HP makes great hardware on the large format printer segment (24", 36" + rolls). I know of one engineering firm that switched brands specifically because HP drivers were so bad they got tired of jumping through hoops to get what they wanted on paper.
For example tell a KIP to print a 24" x 36" page, and you get one. Exactly. Tell HP to do the same and you will likely get something 1/4" off in both directions. That forced them to pull tricks like printing barely visible lines at the right place in the margin to fool the printer. One of their offices gave up and made huge margins on all of their pages.
It became much easier to just switch brands and not fight the driver, even though they likely had best of class hardware.
My wife has a factory unlocked iPhone on T-Mobile. They are the only discount carrier with coverage nationwide, especially outside of metro areas (getting away from Verizon's dropped calls at our home was very welcome).
AT&T and Verizon either outright block, or charge not so discount rates, for iPhones on their prepaid branches. T-Mobile actively encourages them on prepaid talk / text / data plans that start at $50.
If this merger goes through, she might have to switch to a windows phone 7 device. At least she is free to sell it and switch at any time.
We need healthy competition to Intel, to keep pushing tech forward and prices down. Sadly AMD simply has not performed over the last year or two, with no real answers to Intel's I series.
The problem with all these hidden taxes is the government infrastructure it takes to run it. A few simple straight forward taxes that everyone pays their fair share is really all we need.
You could argue some small taxes are necessary to cover specific purposes that are not used by the general population; for example aircraft fuel tax pays for airport upkeep and the FAA. Too bad here in the US they want to turn that simple tax into lots of little taxes, creating a whole new tax bureaucracy in the process.
This and other malware issues (Google deletes them from app store regularly) make Android just seem like Win 98 to me. I was trying to buy my kids an Android tablet last Christmas (none ready for prime time), and now will likely never own an Android product. Getting excited about Windows Phone 7 recently.
Many companies have what appears to be great years right up to the point they go bankrupt. One of the leading indicators they are in trouble is erosion of margin, or their ability to make a healthy profit on each widget (handset) sold. This is happening at RIM. They are in trouble.
There is hope. Most companies the size of RIM have enough capital to reinvent themselves. In their case that might mean building a healthy OS, something they have not done yet. It also means being really focused, again something they are absolutely terrible at.
What has to stand out is the OS and the ecosystem, with solid hardware. Right now if you do not like iOS, your choice is Android.
Android has many issues from fragmentation, to very inconsistent user interfaces that vary by brand, to an app store with regular malware culling, to battery life issues, to out of date builds with no updates. To say there is not room for another solid competitor is simply wrong. While Android is growing like crazy, survey data is suggesting people are buying on price or dislike for iOS, and are not that in love with the actual OS (the dreaded "would you buy again" question).
WP7 brings a lot to the table. Perhaps the best OS of the three? The answer will depend on personal taste of how you expect your OS to function, but certainly has a very well thought out and original interface.
Microsoft is building an ecosystem that ties into their Xbox platform, and entertainment platform that Android lacks. (Outside of Amazon's and similar, which is why they will succeed).
It uses windows development tools that are very solid, and have an army of windows developers. iOS and Android developers will not have terrible difficulty porting their apps. Microsoft has the resources to develop apps equal to or better than Googles (except search *cough*).
Many of the Advantages of Android over iOS will likely not exist with the WP7 ecosystem. For example a wide range of hardware and multiple price points. Most likely companies will build one device, and sell models with both OS's.
They are just now shipping competitive hardware, and the OS is really just now starting to mature. Sales will take off soon.
Just a quick non researched reply, but obviously WP7 has enough compelling reasons for it to exist. While I likely will not buy one, I wish them well, competition is good.
Often wondered about the feasibility of a lightweight high speed rail system that uses solar, with lightweight aerodynamic cars that hold 4-6 people. The control computer could group cars with similar departing times for aerodynamics, even adding and subtracting "on the fly". Place solar panels above the rails for power with a grid connection for consistency.
