Industry voice: Wearable tech: where do we stand?

It's now rather common to hear 'wearable technology' heralded as the next big thing.

It's a global trend – one which Samsung and Fitbit have been quick to capitalise on by releasing smart-watches and activity trackers, one which has enabled Pebble to rocket from $0 to $10,266,845 in the space of a few weeks, and one which has afforded an entire generation of Apple enthusiasts plenty to speculate about.

No doubt spurred by the stuff sci-fi dreams are made of, brands, journalists and entrepreneurs alike are eager to see what the future of wearables will look like.

But can it be anything other than a gimmick? Will wearables realise their full potential and change the way we think about and use technology?

Smartwatch wars

Smartwatches certainly provide us with a first look at how technology is being adapted to fit seamlessly with our everyday. Sleek design, straight-forward functionality and a variety of different models is establishing a market for an entirely new type of product. Some 70 years later, Dick Tracy's talking wrist watch has become a reality.

However, despite these advances, perhaps there is a limit to the amount that smartwatches can achieve? Size really does matter, and particularly when it comes to user interface.

Samsung and Apple are still fighting to convince consumers that their screen size is best suited to the needs of an everyday phone user and you only need to look at Samsung's recent advertising campaign to see that things can get quite personal. This begs the question: is a watch face big enough? Will it limit the product's possibilities?

Wearables aren't a fad, and neither, in fact, are smart-watches, despite some teething problems. However it won't be until we change the way we input information into our brains – stepping beyond a simple screen-based interface – that the wearable revolution will really take off.

All eyes on Glass

The reason why Google Glass has been so lauded is because it gives us a vision for how seeing the world could be completely overhauled through technology. We'll no longer need to check our phone or wrist, simply looking at a piece of art, a menu or a road-sign will result in us being presented with a range of useful facts and instructions that help us make better informed decisions.

Most significantly, these kinds of wearables have the potential to personalise functionality and content based not only on your preferences and personal data but also your physical surroundings; a potential game-changer.

In the not too distant future YPlanners will be able to walk past a theatre, music venue or bar and will have our app automatically recommend events based on their Facebook likes and current location. Whilst it may sound like future gazing, the wearable tech revolution is upon us.

All we need to do now is ditch the screen and starting thinking on a deeper level about how we see and interact with the world.

• Viktoras is co-founder and CTO of YPlan.

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Review: Dell Precision M4800

Introduction

The Dell Precision M4800 is a powerhouse. Claimed by Dell to be the world's most powerful 15-inch mobile workstation, it packs enough hardware to allow for desktop-like performance.

Although Dell has recently launched a mobile workstation that comes in a thin chassis, the Dell Precision M3800, the Dell Precision M4800 is more in keeping with the traditional appearance of the Precision line. It doesn't try to be thin or light but instead has a solid, tank-like chassis that's 40 mm thick and weighs 2.9 KG. You could squeeze two or three entire Ultrabooks into the same space.

The Dell Precision M4800 is coated in Dell's signature gunmetal dark grey case. It's a look that screams professional use more than fun and games - whip out the thick-and-heavy M4800 on a train, complete with its array of flashing status lights and expansion ports, instead of a small device like a tablet, and your fellow commuters will undoubtedly imagine you're very serious about computing.

No corners have been cut to reduce the Dell Precision M4800's physical size. A total of 11 status LEDs flicker on and off. There's a built-in optical drive, smart card reader, SD card reader, four USB 3 ports, with a further E-Sata/USB 2 port at the rear. There's also DisplayPort and HDMI rounded off by Gigabit ethernet as well. Dell has sensibly retained the analogue D-Sub connector, since the majority of displays and projectors in office environments still use this video standard.

Dell avoids the isolated-style keyboard, using a more traditional keyboard style. It squeezes a full-size number pad onto the side as well, and has a 'nipple' to control the mouse right in the centre, between the G and H keys.

The physical volume controls in the top left are joined by WiFi, Bluetooth, disk access, and power indicators. The trackpad is disappointingly small but there are physical buttons for left and right clicking.

