for $130 Processor Apple A9X 2.26 GHz 6th Gen Intel Core M 3.1GHz RAM 4G LPDDR4 4GB or 8GB  LPDDR3 Display 12.9-inch Retina display 12-inch IPS LCD Resolution 2,732 x 2,048 pixels 2160 x 1440 pixels Storage 32GB or 128GB 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB Networking Wi-Fi, 4G LTE, HSPA+, Bluetooth 4.2 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 Ports Headphone, Lightning Headphone, USB 3.1 Type C, Keyboard smart cover connector. Camera 8MP rear facing, 1.2 MP front facing 5MP front facing Operating System iOS 9 Windows 10 Battery 10 hours 10 hours Price Starts at $799 Starts at $700 Availability Available now Available in "Coming months" Review 4.5 out of 5 Review coming soon; Hands-on impressions here Design

We haven't spend a lot of time with the Huawei Matebook yet, so we can't provide a lot of detail on things like build quality. But it's hard to deny that the Huawei Matebook closely resembles the iPad Pro, and in many ways it gives Apple's famous design a run for its money.

Both tablets are 0.27 inches thick, for example. The Huawei is lighter than the iPad Pro, at 1.41 pounds, but mostly because the iPad Pro is bigger: It's 12 inches wide, where the Matebook is closer to 11, and 8.68 inches wide to the Matebook's 7.64 inches.

Both devices offer optional keyboards, the Matebook with a touchpad and the iPad Pro without. Both offer an optional stylus.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

The iPad Pro has a rear-facing camera and a front-facing camera, while the Matebook has only the front-facing camera.

Winner: Tie. The iPad Pro is the bigger of the two tablets, but there's a lot to like about the Matebook's design as well.

Display

This contest is a little more clear cut. Apple offers the bigger of the two displays, at 12.9 inches to Huawei's 12. It also offers by far the higher resolution: the iPad Pro's display is 2,732 x 2,048 pixels, significantly higher than Huawei's 2,160 x 1,440 pixels.

In pixels per inch, the iPad Pro's 264 handily beats the Matebook's 216. Apple is famous for their display quality, and Huawei doesn't beat them on that front here.

Winner: iPad Pro

Performance

The Matebook sports 3.1GHz Intel Core M processor, giving it more power on paper than the Apple A9X 2.26GHz included in the iPad Pro. Directly comparing these processors beyond that is tricky because of their different contexts — the Matebook is running the desktop version of Windows, while the iPad Pro is running a mobile OS.

Given that these two systems are running such vastly different opearting systems, it's difficult to directly compare how these numbers will affect experience. But in terms of raw numbers, Huawei comes out ahead.

The iPad Pro comes with 4GB of LPDDR4 meory, while the Matebook comes with 4GB of slightly slower LPDDR3. Unlike with the iPad Pro, the Matebook offers an 8GB memory update.

But perhaps the biggest advantage the Matebook offers is internal memory. The iPad Pro comes with an embarrassingly low 32GB of internal memory, or you can opt for a 128GB upgrade. The Huawei Matebook starts at 128GB, and also offers 256GB and 512GB options at higher price points.

Winner: Huawei Matebook

Features

It's hard to remember now, but back when the Apple tablet was just a rumor the tech press wasn't sure whether the hypothetical device would run the iPhone operating system or Mac OS X. Apple, of course, choose iOS, and most tablets have been built on mobile operating systems ever since. The iPad Pro is Apple stretching iOS to its limit, and while the device got rave reviews the lack of real multi-tasking on such a big screen was a real concern. Should a device that big and powerful still be running a mobile operating system?

Related: Can an iPad Pro replace your laptop? Here's what happened when we tried it

When we tried replacing a laptop with an iPad Pro, our results were mixed. The Matebook won't have the same problems, because for all practical purposes it is a laptop. Anything you can do with Windows, you can do on this device, including running the full versions of Microsoft Office and Adobe's Creative Suite.

You could argue there are downsides to this. You won't have access to the iOS App Store, and Microsoft's tablet-oriented Windows Store is mediocre at best. But a display this big just begs for true multitasking, and Windows 10 delivers that.

There's also a dock for the Matebook that provides a number of extra ports: two USB ports, Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, and even a USB Type-C port for change. It's not clear whether this device will come with the tablet, or be available as a separate purchase, but it's going to make the Matebook very versatile, and the iPad Pro doesn't offer anything like it.

