Obligitory iPad Post or Finally a true Tablet

Ok lets get something straight iPad is by far the WORST name for this device. iSlate or iTab (short of iTablet) would have worked ten times better. But the name is iPad and so we will live with it.

Now personally I love the idea of tablet computing. I have been wanting it since back in the day when Microsoft was showing it off with styluses and overlays on Windows XP. Now that seems like a good idea but most people know most PC OS’s are not designed for small screens or for touch screens. Buttons are too small and data is crammed into space to efficiently for it to work out. Also may of these devices were large and clunky. Now we see the iPad which is effectively almost exactly what a Tablet should really be. The key to a tablet is it MUST be more mobile then a laptop. Sure a laptop with a rotating screen could do the same but the key there is you have an interface which is not as mobile. Its just not easy to use Windows with a touch screen. HP has spent lots of money making custom UI’s solely to make it so their touchsmart PC’s are easier to use.

Now Apple has made that easy to use interface. But there are two major issues. One which people have brought up a bunch and is unfounded and then an oddly missing issue from the discussion.

The first issue that people seem to be way to worried about is flash support. Many people are all worried about how you just cannot get a true internet experience without this. Well I am sorry but I think I would rather wait till html5 is ubiquitous then have my mobile device be as hot as a overheated breakfast burrito. One of the biggest issue with flash is that it is to be nice UTTER CRAP. On even the most advanced computers it somehow will end up pulling 100% of a CPU core to just show a YouTube video. Why the hell would I want that in my mobile device?  Not to mention the most important fact that is flash NEEDED? I think we can safely say no. HTML 5 will be common place once it is approved. Safari already supports it and it can do pretty much anything flash does. If anything else we can at least think of the flash blocking as a free ad blocker. No I don’t want to punch that monkey or punch out Bin Laden I just want to read the site!

The second issue is one nobody has brought up (that I have noticed at least). Where is handwriting recognition. Sure the stylus sucks with the problem that you lose it. But please could we at least take notes using handwriting recognition? I would love to be able to just use a stylus while taking notes. It allows for a more natural experience. Personally I have never liked taking notes with a keyboard. Maybe I am just crazy with this idea. Let me point out lack of handwriting recognition is not a feature that will kill the product for me.

So what do I think about the iPad? Well I am sure nobody really cares but I will say it anyways. The iPad is the first step to real tablet computing. This is the future that pretty much any big sci-fi fan has been wanting. The device that you could bring anywhere and do pretty much anything with. This is what many thought netbooks would do but finally we see a device that is truly forward looking and not backwards like the netbook.

And the E-Book wars begin!

First shots are now being fired in the real start of the e-book wars. Many would argue that the e-book wars started a with the Kindle trying to rival the Sony Book Reader. Back then epub seemed young and weak and Amazon was the 800 pound gorilla. And this has seemed to be true for the last year or so. The Kindle was synonymous with e-book reader and pretty much every other reader went epub hoping that the “openness” would win readers over from the Kindle. Now Apple with the announcement of the iPad has showed up on the scene and if Amazon was a 800 pound gorilla, well Apple is some kind of shiny new 20 ton battle tank.

Sure we have seen Amazon king for awhile now but what is going on now? Amazon the biggest book retail just lost a deal with Macmillan! This shows that Amazon has got to be to powerful. They are so powerful the book publishers are willing to walk away to someone they know they can challenge them but will give them a better posision. Apple says it will price match Amazon well if your books are not even on Amazon what is there to price match? Jobs talks about publishers pulling out of Amazon. Apple is providing a perfect marketplace for the book publishers. They are using epub (the open standard publishers agree on) and not using mobi like Amazon. Apple never said anything at their event about DRM for the e-books but we can assume that they will start with Apple’s own version of DRM. The question though is will Apple be able to force ebooks to become DRM free as it did with MP3s?

The fact that Apple is doing epub is something many may not realize the importance of. Epub in the past has always been a format that even though its an standard and open has always been controlled by Adobe. Adobes renderer has been the bane of many people who really know the epub spec and write a document to the spec only to find Adobe’s renderer does not work as it was intended. Apple now has a chance to come in and show the true power of epub.

What we are watching right now is just a minor skirmish who knows what wonderful things we will get out of this ebook war. We may finally see affordable college textbooks that don’t break students backs economically or physically. We may see DRM be gone from another media format. Really though all to truly know at this point is it will be very interesting to watch.

Has Apple’s Deal with AT&T saved us all?

Now I know this sounds completely out there. Few people think AT&T offer good service these days. Personally I don’t care about AT&T to much cause I live somewhere they don’t even cover. But lets put that all behind us as that is not what I want to look at today.