Dell's site offers four specific M4800 models, which start at £1179 ex VAT. The entry-level version has a 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 4800MQ processor, 8GB of memory, a 1080p full HD display, 500GB hard disk and an Nvidia Quadro K1100M GPU.

You also can create your own Dell Precision M4800 specification, and choose from a long list of configuration options. It's one of the few laptops that allows you to have 32GB of memory, which seems an excessive amount for office applications and web browsing, but it's great for engineers who work with multiple-gigabyte projects or photographers who edit photos in RAW format.

You can choose a larger hybrid hard disk, or an SSD from 128 GB to 512 GB, an AMD FirePro M5100 or an Nvidia Quadro K2100M GPU. If you want the highest possible performance, you can add a 3 GHz Intel Core i7 4930MX processor, which has a Turbo Frequency of 3.9 GHz, unbelievably fast for a 15-inch laptop.

The version tested here has 16GB of memory, a 2.8 GHz Core i7 4900MQ processor, 1TB hybrid hard disk and an Nvidia Quadro K2100M graphics card with 2GB of GDDR5 memory.

The Nvidia Quadro K2100M is of particular interest, as it has the same 576 shaders and clock speeds as the beefier previous-generation K3000M GPU. The K3000M has more memory and higher memory bandwidth, but a much higher TDP, which restricts its use to 17-inch laptops.

The M4800 can be ordered with a QHD+ (3200 x 1800) display, but the Dell Precision M4800 tested here is the 1920 x 1080 version, which has a twisted-nematic (TN) display. This has some benefits, such as less drain on the battery, but also some downsides, as we found in our testing. The QHD+ screen is still an option though, if you customise the configuration.

The screen has a matte finish, which looks infinitely better than a glossy screen, and is not touch-sensitive. You get Windows 7 as standard, rather than Windows 8 or 8.1. Either version of the newer operating system is optional, but Microsoft's latest has gone down with workstation users as well as praise for David Moyes at a Manchester United match.

Performance

The gap between top-of-the-line mobile CPUs and desktop chips is narrowing with each generation. The high-end quad-core chips available in the Dell M4800 are remarkably powerful, and performed superbly in benchmark tests.

The Cinebench 15 CPU score of 609 is just 6 points shy of the score achieved by an older desktop 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7 3770K Ivy Bridge CPU. A render test in 3D Studio Max was 30 seconds faster with the Dell Precision M4800 than the same desktop Intel Core i7 3770K processor. That's great news for 3D designers, since the high-end specification of the Dell Precision M4800 is perfect for use with software such as Solidworks, Maya and Nuke.

While there's still quite a distance between desktop and mobile graphics card performance, the Quadro K2100M is certainly a powerful GPU. It delivered a score of 69.3 in Cinebench 15, which is about a third less than you get from an entry-level desktop workstation card.

Its SPECViewPerf scores were lower by a similar margin, but still point to 3D software running more than adequately. When the Dell Precision M4800 is kitted out with the full complement of 32GB of memory, expect to be able to work with highly detailed models in CAD software.

In 3DMark, the scores are more than reasonable, with 1670 points in the taxing 'Fire Strike' test a sign that you should be able to run most modern games, although don't expect to be able to enjoy a constantly high frame rate with anti-aliasing set to maximum.

The hybrid hard disk is so named due to its inclusion of 8GB of flash memory to act as a cache for the data on the hard disk. It's not as good as having a true SSD, but does work out less expensive for higher capacities. Nevertheless, its presence was felt in slower boot times and application load times than systems equipped with an SSD.

The Dell Precision M4800 measured fairly middling burst read speeds of 47 MB/s when tested with CrystalDiskMark, but faster write speeds of 106 MB/s.

Arguably, SSDs are now essential rather than a luxury, given the overall performance difference they make. The Dell Precision M4800 can be customised with an SSD boot drive and a hard disk in the secondary bay, which would undoubtedly be our preferred configuration, although this adds to the cost - £264 for the SSD and up to £98 for the 1TB hard disk.

