Thursday, May 8, 2014

Pavtube 2014 Mother’s Day Coupon: up to 40% off Blu-ray/DVD ripping tool

Good news: 2014 Mother’s Day is just around the corner, have you got something unique and special for Mom? If she’s fond of watching Blu-ray/DVD movies on smartphone, tablet, TV, etc. you shall never miss this up to 40% off special from Pavtube Studio!
 

 
To thanks for your faithful support during the past years, Pavtube now offer 30% off ByteCopy, 40% off Ultimate Converter and 40% off DVD Ripper as 2014 Mother’s Day special for your beloved Mom. It starts from May 8th to 12th, five days in total. Don’t miss this deal!

30% off Pavtube ByteCopy (Windows/Mac)

A magic Blu-ray/DVD ripping software (Pro version), it’s not only capable of ripping Blu-ray/DVD to desire formats (MP4, MOV, M4V, TS, MKV, AVI, WMV, MPG, VOB, etc), but also offer a Multi-track preset to enable you backup movie to lossless MKV or MP4/MOV/ProRes with multiple audio tracks and subtitles, so that you can free choose wanted languages during playback.

40% off Pavtube (iMedia Converter for Mac/Video Converter Ultimate)

The best deal of Ultimate Converter ever! With this tool at hand, you’re not only able to rip Blu-ry/DVD movies, but also convert footages of Mom and make a easy-to-watch video to put on portable devices, computers, to video editing programs or uploading to your YouTube channel.

40% off Pavtube DVD Ripper (Windows/Mac)

It has outputs for almost all the Android models, so you can start getting DVD movie library ready for your Android devices like Kindle Fire HD, ASUS Transformer Prime, Nook (HD/HD+) Tablet, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Galaxy Note 10.1, Galaxy S4/S3, Google Nexus 7, Google Nexus 10, Nexus 4, Lenov ThinkPad tablet, Sony Tablet S, Toshiba Thrive, Motorola Xoom, etc... 

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Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Play AVI on iPad Air Solution - Convert AVI to iPad Air for watching freely

Ever since the birth of Apple iPad Air, it has become one of the most popular devices in the whole world. It’s popular for it’s portable and extraordinary visual experience. Inside, it’s powered by Apple’s new A7 chip, helping it run apps faster and making it feel quicker overall; as well as a M7 coprocessor, bringing 64-bit desktop-class architecture to the tablet. It also boasts a high-definition Retina Display with 2048×1536 resolution and over 3.1 million pixels, It makes iPad Air absolutely perfect for watching movies. 
  
    
Can iPad Play AVI Videos?
    
With the debut of the one-pound iPad Air and the second-generation iPad mini, you may wonder can the new iPad Air or mini play AVI files now. Disappointed, once again Apple has not provided overall AVI support for iPad.
  
Though the new iPad Air is thinner, lighter, but much powerful, its support for AVI is just as the former iPad models do: iPad Air still only plays Motion JPEG encoded AVI files and can’t play AVI files encoded with DivX, Xvid, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, WMV, DV, H.263 and etc. So does the new iPad mini. Therefore various troubleshooting in playing AVI on iPad will occur just as below:
  
1. I just got the news that iPad now supports AVI files; so I downloaded some .avi files from the internet for playback on my iPad. To my disappointment, I even cannot transfer the AVI to iPad, let alone to play AVI on iPad.

2. Though I successfully add AVI to iPad, I cannot play the AVI files on my iPad properly, there is only audio but no video scene.

3. I use a software called Handbrake to convert AVI to iPad supported MP4. However, the converted AVI is still unplayable on my iPad Air.
  
About AVI format 
     
AVI is a good video format with good quality and extra small size and is open, these may be the reason why we won't give it up and now strongly require to play the AVI movies on iPad Air, but you need to accept the truth that iPad Air cannot support AVI files natively. So, if you have large quantity of AVI files transferred to iPad Air , you'll need a third-party app to help to achieve this. I mean you may have to convert the AVI to a playable format (e.g. MP4) by iPad Air on your Windows PC or Mac. 

