Apple’s new textbook experience feels familiar; from navigation to the way interactive elements work, the whole thing reminds me a lot of Al Gore’s collaboration with Push Pop Press on Our Choice. If you read my review, you know that’s not a bad thing.

E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth was a particular favorite, thanks to the exciting introduction video that truly increased my interest in the content. I’m not a callous 16-year old, of course, but it must stand a better chance of inspiring some emotion than a plain old hardcover.

What’s inside the book is more exciting too; in landscape mode, titles display information in manageable, bite-sized chunks, dynamically laid out with interspersed graphics. Flipping the iPad to portrait mode organizes information in a more linear fashion, which is easier to digest during crunch sessions, and lays out all graphics in thumbnail mode in a column along the left-hand side.

The search, highlight, notes and bookmark functions all serve to make keeping track of what you’re reading much easier than with print books. You can even use different colored highlights or underline sections to keep track of different things. For the studious type with a complex note-taking system, this will definitely come in handy.

The lesson assignments at the ends of chapters are great, since they provide a quick and easy way to instantly test knowledge retention, with feedback available on-demand. But I did have a problem with other elements.

In both the Life on Earth and Pearson titles I tested, sometimes interactive content didn’t seem clearly flagged. Often I’d tap things that weren’t interactive, assuming they were, and sometimes I’d miss elements that were in fact movies or dynamic graphics. Our Choice did a better job of marking where touching something would produce a result, but that deficiency could be accounted for by early growing pains, since these are the first titles out to use the format.

One thing’s clear: at a maximum of $15 a pop and with the backing of all the major U.S. educational publishers, these new digital textbooks definitely stand ready to gain some traction.

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Moving objects almost always appear a little blurry in photographs, a quality that translates onto the medium of motion pictures. In fact, if moving images do not blur, a video ends up looking “surprisingly unconvincing,” or much like Clay-mation, according to MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).

That’s why game and movie animators try to replicate this blur to make their work appear as natural and film-like as possible. But from a technical standpoint, it’s actually much more difficult to recreate blur than it is to produce sharp images.

The researchers at the computer graphics group of MIT’s CSAIL have developed new computing techniques for reproducing the natural blur, according to a news release published by the university Monday. At the upcoming Siggraph 2011 computer graphics conference to be held in Vancouver, British Columbia this August, the MIT researchers plan to present two papers describing the new blur computation techniques they’ve developed.

In the first paper, the University says:

The researchers make the simplifying assumption that the way in which light reflects off a moving object doesn’t change over the course of a single frame. For each pixel in the final image, their algorithm still averages the colors of multiple points on objects’ surfaces, but it calculates those colors only once. The researchers found a way to represent the relationship between the color calculations and the shapes of the associated objects as entries in a table. For each pixel in the final image, the algorithm simply looks up the corresponding values in the table. That drastically simplifies the calculation but has little effect on the final image.

In the second paper,

[The researchers have developed a method that] reduces the computational burden of determining which rays of light would reach an imagined lens. To produce convincing motion blur, digital animators might ordinarily consider the contributions that more than 100 discrete points on the surfaces of moving objects make to the color value of a single pixel. Lehtinen and his colleagues’ algorithm instead looks at a smaller number of points — maybe 16 or so — and makes an educated guess about the color values of the points in between. The result: A frame of digital video that would ordinarily take about an hour to render might instead take about 10 minutes.

The demand for blurring techniques is so strong that several major special-effects companies have already contacted the researchers about the work, even though the papers have yet to be presented, according to Jaakko Lehtinen, who worked on both projects as a postdoc and is now a senior research scientist with graphics-chip manufacturer Nvidia. With the continuing blockbuster success of high-end animation films like Avatar, it makes sense that there’s a strong market demand for the most cutting-edge technologies.