Winner: Huawei Matebook

Conclusion

In some ways these are very different devices, but it's hard to recommend the iPad Pro over the Huawei Matebook, at least based on a for-the-numbers comparison. It offers higher specs, a full desktop operating system, and similar design appeal. All that at a lower starting price-point than Apple's offering.

The only clear win for the iPad Pro is the display, which is excellent as is usual for Apple.

Source: Huawei Matebook vs. iPad Pro: Battle of the giant tablets

Huawei just made the tablet I’ve been waiting for Apple to build

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From the moment you touch this convertible laptop, you immediately realize this is not your run of the mill Windows 10 machine. In fact, your mind will associate it with a tablet rather than a notebook, even though the MateBook is Huawei's answer to Apple's iPad Pro, the Retina MacBook and Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 line.

It's so incredibly thin and light that it doesn't have any connectors aside from the USB-C port, which you'll need to charge it and to connect additional hardware. That means that, yes, you will need to buy a separate accessory to turn it into a full-fledged PC that can be connected to external peripherals. But this fantastic device is perfectly fine on its own, too.

DON'T MISS: 15 Galaxy S7 features the iPhone 6s doesn't have

Starting at just $699, the tablet – I'll keep calling it that because that's what it feels like – packs 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. A sixth-gen Intel Core m3 processor powers the device and there's a 33.7Wh high-density battery inside that's good for nine continuous hours of Internet browsing or 29 hours of music playback.

The MateBook also goes from empty to fully charged in 2.5 hours, and it reaches 60% in just one hour.

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There's no fan cooling down this beast, as Huawei uses Intel's latest chips and what it calls a "stacked hardware process" that doesn't need air cooling.

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Buyers who want to spend a little extra on a fully loaded MateBook will be able to do so by going all the way up to a sixth-gen Intel Core m7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. That's a configuration that'll cost you $1,599.

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According to Huawei, the device does have some neat tricks under the hood, including Wi-Fi mobile hotspot support and a yet-to-be-explained method of transferring files seamlessly from an Android device to the MateBook and back. Also, the tablet comes with the world's "first one-touch unlock" fingerprint sensor that should log you in faster than other solutions.

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No matter what kind of MateBook buyer you end up being, you should know that no accessories are included in the box.

The keyboard dock costs $129, but try it before you buy it because the keyboard does feel cheap, and you might want something a little better to handle your typing needs. The MatePen costs $59 while the MateDock retails for $89. Of these three, you'll likely need the MateDock most since it features a couple of USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, HDMI, and even the dated VGA port that we hoped we would never see again.

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The stylus also feels rather unspectacular, but it still gets the job done. Of course, there are many other alternatives out there so artists will surely find an option that better suits their needs.

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I saved the best for last: The screen.

The tablet's most valuable asset is the gorgeous touchscreen display. We're looking at a 12-inch IPS screen that has a slim bezel for a total screen-to-body ratio of 84%. And it's a high-res display in there, packing a 2160 x 1440 resolution (2K).

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If you're at MWC and want to get your hands on the MateBook as fast as possible, definitely check out Huawei's booth. Not only will you be able to interact with the gorgeous device, but you'll also see how slim it is compared to all the ultraportable and detachable 2-in-1 devices out there.

Huawei's solution is the one that wins. The MateBook is just 6.9mm thick and weighs in at 640g.

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This is exactly the type of computer I'd willingly buy from Apple, and I wrote about this before. You might argue that the iPad Pro is practically a MateBook, but unfortunately it runs iOS, which isn't always ready to offer the kind of computing experience I need.

As for the MateBook itself, the only issue – and I'm not seeing this as a problem that will affect consumers – is that it runs Windows. After working on OS X for so long, I'd have a hard time switching back.

Related storiesBring any old Mac and PC back to life with help of AndroidMWC 2016: The 8 biggest announcements you missed on Sunday15 Galaxy S7 features the iPhone 6s doesn't have

More from BGR: Galaxy S7 vs. iPhone 6s: The 5 most important ways Samsung outshines Apple

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Technology & Electronics

Handheld & Connected Devices

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Source: Huawei just made the tablet I've been waiting for Apple to build

MWC 2016: Huawei Matebook designed to be a Windows tablet with Apple-level elegance

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Replay video Huawei unveils hybrid MateBook

MateBook, Huawei's answer to the iPad Pro and Surface, is a laptop-and-tablet hybrid that's the first of the Chinese company's products to run Windows 10.