How to Solve Can't Play AVI on iPad Air?
  
What if we want to play AVI on iPad even in the situation that iPad has not yet fully support playing all kinds of AVI movies?

In fact, it is that easy! Simply convert AVI to iPad more supported MP4, MOV, and then you will never worry about cannot transfer AVI to iPad for successfully playing various AVI on iPad of any model. Pavtube video Converter Ultimate is which is an easy-to-use yet all-in-one video conversion tool which can help you encode/re-encode more than AVI files to iPad Air compatible videos with original HD quality in perfect audio/video sync. Besides, You can also convert MKV, WMV, MTS, MOV, FLV, to all popular format for playing and sharing anywhere you like. 
   
How to Convert AVI to iPad Air?

This AVI to iPad Air converter is very easy to use. Just some clicks you will finish the operation steps. Please following the guide to realize transferring AVI to Ipad Air with best formats.

Step 1: Load video files to this AVI to iPad Air Converter 

Download the Pavtube AVI to iPad Air Converter on your computer, install and run the program, add videos. You can choose to import videos or the entire folder by clicking the top left two icons. 
  
     
Step 2. Choose format for iPad Air. 

Click "Format" drop-down list and choose "iPad>iPad Air Full HD Video(*.mp4)" as the compatible MP4 preset with best video quality. Or you can choose other presets if you don't need full size videos. 

To get the customized profile, you'll need to download a patch here) The output videos could fit on your device perfectly. 


    
Step 3. Customize video specs for iPad Air (Optional). 

You could also click the "Settings" to adjust the video and audio parameters of output files. 

In the Video Settings, you can select Encoder, Frame Rate, Resolution (you could define it yourself according to your iPad Air tablet) and Bitrate for your movie. 

In the Audio Settings, you can select Encoder, Channels, Bitrate and Sample Rate for your movie. 

Step 4. Start AVI Videos to iPad Air Conversion. 

You can hit the big red "Convert" to start converting AVI to MP4 with best video settings for iPad Air. After the conversion, click "Open output folder" in the conversion window, or "Open" in main interface to quick locate the converted video. 

After getting the converted movies files, you can transfer them to new iPad Air via iTunes. If you don’t know how to put and play video on new iPad Air , just follow the steps to realize it:  

1) Make sure you have install iTunes. If not, you can free download iTunes here:http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ at first. And launch the iTunes.

2) Connect iPad 3 to PC.

3) Choose “File – > Add File to Library…”

4) Drag the .mp4 file you want to the iPad icon.

After that, you can enjoy your AVI files on iPad Air freely. Hope this article helps.

iPad Air Related Articles:
  
How to watch rental 3D Blu-ray Movies on iPad/iPhone/iPod without Any Time Limit? 
How to watch 1080p or 720p MKV movies on iPad Air?
Can I play DVD ISO/IFO images on iPad Air, iPad 3/4?
How to view DVD movies on iPad Air with highest quality?
How do I play MKV movies on iPad Air
How to transfer Sony XAVC/XAVC S 4K Videos to iPad Air?

Making a Personal Movie:'Chef,' movie review


If you’ve ever struggled to find a balance between nurturing a career and making time for friends and family, Jon Favreau’s latest should hit home.  He leads Chef as Carl Casper, a successful chef whose career is decimated by one abysmal review.  In an effort to regain some stability while also giving himself the freedom to take risks with his craft, Carl leaves the Los Angeles restaurant scene behind to run a food truck featuring his own, unique menu.  For more on the film, here’s my review.

A movie like “Chef” begs for a smorgasbord of puns, so let’s get those out of the way: This undercooked but still flavorful comedy may not have much meat to it, but the small side dishes can be a meal in themselves.

Jon Favreau steps away from helming blockbusters such as “Iron Man” to write, direct and star in this congenial fable. Carl Casper (Favreau) is a one-time culinary wunderkind who’s now middle-aged, with a wide midriff and middling reputation. His loyal staff includes efficient hostess Molly (Scarlett Johansson in a cameo) and chatty sous chefs Martin (John Leguizamo) and Tony (Bobby Cannavale). 

