The older GeekBench 2 rated the Air at 2378, compared to 1766 for the iPad 4. That’s certainly not the 2x increase claimed by Apple, but it’s still a healthy step up. Having said that, my iPad 3 has always seemed snappy enough to handle every app or game that I’ve ever thrown at it, so the extra performance on offer in the iPad Air isn’t noticeable most of the time.It does, however, give the iPad Air scope to flex its muscles with new games and apps in the future. I was somewhat flabbergasted when Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was released for the iPad a few months ago, so it’s mouth-watering to imagine what the iPad Air will be able to do with the extra performance provided by the A7 processor.One thing that Apple didn’t make a big fuss about was the battery life of the iPad Air – the company is merely commenting that the Air stays at around 10 hours. In fact, the iPad Air gave me a full 10 hours of streaming video using BBC iPlayer, compared to about eight for my iPad 3. You could probably squeeze another hour out of it if you’re not hammering the Wi-Fi non-stop.
One other minor change I also appreciated was the addition of twin-aerial MIMO for the iPad’s 802.11n Wi-Fi. One result: the iPad Air didn’t keep dropping the signal in the Wi-Fi deadspot in my office, as my iPad 3 does on a regular basis.It’s annoying, though, that Apple hasn’t upgraded the iPad’s Wi-Fi to 802.11ac as it has done with the latest Mac models. There’s no change to the 5MP rear camera or 1.2MP front camera, either, adding to the impression that Apple is holding back on a number of features for use in future upgrades.But at least it didn’t increase the price, so I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies. The 16GB Wi-Fi model still starts at £399, with the 32GB, 64GB and 128GB models priced at 32GB, 64GB and 128GB models priced at £479, £559 and £639. As before, the cellular models simply add £100 to those prices.Those prices have been fairly constant for a few years now, and by now I’d have expected the £399 model to provide 32GB of storage – which would allow me to cram my entire iTunes library onto it at last.
I’m also rather unimpressed to see that the iPad 2, which remains on sale as Apple’s "low-cost" option, still starts at £329 – £70 less than the Air. The iPad 2 is approaching its third birthday and its pre-Retina, 1024 x 768 display just isn’t up to scratch at that price.And, of course, there are those perennial little iPad niggles that we all like to complain about: the lack of built-in HDMI, USB or memory card slots, and the expensive adaptors that Apple sells to overcome the connectivity limitations that it imposed in the first place. Those limitations haven’t stopped Apple selling 170 million iPads so far, so they’re probably not going to make any difference this time either.Apple always likes to talk about the “magical” experience of using the iPad, and holding the iPad Air in my hands does remind me of what it was like when the very first iPad was launched. I can understand why the fanbois who already own the iPad 4 weren’t tempted to queue overnight to buy the iPad Air, but people like me who have an older iPad may well find the urge to upgrade hard to resist this Christmas.
The storage Tardis effect continues: Toshiba has crammed 1TB into a thin disk drive and signed a license to use DenseBits technology in its flash memory products.The Tardis is Doctor Who’s time-travelling telephone kiosk which is somehow larger inside than outside. So it is with storage disk and NAND products which are able to continually hold more and more data inside their small casings.On the disk front Toshiba has gone and designed a 7mm thick 2.5in disk drive storing 1TB on its two platters. This the MQ02ABF, PDF data sheet here, an updated version of the MQ01ABF, “01” meaning 1 x 500GB platter and “02” meaning 2 x 500GB platters. The areal density is 744Gbit/in2 and the little twin spinner spins at 5.400rpm with a 6Gbit/s SATA interface.It uses dual-stage head positioning technology to make track location and following more precise, and is available at 759GB and 1TB capacity points. It’s intended for use in Ultrabooks and similarly space-constrained applications.
The company has also signed a license to use DensBits technology. This Israeli startup has devised so-called Memory Modem technology and it’s being touted as good for making short-lived 3-layer cell (TLC) flash technology usable. The trouble with this stuff is that it dies after relatively few writes compared to MLC (2-layer cell) flash, meaning that it has been used so far only in USB sticks and camera flash cards - certainly not in enterprise flash applications.This Memory Modem (MOdulator DEModulator) technology somehow makes TLC longer-lived so it can, hopefully, be used in enterprise-class apps. Our expectation is that Toshiba is looking to it for help in producing TLC NAND for enterprises. Old telephone modem technology once enabled analogue telephone circuits to carry digital data. Presumably - a big presume - the Memory Modem enables a digital flash memory system to receive reliable data from the signals obtained from blocks of flash memory cells.
