Costa Living

Windows Tablets Can't Match the iPad's Magic

The Apple iPad went on sale six months ago. Having been lucky enough to get some hands-on time with the device before it hit shelves, I knew it would do well. It was head-and-shoulders above anything else on the market. Giving it an Editors' Choice was a no-brainer. In the days before the launch, wherever I brought the iPad, I was swarmed with strangers wanting to touch the device, swipe the screen, all imagining what they would do if they owned one. Despite all this, at no time did I think the Apple iPad would sell more than a million units month.

Steve Jobs calling the device "magic" is just goofy, however. The iPad's stunning success is completely explainable without divine intervention. Here is why the iPad is kicking ass, and why it will continue to do so well into 2011.

Read more on PCMag.com.

 

Computex 2010: Eat, Play, Work.

Just got back from Computex 2010, in Taipei, Taiwan. I'm a little disappointed in myself for being a terrible tourist. I didn't do much other than travel back and forth from the show to my hotel. And write, of course. This sterile work area was my home for most of the week The one night I managed to have dinner out on the town it was at 168 Prime Steakhouse. The meal was fantastic, but honestly, steak in Taipei? I should have gotten out more. Even the most random experience, a late night ride on a karaoke bus filled with drunken Australians singing Bohemian Rhapsody, wasn't quite authentic. No, all I did was work.

Although, to be honest, that was kind of fun.too. Pictures, videos, and words below.

• Computex 2010: The Show in Photos
• Computex Video: Unihand Electric Paper, or Color E Ink?
  The "electrical paper" that Unihand was showing at Computex looks a lot like an E Ink display would look if it was color.
• Computex Video: MSI Taking on the iRobot Roomba
  Look out Roomba, MSI has some new robots that want to wipe the floor with you.
• Computex Video: Intel Shows Off MeeGo Tablet
  One of the more interesting devices that Intel executive vice president David Perlmutter showed off running Atom yesterday at Computex 2010 was a MeeGo-based tablet computer.
• Computex Video: Intel Demos 'Sandy Bridge'
  Although most of his Computex keynote was about its new Atom initiatives, Intel EVP David Perlmutter found time to praise Intel's next major chip architecture, code-named "Sandy Bridge."
• Cideko: A Potential Partner for Google TV?
  When Google TV was shown to the world a couple weeks ago, only Logitech was on stage as a hardware partner for peripherals. Google would do well to check out the offerings of the Taiwanese-based Cideko.
• Opera Exec Calls the Browser the 'Glue' For Mobile Industry
  To make their products future-proof, vendors should focus on the Web — not closed platforms or app stores, Opera's chief strategy officer Rolf Assev told the crowd in his Computex keynote Tuesday.
• Intel's Perlmutter Sees Atoms Everywhere
  David (Dadi) Perlmutter, executive vice president and co-general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, may as well have delivered the Computex 2010 crowd a chemistry lesson because he sees Atoms everywhere.
• Asus Challenges Apple's iPad with Eee Pad
  When Asus chairman Jonney Shih unveiled its challenge to the Apple iPad -- the Asus Eee Pad -- on stage at Computex today, the crowd of journalists almost rushed the stage with excitement.
• Asus Announces the Eee Tablet E-Reader
• Asus announced the Eee Tablet today at Computex 2010, an electronic reader that will also serve as a digital note-taking device thanks to its touch-sensitive screen.
• Computex 2010: Tablets, 3D, and Gadgets Galore
  The show floor is still under construction, but when Computex 2010 opens its doors Tuesday morning in Taipei, Taiwan, expect to see a parade of netbooks, 3D displays, and lot of would-be competitors to the Apple iPad.
• Sony Embraces Nvidia's 3D Vision for Cameras Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has announced that Sony's new Alpha interchangeable lens cameras would now be part of Nvidia's 3D Vision ecosystem, enabling users to take 3D still images and view them on their PC.

What You Missed at SXSW Interactive

 

The Walkmen at the annual Digg bash, at Stubbs BBQ in Austin

This year's SWSW Interactive was more crowded than ever—15,000 attendees, at least 600 of which were technology press. The event consisted of five days of discussion on innovation, privacy, geo-location, self-promotion, CMS platform development, content monetization, music licensing, the perils of software lock-in, and Ashton Kutcher. Coming back from a show like this, every journalist is asked the same thing: What did you learn? Expense budgets being what they are, it is certainly a fair question. I wrote a lot about the show when I was down in Austin, but here is the executive digest. Continue reading...

Check out my other stories from SXSW 2010 here.

Confessions of a Foursquare Junkie

My job pretty much guarantees my status as an early-adopter of new technologies, but I am relatively new to the Foursquare phenomenon that is sweeping digerati circles. In part, that's because the app was just released on the Palm Pre a few weeks ago, and unless you can use it on your phone, Foursquare is pretty useless. Now that I have it, I fell into the predictable pattern I follow with all new technologies: curious discovery, frantic addiction, and finally the desperate search for some intrinsic usefulness. This is usually when a wearied cynicism sets in, along with a deep regret for all the time I have wasted on another useless technological distraction. Not this time, though. As the numerous announcements at Mobile World Congress this week confirm, the mad dash to deliver location-based services is just beginning. Continue reading...

3D TV Requires Rose-Colored Glasses

Photo by @kir

So far the big story at CES 2010 is the seemingly inevitable march toward 3D TV. Nearly every major manufacturer is announcing a high-end 3D HDTV at the show, including Sony, Vizio, and LG. (Sharp is an exception.)

And there is going to be new 3D content, too: Sony and the Discovery Channel will partner on an all 3D channel, and ESPN started plugging the upcoming ESPN 3D on SportsCenter yesterday. Add in the good timing that number one movie in the country—+$640 million and counting—is Avatar, also available in 3D. There's just one little problem, which no one here at CES seems to want to discuss: 3D TV just doesn't look very good.

Continued at PCMag.com...

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• 3D TV for the Rest of Us? Maybe Next Year (technologizer.com)
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CES 2010: HDTVs, Tablets and Butterfly Wings

• Skiff Demos Its E-Reader, Palm Pre App
• Kurzweil's Blio: A Killer Ebook Reader For Windows
  
• HDMI's Role in The Future of 3D TV
• Sony Takes Aim at 3D TV Domination
• Plastic Logic Unveils a QUE Professional E-Reader
  
• Mirasol Displays Mimic a Butterfly's Wings 
• ViewSonic Launches New PCs at CES 2010 
• LumiSource Releases Slightly More Girlfriend-Friendly Gaming Chairs