Analyst: Windows 8 Tablets Dead on Arrival?

PC Magazine has raised the question whether tablets based on Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 may arrive to find there is no market for them:

Microsoft may be touting its Windows 8 operating system as an ideal engine for a tablet, but one analyst report claims that it will be too late to the party.

In a blog post published Tuesday, analyst JP Gownder predicted that Microsoft-powered Windows tablets would be a "fifth-mover" behind tablets from Apple, Google's Android partners, HP's WebOS, and the BlackBerry PlayBook.

As I have commented previously, any missteps with Windows 8 could spell disaster for Microsoft. And this reality seems to be taking shape: If Microsoft stakes its fortune on an operating system designed primarily to be run on tablets and its planned device for the tablet market is a dud, then the folks in Redmond will be left with a giant mess.

My own prejudice is clear: There is no place for a touchscreen interface on a desktop or laptop computer. Period. Steve Jobs said it best: the trackpad is the most natural way to interact with a laptop or desktop. No one wants to keep their arms elevated to touch a desktop screen while editing photos in Photoshop. Plus a finger is not precise enough for that kind of task. (And no one ever seems to mention how often—or even how—you are supposed to clean all those fingerprints off your monitor.)

Microsoft is showing its stupidity (once again) in trying to make the same operating system and user interface work across all kinds of devices. No one cares if their tablet and their laptop and desktop are identical. In fact, Windows users who use iPads and iPhones (and there are millions of them) don't seem to care if those devices are even remotely similar.

Apple is not entirely immune to this kind of fuzzy thinking either. I am convinced that Steve Jobs, in his final days, was more concerned with new products in the pipeline than with the user interface on OS X Lion. The faux leather trim on the iCal interface (and even the little ragged edge of a torn page at the top of the screen), along with a whole laundry list of interface oddities in Lion, are inconsistent with Jobs' aesthetics. The user interface on the Mac OS needs to use design metaphors that are consistent with the device, rather than trying to import the look and feel from iOS to the desktop.

Now if the folks behind those corporate walls in Redmond and Cupertino will get a clue...
 

One More Thing: Steve Jobs' Final Moments Described by Sister

From here.

Steve Jobs final words? Really, just a final phrase, repeated in triplicate: "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow."

That's but the capstone of a gripping eulogy [a must read] delivered by Steve Jobs's biological sister, author Mona Simpson, at Jobs's October 16 memorial service at Stanford University. The New York Times printed a transcript of Simpson's thoughts today, and it reveals a great deal of the unique relationship that Jobs shared with his sister–who he met for the first time when she was 25–as well as the more intimate moments of Jobs's life and final days.

Read it all.
 

Steve Jobs: Measuring Memorials by the Numbers

Statistician Neil Kodner has taken it upon himself to conduct a tribute of tributes to the late Steve Jobs: an analysis of how users have been paying tribute to Jobs via the messages listed on Apple's remembrance site.

Read more.

Researcher Claims, "We're Actually 'In Love' With Our iPhones"

From PC Magazine:

According to a branding consultant, people are "in love" with their Apple iPhones, rather than merely "addicted" to them.

Writing his findings in the New York Times, Martin Lindstrom conducted fMRI scans on 16 iPhone owners between the ages of 18-25 while they were exposed to either audio or visual iPhone stimulation. He found that the sights and sounds of their iPhones actually stimulated areas of the brain reserved for loved ones.

"Most striking of all was the flurry of activation in the insular cortex of the brain, which is associated with feelings of love and compassion," Lindstrom wrote. "The subjects' brains responded to the sound of their phones as they would respond to the presence or proximity of a girlfriend, boyfriend or family member."

"In short, the subjects didn't demonstrate the classic brain-based signs of addiction. Instead, they loved their iPhones."

Read it all.
 

"Faster than light" particles may be physics revolution

Leading scientists said on Friday the discovery of sub-atomic particles apparently traveling faster than light could force a major rethink of theories on the makeup of the cosmos if independently confirmed.