A few years ago Apple announced a minor mobile device known as the iPhone. They announced it on AT&T exclusive and everyone has complained about this for the last few years. Now how about we look back to that time and contemplate a different chain of events. What could have happend if Verizon had gotten exclusivity of the iPhone instead of AT&T? Well many times it has been reported about how much AT&T has gained in subscribers thanks to the iPhone. What if AT&T had never got these gains? Would we see these two huge companies AT&T and Verizon dooking it out on the airwaves to get our money? I have this odd feeling had Verizon gotten the iPhone deal we would be seeing once again the monopoly of one phone service. If we go back to when the deal was struck AT&T was not in the position it was not. Sure it was one of hte bigger cell phone companies but it really didnt rivel Verizon at the time. Verizon was king. Now look we got two giants fighting it out!

Now fast forward to this week. We hear that AT&T now has exclusivity on the iPad. What does that really mean though? The iPad is unlocked GSM and uses a micro-sim sure it doesn’t support T-Mobiles band of the wireless spectrum but that doesn’t matter as much as the bigger news. Apple has managed to force AT&T to not only get a lower data rate but also make it not require a contract. Do you think Verizon would have accepted that? Not right now but in a year when the next version of the iPad comes out how much do you want to bet there will be a 4G version which will support all the LTE carriers? What will that mean? Well dataplans will actually have to compete with each other instead of over who has what device.

So what is the moral of this? Well Apple has managed to do something the FCC has failed at doing. They have prevented a Verizon monopoly and actually forced a move into more reasonable rates for Data Plans. But hey lets just ignore that progress and just complain that AT&T. Sure they don’t have 3G anywhere but I can tell you Verizon 3G is nothing to write home about when it comes to actual speed.

Chrome OS Doomed from the start!

So today many people have been talking about Google’s announcement of Google Chrome OS. Of course Google has told us really nothing about this OS other then that it will run on x86 and ARM architecture as well as the fact that Google already has partners lined up. Now that we got what we know out of the way lets look a bit more at what Google is doing.

Why name it Chrome? First off why is Google naming it Chrome? Chrome is a product that so far is only used by Windows users (people on OSX and Linux want it but it’s not there yet). Google should not be naming its OS Chrome this will only cause further confusion. Of course this might also give away the secret as to why Google Chrome OS will fail.

Chrome OS doesn’t sound like its going to really have much more then a Web Browser! Wait what? Just a browser? Yep it sure sounds like it. They talk about how everything should just be done on the web. Sorry Google but web apps do not yet compete with stand alone. Take for example someone with a lowly DSL connection. Well how easy would it be to write a paper if you keep having to send data back and forth?  It would be a horrible experience (btw I know for a fact that trying to do anything quickly in Google Docs over DSL is slow.).

Google says people want faster computers. So what does Google promise? Well your netbook will run the Internet faster! But wait this is the same problem as before! Without a proper broadband network how is this beneficial to anyone? Will this OS actually run anything on the local computer is the one question that keeps popping into my head. I think maybe 5-10 years in the future this might work.

Of course if it ends up anything like Android it will be 5-10 years later. Look at android its been around for awhile now and still ONE actual phone. Good job Google where was the huge numbers you were saying would be out last winter. Of course the one major thing is suppposedly there are a bunch of ARM “Smartbooks” around the corner and well Chrome OS would be perfect for them as Windows would suck just as much on them. Oh wait Linux is out there.

Sorry Google but unless Chrome OS is just rebranding Ubuntu with Chrome installed I doubt its going to be as great as everyone is saying.

Why is the EU lawsuit getting press again suddenly?

So once again we got a big media group talking about the EU lawsuit by Opera. The real question is why does this keep getting released? Or even better what standing does this have? In the past it has been ok for Microsoft to have their browser installed by default and somehow with this HORRIBLE situation Firefox is still at what 25+% of the browser market? Wow I am so worried about Windows 7 bundling IE8 I mean people might actually get a decent and secure browser with their OS unlike XP which means some might not install Firefox? Um, sorry Firefox but if people switch that easily I am doubtful you were going to keep them anyways. Of course I am sure Mozilla would love for Microsoft to bundle IE6 I mean they are ACTUALLY better then that browser but suddenly they might have competition and it seems Mozilla has joined Opera in its if you cannot beat them in the market beat them in the court room tactic. By the way if anyone thinks this can really help Opera lets think about the end result with what Opera wants. Basically Opera wants to have a screen pop up that lets you choose an alternative browser. So lets see when you get to this screen it will probably just show the top 3 right? So we get IE8, Firefox, and Chrome ouch Opera you would still lose even if you won.