When the restaurant gets a visit from an influential food critic, Carl wants to prepare something extraordinary, but the restaurant’s owner (Dustin Hoffman) orders Carl to do nothing special. The result: A scathing review, a Twitter war of words between Carl and the critic — and a chef without a job.

  
Trying to land on his feet, Carl, his ex-wife Inez (flighty but pleasant Sofia Vergara) and their 10-year-old son Percy (Emjay Anthony, quite the pro) go to Miami, where Inez’ slick first husband (Robert Downey Jr.) donates a rickety food truck. Carl and Co. give it a fresh paint job and drive it from Miami to L.A., selling Cuban sandwiches like hot cakes all the way. By the time they get to California, Carl’s got his groove back.

Favreau has always been a cool, amiable presence, all the way back to “Swingers” (1996) and his mini-gem feature directorial debut, “Made” (2001). His Queens-kid persona is impossible not to like. Scenes of Favreau at the grill bantering with Leguizamo and Cannavale could almost sustain an entire movie.
  
It does for a while. The moments when Carl connects with his kid click, too. But there’s a whole patch of “Chef” that feels wayward, as if Favreau has gotten so accustomed to Big Studio demands to cut details and get to the next explosion that he decided to stretch out every single small moment in “Chef.”

The good news is that his slow simmer approach here never puts us off for too long as the camaraderie between he and his cast gives “Chef” its mild yet tasty spice. 


How to Rip and Copy Blu-ray movies to Surface 2 tablet?

The Microsoft Surface is a great divergence from just a simple tablet. You can use it for Office Docs when needed and also works great as a tablet. The DUO-Tablet! As you see, The Microsoft new Surface 2's features large 10.81 in screen of 1920x1080 pixels, ultrafast wireless that makes browsing, downloading, and streaming content at blazing speed, and Windows 8.1 the most advanced operating system. It's great for watching movies. 


Get your movies off of your Blu-ray discs onto your Surface 2? If you have collected some Blu-rays and wanna transfer the Blu-ray files to Surface 2 & Surface Pro 2 for playback on the go. Whereas, due to format restrictions and copy protections, you will find it’s impossible to get Blu-ray movies to Surface 2 directly. Fortunately, now there is a workaround for this issue. We'd like to share the solution with all the Surface tablets owners.

The app I’m using is Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper. Applying it, I can easily effortlessly make your DVD videos playable on Surface 2 in just a few mouse clicks by fast ripping Blu-ray to a common video like MP4 for Surface 2 tablet. And I found the picture quality is excellent. So, this Blu-ray Ripper for Surface is an ideal tool for you. 

See also: 

Top 5 Blu-ray Ripper Review |Top Blu-ray Ripper for Mac Review 
New Movies Releasing This Week on 2014
Top kids' movies coming out on 2014 List with Reviews - part 1
Top kids' movies coming out on 2014 List with Reviews - part 2

Requirements:

1. Before anything else, you have to download an app that you are going to use later. You are required to download and install. 
2. PC running Windows 8.1 Blue, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista. 
3. Source media (commercial Blu-ray Disc). 
4. Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper.  
5. A BD drive for ripping Blu-ray discs. 
  
If you are Mac users, Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper for Mac is the best tool for you to convert Blu-rays to Surface 2 on Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.7 Lion, Snow Leopard 10.6. Follow below brief guide to make Blu-ray discs playable on Surface 2. 
  
Step 1. Download and run Pavtube Surface Blu-ray Ripper or Blu-ray Ripper for Mac, load your Blu-ray movies into it.

 
Step 2. Select output for Microsoft Surface. Here we choose MP4.

  
Step 3. You can Click on “Settings” to adjust bitrate, frame rate, video codec, sample rate and more to get you wanted video quality. If you are satisfactory with the settings of this profile, just keep the default.