If it is possible to build something durable enough for a reasonable amount of money, build the rails elevated similar to a roller coaster track (yes, probably dreaming here), above the tree canopy, traditional rail, or highway below. In this way the only thing touching the ground would be a series of supports and we could double use existing right-of-ways, or cross treacherous terrain without bulldozers.
Build a hub and spoke network across the US to all the major cities. Have a touch screen monitor on the dash to select destination and pay. Place an emergency button on the dash that would bring up a live operator with camera able to see into the car to help until the closest station is reached (too far?).
Just today's crazy idea, no idea about feasibility, but the US needs to start dreaming big again.
The real Siri grew out of one of the largest artificial intelligence Darpa funded projects ever. Then SRI raised 24 million to continue development. Then Apple bought the company and threw a lot of man hours refining it further.
We sorta have one in the X-37. No idea if it is big enough to haul a satellite, or if it even has a robotic arm capable of catching one.
I believe they are looking for new missions for this spacecraft to justify continue development. Perhaps the reason for the suggestion? They are currently proposing a "C" model that is 20% larger to provide the capability to haul astronauts in the cargo bay.
Actually, it was a very happy day when I figured out how to block all of Facebook's games. I was about to defriend some long time acquaintances (ie, not really friends).
Bernstein Researchâ(TM)s cable and satellite expert, Craig Moffett, also waded into the debate, pointing out that ESPN and ESPN2 alone account for almost 20 percent of the wholesale cost of the average pay-TV subscription -- but account for just under 2.5 percent of total viewership.
To compete for sports content other networks like Fox are raising their prices as well.
How is this fair?
Personally we opted out, and watch local teams via a real antenna in beautiful uncompressed HD. We just don't watch Monday night football on ESPN, or the games on the NFL network. Their loss.
Intel is selling chips to build non-Arm (refrained from using "real") desktop computers, with low enough power the savings are simply not worth the tradeoff for most people.
Dead on analysis, and why both CEO's need fired. Hell, any company that has 2 CEO's should fire the board.
The answer to your last question is Google. They are the only ones with enough cash, and are desperate for IP. Don't worry, they won't check to see if the IP is even relative to today's market before they hand over a check.
The fact that TV will soon stream over the internet is too obvious, many companies are vying to be first mover. But the complete ecosystem is still missing, preventing mass adoption.
Interface - We use an old Dell re-purposed to drive our HDTV, but the masses will not want to use a wireless keyboard and mouse to find something to watch. Someone will have to get a simple to use interface going that you can use with a simple remote from your couch. There have been several attempts, like Boxee, but none are really ready for prime time. btw we cancelled our Netflix because they aped the interface, not the price increase.
Interface Push vs. Pull - Many people watch tv to sit and unwind, and do not want to constantly select content. Imagine the dentist office constantly having to select something to watch off the food network. On demand is wonderful when you really do want to watch something specific. I believe the internet interface of the future will have both, some channels you can just "tune" to and they stream, and then an on demand interface to watch content from those same channels. Give the power to choose to the users.
Content Sports - I only follow a couple local teams, but many want to follow more. Our local teams are usually playing on a network channel that my real antenna can pick up. But many people want to follow a college or pro team from a different part of the country, and they are not on local over the air channels. Some people like ESPN, and/or want to watch Monday Night football. For this demographic cable is the only way to follow what they want.
Content Original - HBO makes original content just to push their premium channels, and soon original content will soon start showing up on internet only channels not available to Cable companies. This will help drive adoption. Who will be first?
Content Ala Cart - Price is what is driving us cable cutters today, but could also drive mass adoption. To do so will require the provider to choose what "channels" they subscribe to. Discovery channel is not going to take a price cut simply because it streams over the internet, and they should not have to. I would gladly pay for Discovery, Science, Animal Planet, HGTV, etc., but not $60 a month to include all the stuff I don't watch. In other words the content providers that are getting watched will get paid, and the ones not getting watched will not.
