If you read our review of the sweet iCade cabinet for iPad, you’ll know that I think this ‘analog controls for iDevices’ trend is a cool one. I really liked the iCade, but was sad because it really is the opposite of what you’d consider to be portable.
That’s why I’m so excited to see that the iCade lineup is being expanded with the new 8-Bitty controller for iPhone and iPad. It’s a pocket-sized handheld job that emulates the button placement and style of a vintage NES controller. My thumbs are growing their 80’s gaming calluses back just looking at the thing.
The 8-Bitty connects to an iPhone or iPad via BlueTooth and uses a simple keyboard-emulation control scheme to control compatible games. That list of games, some of which can be found here , has been growing significantly since we reviewed the iCade, which is a good thing. The lack of compatible games was one of the reasons we couldn’t recommend the iCade to everyone.
Now that the 8-Bitty is on the way, with the same control system and a much more portable form-factor, we should hopefully see more titles get support. It’s incredibly easy to implement in your titles, developers, and Stuart Carnie of manomio software has an Open Source SDK for adding iCADE support to iOS apps. The open source iCADE SDK can be downloaded here , so please get on it!
The 8-Bitty isn’t on sale yet but will go up for $24.99 at ThinkGeek . We’ll definitely get one in and give you our impressions.
First impressions of Dell’s XPS 13 – A defining piece of hardware for the Ultrabook segment
Every time that a new laptop lands on my doorstep, I’m faced with the fact that I’m going to have to give up my beloved MacBook Pro for a testing period with the new device. Generally speaking this is a slight feeling of dread, but Dell’s promises with the XPS 13 had me excited. The flagship Ultrabook from the Texas-based manufacturer has been on our radar for a while, so I was excited to get my hands onto it. FedEx made the delivery this morning, and I’m going to do a full review later, but here are my initial thoughts about Dell’s answer to the MacBook Air.
First off, that’s exactly what this is — A MacBook Air competitor . In fact, that’s the entire line of Ultrabooks, no matter the maker. Intel put rigorous walls around what could be called an Ultrabook, and almost everything about them is set up in line to make sure that Apple doesn’t continue to own the market for the form factor.
Dell’s XPS 13 is a piece of technological art. That much is for sure. It’s just a ouch over 3 pounds, as mine is configured (the higher end version is what Dell sent to me, with a Core i7 processor, 4 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD). It’s not as thin as the Air, but it’s still plenty svelte. You could easily stick the 13 into a briefcase or bag and carry it around without really noticing.
The top of the device, as you’ve likely seen, is finished in machined aluminum. Underneath is carbon fiber. The keyboard feels great, but decidedly different than most. It’s a chiclet-style, but has a slight concave to the buttons, making it feel a bit more resolute to your touch. It’s nicely back-lit, and you can adjust the brightness as you desire. I like Dell’s choice to have the F-keys remain F-keys, and for them to require a secondary push of the Function button in order to act otherwise.
The trackpad is…actually good. In fact, it’s probably the best one that I’ve used on a Windows-based machine yet. Like the Apple, it features a single surface that acts as a button, so you can click anywhere to get response. A two-finger click acts as a right-click. A four-finger swipe down minimizes everything to your desktop, swiping back up displays an alt-tab type window where you can select from running programs.
I’ll examine each of these areas a bit more in-depth when the full review comes, but for now I’ll say that my first impressions are good. I can comfortably touch-type on the keyboard, even though the 13-inch Ultrabook has nearly the same form factor of an 11-inch device.
Dell’s done a very nice job with the display, as well. Though it’s glosssy, and I’d prefer matte, its 13-inch size goes edge to edge, with only a small aluminum bezel left over from the lid. The resolution is fantastic, at 1366×768, which is nice to see since many manufacturers try for something much higher, leaving smaller screens such as this unusable.
I was told, in no uncertain terms, that the XPS 13 was not intended to be a media or gaming machine. But being the type of person I am, I had to play around a bit to find out. Fortunately I was pleasantly surprised. The XPS 13 turns out a solid 40-60 FPS in lighter games like League of Legends. Stepping up to higher-demanding games, however, would be ill-advised as the device lacks a dedicated GPU.
Dell claims that nearly 9 hours of battery life is possible with the XPS 13. In more real-world scenarios, I’m reading that people are seeing between 4 and 5 hours with this configuration. I’ll be running that test as well, to let you know what we find. Yes, you can min/max a battery test, but I prefer to look at numbers that reflect what you’ll actually be doing with a device, instead of tweaking every setting to get the highest possible number.
That’s where I’ll leave my first impressions, for now. Anything more and we’ll end up getting into a full review, which simply wouldn’t be fair just yet. To give you the summary, Dell has done a great job with the XPS 13. It’s thin, light, capable and…actually fun to use. In all of my testing, it’s the first time that I’m not counting down the minutes to be able to move back to my Mac. From a long-time Windows user who made the switch, that’s saying quite a lot.
