Showing 51 - 60 of 74
Tablet nears saturation point
Life, James Hein, Published on 28/08/2013
» Is the PC dying? I don't believe so. I look at how people are using tablets and, for the most part, they have mostly put bigger screens on a phone so that the children can play games and save the battery life of the parent's smartphone. Yes, I have seen some very specific instances of a tablet being used in government departments, specialist offices and medical facilities. But as far as general business use goes, there hasn't been so much. For commuters, the tablet is an alternative to a book, chessboard, Sudoku pad or movie player. People look a bit silly using it as a camera, however, and typing without a keyboard is not all that good. Bottom line: I think that we are close to market saturation with the tablet and close alternatives; and the notebook is still the most viable option for business people. (I forgot to mention browsing, that works fairly well if you have a decent wireless connection and don't have to type too much.)
Google going great, greater, the greatest?
Life, James Hein, Published on 31/07/2013
» In 2010 the figure was a mere 6%, but according to the monitoring firm DeepField, data to and from Google now accounts for a quarter of all traffic in the US across the internet. We all knew that Google was big, but until now no one was sure just how big they were, at least in the US. When it comes to sheer bandwidth demand at certain times of the day, the winner is Netflix, but in terms of overall traffic Google beats Netflix, Twitter and Facebook combined. Remember that Google includes YouTube and a wide range of other services.
Old Apples prove tasty
Life, James Hein, Published on 24/07/2013
» An Apple 1 recently sold for more than 15 million baht, so hang on to that old computer as one day it may be worth something again. I admit to using an Apple 2 computer while teaching in the Maldives many, many moons ago. There were better available at the time, but that was all they had. All it had was green writing on a black screen, a simple operating system and some very simple applications, but still a very useful device back then.
Microsoft's masterful marketing
Life, James Hein, Published on 10/07/2013
» When it comes to marketing, companies like Microsoft are masters. They recently announced that the Windows 8 store now has over 100,000 apps and that the installed base of Win 8 has now passed Vista. They also claim that the eight months it took for the 100K apps is faster than for Apple's iPad and Google Play at 18 and 24 months respectively. More interesting figures to me is that Windows 7 still has over 44% of the market and XP is still a bit over 37% with Windows 8 at a tiny 5.1% and Vista on 4.6%. Mac OSX, if you add up versions 10.6-10.8, comes to about 6.6%. So after all the hype and a year on, Win 8 is sitting just under Mac OSX and a very long way behind both Win 7 and Win XP, the latter still being a favourite of systems administrators everywhere.
Formicidae, neurons and the tweeting mass of life
Life, James Hein, Published on 03/07/2013
» The members of an ant colony work together as if they were a single organism. The human brain has neurons that work together in the same way: one neuron is not "intelligent", as such, but a whole lot of them acting in unison make us what we are. The secret is communication, connectivity and the processing of information. In the modern world millions of people are communicating with each other in almost real time using Twitter, SMS, Facebook and other social networking tools. If a billion people are doing this and we think of each person as a single neuron, does it mean that we starting to create some kind of global intelligence?
Samsung bites into big Apple
Life, James Hein, Published on 05/06/2013
» No prizes for guessing the fastest selling smartphone in South Korea. The Samsung Galaxy S4, of course _ it has sold 10 million units since the April launch. You will remember that the iPhone 5 sold five million units in its opening weekend but the S4 will be seriously attacking Apple's market share over the next month or so.
Is your phone spying on you?
Life, James Hein, Published on 01/05/2013
» I've long been a fan of Firefox, but I somehow missed the announcement of its new OS coming out for mobile phones. Geeksphone, a Spanish start-up, sold out of the first devices with the new OS within a matter of hours and had to shut down its online store as demand unexpectedly exceeded supply. The new units were meant for developers only because the new Firefox OS is still in a very early stage of its evolution. Application development for the new OS is based on HTML5, JavaScript and Open Web standards. The official OS launch will be some time later this year and Google is working with ZTE in China on the project. The first commercial units will be manufactured in Brazil so this is a truly international effort and may be one to watch in the future.
It's time for an overhaul
Life, James Hein, Published on 24/04/2013
» So the question of the next big thing seems to be, why would you need to have a watch and a phone? I have noticed that most of the younger generation, the ones with a smartphone, don't have a watch because the time is prominently displayed on the phone. One simple answer might be that a watch is still useful for when your hands are full, or swimming underwater, or when you are doing something that doesn't include pockets.
Google's Ingress to the real world
Life, James Hein, Published on 17/04/2013
» There is a new game for Android mobile users called Ingress. It is from Google and based on their popular Google Maps. The game requires you to get out of the lounge and into the real world. It is already being played in Bangkok but is in closed beta mode until the end of April. You'll need a Google+ Community account, sensible shoes, patience and time. You play on one of the two sides doing battle for control and if you want to know more go to www.ingress.com. I'm playing on the side of the Enlightened that is doing well in Bangkok but as I write this the Resistance is currently winning worldwide. Watch out for spies!
There's no time for a chill pill
Life, James Hein, Published on 10/04/2013
» The primary goal of any IT department is to make stuff available to its users and provide access to company data. This is usually achieved by providing standard desktop configurations tested against known technologies. Adding additional availability to an existing solution is risky and can be costly. Also, in the past, consumer-based IT had little relation to business-based IT, but in the modern world user demands on the IT solution staff is increasing.