Links:

• pcmag.com

Why it doesn’t matter that most PCs cannot run XP Mode

So for some odd reason there seems to be a huge stink over people not being able to use XP mode on their out dated hardware or low-end hardware. Why does this surprise people? Virtualization technology on the CPU is not really that old yet and normally only on those CPUs that are above “Budget”. Of course most people buy the budget computers which come with budget CPUs but then why does this matter? XP Mode was created for business users not for the consumer. So really why does this all matter? Well I’m pretty sure its because they cannot find anything else to complain about right now.

Links:

• pcmag.com

Will the Kindle DX change the way we look at books?

Amazon pulls out a really interesting release with the Kindle DX. While there were rumors of a larger Kindle I don’t ever remember reading about native PDF support. This is the big killer for it. On a 9.7-inch screen with native PDF support that means you no longer need a printer to view your PDF on a shit of … well e-ink paper. Sure this all sounds amazing. What we don’t see here though is the one most important feature that Amazon is still lacking! WHERE IS ePUB SUPPORT!!! I fear for the future of ebooks if Amazon is the leader and from the looks of it is actively trying to KILL off what was created to be the standard ebook format! The only result of what is currently going on is Amazon will take over with its proprietary format or PDFs will become the main eBook style which would suck as well as they do not scale well. I guess though the real question is how will Schools and newspaper companies use this. The Kindle DX could easily be used to provide very cheap newspaper subscriptions and by this I mean cheaper for both the consumer and the newspaper companies which would have a better chance to stay alive if they didn’t have to deliver which would probably lower their prices into the ranges people are more willing to pay. On this larger screen it would become much more usable for reading like a newspaper. In schools the question is can students soon start just getting an ebook version of some textbooks? This should help save money on textbooks but more importantly reduce backpack weight which has been a rising problem for students. I really think the Kindle DX could be the first on the way to really changing the way we read on a large scale but do we need another iTunes repeat? Cause that is where we are currently going.

Links:

• Amazon
• pcmag.com

btw: The iTunes analogy works on more then one level. First, DRM vs non-DRM which took way to long to win for music. Second, iTunes uses AAC instead of the defacto standard MP3 where ePub is the actual standard and Amazon goes on with its perversion of the mobi format.

According to Consumer Reports MacBooks are best

So Consumer Reports is saying the MacBooks are best. Now remember though that this is from the users. Most though should take this as a grain of salt. I mean many of the Mac users that respond to this are the type that if Steve Jobs released a brick saying it somehow gave you telepathy some of them still might say it is the greatest thing ever. What am I getting at here? Well basically the Mac crowed will always calm they have the best meanwhile in PC land we can be more choosy about our laptops and generally people are never completely content with their laptops (unlike the Mac users who are more willing to overlook problems). So really none of this matters. I think we should just look at Consumer Reports and ignore Apple products as we know they are good quality but we should not really compare Apples to Oranges (or in this case PCs) when it comes to satisfaction.

Links:

• Tom’s Hardware

Itanium not doing as bad a SPARC

I generally don’t talk about CPU architectures since it seems to be something you really care about or something you pretty much ignore. As you an guess I really find CPU architectures rather interesting. In the past I wrote about an article talking about Itanium not living up to its promise and guess what it’s still not. Though it is used for process intensive systems (same that SPARC is used for) it really still is a niche chip. The good news is this niche chip is at least growing in sales. I don’t care if some people think it’s dying cause I think it has more then enough life in it. Not to mention the fact that some of the best OSs out there run on it (OpenVMS and many of the nixes oh and don’t forget Windows Server) so it is not like SPARC which offers less in the way of compatibility. So I guess what I am saying is this article is probably right though I think its a bit to negative on Itanium though I might be saying this since I have a soft spot for alternate CPU architectures.

Links:

• The Register

Windows 7 RC released today to the public

Today is the big day for Redmond. They finally are allowing the public access to the Windows 7 RC. This means go and get your CD key and try it out. Of course remember that this is not the final version and that Microsoft doesn’t officially have to support this release. This release though will be usable till March of 2010 which means that you have quite a bit of time to buy Windows 7. The real question is “Is Microsoft using the Windows 7 RC as a kind of unofficial trial?” I think the answer to this question is yes. I think the RC is being used by Microsoft to win over all the naysayers of Windows Vista to regrow the Windows brand. Is this really a bad thing? I don’t think so I mean it means I don’t have to buy a copy of Windows 7 the day it comes out. Anyways linked below are the announcement from the Windows Blog and Paul Thurrott’s review of the RC which goes over the changes between the Beta and RC. I may or may not post a review of the RC in the coming weeks I haven’t decided yet.

Links:

• The Windows Blog
• Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows