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22 Aug 2010 10:48

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Tech: Prediction: Mirasol displays could be in your tablet-reading future

  • Is this the future of tablet design? The screen above, a hybrid of eInk and LCD called Mirasol, is getting some big buzz, and a certain client has Qualcomm paying $2 billion to ramp up production of the technology. Is it Apple? Is it Amazon? Is it HP? Is it somebody else? We don’t know, but we have to admit being able to read a tablet in direct sunlight would rule. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Aug 2010 11:00

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Tech: Apple’s recent buy: What the heck is LiquidMetal, anyway?

  • As you can see, it’s not your average metal. The metal, which has glasslike properties, high flexibility and extreme toughness (and can easily be made en masse), was developed at the California Institute of Technology. It’s already used in the iPhone 3G and 3GS’ SIM remover, and is now alone, in the electronics sphere, thanks to an exclusive license with the company. Maybe Apple will cover their next iPhone in something other than glass. We can dream, can’t we? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2010 11:16

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Tech: Wired makes a series of dubious claims about the Web’s death

  • This was all inevitable. It is the cycle of capitalism. The story of industrial revolutions, after all, is a story of battles over control. A technology is invented, it spreads, a thousand flowers bloom, and then someone finds a way to own it, locking out others. It happens every time.
  • Wired editor Chris Anderson • Discussing the possibility that the Web is becoming less important in our lives. Why? Well, the Web is complicated, with many layers. Apps and other forms of connecting to the ‘net just work. We don’t buy this. As Anderson notes himself at the start of his article, they were wrong about Push notifications killing the Web way back in 1997. Why should we believe them now? (Also, the mag takes an interesting approach to laying this story out; Michael Wolff is on the other side of the coin, claiming that other companies forced apps onto us. Yeah, that’s it, too.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Aug 2010 09:36

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Tech: Google and Verizon’s net neutrality deal: As bad as it sounds

  • The agreement outsources the FCC’s powers and authorities to the very industries these rules are supposed to oversee.
  • Public Knowledge Senior Director Sherwin Sly • Discussing yesterday’s deal of an announcement between Google and Verizon. This is the sticking point many other people and groups have, just an FYI. Sure, it’s good for them to talk to the FCC about this kind of thing, but they’re basically trying to set public policy for everyone with a bunch of backroom deals. Sounds shady to us. Many feel that there’s a hidden agenda at work here, and if they do use this self-appointed authority, it could be dangerous. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Aug 2010 11:49

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Biz, Tech: The best way to get around patents? Focus on emerging markets

  • Want to build your own iPhone? You may run into patent trouble in the U.S. if you get too far, but if you pick the right emerging market, you may be able to pull it off without running into patent trouble. Indian-American scholar Vivek Wadhwa throws out this knowledge – the “Patent-Free Zone” – to budding entrepreneurs on TechCrunch. Put simply, you could go to Mexico – where Apple doesn’t have many patents filed – and create a similar product there without much legal trouble. And it extends to any number of products. It’s actually a smart approach – as long as you have the right product and the right market. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jul 2010 10:08

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Tech: Lenovo: Apple is totally letting us have the Chinese market

  • We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn’t care about China. If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble.
  • Lenovo founder and chairman Liu Chuanzhi • Suggesting Apple isn’t interested in the Chinese market very much, making it easier for the ThinkPad maker to gain a foothold. (He does say, though, that he thinks Jobs is a genius.) Apple, while not offering a direct rebuttal to the comments, notes that they plan on opening a bunch of stores in China by the end of the year. Is that codeword for “playing catch-up”? We think it is. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

29 Jun 2010 11:17

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Tech, World: Who blinked first in the Google vs. China search stand-off?

  • Google did, but not too much. The search giant angered China by re-directing to its free-speech-allowing Hong Kong site, threatening to revoke its business license. So, to prevent that, Google will force Chinese users to click on an image before going to the Hong Kong site, which is annoying but likely gets around China’s problems. Will it work? Good question. China is finicky. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

14 Jun 2010 21:02

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Biz: Starbucks says “screw it,” stops charging for wi-fi like losers

  • It had reached a point where it was affecting sales. For years, Starbucks was one of the few coffee-shop chains that didn’t have free wi-fi, instead charging high fees for usage. Then, they gave Starbucks Card holders two hours free. Now, they’re opening it up for everybody July 1st – and using their clout to sweeten the deal, big time. The details:
  • yesIt’ll be a simple process to log in – just hit a button and you’re on. You can stay as long as you want, bucking the independent coffee shop trend away from moochers.
  • noThat’s not all – they’ll offer free access to pay sites like The Wall Street Journal, and free music and movie previews. Holy crap. This could be big, everybody. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jun 2010 10:37

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Tech: Experts say we’ll be doing our computing in the cloud by 2020

  • 71%
    think we’ll be working on computers in the cloud
  • 27% think we’ll still be using PCs for most of everything we do
  • 2% think we’ll be using Amigas or running BeOS for some reason source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jun 2010 20:52

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Tech: The root of Google’s new Caffeine engine: 9/11. No, really

  • The onslaught of news readers that day made them emphasize immediacy. Remember September 11, 2001? We still had the Internet, yeah, but our search engines were super-primitive back then. So when people looked up news on Google, stories weren’t updated. Eventually, Google started caching sites like CNN to offset this, but it taught them a long-term lesson. “That was a real wake-up call, where we said we have to pay a lot of attention to freshness,” said Matt Cutts of Google’s spam team. “We knew that before, but we thought 30 days was pretty good.” Which led the the development of Google News, and later, Caffeine. Now, what was once updated monthly is now thrown up immediately. Neat, huh? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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