Step 4. Press the big ”Convert” button to begin the conversion. 

Most Blu-ray movies have high quality, to ensure the quality lossless. The process will take some time. After the conversion completed, transfer the result video to Microsoft Surface via USB cable. 
    
Tip: 
1. Steps to transfer files to Microsoft Surface via USB wire.

2. Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper More Features:

1. Edit the videos before conversion, such as trim, crop, add subtitles, video effect, etc.
2. Convert Blu-ray to many other mobile devices and editing software like iPad 3, iPad mini, ATV 3, Nexus 10, Galaxy Tab 3, S4, Note 2, Sony Vegas and more.
3. Add srt, ass, ssa subtitles to your movies.
4. Backup Blu-ray main movie to VOB format with original quality.

Now, you are able to watch Blu-ray movies on Microsoft Surface 2 anytime and anywhere.

Related Microsoft Surface applications:
Play DVD movies on Surface 2/ Pro 2 without DVD drive
How to Rip your large BR selection to MP4 for using in portable devices 
Converting MKV to MP4 videos for Surface 2, Surface Pro 2, Surface RT/Pro
Tricks for playing Blu-ray movies on Microsoft Surface Pro 2
FAQs: How to watch Blu-ray movies (Folder and ISO files) on Surface 2?
How to transfer MKV, AVI, VOB, Tivo, WMV videos to Surface 2?



Tuesday, May 6, 2014

How the 'One Microsoft' mission is changing Microsoft Research

Summary: Some of the sweeping cultural changes affecting Microsoft are having an impact on the company's research arm, as well, says MSR chief Peter Lee.


Cultural changes at Microsoft over the past year-plus are reverberating throughout the company, including across the company's 1,100-plus-strong Microsoft Research arm.

Since last July's "One Microsoft" reorganization," things have gotten friendlier" between different teams at the company, including Microsoft Research (MSR) said Corporate Vice President and MSR chief Peter Lee. "There's more of a communal feel."

I had a chance to chat with Lee during an open house at Microsoft Research New York's new digs on May 5. The open house was held in honor of the two-year anniversary of the New York lab, which Microsoft created around a core of former Yahoo researchers that the company hired.

The MSR New York office is now home to about 20 researchers. MSR New York has a particular focus on social media and social science research, along with machine learning and big data.

In the not-so-distant past, some product teams at Microsoft had to be coaxed to consider incorporating MSR-developed technologies and techniques in their commercial products. TechFest, Microsoft's annual internal research fair, had become a place for researchers to try to pitch product teams to pick up their technologies.

Things are different now, said Lee, who became the head of MSR worldwide last July. Many product groups inside the company are clamoring to adopt technologies pioneered inside MSR. The Windows Phone team and Xbox teams, in particular, have been at the forefront of taking MSR technologies in building them into commercialized entities, such as the Cortana digital assistant in Windows Phone 8.1 and the Kinect sensor. MSR also has contributed to more enterprise-focused products, including the PowerBI business-intelligence and Oslo Office 365 social-feed app from the Office team.

When I asked whether Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's "mobile first/cloud first" mantra was influencing the types of research projects MSR is undertaking, Lee was quick to note that "MSR management doesn't tell (researchers) what to do."
That said, "We all want to be part of a winning team," Lee acknowledged. And the company's product teams, with their mobile first/cloud first marching orders, "are welcoming research with open arms," these days, he added.

More "open arms" seemingly has translated into more Microsoft research projects becoming commercialized and/or part of commercialized products. But Lee said he doesn't want to err on the side of MSR becoming nothing but an extension of the company's product groups. 

"We still need to be wackier and more forward-looking.... We are not just about product development. We are looking beyond the headlights," he said. 

An example of MSR embracing a longer-term view is Microsoft's recent hire of Norman Whitaker, who most recently was the Deputy Director of the Information Innovation Office at DARPA, the U.S. Department of Defense's research arm. Whitaker previously was the Program Manager for the DARPA Urban Challenge program, which encompasses self-driving vehicles, as well as other kind of automated bots. (Lee himself formerly worked at DARPA before joining Microsoft.) At Microsoft, he will be heading up a new "Special Projects" team in MSR focusing on so-far unnamed disruptive technologies. MSR Special Projects is Microsoft's version of Google X, sources of mine have said. 

