Tag Archives: Apple iPad
Why Use a Laptop When a Tablet Will Do?
Posted on 21. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 
6 Comments
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the advent of the tablet. Sure, much has already been written about the subject, so I’d like to stay away from the normal conversation. I would, of course, like to reference some articles before I delve deeper here, including Devin Coldewey’s article about the coming onslaught of Android slates, as well as Christopher Dawson’s take on the amount of changes he’s seen in a month’s time of more people relying on tablets and smartphones.
I currently use a Dell v13, an $899 ultra light laptop that is loaded with Windows 7 for all of the work I do on this site. Notwithstanding the fact that I had a Dell tech replace the faulty touchpad within a month of purchase and the fact that the graphics capabilities are tethered to the Intel-based chipset, I’m happy with it. But a nagging feeling remains that my current setup is just not optimal. If there were a middle ground between smartphone and laptop that is not Apple based and could give me what I get from the v13, I would happily switch.
The problem with my current laptop is that even though it is light and very mobile, it lacks the “easy-on” that I need. It runs Windows 7, a behemoth that seems to be better suited for desktops or bulky replacements for such. I don’t need all the junk that comes with a Windows OS; I just need something that works. This is not to say I don’t want to tinker, but I would prefer everything be configured from the start, and I’ll mess with what I want to much later on.
I want a tablet; I just don’t want an Apple one. I also am not interested in one that runs Android because that’s for phones, not for computers. Do I need a keyboard? That’s a subjective question, since I do type a lot as a writer but if there is a badass alternative to this antiquated set of Chiclets that I use to communicate then I would be all for it.
What do you think? Is the time for grappling with Windows over? Where is the cloud-based Windows killer we’ve all been looking for?
Who’s Going to Compete With Apple’s Tablet?
Posted on 22. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
The current state of the tablet market is pretty stale. And let’s not even go into the JooJoo.
I say this because when I was at Taiwan’s Computex 2010 conference less than a month ago there were some formidable competitors in terms of hardware, but the leading manufactures for these devices didn’t really offer a whole lot in terms of software.
Sure, the Acer tablet that allows one to flip the netbook-style form factor over to a table was impressive, but the touch functionality of Windows 7 for it was quite lackluster: I asked a product rep to reboot the device because there seemed to be a problem with the touch software, only to have the same problems crop up again once it started up.
Asus offered up a beautiful tablet design that had potential to compete with Apple, but they kept a product manager closely hovering over the device running a new version of Windows CE that looked surprisingly Android-like, but because of the people and Asus employees holding a close grip on the tablet, no one was really able to test the paces of Microsoft’s UI.
MSI had a winged version of a tablet running Android that seemed surprisingly comfortable in my hands, but we all know that Google’s smartphone operating system isn’t really meant for tablets – it just seemed like a supersized stock version of the OS. An MSI product manager also told me that the MSI Wind tablet was just a concept for now.
This is problematic. The reason why I say this is because since Apple has taken the world by storm plugging an already existing operating system with the iOS to a tablet form factor, that have essentially beaten the entire computer manufacturing market with the iPad. There is no one else that has an operating system that is fully compatible with touch on a tablet.
That’s not to say Android is far behind Apple’s touch-based operating system, but it is clear that unlike the iOS, there was no plan for tablets in its future. We’ve seen early on Google’s Chrome OS tablet concept, and we can only hope that Chrome OS will offer a stylishly-designed slate from the likes of HP, Dell or Acer in the coming months, hopefully something that is just as functional, open source for app developers and creatively designed mobile gadget that can compete with the iPad.
I hold out hope on this, because only one successful tablet in the market does not bode well for innovation. What do you think? Which one of these PC manufacturers has the best chance of offering a tablet running Chrome OS that can compete with Apple?
Understanding Agnilux, Google’s Latest Purchase
Posted on 21. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 5 Comments
Who, or what, is Agnilux?
This is a serious question seeing as how Google has decided to purchase the company. Everyone knows that Google doesn’t just buy companies for sheer fun. There is very little known about Agnilux, but according to some sources they employ people previously in the server business, although they also have employees who were in TV. That’s interesting since Google has traditionally built their own servers using stock parts. As any network engineer would know, this is a bit surprising as most Fortune 500 companies buy their servers from companies like HP or Dell.
But not Google. They have been known for setting up their own hardware architecture, and many times CEO Eric Schmidt has talked about the fact that Google uses servers that are based on common PC hardware. Imagine the fact that they are able to do this, since they own and operate one of the largest network-capable services in the world. In essence they own the most proprietary network configuration out there today, but I’m sure they would prefer if you didn’t know that.
Mark Hayter, the chief operating officer at Agnilux, came from P.A. Semi (Palo Alto Semiconductor Company), which is a company that was purchased by Apple in 2008. This most likely indicates that P.A. Semi had some technology that was used in the iPad.
Ah yes, the iPad. Now can you see where I am going with this. Interestingly, Google has proclaimed that they only want to be the “pipes” for content, but at the same time, their actions here are speaking louder than words. Maybe it is a strategic move to thwart a purchase from Apple. But an acquisition like this has to make one think that Google knows in order to stay competitive that they will have to engage those who pursue innovative hardware solutions, much like they have been doing for quite some time.
