According to Wikipedia, the current eInk Kindles are all about 68 ppi. So this screen would be as good (if not better) than the current Kindles in that department.
Unfortunately, this screen looks like it lacks color saturation, which seems to be a common trait among all color eInk displays. It's a big improvement over previous displays, but I still wouldn't put it in a product yet. People would immediately put it next to LCD displays, and compared to the display on a $60 "might as well sell it at the drugstore" tablet, it would look bad.
You're right that we don't know for sure. But MS has a long history of detailing their plans long in advance, and they don't tend to make sudden turns at the last minute. MS really wants developers to know what's going on so they can be ready when the OS is. They won't pull a full interface shift (to differentiate RT from 8 in Metro Mode) at the last minute, it would cause trouble for developers.
But given that MS has already announced the way this stuff works, and the possible harm of letting this get released into the market so that computer users suffer months without being able to put on their browser of choice (thus basically giving MS their way for a few months after release), this seems like something that should be discussed now.
Right, but MS is clearly pushing Metro style apps as the "correct" future direction. If you don't use the older desktop style apps, you could easily have the same experience with both Windows 8 and Windows RT.
What do most users spend their time on their computers doing? Web browsing, email, IM, and maybe iTunes/WMP for music, games. All those will be available in Metro.
I think for the average user, it will be quite easy to stay in Metro all the time, leading to the possible confusion.
I know they share a lot of code, but to the end user they are relatively clearly differentiated. Apple has been closing that a little bit (such as Launchpad on Lion), but if you show a screenshot of the desktop/home screen to someone, they could tell you if it's from a phone or of desktop.
With Windows 8/RT, the start screen of both devices is the same, leading to easy confusion.
I don't think the fact Apple doesn't allow this kind of thing matters. Apple has a very clear differentiation of products. The desktops/laptops run a different OS from the iPads. I'm going to ignore the "Apple shouldn't be able to do this" argument, which I don't really disagree with. The fact is that's status quo.
With Windows 8, all tablets get the same interface and run the same software. The difference is that, based on something esoteric to the population at large (the architecture of the CPU), you lose the ability to load some kinds of software. Not because that software wasn't ported, but because it can't be ported without being severely crippled. What this means is that when someone buys a tablet from BestBuy, they may or may not be able to run the software they expect. Some Windows 8 software runs on everything, some Windows 8 software doesn't. What's the lesson? That FireFox thing doesn't always work. Just use the built in stuff or you'll have problems.
If MS was clearly positioning the ARM tablets as something different from the non-ARM tablets, that would be different. They may call it "Windows RT", but when two tablets are in the store next to each other, looking identical, running identical interfaces, I think it's fair to say they're the same. Duck typing for tablets. Since I'd expect ARM tablets to really take off due to cost and efficiency, this certainly seems like a round about way to force people to use IE.
C already has a syntax for declaring and invoking functions, and it already has a syntax for accessing variables bound to instances of structs. why did they have to invent a completely new syntax for declaring and invoking functions bound to structs?
Because you're not calling functions or accessing variables, you're invoking methods. The difference can be subtle, but it's important.
This could be a lot worse. If you have the cash up front (or can afford to use a credit card) it's not a good deal, but it's not terrible. I'd imagine that Rentacenter wants at least $25 a month for this, and that probably doesn't include XBox Live Gold.
That said, there are two strange things about this. First, I read yesterday that it's only available from Microsoft stores. There are only about 20 in the country, so that doesn't help many people.
More importantly, put a stupid hard drive in thing. The Arcade system wasn't a good idea when it was released, it's not a good idea 5+ years later. How much would it cost to put 80GB drives in the machines? Even with the cloud storage from MS for saved games, 4GB is too small. Want to download and play MassEffect? It's 7 gigs. You can't. Having such a tiny drive kills the ability to play a lot of the stuff MS sells.
Of course, you could always buy a drive for you 360. It costs $100 for the 250GB (which is actually quite a bit saner than the old prices). But if you can afford that, you could probably afford the system without the financing.
It's a neat idea, kind of fun for first circuits. Some people in the RepRap community have been experimenting with directly printing circuits. It would be very neat to see that come to fruition.
That would violate the standard "how dare you use what you pay for you need to pay exorbitant overages for that" clause that the cellular industry likes.
Did you see where the former head of AT&T said offering unlimited data with te iPhone (so you could actually use it) was a mistake? AT&T is trying to get people off unlimited. Sprint pushes it because they're dying, but they still cap you do it's not unlimited.