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Huawei surprised attendees at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona by announcing an ultra-portable laptop and tablet hybrid device, at the trade show more traditionally focused on mobile phones.

The Matebook is Huawei's first foray into the world of two-in-ones, and the Chinese company's first consumer product to run Windows 10.

In an interview following the announcement Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei, was upfront about the choice to partner with Microsoft on the Matebook. While Huawei loves working with Google for it smartphones, he believes Windows 10 is the best platform for hybrid tablets and laptops.But he also wanted to create a device that matched the beauty of Apple products.

Huawei's Matebook is designed to look like an Apple device, run like a Windows one. Photo: Bloomberg

"Apple PCs look beautiful, and not many others look as good. But the problem is Apple only run Apple software. We believe there's a market for beautiful Windows tablets", Mr Yu said.

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The Matebook's obvious competitors are the Surface Pro and iPad Pro, and Huawei is keen to point out the advantages the Matebook has over those devices.

The 2160x1440 12-inch display has a tiny bezel — with an 84 per cent screen to body ratio — besting the iPad and Surface. The device is thinner and lighter than the iPad Pro and Surface Pro, weighing in at just 640 grams. In the hand, the Matebook feels closer to a 10-inch tablet than a 12-inch, even though it's packing a 12-inch screen.

The Matebook is small and slim for a device with a 12-inch screen. Photo: Bloomberg

Microsoft welcomes the competition to its Surface family of devices. Peter Han, vice president for Worldwide OEM Marketing, said the Matebook "offers consumers a new way to experience Windows 10 on a beautifully designed device."

The Matebook keyboard is sold separately — an odd choice for a product so obviously designed as a hybrid. The leather keyboard case wraps around the device to provide a full size chiclet keyboard, which despite its thinness still provides 1.5mm key travel, making for a comfortable typing experience. That's better than some laptops on the market. The keyboard is spill resistant too, for life's little accidents.

In my hands on I found the keyboard surprisingly comfortable — more comfortable than the keyboard case on the Surface Pro, but still a little cramped compared to a keyboard from a dedicated laptop. The case feels sturdy enough, so it should be able to be used on the lap without fear of tipping over.

Huawei's leather accessories feel solid. Photo: Peter Wells

And unlike the Surface, which requires a hefty power brick, the charger of the Matebook is tiny — comparable to a smartphone charger. The device is charged with USB C.

The Matebook is powered by a sixth generation Intel M chip — not as powerful as the Core i5 and i7 chips found inside the Surface family, but the lower powered chip makes for better battery life. The Intel M chip felt plenty powerful for the tasks I threw at it, including the Autocad sketch software that was bundled into the demo units.

Just like the iPad Pro and Surface, the Matebook comes with a dedicated stylus. The pressure sensitive stylus can detect 2048 levels of pressure with no visible lag. It's quick and responsive — so it should work as well for quick note taking in meetings as for more graphic work.

The Matepen is fast and accurate, plus it can also be used as a clicker and laser pointer. Photo: Bloomberg

I would put the experience above the Surface Pen in terms of feedback, and on par with the excellent Apple Pencil.

Another neat trick: the MatePen doubles as a laser pointer and presentation clicker, which should make PowerPoint addicts happy.

There are a few more goodies in the package. The Matebook ships with active noise cancelling headphones, powered by the device. Huawei will also sell a MateDock, that includes two USB ports and an Ethernet adaptor, great for home and enterprise use.

The MateDock gives the device more USB ports as well as HDMI, VGA and ethernet capabilities. Photo: Peter Wells

The Matebook borrows some technology from Huawei's smartphone stable, including a fingerprint reader to unlock the device, which Huawei claims is the fastest and most accurate on the market.

Interestingly, the one thing Huawei didn't port across from the phone was 4G connectivity, which is a shame. Instead, Huawei have developed a one-click hotspot app for Android, but the device will be able to share a network connection with iOS as well. Huawei also showed off a drag and drop file exchange system between the Matebook and Android devices.

Taking on Microsoft and Apple is no mean feat, but the always confident Mr Yu thinks the Matebook is up for the challenge.

'We're not humble': Huawei CEO Richard Yu believes the Matebook is 'the best'. Photo: Bloomberg

"Our product is the best," he says with a smile, "we are not humble".

The Matebook will be available in April, and will be priced starting at $US699 ($977) in the United States. Local pricing is yet to be detailed.

The writer travelled to Barcelona as a guest of Huawei.

