Death of the HP Tablet

"As I write this, I’m sitting in a cafe. Around me, there are five people on laptops — four of them are MacBooks. Four other people are using tablets — all four are iPads. Welcome to the Post-PC world."^*1

Yeah, that pretty well sums it up. HP announced last week that it is discontinuing its tablet division and webOS products, and is trying to spin off the PC division. The part of this that rather surprised people is that this comes only a couple of months after buying the Palm brand and webOS, in order to try to really compete in the tablet world. They launched commercials with celebrities (that chick from GLEE and Russell Brand are the ones that I remember right off the top of my head.) But apparently that did not compensate for the fact that the OS, while smokin fast on other hardware, was bogged down and slow on the HP tablet hardware. And while their PC sales are good, they still are being eclipsed by Apple's MacBook sales. In my own house even, with two computer industry professionals, the numbers are three Apple devices, one PC, and an ancient dinosaur of a desktop that I *think* is running a version of Linux. I personally only know of one person who has a non-Apple tablet, and that was bought after this announcement, when the price dropped. Was HP merely getting out early in this situation, reading the writing on the wall, or is it jumping ship that could be fixed? Time will tell.

In the meantime, here's what other people are saying about it:


^*1http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/18/apple-wins-without-throwing-a-punch/

http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/18/okay-hp-lets-make-some-lemonade/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2011/08/19/hp-down-20-now-officially-hated-by-almost-everyone/

http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/rumors-of-webos-death-are-greatly-exaggerated-20110819/

One Stop Blog Spot

If you're anything like me, you may read blogs and think link round ups are a cop-out. In writing for this blog for a while now, I realize they are not necessarily so. For me, it is a by-product of adult ADD and not wanting to miss showing you all informative/uber neat/completely random things! It was near-to-impossible to narrow things down to one (coherent) post, there were security topics, hardware topics, awesome save your live apps, and so here you are:

UPSM is working on an app that will document the locations of all AED's (automated external defibulators.) So if someone is experiencing cardiac arrest, you or the 911 operator could locate one nearby, thus getting help more quickly.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/08/this-app-could-save-your-life/

If you find your laptop is lost or stolen, change the passwords that are stored in it immediately. Duh, I know. But it can be hacked from the laptop, and you could be screwed.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20089726-281/lose-your-laptop-change-all-passwords-pronto/

A PC with Mac Air specs? Why yes, I likee. Oh wait, read that last paragraph. Fail.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/09/acers-aspire-3951-leaks-with-macbook-air-like-specs-available/

Wait, what do you mean that mobile banking on your android went wrong? How could banking on an easily-lost, app'ed up device go wrong?
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/The-Future-of-Android-Part-2-Security-Snafus-73036.html

Price versus Function, Tablet versus iPad.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/are-cheaper-tablets-the-answer-to-the-ipads-dominance/14138

For the truely geeky amongst us, we mourn as news of SyFy's Eureka is cancelled.
http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2011/08/09/eureka-cancellation-of-the-day/

And, for good measure, something from the tinfoil hat file.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/has-the-united-states-already-suffered-its-cyberwar-pearl-harbor/53901

Bragging Rights

We talk about a lot of things on this blog, from tech news to geeky things, interwebz innovations to soapboxes. But guess what? We actually *do* know what we're talking about, and we've gotz proof! Our illustrious Brad Hurlock has written an article for 422 Business Journal on social media. He covers all the stuff that you may or may not know, from "don't only pimp your business" to "get thee a social media employee policy." But, you know, he makes it sound way more professional. Cause he's good like that.

Really?

I'm sure you've noticed, dearly devoted reader, that I have a *cough* few soapboxes that I climb upon from time to time. I'm going to pull out the one that is labeled "Really, People?" Ok, everyone ready? Got a good seat? *scans crowd* Can everyone see? Ok? Good...

Ok, I just read this article about all the malware on Facebook. Go and read that article, it's short. I'll wait.

