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Computers
January 6, 2009
iTunes news the only spark at snoozy Macworld keynote
It’s suddenly clear why Steve Jobs begged off on delivering Apple’s last keynote address at the Macworld Expo today: it was a bit of a snooze.
There was certainly no announcement on par with the introduction of the iPhone or even the more recent unveiling of aluminum-body Macbook computers. Except for an already-expected announcement that all 10 million songs on iTunes will be made available without copy production (or DRM-free, as it’s called), nothing really dazzled at the presentation.
The highlights, which I followed via the excellent Engadget play-by-play:
- iTunes will offer all of its music library, about 10 million songs, DRM-free. Of course, Amazon MP3 has been doing this with its downloads for a while, but Apple has a larger library. The DRM-free revolution begins today with eight million songs available DRM-free. The other two million will be DRM-free by the end of the quarter, Apple says. Upgrading an existing library will be 30 cents per song.
- Music publishers will have more freedom in setting pricing on music. Gone is the one-size-fits-all 99 cents-per-song pricing. Now some music will be made available at $1.29 or 69 cents.
- A new 17-inch Macbook Pro features a longer battery life (eight hours!), but it comes at only one price: $2,799. Ouch. Too much of a good thing? The technical specs on the machine are certainly impressive, but are people really clamoring for a huge laptop that costs almost three thousand dollars? I’m not.
- Apple is introducing iWork ‘09 and iLife ‘09. Most interesting is that Apple is introducing iwork.com, which will be an online space for collaborating on documents, much like Google Docs. Again, are people really desperate for this when a perfectly good free product already exists?
- iLife ‘09 will feature big improvements in iMovie and iPhoto. iPhoto will have facial recognition, the ability to geotag photos on maps and the ability to upload directly to Flickr and Facebook. iMovie improves on the much-maligned iMovie ‘08 by reintroducing features and adding slick video editing features and effects.
- The iPhone 3G will now be able to download iTunes music via the 3G network (previously only possible over Wi-Fi).
- Tony Bennett came out and sang. Awesome, but… safe and predictable. Like the rest of the presentation.
Your thoughts?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Applications, Computers, Gadgets, Movies & DVDs, Shopping
January 5, 2009
Best tech trends of '08 and a look at '09
In yesterday’s paper, we ran a story listing what were (in my view), the top five tech trends of 2008 and what five technologies to look for in 2009 might be.
Of course, a list like this covers an awful lot of ground and must overlook a lot of trends that were certainly important just to keep it to five.
With unlimited space, I might have talked about coworking, electronic voting, the ascension of Netflix to multiple streaming platforms and online shopping.
But I’m a lot more curious about what you readers have to say. What were your top five tech trends of 2008 and what are your predictions for ‘09?
If case you don’t have time to read the whole article, here’s a tiny version of mine:
Trends of 2008:
- Cloud computing — your stuff, online.
- App stores — cell phones grow up, get programs.
- Social networks — Twitter and Facebook continued growing.
- Hybrids — gas prices spiked and people got interested.
- Screens — cheap displays meant more content on more screens.
And my picks for stuff to watch in 2009:
- Netbooks
- Off-site storage
- Smarter TVs
- New media gets more competitive
- Air/gesture-based computing/gaming
What do you think? Get to prognosticating!
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Applications, Austin, Computers, Gadgets, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Phones, SXSW, TV, Videogames
December 11, 2008
AISD director of technology 'Embarrassed' about bad Linux publicity
Gray Salada, the executive director of technology for the Austin Independent School District, said he was “Kinda embarrassed, actually,” when he read Web posts about a local middle school teacher who was said to have confiscated Linux operated system discs from a student, then fired off a an angry e-mail to Austin HeliOS founder Ken Starks.
As of late Thursday afternoon, it was not clear who the middle school teacher was who created a chain events that has led to worldwide publicity about the exchange. Salada said he has spoken to Starks, but as of yet, AISD did not know the identity of the middle school teacher or, in fact, whether the incident occurred as described on Starks’ blog. Salada says he was only told that the teacher doesn’t teach technology.
“He doesn’t want any harm to come to the teacher and the district,” Salada said of Starks, “he won’t give me the name or the school.”