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Source: MWC 2016: Huawei Matebook designed to be a Windows tablet with Apple-level elegance

Forthcoming update to Parallels Access boosts support for iPad Pro

Users of the iPad Pro that want to connect to remote desktops will soon get some relief from problems they face using Parallels Access.

The virtualization software company is testing a version of its remote access application specifically written for the big-screen iPad, which fixes some trouble the software has been having with the device's massive touchscreen.

On Sunday, the company demonstrated it at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The Parallels Access app lets people with mobile devices like iPads, iPhones, and Android tablets access their Mac and Windows computers while they're away from home, without having to go through a ton of trouble configuring a remote desktop client. Users of the iPad Pro may have experienced some trouble with using Parallels Access — especially when it comes to features like selecting areas of the screen.

Kurt Schmucker, a senior product manager at Parallels, said in an interview that the company hopes to release the update sometime in the next couple of months. The update is currently in its first beta, and Parallels will be opening it up for an internal company test soon.

The results of that beta will determine how much work is still to be done on the new update — and how long it will take to be made available to users. 

In addition to the iPad Pro features, Parallels Access's game mode will also get an update, Schmucker said. It's still in early tests, but the forthcoming changes will allow users playing first-person shooter games on their PC or Mac through Access to shoot by tapping on the touchscreen.   

The iPad Pro update will be available for free when it's released, but users will still have to pay a US $19.99 per year subscription fee to use Parallels Access beyond an initial 30-day trial period.

Source: Forthcoming update to Parallels Access boosts support for iPad Pro

'Iron tablets a must for kids, teens'

Iron-Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation is just one but an important component that controls anaemia. Weekly IFA supplementation is necessary for children and adolescents even if they are not anaemic. "For anaemic persons, especially adolescent girls, doctors prescribe IFA tablets daily. The problem is, these girls tend to discontinue it because there are no perceptible symptoms of anaemia," New Delhi-based Public Health Nutrition and Development Centre director Dr Sheila Vir said. Dr Vir prescribes IFA supplementation to newly-wed women as well. "At least 40% married women are pregnant during the first year of marriage. They should immediately start taking IFA tablets," she says and adds pregnant women are supposed to take 100 IFA tablets starting from fourth trimester, but this realisation is yet to dawn on expectant mothers in Bihar. tnn Experts also put stress on fortification of meals as an important tool to combat anaemia. Fortification means adding an iron-rich mixture to the cereals during the time of milling. "Many states are doing it with wheat and few with rice," Dr Vir says. However, Bihar is yet to adopt fortified meals for its midday meal, anganwadi or PDS schemes. Commoners, experts advise, should buy fortified wheat flour available in the market. Iron deficiency occurs because we usually do not intake iron as much as is required. "Milk, contrary to common perception, is not an adequate source of iron. Flesh food should supplement it," says the expert. The NIPI (National Iron Plus Initiative) document lists iron-rich foods as mustard leaf, mint, lentil, soya bean, ginger, kala chana, methi, onion stalks, spinach, arahar dal, black gram dal, watermelon, kuchha kela, pumpkin and mutton. "Anaemia is preventable and reversible if one adheres to these measures," says Dr Vir.
Source: 'Iron tablets a must for kids, teens'

NVIDIA resumes Android 6.0 update push for Shield Tablet

Earlier this month, NVIDIA began pushing an over-the-air update for its Shield Tablet, updating the slate to Android 6.0 - but the company quickly stopped the update after users reported issues with Wi-Fi once they were patched up to Marshmallow.

 

 

Considering most tablets are Wi-Fi only, this is a big issue - forcing NVIDIA to stop the update. But now, an NVIDIA representative took to the company's official forums, announcing: "we're confident we have corrected the problem and are releasing a new Software Update". The new update is available for the original Shield Tablet, and the revised Shield Tablet K1, with software v4.0 and v1.2, respectively.

Source: NVIDIA resumes Android 6.0 update push for Shield Tablet

Gutfeld: Here's the One Problem With Kerry Asking Hollywood to Help Fight ISIS

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On "The Five" today, Greg Gutfeld said he thinks that it was a great idea for Secretary of State John Kerry to meet with Hollywood studio heads to hatch a plan to help counter ISIS propaganda.

He said the one problem, however, is that Kerry tweeted about it.

Gutfeld said that utilizing our nation's creative minds to supply a contrary narrative to what's being presented by radical Islamists could actually work.