Lee is also personally committed to being more open and forthcoming about MSR's work, he said. That's another shift from the philosophy of some former members of MSR management. 

In the new One Microsoft, "we now have to work with everyone. If there are secrets (between product teams) at Microsoft, it makes things harder for us," Lee said. 

He also noted that 85 percent of MSR's work is done in conjunction with academic researchers who are intent on seeing their research published. That requires a level of openness and transparency. (MSR doesn't have to reveal all its secrets to us blogging sleuths and/or competitors. For example, MSR may opt to publish information about a newly developed algorithm without disclosing how, when and where it will be used by a Microsoft product group.) 

One more cultural change impacting MSR that I found interesting is on the cross-platform front. In recent months, Microsoft has been releasing more and more software and services aimed to work not just with Windows, but also iOS, Android and Linux. Lee acknowledged that the cross-platform emphasis is also happening in MSR, too. 

"We're looking at more cross-platform, and embracing competing OSes," he said. "There's more of an interest in exposing our services on other operating systems" these days. The MSR "Drawbridge" library OS work is just one example of investigations in this vein. 

The faster delivery cadence adopted by the Windows, Office 365 and other Microsoft teams is something in which MSR is involved, too. The idea of "test flighting" multiple features and updating services even more frequently than once daily are areas the implications of which are on the radar screen of research, too, Lee said.

How can I convert DVDs for Asus MeMO Pad FHD 10 watching freely?

Do you want to buy one to friends? If you have a one, you may have this problem: "I have collected many DVD discs, but I don't know how to put the DVDs for Asus MeMO Pad FHD 10 watching freely?" Well, hold on reading, and you will find the answers in this article. 



Asus MeMO Pad FHD 10 tablet is 9.9mm thick, weighs 572g, comes packed with a quad-core processor (though which one is not yet clear), dual stereo speakers, video streaming capabilities, a rear facing 5MP camera, a microSD slot for expandable storage, and up to 10 hours of battery life.
  
What It Is And Why You Need It:
  
1. Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OS; experience tons of new features and applications
10 in. touch screen; delivers clear view of your digital content
2. 1.6GHz Intel Clover Trail+ Z2560 processor; offers high processing power for handling complex applications
3. 2GB memory; provides you with amazing multitasking capabilities
4. Inbuilt WiFi and Bluetooth technology; for achieving high data network connection through the existing wireless network
5. Micro USB and HDMI port; enables you to connect your tablet to other devices
Front/Back Camera; built to capture outstanding photos and videos 
   
The MeMO Pad FHD 10 only supports play limited video formats, including MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV. CUDA. Pavtube DVD Ripper is the just one to help you decrypt and rip DVD to MeMO Pad FHD 10 with faster speed. Below I will outline how to get your movies off of your DVD discs and onto Asus MeMO Pad FHD 10 for playback while keeping original high quality. 

Part-I: How to convert DVDs for Asus MeMO Pad FHD 10 with suitable format?

At first, you need a professional DVD Ripper to achieve this goal. You can free Download the top Movie Converter for MeMo Pad FHD 10 

Step 1. Load DVD to Pavtube DVD Ripper.

Click "Load files" to import DVD discs, DVD folder or IFO/ISO file to this DVD to MeMo Pad FHD 10 Converter. The main title (full length) will be checked by default and you can preview it by double clicking.



Step 2. Choose format


Click "Format" drop-down list, switch to "ASUS" column and choose "ASUS MeMo Pad Series Video(*.mp4)", it's the best preset for your MeMo Pad FHD 10. Or you can enter "MeMo" in the small search box at the bottom right corner to quick locate this preset.

  
Step 3. Adjust video specs or edit video before conversion (Optional).