Salada said that AISD received several e-mails after the blog post was referenced on popular tech blogs like Boing Boing and Slashdot. He said some e-mails were merely letting the district know that the story was floating around online while others were less-than-supportive. “We got e-mail from people who were very indignant there was a teacher who could be totally clueless like this,” he said. Others were more constructive: “Some said that somebody needs to go talk to this teacher (about Linux). It’s tough to do because there’s no name.”
The AISD official chalks it up to an e-mail and blog exchange that got too emotional. If the incident did occur, he said, the teacher said things she had no business saying about a topic she clearly didn’t understand. “It’s just giving us a bad name and it’s sad,” Salada said, “it’s so the opposite of what we are and what we’re trying to be.”
Of the district’s 36,000 computers, two-thirds of them run Windows. However, these computers also run Open Office, Google Earth, Google Apps, Firefox and many other free software, much of it open-source. In addition, the district has 100 Linux servers and a lot of its infrastructure runs on that platform, Salada told the American-Statesman.
“We pretty much look at what the best product is to get the job done and we’re very price-sensitive as well,” Salada said.
Salada said that although AISD would love for the whole situation to blow over, they aren’t making a concerted effort to identify the teacher, identified only online as “Karen,” or to discipline her. In fact, Salada says he understands the teacher making sure inappropriate content wasn’t being brought into the classroom. “She was really doing her job,” he said, “I think where this thing melted down was in the interchange (online).”
So there you have it. AISD clueless about open-source? Not quite. At the very least, its technology director certainly understands how things spread online: “I guess it’s just the nature of what the Internet can do,” Salada said, “it happens fast.”
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Computers, Internet
Breaking: local Linux hero makes nice with flamed AISD teacher
Linux is a free, open-source operating system that is an alternative for many to Mac OS or Microsoft’s Windows. HeliOS is an Austin group that builds computers for kids who can’t afford them which run the Linux operating system.
The e-mail implied that what Starks is doing might be illegal and advised him to work with Microsoft instead. Starks’ fiery response to the e-mail, which he posted in the blog along with an excerpt from the e-mail, was picked up by such heavily trafficked sites as Slashdot and Boing Boing. On Slashdot alone, the item has generated more than 1,470 comments.
Now, Starks says he regrets the whole incident. “I don’t think I’ve ever committed one act that made me feel like such a schmuck,” he said in a phone interview with the American-Statesman today.
Starks says he has spoken with the teacher twice since his Monday post and that “Karen” was crying when they spoke. What she failed to mention in her initial e-mail, he says, is that she gave the Linux discs back to the student and was more concerned that there might be pornography or other suspect material on the discs than about a non-Windows operating system being introduced in the classroom.
“She was beside herself,” Starks said, “I excoriated an entire profession. If I can’t heal that what I want to do is make this lady understand that I’m really and sincerely sorry from the bottom of my heart that I caused her grief.”
Many blog commenters tried to suss out the teacher’s identity as well as her school by trying to decode x’s Starks used in his post to cover up the woman’s last name and her school. He assured me that he didn’t make his masking of the teacher’s identity that easy to decode. And searching the AISD database doesn’t narrow it down much: there are 66 AISD middle school employees named “Karen.”
Starks said a New Zealand newspaper offered to donate $1,000 to his project if he revealed the teacher’s last name and that a U.S. magazine offered $10,000 for the information. He does not plan to divulge Karen’s last name or school.
Starks sounded nervous when he answered his phone today. He said “We’re being litigated,” and added, “my lawyer has stuck a size-12 boot in my mouth.”
Nevertheless, he revealed that after his two conversations with the teacher, “She’s working to stop (the legal action).” He implied that colleagues of the teacher had encouraged her to take to the courts but that they had made progress in their two phone conversations, which the teacher initiated by text messaging Starks.
The brouhaha, Starks figures, has at least put a spotlight on Linux, which he says is his mission in life. Starks says he spoke to an official at AISD who assured him that not only does the district support Linux, but uses it widely. A phone call and e-mail to AISD have not yet elicited an informed response about the matter, but we’ll continue to update this story as more details or comment from the district is received.