Unlimited is clearly bad, and consumers are wrong for wanting it.
They're not. That would be confusing for customers, and Apple has always loved simplicity.
This is the way of the electronics world. This kind of thing is always going on, it's just Apple is watched so closely, that when a an internal model number changes it becomes news and someone benchmarked it.
There were at least 2 or 3 PSPs before the Slim. The XBox 360 had 3 or 4 models before the slim. There were also multiple versions of the PS3 and PS2 before their redesigns. Other than often coinciding with the game bundles changing or a price drop, the manufacturers don't tend to make a big deal of this.
As time goes on, it becomes cheaper and easier to manufacture on a smaller process. This allows combining chips, cutting back on heat control, etc; all making the units cheaper to produce. This always reduces power draw, the difference is since this is a piece of portable electronics (and they didn't reduce the battery size), the battery life increased.
I'd be much more worried about the fact that neither Honda nor Toyota are there. In fact, neither is Nissan or Kia. I'd imagine that no Asian car makers being involved could be a big problem.
The other reply to you pointed out that they changed the process a bit too.
But if you look at the benchmarks that were done, the biggest difference was running Infinity Blade II, which means heavy CPU and GPU usage. In that case, the CPU/CPU probably take up a sizable chunk of the system's power.
If you did a "sit on the home screen until the iPad shuts it's self off" test, I'd imagine you'd be right and the battery life wouldn't be that different.
Plus, since this chip is smaller, they can get more on a wafer. As long as the yields are good, they're already saving money on each chip.
If they changed the battery, I'd imagine that would require case changes as well as designing and ordering new batteries. All the tooling is already done for the current size battery, why change it?
People who buy the iPad 2 now just have a chance at getting better-than-advertised battery life.
There was a post on GrokLaw about the terrible reporting about this. The Jury was told to assume that they can be copyrighted and render a decision.
IF the jury says Google violated that hypothetical copyright, THEN the judge will rule on if that stuff can be copyrighted. If the jury says the hypothetical copyright wasn't violated, then the judge won't need to rule on it.
Case in point is the famous iPhone 4 antenna issue (affectionately termed "antennagate"), where holding the iPhone 4 in a certain way would interfere with the cellular signal. Then-CEO Steve Jobs said, "Hold it differently," and everyone said, "Oh, it's not a design flaw, we are simply not holding it properly."
I'm sorry, WHAT? I stopped reading after that.
Um, that's not what happened. The problem wasn't terrible (I own an iPhone 4), but it did exist. However, the media (especially the tech media), had a field day. When Consumer Reports denied a recommendation over it, it made the news again. When there were lawsuits, it made the news. When there was a case program, it made the news. "Has Apple slipped?" "Will the 'Grip of Death' strangle the iPhone?" Those were the kind of headlines you were likely to see at the time. Of course it turned out it wasn't a big deal, people bought the phone in droves and loved it. The 4S corrected the issue and sold even better.
When Steve Jobs said "You're holding it wrong", most of the tech media latched on that as showing how out of touch Apple was and how they were hostile to customer issues that harmed the RDF.
So what about Microsoft's treatment with Windows Phone 7? Basically every review I've seen has been quite positive. It turns out the Lumia 900 has a bug that can cause it to fail to connect to the cell network. That's much worse than the grip of death. There are articles, but most of them are going with headlines about how customers are getting $100 rebates and the phone is available for free on contract until the patch ships... basically positive spin.
The worst press I've seen over WP7 has been when sites (such as Ars Technica) say they don't really recommend it because it's not clear if the phones will get updates (since the carriers can delay them) and the software ecosystem is still quite small.
Vista didn't turn out well, but Windows 7 seems to have been very positively received. Windows 8 is divisive, but I don't think that's hit outside the tech media, where as Antennagate and the Foxcon stuff certainly has.
If you take out product launch notices (like when Apple releases a new version of the iPhone or iPad and everyone lines up), and stock news (such as when they hit a record), has there been ANY good press about Apple recently? It seems it's almost all bad. "iPad too hot." "Lion made obnoxious changes." "iPad update means old apps take up more space." "Apple hiring slave labor." "iPad builders get disfigurements." "Apple sued by DOJ over antitrust in books."
I would actually say MS has been slipping out of the news. If it wasn't for the Windows 8 preview released earlier, I don't think they would have gotten much coverage at all.