Jeff Forshaw, a professor of particle physics at Britain's Manchester University, told Reuters the results if confirmed would mean it would be possible in theory to "send information into the past". "In other words, time travel into the past would become possible...(though) that does not mean we'll be building time-machines anytime soon."

The CERN research institute near Geneva said measurements over three years had shown neutrinos pumped to a receiver in Gran Sasso, Italy, had arrived an average of 60 nanoseconds sooner than light would have done -- a tiny difference that could nonetheless undermine Albert Einstein's 1905 special theory of relativity.

[...]

The discovery would open up intriguing theoretical possibilities.

"Light speed is a cosmic speed limit and it exists in order to protect the law of cause and effect," said Professor Forshaw.

"If something travels faster than the cosmic speed limit, then it becomes possible to send information into the past - in other words, time travel into the past would become possible. That does not mean we'll be building time-machines anytime soon though - there is quite a gulf between a time-travelling neutrino to a time-travelling human."

Read it all.
 

MIT Shows Off New 3D Printing Projects

As I have said before: What can you make a 3-D printer? Almost anything. And it keeps getting better.

From PC Magazine:

Printing in three dimensions may sound like science fiction, but it's quickly becoming science fact, with the emerging technology expected to dramatically change industries as varied as manufacturing, architecture, and medicine.

A new video released by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the birthplace of 3D printing, provides a glimpse of how researchers continue to push forward on the new technology. Graduate students and professors are making strides with projects as varied as printing full meals, housing, and fully assembled cuckoo clocks. There's even an ongoing project to 3D print a 3D printer.

We've seen 3D printers make everything from video game tchotchkes to inticate miniatures, and heard researchers predict the printing of artificial organs. ExtremeTech's Sebastian Anthony predicts it will lead to something like the replicator and teleporter technology seen in Star Trek.

Read more.

Challenges of an Apple without Jobs

Stunning and sad news today as Steve Jobs announced he is stepping down as CEO of Apple. While he will continue as Chairman of the Board, the move most likely signals health complications following treatment for a neuroendocrine pancreatic tumor, first diagnosed in 2004, and a liver transplant in 2009.

Wilson Rothman writes about the Challenges of an Apple without Jobs and encapsulates the unique, imaginary vision and "disruptive continuity" that made Jobs the most formidable force in the technology industry. The article is a must read for understanding the secret of his success and the prospects for the company he founded.

Apple's iCloud faces consumer confusion over 'cloud computing'

As Apple plans to push its iCloud service to consumers this fall, a new survey has found that most people don't even know what the term "cloud computing" means.

Do YOU know what cloud computing means for YOU?

If not, read it all!

Swede tried to build nuclear reactor in his kitchen

From here:

A Swedish man was arrested after he tried to build a nuclear reactor in his kitchen and documented his efforts on the Internet, authorities and the man said Thursday.

Richard Handl, 31, from Angelholm in southern Sweden, gathered materials including smoke detectors, clock and watch hands and via purchases on the Internet.

"I was just curious to see if it was possible, it is just a hobby," said Handl, currently unemployed but previously a worker in a ventilation systems factory.

He documented his efforts on a blog and his Facebook page.

He got as far as mixing some ingredients on a cooker -- americum, radium, beryllium and 96 percent sulphuric acid.

"The boiling explosion was about 3 or 4 months ago and the police came two weeks ago," he said.

After the incident, which he tagged "The Meltdown" on his blog, he said he "cleaned up the mess on the cooker and then I bought some more radium and continued the experiment."

The Radiation Safety Authority said in a statement the authorities raided Handl's flat on July 20 after hearing that he was handling nuclear materials in an unsafe way.

"There were no raised levels of radiation in the apartment and the neighbors were not exposed to radiation," research chief Leif Moberg said in the statement.

Handl reported the raid laconically on his website, writing "Project canceled!"

He was detained and shortly after freed. "I am still a suspect for crime against the radiation safety law," he said.