He lamented that Kerry tweeting this plan out for the world to see, unfortunately, defeats the purpose.

"What in God's name is he thinking? Isn't the whole point of propaganda to make the enemy think that it's real, and not manufactured?" Gutfeld said.

"Well done, John Kerry. Announce our intentions, then wonder why our enemy is always one step ahead."

Watch the co-hosts of "The Five" react above.

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Source: Gutfeld: Here's the One Problem With Kerry Asking Hollywood to Help Fight ISIS

March Apple Event: What to Expect From Apple’s iPad Air 3

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One of the products we're expecting to see Apple Inc. (AAPL) take the wraps off in March is the iPad Air 3.

While the possibility of a new 4-inch iPhone tends to capture the headlines, that new iPad just may be the more important of the announcements.

Here's what we're expecting Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook to show off come March 15.

The Apple iPad Air 3

While iPhones get all the glory for driving Apple's phenomenal success, the iPad is Apple's second largest source of revenue. And rather than facing the threat of a maturing market and declining sales as the iPhone does, the iPad is already taking a hit in a big way, with sales down 25% year-over-year.

The iPad Pro was one attempt to turn the situation around, but the specific market it addresses — professional users — opted for the Microsoft (MSFT) Surface Pro. For most consumers, the iPad Air is the tablet of choice.

The current generation iPad Air hasn't been updated in nearly a year-and-a-half, but that hasn't been a huge concern because of the second problem with Apple iPads: people hold on to them for years instead of buying new ones as they do with iPhones.

Apple needs the new iPad Air to be good enough to convince shoppers looking at a Samsung (SSNLF) Galaxy Tab, Surface 3 or a $49.99 Fire tablet from Amazon (AMZN) to go with its offering instead. Just as critical, the new iPad Air has to offer a compelling reason for all those existing iPad owners to finally trade up from their older iPads and buy an Air 3.

Key Rumored Features of the New iPad Air

There are certain things we've come to expect from any Apple release, and a new A-series processor with a big leap in performance is a given.

When Apple released the iPad Air 2, it touted a 40% processing improvement compared to the original iPad Air, with more than double the graphical performance. So expect the iPad Air 3 to use an A9 or A9X CPU and be considerably faster than its predecessor. Beyond that basic assumption, there are several key new features being speculated about on Apple iPad rumor tracking sites:

Smart Connector

Rear Camera Flash

Four Speakers

The Smart Connector is the key feature here. This is a new two-way magnetic interface introduced with the iPad Pro that lets an iPad use accessories while providing them with power. It's the Smart Connector that makes Apple's Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro and similar accessories from third parties possible.

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Source: March Apple Event: What to Expect From Apple's iPad Air 3

Microsoft says it's finally fixing the biggest problems with its Surface Book laptop and Surface Pro tablet

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Source: Microsoft says it's finally fixing the biggest problems with its Surface Book laptop and Surface Pro tablet

iPad Air 3 Rumors: 6 Things To Expect From Apple Inc.'s Upcoming 9.7-Inch Tablet

With Apple's tablet sales in decline, all eyes are now on an expected iPad refresh coming in March, the so-called iPad Air 3. 

Officially, Apple hasn't said a word about the next 9.7-inch consumer iPad, but several hints from its supply chain have pointed to a hefty upgrade for the device, with many features that could be borrowed from the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro, released in November 2015. Here's what to look for in Apple's upcoming tablet:

Smart Connector

Apple's next 9.7-inch tablet could take a page out of the iPad Pro's playbook by including a smart connector, a physical connector located on the side of the iPad. This would enable the tablet to use smart keyboard covers developed by Apple or third-party accessory makers, such as Logitech, according to leaked renderings obtained by Engadget.

The smart connector was introduced with the iPad Pro in 2015. Prior to its launch, customers had to rely on connecting a keyboard to their iPad via a Lightning connector or Bluetooth. With the latter option, the keyboards also required their own battery pack, whereas the iPad Pro's smart connector provides both a data connection and power between the accessory and the tablet. While the general size of the iPad Air 3 is expected to remain the same, there could be some slight size differences, with 0.05 mm added to its thickness and a 0.1 mm to its width.

Rear LED Flash

Since the iPad 2's release in 2011, Apple has included a built-in camera in all of its tablet lines. But one feature that's been missing is a way to light the shots taken with the tablet in dimly lit situations. With the iPad Air 3, this could change with the addition of a dedicated LED flash built into the tablet's rear case, according to schematics obtained by French Apple blog Nowhereelse.fr.