I've never heard of him before, so I went and read the article. After a few paragraphs, I was thinking "this guy is definitely politically incorrect, but does he really deserve to be fired over this?"
Then I read the various sub-points under 10, and yes, it was that bad.
Then I kept reading, and it just got worse.
Wow. It doesn't seem like it would be too hard to turn this into "A Modest Proposal" style satire. By the end, where is he talking about the relative value of "IWSB"s, I mean he is one or two steps away from saying that "IWSB"s should be bought and sold so as to provide the most value for society.
Wait, you mean the most highlighted things come from the books the most people have? Say it isn't so!
Hunger Games isn't a bad series. Would you prefer the top highlights be from Twilight? Or some terrible self help book by the latest fad guru? Or the newest diet sensation?
Don't forget that not only have the Hunger Games book sold incredibly well, they were one of the promoted books for the "one free book a month for Prime subscribers" program.
Yeah, I'm not generally a highlighting person. It has it's place, and if I was reading some reference book it might be nice. But when I'm reading fiction I'm not interested in finding out what sentences 8500 other people think are poignant.
Amazon did a good job with it. And having turned off other people's highlights, I can still put my own in (even though I don't).
I agree. I needed something to read early last summer. Based on hearing about it from a friend or two and all the promotion, I decided to give it a try. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the three books.
I'm interested in seeing the movie. Some of the bits in the trailers look great to me, although I imagined District 12's town to be less rural and the fence more imposing. I agree that PG-13 is going to be an interesting challenge. Given it's a book in which, just based on the jacket, you know 23 kids should die means they're going to have to deal with violence issues. Of course there is no way they could make it R, it would cut out the movie's target audience.
The movie has a big enough budget that they certainly should be able to do a good job. I hope it at least turns out decent.
If you have a Kindle, it's dead obvious they do this.
As soon as I started reading on my Kindle, I noticed underlines on things. Amazon shows you the most popular things to highlight in the books you read, and tells you that. It's one of the features of the Kindle (I turned it off, as I found it distracting).
I don't know. There are parts of Kansas where the little spots cover a dozen people. There are parts of other states where the spots cover a few hundred.
The spot in north east AZ covers over 30k people. Surely there would be some ROI there.
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According to Wikipedia, the current eInk Kindles are all about 68 ppi. So this screen would be as good (if not better) than the current Kindles in that department.
Unfortunately, this screen looks like it lacks color saturation, which seems to be a common trait among all color eInk displays. It's a big improvement over previous displays, but I still wouldn't put it in a product yet. People would immediately put it next to LCD displays, and compared to the display on a $60 "might as well sell it at the drugstore" tablet, it would look bad.
You're right that we don't know for sure. But MS has a long history of detailing their plans long in advance, and they don't tend to make sudden turns at the last minute. MS really wants developers to know what's going on so they can be ready when the OS is. They won't pull a full interface shift (to differentiate RT from 8 in Metro Mode) at the last minute, it would cause trouble for developers.
But given that MS has already announced the way this stuff works, and the possible harm of letting this get released into the market so that computer users suffer months without being able to put on their browser of choice (thus basically giving MS their way for a few months after release), this seems like something that should be discussed now.
Right, but MS is clearly pushing Metro style apps as the "correct" future direction. If you don't use the older desktop style apps, you could easily have the same experience with both Windows 8 and Windows RT.
What do most users spend their time on their computers doing? Web browsing, email, IM, and maybe iTunes/WMP for music, games. All those will be available in Metro.
I think for the average user, it will be quite easy to stay in Metro all the time, leading to the possible confusion.
I know they share a lot of code, but to the end user they are relatively clearly differentiated. Apple has been closing that a little bit (such as Launchpad on Lion), but if you show a screenshot of the desktop/home screen to someone, they could tell you if it's from a phone or of desktop.
With Windows 8/RT, the start screen of both devices is the same, leading to easy confusion.
I don't think the fact Apple doesn't allow this kind of thing matters. Apple has a very clear differentiation of products. The desktops/laptops run a different OS from the iPads. I'm going to ignore the "Apple shouldn't be able to do this" argument, which I don't really disagree with. The fact is that's status quo.
With Windows 8, all tablets get the same interface and run the same software. The difference is that, based on something esoteric to the population at large (the architecture of the CPU), you lose the ability to load some kinds of software. Not because that software wasn't ported, but because it can't be ported without being severely crippled. What this means is that when someone buys a tablet from BestBuy, they may or may not be able to run the software they expect. Some Windows 8 software runs on everything, some Windows 8 software doesn't. What's the lesson? That FireFox thing doesn't always work. Just use the built in stuff or you'll have problems.