Starks says he regrets the pain he says the harsh comments on the tech blogs have caused the teacher. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this bad about something I’ve done in my life,” he said.
Starks plans to follow-up his now-infamous blog post with another one tonight (around 10 p.m., he said) which will update the situation and take a much nicer tone, we can assume.
Nevertheless, there’s a bit of a silver lining in the story of how an angry e-mail could rile the entire Linux world: on Saturday, Starks says, he has been invited to install the Linux operating system on Karen’s home computer.
(Photo provided by Ken Starks.)
Update: AISD’s director of technology has commented on the story and given his take on the situation.
Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Computers, Internet
December 8, 2008
From the DVR to the computer: TV bliss
A few weeks ago, I installed a very early version of DirectTV’s new DirectTV2PC software, which allows you to access whatever’s on your home DVRs from a Windows PC on the same network.
Sure, the name could use a little work, but the program itself worked great once I got it installed. (I had a major all-day headache trying to get the program activated, but once I found this information on a forum it worked for me.)
Once it was installed, though, the application did what it was supposed to: it accessed both of our home DVRs (we have the HR20 HD DVRs) and allowed me to watch programs from either box, even HD programs.
What are the limitations? HD video is very stuttery if your box or computer is hooked up via a Wi-Fi network. My living room box is connected via a wireless bridge and while SD video worked fine, anything HD was very tough to watch.
On the other hand, the DVR we have in the bedroom streamed HD video fine using a Powerline Ethernet connection, which is faster than the Wi-Fi. So if you plan to do something like this, make sure your DVR and your computer are hooked up on a good wired network or that your Wi-Fi network has enough bandwidth to handle the streaming.
You also can’t use DirecTV2PC while multiple monitors are running. This is awful because I’d love to be able to have a DVR show running on a second monitor while Web browsing or doing other stuff on my primary monitor. But for now, the program will tell you that you can only have one monitor running in order to watch shows. There’s also no way to delete shows on your DVR from the computer (maybe that’s a good thing; it would be easy to do it accidentally) or to set recordings from within the program.
I know this is nothing new for people who have TiVo boxes. TiVo has offered this capability for years and it’s a shame that satellite and cable providers are just getting around to implementing these features. For that matter, I’d really love to be able to access the contents of one DVR from the other DVR so we don’t have to guess which programs have been recorded in which room and adjust our viewing accordingly. AT&T already offers this with their U-verse service, but that’s because all the boxes in the house are sharing the same hard drive.
Competition has not let up in the war to earn your TV viewing dollar, so you can expect more innovations like this on every new DVR being offered out there. In fact, maybe we should come up with a set of requirements that every DVR should have: I’d start with the ability to set recordings remotely, place-shift recordings to your computer of mobile device and the ability to be able to offload programs onto an online service when your DVR gets too full in lieu of having to delete things you still want to watch.
It’s a start, at least. What new features would you like to see on your DVR?
Edited to add: Here’s where to find the DirecTV2PC application. It’s a beta program and you’ll have to provide a valid e-mail to receive a download code.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Applications, Computers, Movies & DVDs, TV
December 4, 2008
The Linkdown for Thursday, Dec. 4
The holidays are almost upon us. Peep these links before things get too crazy and you don’t have time:
- See the Dell Design Studio in action, on video.
- PBS KIDS Island has been awarded an Editor’s Choice Award by the Children’s Technology Review. Congrats to the Island.
- First Lego League is holding qualifying tournaments this weekend. GO LEGO CHAMPS!
- A computer keyboard that you can wash? That’s just CRAZY!
- Texas has the 19th-fastest Internet service in the nation, according to PC Magazine.
- Explore Local Austin helps you figure out which local merchants you should patronize this holiday season.
- Got heart-related questions? Why not ask a heart doctor?
- Are your eyes tired? Gunnar Optiks has pricey glasses that will make you look like one of those cool Eastern European super spies, circa 1986. They look Wonderbar and are said to help if you sit in front of a screen all day.
- One of our previous Masters of their Domains subjects, Andrew Butler of Hill Country Rambling, reports that his site is receiving about 2.5 million hits a month and has expanded to coverage of San Antonio and more of Austin. He’s also covering sporting athletic events now.