Pavtube DVD Ripper already pick out the best settings for your MeMo Pad FHD 10. If you want to change video size, bitrate, frame rate and other settings, click "Settings" to enter profiles settings window.

And if you want to trim, crop, edit subtitle/audio, add watermark, just click the pencil-like icon on the top.

Step 4. Start Conversion.

Now hit the big red "Convert" to start convert DVD movies to Asus MeMo Pad FHD 10. After conversion, you can click "Open output folder" to quick locate the converted video.

Part-II: How to transfer the converted Digital Copy contents to Asus MeMo Pad FHD 10?

Windows transfer

1. Connect your device to the USB port on your computer. Its USB storage is mounted as a drive and appears on your computer screen.
2. Copy files back and forth as you would using any other external device.
3. When you finish, eject the device from within Windows before unplugging the USB cable.
   
Mac OS transfer

1. Install Android File Transfer from www.android.com/filetransfer, and follow the instructions there. (If you are using Android File Transfer for the first time, double-click it to open it. After the first connection, it opens automatically whenever you connect.)
2. Connect your device to your computer with a USB cable. Android File Transfer starts, if it's not already running, and opens a window that displays the contents of your device, along with storage space details at the bottom of the window.
3. Work with this window much as you do in the Finder window: open and close folders, create new folders, and drag files to or from it and other Finder windows.
4. Disconnect the USB cable when you finish.

Related settings:

To change your device's USB connection options, touch Settings > Device > Storage > Menu > USB computer connection. 

That's all! Hope it helps! Hopefully the converting DVDs to MeMO Pad FHD 10 guide will be of help. 

See also:

Monday, May 5, 2014

The Calm Before 2014's Tech Storm: Apple Will Bring the Rain


There's a lot on Apple's plate that should make for big, wild 2014 that will settle the innovation question. The iPhone will get a bigger screen, possibly made of sapphire glass. The iWatch likely will hit, possibly overrunning the competition in the category. OS X will be due for a refresh, as will the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and the iPad. And Apple TV may finally come into its own. 

There's a lot shaping up for Apple this year, and it's going to be wild. In fact, there's so much going on at Infinite Loop in Cupertino these days that it makes me believe that 2014 will be the first post-Steve Jobs year when Apple -- in the eyes of the broader tech world -- stops dancing around and finally brings the rain.

For starters, the profit-generating juggernaut that goes by the name of "iPhone" will ship in a new form factor with a bigger screen. This will hit just when a huge number of Apple-loving consumers are shifting the bulk of their Internet activity to their mobile device, which means they'll upgrade in droves.
Apple doesn't even have to entice big-screen Android users to make iPhone 6 the fastest and best-selling mobile device ever.

Apple can pump up iPhone sales in the U.S. next year by 30 percent with a bigger iPhone, suggested Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, and this is if 80 percent of iPhones sold go to upgrading customers.

It gets better. The sapphire glass manufacturer in Arizona appears to be shipping product to China, which means the displays of the big new iPhone 6 really could be made of sapphire glass. If sapphire is as scratch-resistant as they say -- better than Gorilla Glass -- this is a big leap forward over the competition. Huge, in fact.

This is important for a couple of key reasons: First, Apple invested heavily in GT Advanced Technologies, reportedly footing the bill for hundreds of sapphire furnaces capable of churning out screens. Second, Apple has snapped up sapphire glass supplies. Unless the competition is actively investing in sapphire production, Apple might build a significant lead. Either way, you can bet that we'll be seeing some sort of cool promotional video at iPhone 6 launch time. 

While we're at it, here's something I haven't heard anywhere else: When the iPhone 6 ships with a bigger, easier-to-use screen, it'll give Apple's App Store and iTunes ecosystem another boost, too -- simply through a better customer experience.

So the Apple Money Machine -- the iPhone -- will rev up to the red line this year and coast through 2015 ... that's it?

No way.