The biggest disappointment is the display. TN panels simply aren't very good, and may make you wince the moment the Dell Precision M4800 is switched on. With an IPS or IGZO display, you can expect viewing angles approaching 180 degrees, so when viewed from the side, the display looks identical to when it's viewed head-on. But TN panels looks darker from the side, and aren't as clear.

We used a Spyder4 colorimeter to measure the tonal response of both the original Dell Precision M4800 with an IGZO QHD+ display and the 1080p version. The IGZO screen provided 98% SRGB coverage, but the TN panel could only muster 80%, which is nothing special by modern standards.

Graphics professionals are likely to be one of the main groups interested in the high performance of the top-end Dell Precision M4800 models, so less-than-accurate colour response is disappointing.

However having a matte finish makes up for it somewhat, since it's much easier to see what you're doing in a brightly lit room. Being 1920 x 1080 it also neatly avoids any issues with DPI scaling that is a current problem with high-PPI displays in certain software packages, including Adobe Creative Suite. A 15.6-inch display at this resolution looks absolutely perfect.

In battery life tests, the TN 1080p screen in the Dell Precision M4800 does seems to drain power less than the 3200 x 1800 QHD+ display. However, the improvement isn't huge. PC Mark 08 lasted for 2hrs 59 minutes, which is about 50% less than an Ultrabook manages.

Verdict

We liked

It's powerful, oh yes, it's powerful! The M4800 is undoubtedly capable of running any high-end design software you can think of. It will work brilliantly for video editing, rendering, photo manipulation and CAD. The CPU performance is up there with entry-level desktop workstations, and its graphics card is beefy enough to drive multiple displays with ease, as well as offer useful CUDA acceleration of tools such as Adobe After Effects.

Although the Dell M4800 isn't as portable as a thin-and-light laptop such as the MacBook Air, a heavy chassis is standard for nearly all mobile workstations, along with battery life measured in minutes, not hours. Previously this level of graphics performance was only available in even bigger laptops, which were really more useful as desktop replacements than portable design platforms. While the M4800 isn't exactly dainty, it's certainly a step in the right direction.

We disliked

The TN screen is a real weak point of the Dell Precision M4800 version tested here. It's not as vibrant, bright or accurate as the QHD+ display in the older version. Ideally, you would have an IGZO 1080p display, with all the excellent colour accuracy and vivid brightness of the QHD+ version, but none of the DPI scaling issues, but life isn't perfect.

Despite Dell's preference of a chassis that resembles a tank, and the need to accommodate a large battery and graphics card, it would have been nice for the Dell Precision M4800 to be slightly less ugly. Just because it's aimed at professionals doesn't mean it can't have a semi-sleek design, and tiny trackpads aren't fun to use, whatever type of user you are.

The hybrid hard disk may have 8GB of flash memory, but it's still slow compared with an SSD. If you're considering a Dell Precision M4800, adding an SSD is the first thing we recommend doing.

Final verdict

The Dell Precision M4800 is hardly going to appeal to students looking for a laptop to take to college, but design professionals who need a portable machine with real 3D grunt will be pleasantly surprised by how capable it is. It's not a complete behemoth like other 17-inch mobile workstations.

Choose the display carefully though. The QHD+ IGZO screen is just better in every way, but the well-publicised DPI issue with some software packages might make it more trouble than it's worth.

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Updated: OS X 10.10: what to expect

With OS X Mavericks, Apple showed it still had tricks up its sleeve regarding desktop operating systems.

Long-time apps like Finder got welcome upgrades and rubbed shoulders with newcomers from iOS, such as iBooks and Maps.

Support for multiple displays was given an overhaul, and iCloud Keychain made its debut, to help Mac and iOS users keep regularly used online details safe.

• 50 best Mac tips, tricks and timesavers

There were big improvements to battery life and app efficiency, and to ensure everyone with a supported Mac could upgrade with a minimum of fuss, Apple scrapped price tags entirely, making Mavericks the first free major OS X update.