- It’s not quite as impressive as OfficeMax’s Elf Yourself, but digital picture frame company Ceiva offers a chance to have your picture and name appear, as if by magic, in a video at sitonstantaslap.com — you can embed a picture of yourself and your name in the video on this site. I had the video of me posted below, but it was set to automatically play every time this blog page loaded and got really annoying, so I removed it. Dear Ceiva: please don’t make your dumb video do autoplay in the embed code. kthxbai!
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November 24, 2008
Live blog: holiday tech gifts
This live blog will start at 2 p.m. CST. Thanks for participating!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Applications, Computers, Gadgets, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Phones, Shopping, TV, Videogames
October 14, 2008
Apple refreshes its notebook line
Steve Jobs donned the Black Long-Sleeved Shirt of Innovation to introduce new versions of Apple Inc.’s popular Macbook and Macbook Pro computers today.
Changes for the Macbook Pro and new aluminum versions of the Macbook laptop build on the manufacturing process that ushered in the ultra-light Macbook Air. Both are getting graphics processing updates from graphics company Nvidia and a new glass trackpad. No buttons below the trackpad: the entire piece of glass operates as your mouse, mouse buttons and multi-touch controls. The trackpad is also 39 percent larger, Jobs said. Macbook Pro prices will start at $1,999 and $2,499.
The white Macbook won’t disappear: instead it’ll be priced at $999, making it least expensive laptop in Apple history.
The new Macbooks start at $1,299 (or $1,599 for more hard drive space, a faster CPU and a backlit keyboard like the new Pros) and feature the aluminum enclosure, faster graphics and the glass trackpad.
Apple also made some tweaks to its Macbook Air, keeping its graphics capabilities in line with the other new laptops.
Apple also introduced a new 24-inch Cinema Display monitor for $899.
The Apple Store has just been updated with the new models and prices and you can see the specs on the Macbook and Macbook Pro pages.
A co-worker called the Apple Store and was told they don’t have the new notebooks out yet, but the online store has them available for sale. I imagine it won’t be long before they show up at the retail locations.
Lots more details in this blow-by-blow of the presentation from Engadget.com.
I’m not personally in the market for a new laptop (even though my one-year-old white Macbook looks permanently stained and is falling apart on one of its edges), but if I was, I’d probably hit that $1,299 aluminum Macbook. I’m not sure a backlit keyboard, slightly faster CPU and extra hard drive space is worth an extra $300 to step up to the $1,599 model.
The new Macbook:
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Computers, Gadgets, Shopping
October 9, 2008
Apple expected to unveil new notebooks Tuesday
The rumor mill forever churns when it comes to Apple, but it looks like some recent ones about a new line (or a revamped line) of notebook computers may be grounded in some reality.
According to Wired and other sources, Apple will be making an announcement around noon on Tuesday about notebook computers.
The front-runner rumors are that Apple’s popular Macbook line will switch to an aluminum exterior, keeping it in line with other product lines (like the iMac). There’s been speculation that Apple has created a new manufacturing process (do a search for “Macbook” and “Brick” and you’ll see what they’re talking about), and that Apple will introduce a sub-$1,000 model. In fact, some are saying a bare-bones Macbook could run as low as $800, very cheap by Apple notebook standards.
I would also expect refinements, if not price cuts, for Macbook Pros and Macbook Air. I’m not feeling the speculation that the Macbook Pros and Macbook lines could merge into one product group; Apple likes having a “Pro” line and differentiating it from its consumer notebooks. I don’t see that changing.
The Macbooks in particular are due for a design change. We’ll see on Tuesday what Apple rolls out for those who’ve been waiting to buy (including a desk-neighbor at my office).
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Computers, Shopping
September 4, 2008
Oh, those titans of tech
What are the big boys of technology doing this month?
We already know that Google is putting its claws into another portion of the Internet with its new Chrome browser. (Further impression: I managed to get a tab to crash last night, by watching a YouTube video of all things.)
Dell today revealed a very low-cost mini laptop, the Inspiron Mini 9. It’s great news for consumers in general, but how will they make money off this thing? I guess by selling a ton of them. It reminds me of the underpants gnomes from “South Park.” Dell mini notebook ==> ??? ==>> PROFIT!