Images courtesy of Jaakko Lehtinen

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• The new $1199 iMac is 70 percent faster than the previous generation entry-level model at the same price point. That’s probably due mostly to the fact that it’s packing a 2.5 GHz quad-core processor, vs. the 3.06 GHz dual-core Intel chip powering the older version.
• The new $1199 iMac is 30 percent faster than the top of the line 27-inch previous generation iMac, if you’d rather compare quad-core Apples to quad-core Apples. That means buyers of even the most basic new iMacs should be seeing considerable performance improvements over the older models.
• The AMD graphics processor in even the entry-level new iMacs is three times faster than the one it replaces. Apple claims it can do 100 frames per second in the high-end iMac, with up to 1.3 teraflops of performance. That’s pushing weight previously only available from Mac Pros.
• FaceTime HD support means that the iMacs can do 720p video calling with other FaceTime HD equipped Macs (MacBook Pro and iMacs for now), and can still do SD calling with all other Apple FaceTime-enabled devices.
• Thunderbolt ports mean you can get up to 10GB per second transfer speeds with connected storage and A/V transfer devices. It also means you can daisy-chain and output to an external display on the 21.5-inch iMac, or to two displays using the 27-inch model.
• Apple now offers SSD/HDD combos as an upgrade option that allow for faster boot times while still providing affordable, spacious storage options.

These are a strong update for the iMac line, and anyone considering an upgrade would be well-served by these improvements. The only thing Apple didn’t change were the looks of the all-in-one, which is a good thing considering how attractive the aluminum and glass combo is. The only downsides to consider are the fact that Apple seems to have gotten rid of the 27-inch iMac’s target display mode, and that it may be preparing to ship OS X Lion this summer. But target display mode probably has limited usefulness for most, and Lion will be an inexpensive upgrade when it does arrive (plus there are no guarantees its coming in early summer, anyway). If you’ve been waiting for the right time to upgrade your Apple desktop, this is definitely a good time to do so.

With additional reporting by Om Malik.

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First, let’s stick with the original iPhone App compatible with the iPad. On my iPhone 3GS, it boots on average in about 12 to 14 seconds. On the iPad, it averaged 6 to 7 seconds. Wow. I can either play it in 1x “original” size on the screen or play it magnified via the 2x icon in the lower right hand corner. Playing a game in the 1x version is difficult. The screen seems tiny and it’s awkward to hold the iPad and click inside the virtual iPhone screen.

When in 2x mode, the game is more naturally played, but of course everything is more pixellated because of the doubling effect. Playing the game was perfectly acceptable in my opinion in 2x mode. That is until I tried … Plants vs Zombies HD

Pictures speak louder than words and here are the pictures from the game at roughly the same level (be sure to click on them to see the full-size).  You can actually see the arms falling of the zombies and other details. Play is slightly different as seed packets and other items are moved to the top of the screen to allow more detail in the house on the side. Interesting that the app loads in about the same time as the original app: 6 to 7 seconds.

Market conditions and the whim of developers will determine which apps will be worth shelling out the money for the iPad version and which will be updated at no cost. Plants vs Zombies sucked my brain and my wallet in order to get me to pay again for the same game, and it was well worth it! What about you?

Brad Linder at Liliputing says Jolicloud has a solution for that in the newest version of their netbook operating system. Even better is video proof from Jolicloud, showing smooth playback of a 1080p file.

Now this version won’t help the orignal Atom netbooks that use Intel’s GMA 950 for video, so don’t go thinking that you’ll give new video capabilities to an old netbook. And there’s still a bit of a limitation to the Jolicloud solution — 1080p media works well with nearly every MPEG-4 codec except for H.264. Still, this is great to see on the new N450 and N470 CPUs paired with the Intel GMA 3150 graphics. It means you don’t necessarily have go with other graphic options —  like adding a hardware video accelerator such as Broadcom’s solution, nor spending a little more for an Nvidia Ion device.

I realize that many keep wondering why 1080p video is important to netbooks since the displays typically max out at 720p — or even lower on a 1024 x 600 display. The answer in my mind is compatibility with the highest common denominator. I know that sounds odd, but hear me out.

Wouldn’t you prefer your device capable of smooth playback with a 1080p file, even at a lower resolution, than having to find a 720p version of the same file? Or worse: having to waste time re-encoding that 1080p file to something lighter for your device? Video on the web is moving towards 1080p, so for content producers, it’s far easier to create one 1080p file than to create various files of the same content in different resolutions, formats and bit rates. I think of it as a “create once, play anywhere” situation — even on the small screen of a netbook.

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Many users are also reporting issues with cracked screens and yellow tinting on the displays, with a gradient from cool to warm as you move from top to bottom down the monitor. I had the latter issue on two replacement iPhone 3GSes, too, so I can’t help but wonder if Apple’s increased ability to move product isn’t affecting quality control.

