New Technology Reviews!.: successor

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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="229" mce_src="http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/7286/lionmacosx.jpg" src="http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/7286/lionmacosx.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="360" />Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.</span></div>
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Kerberos, the hound from Hades that lent its name to an MIT-developed network authentication protocol, is often visualized as having three heads. But if dogs can have multiple heads, why can't other technology species? Many of the features in Lion have impact for different kinds of users, and the value users see in them may well depend on which face they tend to view.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">The new user</span>. Lion represents the biggest user interface change to the company's desktop experience since the debut of Mac OS X. With the Mac hard drive hidden by default, full-screen apps that hide the menu bar, and omnipresent scroll arrows put out to pasture, it even dispenses with some user interface conventions that have been around since the original Mac. The focus on multitouch gestures -- while enabling more fluidity in the user interface -- are not as self-evident. Overall, though, the gradual shift away from contrivances such as windows, menus, and cluttered icons should make things less intimidating for new users.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">The iPad user</span>. One can only wonder what features the successor to Snow Leopard might have sported had Apple not launched the iPad. The most prominent design theme in Lion has been bringing user experience elements of Apple's tablet to the Mac. This is highlighted best by Launchpad, the iPad-like collection of sliding home screens, and full-screen apps, but also includes support for full-screen apps and bundling of the Mac app store introduced with Snow Leopard.</div>
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Switched On: A Three-Headed Lion

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. Kerberos, the hound from Hades that lent its name to ...

<div><img alt="" border="1" class="aligncenter" height="239" hspace="4" src="http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4479/cowonc2lead.jpg" style="margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px; border: 1px solid black;" vspace="4" width="360" /></div><br/>And here you were assuming the tried-and-true PMP was dead. Au contraire. Cowon's not giving up on its dream quite yet, but after the D2 hung around at the company's low-end for the better part of four years, it's an alphabetic step backwards that's taking over as the successor. The diminutive C2 is about as simple as a PMP gets -- design wise, anyway -- but it's actually capable of supporting both music and video on its 2.6-inch resistive touchpanel. And then there's the purported 55 hours of battery life, included microSD card for expansion and the company's world-class audio quality. Still, $135 goes a long (long!) way in the portable music industry these days -- does the C2 pack enough punch to make your short list? Head on past the break to find out.<br/><div><br/><br/><strong>Gallery: Cowon C2 hands-on and unboxing</strong><br/><br/><img alt="" src="http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3267/cowonc2handsonrevieweng.jpg" /><img alt="" src="http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/3267/cowonc2handsonrevieweng.jpg" /><img alt="" src="http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/3267/cowonc2handsonrevieweng.jpg" /><img alt="" src="http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/3267/cowonc2handsonrevieweng.jpg" /><img alt="" src="http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/3267/cowonc2handsonrevieweng.jpg" /><br/><br/></div><br/><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/26/cowon-c2-portable-media-player-review/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>

Cowon C2 portable media player review

And here you were assuming the tried-and-true PMP was dead. Au contraire. Cowon's not giving up on its dream quite yet, but after the D2...