Naoko Mori: ‘I’m a gadget freak’ | Celebrity squares
Actor Naoko Mori loves all things Apple – except for the iPhone What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? There's a lot. I'm Japanese, I'm a gadget freak – I like anything with buttons. I want to say my computer, but if I had to choose one, I'd say my mobile phone. This is almost sacrilegious, because I'm a complete Macophile, but I actually still have a BlackBerry – I just prefer the buttons. I'm still on the fence with the iPhone because of the buttons and the texting. When was the last time you used it, and what for? Eight minutes ago, checking emails. What additional features would you add if you could? I travel so much – I'm in the US a lot, and in Japan – that I currently have three phones.
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Naoko Mori: 'I'm a gadget freak' | Celebrity squares
Lemar: ‘What do you need a butler for?’ | Celebrity squares
R&B singer Lemar thinks robots are a bad idea and we should do things for ourselves What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? I would say it's a close one between my BlackBerry and my iPhone. The BlackBerry changed my life majorly when I first got one – the fact I could get my emails immediately was the most impressive thing. Since then, the iPhone is amazing. I got it about a year ago, and the things you can do with it – all the apps and games and things – everything you can think of is on there. So I love the iPhone as well. When was the last time you used your iPhone, and what for? I was watching live TV on it yesterday afternoon, when I had a bit of time to kill. What additional features would you add if you could
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Lemar: 'What do you need a butler for?' | Celebrity squares
Kyle MacLachlan: ‘I’m electronically challenged’ | Celebrity squares
Actor Kyle MacLachlan says that his BlackBerry is damn fine – if only it played video too What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? There's two, actually. One is my Sonicare toothbrush – I don't know if that counts as technology or not, but it keeps my teeth clean and keeps the dentist happy. But the piece of technology that has changed my life the most is my BlackBerry, I would say. It allows me to be in contact with a lot of people and do business when I'm on the road. When was the last time you used it, and what for? Just a few minutes ago, to set up dinner plans for the evening. What additional features would you add if you could? If it could play films, it would be ideal. I'm probably going to have to go into the iPod Touch for that. Do you think it will be obsolete in 10 years' time? Oh, there'll be something completely new, absolutely.
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Kyle MacLachlan: 'I'm electronically challenged' | Celebrity squares
Simon Majumdar: I hate being far from my email | Celebrity squares
For food writer Simon Majumdar, his BlackBerry is as much of a lifesaver as his dhal What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? It's my BlackBerry Storm – I absolutely love it. For me it's an iPod and iPhone killer. It's much better for my emails, and I just find it easier to use. It's not as intuitive as the iPhone, but once you get used to its idiosyncrasies, it's much more forgiving. When was the last time you used it, and what for? Today, to read the questions before doing this interview, while I was cooking my lifesaving dhal. I always keep it in the kitchen with me because I hate being too far away from my email – and I'm never far away from my kitchen. What additional features would you add if you could? The one thing that I find very weak on it is the web browsing – it uses 3G rather than Wi-Fi, and from that point of view its very slow. The iphone is much quicker. Do you think it will be obsolete in 10 years' time? I think it will be obsolete in 10 weeks time – all these things, the moment you buy them they almost are, aren't they? What always frustrates you about technology in general? It's never as quick as you think it should be and it always goes wrong. Macs, when they work well, are fantastic, and when they don't you just want to hurl them out of a window.
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Simon Majumdar: I hate being far from my email | Celebrity squares
Taio Cruz: ‘They need to test things better’ | Celebrity squares
Musician Taio Cruz wishes all new technology would work perfectly the firs time What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? My Mac or BlackBerry – probably my MacBook Pro. I use it to create music and to design stuff, and I use Firefox or Safari to browse for information and to do research. It's my access point for everything. When was the last time you used it, and what for? Right now – I'm using it to listen to music. What additional features would you add if you could? It's hard to improve on it, but some kind of replacement for the keyboard and screen – a virtual keyboard with optical recognition, something really futuristic like that. Do you think it will be obsolete in 10 years' time? Yes, probably – technology moves so fast, who knows. What always frustrates you about technology in general? When something new first comes out there are always problems with it and you have to wait ages for a better version and for them to correct all the problems. They need to test things better.