Content Movies - As a casual movie fan that doesn't watch everything that comes out, the older selection on Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu is enough. Many people want more. Apple (and Amazon?) has a lot of this covered through rentals (I hear). Get a nice internet interface to stream HBO, and then a way to rent a huge selection of movies, and everyone wins. This should also include a ton of Indy content.
Kinect as remote?- As someone that owns a Kinect, and loves it, I'm not sure this would make a great remote. You have to be right in front of it for it to track you correctly, so across a big room, to the side of a small room, etc. and it doesn't work. Voice? So now we have to watch what we say or the channel changes?
Complete System - The internet video distribution is a lot like music before iTunes, with people working on different parts of the whole, but nobody has put together a complete system. The company that can make an interface anyone from a 5 yo kid, to a 95 yo grandad can use from their couch, with a great selection of content, with original content, with sports, with ala cart pricing will win! The problem is... simple is hard to do.
Why should an application decide the best way to split a load over multiple cpu cores? How does it know what else is going on in the OS to balance this load? Shouldn't the OS handle this behind the scenes?
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Sprint's Dan Hesse said the iPhone is so data-efficient, it will help Sprint keep its mobile data plans unlimited. He claims they do not ping the network near as much, and are better at handing off data to wireless networks. http://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabethwoyke/2011/10/26/sprint-ceo-iphone-will-help-us-keep-unlimited-data-plans/ Assuming that was a comparison to Android?
HP makes great hardware on the large format printer segment (24", 36" + rolls). I know of one engineering firm that switched brands specifically because HP drivers were so bad they got tired of jumping through hoops to get what they wanted on paper.
For example tell a KIP to print a 24" x 36" page, and you get one. Exactly. Tell HP to do the same and you will likely get something 1/4" off in both directions. That forced them to pull tricks like printing barely visible lines at the right place in the margin to fool the printer. One of their offices gave up and made huge margins on all of their pages.
It became much easier to just switch brands and not fight the driver, even though they likely had best of class hardware.
The release products before they are complete. It would help if they waited until products were ready for prime time before releasing them.
My wife has a factory unlocked iPhone on T-Mobile. They are the only discount carrier with coverage nationwide, especially outside of metro areas (getting away from Verizon's dropped calls at our home was very welcome).
AT&T and Verizon either outright block, or charge not so discount rates, for iPhones on their prepaid branches. T-Mobile actively encourages them on prepaid talk / text / data plans that start at $50.
If this merger goes through, she might have to switch to a windows phone 7 device. At least she is free to sell it and switch at any time.
We need healthy competition to Intel, to keep pushing tech forward and prices down. Sadly AMD simply has not performed over the last year or two, with no real answers to Intel's I series.
Wow thanks, that is the best explanation I've ever seen on this debate. Too bad scores only go to 5!
The problem with all these hidden taxes is the government infrastructure it takes to run it. A few simple straight forward taxes that everyone pays their fair share is really all we need.
You could argue some small taxes are necessary to cover specific purposes that are not used by the general population; for example aircraft fuel tax pays for airport upkeep and the FAA. Too bad here in the US they want to turn that simple tax into lots of little taxes, creating a whole new tax bureaucracy in the process.
This and other malware issues (Google deletes them from app store regularly) make Android just seem like Win 98 to me. I was trying to buy my kids an Android tablet last Christmas (none ready for prime time), and now will likely never own an Android product. Getting excited about Windows Phone 7 recently.
Lots of levers and knobs? Can i simply say... yikes?
Not gonna happen. Apple only makes premium products at high margin. Amazon is selling this at or below cost, and making money selling the content.
Many companies have what appears to be great years right up to the point they go bankrupt. One of the leading indicators they are in trouble is erosion of margin, or their ability to make a healthy profit on each widget (handset) sold. This is happening at RIM. They are in trouble. There is hope. Most companies the size of RIM have enough capital to reinvent themselves. In their case that might mean building a healthy OS, something they have not done yet. It also means being really focused, again something they are absolutely terrible at.