Enter the iWatch
 While everyone has been talking up the mythical iWatch as competitors deliver new smartwatches and exercise bands, Apple has remained behind closed doors. Instead of getting here first, Apple has quietly been hiring medical, exercise and engineering talent, as well as patenting potential innovations that could be applied to an iWatch.

Will Apple actually deliver a wrist-worn device this year? It's hard to imagine that it will sit out 2014. Apple CEO Tim Cook has hinted at new product categories, and an iWatch seems to be a slam dunk.
There's more, though. Longtime fitness partner Nike just dropped Fuelband manufacturing in favor of working on software only. This is a big signal that Nike knows the iWatch is on the way this year and is making a business adjustment for it.

The New Mac Experience This Fall 
 The PC-decline-defying MacBook Air just got a teeny processor update. That's not a big deal now -- it just makes room for a more expensive MacBook Air with Retina Display to have a profitable spot come fall.

More to the point, the MacBook Pro is ready for an update, too, but the key action will likely center around the redesign of Mac OS X. While iOS got its refresh last year, OS X 10.10 is ready for 2014.
One report now suggests that OS X 10.10 will take center stage at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

September is the traditional time of year that Apple releases new iPads. Bare minimum, we can expect an A8 generation of Apple's own processors, which should bring better performance and battery life. I would not be surprised if Apple finally came up with a new keyboard or keyboard/case option, both because there is an industry demand for it and because there've been multiple rumblings about it.

Meanwhile, while Microsoft Research has posted a video of an augmented mechanical keyboard that can sense gestures both on and above the device, AppleInsider found an AppleU.S. patent application for a multifunctional keyboard assembly, too.

Will the keyboard tech show up in Macs this year? In a keyboard available for pairing with an iPad? If so, this is like extra frosting on a cake.

What About the Apple TV? 
 While rumors of a full-size Apple-created HDTV have faded away, pretty much everyone expects a major Apple TV set-top box update. Not only did Cook publicly remove the Apple TV from "hobby" status this year in a quarterly financial report, but Apple also threw down the gauntlet with its own Amazon Fire TV unit. 

The Fire TV lets you search for content with your voice, and the remote control is smart enough to let you play Android-based games on your HDTV. Plus, Amazon is actively building its own ecosystem of content and games, even going so far to develop a game and create a dedicated console-style game controller. 

Will Apple sit on its hands here? Doesn't seem likely. 
 Apple can jump out ahead with a wicked-fast new processor, Siri integration, and by opening up the Apple TV to developers for new apps. If Apple delivers on its own gaming controller specifications -- with or without third-party controllers -- then the company can make a stronger move to capture game time in the living room.

All of these moves are totally doable for Apple this year. Might we get a taste at WWDC in June? I hope so, but rumors are trending toward an OS X fixation. A new Apple TV world in time for fall programming and holiday sales could technically work better anyway. Wild card? Some sort of broadcast or cable-TV content deal.

Apple Is 'On the Prowl' 
 As revealed at Apple's quarterly conference call with investors last month, Apple bought 24 companies in 18 months -- several of which are secret, and therefore important to new products or services.
"Obviously," Cook noted, "We're on the prowl."

What might these new companies offer Apple? If it is attempting to keep their identities a secret, it's for a good reason -- one that usually leads to a new product or service.

Speaking of financial reports -- until now, Apple has weathered months of getting beat up by Wall Street analysts for a slowing rate of growth in both its iPhone and iPad sales. It has started to manage Wall Street expectations more proactively by doing things like increasing its dividend payments and buying back much of its own stock. 

Plus, Apple will issue a 7-for-1 stock split that should drop the price of a single share to under US$100, making it more accessible to a broader range of buyers -- and potentially get Apple added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. 

The point? 
 As Apple starts releasing a large batch of products and upgrades this year -- and as relatively new ones like CarPlay start hitting the streets -- public perception will rocket even higher. What might that stock split mean then? I don't play on Wall Street, but I have some guesses. 

Any way I look at it -- and this is even if Apple does not release any new game changer product category that is off the radar -- Apple seems to be orchestrating a huge 2014.