Microsoft and Apple both have big unveilings planned for September 9th. Everyone expects Apple will release new versions of its iPod Touch and possibly a new version, 8.0, of iTunes. What other surprises does Steve Jobs have up his black sleeve? Interestingly, Microsoft has also chosen that day to unveil what some expect will be a new kind of mouse technology using a blue laser (but not a Blu-ray), some Web cams and maybe some new Zunes. Why would Microsoft unveil electronics on the same day as Apple? Hey, they’re Microsoft. It’s not like they make huge marketing blunders. We’ll have to just trust them on this one.
Gaming giant Electronics Arts is releasing Will Wright’s long-awaited “Spore” on Sunday in North America. Behind-the-scenes reporting story: I received the game yesterday and stayed up late last night playing it. We were asked not to post any reviews of the game until 9 a.m. Friday, but several gaming sites posted their reviews this morning. When I asked EA what was up with that, they told me that since the game is being released early in other countries, they were letting the whole embargo thing go. But then they asked me to hold my review until tomorrow. Huh? I’ve been hearing surprisingly little buzz about “Spore” given how much attention it’s been given over the years and as I began playing the game last night, I began to see see why.
The game, at least on first glance, feels much slighter than expectations have suggested. Yes, it’s about the creation of an entire species, but the game plays as episodes that, at least in what I played, don’t feel as deep as what I was expecting. In fact the entire first section of the game feels like an extrapolated, very pretty version of the cheap downloadable game “Fl0w.”
I’ll have more to say on the game tomorrow after another night of play, but so far I have very mixed feelings about “Spore.” It’s technically wonderful, runs without a hitch, feels very polished — but so far, it feels a lot lighter than the game I felt we were promised. If you can’t wait until tomorrow, plenty of other people have already posted reviews of the game.
And lastly, on the subject of TiVo and DirecTV, I agree with this guy on a new TiVo HD recorder that’s been announced for DirecTV. In fact, I’m furious about it, but I’ll have to tell you why later.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Applications, Computers, Gadgets, Internet, TV, Videogames
September 2, 2008
Browser wars anew; holiday tech news
It was a very long Labor Day weekend; at least it feels that way when you have a 1-year-old who likes to listen to the same CD over and over. Thank goodness she hasn’t figured out how the DVD player works yet.
But, enough about me. How are you? Did you see all this tech news that happened over the break? If not, let me fill you in:
- The big talk this morning has been about Google’s sudden unveiling of a brand new Web browser called “Chrome.” As the company explains in a nicely done (but very long) comic by “Understanding Comics” author Scott McCloud, Chrome has been built from the ground up and is an open-source project. How will it do against Microsoft’s forthcoming final version of Internet Explorer 8, Safari, Opera and Firefox browsers? Early word is that Chrome is very, very fast. But will it have the plug-in community support of Firefox and build an audience as large as Internet Explorer? You can download the beta program for Windows yourself and see what you think.
- Is Dell launching an ultraportable computer on Thursday? The rumors seem to suggest they will.
- Local publisher Gamecock Media releases its long-anticipated game “Pirates VS. Ninjas Dodgeball” for Xbox Live Arcade tomorrow.
- The man of a million voiceovers has died.
- AT&T Wireless customers can automatically donate $5 to the Red Cross to help evacuees fleeing Hurricane Gustav by texting the word GIVE to 2HELP.
- Are new iPods coming? Everyone expects they’ll be announced next Tuesday.
- Nikon’s new D90 camera sounds HOT. HD video recording on top of a top-of-the-line consumer DSLR camera? Too bad I already own a D50 and just bought an HD camcorder earlier this year. David Pogue has already reviewed it and says it’s a fantastic camera, but a bit limited as a camcorder. Also love the idea of that geotagging GP-1 add-on device.
- What I’m playing: “Soul Calibur IV” for the Xbox 360, “No More Heroes” for the Wii and possibly “Spore” for the PC if it arrives in the next day or two for early review.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Applications, Baby-daddy, Computers, Gadgets, Internet, Videogames
August 6, 2008
Supplemental: Thoof shuts down, Dell ad agency hides Apple goods?
