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Learn Japanese from your iPhone

29 Replies RonF

The other day, I was thinking of enrolling for a crash course in Japanese when my friend, Gina, recommended an app which she said was as good as having a personal tutor. On her advice, I downloaded the Japanese Phrases iPhone app and found it to be a handy application that helps users sharpen their listening, pronunciation, reading and speaking skills. It lets you learn conversational Nihongo (the Japanese lingo) wherever you are – at school, at home, while commuting to office or at the gym.

The Japanese Phrases app is more than just a learning resource. It gives users adequate training and practice to pick up a language that is not their own. The app teaches the basics of the language through more than 700 words and phrases that are used in day-to-day conversations.

Japanese Phrases iPhone App Screenshot

It is a practical app that has the right tools to facilitate easy comprehension and retention. As the phrases are voiced by a native speaker, users learn them with the correct pronunciation. And by repeating the phrases continuously, it becomes easy to memorize them. As all the phrases are displayed as flashcards, learning the language is quick and interactive. The grammar lessons are interesting and I was able to grasp the concepts almost instantly although a little effort was needed. There is also an email option that helps users to mail phrases and I used it to get a few clarifications from Sun, my friend who introduced this app to me in the first place.

I like the idea of displaying phrases and words in a random manner as it helps me recall the familiar ones and learn the new ones as well. The study bank helps in saving favourite phrases or ones that you would like to refer to later. The phrases are categorized to make learning easy. Japanese Phrases has also a search tool that helps in looking up phrases both in Japanese and English.

This app helps you learn the language at your own pace. You can quiz yourself to find out about the progress you are making, The app eliminated all the apprehension I had about learning a foreign language. It made me feel confident and helped me build my Japanese vocabulary in no time.

All said and done, this app will attract only a few people as it caters to a very niche audience. The app is available in the Apple iTunes store and can be downloaded for free.

Windows 8 is on the way!

27 Replies Christopher Roberts

I have recently upgraded to Windows 7, which is why I kind of wasn’t that pleased when Microsoft announced (early last week) that it was getting set to launch its next operating system, Windows 8, some time next year – probably around April.


At the Build developers’ conference in California, Microsoft unveiled the new operating system, (no doubt still in early beta stages) and gave us a sneak peak at to what is in store in the next version of Windows.

They stated that the core foundation of Windows 8 was Windows 7, but better! To quote Steven Sinofsky exactly, he said:

…everything that was great about windows 7, well we took that and we made it even better in Windowws 8!

Despite saying this, this version of Windows OS looks like it has had a dramatic overall.

Windows is currently under more pressure than ever before in its long, domineering history. In the past the cheap, affordable and compatible OS, always used to be Microsoft’s Windows. Now however Apple are putting increasing pressure on Windows, along with Google’s new attempt to bring down the giant of Windows in the form of Chrome OS.

Hence why Windows 8 seems to be dramatically different to all previous versions of Windows.

So what is going to be different? Well for starters, for the first time ever, a Windows OS will be compatible with low power ARM-designed processors.

Also, from the glimpses and comments that Microsoft have currently given us/made, it looks like Microsoft are attempting to make Windows a more ‘family friendly’ operating system, in that it’s more of a media based OS. This is probably done to try and steer away from the classical view of Windows in that it is an operating system designed primarily for spreadsheets, documents and other work/business related tasks.

Windows 8 Start Screen

A glimpse at the probably new start screen design for Windows 8

In addition to this, Windows 8 will support touchscreen devices, possible Microsoft’s way of saying “get ready for Windows Tablet guys!” who knows.

Microsoft knows that it has to pull something pretty special out of the bag this time, or it could seriously loose its foot in the computing market, not only due to the increased competition, but also because users are slowly moving away from desktops and laptops, and towards smart phones and tablets.

That’s pretty much all the information I have at the moment, however no doubt we will have loads of updates on Technology Bloggers for you, as soon as we find out more about this new OS 🙂

What do you think and hope for with Windows 8? Do you speculate that it will be another Vista – i.e. slow and laggy, incompatible, riddle with bugs, and hated by many tech gurus, or will it be like Vista to 7, a breath of fresh air?

Will iCloud Revolutionize Cloud Computing?

18 Replies Christopher Roberts

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Cloud computing, although only recently becoming more mainstream, has been around for quite awhile and has already done much to revolutionize the way the business world works. The virtual desktop has long been employing Google Docs, which runs on cloud computing, to help with its day-to-day functions, and many employees have been able to enjoy working from home because of the cloud. So why are so many getting worked up over the release of Apple’s iCloud? It’s mainly in the marketing.

As stated before, cloud computing has been around for awhile. Apple has simple brought it into the foreground. What does, however, make iCloud different from other cloud computing services is that it is coming already integrated into Apple’s new operating systems, iOS5 and Mac OS X Lion, which is a pretty cool feature.

The iCloud LogoThe program will immediately sync all of your files to all of your Apple devices allowing you to easily access your iTunes, photos, and other documents from anywhere on whichever Apple device you happen to be carrying at that moment. Although being able to have all your files synced together for free is nice, perhaps the biggest perk of iCloud, is the iTunes feature.

You can upload of your iTunes, and even your zipped files, into your iCloud. Users are then able to swap music and download hundreds of other new tunes. While this seems like an way around pirating music, Apple assures that what iCloud is doing with iTunes is legitimate, and it even cut the music industry a $1 million check to prove so.

What also makes iCloud so attractive is that you can sync everything together for free. The only exception is iTunes which is currently coming with a $25 annual fee when used with iCloud. Not to bad when you consider that you will now have access to hundreds of other iTunes files without having to necessarily pay the higher prices normally associated with individual iTunes songs.

For many, the introduction of iCloud is incredibly exciting simply on a music aspect. However, it will most likely not revolutionize could computing, and will most likely just drive Google to produce something bigger and better. For avid Android users, the iCloud is even more exciting. Google was one of the first to release cloud technologies, and now with Apple ahead of them, the company will be sure to unveil a great product similar to the iCloud with features that iCloud currently lacks.