Apple’s also passing the buck in the description of what the new fix for the software-based flicker problem actually does. To wit:

The 27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update applies to the graphics firmware on ATI Radeon HD 4670 and 4850 graphics cards to address issues that may cause image corruption or the display to flicker.

Elsewhere, the company notes that the firmware update isn’t a cure-all:

If your screen remains black after applying the updater or if you continue to experience image corruption or display flickering after successfully completing this update, contact AppleCare or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

So not only does Cupertino seem to be blaming ATI for the issue, it’s not actually promising to necessarily fix anything with this update, either. Whether Apple goes with ATI or NVIDIA, it just can’t seem to avoid graphics card-related issues. At least this time around it didn’t take two or three years for Apple to acknowledge the problem. Still, sales of the 27-inch iMac have been halted, which probably isn’t making consumers or Apple very happy.

Let us know if you’ve tried out the update, and whether your problems have been resolved following its installation. I’ve heard from at least one or two people that they haven’t noticed any improvements. One thing’s for sure: Apple has to nip iMac-gate in the bud before further damaging its quality and reliability reputation.

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The seven apps are all new to me, but they seem to have garnered favorable reviews and even some official accolades from Apple itself. They also cover quite a range, meaning that no two really duplicate the functions or features of the others. Here’s a brief rundown of the apps you get in the bundle.

• GraphicConverter – Does what it says. You can open basically any image file, and then save it as another. You can also do some light editing, organize your photos, run a slide show, and automate your image processing to make working with large batches of files easier.
• Picturesque – Provides a lot of easy, 1-click or simplified image enhancement abilities. Great for those who don’t have the patience or time to learn more advanced programs like Photoshop, or who want really quick turnaround times for time sensitive activities like blogging.
• ImageFramer – Add frames to your pictures. A little weird, in my opinion, but if you’re looking for something different for your photos, this could be it.
• Funtastic Photos – Photo correction and enhancement which automatically preserves your original. Also packs a number of sharing features, and a rich print layout system.
• Graphic Designer Toolbox – Combine building blocks to create crazy new graphic effects and images. You use the unique interface to marry various elements together in a non-destructive process that is both deceptively simple and incredibly deep. Weird but cool.
• DrawIt – A vector image editor and drawing app. Tons of shapes are included in the default set, and there’s support for user-created ones, too. A nice little app that will have you creating Mac-friendly icons and more with relative ease.
• HoudahGeo – Add geolocation data to your photos. HoudahGeo lets you specify information like latitude, longitude, altitude and viewing angle in an image file’s EXIF, XMP or IPTC tags.

All of the apps included in MacGraPhoto have apparently been Apple Staff Picks except for Graphic Designer Toolbox, which won a Think Different award for graphic image editors. At the very least, you’ll probably shave a few steps off of your current process for doing light image editing by picking up the bundle. Plus, if you tell three people about the deal and they buy the pack as a result, the price of your purchase is refunded and you get it free. The bundle pricing expires in a little over five days.

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Successful markets don’t stagnate — they morph in anticipation of consumer needs. While the original netbooks were never considered as a solution for high-definition content consumption, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a desire for such a feature. Digital content consumption is growing, so doesn’t it make sense that hardware is needed to support that demand? Although a netbook’s small screen might not provide an optimal 1080p experience, the right graphics chip paired with a digital output and a large, high-definition television makes for an attractive combination — especially at these prices.

I read LAPTOP Magazine’s early look at the HP Mini 311 with Nvidia’s ION, and the initial benchmarks are telling:

• PCMark05 scores, which measure overall performance, are 35 percent higher than the current average netbook powered fully by Intel.
• The 3DMark06 test, which focuses solely on graphics, yielded a score of 1,386. The average netbook score for this test? Under 100.
• A 114MB video encoding test from AVI to MPEG-4 using supported software took 6 minutes and 14 seconds using the ION platform. The same file on a standard netbook with Intel churned for a half hour.

Clearly, the Nvidia solution will appeal to those who appreciate strong visuals on the 1,366×768 display or want DirectX 10 support for gaming. The integrated HDMI output extends the experience to larger screens as well — LAPTOP played a 1080p trailer on a 32-inch HDTV with positive results. But do consumers want better graphics on small notebooks?

