SurfaceInk

The 4:3 Defense

Jason Burton — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:35:28 +0000

Maybe it’s the football fan in me, but the big game has me thinking about stats and numbers. When I think about 4-3, the first come that comes to mind is the defensive formation in football (American-style, of course). The other thing I think about is display aspect ratios and the classic 4:3 format. For over 75 years, nearly the only choice available to television and computer users had been 4:3 standard displays and screens. In the 1980s, VCRs made movies more available to consumers and drove the demand for a more cinematic experience. Movies had to be either cropped or letterboxed to fit the 4:3 format, but neither seemed to be an ideal solution. In the mid-2000s, the rise of flat-screen HDTVs and monitors breathed life into the 16:9 widescreen format. In today’s TV and computer screen markets, you’d now be challenged to find many 4:3 contenders.

3-4 Defense in 4:3 Aspect

But does this mean the 4:3 is dead? And what of the tablet and portable computing space: what will be the trend? Here are a few reasons that 4:3 formats still make sense and may not be going away:

Photography and Art

No doubt, the widescreen format bring users closer to the cinematic feel when it comes to watching movies and video content. However, the mind’s eye has a natural propensity, whether it has evolved as status quo or inherent in somehow our cognitive DNA, to prefer a certain formula for what looks proportional in fine art. Maybe it has been a function of what canvas sizes were most convenient to build or what photo sizes are easy to print and cut, but art and photos standards more resemble an aspect ratio of 4:3 rather than widescreen format. There are exceptions, like panoramic landscape photos, and artistic licenses in canvas shapes, of course, but these are well-entrenched standards. Thousands of years of canvas building and picture frame size legacy would be difficult to reverse. The 4:3 aspect, therefore, just feels right.

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is close to a 4:3 aspect ratio. The Sistine Chapel and The Last Supper, on the other hand, are more widescreen format. It just goes to show that you can't put da Vinci into a corner.

Ergonomics

Being surrounded by video and sound is undeniably enhanced in a widescreen device, especially with large screens or multiple monitors. Two-handed portable devices such as tablets and smartphones are often held in landscape to enter text. It sure is difficult to reach your thumbs to content in center of the device. In a 4:3 aspect, however, as long as the overall screen isn’t too comically large to fit in the users hands, the user can more easily access the full screen while holding the device in both his or her hands. Thank goodness for 4:3 and opposable thumbs–how would we ever send texts without them?

Broadcasting Momentum

Old habits die hards, and the equipment historically available in broadcast production has been 4:3-centric. Although many broadcasts are now widely available in 16:9 format, most of NTSC broadcasts are still in 4:3, not to mention nearly a century of legacy content (that’s a lot of Seinfeld and I Love Lucy reruns). Also, inexpensive production equipment available at the consumer level for mediums such as YouTube also tend to default to 4:3.

The conclusion is that the 4:3 aspect ratio isn’t going away any time soon. The consumers are dictating what they want in certain devices in certain market segments–widescreen for movies and HDTV, standard aspects for photography and handhelds. And no matter how much any one consumer device company preaches that they have “one device to rule them all,” consumers will always be specialized needs for unique markets. Vive la différence!

Intel doesn’t feel threatened about Windows 8′ ARM support

Giles — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:58:48 +0000

Intel Corp. does not consider support of ARM-architecture microprocessor by Windows 8 a threat. Instead, the company believes that Windows 8 will allow the company to capture new markets, such as tablets.
“The Windows CE today, the Windows phone applications today all run on ARM and only on ARM, so what they are saying is for the tablet version and the phone version they are going to support ARM for Windows 8. What I am excited about is that Windows 8 will also support Intel down into the other devices. Today we do not have an opportunity to sell into Microsoft-based phones and Microsoft-based tablets,” said Paul Otellini, chief executive officer of Intel, in an interview with Fox Business Network.
Historically, Intel’s x86 microprocessors were not as economical as ARM-architecture processors, which power 98% of mobile phones today. Nowadays ARM-based processors are gaining performance and power personal computers in slate form-factor, whereas Intel’s chips are becoming more power efficient and can also power tablet PCs. However, Intel needs Windows operating system to justify usage of x86 chips inside slates.
An obvious problem for Intel going forward is ability of developers of ARM to design high-performance chips that could power notebooks or desktops, Intel’s main strongholds. As a result, Intel will have to ensure that its processors offer overwhelming advantages over any possible ARM processors. But while Intel can enable extreme performance, actual user comfort is provided by Windows operating system. Therefore, eventually both AMD and Intel will have to ensure that there is software that runs exclusively on x86 microprocessors.
It remains to be seen whether x86-exclusive mass software will emerge. In the meantime, it is clear that market realities for AMD and Intel have shifted dramatically with ARM-enabled Windows operating system.