Only in the US are most phones sold on contract. North America is only about 5% of the world population.
Carriers certainly know what is on their networks, but the only people publishing numbers are analysts who have a very poor record of accuracy.
What has to stand out is the OS and the ecosystem, with solid hardware. Right now if you do not like iOS, your choice is Android.
Android has many issues from fragmentation, to very inconsistent user interfaces that vary by brand, to an app store with regular malware culling, to battery life issues, to out of date builds with no updates. To say there is not room for another solid competitor is simply wrong. While Android is growing like crazy, survey data is suggesting people are buying on price or dislike for iOS, and are not that in love with the actual OS (the dreaded "would you buy again" question).
WP7 brings a lot to the table. Perhaps the best OS of the three? The answer will depend on personal taste of how you expect your OS to function, but certainly has a very well thought out and original interface.
Microsoft is building an ecosystem that ties into their Xbox platform, and entertainment platform that Android lacks. (Outside of Amazon's and similar, which is why they will succeed).
It uses windows development tools that are very solid, and have an army of windows developers. iOS and Android developers will not have terrible difficulty porting their apps. Microsoft has the resources to develop apps equal to or better than Googles (except search *cough*).
Many of the Advantages of Android over iOS will likely not exist with the WP7 ecosystem. For example a wide range of hardware and multiple price points. Most likely companies will build one device, and sell models with both OS's.
They are just now shipping competitive hardware, and the OS is really just now starting to mature. Sales will take off soon.
Just a quick non researched reply, but obviously WP7 has enough compelling reasons for it to exist. While I likely will not buy one, I wish them well, competition is good.
Often wondered about the feasibility of a lightweight high speed rail system that uses solar, with lightweight aerodynamic cars that hold 4-6 people. The control computer could group cars with similar departing times for aerodynamics, even adding and subtracting "on the fly". Place solar panels above the rails for power with a grid connection for consistency.
If it is possible to build something durable enough for a reasonable amount of money, build the rails elevated similar to a roller coaster track (yes, probably dreaming here), above the tree canopy, traditional rail, or highway below. In this way the only thing touching the ground would be a series of supports and we could double use existing right-of-ways, or cross treacherous terrain without bulldozers.
Build a hub and spoke network across the US to all the major cities. Have a touch screen monitor on the dash to select destination and pay. Place an emergency button on the dash that would bring up a live operator with camera able to see into the car to help until the closest station is reached (too far?).
Just today's crazy idea, no idea about feasibility, but the US needs to start dreaming big again.
mmmmk.
The real Siri grew out of one of the largest artificial intelligence Darpa funded projects ever. Then SRI raised 24 million to continue development. Then Apple bought the company and threw a lot of man hours refining it further.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siri_(software)
And they successfully copied it in a few hours? Should fit right in on the Android app store.
We sorta have one in the X-37. No idea if it is big enough to haul a satellite, or if it even has a robotic arm capable of catching one.
I believe they are looking for new missions for this spacecraft to justify continue development. Perhaps the reason for the suggestion? They are currently proposing a "C" model that is 20% larger to provide the capability to haul astronauts in the cargo bay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37
Actually, it was a very happy day when I figured out how to block all of Facebook's games. I was about to defriend some long time acquaintances (ie, not really friends).
And r&d, which is not free. Amazon just happens to own a very powerful ad outlet, and to them a rather inexpensive one... their front page.
Bernstein Researchâ(TM)s cable and satellite expert, Craig Moffett, also waded into the debate, pointing out that ESPN and ESPN2 alone account for almost 20 percent of the wholesale cost of the average pay-TV subscription -- but account for just under 2.5 percent of total viewership.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/pn_foes_grow_YIO92AxAE3kOE66mobOoUI
ESPN is currently charging $5.82 ($4.69 main channel, $1.13 other channels) per month, or about $70 a year for their channels for every cable or satellite subscriber in the US http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_television_in_the_United_States#Subscriber_fees.