Two years ago, I would have argued “no.” I’ve personally bought three netbooks in the past two years — the Toshiba NB205 is my current device — but for the price, I’ve never expected much in the way of graphics performance. But wait a second. The HP Mini 311 with Nvidia ION is priced exactly the same as my current device at $399. And those thin-and-light devices with Intel’s CULV solutions generally start around $699 or so. Sure, they may offer a little more horsepower in the CPU department, but they actually fare worse with graphic benchmarks than Nvidia’s little engine that could. LAPTOP’s testing shows the graphics scores are roughly double that of the thin-and-lights that use Intel’s GMA4500 graphics — at half the price.

These results on a $399 netbook could heavily impact sales not just of netbooks, but even the thin-and-light notebooks. Devices in this price range aren’t meant for heavy-duty computational tasks, so consumers are currently getting by with the Intel Atom CPU — and they’re making do with the meager Intel graphics as well. But if there’s a more powerful option for visuals, buyers will gravitate towards it — the thought is: “I’m getting more performance for the same price, so why not take the plunge?”  If Nvidia continues to stay ahead of Intel’s graphics for mobile computers, I expect to see many more Nvidia ION stickers on netbooks this holiday season.

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Poor NVIDIA — it looks like your honeymoon with Apple is over. There hasn’t been an official announcement from Cupertino yet, but a glance at the customization options for high-end iMacs (the ones that use discrete graphics) and Mac Pros reveals that ATI Radeon HD 4000-series cards are already available as new configurable alternatives to NVIDIA products.

ATI was shown the door at Apple when the computer maker introduced notebooks and desktops that feature integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics cards. Many suspect that things turned rocky between Apple and NVIDIA, thanks to the faulty GeForce 8600M GT cards that resulted in the Mac maker offering customers an unprecedented warranty extension for problems related to that component.

We didn’t see the effects right away, because Apple’s supply chain is likely structured in such a way that its product line was probably in place long before any of the hardware problems began to surface. Adding the Radeon HD 4850 to the iMac line and HD 4870 to the Mac Pro as configurable options may not seem like much in the way of retaliation, but it was probably the first option available to Apple short of overhauling its product line.

Both new ATI options are easy single component swap-outs. If Apple intends to get rid of the integrated GeForce 9400M cards, it will have to wait until the computers themselves receive a major update.

ATI is touting the ability of the new cards to fully utilize and benefit from Apple’s implementation of Open CL Version 1.0 in Snow Leopard, which developers can incorporate into their software to allow a sharing of processor load between CPU and GPU. The HD 4850 is a $50 upgrade, available on the 2.93GHz and 3.06GHz 24-inch iMac models, and the HD 4870 is a $200 upgrade for the Mac Pro.

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Because it’s a hosted, online application suite, Aviary not only lets you use its photo and image editing tools, but also allows you to share creations with others online. When you sign up to use the suite, you even get a prompt to find friends who may be online, which you can choose to skip if you want. The screenshot above shows some images created and edited in Aviary’s image editor, dubbed Phoenix.

As seen in the menu to the right, which greets you when you begin using Aviary, there is much more than just photo editing built in. There are also more than twice as many modules in the suite as there were in October. You’ll find a vector editor, a color palette editor, a tool for creating visual effects, and more. All of the tools are available for you to use within your browser.

Aviary also comes with many tutorials, similar to those found online for Photoshop. You can browse many of them here. The tutorials are categorized from Beginning to Advanced, and provide instructions on shadows, adding saturation to photos and images, enhancing eyes in photos, and much more.

Using Aviary’s effects editor, dubbed Peacock, you can save image effects that you create and import them into the Phoenix image editor. This means that the number of effects you can use is essentially unlimited. There is also a module called Toucan for doing color management, and Raven is a vector editor that can translate bitmap images to vector images. It’s also a very useful screen capture tool, as Thursday wrote about previously.

My most-used image editing application remains IrfanView, which I wrote about here. It’s free to use, as Aviary’s tools are, although if you want to use all of Aviary’s functionality you need to sign up for a Pro account, which is $24.99 a year — significantly lower than the previous monthly pricing plan. I’m currently using both Aviary and IrfanView, and Aviary strikes me as quite powerful. It’s also adding modules and features at an impressive rate. If you haven’t tried it, definitely do so.

Let us know your thoughts on Aviary in the comments.

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