High Performance Computing

Everyone’s got a similar story: the excitement over getting a new iPad is dampened only by the fact that you don’t know what to do with it. That’s what apps are for. Some people know long beforehand what apps they want, but many end up navigating the app store for hours not knowing which ones are worth their time. There’s no single answer, of course: every iPad user has his needs and preferences. But if you’re not sure where to start, here’s a quick guide to help you out.

Internet and browsing

Worried about busting your download limits? Use Instapaper to save offline copies of web pages for later reading. If you’re one of those people who open the same websites every morning, put them all together with Flipboard—it stacks all your favourite websites into your own customized digital mag.

News and entertainment

Sunday TV guides are a thing of the past with the OzTV for iPad—it offers free listings for all Australian channels, along with show information and a search and save feature. Tired of waiting for the morning paper? Stay on top of current events with the SBS and BBC News apps—features include customizable content and up-to-date video reports.

Reading

The Kindle reader has saved university students thousands of dollars and freed up miles of bookcase space, and it continues to work its magic with its iPad version. Use it to buy and store your favourite books in one tap. If you don’t plan on buying books online, Goodreads is a great alternative—you can use it to organize and share with fellow readers.

Social networking

Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and other social networks all have considerable presence in the iPad market, to no one’s big surprise. The Facebook app is especially well-received; the experience offers pretty much everything you would find on the computer version. IM Pro allows you to access all your instant messaging accounts in one place, making it easier to stay in touch on the go.

Utilities

Surprisingly, the iPad doesn’t have a calculator function, something they’ll probably fix in future versions. In the meantime, there’s a load of alternatives, such as the free Calculator++ app. The eye-candy interface comes complete with scientific and trigonometric functions. At the end of the day, make sure you wake up on time with Night Stand, a clock app that doubles as a nighttime display and alarm clock.

At the turn of the century, experts were all but certain that we’d be paying with our mobile phones by 2011. But the year came and went, and although we’ve worked, played, watched movies, taken photos and listened to music on our handsets, mobile payments have yet to take off.

To be sure, we’ve gone leaps and bounds in that direction. The biggest step the industry has taken was Near Field Communication (NFC), a way for mobile phones to interact with point-of-sale systems and connect to bank networks. Users can load up money on “mobile wallets,” linking their phone and bank accounts and essentially eliminating the need for cash. For the most part, the switch has been hampered by a slew of security issues and the resulting lack of interest from smartphone manufacturers.

For example, Apple’s latest offering, the iPhone 4S, did not incorporate NFC technology as many had expected. With the tech market heavily dependent on trendsetters, it’s safe to assume that any new feature will catch on when market leader Apple decides to use it—and the next iPhone probably won’t come until much later in the year.

But what goes on in the Apple boardroom isn’t all that defines mobile payments. Other major players are hot on the trails of NFC; for instance, Google launched Google Wallet and will soon find itself pitted against mobile phone carriers with more than enough resources and motivation to invest in the technology. Even tech start-ups are joining the game: a small company in Redwood, California is working on an open-source NFC platform that’s free for anyone, from independent app developers to banks and phone providers.

A more tangible obstacle is the lack of infrastructure to support NFC payments. About 85% of purchases are still being made with cash, despite the millions of credit cards currently in circulation (the financial crisis has been a major factor). Until more institutions start accepting mobile phone payments, it  may be a while before you can pay for your lunch with a wave of your iPhone.

Nonetheless, 2012 is set to be a big year not just for mobile payments, but for NFC technology in particular. Besides faster shopping, it allows for easier access to everything from classrooms and library books to advertising messages from retailers. So even if you’re still paying with your credit card in December, it’s likely that mobile payments will already have changed the way you shop.

The thing about Android apps is there are rarely trial versions. If you want to check something out, your only option is to download the app and play around with it. There are two issues here: first, you don’t want to bog down your phone with memory-hungry apps, and second, if you pay for an app that you don’t end up liking, you don’t get a refund.

BlueStacks, a relatively new software outfit, has come up with a solution that allows you to run Android apps on your PC. Their eponymous program has made it possible for app developers to offer test runs on their websites, and for users to manage their data from phone to PC. Game enthusiasts are now also able to play their games on larger screens.

The program is basically a virtual operating system incorporating Android’s features and user interface, but made to run on the PC. That means it uses your computer’s processor, Internet connection, sound card, and other resources, including your mouse and keyboard. When it’s open, it runs in the background and is able to store, play, and even download apps. You can buy apps through BlueStacks using your Facebook account; you have to subscribe to updates to see which apps are available by the day.

