The new Lenovo Yoga 11s
The Yoga gets a little sibbling
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Category Archives: Technology
What was your first computer?
I remember it like it was yesterday in the summer of 1999, the day when I got my first computer. It was an HP Vectra VL with 4Mb of RAM and 600Mb of storage space. technology has advanced, so much since then and reading those specs almost makes you want to laugh. This little Windows 95 machine was my introduction into the computer world. What was your first PC?
Vizio to Present PC Line at CES 2012
Vizio has been manufacturing TV sets, good quality TV sets for quite a while now. We are genuinely excited to announce that they will be introducing a line of personal computers at this year’s CES. They have been very successful selling TV sets and now they are aiming to do the same with computers. They have lagged a bit entering the PC business, but their designs look amazing and they claim their prices will me much cheaper than Apple’s. I know for certain that’s something I will be keeping my eyes on for this upcoming CES 2012 show.
Mac Pro has been dead, I think…
I don’t find these rumors about the Mac Pro being discontinued surprising at all. I think that since Apple discontinued the Xserve product line they took a stance that let people know that they weren’t interested in the commercial aspect of computing. Meaning that they would focus solely on the end user products MacBooks, iMacs, iPods, iPads and all the other iProducts that are beating all the other companies on their sales figures. MacPro’s are designed for professionals, their name alone implies it. It does make sense if Apple were to kill the MacPro. Apple is inclined to have all-in-one devices like the iMac and the MacPro (along with the Mac Mini) doesn’t really fit in the Apple product lines. what do you think? Am I going crazy or does this make sense?
These are a few of the posts that talk about the MacPro being discontinued.
http://read.bi/roMd0O
http://bit.ly/vgI4Or
http://bit.ly/sQQzCx
HP is keeping the PC personal
I’ve used several different PC in the journey as a geek and I can’t imagine a world without HP personal computers not being HP anymore. Then again I felt the same way about IBM back in 2005. A few months ago former CEO of HP, Leo Apotheker was considering getting rid of HP’s PC business and Meg Whitman was able to steer the company away from that.
I’m glad along with many other folks I’m sure, that HP is keeping its PC business. I think they build great machines more so on their laptop lines, on their business oriented laptops to be more specific. Their Elitebook line are great laptops with high quality materials, not too shabby for gaming. I will keep looking forward to see what new model designs they come up with now that they had made public the decision to keep selling PCs.
Samsung first Windows 8 tablet
By now everyone who is a PC user probably agrees with me when I say that Microsoft finally got it right with the release of Windows 7 and the bad taste Windows Vista left in our mouths is finally dissipating. Windows 7 is a lot lighter than Windows Vista, more stable and at the same time Microsoft’s engineers were able to add new useful features. But like any other product out there, products need to be improved constantly. Windows 8 is the next step from Windows 7. This time the game is going to be played a little different. The folks at Redmond are working on an operating system that will work seamlessly on a desktop computer and on a tablet. Samsung is stepping up to the plate and it is introducing the first Windows 8 tablet at next week’s Microsoft’s conference. The new tablet will be sporting a new quad-core cpu coupled with and nvidia chipset. A great combination for a tablet to be able to pack a punch. Windows Phone 7 has so far been successful and Windows 8 will some how combine the good things of both worlds, the desktop world and the tablet world. I can’t wait to find out more about this device. You think this new tablet be a real rival to the all mighty Apple iPad?
Microsoft really nailed it with the new Windows 8 User Interface
As mentioned on a couple of very famous blogs, this new design of the latest version of Windows is the most revolutionary on since windows 95. After the release of Windows XP, us Windows users thought that we were somewhat pleased with the stability brought by XP. However we were still waiting for the wild factor, something that would shoot Windows into the future. Windows Vista came a long and it was a big FAIL, the graphics were cool and it introduced nice new features, but the stability was horrible and soon after Windows 7 came along; finally a version of Windows that personally has me very content. What’s next? A question that never fails to make it’s appearance, because us geeks think that the grass is greener on the other side, the other side being the future in this case.
Windows 8, that’s what’s next. As demonstrated on the video below we can notice a look and feel very similar to the Windows Phone 7 interface. It is nice to see that Microsoft was able to incorporate a similar touch functionality as the WP7 to the upcoming desktop version of the OS without losing any of the classic functionality features that we are used to from a Widows machine. As an iPad owner I feel that the iPad is a great tool for reading news, browsing the web, answer emails, playing games, and other light computing uses. The iPad is not fully functional computer, though. A device running a version of Windows 8 could be both. It looks like Windows 8 will run perfectly on a touch enabled tablet and with the use of a mouse and keyboard that same device will transform into a complete PC. I do wonder if Windows 8 will focus on “instant-on” features or if Microsoft will be implementing an AppStore-like feature as the one on the Mac OS.