"It is just a hobby," the man says. Someone needs to teach this guy the meaning of "DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!!!"

Why Windows 8 Might Fail

From my favorite technology columnist, John C. Dvorak:

...the fear I and others have regarding Windows 8 is that Microsoft never seems to understand modern interfaces and constantly gets things wrong to the point that people react poorly.

[...]

This is the difference between a company run by a visionary and a company run by functional businessmen with no vision or self-confidence. It explains why Microsoft cannot really innovate.

Read it all.

You might also like to read: Will Windows 8 Kill Microsoft?

Xbox addict 'dies from blood clot'

From here:

The family of a budding computer programmer have launched a campaign to raise awareness about the health risks of playing online computer games after their son died following a marathon session on his Xbox.

A post-mortem revealed that 20-year-old Chris Staniforth -- who was offered a place to study Game Design at Leicester University -- was killed by a pulmonary embolism, which can occur if someone sits in the same position for several hours.

Xbox 360 controller Deep vein thrombosis normally affects passengers on long-haul flights, but medical experts fear youngsters who spend hours glued to their consoles might also be at risk and have urged them to take regular breaks.

Read it all.

10 Things Killed By the Smartphone

From PC World and CIO Magazine:

1. MP3 Players


2. Portable Game Consoles


3. Point-and-Shoot Cameras


4. Personal Video Players


5. Voice Recorders


6. Portable GPS Navigation Devices


7. Personal Digital Assistants (PDA)


8. Wristwatches


9. Paper Maps


10. 411 Directory Assistance

Read it all.

Hmmm, I think I'll go churn some butter while listening to Jack Benny on the wireless.

What can you make with a 3D printer?

Just about anything.



You can read more here.

Do we really need an app for that?

In his keynote at the Apple World Wide Developers' Conference earlier this month, Steve Jobs mentioned that the number of apps available for download from the App Store now numbers more than 425,000, with more than 14 billion apps having been downloaded by users of Apple's popular iOS devices.

Those are astounding numbers. But before we lift our glasses in a toast to Apple, we need to ask what the app model is doing to the way we use the internet. Over the past 17 years we have seen the world wide web evolve from plain gray pages with lots of blue underlined hyperlinks (remember when we used to call them that?) to attractive, feature-rich, interactive websites capable of displaying enormous amounts of information and entertainment.

Now, the rise of Apple's iOS mobile devices is causing many web publishers to all but replace their websites with apps. No, websites aren't going to disappear anytime soon. But a growing number of companies are diverting resources that used to go to their websites to their own apps instead, leading one technology venture capitalist to claim, "Apple is killing the World Wide Web!" I think he is right.

I have no problem with an app for a mobile device being software—a program that actually runs on the device. After all "app" is simply an abbreviation for an application, despite Apple's attempt to trademark the term. Word processing, spreadsheets, graphics programs, video viewers, presentation software—no problem. Even games are fine. But when an app starts to become little more than simply a way of taking you to a company's specially designed website (which is what browser bookmarks are for) then I have a problem with that.

Yet almost any magazine, newspaper, or media publisher of any size now has its own app. Of course every company that can manage it wants a precious piece of screen real estate on users' mobile devices, so one can hardly blame them. But it gets worse:

iPad readers no longer have much choice about how they’re able to access NY Post’s content. When readers try to access the NY Post’s website on their iPad via Safari, the site is blocked and they get redirected to a page for downloading the app. Basically, the New York Post is trying to get people who want to read its content on their iPads’ browser to purchase the paper’s $2 app and pay subsequent subscription fees.

The New York Times and other newspapers are rumored to be adopting this model as well. Of course, publishers can charge subscriptions to use their websites; and if they want to do so that is their business. But the app model is encouraging web publishers to adopt a proprietary interface that compartmentalizes the internet and to gouge consumers at the same time. This basically amounts to locking up the World Wide Web, turning the once-open information highway into a bunch of gated communities.

Yes, Apple could just be killing the World Wide Web as we have known it.