But what happens next? When will the successor to Mavericks appear, and what will it offer? What will it be called, and what will it look like once Jony Ive's got his claws in deep? As ever, Apple is keeping quiet, but we've made some educated guesses about what's to come in OS X 10.10…

OS X 10.10 name and brand

Yes, OS X 10.10 - which is the version number that's already been found in analytics - not OS X 11.0. Version numbers don't need to jump from something-point-nine to something-point-zero. 10.10 is simply the tenth 10.x update and not the same as 10.1.

Also, anyone clamouring for OS X.1 should probably be mindful that 1) OS X is now the product name, not a version number, 2) lots of 'X' posters are already up at the WWDC venue, and 3) Tim Cook would sooner make the next iPhone out of dead bees than use such a foul combination of characters.

In recent years, numbers have counted for little anyway ? we've come to know OS X by its codenames. Previously, these were big cats, but Mavericks showcased a switch to Californian locations, which is set to continue. The internal codename is Syrah, a dark-skinned grape/red wine, but that's going to change before the public release. The unknown is which location is going to be used.

Mavericks is a surf spot but the word has a dual meaning, positioning Apple as unorthodox. Apple's chosen name for OS X 10.10 will likely attempt to highlight individuality once more, or some other important aspect of OS X, even in an oblique manner.

Apple Insider reported that Apple hasdlodged trademarks for OS X Sequoia, OS X Mojave, OS X Sonoma, and OS X Ventura; banners have also been spotted that suggest Yosemite might be the final choice of name. How any of these might be applied to OS X remains to be seen.

We just hope we won't see OS X Alcatraz: the most locked-down OS X ever. OS X Death Valley is probably one to avoid, too.

OS X 10.10 price and release date

Mavericks was free, and so it stands to reason that OS X 10.10 and all subsequent releases of OS X will be too. This makes a lot of sense, because Apple is primarily a hardware company (and a very profitable one), and so it can afford to give away its operating systems, unlike Microsoft, which makes a huge amount of money from licensing and direct sales of Windows. Expect OS X 10.10 to again be a digital-only update via the Mac App Store.

As for when OS X 10.10 will appear, Lion saw OS X move to an annual release cycle, although this slipped a little with Mavericks, reportedly so Apple engineers could get iOS 7 ready in time for the release of the iPhone 5s. It wouldn't surprise us to see this as the actual plan this year: an announcement at WWDC and then a final release in 'fall 2014', which will probably mean October.

An iOS 7-like interface for OS X 10.10?

The radical visual overhaul of iOS has made quite a few people assume OS X will have a similar design language as of OS X 10.10, and the rumour mill has been buzzing about Apple experimenting accordingly. However, OS X Mavericks showcased subtler changes, ditching UI chrome from the likes of Calendar, resulting in a more uniform OS, but still a familiar one.

From a system standpoint, we expect to see further refinement of some kind. Jony Ive is obsessed with getting UI out of the way, so content can shine, but if every window behaved as iBooks does, removing chrome entirely until it's needed, we suspect Mac users would go nuts. Less extreme changes could work nicely on the desktop: flatter, simpler icons; the re-emergence of some colour in an OS that's become depressingly monochrome; and an emphasis on subtle depth, layering and transparency.

However, plenty of reports have suggested we're going to see far more radical changes; OS X won't necessarily be a straight clone of iOS, but the update will reportedly very obviously visually separate OS X 10.10 from its predecessors. How that will work in practice is anyone's guess; any major departure in design language is likely to leave OS X looking fragmented, rather like it did during the 'Mac OS 9 to OS X' transition. Apps reliant on default frameworks would get the new look for free, but others wouldn't, resulting in a mishmash of styles rather than a beautiful, coherent whole. Regardless, expect more Helvetica Neue than you can shake a stick at.

Window-snapping in OS X 10.10

This one is admittedly pure speculation, based largely on rumours surrounding iOS 8. We're still unsure about this, but there are suggestions the iPad will get a window-snapping feature, enabling you to view apps two-up, rather like in the latest flavours of Windows.

