“But what could possibly make DropBox even better than it already is?”, I hear you cry. Well, DropBox has typically been used for one user to sign up, and share folders and files with himself on other computers (using an online server). Next came along shared folders; The ability to share folders with other DropBox users. This is great for collaborative work.

Now though, AirDropper aims to evolve DropBox one step further. What AirDropper does is generate a link which can be shared socially or privately for people who don’t have DropBox. The link gives non-users access to download files specifically or a folder to choose from. Pretty impressive, especially for distributing to lots of non-users at once, much like how P2P works.

What’s even better though, is that links can also be generated for users to upload files to a User’s DropBox without having to have an account or download any software. This creates an ‘AirDropper’ folder, which I think is probably a security feature in the DropBox API.

Let’s only hope there will be more developments like this from both DropBox and third party applications such as AirDropper!

Firstly, consider its use. Will this be a workhorse laptop, a desktop replacement if you will. This is most likely the case if you are embarking on a computer based degree such as Graphic Design or Software Engineering. For that, I would recommend something with a decent Quad Core or I3 processor, 4Gb of RAM (minimum) and a decent (preferably solid state) hard-drive to quickly compile code fragments and hold them in storage. Something like the Sony VAIO F12 Core i7 Laptop (VPCF12S1EB) is a good bet, with 6Gb of RAM and an I7 Intel processor, coupled with a dedicated NVIDIA 330M graphics card. Add a 16″ screen and 500Gb of storage and you’ll be set to compile your code, model your new characters or simply watch Star-Trek via Sony’s built-in BluRay player.

Of cause not everyone needs something quite so powerful (and expensive!). A more mid-ranged laptop for those more concerned with storage for their music and photos, as well as Microsoft Office and a bunch of other freebies to boot may want to consider the Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T (LX.PCR02.021). This mid-range laptop boasts an impressive 4Gb DDR3 RAM, coupled with a core 2 Duo processor which guarantees a fast start-up time and a moderate performance throughout. It’s got pleanty of storage too, with an identical hard-drive (320Gb SATA) to the 5741 mentioned above. On top of all that, it comes with a beautiful High-Definition 13″ screen (perfect for transport) and an integrated webcam (for Skype calls to “back home”). The price of this should be a reasonable £499.97, but for a limited time UCAS are offering promotional codes giving a £100 discount on this model. (See Here)

My final choice is the Acer Aspire Timeline 5810TG (LX.PDU0X.085), a similar (improved storage and screensize) laptop to the 3810G described above. This laptop would suit most students, with a dedicated graphics card for moderate performance, as well as a 500GB SATA drive (the largest one of the three) which will ensure all your videos and photos from freshers week will be stored no problem. It’s only downside is that it doesn’t come with Windows 7. However, Laptops Direct are offering an upgrade disk which any self-respecting student could install themselves for only £50. This takes the total to £499.97, which is still £250.00 cheaper than the recommended retail price. The beautiful 15.4″ screen and built in card reader is any university student’s dream. If your a bit geeky like me, at least!

It’s an important decision; The seemingly heartless machine will become your best friend as you spend countless nights together typing up essays in the dying minutes. To make life a little easier, Laptops Direct have listed their top selections, all of which UCAS are backing. Some even have UCAS discounts! You can see their choices Here. I would personally go for the Acer Aspire Timeline 5810TG as described in the previous paragraph. It’s a lightweight, stunning and good performance laptop.

Last but not least, you want to kit out your laptop with all the goodies you can. My recommendations would be to grab yourself a security lock cable, which will fit into almost any laptop on the market today using a generally un-noticed hole on the side of the case. I’d also get a wireless mouse, as long hours using a track-pad can be uncomfortable. Finally, a case with several compartments to carry the laptop, mouse and any paper based notes / books you may want to transport all in one bag.

Barcodes have been around for a while, and technology is certainly moving on. Using QR codes (2 dimensional matrix barcodes) allows for a lot more information to be stored such as website addresses, phone numbers, digital signatures and other information compared to the simple number sequences of old.

