A NEW BALL GAME

Blackberry PlayBook

Listen, I’ll be straight with you. I realize tablets are crazy hot right now, that 2011 is the year of the iPad clone and that every company and its brother is rushing one to market. But I’m sorry. I’m not going to review every one of the 85 tablets that will arrive this year; its online may, and I ‘have already got tablet fatigue. I’m sorry, I am not going to review the Electrolux tablet, the Polaroid table, the Sunoco tablet, the Kellogg’s tablet….The blackberry tablet, though, seems worth a look. The tech world has been hyperventilating over this thing. It’s called the playbook, and it’s a seven-inch touch screen tablet.

The ipad, of course, is a 10-incher, but seven has its virtues. It’s much easier to hold with one hand, for example. In principle, you ought to be able to slip the playbook into the breast pocket of a jacket-but incredibly, the playbook is about half an inch too wide. Still, it looks and feels great: hard rubberized back, brilliant, super-responsive multi-touch screen, solid heft (0.9 pounds). Its software is based on an operating system called QNX,which Research in Motion, the Blackberry’s maker, bought for its industrial stability.(“ It runs nuclear power plants,” says a product manager without a trace of current- events irony.) Nor is QNX the only other company that lent a hand .Palm and Apple were also involved, although they didn’t know it. The Playbook software is crawling with borrowed ideas. For example, to remove or rearrange apps. You hold our finger down on one app icon until all icons begin to pulse (hello, pad!) And to close a program, you swipe your finger upward from the bottom bezel to turn all app window into “Card “, and then flick one upward off the screen( Hello, Palm Pre!)

There are no buttons on the front at all, and the top edge has only on. Play/ Pause and volume keys .Instead ,you navigate by swiping left or right cycles among open multitasking apps.And swiping down reveals an apps toolbar, if it has one.Unfortunately,there’s no way of knowing beforehand if a toolbar exists. so you often swipe futilely and feel silly. Similarly, if app icons completely fill the home screen, you can swipe upward to reveal what’s below the screen-but you won’t know if there are more below the screen.

But the PlayBook does three impressive things that its rivals-the iPad and the Android tablets-can only dream about. First with a special HDMI cable (not included), you can hook it up to a TV or projector, which is a great for power point presentations.( Apparently they still do those in corporations.) The iPad does that, but the TV image is identical to the iPad’s screen image. The PlayBook, However, can show two different things, On the TV, the audience sees your slides; on the PlayBook, You get to see the traditional PowerPoint Cheat sheet of notes and slide thumbnails.

The second cool feature has to do with loading the tablet with your photos and music. Unfortunately, There’s no iTubes-like software to do this automatically .You have to drag files manually from your computer into the playbook’s folder (music, Photos and so on).But once you have set up this process using a USB cable, You can do it thereafter over Wi-fi .The Playbook can even accept such wireless transfer when it’s in sleep mode, sitting in your purse or briefcase across the room.

Finally, there’s a wild, wireless Bluetooth connection features called Blackberry Bridge. In this setup, the playbook’s much roomer screen-a live, encrypted two way link.

At the moment, Blackberry Bridge is the only way to do e-mail, calendar or address book apps of its own. You read that right: RIM has just shipped a Blackberry product that cannot do email. It must be skating season in hell.

What you do get are built –in versions of documents to go, for creating and editing word excel and PowerPoint documents .And you get a nice web browser that plays flash videos online. The playbook’s front and back cameras (3 and 5 megapixels) can record stabilized stills and hi-def video. You should also be aware that this Playbook is Wi-Fi only. You don’t have the option to get online via a cellular network, as with arrivals from Apple, Motorala and Samsung. RIM says that 4G versions of the Playbook will arrive by the end of 2011.

You’re in control

When Microsoft beefed up its Xbox 360 gaming console with an add-on called Kinect, it changed forever the way video games are played-adding a new physical element and putting the player firmly and literally in control.

The technology takes gaming requirements beyond a supple wrist and speedy thumb work on a console: now it’s about arms, legs knees, waist, hips and voice. Tom cruise in minority report controlling the action with his hand movements is so yesterday. With Kinect, you kick and so does the character in the game; you deliver a jab with your fist and a boxer in the game mimics your movements.

A seeming spin-off from the motion capture technology that animation studios routinely use, kinect deploys a motion censor and a color camera to track your entire body, and creates a digital skeleton of you. It uses this to remember you and your playing style the next time you play the same game. Also, four carefully placed micro-phones help you control the game vocally.

Kinect can distinguish up to six players, after each of them just looked at the camera. You need some 2-3 meters of clear space in-front of the television or display as your ‘stage’.

In India, Microsoft has inexplicably launched just four games for kinect, though the list has more than dozen in other markets. The best of the bunch is Dance central, where players are guided to master the choreography for a number of popular dance tunes and more than 600 steps. The game even tacks the calories you burn while performing. So it’s a cool alternative to your exercise routine.

Kinect sports include football, beach volleyball, bowling, boxing, table tennis and athletics. You can compete against your own ‘avatar’ or work in a team. This is possibly the game with the most realism built in. Kinect joyride has go-karting and car racing segments that allow you to flip, twist and swerve with the car. Kinectimals, aimed at children, allows players to train pets using voice recognition.

The kinect device is a 9,900 add-on for existing owners of the Xbox 360 console. It comes integrated with the latest editions of Xbox 360 costing 22,900 for the 4GB version and about 32000 for 250 GB.All kinect games are priced 1999.