More Speakers

Another feature that Apple's 9.7-inch tablet may borrow from the iPad Pro is four speakers, one at each corner of the device, to produce louder stereo sound. The feature, which debuted in the iPad Pro, was built directly into the 12.9-inch tablet and automatically adjusts how it outputs sound based on the orientation of the device.

Apple Pencil Support

In addition to many features that mirror the iPad Pro, Apple's upcoming tablet may also take on support for the $99 Apple Pencil, according to 9to5Mac. The pencil is a specially designed iPad stylus that is pressure-sensitive and enables users to shade drawings based on the tilt of the instrument. While some styluses are charged using an external USB cable, the pencil can be recharged with the iPad's built-in Lightning port.

Display, RAM and Processor Upgrades

Apple may bump up the screen resolution of the iPad Air 2 from 2048x1536 pixels to 4K resolution — about four times as many pixels as a 1080p display, according to Taiwan's Digitimes. To help power the higher-resolution screen and apps, Apple could also include up to 4GB in memory. A chip based on the iPhone 6S A9 is also expected for the tablet.

Release Date

Apple is expected to unveil the iPad Air 3 during a March 15 media event, which may also include a 4-inch "iPhone 5se" and new Apple Watch bands. The 4-inch smartphone is expected to replace the iPhone 5S and come with features such as the Apple Pay mobile payment system, faster processor and upgraded camera. Both devices are expected to go on sale March 18, three days after the event, according to 9to5Mac.

Source: iPad Air 3 Rumors: 6 Things To Expect From Apple Inc.'s Upcoming 9.7-Inch Tablet

The iPad Pro has a fatal stamina problem

I cannot presently recommend Apple's big-ass tablet as a laptop replacement – using the official-issue Smart Keyboard. The reason may surprise you. The foible isn't the utility of iOS, available apps, or overall hardware performance but the battery and charging system. Inadequate combination is an understatement.

Two weeks ago, I purchased iPad Pro through T-Mobile's Jump On Demand program. My 13th day using the tablet as my primary PC progresses with acceptance that an ongoing problem is a deal breaker. When I use iPad Pro like a laptop, even primarily working only with mail and two browsers (Chrome and Safari), battery burns down too rapidly and subsequent topping off takes too long. Oddly, battery-life is exceptionally good for tablet use.

With Smart Keyboard attached, I can deplete iPad Pro's battery in about four hours, while recharging takes six or more hours. More disturbing: When plugged into the Lightning cable and 12-watt brick, and in-use. the tablet typically reaches a steady-state where the battery charges little to not at all. Yesterday, I got the thing from 14 per cent to 100 per cent in under 5 hours by powering off and detaching the accessory.

The fundamental problem might be partly remedied. Apple's 12-watt charger is insufficient for the 10,307mAh battery. But the device is capable of 29 watts with right brick and Lightning cable, neither of which the company offers. A bigger brick wouldn't increase battery life, but it should substantially reduce recharge time and make more feasible using the tablet when plugged into electrical outlet.

Restated, there are three related problems with the current configuration:

Battery depletes too quickly with Smart Keyboard attached

Little to no recharging occurs when tablet is used with keyboard

Recharge time takes too long, particularly set against actual usage time

For nearly two weeks I've limped along using iPad Pro as much as possible as my primary PC, but shifting back to laptop when the battery depletes. I have tried working with the tablet plugged into power, but there's something disconcerting watching the charge percentage go down, which can't be good for the battery.

Tablet experience is quite different, however; the overall UX surpasses iPad Air 2. Battery blows past a full waking workday of use, and is easily replenished overnight. The 12.9-inch display delivers content consumption wallop. Now that I'm more accustomed to the size – 305.7 x 220.6 x 6.9 mm (12 x 8.68 x .27 inches) – content consumption benefits are better appreciated. Finally, I can read magazines as full page, without pinching to zoom text, for example.

I will have much to say about content consumption and apps usage in a follow-up post. Teaser: Apple's News app is transformative on this tablet like no other or from any competing software-service.

If big is your thing, iPad Pro is a fabulous tablet. But the battery/charging system limits use as a laptop replacement, and that's ignoring other gotchas to be discussed later.

This post is the fourth in a series; Parts One, Two, Three, and Four.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox

Published under license from BetaNews.com. All rights reserved.

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Source: The iPad Pro has a fatal stamina problem