You can also sync the program to your phone (the same way you sync your iPod to iTunes) using Cloud Connect, a free app from the same company. It’s meant to be installed on your phone and is easy to find on the Android Market. BlueStacks will provide a 9-digit pin which you will have to enter on your phone, allowing phone and PC to recognize each other.  All you have to do is select apps from either BlueStacks or your phone and choose the Sync option—the two will connect using your internet connection.

So what’s the catch? Since it’s a relatively new program, BlueStacks isn’t able to run all apps. This can be due to hardware incompatibility or wireless network requirements, but the biggest hurdle is licensing: the free version of BlueStacks can only hold 26 apps at a time. The pro version, which is expected to come out soon, will be able to hold more apps, although there’s no word on how much (or whether there’s a limit). Nonetheless, it’s a useful app whether you’re an avid gamer, a mobile businessman or just someone with one too many gizmos.

Cloud computing was one of the biggest things to come out of 2011. Besides making life easier for mobile business, it opened a whole new avenue for IT startups. Dozens of cloud computing services were born in the past 12 months, egged on by venture capitalists eager to cash in on the trend. The hype should slow down this year not because cloud technology—a system allowing you to create, store, and share files online—is less popular, but because there are more than enough companies to fill the demand. And chances are high that one of them will dominate the market in 2012. Here are some of the best contenders.

AppFog: One of the few companies based on Cloud Foundry, an open-source code, AppFog is highly user-focused, with features designed by users themselves to fit their own specs. The switch, which required it to change names (it was formerly called PHP Fog), has allowed the company to support a larger number of programming languages, including little-known and emerging ones. In 2012, it’s expected to improve as Cloud Foundry continues its development pattern, making it a good bet for companies looking for a stable service.

CloudSigma: This service plans to compete with big names like Rackspace and Amazon Web Services by offering increased control and powerful features—a combination that’s strangely hard to come by in the business. It boasts solid-state drives, a 10GbE capacity, and granular control, which currently happens only in co-location.

Bromium: We don’t know much about this start-up yet, but the idea seems to be securing different locations, such as desktops and smartphones, using virtualization technology. This basically means creating a virtual version of a drive, storage device, or operating system so that systems can monitor themselves. Most of today’s cloud security services focus on securing the server, so this can fill an important gap especially as more mobile users are expected to latch on to the cloud.

Cloudability: Addressing a problem common to fellow start-ups, Cloudability allows you to keep track of your own spending on cloud computing services. It’s not so much about resource allocation as it is about monitoring; for example, a manager can see where employees are accessing files from, and using the same concept, whether network traffic is showing suspicious patterns. This may not be a vital tool for most small businesses, but as usage grows, services like these are likely to be in high demand.

Chances are, if you’re still attached to your flip-top phone from 2007, you’ll have traded it in for a smartphone before the end of the year. The trend kickstarted by Apple five years ago hit the mainstream market last year, and shelves are now brimming with handsets from virtually every manufacturer. Companies that had been written off in the hype are making impressive comebacks, offering up phones that offer most, if not all, of the functionality and sleekness of the iPhone without the notoriously heavy price.

Nokia, for example, has partnered up with Microsoft for a series of Windows-powered phones that pose some serious competition, at least to the Android market (currently the biggest threat to Apples iOS operating system). The Lumia series offers a range of entry-level to business-friendly phones offering such features as 4G capability and seamless, high-speed operation. In terms of appearance and power, a Lumia is no iPhone or Samsung Galaxy. But Nokia seems to be targeting the market of first-time smartphone owners, those who want to upgrade from simple voice and text messaging but aren’t quite sure where to start.

The series’ flagship unit is the Lumia 800, which Nokia dubs a “no-nonsense phone.” This is obvious in its simple yet efficient design, sporting only a volume control, power button and camera shutter on one side and keeping the other bare. And the construction is surprisingly solid for a Nokia phone: the 12-mm body sports a one-piece shell made with scratch-resistant polycarbonate. Other features include an 8-megapixel camera, AMOLED screen (the same as in the Galaxy series), and some well-received proprietary apps such as Nokia Music, which conveniently connects to a music store, and Nokia Drive, a surprisingly efficient navigation app.

The Lumia 710 is a less feature-packed but equally impressive model. Like its big brother, it runs on Windows 7 and is 4G-capable. It also has the same 3.7-inch screen with an 800×480 resolution, although it’s not as bright. This can be a good thing if you’re concerned about battery life; tests showed that a fully-charged phone can last two days of average use. Uniquely among smartphones, its home screen is a raised button at the bottom front rather than a touch button—most likely a cost-cutting decision on the design end. But all things considered, it’s a very good phone for its price: you can get it for $50 in the U.S. with a two-year plan.