Dipping into the tinned quotes in the announcement release tells us little, though. Amir Tirosh, DensBits’ EVP for marketing and business development, says this:“Our proprietary Memory Modem controller technology combined with Toshiba’s industry leading Flash memory technology will allow the introduction of superior Flash storage solutions in terms of cost, reliability, and performance.”Sysadmin blog A common complaint about IT staff is their lack of social skills. As in any industry that attracts a certain type of person, there's a high percentage of dark-room-dwelling people who can sometimes struggle to communicate. This is either through what they say or how they interact with others.Not all IT people are like this of course, just as nurses are not all popping out of their skimpy outfits and pool cleaners don't universally have a mustache and manage to find themselves in many interesting and awkward situations.
There are some guidelines I can recommend based on many years of personal experience, as well as observing others.Helpdesk 101: Never trust the user. When a user tells you something is happening, see it for yourself. Think of this situation as if they just watched a doctor perform brain surgery, then had to summarise what happened. They're going to make guesses and assumptions on the bits they don't understand. Once you see the issue for yourself, then start the troubleshooting. There is no point spending hours chasing a dragon to slay if the dragon turns out to be a funny-shaped rock. Ask to see that error message or recreate the issue.Don't call them 'users': IT staff can often forget they're in a position of service. Nobody likes getting bad service; it doesn't matter if it's the 15-year-old at your local fast food restaurant or a rude doctor. This means respecting every person you deal with. "User" is a technical word and should not be used outside of technical circles - people want to feel like people. Generally I would recommend calling them "staff" for internal people, and "clients" for external people – a good guide is to use the same term as other departments with their communications.
Turn a "no" into an alternative solution: Everyone gets questions that should receive a negative answer, but when someone reaches out for help, that's the last thing they want to hear. "Can I plug in my personal laptop and use it at work?" usually comes under that category. The answer should be an alternative solution to their problem. Maybe they can do everything over the internet from that laptop, or they just need to get some files off, which could be done via USB storage.Often people will ask for something they think is the best solution to their problem, which means more questions need to be asked to find out what they are actually trying to accomplish.Good communication: Keep people updated. Let them know someone is working on their issue. Let everyone know of outages and resolutions by whatever notification method works the best. Check if people want more assistance, or to be left alone. Follow-ups should always be done; all users should be notified somehow that their issue or request has been addressed.
Adaptation: Some users want to know every intricate detail about their brand new laptop and how to use all the fancy new options. Others will want the laptop left on their desk without a word. Part of adaptation is reading people and asking the right questions, and the other half is leading them down the path that actually helps them more.You can't hassle that person who wants to be left alone, but if there's one important nugget of information, you need to get that across somehow. Just wiping your hands clean and walking away won't help: if they don't know their password was reset, they'll just get angry and think you're useless at your job.This might all sound like common sense to many, but it takes a lot of time to build up trust with your userbase, while only a few slip-ups can completely destroy it. You're there to assist the business, and that often doesn't align with an individual's particular request, but part of your job should be to keep both sides happy.
Apple, in common with virtually everyone else pushing systems, treats a gig as 1,000,000,000 bytes for users of Macs, iPhones and iPads; simpler for consumers, but the difference is almost seven per cent. When this relates to a disk holding, say, 3TB or 4TB the difference may not be significant.But when you have a mobile data plan for your smartphone, tablet or laptop, counting your bytes matters because the stakes are higher: a 3TB hard disk will set you back about 3p per gigabyte, whereas a phone network will charge much, much more. And it may not always be clear if a phone network defines a gigabyte as 10243 or 10003 bytes - even after you've diligently checked the small print and spoke to sales advisors.Then, even if you put arithmetic differences to one side, a fundamental problem remains - which, for mobile data plan subscribers, is the ability to see precisely how much data they have consumed within their monthly allowances.
Yes, there are tools available, some built into Android, iOS and other operating systems and others as downloadable apps - like that from Onavo - that try to measure your data usage. The trouble with nearly all of these is that they come with health warnings; that what they measure as usage may well differ from the view of the network carrier.How can this be? Well, besides the intended data usage - such as transferring a file, updating an app or watching a TV show - there is a transmission overhead associated with non-trivial communications, and mobile comms are no different. These extra bytes all add up and may not be counted by the software on your device.Today, the user, whether working for an enterprise or as a consumer, cannot always know exactly how much of their data allowance has been consumed. But the network carrier can tell, and often it is not in its self-interest to inform anyone.