Mac is clearly being targeted by malware
As you may have noticed lately in the media there has been more and more reports about Mac’s now being affected or hit by viruses. There are reports of malware attacks on Macs very similar to the ones that Windows has been suffering from for years. There is an article on Cnet in which they talk about a specific piece of software. It hijacks your computer to make you think you have to pay to get rid of viruses that really don’t exist.
This issue might have been expected by many. In the last years Apple has become more and more popular and has outsold a few of the well established PC manufacturers. If you consider a smartphone a computer, which is an idea that is not too far fetched, Apple ends up as the top PC manufacturer according to this. There are more Macs out there, that’s what all the statistics boil down to. Unethical computer programmers who design these applications also want a payday and even though I don’t sympathize with them, I have to admit that they have good skills to be able to design an intricate piece of software to get your money. The fact that there are more Macs out there is making it worthwhile for programmers to target Macs. I really don’t see this going away, but it could get worse.
Is Android still struggling?
Android was founded in 2003 and it was acquired by Google in 2005. To be honest with you I didn’t even know Android existed until 2007 the same year that iOS was launched. This was actually achieved because Google was behind the project and development was accelerated due to more resources being available. Android looked very promising even though iOS had the lead in the public eye and the fact that Android was and still is an open source project made the platform very attractive for developers and for end users. Now if you fast forward things to 2011, Android’s trajectory has not made things any clearer as to where the platform stands when compared to iOS and now new to the “mix” Windows Phone 7. I don’t want to get too much into iOS. I don’t want to talk too much about the obvious, Apple seems to have gotten iOS right. It has had tremendous success with it’s AppStore and iOS and being able to incorporate the iPad into this ecosystem.
Apple has great success with it’s iOS devices that it makes it look like everyone else trying to catch up and not actually competing with Apple. Out of all the other operating system alternatives for mobile devices Android is the one that gets the closest to the iOS model. It does have a few advantages. Android is open source which means it is free, which pretty much means that you can slap on a version of Android on almost anything with processing power. Android is also support by many device manufacturers like HTC, Motorola, DELL, LG and many others. This is a good thing because you get a greater variety of designs, features and most important price ranges. Android also has it’s own “AppStore” a place where developers can sale their software and expect good profits. Open source projects are not often categorized as profit generating platforms, because open source projects are usually free, therefore the end users they attract are those who are looking for free stuff and might not want to pay for any of the applications available for Android devices. Luckily this is not the case for Android, there are lot of end users who are willing to pay for a good app. This is due to the case that most of the people who buy an Android enabled device are acquiring it cheaper by signing a contract with their carrier for a monthly fee for wireless services. This is all good so far, but the application distribution process for Android still has gaps. It is quite simple for developers to submit an application to the Android app market, which means that illegitimate applications might make it to the app market. Another negative is that the platform is segmented due to the many different versions of the operating system which might render applications useless if they aren’t backwards compatible.
At the end of the day Android has great potential and it is vastly popular, but this doesn’t dictate whether Android will become the #1 mobile device operating system. What do you think?
We want to see something genuinely new at CES 2011
Next year in January the International Consumer Electronics show will be hosted in Las vegas. At this show you’ll see the electronic products that will be hitting the market at the end of 2011 or early 2012. I’m a true fan of the CES and also the city where it will be hosted, but that’s another story. Like of many of you visiting this blog, I’m also a fan of new technology, by that I mean something that is genuinely new. In the last year we’ve seen new technologies like 3D TV, tablets, and the iPad (the iPad gets is own category) a tablet that is actually leading the revolution. I am really hoping that we don’t see more of the same stuff we already saw at the last CES. I am afraid that companies will try to share some of the success of the iPad and focus too much on trying to come out with “iPad killer” and because of this we’ll read too much or see pictures galore of the many different spins manufacturers will put on their different tablet models. Another thing that we’ll see for sure is ton of different takes on 3D Television sets, again something that we saw a ton of last year. On the other hand I understand that manufacturers will have to keep trying until they fine tune their products. What will actually be new at CES 2011? Anyone have any ideas?