*shuffles feet, waits for people to get back...*

Folks, what possesses people to click on that, thinking "this is legitimate"? I mean, really? And the same goes for the one that is the "funny condom commercial" and "live baby birth." Did your grandma post the link for "funny condom commercial"? So, lets look at the logic: would they normally do that? If the answer is no, then...come on, make the jump with me...it might be malware. Is it worth the risk of a facejacking virus that tells everyone you're gullible¹, for the slim possibility of seeing a photo that someone committed suicide after taking? Is it worth your clients, vendors, etc seeing that you clicked on a lamp that happens to look like questionable lady-bits? After all, there is truth in the old adage "It's better to be silent and thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt."

*steps down from soapbox, cleans off shoe prints. tucks it back under the table.*


^{1 Yes, if you have clicked on one of those links, I'm calling you gullible. My own aunt has clicked on one, and I've called her that as well. I have no shame.}

It's getting cloudy

If you've been paying any attention to web innovations lately, you'll notice that clouds are the latest thing happening. But for those who have been paying attention - squirrel!- to other things, we'll explain the concept briefly. Cloud computing is resources, such as data or software, that are available on demand from a network rather than from the local computer. Say, you are working on a project, and need a certain piece of data that is on the cloud. You connect to the cloud, via interwebz, and get that data, and continue on your merry way.

So here's why there's so much buzz about it lately--Google has a cloud, Amazon has a cloud, Apple has a cloud, lotsa clouds out there. And lets face it, not every user is going to be using them for business--they are set to revolutionize the digital music industry, by allowing users to access their music files wherever they are. Everyone from Joe Businessman to little Billy Tween will be using them for work and pleasure.

Here's some articles about the different clouds:
iCloud casts shadow over other cloud services

Amazon Sees Many Winners in Cloud But Wants Top Spot in eBooks

Google Launches Cloud Music Service ‘Music Beta’

Search is Dead, and I Don't Feel So Well Myself...

Is traditional searching of the interwebz dead? Bing certainly seems to think so, and Google, though not as vocal, has amended its search features as well. This article discusses that Bing's people are saying traditional ways of searching the web--text content, links, etc--isn't as useful as it used to be. Today, they claim, people want more than just the standard web search results when they type in "seafood." They want the restaurants with the best reviews, they want the best recipes, and they don't necessarily want the history of fried seafood. Ok, understandable. We all want what we want, and don't want the unnecessary.

So, how are Bing and Google achieving this miracle of mind-reading? Crystal balls? Tea leaves? Government mind control devices? No, no, nothing that complicated. Bing, if you are simultaneously logged in to Facebook and Bing, will look at your and your friend's "Likes" and will use that to influence your search outcomes. Google is using their +1 feature, which allows you and your friends to rate websites for their content. A higher +1 rating among your friends means that the site will show up higher in rank on your searches. Essentially, both of these features are asking your friend's opinions about your topic, and guiding the search results based on that.

As with most things, I can see the good and bad with this. If I were able to tell Bing/Google which friends to listen to, I'd be gold. I have some friends who, upon the search for "seafood" would begin asking if the restaurant's menu also has chicken fingers, since that is all they consent to eat. Other friends, though dear to my heart, are not to be trusted for movie recommendations. You get the idea.

So now, we get to sit back and watch to see if this will revolutionize the interwebz search process, or if is more of an annoyance than it is worth.



^{*bonus points to anyone who can tell me which author the title of this post is an homage to.}

Something to keep an eye on...

So, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has announced that it has added 35 new members, saying that it shows an interest in web standards such as HTML.

First, we don't expect everyone to know that there was even a W3C in existence. We'll give you a pass, it's a web geek thing. But the W3C is hoping that with these new inductees (Sony, LG Electronics, Netflix and Facebook are among the 35) will help to breathe new life into the innovation of HTML and the interwebz.

That's cool, you say, but really, what does it mean for me? Well, if there are new innovations made for the interwebz, it means that--should you implement those innovations on your website--you then are cutting-edge for your products as well as your clients. And of course, someone has to learn and implement those changes, thus bringing some economic opportunities for web developers. Innovation always brings competition and change to the marketplace. Hence why you should keep an eye on what goes on in web innovation. We're just saying....


And, to indulge our ADHD a little, here's a smattering of things that caught our eye but really don't have anything to do with anything:

Super cool looking PC case: Lian Li PC-U6 Cowry case: an aluminum seashell to keep your PC looking stylish

Well this should be interesting: Firefox 4 downloads way ahead of IE9

Failed Gadgets: Buxton Collection