If that functionality comes to the iPad, it would also make sense to bring it to OS X. The Mac's window management has always been a bit awkward, and so simplifying a means to get two apps side-by-side without faffing about dragging and resizing would be of value to users. (In the meantime — and in the event this rumour doesn't come to pass — third-party apps like Moom ably provide such functionality.)

New OS X 10.10 apps and features

In recent versions of OS X, several iOS apps have made their way to the Mac. Reminders and Notes mirrored their iOS equivalents, making it easier for people to switch between Apple's platforms. With Maps, users could finally work with Apple's maps solution on the desktop and send directions to mobile devices. And then iBooks arrived, primarily, we imagine, because it was simply too absurd that you could buy a book in Apple's bookstore and not read it on your Mac.

Of the remaining iOS-only apps, Newsstand would be the most obvious OS X candidate, magazine subscriptions joining books. We can also see a place for Weather ? although, surprisingly, even the iPad doesn't yet have an Apple weather app. Smaller features might also make their way across: an optional PIN-style passcode lock; notification tabs for 'today', 'all' and 'missed', and a Notification Center that's an overlay rather than intrusively pushing everything else off-screen.

Control Center is also rumoured to be making its way to the Mac, which would replace or augment existing menu bar extras. The existing extras perform the vast majority of tasks iOS's Control Center covers, but are perhaps opaque to new users, not least in how to activate them from various System Preferences panes. A central location for them would therefore be beneficial.

One final group of apps we've not mentioned is those related to elephant-in-the-room iTunes. This digital jukebox grows increasingly bloated, performing more tasks than it was ever designed for. By contrast, separate iOS apps — Music, Video, iTunes Store, App Store, Podcasts — seem more usable and efficient. We'd be happy to see iTunes radically rethought, but it would require a monumental effort on Apple's part and leave question marks over the Windows version; on that basis, we think this is unlikely to happen, even if it's top of our wish-list.

OS X 10.10 to iOS 8 AirDrop

On the Mac, AirDrop provides a fast, simple means of wirelessly transferring files between computers. On iOS, AirDrop provides a fast, simple means of wirelessly transferring content between devices. Right now, though, these identically named features don't communicate between platforms.

We're sure there are complex technical reasons why AirDrop for OS X and iOS don't communicate, not least down to the rather more restricted nature of iOS and its lack of a file system, but we think this is one of the problems Apple may well announce it's solved at WWDC. It'd certainly be useful to be able to fire content between an iPad and a Mac without having to resort to email or a third-party utility or service — even if the file and content types are perhaps restricted to those fully compatible with iOS.

More iCloud in OS X 10.10

The OS X 'Internet Accounts' pane in System Preferences is getting crowded, with various email services, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo, AOL, Vimeo, and Flickr. Expect new additions, but also for Apple to increasingly push iCloud. OS X defaults to saving in iCloud, and we're likely to see more developers encouraged to integrate it more heavily within their apps.

We could see iCloud becoming more fleshed-out regarding working across multiple platforms and apps, using OS X tagging to automatically build projects, and introducing collaboration features. Additionally, it would be sensible for Apple to rework Time Machine so you can back-up your Mac to (and restore it from) the cloud.

This would, though, require a radical rethink in Cupertino regarding the miserly 5GB of space Apple offers for free (and the laughable 50GB maximum), but if Yahoo can offer 1TB of space for free, there's no reason Apple can't follow suit − and never having to worry about your data's safety again, no matter how much Apple kit you own, would be a great differentiator for the company and a huge new feature for OS X.

We also expect further changes to OS X's core, with speed and stability improvements to fully take advantage of the Mac Pro's power, while also ensuring the system remains energy-conscious for the next generation of Apple notebooks.

OS X 10.10 and Siri

When it comes to interacting with your computer, the mouse/pointer paradigm is deeply ingrained, but it's been shaken up by touchscreens, hence Apple's move to gestural input in OS X via the trackpad (and competitors working on hybrid devices). As smartphones have shown, voice can also be a great way of interacting with any device − as long as the system is smart enough.

