Mac OS X Honcho Logs Off

Bertrand Serlet, senior vice president of Mac software engineering and the man often regarded as the father of Mac OS X, is leaving Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL).

Cupertino announced his departure in a prepared statement but did not respond to requests for further comment by press time.

Serlet will be replaced by Craig Federighi, currently Apple's vice president of Mac software engineering.

Serlet said he's leaving to focus less on products and more on science.

Who in the World Is Bertrand Serlet?

Mac fans will remember Serlet as the Apple executive who ridiculed Windows Vista at the Apple World Wide Developer Conference in 2006 when comparing it to Mac OS X Tiger.

At WWDC 2009, he hammered Windows 7, saying it was another version of Windows Vista.

Serlet has worked with Steve Jobs for the past 22 years, first at NeXT, where he developed the workspace manager in the NextStep operating system and OpenStep. OpenStep was an object-oriented application programming interface specification developed jointly by NeXT and Sun Microsystems.

Serlet ported the NeXT operating system to Mac OS X and is credited with leading the development of Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5.

Prior to working at NeXT, Serlet worked at Xerox (NYSE: XRX) PARC.

Serlet was appointed senior vice president of Mac Software Engineering in 2003 to replace Avie Tevanian, who was promoted to chief software technology officer. Serlet was at the time Apple's vice president of platform technology.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Most recently, Serlet has working on Mac OS X Lion, the next generation of the OS X platform.

This will integrate features from the iPad and will be available in summer, Apple has announced.

Features from the iPad that will appear in OS X Lion will include the recently launched Mac App Store, which will be built into Lion; Launchpad, which will provide instant access to apps; and full-screen app display capability.

Apple put out a preview version of Mac OS X Lion for developers through the Mac App store last month.

Serlet's replacement, Federighi, already heads up the Mac OS X engineering team, so Serlet's departure should have little impact on Lion.

Apple's statement quoted Serlet as saying the transition to Mac OS X Lion, which is due for release this summer, should be seamless.

That's likely to be the case, Rick Sturm, founder and CEO of Enterprise Management Associates, told MacNewsWorld.

"On the engineering side, it's relatively easy to switch people," Sturm explained.

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

Perhaps Serlet's departure is a sign that Apple's preparing for the post-Jobs era.

"Now that Apple's moving to a post-Jobs mode, some old-timers are starting to leave," suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "It's hard to tell what will change, but given how tightly Jobs is tied to all parts of Apple, you can be sure it will be a lot," he told MacNewsWorld.

However, Enderle believes Serlet's departure is voluntary.

"When you see veterans who have been at a company for years and have enjoyed prominence in their roles, the tendency when they leave is to add some deeper hidden meanings to their departure," Laura DiDio, principal at ITIC, told MacNewsWorld.

"I think Serlet's departure is a natural evolution," DiDio remarked. "If there were something really terrible going on it probably would have leaked out."

Whither Federighi?

Craig Federighi, who will replace Serlet, is an old colleague, also having worked at NeXT and then moved to Apple.

However, he left Cupertino in 1999 to join Ariba (Nasdaq: ARBA), where he held several roles, including chief technology officer.

Federighi returned to Apple in 2009 as head of Mac OS X engineering. He has been managing the Mac OS software engineering group for the past two years.

Green Machine: 'Artificial leaf' mimics photosynthesis

Helen Knight, technology reporter

(Image: Design Pics Inc/Rex Features)

Why come up with new ways to generate clean energy, when we can copy what plants have been doing for millennia?

Daniel Nocera and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology claim to have done just that - developing the first practical artificial leaf that mimics photosynthesis.

The leaf, actually a cheap, playing-card-sized solar cell that uses energy from sunlight to generate electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, was presented yesterday at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, California. The hydrogen and oxygen produced could then be fed into a fuel cell, to generate electricity when it's needed.

In 2008 Nocera coated a low-cost indium-tin-oxide electrode in a combination of cobalt and phosphate to catalyse the water-splitting process.