To compete for sports content other networks like Fox are raising their prices as well.
How is this fair?
Personally we opted out, and watch local teams via a real antenna in beautiful uncompressed HD. We just don't watch Monday night football on ESPN, or the games on the NFL network. Their loss.
Arm looks attractive for its low power consumption, but Koomey's law show's that it is energy efficiency, not power that doubles every 18 months.
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/38548/?p1=A3
Intel is selling chips to build non-Arm (refrained from using "real") desktop computers, with low enough power the savings are simply not worth the tradeoff for most people.
I hope this passes, so I can pull up a comfy chair with some popcorn and watch the fallout.
So this is implying that each big box uses the same electricity as up to 27,000 homes? Shocking.
Dead on analysis, and why both CEO's need fired. Hell, any company that has 2 CEO's should fire the board.
The answer to your last question is Google. They are the only ones with enough cash, and are desperate for IP. Don't worry, they won't check to see if the IP is even relative to today's market before they hand over a check.
The fact that TV will soon stream over the internet is too obvious, many companies are vying to be first mover. But the complete ecosystem is still missing, preventing mass adoption.
Interface - We use an old Dell re-purposed to drive our HDTV, but the masses will not want to use a wireless keyboard and mouse to find something to watch. Someone will have to get a simple to use interface going that you can use with a simple remote from your couch. There have been several attempts, like Boxee, but none are really ready for prime time. btw we cancelled our Netflix because they aped the interface, not the price increase.
Interface Push vs. Pull - Many people watch tv to sit and unwind, and do not want to constantly select content. Imagine the dentist office constantly having to select something to watch off the food network. On demand is wonderful when you really do want to watch something specific. I believe the internet interface of the future will have both, some channels you can just "tune" to and they stream, and then an on demand interface to watch content from those same channels. Give the power to choose to the users.
Content Sports - I only follow a couple local teams, but many want to follow more. Our local teams are usually playing on a network channel that my real antenna can pick up. But many people want to follow a college or pro team from a different part of the country, and they are not on local over the air channels. Some people like ESPN, and/or want to watch Monday Night football. For this demographic cable is the only way to follow what they want.
Content Original - HBO makes original content just to push their premium channels, and soon original content will soon start showing up on internet only channels not available to Cable companies. This will help drive adoption. Who will be first?
Content Ala Cart - Price is what is driving us cable cutters today, but could also drive mass adoption. To do so will require the provider to choose what "channels" they subscribe to. Discovery channel is not going to take a price cut simply because it streams over the internet, and they should not have to. I would gladly pay for Discovery, Science, Animal Planet, HGTV, etc., but not $60 a month to include all the stuff I don't watch. In other words the content providers that are getting watched will get paid, and the ones not getting watched will not.
Content Movies - As a casual movie fan that doesn't watch everything that comes out, the older selection on Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu is enough. Many people want more. Apple (and Amazon?) has a lot of this covered through rentals (I hear). Get a nice internet interface to stream HBO, and then a way to rent a huge selection of movies, and everyone wins. This should also include a ton of Indy content.
Kinect as remote?- As someone that owns a Kinect, and loves it, I'm not sure this would make a great remote. You have to be right in front of it for it to track you correctly, so across a big room, to the side of a small room, etc. and it doesn't work. Voice? So now we have to watch what we say or the channel changes?
Complete System - The internet video distribution is a lot like music before iTunes, with people working on different parts of the whole, but nobody has put together a complete system. The company that can make an interface anyone from a 5 yo kid, to a 95 yo grandad can use from their couch, with a great selection of content, with original content, with sports, with ala cart pricing will win! The problem is... simple is hard to do.
Why should an application decide the best way to split a load over multiple cpu cores? How does it know what else is going on in the OS to balance this load? Shouldn't the OS handle this behind the scenes?