No doubt some will argue there's no place for voice on OS X, because your Mac isn't something you want to talk to in order to get a job done, but OS X's accessibility settings already offer voice-oriented features. These include the means to read text aloud or define speakable workflows. There's no reason this can't be part of the default experience, not least for quick tasks that are otherwise cumbersome to deal with, such as entering calendar appointments or performing tedious maintenance.

Imagine an OS X Siri that could offer to automate tidying. "Siri, tidy my Desktop." "OK. Do you want me to add all downloaded music to iTunes, photos to iPhoto, and documents to your Documents folder." "Sure." "And would you like me to do this automatically in future, so you can spend more time being 'productive', searching the web for LOLcats?"

On second thoughts…

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Telstra set to introduce EasyShare Business plans for SMBs

Telstra is set to unveil new plans tomorrow for small to medium businesses (SMBs) with data pooling across services and an extra data SIM for tablets or hotspots.

With the new EasyShare Business plans, data allowances will be automatically pooled across multiple services.

While plan pricing hasn't been unveiled, Telstra will also provide SMBs a bonus data-only SIM for a tablet or hotspot as part of the new plans.

The EasyShare Business and Easy Business Plans that are to be launched tomorrow, June 3, will also include no flag fall and free voice calls between eligible mobiles that are on the same business account.

The tablet tool

The EasyShare Business plan will launch alongside Telstra's Peace of Mind Guarantee, and will provide customers with an extra 25GB of data for domestic use, as well as unlimited national standard voice/SMS/MMS in Australia.

"We know that when customers get a new smartphone or tablet they use it more than usual -- especially data as they download and install contacts and favourite apps," Will Irving, Group Managing Director of Telstra Business.

"We want customers to be able to set-up and enjoy their new device with the peace of mind that they won't exceed their included data allowance or voice inclusions."

• The announcement from Telstra comes after Optus revealed their new data sharing My Plan Plus options earlier today, which is set to become available to customers from June 10.

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Computex 2014: Appy days: Ford AppLink expanding into three new territories in 2015

Ford today announced the next phase in its roll out of the AppLink platform, with the motoring giant bringing the technology Australia this year and New Zealand, Taiwan and Thailand in 2015.

Ford hopes the move will encourage developers in the region to build on the approximately 100 apps currently available for AppLink, although not all types of apps will be welcome

Joe Beiser, Director of Connected Services at Ford, said games were certainly not on the company's agenda.

"We're driver focused," Beiser explained to jouranlists at the Computex show, and it's not hard to imagine the disaster that in-car gaming would be.

Linked and synced

AppLink builds on Ford's SYNC platform, which Ford expects to have in 14 million cars by 2015. AppLink enables users to control apps that affect their driving experience via voice commands.

Ford has kept its proprietary AppLink code open-sourced in order to entice developers to the platform. At present, the service has about 100 apps on its platform.

The continued focus on the technology reflects a shift in the company's thinking away from being purely motoring focused.

"We're a technology company, not just an auto company," explained Beiser.

• Apple is getting into this space as well. Here's everything you need to know about Apple's CarPlay

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Competition: Win! An Acer H6510BD 3D projector

Here's your chance to win a fantastic full HD, 3D projector capable of producing a display up to 300 inches in size courtesy of Acer.

Enter our simple competition and you'll be in with a chance of owning an Acer H6510BD projector which can display a screen of between 45 and 300 inches.

Connect it up to your television, laptop or games console for some serious high def viewing action.

It doesn't just excel at 2D footage, as the ultra bright 3000 lumen lamp inside also supports 3D playback, allowing you to get fully engrossed in your films.

You'll also find a remote control in the box, making it easy to control if you opt to wall or ceiling mount the H6510BD.

This is a prize worth over £600, so to be in with a chance of winning this great projector simply click here to enter the competition.

Please note that this competition is only open to UK residents over 18 years of age.

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