Two more items to share with you today, both lobbed our way by Austin blogger Jeff Beckham.
First off, this item is too delicious not to share: according to Mediabistro.com’s AgencySpy blog, employees at the Austin offices of Dell Inc.’s ad agency Enfatico (Gesundheit!) swapped all of their Apple equipment for PCs in anticipation of a visit from Michael Dell.
According to the item, which was said to be confirmed by inside sources, the switcheroo was quite expensive and was just one problem at the fledgling agency. If it’s true, you must admit it’s just a tiny bit hilarious.
It reminds me of when people dress up in ties and dress clothes when the CEO is visiting. Except this was thousands of dollars worth of hardware.
Come on, Michael Dell. Did you really think there’s a high-end ad agency that exclusively uses PCs? Really?
In more somber news, Austin startup Thoof.com, which was trying to combine community content like Digg.com with an artificial intelligence backbone that could be applied to other kinds of sites, has shut its doors. We wrote about them last year and I found their leader, Ian Clarke, to be kind of brilliant. We wish them the best in their new endeavors.
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July 29, 2008
Dell Studio Hybrid is for real; Scrabulous no more
The Dell Studio Hybrid computer that I mentioned yesterday is now a three-dimensional reality:
Dell has not always been known for its fashion-forward PCs, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. The diminutive setup includes a wireless keyboard and mouse, a PC base that looks more like an external hard drive and a flat-screen monitor.
It also comes in multiple colors and one possibly ill-advised Bamboo model:
The energy-efficient Hybrid starts at $499 and be equipped with a Blu-ray drive as an optional feature.
Oh, Scrabulous.
The popular Scrabble-like Facebook application is no more. Hasbro has added its own version of Scrabble to the social networking site and has taken legal action against the popular knockoff.
It didn’t take long for a Scrabble protest group to show up on Facebook.
The New York Times Bits blog has more updates — apparently the Scrabulous developers took the game offline themselves in North America, not Facebook.
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July 28, 2008
Is this Dell's new Studio Hybrid Mini PC?
Apple isn’t the only company that has to content with rumors and speculation about its product line ruining potentially huge announcements.
Dell Inc. may have had a new product exposed on the Engadget blog. The so-called Dell Studio Hybrid Mini PC has been pictured (at least in drawing form) on the site and supposedly sports a wireless mouse and keyboard, a diminutive, rounded based unit and, of course, an obligatory flat-screen monitor.
It looks very nice — we can’t wait to see actual photos if this is indeed a new Dell product that’ll be rolled out online soon.
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July 7, 2008
Join the Austin-based cancer computing grid
You want to help cure cancer, don’t you? What else are you doing that’s more important than that today?
Instead, it’s an area of research into why certain cells stick and others break free, such as the moment when cancer cells break free and spread throughout the body.
The research project is headed up by assistant professor Muhammad Zaman (pictured on the right).
Here’s where you come in: the research involves harnessing the power of multiple computers online and having them share their processing power in a passive way. You can download the BOINC program to contribute your computer’s idle processing power to the Cellular Environment in Living Systems @Home project. The program runs in the background like a screensaver and won’t get in the way of any naughty Web browsing or exciting instant messaging you may have planned.
Find out more about Cels@home here and read up on downloading instructions.
I’ve played around with similar projects like the Stanford-based Folding@Home project with the PlayStation 3 and it’s pretty amazing to watch scientific work being done inside your home. Check it out.
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June 6, 2008
72 hours until iPhone 2.0?
It’s gone from rumors to a foregone conclusion that on noon Monday, at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2008 in San Francisco, Apple Inc. chief Steve Jobs will unveil the next iteration of the iPhone.
Nearly a year after it hit U.S. Apple and AT&T stores, the iPhone has been improved with several significant software upgrades, but the rumor mill believes that some hardware improvements will make the handset even better. Among the anticipated improvements: built-in GPS (as opposed to the faux-GPS that current iPhones employ using triangulation); 3G wireless speeds that would allow the iPhone to surf more quickly even out of Wi-Fi zones; size changes (either thicker, thinner or in two screen sizes, depending on what rumor you believe) and more memory.