The brain science behind the iPad 3’s “Retina” display
Look at this letter: “O”. Closely. Does it look like a perfect curve? A little jagged? A little bit scraggly around the edges? You might as well enjoy these boxy jig jags while you can because the rumors are true: Apple’s about to unveil its iPad 3 “Retina” display and banish the pixel forever!
Here at the science desk, we’ve taken notice of the hubbub over disappearing pixels and went looking for answers. We know its a big deal when renegade Foxconn factory workers must have been sneaking past their suicide prevention netting to get reporters the 9.7″ slab of pre-release joy. You can see even see a video of one lucky reporter handling the smuggled display over at iFixit.
The big deal is actually small. Very very small. Less than 100 microns small. These shrunken pixels mean a screen with high pixel density. Apple says that “the Retina display’s pixel density is so high, your eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels.”
But why do pixels matter? As we set out to unlock the mysteries of the pixel’s importance, a few world-class scientists took the time to explain to us the details of our brain’s retina (yes, it’s embryonically a part of the brain! ) as well as some awesome studies showing how our brain shuns those jagged squares in favor of something curvy.
Read on to see how our brain is responding to pixelated Kate Upton.
We’ll start with the retina: (and then move on to the curves.)
Dr. Donald Hood, the James Bender Professor of Psychology at Columbia University , teaches courses like Mind, Brain and Behavior and conducts research on the physiological bases of the visual process. He explained that, far from being a display, the human retina is actually more like a processor, a “piece of the brain that does complicated analyses of the visual scene.”
Hood explained that the retina is not the limiting factor in how many pixels we can see, but rather it’s the “size and density of the cone receptors”. While “Cone Display” (our catchy term) might get closer to what Apple’s bragging about with pixel density, there’s another aspect of eye science that brings us to the all- important visual frontier: optics.
The optics refer to the lens and cornea, analogous to the lens and aperture of a camera. These handy anatomical contraptions manipulate light to support the processing of the cones and retina. Our optics limit our ability to see a point to about one “arc minute”.
Basically if you picture a degree, like those that make up a 90 degree or 45 degree angle, then an arc minute is 1/60 th of 1 degree – pretty small. If you put an iPad in front of your face and then move it away, it will appear to be getting smaller. The iPad, of course, stays the same size, but the amount of angle it takes up in your view decreases.
Apple’s new display has 263 pixels per diagonal inch. So each pixel is, diagonally, 1/263rds of an inch (0.00380228137” for those playing along at home). Using this handy angular size calculator , we find that you’d have to hold your iPad 3 no closer than 13 inches from your face to get a pixel below that 1 arc minute threshold.
Even then, explained Hood, the limits of the eye’s pixel perception might not be reached. In many cases, we can perceive below the arc minute to the arc second! “For example, a single bright point has no lower limit in size as long as intensity can be increased. More to the point, under optimal conditions, a single black line of less than 1/60 th of an arc minute can be detected on a white background.”
So pixel density isn’t all that important, but yet you still have a burning passion to figure out how your primitive not-Retina device ranks? So did we. You’re in luck because all you need is a piece of standard size paper and the “ Paper Pixel Ruler ” to see how your gadget measures up.
Enough math, lets move on to b r a i n p l e a s u r e and see about those curves.
Dr. Pablo Tinio , Professor of Education Psychology at Queens College , studies how the brain processes aesthetic preferences. He and his colleagues think that the brain has “evolved automatic and hardwired responses that help us avoid the dangers posed by sharp things”. He and cohorts Helmut Leder of the University of Vienna and Moshe Bar of Harvard Medical School use sharp and curvy versions of the same objects to study our curve preference .
In a separate study, Bar and colleague Maital Nata used brain imaging to discover that humans have a subconscious neural reaction to sharp objects:
Take notice, hipsters: As you can see from the neural image above, our primitive amygdala region reacts anxiously to sharp-edged watches.
Tinio explained further that the iPad 3’s Retina display might be pleasurable because “people like curves and dislike visual noise in images” and “pixilation in images is a type of noise”. We like things easy, and more noise means more work sorting through it.
According to Tinio, “High-density displays might be more pleasurable because they are easier for our visual and neural systems to process.”
Seeing a jagged, pixelated image, whether it’s of a model, forest or watch, tends to unsettle us more than things that are smooth. “Highly pixelated images are preferred less than images with minor pixelation,” noted Tinio.
Hood explained that our retina “has all the complexities of the brain” and perception is much more complex than simple pixel size measurement. Nevertheless, our little inquiry does suggest another win for Apple. As Hood pointed out “I do love my high definition TV”.
Bring on the curves.
Banish the pixel.
What’s the latest Apple news right now? Find out at TNW Apple .