If MS was clearly positioning the ARM tablets as something different from the non-ARM tablets, that would be different. They may call it "Windows RT", but when two tablets are in the store next to each other, looking identical, running identical interfaces, I think it's fair to say they're the same. Duck typing for tablets. Since I'd expect ARM tablets to really take off due to cost and efficiency, this certainly seems like a round about way to force people to use IE.
Because you're not calling functions or accessing variables, you're invoking methods. The difference can be subtle, but it's important.
This could be a lot worse. If you have the cash up front (or can afford to use a credit card) it's not a good deal, but it's not terrible. I'd imagine that Rentacenter wants at least $25 a month for this, and that probably doesn't include XBox Live Gold.
That said, there are two strange things about this. First, I read yesterday that it's only available from Microsoft stores. There are only about 20 in the country, so that doesn't help many people.
More importantly, put a stupid hard drive in thing. The Arcade system wasn't a good idea when it was released, it's not a good idea 5+ years later. How much would it cost to put 80GB drives in the machines? Even with the cloud storage from MS for saved games, 4GB is too small. Want to download and play MassEffect? It's 7 gigs. You can't. Having such a tiny drive kills the ability to play a lot of the stuff MS sells.
Of course, you could always buy a drive for you 360. It costs $100 for the 250GB (which is actually quite a bit saner than the old prices). But if you can afford that, you could probably afford the system without the financing.
You can see the thing it's self on Thingiverse.
It's a neat idea, kind of fun for first circuits. Some people in the RepRap community have been experimenting with directly printing circuits. It would be very neat to see that come to fruition.
That would violate the standard "how dare you use what you pay for you need to pay exorbitant overages for that" clause that the cellular industry likes.
Did you see where the former head of AT&T said offering unlimited data with te iPhone (so you could actually use it) was a mistake? AT&T is trying to get people off unlimited. Sprint pushes it because they're dying, but they still cap you do it's not unlimited.
Unlimited is clearly bad, and consumers are wrong for wanting it.
They're not. That would be confusing for customers, and Apple has always loved simplicity.
This is the way of the electronics world. This kind of thing is always going on, it's just Apple is watched so closely, that when a an internal model number changes it becomes news and someone benchmarked it.
There were at least 2 or 3 PSPs before the Slim. The XBox 360 had 3 or 4 models before the slim. There were also multiple versions of the PS3 and PS2 before their redesigns. Other than often coinciding with the game bundles changing or a price drop, the manufacturers don't tend to make a big deal of this.
As time goes on, it becomes cheaper and easier to manufacture on a smaller process. This allows combining chips, cutting back on heat control, etc; all making the units cheaper to produce. This always reduces power draw, the difference is since this is a piece of portable electronics (and they didn't reduce the battery size), the battery life increased.
I'd be much more worried about the fact that neither Honda nor Toyota are there. In fact, neither is Nissan or Kia. I'd imagine that no Asian car makers being involved could be a big problem.
The other reply to you pointed out that they changed the process a bit too.
But if you look at the benchmarks that were done, the biggest difference was running Infinity Blade II, which means heavy CPU and GPU usage. In that case, the CPU/CPU probably take up a sizable chunk of the system's power.
If you did a "sit on the home screen until the iPad shuts it's self off" test, I'd imagine you'd be right and the battery life wouldn't be that different.
Plus, since this chip is smaller, they can get more on a wafer. As long as the yields are good, they're already saving money on each chip.
If they changed the battery, I'd imagine that would require case changes as well as designing and ordering new batteries. All the tooling is already done for the current size battery, why change it?
People who buy the iPad 2 now just have a chance at getting better-than-advertised battery life.
No, the judge is right.
There was a post on GrokLaw about the terrible reporting about this. The Jury was told to assume that they can be copyrighted and render a decision.
IF the jury says Google violated that hypothetical copyright, THEN the judge will rule on if that stuff can be copyrighted. If the jury says the hypothetical copyright wasn't violated, then the judge won't need to rule on it.
From what I read Skype does have the multitasking restriction. You can receive and answer Skype calls, just not if the app goes in the background.
If you switch to the web browser, you don't receive calls. If you're in a call and switch to the web browser, your call drops.
Could you point out exactly which adapter you bought? That sounds like a great price, every time I looked they were quite expensive.