Job Opening – Tech Lead Mechanical Engineer, Austin Texas

Giles — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:53:19 +0000

THE ROLE
A SurfaceInk Tech Lead is a key player in project leadership and ensuring that the engineering team executes a successful design. Responsibilities include design planning and supervising, representing technical issues to clients, and all technical facets of completing a project on time and on budget. A Technical Lead will have a strong Engineering background and a “roll up your sleeves” mentality to ensure that any and everything gets done, as well as strong team building and leadership abilities to both bring in and do the work.

FUN THINGS TO KNOW
-Just down the road to the Live Music Capital of the World
-Home of the Largest Bat Colony & The Round Rock Express
-Beautiful Lakes – Austin, Travis & Georgetown
-Exquisite Eats like the Salt Lick BBQ, Lone Star Bakery (home of the Round Rock Donuts), Z’Tejas SW Grill, & the Vince Young Steakhouse

If this sounds like something up your alley check out the careers section of our website…

Best Tablets at CES – What do you think?

Giles — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:38:15 +0000

The tablet-friendly Android 3.0 OS is one of the stars of CES 2011.

The tablet market is poised to explode. Here’s a handy run-down we ran across at Tech Radar of who is doing what…

BlackBerry PlayBook

RIM unveiled its tablet-sized BlackBerry PlayBook last September and we’ve been playing around with it on the show floor. Like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, it has a 7-inch display with a resolution of 1024×600 pixels and some iPad-beating extras…

Measuring 10mm thick, it runs a tabletized version of the Blackberry OS and is powered by a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor. There’s a 3MP camera on the front, a 5MP lens on the back; plus 4G support, 3G support via Blackberry phone and 802.11b/g/n wireless.

LG G-Slate

Like Motorola’s Xoom, the oddly-titled G-Slate runs the forthcoming Android 3.0 software. The new device is also 4G-ready and will debut on the T-Mobile network in the US. We await rock-solid details.

Acer Iconia Tab A500

Another smart-looking tablet that, in tech terms at least, eclipses the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The Iconia prototype on show at CES is running Android 2.2, but will rock the tablet-specific Honeycomb OS come launch.

Like the Motorola Xoom, Acer has opted for a 10.1-inch touchscreen display here, 4G connectivity and a zippy dual-core Tegra 2 processor. There’s also an HDMI out and full-size USB port, which will make this baby very versatile.

Motorola Xoom

Much of the attention at CES has been focused on the Motorola Xoom, a 10.1-inch (1280×800) tablet packing a dual-core processor, the Android 3.0/Honeycomb OS, 1080p video playback and 3G/4G/Wi-Fi connectivity.

It also incorporates two cameras – a 5MP lens on the back (capable of 720p video recording) and a 2MP front-facing camera for video chat.

Lenovo LePad

The LePad incorporates a 10.1-inch (1280×800) touch-screen, 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and runs a customised version of the Android 2.2 OS. Available in 16GB and 32GB versions, it’s 3G-only and includes a front-facing 2 Megapixel camera.

Uniquely, the LePad can be docked into a companion U1 base equipped with a 1.2GHz Intel Core i5-540UM processor, becoming a beefier Windows 7 netbook.

Panasonic VIERA Tablet

The so-called VIERA tablet isn’t a tablet PC that will rival the other devices here. In contrast, this Android-powered screen works with VIERA Connect (formerly VIERA Cast) to access internet services via your Panasonic HDTV. Screen sizes will reportedly range from a dinky 4 inches to 10 inches.

Samsung Galaxy Tab

Launched last year, the Galaxy Tab was arguably the first credible alternative to the iPad. At CES, Samsung announced that 1.5 million of the 7-inch Tabs have been shipped to date and that a Wi-Fi-only version will be available this year.

Asus Eee Slate

Head over to Amazon.com and you’ll find that the 12.1-inch ASUS Eee Slate EP121-1A011M is now listed for preorder. A cool $999 will buy you this high-end Windows 7-powered tablet, which incorporates a Intel Core i5-470UM CPU, up to 4GB of RAM, a 32GB SSD, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 2MP webcam. The 4 Cell battery will give you ‘up to 3 hours battery life’, which begs the question: ‘what’s the point?’

Asus Eee Pad

Three different versions of the Eee Pad have been launched at CES 2011, with and without keyboards. The Eee Pad Slider combines a shallow QWERTY keypad with a 10.1-inch (1280×800) touchscreen, Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, Android 3.0 and dual cameras.

The Eee Pad Transformer, meanwhile, retains the core specs of the Slider model, above, but the keyboard is an optional attachment rather than a built-in feature.

Finally, the Eee Pad MeMo reduces the screen size down to 7.1 inches and uses a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU.