To generate a QR code is simple. Just Google it. A good website is Kaywa which will let you enter a variety of information before generating a specific size QR code. There is lots of readers out there for tons of different smart phones, but my personal favorite is QuickMark which reads a variety of codes (Code 39 included!). It also has a generate option (under the ‘share’ tab) which allows you to select text, contact info and other data to be displayed on the device, ready to be scanned by another phone!

As these QR Codes start to become more and more popular we will start seeing them everywhere! I saw one just last night on ‘Big Brother’s Little Brother’, and another on an advert for some sort of beer! It’s almost like the transition from vinyl to CD (digitalization) all over again! Anyone will say they are shutting down analogue radio stations next. Oh wait…

They are working on a business version which would solve the ongoing strain on local servers, and make pen drives and data DVD’s obsolete. The software even has an iPhone and iPad application, so you can upload photos and videos strait to the folder, magically appearing on your computer within seconds! You can also view some of the file types using additional applications like good-viewer, which are compatible with dropbox.

Files can be shared between multiple users for advanced use, and there is also an invitation scheme where you get additional space (although 2.0GB is provided as standard to free customers!) to a maximum of 8.0GB.

It’s definately worth a look! There are PC, Mac and Linux versions all available from the website.

Finally, check out the latest developments being worked on to make DropBox even better HERE.

But what’s it all about? Job’s has claimed there are over 100 new features, but pointed out just a couple during the Keynote.

Beautiful new looks: The iPhone is 24% slimmer than the 3GS, at just 9.5mm! It’s got a front facing camera and a glass screen with stainless steel surroundings! It also has an LED flash on the back as well as UMTS and GMS!

Retina Display: Over 4x the amount of pixels in the same 3.5″ 960×640 screen as the 3GS! It’s PPI (Pixels per inch) is a whoping 326, which is beyonhd the maximum that a human eye can handle! Wow. That means super clarity through the new glass front. Movies, photos and text will never be the same! Once you see it for real there is no turning back, according to Jobs! It has set the standard for the next 7 years.

A4 Chip: This is a bit of a geeky one, but basically it’s an [apple] in-house processor which is currently in the iPad. It’s quicker, less power hungry and a lot smaller (hence the thinner design). Job’s claimed up to 300 hours of standby time and 40 hours of music! The 4th generation phone also houses 802.11n connectivity and quad-band HSDPA/HSUPA. Basically it mean’s better signal and talk quality.

Gyroscope: This allows 6 axis motion sensing just like the Sony PS3 controllers, but more precise. It also has new locational API’s for even more precise location monitoring. From the reaction of the crowd it’s hard to imagine how fluid and smooth the rotation of objects are. There is also a proximity and Ambient light sensor now added to the existing accelerometer and compas.

New Camera System: With a 5 megapixel camera on the back, 5x digital zoom and backlit LED flash the iPhone is finally a camera to be proud of. Jobs said he was more concerned with picture quality than megapixel stats, and that was shown in the quality photos! It also takes HD Videos, at 720p and 30fps! iMovie for the iPhone is the new software developed specifically, which incorperates titles, transitions and many other features recognised from the ‘Final Cut Pro’ software.

iPhone OS 4 is now IOS4: The iPhone OS is now titled iOS4, which incorporates multi-tasking and over 100 new user features including folders and a unified inbox for email. There are tons of new features on iOS4 which will further enhance the operation of the phone’s user interface. iBooks is just one of these features, as seen previously on the iPad! Another is iAds (coming July 1st) which are like Google ads built into applications. Developers can get 60% of the revenue back into their accounts resulting in cheaper apps to be developed. IOS4 will be available from June 21st 2010.

Finally, video calling is available via the front facing camera and is “no longer a dream” according to Jobs. The final trick up his sleeve is called ‘FaceTime’. It only works over WiFi in 2010 as work needs to be done with providers.

