Showing 51-60 of 78 results
-
Myforecasts and how they fared in the end
Life, James Hein, Published on 25/12/2013
» It's that time of year again where we look back and review what the past 12 months brought us _ and check how well I did with my predictions from this time last year. While I forecast that the Galaxy S4 would do well against the iPhone, I didn't expect Apple to fall as far as it did this past year, compared to other firms, in terms of overall market position and sales. The 5S was indeed a catch-up for Apple and had no wow factors at all, causing some users to move away from the Apple line. The 5C was a sales failure and the iPad mini didn't do very well at all against the less expensive equivalents. As expected, Apple is still actively involved in litigation and trying to secure as many ridiculous patents for itself as possible instead of focusing on true innovation.
-
When tech clouds the real issue
Life, James Hein, Published on 18/12/2013
» Sometimes using a computer is just an excuse not to look at the underlying problem. China has decided to use their Tianhe-1A supercomputer, the one that headed the top 500 in 2010 for a while, to work out why the country has so much smog. If you are keeping track of such things, the current top of the list in terms of most powerful computer is the Chinese Tianhe-2.
-
Battle of the boxes heats up
Life, James Hein, Published on 27/11/2013
» The console wars are heating up again with the PS4 up against the Xbox One. As you might expect, both units have come with hardware upgrades and Microsoft has dropped the silly requirement to be always connected to the internet after it received a huge amount of negative feedback guaranteeing poor sales.
-
Smartphone makers throw a curve
Life, James Hein, Published on 16/10/2013
» The internet is an amazing resource. Boasting around 40 billion pages and with exabytes of data, it contains a huge amount of information provided by a multitude of sources. One problem is that a lot of this information is unverified or consists of personal observations and opinions. Despite this, there appears to be a growing trend that the first result received when performing a Web search is the one used to find the answer to a question.
-
Can you spot the difference in the latest iPhone?
Life, James Hein, Published on 02/10/2013
» Reports on the iPhone 5S keep coming in and they're quite mixed, with even a few Apple lovers seemingly jaded by the lack of obvious improvements. My favourite so far is a rather professional-looking clip of a man who's holding two phones, one in each hand, and he keeps getting confused as to which is the new model.
-
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.)
-
Microsoft and devices? Time to call it quits?
Life, James Hein, Published on 07/08/2013
» Things are starting to slow down in the IT marketplace generally, but specifically with tablets. We'll start off with Microsoft, whose Surface RT devices are just not selling. Total revenue to date is US$853 million (26.5 billion baht); that might sound like a lot, but it's at least a billion dollars less than expected. When you factor in the estimated $900 million in advertising costs, you can see what the problems are. So far the proceeds from sales haven't even covered the launch costs. During the same period, Apple sold 57 million iPads. Taking a retrospective view, Microsoft has never done that well in selling devices, whether they be phones, music players or tablets; so perhaps in future the firm should just stick to software.
-
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?
-
Paying through the nose
Life, James Hein, Published on 03/04/2013
» A report out of Brisbane, Australia highlights an interesting but predictable issue. A specialty food store put a sign in the window stating that they charge A$5 (150 baht) to enter the store, which is refundable if you buy something. If you don't make any purchases then the store is assuming you are comparing prices to goods which you then buy online. Also, in this particular example, the store owner told reporters that about 60 people a week ask for advice then shop elsewhere, so she considers the $5 to be an advisory fee. She also believes that her policy is echoed by other store owners like those in sports, electronics and clothing.
-
Fiddling with photos is now a lot more fun
Life, James Hein, Published on 16/01/2013
» This is definitely the age of the digital camera. What many people don't understand when they take digital snaps, however, is that the results can be a lot better with a bit of processing. In the old days the best way to do that was with Apple software and there are those who will maintain this view until they die. The PC started to come into its own about 20 years ago when Adobe released its first Windows version of Photoshop and about 10 years ago support started for RAW camera images. Then, in 2007, out came Lightroom, a product designed exclusively for the digital camera user.
Your recent history
-
Recently searched
-
Recently viewed links
Did you find what you were looking for? Have you got some comments for us?