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Taio Cruz: 'They need to test things better' | Celebrity squares
Breakfast briefing: Dark matters for physicists, but a burst of light for BlackBerry
• How could we ignore the news that scientists believe they may have - finally - detected dark matter ? We couldn't. The announcement yesterday possibly marks the end of nearly 80 years of searching to find the material which, we're told, keeps the universe glued together. I'm rubbing my hands together in glee at the prospects for a sudden burst of development in physics. Surely teleportation can only be a few years away now. • Canada's BlackBerry-making Research in Motion surprised quite a few people when it announced a surge in profits for the past quarter , on the back of more than 10m handsets sold around the globe. And according to ComScore, the BlackBerry continues to extend its lead in mobile phone web browsing - with the iPhone now creeping up to a point where it has now overtaken Windows Mobile. • Mark Shuttleworth , the open source pioneer who is a driving force behind the popular Linux OS Ubuntu announced yesterday that he was stepping down as CEO of his company, Canonical . He still plans on being heavily involved in the Ubuntu community, but didn't really give a solid explanation on why he's stepping back now. For more insight, check out an interview we did with him last year , and (for comparison) another one from 2002 focusing on his role as a space tourist . You can follow our links and commentary each day through Twitter ( @guardiantech , or our personal accounts ) or by watching our Delicious feed . BlackBerry Mobile phones iPhone Windows Microsoft Open source Software Computing Bobbie Johnson guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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Breakfast briefing: Dark matters for physicists, but a burst of light for BlackBerry
How laptops took over the world
The rise of portable computing has forced companies to rethink how they let staff work – and is shifting the balance of power in the IT industry In January 2003, Steve Jobs announced to a slightly surprised Macworld audience that " this is going to be the year of the notebook for Apple ". There was a clear ambition to push up the sales of portables – on which margins tend to be better than on desktops. Jobs was right in spotting an unstoppable trend: the rise of the laptop. This is a category that now includes not just "notebooks", as Apple always refers to them, but also, since 2008, the smaller "netbooks". As Moore's Law – a halving of cost for the same spec – has applied to processors, RAM and even disk storage, laptops have become not just an interesting option for a second computer, but the primary machine for a lot of people. Apple didn't quite manage to make 2003 the year in which sales of laptops exceeded those of desktop; it was July 2005 before that happened, and April 2006 before it began to happen consistently. But now laptop sales always exceed desktop sales for the company; in the past quarter, when it sold a record 3m computers, nearly three out of every four was a laptop. And though Apple is the leader in this trend, laptops are taking over computing, especially with the rise of netbooks. Looking at the trends in computer sales, you may wonder when laptop sales will overtake those of desktops worldwide. The answer is simple: they already have. For 2009, 159m portable machines (a segment that includes both notebooks and netbooks) will be sold, compared with 124m desktop machines, according to the research company IDC. Gartner says that in the first quarter of 2009, desktop sales declined 16% year on year; laptop sales fell by 3%, but netbook sales leapt sixfold, so that they now make up 20% of all laptops sold. Leaving your desk behind For computer makers, the shift to laptops offers a chance to increase profit margins – although all but Apple still struggle in what has become a commodity market. (Apple is estimated to have around 75% of the share of laptops sold in the US priced over $999.) Netbooks have once again eroded those margins, but the fact that you can't build your own laptop, while it is comparatively easy for anyone to take a chassis and build a desktop machine, leaves more margin in that sector. Those are the bald numbers – but they hide a much more subtle and far-reaching shift in the way we now live our lives, says Richard Holway, the veteran analyst who is chairman of TechMarketView.
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How laptops took over the world
BlackBerry cuts short Vodafone’s Storm 2 exclusive
• Much-improved touchscreen hopes to silence critics Vodafone will only have the forthcoming Blackberry Storm 2 to itself for a few weeks, after its success in grabbing the Apple iPhone is understood to have brought its exclusive collaboration with the email device's manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM) to an end in the UK. The mobile phone operator will offer Blackberry's second attempt to break into the touchscreen smartphone market free to any customer willing to sign up to a contract worth £35 a month for two years (not £30 as we originally reported ) when it hits stores on October 26. Vodafone will have the handset as an exclusive in the UK, but only for a few weeks. RIM is understood to have demanded that the device be available to other operators after Vodafone joined Orange in successfully ending O2's exclusive two-year deal with Apple for the iPhone in the UK . It is unclear whether any of the other UK operators will be stocking the Storm 2 in time for Christmas, but by the start of next year - when Vodafone will finally be able to start shipping the iPhone - it is expected to be available on at least one other network, most probably Orange, which will also start selling the iPhone within the next few weeks. The Storm 2 will be launched by Vodafone in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, France, Italy and South Africa, and Canadian handset maker RIM is hoping that it will get a more positive critical reaction than the first version that went on sale last November.
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BlackBerry cuts short Vodafone's Storm 2 exclusive
Victor Keegan: Memory isn’t what it used to be
Most of us have a grand mind for forgetting, as Robert Louis Stevenson observed. But you would have thought the information age, which has seen truly huge reductions in the cost of storing memories, would have changed things by now. However, it has proved not to be. At least, not yet. Computer scientists reckon it won't be long before the history of our entire lives - in audio, video and text - can be contained in something the size of a sugar lump. But, for those who have abandoned carrying a traditional notebook or diary around with them, it hasn't been easy to find an alternative in the digital age. There is, to be sure, an abundance of "remind me" websites, but they are often cumbersome to use on a mobile, especially in the street if you are suddenly visited with a thought that will evaporate if you don't get it down it quickly. Mostly, they are designed with a home computer in mind. There are some useful ones, however, such as rememberthemilk.com , which is good for short reminders you type in yourself. It works quite well as an application on Apple's iPhone/iPod Touch despite the problems of an over-sensitive touch keypad in broad daylight. FutureMe.org allows you to send an email to yourself, as long as it is more than 90 days in the future. Remind me to say in three months' time if it works. Elsewhere, jott.com will transcribe voice messages to text that you can send yourself at upwards of $3.95 (£2.65) a month. Evernote.com offers a substitute memory to store notes, videos or pictures of business cards with a free or premium account, while ohdontforget.com lets you send free text reminders, scheduled to arrive in the future. If you have a BlackBerry or similar device you can email yourself
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Victor Keegan: Memory isn't what it used to be
Celebrity Squares: The Onion news crew are Apple lovers at heart
What's your favourite piece of technology? Both: The iPhone How has it improved your life? Will: I'm by nature a little scattered and disorganised, and never have a camera or organiser/address book that I carry around. The iPhone makes it all consolidated. It combines all of my other devices. And then it's just sort of cute. When was the last time you used it, and what for? Julie: About 3 weeks ago at a bar in New York to take a picture, and then I never found it again – it got stolen! What additional features would you add if you could? Will: The practical stuff you can find at the app store. I don't know, teleportation? The ability to read people's minds? But the ability to search email – that would be a massive thing. Do you think it will be obsolete in 10 years' time? Julie: Yes, I do. They'll probably have the iPhone 36G by then. What one tip would you give to non-iPhone users
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Celebrity Squares: The Onion news crew are Apple lovers at heart