So, that’s it! Comes in black and white, and early indications seem to point towards a cheaper overall handset ($299 for a 2 year contract with 32Gb model). AT&T are also offering up to 6 months early upgrading, which will hopefully be echoed into the UK’s market!

They go on sale on 24th June, 2010 in the ‘initial batch of launch countries’ (including USA and UK!). I guess now we wait for O2 and Orange to start disclosing some sale details over the next few days!

Another successful Keynote, well done Apple!

There is a relatively new release is a small piece of software. You can find it over at http://code.google.com/p/photograbber/. It not only allows you do download all your tagged photos, but also any of your friends. It’s brilliant for downloading all the tagged photos of yourself, but not so great for downloading individual albums.

For that, I’d use FacePad, a firefox plugin that allows you to right-click on albums and download them all. It’s important to note that facePad will only download the first 20 photos unless you have set the default language to that of your facebook by going to tools > options > addons.

Either way, try it out!

Export Photo’s Too does this brilliantly. Install the application to your facebook profile and hit ‘Download Tagged photos’. The application then takes some time to compile a .zip folder of all the photos which you have been tagged in. In the meantime your free to continue using facebook.

After a short while you get a notification explaining that your photos are ready to download. Click the link and you can start to download the folder. It’s brilliant! The only negative is that it’s a little slow (as it’s being ran through the developers php pages on a relatively slow server. The fastest download speeds I was getting was 10Kbps with a folder of approximately 20Mb.

Never the less this is a brilliant app! Just goes to show that the little people can still make killer software too! If I were facebook I’d look towards incrementing this to the iPhone’s version of facebook.

Enter stage left: Amazon! They now support MP3 downloading, meaning you can buy songs at the same price as iTunes and not be restricted by the DRM stamped songs! It’s easy and quick to use. Even better is that if you have Amazon’s downloader installed the downloaded songs will automatically appear in your iTunes library!

Check out Amazon’s MP3 Download store!

This setup falls in at £1207, with a budget of £1250 leaving a little room for extra remotes (for example the PS3 remote / Keyboard) and optical cables.

It seems expensive until you consider what you get for the money: The Samsung 5 series has been reduced from £999 to £599 in the Christmas sale in Comet, and for that you get a HD ready TV with a huge screen, beautiful looks and built in Free view. It also has plenty of functionality and tons of additional features, not to mention the superb picture quality. The speakers have been reduced from £500 to £298, and trust me when I say that they pack a powerful punch! I have had the older Z5400 setup in my room for a number of years and they are more than adequate to wake up the neighbours!

Now to my main point: A 5.1 blu-ray home cinema system will set you back at least £500 for a decent setup, which will only allow one input (if that) and will be used for one and only function. Using a PS3 and Z5500′s (for a total of £480/£500) you will get a top of the range Bluray player, as well as all the additional functionality that a PS3 brings (BBC iPlayer, Internet Browser, Gaming, Internet access etc) as well as having a brilliantly powerful 5.1 system which can take up to 6 inputs (including your TV, Sky box, PS3, PC, Laptop and room for one more too!).

The cables make this system what it is, and are expensive. But when your spending this sort of money on a Home Cinema System it’s worth the extra few pounds to get the best cables around! You’ll be surprised at the difference it makes!

More to come soon!

Anyway, I’ve had a PS3 connected to a Samsung 5 Series for a while now, but to be honest I was never particularly impressed. The HD seemed a little grainy in places, but I put it down to the TV. However, I’ve recently brought a full new setup for my lounge (including new LED TV, 5.1 speakers and PS3 for Blu-ray). Along with it I brought a 10.2Gbps HDMI monster cable. After an afternoon setting it all up, I must say that the resulting pictures are amazing. It does go to show that a signal is only as strong as its weakest cable. The HD picture from the PS3 is amazing! I’ve already ordered another monster cable (8.4Gbps) for my setup.

I can’t wait to get the SkyHD box in place so I can connect some more monster cables to it and see if it really is as brilliant as it’s acclaimed! Check back soon for more, or read my post about the best, and most affordable blu-ray home cinema system here!