No one expects a total redesign of the phone. Reviews over the past year have largely been positive for what was at one time referred to as the “Jesus Phone.” The hardware is nicely designed and the software remains elegant. Issues that were brought up early on — the difficulty of use of the screen keyboard, limitations in text messaging and worries about the limited memory have largely been addressed. (Well, not the keyboard; some people still don’t like it. I’ve come to really like it, myself.)
Apart from changes to the iPhone itself, Jobs is expected to open the floodgates to third-party applications for the phone, which would be distributed and sold through the iTunes store. Expect to see a flood of handy apps and tools announced Monday.
What nobody seems to agree upon is pricing, which (for me, at least) was a huge issue when the iPhone was introduced. Will there be a plan to subsidize current iPhone users so they can upgrade to a 3G version painlessly and with little cost? Will Apple cut the price of the iPhone to boost sales, which have begun to show signs of weakening?
While at one time, I believed Apple would allow the new version of the iPhone to co-exist with the old one, I now think they’ll do whatever they can to move people over to the new iPhone, even if that means giving current users a huge discount.
I also think AT&T will charge more for access to the 3G network, but it won’t be a huge increase: maybe $10 more a month for unlimited 3G access. That would make the iPhone’s data plan about $30, putting it within range of what people pay for BlackBerry data plans.
What do you think Monday will bring? Post your speculation and hopes in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Computers, Gadgets, Phones
June 3, 2008
Macbook Pro users reporting wireless issues
A blog reader and Apple Macbook Pro user shot me a message pointing me to this discussion forum where MBP users are complaining that they’re suffering from wireless woes.
The problem, according to posters, is that on some Wi-Fi networks, the laptops are either dropping their Internet connection or throttling transfers to dial-up speeds.
Given that the MBP is Apple’s flagship notebook (it’s pricier than the Macbook Air), owners expected that Apple would fix the problem with its most recent massive software update. Apparently, that didn’t do the trick.
Apple was said to have apologized last month to faculty from the New York City Department of Education after the issue led the department to cancel a large Macbook Pro order because of the issue.
Apple should have some major announcements on Monday and the last thing they need is this kind of publicity. Let’s hope a software patch is forthcoming and that it fixes up the problem for angry owners.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment Categories: Computers
May 22, 2008
Dell, Pixel Mine get in the game
Two local tech companies are kicking off the summer by trying some unconventional ways to get video games into gamers’ hands.
Pixel Mine, Inc., which we’ve written about here before, recently launched Pixel Mine Portal, where PC gamers can download a launcher to play games from the company. Launch games include “Ashen Empires” and “Dransik,” both massively multiplayer online games, as well as beta versions of “Fireteam Reloaded” and “Secondhand Lands.”
Some games on the site are free, but others will rely on “micropayments.” Players purchase tokens that can be used for any games on the site. In the future, players will be able to earn game points and use them for prizes and store items.
Competition for gamers’ eyeballs is at an all-time high, so here’s hoping Pixel Mine can carve its own little niche out there.
Dell Inc. is also trying to get gamers excited. The company’s College Gaming League is partnering with the Championship Gaming Series for an amateur league.
Geared toward PC and Xbox 360 players, the College Gaming League offers educational discounts to all college students on PC bundles as well as access to tournaments for university teams.
Expect to see this partnership play out on campuses with competitions leading to national video game tourneys, which are expected to be televised.
Professional video-game leagues haven’t really taken off in the U.S. the way they have in South Korea and other countries, but if anyone’s in a position to put some hardware muscle behind the movement, it’s Dell.
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May 19, 2008
AMD tries to raise gamer awareness with AMD Game
AMD is trying to woo PC gamers again with a branding campaign it hopes will demystify the process of buying a computer for gaming.
“AMD GAME!” is a branding initiative launched today, not unlike the old chestnut “Intel Inside.” PCs that have been vetted for hardware compatibility will earn an “AMD GAME!” or “AMD GAME! Ultra” sticker. The goal, the company said in an interview Friday, is to give shoppers a clear indication of whether a PC will play their favorite games without having to pore over an alphabet soup of processor and graphic card specs.
Partners in the initiative include Microsoft, Austin’s game developer NCsoft and Dell’s Alienware game hardware division.