Last year the team revealed an even cheaper water-splitting device based on a cobalt and nickel-borate-based electrode. In tests their artificial leaf, based on that cobalt-nickel electrode, operated continuously for over 45 hours without a drop in production.

By using cheap, abundant materials, Nocera hopes to ultimately develop a device that could power a home in the developing world for a day using just 4 litres of water. His company, Sun Catalytix, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is attempting to commercialise the artificial photosynthesis technology.

Indian firm Tata has already signed Nocera up to help develop a mini-power plant based on his technology.

The breakthrough comes as four reserach teams from the UK and USA have today been awarded funding totalling $10.3million to improve the process of natural photosynthesis. The teams are looking at technologies to overcome limitations in photosynthesis - such as natural bottlenecks in the proicess - which could then lead to ways of increasing the yield of important crops for food production or sustainable bioenergy.

iPad 2 Smart Cover: Softcore Armor Lets the Sexy Shine Through

Early iPad 2 buyers faced a relative shortage of protective cases and coverings made specifically for their new devices. The most prominent on the market, of course, was Apple's own Smart Cover. The design is sleek, and it's highly functional as a cover and stand, though it doesn't offer the kind of rough-and-tumble protection you might want if you're iPad is in for some serious adventuring.

Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) new iPad Smart Cover for the iPad 2 took the tech geek world by storm when Apple first announced it and posted a fancy video of it in action on its Smart Cover site.

The iPad 2 Smart Cover

I saw a lot of positive feedback for it online -- first impressions -- so when I was up at 2 a.m. ordering a brand-spankin' new iPad 2 on launch day, I ordered a Smart Cover, too. The last thing I wanted was to have a new iPad 2 and have zero access to cases and covers. Any cover is better than no cover, and besides, that video takes a bendy piece of polyurethane and some magnets, adds a splash of color to a dose of Apple marketing magic, and boom, instant desire for something undeniably cool.

On the downside, the cover is a bit spendy -- US$39 for the polyurethane and $69 for the leather. Because the cost is out of no-brainer range for most consumers and there are very competitively priced other case options from other manufacturers, it drops my overall rating down to a very respectable 4 out of 5 stars.

Well-Engineered Minimalism

There's lots to like about the Smart Cover. It has a surprisingly sturdy, thin design. It uses strategically placed magnets to attach to the left side of the iPad 2, aligning itself perfectly with all edges, all the time, without error or adjustment needed. Its presence not only protects the screen from scratches and such, it helps give the iPad 2 a more solid feel in your hand, giving you a small measure of carrying confidence, if not a bit of increased carrying ability.

Better yet, the magnets increase the speed of waking -- instead of finding and pushing the home button, then sliding the bottom bar on the screen, opening the Smart Cover instantly wakes the iPad 2. Was that fast? Yes, it's fast. And that feature, by the way, is awesome.

The Smart Cover also doubles as a stand. You can fold it upon itself to create a triangle, upon which the iPad 2 has a readable incline that also lets you type just a bit more easily. It's sturdy. Tip the iPad 2 and triangle a bit more, and it'll stand upright, suitable for watching video or using FaceTime for a video chat.

In actual use, it's easy to pull the Smart Cover off completely, and because reattaching it also easy -- and comes with a pleasant clicking connection noise when the magnets find one another -- there's no disincentive to pull it off due to fiddling or alignment. It's just a really fast solution.

If you don't want to tear it off, you can easily fold it around the backside. Around the back, only the side magnets keep it in place. In future iteration, it would be great if the whole cover was magnetically sticky to the backside, too. Still, if you want to shoot some video or take a picture, the Smart Cover folds in half and reveals the backside camera lens.

Apple Wants to Show Off

Apple definitely would prefer that everyone run around with iPads that are clearly identified as iPads. The same goes with iPhones, iPods, etc. An iPad all wrapped up in a big case not only hides the fact that a person is using an iPad, but it also covers up all that painstaking and wonderful industrial design. The Smart Cover provides some protection while letting the brilliance of the iPad 2 design shine through. In fact, in Apple's marketing materials, the company notes, "The slim yet sturdy Smart Cover protects your iPad screen without covering up its durable aluminum back. So your iPad still looks and feels like an iPad -- just with a little extra protection."

But really, that's only what you get -- a little extra protection. I'm sure the back cover is quite durable, but how durable? I'm not willing to test it. A scratch on the backside would suck, but it wouldn't be devastating. The same goes for lots of scratches. Not perfect, but if you put your gadgets to work, you expect a few nicks and dings. But what about a fall? What about some twisting pressure? What about being slipped into a backpack and the backpack getting tossed or dropped or stumbled over in the dark? Will the Smart Cover protect from those sorts of things?

Maybe.

Probably not.

That's my take, anyway: probably not.

I Prefer More Durable Protection

Personally, I've got too much of an investment in not only the out-of-pocket cash but in the use of the iPad 2 itself. If I break it, I'm out of hundreds of dollars. Worse, I lose access to applications I've come to enjoy and depend on. So that's worth protecting. And that means, to me, while Apple touts the Smart Cover as being "genius," I think we're really talking near-genius here. (Maybe if Apple posts a video showing how strong the back cover of the iPad 2 is, you know, with a kid stepping on it, and then maybe a kid elephant stepping on it, I might reconsider.)

If you've got extra cash available for replacements, I wouldn't cover the brilliant design any more than with the Smart Cover. But if you're like me, what to do? >[? For a while there, I was seriously thinking I had made a mistake. Personally, I just want more protection over showing off the sweet design. There's edge-to-edge glass, and in my experience, I break glass. I even briefly considered using some duct tape to protect the edges, along with the back. I mean really, am I really trying to impress anyone with my iPad 2? Not me. But, on the extremely remote chance that I stumbled across Steve Jobs or Jonathan Ive while toting a duct-taped iPad 2, I'd sure hate to break their hearts.

Case Options

Suddenly, then, I found myself online, desperately searching for available cases in all their polycarbonate and leather glory, looking over poor-quality photos that don't reveal enough detail, all the while mulling over pros and cons. Leather portfolio cases jump to the lead because they're easy, durable, and some are even foldable to act as stands. But I'm not sold there yet. I took a look at hard case options because I like the idea of a bit more rigid structure. The odds of my iPad 2 getting stepped on are slim -- a 1-in-365 chance -- but potentially devastating: a 1-in-5 chance of survival.

I even had a light-bulb moment: What if I could find a hard case that would work with my existing Smart Cover? Wouldn't that be awesome. The best of both worlds, right, the ease of the Smart Cover with the rigidity of a hard backside case. I searched. I found a few options. I considered availability and cost and the need to modify the covers with a saw or Dremel grinder. I figured I might have to use spray adhesive or double-sided sticky tape, too, to affix the back case in the event that my modifications affected the case's ability to stay put.

And then I found Marware's MicroShell iPad 2 case. It actually works with the Apple iPad 2 Smart Cover! At $39, it looks like a pretty decent deal. Of course, would it be smart to buy both a Smart Cover and a Marware case instead of a different cover altogether? I'm not sure. But I already have the Smart Cover, so I definitely need someone with more protection. I fired off a late-night email to Marware about getting a review unit in, but I haven't heard back. Marware? As for ordering, the covers are not yet available, and you can pre-order only.

Go Big or Go Home

Right now, I think the Smart Cover paired with the Marware MicroShell iPad 2 case seems like a pretty good compromise. I can get most of the benefits of the Smart Cover (tear it off, use it as a stand) along with the benefits of a bit more durability. And it's still slim, still pretty lightweight.

My other inclination is to do a complete 360 and go the Otter Box route with the company's highly durable iPad Defender Series Case. While I do like slim and trim and elegant, the hardcore OtterBox protection probably fits my personality better. After all, I'm never going to try to slip my iPad 2 into the pocket of my jeans. Alas, the version for the iPad 2 is not yet ready to ship, though OtterBox will kindly take your email and send you a note when they are ready to buy.

Oh, and by the way, I'm still waiting for my screen protector to arrive in the mail. As much as I like Gorilla Glass, I like screen protectors more. So I'm still being very very gentle with my iPad 2.

Asus' Eee Pad Transformer Is a Notebook in Disguise

Asus' latest swing at the tablet scene is the Eee Pad Transformer, a Honeycomb tablet that can be combined with an optional keyboard docking station that turns it into a notebook computer, more or less. The Transformer's guts seem to be on par with most other Honeycomb tablets in the field, but will its keyboard accessory be enough to make it stand out in an increasingly crowded field?

Asus on Friday announced the first shipments of its Eee Pad Transformer, which are directed to Taiwan.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer

The Eee Pad Transformer is so named because it uses an optional docking station that provides a full QWERTY keyboard with unique Android function keys.

This tablet runs on an Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) Tegra 2 dual-core processor and uses Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android 3.0 operating system, aka "Honeycomb."

Its frame just over half an inch deep, and it weighs in at about 24 ounces.

It comes preloaded with Polaris Office 3.0, which supports the most frequently used file formats on PCs, such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Office, XLS, XLSX, PowerPoint, Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) PDF, and image files such as JPG.

The Transformer has 9.5 hours of battery life on one charge. This goes up to 16 hours when the docking station is used.

"I'd put this in the class of the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Atrix," Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist at In-Stat, told TechNewsWorld. "It's seeking to bridge the gap between a mobile device and a computing device."

Asus did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Details About the Eee Pad Transformer

Like many other tablets running Honeycomb, the Transformer has an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor.

It also has a 5MP rear camera to shoot and record HD video and a 1.2MP front-facing camera for videoconferencing. The device supports both WiFi and 3G.

The Transformer has a mini-HDMI port, a 3.5mm audio jack, two USB ports and a built-in SD card reader. It also has built-in SRS Sound technology.

The tablet comes with a scratch-resistant 10.1-inch in-plane switching (IPS) Gorilla Glass touchscreen with LED backlighting. This can be viewed at angles up to 178 degrees. ASUS claims the screen provides 50 percent more accurate and crisp rendition than its competitors.

Asus has overlaid its Waveshare user interface on top of Honeycomb.

The company provides one year of cloud storage on Asus WebStorage free to purchasers of the Transformer.

Information on price is still sketchy; reports suggest it will range between $500 and $700. If those reports are correct, the Transformer won't beat out the iPad 2 in price.

Just Another Brick in the Android Wall?

Apart from the optional docking station, there's little to distinguish the Transformer from other Android tablets, according to In-Stat's McGregor.

"All these tablets have dual core processors, high quality screens, and dual cameras, so you have to provide a significant differentiation if you're going to target the market," he said.

"I played with several tablets running Android 3.0 at CTIA," Carl Howe, director of anywhere consumer research at the Yankee Group, told TechNewsWorld. "They start to feel very much the same."

That uniformity has led Android tablet manufacturers to seek their own differentiators.

"These guys are all looking for a magic bullet," McGregor stated.

"Do you have a slide-out keyboard, do you have a docking station? I don't think anybody has found the secret sauce," he opined.

Even with the docking station, Acer's Transformer doesn't quite stand out of the crowd, McGregor thinks.

"The docking station is cool, but does it buy me that differentiation? I don't think so," he said.

Whether Asus can match the iPad 2 with its Transformer is open to question.

"Apple blends three ingredients: A sexy device, seamless connectivity and compelling cloud content to create its connected experience," Howe pointed out. "At present, most Honeycomb tablets I've seen are delivering only two out of those three ingredients because they lack the cloud-based apps."