Showing 1 - 8 of 8
Always check your sources
Life, James Hein, Published on 15/09/2021
» At the dawning of the internet age the aim was to provide a platform to share information, initially between higher education facilities. It was a golden age of what was essentially a library of information shared across the United States and later the world. The early fact checkers were academics interested in facts, data and a robust discussion.
The chips are down for a while
Life, James Hein, Published on 01/09/2021
» If you haven't noticed, there is a microchip shortage. Makers of any device ranging from computers to guitar pedals are finding it difficult to source what they need from the marketplace. Expect delays on most things and if you do get yours in time then thank the silicon gods.
Huawei facing tough time outside China
Life, James Hein, Published on 29/07/2020
» China, and in particular Huawei, is not winning these days. Huawei has some excellent hardware. Their latest phones are as good in many aspects as any other manufacturer. However, the fuzzy area is the company's links to the Chinese government. Huawei claims they are not directly linked to the government but many others say there are direct and nefarious links. Huawei recently lost their foothold in the United Kingdom as their 5G network has been disallowed or marginalised for the future. This leaves only Canada as part of the five eyes intelligence partners still supporting Huawei 5G. Other nations have also been hesitant to adopt the technology.
WFH causes a rethink of sales
Life, James Hein, Published on 03/06/2020
» - I love a good marketing vs predictive analysis battle. Lenovo is guessing the current work-from-home trend will be good for PC makers. This is on top of the orders for laptops that went through the roof as offices closed and staff were asked to work remotely. Sales in Western Europe for example jumped 55%. My organisation just had me take my PC home as they didn't have enough notebooks to go around. Lenovo are betting that if people are working from home on a more permanent basis that will mean more PC sales, predicting 25% to 30% growth in the next two to three years.
Updated Microsoft Office lands
Life, James Hein, Published on 30/09/2015
» I use Microsoft Office tools fairly regularly including Word, Excel, OneNote, Visio and Project. Apart from Project, I didn't make the jump to 2013. A couple of years later, version 2016 has been announced. In between they have released updated Apple and Android versions of different products in the broader suite. In the past few years Microsoft's strategy seems to be aimed primarily at the Office 365 Cloud space.
Protect your photographs from spies
Life, James Hein, Published on 21/05/2014
» Beware the Cloud, or at least Google+. I took a picture with my phone recently, something I don’t do all that often, and happened to visit Google+ soon after. The first thing I saw was the photo I’d just taken. This was the first time I discovered that any photos I take are by default sent immediately to my Google+ area. You would think this was a setting in the Android G+ app but it is instead in the Photos apps. Google’s default push is to fully open up everything you do to Google, so be careful what setting you have and how you use your camera. To be fair the photo was in a “protected” area but we all know how well that kind of protection remains in the open-to-the-world-plus-their-dog environment we live in.
The shape, and size, of things to come
Life, James Hein, Published on 09/10/2013
» When someone uses the word smartphone, most people these days probably automatically think of Apple or Samsung. This makes sense because between them they account for over half the world's devices in this category. Apple started the trend and in recent times Samsung has taken over and been leading ever since. Beyond the United States, Australia and Europe, the fastest growing markets are China, India and Brazil, all of which have their own increasingly popular brands. In China, for example, Samsung is the current leader, but numbers two and three are Lenovo and Yulong Coolpad _ I've never heard of the latter either although they released 48 models last year. Apple isn't even fourth with ZTE, Huawei and Xiaomi coming next on the list.
Curb your enthusiasm
Life, James Hein, Published on 22/05/2013
» If reactions are any indication, the most exciting news of the week was Samsung sending a 1 gigabit signal across 2km. This was apparently based on what 5G technology may look like. If the pundits are anything to go by, Asia has essentially bypassed 4G and is eagerly awaiting 5G to hit the streets. It will have to wait a while as the Samsung exercise was just a demo of proof of concept. As of today, there are no ratified standards for 5G and Samsung appears to be trying to get out a head of the pack.