I'm sorry, WHAT? I stopped reading after that.
Um, that's not what happened. The problem wasn't terrible (I own an iPhone 4), but it did exist. However, the media (especially the tech media), had a field day. When Consumer Reports denied a recommendation over it, it made the news again. When there were lawsuits, it made the news. When there was a case program, it made the news. "Has Apple slipped?" "Will the 'Grip of Death' strangle the iPhone?" Those were the kind of headlines you were likely to see at the time. Of course it turned out it wasn't a big deal, people bought the phone in droves and loved it. The 4S corrected the issue and sold even better.
When Steve Jobs said "You're holding it wrong", most of the tech media latched on that as showing how out of touch Apple was and how they were hostile to customer issues that harmed the RDF.
So what about Microsoft's treatment with Windows Phone 7? Basically every review I've seen has been quite positive. It turns out the Lumia 900 has a bug that can cause it to fail to connect to the cell network. That's much worse than the grip of death. There are articles, but most of them are going with headlines about how customers are getting $100 rebates and the phone is available for free on contract until the patch ships... basically positive spin.
The worst press I've seen over WP7 has been when sites (such as Ars Technica) say they don't really recommend it because it's not clear if the phones will get updates (since the carriers can delay them) and the software ecosystem is still quite small.
Vista didn't turn out well, but Windows 7 seems to have been very positively received. Windows 8 is divisive, but I don't think that's hit outside the tech media, where as Antennagate and the Foxcon stuff certainly has.
If you take out product launch notices (like when Apple releases a new version of the iPhone or iPad and everyone lines up), and stock news (such as when they hit a record), has there been ANY good press about Apple recently? It seems it's almost all bad. "iPad too hot." "Lion made obnoxious changes." "iPad update means old apps take up more space." "Apple hiring slave labor." "iPad builders get disfigurements." "Apple sued by DOJ over antitrust in books."
I would actually say MS has been slipping out of the news. If it wasn't for the Windows 8 preview released earlier, I don't think they would have gotten much coverage at all.
I've never heard of him before, so I went and read the article. After a few paragraphs, I was thinking "this guy is definitely politically incorrect, but does he really deserve to be fired over this?"
Then I read the various sub-points under 10, and yes, it was that bad.
Then I kept reading, and it just got worse.
Wow. It doesn't seem like it would be too hard to turn this into "A Modest Proposal" style satire. By the end, where is he talking about the relative value of "IWSB"s, I mean he is one or two steps away from saying that "IWSB"s should be bought and sold so as to provide the most value for society.
They were Macs, they had indications. When they were recording, the little green light next to the camera was on.
The students noticed it. Some of them had reported it, but were told it was nothing and to not worry about it.
Wait, you mean the most highlighted things come from the books the most people have? Say it isn't so!
Hunger Games isn't a bad series. Would you prefer the top highlights be from Twilight? Or some terrible self help book by the latest fad guru? Or the newest diet sensation?
Don't forget that not only have the Hunger Games book sold incredibly well, they were one of the promoted books for the "one free book a month for Prime subscribers" program.
Yeah, I'm not generally a highlighting person. It has it's place, and if I was reading some reference book it might be nice. But when I'm reading fiction I'm not interested in finding out what sentences 8500 other people think are poignant.
Amazon did a good job with it. And having turned off other people's highlights, I can still put my own in (even though I don't).
I agree. I needed something to read early last summer. Based on hearing about it from a friend or two and all the promotion, I decided to give it a try. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the three books.
I'm interested in seeing the movie. Some of the bits in the trailers look great to me, although I imagined District 12's town to be less rural and the fence more imposing. I agree that PG-13 is going to be an interesting challenge. Given it's a book in which, just based on the jacket, you know 23 kids should die means they're going to have to deal with violence issues. Of course there is no way they could make it R, it would cut out the movie's target audience.
The movie has a big enough budget that they certainly should be able to do a good job. I hope it at least turns out decent.
Are you trolling?
If you have a Kindle, it's dead obvious they do this.
As soon as I started reading on my Kindle, I noticed underlines on things. Amazon shows you the most popular things to highlight in the books you read, and tells you that. It's one of the features of the Kindle (I turned it off, as I found it distracting).
I don't think "Do Not Read The Text To Us" can be emphasized enough.
I don't know. There are parts of Kansas where the little spots cover a dozen people. There are parts of other states where the spots cover a few hundred.
The spot in north east AZ covers over 30k people. Surely there would be some ROI there.