What will a PC with “AMD GAME!” get you? For an AMD-based system, here are the minimum specs:
- For “AMD GAME!”: A minimum of an AMD Athlon X2 5600+ processor, an ATI Radeon HD 3650 graphics card and 2 gigabytes of DDR2 memory. They’ll typically be priced about $699-$999, says AMD.
- For “AMD GAME! Ultra”: A minimum of an AMD Phenom X4 9650 processor, an ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphics card and 2 gigabytes of DDR2 memory. Typical PC prices for a system like this will be about $999-$1,299, the company said.
For specs below that, PCs would be considered by AMD to cater more to casual users while machines amped up far beyond “Ultra” would be using what the company calls “CrossfireX,” a configuration of multiple graphics card that only hardcore gamers tend to want to deal with.
What will “AMD GAME!” do for gaming? In my experience, games couldn’t care less about the stickers and branding that accompany a new PC. But they will pore over the specs of a system to make sure the graphics card and processor is to their liking, so a little shorthand to avoid the alphabet soup of processors and graphics products might be a good thing.
On the other hand, we’ve all seen what happens when a large-scale branding campaign like Intel’s Viiv is met with the shrugging of shoulders. Does it mean much in the big scheme of the PC market?
AMD is hoping that the world’s 263 million PC gamers worldwide will at least make “AMD GAME!” a factor in future purchases.
One disturbing note, though: In a presentation on which games were solid performers on “AMD GAME!” and “AMD GAME! Ultra” systems, AMD neglected to include the game that most gamers consider the true test of a system’s hardware: “Crysis.” Sure, lots of people play “World of Warcraft” and “Lineage 2,” but “Crysis” is the real torture test and benchmark these days for gaming performance. Its absence in AMD’s pretty frame-rate measurement chart is disturbing, to say the least.
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May 14, 2008
Dell would do well to dump XPS (Updated)
Dell Inc. is getting rid of its XPS line of gaming enthusiast computers in favor of supplying gaming PCs and laptops by Alienware, the company it acquired two years ago.
You might be tempted to ask, “What took them so long?” In the two years since the acquisition, Alienware has continued to innovate on the high end of the gaming market, pushing the boundaries of PC graphics, cooling and performance, three areas important to gamers who want to pull every last bit of frame-rate from their games.
Dell’s XPS line has… well, they’ve put out some models in very interesting colors. It’s not that XPS machines were bad. It just never made sense to gamers that Dell would have two completely different lines of computers aimed at gamers.
We come to praise Dell in this space, though: This is a good decision, one that sends a clear vote of confidence about Alienware as the PC gaming industry goes through a tough time. There are some who say PC gaming is dying, or at the very least is becoming an increasingly niche market. EA Sports recently canceled a PC version of its flagship “Madden NFL” game and with all the recent hype about “Grand Theft Auto IV,” PC gamers were left to wonder if they’d ever get to visit the dangerous streets of Liberty City on their computers.
PC games are in a transitional period: for every giant success like “World of Warcraft,” there are dozens of misfires — games that just aren’t selling well on the PC or are selling better on the console side. (One exception: “The Orange Box,” which just flat out plays better on PC.)
There were fears that Alienware might be absorbed into the Dellganism and might become part of the XPS brand. The trouble with that would have been that XPS never cultivated the kind of stellar reputation among gamers that Alienware has maintained for so many years. Sure, some people consider Alienware PCs and laptops to be overpriced, but they are also among the most recognizable PCs in the world, and the brand itself carries a lot of weight in PC circles. If you have an Alienware computer, it says you’re serious about PC gaming.
And this announcement means Dell is serious about it, too.
Update: Dell Inc. posted a message last night saying that the Wall Street Journal story is wrong and that it has no plans to phase out the XPS brand. According to the post, featured on one of Dell’s customers blogs, XPS will continue to exist and will push beyond gaming while the company plans to “invest like crazy in product development, design and engineering to propel Alienware as the premier gaming brand in the future.”
Uh huh. So I guess my praise was given too soon. Dell will continue to push XPS as a premium brand, somewhere between its business/home lines and its Alienware gaming brand? Does it sound to anybody else like this may be one line of computers too many?
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