Toshiba Tegra 2 tablet

Following the embarrassing failure of its Folio 100 device, Toshiba has returned with an as yet unnamed tablet packing NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 processor. Like many other tablets it boasts a 10.1-inch (1280×800) touchscreen, 5MP/2MP cameras (back/front) and Android 3.0.

ViewSonic ViewPad 10s

ViewSonic has redesigned and reconfigured its biggest ViewPad to make it a much better device. The 10s is now powered by a Tegra 250 chip, boasts 512MB of RAM and a 1024×600 pixel LCD touchscreen. It runs Android 2.2 for now, but this is expected to be shoved aside in favour of the tablet-specific Android 3.0 OS.

Notion Ink Adam

Reading this round-up you’d be forgiven for thinking that there was no room for the ambitious little guy amongst the Motorolas, LGs and Samsungs. Not so. Indian-based start-up Notion Ink has been showing off its 10-inch Adam device. It boasts a 1024×600 transreflective display, 1080p video output via HDMI and a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 250 processor.

Assorted others…

The tablets, pads and slates above are far from being the only iPad rivals at this year’s show. A 7-inch version of the Dell Streak has been outed, while NEC has been showing off a dual-screen ‘Cloud Communicator’ at CES.

There are also tablets incoming from Notion Ink, Netbook Navigator, Vizio, MSI and Sharp, which is readying its 10.8-inch Galapagos tablet (pictured above). Elsewhere, Fujitsu reportedly has an Oak Trail Win 7 tablet in the works; Samsung has unveiled the TX100 ‘slider’ tablet, while Archos has upgraded its 7-inch device with a faster processor.

What tablet device are you most looking forward to or in what direction do you think the market will drive this emerging technology? Tell us in the comments below…

New SI Alumni Group on LinkedIn!

Giles — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:12:55 +0000

SurfaceInk Alumni group goes live today! We are truly grateful to the relationships and contribution of all SurfaceInk Alumni. We deem it important to keep in contact and follow everyone as they progress leaps and bounds through their careers. We look forward to our next Alumni event to get together and hear all the latest adventures of success.

If you are a SurfaceInk Alumni please join the group…

Happy birthday, SurfaceInk!

Jason Burton — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 23:56:50 +0000

Today is SurfaceInk’s 12th birthday! We’d like to celebrate by thanking our past, present, and future clients, partners, and vendors for all of their support and business. I’d like to especially take this opportunity to thank all of the SurfaceInk team and the SurfaceInk Alumni that have dedicated their heart and soul to the notion of becoming an world-class product development team and providing excellent service to our customers. Here’s to another year!

CES Best in Show

Giles — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:31:43 +0000

CES was a huge success for SurfaceInk this year…our suite was booked and even triple booked with targeted meetings throughout the week. This meant that there was not much time for the team to actually hit the show floor!

We closely watched many of the tech sites for product analysis back at SI HQ. Hailed as the “Year of the Tablet” we were not blown away by the ‘innovation’ but certainly some interesting products nonetheless. The various flavors of Tablet – keyboard combo certainly peaked interest even if some refinement is still needed before launch.

Here is the Engadget Best in Show which makes for an interesting quick snapshot of some of the best in show.

Wow post CES week is a buzz at SurfaceInk…roll on 2011!

SurfaceInk at CES

Jason Burton — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:16:22 +0000

We’re pleased to be hosting a suite at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show. We’re proudly showing off some of our product development capabilities in the suite, as well as hosting meetings with our partners, clients, and friends of the company. We’re located at the Las Vegas Hilton, Suite 332.

Also, after walking the floor at CES, please join us for our networking events: happy hours in our hospitality suite! We’ll be hosting beverages, hors d’oeuvres, and compelling conversations on Thursday, January 6 from 4:00 to 7:00PM and Saturday, January 8th from 5:00 to 8:00PM. See you soon!

Check back for updates from the show…

E Ink Concept Showcase

Jason Burton — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:12:58 +0000

SurfaceInk recently partnered with E Ink to create some Industrial Design concepts of different e-reader form factors in various markets. The concepts demonstrate the versatility and capability of the E Ink display technology. Learn more at the E Ink Concept Showcase.

Welcome to our blog

Jason Burton — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:13:11 +0000

I’m happy to introduce the first-ever blog post for SurfaceInk.com! We’d like to use this space of the web to share our expertise and points-of-view on topics such as emerging technologies, engineering practices, project management strategies, and product design trends. Our contributors have garnered knowledge both from internationally-renowned learning institutions and thru first-hand work experience in successful corporations. We take pride in the successes of our clients and want to share our story with you. If you think that your company could benefit from the knowledge that we have to offer, please contact us. We’d love to hear from you!